Author's Note (8-3-2020): I wanted to work deeper mental illness and trauma into this story, and addiction was the pathway I chose. I do not personally experience addiction, and am writing off of my own research and the experiences of a few dear friends.

I will also note that I've had the scene at "8 weeks" written for many months and I am incredibly pleased that we've arrived at this point. Please enjoy.

6 Weeks, 3 Days after the Final Battle

Draco was a quiet housemate. Draco insisted upon paying rent to Percy, despite the fact that the house was paid for and a funded trust covered upkeep and utilities. They'd had a spirited discussion about property value and pride before Percy agreed to a modest rent payment. Draco bought his own groceries and did most of his own cooking. When he wasn't at work, he spent time in his room or in Muriel's library, or went on long walks down the beach.

Percy was cordial and hospitable, of course. His family had been rather surprised to hear about his newest housemate, but Ginny was pleased about it. Harry seemed indifferent, Ron and George were a little more indignant. Bill and Charlie were ruffled at the name "Malfoy" but Percy was quick to vouch for Draco's character. His family, however they felt about it, were sworn to secrecy for the time being, given the ongoing investigation.

Tonks was, of course, immediately concerned with the threats to Draco's home. She, Bill, and one of her own most-trusted colleagues accompanied Draco to his home to retrieve his valuables and disassemble the traps that had been laid. There was a very discreet investigation going on to find evidence to arrest the intruders, but Tonks had warned Draco that it could take some time.

After Bill had been to Malfoy Manor to remove the traps, he stopped by Percy's office.

"You tell Draco that if he's having trouble, he can come to me. Those traps, Percy," Bill shook his head, "They didn't want to just scare him. He could have died," Bill left with a promise to check up on the protective wards around 800 Weatherby Way, and extended an invitation for Percy and Draco to join him and Fleur for dinner at Shell Cottage over the weekend.

The Weasley family was slow to change, and Draco was as wary of them as they were of him. But after a few awkward encounters, everyone began to relax. Ginny, especially, was quick to engage Draco in conversation whenever they saw each other. It was Percy's turn to host their weekly game night shortly after Draco arrived. After a bit of cajoling, Draco came out from the library to join the family for food and chatting.

Of the items that Draco had removed from his home were a set of racing broomsticks, nice ones. Upon hearing this, Ginny immediately recruited Draco, Ron, and George to play a game of 2-on-2 quidditch out in Percy's backyard. The older Weasleys watched from the windows.

"I always spoke ill of the Malfoys." Charlie mused.

"He's just a kid, really," Bill replied. They watched as Draco flew in a loop around George to toss the ball back to Ginny. Ginny caught it and lobbed it straight at Ron, who was knocked backwards by the force. Draco offered Ginny a high-five. All of them were laughing.

"He is. How can I judge him for his family's actions? He's barely old enough to shave," Charlie shook his head, running his fingers over his own facial hair.

"We've been working together for weeks. He's incredibly determined. And he's an excellent houseguest," Percy added.

"He is smart," Fleur confirmed, "And he is very polite," and fluent in French, which was something that none of the Weasleys were. Draco had impeccable manners and had engaged Fleur in conversation in French for almost half an hour.

There wasn't much else to be said as one blond head and three redheads zipped across the sky in the twilight, while three more redheads and a blonde watched from the window.

Draco helped Percy clean up after the gathering that night. They didn't say much, only washed dishes and cleared away trash.

"Your family is...not what I was expected," Draco said, finally.

"You weren't what they were expecting, either," Percy replied. Several long moments passed.

"I told your little sister that she needs to try out professionally for Quidditch. She's better on a broom than half the league," Draco complimented.

"She is," Percy didn't have much of an eye for Quidditch, unlike the rest of his family, but he could see Ginny's confidence and grace on a broomstick.

"Where was Potter tonight, anyways?"

Harry had declined the invitation to game night this evening, and his absence was felt. Percy didn't know what was going on with Harry, but he couldn't get Ginny or Ron alone for long enough to ask about it.

