A/N: This 20th Chapter (can you believe it, 20th!) is dedicated to the very kind SpaceCats, Vana, and VictoriaCullen30. Thank you so much for your kind reviews, it feels good to know that people are actually reading and enjoy the story as much as I do! Cheers ladies!

As Severus trudged back to Hogwarts in the bitter, wet cold, he contemplated what Malfoy said. Agents disappearing from not just the Ministry of Magic, but from other countries' ministries too now? No trace of the disappearance? Severus suddenly understood Shackbolt's anxiety. The war was over, and there were no more deaths, but now people were going missing en mass, only to return with vague stories.

The thing that was most interesting is, as far as Severus knew, all the Death Eaters except for Yaxley were either in Azkaban, dead, or 'reformed' like Lucius. Of course Severus couldn't be sure. He probably had a greater idea as to who all the Dead Eaters were than most people, but Voldemort still kept the numbers and names largely a secret.

Even still, by his calculations, there shouldn't be that many tip offs of Death Eater sightings due to the fact there weren't many Death Eaters left. Which meant someone was creating the ruse of a sighting to get ministry agents out in the field, and then...and then what?

The Imperious Curse.

If Severus had to bet anything, whoever it was was using the Imperious Curse on the agents, then sending them back on their merry ways. No need to cause the alarm of killing them, and now you have many people inside different ministries of the world doing your biding. It was very sophisticated and subtle, and the perfect plan given the fact that the Imperious Curse was nearly undetectable. And as long as you asked your unknowing moles not to do anything too crazy, there would be no suspicious behavior to give one away. And at the same time, they'd be in place, waiting for the time you really did need them to do something big, in which it wouldn't matter anymore if anyone knew whether or not they were under the curse.

And the Ministry, any ministry, would have no choice but to send an agent when tipped off about a follower of the Dark Lord. It wouldn't look good to ignore any pleas for help or tip offs, it would make the ministries look bad. And besides the Imperious Curse, whoever it was could be brain washing the officials, teaching them a code perhaps so that if the Ministry intercepted their mail, the message would look innocent enough. Complete secrecy.

Whoever it was had to be highly intelligent, and very powerful to pull something off of this scale. And they had to have reliable, powerful help backing them to be able to Imperious so many people, all across the world. And, if Severus was a betting man, Death Eaters were not involved. If there were anyone left besides Yaxley, there wouldn't be anyone this powerful, this intelligent, and there just wouldn't be enough followers left to help them.

Severus' thoughts immediately went back to Odessa Gayle. Contacts inside the American Department. Her home was in Washington State, which is where Lucius said most of the British agents disappeared. It was the American Department that said there had been sightings there, after all, which is where the officials and Aurors would have gone. How easy would it be for Gayle to have the American Department send them her way?

Only...Odessa had been here at Hogwarts since it reopened, and all her family was dead, so it couldn't be her. The States, much less Washington State, was extremely far away. Apparating that far a distance would be extremely dangerous. And she would have to do so outside of Hogwarts and, to his knowledge, she rarely left long enough to spend an hour or two in Hogsmeade. Something like this would take much longer, perhaps days, and Odessa didn't even leave this past holiday. Besides, even had she left over Winter and Summer breaks, these disappearances seemed to be happening year round. Did she have someone doing it for her, was she the mastermind behind it?

Sweet, bright, beautiful Odessa Gayle...it certainly seemed odd. But then again, Riddle had been the model of a perfect student and human being. It had been nothing but a mask to hide the monster. Was this Gayle's mask?

Still...there had to be more to why Shackbolt and the ministry was targeting Odessa. It had to be more than her powerful family lineage. Why would they think that she was Voldemort's wife or incubator? She was in the States both times he rose to power. Was linking her to Voldemort some excuse to accuse her of these disappearances?

The more Severus thought of it, the more it didn't make sense. Yes, there was strong circumstantial evidence that might point a finger in Odessa's direction, but all things considered, it wasn't much of a case at all. That's what the ministry wanted him to figure out...Shackbolt wanted him to find concrete evidence that Odessa was linked to Voldemort so he could pin the disappearances and the possible Imperious Curse and infiltration of the ministries on her. And in the end, if she was in fact not linked to Voldemort, he might find something else to prove her guilt. Shackbolt would know which information was important, while Severus, left without pertinent information, would have no clue as to what was really going on. But why hadn't he been given the big picture?

They were afraid of him. Afraid that maybe he had a hand in all this? So they gave him a promise, similar to what Dumbledore did, asking without really asking if he was in cahoots with whoever was behind the disappearances: if you work for us against your master, you won't be put in Azkaban or killed. They were thinking he would betray Odessa to save his own neck. The only problem was, he didn't work for Odessa. He knew absolutely nothing.

Severus was in Hogwarts now, making his way down to the dungeons. He wanted to check the potion stores again. He was going over the ingredients when he heard a clattering noise in the Potions classroom next door.

Frowning, he entered and found Thomas hovering over a cauldron, conferring with a propped up copy of Most Potente Potions. He looked tired, and was consumed with whatever he was brewing.

"What are you doing at this hour?" Severus asked silkily, standing in the doorway.

Thomas jumped, glancing up at Snape. "Nothing." His eyes narrowed. "What are you doing skulking around...shouldn't you be with Ms. Gayle?" he sneered.

Severus didn't answer him, crossing the room swiftly. Thomas closed the book, but it was in vain. One look into the cauldron and Snape knew: Polyjuice. He turned on Thomas sharply. "Why are you brewing Polyjuice Potion?"

Thomas smirked. Snape wanted to punch him in the face. "It may have escaped your notice, but I am the Potions Master."

Severus' eyes narrowed. "This is a new batch, you just started...what happened to all the other batches?"

Thomas rolled his eyes. "Not this again. As I told McGonagal, I tried making it before to show the students, but I messed up here and there and had to throw several batches out."

"And you call yourself the Potions Master." Severus leered.

Thomas' face got red. "It's a complicated potion!"

"So it is." he replied, not even mildly convinced of the story. "Why do you have to show the students the potion, mmm?"

"I don't answer to you." he sneered, but there was a slight look of concern behind his fashionable eyeglasses.

Snape was about to shoot a snappy retort when the door swung open behind him. His cloak billowed as he turned sharply. It was no other than Michael Price, still in full Gryffindor school clothes (it was the only way to tell the twins apart).

"Well well, Mr. Price." Severus said. "What do you think you're doing out of bed at this hour?"

Michael stopped in his tracks and lifted an eyebrow at Snape, before tilting his head and shooting a look at Thomas.

"He's in detention with me, Snape." Thomas sputtered. "You boy, get over here and stir this. You took too long in the lavatory!"

Michael swept past him without a word, Severus turning his head to watch him. "Is that so? At this hour?"

"His grades have been pathetic and his attitude worse...not that it's any of your business, Snape."

But Severus was watching Michael. Watching him stir and add ingredients with an expert air about him. He hadn't bothered to even open the book. And the most surprising thing was that he was doing everything correctly. His head tipped up slightly to gaze directly into Snape's eyes. And then the corner of his mouth tipped up in a knowing half smile, while his unremarkable brown eyes smirked at him.

And in that moment Snape knew without really knowing: Michael Price was the user of the Polyjuice Potion.