the witch next door [zarry] ✔️

xi

"I wanna learn how to turn boys into frogs," Safaa announces, pushing past Harry and flicking her hair over her shoulder.

"Hello," Harry says, looking startled and unprepared for visitors, none of his usual flashy or extravagant clothing, just plain jogging bottoms and a soft t-shirt. His hair is a mess. Zain's not sure which look he prefers but he would very much love to touch Harry's hair like this. "Why?"

"Because boys are stupid!" Safaa announces, planting herself in her usual spot, crossing her arms and glaring at Harry as if to make him move.

"Sorry," Zain says quietly. "Didn't mean to arrive unannounced, she's a bit stubborn."

"It's fine," Harry answers equally quietly, stepping closer to Zain. Zain can feel the heat of him like this and smell him, a bit like sweat, a bit stale, underneath that earthy smell that always surrounds him. "What happened?"

"Some of her classmates," Zain says, pulling a grimace. "They bully her."

Harry frowns, turning towards Safaa. "Witches can't turn people into frogs, not matter how much they deserve it," he says, sounding vicious enough that Zain is glad he can't. "But we can make them lose their hair," he adds, settling down in front of Safaa.

"Er," Zain makes. It's futile, they both ignore him. The only one who looks at him at the sound is Louis, who lifts his head and gets up on his hind legs, stretching languidly without taking his eyes off Zain. It's still creepy.

"Got your tuna?" He asks Louis, despite himself, reaching two fingers out carefully. The cat looks at him with disdain for a moment before stepping forward, rubbing his cheek against Zain's fingers as if on accident. Zain holds back a snort and scratches him under the chin lightly, amused.

"He adopted a kitten yesterday," Harry says, shooting Zain a distracted look. "He's upstairs, waiting for his bottle of you don't mind."

"Louis adopted a kitten?" Zain asks, looking down at the cat who is still pretending to not lean into Zain's hand.

"Oh, yea. He loves bossing then around," Harry says dismissively. "Formula is above the stove, a bottle as well." He turns back to Safaa and the book between them. Zain doesn't really know how to stop them, and really a bit of baldness wouldn't actually hurt anyone. Except perhaps a few egos and that would only do them good.

He rubs his hand over Louis's back, making his arch into it, and starts looking around for kitten supplies, Harry and Safaa's hushed voices a nice background noise.

🌿

Zain looks up from stroking the kitten's soft orange fur when the door creaks open, the floorboards creaking as well. Everything in the house made noises, clocks on the wall ticking, the wood creaking, the fire cracking, leaves rustling and brushing agains the windows. It was strangely comforting, even though Zain liked his quiet, like sitting in the middle of the woods, which were never silent either.

"We're almost done. Now the potion only needs to boil for two days, reduce it somewhat," Harry says, leaning against his bedroom door and watching Zain with bright eyes. He has tamed his hair at one point, pulled it back into a messy half-bun but he's still wearing his tread-bare t-shirt and no socks, his tones long and tan.

Zain looks up before he gets caught staring at his feet and abruptly realises how inappropriate it is to have just sat down on a stranger's bed. But the kitten had been lying in it, purring contently, and Louis hadn't thrown a fit when Zain had approached it, hopping onto the bed in front of Zain and head butting the kitten gently.

"What's he called?" Zain asks, trying to distract himself from Harry and the fact that he was in Harry's bed. He was worse than he had been when he was a teenager. It was embarrassing. He raises the purring kitten to his cheek, rubbing his soft head against it for a moment and kissing his forehead.

"Niall," Harry says, crossing the short distance to the bed and settling down in front of Zain to stroke Niall's chin. "It sounds a bit like it when he meows, don't you think?"

"Maybe," Zain says, stroking the kitten's neck. Niall meows softly, like he's trying to prove that it does sound like his name, even though Zain thinks Harry's a bit delusional and also not all that good at naming cats. 

Niall rubs his cheek against Zain's shoulder, happy. 

Harry leans closer still, his scent, which Zain had just gotten used to somewhat from sitting on his bed like a creep, getting more intense, making Zain's mouth water. He was pathetic. 

"He likes you," Harry smiles, half in Zain's lap from trying to get closer to the kitten.

Louis, not to be outdone or perhaps simply to safe Zain from himself, walks onto Zain's thigh, rubbing his cheek against Niall's face with a disapproving meow. Zain might start to like him, setting Niall down so he can watch Louis boss the kitten into walking further up the mattress and onto Harry's pillow.

"Louis," Harry sighs, not moving out of Zain's space. "That's my pillow." 

Louis throws them a disinterested glance, curling up around Niall and starts to groom him with broad licks of his tongue. Zain glares at him slightly, feeling betrayed despite the fact that not too long ago Louis had been hissing at him. Harry was so close. Zain just needed to turn his head slightly and they'd be kissing and he'd know what Harry would taste like.

Harry sighs, his breath brushing across Zain's lips. "You're a nuisance, Louis," he says. "Come, Safaa and I baked some bread, we can have early tea," he says, his lips brushing Zain's jaw lightly before he gets up like nothing happened, leaving Zain sitting there, struck dumb. 

"This is your fault," Zain tells Louis nonsensically when Harry's already halfway down the stairs, and forces himself to get up, his knees weak. His heart is beating too quickly and he's flushed and aroused from nothing but the lightest touch and this is worse than being a teenager. 

"Zain!" Safaa calls from downstairs, impatient, and Zain composes himself, at least as much as he can when Harry just put his lips on Zain's skin like it was nothing.

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errrr. another chapter in this, what a surprise? niall is now also a cat, because that makes sense, i guess?