How to Live Life

Chapter 25

A/N: Hey everyone! Just to let you know I changed the first chapter a bit, well, actually I kind of cut it in half... It doesn't change anything in the story, I just felt there was a lot of unnecessary information in it. I also added more of the Golden Marauders to it and took out a lot of Vic/Teddy. You see, when I started this story I was planning on it being a Vic/Teddy story, but then I got like 4 chapters in and was more interested in the Golden Marauders. I also had a huge exert from the DH epilogue in it and I just didn't like it in there so I removed it. I'm also trying to go through and fix a few things with the grammar and spelling throughout the story. I have read the first 3 chapters over already and I CRINGED! How you guys made it to chapter 25 amazes me! Anyway I just wanted to let you guys who are all caught up know about the changes in the beginning of the story. Please let me know if you think I made a mistake and my original first chapter was better. I just think the first chapter makes more sense to the rest story now. Anyway, you probably don't care and just skipped over what I just said and I don't blame you, I tend to ramble. So let's just get to the chapter!

PS: I CHANGED MY USERNAME! I'm no longer SoccerDiva! I've always hated the name, but I didn't know what else to use so I never did. I was just so sick of it today so I finally just did it. Just wanted to let you all know :)

Disclaimer: I don't own anything!

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They've been back at Hogwarts for barley two bloody weeks and things were already falling apart. Albus Potter laid across his four poster bed, looking up at the ceiling. He was thinking about his brother, James, and how he was a noble prat. He just had to follow the girl of his dreams into trouble, to try to protect her. Then there were James' best friends, his cousins Fred and Louis Weasley. Who about an hour ago left to join James in who knows what because he was their best friend. Then there was the girl who trouble always seemed to follow, Ella Smith. She introduced so much trouble to his friends and family over the past year. All the trouble was bound to happen with or without her in their lives, but she made it hit a lot closer to home. Albus didn't blame her for anything, Albus loved her, she was a like a big sister to him. She helped him with issues no one else could. She helped him find a peace of mind when all his inner demons were tearing him apart. Albus cared deeply about all four of them and it was tearing him apart knowing that they were in another country facing danger. The Fiend Killers started in America, if he thought things were bad here they're probably so much worse there. Ella has been at the top of their capture list for years, if they saw her face there they'd surely bring her and the Golden Marauders straight to Vlasta. She's captured them before, but what would be different this time is that no one would know they've been captured. Before everyone knew where they were supposed be, at home. Now they were supposed to be missing, they were supposed to be gone. What worried Albus is that if they're gone how are they supposed to know if something went wrong. They've been saved before because everyone knew they were in trouble. If no one knew they were trouble would they be able to make it out alive this time? Albus knew he was being a hypocrite because earlier in the day he went off on his parents about letting them be because they had to handle it. Now Albus was wondering if he was wrong, was he not seeing sense earlier? He wondered if he should tell the adults about them for their own safety. He knew he promised Fred and Louis, but he valued their lives more than a stupid promise.

"Hey Scorp?" Albus asked his friend, still stating at the ceiling.

Scorpius put his book to the side to look at his friend, "What is it, Al?"

"Can I get your opinion on something?" Albus asked, tearing his eyes away from the ceiling to look his friend in the eyes.

Scorpius nodded as he moved over to Albus' bed, sitting on the end, "So what's up? You seem distraught."

Albus nodded as he sat up to have a proper conversation, "Yeah, I am. I just don't know what the right thing to do is."

Scorpius narrowed his eyes in confusion, "Right thing to do about what?"

Albus sighed, "Well, you know how Louis and Fred were missing, so I waited in the common room to knock some sense into their heads?"

Scorpius nodded, "Yeah, were they out hunting Fiend Killers like you thought?"

Albus shook his head, "No, I think they were out doing something for James. Thing is, they then asked for my help on how to join James and Ella."

Scorpius nodded his head, "So did you help them?"

Albus sighed, "Yeah, they seemed desperate. I got Lily to snag some portkeys for them. One for Godric's Hallow, the other for America."

Scorpius' jaw dropped, "America? Why the bloody hell are they going there?"

