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!
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    News
    You have found our archive! Charming lives on here!
    02.05 One last puzzle before we depart!
    02.01 AC? What AC?
    01.26 Impending URL changes!
    01.11 I've got a bit of a reputation...
    01.06 AC underway, and a puzzle to solve!
    01.01 Happy new year! Have some announcements of varying importance.
    12.31 Enter the Winter Labyrinth if you dare!
    12.23 Professional Quidditch things...
    12.21 New stamp!
    12.20 Concerning immortality
    12.16 A heads up that the Secret Swap deadline is fast approaching!
    12.14 Introducing our new Minister of Magic!
    12.13 On the first day of Charming, Kayte gave to me...
    12.11 Some quick reminders!
    12.08 Another peek at what's to come...
     
        
     
    I'll Place The Sky Within Your Eyes
    #1
    Private Thread 
    At Miss Oakby's masquerade ball, June 16th

    Ben wasn't a huge fan of costume parties, at least not when they necessitated his shopping for new clothes, which was an unnecessary extravagance in his otherwise rather simple, hedonistic life. That being said, he never turned down an invitation to a party, if he could avoid it. He was so often out of town that failing to accept an invitation when he was in the country seemed like such a waste of a night that he could be spending dancing or harmlessly flirting with dazzling young women. That was why he'd dragged himself to this one--despite having only gotten back to the country very recently and having had no time at all to put together anything that he thought was even slightly suitable for a masquerade ball.

    Luckily, the theme was by no means an original one, and he happened to have a simple gold and black checked mask lying around already. He forgot what he'd gotten it for, but it must have been part of a far more elaborate costume that it was destined to belong to today; he'd just worn a typical black suit, with a gold vest. He felt like he ought to have a cape or something, this being a masquerade, but there simply wasn't time.

    He had neglected to drag Roman along to this one. He still hadn't decided what to do about Roman, so for the time being, he could have his way and do nothing but boring Ministry work. Better that than going out and prowling around for a future Mrs. Crouch.

    Thinking about Roman had soured his mood significantly, and after shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Ben was on the lookout for some way to lighten it again. He headed first for a drink, then spotted a blond who seemed to have gotten herself left alone, at least momentarily. With a well, why not? sort of shrug, Ben grabbed two glasses of champagne and approached the girl. They didn't exactly make a picturesque couple--he in black and gold, the colors of a gaslit parlor, and her in blue and white as though she were clad in the sky itself--but he needed someone to talk to.

    "Madam?" he greeted with a polite smile, offering her a glass of champagne.
    #2
    Every ball Anne seemed to attend brought another fresh new debutante with whom she was meant to be competing for whatever eligible men happened to be in attendance. Still, even Anne couldn’t deny that it was her third season, and with still no prospect in sight, she had no excuse not to go to every ball whose invitation found its way onto the breakfast platter. At least a masquerade offered her the chance of some anonymity, albeit only from those who didn’t know her personally already. She had donned one of her favourite ballgowns, all pale blues and lace trimmed with seed pearls. Her mask was white, the only decoration the trim of seed pearls around the edge, and her fair hair was dotted with the same, as were the tops of her gloves. All in all, as usual, she looked the typical debutante.

    The only thing not helping complete the image was her brother. It had been John’s turn to take Anne for the waltz but her brother was characteristically absent, having no doubt found the host’s library to hide in. She had been stood mentally bemoaning her stranding and thinking of all the debutantes she was going to force John to talk to in revenge when she was approached by a man she could not immediately place.

    “Thank you, sir.” She said, eyeing him a little curiously but with a smile, accepting the champagne. There were few men she didn’t know at least in passing from the season, but it stood to reason he would not be invited if he weren’t part of the ton, and neither did he look to be from the Brazilian contingent. “I was about to remark that I did not know your face, but given the night’s theme, I feel it would be rather a stupid statement.” Anne added conversationally. “And even more at odds to enquire.”
    [Image: LVt7zaV.jpg]
    I owe MJ all my love <3
    Jenny has sold her soul to gods of architecture and is most likely absent to some degree unless otherwise said. If you need me, various people have non-charming ways of throwing stones at me
    #3
    "Inquire about my face?" Ben asked, in a light, teasing tone as she accepted the glass of champagne. "Well, it's devilishly handsome. What more would you like to know? I think I probably know it well enough by now to give you a fair description of contours and textures, but unless you're a painter or some sort of very morbid doctor I can't imagine that sort of detail could interest you much," he said with a grin.

