How to Live life

Chapter 19

A/N: Hello everyone… Can someone please tell me what's wrong with my story? No one has reviewed in two months… I only had ten people read last chapter, but the previous one had thirty people reading it... People seem to leave after reading the first chapter, I can tell by looking at my story stats… What's wrong with it? Can someone please tell me? It's just discouraging to see this… I love writing this story, but I honestly feel like I'm wasting my time nowadays…

Disclaimer: Disclaimers are so unnecessary, but if it wasn't obvious (which it is) I DON'T OWN ANYTHING! SQUAT, ZERO, NOTHING!

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PERVIOUSLY…

Ella and Chloe then made their way towards their aunts house, but something stopped Ella, she saw something in the distance.

"What's that?" Ella asked her sister.

Chloe turned around to face her, "What's what?"

Ella pointed down an alley, "Those red eyes."

Chloe's eyes widened in horror as she pushed Ella along, "That's nothing good, Ella. It's probably one of Vlasta's fol-"

"Stupefy!"

Ella looked down at her unconscious sister and Vlasta's follower, "Shit."

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Ella awoke to her head hurting like hell, she felt dizzy and like crap. What the hell happened? She opened her eyes and she had no idea where the hell she was. She looked around, oh crap, oh crap, oh crap! She was in a cell, a jail cell of some sort. Where's Chloe? Wait… No one is here, I'm alone…

She indeed was alone, in a jail cell in who knows where. It was a small dark cell. The fact that she was in a jail cell was not what confused confused her, was how she got there. She couldn't remember a thing, and when she tried it hurt her. She must have really banged her head hard on something…

"I see you're finally awake," hissed a familiar evil voice, that for some reason, Ella couldn't put a name on.

"Who are you?"

The evil voice now laughed, "You don't know who I am? You've only been running from me your whole life!"

"Vlasta…"

"Yes, yes, that would be me," Vlasta laughed.

Ella growled, "What do you want?"

Vlasta laughed, "I've already gotten what I want."

"Huh?"

"You locked up here! You can no longer serve the other side of this war!" Vlasta hissed.

"I'm not special, I don't know why you want me so much," Ella sighed.

Vlasta smiled, "You'll find out soon enough."

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Two months later

July 14th, 2018

"She hasn't answered my owls, I've sent like ten in the last two months!" James told his friends as he fell on his bed.

Louis laughed, "Maybe she hates your guts again?"

"Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if that's the case, we all knew it was too good to be true," Fred added.

James shook his head in disagreement though, "I don't think so. If that was the case, I'm sure I would have at least gotten something across the lines of 'sod off, Potter,' but I didn't get any response at all."

After hearing this, Louis' face dropped, this didn't go unnoticed by James and Fred though, "What do you know, Louis?" James asked.

Louis looked both his friends in the eyes, "Well, Olivia was over the other day, and I overheard a bit of her conversation with Vic…"

James was now terrified, "What did they say, Louis? Did something happen?"

"I don't know, but what I do know is that they have been thinking the same way as you, James. Because Chloe hasn't been answering their letters either," Louis told them carefully.

"Why are you telling me this now, Louis!" James yelled.

"Keep it down, will you? And I was planning on it, I only found out yesterday," Louis told them.

James calmed down a bit, but was still pretty worked up, "Do you think Vlasta has them?"

Louis and Fred gave each other a look, "It's possible, James. There could be another explanation though," Louis said.

"Yeah, but if you must find out if she's okay, James. You are going on your Potter family vacation soon, aren't you?" Fred asked his friend.

"Yeah, why?" James asked, who was know pacing around his room.

"Then how about you suggest to your parents you want to go Boston. That's where she is staying, right," Fred suggested.

"Yeah, it is. But they already made plans," James told them with a frown.

"Then how about you explain your suspicions to Al and Lily. Get them to want to go there too, and I'm sure your parents will agree," Louis told his friend.

