Brittany was worried if Quinn already told Santana about her attraction, but nothing seemed to change. Santana still talked to her only when she had to. And the girls still took turn to do the weekly tasks.
"Children, for this week's task, I want you to check in the sewer under the dungeons. We have complaints about loud noise resonating from there lately," Headmaster Figgins said at the end of one meeting. "Please take precaution. It could be just a gnome or something dangerous. If you suspect that it is a vicious creature, please get out of there and report to me."
The girls said goodnight to the Headmaster and left the room.
"Okay. I'm just gonna go now," Santana said and headed to the dungeon.
"There's no way I'm letting you go alone. Didn't you hear Headmaster Figgins? It could be something dangerous," Brittany jogged to catch up with Santana.
"You already did last week's task. And my dorm is on the way. It only makes sense that I do this," Santana stopped walking and spun around.
Brittany almost crashed into Santana, but it was not the time to concern about proximity.
"It doesn't make any sense. What if it's a Basilisk?" Brittany asked while her hand came up to touch Santana's elbow automatically.
"There's no such thing," Santana replied and flinched away from the touch.
"It could be a ghost like Peeves," Brittany insisted.
"What is a Peeves?"
"You don't read much about UK Hogwarts, do you?"
"Because it's not important to me."
"Come on. Let me come with you only this one time."
"No."
"Well, I'm not asking. I'm coming with you."
"I'm not asking either," Santana replied and ran into the stairway that led to the dungeons.
When Brittany followed her, Santana already disappeared. Brittany figured that there must be some secret passages around here. It took a while until she found a manhole that led directly to the sewer below.
The ladder that dropped from the manhole was broken, so Brittany decided to jump down instead. Her shoes were wet from the splashing water.
Brittany stepped inside the sewer carefully and looked for a sight of Santana. She suddenly heard a thud and a sound of a girl's groan.
"Santana, is that you?" Brittany asked loudly without thinking.
"Brittany, get out of here!" Santana replied from the end of the sewer.
She sounded so panicked. Brittany thought and ran towards the sound.
When she reached the end of the tunnel, the sight in front traumatized her. Santana was casting a protection spell while a Dementor was slamming against her invisible shield.
"What are you doing!? I told you to get out of here! He's here for me!" Santana turned around when she heard Brittany's footsteps.
The Dementor took that moment to slam hardly against the protection spell and knocked Santana down to the ground. The creature moved closer and closer to Santana.
"Expecto Patronum," Santana chanted the spell for Patronus Charm, but only silver smoke came out from the tip of her wand.
Brittany froze in place until the Dementor started to suck out Santana's soul. She reached for her wand, while Santana hopelessly tried to cast the Patronus Charm again.
Where is my wand!? Brittany asked herself when she found her pocket empty.
Brittany quickly realized that the wand might have fallen when she jumped down here.
"Hold on, Santana!" Brittany shouted and ran back to below the manhole.
She found her wand lying in a puddle. Brittany grabbed it and ran back to Santana as fast as she could.
On the way back, she tripped on a wooden box she did not pay attention before. On the box, there was Professor Holliday's name written on it along with stamps. Everything started to click in Brittany's head.
"Professor Holliday gushed about ordering a little something-something to scare the third year students."
"Santana, it's not a Dementor!" Brittany yelled before she could get up, hoping for Santana to be conscious enough to hear her. "It's a Boggart! Use Riddikulus!"
Brittany continued to run forward only to find Santana curling up on the ground and groaning.
Brittany stepped in front of the fake Dementor by instinct. The creature swiftly changed into Courtney Pierce.
"Hi, cuz. Long time no see. I see that you still can't be compared to me. How is Potions? You will probably get Acceptable as usual, only because Sue might feel like you're already too pathetic to get a Troll. I mean, even though someone like Sue was my teacher, I still got Outstanding every year, you know?"
Courtney stepped closer and shoved Brittany on her shoulder lightly.
Brittany told herself that the thing in front of her was not her cousin. She started to lift up her wand when Courtney changed into Kurt.
"I haven't forgiven you about the election. I will never forgive you!" Kurt yelled in her face and changed into Santana.
