Charming is a Victorian Era Harry Potter roleplay set primarily in the village of Hogsmeade, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and the non-canon village of Irvingly. Characters of all classes, both magical and muggle — and even non-human! — are welcome.
With a member driven story line, monthly games and events, and a friendly and drama-free community focused on quality over quantity, the only thing you can be sure of is fun!
"Are you always this forward?" He asked teasingly since it would be a very short thread if he just ignored her entirely. — Tobin Cartwright in Take A Peek
Did you know? Churchgoers and worshippers had to endure a foul stench during prayers due to the amount of bodies often stored within the vaults of churches and chapels.
I'm afraid by now you must have given me up for dead; for their was no owl service at all on the boat to America, and now I am being told that this letter may take four or five days to reach you! I suppose it is quite a mighty journey for an owl, so four or five days to accomplish what the boat did in three weeks may be reasonable, but even so. Hopefully you have no begun to despair that I have forgotten you, or any other silly thing--I find too frequenty that women tend to despair over silly things when left unattended, though of course you have too much sense for that.
I've gotten myself settled into a little flat here in America; it isn't much like the sort of places I'm used to living in England, but that suits me just fine. I think living in the way of the locals when traveling improves the experience of the visit--though of course this is much more feasible for men than for women. A lady of average constitution couldn't go subjecting herself to living in tents or huts in the wilderness, after all. The women in America do seem to be a little hardier than those in England, based in no small part, I believe, to the way they live here. It reminds me a little of the weekend we all spent at the Sandition Resort for their Quidditch match, living in the little cabins. The cabins were nice enough, of course, but the countryside around them was so untamed that they felt a little conspicuous, didn't they? And even the tents had that air of being too grand for their settings, and out of place. Everything here has that feeling--as though the landscape here does not support the attempts at civilization and is waiting for its chance to rise up in rebellion.
I trust you are well? I hope you would have written otherwise; while I haven't had access to owls in a while, I trust one would have been able to find me well enough. In any case, please write often. My business here unfortunately will take some length of time, and I do not relish the thought of becoming a stranger to those I hold dear whilst I am away.
I held no such delusions, I assure you. I know you are far too stubborn to let something as trifling as the Atlantic get the better of you! In any case, I am glad to hear you've made it safely across; one does hear such sordid stories every now and then of journeys gone awry. Perhaps that does sound silly to you, but I imagine if I were to say I hadn't thought of you at all you would merely think me cold instead; I believe I would rather be thought of as silly than heartless!
And how are you finding America? You do make it sounds like it's a veritable wilderness. The Sanditon cabin was all well and good for a visit, but I confess the idea of living in such a place indefinitely doesn't quite appeal. From what I understand, the Americans have sacrificed a certain degree of refinement in favor of that hardiness, so I suppose it's hardly surprising to hear you say as much. Just promise me you won't return a feckless oaf under their influence!
I am well enough, if a bit restless. March is always an awkward time, as it's both too far away from the holidays and the Season to have much in the way of fun. If I cannot be there with you to explore the great frontier, I'm afraid you'll have to spare me no detail in your letters. I'll write just as often as the owl post allows, though I do hope you won't be gone so very long. I should hate to have to take in the season without you.
Well, I have always been a bit feckless, so you mustn't blame America for that, when I return, though I think I can safely promise not to become an oaf. I'll cast about and see if I can find you some kind of present while I'm here, but I'm not sure whether there will be anything you might find suitable for fashionable events in England. But who knows? Maybe I'll find something charming and overlooked.
I have very mixed feelings about the progression into spring and the beginning of the season, especially with my not being there. I am very glad for you to be able to find some diversions until I return, of course, and for that I wish you a wonderful dance every week, and dinner parties in spades. Especially as you will be properly out of mourning--but then we come to the other half of my mixed feelings, which is that if you're to be dancing until dawn there will be many dance partners, and many people to author those dinner invitations I'm wishing you, and since I won't be there of course I am quite jealous. I can't forbid you from dancing with young and handsome gentlemen, but please try not to fall in love with any of them, won't you?
Now who is being silly? You must think me a fickle creature indeed if you believe a few dances would be enough to steal me away. It sounds foolish now, I suppose, but I had always hoped you would be my first dance, once I was finished with this mourning business.
Anyway, I promise I shan't fall in love -- but only if you do the same. I'm sure there are no shortage of those nouveau riche, brash American girls who have never met a proper gentleman before, much less one as charming as you. Please do try not to break too many of their hearts while you're away.
Do they even have a proper season in America? I'm sure it's nothing so grand as what we have in Britain, but there must be something to keep them occupied all summer. They don't even have quidditch, do they? Just quodpot, which sounds rather brutish, really, with all the explosives.
I'm sure I would love anything you picked for me, American or no. You do have quite a bit of apologizing to do, after all, for abandoning me so.
Your first dance! I suppose you mean your first dance after having properly come out? It had slipped my mind that there was the whole business of finishing school. That's a wonderful honor, my dear, and one that I had not known (or at least not consciously thought of, for I suppose if I'd thought I would have known) I held, so I suppose it would be really unfair of me to be too jealous for having lost it. I'm afraid there's nothing for it, either, unless I were to send August some polyjuice so that he could give you a dance and pretend; but he is not half so charming as me, and with that limp I doubt he is very good a dancer, so I'm afraid for the sake of my honor I can't allow it. My reputation would never recover if it were thought that I had stumbled during a dance, you know.
I have absolutely no notion of whether there is a season in America, but the more time I spend here the more I tend to doubt it; so many of these women are so forward that I can't imagine them Coming Out of anything and being any more involved in society than they are at present. But don't worry, it's all a rather unappealing, mannish sort of involvement. To suggest I might go fawning after an American is like suggesting I might fall in love with Ha Mrs. Beckett, which is utterly ridiculous. And I'm sure I won't catch any of their fancy, either, at least not seriously; there won't be time, if my business here goes as I intend, to properly fall for someone, and so if they think themselves in love with either my money or position, I know they will recover very soon after my absence.
Quodpot isn't all bad. It certainly isn't Quidditch, but I'm beginning to see the merits of it. I think perhaps when I return to England we ought to have a quodpot exhibition; it will be after the Quidditch season has concluded and it might generate some interest. Though the Ravensbridge Factory isn't so poorly off that it needs a European market. With a little better management it will be sustainable with just the American market, whether anyone in Europe takes a fancy to it or not.
I know I have plenty of ammends to make, but here is this, for consolation; we aren't yet engaged (officially, in any case), so prepare yourself for the most lavish proposal that ever was, and that shall be my attemt at redeeming myself.
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