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
It was a widely known fact that Archelaus liked to fly around the pitch whenever it was free. It never mattered what the weather was like. He loved to fly and he liked to hone is skill since the speed of his flight was what it boiled down to when he caught sight of the snitch during one of their Quidditch matches. Unbeknownst to him, time sped up as he flew through the air, with his broom along with it. He did his best to slow himself into a hover but the wind hit him at just the wrong time and sent him falling to the ground. Luckily for him, the fall was slow, taking several minutes to hit the ground. He cautiously got to his feet and seemed to be perfectly all right much to the confusion of others that had been on the Pitch with him.
The weather was lovely today and nothing would keep her inside and earth-bound. To do so would be a crime. She'd been wanted to work on her high-speed tight turns - both for evading buldgers and for passing the quaffle. She'd only been up for a few minutes when another, decked in Slytherin robes - started a fall towards the earth. Unsure what else to do, she left her ball fall and dove after the boy even though she was really too far away to make a difference. She had to pull up at the last moment to avoid her own collision with the ground. Only to realize as she discarded her broom that the boy was perfectly fine and already standing.
"Are... are you okay, Mr. Abney?" she questioned of the boy who had inspired her interest in quidditch.
"Yes, I'm fine," Archelaus said, slightly in dazed confusion. "Did you see how slowly I was falling?" It had been rather bizarre and his puzzlement over the occurrence was likely what had him speaking more openly to Miss Potts. If he thought about it, he was pretty sure their one and only actual full conversation had been about Quidditch a couple of years ago. During her first year, he was pretty sure. "Did you see anyone that could have just cast a jinx?"
March 18, 2020 – 10:40 PM
Last modified: March 23, 2020 – 12:31 AM by Calla Potts.
He was right, now that she thought about it. He had been moving really slow - she hadn't thought about it in her rush to attempt to catch him. That was the only reason she had sort of caught up with him, rather than still being halfway across the field. "That... was weird," she drew out, frowning, stray pieces of hair stuck to her face after having fallen out of her braids.
"A jink??" She had not been looking but thinking back, she didn't remember anyone with a wand out. "I do not think so. I'm fair certain no one had their wand out." She for sure didn't, rather she kept it in her locker. Any charms she wanted to us - such as keeping her goggles clear - was applied before mounting. She didn't really fancy breaking her wand.
It had been beyond weird and Archelaus couldn't make any sense of it. "I was thinking that perhaps it was the Impediment Jinx but it didn't feel the way that spell feels," Archelaus said thoughtfully, wondering if the girl had any ideas. She had seemed the bright sort the very few times they had ever had cause to speak. Which was saying something considering Archelaus tended to not have many thoughts on the opposite sex and their merits. They just existed to him.
"Doesn't seem to be happening to anyone else," Archelaus stated before looking back at Calla almost as if he had only just realized who she was. "So, how are you enjoying Quidditch? Come some way from when you were asking me to teach you about it prior to your first year."
March 22, 2020 – 5:58 AM
Last modified: March 23, 2020 – 12:31 AM by Calla Potts.
"Impedimenta tends to stop rather than slow as well," she chimed, grateful for her family's shop that she knew which spell the boy was talking about it. It was likely one of the most used spells in the shop - used to stop falling pots and flowers before they hit the floor and shattered. The only other spells she could think of being used as much were repairo and a watering spell. Or maybe levitating for anything heavy.
"Maybe a levitation charm, but still I didn't see anyone with a wand and Hogwarts really doesn't teach wandless magic - it would have to have been a professor? Is the flight instructor here? Or the groundskeeper maybe?" She didn't know the groundskeeper's magical abilities but the flight instructor was bound to be capable of slowing a falling student.
If Calla Potts was bright it certainly wasn't bright in the sense of book smarts. Maybe street smart. Or life exposure smart considering the only class she truly excelled at was herbology. The only reason her grades were as good as they were in other glasses was the simple fact she had book smart friends. Bless them and their sheer determination to see her through.
As Archelaus spoke again, she flushed bright red, embarrassed he remembered her eleven-year-old desperate self. How must she have seemed, latching on to a briefly mentioned comment and turning into an obsession? One that had gotten her on the house team as a first-year (though she doubted she would have accomplished that had she ended up in his house. They didn't seem to favor young or female players. More notable female).
