The front door of the Bel Air house clicked open around eleven on Sunday morning.
Margot dragged her overnight bag through the entryway and kicked the heavy oak door shut with the heel of her boot. She dropped her keys into the ceramic bowl on the console table and let out a loud yawn that echoed down the quiet hallway. She barely made it three steps toward the kitchen before she heard the rapid slapping of bare feet on the hardwood floor.
Florence came sprinting around the corner. Her hair was tied up in a messy knot and she was wearing an oversized t-shirt.
"You sneaky bitch!" Florence yelled, laughing as she launched herself forward.
Margot dropped her bag and braced herself just in time. Florence tackled her, and they stumbled back a step. Margot burst into bright, loud laughter, wrapping her arms around the other woman to keep them both from falling over.
"Watch the hair," Margot wheezed, hugging her back tight. "I take it the decoy mission was a massive success?"
"You completely set me up," Florence said. She pulled back but kept her hands resting on Margot's shoulders. She was grinning so hard her cheeks were flushed a deep pink. "You literally packed a bag and pretended to go to Malibu just so Daniel could ambush me in the living room with Mexican takeout."
"Hey, I did actually go to Malibu," Margot defended herself, pointing a finger at her. "I slept on a very uncomfortable modern-art sofa at my friend's place. My back is killing me. I suffered for this family."
Daniel walked out of the kitchen holding a mug of black coffee. He leaned his shoulder against the hallway wall, watching the two of them with a relaxed smile.
Margot immediately shoved Florence's shoulder and pointed at her left hand. "Enough yelling at me. Show me the rock. I want to see it in the daylight."
Florence held up her hand. The vintage Edwardian diamond caught the late morning sunlight streaming through the hallway windows. The intricate platinum filigree gleamed. The old European cut threw off deep, warm flashes of light rather than the harsh sparkle of a modern stone.
Margot grabbed Florence's hand, pulling it closer to inspect the ring she had already spent hours analyzing in a private Beverly Hills vault. She let out a dramatic sigh of satisfaction.
"God, I have incredible taste," Margot declared smugly, letting go of her hand.
Florence let out a loud snort. "Daniel told me you helped him pick it out. He said he was completely lost and you basically hijacked the entire shopping trip."
"He was going to buy you a paperweight," Margot joked, looking over at Daniel. "I saved you from wearing a disco ball on your hand for the rest of your life. I told the jeweler to put the new stuff away. You're welcome."
"I owe you my life," Florence laughed. She linked her arm through Margot's and pulled her toward the kitchen. "Come on, we ordered way too many breakfast burritos from that spot on Ventura, and they are getting cold."
The rest of the Sunday was incredibly lazy. There were no scripts to read, no studio executives calling, and no cameras waiting outside their gates. They spent the entire afternoon lounging on the massive sectional sofa, drinking mimosas out of heavy glass tumblers, and eating greasy hash browns and eggs wrapped in foil. They talked trash about reality TV and enjoyed the quiet safety of their own house.
Then Monday morning rolled around.
Daniel woke up around seven. The bedroom was quiet. The heavy blackout curtains kept the blinding California sun at bay. Florence was still fast asleep, tangled up in the white duvet, her breathing slow and even. Her left hand was resting on top of the covers right near his chest.
Daniel carefully picked up his phone from the nightstand and looked at his Instagram app.
He almost never used it. His grid had exactly four pictures on it, mostly promotional posters for his movies that Elena Palmer forced him to upload to appease the marketing department. He had tens of millions of followers who basically just stared at an inactive account.
He opened the camera. He didn't turn on any lamps or try to set up a brightly lit shot. He just reached out and loosely held Florence's left hand. The silver band of the ring was clearly visible against her skin, the diamond catching the dim light leaking through the edge of the curtains.
He snapped the picture.
It was slightly grainy from the low light, completely unfiltered, and very real.
He opened the app, selected the photo, and typed out a quick caption.
My anchor. She said yes.
He hit post. He flipped the phone's mute switch, set it face down on the nightstand, and closed his eyes to get another hour of sleep.
He completely missed the unmitigated meltdown that happened over the next sixty minutes.
Because Daniel Miller was essentially a ghost on social media, the notification that he had uploaded a new photo triggered a massive algorithm spike. The platform's servers actually throttled for a few seconds as millions of users clicked the notification. Within ten minutes, the post had half a million likes. Within twenty, the image was trending worldwide on Twitter.
The major entertainment outlets scrambled to get their articles out. The news desks at the major trades called their writers in early to cover the post.
