How to Live Life

Chapter 16

A/N: Good day everyone! How is everyone, it's been awhile? Sorry I haven't updated in awhile, I've just been super tired. I've also kind of, no, I've been putting off writing it because I have been having trouble with figuring out how I want this chapter to go down and future chapters. The other day some ideas came to me and then I wrote this. I'm truly sorry for the wait, I'll try my best to be consistent with my chapters, we'll see how that turns out. Thanks guys :)

REVIEW RESPONSES

ThePointer: I LOVE YOU SO MUCH FOR REVIEWING SO MUCH! THANK YOU :) Now I'll try to respond to all your reviews. I like your guess for who Celeste is, I'm still deciding on some of the details of her past though. I also loved your creativity on who Vlasta's mother could be! I was hoping someone would suggest someone who would cause a plot-twist of some sort. Everyone seemed to pick Bellatrix though, I don't know if it was because they didn't read that it was who you wanted to be not who you thought or just because they didn't want a plot-twist, but oh well, Bellatrix it is. Sorry it couldn't be Narcissa, but Bellatrix had more votes, and I could tell you really wanted it to be Narcissa, so sorry :( I like that you wanted a plot twist, but if the choice was up to me, I would have picked someone who would have caused a lot of commotion and a huge plot twist (I evilly grinned while I said that) So you like Celeste? Interesting , very interesting ... And you want her and Ella to be friends again? Again, interesting, but I can see why you want them to because of the flashback. Oh, and to clear up your confusion on Ginny and Ella's health situation. Ginny was under the Cruciatus curse for a long period of time, which caused her body to give out on her, and making her go insane, it is like what happened to Frank and Alice Longbottom (Neville's parents). Ella is a completely different case though, she wasn't under the Cruciatus curse (she may have been for a short period of time though, I don't really remember because there were a lot of spells in that chapter. Even if she was, it was for a very short period of time so it didn't really effect her afterwards). Ella is in the hospital because she and Celeste fired a Killing curse at each other at the same time, throwing them backwards to hit a building and take a nasty fall. I would say more about why that happened, but I would be giving out spoilers, so I'll stop there. I'm glad you liked the fight too! Again sorry about Bellatrix, but it wasn't really up to me though, I would have liked a plot twist too :) Please don't hate me after I say this, People will probably die. Let me give you my reason though! They are in war, how can someone not die? It would be unrealistic. And no, I'm not a Very Potter Musical fan, all of them are quite awful, I tried watching it once out of curiosity, but had to leave after the first five minutes, it was too bad. Please don't go Mama Weasley on me though, I'm just trying to make it realistic, I don't really want to kill anyone off though, but it's inevitable. I don't think JK Rowling really wanted to kill off so many amazing character like Dumbledore, Sirius, Remus, Tonks, Fred, and Dobby, but some people just had to die, same case here. Please don't hate me for it though, and please keep reading my story. I'm glad you thought the chapter was funny, and yeah it's the day before the anniversary and will probably run into the anniversary, what a coincidence! (Not really :p) thank you for all your amazing reviews, I really appreciate it!

Disclaimer: Is this really necessary? I'm obviously not JK Rowling! So I don't own anything! (well I do own Ella, Chloe, and Celeste:))

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"The kids!" Hermione sort of yell sobbed.

"Bloody hell! Harry get your bloody arse in here," Ron yelled, masking his fear with anger.

"Can't it-"

"No it can't wait unless you would like to possibly lose your sons, nieces, nephews, and dear friends!" Hermione yelled at him.

Harry rushed in and asked, "what?"

"There's a bloody battle going on at Hogwarts right now!" Ron yelled.

"What?" Harry said, face going white.

"Yeah, you heard me bloody right, let's get the bloody hell out of here," Ron said as he rushed for the door.

"Molly, can you watch Lily and Hugo for us," Hermione asked urgently.

"Yes, yes, now you guys be safe, you too Arthur," Molly told them as they exited, Molly leaving soon after to get Hugo.

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11:50 Hogwarts

"This is exactly how I wanted to spend my 18th birthday," Victoire said lamely as she sat next to Frank in the Great Hall.

"Again, if you are not of age and willing to fight, go back to your dormitories! Don't think I don't see you under that table James Sirius Potter, Fred Remus Weasley, and Louis Cedric Weasley," Professor McGonagall yelled.

