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 1895. It’s time to join us and immerse yourself in scandal and drama interlaced with magic both light and dark.
Complete five threads of five posts or more where your character experiences bad luck, such as stepping in a chamberpot, losing the rings for a wedding, etc...
Did You Know?
One of the cheapest homeless shelters in Victorian London charged four pennies to sleep in a coffin. Which was... still better than sleeping upright against a rope? — Jordan / Lynn
If he was being completely honest, the situation didn't look good, but Sylvano was not in the habit of being completely honest about anything. No reason to start now.
— Sylvano Capobiancoinyou & me & the war of the endtimes
"I've got to marry Burke at the end of the month," Trixie admitted bitterly to the girl sat opposite her and the words nearly made her cry. She had hadn't said it aloud yet - though Merlin knew her father had mentioned it daily since he finally told her the truth. He had decided her future for her again, but this time it was sickeningly real rather than an abstract something that would happen one day. Since the very day she had been told that her fate was to marry her father's business partner's son to keep everything in the family she had dreamed of nothing but death for Burke and yet he remained irritatingly robust.
"Pa says I don't have any choice."
And the worst thing was that she didn't. She very nearly had OWLs but her father intended her to be wed before the results came out and she could use them to find a decent job to support herself and escape, and the old man knew her too well to imagine for a second she would lower herself into domestic service. The thought of scrubbing floors and laundering clothes for the milksop girls she had known at school was worse than the thought of Burke pawing at her.
"You don't have to come," she added quickly. Even in her direst moments Trixie rarely admitted to actually wanting a friend. So far Cora had never disappointed her, had always been reliably everything Trixie wanted in a confidante, but there was time yet for even Cora to let her down. Best not make it worse by expecting things.
If Cora could have intertwined her ankles any more they would have fallen off. Red danced in front of her eyes as she glared at the table in front of her. This wasn't fair. Trixie wasn't going to be at school next year because she had to marry an absolute troll of a man. Cora was going to be all alone with Fudge and her infuriatingly perfect band of brats.
Her fury was pulled back to Trixie and the miserable grey haze her voice cast over Cora's vision. Her gaze moved from the table to her friend and softened considerably. Poor Trixie. She looked so miserable, and rightfully so! Cora liked to think that, were she a more advanced witch, she'd have gone to Trixie's house and aided in dispatching that miserable wizard for good. She'd have to settle for the Burke brute instead.
"Trixie," she began emphatically, reaching over the table and placing it on her best friend's. She gave it a small shake, ensuring that she was looking at her. "I will be there, I promise." she said fiercely, furrowing her brow. Even if she had to lead her chaperone astray, she would find a way into that blasted ceremony.
It was some modicum of comfort to think that at least she wouldn’t be entirely alone on what was sure to be the worst day of her life, even if it was apparent she was to be on her own in so many other ways for the rest of it. The only consolation of the travesty about to unfold, apart from Cora’s now confirmed presence, was that her father’s determination to have a grandchild that would inherit everything was only slightly stronger than his dislike for his son-in-law-to-be.
Seeing Claude having to endure her father’s moods might just about take the edge off. But not enough for her to be able to forget that soon enough his cold spindly fingers would have free reign to touch her.
“Shame you can’t be there on the night too,” Trixie muttered darkly, staring hard at Cora’s hand over hers: soft, warm, safe, everything she knew Burke’s hand wasn’t. And neither was his but she didn’t seem to mind that.
Cora quirked an eyebrow at Trixie and smirked. "Trixie, if I were there on the wedding night," she began unabashedly, "we both know the bastard wouldn't last through the necessary part..." She gave her a devious grin before taking her friend's hand and giving it an encouraging squeeze.
She tried to be uplifting for Trixie, but it wasn't easy - she wouldn't have her best friend with her the next year at Hogwarts. But perhaps when they had Hogsmeade visits... "Look on the bright side," she mused. "we won't need a chaperone for Hogsmeade visits. I have you for that now." Back was the devious grin.
December 4, 2019 – 1:07 AM
Last modified: December 4, 2019 – 1:07 AM by Beatrix Burke.
Cackling in grim delight at Cora’s indecent observation Trixie congratulated herself that if she had accomplished nothing else in her time at Hogwarts at least she had corrupted the sensibilities of a young lady whose station in life was better than hers. Cora, from the very beginning of their friendship, had been precisely what Trixie wanted her to be and it had never occurred to Trixie to tell her such – she simply assumed that Cora knew because needing that confirmation would be a very un-Cora like thing to do.
“I don’t know how I’ll get there. Pa’s said it’ll be up to Claude whether I can learn to apparate or not,” she spat out with disgust. Having her father control her life was bad enough, having to rely on that fucking weasel for her freedom was quite another. “I hate him,” she said needlessly, having expressed this more times than she or Cora could count. “Once you’ve had a Lestrange nothing compares.”
"I'll teach you," It was out of her mouth before she'd even processed what it meant. Cora gripped even harder as orange flashed through her vision. That she had no idea how to apparate was a whole other thing entirely. She was confident she could get one of the governesses to teach her, if not her mother.
Cora nodded with more confidence. That's what they'll do. No spineless, sickly Burke would keep her Trixie away from her and that was final. She scowled along with her friend. Their future as friends looked so bleak. "Then again, of course, Claude Burke compares to absolutely no one seeing as he's lower than a dung beetle." She murmured scathingly.
Trixie truly wanted to believe that nothing would change between them, but she simply couldn’t. Cora might offer to teach her now but in a few months their lives would go in dramatically different directions – they already had of course, Trixie knew this, could see it with her enviable clarity of mind for a shitty situation, but for once she didn’t want to look hard facts in the face.
Merlin, things were grim if she was already lying to herself!
“I don’t care if he sleeps with a dung beetle, as long as he doesn’t come near me.” Trixie’s lip curled in distaste. “I’m going to give him a potion on the wedding night so he won’t. I’ll revolt him and I’ll be glad about it.”
"What do you need?" Cora murmured, her eyes flickering about to make sure they weren't overheard. At first it wasn't something she thought they'd actually consider, but seeing her best friend in such a state – and imaginging the sheer horror of that first night – had finally pushed her into resolve.
"My mother has all the potion ingredients we could ever want, we wouldn't even have to steal it from Professor Valindrious' supply cabinet." Really her mother wouldn't mind much less notice what happened to the ingredients they'd need. And when Cora sent her well wishes to the new "happy" couple, she'd make sure Claude gets the most tempting one of all - one that would be sure to knock him out as soon as the bottle touched his lips. A ghost of a grin crossed Cora's own features as she reached over again to give her friend's hands another firm squeeze.
Merlin be damned she was even emotional at the thought of never seeing the potions professor and his dingy cupboard! Damn her father, damn Claude and damn the world, she was not going to submit as easily as they all thought she would.
And Cora – or rather, Cora’s mother – would be the means of her rebellion. She would not let Claude into her bed and if she had to poison him for the rest of their lives she would make sure that the union her father had been so keen to push would always remain a barren one.
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