After Mioha had alerted Professor McGonagall of the possibility that the Air Titan might be in Germany, Professor Dumbledore sent two Order members to Germany on the same day.
They reported back of having found no trace of an unusually large eagle, and after two weeks without success of finding it, one Order member was stationed there permanently to keep an eye open.
One eye, literally. Because Alastor Moody was the one stationed in Germany and his magical eye did not work properly since Barty Crouch Junior had taken it.
Mioha felt so excited that they might be close to finding a Titan, she remembered she had wanted to tell Professor Dumbledore about the Titan's Birth Place.
It turned out, he had known about it, but apparently it would be much harder to find the Birth Place because no records existed of it, how it looked like or what it even remotely was. And although the Birth Place's energy was so strong that normally one should detect it, no one had ever found it before.
Professor Dumbledore asked Mioha to continue to ask birds to scout for them, and it actually worked out pretty well.
Whatever enchantment had been placed around Hogwarts because of Professor Umbridge, the school owls had no problems receiving messages from other flyers and forwarding them to other owls. Esma and Swift were seen fluttering around busily, Esma inside the castle and Swift outside, to deliver messages to Mioha or other owls. More than once, students asked themselves what these crazy blackbirds were up too.
But no more storks came into the Great Hall, to Professor Umbridge's satisfaction.
Because of the unicorn and the Titan drama and everything else going on, Mioha had completely forgotten the one thing Ron and Harry seemed to worship most: Quidditch.
As the first Quidditch match of the season, Gryffindor versus Slytherin, drew nearer, their Canisclan meetings were put on hold because Angelina insisted on almost daily practices. The fact that the Quidditch Cup had not been held for so long added considerably to the interest and excitement surrounding the forthcoming game; the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were taking a lively interest in the outcome, for they, of course, would be playing both teams over the coming year; and the Heads of House of the competing teams, though they attempted to disguise it under a decent pretence of sportsmanship, were determined to see their own side victorious.
Mioha realised how much Professor McGonagall cared about beating Slytherin when she heard from Harry that their Transfigurations teacher had abstained from giving the Gryffindors homework in the week leading up to the match.
Professor Snape was no less obviously partisan; he had booked the Quidditch pitch for Slytherin practice so often that the others had difficulty getting on it to play. He was also turning a deaf ear to the many reports of Slytherin attempts to hex Gryffindor players in the corridors (which Mioha did not approve of).
She herself was interested in Quidditch, and she would have loved to play herself, but she was not obsessed with it up to the point where she would start harassing the other teams.
Mioha suspected Gryffindor would win, but Gryffindor's new Keeper had a problem: Ron's greatest weakness was a tendency to lose confidence after he'd made a blunder; if he let in one goal he became flustered and was therefore likely to miss more.
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."
Mioha glanced behind her.
Everyone would be outside by the Quidditch pitch by now. Pansy had chosen a good time, nobody would be here to witness anything.
"Come on, Pansy", she said annoyed. "This is stupid."
"Yeah?"
Pansy narrowed her eyes at her. That witch looked positively creepy with her glittering eyes.
"I should have done this a long time ago. Now that Professor Umbridge is here, things will be put right. You are not a Slytherin, and you never will be."
Mioha forced herself not to take a step back when the three Slytherins advanced on her.
"I never heard that attacking others was a Slytherin value", she said, her voice a little shaky. She wouldn't be able to defend herself, not without raising suspicion. "That's just one people have started to connect with Slytherin."
Millicent grunted a laugh, her wand pointing at Mioha as well.
"Well, what will you do now?", Pansy hissed and pointed her wand at Mioha's face.
"You're not even a proper witch."
Mioha's right hand grabbed her wand out of her pocket, while her left, hidden behind her back, curled into a fist, her magic ready.
Then she took a deep breath.
Her nose twitched.
Someone was here.
Professor Snape always watched the Slytherin games. It was a sign for his House that he took interest in the game and stood behind his students. He would never admit it to anyone, but he rather enjoyed the little discussions he had with Minerva every time the Quidditch Cup was fought over.
It was so easy to get the Lion mother angry.
The only thing he did not appreciate was having to keep up the pretense he favored his House to the extreme. Professor Snape knew of some Slytherins taunting other students and attacking them in the corridors, but whenever it involved Gryffindors, there wasn't much he could do. The Dark Lord had to see his hate for Potter extend to all Gryffindors, otherwise he would be seen as weak.
Before the game, Professor Snape had returned to his private lab to stir the Wolfsbane Potion, which Lupin would need in a week. If it were up to him, he'd lock that mutt up in a cellar and let him out after the full moon.
Grabbing his cloak from the hook, Professor Snape's eyes swept through his lab one more time and checked on the six cauldrons filled with different potions.
They were all the right color and consistency, as they should be.
