A/N: Hey, y'all, I am soooo sorry about taking so long to update. I started a new job a couple weeks ago and it has taken over my life. But never fear, the next chapter is here!

Mummification: Well, Harry stumbled into BreadstiX where all of the Glee kids were watching The Warblers perform, ha. I hope you continue to enjoy the story!

DragonsWillFly: Aww, thank you! :)

Pineapple.X: Thank you so much!

LieblingsWuermchen: Hahaha, thank you! Sorry for making Fleur a bitch. It was painful for me to do so!

unexpected sabotage: Thanks for all of your reviews! And wow, lots of questions. I guess you'll just have to keep reading to find out ;)

Once again, thank you all so much for your feedback. It really makes me want to be a better writer. Plus, it makes me smile, haha.

Enjoy!

~Chapter 32~

Previously: "Wow, guys, that was great! Mia, I guess we don't have to worry about you having to make a comeback. You clearly know what you're doing up there!" Mr. Schuester praised ecstatically. He went over a few more ideas with his students before dismissing them a few minutes prior to the end of class.

"San, wait up!" Hermione yelled out, trying to keep up with the other brunette, who quickly made her way to her car. The British teen stopped when she reached the door and groaned in frustration before throwing her arms up in the air. "Women!"

"You ok, Mione?" Harry Potter asked his very distracted best friend after her first day back at school.

"Yeah, I guess. I thought Santana was just being funny about returning my calls once I got out of the hospital because she wanted to see me face-to-face, but now she's acting like she wants nothing to do with me," the wavy-haired brunette answered with a huff as she plopped down next to her fellow Gryffindor, who immediately wrapped an arm around her.

"Well, you did say she has trouble expressing her feelings, right?" The green-eyed boy questioned as the girl nodded with a frown. "Well, she was the first one who found you after the accident and she thought you were dead. Maybe she's scared."

"You just might be right about that, Harry James Potter," the former prefect mused aloud, thinking of a plan to win the girl back. "I've really enjoyed these past couple of days with you, you know."

"I know, I have too. I wish I didn't have to leave tomorrow, but I've got to get back to training," the raven-haired boy murmured sadly as he stood up to pop his back.

"I'll see you and Ginny in a couple of weeks for Regionals though, right?" Hermione asked quietly, vulnerability shining in her eyes.

"Of course, Mione, we wouldn't miss it!" He replied with a large smile, picking up the girl and swinging her around causing her to erupt in a fit of giggles. The two remaining members of the Golden Trio spent the rest of the evening reminiscing about their years at Hogwarts before the soon-to-be Auror apparated back to London.

The next afternoon, Hermione sent a text to Brittany and Quinn asking them to get Santana to the auditorium by whatever means necessary. She sat at the piano, idly fingering the keys until she heard a furious, albeit familiar voice.

"What the hell, Q? You and B gots to stop manhandling me! You'll damage my goods!"

"Oh, shut up, S. Go sit in the front row or else we'll show everyone those pictures of you cuddling with B's cat and crying over The Notebook," the former head cheerleader ordered as she and Brittany sat down on either side of her to hold her down in case she tried to flee.

"Thanks, guys," Hermione called down to the two blondes amusedly. "Santana, I don't know exactly what's going on with you, but I hope this will make you want to give me another chance. Oh, and before I start, I do know that you have gorgeous brown eyes." The Latina gazed at her with a raised eyebrow before the British girl began playing the piano. After playing the intro, she opened her mouth to sing.

"It's a little bit funny, this feeling inside.
I'm not one of those who can easily hide.
I don't have much money, but boy if I did,
I'd buy a big house where we both could live."

Hermione, afraid to look out at her audience, closed her eyes tightly as she continued to play the heartfelt song.

"If I was a sculptor, but then again, no.
Or a man who makes potions in the travelling show
I know it's not much, but it's the best I can do.
My gift is my song and this one's for you.
And you can tell everybody this is your song.
It may be quite simple but now that it's done,
I hope you don't mind,
I hope you don't mind that I put down in words,
How wonderful life is while you're in the world.

"I sat on the roof and kicked off the moss.
Well, a few of the verses, well, they've got me quite cross.
But the sun's been quite kind while I wrote this song.
It's for people like you that keep it turned on.
So excuse me forgetting but these things I do
You see I've forgotten if they're green or they're blue
Anyway the thing is what I really mean
Yours are the sweetest eyes I've ever seen.

"And you can tell everybody, this is the song.
It may be quite simple, but now that it's done.
I hope you don't mind,
I hope you don't mind that I put down in words,
How wonderful life is while you're in the world.
I hope you don't mind,
I hope you don't mind that I put down in words,
How wonderful life is while you're in the world."

