Hey guys, Chapter 3 is up!
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All rights to Cassandra Clare and J.K. Rowling, of course.
- Sherasan
A week later, and they were set to leave.
The portal, conjured by Magnus only moments ago, was a swirling, whipping mass of blue across the courtyard from where Clary stood with Simon outside the Institute. Even from so far away, she could feel the power radiating from it – a torpedo, fierce and contained and bristling with pure, relentless, magic.
She wondered what sort of magic would be meeting them on the other side. Magic erupting from wands instead of hands.
Mostly to quell Simon's curiosity, she had done as much as she could to read up on the intricacies of wizarding life. Of course, it wasn't as if she could just google, 'What do Wizards eat for breakfast?' There was barely a paragraph on them, tucked into the back of the codex, which reaped little information of value, and even Magnus's knowledge was sparse. He'd spent time with a wizard, ninety or so years ago, he had informed them, a wizard who had gone on to become the Headmaster of the school they were destined for, and who had allegedly provided Magnus a great service.
"I don't like being in other people's debts." He had told them all one night in his apartments, using his magic to send all manner of vials and volumes floating neatly into a bag, "But Albus Dumbledore is different. I owe that man more than my life."
Other than what he had learned from the wizard, Magnus knew startlingly little about wizard customs. It had been no lie, apparently, that the wizarding community liked to keep to themselves; Magnus had supplied that most of them were unaware Shadowhunters even existed at all, so caught up were they in their own world and government.
Well, Clary thought to herself, they're certainly going to be getting a shocking introduction.
Jace, Alec and Isabelle stood with their mother a little away, saying final goodbyes, while the three other young Shadowhunters who had been conscripted to join them on their mission stood together in a tight ring, closer to where Magnus worked on the portal. There were two boys, one of them tall with striking red hair, the other with dark brown skin and hazel eyes. The girl beside him, with a curling, untamed mass of hair, looked as if she might be his sister. They had yet to introduce themselves.
"I still can't believe I can't come with you guys." Simon said from beside her, pulling her out of her thoughts.
"I mean, come on, wizard school? That's, like, my calling."
She shook her head, and reached up to ruffle his hair. She was going to miss him terribly. A whole year apart - she didn't know if she could take it.
"I don't think the wizards would react very kindly to having a vampire in their midst."
"The wizards would love me!"
"Shut up." She laughed, but she took the hand he offered her and leaned into his shoulder.
Clary opened her mouth, to tell Simon for the thousandth time how much she was going to miss him, but Magnus had spun around to face them from beside the portal. When he spoke, his voice was amplified, and thundered out across the courtyard.
"Three minutes everyone. This is your three minute warning." He called, like a conductor on a train. Clary watched Alec and Isabelle hug their mother quickly, watched Mayrse run a rare, motherly hand over Jace's cheek, then the three Shadowhunters began to make their way towards her.
"You ready?" Jace called across to her, and she nodded. Their belongings had already been sent along, apparently – goodness knows what sort of magic Magnus had used to ship their bags all the way to Britain – so she felt oddly empty-handed in only her gear and her stele at her side.
Jace pulled up next to her, Alec and Isabelle behind him, and swung his arm around her shoulders. He had been oddly chirpy these last few days, like all this energy was building up inside him, thrumming and growing and rearing to burst out. Clary didn't know what he expected to come of their trip, but she knew it involved adventure, shenanigans, and probably a whole lot of activity that the school would quite definitely not approve of. Both Mayrse and Alec had given him a stern warning – this was technically part of their Shadowhunter training after all, and they couldn't afford to make fools of themselves, but nothing had dampened Jace's high spirits.
Clary only wished that she felt the same way.
As she looked towards the portal, she couldn't help the sense of dread that tugged at her from the inside, some innate, instinctive part of her that told her not to go any nearer. The feeling had been gnawing on her ever since she'd first heard the name; Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and no matter how excited Jace, Isabelle, and even Alec had been about the journey, she hadn't been able to shake it.
"Ready to give these wizard brats the shock of their lives?" Jace asked, and that familiar, mischievous smirk that practically spelled trouble tugged at his lips.
"Jace –" Alec began.
"I'm thinking we all pretend to be killing-machines." Jace kept going. "We growl at them, we look them in the eye like this –" He drew his finger across his neck, making a cut-throat gesture, "Perhaps give them all a little spook."
"We are not terrifying the British children, Jace." Alec ran a weary hand over his face.
"Just an idea."
"I think Professor Bane over there is going to give them enough of a fright as it is." Isabelle said, cocking her head towards where Magnus was conjuring pink balls of flame in the palm of his hands and juggling them up into the air, a bored expression on his face.
