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.
I am safe, your aunt and uncle are safe, and I cannot wait to return to Britain and hold you in my arms. I know it will be some days before my missive finds you; know that the uncertainty and fear you must be feeling causes me no shortage of pain in turn.
I shall write again as soon as I am returned home. Be brave, sweet girl.
I write this in the afternoon and trust that it shall arrive in time for your supper. This morning, I returned at last to our home in Hogsmeade, the voyage proving to be far more of an adventure than I ever anticipated (or wished for). Matilda, Mr. Zabini, Miss Zabini, and myself were fortunate to find ourselves in an early lifeboat after the ship was struck; we were more fortunate, still, to have been among the first rescued. Miss Zabini took ill during our time upon the water, but I myself remained in good health throughout, a testament to good, Longbottom blood, I should think.
There is some good news to arise from this so-called holiday, however: your uncle's sister found herself the new Mrs. Prewett, though I would ask, of course, that you keep this news to yourself until the announcement is formally released. I know you know the value of discretion.
My date book tells me that you have a Hogsmeade week-end approaching. Would you mind terribly surrendering it to the whims of your needy mama? I have missed you so dearly.
I have been distraught since I received word of the Santa Antonia's fate—and the post had no mercy on my poor heart, as both of your letters arrived together this evening. For the past few days you were the only thing that occupied my mind; I am fortunate that our professors have been so understanding in the wake of the tragedy, as there were multiple occasions where I could have lost points for not paying attention had my professors not known what I was going through.
I cannot deny that I am saddened to hear of their marriage, if only because their wedding was not one I could attend! Oh how I'm in desperate need of some distraction. Even without the shipwreck the stress of examinations has turned me into a hermit. I swear, Mama, it's all I can do to say hello to Rex some days in class, and one of my dorm-mates even commented on how wrinkled my dress had become after a few hours of studying.
We must see each other on Hogsmeade weekend. I could not bear to wait until the end of the school year—I miss you.
