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.
It had been a miracle that he survived the dragon attack, Elijah knew, and after being reunited with his parents, his uncle, his sister, even dearest Eliza, he couldn’t help but cry about how terrified he was during the event and how he owed his life to the man he met, Harry. Being especially flammable since he was half-vampire, his burns were far more serious and it had covered his entire torso and up his right arm, but at least he had the prospect of healing which was more that can be said for a lot of people. For the first few weeks, Elijah couldn’t get out of bed without a lot of help and relied heavily on his mother and Eliza to help take care of him, but by now he felt he could sort of maneuver on his own, though it would still be a long time before he was healed enough to be out of anyone’s supervision. Still, tomorrow was a Hogsmeade weekend for Hogwarts students.
Honestly, Elijah doubted his parents would allow him to go to Hogsmeade tomorrow with the state he was in, but he had some friends he wanted to visit with and of course, he’d promised Minnie he’d try and see her for at least a few minutes the first weekend she had off. “Pa?” he asked, quietly knocking on his and Uncle Victor’s office door; it was slightly ajar so he pushed it all the way open. He’d missed him terribly while he was at work, and maybe part of him just wanted to stay home and spend time with his family that he’d been so scared to lose instead, but he supposed he was already here to ask, “D’you think mum could take me to Hogsmeade tomorrow? I know I’m supposed to be still resting, but my friends will be there.”
Working at all stressed Vincent out. He tried to be around Elijah as much as possible, but also knew that he needed to rest and the rest of the family needed to see him too. Even the occasional in-law appearance popped in with a worried sob story to earn sympathy points, though Vincent was a pessimist when it came to his wife's family members.
His intake of blood pops had been on a slow decline, but he was still consuming more than usual and was glad that Gabrielle was more than willing to help pay for family expenses with her [NEWTs Level Career] earnings. They could afford it, but he still worried heavily, especially with the added expense of helping Elijah heal.
From the quiet knock, Vincent was expecting Gabrielle or Siobhan or Eliza to be at the door. No, Victor didn't knock. When he looked up to see Elijah, he was surprised. Before he could ask why his son was even out of bed, the kid was asking if he could make his way to Hogsmeade. He stared at his son for a few moments. Of course the poor kid was possibly going crazy being caged up all day at home. But he had burns everywhere.
Vincent sat back in his seat and look away briefly and then looked back at him. "Are you sure?"
Okay, maybe that was a stupid question, Elijah thought as his father just sort of stared at him after he asked if he could go all the way out to Hogsmeade tomorrow. It would be one thing if he just wanted to get out of the house and maybe spend time at the shop or go to the park or something, but Hogsmeade was far and even for someone as stir-crazy as Elijah was these days, it was a bit much. His cheeks flushed slightly when he finally asked him if he was sure, because honestly? He wasn’t. He was exhausted just walking over to the office and he was actually quite terrified due to the trauma the dragon attack caused to feel comfortable being so far from his family right now. But, he also was bored and he really wanted to see people who were his own age. “I promised my friends that I’d see them the first chance I got,” he said as a sort of non-answer to his question, though he did enter the office and sit in one of the empty chairs because he was tired, “It’s boring just laying in my room.”
Yes indeed, the teens choice. The non-answer. It took effort for Vincent to not give a heavy sigh of exasperation. He understood that his son was bored. But look at the poor boy. Even this looked exhausting. Outside of boredom, his reasoning were long past promises that might well have been made before the accident. Vincent was torn between empathy and fatherly duty. This was his son.
"I appreciate your plight, but it doesn't answer my question. Elijah, you are still healing. I would rather you be bored today than in your grave tomorrow. Don't push yourself too far." Vincent was sure that no teenager wanted to hear this answer. It wasn't a fun answer. An exciting answer. It was the answer that ruined all of the fun, really. But if Elijah died from infection or his heart gave out, Vincent would be crushed.
