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.
A month ago things still felt as though they were moving in a normal sequence. Maggie was still so full of hope, love and all her dreams of the future. Yes, it was going to be near crippling agony to give her baby to another woman, but at least she'd have Jack to fall back on. At least when it came down to it, Maggie wasn't alone.
Now that it was a month later and it was all the eighteen year old girl could do to keep her head floating above the water. However, despite all her grief, and all the abrupt life changes, Magdelena would not let it define her. She was still young, and things still had the potential of improving.
And so as she sat in the warm, well lit Three Broom Sticks sipping on her first (and only) butterbeer of the night with her chaperone sitting in he chair beside her, Maggie kept a warm smile on her face and the conversation around her light. For even though she still felt weak, and occasionally broke down crying deep in the confines of her room, this would not be her downfall. Life was just beginning, and it was about time for her to start putting her best foot forward.
[OOC: Sorry this post is basically not my best. They'll get better as I go? <_<]
Things were still not all right at the Ministry of Magic, which meant that Zach had an entire afternoon to do with as he pleased. He was tired of bumming around Cav's house, so when he'd been dismissed from the offices that morning while they 'refiled' paperwork, he'd headed instead out to the Three Broomsticks. It was still fairly early, so he just ordered a butterbeer and a copy of the paper.
Not that the paper was interesting that morning, or any morning. The British could be so dull, sometimes. After flipping through countless worthless pages, he eventually looked up, deciding he'd have to find another way to occupy his time.
Well hello there.
Beckoning a waitress over, he flipped a coin off of his thumb for her to catch, followed by a coy smile and a few whispered words. The woman looked a little wary, but his coin seemed to reassure her; after a trip back to the bar, she was approaching the table with the two women, another butterbeer in hand. "Compliments of a stranger," Zach could hear her say as he glanced nonchalantly back down at the paper. "Who thought it looked as though you could use another drink, Miss."
Maggie smiled softly as her chaperon gave an offhand comment. It felt good to smile, she wondered if it'd feel even better to laugh. Maybe then she'd at least be externally okay, and all her misery would be her own (not that it wasn't already)
The waitress then placed the freshly topped off butterbeer in front of her and Maggie's smile broadened even more. Compliments of a stranger? What stranger? She turned her head in hopes of finding someone looking at her, but no one was looking. What stranger then? "Give him my thanks, will you please?" She asked the waitress, and then with a glance at her chaperon (who gave a slight shake of her head that Maggie decided to ignore) "And if he feels so inclined, invite him to join us?" The last question came out as a whisper that wouldn't of been heard by anyone but the waitress.
It wouldn't be Jack. Jack was chasing mystical creatures in some far off part of the world. Wasn't he? Jack wouldn't think that by buying her a drink, it'd make up for leaving her? No. It couldn't be Jack, no matter how much Maggie wanted it to be.
Zach glanced over the top of his newspaper at the target of his 'act of kindness' just long enough to see a smile spread across her face. He pretended to be interested in the article about the possibly switch from baskets to hoops in Quidditch, which he thought ridiculous, though that might have just been because the idea of Quodpot with hoops was laughable. A few minutes passed before the waitress came over, obstensibly to refill his drink, but in reality to mutter under her breath, "You've been invited to join them if you like."
"Thank you," he murmured to the waitress silkily, then looked back at his paper. She seemed a little put off by that, as if she had expected him to make his way over right away, but Zach knew better. This was not how the game was played.
The waitress left. Zach looked at his watch, then glanced over at the girl with her fresh butterbeer and her chaperone. He pretended to be interested in the paper once again. It wasn't until her butterbeer was at least half gone, and Zach had just finished his, that he abandoned the Prophet for the day and made his way over to her table. "I hope you're enjoying your butterbeer?" he asked pleasantly and nonchalantly.
It'd be a lie to say that Magdelena wasn't disappointed when her stranger didn't immediately join her. She kept glancing around, wondering who had been kind enough to send her a drink but not join her. Even her chaperon, who was against inviting the gentleman over in the first place, looked a tad bit disappointed.
