When Santana was seven, her brother got his first Hogwarts letter. They'd been waiting for it all summer, every morning both of them sitting out on the front steps of their house, looking out for the morning post owl.

Finally, on the very warm morning of July 28th, Santana had spotted a large almost hawk like owl flying towards their house. The letter had dropped directly into Leon's hand.

Their parents found them sitting at the dining table, staring at the cream-coloured envelope, and more specifically, the red Hogwarts seal on the back, completely enthralled. Leon didn't want to break it because this would be the last time he would open a Hogwarts letter for the first time. Santana just thought it was too beautiful to simply rip apart.

Nothing could describe the jealousy she felt when their dad finally convinced Leon to open the letter, or when Leon passed her the second enclosed parchment while he read the first one and she saw all the things he would need for his first year of school. She wanted to go to Hogwarts so badly. She and her brother had grown up on stories of their parents' time in Hogwarts, and for as long as she could remember, she had wanted to go. Every night they would hound one of their parents to tell them about Hogwarts, until eventually they had just gotten them Hogwarts: a history as one of their Christmas presents. She and Leon could often be found sitting together in his room, the giant book open between them as he read to her and she looked at the pictures.

It was clear to her that a witch's life only started once they got that letter. And now her brother was getting to go without her.

Despite this, his excitement won over her jealousy, and the two of them spent hours talking about what it was going to be like and which house he was going to be in. Leon was convinced he would be a Ravenclaw, but Santana didn't think he was smart enough. Her mother was a Ravenclaw, and a healer at St Mungo's. Leon had only learned to read when he was eight. Their father was a Hufflepuff but this too didn't really seem to be Leon. Her father was a trainer for Puddlemere United and woke up every day at 5 to practice Quidditch, and every day at sunset he had Santana and Leon throwing small hard to see objects as far as they could for him to try and catch. That was working hard. Meanwhile, Leon gave up learning to fly because he didn't like how their dad forced them to keep their brooms clean.

That left Slytherin or Gryffindor.

Santana's bet was on Gryffindor, and in her book, that was the worst hand to be dealt.

Santana couldn't help thinking about that day now, as she stared at her own Hogwarts letter. Unlike her brother she didn't feel the need to conserve the seal. The only reason she hadn't ripped it open was because she was stunned. She hadn't been expecting it. She hadn't been anxiously awaiting its arrival. Somehow she had completely forgotten that it was time for Hogwarts letters to even be sent out. It was their house elf, Gingin who woke Santana up with the letter in his hand.

Her sleep filled brain had registered the Hogwarts seal and stalled.

She jumped as her mother's voice came booming through her slightly ajar door.

"Gingin!"

Santana always hated it when her mother magnified her voice like that, especially when Gingin would hear her no matter how far away he was.

There was a loud pop, presumably Gingin apparating to wherever her mother had summoned him. It was enough of a distraction to get Santana's brain working again.

"LEON" she screamed, launching out of bed. She ran across the hall to her brother's room, not even bothering to knock as she threw the door open.

"What?" he asked groggily.

She held up the envelope.

Leon's eyes widened as he sat up.

"It's here?"

Santana nodded.

"Open it then you goof."

Sitting on the edge of his bed, Santana pulled apart the seal. Everything looked exactly like her brother's had. Two letters, one much fatter than the other as it had her book list as well as everything she could possibly need in all of her classes, typed in the same font, same colour and same size .The list itself was identical to the one her brother had gotten. There was only one difference; the letter was addressed to her.

Once she'd read the letter through twice, and gotten a hug from her still very sleepy brother, Santana had gone straight to the fire place in the living room, grabbed a hand full of flu powder and stepped into it.

"Where are you heading off to honey?" Her mother paused in her walk to the kitchen, Gingin trailing behind her with his arms full of material.

"Quinn's."

"Oh say hi will you."

Nodding, Santana cleared her throat. "3 Leving avenue" she said loudly, before throwing the powder down.

Michael Fabray, Quinn's father, was always the first person awake in his house, so Santana wasn't surprised to see him already in the living room with a cup of tea. Santana had learned this one night when she and Leon tried to prank Quinn with a jinx rigged to go off when the person walked through the corridor. Michael hadn't been happy when trumpets erupted from his walls and followed him down the stairs playing a muggle rock song. Leon was the only one in trouble though, seeing as he was the only one of the two of them with a wand.

