Mia was interested in this idea, "all right, so what's the idea then?"
Reggie smirked, "Okay well for one we need to take a trip to Gringotts and get your heir ring and an inheritance test to ensure that Dumbledore hasn't placed any charms, compulsions, blocks, and such on you."
"Gringotts? Heir ring?" the green-haired girl questioned.
"Okay Gringotts is the Wizarding bank and yes Mia you are the heir to one of the prominent houses in Wizarding Britain, you are the only member of the Potter family left, which means that you will be the Lady of the house, but the heir ring will work better until you are of age to take up the mantle of Lady of the House of Potter it's a lot of responsibility and something that you need to be prepared for before just going into it, but I will be teaching you everything that you need to know. The ring protects you and prevents mental manipulation. But my idea is to name you the heir of the House of Black, which will make you more powerful if the Black family magic accepts you and with the Black heir ring it protects you from darker forms of mind magic, the Blacks are a predominantly dark cored family which means we thrive more on the darker magics than a gray or light cored witch or wizard. And being the Lord of the house since Sirius is in Azkaban and was technically disowned by our mother but not our father, so he still has the Black family magic, but Mother Dear didn't know that bit… I have the power to do that."
Aster looked at her husband, "Oooh Reggie, you were right, I love that idea."
Mia looked between them, considering what he had said, "What will naming me heir entail?"
Regulus smiled at the girl, "Well the first step would be a blood adoption it would make it easier for the Black family magic to accept you which just means that in a sense that I would in the eyes of the Wizarding law, legally be able to take up guardianship of you and be a father figure of sorts, though you could still just call me uncle Reggie."
Mia nodded, "and the next step?"
"That would be getting your Potter Heiress ring and then naming you Heiress to the House of Black and getting that ring, and then last would be the inheritance test and seeing if there's anything nasty in your system and then getting it removed if so… so what do you say, Mia?"
The young girl bit her lip, she was still a little weary of them but both Aster and Reggie seemed to genuinely want to take care of her, and she didn't sense any negative feelings like she had done with the Dursleys and the people at the orphanage. Mia thought about it for a few moments before she spoke, "so if we do this, that means that if that Dumbledore guy does somehow find out where I am, he can't send me back there?"
Regulus nodded at her, "yes Mia, if we do this and do the blood adoption then he has no legal right to do anything to you, and I will drag his name through so much dirt that he will be publicly shamed if he even tries."
Mia teared up a little bit, that was probably one of the nicest things anyone had ever done for her, but she didn't mention it, and neither did Reggie nor Aster. "Okay, let's do it." she finally made up her mind.
Aster and Reggie both smiled at her, "All right then, we will go tomorrow and get everything squared away, sound like a plan?"
Mia nodded, "Okay… thank you both."
Aster crouched down to her level, "You are family Mia, and family means a lot to us, Reggie and I are going to take care of you now, you'll never have to worry about anything again, we will protect you, we will give you a proper family and a proper childhood from here on out… and I mean that."
Mia could see the sincerity in Aster's eyes as she said that and teared up a little once again, but this time she hesitantly hugged the older woman, who smiled and gently wrapped her arms around her niece, she was not gonna let anything that she could control happen to her niece.
After a minute Mia pulled away, and Aster smiled gently at her, "All right how about we find you some pajamas, and let you settle in for the night, we'll leave after breakfast tomorrow, and then while we're in London we can go shopping and get you a new wardrobe of clothes that you'll like."
Mia nodded, "Okay…" but on the inside, she was excited about finally having her own clothes that she would actually like instead of baggy and too big for her small frame clothes that were Dudley's hand-me-downs.
Aster found something that would fit Mia and walked back to her room with the girl, before bidding her goodnight and leaving her to change and settle in for bed. Mia changed into the cute pajamas that Aster had found her and then curled up in her new bed, and she fell asleep faster than she had ever done before because deep down she knew that she was finally in a safe place.
The following morning, Mia awoke to find a clean set of clothes on the chest at the foot of the bed and a little note from Aster saying that she would be by Mia's room at 9 to take her to the dining room for breakfast and then the three of them would head out to Gringotts to get everything squared away.
Mia looked at the clock on the bedside table, and it read 8:15 AM. Mia sighed happily, it was the first real good night's sleep that she'd had in she didn't know how long, probably ever.
The 8-year-old got up, read the note from Aster, and grabbed the clothes making her way into the bathroom, she splashed water on her face to wake up her a little and then turned the shower on letting the water heat up before she stripped out of the pajamas she was wearing and stepped into the shower sighing as warm water cascaded down her small body.
Mia finished her shower and got out, turning off the water and then drying off and getting dressed. Once again, Aster had found her a cute outfit, that Mia loved. The girl thought that maybe things were finally looking up for her, she had hoped so, at least.
