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 1895. It’s time to join us and immerse yourself in scandal and drama interlaced with magic both light and dark.
Complete a thread started and set every month for twelve consecutive months. Each thread must have at least ten posts, and at least three must be your own.
Did You Know?
Did you know? Jewelry of jet was the haute jewelry of the Victorian era. — Fallin
There were only a few days left of classes before the winter holidays began, and Sirius was pretty much over it. He liked being a Fourth Year — it was very close to being a Fifth Year, and being a Fifth Year was cool — but he was bored of his classes, which didn't always feel interesting enough to him.
He returned to the Dungeon after practice, his hair still wet from having showered afterwards, his book bag slung over his shoulder with his textbooks (and some other things) inside it. Sirius scanned the common room, looking to see if he recognized anyone, and almost immediately saw Hesper. He dropped into the chair next to her.
"Are you staying here for Christmas?" Sirius asked, nixing pleasantries. It seemed like the least loaded way for him to ask the question — her parents were dead, she lived with a miserable old women, he would have stayed at the castle if he was her. (Except — if she stayed, she couldn't go to Flora's party.)
When everyone tells us what we can be
How can we rewrite the stars?
Hesper looked up suddenly as Sirius swooped into the chair next to her. Oddly enough she'd been in the midst of writing a letter to her great aunt about where she'd be for Christmas. Usually she stayed at Hogwarts over the winter break which suited both her and her great aunt perfectly well. It might be lonely if her friends all went home but it was better to be lonely at Hogwarts than lonely under the relentless scrutiny of her great aunt. This year, however, she was faced with a serious conundrum; if she stayed at school she'd miss out on Flora's Christmas party but if she went home she'd have to endure the rest of the festive season with Great Aunt Jessamine. There was also a possibility she wouldn't be allowed to go anyway but she wanted badly enough to attend that the risk almost seemed worth it.
Probably. She glanced down at the half-written letter in her lap and contemplated what a coincidence it was that he'd chosen now of all times to ask her that. Hesper turned the parchment over so the blank side was now facing upwards. She was going to have to rewrite it yet again.
Are you? She'd never known him to stay over Christmas and didn't expect this year would be any different but it would be polite to ask anyway. Outfit | Tag: Sirius Black | Notes:
Sirius shook his head. "No," he answered, "I'm going back to London." Saying home also felt like one of those words that would be rude to orphans, so he avoided it. Back to London. Sirius had never entertained thoughts of staying at Hogwarts over the break; it felt like the sort of thing his father would try to do, and Sirius was not like his father. Besides that, he was not sure that either his mother or his Aunt Elladora would tolerate such behavior.
"You won't be able to come to Flora's party if you stay though," he added, the thought occurring to him very suddenly — he would miss her if she skipped.
When everyone tells us what we can be
How can we rewrite the stars?
As expected he was going home. She was surprised to observe that she felt a twinge of disappointment at that, apparently some tiny part of her had dared hope he might be staying. If he was staying she wouldn't have to think any further about where she would be for Christmas, obviously she'd stay if he did, for once she'd actually have a friend around and it would be easier to miss out on Flora's party if she wasn't the only one having to miss it. Oh well.
I know, but I don't know if I'll be able to come even if I don't stay. Hesper regretted saying it as soon as she heard the words leave her mouth. She didn't like to say too much about her great aunt, it was bad enough being pitied because her parents were dead but she didn't want to be pitied for having a tyrannical great aunt as their replacement. Sometimes it was impossible not to let little snippets slip out that all together would paint a rather bleak picture of her home life but she liked to think that these tidbits were too few and far between for anyone to have really noticed. My great aunt worries. It was meant as an explanation, one that would hopefully make her great aunt sound like a fretful mother hen and not a puritan. Outfit | Tag: Sirius Black | Notes:
Sirius frowned, his eyebrows furrowing. "You should be able to see your friends," he pointed out. His guardians mostly didn't care where he went — or, he never tried to wander somewhere that they held against him. Still — it was at Flora's. How could Hesper's great aunt mind that?
When everyone tells us what we can be
How can we rewrite the stars?
Hesper opened her mouth to dispute the likelihood once again of her aunt allowing it but closed it again as soon as she realized she couldn't think of a reason for it. She'd never actually asked for permission to see her friends before. She assumed she wouldn't be allowed because it seemed as though her great aunt was determined to deny her anything that had a whiff of fun about it but maybe she'd just gotten so used to her aunt's restrictions that she was now the one imposing them upon herself. Was it really so impossible that her great aunt would forbid her from socializing with exactly the sort of children she ought to approve of?
After a long, uncertain pause she replied, Maybe you're right. Unless she was determined to be cruel for the sake of it (Hesper wouldn't rule it out completely but hoped that wasn't the case) she couldn't think of a reason why Flora's party might be considered inappropriate. And I really do want to go. She looked up at him, unaware that she was hoping to find reassurance there even if Sirius knew next to nothing about the whims of Great Aunt Jessamine. Outfit | Tag: Sirius Black | Notes:
Sirius grinned at her. "I'm always right," he replied, "You should just get used to it at this point." He wasn't totally convinced that Hesper believed him, but Sirius was sure — he was right, and Hesper would be allowed to go to the party.
When everyone tells us what we can be
How can we rewrite the stars?
She found herself smiling back at him despite her doubts and though said doubts remained she did feel oddly more optimistic despite them. She hoped he was right. You'd better be or else my Christmas is going to be horrid and it'll be your fault, she teased. It genuinely would be horrid if the risk didn't pay off but she wouldn't actually hold it against him, it's not like he knew what her great aunt was like. Outfit | Tag: Sirius Black | Notes:
Sirius wrinkled his nose back at her. "If I'm going to ruin your Christmas, it'll be a prank or something," he said, "Not just my being wrong about your aunt."
When everyone tells us what we can be
How can we rewrite the stars?
And how would you ruin my whole Christmas with a single prank? she asked incredulously.
Hesper couldn't imagine a Christmas worse than those spent with her great aunt which were more like bleak rembrance services for the joyful Christmases of her early childhood. She couldn't really remember much of Christmas when her parents had been alive but she remembered her first Christmas with her great aunt and naively anticipating it with great excitement, only to have her hopes crushed monumentally. She'd received a rare book of Gamp's Laws of Elemental Transfiguration that had come from her great aunt's library which she was instructed to immediately put back on the shelf and never forget that she owed it to her ancester to be a credit to the family name and what sort of churlish ingrate would he think she was if instead of saying 'thank you' for her gift she sobbing and very much in danger of reducing it to little more than a pile of soggy pulp? She'd been six years old at the time and far too new to reading by herself to have managed such a tome and shortly after she'd been sent to her room without supper to think about how poorly she had behaved.
Any change Sirius could make to a Christmas with Great Aunt Jessamine could only be an improvement, even if she was blamed and thusly punished for it. The thought of Sirius in some way triumphing over Great Aunt Jessamine in some sneaky, very Sirius sort of way made her feel oddly elated for a few moments, almost giddy in fact. She probably shouldn't be so gleeful at the thought of her great aunt in distress of some sort, the woman could've sent her to an orphanage just like... But she was and she couldn't help it. Outfit | Tag: Sirius Black | Notes:
Sirius grinned at her. "That's for me to know," he said, "And you to find out. But only if you skip the party." He had no actual prank in mind, but if she skipped Flora's party he could probably come up with one. At the very least, he'd send her a letter to see how she was doing.
