A/N: So, I was going to apologize for the cliffhanger in this chapter, but I actually really like them. For those of you who don't, I'll use them sparingly, but heads up, there is a cliffhanger at the end. I've already started on the next chapter, so it shouldn't be a really long wait.

Friday night was the first Astronomy class for the eighth years, and they were kicking off the term with a midnight class to Harry's disgruntlement. He felt like an old person wanting to be in bed by eleven at the very latest these days. His Dreamless Sleep regimen Healer Morris and Snape had him on currently was wonderful and he was catching up on so much sleep he'd missed for…well, forever. It didn't help that Astronomy class was clearly taking place in the Astronomy Tower, a place he had been dreading returning to.

Harry sighed as he came level to where Draco Malfoy was standing at the bottom of the stairs and looking like he might just turn around and head back to his room or throw up or both. "I'll do a self-study…I don't actually need class. I'll drop it," the blond was muttering under his breath, not even paying attention to Harry joining him. "Bloody required courses…"

"I don't want to go up either; I assume it's much worse for you," Harry agreed with a grimace. Ron and Hermione had already climbed the stairs, deep in a discussion with Neville about something they were learning in Herbology and hadn't noticed they'd lost their friend. "How about we do it together…we either quit together or brave it out together. I'm really fine with either at this point. Warding doesn't need an Astronomy NEWT…it's useful but not required."

"Unfortunately, Potions does," Draco grumbled, finally taking in the fact that Harry was standing beside him with a haunted look in his eyes. "I know I didn't do it, I couldn't do it, but it was the lowest point of my life…I still see it happening in my dreams."

Harry looked at him speculatively. "It's the bathroom with you that year that was my lowest…"

"Really?" Malfoy frowned in surprised confusion. "I was trying to use an unforgivable, actually seemed pretty justified to me."

Harry snorted and rolled his eyes. "Oh please, I've cast that unforgivable myself and it's harder than you think...or well, I'm sure you know that at this point, but not then. I doubt you would have done anywhere near as much damage to me as I did to you."

"You're an idiot," the former Death Eater grumbled distractedly.

"Never claimed not to be," he just smirked back.

"Right…so, we can do this?" Draco said it as if it wasn't a question, but it definitely was. "Snape killed him. I didn't. It's not like his ghost is hanging around anyway…"

"Snape didn't kill him," Harry felt the need to defend the man. Snape hadn't put Dumbledore on his list of people he'd killed, and Harry didn't either. Knowing the man now, the death still haunted Snape, but at least he was able to place blame where it was justified and not on himself. Dumbledore was already dead before he was hit with that curse, Snape just showed him mercy at that point, maybe more than he deserved in Harry's sometimes less than generous opinion.

"Dumbledore drank poison earlier that night, and his hand had a degenerative curse, either one was going to kill him imminently. In this instance, Snape was kind."

The former Slytherin took in a deep breath. "No…I'll try next week…I can't do it…" He turned to leave.

"What do you like about Astronomy?" Harry reached out and stopped him from walking away. He knew that leaving now would just make it impossible to attempt later. "Or what do you dislike about it? Focus on the subject, not the location. Focus on how much you hate me if you must but pick something else. If we can make it through this one class, I hope the others will be easier...for both of us."

"What are you going to focus on?" He was clearly grasping for something but was coming up blank.

Harry narrowed his eyes, already knowing what was irritating him. He supposed he really didn't care if Draco knew, they had seen each other at their lowest, and they were sort-of friends at this point. "If I tell you, you have to promise to keep it to yourself. If you spread it around, I'll tell Tonks who will tell her mother who will show up in your rooms and make your life hell."

"Well now I have to know," Draco turned a smirk on the former Gryffindor. Clearly, he was feeling slightly distracted, so Harry took the opportunity to pull his sort-of friend towards the staircase. It was working at least to get their minds on something besides where they were going.

"The new professor is absolutely annoying. She keeps flirting with this guy I like. It's constant, like every time they are in the same room. I don't think he has really noticed, or he's ignoring it, but she sticks to him like glue and is always blinking fast and throwing her hair around, and it's just ridiculous! So, I'm going to focus on how irritating she is and if I can stare her perfect blonde hair into a dirty brown color. She has to have veela blood with hair like that!" He ranted as they slowly walked up the stairs.

"First of all, yes she clearly does. She's from Beauxbatons and obviously at least part veela. Second, what the hell, Potter?! You like my godfather?!" He sputtered in shock. "I didn't even know you liked guys? Weren't you dating the Weaslette?"

