Game of Survival [HARRY POTTER and SHADOWHUNTERS]

"Do you have everything you need?"

Kavya rolled her eyes at Magnus, and hoisted her tiny bag further up on her shoulders. "I was ready the last five times you asked me that."

"Yes, but you're going to a different continent without me. As your father, I do have a right to be worried."

She rolled her eyes again, "Minnie's coming with me. It'll be fine."

Her father muttered something about teenage angst and how he couldn't wait for her to grow out of this phase just as the doorbell rang.

She darted up from the couch and threw the door open, ignoring Magnus' warnings to be careful, and who knows, it could have been Valentine on the other side.

"Minnie!" Sure enough, it was Minerva McGonagall standing outside, tapping her feet impatiently on the 'Welcome' mat. Kaye launched herself into her arms and Minerva took a step back with the force before wrapping her arms tightly around the girl.

"Hey, Kaye, Magnus." Minnie greeted, pulling away from her to kiss Magnus on both cheeks in the way that adults sometimes did when they wanted to appear fancier than they actually were.

Minerva was her favorite of her father's friends, with Tessa and Catarina tied in close second and Ragnor in dead last. She was also a witch who taught at Hogwarts and was close to her birth parents before they were killed, although Kaye never asked her about that, and she never offered. She came to tea every couple of months and - in true teacher fashion - tested her on her magic skills and knowledge.

Kavya already had Minnie's handbag in her arms and was hunting through it, searching for the Fudge Flies she always bought for her. She never understood why the chocolates weren't available in New York.

By the time Minnie and Magnus had finished catching up, she had already eaten three chocolates and was in the midst of unwrapping her fourth.

"Are you ready?"

She nodded, smiling with her mouth wide. Minnie grimaced at her chocolate-stained teeth and muttered a teeth-cleaning spell, before holding onto Kavya's hand and apparating to Diagon Alley in small stretches at a time.

>>>

"Welcome," said Minnie, "to Diagon Alley."

She grinned at Kaye's amazement.

The sun shone brightly on a stack of cauldrons outside the nearest shop. Cauldrons - All Sizes - - Copper, Brass, Pewter, Silver - Self-Stirring - Collapsible, said a sign hanging over them.

She turned his head in every direction as they walked up the street, trying to look at everything at once: the shops, the things outside them, the people doing their shopping. A plump woman outside an Apothecary was shaking her head as they passed, saying, "Dragon liver, sixteen Sickles an ounce, they're mad. . . ."

A low, soft hooting came from a dark shop with a sign saying Eeylops Owl Emporium - Tawny, Screech, Barn, Brown, and Snowy. Several boys a bit younger than her had their noses pressed against a window with broomsticks in it.

There were shops selling robes, shops selling telescopes and strange silver instruments - some of which she had never seen before - and windows stacked with barrels of bat spleens and eels' eyes, tottering piles of spell books, quills, and rolls of parchment, potion bottles, globes of the moon...

"Do you have your letters?"

Kavya nodded and pulled out the three sheets of paper.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL

of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Ms Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry beginning your third year as a transfer student from Ilvermony. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

HOGWARTS SCHOOL

of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

UNIFORM

Every student will require:

1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)

2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear

3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)

4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)

Please note that all pupil's clothes should carry name tags

COURSEBOOKS

All students should have a copy of each of the following:

The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 3 by Miranda Goshawk

Unfogging the Future by Cassandra Vablatsky (if studying Divination)

Intermediate Transfiguration by Emeric Switch

The Monster Book of Monsters (if studying Care of Magical Creatures)

Numerology and Grammatica (if studying Arithmancy)

Home Life and Social Habits of British Muggles by Wilhelm Wigworthy (if studying Muggle Studies)

Spellman's Syllabary (if studying Study of Ancient Runes]

The Essential Defence Against the Dark Arts by Arsenius Jigger

OTHER EQUIPMENT

1 wand

1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)

1 set glass or crystal phials

1 telescope

1 set brass scales

Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS

Dear Ms. Potter,

Please note that the new school year will begin on September the first. The Hogwarts Express will leave from King's Cross station, platform nine and three-quarters, at eleven o'clock.

Third years are permitted to visit the village of Hogsmeade on certain weekends. Please give the enclosed permission form to your parent or guardian to sign.

A list of books for next year is enclosed.

Yours sincerely,

Deputy Headmistress

Professor M. Mc Gonagall

"You don't need the first and third one," Minerva stated, looking over the papers. "Which of these do you already own?"

"I have the gloves from the uniform section," Kaye bit back her comment that who even wore pointed hats in this day and age? And robes? And cloaks? This wasn't the 1800s where even the flash of an ankle was scandalous. "I used The Standard Book of Spells and Intermediate Transfiguration for books last year, and I already own everything from other equipment."

She nodded and slashed her wand a few times, thick black lines appearing over the items they didn't need to buy. "Remind me, what subjects are you taking?"

