STEALING THUNDER

Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

He was staring at the ceiling, it was pristine white. The edges of the wall were untainted except for a swirling pattern of cloud murals that graced the borders where the wall and ceiling met. The room was medium in size. It certainly was bigger than his old room in his old homeworld, yet it wasn't absurdly large or extremely lavish one at that. There were only a few things in the room, for it was bare and empty before he moved here. On the far edge of the room was a small-sized cabinet, it was light brown in colour, carved from what looked like a fine piece of wood. Next to the cabinet was a small rounded table, one that can usually be found in a kids' room. The table was surrounded by two equally small chairs, no doubt made for children, if not the size, then the bright colouring would suffice as an indicator for that. On the left side of the bed was a single-seat sofa, its colour was dark blue and it certainly looked comfortable enough. On the right side, a single rectangular table was positioned in the corner between walls, on top of it was nothing but a single frame of a picture.

The picture was a happy one, Christmas 1981 was written on it. This picture, however, wasn't a simple usual one, not it's a moving picture. He was sitting on a man's knees while the other person besides them, a woman, was holding a baby in her arms. The two grownups were smiling, while the baby was, well, a baby that didn't understand anything going on during that time. The 4-year-old child in that picture wore a dress shirt, not too different from the one the man was wearing, it was plain enough, not too showy or over-decorated, but a simple black and white dress shirt, akin to one he's used to. The lady next to him was in a lavish black-yellow dress, made of satin, a glamor, and extravagant dress, somehow befitting the woman herself. While his parents smiled happily, Darius's smile wasn't a carefree one on that frame, it was an unsure one, started out just as a small stretch of the lip, before slowly turning into a more blown smile. Darius clutched the edges of the frame and simply lost himself in memories.

December 25th, 1981, he remembered the day. He had learned back then that Christmas wasn't celebrated that much among the purebloods, certainly not the level of enthusiasm as depicted in the books, but then again, Hogwarts had always been more open to muggle traditions, muggle, he still couldn't believe that the term actually meant something in the world he was living right now! He stared again at himself at the frame, light-blond hair, high cheekbones, all in all, the basic 'royal' or 'rich' build, I could've been a Lannister with that blonde hair if not for the golden eyes. Neither 'father' nor 'mother' had golden eyes, but then again this world is not one of bastardry or cuckolding between man and wife, so I was pretty confident that I was actually their child. A moving picture, it's a miracle that my brain seemed to just roll along with the ideas.

I swear, if I hadn't dreamt about this once or twice, I'd still be struggling to believe this. A world of magic! An endless list of possibilities! But, of course, those magical thoughts didn't come alone, no, they were accompanied by some murkier, darker thoughts, too. It had been a stroke of luck that none of the Macmillans had been specifically targeted during the war, perhaps it was father's neutral stance, or the history that the Macmillan wasn't one of the extremely light families, considering our marriage to the Blacks just around 50 years ago. From what little he had managed to gather, House Macmillan hadn't been that much damaged from the war, aside from his own health, of course. Darius was still unsure whether the body he was inhabiting now was an original 'character' or him being inserted by whatever power above there was the catalyst for the 'recovery' of this body. And speaking of that, he also concluded that he was the sole owner of said body, he certainly didn't feel any second presence in his mind, nor did he inherit the memories of the body, no matter how short-lived they were.

He was still unsure of what to make of this, this new 'family'. For years, he had dreamt of having a complete family, to be a normal child in the arms of parents where they shared hugs on Christmas Day or something. Now, now that he actually 'had' a family, he was uncertain. He was innocent, back then. Just a boy dreaming to be like the others, to have and to feel what the other kids had. He had resolved himself for taking what he had for what he had been given, but as he grew up, it felt like it mattered less and less. But now, that he had perhaps, dare he say, been given a second chance, or a wish-fulfillment whatever had happened to him actually was, he was torn.

For his life here had just begun, he had everything that he didn't have before, he had parents, he had a brother! Relatives! And he certainly had money, now! It was certainly expected that a pureblood family as proud as his would be loaded. He lived in a manor, now. A freakin' manor! A beautiful manor, not the creepy old-school design, certainly not the ancient style that the Hogwarts Castle was, nor the over-grand manor of the Malfoy's he had seen in the film. Now that he thought about it, the building was pretty modern in his opinion, it was more of a neoclassic style in his opinion, what with the grand front and pillars. He would never have dreamt of something like this in his life before, by all accounts, his life should be perfect. He was surrounded by luxury. Still, all those didn't help for he was nothing but an imposter, his heart had whispered, or yelled, sometimes.

