Sorry for the wait. This is just an interlude, next will be chapter 1 and Arya and Harry will finally meet. Hope you like this in the meantime! Tell me what you think!

Interlude

Arya observed Harry from across the street, working in the garden. He was small and thin, round glasses like herself used to wear perched on his nose, dark, messy brown hair covering emerald green eyes like her own and the famous lightning bolt scar on his forehead, just barely visible through his fringe.

She was unsure on how to approach him. Would it be better to go to Gringotts now and turn up at his house ready to adopt him or should she talk to him first and explain whom she was?

She thought about the numerous times she had wished for someone, anyone to show up and take her away from the Dursleys and the decision was made for her.

She apparated in front of Gringotts, ignoring the people walking around Diagon Alley at that late hour of the morning. She stood in front of a desk and waited for the goblin to acknowledge her. After a few long minutes the goblin raised his head and asked: "Yes? How can I help you?"

"My name is Arya Potter. I would like to open a vault and do an heritage test." She replied, laying ten galleons on the desk.

"Very well." The goblin said, taking the gallons. "Come with me."

The goblin led her to a black marble room, whose only occupant was another goblin behind a desk. The two of them talked in gobbledegook for a few seconds before the goblin that had accompanied her to the room left. The other goblin – was name was Ragnok – offered her a seat opposite him.

"Griphook told me you said your name is Arya Potter. Forgive me but I wasn't aware of other Potters being alive aside from Harry Potter." Ragnok said, his glare piercing, probably hoping to catch her in a lie.

Arya smiled, not the least bit intimidated. "In England perhaps. However, I was not born here. My father was Caius Potter and his parents were Charlus Potter and Dorea Black. I don't know if you're aware but Charlus Potter was Fleamont Potter's younger brother. He and his wife moved to America in the 30's. That means that I'm Harry Potter's second cousin and his closest living relative that has magic.

"My parents died not long ago, you see. I decided after that to move to England to meet my remaining relatives but I, unfortunately, found out what befell James and Lily Potter. However, Harry is still alive and I intend to adopt him. His guardians at the moment are muggles but I intend to change that. I observed the house for ten minutes and that was enough to establish that they are unfit to take care of a dog, let alone a human being. That is why I'm here today. Once you will have established with a heritage test that I am who I say I am I will require an adoption paper from you. Not even the Ministry can object to a document redacted from Gringotts."

At the end of her speech, Arya smiled and waited patiently for Ragnok to make a decision.

"Very well, Miss Potter." And with that he went to retrieve a blank parchment and placed it on the desk in front of her. Then he passed her a silver dagger, inviting her to prick her finger and let three drops of blood fall on the paper.

Arya did just that and watched curiously the blood taking the form of words. The words read as followed:

Arya Artemisia Potter

Father: Caius Potter

Mother: Artemisia Potter née Blanchard

Vaults and Possessions

Vault 54 – Shafiq Vault (through mother): 20 million galleons, various artefacts

Vault 67 – Fawley Vault (through mother): 15 million galleons, various artefacts

Blackbay Manor – Cornwell, Potter Family

Sterling Cottege – Kent, Fawley Family

8, Grimmauld Place – London Townhouse, Shafiq Family

Wizegamot Seats

3 seats – Potter Family

6 seats – Fawley Family

6 seats – Shafiq Family

Arya raised her left eyebrow at the two names on the paper. She really wasn't expecting for her mother to be a descendant of both the Fawley and the Shafiq families, two of the sacred twenty-eight and both believed extinct in the early 40's.

The goblin too appeared surprised at that revelation. "Well, Miss Potter, it appears you are indeed who you said you were. Now, would you like to accept the Ladyship of both House Shafiq and Fawley? If you don't, you won't have access to the Wizegamot seats that will stay vacant as they remained for the last fifty years."

"I will accept the Ladyship." Arya replied. She was surprised but she knew that this was a very fortunate opportunity. Having this many seats on the Wizegamot would be very useful for her plans.

