A/N: Sorry this one is a bit short, but I promise a longer one with the next update.

Severus Snape skidded into his rooms, wand drawn, fangs out, and a dangerous look in his eyes. "Even as I hate to admit it, I have to give it to the vampire…that was a pretty decent response time," Fawkes remarked with a trill of a chuckle at the man who was looking around for who he could curse.

"Stand down, no danger," Harry distractedly stopped his partner from going into full protection mode and randomly casting hexes about the room. "Come over here, look…"

Snape blinked a couple times in surprised confusion before lowering his wand with an exasperated sigh. "Harry, you cannot send a patronus like that…and what the hell, we have to discuss that phoenix…but you can't summon me like that when there is not anything deadly…oh…" he trailed off with wide eyes when he caught onto what Harry and the bird were looking at. "Did the egg just…?"

"It's moving," Harry just breathed out in awe from where he was crouched beside the egg, not even acknowledging Snape's words.

Snape was suddenly sitting on the floor beside them and staring at the slightly rocking egg in its basket of warming charms. "Is it hatching? Merlin, did you pick a girl's name yet?! We need a cot! We didn't think we'd need a cot at Hogwarts! What are we going to do about classes?!"

"Tell the vampire to calm down," Fawkes rolled his eyes at the now panicking man. "It's not hatching just yet…the baby is just stretching its legs or wings or whatever it has. You might want to get a cot soon though, just in case…"

Harry himself had to take a deep breath and let go of some of his anxiety. "Calm down, Severus. Fawkes says it's not hatching just yet. Do you know when it might hatch though? This seems like a major developmental step to me." He asked the phoenix.

"It's not hatching?" Snape remarked more than asked, his panic sliding off his face in relief. Even still, he had to reach out a hand and lightly touch the shell of the egg to feel it moving and assure himself the baby wasn't coming out at that very moment.

"Honestly, no clue," Fawkes ruffled his wings in what Harry had come to interpret as a shrug. "This child is neither a phoenix nor a basilisk, so the rules don't really apply. I'd wager you have significantly less than three months to go though, unlike what we thought before. Little Bit was born earlier than a normal phoenix, so it stands to reason they are going to hatch early too. I just wonder what they will develop to break the shell. Basilisk shells aren't this hard, so the baby will need either a beak or talons or something like that to break out."

"Merlin! What if they can't get out?! What if my baby is stuck?!" Harry's eyes widened in shock and began to cast some of the diagnostic spells he'd seen Healer Morris cast on the egg. He wasn't sure what the results meant though, so they didn't calm him in the slightest.

"Harry, stop," Snape put a hand over his on his wand and lowered it. "This may be a new creature, but nature or magic would give it something to help it get out of the shell. You have talons; it stands to reason the baby probably will too."

"Listen to the vampire," Fawkes added in as he bent down and put an ear to the shell of the egg. "Little Bit sounds fine. They're just moving around. I'm sure the egg is starting to feel a little small to the growing child."

Harry clenched his hands but nodded quickly, trying his best to stop his growing panic. "Right, so Fawkes says they might hatch soon-ish…and that's as specific as he can get," he translated for Snape. "He says we might want to go ahead and get a cot for our rooms just in case."

Snape breathed out and stood to crash down onto the sofa. "Merlin, I thought we'd have more time to get ready…"

Harry looked at him incredulously. "I've literally been saying that since I learned I was pregnant, Severus. Little Bit definitely has a mind of their own. Also…I did actually pick a girl's name."

"I am living in suspense," Snape drawled, but his eyes said that he really was very interested.

"I'm thinking Selene Soleil Potter, so that she always knows she's my sun and moon," Harry cooed at the egg, running a finger down the emerald shell.

"I agreed to marry a marshmallow," the vampire rolled his eyes, but also gave the egg a fond smile.

Harry frowned darkly at the world in general as another thought came to him. "I'm not a marshmallow. I fully plan to kill mercilessly anyone who puts her in danger ever again."

"That does make me feel a little better," Snape smirked in agreement with his statement.

"Technically, I never asked you to marry me," the other man chuckled and joined Snape on the couch with a wide grin. "You just shoved the ring on your finger when I showed it to you and proceeded to make me forget what we were even discussing to begin with."

Snape gave him his best 'you're an idiot' look. Harry just shook his head at his lover's antics and leaned into his side a little more to get comfortable. They stayed that way for a moment, just together and watching the egg slightly move, before Snape shot forward with a little gasp. "Merlin! I was teaching the fourth year Gryffindor/Slytherin class!" He jumped up and grabbed his wand from the end table before rushing back out of his rooms and off to where the little hooligans had probably destroyed his classroom.