Albus shrugged, "I find it better not to ask. Anyway, they got the portkeys and they've probably been gone for an hour now."

Scorpius nodded, "So…What do you want my opinion about?"

Albus pinched the bridge of his nose, "When I was helping them they told me not to tell anyone where they went. They said when people realized that they're gone I have to tell everyone that they left me a letter saying they're with James and Ella. The only people they allowed me to tell the full story to are you, Rosie, and Alice."

Scorpius nodded his head, "So you think maybe it's the wrong thing not to tell everyone the truth?"

Albus nodded, "I have been here the past hour just thinking about it, all the danger. They've been captured before, multiple times actually. The thing is we all knew they were missing and could help them those times. What will they do if they're captured and no one can help them because no one knows they're in trouble because they're already missing?"

Scorpius sighed as he put a hand on his friends shoulder, "Well, Al, you know more about the situation than me. If you were to tell the adults about their whereabouts would that hinder what they need to do in America?"

Albus shrugged, "See, that's why I'm torn. They didn't bloody tell me what they're doing in America. I know why they went to Godric's Hallow, it was just to get away from Vlasta because she wants Ella's locket. I don't know anything after that. I value their trust and I don't want to break it by telling the adults. It's just I value their lives more than their trust."

Scorpius smiled, "To me it seems like you made up your mind."

Albus shook his head though, "No, I haven't. I haven't because of the question you just asked me. Would I hinder what they're doing if the adults knew? I want them safe, but if they need to do this to get rid of Vlasta or something then they need to do it! I can't ruin their chance for them if it's about Vlasta's downfall! Maybe they are being stupid and just hiding or whatever, I wouldn't know. It's just it… it seemed really important to Louis and Fred when I was talking to them. I can't ruin what they're doing for them."

Scorpius nodded, "To me it seems like you just need to communicate with James. Write him a letter or something. You need to figure out what they're doing, not just for their safety, but also for a peace of mind for you."

Al nodded, "Yeah, I'll do that, wh— wait, I'm stupid!"

Scorpius lowered his brows in confusion, "What are you talking about?"

Albus' eyes lit up as he searched in his pocket for something, pulling out a piece of a mirror. He then pushed a switch on it he never pushed before; a switch that would allow him to communicate with James. Albus looked at Scorpius, "This is a mirror my Dad gave me, Lily, and James. He even got two more for Fred and Louis after a lot of begging. It allows us to communicate with each other. It will allow me to get the truth from James."

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45 minutes earlier…

"Quick! Follow me into this closet," Ella said in a whisper right after they landed in the MACUSA.

James, Louis, and Fred obeyed and they followed Ella, running into the nearby empty closet. Ella turned to look at them, "We need a plan and fast. First thing is we can't be seen, we're easily recognizable."

"We could use the invisibility cloak," Fred suggested as he pulled it out of his pocket.

Ella shook her head as she paced around the small closet, "No, we can't hide the whole time we're here. I'm sure it will be good use when we need to though. Right now what we need is a disguise, we also need to look older."

James nodded, "I would suggest we change our hair styles, hair color, and eye color. Thing is, we're under age and have the bloody trace following us."

Ella's eyes widened, "It's fine, the trace was already activated. It's doesn't track the person, just when there is underage wizard and magic being done in the same vicinity. We're in the bloody MACUSA, magic is being done everywhere. Plus there is no way they will know it's us."

"Yeah, but we're also the only people missing that are underage. The ministry will know we're here," James told Ella.

Ella threw her hands up in defeat, "Well, what can we do now? It activated as soon as we stepped foot in here. It's too late to do anything about it. I also doubt anyone is checking the trace during the school year."

"Well, our Aunt Hermione is Minister and she knows we're missing. She could be studying it to see where the hell we went," Louis suggested.

Ella shrugged, "Well if that's a possibility we better get moving. The trace was already activated, we can't do anything about that. Let's just do some bloody magic and change our appearances so we can get going and get away from the magic. Then we can go to my house and possibly find a book on how to stop the trace."

James nodded, "Ella's right, lets get this show on the road mates."

