How to Live Life
Chapter 22
A/N: I know it's been a while, and I'm sorry about that. School has just been stressful. Have you guys seen Fantastic Beasts, I have and it was AMAZING! I seriously love it so much, can't wait for the next one. Without further ado, here's the chapter…
Disclaimer: Nothing is mine…duh…
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"Eh! Smith! Smith!"
Ella closed her book and turned around to see Louis running towards her, she sighed, "What do you want, Louis?"
"Who said I wanted anything?" Louis retorted, sitting down on the couch next to her.
Ella raised her eyebrow and Louis sighed, "Okay, so maybe I do want something."
"And what would that be, may I ask?"
Louis smiled, "Your expertise in bad muggle music."
Ella just stared at him for a second, "Why?"
Louis laughed and put an arm over her shoulders, "For a prank, of course."
"First of all, get your arm off me," Ella said as she smacked his arm off her shoulders, "And secondly, what is this prank exactly?"
Louis smiled, "So you're in?"
"Why not," Ella shrugged.
"Come on then," Louis told her as he got up.
Ella raised an eyebrow, "Where're we going? Can't you just tell me here."
"No, someone could here us… and you'll find out where we're going soon enough. Now come on."
Ella sighed as she got up and followed Louis out of the common room and through the corridors.
"Hey Louis," a forth year Ravenclaw called out flirtatiously as she twirled her hair.
Louis turned his head and winked at her, "Hello Gemma."
Ella pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed as Louis made his way over to the girl.
"So Louis, what are you doing tonight?" Gemma asked him as she twirled her hair.
Louis smirked, "I had plans with my mates," Gemma pouted, "but," she smiled, "I can get out of it for you."
Gemma smiled as Louis reached down and cupped her cheek in his hand, about to kiss her.
"Oh Louis," Ella sighed to herself as she made her way over to the pair.
Ella tapped his shoulder, "Sorry to interrupt, but Louis, I have things to do, can we please get this over with."
Louis gave Gemma a sympathetic smile, "On second thought, I really shouldn't ditch my mates tonight, is tomorrow good for you?"
Gemma put on a fake smile, "Yeah, that's fine."
Louis smiled, "See ya!"
As soon as Louis turned around, Gemma looked at Ella and put up her middle finger.
Ella gasped, Louis looked at her confusingly, "What?"
"That little…What was that for?"
Still confused, Louis asked, "Gemma?"
"If that's the name of the girl you were just talking to, then yeah, her," Ella sighed.
"I'm confused."
"She just stuck her middle finger up at me."
Louis laughed, "Sure."
Ella slapped him, "Why would I lie about that, Louis, come on."
Louis just laughed, "Its not a big deal, Ella."
Ella rolled her eyes at him, "I know it's not, and I don't think it is. It's just that I think she did it because she thinks you are ditching her to go out we me."
Louis' eyes widened in realization, "Ewww, that's just gross."
Ella laughed, "Yeah, I know."
"Wait… I'm not gross to date…" Louis told her.
"In my opinion you are," Ella laughed.
"Eh!"
"I'm joking, Louis. It's just like dating you would be like dating my brother or something, which is gross," Ella explained.
Louis nodded, "Yeah, and I don't think you're gross… I said it for the same reason, just didn't realize it."
Ella nodded, "I know Louis, I'm not stupid like you."
"Eh! What is this? Pick on Louis day?"
Ella just laughed, "It's okay Louis, there's plenty of idiots who think you're smart."
Louis nodded, "That's right… wait…"
Ella kept laughing, "Merlin Louis, you're easy!"
Louis grumbled, "Stuff it."
"Someones grumpy."
Louis rolled his eyes and gave in and laughed, "We're here."
Ella raised an eyebrow, "A classroom?"
"An empty classroom."
"There are a ton of empty classrooms, why did you pick one so far away," Ella complained as she walked in.
"I don't know, James picked it," Louis explained.
"I picked what?" James asked from the table he was sitting at with Fred.
"A classroom so bloody far away," Ella told him, sitting down next to James.
Fred cringed, "Well we tried something closer, but it didn't quite work out…"
"What do you mean?" Ella asked.