James looked at his friends in amazement, "Since when have you two been smart?"

Then all three Golden Marauders broke out in laughter, as if nothing was wrong in the world.

45 minutes and a lot of explaining later…

"So can we please go there?" James asked his parents with puppy dog eyes.

Ginny sighed, "I don't know…"

"PLEEEAAAASSSSEEEE!" All three Potter children chorused.

"Alright, Alright. I don't see why you three all want to go there though," Harry told his kids before he and Ginny rushed off to make plans.

James sighed in relief, "Thanks guys."

Lily pushed it off, "It's nothing, James. We both hope Ella is alright and want to help."

Albus nodded in agreement with her, James gave them a big hug before he rushed off.

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ONE WEEK LATER...

"YEEESSSSS!" Vlasta yelled.

"Is everything alright in here," Celeste asked as she entered the room.

"Everything is more than alright, your plan is working!" Vlasta said happily.

"The Potter's are here in Boston?" Celeste asked, an evil grin forming on her face.

Vlasta smiled, "Yes, they just arrived."

Vlasta moved her main headquarters back to America when Celeste proposed her plan to her two months ago…

Flashback…

Celeste grinned evilly, "I may."

"Then explain…"

Celeste grinned, "I happen to know that the Smith's are going back to America for the summer, more specifically, Boston. We need to capture the girls as soon as they portkey back, it will catch them off guard."

Vlasta started to grin as well, "Great, great…"

Celeste smiled, "There's more," Vlasta now started to grin, telling Celeste to continue, "I happen to know as well, that James Potter and Ella Smith are really good friends now. So I'm guessing they will send letters over the summer. And after awhile, when James doesn't get a reply because we have Ella. He'll hopefully come over here, to America, and we all know he has a saving people problem like his father, so that could likely happen."

Vlasta laughed, "Then we can capture him, and blackmail his parents into doing whatever we want."

Celeste laughed as well, "Exactly what I was going to say…"

End of Flashback…

"Okay, he probably has the Smith's aunts address, and he'll probably go check as soon as possible, so we need to get there asap!" Celeste said.

"No shit, Celeste. But I just want you to go," Vlasta told her.

And with that, Celeste was gone…

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11:34 PM, Boston, Massachusetts…

"Al, I need you to cover for me," James told his brother as he got ready to leave.

Albus gasped, "No way! I'm going too!"

James sighed, "Al, you only just finished first year and never dueled in your life. If something happened, I couldn't fight for both of us, I'm not all too great myself as it is."

Albus sighed in defeat, "Alright, but if you're not back by eight in the morning, I'll tell Mum and Dad, because if it takes you nine hours,

Something went wrong."

"Okay, thanks again Al, for everything," James told his brother.

"It's no problem, James. Just please be safe and make smart choices. I don't think Mum and Dad can handle losing you again," Al told his brother as he left.

"See ya!"

James wondered around Boston, completely lost. He had the address, but he didn't know where it was exactly, so he started to ask. "Hey! Do you know how to get this address," James asked as he showed the lady the address he had written down.

"Yeah, I live on that street, just keep going straight, make a left at the next traffic light, then a right at the next after that. You'll then just have to looks at the house numbers," The lady told him.

"Thank you," James told the lady before running off.

He followed her directions, and eventually ended up where he wanted to be, he looked in the house, but it was dark. He knocked anyway, but no one answered. He tried again, still no answer. Shit, no, I knew they took her! If only I came sooner mayb-

"Expelliarmus!"

James' wand then flew out of his hand, and to the hand of a girl he hated very much. James laughed at his stupidity, "So we meet again, Celeste."

Celeste smiled, "So we do."

"I'm guessing this is not a coincidence and you were hoping I'd come here," James asked, even though he already knew that was the answer.

Celeste laughed, "Well duh!"

"You have Ella and Chloe too, don't you?"

Celeste nodded, "Yeah, caught them as soon as they portkeyed here. Caught them off guard."