Ella pointed her wand at James' hair, "Crinus Muto."

James' messy black hair turned to a light brown well kept style. Ella repeated her actions with Fred and Louis as well. Fred's well kept red hair turned to a messy blonde mess. Louis' groomed blonde hair turned into a dark brown buzz cut. Ella turned to James when she finished, "Do me now."

James smiled at her, "Crinus Muto."

With that Ella's normal wavy red hair turned into straight black hair. Ella smiled, "Now for the eyes. Oculus Muto."

James' warm brown eyes turned to an ocean blue color. Ella continued and did Louis and Fred as well. Louis' blue eyes turned a dark brown. Fred's dark brown eyes turned into a sea foam green color. Ella turned to James, motioning for him to change hers. He smiled, "Oculus Muto."

Ella's ocean blue eyes turned into emerald green ones. Ella smiled at James, "Do I look different?"

James just stared at her, "Very and I don't like it. I'd still know it was you though, we should change the shape of our eyes and mouths as well. Possibly face shape and noses too."

James and Ella continued to stare at one another, making Louis and Fred feel uncomfortable. Louis turned to Fred with a smile, "There are some romantic feelings between those two …"

Fred nodded and did a forced cough to knock James and Ella out of their little staring contest. James turned to Fred and blushed as Ella looked at the ceiling trying to pretend that never happened. Ella cleared her throat, "Okay, um, so James that's a good idea. Let me start with you. Prostarium. Wishirum."

With that Ella changed James' nose, mouth, eye shape, ears, and chin enough to make him look like another person. She continued to do it on Louis and Fred as well. When she finished James did the spells on her as well.

"Okay now we look different, but we still look young. We need to age ourselves about ten to fifteen years," Ella told the boys as she paced the small room once again.

Ella pointed her wand at James' and she defined his smile lines a bit more, gave him some stubble, and defined his jaw. She then went to Louis and Fred and did the same things to them. When she finished she turned to James, "Do me?"

James laughed, "I'll define your smile lines, but what else? I'm not giving you any stubble."

Ella rolled her eyes at him, "Of course you won't. All I need is to define my curves more."

James' eyes widened, "I'm… no, sorry… not doing that."

Ella rolled her eyes at them again, "Then I'll do it myself you prick."

Ella went to define her curves by herself as Fred and Louis started to chuckle at James' reaction. James turned to his friends, "Shut it you gits."

Fred continued to laugh, "Your face is priceless, mate."

Ella finished and she gave a disgusted look to her male friends, but didn't mention their behavior after that, "Anyway…we're in our Hogwarts robes. Just change your cloths to something casual."

Ella changed her robes into a dark magenta sweater with white vertical and horizontal stripes, a super light pink skirt, and dark magenta sandal stilettos. She also carried a white handbag and had on a brown watch. James changed his robes into a brown leather jacket, a dark green sweater, medium wash jeans, a belt, and brown shoes. Fred changed into a white smoke v-neck sweater, ripped medium wash jeans, gray ankle boots, and had on a couple brown bracelets. Louis changed into an oxford blue unbuttoned jacket, a prussian blue polka-dot button-down shirt, khaki pants, black sunglasses, and brown laced ankle boots.

Ella looked around at her friends and smiled, "Good, we're unrecognizable. Now let's go Floo to my house for the night. We can research more about the trace and spend the night. It's nearly midnight after all, we need a good nights rest for tomorrow's hunting about Vlasta's past. Now come on, follow me."

James went to follow, but he heard a faint voice call his name from his pocket. James pulled out his mirror suspiciously and was met with the face of his brother. James jaw dropped, "Al?"

Louis turned around to his cousin, "What are you- oh, Is Al mirroring you? He did say your Dad put in on a switch so he could communicate with you if he wanted to."

James continued to stare at the mirror in surprise, but Al continued, "Can I talk to you for a minute James? Or is now a bad time because I c-"

"Now is fine, Al. Hey Ella, wait up a second, I need to talk to my brother about something," James said.

Ella nodded, "Okay, but don't drag on any longer than you have to. We've already been in here quite awhile, we don't want anyone finding us."