Sipping on her gifted beer, Maggie continued her chat with her chaperon about the serial killer in Hogsmeade. It was alarming that such a dangerous man had been prowling the streets of Hogsmeade, even more so that the Auror's office allowed so many women to die before catching him.
"You'd think that-" Maggie began but then faltered when an incredibly handsome man strolled up beside her. Was he her stranger? Merlin, she hoped so. He was attractive, and a perfect person to help her forget about Jack. "Yes," she smiled at him, "Thank you for it. Would you care to sit?"
Well, Zach couldn't have hoped for a better scenario than this. A smile, an invitation, a look. The blond had given him everything he needed, and more; her invitation coupled with her body language was more than just an invitation to sit. Her eyes said I want to trust you.
Funny, when people wanted something, they tended to get it. What she wanted to see in him, she would see; that was why these sorts of relationships worked out so well. Zach was looking for fun, and he'd get it. She--well, who knew what she was looking for. That was her responsibility, to figure that out and to find it.
"I wouldn't want to impose," he said coyly, walking towards the empty chair across from her and ignoring her chaperone for the moment. "What would be the use, really? Even if you insisted on my joining you, perfect strangers such as ourselves can't really converse. It's a pity I don't know your name," he said with a sly, suggestive smile.
So, he wanted her name. Well, she couldn't give in so easily. She had, after all, readily accepted his drink and had offered for him to sit with her twice. If he wanted to play a game, then they'd play. What did she even want to gain from this? It certainly wasn't a courtship. She did not want to fall in love ever again. It had been bad with Tiberius, and even worse with Jack. Maggie would never fall for the ploys of love again. Love was malicious and cruel, if anything Maggie just wanted to forget about love.
And what better way to forget about love than to focus on lust?
"It'd be no imposition at all. In fact, we were planning on leaving momentarily so it'd only be for a moment or two." Maggie replied as he hovered over the chair. Really, she was going to have to tell him her name if she wanted him to sit. She wasn't good at playing this game. The game hadn't even occurred with Tiberius, and with Jack...well Magdelena still wasn't entirely sure what happened with Jack. "I'm Miss Davis, and this is Mrs. Donahue. And may I ask who you are? You're certainly not from around here."
Zach ran his tongue over the tops of his back teeth, something of an odd habit when he was thinking. He'd picked it up mostly because it was undetectable from the outside, which served him well in foreign policy. He turned over the first phrase in his mind, debating whether she really meant that they were about to leave, or whether it was only a tease. The other variable to consider was that if she were about to leave, perhaps a charming smile and a few well-placed words could make her stay. Of course, perhaps not; there was no one to know, really.
"Miss Davis," he said, flashing his best charming smile as he moved to stand more properly behind the chair he was to take and bowed his head at each lady in turn. "And Mrs. Donahue. Lovely names, to be sure. Mr. Zachariah Kydd, of New York City and the International Affairs Department of the United States of America. At your service, Miss," he said, with another flashy smile, before finally taking his seat.
International affairs? Well, wasn't that just grand? Not only did this gentleman somewhat resemble Jack in whatever way he did, but Mr. Kydd was in the international business, just like Jack. Jack, Jack, Jack. Is that what her life had come down to? Pining after some man who had no issues with just up and walking away? Magdelena smiled politely at the stranger's greeting, screw Jack and his international travels. She was going to keep going onwards. Maggie didn't have the time to wallow in her miseries.
Her chaperone gave an approving nod at the young man's title, but otherwise said nothing. Mrs. Donahue knew nothing of Maggie's previous endeavors, she knew nothing of Jack or anything else. And Maggie would be damned if anything ever came up about him. "The pleasure is all mine." Maggie said as he sat down finally. "May I ask what brings you to Hogsmeade? America is certainly far off, must be hard to be so far from home."
