Intervention Upon a String

Chapter Two

"Marcus?" Angelina whispered. "Marcus!"

Was this some sort of joke? She wasn't amused. Angelina looked to her left and to her right and even up to see if maybe this was a prank. Nothing. She was baffled and a bit worried. Where could a man disappear to that fast? She didn't even see it. Not that she particularly minded the sudden absence of the most annoying person in the world, but her intuition told her something wasn't right.

She finally looked down and saw what was left of Marcus. A sock. Did he get turned into a sock? Was there some evil wizard hiding in the dustbins having a bit of fun? Angelina stayed pressed to the wall and looked around her again just to make sure; her heart pounding a bit. No one. No noise. Nothing. Again, she looked at the sock. Maybe she should...talk to it...just in case it really was Marcus. Curiously, Angelina bent down and picked up the damp object. "Marcus?" she asked, feeling rather stupid. No response, of course. Not that she'd really been expecting one. She was about to discard the item when suddenly, she felt like a great wind was rushing down the alley. Her braids fluttered and whipped in her face and she shielded her eyes just as a familiar tug at her navel took hold of her.

A portkey!

She closed her eyes and waited to land.

The popular saying goes: If a tree falls in the forest, do you hear it? Even if Marcus did or even cared, it wouldn't matter because it wouldn't be audible over his string of curses.

He didn't know what happened or really where he was. All he knew was that he landed in a very, very large spur bush. Grimacing, he gingerly peeled himself off and stood to prick off the spines that clung to his jeans and jumper. When he was finally clean, there was a slight breeze and a distant scream. He furrowed his eyebrows, trying to figure out where it was coming from. His eyes darting everywhere, he realized the sound was coming from none other than above him andnoticed a torn shirt hanging from a branch. A forest rendezvous or a desperate attempt to escape werewolves? Marcus didn't have time to contemplate it before something fell on top of him which caused him to land right back into the spur bush.

"OW!"

"DAMNIT!"

Angelina slowly opened her eyes to see where she landed....or rather on who she landed. "Marcus!"

He was groaning in pain and trying not to move a muscle; his skin caught in the spurs. "Johnson...this is a rare occasion in which I'm going to tell you to actually get off of my lap."

Bewildered, Angelina scrambled up off of Marcus as fast and gracefully as she could. She failed and heard him yelp before standing. Her cheeks flushed and she reached a hand out for him. Groaning, Marcus slapped it away and stood on his own, peeling the spurs off of him once again. When he was finished, he sighed and looked at Angelina for an explanation. Unfortunately, she was just as confused as she took in her surroundings with awe and fear.

They were in the middle of a very large and very deep forest. It was lush and windingand beautifully green. The sounds of various birds in the canopy above them sang a symphony of high pitches chirps and whistles. The trees were covered in lichens and moss and ivy around their burly trunks that rose hundreds of feet above them and the leaves blotted out the sun above.

"Where are we?" Angelina asked.

"How the hell should I know? You're the one who brought us here!" exclaimed Marcus.

Angelina turned to face him with a look of offense. "I did not! How did I do this?"

"I don't know! You're the witch!"

Angelina scoffed. "And in case you didn't notice, git, you're a wizard! You could have easily done this, unless there really was a reason you failed your NEWTS."

"I didn't fail them, I..."

"Shut up and try to apparate back," Angelina sighed.

Marcus scowled. "Don't tell me what to do you pushy bitch! I know this is some dumb Gryffindork trick. All right. Where's Woody and all your other stupid mates?" He began to glance around but the only other person he saw there was a very annoyed Angelina with her hands on her hips, tapping her foot impatiently. Reluctantly, Marcus pulled out his wand and tried to apparate out of the woods. Nothing happened.

"We're far in," Angelina said.

"Far in where?"

"I don't know! Just far from any remote magical location. These woods are so thick."

Marcus marched past her.

"Where are you going?" Angelina asked.

"Getting the hell out of here. What does it look like, bitch?"

Angelina clenched her fists. Call me a bitch one. more. time. Setting her jaw, she followed behind him. What other choice did she have? Until they figured out where they were and how to get out, the only thing they could do was walk.

Minutes passed in silence. Angelina marched behind Marcus over the leaf-covered floor of the forest, stepping over logs and vines. "What do you think it was?" she asked out of nowhere.