"I'm not sure, he's been pretty quiet, lately,"

"I've been needing to thank him, for what he did for my mother," The story had come out shortly after Narcissa and Lucius had been arrested. Harry had marched straight into the DMLE and insisted that the aurors immediately release 'Narcissa Malfoy, the woman who lied to You-Know-Who's face to save my life.'"

Harry Potter was nothing, if not persuasive.

Narcissa had been immediately released from auror custody, though she had decided to take time away from the UK. Draco didn't talk about his parents much, but he did keep a small, framed photo of him and his mother on his desk at work.

Draco didn't say anything else. They finished cleaning up, turned out the lights, and went their separate ways to sleep.

8 Weeks After the Final Battle

One night towards the end of June, Percy startled awake at the sound of his floo rushing downstairs. Grabbing his wand, he crept towards the sound. He was halfway down the steps when he heard voices. Juno was barking up a storm.

"Harry. Please, calm down. Let's just get you lying down for a moment," Ginny, wearing muggle sweats and a messy ponytail, had her arms around a disheveled Harry.

"Ginny? What's wrong?" Percy asked. Ginny turned.

"I'm so sorry, Percy, I didn't know where else I could bring him. He's…"

"I'm fucking fine, or at least I was until you pulled me out of that pub," Harry roared, slurring his words and wrenching his shoulder away from Ginny. He very nearly fell over, but managed to stay upright.

"No, you are not fine. Getting drunk every night and scoring drugs off of muggle dealers is not fine," Ginny looked meaningfully at Percy, explaining the situation without Percy needing to ask.

Puzzle pieces began to click. Harry's behavior since the battle. The muggle water bottle he always seemed to have around. The moodiness. His absence from family and friend gatherings.

"I can do what I want. I'm finally free of that bastard. It's over, and I can do what I want," Harry leaned over and vomited on Percy's carpet. Ginny vanished it quickly.

"Do you have any sober-up potion, Percy?" Ginny asked.

"No, sorry," Percy winced as Harry wretched again, "I don't keep it on hand,"

"I don't want to be sober. It hurts!" Harry turned away from the pair of them and took a few staggering steps to look out the window at the moonlight.

"Yes, I know that you're hurting. But there are better ways to deal with this," Ginny approached him. Harry whirled around. For a moment, Percy thought that Harry was going to strike Ginny. But before Percy could take more than a step towards them, a spell came from behind him. A Petrificus Totalis froze Harry in place.

Ginny and Percy both turned to see Draco Malfoy standing in the doorway.

"Jesus Fucking Christ, Potter. You're even more of an idiot now than you were when we were kids." Draco marched straight over to Harry, and pulled a vial out of his pajama pocket, unstoppered it, and forced its contents into Harry's open mouth. The spell Draco was still holding over Harry allowed him to swallow.

"Sober-up potion," Draco elaborated to a speechless Percy and Ginny, shoving the empty vial back into his pocket, "The kind withOUT pain reliever. You deserve the hangover right now, and I need you to listen to me, very carefully," Harry's eyes hardened, but he couldn't move.

"I cannot believe that you died, literally died, and came back to life, and now you are trashing that precious life that some god-forsaken power gave back to you. You are a literal fucking miracle, and you're wasting that miracle by getting wasted and moping about because of your survivor's guilt."

Harry's eyes narrowed, and Percy guessed that Draco had hit the nail on the head.

"Fucking grow up, Potter. Life sucks. Life really, really sucks. It sucks actual balls. Trust me, I know! I spent the better part of the last year with the DARK LORD living in my house. The actual fucking Dark Lord, sitting in my tea room, torturing captured school children on the carpet where I used to play Exploding Snap with my mum,"

Draco was pacing now, turning every so often to thrust his wand in Harry's direction. He was so angry, Percy could see the spit flying from his lips.

