A/N Here is chapter 2. I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 2

A Day in the Life, Part 2

Ginny Weasley let out a gruff sigh of annoyance before she took the final drag off her cigarette. The redhead quickly reached into her pocket and grabbed her muggle flip lighter and lit up another, then rubbed her forehead with her hand.

The bartender gave her a quick, annoyed glance before approaching the, sometimes, surly redhead. "Another rough night?" the bartender asked, pouring Ginny her favorite type of vodka. Ginny grunted, which the bartender had come to take as an affirmative since the redhead would never talk about herself; despite coming into his establishment often.

Ginny took the shot and downed it quickly before she motioned for the bartender to fill it up again before he left. She took a moment to breathe in the smoke circling her, think about her day and, more specifically, the mission she had just come back from.

Harry was always sending her and her team on some of the most dangerous missions. After the war, Ginny had taken a position as an Auror under Ron, who was working directly under Harry. Harry and her father, Arthur, were both Kingsley's Deputy Ministers. Arthur helped to run the political side of the ministry with Percy as his assistant and Harry ran the warfare side with Hermione as his assistant.

For a long time, Ginny was a part of her brother, Charlie's, team and her brother George worked with Ron and his team. George quickly showed he was ready for his own team and was promoted to Captain within months. Ginny knew her family wanted her to transfer under her father and get out of danger, but when she refused Ron used his influence to keep her as a member of Charlie's team. That was until Charlie was killed. After that Ron chose one of her team mates to take over Charlie's team, "The Firebreathers." Harry quickly overruled Ron saying that Ginny was much more qualified to run the team and it should go to her.

Ron and Harry had a huge fight about it until Harry officially instated Ginny as the team Captain without Ron's permission. Ginny told herself it didn't matter that neither asked for her opinion, she told herself their recognition of her abilities was enough of a substitute. She didn't need her childhood friend or the warmth of her big brothers' hugs, she could keep herself warm now.

The war-stricken redhead looked down at the drink in her hand, Ginny took a long swig and savored the burn in her throat. She set the glass down, she saw the gloves she almost always wore. They were black leather gloves that had no fingers. Charlie's gloves. The gloves that he wore to help cover the burn scars he had from working with dragons before the war. Thinking about Charlie made Ginny think back to the mission she had just completed. She was sent after what was supposed to be a group of young and stupid Death Eaters. A bunch of right out of Hogwarts punks. Inexperienced, yet problematic.

When her team arrived and attempted to take the kids into custody, she noticed that there was a bit more than young kids there and was caught by surprise to see someone closer to her age. Someone that haunted her dreams and someone she hunted constantly. Tony Dolohov. The nephew of one of the Death Eaters that worked directly under Voldemort during his reign and Charlie's murderer. Ginny's team attempted to apprehend him, and he quickly made his escape but not before killing one of her younger team members.

Ginny was used to losing people at this point. Almost as used as she was to killing people. They were becoming second nature to her, and it was getting harder and harder to sleep at night. Either seeing the people who are dead because she couldn't protect them or seeing the people she had killed because they would have killed her.

Ginny downed her last shot and noticed her cigarette was out. She pulled her lighter again and re-lit it. "You know those things will kill you?" The bartender said with another annoyed look as he filled someone's beer nearby. Ginny smiled with a chuckle and looked around the bar.

"Don't threaten me with a good time," she chuckled to herself.

She had been frequenting this bar for a while now, it was in the heart of muggle London and one of the last places a Death Eater would think a member of the ministry would be. Everything was close and dark; the music was not something you would hear on the wireless at The Burrow. Ginny continued searching the place and noticed her vision was a little fuzzy. Not too much, but just right. It was a sign she could stop drinking and seriously search for her nights company.

Someone approached the redhead with a flirty smile and Ginny immediately reciprocated. Before she knew it she was being whisked away to some flat a few blocks away. She used the stranger, as she often did, to satisfy her bodily urges. She used sex to feel, even for a moment. To feel anything other than bad, to feel like everything in her world wasn't falling apart, to feel she wasn't losing herself to the evil threat she was fighting to stop.

Ginny laid beneath the arm of the nameless stranger until even and deep breathing was heard. At that point the redhead slipped out from under the stranger and grabbed her clothes. Silently and expertly, she re-dressed. Ginny quickly left the room and headed toward the front door. She stood there silently until she was sure that the stranger was still sleeping in the bedroom then spun on the spot feeling the quick pull from her stomach into black nothingness for a moment before she re-appeared at her flat.

Drunk apparating was not recommended but something that Ginny was becoming very good at recently. Slowly, Ginny walked to her bedroom and collapsed onto her bed. She thought about how she should get under the sheets or into pajamas and all of the other bedtime rituals that most people had. Ginny could hardly care to pull herself out of bed at this point and decided to just allow herself to pass out on top of the bed completely clothed, as she often did as of late anyway.

For just a moment she felt all her evening work coming undone. All her efforts to feel loved, comfortable and safe would be meaningless in mere hours. She would feel like her heart was ripping open, and the hangover would be salt in the wound. She suddenly became aware of how she was feeling. "What a useless idea," buzzed through her drunken mind as she dragged herself from her own pity back into the black numbness. Comfortable enough.

She knew she had to get to sleep because regardless of any hangovers; she would be reporting to work the next day. The time for comfort and safety was gone unless soldiers like her paid their due. Her heart was a small, irrelevant detail in her life. Regardless of how she felt, she knew Ron would bite her head off if he found out she spent her evenings in a muggle bar drinking and shagging muggles before passing out at home. He would consider it, "an unnecessary risk." And that she should just stay home. Not to mention Ron would be pissed that she was shagging anyone, let alone muggles. Unlike her other brothers, he never seemed to get the fact that she had grown up. Not that they would be very happy about it either.

Ginny couldn't stand it at her flat for very long. Like all of the Aurors and ministry workers that were close to Harry Potter, Ginny's home rotated every 6 months or so to keep Death Eaters from following a member and figuring out where they lived or how to break their security spells. Of course, as an Auror she wasn't as restricted, but the flat was so bare and drab. It was hard to get comfortable in a place you knew was going to change in 6 months. She wasn't even allowed to have guests because of the dangers of Death Eaters tracking the magic used at the residence.

Ginny closed her eyes and drifted deeper into the numb abyss, further and further from the raging storms of her heart. Beckoning sleep to her, she hoped she had drunk enough to keep her eyes shut until dawn.

A/N Please Review! Stay tuned for Chapter 3!