Hidden Wings - Part I

End of summer, back to school

Mioha took several more trips to Hogwarts with Professor Lupin, and every time they returned, the wizard looked much healthier.

There was no denying it: Orlai had to be the Light Titan.

As soon as that was clear, Professor Dumbledore organized two members who would watch Orlai, although often Mioha had to be one of the two since she seemed to be the only one who could find Rorinn's herd.

Unicorns remained a mystery.

The training with Professor Snape carried on, sometimes only every two days, but slowly, progress could be seen.

"Don't bother with that fancy wand-waving", Professor Snape snapped at them once. "It will only slow you down in situations where your reflexes need to be fast. Who would you want to impress on a battlefield anyway?"

Harry and Ron really tried to control their temper, often not replying to Professor Snape's taunting. One time, Harry managed to render the Potions Master speechless for a second, when he said genuinely: "Thank you sir, I didn't know that."

Not only Ron and Harry seemed to grow up in the last weeks before school.
The others did too.

Ginny's temper was still fiery, but she more often thought for a second before calmly replying to a statement that would have set her off weeks before.

Hermione stopped citing everything from books, and started to see that some things one had to learn through practice and not reading.

Fred and George started to become more independent from each other. Because of their plans to open a joke store, they still spent a lot of time together, but not all of their time. It became clear that the twins had different interests. When George decided to cut his hair very short, he gave Mrs. Weasley nearly a heart attack when he came down the next morning. But at least people could tell Fred and George apart now.

And Mioha wasn't the only one who noticed her friends' development.
One evening, she heard Mr. Weasley say to his wife: "Have you noticed that Harry and the others seemed to have gotten more-"
He searched for the right word.

"Mature?", Mrs. Weasley finished.
"Yes, I have. And I think Mioha has something to do with it."

And when Ron and Hermione got the letters they had been appointed Prefects for Gryffindor, that was when Ron really started to change his behavior. After all, if the headmaster thought he was mature enough to take over the responsibility of being a Prefect, he definitely had to start acting like it.

The morning they had to go to King's Cross, Fred's trunk had accidentally fallen down the stairs, crashing down the two flights.

The good news: no one got hurt.

The bad news: Walburga Black woke up.

Mrs. Black's portrait was howling with rage but nobody was bothering to close the curtains over her; all the noise in the hall was bound to rouse her again anyway.

"Harry, you're to come with me and Tonks", shouted Mrs Weasley over the repeated screeches of 'MUDBLOODS! SCUM! CREATURES OF DIRT!' - "Leave your trunk and your owl, Alastor's going to deal with the luggage . . . oh, for heavens sake, Sirius, Albus said no!"

A bear-like black dog had appeared at Harry's side as he was clambering over the various trunks cluttering the hall to get to Mrs Weasley.

"Oh honestly . . .' said Mrs Weasley despairingly. 'Well, on your own head be it! Mioha, you will be escorted by Remus, alright? He'll leave with you in a minute!"

She wrenched open the front door and stepped out into the weak September sunlight. Harry and the dog followed her. Then door slammed behind them.

Mioha waited inside, pressing her hands over her ears to shut out Mrs. Black's shouts.
Ron, Ginny and Hermione left after Harry. Fred and George would apparate on their own.