Author's Note: Here's another look at their first year. Enjoy! =)

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Glee. Wouldn't it be cool if I did?

Twenty broomsticks were lined up in two columns on the training grounds. Slytherin students stood on one side, Hufflepuff students on the other. Madam Hooch walked through the center explaining to the first-years the basics of flying. A few of the students had trouble calling up their brooms, except for Rachel and Brittany, who had both picked up their brooms on their first try.

"Up!" Santana hissed on her third try. Finally, her broomstick had floated up and into her hand.

"Now that you have a hold of your broom, I want you to mount it, and grip it hard," Madam Hooch explained.

"Wanky…" Santana whispered to the Slytherin student next to her.

When she glanced over to the Hufflepuff side, she saw Brittany staring at her and quickly looked away. Ever since the Start-of-Term Feast, things had been awkward between them. After Santana was sorted into Slytherin, and Brittany into Hufflepuff, Brittany had gone over to the Slytherin table to talk to her. Her fellow Slytherins berated her for associating with a "lowly Hufflepuff" and she ignored Brittany for the rest of the night, much to Brittany's dismay. Normally, Santana would have let it go, but there was something about Brittany that made her want to be friends with the blonde. So over the next few days, she tried to apologize and explain herself, but Brittany just gave her the cold shoulder.

"Mr. Evans, get down this instant!" At the sound of Madam Hooch's yelling, everyone snapped their heads toward Sam only to find him ten feet in the air.

"I-I can't!" he cried, clutching onto his broomstick. It started swaying from side-to-side and the Hufflepuff kids stared on in horror, while the Slytherins just laughed.

"Leave it to a Hufflepuff to lose control of his broomstick," Santana joked. They broke into even more laughter when Sam's broomstick had jerked forward and he fell off.

"That's enough! Five points from Slytherin!" Madam Hooch yelled as she ran towards Sam, who was moaning in pain. "Oh dear, it looks like you've hurt your shoulder," she turned back to the students. "Mr. Chang, please help me carry Mr. Evans to the Hospital wing. The rest of you better behave while I'm gone!"

After Madam Hooch and Mike carried Sam away, the Slytherin students once again burst into laughter.

"Man, how dumb are those Hufflepuff kids that they can't even properly fly a broomstick?" Azimio asked.

"Yeah, did you see him? That little blondie was so scared," Karofsky mocked. "It's because they're all a bunch of Half-bloods and Muggle-borns. They don't know how to do anything."

"Excuse me," Rachel spoke up. She was the only one of the Slytherins who hadn't been laughing at the whole incident. Being Muggle-born (and just plain annoying sometimes), she was immediately outcasted from the others. Despite that, however, she was always one to stand her ground when she needed to. "Half of those Hufflepuffs seemed to handle their brooms better than any of you, so you're no one to talk."

"What did this little gnome just say to us?" Azimio stepped forward.

Karofsky held his arm up to block him, "Just leave it, Azimio. She's just a filthy Mudblood who doesn't seem to know her place. I don't even know why she's in Slytherin."

Santana had been watching this whole exchange. She herself didn't like Rachel and honestly enjoyed tormenting her once in a while. She would have joined in if it weren't the cold, hard stare that Brittany was sending her. What did she want? For her to defend Rachel? There was no way that was going happen. So she just stood there trying to seem disinterested, until finally, Brittany crossed the gap separating the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins and tapped Rachel on the shoulder.

"Hi," she greeted, with her typical Brittany smile.

"Um… hi."

"Thanks for defending us, Hufflepuffs," Brittany said, shooting a quick glance at Santana. "It's nice to know there are some nice Slytherins out there." Santana tensed up when she heard the implication.

"It's no problem at all. I was watching you. You're a natural flyer," Brittany's face brightened at the compliment. Santana looked on and felt bad that she wasn't the one to make her happy. Rachel continued, "I'm Rachel, by the way."

"Brittany."

"Yeah, I know who you are. You're in my Charms and Transfigurations classes."

"Oh. Are you that really annoying voice that I keep hearing?"

"W-what?" Rachel didn't really know how to respond to that. She should have been offended, but somehow she knew that Brittany wasn't intentionally trying to be mean.

"I've been trying to find out where it was coming from. I guess I never notice you because you're so small. Are you part goblin?"

"Absolutely not!"

Keeping her distance, Santana continued to eavesdrop and chuckled to herself. For a girl who didn't know what she was saying half the time, Brittany seemed to think of some good insults even if she didn't mean to. She's clever, Santana thought.

"Why are those guys so mean to you?" Brittany asked Rachel, pointing to Karofsky and Azimio. "You're a Slytherin just like them."

"She's not like us!" Azimio interrupted, storming up to the two girls.

"She's a Mudblood!" Karofsky added.

"Well, that doesn't make any sense," Brittany said. "I'm pretty sure mud can't run through your veins."

"What?" Karofsky shook his head in confusion. "It means she's got two Muggle parents. Jeez, what are you, retarded!"