"See! Even you knew who it was she was flirting with!" Harry issued as evidence, a finger jabbing at Draco's shoulder to emphasize his point. "Clearly, she needs to back off if it's that obvious. And I'm bi for your information. I have no clue about Snape, but I'm offended for him that she hasn't let up this whole week. This can't go on all term! I support him eating her if it does."

Draco actually chuckled as they stepped into the Astronomy Tower where Professor Laimar was beginning to call roll. "I'm surprised he's immune to her allure even as a vampire, but it is my godfather. I have a theory he's probably immune to Veritaserum as well. However, as good of a spy as he is, I doubt he would know when someone was flirting with him if they walked up and told him they were. I guess it makes a little more sense now that you always seemed to be immune to the allure too…"

Harry shrugged. He thought it was more imminent death and irritation from being made to participate in the Triwizard Tournament more than anything else since that was the main instance he had been around those with veela blood; however, Fleur never seemed to impact him any at all…speaking of blonds with veela ancestry...

"Hey…you aren't part veela yourself, are you? It's cool if you are, just you have the hair and all…like the general characteristics and everything."

Draco snorted and rolled his eyes. "Only women are veelas."

That didn't sound right to Harry at all. "But, how can there be people who are part-veela if there are no male veelas? If it only takes one parent to be full veela, then why isn't Laimar or Fleur full veela? Doesn't that mean that a full veela would need two veela parents?"

The blond beside him stood there in stunned silence his face slowly falling more and more. It might not have been intentional, but Draco didn't seem to be dwelling on the trauma of the tower anymore. The blond actually seemed to be going through a new personal crisis.

"Merlin, Potter…what if I do actually have some veela blood?!" He hissed lowly in shock. "Father never would have talked about it, and you've seen his hair…!"

"Did you have an unpleasant inheritance?" Harry raised an eyebrow questioningly. "It would have been really painful instead of just a rush of magic."

"Aunt Bella cursed me a few times that day as a birthday 'present.' I doubt I would have noticed," he frowned even more deeply. Harry wished he could bite Draco's aunt even if she was already dead. She really deserved to die several times in his opinion.

"I'm fairly positive I passed out instead of fell asleep that night," he continued. "If I was unconscious from pain already, it's possible I wouldn't notice."

"Well, I suppose you don't have wings?" Now Harry was curious. Maybe there was actually some truth in this. "I think you'd notice that at least."

He got a death glare for that. "I'm not as oblivious as you and your little friends."

"Hey, I at least knew you were up to something sixth year…"

Draco just scoffed. "You always thought I was up to something. 90% of the time I really wasn't. You just lucked out once."

"Yeah, yeah…anyway, why don't you just ask your mum," he rolled his eyes, now studiously ignoring the professor who was complaining in a heavy French accent about how Hogwarts' Astronomy equipment was years behind Beauxbatons'. However, Beauxbatons hadn't just gone through a war, so the equipment issue was clearly not important to anyone besides the professor.

"Really, Draco…it's not a big deal either way…It's not possible you could be a full veela, so I doubt it would impact your life much at all. It's not like you'd have to tell people either."

"Not a big deal?!" Draco almost squeaked, finally drawing Ron and Hermione's attention who both looked over questioningly, Hermione with a pointed look to where they should be taking notes.

"Shh, you're going to get us in trouble," he warned under his breath. "I'm going on a not-date tomorrow and don't want detention."

Draco sighed deeply, clearly not liking the idea he may possibly have creature blood in his ancestry. "I know I am going to regret this, but what is a not-date?"

"Why thank you for asking," Harry gave him a huge grin. Neither one of them knew a thing the professor was saying. That honestly wasn't the goal though. If they just made it through the class, that was the goal. They could get notes from Hermione or Blaise (for Draco) later. "I'm going shopping with your hot godfather, and it might not be a date, but I'm still going to thoroughly enjoy it."

"Oi, I realize you both think we all bow down to you, but some of us actually need to pass our NEWTs," Pansy Parkinson leaned over to growl at them. "Stop grumbling and either tell us all what you're talking about or just make-out already why don't you."

"He's not my type," Harry rolled his eyes at her while Draco turned a deathly shade of white and sputtered unintelligibly.

"Are you three listening?!" Now the professor finally caught on to their little group in the back of the class. "Can one of you tell me what this star is?" She motioned to a chalkboard with a star-chart on it.