"There is no way I'm missing this!" Fawkes chuckled evilly before flashing out to enjoy the chaos going down in the Potions classroom.

Harry snorted in amusement at the two but picked up his bag to place the egg back in. "Come on, Little Bit. It looks like we need to run down to Hogsmeade to buy you a cot before my next class. I wonder how long it'll take for speculations over why I might be buying a baby bed will end up in the Daily Prophet?" He couldn't help laughing gleefully at the fallout.

"It's buried on page five. Five!" Draco huffed in irritation behind his open copy of the Prophet while he and Ron Weasley walked down from breakfast towards the dungeons to help Harry put together a crib he'd recently bought and swore he couldn't figure out the directions to. Draco thought he was just making an excuse to show off his egg moving, but honestly Draco wanted to see it, so he wasn't complaining overly loudly. He refused to do any manual labor though.

"You're going to trip," Ron warned his fiancé who was still buried in the paper as they walked. "I'm not going to catch you when you fall. You've been warned."

"I'm not going to fall Weasley. I can read and walk at the same time," Draco rolled his eyes and turned the page. "And it's only a paragraph! That's just insulting! My mother is probably in a full rant right now."

"Tonks really didn't seem to mind that her name change and taking the Black seat was buried in the paper. I think she was relieved actually," Ron did reach out and slightly maneuver Draco around a group of girls giggling in the corridor.

"She's a Black now! It's insulting to our family!" He huffed and angrily flipped another page. "Everything in here is just speculation about why Potter was buying that infernal cot in Hogsmeade."

Ron shook his head with a chuckle. Frankly, he would have gone somewhere a little more discreet to buy the cot if it were him, but Harry was probably getting a kick out of this and had done it on purpose. "So, what are the stand-out guesses among them all?"

Draco rolled his eyes but flipped back a couple pages as they made their way over to the staircases where Ron did actually have to reach out a hand to make sure he didn't trip. Ignoring him, Draco responded, "The most reasonable was that the cot was for Teddy. Most people seem sold on that one and think it's oh so sweet. Another is a secret love child with your sister," Draco made a gagging noise while Ron just wrinkled his nose at the suggestion.

"The craziest is a potions accident that de-aged someone who Harry is now taking care of. Common guesses for that are you, Granger, and weirdly enough, me," he shook his head at the absurdity of it all.

Ron laughed while they waited for the moving staircase to swing around and connect them to the next platform. "Can you imagine! Harry taking care of little you! You'd be all pouty and stand off-ish, and he would be trying to smother you in hugs and kisses!" Ron had to hold his side he was laughing so hard.

"Weasley, I assure you, I would not be pou…ahh!" Draco and Ron were hit from behind by what felt like a solid wall of air.

Ron felt himself slide over to the edge of the stone stairway, just seeing the drop of what must be around four stories at least. He didn't have time to grab onto anything, but he did try to swing his arm back and hopefully push Draco backwards, but he didn't feel his hand connect with anything before there was nothing under him anymore. It felt like he'd just started to dive on his broom, that weightless feeling where your stomach ends up in your throat and tries to choke you, but this time he didn't have a broom to stop it. There wasn't even time for his life to flash before his eyes, only time to regret that he hadn't gotten to marry Malfoy at the end of it all.

Ron hit far sooner than even the ground when strong arms wrapped about him and the air rushed from his lungs when he was jerked sharply upwards. He wheezed a cough when he was able to finally get in a tiny breath while the landing just above him came closer, then further away, then closer in odd jerky, vertical movements.

"I'll kill them. Rip them apart and eat their insides and dance on their grave," Ron heard hissed from whatever was holding him around what must be his lungs. "Merlin, you weigh a ton. Looks like it was me that had to catch you this time. I swear I'll kill them," the voice continued grumbling with one more odd jerk upward towards the landing.

Unceremoniously dumped onto the stone, Ron's brain was finally able to catch up once he could actually breathe again. "Malfoy?" He looked in abject surprise at his now shirtless boyfriend who was frowning and shoving irritably at two enormous pure-white wings that seemed to be throwing him shockingly off-balance and getting in his way.

"Stop it, you idiot!" Ron shot out a hand and pulled his fiancé farther from the side of the landing he was in danger of toppling over. "You're going to fall off again!"

"Bloody hell, my back hurts," Draco plopped onto the ground, narrowly missing sitting on the edge of his left wing. "I don't think they were supposed to appear instantly like that," he groaned, leaning forward and attempting to rub his own back that looked very enflamed and red around the wings.

