Hogwarts School of Witchcraft And Wizardry was known for many things, but one thing that everyone knew about the school was that it was full of mysteries. Some of its mysteries were magic related, the moving staircases being the biggest of these magical mysteries. Most of its mysteries, however, were among the student body. From students going missing, a student being in two places at the same time and even an unexplained death (poor Myrtle), something weird was always going on with the students. But perhaps the biggest mystery of all was Hogwarts' rumour mill, where one piece of information is spread so fast that it is known by the school's residents (that was made up of about a thousand students of various ages) in a matter of hours. What not many people knew, however, was that a certain group in each generation of Hogwarts students were the people that controlled the rumour mill to spread the information that they wanted to be spread.

In the year 1992, the group that was controlling the rumour mill was a group made up of students from each Hogwarts House, more commonly known by the student body as 'The Alliance'. While most people at Hogwarts don't know who the members of this group are, people know of their existence and their power over Hogwarts.

What was known about 'The Alliance' was that it was started in 1991, which made some people suspicious as it was the same year as Harry Potter -ministry appointed Boy-Who-Lived and all out kid hero- started Hogwarts. It includes people from every house, which makes it harder to pinpoint who started it, and members do not publicize that they are a part of the group, which is why it is known as one of Hogwarts' biggest mysteries, as it isn't even known how people found out about them. One day, whispers started going around about the group, but no one knew how the whispers started going around, or who, for that matter, started them.

"…And I was talking to Parvati and Lavender about The Alliance and they-" One Hermione Jean Granger was telling her two best friends, Harry James Potter and Ronald Bilius Weasley, about a conversation she had with two of her dorm mates when she was interrupted by Harry.

"What alliance?" Harry asked as he shared a confused look with Ron.

"Of course you two wouldn't know." Hermione said in exasperation with a roll of her eyes before she explained quietly "They're the most popular group in Hogwarts. No one knows who belongs to The Alliance but everyone knows they literally control everything at Hogwarts by controlling the rumour mill. Everyone also knows not to say something bad about them, as last time that happened the student who insulted them ended up in the hospital wing for two weeks, or so the rumour goes, though I don't believe that one."

"I don't really care. You sure they're even real and not made up?" Ron said slowly, not really caring about this alliance thing.

"Ah Ronnikins, it wouldn't do well to insult 'The Alliance'." Two voices said behind them in sync, causing the three to jump in surprise.

"Oi, you two! Stop that." Ron said to his older brothers who had appeared behind them out of nowhere.

"Why Ronnikins?"

"Do we scare you?" The twins, Fred and George Weasley, said one after another, finishing each other's sentence.

"N-N-No! It's just weird."

The two grinned at his stuttered reply before they took on a serious expression, which was extremely rare for the mischievous twins. "Seriously though, Ron, don't go around saying stuff like that or you might end up hurt by The Alliance, they are not people to mess with."

The fact that the statement came from the 'Prankster Twins of Hogwarts' spoke to how true it was, and caused a jolt of fear to go through the three, who nodded in acquiescence. The others, however, didn't notice the contemplative look that was on Harry Potter's face.

The topic soon left their minds to be replaced by the chaos of school, but little did they know that 'The Alliance' would be on their thoughts again soon enough.

"Harry Potter did not know about our existence until a few hours ago."

"Is that so?"

Aside from The Alliance, there was another mystery amongst the Hogwarts student body, and that was one student, Lynette Ambrosius, a Slytherin who started at Hogwarts in 1990. She was always silent in class, observing her surrounding but not commenting, and was only heard talking to her close group of friends. She was also known to be top of her class, with people saying that she was a very intelligent person, if not a genius. Some rumours spread when she first came to Hogwarts that she was a descendant of Merlin, the greatest wizard of all time (thought to have been one of the first wizards as well), but it was never confirmed and so people forgot about it.

Lynette was not popular, but not invisible to the student body either -her grades and prowess in her classes made that almost impossible- but she thrived in being in the background at Hogwarts. She could just observe without being distracted by the forced conversations that would happen if she were in the centre, except when it came to the Slytherin hierarchy, there she was determined to stay on the top and lead Slytherin into a new era. She just liked being able to see what people were doing or saying without needing to contribute, it gave her quite the upper hand.

