A Night of Drunken Frivolity

by Clarity Texas

Ginny gets intoxicated at a New Year's Eve party when she sees Harry walk into the party with a gorgeous blonde on his arm. She receives a mysterious letter the next day...the problem is, she can't remember much of what happened last night! Join Ginny on her quest to figure out what she did on her night of drunken frivolity. Rated M for later chapters.

4. Bread Pudding

A Night of Drunken Frivolity

Previously in Chapter 3:

I went back to my flat and tried to go back sleep. I kept thinking of all of the people who were hurt and all of the people that could have been hurt. I ended up going to the kitchen and taking a sleeping potion. I fell asleep sideways on my bed and didn't think till the next morning.

Chapter 4

When I awoke from a very long slumber I fed my owl, Athena, and went through the post. A letter from Hermione, a letter from Luna, a letter from Neville, and a letter from Harry! Quite a bunch to catch up on. Plus I had two Daily Prophet papers to read. I glanced at the front page and saw my pitch with smoke pouring out of the picture. I flipped it over and read the funny bits at the end instead. I didn't want to think of the explosion anymore. It was draining my spirit.

I read Hermione's letter. She invited me to a dinner party to celebrate my recovery. I rolled my eyes. I know she will be upset with me if I don't go. It is going to be Saturday evening at her and Ron's flat.

I read Luna's letter asking about my explosion. She asked if I still want to go to seduction class and if I am going to Hermione's party.

Neville's letter inquires after my health. He also said he is relieved I am alright. He even goes on a bit how he enjoyed my playing prior to the explosion.

I get out my quill and parchment to write back Hermione, Luna, and Neville before looking at Harry's letter. I let them all know that I am quite fine. I let Hermione and Luna know that I will be attending the dinner party. I also let Luna know that I can still go to seduction class Saturday morning. I really need to get out of this flat.

I open Harry's letter last. It is a short letter inquiring after my health, apologizing for not being able to talk to me more at the hospital, and informing me that he is going out of town until Friday morning. I write back a brief reply about my health and thank him for his letter.

I send off my letters with Athena and make myself look less like an invalid recovering from dragon pox. I floo over to Bill and Fleur's to visit my favourite niece, Victoire. I spend the day chatting with Fleur and following Victoire around Shell Cottage. It's nice to have something else to think about. When Bill gets home, he envelops me in a hug. We eat a wonderful meal. I give Victoire a bath and read her bedtime stories to give my brother and sister-in-law some time to themselves. Victoire makes me promise that I will visit again tomorrow (and I'm glad she makes me promise). I get her to sleep and go home.

The rest of the week passes similarly to this. I hang out with Fleur and Victoire. We play on the beach, build sand castles, collect shells, play dress-up, and draw pictures. It is strangely therapeutic, though I am by no means healed by this. I still jump at loud noises and have trouble falling asleep. But I do feel calmed by this simple routine. I was put on the path to being healed by my toddler niece and my sister-in-law.

Luna owled me Friday night. She told me to wear shorts and a shirt to class and to take my heels. Instead of obsessing over this cryptic message, I took a sleeping draught and put it off for tomorrow.

…..

I awoke and got ready for seduction school. This time I had time to make myself presentable. I put on makeup, fixed my hair into soft waves, tugged on nice black shorts and a low cut top. I put on coat right before Luna knocked on my door.

She too looked better than last time. Her hair was tamed back into a ponytail. She had a mischievous smirk on her face. "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be." I grabbed my heels and bag and we set off for class.

When we got to class, my face drained of colour. Around the wooden ballroom were floor to ceiling poles. There were twenty of them. There were a few roles of poles and chairs had been arranged facing the poles.

Several other women stood chatting around the room. "LUNA!" I whisper-yelled at my devious friend. "What in the world are we doing?"

Luna smiled, "Pole-dancing of course! Muggle women do it to seduce men and exercise. Apparently it takes a lot of abdominal muscle. How are your abs, Ginny?"

Before I knew it, she was lifting up my shirt to see my stomach. I turned scarlet and batted her hands away. "They're awesome. I work out for a living. Now quit it!"

Luna just laughed at me. Sofia Love came in just then, wearing very very small shorts and a crop top. She was wearing clear platform heels that lit up when she walked.

"Morning, ladies!" She crowed happily. "Slight change of plans. I see you have all gotten our message. Today we will be learning pole dancing!"

To my dismay, this earned a chorus of cheers from everyone else. Must be a muggle thing. "Find a pole and let's get started!"

I found a pole next to Luna. We started out stretching. After we stretched, Sofia began to teach us moves. We started out by prancing around our poles. We had to hold the pole in one hand and step with these predatory high steps around the pole. Once we mastered that, she taught us a kick-spin. We had to grab the pole with both hands and fling our legs out in the air, spiraling down the pole. Luna was right. It was a work-out.