"Well, the first one we tried had Dom and some guy in a heated snogging session," James shivered.
"Ewwww," Louis said.
"Yeah, and then in the next one there was some couple literally going at it, if you know what I mean," Fred explained.
"That's disgusting," Ella told them.
"It was," James sighed.
"Why didn't you gits just use the map?" Louis asked.
"You have it you dolt! You used it to find Ella," James told him.
"Why didn't you tell me, you knew I had the mirror, you used it to tell me this room number," Louis asked.
"You weren't answering!" Fred told him.
"Oops sorry, I was… busy…" Louis told them sheepishly.
"Damn Louis, another girl? You are such a god damn player," Ella told him.
Louis just shrugged, "Anyway, let's get into this prank…"
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"Scorpius, are you sure he didn't mention anything about where he was going this morning?" Rose asked him hopefully.
Scorpius sighed, "Not a word."
Rose closed her eyes and sighed as well. She, Scorpius, and Alice have been searching for him all morning. Albus has been in some sort of funk for a long time, he's been moody and rude and quite frankly, none of his friends knew what to do with him.
"I say we split up," Alice suggested.
Both Scorpius and Rose shrugged in agreement and the three friends went on their ways.
Rose searched for fifteen minutes with no luck, but then she heard a crash from nearby…
"Maybe…" Rose whispered to herself, looking around to see where the noise came from.
She didn't see a mess in sight, but then she noticed she was right next to the entrance to the astronomy tower. Filled with hope, she made her way up to the top, and to her delight, she saw Albus leaning against a ledge.
Albus had been there all day so far, surrounded by his thoughts. He hated how his friends kept asking if he was okay. Hated how they were being so sympathetic like he was a sick puppy. Hated how they kept giving him sad and hopeful looks. Hated…
"Al?"
Albus turned around to see his bushy red haired cousin looking at him with that sad look he hated so much…
"Stop looking at me like that," he snapped.
"Like what?" She asked, a bit taken aback from his rudeness.
"Like I'm some sort of sick puppy that needs help. I don't need help. I'm fine," Albus told her, turning his attention back to the morning sky.
Rose sighed while she approached him, "Al, you know it's okay if you need help though, right?"
Albus turned to look at her with his eyes raging with fire, "But I don't! What don't you understand about the fact that I'm okay!"
"It's because you're not okay, Al. You haven't been yourself in a long time."
Albus narrowed his eyes, "People change."
"Please just tell me, Al, I'm one of your best friends, I've always been, and I always will be, nothing with change that."
Albus just sighed and put his face in his hands, Rose walked closer to him, "Al, I thought you got over this when we left Hogwarts back in May. Tell me what happened between then. You'll feel better to let this out, trust me."
Albus turned his head and looked at her skeptically, finally giving in with a sigh, "Well…"
~~~Flashback, August 21th, 2018~~~
"Al!" James yelled, rushing over to his brother.
"What?" Albus asked, looking up from his textbook, finishing last minute homework.
"We, meaning Freddie, Louis, and I, need your help, we lost the map in the woods!" James told Albus in panic.
The Potters lived next to a big forest, a forest that the Golden Marauders were often in on breaks. A forest also full of their lost things…
Albus sighed, "Why'd you even have the map on you? It's no use if you're not at Hogwarts."
James laughed sheepishly, "Well, I left it in one of my jackets that I wore the other day, I jacket I haven't worn since leaving Hogwarts before that. And just a few minutes ago, we were just going to go to use the map to see what Minnie was up to, but we couldn't find it… then I remembered where I left it… and of course it wasn't there…"
Albus pitched the bridge of his nose, "Are you sure that's the last place you left it?"
"Yep."
"Is that the only place you went to with that jacket?"
"Yep."
"Are you sure…?"
"Yep."
"Well… crap…"Albus sighed as he got up from the couch. "Let's get this over with, it's going to take awhile…"
Both boys jumped up and joined Louis and Fred on the edge of the forest, "We'll split up, it'll be easier that way. Call out if you need help or found it."
