Harry's Firebolt was the new talk of the school, and when he finally got it back from Professor McGonagall, he immediately started practicing with it.
Mioha smiled as she watched him at practice with his friends, glad to see him happy again.
She wished she could race Harry, to see if she could beat the Firebolt and fly faster.
The next match was Gryffindor against Ravenclaw in March. Slytherin had beaten Ravenclaw in January, so if Gryffindor would win this match, the final would be between Gryffindor and Slytherin.
Hermione and Mioha had kept visiting Hagrid to help him to go to court for Buckbeak. The poor man was so nervous for his feathered friend, he'd stutter while practicing in front of the girls.
And he couldn't release Buckbeak without fearing he'd go to Azkaban again.
"My father says that your feathered friend will get executed for sure", Draco sneered at her when she passed him one day.
"That oaf won't be able to do anything about it."
Mioha looked at him angrily.
"Why are you hoping that Buckbeak will die? Is something wrong with you?", she hissed, her hands forming fists.
"He deserves it", Draco said loftily and held up his (now healed) arm.
"I still can't move it the way I used to."
"Yes, you can", Mioha snarled and took a step towards him, which he commented with a raised eyebrow.
"You just find pleasure in seeing others in pain.
Well listen. One day you will wake up and wish that you could make all the things right you have done to others."
Fuming, she stormed off, hearing Draco laugh behind her.
"No I won't!", he called after her haughtily.
Hermione sat next to Mioha at the Quidditch match, ignoring the hateful stares of the other Slytherins.
Ron was still giving her the cold side, and she didn't want Neville to have to decide between them, so Hermione had seated herself next to Mioha.
So far, none of the Professors had complained.
"Go Fred!", Mioha cheered as he blocked a bludger from smashing into Angelina, sending it shooting to another Ravenclaw.
Gryffindor was leading with 80 to 30, Katie Bell having scored the first goal.
"Look!", Hermione gasped and tugged at her friends sleeve.
Harry had gone down into a fast dive, Lee commentating the high speed of the Firebolt, until Professor McGonagall threatened to take the microphone away.
Harry's hand was reaching out, ready to catch the small golden ball, when suddenly, a bludger hit him in the side.
A loud wave of boos came from the Gryffindors, and George angrily smashed a bludger into the Ravenclaw beater who had sent the bludger into Harry.
"Ow", Mioha moaned as she saw Harry clutching his side, struggling to stay on the broom.
He found his balance and took off again, Hermione breathing out in relief.
Cho Chang, the seeker of Ravenclaw, started trailing Harry, blocking his way when he almost caught the snitch.
"Don't be such a gentleman, Harry!", Oliver bellowed.
"Knock her off her broom if you have to!"
Cho sent him a glare.
Gryffindor was still in the lead, Slytherin booing every time Oliver stopped the Quaffel.
Then, Harry found the snitch a third time.
Mioha and Hermione cheered loudly when Harry was closing in on the snitch, when suddenly Cho screamed.
Mioha saw her point down at three figures, dressed in long, black cloaks with hoods on.
Without hesitating, Harry pointed his wand at them, something white and enormous shooting out of his wand, before catching the snitch in the next second.
The Gryffindors erupted in cheers, Mioha and Hermione jumping up and down excitedly.
Quickly leaving the stands, they ran out onto the pitch, where Harry was being congratulated by Professor Lupin.
"I didn't feel a thing!", Harry beamed.
"Well", Professor Lupin chuckled, "that was because they weren't dementors."
The three hooded figures had tangled themselves within their long cloaks, and as Professor McGonagall flicked her wand, Draco, Vincent and Gregory came into view.
"Sabotage!", she shrieked angrily.
"Fifty points from Slytherin! I shall have a word with Professor Snape about this, you can be sure of that! Detention for all of you!"
Mioha shared an amused look with Hermione, not feeling sorry for her housemates in the slightest.
"You gave Mr. Malfoy quite a fright", Professor Lupin told the speechless Harry, who stared at the three Slytherins gobsmacked.
"That was wicked!", Ron yelled and gave Harry a thumbs-up.
"You cast a perfect patronus, Harry", Professor Lupin congratulated the Gryffindor seeker, before joining the other Professors.
"Harry!", Mioha jumped over to him, "did you see what your patronus was?"
Harry shook his head disappointedly.
"No, I was too focused on the snitch", he answered.
"It was a stag!", Mioha told him excitedly, "a huge stag! That was awesome!"
Harry beamed at her, his other teammates now coming over to congratulate him on his good catch.
Mioha noticed Hermione a few meters away, standing there and looking a bit lost.
The Slytherin walked over to her friend and said: "Don't worry, Hermione. He'll come around. Crookshanks is a cat after all, they eat rats and mice."
Hermione smiled weakly, before leaving the Quidditch field, probably to do some homework.
The next morning was a Sunday, and Mioha got up early, planning on visiting Hagrid. She put on the new earrings from Luna and excitedly went to breakfast, Esma perched on her shoulder.
Walking up the steps and several corridors, Mioha entered the Great Hall, and stopped in surprise.
It was bustling with eating Gryffindors.
Usually, most students tended to lay in bed until lunch.
However, Mioha noticed that the Gryffindors were whispering about something, casting fearful glances around.
She quickly approached the Gryffindor table and walked up to the trio.
"Guys", she said quietly, "what's the matter?"
"Sirius Black was in the Gryffindor tower last night", Hermione said shakily, still keeping distance to Harry and Ron because of Scabbers.
"He was standing there, with a knife! And he had ripped my curtains!
