I'm uploading this at work, which has a much faster connection than I do, so hopefully y'all will only get 1 alert. Thanks again for the reviews! They really do have an influence on the story, you know??? And just to let everyone know, Ginny is not prego & in this story she won't get prego. I already wrote a prego story, called Secrets, which you can find in my LJ, starting with the February 20th entry. I just can't post it here because of the ships.
CHAPTER 10 Sneaking Out
Friday afternoon, the girls had lugged all their necessary items to the unused bathroom on the 7th floor. The plan was to head for the bathroom just before curfew and get ready, then meet the rest of their classmates in the room at 10:30. There were 18 of them going to the club, and each one was responsible for bringing money to pay for the club and the Floo to get back into Hogwarts. Ginny still had her doubts, and asked Zoë why no one had ever Flooed into the school before.
Zoë rolled her eyes and sounded eerily like Hermione when she said, "Honestly. Haven't you read Hogwarts: A History? The fireplaces are keyed to the students and staff."
They had spent the entire day on Thursday finishing up all the homework they had been assigned, and on Friday morning had planned their outfits, and then spent the afternoon lying about by the lake, enjoying the warmth.
"What did Professor Malfoy tell you?" Bianca asked, breaking the laziness that had settled over them.
"When?" Ginny asked.
"When he made you stay after class on Wednesday."
"Oh. Nothing."
"Why don't you tell us anything, Gin?" Zoë pouted. "We're supposed to be your best friends!"
"Because . . . I don't like talking about him." She paused and picked a single flower from the grass. "And I already know what you'll say when I tell you, so why bother?"
"Come on," Bianca pressed. "It will make you feel better."
Ginny sighed and sat up, hugging her knees to her chest. "He asked what he could do to prove how sorry he was."
"Oh," Zoë let out a small sigh and pressed her hand to her chest.
"Stop being so dramatic," Ginny groaned, rolling the flower between her fingers.
"What did you tell him?"
"I said I already knew that he was sorry."
"And?"
"And nothing," Ginny shrugged. "I left."
"You left?" Zoë shook her head. "Ginny, honestly. Forgiveness is a good thing!"
"I can forgive him. I just can't be with him."
"Why not?"
"Because . . . I don't want to get hurt like that ever again!"
"But Gin, he may never hurt you again," she argued. "He could be the very best thing that ever happened to you, and you're going to throw it all away because you're scared? That's ridiculous. Sometimes you just have to take a risk. You can't keep other people away from you because you're afraid. You'll never get anywhere!"
"She's probably right," Bianca spoke up, "but it's a hard choice."
Ginny rolled her eyes. "I knew you'd say that!"
They sat in silence, until Zoë stretched out and smiled, cat like. "We are going to have so much fun tonight!"
"Is Joshua coming?" Bianca asked.
Zoë nodded. "Of course. But make sure I don't spend all my time with him. I need to check out every guy in the building!"
After dinner they went back to their room and tried to pass the time by testing Fred and George's candy, and playing with Ginny's galaxy glass, and at 9:15, Helena jumped to her feet.
"Let's go," she said. "I can't take this anymore!"
Ginny silently agreed. Her stomach was teeming with nervous butterflies. She was worried about being caught, but actually looking forward to the fun Zoë promised them.
Casually they made their way to the bathroom one at a time, and began to change into their clothes. Zoë had, of course, picked out Ginny and Bianca's clothes, and as Ginny examined the four inch platforms she was to wear, she wondered how she was supposed to walk, much less dance. She pulled on the tiny Muggle skirt and the sleeveless shirt with the deeply scooped neck. "I look like I belong at the Crystal Palace!" she noted.
"You do not!" Rory giggled. "I have a squib cousin who, uh, works there. You look like McGonagall compared to her!"
They used heavy cosmetics charms, did each other's hair, and borrowed various creams and perfumes from Zoë until it was nearly time to meet the others.
"Ready?" Zoë asked, her voice high with enthusiasm.
They nodded and crept single file down the hall. Zoë carefully pushed the door of the unused classroom open where the other students greeted them, all with matching expressions of nervous anticipation.
All male, Ginny noted. Leave it to Zoë!
"Here," Zoë began to pass out the fake ID cards she had made over the past few weeks, and Ginny thought again that it was a silly way to prove someone's age. Zoë went over the instructions with them again, and then one by one, they Flooed into the public Floo at the Leaky Cauldron.
"It's a bit late for you, isn't it?" the night watchman was asking as Ginny found herself inside the entry way of the familiar tavern.
Zoë shook her head. "Nope. Just celebrating our weekend from work," she said smoothly.
The night watchman eyed the five girls in their skimpy clothing before nodding and opening the door.
She was right; the Muggle nightclub was only a block away from the tavern. Zoë's cousin looked a lot like her, except her hair was jet black with large pink streaks running down it.
She hugged Zoë and then looked them over. "So, you're all witches."
"Wizards," Colin told her with a smile, running his eyes up and down her curvy frame.
"Shhh," Zoë hissed. "People will think you're nutters!"
They entered the club with ease, giving the doorman the Muggle money Zoë had exchanged for most of them, and Ginny senses were assaulted as she stepped inside. It was dark and smoky. The air was filled with Muggle cigarette smoke and sweat, and the lights were flashing and glittering. There were women dancing in cages above the dance floor, a large bar, and Muggles grinding against each other as if they were having sex with their clothes on. Music blasted from every direction, and Ginny decided that for the night, she was in love with the debauchery of it all.
