A/N

This is a companion piece to 'All that glisters is not gold'.

You might want to read that story first, or this one won't make much sense.

Enjoy reading and I await your reviews for both stories;-)

There it was. Standing innocently in front of the door. The light of the torches flickering against the golden surface. It was positioned directly at the threshold. Nothing gave away what would happen in a few moments.

But then the door opened, and a black, heavy boot hit the small golden cauldron with a mighty thud. The round thing was kicked mercilessly away from the man and against the opposite wall. It clattered against the hard stone and bounced off it before it slowly rolled to the middle of the corridor. The noise coming from the cauldron hitting the wall jerked the owner of the boot out of his thoughts.

Severus Snape had closed his eyes as he opened the door to gather his strength. No, it was more patience he tried to breathe in. Yes, that was it. Breathing in the cool air of the dungeons, that made him calm like the old walls. Still and patient in the storm of a day full of exploding cauldrons and dunderheads. But the tiny moment he took to prepare himself for the day ahead was interrupted by the small golden cauldron bouncing off the walls like a pool ball off his companions.

The small golden thing rolled around on the stone floor in lazy circles until it came to a clattering halt. The echo of its metallic noise fleeing the dungeons as fast as it had filled the corridor with the deafening racket.

Severus frowned. Who for Merlin's sake would place a golden cauldron in front of his quarters? As if he needed a cauldron. Such a small one at that. He had one like that already. It was safely stacked into the other cauldron in his office. Severus couldn't see a bow lying on the ground, so it was not a gift. There was also nothing and no one yelling happy birthday. It wasn't Severus' birthday, but that hadn't protected the Potions Master form 'cards' and 'cake' a while ago. At least the absence of such infernal objects was a sure sign the cauldron was no gift from the headmaster.

Minerva wouldn't have bothered placing the thing at his door. She would have shoved it into his hands with a grin, basking in his uneasiness when given a present. The other Professors wouldn't bother giving him anything.

Except for Trelawny. The old hag. Her 'gifts' usually were some sort of oracle, tea or like last year, a muggle fortune biscuit! Severus shuddered at the thought of the charmed biscuit following him the whole day shouting out the content of its little paper again and again: "Come to the dark side – we have cookies!"

Shaking that horrible memory from his mind Severus sighed and stalked over to the small cauldron. He picked it up carefully and marveled at the smooth surface. No doubt the little guy was of the best quality. His long fingers stroking the cool gold almost lovingly. His dark eyes searched the surface for damages. He investigated the small thing and grinned. There were no tea leaves scattered at the ground, telling some terrible developments of his future. Neither was there a tarot card stuck into the cauldron, no rabbit bone judging his sins or shard of a broken crystal ball. So, it was not coming from Trelawny. And no fortune cookie. What a relief.

The Potions Master decided to bring the cauldron to his office. The owner would come. He took the cauldron in his right hand and walked briskly down the corridor. He slammed the door to his office open and strode to his desk.

Severus' finger felt a small bump in the metal and caressed the spot with his fingertip. Without thinking about it, Severus brushed his fingers over the gold in a familiar, circular motion. When he wanted to put the cauldron on his desk, Severus recognized the grip he had on the cauldron. That way he always carried his own gold cauldron.

His gaze swept down to his hand and found the polished spot where he had brushed his fingers seconds ago. The gold was shining there as if someone had done this motion frequently over the years. Puzzled Severus felt the bottom of the cauldron and held his breath as he felt the small S.S engraved into the metal.

Fury rising inside his chest the Potions Master brought the cauldron down onto his desk and strode to his cauldron shelf. There were all his black ones, the silver one and inside… There was nothing! Where his golden cauldron should have been there was nothing.

How dare they steal from him? Severus frowned. Which thief would bring back their treasures?

How stupid were they to return his cauldron after stealing it? The alarms placed on his office hadn't gone off this night.

Pondering who had abducted his cauldron, Severus swore to seek revenge. And if he had to put every single one of those dunderheads in detention!

Slowly, a nasty smirk manifested on the Potions Master's face. Let the day begin!