The Night Before It Ends

Grimauld Place was eerily quiet. Tomorrow, the occupants of the house would leave, and they would meet with the Death Eaters in battle. More than half of them were likely not to return the next night.

And so each of them was in the arms of another, hoping against everything that they would make it through, that their friends would make it through, that their family would make it through, and that their love would make it through.

All of them, it seemed, except Bill Weasley.

Bill was lying on his back on his bed, the thin blanket pushed down around his hips, and wide awake.

There wasn't anyone with him tonight, no one he cared enough for who hadn't already been the victim of a Death Eater attack. He closed his eyes against the memory of Fleur, the green light of the killing curse just beginning to fade from her eyes.

He sighed and opened his eyes, moving his arm under his head, and stared at the ceiling.

He jumped slightly when his door creaked open a crack. He scowled, about to tell Kreacher to "Get out!" when the person spoke. It definitely wasn't Kreacher.

"Bill?" it whispered.

"Yeah?"

Draco Malfoy, now 17 and stunningly gorgeous, popped his head through the crack. There were dark circles under his eyes, clear evidence that the young man hadn't been sleeping well, that Bill hadn't noticed before and felt perhaps he should have. The moonlight coming in the window made his blonde hair an unearthly shade of silver, and made his silver eyes near glow. The young man blinked at Bill a few times.

"Ah... Did I wake you?" Draco asked softly and Bill shook his head. "I couldn't sleep..." Draco continued softly. "I was wondering if you wanted to talk can I come in?" The question had somehow become part of the previous sentence, as if Draco had to say it quickly or lose his nerve.

Bill nodded and sat up, pulling his red hair away from his face and tying it back from his face with a tie from the bedside table. He watched the blonde creep slowly into the room and shut the door silently before leaning against it.

Bill waved a hand invitingly at the now vacated bottom of the bed, indicating for Draco to sit. The former Slytherin hesitated a moment, and then moved silently across the room and sat on the bed. The springs creaked as the weight increased.

"What's on your mind?" Bill asked softly, now acutely aware of all the people in the house who were actually able to sleep.

Draco looked at his hands in his lap for a minute, and Bill waited, knowing Draco would talk in his own time. You learned a lot about a person, living in the same house for nearly a year.

"My father expected me to become a Death Eater since the moment I was born. He never wasted a chance to tell me this, either." He paused for a second. "My father disowned me when I told him I wouldn't become a Death Eater," Draco said softly, slowly. Bill nodded. He'd known that. "And then he tried to kill me."

Bill started in surprise and raised his eyebrows. He hadn't known that.

"He'll be there tomorrow. He'll be anywhere our hero is and he'll try to kill him." Draco paused for a moment, and still Bill didn't say anything. "He's going to try to kill me again as well. And this time," Draco looked up from his hands. "This time he might well succeed."

Bill frowned slightly. "The Death Eaters will be trying to kill all our people tomorrow. They won't be targeting you specifically." He leaned forwards and put a hand on Draco's shoulder. "Least of all you."

Draco looked at Bill's hand for a moment, silent, and then sighed.

"I didn't mean it quite like that. I... I just meant that I might die tomorrow." He looked back up at Bill. "And I... I just wanted someone to be with. Tonight. Before I die."

Startled, Bill pulled back slightly, and started to stammer. "Draco... I... Why..." But Draco only pulled himself fully onto the bed and sat between Bill's legs. He looked so pale in the moonlight, so like a ghost, and so fragile...

Bill reached out and pulled the young man to him.

The blonde came unresisting, folding himself neatly into Bill's embrace, and Bill had to wonder if the young man would break, would shatter, if he held him any tighter. And when Draco looked up at him, Bill's brain told him he shouldn't kiss Draco, screamed that he was too young, that he didn't know what he really wanted, what he was asking for, and Bill suddenly found that his body wasn't listening to his brain anymore.