Unbeknownst to the veela-professor, but that happened to be the one and only star and constellation Harry could recognize on sight. He gave her a shit-eating grin. "The dog-star, ma'am. Also called Sirius."

Draco snorted beside him, clearly recovered from Parkinson's insinuation. "Well, let's focus in so others can hear and learn," the professor raised an eyebrow, clearly not expecting him to know that.

It didn't matter if they stopped talking, took out their textbooks, and were looking at the professor and the night sky, neither Harry nor Draco processed anything said in class at all. When the end of class was called, they were also the first down the stairs, scurrying off into the corridors. "Merlin, I thought that would never end!" Harry felt like he was out of breath, like he'd just done something very strenuous instead of just look at stars.

"If you ever mention that I said this, I will deny it vehemently," Draco gave him an intense look. "But…thank you…I don't think I would have made it through that class."

"Me neither," Harry shrugged and gave him a smile, shifting his bag on his shoulder more comfortably. "So…you off to talk to your mum? Tell her hi from me."

"I really do hate you," the blond rolled his eyes and drawled before stalking away. "If you don't treat my godfather well, I learned a lot of wonderful curses last year I'd be happy to try on you," he called over his shoulder.

"Oo, see if you have retractable talons!" Harry chuckled and called back, getting a rude gesture in return before the former Slytherin turned the corner.

"What was all that with Malfoy?" Ron asked as he and Hermione finally caught up from Harry's mad dash from the tower.

"It was the Astronomy Tower, Ron," Hermione rolled their eyes. "I'm glad you both made it through, even if you were being ridiculous and picking at each other the whole time."

"Hey! I was very civil," Harry protested but just grinned at them smugly. "On a completely unrelated note…are there male veelas?"

"No, there aren't. It is a completely female culture," Hermione stated in her lecturing tone.

"Ok, then answer me this," Harry gave her a look as they walked towards the staircases where they would need to separate to head to their rooms. "If there are no male veelas, then how can you have a half-veela? Wouldn't all veelas be full if you only need one veela parent?"

Hermione and Ron both paused with deep frowns on their faces. "See…" Harry smirked at them. "I can have a good thought occasionally…"

"That is actually a problem…" Hermione's eye flashed, signaling a Saturday of research in her future.

"How are you feeling? Is the new nutrition potion working for you?" Healer Morris asked as he cast diagnostic spells at Harry who was sitting in his office at way too early on a Saturday morning, but it was the trade-off to have the rest of the day for his not-a-date.

"I feel…I guess more full…definitely a bit warmer, but that's also because I was bullied into adopting an ashwinder that seems to reflect my own body heat back to me when she's wrapped around me," Harry said consideringly. He always found it extremely difficult to explain how he felt, and it wasn't getting any less confusing as he came to realize what he assumed was normal was actually mostly starving and in pain for everyone else in the world.

"Ashwinders only live for about an hour, and you probably shouldn't carry one around even if it can't burn you," the healer frowned and made a couple notes from whatever his diagnostics had said. "Are you sure the snake is an Ashwinder?"

"Hagrid has an experimental breeder friend. Saanp is already over a month old," he said with a shrug. "I've spelled my clothes fire-proof. I kind-of doubt they would survive one of my burnings, but at least the snake doesn't burn them off me."

"I look forward to the potions Mr. Snape will be creating from the new addition to your household then," Healer Morris just chuckled and shook his head at the ridiculousness this teen always seemed to find himself in.

"Yep, he's getting quite a bit of the dead basilisk that bit me too once Kreacher gets done harvesting the parts…and I guess if I ever tell him about me, then I can pass off some of my shed scales and some venom too…maybe even some tears since Fawkes refuses to be cooperative most of the time. It takes like an entire bag of lemon drops for him to agree to one tear…"

"Are you shedding any?" The healer raised an eyebrow. "Has that happened before?"

Harry pulled up his shirt to show his shining scales. "I'm not right now, but I've shed a couple times since I got the scales. I think I probably shed a bit more than a normal snake since the scales are only part of my skin."

"Hmm…I'll look into some anti-itch creams then that would be safe for reptilian scales," he made a note. "I'd imagine that is fairly unpleasant."

"Thank Merlin…it's hard to sleep when you really just want to scratch your skin off," he shuddered remembering his shedding days too well.

"No problem…now Little Bit," the healer motioned to the bag and Harry opened it and took out the gleaming egg. "If you approve, I think I found a diagnostic spell that would reflect what is going on inside of the shell and may actually tell us something. It will probably only be the baby's heartbeat or possibly a fuzzy outline depending on shell thickness."

