Author's Note: This is it…the last chapter. Thank you all so much for your support, we really appreciated it. Look out for us with a new story soon, so far this one we're writing is my definite favorite. Anyways, I hope you like!
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Cedric awoke the next morning to Madame Pomfrey's voice, scolding him as she ushered him out of the bed.
"I'm sorry, Madame," he said, standing up next to the bed. "She wouldn't let me leave."
Madame Pomfrey gave him one last glare before ushering him out of the hospital wing, telling him he needed to get to his classes.
Halfway through the day, while Cedric was in Transfiguration, Hailey entered the classroom. "Yes?" McGonagall asked.
She glanced at Cedric and the looked back at McGonagall. "May...may I speak to Cedric?" she asked.
McGonagall nodded and Cedric got up quickly, walking outside of the classroom with Hailey, "What is it?" he asked, searching her eyes for a hunt.
"She's gotten worse," Hailey told him. "She won't stop shaking...they've tried to get her to stop but no one can. They figured you'd be able to."
Cedric frowned before quickly walking to the Hospital wing. Why hadn't they just let him stay there in the first place?
When he entered the hospital wing, he nearly cried. It looked as though Faye were having a fit or seizure of some sort.
He rushed over to her side, taking each of her shoulders in his hands as he tried to calm her down, "Faye, baby I'm here...I'm here Faye," he said, sitting down next to Faye and embracing her.
"Cold," she mumbled. "Cold, I'm cold." He held her tighter. "It's ok...it's ok," he whispered.
He wrapped his body around hers as best as he could to help make her warmer and slowly but surely she started to stop shaking.
"She's stopped," he said, starting to get up but she pulled him back down. "Don't...don't leave," she pleaded.
One glance down at Faye and he knew he couldn't resist. He smiled and pulled up a chair next to her bed, clasping her hand tightly in his.
"I'm sorry, Cedric," she whispered, sounding out of breath. "I...I'm sorry." He kissed her hand lightly. "You don't have to be sorry for anything," he replied, placing his other hand on her cheek.
"I'm...I'm so thirsty," she replied, her voice hoarse, and her mouth dry.
Cedric got up and went over to Madame Pomfrey, "She's thirsty, could I get her some water?" he asked.
She nodded and motioned toward a large basin with water and ice in it. He filled up a small cup and walked back over to Faye's bed, sitting on the edge. She opened her mouth and he slipped an ice cube in, gently brushing away some water dripping on her chin. He leaned down to kiss her lips before lying down beside her.
"Mmm, thank you," she said, her voice sounding better as she licked away the residue of water off her lips, "Cedric you have to promise me something."
"Anything," he replied, grasping her hand and gazing intensely at her.
"After I'm...after I'm gone," she whispered.
"Don't say that..." Cedric interrupted, clasping her hand tighter and pulling it to his lips. She smiled gently at him before continuing, tears forming in her eyes.
"When I'm gone...go on with your life...don't let me stop you," she choked out, tears sliding down her cheeks.
Cedric bowed his head, tears slipping from his eyes mercilessly and falling in spots onto the bed covers. "You have to promise me you're going to go on, you're going to find a wonderful, wonderful woman and you will fall madly in love with her, and you will make a family, a large and happy family, and you will live Cedric...you will live and be happy," Faye told him sternly, though tears threatened to slip out of her eyes.
"I can never be truly happy without you," he sobbed, resting his head on her hands, starting to cry even more. "I love you, Faye. I love you, I love you, I love you."
"I love you Cedric, but you MUST promise me...you have to Ced," Faye said, her voice hoarse again. Cedric reached into the basin and took out another ice cube, placing it in her mouth.
"I can't promise that...because you're not going to die...I won't let you!" he exclaimed, trying to stop more tears from coming.
"You...you can't stop death Cedric, it's impossible. But please, know that these past four months have been the most...magical months of my life," Faye said, her voice cracking in the middle of the sentence as she fought back tears.
He laughed a little, leaning up and kissing her again, his tears hitting her face.
"Cedric," she moaned, "promise me!" she begged him, knowing she wouldn't be able to rest easily until Cedric made that promise to her.
"I promise!" he exclaimed, falling on top of her and sobbing. "I promise, I promise! Please don't leave me!"
"Cedric I don't want to die...I'm s...scared," Faye sobbed, tears matting her face, "I'm afraid of being up there alone Cedric, and it kills me when I think of how many years I wasted trying to push you away."
"Those years don't matter anymore," he told her, wiping away her tears. "All that matters is now...this year, the past four months."
