I wanted to form the story around the poem (4 chapters, 4 groups) but the pacing of the characters relationship and the storyline itself grew out of hand. I had to clip it in order to preserve integrity or something. Reviews?

Severus scowled, limping over to where all the commotion was at. He transfigured two nearby boulders into robes on his way there for the naked Ancients. "Do cover yourselves up for once around me," he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose as Kalzaiz and Salzaiz struggled into their clothes, unused to their original bodies after such a long time without them. "And please, will somebody inform the damn Medi-witch?" Reluctantly, a few of the gathered students left under his withering gaze, still leaving a massive crowd whispering with puzzled amazement. Professor McGonagall had the presence of mind to enlist Hagrid and the other teachers to push the remaining children back into school. Even so, it was no easy task and it took a long time before only the five of them remained.

Draco opened his eyes first, wearily rubbing them before hissing at the sudden throb of pain in his head. He quickly glanced around his surroundings and because of the sound of moaning and rustling close by him, he stared directly into the green eyes of Potter. His body moved of its own accord, out of familiarity, and turned towards Harry. Draco noticed this, as did others, and quickly jumped away from him.

"What the bloody hell!" he yelled and Severus winced. "Somebody please tell me what's going on!" Harry stood up as he spoke and dusted himself off, nodding his agreement if a little stiffly.

"Draco, shut up. I've no patience to deal with you right now, either of you- especially you, Potter," Snape started kneading his own headache that was undoubtedly approaching.

"Me?" he exclaimed indignantly, Draco groaning in the background and holding his head. "I didn't even say anything!"

"But now you have, you insufferable brat!" Severus snapped at him, the headache having arrived.

Salziaz shared a look with Kalzaiz, whom was brushing off bits of rock off of his newly placed on robes. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Hardly," Kalzaiz spoke at once, not looking up quite yet. "Unless it is something to remark on the sensitive one feeling the opposite of our condition in increasing alarm and how you've just discovered our reasons here." He smirked back at his son.

"Yours was a Muggle-born, wasn't he?" Salzaiz asked, smirking back and stepping forward.

Kalzaiz caught on and his smirk grew. "Are you insinuating what I think you're insinuating?" Salazar licked his cheek for an answer and he laughed. "You're such an exhibitionist!" he stated though he responded by loudly kissing the other.

"Pot calling the cauldron black?" his son teased, moaning as he grabbed Kalzaiz tightly by the front of his robes and pulling him closer. His tongue mashed against his father's with a moist smack.

Draco stopped moaning to blink at them, quickly darting a glance to his godfather and then at Potter, for some reason, with a deepening blush. Potter, the moron, was merely gaping at them like a gasping fish that found itself on land. Raising his hand to make an intruding cough, Potter jumped at the sound and started to match the same red in his cheeks.

"Oh, I, uh...er, Malfoy!" Harry stammered, knowing that he had been caught staring and cursed under his breath. He eyed the distance between them, it wasn't much to begin with, and then looked him up and down. The blonde looked like he had just been violated to a hormonal teenagers mind like Harry's with flushed cheeks, disheveled hair and clothes; it was just too much.

"Potter!" Draco's mouth dropped into a nice, round 'o'. "Did you...did you just check me out?" His voice was a mixture of disbelief, humour, confusion and some slight hysterics. He hadn't bothered to notice during this train of thought that his headache disappeared as well.

"No, no," Harry said succinctly in denial, turning his head away and trying to hide his revealing flush. "I certainly, absolutely, did no such thing whatsoever. Did you?"

Draco scowled. "Now why on earth would I want to do that, idiot Gryffindor?" he hissed in pain as his headache suddenly flared again. "Aw, bloody hell! Okay, maybe I did...but don't go thinking that it means anything, Potter,"

Harry turned around, shocked. "Wait, did you just tell me the truth?"

"No," he said, his scowl even more fierce but still a little pouty. He winced again. "Yes," he admitted reluctantly. "What's it to you?"

