THIS IS A STORY FROM THE NEW AWAKENING UNIVERSE. IF YOU HAVEN'T READ IT YET, I RECOMMEND YOU TO.

A Change of Sceneries

One-Shot Collection about Sirius and Chara (New Awakening Universe)

Chapter 1 – The Truth (Between Chapter 6 and 7 of New Awakening)

Siriusfound an empty bench in a secluded area of the park and sat Chara down before kneeling in front of the crying, yet silent, child.

"Here, let me take a look. Raise your chin a little, sweetheart." He said and she did as asked, holding her breath.

Sirius removed the blood soaked handkerchief and muttered a cleaning spell to get rid of the blood and an antisepticizing spell before closing the wound. Sirius was no healer, but one of the parts of the Auror training included basic healing for an emergency in a battlefield.

"There. Good as new." He said taping the tip of her nose. "Are you hurt anywhere else?" She looked down and shook her head. "Are you sure? That was a pretty nasty fall." He said with a raised eyebrow.

"My hands. B-but j-just a leettle." She said quietly, her accent pronounced. Sirius gathered her hands in his; the left one was bleeding a little from a deeper graze. The animagus quickly repeated the previous sequence of spells and the small girl watched as her skin was healed. "Thank you."

Sirius squeezed her hand before getting up and sitting beside her. "You're welcome, pup. Now let me scourgify your dress." She stared at him in confusion. "Clean it with a spell."

She looked down at her dress and turned green. The collar or the previously light pink dress was red with blood. Chara swayed on the spot and her eyes unfocused.

"Whoa." Sirius caught her in time. "Chara? Puppy, what's wrong?" He said cupping her face with his hands and she flinched as if she'd been burned. The girl was pale and sweating.

Sirius was just getting more and more alarmed with each second. She was too quiet, easily startled, flinched when people touched her, ran away when he asked is she's been hurt in the past and now looked positively sick on the sight of blood. He quickly cast a cleaning spell on her dress and pulled her into his arms. Where were James and Remus? They were the tactful Marauders. Sirius had no idea how to raise a child, let alone a possibly traumatised one!

Chara struggled to get away from her father's arms but he was holding her too tightly. She then managed to mumble "sick" in time for him to release her. She vomited her whole lunch and retched until there was nothing left in her stomach.

Sirius held his daughter's hair, his alarm over her reaction suppressing the urge to be sick himself. Once he was sure she wouldn't vomit anymore he picked her up and settled the small girl on his hip, holding her with one arm and cleaning the sick with a wave of his wand. The Auror turned to his daughter who was resting her head on his shoulder, eyes closed but tears still falling from them.

"Are you alright, sweetheart?" Sirius asked worriedly sitting down with his daughter sideways on his lap. Chara started to cry harder. "Hey, now, what's wrong darling? Shhh, I'm here. Daddy's here." He mumbled nonsense until her sobs turned into sniffles. "Want to tell me what's wrong?" Chara shook her head and fiddled with her hands. "How about we play a game?" She perked up at the idea. "I ask you a question and you have to answer me truthfully in return you get to ask me a question, which I will answer truthfully as well."

"How do I know you won't lie?" She said with her (adorable in Sirius mind) accent and bit her lip.

"I promise not to lie. But you have to promise not to lie as well." Sirius said locking his eyes with hers and she nodded. "Do you want to go first?" He asked, determined for her to see that he meant what he said.

"D-Do you have a girlfriend?" She asked rolling her Rs.

"No, I don't." He answered truthfully. He didn't have a girlfriend in a long time, just affairs and one-night stands.

"Then why-"

"Ah ah, my turn. Why did you run when I asked you that question?"

"B-Because I didn't want to answer." She said simply leaving Sirius gobsmacked. She had fooled the brilliant troublemaker of Hogwarts, the prankster extraordinaire! A little 8 year old girl!

"Okay, new rule. You have to actually answer the question. No finding loopholes and not answering. And no short answers otherwise the one who's asking earns the right to ask another question." He said once he got over his shock. She truly is his daughter.

"Why do you sometimes leave me at Uncle Regulus' home for the night, then? If not for going out on dates?" She said sadly.

"Er- You see, darling. Daddy has done many things he's not proud of, especially in this last three months. I don't have a girlfriend, but I- Er, I was seeing a lady." She didn't have to know it was more than one. "I didn't want you to be left alone." He saw that his answer had hurt her and cursed his stupidity. "But it's over now, darling. You are more important than any other lady."

Her eyes shone but then she looked at him disbelievingly. "I will repeat my question and no running this time, okay? We have a deal." She tensed but nodded nevertheless. "Did anyone back in Russia ever hurt you or hit you in any way?"

Chara nodded. "Nah-ah. Short answer, I get another question." She looked as if she wanted to run away again and Sirius tightened his arm that was holding her in place. "Who was it?"

She looked down and fiddled with her hands before whispering brokenly and almost inaudibly. "M-My s-stepfather and my mama." Then she broke down. One could clearly see that she was trying not to cry; she had her hands clenched and eyes squeezed shut but the sobs wrecked her body.

Sirius looked at the broken girl in his arms and felt an urge to shelter her from the world and glue back together every broken piece of her. He did his best to put his anger to the back of his mind and focus on the girl in his arms; the girl who's been alone for too long and needed him.