"Transfigurations, Charms, Potions, History of Magic, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Astronomy, and Herbology. And for my electives, Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures, and Ancient Runes."

She raised a brow, "Not muggle studies?'

Kaye shrugged, "Seemed a bit redundant since I've covered everything already in Ilvermony."

"Alright then," More slashes appeared over the names of the books for the subjects she wasn't taking. "Do you want to stop by Gringotts, first? The Wizards' Bank," she explained at Kaye's confused look. "Your parents left you and Harry quite a bit of gold so we can get some money for you to buy your books with."

"My father already gave me money." She stated plainly, pointing to her bag. "I don't need anything from them."

Minerva looked at her quite curiously, before shaking her head. "We can get your uniform first. Cross out the first few things on the list with that." She nodded toward Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. They entered the shop and Minnie stayed near the front, letting Kaye get herself sorted whilst staying close incase she needed help.

Madam Malkin was a squat, smiling witch dressed all in mauve.

"Hogwarts, dear?" she said, when Kaye started to speak. She tilted her head, "I don't think I've seen you before."

"I'm a transfer," She explained. "Third year."

"That's nice!" She smiled and stood Kaye on a stool in the back of the shop, slipped a long robe over her head, and began to pin it to the right length. "Where are you from? Your accent's amazing."

"New York. I used to go to Ilvermony."

Madam Malkin nodded and continued asking her all sorts of questions before sighing. "That's you done, my dear."

"Thanks."

She walked to the front of the shop to see Minnie waiting with a little packet of parchment and quills. Because using pen and paper was too much like the muggle riff-raff for the students at Hogwarts. There was a bottle of ink that changed color as you wrote, which Kaye rather liked.

They bought school books in a shop called Flourish and Blotts where the shelves were stacked to the ceiling with books as large as paving stones bound in leather; books the size of postage stamps in covers of silk; books full of peculiar symbols and a few books with nothing in them at all.

Minerva almost had to drag away from Curses and Counter-curses (Bewitch Your Friends and Befuddle Your Enemies with the Latest Revenges: Hair Loss, Jelly-Legs, Tongue-Tying and Much, Much More) by Professor Vindictus Viridian.

"Do you think we could go there?"

Minnie looked to where Kavya was pointing at the sign for Gambol and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop. She sighed and tapped her foot on the ground. "Alright, but only for a bit. I have to go run some errands for Hogwarts so the moment I come back, we'll go back to your home."

She grinned. "Alright, thanks."

Gambol and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop was run by a man with a white beard and a mustache.

Kavya was examining the collection of Dr Filibuster's Fabulous Wet-Start, No-Heat Fireworks, when she felt someone behind her.

They were two tall and lanky boys with carrot-orange hair and freckles. Twins. "They set off when wet with water."

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes, "I kind of understood that from 'Wet-Start'."

The one on the left grinned at her. "I'm Fred Weasley," he tilted his head to his brother next to him, "This is George."

"Kaye." She offered and smiled.

"Do you come here often?" George asked, leaning against one of the shelves. "I haven't seen you at Hogwarts before."

She chuckled at the awful attempt at flirting. "I'm a third-year transfer."

"That explains your accent." Fred nodded. "Where are you from?"

"Ilvermony. It's a school up in America."

They nodded again, in sync. It was a little freaky.

George looked at the time and then swore, before looking at her in apology. For swearing. What backwater world had she agreed to join?

"We better get going. Mum's going to blow a gasket if we show up late again."

"Alright then, I'll see you around school."

They both waved, again in sync, before disappearing round a corner. "See you, Kavya Potter. Don't worry, we won't tell anyone the truth."

She stiffened. She wasn't supposed to let anyone know who she really was. Although, if they were to be believed, no one else would know.

Minnie chose that exact moment to reappear, holding her hand out, as she adjusted her paper bag to her other hand. "Ready?"

>>>

"Magnus?"

Something was wrong. She could feel it in the air.

"In here." She didn't recognize that voice. She gripped her wand in one hand and her thickest new book Numerology and Grammatica as she made her way to her father's bedroom.

Alec was leaning over Magnus, who was lying down limp on the bed.

"What did you do to him?" She almost cast a Bat-Bogey hex at him but Magnus lifted his head and smiled.

"He didn't do anything, my sweet. I just used a little too much magic and am drained."

She looked at her father, who was three hundred years old but had always looked timeless, as if he had stopped getting older around the age of nineteen. Now there were sharp lines cut into the skin around his eyes and mouth. His hair hung lankly over his forehead, and the slump in his shoulders was not his usual careless posture but true exhaustion.

"What happened?"

Alec detailed the events, even as he used a cold press on Magnus' forehead. He told her about the boat, and Jace, and Clary, and rat-vampire being a Daylighter.

"I should have been there."

Magnus shook his head. "This is my fight, not yours."