He knew the craziness of this world. For a single stare by someone at your eyes could potentially unravel whatever dark secrets your mind had tried to hide. From what little was shown in canon, it had seemed that the art of defending or shielding your mind is just one of the basic set of an able wizard or witch. And from most of the fanon(?) theory that he had collected from reading fanfiction and stories, just like the one he was in now, heh my life's a joke, it was mostly considered that legilimency and occlumency were parts of pureblood tradition growing up. All it took would be for his curious parent to try to read his mind, and he would be doomed! He had prayed to whatever deity, or satan, responsible for his condition now to at least grant him the salvation of a mind-protection of sorts.

Well, it seemed that his prayer was either answered, or he was just damn lucky, for his parents certainly hadn't thrown him out or fed him to one of the animals living in the surrounding. And yeah, the Macmillans were some sort of magical farmer overlord, at least he had gathered so since his family had a few holdings of magical creature farms according to the rants of his father after a day of paperwork. It was now summer of 1982, yes it had been more than 6 months now, half a year.

6 months weren't that long when you were a sickly child who spent half his day asleep on the bed, or simply being in the bed with a house-elf taking to your cares. Mimi was a good elf, actually. Not quite the level of lunatic that Dobby was, or God help, the grumpy sort like Kreacher. She was actually polite and pleasant, and she definitely didn't trip and cry a river every time I replied back to her with thank you and pleases. Eh, my family must've been treating her quite well that she wasn't that surprised.

During this period, Darius had no time to start his voyage into the wondrous world of magic yet, for half the time when he wasn't in bed he had to spend to actually familiarize himself with the family. And it was going slowly but pretty well. He was still unsure of what to feel with things about his supposed parents, but he had started opening up and just taking everything with a grain of salt. Also, about magic, his magical experience was sitting on a grand total of zero, yep, no accidental magic yet. I refused the possibility of this body being a squib, I didn't just get dumped into a whole new world of magic only to found out that I wasn't even capable of magic. No, no! Besides, I knew it deep down there, there was something! It just hadn't clicked yet! And accidental magic only worked for kids, I was not a true kid, no matter how childish I could be!

"Why do I have to go to the ball with you, too?"

"Because, dear, the minister has been gracious enough to invite us personally, don't you remember?"

Of course, I remembered! Minister Millicent Bagnold was a middle-aged woman, no doubt in her late 50s or perhaps early 60s, her hair had begun to grey out, although her appearance was still good enough. She had come just three days ago, all fancy and regal, bringing the invitation for a ministry party or gathering of the sorts.

"Yes, I know. But I still don't want to go. It's a grown-up party! What am I supposed to do there? It's boring, I can tell already." I fired back, confidently.

"Darius! Minister Bagnold had brought us a great honor by showing up personally for the invitation. And besides, it will be good for you to finally start going outside. Now that you're fully healthy and recovered, it's time for you to start having friends with the other children! It must be exciting!"

That was my mother, by the way. Oh yeah, I'm sure it's time for me to start having 'friends' already. I can't imagine if I were to meet Malfoy or someone as snobbish as them, the good thing is Draco Malfoy was a 2-year-old right now, so I won't have to worry about him, his parents though, would like to open a whole new different can. Thankfully, ever since I got here, I was mostly sheltered, only relatives had seen me, and that was too only during the first weeks after I 'woke up'. But I did get the occasional visit from the healers of St. Mungo. And it sucked, bad. I was being fed various potions that were 'important to my health. Well, perhaps they were indeed important, but who cares, and I WAS a toddler, and it tasted horrible and stank to high heaven. Honestly, maybe it was my childish tendency to imagine things, but it tasted horrible enough for me.

My routine had been boring, I was basically stuck in my room, the family room, and the small garden just at the back of the house. Worse, Mimi had been shouldered with the task of keeping me to my supposed rooms. Apparently, my parents were still worried about me going outside, and I kind of understand, after all, who wouldn't be traumatized with their child being hit by a stray attack from a terrorist working for a madman hellbent on conquering the world. As if to alleviate my boredom, my mother had been hinting on a couple of promised playdates with other children or cousins of mine. Blergh! Anything but that, please! Sadly though, there was no way in hell or heaven that I'd be able to avoid that.

So the past months I had been perfectly (so I had thought) playing the slow act of recovery, carefully planning my sentences and acts ahead. And so far, it had been working!

"Fine. I'm going. But can I finally go into the library?"

"Sigh. Alright, two books, you are allowed to take just two books, not more! And I will be checking those books first."

Great! It had been months but I hadn't been allowed to go into the library. It's frustrating! Being so close to something for it to lie just outside your grasp! I was never the most optimistic person, so I have made my peace with the fact that I probably won't be casting my spell for quite some years. Well, at least I could get a headstart in theory, right?

