5 Weeks, 6 Days After The Final Battle.

It was George's turn to host the Weasley siblings for drinks and muggle board games at his flat. The tradition had started a few weeks ago, mostly born out of a way to spend time together without having to sensor their language to appease Mum. So far all of the siblings agreed that it was a tradition they wanted to keep.

Fred was out on a day pass, again, and though it was a bit of a team effort to get him safely up the narrow stairs to the flat, it was worth it. George forewent trying to prepare any sort of food, and instead ordered pizzas for all from a place in nearby Muggle London.

Percy couldn't help but notice as the evening went on, that George looked a bit worse for wear. He was unshaven and had smears of ink all over his hands. Percy got a moment to pull George aside.

"Alright?"

"I'm fine. I'm just...behind on paperwork, is all,"

"What paperwork?"

"The Ministry requires all consumable magical products to be on file in the Hall of Records. Ingredients, any magic used to bind them, intended effects, known side effects, risks and all that. We got to inventing quite a few new things back in the winter that are on shelves now, and there are a lot of products we already had for sale that need their paperwork updated every two years. And we technically only have 30 days after launching a new product to get the paperwork turned in. The Ministry has been giving small businesses a bit of grace with that deadline, but I'm a bit...well, a lot behind,"

"George!" Percy admonished.

"I know, I know. I'm just exhausted. Verity and Angelina do a great job up front, but they haven't learned to create inventory yet, so I'm doing all of that. And Fred was always the paperwork wizard, not me," And Fred, as much as he'd improved, wasn't going to be ready to step back in and continue being the co-owner of a bustling business any time soon.

Percy had a brainstorm.

"George. I've got an idea for you. Go give Alicia Spinnet a job offer to be your administrative coordinator, or whatever you want to call it," George's eyes widened.

"Do you think she would want to work for me? You know her better than I do, these days,"

"Yeah. She hates her new position with the ministry. And she's a paperwork genius AND she already knows and loves you and Fred and Angelina, and Verity and Penny were in the same house at school. I'm sure Alicia would love to come work with you,"

George smiled brightly.

"If you're right Percy, I owe you, big time. I can't stand paperwork. I'm covered in ink because I got so mad I threw my ink bottle across the room and had to spend half an hour siphoning it off finished forms I accidentally spattered,"

George immediately ducked out of the gathering to write an owl to Alicia. In the meantime, Percy joined his siblings on the couch. Ron and Fred playing solitaire together, while Ginny and Harry had been playing against Bill and Fleur in a muggle game called Uno. Once again, Harry was sipping out of his muggle water bottle, as well as steadily working his way through a few of the muggle beers that George had bought.

"Harry, don't you think that's enough for one night?" Ginny asked, softly, as Harry rose to fetch himself a 3rd (4th?) drink.

"No, it's fine," Harry said, popping off the bottle cap.

"You've had quite a few," Ginny pressed.

"It's fine, Ginny," Harry said, a little bit more loudly.

Ginny blushed, but didn't press further.

6 weeks after the battle

Draco was waiting for Percy when he arrived to work the following morning.

"I need to speak with you," Draco was never one to beat around the bush, but today his voice was especially clipped with urgency.

"Yeah, come in," Draco closed the door behind them and sat across from Percy.

"What's going on, Draco?" Percy asked.

"You know that Malfoy Manor is on the real estate market. I am working on selling it, but in the process, my address seems to have become public knowledge. I've started receiving death threats, handwritten, slid under my front door," Draco pulled out a muggle plastic bag, "I have them here. I followed proper muggle evidence gathering procedures and I'd like to request a forensic specialist to dust them for fingerprints,"

"Yes, absolutely," Percy handed him the form and a quill, "I can process that paperwork today,"

"There's more," Draco hesitated. Percy noticed for the first time that there were dark circles under Draco's eyes.

"People broke into my house last night. Four of them. They were looking for me, but I was...well-hidden. I think they must have thought I wasn't home, because they trashed the place before leaving. They left a couple of traps for me, assuming that I would come back through the fireplace or the front door. I haven't touched either of them, they are still active and in my home,"

"Let me get an auror in here, we can open a case for you and get investigators over there,"

"No!" Draco protested, "The reason I came to you instead of going to one of the aurors myself is because I'm very certain that the people who broke into my house are aurors!" Draco hissed the last few words.

"How do you know that?" Percy pressed.

"I heard them talking. I have a couple of the Extendible Ears that your brothers sell. They were talking about the DMLE, and their jobs. And they all called each other by their last names, and I recognized them,"

"Who were they?"

