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
Although Christmases at Hogwarts were more often than not rather lonely (if all of her friends didn't go home for Christmas then it was most of them) they were still guaranteed not to be as lonely as going home would be for her. At least this way she had someone to talk to besides a stern governess or her scolding great aunt.
This was her second to last Christmas at Hogwarts, she couldn't afford to waste it. She did wish Polly and Flora were around though, and Sirius... The latter would both be gone this time next year, she thought it would've been nice to have had Christmas with them before society and adult life in general sunk its claws into them all. There probably wouldn't be friendship with Sirius at all after Hogwarts, he'd kept her at arms length in her first year because of appearances and so naturally he'd do the same when society demanded the utmost formality of them. That would sting. Maybe once she was married, maybe if he was friendly with her future husband then they might be friends again?
Hesper hadn't realized how thoroughly she'd zoned out over her Christmas meal, not until the sensation of her fork starting to slip from her hand snapped her back to attention. Thankfully she managed to stop it from falling before she embarrassed herself but she still glanced across the table just in case to see if the Gryffindor across from her was staring. She thought he'd sensed her looking at him and was about to meet her gaze so she abruptly looked down at her plate before she could find out. She wasn't sure why she felt so furtive, it wasn't like she'd actually done anything embarrassing. However, it was probably a good thing she was looking at her plate now because she realized she didn't have anything left to eat anyway. She put her fork down safely on the plate. Next to her plate was her Christmas cracker. Who should she pull it with? She was sat on the end of the bench so there was no one to one side of her, and the girl sat on her other side was a lot younger and in deep conversation with someone else.
That left the Gryffindor sat opposite her, Rufus Osei. She didn't know him so much as she knew of him, although what she knew of him was very little. The only seventh years she really spent time around were Flora and Sirius' circle. Would you like to pull my cracker with me? Hesper picked up her cracker and held it out for him to take should he choose to oblige her. Outfit | Tag: Rufus Osei | Notes:
His last Christmas at Hogwarts was for Rufus a sad occasion, but he took care not to show it. Rufus Osei was little connected to the origins of the celebration but the splendor of lights and cheer worked on him all the same. Christmas was neat. A gentleman from the Ministry had gifted him a magical shaving knife and a pointy hat, because he thought, apparently, that a young man ought to have these things. His friends left him an assortment of more and less serious things wrapped haphazardly in paper. They had all gone home for the holidays. For about two minutes Rufus had watched Hesper Gamp balance her empty fork delicately between her fingers and stare ahead with an empty expression. Her face was white and soft and her eyes were brown and lovely, but very serious.
She suddenly returned to her wherewithal, and Rufus smoothly looked away at the exact moment, to consider in great depth the festive decorations on the table.
When she addressed him, he deployed his bright smile. "I would like to," he said with emphasis, and with the same quick resoluteness, he pulled on the other end of the cracker.
When everyone tells us what we can be
How can we rewrite the stars?
His response - or rather the sincerity and warmth of it - took Hesper quite by surprise and so it was with a rather limp wrist that she held her cracker when he began to pull on the other end. It wasn't until it almost slipped from her hand that she tightened her grip. The predictably thunderous 'bang' made her ears ring and the blue smoke that had suddenly engulfed them made it impossible to tell who'd won the cracker. Well, she could've raised her end to her face to try and get a good look but she waited instead for the smoke to clear.
Once it had more or less cleared, she saw that the middle of the cracker had ended up on his end. What did you get? she asked enthusiastically. Wizard crackers were one of her favorite things about Christmas, in part because for her first year Christmas at Hogwarts all she'd had was a book on etiquette from her great aunt, the gifts inside the crackers she'd won had cheered her immensely. It had also been her first time ever having wizard crackers (she wasn't sure if she'd had them at Christmas with her parents) it wasn't as though her aunt suddenly thawed out her personality for Christmas and got merry. Outfit | Tag: Rufus Osei | Notes:
