Forbidden

14 - Goodbye Cedric

I stepped out of the car in front of the funeral home. I looked up at the sky. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day, but I felt the complete opposite. My best friend was dead, and I had to say goodbye to Draco just a few days ago. I missed him more than anything. We had written a bit, but not much. It just wasn't the same as seeing each other.

Dylan, Vanessa, and my parents walked up behind me. My mother hugged me as the others walked into the funeral home. I tried to hold in my tears because I knew Cedric would want me to be strong, and to be celebrating his life instead of crying and being sad, but I couldn't do it.

"Don't cry, darling. Cedric is in a better place now, and he's watching over you. You'll see him again some day," she said, holding me close.

I wiped my tears, and we walked into the foyer where several other people that I recognized from Hogwarts stood. Amos and Cedric's mom, Mary, stood alone in a corner. Mary saw me looking at them, and she gave me a small tearful smile. She walked up to me, and hugged me.

"I haven't seen you in ages! You look gorgeous and so grown up, dear," she said, while hugging me.

Dylan, Vanessa, and I spent a lot of time with Mary when we were little because our parents would always go away on big business trips. She was like a mother to me, but I haven't seen her in a long time.

"Thank you. I-it's great to see you," I said, trying to hold back tears. I didn't want to make her any more sad than she already is.

"Don't be sad, Lizzie," she said, wiping a tear from my face which I failed to hold back. "Cedric would want you to be happy."

I forced a smile, and gave her one last hug before following my family to our seats.

We sat in the front row alongside the Diggorys. I sat facing forward, staring at the coffin which Cedric rested in. Several people came by to share their condolences with the Diggorys, and a few would talk to my family, but I paid no attention to them. The two people I needed most right now couldn't be with me. Cedric was dead, and Draco had not shown up, but I knew he wouldn't be able to so I don't know why I still felt so disappointed.

-

After the funeral ended, we all made our way outside to where Cedric would be buried. Ellie stood beside me, and wrapped her arms around me.

Slowly, the coffin was lowered into the ground. I tried to hold it together, but the lower he went, the sadder I got. The coffin finally hit the ground, and that's when I burst into tears.

My father came over, and hugged me. I began to sob and shake violently. Cedric, my best friend was gone. Forever.

-

I woke up in a hospital bed. Dylan sat beside me, and smiled when he saw me awake.

"How'd I get here?" I murmured.

"You went into shock at the funeral. You're at St. Mungo's," he explained.

I rubbed my eyes, and sat up. My parents came in and were followed by Vanessa.

"How're you feeling?" my mother asked.

"I feel fine," I lied. I didn't want to stress them out anymore than I have over the past few days, but truth be told, I felt worse than I did before the funeral.

"Great! The doctors said we can bring you home today if you're feeling better," my father explained.

-

-

-

Cedric's funeral was yesterday. I wanted to go so I could see Elizabeth, and hold her in my arms once more, but I knew my parents would've said no to me going so I didn't even bother asking.

I sat in my room writing a letter to Elizabeth when an owl flew in through my window, and perched on my chair. I took the letter from it, and opened it to see Ellie's writing. Weird. Why would she write to me?

𝘋𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘰,

𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘐'𝘮 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘓𝘪𝘻𝘻𝘪𝘦 𝘪𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘚𝘵. 𝘔𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘰'𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶.

𝘚𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺,

𝘌𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘦 𝘙𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘸𝘰𝘰𝘥

My stomach dropped as I read the letter. This was my fault. If I had been there, maybe she would be doing better.

I grabbed fresh parchment and began to write a new letter.

𝑀𝓎 𝐿𝑜𝓋𝑒,

𝐸𝓁𝓁𝒾𝑒 𝒿𝓊𝓈𝓉 𝓉𝑜𝓁𝒹 𝓂𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒶𝓇𝑒𝓃'𝓉 𝒹𝑜𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓌𝑒𝓁𝓁. 𝐼'𝓂 𝓈𝑜𝓇𝓇𝓎 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝒷𝑒𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒶𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒻𝓊𝓃𝑒𝓇𝒶𝓁. 𝒟𝑜 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓃𝑒𝑒𝒹 𝓂𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝓋𝒾𝓈𝒾𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊? 𝐼 𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝓈𝑒𝑒 𝓌𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝐼 𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝒹𝑜 𝒾𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉 𝓂𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓇. 𝐼 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓂𝒾𝓈𝓈 𝓎𝑜𝓊. 𝒫𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓈𝑒 𝓌𝓇𝒾𝓉𝑒 𝒷𝒶𝒸𝓀 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓁𝑒𝓉 𝓂𝑒 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌 𝓎𝑜𝓊'𝓇𝑒 𝓈𝒶𝒻𝑒, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒹𝑜𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓌𝑒𝓁𝓁.

-𝒟.𝑀.

I quickly sealed the letter, and handed it off to an owl which flew off with it. Please be safe, Elizabeth.