Henry was tinkering away at a new device of his in his crypt. It was meant to send out bright sparks to any fellow Shadowhunters if one was in danger, and therefore act as a safety precaution. He was quite confident of its condition currently, however, his device still needed work.

Henry looked up from his workstation and made his way to the office. He raised a hand to knock on the door whilst keeping a firm but gentle hand on his device.

'Come in!' Charlotte called from her desk, shifting through some boring paperwork. Paper after paper on how she must 'vigilantly lift up the Law', it became quite tiring after a while, but do it she must, because she was determined to be a good head of Institute, for Will and Jem, for Jessamine, but most importantly, for Henry.

Henry entered, looking sheepish. Charlotte looked up, surprised. 'Oh, hello, Henry. I thought it might be Jessamine again, asking for assistance in 'acquiring the mundane arts'. Do sit down,' she gestured to one of the chairs before the desk. Henry complied.

'I thought I might show you my device that I've been working on. It informs one's fellow Shadowhunters that one is in danger by sending out bright sparks, by pressing this button here, see,' Henry indicated the button on the side of his device, which was somewhat octagonal in shape, and contained an array of dials on its side.

'But I shan't demonstrate now, as it isn't primed for use quite yet,' he explained. 'But I shall inform you when it is!' Henry said, brightening.

'Oh, that's wonderful, Henry! Do tell me when it is. I assume it is glamoured,'

'Oh, don't worry, Lottie, I've already glamoured it. But I can change the colour of the sparks to your liking should you have a preference. Perhaps lilac, or blue?'

Charlotte's eyes softened, 'I should think blue would be delightful,' she said amiably.

'Wonderful! I was thinking maybe cobalt blue, in honour of our friend Magnus. I shall get to work on it immediately, and aid our fellow Nephilim.' And with that, he was off again to his blasted crypt. He never seemed to stay very long, perhaps it was her hair? Probably not, and most probably it was what she feared most: that he preferred his inventions and devices to his boring old wife. But she would try harder in future.

Henry left, almost crashing into Sophie. She narrowly avoided splashing herself with the soapy bucket of water she was carrying.

'I'm most awfully sorry, Sophie, do forgive me,' he apologised, before dashing off.

He was determined to improve his invention, for Charlotte. Not only would his inventions be useful for the Nephilim, but Charlotte would be proud, and that was what mattered most.

He pulled off the stopper of a bottle of copper sulfate and added it to the beaker which was supposed to produce the sparks element of his device. After various experiments with his device, and a lot of testing the colour of the sparks - he wanted them to be the brightest cobalt blue - he had finally produced a device ready for action.

He rushed to Charlotte's office, but it was empty. He made his way to the library, but seemed to become lost, when finally he bumped into Will - and when I say bumped into, I don't mean just happened to find, but literally headlong crashed into him.

'Ow! Look where you're going, you old codger!' Will said, rubbing his head. 'I was just on my way to training with Jem when I was rudely bonked on the head with a stone.'

'That was my head,' said Henry.

'My point exactly.'

'Will, where is Charlotte?' Henry asked frantically. 'I really need to see her, because my new invention has finally been declared fit for use and she must know!'

'She's in the library, at the Enclave Meeting? You really ought to know Henry, being Head of Institute and all that. Who are you but the happy genius of your household?'

'I thought she might be, but I couldn't manage to find it!'

'It's down the corridor two flights of stairs, third door on the right. Good luck, Henry,' he said, smirking, before sailing off to the training room.

After Will's useful directions, Henry managed to find the library, in which Charlotte was indeed at the Enclave meeting, trying to have her voice heard over everybody, shouting about the demons terrorising the River Thames.

' - the London Institute would be a good meeting place for us to conquer the demons terrorising the Thames! We could be more efficient, and carry out our duty to protect the mundanes from this horror. We could protect them better from the London Institute.' Charlotte was saying as Henry banged open the door to the library, his hair and clothes a mess. There was rather a large splotch of green across his red and blue striped waistcoat.

'Lottie, I finished it!' Henry said, and all the pairs of eyes in the room swivelled round to him.

'Oh, your idiot husband has finally been resurrected from his crypt,' drawled Benedict Lightwood. 'Thought that perhaps he might actually be interested in running the Institute, for once.'

