Game of Survival [HARRY POTTER and SHADOWHUNTERS]

Kavya came back from a sleepover with her friends to find Magnus in the living room, surrounded by a mess of papers, looking more haggard than she had seen in, well, ever.

"Dad?"

He looked up at her voice, and he smiled shakily. "Kaye! Good that you're here! How was the sleepover?" He didn't wait for her to reply before continuing, "Can you help me sort through these papers? I'm trying to find the..."

He trailed off, and yanked out a sheet of paper from the bottom of a pile, causing the entire thing to topple over. Magnus didn't seem to notice as he examined the writing and then sighed, tossing it over his head.

"Magnus?" Kavya had never seen him this hassled. Her father was the most self-assured and confident person she knew, so seeing him like this was concerning. She conjured up a glass of water and held it out.

He drank it and then put it down on some papers, the condensation on the glass staining the first few sheets.

"I can't find it anywhere."

"What?"

He didn't look at her when he replied. "The offer letter from Hogwarts."

Kavya felt herself go still, as horror sluiced through her veins. "No! I'm not going there! You said it was my choice!"

He finally looked at her, and wiped his hand over his face, the blue opal ring glinting in the light. He suddenly looked so, so tired.

"I know I promised that I wouldn't force you to go but there's no other choice. Valentine is back and worse than ever. He just killed a child." His voice broke then. "Sliced the young werewolf's throat in the middle of an alley. I'm not going to let the same happen to you."

Kaye's breath caught in her throat. Someone had died.

"It'll be good for you to go see where your parents are from." he nodded as though he was convinced he was making the right decision. From what I understand, your dad was related to a lot of other full-magic families in England. Maybe you'll meet someone you share blood with. Other than your brother, I mean. It will be good for you to finally meet him."

"You're the only family I need." She leaned down and wrapped herself around him.

He clutched her arms, curling his body protectively around hers. "You're the only one I want." He straightened up and brushed the hair from her eyes. "But you still need to leave. I can't stop him and protect you at the same time. And there are too many people depending on me for me to take you and go someplace safe."

"So you're sending me away?" It was hard to hide the hurt from her voice.

He nodded. "It's for your safety. Don't make me choose between you and every other Downworlder."

She wanted to, she really wanted to. Because she knew, when it came down to it, he would always choose her.

But Kaye couldn't do that. She wasn't a self-sacrificial person by any means but guilt would eat Magnus up alive if he left with her. And the one person she loved beyond all means was her father.

 "Okay." She nodded, although her chest felt hollow at moving and leaving all of her friends behind. "Okay, I'll go."

They found the letter together. Magnus had needed the address on it to use Snowy to send Dumbledore a letter, asking him to let her transfer at the beginning of her third year.

He knew the headmaster would say yes. He had been pressuring Magnus to send her to Hogwarts ever since she turned eleven, and he decided to continue her education at Ilvermony, the best magic school in all of North America.

>>>

Jace Lightwood, or rather Morgenstern, was a great roommate.

He had apparently gotten into trouble with the Enclave, the Shadowhunter bosses, and had to stay in their apartment for the foreseeable future.

Kavya hoped he would have to stay forever. And not just because he was incredibly attractive and her skin turned the color of her hair when he laughed. 

When she told Magnus that - the first part, she wasn't insane enough to speak the second aloud - he rolled his eyes and told her, in a minimally stern voice, that she was too young to be dating, and if the bloody Jonas kept putting any such ideas in her head, he would turn him into a toad. 

Kavya was only somewhat sure that Magnus knew Jace's name was Jace.

 He adored having everything neat and organized and was only too happy to clean Kavya's room for her once she threatened him with Bubbles.

Bubbles was her pet snake, a Bungarus fasciatus to be exact. She was extremely venomous but Kaye had protested to Magnus against letting her get defanged once she found out just how painful the process was. Magnus had bought her when she was six, right before she started first grade. 

But honestly, what seventeen-year-old got scared by a pet named Bubbles?

He slept in their spare room - a medium-sized den with smudged walls, velvet curtains drawn across the windows, and cloth-draped armchairs. His bed was a hot-pink couch made up with sheets and a blanket.

