Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything in affiliation with the series. This goes for all future chapters.

A/N: Yay. Another update. This one is somewhat short, but it's only part 1 and things get into motion now. I'm excited! Lol. Anyway, part 2 will come soon. So stay tuned. Thanks to my reviews of last chapter and thanks for all other past reviewers and future ones. Don't forget to do it again :)

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End ofChapter 3: Forgotten

Well, then, if there's no one else…" he paused again, but no one said anything. "I'll take you back to my camp where there's food and water."

And with his new band of followers, Charlie made his way back to the conservation.

- - - - -

Thousands of miles away two forgotten members lay deep in the thicket of the forest looking for their group.


The Strength In The Wild

By Crzyangelchic

Chapter 4: Wanted - Part I

Alan stood frozen to the spot, wanting to look away, but unable to. His cheeks were burning red, and he wondered how he had enough blood left to heat his face—and make other parts of him heated as well.

His hand shook a little, the cup of tea he still clenched completely forgotten to him. He knew he should look away, back away slowly and pretend he didn't see anything. But he just couldn't.

Angelina Johnson was bathing. Well, she wasn't actually bathing at the moment; she was merrily playing a rolling game with a rabbit from the surrounding woods. But she no doubt had been bathing because she was gloriously naked.

He watched as she rolled an acorn towards the rabbit, who kept a safe distance. Her back was to him and he took great notice of her long legs, curvaceous hips and even how gracefully her back arched. Her coppery skin seemed healthy and vibrant in the sunlight. She laughed as the rabbit took a dainty sniff of the acorn and pushed at it with its paw. Then it ran back into the trees. She looked dejected, then turned around back towards the lake. Alan almost gasped out loud at the sight of her full nudity before him. Yes they have been living together for eight years, but he had never seen her in less than undergarments. He had to admit that those ragged clothes did nothing to help her figure. She was truly beautiful.

She reached down to splashed water over herself. Alan bit back a groan as she stood up again and the early morning light glistened on her skin. Not paying attention, he spilled the hot tea all over his hand. He let out a hiss and just managed to duck away as she turned sharply his way.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid," he chanted to himself as he jogged the way back to the cave they were camping out in. But he admitted that he'd give more than his left hand to see all of that again, and to do more.

He hoped she hadn't seen him. He really hadn't meant to walk in on her. She was already gone when he had woken this morning. He made tea and waited for her, but she didn't come back. He tracked her footsteps and before he knew it, he was at the small lake they had stumbled upon a couple days ago. Maybe he did know where he was heading but he had been too far in to change his mind then.

He preoccupied himself pouring more tea. His hand barely stung anymore and as he took his place back alongside the fire, he couldn't help but wonder why nothing ever did develop between him and his wood companion. After all, he reasoned, they were stuck in the harsh wilderness together, alone, and lost. He was sure she knew he was interested in her and they could both use some comforting.

He sat there waiting for her as his cheeks burned red again and his body reacted to the memory of her wet, nudity. He decided that maybe it was time he took some action. Make a move. Even though at the moment, he admitted, he was in no position to move at all.

As silent as the wind, fully-clothed Angelina stepped into the cave and walked over to him. Catching a glimpse of her shadow, Alan jumped and quickly lowered the cup of tea to his lap, covering himself.

He was sure he was probably even more red in the face, but he hoped the dim lighting of the cave covered most of it.

"Want some tea?" he asked innocently. No hint of embarrassment laced his question and he wondered why he never took up acting.

"Sure" she answered, just as smoothly. Then she dropped down beside him to have some much desired tea.

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Charlie stumbled along the dark hallway, cursing himself for leaving his wand back in his room. His bladder was about to burst and he swore loudly when he ran into a box that had been left lying around. Why the hell is this dump such a bloody mess, he grumbled to himself. When he finally found the bathroom, he sighed in relief, grateful he had made it there in one piece—more or less. He was just washing up at the sink and thinking to go right back to bed, he would have to be up early in the morning, when he heard whispered voices. Well, not even whispered. Someone was whispering, but at least two other people were not making much of an effort to keep their voices down.

"Well, how am I supposed to act?"

Charlie stopped on his way out the bathroom and leaned an ear towards where the voices were coming from.

Someone was whispering in response to the question, but Charlie couldn't make out the words.

Another voice spoke out loud again. This one was soft and feminine, and somewhat frightened. "Well, he definitely won't give us back the wand. How can we really trust him?"

Charlie realized they were talking about him and, curiosity peaked, started heading down the hall towards the room with the voices.

There came the whispering again but Charlie just couldn't hear the words.

"Jerry, you can't seriously be thinking of just leaving them there! I wouldn't have thought it of you."

"I would." Came the female voice again in an offhanded way.

Leave who? Charlie wondered. He couldn't even figure out whose conversation he was listening to. He didn't know Jerry nor did he recognize any of the voices.

The first voice spoke again, after a long tirade of whispering that Charlie didn't hear.

"Well, your damned right he wont give you the wand back. Who would? Letting off a stunner at a dragon. Sometimes I swear you're mad Jer—"

He was cut off by angry whispering.

Then the girl spoke. "I don't know about you two but if we're going to try and find Lina and Alan we need to tell someone now!"

The room went quiet.

Finally the whisperer found his voice and asked the all important question. "How do you know they're still alive, anyway?"

So they did leave someone behind. And now they wanted to go back and find them? Charlie let out a sigh. It was too late now. It had been days since they had showed up in Romania. The magic that brought them here had probably lost all its traces by now. Charlie did feel bad that they hadn't told him sooner, though. He hated to think of them leaving two of their members to die…and that's if they aren't already gone.