"What?"

"That got us out here."

"You being a bitch."

Angelina growled. "Stop being a stubborn asshole. We both know it wasn't us. Something in that alley brought us out here to the middle of nowhere. I don't understand. It couldn't have been intentional. There's no one out here."

"I don't really care," Marcus said flatly. "I just want to get out."

"I think you're going the wrong way."

Marcus rolled his eyes. "Oh and why is that? Enlighten me. I would simply love taking advice from a person whose house is noted for reckless endangerment."

Angelina glared at his back. "Because," she snapped, stopping in her tracks. "When you're lost, you're supposed to follow the northern star."

"I don't see any fucking stars out, do you, princess?"

"Well, I suppose it takes someone with a brain to use the sun instead. You're walking towards where it's setting. We should take a turn then and head north, which is this way." She pointed in another direction.

"Maybe when I have a death wish," Marcus said and waved it off without looking back.

"You obviously do by the way you keep walking."

She stood planted hoping maybe he'd change his mind, but as usual, Marcus was a stubborn prat. He kept walking in the same direction. Flustered, Angelina looked around for something to get his attention. Picking up a plump mushroom, she chucked it at his head. Years of Chaser practice ensured she hit her goal. Marcus grabbed the back of his head where the mushroom struck and spun around. "What the fuck, bitch!"

Angelina raised a cocky eyebrow. "Read my lips. You're going the wrong way."

"Read my lips. Suck it and fuck off."

Angelina had had enough of Marcus's arrogant ego. She narrowed her eyes and marched over to him, grabbing his arm as he kept walking. "You're going to get us bloody killed out here! Stop being an asshole and listen!" She smacked him over the side of his head and that seemed to get his attention, but in the wrong way.

Roughly, Marcus grabbed Angelina's wrist and gave it a shake. He pulled her close to growl a warning in her face. "Hit me again," he said through clenched teeth. "Go on. I dare you. I'll AK your ass so fast you won't know what hit you. And trust me, it wouldn't be a loss. I could get use to necrophilia."

Angelina, who was slightly taken back by Marcus's force, finally found her words again. "Necrophelia would be the only way you'd get into my knickers and boy does that say a lot on your part."

Marcus flashed his eyebrows daringly. "That so? The only reason I haven't killed you yet is because you have a nice rack. We're all alone out here, Johnson. I can have my way with you anytime I want. Do you really want to push me?"

Angelina narrowed her eyes. "You wouldn't dare."

"Well, if your confident little attitude is so sure about that, then you wouldn't mind if I helped myself."

With that, Marcus grinned and began to pretend to take off her clothes. He had no intentions of raping her, just to scare her a little. Angelina couldn't get used to pushing him around. She was the bitch, not him. Holding her tightly as she tried to push away from his chest, he started to undo the top buttons of her blouse.

"Stop it!" Angelina shouted. "Get the hell off me! Fucking let go you freak! I'd rather get caught by Death Eaters than let you have your way with me!"

Marcus grinned and stopped his attack to pull her close and whisper into her ear, "I am a Death Eater, baby." He smelled her hair and then suddenly released her, causing her to stumble back.

Tears welled in Angelina's eyes both from fear and humiliation. Surely he was joking. Still, it wasn't something she even wanted to think about. Turning before Flint could see her cry; she stormed off and pulled out her wand to try anything to get out of there. Nothing. Glancing over her shoulders, she saw Flint grinning. "You stay the hell away from me," Angelina choked. She didn't care what direction he decided to go and if it meant she'd be alone. She'd had enough.

To hell with her, Marcus thought with one final chuckle and continued on his path away from Angelina. He knew she'd never let him have his way with her so she was practically useless. Food for the werewolves.