Charlotte had turned a mottled shade of red. She decided to make the best of the situation. Or at least attempt to. 'Thank you, Henry. As I was saying, Henry's new invention will allow us to maintain contact with one another, and therefore allow us to cover more space and dispatch more demons.' She gave a sharp look at Henry. 'If you'll give us a demonstration,'

Henry stepped forward, somewhat nervously, and indicated the button on the side of his new device. 'You point the contraption to the sky and then you line these dials up, then you press the button, like so,' he said, and as he did so, an array of cobalt sparks flew up into the air, arranging themselves into a fireworks display.

Some of the Enclave members seemed mildly impressed. One even clapped politely.

'How fascinating.' Benedict Lightwood's tone dripped sarcasm. 'I wonder how on earth we've survived this long without your wonderful inventions. Tell me why, I do not understand how we could have managed without them for the past thousand years.'

The tips of Henry's ears had started to go pink. 'Err, well. The world is changing! And we must adapt, which is where The Rescuer comes in handy.' He declared brightly.

'I didn't know The Rescuer had the ability to save a Shadowhunter. Perhaps it even draws iratzes. How enlightening.' Charlotte's shoulders had started to tremble ever so slightly, and she was glowering at Mr Lightwood venomously.

'Enough,' said Inquisitor Whitelaw. 'We must discuss the matter at hand. We shall have a vote at where we shall assemble. All those in favor of Chiswick Manor say aye.'

There was a low chorus of 'aye', the loudest Benedict Lightwood.

'Those in favor of The London Institute say aye.'

There was a distinctly louder chorus of 'aye', and Mr Lightwood glaring daggers at Charlotte.

'Well, The London Institute it is, then. We shall assemble at dusk.' With that, the Inquisitor signalled the end of the meeting.

As they were exiting the library, Mr Lightwood drew close enough to Charlotte that nobody overheard. 'I wouldn't rely on the Institute being run by you for much longer, if I were you, and mark my words; one day, it will be mine.' He said, every word sharp. Then he turned on his heel and marched down the corridor.

Henry looked sad. I've embarrassed her again. He thought. Me and my big mouth. He looked down at his green-splotched waistcoat, and felt even worse.

Dusk approached fast, and both Will and Jem were already in gear. Charlotte had been ready long before them, and were only waiting on Henry now.

'Lord, I wish he'd hurry up,' grumbled Will. 'I'm freezing already, we'll all be ice sculptures by the time he's ready. Perhaps they could cart us off to a museum. My exhibit would obviously be frequented the most,' Jem said something that sounded awfully like 'bosh'.

'I'll draw you another rune, though I'm not sure it'll make much difference; I've already drawn three.' said Jem amiably.

At last, Henry came through to the library, in gear, still fiddling with the device, thus bumping into the doorframe. He looked up and declared, 'I think it's finally ready for action!'

Both Charlotte and Jem looked pleased and said so to Henry, though Will merely raised an eyebrow. 'Honestly, I haven't the foggiest idea why we still use your hideous gadgets, they're entirely unreliable,' commented Will, examining his fingernails. He didn't display much zeal at the prospect of fighting demons in the presence of one of Henry's inumerable devices. They met with Thomas at the courtyard.

Finally, black carriages drew up into the courtyard of The Institute, the interlocking c's gleaming in the light from the gas lamps. Lilian Highsmith, George Penhallow, and Benedict Lightwood had come, along with his sons, and the rest of the London Enclave.

Henry produced two identical versions of the prototype Rescuer, and handed them round, instructing everyone to follow his demonstrations should the need occur.

They paired off into groups, Will with Jem, Gabriel and Charlotte, to which Gabriel looked indignant, Henry with Benedict and Gideon, and George with Frederick Ashdown, Thomas and Lilian Highsmith. As they headed off towards the Thames to dispatch the demons, Gabriel immediately began to quarrel with Will.

'You couldn't dispatch a demon if your life depended on it, Herondale,' sneered Gabriel. 'God forbid, I would actually be duty bound to save you as a Shadowhunter. Thankfully we came here to make sure you don't make a mess of things like you usually do.'

Will massaged his temples dramatically, 'Please refrain from speaking to me, Lightworm. I know my charm is irresistible, but it gives me rather a headache. Oh Jem, I do think I'm coming down with something, my head is splitting. I think I'm going to have to be sent to the infirmary. Death could be imminent. Ah, dear lost youth!'

Jem rolled his eyes skyward, looking amused. 'You know, I really don't think you do. Perhaps you're just overdoing it,'

Will's eyes glinted. 'Perhaps.' There was a shout, and they set to work killing all the demons on the edge of the Thames. Charlotte's whip was flashing, and Will killed demon after demon with his throwing knives, each knife finding its mark.