James nodded then moved over to the corner of the closet to try to have the conversation as privately as he possibly could. He sat down on a bucket then looked at his brother, "What's up little bro?"

Al rolled his eyes, "Why the fuck are you in America."

James eyes widened at his brothers word choice, "Calm down, Al. No ne-"

"Just tell me, James. I gave you lot the bloody portkey, I deserve to know. I won't tell anyone if you don't want me to, I swear. I just need it for my own peace of mind," Albus said.

James sighed, "Alright, but don't tell anyone. Fred and Louis did some investigating for Ella and I back at Hogwarts. Celeste was still at Hogwarts after the attack, but she wasn't alone, she was with someone named Anna Rivers. We had Louis and Fred go and try to find who she was, but the only people they found there were Vlasta and Celeste. It was the Marauders Map, you know it can't lie, Al. The map is why I knew they were there, why I knew there was an Anna Rivers there, why I knew Vlasta's name never was on the map. No one with the last name Riddle or Lestrange, just Celeste and Rivers's in the room. We decided that Vlasta couldn't con the map if she didn't know if it's existence so she had to be Anna Rivers. If she was Anna Rivers then she couldn't be Voldy and Trixy's daughter. We know she is lying and fooling everyone, but we need proof so we can show the world. If we show the world it can help lead to her downfall because it will show her as a manipulative liar. We're here in America to research her past, Al. We're here to help bring Vlasta to her demise."

Al sighed, "Well, shit."

James sighed as well, "I know, it's a lot. Anyway if that's all I must be going, we-"

"That's not all," Albus said quickly

James looked at his brother, "Are you okay Al? You're acting weird."

Albus shook his head, "I'm not okay because I'm bloody worried about you, James. I worried about you, Louis, Fred, and Ella. She captured you before James, multiple times. You miraculously escaped, but it's different this time, James. This time if she gets you no one will know you're in trouble. Dad saved your guys arses before only because he knew you were gone so you must be in trouble. James, but now you're supposed to be gone, so if you're gone how are we supposed to know. How are you going to get out if she captures you. I know you need to do this on your own and I don't want to tell the adults your whereabouts, but…but James I don't want you dead. I love you, I value your life more than the trust between us."

James watched the tears start to roll down his brother face as he confessed his fear to him. James sighed, "Al, don't cry. I'm going to be fine, we all just have to believe. I need to do this, Al. None of us can have the adults meddling around in it. Ella knows more about it, they'd slow us down. We need to get Vlasta to her demise as quickly as possible. If that means risking my chance at an escape if she captured me then that's what it has to be. I hope you understand, Al. It's touching how much you care about my life, Al, but it's detrimental you don't tell the adults, even if it would help my safety."

Albus nodded, "That's why I needed to know. As much as I would want to tell them, I knew I would never if it would mess with you bringing Vlasta to an end. I've been sitting in my bed contemplating it since Louis and Freddie left me. It was tell them if it wouldn't mess with your mission, don't if it would. Now I know and I feel much better. If I didn't know for sure it would hinder you I would've felt awful for not saying anything to the adults. Anyway, James, I'm not going to say anything. Good luck with your mission and tell everyone I love them. Please be safe, James."

James smiled, "I will, Al. I love you too little bro. I'll see you soon, I promise."

Al smiled at his brother before he put his mirror away. James pushed the mirror back in his pocket and got up from his corner to rejoin his friends. Fred looked at James wearyingly, "Is Al okay?"

James nodded, "Yeah, he just wanted to make sure we were safe and we all knew he loved us."

Ella smiled, "I love Al too, he's so sweet. Anyway we better get moving so we don't get caught."

Ella went to the door and all the boys went to follow her out at once. She rolled her eyes at them, "Not all at once you shitheads! Let me go and I'll wait across the hall. Come out every twenty seconds. Coming out all at once would be the most suspicious thing it world. Think things through, you're the ones who wanted to tag along. I'm sorry I'm being harsh, but a lot is at stake here."

They all nodded at Ella in understanding before she left the closet, leaving the Golden Marauders alone. Louis smiled slyly at James, "Do my eyes deceive me or is something romantically going on between you and Smith."

