Intervention Upon a String

Chapter Eight

"You shouldn't have jumped in after me."

A fire peacefully crackled in the thick forest and the light danced off the branches of the pines. The sun had set merely an hour ago and casted an eerie orange glow along the ground where Angelina, Harvey, and Marcus rested. After she had revived him, he fell asleep instantly again and she felt that making him get up and walk after he nearly drowned was rather heartless. As much as she wanted to get them out of the woods, a good night's rest was in order. She dragged his body further up shore and breathlessly collapsed next to him before forcing herself up to find firewood. Soon, she had an inferno burning to keep them warm after a few drying spells later. When Marcus had woken, he sat up quickly and tried to remember where he was until he heard Angelina gently soothing him. She tried to get him to go back to sleep but she knew he would put up his front and deny needing it.

They now sat face to face, one on each side of the fire, as they did their best to keep warm. Both were silent and stared into the flames as if in a trance. Marcus was the only one to fidget uncomfortably. He tried not to shiver but he couldn't control it and he felt ashamed that a girl had to jump in and save him from such a silly fate. Not knowing what to say or do, he only grumbled minutes later that Angelina should have gone on without him. It would have saved him the humiliation.

"Don't be stupid," Angelina said. She knew how to make him feel better. "If you had died, who would save my reckless ass?"

A hint of a smirk appeared on Marcus's lips. She had a way to inflate his ego. But even so, none of this would have happened if they had taken the cliffs like he insisted. A frown replaced the smile on his face as he stared into the fire.

"Marcus, look," Angelina said, crawling around the fire and sitting next to him. "I'm sorry. I really am. I can't begin to tell you how much. I won't tell anyone about the lake. I promise."

"It's not about the lake you daft woman," Marcus sighed.

Angelina furrowed her eyebrows. "What?"

"I...just don't know how to react," Marcus said. "You have to make things so fucking difficult."

She was still confused. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know what I should do or say in this kind of stupid situation. It would have been easier if you'd just left me to freeze. It's what my friends would have done." He slouched and Angelina paused for a moment before blinking and smiling. Marcus did a double take when he saw her. "What?" he asked. Angelina only shook her head and continued to gently grin. "What, damn you?" Marcus insisted.

"Nothing."

Marcus shrugged and looked at the fire. He shivered slightly and hugged his arms but only until Angelina replaced his hands with her own and rubbed up and down.

"Why can't you stroke me when I'm actually in the mood?" Marcus asked slyly.

"Very funny. You're still pale. I'm just trying to keep you warm."

Marcus winked at her. "I know what will keep us warm."

"Is sex all you think about?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

Angelina rolled her eyes. She changed the subject and released his arms. "So, if friends wouldn't save you, what does that make me?"

"A pain in my ass. Quit checking my temperature."

Angelina felt his forehead to check for a fever. "Oh, be quiet. I don't want you to get sick."

"I'm not sick, woman!"

"Not yet. Get closer to the fire."

"Johnson! I'm fine! Look, you don't have to be my bloody mum! That's the last thing I need. You've done enough." He seethed and Angelina paused. She knelt by his side as a slow smirk of amazement crept upon her face. Marcus glared at her warily. "What?" Without warning, Angelina leaned over and hugged him. Marcus froze for a moment and then rolled his eyes in disgust. "Oh, cut the sissy Gryffindork goody-goody shit and get off. I don't need you getting attached to me like a dog and spreading your bad-luck voodoo witch shit on me. You've nearly killed me enough."

Angelina laughed and unlatched her arms from him. She looked at him with a sympathetic smile. "Look, I'm sorry again. I'll make it up to you when we get out, ok?"

"How?"

She shrugged and thought for a moment. "What would you prefer?"

Marcus looked at her and flashed his eyebrows with a smirk. It was clear what he had in mind. Angelina smacked him on the arm.

"You pervert. I'm not having sex with you."

Marcus shrugged and looked at the fire. "Your loss."

"Get over yourself."

She crawled back over to her spot across the fire pit where she laid next to a sleeping Harvey. Despite her calm demeanor, Angelina had a stomach full of butterflies. A near death experience had Marcus savoring life in the most exciting but reckless way and Angelina couldn't believe she was wondering what it would be like to go with it. Maybe it was just the stress of the day. Regardless, she blushed and laughed at herself.

"Damnit, woman! What's so funny?" Marcus asked.

"Nothing, I swear!"

Marcus cursed in annoyance under his breath and dismissed the situation. He shrugged angrily and stared into the fire as he hugged his arms to stay warm. The muscles in his body still had not fully recovered from the trauma they experienced under the lake and occasionally spasmed as they became fully functional again.

