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.
Elsie was a little too excited to have Zelda come for a visit. She loved her family dearly, obviously, but with each confinement to the house and this time actually minding her manners about it, she was getting to the point of stir crazy. Fortunately she had secured an afternoon with her mother and Lottie for the children, who were almost as eager to have them as Elsie was to send them. Tyb was who knew where, but she had suggested that perhaps he abscond from the house for a little while so she and Zelda could discuss lady's things.
With tea on the table in the sitting room and Elsie perched in her favorite armchair, feet tucked up beneath her as she worked on stitching up a pair of Bentley's trousers, she heard Mrs. Robinson announce Zelda's arrival and though she wished she could, she was too entrenched in the chair to get up and greet her friend. "You'll have to excuse me, I'm far too round to get up quickly these days." Elsie said by way of greeting, smiling, enjoying the quiet, but also ready for adult conversation.
She motioned for Zelda to take a seat wherever she liked. "I'm glad you could come by today, I feel like it's been so long since I haven't seen someone I'm related to or that works for me." At least the weather was still nice and she could go outside. The Park was still off limits, not that she ventured quite that far anymore, but if she could coerce Tyb to go with her, it might have been possible.
It was nice to have a friend in Elsie Kirke — Zelda's dearest female friends were Delight and Rowan, and while she would do anything for either of them, they did not have children and she was worried that they would not understand issues of motherhood. Or — she was sure that they would understand her, but she was not sure they would understand the root of the reason she wanted to gut check this with someone.
Zelda had brought some chocolate sponges with her from the Sanditon, and deposited them onto the table with the tea before she dropped into one of Elsie's offered armchairs. She flashed a smile at the other woman. "I remember being that round, you're absolutely excused," she said cheerfully.
"And thank you for having me — it's important that I don't get too entrenched in the Ministry, especially because my husband goes underway soon," Zelda said; she was excited to have easy excuses to leave the house when Alfred was on the Voyager, because the last two winters had been rather lonely.
"You think I would be used to it." The children were all about eighteen months apart, this was the third time and it hadn't been any worse, really. "You're welcome any time. I could use some adult conversation, truly." Elsie loved this time home with the children, obviously, but she had always loved her work as well and it was hard to be gone for the long periods of time. The balance of working part time was good for her, kept her from going a little stir crazy, even with Miss Halliwell to help.
Elsie leaned forward awkwardly to fix her tea before leaning back, balancing the saucer on her belly with no shame. It was the perfect perch and she doubted Zelda would care. "Oh, is he off again?" Els didn't know how Zelda handled that. If Tyb was gone for any length of time, she would lose her marbles. The snowstorm had been bad enough to turn her into a basket case, never mind months at sea. "That must be difficult." She passed Zelda a soft smile of understanding. She was curious what it was that Zelda wanted to discuss that she'd mentioned in their letters, but was here to listen to anything the other mother had on her mind.
MJ always makes her so pretty
September 14, 2024 – 9:02 PM
Last modified: September 14, 2024 – 9:02 PM by Zelda Darrow.
"He'll go once the sailing season ends," Zelda said. It had been a few years, so she was not unused to Alfred being gone — and this time, hopefully, she would not be alone with a newborn or very pregnant. (It was far too late for the former to happen, but the latter was, technically, not impossible.)
"It'll be alright — if a little tough with the routine change on the children," Zelda admitted, with a sheepish smile. "At his age, Orion won't really remember the last time he was underway."
Elsie nodded along. Tyb was so hands-on with their children that she couldn't imagine not having his help with them. But she supposed that Mr. Darrow's work was necessary, and so he had to do what it was he needed to, in order to provide for his family. "A change in routine is the worst, I swear. I won't even go anywhere at nap time, lest we get off schedule." Els tried to keep them roughly in the same routine, though it ebbed and flowed with how successful she was.
The suggestion of letters nearly came forward, but Elsie thought that might even still be too abstract for Orion to really get. "But he must have such good stories to tell when he returns." Though she would never outwardly share her opinions on the subject, as it truly was none of her business, Elsie had to wonder just how Mr. Darrow could still, with two children and a wife at home, pursue such a career. Surely there was something closer to home that he could do. "But again, you're welcome to visit any time, with or without the children, if it helps." If Zelda needed some help, Elsie was more than happy to give it her best.
Zelda smiled. "He does have good stories," she said cheerfully. Honestly, part of why she had originally been attracted to Alfred was that he had so many stories to tell her — and while things were no longer quite the same, she did still enjoy them. "Maybe I'll bring them next time. My sister's usually happy to take them — she misses when her own children were small."
Somehow Katia missed when her children were small. There had been so many of them, and Zelda couldn't imagine it for herself — but Katia was just like their mother. Zelda was rather looking forward to when her children were old enough to have conversations with her, to learn to sail, to — do all the things they could do when they were a bit older.
"The girls will have to learn to be gentle with the new baby when the time comes," Zelda said, with a gentle indication to Elsie's rounded belly.
Els smiled at the thought of a house full of their children running around playing. It would be chaotic, certainly, but Elsie had already gotten used to her two, and now that Maisie was also already on the run, nothing was safe. It was wild to think that some time in the not-so-distant-future, they would all be off to Hogwarts within a few years of one another.
"Whatever works best for you, we're happy to have you any time." Just Zelda, with the children, however it worked best. "Bentley is a pro, it's Maisie I'm a little worried about this time. She does love to beat on her brother." Both of her children were much more like Tyb in personality, so far, which she loved, but sometimes it was exhausting. Maybe she would get lucky with this one and she would get one more like herself. Then again, if she could have six or seven miniature Tybs she would be quite content, so she wasn't about to complain. "I can't imagine going from two to three is any different than one to two." She chuckled. Ben's pregnancy had been fraught with social expectations, but with each addition to their family, Elsie grew more and more content and felt perfectly at ease with having more. Not the ten Tyb liked to joke about, but a couple more, at least.
Carina was still slightly too small to effectively terrorize her elder brother, although they did play peekaboo and block games together when Orion could be convinced to slow down. Once she was a little bigger, crawling and then walking, Zelda was sure that Carina would only be a few steps behind her brother — the trouble would be, once Orion took to the water, keeping Carina from getting in over her head.
"You're so confident at this," Zelda said, with a muted smile. "How do you do it?"
![[Image: Elsie-MJSig.png]](https://i.ibb.co/zFHDHQc/Elsie-MJSig.png)
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