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
Tomorrow, Enid would be promoted to a full Healer in Creature Induced Injuries. She had established plans to spend some time with Nigel, celebrating in the observatory — the trouble was that Enid was not sure if she was running early or late, as the plans had been repeatedly interrupted with pleasant chatter and also with kissing. So she was walking from the farm towards the dirt path to the Yarwood observatory, keeping a deliberately normal place, and gearing up for whether she would apologize for being early or being late. (She did not think that Nigel would mind, regardless.)
Once she reached the main footpath up to the big house, which Enid would not be taking, she came to a stop. Miss Matilda Farris — daughter of the Mr. Farris who did research here, who was now a very pretty debutante instead of a very pretty Hogwarts student. Enid waved.
"Miss Farris!" she called cheerfully, closing the gap between them. "Are you visiting the Yarwoods, today?"
(Would Nigel be skipping out on the Farrises to come meet her? Enid had to pick Sunday over Saturday, so she could spend time with her family for Cad's last dinner at home before he went back to school.)
She had come to the Fairtree Farm celebration this summer, but otherwise the season had mostly taken priority – but now, with that beginning to wind down, there were much fewer invitations to save her from spending her days with her father and his work at the Glen. She was roaming the Yarwood grounds alone – because the dragon reserve was entirely off limits, but she could do so freely here – with a sketchbook in hand and watercolours and a book in her bag, though she had very little motivation to use them. She would rather get her boots a little muddy today, if there was no one to potentially see her but the Yarwoods – Mrs. Yarwood would not care a whit, and Mattie did not much care what her sons thought. Her father would be less pleased if she went off adventuring, but she would present him with a pretty picturesque watercolour of the valleys to spare him thinking on it.
But here was someone coming up in the landscape, altogether closer to ‘home’ than Mattie had expected to find anyone, save perhaps a gardener. “Miss Enid! How nice to see you,” Mattie answered promptly, with a grin. She nodded. “Mm – my father and his research,” she explained, carelessly – and meanwhile, she had been left to her own devices until dinner. “And where are you off to?”
Yes, Mr. Farris and his research. Sometimes Enid really wondered why the researcher had not simply up and moved here — but the Glen probably did not have all the amenities Irvingly had to offer. And maybe he was attached to a home where he had (maybe, she didn't know) had his wife.
"Oh, just a walk — I was maybe going to go to Smoke & Scale," Enid answered, with a slight smile. She hoped her lie was smooth.
“Oh, indeed?” Mattie asked, perking up at that. She tucked her sketchbook better under her arm as she sauntered over. “That’s an excellent idea. I hope you don’t mind if I come?” It might have the intonation of a question, but it wasn’t one – she had already set her mind on it. So Mattie had no intention of taking no for an answer, and the question of politeness did not even signify here so far from society. She merely imagined anyone would necessarily be honoured by her company, and the Glynn girls must be particularly starved of company in this little hamlet.
And the Smoke & Scale would definitely prove more diverting than anything at the Yarwoods. Particularly if any of the better looking dragonkeepers or farmboys wandered in.
Oh no! Enid was really going to have to hope that she was running early, or she was going to be late to meet Nigel. She didn't know Miss Farris that well, but there was something about the way the girl sauntered over that had Enid sure: there would be no abandoning her here. So she smiled at her. Maybe it would be a good opportunity to get to know someone who spent so much time with Nigel?
"I'm happy to take you!" Enid said. "Your father won't mind?"
set by Bee
October 7, 2024 – 10:17 PM
Last modified: October 7, 2024 – 10:17 PM by Matilda Farris.
Matilda Farris was a great advocate of the belief that what her father did not know wouldn’t hurt him (or her), so she just shot the other girl a bright smile.
“Call it research of my own,” Mattie said smoothly; and if it came to it, that she was being accompanied by a healer (a Sensible working woman, then) was sure to soothe his grievances with it. But she was of a mind that he needn’t find out at all; she had at least an hour, maybe two, to kill. She brushed off any lingering concerns with a wave of her hand and a careless change of subject. “So. Is much new with you?”
Goodness, Miss Farris had a confidence to her that Enid envied. She reminded Enid of Gwyn, in that way — Merlin help Mr. Farris if the two ever met. She started leading them both towards the center of town. Maybe she would get lucky and Nigel would see them, and then if she was not running late he would at least know what had waylaid her? Hm.
"I become a full healer tomorrow," Enid said — despite herself, pride instantly weaseled its way into her voice. "So I'm really rather excited about that."
“Oh, congratulations!” Mattie said, perfectly capable of genuinely admiring someone else’s achievements when she was not in direct competition with them. “Everyone must be so proud of you.” Her family, she supposed: she had to imagine healing was the rare exception to them, a near-unreachable goal rather than just something to be expected.
Which made Enid Glynn quite the little overachiever, probably. Committed, and hard-working; though hopefully not too dull. “Are you doing anything fun to celebrate?”
