Disclaimer: still don't own it, and not claiming to.
Chapter 17
Harry and Ginny awoke to a knock at the door. "It's Alessio!" Could be heard from the hallway.
"Come in!" Harry shouted, sitting up and bringing Ginny up with him.
"Do you two do anything other than sleep?" Alessio joked.
"Not lately." Harry replied, pushing his hair out of his eyes. "Reading is tiring."
"You sound like Ron." Ginny giggled, finally waking up enough to talk.
"Well, you slept through lunch, I brought you something to eat." Said Alessio, placing a plate with two sandwiches and a bowl of salad big enough for Harry and Ginny to share on the bedside table. "I didn't want to wake you, so I told mum that Lucia wasn't feeling well." Alessio said, emphasizing his sister's name.
"Signore Garibaldi allows people to miss a meal when they're ill?" Harry scoffed.
'When they're his own children, sure." Alessio shrugged. "Ginny, that matchmaker woman said you two were supposed to go into the market and pick up some things to put the finishing touches on your gown, but since you're not feeling well she's going on her own."
"I'd forgotten we were supposed to go shopping! I really like Josefina; when she's not trying to put on a good face for your mum she's really lovely." Said Ginny, "She even found out about Lucia and Zachariah and she's all for it, she's going to help protect them from your parents."
"That's great! We could really use someone with some influence on our side!" Harry exclaimed.
"I just have to dance with a few other men at the ball so Maria won't suspect anything." Said Ginny.
"When is the ball?" Asked Harry.
"Tonight." Alessio replied. "We'll find something suitable in Zachariah's closet, I'm sure." Alessio walked over to the closet and started sorting through the various outfits. Alessio pulled out a pair of black knee breeches, a single-breasted tuxedo jacket complete with tails, and a white blouse with a high collared neck and ruffles down the front. The ruffles on the cuffs peeked out from under the sleeves of the jacket.
Harry looked at the ensemble in horror, "I am not wearing that!"
"Well, wait for it, I haven't found the shoes yet!" Said Alessio, still digging in the closet, only he was now on his knees searching on the floor. Soon, Alessio pulled out a pair of black patent-leather boots with cloth tops, and cloth covered buttons running all the way up the sides of the knee-high boots.
Ginny laughed when she saw them, "Harry won't wear those." She said through her giggles.
"And why not?" Asked Alessio indignantly, "I'll be wearing the very same thing."
"It's…a…a…a penguin suit!" Harry sputtered.
"It's the height of fashion!" Responded Alessio.
"If you're sure—" started Harry
"I am." Alessio cut in, "You'll have to dress appropriately if you want to fit in."
"He has a point, Harry." Said Ginny, wishing she'd be able to take Harry's picture at the ball.
"LUCIA!" A shout came from down the corridor and all three heads turned toward the door.
"I'd better go!" Ginny shrieked and leapt toward the door and ran from the room. Ginny found Maria calling her in the next corridor over.
"Lucia, there you are, Signora Malone needs you for the final fitting of your gown, where have you been?" Said Maria, sounding flustered.
"Oh, I was with Alessio, he wanted my opinion on the suit he's wearing tonight." Ginny replied, laughing internally at the thought of Harry in that outfit.
"I take it you're feeling better then." Said Maria, looking skeptically at Ginny.
"Yes, I'm feeling very well now." Said Ginny, following Maria as she turned and led Ginny towards a spare lounge on the top floor of the manor where Josefina sat perfecting Ginny's gown. Maria left Ginny immediately, hurrying off calling for the twins. When Maria turned around, Ginny noticed large pumpkin orange spots on the back of Maria's white flowered dress. Now she understood why Maria had been yelling at the twins.
"Oh, hello Lucia, I'm glad to see you're feeling better." Said Josefina, smiling warmly.
"I am, and thank you for making my gown, I'm sure it will be amazing." Said Ginny.
"Well, I need you to try it on so I can fit it perfectly, but keep your eyes shut, I want it to be a surprised." Josefina said, keeping the dress obscured by all her fabrics and sewing supplies so that Ginny couldn't see it.
"No problem." Said Ginny, going behind a changing wall in the corner to undress.
Ginny stood in the middle of the room in her gown for a good hour with her eyes screwed shut while Josefina pinned up every part of the dress that needed even the slightest alteration.
"Finished." Josefina sighed happily. "And it's just about time for dinner, so you can just head to the dining room." Ginny nodded, stepped out of her gown and changed quickly into her regular clothes.