Kavya was sprawled across one of the armchairs, her back curled up against one of the arms, and her legs draped over the other. Jace was sitting next to her, dutifully holding the bowl of popcorn between them so that she could easily reach.

They were both staring at the flickering television screen, which glowed brightly despite the fact that the television itself was not plugged in.

"What's on?" Magnus inquired. Kavya turned to see him entering the room, followed by the Shadowhunter group minus the girl who was her favorite after Clary.

"What Not to Wear," Jace drawled. He shook his head at the screen. "High-waisted khaki pants? Who wears those?" 

Not only hot, but a great fashion sense too. Was there anything he couldn't do?

He turned and glared at Magnus. "Nearly unlimited supernatural power," he said, "and all you do is use it to watch reruns. What a waste."

"Also, TiVo accomplishes much the same thing," pointed out the rat-turned-boy. Or was it boy-turned-rat?

"Nice to see you looking... human." Kavya snickered as the boy pursed his lips, pushing his glasses further up his nose. Jace leaned over, and gave her a high-five, causing heat to rise to her cheeks.

"My way is cheaper." Magnus clapped his hands together and the room was suddenly flooded with light. She squealed at the intrusion and raised an arm to cover her face. "Can you do that without magic?"

"Actually," said rat-boy, "yes. If you watched infomercials, you'd know that."

"That's enough," Clary said. Kavya lowered her arm and blinked resentfully into the light. "We need to talk," she said. "All of us. About what we're going to do now."

"Well, we are going to watch Project Runway," Kaye protested, not wanting Jace to leave. "It's on next."

"No you're not," said Magnus. He snapped his fingers and the TV went off, releasing a small puff of smoke as the picture died. "You need to deal with this. And you," He turned to Kavya, "Have had enough TV for the day."

"It's holidays!" She huffed, stuffing a handful of popcorn into her mouth. "You'll regret denying me anything when I'm halfway across the country in a few weeks."

"You're moving?" Alec turned to Magnus, an unrecognizable emotion flashing on his face.

Clearly, the boy was not winning any competitions for his listening abilities any time soon. Kavya rolled her eyes at him. "I'm moving. Boarding school in Scotland."

"Why?"

Bloody hell, this guy was an idiot. "Because there's a big bad man running around trying to kill everyone. And for some insane reason, I would like to not be killed."

"Oh."

Kavya had to close her eyes and pray that stupidity wasn't a disease that was airborne.

"Suddenly you're interested in solving my problems?" Jace asked, turning the conversation back to him like the diva he was.

"I'm interested in getting my apartment back. I'm tired of you cleaning all the time." Magnus snapped his fingers again, menacingly. More like Magnus was tired of having to share the spotlight. "Get up."

"Or you'll be the next one to go up in smoke," said little ratty with relish. 

"There's no need to clarify my finger snap," said Magnus. "The implication was clear in the snap itself."

"Fine." Jace got up out of the chair. "You want a round table meeting, we can have a round table meeting."

"I love round tables," said Magnus brightly. "They suit me so much better than square."

In the living room, Magnus conjured up an enormous circular table surrounded by five high-backed wooden chairs. 

"That's amazing," Clary said, sliding into a chair. "How can you create something out of nothing like that?"

"You can't," said Magnus. "Everything comes from somewhere. These come from an antiques reproduction store on Fifth Avenue, for instance. And these-" suddenly six white waxed paper cups appeared on the table, steam rising gently from the holes in their plastic lids "-come from Dean & DeLuca on Broadway."

"That seems like stealing, doesn't it?" The rat from Ratatouille pulled a cup toward him. He drew the lid back. "Ooh. Mochaccino." He looked at Magnus. "Did you pay for these?"

"Sure," said Magnus, while Jace and Alec snickered. "I make dollar bills magically appear in their cash register."

"Really?"

"No." Kaye took a sip of her hot chocolate. "But you can pretend he did if it makes you feel better. So, first order of business is what?"

Magnus shook his head, his finger pointed to the general direction of her room. "Absolutely not."

She took her drink as she made her way to her room, mumbling about how she never got to take part in anything fun.

I can bite them all, and then you and I can go on all the adventures we want the moment their hearts stop, Bubbles promised the moment Kaye entered her room, her voice a hiss.

Kavya laughed at the support, twisting her hair around a finger. Next time. She promised.