"Ugh, I'll be right back, let me get rid of them," Victoire sighed as she walked over to him.

"Guys, I know you want to fight, but can you follow McGonagall's rules just for once," Victoire told him.

"No," James whined.

"Get out of here before I hex your arses off, you're not experienced enough," Victoire yelled at him.

Fred was about to make a snarky comment, but a big boom caused Victoire to forget all about them as she rushed over to the commotion, only to find that her aunt and uncles arrived with other Ministry officials.

Just in time too, because seconds after spells starting to burst through the windows and walls of Hogwarts.

"Shit," Victoire mumbled to herself.

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"Celeste, I'm glad you're back to full health, this battle would be hell for me if you weren't here. You know how my followers are around me," Vlasta told the young girl.

Celeste woke up about two weeks ago. Vlasta did many things to get her to wake up over the months, but nothing seemed to work until she found the journals of a witch she despised. Celeste's body was healed months before, so once waking up, she was mostly her normal self again.

"So you're sure the youngest Smith girl is still at St. Mungos?" Vlasta asked Celeste as she watched her followers throw spells at Hogwarts, breaking its wards.

"Yes, I got into her files and apparently she is completely healed, but she won't wake up. I checked Ginny Potter's too, looks like my curse landed her in the Janus Thickey Ward," Celeste told Vlasta as she stared off into the distance.

"I usually don't say this to anyone, but good job with Ginny Potter. She is out of the way and apparently Harry Potter is a mess, making our job so much easier. Too bad about Ella Smith though, I still want her on our side," Vlasta told her.

"Why is it that you still want her?" Celeste asked, she has been curious about this for a long time.

Vlasta glared at her in a way that sent chills down Celeste's spine as she said, "That is none of your business, that reason shall only be known by myself for the time being. But you knew that."

Celeste just nodded in response, Vlasta terrified her when she got like this. This is why Celeste was curious about the Ella situation, because it's a touchy subject for Vlasta.

They stood there next to each other in an uncomfortable silence until the spells started to actually hit Hogwarts and not the wards.

"Let's go," Vlasta whispered in an evil wicked voice, an evil grin on her face that just screamed that she was up to no good.

Celeste was nervous. She wasn't nervous about the fight, she was nervous about a dreaded conversation she had to have with someone. Yet she took a big gulp and followed Vlasta towards the place that ruined her friendship with her best friend.

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"Rose?" Albus asked his cousin.

Rose turned her head to look at Albus and nodded for him to continue.

Albus looked around the common room, it was full of people who were angry because they wanted to be fighting, but Albus could see they were scared at the same time, scared of what they were going to lose tonight. All this just made Albus more worried. Albus took a breath and asked, "Do you think everything will be okay?"

Rose took a deep breathe as well and told him, "I want to say yes, but I can't. Things are just too uncertain nowadays."

Albus nodded, that's exactly what he thought on the topic, "Have you seen Scorpius or Alice?"

Rose nodded, "Scorpius is being overly dramatic like always, he's writing a letter to his sister incase he never sees her again," Rose shook her head and scoffed at this, "I know his relationship with his parents is a bit rocky, but he should be more worried about his parents because who knows if they're going to fight tonight."

Albus nodded, over the course of his first year at Hogwarts, the one major thing he learned about his friend Scorpius is that he can be very overly dramatic. "What about Alice?"

"Oh, Professor Neville is with her because he is about to go in the fight, but that was awhile ago so she is probably in our dormitory," Rose's facial expression saddening as she said it.

The Potter-Weasley clan grew up with Neville being practically their uncle, so when they got to Hogwarts, what they should call him became a problem. So when Teddy, a honorary Potter-Weasley came, they compromised on calling him Professor Neville.

Albus looked off into the distance, trying to hide his anger, "Do you think my Dad bothered to show up?"

Rose looked very confused at this, "What do you mean, Al?"

"What I mean is my Dad is a bloody mess just drinking his sorrows away and, quite frankly, I'm surprised he hasn't been fired from his job yet!" Albus looked like he could punch something right now, it scared Rose, she never seen him like this before.

Rose was confused though, "Al, McGonagall stopped the Daily Prophet and other news from coming in ever since we got James and Chloe back. How do you know this, because I'm bloody sure you're Dad didn't say that to you in a letter."