Variety published a piece titled: Miller Studios Mogul Daniel Miller Engaged to Breakout Actress Florence.
People Magazine pushed an exclusive right to their homepage: Inside the Quiet Engagement of Hollywood's Most Private Power Couple.
The real chaos was happening in the comment sections and on the forums. Over on Reddit, the r/popculturechat subreddit had a massive megathread pinned to the top of the page within half an hour. Thousands of comments were pouring in every minute.
User FilmBro99: Wait, did Daniel Miller actually remember his instagram password? I'm dead. Also that ring is sick. Thank god he didn't buy a tacky Hollywood boulder. It actually looks classy.
User CinephileQueen: Honestly good for them. I hate celebrity couples normally but they actually seem super lowkey. She's gorgeous and he's handsome af, also basically printing money at this point with Miller Studios.
User StarWarsNerd22: Bro, remember how they met? They've been together since the first Star Wars shoot when she was a total nobody playing Leia. Christian Bale and Sebastian Stan were the big names on that set, and she just totally bypassed Han and Luke to bag the director. Absolute legend.
User MovieFanatic22: Bro finally locked it down. I bet the wedding is going to be locked down tighter than a CIA black site though. We aren't seeing a single picture of that dress.
While the general public was highly supportive, a very specific corner of the internet was in deep mourning.
The Miller's Muses was a highly devoted, intensely thirsty fanclub of women who obsessed over Daniel's rare red carpet appearances, his directing style, and his general brooding aesthetic. Their dedicated Twitter community was currently going through the five stages of grief in real-time.
User MuseFan99: I am currently crying in the club. We lost him, ladies. It's officially over. Drop your Fs in the chat.
User DirectorWife: I am literally sick to my stomach. Alexa, play Taylor Swift. I need a minute to process this betrayal.
User IndieDarling: I'm devastated, obviously. But honestly Florence is a queen and she keeps him sane so I'll allow it. Still wearing black all week though out of respect for my shattered dreams. Go touch grass, girls, we have to move on.
By the time Daniel finally rolled out of bed and walked downstairs to the kitchen, his phone was practically vibrating off the counter.
He poured himself a cup of coffee, leaned against the marble island, and finally looked at his screen. He had eighty-six unread text messages and a dozen missed calls.
He opened his texts. The first one was from Tom Wiley.
Bout damn time, man. Was literally gonna write you a script on how to do it since you were dragging your feet. Congrats.
Daniel snorted and typed a quick reply telling Tom to shut up and get back to work on his next draft.
He scrolled down and found a text in a group chat from Christian Bale and Sebastian Stan.
Bale: Saw the news, mate. Congratulations. Handled it a lot smoother than Han Solo ever would have.
Stan: Seriously man, congrats. The Force is strong with this one. Let us know when the bachelor party is.
Daniel smiled and shot a quick thank you back to the guys who had helped him build his first massive blockbuster.
His phone buzzed in his hand with an incoming call from Elena Palmer. He swiped to answer.
"Good morning," Daniel said, taking a sip of his coffee.
"Dan, my phone is physically melting right now," Elena's voice came through the speaker. She sounded entirely frazzled but deeply affectionate. "Every PR rep from Vanity Fair to Vogue is blowing up my inbox asking for exclusive interview rights for the wedding. They want photo spreads and exclusive venue access. Tell me you aren't doing a magazine spread."
"I am absolutely not doing a magazine spread," Daniel confirmed smoothly. "There is no PR strategy for this, Elena. No interviews, no statements. I just made a post. Let them figure it out."
"Thank god," Elena breathed a heavy sigh of relief. "I'll issue a blanket 'no comment' to the press and tell them to respect your privacy. And Dan? Seriously, congratulations. I'm really happy for you."
"Thanks, Elena," Daniel smiled. "I'll see you at the office tomorrow."
He hung up. A text came through from Marcus Blackwood.
Sent a bottle of Macallan 25 to the house. Drink it slow. Cheers, boss.
Daniel was just putting his phone down when it rang again. He checked the caller ID and immediately answered.
"Hey, Stan," Daniel said warmly.
"Hey kid," Stan Lee's raspy voice crackled through the line. "I just saw the news on the television. Figured I should call and make sure it wasn't a rumor."
"It's real," Daniel laughed.
"Well, I'll be damned," Stan chuckled. "You finally did something smart that didn't involve people in tights. She's a wonderful girl, Daniel. You hold onto her tight. This industry chews people up, but you two seem to have a good shield going."
"We do our best, Stan. Thank you."
"Send her my love," Stan said. "And tell her if you get too bossy on set, she has my permission to smack you."
