The End-Part the Third
A/N-Okay, I know it's been a while since Part the Second but I was REALLY trying to get my story to go in a way I wanted it to go. Unfortunately my muses and the characters kept kicking me till I decided to give in and it took the exit into SlashVille. If this offends any of you that have been paying attention to it (all 2 of you) please tell me and I'll try to force it to go another direction. Other then that, the He is revealed in this part only because I can't keep censoring him. He demands to be revealed. Oh, and *hugs* to Cass for putting up Draco Sinister Part 11...not that she's here to see this but oh well. :) Oh, and I know I moved REALLY badly from one POV to another in the last part...I'm sorry. I have no beta and the story flows without warning...so, again sorry.
*******
He laid back on his cot, staring at the ceiling of his tent. After waking from his all too short nap he had laid here, listening to the silence surrounding the Resistance camp. It was something of a heart lifting moment to hear the silence, to know the war was over. He smiled, the first time in a long year and let the silence sink into him, letting it heal his wounds. All too soon the silence was interrupted when Draco pushed open the tent flap and peered in. "Neville?"
"I'm awake." He said softly, sighing. He swung his feet over the edge of the cot and sat up, massaging his temples. He finally looked up at Draco, curious by the older boy's silence. He was nearly struck down when he saw the expression on the Slytherin's face. "What...what is it? Have they...have it all started again."
Draco shook his head wordlessly, unsure how to say what he needed to. "We...They..." He licked his lips then decided to just say it. "He's been found Neville, alive."
****
Neville strode though the camp, nearly running in his haste. Alive. He couldn't have ever hoped that those words would be uttered. Alive. So sweet to hear, but heartbreaking just the same. So few precious moments to spend with the man that had shaped his world. He pushed the tent flap forcefully aside and hurried in, ignoring the guards that watched over the captured Death Eaters. He sat on the hard floor next to a cot and took the pale hand that lay over the edge into his own, kissing it softly. The prisoner groaned softly, his eyes slowly opening.
"Percy, can you hear me?"
The figure was still for a moment before nodding, barley a movement really, but Neville saw it and he pressed on.
"Percy, I love you." He whispered.
*****
3 Years ago...
The Yule ball was in full swing. Neville lead Ginny over to a table and sat down with her, wincing as she immediately took off her shoes and started massaging her feet, watching Harry and Ron talk. Neville gave her an apologetic smile and turned to glance around the room. He watched Dumbledore dance with Sprout, smiling shyly when Dumbledore waved at him, raising his hand in a half hearted wave back. His attention drifted soon after and he watched the various teachers dancing with their various partners, some looking thrilled and some, like Snape, looking down right murderous. His eyes drifted over the judges as well, wondering how Harry was going to do in the next task. He hoped he did well, it was such fun watching him trounce the other school's champions. He secretly wished he was brave enough to do the tasks himself, but seeing as how that would only happen if Draco grew a heart, well, at least someone from Gryffindor was competing.
His rooming gaze soon rested on a red haired boy and he smiled to himself. Percy Weasley. He could find that boy blindfolded in a dark room. Percy exuded an air of rigidness and stuffiness that everyone picked up on, but underneath, hidden behind the rules and protocol was a self-consciousness that Neville could identify with. A need to prove yourself to others that no one else could understand. While Percy tried to be perfect in a family that he thought expected it, Neville just tried to survive in a world that threatened to drown him. But tonight, tonight was different. Tonight there was something else that drew his wandering eye to the older boy. Tonight there was something that made him stand and ask the red haired man to take a walk with him.
****
Neville smiled to himself as he remembered the walk that they had shared. A simple walk that ended in a not so simple kiss. That memory had kept him going through the longs periods of no owls. Through the long nights of studying. through the long days of fighting against Voldemort for the simple truths he believed in. There were other walks of course. Other times that he had shared with the man that now lay injured before him. Other precious moments that he kept safe inside, locked in a box in his mind labeled, Precious and Safe. But that one memory, that first kiss was what he treasured most. In a world falling down around him, it was the one thing that kept him sane. And now it was the one thing, likely to destroy him. He kissed Percy's hand again before kneeling and kissing Percy's lips. He stood and strode briskly out of the tent, wiping his eyes with his sleeve before heading into the smaller tent next to it and looking at Draco who waited. "Kill him." He whispered before heading out again, tears flowing faster down his face.