The next morning Santana woke up when the sun was still rising. As quietly as she could she crawled out of bed and pulled on her robes, choosing to leave the blue and bronze striped house tie she had been given the previous evening on her bed stand. Looking around her everyone else seemed to be asleep, as the hangings on the other five beds in the dormitory were still drawn.
As she was putting her socks on Tipsy appeared out of nowhere and began pawing at Santana's wand which lay on the floor next to her. "Go away!" Santana hissed, Tipsy merely looked up at her with huge, questioning green eyes in much the same way that Brittany had done so many times the day before. Picking up her wand and resisting the urge to kick the small black creature Santana walked down to the common room and eased open the door to the corridor.
As soon as she stepped outside Ravenclaw tower she could smell wet stone and breathed in the smell of fresh rain from a nearby open window, then she set off down the numerous stair cases leading towards the Entrance Hall. Once she was on the ground floor she realized she had no idea where Professor Batsworth's office was, no one else seemed to be around and she gave a loud groan.
"Lost, dear?" a voice behind her said, spinning round she came face to face with the painting of a unicorn.
"Since when can unicorns talk?" Santana wondered aloud suspiciously.
"Since now!" a figure suddenly launched itself at Santana from behind a tapestry and tackled her to the floor. As she pushed the figure off her she saw a haze of blonde hair and realized it was Brittany.
"What did you do that for! Scared the Flamel out of me!" Santana yelled furiously with her wand drawn.
Brittany giggled and helped Santana to her feet, poking at her wand with an intrigued expression.
"Sorry, I was taking an early morning walk when I saw you and I couldn't resist. Is this YOUR wand? It's smaller than mine." she replied pulling out her own. "A boy in the shop told me it's a Unicorn Twelve-Incher." she said waving it about slightly, causing a few blue sparks to shoot out. Santana couldn't help but snigger.
"You know he was making fun of you, right?" she asked with amusement. Brittany's face fell slightly and she looked confused.
"What do you mean? I measured it, it's Twelve Inches." Santana smacked her palm to her forehead and sighed.
"Yes but... oh never mind. Let me see it and I'll tell you what kind it is, my cousin works for a wand-maker." she said holding her hand out impatiently. Brittany didn't even blink before obeying and handing over her wand.
"Rule number one in the Wizarding world, muggle-born. Don't ever just hand over your wand like that, got it?" Brittany didn't look too sure but she nodded anyway. "Okay, good. Now let me see..." Santana held the wand up to her eye and examined it closely for a few minutes, tapping both ends and flicking it a few times, red sparks shot out the end as she did so.
"I thought so, it's Ash wood and Unicorn tail hair, your 'friend' in the wand shop was at least being partially serious." Santana said finally, handing the wand back to Brittany.
"Cool! What's yours like?" she asked with great interest. Santana rolled her eyes and held it out for Brittany to see.
"Mahogany, nine inches, Dragon Heart-string." she said in a bored voice.
"Dragon?" Brittany asked with surprise.
"Yeah...? What, you can believe in unicorns but not dragons?" Santana replied. Brittany cocked her head to the side and scrunched up her nose.
"Well, you could glue a stick on to a horse's head and it would look like a unicorn, but you can't really fake a dragon. Trust me I tried with my border collie last summer." she said after a moment's pause. Santana simply shook her head and began walking away to look for Professor Batsworth's office.
"Hey! Where are you going?" Brittany called out, running after her. Santana kept walking and replied without turning around. "To find Professor Batsworth's office to get this Sorting mess sorted out." Brittany grabbed at Santana's hand a few times but Santana was striding ahead too quickly for her to reach so she stepped on Santana's robes causing the dark-haired girl to stumble forward on to her face.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING MUDBLOOD!" she yelled as she pulled herself to her feet. As she did a nearby suit of armour cuffed her round the back of the head. "Hey!" she cried, rubbing the spot with her hand. "Such filthy language is not tolerated inside Hogwarts." The armour echoed.
"Right, whatever." she mumbled. Brittany had taken a step back and was holding out her hand.
"Follow me, I know the way." she said cheerily. "And how exactly is that? You've not been here any longer than I have." Santana grumbled.
"Trust me, it's this way, I know it is." Brittany replied with a grin on her face. Deciding she had no better option until the rest of the castle was awake Santana begrudgingly followed Brittany, but made a point of avoiding any physical contact with the girl.
Somewhat unsurprisingly Brittany let her straight to Professor Batsworth's office within minutes, Santana cleared her throat a little nervously and rapped on the door. The door was thrust open almost immediately, Professor Batsworth however, was so tall and Santana so small that at first she only saw Brittany. "Pierce, what are you doing here at this time? Shouldn't you be having some breakfast before your first class?" she asked with a suspicious expression on her face.
Brittany fidgeted slightly and said "Um, it's not me, it's uh..." she said faltering. Professor Batsworth misread her anxiety and swept her in to the office, still unaware of Santana's presence, who made to follow but was stopped in her tracks by the door meeting her face with a Thwack!
Inside the office Professor Batsworth conjured a teapot with a wave of her wand and gestured for Brittany to sit down. "Now what seems to be the problem Pierce? Forget your potions-kit? Lose your wand?"
