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
Why one of her friends wanted to go to the protective goods store, Johanna could not begin to guess. But they had been here for several minutes now, Hanna standing in front of the window with her arms folded across her chest. Her hands were tingling, and she was irritated. She had been staring at a silly little mirror for several minutes now, trying to fathom it.
Finally she turned abruptly to the man she assumed was the shop-keeper. "What's this," Hanna said loudly, waving at the mirror.
Protego liked to think he had perfected the fine mercantile art of hovering. The trick, of course, was to be available without being too overbearing--and to be able to spot which customers needed a heavier hand than others. He was very good at his job, is what he was saying.
So, he had been hovering near a pair of customers, ostensibly straightening up a display that had recently been picked through, but really just making himself available for when they needed him. So, when one of the ladies asked a question, he was quick to sweep in, charming salesman smile and all. "Ah! I see you've found our Foe-Glass. Terribly useful item for anyone with enemies to keep track of." Though, in Protego's experience, what the glass considered "enemies" varied wildly on the possessor. He'd sold two the same week once--one to an ex-auror who'd understandably angered a lot of dark wizards in his day, and one to an old curmudgeon who erroneously thought everyone and their brother was out to get him--and, well, the reviews from both had been excellent, so he assumed they both got what they wanted out of it. "If you have enemies nearby, miss, the glass will be able to tell you. Their image will become clearer the nearer they are."
Hanna's eyebrows drew together with confusion. She understood that the shopkeeper was trying to explain things to her, but his question only opened up more for her. "Do most people really have enemies?" she asked. She didn't think she had any — just people who found her off-putting.
"What do you usually sell to women like me?" she added. She was not really in the market — but she was curious. Maybe something here would help her to marry?
"I imagine some must," Protego allowed with a shrug. "I would not presume to argue with someone who believed they were in danger." If for no other reason than it was bad for business to call his customers paranoid. Personally, Protego thought most probably were. But peace of mind was undeniably nice to have, and anyway, a broken clock was still right twice a day.
"Hmm." He considered the woman thoughtfully. She looked to be a bit past the first blush of youth--no new debutante, this one. "Luck charms are always popular," Protego offered. "We have a variety, depending on what you'd like to be lucky in. Fortune, family... love, perhaps." He turned to gesture toward the appropriate display. "We have more general luck charms, of course, for an all-over sort of boost."
Some people thought they had enemies. Hanna did not believe them. The real enemy had always been in her blood — what mortal nemesis could compare?
Luck immediately distracted her.
"Whose definition of luck do the general luck charms use?" Johanna asked, standing on her toes. This man was tall. She wanted a way to approach his height — she wanted to approximate seeing the world the way he did. "After all, I want different things than you do."
(Presumably. She had to assume Mr. Lochrin did not want a husband, and that could be problematic even if she purchased a luck charm.)
A fair question, that. "Unfortunately," he said honestly, "I think it is probably the definition of the enchanter. Which, in this case, is me." He shrugged, making a what can you do? sort of hand gesture. "I suppose someone looking for a general luck charm is usually someone willing to take the chance."
Hanna hmmed, a little more loudly than was strictly polite. She looked the man up and down. She was not sure that he looked like a particularly lucky person; he was a little lanky for her taste. Or was being lanky a side effect of being tall, which was a strike of luck?
She whirled abruptly on her heels to look at another rack of protective goods."What's the strangest thing you have?"
Oh, he did like that sort of question. Protego grinned, then crooked his finger at the lady in a follow me gesture. He led the way toward the shop counter.
"This just came in from our London branch," he said, dipping behind the counter. Holding up a ginger to indicate for the woman to wait, Protego disappeared into the backroom.
When he emerged again a minute later, he had a long thin box in his hands. He set it down on the counter and opened it so that the contents were pointed toward the customer. If he did it with a bit more of a flourish than the object required, we'll, she didn't need to know that. "This amulet," he said, "is very special. First one we've made like it." Well, technically. His brother's shop had the only other one currently made, anyway. "This particular object is meant to bind itself to the needs of its owner. Whatever need is strongest." He chuckled. "Well. Strongest at the moment the activation word is said, anyway."
Hanna followed the shopkeeper. When he left her at the counter, she stood on her toes — as if she were trying to see what the man was getting for her before he returned. She bounced back down to her heels when he appeared with the long box. Hanna looked at the amulet, eyes narrowed in consideration.
"Anything you need," she said, "Is that really true? I can ask it for anything I need?"
(She needed a husband. She also had not noticed her slip out of hypotheticals.)
"The upper limit, if it exists, has not yet been found," Protego confirmed. He was bending the truth a bit, but it was the most powerful luck charm that Lochrin's sold. And there was a reasonable limit to how far they could test any of their products before determining they were ready for sale.
So she could ask the luck charm for a potential husband.
"How much is it?" Hanna asked; she had over-shown her hand, here, and so there was no use in pretending that she was not wildly interested in the object. She shifted her weight back and forth from foot to foot.
Protego considered the woman for a moment. He would never admit to charging any particular type of person more--at least not aloud--but if he thought he was going to make a sale anyway, sometimes he adjusted accordingly. At any rate, he gave her a price he thought was both fair for what he was claiming, and simultaneously not too off-putting. "You'll not find anything of its like anywhere else."
/writing around Steph not knowing how to price things. XD
That was a significant chunk of her allowance. Hanna paused, making a show of considering, although she'd internally already decided on the purchase. "That's more than I have in my purse," she said, "Am I able to acquire the amulet on credit?"
"We can certainly work something out," Protego said. It wouldn't be the first time such a deal had been made, after all. "That shouldn't be a problem."
