Nausea they said; headaches and muscle discomfort they said. Travelers may suffer from severe vertigo and feinting spells. Ginny rather thought the Time-attendant had over embellished just a little. It had been a wild ride for sure; a lot of technicolour and a good dollop of swirling but Ginny had a feeling that most of that was for show anyway. It had all ended in a virtually smooth fashion, contrary to the horrors the wizards with plastic smiles, pressed-to-perfection uniforms and shiny name tags had told them.

She'd swirled, she'd squeaked a little, then it had all just stopped. Just like that. And she found herself leaning against a perfectly solid and all together not moving wall. It was pretty cool really.

"Miss Weasley?"

A face almost as shiny as it's Time-attendant name badge appeared in front of her at a most peculiar angle, almost as if it were…..

"Miss Weasley, can you stand?"

That was, of course, when she realised the wall she was leaning against was actually a very sturdy and unmoving floor. She groaned and rolled over as hands descended on her and helped her into a more vertical position. She only knew it because now she wasn't talking to the shiny face sideways.

"W-what happened?"

Shiny face was displaying a smile to match his complexion as he held her steady against the onslaught of gravity.

"You feinted miss- not to worry, a common occurrence after a jump."

She feinted? Feinted? Oh thank Merlin Draco hadn't seen that, she would never have heard the end of it. They had parted terms swiftly and yet sincerely back at the museum. A quick hug and a quip before she had, obviously literally, fallen into the seventeenth century. Speaking of…

As she concentrated on standing without incessantly wobbling, she took the time to glance around at her surroundings. Her class had been informed before the jump that they were to be arriving in the workplace of an undercover contact of the Ministry of Magic. A tradesman it was said, and a respectable man. Well tradesman was a given she was coming to realise as she took in the room she now found herself standing in the middle of.

All the shutters were closed and the air was stifling hot, the only light coming from a forge in the corner of the room. That in itself gave away the contact's occupation even without the presence of twisted bits of metal and neatly stacked swords and other metallic instruments littering the shop.

Her heart gave a little thump of excitement.

She was in a smithy – an honest to Merlin, seventeenth century smithy! She suddenly had the urge to touch everything. The swords, the horseshoes…even pet the confused looking donkey peeking out at her from the corner because it was all so…authentic.

"Ah, Mr. Brown…"

"So I see the young miss has regained 'er wits."

Ginny turned to the new voice to find herself faced with a decidedly short and grubby man dressed in a smithy's apron and smudged with enough dirt to make her wonder if that's where he got his name from. Despite appearances, the man's eyes seemed to possess a kindly light and his smile was genuine as he handed her a cup of what turned out to be water. Ginny had to struggle not to wrinkle her nose at the sight of the grubby hand passing her the container, not wanting to offend the new arrival. The attendant however didn't seem to have any such qualms.

"Brown, for Merlin's sake man, you live in the seventeenth century, not the stone ages, have a bath once in a while 'ey?"

At first Ginny was a bit shocked at the attendant's forthrightness – he had certainly been nothing but professional with herself and the class, but then Mr. Brown laughed and it became apparent that the two men knew each other quite well enough to poke fun. Mr. Brown scratched at his beard and cheek, leaving another streak of dirt from his grimy hands.

"Need to keep up pretenses Jose my boy, can't have people thinkin' I'm of any use."

At this he winked at Ginny and she couldn't help a small smile in return. She remembered well the readings her class had been given concerning the ministry's official's part in the time travel process. Agents were placed at strategic points in time and given leave to set up a living, but they weren't allowed to affect anything of that time to any great extent. Many of the pasts greatest no-hopers were ministry officials undercover. Mr. Brown rocked back on his heels, a look of pride sparking in his eyes.

"At any rate, my boy keeps things goin' about here with no troubles these days."

The attendant, Jose, nodded.

"Ah yes, how is young Will?"

"Not so young no more that's fer sure, comin' up to twenty-one this year."

The attendant whistled and again Ginny was reminded that time tended to be distorted for officials in the business. What might well have been a few years by Mr. Brown's reckoning could have only been a couple of months in Jose's time Come to think of it – Ginny looked once more between the chatting men – the two of them could quite possibly have been the same age at some point, even though Mr. Brown now looked much older than Jose.

