Gina

A/N: Sorry for taking so long, just started a new job and Christmas... Well Christmas can wear anyone out

---------------------------

Chapter 4: Rituals and Virgin Sacrifices

------------------------

It was funny, how something so trivial as putting on your makeup could be so soothing. It was all a part of her ritual. Every time before she got on the stage she would do this. Shower, dry her hair, and pull it back into a ponytail before she sat down in front of her makeup mirror. She would carefully arrange all her makeup before lighting a couple of scented candles and flip on her stereo. Moisturize, dab away the excess. Base, dab away the excess. Eyeliner, smudge. Powder, brush. Rouge, brush. Eye shadow, tone down. Lip liner, lipstick, remove excess, gloss. Mascara. Another lair of mascara. Take of her dressing robe that was protecting her dress. Brush her hair. Check the mirror. Good to go.

She still had about fifteen minutes before her first set. She looked around her dressing room making sure she had blown out all the candles. She picked up the makeup bag and rummaged trough it until she found the small jewelry box she was looking for. She stroked the smooth walnut surface of the box it wasn't very expensive, there were no carvings or decoration on it but to her it was precious. It was one of the few mementos of Ginny Weasley she had kept after transforming into Gina Weston.

She didn't really know why this box was so special; she had left behind a lot of things. Her engagement ring, when Harry had proposed it had been the happiest day of her life. But the ring she had walked away from. Her grandmothers earrings, they had been her first pieces of real jewelry, a memory of one of the few people who had really seen Ginny Weasley. Not just Harry's girlfriend or The Weasley brothers baby sister. But she had left those too. The box was the first thing Ginny had ever bought with her own money, maybe that was why it meant so much to her? It was a symbol of her first act as an adult, as an independent woman.

She opened the box carefully; the black velvet lining was smooth to her touch as she reached for the small diamond hoops. They had been a present from Jack shortly after she had meet him, she had just signed her first record deal and they had been out celebrating when he had given them to her. She had refused at first it wasn't as if they were dating or anything she had felt it was too much to give someone who was just a friend. Jack had told her they were an air loom from his mother who had passed away three years ago. She had wanted him to give them to the woman he married. Ginny had been flabbergasted; she had never thought of him in a romantic way, she thought of him more like a best friend or a brother. When she had told him this he had laughed. "Sweet Ginny" he had said, "I feel the same way about you." She had pushed the box across the table and told him he should keep it and do what his mother had suggested. Give them to his future wife. That was the night he told her he was gay. That was the night Ginny finally let her past go and settled into her new life. Before that she had always considered going back, someday. But as Jack had told her. Sometimes you have to let go of your past and create a new life. He had let go of the future his mother had dreamed of. She had let go of the ghosts that haunted her. That night they had slept together in Jacks apartment. Cradled in each others arms they had grieved the futures they could never have, and the pasts they had let go. It was unreal to be back here, in the mother-country so to speak after she had sworn never to return...

Gina, two more minutes, all right?

Ginny gave a wave over her shoulder to tell the girl she had heard her before rising from the couch and walking to the mirror. She carefully put the diamond hoops in her ears and smiled. They were her good luck charms. She turned off the light and walked out the door shutting it quietly behind her.

She needed to focus on her mission, on her job. With a bit of luck Malfoy would be busy mingling with the crowd and she would be able to get a look at his office. Maybe that would shed some light over the situation.

-----------------

Draco was bored. Bored and tired. He hadn't gotten much sleep lately, not since Gina Weston had decided to sweep into his life. There was just something about her, the way she would smile and laugh with the crew and then, when she thought no one was watching, he would see such sadness in her. She reminded him of his schooldays for some strange reason. Maybe she reminded him of his younger self. Always hiding her true feelings behind her façade. Only showing the world what she thought they wanted to see.

Why was he getting so sentimental all the sudden? He shrugged the thought away. So what if Gina Weston had a secret? All that mattered to him was that she pulled customers to the club. He didn't care if she had ghosts hidden in her past, it was none of is business, right?

Anyway, he had a roomful of people waiting to greet him. The club was filling up, and the mysterious Miss Weston would soon be making her way on to the stage. He checked his appearance in front of the mirror before exiting the office.