    Of course, he knew what she was actually getting at--that she didn't recognize him, mask or no--but Ben liked flirting far more than he liked actually having to talk about himself. He couldn't have explained that he was only present for about half the events in any given season without her wondering why, and there wasn't much he could say to make cursebreaking sound like the sort of occupation that a young lady might be looking out for in a man. There were, in Ben's experience, two kinds of girls at parties: those who were shameless flirts, like him, who wouldn't care a whit what he did as long as he paid them the right compliments and danced well; and then there was everyone else, who could be chased off by hearing too many details too soon. Honestly, he tended to spend most of his time at balls with the former kind of women, because he already knew many of them and they were much more fun than girls who had expectations (which probably only compounded his problem with not being easily recognized by many of the girls in the latter category, since he could spend so much of his time in the company of a relative few).

    Still, he hadn't managed to track down any of the confirmed flirts so far today, and he needed someone to waste his time with. There wasn't any harm in flirting with a girl who was looking for more, provided he didn't continue to do it, to the point where they felt they had any right to expect things he wasn't planning on providing. So far, he seemed to have played those cards well enough--at least in English society. He'd apparently left a broken heart or two in his wake during his travels, and he'd been apprehensive about Miss Pendergast falling into the same trap--but since she had her sights set on his brother, there was no need to worry there.

    Ben took a long drink of his champagne. He cleared his head and smiled brightly at the blond girl again. "How did you come to be so abandoned?"
    #4
    The blonde struggled not to good-naturedly roll her eyes, but internally she had to thank God that at least the man was not a bore who took himself so seriously. Had one of them- who Anne well avoided, despite her sister’s protestations that she couldn’t begin to be choosy- managed to sneak up on her through the use of a mask, and probably would have had to have snuck off to replace hers just to avoid him.

    “Well, I am never one to deprive a man of his favourite subject of conversation.” Anne said lightly, grinning at the stranger. A man who described himself as devilishly handsome was either going to be that, or delusional. The mask made deciding which more of a challenge.

    She did roll her eyes at the mention of her status. “Alas, it is a tragic tale, full of a brother who prefers the company of books to that of his sister, and an elder sister who cannot time her indispositions very well.” Anne joked.
    [-] The following 1 user Likes Annette Fontaine's post:
       Reuben Crouch
    [Image: LVt7zaV.jpg]
    I owe MJ all my love <3
    Jenny has sold her soul to gods of architecture and is most likely absent to some degree unless otherwise said. If you need me, various people have non-charming ways of throwing stones at me
    #5
    "Indispositions are never well timed," Reuben agreed sagely, "Unless they're actually just excuses to do something you're not supposed to be doing." In his experience, women saying they were 'indisposed' was usually an excuse for something or other. Sometimes it was just that they were too bored by the prospect of whatever they were supposed to be doing, and at others they might have been covering for something much more interesting. Obviously, he preferred this second kind to any sort of actual illness or malady, particularly when he was the 'more interesting' thing they were doing. That hadn't happened in a while, though--at least, not the spontaneous sort of thing. Angie Swan was different; they knew each other well enough that it was all too casual at this point.

    "Choosing books over a dazzling younger sister is a capital offense," he continued severely. "At least in my mind. Who would sweep in to rescue you if you were confronted by some rogue? You might be halfway to Egypt before your brother finished his chapter!" Ben joked good naturedly. Of course, the idea of someone kidnapping a debutante and dragging her to a foreign country made him think of the princess again. He pushed the thought away. He was going to have a decent time at this ball, Roman and Ellory and the whole lot of them be damned.
    #6
    “Well, it is really her children I ought to blame, one vanished their nanny last week and the remaining staff are a little hesitant to take them on as charge.” She laughed. Anne was prestigiously fond of her niece and nephew, but her namesake was proving to be a little trying as a toddler. The girl was rather a prodigy, which Anne blamed solely on having named her after the Bibliotheque Mazarine, and her aunt.

