Santana went back to Diagon alley the next week, this time with her dad, to buy her brother's school supplies. She hadn't wanted to go initially, but Quinn told her Mike and Sam would be doing their shopping as well, so they decided to meet up.
Mike and Sam were friends they'd made at 'school.' When a lady named Sarah had turned up at St Mungo's with her six year old son who had swallowed something, but she didn't know what, that had turned him green, Quinn's mother got to talking to her as she treated him, and found out that she was home schooling the boy. Rather than putting them in muggle school, Quinn and Santana's parents had negotiated for Sarah to do the same thing for them, at a fee. That was where they'd met Mike. Sam's parents both worked in the ministry, and his mum had heard from Quinn's dad that they had found somewhere to take Quinn that wasn't muggle school. That was how they'd met Sam.
Now that she had done her own shopping, doing her brother's was no longer so much fun. After following her father around the bookstore, she managed to convince him to let her sit at the leaky cauldron.
Quinn found her twenty minutes later.
They saw as soon as Sam and his parents arrived. Sam's blonde hair was always too long, in Santana's opinion, looking like he'd been blown around in a storm. It hadn't been too bad at the beginning of summer when it was shorter. It actually looked kind of cute. But now that his hair was halfway to his shoulders, it just looked unkempt. Somehow, he managed to retain his goofy look.
"Sam!" Quinn yelled over the noise of the pub. Sam spotted them, pointed them out to his parents and then handed them a piece of parchment. His school list, Santana guessed.
"Hey guys" He grinned happily at them, pulling them both in for hugs. "How was your summer?"
"Great for me." Quinn said. "Santana managed to ruin hers. Landed herself two weeks at St Mungo's."
"How? Are you okay?" He asked, looking genuinely worried.
"Volunteering. I'm fine" she assured.
"She hexed me."
Sam's eyes widened, flicking to the wand Santana was twirling.
"Wow" he said. "Where did you even learn a hex?"
"Leon" Santana shrugged. "She's lucky I didn't hex her with this one." she stopped twirling, holding her wand upright. "Or she'd have ended up in St Mungo's."
"Can I see it?" Sam asked, extending his hand to her wand. Santana pulled it back.
"I don't know where your hands have been."
"Santana come on" Sam reached for it again, again Santana pulled it back, this time with an annoyed frown. "Just let me see."
"No."
"Quinn can I see yours?"
Quinn tucked her wand into her robes.
"Go get your own."
Sam's eyes lit up.
"Good idea. Come on."
Santana drained her pumpkin juice and followed Sam out of the leaky cauldron. They found Mike standing outside Olivander's.
Quinn whistled when they saw the line to get in.
She leaned into Santana. "Lucky we came before the rush"
Santana nodded.
"I've been standing here for ages" Mike whined.
"Where are your parents?"
"My mum went to get my books. The line in there is worse."
Quinn whistled again.
Sam looked frantically up and down the street.
"Do you think I should go find my parents?"
"You should get in line" Santana told him, pointing to the back of the line.
"Oh man" Sam's shoulders sagged. "Come with me."
"I already got my wand, thanks."
"Oh! Let me see!" Mike said excitedly. Unable to resist the allure of showing off, Santana held up her wand for Mike to see. "Wow" he said, moving closer to see all the detail. "It suites you." He nodded.
Santana nodded proudly.
"Did you get yours Quinn?"
"After nearly a century of looking." Santana laughed. "Olivander was about to give up."
"No he wasn't" Quinn rolled her eyes as Santana and Sam laughed. She took out her wand for Mike to see.
Santana leaned closer to Mike, pretending to whisper in his ear though she spoke at full volume.
"He said some witches are just undesirable to wands-"
"No he didn't" Quinn shoved Santana.
As she stumbled, the door to Olivander's came into view, and specifically, who was just walking out of it. That blonde girl from the hospital. She was in muggle jeans and a sweater, definitely more normal than the last time Santana had seen her.