James nodded, "you're going to take me too, aren't you?"

"Well, again, duh. There really isn't anyway to defend yourself right now, so how about you don't put up a fight and just make it easy," Celeste told him, slowly approaching him.

James scoffed, "Never."

Celeste laughed, "Same thing Ella told me…"

~~~Flashback…

"Shit," Ella muttered.

Celeste laughed and removed her mask, "Hello, Ella."

Ella sighed, "Really Celeste?"

"That's no way to greet an old friend," Celeste fake pouted, "Expelliarmus!"

Ella's wand flew out of her grasp and into Celeste's, "Damnit," Ella muttered.

"Wow, I expected better from you, Smith, but let's make this easy, just come with me and don't put up a fight, you don't have to get hurt," Celeste told her.

Ella scoffed, "Never."

Celeste laughed, "Have it your way. Crucio!"

Ella then fell back into a brick wall and yelped as excruciating pain went through her entire body.

Flashback ends…

James just grinned at this, "Great minds think a like."

Celeste laughed, "Crucio!"

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7:59 AM, Boston, Massachusetts…

"Oh no," Albus muttered to himself as he realized James wasn't coming back anytime soon, he was probably captured somewhere.

"Um… Lils, can you help me?" Albus asked his sister as he entered her room.

"What happened?" Lily asked, knowing something was wrong by his nervous face.

"Well, James went to see if Ella was alright last night, and he hasn't come back yet, and we agreed that if he wasn't back by eight, I'd tell Mum and Dad…" Albus explained sheepishly.

Lily sighed, "And you want me to help you explain it to them?"

Albus sighed, "Well, basically, yeah. Would you?"

"Of course I will, Al," Lily told him as they walked to the kitchen together.

"Good Morning you two! Is your brother up yet, we have a jam packed day today," Ginny told her kids cheerfully, Harry sitting at the table with the Daily Prophet in hand.

Lily and Albus gave each other a nervous look, that didn't go unnoticed by their mother, "What's wrong?"

Albus sighed, "Well, you see… Umm… How do I say this?..."

Lily rolled her eyes at her brother, "James wanted to come here to Boston for a reason, because Ella lives here. She hasn't been answering his letters for the past two months in any way and believed something was wrong. From what Al has told me, he went out late last night to check, and hasn't come back yet."

"Way to have tact, Lils," Albus muttered.

Harry dropped the Daily Prophet he was holding and Ginny dropped the a bowl, Ginny blinked, "so basically what you are trying to say is that you think Vlasta and her followers have him."

Albus and Lily looked at the floor and nodded, next thing they know they here is a sob coming from their mother. They all rushed over to her and sat there and grieved for awhile.

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"How about we put him in the cell next to Ella?" Celeste suggested.

Vlasta rolled her eyes, "Why would we do that, they're friends."

Celeste laughed, "You answered your own question. They get to see each other get tortured."

Vlasta contemplated it for a second, "That makes sense, take him down there."And Celeste was off, levitating a stunned James Potter behind her.

Celeste didn't want to put James next to Ella so they could see the other get tortured. She did it because Ella used to be her friend, and she kind of felt bad about this mess deep down, and wanted her to have someone to talk to that she cared about. It didn't take long for Celeste to reach the cell assigned to James.

"Celeste, come to torture me again?" Ella laughed.

Celeste frowned, "No, I've come to put James Potter here in this cell."

Ella's jaw dropped, "How'd you get to him? Is he alright? What did you do?"

Celeste put on a poker face, "He came here because you weren't answering his letters. He'll be fine, just briefly used the the Cruciatus curse on him, he's stunned right now."

"Why, Celeste? Couldn't you just have left him alone?" Ella asked, tears running down her face.

"He's bait for his parents," Celeste muttered.

"What happened to you, Celeste? Where's the girl I used to know," Ella cried.

Celeste gulped, "She's made mistakes that changed her into an evil person."

"You sound like you regret your actions," Ella commented.