"It's not me Profes-" Brittany began.
"Oh it never is, is it Pierce? They do say that the wand chooses the wizard after all. It's nothing to be embarrassed about however, I recall my wand giving me the slip four times in my first week at Hogwarts when I was your age." Batsworth rambled on oblivious to Brittany's spluttering and the rapid rapping on the door from Santana. As she paused to pour tea in to Brittany's teacup she became aware of the loud knocking.
"Pierce, why didn't you tell me there was someone at the door?" Batsworth asked with a frown. Brittany whimpered in frustration and dug her nails in to her thighs as Batsworth swept past her to open the door. An angry Santana stormed in to the office with both hands on her hips.
"Now, now Lopez, I was just speaking to Pierce about her wand difficulties, you'll have to wait outside." Batsworth said, shooing Santana backwards and shutting the door again. Santana stood on the other side for a moment unable to comprehend what was happening and how.
Meanwhile Brittany had been encouraged to drink her tea while it was hot and was sitting in front of the nonsensical professor, clasping her teacup with trembling hands. Eventually Batsworth paused again and looked at Brittany. "Now, what exactly is wrong with your wand Pierce?"
"It's not me, it's Santana that has the problem, I was just showing her your office." Brittany said in a tiny voice. Batsworth scratched her head.
"Why didn't you say so in the first place child?" the woman replied, once more moving towards the door, Brittany banged her head on the professor's desk while her back was turned to prevent herself yelling out in frustration.
When the door was opened for the third time an absolutely livid Santana shot past Batsworth before she had any opportunity to close it again and took the seat next to Brittany. Brittany mouthed "Sorry!" at her but Santana was shaking with anger and focused her glare on the professor.
"Now Lopez, what seems to be the problem? Have you lost your wand too?" Batsworth asked, returning to her armchair. For about the twentieth time since boarding the Hogwarts express Santana turned to Brittany and looked at her as though she was absolutely bonkers. Brittany shrugged and drank the last of her tea.
"No, I've come to sort out my house, the Sorting Hat put me in the wrong one." Santana said as calmly as she could. Batsworth blinked a few times before pouring herself some more tea.
"The wrong house? Impossible, the hat is never wrong. Never!" she replied with a sniff. Santana rolled her eyes, she had been expecting this.
"But I'm a Lopez, my family has been in Slytherin for over a hundred years, there MUST have been a mistake." she pleaded. Batsworth looked unmoved.
"I am well aware of your family's connection with Slytherin, Lopez. However if the hat put you in Ravenclaw that is where you belong. That's my final word on the matter, the Headmaster will tell you the same." Santana opened and closed her mouth a few times but couldn't think of anything more to say. Batsworth smiled broadly at the two students who were now silent.
"More tea, anyone?"
A stunned Santana and a cheery Brittany made their way to the Great Hall for breakfast after being roped in to drinking a further three cups of tea each by the batty Batsworth. As she was absent-mindedly buttering her toast a pair of hands covered Santana's eyes.
"Guess who!" a voice said. Not in the mood for games Santana wrenched the hands away and looked behind her irritably. "Hey cuz!" a tall blond-haired boy greeted her with a smile. Santana went bright red.
"Hi Salem, where's Sabbat?" Santana mumbled looking down at her feet.
"Probably at the Owlery writing to your Daddy to tell him all about last night's Sorting." Salem replied with a grin, Santana's face fell and the boy chuckled. "I'm just kidding, your dad's a royal Doxy-head. We think it's cute."
Brittany was listening in on the discussion earnestly, Santana noticed and sighed, devoid of the energy to get rid of her she instead held a hand up to interrupt Salem and introduce him.
"This is Salem, my cousin, he's a Third Year and his sister Sabbat is in Fifth Year." she said before returning to her toast.
Brittany blinked and then held her hand out "Hi! I'm Brittany." she said with a smile. Salem took her hand and shook it politely.
"So, are you ickle Santana's friend?" Brittany opened her mouth to reply but Santana interjected with a choked "No!" Salem looked confused but Brittany simply gave one of her shrugs and examined the timetable she had been handed by a prefect.
"Right, well. Look after her, not that she really needs it. Just make sure she doesn't knock you over on her broomstick or anything." Salem said with a smirk. Santana whirled round and punched him on the arm.
"It was one time! I can fly just fine. Besides, First Years aren't allowed broomsticks anyway, dummy." Salem simply laughed.
"Whatever San, I'll see you around. Quinn needs someone to show her around the Slytherin common room if you know what I mean." he said with a wink before walking back to the Slytherin table.
Santana made a disgusted face at him but stared wistfully as he took his seat at the Slytherin table. She saw Quinn laughing at something one of the other First Year Slytherins had said and felt a pang in her chest.
"Transfiguration first!" Brittany suddenly yelled in her ear, causing her to jump.
"You NEED to stop doing that." Santana said scowling, Brittany giggled and got to her feet.
"We have class with the Gryffindors, come on!" she said, yanking Santana up by her robes. Feeling her first day at Hogwarts couldn't get any worse, Santana sighed and allowed herself to be dragged away to Professsor Snailhouse's classroom.
