A/N: --sheepishly looks at reader-- well now…well, yes. This chapter was to come "soon" but yeah, I have been hell-a busy with classes and exams and life. So I shant promise anything else (because I'll probably break it) BUT, I am on Spring Break so maybe, just maybe, there's potential for quicker updates. Wish me luck! But please do read. It's part 2 of Wanted. Tell me what you think.

Also, thanks to my reviews of last chapter (and those before)! You all rock my sock and keep me going. Don't forget to do it again. :-)

Chapter 4 (Revisited): Wanted- Part I

Alan:
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.

The Group:
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?"

Charlie:
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.


The Strength In The Wild

By Crzyangelchic

Chapter 5: Wanted- Part II

Angelina wasn't sure how she really felt about this supposed date with Alan. He insisted that it wasn't a date and that they really were just there to enjoy looking at the stars, munching on dried berries and sipping on their version of iced tea. But as Angelina settled deeper into the crook of Alan's arms and gazed at the beautiful array of stars, she wondered if his intentions didn't really lie in the zone of trying to—seduce her? Angelina could almost laugh at the idea. Not Alan. But he had been acting weird all day. She figured it was having him stumble upon her early-morning bath at the lake. At first she was all Ms. Propriety and embarrassed indignation, but then, thinking about it, it wasn't something so unnatural. She wondered how a band of a dozen people didn't happen to encounter times of encroached privacy more often. Though, she did remind herself, many members gave up theirs willingly by becoming intimate with others in the group.

"So, uh, you comfortable, Li?"

Angelina smiled at his shy question and turned to nuzzle his neck and settle in deeper into his embrace.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm enjoying the whole romantic midnight snack and stargazing thing."

There was a pause where Angelina was sure Al was blushing, but as she was lying alongside him she couldn't see.

"What romance? Just two friends lying and looking at stars. Same stars we've always admired living out in the wild. That's all," he said at last.

But Angelina could feel his heart racing and suspected he really did take this stargazing to be something more. She wondered if he would mention the bathing incident of that morning. Just yesterday she would've definitely said he wouldn't; Al's always been the reserved, bashful type. But then again, she wouldn't have foreseen herself laying in his arms gazing at stars as he slowly and surreptitiously caressed her arm. And definitely wouldn't have expected the peeking incident this morning. Alan was turning out to be quite the bold fellow.

"Though, if you wanted to be something more, I'm up for it—"

Buying time, Angelina pretended not to hear. "What's that, Al?"

She gave a mighty stretch and, giving up stargazing, turned onto her side so that she was tucked within the curve of his neck and shoulder. He was warm and secure, making her feel she could fall into a deep and comfortable slumber. She put her arm around his chest and felt his hand move down to the small of her back. She felt his breathing grow a little shallower and fought the urge to smile into his neck. She should probably stop playing with the poor guy's feelings. But she did wonder why she didn't just give in and become, well, intimate with him.

He cleared his throat, probably deciding whether he should repeat what he had said or not.

"I think you heard me," he said seriously "and I want to know what you think."

She wasn't expecting that.

He leaned up to rest on his elbow and look down on her. She immediately missed the warmth that he had been supplying.

She kept her eyes closed and faked sleep though she knew he'd never buy that. In honesty, she just wasn't sure what she felt or what to do with him. She was in a good mood, lying here with him and letting him caress and hold her, but she just didn't know yet.

"Lina, look at me." His tone was soft but commanding.

Angelina felt herself conceding to this new, in-control Alan. She opened her eyes to a mesmerizing site of Alan's face framed against a backdrop of a billion stars. The site was captivating and following the look in his compassionate eyes, she allowed him to tilt her head back and before she had fully closed her eyes, his lips touched hers.

- - - - - - -

Charlie raced through the chilly morning air on his broom, feeling his heart beat fast against his constricted chest.

Lina. Lina? Why didn't he see? Angelina.

The ground blurred beneath him in the predawn darkness and it was a wonder he managed to fly in the correct direction. He saw the mountain up ahead getting closer and felt his heart beat even faster as uncertainty crept into his consciousness. He had to find that spell.

