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
December 4th, 1888 — Department of Magical Law Enforcement Offices, Ministry of Magic Christmas Hurling Roulette
Gnomes. They were, strictly speaking, a household pest. They had little real impact on the fabric of society, and an overabundance of them was, at worst, a nuisance. Still, they fell under the purview of Elinor Goyle, and damned if she wasn’t going to do her job right.
It was that attitude that had propelled her to Mr. Fisk’s office that morning, resolve on her face and in her heart. She had gotten word that smugglers—for some unimaginable reason—were trying to bring more gnomes into the country. It struck Nora as a pointless and ridiculous crime, which somehow made it more nefarious. She had, of course, passed this information to the proper authorities, who were set to intercept the shipment that afternoon—without the witch in tow. Well, she simply would not be having that!
“I hardly see the harm in allowing me to at least watch,” she insisted primly. There was a time in her life when the idea of her having a job would have been outlandish to Nora, and now here she stood, arguing to be more involved. “You can hardly fault me for wishing to physically see it done properly!”
— MJ never ceases to impress ♡ —
December 3, 2018 – 11:26 PM
Last modified: December 3, 2018 – 11:26 PM by Konstantin Fisk.
How in Merlin’s name had he ended up having this argument? They were gnomes. Bloody-silly-mostly-insignificant gnomes and though there wasn’t an inch of Konstantin’s heart that would have allowed him to do any aspect of his job with anything other than full commitment even he was beginning to waver.
It wasn’t even as though the solution was complex. Smugglers were coming and they would be there waiting for them when they did - he hadn’t even felt the need to deploy more than two hit wizards for the occasion give the crime was far from Machiavellian - so why on earth waas Miss Goyle making everything so difficult?
“I would never dream of faulting you Miss Goyle but I still insist upon you remaining out of the line of fire,” well, line of fire was probably hyperbolic, but he couldn’t imagine that Miss Goyle’s presence would be anything other than a hindrance. “The hit wizards are more than capable of capturing a few idiots without your assistance I assure you.”
The response was not the one the witch had wanted. Elinor pursed her lips, raising her eyebrows as she had seen Morwenna Skeeter do on many an occasion. The formidable woman always seemed to get her way, and so this seemed to Nora like the ideal time to channel her mentor.
“Mr. Fisk,” she began, “I hope I do not need to remind you that, in the unlikely event that your department fails in this apparently trivial task, my office will become inundated by complaints and processing that would otherwise have been avoided.”
He, though, did not need to remind her at all that she was outranked here, and that his own brother-in-law was the Minister of Magic. It was likely her breeding that made these facts seem irrelevant when pressing for what she wanted.
“I do not need to be on the ground with your men,” she conceded as she continued, “but I am quite certain that a suitable vantage point might instead be found, at the scene but not in the mix.”
The mere possibility of failure was utterly absurd – the smugglers would undoubtedly be outmatched in skill – but Kons managed to keep his scoff to himself. He was many things but rude was not one of them and he had never known Miss Goyle to appear as anything other than sensible so she deserved his respect; even if he didn’t exactly know her beyond that she had done well in a department that was, at best, not quite achieving its targets.
“I have no doubt that such a spot could be found but I fail to see why you would wish to be there at all,” he counted with a frown. “I would be more than happy to consent to you observing the interrogations once they are brought in to the Ministry’s holding cells but it would be remiss of me to put anybody in the field that was not experienced.”
He didn’t wish to insult her, in fact it was the last thing he wanted other than for this disagreeable conversation to steer towards friendlier ground, so he was happy to make the concession. She could do no harm observing down there after all and, more importantly, she could come to no harm either.
A deep breath, followed by a congenial—if not altogether earnest—smile. A sharp tongue will never find a suitor, her mother had said when Nora was a young girl. While Elinor Goyle had long since given up any inkling of finding such a man, the rather condescending advice still had a place in the world of the Ministry.
"An concession that I appreciate, Mr. Fisk," Nora responded. And had not thought to ask for, she thought to herself. That would do quite nicely, the witch thought, though did not alleviate her more pressing concern. "Nonetheless, I must urge you to reconsider on the topic of my presence. If you are, indeed, concerned for my welfare, you are more than welcome to accompany me."
