Albus Dumbledore was at the end of his patience. Surely, Severus should have contacted him by now. It was well after midnight and he was growing tired of waiting for news. “What do you think, Fawkes? Shall I go and see for myself what is going on?” When the phoenix that was his familiar gave a warning trill and shook his head in the negative, Albus sighed, knowing that Fawkes was rarely wrong. He decided that he might as well give Severus until morning to return and headed to bed.

Fawkes tilted his head to the side after the annoying one left the room and gave a soft snickering trill. The old fool might think that he was his familiar, but phoenixes were special and could choose to keep or destroy the bond between them and their 'master' if they ever felt the need. He only remained with the old man so that he could keep an eye on his activities. Fawkes, as he was called at this time, had been around for a very long time and had been the 'familiar' of nearly every headmaster at Hogwarts, though they weren't aware that he was the same phoenix. Like all phoenixes, he had the ability to adjust the color scheme of his feathers and his aura slightly, which was a carefully guarded secret of his kind. Long ago, he had been given the task by his first and only true master and bond-mate to protect the students and teachers from the future headmasters if ever it was necessary. He had accomplished this by allowing himself to bond with those who's minds he could touch, watching carefully for corruption. In all the centuries that he had been faithfully fulfilling this task, he'd only been forced to take measures once, until now. Soon, he would be able to initiate his plans to rid the school of it's center of corruption...soon. First, however, he needed to find out what young Severus Snape was up to.

After waiting to hear the telltale signs that Dumbledore was sound asleep, Fawkes carefully undid his jesses and softly trilled his password to a hidden passageway to the Owlery. Watching as the portrait of a woman surrounded by children slid to the side, he prepared for flight waiting for the right moment. Taking to wing he flew through the opening and once out of earshot of the Headmaster, he flashed himself to the location of his quarry.

Severus Snape walked across the hall to the room that Arabella assigned him to sleep in. Entering the room, he was unsurprised to see the bed was turned down invitingly. Smiling he thought, 'As always, Arabella, you are an excellent hostess.' With a few simple waves of his wand, he transfigured his robes into suitable sleepwear and headed to the attached bathroom to prepare himself for bed. Just as he was leaving the bathroom, there was a bright flash outside of the window of the room. His eyes narrowed as he recognize Dumbledore's familiar and prepared for the coming battle.

Fawkes tapped gently on the window pane with his beak and gave a reassuring chirp. Please let me in. I mean you and the boy no harm, young warrior. I wish only to help you. Despite what you may believe, I am no ally of Albus Dumbledore. I am the spy in his midst, so to speak, and not now or ever, a true familiar to him. The only man I called master is long gone from this world and until fairly recently I've not met anyone else worthy of the title.

Severus was startled by the clarity of the phoenix's words in his mind. He had never before realized just how very intelligent Fawkes was. He couldn't help but be curious. “Just how old are you? And who was your original master?”

Exact years, I cannot give you for time means little to me, though my first master's name may give you some idea. His name was Salazar Slytherin. Could you open the window?

Severus was floored by this news, having expected the first master, if one of the Founders, to be Godric Gryffindor. “Slytherin, not Gryffindor?” he whispered to himself as he opened the window to let Fawkes inside, too stunned to object.

Yes, Salazar saved my egg after my dame and sire were accidentally killed by rock slide. My egg was miraculously unharmed and he took the time and care to incubate it until I hatched. He was a great man with an astonishing heart. My loyalty was his from the moment I first heard his voice soothing me from within my egg. Godric, too, was a good man and perhaps under different circumstance, I might have chosen him, however, his mind was closed to me. His ability for spell work may have been formidable, but he had no gift for the mind magics, such as occlumancy.

“You mentioned that you are a spy in Dumbledore's midst. What did you mean by that?” Severus was determined to milk Fawkes of every bit of information that he could. He would decide whether to trust him once he was satisfied.

Salazar bade me before his death to protect the school and to keep a watchful eye on the Headmasters. Most of them were good men and women who truly cared about the needs and education of the students.

“Most? How many had agendas that went against good of the students.” He asked, shocked that he had never heard of such treachery in the annals of Hogwarts: A History. Though, he did suspect who one of them might be.”

