unus.
Chapter 1
Mia Aspen felt like slamming her head against the stone wall in the dungeon if only to miss potions class. Today, they were making an ancestry potion and would test how well it worked aftward. She would sabotage her potion but she was partnered with a Ravenclaw and she would never want to get onto the wrong side of the Ravenclaw’s.
Normally, the ancestry potion would not bother anyone. Maybe they would find a common relative and leave happy. But Mia had been an orphan for as long as she could remember. She was found abandoned on the doorstep of a firehouse when she was only about a year old. She was then passed from home to home like an old pair of shoes. She never knew her parents or even her official birthday. As far as she knew, she was twelve.
She was never as happy as she was to find out she was a witch. She was taken into the wizarding world and sorted into Hufflepuff.
She was quiet and cautious from her time in the foster homes. She didn’t know how to behave around other children her age and had a few years of abuse under her belt. So she was distant from her peers and it led to her being ostracized by her own house, the house of the loyal.
All she ever wanted was a family and to be accepted, but she was just too scared to try. Her first year passed friendless and now in her second year, she was still friendless. It didn’t help that she refused to wear the girls uniform and instead wore the pants that came with the boy’s.
Too chicken to skip class, Mia enters the potions classroom and takes a seat next to her usual partner. Her head was in the clouds.
She wondered if she got her curly red hair from her mother or her father? Her blue eyes? Her tiny, lithe frame?
Professor Snape sweeps into the room and class gets started. He sets the instructions up and after a short lecture, he tells them to get started.
Mia almost messed up the potion unintentionally multiple times and got chewed out by her partner. She was then instructed to read the instructions and only the instructions. Her partner would do everything else.
They finished pretty quickly after that and soon the whole class had finished their potions. Now it was time to test if they brewed it correctly.
“You will test the potion,” Snape drawled as he paced. “Get a piece of parchment and prick your finger. Add four drops of blood to half a vial of the potion and shake. You should get a blue sheen. Pour it onto the parchment and if you brewed it correctly then you will see your ancestry. Go.”
Her partner goes first, grabbing a piece of parchment and ladling half of the potion into a vial. She cuts her finger with the cutting charm and dropped the blood into the bottle, corking it and shaking it thoroughly.
Mia’s heart sinks when it gets the blue sheen that signified that they brewed it correctly. Her partner poured the bottle over the parchment and black lines raced across the paper to form lines, faces, and names.
“Your turn,” Her partner passed her a vial and Mia looked at her own parchment before ladling her portion of the potion inside the bottle and holds her wand to her finger, squeezing her eyes shut as she hesitates.
“Well?” Her partner sounded frustrated. “Hurry up, I want to pass.”
Mia slit her finger and squeezed the blood into the bottle, shaking it before she poured it over the parchment.
Her heart beats fast as lines appear and Mia feels like she might throw up if her stomach wasn’t empty from skipping breakfast. Tears sting at her eyes and she can’t breathe at the names that appear.
She knew those names. They were famous.
Mia feels Snape lean over her shoulder to glance at their results. His eyes move from her partner’s to hers before he paused and swiped her paper up, holding it close to his face as though she had merely drawn it up herself.
“Did you use four drops and shake?” He hissed and Mia jerked her head in a nod. Her partner seconded her affirmation and glanced at Mia’s paper only to stare at the girl in horror.
Mia couldn’t breathe. The room was spinning and everything was getting fuzzy.
“Breathe before you pass out, you daft child,” Snape grabs her arm, ignoring her flinch as he pulled her to her feet, waving his hand to magically pack her satchel. He grabbed her bag and the parchment before he pulled her towards his office. He barked at the students that class was over early.
The door closes behind them and Snape leads her over to a chair, he sits her down and summons a potion.
“Drink,” He commanded and Mia reached out to take the potion. She was pretty sure that Snape wasn’t going to kill her. “It’s a calming draught. Drink.”
She gulped it down in a few swallows and started to relax, her vision clearing.
“I want you to read your name,” Snape pressed the parchment into her hands, taking the now-empty vial. “Out loud.”
Mia looked down at the parchment, rubbing her thumb gently over what she presumed to be her name, the very last name on the list. “Lyra… Lyra Selwyn.”