Albus didn't hesitate saying any of this, he needed to get this out, "James knew he was a wreck because he saw him after, you know, but James also got ahold of some prophets, let me show you a few,"

Albus was about to get up to get them, but Rose grabbed his arm, "There is is no need to show me, Al, I believe you, but Al, why didn't you tell me?"

Albus scoffed, "You know why?"

Rose scratched her head in confusion, "No, I don't?"

Albus sighed, "Because I know no one gives a crap about me most of the time. It's always, 'oh poor James! How will he ever be able to play Quidditch without thinking about his mother,' like how ridiculous is that! I play too, you know, I am a bloody good seeker, I'll hopefully be on the team next year, and I love my mother just as much if not more, but no, it's all about James," Al grunted in anger, "Oh, I remember a better one, 'Poor little Lily, loosing her mother so soon,' Like come on! I'm barley two years older than her! Do you not think it will affect me or something? Because no one, except you, James, Scorp, and Alice, have even asked how I was! And guess what? I lied and said I was okay, because I know no one cares, and quite frankly, I don't want to be a burden!"

Rose just stared at him, she had no idea he felt this way, and it made Rose feel horrible, tears were actually in her eyes, "Al, that is not true."

Albus sighed and told her, "Rose, it is, and I really shouldn't have bursted out like this on you of all people because you are one of the few who care, you're more than family to me, Rose, you are my best friend, and I hope you know none of this applies to you."

Rose let a tear roll down her face, this shocked Albus, "I know it wasn't directed at me, Al, that's not why I have tears in my eyes, Al. These tears are in my eyes because I feel horrible that you feel you've been treated this way."

Albus then hugged Rose and whispered to her, "Please don't cry because of me."

Rose laughed as he broke the hug and told him, "Sorry Al, I just can't help it, now is there anything else you want to tell me so we can avoid anymore emotional outbursts."

"I think I'm good, but thanks Rose," Albus grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze.

Rose was about to say something else, but a loud crash caused everyone to go silent. Followed by another, and another for about a minute. A few seconds after the last one the common room door opened revealing two familiar faces.

"Is.. James... Here?" Fred managed to say between breathes.

Worry crossed over Albus as he said, "What are you guys talking about, why were you out there?"

"Please just answer the question Al?" Louis pressed.

"Well, I wouldn't know because I figured he was with you two in here," Albus scowled.

"Shit," whispered Louis and Fred at the same time.

"Wow, I at least thought you guys had enough sense in you to not walk into war," Rose intervened.

"We know, we know, it was stupid and idiotic, but lecture us later, Rosie, we have more important problems," Fred told her.

"Yeah, Like the fact THAT WE HAVE NO IDEA WHERE JAMES IS AND HE COULD BLOODY WELL BE DEAD," Louis yelled.

Albus was worried, he couldn't lose James, he may not say it a lot, but Albus loved him a lot. "Just tell us what happened," Albus pressed.

Fred and Louis shared a look, then Fred sighed and explained, "We knew it was a stupid idea from the get-go, but we wanted to help in some way. So we snuck out in hopes to fight, but we quickly realized it was more than we could handle. Vic tried to get us to go, but then your guys parents arrived, then the wards broke, and everything went downhill from there. Then..."

Fred looked at the floor uneasily, Louis noticed this so he continued for him, "We didn't know what to do, so we were just running around the castle trying to stay out of the way. Then all the sudden there was this big explosion that split all of us up, there were multiple explosions that I felt went on forever, you probably heard them. We agreed if we got split up to just meet in the common room, so I was on my way here and bumped into Fred, but we didn't have such luck with James."

Albus and Rose couldn't believe how idiotic they were, they were only third years, how did they think they could help? But they pushed that thought to the back of their heads because of their worry for James, where was he?

Rose sighed, "Well let's hope for the best, he should know to come back here, so let's just wait. He could have just been farther behind you guys."

They both nodded and sat next Rose and Albus. All four staring the Common Room door down, hoping to see James walk through it soon.

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10 minutes earlier...

Celeste had a task to do. Vlasta didn't assign it to her, she was making herself do it, it was something she had to do. How she was going to do it, she didn't know yet. But first thing first, she had to find James Potter. It has been twenty minutes now that she has been searching though, and she was starting to give up hope until now.

