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
March 31st, 1889; afternoon — Professor Cramming's Office, Hogwarts
"You see," she explained to the professor, "it is proving rather challenging getting the etching into the turqouise, which, as you might imagine, is rather hindering my progress."
The theory behind the Ancient Runes project, Idun thought, had been a breeze. The intelligent redhead had known what she wanted to accomplish and swiftly worked out the requisite details. Now, though, it had come time to actually do it. While the Ravenclaw was hardly about to acknowledge that she needed help, she was confident enough in her intellect to imply that she wouldn't mind it, which saw her now taking advantage of Professor Cramming's office hours.
While the projects of her peers were largely just that—projects, with no grander purpose—the third year was hopeful that her own efforts would bear a practical fruit moving forward. She needed this, therefore, and was hardly about to take a no (as unlikely as that would be) for an answer.
"I rather liked your choice of turquoise," Carmelina remarked sympathetically, "but gemstones aren't the easiest for inscribing runes, it's true." Any gemstone was an ambitious choice for that reason, particularly for a student - etching a rune on paper, wax, wood, leather or even bone ought not to prove too difficult, but precious stones certainly made for more durable amulets. (And often prettier, too, but that was not ever, ahem, part of Carmelina's reasoning. Of course not.)
A gemstone certainly made sense for Miss Fraser's project, though, as far as material went: it would have to be hard-wearing and impenetrable, to come into contact with poisons and remain unaffected. (Poisons, indeed! An ambitious project all round.)
As cheerful as Carmelina was about involving herself with her students' projects, she did not want to give them all the answers too easily, but rather advise. "And what have you been trying to use to engrave with, so far?" She enquired.
"I borrowed my brother's penny knife to start," the Ravenclaw answered. "Borrowed" might have been a generous term, but Tyr hadn't mentioned it's disappearance (at least not to her), so Idunn thought herself safe. "Even with a sharpening charm on the blade, though, it lacked the precision I needed. I thought I might try to use magic full-stop, but wondered if it wouldn't impact the effectiveness of the charm?"
"Magic can make a rune more effective, imbue it with a greater strength - but it is rather a risky thing, so I would caution against using your wand just yet. One needs a confident touch for it, as well as a delicate precision: one false flick of the wrist and you might've cursed your object and not charmed it!" Carmelina explained, trying not to belie the danger of it by smiling too candidly (a difficult endeavour). Unlike the ordinary spells they learnt, one could not practise wand-waving repeatedly with runic incantations: what was written was much less easily undone.
"But you might select something from in here to try on your turquoise," she added, leaning over to pull open a cabinet drawer, in which a selection of tools were arranged, set into velvet in neat lines. (Such neatness was a stark contrast to the rest of her office, Carmelina was aware.) She gestured towards some of the instruments that might be useful on hard-wearing materials, some little steel engravers and sharp-pointed chisels, all set with different nibs. (She brought these - and equivalent artifacts - with her to the classroom every so often, but it was likely not until NEWT level, usually, if at all, that a student would require them for inscribing anything themselves.)
Idunn wasn't surprised, per se, but she was certainly impressed by the buffet of options the professor had to offer. Logically, the Ravenclaw realized, it would be foolish for a runes instructor not to have the tools required for their creation, but so much of the early work in the course had leaned towards the practical that it seemed as though a whole new world were opening up to her.
"Where did you get all of these?" the redhead asked , looking at the chisels rather than Professor Cramming. Tentatively, she reached out to take one, but then thought better of it, her hand falling back to her lap.
“Oh, I’ve collected them over the years,” she said airily, trying not to be delighted by Miss Fraser’s interest. Merlin knew most students weren’t the least bit intrigued by their teachers; Carmelina suspected plenty preferred to imagine none of their professors even had lives beyond the classroom.
“Archaeological digs, and the like,” she offered a shrug; there were plenty more tools than these one would find in such a situation, “and often the best protection from a curse is a counter in the same - language, if you like,” ...runes to counteract runes, and so on. Ancient magic did often take funnily to modern magic. It could almost give an old site an allergic reaction.
“And of course one can only ever learn so much by the theory - I find doing can be just as illuminating once in a while, don’t you?” She grinned hopefully, gesturing the Ravenclaw forwards again, not having expected the redhead to be particularly shy about it.
Idunn needed no further encouragement and reached almost hungrily for one of the tools. She had not thought Professor Cramming to be particularly hands-on in the field—in fact, she had long suspected most of her professors to be boring has-beens. Perhaps it was time to reevaluate?
"Is that why you have us creating our own runes," the Ravenclaw asked, "to give us that hands on experience? My sister took the course and she said that it was all translation and theory, though that was some time ago." Aegir was positively ancient, having left Hogwarts before Idunn's third birthday.
“Well, yes, exactly,” Carmelina admitted, and as much as it was true that hands-on experience could be incredibly beneficial to one’s understanding of anything, she had also wracked her brain to think of a way to make the subject interesting - for all the pupils, not just the odd few who leapt into poring over translations and ancient things like ducks to water. (Being one of those overenthusiastic oddities, Carmelina would not pretend they were in the majority.)
“Of course Runes is a lot of necessary translation, but I hoped this would prove a useful complement. And I didn’t think it would hurt anyone to try,” she said cheerfully, And then, recalling what Miss Fraser’s project was intending to accomplish, added, “As long as you’re not intending to feed anyone the poisons you're testing for, that is.” She was joking, of course: that would be rather an unfortunate side-effect of the project the Ravenclaw had outlined.
"That would be unnecessary to the testing of my rune," the Ravenclaw assured her professor quickly. Besides, there was little interesting about deliberately poisoning someone.
She found something about the structure of Ravenclaw’s swift answer to be dreadfully funny, and it took a great deal of her self-control not to bark out a bemused laugh. Unnecessary, indeed. “I’m glad to hear it,” Carmelina said dutifully, and cast her student another grin. “It is a very clever idea, though, Miss Fraser. I’m looking forward to seeing your results. Take whichever tools you might need for the engraving,” she added, gesturing carelessly at them again, “and do come back if you have any questions.”
"Thank you, Professor," Idunn returned with a polite nod before departing from the office. The woman had given her more than she had expected to think on, and she was rather eager to get to work. Perhaps this would open new doors to her. At the very least, the Ravenclaw reasoned, it was sure to lead to an improved grade.
