Their Relationship

Under Construction: I am still in the process of watching the series, so I will be adding to this section as I see more episodes.

This fairytale was anything but "love at first sight." From the beginning, Mara and Magnus couldn't stand each other. Magnus caught Mara cheating on an exam for Kaya, who was flunking his class, and blackmailed her to do his and Felix's chores for them. Kaya learned the truth quickly and confessed to his teacher, but Mara got her revenge on Magnus when she, Kaya, and Daniel noticed Magnus' crush on their P.E. teacher, Steffi Lehmann. They left a fake love letter from Ms. Lehmann in Magnus' locker, which led to a very embarrassing situation in the locker room that nearly got Magnus expelled.

Magnus and Mara start to warm to each other, however, in the midst of one of Mara and Kaya's many arguments. Magnus sees Mara crying and decides to try to cheer her up. The two have a long, heartfelt conversation in Mara's room, discussing their distant parents and other anecdotes about their lives. By the end of the evening, Magnus begins to realize that he has feelings for Mara.

When Delia Seefeld nominates herself to run against Mara in the campaign for Head Girl, Magnus offers to help Mara win the election. As the two work together, his feelings for her grow deeper—although she is seemingly unaware of this. As Magnus starts spending more time with Mara, his best friend Felix begins tagging along, leading to Felix falling for Mara as well. This creates a tense standoff between the friends that only dissipates when Mara rejects Felix in favor of Kaya.

Over the next few months, Magnus continues to be Mara's good friend and love her from afar. On the surface he supports her relationship with Kaya and is afraid to tell her about his true feelings. At one point he attempts to confess his love for her with a gift of perfume, but unfortunately he is outdone by Kaya yet again: Kaya gives Mara the same gift as Magnus had planned to.

Mara begins to suspect Magnus' feelings when he reacts jealously about Mara choosing to use one of Kaya's posters for her Head Girl campaign instead of his. Mara defends herself, pointing out that Kaya is, after all, her boyfriend; but this sours her friendship with Magnus for a few weeks. Magnus lashes out by bribing a fortune-teller to give an ominous prediction to Mara and Kaya about their relationship. Eventually, though, Mara and Magnus repair their friendship, and she offers him support through the Zeno Trabas stalking incident, even though she's not sure what's wrong.

Magnus' feelings for Mara continue to grow over this time. During a lecture on poetry in class, Mr. Petkovic notices Magnus writing some poetry in his journal and asks him to read it out loud. After initially protesting, Magnus finally relents and reads a love poem he has written for Mara. After hearing the poem, Mara begins to question her own feelings, but is determined to remain faithful to Kaya.

Not long afterward, a new student named Charlotte Bachmann transfers into Anubis House. Victor assigns her to live in the attic, but when Luzy sees a ghost in the mirror, she refuses to allow Charlotte to live in the haunted room. Finally, Mara offers to move into the attic in Charlotte's stead. Although she puts on a brave face, living in the attic puts its own stresses on Mara. For one thing, she has to move all her things upstairs, and Kaya and Luzy do not seem to have the time or interest to help her. When she begins to sense the ghost herself, Kaya is similarly unsympathetic to her fears.

Finally, Magnus offers to help her move her things in and keep her company while she adjusts to the haunted room. Unpacking her boxes of possessions, Magnus discovers a photo album with pictures of a young Mara and her sister, Malika. The two of them grow closer than ever, and Mara begins to realize that Kaya might not be the one she is in love with, after all.

Tensions begin to mount when Mara continually takes Magnus' side over Kaya: she defends Magnus when Kaya calls him a freak; she breaks a date with Kaya in order to help Magnus with chores he was assigned by Victor in punishment for using a ladder to visit Mara in her room after hours.

The standoff culminates one evening when Mara comes downstairs and finds an insomniac Magnus in the kitchen. The two commiserate about not being able to sleep because of nightmares. Kaya interrupts the pair jealously, but when Mara asks if he wants to be with her, he refuses and goes back to bed. Eventually Magnus offers to keep her company, since she's afraid to go back to her room alone because of the ghost. After an impromptu karaoke session and a pillow fight, Magnus falls asleep in the chair in the corner of Mara's room, while Mara watches him.

The next morning, Kaya walks in on the two of them together in Mara's room, and it's obvious that Magnus has been there all night. This leads to a heated argument between Kaya and Mara, with Kaya accusing her of unfaithfulness and Mara pointing out that Magnus was the only person who was willing to be there for her through all her troubles.