"Do any of you guys know that girl?"
Mike, Quinn and Sam turned to look where she was pointing.
"Nope" Sam said, as Mike and Quinn shook their heads.
"Do you?" Quinn asked.
"I met her at St Mungo's. In the long term care ward. She was dancing with the patients."
"How do you know she wasn't a patient?" Sam asked.
"She doesn't look sick." Mike said.
"Yeah stupid" Santana said, turning to look at Sam. "If she was a patient she wouldn't be here. It was long term care remember?"
Sam blushed slightly. "Oh yeah."
"Do you think she's a first year too?" Quinn asked.
"Probably, since she was in Olivander's"
"Why's she dressed like a muggle?" Mike asked.
Santana shrugged. "She was at the hospital too."
"Must be muggle born" Quinn said.
Shrugging again, Santana grabbed Sam's arm and dragged him backwards.
"Come on Sammy. The line's only getting longer."
****
Finally, the day she'd been waiting for as long as she could remember had arrived. The morning of September first, Santana was the first one awake. Well except for Gingin. She watched the house elf prepare breakfast, woke up both her parents at eight and her brother and 9. She even helped Leon pack whatever he hadn't yet, since she'd finished packing the day before. Everyone was ready and out of the house by 9:40.
Quinn and her parents were already waiting for them at the platform when they arrived at 10. They walked through the barrier two at a time, with their dads pushing their trollies. Quinn and Santana were last two.
"Ready?" Santana asked, staring unblinking at the barrier. She jumped slightly as Quinn took her hand, holding it tight.
"Let's do this."
Santana had been through the barrier before. Every year for the past four years she'd brought Leon to King's Cross and ran through the barrier with her dad. Today though, she wasn't bringing Leon. She wouldn't be running back out after the train left. Today she would be leaving on the train. So in many ways it was as much of her first time as Quinn's.
There weren't many people on the other side. A few were sitting on the benches scattered along the platform, one or two kids could be seen already sitting on the train, older kids who Santana assumed had been dropped off early so their parents could go into work.
Knowing that she would be getting on the train this time had Santana seeing the train in a whole new light. Her ticket to the rest of her life. She realised for the first time just how massive it was.
"Oh my god." Quinn breathed. Santana knew she was probably thinking the same thing.
"Come on let's get a compartment before loads of people show up."
She tugged Quinn by their still joined hands to the bench their parents had gone to sit at.
"What do you think Quinnie?" Mrs Fabray asked, grinning.
"It's brilliant" Quinn said excitedly. "We wanted to book a compartment before it gets full."
"Smart" Mr Fabray said. He grabbed Quinn's trunk and hoisted it off the trolley. "Tell me where you want it."
When her dad went to grab hers too, Santana jerked forward.
"Dad do you think I could try?"
"You think you can lift that?" Leon laughed.
"No" Santana rolled her eyes. "I think I can levitate it."
Leon laughed harder. "Oh yeah? With what, your thoughts?"
Santana scowled.
"Your hopes and dreams?" Leon continued.
"Leon…" Mr Lopez said, gripping his son's shoulder. Santana knew it hard from the way her brother stopped laughing. "Go on Santanita, try."
"Do you even know the spell?" Quinn asked.
"Wing-"
"I know the spell mum" Santana snapped.
"Alright" Mrs Lopez said, in a voice that told Santana to watch her tone.
"Go on dear" Mr Lopez said again.
Santana shifted her wand in her hand, focusing on what she'd read in her charms book. She took a deep breath, ran her thumb over the silver ring on her wand and then raised it.
"Wingardium Leviosa" She said as strongly as she could. After a second, her trunk began to lift off the trolley. She turned to smirk at Leon, who was frowning at the trunk. The sound of her trunk slamming back down onto the trolley snapped her attention back to it. She pouted.
"No, no you got it." Her dad said, moving behind her and raising her wand hand again. "Just don't lose focus this time."
