(A/N: Next chapter! It has taken a while, more my fault than the story's I'm afraid. What can I say, I'm just a rabbit wondering around after all. But, jokes aside, please read and I leave my chapter open to your most wonderful criticism. Wonderwhiterabbit hopping off.)

In the Head of the Snake

Chapter 17: Ambition

Severus stood in front of the blank wall on the seventh floor. What was the secret to opening the Room of Requirement? He'd seen Harry Potter stand in front of this wall too in the boy's memories. And then what did he do? He walked in front of it. But walking in front of a blank wall in Hogwarts was hardly an astounding thing. Students walked past walls plenty of times on their way to whatever their destination may be. There had to be something more to open it. And how did the Room know? That was what he wanted to know. How did the Room know what he knew and what he needed?

That was the trick then, he decided as his fingers trailed over his clenched jaw, snagging on the stubble that he hadn't bothered to shave off after yesterday. The Weasley girl had really ruined his morning habits. Now, instead of an hour-long shower consisting of nothing but boiling water to wash away his nightmares, he met her fresh from the shivers and shakes of his past relived. Then he went straight to breakfast, and if he was lucky enough to get away quick enough without Dumbledore realising that he hadn't eaten a thing, then he could maybe dip his head under the stream of water for a fast-five-minute soak. Five minutes was barely enough to wet his straggly hair, nevermind shave. If Ginny Weasley complained that his hair was appearing more oily, then she only had one person to blame.

But Ginny Weasley was not going to help him now. She was probably with the other fourth-year Gryffindors in Transfiguration right now. All the better, he thought with a snarl. She was a child, for Merlin's sake! He did not need to rely on her to unlock the secrets of this castle! He, who had found just as many passages as the Marauders. He who had not needed a damnable cloak to get about unseen. He, who was – but he stopped himself before he thought that last part.

He was not awesome. He was humble. He was not great. He was meek. He was not forceful. He was...gentle.

As gentle as a kitten licking a wound. As gentle a stalked hare in the nighttime forest padding across silken earth. As gentle as a lover. His mindset changed, he found himself standing against the wall, smelling it, caressing it lovingly. He spared no thoughts for any straying students. Instead his fingers etched the wall, feeling the Room's presence. His nose sniffed the delicate scent of the Room's power. He felt the Room's age seep through him. As old as the castle...no...older. Yes, the room was older than the castle. It wasn't a room. It was a cave before...made by very history itself...found by the Founders of Hogwarts. Crafted around it. Magic supplied by the room. Help supplied by the room. Every Founder had touched this room, no, cave. And when the castle was built...it disappeared, no longer needed.

Ah, but wait, if he touched just like so, and just there...yes, he could feel it. Being Head of Slytherin meant that he had come into close contact with many Slytherin artifacts, each with this particular taste of magic. Despite its age, its touch was still rough as his power brushed through his fingertips to trace its dark lines. Salazar had found that the cave had not disappeared. Just changed itself to something more necessary. Something more needed. And the Room had helped Salazar because Salazar needed it. And all the room wanted to do was please. To help. To make its users happy.

Staggering back from the wall, Severus opened his eyes. It couldn't be...could it?

"Eyeri" Snape whispered into the air.

With a crack that was barely louder than his whisper, his personal house elf appeared, large watery eyes downcast but ears perked and receptive.

"Master of Potions called and Eyeri answers," the elf bobbed her head whilst still staring at the floor.

"Good, take me to the kitchen." He could have walked, but time was of the essence.

The little elf hardly even touched him as she placed a finger on his robe and cracked them to the kitchens.

"Master wants tea? Or coffee?" asked Eyeri barely a second after they landed.

"Water please. What I really want though," said Snape, his eyes barely leaving the still-stooped head of the elf as she went about getting a glass and filling it with clear water – adding ice and a lemon wedge after a second thought – waiting for the reaction he was bound to get from his request. "What I really want – no, need – is your help."

He was not disappointed. The elf squeaked shrilly and threw the glass high in the air, large eyes watering with happy tears already streaking down the elf's face. Snape raised an eyebrow and pointed in the air where the glass was still sailing happily upwards, its contents glued to the bottom of the glass as centrifugal force took its toll. But before the glass could reach zero velocity and start its downwards plummet, Eyeri glared at it and, as if conducted by strings, the glass slowed down and then grumpily drifted down into Eyeri's awaiting hands. The still water glittered as the little elf handed the glass of water to Snape.

His raised eyebrow fell. As Eyeri had glared, he had felt her power. And had recognised it. He was right...he was so very right and he knew it and as such his scowl grew more triumphant and he had to suppress it from becoming a proper smile by gulping down the water without a breath.

"How can Eyeri help Master of Potions?" Eyeri enquired as she took the glass away from him and sent it towards other awaiting house elves. Severus finally took notice of his surroundings. Eyeri had taken him to a seat that was exactly the same as his usual at the teacher's table, and he knew this to be a direct replica of the one in the Great Hall directly above him. He would have thought he was in the Great Hall if it weren't for the lack of magical ceiling as well as the many heads bobbing in front of him, all with large eyes of varying magical colours – he swore he saw a pair that was puce!