"Santana" he said, lowering his paper. He seemed completely unfazed by Santana's sudden appearance in his living room.

"Morning Mr Fabray."

"You're up early."

"Yeah…" Santana didn't often talk to Michael Fabray, as he always seemed just a breath away from annoyed, but she couldn't help wanting to talk about this. "My Hogwarts letter came in today."

"Oh" his eyebrows rose. "Well…congratulations." His smile seemed genuine enough, so Santana mirrored it. "That means Quinn's should be-"

There was a scream from upstairs, followed by rushed footsteps down the many steps of the Fabray household.

"Mum its here!" Quinn continued to scream. She jumped the last three steps and ran straight past her dad and Santana to the backyard, where Judy Fabray had a small garden. Santana watched her in amusement.

"I guess it's here." She chuckled.

"Mmh" Michael grunted. "Nice and early that's good. It means she was high on the list."

Santana couldn't see what this had to do with anything, but she was saved from answering by Quinn running back into the house.

"I have to go to Santana's." She was saying as she walked into the living room. She stopped in her tracks when she finally looked up. "Santana!"

Santana grinned at her.

"I see you got your letter."

"Yeah" Quinn beamed, holding it up. "And…did you…"

Santana held her own letter up.

"Wicked" Quinn breathed.

Santana had known Quinn literally all her life. Their mothers had been best friends while at Hogwarts and went on to work together at St Mungo's. Whenever they went on vacation they usually went together and they spent their summers together every year they didn't travel at the vacation homes in Tinworth.

"Come on let's go to my room before breakfast is ready."

"Bye Mr Fabray." Santana threw over her shoulder as she followed Quinn to her room.

"I can't believe we're finally going." Quinn said as she climbed back into her bed.

"I know…" Santana looked down at her letter. "Finally."

They went over their lists together, talking about each of the classes and which ones they though they'd enjoy most.

"Defence against the dark arts is bound to be our favourite." Santana said. "It's the most fun by far."

"Positions can be fun" Quinn shrugged. "We're bound to be the best in our house at that. After all these years watching our mums cook up remedies, it has to pay off."

"If we end up in the same house." Santana pointed out.

Quinn looked up from her list, the excitement in her eyes dimming.

"Do you think we're not going to be in the same house? What's the likelihood do you think?"

"There's no way of knowing is there?"

"Right…"

Santana dropped her parchment and crawled so she was sitting next to Quinn.

"Are you still worried?"

All year Quinn had been abnormally stressed about what house she was going to be in. She jumped between the four houses nearly every month, unable to decide which one best suited her. It was funny at first, but by the start of summer Santana began to notice the genuine fear in Quinn's eyes whenever they would talk about it.

"Just…I wish I knew which house he wanted me in."

"I don't think he cares."

Quinn side eyed Santana. "Of course he cares." She scoffed.

"What about your mum?" Santana changed gears. Quinn chuckled.

"Ravenclaw of course."

"Yeah mine too" Santana laughed. "She keeps saying how it's her last chance to have a smart kid."

"I can see you in Ravenclaw." Quinn turned, looking her up and down. "Yeah, you're smart."

Santana shrugged. "I wouldn't mind."

"But you're set on Slytherin."

"Yup." Santana nodded. "Green's definitely my colour." She reached over and pulled her parchment to her, stretching her legs out and resting her head on one of Quinn's millions of pillows.

Quinn shook her head. "Well whatever it is, I just hope we're together."

"Me too" Santana said sincerely. Hogwarts was her dream, but she knew through Leon how easy it was for friendships to fizzle out when you were in different houses. The last thing she wanted when she was finally getting to the place of her dreams was to lose Quinn along the way. It wouldn't be the same without her.

Their parents decided to have a huge lunch in celebration of the pair finally getting their Hogwarts letters. Even though it wasn't really an accomplishment, seeing as all they had to do to get them was be born with magic and turn eleven, but the festivities affirmed Santana's belief that going to Hogwarts was a big deal. It was like a rite of passage that marked a child becoming a witch or wizard, and after watching her brother go through it in painful jealousy, it was finally Santana's turn.

