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.
The magizoologist was here to talk to her father, and to her brothers, about running the farm so close to the shadows of dragons. Her mother was feeling ill, so Enid had to entertain The Daughter.
There was something about Matilda Farris that made her feel insecure. This was the first time they'd been alone.
Having acquired the tea, Enid was now sitting down with Miss Farris in the Glynn's living room. "My sister Nimue tells me you're still in Hogwarts," Enid said. Now, in addition to feeling insecure, she was feeling Old. This was less than ideal. "Are you excited to head back in a few weeks?"
Mattie didn’t know much about the Glynns, but she never minded visiting somewhere new. There were a lot of Glynn siblings. It was very different from the Farris house. So if propriety had allowed her gaze to wander any more than it already had, she would have happily combed their house from top to bottom to see what she could find out about them and their lives.
Instead, she was having tea. Matilda stirred her spoon with a little more energy than was required, and then met Miss Glynn’s eyes over it. “Oh, yes, it’ll be my last year,” Mattie said – she couldn’t recall how many years Enid had been out of school, but she remembered her, vaguely, being in Ravenclaw too. “I’m excited to get back to class,” she said, quite honestly: the prospect of NEWT exams at the end of the year fuelled her on more than it frightened her.
“But I’ve had a lovely time being at the Glen so often,” she added, supposing this was a comment she was obliged to make, “so it hasn’t been the worst summer.”
Seventh year! Enid brightened and took a sip of her tea. "I really enjoyed my last year," she said. Even having so many younger sisters, she sometimes found it difficult to relate to teenagers — but if Miss Farris was a seventh year now, she was extremely close to joining the world that Enid now understood. (Or something like it.)
"It's been nice to see you and your father so often," Enid added — she hadn't really interacted with the Farris family that much, but it was a Thing to Say. "Do you think he would ever move to the Glen?"
Matilda, from what little she had seen actually on the reserve, wasn’t convinced most of the dragonkeepers here felt the same way about her father’s continual interruptions to their work (and Mr. Farris had always felt his work to be the most important taking place in any particular locale, so he had rubbed people the wrong way before). But she didn’t know how much of the dragonkeepers’ gossip this Miss Glynn was privy to, so she supposed she would take it at face value.
“He is very fond of it here, and the work they do at the reserve,” Mattie admitted, with a dainty shrug. “And I daresay he would love to be here more often without having to depend upon the Yarwoods’ hospitality always.” She let out a light laugh, and gave a little toss of her head to suggest this wasn’t much of a problem in her opinion. The Yarwoods – both Mr. Madoc Yarwood, and his sister and her sons – were very pleasant people, whatever her father’s machinations about cementing their social connection. “They’ve been very good, of course. Do you know them well?” They were the family of the glen, after all, but she didn’t know how much they mingled with the local farmers.
Enid smiled softly at the mention of the Yarwoods; she secretly hoped her expression would be chalked up to a general fondness. "I've known the Yarwoods my whole life," she said brightly. Of course, Miss Farris' relations with the Yarwoods were more intimate — Enid had never been invited to stay in their home, and likely never would be.
"The Glen is a small place," she added; she'd hoped to change the subject to something that had her less Nigel-focused, but found herself returning to the Yarwoods nonetheless. She could not help it! "So we all know each other well. You're fortunate to stay with them!"
Miss Glynn certainly did know the Yarwoods, then, for her smile was fond, so they must be good to the villagers. Mattie hadn’t expected anything different, really, but she had quietly hoped to uncover a little drama in the place. But no, it all seemed perfectly quaint. (Besides the dragons.)
She was a little tempted to plumb Miss Glynn’s evident knowledge of the place and its people to dig for a little more gossip about the Yarwoods, but there would be plenty of time to interrogate her, Mattie was sure; but she probably ought to try and make friends with Miss Glynn first, if she wanted to probe past the pleasantries. “So you like living here, then?” Mattie inquired, trying to picture actually living here, herself. “Do you expect you’ll stay in the Glen forever?” (Did she work on the family farm? It would make sense if she could not just leave, then.)
Enid nodded. "I love it here," she said. Why would she ever want to live somewhere that her family wasn't? The Glen was small, but everyone she loved was here — and London was nice to work in, but she could not imagine staying in such cramped quarters.
