All belongs to JK Rowling!

Lyra had been pouring over books about the foundation of Hogwarts and the head of Slytherin house for hours, not finding anything that she could use to prove the chamber contained a basilisk and not a spider. In fact, in all the books she had searched through, she had not found a single reference to the Chamber of Secrets. It was as if the room did not exist. Sighing in frustration, Lyra leaned back in her chair, stretching her arms above her head.

"Lyra?"

Lyra spun around to see Conan walking towards her, the Gryffindor smiling brightly at her. "Hey Conan." She said, relieved to have a welcome distraction from thoughts of snakes and dungeons.

"What are you doing? Something for History of Magic?" Conan asked, nodding towards the books on her desk.

Lyra shook her head, "I knew better than to take that class. No, this is just out of interest."

"Out of interest?" Conan asked, and Lyra knew he didn't believe her for a second, "You're reading a dozen archaic books on Hogwarts out of interest?"

Lyra shrugged, "Why not? Just because I'm not a Ravenclaw doesn't mean I can't like to read."

Conan shook his head, coming to sit down next to her. "This doesn't have anything to do with Hagrid, does it?"

Lyra felt her heart stop and stared at him. Had he been spying on her?

"Why would it have anything to do with Hagrid?" Lyra asked, trying to conceal her anxiety despite knowing full well she was failing miserably at doing so.

"I saw you coming back up from his hut long after class had ended from my dorm window. I didn't mean to spy, I just happened to look out at that moment. I also heard the stories about what he did last year, is that what you went to talk to him about?" Conan asked, and the genuineness in his tone made Lyra cast away her doubts. She could trust Conan; he was a Gryffindor after all, not a snake. Living in a constant web of lies was not in her nature and maybe, just this once, it might even be beneficial for her to let at least one person in on a portion of her plans.

Looking around them furtively to check for any signs of Tom Riddle or his gang, Lyra quickly cast a silencing charm around them, feeling relief bubble up inside her at the prospect of finally being able to share some of the million troubling thoughts that constantly plagued her night and day.

"It wasn't Hagrid who opened the Chamber of Secrets, Conan." Lyra said, "It was Tom Riddle."

A look of shock registered on Conan's face and he too looked around them furtively, "How do you know?"

"The monster in the Chamber of Secrets isn't an Acromantula like everyone believes" Lyra explained, "It's a giant snake known as a Basilisk and Riddle is a Parselmouth."

Conan was silent for a moment, a look of unease settling over his features, "How do you know all this?" He asked seriously.

Lyra shook her head, "I can't say, I'm sorry. Just trust me when I say I am 100% sure about this. I'm going to prove Hagrid's innocence, one way or another."

"You're going to prove it was Riddle?" Conan asked, his face unusually pale and Lyra nodded.

"I promised Hagrid." She said, wondering why her friend looked so concerned, "What's wrong?"

At her question, Conan snapped out of his reverie, shaking his head, "It's nothing. I'm just worried about what might happen if Riddle finds out about this. If he's really the one who killed Myrtle, that means he's dangerous...Just be careful."

Lyra inwardly laughed humourlessly at this; no one, in this time period at least, knew how dangerous Riddle was better than her.

"She said she was certain?" Tom snapped, rounding on Conan, a storm of fear and anger building inside him. He had not come all this way, he had not accomplished so much, only to have a nosy little snitch ruin it all for him.

"Yes, my Lord." Conan replied, unable to meet his eyes.

The other knights watched in subdued silence as their leader paced back and forth, a murderous expression on his cold face.

She had to be obliviated, Tom thought. Only that would be too risky. It would be impossible to tell how far back her knowledge of him went without first knowing how she knew so much about him. Usually his first instinct would be to suspect that a member of his own inner circle had betrayed him; however, something instinctual within Tom told him Lyra had known what he was before she had ever laid eyes on him.

No, the girl had to go. Unfortunately, it would be incredibly difficult to dispose of her without Dumbledore noticing - seeing as the man had taken to watching his every move ever since the Chamber of Secrets incident. It would be far too risky to kill her himself...no, he would have the basilisk do it, but this time, he would have her murdered in the chamber itself. No one would ever know why she disappeared. No one would even suspect save Dumbledore...it had to be done.

