The Consequences of Alcohol and Depression

Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter, nor have I ever.

Chapter 2: The Day After

Hermione and Percy stared at each other for a few minutes, realization running over both of them.

"Oh, God," Hermione breathed, covering her eyes with one hand.

Percy winced slightly as she spoke, his hand shooting up to his temple. "I am so, so sorry," he whispered, closing his eyes.

"What exactly happened last night?" she asked quietly, racking her brain.

"Well," Percy said, "I found you sitting outside of that club, and you'd been crying. Then, we went to dinner, and started talking about all our problems. And we got really drunk."

"And then we came back to your house and..." Hermione said, both she and Percy blushing furiously. "I can't believe we did that."

"Me neither," he replied, shaking his head. "Um, can we just not tell anyone about this?"

"Yeah," she agreed, "Let's not." After a few moments of awkward silence, she said, "I had better get home. Ginny's going to wonder where I am."

"Alright," he said, nodding. Hermione quickly wrapped a sheet around her body and gathered her clothes, which were thrown haphazardly around the room. She ducked into the bathroom and dressed, rubbing her eyes lightly.

Hermione walked back to Percy's bedroom, where she gave him a small smile. "See you later," she said before Disapparating. She Apparated into her bedroom, immediately heading for the bathroom. 'Apparating with a hangover is never a good idea' she thought as she began to throw up into the toilet.

******

After a nice, long shower, Hermione changed her clothes and went into the kitchen, where she rummaged through the cupboards for a hangover potion. She sighed happily as she found one, pouring it into a rather large glass of water. It bubbled before turning a bright orange, reminding Hermione of the blinding colors in Ron's old bedroom. She quickly swallowed it down, wincing at the taste, which was like drain water mixed with sardines.

When the potion glass was rinsed thoroughly (Hermione wouldn't want anyone to have to taste that), she wandered into the living room, to find Ginny. She was going to say that she had just gone to visit her parents when she left the club and had stayed the night if Ginny asked.

Not finding her flat-mate in the den, dining room, or their make-shift office, she headed to Ginny's bedroom. "Gin, are you awake?" she asked, knocking on the door softly. It was already 11:30, and Ginny was supposed to be meeting Harry in a half an hour.

"Ginny?" she tried again. This time, she got some response. A soft groan was heard from inside, and Ginny told her, quite sleepily, to come in. The sight she got was most unwelcome.

Ginny was laying on her bed, her back to the door, wrapped up firmly in Harry's arms. Hermione giggled softly, covering her mouth with her hand.

"What is it?" Ginny asked, rolling over to face her.

"Well, I was going to tell you that you need to wake up to go meet Harry, but I guess it really doesn't matter," she said, nodding towards the bed.

"Wha's going on?" Harry asked sleepily, a large yawn escaping him.

"Morning," Hermione said, a full laugh escaping her mouth. Harry blushed slightly, closing his eyes. "I guess I'll let you two wake up," she said, turning and closing the door. She continued laughing as she went back into the kitchen, starting a pot of coffee. It wasn't uncommon to find the two of them together, but it made Hermione a bit jealous sometimes.

She didn't like Harry like that, or anything, but they had such a strong relationship, and she really wished she had one. As she slowly drank a cup of the strong brew, she thought of Percy. It had been very surprising to wake up beside him. When Voldemort had come back, he had been forced to choose between his family and Fudge. Naturally, he had sided with his family.

He had grown up quite a lot, which had, in actuality, made him more immature. Percy had realized exactly how boring and unimportant cauldron bottoms were, and had switched departments. He moved to the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office, and now worked under his father. Not exactly the most interesting, but certainly better than the Department of Magical Standards.

Percy had also gotten much more handsome. His brothers had gotten him started on playing Quidditch with them, and he had grown to love it. In the games they played in the small paddock behind the Burrow, he took to playing Keeper opposite Ron. He had developed a bit more muscle, broadening his chest and shoulders, giving his tall build a more masculine appearance.

Hermione snapped from her musings when a disheveled Harry and Ginny walked into the kitchen. They both took mugs of coffee, Ginny sitting down while Harry quickly downed his standing up.

"You're still coming tonight, right, Mione?" he asked.

"Meeting Ron and Draco? Yeah," she said, nodding. During seventh year at Hogwarts, Ron came out and told everyone that he was gay, and started dating Draco Malfoy. After Lucius had been sent to Azkaban, Draco and his mother, Narcissa had become very close to the Weasleys. Ron and Draco, whom were very much in love, now lived together in a large penthouse flat in Muggle London.

"Alright," Harry said, smiling. "I've gotta get to work." He bent down and gave Ginny a quick good-bye kiss, waving before he Disapparated.

"Have fun last night?" Hermione asked sarcastically. She figured Ginny had been too busy when she got in to notice that her roommate wasn't in, so she didn't bother with her cover story.

"Um, are you feeling better?" Ginny asked, trying to change the subject.

