Is this the life you chose yourself, or just how it ended up? Is that the yard you pictured when you closed your eyes and dreamed of children in the grass running through the sprinklers? Being somebody's wife, or were you living in another life?
(Wi...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
━━━━༺❀༻━━━━ A/N —
I totally suck.
I know some of yall wanted to see the wedding, but I'm not writing it twice. . . For now, imagine it as perfect or chaotic as you want to. Its a marauders wedding, anything could happen. I don't expect to write the Jascella wedding for a while.
— A. Barnes
━━━━༺❀༻━━━━
Rather than the next two weeks being spent in the Potter's Italian residence by the sea, they were spent a week looking for homes in small nearby villages.
They couldn't stay at the Manor longterm — it had too many memories that they weren't ready to deal with yet. The flat Ascella shared with Sirius and Remus would be in their names by the end of August, so they had to be quick.
Within a week and they found a little three bedroom house in the heart of Godric's Hollow. The next week, they bought it and moved in completely by September 1st.
Neither of them had much.
They managed to spend a complete week in their new home without being bothered.
Then, like clockwork, a letter from Dumbledore arrived. He congratulated them on their recent marriage and then proceeded to ask if they'd meet him at the order headquarters at 11 that evening. It was in code just like all the other letters they sent.
They sent a brief letter back, letting him know they'd be there. It was most likely a group meeting.
As it was nearing noon, Ascella prepared lunch and got it on the table within minutes. They had turkey sandwiches — so easy to prepare and so hard to mess up.
For the remainder of the day, the Potter's found ways to keep themselves busy. . . And by busy, Ascella spent hours trying to convince James to get a cat.
With who her parents were and her upbringing, she wasn't allowed to have a pet growing up, and she really wanted one. Really, it didn't take much convincing. James just liked listening to his wife talk about something she was passionate about. It just so happened that her passion was getting the ginger cat she saw when they had passed the Magical Menagerie.
James Potter didn't care what it was, if Ascella wanted something, he'd do everything to make sure she got it.
So he agreed. They'd go to the Magical Menagerie in the morning and adopt the cat.
At ten minutes to eleven, James and Ascella Potter left their home in Godric's Hollow and apparated.
They appeared on the outskirts of Hogsmeade and used the tunnel in the Hogs Head to get into the school unnoticed.
Hogwarts was just as they remembered, except there was a very noticeable feeling of dread that hung in the air like smoke from one of Sirius's cigarettes.
Ascella quietly said the password to the Headmaster's office. It was jelly slugs.
Neither of them said a word as they made their way up the stairs. Ascella held James's hand tightly, not knowing what to expect.
James said the order password quietly and the door unlocked. They pushed it open and stepped over the threshold. "Mr and Mrs Potter, how lovely of you to join us. Please, do take a seat." Dumbledore said from behind his desk.
The office had several transfigured chairs, all of which were occupied except three. As they sat down, Ascella scanned the familiar faces.
"Where's Peter?" She questioned suddenly, staring at her former Headmaster. Her eyes were filled with a dislike for the man, but also something else that dared him to lie. "It appears Mr Pettigrew's mother has fell ill, and he is taking care of her." The man responded calmly.
The two held eye contact for a bit longer before the meeting began.
━━━━༺❀༻━━━━
After the meeting, half the group was sent on separate missions while the other half was told to stand by in case backup was needed. No one knew how long it would take.
Ascella was amongst the few on standby.
She hadn't seen James since a few days after the meeting and it was Christmas eve.
Daisy laid on the floor, sprawled out in front of the fire without a care in the world. Her amber eyes followed Ascella as she put the finishing touches on the house for the holidays.
Every so often Ascella would flick her wand to change what the decorations looked like.
She had transfigured a stick she saw in the backyard into a small Christmas tree that sat in the corner of the room with glittering red and silver balls hanging from the limbs.
Twinkling lights were wrapped around the tree, lighting up half the room on their own. Ascella smiled slightly, proud of her work.
She went to the hall closet where she had hidden James gifts and placed them neatly under the tree, hoping he'd get home safely.
After that, Ascella continued with the same routine she'd adopted since Dumbledore sent most of her friends out on a mission.
She'd fix something easy for dinner, have evening tea, read for a while, shower and then go to bed.
A couple hours after Ascella went to bed, she felt the bed dip beside her. Within a moment, she was wide awake. "James?" She questioned, rolling over to face his side of the bed. "Its me. Go back to sleep, love." James responded, getting situated under the covers.
Once James breathed out a sigh, Ascella found herself at his side with her head over his beating heart.
He kissed the top of her head as she took in the fact that he was there. He was home.
"Are you alright?" She asked quietly.
"I am now." He responded as they both began to doze off.