Ron shook off his surprise as much as possible in the moment, even though he was certain he'd be having nightmares about the incident for years to come. "Here, let me," he sat down behind the veela and lightly massaged Draco's back just around where it was red, being careful not to press on the inflamed areas. "I'm very glad they did appear, you know. We wouldn't have survived that if you hadn't saved us. Did you see who did it?" Ron looked up but there was no one near any of the landings above them.

Draco groaned in relief at the pain being slightly lessoned. "No. While whoever this is may be a terrible assassin, they're really good to staying hidden."

"Well, if you look at it objectively, they are actually a really good assassin. None of us would have survived any of these attempts if Harry and you weren't creatures they hadn't been able to account for," Ron closed his eyes and tried not to think over that terrible truth. "Are these retractable?" He gently touched a white feather in awe, happy he was behind Draco so he couldn't see him losing his mind over how incredibly beautiful his fiancé's wings were.

"Supposedly, that's what I hear at least…but do I know how to do that? I think not," Draco's forehead scrunched in concentration while he tried to access whatever creature instincts he might possess to magically get rid of his two new appendages. "I'm not walking around with these things causing me to fall over or bump into things constantly!"

"Might not be too bad," Ron mumbled low enough Draco couldn't hear while he stroked just the corner of the wing beside him.

"Stop touching it for a minute. It's sensitive and distracting," Draco shuddered slightly before his wings ruffled once sharply before immediately disappearing. "Ergh, that feels weird," He wrinkled his nose before turning around to look at a very red and flushed Ron.

"I can still feel them there in my magic, but not like on my back," He frowned and raised an eyebrow. "Are you ok? I didn't hurt you when I grabbed you, did I?"

"What, no!" Ron shook his head adamantly and turned even more red if it were possible. "Well, maybe a few bruises, but I'm fine. No…Merlin, your wings are bloody hot! Please tell me I'll get to see those again sometime…maybe in one of our rooms…"

"You're ridiculous," Draco scoffed but gave him a small, embarrassed smile. "I'll think about it…"

"How does my back look?" He cleared his throat awkwardly and turned for Ron to assess the damage to his pale skin.

"Still really red and sore looking," he put a hand over two large red welts where the wings were just moments before and was completely shocked to not feel anything there but skin. "Magic is so weird sometimes," he breathed out.

Draco snorted in agreement. "We should keep going to the dungeons. Uncle Sev will have some Essence of Murtlap I can steal."

They both stood before Draco frowned and wrapped his arms around his bare chest. "That was one of my favorite shirts too," he grumbled before he stepped slightly closer to the edge of the landing. "You see it down there? Maybe it's salvageable."

Ron's hand shot out once more and pulled him away from the side. "Merlin, stop doing that! I think I've developed a new fear of heights," he groaned and hauled Draco even further into the corridor before taking off the outer robe he'd thrown on that morning since it was a bit chilly. "Here, put this on. I doubt there's any saving a shirt that was ripped apart by those massive wings."

Draco gratefully took the robe from the taller teen and instantly looked almost swallowed in it. Even if Draco wasn't short or small by any definition, Ron was quite burly at this point. With a grin, Ron decided he wasn't going to say anything, especially since he kind of liked Draco wearing his robes. "Well…let's go tell Harry and see what kind of hell he raises. I'm not sure if we should even try to tell the headmistress at this point," Ron linked his arm through Draco's to the blonde's surprise and led them towards a secret passage that would bypass the moving staircases to get to the dungeons. Ron was fairly certain he'd be bypassing those as much as possible in the coming days.

"And Draco planned to eat their insides?" Harry sharply raised an eyebrow at his two friends who were looking at a set of incomprehensible building instructions with lost looks on their faces.

"After ripping them apart," Ron nodded with a proud grin at the veela beside him.

"I was in a bit of a creature fugue at the time," Draco glared at him and shoved the building components further away from him. "I think the murder attempt is more concerning at the moment than my slightly out of character creature reactions."

"Of course, but still…getting your wings is big. Congratulations," Harry smiled at his new ornery friend. "Were they cool looking at least?"

"You have no idea," Ron emphatically answered, turning slightly red and hot around the collar once more.

Snape entered Harry's room where they were currently setting up the impromptu nursery for Little Bit. "Here, would you rather I do it or Ronald?" The potion master held out a jar of Essence of Murtlap to his godson.