As Hermione played the last few notes, she finally opened her eyes and glanced over to see a teary-eyed Santana staring up at her adoringly. The blondes took this as their cue to leave and quietly slipped out of the auditorium.

"Well, what did you think?" The British girl asked shyly as the raven-haired girl moved onto the stage. The slightly shorter girl didn't say anything as she stepped closer to Hermione and wrapped her arms around her. The older girl sighed contentedly as she relaxed into the embrace.

"I'm so sorry for how I've been acting recently," Santana managed to choke out, tightening her hold on her companion. "When I saw you after it happened…when Harry mentioned who that other woman was…I got scared. I thought I lost you," she informed her as a few tears trickled down her face.

"You're not getting rid of me that easily. I love you too much," Hermione murmured when she finally met Santana's eyes.

"I love…um, every song you perform, especially this one." The taller girl smiled at her slip-up and leaned down to kiss her forehead. They were so caught up in each other that they didn't notice a frantic looking Sam running in, waving his arms over his head.

"Guys, you better get to the choir room. Rachel and Mercedes are about to have a diva-off and it's looking intense." Santana rolled her eyes but followed her lover as she hurried up to the football player to hear his explanation on what had transpired between the two divas.

"Well, this should be interesting," Santana grumbled as she and Hermione sat down in the back row, hands linked together. "I bet Sue has something to do with this…"

"Oh, hush, give her some credit. I mean, it was only a matter of time before there was a diva-off with those two, right?" Hermione pointed out with a chuckle as they began performing Take Me or Leave Me.

"Hey, where's the hate?" Sue demanded to know after their performance as the two divas embraced good-naturedly.

"Ok, love, you were right," the British girl told the Latina with a sigh as the younger girl smirked at her triumphantly.

"So you wanna get outta here? I believe I need to get reacquainted with you and your glorious body," Santana murmured seductively after they were dismissed from class. Hermione stifled a groan at her words before grabbing her hand and pulling her towards the door.

"Hey, Will, I'm going to Santana's. Don't wait up!" The wavy-haired brunette called out over her shoulder as she dragged Santana to her car.

"Well, somebody's eager," chuckled the former cheerleader as she settled into the driver's seat.

"Excuse me. I haven't been properly shagged in over two weeks!" The young witch shrieked, causing the other girl to begin laughing hysterically.

A few hours later, the two lovers were lying next to each other contentedly. Santana moved her head off of Hermione's chest and looked down at the scars covering the older girl's torso. She began lightly tracing them with her fingers causing the British girl to shudder.

"I'm sorry, I know they're repulsive," the wavy-haired brunette muttered sadly, closing her eyes tightly.

"No, they aren't. Your battle scars are sexy as hell. I mean, even though I didn't know you back then, I wish I could've protected you from that bitch," the Latina growled out angrily. "I'd totally go all Lima Heights on her crazy ass."

"I know you would, darling," Hermione smiled fondly before placing a kiss on the top of the younger girl's head. "Thank you."

"For what?" The raven-haired inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"Making me feel beautiful."

"Good morning, gorgeous!" Santana called from the open window in her car as Hermione came into view the next morning. The other girl rolled her eyes playfully before hopping into the vehicle.

"Hello to y— Oh, my god, what the bloody hell are you wearing?" Hermione snorted when she saw Santana.

"It's a carousel horse sweater. It's totally in right now!" She answered defensively, throwing her arms up into the air.

"Yeah, maybe if you're Rachel Berry."

"What, you don't like the sexy schoolgirl look?" The Latina pouted as the two made their way inside the school.

"Oh, please, I perfected the sexy schoolgirl look at my other school. Didn't I tell you that we wore uniforms?"

"Um, no, you didn't. I gots to see that now," she growled huskily, trying to avoid grabbing the other girl and pinning her up against the nearest wall.

"Ok, ok, I'll wear it to school eventually, but it's gonna be a surprise," the British girl told her with a wink before strutting down the hallway and into her uncle's office for a quick cup of tea before class. She sat down a few seconds before Will and Sue came in.

"Will, you have a problem."

"You?" Will offered sarcastically, quickly hugging his niece.

"No, your glee kids, they have no comprehension skills. Your assignment was anthems and I'll be damned as your hairdresser if any one of them sung a single one, except for Hermione of course."

"Thanks, coach," Hermione answered with a smile directed at the taller woman.

"Sue, are you trying to tell me that you want to perform an anthem?"

"Well, I'll admit that your little field trip to the house of sad inspired me a bit, but I'm not gonna go it alone. The whole crew has to sing it with me and I want Hermione and Sand Bags to sing the leads."