But he shook his head. It didn't matter how many elves were around him. Actually, with the questions he had to ask, it was all the better.

"There is a Room," began Professor Snape, crossing his legs and neatly placing his hands in his lap, "in the castle that grants one's every need. It is known as the Room of Requirement. I need to know about that room."

"Sir speaks of the come-and-go Room," squeaked an elf in the crowd. Eyeri turned and glared at the culprit, obviously offended that someone else was trying to help her Master when obviously he had asked her.

"The come-and-go Room, or Room of Requirement, sir," said Eyeri eventually, happy that no-one else would butt-in while she was being questioned and couldn't answer, "has been here for as long as Hogwarts has."

"Yes, I gathered as much," Severus drawled. "However, I also felt...ancient age. It is older than Hogwarts, I presume?" he turned his conclusion into a question.

It took Eyeri a moment to answer.

"Master of Potions is very clever," she said. "The room is older than Hogwarts."

"Then tell me how the Room came to be. What was it before?"

There was a murmur around him and elves shuffled their feet ominously. They weren't happy about this conversation.

"Why does sir want to know?" asked Eyeri, and her question was met with a few cried agreements and more than a few affirmative mumbles.

Severus stared hard and long into Eyeri's deep brown eyes, his face a clear rock with hardly an etched feature in place to mar his smooth skin. He had turned from a welcome guest to one worthy of caution. In both his and the house-elves' cases. He decided to be diplomatic, rather than to rant and rave that he was their master and they had to obey him. But he had to admit; this was the first time he had ever experienced the house-elves being apprehensive to help someone.

And with that thought, he said, "I wish to help someone, but in order to do that, I need to know the truth about the c-" he cut himself off before he said cave and changed it in mid word construction, "concealed room."

"Master wishes to help someone?" enquired Eyeri, and approved whispers ran a shiver through the crowd of house-elves.

"It would seem so," his lip curled upwards.

Then with simultaneous loud cracks, the house-elves were once more going about their business, while Eyeri and a few other house-elves were now sitting on three-legged stools in front of him. Two of the elves looked older than Kreacher, the one's eyes fogged over by old age and the other supporting an umbrella as a walking stick. The other elves appeared at the ready, sitting up straight and staring at the ceiling as if waiting for orders from the elderly two or from above where the Great Hall loomed.

"Eyeri will introduce Master of Potions now," said Eyeri to Severus, not yet on her seat. "This be Great Mother and this be Great Father," and she dipped a curtsey to both before taking her seat. "They is first house-elves ever to be part of Hogwarts. They is Founders."

Snape dipped his head to the two house-elves, not sure whether the one could see his actions or not, but quite sure nonetheless that he had to show some semblance of honour at being in their presence.

"You helped build Hogwarts?" asked Snape.

"Yes," said the one with the umbrella walking stick. "I am Evenesso. My Mistress is dead but lives on in the castle. So is the same with Yamino. We were once four, but Ribano and Tilimy could not go on with their masters fighting. So when the masters fought, they fought. And when their masters died, they died."

Snape had never heard house-elf names quite like those of the Four Founders, but he thought he liked them more than the silly names given to the newer generations. These old names were strong.

"You were either Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff's house-elf?" asked Snape.

"You speak my Mistress's name with kindness. She would have liked that from a Slytherin."

Snape still didn't know which of the women was Evenesso's mistress, but it didn't matter. "How did you come to be her house-elf?"

"They came to us. They needed us. The power within us is useless if not used for others. They were weak, but we had the power they needed," her age-old voice cracked.

"The four founders of Hogwarts, weak?" asked Severus slightly appalled. As far as he was aware, they were some of the most powerful wizards before Albus Dumbledore was born.

The other house-elf cleared his throat. Yamino faced Severus general direction, his blind eyes focused on nothing in particular before saying, "When one has need but no means, then one is weak. But when wizards find house-elves, we has meaning again and they has means. Then wizards become strong and house-elves become needed, and they has means and we has meaning."

Snape knew from the way the house-elf talked that Evenesso was Ravenclaw's and Yamino was Hufflepuff's. There was no way Rowena Ravenclaw would have an uneducated house-elf who could not speak proper English – it would have driven her insane.

"So you were just somewhere?" asked Snape.

"No," Evanesso shook her head slowly – Snape could swear he could hear her old bones creaking in her neck joints. "We were... We were living in the Cradle of our Kind. It gave birth to us and all others. But once the world was populated with house-elves, the Cradle was no longer needed. So it gave birth to us, the final four house-elves who were supposed to look after the Cradle. But the Cradle had no more need. So it gave its power to us. And the Cradle started to die. But then the Finders found us, and needed us, and needed the Cradle. And the Cradle...it realised too late. It had already given us too much life. So it gave the rest to the Finders. But the Four, we put the Cradle to sleep before it could die. We were supposed to look after it. Protect it until it was needed again. Until it had meaning. So we helped those who had the Cradle's Power. The Finders made the castle around it. And then the Four used the extra magic and put it back into the Cradle. And the Cradle changed to what was needed and became a Room in the castle. And so the House-Elves work in the castle, for the castle, because the Cradle which made us needs us. But it is still in sleep, awakening only when it senses someone's need."