    The man seemed rather daring, she noted- perhaps in centuries past she could have described him as swashbuckling, but that conjured to mind far too many bad actors attempting to play pirates for her to fairly assign. “I daresay he should relish the excuse to visit the country.” Anne grinned. “And I would hardly complain either- both my father and my brother have funded many exhibitions there, and our house is filled with things they have found, but they’re never seen fit to allow me to visit too.” Having Lazarus the mummy wandering your halls as a child was one thing, but not the same as actually getting to visit the tombs and see the sights.

    “But say, is that why I do not recognise you? Should I be worried about this wine you have given me?” She added, doubting men so charming were in the habit of kidnapping girls so publicly. And if they were, well, they’d probably be so concerned with the bravado of it all she’d be able to escape by showing him his own reflection and capturing him there. “Because I shall think you a very poor kidnapper indeed if you have announced your intentions so plainly to me beforehand. A rogue ought at least allow his victim some sense of mystery.”
    [Image: LVt7zaV.jpg]
    I owe MJ all my love <3
    Jenny has sold her soul to gods of architecture and is most likely absent to some degree unless otherwise said. If you need me, various people have non-charming ways of throwing stones at me
    #7
    Reuben's mind had been wandering from the princess to the other redhead he'd kidnapped recently and dragged to a foreign country. That was not, he felt, a particularly common thing to have done, and it probably said something not-very-great about him as a person that he'd managed to do it twice in two months. What had gotten into him? Before he'd met the princess he'd never kidnapped anyone. It didn't sound like a particularly well-suited hobby for him to pick up, either.

    Luckily, Ben still had the presence of mind to pretend offense when she accused him of being a kidnapping rogue, a title which he actually probably deserved by now. The circumstances leading up to Ellory's abduction were rather debatable, but as he still didn't remember how he and his friends had gotten off the British Isles with an unconscious redhead in tow, he couldn't really offer any defense on that front. Despite this, he was able to keep his voice reasonably jovial as he teased, "Oh, you wound me! To be taken for a rogue! I'm mostly in the business of rescuing damsels in distress," he said.

    To be fair, he had done a fair amount of that, too, to counteract the kidnapping bits!

    "But you really must go to Egypt sometime, if you have the chance," he said, quite content to change the subject. "I spent the entirety of last summer there, and it's a remarkable place. It's a shame most young women don't have the opportunity to travel," he said sympathetically.
    #8
    “Well, I do hope from nothing more taxing than an abandoned damsel at a ball.” She laughed. She’d been rescued- well, saved from breaking her neck on various obstacles- several times, but this kind of rescuing was significantly more comfortable for all involved, not least the damsel.

    Her hero seemed to be well travelled, then, but she was fairly sure he wasn’t one of her brother’s close companions who were rather scholarly in their holidaying. “Well, it would be a great tragedy if I were to get sunburnt and suddenly society see me as a peasant toiling in the fields all day, and ruin my marriage prospects just for the sake of seeing some pyramids.” She replied lightly. She doubted anyone could do any proper exploring or even relaxing holding a parasol in the Egyptian heat, and paying someone to carry it for you would surely be the definition of the bourgeoisie adventurer.

    “I daresay if my brother cannot squire me for one ball though, it is probably best I do not travel, lest he abandon me in some far off country because he left a book at home he wishes to read.” Anne added. “But how did you find Egypt?”
    [Image: LVt7zaV.jpg]
    I owe MJ all my love <3
    Jenny has sold her soul to gods of architecture and is most likely absent to some degree unless otherwise said. If you need me, various people have non-charming ways of throwing stones at me
    #9
    "With a map and a portkey," Ben joked with a wide grin. Of course, he knew that wasn't what she meant, but there were several ways her question could have been taken, and he wasn't entirely sure which she had intended. Was she curious about what sort of occupation had taken him to Egypt in the first place, or was 'how did you find it' more in the spirit of asking whether or not he'd enjoyed it? He'd certainly enjoyed it quite a bit--but that had a good deal to do with a certain blond, which was hardly the sort of thing one brought up at parties with women one had just met.