Enid could feel her face betraying her before she came up with an answer; she was biting her lip, and a faint blush appeared on her cheeks. It was easier to lie to her family, because she was prepared to lie to them, because they were used to steady, solid Enid puttering around the Glen, because it was easy enough to deflect with affectionate bickering.
Harder, then, to lie to Matilda Farris — because she hadn't expected to. Enid was sure the girl was smart enough to catch her expression, but said, "Oh, nothing too exciting — we did a dinner yesterday, but that was half because my brother's back to school."
It had been a question asked with no agenda, and not even that much real interest – but she was looking sidelong at Miss Glynn as they walked, eyes half on the landscape over her shoulder until that interesting response. Not the verbal one at all, but that surprising look. The bitten lip, the sudden flush – so now maybe Enid Glynn was more intriguing than Mattie had ever supposed?
Surely it wasn’t just a flush of self-consciousness or modesty, a woman aware she was so plainly mundane? No – there simply had to be something else. She looked nervous. A corner of Mattie’s mouth twitched.
“Oh, but a family dinner can’t be all, Miss Enid!” She said, snaking her free arm around the other girl’s with a friendly conspiratorial manner; and perhaps to express that she was not going to get away so easily with any deflection now. Mattie could be a dog with a bone when she wanted something, after all. “I think there must be something else that’s making you blush so. The question is,” she teased – making good use of her now defunct prefect tone, and sorely hoping there was a secret to uncover – “are you going to tell me about it, or are you going to be a terror and make me guess?” Her eyebrows arched and she grinned devilishly to say that she would certainly assume the worst if she were allowed to.
Miss Farris was snaking her arm into Enid's like they were the best of friends, and Enid had the sinking knowledge that this was a trap. Miss Farris was teasing her, and Enid could not quite smooth out her expression — she was pressing her lips together like she had a secret, because she did have a secret.
Isolde and Matilda Farris would get along, if they were ever allowed to interact — privately, Enid noted that she should never, ever let the two meet. (Or maybe she should? It might be good for Izzy to get a taste of her own medicine.)
"Miss Farris," she said, in a measured voice, "You know that I'm going to have to be a terror."
Well then. What could Enid Glynn have to be secretive about? She had all but admitted to there being something, just by being so afraid to tell it. (She thought she was setting Enid on edge by her interrogation – she could sense it, a hint of discomfort in her careful tone – but Mattie wasn’t particularly sorry for it. She ought to relent, probably – but really, that only left her supposing that Miss Glynn wasn’t a young woman used to this. Not someone who often had secrets to hide, or much inclination to lie or to break the rules. So either her secret would be something she cared very earnestly about, or it would be a rather disappointing tale.)
Mattie considered it. Doing anything fun to celebrate? had sparked the incriminating expression. “Well, let’s see. Is it something else, or it is someone else?” She was watching Miss Glynn’s expression all the while as they walked, intent upon catching any more telling signs on her face. She did try to soften her smile into something more innocent, hoping to coax it out slowly if she could, piece by piece, until she could make a better picture of the situation. “A friend? Maybe... more than a friend?”
“I won’t tell anyone,” she added, tone almost wheedling. (This was true enough in the moment. Mattie couldn’t speak for a later day, but at the moment it didn’t serve her to go around telling a quiet healer’s secrets, so what would be the point? Strictly speaking, the only secrets she was inclined to keep in perpetuity were her own.) “After all, you’re taking me to the Smoke & Scale, aren’t you?” she pointed out, as if they could trade in secrets; like Mattie was at her mercy and Enid could get her in trouble for that if she liked. (Well. She could certainly try.) “Is it one of the dragonkeepers?” she prompted, back at her game of twenty questions.
The trouble, Enid knew, was that there were only so many secrets she could reasonably have — she had always been somewhat of an open book, with one, Nigel-shaped exception. She'd gotten away with the crush because even in her own family, few people were that interested in whatever Enid was containing inside her.
So Matilda Farris kept guessing, someone, and kept getting closer, and Enid was starting to look frantic as heat spread in her face and she pressed her lips closer together. She certainly couldn't let Miss Farris land on Nigel, because Miss Farris spent so much time with the Yarwoods that she was sure to reveal things sooner or later.
She managed to keep mum until Miss Farris said dragonkeepers, and then — Enid released a strangled sound from her throat, as if she'd been caught, because it was better to be with a dragonkeeper than it was to be with Nigel. Ears burning, she managed, "You promise not to tell?"
She took that noise for a yes, then – which made sense with the question. “Of course,” Mattie said easily, without blinking – she had said so already, only this time she was grinning in something like triumph. Enid Glynn was finally confessing to being interesting!
“But I have also promised myself that I shall kiss at least one of the dragonkeepers before the year is out,” Mattie said casually, almost whimsical, “so you had better warn me if one of them is off-limits.”
Enid giggled at Miss Farris' response, more manic than girlish. "He's not very social," she said, "So I think we shan't have any problem."
She was even more glad that she hadn't told Matilda Farris it was Nigel — she half-suspected that the debutante would try to kiss him just to prove a point.
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