Harry's eyes widened in hopeful shock. "Really? Would it hurt Little Bit any at all? We aren't doing anything that could hurt them."

"It's not invasive," the healer shook his head firmly. "Little Bit won't even feel it."

"Go for it then," Harry placed the egg on the man's desk and anxiously stepped back so the man could cast the spell.

The healer made an extremely complicated wand movement before mist began to appear over the egg. A shape never actually formed but Harry's breath caught in wonder as a soft thumping echoed in the room. "Is that…is that the heartbeat…? It's beautiful..."

"It most certainly is," the healer smiled while recording the sound. "Unfortunately, it looks like the shell is too thick to show us what they look like inside, but that heartbeat is strong…a little fast for a human, but not quite fast enough for a bird…hmm, I think it's safe to say that Little Bit is some combination of your three parts and not one single creature."

"I guess I can go ahead a buy a cot for their room then!" Harry grinned widely, now petting the shell and humming a little tune in phoenix song.

"I'll reach out to some creature specialists I know on the continent and see if any of them have dealt with any creature eggs before," the healer grinned as well, happy to see his patient so excited and that it seemed the baby was doing well. He'd never wanted to go into pediatrics or specialize in creatures, but he was beginning to think that was a mistake. His three new patients were turning out to be fascinating. "There must be a way to determine a more specific hatch date than 'probably summer.' And it would be nice to know what the baby will look like."

"Wonderful! I did a little research on my own since Ron and Hermione were asking questions about babysitting," Harry told him as he put the egg back into its bag and prepared to leave. "I learned that baby basilisks cannot kill with a look. Their retractable eyelid is permanently fixed in place until they reach maturity…so, Little Bit is most likely not going to accidentally kill someone," he smiled at the healer broadly. It was very good to know.

Healer Morris laughed, frankly relieved. He had been more than a little worried about the child's eyes. "Now we just need to make sure they don't teethe on anyone with little venomous fangs."

Harry just waved him off, knowing they would handle it as it came. "I'll figure it out. It's not like I'll die from it anyway."

"Have fun on your not-a-date," the healer winked at him. Snape's appointment had been first, and the healer had a sneaking suspicion they were both seeing the outing the same way, even if Harry had been the only one to name it a not-date.

"I miss this place even if it has only been a week," Harry sighed as they entered the entry hall at Grimmauld Place. "It's really grown on me, especially after the renovations...and Sirius's mum's unfortunate accident."

"Make sure you haven't left anything you want to get now. I just need to find my extra silver stirring rod. I can't believe I was such an idiot to melt the one I've been using," Snape remarked dryly as he headed up to his make-shift lab in the attic.

Truthfully, the stirring rod was more of an excuse than anything else. There was a high chance his stirrer was going to melt in the experimental potion he had been working on, so he'd been prepared for that eventuality. Making a big deal out of it to ensure they ended up in London by where his and Harry's favorite fish and chips place was located was the actual purpose of the trip. That and he really didn't want to have to purchase a new silver stirrer.

"Found it…get everything?" He asked, entering the kitchen where Harry was stashing Kreacher's favorite biscuits in a magically expanded pocket (surprisingly not the bag. Couldn't the bag hold some biscuits?).

"Yeah, not really much I left, but Kreacher was grumbling about not having his Tesco biscuits," he laughed as they made their way back out into London. "You know…I'm glad you still have things here at the house."

Snape frowned at the change of subject. "I can move everything out over the holiday…the contractors reached out and all the work is almost completed at Spinner's End."

Harry shook his head firmly. "No, I said I'm glad you git. What I meant was that the renovations are almost finished on your house, and you should really just sell it now that it's updated and livable. Stay here and keep the money to either travel or invest in your apothecary after your probation ends."

Snape had to actually stop on the sidewalk and restart his brain at that suggestion. "Move in...with you…permanently?"

"Well, sure…if you want, or at least until your apothecary starts doing well," Harry stopped and turned back to him. A bit of a confusing blush beginning on his cheeks. "I like the company, and Kreacher likes you even if he won't admit it…I know I'm a bit of a mess to live with since my magic is still really volatile, but it's getting a little better…Percy will probably be back over the summer too..."

"Potter…Harry…" Snape gave a deep sigh. "This isn't because of your ridiculous belief that you owe me something, is it? It is not your responsibility to look out for me. Frankly, it's the opposite that is true. You do not need to offer your home in payment or in some kind or misguided attempt to look out for me." Now this inexplicably had Potter's face taking on a strange sadness. Snape had no clue what he'd said to cause the man to look like he'd kicked his puppy.

