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
Bella bit her lip to prevent another laugh from escaping. She was slowly but surely figuring out the mysterious James MacFusty, who up until now had made himself seem like a manly man with few emotions: anger and annoyance. Though she'd gotten a peak of the softness he kept hidden deep in his heart, it didn't take long for him to revert back to his perpetually peeved state.
"Well—." Bella stopped, her lips slipping into a pout. It was true—she had no claim over one of the pups, but surely Jamie could see that she wanted to help! Did it really matter who had official ownership? "I know I can take care of a wolf because I have an amazingly talented someone to help me...?" she tried, flashing him a wide, toothy smile. "And the name isn't stupid. It... has an acquired taste."
Still looking at her with a raised brow and incredulous look, Jamie waited for her to finish what she was saying. He couldn't help the smirk that spread over his features when she didn't seem to know what to refer to him as. Good. He didn't need her being all comfortable with him.
"It's stupid," he said again in his same gruff tone but the smirk certainly softened it all, "And you can help but only if you aren't showing up randomly again. You're lucky you still have your head." People rarely visited him at his shack. In the beginning, he likely had more visitors but now they were very few and far between. His family hardly even came to the shack, content to just wait for him to show up at the mansion. He preferred it that way.
"You're stupid," he mocked, moving from a crouch into a sitting position across from Jamie. If anything, caring for Frideswide would add another skill to her resume and allow her to spend more time with Jamie. (Even though he acted like he was annoyed with her all the time, his constant compliance with her requests suggested she was not the worst company in the world.) "I'm not good at keeping track of plans unless they're regular, so we'll need to make it a regular thing. Every other day? Bi-weekly? Maybe you can come to me," she teased, knowing very well that all options would seem nightmarish to him.
Jamie was quick to furrow his brow and wrinkle his nose at her planned suggestions. Not even, not for a Tony but, did he find any of her suggestions acceptable. Her tone let him know she knew that, too. Aggravating woman.
[I]"I was thinking more like once a month,"[/b] he said bluntly, "Maybe twice a month. The first and last Monday of the month or something." He had a feeling he could handle that much. He hoped so anyways.
"Twice a month?" Bella gasped in mock shock, leaning down to nuzzle the snoozing white pup. "How could I wait weeks before seeing my baby?" she continued on dramatically, seeing how long she could go before Jamie cracked a smile (or rolled her eyes. That was the least she could accept.)
She was goading him. Jamie didn't know if that itself irritated him or if it was the fact she was succeeding in it. Regardless, he couldn't prevent the faint softening of his features as he watched her nuzzle the sleeping puppy. That made him feel things, more things, than he cared to admit.
"Now you're being stupid," he says with a huff as he stretched his legs out on front of him. The puppy had been moved to his chest as he leaned back and used the wall behind him as support. "It's that or nothing," he added with a raised brow.
Bella used her hand to shield her smile as Jamie's jaw relaxed, but had to smile into the white pup's fur coat to suppress a giggle when he grumbled something about her being stupid.
"I'm not prepared for the custody battle, but," Bella countered, biting down hard on her bottom lip in an attempt to wipe the painfully wide smile off her face, "I'm willing to negotiate. One a week, plus every other Sunday. I couldn't survive without seeing Frideswide and... Doodles..." (She'd have to think of something better later if Jamie insisted on leaving the darker pup nameless.) "... on a regular basis!"
The softening of Jamie's features resulted in a slack jaw as he stared at her.
"You're previous the most annoying woman I've ever had the displeasure of knowing," he said with a roll of his eyes and sigh as he shifted again yo settle more comfortably. A whimper of protest from the pup was enough to still his movements and the briefest of smiles to flicker across his features.
"Once a week," he said once the pup had settled again but the look of adoration in his eyes never left the pup and he spoke, "Monday or Sunday, I don't care. But no more than once a week except for the last week of the month. Then you can come a second time. Saturday is probably best."
Bella momentarily fell into a fit of giggles that caused her nose to scrunch. This was, like, her two favorite things nowadays: cuddly baby animals, and Jamie pretending to be more annoyed than he was.
"Once a week it is. I'm going to go all out, too—those are the days we're going to train the pups to do tricks," she babbled, unconsciously touching Jamie's leg. "I wonder if Immie knows how to knit. I'll make them little scarves. I've never had a pet before, you know." Except for Dymphna, maybe, but her attempt to house the mooncalf had lasted only a day before the zoo lady confiscated her.
