Magnus tried to blend in with the crowd. It was not hard when he was the shortest person there. He slowly slid away and entered another room. He had remembered the way to the exhibition.
He did this by remembering the path when he was there on the trip and now he compared it with where he's been to today. Now, he had a partial map of the palace in his head. He had also thought of a plan if he was to get caught.
He slowly traversed to the East side of the palace from the Westside. It was a long way and he needed to be smart. Thankfully, most of the serving staff was in the hall. All he needed to do was be careful of the guards.
~Hmm, this area is heavily guarded. It connects the east and west side. Hmm...~ He waited there to find a way. He knew he was not in some spy story, just throwing something and hoping it would distract the guards was foolish. They'd rather try to find out where the thing fell from.
So, he looked around for other options. Then, finally, he gave up and decided to go from some other place. It was still 1969 and CCTVs were yet to be installed here, which was why Magnus neither knew about them nor had to worry about them.
Seeing no other way, Magnus jumped out from the side window to the small garden. There, he was at the risk of being spotted by someone he didn't even know was there.
He moved while crouching and luckily no one spotted him as he was shorter than the bushes there. He crossed the location where many guards were and entered the Westside.
Because this was the area most of the tourists were allowed to visit, the security was not high as it was closed today. [Note: This novel is set up in a fictional world. In the real-world, Buckingham Palace opened for the public in 1993.]
Magnus crouch walked all the way to the gallery where all the historic portraits were. It was dark but he could see enough to find his way. He went all the way to the empty wall where the invisible portrait was.
Magnus had no idea who the person in the portrait was and at the moment, the person seemed to be sleeping.
"Hey, wake up." He whispered loudly.
"Ummm... go away, Merlin. Don't bother this king." The portrait muttered.
Magnus didn't wait any longer and went to take it down. It was surely heavy but he managed. Then, he held it in front of himself, so that both his hands would be holding the portrait from the same area where his arm length ended. This way, he would simply look as if he was standing or walking in the attention stance.
The annoying thing for him was that the portrait was covering his whole body, all except his eyes. He felt awkward but he had a firm will.
He looked back one last time. He felt like he was doing bad by stealing and it was the truth. But this talking portrait was unknown to all anyway. ~I will pay back for this, sorry for stealing.~ he told himself.
He turned around to go back.
"Renly, I think I heard something." A voice came that made Magnus's heart beat faster and his body temperature rise up.
"You're hearing stuff." Another voice came.
"Come on, let's check it. Better be safe than sorry." the earlier voice said and soon the footsteps started coming.
"Ah, there must be some kid playing hide and seek. It always happens during these big events." The other guard spoke.
Magnus looked left and right. The two guards were coming from his return route. He also had not enough time to find another way. So, he did what he had planned.
He quickly ran to a large portrait on the wall and started staring at it with keen interest. He kept the charade going until he was found by one of the guards.
The guard actually nearly had a heart attack. He was not expecting to see anything but when he saw a small kid, standing in little to no light, he thought it was a ghost. But then he noticed that he had seen the child.
"Hey, Renly, isn't it the kid who won the award today? How did he get here?" He called his partner.
The two walked to Magnus and shook his shoulder lightly. "Boy, how did you get here?"
Magnus looked at them with the most innocent face he could and spoke in the warmest voice possible, "Uncle, mummy said that George Cross award was named after King George VI? I wanted to see what King George looked like."
"Ah, so it was curiosity? But you shouldn't be here, you could have asked the event organiser. I'm sure they wouldn't have denied you. Anyway, follow us, we will get you back to the hall." They offered him help.
Magnus smiled and nodded. He kept his hold on the portrait and followed the two guards. This time, entering the Eastside was very easy and he was easily led into. Poor Bobby was probably waiting for Magnus' instruction just outside the hall, not knowing he had to take another route.
Soon, he entered the Hall again. But he had already given Bobby a gesture to stay silent. So, when they were both inside and alone, he just showed a thumbs up to Bobby.
The extra-chubby boy was very happy, even though he could not see it. But Magnus made him touch it.
"Check for yourself." Bobby went ahead. As he was told, instead of his hand touching Magnus' chest, he touched something solid.
"Oh my god," he whispered.
"See, I told you. But I don't know why you can't see it yet. Though we will experiment with it later. Now we just need to get home." Magnus said nervously.
"Don't worry about that. Getting it was the tough part, now it should be easy from here." Bobby was equally excited.
"YAWN..." Suddenly a voice from the portrait.