The demons came from all corners, leaping about the Thames. Henry, Benedict and Gideon were slashing and slicing at them left, right and centre. Demons winked out of existence, returning to their home dimensions, exploding black ichor everywhere, including their gear, which happened to splash across Henry, after he had just been wounded in the abdomen.

He doubled over, slumping to the floor, while Benedict and Gideon were fighting the demons with more force and efficiency, compensating for being a man down. 'How do you work the bloody thing, Branwell?' roared Benedict, all the while his sword flashing. 'Perhaps you could instruct me, as you're simply burdening our group!'

'You - line up - the dials,' Henry instructed, clutching his midriff. 'Then press the button.'

Benedict did so and an explosion of cobalt blue sparks came from the device, also causing an explosion in the Thames, causing fish guts amongst other things to come spurting out. He let out a string of curses, while Gideon simply stood there, dispatching the last of the demons. A look of disappointment entered Henry's expression.

'I need to get - to the infirmary - to get the ichor out.' Gideon gave a look to his father, whose expression was sour and was covered in fish guts, as was George Penhallow and Thomas, with Lilian trailing behind, who had come over after the firing of blue sparks.

'Father, we need to get him to the infirmary - now. Thomas, with me.' He lifted Henry's legs and Thomas took his arms, and together they lifted him to the Institute. Charlotte came running, with Will, Jem and Gabriel at her heels.

'Henry? No!' She hurried to his side and clutched at his lapels. 'You're white as a sheet!' she cried. Gideon looked mildly uncomfortable and Thomas looked terribly awkward and was flushed red, looking as if he'd rather be anywhere else on the planet.

'That's my wonderful complexion,' said Henry with a smile. They hurried back to the Institute, Charlotte helping, the perfect height to act as a crutch.

They left the others to finish the patrol and hastened to the Institute. They found Sophie and Agatha waiting at the foot of the steps, holding lamps. As Charlotte came nearer, she instructed them to prepare salves and to summon the Silent Brothers.

Thomas and Gideon lifted Henry onto an empty bed in the infirmary. He had become very pale and there was sweat on his brow. Charlotte fussed around, making him comfortable and arranging the pillows. The Silent Brothers finally arrived and set to work.

Charlotte entered the room as the Silent Brothers were exiting, and saw that Henry was sleeping, though bandaged, and was snoring softly. She sat on the chair beside his bed and held his hand with one hand, and held the book on the bedside table with the other.

Two hours later, Henry was still sleeping. The only thing that had changed was Charlotte's attention span for Dickens novels. 'Bleak House' had been on the table, presumably left by Will, and Charlotte could not understand for the life of her what was so entertaining about a long dreary novel that could be written in two hundred pages and was written in two thousand and was about horrid lawyers and pestilence and death.

Henry stirred and mumbled something. Charlotte hurried over to the stand and poured him a glass of water, helping him sit up to drink it.

'How do you feel, Henry dear?' she asked, laying a hand across his forehead. 'Are you too hot?'

'No, no. Thank you, Charlotte. I mostly just feel disappointed.'

'Disappointed?'

'About The Rescuer. I did everything. The sparks came out well, though. Did you like them?'

'Oh, Henry. I did, but we were too preoccupied on the matter of your being in danger to worry about your invention. Does it hurt?'

'Not particularly, Brother Enoch fixed that. I don't know what went wrong.' Henry frowned.

'Perhaps the water? Did you test it near water?'

'Ah. I didn't, actually, now that I think of it, that must've been blitheringly obvious. We were fighting demons next to the Thames, and all. Oh dear,' said Henry, looking troubled.

'Oh, I'm sure it will still function. With a few adjustments, I'm positive you'll be able to make it work,' said Charlotte. Henry beamed.

'Really? You truly think I could?'

'Absolutely. I've known it ever since we were married and I have no doubt that you will make something that will make Shadowhunting easier, and your name will be remembered for generations.' Charlotte smiled.

Henry drew her closer and gingerly kissed her forehead, unknowing of how it would be received. She embraced him back, careful of the bandages. She slowly drew back, smiling.

'I should leave you to rest, or Agatha will come and chase me away with the broom.'

Henry laughed. She straightened his blankets and fluffed up his pillows before leaving through the door of the infirmary, a spring in her step.