Yes, it took a long time. Yes' I'm sorry about that. And yes, still no Ginny/Hermione action, sorry about that too, but it just felt right to write this chapter. It's also a bit longer than usual. Read, review, and most importantly, enjoy! :)

As she and Pansy were getting ready, Ginny couldn't really stay focused. She was very excited about the party, being eager to experience how Slytherins liked to have fun, but that wasn't the thing that kept drawing her attention.

The older girl had two dresses laid out on the bed, having yet to decide who would wear which one, while she stood in front of them clad only in a set of very revealing black lacy underwear. Ginny's eyes kept being drawn to her figure even though the redhead was trying not to look, and she just couldn't figure out why.

It's not like she had a problem with nudity or anything. She and the girls used to shower together after Quidditch all the time and she was never bothered. She could remember their muscular, toned bodies quite into detail, actually... But so what? All girls checked out their competition a bit, right? She was quite positive Katie Bell had been hitting on Harry at the time, and, well, Harry...

Ginny got her wandering thoughts back on track and looked at the two dresses, purposefully keeping Pansy out of her field of vision. One was a Victorian-gothic masterpiece in a few shades of purple with black lace finishes while the other consisted of a beautiful, dark grey and silver corset and a floor length skirt in a pale red colour.

Personally, she thought the raven-haired Slytherin would look stunning in the darker piece, for it would enhance her mysterious aura of dangerous beauty. Ginny also thought that the purple would clash horribly with her own fiery hair, which is why she was much fonder of the other dress, which had just the right balance of light and dark colours.

Apparently, Pansy was thinking much along those same lines, because in a matter of seconds, she announced that she was taking the left piece and Ginny the right one. With eyes full of wonder, the younger girl gazed at the masterpiece of a gown laid out before her, not even noticing that her scantily clad companion had taken to slowly putting her dress on.

"Ginny, can you help me out?"

The redhead tore herself out of her daze and turned towards Pansy, who was offering her her bare back where black satin strips hung, waiting to be laced up to fasten the dress.

Feeling extremely nervous for Merlin knows which reason, Ginny took the strips in her hands and slowly started to trace them through their holes, creating a criss-cross pattern and trying to avoid any contact with the older girl's skin. Somehow, it felt way too intimate doing this for Pansy, even though it was actually a very simple gesture. The thought of being so close to her when she wasn't fully clothed made her feel uneasy, but she'd be damned if she knew why.

With shaking fingers, Ginny drew the fabric through the last hole and finished lacing her companion's dress up.

"There."

Turning and smoothing down the folds in the dress, Pansy gave her a great big smile and motioned to the other gown still lying on the bed.

"Do you want me to do you now?"

Blushing furiously at the statement, Ginny was at a loss of words. Why in the seven hells am I reacting like this? We are just helping each other get dressed!

Simply nodding in reply to the older girl's offer, she started taking off her clothes, trying not to think about the fact that the Slytherin was right there, watching her. Stripping down to her plain white bra and knickers, she was about to reach for the dress when a voice stopped her dead in her tracks.

"Oh come on, Ginny! You can't wear that underneath!"

Wide-eyed, she turned to the entrance to the room where she found Malfoy leaning on the doorframe with a scandalised expression on his face.

"Seriously, girl. It's a crime to wear something as plain under a gown that beautiful. I'm sure Pans here can lend you something more... Appropriate."

Grinning at his dark-haired friend, the blond closed the door behind him and headed in the direction of the girl's closet. He rummaged through the drawers while whistling to himself, Ginny still staring at his back completely gobsmacked. In a few seconds he straightened back up, a lacy bra and thong hanging from his fingers in a dark grey colour that was very similar to the bodice of her dress.

"You're a B, right?" he motioned to his chest and handed her the underwear with a cheeky smile.

"Well, my work here is done. You both look absolutely stunning, by the way. Ta-ta!" Blowing a kiss in their direction, he disappeared back to where he came from.

"What the hell?", Ginny looked over to the older girl. "Does he do this often? Don't you feel violated, him barging in like that?"

Pansy just giggled and motioned for the redhead to go change her unmentionables behind the dressing screen.

"Why would I feel violated?" she continued the conversation while her companion was hidden behind the barrier.

