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 1894. It’s time to join us and immerse yourself in scandal and drama interlaced with magic both light and dark.
Enid walked up the dirt path, periodically glancing behind her to see if anyone was watching her; seeing no one, she hurried and did not pause until she entered the observatory and closed the door behind her. Nigel beat her there. She set her basket down on one of the now dust-free tables in the building. It had gotten cleaned up significantly in the time since they'd started seeing each other.
"I went to Honeyduke's yesterday after work," she said, brightly. She leaned up to plant a kiss on his cheek. "To pay back your present for my promotion." Nigel had given her another book on dragon anatomy, and Enid had been incredibly charmed by it. She wasn't sure how to be as impressive. Some of the sweets would have to help.
Nigel had been hard at work trying to get the observatory up and running the way it should be. He'd given it a good dusting and scrubbing and he'd found a nicer set of seats, though the sofa was an old one he had purloined from a sitting room they no longer used. It had seen better days, but it was still pretty comfortable. The desk had been cleared off and he had a few start charts he'd purchased laid upon it.
When Enid came in, he was fitting in the last of the missing pieces for the telescope and he grinned at her greeting. "That's not how congratulatory presents are supposed to work." He had brought a bottle of wine and some nibbles to hold them over, too. "But thank you." All in all, things though still new, were going well and Nigel was not about to argue with her.
"Then perhaps I did it because I wanted to," Enid said, with a laugh. Now that they were actually seeing each other, Enid was much more comfortable verbally playing with him — it was sort of fun, and even felt flirtatious. She never would have imagined doing this a few months ago, which was also odd to think about.
She set her basket down next to the bottle of wine and spun to look at the observatory around them. "It looks even better than it did last time, Nigel," she said. He was doing a really good job here — and there was a little thrill every time Enid used his first name.
He couldn't argue with her logic, or the sentiment behind it, so all he did was smile to himself as he fitted the piece to the eyepiece. He wiped his hands on his pants and straightened up, satisfied that they might be able to use it.
Nigel took a minute to observe her as she looked around the small room, a fond sort of expression falling over his features as he did. "I'm glad you like it." He intoned seriously. "I'm glad you came." Nigel was still a little bit in awe of their little arrangement. He still had no idea what she saw in him, nor his luck that he'd been able to sort or recover from their upheaval.
"You always act surprised to see me here," Enid teased; of course she had come! Sometimes it seemed that Nigel forgot that she was the one who liked him first — not that she was complaining to have her feelings returned, of course, but it was still a little funny how grateful he was.
"Did you bring glasses for the wine?" she asked, "Although it may be an adventure to drink out of the bottle."
Nigel still was a little surprised that she kept showing up. Not because of anything to do with her; he was just sort of waiting for her to figure out he really wasn't anything special.
"I nicked some mugs from the kitchen," Nigel answered sheepishly, because it wasn't very classy, but he'd gone for some old mugs in the back of the cupboard he didn't think anyone would miss. He had washed them though. "But we could do straight from the bottle." He'd never done that before, but he wasn't opposed.
Curious to see what she'd brought from Honeyduke's he poked at the box in her hands playfully. "It's nice and clear, should be a good view of the constellations tonight." Hopefully the star charts he'd found would be helpful. It had been a while since he'd done anything with astronomy in depth.
"Mug wine sounds lovely," Enid said with a smile. She set the Honeyduke's box down next to the wine and her basket. "I wasn't sure what your favorites are," Enid said, opening the lid of her basket. "So I got a variety." Nestled inside were a cauldron cake, pumpkin pasties, nougat chunks, and some chocolate wands. Enid flushed — it was maybe more than was reasonable — and looked at him, hoping for approval.
"I'm excited for the constellations," she added brightly.
Nigel took care of uncorking the wine bottle with his wand, (safer that way) and pouring them each a mug of the wine before he peeked into the basket Enid had. He offered to trade it for her wine and took a better look. "These are all great. I like the pasties the most." He had a bit of a sweet tooth though, so anything was fine by him.
"I'm hoping we can see Hercules and Pegasus tonight." Though he had read some ancient Greek tales over the years, he was not as familiar with all of the stories of the other constellations as he was with those. There were quite a few out this evening however, and he had the star charts to help them. "It's been a while though, so I don't make any promises." He wondered if she had enjoyed the class at Hogwarts as much as he had. His was mostly an unfortunate side effect of working as much as he did and the hobby had fallen by the wayside.
Enid took a sip of her wine, feeling charmed by the mug, and took a chunk of nougat out of the basket once Nigel finished looking over her wares. She popped it into her mouth.
"I'm most familiar with Orion's Belt, but we don't need the telescope for that one," Enid said with a wry smile. She suspected that Nigel knew more about astronomy than she did; he certainly knew his way around an observatory and Enid was less familiar. "Do you have a favorite?" she asked, raising her eyebrow at him over her mug.
Following her lead, Nigel pulled something chocolatey from the basket, enjoying how the flavor mixed with the wine. He could certainly get used to nights like this. Moreso he was enjoying getting to know Enid in this light, the pretense of his previous awkwardness fallen by the wayside into something far better and intimate.
Orion's belt would not be out this evening, it was a winter constellation, but there was plenty to be discovered among the stars, both visible to the naked eye and the with the aide of the telescope. Nigel just hoped it worked the way it was supposed to, he hadn't gotten much of a chance to calibrate it. "I don't think I do, but I do like the story of Perseus and Andromeda." While an academic at heart and knowing stars were not placed there by Greek deities, he had always enjoyed the stories surrounding the constellations he had read in different cultures.
"Do you have a favorite?" Nigel returned the question before taking a sip of his wine.
Perseus and Andromeda was a lovely, romantic story — and unlike several of the other Greek heroes didn't get a happy ending. She liked that Nigel was thoughtful, and part of his being thoughtful was that he had favorite constellations, and liked the stories of Greek myths.
Enid's mouth quirked up into a self-aware half-smile, and she took a sip of her wine before she answered. "I think my favorite's Hercules," she said. Bold, tragic Hercules — who fought so valiantly to complete his trials, one of the chosen heroes of the Gods.
Somehow Nigel was not surprised to hear that Enid liked the trials of Hercules and he smiled in acknowledgement. "Another good story." He agreed. Nigel didn't often have the inclination to read for leisure, but he had, back when taking astronomy at school, gone down a brief dig of the stories associated with the stars they were learning about.
"Do you want the honor of giving the telescope the first try?" Nigel had only calibrated it, adjusting the focus to meet the new parts he'd put in, but hadn't done any actual gazing through it. He'd thought that would be better left for their time together, something personal to the two of them to have. He gestured to the eyepiece, taking a sip of his wine, letting her take the lead if she wanted.
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