James scoffed and rolled his eyes, "Don't be ridiculous, we're just friends. Ella doesn't have feelings for me and I've come to terms with that."

Fred grinned at James, "I don't know, James. I saw what Louis saw too… I think you haven't gotten over her and she is starting to fall for you."

James frowned at his friends, "Stop it you gits, don't go messing with my heart like that. I've come to terms with the way things between Ella and I will be; just friends. Get it through your thick skulls, okay? I have for Godric's sake, do you know how hard that was for me? I've closed that door in my life; I will no longer pursue Ella. Please be supportive friends and don't make it any harder my teasing me. Now if you'd excuse me, I think it's been twenty seconds and I'll go join Ella."

Louis smiled at Fred whilst shaking his head, "James may be blind, but we're certainly not. Ella is totally falling for him, I never thought this day would come. The bloody bastard finally broke her and he's too blind to see it!"

Fred laughed, "Want to bet when they'll get together?"

Louis smiled evilly at his friend, "We're Weasley's, of course we're going to make a bet. Now… hmmm…I don't know what to bet on. James is blind and Ella is in denial…. How about we observe them tomorrow morning and make the final decision at lunch. Deal?"

"Deal," Fred said as he shook his cousins hand, both having the same mysterious glint in their eyes.

"Shit, it's been over twenty seconds. I'll go, see you in a bit," Louis said before he left his cousin alone in the empty closet.

Louis approached his friends with an sly smirk, "What have you two been up to?"

James glared at his cousin, "Just talking, but I'm the one who should be asking you that question. Why do you look like you're up to something?"

Louis grinned as he went to lean against the cold stone wall, "I may have just made a bet with Freddie."

"A bet? I want in! What's it about?" James asked.

Louis smiled at his cousin, "Sorry Jamie-Poo, this is between Freddie and I."

James glared at his cousin suspiciously, "Don't call me that! Why can't I be in th- Wait, is it about me! You-"

"Come on idiots, lets get the fuck out of here before we're murdered," Fred interrupted as he approached his friends.

"He's right," Ella said, "It's not safe here, we got to go. When we get to the floo just say Smith Residence."

The Golden Marauders nodded as they followed Ella through MACUSA. None of the boys knew much about America, they never really needed to. They saw all kinds of memorials for stuff they didn't have any clue what it was about. They stared in awe at the massiveness of the MACUSA as they reached the center. Soon enough they made it to the floo. Ella marched up to it first, but before she did she stared at the boys seriously, "Make sure you say Smith Residence clearly. The last thing I need is to track one of you shitheads down."

James smiled at her, "Don't worry, Ella, we got it."

She nodded as she grabbed a hand full of floo powder. She dropped it, "Smith Residence!"

James, Louis, and Fred quickly followed her steps and flooed off to the Smith Residence. Soon enough all four were gathered in the Smith's grand living room. When they arrived they failed to notice that Ella had started to cry until they heard a sob escape her lips. James was the first to react, running over to her and wrapping her in his arms. "Shhh, Ella, what's wrong?" James whispered into her hair.

This only made Ella sob harder into James' chest. James looked up at his friends wearingly, wondering what to do. Louis motioned his head over to the empty couches in the living room. James nodded at his cousins suggestion, picking Ella up into his arms and laying her down on the couch. James was going to give her some space, but she pulled him back down to her, continuing to sob into his chest. Fred and Louis sat on the couch directly across from them, looking at Ella with concern.

Ella eventually lifted her tear stained face up from James' chest, but she kept her eyes closed. "I'm sorry, you guys, it just… it's the first time I've been here since my... par-parents have been…been gone. I didn't think it -that it would hurt so much being here, but one glimpse at the living room and- and… I just… uhhh."