"You know, I've been meaning to talk to you for weeks now. I wanted to tell you that I'm glad that I've grown up and that I'm sorry for all those senseless, racist things I said to you and your friends when we were in school and for how ridiculously I behaved to you. And I wanted to thank you for what you did for my mother. She's safe, because of you. I thought I owed you,

"But now I can see that you don't need to be thanked for anything, and I don't owe you anything but a kick in the arse. Alcohol? Muggle street drugs? Are you kidding me? You could actually die from that, Potter. I should know, I almost did!"

That was new. Percy had many questions about that for Draco, who apparently had almost died from muggle drugs at some point?

Draco was still on his rampage.

"I cannot believe you are actually that stupid. Well, actually, I can believe it, because I had classes with you and watched you, the idiot boy wonder, get away with being exactly that stupid for the last 7 years." Draco thrust his wand at Harry, burning a small hole in his shirt.

"Let me make this very clear for you. I'll spell it out, in little tiny words that you can understand: Your life does NOT suck more than everyone else's just because you are the Bloody-Boy-Who-Fucking-Lived, and you don't get to behave like this just because you feel like shit. We ALL feel like shit, and there are much more productive ways of dealing with it than falling into addiction because you didn't want to deal with your feelings."

Draco released the spell, and Harry collapsed to his knees. Harry reached forward, but Draco stepped on his hand and grabbed Harry by the hair, forcing him to look up.

"Get your life together. Go to therapy. Get a job. Figure. It. Out. If I ever hear that you're doing something like this again, you had better pray to Merlin that you've got more lives than a cat, because you will need them if you're going to survive what I'll do to you," Draco turned on his heel and stormed back down the hall. Distantly, his door slammed.

Nobody moved for several moments. Then, Harry groaned, pressing his palms to his head. Ginny made no move to help him. After several moments, Harry made his way to his feet.

Ginny took a half step behind Percy. Juno growled at Harry protectively from her place at Percy's feet.

"I will do better, I will," Harry pleaded.

"Yes, you will," Percy said.

"Ginny, I'm so, so sorry,"

Ginny didn't respond to Harry, but instead turned to Percy, "Could we stay the night? We can't sneak back into the Burrow at this hour,"

"Of course you can stay,"

Percy set Harry up on the couch in the living room with a bucket and glass of water beside him. Though Percy had pain-killing potions in his medicine cabinet, he found an unusual amount of satisfaction in denying Harry any of them for his headache.

Ginny took the room across the hall from Draco's, on the main floor. Percy made her a cup of hot chocolate, and they sat up for a while, Ginny against the headboard and Percy leaning against the post at the foot of the bed.

"Goddamn, I can't believe that it was Draco Malfoy, of all people, to stage an intervention at 2am in your living room," Ginny said, "Harry has been so out of control. Mum and Ron were starting to figure out something was up. He's been going out and drinking every night for weeks now, and he's not fooling anyone with that water bottle he's been carrying around,"

"I'd noticed that, a few weeks back, but I wasn't sure I should say anything,"

"I've been trying to say something. But he would just get mad and leave, rather than listen. People always want to buy a round of drinks for the Boy-Who-Lived, so he's been going into Muggle London to avoid their attention. A week ago he came back smelling like marijuana. Tonight, he did something worse. He's got marks on his arm, like from needles,"

"Oh, God,"

"He scared me tonight. I thought he was going to hit me. He's yelled before, but he's never touched me,"

"Oh, Ginny. Why didn't you tell someone?"

"I brought him here to you, didn't I?"

The thought that Percy was 'someone' for Ginny knocked him back a step. She had 2 parents and 5 other older brothers, yet she'd chosen Percy's living room as a safe place to bring her intoxicated boyfriend in the middle of the night.

"I'm glad you came to me, Ginny," And Percy was.

"Me too," She crawled over to him and hugged him, "I missed you when you moved out, you know."

"I missed you too,"

"You said all kinds of hurtful things that day. And I was mad at you for ages, and you really hurt my feelings. But I think after a while I started to realize that you were just scared, too. And afraid. And it turned out that you didn't mean any of those things after all, that you were just trying to protect us,"

"I am sorry I said those awful things to you. It hurt me to try and come up with things I could say that would make everyone angry, I hated it, and I hated myself afterwards for doing it," Percy deeply felt sorrow for his past self. So much self-loathing, and shame.

