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
After his mother's stern and silent intervention, Jasper had taken to eating his food in awkward silence. Until Victor spoke. His brother's tone wasn't lost to Jasper and he found himself feeling aggrieved. What sort of statement was that? All accusation! If Victor hadn't been so secretive about courting his school friend, he would have known about their relationship already. Now, it seemed as though him and Christabel being in Hufflepuff for the same seven-year time span was some kind of indecent secret!
At Christabel's question to his sister, he looked at her too with a 'I want to leave' expression.
Beatrice flinched at the sound of her name, staring into her soup a moment to long before she turned her head towards the older woman. She'd been perfectly content to let Jasper bare the brunt of Victor's attention. Rather she was only half listening to their back and forth as she picked at the food before praying, just praying, that no one might speak to her. She genuinely thought she might be spared when Miss Dempsey had made the mistake to ask Jasper about his work. But clearly, her wish would not be granted tonight. At the very least Miss Dempsey had asked her an easy enough question - a factual answer rather than one that required thought and opinions. Though who knew if this would lead to other avenues of question?
"I was in Slytherin," Bea managed to stammer out, wondering how often she said that people found themselves surprised. She expected most would have settled her as a Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw like her brothers rather than a house known for ambition and pride. Clearly, the Hat had seen something in her that most didn't years ago. Though she supposed, as she'd been told before, it had probably been wrong about her. Decorum dictated she asked the other woman something, but her knee-jerk reaction had been to ask the same question in return, but that would be redundant when she'd been dragged into the conversation solely as a distraction from Jasper and Victor's tension about Miss Dempsey having been in the same year and house as her brother. And clearly she knew what house Jasper was in.
Unsure what else to say now, she returned Jasper's look with a pointed, 'she is your friend, you do something' look, not at all fancying saving her brother when he was the cause of her being dragged into this. She'd been quite happy eating her meal in silence while she mentally pouted about the whole affair.
At least Beatrice had managed a complete sentence in response, without any stammering or blushing. Not that the question Miss Dempsey had asked her had been difficult by any stretch of the imagination, but Victor was dismayed enough by Jasper's wet hair to clutch at any straw of success he could, however small. He waited — and realized she was not going to say anything else. Of course not.
"I'm surprised you were a Hufflepuff, Miss Dempsey," he said in a bid to prevent the awkward silence from taking over the table. "I would have guessed you a Ravenclaw, with all your academic interests. Or — at least you've done a fine job pretending interest," he teased. Jasper's behavior tonight may have baffled him, but he had plenty of experience recovering from Bea's lacking social graces. A light joke, turning the conversation towards someone else... in a moment more they'd all have moved on as though she'd never spoken. Hopefully.
Beatrice didn't seem to be an ally that evening. He had a spoonful of mashed potatoes, feeling more uncomfortable by the minute. Victor's comment about Christabel's Hogwarts House also annoyed him. He'd not been one of those fanatics at school, who would jump in to defend their House at every possibility. Hufflepuff was a terribly underrated House which had the majority assuming they were all naïve, nice people with no additional depth. There were many clever and academically gifted Hufflepuffs and those were usually the kind of people who put in the work needed to succeed, unlike Ravenclaws who often clung to fantasies and crazy theories that ultimately helped no one.
It also irked him that Victor didn't even know Christabel's Hogwarts House; wasn't that one of the first things you learned about a person? What had these two spoken about that lead to Victor deciding he wanted to pursue her hand in marriage? Christabel was so much more than just a young woman, pleasant to the eye, who could maybe make a fine wife. She deserved someone who would know her Hogwarts House before meeting her parents, who would also know her favourite colour and candy at Honeyduke's (like he did after many shared Hogsmeade weekends), who would be giddy and excited about her and tell his family all about her and not make announcements about her existence mere hours before an official meeting over dinner.
He was also sure that she'd be able to handle Victor's back-handed compliment about her having been in Hufflepuff. She had been a prefect too, not that Victor would know!
'Then we are quite a representative party' she said acknowledging Miss Daphnel's answer with a smile. Although she did wonder what the hat had seen in her to put her in that house. With most people it was possible to spot something in their personality that explained their house assignment, but with Miss Daphnel she was rather struggling- although she wasn't sure if the acquaintance of less than an hour was really enough time to make someone's entire personality - indeed she was certain it wasn't.
She cast Victor a sidelong glance at his comment, if they had been alone she might have made a playful statement admonishing him for doubting her brains. 'I like to think' she said her tone with an edge of amusement and teasing that she was sure most of the table - Victor, Jasper and her own parents at least, would recognize as such. 'That Hufflepuff embodies the best of all the other houses. Our penchant for hardwork is a great cover for being both clever and ambitious' she explained, 'and often none of the rest of you suspect us.' leaning into the manner of collegiate teasing that was amusing now they were all grown adults, well beyond the influence of their school room competitions, but that was often taken too seriously in the throws of the house or quidditch cup.
