Harry Potter: As One War Ends Another Begins Part 1

Disclaimer: This story does not reflect the attitudes or characters in the Harry Potter series, nor does it have any affiliation with its author.

Part One

Harry lay awake on his back as the small clock on the wall signalled that it was midnight. Not only did this tell Harry that he should be asleep by now but also that his 18th birthday had begun. Harry sighed to himself as her turned over onto his side to get comfortable.
The battle of Hogwarts and the fall of Lord Voldemort had taken place a few weeks earlier and since then Harry had been stopping with the Weasleys at The Burrow. To him this place felt more like home than any other place ever had. Once the war had finished Mrs Weasley has kindly offered that he came to stay with them for as long as he needed as he had nowhere else to go. Private drive was part of his past and after everything he had been put through he felt that he finally deserved some peace, something he wouldn’t get with all of Uncle Vernon’s moaning. There was also 12 Grimmauld Place but thankfully Mrs Weasley understood that the place still haunted Harry’s memories of his godfather Sirius.
So Harry had moved into his best friend Ron’s room for the summer. Although Mr and Mrs Weasley accepted his relationship with Ginny they refused to allow them to share a bed whilst they was living in their house. They had also implied the same rules to Hermione as she had begun dating Ron and was also stopping at the house for the summer. Tonight however Harry’s sleeping arrangements had changed. Bill and Fleur had stopped by a few days ago to announce that Fleur had fallen pregnant and that they were having a baby. This came much to the delight of Mrs Weasley who instantly declared the need to celebrate this good news and had planned a joint party for Harry’s birthday and to celebrate the family’s forthcoming member.
So members of he Weasley family had travelled far and wide from across the country to join the celebrations and because of this Mrs Weasley, whilst apologising repeatedly, had asked if Harry and Hermione could sleep down stairs as family members would require the extra space in the bedrooms for the party the next day. So Harry had carried bedding down from the bedrooms and kindly offered that Hermione sleeps on the small sofa, thinking that Ron wouldn’t appreciate him sleeping to close to his girlfriend.
As Harry lay on the hard living room the floor struggling for sleep he began to reflect on his time at the burrow so far.
He had welcomed the news that Fleur had fallen pregnant as it had helped lift the mournful state that had hungover the house as everybody grieved the deaths of Fred and good friends like Lupin and Tonks. Not that Harry hadn’t grieved as well. He was ashamed to admit to himself, let alone anyone else, that he had come to rely on alcohol to help numb the pain that had been caused by the deaths of so many of his friends. Often he would take walks into the local muggle village and find himself purchasing alcoholic drinks such as vodka and whiskey, which he would take home and drink that night before he went to bed. Not that anyone in the house had noticed his behaviour, as half of them were doing exactly the same. Bottles were clumsily left hidden behind bins and under beds as every tried to hide their secret from the others.
But all this had stopped when Fleur had brought that happy news. Well all except Harry. He still struggled to get to sleep at night without having to have a large drink to the take the edge of it. Although not tonight. Not with Hermione sleeping so close. Ron knew of Harry’s new troubles with drink but he had promised not to say a word to anyone about it, especially Hermione who would kick up a lot of fuss. So tonight he had left the bottles safely locked in his trunk upstairs and because of this found that sleep once again wouldn’t come to him.
Ron and Hermione had been dealing with things a lot better than himself.