Chapter 3: Broomsticks & Homesickness
September, First Year
I couldn't remember ever sleeping so horribly before. All night I was tossing and turning, but whenever I drifted off that stupid hat's voice popped into my head. Oh no, you are definitely not a Slytherin, my dear. I think a better place might be Huff- And then I would be wide awake again, trying to protest that no, I couldn't be a Hufflepuff because I had to be with Santana! One of the other new Hufflepuffs, a girl called Becky, gave me a chocolate frog and that made me feel a bit better, but it still wasn't right. I should have been sharing sweets with Santana on my first night at Hogwarts, not Becky.
I woke up from a light sleep the moment the sun started peeking through the window next to my bed. It was time to see Santana again, and I wasn't going to delay that. I was up and showered and dressed before anyone else was even out of bed, and then I hurried out of the common room trying not to yawn. I got a bit lost on the way to the Great Hall, but after I found my way out of the broom closet I managed to stay on the right path. There were a few people already eating breakfast, but I only wanted to find one. And there she was, sitting exactly where we had been for the feast last night and looking like she might fall asleep any moment. I ran over, sliding onto the bench and wrapping my arms around her tightly, breathing in that lovely smell. She jumped, alert again, but when she realised it was me she hugged back. I clung onto her, not wanting to let go so soon.
"How's Slytherin?" I asked, determined to make the best of this. She'd got to go where she wanted, at least.
"Terrible without you. And that Berry girl is ridiculous - I don't know what the hat was thinking. I tried to persuade her this morning to swap with you, but she wouldn't. Stupid hobbit."
I giggled, happy to be back with Santana even though it was just for now. I loved it when she referenced any of the funny muggle films I made her watch and that my dad loved so much. I went quiet when I saw the blonde deputy headmistress approach. She was kind of scary.
"Blondie, Slytherpuff - timetables," she said sharply, dropping them on the table in front of us and almost into Santana's cereal. "You get one warning; late to my class and you'll find yourselves cleaning out the knee-deep hair curling potion Schuester spilled in the dungeons."
She turned and left without another word and I stared after her.
"I don't like her very much," I whispered to Santana, but she didn't answer. I shifted, resting my chin lightly on her shoulder and looking down to find her examining both our timetables.
"It's okay," she said, and I turned to look her in the eyes, uncertain what she was talking about. Her face was really close like that. I noticed that her eyes were really pretty, a dark chocolatey brown. It was strange that I hadn't ever noticed that before, really. She blinked and leaned back a little. "All our classes are the same," she explained, gesturing at the timetables. I hadn't actually considered that we might have different classes, but I guessed I didn't need to worry about it now. I smiled at her, pulling away a bit to reach for two oranges.
"What's today?"
"Charms first with Professor Schuester, then Defence Against the Dark Arts with Professor Sylvester - that's the one we need to make sure we're not late to. Herbology with Professor Ryerson, Flying with Professor Beiste, and Transfiguration with Professor Corcoran. They sure like to keep us busy."
"Well come on then, let's go!" I encouraged, passing her one of the now-peeled oranges and pulling on her hand. "It's our first lessons, we don't want be late!"
"Britt, there's hardly anyone even having breakfast yet!" she protested, pulling her hand away and linking our little fingers instead.
"So we'll get the best seats! Come on, let's go," I repeated. Last night had been horrid. But now with Santana next to me again, I was getting excited like I had been before. Things were back to how they should be - me and Santana, learning magic together.
So, turns out learning magic wasn't quite as exciting as I'd thought it might be. Professor Schuester was nice, but he kept going on and on about the dangers of casting spells wrong and how we had to be careful. Wasn't that half the fun of learning magic - making magic mistakes? I said so to Santana, and she agreed so long as she was there to make sure I didn't make any really bad magic mistakes. She said that as funny as it might be to accidentally summon a swarm of angry ducks, she didn't want them pecking my feet off. I guess that made sense.
