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
Ford hadn't been able to face Grace since their conversation before the wedding last week. He was convinced that if he lingered for any more than a few seconds in the same room as her she would see right through him, and he couldn't have that. He also couldn't keep doing what he'd been doing for the past week to avoid her, which was going to a pub somewhere after he got off work and nursing two drinks throughout the course of the evening and sulking until he was confident he could sneak into the kitchen without disturbing anyone else in the household. It was unsustainable for a few reasons: first, he couldn't afford to keep buying himself drinks every night, even if it was only two pints of cheap beer; second, the family couldn't afford for him to get a reputation as a drunk if anyone spotted him and noticed a pattern. The club would have been a better choice than a pub, but it had one obvious problem: Macnair. Not an option, at least not for the near future; the wounds were too fresh. So he had to find something else to keep him out in the evenings, or he had to face his sister.
He knocked on his superior's door as things were winding down for the afternoon, in pursuit of the former. "Sir?" he called as he poked his head in. Calling Morgan sir had always felt a little strange. His predecessor, Ford's original boss, had been older than Ford's father, so when the old man had retired and Morgan had taken over the role it was a strange transition. When he was talking to his coworkers Ford always just said Morgan, but he'd decided it was best to err on the side of decorum for this conversation. He needed Morgan to say yes.
Desi had been busy all morning and had just finished off a stack of paperwork when a knock came on his door. It was always jarring to hear himself called sir. It made him feel so old. He fought the urge to glance into his office mirror to see if there was any gray in his hair as he signaled the other man to enter. "What can I do for you, Mister Greengrass?" He asked, hoping it was something that would let him escape the office and stretch his legs for a bit.
Ford slipped into the office and closed the door behind him. He didn't think this conversation was particularly sensitive, but he still didn't want to be interrupted. He was a little nervous about asking for anything; his usual modus operandi at work was to keep his head down and make sure his reports were always punctual and correct and therefore minimize the amount of time anyone had to spend thinking about him.
"I was noticing that there's been a bit of a backlog in the Muggle-reported hauntings file," he started. This was not news, because Muggles were superstitious and they thought a lot of things were due to ghosts and spirits that had absolutely nothing to do with them. There had been a backlog since Ford had started at the division years ago. It was really just a lead-in to his main question, which he decided to forge right ahead to. "I was thinking maybe I could get through it if I stayed later a few nights."
Every night, actually, indefinitely until the season started, but he didn't think he needed to get into that just yet.
It looked like he was not going to be escaping his office. Instead, he was closed into it. Sob.
Desi listened as Greengrass aid his piece about the hauntings file. Oh, that thing. There was always a backlog in there. They tended to fall to the lowest priority since Muggles couldn't see ghosts anyway nor did most even know the Ministry existed if they were not married into the wizarding world. And even in those instances, the magical relation explained things to the muggle and took care of it themselves or reported it themselves.
"We should rename that thing since most of them are not truly muggle reported," Desi said idly, likely focusing on the aspect that Greengrass would not personally find relevant. "So you want to spend time you could be elsewhere - going through a file that is low priority?" Though he supposed it would be good to get it out of the way. Better Greengrass than him anyway.
"Um," Ford mumbled, at a loss. When phrased like that it did sound rather ridiculous, and Ford wasn't sure what to say to explain himself. He could not tell anyone they needed the money. He also couldn't tell anyone that he was avoiding being at home because his sister had come too close to figuring him out and now he couldn't bear the thought of being around her.
"I thought working more now and clearing the backlog might free up more time once the season starts," he attempted. Hopefully that seemed reasonable, and didn't make it look like he was trying to shirk out of things once the summer started. It wasn't a secret that he'd had two debutante sisters last season and would have two again this season, though, and surely someone like Morgan knew how exhausting the season could be?
"If there's something that's higher priority I'd be happy to do that instead," he continued, before Mr. Morgan would have a chance to think too critically about his excuse about the social season. "I can cast a patronus now. So I could help with — Azkaban, if that's necessary," he offered. This was only partially true; he could sort-of cast a patronus, but he'd survived dealing with Cash's dementor. He could probably do it again. Probably.
Luckily for Ford Greengrass, Desi did not really care enough to dig past what he was being told. He supposed Greengrass was one of those keen types. Maybe even one of those nerds that did his homework right after it was assigned instead of waiting until the night before it was due.
"That makes sense," he said knowing that Ford had sisters that were actively part of the season. Besides, who wanted to spend the wonderful days of summer being stuck in an office? Not him, that was for sure.
"We don't have much dealings with Azkaban for the moment but I will keep you in mind when we do. I like this initiative I am seeing," Desi said, even though he personally rather lacked any intiative. "You can go ahead on that muggle file. If you see anything else backlogged, let me know and we can slog through it." Well, maybe not him personally but he would probably assign Robins to assist Greengrass.