Her family were known for having many secrets. It was like you knew them but didn't at the same time, and she used that fully to her advantage, where she kept an air of mystery around her but still appeared to be an open book.

Lynette smirked internally as she sat down for the Halloween feast that year and saw that the proclaimed 'Golden Trio' weren't in the hall, it seemed as though things were about to get a little shaken up.

A little background history on Slytherin's leader (read Queen). Lynette Rosalie Ambrosius, third year Slytherin, had raven black hair but was born with two white strands of hair in the front, she had her father's family's signature crystal blue eyes but her French mother's petite stature and pale skin. While she was born and raised in her father's family manor in Wales, her mother had made sure she was aware of her French heritage. Her mother, Danielle Ambrosius, had graduated from Académie de Magie Beauxbâtons (Beauxbatons Academy of Magic), one of the three largest and best wizarding schools in Europe, located in the French Pyrenees in France. The school was known for its extremely difficult entrance exam that was given to all applicants, thus ensuring that only the best and brightest Wizards and Witches in Western Europe walked through the school halls. Her mother had graduated with honours and came in first amongst her class of graduates. She had then started working in the French Ministry's equivalent to the British Department of Mysteries, the Department of Magical Research, where she met Lynette's father, Owen Ambrosius, who worked in the DOM, in a joint mission between the two governments. They dated for four years before they finally got married and had their daughter about three years later. The language barrier, fortunately, was not a large problem as Danielle could speak English from learning the language briefly in school and after during her training. As soon as they had gotten married, Danielle transferred to the British Department of Mysteries and lived with her husband in Wales. Lynette's father, Owen, had graduated from Hogwarts School with top marks in all his NEWTs, having been a rather studious Ravenclaw who had gone on to become one of the best Unspeakables in his department.

While her parents had never expressed a desire to lead in anyway (even though her father could have if he had wanted to), as they never really felt the sense of ambition and cunning that their daughter did, they had always encouraged her to do what she thought was right for Magic and her people above all else. And that was one of the biggest reasons why she had started 'The Alliance' in her second year alongside her three best friends, because she felt that Hogwarts and the British Wizarding World needed a group of brilliant students to cause a change.

And so, she and her three closest friends had sent anonymous letters to some of the smartest and most influential students in Hogwarts, ignoring both sorting and age in their choosing, and had asked them to meet her in front of the portrait of Barnabas the Barmy. As soon as everyone had gathered, she led them into the fabled Room of Requirement that her father had told her about, thus marking the first ever meeting of 'The Alliance'. After that, they met up every week for a report on their ventures and research projects, gathering Intel on everything Hogwarts related.

Which brings us to this current moment, the student body gathered around the petrified and hanging body of Mrs Norris, Argus Filch's cat. Everyone, including Lynette, was staring at the words that seemed to have been written in blood. "THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE." While everyone was looking on in horror and morbid curiosity, Lynette was looking at the scene calculatingly. She shared a discrete nod with Draco Malfoy before she let herself be ushered to her common room with the other students. It seemed the next day was going to be a busy one, even though it was a weekend.

"What do we know about the Chamber of Secrets?"

The Alliance was gathered in the Room of Requirement for an emergency meeting to discuss the events of the previous night. Everyone sat at a round table in the middle of the room reminiscent of King Arthur's own Round Table but with no one sitting at the end that was in front of a wall where a white board was placed. Standing in front of the white board (and don't even ask how they had gotten it, it was just the magic of the room), Lynette asked the question with a raised eyebrow. The others thought silently before one of the gathered members raised their hands.

"Go ahead Theo." She said as she took her seat and allowed Theodore Nott to take her place standing.

"Well, I was reading a little bit about Slytherin and its founder when I found mentions of the Chamber of Secrets. It was stated in the book that Salazar Slytherin created the Chamber of Secrets before he died, concealing a beast in it. His intention was to have his heir return to the school and unleash the horror within the chamber. The basilisk would therefore purge the school of those who, in Slytherin's view, were unworthy of studying magic. Now, it is a commonly known fact that history gets twisted as time goes by so this may not be true, but we can assume that this beast is the creature that petrified the cat last night, since we know it was not a prank."

"Alright, thank you Theo." Theo nodded to Lynette before retaking his seat. "Rolf, in your extensive knowledge of Magical Creatures, which one do you think would be able to petrify a cat?"

