AUTHOR'S NOTE: There have been so many Harry Potter/Britanna images and short stories popping up lately I thought I'd try out a longer more elaborate story. If people like this, then I'll keep writing. Enjoy:)

Santana Lopez's palms were sweating. The dark Latina girl didn't normally get this nervous. Back home in Ohio she was known for her fearless and sometimes even cruel nature, but standing here in the massive Great Hall, looking up at the raggedy hat that would in moments declare what her future would look like for the next seven years… It was intimidating.

"Fabray, Quinn!" An elderly woman with a pinched face and a large pointed hat projected across the group of frightened first years.

They huddled even closer together, as though they thought they would be safer in a small pack. A girl with fair skin, golden hair, and a quivering smile wobbled up to the stool where the Sorting Hat sat complacently. 'Who had ever thought of this?' Santana wondered bitterly. 'A hat? What right did a hat, a hat that didn't even know her, have to judge her character in front of all these people?' She caught herself, it was a HAT of course it didn't know her!

"Ravenclaw!" The hat bellowed across the Great Hall.

The blonde girl, Fabray or whatever her name was, looked relieved and walked off towards the sea of blue and bronze that was the Ravenclaw table, decidedly less wobbly than before as the older students high-fived her and pulled her down to sit next to them. Santana rolled her eyes. Even as she stood there shaking with nerves, she thought it was ridiculous that these 16 and 17 year olds were even pretending to be interested in the miniscule children joining their house ranks. They were probably just sizing them up, deciding who would be the easiest to throw into a locker or something she thought ruefully. She had to catch herself again. This place probably didn't have lockers.

"Gryffindor!" the sorting hat nearly sang and a good-looking sandy haired boy grinned, removed the hat, and strode off to join the crowd of clapping Gryffindors.

Santana licked her lips, which were dry now.

"Jones, Abel!" the woman with the pointed hat read off.

Santana tried to remember the professor's name. McGervall… McGingel… it was something like that. She began to look around at the other first years surrounding her, less because she was interested, and more because she wanted to avoid thinking about how close to 'L' the list was getting. There was a boy standing next to her, tall and gangly but still attractive with dark hair and tan skin, who had turned a soft shade of green as he stared up at the stool with a terrified expression. Santana almost snorted. At least she wasn't as nervous as this kid. He caught her looking at him and winked before he returned his sickened gaze to the Sorting Hat, which was now resting over the eyes of a mousey looking boy whose feet didn't even touch the ground as he sat on the rickety stool. After glaring at the dark-haired boy's profile a little longer, Santana let her eyes continue to roam.

"Ravenclaw!"

She saw a group of boys eyeing two pretty girls who had their arms linked. They were both looking up at the hat with a strange type of reverence. Every now and then one of the boys would push another one towards the girls, who were either completely oblivious or just supremely unconcerned. Santana moved on and kept sweeping her eyes over her new classmates. She was used to how stupid boys could get around girls, especially pretty ones. Her gaze fell upon a slim blonde girl, standing slightly apart from the group. She didn't look out of place, more like she had wandered to that spot and was happy there, distanced slightly from the throng of frightened children besides her. The girl caught Santana's eye and smiled radiantly. She was very pretty with her golden curls falling around her shoulders. Santana automatically moved a hand to her own hair to make sure it was still nicely in place, blushed and looked away. She didn't like being caught staring at people.

"King, Josh!"

Santana swallowed. Suddenly she felt someone brush against her right side and looked up. The blonde girl who had smiled at her had come up behind her.

"Are you nervous?" the girl whispered in Santana's ear.

Normally Santana would have puffed up her chest and viciously shot down anyone who questioned her bravery. As she looked over at the blonde kindly smiling next to her though, she couldn't help but let out the breath she had just prepared for a slew of cutting words.

"Yeah, a little." She mumbled to the floor. She felt the girl take her hand and squeeze it softly. Santana stiffened. She never held hands with anyone, but after a few moments she relaxed a little. For some reason this girl's support was, well, comforting.

"I'm sure wherever the hat puts you, you'll be fine," the girl said softly. Santana merely nodded at her toes.

"I'm Brittany," the girl said, and for the first time since the girl had appeared at her side Santana looked up from her feet to the girl's, Brittany's, face.

"Santana," she replied.

The blonde girl didn't let go of the darker Latina's hand until the professor called out "Lopez, Santana!" Brittany gave Santana's hand a final little squeeze, and gently pushed her towards the stool.

The walk towards the Sorting Hat felt like it took an eternity. She could feel hundreds of pairs of eyes on her as she finally took her seat. Her vision was promptly obscured as the hat was dropped onto her head and fell over her eyes. Santana thought it smelled like mothballs.

"Mothballs, eh?" She heard a small sly voice in her ear and nearly jumped. "I've heard worse you know… now what to do with you…' Santana was shaken by the hat's sudden insight into her private thoughts. "Let's see," the voice continued. "You're tough aren't you, like to do things alone..." This was less of a question than a statement, and Santana just bit her lip. She suddenly didn't feel very tough at all. "There's more to you than that though… Fiery. Definitely some bravery, some wit. But you're cunning, sometimes merciless even." The voice sounded genuinely interested. "You're hiding." Santana didn't like what the hat was saying. "You don't have to like it, but you might as well accept it. I can see things in you that you may not even see just yet." The hat grew complacent. "There's too much common sense here for Gryffindor, you won't be barging into the Department of Mysteries trying to save people that aren't even there." The hat chuckled at what was apparently supposed to be a joke, but Santana didn't understand it at all. She clenched the sides of the stool more tightly. "Ah, but Ravenclaw, no… Hm. Ahhhh." The hat let out with a sound of sudden comprehension. "Now make this your own, many forget the merits and the good qualities that can make up a SLYTHERIN!"

