Chapter 3
Confessions
A/N: My muse is simple girl. All she likes are plot bunnies and reviews. So be kind to Maggie and feed her review cookies please. Big thanks to my beta Lbandoly for her hard work.
No copyright infringement intended. All characters are the property of JKR, Scholastic, and any number of other companies with more money than I've ever dreamed of seeing. I didn't make any money off of this, so please don't sue.
Saturday morning dawned sunny and cool. For the first time in a month she didn't wake up and instantly realize the other side of the bed was cold and empty. Charlie would call that progress. Maybe he was right, getting out could be just what the healer ordered. Broken hearts didn't just up and fix themselves. If she wanted to heal then she would have to do the work to put the pain behind her so she could move on with her life. If the mere thought of a night out being free could cause her to wake up this pleased then the actual act would surely go further towards aiding her recovery.
She rolled out of the bed and hit the floor bouncing with anticipation. She went straight for the kitchen, flicking her wand about. Within moments a perfectly brewed pot of coffee sat steaming. She prepared a fresh cup and went to the living room to find a quill and parchment. She sat at the open roll-top secretary to write a quick note to Luna.
Luna,
Charlie talked me into going out tonight. He had to go back to Romania so he can't come with us. Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to go shopping with me this afternoon and help me find something to wear to one of those muggle clubs you've been going on about. I'll even treat you to dinner at the Leaky if you want to go clubbing with me.
Don't bother owling if you do, just floo on over. If not, owl, I'll drag Colin or someone else with me.
Love,
Gin
She secured the roll of parchment to her brown owl Hermmie. "Take this to Luna please." With an approving hoot the owl set off through the open window in search of Ginny's oldest friend.
Knowing she would have at least half an hour before she either saw Luna or got an owl saying she wasn't coming, Ginny headed for a nice long soak and much deserved pampering in the tub. Today was the beginning of her new life after all. It only seemed right to start it off in the best way she could think of.
She looked in the bathroom mirror and found that she didn't look quite as hallow and dead as she had the day before. A good attitude and a good night's sleep had done wonders for her. Not to mention the meal that just seemed to never end the night before with Charlie. She had eaten until she literally felt like he would have to roll her home.
She smiled at her reflection. "Yep, a good bath and some make-up and I'll look as good as new."
A while later a knock at the door drew Ginny out of her mental drifting. "Ginny I'm here."
"I'll be out in a minuet Luna. I was just getting out of the bath."
"Okay. I'm gonna grab a cup of coffee."
"Help yourself. You know where everything is."
A short while later Ginny emerged from her bedroom dressed in a Weird Sisters t-shirt and a pair of low-riding muggle jeans. Complete with ballerina style slippers in vibrant pink. They had been a Christmas gift from Hermione. Apparently they were "80's" fashion and currently one of the more popular things in muggle fashion. "So, where to Luna? Muggle London since we plan on clubbing in the muggle world tonight?"
Luna looked more than a bit ashamed of herself. "Ginny before we leave you might want to know something. Okay, maybe not want to know, but you need to know before we go out and spend the small fortune shopping that we normally do."
"What?" She couldn't fathom where this side of Luna was coming from unless… "You're not shagging Harry are you?"
"Merlin's beard no. Why would you ask such a thing? The crumple-Horned Snorkacks haven't been sending you subliminal messages that I have?"
"Um no, it was just the way you were saying that you had something to tell me. It sounded like it was going to be bad; shagging Harry type bad. I didn't mean to imply you would do something like that Luna."
"Oh it's no matter. I understand. I would ask every woman I talked to if my husband admitted to the world he had been in some other woman's bed. But that is all around the block isn't it? What I was gonna say is that the club I have been raving on about isn't in muggle London."
"But you said?"
"I know I said it was. I didn't want you to get upset if you knew where I had actually been going."
"Alright, then where is it?"
"Well it's in London, just not muggle London."
"I don't know of any clubs in Diagon Alley."
"That's because it's not there either. It's…" She just couldn't seem to get it out.
"I have known you for how long now? Not once do I remember you ever putting off telling me something. Get on with it Luna. It can't possibly be that bad."
Luna took a deep breath before spitting it out as quickly as she could possibly speak. "It's in Knockturn Alley."
"Luna!" Ginny couldn't believe her ears. All this time her best friend had been going into that den of evil all for the fun of a night out. Certainly not, nope, no way, not her best friend.
Luna gave her a sheepish look. "See I told you you'd be upset. It's not nearly as bad as you're imagining I'm sure. Knockturn's much safer than it was when you-know-who was still alive. I guess you wouldn't want to go parading down it like you owned it or anything. And you certainly don't want to talk to the hag that sells beetles from a cart, but it's not entirely unsafe either. I've been going to AK almost every weekend for over six months without so much as a hair on my head harmed."
"Luna surely the name of this club hasn't escaped you. It's a bloody unforgivable for Merlin's sake."
"I know Gin, but the owner says it stands for the initials of his former lover. I believe him."
"You also believe in crumple-Horned Snorkacks," she mumbled.
Either Luna didn't hear her or just opted to pay her no mind. "I'll admit that most people who go there to party do think it stands for the curse. Its running nickname among the crowd is `Unforgivable,' but that's only because everyone knows it's the darkest, and by darkest I do mean best, place in Knockturn to party."
"Luna, how did you wind up in a place like that? Any place named after the death curse cannot be good, whether they own up to it or not."
"I don't rightly know. I just remember wanting to go out and have some fun without people staring at me or calling me `Loony Luna' behind my back. I remembered reading somewhere about those muggle Goth clubs and wondering if we had anything like them. Knockturn seemed the only likely place if we did. So I went searching. Sure enough, Knockturn has an entire little row of them. AK just happens to be the best of them."
Ginny gave her friend a doubtful look.
"Come on Gin I promise it's not unsafe. I wouldn't do that to you. We spent entirely too much time while we were in school in danger for me to toss you into any place dangerous. You might even know other people there. I know there are a few Ravenclaws from our year that hang out there. Not that I actually talk to them but they are there."
She thought about it for a moment. It wasn't like she hadn't ever been in Knockturn Alley. She had…during the day, but none the less still there. The place had never really instilled fear in her. But then again very little did after her first year at Hogwarts. "Blimey. Okay if you're sure it's worth it then I'm in. Take me shopping already."
Luna smiled. "You'll love it."
"Shopping?"
"Well yeah, but I meant the club silly."
"No. I meant are you ready to go shopping?"
Luna giggled. "Oh yeah. We still need to go to muggle London for that. Wizarding fashion just doesn't cut it at AK."
"Then by all means, lead the way."
Luna grabbed hold of Ginny's arm and apparated them from the flat.
*** Credits to Killitb4itdies(lj) and _normal_girl_(lj) for help with the name of Club AK.
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