"Well." Rolf Scamander, grandson of world renowned Magizoologist Newt Scamander, and creature lover himself, said before going quiet as he thought on the question before responding. "I would say there aren't many creatures, only three actually that are known to be able to petrify a living thing. The gorgon, the cockatrice and the Basilisk in a very specific setting."

"It would be the most obvious for a basilisk to be the one in the chamber, as it is known as the most powerful snake and Slytherin's symbol is the snake." Daphne Greengrass said logically, to which everyone nodded in agreement.

"But what is this setting that would be needed for a basilisk to petrify? It is a well-known fact that a basilisk's stare kills instantly but the cat is not dead, as the headmaster said yesterday." Cedric Diggory asked the question that was on everyone's minds.

"Well, if you see a basilisk's eyes through a reflective surface, it would petrify you instead of kill you. This is, however, a hypothetical scenario as no one has ever come across the creature without being killed by its gaze." Rolf explained simply, hand on his chin in thought.

"Did anyone see a reflective surface that Mrs. Norris could have seen the basilisk in?" Katie Bell asked those gathered, causing everyone to think back on the scene last night.

"There was some water from Moaning Myrtle's bathroom on the floor." Neville Longbottom said quietly, causing everyone to jump from their deep thoughts at the sound of his voice before they smiled at the shy boy.

"Neville, that's brilliant. How did you notice that? I saw the situation first and I didn't even notice." Hermione Granger said, laughing slightly at her friend's blushing face.

"I guess this is our best guess on how this all happened?" Blaise Zabini said questioningly, raising an eyebrow in doubt at what they had come up with.

"I suppose, but we'll still keep the speculation open for different interpretations. Although, Hermione, could you tell us exactly how you came to be in that situation in the first place?" Lynette asked, getting a hesitant nod from Hermione before the girl stood up and moved to stand in the designated area for speaking, in front of the white board.

She took a deep breath before she started telling them about what had happened. "Well, we were coming out of Sir Nicholas's death day party and heading to the great hall when Harry started hearing something, a voice. He told us to listen but Ron and I couldn't hear anything, it was like he was the only one hearing it. He then gestured for us to follow him, he kept running towards something, we just didn't know what. Then he said it was going to kill someone, so Ron and I continued following him as he ran faster until he stopped at the corridor. I was the first one to notice the writing on the wall, and then we noticed Mrs Norris. By the time we thought of leaving, everyone was already in the corridor."

"He was hearing voices?" Susan Bones asked, sounding confused at the notion. "What could he have possibly heard that would lead him to a petrified cat?"

"Well, if our theory about the Basilisk is correct, then he could have been hearing the snake speaking." Rolf said calmly, causing everyone to gape at him in shock.

"That would be insinuating that Harry Potter, bloody Boy-Who-Livid, and all out light symbol, is a parselmouth!" Draco said in exasperation, looking shocked at the statement.

"There is no traces of parselmagic in the Potter bloodline, though. How would he have gotten the gift?" Hannah Abbott said, looking thoughtful at the idea.

"Yes, but Harry is of Greek descent on his great-grandmother's side, and Greece is well known for having a lot of Parselmouths." Neville pointed out, getting nods of agreement in return. It was well known among Pureblood society that Harry Potter's Great Grandmother, Euphemia Potter, was from the Drakos Family, a Greek Pureblood Family who had moved to England when Euphemia was eleven, allowing her to attend Hogwarts, where she had met Fleamont Potter.

"That could be the case, or possibly a transfer of some sort from you-know-who on the night Lord and Lady Potter were killed? It was well known that he was a parselmouth through his Slytherin ancestry. " Cho Chang said, musing quietly.

"This is all, unfortunately, guess work at best. But it was made clear that whoever or whatever is the cause of this petrification is, they're going after those of non-magical descent." Lynette said, drawing everyone's attention to the heart of the problem. "While I fear nothing will be confirmed until another petrification occurs, which I truly hope doesn't happen, we need to come up with a plan to help protect the Muggle-born students of this school. So, everyone! Make sure at least one pureblood is accompanying each muggle-born. Slytherins, your help will be needed the most. We can't allow any muggle-born students to go anywhere on their own from now on."

And so, the group of twenty-one students from different years, houses and backgrounds came together to make plans to protect their fellow students.