Nodding, Santana turned, took another deep breath and repeated the spell. This time she continued to focus on her task, watching her trunk hover just above the trolley.
"Great job!" Her dad cheered, clapping her on the back.
Santana grinned, but kept her yes on the trunk.
"Well done honey." Mrs Lopez said. "Very well done. When did you learn how to do that?"
"I've been reading my text books."
"Very impressive" Mr Fabray said. "That's the mark of a great witch Santana."
"Thanks Mr Fabray"
"What about you Quinn?"
Quinn, who had been staring in awe at the trunk, turned her wide eyes on her father.
"Huh?"
"You got your books the same day as Santana did you not?"
Quinn's eyes slid to meet Santana's, and Santana saw the fear in them. She slowly lowered her trunk to the trolley.
"Ye-yeah. Yes sir." Quinn stammered.
"Well go on then, give it a try" Mr Fabray encouraged, setting the trunk on the floor.
Santana knew Quinn hadn't opened a single one of her books. Even if she hadn't known that, Quinn's deer-caught-in-headlights look was enough evidence that she had no idea what she was supposed to do.
"Wingardium Leviosa" Santana said.
"I know the spell" Quinn said, much like Santana had, but her eyes silently thanked her. Santana nodded.
Quinn took one last glance at her father, who was watching her expectantly and raised her wand.
The trunk didn't move when she cast the spell.
"Try again." Mr Fabray said.
When the trunk remained stubbornly by Mr Fabray's feet, Santana felt her stomach sink.
"Again!" He said harshly, making both Quinn and Santana jump.
Santana shut her eyes when Quinn muttered the incantation in a shaking voice. Any hope of Quinn completing the spell now was lost. There was no way she was concentrating enough for it to happen when the fear of Mr Fabray's reaction was real even to Santana. She wished she'd waited for him to leave before trying the spell.
"Aga-"
"Michael" Judy's voice interrupted. She didn't shout, but it silenced him immediately. Santana opened her eyes to see Judy standing behind Quinn, pushing her wand down while the other hand held her to her side.
"She'll never be anything with the way you coddle her." Mr Fabray said, looking at Quinn with a disappointed head shake. Without another word he bent down and picked her trunk, carrying it to the train.
There was a heavy awkward silence in which Santana refused to look at Quinn.
Her dad cleared his throat.
"Um….why'd you stop honey?"
Santana looked at her trunk.
"I uh…I couldn't keep up the spell."
She saw the understanding in her dad's eyes as he glanced quickly at Quinn.
"Yes, well it's a hard spell." He said, picking her trunk. "All you can do is try." As he passed Quinn on his way to the train, he stopped before her and bent to catch her eye. "All you can do is try." He said when she finally looked at him.
Quinn nodded.
Her dad followed Mr Fabray onto the train.
"Man that was-"
"Disappear Leon" Santana said quietly. Her brother raised a challenging eyebrow. "Not now" she said even quieter. Leon nodded. He gripped Quinn's shoulder as he walked away.
Santana took a minute to think of the best approach. Most of the time they didn't talk about Quinn's dad. There wasn't much need to. Santana was over so often that she inherently understood everything. Her role as best friend was to keep Quinn from being messed up by it. Sometimes that meant distracting her or getting her to laugh about it, but sometimes that meant actually getting Quinn to say how she felt. The hard part was figuring out what was called for on a situational basis.
One thing she knew for sure was that continuing to stand in front of their mothers was not the answer. So she looped her hand through Quinn's and gently tugged her from her mother's side.
"Let's go explore the train."
Quinn nodded, following Santana's lead.
"We'll be right back" Santana smiled at both their mothers before dragging Quinn away.
She boarded the train several compartments from where they fathers were, to give Quinn some time to pull herself together. Neither talked until they'd already passed three compartments.
"I'm really sorry." Santana said.
Quinn shrugged. "Not your fault."
"Yeah but I should have known he'd-"
Quinn forcefully grabbed Santana's hand and pulled her to a stop. "It's not your fault."