Everyone nodded and went on their own ways. Albus couldn't believe how stupid his brother is sometimes. How could he lose one of his most prized possessions? Sometimes he ju-
"Hello."
Albus paused in his tracks.
"Hello," the voice said again.
Albus started to get a bit worried, "Who are you?"
"Hahahahahahaha," the voice laughed evilly.
Albus' eyes widened fearfully and he started to quicken his pace as he made his way to exit the forest.
"Where you going? It is quite rude to just leave like that."
"I don't know you!" Albus yelled.
"Hahahaha," the person laughed, "But you do, Albus Severus Potter, you do know me!"
A shiver went down Albus' spine, "Who are you? How do you know my name?"
Albus heard the crunch of leaves and branches, meaning someone was coming.
Albus started to breathe heavier, "Show yourself!"
"Hahaha," the voice laughed, "if I must…"
And out came the figure of Celeste. Still had her long black hair, dark as her soul, her pained and evil ice blue eyes that sent a shiver down your spine. She walked right up to him, "Hello, Albus."
Albus gulped, "What do you want?"
She put her hand on his shoulder, "I don't want anything."
Albus looked down at her hand and examined it. It was very pale and had small cuts all over. She had long skinny fingers, you could see her veins. Her finger nails were painted a dark, shiny black that matched her hair. He also noticed she had on a black ring with some weird symbol in the middle. The weird part about the ring was not the ring itself, but the skin around the ring. It was red and dry, it looked painful.
Albus looked down at the ground, "Then why're you here?"
She smiled and whispered into his ear, "To talk to you."
Her breathe was warm against his ear and sent shivers down his spine once again, "Why?"
Celeste smiled evilly, "To inform you."
"Inform me of what?"
"Of what is going to happen."
Albus laughed for the first time in this encounter, "Yeah right, you do remember we're on opposite sides of this 'war,' right?"
Celeste smirked at him, "Not about the war, but about you, Albus."
"What do you mean?"
"I came to inform you about you and your life," She sang into his ear.
"You don't even know me! You can't tell me anything I don't already know."
"Oh, but I can."
"Care to enlighten me then?" Albus told her in frustration.
She smiled, "All your suspicions are true…"
"What?" He yelped.
She smiled and leaned against a nearby tree, "You know, that your friends don't actually enjoy your company because they can sense the Slytherin in you. That James only acts like you're one of his pals because he feels bad for you. That you are your fathers least favorite child. And you know, a few a more are-"
"STOP!" Albus yelled, face red in embarrassment.
"Oh, did I hit a soft spot Potter?" She laughed.
"How do you know that?"
"The suspicions in your mind or that they're true?" She asked as she started to twirl around the tree.
"Both."
"That's a secret, pet. But I can tell you that they're all true," She told him as she walked back over to him.
"How can I trust you? You're evil!"
She smiled at him and put in arm around his shoulder and cooed into his ear, "You can trust me."
"Albus! Where are you! Louis found the map!" James yelled.
Both Celeste and Albus heard his footsteps as he came closer, but still not in eyes view.
Celeste turned Albus' head to face hers and she kissed him on the cheek making him blush, "You can trust me."
And with that, she apparated away, leaving Albus flustered and confused.
"There you are! We've been looking all over!" James said as he patted his brother on the back, but then noticed something wrong, "What's wrong, Al?"
Albus turned to look at his brother with wide eyes that looked evil in James' opinion and told him, "Nothing," before rushing off.
"Al! Wait!"
Al kept running, running till he got to his fathers study, "Dad."
Harry looked up from his paper work, "Hey Al, what's up?"
"Are you sure you put wards over the forest?"
Harry quirked an eyebrow, "Yeah, why?"
"Dad, I don't think you did."
Harry got up from his desk and walked over to his son, "I'm one hundred percent sure I did. What's wrong, Al?"
"They can get into the forest, Dad. The Fiend Killers," Al told him fearfully.
"But that impossible," Harry whispered.
"Well I just had a fun encounter with Celeste!" Albus yelled, tears coming down his face.
"Al, calm down. Those wards are super powerful, Hermione put them up. I think you're just a seeing things," Harry told his son carefully.