"Out." Tom said, addressing his knights at last, "All of you, out. Except you, Devlin. Stay."

Conan looked up, his blue eyes shining with fear and Tom wrinkled his nose in disgust. Gryffindor, indeed.

As the last knight left the room, Tom turned to Conan, piercing him with his dark glare. "Are you aware of the location of the girl's bathroom haunted by the ghost of Myrtle Warren? The girl killed by the monster in the Chamber of Secrets last year?" Tom asked sharply, and Conan nodded.

"You are to lead Lyra there at exactly 9 pm tomorrow night." Tom continued, "You will tell her whatever lie you need to in order to get her there and then you will open the Chamber of Secrets and ensure that she, and only she, enters it."

Tom watched as the blood drained from Conan's face as the boy caught on to the meaning of Tom's words, "You're going to kill her, my Lord?"

Tom scoffed, "Did I ever say any such thing?" He sneered, a malicious smirk on his face.

"She has information she is withholding from me." Conan argued, "Surely it would be beneficial to you if you were to first find out what she knows and how she knows it."

"Did I ever say I would not find out what I need to know?" Tom snapped, irritated at the boy's audacity.

Conan shook his head, "No, my Lord."

"Another thing." Tom continued, "To open the chamber you will need to speak Parseltongue. Repeat after me."

"Open", Tom hissed and Conan attempted to imitate the sound, failing miserably. Annoyed at the Gryffindor's incompetence, Tom repeated the sound again, and on the third or fourth try, the boy managed to recreate an imperfect imitation of the sound.

"Do not forget. 9 pm sharp. Ensure you are not seen." Tom said once more and Conan nodded.

"Yes, my Lord."

"Where are we going?" Lyra asked, wrapping her coat around her tightly to ward off the cold autumn breeze. Conan had met her in the library after supper and insisted she follow him outside. Confused, and slightly alarmed, by the urgency in his tone, she had followed him out onto the castle grounds.

Conan stopped as they reached the water's edge, his face tortured. Concerned about her friend, Lyra reached out to touch his arm but Conan only shook his head, pulling his arm away from her. Lyra frowned at him in confusion, an uneasy feeling settling in her stomach.

"What is it?" She asked apprehensively.

"I'm sorry Lyra, I lied to you." Conan said, his voice wavering.

Lyra frowned, "It's okay, just tell me what it was about."

Conan shook his head, taking a deep breath, "Alright." He said finally, "My sister wasn't killed by Grindelwald; she's in his prison in Nurmengard. She's alive but she won't be for long unless I-" Conan paused, fighting back tears, "Unless I bring Grindelwald the resurrection stone."

"The resurrection stone?" Lyra asked, confused.

"Did your parents ever read you The Tales of Beadle the Bard?" Conan asked, and Lyra nodded, "Of course."

"Remember the story where Death gives the three brothers gifts? The wand, the stone and the cloak of invisibility? Well they're real. They're called the Deathly Hallows and together, it is rumoured they can make one master of death."

Lyra stared at him in confusion, "And Grindelwald wants them?"

Conan nodded, "He always has the Elder wand. Now he wants the those; especially the resurrection stone. He plans to use it to raise an army of inferi - dead bodies."

"And you are going to give this stone to him!?" Lyra asked, staring at the Gryffindor badge on his chest in confusion.

Conan shook his head, "No. No, I was, but not anymore, I've changed my mind. I have a better idea but...I need your help..."

"My help?" Lyra asked, not understanding.

"Listen," Conan said, his blue eyes pleading, "You're going to be very angry about what I'm about to tell you but I just need you to promise to hear me out okay? Just wait until I finish?"

Lyra frowned, "Okay." She said, feeling a shiver run up her spine that had nothing to do with the cold outside.

Conan sighed, "Okay." He said, finally beginning his story, "My sister was born a squib. My family is pureblood and quite traditional and so when they found out their daughter wasn't magical...they gave her up for adoption. She was around eight at the time and I was twelve. After she left, my parents started pretending they'd never had a daughter. They got rid of all her things, turned her bedroom into an office space and removed all of her photos from the wall. I kept in touch with her secretly through my friend's owl and she told me she was now living with a Muggle family in Albania. When the war against Grindelwald started she couldn't write as often because owls were being intercepted. The last message I got from her was that Grindelwald was rounding up blood traitors, muggle borns, and squibs and that she didn't think she should be writing to me anymore. I flooed to Albania as soon as I got that message but she had already been taken."