"I'm enjoying it a lot. I originally wanted to be a seeker, but I'm far better suited here as a chaser. I like the strategy to it and the quick pace. I am really hoping we do as well this year as we've done the past two years, but we had a few long term players graduate so we will see."
"It also slows targets down - it doesn't always immediately stop," Archelaus corrected without really realizing it. Why was he always unexpectantly teaching this girl things? He wasn't even assigned to tutor her in anything so why bother. He had no idea, it just seemed to happen.
"Hogwarts teaches wandless magic - just not to younger years," Archelaus said with a laugh. "Mostly to NEWT grades." Wordless and wandless magic were NEWT level spells so it would make sense she would assume it wasn't taught, he supposed. "It didn't feel like a spell though, thinking of it. It felt... like something else."
Archelaus eyed her when she said she originally wanted to be a seeker. That was what he was and he wondered how she would have done. She was pretty tall for her age so it was probably best that she had ended up a chaser. "Obviously, I'm intent on beating you so I can't truthfully say 'good luck'."
"Oh," she stated, unsure what else to say. She'd only ever used the spell to stop things from falling. Freeze it in mid-air and release it once you had a hold on the object. Though... she supposed that wouldn't work here. You couldn't just pick someone up out of the sky. That would be silly. But she supposed that was her nature. She did everything all at once and full speed ahead. It worked most of the time at least.
As he corrected her about Hogwarts teaching wandless magic, her nose crinkled. "Well why didn't my sisters tell me that! Dahlia told me Hogwarts didn't teach anything like that when I asked her to show me something!" She'd been pestering Dahlia a few months ago to show her some of the things they were learning in the NEWT classes and now she suspected her sister had just wanted to brush her off so Calla would leave her alone. And yes, she would confront her sister about that later.
"Still, I did not see anyone and I tend to be pretty observant - and I for sure didn't do it. If it wasn't a spell what else could it be? I can't think of any magical creature that could slow time. At least none that would be here. Maybe the Ministry is up to something. Don't they have a department that does stuff with time? Or did? We should ask if anyone else saw anything odd elsewhere. It is odd though, I didn't seem to be moving any faster or slower."
As Mr. Abney issued his challenge she smiled brightly, a one-eighty from the scrunched up look she'd sported seconds ago. "That is fine," Calla shrugged. Even after two years of competitive quidditch she still rarely felt competitive outside of a game. The games though were different. With everyone cheering and just everything going on, it was easy to get into the mood of a fight to win. "After all, it comes down to whoever plays better and we'll just have to see what happens. Never really been a matter of luck. Though I suppose if we are being honest it probably was lucky I got on the team in the first place. I'm just really grateful they took the chance on me. And we don't have a match till... April - I think."
Still, part of her was curious as to what had changed. Last time she'd talked to him, he barely gave her short answers and had just seemed to want her gone. Now he wasn't acting like her existence was an annoyance, she noted, pleased. Had he changed or she? Or both. Or maybe he'd just been having a bad day. They all had those.
Archelaus didn't know who her sisters were nor did he much care. So he had nothing to say about why her sisters hadn't told her about the more advanced lessons. This girl really did talk a lot though. He didn't know if that was just an extrovert thing or a Hufflepuff thing. He had no idea how she had jumped from a simple spell to the Ministry. She might have been observant but she couldn't possibly be able to see the whole pitch and the stands could easily hide anyone.
"Yes, the Ministry has a department that does completely secret things," he confirmed. "They're called Unspeakables." No one knew what they did until they actually joined. And Archelaus sometimes wondered if employees took an Unbreakable Vow to not speak of the secrets within.
She really was a Hufflepuff with all our spouting about about it coming down to who played better. It was kind of amusing.
Really the amount she talked was probably more a Calla thing than either of the other two, though maybe the fact she was an extrovert certainly aided in how many words she could spew out in a minute. The jump in assumptions, well she had just gotten on a roll and hadn't quite stopped to think things all the wat through before she said something. Still... the ministry always did seem to have a hand in all the weird things that went on directly or indirectly.
"Unspeakables?" Calla mused, turning the idea over in her head. "That seems silly. Why would anyone join that branch if they didn't know what they were going to do? And not being able to tell anyone would certain put a damper on things. Imagine keeping such a large part of your life secret from everyone you know or love? I wouldn't like it, I don't think."