Magnus looked down at it and found the man in the portrait was getting up. The man looked left and right and noticed Magnus' face close to his face because of the way he had to hold it.
"*Cough* Son, I respect your personal preferences but I don't like kissing men."
Magnus looked down, "Shhh..."
"Oh, well, I guess I will have to silently go through with all this, I'm a painting, after all, can't really say no to it if you want to do it."
"Stay silent, I am taking you with me. Do you want to be left here again? Invisible and alone?" Magnus threatened.
"Oh no, no. I'll be quiet as a dead pig, sir."
After that, Magnus took a seat at the table his parents sat at. He kept the portrait close to him, just beside his seat. He was always on edge because he really felt weird as he was able to see the giant painting beside him while everyone else was oblivious to it.
He stayed there till lunch. After 2 hours, it was finally time to go home as the event had ended and the queen had left after eating.
"Let's go home, Magnus. You must be tired after all this. I must say, it was kind of boring." Adam spoke.
His grandpa also nodded, "Indeed, even I never liked all these official events. They are always too stiff and not many interesting things happen."
"Yes, I got bored." Magnus nodded. He was rather excited to go home and talk to the portrait.
Soon, Magnus' grandma and mother came and dragged their husbands, "Stop gossiping like women, you two. Show some manners. Let's go,"
[Discord - https://discord.gg/DgHkrAn]
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Magnus awkwardly walked with his family to the parking lot. He again sat in his dad's car in the back. Bobby sat beside him.
"Dad, can we go to the bank first and get the check?" Magnus asked.
Adam understood his meaning and nodded. It was not too far from where they lived anyway. Bobby had also done his research and had gotten the information from his father.
Now, they knew that the mortgage left on their house was £2000(£28,412). With this paid, all their mortgage will be solved and Bobby will never have to leave his home. Bobby himself was feeling weird taking money from his friend but it was a bit relaxing knowing that it was not the money of Magnus' parents but instead his own money, money that he was going to repay himself when he grows up.
They reached the bank and cashed the check given to Magnus today at the ceremony. He was too young to have his own bank account so the money went directly into his dad's account.
Then, Adam signed a cheque in the name of Bobby's father. He then gave it to Magnus. Magnus happily handed it to Bobby.
"Here, tell your parents that I won the money with the award. Just tell them that you will pay back when you grow up or something." Magnus advised. Though he was not planning on asking for this money ever again.
Bobby nodded continuously while holding the cheque. It was an amount he couldn't even imagine of ever holding.
He looked at Magnus' smiling face and gave a brotherly hug, "Thank you, Mag. Now I won't have to go."
Then he looked at Adam, "Thank you, uncle."
Adam just patted his shoulder, "No need to thank me. It was Magnus' doing. Now let's get you to your home."
Soon after, they dropped Bobby off at his home and Magnus jumped back into the front passenger seat.
"You did a good thing, Magnus." Adam praised him.
"I know. I like money but not at the cost of losing my friend. I don't have anything to buy anyway." Magnus shrugged.
"You still have £900 to your name. You can buy whatever you want." Adam reminded him.
"Save it then, I already got all I need. Mummy cooks tasty food for me and you bring me to places." Magnus replied. Making Adam feel awkward.
~What do you mean? We are your servants ?~ Adam thought to himself.
After 20 minutes, they reached home. Magnus sneakily picked up the portrait. His mom's car had already arrived and his grandparents were also in the house. So, he had to first quickly go to his room and hide the portrait.
So, as soon as he got out of the car, he intentionally fell down and dirtied his knees. Adam saw it but didn't say anything. When they entered, he went upstairs, "I will change my pants."
Finally, in his room, he put the portrait behind the headrest of the bed, because nobody looks or touches there.
"Hmm, a big change from that big depressing hall to this cosy home. Thank you, boy." The portrait said.
"Okay, tell me who you are first or I will throw you out." Magnus suddenly threatened.
"That was quite a greeting, kid. Well, I am the one and only, the greatest, the best, the strongest... King Arthur Pendragon. Yeah, that's me." Arthur introduced himself proudly.
Magnus scratched his head, "Who is that?"
Arthur's shoulder fell, "I am the first king of unified Britain. My legends must have been written in all kinds of books by now. Don't tell me you haven't heard of me."
"I have not heard of you. I think I read a fairy tale about you once." Magnus replied.
Arthur raged, "HOW COULD THEY... THOSE DAMN BAST..."