"Gee, I don't know. Maybe because you could be half naked like I was just now?" She wasn't ashamed of how she looked stripped down to her undies, as a matter of fact, you could say she was pretty damn proud of her body. That didn't mean she wanted to show it off to every guy that dropped by the room, though.

Pansy's laughter could be heard from the other side of the screen. "But it's just Draco… What are you stressing about? You don't feel violated with me around, why would you with him?"

The redhead chose not to comment on the part about her, since she couldn't even figure out herself why she felt uncomfortable in the older girl's not-entirely-clothed presence, so she focused on the first part of her answer.

"Why would I stress about him? Well, I don't know, because he's a guy?!"

At this, the other Slytherin burst into laughter like Ginny had never heard from her before. Having just fastened the clasp of her brassiere, she walked around the dressing screen to see what the hell Pansy was laughing so hard about. The older girl was slowly calming down, but her eyes glistened slightly from tears unshed.

"Of course you don't know… Kitten, Draco doesn't swing your way… Or mine, really."

It took a few seconds for the redhead's confused brain to comprehend those words, but once she did, her mouth fell so open she was pretty sure her jaw was almost on the floor. Draco friggin Malfoy is gay? You have got to be kidding me…

"Oh Merlin, you should see your face right now, Ginny. I wish I had a camera!"

It didn't seem half as funny to Ginny, though. In fact, not funny at all.

How could Malfoy be gay? Homosexuality wasn't something wizards often talked about and it was extremely frowned upon. You didn't just waltz into a room and go: "Hey guys, I'm gay! Drinks on everyone!" People didn't get executed for being homosexual anymore, but they were viewed as unnatural and disturbed.

So how could Pansy say with such ease that Draco liked boys? That was like she would have just said that he was mentally handicapped like it wasn't a big deal. It was even more shocking to Ginny because both the dark-haired girl and the blond git were from influential, pure blooded wizarding families that were known for up keeping ancient traditions like arranged marriages and such. Them being so open about homosexuality was just something she couldn't comprehend; not with her own family being very conservative about the subject.

"You aren't joking, are you? He's actually gay?" She had to ask, just to be sure and Pansy's face now dropped the smile.

"Do you have a problem with that?"

The redhead was shocked to hear the underlying threat that was suddenly in the girl's voice. She had heard her use that menacing tone before, but it was a completely different experience when it was directed at her. It chilled Ginny to the bone.

"N-no, no, that's not what I meant at all!" she hurried to apologise, because even though she hadn't stated it, inside, she felt anything but acceptance towards the idea and hated herself for it. It just nudged at something lodged deep in her subconscious that she was very much unwilling to face. "I'm merely shocked. I mean, wow, I can't say I've ever met a gay person before… Umm, how long has he been this way?"

Even though the dangerous darkness now disappeared from Pansy's eyes, the older girl still looked at her with suspicion as she motioned for her to come closer and picked up the dress.

"Well, he started being aware of it very early on, probably around second or third year. We were already very close then and when he realised he would always get turned on watching his teammates play Quidditch, or later on, share the shower with them, he stopped denying it to himself. He was shocked, naturally, but we talked a lot about it and agreed that there was nothing he could do about it." The girl sighed and started fastening the clasps at the back of Ginny's dress that she had pulled on in the meantime.

"In fourth year, we started pretending to date to keep up his cover of your usual horny teen boy. It was easily believable, what with him looking so delicious," she giggled and finished with the other girl's dress. "And then, Blaise came into the picture. But that's a story for another day!"

Smiling at Ginny, she looked her up and down and nodded approvingly. "I knew this one would fit like a glove," she winked and pushed her towards the floor length mirror so she could see for herself.

It did indeed, just like Pansy had said, fit like a second skin. The corset hugged the humble curve of her breast, making it look much more prominent than usual and then dipped inward at her smaller waist before flaring out again at the hip, then finally falling down to the floor in rich waves of red fabric. It looked stunning and Ginny had to admit that it had been a long time since she felt as beautiful.

Pansy joined her side before the mirror and she too looked positively breath-taking. They exchanged grinning looks, both making a beeline for the vanity to get their makeup done and completely leaving the heavy conversation about Draco's sexuality behind. For the time being, anyway.