Draco turned a little pink at the question, but Ron quickly cleared his throat. "I'll do it. I saw where the wings came out," he said, taking the jar from the man. Honestly, Draco's back had two huge red marks on it from where the wings came out. The excuse was extremely flimsy.

"Erm…let's…" Draco motioned to the door awkwardly after a pointed look at Harry and his godfather.

"You are welcome to the washroom," Snape stepped aside from the door and glared at them both with the clear message that the bedroom was not welcome.

"I'm getting really worried, Severus," Harry sighed once they were both out of the room and out of earshot. "If Draco hadn't gotten his wings when he needed them, or if he hadn't gotten them fast enough…"

"I know," Snape nodded, not being able to offer any comfort in the moment and instead sat on the floor with Harry, pushing some of the cot components out of his way to wrap his arms around his partner.

"Whoever is doing this…this is someone we're around every day," Harry continued, pulling Little Bit's basket closer to them. "It's someone we don't view as a threat, or they couldn't keep getting so close to us. Malfoy's owl didn't view them as a threat so they had to be a regular in the owlery, I didn't see them, but I think my creature senses would have picked up on someone out of the ordinary in the Astronomy Tower when I was pushed, and Ron and Draco probably saw this person or even passed them on their way to the stairs, and they didn't register as important."

"Maybe it's time we went on the offensive instead of waiting until they attack next," Snape frowned in deep concern. Harry made some good points about who this probably was, and if this was someone that had this much access to them, then they needed to be dealt with before Little Bit hatched. He didn't know exactly what Harry's child was to be to him in their shared life, but he'd die to protect that baby even if they hadn't even come out into the world yet.

"You mean we set up a trap for them," Harry turned a smirk on the man, eyes flashing into snake slits, a bit of fang showing through. "I do love your mind…as well as the rest of you…"

"None of that!" Draco dramatically grimaced when he entered the room in his borrowed robe once more with Ron following close behind him.

"I heard something about a trap?" Ron remarked and plopped right back down with the horrible cot instructions. "It would be nice if we could get this handled before the Wizengamut session. It's possible we could use the attempts as leverage for creature protection if we knew who was doing it."

Everyone in the room turned to look at him in surprise. "What? Makes sense, right?" He frowned at the group. "If this person isn't a creature, then we have a case that creatures are actively being attacked…that the problem is wixen and not creatures. Plus, it's war heroes like Harry and me...er, sorry Malfoy, who this person is going after as well, so we have some sympathy on our side."

"Yeah, it makes sense…but it's a very Slytherin way of thinking. You feeling ok?" Harry smirked at him with a chuckle.

"Merlin...agreed!" Draco cleared his throat and nodded his head firmly with his eyes wide. "What you asked for back on the stairway landing…agreed!"

Ron's face broke into a huge smile before Snape put a stop to it with a low swear. "Never, tell me what you are talking about," he sneered. "Now, let's work on putting together this Salazar-forsaken piece of furniture while we work out some semblance of a plan to handle this and draw the attacker out."

"We need Hermione," Harry and Ron both commented at the same time before turning to smile at each other.

"I really don't know how the two of you function without her. I swear, we would have lost the war," Draco rolled his eyes, but still drew his wand to send his falcon patronus off to politely ask Hermione to join them.

"Nice!" Harry nodded in appreciation at the shimmery bird. "And, yes, we definitely would have lost the war."

"Harry's patronus changed; it is a phoenix now," Snape distractedly commented while trying to force an end piece of wood to match up with one of the side panels.

"Really?" Ron asked in excitement. "Why do you think it changed? Shouldn't it be like a bat or something if it changed?" Snape gave Ron a dangerous glare over the piece of wood that could definitely be turned into a weapon.

"Er…I think it's probably since Little Bit is part phoenix. I'm sure it was a toss-up with basilisk but a patronus is a light spell and phoenixes are light unlike a basilisk, so that's probably why it edged the other out," Harry explained with a shrug. He really wasn't sure why it had changed, but it was the best guess he could come up with at the time. Fawkes seemed to support the idea anyway.

"Right…so…can I touch my godbaby's shell to feel them moving, or am I going to get blasted up against a wall if I do?" Ron changed subjects to lean over to more closely watch the slightly shifting egg.

Harry frowned, trying to honestly examine his volatile instincts and where they were currently falling. So far, Snape, Fawkes, Saanp, and, recently, Kreacher were the only ones he felt safe allowing to touch the egg. Ron was Little Bit's godfather though, and the thought didn't set his nerves on edge like it used to just weeks before. "Erm…I don't know…maybe just reach out slowly, and I'll stop you if it starts to set me off?"