"Seeing things!" Albus yelled in outrage, then had a moment of realization, "She's right, you don't… you… you… how could you…? And I thought…ugh! I defended you… but you… I hate my life!"
Albus then stormed out of his office, leaving Harry really confused. Albus was so mad, he bumped into James on the way, literally.
"What hell, Al… wait… what's wrong bro?" James asked his brother as he got back up.
"Shut up, I don't want to be your pity friend anymore," Al said as he stormed off.
"Pity friend?" James said to himself in confusion.
Yet Al kept on going...
~~~End of Flashback~~~
"So yeah, that happened," Al told her.
Rose just stood their with her mouth agape, "How dare you think that way about us Al!"
Al put his head in his hands, "I'm sorry all right? I'm young and confused."
Rose softened her expression, "Well, Al, I can tell your straight up right now that none of us think that way about you."
"How would you know?"
"Well Al, James actually enjoys your company, whenever he is around you he has a genuine smile on his face, and it's not out of pity. Also, your Dad loves you so much. The way you've been treating him because of this has been literally killing him, you can see the hurt in his face, he loves you Al."
Al just rolled his eyes, "Sure."
Rose sighed, "And Al, you should know that Scorpius, Alice, and I enjoy your company. You're one of our best friends and we love you. And I don't know what Celeste was saying about inner Slytherin, but if the sorting hat wanted to put you in that house, we don't care, a silly Hogwarts house doesn't make who you are! So stop it, Al, we love you, Al, and we miss the real Al, please some back to us."
Al looked at her and saw tears coming down her face, "Don't cry."
"I can't help it. It hurts me to see you like this, Al."
Al sighed, "Don't tell anyone about the Slytherin thing, not even Scorpius and Alice, just keep it to yourself. Only one other person knows about it."
Rose nodded, "Who else knows?"
Albus smiled, "Ella, she got me out of the funk I was having before we left Hogwarts."
Rose smiled, "How'd she do that?"
Albus shrugged, "Don't know, there is just something about her that makes you feel… better? I don't know, but have you ever noticed it?"
Rose thought about it for a second, "I actually have noticed it, it is weird… like impossible."
Al shrugged, "There's just something about Ella, and I don't know if it a good thing exactly."
Rose nodded, "Come on, let's go find Scorpius and Alice, they're worried sick. And maybe you can find Ella later, maybe she'll make you feel better again."
Albus nodded, but then Rose remembered something, "Wait, why was Celeste acting… acting kind of… flirty? Yeah, flirty with you."
Albus shrugged, "Don't know."
"You don't like her though, right?" Rose asked with a raised eyebrow.
Al internally panicked and widened his eyes, Rose just laughed, "Merlin Al, I'm joking!"
Albus let out a sigh as they made their way through the corridors. He thought she caught on for a second. He couldn't let anyone know that he thinks he may have a crush on Celeste…
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"So Ella, what song do you suggest we do first?" James asked her.
"I don't know, let me throw a few at you," Ella said as she reached for a shiny thing in her bag.
Currently, the Golden Marauders and Ella were outside next to the Great Lake at 6:00 in the evening, figuring out how everything was going to go down exactly.
"What's that?" Fred asked her.
"An iPod," Ella told him as she turned it on.
"Why's it so bright?" Fred asked.
"It's a screen, Fred."
"Wait, is it a muggle device, because if it is it isn't going to work in here," Louis told her.
Ella just laughed, "It doesn't need data or Wifi, it's all downloaded onto the device…"
James quirked an eyebrow, "data?"
Fred laughed, "You're hooked on data? I'm wondering what the hell wifi is!"
Louis just laughed, "Mates, she'll explain it and we'll still not understand it, give it a rest."
Ella nodded as she searched through her iPod for a decent song.
"Why do you have all this muggle stuff anyway, our parents never bothered to put it into our lives?" James asked her.
"Well, I've always liked music and this is more efficient than some rusty ass radio, plus I can play whatever I want, when I want," Ella explained.
"So you just asked your parents for one?" Louis asked.
"Yep, Christmas gift from a few years ago," Ella told them waving her iPod in the air.
"Find anything,"Fred asked her.