"The two aurors were Barnes and Major," two aurors, one junior, one senior. Both of whom had had muggle family members killed in the last year, "The other two names were Inverness and Griffiths. We don't have anyone in the DMLE by those names, but I know that Griffiths is a wizarding family name in Wales."

Percy nodded, taking notes by muggle pen and notebook paper.

"Draco, we can take this to Tonks, she would be able to help us figure out what to do next,"

"Are you sure? Do you think she'll believe me?" Percy saw something in Draco's face that he wasn't expecting. Shame.

"She will believe you. Tonks and I trust you. This is serious and I'm glad you came to me with this. We will handle this."

"Thank you,"

"I'll get the two of us some time with Tonks later this morning to talk about it with her in private. She and I have a meeting with Anthony Goldstein in a few minutes about the annual budget."

"Thank you," Draco repeated.

"Now, until we get the situation under control, you can't stay in your house with those traps active and with people knowing where you live. Tonks will agree with me on that. You need to find a safe place to stay, until your house can be sold,"

"I know. My mother is with distant relatives in the south of France, but I can't commute that far everyday,"

"Do you have friends here you could stay with?"

"They're all in prison," Draco said flatly.

"Er, right,"

"And I know for a fact that the very few safe houses that the DMLE has, are being loaned out to the foreign aid officers. Most of whom have only learned to shoot anyone with a Dark Mark first, ask questions later,"

"Right,"

"I've been asking around some, but nowhere in the magical UK is willing to rent to me. I could rent or buy in the muggle world, but I've never lived around muggles before, and doing so now would only draw more attention to me, not less, and would likely put the muggles nearby in danger," Percy nodded, realizing that Draco truly was in a predicament.

It was in that moment that Percy felt his own chest tighten as he realized that not 4 years ago, he'd been in the same situation. Unable to go home, ostracized from his family, alone, confused. At the very least, he'd had friends he'd been able to stay with until he sorted his life out. Draco had none.

It was strange, feeling this sort of kinship with the young man standing before him. But Percy knew exactly what needed to happen.

"I've got plenty of room to spare in my home," Percy said, before he could change his mind, "It's an old family home in Donegal, I've just inherited it. Plenty of space, and because I've only recently acquired it, my name is not yet associated with the address," That was true. Both because of his job in the DMLE, the Wizarding Postal Service being horribly backed up, and the fact that he'd only moved in two weeks ago, Percy's address was technically still his Acacia Avenue flat, and 800 Weatherby Way was still the home of Auntie Muriel.

"You'd be willing to let me stay with you and Granger?" Draco asked.

"Actually, Hermione is on holiday, visiting her parents. But yes, I am willing to let you stay. Like I said, I trust you. And you deserve to stay somewhere safe," Draco's face softened for a moment.

"I appreciate the offer, and I believe I will accept,"

"Swing by at the end of the workday and I'll take you there, show you the floo and all that. Once we get Tonks up to date on the situation, we can make a plan for getting whatever you need out of your house, safely,"

"Thank you, Percy," All of Percy's brotherly instincts had kicked in, and he saw Draco now. Yes, as a coworker. Yes, as a former Death Eater. But also, as a boy the same age as his brothers. Barely of age, with no one to support him or help him.

He decided he had better write to Hermione, though. Just to give her a heads up.

Hi Percy,

Honestly, I thought you were joking with me when you said you'd invited Draco to stay. I can't say I'm particularly overjoyed about it, to be honest. But I'm not there right now, and it is your home. If Juno and Crookshanks like him, that's good enough for me.

And Luna and Dean told me about how Draco had helped them, and how much he'd changed. It's just hard to believe, he was such an arrogant jerk when we were in school together. When I come home, I guess I'll see for myself.

Some good news though! Dad is being released from the hospital today! The healing team is very pleased with his progress. We've had someone stop by the house to install grab-bars for the shower and toilet, and he can't quite manage the stairs by himself yet, so that will be interesting. But I'm so proud of him.

Mum is doing well, the healers are ready to discharge her to the rehabilitation center across the street. She's very determined to work hard and heal quickly. She's been asking me to do research for her on clinical trial outcomes for people with her types of injuries, so I've been getting used to the way that muggles categorize their libraries again. It's SO much more convenient than the wizarding way.

Ron's written me a letter or two since I got here, but Harry has been quiet. Would you tell him I say hello, next time you see him?

All my love,

Hermione