Ragnok nodded and offered her two rings, one with the crest of a chimera – the Shafiq coat of arms – and the other a Pegasus.

Arya put both rings on the middle finger of her right hand and watched as the two rings became one, the chimera and Pegasus now facing each other.

"Though now Head of House of both the Shafiq and Fawley family, you are allowed to keep the surname Potter, if you so desire." Ragnok explained.

"Thank you, Mr. Ragnok, that is what I intend to do. I do have a question though, if you don't mind. How come do I have access to the Potter properties? Shouldn't Harry be the one to inherit everything belonging to the Potter family?"

Ragnok searched through his files before answering her question. Then, after having skimmed through it, he said, "It would normally be the case, yes. However, your great-grandfather, since he had two sons, decided to split the Potter belongings in two. Of course Fleamont, as the heir, inherited most of the Potter estate and properties and six seats in the Wizegamot. However, Charlus inherited a vault with 10 million galleons and the Blackbay Manor, plus three seats in the Wizegamot."

"I understand." Arya said. Well, that made things easier. She was wondering where she was going to live and thought about buying a house somewhere and creating the wards from scratch. Having a house or manor that had already old wards however would certainly help in her favour if Dumbledore decided to intervene and say that Harry wouldn't be safe with her as he would as the Dursleys because of the wards there. She only needed to see which of the three properties had better wards and was fit to live in.

"Now that this business is concluded, Miss Potter you said you wanted to open a new vault?" Ragnok asked.

"That was my intention yes. However since I apparently have access to two vaults, I was wondering if I could unite them into one and add to it the money I have with me."

"That is certainly easily done. How much would you say is in your possession?"

Arya almost shrugged her shoulders because she really had no idea. Between the Potter and Black money that she had inherited from her old world, she had no idea how much money she actually possessed. "I'm not completely sure. I have withdrawn everything that I owned before leaving the States. Everything is now in my trunk."

"That won't be a problem." Ragnok said before handing her a leather pouch. "This is a bottomless pouch. Move the money from your trunk to here and we'll weight it."

Arya accepted the pouch and took her shrunken trunk from out of her pocket. She touched the trunk with her wand – not that she needed to but she didn't want to reveal her wandless magic, not yet, not even to goblins who were notoriously neutral in wizarding affairs – and opened the second compartment.

With a wave of her wand the gold inside started to move from inside the trunk to the pouch. After a good ten minutes the compartment was finally empty.

Ragnok didn't lose any time in weighting the pouch in one of the scales on his desk.

At the number that appeared on the parchment that came out of the scale he widened his eyes. "It appears your grandfather and father were very successful in increasing the fortune left to them."

Arya looked at the number and widened her eyes too. Inside the pouch there were 90 million galleons. That was the extent of both the Potter and the Black family fortune.

Arya smiled uncomfortably at Ragnok. "Yes, it appears that way." Then with a smirk, she added. "Nobody can certainly say I can't provide Harry with all that he needs."

Ragnok smirked too, agreeing with her. After that he waved his index finger and the pouch disappeared. "You money is now safe inside vault 54, the Shafiq vault. The contents of vault 67 are being transferred to vault 54 as we speak. This is the key to your vault." And with that he gave her a tiny gold key that resembled the one she had once possessed to access her Potter vault.

Arya smiled at his efficiency. "Thank you Mr. Ragnok."

"Now, there is only one thing to do." Ragnok said before waving his index finger in the air once. Immediately a long parchment appeared in front of him.

"These are the adoption papers. You will need Petunia Dursleys' signature but I don't think that will be a problem."

Arya smirked. "Of course not."

She took the rolled up parchment and put it in a hidden pocket of her cloak. After that she got up and smiled at Ragnok. "It was a pleasure doing buisness with you, Mr. Ragnok. May your gold never stop flowing."

"And may your vaults always be filled with it." Ragnok replied back with a grin.

Arya left Gringotts with a satified smile on her face, happy that the first phase of her plan had gone even better than she had thought. Now all she needed to do was to take Harry away from those filthy muggles.