"I'll pass the message along," Daniel grinned.
The rest of the day was a blur of phone calls and texts. Margot read the most unhinged Twitter comments out loud in the living room while Florence laughed so hard she choked on her water. It felt surreal to have millions of people talking about his personal life, but inside the house, it was just the three of them acting like idiots.
Around eight o'clock that evening, the sun had finally set. Daniel was in his home office clearing out some emails on his laptop when his phone buzzed again.
It was an international number. He recognized the country code for the UK.
He picked it up. "Hello?"
"Well, bloody hell, look at you making the tabloids for something other than a box office record," Joanne's voice came through clearly, her British accent thick with amusement. "Congratulations, Daniel."
Daniel leaned back in his office chair and smiled. "Thanks, Joanne. Figured it was time to lock it down."
"I saw the picture," Joanne said. "Beautiful ring. Did you actually pick it out yourself, or did you pay someone to have good taste for you?"
"Margot handled the logistics," Daniel admitted easily. "I just provided the funding."
"Smart lad," Joanne laughed. "Never trust a man to pick out fine jewelry. Anyway, send Florence my absolute best. She's brilliant."
"I will. So, what's going on in London?" Daniel asked, knowing she wouldn't call internationally just to gossip about his love life.
Joanne let out a heavy sigh that sounded like it came from the bottom of her soul. "The fans are getting feral, Daniel. Actually feral. I can't even open my Twitter mentions anymore without getting yelled at by teenagers."
"The Goblet of Fire cliffhanger," Daniel guessed.
"Exactly," Joanne groaned. "You wrote that massive cliffhanger with Voldemort coming back, and now they are taking the piss out of me every single day. The forums are going insane. When do I get the skeleton for the fifth one? Please tell me you have it mapped out. TDM is going to need time to prep the printing presses once I finish the prose."
Harry Potter was entirely Daniel's property. He owned the story, the world, and the characters. He was the mastermind who wrote the detailed chapter-by-chapter skeleton for every single book. Joanne was the immensely talented writer he had hired to fill in the muscles, adding her specific prose style and British charm to his foundation. TDM published the books globally, completely bypassing traditional external publishers. Joanne was the public face of the author credit, but they both knew who the architect was.
"Order of the Phoenix," Daniel said, pulling up a hidden folder on his laptop desktop. "Yeah, I have the full skeleton mapped out. The plot points, the character arcs, all of it. It's darker. The ministry turns against Harry, there's a teenage rebellion, and we lose Sirius at the end."
"Brilliant," Joanne said, sounding incredibly relieved. "Send the files over tonight. I'll get to work fleshing out the prose immediately. We can probably announce a release date by next month and get these kids to back off."
Daniel clicked the files and attached them to a secure, encrypted email. He hovered his mouse over the send button.
"I'll send it right now," Daniel said. He paused for a second, looking out the window of his office at the dark Los Angeles hills. "Listen, Joanne. We need to talk about the next step."
"What next step?" Joanne asked, a hint of curiosity in her tone.
"The books are a global phenomenon," Daniel stated bluntly. "We've built up a massive, rabid cult following over the last four years. People are buying the hardcovers, they're buying the merch, they're writing fanfiction. It's a goldmine."
"It is," Joanne agreed cautiously.
"It's time to cash in," Daniel told her. "We need to adapt the property for the screen."
There was a brief silence on the other end of the line. Daniel could hear the faint sound of traffic from a London street in the background.
Joanne just chuckled.
"I wondered when we were going to have this conversation," Joanne said, not sounding surprised in the slightest. "At the end of the day, you're a director, Daniel. I knew you couldn't keep your hands off a story this big forever. You want to see Hogwarts on a screen."
"The fans want to see Hogwarts on a screen," Daniel corrected her smoothly. "They've been begging for a visual adaptation in the forums for two years. If we don't give it to them soon, someone else is going to start pitching knock-off wizard schools to the major studios to fill the void. We need to claim the visual real estate now."
"Alright," Joanne agreed easily. She trusted Daniel completely when it came to the business side of the industry. He had made her a multi-millionaire, after all. "Are we talking about a movie franchise? Or are you thinking about putting it on that new streaming platform of yours as a series?"
"I haven't decided the format yet," Daniel lied. He knew exactly what he wanted to do, but he needed to lay the groundwork with Marcus first. "I'm starting the pre-production conversations at the studio this week. We're going to start building the world."
"Keep me in the loop," Joanne said. "And Daniel? Enjoy your engagement. Don't spend the whole week planning wizard battles. Take Florence out to dinner."
