Hidden Wings - Part I

The Daily Prophet

As soon as Mioha's feet touched the ground, her legs collapsed beneath her. She ripped the mask of her face, feeling that same, weird feeling of water running down her head, and breathed in deeply.

She pressed her hands tightly to the black floor, shaking.

Now the worst had come to the worst.

The Ministry knew she had a human form. What if anyone had recognized her? How long would it take for them to figure out who she was?

And had Neville recognized her voice?

Mioha tried to get herself into a standing position, but failed. She felt like she would faint any second now. The headache from slamming into the windowsill returned as well, which caused a strong pain to throb through her head.

She didn't know what time it was, the torches in the Magnus Antrum burned as bright as ever. Not even their warmth could stop Mioha from shivering.

Mioha bit her lip so hard she almost drew blood.

What do I do?, she thought in panic.
Making the Ministry think I was far away from here was the safest disguise I had... But then again, Voldemort had already known. At some point, he would have most likely ordered one of his Death Eaters to let something slip. The only reason he hadn't though, was because now the Ministry would be competing against him.

Mioha pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her wings around herself.
That always reminded of how her mother used to do that to her whenever it had been cold.

I wish you were here, she thought miserably.

A movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention and she looked up. Professor Snape had entered the Magnus Antrum with a scowl on his face. His robes looking very much like enormous bat wings, he strode towards her and hissed: "Have you last your mind? Flying to the Ministry so that everyone in the world knows you have a human form?"

"I-", Mioha stuttered.

"You are lucky you were smart enough to wear that mask", Professor Snape snarled. "Otherwise the Ministry would have followed you straight to Hogwarts."

For a short moment, Mioha felt angry.
What right did he have to tell her that she wasn't allowed to help her friends? Should she have waited for someone to tell her what was going on at the Ministry? While her friends could have been hurt?

But that moment passed and left Mioha with nothing more than a deep tiredness that made her want to lay down and wake up no more.
Mioha looked away and set her chin down on her knees.
She wanted to go home. She wanted to see her herd again and run with them and have no care in the world like it used to be...she wanted to curl up with her mother and sister at night and graze with them during the day.

Mioha swallowed thickly.

Don't get emotional, she told herself, although that little voice in her head sounded very shaky.
They're dead. You can't bring them back.