Celeste turned to leave, she didn't know if she regretted it or not, "Well do you?" Ella asked.

Celeste ran out of there, Ella calling after her, but she tuned it out. She slammed the door shut, fell down against it, and put her head in her hands.

She didn't know what was wrong with her. She felt like two different people at times. Sometimes she felt like the evil girl Vlasta and the world knew. She would forget her past and just kill, torture, and enjoy doing it. And then sometimes, like right now, she felt like the girl only the Smith's knew her as, which was far from evil and just wished she could turn back time. The only way she could describe it was that she felt like two people, because that's how she felt.

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"I've talked to the MACUSA, they don't want to do anything about it, they're overthrown by Vlasta's followers right now," Harry told his wife.

"Have you talked to Hermione?" Ginny asked her husband hopefully,

"Yeah, we can't do anything over here, MACUSA has jurisdiction and they don't want to do anything about it," Harry sighed as he put his face in his hands.

"Harry, what do we do?" Ginny asked as tears fell down her face.

Harry shook his head, "I don't know."

TAP TAP TAP

There was an owl at the window, Harry went to open it and it gave him a letter that read…

Dear Potter's,

As you've probably already figured out, I, Vlasta, have your son. You have three choices. The first is to join my ranks. I realize that's unlikely, so the second choice is to just obey whatever commands I give you. The third is to do nothing and have your son stay locked in my jail cells for the rest of his bloody life. If you love your son, you'll pick one of the first two, because you'll get him back if you do those, the third won't do anything for him. I hope you do what's right…

Vlasta

Ginny and Harry looked at each other, this wasn't good…

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"What the hell happened?" James groaned as he sat up against a cold stone wall.

"You've been captured," Ella told him, looking at him from her cell.

James' eyes widened, "Ella? Is that you? Are you alright? Where the hell are we?"

Ella smiled a bit seeing he hadn't changed at all, "Yes, it's me. I'm fine, I got a bad head injury when I first got here, but Vlasta fixed it, apparently I'm 'special' or whatever. And we are in the dungeons of Vlasta's new headquarters, in who knows where."

James let out a sigh, "I'm so glad you're alright! I was worried sick."

"How long have I been gone?" Ella asked him, looking at her feet.

"Two months, Celeste told me she got you as soon as you got back to America," James told her, staring at the girl he was quite fond of.

Ella looked up at him and nodded, "Yeah, we were walking to my Aunts, then I saw something down an alley. It was red eyes, Vlasta's followers have a mask they wear that gives them red eyes now, you see. Next thing I know, Chloe was stunned on the ground and Celeste used the Cruciatus curse on me."

James frowned, "That's awful,

Ella. Have you seen Chloe since?"

Ella shook her head and a tear rolled down her face, "No, I'm worried sick about her though! I hope she's alright…"

James nodded, but then a thought came to Ella, "How did you get to Boston anyway? Celeste told me you were worried about me because I wasn't answering your letters."

James sighed, "All I did was tell Al and Lily my suspicions, we then begged our parents to have our Potter family vacation in Boston this year."

Ella nodded, "That's nice of you James, but I really wish you didn't do anything because now you're stuck here with me."

James laughed, "Not enjoying my company?"

Ella joined in with his laughter, "No, I am, but you know what I mean. Do you think your parents know you're here?"

James shrugged, "I think so. When I told Al to cover for me, he said he was going to tell my parents everything if I wasn't back by eight in the morning. How long have I been here anyway?"

Ella shrugged, "I don't really know, but I think it's well past eight in the morning."

James nodded, "How about we play a game?"

"Sure, what game?" Ella asked as she played with a rock next to her.

"The question game. I'll ask you a question, then you answer and ask me, and so on," James suggested.

Ella nodded, "Okay, I'll go first. What's your favorite favorite color?"

