Muggle Vices

Draco looked around the bar. He didn't remember coming here. Hell, he didn't even remember going home last night. This little habit of his was getting out of hand. Draco Malfoy, Prince of Slytherin, had fallen victim to a muggle vice. He'd become an alcoholic, but to let him tell it, he wasn't. 'I'm a drunk. Alcoholics go to meetings.' That had been the bumper sticker on his muggle car until he'd ruined it by making an unscheduled appointment with a tree.

He didn't talk to his friends much anymore, he never had the time. The last time he'd seen them he'd been preparing to move from Malfoy Manor. Pansy and Blaise were under impression that he was on to bigger and better things. What they didn't know was that he had drunk his way through most of the Malfoy fortune. When his funds had run low, he'd sold Malfoy Manor and moved into a small but adequate apartment in the middle of muggle London.

The little fortune he'd amassed from the sale didn't last him long and before he knew it, he was working a mediocre job. When his drinking became a problem, he'd left one job and went to the next. When that took too much time out of his drinking time, he quit and began stealing. Everything seemed to being going smoothly until he attempted theft of the wrong person; the last person he wanted to see him at his lowest.

He'd been on his way to a local bar, it was really a rat hole but the alcohol was cheap, when he spotted a broom. Not just any broom but he recognized it as a broom used for flying and it was vintage. That would fetch a pretty galleon that he could then exchange for pounds. As he was about to knick the broom he was grabbed him and it was no other then Hermione 'Mudblood' Granger. Of all the luck in the world it had to be her, didn't it?

She, of course, had taken him to Harry but instead of telling him what she'd witnessed, she told Harry she'd run in to him. Harry had been delighted to see him. They'd buried the hatchet years prior to Harry leaving the wizarding community, obviously not in each other. It hadn't been long before either discovered Draco's little problem.

Hermione had tried many a time to get him to seek help. They had meetings and programs for his behavior. But he'd stubbornly put his foot down saying, "I don't steal and I don't drink." Soon the girl had grown weary of Draco's behavior and their time together dwindled. However, Harry wasn't as willing to give up on the blond without a fight.

And fight the pair did. There were times when Draco had come home to find Harry pouring a bottle of his liquor down the drain. And each occurrence had ended in a physical fight. Each time Harry had kept his promise of beating a little sense into him while Draco kept his by getting drunk and losing it again.

Harry would ignore the things that Draco stole from him to support his habit and he'd replace the things that he stole from Hermione. It wasn't long before Draco had no place to stay and Harry gave him a place to rest his head, much to Hermione's displeasure. He set some ground rules with no hope at all that he would follow. Within a week of the arrangement Harry would find empty bottles hidden under the sofa. There were even times when he'd find Draco passed out three feet shy of his bedroom.

Draco was perturbed when he came home to find Harry and Hermione with their heads together. It didn't bother him that they were talking but it did bother him that they were talking about him. Once he'd declared his anger, a tense silence followed; where no one looked at each other.

Hermione was the first to break it, as she'd grown tired of the waiting. She would get straight to the point and didn't give a damn whether he liked it or not.

"Draco, you have a problem whether you want to admit it or not. Wait, let me finish." She held up a hand to stop the protest. "You drink entirely too much and your drinking has lead to your stealing."

Draco had held his tongue for enough. "I don't drink. And I most definitely don't steal."

Hermione narrowed her eyes. "You know, Draco. They say denial is the first sign of addiction."

Draco's famous temper flared. She could make accusations but she didn't have to be condescending about it. "I don't have a problem therefore; I'm in denial of nothing. As I don't drink, nor do I steal."

"Draco, the sooner you admit you have a problem, the sooner we can fix it. We've let you lead this lie long enough. You can't even hold a job for Merlin's sakes!"

Now grey eyes narrowed. "If you don't like me the way I am, then you don't have to see me, Granger. But I haven't lied, I don't drink and I don't steal. These jobs bore me so I don't keep them for long."

Harry got up as silently as he'd been sitting there watching the exchange and retrieved water from the fridge. Handing one to Hermione, he offered the other to Draco, before reclaiming his seat on the sofa.

"I figured you two could use something to drink to keep your throats from going hoarse."

Draco watched Hermione take a sip of water before setting the bottle down, waiting for her next attack.

"Draco, I know you really don't want to hear this as much as I hate saying this. But you need help. I'm saying this as someone who loves you. Hermione's right, we've let you lead this life for too long. It's not fair to any of us. The drinking, Getting so drunk you do things that you don't remember the next morning. The stealing, you steal so you can drink and you don't think you have a problem?"

Draco was dumbfounded. Harry had started his speech so suddenly that it'd taken him a moment to figure out who's talking. He stood there speechless a while just staring at Harry.

"I don't know what's gotten in to you two but I don't have a problem of any sort, let alone stealing to support it."

"But Dr-" Harry was cut off by Draco's continued rant.

"I don't know what I have to do to get you to understand that I don't have a problem. Do I have to stand here and announce it repeatedly for you to understand?" Moving to sit in an armchair, he looked at them both. "Okay, shall I?" Draco uncapped the bottle of water.

"I don't drink and I don't steal. I don't drink and I don't steal. I don't drink and I don't steal." Draco paused in his mantra to take a sip of water. "I don...." He stopped for his mind wouldn't let him continue the thought. "I'm a fucking liar!"

"I'm sorry, Draco, but someone had to do it. As Harry wouldn't, I did." Hermione looked anything but apologetic. "Now tell me. What would you do in Harry's situation? Hmm? What would you do if you had someone living with you that had a drinking problem and stole from you?"

"Hermione, I think that's enough. He's told the truth, we can go from there."

"No he hasn't." She spoke to Harry but never took her eyes off the blond.

"Herm-" He was cut of by the blond once again.

"No, she's right. I do drink and I do steal. As I said I'm a liar." He looked down at his hands. "As to answer you questions. I'd not have let him live with me. And if I did I'd put him out long ago."

Hermione smirked at Harry. "And why do you suppose that Harry hasn't?"

Now he snorted. "Potter has always been too soft. He wouldn't give up on someone that he cares about, ever."

Harry ran a hand over his face. "Forget that, now that you admit it; what are we going to do about it?"

Draco sniffed delicately. He had been tricked into admitting something he'd chosen not to acknowledge. What did he want to do about it? Pretend that this had never happened, that's what he wanted to do about it. But being that this was Potter and he was living with him, he'd had no choice but to try to offer a peace saving solution. Straightening in his seat he faced his latest annoyances.

"Fine, I'll try these meetings Grangers always going on about."