Santana nodded reluctantly.
"It's not yours either." She said quietly. Quinn broke eye contact, instead looking at the compartment door behind Santana.
"Yeah it's definitely not my fault you were born a nerd"
Santana caught the way Quinn's lips turned up slightly and allowed herself to relax.
"Yeah, yeah." She rolled her eyes, chuckling breathily. "I just didn't want you to be mad at me."
"Nah" Quinn re-looped their arms and led them forward once more. "It was actually pretty cool seeing you do non-destructive magic."
"Yeah?"
"Totally." Quinn tuned to her. "And like I said, it's not your fault."
Santana nodded. They both allowed a moment of silence for the moment to pass, then Quinn gently pinched the crook of Santana's elbow.
"Ow!" Santana yanked her hand away.
"But you better teach me everything you know before any classes start. I don't need people thinking you're smarter than me."
Santana smirked.
"Oh no…could you imagine that?"
****
They found their fathers in a compartment three from the front.
"How's this?" her dad asked.
"Fine I guess." Santana shrugged. "They all look the same."
"Maybe can we move down a bit? I don't want to be at the front." Quinn said, peering in the direction they just came from.
So they moved to one more in the middle.
"Good enough for you your highness?" Santana said, pulling open the one on the right.
"Yes thank you humble servant." Quinn walked into the compartment and dropped onto one of the seats. "Oh this is comfy."
"Has to be for a multi-hour ride." Mr Lopez laughed. Mr Fabray hoisted Quinn's trunk onto the storage space above their heads.
"Anything else Quinn?"
Quinn stood up, shaking her head quickly.
"No thanks dad, mum and I packed everything into this one."
"Good, good." Mr Fabray nodded, looking around the compartment. "Well, I'll go join your mother."
"Okay. Thank you."
"You're welcome."
When he had left, Mr Lopez turned to Santana's trunk.
"Actually, can you leave it dad?"
"Wanna try that spell again?" he grinned.
"Yeah" Santana said, trying not to sound as shy as she felt about that. Her dad nodded, pulling her into a hug.
"I'm really proud of you Santana. You're going to be a great witch."
"Thanks" She breathed into her dad's chest. When he didn't immediately let her go, she rolled her eyes. "Urgh…dad…."
"Too much?"
"Yeah"
He kissed her head quickly and let go. "Sometimes I forget you're all grown up now." He puffed out his chest and looked around the room. "Well, I'll go join your mother."
Santana and Quinn laughed at his impression of Mr Fabray.
"Go away dad."
Laughing, Mr Lopez left the compartment.
"Go on then" Quinn sat back down and pointed at the trunk. "You better be able to do it now, cause there's no way you and I are going to be able to lift that."
"Well pay attention. Cause class is in session."
Quinn rolled her eyes, but watched Santana closely.
"It's like a….waving motion. Like a swish and flick" she demonstrated. "Well!" She snapped, when Quinn just continued to watch her.
"Oh" Quinn grabbed her wand from inside her robes and copied the motion until Santana deemed she'd got it right.
"Then, all you have to do is focus on the object, in this case the trunk, focus and say the incantation loudly and clearly."
"Okay."
"Wing-"
"I found them!" They heard yelled from outside. Both of them looked to find Sam standing outside the train, waving at them. Quinn waved him in.
"Isn't this so cool" Sam shouted from down the train as soon as he boarded.
He took his time looking through all the compartments as he made his way to them. If Santana hadn't already seen them she might have been convinced by his enthusiasm that they were all spectacular and unique, rather than the bland and basic train compartments they actually were.
"Nice" he said when he finally reached their compartment. "I'll tell my dad to bring my trunk here."
"Do you ever comb your hair?" Santana combed her fingers through his once again shaggy hair. Someone had tried to tie it in a bun at the back of his head, but most of it was falling out both at the front and back.
"Not today. My mum said we'd be late. That's why it's tied."