That night, after everyone had gone home and their parents had gone to bed, Santana Quinn and Leon stayed up together, excitedly talking about leaving for Hogwarts together all together for the first time. Leon couldn't wait to show them around Hogwarts, and neither could Santana. As lame as she knew it would be to be following her big brother around, they'd fantasized about Hogwarts together, and it wouldn't feel right to explore it without him since he was already there.

"Are you excited to have your little sister in your house?"

Leon shrugged. "It's not going to be any different to living with her"

"So you also think she's destined for Slytherin"

Leon nodded. "Almost everyone in it is exactly like her."

Santana smirked.

"Man I can't wait."

"It's not very likely if you ask me."

Santana and Leon frowned at Quinn.

"Why not?" Leon asked.

"Well…balance. Santana's probably going to finish off the set."

"What the devil are you talking about Fabray?

"Think about it" Quinn said, looking them both in the eye before continuing. "Your mum was in Ravenclaw, dad in Hufflepuff, brother in Slytherin-"

"So you think she's going to end up in…" Leon broke off, eyeing Santana warily.

"Gryffindor" Quinn said with a nod of certainty. She didn't see as Santana grabbed Leon's wand from his bedside table and pointed it at her chest.

For the next two weeks, Santana was forced to spend every day volunteering at St Mungo's as punishment for hexing Quinn. Considering she was using a wand that wasn't hers, and a spell she'd only practiced in secret when Leon would let her, she'd been extremely proud of herself when boils erupted all over Quinn's body. It had been funny until the boils didn't stop swelling, looking like over blown balloons. That's when Leon had run to get Quinn's mum.

Their mother had screamed herself hoarse for nearly an hour when Judy had called to tell her what Santana had done. She snatched Leon's wand, threatening to snap it in two as she ranted about how she'd told him over and over again not to let Santana use his wand, much less teach her spells. Finally, the punishment had been settled on, and instead of getting to spend the rest of her holiday playing Quidditch with her dad and brother or hanging out with Quinn, Santana was going to be spending her time helping the staff of St Mungo's with anything they needed. Anything. Including running around the hospital delivering messages she knew could be send magically.

On her way back from delivering one of these messages, she decided she'd had enough. It had been two weeks of walking up and down the hospital, looking for healers or trainee healers or receptionists or else delivering medicine or disposing of waste. It was almost lunch time and she'd served her sentence. As she wandered to the cafeteria to grab some lunch, she spotted one of the healers she's been working with. Thinking quickly, she bent low and sprinted out, only stopping when she slid through the closing doors of the elevator. There was a couple that smiled at her as the elevator started moving, she couldn't smile back since she was trying to catch her breath, but she nodded at them. "Thanks" she breathed. When the doors opened again, Santana stepped out, not even looking at what floor it was. As long as she was nowhere near any healers who would hand her basins filled with puss or urine or any other kind of bodily fluid, she was happy. Still breathing heavily, she looked cautiously around, making sure she didn't know any of the healers or trainees on the floor before relaxing.

That was when she noticed the sign. 'The long-term resident ward' for permanent spell damage, she knew. She always wondered what could be so bad that all the healers in Britain, who were trained in potions, defence against the dark arts, herbology, charms and transfiguration couldn't help fix it. She'd seen her mum heal broken bones, cuts, and even cured someone who'd been poisoned. So Santana guessed it must be the effects of dark magic that stumped healers. She wanted to see what dark magic looked like. Deciding to be safe, just in case a healer passing by recognised her, Santana chose the room at the end of the hall to look into. She threw one more cautious look over her shoulder before gently pushing open the door.

There were four people in this room, their beds separated by curtains which were at the moment all drawn open. In the middle of the room was a blonde girl with her hair tied up in a high pony tail who looked Santana's age, if not younger, in the strangest clothes she'd ever seen. It was like a bathing suit but made of leather, black, and shining with what looked like some kind of crystals. On her feet she wore black heels, as shiny as her costume, a black top hat on her head and held a cane, though she obviously didn't need it. She and a man dressed similarly, though he was in what Santana could at least recognise as a muggle suit, were dancing around the centre of the room. They didn't seem to notice Santana, so rather than disturb them, she remained silently by the door, watching.

All of the patients clapped and sang along to each song as it played, cheering on the girl and the old man beside her. Santana marvelled at how good of a dancer the girl was, and how she'd been dancing for what must have been longer than half an hour and didn't seem to be tiring. She found herself smiling and laughing along with the other patients.