At this, Conan paused, and Lyra felt her heart go out to him, "So anyway, I tried to sneak into Nurmengard and obviously, I was caught. Grindelwald was impressed by my wandwork though and offered to let my sister go free if I brought him the resurrection stone. He had already discovered the location of the resurrection stone but he couldn't touch it because it's been cursed, so he enlisted me to figure out how to break the curse."

Conan paused again, looking Lyra over carefully, "Do you know why Tom Riddle is a Parselmouth?"

Lyra paused; something told her she would be better off not revealing what she knew, "No." She lied.

"It's because he's the last descendant of Salazar Slytherin. His mother was Merope Gaunt and the resurrection stone is hidden under the shack in which she grew up. The shack is abandoned now because, just this past summer, Riddle's uncle, Morfin Gaunt, killed Riddle's father and paternal grandparents and he was sent to Azkaban."

Lyra felt a shiver run down her spine as she struggled to contain the truth about the murder of the Riddle family, "Seeing as Grindelwald can't get into Azkaban to question Morfin about the curse on the stone, his best hope is to get information out of Tom Riddle. So, I transferred to Hogwarts to befriend Riddle and find out if he knew anything about the stone and the curse on it."

"That's why you partnered with him in Potions." Lyra breathed, feeling her hands start to shake; she did not like where this was going.

Conan nodded, "I overheard one of the other Slytherin boys talking about a meeting with Riddle and I followed them. I ended up inside some sort of secret room in the middle of some cult-like pureblood supremacist group led by Riddle himself."

Conan paused, "He made me..."

"He made you what?" Lyra asked, not certain she wanted to hear the answer.

"He made me use the Cruciatus Curse." Conan said, his face full of guilt. "On Cygnus Black. To prove my loyalty."

Lyra was speechless. She stared at the boy in front of her, realizing for the first time just how terrible she was at judging peoples' character. She had thought him more trustworthy just because he had been a Gryffindor. He had tortured her housemate and lied to her and she had blindly trusted him with more secrets than she had told Rosalie and Elaina.

"Lyra, I didn't want to." Conan pleaded, "I had to gain his trust because it was the only way to get my sister back. I didn't want to-"

"What did you tell him?" Lyra asked, her hands shaking with fear. "What did you tell him about me?"

Conan gulped, a look of pure guilt on his face and Lyra felt the anger that had been simmering beneath the surface of her skin since her parents' death threaten to explode, "Tell me!" Lyra snapped, glaring at the pathetic traitor in front of her.

"He asked me to follow you. Befriend you and find out why you were so suspicious of him. He suspected you knew more about him than you were letting on or that you had some kind of hidden agenda...I didn't see you come up from Hagrid's from my dorm window, I spied on you from below one of the back windows of the hut and listened to your entire conversation. I told Riddle what I heard and he was furious. He ordered me to find out more information, so I asked you about Hagrid and you told me you knew Riddle was behind opening the chamber of secrets. I told him this and he was so afraid and angry he told me to lead you to the Chamber of Secrets where he would be waiting with the basilisk to kill you."

Lyra felt her hands shaking from fear and anger, "Why are you telling me this now? Why not just lead me blindly to my death? You clearly have no problem with torturing, lying, and betraying the people around you to get what you want!"

Conan shook his head, "Lyra, I am so sorry. I didn't know what he was capable of; I didn't-"

"Then you're a BLOODY IDIOT!" Lyra cried, pushing him until he stumbled and nearly fell in the lake.

Conan steadied himself, looking down at the dark water behind him, and edging away from the lake. "Lyra, listen. There's a way to fix this."

"Oh really, what is this brilliant plan of yours? Tell me quick before I come to my senses and let Riddle know you've betrayed him." Lyra snapped.

"Riddle is not who you think he is." Conan said, an unmistakable look of fear on his face.

"I am pretty sure he's exactly who I think he is." Lyra snapped, and Conan shook his head.