The door slammed shut behind him as he strode through the empty dungeon. The students as well as his fellow colleagues were outside, he would have to hurry to not miss the start of the match.
Professor Snape was about to round a corner, when a female voice got his attention.
He stopped in his tracks and listened carefully, his robes flowing around his legs from the sudden stop.
"You are not a Slytherin, and you never will be."
Professor Snape gritted his teeth and turned around to glide down another corridor.
Pansy Parkison.
Where a few years ago he would have thought his Godson would be the one to become the snobby Slytherin Prince, it seemed that Miss Parkison had taken his place.
He knew that Draco had spoked to Albus and it filled him with satisfaction that he had managed to instill some morals in the boy, unlike Lucius.
"Well, what will you do now?", Pansy hissed as Professor Snape arrived behind her. His eyes took in the scene from the shadows, which hid him from their view. But the three Slytherins weren't paying attention to the surroundings behind them anyway.
Miss Bulstrode and Miss Davis had both their wands pointed at Miss Mioha, while Miss Parkinson advanced on the pale girl.
Professor Snape scowled and felt his anger rise.
There were few people he counted to the ones he always kept an eye on, such as Draco and Albus, and Miss Mioha was one of them.
She had trusted him enough to return to Hogwarts with him after running from Lupin. She had saved him from being killed by Lupin in third year and had always treated him with respect. She must have had a word with Potter and Weasley because they had suddenly dropped their usual obnoxious attitudes towards him.
But no matter that; Miss Mioha was under his protection as long as she needed it.
Professor Snape silently slid his wand out of his robes and pointed it at Miss Mioha. Her nose twitched and that was all the sign he needed to know she had smelled him.
"Ranae!", Miss Parkinson yelled.
The typical Turn-into-a-frog-spell.
Professor Snape immediately cast a strong non-verbal Stupor, catapulting Miss Mioha backwards moments before Pansy's spell reached her. Miss Mioha landed roughly on her bottom, sliding backwards a few meters.
Miss Parkinson looked around baffled, then narrowed her eyes at Miss Bulstrode and Miss Davis.
"Was that you?", she hissed and the two Slytherins shook their heads in a synchronized motion.
Rapid footsteps could be heard and when Professor Snape looked back to where Miss Mioha had stood, she was gone.
His lip curled slightly upward.
Good.
"Fools!", Miss Parkinson shrieked angrily and whirled around.
"Now she'll be running to the Quidditch pitch!"
She roughly shoved the two stunned girls out of the way and ran down the hall. Miss Bulstrode and Miss Davis looked at each other confused, before they followed Miss Parkison.
Professor Snape's black eyes followed them carefully while he remained in the shadows.
The path the House of Slytherin was going was not one he liked to see. Ruthlessness should not be mistaken for cunningness. They were two very different things.
While he had doubted that Miss Mioha would fit into his House after her Sorting, he now knew she would help her fellow Slytherins back onto the path they were meant to follow.
Professor Snape stepped out of the shadows and swept down the corridor with his robes billowing behind him.
He had a game to watch.
Mioha quickly climbed a stand for the Slytherins and seated herself next to Erica, her eyes making sure that Pansy hadn't followed her.
"Hey, Jess", Erica greeted her. "Cheering for both teams again?"
She looked down at the flags in Mioha's pocket, one green and silver one, and one red and gold one.
Mioha pushed the past ten minutes out of her thoughts and smiled apologetically.
"Yeah. Will you be able to tolerate some Gryffindor vibes next to you?"
Erica nodded and took out her wand.
"Replico."
Another Gryffindor flag appeared, which Erica picked up. She smiled happily.
"Great idea."
The students were cheering for the players, waving flags through the cold air and wearing scarfs and hats in the color of one of the playing teams. Erica and Mioha both raised their Slytherin and their Gryffindor flags, cheering loudly whenever one of the teams scored.
Even Professor McGonagall seemed to lose her usual composure. Her hat had fallen off and she raised a triumphant fist into the air every time the Gryffindor chasers scored a goal. Professor Snape next to her looked as bored as ever. He was watching Draco and Harry carefully, both Seekers circling the Quidditch pitch from above.
Suddenly, as if Professor Snape knew he was being watched, he looked over at Mioha.
She froze for a moment, then smiled shyly and nodded gratefully for what he had done earlier.
A short inclination of his head was all Professor Snape did to show he had acknowledged it.
Mioha turned her eyes back to the players, yet her mind was elsewhere.
Why had the Sorting Hat put her in Slytherin?
She did not seem to fit in that well.
That's not true, a little voice said. There are other Slytherins who think like you.
But the last thing Mioha wanted to do was create a rift between Slytherins. That was definitely not her intention.
If one should describe the game between Slytherin and Gryffindor, what word could one use?
It was awful.
Knowing that Ron could not handle being laughed at, some Slytherins had come up with a new song.