"Thank you for waiting for me Cedric, thank you so much," Faye said, sniffing her nose as it started to run.
"Thank you for everything," she whispered, starting to close her eyes.
"No," Cedric mumbled, shaking her slightly.
"No, I won't let you go," he said, his voice low as she took her into his arms, hugging her tightly.
"I love you," she whispered, taking his face in her hands and kissing him passionately. He brought her closer as the warmth left her lips and started to cry into her hair.
"No...no, Faye no..." he said, tears pouring from his eyes as he held her limp body in his hands, "Faye, noooo!"
After a few minutes, Madame Pomfrey tried to pull him away but he wouldn't let her go. "She can't be gone!" he sobbed.
She placed a hand on his shoulder and he looked up, his eyes blood shot as he gingerly held her body. Seeing the expression in her eyes he broke down, pressing his forehead against hers as he sobbed loudly, his whole body shaking.
"I can't live without her," he cried.
"Oh, my god," came Hailey's voice from the other side of the bed.
He looked over at Hailey and his heart broke even more as he saw her standing there, her hands over her mouth in horror as she realized that her friend had left them.
She fell to her knees on the cold floor and started to cry. "No," she sobbed, her face in her hands. "I didn't even get to say goodbye!"
Cedric immediately felt worse than he had before, slowly setting Faye down before going over to Hailey and embracing her, "I'm so sorry," he whispered.
She shook her head. "It's not your fault...I...I was too afraid to...to come and s-see her," she stuttered, burying her face in his chest.
He sighed and pulled back after a minute, "Hailey...Faye made me promise her something before she...she died," he whispered, his hands on her shoulders.
"She made me promise I'd move on...that I would love again," he continued quietly.
Hailey looked at him in question as he continued, "It seems almost...right that we end up getting together. I mean it was because of you that I had this experience with her, that I could learn to love, you're her best friend," Cedric said, though it broke his heart to even think about moving on.
"Cedric, you're sad...you're in shock, I can't be a rebound," she told him. "Sure she made you promise to move on but...she died ten minutes ago...you still need time."
Cedric sighed, running his hands through his hair as he looked over at Faye once again. She looked so peaceful; it was as if death hadn't even taken her.
"She loved you so much," Hailey whispered. "The day she saw you, she told me that you were the one she was going to spend the rest of her life with." Cedric half laughed half sobbed.
"If only she knew back then what she knew now, then maybe she would've accepted your proposals sooner," Hailey choked out, "She didn't even know about her disease until she was 13...that summer you first asked her out."
"I remember when I saw her with that Durmstrang guy at the Yule Ball," Cedric mumbled. "I think it was then that I knew I couldn't live without her."
They sat in silence for a while until Cedric leaned over and kissed Hailey's lips softly. "Thank you," he whispered.
She smiled at him softly before placing her hand over his. She knew that by taking this route he would never truly love her, but she knew they would be happy, and this is what Faye would have wanted.
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A few days later, Faye's funeral was held in London. After her casket was lowered into the ground, Cedric approached her parents.
"Hi, I'm Cedric Diggory," he said slowly, not knowing how her parents would react to him. He knew that Faye had told her parents about him in the letters she sent back home, but now that she was gone he didn't know what they would do.
Her mother smiled at him and hugged him tightly. "You made our daughter so happy," she said, tears forming in her eyes. "We thought she would never be happy...thank you, so much."
Cedric tried as hard as he could to restrain the tears from falling down his face, but he couldn't, and he cried along with Faye's mother.
"I came over to tell you that I'm sorry," he told them after he and Faye's mother had calmed down. "I loved your daughter very, very much."
"We know...we know," her father said, clapping him on the back softly. Cedric smiled before quietly walking away, his head bowed as he gazed down at the newly dug up soil on her grave.
"Hey," came Hailey's voice from beside him. He looked up and smiled at her. "Are you ok?" she asked, linking her arm with his.
"I'm doing better," he said softly, looking over at her, "You do understand that by being with me I'm going to do everything possible to make you feel loved but..." he started.
She nodded. "I know...no one could ever take her place," she finished for him.
He smiled at her before kneeling down, raking his fingers through the dirt before standing up again and glancing at the slowly sinking sunset, he smiled for the first time in a while, genuinely smiled.
"There's that smile," Hailey said, giggling a little. "I missed it." He smiled down at her and kissed her lips softly. As they walked away from Faye's grave, he looked up at the sky and saw Faye in the clouds, smiling down at them.
THE END