She saw him running down the hall with two boys who looked his age that she recognized as his cousins/best friends. She knew she had to do something quick, so she blew something up, but unfortunately it caused a chain reaction of explosions making it harder for her to keep her eyes on him.

But what she didn't realize till now is that it actually worked in her favor, separating him from his friends. This was her chance.

As soon as James realized what happened he got to his feet and started to run towards Gryffindor tower, but Celeste was one step ahead of him. She caught up quickly and pulled him into a broom cupboard.

"What the..." James started to say, wand at the ready.

Celeste dropped her wand on the floor, put her hands in the air and told him, "I mean no harm, I just have to give you something."

Once James realized who was standing before him, he became really angry, "I know you are the one who did that to my mother."

Celeste sighed, "Yes, I know you know, but can we please put that aside for a second, I just want to give you something imp-

"Did Vlasta put you up to this?" James interrupted.

Celeste sighed, "Actually, I came here on my own."

James crossed his arms and gave her a raised eyebrow, "Then what is it?"

Celeste took a deep breathe and told him, "I was in the same state Ella was a few weeks ago, and I wanted to give you the cure."

James still looked at her skeptically, "Why are you telling me of all people?"

Celeste sighed as she handed him a journal, "This may surprise you, but I find you the most approachable of your lot,"

James took the book, but when he read the cover a look of shock went over his face, "This is Ella's?"

Celeste sighed, "It says

it right there on the front, so duh. But Yeah, she is a potion genius, Vlasta found this in the Smith house when she was looking for cures. She thought Jack and Rachel may have something, but it was Ella who held the answer actually,"

James looked at her shocked, "Well...

Uh... Thanks?"

Celeste nodded and told him, "Page 12 is the potion, it's pretty difficult so please just give it to the Healers. Now I really must be going."

James was about to let her go, but there was still one more question he had for her, "Why are you doing this?"

Celeste gave him a small smile,"She may have stopped being my friend, but I haven't stopped being hers."

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This is not how anyone expected to spend the twentieth anniversary of the war. The last thing they thought they would be doing is fighting in another bloody war.

Harry Potter stood beside his two best friends, Ron and Hermione Weasley, as they all fought once again. They were the main targets, you could tell by the amount of attention the trio was getting, just making their job harder.

Luckily for them, there was some big explosion nearby that caught Vlasta's followers off guard, giving them the opportunity to hex and stun them all. Once Harry was able to break free, he caught sight of someone with hair very similar to his running by. Harry knew it was James, no one else had hair like that except him and Al, and Al had common sense so it wasn't him.

He knew he had to do something, so he started to run after him, but then some girl grabbed him and pulled him out of his sight. Harry didn't see them anywhere, Harry's stomach sank. He couldn't lose him.

Harry was too distracted that he didn't see a spell coming right at him. Luckily Hermione came over with a shield charm just in time.

Hermione scolded him, "What the hell Harry, you could have just died!"

"James! I saw James and then he disappeared, I need to find him," Harry told her as he ran off.

Hermione yelled to him as she shot another spell at someone, "You could be hallucinating?"

Harry yelled back, "no, it was too real!"

Harry ran around looking for him for a few minutes, then it hit him, the Broom Cupboard! Harry rushed over to it and went in it quickly so no one saw him.

James looked up from the corner he was sitting in to see his dad at the door, letting out a sigh of relief before rushing up to him to give him a big hug.

"I'm so sorry, Dad! I know I shouldn't of, but-"

"There are no excuses, James, you could have gotten killed," Harry told him sternly.

James sighed, "Dad I wasn't trying to make an excuse, I was trying to tell you something, or rather show you something."

Harry raised his eyebrow as his son passed him the journal, "Why are you giving me Ella Smith's journal?"

James went over to his dad and opened it to page 12, "This will wake Ella up."

"How do you know it will?" Harry asked.

"Well, uh, Celeste told me it is what woke her up when she gave this to me a few minutes ago," James told him sheepishly.

Harry's mouth formed into an o, that explained a lot, "What?" James asked.

Harry shrugged, "I saw some girl grab you, that's why I came after you. James, let's discuss this later, there is war going on out there that I must get back to, you stay here."

James nodded as he Dad moved to leave, but he didn't. He just stared out the now open door in shock

"What?" James asked as he moved to get up.

"It's all over, no ones here," Harry told him as James got a look for himself.