Brittany frowned and her normally square shoulders visibly sank. The usual light in her eyes disappeared and they shifted nervously, as if she didn't quite know what to do at that moment.

"N-no," she choked out. Brittany never stammered.

Santana's heart broke at the sight. She took a step forward, but then halted, thinking about what she was just about to do. She watched Rachel try to talk back to Karofsky, only to be shot down again, asBrittany silently withdrew into herself. And that's when she realized. She never wanted to see Brittany like that ever again. Screw it, Santana thought.

"Hey, bonehead!" Santana charged in and jabbed her finger into Karofsky's chest. "Why don't you and your boyfriend go pick on someone your own size!"

"What, Lopez!" Karofsky's large body overshadowed Santana's, but she stood her ground. "Are you seriously trying to defend these losers?"

"Don't call Brittany that!"

"Oh, so now you and that daffy chick are suddenly besties?"

"That's it!" Santana whipped out her wand and held it under Karofsky's chin. "I'm gonna give you one more chance. Walk away now, and don't ever mess with Brittany again, or I'll make sure the saying "pig-headed" applies both to your personality and your face. Not that you can get any uglier."

"Oh, please, like you actually know how to do that," Karofsky snickered.

"Well, I don't know, David. My father is a pretty distinguished Healer and I know a lot about how to mess with the human body," he continued to look down on her, still a little doubtful, but also a bit frightened. She leaned in closer, "Also, I have razorblades hidden in my hair."

Azimio grabbed onto Karofsky's arm to pull him away, "Let's just go, man. This girl is psycho."

"Mhmm, that's right," Santana crossed her arms and watched them walk away with a smug smile on her face.

"Thank you, Santana," Rachel said.

Santana spun around to face Rachel and scowled, "I didn't do it for you, Berry."

Rachel glanced from Santana to Brittany, then to Santana again. She lifted the corner of her mouth, "Well, thanks anyway."

"Bye, Rachel!" Brittany said as Rachel quietly walked away. She turned back to Santana with a smile on her face.

"What?" Santana asked when Brittany just stared at her for a few seconds.

"You totally did that for her."

"No, I did not!" Santana scoffed. "I…" She looked down at her feet nervously then up at the sky. She huffed, "I just did it for you."

Brittany's smile widened and she lit up. She ducked her head to make eye contact with Santana, "Thanks."

"Yeah, well…" Santana looked away again. "You said we were friends. And friends stand up for each other, right?"

"You haven't really been acting like my friend lately."

They were silent for a moment, until Santana looked up shyly at Brittany, "I know. I'm sorry… I've never really had a friend that I actually liked before… so I guess I just don't know how to be a good friend…"

"It's okay, I can teach you," Brittany replied. Santana smiled.

"Thanks…" Santana looked around at the other Slytherins who were teasing the Hufflepuff students. She spotted Azimio and Karofsky, and when she looked back at Brittany, she was looking at them as well with a small pout on her face. "Brittany… listen, you can't just let people call you names and stuff."

Brittany shrugged, "It's okay. I kind of ask for it anyway."

"No, Brittany. It's not okay. There are a lot of stupid people around here. They think they're better than everyone else and they treat anyone who's different as freaks. And it's not just Azimio and Karofsky. It's loads of other people. They're always going to try to give you a hard time, but I know how to avoid that," Brittany just stared at Santana curiously. "Look, there's this girl in Ravenclaw named Quinn. She gets it. And we're working together to be at the top of this school. When we're at the top, no one will mess with us."

"But… the top of this school is really high up…"

"What? Never mind," Santana shook her head. "My point is you can join us. Quinn might be a little upset, but I don't really care about her. Just stick with me, okay?"

"Um, okay. I guess."

"But you have to stop being so nice to everyone. No one will be scared of you if you're so nice all the time."

"I don't want to be mean though…" Brittany pouted.

"Britt, you have to. That's just how the hierarchy works."

"Well, what's wrong with the lower key?"

Santana sighed, "Britt, please."

"Okay… does that mean I have to be mean to Rachel, too?"

"Especially Rachel."

"But I like Rachel…"

Santana rolled her eyes, "Okay, well you don't have to be too mean to her if you don't want. In fact, it'll be better if you just don't talk to her at all."

Brittany looked down and started playing with the dirt with her foot. "I don't really like this idea…" she glanced back up at Santana. "But, I trust you, Santana."

"It'll be worth it in the end, Brittany."

"This Quinn girl, though… is she nice?"

"Not at all," Santana rolled her eyes. "But if we want to be at the top, we have to work together."

"Okay. I'll do it. But only because I like being friends with you, and I don't want you being mean to me."

"I would never be mean to you, Brittany."

Brittany grinned, "We're going to be best friends, Santana. I promise."

She held up her pinky finger, and Santana gazed at in wonderment. She never had a best friend before, but it felt appropriate that Brittany would be her first. The smaller girl sent Brittany a kind of smile that she swore she never gave anyone else. Slowly, she lifted her own hand and tightly hooked their fingers. No two pinkies fit so perfectly together.