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"Ugh!" Ginny groaned as she rolled out of her bed onto the hard basement floor. That was one heck of a night last night She thought as she looked for something to charm away her hangover. What happened last night anyways? I must have been really wasted. As she touched her eye, she remembered part of the night with a sudden jolt of pain. Oh ya. She thought Damn police! She had been at a club the night before, The Cheshire Cat, and the muggle police showed up to shut it down because things were getting a bit too wild. She had been so hammered when they'd got there that she resisted being taken out of the bar and gotten punched in the face by one of the cops. I'm lucky they didn't take me downtown, I was drunk and underaged. I thought I promised I wouldn't do this stuff when I moved out of the house..., she thought as she gathered her things and headed to the bathroom. Looking in the grimy mirror she saw blood on her eyebrow. Damn cop she thought, rage coursing through her veins, bloody well almost took my piercing out! She had gotten her eyebrow pierced the week before. The others she had gotten at various points through the summer, most done magically, except the one in her nose, which she'd gotten done by a muggle she'd met through her morning job. As she got ready she noticed a numb feeling on her left shoulder. What the… she thought as she noticed the tattoo I must have been really tanked last night she ran her finger along the tattoo which was that of a green serpent wrapped around a blazing scarlet red rose which seemed to have a life of it's own. I must have ended up in Diagon Alley too, that nice little tattoo place next to Fred and George's shop, nice work… Her thought trailed off as she finished getting ready, magicking her now shorter, but equally as blazing red hair, up in it's now common place set up, nice blazing red spikes. Thank goodness there are so many wizarding delinquents in this house, I can not deal with another underage use of magic warning! She put on her spikes and chains. Checking over her make-up and look one final time she glanced over at the clock. Ten o'clock! Darn it! I was supposed to be at work ten minutes ago. she shrugged it off, Joel will understand. As she grabbed her wand and ran out of her apartment she heard Ms Knightly, her landlady call after her.
"Don't forget, Virginia, your rent's up tomorrow, you said something about going to school"
"Yes of course Ms Knightly! I'll be out by eight!" she called back.
As she paid the tram fare she thanked Merlin that her father and Harry had taught her so much about muggle stuff. As she got off the tram and stepped into the record store she checked over her attire once more. Her black top had large rips in it that were covered in fishnet and her pants were lowrise but very baggy trailing behind her like a pool of black blood. The vibrant red lipstick added a bit more colour. Her freckles had all but disappeared, but her hair was more shockingly red than ever, her eyes were a deep emerald that rivaled even Harry's.
"Hey Flame," Joel, her boss, called from the back, "finally decided to show up, eh? You know, work begins at 9:50, not 10:50." Poking his head out from the back, he noticed the scrape above her eye, "Nice war-wound, partying with the cops again?"
"Ya, busted up the cat last night" she replied as she tossed her knapsack in the back, "It's my last day you know, going back to school tomorrow."
"Good for you, all the more reason to get your ass in gear and help me back here. At least I know you won't be roaming the streets anymore."
"Not till next summer anyhow."
"Ya well, you just take care, k Flame?"
"mm hm." She answered as she got to working in comfortable silence. The door rang as a customer entered. "Good morning, welcome to Tune Town, how can I help you" She said instinctively. Then she looked at the customer, he had long silvery blonde hair, fixed at the back of his head in a ponytail. Draco Malfoy? she thought What is he doing in here?
The boy obviously didn't recognize her. "I'm looking for some good music. Something… Loud" he drawled lazily, obviously not wanting to be there, "but with good vocals, I can't stand the screaming in most mug- *ahem* music today"
What does Draco want with muggle music? How does he even listen to it? Isn't he the pureblood-down-with-muggles poster boy? Well he doesn't seem to want to be here, maybe he has to run an errand for someone She wondered eyeing Malfoy carefully. She nearly scoffed at the last thought, even if that were possible, he wouldn't, he has servants to do that. "Loud but with good vocals? Well there's a band from the U.S. called Evanescence that I'm sure you'd like."
"Whatever," he replied, "what's your name?" he asked quizically
"Gin…"Damn! Can't be telling him that now!She regained her composure, "They call me Flame, it's the hair, you know."
"Ah, they call me Draco. I thought you looked familiar, but I don't know anyone called Flame" looking at her hair.
"You do now." Ginny said trying to conceal a smile at her deviousness.
"I guess so"
"So you want that CD, or not?"
"Ya sure, I'll have to pay cash, if that's ok." He said, looking a little confused
"Whatever floats your boat Mal- Draco"
"What did you almost call me?" Draco said seeming a bit taken aback.
"uh… Malcom, sorry guess you remind me of someone else too." She said quickly covering her error. He'll find out tomorrow on the train or at school. She argued with herself why make a façade you know will break? Unless he's transferred to Dumstrang… She turned around to put away some other CDs she had in her hand.
"Nice tattoo, Flame. It looks almost like it's alive" *sigh* Gryfindor and Slytherin colours, school starts tomorrow, I'll need to get supplies wonder if I'll need anything new for going to… did the snake just slither? It's like magic!Draco thought.
"Um, thanks Draco." She replied realizing the fishnet covered hole in her shirt let the shimmering image shine through. Darn, if he figures out I'm a witch right now he'll realize I'm just Ginny, the Weasel's little sister, the-brat-who-lived wanna-be girlfriend! He handed her the cash for the CD. "Here's your change." She said, handing him some coins, gazing intently at the floor.
"Ok. See you around Flame."
"See you Draco."Draco just had a civil conversation with me, a Weasley, but who he thinks is a muggle, this is weird!
[A/N: Nothing belongs to me save the plot, the stores JK doesn't write about and the people who she also doesn't write about, Ginny, Draco and anyone else from the books belong to her. So far… that's everyone except Joel and Ms Knightly.]