Finding the way to London was not all that difficult. Her father had advised her to ride one of the thestrals that live in the black forrest to the port where the durmstrang ship was.

He didn't need to know that she just flew to King's Cross instead.

Her Luggage sat safely in one of her pockets, shrunken with some runes she found in a book. The trip to Diagon Alley had been exciting and scary. It had been the first time for her to go that far away. It was almost a vacation. A very quick one because her father had expected her back after only a few hours.

After all she was only supposed to fly to Munich where most Durmstrang students bought their school supplies.

She also had to make a stop there to buy a single fur cloak and matching winter boots. A basic set of the Durmstrang uniform. She knew her father well by now and he would ask her to dress up for him before she left. He would always tell her about the soft fur of the cloaks and how the colour would clash with her hair and pale skin.

Santana had been to the Muggle part of Munich as well. She got dye for her hair. The white would be a dead giveaway. Contact lenses too so her eyes wouldn't be as prominent. No one would know she was in any way related to her father. After all the great Albus Dumbledore was headmaster of Hogwarts. Who knew what he would do to her if he found out Gellert Grindelwald of all people was her father.

That would not do. At all. Dumbledore was a dangerous man. Even if only half of what her father had told her about him was true. That and there were probably dozens of students who had lost family members in her fathers war. Surely they wouldn't be too happy to have a reminder of those tragedies go to class with them.

In the end, Santana had decided to go to Hogwarts without using a family name. Everyone would probably think she was disowned or a Muggleborn but that was a less daunting prospect than potentially having to dodge attempts at murder.

When she was finally sitting on the train after having to go through all the hustle and bustle, Santana was able to release the tension in her shoulders a little. This was her new start, her own path.

She enlarged her trunk with a tap of her finger on a rune, took out her charms book and stowed her trunk away again.

She had read all her school books already. Alone of course because she was quite sure her books were diffrent from the Durmstrang curriculum and she was scared her father would catch on.

Lieing to her father was the most difficult thing she had ever done. And upholding that lie in front of Albus Dumbledore was even more daunting. However she would persevere and see this through. She wasn't anything special. Since she had dropped her Family name she had become even less than special. No none would even look at her twice.

She looked up from her book to face a girl standing in the door of the compartement.

"Hi, I'm Hermione. Is it your first year too?", she asked quickly while she nervously fidgeted with the hem of her shirt.

"Yes. Dou you want to sit with me?", if she agreed Santana might just have made her first ever friend.

"Oh, sure!", she exclaimed happily, "what are you reading? I've learned them all by heart already."

Santana blinked. "Really?"

"Of course! I was ever so excited to learn I was a witch! My parents were so surprised but it made sense, really."

Muggleborn then, thought Santana.

"What's your name, by the way?"

She took a second to catch up with Hermiones waterfall of words.

"Santana."

Immediately Hermione threw herself on the scrap of information.

"Are your parents Muggles too? I noticed some of the others introduce themselves with their family names as though I should know them."

She trailed off uncertainly at the end.

"No, my father is a wizard.", Santana said uncertainly.

"Really? It wasn't very surprising to you then."

"No.", she desperately hoped, Hermione wouldn't ask any further.

"I'm reading the charms book again.", hopefully she could just be distrected.

"Again?", Hermione drew her brows together.

"I read it at home already. I just wanted to read up on the principle of causality.", she relaxed again. Magical theory was her strength after all.

"I read about that!", her voice was full of disdain, "causality! More like chance and desperation!"

"No, it's not like that!", Santana calmly refuted, "it's in the nature of magic."

"It makes no sense at all!", Hermione was getting all worked up, "you can't do the same thing and expect different results! That's not how logic and causality works!"

"It's not like that. Magic is free."

Santana reverently voiced the last words and cut Hermione off effectively.

"How do you mean that?"

"It's like magic is alive. It can interpret things differently or it can even dislike you.", she explained, it's like there is a little room for wiggle. And magic can use that."

She gestured calmly into the empty air.

"With small everyday spells, there is almost no difference, but big scale rituals are dangerous because of that uncertainty. Or very powerful spells can get out of hand quickly because you can not bind magic completely. Magic is free.", she repeated.

"So if I levitate a book, it doesn't matter. But if I tried to levitate a mountain it might make a difference?", Hermione asked.

"No, the charm is the same. The only difference is the power, your intent and your mental strength.", Santana remembered having a similar discussion with her father.

"If you conjure a thunderstorm it makes a difference."

There was a sad note in her voice that she hoped Hermione didn't notice.

"Why?"

"It could not hit your target or get completely out of control and turn against you.", she stated. "Elemental spells especially are difficult like that."

"I didn't read about those.", Hermione complained, apparently offended that her books only drew an incomplete picture of all magical knowledge.

"They're not taught until our final years, if at all.", Santana said uncertainly. In Durmstrang there's a course of Elemental Magic according to her father. In Hogwarts however, mainly light and beignin magic was taught. Her father had waxed endlessly how Durmstrangs more complete curriculum produced better wizards.

"It sounds dangerous so that's probably better.", Hermione agreed.

"What are you looking forward to the most?"

Santana thought about that for a second.

"Probably the different teachers. A lot of the fun things aren't taught until we're older."

"I want to learn everything!", Hermione exclaimed. Her ecxitement was almost palable.

"What's it like to live in the Muggle world?", Santana asked curiously after a while.

"It's pretty normal. There's just no magic.", Hermione said, a little lost for words.

"But there are bound to be differences. Father always said they're diffrent but he never went into detail.", Santana insisted.

"Well, Muggles don't wear cloaks.", she said weakly.

"At all?"

"No. Not at all."

"Strange."

They sat quietly for a little until they changed into their uniforms. Santana caressed the black fabric. Part of her still couldn't believe she would actually go to Hogwarts and not to Durmstrang.

"I heard we'll be seperated into four Houses.", Hermione started.

"We can try to stay together.", Santana replied, wanting to hang onto her first friend.

"I don't know. I don't think we can choose.", she looked at her worriedly.

"We'll find a way. If we end up in different Houses, I'll just sneak into yours.", Santana smiled at Hermione whose face lit up. So much for flying under the radar.

When they were guided to the boats at the shore of the dark lake, Santana got her first glimpse of the castle. It was breathtaking, majestically throning on the cliff by the lake. The lights shining out of the windows were reflected by the still water and the stars were shining in a cloudless sky. It looked warm and inviting and everything Durmstrang sounded not.

A huge grin spread on Santanas face. Not even the many stairs on the other side of the boat ride could wipe it off.