Hidden Wings - Part I

A bite with consequences

Mioha could tell that Hermione was torn about what to do. Either continue with her subjects or admit to Professor McGonagall that it was too much.
The Slytherin had told the boys to make sure Hermione would get enough sleep, they should hide her books if they had to.
Apparently, Hermione had ranted at them for disturbing her homework time, and had set Crookshanks on Ron and Harry.
Ron had gotten a thick scratch on his right hand, which only resulted in him hating the cat even more.

They had bombarded her with questions about what happened after the Quidditch match, but Mioha had stuck to Madam Pomfrey's story.

Hermione still eyed her doubtfully, but Mioha could only hope that her friend was too busy to search for "silver-light-appearing-after-encounter-with-dementor" in the library.

Professor Lupin had recovered, and one day during a free period, Mioha went on her way to his office, her heart thumping nervously.

She cautiously knocked on the door, and turned the door knob after she was told to enter.

Professor Lupin was feeding a Grindelow, which swam in a small aquarium full with algae. It bared its yellow teeth at the Slytherin, who stood a bit lost in the doorway.

"Ah!", Professor Lupin exclaimed when he saw her.
"Ms. Mioha, how are you?"

"I'm fine", she replied politely, "how about you, Sir?"

Professor Lupin shrugged and walked to his desk.
"I am as well as can be expected."

He sat down behind his desk and folded his hands.
"Please have a seat. What can I do for you?"

Making up her mind, Mioha asked: "Could you teach me the patronus charm, please?"

Professor Lupin's reaction was pretty similar to Professor Dumbledore's.
"Harry asked me the same thing", he chuckled and then looked at her carefully.
"I heard what had happened after the Quidditch match. How are you feeling?"

His concerned tone sounded sincere and Mioha smiled at him.
"Much better, thank you."

"I'm glad to hear that."
The wizard brushed his hand thoughtfully against his chin.
"I assume that you cannot use your wand to cast a corperal patronus", he thought aloud.
"I will have to do some research on that. Perhaps we can meet after the Christmas holidays for a session, and if you can find out about how Silverwings cast a patronus, or if they even cast one, that would be very helpful."

"Thank you very much, sir."
Mioha smiled relieved, them bit her lip, unsure whether her next question would seem a bit weird.

"Is there something else?", Professor Lupin asked gently.

Mioha breathed in deeply, then blurted out her question: "Do you know any unregistered animagi?"

Professor Lupin's eyes widened slightly, she had caught him completely off guard.
"Unregistered animagi?", he repeated, "I do not understand, where this question comes from."

Mioha swallowed.

She didn't want him to think she was crazy if she told him that a cat had told her that Sirius Black was innocent.

"I mean", she rephrased, breaking out in sweat, "I'm kind of curious about animagi, and I wanted to know whether you knew any unregistered ones."

His eyes watching her carefully, the werewolf answered: "Being an unregistered animagus is illegal, I doubt anybody would share a secret like that."

"But do you know any animagi who could turn into a black dog?", Mioha probed.

Professor Lupin's suddenly face hid any emotion it displayed.
"I think it would be best to end this conversation", he said tightly and stood up.