Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns the characters and all that, it's not mine and if it were I wouldn't be posting it on FanFiction now would I? And this goes for all chapters, so now I don't have to keep reposting a disclaimer.
Summary: Ginny Weasley and her family are torn. Her father didn't come home from work one day, assumed to be dead. So now Ginny and her brothers are forced to help support their family. But what will happen when Ginny is reunited with a certain someone she was eager to forget? And what if she has no choice but to go with him when the war turns for the worst? Will she be able to choose between what is right and what is wrong? Gin 'n' Tonic
Author's Note: Okay I apologize for being crappy at writing summaries. I'll never be good at those after all I'm only 13! Anyways please give it a chance and review. I'm open to constructive criticism but don't be too harsh and please no hurtful flames! Thanks. So I hope you enjoy it and tell me what you think so I'll know if I should update or not! Thanks!
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I gazed out the window, at the cold gray sky and the blackened streets, not really seeing anything at all. The war had gotten worse, and I had known this for a long while. My brothers were still in denial and my mother had given up all hope. My father hadn't come home from the ministry last week and he was assumed to be dead. I hadn't cried, surprisingly, I simply drifted. I drifted away from all that was pure and good in my life a long time ago, but at that moment I had been permanently lost.
There was no longer anything for me, nothing at all. We struggled more and more just to keep food on our table and the roof, old and rickety as it may be, over our heads. Even with Harry's generous financial help, we struggled. Bill and Charlie were still working, but that wasn't nearly enough. Without father, mother was lost and had no desire to try and find a job. Percy had tried to mend what he had done with no success; mother just wouldn't accept him any longer. Fred and George were doing well thankfully, but only well enough to support themselves and their shop. So now Ron and I needed jobs, just to keep us alive.
Ron now helps out at St. Mungo's for minimum wage and I'm left being only a waitress at the small pub not far from Hogwarts. Being only sixteen, I couldn't work at nights. I worked on Hogsmead days and during the summer. We lived too far away for me to go home if I was to work, so I stayed with a friend of mine, Jane. She was a sixth year as well and was in my dorm. She and her family had been great but sometimes I just can't take the stress. I've been working for about three days, and I'm not sure I can handle this.
Suddenly the door to the pub opened and I was brought back to reality. I went back to the bar where I continued to polish glasses for the owner. It was a real fancy pub, better then the ones we students go to. It had pretty good pay too. The only down thing was that most of the Slytherin's families came here for a drink, being rich. So naturally, to please the most common customer the place had been decorated with polished cherry wood floors and dark green walls. Silver picture frames covered the elegant walls and my damned uniform was a black pant with a green fitted shirt with silver stitching. The cost of the uniform alone had shocked me. All the furniture was black leather and the tables were cherry wood as well. The pub not only served as a bar but a restaurant during the day, when I worked. The long rectangular room had a blazing fireplace at the opposite end of the entrance. All throughout the room were tables and chairs. Along the walls were couches and fancy chairs with ashtrays in the center of each little set up like a men's lounge.
How I hated serving those men in the lounges. I got odd stares and hellos from the adults. Some even gave me looks up and down. The thought gave me the shivers. I have got to stop thinking of them. Disgusting, that's my opinion. I have to admit that they scare me.
The man who had just walked in sat himself down at the bar and looked at me. I sighed; he was practically the only one in the bar so I had to tend to him. I walked over after placing the last glass that required polishing down on the crystal shelf. The man pulled back his hood to reveal platinum blonde hair. Cold gray eyes looking back at me, I felt my stomach drop.
"Why Miss Weasley," said the drawling voice of Lucius Malfoy. "How… strange, to see you here." He sat tall with superiority in his voice.
I hesitated. My being here wasn't what was strange; it was his reaction that was strange. He didn't seem angry like I would have thought he would be. In fact he smirked, the famous, irritating Malfoy smirk. I wanted to roll my eyes, but he was a customer so I replied, "Can I get you anything Mr. Malfoy?" in an equally as uncivil tone as his.
Malfoy gave me quizzical look and I just waited. I could see how much my response had annoyed him. I was suddenly proud of myself and let a smirk of my own slip.
"The strongest thing you've got," he said. "I'll be over there." He got up and walked towards one of the lounge set ups near the fireplace.
As I poured him a Fire Whisky the door opened again and two more men entered. They headed towards Malfoy and he stood up, shaking their hands before they all sat down. I was the only one here today because it was the day before the beginning of my sixth year at Hogwarts and there was almost no need for more then one employee. I sighed, I hate this job, I wish I could switch places with Ron.
I put a small black apron around my petite waist and tided a neat bow in the back. There was a long piece of enchanted parchment that would erase orders once they had been filled in it along with an elegant eagle's quill. I picked up Malfoy's whisky and walked toward the men. My black high-heeled shoes were sadly mandatory and made a clicking sound as I walked. The men looked up as I handed Malfoy his drink. I could feel eyes on my back as I bent down to give it to him. I tried to contain my horror at the feeling. I turned to the two men opposite Malfoy. One I recognized as another Slytherin's father, but the other man remained hidden by his cloak. It was suddenly cold in the room as I realized I must have been serving three Death Eaters.
"Can I get you anything Sir?" I asked the first man politely.
"I'll have just a glass of your finest brandy," replied the man as I scribbled it down on my parchment. "Do I know you?" he asked bewildered.
"Of course you do!" Mr. Malfoy said. "She's Arthur Weasley's girl, she goes to Hogwarts, just one year bellow Draco!"
"Of course!" said the man. "I should have known!"
I didn't know what to make of that. This was the most awkward I've felt in years. I had nothing to say and my responses were limited if I wanted to keep my job and support my family. I simply smiled and nodded ever so slightly. "Can I get you anything Sir?" I asked, turning to the third man.
"How's your father?" he questioned. If the atmosphere had been awkward before, I don't know how to explain my emotions now. I could feel my chest swell with emotion. How dare he ask me that? I may be serving him but I was still human, and it's not like he didn't know. My family had been all over the papers. My name had been mentioned in headlines even, to my dismay. But somehow I had no courage in me; I had no self respect all of the sudden. I felt broken, like I had when I was young. But I had grown out of that long ago, I had forgotten what had made me that way the second I could. I had pushed those memories aside and locked them away and I had no intention of releasing them now.
"Can I get you anything?" I asked stubbornly, what else could I possibly do?
I could almost hear the man smirk underneath his bloody cloak. Did he not have the courage to show his face? "No," he finally answered me in an oddly familiar voice. "I'll be fine, love…"
I could feel my breath catch in my throat. There had only been one person in all my life that had ever called me love…
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Author's Note: Okay that's it for now. Sorry there wasn't much Tom and Ginny action. But I assure you that if enough people enjoy and review there will be a lot more. And I mean a lot. Also I know that this chapter was short but the ones to come, assuming there shall be reviews, will be much longer and much more interesting. So please review!
… Doesn't that review button look so pretty and push-able? (Is that even a word? Haha)…