"Wow, you look so pretty,…," the fake Santana stepped closer and curl a golden lock of Brittany's hair with her finger. "…pretty dumb."
Brittany felt a hand tapping on her shin and turned around. The real Santana was sitting on the ground and looked up to her.
"That's not m-me," Santana said with the strength she had left. "I'm h-here."
Brittany turned to face the Boggart again when it already changed into her mother. She was taken by surprised when it hugged her.
"I love you, Brittany," her mother mumbled during the hug and pulled away. "I just didn't know you would turn out to be this stupid. Why can't you be more like Courtney? Anyway, the important thing is you should know that I will always love you no matter what. Even though you're such a disappointment and I wish I had another better child before I was too old."
Brittany pushed the creature away and casted the spell without hesitancy. "Riddikulus."
The Boggart inflated while it was still in Whitney Pierce form. It bounced up and down against the ceiling and the ground like a big balloon. When it finally deflated to the previous size, the creature decided to tap-dance.
"Petrificus Totalus," Brittany gave it another spell and witnessed her mother paralyzed and fell on the ground.
Brittany sighed and turned to Santana. The other girl tried to get up on her own but she did not succeed.
"Let's get out of here," Brittany said and kneeled down to help Santana up.
She arranged Santana's left arm to be around her neck and grabbed Santana's right side of her waist to support her even though the other girl tried to protest.
"You can't walk on your own. Don't be so stubborn," Brittany mumbled.
"Whatever," Santana replied in her usual way. "So, that was your mom?"
"Yep, the one and only Mrs. Whitney Pierce. And no, that's definitely not my mom," Brittany said firmly and turned her head back to look at the paralyzed creature.
"I thought you were going to wait and let it change into everyone in school."
"Me too. Luckily, it changed into my mom first and it said something my mom would never say. That snapped me back to reality. Well, you helped, too, actually."
"Look, you saved my life twice now, and I, umm…" Santana started, but did not finish her sentence.
"Are you trying to say thank you?" Brittany turned to look at Santana while they were climbing the stairs in a secret passage Santana guided them to.
It felt intimate when they talked while they were side-hugging.
"Well, thank you," Santana said and quickly looked away.
"You're welcome," Brittany replied and looked at the flushed cheek in front of her. "But it would be great if we do the tasks together from now on."
"Maybe," Santana mumbled.
"Seriously? After everything that happened? You can't even cast the Patronus Charm," Brittany started to get slightly angry.
"I can't cast it since… Just forget it. It's no big deal. And don't tell anyone about that," Santana tried to sound calm, but she failed miserably.
"It's a very big deal, Santana. I can't imagine what would have happened if that was a real Dementor," Brittany pressed on.
"Then you should have left me alone," Santana replied quietly without turning to face Brittany.
"He's here for me!" Brittany thought back to what Santana said in the sewer.
"You said he was here for you. What was that about?" Brittany asked softly.
"I don't wanna talk about it," Santana replied.
Brittany could hear the sadness in her voice. As much as she wanted to know what happened, she continued to help Santana get up the stairs.
When the girls reached the dungeons, Santana asked Brittany to stop in front of a wall.
"This is my dorm."
"Are you sure you don't wanna go to the Hospital Wing?" Brittany asked, still not let go of Santana.
"Nah. I only need a good long sleep," Santana withdrew her arm from around Brittany's neck and leaned against the wall. "Don't forget to report everything to Figgins."
"I'm heading to his office right now. You sure you're okay?" Brittany was still concerned.
"Yes, I'm sure. Now go," Santana replied and added. "You already know one of our secret passages. I don't want you to hear our dorm's password, too."
Brittany pretended to roll her eyes and headed to the stairway that led to the Entrance Hall above. She was going to step on the first tread of the stairs when she heard Santana calling her name.
"Brittany," Santana said and quickly corrected herself. "Pierce."
Brittany noticed that it was the second time Santana said her first name.
"Yeah?" she turned around to the sound.
Santana's face was hiding behind the shadow, but Brittany could see her lips moving.
"I don't think you're stupid… or dumb."
Brittany smiled and replied. "Thank you, Santana."
"Good night," Santana said and stepped inside the opened wall in front of her.
"Night," Brittany replied to the empty hallway and climbed up the stairs.
