The date was June 22, 1981. The Macmillian family was celebrating the 1st birthday of their twins, Ernest and Esme, who despite the small party they had prepared, seemed to be enjoying themselves. "Are ye sure we should be havin a party for the twins, dear?" Mr. Macmillian asked as he was finishing lightly wrapping the presents for the kids. He was a tall man with a round face, blonde hair, and a beard. He also had bright green eyes which he shared with his daughter. He spoke in a very soft and sweet tone with a thick Scottish accent
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." She came to the living room with a small plate of crackers for everyone to share. Mrs. Macmillan was a skinny woman with long blonde hair, rosy cheeks, and bright blue eyes that she shared with her son.
"Besides… I doubt that Voldemor…." She quickly stopped himself, before continuing" If he 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 him, 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. In fact, a month ago, Mrs. MacMillian's brother: Roger, sent a letter explaining that he traveled to Elan Valley, and found mother and father dead, the dark mark above their home. 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 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. She looked up and smiled at her father, who quickly bent down to put his hand on her shoulder and smiled at her. The Macmillian's 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. Esme had long golden hair that reached her ears and a chubby round face. While her twin Ernest was almost an exact copy of her but with shorter hair and the blue eyes of his mother.
"I guess we've been away for ower long, our Little Tulip here has plantit herself on ma foot," Mrs. Macmillian laughed as Mr. Macmillian picked up Esme, "Ay, let's get back tae the celebration, shall we, Little Tulip?" Esme giggled as he tickled her and played with her long, golden hair. Mrs. Macmillian was cleaning up Ernest, who in his boredom, had scribbled on himself instead of the coloring book next to him, "You had really best to learn to stop coloring on yourself, Ernest. We have books for a reason, silly…" Ernest was squirming to get away from being cleaned, while Esme giggled at his situation high above while being carried away 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, "Tak 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 word "Voldemort". 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, then commanded 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, "A'm gang 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 i Bristol, ma love…" Mrs. Macmillian nodded, then climbed down the shaft as her husband closed and locked the entrance with a heavy heart. 'A canae risk lettin thae monsters find thaim, A'll make sure esme an A 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 ye!" 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 the Death Eater's eyes, or at least where he thought they were, "Thare will be a day whan he wha must no be namit will fall, an ye will fall wi 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 thon ye?" 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 whit ye have been doin aw this time? workin for he wha must no be named? lucius, hou coud ye?" 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. He was wandless but was ready to fight with his hands. "Ye touch her, sae 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 sending a brutal punch that sent the Death Eater to the ground. After a moment of stunned silence, David broke through the Death Eaters' ring and ran towards the forest, hoping to lose them. "After him! Don't let him escape!" Lucius yelled as he chased Macmillan.
David held Esme close, whispering comforting words as she got jostled from his running. She was unaware of what was happening or why her mother wasn't nearby. Mr. Macmillan heard the shouts of the Death Eaters not too far behind, so in a desperate attempt to save his daughter, he found a small bush to hide her in near a river bank and placed her down gently, "A will be back i a little bit ma dear," She looked at him with a scared look in her eyes, but he bent down and kissed her forehead reassuringly, "Ye will be alricht, ma little tulip…" He then lowered the branches and quietly left. Esme waited patiently feeling comforted by the natural shelter the bush provided, she felt like the bush knew she was scared and wanted to protect her. Shortly, however, there were sounds of a fight and a flash of green light shone through the leaves, followed by a splash in the nearby river. Esme squeaked in surprise and fell backward into the dirt.
Slowly, a man came over to the bush and moved the branches to find a shivering little infant girl. To Esme's surprise, it was a scary figure in a dark robe with a strange bony mask. She shrank away in fear, not used to seeing such a face. The man bent down and removed his mask to reveal a blonde man with a pale pointy face. Esme relaxed and reached out to him wanting to be held and comforted. Surprised, Lucius obliged the child and carefully lifted her up. He was reminded of his son, Draco who was about the girls' age. He turned to his lackeys and stated, "We aren't leaving her here." much to everyone's surprise. "Well, what are we gonna do with her?" Asked one of his subordinates. Lucius thought about it as he looked down at Esme, who had snuggled into his shoulder and was gently stroking his hair. 'This is the future of our world, if I wasn't so preoccupied with my Lord's plans then I would raise her alongside Draco. I don't trust any of these dolts to properly raise her, a muggle family would do better honestly…'
That's when he got an idea that was rather outlandish, "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. Leaving only a burnt house and the dark mark hanging in the sky.
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.
Link to understand Mr. Macmillan: lingojam EnglishtoScots