"So I think I'll stay. I'm training as a healer, and I think it would be very excellent to have one here," Enid added with a smile, a little pleased with herself. It was hard to pretend not to be proud of her career! "Where do you and your father live, again?" shaded.
November 13, 2023 – 11:20 PM
Last modified: November 13, 2023 – 11:20 PM by Matilda Farris.
Oh. Without thinking, Mattie had simply supposed Miss Glynn would have returned to helping at the farm somehow. But of course if she had her NEWTs, she had done something with them to better herself. And she wasn’t even just a mediwitch, she was a healer.
Mattie felt a little bad for presuming otherwise. Healing actually did sound interesting, though she knew very well that her father would not be pleased were she to go into any career at all. (That was fine: healing might sound interesting, but she probably would be bored were she forced to do it day after day.) “It does sound sensible to have healers on hand,” she agreed, with a cordial smile, and couldn’t help but ask – “Have you often seen people get injured here? By the dragons?”
“Irvingly,” she added, with a roll of her eyes at the tedium. “I should rather be somewhere more lively, but Father likes the quiet. Hardly enough dragons there, of course.”
"I've scarcely been to Irvingly," she said, because this did not seem like a teenager who would take well to 'maybe you're giving it a hard time.' Still — if she was going to live somewhere quiet, Enid would not want to live anywhere but here.
As to the dragons — "My sister Gwyn," she said. "Of course —" she was grinning conspiratorially as she added this aside "— she later decided to become a dragon keeper. So." Enid was not so far removed from being a teenager that she did not want other girls to think she was cool, even if it was predominately because of Gwyn — and maybe if Miss Farris did think so it would get back to Nigel Yarwood!
Then Miss Glynn was fortunate indeed; Irvingly was a bore. It would have been less a bore if Mr. Farris had let her go anywhere in the vicinity of the casino (save for the Floo or for the tennis courts), but of course that was not to be.
Mattie’s eyes widened in awe at the mention of her sister Gwyn (Gwyn Glynn must be an awful name to have, though). Her mouth had quirked into a more gleeful smile too, because she wanted terribly to hear the full story there; although, in the interests of conspiratorial confessions between them, she admitted in a stage whisper: “Oh, dear. How thrilling! Though if she’s who I think she is, my father isn’t much impressed by her.” He didn’t think much of any of the female dragonkeepers, as a matter of fact. It wasn’t particularly ladylike.
Enid smiled back at Miss Farris. "Lots of people don't love that there are women dragonkeepers," she said, the most polite way of putting it. "But I think — anyone who wants to be with the creatures should be allowed." Enid gave them a wide berth; she did not want to end up scarred like foundling sister had been. And many of the dragon keepers were a little intense, besides.
“I wouldn’t mind having a closer look at the dragons, myself,” Mattie replied, leaning forwards keenly – though what she was thinking was less ‘observing the dragons by tagging along with her father’ and more ‘having some adventure in the Glen with someone less strict’.
“Perhaps I will have to beseech your sister to show me – or one of the Misters Yarwood,” she mused, her eyes alight with a potential scheme. “Do you think they would?” Any of them, that was: she was not sure who the most obliging option would be. This Gwyn had been injured by one, so she must have a story to tell. And she would rather Severus’ company, of the brothers, but she had scarcely seen him here; so she supposed Nigel at least had a dragon-related career, even if he did not work with them directly.
Matilda Farris had the energy of someone who would get into trouble with the dragons; even knowing that, and despite herself, Enid was charmed by her. But she did not like the idea of Matilda Farris hanging around Nigel Yarwood — the girl was much more appropriate to his rank, and never mind that Enid had never tried to tell him of her feelings.
She could hear the eagerness in her voice when she said, "Gwyn would show you." Enid flushed pink, and looked down at her cup of tea. "She loves showing people the beasts. From a distance, of course."
Mattie was perfectly happy to meet Gwyn the once-injured dragon keeper. Hopefully she would be as exciting as she sounded. Not that Miss Enid was not altogether amiable, herself, but having tea was simply not a thrilling story to tell.
“Then it’s decided, you must introduce me,” she agreed, with a broad, emphatic smile. “And – from a distance, of course.” Her father would never forgive her if he caught her tramping about in close quarters with a dragon; and Mattie would not forgive herself if she ruined her face with dragonfire.
![[Image: IvsoQne.png]](https://i.imgur.com/IvsoQne.png)