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.
It has only been a few days since you left for school and already the house seems lonely without you in it. Delilah is nice to be around in the evenings but with my little sister all grown up and a fifth year at Hogwarts, it feels different. How is school? Are you thriving there? Have you made any new friends? What are your classes like?
I know, I already miss you and Delilah terribly too! Of course I am glad to see some of my old friends again - you know how awfully I missed those who were stuck in the fog for all July! I shouldn't say I have made any new friends, particularly, but the halls and the House are full of new first years. And you know how Hufflepuff is - we do all try to be kind towards the youngsters. Although they are horribly loud.
I would not say I am thriving, though, not amidst all the demands of fifth year! OWLs are only in May, which might be eons away, but I feel as though it might be tomorrow, the way the professors are acting. I'm a little worried of the workload to come. Professor Ellsworth (still teaching Charms, you know, as I imagine he will until the end of the world) did not even start off with a nice bit of introductory theory, but sent us straight into trying a new spell! I think I shall die before the year is up. However did you manage such wonderful grades across the board? I swear I pay so much more attention than you and yet It is becoming ever more clear that I am not so quick a learner as you!
I am only grateful, at least, that I haven't the faintest intention of following you and Solomon into healing. How is work? It's only been a week and I'm already so tired, so I haven't the energy to write any more. So you must write to me instead, and tell me what you have been up to without me!
Oh dear, Professor Ellsworth is up to his old tricks again, I see. He is awful good at that. One year he skipped over explaining what the spell was even for and just told us to cast it and see what happened. When one of us finally got it right, it sent up a shower of sparks into the classroom. Several of us got singed eyebrows!
I do remember what it was like when the first years started at Hogwarts, for the first several months all they could do was loudly exclaim how magical the place was and how this hallway led to that unusual painting. And if I do recall, you were the same way. Yes, I said it, you were once an annoying first year, but we loved you anyways.
I managed my grades the same way you are, I'm sure. Studying for hours. It did help that I had a direct passion for what I was learning since it got me here to St. Mungo's. Work is well, I am forever learning new things. You would think as a full healer I would know what there is to know about healing magical artifacts induced wounds, but those who are more advanced than I am still must teach me things almost every day.
I got a new hat since you left-- this one has a bird on top that is so magically real you can almost feel its heartbeat! It coos and everything. I cannot wait to show it to you. Do well in your studies, Jem, otherwise I'll not get to show it to you!
