"He scratched me!" Harry sucked the blood running from a cut on his finger, glaring at the white feline who hissed back at him, arching his back.

Draco picked up the cat, cradling him tenderly between his arms. "Aldebaran would never do that! What did you do to him, Potter? Threaten him like you did with me during school?"

"Are you barmy, Draco? I love animals…. Except crazy albino half-Kneazles!"

Draco lifted the cat to his face, rubbing noses with the suddenly happy, purring feline. Turning to glare at his fiancé, he drawled, "Aldie is not a half-Kneazle! I think you have something against people with white hair!"

"Not true! Luna's my friend!" Harry picked up his Auror robe, staring at the rent caused by the seemingly innocuous cat. "And I'm going to marry you!"

"It was your precious Lovegood who gave me Aldie."

Harry put on his robe, casting a wandless spell to fix it. He was used to doing this since the cat liked to use his uniform as a scratching post. Turning to Draco, he huffed. "It was you who made fun of me, using your cat."

"Can't take a joke, Harry? I just poked gentle fun at Quidditch."

"When Cho saw the photo you uploaded on the wizard worldwide web, she was angry. Ginny too…"

"It isn't my fault your humorless exes can't appreciate sarcasm."

oOoOo

A silver shape darted through the walls of the master bedroom at 12 Grimmauld Place. It advanced towards the brunet Auror. Aldebaran's fur stood on end as the feline trembled, poised on his hind legs. Before Draco could react, the cat jumped from his arms. The hissing feline passed through the ghostly figure and landed on a heap on the floor.

"Harry, we need you at the office." Ron's voice came from a spot near Harry's shoes.

Draco scowled at the ghostly Jack Terrier dog. "You could tell Weasley to change his Patronus, you know."

Harry spluttered. "He c… can't. No one can. And he won't change it just because of your cat!" He scowled; hearing the noises coming from his mouth, he wasn't quite sure if he was growling at Draco or the white cat.

The blond picked up the cat and put him on the bed, grabbing a green fluffy towel. "I'm going to take a shower. Couldn't sleep well last night. Dreamed a lion was chasing me."

"See! Told you felines are dangerous!"

"They aren't, Harry. Just the big ones."

Harry heard the shower door opening and a bit later the sound of running water. The brunet approached the bed, leaning down and gingerly reaching a hand to pet the year-old cat. "Do you want to be friends, Aldebaran?"

Yowling, the white feline darted towards Harry, his sharp claws scratching his thumb.

Draco shouted from the bathroom. "Leave him alone, Potter!"

oOoOo

"You have to get used to the cat, Harry." Ron took a huge bite from his sandwich, pieces of lettuce and tomato flying from his mouth. "If I did it with Crookshanks, you can do it with that cat."

"Crookshanks didn't scratch you constantly, or use your clothes to sharpen his claws."

"Go with the flow as the Muggles say. Tell me, why does the cat hate you so?"

Harry looked sideways at the other people eating in the cafeteria near the Ministry as if fearful that Draco or his cat would suddenly jump out from beneath the table. "I might have forgotten to feed him for a whole day when we were working on the rogue Animagus case."

Ron nodded as he finished his sandwich.

Harry mused. "Didn't know cats had such good memories. They're like elephants."

"Talking about memories? The other day I went to George's." Ron wiped his lips with the napkin, staring at the bustling street outside the cafeteria. "He's unable to cast a Patronus, after Fred…"

With a lump on his throat, Harry nodded.

"Anyway, he's working on a potion to help him with that. He has a Boggart, says he's near a breakthrough. The potion works against the fear caused by the Boggart and George thinks that will help him with his Patronus."

Harry nodded. He could understand George's grief. After the losses he'd suffered during the war, painful memories had been a constant part of Harry's life until he met Draco one day on Diagon. After the War, Harry felt free to act on the attraction that had always pulled him toward the blond, without the ever present threat of Voldemort.

He had hated it when the noseless git hugged Draco during the Final Battle. Harry made a vow to himself that he'd get the blond if it was the last thing he did.

oOoOo

Harry rubbed his forehead. He was ready to call it a day after having finished the grueling reports. Sometimes it seemed that his bosses were more interested in paperwork than in the process of catching the criminals.

He was passing an abandoned room when he heard Draco's angry voice.

"You're a useless cat!"

He stood in front of the door, hearing Aldebaran mewing disconsolately.

"I'm going to get rid of you!"

The poor cat whimpered.

"Bloody albino!"

Harry opened the door and saw the feline crouched on a corner as Draco advanced threateningly on him. The blond's visage was twisted in a hateful grimace. Harry had never seen Draco like this, not even during their worst fights at school.

When he saw that the closet door was ajar, Harry realized this wasn't the real Draco. It was just a Boggart. He had to get rid of it. Harry called out to the beast. "Oi! Won't you take someone more your size?"

Boggart-Draco turned. Its grey eyes were deadly, devoid of the real Draco's inner fire. It fixed its malevolent gaze on Harry and transformed. becoming a Dementor. Floating in midair, the wispy shroud moved as if affected by a ghostly breeze.

Harry fell to his knees, overwhelmed by imagery from the awful Final Battle, his friends dead amidst the ruins of Hogwarts. The Dementor made him forget the castle's reconstruction and his Eighth Year, a time of leisure when Hogwarts echoed with the laughter and joy so hardly won.

The Boggart-Dementor advanced upon the prostrate Auror. It leaned towards him, its voracious maw just two feet away from Harry's face until a small, furry shape flew threw the air and landed on its back.

Harry looked up when he heard Aldie's victorious yowling. He rubbed his eyes, hardly believing the surreal scene of a Dementor wrestling with a ferocious cat on its back.

It was so funny, he laughed uproariously. Without his casting Riddikulus, the Boggart vanished with a loud popping noise.

Afterwards, Harry reached down to pet the white cat. Aldebaran sat on his haunches, licking his paw. Deigning to glance at the ruffled Auror, the feline made up his mind that the strange brunet man who had so cavalierly disregarded his appetite that one time had his uses after all. Besides, who knew when the dark-haired man would need him again? Obviously the poor human couldn't even groom himself properly. He needed a cat in his life.

Time to let sleeping dogs lie, so to speak.

oOoOo

Draco opened the bedroom door, muttering to himself, "Granger is obnoxious. It's hard working with her. She keeps-"

He frowned at the curious scene in front of him. Harry was on the bed, reading a book while Aldebaran lay on his chest, purring contentedly.

Draco smirked. "Finally, you two made up! It was hard putting up with your constant squabbles. What happened?"

Harry looked up from his novel, petting Aldebaran's head. "Aldie is a Gryffindor cat through and through. I'll show you the Pensieve memory."

Draco bent down to kiss his fiancé, scowling when he heard his cat growl jealously at him.

Harry smirked. "I reckon you have a rival for my affections."