The date was June 22, 1981. The Macmillian family were celebrating the 1st birthday of their twins, Ernest and Esme, who despite the small party they had prepared, seemed to be enjoying themselves. "Are you sure we should be having a party for the twins dear?" Mr. Macmillian asked as he was finishing lightly wrapping the presents for the kids. Mrs. Macmillian was in the kitchen putting the finishing touches on the small cupcakes, "We need something to give us hope darling and I think a small party is just what we need. Besides..." She came to the living room with a small plate of crackers for everyone to share, "I doubt the Death Eaters would come out this far-" Mr. Macmillian quickly quieted her and looked outside the windows cautiously, fear in his every move. Mrs. Macmillian walked over apologetically, "I'm sorry dear, I shouldn't have talked about them, especially tonight…" Mr. Macmillian sighed forgivingly and held her close.
There had been more and more stories of innocent families being killed by followers of He Who Must Not Be Named, the rumors claimed that the families had refused to join Him and had suffered the price. Because of this, more and more families were going into hiding, fearing that they would be next to disappear, the Macmillian's being one of those families. After a few minutes of holding each other in silence, Esme had crawled over to get her parents' attention and tell them that she was hungry. Mr. Macmillian laughed as he felt Esme sit on his foot, which was her way of getting the person's attention without screaming. The Macmillians had learned early on that Esme was a quiet and loving baby, while Ernest wasn't afraid to make a mess when he was bored.
"I guess we've been away for too long, our little Tulip here has planted herself on my foot," Mrs. Macmillian laughed as Mr. Macmillian picked up Esme, "Let's get back to the celebration, shall we, our little Tulip?" Esme giggled as he tickled her and played with her long, golden hair. When she was born, her hair was significantly longer than her brother's and longer than any of the other babies that they had seen. At first, they were extremely surprised, but they came to accept it as a genetic thing and loved both children unconditionally. Mrs. Macmillian was cleaning up Ernest, who in his boredom, had scribbled on himself instead of the book, "You had really best to learn to stop coloring on yourself Ernest…" Ernest was squirming to get away from being cleaned, while Esme giggled at his situation high above while being carried by Mr. Macmillian.
After a while, things had calmed down again, the children were dressed in bibs and allowed to eat their birthday dinner while Mr. and Mrs. Macmillian quietly sang to them. Ernest made a mess as usual leading to him being cleaned again by Mrs. Macmillian. Meanwhile, Mr. Macmillian had taken Esme to the floor and helped her open her birthday present, a beautiful golden locket in the shape of a tulip head. Esme stared at the trinket with the utmost fascination, Mr. Macmillian chuckled and let her hold the locket while he put it on her, "Take a peek inside, Esme," With a little help from her father, she opened it to find the inscription 'To my little Tulip, Esme M.' and a small moving picture of the whole family. Esme, even though she was too young to fully comprehend the gift, knew she was holding something special and held it tightly. Mr. Macmillian smiled and left to help Mrs. Macmillian give Ernest his gift, a blue, plush Puffskein that had a little bit of its tongue sticking out of its mouth. Ernest quickly put the toy to use, tossing it around and crawling after it, leaving the Macmillian parents to go after him.
Unbeknownst to the family, the house was slowly being surrounded by Death Eaters, who had been summoned by the taboo of saying the words "Death Eater". They had been sent on a mission to either recruit the family that had summoned them… or get rid of the potential threat. Malfoy was leading the group tonight, his master had finally given him a chance to be in charge while Severus was away, and he wouldn't disappoint him. Lucius pointed his wand at the house "On my signal, we strike-" however, things wouldn't go according to the plan. One of the Master's new devotees had set off an unseen trap and bells started ringing, announcing their arrival, "You insolent fool!" Lucius yelled at the idiot who had set off the trap, then yelled at his other competent men to storm the house to search for the family. Inside Mr. Macmillian was helping his wife pack up their emergency suitcases and rushing her with Ernest to the hidden escape in the ground, when she stopped and looked at Mr. Macmillian terrified, "Where's Esme?"