Professor Sylvester's lesson was better, even though she was still scary. I was glad Santana was sat next to me. She came up with nicknames for half the class, and by the end of the lesson we either had to do a protego charm or get hit by a stinging jinx. Luckily Santana was very good at them - I had a feeling she'd been practicing magic ever since we got our wands - and with her protego covering both of us, I didn't get stung even when my spell faltered.
Herbology was fun - it reminded me of when me and Santana tried to grow an apple tree in my garden, until we kept forgetting to water it and it died. Professor Ryerson was a bit strange though - he kept drinking strange-smelling tea all through the lesson and he said weird things. But after that it was flying, and that was the best of everything.
"What happens if I fall off?" I whispered to Santana as Professor Beiste passed out the broomsticks. She'd flown before, whenever she visited her cousins in Spain, but I'd never had the chance.
"You won't fall off, Britt."
"But what if?" I asked, worried as I considered the prospect.
"I'll fly right next to you. That way if you fall I can catch you."
I was about to speak again when I noticed that everyone around us was busy trying to persuade their brooms to fly up into their hands. Further down the line I could see that an Asian boy - Mike, I think his name was - was the only one to have succeeded so far. Next to me, Santana managed it on the second try. I reached my hand out like she had and looked down at my broom. Brooms were just like animals, I figured. Good listeners, but not so great at talking.
"Up, please!" I asked it, and it jumped eagerly into my hand.
"You are so not gonna fall off," Santana commented next to me and I grinned at her, excited to get in the air. This class was way better than Professor Schue's lessons on safety or dodging Professor Sylvester's stings. Everyone else was taking such a long time with their brooms, though. And none of them were saying please - no wonder their brooms didn't want to be flown. Santana hadn't said please either, but she never did unless she was around her abuela or to me. Santana's abuela was scary. She went off into a load of Spanish if Santana didn't say please or thank you.
Finally, everyone had their broom. The moment Professor Beiste's whistle screeched out I jumped up from the ground, letting out a cry of excitement at the feeling of flying - even if I wasn't actually going anywhere, just hovering. Santana was right next to me and she nudged her broom closer so that our knees were touching.
"Keep your broom as steady as you can!" Professor Beiste called out. I concentrated, pretending I was playing musical statues and couldn't move or I'd be out. "That's good, Brittany. Not so high, Azimio! Come down! Now everyone move forward a little - not too far, just a few metres."
"I bet I can beat you in a broom race," Santana whispered in my ear as we moved together.
I turned to look at her, my broom wobbling a little beneath me. "But… but we're supposed to be staying slow," I whispered back nervously. I didn't want to get in trouble on my first day.
"Come on, Britt. Not far - just to that path behind Puck. It'll give him a shock," Santana added.
I had to smile at that - playing tricks on Puck was always fun. It made him mad and it meant he didn't come round to Santana's as often and annoy us.
"Just to the path?" I checked. Surely we wouldn't get in much trouble for that. It wasn't far. She nodded, her eyes turning away from me to focus on our target.
"Three… two… one, go!" she hissed. I leaned forward heavily on my broom and it shot forward way faster than I was expecting, zooming past Puck and almost knocking him over. I reached the path almost immediately and tried to stop, pulling back on the broom but it knocked into something and suddenly I was flying through the air without any support. I landed on the grass on the other side of the path and then something heavy landed on top of me, pushing all the air out of my lungs. I gasped for breath, trying to push the heavy thing off until I heard familiar laughter. I twisted my head to find Santana on my back, her broom a few metres away on the ground, burying her face into my shoulder as she laughed.
"Your… your face," she managed to say before bursting into another fit of giggles.
"I think I won," I replied with a wide grin, until another voice knocked it straight off my face.
"Ten points from Hufflepuff and Slytherin!" Professor Beiste announced, marching up and lifting us both by either hand and dropping us back onto our feet. She was really strong. "Get your brooms - you two are practicing hovering for the rest of the lesson. You won't be flying again until you can learn how to stop properly!"