    Oh, he supposed he hadn't actually met her yet. He didn't know her name. That was sort of the point of a masquerade, though, wasn't it? Would it be spoiling the mystery of it all too much if he launched into a tale of his cursebreaking escapades? It was hardly a one-of-a-kind occupation, but it was probably the most identifying detail he could share besides his name, or one of his brothers' names.

    "It is probably best to stay home and avoid being abandoned," he agreed, deciding to side-step the issue entirely for the moment. "If you're the sort of girl who couldn't stand up to a sunburn, anyway," he said, perhaps a little unjustly. "That's hardly the only danger to be found in a place like Egypt. You'll have to find a more suitable traveling companion, if you do decide to go," he said with a flirtatious grin. "Someone with a flair for rescuing abandoned damsels, perhaps."
    #10
    Anne rolled her eyes at the comment about the map. “Well, I shall have to bear that in mind.” She replied. “And hope I never end up stranded abroad unexpectedly- though I’m sure it is an achievement should a debutante be able to bring out the gallant hero in any surrounding male.” One she was rather adept at, given her innate talent at tripping on most flat surfaces and staircases combined. In ages past she would have been a perfect damsel, but frankly putting her in a tower would have probably been for her own protection.

    “Perhaps you ought to make a career of it.” She suggested brightly. “A modern-day white knight, rescuing damsels from both boredom at balls and the clutches of the sphinx. It would certainly liven up a ball if a gentleman was to insist on riding his steed through the room.”
    [Image: LVt7zaV.jpg]
    I owe MJ all my love <3
    Jenny has sold her soul to gods of architecture and is most likely absent to some degree unless otherwise said. If you need me, various people have non-charming ways of throwing stones at me
    #11
    "Well, I'd have to get a steed first," Ben said with an affable shrug. He was typically good with animals, but more in the sense that he was able to be around them without inciting them to any sort of random violence. He hadn't ever actually owned an animal, prior to the accidental acquisition of his new pet monkey. Between traveling and just being generally unreliable, he wasn't really a good fit for pets. He didn't have any reason to believe he couldn't have successfully become a horse owner, if he'd really put his mind into it--he'd been good with the animals on Una Walsh's farm, after all--but he just didn't have the mental dedication to obtain and then subsequently care for a large animal. Honestly, he was barely making do with the monkey, and he was surprisingly self-sufficient.

    "I doubt it would look quite so dashing to just swing through a ballroom on a beaten-up old broomstick," he said with a chuckle. "I might be able to handle the boredom bit in the meantime, though, gallant steed or no--would you like to dance, my dear damsel?"
    #12
    Anne laughed. “Well, it would be rude to refuse such a request from such an enigmatic hero.” She accepted, taking his hand. Finding out his identity now seemed rather beside the point, for it was all rather a good game. Given her luck, he was probably the eighth son of some disgraced and now impoverished minor family or a total rogue, hence why she didn’t recognise him, but if she didn’t know his name or vice versa, she could at least plead ignorance quite innocently without having to go talk to men not half as charming.

    “But I am quite disappointed you didn’t come prepared enough to have a miniature horse up your sleeve or something.” She teased. “I’ve always had a soft spot for horses, and it would make a rather good conversation point.” Stuck in conversation with a boring dowager? Let the magically shrunk horse out onto the table with the punch and then reverse it back to it’s normal size, and suddenly even the dowager’s conversation is more interesting- and probably laced with mild expletives.
    [-] The following 1 user Likes Annette Fontaine's post:
       Reuben Crouch
    [Image: LVt7zaV.jpg]
    I owe MJ all my love <3
    Jenny has sold her soul to gods of architecture and is most likely absent to some degree unless otherwise said. If you need me, various people have non-charming ways of throwing stones at me
    #13
    Ben rather liked being called an enigmatic hero. If he were a bird, he would have preened. Since he was not, he grinned widely at her as he led her towards the dance floor.

