1. June 29, 2022

My name is Nikia Black (N-eye-key-a not Nick-ee-a). That's right, you heard me. Black. Yes, I am related to Sirius Black, a fact I don't let on to everybody. Now, not many people know this but Sirius black had a daughter. Even he may not have known. The mother, Amélie Antoine, she was French and she named her daughter Cerise Black, meaning "black cherry". When Cerise was 19, she met Marc Summers, with whom, she, in turn, had a daughter. This daughter she named Nikia Black. Yup, that's me, Sirius Black's granddaughter. My mother did not name me Summers, after my father, because he left her before I was even born. You see, my mother and I, and my grandmother too, we are witches. That is why my father left us. My mother told him about herself and told him that I would probably be the same and that is why he left; he was afraid of us. I was born a few months later. My mother, grandmother and I are all French and my first language is French. It was only after moving here to Scotland, when I was about 3, that I began to learn English. My mother, ma mère, and I now live in a Muggle town that has a fairly small magical community, very few witches and wizards. Our house has a lot of Muggle appliances. We try to blend in as much as possible and we have quite a few Muggle friends who come over often. I've even found a spell that will allow Muggle electronics, such as iPods and video players, to run on magic. Well, I more made it than found it. Oh, I'm babbling. I never used to. I was always a think-before-you-speak girl but not so much since….. Anyways it doesn't really matter. What does matter, though, is that I have officially declared this to be the "Worst Summer Ever". No joke. Just before this summer began, I was expelled from Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, the school for magic I attended from years 1 through 5 (ages 11-15). That meant dealing with maman when I got home, which was NOT fun. Still, I consider myself lucky that I was expelled from a school in France. If I had been studying in Britain at the time, I would've lost my wand. But then, to cap that off, I had to go to a meeting with the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, my new school come September, to get a couple hours of lectures about rules and expectations and behaviour for school, blah blah blah. BORING! I'm babbling again. Oh well, I gotta go. Peace. Ξ

Sixteen year old Nikia Black looked up from her journal, to see her mother standing in the doorway to her bedroom. She closed the blue book that she had gotten for her last birthday, put it back under her pillow and sat up on her bed. Her mother did not look happy.

"Ma belle, I am so sorry. I 'ave been called into vork again." Cerise Black, Nikia's mother, was an accomplished journalist for The Daily Prophet in England and was often called in on short notice. Nikia was used to her mother having to run off at random intervals for indefinite periods of time.

"That's okay, maman. I'll be fine." she assured her mother.

Cerise smiled at her only daughter; she knew that very well by now. Mon dieu, she thought, she could take care of herself and everyone around her without even breaking a sweat. I really should stay home more, it's not fair for her to be alone so much and to have take care of this whole family. As if reading her thoughts, Nikia spoke up again;

"Don't worry so much maman. I know you need to work and I don't mind looking after the house. Now get going or Ms. Brown will get over stressed again."

"I know ma belle. Now, there are leftovers in ze fridge, do not forget…"

"To feed Mouse and Minuit, lock the house, clean my room, have a shower and get to bed on time" Nikia cut across her mother. "Oui, maman, I will remember. Good luck at work."

And after a quick hug and kiss, and one last look at her daughter, Cerise disapparated.

...

Nikia was indeed used to looking after herself and her surroundings. At a very young age, her mother had taught her how to cook and clean and do the shopping and take care of herself. Because her mother worked so much, Nikia was usually the one who did all of the cleaning around the house as well as the shopping, the cooking and caring for the family pets, Mouse and Minuit. She didn't mind though; quite often, she enjoyed it.

At sixteen, Nikia was a fairly average sized teenager. She stood around five and a half feet tall, weighed about 120 lbs and was pretty well built. You might've noticed that she was a bit more muscled than your average teenager but only if you were really paying attention. The first thing you would notice about her would be her hair. Hip length and midnight black, it was usually loose and rippling about her as she walked, or else tied back in one long plait down the center of her back. The second thing you'd notice would be her eyes. A piercing ice blue, the phrase "the eyes are the windows into the soul" would not've been lost on Nikia.

Sitting on her bed, Nikia laughed softly to herself. She always felt that her mother worried to much about her instead of thinking about herself sometimes. I swear, she hasn't taken a vacation from work since I was born. Oh wait, she corrected herself, and when we moved here from France. As a teenager, Nikia liked being alone sometimes and usually busied herself with laundry or dishes and such. But I'm never really alone, she thought to herself. "Am I Minnie?" she said to the black cat that had just jumped into her lap. Meow, replied the cat.

Laughing, Nikia picked up the cat and, snuggling her face into her fur, got up off of her bed and headed downstairs. Minuit, or Minnie, was a pure black cat the Nikia'a grandmother had given as an 11th birthday present. Well, early birthday present really. Nikia had been given the cat before going off to Beauxbatons for her first year that September. The kitten had been meant as a birthday present, even though Nikia's birthday fell at the end of October, on Halloween.

Putting now full grown cat on a chair, Nikia proceeded to place two different types of food in two different dishes.

