May 1993, 2nd year

"What could the headmaster possibly want from us?" Harry asked as he and Lynea followed the Gryffindor prefect down the halls.

"I assume it is either going to concern your guardianship or the Chamber of Secrets," Lynea said. "I can't think of another possibility."

"Here we are," Pinhead Weasley said, coming to a halt in front of a large Gargoyle in an alcove. "Pixie Puffs."

The Gargoyle moved out of the way to reveal a staircase that led up to the top of a tower, where they found themselves in front of a large, wooden double door. Just as Weasley was about to knock, the doors opened and Hermione came out, trailed by the little Weasley girl. Neither of them looked very happy.

"Ah, Mister Weasley," Dumbledore said pleasantly, appearing behind the girls in the doorway. "Thank you. Would you please escort these two young ladies back to their common rooms?"

Pinhead Weasley bowed. "Of course, Headmaster. Come along, girls." And then he swept down the stairs again.

Lynea and Harry watched them go, before turning back to the headmaster, who was watching them with twinkling eyes.

The headmaster's office was a rather peculiar one, full of little objects and tools and trinkets, some of which moved and clinked and made funny noises. Above their heads, a number of portraits displayed the previous headmasters and headmistresses, all of which appeared to be fast asleep. Lynea spotted the Sorting Hat, sitting on one of the shelves, and a Pensieve on the desk. She recognized it immediately by the runes that were carved around the edges of the stone basin and the silvery, shining liquid that was moving within. Next to the desk stood a perch with a majestic bird that had scarlet feathers and a golden tail not unlike a peacock's.

Lynea blinked. "You own a Phoenix, sir?"

"Oh, yes," Dumbledore said, his eyes still twinkling. "His name is Fawkes." He stepped around his desk to gently pet the Phoenix and indicated to two chairs. "Please, sit. I would have liked to have a little chat with you sooner, but, alas, I could not find the time until now. It is a busy life, being the headmaster of Hogwarts."

He waved his wand and a fine porcelain tea set appeared on the desk. "Biscuit?"

Lynea politely declined, while Harry took one and instantly bit into it.

"Children," Dumbledore said. "Professor Snape told me that you were the ones who discovered the Diary that led to the opening of the Chamber of Secrets?"

"That is true," Lynea said mildly.

"May I ask how you discovered it's true nature?"

Lynea reluctantly told him about Hermione acting strange and that she had recognized the name Tom Riddle form her grand-aunt's stories. "I thought it was odd that Hermione was obsessing over a fifty-year-old diary that could talk. So we informed our Head of House and he investigated the situation."

Dumbledore nodded. "I have heard as much."

Then why did he ask in the first place?

"Your grand-aunt has graciously taken the Diary off our hands, as I am sure she told you. She also informed me that the monster within the Chamber of Secrets would trouble us no more, yet I am curious as to why that is."

"Sir?" Lynea asked.

"Why don't you take a sip?" Dumbledore asked kindly.

Lynea looked at her cup of tea, noticed that Harry's was already half empty and decided to ignore the question.

Dumbledore sighed, but didn't comment on it. "Has your grand-aunt told you more about the Chamber?"

"Only that Tom Riddle opened it through his diary."

"Has she taken you to the Chamber?"

"Why would she do that?"

Dumbledore stared at her, the twinkle nearly gone from his eyes. "And you do not know what kind of monster it is?"

Lynea had difficulties keeping her expression neutral at that. "Sir, I thought it was rather obvious. But if you did not come to a conclusion of your own, then we must be mistaken."

"And what was your conclusion?"

The old man was grating on her nerves. "Is there a specific reason why you wish to know?"

Dumbledore sighed again and picked up his own cup of tea to take a sip. He set it down with a clink and turned his now sad eyes upon her again. "I had hoped you would not take after your grand-aunt and have a free and unbiased mind."

Lynea's lips did not twitch at that and her eyes did not narrow. But only just.

"I am concerned for the school's safety, of course," Dumbledore continued. "We cannot let the monster remain in the castle. It would endanger the students."

"Only if someone else found the Chamber and decided to have it attack the students," Lynea said and then, deliberately, added, "And the bloodline of Salazar Slytherin ended with Tom Marvolo Riddle."

One did not need to be descended from Slytherin. One did not even need to speak Parseltongue – if Naenia was any indication. But if Dumbledore came to false conclusions that wasn't Lynea's problem.

"Very well," Dumbledore said eventually. "If you would please wait outside, Miss Lémure."

Lynea gave him a terse nod and a tight smile. "Of course, headmaster. And it is Fawley, if you please."

"Ah, yes," the old man said, as if he hadn't done it on purpose. "My apologies."

