Gina

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Chapter Two: Rome wasn't built in a day.

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"Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid." She banged her head into the wall and repeated it one more time. "Stupid."

Ginny had just arrived back at her hotel room after spending the last three hours doing her initial sound check at Malfoy's club. Obviously not to happy about her own performance Ginny plopped down on the bed.

"Mr. Malfoy, it's a pleasure to meet you, or how do you do. Hell even: Whoa there, you +sex-muffin would have been better. Stupid girl. You were supposed to get close to him. Not insult him and then imply he had a sexually transmitted decease. Stupid." Ginny paused her rant to catch her breath; then looked accusingly into the mirror hanging next to the bed. "It's all your fault." She said to herself.

She lay back on her bed, staring into the ceiling. She didn't even understand it herself; it wasn't as if he had been really men or nasty towards her. Well, not more than what was generally expected from a Malfoy. That man just grated her nerves, a lot. It was so unfair; he was supposed to get fat, or bald, or....well something. Draco had been fairly good looking at Hogwarts, she could have dealt with that, now he was... well sex-on-a-stick was a good way to put it. Ginny huffed as she dragged herself off the bed. Well Draco Malfoy might look like the second coming for all she cared. She had a job to do, and once she had been damn good at it too. She could do it again. She had to.

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Draco Malfoy was well on his way to become drunk. After his little meeting with Miss Weston he had retreated into his office along with a bottle of Ogden's finest. He didn't know what was upsetting him about the lovely Miss Weston, but there was something. It was as if he knew her from somewhere but at the same time he didn't, he knew that didn't make much sense, but there you have it. There was something wrong with that girl, Draco just knew it. He sighed and poured himself another Ogden. He had listened to the girls singing from inside his office, although he didn't especially like the girl he had to admit she had the voice of an angel.

The serpent was split into several different areas; Miss Weston was hired to entertain in the lounge, the section of the club reserved for VIP's and the more adult clientele. At the time it had seemed as a good idea to have a Jazz singer in the lounge, now Draco wasn't so sure. The Lounge was also where he would spend most of his time. Oh well it was too late for regrets now. The invitations had all been sent for the grand opening. Hell even the Minister of Magic would be there along with all the other rich and famous young witches and wizards who had received an invitation. Draco smiled at the thought, the club hadn't even opened yet and people where begging to be put on the guest list. Ahh the sweet smell of success... And money.

Very few people knew that Draco's parents had spent most of their money on "The Cause," as they called it. Or as Draco had put it when he found out; "That-no-good-son-of-a-bitch-who-is-probably-on the-Riviera-right-now-spending-my-god-damn-money", aka Voldemort. After his parents death in his sixth year Draco had used the remaining money to pay his tuition to Hogwarts, when the war had erupted Draco had left for France where he had discovered that he actually had a talent for business. He had started out as a Manager for a Parisian nightclub that he had in time bought and turned into one of the hot spots. As the years passed he had expended and now owned more than 15 different clubs in Paris, London and Rome. He had put a lot and time and money into the opening of The Serpent, this club was going to be the jewel in his crown.

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When Ginny arrived at the club the next afternoon Draco was nowhere to be found, she had hoped to get a moment so that she could apologize for the previous night. Not that she wanted to, the little ferret had deserved it all and more, however she figured her mission might become a tad more successful if they didn't try to kill one another on sight.

Instead she and the crew finished the sound check and started going trough her performance for the following night. Since she and the band hadn't really had a chance to rehearse it was looking to become a very long night. She was going to do three sets each consisting of five different songs, that meant they where going to rehearse 15 different songs in one night. Fortunately the band and backup singers where all experienced and familiar with most of the material, some of them had even seen Gina perform in the past, or owned some of her recordings.

After four hours they had managed to go trough all the songs at least once and they all decided to take a break and grab a bite to eat. That was the reason why Draco found a deserted club when he arrived. For a moment he thought that they had finished, but when he saw all the instruments and music sheets lying on the stage he assumed they where returning shortly. He decided to wait in the office so that he might get a glimpse of what the show would look like.

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Ginny was having a great time with her musicians and crew, especially Ryan Henning, the clubs assistant manager. As it turned out Ryan had a burning passion for muggle music just like Gina. The two of them spent most of their meal in a passionate discussion of one of her shows that Ryan had attended. When they reached the club they got back to rehearsing the songs that had caused them trouble in the first round of rehearsing. Most of the songs Gina were performing where old standards like; 'can't take my eyes off you' and 'I say a little prayer'. These were classics in the muggle and wizard world alike, but some of the newer material was causing them problems. They had just started rehearsing 'Rome wasn't built in a day', when Draco exited his office.

They were laughing, that was the first thing he noticed, they were all laughing. Gina was canter stage dancing and singing with Ryan, and for a second Draco felt a flare of some unknown emotion, jealousy?

Gina threw her head back and laughed so hard that the band stopped playing.

"Okay one more time, from the top. And Ryan stop making faces, I'm trying to be sexy and alluring out there."

Ryan nodded then looked around.

"Sexy? Who?"

Ginny laughed again as the band started playing the song once more.

Draco sat down on one of the seats near the bar and listened to Gina's voice as she started singing. He sat there in the shadows until she had finished, somehow watching her on stage had made him feel more alone than he could ever remember feeling before. When he saw Ryan pull Gina into a mock embrace saying something like; "Oh honey, I never knew you felt that way." He got up and headed for his office once more, unless he was very mistaken he had a bottle of Ogden's there with his name on it. He didn't understand it, he had a good life. At least it had seemed that way, but the lovely Miss Weston had a way of bringing his more unpleasant memories to mind.

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TBC....

A/N: This is the lyrics to the song Gina/Ginny sang on stage:

Rome Wasn't Built In A Day
(Morcheeba)

You and me, were meant to be,
Walking free, in harmony,
One fine day, we'll fly away,
Don't you know that Rome wasn't built in a day,
Hey Hey Hey.

In this day and age it's so easy to stress,
'Cause people act strange and you can never second guess,
In order to love, child, we got to be strong,
I'm caught in the cross fire,
Why can't we get a long.

'Cause you and me, were meant to be,
Walking free, in harmony,
One fine day, we'll fly away,
Don't you know that Rome wasn't built in a day,
Hey Hey Hey.

I'm having a day dream, we are getting somewhere,
I'm kissing your lips and running fingers through your hair,
I'm as nervous as you, bout making it right,
Well we know we were wrong, we can't give up the fight.
(oh no)

'Cause you and me, were meant to be,
Walking free, in harmony,
One fine day, we'll run away,
Don't you know that Rome wasn't built in a day,
hey hey hey

'Cause you and me, were meant to be,
Walking free, in harmony,
One fine day, we'll fly away,
Don't you know that Rome wasn't built in a day,
hey hey hey

You and me (you and me)
Were meant to be (meant to be)
Walking free (walking free)
In harmony (in harmony)
One fine day (one fine day)
we'll run away (we're gonna run away, run away)
Don't you know that Rome wasn't built in a day
*repeat till fades*