    "I suppose I could try and conjure one," he mused, but he wasn't seriously considering it. Ben had never really had good marks in transfiguration, and he didn't think attempts at pulling a living thing from nothing would go very well for him if he tried it. At best, he might manage to make something that staggered awkwardly and disappeared again. At worst, there would be a lot of blood. Neither were outcomes well calculated to delight a young woman at a ball.

    "It seems there must be a better place to keep it than your sleeve, though," he remarked. "I've never really known horses to longue around like cats, and miniature or no, I don't imagine the hooves would be very comfortable if he were to kick."
    #14
    Anne actually half hoped the man was going to attempt some magic- not to conjure a horse, but maybe to produce one made of smoke or something- but it seemed even he was too sensible for that. “Well, perhaps you’d have to have a special pocket made in your robes- like I’ve seen one of the workers in the petshop do for kittens.” She laughed. A tiny, tiny pony would be just as cute as a kitten, but would probably shed less too- at wouldn’t have tiny claws to prick you with.

    “Or you could make it some special tiny slipper.” She added, pausing to think quite seriously. “With some imagination I can’t think of anything that could go wrong!”
    [Image: LVt7zaV.jpg]
    I owe MJ all my love <3
    Jenny has sold her soul to gods of architecture and is most likely absent to some degree unless otherwise said. If you need me, various people have non-charming ways of throwing stones at me
    #15
    "Ah, but I've never been good with clothes and shoes," he deflected with a half-smile. "That's much more your realm, don't you think? With all the dress-making and lace and trim and things you all do." He was talking more generally about debutantes, not about her specifically, but he had no reason to believe that she was breaking the mold in that sense. Even Nova had done a bit of work on her own clothes, and Nova was generally pretty terrible at anything that involved artistry or craft.

    They reached the dance floor and Ben led the blond forward, slipping his hand easily onto her waist. "I'll tell you what, though," he said with a grin. "If you can get me a specially made slipper, I'll go find a miniature horse," he teased. "And I'll have him ready on cue for all future damsel-rescuing missions."

    Of course, he wouldn't actually do that--that was way too much effort for a bit of harmless flirting with a girl whose name he hadn't even learned--but she probably wasn't going to actually make him a slipper, either. It was fun enough to joke about, though, and it would serve to keep the conversation afloat until their dance ended and she went to talk to someone else, and promptly forgot his promise of tiny ponies.
    #16
    Anne slipped into the dance steps easily, smiling. “I doubt you would be so confident in my skills if you knew my sister had confiscated the last hat I took upon myself to retrim.” She said. “And the last thing I embroidered was a set of political rosettes, so I’ve rather gone off the hobby now.” The former Ravenclaw had spent many hours repeatedly stabbing His Majesty Merlin’s face into some ribbons for Pia, by which point even his good looks were ruined by the fact she could have worked his face in embroidery floss in her sleep. Maybe if he’d become the youngest ever minister it might have been worth it, and some of her work framed in a museum about political campaigns run by Hogwarts students, but as it was all Anne had been left with was a hatred of the past-time, pincushions for fingers, and far too many scraps of purple fabric. She prayed Mr Parkinson never ran for office, for curls were an absolute bitch to capture in cross-stitch.

    “But next time I’m at a loss on a rainy day, I shall make you a set of feather-trimmed, lambswool lined slippers in a lovely shade of pink so you can be the hero of every debutante.” She promised with a wicked grin. “Though you shall have to shrink the horse very precisely so it doesn’t end up with blisters from too-small shoes. Perhaps I shall make you a matching pair too, just to complete the image.”
    [Image: LVt7zaV.jpg]
    I owe MJ all my love <3
    Jenny has sold her soul to gods of architecture and is most likely absent to some degree unless otherwise said. If you need me, various people have non-charming ways of throwing stones at me


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