'It Is a mistake to trifle with us! she met Victor's gaze. 'Is that right Mister Daphnel?' she added, addressing Jasper as her confederate in the joke.
I am my mother's savage daughter, The one who runs barefoot cursing sharp stones
I am my mother's savage daughter, I will not cut my hair, I will not lower my voice
MJ made glory
There, Christabel had defended Hufflepuff's honour and way better than he could ever have! He met her gaze and all his previous discomfort melted away as he matched her smile. "You are quite correct, Miss Dempsey!" he agreed.
"Well, I suspected you," he pointed out, smiling slyly over his soup. It was true enough that young women often needed a 'cover' for being clever, at least if they wanted to be marketable in the same way that other young ladies were. The prevailing wisdom was that men ought to look for a woman who was pretty and accomplished and well-bred, but not particularly intelligent. When he and Miss Dempsey had met, however, she must have either given up feigning vapidity or she'd never been very good at it in the first place. Either way, he was glad.
And with that they had moved beyond the soup course; the servants cleared bowls and brought out the entree. Well, for all the turmoil at least they'd managed to avoid utter catastrophe through the first course — that was something.
Indeed he had, and she had to give him his smugness - she had engaged him in a discussion of muggle working class poilitics - a topic in which few upper class muggles had an interest and it would not have surprised her if she was the only magical person in England with said interest. Followed of course by their discussion of academic spellmanship - much to the detriment of her skirts and of course the rose bushes.
She flashed him a smile that could almost be described as fond, or indeed affectionate. 'I suppose we must give Ravenclaw their due' she acknowledged with a bowing inclination of her head to Mister Daphnel - as close as she could get to a deferential curtsy while seated.
She was pleased of course that her parents were doing their part to keep things flowing on their side of the table and she hoped the relief didn't read too plainly on her face. Nervous as she had been about the potential for awkward silences.
I am my mother's savage daughter, The one who runs barefoot cursing sharp stones
I am my mother's savage daughter, I will not cut my hair, I will not lower my voice
MJ made glory
At least Miss Dempsey had the grace not to make some sort of comment about how something so spineless could be a Slytherin - unlike many others before her. Though, typically, the ones who made comments were the snooty men folk her brother introduced her to not women. She was content to continue her food in silence but Victor's comment, on top of her already simmering anger prompted a low but clear remark, free of her typical stammering. She'd get in trouble for it later but at that moment, she didn't care. She didn't care Kate and Victor would be mad. She might ruin dinner. Frankly, she might actually want that. And the petty part of her was actually thrilled by the notion she might scare the Dempseys off.
"Other houses can be intelligent too, Victor, they are just less like to let it go to their head. They know they don't know everything."
This was the first properly nice moment of the evening. The conversation hadn't stalled out on Beatrice's awkwardness and now Miss Dempsey was smiling at him and very nearly batting her eyelashes. Of course it didn't last. He might have expected that, broadly speaking, but the specifics caught him off guard. Even for Bea's level of social ineptitude this remark was beyond the pale. She was choosing her comments intentionally to embarrass him in front of his potential bride and would-be in-laws. It wasn't as though she was ignorant of who they were or why their opinion ought to matter, either; he'd made his intentions clear enough during the last conversation that they'd had, a month ago. Beatrice may have been many things, but she certainly wasn't stupid. She would have connected the dots and realized that Miss Dempsey could only be the woman Victor intended to propose to.
He glared daggers at his sister, but didn't respond to the comment. Doing so would only have drawn more attention to it, and while he doubted anyone at the table hadn't heard it, he might as well leave the chance intact.
"I've heard you're interested in sailing, Mr. Dempsey?" he said instead, signalling to everyone that he did not intend to dignify his sister's criticism with any more of his attention.
Christabel gave an approving nod at Miss Daphnel's comment about other houses having intelligence. Certainly, she liked to think that she was intelligent. She wasn't so niave as to miss Miss Daphnel's barb directed to her brother - she gave her own brothers enough hell to recognize it in others. She took a drink to hide her smile. It was good to see the dynamic existed in other families too. The expression on Victors face spoke of murder, and she tried, wordlessly to tell him it was alright. That the Dempsey's were made of sterner stuff, that it would take more than some sibling rivalry to scare them off. That she certainly wasn't offended.
Their interactions had been so easy and fun, but seeing him clearly anxious about how this dinner was progressing was difficult. She wished she could give his hand a squeeze, some physical sign of reassurance that it wasn't going badly. That it was going to be okay.
I am my mother's savage daughter, The one who runs barefoot cursing sharp stones
I am my mother's savage daughter, I will not cut my hair, I will not lower my voice
MJ made glory
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