OrgoWriters
patreon
Chapter - 144
🕑 Added 2025-06-01 19:19:28 +0000 UTC[Title : You Are In Love With My Secretary!]
….
The air in the studio feels sharp - humming with creative tension.
Stacks of audition tapes, character headshots, and Hogwarts costume mockups scatter across a long table, while the walls are dotted with magical concept art.
Regal sits behind a black desk, legs crossed, reading notes from the morning’s screen tests.
His eyes are tired, but alert. Samantha, sharp eyes, sarcastic charm, steps in holding a tablet.
Regal looked up, cautiously hopeful. “Anything from him?”
She didn’t even sit. Just gave a tired nod. “Oh, I got a response.”
His brow lifted. “And?”
Her voice turned flat. “Another rejection.”
Regal leaned back slowly in his chair, eyes closing. A quiet sigh escaped through his nose. “Persistent, isn’t he.”
From the couch near the bookshelf, Simon - one of his line producers, late thirties, over-caffeinated - glanced up, confused.
“Sorry, who exactly are we talking about? This is starting to sound… weird.”
Before Regal could answer, Darren cut in from across the room, where he was hunched over a stack of lighting budget estimates. “I mean, I am just saying, the way you two are talking - ‘Did he text you back?’ ‘He said no again’ - Samantha, are you sure this isn’t a failed Tinder date?”
Samantha didn’t give them any context and continued. “Oh please. Like you two aren’t any better. He has sent six different offers. If anything, they deserve each other.”
Regal smirked faintly.
Because, well - They did.
The man in question?
The - Richard Harris.
The very same one who had played Dumbledore in Regal’s past world.
Somehow, Regal found him here too. Same gravitas. Same voice. Same soul.
But every time they reached out…
Another no.
Samantha narrowed her eyes. “You are going to make me send another one, aren’t you?” She added. “Regal... you have already offered him back-end points, a tailor-built schedule, even a private cottage near Leavesden. You are running out of bribes.”
Regal countered. “Send another one. And tell him - if he says no again, I will knock on his door myself.”
She stared at him, deadpan. Then rolled her eyes with a mutter: “God. Two drama queens, one casting war.”
The door clicked shut behind her.
A beat of silence.
Then Darren leaned in, whispering as he looked at Simon with a little confused face. “Wait, why are you so twitchy about Samantha dating someone?”
Across the room, silent until now, sat Rock - stoic, unreadable, casually flipping a soft panda plush in his hands, the one Gwendolyn had gifted him a few days ago.
He spoke without looking up. “Isn’t it obvious?” A pause. “He has hearts for her.”
?!!The room froze.
Even Regal, mid-pen stroke, stopped cold.
Darren blinked.
Simon turned.
Everyone stared.
Not at Rock.
At Simon.
No denial.
And it hit them - hard and obvious.
Just… realization.
And then - Chaos.
Darren and Simon both exploded from their chairs, yelling like lunatics.
“Oh my god—”
“You are in love with my secretary!”
“Am I an actual idiot? How did I miss this?!”
They started laughing. Shouting. Jumping. Darren half-tripped over a chair and kept going.
Regal sat there, stunned, mouth open. Then slowly - grinning like someone caught stealing candy.
Outside, just down the hallway, Samantha heard the uproar.
She stopped. Glanced back, eyebrows knitting. “…What the hell are they doing now?”
She sighed, then walked on.
Back inside—
Darren suddenly stopped mid-celebration. “Wait.”
Regal, out of breath, turned to him. “What?”
Darren blinked. “Is Samantha even… single?”
Regal froze… He actually doesn't know about that.
Then Rock, still seated calmly with the panda plush, piped up again.
“She divorced four years ago. Technically two daughters… and Simon met them once too and they are cute…. At least he thinks so.”
“Technically?” - obviously they were confused.
“One is adopted.” Rock clarified.
Another heavy silence.
And then—
More screaming.
More jumping.
They didn’t know why they were celebrating anymore.
They just were.
Because, somehow…
This felt like a win.
….
