"Please?"

"Jem, it is not my fault."

"I know. I just think it's bad manners to murder house guests."

Will glared mutinously. "Fine."

Jem laughed and felt in his pocket for the package of opium one last time.

"What is your animosity with the Lightwoods?" Ciel asked, who has swung himself into the carriage in time to hear the second half of this exchange. Jem knew it wouldn't. They endured a whole ten minutes of Gideon's berating them for taking things without permission.

"Any thoughts?" Will asked Gabriel.

"Thieving Herondales." He muttered. "I'd expect nothing less."

"Well, I suppose there's no point swapping carriages now." Gideon leaned out of the window. "Let's go."

Sebastian twitched the reins and the vehicle surged forward, the clicking of the horse's hooves.

"I'm not happy about this." Gideon grumbled.

"You rarely are." Will replied.

Ciel looked down at the piece of paper with Ragnor Fell's address on in Charlotte's swirled handwriting. He was imagining what his house might look like. Maybe it would be like the Undertaker's shop. Though hopefully with fewer coffins. What he didn't expect when the carriage stopped and Sebastian held open the door was to see a proud, handsome town house. What he expected even less was to have the door of this house opened by the most unusually dressed man Ciel had ever seen. His trousers were a deep red wine-coloured and paired with an emerald waistcoat, a tight white shirt and bare feet.

"R-Ragnor Fell?" Jem asked uncertainly.

The man threw his head back and laughed.

"Good God, I should hope not." He glanced down at his attire. "No, I'm definitely not Ragnor. I still have a good dress sense."

"Who are you?" Will asked.

"Magnus Bane, High Warlock of Brooklyn." The man grinned. "And you are...?"

"Will." Will said shortly. "We're here on important Nephilim business."

"Oh, well, since it's important." Magnus smirked, and Will got the distinct feeling he was being mocked. "You'd better come in, then."

"So, where is Ragnor Fell?" Gideon asked. "That is who we were really looking for."

"And you got me instead." Magnus said. "Lucky you."

"Where's Ragnor?" Gabriel repeated, and Magnus turned to him.

"He's out." Magnus replied, just as shortly.

"Whereabouts?" Will asked, and Magnus smiled, leaning back on the chair in the drawing room he'd led them to.

"Well, here's the thing, Will." Magnus said conversationally. "I'm not exactly sure. I just arrived."

"You just...let yourself into his house?" Gideon asked incredulously. "I think that's illegal."

"I think so too." Magnus replied.

They waited for him to add something, to explain himself, but he merely pulled the footrest closer to him and laid his bare feet atop it, smiling lazily.

"Would you care for a drink?" he asked the room.

Jem, who was getting the distinct feeling warlocks were not to be argued with, nodded. Magnus waved a blue-sparking hand and Ragnor's drawing room table was filled by tea cups and a mismatched teapot.

"Ragnor, you have no eye for decoration." Magnus sighed to his non-present friend. He waved his hand again and the tea service re-painted itself matching patterned porcelain hues, before it began serving itself. Magnus grinned, flicked a finger and a teacup flew into Will's hand. The boy started, fumbled, and took a sip.

"Earl Grey." He nodded. "Just the thing."

"So you can do magic?" Ciel asked. "It's real? This isn't..."

"A grand farce?" Magnus finished. "No, it isn't. Have you not had the 'all the stories are true' talk from this lot?" Magnus nodded to the shadowhunters.

"What pretty eyes." Magnus said to Ciel, who didn't seem to know what response was expected of him. "Who might you be?"

"Earl Ciel Phatomhive."

"And?" Magnus nodded to Sebastian, who inclined his head.

"Sebastian Michaelis." He said. "I am Earl Phantomhive's butler."

"I am very much admiring that tailcoat, Mr Michaelis." Magnus said appreciatively. "How very dapper."

"Why, thank you. But I am merely one hell of a butler."

"So, we have Ciel, Sebastian, Will," Magnus winked. "And who are you?"

"Jem," Jem said, and then turned. "And Gabriel and Gideon."

"Right, well, now we're all acquainted..." Magnus was interrupted by the click of a lock and the thud of an opening door. "Ah," he added quietly. "Hold that thought."

There were footsteps in the entrance hall and Jem hoped against hope that Ragnor would understand that they had not consciously entered his house without his house without his permission, and that if he was angry he wouldn't take his anger out on them magically and curse them all into lampshades, or whatever warlocks did when perturbed. Magnus stood up hastily. Jem hoped Ragnor would not be too angry at Magnus; he really did seem quite nice for a trespasser.

Magnus walked out into the hall with a cheerful "Welcome home!"

There was the sound of someone swearing, the crash of something breakable falling to the floor and smashing and what sounded suspiciously like something falling over.

"Magnus! Stop doing this!"

Oh, so this wasn't an isolated incident then. Jem didn't know whether that was a good thing or not.

"I've come to visit. A little adventure, perhaps. Peru?"

"No, not again. And you've made me drop the new bottle of greater demon blood."

There was a whoosh and when Magnus spoke, there was a note of triumph in his voice. "There, good as new."

"You're fortunate you're a warlock, Bane. I paid for that with two demon summonings and a prophecy."

"Ragnor, you can't tell prophecies..."

"Yes, but they don't know that."

"Oh, and...you have another couple of houseguests."

Ragnor sighed and raised his voice. "Catarina, I thought you would know better. If neither of us give into Magnus he might leave us alone."

"Firstly, I am not a child." Magnus said, with annoyance in his voice Jem thought was rather rich given the situation. "And secondly, it isn't Catarina."

Ragnor entered the room and promptly exited again. Magnus sighed and followed him from the room.

"Magnus, stop doing this!" Ragnor hissed, clearly assuming his reprimanding his friend was subtle and quiet. It was not. The shadowhunters, Ciel, and Sebastian heard every word of this passive aggressive exchange.

"You know how I feel about shadowhunters; proud, arrogant, entitled brats." Will was quite indignant, but felt now would perhaps be a bad time to say so. "And not one, but two mundanes. Mundanes. Why not bring in the Consul, the Inquisitor, the whole Council! Get us all locked up. Or, more likely, killed. You know what those Nephilim wretches will do? They'll go straight to their head of Institute, tell tales on us, and get us slaughtered like that." This was suffixed by a particularly violent-sounding snap. He continued, "You'd better not have left them alone for a second, or they'll have scoped the house, confiscated half of my spell books and enchantment ingredients, and helped themselves to all my valuables as Spoils."

Will, who had been planning to do nothing of the sort, was mildly outraged. However, he knew of shadowhunters who would do just that, so he didn't feel he was permitted to be too chagrined.

"Ragnor, not all shadowhunters are..."

"Yes, but they were hardly pleasant in the past." Ragnor spat.

"I know, but these seem quite nice." Magnus protested.

"Okay," Ragnor sighed. "Which one has taken your fancy?"

Both of them leaned into the room and Magnus pointed at Will. "That one."

"Oh yes. I should've guessed."

They disappeared back into the hall, leaving the others staring at Will, and Will looking surprised, if vaguely smug.

"You're naïve, Magnus. Completely delusional." Ragnor huffed.

"That may be, but they're clients sent by the Clave. They want a job doing. And if they're on Clave business, then they will be paying handsomely."

There was a silence, which Will assumed was Ragnor considering this point.

"Fine." He grumbled and both of them reappeared into the room, Magnus looking satisfied and Ragnor annoyed.

"So, what do you want?" Ragnor asked sullenly.

Jem thought he preferred it when Magnus was hosting; their meeting had turned hostile and he got the feeling there was little to no chance of Ragnor offering them biscuits to go with their tea.