Hidden Wings - Part I

Number twelve, Grimmauld Place

Three weeks after the begin of the summer holidays, Mioha was supposed to go with Professor Lupin, Sirius, Mr. Moody and Nymphadora Tonks to a house called Grimmauld Place. There, she would meet the Weasleys as well as Hermione. And the truth about her would come out.
Harry would get picked up from his relatives a week later, but nobody told him that. Mioha couldn't imagine how anxious he had to be, waiting for them to answer his questions.
Professor Dumbledore had forbidden her to write Harry, and she imagined Ron and Hermione weren't allowed to either.
She was a little nervous for telling Ron and Hermione about herself, yet at the same time, she couldn't wait to get that burden off of her. So in the end, all Weasleys would know, Fred and George included, besides Percy.
Some members of the Weasley family had spent a week at Hogwarts to train, such as Bill, Charlie, Mrs. Weasley and Mr. Weasley, but had to depart early again due to their waiting jobs.

The three weeks until the departure to Grimmauld Place were filled with training. Mioha practiced flying, using her magic, started to learn Aikido from Professor Snape (she had no idea where he had learned that), went into the forest to study with Firenze and so on. The centaurs weren't part of the Order, so they were kept in the dark about who Mioha was. But they knew something was happening.

Mioha's favorite time was when the full moon rose and she could transform without feeling any pain. That was the best part of all.

"Ye will leave on brooms", said Professor McGonagall a week before their departure.
"Apparition can be tracked, as can Portkeys, which leaves brooms as our only option."
At Mioha's puzzled look, the older witch added: "Ye will fly of course."
Professor McGonagall's accent switched strongly back to Scottish, which sometimes made it difficult for Mioha to understand the Head of Gryffindor when she spoke very fast. For example, when Professor McGonagall rattled off what Mioha had to consider on their flight to the Grimmauld Place, Mioha only understood half of it.
Or actually, not even half.

The next morning at three o'clock, Mioha tiredly stood before the entrance of Hogwarts, her suitcase shrunk and pocketed and Esma on her right shoulder.
Swift sat perched on her left shoulder, after finally accepting that Mioha didn't mean any harm to him. Swift, Esma and Sisi wouldn't follow them, they would stay at Hogwarts and keep the owls company.
The sky was still dark, but the sun would rise in a few hours. It was summer, after all.

"Are you ready?", yawned Tonks when she stepped out of the castle, dressed in a blue cloak with a broom in her hand. Her hair was a violent purple today, standing off her head in sharp spikes.

"Yes", Mioha nodded, feeling excitement to fly a longer distance taking over her drowsiness.

The others followed after Tonks, all dressed in travel cloaks and carrying a broom.

"Let me see how invisible you can get, girl", Mr. Moody grunted, his little brown eye fixed on her while the blue one rotated around to check for dangers.
Without a word, Mioha let herself vanish completely, until it looked like Esma and Swift were sitting on thin air.
The brown female remained calm, she was used to Mioha's abilities, but Swift looked quite puzzled to find that his talons were gripping something he couldn't see.