"Is it though?" Quinn laughed.
"Sit down" Santana said, pointing at the seat. Sam obliged, turning away from Santana so she could easily reach the hair band. "First thing I'm going to do is learn a spell to do this for you."
Quinn laughed as Sam blushed.
When Santana had retied his hair perfectly, she patted the top of his head to let him know he could face forward.
"Thanks" he smiled.
"You're welcome. Now shut up and watch greatness."
Sam's eyes nearly bugged as she raised her wand. He jumped in front of Quinn, practically landing in her lap and covering her face with his hands.
"What are you doing?!" Quinn yelled, trying to shove him off.
"I don't want to see your face covered with boils." He said, fighting Quinn to shield her with his body.
"Aw, he'd take a hex for you Quinnie" Santana giggled.
"Get off!" Quinn said, finally managing to get Sam completely off her.
"No" Sam said, looking at Santana. "I just know you wouldn't hex me just to get to her."
Santana folded her arms over her chest. "Test that one day, see how it works out."
"She wasn't going to hex me." Quinn was combing her fingers through her hair, trying to fix it. "She's going to levitate her trunk into the storage space"
Sam frowned at the trunk, the space under the seat, then at Santana.
"Why not just push it?"
She pointed to the space above their heads.
"Oh!" his eyebrows shot up. "How are you going to do that?"
"A spell genius" Santana chuckled.
"Woww. You know a spell for that?"
"Yes. You'll get to see if you shut up."
Sam sat back in his seat, placing his hands on his knees and pulling both his lips into his mouth.
Amused, Santana shook her head. After a second, she closed her eyes and focused. There was more noise now, with kids and parents coming on and off the train, yelling to friends or family and heaving trunks, so it took longer for her to get the level of focus she had achieved the first time. When her mind was clear enough, she raised her wand.
"Wingardium Leviosa"
This time her trunk began rising immediately. Sam's excited yelp prompted her to open her eyes.
Even though she'd just done the same thing a few minutes before, she still felt a wave of pride as she manoeuvred the trunk up into the storage. She had it halfway there when someone yelled behind her, making her jump.
"Hey!"
Luckily, the trunk was far enough into the storage that when it landed it managed to balance, rather than topple to the ground. Sam and Quinn jumped quickly onto the seat, trying to push it fully in.
Santana turned to see who'd ruined her concentration.
"What do you think you're doing?" the girl asked, crossing her arms. Santana frowned at her.
"Putting away my tru-"
"No magic outside Hogwarts!"
Santana turned to Quinn to see her equally as annoyed.
"Are you magical law enforcement?" she asked.
The girl narrowed her eyes at her.
"I'm a prefect, so yeah that's magical law enforcement to you, first year."
"I don't see a badge." Santana let her eyes run up and down the girl's body, taking in the red on her robes and making sure she knew she wasn't intimidated.
"If we were at Hogwarts I'd deduct your points for being so rude."
"How can you deduct points when I don't even have a house?"
"And the school year hasn't even started." Quinn added.
Narrowing her eyes further, the girl pointed threateningly at Santana.
"Tomorrow you will have a house and the school year will have started. You'll learn to respect prefects then. Especially if you're in my house."
"Not gonna happen." Santana sneered, crossing her own arms and mirroring the prefect's look of disdain. With a final glare, the girl brushed past her.
"Damn Gryffindors" Santana muttered, her hand gripping her wand tighter as she watched the girl's retreating back.
"Don't even think about it."
Santana turned to see Leon standing behind her.
"I wasn't going to do anything."
"Mmhh" Leon plopped down opposite Sam and Quinn. "The way you were gripping that thing, I know you were a second away from hexing her."
"Maybe just a few boils."
Leon shook his head.
"Hexing anyone will land you in huge trouble, let alone a prefect." He lifted his feet onto the opposite seat, forcing Quinn to move over. "Let alone that prefect." Leon chuckled.
"Why, what's so special about her?" Quinn asked, scowling at his shoes.
