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
Sirius had a bottle of wine, and he was perched on the windowsill of the flat he was staying in with Rex and Nico for the night. Mother had spared no expense; Sirius had a feeling that he should be embarrassed by the expense, but he had had too much fun to pretend to care. He wordlessly offered Nico the open wine bottle, and slid to the right of the windowsill to make room for Nico to look outside. They'd done the dinner, the fireworks, the charming of guests Sirius cared varying amounts about — now there was just the night.
"We could stay up 'til sunrise," Sirius said, with a grin. "I'm sure we'll see some of your owls then." Birds for Nico, after all — Sirius was having fun, but it was just as important to make sure that his best friends were having fun. (Would he actually stay up all night? He didn't think so.)
No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings
Nico accepted the wine bottle and joined Sirius by the windowsill. You'd be surprised by how many British owls hunt by day actually! Two out of the five native species... A beat. With such a dense magical population here though, um, probably there'll be a lot of owls. And maybe bats. You see bats around a lot, bats are quite exciting. Nico was well aware that his fascination for airborn animals, specifically birds, was not a universally held interest (although he couldn't realy understand why) and sometimes the last thing people wanted to hear was a rant about the impact of invasive owl species introduced by wizardkind.
He took an amply swig of wine and then offered it back to Sirius. He didn't have a huge amount of experience with alcohol but he was starting to suspect his bird talk could get out of hand under the influence, although not always, if someone distracted him early enough it might be safe. Did you know there are currently no quidditch teams that use 'owl' in the name? In Britain, that is. In his attempt to diverge into quidditch he'd accidentally dragged birds right back into it. Tag: Sirius Black | Notes:
Sirius was feeling indulgent; he was (about to turn) seventeen, his best friends were all here, and he was sure that people would be talking about how fun his party had been when they got back to Hogwarts. Yes, Mama spoiled him — but he knew that he deserved it. And no one had shown up because they felt bad for him — they had shown up because they liked him, and wanted to be liked by him. It was a glorious feeling. So he did not anticipate he would complain about any of Nico's flying-creatures-talk (although he did take another hefty swig of wine before replying.)
"You should buy one, once we finish school," Sirius suggested. Nico was an only son — surely he could purchase a Quidditch team if he wanted to. "Then you can rename it." He squinted out the window, hoping to see an owl — or a cloud of bats. He held the bottle back out for Nico.
No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings
How much did quidditch teams cost? Whatever the cost (it was surely a lot) he wasn't convinced his father would simply purchase a quidditch team for him, nor was he confident he even had the guts to ask him in the first place. He might be better off trying to found a whole new team...
He accepted the bottle from Sirius again a little too eagerly and tried to drown his bird brain in one hearty gulp. Could do that. But I don't think I'd be very popular if I renamed a team like the Appleby Arrows to the Appleby Owls! He chuckled and passed the bottle back to Sirius. Oh Merlin, I'm absolutely not ready to be done with school! Tag: Sirius Black | Notes:
Popular or not, Appleby Owls didn't have a bad ring to it as Sirius sounded out the team name in his mind. It occurred to him that he was fairly drunk. That was good; it was his birthday.
He clapped a hand to Nico's shoulder, affectionate. "Me neither," he said, "But this will be a really grand year."
No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings
Yeah, yeah it is, he murmured, sounding a little awed. He sighed and stewed in the moment for what he thought was half a minute but was actually only a few seconds. You're going to have a great year, you're practically king of the school and I, he suddenly lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper, I've got a secret. Tag: Sirius Black | Notes:
No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings
I'm going to become an animagus this year. In secret. It maybe wasn't the most exciting secret to anyone who wasn't Nico but he was pretty stoked about it. No help from anyone. All me. Tag: Sirius Black | Notes:
Sirius grinned — he was thrilled to be told the secret. "That's so exciting!" he said, bright — it wasn't something he particularly wanted for himself, but it was certainly exciting for Nico.
No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings
I can't wait to find out what animal I'm going to turn into! Needless to say he was pinning all of his hopes on some sort of bird. He didn't care to imagine how he'd feel if he wasn't a bird. You'd definitely be a dog though! Tag: Sirius Black | Notes:
"Is that just because of the star thing?" Sirius asked; he nudged Nico with his elbow and held out the bottle in invitation. "And obviously you'll be a bird."
No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings
He was admittedly referring to the whole dog star name thing but he felt like he had to flesh out that assumption so as not to seem like a dick or something. Erm noooo, you're a loyal friend and dogs are, you know... I don't know if I'll be a bird though, and there are so many different birds. And maybe I am a bird but what if I'm a flightless bird, can you imagine anything more disappointing? I have respect for ostriches and chickens are more than just dinner food, but... Tag: Sirius Black | Notes:
Sirius was still sure it was about the dog thing, but watched Nico try to explain with an amused expression on his face. "Not a flightless one, I don't think," he said, sure that Nico was worried. "Something — cool. Like a jackdaw."
No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings
Nico wasn't sure how much of a jackdaw sort of person he was but he absolutely appreciated the compliment of it from his friend. That would be pretty cool, he agreed heartily. Maybe actually you'd be a horse, a big majestic one like you see pulling the carriages at funerals- He faltered as something in the back of his head tried to question whether a horse was more of a put down than a compliment. He couldn't quite figure it out at present. Tag: Sirius Black | Notes:
