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
Charles hadn't been overly keen to preside over duels but apparently some lucky bastard had weaseled his way out of doing it and it had now fallen to him. Great. However, his mood had improved significantly since realizing that he would be moderating the former Minister's duel. It was against some rough looking stranger whom Charles couldn't recall ever having heard of but that would only make it better if he managed to beat Urquart.
He was struggling to hold back a smirk, or at least he was until the tedium of reciting the rules put it to rest.
"Mr. Urquart," the novelty of not addressing him as 'Minister' pleased him greatly, "please begin when you're ready."
Balthazar Urquart had been doing everything in his power to avoid any sort of spotlight since his abrupt resignation and the scandal surrounding his daughter. But it could not go on indefinitely; the wizard knew he did himself a disservice by, essentially, hiding from the world. The former Minister of Magic had seen signing up for the dueling tournament as a small protest, to show that he was still here, regardless of what society had to say about it.
With a polite bow to his opponent, Balt readied himself before casting, “Stupefy!”
Conall had spent far too much of his adult life too removed from Britain to care much about its Ministers of Magic, but since depositing himself in Irvingly, he had at least learned a little more about the last Minister's time in office.
But if he returned the bow a little stiffly, it was nothing to do with former policies or werewolf daughters, and more a sense of resignation, as he asked himself why on earth he'd signed up to this, when in fact it was less a duel and more a performance for a crowd.
Not particularly inclined to play to the audience, Conall stuck to what he hoped would be a sturdy shield charm.
It looked like Urquart had sent a pretty strong stunner MacKay's way but the shield charm just about managed to stop it. "And the first round goes to Mr. MacKay! Please begin the next, Mr. MacKay."
The satisfaction at the shield holding sank in enough for Conall's regret about this to subside for a minute. During that minute, he selected his next spell, another he had a little practice at - "Incarcerous!" he muttered, flicking his wand to conjure ropes for the binding spell.
Charles watched eagerly for the former Minister's embarrassing defeat but was disappointed to see that his shield charm... had worked. "The round goes to Mr. Urquart." Just in case it wasn't obvious enough. "Please begin the final round, Mr. Urquart."
Supposing he had better stick to the defensive, since it had been serving them both well so far, Conall attempted Impedimenta, hoping that would slow Urquart and his hex down enough to allow him to dodge.
If it looked like Charles was smirking it was because he was smirking. Just for a moment. Granted, he would have been more amused had the sardine hex been directed towards Urquart, it was still entertaining to watch him momentarily freeze and lose his advantage. Unfortunately for the former Minister his opponent's nostrils were doomed to remain sardine free. "Mr. MacKay wins!"