The woman's voice came again. "Well we won't know unless we look, will we? It was your foolishness and bullheaded stubbornness that made us leave without looking for them anyway."

"Hey, I don't know what that spell was that brought us here, but I didn't do it. Plus, Elisa was more against looking for them than I was. 'The Code, the Code, the Code,'" he imitated the high voice of the young girl that had spoken to Charlie that first time with the dragon.

The room seemed to sigh as one.

"The Code…" the two other voices said in unison.

And then after some time, "So what do you suppose we do then, Jerry?"

Charlie waited anxiously, somehow tied up in the story now.

With a great sigh, he simply answered, "We do nothing." The other two started to complain right away. "Until…," he continued shushing them, "until we get the wand back and…and then we can take it from there."

The woman let out a disbelieving humph, but there seemed an end to the conversation.

Charlie made his way back to his room, thinking over what he had just heard. He didn't know what that man planned on doing if he got the wand back. It's doubtful if the portal will work backwards and take them back to England. And that's if they can still trace the spell. All that time may have sucked up its energy. Charlie gave a last sad thought to the two forgotten members, and quietly drifted into sleep.

- - - - - - -

The next day seemed to go as usual. Charlie woke with the morning sun, knowing that it was the time when the dragons were most awake. He headed out towards the pastures, meeting another dragon keeper along the way. They traded insults, picked out a dragon for the morning, and then went their separate ways to do the morning "dragon taming". Charlie jumped onto his broom, waving over his shoulder at his crewmate and headed towards the pen of a beautiful Peruvian Vipertooth. Its smooth copper-colored hide shone brightly in the rising sun. Unlike Shelly, this dragon was full grown, and although small in breed, all 20 feet of him was dangerous. Especially his venomous fangs. Charlie knew this dragon well though, and loved the work out that came with trying to tame dragons.

After wrestling with death for the morning, Charlie had showered and then headed in to the main dining tent to grab a cup of coffee and start the real work for the day.

It was shortly after noon when Charlie was coming in from fixing a glitch with one of the boundary wards that a tall, determined-looking woman strode up to him. Charlie knew her as one of the refugees but had never spoken to her before.

"Can I help you?" he asked politely, though a little weary.

She stared intensely into his eyes, then grabbed his hand and stuffed a piece of paper in it.

Confused, he opened the paper to see a drawing of a woman on the left, and a then another drawing of a man.

"We need you to find them."

Charlie looked up at the woman. He recognized her voice now from the night before. He guessed that she probably went against that Jerry guy, but he wasn't sure he could help her.

"We…left them back in England." She continued in a rush, mistaking his silence as a sign of refusal. "I know they must still be alive. Lina's the most clever out of all of us. And Alan's with her. He's…well…at least he wouldn't leave her. And she wouldn't leave him. And she'd never leave one of —,"

"Ok, ok. Let me just, sit down a while." It was incredibly draining to work all morning on fixing ward magic.

He led her to the dining tent and took a seat at one of the long wooden tables. He was just wondering what to have for lunch, and how to tell her he wouldn't be able to find them, when something in the picture caught his eye.

The woman in the drawing looked strangely familiar. It was a very good drawing, portrait-like and filled with detail. Something about the smile, and the one dimple in the cheek. He could've sworn he'd seen that smile before.

"Hmm. What did you say was her name again?" he asked, pointing at the lady.

"Lina." She saw him questioning further with his eyes. "Lina…uh, well we don't really know her last name. We're all fugitives you know. Running away and all that. We don't really care to be connected to our old selves." She paused and thought for a second. "I think it started with a 'J' though. Lina J." She looked back at him, "Sorry if that doesn't help."

He didn't look back at her, just kept looking at the picture. He didn't notice how her eyes roved over him. He was quite handsome. And although he wasn't too trusted by the refugees, he did spark an interested in the female members. After all the starving and living in the wilderness, he looked like a god to them: flaming red hair that looked to be fire in the sunlight; broad, strong shoulders covered in those freckles that covered his whole body and made him look ever more tan than he was; and most importantly he had very kissable lips. Those kissable lips were turned down in a frown now though, as he tried to remember who the hell was this lady that looked somewhat familiar.

Somehow, looking at her kept reminding him of his family. And that unsettled him to no end.

"No, I don't know who it is. But it doesn't matter…uh?"

"Susan," she answered with a flutter of her lashes.

"Uh, right, Susan. I don't think there's any trace of the magic left out there to find what spell you used to get here."

She looked so disappointed, Charlie looked away.

"But couldn't you try anyway. Please, Charlie, we never should have left her there. And I just feel like she's alive, I just know it."

He hadn't thought she knew his name. He looked from her concerned eyes back down at the paper. The portrait woman smiled back at him, dimpling just one cheek. Suddenly a flash of a memory of the twins popped into his heads and he had to squeeze his eye shut to get it out. When he looked back up, Susan was still watching him.

"Oh, Okay, I'll try the tracing charm tomorrow morning when I'm heading that way. But I can't promise you anything. I'm…uh, sorry for your loss."

He tried to give the paper back to her, but she stopped his hand. "No, you keep it. Just find them, okay? Bring them back here."

And just as quickly as she'd come, she left, taking long strides back to the sleeping tents. Charlie slipped the paper into his pocket, not putting too much hope into finding either lost member. But he didn't know how very haunting those familiar eyes and smile would be.


A/N: What do you think? Will Charlie get to save her? And what's with Alan and Angie :winks: Please review!

Second half of "Wanted" coming REAL soon. And finally, Charlie meets Angelina.