The young man's glowing silver eyes stopped glowing as they fluttered shut and he kissed Bill back softly, He hesitated slightly, and then his arms wound themselves around Bill's neck, as Draco pressed closer to him.

Bill shivered slightly, and then ran his hands down Draco's back, feeling the vertebrae of his spine, and then slipped his hands under the young man's loose shirt. He felt the shivers go through Draco, and smiled faintly, kissing him deeper.

To Bill's surprise it was Draco who pushed him back onto the bed, still kissing him, and pressing closer. And that was when Bill gave up trying to rationalize anything, trying to resist.

He tightened his arms around the Draco, and the young man responded by kissing him deeper again. Bill pulled him under the blankets with him, and Draco pressed still closer to him, his hands resting lightly on Bill's shoulders. Bill pressed up closer to him, and slowly peeled Draco's shirt away, pulling out of the kiss only to pull it over his head, and then returning to his lips. He ran his hands over Draco's pale skin and then flipped their positions so that Draco was underneath him, his hands still running gently over his chest, up his shoulders to his neck. He stopped a moment and looked down. There was a scar on the curve of Draco's shoulder, the only thing marring his perfect skin.

"I told you my dad tried to kill me," the blonde whispered.

Bill ran his fingers over it gently and saw Draco hold back a wince. He pulled his fingers away. "I thought perhaps you meant with Ava-- with the killing curse," he said softly.

"That too. But he decided he wanted my blood more," Draco answered calmly, but the flicker in his eyes told the redhead that he wasn't nearly as calm as he pretended to be. Bill nodded, and didn't push the subject, but pressed their lips back together. Draco's eyes fluttered closed again, and he pressed closer, his hands sliding down Bill's chest to the hem of Bill's shirt, and then underneath. Bill shivered slightly, and Draco pulled his shirt up slightly. Bill pulled out of the kiss and sat up slightly, straddling Draco's hips, and pulled his shirt off, and dropped it with Draco's on the floor.

The young man smiled up and him, and ran his fingers over the freckles on Bill's shoulders, taking his time to carefully finger each one. Bill grinned at him, and then bent and kissed him gently, and the young man kissed him back, nibbling on Bill's lip slightly. Bill's hands ran down Draco's chest to his hips, and he rocked his hips down against the blonde's. Draco moaned softly into his mouth, and pressed up against him.

Bill's fingers started undoing Draco's pants at the same time Draco's hands moved to the waist of his ands started to pull his pants off. Bill pulled away again and pulled Draco's pants off of him, and then slid out of his own pants. Draco smiled up at him, and Bill straddled his hips again, smiling back at him. He kissed him again, this time harder, more desperate, and the blonde responded in kind, pressing up under him.

Bill shifted slightly, laying on op of the younger man, and pressed his knee between his legs, sliding his tongue into his mouth, and running it over Draco's tongue. Draco's hands slid over the redhead's chest, and then settled on his shoulders, tightening slightly in anticipation. Bill kisses him deeper still, and slid a hand to Draco's leg, pulling it over his waist, and felt Draco's hands tighten slightly more.

Bill pulled away and looked down at him, worried. "Is this--"

"Yes."

Draco smiled up at him again and Bill smiled back and pressed his lips to Draco's again, pushing slowly into him.

The blonde moaned softly into Bill's mouth, and his hands tightened again, but he kissed Bill back deeply, and pressed closer to him. Bill pulled out slightly, and then thrust into him again, his movements already starting to get faster, already starting to go deeper. Draco moaned softly again, and Bill kissed along his throat, and over his neck. Draco arched under him, pressing closer, holding back his small cries of pleasure.

When Draco came, though, he was unable to hold back the moan that came with it, and Bill silenced him with a kiss, releasing as well, and falling still on top of Draco. The two were silent for several minutes before Draco spoke.

"Thank you."

"For?" Bill looked up at him questioningly.

Draco was silent for a minute, and he looked over at the window where the light of the slowly rising sun was beginning to show on the horizon. Then, "For letting me share my last night with you."