Ella buried her face into James' chest once again. James stroked her back as she cried again, looking at her with concern and love. Ella got up once again, this time opening her eyes. As she did she winced, but she kept them open and fought back the tears that wanted to fall. Ella gulped, "Its just this living room is full of memories; happy memories I may never be able to have with them again. Vlasta captured them so bloody long ago, she's had them so fucking long. I don't even fucking know if they're alive! They could bloody well be dead for all I know! I miss them so much you guys…so damn much. I know I don't mention them much and it's not because it hurts. Don't get me wrong, it hurts, but that's not why I don't talk about their absence. I don't talk about it because I feel like I failed them…fuck it! I know I failed them, I fucking failed them you guys! They did so much to save me over the years. They invested their lives in it. All I had to do was do what they say. I did for the longest time, I went to Hogwarts not knowing anybody! I lied for the longest time about why I was there like they said! Then I let my fucking big mouth go and I told people the truth! I stupidly left a letter out and I didn't lie about it like they said to do. Then I dragged them to come help me months later because of my fucking big mouth! I knew I shouldn't have used my locket to contact them, I knew that it was hella dangerous for them. I knew what Vlasta would do if she knew, yet my selfish ass begged them to come! Then they come and help and Vlasta fucking finds out and then- fuck- Celeste is back! Then next thing I know they're gone. My mommy and daddy are gone because of me and my fucking big mouth! They've been suffering for months because of me! They could possibly be dead because of me! How am I supposed to live with this enormous of amount of guilt! I can hardly even look at Chloe anymore because I feel so fucking guilty about how I tore our family apart! That's why I stayed in America over the summer! Chloe asked if I wanted to come and stay with her in her flat to be closer to my friends, but I told her no. I couldn't live with her being the selfish person I am, the fucking big mouth I am, being— being my parents…my parents killer."

With that Ella collapsed in James' arms once again. She wasn't sobbing this time, only a few tears rolled down her cheeks. Ella was in an enormous amount of pain, but she couldn't sob because she felt relieved to get that off her chest. She felt it for a long time now; that storm had been building up in her since her parents first got captured. She refused to acknowledge it though. She refused to open up to herself about it. She let all the pain, grief, regret, and guilt build up inside her for months now. She knew she would break eventually, she knew that when she would it would be a storm. She didn't expect it to be this bad though. She didn't expect this house to break her even more so than she could ever imagine. Any drive Ella had in her to find out the truth about Vlasta was gone. Ella was overwhelmed with the amount of guilt she felt in her heart.

She could hear James trying to reassure her that she isn't the cause of her parents capture. She could feel him hugging her and kissing her head, trying to make her feel better, trying to fix her. Ella didn't take in any of the reassurance though, she blocked it out. All of their voices were just gibberish in her ears, just familiar voices. She clung unto James for dear life, only paying attention to the way he lovingly stroked her back in attempt to make her feel better. It didn't make her feel better, but it made her at least feel alive. If she let go of James she knew she would feel empty and dead. She knew she would feel like she had nothing in the world. Over the past year James had grown on Ella quite a bit. She thought it was only ever going to be a friendship, but she knew she was kidding herself if she still thought that. Ella knew she was falling for him, she's known for awhile now and it bloody terrified her. As she sat there though, listening to his heartbeat beat against her head, it didn't terrify her anymore. It felt right to be there with him the way she was. She was a mess, she didn't even look like her normal self with all the charms on her at the moment. Yet James sat there to comfort her, to hold her, to let her soak his nice shirt, to stroke her back, to whisper reassuring thing in her ear. Over the past year she had been so busy denying any feelings for him that she failed to realize James had become her rock, that he was becoming her world. She was in too much pain about her parents to think of what to do about her relationship with him. She had no idea what step to take next or how to do it or how to go about any of it. She knew one thing though, she knew one thing that she was sure wouldn't ever change. With her eyes still shut and head still resting on his chest, Ella said, "I love you, James."

With that Ella fell asleep in James arms; into a much needed dreamless sleep. Ella may have always acted tough, acted like she was invincible, but she was only human. She was bound to crash due to the amount of rocks thrown at her. The rocks finally got to her, the pain of them too much to bear with a straight face any longer. Ella's wall fell down, she crashed, and she fell. Ella Smith finally broke.

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A/N: Thanks for reading everyone! Your time is much appreciated :)

~~~Lanie~~~