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After the war, Harry just couldn’t bring himself to buy a new owl.
He’d lost too much in the war and there were so many things that he had been forced to push himself through, trying to replace Hedwig just wasn’t something that he was ready to do.
So he’d bought a cat.
Harry went to a muggle animal shelter and spent the morning playing with the cats and getting to know them before eventually deciding on a fluffy little black cat with white paws and a white tip at the end of her tail.
They told him that he could change her name, her previous owners had named her Ziva, but he thought it suited her so he kept it. She was a sweet little cat and Harry started wearing hoodies more often, turning them around backwards so he could put her in the hood while he worked.
She loved cuddling up in the hood against his chest and she spent most of the day sleeping, and the nights curled up by Harry’s shoulder.
That was until one night when Harry woke up to find that she was no longer sleeping with her back pressed to the side of his head. He sat up in bed, anxiety blossoming sharp in his chest as he lifted the blankets to search for her.
When his bed turned up empty he got up and started searching.
Fortunately he didn’t have to look any further than the common room. As he stumbled down the stairs and into the room he saw that Malfoy was sprawled out across the sofa with Ziva sleeping curled up on his chest.
Once he got closer, he could tell that Malfoy was actually fast asleep too, a little bit of drool on the corner of his mouth.
Quietly, Harry snuck closer and as though she sensed him, Ziva lifted her little head and yawned at him. He scooped her up and carried her back to bed. “You’re supposed to sleep with me, you know,” he murmured softly as he made his way back, stroking a finger along under her chin.
She let out a soft brreow as though justifying her actions and Harry laughed softy at her.
They went back to bed and Harry put the entire incident from his mind.
————
Until the next night.
Ziva leaving for an adventure at night became a regular occurrence. Harry would wake up part way through the night and head down to the common room where he always found her asleep on Draco Malfoy’s chest.
Neither of them said anything about it until one night when Harry went down to fetch her and found Malfoy still awake.
Out of habit he hovered back in the doorway, watching as Malfoy stroked Ziva’s head and fed her a little scrap of meat, “There you are,” he murmured, stroking a hand down her back. “Did you have a good day?” he asked her. “I didn’t, but maybe tomorrow-”
“Malfoy,” Harry said, suddenly feeling like a creep standing in the doorway and listening to him talk.
The other boy’s head jerked up, “Potter,” he said in surprise.
“What are you doing?”
He looked at the cat in his lap and shrugged, “Petting and feeding this cat,” he replied.
“That’s my cat,” Harry said.
“Oh,” he said, looking down at her before scooping her up and holding her out to him. “Sorry.”
He reached for her and then something made him drop his hands. Slowly he walked around the sofa and sat down, “She comes to see you a lot.”
The other boy cleared his throat, “I have a hard time sleeping.”
“I do, too,” Harry confessed. “She’s good at keeping the nightmares at bay,” he added, stroking a finger behind her ear.
“It seems like there’s nothing to keep them away sometimes,” Malfoy murmured.
He hummed, “You’re not wrong about that.”
“I sleep better when I’m not alone,” he added.
Harry nodded, “I do, too.”
“I don’t have a room mate,” Malfoy said.
“Err,” Harry replied, “Me either.”
“I’m just saying,” the other boy hurried to added, “that if you wanted to avoid having to come fetch her every night, you could come and sleep in my room. I know an enlargement charm, we wouldn’t even have to notice the other person being there.”
He thought about this proposition for a long moment and remembered how nice it was to wake up on the run, the sounds of Ron and Hermione stirring around him, the sense that you weren’t alone. “Alright,” he said before he could think better of it.
Malfoy blinked. “Alright,” he repeated before showing Harry back to his room. He enlarged the bed and they both climbed in, several feet apart with Ziva making herself comfortable in between them.
———-
They never talked about it again but every night Harry and Ziva would sleep in Draco’s room. Slowly Harry’s possessions started migrating as well until there was barely anything left in his room.
A few nights before the end of the year Harry asked, “What are you doing after graduation?”
“Dunno,” Draco said through a yawn.
“Do you know where you’re staying?” Harry asked. When Draco shook his head, Harry said, “I’m renting a flat. I could use a flatmate, if you wanted.”
Draco stilled, his entire body freezing for a moment before he breathed, “Do you mean it?”
“Yeah.” He cleared his throat, “I like staying with you.”
“Me too,” Draco whispered.
The corner of his mouth tipped up, “I like you, Draco.”
Draco rolled onto his side to look at Harry, “I like you, too.”
“As more than a friend?” he asked.
“As more than a friend,” Draco affirmed, leaning over Ziva so he could press a soft, dry kiss to Harry’s cheek. “Good night, Harry.”
“Sweet dreams,” he breathed.
Both boys fell asleep dreaming of all the good things the future might hold.