"Professor Bane." Jace mused, then looked up at Alec, "Say, is that what you call Magnus when you and him dabble in teacher-student roleplay in the bedroom, or –"
"Jace!" Alec hissed, already beet-red, then turned on his heel and marched towards his boyfriend.
"Are you planning on being like this the entire year?" Clary asked, but she couldn't help the smile that pulled on her lips when she looked into those glinting, golden eyes, or the way her heart still battered against her ribs when he looked back down at her.
He grinned, and opened his mouth to reply, but Magnus's amplified voice rang out towards them again.
"Time to go, children!" He screeched.
"Finally." Isabelle said, and linked her arm through Clary's, pulling her away from Jace and towards the portal.
It seemed as if Isabelle was more excited to go than any of them, though her anticipation felt less like she wanted to go to Hogwarts and more like she wanted to just get away from home. Isabelle didn't open up easily, and though Clary had tried countless times to get to the root of whatever had been bothering her, Isabelle continued to insist that it was absolutely nothing.
Yet, though it was nothing more than a hunch, Clary had suspicions that it had to do with the dark-haired vampire with his hands in his pockets trailing along behind them.
By the time they reached the portal, the other three Shadowhunters were already standing there, their faces stoic and unyielding of any particular personality. Alec seemed to be making small-talk with the boy with the dark hair, and his shoulders practically slumped with relief when Isabelle stepped in and stuck her hand out.
"Isabelle Lightwood." She introduced herself. "That's my brother Jace over there, and this is Clary Fray."
Clary didn't miss the way they straightened when they heard her name.
"The Clary Fray." The red-haired boy raised his eyebrows, as if he didn't quite believe Isabelle.
Clary shrugged, "I suppose."
She didn't like the way they were looking at her. Not one bit.
"I knew we'd be meeting the Lightwoods and Jace Morgenstern." The name made her blood boil, but she didn't let it show in her face. Jace went by Lightwood or Herondale now. "But I wasn't aware that you would be joining us."
"Is there a problem with me joining you?" She asked through gritted teeth.
The red-haired boy lifted a shoulder. "I suppose not."
By the Angel. A whole year ahead of them and Clary already didn't like them.
"I'm Danny Bellemark, by the way." He said, sounding bored with the formalities, "And that's Gabrielle and Owen Whittower." He indicated the girl and the boy a few feet away from them, still talking with Jace and Alec.
"As intriguing as this conversation is, we really ought to be going." Magnus appeared so suddenly at her shoulder that she almost jumped. "I could lie and tell you I'm faint with the exhaustion of keeping this portal up, but really I'm just rather bored watching the dreary politics of Shadowhunters unfold before my eyes. It's like a bad reality show."
Danny Bellemark looked Magnus up and down, sniffed, and turned away.
Magnus shot him the finger.
Moments later, all seven of them collected around the portal. Simon lingered at the edge of the group – Clary had hugged him so tightly she was sure she had heard him choke, even though she was certain vampires were incapable of really choking, and had made him promise to phone her every day, regardless of the overseas service costs to Britain. He and Isabelle had shared a rather awkward encounter that Clary had forced herself to look away from, and that was that. Suddenly, it felt like they were at the point of no return.
Jace appeared at her side, and linked his hand through hers. She gave his a squeeze, which he returned.
"You've been quiet," He leaned into her, the whisper tickling her ear.
"I'm just… wondering what this is all going to be like."
"Well, I for one think it's going to be fun."
"Fun?" She was beginning to think her boyfriend was more disturbed than she had thought. "Jace, we're going to a school infested with demons."
He laughed, "I know, but come on. I've read the reports – it's been two demons a month, tops – sometimes they haven't showed up in weeks, and all of them lesser demons. Way less than we're used to dealing with." He lifted her hand to his mouth and pressed a soft kiss to her knuckles, and her heart gave that lurch again. "And besides – a new place to explore, new people to meet, a year to spend with you…" He smiled, and it was so sweet she felt light-headed. "Doesn't sound so bad to me."
Well, when you put it that way…
"All aboard!"
Magnus was ushering Danny, Gabrielle and Owen through the portal – they were sucked into its depths in a flash of blueish light that had her averting her eyes.
She squeezed Jace's hand again.
"Let's go." She sighed, and his smile was brilliant as they approached the swirling mass before them.
And, as she put her right foot forwards and stepped into the familiar, grasping clutch of the portal, Clary did everything she could to silence that insistent little warning bell in her head that said over and over again, 'Danger awaits you.'
Danger awaits you.