The attack did seem to be over. But what confused them was why?

Harry and James made their way out of the Broom Cupboard and to the Great Hall. As they made their way there, they observed their surroundings.

Hogwarts was a mess, it was nearly as bad as it was after the first battle. Once they arrived in the Great Hall, Victoire was the first to run up to them, "Oh thank merlin you are okay, James! I'm so sorry Uncle Harry! I tried to get him to leave, but then the explosions and th-"

"It's okay Vic, you did amazing," Harry interrupted as he gave her a big hug. It didn't last long though because Hermione rushed up to them, "There you are, I thought something happened to you when you didn't come back here after everyone left,"

Harry asked, "Why did everyone leave?"

Hermione just shrugged, "It was weird, all the sudden all of them just left in a flash."

"Huh, I'll have to investigate on that when I get back to the office," Harry told her.

James tugged on his arm and gave him a knowing look, "Oh yeah, James thinks he has a cure to make Ella Smith wake up," Harry told the group.

"Chloe, get over here!" Victoire yelled to her friend, who quickly rushed over and Victoire quickly explained.

"Now why would you think you have it James?" Hermione asked her nephew.

"Well, Celeste gave me this journal, that apparently belongs to Ella, and she told me that the potion on page 12 woke her right up," James told them as he handed the journal to his aunt.

Hermione studied it for a moment, "Looks like it has some things in it that are used for healing a lot. But I've never seen this potion before, and I think I've seen them all."

"Well that's probably because Ella's the one who came up with it, she has always had a knack for that," Chloe shrugged.

Everyone looked at her confusingly, looking for an explanation, so Chloe gave it to them, "That's all she does all summer, she locks herself into her room and writes in that exact Journal new potions she came up with."

"I never knew she was good at potions or even liked them, she just gets average marks in class," James told them.

Chloe laughed, "That would be because she really doesn't want people to know. Oh and mainly because Slughorn gives her the creeps and she doesn't want to be in that Slug Club of his."

James laughed as well, "It's true though, when will that guy ever retire, he has to be well over hundred!"

"Back to the point, we should probably bring this to St. Mungos immediately," Hermione told them.

"I'll go, Hermione you should go check on to see the status of everything seeing you're the Minister now," Harry told them.

"I want to go too," James and Chloe said in unison.

Harry shrugged, "I don't see why not."

They then walked to Mcgonagall's office and flooed off.

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"Celeste, please explain to me why we had to leave," Vlasta asked.

Celeste sighed, "It just wasn't our time. I thought it would be a good idea if we messed with them a bit more before we kill them."

Vlasta had a look of pure anger across her face, "WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT WITHOUT TELLING ME FIRST! WHY DID YOU THINK YOU COULD JUST CALL THE WHOLE ATTACK OFF."

Celeste laughed as she told her, "because I'm too valuable to you, is why Vlasty."

Vlasta sighed, "Just don't ever do it again, and stop calling me Vlasty."

Vlasta turned to leave the room as Celeste called to her, "WE'LL SEE VLASTY!"

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"Ella sure is lucky you found this cure, it would have taken us awhile to come up with something like this," A healer told Harry, Chloe, and James.

"How long until she wakes up?" Harry asked.

"Only a few minutes, I think," The healer told the group as she left the room.

"Don't you two worry, she'll be fine. Now I'll wait outside so I can take you guys back to Hogwarts after saying your hellos," Harry told the pair.

James looked at him confusingly, "We're really going back to Hogwarts?"

Harry laughed, "Yes you are, I think your friends would like to see you all. I also think they'll probably dismiss school early though."

Harry then left the two alone with Ella, James on the right of her bed and Chloe on the left. A few minutes later she started to wake up.

James smiled, "Hey Ella, how you doing?"

Ella blinked her eyes a few times, "James? Is that you?"

James kept smiling, "Yep."

Ella's turned her head to look him in the eyes, "James, I have to tell you something."

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A/N: Sorry for the cliffhanger, but I think it's necessary. I know exactly what she is going to say, but what do you think she has to say? I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please tell me your comments, suggestions, &/or concerns in a review. On another note, How many of you also can't wait for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child! I know I'm looking forward to it! I know it will make my story here totally off canon, but I'll still write it! Thanks for reading guys :)

~~~SoccerDiva(aka Lanie)