"N-Nothing," he replied, looking away and having silence set between them.

"It means absolutely everything to him," Kalzaiz interrupted their not-so-much conversation. Salzaiz was attached to him still like a simpering leech, eyes focused on his face as if he was hungry and in awe. Draco raised an eyebrow at the not too obvious meaning, sticking his chin up, while Harry flushed more and stroked the back of his neck nervously. "Come," Kalzaiz said gently with a jab of his head in the direction he wanted. "We have much to discuss with you," he started, uncaring if the two followed.

"I suggest you get moving, Potter," Snape said pointedly, his job as Confidant leading him to become the mediator of both worlds in what soon would be a disastrous meeting for them all, no doubt.

Kalzaiz walked a path that normally would have led to the dungeons, but stopped before a blank portrait and hissed a password in Parseltongue. Harry picked his head up at that, his hand searching for and squeezing Draco's for a moment unknowingly. Draco noticed it though, glancing quick at their intertwined hands and then at the oblivious Potter. He shrugged and permitted the action since it took away the throbbing of his headache for whatever reason. Salzaiz's eyes glittered when he saw that display and he grinned to himself. 'This may be easier than we thought...'

They entered a very empty but spacious, rectangular room with torches lit with a magical fire that would never burn out nor burn flesh. More blank portraits mirrored each other in between the torches on the stone walls, looking as if they held no canvas. The room itself was dusty and old, as if nothing had occupied it since it was created. Draco kicked at the floor and hacked for quite some time at the heavy cloud that attacked him.

"Would you quit it, Malfoy!" Harry angrily said between coughs as he slipped his one hand out of its hold and batted at the cloud with both of his hands.

"Please excuse my forgetfulness," Kalzaiz drawled smoothily, waving his wand in a wide circle and conjuring a small tornado that picked up all the cobwebs and dust. Salzaiz detached himself and produced a mini-storm cloud that rinsed the floor to a shine. Draco looked at the tiles they stood on and jumped in surprise and Harry picked up his foot, hearing a faint hissing; there were animated and live snakes writhing under their feet.

"Welcome to the true Chamber of Secrets," Salzaiz whispered, his eyes oddly bright as he reached down and picked one of them up and pet it. Its form was somehow familiar until Harry caught a glimpse of its blinded eyes. 'A baby basilisk!'

"This is the real Chamber of Secrets?" Harry asked appalled, remembering the Chamber of Secrets he knew with a faint sense of dread. At least this place was a little less dreary despite the basilisk population, seeing more come and curl around his legs, hissing without a language.

"It doesn't look like much," Draco snapped, used to fancier thoughts of his House Founder and his head starting to pound again. He crossed his arms.

"Take a look into one of our portraits and you will understand," he replied with a sly smile. "Don't be shy."

Harry, ever the Gryffindor, warily glanced at the two and then at his Potions Professor who gave him a slow but stern nod before walking in front of the nearest empty portrait. He had to shake off the clingy snakes from both legs before he could walk, though, and had a distinct feeling that it caused an aura of smugness to surround the two strangers. "Touch your forehead to the surface, it has to read you." Harry glanced back at the man who had been attached to the other mysterious guy and now was calmly instructing him; he blushed as he remembered just what the two had been doing and took a deep breath. He pressed his head against the fabric slowly, unsure of how or what he was supposed to feel. Gasping, he jerked back, definitely not expecting it to be cool like water. More like the same feeling of a pensieve. The surface even shimmered like it was preparing a memory.

Inside the black fabric changed, painting a picture of Harry on itself. 'Harold James Potter,' an invisible paintbrush inscribed underneath his image in thick, cursive red like if one tried to write in blood. 'Host-Body of Kalzaiz of Slytherin in the year of the Second Fall'.

"Wait a minute, what does Host-Body mean?" Harry asked as Draco looked over his shoulder in concealed interest. "And who is Kalzaiz of Slytherin or whatever?"

