Sweet Bondage

Chapter 3: The Beginning

"We're through, Gin. I think I have all the materials I need," Colin said, putting down his camera and smiling at the young woman before him.

"Finally, I thought this day would never end." She caught the robe Colin threw at her and put it on over the suit she was wearing. "What are you using these photos for again?" she asked as she took a peek at the bikini that was now covered by the thick terry cloth.

"Some American publication you don't know," Colin replied dismissively. "It's a muggle one so there shouldn't be any problem. Anyway, this should be the last one 'til that Elle spread. You ready for that?"

"What's to prepare? You always tell me what to do anyway."

Colin tilted his head and grinned. "True." His eyes suddenly twinkled mischievously. "How about tonight, then? You ready for that?"

Ginny groaned and her shoulders sagged wearily. "Don't remind me. I've been trying to convince myself there's no need to panic, but guess what? I still hyperventilate when I think about it!" She picked up her gear and started for the ladies to change. "And Dana insisted I wear the dress she picked out especially for me, her words not mine, and won't let me see it! I shudder to think of the amount of cloth missing in the 'ensemble' she had in mind." She disappeared behind the door and emerged a few minutes later dressed in a white spaghetti strapped knit shirt, faded denim jeans and thong sandals. "I mean, have you seen her taste in clothes?" she continued her rant. "I'd be lucky to escape with my virtue intact should I ever decide to do a Shaw makeover."

Colin laughed. "You're awful! Dana would never do anything to harm you. Much," he finished, dodging the fist she threw at him.

"Git. I'll get you for that," Ginny threatened, shaking her fist at the laughing Colin.

"Ok, ok, bygones. I just couldn't help myself. It's not everyday I'd get to see Ginevra 'hard-to-faze' Weasley so rattled. Who knows it'll only take a Dana Shaw to shake you in your boots." Colin raised a brow, his lips quirking in suppressed mirth.

Ginny gave Colin a dirty look and the finger.

Colin gasped in mock horror. "Ginevra Weasley! What will your mother think?! I ought to put you across my knee and spank the living daylights out of you."

Ginny flipped her hair at him and strutted away, hips swaying provocatively. "You can try, Colin," she threw back at him, "but we both know you don't have the balls to do it." Her blasé retort ended in a shriek when Colin grabbed her around the middle and carried her over his shoulders caveman style.

"I don't, do I? Are you sure about that?"

"I take it back! I take it back!" Ginny pleaded, squirming. "C'mon, Colin, I think my lunch is eager to make an appearance right about now!"

Ginny was set on her feet so fast it took her several seconds to realize she was upright again. She blew hair off her face and swallowed convulsively.

"That was nasty, Colin."

"Serves you right, brat," Colin replied. "Now get ready already, I don't want to be here all day. Got to prepare for tonight remember?"

Ginny sighed. "Like I'm likely to forget."

"Cheer up, hon," Colin said, "it won't be too bad. Just think about it this way: it'll be 364 days before they can con you into doing something you don't like again. Between now and then, you have all the time in the world to think of ways to make them pay for putting you through this. Sounds like a plan?"

Ginny perked up right away. "Yeah."

"See you tonight then? At Dana's right?"

"Right. See yah."

And with that, they both disapparated.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

"Gin, get out here already!"

Ginny Weasley cringed at the impatient tone calling for her. It was not to be borne, really. It had taken her nearly the rest of the week to get ready for what her friends had in store for her, and she was still not ready. She would have gladly skipped this day just so could settle her nerves again.

She didn't really know why she had such a bad feeling about tonight, all she could surmise was that something was going to happen and she was powerless to stop it. The horsing around she and Colin did that afternoon took her mind off her panic for a while, but once dark slowly set in, all her fears started battling for supremacy again. She was not one to rely on divination; still, it seemed as though fate was playing a game with her. She had been so preoccupied with trying to figure out what has her so apprehensive that all through the shoot with Colin, she had to constantly ask the same question all over again and still could not get the presence of mind to remember her friend's answer. She was normally a stickler for details, and more than once she had been told that she had a vast capacity for remembering ambiguous facts; now she was just stomped. And she hated the feeling.