The older woman nodded, which was nice. Zach didn't particularly need a chaperone's approval--he had his fair share of experience getting around them, and these fussy old English women were nothing compared to the guards placed on harem girls from the East--but it definitely couldn't hurt.
"I enjoy travel," he said easily. "Which is good, in my line of work. Hardly a year goes by that I don't spend at least a month on every continent, though I've been here a bit longer than usual." Which was all Daniel Riley's fault--having department heads die halfway through negotiations was not particularly good for negotiations. "Not that I mind much," he said with a light smile. "The weather is rather awful up here, but the company isn't bad."
The more they talked, the more Maggie had to fight off images of Jack. Jack traveled a lot, Jack had blond hair and dark eyes. She bit her tongue hard enough to make tiny holes in it, and clutched at her leg due to the pain she caused herself. If there was anything she ought to had been doing throughout these past few weeks, it was ridding herself of the person she once loved. And the letters she'd stupidly written him hadn't helped in the least.
"Traveling? That must be exciting." Maggie replied. For the first time throughout their entire encounter her eyes didn't linger on him, instead they focused on the butterbeer sitting in front of her. Mr. Kydd was reminding her too much of Jack, far too much. "Your family must get disappointed to not see you so often, though." Maggie added without so much as a thought.
Zach shrugged lightly. "I'm a grown boy," he answered simply. "They get on just fine. To be honest, I'm not sure my da notices whether I'm there or not most of the time," he joked. Deflection was the best strategy. Between a bit of misdirection and just neglecting to mention certain things, most of the people he talked to never suspected that he had a wife--and therefore never thought that he lied about her. Or the kids.
They were nice kids, really, but they were thousands of miles away, as was his Kitten. There was no harm in flirting with a pretty blond at a pub--or in doing a little more. "Have you ever travelled?" he asked, to change the subject.
Had she ever travelled? Well there was a loaded question if Maggie had ever heard one. She'd traveled from Bath* to Hogsmeade, but that was more along the line of a migration. And then there was her recent trip to Italy, Capri to be specific. It was in Capri where everything blew up in her face. No, Magdelena would not be speaking of her travels.
"No," Maggie said with a polite smile, "I fear I'm rather stationary, quite boring as well." Jack was living the life by travelling. He was off seeing the world, exploring, meeting new people, all the while Maggie was home wallowing in her misery. Her chaperone cleared her throat after a moment, subtly signaling to Maggie that they should be leaving soon, her father would be expecting her home shortly.
Zach offered her a small smile, drumming one of his fingers on the edge of the table a moment before answering her. "Perhaps stationary, but never boring," he said cryptically. "I doubt a woman such as yourself could ever lead a boring life, Miss Davis."
He was adept at reading signals, and so the chaperone's little sign that the ladies ought to leave was something he picked up on quite clearly. He didn't think that would be the most positive way to end this particular encounter--with her being dragged off by a chaperone. In some cases, that worked. In this one, he didn't think so--which meant it was time to make his exit. "Perhaps we'll meet again some time," he said with a smile as he rose, "But I'm afraid that I must be back to the Ministry. It was a pleasure, Miss."
Maggie chuckled, albeit a bit darkly, at his comment. Her life had hardly ever been boring, especially in this past year. Between Tiberius, Jack, Bennet, Happy, Augustus, and September her life had been far from stationary. Love was a fickle thing, and Maggie wasn't sure if she ever wanted to experience it again. Well, maybe she would. But only with Jack.
Until then, it was going to be lust. And only lust. Maybe she'd become a professional whore, but not one of those trashy whores. One of the more classy ones. She could be good at that.
"Thank you for the drink, Mr. Kydd." Maggie said as he stood. "Perhaps one day I'll tell you how boring my life truly is." Perhaps one day she'd kiss him senseless and pray that he made her forget about the other blonde her life was so devoted to. That could be a thing, couldn't it?
Her chaperone and she remained seated until Zach was gone before rising themselves and departing. Hopefully this time when Maggie arrived home Manus wouldn't be there.
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