Title: Nika, Lost In An Unknown World

Rating: G – General

Slash: Nope, not at all.

Disclaimer: All characters belong to J.K. Rowling accept Nika and family. No infringement is intended.

Notes: It takes place after OotP but I just ignored THAT chapter. I had no doubts whatsoever to keep Sirius in this fic :-).

With special thanks to Jasmine, the greatest beta-reader in the world!

Chapter 1

I am lost, and I'm sure I'm not supposed to be here. It's an awful place. It's dark, filthy and there is nobody outside. I have no clue how late it is, I have been wandering for so long now... If I only had my mobile phone with me, how could I have forgotten it? My aunt must be looking for me now, but what if she didn't notice that I was gone? No, that couldn't be, how long can you do about the way to the baker? And she knows I'm a stranger to this place. I have been gone for hours now! Well, to me it seems hours, but I forgot my watch and my mobile phone.

What would my mother say? She sent me to my aunt here in London, because she had to go to France for her work. "It's just for a week my dear" she said, but I know why she is there, and that's not for her work. We were on holiday in France last year, in Bretagne, and she liked that guy from the market very much; a bit too much if you ask me. I bet they are keeping in touch. She is so absent-minded lately. My father and mother separated four years ago, and I didn't have to think a second about where I was going to live. Oh, how I hate my father! I wonder how my mother ever could have fallen in love with him. He hit her! And hard! And later he hit me too. Sometimes I think he just forced her to marry him. I hope that guy from the market is better. I doubt it though...

I am getting desperate. It's almost night now! And I still haven't met anyone. I don't know if that is good or bad; what would the person I met do when I say I'm lost? I shiver. The lampposts are not working. They are still dark. I see something moving on my right. Gasping I take a step backwards. Anxiously I look around. It's a rat; I see his tail slip away behind a rubbish bag. I start to run. The street is in a bad state. I trip a few times. I have got the feeling someone is following me. I look behind me still running, but see nothing. I'm running faster and faster now. My lungs are searing with breath. Finally I reach the end of the alley. The filthy old houses on each side of me are suddenly gone. Gasping for breath I stop running. I'm looking at a square. It surprises me that the lampposts are burning here. But for some reason it is still very dark. On the other side of the square I see a small bench. I walk towards it and a nasty smell reaches my nose, as rubbish that has been lying there for a few weeks already. I reach the bench and plonk down, still breathing very fast.

I think about my situation, tears are welling up in my eyes. Who would ever find me here? I know I have to go on; I have to return to the land of the living, before somebody finds me. Because whoever finds me, he can't be too nice if he lives in a neighbourhood like this. Suddenly I realise that the feeling I'm being watched is again prickling my senses. Terrified, I look behind. And when I see what is there I can't think clearly anymore. Gasping, I stand up and take a few steps back. A feeling I have never felt before is blearing my sight. I can't see, I can't think. The feeling is one of total panic.

I am looking at a man. But not just a man. He wears a long black cloak with a cap which covers his face, so I can't see his eyes, but his mouth is curled in an evil grin. He has something in his hand; it looks like a piece of wood, which he pointed at my heart. And everything about him radiates pure evil. I know what that man is up to. I know I don't have much time left to run. He is going to kill me...

But suddenly something strange happens; his grin disappears and he makes a sudden movement, like something has scared him. And then I hear it too; somebody is running. I hear his footsteps echoing from one of the alleyways that are coming out on this square. The man turns around and begins to run too. The other one shouts something and a flash of red light hits the first man in his back. He falls to the ground and moves no more. It happened all very fast and I can't really process what I just saw. What was that red light? Some kind of laser? What happened to the man on the ground? Where did the light come from?

My last question is solved very fast as the new man comes running towards me. He too has a wooden staff in his hand and anxiously I want to turn around and run for my life. But before I could even move my feet...

"Wait!" says the second one, as if he had read my mind, "Don't run away! I want to help you!"

Not able to move anymore I look at him. I see a young face. A young face with eyes which are showing the amount of things he went through already. His light-brown hair is flecked with grey.

What was he up to? I feel my panic slowly slip away and feel it replaced by curiosity. Still looking a bit anxious I try to ask him who he is, who that other man is, but all I can achieve is to point at the man on the ground and to open my mouth. It feels like the strange red light had taken away my voice. He follows my finger and looks back at me.

"I will explain later, first you need to come with me, it isn't safe here." He does a few steps in my direction but as a reflex I take a few steps back. The man stops and smiles weakly "Don't be afraid, I won't do you anything. I'm not like he is." He nods at the man, who still lies motionless on the floor.

I take a better look at the man in front of me. When he had nodded to the man on the floor, it had seemed to me that an expression of pure hatred had flown over his face. But now that his eyes are on me again he only looks like a nice and kind man who really wants to help me. My last bit of doubt and fear vanishes and I walk towards him. Without looking in his eyes I stand before him. He put his left hand on my right shoulder as though he wanted to protect me. He mutters something like "Mobilicorpus" but I guess I just didn't hear it right. The man begins to walk, leading me, and I walk with him, still looking to the ground, not thinking about what was coming.