Weasley cannot save a thing,
He cannot block a single ring,
That's why Slytherins all sing:
Weasley is our King.
Weasley was born in a bin
He always lets the Quaffle in
Weasley will make sure we win
Weasley is our King.
And it had worked.
Ron let Slytherin score four times until Harry caught the snitch and freed the redhead of his misery.
Mioha shot Ron a sympathetic look as she made her way down the stands.
Hermione was already on the pitch, talking to Ron and looking like she was trying to cheer him up.
"Saved Weasley's neck, haven't you?", she heard the black-haired Slytherin Chaser say to Harry when she got close enough. "I've never seen a worse Keeper... but then he was born in a bin . . . did you like our lyrics, Potter?"
Pansy cackled.
Mioha hurried over, noticing out of the corner of her eye how Professor Umbridge was watching them carefully.
Don't listen to him, Harry, she prayed silently.
Harry didn't answer.
He turned away to meet the rest of the team who were now landing one by one, yelling and punching the air in triumph; all except Ron, who had left Hermione and seemed to be making his way to the changing room all alone.
"We wanted to write another couple of verses!", Pansy called.
"But we couldn't find rhymes for fat and ugly - we wanted to sing about his mother, see - "
"Don't listen to her", said Mioha loudly to Harry, casting an angry look at Pansy.
She hadn't forgotten about their encounter earlier.
"-we couldn't fit in useless loser either - for his father, you know - ", said Lucian.
Fred and George had realised what Pansy and Lucian were talking about. Halfway through shaking Harry's hand, they stiffened, looking round at them.
"Leave it!", said Hermione at once, taking Fred by the arm. "Leave it, Fred, let them yell, they're just sore they lost, the jumped-up little - "
"- but you like the Weasleys, don't you, Potter?", said Pansy again, sneering. "Spend holidays there and everything, don't you? Can't see how you stand the stink, but I suppose when you've been dragged up by Muggles, even the Weasleys' hovel smells OK - "
Mioha and Harry grabbed hold of George. Meanwhile, it was taking the combined efforts of Angelina, Alicia and Hermione to stop Fred leaping on Pansy, who was laughing openly. Mioha looked around for Madam Hooch, but she was berating Vincent for an illegal Bludger attack.
"Or perhaps", said Lucian, leering as he backed away, "you can remember what your mother's house stank like, Potter, and Weasley's pigsty reminds you of it - "
Mioha was not aware when Harry had released George, all she knew was that a second later, the redhead yanked his arm out of her grip and both of them were sprinting towards Pansy and Lucian.
"No! Harry!", she yelled as the Gryffindor punched Lucian in the stomach.
"Harry! HARRY! GEORGE! NO!", Hermione and Angelina screamed, still trying to stop Fred from joining his brother.
Pansy jumped back into safety, not bothering to fight with the Gryffindors.
Only a second passed until Madam Hooch saw the fight and yelled "Impedimenta!", and both George and Harry were knocked over backwards by the force of the spell,
"What do you think you're doing?", screamed Madam Hooch, her eyes flashing yellow. Staring angrily at the three students who had been involved in the fight, she was holding her whistle in one hand and a wand in the other; her broom lay abandoned several feet away. Lucian was curled up on the ground, whimpering and moaning, his nose bloody; George was sporting a swollen lip; Fred was still being forcibly restrained by the three girls, and Pansy was cackling in the background.
"I've never seen behaviour like it - back up to the castle, both of you, and straight to your Head of House's office! Go! Now", Madam Hooch ordered sharply.
George and Harry left the Quidditch pitch, both not having found their composure yet; their shoulders were still shaking with anger.
"Oh", whispered Hermione. "I bet Umbridge is going to use this to punish Harry."
Indeed, as Mioha turned around, she saw the toad-like witch scurrying after the Gryffindors, her face displaying her contentment.
"Nothing will happen to them, right?", asked Alicia worriedly, releasing her hold on Fred. "I mean, George and Harry were provoked."
Fred snorted angrily.
"I can't believe it", he hissed, his hands curling into fists. "Those wretched-"
Mioha laid a hand on his arm.
"Nothing they said was true", she tried to reassure him.
Fred huffed angrily.
"But they-"
His hands formed into fists and he took a deep breath.
"I'm gonna see what Professor McGonagall says", he said curtly and rushed off.
Hermione and Mioha traded a look.
"What do you think Professor Umbridge will do?", asked the Gryffindor. "Surely she can't do anything worse than give them detention."
Mioha's eyes flickered to the retreating figure of Fred and sighed.
"I don't think Professor Umbridge will leave it with detention", she said with a bad feeling in her stomach.
"If those two get kicked off the team, I'll...", Angelina's voice faded as she left to change, muttering under her breath nasty insults about Professor Umbridge.