James laughed, "Probably orange. What's your full name?"

"Ella Alaina Smith, Are you a cat or dog person?" Ella asked him.

James smiled, "Pretty name, and I am more of a dog person. How much money would it take for you to step on a puppy?"

Ella gasped, "What kind of question is that? But I wouldn't do it for anything, that's just messed up… Anyway, What are you most proud of?"

James contemplated it for a second, "Probably my first prank from when I was five, now what is the worst pick up line I ever used on you?"

Ella laughed, "Can you touch my hand? I want to tell my friends I've been touched by an Angel."

James put his head in his hands, "Oh Merlin, I really said that?"

Ella nodded, "Yes, you did. Anyway, What is one thing that if your mom knew about you, she would freak out?"

James snickered, "That I said that pick up line to you, and many other bad ones."

Ella started to laugh, "Which other ones?"

"It's not your turn missy, Have you been in a physical fight?"

Ella sighed, "I have."

James gaped, "Really? With whom?"

Ella smirked, "Not your turn mister. Now what other pick up lines are we talking about?"

James grinned, "I know we're not in Professor Flitwick's class, but you still are charming. Wow, when I said 'Accio hottie,' I didn't expect it to work! And many more that I am trying not to remember."

Ella laughed, "I forgot about those two!"

James blushed, "Yeah, Yeah. Now who did you get into a fight with?"

Ella laughed, "It was just Chloe. It was a pretty brutal fight though… Anyway, What is your biggest regret?"

James sighed, "Probably asking you out on the first day of school like I did, actually asking you out at all. Because then I would have had a chance for us to become friends sooner."

Ella put on a smile, but this actually made her sad. He doesn't like me that way anymore? Wait… Why does this bother me… Maybe I am starting to see him as more than a friend… Crap!

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Two Days Later, when the Potter's (minus James) return…

It took longer than they expected to get back. As soon as they figured out they couldn't do anything about James, they had to cancel everything and get ahold of a portkey and t—let's cut it here, point is, it was a long and rough two days. They were currently on their way to the Burrow, to break the news officially to the family and to go through with an idea.

"Mum, Dad!" Ginny yelled as she and her family entered.

"Oh! Ginny is that you? Why are you back so soon, I thought you lot were gone for another week!" Molly Weasley exclaimed as she went to greet them, but paused as she saw their state.

All of them had tears down their faces and looked like a wreck, the absence of James didn't go unnoticed as well, "Arthur get in here! What's wrong? Where's James?" Molly asked fearfully as Arthur entered the room.

Ginny let out a sob and fell into Harry's embrace, Harry looked both Molly and Arthur in the eyes, tears running down his face, "James… Vlasta has him…"

Molly slapped her hand over her mouth and tears rolled down her face, Arthur put his arms around her as tears stared to roll down his face as well, "Do you… do you want us to to notify the rest of the family."

Harry nodded as Ginny continued to sob in his arms, "That would be very helpful, Molly and Arthur… Would you just tell them to meet us at Grimmauld Place, we'll explain that and… Some other stuff to them, you two and some others included, I can notify the others. Also tell them to send the kids here, Al and Lily can explain…"

Molly and Arthur nodded as they left the room, Harry looked at his kids, "Can you comfort your mother while I notify some others?"

They both nodded as their Dad left the room, Albus grabbed his mums hand, "Come on, Mum. Let's sit down."

Ginny nodded and sat down next to her two youngest children on the couch, she looked them in the eyes, "Will you two be alright while we're gone?"

"Yes, Mum," Lily told her mum.

"I love you two, you know that, right?" Ginny told them as she stroked Lily's hair.

"We know, Mum. We love you too," Albus told his mother, he knew she needed to here that right now.

Ginny wiped her tears away, "I need to toughen up, get back to my normal badass self, excuse my language kids."

Both kids smiled at their mother as Harry entered the room, "We better get going."