Only two have been truly dangerous to the students. The first I will not speak of, as he changed his ways and earned my forgiveness. Albus Dumbledore, on the other hand, is a dangerous man and needs to be removed from power. I've little doubt that he will ever change. The methods I used on the other have had no impact on him. I have witnessed many of his atrocities, including those done to you, both as a child and as an adult. He hides his treachery well behind his apparent benevolence and most do not suspect him as the evil force that he is.

“How long have you known that he was not to be trusted?”

That is difficult to answer, as even I was fooled for quite some time. He seemed truly a kind and caring man, until a young man named Riddle came to Hogwarts. This was before he became headmaster, of course, but I was still able to observe many of his manipulations when it came to that boy. Riddle could have been a great force for good, given the the support and guidance that he needed. He seemed to go out of his way to push the boy to focus on his anger and to seek revenge for the sins of his parents. Rather than help him find pride in his strength and intelligence, he made the boy feel ashamed of his heritage and status as a half-blood.

“According to legend, Slytherin was also a stickler for purity of blood and didn't want half-bloods and muggle-borns attending the school.”

That is not true. How could he be a stickler for blood purity, when he himself was born of, as you call them now, muggles? He, instead, merely objected to students that had no previous knowledge of the magical arts.

“Salazar Slytherin was a muggle-born? But that goes against everything that we have been taught about him.” Severus didn't know what to think about this news. It change many of his perceptions of the Founder of his house.

Sadly, many people misinterpreted the reasons he objected. All he asked was that the applicants to the school be given tests to show that they were prepared for the classes that were offered at the school. If they weren't, he asked that they be given training someplace else until they could pass the admissions tests. It was the students' levels of education that mattered to him, not their birth status.

“Yes, I can see the sense in that. Most muggle-born students and even some half-bloods are dreadfully unprepared for the lessons at Hogwarts. If they were given introductory courses starting at around age nine, it would make their introduction to magic and Hogwarts so much easier on them, their families, and the other students.”

So you can see his point. Unfortunately, Rowena was the only other Founder to understand his reasoning, at least in part. She understood that students with little knowledge would have difficulties, but felt that a mentoring program would suffice for catching them up.

“That brings a several questions to my mind for her. First, who did she expect to mentor these children? The teachers? Other students?” Severus hissed, his disgust at her lack of foresight obvious. “I then ask, when do those children have time to be children? They would have to spend all of their free time studying to catch up. That is neither healthy nor reasonable for them.”

Those are precisely the questions he brought forth, but she decided to ignore him and sided with Helga and Godric. The majority won and Salazar did his best to follow the policies that were laid down, but as time went by and his point was proven over and over again, he grew bitter and unsatisfied at the lack of reaction from his friends to the plight of those children. He soldiered on, helping as many as he could, until a muggle-born student, overwhelmed by sheer volume of work he had to do, committed suicide. That was the final straw. He swore that he would put a stop to the madness.

“What did he do?” Severus asked, saddened by the fact that a student had died, because they couldn't handle the pressures placed upon them.

Sadly, the others refused to see reason and he was forced to make the painful decision to leave Hogwarts behind. He made it his mission to seek out and identify as many magical children as he could and attempted to start his own school. His aim was to give children with the gift of magic the training they needed to later succeed at Hogwarts. Terribly, his past arguments were used as a means to destroy this goal.

“If his school had been implemented, much good would have been achieved. It's sad that the short-sightedness of the other Founders destroyed his hopes of helping to prevent such tragedies from ever happening again.” Severus would love the chance to set up such a school himself, but knew that, as in Salazar's time, the chances such a school being accepted was very slim.

I will visit you again, young Severus, but for now, I must leave you to your rest. Having touched your mind once, I will always be able to contact you. I will keep you advised of Dumbledore's movements. I ask only this of you. Keep Harry Potter close and safe from harm.

“Thank you, Fawkes. I truly appreciate your help and the information you shared. I swear that I will do whatever it takes to protect Harry from those that wish to harm him, no matter who they may be.” Severus gazed directly into the phoenix's eyes, allowing him to see the truth of his words.

Fare thee well, young Severus. May your dreams be good and your steps be light. With that said, Fawkes flew out the window and flashed himself back to Hogwarts and made his way back to his perch.

Severus, suddenly feeling the weight of his exhaustion, crawled into his bed and slept soundly, secure in the knowledge that he would have warning if Albus tried to come to Surrey to check on his progress.