Lynea rose from her seat, left her tea untouched, briefly squeezed Harry's shoulder and then left. The heavy wooden doors to the office did not let many sounds through, but that didn't matter anyway after Dumbledore cast a privacy charm that stopped all noises reaching Lynea's ears.

She waited for several long minutes, during which she went over the conversation again. She had not suspected the tea to be laced with anything until Dumbledore had specifically asked her to drink it – she still wasn't certain it was anything but tea. Lynea had simply refused out of impoliteness. But if there was something in it, or the biscuits, possibly Veritaserum … She hoped Harry did not spill any secrets or reveal how Lynea had deceived the headmaster. Naenia knew what she was doing. If she thought Dumbledore ought to know, then she would have told him.

When Harry was finally released from Dumbledore's clutches, Lynea only waited for them to reach the bottom of the staircase, before immediately asking him about the conversation.

"It was about the adoption." Harry scowled. "He insisted on calling it that, even though he knows it's not the same." He shook his head. "He asked whether I was sure and whether I had really thought about it, whether I had talked to my aunt and uncle and so on. I know he was just being kind, but for some reason his words really annoyed me."

"I do not think he asked out of kindness," Lynea said.

Harry shrugged. "He also warned me about your grand-aunt and your family, the Lémure family, in general." He held a hand up to stop Lynea from interrupting. "I know you are not a Lémure. That's just what he said. And I know about the Lémure's reputation, I've heard about it from so many people. But I also spend a month at your house, interacted with your grand-aunt several times and I have known you for two years, now. So I don't think they are justified."

"She's technically your guardian now," Lynea said quietly.

Harry gave her a smile and a shrug. "It feels strange calling her anything other than 'your grand-aunt'." He scrunched up his nose. "And it would be incredibly weird to call her 'mum'. She isn't legally my mother anyway, since she only took over guardianship of me."

Lynea laughed. "Naenia is certainly not a mother. You could call her 'aunt Naenia' or just 'Naenia', you know?"

Harry shrugged again. "I don't know."

"I wonder what Dumbledore was trying to accomplish," Lynea mused. "The process is already complete, there is nothing he could do to change it anymore. He even agreed to it, himself."

Harry snorted. "Are you sure your grand-aunt didn't force him to do it? Or trick him into it?"

Lynea laughed. "Oh, she probably did both. But Dumbledore should know her well enough to see through that. Naenia left him no choice in the matter, or he would have done something about it – that is part of the reason it had to be her. He seems to be very adamant about having you stay with the Dursleys for whatever reason."

"The blood ward," Harry said.

"That can't be all," Lynea said. "There are far more powerful protections than that."

"It helped against Quirrel. And now it's gone."

"And you are training advanced duelling magic and are quite capable of defending yourself," Lynea replied. "You are also not alone and the Dark Lord is currently not in power."

Harry nodded. "Dumbledore also talked a bit about Riddle. Told me who he truly was – as if I didn't know that already. I –" Harry faltered, then straightened his back. "It has been brought to my attention that the Dark Lord and I share more similarities than is necessarily normal."

Lynea blinked. "Mind elaborating on that?"

Harry raised his left hand and began ticking off his fingers, one by one. "Halfblood. Orphan. Raised by Muggles. Crappy childhood. Slytherin." He continued on his right hand. "Parselmouth. Sharing a wand core. A Lémure friend – or someone related, anyway – a Necromancer. Hell, we even look similar."

Nine, Lynea thought. How interesting. "You share a wand core with the Dark Lord?"

Harry shrugged. "Feathers from the same Phoenix and that Phoenix only gave two."

"Dumbledore's?" Lynea asked and Harry nodded. "Curious." She tilted her head. "Are you worried about that? Being similar to him?"

Harry shrugged. "I don't know. Dumbledore was going on about the power of love and my mother's sacrifice, but I – I don't think he and I are similar at all. I never met him, aside from that time he possessed Quirrel, but all I heard about him apart from Dumbledore's words … He doesn't sound like me at all. He sounds cold and dark and evil."

"He probably was," Lynea said. "He became the Dark Lord, after all. And it doesn't matter, whether you share any similarities with him – we always share similarities with other people, yet we are still distinct individuals."

"It's our choices that matter," Harry said and Lynea would have agreed, if he hadn't sounded like he was repeating words from Dumbledore.

When they reached their common room, the other Slytherins from their year were already waiting for them in anticipation. Being called to the headmaster's office right after lunch on a fine Sunday was no common occurrence, after all. Lynea gave them a short summary of Dumbledore's questions and then let Harry tell his conversation with the old man. The others listened with impassive faces, not reacting outwardly, but still exuding a disapproving aura. Dumbledore had never been very popular in Slytherin and none of his actions had ever salvaged that.

"While we're on the whole matter," Lynea said and cast a privacy charm. "I think we should discuss your father's ominous plan, Draco."