Next move was the run-hook. We had to take a bit of a jog to the pole, jump up the pole, grab it, and hook your leg around it, spiraling to the ground. It was like a more complicated kick-spin. This took longer to master. Sofia moved about the room, assisting the ladies.

The third move was the basic pole-climb. This involved grabbing the pole, hooking one foot around it, and shimmying up the pole with your legs. Some of the other women couldn't do it. I think at this point, I finally stopped blushing and started to feel proud of myself. Once we climbed to the top of the pole, we slowly spun our ways down. That bit was quite fun, really.

We put the moves together with a muggle rap song and performed a dance. It was a lot of prancing and grinding on the pole at first but towards the end we did more lifts and a pole climb (those who couldn't improvised with some more hair twirling and grinding).

We took a quick break and drank some water. We were all sweating profusely. Sofia came back wearing only a sports bra and shorts. We were learning belly dancing next. Some of the braver girls (like Luna) shed their shirts as well.

Belly dancing was not nearly as hard as pole dancing. It was still a work-out but it was quite fun. We learned basic hip movements, starting out with moving our hips slowly from side to side to the beat of the music. Sofia told us that our arms and hands should always look fluid. "Think like you are trailing your hands through a stream of water," she had told us. We then learned to do figure eights with our hips and how to draw circles with our hips. The trick to belly dancing was keeping everything fairly still and doing dramatic movements with the hips. I could actually see how this could come in handy.

We learned a quick one minute routine and performed it with music twice. Sofia told us all to give ourselves a hand. When the applause died down, Sofia informed us, "Next week we will be doing something very special. In order to build confidence being naked, we are going to do a boudoir photo shoot! You will need to provide your own lingerie. We will have accessories available for you to pose with. We will be meeting at a hotel here in London. You will get directions and a photo time when you speak to our secretary. If you would like to have a group shoot, let our secretary know. Great work today, ladies!"

"How do you feel about our assignment for next week?" Luna asked me on our way out of the building.

"It sounds bloody terrifying," I replied, "Do you already have something to wear?"

Luna thought a moment, "I suppose I should buy something new. How about you?"

"Yes, I was thinking the same thing."

"Do you want to go shopping before we head over to Hermione's party?"

"Good idea."

We went home, ate, and showered. We met up again at a place fairly close to Diagon Alley but still in muggle London. Luna and I were having fun, picking out ridiculous and pretty things that I would normally never wear when Ava Green popped in to the very same shop. I had come out of the dressing room to show Luna an outfit I rather liked. It was a bright blue corset top with lace boy short knickers. My newfound confidence was suddenly shot when I saw Harry's "friend" standing a few feet away with a few silky things under her arm, staring at me! I'm sure she was thinking how ridiculous Luna and I were acting in a shop.

I was first to speak, "Ava! Hello. We met at the New Year's Eve party at my brother's, right?"

Ava closed her mouth, then spoke, "Oh, yes. I've heard Harry talk about you often...both of you. How are you Luna?" She finally stopped looking at me displaying everything. I took this opportunity to escape to my dressing room and pull on my street clothes and heels. I decided to buy the blue corset top and black knickers. Even if Ava did see me in it I guess more people would see me in it next week. Plus it made my hair look awesome.

I met up with Luna after bought my outfit. "Where did Ava go?"

"Oh she went to try on her things. She said she is coming with Harry tonight."

My heart fell to the bottom of my stomach. I felt a huge wave of disappointment wash over me. "Oh. Ok."

"Are you alright, Ginny?"

"Yes, fine. Let's pop over to Hermione's. Maybe she needs help with the food or something."

We headed over to Hermione and Ron's flat. I really hoped this party would go smoothly.

Hermione greeted us in a frazzled state. Her hair was super poofy and she had a smudge of flour on her cheek. She was still in jeans and an old quidditch jersey of Ron's. "You two are so early!"

"Not really, Hermione," I gave my favourite sister-in-law a kiss on the cheek missing flour, "We are only 45 minutes ahead of schedule, but we are here to help."

"Thank you! Ron bungled up the shopping. I was busy cleaning the flat, so I sent him out to the market for just four things! That took him over an hour! It ruined my entire schedule. I started dinner an hour later than I originally planned." She lead us into the kitchen as she complained about her husband.

Then she went into leader mode. She proceeded to tell us what was where and what needed what. It took a good ten minutes to get her to stop talking. I finally shoved her into the bathroom and shouted, "We'll figure it out!"