"Thanks again, Josefina! See you at the ball!" Said Ginny, then she turned and left the room, and headed toward the dining hall. When she approached the doors, she discovered that Maria had finally found the twins. Ginny pushed past them, only hearing part of the argument ensuing in front of her.
"Honestly, Maria, we were just working on a project and we left the paint on the chair, it's your own fault you sat in it." Rosalia was pointing out to her mother.
Ginny covered her mouth with her hand to stifle her giggles and entered the dining room to find Alessio and Signore Garibaldi already seated. She caught Alessio's eye and he raised both eyebrows, jerking his head towards the door. Ginny smiled and shook her head, laughing silently in response. A few minutes later, Maria and the twins entered the dining room, Maria wearing a different, paint free dress, which Ginny hadn't noticed in the hallway. Everyone sat down and began to eat.
"Girls, I have hired people to come and style your hair for tonight, they will be coming by after dinner, and I'll bring them straight up to your rooms." Said Maria, addressing Ginny, Theresa, and Rosalia.
The rest of dinner was spent with Signore Garibaldi grunting etiquette rules for the night. Ginny had felt bad that Josefina would be working through dinner, but after hearing Signore Garibaldi lecture for the entirety of dinner, she felt she'd have traded places with Josefina in a second. When dinner finally ended, Ginny headed up to her room and changed out of her clothes into a dressing gown so that she would not have to ruin her hair when she changed into her gown. There was a quick knock at the door, and the door opened before Ginny had a chance to respond. Maria stood in the doorway with a pretty girl scarcely older than Ginny with olive skin, chocolate brown hair, and eyes to match. She was carrying a large black bag.
"Lucia, this is Natalia, she'll be fixing your hair for the ball." Said Maria, gesturing toward Natalia.
"Nice to meet you." Said Ginny, giving her friendliest smile. Maria seemed to think they were getting along just fine, as she turned on her heel and left the room.
"I'll be doing your hair and makeup for tonight." Said Natalia timidly.
"Thank you for coming tonight I'm sure it will be lovely." Said Ginny, trying to make Natalia feel more comfortable. Natalia blushed, keeping her gaze on the floor as though no one had ever shown appreciation for her. Ginny sat down in the chair in front of her dressing table, looking in the mirror. She saw Natalia approach her from behind, setting her bag down on the table next to Ginny. She began digging in her bag and pulling out all kinds of scary contraptions that Ginny would not have let near her hair normally, though she remembered that she was one hundred years in the past, and said nothing.
Natalia styled Ginny's hair with expertise Ginny had not expected based on the girl's shyness. She applied subtle makeup just as perfectly. Before Ginny knew it, Natalia had stepped back from her chair and asked quietly, "What do you think?"
"It's lovely, thank you." Ginny replied, looking at her normally pin-straight red hair piled in ringlets on top of her head, with a few white rosebuds sticking out from the curls. Natalia nodded, blushing again, but with a small smile this time as she collected her things and left the room.
Ginny decided she should go and see how Josefina was doing on her dress. In the corridor she found the twins, who had hairstyles very much like hers, only Rosalia's was adorned with red roses, and the Theresa's with yellow. They were already in their dresses; both had full skirts portrait necklines, and elbow length sleeves that had ruffles around the cuff. The bodices of their dresses reminded Ginny of a fitted jacket, they way they were laced in the back and flared just above the hip. Rosalia's was red silk, matching the roses in her hair. Theresa's was deep blue velvet, complementing the yellow roses perfectly. Both wore white silk gloves.
"Lucia! Hurry! You've got to get dressed!" Theresa exclaimed taking her by the arm.
"We'll take you up to the matchmaker." Rosalia added, taking Ginny's other arm. The twins practically dragged her to the top floor of the manor, and shoved her through the door to the lounge where Josefina had been all day. Ginny saw her dress hanging from the top of the changing wall and gasped, she had never imagined how beautiful it would turn out. The gold brocade Ginny had picked out in the marketplace was perfect.
"Josefina, it's gorgeous!" Said Ginny wide-eyed. Josefina was dressed for the ball in a simple dress of silvery blue silk.
"I've impressed even myself with this one." Said Josefina, beaming with pride.
"Well, hurry up and put it on then!" Said Rosalia impatiently from the doorway.
"You're supposed to be at the ball already, we're going down before we get murdered." Said Theresa, and the twins turned and headed down the spiraling staircase.
Josefina picked up the dress and handed it to Ginny, who promptly changed into it. Josefina had to lace up the back for her, and it was so tight Ginny could scarcely breathe. She turned to look in the mirror at the other side of the room, and couldn't believe it was herself she was looking at. The dress had a full skirt and a princess cut bodice with a scoop neckline and cap-sleeves.