My face fell as she headed back to the rest of the class, most of whom were pointing and laughing at us, until Santana nudged with her elbow.
"I'll win next time," she told me, her eyes already gleaming at the prospect.
"Nu-uh, this is gonna be my thing that I always beat you at. You have swimming, I get this."
"I'll bet you five sickles I beat you next time," she challenged.
"Deal," I agreed straight away. We shook on it with our little fingers, like we always did when we made a bet. Santana normally won, but not this time.
A week of classes. A week of sleeping in a different part of the castle than Santana. A week of being away from mum and dad and Chloe. Charity did his best to comfort me when I was alone at night, and Becky was still giving me sweets, but it wasn't enough. I missed my dad's silly jokes and his card tricks. I missed mum always chasing after me with whatever I'd forgotten. I even missed Chloe barging into my room all the time. If Santana had been with me it would be fine - during the day it was okay, because she was always there - but the minute she was gone, I had no one to distract me.
It was late on Friday night - I didn't know how late, but it was dark outside. I was curled up on my bed, trying so hard not to cry because I didn't want Becky to start worrying again. A couple of days ago she'd almost ran away to get our Head of House Professor Schuester until I persuaded her not to. She was just on the other side of the curtains surrounding my bed, and when I let out a stifled sob she was peering round them almost immediately.
"Brittany, shall I go get Professor Schue?" she asked. I shook my head, sniffling.
"He can't do anything. I want Santana," I whispered, closing my eyes as I pressed my head into my pillow. If only… She wasn't allowed in here, and I wasn't allowed in the Slytherin common room. Plus it was past curfew, so I couldn't even go looking for her on the off chance she wasn't there yet - she'd told me at breakfast that morning about how the night before she'd snuck into the elf kitchen because she got hungry in the middle of the night. Anyway, I didn't want her to know that I was so upset. It would only make her worry, and it wasn't like she could do anything when I couldn't even see her. The moment I was alone I would just get upset again.
When Becky didn't reply I turned my head to find her gone. Poking my head a little out of the curtains I couldn't see her anywhere in the room - the only other person there was Sugar, who was doing her hair in the mirror and didn't seem to notice me. I pulled the curtain closed, curling up once again and trying to pretend that I was at home in my room, with mum and dad and Chloe sleeping nearby and Santana just down the street.
About ten minutes later I heard footsteps, and quietened my breathing in case it was Becky coming back. I was surprised when I felt an extra weight on my bed - Becky had never been that confident before - and twisted to ask what she was doing. My mouth fell open in shock at the sight of Santana, still in her Hogwarts robes and leaning over to wrap her arms around me.
"H-how?" I whispered breathlessly, my hands touching her back gently to try and see if she really was there or if I was just dreaming.
"That girl Becky found me in the elf kitchens and said you were upset and wanted me. 'Course, she was too scared of getting in trouble to tell me the password, so I got her to send Finn out and threatened him until he told me. What's the matter, Britt, why are you so upset? Why didn't you tell me?"
"B-because I miss my mum and you're not here so I can't forget," I murmured into her shoulder, still amazed that she was there.
"Well I'm here now, yeah? I don't care about these rules - I tried to negotiate to get myself re-Sorted but they wouldn't let me, so I don't care. If you need me here then I'm gonna be here, okay? And if you need me you come to Slytherin, the password's parseltongue. I'll show you how to get there tomorrow."
"Won't we get in trouble?" I asked, even though inside I wanted to start dancing with joy. No more being apart at night?
"We won't. If we do, I'll just tell them they should've let me try that hat on again."
"So… you can stay tonight?"
"Of course I'm staying tonight, Britt. You think I'm gonna leave you now? They're not splitting us up more than they already have."
I snuggled into her, a bright smile on my face as I heard the clunk of her kicking off her shoes. She lay down next to me properly, pulling the duvet over us both. My arms were tight around her but I refused to loosen them. This was what Hogwarts should have been like from the start - me and Santana, together for everything. With her next to me, I fell asleep easily for the first time since I'd arrived.