Chapter One – Draco's Problem

The story began outside a treatment center for Wizards. Draco Malfoy, a twenty-nine year old, was standing around with a large suitcase waiting for his friend Blaise Zabini, who was going to give him a ride back to his house where he could stay until he got back on his feet (found a job and place of his own to live). Draco was excited to get out of the treatment center. He had just spent the last three years in treatment for alcoholism. He was also a little afraid of what was to come.

What's going to happen? he thought. How do I deal with stress when it comes along? How do I deal with loss? I don't want to go back to the way it was. Draco thought back to Wizard's college, when he was studying to become a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. He thought back to sophomore year, when he got a letter from his uncle, Rupert. That letter had told him the news that made his world fall apart. His mother had died from heart trouble. He had started to become distant from his friends, his grades had started to plummet, and worse of all, he had begun drinking. The next year, his grades were so low that he was kicked out of Wizard's college, never to return, his dreams of being a professor were pretty much shattered.

This only triggered him to drink even more heavily. A couple of years later he had lost all contact with most of his friends. The only ones of his friends he had kept in contact with was Rosa Delamonte, his best friend from college and Blaise Zabini. He had continued the downward plunge into despair and alcoholism, until shortly before his twenty-fifth birthday.

Two weeks before his twenty-fifth birthday, on a Friday night, he walked out of a wizard's pub, drunk, as usual. Usually, he got a ride home from Rosa who almost never got drunk, and was therefore able to drive him home. However, she was sick and was unable to give him a ride. He decided to ride his broomstick, since he couldn't find anyone else to give him a ride.

The ride was not very turbulent, despite Draco's drunkenness. About a half hour into the ride, Draco started flying lower, which was dangerous, because he could crash into trees or telephone poles.

CRASH! Draco's broomstick hit a tree. The broomstick fell until it hit two branches that were parallel to each other. It hung there until it snapped, due to Draco holding onto it. Draco kept falling, hit his head on the ground, and became unconscious.

A quarter of a half an hour later, the invisibility spell that Draco had actually remembered to put on himself and his broomstick wore off. A healer who happened to be walking by noticed Draco lying unconscious under the tree and apparated with him to St. Mungo's.

A few days later, he woke up in St. Mungo's. Rosa was sitting in a chair next to him.

"Draco, you're awake!" said Rosa, happily.

"Where am I?" asked Draco, groggily, not opening his eyes. "I'm not dead, am I?"

"No, thankfully. You're in St. Mungo's," said Rosa. "What were you thinking, riding that broomstick when you were drunk?"

"I don't know. I wasn't thinking clearly," replied Draco, quietly.

"No, you weren't, Draco!" said Rosa. "Why didn't you get a ride home from someone who wasn't drunk?"

"I couldn't find anyone!" replied Draco.

"You still shouldn't have done that! Someone could have seen you. You could have - well actually, you did - crashed! Draco, you do realize how serious the crash you were in was, right?"

"Of course! I thought I was dead when I first woke up!"

"I know that!"

"I realize now I made a large mistake!"

"And I'm glad about that, but I think there's a bigger issue here!"

"What's that?" asked Draco, but before Rosa could answer, the healer came into the room.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Delamonte, but visiting hours are over and Mr. Malfoy needs his rest!" said the healer.

"I understand. Draco, I will be back tomorrow to finish discussing what we started discussing a few minutes ago, and Blaise might be coming to see you," said Rosa, heading out the door. Draco fell asleep soon after.