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.
I am a young lady of 24 years of age, and of good feminine proportions and manners. It feels odd to start a letter in such a dispassionate way but these are the questions that would be answered immediately should we ever meet in person.
I work at the museum, so although I am one a women who is engaged in paid work it is not entirely unfeminine in nature. I am from a large, exuberant family and would one day hope to take pleasure in a family of my own. I find great pleasure and comfort in family life, just as I do in my work.
Witch Weekly is pleased to inform you that your recent submission to our Lonely Hearts article has generated a response. Witch Weekly is devoted to providing help to all of our readers, no matter what their social disadvantages, and we are delighted to provide this service to the lovelorn in our magical community. We hope that you will be able to create a happy ending with our help, instead of being doomed to a tragically lonely life.
Please see the enclosed letter and advise us whether you will need your advertisement repeated in further issues of our magazine.
I am rather embarrassed to tell you that the advertisement placed was not my own, but rather my mother's, and while I do love her as any son should love his mother, after viewing it for myself when I received your letter, I must say that she did make a few mistakes. I do believe myself to be rather average in terms of physical looks, though I do suppose that is one thing that is up to the beholder. As for the possibility of a family, it seems nice but may not be quite ideal.
My main concern at the moment would be funds, I suppose. Without giving too much about myself away, I'm currently employed at a ballroom, which does not pay a glorious amount (though the work itself is enjoyable enough) so that, should we get married (my apologies for the brief assumption), you would likely have to continue working.
As for my own family, my mother is all that remains, and we are indeed quite close. I support her with parts of my income, though she does work as well. My father has been deceased for years and I never had siblings.
Should you desire to write back, even upon hearing all my flaws, I would ask you a few questions: do you enjoy dancing? And what was it like, having a 'large and exuberant family' as you described?