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.
He and his sister made their own slow progress along the boardwalk, enjoying the warm sun and the ocean breeze that almost perpetually clung to the Sanditon and its surroundings, thanks to no small number of weather charms. Wystan Pomfrey was not altogether sure how his sister filled her summers, but thought he would be entirely remiss if he did not invite her to spend at least some of her summer holidays with him at his home in Sanditon Terrace. After all, their time together in the coming months would be entirely limited, and the tremendous difference in their ages did not make him any less fond of her.
"Look there," he directed his sister softly, trying to be as surreptitious as possible as he gestured to the trio of young ladies down the boardwalk. "It is the third time they have walked past that particularly clump of gentlemen," Stan explained, bemused, "and each time they slow their progress."
A gentle breeze from the ocean caressed Ani's face as she tilted it up toward the sun. A blessing from her mother, being able to enjoy the feel of the sun on her face and not worry about freckles or ruining her complexion. The other girls of her acquaintance always worried about such things, but Ani simply enjoyed the sun without thinking much about it. Time at the shore seemed the best time to indulge and not worry.
Ani opened her eyes and casually looked in the direction Stan had noted as if she were looking out at the ocean. The gentlemen in question hardly even noticed the ladies passing them. She shook her head ruefully, "I'm not sure a third pass is going to assist them any."
Stan might be much older than Ani but she had always found it easy to talk with him, to enjoy time with her brother. Besides, spending time with him at Sanditon was much better than sitting at home with her father in London. Indeed, most summers she did her best to get out of London as much as possible, visiting her brother or her sister or any friends who would invite her.
"Most definitely the latter." Ani agreed with an amused smile. "I'll be much too busy keeping my eye on Clementine to seek attention." She dearly loved her friend, but when it came to practicality, well sometimes Ani was a bit more reserved. Besides, Ani certainly didn't want her brother think she was the type of lady to bat her eyelashes and demand attention. She thought she was rather a bit more refined (and in her seventeen year old mind - mature) than that.
Stan chuckled—given what he had heard of Miss Greengrass, his sister would certainly have her hands full. It was not, however, quite what he had meant in asking, and the physician attempted to clarify.
"I do not doubt it," the wizard began, "but rather I believe I meant to ask—will you set your sights upon society, as our sister has done, or upon an occupation of some sort?"
This, for many in Ani's position, might have been something of a loaded question: physician's daughters, in the muggle realm, did not work, and good middle class girls, regardless of magic, did not want to. Stan's face, however, was an open book: eager to hear his sister's answer, and not at all opinionated as to what that answer should be.
"With such an obtuse question you deserve nothing more." Ani teased nudging her brother slightly as they walked. Despite her instance otherwise though, she thought about it. She had always thought she really didn't have an option in the matter and truly there weren't many careers out there that she felt she would be passionate about, so that left the traditional path, albeit the expected one. She started slowly, "I don't think I intend to embrace it fully as our sister does, but I don't plan to shun it. It is what is expected." She shrugged lightly. Next to the brother she adored she almost felt she ought to desire to do something with her life, but she was what her family and society had made her. And while yes, she loved learning, she had always thought of it as a way to assist her future husband than to find a career of her own. For instance assisting her father, or brother, or grandfather if they needed it.
"Such a very diplomatic answer," Stan teased lightly, "you might have had a bright future in politics!"
A part of him was relieved that she wanted a conventional sort of future—she would never not stand out in so-called respectable company, and while wizards were generally more generous where the Pomfrey children were concerned than the muggle world, that she would not add to her Differences was ideal.
Ani shook her head at her brother in amusement. "Hardly." She rolled her eyes at him as they continued walking. If she were to desire a career she certainly didn't wish to get involved in politics. Perhaps as a hostess to a husband, but nothing more. "I am merely demonstrating the skills of a well culture lady." She tried for prim but ended up giggling at the end of the statement, so much for a mature socialite. Well it was her brother after all, she could hardly be faulted for that.
Wystan might have managed to keep a straight face, had Ani not altogether failed to do so herself. He joined her in soft laughter before speaking again.
"You are, you know," he offered. "Cultured, that is—oh, you may not have read the latest three-volume novel and I don't know that you'll ever manage to paint a convincing likeness of me—" that he was far too fidgety to be a good subject did not merit mentioning "—but you are head and shoulders above your peers."
Not literally, of course. The Pomfreys had never been particularly tall.
A soft smile grew across Ani's lips as a warm pride filled her. "Thank you." She demurred, glancing down at the wooden planks below her. "Although, I suppose that shall be proven once I debut." She worried that no one would think her interesting or pretty when she was next to Clementine. Honestly, she would be lucky if anyone even spared a glance for her at her own debut.
"Oh, you've eons to worry about that," he reassured somewhat dismissively, with the confidence of a man who had never faced the societal pressures of being a young lady from a good family.
Ani shook her head at Wystan, "Hardly. I have less than a year." Which really was the heart of the problem. She was ready to debut but at the same time it felt like it was coming too quickly. Besides, she hoped to be off the marriage market within her first season, but how could she do that if she wasn't a success at her debut?
A year seemed a long time to Stan—but then, he had a great deal many of them behind him than his little sister. With this now brought into relief, he was not sure he had much to offer in the way of reassuring advice.
So he settled on relentless brightness instead.
"Well then, let us make the most of your limited freedom," he offered with a wry smile. "How does ice cream sound?"
As if she were a child and ice cream would make everything better, it wouldn't. But still Ani laughed at his words. "Of course." She agreed, then added wryly, "Because, after all, debutantes shouldn't eat ice cream if they don't want to gain a whole stone of weight." A grin crossed her features with the words, a playful light to her eyes.
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