Finally, the old man tapped the girl's shoulder, proclaiming his inability to go on without a water break. That was when the girl finally noticed Santana. She smiled at her and walked over.

"Have you come to visit your grandparents?"

"No" Santana said, unable to look away from the shiny costume. "What are you wearing?"

The girl looked down at her outfit, grinning.

"Isn't it gorgeous?! My granddad got it for me."

"Mmhhh…" Santana grimaced, wondered what Quinn would say about it.

"Muggles wear it when they dress up to do magic shows."

For the first time Santana met the girl's eyes. They were blue, which was odd for Santana to notice, because she never registered the eye colour of strangers.

"Muggles can't do magic."

"Well…they like to try." The girl smiled. "I'm Brittany."

Santana slid her hand into Brittany's, gripping loosely.

"There you are!"

Santana jumped as a hand clamped down on her arm. She scowled heavily as Janet, the healer she'd seen at the cafeteria, loomed over her frowning.

"How did you find me?"

Ignoring her, Janet peered round the room, as if looking for any damage Santana had caused.

"Where did you go?"

"To get lunch."

Janet raised an annoyed eyebrow.

"Ugh Janet" Santana whined, trying to pull her arm free. "I've been here forever and you guys can definitely do everything you're torturing me with faster without me."

"That's not the point is it?"

"I don't deserve this." Santana huffed, giving up on freedom. Janet pulled her towards the elevators.

"Did Quinn deserve to be hexed?"

"Of course she did!"

Santana heard Brittany giggling just before she reached the elevators. She turned back, curious as to what was so funny. She saw nothing but Brittany's wide smile. The girl waved at her.

"Bye" she called out to Santana. Santana didn't answer, instead turning back to Janet as she was dragged into the elevator.

Santana's mother came to find her at the receptionist's desk at the end of the day. She'd changed out of her lime green robes into a long black dress. As soon as Santana was old enough, she'd forced her mother to go shopping for more appropriate muggle clothes. She was pretty good at muggle fashion, since she and Quinn interacted a lot with the muggle kids that lived around them, so most of the clothes in both her parents' wardrobe were hand-picked by her. This tight fitting black dress was a favourite of both her and her mothers.

"Are we finally going home?" Santana barely lifted her head from the desk.

Her mother ignored her, instead smiling at the receptionist.

"Erin, I'm clocking out."

"I'm not far behind you Mrs Lopez."

"Good. Today's been a day innit."

"Every day's a day in this hell hole." Santana muttered. Her exaggerated sigh was cut short by the sharp look her mother sent her. She clamped her mouth shut.

"I'll be seeing you tomorrow dear," her mother went on.

"Have yourself a good night Mrs Lopez."

Santana stood up, feeling like her body was made of lead. She walked round the receptionist's desk to follow her mother out only to walk right into her. She looked up to find her looking expectantly at her.

"What?" she whispered.

Her mother's eyes flicked to Erin.

Rolling her eyes, Santana turned back.

"Bye Erin."

"Bye Santana" Erin said, chuckling. "It's been a pleasure tormenting you for the past two weeks."

Santana tried to fight back a smile and failed.

"Yeah, yeah," she muttered. "I'm not the one who has to show up here every day till I die."

Erin laughed. "I'm gonna miss you when you go off to Hogwarts kiddo."

"You know it" Santana grinned.

Shaking her head, Mrs Lopez put her arm around Santana's shoulders to usher her out of the hospital. As they walked away, Santana realised that this may well be the last time she saw Erin for months to come. It was unlikely she'd see her during Christmas holidays, since her mother rarely worked during that time, which meant it wouldn't be till Easter that the possibility of coming by the hospital presented itself. The reality struck Santana as sad.

She'd known Erin for three years, from the time she came as a trainee, having recently left Hogwarts. Erin was by far her favourite receptionist.

Making up her mind, Santana slid out from her mother's arm and jogged back to Erin. The receptionist was clearly confused, but when Santana rounded the desk and stood before her, she smiled and stood up. Santana hugged her tight.

"I'm gonna miss you too."

A/N: Just a short intro to the story. If you've read any of my other stories you know the chapters get way longer - Thought I am going to try not to make them as long anymore ; ) Let me know what you think as the story goes on. Thanks for reading!