As far as Elijah was concerned, if he didn’t ask his father if he could go to Hogsmeade and put up at least a semi-decent fight if he said no, he was being a complete coward and wasn’t trying hard enough to be with his friends and his girlfriend. But, in truth, no matter how much he wanted to see them all, and no matter how bored out of his mind he was, Elijah was secretly relieved that he was reluctant because it gave him the excuse he needed to stay home where he felt safe. “I know,” he answered, rolling his eyes and leaning back in his chair like he was annoyed at his father’s comment about him still healing, “It’s not like I’m planning on playing Quidditch. It’s going to a couple of shops, getting some butterbeer, hanging out with friends, you know?” Of course, that much effort sounded exhausting. He sighed, “I just… I don’t see how making me die of boredom is any better. At least let me go back to the shop so I can work if you’re not even going to let me do anything fun.”
Vincent wasn't entirely sure if his son's frustration was genuine. He looked so tired. Still, it must be so boring to be here all day. That was how it had to be and the more they talked, the more certain Vincent was of that thought. "Since dying of boredom isn't a thing, I find it incredibly better." He wasn't here to take teen sass today. His son nearly died and too much stress was pressing down on Vincent for him to entertain Elijah further.
"Counter proposal. Eliza can help you come in here," he paused to give him a pointed look, noting that this little stunt of making his way around the house on his own was still not at all advisable, "and you can get some work done until you don't feel up for it anymore for the day. But you have to promise me that you will listen to your body when it tells you no more. If I find out that you have pushed yourself too far, I'll give the damn business to your brother."
When he first said those words, he wasn't sure if he was being serious. But he felt them ring in the air. No. He was serious. The very idea of finding out that Elijah was on the way to recovery, only to drop dead from pushing himself too hard? Vincent would never recover. The list of the dead was still in his office. Priam Lestrange, dead from infection. That rang in his ears every damn day when he thought of, looked at, his son. Now here the kid was, wanting to go out to Hogsmeade.
Elijah dramatically groaned for effect and if he wasn’t in so much pain, he might have thrown in placing his forehead on his father and uncle’s desk as a show of finally giving up on the fight, “You don’t know that. I bet if anyone can die of boredom it’s me.” He couldn’t imagine spending another week cooped up in the house with nothing to do. He sighed, figuring at least he put up enough of an argument that if anyone got angry with him for not showing up to Hogsmeade, he could put the blame on his father. But, he was happy at least he was going to let him do some work in his office as long as he didn’t push himself too hard; at least then that was something that he could do to keep his mind distracted so he wasn’t completely bored.
“Fiiine,” he groaned, “I promise I will stop if I start feeling tired or in pain.” If his father didn’t believe him, he was sure Eliza could keep an eye on him, as she had been watching over him long enough that she could sense when he needed to rest without him telling her. He laughed (trying not to wince in sudden pain), though, at the prospect of his father giving the business to Josiah, “Josiah doesn’t want it. He’s going to be some hotshot Quidditch Star or something when he graduates.”
Had Victor and Vincent acted like this when they were teenagers? Pride pushed him to think not, but reason won out. Of course they had. This was how teenagers were. Social pressures outweighed reason and practicality. A thirty year old Elijah was going to appreciate this conversation a lot more than current Elijah. Yet Vincent was dealing with current Elijah and had to face the fact that his teenage son's mind didn't want to slow down just because his body had to.
"Have you tried picking up a book?" Die of boredom? For goodness sake. Oh, he planned on Eliza being there for Elijah during this time. The poor girl was going to be rather busy these days. Vincent had resorted to asking the in-laws if some of their household staff could help around the house during the day so Eliza could focus on Elijah. The staff refused to stay at night. Why, Vincent couldn't possibly guess. Stereotypes, perhaps.
At Elijah's Josiah comment, Vincent huffed softly. He loved all of his children and tried his hardest to be supportive with each and every one, but Josiah's head was in the clouds and Vincent wasn't thrilled at humoring him. He allowed it because he loved his son and he supported his wife. If it were up to him, Josiah would follow either of his older sibling's footsteps and that would be that. "Even so, my stance still stands. This is serious, Elijah. Your health and well-being are serious matters. I'm trusting you to take them seriously."