"Ginny!"

She jumped at the nearness of the voice, as though it was just outside the room she was currently getting ready in. Just as she was about to reply, the door was flung open and in walked Dana, impatience clearly written on her pretty face.

"What's taking so long? I thought you'd skipped out on us." Her eyes took in Ginny, approval clearly evident as she beheld the redhead before her.

Ginny tugged on the bodice of the dark green dress she was wearing, swearing to herself when the material refused to cover her bosom.

"I thought about it, believe me. Tell me again why I have to wear this dress?"

"Because you look fantastic in it!" she answered grinning. "You look positively scrumptious. Stop fidgeting!" she admonished as Ginny once again attempted to drag the dress to areas better left covered.

"I can't help it!" she complained bitterly. "There's not enough material in this dress to cover a 2 year old. I feel naked!"

"That's the idea, silly. Don't complain, you look gorgeous. Green has always been your color."

Ginny glared at the other girl, but inwardly she had to agree. The color managed to throw into prominence her pale, translucent skin and dark, auburn hair. Made of material so slinky she didn't have a name for it, it hugged her body and accentuated every curve she had. The slim halter top clasped at her nape with a tiny silver buckle, it dipped in front and met just below her breasts, leaving her shoulders and back bare. She had to forego wearing a bra. The dress tapered over her abdomen before flaring over her hips, ending just above her knees. What was worse was that there would be no material to cover her back; it was as bare as the day she was born. The dress dipped low and only began again above the curve of her butt, sitting dangerously low on it; it was a wonder her knickers weren't showing. She had been quite upset when she had seen what she had to wear that night; the only consolation she had felt was when she saw that the dress was long enough to cover at least some part of her. That feeling quickly turned to disgust when she had put the dress on and found out that though it was long enough to cover her legs; it had high splits running the front of both thighs, ending dangerously near her crotch. She was more horrified to note that there was nothing to conceal her legs every time she took a step. Bloody hell, she wore more material to bed than this thing.

Ginny didn't let up glaring at her devious friend. "Whose bright idea was it to make me wear this sorry excuse for a dress? I look like a tart! Are you freaks trying to get me raped!"

Dana grinned cheekily. "Mine, of course. Who else would have enough of a fashion sense among your friends? And you don't look like a tart, you look like every man's dream dessert come to life!"

Before Ginny could snap at her for her smart-alecky response, three more people pushed their way into the room and started gushing at Ginny.

"Oh, Gin, you look amazing!" Kimberley.

"I'm so jealous! I wish I had your legs." Allyson.

"I hate you, you know that! You're so bloody gorgeous; the rest of us would look like hags beside you." Tara.

Ginny felt like groaning. She had a powerful headache coming on and her friends weren't helping any.

"Enough!" Dana finally halted all proclamations of admiration from the three girls. "We should go; we don't want to be too late."

Allyson rolled her eyes dramatically. "D, it's only nine; we don't want to be too early. And besides, Ginny hasn't any make up on yet."

Their victim started backing away as soon as four pairs of eyes turned on her and started coming at her. "C'mon guys, you know I don't like make-up. It makes me look like Pansy Parkinson on a bad day."

Four smirks were all she received before hands grabbed her and proceeded to attack her face with brushes and sticks. Her hair was pulled and twisted and prodded until she was sure she had gone bald. It felt like forever before the four girls were finally satisfied with their handiwork and stepped back from her.

"There. All finished," Tara declared, looking smugly at Ginny. "Why don't you take a look?" she urged, pulling and pushing her towards the mirror.

Ginny stared at her reflection, surprised. Oddly enough, it wasn't all bad. Her hair was twisted on top of her head, secured by a silver serpent clasp, with little tendrils strategically dangling to emphasize the long and smooth column of her neck. Surprisingly, there wasn't much make-up on her face, just a touch of color on her eyes and cheeks, and a pink sheen on her lips. She looked good, if she had to say so herself. Almost pretty.