"Oh, yeah," she said, looking down at the table. She didn't feel like telling Ginny about seeing Jeremy, although that wasn't her main concern anymore. She really didn't want to tell Ginny that she had gotten drunk and slept with her brother. If she had it her way, no one would ever know.

******

Hermione Apparated into the living room of Ron and Draco's flat, carrying a bottle of wine. She wasn't planning on drinking any, but she always liked to bring a gift when she visited her friends.

"Hello!" she called, "I'm here!"

"In the kitchen, Mione!" called Ron. She walked into the kitchen, grinning. As surprising as it was, Draco was quite the chef. Even though Ron was pretty good in his own right, Draco always did the cooking.

"Hey guys!" she said happily. She set the bottle down on the counter, giving both of them big hugs.

"Hey, Mione," Draco said with a smile. He was rather nice looking when he didn't smirk, and Hermione definitely knew what Ron saw in him. He was, in actuality, very sweet, smart, charming, kind, and intelligent.

Hermione took in a whiff of the fragrant air, moaning at the smell. "That smells fantastic," she said, looking over to the stove. "What is it?"

"Linguini and clam sauce," he told her, leaning on the counter.

"Come on, Mione, let's go in the den and let Draco finish dinner," Ron said, sending a saccharine smile to Draco. "You know how he hates when people interfere with his cooking." Ron was referring to the first time Draco had fixed dinner for him. Ron had tried to help, and ended up burning the roast instead.

"I might need your help later," Draco said, grinning lasciviously.

"Wow," Hermione said, "The innuendoes in this room are getting to be just a bit too much."

"Alright, alright," Ron said, putting an arm over Hermione's shoulders in a friendly gesture. She didn't see the wink that Ron gave Draco over his shoulder as they exited the kitchen.

They moved into the living room, where Ron sunk into his favorite armchair by the fire. Hermione sat across from him, a small smile adorning her face.

"So," Ron asked, "Anything interesting happen to you lately?" Hermione blushed slightly, her mind immediately going to the previous night with Percy. She certainly wasn't going to tell Ron that she had gotten drunk and shagged his brother!

"Um, not really," she lied, nervously tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "What about you?"

"Well, yesterday, there was this guy who supposedly had all of these Dark artifacts hidden in his attic, and we had to go do this huge search, only to find out that someone had been joking around and sent in a false alert," he told her.

Ron was an Auror, and quite a good one. In the eight months he had been working in his squad, he had become the team-leader, which normally took years to do.

Hermione and Ron were still chatting when Harry and Ginny Apparated into the living room. "Hey!" Ron said, grinning. He gave Ginny a quick hug and clapped Harry on the back. "I was wondering when you were going to show up!"

"We, uh, got caught up with what we were doing," Harry said, not meeting anyone's gaze. Hermione snorted, earning a glare from Ginny. Ron looked mildly amused.

"Tell me," Hermione asked knowingly, "What exactly were you doing that made you twenty-three minutes late?"

"Made it, did you?" Draco asked as he stepped into the living room.

"Hey, Draco!" Harry said, very glad for a change of subject. Ginny quickly gave Draco a hug and a kiss on the cheek, looking around the room. She still wouldn't look at Ron or Hermione.

"So, um, is dinner ready, then?" she asked.

"Yep," Draco said, "I just took it off the stove. Could you give me a hand, Ron?"

"Oh, yeah, sure," Ron said with a grin. "You guys know where the dining room is," he said as he entered the kitchen with Draco, shutting the door firmly behind them.

"Honestly," Ginny said, "They're worse than rabbits!"

"No more so than you two," Hermione reminded them.

"Yeah, well, you know..." Harry said, shrugging as he sat down. Around five minutes later, Ron and Draco came in, both of them looking a bit disheveled.

"Help yourselves," Draco said as he placed a large pot on the table. Hermione eagerly dug into the Linguini she took. Draco really was an excellent cook.

"This is terrific!" she gushed.

"Thank you," Draco said proudly with a prim smile.

"Where did you get the recipe?" Ginny asked.

"My mum," he told her. "She makes it wonderfully, but she says it's too much trouble to do often."

"It's really good," Harry said, taking in a particularly large bite. Throughout dinner, they all discussed their recent lives, enjoying Draco's linguini and Hermione's wine. Hermione didn't indulge in much of the alcoholic beverage, but she ate plenty of linguini.

Around nine, Hermione checked her watch. "Sorry, guys, I've gotta go," she said apologetically.

"Are you sure?" Draco asked hopefully. They never got to hang out as a big group, and they always liked to prolong their time together.

"Yeah, I'm sorry," she said, scrunching up her nose.

"Well, you'll be at the Burrow this Sunday, right?" Ron asked her.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world." After several hugs each, Hermione finally Disapparated around twenty minutes later. She hadn't remembered about going to the Burrow. As much as she hoped against it, she knew things would be awkward with Percy. And boy, was she right.