"Among his followers, he goes as Lord Voldemort. I haven't been in his gang long enough to know much about his plans for the future but at best, I think it is likely he will turn out to be another Grindelwald - or worse. I know it's a long shot but I think he may even be a match for Grindelwald. If we were to coax him into trying to steal the Elder Wand from Grindelwald; he would either succeed and Grindelwald might be defeated or he would be killed and we would be spared a future ruled by Lord Voldemort. Either way, we would win."

Lyra stared at him, annoyance mingling in with disbelief. Was this boy out of his mind!?

"I am sorry but I fail to see how this solves the immediate problem of him wanting me dead?" Lyra snapped.

"Do you have proof he opened the Chamber of Secrets?" Conan asked, and Lyra hesitated.

"Even if it is in the form of memories. That would work." Conan added, and Lyra stared at him. How much did he know?

"Yes." She said finally, "I have memories."

Conan nodded, "Okay. Then what we can do is charm a pensieve, filled with your memories, to appear on Dumbledore's desk the moment you die. That way, Riddle will be unable to kill you without incriminating himself."

Lyra paused, thinking this through, "What if he tries to obliviate me?"

"We can add that to the charm as well." Conan said, and Lyra nodded, "Do you know how to do this charm?"

Conan blushed, "No, but I'm sure we can figure it out."

Lyra snorted, "Right. I'm sure it's not complicated at all." She said sarcastically, "And then, assuming this charm even works, are you saying I should go down into the Chamber of Secrets and confront him?"

"I'm saying go down there, pretend you didn't know he would be there, and then tell him what you know about the Deathly Hallows. Offer to help him find them and help him become immortal. Tell him it's the only option because of the charm." Conan said, desperate hope in his voice.

Lyra paused thinking this through. A part of her was scared it was another trap, but how could it be? If she really cast the charm properly, she would be protected.

"And then you want me to help him find the Deathly Hallows and defeat Grindelwald?" Lyra asked, "So that your sister will be freed."

Conan nodded, "I know it's a long shot but if anyone can steal the Elder Wand from Grindelwald it's Riddle."

Lyra scoffed, "He's barely seventeen."

"He's better than half our professors." Conan said seriously, and Lyra knew better than to question it. He was probably right. Although being better than a professor and being a match for Grindelwald were totally different things. In the end, Lyra knew only Dumbledore had been powerful enough to defeat Grindelwald. Pitting Tom against Grindelwald would likely result in Tom's death; if Lyra could figure out what steps towards immortality he had taken before Grindelwald ultimately killed him, there would be no more Lord Voldemort. In fact, working closely with Tom to find the Deathly Hallows would be a perfect opportunity to gain his trust and find out his secrets. As insane as this plan was, Lyra realized it just might work.

"Okay." Lyra said, slowly. "Okay I'll do it. You will be my spy though. Any information you find out about Riddle, you let me know. And I swear to Merlin, Conan, if you ever lie to me again..."

"I won't." Conan said and Lyra eyed him sharply, doubting she would ever be able to trust him again.

"And if Grindelwald comes out victorious..." Lyra said, "What happens to your sister?"

Conan bit his lip, "I don't know. I just know that if there's a chance to defeat him altogether, we have to take it. I can't give him the resurrection stone and risk making him even more powerful than he already is..." Conan said, and Lyra saw for the first time, why he had been placed in Gryffindor.

"Okay." Lyra said, turning to stare out at the dark lake. Her mission had suddenly gotten ten times more complicated and dangerous. She wished Astoria were here. She would know what to do. She had always been the more sensible one.

After a moment of silence, Conan walked over to the edge of the outcrop of rocks and sat down, his legs dangling over the edge. Lyra stared at him for a moment, feeling her hatred dissipate until only a vague sense of distrust was left. He had only wanted to save his sister but in the end he had chosen to save her life even if it meant risking his own and his sister's. Quietly, Lyra walked forward and took a seat next to him.

"It's okay." She said, "I forgive you."

Conan was silent for a moment and when Lyra looked over she saw his face was streaked with tears. Unsure what else to do, Lyra wrapped her arm around him and leaned her head on his shoulder, feeling his body shake as he cried.