Salzaiz and Kalzaiz grinned at one another. "That's why I, Salazar Slytherin, brought you here. To address the secrets. But first, watch and wait. The portraits give one Fact, one Truth and one Secret; the first two have already been done and I certainly want to see one Secret of yours,"

Harry gulped, unsure if he wanted to find out himself and faced the portrait. 'The identity of the one he loves will be like the bite of a Basilisk fang.' And then it all was gone. He turned around to see if Draco saw but he was busy fawning over the man who claimed he was Salazar. He released a sigh, somewhat shakily because he didn't know why he felt relieved and also jealous. 'If he's really Salazar, somehow coming back to life, then maybe he can explain why he left the school.' He eyed the other man that Salazar clung to previously and the man eyed him as well with a cunning smirk. 'Maybe it's because of his...choice.'

He glanced back at Draco and swallowed, feeling a bit upset that the blonde was looking like the cat that got the proverbial canary. Snape had moved silently beside him. "Jealous, Potter?" he drawled making Harry jump.

"Of course not, sir," he added, remembering the title after a pause. "What am I supposed to be jealous of?"

Severus raised one eyebrow. "Nothing, Potter. Merely curiosity on my part," he walked away to the dark corner he was before, observing with a silent indifference. Harry made a face at his back, knowing that it was childish and he probably saw and would get in trouble later, but it made him feel slightly better. He walked over to Draco and pulled him away from his hero-worshiping. "So, what are these secrets you have to explain?"

Draco slowly blinked out of his mindless, starstruck state and sneered. "What do you think I was trying to do, Potter?"

Harry growled, removing his hand. "Oh, I don't know, maybe about ready to pledge yourself into the service of this Slytherin!"

Draco's headache came back even worse, blinding his vision with white dots for a few seconds. "Oh, fuck you," he said a bit weakly.

"Stop it, both of you!" Kalzaiz hissed with his booming, commanding voice. Harry hung his head and shut up and Draco shuddered into silence. To Salzaiz, he leaned in and whispered, "With all of the sexual tension between them it makes our job easier."

"Or it makes it harder," Salzaiz whispered back with a smile. "Now, only in the Chamber of Secrets can secrets of this magnitude be safely spoken of. That's why I created it especially from the whole school,"

"Wait, you created the whole school?" The Gryffindor asked.

"Yes, well, my father started it," he admitted. Severus snorted and Salazar's grin grew. "I finished it with a few additions like the separate Houses, but enough of that. We always make sure that a copy of our true history is given to one of our hosts should they desire to learn the actual history; in fact, it was entrusted in your care, Harry Potter."

Draco was certain there was numerous amounts of jokes he could use effectively there to insult Potter; his wittiness was not a problem, he just didn't feel like it. His head hurt something awful if he even tried to and the effort of speaking uncivilly was wearing him down. If there was one thing he didn't want, it was to miss anything that the- as it turned out- one and only Founder and first Snake spoke especially since they held even more in common. "I would like to learn more, Potter, if that would be okay by you," he mumbled eventually, looking at the ground. Just because he had to be sort of nice to Potter, didn't mean that he liked it very much or at all. Kalzaiz watched him sadly, knowing how painful this whole situation was since they had went through it before when he was firm in his morals. He moved swiftly to the boy's side and placed a hand on his shoulder while picking up one of his favourite species of snakes and noting how he jumped.

"Here," his deep voice sad softly, easily finding the Smooth Snake (1) with its signature heart on the top of its head. Even for the female sex it was a vibrant greenish-grey, its black strips standing out significantly on the side of its face. It looked young, roughly forty centimetres so far and probably at least another ten to grow. She curled nicely around Draco's neck and hissed pleased at her new and very warm master. He looked a little surprised but gratefully pet her head.

"Thank you," he whispered, feeling much better even though he knew everyone was watching him.

"Don't. I understand, I felt the exact same way," he chuckled as Draco looked up at him with wide eyes. "You may keep her if you wish, but you must treat her well. She is a very rare species normally, one of a kind since she was introduced to magic, and also one of my favourites," Malfoy gulped at that threat.

