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
Looking at the two students in front of her, Edelweiss tried to smile calmly. The OWL students had made it to the finals. Ada had made it to the finals. Merlin, she was going to be sick. But before that happened, she had the small matter of judging the duel first. She read the rules aloud and then announced, “Miss Dursley, you may begin!”
And now there were only two left. She took a moment to stare at the Slytherin across from her, taking the other fifth year's measure: a fellow dueling club member that was somewhat more talented than Cori, good friends with the girl that Cori just beat in addition. She'd need to consider each spell she cast with both care and urgency - perhaps now, with consideration for her wand core, was the time to start using charms more heavily than jinxes and curses...
(Though she'd never admit it, the Hufflepuff did want to win; most terribly so. The question, she supposed distantly, was who wanted it more...)
"Immobulus!" The freezing charm leapt from her wand tip as she flicked it up at hip height, trying to be quicker than her opponent by not wasting time to raise her wand all the way before her.
Anne carefully examined Miss Dursley, studying the opponent who ruined Anne's ideal final round. The Hufflepuff had bested Millie in a tiebreaker and Anne wasn't interested in handing her the whole tournament. Not if she had any say about it. Deciding the girl deserved a taste of what Millie intended for her, Anne moved with vicious speed once her decision was made. "Stupefy!"
There was a sound like a crackling of ice and Miss Moony was rendered completely immobile, her wand arm outstretched. Ada waved her wand, setting her to rights while announcing Miss Dursley the victor of this first pass. “Miss Moony when you’ve recovered, please begin our next pass.” She bade.
The funny thing about freezing charms is your brain keeps going. Anne's brain was busy rattling off a whole list of expletives that would have had Mum charming her mouth full of soap. Anne still didn't think that was as humiliating as taking the first hit in the finals. She was not a gracious loser. Once she was certain her next words wouldn't be "Damn you to Hell, Corinne Dursley," Anne raised her wand. The Hufflepuff may be faster than Anne, not something she liked the thought of at all. This time, she'd favor impact over speed. Let's see how Miss Dursley could swim. "Aguamenti!" Anne put a great deal of force behind herself, working to generate a wave of water. Hope everyone brought their wellies!
It felt a touch obvious to Cori, as Anne was freed, that she'd struck a nerve. As her opponent was given the go-ahead, Cori knew she needed to make a hasty choice between shielding charm or counter spell to defend against the coming retaliation. The deciding factor, as the summoned water swelled to life, was that it seemed that Moony wasn't too worried about who else she would hit with her spell—
"Glacius!" Using the same firing technique as before, she was blatantly hoping to be faster than the Slytherin girl again and freeze the water before it could soak any and everybody in its path. (Hopefully, unlike last match, her decision to forgo shielding would not backfire).
The smell of water was overpowering as a gigantic geyser burst forth from Miss Moony's wand and towards her opponent. Ada had the advantage of seeing it coming and promptly cast a parasol spell with her wand and raised it over her head to save herself from the worst.
As for the duel, it had to run its course and once Miss Dursley (and a lot of those behind her, quite frankly) was thoroughly soaked, Ada went about setting everything to rights. “This point goes to Miss Moony,” She announced, before bidding Miss Dursley to begin their tie-breaker.
Cori’s bun, despite that she was now dry, was rapidly coming apart – like the water invigorated the rebellious streak in her (and her hair), instead of dousing her competitive spirit – and falling in waves over her shoulders. Tossing them back out of the way gave her the momentary distraction needed to stifle her outrage as it tried to spread like a frost through her veins, though, and so the only sign of the Hufflepuff’s displeasure was a narrowing of her eyes; the last thing she needed was make it seem like Moony wasn’t the only one with both a temper and lack of composure.
She took slow breath, deciding to settle for looking frigidly unimpressed. It was time for a more aggressive play – if such a thoughtless disregard for bystanders was rewarded on the floor, then so be it.
“Flipendo!” She threw her body into the wand motion, putting as much force behind the knockback jinx as possible to truly send her opponent flying.
Anne didn't bother to hide her smirk or immense glee at the absolute chaos she caused in the Great Hall. If a few people were still coughing from the flood she sent crashing through the room, too bad. Half the boys needed to bathe anyway, Anne should have conjured soap and towels for effect. The idea had her snickering, the sour look Miss Dursley shot her only making her shoulders shake with the effort of controlling herself. Anne made a show of enjoying the wait for her opponent. This was the tiebreaker; the next pass would claim the title for better or worse. Anne refused to look worried about the outcome. It was much better to make her opponent sweat (or drown).
Looking for all the world like she had somewhere else to be, Anne rolled her shoulders, getting back into position as if defense was an afterthought. It was. As soon as she noticed Miss Dursley's breathing change, an easy enough tell if you know what you're looking for, Anne gave her wand a snap, Hornbeam and dragon heartstring singing in delight of their clear purpose. "Incarcerous!"
Miss Dursley’s spell sent her Slytherin opponent flying, bringing an end to the duel and to the OWL Student Competition. Edelweiss raised her wand to end the duel and cushion Miss Moony’s landing. “Congratulations to our Hufflepuff victor!” She announced, sending Miss Dursley a smile as she applauded.
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