I hate him, Angelina thought, wiping the sides of her face occasionally as she stormed away. I hate him, I hate him, I hate him! Angelina glanced around to try to spot any familiarity in the forest. All she could see above and around her was nothing but trees. Where the hell were they? The ground was getting a bit softer beneath her feet as she trudged on. She stepped in a large pile of mud and her foot sank. Great. Angelina scowled and pulled her shoe loose and kept walking. The ground was getting a bit muddier so she walked along the tree roots instead. After a few yards of root-hopping, she tested the ground again. It was a bit dryer, so she continued on foot along her path. Angelina glanced behind her and saw the faint outline of Marcus walking in his own direction. She crossed her arms over her chest and scowled at him. What an absolute--what the...? Angelina once again stepped into some mud, but this time, her shoe remained stuck in the wet goo. She bent down to grasp her knee and yank her foot out but it only seemed to be sinking farther in. Angelina's eyes widened in horror as her other foot began disappearing under the mud as well. It swirled around her ankles and consumed her calves. Quicksand. "No," Angelina whispered, pulling harder at her feet. "No! No, no, no, no!"

Not too far away, Marcus rolled his eyes as he heard Angelina's groans of distress. "Shut the hell up! No one wants to hear your whining! Did you get eaten by something yet?"

"No!" Angelina cried. "Because I'm too busy sinking!"

Marcus stopped and a grin stretched across his face. She was sinking? Must be quicksand. This, he couldn't miss. Turning around, he followed the sounds of Angelina's crying until he came to a swampy area and leaned on a tree to watch in amusement as Angelina slowly sank to her waist.

"Well, well, well," Marcus said calmly with a smirk. "Looks like I won't have to kill you after all. You're doing a fine job all by yourself." He wouldn't save her. Not yet.

"Well, it was either this or letting you molest me. I'd rather die than let you touch me like that!"

Marcus shrugged. "Suit yourself." He began to walk away.

"Wait! Marcus, please!" Don't cry. Don't cry.

Marcus stopped and seemed to strain his ear. He cupped it with his hand. "I'm sorry, speak into my good ear. I think you just used my first name in desperation."

"Purely in desperation, I assure you," Angelina growled and panicked as the quicksand came up to her collar.

Marcus smirked. "Tell you what. Let's make a deal. I'll pull you out if you snog me when you're safe."

Angelina, despite her lurching stomach at the offer, was in no position to negotiate. The quicksand rose to her chin. Closing her eyes, she finally came to a frustrated answer. "Fine! Yes! Just get me the hell out!"

Bingo. Marcus smirked sinisterly and held onto a tree branch while leaning out to grab Angelina's awaiting hand. He grounded his feet on a root and pulled hard but steady until Angelina emerged out of the mud and grabbed onto the tree trunk. She panted in exhaustion and followed Marcus until they were away from the quicksand. Angelina leaned on a tree once again and huffed while Marcus had his arms crossed and waited patiently with a cocky stance and expression. "Right. So where's my snog?" he asked.

Angelina ignored him and patted around in her muck-encrusted jeans for her wand. Her heart sank as she looked back in a panic at the sink hole. She'd lost her wand in it. "I'll make you a deal now," she said. "Let me borrow your wand and I'll snog you and have your children. Deal?"

"Lying is for Slytherins," Marcus said and handed her his wand.

Angelina ignored that statement and snatched his offered wand. Immediately, she casted a cleansing spell on herself as well as a drying spell. She then twirled his wand in her fingers and began to walk past him.

"Oi!" Marcus protested. "Where's my snog?"

Angelina glanced over her shoulder. "You said I'd have to give you one when I'm safe. I'm not safe yet." She beat him at his own game, leaving him gaping in offense.

"Give me my wand back."

Angelina ignored him, humming a cocky little tune to herself. "Why? I know how to use it better than you."

"Give it back!"

He stomped after her to grab it but she spun around and aimed it at his chest. Immediately, he stopped and glared at her. "You know," Angelina said lightly. "You're rather attractive when you're all angry." She smiled, knowing Marcus couldn't make a move on that statement. She enjoyed being in control now.

"Give me back my wand," he said slowly and dangerously.

"Or you'll what?"

"Or I'll...," Marcus began to growl but in the distance, there was a faint howl. Both he and Angelina froze. The color drained from their faces. Wolf? Werewolf? Something else? Whatever it was, the sun was setting and they needed to stop fooling around. Quickly, Angelina gave Marcus back his wand.

"We need to get somewhere high," Angelina said, looking around.

"You go right on ahead, bint," Marcus said. "If you paid any attention to Professor Snape during his essay on Werewolves, which I doubt you did because you were too busy fingering yourself, you'd have known that werewolves are afraid of fire." With that, he stuck his wand in his pocket and began to look around for firewood, leaving a very speechless Angelina on the spot. She didn't know Marcus knew that. She didn't really know he knew anything other than how to be a pervert. Marcus looked over his shoulder expectantly. "I don't see you climbing."