"Yep…" Mr. Brown was continuing. "'e's runnin' this place quite nicely by 'imself nowadays, and 'e's got 'imself a right lady…"

"A lady you say? Who?"

Mr. Brown's eyes looked to be downright swimming in his pride as he puffed himself up for his next statement.

"Miss. Elizabeth Swann."

The attendant looked shocked.

"The governor's daughter?"

Mr. Brown nodded and the attendant whistled again.

"How did he manage that one?"

Mr. Brown waved his hand about as if to brush the unimportant detail away.

"Oh, some business with 'er gettin' kidnapped by cursed Pirates and the such – nothin' that 'asn't been done before."

The attendant nodded before turning back and fixing his attention on Ginny once more.

"Well Miss. Weasley, are you feeling up to catching up to your classmates?"

Ginny nodded, not about to disclose that she had been feeling quite fit for a while now but hadn't been wanting to stop listening in on their conversation. She smiled as she handed the empty cup back to Mr. Brown.

"Thank you very much Mr. Brown, for everything…"

The smithy waved her words away as he took the cup from her.

"Just doin' my civic duty young miss."

And with that she was lead out of the shop and into the world she had been dreaming about for the better part of two years.

It took them almost an hour to catch up to the class in what should have only been a ten minute walk – but Ginny just couldn't seem to help herself. They were on foot, weaving their way through the bustling township and she just couldn't seem to help pausing every couple of steps to take in another new sight. Jose, however, was more understanding than she would bet most others would have been and let her take her time on the trek, his eyes smiling indulgently at every little sound of excitement she made.

"I don't find many who are genuinely excited in different times," he explained to her as they started on the last hill before their destination. It was only as they crested said hill and their aim came into view that Ginny stopped short.

"Isn't that…"

Jose didn't pause.

"The Governor's house, yes. As far as the township is concerned you and your classmates are on a school excursion from one of the more prominent private schools in England and as such, deserve only the finest housing. The governor has kindly offered to put you all up under his own roof and there will be a celebration tonight to welcome you all."

Ginny's mouth hung open a little. A celebration? She was going to have to mingle…with people? Had no one explained to them that she got on far better with reading material and notebooks?

Jose led the way up to the Governor's household.

Obviously not.

From the moment she stepped in the heavily gabled and thoroughly expensive looking double doors Ginny had felt like a bug on a wildly out of control carousel – both small and about to throw up. She had stared about the chaos of the governor's household like a muggle caught in the headlights of the Knight bus until Jose had grabbed her hand and yanked her into the melee.

"No! That table against the far wall…"

"For goodness sake, the napkins go under…"

"White Mary! Miss Swann specifically said white…"

Merlin, this was worse even than the Weasley family get-togethers…and that was saying about three and a half somethings. People stalked, jogged or full-on bolted around the house, flying down stairs and shouting orders across wide gaps of swirling organising. Plates crashed, maids cried, there was even a cat yowling plaintively as one of the serving girls attempted to dislodge it from the curtain rod. Looking around with wide eyes Ginny couldn't help being reminded of the Gryffindor common room after a win on the Quidditch pitch.

She cringed as a loud crash followed by a shriek resounded from the next room.

She turned, looking in askance up at Jose at her side. For his part the obscenely calm prat just grinned.

"Welcome to the Governor's household Miss. Weasley."

Ginny felt the childish urge to poke her tongue out at him but refrained as a loud yell sounded from the direction of the curtains. The serving girl had obviously come in range of the cats claws.

"You right bloody mongrel of matted fur!"

Several maids gasped, hands flying to all manner of throats.

"Miss Swann!" Someone said in a scandalised tone that made Ginny want to roll her eyes. Merlin forbid anyone meet Draco and his own talent for discovering new combinations of swears; the poor ducks would likely keel right over in shock. Though, from the look the girl at the curtains turned on her fellow maids, Ginny had a feeling this particular individual would have no problems staying upright.

"Oh please, I'm sure you've all heard far worse just walking through the markets of a morning."

Yep, this one was definitely of the non-keeling-over variety.

The maids all seemed at a loss at the come back and the girl took the opportunity to turn back to her task. Her very evilly glaring task. It took only a glance at the glint in the feline's eye to know that it was far from giving up its perch on the window rod and Ginny couldn't help feeling rather sorry for anyone who thought they could change its mind prematurely - like the serving girl with the colourful vocabulary reaching for it just then. Not giving the action thought she stepped forward, brushing Jose's hand off her arm as she reached out and placed a hand on the girl's shoulder, stilling her movement towards the vindictive ball of fur.

"Ah, could I give it a go?"

The girl turned to her in something akin to surprise. It was obvious she hadn't noticed Ginny in the room before, but then Ginny found a lot of people didn't notice her – despite the red hair. One look at this girl's face however said that she was far from suffering the same fate. Ginny had never really met anyone she could honestly call 'beautiful' before. Pretty yes, striking sure, but never really beautiful. This girl was beautiful. She had it all, the gold tint to her skin, wide chocolate eyes framed by just enough lashes, perfectly arched eyebrows, full…and yes, even pouty lips…

Merlin if the girl wasn't a classic. Ginny smiled lightly at her, rather thankful that she didn't fancy girls because with her track-record of tongue twisting around her crushes she would surely be lost in this particular situation. The girl…a woman really now that Ginny was close enough to notice, smiled back at her and nodded gesturing up to the wayward feline.

"With my sympathies."

Ginny chuckled lightly and turned to the table just having been set up against the far wall. What she really needed was…

"Ah…perfect. Excuse me."

The severe looking maid by the table looked about to protest as Ginny swooped a small dish of tuna-whip from the spread but hesitated at a look from the serving girl. Ginny didn't notice, already on her way back to the curtain rod, scooping a dollop of tuna out and onto her fingers as she went. With a hesitant smile to the serving girl as she passed Ginny turned her attentions to the cat. It turned its attentions right back, weariness in its black eyes.

"Here'ya…"

The cat sniffed the air once, twice…

The next thing anyone knew Ginny was sporting a brand new fur scarf. The serving girl laughed and clapped lightly as she approached.

"Brilliant!"

Ginny grinned as her scarf licked her fingers clean.

"A friend of mine has a cat that likes hard to reach places as well," she supplied as the cat sprang lightly from her shoulders and headed for the remainder of the tuna-whip. The serving girl appeared not to notice as her eyes twinkled with delight.

"Well I thank you. I have no doubt that you just now saved me a hand – it seems now fitting that I extend it in greeting," she grinned, wiping her hands hastily on her apron before holding one out. "Elizabeth Swann."

Ginny didn't register the name until she had taken the extended appendage. She froze.

"Elizabeth Swann? As in…"

The serving girl, not so much a serving girl anymore rolled her eyes good-naturedly.

"As in the governor's daughter, yes, that would be me. And I would be right in assuming you one of the Charden's Colledge students?"

It took Ginny a moment of confusion and a glance at Jose's hastily nodding head beyond Elizabeth before she stumbled over an affirmation.

"Ah, yes yes – Ginny Weasley, that would be me…"

Ginny couldn't help but blush at her fumbling tongue. Great Merlin, perhaps she did have a crush on the girl after all. Elizabeth however didn't seem phased as she stepped forward and linked Ginny's arm with her own.

"Well Miss Weasley-"

"Just Ginny, please."

"Ginny. Unless you haven't heard we're throwing a small welcome dinner tonight in your schools honour."

Ginny sank a little lower as Elizabeth led her to the stairs.

"Yes I had heard."

She tried not to sound dejected, she really did. Elisabeth seemed not to notice.

"Do you have something to wear?"

Ginny looked down at the array of poofs and frills already adorning her too-curvy body. The strangest look came into Elisabeth's eye when she looked up and shrugged. Sort of predatory – the kind of look every tomboy dreads seeing in a girly-friends eye. Very quickly Ginny found herself halfway up the stairs. Glancing back helplessly she just caught Jose's cheerful wave as Elisabeth's words rattled about her brain.

"Oh I have the perfect thing…."