[HARRIS ESTATE – OXFORDSHIRE – AFTERNOON]
….
The house breathed with quiet history.
High beams stretched overhead like a chapel ceiling.
The walls were lined with uneven bookshelves, sagging with poetry, plays, and old letters.
A Persian rug lay faded beneath a cracked leather armchair where Richard Harris, now in his twilight years, sat reading Tennyson, his tea forgotten on the side table.
A fire whispered in the hearth, filling the room with a soft orange glow.
Suddenly—
SLAM!
The door bursts open. A little girl of eight, Lily, stormed in, cheeks red with battle, curls bouncing, glitter on her hands like leftover magic. Her sneakers squeaked against the floor - one untied, one dragging.
Her British-American accent is unmistakable.
“Garndpa!”
Richard lowers the book and blinks, bemused. “Well. The lioness returns.”
She stomped closer, fists balled. “Mummy says you turned down Dumbledore again!”
He nodded once, slow and quiet. “I did.”
“But why?” She cried. “He is not just some wizard. He is Dumbledore! He is the best one. Everyone loves him. Even Madison said so - and she only likes cats and Pink-Ranger.”
Richard. “Is that so? Lilly too?”
She nodded her head. “Yes, Lilly too.”
Richard set his teacup down carefully. “Well, yes. But playing Dumbledore means long hours, late flights, tight costumes. And, alas, I am no spring phoenix.”
“But you already played a wizard.” She countered, marching toward him. “Mummy showed me. You had a big stick and a scary voice!”
Richard stifles a laugh. The kid’s got him dead to rights. “You are too clever for your own good but that was a different kind of magic.”
She frowned. “Still counts.”
He looked at her - really looked. That fierce little face, flushed with the kind of belief only children carried. She was small, but at that moment, she filled the room.
“Lily.” He said gently. “I am not as quick as I used to be. These things take a toll.”
She stepped closer, lower lip quivering with stubborn grace. “I already told Olivia and Madison at school you were going to be Dumbledore. They were jealous. And if you don’t do it, I will have to lie. I hate lying, Papa.”
Richard’s smile fades - not out of annoyance, but something softer. Guilt, maybe. Love, definitely. “I didn’t know it mattered that much to you.”
Lily. “It does. You would be perfect. He is kind and wise and... and a little funny. Like you. Just with a bigger beard.”
He leans forward, elbows on knees, studying her face like it’s the only thing worth reading. “And if I do it?”
Lilly. “Then I will watch all the movies. Even the scary bits. And I will tell everyone my granddad’s the best wizard in the world.”
Beat.
Richard said softly. “That’s a dangerous title to live up to.”
“You are Richard Harris.” She replied matter-of-factly. “You will manage.”
He chuckles, more to himself than anything. Then, without another word, he reaches for the rotary phone by the record player.
Then, wordlessly, he reached for the rotary phone sitting beneath a stack of records.
Lily’s face lit up. “Are you calling them?”
“Depends.” He murmured. “Will you still talk to me if I don’t?”
Lily with a dead serious face but it only looked cute on her. “No. I will never speak to you again! Like forever or maybe longer.”
She spins around dramatically, ready to storm out the way she came.
Richard raised an eyebrow. “Wait, wait. Are you threatening me young lady?”
Lily her hands on hips. “You bet I am.”
He tries to stifle a laugh, but the delight is all over his face.
Richard sighs. “Alright then. If I do it... will I still be your favourite wizard?”
Lily nodded proudly. “Yep…”
Richard let out a long breath, shaking his head, chuckling despite himself. He looked back at the fire, eyes catching something in the flame.
A spark.
Lily ran forward and leapt into his lap before he could protest. He let out a soft groan at the weight, but his arms folded around her with ease.
“You have got me wrapped around your little wand.” He whispered.
“That’s not how wands work, Grandpa.”
He laughed, real and warm. The fire crackled beside them, unaware that it had just witnessed history
.
….
[To be continued…]
●──────●◎●──────●
Comments
Luiz Oliveira
I hope he doesn't die after doing only 2 movies.