I thought I was going to die", Ron said dramatically to Lavender Brown, who was listening intently.
"Oh, you were so brave", she cried and Ron grinned.
Mioha looked down at Harry, whose knuckles had turned white.
She put a hand on his shoulder, and he gave her a weak smile, but his green eyes were glistening angrily.
"I'll kill him", he muttered so quietly, she almost couldn't understand him.
Mioha squeezed his shoulder gently, but remained silent.
Now what?
Why the heck had Sirius Black come into the Gryffindor tower? To kill Harry?
Peter Pettigrew was dead, so that had to be it.
Mioha felt so stupid, she could have hit herself with a plate.
There she was, trying to help a crazy man prove his innocence, and in the next moment, he tried to kill her friend.
"I'm so stupid!", she told Esma angrily later on her way to Hagrid's.
"How could I believe a cat, that Sirius Black was innocent? Crookshanks probably just wanted to eat Scabbers after all."
She leaned against the wall of a corridor.
"No, Mioha", Esma chirped, trying to cheer her up.
"You thought you were doing the right thing. And I was the one who told you that Scabbers was a human, I should have talked to him at least. You haven't done anything wrong."
Mioha closed her eyes tiredly.
This was getting too complicated.
She shouldn't have gotten involved in the first place.
Stupid cat, she ranted as she walked through the large doors of the castle.
Ugly fur ball.
Walking quickly down the path to Hagrid's hut, Mioha saw Buckbeak chained to a post, gnawing at something furry he held between his paws.
Mioha bowed to Buckbeak as she passed him, he inclined his head and resumed eating.
"Hagrid?", she called out and knocked against the heavy door.
No reply.
"He has gone", Buckbeak informed her, swallowing the rest of his meal.
"Gone?", Mioha asked puzzled, before remembering.
Hagrid had gone to the ministry to present his side of the accident.
I hope he'll be ok, Mioha thought worriedly and walked back up to the castle.
Professor McGonagall had been furious with Neville, stripping him of his rights to go to Hogsmeade because he had lost his paper with all of the passwords on it.
And Sirius Black had somehow found it.
Augusta Longbottom, Neville's grandma, had sent Neville such an angry howler, everybody could hear its message when it exploded outside of the Great Hall.
Apparently, Sir Cadogan had been fired, and the Fat Lady had been replaced, with the condition that her portrait would be guarded.
Hermione spent a lot of time with Mioha, upset that the boys wouldn't talk to her. So the Slytherin often took her into the Forbidden Forest, introducing her to the unicorn herd with the golden foal.
Hermione had been delighted to meet the foal, although it wouldn't let her near her. It was probably too shy to let a human touch it.
Mioha and Hermione were having tea one afternoon in Hagrid's hut.
"It was awful", he told them somberly and ate another of his hard cookies.
"I forgot what I had been practicin', droppin' my cards and stutterin' all over the place."
He wiped his eyes with a big, red handkerchief.
"We will think of something", Hermione tried to console him, "I'm sure of it."
She patted the half-giant on his arm, and he trumpeted into his handkerchief.
"Ye guys are real friends", he sniffed and looked at them gratefully with red-rimmed eyes.
Clearing his throat, he pocketed his handkerchief and grumbled: "There's no point in cryin' now."
He smiled sheepishly, then looked up on his clock.
"Ya should get back to the castle, it's gettin' dark soon."
The time passed, and Mioha found herself occupied with preparations for her final exams, despite it only being the end of March.
Her private sessions with Professor Snape were getting really interesting now. Despite Professor Lupin teaching her, Professor Snape had continued to give her lessons in dueling, probably to annoy the werewolf on purpose.
One evening, they were practicing shields in an empty classroom.
"Do not use your shield to merely block", Professor Snape instructed her, "but instead, use it absorb the opponents magic to strengthen it. These types of shields are harder to conjure, yet they last longer."
He likes teaching when someone listens, Mioha thought and focused on following Professor Snape's instructions.
She conjured a shield, just a second before a red bolt of light hit it.
Placing her hands in front of her, Mioha kept her magic flowing around her, trying to absorb the bolt's magic like Professor Snape had said.
Spell after spell crashed into her shield, and soon it began to crack.
Mioha's arms were shaking from the exertion, her forehead covered in sweat as she quickly tried to repair the cracks.
Professor Snape's spells thundered against her shield, chapping it more and more until-
CRACK!
Her shield broke apart.
Mioha fell to her knees, gasping heavily, her hands pressed against the cool stone floor.
"Needs improvement", Professor Snape drawled and swiftly put his wand back into this cloak.
"I thought Silverwings were stronger than that", he added coolly.
Mioha fumed internally.
Angry at herself for her weak performance, she stood up, ignoring her wobbly legs.
"Next week, I will be occupied elsewhere", Professor said curtly.
"I expect you to practice, Ms. Mioha."
Robes billowing he swept out of the room.
Then he disappeared.
"Ugh!"
Mioha furiously kicked at the wall, her anger fading when the castle scolded her.
"I'm sorry", she mumbled and ran her hand over the wall she had kicked, appeasing the castle by giving it some of her energy.
Sliding down the wall, Mioha buried her head in her arms.
She couldn't understand it.
When she had transformed in the summer, she had felt so powerful and free, she thought her magic would get stronger too.
But after every session with Professor Snape, she felt disappointed.
Despite already performing magic that was well above the level of a normal teenager, she knew she could do better.
Yet somehow, she felt like something inside her was blocking her...
Raising her head, Mioha had a determined look on her face.
She would do better.