"I think I have a few choices, problem is that I haven't downloaded anything in a long time so I don't have any of the current hits," Ella told them.
"Why not?" James asked stupidly.
Louis and Fred gave their friend a look, "Didn't she just tell you about the data and Wifi situation, stupid?"
James blushed, "Oh yeah…"
"I think I found one, it used to be one of my favorites, it's called 'All Time Low' " Ella told them as she turned up the sound on her iPod.
"I, was the knight in shining armor in your movie
Would put your lips on mine and love the aftertaste
Now I'm a ghost, I call your name, you look right through me
You're the reason I'm alone and masturbate,"
"Did he just say that he's alone and masturbates?" James asked, trying to control his laughter.
Ella sighed, pausing the song, "Yes,"
The Golden Marauders then broke out into full blown laughter.
"Oh grow up you three."
"Oh come on Ella, it's hilarious," Louis told her.
"I didn't show you guys the whole song, but do you want to do that one?"
"Yup," all three chorused in unison.
"Oh Merlin I forgot about these ones…"
"What?" They all asked anxiously.
"Really bad… dance crazes…" Ella told them carefully.
"Show us!" They all yelled.
"No, I don't even really remember them, plus there's so many…"
James smiled, "I think you're lying… how do you know about all of these anyway?"
Ella sighed, "Don't tell anyone, please…" all three nodded, "Well, before Vlasta got so big I couldn't go out of my house without getting captured, basically any time before the middle of second year. Well during this time, I would sneak out of my house all the time and hang with my muggle friends. And we did… stuff…"
Louis smiled, "What stuff?"
Ella held up the phone, "On these things, there are things called apps. We made really cringy , took really bad Insta's and snaps that make me cringe now."
"Okay, can you show us a few...?"Fred asked.
Ella sighed," I'lol show you the big ones. Juju, Hit the Quan, Lean and Dabb, Whip/Nae-Nae, and Bang Challenge."
"What kind of names are those?"
Ella shook her head, "I don't know, just pick two and I'll show you the dance."
James eyes widened, "Really?"
Ella sighed, "Its for the prank, it will be hilarious if we add some of these."
"Yayyyy!" The Golden Marauders
yelled.
Ella pinched the bridge of her nose, "Merlin help save Hogwarts…"
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"Hey Ella, can I talk to you?" Albus asked his brothers friend.
Ella turned around to find a pained Albus staring at her, "Of course, Al, what's wrong?"
"I just haven't been feeling myself lately and you were the only one that helped me before," Albus told her.
"Come on," Ella told him, leading him to an empty corner in the common room.
"So… Al… care to enlighten me with your struggles," Ella asked him carefully.
Albus sighed and began to tell her everything he told Rose earlier. By the end, Ella was red with anger, "I swear if I ever see that bit-"
"It's fine, Ella. She's as powerful as you, don't get yourself hurt again," Albus told her.
"It's just.. how dare she? And it even seems like she was hitting on you or something, like what the hell?"
Albus didn't say anything and just stared at the floor, Ella's eyes widened, "You don't like her, do you Al?"
Albus hid his feelings inside and lied, "Ew, no way."
Ella laughed, "Sorry Al, just making sure."
Albus nodded, Ella then looked Albus in the eyes, "You do know everything Celeste said was false, right? I know your brother very well and I can guarantee you that he does not hang out with you out of pity, James thinks your cool, just like I do. As for your friends, I'm pretty sure Rose reassured you earlier, but to make it clear to you, they love you Al, and you're worrying them. I bumped into Alice and Scorpius multiple times earlier when they were looking for you, both were very worried, and I bet Rose was too. As for your Dad, well… He's your dad, Al, it seems impossible to me that a dad can't love all their children. And he's been worried about you, James told me he kept asking him if he knew what was wrong and that your dad seemed really hurt by your actions."
Albus sighed, "I know, I'm just… paranoid, I guess."
Ella smiled, "It's okay, Al. Are you good now?"
Albus smiled, "Loads."
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A/N: So here's the chapter! What did you guys thinks? Some feedback would be nice for a change. Thanks for reading, I really appreciate it :)
~~~Lanie~~~