Theodore, Blaise and Pansy suddenly all sat up straighter.

"Do you have any more information?" Pansy asked curiously. "Last time you mentioned it, all we knew was that it had something to do with the Chamber of Secrets and that Theo's father was involved."

"Shall I summarize for us what we have gathered so far?" Lynea asked and the others nodded. "So Draco overheard his father talking to Theodore's about some plan they had to set in motion before the school year was to officially begin. His suspicious behaviour in Diagon Alley led us to believe that he used the many students and the commotion to his advantage. Then there was the incident with the house-elf." Lynea looked at Draco.

Draco pinched the bridge of his nose. "Yes, Dobby. I am loath to admit it, but one of our house-elves – one that has always been an oddball – apparently caught wind of my father's plan as well and tried preventing Harry from coming to Hogwarts – to protect him from danger."

"Was that the misunderstanding you didn't want to tell me about?" Pansy asked.

Draco nodded.

"So I assume we now have an explanation for Harry's disappearing letters," Blaise said, "as well as the barrier incident and the Bludger – it was all Dobby." He waited for Draco and Harry to confirm this, before continuing, "And we know Lucius Malfoy wanted to open the Chamber of Secrets, which he succeeded in doing – and this somehow put Harry in danger?"

"Dobby said it wasn't the Dark Lord, but he was acting strangely," Harry said. "And Lynea's grand-aunt confirmed that it was indeed him, but he was acting through someone else with some kind of dark diary. She didn't tell us how, though."

"So the danger is over and Lucius' plan failed?" Blaise asked.

Lynea nodded. "We think so, yes."

"What about Christmas?" Theodore asked. "And what happened to the Basilisk? Dumbledore told us the danger was over – does that mean the Basilisk was killed?"

"No, he's still alive," Lynea said. "Naenia took Harry and me down to the Chamber and showed us the Basilisk. He is quite tame, actually. But the diary is gone now and Harry is currently the only one at Hogwarts who can open the Chamber and command the Basilisk, as far as we know."

"And Christmas?"

Lynea shrugged.

"I think that was about was something else," Draco said slowly. "Although I have no idea what that might be. But it doesn't fit with the rest. Father made sure the Diary reached Hogwarts – he probably put it into some unsuspecting student's bag that day in Diagon Alley – and he received updates about the situation through me. I'm not sure what his ultimate goal was, though …"

"He supports pureblood supremacy and he was a follower of the Dark Lord," Lynea said. "Opening the Chamber of Secrets to 'purge the school' would fit perfectly. But I wonder whether he wanted to put Harry in danger, too – whether he knew his actions would put Harry in danger in the first place and whether he acted knowingly."

"Dobby certainly thought so," Draco said. His face gave nothing away, but his tone held a pained note.

"You think Draco's father would want to harm me?" Harry asked, glancing at Draco with a worried look.

"It is a possibility," Lynea said.

"But he hasn't done anything since the Diary was taken away," Theodore said.

"That we know of," Lynea added.

"And we still don't know who attacked Harry with that vase and why."

Pansy hummed. "Maybe Lucius intended for Harry to be in danger after all and that was another try just in case the Basilisk wouldn't do its job."

Draco's chair scraped across the floor as he abruptly stood up. "Excuse me," he said faintly and then he fled to the dormitories.

"I'll go after him," Harry said as he rose, too.

Blaise narrowed his eyes at their retreating backs. Theodore raised his eyebrows at Lynea.

"What?" she asked and then nearly winced at her own rudeness.

"The little Malfoy heir causing trouble?"

Lynea did not sigh as turned to the boy that was now leaning over the backrest of the sofa Theodore and her were sitting on. "It is rude to dispel other people's privacy charms, Montague."

Montague smiled and came around to sit down in the armchair Draco had vacated mere moments before. "You looked like you were finished with your very important discussion, so I thought I might as well. How have you been doing, as the problem year of Slytherin?"

When none of the others answered, Lynea raised an eyebrow. "So we are the problem year, now?"

Montague's smile stretched into a feral grin. "Have been ever since that interesting negotiation we had about the little Gryffindor mudblood. Not to mention that you are currently the year with the highest number of influential heirs and the famous Boy Who Lived." His grin stretched even further. "Not to forget the Necromancer with undeclared allegiances."

All eyes were resting on Lynea now, but she didn't dare to let her eyes leave Montague's.

Lynea sighed. "What do you want, Montague?"

He shrugged. "Just asking after your well-being. No trouble in school? The other houses treating you well?"

"If we had any problems we couldn't take care of ourselves, we would go to a prefect or Professor Snape."

"So?" Montague raised an eyebrow, never even so much as glancing at the others. "How are you all doing?"