Josefina walked across the room to behind her worktable, and returned carrying a pair of white silk gloves in one hand, and a pair of white leather boots. The boots had a small heel and laced up the front. Ginny put the boots on, smoothed out her skirt and looked in the mirror as she pulled on her gloves. Her skirt covered the shoes, but they still gave her posture a nice lift.
"I'm going to go down and start matchmaking for you." Josefina winked at Ginny. You come down when you're ready. Ginny nodded.
After Josefina left the room, Ginny looked in the mirror for another minute or so, smoothed her skirt one last time, and headed for the door. She walked down several flights of stairs, until she was at the top of the last staircase, which led her straight into the ballroom. She could see Harry and Alessio waiting near the bottom of the stairs, and it was hard not to laugh, she had prepared herself for Harry, but she had forgotten that if Alessio was wearing the same outfit, it would be like Ron putting on that getup. She thought Harry looked rather handsome, and she wished he had more fitting clothes back home. Ginny reached the bottom of the staircase, but Harry and Alessio had their backs to her, and had not yet seen her. She approached Harry from behind and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned to face her and looked awestruck.
"You look gorgeous." Said Harry sincerely, and Ginny smiled at him.
"I think you look very nice too, not at all like a penguin." Ginny responded.
"Thanks, but I'm just glad this jacket has tails, no matter how ridiculous they look, at least they're concealing how tight these trousers really are." Said Harry. Ginny stifled her laughter.
"Harry was just telling me about what you found in Zachariah's diary." Alessio cut in.
"Yes, but we're not sure how it's important." Said Ginny, looking rather hopeless.
"Well, what if you and Zachariah both tried to use them at the same time. That book mentioned something about occurrences of people switching places when they try to use time turners at the same moment." Alessio stated. Both Harry and Ginny stared at him.
"It really said that, are you sure?" Harry inquired.
"Absolutely positive, don't you remember?" Said Alessio urgently.
"Clearly not." Ginny couldn't resist putting in a sarcastic remark.
Josefina soon approached Ginny and pointed out a few men Lucia's mother wanted her to dance with, so Ginny left Harry and Alessio to talk on their own. Ginny couldn't believe she'd been forced to leave at such a vital moment in the conversation. Ginny had danced with a man in his thirties, who was attractive, but a real dandy who in fact reminded her very much of Gilderoy Lockhart. She danced with another man only two years older than she was, who came from a rich, important family, and was incredibly stuck up. Another from a similar background, except this man was very sweet, but hopelessly nerdy, and just not Ginny's type. The fourth reminded her too much of her brother Charlie for comfort, but the fifth man was very nice, and a good dancer. She returned to Harry and Alessio happy to have fulfilled her duties for the night.
"Care to dance?" Harry asked as a waltz began.
"You're going to dance?" Ginny smirked, remembering the Yule Ball in her third year.
"Not if you're going to mock me." Said Harry sarcastically.
"I'm just surprised, I'd love to dance with you." Ginny replied, taking his arm as he led her onto the dance floor. They watched the other couples around them so that they could somehow figure out what they were doing, as neither of them knew how to waltz. Ginny put her right hand in Harry's left, and her left hand on Harry's upper arm, copying the women around her. Harry looked around as well, placing his right hand on Ginny's upper back. They clumsily attempted to follow the music for a while before Harry spoke up.
"You were right about me and dancing." Harry stated.
"I didn't realize I was just as hopeless." Ginny joked.
"Do you fancy finding some place where we can be alone?" Harry asked.
"Definitely." Ginny responded, taking Harry's arm as he led them to a small spare bedroom off the side of the ballroom.
Upon entering the bedroom decorated in sapphire blue and gold, Ginny sat down on the deep blue bedspread, facing the door. Harry sat cross-legged on the bed facing her, and taking her hands in his.
"Ginny, I—" Harry started
"Harry!" Ginny suddenly gasped urgently, "I've just noticed it, don't you recognize these clothes?"
"Not really." Said Harry shaking his head, "But, Gin, I—"
"They're the same ones Zachariah and Lucia were wearing in our dream, that means—" suddenly a look of horror came over Ginny's face as Harry heard the door creak open. He knew exactly what had happened.
Author's Note: Major Cliffhanger! Don't kill me guys! Look, now that I started this story again I'm back in full force. Only one, maybe two chapters left to go, I'm so excited to write the next chapter, you have NO idea! Actually I didn't want to end this here I really wanted to keep going but I just couldn't, it fits better in the next chapter.
I had such fun researching clothing from the late 1800s for this chapter! I love all reviewers!