Harry hurried down the stairs, broom in hand, trying to sneak out of the house without Reg or Lily seeing so that he could have some unaccompanied flying time.

"Harry."

He stopped and turned to see Lucius standing in the doorway of the library. Behind his father, he could see Severus standing near the fireplace. "Yes sir?"

"Can we talk to you for a moment?"

"Sure," he said, shrugging and stepping into the library. He propped his broom up in one corner and took a seat near the desk. "What did you want to talk about?"

Lucius closed the door and walked over to lean against the desk, facing Harry. "It's about the drinking the other night."

"Look," Harry said. "About that. It won't be happening again. As sick as I was when I woke up…that's not an experience that I want to repeat."

"Good. See that it doesn't." Lucius told him. "As I said the other night, I'm not against an occasional drink, but none of my children will become drunks. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir."

"I guess I don't have to tell you how disappointed I am in both of you."

Harry looked down at his hands. He couldn't quite explain it, but those words hurt. They had hurt quite deeply. He hadn't meant to disappoint his family. "I'm sorry sir," he whispered.

Severus turned around. "Harry, you know your brother has been quite ill since his time in Azkaban. Drinking will only make his condition worse. We need your help to make sure that he doesn't continue drinking. Can you do that?"

Harry nodded, still looking down. "Yes sir. I…I won't disappoint you again."

Lucius reached out and placed his hand gently on his son's head. He moved his hand down to lift Harry's chin, but stopped when Harry leaned into his hand as the fingers touched his cheek. Relishing the moment, he let his hand linger, before lifting his son's chin. "I am disappointed in your actions, Harry, but you are not a disappoint to me. I'm proud of the young man that you have become."

"Thank you…Father," Harry rasped.

"Go enjoy your flight, son," Lucius told him.

Nodding, Harry stood and hurried from the room, grabbing his broom as he went.

--

After his flight, Harry made his way into the lab where Severus was brewing and took a seat on a stool across from him.

"How was your flight?" Severus asked him.

Harry shrugged. He was quiet as he began to help prepare the ingredients for the Bruise Salve that Severus was brewing. After several minutes he spoke again. "I really screwed up, didn't I?"

Severus sighed. "No. You just made a mistake."

"It's…our not drinking is really important to both of you, isn't it?"

"It is."

"Why?" Harry asked, looking up at him.

Severus hesitated a moment before answering. "I think your father needs to tell you his own reasons. However, I can tell you my own…well, you saw the memories." Harry nodded. "Tobias Snape was a…a mean drunk, and he was rarely sober. He thought…he thought he could beat the magic out of me. In the end, the drinking is what killed him. Liver cancer…it was a slow and painful death. I swore that I would never touch a drop of alcohol."

"I won't do it again, Sev. But it felt good to just…let loose for a change. It was like…there were no worries…no one expecting anything of me. I just existed."

"You've had to deal with too much, Harry. I told Albus not to place that burden on your shoulders, but the old coot never listened."

"He asked too much of both of us," Harry told him. "Far too much."

--

Lucius walked into the sitting room that Harry and Draco shared. There was a blazing fire in the fireplace and Draco was curled up in one of the armchairs, wrapped in a blanket. "How are you feeling, Dragon?" he asked, sitting in the other chair.

"Miserable," the younger blond admitted. It had been nearly a week since he had seen Healer Davies and he had managed to pick up a cold, leaving him feeling extremely weak, even though a dose of Pepper-Up Potion had cleared up the cold.

"Severus is working on some new potions for you."

Draco nodded. "I guess I won't be able to go back to Hogwarts…"

"You will, if you are careful like Healer Davies said. Severus and Harry will be there to help you."

The younger wizard sighed deeply, staring into the fire.

"Draco, I…there's something I need to tell you. After the Dark Lord was defeated the first time, I couldn't get the images of people I had seen tortured…people I had helped torture out of my head. I started drinking…trying to drown out the images, the screams, the smells…"

Draco closed his eyes. He understood why his father had started drinking. It was why he had started drinking himself, back on that night when he had dreamed about the death of Charity Burbage. And nearly every night since then he had dreamed of something else that had driven him to start drinking.

"I drank heavily for about four years."

"Why did you stop?"

"I was drunk one night and…I don't even remember now what it was that you had done, you were five at the time…all I remember is that I was holding you over the balcony, about to drop you. Narcissa was standing next to me crying and trying to convince me not to hurt you. Thankfully Severus just happened to come through the Floo and caught you when I lost my grip on you as I was trying to pull you back over the railing."

He stared at his father in shock. "Why…why don't I remember that?"

"I asked Severus to Obliviate you…I didn't want you remembering what I had almost done to you. That I had almost killed you."

"Mother forgave you for that? Did I forgive you for that?"

Lucius nodded. "I begged your forgiveness the next morning before I asked Severus to Obliviate you. Children forgive much quicker than adults. It took a while for Narcissa to forgive me and she eventually did.

"I rarely drink now and when I do, I'm very careful to limit myself to only one drink. But I don't want my sons drinking, because all it takes is one drink. Then it becomes another and another…and pretty soon it's three or four or more. I don't want any of you making the same mistake that I did."

Draco took a deep breath. "I need…need time to think through all of those."

Lucius stood. "Of course. I hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive me again."

AN: Sorry for the delay. This chapter gave me quite a bit of trouble. There are only about ten chapters left in this fic, but there is a sequel planned.