Hidden Wings - Part I

Quidditch

October extinguished itself in a rush of howling winds and driving rain and November arrived, cold as frozen iron, with hard frosts every morning and icy draughts that bit at exposed hands and faces. The skies and the ceiling of the Great Hall turned a pale, pearly grey, the mountains around Hogwarts were snowcapped, and the temperature in the castle dropped so low that many students wore their thick protective dragonskin gloves in the corridors between lessons.
Mioha made sure to wear warm clothing when doing her nightly rounds outside; it became bitter cold once the sun set. Esma and Swift mostly remained outside in the thick bushes, but often the female blackbird would snuggle up to Mioha under her cloak and the Slytherin would carry her into her lessons.
Professor Binns did definitely not notice anything.
But Professor Babbling looked very suspicious when Mioha's robes kept moving on their own.

The morning of the match dawned bright and cold. The Great Hall was filling up fast when Mioha arrived, the talk louder and the mood more exuberant than usual. As she passed the Gryffindor table she saw Rol bent over his breakfast bowl. He didn't seem to excited about eating anything, judging by his green face.

She would wish him good luck later.

Mioha looked round and saw that at her table, in addition to the usual green and silver scarves and hats, a few, such as Pansy, Lucian, Tracey and a few others of the Slytherin team, were wearing a silver badge in the shape of what seemed to be a crown. For some reason they waved at Ron, laughing uproariously. Mioha tried to see what was written on the badges as she walked by and read:
Weasley is our King.

She scowled.
That was the most childish behavior she had ever seen.

Mioha narrowed her eyes at Pansy as she sat down. Judging Ron from here, he would faint if he'd see those.
She grabbed herself a bowl of blueberries and a slice of toast.

"Hello, Jessamine", said a dreamy voice suddenly.
Mioha looked up and found Luna standing before her, wearing a hat shaped like a life-size lion's head, which was perched precariously on her head.

"I'm supporting Gryffindor", said Luna, pointing unnecessarily at her hat. "Look what it does..."
She reached up and tapped the hat with her wand. It opened its mouth wide and gave an extremely realistic roar that made everyone in the vicinity jump.
"It's good, isn't it?", said Luna happily. "I just wanted to say that I would be cheering for Slytherin too, weren't it for their foul playing methods. But because you are my friend, I put this on too."
She pulled up her sleeve and showed Mioha a bracelet in the form of a snake around her wrist.

"Thanks, Luna", Mioha smiled. "That's very nice of you."

Luna smiled proudly.
"I'd better go before Professor Umbridge comes", she said and left.

After breakfast, Mioha quickly went back to her room to prepare for the cold outside. She wore two of her four Weasley sweaters under her robes, plus scarves, mittens and a black beret.
She loved berets.

It would soon be time for the Quidditch match to start and she definitely wanted to be there to support her friends as well as her house.
Mioha quickly left the common room and hurried through the empty corridors, when three shadows at the end of a hallway made her pause.

"Well, well, Lince", said Pansy with a smirk. "Come to cheer for the enemies like the traitor you are?"

She was flanked by Millicent Bulstrode and Tracey Davis, who grinned maliciously.

"What do you want, Pansy?", asked Mioha coolly.

Pansy pulled out her wand.
"You're a mudblood, Lince", she snarled. "And you are ruining the values of Slytherin by filling everyone's heads with the idea", she looked disgusted, "that Slytherin and Gryffindor can be friends."