"I was a real person, Magnus," Arthur tried to convince him.
"Okay, I want you to teach me magic. My friend just told me that I have magic and I will go to a special school when I turn 11." Magnus explained.
"Of course you'd be magical, after all, you have... ah wait... I can't tell you that. I bet he's waiting to see your reaction. Anyway, I am not a wizard, kid. I am a Magbob or Muggle as they call it now. It was my friend who was a wizard that made this portrait." Arthur explained.
"Where is his portrait?" Magnus asked.
"At Hogwarts most probably. That damn ba... he left me invisible probably so he gets to meet you before me. Haha, how the fate works." Arthur started laughing while talking to himself.
Magnus shook his head in disappointment. Feeling that he took the risk for nothing.
"I'll talk to you later. You are of no use to me anyway." Magnus muttered and left.
"WAIT... I CAN STILL TEACH YOU SWORDS..." Arthur shouted.
"No thanks, I'd rather learn to use guns," Magnus countered.
"Ah, those things are not gonna be of much use in the magical world. Come on, let me teach you." Arthur pleaded.
~Hehe, I will teach him before that Bastard Merlin gets a chance.~ He gloated.
But Magnus ignored him and went downstairs to play with his family.
...
Bobby's Home,
His home was a modest house with 3 bedrooms and a small garden in the back and a parking space in the front. It was not as big as Magnus' but not small either. Bobby's parents had bought this a few years ago but it was still not cheap back then as it was in London. They had paid 60% of the mortgage already.
But due to some losses in Bobby's father's own printing press, they were short on funds. His mom was a kindergarten teacher and earned little money. But it was not all enough to pay the mortgage and also have decent food on the table.
Hence, they had decided to move on. Getting a loan to pay the mortgage was not possible and no family friend would lend that kind of money. £2000 was a lot of money at that time.
But then, help came from someone they never expected.
"Mummy, Daddy, I have something to show you." Bobby meekly came to his parents, sitting in the living room.
"What is it, honey? How was Magnus' award ceremony?" His mother asked. Because she dealt with little kids on a daily basis, her nature was very kind and calm. She would rarely get angry, even less on Bobby because he was a good kid that studied well. He just ate a lot and that was his only downside.
"It was good. Mummy, umm... are we going to move away from here?" He asked.
His mother looked at her husband. They were not being very discreet about it anyway so it was normal for him to find out.
"Sweetie, we will return in the future. Right now, your dad is having some trouble at work so..." She was in the middle of speaking when Bobby took out the cheque and handed it to her.
"Look mummy, Mag gave it to me. He made all this money by himself by talking to the newspaper and today's award. He said we should use it and stay here. I promised I will give it back to him when I grow up. I don't wanna go away from here, mummy." He innocently pleaded.
It was enough to make his mother's heartache. She understood that Bobby was worried about leaving his friend behind. She put the half kitten sweater aside that she was knitting and hugged him.
"Don't worry about such things, Bobby." She said with him in her arms.
Bobby's father came and looked at the cheque. He was a reasonable man, just a bit tired from all the work. This cheque was like a light at the end of a dark tunnel for him. But he could not just take it.
He knelt and patted Bobby's head, "I believe you, Bobby. But, this is a lot of money. So let me and your mum talk to Mag's parents once. If they have agreed to this then we will use this money. Let's visit the Grant family house this evening."
Bobby nodded. He knew that no matter what he said, his parents would still want to confirm it. But, he was happy now. He was afraid his parents would get very angry but that was not the case. He was fairly sure that he would not have to go away now.
~I wonder if Mag will find a way for me to look at the portrait.~ he wondered.
[A/N: Bobby, as you might have already guessed, will be a recurring character. Although he is a muggle, he will be like a brother to Magnus. He will have big roles in the future too. In total, I have planned 2 major OC side characters. One was Brandon(Bobby) and the next will appear in Hogwarts. There will be many more ordinary OC characters though because this novel is a prequel to HP and not many characters are known from that era. But when Hogwarts part starts, most original characters will be the focus.]
[Discord - https://discord.gg/DgHkrAn]
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You can read 20 advance chapters on -patreon.com/misterimmortal.
Special thanks to *Douglas Flower* *Umar Latif* *Julian Rocamora* *Darrien Steely*
Thank you for your support!
1 Stone = 1 plate full of pancakes. [Effect: Makes you fluffy for 7 days(Tip: Girls like fluffy boys.)]
Keep this fic flying high folks, because THIS IS THE WAY.
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