They were quiet for a few minutes.

"I think Harry likes you, Percy. He mentioned that he got to spend a bit of time with you over New Years, last year,"

"Yeah, we did. Hermione and Harry and I accidentally ended up at the same camp site while they were on the run,"

"Harry likes you and Hermione together, too. He says that you're good for each other," Ginny pressed on.

"I'm glad he thinks so. He and Hermione are very close,"

"They are. I think it hurt him when she left for Australia so suddenly, and told him not to come along,"

"She had to, it was for her parents,"

"I know that, and you know that, and Harry knows that. But still," Ginny yawned. "I think Harry's never really had a true big brother before. You know? Like Ron is his friend, and Fred and George are fun and goofy. But you've always been the sensible one, and Harry's never had a sensible big brother looking after him before,"

"I wish I wasn't known as the sensible one," Percy took a long sip of his chocolate, trying not to be hurt at what he was sure Ginny meant as a compliment, "You all never seemed to like that when we were younger,"

"We never liked it, sure. But we needed it. We needed a voice of reason, and it was always comforting to know that someone out of all of us knew what they were doing. Bill and Charlie are so much older than us that we never really got to have them be our big brothers the way you were. George was just saying the other day how much he appreciated that you took him and Fred around Hogwarts on their first day of classes so they wouldn't get lost, even though it meant you were late for yours,"

Percy cherished this small story from Ginny, and smiled at her.

"I'm glad to be your big brother, Ginny, and I'm glad that you came here tonight. You are always welcome. I am here for you, and Harry,"

"I'm glad. Harry needs people there for him who aren't going to take advantage of him. And I'm...I'm furious with him. But I know it's not his fault; muggles believe addiction is a disease; I've been reading about it."

"You're still allowed to be mad at him; for tonight especially, I thought he was going to hit you,"

"I…was afraid he might. But he's never, ever been violent like that before. I think it was the drugs he was on,"

"No one would blame you if you broke up with him," Percy couldn't help but feel protective of his sister.

"He's used up all of my grace," Ginny said, "If Draco screaming at him didn't knock some sense into him, I will break up with him. If he ever gets high and violent like that again, he will never, ever get another chance."

Ginny sounded like her mind was very much made up about that.

"I'll support you, whatever you decide," He responded.

"Thank you, Percy. I love you," Ginny smiled sheepishly, "Now, can you please go to bed? You have work in the morning," Percy kissed Ginny's forehead and flipped off her light switch. He padded back up the stairs and got into his own bed. He fell asleep quickly.

Percy's alarm went off after far too few hours of sleep. He sighed, but turned it off and began to get ready for the day. Harry was awake in the living room, looking like he hadn't slept at all.

"Can you help me find a therapist?" Harry said, in lieu of a good morning.

"Of course," Percy immediately floo-called Penny for a referral, and within 10 minutes she called back with the name of St. Mungo's best, most discreet mental health counselor. Harry Potter, being the most important teenager in the Wizarding UK, was able to get an appointment for the same afternoon. Harry wrote down the appointment information on a slip of paper, declined breakfast, and was out the door before Ginny was even awake.

Draco appeared in the kitchen just as Percy was getting ready to leave. He popped a piece of toast in the toaster and turned to Percy only after pouring a cup of coffee and downing half of it.

"In case you were wondering, I won't be telling the press about boy-wonder's drunken misadventures," Draco said.

"I didn't think you would, but thank you," The thought had not even occurred to Percy.

"I meant every word I said last night. I did not watch the Dark Lord torture muggles in my living room for a year so that Harry Fucking Potter could waste his nine lives like a curious cat,"

"I believe you,"

"And...in case you were wondering. I'm clean." Draco hesitated just slightly, "I haven't done drugs in over a year, and I have no plans to do so ever again."

"I trust you, Draco,"

"Thanks," Percy didn't know how to end this conversation, but Draco just nodded, and turned his attention back to his coffee. Percy shrugged, and stepped into his fireplace.