Let him see first hand that, in such an easy matter, she was hardly outmatched.
Well, it wasn’t the worst offer he’d received in the last few weeks but he doubted it was the sort of interaction with a young lady that his sisters dearly thought he needed. Still, at least it would be something to say during Friday night dinner with his family.
Not that he was getting mentally off-topic or anything.
“Neither of us are trained you realise?” He replied with the beginnings of a smile. “I doubt the chief would allow either of us into the field.”
He had won a dueling tournament of course, but he doubted Miss Goyle was the sort of woman who would be impressed either by the feat itself or him mentioning it at all.
“Unless you’re proposing we both go rogue?” He asked with a sparkle of humour in his eyes.
A less prudent woman might have noted both that, without training of any sort, Mr. Fisk oughtn't be in his current post and that, strictly speaking, he outranked his chief. So too might Nora, were she to recount the tale to Mrs. Skeeter later. For now, though, neither button was apt to get the witch she wanted if pressed, and his good humour was not lost on her. The tide, it seemed, was turning in her favour.
"Could he not be mollified with solemn promises that we will stay quite far out of the way?" Elinor replied, a smile forming on her own lips. "I am happy, too, to reassure him of the quality of my shield charm, and I doubt he would be apt to question your own skill!"
The squad chief, in Konstantin’s experience, could not be mollified by either promises or flattery and was especially opposed to, well, Konstantin’s experience. He didn’t doubt his own abilities as such but it was difficult not to back down when the weathered, experienced wizard who was technically his junior in the department told him how things were going to be.
Ross had not put him here to be a coward. On the other hand Ross didn’t have to do business with a six foot six block of Welsh granite.
“You would think that wouldn’t you?” He replied with a sardonic rise to his eyebrows. “He’d be wrong in both our cases though Miss Goyle, I’m quite sure.” He thought quite suddenly and irritatingly about his father’s stance on women who didn’t know their place - words that were not his own rang in his ears but Konstantin, with a fair effort, quashed them. The old man had some very funny ideas after all. “Perhaps if I were to appeal to the Minister on our behalf?”
A small frown graced her lips—the Minsiter of Magic, though certainly accessible to Mr. Fisk, seemed an unnecessarily high rung of the ladder to seek out in this matter. Fisk was this man's superior; shouldn't he rule the squad chief, and not the other way around? Had Nora known this to be the way of things, she might have taken rather a different course to her goal.
"I should hate to trouble Minister Ross with so small a matter," the witch explained carefully. Perhaps Fisk was tricking her into backing off of the matter—she would not yield that ground if she didn't have to. "Though if you should point me in the direction of your Squad Chief, I would quite happily wear him down."
In all his daily dealings Konstantin prided himself on maintaining the utmost professionalism – he didn’t even call upon Ross for favours most of the time, and he had intended to have a general gripe about the Squad Chief anyway when he next joined his brother-in-law for a sly whiskey before dinner – but before he could stop himself he broke into a grin, the likes of which only his youngest sister was apt to draw from him. He had no doubt that Miss Goyle would put the man in his place; she had, after all, learnt from a woman that Konstantin had been vaguely nervous about sitting next to in the Wizengamot before Ross had given him a look.
Konstantin also had no doubt that the Chief, like most of the old guard at the Ministry, would have some absurd bit of legislation that hadn’t been touched since Merlin was a boy tucked away that prevented others from interfering in his little kingdom.
“I really can’t tell you how much I would enjoy seeing it, Miss Goyle,” he replied, still smiling but feeling rather rueful as he leaned into a more relaxed pose that took years off his whole bearing. He levelled a thoughtful gaze upon her, taking a moment to make his decision, and once it was made Konstantin intended to stick with it.
“Alright then. We shall go together though, if that is agreeable to you?”
It would have to be, Elinor thought to herself, though the words seemed rather churlish to say out loud. After all, had she not convinced Mr. Fisk to compromise—a compromise that favoured her position far more than his own.
"Splendid," she offered with a smile and a satisfied nod. This would do quite well.