Luna and I worked pretty well in the kitchen. There wasn't a ton to do, really, as Hermione had started most of it. I whipped up a bread pudding for dessert. Luna was cleaning up while I was working. Hermione came out of her bedroom, fresh and put together. She was quickly diverted by a steady stream of guests flooding into Hermione and Ron's flat. I finished the dessert and ushered Luna out with the rest of the guests. They were mostly Ron and Hermione's co-workers and friends from the ministry.

I insisted I could finish cleaning the kitchen. I was putting away a pan in a top cupboard when I heard a voice right behind me. I jumped a good foot, hit my head on the cupboard door, and wheeled around to see Harry standing before me in pressed slacks, oxford shirt, and a tie. I rubbed my forehead while he looked worried, "Are you quite all right? I really didn't mean to startle you. I came in to put this in the icebox." He held up a bottle of wine.

"Fine, fine. How are you doing?" I asked as I closed the cupboard door.

"Well, thanks. What are you doing in here by yourself?" Harry asked as he stuck the bottle in the icebox.

"Hermione needed some help, so I made a dessert and then tidied up the kitchen."

"I could use your help at Grimmauld Place! What are you making?" He inquired with a sexy smile.

"Oh I just threw together a bread pudding. No big deal." I said with a shrug.

Harry argued, "On the contrary, I think that is a big deal."

Ava, the blonde goddess, appeared in the doorway, "What is a big deal?"

I blushed profusely, remembering our last encounter. She probably had bought those outfits for Harry. I suddenly did not feel hungry anymore. "Nothing. Harry was going on about a pudding I made."

Ava smiled, "I'm sure it will be lovely."

Harry smiled back, "Yes, Ginny inherited her culinary skills from Mrs. Weasley."

Ava raised her eyebrows. "High praise indeed!"

I wanted to leave the kitchen but they were blocking the door. I couldn't stop thinking about them together. Her wearing lingerie for Harry.

I stupidly blurted out, "Excuse me, I have to go powder my nose."

I slipped into the bathroom and locked the door behind me. I gave myself a mental peptalk and retouched my lipgloss. I pushed back my shoulders and stalked back into the party. Fuck. I guess I took a long time. Everyone was seated around a long polished table in the dining room. I slid into a chair (the only open one) next to Harry. Ava was on his opposite side. On my other side was some bloke from Hermione's office. I had met him once before...Henry? Hugh? Bugger. I can't remember his name. Looking around, Luna and I (plus Henry/Hugh) were the only single people at the table. Just perfect.

I immediately struck up a conversation with Henry/Hugh, hoping he would give me some sort of clue as to what his name was. I tucked into our first course and between asking Henry/Hugh a slew of questions I couldn't care less about, Harry could hardly get a word in edgewise. Henry/Hugh happened to love to talk about himself.

Hermione asked me to help her serve the main course. As I sat down again, the subject regrettably turned to love lives. Why couples feel the need to make everyone else also be in a couple, I will never know. Luna handled it like a champ. She played it aloof and everyone had no idea if she was or was not seeing anyone by the time they had settled in on me. I was not as lucky.

Henry/Hugh asked about my relationship status first. "And you, Ginny, are you seeing anyone?"

"No, not at present," I replied whilst shoveling food into my mouth.

The smile on his face was unsettling. Clearly I had paid him far too much attention during the first course. Another couple felt nosey and asked me why I was still single being gorgeous and famous and all.

I shrugged, hoping they would leave me alone, "I suppose I don't like the idea of dating strangers. You can never tell who is a good person and who is a stalking fan. Plus sometimes these fans think that quidditch is what I am, what defines me. But I want something deeper than that…" I trail off in the middle of my sentence, clearly having said too much. I drink wine and hope that someone changes topic soon. Harry comes to my rescue...again.

"Speaking of quidditch, how do you expect the draft will turn out?"

I shot him a smile of gratitude and easily talked quidditch with Harry and a few of the other guests (purposefully not looking at Henry/Hugh so I wouldn't give him false hopes).

I helped Ron clear away dinner plates and then served my pudding to everyone in the parlour. Harry and Ava made room for me on the couch and I accepted, hoping to talk quidditch again. Instead he paid me about five compliments on my dessert. I thanked him but I felt a little embarrassed with all of the attention. I mean he had had dessert before. What was the big deal?

I collected a few plates and escaped to the kitchen when Hermione found me, cleaning up again, after dessert. "Ginny, leave those dishes. Get out there and socialize!"

I turned around and wiped my hands on a dish towel, "I don't appreciate you trying to set me up you know."

Hermione looked offended, "How is this a set up?"

I rolled my eyes, "Were you not hoping Henry or Hugh or whatever his name is would ask me out?"

Hermione sighed, "IF he happened to ask you on a date, I would be happy for you. His name is Hugh by the way - you've met him before. He's a nice person. But Ginny, I just think it's time to put yourself out there."

