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
Zelda looked at him with an irritated, wide-eyed expression. "So what, I'll stay back when you have adventures?" she protested. She was always going to be putting more children to bed, or thinking about a new wet-nurse when they were teething, or or or.
Alfred had been getting the impression that Zelda was a bit annoyed with him for at least a minute, and now all of the sudden she seemed properly cross with him, and he had absolutely no idea where any of this was coming from. "Wait. What?" he asked, not so much in response to what she had said but rather to the look on her face. What did I do wrong? What did I say?
MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER
Zelda was still mad, but the look on Alfred's face was disarming enough that she ought to tell him. "I think I'm pregnant," she admitted, sounding rueful.
This was not what he had expected her to say. (This was not a logical reason for her to be cross with him... Was it?)
"That's —" Surprising. Sudden. And to think that at one point he'd been consoling her because she wasn't sure she'd ever be pregnant. Orion wasn't even one yet. They hadn't managed to plan his first birthday. The arc of this conversation was beginning to make more sense. "— great," he concluded, with a smile that was genuine despite its delay in arriving. It had taken half a second for her words to sink in, and another for her meaning, and still another for her tone. When the last registered, his expression turned to one of concern and he continued, "... Isn't it?"
MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER
She should be happy. It was odd that she wasn't happy, really appalling that she wasn't happy — anyone normal would have been happy, Zelda was sure of it. But she couldn't force herself to be happy. She bit her lip and looked up at Alfred. "I — yes," she said. It was good — it had to be good.
Alfred pushed his mouth to one side of his face as he considered this. It was not exactly an option to not be ready, was it, if she was already pregnant — she presumably she was not saying this because she wanted him to do anything about it. Just looking for sympathy, then? He could manage that — it was very soon after Orion, or at least it felt that way.
"You'll be great though, yeah?" he said as he took a small step closer to her and reached his hand out for her elbow. "It's — it's definitely a lot, I get that, but you're doing a great job already. You'll be great with two." Zelda would, he was sure, be great with ten — she was capable in every situation imaginable, or at least every situations they had come across so far — but if she was already feeling insecure about it, maybe this wasn't the best time to mention ten children, even as a joke.
Alfred's hand at her elbow helped. She wasn't alone — even if she did end up spending a lot of time alone. "I hope so," she said, "It'll be — really different." It felt like it would be really different, at least — she was doubling the number of children they had. And sometimes Zelda thought that Alfred thought she was better at parenting than she actually was.
Alfred thought about that, then leaned in to put his forehead against hers with a smile. "Nah," he said lightly. "I think you do the best you can, and you love 'em the most you can, and I don't think it's much different at all."
MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER
Zelda still did not believe her husband, but she smiled at him anyways. "I love you," she said. And maybe Alfred was right — maybe the love would be enough, and she could fill in the rest of the details later.
![[Image: xXXD462.png]](https://i.imgur.com/xXXD462.png)