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Same day…

Number 12, Grimmauld Place…

"You all are probably wondering why Ginny and I have gathered you all here," Harry said as he paced around the room.

"Is this about James?" Hermione asked carefully, already knowing because she was Minister.

"What happened to James?" George asked as his mother began to sob.

Ginny looked at the floor, "Vlasta captured him."

"No!" Everyone chorused at once.

"How did that happen?" Luna asked innocently.

Ginny looked at her friend, "He has a saving people problem like his father."

Neville lowered his brow in confusion, "What?"

Harry sighed, "Well, from what Al and Lily told us, he went out to see if something happened to Ella…"

"That's why they all wanted you to change your plans suddenly. But why did he believe there was a problem?" Ron asked his friends.

Ginny sighed, "Al told us that she wasn't answering his letters for the last two months,"

"Chloe wasn't answering mine as well, I don't blame him…" Victoire told them.

"What are we going to do?" Molly asked.

"We didn't call you here to discuss James, actually," Ginny told them all.

"Then why are all of us here?" Bill asked as he looked around the room.

Many people were gathered there. Minerva McGonagall, Olivia, Katie, and Oliver Wood, Luke Williams, Neville, Hannah, and Frank Longbottom, Luna and Rolf Scamander, Flitwick, Slughorn, Molly, Arthur, Bill, Fleur, Percy, Aubrey, George, Angelina, Ron, Hermione, and Victoire Weasley, Teddy Lupin, a few aurors, and of course, Harry and Ginny Potter.

Harry took a breathe, "I think it's time the Order of the Phoenix returns…"

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"Albus Severus Potter and Lily Luna Potter, you tell us what is going on right now!" Dominique yelled.

Albus gulped, he didn't like to be on Dom's bad side, "I'm going to talk to Louis and Fred, Lily will tell the rest of you lot. Come on, Fred, Louis."

And with that Fred and Louis followed Albus into an empty room, Albus looked them both in the eyes and the two immediately knew something was wrong, "Is this about James?" Louis asked.

Albus nodded, "I know you two know why, you're the ones who gave him the idea after all. But to answer your question, yes, James has been captured by Vlasta."

"No," Fred cried as tears started to form in his and Louis' eyes.

"Yeah, Mum and Dad got a letter and everything so we know it is her," Albus sighed.

"This can't be…" Louis muttered.

"We should get back out there, I just wanted you guys to have a heads up because you three aren't only cousins, you're best mates," Albus told them as he turned to make his way to the door.

Fred and Louis gave each other a knowing look before following Albus out to find the rest of their cousins in hysterics, "How did this happen?" "Why did he do it?" "What are we going to do?"

"Hush!" Fred yelled at them all, they all shut up.

"How much do they know, Lily?" Louis asked his cousin.

Lily sighed, "I was only able to say he was captured before this happened."

Fred sighed, "What happened was that James had the suspicion something happened to Ella because neither she, nor Chloe were answering letters. So Louis and I gave him the stupid idea to convince his parents to go to Boston, where Ella was staying, so he could check to see if she was okay…"

Louis took this as his cue to add in, "Al and Lily helped convince their parents, and they got their way. James' plan obviously didn't go successfully and he ended up getting captured somehow…"

Everyone was quiet for awhile, until Rose asked, "What are we going to to do?"

Fred and Louis gave each other the same look from earlier, Louis grinned, "James, Fred, and I have had this idea for awhile now…" Fred nodded, "that we start up something like Dumbledore's Army and the Order of the Phoenix…"

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A/N: Thanks for reading! Please be so kind to tell me what you thought or this chapter and to tell me what's wrong with my story. Thanks for sticking with it…

PLEASE READ! CONTEST INFO!

ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS SUGGEST A NAME THAT VLASTA'S FOLLOWERS WILL GO BY! IT CAN BE ANYTHING OTHER THAN DEATH EATERS! SO HAVE FUN AND BE CREATIVE, I CANT WAIT TO SEE WHAT YOU GUYS COME UP WITH!

That's it for this week guys, I hope you enjoyed it!

~~~Lanie~~~