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.
Tonight was the last night Zelda had to really finish packing, because tomorrow was the rehearsal dinner, and Sunday was the wedding. She'd retreated to her room after dinner and found herself surrounded by mostly-packed boxes. She'd thought she would have more time than she did, but now she needed to finish — boxing up all her books and trinkets and dresses that still fit, and photos she wanted to bring. Yorick watched from the bed as Zelda considered a bracelet that she was pretty sure actually belonged to Xena. Her wedding dress hung on the closet door.
She set the bracelet down on top of the bookshelf as the door to her room opened. "Hi Ros," Zelda said, grinning at her sister, "I didn't know you were here tonight!"
Katia may have been older, but with so many children, she was also more scattered, and there had never been any question of Xena performing this particular rite. And so, with a small, wrapped parcel under her arm, Roslyn arrived in the evening to visit her motherless sister and induct her into the ways of the world.
"Only to see you," Ros answered, her smile so serene it might be deemed suspicious. "I thought we might have a talk—and did not want to wait. I remember from my own wedding how hectic the coming days will be."
Ros was up to something, but it was pretty close to the wedding for her to be trying to talk Zelda out of it. Zelda frowned faintly and turned away from the bookshelf, sitting down on the covers of her bed instead. "What do you want to talk about?" she said, trying not to sound suspicious — and the smile she offered was genuine.
Roslyn Ross had never been one to beat around the bush, but this particular topic of discussion gave her pause. Their mother had had this very conversation with her what seemed like a lifetime ago. Ros had been appropriately mortified, particularly when she connected the marital act to the horde of children her parents had.
"The night before I married," the witch offered, moving to sit on the bed, "Mama sat down with me to discuss what it meant to be a wife. Not the running of the household, for I had already been taught all that," Ros clarified, "but the...details of what happens between a man and his wife. In the bedroom."
Zelda could have had a hundred guesses as to what Ros wanted to talk about, and she still wouldn't have landed on that. Her face flushed. "Oh," she said, and the awkwardness of her tone was entirely genuine. "Is, um — that's what you're talking to me about?"
"It is altogether possible that you have gleaned bits and pieces over the years," Roslyn allowed, "from friends, or even novels."
Having found her own way to the alter swiftly after her debut, Ros' knowledge on the topic had come entirely from this very talk prior to...firsthand experience. At two-and-twenty, though, and a working woman besides, Ros would not be surprised if Zelda knew a bit more of the way these things worked than she herself had.
"But I think it is important to fill in any gaps. While some would have us believe that the husband can guide his wife in all things, if a marriage is to remain happy, I think both parties must have equal footing."
Zelda flushed again; she suspected that her face was going to remain pink through this conversation. She knew too much, obviously, but she was going to have to pretend that she knew almost nothing — the wedding was just two days away, but if anything would derail it it would be that. And — there were things she didn't actually know, presumably. "I've heard some jokes," she said after a beat, "From friends, or people at the Ministry. But it's hard to know what's — you know, true."
Ros' smile grew more strained, almost a grimace. She had expected, of course, that the...social norms of the Ministry of Magic would be different than those Zelda would have experienced as a debutante, but had hoped for a bit more delicacy around her sister. Oh well—Zelda would be a married woman soon enough, and given her choice of husband...
"Well," Ros began, handing over the small parcel to her sister, "we ought to start with what to expect of your wedding night, but given that I expect you are happy in your profession, I thought the more...specific details of conception might be more prudent."
Zelda started unwrapping the parcel when it was in her hands, but found herself with more questions than before as she squinted at the object. "What... is this?" she asked — it was rare that something had Zelda speechless, but she truly didn't know what she was looking at.
AMAZING set by MJ
August 13, 2021 – 12:54 PM
Last modified: August 13, 2021 – 2:27 PM by Roslyn Ross.
Zelda was a bit more eager than Ros had expected—in retrospect, the witch thought, she ought to have held on to the package until that point in the talk.
"It is designed to be worn by your husband when you engage in intercourse—that is," Ros clarified, taking care to meet Zelda's eye, "the marital act." Sex was a perfectly normal act, and too many young ladies went into marriage seeing it as something almost taboo, though that did not quite eliminate Roslyn's discomfort in that moment. "It goes over the phallus, the part of his anatomy that most clearly differentiates men from women, and collects his seed so that you do not. It is the reason," she added slyly, "that Ross and I might be as affectionate as we like without Idris and Rhiannon ending up with as many siblings as you and I."
Zelda arched her eyebrows at the word phallus, and did not succeed in lowering them until after Ros stopped speaking. That aside, she was interested in what Ros was saying — because she didn’t want to have ten children. The thought of more than a few were chilling.
”And it — works?” Zelda said, unable to keep the confusion out of her voice. It very evidently worked &mdash Ros only had two children — but she didn’t understand why she had never heard anyone talking about it.
AMAZING set by MJ
August 15, 2021 – 5:28 PM
Last modified: August 15, 2021 – 5:30 PM by Roslyn Ross.
She hesitated slightly before confessing carefully, "Rhiannon is treasured beyond measure, but was rather a...lapse, in that area. Only once we no longer had the contraption was she conceived."
And that, Roslyn was quite certain, was all Zelda needed to know about the intricacies of her sex life.
Zelda couldn't help but wrinkle her nose; she didn't want to be squeamish, but she also didn't want to think about Ros and the Minister being intimate. Which reminded her — she had to pretend to know nothing, which meant she ought to ask about the rest of it. And even then it wasn't that she knew a lot — she had had sex, sure, but only the once, and what if she was missing some crucial information?
"And — the rest of it," Zelda said awkwardly, "How does everything work?"
Roslyn supposed she should be grateful that Zelda was ignorant on that score. For all his shortcomings, it was something of a relief that Darrow had not despoiled her.
"When you—" she began, hesitating as she searched for the words that would do this very important job but also not mortify either sister. "When you lie with your husband," or perch on a desk, or find yourself up against a tree on a particularly desolate road on your honeymoon, or— "your level of undress might be whatever your are both comfortable. All that 'matters', in that regard, is that his manhood have access to that most intimate part of yourself between your legs."
Roslyn gestured with her gaze to the part in question before continuing on.
"It will, I'm sure, be uncomfortable—physically and, indeed, emotionally—at first, but while it is not done to admit such things aloud, it can be altogether pleasurable, given...experience." At least, that had certainly been Ros' experience.
She ought to accept that her blush wasn't going to go away through this conversation; nothing Ros said had made her feel any less embarrassed so far. "You're saying that — women can like it?" Zelda said, although the surprise in her voice was less because of the concept and more because Ros was saying this.
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