"I take it Luna hasn't spoken to you yet. I am putting myself out there. She and I have been taking seduction classes."

Hermione's jaw hit the floor. "No you're not! What are they about? Just sex?"

I blushed, "No! Dancing, flirting, and next week we are taking boudoir photos in lingerie."

Hermione beamed, "That's great, Ginny! I've been thinking to have some made and give them to Ron -"

I clapped my hands over my ears, "NO! NOT HEARING ABOUT THIS!"

Harry walked in the kitchen to observe me looking like a child, carrying a stack of dessert plates and tea cups. "What is she on about now?" He asked me with a sexy smirk.

Hermione pretended to be very busy wiping off her spotless kitchen countertop.

"Hermione was talking about taking boudoir photos for my brother."

Harry raised his eyebrows as he turned on the water. "Really? Those like where you pose about in your knickers?"

I smiled at Hermione's red face, revenge was sweet. "Yes but you can wear more than just knickers."

Harry handed dishes to me to dry, "Where's the fun in that?"

Now it was my turn to blush, "It would still look plenty sexy if she was wearing lingerie."

Hermione gave an exasperated sigh as she turned on her heel and stalked out of the kitchen.

"She is fun to take the mickey out of."

I nodded. "I wanted to get her back for trying to set me up with Henry...no wait his name is Hugh. That bloke who was too interested in my dating status."

Harry nodded and handed me a tea cup. "Yes quite awful of her to do so. Although I wager most blokes would be quite interested in the same topic, Ginny."

I blushed again. "I think I need to find someone who could handle being around this lot. It's not exactly an easy thing to do."

Harry set the scrub brush on the remaining dishes, "Hmm I think you need someone to talk quidditch with as well. I can't see you with someone who isn't a quidditch fan."

I rolled my eyes as I set the dry teacups back in the cupboards. "You're not trying to set me up with one of your mates, are you Harry?"

Harry dropped a dish in the soapy water before stammering, "No, none of my mates are really quite good enough for you."

I froze on my tip toes trying to process that statement before I lowered myself and began drying the saucers. "Thanks? I guess?"

Ava walked in and broke the awkward silence, "Harry, did you want to work on that project tonight? Dessert was lovely, Ginny. You should teach me how to do that."

Harry turned around and wiped his hands on his trousers. "No, I think we did enough work earlier. Do you need to go back to your office? Do you need me to go with you?"

"I need to fill in and read the nightly news. I'll apparate by myself, thanks. It was lovely seeing you again, Ginny." She went in for a hug. I hugged her back, surprised. She seemed to press her entire body against mine as she did. Her hug lingered.

"It was nice seeing you as well. You can pop over some time if you really want me to show you that dessert, Ava."

"Oh you're too kind. See you round." She turned around and left.

Harry and I turned back to the dishes. Now I felt like I should be nosey. "Why didn't you go with her, Harry?"

"She didn't seem like she wanted me to. Why do you ask?"

I shrugged, "I just thought you would have gone with her." I thought for sure she would be wearing her new underthings for Harry tonight. Perhaps she was saving them for a special occasion.

Ron came into the kitchen. "Are you two coming or not?"

"Coming for what?" I asked as I dried the last saucer.

"For the game of course! We're playing reusable hangman."

Hermione split the guests into two teams. We all took turns guessing letters and coming up with obscure and difficult words to make the other team hang. It was quite fun. Hermione was on my team and I think that is why we won. Who else can compete with her cleverness? After an hour or so, the party started winding down and people started dispersing.

I said goodbye to my brother and sister-in-law."Thank you for having me over, it was nice to get out of my flat." I turned to tug on my coat and noticed Harry was pulling his on as well. He opened the door for me and we found ourselves awkwardly standing in the cold night air.

I broke the awkward silence. "I better get going. We start off-season training soon. We have to travel to some new pitch since...well…" I trail off in the middle of my sentence, not sure where I'm going with it.

Harry frowned slightly. "Right, it's been nice chatting with you, like always." He wrapped his warm, heavenly smelling arms around my small frame. His chin lightly rested on my head. I pulled away first, not wanting to get too used to his embrace.

"Talk to you soon, Harry. Let me know if you want me cook for you again." I smiled up at him through my lowered lashes.

He smiled brightly. Maybe this was working? I shook my hips slightly as I walked away to an apparition point, hoping he was staring at my bum. Maybe it wasn't that serious with Ava if he didn't go home with her? Hey, a girl can dream.

Author's Note: Thanks again to StephanieO and Lady WhiteHaven who helped me revise and edit this chapter! Next chapter will be the much anticipated boudoir photo shoot!