Hidden Wings - Part I

The Quibbler...

Ron was not only making a big leap in spell casting and physical training, he started improving in Quidditch too. The confidence boost he got from managing to duel longer in every training session seemed to rub off on him during Quidditch.

During their match, Gryffindor against Hufflepuff, Ron did let some goals in, but managed to block most of them. The Weasley is our King song seemed to have lost its effect since Ron did not turn a bright shade of red when some Slytherins started singing it.

It turned out, however, that Ron had taken precautions. After Ginny caught the snitch, Mioha ran up to them to congratulate them.
"That was great!", she said proudly.

Angelina patted Ron on the back.
"Nice, Ron. I knew you had it in you. That song was stupid anyway."

"Thanks for defending the Weasley honor", said Fred with a grin, opening his arms.

Ron stared at them confused.
"SORRY? WHAT DID YOU SAY?", he said loudly.

Ginny lifted her hands up.
"Geez, no need to shout", she said irritatedly.

Ron stuck his broom under his arm, then reached up and stuck his fingers into his ears. With a plop, he pulled out two white balls of cotton.

Everyone gaped.
Then they started laughing.

Cho and Harry were spending a lot of time together as well, but at the same time, Ginny and Harry seemed to be getting along very well too. Both Gryffindors had a lot of fun dueling each other during their training sessions, which made Mioha wonder whether Harry was a bit insecure about his feelings.

Harry's Occlumency was slowly improving, but not because he meditated but because he kept doing what Mioha had shown him. However, at night this did not seem to help whatsoever. He still dreamed of the black door and always woke up before he could open it.

Mioha worried what would happen if Voldemort realized their connection.
Would he attack Harry? Spy on him? Or even project things into Harry's mind that weren't there?

On the 23rd of March, the moment arrived they'd all been waiting for.
Mioha entered the Great Hall for breakfast at exactly the same moment as the post owls on Monday morning. She was not the only person eagerly awaiting the Daily Prophet: nearly everyone was eager for more news about the escaped Death Eaters, who, despite many reported sightings, had still not been caught. She gave the delivery owl a Knut and opened the brown package eagerly while Esma helped herself to her pumpkin juice.

A loud noise made her look up. Fifteen owls came down screeching and landed in front of Harry, all carrying letters.

"A letter", one squawked. "For you, boy."

"Untie it", another complained and dipped its beak into a jug of orange juice. "I have more things to deliver."

Harry looked about as confused as Mioha felt.

She looked back down at her package. Out rolled a tightly furled copy of the March edition of The Quibbler.
She unrolled it to see Harry's face grinning sheepishly at her from the front cover. In large red letters across this picture were the words:

HARRY POTTER SPEAKS OUT AT LAST: THE TRUTH ABOUT HE WHO MUST NOT BE NAMED AND THE NIGHT I SAW HIM AND THE SILVERWING RETURN

"It's good, isn't it?", said Luna, who had drifted over to the Slytherin table and now casually stopped beside Erica and Mioha. "It came out yesterday, I asked Dad to send you a free copy. I expect all these", she waved a hand at the owls scrabbling around on the table in front of Harry, "are letters from readers."