Author's Note:

Momo The Great: I thought that both Rachel and Puck should be in either Gryffindor and Slytherin. I decided to put Rachel in Slytherin because one of her biggest characteristics is her dream and ambition to be a star. She most definitely exhibits Gryffindor qualities, but I felt she was more of a Slytherin because of the way she is dedicated to winning and how she gets very upset when she doesn't get a solo and stuff like that.

I settled on Gryffindor for Puck because over the course of the show, he's demonstrated great loyalty towards glee club and his friends. And I don't really think he has the kind of cleverness or ambition that Slytherins are known to have. He acts mainly on impulse and has the nerve of a Gryffindor.

Anywho, back to the story: it takes place during the kids' sixth year, for those of you wondering. But I thought it would be fun to go back once in a while and see what they were up to in previous years, so this is what this chapter is. I hope you enjoy! =)


In a small compartment on the Hogwarts Express sat an 11-year-old Santana Lopez. She was sitting by the window with her chin resting on her hand looking out at Platform 9 ¾ and watching other young students hug their families goodbye as the train conductor called out for last passengers. She glanced outside at a large clock on the wall.

10:58.

She slumped back in her chair and sighed. Two more minutes until the train would leave for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. To say that Santana was excited would have been an understatement. She had been waiting for her Hogwarts letter her entire life, and when she finally received one, she immediately had her mother take her to Diagon Alley to start buying supplies.

Santana's musings was suddenly interrupted by the sound of the compartment's door sliding open. She turned her head to find a blonde girl with hazel eyes standing at the entrance inspecting the compartment's insides. Santana had arrived early to Platform 9 ¾ to find the best compartment on the train and was hoping to spend the journey to Hogwarts by herself. She rolled her eyes at the realization that that wasn't going to happen. Just then, the train started to move and the intruder finally acknowledged Santana's presence.

"Oh, hello there. Mind if I sit here?" she asked as she moved to the seat across from Santana, obviously not caring whether her answer was a yes or no. Santana decided that she did not like this girl. The girl held her hand out for Santana to shake. "Quinn Fabray. My father is Russel Fabray. You may have heard of him. He works for the Ministry of Magic and is very close friends with the Minister."

Fabray. Yes, Santana had heard that name before. The Fabrays were a snobbish, aristocratic family, and she often heard her father complaining about them whenever their name was mentioned in The Daily Prophet. Santana looked at Quinn's challenging glare and then reached to shake her hand. Two can play this game.

"Santana Lopez. I think our fathers know each other actually. Mine is a Healer at St. Mungo's with a very strong connection to the Ministry," there was a glint of recognition in Quinn's eyes and Santana smiled triumphantly. The Lopez family was just as much of a prominent wizarding family as the Fabrays, and Santana was not going to be one-upped by this Quinn girl.

"Oh, I see," Quinn straightened up her shoulders and lifted her chin in an air of superiority. There was a knock at the door and both girls groaned quietly at the idea of having more company. The door slid open and a small, brunette girl popped her head in.

"Hello!" she greeted cheerfully, walking in and plopping herself down next to Santana. "My name is Rachel Berry! I hope you don't mind me sitting here. The other compartments were full and this seems to be the only one with room left." The two other girls introduced themselves, and Rachel just smiled brightly at them as if they were some magnificent creatures that she had never seen before. "Wow! So you guys must be very familiar with the wizarding society already?"

"Of course! I come from a completely pure-blood family," Santana's eyes widened in comprehension. "Wait, you're not Muggle-born are you?"

"If that means that I have two non-magical parents, then yes, I suppose I am." Santana scooted a little farther away from Rachel, and Quinn shifted uncomfortably and looked awkwardly out the window. Rachel frowned a little, but still tried to make conversation. "So, what houses do you think you'll be sorted into?"

"Slytherin, of course. Everyone in my family has been a Slytherin. It would only make sense for me to be one." Santana answered, making sure not to make direct eye contact with Rachel.

"I'll probably be in Slytherin or Ravenclaw. My sister, Frannie, is actually in the Prefects' coach right now. I expect she'll be made Slytherin's Head Girl this year," Santana rolled her eyes at Quinn's attempt to prove her superiority again.

"Wow, that's very interesting," Rachel nodded her head in genuine curiosity, "Well, from the research I've been doing this past month, I expect that I'll be sorted into either Gryffindor or Slytherin."

"Slytherin!" Santana scoffed, "There's no way that will happen. Slytherin would never accept a Mudblood! They'll probably put you in Hufflepuff with all of the other talentless losers."

Rachel frowned, but talked back, "I happen to have a lot of talent, actually! I probably would have gone to the Wizarding Academy of Dramatic Arts if I didn't decide I wanted a more well-rounded education that Hogwarts could give me."

"Yeah, whatever, I really don't care," Santana huffed and crossed her arms. "Ugh, where is that trolley lady? I wants my sweets and I wants them now." With that, she got up to leave. Quinn shook her head with wide eyes as if to say, don't leave me here with Rachel. "I'll be right back," Santana said as she walked out, ignoring Quinn's silent pleading.

Santana looked down the corridor, looking for the food trolley. When she didn't see it, she moved into the next carriage, finally spotting it all the way in the end surrounded by other students. As she took a step forward, one of the compartments next to her slid open, and she collided into whoever was leaving.

"Ow."

"Ow!" Santana was about to fall over until she felt someone pulling on her arm, keeping her steady. "Will you watch where you're—" she stopped mid-sentence when she looked up to find clear, blue eyes staring down at her with concern.