"No, Snape it isn't," Potter sighed and just started walking again. "First of all, I'm an adult and a war veteran. I can actually take care of myself. You have absolutely no responsibility to me anymore…besides a bit of tutoring in Arithmancy."

"Potions too if you plan to pass your NEWT," he grumbled under his breath, but definitely loud enough Harry could hear. Thankfully, that pulled a slight smile from the teen.

"Second of all…it is entirely conceivable that we could actually be friends now and that I like having you around," he huffed, turning back around and glaring at Snape. The words sounded nice, but the glare looked angry…Snape had absolutely no clue what was going on. Potter's emotions were always so confusing!

"Indeed," he said since it seemed like he was supposed to respond.

Potter just huffed again and rolled his eyes. "Look, if you don't want to live with me, just say so, but when I say something, I expect you to believe me and that I don't have some kind-of ulterior motive. That might be true for a lot of people, but I don't like to do that. So…it makes fiscal sense for you to sell your house and invest the money is a career you actually want to do. Take me up on my offer or not, but don't think I'm lying to you or out for something."

"Fiscal sense…someone found a thesaurus while they were camping last year," Snape smirked at him. Harry might say he had no ulterior motive and he liked him being around, but that just wasn't Snape's experience at all. In general, having a dark creature like a vampire around (especially a magical one) consistently seemed to eventually bother everyone, it was something to do with their ambient magic. Percy Weasley would probably be fine, but eventually Harry would, subconsciously at least, want him to leave.

"Just think about it," Harry rolled his eyes and turned back around. "Hey…look…"

Snape followed the teen's finger to where he was pointing at a shop up ahead. He scoffed. "Permanent changes to oneself should not be made when you are a teenager…I can clearly say that from experience," Snape pointedly motioned with his left arm to the tattoo shop. He had a suspicion that Harry might already have a tattoo from his misguided foray into his room over the summer, but why he would want another one and at such a young age was beyond his understanding.

"Not me, you," Harry crossed his arms, but he was grinning. "I bet you could get something nice to cover up that teenage mistake on your arm."

"Like a rose, or maybe a lion, I suppose," he rolled his eyes.

"Better than the ugly snake and skull," Harry scoffed and walked up to the door. "Come on, let's just ask if that's something they do…can't hurt to ask, right?"

Snape sneered at the store, but he had to admit that Harry was right. If he didn't want a reminder of his mistake on his arm for eternity, it might be a good idea to look into if it was possible to cover it up.

"What is all of this?" Draco Malfoy asked his godfather when he entered his sitting room on Saturday evening. The man was sitting on his couch with a thermos of what was most definitely blood and looking over books of what could only be tattoo designs since the pictures had various body parts with the art on it.

Snape grunted and cleared off a spot on the couch for his godson to sit down. "I went into London today and Harry insisted we step into a tattoo parlor to see if they could cover up the mark. They couldn't make any promises that it'd be completely invisible because of the scarring, but it's faded enough now they were hopeful. I was sent away with homework to pick a design," he huffed and turned a page.

Draco frowned and picked up one of the books. "I never even considered a muggle tattoo…that would work though, wouldn't it."

The hopeful look his godson had in his eyes had Snape's breath catch in sadness. "No florals…we can make you an appointment as well," he responded, shoving over some of the books he'd already looked through.

"Hmm…maybe a dragon," the blond mumbled flipping through.

Snape rolled his eyes. Of course, someone named Draco would choose a ridiculous thing like a dragon to put on his body. "Was there something you needed to talk to me about, or was this just a social call?"

"Potter said something yesterday that bothered me," he said without looking up from the book, but Snape could tell his cheeks were turning red.

"I find he does that quite often. You will need to narrow it down from all the other drivel he utters."

"Did you know there are male veela in the world? For some reason, no one talks about them, but they do actually exist. It seems they are less powerful than the women and more influential in their allure than lust inducing…" he trailed off, clearing his throat and flipping the page.

"Yes…I had heard that once. They prefer to pass as human from my understanding. Why do you ask?" Snape said with a frown as he, for the first time, considered his godson's white-blond hair and delicate features. Surely Lucius wasn't…right?

"Don't know," Draco finally looked up with troubled eyes. "Aunt Bella knocked me out with a couple crucios the night of my birthday…Mother says Father never admitted it, but she thinks it might be possible…As Shakespeare said, he 'doth protest too much.'"