She finished getting ready and stepped out into her new bedroom as a knock sounded on the door, Mia opened the door to see a smiling Aster on the other side, "good morning Mia, how did you sleep?"
"Morning, I slept well, Aunt Aster." she had hesitated slightly on calling her that.
Aster smiled softly at that, "Well I'm glad Mia, let's get to the dining room and get some breakfast, and then we can go about our day."
Mia nodded, "okay," the two made small talk as Aster led the way to the dining room for breakfast. After breakfast Mia was led by Reggie and Aster to Charles' office, to use the floo since Charles had it connected after being made aware of Reggie being a wizard just in case it was needed.
The three were now wearing cloaks, which Mia wanted to question but decided against.
Reggie looked at the girl, "All right Mia we are going to be floo traveling, you take this floo powder and throw it into the fireplace and call out clear and concisely your destination, we are going to Diagon Ally, so throw the powder into the fireplace like so," he threw the powder in, "Diagon Ally!" and then he stepped into the fireplace.
Mia nodded and took Aster's outstretched hand, as the redhead followed her husband's lead, and then the two girls stepped into the floo network. See, Aster can do small bouts of magic like that, but where her magic is near a squib level, she can't wield a wand or do actual spells.
Once the three were in Diagon Ally, Reggie raised the hood of his cloak and told Aster and Mia to as well, "Just keep your hood up and head down, we don't want to draw too much attention." Mia nodded now understanding why they were wearing the cloaks.
The trio kept their heads down and made their way toward Gringotts, Reggie leading the way with Aster holding Mia's hand to keep her from getting separated from them in the busy streets. They stopped at the door and Reggie looked at Mia, "Just a warning the bank is run by goblins, they can be nasty creatures, but they like respect, so if you show them respect they will show it back… but the majority of Wizard kind think themselves above the goblins which I think is stupid because they handle all of our money, why show so much disrespect to the creatures in charge of your money?"
Mia nodded, "Okay," and she also agreed with Reggie that it was stupid to be disrespectful to those in charge of your money.
Meanwhile, in Scotland, Dumbledore was pacing around his office, in the presence of his Deputy Headmistress and Potions Master of Hogwarts.
"Dumbledore, what is with all the pacing?"
"Something is wrong, Minerva… I don't know what, but the wards around Mia Potter's house have been throwing off weird signals for a few weeks now, and I can't read them."
"Is the girl all right, Albus?"
"I do not know, Minerva… it's like something is interfering with my readings on the wards."
"Perhaps a trip to see the Potter brat would be in order if you're not able to read the wards…"
"Good idea Severus you shall accompany me to check things out, Minerva we shall return soon."
Snape rolled his eyes but followed after Dumbledore as they left the Castle to check on the Potter brat. A sneer on his face once they arrived. He would rather be anywhere but there, but the unbreakable vow he made to Dumbledore meant the man could make him do whatever he wanted, or he would turn him in for being a Death Eater.
Dumbledore knocked on the door of number four Privet Drive. It was quiet for a few moments before the door opened and a disheveled Petunia Dursley answered the door, "What is it?" she looked a proper mess.
"Well, I was just wanting to check up on little Mia, see how things were faring for her, something is interfering with me being able to read the wards."
Petunia scoffed, "The little monster isn't here… I don't know where she is, nor do I care, not after what the little freak did…. I don't ever want that thing back in my house."
Dumbledore glared at the woman and spoke, "That is not what I was paying you for…" The man hissed, "You were being paid to keep her here, not let her run off."
Snape hadn't heard that part, but what surprised both Wizards was what she said next, "well I will not have a murderer living in my house, she killed my poor Vernon, stabbed him in the neck with a knife, and then ran away. I called the paramedics, but my poor husband bled out before they got to the hospital, that was two weeks ago."
Dumbledore looked alarmed, "Now Mrs. Dursley I am sure that it was just some sort of misunderstanding, the girl needs to be here, so I will give you more to take her back in when we find her."
"Absolutely not!" then the door was slammed in his face.
"This is not good, Severus. Not good at all." Snape rolled his eyes, he really didn't care about the little brat.
They were back in the headmaster's office not too long after that Albus was pacing again as Minerva joined them, "How was the girl Albus?"
"She wasn't there, Minerva, she's run away from her Aunt and Uncle," leaving out the part where the man was dead. "But that doesn't explain about the wards… it's all very peculiar."
Reggie cleared his throat to get the Goblin's attention. The Goblin looked down his nose at the trio before him, "Yes." he answered with a sneer.
"I owled last night about making an appointment for a blood adoption."
"Let me just get your account manager, Lord Black." then he disappeared for a few moments, only to return with a different Goblin.
"Lord Black." the other Goblin said with a slight nod.
"Hello, Darkfang."
"If you will follow me, we will meet in my office." The trio followed the goblins down a long hallway until he came to a stop, opening a big door and stepping inside, then allowing the three in behind him.