Malinda managed to make her way inside the Upstairs Corridor without anyone catching her after she was finished with all her classes. She calmly walked inside with her back slouched and she looked around, as she was expecting to see Merula waiting for her, but Merula was nowhere to be seen.

Malinda: ( quietly, with worry: ) Merula?

Malinda then sniffed the air, and hesitantly walked towards a mysterious door. She then heard something approaching, but as soon as she turned her head, the thing that was approaching ran away in fear when it sensed Malinda's presence. Malinda then turned her attention back to the door. She tried to open the door, but it was locked.

Malinda: ( sighs ) ( thoughts: ) Sorry, Ma, but my friend could be in danger.

Malinda then picked the lock with her claw-like fingernails, and within seconds she'd unlocked the door, Malinda's response to this by whistling twice and then she snapped her fingers.

Malinda then opened the door and went inside the room behind the door to find that it was covered in ice and Merula was inside...and Merula was currently stuck in ice.

Malinda: Merula!

Merula: D-Don't just s-s-stand there, get me o-out!

Malinda then saw that the ice had spread over the door, blocking the only exit and making Malinda mentally panick. The ice tried to spread to the dark green eyed Slytherin, but it melted as soon as it touched her.

Malinda: The door froze shut-

Merula: ( angrily: ) I-I can see t-that!

Malinda then had an idea of how to get out of the situation, but she mentally knew that if her parents find out about what she was about to do to get her and Merula out of that room, she would be grounded like no other.

Malinda: ( takes a deep breath ) ( to Merula: ) Hold on, Merula, and whatever you do, don't panic.

Malinda then slowly and hesitantly took off her enchanted gold earring, and as soon as the earring was off, a big amount of the ice around her melted away. Merula watched in shock and confusion as to what was happening, then she watched as Malinda slowly placed her hand on the ice that Merula was trapped in, causing the ice to melt within seconds.

Merula: ( to Malinda: )W-What was that?!

Malinda didn't say anything, she just pulled Merula close to her, making the purple eyed slytherin realized that Malinda's body heat had risen. The two then approached the door, Malinda touched the door, making the ice on the door slowly melt. Merula then looked up when she heard a low growl and saw that Malinda's eyes had turned from a dark green to bright green with slit pupils and that Malinda's hair had turned from dark red to bright red with orange tips, making her hair looking like a violent flame.

Malinda lowly growled in frustration at how slow the ice on the door was melting, and within seconds, by herself, she digged her claw-like fingernails in the wood of the door, and... she ripped the door off it's hinges and tossed it across the corridor outside the room.

The duo then ran out of the room, Malinda then picked the door, placed it back where it was, and used the heat in her hands to melt the hinges and the doorknob on the door to the wall, sealing in the ice inside the room, but Merula watched as a sealed envelope flew out of the room as Malinda melted the hinges and doorknob.

Merula: ( to self, while looking at the writing on the envelope: ) " To Fire Scale, from JB. " Interesting...

Merula then looked up to see Malinda was standing in front of the door with one hand holding her gold enchanted earring and her other hand pressed on it, making a burn mark on the door.

Merula: ( with a slight, unnoticeable blush while looking at Malinda: ) So is that...

Merula then went back to her usual composure and walked up to the tall Slytherin. She then took the gold earring from Malinda and Merula carefully puts the earring back on Malinda, making Malinda's hair and eyes turn back to normal. Malinda then slowly calmed down after taking a few deep breaths, and once she did, she quickly looked at Merula with regretful eyes.

Malinda: ( to Merula: ) I'm sorry, you had to see that, Merula, I didn't mean to frighten you, it was the only thing I could think of to get us out of there-

Merula: ( a bit rudely, to Malinda: ) Again, again, and again with this, Burns. I've told you, stop acting like a Hufflepuff. You don't have to apologize for what you did, despite how surprisingly strong you are and how you used your body heat to melt the ice and the metal hinges and doorknob. A powerful witch such as myself can never be frightened by a witch that doesn't even know how to not worry about how others see herself like you. Now let's go to the Great Hall before we get caught. We've got what we needed.

Malinda looks at Merula in shock before smiling, and she begins following Merula out of the corridor.

Once the two got to the Great Hall, Malinda and Merula sat beside each other at the Slytherin table. Malinda quickly grabbed a ham and cheese sandwich and began eating it happily, as Merula opened the envelope and took out the note inside it, to reveal a letter with a single sentence of drawn dragon claw marks, making Merula look at the letter with frustration as she was expecting it to have something she would be able to read. Malinda glanced at the letter over Merula's shoulder when she'd noticed that Merula was frustrated.

Malinda: ( whispers, calmly to Merula: ) It says " The Ice Knight stands guard past the Vanished stairs. "

Merula: ( whispers back to Malinda, with a serious expression: ) You can read this madness of a letter?

Malinda: ( Whispers, calmly, to Merula: ) It's written in a code that me and my brother made when I was little.

Malinda then went back to eating the rest of her sandwich as Merula had a mischievous look in her eyes in response to learning that Malinda can read the code on the letter.

( Later that night, in the Forbidden forest )

The red dragon with orange markings is seen laying in the clearing in the middle of the forest, the moonlight shines down on her and the light slowly revealed a...gold earring on one of the dragon's ears.

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That's it for this chapter, I hope you like it

Feel free to comment on any theories you have on what you think Malinda's gold enchanted earring does or what you think is the relation between Malinda and the mystery dragon.

Till next time my agents of mischief 😜