"Oh…" was all he could respond. He didn't see it in any negative light, but he knew his godson had been raised to believe it was. Had just lived through a war where it was a major factor.

"Is there a way to check?" Hopeful eyes asked him.

Slowly he nodded, considering what the best approach would be. "Yes, you would not have much veela blood, so that would complicate the process…give me some time to work with the potion. If I can enhance it some, then we can check. You know…this does not change how I view you, clearly," he motioned to his own obviously vampire features with the hand holding his thermos of blood.

"It's…life has already changed so nothing is the same anymore. Everything I believed to be true was actually a complete lie. What I thought was good, turned out to be homicidally evil…I just don't know who I am anymore, and I can't even talk to Father since he isn't answering my letters now…" he took in a deep breath, clearly holding back tears.

"Draco…I know we were never close," Snape began awkwardly reaching out and putting a hand on the teen's arm. "We are family though…we'll figure it out together."

"With Potter I guess too," Draco snorted with a small chuckle. "That idiot can't keep his nose out of anything, can he?"

"Sometimes he isn't wrong though," Snape patted Draco's arm and went back to their photo books. "I assume he didn't care of you were veela at all…probably thought it was 'pretty cool.'"

Draco nodded with another snort of laughter and turned the page. "Maybe a green dragon…"

"This is ridiculous," Harry grumbled as he tried to figure out Hermione's Astronomy notes Sunday morning. Most of the eighth years were already frantically struggling over their homework in their common room with the threat of NEWTs once more in their future. "Who assigns an essay on the first day of class?!"

"She doesn't believe Hogwarts taught us anything the past six years," Ron grumbled as well, flipping through his textbook. "If she starts in on Sinistra, someone is going to hex her. You can't just talk bad about someone who died saving children in a war."

"I believe it was the equipment she was the most against," Hermione sighed, but also agreed she would probably be one of the ones doing the hexing. She'd actually liked Sinistra, and the woman had died defending a group of fourth year Ravenclaws who weren't able to make it into their dorm in time. They had thankfully made it in with the distraction, but Sinistra hadn't.

Harry was now rummaging through his bag. "Merlin's lacy knickers…I think I left my book in the tower. I was just so ready to get out of there the other night."

"I'll get it for you," Ron set down his scribbled notes with a relieved sigh.

"No…I have to get used to the place," Harry shook his head and stood. "I can't just keep distracting myself and Draco instead of listening. That's not going to work every class period."

"You want us to come with you?" Hermione turned frustratingly proud eyes on him.

"No, I'm going to work through this, and maybe spending some time there alone will help," he picked up the bag with his egg, patting it distractedly. "I'll come back by lunch, but I think I'll just sit there a while…"

"Read the chapter while you're there!" Hermione called after him when Harry left the very full eighth year common room.

It was actually a bit peaceful once he got past the trauma of seeing someone he had respected killed in front of him in that very place, Harry decided. He sat on the wide parapet of the Astronomy Tower reading over the assigned chapter in the textbook. He did not think he would ever see the location as just another tower again, but it didn't hit him as much as it had the first time. Part of that was probably that it was daylight though too and Dumbledore had died at night.

Harry flipped the page and smiled at the bag in his lap, running a hand up and down the soft leather. He hoped Little Bit would be able to attend a school and make friends like he had…but not have anywhere near as much danger or responsibility thrown at them. However, his baby was part basilisk, so would probably be safer than him regardless.

Harry really wasn't reading anything as his mind turned to his not-date with Snape. The man was so highly infuriating, and he loved him for it anyway, or maybe because…wait…did he actually love Snape? He wasn't sure…he felt something very deep for the man, and he wanted to figure out what that was. It would help if he could find out if Snape even liked men in the slightest. A romantic relationship was top of Harry's list for what he would like to cultivate with his roommate, but he just wanted to keep him around though most importantly in any way he could, so if friendship was all he could expect, then he would welcome that.

There was a soft shuffle behind Harry. His spine straightened and the elder wand immediately slipped into his hand. He was precariously sitting on a parapet unfortunately, so Harry couldn't just jump around. He pulled his bag tighter to him, preparing to spin around and see what was there. He leaned back and was taken off guard by an invisible force slamming into his back. His breath rushed out and…

Harry fell…he didn't know how to stop it. He summoned all of his creature instincts, anything that could help save his egg and keep it from slamming into the ground. In a wave of phoenix fire, his bag disappeared somewhere safe just as Harry hit the solid ground in a sickening crunch.

Up Next: A very special delivery...