"Mousy!" she called, "dinner time!" Mouse the Crup came tearing around the corner, tail wagging furiously, skidded on the wood flooring, almost tripped, righted herself and dashed to the food dish Nikia had placed on the floor. Minuit made a more dignified walk to her food dish, jumping down of the chair and walking stately to where her owner had placed her food. The Crup was a family pet, though Nikia was the one that had named her. A few months after moving to Scotland, Nikia was beginning to learn English and had just discovered the word "mouse". When her mother had taken her get a Crup the 4 year old had jumped up and down and cried "Mouse! Mouse, mouse, mouse!" Her mother had just laughed and Mouse the Crup had been named.

Looking around herself, Nikia saw that a mound of dishes awaited her attention. So, after eating her own meal, she pulled her long hair into a ponytail, turned on her favourite CD, rolled up her sleeves and got to work.

Later that night, Nikia flopped down onto her bed. Mouse and Minuit jumped up and settled around her as she turned up her music…

...

A girl is running down the street. It's raining heavily, a fact she seems to register faintly as she sprints down the sidewalk, her long hair sticking to her back. Why did I forget my coat? The girl thinks dimly as she runs. She slips, her bare arms hitting the pavement hard. She's back up and running almost instantly, barely aware of her ripped blouse flapping behind her as she goes, exposing her torso and the black bra she is wearing. She glances back. He's there, just as she knew he would be, always there but never gaining any ground. The girl trips again, this time somersaulting before getting back to her feet. She's realizing, as she ruins, that she can't keep this up forever. I have to find a populated street, the girl notes clearly. She takes a random left, then a right and another left. She glances back again, hoping to have lost the one pursuing her, but no, there he is again. One more left and she runs straight into a dead end alleyway. She glances around frantically, looking for a way out but there is none, only the way she came in, which is now blocked by the man she has been running from. She whirls around to face him, her body tense and chest heaving, praying to get another chance at escape. The man passes under a street light, which reveals him to be younger than first thought, around the girl's own age, with a nasty smile spreading across his face as he approaches her. "Derek, Derek, please!" the girl cries. "Please, don't do this. Please, no!" "Now, now, darling," he says, wagging his finger at her," if you didn't want thins then you should not have broken up with me, particularly not in front of the whole school." His grin widens, knowing that he is changing the truth to suit himself. "Mais non, mais non, I did not Derek! You know I did not!" she is crying now, though glad that the heavy rain is masking this. He just chuckles softly, menacingly. "Lie all you like, you deserve this", he says as he lunges at her and grabs hold of her arms. Looking into his eyes, seeing the anticipation there, the girl is afraid. As he pushes her against the back wall of the alley, she throws her head back and screams, louder and longer than ever before. He pulls her towards himself then shoves her back at the brick wall behind her, cracking her head against it. Again he does this, making the girl stop for fear of passing out. He releases his grip on her arms and she falls to the ground, black spots dancing in front of her eyes. She tries to sit up but he pushes her back down and kneels above her, straddling her body. He yanks down her jeans, followed by her underwear. She struggles weakly, exhaustion beginning to set in. he pushes her back down and kisses her harshly on the mouth. She claws him across the face, causing him to backhand her in retaliation. He sits up and drops his own pants and boxers, pushing the girl back down yet again as she struggles to free herself. A wave of pain washes over her as he enters her and she screams. He brings his mouth down over hers to stifle her screams and sobs, pushing his tongue into her mouth. Her head clears momentarily and she bites down on his tongue. Hard. She can taste his blood flooding her mouth as the boy yells and smashes her head on the ground, forcing her to let go. He backhands her again and this time the girl can taste her own blood in her mouth. He starts kissing her again and again, causing her to barely be able to draw breath. She sees spots again. He takes his mouth away and sits up, causing a fresh burst of pain to course through her. She screams again. This time, the boy barely seems to notice. His back is to the alley's entrance. The girl on the ground is so exhausted she can barely move but, facing the ally mouth, she sees a car pull up and someone get out. She pulls herself back together, draws as much breath as she can and screams an ear shattering scream. The people at the end of the alley jerk around to look into the darkness at the end, where the girl and boy are locked together. She screams again and sees the couple begin running towards her. Suddenly her scream chokes off and she can't seem to draw breath. Her chest is heaving but no air is coming in or out. He's strangling me! She realises. With the last amount of energy remaining to her, she begins to kick and scratch and hit as much of him as possible. Her world begins to go dark but just as she is sure she is about to die, the pressure is pulled away and she draws in a large, gasping breath, feeling cold, night air rush into her lungs. She opens her eyes to see that the rain has stopped and that there is a woman kneeling beside her, talking to her. Looking to her other side, she sees a man holding the boy in a choke hold. She looks back to the woman, who is trying to ask her her name. The girl hears sirens in the distance, growing louder as they come closer. Looking back at the woman, the girl croaks out: "Nikia. My name is Nikia." Then, everything goes black.

Nikia sat bolt upright on her bed, startling Minuit off her owner's chest. This was the weight on Nikia's chest which had triggered this dream. A police car raced past her window, lights on, sirens blaring, and sped past into the distance.

Looking around her room, Nikia realises that she is crying. Picking up Minuit, from where she had been deposited on the floor, she gets up and walks over to her window and looks out. She can see people walking together across the street, laughing and talking together. Trying to tell herself that it was all a dream, she knows that she can't lie that well, even to herself. Sighing, she turns away from her window and looks around her room. She can hear her mother moving quietly downstairs. Sighing again as she gets back into bed, she says quietly:

"It's decided, Minnie. Worst Summer Ever."

Meow!