This wasn't about Eliza being over his shoulder. She was there to help him, she shouldn't have to act the spy master. Her job was to do her actual job, cleaning up, serving him food and such, helping him around where he needed to be. But Elijah had to do his actual job too. Do the work, no more than that. Take care of himself. If he wasn't going to communicate, and she had to tell Vincent, how could Vincent trust his son to be honest about something so important again?
Ugh, right, okay, he had his books and though he sort of liked reading books, at least fictional ones that contained a lot of action scenes, he didn’t really read a whole lot in the past month, insisting he was tired of the ones he had on his shelves. “There’s only so many times you can read a book,” Elijah complained; he was more the type to want to write his own, and he enjoyed writing poetry the most, though he did try not to move his arm so much since his writing hand was the one the one attached to the arm that got burned, “See, that’s another reason why I should get to go to Hogsmeade tomorrow. They have bookstores there and I could get better books to read.” Of course, he only had so much saved up since he started working for his father and uncle and he was hoping to use that for whatever expensive thing he decided to get Jessamine for Christmas.
Elijah really tried not to laugh too much because it hurt, but he was amused at his father’s reaction to his suggestion that his little brother would be playing Quidditch professionally; they all knew that he wasn’t super supportive of the idea, but he tried his best. He sighed, and as much as he wanted to roll his eyes at his father’s lecture, he managed to stop himself because he knew that he was being serious and Elijah knew that he ought to be taking it seriously too, even if it was boring and frustrating. “It’s not like I want to die, I’m not trying to get myself hurt again,” he tried to explain, softening up a bit when his father mentioned trying to trust him; he didn’t want his father to feel like he couldn’t, “It’s just… I hate having to put my life on hold. I have friends, hobbies, work, you know? I was really looking forward to doing stuff, especially now that I’m almost seventeen, and I can’t. I know you don’t get it because you’re old, but not being able to do anything fun just sucks.”
Was this child serious? Did he think books fell from the sky like rain? Or that money did? The blood pops that Vincent had found himself buying in extra were to keep his vampiric nerves at bay. He didn't like it and was entirely self conscious about it. For goodness sakes, there were times that Vincent had to hold back on his natural bluntness and right now was it. Elijah was acting just a bit spoiled and Vincent didn't appreciate it. Rather than respond, he gave his eldest son a warning look. His comment had hit a nerve, had been a bit too careless.
The sigh wasn't appreciated, but Vincent was glad it didn't lead to anything more. Perhaps that was a sign that he was getting through to his kid. "Believe it or not, I do understand. Yet I also understand that such a small amount of time of healing will mean a world of difference for you later." It would be good for him to learn a lesson of patience. Especially as Vincent practiced his own skills while dealing with his teenage son.
Elijah sank a bit in his chair, knowing the look his father was giving him better than anyone, given how often he’d received it when he was acting out; he was going to have to tone it down because he was wearing down his father’s last nerve. At least there was still November, right? And the winter holidays. It wasn’t like he was never going to see any of his Hogwarts friends again. He tried not to look so disappointed, knowing that his father was only trying to look out for his well being, even if it meant raining on his parade. “I guess,” he mumbled; he supposed he should be grateful that he only had to spend time in recovery whereas there were a lot of others that didn’t survive the attack at all, “Could I at least borrow some parchment and ink from your supply? I want to at least write to my friends if I’m not allowed to see them.” Even if Elijah had to write slowly because of his hurt arm, he should at least inform them that he wasn’t dead and couldn’t meet up with them for awhile.
His children certainly weren't raised spoiled, so Vincent was privately glad to saying no to a Hogsmeade visit. Perhaps some distance from his rich friends would humble Elijah. More 'gimme, gimme, gimme' attitude would drive Vincent insane. "Yes. Ask Eliza for help, should you need it."
![[Image: elijah-signature.png]](https://i.postimg.cc/5yQK1Kd8/elijah-signature.png)
