Chapter 5

Four hours into the train ride, the excitement of the four kids had started to wane. The scenery hadn't changed much outside the train, and by the second hour they had already exhausted all conversation about what Hogwarts would look like. To pass the time Santana pulled out The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection, which she and Quinn flipped through together. 

"I'm bored" Sam whined. 

Santana looked up from the book to see Sam lying across his seat with his legs propped up against the window. 

"Give me a second" She handed the book to Quinn and hopped off the seat. 

"Where are you going?" Quinn asked. 

"I'll be right back."

She slid their compartment door open and made her way down the train, peeping into each compartment as she passed them. Seeing how full they all were made Santana realise how many kids she would be going to school with. She realised by the end of the year she would probably know most of these unfamiliar faces.

Finally she found the one Leon was in and pulled the door open. There were five other people in the compartment. Two girls and three boys, one of which Santana recognised as Leon's best friend. He'd been by their house a few times, but not enough for Santana to be familiar with him. 

"Leon give me your cards."

"Guys this is my sister, