Welcome to Charming, where swirling petticoats, the language of flowers, and old-fashioned duels are only the beginning of what is lying underneath…
After a magical attempt on her life in 1877, Queen Victoria launched a crusade against magic that, while tidied up by the Ministry of Magic, saw the Wizarding community exiled to Hogsmeade, previously little more than a crossroad near the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. In the years that have passed since, Hogsmeade has suffered plagues, fires, and Victorian hypocrisy but is still standing firm.
Thethe year is now 1894. It’s time to join us and immerse yourself in scandal and drama interlaced with magic both light and dark.
As terrifying as it was to admit such a thing, Handsome's time at Hogwarts was coming to a close, and fast. Within a week's time, he'd be boarding the boats — the same ones they'd arrived on as teeny first years — to leave Hogwarts. Many students his age had made plans for their lives after school, but Handsome's situation allowed him leniency with such a thing; he didn't need to work for a living, but he feel like he should simply because the majority of his younger sisters also had career ambitions. Unfortunately, time was running out with some paths.
"Fuuuuuck," he groaned, pulling his pillow over his face for a moment. He was spread out on his dormitory bed — one he'd no longer be sleeping on. "What are you doing after school? Quidditch? Ministry? Dragons?"
Munny had been much more focused on Quidditch than he had been about the whole graduation part of his seventh year. He still hadn't decided between Quidditch or going into dragonkeeping. There was also the option of working towards working for the dragon restraint bureau. He should probably get on with choosing one of the three but that felt seemingly impossible at the moment.
At least he wasn't as stressed as his friend seemed to be. "One of those three," he replied. At least he had it narrowed down. Maybe he should just roll a die or something.
Handsome let out a dramatic sigh and turned over onto his side to look at his dorm-mate. "Have any immediate offers? Quidditch-wise, I mean?" He couldn't exactly see MacFusty dealing with dragons, even with his name, but maybe that was him projecting his own insecurities onto his best friend. Did Munny... like dragons? Did he want to work at the Ministry? Why did anyone really want to do anything?
"A couple but I will still have to attend the try outs like anyone else," Munny stated. That was also a Problem: picking a team to play for. He'd been dealing with dragons since he was young and his father would take him out and it was something he generally like doing but did he want to that right now? He kind of wanted to live a little first before taking on a job that involves the very creatures that took his favorite cousins life and had scarred a couple of his other cousins for life.
A couple. Handsome had only received one offer thus far, though had been on the fence about career decisions. On one hand, he wasn't expected to go into a career—something made even clearer by his impending inheritance—but on the other hand, he didn't really want to sit around idly. Idleness was likely to lead to trouble, and Handsome had already proven that he had a knack for causing that.
"I got an offer from the Howlers. Second-string keeper," he offered as his answer to his own question. "Quidditch wasn't something I was considering a few months ago, but a Ministry job seems less and less appealing by the day." Two summers of hellish internships didn't help, either.
"That's a decent team," Munny said, wincing at the idea of working in the Ministry. An office job did not suit him in the slightest. Did it suit any MacFusty, really? He knew one of his cousins worked for the Ministry mostly so he could be around for the huge brood of kids Tiger had. "I don't think either of us is built for office jobs," he said since he was pretty sure Whitledge would go nuts just sitting inside an office all day. "I got an offer from the Howlers too. We should both try out. We already know we work decently well together." Plus 'working' with one of his best friends? Sounded pretty ideal compared to other options, really.
"Decent," he huffed, clearly amused, "I didn't think I'd catch any team's interest, so I suppose the 'decent' option is the best in my case," he explained.
"But I agree," he said, "on both accounts. I want a job, but not a—" The words "real job" came to mind, but that wasn't something he let slip. "—office job. Maybe being your team-mate will help a bit."
"You were a great asset to the team," Munny provided supportively. It was true though - especially since Whitledge wasn't, like, knee high. This years tryouts had been full of little young ones.
"Come on, it will be fun. Think of the things we could get up to." Spending most of his time with his best friend on a Quidditch pitch would be like they never left school. Except they wouldn't have to do the boring homework bits.
"I'll do it, I'll do it," he laughed with an amused shake of his head. "It's not like I have much to lose. If all else fails, I'll just - I don't know - follow you to the Hebrides. We'll start an illegal dragon-breeding operation and have thousands of galleons by the time we reach twenty," he added with a cheeky grin. Anything to get away from Sweetie for the summer.
Munny snickered at the idea of Handsome camping out in the Hebrides with him. They would probably die before they were twenty but he knew Handsome well enough by now that he was aware that the other boy wasn't being serious. "I rather like living without being scarred for life but I'm sure we could come up with something."
"The ladies would be all over scars, though," he teased, "as long as they're tasteful. Tell 'em you got them saving a fair maiden from the grasp of a Hebridean Black."
At least they might believe that with Munny MacFusty. Scars would only make him a walking display of irony - possessing both scars and his name might cause unwanted attention.
"But whatever. We'll figure something out," he sighed, gathering his covers. Examinations were coming to a close, but he still had to handle Care of Magical Creatures; he needed sleep.
Munny snorted. "I do like the ladies," he said with a chuckle. Merlin knew that he had certainly moved from crush to crush during his time at Hogwarts. Mostly redheads but not exclusively. With some, he had managed to maintain a friendship if they weren't the high strung sort of girl.
"Adult life will be an adventure without the need for examinations." Unless they got boring office jobs. He couldn't handle it if he ended up working somewhere like Pest Control. "Good night," he provided as he settled into his own bed. It was kind of trippy to think that soon he wouldn't be sharing a room with these guys anymore. It had been odd enough when Michaud hadn't returned and now none of them would be.