Unconsciously, my expression must've had changed during my train of thoughts, perhaps a smile or a lightening of my expression, for my mother suddenly chirped back

"Now, don't dawdle, better hurry along for your bath, after that we're going to go back through your mannerisms."

With a grunt, I just responded "Fine."

My mother called up Mimi and she popped up in a second. "Mimi, please draw a bath for Darius." to which the eager house-elf just replied with

"Mimi be making sure to make the best bath for young master Dary!"

And well, in an instant she was gone. I could see my mother's lip twitching upward in a failure to contain her smile at Mimi's nickname for me. I gave a small glare and pouted. You see, the interesting thing was that, it wasn't that hard to fake your childish behavior.

"But I don't want to drink that potion again! I just did yesterday!"

"You know it that you should take this potion every day. Now, hurry up or there won't be any chocolate fudge left for you."

In an instant, my thoughts just fleeted and somehow I was convinced. "Ok, I'll take it. But I want it with ice cream, too!"

Yeah, embarrassing. But then again, I was living on a daily basis with a 4-year-old brain. I was never that much interested in biology but I learned enough that I always ranked near the very top throughout school, so you see, there's a distinct difference between how a child brain and an adult brain works. If I wasn't mistaken, it was some sort of the pathways between the brain cells getting more effective as you mature, and so thoughts would process faster and much clearer. And a child's brain was somewhat more active rather than an adult's brain, the comparison was around two or three times faster. So, it's damn hard to actually focus on my procrastination! It's very easy to become lost in thoughts. I once drifted away from when I was reliving the details of the final duel between Harry and Voldemort, their wands were connected, throughout their cores, both of them came from Fawkes' feathers, as Mr. Ollivander had said to Harry when he bought his wand. Then suddenly, something clicked and I got irrationally excited at the thought of buying my wand. Damn it! Those stories are false, 8-years-old mastering occlumency and casting your first spell the day you were inserted, what a load of hogwash!

Anyway, back to me and my mother. She just let out an amused snort and there was a twinkle in her eye, NO! I screamed internally.

"I can wash myself!"

"Oh look at you, my big boy, all grown and taking a bath alone, eh?"

My suffering must have been visible for she quickly relented and finally left me to my bath.

I was dressed in a ridiculously complex manner for a 4-year old, well 4-and-a-half now. My brother was obviously not coming along with us to the event, no, the honor to entertain him fell to my uncle Henry. And frankly, I wasn't sure the man was the best person for the job. Ah, but again, there was always Mimi, good 'ol responsible and competent Mimi. We had gathered at the family room where a large fireplace was adjourning the room right in the center of it.

"Now, can you repeat that once more, dear?"

"Minister Bagnold, it's an honor to be here and for such an esteemed person as yourself had taken the time to invite us personally. The Macmillan family is delighted to be part of your work."

"Very good, now just stick to that, dear. And I know you're a clever boy, so you will definitely be good, won't you?"

"Yes, I will. Now, the books?" my tone had been taken slightly higher near the end.

"Tomorrow morning I'll accompany you to the library. Now, let's be off, then!" spoke my mother as she gave an expectant nod to the left at my father in the end.

"Nervous, Darius? I was the same age as you when my grandfather forc- ahem took me to a gathering. But don't worry, I did just fine and I'm sure you'll do even better. Now, your mother will go first and you'll follow after her, right? You sure you get the instructions right, already?"

"I am, father. Take a grain of the powder, walk into the fireplace, then toss the powder while declaring the destination."

"And the destination is?"

God, I hated being treated like a 4-year-old that I actually am (was the unspoken part).

"Bagnold Hall."

Father gave a delighted smile and a nod and turned to the back of the room.

"Henry, I swear that if you did some weird kinds of stuff around, I'm gonna have Mimi to drop you into the lake."

"Ha! You know me, Gerald. I am a responsible and loving uncle, dear Ernie will be just fine at my caring hands. Now, nephew, you must not embarrass yourself like your old man there. He bumped into "The Lord Malfoy" and called him a lady as he apologize when he was 11, you know? I swear the man looked like he was sucking a lemon out of a peacock's ass! And your dear father just ran away as Malfoy ranted about his apparent undignified behaviour!" he finished regaling us with full-blown laughter.

I've to admit, it was indeed a funny story. But I was too busy thinking about the various scenarios that could happen tonight. What if Dumbledore's there? Or, what if I said some muggle terms aloud?

"Don't listen to your uncle, Darius. He is not one you will want to take an example of." replied my father but I can see the amused glint in his eyes too, if not tarnished with the sheepish look plastered on his face.