"Well, that can be arranged," the curly-haired man informed her with a grin. "What's your song?" The blonde woman simply smirked as she and Will began planning the number, causing the young witch to roll her eyes at the adults' behavior.

The next afternoon, Hermione and Santana led Sue and the New Directions in My Chemical Romance's SING. After the performance, only the two lead vocalists remained sitting on the edge of the stage.

"You know we sounded pretty good together," Hermione murmured lazily from the Latina's side.

"That's all you have to say? I was thinking that we look like a couple of stereotypical lesbians with our flannel shirts and lumberjack hats," Santana replied with a smirk.

"So romantic," the British girl chuckled as she pulled out her vibrating phone. "Blimey, Rachel's calling an emergency glee meeting."

"Berry can wait, I'm comfy," the former Cheerio groaned, snuggling further into Hermione's side.

"C'mon, we have plenty of time to 'gets our cuddling on' later," Hermione said in her best Santana impression.

"Whoa, stick to your original accent, princesa, it's so much sexier." The older girl rolled her eyes and pulled her raven-haired companion up before dragging her to the choir room.

"Ok, now that everyone has finally arrived, I'd like to say something. While, Santana and Hermione's performance today was quite admirable, the song is not strong enough to win Regionals. The Warblers have Kurt and Blaine as their one-two punch and Aural Intensity kicked our butt last year. We can't just do any song to beat either of those two teams."

"You mean a number where you don't get to sing the entire song," Mercedes scoffed, crossing her arms.

"This isn't about me," Rachel responded meekly, losing her nerve.

"Give her a break, guys. What do you suggest, Rach?" Hermione addressed the small diva with a smile.

"We need to be bold and epic," she paused, taking a deep breath. "We need to write our own original music for Regionals. We need an undisputable advantage. We can't lose Regionals again this year, you guys. You have to trust me. I feel really, really strongly about this."

"Let's put it to a vote, ok, Rachel?" The choir director suggested reasonably. "All those in favor of doing an original song?" Rachel enthusiastically raised her hand, before Hermione joined her. She elbowed Santana hard in the side, who rolled her eyes but reluctantly raised her hand as well. "Chemical Romance?" Everyone else's hands shot up. Rachel sat down dejectedly before Hermione stood up.

"Look, why don't we compromise. We'll do both original and existing songs. Hell, the original song could be our anthem and we could close with that. I'm sure the judges would love that."

"I agree with her," Santana spoke with a fond smile directed at the British girl as Puck made a whipping noise, earning a fierce glare from the Latina.

"So do I!" Rachel shrieked excitedly.

"Anyone have a problem with that? No? Good, then it's settled. We'll do both. Class dismissed," the wavy-haired brunette said playfully as her uncle stuck his tongue out at her. Before she could make her way back to Santana, she was attacked by an enthusiastic Rachel Berry bear hug.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"No problem, Rach. You were right about that song not being strong enough to win Regionals," she informed her with a genuine smile as she hugged the girl back.

Once the New Directions went their separate ways after class, Hermione approached Finn.

"Why the hell didn't you stand up for Rachel?" She questioned with a dangerous glint in her eyes.

"Uh, I, uh, w-w-well you spoke up before I could?" The quarterback offered lamely, cowering away from the older girl.

"You are her boyfriend, Finn Hudson! You should have been the first person to step in and help her," the brown-eyed girl told him with a frustrated sigh.

"Why do you even care so much?" Finn asked suspiciously.

"Because I've been the girl who had no one to stand up for her and it hurts more than you can know," Hermione murmured sadly, causing Santana to frown and wonder just what else her lover had been through. "Just try to be there for her even if you are afraid of what other people will think because the more people she has in her corner, the better."

"Um, ok, I'll try to be better at that. Can I go now? I'm starting to get really hungry."

"Get outta here, Frankenteen," Santana growled as she moved closer to the taller girl.

"Uh, yeah, alright. See you guys tomorrow!" He called out over his shoulder as he fled the room.

"You ok, princesa?"The Latina inquired with a tilt of her head as she wrapped an arm around the British girl.

"Yeah, I'm alright, just thinking about my old school. I was bullied a lot there because I was a bit of a bookworm and vehemently stood up for my rights. I mean, obviously some people found that alluring, but most gave me hell for it." The former cheerleader immediately felt guilty, thinking of how much she used to bully people before wrapping the other girl up into her arms.

"Thank you," the raven-haired girl muttered.

"For what?" The Gryffindor questioned with a puzzled expression.

"Making me want to be a better person."

A/N, part II: Well, hopefully that wasn't too atrocious, haha. The song was "Your Song" by the lovely Sir Elton John.