Cedric stepped up to the podium (or whatever the hell you called those things - podium didn't sound right for a funeral), looking out at the people who had come. Just about everyone from Hogwarts, a few members of his family, all of Diana's family (her mother was sobbing as her father tried to comfort her), and of course, in the front row, sitting next to Cedric's mother...
He thought, "Goddammit, Mom, I told you not to bring Michelle and to hire a babysitter. She's too young. She's far too young to come to a funeral, especially her mother's."
And yet, there she was. Michelle Elizabeth Diggory, Cedric and Diana's 6-year-old daughter. She looked so much like her mother that it hurt Cedric's heart just to look at her. In fact, the only thing that gave so much as a hint to who her father was were her gray eyes. Michelle sat quietly, ankles crossed and hands folded, dark brown curls tumbling on her shoulders and face blank.
Cedric smiled bitterly. "She's a better little trooper then I am," he muttered.
Even though he had sworn to himself not to, he turned his head to look at the open coffin behind him. Diana didn't even look dead, just like she was sleeping. She looked the same as she did when she was 17 (people who didn't know her would've never believed she was, in fact, 23). Her hands were folded loosely around three blood-red roses, which were tied together with a black ribbon.
Lips red as the rose, dress black as ebony, skin white as winter's snow. Too bad that true love's kisses didn't work on the dead.
Cedric turned back around, biting his lip to keep from crying. Men weren't supposed to cry at funerals. He opened his mouth to start the eulogy and found that he couldn't say anything.
He looked at Michelle again. "Come on," he thought, "Your daughter's not crying, so pull yourself together!"
Finally Cedric said, with his shoulders back and his head held up high, "When Diana first told me what the doctors had said, I didn't believe her. I thought maybe it was April Fool's Day or something and I hadn't realized it, and she had decided to pull a prank that was particularly cruel. It took a call from St. Mungo's for me to believe her, and even then, I didn't want to believe it. I didn't ever think for one second that cancer could ever happen to her. She was too much of a good person for it, I said to myself. She didn't deserve to die. I didn't want to listen when she started telling me how things would have to be after she was gone - she was braver then I could ever be."
He smiled gently at Michelle. "Michelle, honey, you should be proud that you're more like your mother," he said.
Cedric blinked back tears and continued. "Diana had barely anything she wanted to say about what she wanted to happen to her... the only things she said to do were to bring Nicole Kidman as my date to the funeral and for 'Helena' to be played.
"Unfortunately, Nicole Kidman was a little too busy to be bothered, but the song was a little easier."
He looked at Fred and Maddy (Diana's little sister), who were ready to begin playing guitar and drums. He gave the signal to start playing. They started up.
Cedric took a deep breath and sang,
"Long ago,
Just like the hearse you die to get in again,
We are so far... from... you..."
As if possessed by the beat, people got up from the aisles and started dancing, spinning on air and moving like one.
Cedric threw his head back, closing his eyes as he sang,
"Burnin' on, just like a match you strike to incinerate
The lives of everyone you knew,
And what's the worst you take
From every heart you break?
And like the blade you stain,
Well, I've been holdin' on tonight..."
He opened his eyes and raised his arms, everyone rising from their seats as he did. They all sang,
"What's the worst thing I could say?
Things are better if I say
So long and good-night,
So long, not good-night..."
Michelle got up, twirling on her toes, an angel in dark blue satin, and she and Cedric sang,
"Came a time
When every star fall brought you to tears again,
We are the very hurt you sold...
And what's the worst you take
From every heart you break?
And like the blade you stain,
Well, I've been holding on tonight..."
Everyone sang once again,
"What's the worst that I could say?
Things are better if I say
So long and good-night,
So long, not good-night,
And if you carry on this way,
Things are better if I say
So long and good-night,
So long, not good-night..."
Cedric hugged Michelle as if she would disappear into thin air if he let go, the one shred of Diana he had left, singing quietly,
"Can you hear me?"
A burst of cold air went through the room...
Diana, black satin skirt bellowing out as she spun down the aisle, knew this would be her final performance. It'd taken all her strength to get her spirit down here for the funeral, and she didn't care that her feet burned, not used to dancing en pointe.
"Are you near me?
Can we pretend to leave and then..."
Diana wished Cedric and Michelle could see her as she walked slowly toward them, as the rest of the people danced in time to the music. She held both of them in her arms, wishing she could hold on to them forever.
"We'll meet again..."
She kissed the top of Michelle's head, then held Cedric's face in her hands, which were transparent. Diana kissed his lips, and he didn't even notice.
"When both our cars collide?"
Diana's spirit shot back into the sky.
"What's the worst thing I could say?
Things are better if I say
So long and good-night,
So long, not good-night,
And if you carry on this way,
Things are better if I say
So long and good-night,
So long, not good-night..."