Chapter eleven

How To Breathe Underwater

""Dangerous dragons reported to be residing in Hogwarts have been located to be in the custody of Rubious Hagrid, a petition to sack the half-giant can be found on the next page"? Is this person insane?!" It was the next morning, and Cynder had just read the headline of the Daily Prophet and wasn't happy that she and Spyro had once again been posted on the front page!

"I hate to say it, Cynder," Spyro agreed, "but this particular human might need us to interfere" Cynder thought this through, on one side the reporter would probably stop writing fake news, but on the other hand, Cynder could feel as though the reporter would get what she deserved, so she shook her head with purpose,

"No, Spyro," she explained with a cheeky smirk on her face, "she will get all she deserves for treating people like this, trust me" she knew that karma was a thing, as she had had it happen to her once; she had terrorised her homeland for most of her life, tried to change, and had been manipulated into tricking spyro into releasing Malefor! She was so relieved that he had forgiven her.

"Good call Cynder!" Hagrid cheered from his chair, "not to mention that hardly anyone has voted me out yet, so I won't be leaving Hogwarts anytime soon!" Cynder smiled and glanced out of the window, she thought about how much she had changed since she had been freed from Malefor's control; she had started off shy and unable to look any living soul in the eye, she then grew more sure of herself and started teaming up with Spyro and Sparx, she had grown a lot during the three years of being trapped in crystal and it took a while to understand her new body, she had changed a lot on the inside too, she had even started making jokes and coming up with sophisticated plans in desperate times. If she didn't keep having nightmares and every now and then having another Invasion of her mind, she would be in paradise!

It was roughly midday when Cynder noticed Harry rushing to the hut, Ron and Hermione weren't with him and he seemed to be holding something up over his head, what was it?

"Harry's coming Hagrid!" She called over to the half-giant, just as Spyro jumped up to the seat she was on and looked outside,

"Cynder, there's nobody there," he said much to her confusion, just as there came a knock at the door, the dragon's quickly hid underneath the seat as Hagrid answered the door, and Cynder could see that it was Harry! He then pulled down whatever he was holding up,

"I need help," he told the half-giant as Hagrid let him in.

"Where did you come from?" Spyro exclaimed as he slid out from under the chair,

"I told you he was there!" Cynder pointed out as she followed her friend, resulting in a confused look to form on the boy's face,

"How did you see me?" He asked in wonder, he then went on to explain that he had been wearing something called an Invisibility Cloak and how it rendered him completely invisible! Cynder slapped her forehead on hearing this,

"Of course!" She sighed, "I can see through enchantments like that!" Thanks for nothing dad! She secretly thought, she often wondered how she would have turned out if Malefor hadn't attacked the egg sanctuary, she probably would have had two parents that actually loved her for who she was, not for being a direct duplicate of her father who wanted her to destroy the land! "So what help do you need?" She asked in a hope of changing the subject, and it worked,

"Is there any way a wizard or dragon can breathe underwater for at least an hour?" He then explained that he had opened the egg underwater and the clue had explained that he would have to find something underwater in under an hour. Cynder chuckled on hearing this, she had had a feeling that the next challenge would be something to do with water, seeing as the egg's clue could only be understood once submerged.

"Well, I don't think that we can be of any help," Spyro sadly confessed, "as far as I know, dragon's can't breath underwater, what about you Cynder?" The dragon smiled as the hut looked at her,

"I do know of one way, but it is impossible for a human to do," She took a breath before continuing, "I know that some rare dragons get born with both lungs and gills, the gills start working as soon as they are submerged in water, but humans can't be born with gills, so no luck," Harry sighed on hearing this,

"I guess that I will need to check somewhere else then?" He checked, "but enough about me, how are you two getting on?" Cynder glanced at the Daily Prophet slightly before saying in an assuring voice,

"So far things are going well," Spyro nodded,

"Yes, Hogwarts isn't so bad a place to be"

For the next hour or so, the four friends enjoyed telling stories about themselves, although Cynder confused one of Hagrid's rock cakes as a literal rock at one point. It was a lovely time, until the disaster happened. Cynder was laughing uncontrollably after Harry explained that Hagrid had enchanted millions of letters to flood his aunt and uncle's house! Talk about being insistent! But as she was laughing, Cynder suddenly felt a sharp pain in her head and everything went black!

"Is everything set?" Her eyes snapped open in an instant and once again she saw that she was looking through that mirror, the weasel man and the creepy infant were in the room, but the thin one was nowhere to be seen.

"O-O-Of c-c-course, oh powerful one!" Stuttered the weasel, who seemed to be getting more and more nervous by the day!

"So all we need is that boy?" She heard Malefor ask, and she knew now who they were on about! "Are you sure your plan will work, Riddle? If it fails, then we are both doomed to face eternity like this!" The infant smiled at this,

"Fear not my draconian friend," He rasped, "He will never see it coming!" He then get out a raspy laugh that echoed in throughout the hut!

"Cynder?! CYNDER!" She then felt something cold and wet hit her face! She jolted awake in an instant! She looked around her and saw the concerned faces of Harry, Hagrid, and Spyro, staring down at her. It was clear that they were worried, although Harry was slightly wincing with a hand over his scar. "Oh, thank the Ancestors you're ok!" Spyro sighed in relief as Hagrid helped her back to her feet, "what happened? One minute you are laughing your head off, the next you collapse to the ground and start twitching like crazy!" Cynder knew that her secret keeping couldn't go any further, if she didn't tell her friends what was happening, they might think she was dying!

"To tell you the truth," she said slowly, with her head bowed, "since the snakes were placed around our necks, I have been having nightmares about a room. It's rather old by the looks of things and it always has two people in it; a portly, weasel-like man. And a pale white infant with some form of mutated skeleton." She saw Harry silently gasp on hearing this, and continued, "they are always talking to me, through some form of enchanted mirror, though it isn't me they are talking to, more the person I am seeing through the eyes of, I think it's Malefor."