Angelina watched him with guilt in her heart. Marcus was a git but she didn't mean him any harm. From the very first day she concluded that his entire bullying act in Hogwarts was merely a façade. He was brash and perverted but deep down a guy who cared enough, obviously, to save her ass from peril after endless peril. Angelina continued to smile at him and saw him shiver. Her eyes darted down to his black jumper that she forgot she even had on and she began to peel it off over her head. "What are you doing?" Marcus asked. Angelina said nothing as she crawled over to Marcus again and gave him his jumper. "I don't want...," he began to protest but Angelina interrupted him.

"Please, put it on," she begged. "You need it."

"I don't need..."

"Please." She thrust the jumper at him and looked pleadingly into his eyes. Marcus thought she was a madwoman and slowly began to pull the jumper over his body to satisfy her crazy needs.

"Happy?"

"Yes," Angelina said and went back to her usual spot on the other side of the fire. "Thank you."

Marcus looked down at his jumper and shifted uncomfortably as if it didn't even belong to him anymore. Here he thought that everything he analyzed about women were correct until Angelina had to go and screw that up. Not even his closest friends would save him from drowning and yet out of everyone to actually do that, it had to be a girl. A Gryffindor girl. His ego was shattered but there was also another feeling; a feeling very alien to Marcus. He battled with himself for several more minutes before growling in frustration. Angelina looked at him in bewilderment. "What?"

"Damn you, woman! Why do you have to make things so damn hard for me?"

Angelina furrowed her eyebrows. "Excuse me?"

"Your whole Gryffindor hero bullshit. My most trusted mates wouldn't have even thought about jumping in and you have to go and pull a stunt like that and you're a girl."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? I know you think you're king of the world but just because I'm a woman doesn't mean I can't think 'gee, someone is drowning. I'd better save them!'. Just drop it, Flint."

She sighed and crossed her arms and stared heatedly into the fire. She was tired of his arrogance already. He didn't even thank her; just whined instead. Marcus, on the other hand, did not see it as arrogance but as a way of life. He grew up with this notion and with good reason considering his family, or lack thereof, was the one who brought him up that way, even if indirectly. Marcus wanted Angelina to realize something that no one else knew about him. He wasn't sure why he chose her. Maybe because she was the first and only person to ever give a shit about him enough to jump into a frozen lake or even give him the time of day. His pride wouldn't let him make that a reason, however. Instead, he just blamed intuition and a sudden and scary trust in the Gryffindor girl who had accompanied him through so much chaos over the nights.

Marcus sighed and glared at the fire. "It was my drunken asshole dad."

Angelina looked up. "What?"

He scribbled in the dirt with his finger reluctantly and glared at her after a moment's pause. "You asked a few nights ago how I could be the way I am. It's the same reason I can't adjust to the thought of a silly girl doing anything more than being a whore, yet she saved my life."

Angelina didn't say anything at first but her eyes asked Marcus to continue. He had her attention and she was curious to hear where this was going. "What...do you mean?"

"Remember how I repeated my eighth year at Hogwarts?"

"Yeah?"

"Everyone thought I failed my NEWTS. I didn't. I skipped them."

Angelina didn't know where he was going with this. She urged him on anyway. "Why?"

Marcus rolled his eyes and stretched his arms in front of him. He really couldn't understand why he was opening up with this personal information. And he wasn't even drunk! "My father was an alcoholic. The great sod would come home every day and beat the shit out of my mum. He did it every day until I was eight. Then one day, he beat her so hard that I felt I needed to step in and stop being a coward. So I did. And he beat the shit out of me too and then left. I never saw him again."

Angelina suddenly felt very awkward. She was beginning to think the lack of oxygen got to Marcus's brain and he was delirious. She didn't know what to say. Instead she crawled back over to his side to listen more intently. Maybe to comfort him if he needed it. "Marcus...I'm..."

"Hang on," he intervened. "The point is: my stupid bitch mum took a beating from him every damn day from the day I was born until the day he left. She never told anyone or took care of it herself. I told her to kill the bastard and she didn't. She'd wait for him every damn night and let my dad hit her. Never raised a wand to him. I could hear him fucking her too. I wanted to kill him. I was going to. But then he left. So, then I thought things would get better. I thought my mum would finally get a job and start actually taking care of her son. Yeah right. I came home from Hogwarts my first year and she was gone. I figured she just couldn't handle her past and took off with some dick or something. Turns out she's now a prostitute. I saw her in London one night. She didn't even recognize me when I tried to get her off the damn corner; she was so drunk."

Angelina was staring at him with wide eyes. She was absolutely mortified and felt a pang of sympathy.

"My dad, however, because of what he did, is where?"

"Azkaban?" Angelina asked in a meek and hopeful voice.