"She's a Gryffindor prefect."
"Yeah we got that from the robes" Santana said, rolling her eyes. "So?"
"So that's Professor McGonagall's house."
"So?" Santana asked again, getting irritated.
"So Professor McGonagall is one teacher you do not want to cross. She's deputy headmistress and just about the strictest teacher in the school. Hex her prefects and I wouldn't be surprised if you were expelled."
Santana's grip loosened on her wand as her heart rate picked up and her eyes widened impossibly.
"Expelled?"
"I'm telling you. Don't mess with Professor McGonagall."
She slowly sat next to her brother, the reality of how close she was to such trouble sinking in. Leon put his arm around her shoulder.
"Don't start freaking out, just…This isn't the same as class at Mike's. You're going to have to get a grip on your temper."
Santana nodded, staring down at her wand.
"Okay?"
"Okay…"
****
After chatting a bit more, mostly Leon telling them about the prefects and teachers to watch out for, Sam went to find his parents to help him load his trunk in their compartment and then all of them got off to say their final goodbyes to their parents.
"Where's Mike?" Leon asked as they stepped off the train.
"I haven't seen him." Santana said. "But there's only five minutes to departure, so he has to be here somewhere."
The platform was now completely packed, making it hard for them to even walk. Santana had to dodge people running with trunks or owl cages, all the while trying to keep track of her brother as he led them back to the bench their parents had occupied earlier. Finally, after losing him three times, she ran forward and grabbed onto the back of his robes. He looked back, but when he saw it was her he simply continued walking. Somehow they made it through the throngs of people, which seemed thicker where their parents were.
Santana soon realised why.
There was a crowd of people around her parents, all clamouring for her dad's autograph.
"Oh" she rolled her eyes.
She and Leon looked on in disgust as their dad laughed and joked with kids from Hogwarts and their parents. Finally, their mum nudged him, pointing at the big clock by the platform entrance. He nodded frantically, handed back the autograph he had been signing and followed Mrs Lopez to Santana and Leon.
"Really dad?" Santana said, sighing.
"Well you weren't around and we weren't particularly busy. Why not?"
"Come here" Mrs Lopez pulled her into a tight hug, kissing the top of her head. "I'm going to miss you."
"I'm going to miss you too ma."
Her mother pulled back and kissed both her cheeks.
"Be a good girl please."
"I will."
"Please."
Santana pulled her face out of her mother's hands and took a step back.
"I said I will."
Sighing, Mrs Lopez pulled Leon into a hug as well.
"Take care of….watch your sister."
Leon, her dad and the Fabrays all laughed.
Santana caught her retort on her tongue. Clearly she did need to be watched, given the disaster Leon had just saved her from with the prefect. She settled for looking annoyed.
"Don't pout kid" Mrs Fabray said as she too hugged Santana. "She's just worried about you cause she was a trouble maker herself."
"True" her dad said. Santana found herself in yet another hug. There was too much hugging for her liking, and it was making her skin crawl.
"Explains where I got it from." She said, pulling away from her father. "We better go before we're left."
Quinn was awkwardly hugging her dad when Santana turned away from her parents. Not wanting to witness it, Santana turned towards the train.
That blonde girl, Santana remembered she'd said her name was Brittany, was standing by the train hugging a much smaller but equally as blonde girl. She looked like she was crying, but Santana couldn't be sure from the distance.
"EXCUSE ME!"
"MAKE WAY"
People frantically jumped aside to make space for someone barrelling down the platform with a trolley. Santana frowned as the person stopped abruptly in front of one of the train doors and jumped on.
"Mike" she said in disbelief.
"What's he doing?" Quinn laughed.
He was carrying an owl cage in one hand and a large brown parcel in the other. Mike's dad was the next onto the train, heaving Mike's trunk over his head so they could more easily move through the train.
"Come on, let's go show them our compartment." Santana waved one last time to her parents and sprinted to the train.