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.
With the same account, complete eight different threads where your character interacts with eight different usergroups. At least one must be a non-human, and one a student.
Did You Know?
Braces, or suspenders, were almost universally worn due to the high cut of men's trousers. Belts did not become common until the 1920s. — MJ
"Emilia what," maybe it was who? "Do you keep looking for?" Winnie mused as she sat at the bar with her sister-in-law, sipping on a brandy smiling with a bemused twitch to her lips. She'd known Emilia had been attending the First Friday at the Arms for a while now, but Win couldn't always come. When asked, her sister was a little evasive about what happened when she went, but tonight Winnie was going to find out for herself.
She was comfortable in her chair, one leg crossed over the other under her skirts as she surveyed the pub at large over her meal. The music was lovely and lively. Win missed things like this. She needed to get out a little bit more sometimes. Her life had settled down again into an easy rhythm that she found therapeutic if nothing else. "You look like a lost child looking for their parent in the crowd, Em." She teased further.
Winnie couldn't always come with her to First Friday — she tended to have an unpredictable schedule, given the chaotic nature of pregnancies — but Emilia was always pleased when she did. And she was pleased tonight, even though she kept finding herself looking to see if Mr. Podmore was here. After their chat at the December First Friday, she'd gone alone again to the one in January, and had spoken with him again. She liked talking to him, despite herself.
But it was bad if Winnie could tell that she was looking around. "Oh, nothing," Emilia said, with a small shake of her head. She smiled at her sister-in-law, hoping to convince her. "I suppose it was just a long week. I'm glad you're here with me again."
Winnie pursed her lips and hid the expression behind her brandy. It had been a long week. Winnie felt like she was gearing up for a busy month. For some reason she had several mothers due in the next couple of weeks and she knew some of them were going to be tougher than others. She had faith in herself though, so she was sure everything would be fine.
"Mhm," she hummed out skeptically. "I'm glad I could come. It's nice to get out and let loose for a little while without responsibility." Not that Win had responsibilities outside her job. She paid her half of the rent, left Ivy alone for the most part and kept to herself. She didn't have to worry about anyone else and it was much easier that way. Well, that wasn't strictly true, she was trying her best to keep an eye on Gus. She was worried about him and the children in the wake of Sophia's death and was trying to help lighten the load as much as she could. "Plus I love not having to find something for dinner."
Emilia smiled. "You know I always have food in the icebox if you want to come steal some," she said. Her maid helped with a large amount of the meal preparation, and that meant that Emilia was always having extras around, both because she cooked as if Kit came over every night and also because she tried to spare Emilia from having to cook for herself.
"I do know that," Winnie beamed at Em. "But it's not your responsibility to feed the poor waifish sister-in-law all of the time." Winnie had subjected Emilia to more of her presence that was strictly necessary in the last year, but she suspected Em didn't mind. In fact, though they had never discussed it, Winnie thought they both might need it more than either would let on.
"How's Ned doing?" Win knew how Anne was doing, based on her niece's recent letters, but she hadn't said anything to Emilia about it yet. She rather thought Anne could handle it, even if Winnie had been rather frank in her advice.
Emilia wrinkled her nose at the image of Winnie as a poor waif, as though she was an orphan in a penny dreadful and not an adult woman who could hold her own. But she shouldn't have to hold her own; she and Emilia were perfectly capable of holding each other.
"He's alright," Emilia said. She sighed. "Still in auror training. He — likes it."
"You hate it," Winnie passed her sister a wry smile. It wasn't hard for Win to read between the lines here. After what happened to Kit, she knew that it was a tough pill to swallow. Win worried about him too, but Ned was much smarter than Kit (in her humble opinion) and would hopefully be better at the position. It was dangerous, she knew and she would have thought he might choose a different path, but he hadn't and they had to deal with it.
She sipped at her brandy, glad to have the discussion moved away from mooching off Emilia. "I don't love it either, but he's much brighter than my brother ever was, he'll be alright." She had to have faith.
Emilia sipped her own drink, a lager, and hummed in agreement. "He's smart, and he's level-headed," she agreed, "But Kit was different before he went missing." Sometimes Emilia feared that her own children didn't remember their father as the man he had once been, good-natured if a bit rash. But she knew that Winnie did, and hoped that her sister-in-law would understand what she was getting at — Winnie was often good at reading her.
Winnie reached out a hand to cover her sister's and squeeze gently. Kit had always been a bit of a showoff and he had been good at the job once too, probably still was, but Winnie admittedly didn't see her brother as often as she saw Emilia. She and her brother had drifted apart after his disappearance while she and Emilia had only grown closer.
Still, Win knew that Ned would be infinitely far more suited to the job. She had to wonder if it was a wild bid to be closer to Kit or if Ned was trying to prove himself; she had never asked and never would, his reasons were his own, but she would support him and Emilia, the best she could. They were the only true semblance of family she had left. "I know," she sighed softly. "We just have to hope he's luckier than his father." Kit had been prepared, which was the scary part, and it had still happened, so she just had to pray that Ned fared better against the odds.
![[Image: Winnie-Sig-W94.png]](https://i.ibb.co/vhYTmc6/Winnie-Sig-W94.png)