He enveloped the black-haired girl in his arms and put his chin on top of her head. The animagus rocked his child back and forth and mumbled apologies with his eyes squeezed shut. They let their bodies lose in that comforting motion for a while. Back, forth, back, forth.

After Chara's shaking subdued, Sirius pulled away and cupped her face with his hands. "Please tell me, darling. What did they do to you?" She stayed quiet. "Please." Sirius said, his voice betraying his desperation.

"M-Mama used to t-throw theengs at me…" She shared hesitantly.

"What things, Chara? I want you- no, scratch that. I need you to tell me what they did. With details. It's very important." He said seriously and she looked at him, her grey orbs betraying her fear. "I won't hold anything against you nor it will change how I feel about you. I just need to know so I can help you. Do you understand?"

The little girl paused then nodded before looking down. "S-She threw anytheeng she could find. B-Bottles, jars, books, lamps… Or she would use that theeng that hold candles to hit me. And she s-sometimes when she was really mad used her cigarette to b-b-burn me. Or when she was really really mad, she would use her wand. Anton, my s-stepfather, used to b-beat me with a belt, or his cane – he has a limp, you know? Got injured in a fight. They would lock me away without food, and wouldn't let me go to school. They would shout a lot, especially when they ran out." Only when she finished speaking she noticed that her cheeks were wet but she was determined not to show weakness.

"Do you know what drugs did they use, darling?" Sirius asked with trepidation, tightening his arms around her in support. No 8 year old should go through this.

"They used loads of theengs but their favourite's something called korabl', Starship? It makes you see theengs and then you get sick afterwards." She said with a faraway look. "But you always want more."

Sirius knew what that was: a mixture of LSD, PCP and many hallucinogenic magical herbs, highly toxic and addictive. It was quite popular between miscreants. Then he stopped when he realized the way she spoke, it was like she had tried it. Oh no!

"Chara, how do you know that? Did you- Did they make you try it?" Sirius asked his face showing his fear.

"T-They gave me once. It was the only time I felt h-happy, it made me s-see good stuff. But then it was over and I felt really sad so I-I s-stole some." She said ashamedly. "W-When they found out, they punished me real bad and made me do stuff for them so I could get more."

'Oh, Merlin!' Sirius thought horrified. 'They drugged a child. They drugged his daughter.'

"What did they make you do?"

"They made me do extra chores and go p-places, like alleys and bridges."

"How old were you, darling?"

"I had just turned 7. But they stopped giving me once-" She stopped and a whimper came out her throat. Her eyes were glazed over.

"Once what? Tell me, princess. Please." Sirius said getting desperate but she wasn't with him anymore.

"Here she is, Klaus. Do whatever you want to with this shlyukha*, just give me my stuff." Dina Averin said throwing her daughter unceremoniously on the dirty asphalt of the alley.

They blond man handled the woman a small bag. She checked its' contents and seemed satisfied. Without so much as a second glance she left, leaving her 8 year old daughter with the strange adult in the dark place.

"Come here, girl." Chara, who had her legs to her chest in the corner looked up and slowly shook her head. She was scared. The man in two strides was in front of her and pulled her up by the hair. He slapped her across the face. "You heard what your mama said. She was willingly to hand you over to me just for a couple of grams." He laughed and moved his hands to the hem of her shirt.

Chara then panicked. The only thing she could remember was blasting the man away and running. Her innocence depended on it, after all. That happened exactly three months ago.

"Chara? Chara, please answer me!" She snapped back to reality to realize she was shaking. She tried to pull away from the arms around her but the one holding her had anticipated her move. "Chara, it's me. It's daddy. I won't hurt you, princess." She slowly opened her eyes and looked at her surroundings. She was in England, in a park, with her father.

"S-Sorry." She mumbled trying to stop crying.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, darling. Want to talk about it?" He said kissing her head.

"N-No."

"Please, Chara. I need to know so I can make you feel better. I promise it won't change how I feel about you. Just tell me, please." He begged.

She seemed to ponder for a second before telling him her flashback's contents. He was speechless by the end of it.

'I will kill that bitch! How dare she?' Was all Sirius could think of.

"Are you sending me back?" Chara asked scared, her father seemed angry.

"What? No, no! Of course not, Chara. You will never go back there, do you hear me? I will never let you go or harm you." Sirius pushed her head to his chest and rocked both of them. The little girl was crying but it was of relief.

"Even if I'm bad?" She looked at him with hope in her eyes.

"Nothing you could ever do could make me send you back to a place like that. What they did was inhuman, baby. They were bad people and they couldn't have done those things to you. Had I known about you or what they did, I would have taken you away in a heartbeat. What they did was wrong. They are terrible people who don't deserve to live in this world. You are stuck with me." He took a deep breath. "I don't know a single thing about being a father but I'll do my best to make up for my mistakes and be a good parent to you, alright?"

She then hugged him. She hugged him. It was just the first step, but what marathon started without one?

A/N: It's finally here! I will post a series of cute moments as requested between Sirius and his daughter Chara from the New Awakening universe that I couldn't fit in the story. I hope you liked it and please follow, review and favourite. Also, if you haven't read New Awakening, I suggest you do so you can understand better what this is all about. Just click on my profile and you'll find the link.

PS: Please say what you'd like the next one shot to be about. I'm accepting all kinds of requests! And please, review. They mean a lot.

Also, if you want pictures on how Chara looks like just ask away.

Thank you again,

Maria