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
Where did you go when you had a Herbology project with someone you didn't share a house with? The library, obviously. Kaatjie hadn't gotten the chance to get to know Georgianna Shacklebolt very well, but that didn't mean they couldn't be friends — she rather thought that they could be, depending on how this project went.
She was on time to meet Miss Shacklebolt, with her Herbology textbook ready to go. "Do you have any tricks for remembering devil's snare?" Kaatjie asked, when she sat down — Ravenclaws liked facts, so starting off with facts would hopefully be a good way of setting the tone here.
Georgie had been eager to go home for Christmas and show mama all she learned, only to remember that she couldn't do magic at home. She was ready to return to Hogwarts by the end of the first day home. Georgie loved Hogwarts and all of its magical glory. She loved being a Ravenclaw and watching her housemates attempt new spells. She loved that someone was always ready to show off a spell they had learned and that she had so many other clever people around her who loved to learn. This felt like home.
Bouncing from Transfiguration, maybe her favorite class, to a study session with Miss Spanns, Gia was all smiles and waved across the library to her study companion. Miss Spanns had the most delightful accent. It was something like German, but pretty. She also had the most glorious curls Gia had ever seen, and she was very sad that they couldn't share a dorm room and braid together. That didn't mean they couldn't be friends and why wouldn't they be?
Pulling out her textbook and flipping to her notes on Devil's Snare, Gia's attention went to her drawings before her notes. Drawing was how she remembered things, but she didn't think the Gryffindor girl was asking for art assistance. "I think about the name if I get stuck. Remember, it's the Devil's snare, so it likes to hide in the dark. It also tries to trap you, so it's sneaky. It isn't a very nice plant, if you ask me."
Kaatjie nodded with enthusiasm for remembering. "It hates the sunlight!" she exclaimed, visibly pleased that she remembered. "I think that's why we're going to have to learn about lumos solem." Sometimes Kaat found herself wondering if she would have learned the same pronunciations for spells if she'd gone to Beauxbatons. She was going to have to listen more to the spells her uncle used when she got home — assuming he had not defaulted to English after so many years here.
"I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks of some plants as mean and some as nice," Kaatjie added with a grin.
"The sunlight charm, yes!" Gia squeaked a bit too loud for the library, quickly smacking her hand over her mouth with a giggle. "The sunlight charm sounds brilliant. I wonder if that would work in the common rooms. It gets so dark at night so early here. Sorry," Gia couldn't hide her grin.
"I think some would be friendly and some are mean. I think Bouncing Bulbs sound exciting."
"We should try it in our common rooms," Kaatjie offered, excited. She was sure she'd heard that the Ravenclaw common room was also high up in the castle, so at least neither of them were in the dungeons — but there could still be added sunlight in either of their rooms, and maybe they would learn something!
"I think gillyweed sounds fun," Kaatjie agreed. "I can't wait until I know enough to grow plants myself."
"If we had gillyweed, we could go see the merpeople. I think that would be brilliant. Well, at least some merpeople. I guess they are more mean than nice, at least to wizards." Gia thought the idea of talking to mermaids exciting, but the stories mother told and the one her English nanny spoke of were very different creatures. Her quill started sketching in the margins of her parchment, swirling filigree in ink. As she sketched, she wondered, her hand continuing its looping as she considered Miss Spaans. "Are there Dutch mermaids?"
Kaatjie shook her head. "I think the North Sea might be too cold for them," she said. "But I've seen some mermaids in the Mediterranean — they're prettier than the ones in the Black Lake." Her lips twitched up in an amused smile; she thought the ugly Scottish mers were rather funny. And they certainly wouldn't like it if they heard Kaatjie calling them ugly.
Gia was a bit sad to hear that. She had hoped there might be beautiful mermaids that looked something like them with Miss Spaans beautiful accent. Oh well, she didn't know when she would ever visit them and she didn't speak Dutch. Gia brightened when Kaatjie seemed to confirm mother's stories. "You've been to the Mediterranean? You've been everywhere." Gia marveled, almost jealous that her classmate had seen so much of the world already. "What about Africa? Have you gone? I want to see where my mother is from. I bet everyone is beautiful there, with hair like you and me." Gia nearly bounced in her seat, the idea too exciting.
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