With a shrug and glance at Draco, Ron slowly reached a hand towards the emerald shell. "Hey, Little Bit…it's Uncle Ron," he said softly to the egg. "We're going to see if your dad is going to calm down or be some psycho over-protective mamma bear…all in love," Ron added with a little unrepentant grin at his friend.

Harry rolled his eyes but let out a breath with a small nod. "Yeah…you can touch it. I wouldn't try picking them up, but I can definitely let you touch the egg," he said, finally deciding they were safe for the moment. "Not you yet, sorry," he added with a very apologetic wince over at Malfoy.

The blond just shrugged. "No offense taken. I did just swear to eat someone…"

"Was that a joke?" Harry chuckled with a surprised look while Ron reverently petted the egg of his godchild. "I knew we'd eventually wear you down, and you'd just accept you're one of us now."

"I did warn him," Snape wryly commented before just waving his wand in frustration and spelling the two pieces of wood he was holding together.

"That's cheating," Harry gave him a look and a soft punch to his shoulder.

"No, calling Kreacher to do it is cheating," Snape corrected him. "This is just using all the tools I have at my disposal."

A soft knock sounded at the door before Hermione opened it and looked down at the mess covering every surface of the room. "I wondered why I was being summoned. I'm absolutely not helping with this. I'll change any diaper you want, but I told you that you should've just bought the already assembled cot. This is your punishment for not listening to me."

"Come in and close the door," Snape gave her a stern look before motioning her in. "We're discussing our assassin problem and none of these three have two brain cells to rub together amongst them."

"Hey!" Draco protested being lumped in with the Gryffindors.

"Fine," Hermione closed the door and still picked up the cot instructions even if she'd sworn to not help at all. "Is there a reason why it's so important we talk about this now? I was in the middle of a study group with the Abbott-McMillans."

"Draco got his wings!" Harry excitedly told her.

"Because someone pushed us off the moving staircases," Ron finished for him with a small smile over at his fiancé who saved his life. "It was bloody terrifying and awesome at the same time."

"Think about what I felt like with those monstrosities bursting out of my back while seeing the ground coming closer and closer," Draco grumbled, not liking that memory at all. They'd come so very close...

"Back up," Hermione held up a hand and stopped their bickering with her face having taken on an ashen sheen. "Start from the beginning and tell me as plainly as possible how close I just came to losing two friends."

"Shut up Draco, she means you," Harry stopped a frowning Draco from cutting in. "I wasn't there, but damn close is what my understanding is. Ron, start from breakfast…"

"Well, this idiot was trying to read and walk at the same time…" Ron began over Draco's protests.

"Do you really think this is going to work?" Ron met up with Harry, both carrying their brooms, just outside of the castle on the next sunny Saturday.

Harry reached out a hand and picked a downy, white feather out of Ron's hair. "It probably will since Hermione and Severus agreed to it…I really don't want to know about how this feather got in your hair at all though," he grimaced as he passed the feather over to Ron.

"Well, I wasn't going to tell you," he smirked and put the feather into his pocket proudly. "I will say that Malfoy is liking his wings just a little more though."

"Ew…even that was too much information," Harry grumbled, severely missing the weight of the bag that would normally be on his shoulder. It made his skin crawl to be away from Little Bit, but he knew Kreacher was taking care of them, and they were perfectly safe in the castle.

"We haven't flown all year. Besides my newfound fear of heights that might possibly be a small problem, I'm really looking forward to this!" Ron grinned at him and bumped their shoulders together while they made their way to the quidditch pitch for the pick-up game they'd organized with the other eighth years.

Harry looked at him incredulously. "We're setting all this up so someone thinks they have a shot at killing me…I don't think 'looking forward to' is the best sentiment."

Ron shrugged unconcernedly. "I'm not the bait. Plus, you're immortal and indestructible."

"Shh, don't say that so loud," Harry looked around them, but they were all alone at the moment. "We don't want to deter whoever this is from coming after me."

They were the last to arrive at the quidditch pitch where all the eighth years had assembled; even the normally anti-social ones like Theo and Pansy had shown up with the promise of a majority Slytherin team. A large section of the rest of the school and professors were milling around the stands, excited to see a game in the off-season. Harry looked out at the group…it was probably one of these people, his friends…if not, it was someone in the stands that were actively seeking to kill him and his family.

"Right…so those of you who didn't play on a team, which positions do you favor?" He asked the mixed group of all houses in front of him.

Up Next: The traitor in their midst...