"I'm sorry! Are you all right?" a tall, blonde girl asked. Santana just gaped at her with her mouth slightly opened. She was so absorbed in the way the other girl's eyes seemed to twinkle and how her blonde hair cascaded over her shoulders. The girl then poked her on the nose, bringing her back to consciousness. "Hello! Anyone in there?"

"What? Oh, yeah, I—" Santana shook her head, silently chiding herself for staring so rudely at someone else.

"Oh, thank goodness you can speak!" the girl beamed, and Santana was once again awestruck at the sight of her smile. "I was scared my cat got your tongue. I told Lord Tubbington not to do that, but sometimes he just doesn't listen." Santana looked at her in confusion. "I'm Brittany by the way. Brittany Susan Pierce. But just call me Brittany because it would take too long to say my full name.

"Um, I'm Santana…"

"Santana! What a pretty a name! I was just going to get some snacks from the trolley, Santana. Wanna come?"

"Yeah, sure…" Santana answered. Brittany linked her pinky with Santana's and led her down the corridor. Normally, Santana didn't like it when people touched her without permission, but there was something oddly comforting about Santana's pinky in Brittany's that she just didn't care.

When they reached the trolley, Santana asked for a licorice wand.

"I'll have one too please," Brittany said.

"I'm sorry, dear. That seemed to have been the last one," the trolley lady replied. Brittany pouted. It was one of the most adorable things Santana had ever seen. She looked down at her own licorice wand then back at Brittany, before handing it over to her.

"Here, Brittany. You can have mine."

"Really?" Santana nodded. "Thank you! It's my favorite!" Brittany's smile made Santana grin in return, and she wondered why she felt the need to be so nice to Brittany. She loved licorice wands, and if it were anyone else instead of Brittany, she would have greedily taken the last one and run off.

Santana and Brittany bought more treats before returning to Brittany's compartment. When Brittany opened the door, Santana saw that the compartment was occupied by a girl and three other boys.

"Hey, guys. This is my new friend, Santana!" Brittany gestured to the shorter girl beside her, and Santana blushed slightly at the mention of the word friend. "Santana, this is Mike, Sam, Blaine, and Tina."

Santana nodded towards them in acknowledgement. She felt something furry moving against her legs and she almost jumped back when she saw that it was a large cat. Brittany placed the sweets she had bought on the seat, but kept a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans.

"And this is Lord Tubbington," she said, picking up the overweight cat with ease. "He loves jelly beans. Don't you, Lord Tubbington?" she spoke in a high-pitch, baby-like voice and fed him a jelly bean. "Yes, you do! Especially the bogey-flavored ones!"

Santana sent the other occupants a questioning look, and they all shook their heads in dismissal.

"Want to feed him, Santana?" Brittany held the cat out in front of her.

"Sure, why not?" Santana said, taking a jelly bean from the box. Lord Tubbington stuck his nose out towards Santana's hand, but instead of taking just the jelly bean, he bit down on Santana's fingers. "OW!" she quickly pulled back her hand and held it to her chest. "He just bit me! The stupid cat just bit me!"

"He's not stupid!" Brittany hugged her cat more closely and gave Santana a stern look.

"Okay, fine. I'm sorry. He's not stupid. But he still bit me!" Santana stuck her hand out to reveal small, red marks on her index finger.

"Lord Tubbington, you should apologize, too." Lord Tubbington just glared at Santana. "Sorry, Santana. He's usually not like this. He's probably a little scared because you're unfamiliar to him." Santana stared at Brittany in disbelief, still clutching onto her injured hand. She turned towards Blaine and Sam when she heard them chuckling.

"Maybe he just doesn't like you, Santana," she glared at Blaine and he held his arms up in defense. "I mean no offense. It's just, we just met him too, but he immediately warmed up to us."

"That's ridiculous," Brittany spoke up. "I like Santana. Lord Tubbington always likes the people I like." She sent Santana a small smile then looked away sheepishly.

What was that? Santana thought.

"Anyway," Brittany continued, placing Lord Tubbington back on the floor and taking Santana's hand. "I'm sorry he bit you. I hope we can still be friends."

"Um, it's fine," Santana replied nervously. "And I'm sorry again that I called him a stupid cat. I'm sure he's actually very smart."

"Yeah, he is!" Brittany smiled proudly. "He always beats me at wizard's chess."

Santana ignored the last comment, "Anyway… I better get going now…"

"Aw, why don't you stay here with us?"

"No, it's okay. I was sitting with some other people and I told them I'd be right back."

"Okay, well, it was great meeting you!" Brittany wrapped her arms around Santana, who hesitated before returning the hug. "Maybe we'll be put in the same house, or at least have the same classes. Wouldn't that be exciting! I have a feeling we're gonna be great friends, Santana!"

"Uh yeah," Santana stepped out of the hug and backed out into the corridor. "I-I'll see you around, I guess." Brittany watched her go with a huge grin on her face, until Santana was already in the next coach, out of sight.

"Well, that was awkward…" Brittany finally turned around when she heard Sam speak.

"Y-yeah. S-she was kind of intimidating," Tina stuttered.

"I liked her," Brittany said, playing with the licorice wand that Santana had given her.

"Yeah, well you probably won't be seeing much of her anyway," Brittany looked up at Sam curiously. "She looks like the type to be sorted into Slytherin."

"Well then, I wanna be in Slytherin, too."

"There's no way you'll get into Slytherin, Brittany. You're way too good for those guys," Mike said.

"Don't worry about it, Britt," Blaine reached over and placed his hand over Brittany's. "It doesn't matter what house you're in. You can be friends with anybody you want to be friends with."

Brittany smiled at Blaine's reassurance. She and Santana were going to be the best of friends. She just knew it.