Snape's face, still as smooth and emotionless as polished marble, stared unbelieving at the little house-elf. The magic that the founders of Hogwarts had was House-Elf magic? Never would Salazar Slytherin have accepted such a thing!

Or maybe he was wrong. Slytherins...they weren't only about pride. He had forgotten the one thing that set Slytherins apart from Gryffindors...ambition. They both had pride. Cleverness might set them apart slightly, but who was he to choose between Gryffindor daring or Slytherin cunning? No. In truth, it was ambition.

And he had forgotten it. He had let everything else carry him away. But he very much doubted if Salazar Slytherin had forgotten. Would Salazar sink so low as to accept power from an elf? Simply put; yes.

But there was something nagging in his memory. Oh if only he read Hogwarts: a History as much as Hermione Granger did, then he might be able to remember the tedious thing. But his memory could not fail him; Salazar Slytherin had fled the school weakened after a final confrontation with Godric Gryffindor. But what if...yes...

"What did the Finders," he almost said Founders, "do with their power?"

"My Mistress made the different commonrooms," said Evanesso, "while Yamino's Mistress made the grounds. The castle was brought to life by the Masters of Ribano and Tilimy, while the Four made the rest."

"Did the Finders lose their powers after?"

"No, while they stayed in the castle, their magic was made new."

"But Salazar fought Godric before he left," said Snape, his brain trying desperately to categorise his new information.

"Yes," Yamino spoke up, his eyes whirling and making Snape queasy just looking at them. "But Master Slytherin...he had a meaning. He did what Master needed to do."

"Yamino does not know what he is saying," snapped Evanesso sharply, making Snape's eyebrow raise ever so slightly. "Master Slytherin did not need to do what he did. He did what he wanted to do."

"What did he do?"

"He made a secret...and then he needed a reason to leave. So the castle gave him a reason. And the friends fought. And he left."

"What was his secret?"

"But Master of Potions already knows," said the ancient Evanesso with something representing a toothy smile under all of her wrinkles. "Master already knows Slytherin's Secret."

"The Chamber?" asked Snape with barely a whisper.

"Yes," said Yamino quickly before Evanesso could answer. "But Slytherin needed to make the Secret."

Evanesso took in a deep breath, getting ready to have a heavy argument as if they had it all the time. But Snape was not going to let her start.

"Why? Yamino," he directed his question to him purposefully. "Why did Slytherin need to make the Chamber? To hide the Beast within?"

"The Beast was not there to be hidden – it was there to guard...to protect..."

"To protect what?"

But, although the elf's mouth was half open in answer, he was frozen. It took Snape a moment to catch on because the eyes were still completely wide open, their silvery ancient depths churning slowly, but then he saw; the elf had fallen asleep!

"You must forgive Yamino. He gets carried away and does not have much energy any more. Master Slytherin made the Chamber because he wanted to keep the Secret to himself, not because he wanted to protect it."

"But what is it?" Severus hardly even noticed his own voice rising in annoyance, but Eyeri jumped from her seat.

"Master must go now," said Eyeri sternly and Snape knew his visit was up. But he was not leaving empty handed, so he raised gracefully from his seat and allowed Eyeri to put a finger to his robe and – crack – he was back in his classroom.

Turning around and facing the door, Severus heard a murmur outside, and realised that he had the Potter brat and his Dumb Duo to deal with. Opening the door with a swish of his wand, Draco stood at the forefront of the crowd of fifth years.

"Draco," Snape snapped, making the boy's eyes large with feigned innocence, "what are the main characteristics of a Gryffindor and a Slytherin respectively?"

"Well, Sir," stumbled Draco as Snape visibly saw the boy's brain try to catch up with the situation, "A Gryffindor is difficult. From personal experience, I'd say stupidity, but from what I've heard it's supposed to be bravery."

Snape heard a hiss from behind Draco as the Gryffindors heard what he'd said.

"And for Slytherins?" he enquired.

"That's easy sir. There's nothing more characteristic of a Slytherin than his ambition."

With a smirk worthy of Salazar Slytherin himself, Snape allowed the students into his class and said, "Too right you are Draco. Slytherin would be happy with the ten points you just earned."

And with that answer, Snape knew what was hidden in the Chamber of Secrets, and with a burning of ambition that he had to suppress, Snape knew that he wanted it.

(A/N: So this is where the real plot begins! The Chamber of Secrets...as if the name doesn't say it all. Let me know what you think! WonderWhiteRabbit hopping mysteriously off)