Hidden Wings - Part II

Calm before the storm

It was very practical and a little unnerving that all wolves had the wolf necklaces to communicate with others. When Ron, Hermione and Harry set foot into the Great Hall, they found all students turning their eyes on them with expectant looks.

"Looks like we're gonna have a big crowd later", muttered Ron to Harry, who grimaced.

As the chatter picked up again in the Great Hall, Hermione led them to one of the tables occupied by Sirius, Draco and the rest of the Weasleys. Ginny, who had not seen Harry the previous night, shot up from her seat and threw her arms around him.
She didn't say anything, perhaps she couldn't, she just hugged him tightly while pressing her face into his shoulder. Harry swallowed heavily as he closed his arms around her.

Ron stood beside them with a hurt expression on his face.
"I've been gone a year and she doesn't even look at me", he muttered.

George and Fred grinned and each put an arm around Ron. Even though their expression was playful, they had obviously missed their little brother.

"She has five brothers, Ron, but only one Harry", said Draco with a raised eyebrow. He smirked slightly and stood up.

Ron scowled at him, but he couldn't hide a grin when Draco gave him a friendly clap on the shoulder.

The hugging round took a while, since people from the neighboring tables came over to greet the three.
Mrs. Weasley kept eyeing them worriedly, obviously wanting to make sure if Madam Pomfrey hadn't missed something during their examinations.

When they finally got to sit down, Hermione found herself between Draco and Ron, while Harry had seated himself between Sirius and Ginny.

"What happened while we were gone?", Hermione asked worriedly and glanced at Draco. She raised her glass to take a sip of water.

Draco stiffened slightly.
"Where to begin?", he said, a painful expression crossing his face.
"Mioha was held captive for almost a year, the Order failed three times to free her and now she is an evil witch who will help the Dark Lord kill us all."

Hermione spluttered into her glass with surprise.
"I saw she had changed", she croaked and set down the glass, "Mioha- is not the Mioha we used to know."

Draco pinched his lips together.
"They could attack any day now", he said in a low voice. "Nothing is stopping the Dark Lord anymore from moving forward."

Hermione paled slightly.
"But- Hogwarts will have shields, right?", she said. "I've read about them, they are old and supposedly carry the magic of hundreds of headmasters."

"You forget, Mioha's magic is the same as the one that runs through the castle", replied Draco. "We have no idea how Hogwarts' shields will work against her. Maybe they won't even work at all."

Hermione swallowed heavily and fell silent.

After a few minutes of silently stirring his coffee, Draco spoke: "You know that later on when Potter meets the wolves, the entire student body will be there."

Hermione sighed.
"Yes. I'm actually surprised the professors didn't tell them about Mioha."

"They kind of did, but they kept the details out. All they told the others was that Jessamine Lince was the Silverwing, her name was Mioha and that she had been captured by the Dark Lord."
Draco grimaced.
"You better leave the Titan stuff out, I don't think the Creeveys could handle another shock like the one they had when Severus told them Mioha was the Silverwing. They probably couldn't really believe until you came back and confirmed it."