"We didn't put too much color for your make-up, you look so much better with less," Allyson was saying.

"You should knock 'em dead, Gin," Dana said excitedly.

Ginny smiled at her friends through the mirror. They really weren't too bad, if they could just get it out of their heads that she wasn't interested in being set-up. "Thank you, you guys. I know you just want me to enjoy tonight and I'm sorry if I've been giving you so much grief about it."

"Nah," Kimberley said. "Don't worry about it. We have every intention of snagging a gorgeous wizard for ourselves anyway. So don't you go worrying your pretty little head about it."

"Same old Kimberley, always have an ulterior motive to everything, do you?" teased Tara, winking at Ginny.

"No more than you, my dear, no more than you," shot back Kimberley, smiling cheekily.

"Shall we then?" announced Dana, gesturing for the door. "Colin's been waiting for ages for us to get down, and you know he's not a patient man."

Ginny took a deep breath before nodding. "Let's get this over with."

And with that, five witches filed out of the bedroom to meet with their wizard escort for the night.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Ginny and her party apparated outside of a crowded building with muted lights overhead, flashing the name of the club. There was a very long queue in front of a cordoned off area, being guarded by 2 behemoths of wizards who looked ready to make a snack of anybody who dared cross the threshold uninvited. Already, Ginny felt relieved that there was very little likelihood they'd get passed this guard and might just have to go home. Her hope was short lived however, when she was pushed to the front, barely keeping herself from falling flat on her face. As she turned to bite off whomever's head it was that pushed her off, she was dismayed to note that she had reached the front of the line and was now standing in front of the guards. They really were giants, she thought, as she had to tilt her head to look up at them. Before she could open her mouth to say anything at all, one of them was already unlatching the chain that separated the line from the club.

Several groans and protests erupted from the queue as Ginny was once again pushed forward by her friends. Never in her life has she been manhandled so. She faced her companions before they could pass through the elegant double doors of the club and fixed them with a death glare.

"What the hell was that back there?" she fairly snarled, her arms crossed across her chest, one foot tapping aggressively as she waited for their explanation.

There were identical sheepish looks on all their faces, not one meeting her eyes. They seemed to have found the wall and the ceiling extremely fascinating pieces of art. Ginny was having none of it.

"Well?" she demanded fiercely, effectively barring their entrance to the club.

Dana gave her a tentative look. "Well, Gin, you see, um, the thing is, it's like this - " she trailed off, looking imploringly at the other members of their party.

"A complete sentence would be helpful right about now," Ginny said sarcastically, tapping her foot furiously fast.

Tara picked up the gauntlet. "What Dana's trying to say, Gin, is that you were out ticket to getting in." She sneaked a glance at the fuming redhead before looking away again. "You see, it's very hard to get past those giant butlers, they're very discriminating. They like extremes, you see. Extremely rich, extremely popular, extremely powerful, and in your case, extremely beautiful."

"You mean to tell me," Ginny hissed, her eyes flashing dangerously, "is that the only reason you decided to take me here is so you could use me as your passes!" Similar cringes and grimaces confirmed her deduction. Ginny had to close her eyes and count to ten to calm down. When that didn't work, she proceeded to count up to twenty. Finally, when she opened her eyes, she had recovered enough of her calm to express herself eloquently to her friends.

"There was really no call for you to deceive me like this. Why didn't you just tell me?"

Deceived by her soft voice, Allyson explained. "You wouldn't have agreed to come, Gin, we know you. And we didn't think you'd take it so bad; we just wanted you to have fun before you get all serious with your life. You're only young once, you know, live a little."

Ginny shook her head in disbelief. "And what if your plan had gone awry? What if that giant out there refused us admittance? How were you all so sure I could get you in?"