"Um, Malfoy," Potter began, stepping forward and rubbing the back of his neck. "I-you can read the book if you want, it's not like I would ever be interested in history," he sighed. Draco nodded and looked at his hesitant form, probably thinking the same thing he did just previously.

"Do you want to pet her?" he asked with a slow smirk.

"Can I?" Harry asked with extreme difficulty in hiding his eager tone. Draco nodded again and Harry scratched under her chin.

"Hello," he hissed in Parseltongue. "Do you have a name, my pretty?"

She lifted her head and blinked lazily at him. "I do not, Tongued-One, but only my master shall give me one,"

"She says only her master can name her," he said, unsure who he was supposed to be speaking to. Draco sighed and looked at Kalzaiz.

"What did you name her?"

He shook his head with a faint smile, "I am not her master," Draco grinned.

"In that case, I think Avis would fit. The Latin form, not like the bird," he elaborated. "Does she accept?"

Before Harry had a chance to ask and answer him, the snake swiveled its head to look at Draco with adoring eyes. "Avisss iss mosst pleassing, Masster," she hissed in English out loud. The words were heavy, cloaked by the difficulty in stopping her 's's, but still identifiable.

Harry gaped at her and Draco, equally shocked, managed to hide it just a bit better. "She-she can talk!"

"Of course," Kalzaiz said imperiously with a snort. "She's magical. I bred her myself," he exchanged a look with his son, who only mouthed the words "he's a Muggleborn". He shook his head and said "pity" back to him.

"Enough distractions," Severus hissed, jumping back into the limelight. "We've wasted too much time already."

"You're quite right, Severus," Salzaiz purred nicely. He measured the boys one at a time and wordlessly switched to figure out Kalzaiz's thoughts. His father inclined his head slightly and Salzaiz felt his smirk fall into a serious line. "In fact, I think it would be better if we went one-on-one with you two,"

"But, first, a quick introduction. You know me as Salazar Slytherin, whereas my actual name is Salzaiz. You shall refer to me as such," He pointed to his lover. "This is Kalzaiz, he is my father." He moved onto Snape, ignoring whatever rushed little thoughts going through their minds that would appear on their face. "I'm sure you two know Severus as he is your Potions Master and our Confidant. Now, Potter with me and Malfoy with Kalzaiz."

Harry was rushed into an adjacent room that didn't seem like it was far in the opposite direction of Malfoy and the other guy. He assumed Snape went there with them, had to protect his little snake after all. He scowled to himself at the unfair treatment he always seemed to receive. 'Of course I get stuck with this guy, the oh-so-great Salazar Slytherin who commits incest and probably a lot of Dark Arts too. I still don't see what's so great about him and why the ferret-faced git was fawning over him, about ready to lick his boots clean' he thought to himself in his little pity party as Salzaiz summoned some light and furniture for them.

"That is enough," he snapped, his eyes flashing furiously at the small boy he took as his charge. He was regretting his father's decision of taking opposites, but then again, his father had some marginal Seeing ability and he would put his life in trust of it as he had many time before. "I told you that you will refer to me as Salzaiz since you have no right to claim my nickname nor its use. Severus Snape made that mistake once and I guarantee that he would not be the same man he is right now if Kalzaiz had not stopped me. He also made the very unwise mistake of labelling the complicated relationship I have with my father as incest. I will warn you now, say all that you like about your friend but you shall not even think things about me or my life that you wouldn't about Albus,"

"How did-I didn't...what?" he asked, his shock not letting him feel his ashamed guilt yet.

"This is the Chamber of Secrets in which I added two rooms where there could be no secrets," he said dryly, like speaking to a child, still bristling a little with anger. "That means all of your thoughts are mine and vice versa save for the fact that I can choose what to share with you as Master of the Rooms."

"Well that-that's not fair!" Harry spluttered.

"Is it?" Salzaiz quirked an eyebrow. "You followed me willingly, I did not force you into anything so do not use the 'Slytherin' excuse with me. I would have told you if I had not been so rudely slandered...eventually."