"I think that is what most people like about it. And I feel like they probably have assumptions about what they'll get up to," Archelaus said with a shrug. "People don't need to know my business so I wouldn't mind. There's some things that people just don't need to know." Archelaus could easily be an Unspeakable. He barely told anyone about himself to begin with.
She turned to look at him, falling silent and still for a moment as she did. For as much as she liked to talk, it was always interesting to hear what others had to say, even more so if it conflicted with what she'd thought prior. She could think of a few people who might get a thrill out of the secrets kept. Like a suprise.
"Is that what you want to do - become an uspeakable?" Calla questioned, her head cocked slightly to the side a bit like a puppy. "After you graduate and all? If you want to work, I mean." Unlike her, Abney was in a position that would allow him to choose not to work if he didn't want to, but he striked her as someone who didn't like to be idle. "Or do you think you might go into quidditch. You are a shoe in to be captain next year, I'm sure you wouldn't have trouble finding a team who would take you on."
"Perhaps, I have not fully made up my mind yet," Archelaus said with a shrug of his shoulders. He did know that he wanted to work, at least. He was too ambitious to be comfortable living an idle life where he wasn't crushing someone to get to the top. He actually laughed when she suggested Quidditch. "Maybe so but I am a first born heir so it would be unseemly."
"I've never understood that," Calla spoke, head cocked to the left as she eyed Archelaus, startled by his laughter. "The huff about firstborns and Quidditch. It you are in a position in life to truly worry about occupation of your firstborn son rather than just be grateful for any work they can find, why be so ruffled about them choosing Quidditch." She paused, a little ruffled, as if she was trying to decided if she was going to peruse her line of thought or not. Eventually, she seemed to settle on an answer as she started to speak again, her words slow and drawn out as if she was thinking allowed and still forming her ideas.
"It isn't like they'll be playing for the rest of their lives. And after they move on from playing, well there are so many other careers in the Quidditch industry than just being a player. But those positions all benefit from having the experience of being a player. They would have a deeper understanding of the things they run. Some of those positions could even turn a profit if you end up owning or investing in a team."
The cadence of her words started to pick up speed as she shifted from thinking aloud to expressing already formed opinions. Even if she'd never shown much interest in the politics of society, at fourteen, she was bound to have picked up a few of her own beliefs, especially around something she was involved in. Admittedly, it was less of a stance that she would have presented than say if she was arguing if women should be allowed to play.
"But when it comes down to it, if the upper crest of society is going to have their feathers so ruffled by such an idea - why would they allow you to play in the first place? Here at Hogwarts, I mean. It seems like such a ridiculous double standard. Kind of curl even, to let you love something just to say no more. I'd say if you enjoy Quidditch - and you clearly do if you still play - and if you have any desire to try to make a career out of it, why not pursue it? It isn't like any of those other careers you are looking at have an entry age cap. So what if you enter a department a few years later than everyone else? At least you got to do what you love. Not everyone gets to say that. You are in a position you can."
"Most first born sons don't have occupations at all." Well, that was mostly in families like his. So it was understandable that Miss Potts couldn't comprehend it. He had also been expected to live as a gentleman of leisure but his own drive and ambition had ground that into dust. He was really only half listening as she began her rant.
She really had a lot to say about this. Especially when it had nothing to do with her, as far as he was concerned. "Because its considered to be just a thing of childhood once Hogwarts years come to and end." That was how it had been explained to him at any rate. "Is that how badly you want to see me be a star?" He couldn't help but tease as she finally came to the end of her spiel.
"That sounds dreadfully boring," Calla commented, brows knitted together in confusion. "I guess I just don't understand your lifestyle. My parents, while we certainly are no where near as rich as yours, have always encouraged my sisters and I to pursue whatever we happen to be interested in. I suppose had it been any other way they wouldn't have granted their daughter permission to play quidditch. I know this isn't proper to say but it seems sad to live a life where you aren't granted the freedom to do so. Besides, what would you do all day without school or work to keep you occupied? Surely there aren't that many parti-"
She came to an abrupt staggering halt at his question, her face immediately flushing a shade of brilliant red. "Umm... no! I just, you just... well you were the one to spark my interest in quidditch years ago. You became so closely tied with it that it seems odd to imagine you without the sport? I'm sorry."
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