Hidden Wings - Part I

Birds on the rise

Mioha watched the sunset from the top of the Astronomy tower before class. Esma was perched on her knee, looking at her excitedly.
"I told Swift, Zuki, Hedwig, Sisi and Aries about the old man's request", she cheeped.
"And they were all in. Although I had to persuade Aries first, he was very stubborn to stay out of it. But the other owls are in too. And Sisi has alerted her friends and when she'll be traveling south, she'll continue to spread the news. So far, nobody found anything Titan-y yet, but guess what."
Her black eyes sparkled.
"Hedwig told me that only in the past week, two hundred birds have heard of the old man's request. And there will be more! Right now, it's not only owls that know, although it's mostly owls, but there are also eagles, rails, ducks, chickadees and ravens too!"

Mioha had to smile at her friend's excitement.
"Sounds like another army is forming", she said thoughtfully. "An army of birds."

Esma nodded vigorously.
"I told the school owls and Sisi and Swift that you are the one to report to, should anyone find something. Obviously, they won't swoop down on you in the middle of class, but don't be surprised if owls fly to you in the Great Hall even though they don't have any mail to deliver."

Mioha gently petted Esma's wings.
"I'm proud of you", she said honestly. "Who would have thought?"

Esma looked at her hurtfully.
"Hey!"

"No, no!", Mioha said, trying to reassure your friends. "I know that you and other birds are extremely smart. I'm just surprised that Professor Dumbledore thought of you. Usually, when humans are busy with something important, they forget the other creatures on the planet."

Esma calmed down and jumped onto Mioha's shoulders.
"I'm glad you're not human", she chirped and rubbed her head against Mioha's cheek. "At least not a real one anyway."

"They're not all bad", said Mioha quietly and let her gaze wander across the blood-red clouds. "And I'm perhaps more human already than you think..."

"Well, didn't you dream of your sister two years ago?", asked Esma. "In your dream she told you to accept the human part in you so you would find yourself. And you did. You have now both sides in you, Silverwing and human, and your block is gone."

Mioha bit her lip thoughtfully.
"I just don't know if that was it. Was there more to it that Siya wanted me to know?"
She sighed.
"And what about Nanrek and Octo, both talking about those weird circles I will break. What by Merlin's underpants is that supposed to mean?"

Esma shrugged.
"We'll figure it out. We always do."

Mioha felt as though she were carrying some kind of talisman inside her chest over the following two weeks, a glowing secret that supported her through Professor Umbridge's classes and even made it possible for her to smile blandly as she looked into her horrible bulging eyes. She and Canisclan were resisting her under her very nose, doing the very thing the Ministry most feared, and whenever she was supposed to be reading Wilbert Slinkhard's book during DADA lessons, Mioha dwelled instead on satisfying memories of their most recent meetings, remembering how Neville had successfully disarmed Hermione, how Colin Creevey had mastered the Impediment Jinx after three meetings' hard effort, how Parvati Patil had produced such a good Reductor Curse that she had reduced the table carrying all the Sneakoscopes to dust.
They were finding it almost impossible to fix a regular night of the week for the meetings, as they had to accommodate four separate Quidditch team practices, which were often rearranged due to bad weather conditions; but Mioha was not sorry about this; she had a feeling that it was probably better to keep the timing of their meetings unpredictable. If anyone was watching them, it would be hard to make out a pattern.