The last word was shouted to the Great Hall at large, and there was a chorus of cheering from the Slytherin table. Santana removed the hat and placed it on the stool, relieved that it was finally over. As she walked towards the clapping students she looked back for a second at the group of first years and with a quick pang saw Brittany at the front, smiling at her. The relief was suddenly knocked out of Santana and replaced with a sad feeling. She knew that wherever the blonde with the kind blue eyes was going, it definitely was not going to be Slytherin. She shook her head briskly as if to rid her mind of the thought. She didn't even know the girl. She'd make new friends. Mustering a smile she took her seat, and was quickly enveloped by a forest of silver and green.

Santana sat staring at the ceiling, the curtains from her four-poster casting dark, soothing shadows upon the wall in the faint candlelight. She could hear a girl sobbing quietly into her pillow in the bed next to hers. Santana wished the girl would stop. Had she never left her house before or something? She pulled the sheets up over her head, hoping to block out the noise but to no avail. She was surprised that she really didn't miss Ohio at all. She could barely even believe she was at Hogwarts. Without thinking, Santana began to replay the circumstances that had gotten her here over again in her head.

She was walking home from another day of the fifth grade sporting a badly bloodied nose when she saw the envelope with her name written across it in curvy emerald green ink sitting on their doorstep. Paying no attention to the blood she was smearing across the letter she picked it up and read:

Ms. S. Lopez

The Front Doorstep

6294 Allentown Rd.

Lima, Ohio 45801

Two minutes later Santana walked into her small house, setting her backpack down absent-mindedly on top of the pile of shoes and jackets next to her front door.

"Mija, is that you?" came her mother's voice from the next room.

"Si mama," Santana replied, kicking off her shoes, still clutching the letter in her hand.

"Santana, necesito…" Santana's mother started to say,

"Si Mama, yo se," Santana yelled back, cutting the older woman off.

She came out of the daze that had been brought on by the letter, and walked across their stained burgundy carpet to the kitchen where she reached up to a cabinet and brought down a bottle of bourbon from the top shelf. With a little effort she had twisted off the cap, and broken off the safety with her teeth. She spat out the plastic and the taste of the liquor and brought the bottle to the living room. Her mother sat on the couch in front of the TV, right where Santana had left her that morning. You could tell that Mrs. Lopez had once been very beautiful, but her radiance had been dulled by years laden with sadness and booze.

"Here you go, Mama," said Santana, pouring some of the amber liquid into a glass next to her mother. She placed the nearly full bottle down on the coffee table, removing the empty one sitting there from the day before.

"Gracias, mi nina," cooed Santana's mother thankfully, but upon looking up at her daughter's face her expression turned darker.

"Tu nariz! What happened?" she asked with a thick Mexican accent. Santana had momentarily forgotten about her nose, but when her mother reminded her it began to throb again.

"It's nothing, Mama, just some boys. It doesn't matter." She said, reaching up to cover that part of her face.

"You KNOW I wish you wouldn't get into fights, Mija."

"Si Mama. Yo se." She smiled down at the older woman who was now sipping at the liquor Santana had brought her.

"Bien," said her mother, and waved Santana away.

Santana spent that entire night staring at the letter, the first ever addressed to her, wondering if the words could be real. Her older brother Matty had came home around eight from his factory job, and yelled across the house that he had dinner, but Santana had remained in her room. These people thought she was special. They wanted her to leave Ohio, to come to some school in England where they'd teach her… Magic. They said that SHE was magical. They said that they barely ever extended their hands across the ocean to America, but that she was an exception. Santana excitedly began thinking how she had noticed strange, almost magical, things happen around her before. She'd never put any store into them, but maybe… Even today, an entire group of seventh grade boys had cornered her outside the school in the beginnings of a thunderstorm, yelling something about her brother screwing over one of their fathers. She had panicked, and tried to run but one of the boys had caught her and thrown her up against a wall, bloodying her nose. She didn't know how, but as she was overcome by anger and fear a large bolt of lightning had struck only yards away and the boys had scattered. She had thought it was luck, but what if it wasn't? Santana suddenly felt guilty. What was she thinking? Her mother needed her. Matty needed her. She couldn't just leave. She tucked the letter under her pillow and went to sleep, her mind spinning.

A loud snore next to her brought Santana back into the present and the small moonlit room where she had accidentally fallen into her own memories. The girl next to her had stopped crying, but was now breathing so loudly that Santana wouldn't have been surprised if the girl was gone and had been replaced by a large zoo animal. She honestly didn't know which was worse. She began to think about the night she'd just had. The gangly boy who had winked at her before they were sorted had taken a seat next to her on the Slytherin bench and introduced himself as Puck. Santana thought he had seemed much more confident, and she noticed he was much less green than before. She liked how forward he was, but when he had given her his name she merely raised one eyebrow at him and turned, leaving his silent question unanswered. Just because the sorting hat knew there was more to Santana than a tough exterior, that didn't mean the rest of the world had to. She was sure the five other girls in her dormitory were a little afraid of her, as they had given her the first choice of the beds, and seemed to skirt away when she walked by them. She still had it, thought Santana smugly. Just as she began to drift off to sleep, an image of Brittany, smiling hugely and dancing off to a cheering table, illuminated behind Santana's eyes. The word "Hufflepuff!" was piercing in Santana's ears. She was being stupid. Santana never had problems getting friends. That girl didn't matter. With that, Santana's heavily lashed eyes closed, and slowly her breathing became deep and regular.