“Do you know who you are?” Snape asked, his voice uncharacteristically soft for speaking with a Hufflepuff. Mia shakes her head. “What about your parents?”
Mia had read about them. She knew exactly who they were. “They were two of you-know-who’s most loyal followers before they died the night that Harry Potter became the boy-who-lived.
“You went missing before you were to be moved to your godparents. We’ve been searching for you for a long time, Lyra,” Snape tells her, and Mia stares at him with wide eyes.
“Who are my godparents?” Mia whispered.
“You are the only child that was assigned to this particular person,” Snape started off, evading the question. “He too vanished that night but I know that he would have searched for you.”
“Who?” Mia pressed with a pleading tone.
“The Dark Lord is your godfather, Lyra,” Snape tells her gently and the calming draught in her system is the only reason she doesn’t scream her head off. “Would you like to meet your godmother’s sister?”
“Where’s my godmother? Can’t I meet her?” Mia questioned Snape.
“Azkaban. I will inform the headmaster about this and get his permission to leave with you,” Snape sweeps out of the room, and Mia is left with more questions than answers.
Mia sits in the quiet, counting the beats of her thrumming heart as she tried to process the information that was just dumped on her. She had godparents that she should have gone to. No wonder the muggle world couldn’t find her parents. They were wizards. Pureblood.
Oh god, she was a pureblooded witch. Mia curled up on the chair and tucked her face into her knees as she tries to remember how to breathe.
“I got permission. We can use my floo, it’s--” Snape glides into the room but pauses when he sees Mia curled up in the chair, shoulders shaking as she quietly cried.
“Lyra,” Snape started before realizing she wouldn’t respond to that. “Aspen… Mia…”
Mia’s head jerked up and he stared at her tear-stained face.
“Do not fret,” Snape promised as he kneeled in front of her. “You will not be harmed. You are protected.”
“I’m you-know-who’s goddaughter!” Mia cried out, face red as she worked herself up again. “Who is my godmother?”
“The Dark Lord’s next most trusted,” Snape replied gently. Mia knew who it was instantly but Snape said it anyway. “Bellatrix Lestrange.”
Mia lets out hysterical laughter that soon turns to sobs. She feels Snape rest a hand onto her shoulder and she falls apart.
“Your godmother’s sister is Narcissa Malfoy. The Malfoy’s have been searching for you since the day that you went missing,” Snape’s voice was soft. “Custody of you would have been transferred to her next.”
“Malfoy would have been my brother,” Mia lets out a wet laugh. “And now? Will she still take custody of me?”
“I have no doubt that she will,” Snape promised, squeezing her shoulder. “You are not alone.”
“I thought I would find out that my mom was some drunk whore and my dad was some gangster,” Mia takes the tissues that Snape offers to her.
“Shall we go and see her?” Snape stands and Mia sniffles once more before she runs a hand through her short hair and nods. They head to the floor and Snape tells her the address before giving her a pinch of floo powder, going first. She steps in after he has disappeared and throws the floo powder down, calling out the name.
She’s spat out onto the floor and Snape helps her up. She spots a couple in front of her.
“Lyra?” Narcissa questioned, stepping forward.
Mia lets out a hesitant nod and goes rigid when her face is cupped and the woman tilts her head from side to side, inspecting her features. Narcissa runs her thumb gently over a scar on the girl’s cheek.
“I looked for you,” Narcissa’s voice is soft. “I am so glad to see you safe.”
Mia offers her an unsure smile.
“Where are my manners? I am Narcissa Malfoy but you can call me Aunt Cissy. This is my husband, Lucius,” Narcissa nods to Lucius who takes that as his cue to step forwards.
“You worried us all when you disappeared,” His voice was calm and he reached a hand out. She flinched but he only set it gently on top of her wild, curly hair. “Call me Uncle Lucius.”
Mia’s lower lip quivered and tears trickled down her already tear-streaked cheeks.
“Oh darling, don’t cry,” Narcissa cooed, pulling Mia into a tight hug.
“I--I have a family,” Mia choked out, sobbing to Narcissa’s dress.
The room was quiet other than the sound of Mia’s sobs and Narcissa’s quiet reassurances.