Esme as it turns out had crawled away before the trap had been set off, and was quietly playing with the leftover gift wrap. Mr. Macmillian knew that if he went back to save her that he most certainly would die, but it was a risk he was willing to take. He pulled his wife and son in for a hug, "I am going back for her," Mrs. Macmillian silently cried as she held him, "Be careful, my love…" she whispered, as she loosened her grip on him. He kissed her one last time then smiled, "Wait for me in Bristol my love…" Mrs. Macmillian nodded, then climbed down the shaft as her husband closed and locked the entrance with a heavy heart. 'I can't risk letting those monsters find them, I'll make sure Esme and I escape a different way…' That's when he noticed a funny smell, the smell of smoke. The Death Eaters had been going through all the rooms, and lighting a trail of fire everywhere they left. Mr. Macmillian knew he had to hurry if he wanted to get Esme out alive, "Esme! Esme where are you!" He yelled as he ran towards the living room. Esme waved at her daddy groggily, she had been inadvertently inhaling the smoke. Mr. Macmillian scooped her up as she clung to him and her shiny locket as he ran outside. Right into a group of Death Eaters.
"Boss! We got one!" a lackey shouted. Lucius walked over haughtily while Mr. Macmillian was making sure Esme was breathing, and to his relief she was. Lucius Malfoy pointed his wand directly at Mr. Macmillian, "Pledge your allegiance to the Dark Lord… or die." Mr. Macmillian stood up and looked into Lucius' eyes, or at least where he thought they were, "There is going to be a day when He Who Must Not Be Named will fall, and you will fall with him!" Lucius scoffed as the lackeys around him laughed at Mr. Macmillians statement, "Clearly you don't see the true power of the Dark Lord, but it doesn't surprise me. You were always this way, never understood who was truly in charge..." That's when Macmillian realized why the voice was so familiar, "Lucius Malfoy? Is that you?" He asked in a shocked voice. Lucius cursed under his breath. He didn't think Macmillian would recognize him, especially since he hadn't seen Macmillian in years. "Is this what you have been doing all this time? Working for He Who Must Not Be Named? Lucius, how could you?" Lucius straightened himself proudly, "My Master is the most powerful wizard of all time, and if you dare stand in his way-"
Just then, their arguing was interrupted by the sudden giggling of Esme as a moth was flying around her curiously. The whole group froze in their tracks, no one knew that the house they were attacking had a pureblood baby inside, "Is that your daughter, Macmillian? She looks just like you…" Mr. Macmillian had a fierce fire in his eyes, "If you touch her, so help me Lucius-" right as he was saying this, a not so bright Death Eater was walking up to Esme, wanting to pick her up. Mr. Macmillian's fatherly instincts took over and he tackled the Death Eater to the ground, starting a fierce brawl between the two. The other Death Eaters rushed to pull them apart, while Mr. Macmillian slugged anyone who got too close. Someone pulled out their wand, the words 'Avada Kedavra' was heard, and Mr. Macmillian fell to the ground never to rise again.
After everything had calmed down, they all looked at Esme, who was looking at the funny dressed men with curiosity. The same question was on all the Death Eaters' minds, what to do with Macmillian's daughter. Lucius walked over to Esme quietly. She raised her arms and made grabbing motions with her hands, clearly letting Lucius know she wanted to be picked up, this action softened Lucius' heart. At home, he had a son who was about the girls' age and looked very similar in appearance. He carefully scooped her up and held her gently, "We aren't leaving her here." He said sternly, much to everyone's surprise. "Well, what are we gonna do with her?" Asked the man who was in the initial fight with Mr. Macmillian. Lucius thought about it as he looked down at Esme, she had been entertaining herself by playing with Lucius' luscious locks whole resting on his shoulder. 'This little one is so helpless… She wouldn't stand a chance in the wizarding world…"
That's when he got an idea, an outlandish idea, "We're going to take her to the Muggles." One of his minions asked with a bewildered look, "The Muggles? Lucius have you gone mad?" Lucius responded coldly and with authority, "None of us will be able to take her in. It'd raise too many questions, to which we couldn't give any answers. This would only be a temporary solution, when the Master has supreme control we can bring her back to our kind and raise her properly." Since no one had any other ideas or the bravery to express them, they went with Lucius's idea. They traveled to a nearby town and found a decent-looking orphanage to drop Esme off at. Lucius wrapped her up in a blanket and gently placed her on the porch, "I shall send a house-elf to check up on you and make sure those Muggles don't mistreat you. Until we meet again, young one…" He bent down to pat her small head one last time, and as he did so, Esme smiled back up at him. He gave a small smile in return, then he and the rest of the Death Eaters vanished without a trace.
The next morning the owner was shocked to find an infant on her porch and gladly took Esme in. She helped clean her up and quickly sent out a letter about the child she had found. Days turned into weeks and eventually, she had gotten news of a family looking for a young child to raise, soon everything was settled. Esme had been adopted by the sweet couple, Benjamin and Lucy Brown in Windsor, England.