It had all started out with a dream, common enough at first, with dragons and the crewmates and the reservation. Then it had turned into a nightmare, filled with dark cloaked figures and freshly dug mounds of dirt brandishing headstones that marked the loss of the battle against Evil. He stood by two that, even in death, was somehow more identical to each other than the other fresh graves surrounding them. Fred Weasley and George Weasley—along with words of remembrance and dates so finite it ached to look at. And always the feeling of guilt that seemed to palpably be standing next to him looking down at the identical graves as he was. But then a new face had popped into view just across the grave yard, watching from a distance. There stood the girl in the portrait—just as she was drawn, with a dimple flashing in one cheek and a reserved, yet radiating smile. Along with the impropriety of her smiling in this gloomy gloomy time, was the fact that she was dressed in Quidditch robes of red and gold. Her smile and attire irked him and he was about to call out to her when she turned around and started walking towards the edge of the graveyard, away from him. That's when he saw the named written on the back of her uniform. Unlike the common practice of putting last names, her jacket specifically said 'Angelina'. Angelina. Before he could chase after her, he was sitting up in the darkness of his room, shivering in cold sweat and fighting against the remnants of the dream.

It had taken him less than 5 minutes to dress and get his broom. Grabbing the two wands, his and the one he had confiscated from Jerry, he dashed out into the night.

Lina. No, not Lina, but Angelina.

Charlie finally reached the spot after what seemed to take hours. He casted a quick spell to shrink his broom and hastily shoved it into his pocket.

We're all fugitives you know. Running away and all that. We don't really care to be connected to our old selves.

Angelina was there—had been there with this group of people. He had thought that practically all ties to his family had been lost. He had lost almost everyone in the fight if not shortly after it. But Angelina. He hadn't recognized her at once but that smile and those eyes followed him into his dreams and he was determined to save at least one person of his past. He figured the motto, 'a little too late', may come into play here, but he wouldn't, couldn't, allow for another person to quietly slip out of his life and past as if…as if he too were dead.

He tried to get as close to the spot as possible where he had found the group of people almost a week ago. He cursed himself for not waiting until morning to at least get more information from Susan about the spell instead of fumbling around in the darkness now. He was really praying for a miracle, here. He didn't know the exact position the spell had spewed out the group nor did he have much faith in the traces of the energy of the spell still being there.

But he prayed anyway.

Using his wand, he touched his tip to that of the one that had casted the spell and concentrated hard on the most powerful tracing spell he could think of. When the two tips began to glow red from the tracing spell, he pulled the wands apart leaving a streak of red line between the wands. The tracing spell mimicked that of the Priori Incantatem spell, except instead of showing the last spell the wand performed (which wouldn't have helped him much since the last spell was the stunner Jerry fired at the dragon), a strong tracing spell was able to act as a record keeper, not only finding the strength and location of the last spell, but able to reincarnate the spell based on the energy traces the spell had left. Which is why having so much time pass after the spell was performed provided a giant obstacle. Even if Charlie found the location and type of spell, he might not be able to recreate it and get to Britain.

He pulled the two wands wide apart and swung the arc the red streak created in a wide circle. When nothing happened, he did it again, spinning first clockwise then counterclockwise. He was just starting to think all traces of the magic were gone when finally a small silvery dot appeared to his right. Hardly daring to believe, he kept swinging his red arc of light until the silvery light opened wider into a portal of swirling color. He broke the arc of light between wands and jumped into the portal, disappearing without a second thought to where the flash of lights and sounds would lead him.

- - - - - - -

It was hopeless.

Alan agreed with Angelina's decision to simply move on and find shelter in a new and higher cave than the vulnerable one they had stayed in for the past couple days. It had been over a week since they'd seen their group, and in a wilderness like this, it was likely they may never meet them again. After all, they had barely met any other groups like theirs in all eight years; all the hiding mountain people operated by stealth. Alan hated the thought of surviving with just him and Angelina. Living in the mountains required the combined effort of a group of people, each adding their own asset to the group. He feared how long he and Angelina would last, traveling in such small numbers.

He glanced at his companion walking along beside him. Her hair was pulled back from her face in a messy bun and she looked hot and tired. Sweat clung to her neck and chest and she had dirt smudges by her ear lobe.

She was beautiful.

He thought of last night and still couldn't believe how bold he had become. He had promised earlier that day that he'd finally make his move. He'd finally tell her how he felt and express his feelings and desire to be with her. What he was most surprised about was that she had complied.

They were not as intimate as he had hoped, but he knew that there would be time for that later. He was just happy to have been able to express his wanting and feel it reciprocated.

He continued staring at her, wanting more than ever to feel her lips beneath his again and feel her warm body against his. He kept staring, waiting for her to look back at him, but she continued looking around the forest.

"If you keep looking at me and not watching where you're going, you're going to walk into a tree," she said with a smile, still not looking at him.