"Yes, yes. Gery here is the perfect boy, always no sense of fun." answered my uncle back

"My love, we should hurry now. It's only 10 minutes until it starts." calmly interjected my mother.

"Of course, dear. Now, we'll see you after the party, Henry."

My uncle nodded back as father had nodded to him before gesturing to my mother. She took steps forward and stepped into the fireplace, offering me a comforting smile, and thus disappear from view.

Soon, it was my turn. My father put one of his hands on my shoulder as a comforting gesture as he also gave me a quick and assuring smile. My uncle was content on grinning at the back, while silently raising his thumb up. And I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. It was, after all, my very first direct magical experience. Sure, these past months I had already familiarize myself with the constant wand-waving and magical things happening around me. But still, this time I'd actually do something magical! I took hold of the floo powder from the bag and then I stepped into the fireplace, it was surprisingly heatless, I tossed my powder down and said "Bagnold Hall." with secretly practiced clarity because no sane person would want a repeat of what Harry experienced, will experience, or would have experience in the Chamber of Secrets storyline.

Not a second later, I feel my world being twisted and compressed around me. I really am in the world of Harry Potter! Magic, this is what magic feels like! I let go of my body as the strangely unhurtful pressure grasped my body and then my eyesight blurred as I was engulfed in green flame.

Bagnold Hall, Buckinghamshire, England

It felt like I was going through some sort of a compressing tunnel, for one second I was standing there at the fireplace when my world twisted around me and I was engulfed in green, then it all blurred and I felt like being sucked from one point to another end akin of a portal. In a second, I was staring at a whole different kind of view. It certainly wasn't my father giving me a small smile or my uncle grinning like a fool, it was my mother. She stood there with a proud, and a relieved smile. So, she doubted me, eh? Who am I kidding, I too would doubt myself. "Mother!" I quickly shouted.

"Well, look who just get their floo travel successfully on the first attempt? It's my brilliant son, of course!" as she spread her arms wide.

At that moment, I threw all care of the world, and just ran to her for the promised hug. It's magic, after all! I just had a real-life magical experience!

As soon as I was engulfed in a hug, the fireplace behind me flared up once more to reveal the regal figure of my father, well to each his own I supposed, but I couldn't see myself dressing like that if I were to be a lord. But then again, my father didn't seem to like it much better than me. I guessed it was just the expectation and unspoken dress code among the wizards and witches, then. Especially in things like this when you were indeed supposed to parade your wealth and power, and being out-dressed simply won't do.

My father approached us and ruffled my hair. Damn it, I hated it! yet some traitorous part of my body also basked in the experience, weird huh. We took steps approaching the guards that were observing us. There were two guys, both tall and inconspicuous, they must be Aurors. Both of them were dressed in black garbs, each one of them at each side of the door, their wands were hidden away, and their posture screamed vigilance. Our steps were halted as the guards proceeded to do their job.

"Gerald Macmillan. We are invited by Minister Bagnold personally." said my father as he showcased his hand, more accurately, the ring on his finger, the lordship ring of the House Macmillan.

The guards just nodded and the door was opened.

Soon, I took my first step into the party. It was certainly lavish enough for my taste. Minister Bagnold certainly hadn't been a penny pincher in arranging this party. It was an important one, some sort of celebration for the actual ending of the war for the Ministry since the trials and clean-up had taken months to do. And it was a heavy role, to elevate the standing of the Ministry while regaining the trust of the public, especially during a crucial time like this, there was a power vacuum left open in the wake of the many trials of Death Eaters, some of them were ministry workers and pureblood lords or members.

The previous minister, who I can't recall the name, except for that his/her surname sounded silly, Lynchum? Minchum? was forced out of the office at the height of the wizarding war. Bagnold had reigned as minister for only a year if I wasn't mistaken, for she was the minister when Voldemort was 'defeated'. And the night that followed turned out to be the major upheaval of her term since wizard and witches basically had gone bonkers in celebrating the end of the war in what became "a night of large-scale breaches of the International Wizarding Statute of Secrecy" Bagnold defended these celebrations by famously stating that she asserted the wizards' "inalienable right to party." She seemed interesting enough from what little I had gathered from my canon knowledge. Her reign had now consisted mostly of arranging trials and regulations of restoring balance in the ministry, I supposed. She was also the one responsible for the imprisonment of the infamous Sirius Black. Huh, I pity the poor guy, but what could I realistically do? Just marched to the minister and told her the incredible story of secret animagus and switched secret keeper? I'd be declared insane even for a wizard!