"Of course, eventually," he said, hissing slightly. "So why don't you explain everything now, while we're at it?"

Salzaiz smirked gently at him, smoothing his magic in place from its roused state in anger and wondering if Kalzaiz had such a handful in Draco.

Kalzaiz kneaded his forehead with a sigh. If he hadn't known the boy's back-story because of Salzaiz inhabiting the blonde, he would have lost his patience minutes ago. But at least he didn't share Severus' mentality about their relationship and seemed to be least likely to struggle against their bonds; probably also due to his upbringing.

"Now listen, Draco, and stop whining for a moment. What we have to explain to you is very important, if you only gave me a moment to preform the spell!" he hissed, trying not to snap at the child. For one, it was the body of his son and he didn't like snapping the heads off children whom were already in a confusing mess like Severus enjoyed. He drew a quick binding room in the air with his wand and muttered "Adstringo illa cella una communico specialis of chamber, (2)" Hopefully, even Severus would be able to commune- if he so wished- and all hear so that way less time was spent on saying things twice.

"Right. Let us begin."

Harry jumped at the sudden voice sounding like it came over a speaker in their room and Salzaiz smirked. "Indeed," he responded. "The Fates have chosen you two to be our vessels to fulfill our prophecy."

"Of course, another prophecy," Harry muttered and it carried over into the other room right by Draco's ear. He started and could have sworn he felt Potter's angry breath on his neck even though no one was actually near him.

"Yes and no. You see, your prophecy was actually about us."

"Most unfortunately," Kalzaiz picked up with a slight nod to Salzaiz even through he would not be able to see it. "I placed a curse upon the Weasley family- I believe that is what they are called now- and in doing so I split my soul into many halves, one of which has always been the lurking force of Darkness in the Wizarding World. Your generation called him Voldemort, he was previously Grindelward before then and we have finally destroyed him and are able to finally drift to peace."

"But you haven't drifted off to peace, yet," Draco pointed out and Harry shivered as his ghostly words floated by him. He didn't think he could get used to this kind of magic, ever.

"We think-"

"Dear Merlin, we hope so, at least!" Salzaiz interrupted with a cry and placing a small, grim smile on Kalzaiz's face for a moment.

"That because we have finally banished that piece of me, we cannot leave this time without tying up our loose ends," he continued without a skip and was rewarded with silence from both ends.

"He means you two brats," Severus growled impatiently. Draco shook his head and meekly ventured to speak.

"Well, can you explain why I'm getting these nasty headaches?" The Ancients shared such a devious look with one another, without actually seeing each other, that even Severus was wary of their true objectives.

"Actually, yes," Kalzaiz began. "It is a most unfortunate side affect, I am afraid, but necessary for completion of our duties."

"We once had to figure out the source as well," his son picked up. "Now it is our duty to help you figure it out. In fact, one of us will be with you to supervise and attend to you from now on- in disguises, of course,"

"I assume that you understand everything that you are to experience is strictly confidential or we will have no choice but to obliviate all three of you," Kalzaiz spoke, his voice deepening to a rumble that commanded their cooperation. The boys nodded quickly and Severus just snorted at his indirect inclusion.

"Now," he continued with his normal tone. "You will be assigned whomever is in the room with you as your primary guardian of sorts. You will be required to take all of your normal classes without relying on our knowledge, though we are more than willing to help in other ways, along with daily scheduled time with the both of you alone. Any detentions and the time is doubled, any other kind of misbehaviour and the time is doubled, any poor grades received from either of you and the time is doubled; am I perfectly clear?" The boys nodded meekly again, this time with a lot more reluctance and with the feeling of impending doom of some sort.

A feather of Raven,
A claw of Griffin,
A heart of Badger,

Heir of Slytherin!

(1) This is an actual native UK snake, I looked it up and it fits nicely I think.

(2) To bind these rooms in one to share the secrets of the chamber almost.