Later, the two walk guiltily to school together, and Mara apologizes for Kaya's rude behavior. She points out that Kaya does have his good side, and begins to tell Magnus about a situation she'd experienced with Kaya's father. She catches herself, remembering that Magnus' father is a sore subject for him; but this slip-up leads to a heartfelt conversation between the two, with Magnus telling her more about his broken family life. Mara tells Magnus that he is more than what his family leads him to believe, and pulls him into a long hug. When they part, Magnus leans in to kiss her, and Mara hastily moves away and changes the subject to the upcoming karaoke party in honor of Mr. Petkovic, who is leaving the school for a new job.

That evening, Magnus plans to walk Mara to the karaoke party. He waits at the foot of the stairs with a rose for her, but Kaya intercepts him. Magnus admits that he is waiting for Mara, and that Kaya should stay out of his way. Kaya scoffs and derides Magnus, mocking his costume for the party and his overall chances with ever being with Mara when she has Kaya. Magnus leaves, tossing the rose into the trash can before he goes. When Mara comes downstairs, Kaya pulls the rose out and offers it to her; but she's more concerned about where Magnus is, since he was supposed to go to the party with her.

That night, Mara performs "Your Song" at the karaoke party, but she finds that, instead of focusing the lyrics on her boyfriend, Kaya, her gaze keeps drifting to Magnus. Finally, only halfway through the song, Mara breaks down and flees the party. Kaya and Magnus both follow her and find her crying in the bathroom. When she sees Kaya, she locks herself in one of the stalls and refuses to come out. Kaya and Magnus both wait for her, until Felix appears and begs Kaya to come sing in order to stall for time while he and Delia work out the entertainment for the evening.

Once Kaya is gone, Mara comes out of the bathroom stall and finds Magnus waiting for her still. She watches him silently for a moment, then pulls him close and kisses him.

Magnus is elated by this sudden change of heart, but Mara goes into a panic. She is unsure of her feelings, and fears Kaya finding out about the kiss. She confides what has happened to Luzy; Luzy, who overheard Victor mentioning that Mara's sister Malika had called the house recently, decides to cheer her friend up by inviting her sister for a visit.

Things quickly go from bad to worse for Mara, with Kaya learning about her kiss with Magnus from Felix and becoming enraged at Mara's infidelity. The two end their relationship, but Mara feels miserable about the way things worked out. Her one comfort is her sister Mali. Mara dreads the day Mali's trip will end, telling her that she will miss having her around to confide in. She wants Mali to transfer to Alexander von Humboldt, but Mali is unable to leave her school in Switzerland, so Mara decides to transfer there.

Mara's announcement that she's leaving Germany crushes Magnus; Malika, meanwhile, can see how much Magnus loves her sister—and how much Mara likes him back, despite her protestations. She decides to try to push the two together before Mara leaves, in an attempt to get Mara to stay in Anubis House.

Luzy and Charlotte plan a going-away party for Mara on Halloween night. At the party, Magnus is visibly depressed, and Mara finds she can't enjoy herself at the party. Finally, the two meet out in the garden, and Magnus confesses his feelings for her and tells her he doesn't want her to leave. At the last minute, Mara decides to stay in Germany to be with him.

Mara and Magnus are finally together, but their happiness does not last long. Magnus soon begins to receive blackmail letters in his locker linking him to Zeno Trabas' disappearance. The blackmailer, who calls himself the Raven, wants something from the Sibuna Club, and he expects Magnus to find it for him—or there will be dire consequences for Mara. As the threats against Mara's life become more serious, their relationship becomes strained: Mara can see that something is frightening Magnus and putting him under a great deal of strain, but he refuses to tell her what's wrong for fear of endangering her.

In the meantime, Mara is experiencing some frightening encounters of her own. The ghost in the attic seems to be singling Mara out for reasons unknown. One night, Mara pulls back her covers to find her bed strewn with flowers. She thinks Magnus did it to be romantic, and happily pins a rose in her hair before going to bed. That night, Mara appears to Magnus in his dreams with the rose in her hair. In the morning, Magnus denies having put the flowers in Mara's room, but tells her that he recognizes the rose from his dream the night before. Mara begins to suspect that the ghost was to blame, although Magnus is skeptical about the existence of ghosts.