The ballroom was dressed in mostly white. Tables were covered in silky shiny cloth, with many dishes ready to be served atop of them. It wasn't as grand as the Yule Ball in Harry's Fourth Year, there's no fancy ice sculpture or something along the lines. It was quite medium actually, so I deduced that the war with Voldemort must have damaged the economy somehow. Guests were mingling with each other, and most of them were adults. Crap, what if I was the only child at this party. Noticing my abrupt panic, my mother spoke to me.

"Don't worry, sweetling. You will definitely find a friend tonight. We will."

I just nodded nervously.

My parents just strode around the hall, making small talks with their fellow lords and ladies, while introducing dear me, of course. I always opted to just give them a small smile and introduced them my name, all the while bullshitting and putting on a convincing look at how pleasant it was to make their acquaintances. So far, we've encountered the Greengrass, who I learned was somehow related to me, old Bartemius Crouch Sr. and his still-alive wife, the Fawley who I learned was also somehow related to me, damn purebloods and their marriage alliances!

"Eli!" a voice shouted from right

We turned to find my uncle Daven waving at us.

"Ah, so you also bring Darius here!"

"Uncle Daven." I just greeted him politely

"Your cousin, David is here too. He was with that Davies boy last time I saw him. I will introduce the two of you later after dinner, how about that?"

"I'm sure Darius will be glad to know he isn't the only child here. Sarah is not coming with you?"

"No, no, she stayed home with little Hannah tonight. Gerald, good to see you here, too."

The conversations droned for a few more minutes until Uncle Daven decided to seek out David, no doubt worrying about his son being alone in such an important gathering. Now, we were making our way to greet a jovial-looking woman. Yep, it was none other than the esteemed Minister Bagnold herself. Beside him was undoubtedly her husband, the man shared the same greying hair as his wife, if not a little bald, although his posture was worse, since he was plump and his skin had started to wrinkle.

My father strode forward to take the lead of the conversation with my mother following him. Soon, they gestured for me to step forward, no doubt to play my part in endearing our family to the minister. I shook my head out of some unfriendly thoughts and forced a smile on my face. I took a deep breath and stepped forward, ready to greet the woman.

"Minister Bagnold, words cannot describe what an honor it is to be here and for such an esteemed person as yourself had taken the time to invite us personally. The Macmillan family is delighted to be part of this."

"Ah, young Darius! So glad that you could also come here! Now, come..."

So this is how pureblood politics are.

Well, it sucked.

I had been here for an hour and I was just a second away from tearing my hair out. If it was any consolation, then dinner would start in around 30 minutes. I had been 'trusted' to Uncle Daven while my parents were busy mingling with the others. He was now introducing me to his son, or my cousin, David. David was a boy perhaps a year or two older than me. He had blonde hair like his father and my mother, the kind of bright blonde, more or less the same as Hannah Abbott who ended up marrying Neville in the story, I believed that Hannah Abbott was the Hannah that was his younger sister since the age and timeline made sense, and it would be weird for the Abbott to have two Hannahs the same age.

"David, this is your cousin, Darius."

"Hello, it's nice to meet you, cousin. My name is David Abbott."

"It's nice to meet you too, Heir Abbott. I'm Darius Macmillan."

He looked panicked for a moment after I said his title since he forgot to mention mine, not that I'd care, but still.

"Ah..."

"it's fine. Just call me Darius."

"Well, David, you'll take care of your cousin, right? I need to be off. See you boys later, then!" and with that my uncle Daven left us.

"Uhmm. So, this is my friend, Roger Davies."

"Nice to meet you, Roger." to which he replied back in the same manner. Wait, his name rang a bell, ah, he was Fleur's date for the Yule Ball, and a Quidditch Captain too.

"Eh, Roger here was just telling me about Hogwarts from what his brother, Chester had told him about..."

And so I was being regaled by the fanciful tale of how cool and awesome Hogwarts was. Truthfully, hearing stories about Hogwarts like this is different than just imagining it from the books or admiring it from the films. I was lost in nostalgia a little bit there. A castle filled with ghosts and talking portraits, a boat ride across a lake with a giant squid. After all, who hadn't ever dreamt of going into Hogwarts? I had goosebumps from the thought. And so I drifted off as I stare into the night sky. Will I ever return to my homeworld ever again?

AN: So, thoughts and recommendations? Also, please don't expect a regular daily update, I will be making sure to update at least once or perhaps twice a week. English is not my first language, so pardon me for the bad grammars or spelling. I intended to introduce Cedric in this chapter but I don't think it'll work. So, the first two chapters are just kind of media to explore Darius' thoughts before the actual plot and story start to move. Expect a time skip for the next chapter!