Kimberley seemed to have regained her courage as she answered. "We didn't really think about it. I mean, there wasn't really any doubt you could get in, and take us with you in the process. Like Tara said, they only allow entrance to the more beautiful witches or wizards, and you're the best looking witch I've seen in a very long time."

Ginny refused to blush at the unintentional compliment Kimberley had given her and sighed.

"I hate that you had to use me like this, but since we're already here, we might as well go in now." Four faces brightened quickly as they scrambled to open the double doors leading to the Snake's den. Ginny detained Colin with a hand on his arm, allowing the girls to go in without them.

As soon as the doors closed again, Ginny faced Colin. "Why didn't you tell me what their plans were, Colin?"

The wizard shook his head reluctantly. "I wanted to, Gin, believe me. I knew how you'd react. But I also realized that they were right. Ah, ah," he said, wagging a finger at her, silencing her protest. "You can't deny that you're far too serious for your own good. I know I haven't exactly been a help, what with my occupying most of your time with photo shoots and what-not, so I thought why not? This is just one night. What could possibly happen tonight that'll drastically change your future of becoming the youngest healer in a century? Aha, is that a smile I see?" Colin exclaimed exaggeratedly. "C'mon, let's go inside before that smile becomes history. I have made it my mission tonight to get you pissed so I could have my wicked way with you."

That was how they entered the Snake Pit, Ginny laughing raucously and Colin looking at her lasciviously. Both of them failed to notice a pair of icy gray eyes which took in Ginny's exquisite form before entering a side entrance marked 'Personnel Only'.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Ginny and Colin joined their friends at a corner booth after weaving their way through a throng of wildly gyrating bodies. At some point, Ginny almost stepped on a couple lying on the floor doing something Ginny did not want to think about at all. And she thought she'd had her dose of shock for the night.

Sliding into the booth beside Tara, she heaved a relieved sigh. "Now I've really seen everything," she declared, looking around the club, or what she could see of it anyway.

"What?" Allyson asked curiously.

"I mean, this place is just unbelievable," she said earnestly. "Who knew you could do that in a public place?" she asked, gesturing at a couple groping each other like there was no tomorrow. Ginny was pretty sure something else was going on there as the witch ground her lower body on the wizard's lap. "I mean, honestly. Do we really have to witness how one go about populating the wizarding world?"

The other girls snickered at Ginny's outrage. They knew, of course, that Ginny was a virgin, and have never felt the need to change that particular fact.

"Just ignore them, Gin," Colin advised, amused at the censure in her voice. "I'll go get us a drink."

"I'll take a rain check on that, I'm off to the dance floor," Dana stated, getting up and starting for the crowded dance floor. A chorus of 'me too's' later and Ginny was left at their booth, trying to blend into the darkness. There was no way she was going to get off her butt; she had no intention of showcasing her thighs to the public, thank you very much. She waited for Colin to arrive with their drinks, and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw him coming back her way. She was disappointed when he only deposited her drink and begged off, saying he had to talk to somebody somewhere about something. All that registered with her was that she was effectively abandoned. Huffing indignantly, she took a long sip of her drink, and liked it instantly. What did Colin say this was again, she thought as she took another sip. Iced tea something. Ah, Long Island Iced Tea, she thought, recalling the name Colin had given her. It was pretty good.

Ginny had never been much of a drinker. During her Hogwarts years, she was strictly a one-bottle-butterbeer girl. With two, she would already feel slightly woozy; three left her more than a little tipsy; four had her knocking into walls and abashedly apologizing to it; while five knocked her out for the count.

She finished off her drink a few moments later and motioned for another one to a passing waiter. At least, she thought it was a waiter. Do clubs have waiters, she thought, wondering why she was suddenly feeling so lightheaded and giddy. Huh, must be due to the smoke and the lack of food intake. When her drink arrived, she nursed it this time, not wanting to get pissed, although, to her way of thinking, how could an iced tea get you drunk?