"No," Marcus answered with a sneer. "Last I heard he's making hundreds of galleons selling illegal items in Knockturn Alley and living in a life of luxury. Because of my dumb ass mother, we lost everything. Because of my dumb ass mother, my dad got exactly what he deserved and exactly what she deserved. Because she did nothing, she fucked up my entire family. I had to go live with my daft grandmother and then she died in my seventh year. I didn't have time to take my NEWTS; I was too busy dealing with all this family bullshit. My mother was so damn useless that I don't even think her street corner wanted her. They say a mother and father are supposed to be the 'guiding light' in a child's life. If that's the case, I've learned my lesson. In order for me to become rich, I just have to do exactly what my father did. And he started with treating women exactly like what they are. Useless. Objects to fuck. Objects to order about. And the best part is: women do it. That is why I am the way I am."

Now Angelina wasn't sure if she should feel sad or disgusted. Did Marcus really believe that was all true? She shook her head and stared at him sadly and slightly fearfully. He really was, as it turned out, just a boy. "Marcus...how can you be that naïve?" she whispered.

"Me naïve? Who let my dad beat the shit out of us every day? Who drank herself into a stupor? Who sold herself on a corner because she was too fucking stupid to take care of herself and her son? Don't fucking call me naïve. That stupid bint got everything that was coming to her. And so far I haven't seen a single woman be anything more than what my mum was."

"That's a lie! I'm really sorry that you had a bad childhood, Marcus but not all women are as fucked up as your mother. Maybe all the Slytherin slags you hang around with were but certainly not my friends and certainly not me."

"I know."

"And certainly...what?" Angelina stopped to make sure she heard Marcus right. Her mouth opened and closed for a moment as she tried to comprehend what he just said. "You...know?"

Marcus nodded. "The girls I knew in Slytherin were all slags. And like I said: not a single person, woman or not, would have saved me on that lake. I thought the world was pretty much fucked and that my dad was the key to success. But then I had to fucking get lost in the woods with you, Johnson."

Despite the meaning his words implied, his tone of voice said something completely different. Angelina was confused and speechless. She could tell he was struggling to say something or get to the point and she wasn't sure what it was. "Marcus...what are you trying to say?"

He sighed and slumped his shoulders. "I'm saying thank you...and that you're an all-right...girl."

Marcus glanced at her awkwardly and looked at the fire. His apology was forced but sincere and left Angelina's mind numb. She stared at his profile before scooting a bit closer to him and placing her hand over his. Marcus looked at her with an expression with both regret and relief and there was an instant spark in the air. He had opened up to her and Angelina found it absolutely flattering. No matter how much he denied it, he was a good man. Misguided, but good. Their eyes locked for a moment before darting down to the site of one another's lips. Slowly they closed the gap between them and...

SNAP!

Their heads both turned instantly towards the offending noise. Harvey lifted his head from his sleep as well and stared warily into the trees. Quickly, Marcus reached for his wand and kept it ready to fire. There was another noise this time like the shifting of branches and it came from right above them. Marcus and Angelina looked up and were surprised to find the glare of a red light. They didn't know what it was at first until it aimed off towards the side and they found themselves looking at the profile of a very nervous clabbert. It looked at them again and the red light upon its head illuminated their faces before the creature darted away through the trees.

For a moment, Angelina and Marcus sat there in silence; trying to piece together the last ten minutes. Angelina chewed on the inside of her cheek before taking a deep breath and speaking first. "We should get some sleep," she said and scooted away from Marcus.

Leaning over, she grabbed a few more pieces of wood and added them to the fire before curling up on her side. Marcus gazed at her while she did all this and then looked up at the trees again where the green clabbert once was. Deciding he had moved forward enough for one night, he opted to remain silent as he, too, lay down upon the dirt and had a well-deserved night's sleep.

Angelina had her back to Marcus as she rested her head on her arms and kept awake. She was going over everything Flint had said in her mind and tried to come to terms with his past and the reasoning for his extreme behavior sometimes. But she was also trying to come to terms with the fact that she had been wrong about him for years. Marcus had it pretty bad but despite it all, he still protected and saved her even though he wouldn't admit to it. And she had done nothing before to earn that from him. No deals or paybacks or anything of the sort to make Marcus put aside his Slytherin pride to save her in the forest from day one; a most unexpected trait. She was beginning to think he should have been in Gryffindor despite his aggressiveness.

"Hey Marcus?" Angelina asked quietly.

"What?"

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Marcus said dismissively.

They went silent again until Angelina decided to lighten up the mood and be a bit goofy. Randomly, she thought up a joke. "Hey Marcus?"

He sighed. "What?"

"Who would win in a fight? Angelina's johnson or Oliver's wood?"

Marcus blinked for a moment and wasn't sure if he should be amused or disgusted. Finally, he burst out laughing. "What the fuck are you on about? Go to sleep you daft bint."

Angelina giggled and watched Marcus silently laugh until they both closed their eyes and bid the night farewell.