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Witch Weekly · April 27, 2021 – 4:32 PM

The Face Behind Meredith Watchword?

After publishing several letters from one Meredith Watchword, a woman who seems to have a particular insight into society despite her name being notably absent from it, our publication has received dozens of inquiries as to the identity of Ms. Watchword. After weeks of digging, we are now able to posit a theory into the anonymous writer behind Watchword's letters: Professor Angelica Vorona.

Professor Vorona's marriage to her husband, who died in 1882, was rumored to be an unhappy one. This may account for the tendency some have noticed in Watchword's publication to disparage the married members of society, and particularly husbands who have failed their wives in some significant way. Because the entirety of her (very brief) marriage took place in Russia, the details of her relationship with her husband are not well known. Did Mr. Voron have a series of mistresses, as Watchword accused Reuben Crouch of having? Did he squander her money, as Arthur Pettigrew has for his wife? Or was he obsessively involving himself in the affairs of others as a way of distracting from his own unhappy home life, as Watchword implied was the case for Mrs. Marianne Finch? Perhaps all three, and Professor Vorona is using these anonymous letters as a way of punishing the population for the sins of her late husband.

Professor Angelica Vorona

Some readers may wonder at the ability of a Professor, who spends most of her time at Hogwarts, to know so much about the inner workings of society. Watchword evidently knew things about each of the subjects of her letters which were not commonly available knowledge. Where did she acquire this insight?

The answer is from Mr. Felix Prewett, who has notably been close to Professor Vorona since her Hogwarts days. Mr. Prewett was spotted in Professor Vorona's company during a performance of The Roses of Brittany, and the two seemed to have much more to discuss than simply the play itself. They were very deep in conversation, in a way that might have lead anyone who observed to think they had mischief on their minds. While some might assume there was an ongoing love affair between the two (and our reporters have not entirely ruled the notion out), we believe that their primary topic of conversation was society gossip, as Mr. Prewett supplied Professor Vorona with all of the knowledge she would need for future publications. Mr. Prewett has always been something of a gossip (particularly for a man), and has the investigative journalism skills necessary to follow up on hunches and suss out facts that the average person may not have access to.

Mr. Prewett also had access to each of the subjects of Watchword's letters. He was a guest at the Courtly Love charity event, and may have witnessed the interaction between Miss Binns, Mr. MacFusty, and Mrs. Finch. He is friendly with Reuben Crouch, and may have either heard all of these tidings from his own mouth or picked up on context clues from being able to observe the man throughout the course of the past year. Finally, both Reuben Crouch and Mr. Prewett's twin, Fitzroy Prewett, are close friends of Arthur Pettigrew, the final subject of the letters.

If Professor Vorona is motivated by her own unhappy past, what would Mr. Prewett's motivation be for helping her? Well, they have been friends for so long — could it be that Mr. Prewett has been in love with her this entire time, and now has finally found an avenue to (he hopes) endear himself to her, to make himself indispensable so that she will consider him as something more than a friend? Time will tell. In the meantime, we certainly wouldn't mind having a few more of "Watchword's" letters to print!

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Angelica Selwyn

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