She didn't know how long she sat in their booth before Colin came back. Must not have been long, she had only had two more of the delicious tea after all, and she was feeling very good.

"Hey, Gin, sorry about that. That was Miranda Richardson I talked to back there, you know, from Wizard's Illustrated. She wanted to tell me that they had wanted me to shoot their October Issue with you as cover," Colin explained in a rush. "I had to explain to them that you'd be unavailable for the next few weeks. Took quite a lot of explanation before they finally let it go. Hasn't those four been back yet?" he asked as though only just remembering they had other company.

"Nope," Ginny answered, shaking her head emphatically.

"Figures. C'mon, let's dance." Colin grabbed her hand and pulled her off her seat. Now, ordinarily, Ginny would have stuck to her vow not to do anything that could remotely cause her embarrassment, but after the four tall glasses of the tea, she was too sloshed to care. She allowed Colin to bring her to the center of the dance floor and promptly wrapped her arms around his neck as soon as they started dancing. Strangely enough, Ginny was a great dancer, another thing that set her apart from her brothers. Her body moved in perfect rhythm to the music, her sexuality made all the more obvious by the dress. Colin complimented her very well, being a great dancer himself. They moved together effortlessly, Ginny enjoying the exhilaration of movement, not noticing nor caring the appreciative looks being directed her way. Colin, for his part, enjoyed having a partner that knew how to dance and that's it. He wasn't too worried about the way those other wizards were assessing Ginny, he knew they would never have a chance with her. Not unless they had white blonde hair and icy gray eyes.

They danced for quite a while, alternating from fast to slow tunes, neither caring that they were the envy of several people. When finally they returned to their booth, Ginny had danced away most of her tipsiness, laughing easily with Colin. Allyson and Kimberley were back at their booth, but both Tara and Dana were suspiciously still absent.

"Hey guys, where's D and T?" asked Colin suspiciously.

Allyson grinned slyly. "Gone. They met these two gorgeous wizards and now they're off probably to snog. And then some."

Ginny snorted. "You mean shag right?"

Kimberley gasped in mock outrage. "Ginevra Weasley! I'm shocked! I ought to wash that mouth of yours with soap." Then she giggled.

"I wasn't born yesterday, you know; just because I've never done it doesn't mean others don't. I'm more surprised you two haven't found somebody yourselves."

Allyson grinned. "Well, now that you mention it, we do have to cut our evening short. We promised to meet with our own find in ten minutes. We were just waiting for you two to get back to tell you we were taking off."

Ginny sighed. "I just had to be right." She shook her head at the two girls ruefully. "Go. I wouldn't want you blaming me if you missed your date."

"Thanks, Gin." Allyson and Kimberley said in unison before apparating with a loud crack.

"We better call it a night too, Gin, it's getting late," Colin said, glancing at his wrist watch.

"I didn't know it had gone so late already," Ginny said wonderingly, wondering where the time had gone.

"Should we apparate together?" inquired Colin as he helped her stand.

Ginny hesitated. "Um, you go ahead. I think I'll just floo back to Dana's. I'm not sure those teas agreed with me. I don't want to get splinched or anything."

Colin had no cause to worry; Ginny had always been a very sensible girl, more so now that she was an adult.

Ok then, I'll see you next week; I should have the pictures ready by then." And with a kiss on her forehead, Colin disappeared too.

Ginny wandered over to the bar to ask where she could use a floo and slowly made her way to the direction the bartender had indicated. Along the way, she had to refuse numerous invitations thrown at her, from the innocent to the more decadent. She had to sigh in relief once she reached the end of the corridor, the turn of which would lead her to the much coveted fireplace.

However, before she could make the turn, strong hands grabbed her elbows and stilled her movements. Irritated at whoever it was that waylaid her; she looked up to give the fellow a piece of her mind. Having to look up, in itself, was unusual since with her height, she usually can look any man straight in the eye. What shocked her even more was that she knew those eyes she was looking into. She knew of only one person who possessed those gray eyes: Draco Malfoy.