Angelina came up with the only comeback she knew. "Like any Gryffindor listens to anything that biased git says."

"Well, you're not so cocky about it now that you were about to climb a tree," Marcus snorted.

Angelina stuck her nose in the air as Marcus threw a pile of kindling down upon the ground. "And I don't finger myself. That's disgusting. And if I ever did, it certainly wouldn't be over thoughts of you."

Marcus grinned and lit the fire with a spell. "Girls don't have to finger themselves over me. They march straight to my room and demand a good rogering."

Angelina pulled up a log and sat down just as Marcus sidled up next to her and draped an arm over her shoulder. She looked at him in disgust. "You are so full of yourself," she said. "I wouldn't be surprised if you're actually a virgin. I can't imagine any woman willing to give themselves to a stupid ape like you. Not to mention your wonderful eight year track record at Hogwarts says a lot about you. I know I like my guys smart. If you'd just pull your head out of your ass for a few minutes and actually listened to a woman, I'm sure she'd like you." She looked at him with a nod. Marcus looked absolutely revolted. Was Angelina lecturing? He took his arm off her.

"Oh, fucking SHUT up!" he spat, ready to vomit. "You like your men poofy like Wood? Fine. I like my women silent and willing when I snap my fingers, which is how women are supposed to be. I don't want to hear your fucking lip. You either give me a good romp in the sack or make me breakfast. Other than that, you're useless. And for your information, I had to repeat my seventh year at Hogwarts because I missed my NEWTS, not failed them. Fuck off." He went to sit on the other end of the fire, positively seething. "I thought you were going to climb that fucking tree."

"Marcus" Angelina said. "Who taught you to be this way? I mean, clearly you're fucked up for some reason. I mean...where the hell do you get off telling a woman what a woman's for? You obviously don't know shit or else you wouldn't talk like that. I think I'll climb that damn tree right about now. You're pathetic. You always will be. If you ever get a snog out of me, you'll never get it willingly."

Marcus didn't say a word. Where the hell did Angelina get off telling him what he was? She had no clue what his past was like. But his past was his own problem and he wasn't about to give Angelina the pleasure of knowing he came from a dysfunctional family. Instead, he stood and walked away in the opposite direction. He didn't care where he was going, just as long as he was away from her. He wanted to kill her; to kick her face in. Not because she was right or wrong, but because she had to go and remind him where he really came from. And that, in turn, made him realize he was closer to becoming his asshole father than he wanted. He saw what his mum dealt with, or didn't deal with, rather. Women are useless pawns and she was living proof. No, she wasn't useless. Just weak and stupid. Surprise surprise. They all are, obviously. But that still was no reason for Marcus to run off and treat women exactly how his dad treated his mum. It was a defense, but Angelina could NOT know.

Frustration welled up and Marcus punched a tree trunk. He hated this. Stuck out in the middle of nowhere with the most annoying goody-goody Gryffinwhore of them all. Grinding his teeth and swallowing his pride, Marcus vented enough and headed back to the fire. However, he picked up several logs to make it look like he was collecting firewood instead of throwing a tantrum and dumped the wood onto the inferno. He noticed Angelina was already cuddling up on the ground and trying to get warm. After several moments of inner battle, Marcus shrugged off his black jumper and chucked it rather unceremoniously at her. "Put it on, bitch." Angelina caught the jumper and looked at it shyly then watched Marcus lie on the ground using a log as a pillow. He braced his arms behind his head. "And get some sleep so I don't have to hear your lip all night," he continued. "If werewolves come, I'll wake you up before I let them eat you."

Angelina stared at his jumper again in silence. The nicest thing he'd ever done; it was taking a moment to register. "Thank you," she said and slipped it on. It smelled like him. Like cologne. And it was warm.

"Just be quiet and go to sleep. You're annoying me already."

Angelina shook her head in amusement. He really was just a silly boy. Lying upon her side, she used her hands as a pillow and closed her eyes. The quicksand had exhausted her, among other things. "Goodnight, Marcus."

"Shut up."

Angelina fell asleep under the lullaby of crickets and the summer night's breeze rustling the trees above.