It was an open-casket funeral the day we all said our final goodbyes to Fred Weasley. His friends and family each passed by his casket, all of them sobbing hysterically as they tried to get out their final words and goodbyes to him. I was the last person to walk past him, and with tears flowing silently but madly down my face, I looked down at my boyfriend and the love of my life's face for the final time.
I had always known that Fred had beautiful, perfect features, but it was then that I realized that I had never fully appreciated how handsome he was. His red-orange hair stood right out against his pale, creamy skin. His eyes were closed, his long lashes resting gently below his eyes. His mouth was pulled into a small smile, he looked so peaceful, almost asleep. I gently put my hand on the cold pale skin on the side of his face, tears falling from my eyes and landing gently on his face, as if I was trying to put warmth and life back into him so he would open his eyes and take me into his arms like he had done so many times before. My eyes wandered to the rest of his face, drinking in every last beautiful, perfect detail for the last time; his lips, which had pressed against mine in that indescribably daring but gentle and wonderful way so many times, at his house, at Bill and Fleur's wedding behind the tree by the lake, under the mistletoe at Christmas; his hazel eyes behind those closed lids and long lashes, eyes the exact same shade of hazel as mine. Eyes that looked me up and down whenever I walked in a room and said "You're beautiful today". Eyes that had seen me try on the same black dress I was wearing at the time, as he told me that I was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Which was the very reason I decided to wear that particular dress on that particular day. I tore my eyes away from his face momentarily before leaning down and planting one final kiss on his pale, perfect lips, and whispered a final goodbye in his ear, for just him to hear:
"I love you Freddie, I will always love you. No one can or will ever replace you, it's always been you. I love you so much. Forever."
Then I stood back up and walked back down to where his family was and burst into tears for the fifth time that morning. I put my head on George's shoulder and we hugged each other tightly as we cried together. We followed the others to the cemetery as Fred's casket was moved outside and down the road to his final resting spot. I stood helpless and lost with his family, and watched with a heavy and broken heart as they lowered my first, last, and only love into the ground forever.
I opened my eyes to an extremely bright light all around me, it was so bright and overwhelming I had to shut my eyes again. When I slowly opened my eyes again I sat up with less effort than I'd exerted in years. I looked up to see a tall figure standing above me. The bright light, which turned out to be a sun, was right behind them so I couldn't see their face, but I took the hand I was able to see they were holding out to me. As I stood up, I looked down at myself and saw that I looked the same way I did 40 years ago when I was 19. I took in my surroundings and saw the most beautiful shoreline, white sand lining crystal clear blue waters with white foamy waves crashing on rocks in the distance. Behind me there were green meadows full of the most beautiful flowers as far as I could see, into a Beyond.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" asked the person who had offered me their hand. "Just like you. I've been waiting for you, you're just as breathtakingly beautiful as you were the day I left." I looked up to see if I was really with who I thought I was with, and found myself looking into a pair of hazel eyes identical to mine, on a beautiful perfect face I knew so well. Fred.
Fred took me in his arms and hugged me tightly to him, as if he would never let me go, and I held him equally tightly, inhaling his sweet natural scent, and never wanting to move from that spot.
"I missed you," I whispered into his shoulder. "I kept my promise though." And I had. I had never loved anyone other than Fred, never got married, never had another boyfriend after he died. I could feel him smile as he pulled away and held my face in his hands and smiled at me with his beautiful smile, the smile I never thought I'd see again, and gazed into my eyes with his own hazel ones. I couldn't stop looking at him.
"I know you did," he whispered back. "You were waiting for me, and I've been waiting for you. Now we won't be apart anymore. I love you." He emphasized the last sentence, and he was whispering even more quietly now, as if the air itself was listening.
"And I love you," I murmured back to him. We were so close now, our lips were almost touching.
"Forever." He kissed me then, in that same gentle but daring way I had never forgotten. Sparks flew as I kissed him back, finally reunited with the love of my life for the first time in 40 years. We held each other tightly as we kissed into the beginning of our eternity.