"It'll be worth it," he said in response, still waiting for her to look at him.

The next moment, not looking where he's going, his foot snagged on a half buried stone and he lurched forward. Angelina just managed to grab on to him and they both fell to the ground, she landing on top of him.

"See," he said wryly, grunting against the pain of the fall, "this was my plan all along."

She laughed as he pulled her down for a kiss. But as the kiss turned deeper she pulled away and stood up. Trying not to show his disappointment, he smiled up at her and extended a hand, letting her pull him back to his feet. He was tempted to kiss her again, but she was in a weird mood, resisting his advances all morning somewhat. They continued on the path as she pulled a hand-drawn map from her knapsack to check their position.

"We'll turn here." She checked the map again. "There's a stream coming up. We can rest there a little."

They had been walking all day and Alan looked forward to this rest. They would finally get a chance to talk. Or snog. Or shag. Whatever she wanted, he thought as his face started to turn red again.

At the stream she splashed water on herself, trying to cool her skin and wash away the sweat. He followed her lead and then he settled back against a large rock to wait for her to join him. She stood up from her washing and just looked out towards the surrounding trees. He was just about to call her over when she ducked down again and swung wide, frightened eyes to him. Alan knew what was wrong right away.

There was someone there. A surge of protectiveness swelled within him and his only thought was to get Angelina safely away.

Ducking low too, he ran over to her but she was already headed towards the shelter of two boulders resting against each other. Just as they dove behind them, a rustle of leaves brought the intruder into the clearing where they were just washing themselves.

Alan could feel Angelina trembling beside him and it took everything in him not to follow suit. He was scare out of his wits, but he had to protect her. They crouched behind the boulder, not daring to breathe, and prayed that whoever—whatever—it was it would leave soon.

But they heard no evidence of the intruder moving on, no rustle of leaves or footsteps. It seemed to be moving as stealthily as they did. Did it possibly see them before they had a chance to hide? Maybe it had been watching them the whole time. Alan leaned his head against Angelina's lowered one, afraid to even think of the consequences of them being caught.

Then they heard it.

The intruder's breathing could be heard nearby, as if it was right behind the boulder. Somewhere inside him, Alan felt the strength of a creature he had never experienced before. And he realized that he would fight for her—even to his death. He let himself ride on that emotion, ready to strike out at the second the situation called for it.

"Angelina?"

It was the most unexpected thing to hear. The question was soft-spoken and uncertain. Alan, still riding the new emotions of desperation and fear-laced strength, was even more surprised when his companion in his arms started to extract herself and move, almost in a trance, towards the front of the boulder. He grabbed her; afraid she'd reveal them in the hiding place.

"Angelina, is that you?"

Angelina? What was this intruder talking about? Alan wondered. The creature inside him was subsiding as his brain struggled to make sense of all of this. Angelina slowly extracted herself and went towards the end of the boulder again and this time he was just a bit too late to stop her.

"Lina!" he whispered urgently, racing after her. He came to a dead stop at the site that greeted him.

A wizard, by the look of the robes he wore, stood by the bank of the stream, holding a wand in one hand and a broom in the other. His robe was not the black of the dark wizards that roamed the streets asking for papers, nor did it carry the Dark Mark emblem on the front like those did. Flaming red hair shown brightly in the midday sunlight and his dark green eyes seemed locked onto Angelina. Alan finally looked towards his companion to see her frozen, trance-like looking back at the wizard.

"Ange—Angelina? Oh Angie," the wizard said at last, moving towards her.

Alan immediately moved between the wizard and Angelina and he felt her cling to his back. He didn't know who this wizard was but he had upset her and Alan could feel that creature stirring inside him again.

He eyed the stranger's wand suspiciously. He didn't trust wands anymore and he didn't trust this man.

The stranger seemed to have just noticed that Angelina was not alone now that Alan was clearly blocking her view from him. The scene seemed frozen in that way. The two men glaring at each other. He gave Alan a look of confusion then tried for a reassuring smile.

Alan didn't trust that bloody smile either. He was still contemplating what to do about this stranger when Angelina stepped out from behind him, the trance-like look gone from her eyes. Alan watched as she took a step towards the wizard, and then within a second, had launched herself into his arms.

Alan stood by watching as he felt his creature let out a whine of hurt and then it shrunk into the smallest atom of nothingness. Alan stood by watching, thinking, he didn't trust this man.


A/N: What do you think? Please review!

Also, how do you suppose they will get back to Romania? Don't forget to review. :-)