Shakespeare's sister, Silverthreads – Thank you both so very much! Hope you enjoy the rest as well!

Duj – With regard to chapter 5 – well that was a sneaky reference to a story called Occasional Table, by Predatrix and Fuchsia. Do you know it? I can highly recommend it… Thanks for your review! Oh, and by the way – I like your stories very well as well! Especially Everything I've Ever Done.

Risi, kyer, Hebi R. – Well, I can only say –hope you like the way the story turns out…(Smiley...)

Chapter Eleven – The Polyjuice Potion and What it May Mean

With doubts pressing heavily on him, Harry entered the tower again. Hermione raised her eyebrows at him in a silent question.

He nodded and moved his head slightly in the direction of a silent corner. Hermione took up her things and sat down next to him.

She looked at him and when he did not immediately say something burst out, "Well, out with it, Harry! Did you find something in his rooms or not?"

Harry didn't wonder at her having figured out where he had been and just miserably shook his head. "No. But there is something wrong here, 'Mione. I'm sure of it. I mean, not even I could live with so few clothes. He is like Lockhart reversed!"

Hermione just blinked at him. "Indeed," she weakly said. "Too bad for you, Harry. How about starting at the beginning?"

Harry sighed deeply, gave himself a start and told her more or less chronologically what he had – or hadn't – found in Caldus' rooms.

When he had finished Hermione remained silent for a few moments, pondering.

"Well, I don't know what to make of it, Harry. It surely sounds strange. No personal things. Hardly any clothing. No signs that he actually lives there? But where does he live if not there? You don't think he keeps all of his things in Sirius' rooms, do you? More texts on potions than on defense? You didn't be any chance notice the specifics, did you? Smell of – what was it? Boomslang skin? Leeches? Are you sure it was boomslang and no adder's tail? You do know that boomslang is one of the main ingredients in the Polyjuice potion, don't you?"

Harry froze and than sat upright with a rough movement. "Polyjuice – 'Mione, could that be it?

Hermione just stared at him.

"Why? What do you mean, Harry? Who would Caldus have polyjuiced into? I mean, it doesn't make sense!"

Harry stared at her. "No, I mean, could someone else have polyjuiced into Caldus? You know – could he be someone else? But there aren't anymore death eaters around anymore, are there? Why would anyone take the trouble to go teaching at Hogwarts in someone else's shape?"

Hermione frowned uneasily. "I don't know, Harry. But I do think you should go to professor Dumbledore with this. Perhaps he already knows about this?"

"Right," Harry coldly said. "And how am I going to explain that I was in Caldus's rooms? I can't tell him. You know that. No. But do you think I need to tell Sirius about it?"

Hermione frowned at that. "I don't know, Harry. You know, you might be entirely wrong, and then you would hurt Sirius. I mean, I have never seen him so deeply in love as he is now. And Sirius would be very angry with you. We need to know more before we can do anything about it. And apart from that…"

But she couldn't finish, for just at that moment, Ron burst in on both of them, looking very annoyed. Where have you been all this time, Harry? Did you forget that we would meet at Hagrid's this afternoon? The two of you look as if you are plotting at something secret. Something that I'm not supposed to know?"

"Oh," Harry claimed, embarrassed. "I'm sorry, Ron, I completely forgot! Oh, that really is stupid. But I really couldn't think of anything else but this, you know. You see…" And he quickly filled Ron in on the details of his afternoon trip.

Ron listened with growing disbelief. But before he could make any comment his eyes fell on the small chain that Harry still kept in his hand.

"Where did you get that from, Harry? Surely it doesn't come from Caldus's rooms?"

Harry flushed when he realized that he still kept the chain in his hand.

"Yes, I found it in Caldus's room. Strange, isn't it? It lay under the bed. It looked as if it had fallen. Or as if he had thrown it away. Strange, really. I mean, it's nothing special, but still…"

Hermione bent over the chain interestedly, experimentally holding it around her neck. Child's stuff, really," she commented. "Why would professor Caldus keep it? Perhaps it is a memory from a lover, or something?"

Harry disbelievingly raised his eyebrows at her. "You mean you think Sirius gave it to him? I can hardly believe it. This just looks cheap. And silly."

"Not that Sirius cannot act amazingly silly," Hermione commented drily. "The way he pranks professor Snape from time to time…"

"Blimey, Harry," Ron suddenly said. "I think I have seen this thing before. But it beats me where that can have been. I thought I remembered it, but then you started to talk about Snape…"

He broke off and gaped at the others in wide-eyed confusion. "Wait a second… Polyjuice… You think that Snape would have something to do with it?"

Hermione frowned and Harry looked irritated. "As a matter of fact, I'm convinced that he has something to do with it. He's been acting strange of late. Stranger than usual, that is. Not his old, snarky self. I would very nearly be concerned about him if I weren't convinced that he can help himself."

"Can he?" Hermione skeptically asked. "If you asked me, I would say, he's not making a stellar job out of it."

"Yes, well, I don't care about that right now. I am convinced that he has something to do with it. What if Caldus really uses polyjuice to take someone else's shape? Don't you think that Snape brews it for him? Snape could never stand any of the defense teachers before, but he seems to go on well, with Caldus. That's a strange thing in itself."

"Do you really think that Caldus needs anyone to brew polyjuice for him?" Hermione asked? He seems to know enough about potions to do it himself."

"Perhaps he doesn't have the materials?" Harry asked? But that didn't even sound convincing in his own ears.

"Maybe Caldus and Snape are in some way related to each other?"

"Do you mean, acquaintance from the past? But why did they pretend not to know each other when they met at the pub? They never said anything about it. You don't think Snape is caught up in something evil, do you?"

Harry sighed. "No, I don't think it," he tiredly said. "I spent a lot of time thinking Snape was the enemy. And he wasn't. Still, something is very wrong here. Why, I walked towards the library the other day and first thought I saw Snape. But it was Caldus. They even have the same build…"

He broke off. "You don't think Snape is Caldus, do you?"

Silence.

Harry, Ron and Hermione looked at each other with growing dismay in their eyes.

A flood of memories came up and flitted in front of Harry's eyes.

Caldus and Sirius, laughing together in the pub.

Snape, in his classroom, his eyes red and unseeing.

Caldus and Sirius, kissing and appearing embarrassed about it.

Caldus, a mixture of pain and fury in his eyes.

Caldus and Sirius, walking around the lake, hand in hand and oblivious to the world.

Snape, looking like a deer caught in the headlights.

Caldus, a friendly man one moment; a completely different person the next.

It couldn't be true. It had to be true.

Snape was Caldus. What a mean thing to do. What a vile, disgusting thing to do.

But then he remembered all the times that Sirius had made a fool of Snape. The childish thoughtlessness of those pranks. The time when Sirius had hexed Snape's clothes away at Grimmauld Place. The incident at the lake. Snape's red eyes. And finally, with a sinking feeling in his stomach, the shrieking shack.

A feeling of sick dismay rose to Harry's lips. He saw in Hermione's and Ron's eyes that they thought the same thing.

"We need to talk to Sirius," he hoarsely said. "We need to warn him. Oh, Merlin, this really is awful."