"I will. Have a good night, Joanne."
"Cheers."
Daniel hung up the phone. He hit send on the email, watching the progress bar shoot across the screen as the skeleton for Book Five went to London. He closed his laptop.
The next morning, Daniel drove into Burbank.
The Miller Studios lot was buzzing with a different kind of energy. When Daniel walked into the main executive building, the receptionist at the front desk gave him a massive smile and congratulated him. As he walked down the hallways, production assistants, junior executives, and marketing staff offered quick, respectful congratulations. He thanked them politely and kept his head down as he made his way to his office.
He pushed his heavy glass door open. Marcus Blackwood and Tom Wiley were already sitting at the small conference table in the corner of his office drinking coffee.
"Look who decided to show up," Tom grinned, kicking his feet off the edge of the table as Daniel walked in. "How's the engaged life treating you? You feel older yet?"
"I feel exactly the same, Tom," Daniel said. He took his jacket off and threw it over the back of his chair. He looked at Marcus. "Thanks for the scotch, by the way. I haven't cracked it open yet."
"Save it for a special occasion," Marcus smiled, straightening the cuffs of his suit. "Or a really bad quarterly review. Either works."
Daniel sat down at the head of the table. He didn't waste any time with small talk. The engagement was locked down, his personal life was secure, and now it was time to get back to the machinery of the studio.
"Let's get into it," Daniel said, opening a sleek black folder he had brought from home. He slid two printed documents across the table—one toward Marcus, one toward Tom.
Tom picked the paper up. His eyes scanned the bold text at the top of the page. He frowned for a second, and then his eyebrows shot straight up.
"No way," Tom muttered, looking up at Daniel with a massive grin. "Are you serious?"
Marcus picked his copy up. He adjusted his glasses and read the header. He let out a low, impressed whistle.
"Harry Potter," Marcus read aloud. He looked across the table at his boss. "You're finally pulling the trigger? Dan, TDM has been printing millions of these books. The whole industry knows you own the IP, and people have been taking bets for years on when you'd actually put your own property on a screen."
"I was letting the audience grow," Daniel explained patiently. "If I had made a movie when only one book was out, it would have been a moderate success. Waiting until the series became a cultural phenomenon ensures a built-in, rabid fanbase that guarantees a massive opening weekend. The timing is finally right. We are going to adapt the wizarding world."
Tom dropped the paper onto the table, shaking his head with a laugh. "Man, the fans are going to absolutely lose their minds. The forums have been begging you to adapt your own books for ages."
Marcus took a slow sip of his coffee. The distribution executive was looking at the paper, clearly seeing massive dollar signs, but his practical side was already kicking in.
"The logistics on this are going to be a nightmare, Dan," Marcus warned him, tapping the edge of the document. "You're talking about sprawling sets. Castles. A heavy reliance on CGI for the magic. And the hardest part is casting a bunch of unknown eleven-year-old kids to carry a multi-million-dollar production. If you cast the wrong kid for Harry, your own fans will burn this studio to the ground."
"I know the risks," Daniel said.
"Who's directing it?" Tom asked, leaning forward. "Are you taking this one yourself?"
"I haven't decided," Daniel deflected smoothly. He knew he had the skills from his system to pull off the perfect adaptation, but directing an entire fantasy franchise was a massive commitment. "Right now, we need to focus on the infrastructure. Marcus, I want you to start pulling capital together. We are going to self-fund the entire production. I don't want any co-financiers on this. Miller Studios handles it all."
Marcus nodded slowly, doing the math in his head. "We have the cash from the Iron Man 2 run and the MovieFlix subscriptions. We can afford it. We'll need to secure additional soundstages though. The Burbank lot isn't big enough to build Hogwarts. And San Fernando lot still hasn't finished construction so we can only use two soundstages there."
"Look into leasing space over in the UK," Daniel instructed. "It's a British story. We should shoot it there. It gives us authenticity, and we can take advantage of their tax rebates for film production."
"I'll get the legal team on it today," Marcus agreed, making a note on his pad.
Tom looked at the document again, shaking his head in sheer disbelief. "You're a maniac, Dan. You really are. You lock down the superhero market with Favreau, you conquer television with Breaking Bad, and now you're finally unleashing the biggest fantasy IP of the decade."
"My goal was never to just build movies, Tom," Daniel said, leaning back in his chair. "It's to build a culture no one can replicate. Let's get to work."
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A/N: Read ahead on Patreon: patreon.com/AmaanS
Also, here's a surprise smooch :3
Got you! You can never let your guard down again.