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
Josiah, like many of his fellow muggles, had been intrigued by the set up being done over at the zoo. The wizards typically did their events over in Hogsmeade. Likely due to the fact public magic was not allowed by law in Irvingly and he presumed wizard events must have a lot of magic aspects. So this was a fun change of pace. Josiah was still interested in working for the zoo but had no idea who he was meant to speak to about it.
He had drifted through the butterfly exhibit, marvelling at the different colours and sizes of the butterflies. His eyes were on a particularly vibrantly purple butterflies and he wondered what sort of breed they might be. "They are so beautiful," he murmured out loud as they fluttered about before one landed on the tip of his nose.
Kenna had coerced Sean to join her in Irvingly at the zoo for the flower show on a whim. Ever since moving to Hogsmeade with Declan she felt a little disconnected to her siblings and she missed them. She knew it was for the better, but it didn't change the feeling like she was missing out. His agreement to join her might have been two-fold; as soon as they'd gotten into the zoo itself, she'd managed to lose him and she hoped he was behaving.
Sighing softly, Kenna turned toward the butterfly exhibit and opened the first door, making sure it was securely closed behind her before opening the second. The sight she was greeted with brough a warm smile to her features. The plants towered all of the way up to the ceiling of the conservatory, blooms and butterflies in the brightest of hues dancing between the different greens of the leaves. Enthralled by the sheer amount of different varieties, Kenna chuckled as one landed on her hair, a bright yellow one from what she could see, with black stripes and teal spots.
Somebody nearby spoke and Kenna turned gently, so as not to disturb her new accessory, chuckling behind her hand as she noticed she was not the only one currently sporting a new look. "They are," she breathed out, afraid to upset the butterflies. "This must be the new look." She chuckled again, looking up at the one on her hair again before back at the gentleman with a serene sort of smile.
Josiah smiled awkwardly as he realized someone had been nearby enough to hear him speak. He was not the most skilled at socializing with women even when not presently being covered by butterflies. At least he was not the only one covered by them. "I suppose so. I have never seen such a shade of purple before," he could not help but state.
Kenna had never seen half of these species of butterflies before, but she has to assume, based on the warmth of the conservatory, that they were exotic by some means. "I've never seen so many in one place." It was quite the wonder to see the little whirls of colors mixed into the plants of the space. "Have you seen any plaques that say what each one is?" Kens would be interested in identifying some of the ones around her, just to know what they were called. The one on her hair had to be near four inches across and the fading colors on it were quite beautiful.
Josiah took a look around at her question. "I think there are a couple over there," Josiah said. For the moment, however, he could not quite move as a series of butterflies had decided his arm was an ideal perch. He inched closer to the little plaque pedestals. "Some of them come from rainforests," he said in wonder, not able to conceptualize this fact.
"Oh really?" Kenna meandered further slowly, trying not to disturb her guest, but it fluttered off anyway. Kens couldn't really wrap her head around a rainforest either, though she assumed it must feel like this in temperature and perhaps in the sheer amount of greenery. She glanced at the plaque on the pedestal, but much of it was beyond her reading comprehension. Her literacy was passable at best, enough to get by at work, but she couldn't quite figure out everything that it said about the varieties of butterflies from the rainforest. It wasn't like she had a lot of spare time for reading as a hobby.
"I wonder if this is what it is like there," she motioned around them with a fond smile, trying to envision such a place.
"It must to make the butterflies more comfortable," Josiah said. He knew wild life and knew birds migrated during the cold seasons to warmer climates. He imagined it must be the same for butterflies. He wished he had the ability to learn even more about all these things. "It must be such great fun to be a zookeeper here." A lot of hard work too but it was something he had always dreamed of. Not that he had a clue of how to go about such things and he imagined they likely did not need a muggle muggling about.
"Oh, how foolish of me, that makes sense." Kenna blushed a little, watching an orange and black butterfly hop from flower to flower. She smiled warmly at his admission about working with the creatures. "Do you enjoy creatures?" She found herself asking, assuming the answer must be yest. She was curious about his use of the word zookeeper instead of magizoologist, but had to wonder if that was what they were all called, considering it was a zoo.
"I admit, I do not know much about them," she hadn't taken Care of Magical Creatures as an elective, not that it would have mattered anyway. "But they are interesting." Gently she held a finger out to the orange butter fly and smiled again softly as it crawled onto her finger.
Josiah had not meant to make her feel foolish. He had been eager to share the bit of information he was capable of sharing but not was practiced in speaking to women. Or anyone, really. He tended to feel the most at home in the woods, with plants and with animals. Which he supposed was a little ironic considering he had four siblings that he was decently close in age to. He spoke with them just fine, it was just... everyone else that he seemed to have difficulties with.
"Very much so," Josiah said. He had learned about some magical ones too through his magical brother. They seemed scary but intriguing at the same time. Some he would prefer to never meet though. Like those giant man eating spider things. "I only know a little myself from what I read when I have the time and the information provided by the zoo."
This was probably the most he had spoken to a woman and he was starting to feel awkward about it. What did one say next when they wanted to keep the conversation flowing? He smiled as another butterfly landed and crawled across the womans finger. "They seem to really like you. Maybe you have a gentle soul or something." Realizing what he had said, Josiahs cheeks flushed and he looked away hastily.
"I didn't make it far enough to take the class at Hogwarts." Kenna mused, attempting to recover from her faux pas. She would have enjoyed it she thought. As the gentleman had observed very astutely (and she'd been told before), she had a gentle soul and touch. "But I would have liked to."
She smiled warmly at him. "Maybe I am just to become part of the exhibit." She laughed gently, afraid to startle the butterflies as she looked more closely at the one who had just joined her. "I'm not sure I would entirely mind." It was warm and the inhabitants and flowers were both so breathtaking. Kenna could easily take up residence.
"Ah, I heard about that class and things like hippogryffs," Josiah said with a smile. He would have liked to have attended Hogwarts. Magic fascinated him. Josiah was also quite content in being a muggle though.
He laughed as she joked about becoming part of the exhibit. "I promise to drop by to visit and insure that they are not just feeding you butterfly food."
Kenna wondered if he hadn't gone to Hogwarts at all by that comment. Perhaps he was a muggle? Ken tended to forget that was an option, considering she spent most of her time in Hogsmeade, but here in Irvingly, it was certainly possible. Deciding it was rude to ask, in case he take offense, she pushed on.
"How kind of you." She smiled, watching the butterfly take off again. "At least it's nice and warm year-round." She assumed. "I'm Kenna by the way," if they were going to keep up the pretend story, he would have to know who he was coming back to visit after all.
![[Image: Kenna-Sig-A94.png]](https://i.ibb.co/gTfXM7N/Kenna-Sig-A94.png)