"ALL DONE, DIDN'T I TELL YOU IT WOULD be easy?"

Nikita watched the owl sore off with her letter for Sirius, a nervous bubble in her heart. She looked back up at George through her glasses and nodded, "Thanks."

He ruffled her hair, "No problem, Hazel. Come on, let's go wait for Freddie to get out of detention."

Nik made sure to stick close behind him as he lead her through the maze that was Hogwarts. "What did he do anyway?"

"You mean what did we do?" George grinned. "We stuck that git, Malfoy, into a vanishing cabinet. The teacher's are gonna be there all day trying to find the other half,"

Nikita blinked, slowly pushing her glasses up her nose. "So... we don't like Slytherin's?"

"Absolutely not," George said with a affirmative nod, "They're all little prats. Trust me on that, they ain't worth a tonenail from the gremlin that lives in Argus Filches' snot, understood?"

She nodded seriously, "Understood."

George looked down at her with a small smile, a chuckle escaping his lips. "I like you Hazel," He mused aloud. "I think you and my sister would get along just fine. You two could become our protegee's!"

"We could become your what what?"

George shook his head, "Don't worry about it. Anyway! What do you wanna do?"

Nik shrugged, "I dunno. Tell me more about people!"

"Really? Why? They're pretty crappy, Hazel."

"I think they're wonderful," She said truthfully, "I mean- look at everything they've created! All the colours and books and languages and sports- How can you not like them? They have holidays where they bake little pies and carve pumpkins, and they wear shiny things and scare off the dark with a wave of their wand! How cool is that!?"

George thought for a minute, staring at Nikita in somewhat awe. "Well... I like your perspective on things, kiddo. Even if I don't agree. Their are bad people out their too you know."

"Oh I know," She nodded. "And that's why I like the good one's so much. I mean, they could've become bad like the other guys- but they didn't! They smile and laugh and bake instead! And they make bacon! Do you know how delicious that stuff is?"

"Okay little fairy," He ruffled her hair again, "You just keep sparkling."

An old memory with Sirius suddenly popped into her mind. She lowered her voice, "Am I... fabulous?"

"Absolutely."

***

Months blurred together, and soon it was almost time for Nikita to leave Hogwarts once more.

She wrote several more letter's to Sirius, hoping they would reach him safe and sound. Nik knew how dangerous the waves could be only too well, the sound of them crashing on rocks haunted her nightmares.

"Nik!"

She looked up from the dictionary she had been studying. The teachers didn't give her much homework, knowing she was much more behind then the average student. That left her with plenty of time to read.

Nik found out quickly that she didn't have the patience to read stories. They were unhelpful, full of made up world's, and, well... Nikita had a hard enough time understanding this one, she couldn't be bothered to try and understand other one's.

"Hello!" She greeted Hermione cheerfully, moving up in her seat so she could sit down beside her.

Trailing behind the buck teethed Gryffindor girl was Harry and Ron. They took a seat on the couch, awkwardly looking between the two girls. Nikita frowned when she saw Ron's face had turned red, and began to wonder if he had a fever.

"I have a question," Hermione spoke up.

"Shoot," Nik said quickly, before grinning at her correct use of the word.

"In all your reading... have you ever heard anything about dying people drinking unicorn blood?"

"Not in my reading, no." She saw their expressions deflate. "But I have heard of it."

"Really?" Harry blurted out, "How?"

Nik shrugged, "Crazy people mutter in their sleep. What do you need to know about it?"

"How... dying does one have to be to need it?" Hermione asked, leaning forward.

"Extremely. Slaying a life as innocent as a unicorns can curse somebody to a miserable existance. Like a having an invisible dementor hovering over you. There have been cases where people didn't kill the unicorn- rather had it follow them around and feed on it daily, though it always led to icky-ly close bonds being formed."

"Okay- how do you know this?" Hermione questioned, baffled.

"I may not know what marshmallows are, but anything icky and sad, I have a story for," Nikita said proudly. "It's my smarts area."

"One- you did not use that word right. Anf two- I'm still confused?"

Just don't tell them about Azkaban, they won't understand.

Nik stood up abruptly, "I need to- send a letter to my dad!" She blurted out. "Goodbye!"

She scuttled up the stairs and hid in their dorm room. Unfortunately, she saw one of their other room mates in their as well and dove for the bathroom door. She slammed it shut behind her and quickly locked it.

That was close, Nik thought, unaware she couldn't of been more suspicious looking even if she tried.

She caught sight of herself in the bathroom mirror. Her hazel coloured eye's fell on the dark out line on her arm. She unbuttoned her shirt enough to show her shoulder, and her lips began to tremble.

The cell number 3045 was tattooed there in bold. It sizzled in pain anytime it came in another human's contact. It was Azkaban's way of branding it's inmates should they try to escape. The moment someone saw those numbers in bold, made up of the tiny words 'Prisoner Of Azkabn' compressed together, they knew instantly who they were dealing with.

Nikita couldn't help but wonder what her friend Hermione would think if she saw it. Or her best friends Fred and George.

Would they think it was cool? Would they think it was awesome? Would they think it was silly? Would they think it was fine? Or would they call her a freak like Sirius warned her?

She'd like to have faith in her friends, but when Sirius had done that, his friend had betrayed him and killed his best friends.

Nikita stared herself in the eye's, noticing the dark lines that Hermione didn't have. Maybe it was Hermione didn't get night terrors.

Maybe it was because when Hermione looked in the mirror, she didn't see the heart broken eye's of the man who raised her. Maybe it was because Hermione didn't feel the guilt of leaving him behind.

Did Hermione know the kind of darkness the Dementors had brought Nikita everyday for eleven year's? Had Hermione's parents abandoned her on an island surrounded by murderers?

God, she hoped not.

***

A/N

Showing off a bit of Nikita's dark side! I haven't had much of a chance to do that since I started re-writing.

So, the original Nikita was vastly different to this one. Original Nik was much more confident, and joking, and friendly, and dramatic. And utterly un-realistic considering her back ground.

That's one of the reasons I decided to re-write, it was too cringey, she got over things too fast. Don't get me wrong, that's one of the major thing's about Nik. She was raised in Azkaban surrounded by Dementors, after that everything become's a little easier. But O!Nik was just... no.

Q: McDonald's or KFC?

Dude. KFC. Me love my chicken.