"Wanna drink?" Gable shouted from her side. He had stayed suspiciously close to her ever since they had met on the 7th floor, but Ginny decided it was okay. For tonight at least, because tonight, she could be whoever she wanted.
"Sure!" she called back.
She followed him to the bar, where he ordered her a drink she had never heard of.
"Two Crown and Cokes," he shouted at the shirtless man behind the bar.
"What is this?" she asked when he handed her the small cup.
"Alcohol," he told her, smiling. "You'll like it."
She took a tentative sip, and to her surprise, it went down easy. It wasn't warm like butterbeer or painful like Firewhiskey, but smooth and almost comforting. After two, she was ready to dance. She had been watching the Muggles carefully as they ground themselves into each other, eyes closed, blissfully writhing in time to the music. The alcohol worked up her courage, and she led Gable to the dance floor, finding herself immediately sandwiched between him and Zoë, both of them grinding themselves obscenely into her. But it was fun. The night dragged on, and Ginny found herself dancing with deliciously hot, sweating Muggles, her friends, and herself. Gable didn't let his hands wander anywhere they shouldn't like the Muggle boys did, but kept them possessively on her hips or sliding around her waist. Plus, he could dance. Ginny had never realized that he was half Muggle until that night.
She wondered curiously about what the Muggle born students did during the holidays. She imagined them going to clubs like this every single night, and consuming the silky smooth alcohol, but then realized that her mum would never let her do such a thing, and Muggle parents were probably no different. Zoë apparently spent time with her Muggle cousins, and Gable admitted to going out with his neighbors.
"So they know?" she asked.
"That I'm a wizard? Yeah. They're alright with it."
That was news to her. For reasons unknown, she had always assumed that witches and wizards immediately gave up contact with Muggles, and that Muggles would never understand or accept magic.
She didn't want the night to end. She felt free and happy, the same type of exhilaration she felt when she played Quidditch. She was released from all the things that plagued her mind - N.E.W.T.s, scouts, Draco, Zoë's boy crises, gossip. The colored lights glittered across her body, reflecting bright off the shine of her skin, filling her mind in a flash of radiance. She opened her eyes, and for a moment, she saw him, the dark hair, dark eyed stranger from her dreams. She had forgotten he existed until that very moment. He shook his head at her, she blinked, and he was gone.
Ginny turned to ask Gable if he had seen him, but as she looked over her shoulder, he leaned down and caught her lips in a kiss. Maybe it was the Muggle alcohol or the hypnotizing lights or maybe the lyrics of the song -
It started out with a kiss/How did it end up like this
It was only a kiss, it was only a kiss……
But she's touching his-chest/Now, he takes off her dress
Now, let me go
- but she stopped dancing, turned her body around and kissed him back. He doesn't kiss as good as Draco. He's a bit fast, too much tongue, but it's good. Decent. She had to force her mind to stop analyzing his kiss and all thoughts of the dark haired man were gone.
Oblivious to the music and the pulsing bodies surrounding them, Ginny kissed back, feeling some sort of unexplainable relief and a simultaneous heartbreaking desperation in kissing someone who wasn't Draco. But her mind would have none of it, and within seconds, she found herself pretending he was Draco.
The song had changed by the time they pulled apart; it was now louder and faster, and Gable tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, smiled down at her, placed his hands possessively on her hips and crushed his pelvis against hers in time to the music.
I'm your boogie man, that's what I am
I'm here to do whatever I can…
wanna please you, to wanna please you
I wanna do it all, all for you…
I wanna be the one you love most of all
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Zoë next to her. The flashes of light made her movements fragmented, but Ginny could see her friend's head as it lolled backwards, and Joshua sucked on her neck as they ground against each other. In front of her was someone else, a Muggle Ginny assumed, dancing against her. She looked incredibly sexy and demonic at the same time.
Ginny was caught up in the delicious naughtiness of it all. Her mother would have just died, calling them all heathens. She knew she should have been safe in bed, sleeping, not enjoying the thundering music and sweat and heat and aroused bodies that were pressing against her while she let her mind believe that it was Draco.
When their night finally rolled to an end, some of them exchanged numbers with some of the Muggles they had met, which Ginny found rather odd, but then she assumed that some families might actually have those telyphone things. Gable let Ginny ride piggyback as they made their way back to the Leaky Cauldron. She was exhausted, but still far too wired to close her eyes. She held onto his neck, savoring the feeling of his wide shoulders and strong back beneath her.
When it was their turn to Floo, he put her down and said, "You first", then kissed her on the lips. "See you in the morning."
She fell onto the common room floor, slightly tipsy and was immediately relieved to find only Helena and Rory.
"He's not so bad, is he?" Helena asked smugly, her words slurred.
"Then why'd you throw your potion on him?" Ginny giggled as Zoë and Bianca Flooed in behind her.
"Shh," Zoë stumbled to her feet. "Oh gods! I am so drunk!"
"Let's go to bed," Rory moaned. "It's almost 5!"
Colin, Henry Philips, and Sanford Stubaum Flooed in behind them.
"You're gonna wake people up," Colin slurred. "Get going!"
The girls stumbled noisily to their beds, and collapsed into sleep with in minutes.
~*~*~*~*~*~
A/N: The songs are, of course, The Killer's Mr Brightside & White Zombie's I'm Your Boogie Man. I heard remixes of them one night & they were good, so I wanted to use them. Also, I redid one of my old one shots, which I didn't like, Mine, and am making it into a double shot called Mine2. Go read it & tell me what you think!
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