Jamie didn't react to her fit of giggles, just slightly shook his head though that faint smile if his did made an appearance once again. She was absolutely crazy, of that much he was sure. And why he hadn't tossed her out of his shack already was beyond him. He'd blame it up on the pups. They needed rest after all.
"Insane," he said simply, shaking his head as she prattled on, "You're inane, too. The pups won't be getting any sort of training for a few weeks yet."
"Well," she said, clearly teasing as she scooted the white pup closer to her hip, "if my local wolf expert won't teach me about their development, I guess I'll be spending the weekend reading all I can about them. I'll come up with an activity schedule." That was one way to keep her busy when she wasn't assisting Mac in the library, tending to plants with Immie, chasing Isobel around the house, or bothering Jamie himself. "Maybe if you're lucky, I'll knit you a scarf, too. Gryffindor, right?" From what she'd heard, all MacFustys were Gryffindors—which explained why she felt right at home.
Jamie raised a brow at her, chuckling slightly and shook his head. "Lass, clearly ye can see for yourself there's little they can do yet," he said as he motioned to them, "They're eyes aren't even open yet. What makes ye think they can learn any tricks now?" Insane. Annoying. Oblivious. The list of vocabulary words in regards to her seemed to be growing every time he was in her presence.
"And I don't wear scarves," he added as an afterthought, not bothering to answer the question in regards to his house.
Ha! He was chuckling! (On the downside, he was probably laughing at her, but she'd take it as a win.)
Bella rolled her eyes. "Their eyes will open sometime," she said as if the fact was obvious. "And when they do, we'll teach them how to fetch things. They can help you around your shack!" They were wolves, not doings; they'd be much stronger and more capable when grown, and she was sure they could be of some use.
"And winter's coming," she said abruptly in response to his scarf comment. "You can't wander around outside like—that." She motioned to his outfit. Jamie always seemed on a mission to prove his masculinity, but she secretly wondered how many times he'd gotten sick or injured in an attempt to do so. Did he even sleep with a blanket? A pillow? Or was he so "manly" that he slept on a rock somewhere inside this mess?
Jamie shrugged at her own eye roll and remarks. "Yes, but not for another week or two," he answered simply, "And then they've got to build their strength so they can handle running about. Not so much worried about Arawn here. But that one.." He'd already forgotten the absurd name she'd given it so he simply motioned to the white pup next to her, "That one will be a bit more touch and go. Going to have to see if it can even survive." He didn't have a lot of high hopes there.
"Why do ye care what I wander around like?" he asked, brow raised as he turned a smirk to her, "I'm pretty well acclimated the way I need to. 'Sides, I've got a jacket that's plenty warm." It may be a worn leather and fur lined thing but it did the trick and it was comfortable. There was also the use of magic. It took care of any extra needed warmth in a pinch.
"Fine. I suppose I'll be spending the next week or two helping you tidy up around here. Frideswide is going to have a nice, clean environment to wander about when she's able to walk." Because she would survive. Bella would go to the ends of the Earth to ensure the pup would see her first winter.
"I care about your health, Jamie." Wasn't it obvious? How many time did she have to tell him she'd been a healer? "Besides, something tells me you're not a pleasant person while sick." Men who were so insistent on doing everything themselves were always the most insufferable people do be around while ill. "And since we'll be raising our pups together, I don't want to deal with an even grouchier version of you."
Jamie groaned as she talked about spending the next week around the shack helping him clean. He wasn't stupid enough to say that it was already clean. It clearly wasn't clean but it was still livable at the very least. And, honestly, it was just how he liked it. "How about this," he said, knowing it was going to be a fight, "You can do whatever you need to around here this week. I won't be here much. My turn to spend the week on the toddling island." He'd likely be gone for the rest of the week. "Actually, that'd be perfect," he said as his eyes brightened some. It had been a bad time to bring the pups home if he was going to be gone all week. "That way the pups won't be alone the whole time."
Her following remarks, however, had him a bit more on edge. Raising pups together sounded awfully serious. He was sure she hadn't meant it that way but it didn't stop the fear of commitment well seeded within him from rearing it's ugly head. He looked at her a bit blankly and simply responded with a shrug. "I'll survive," he said, not drawing any attention to her comment of caring about his health, "I always do."
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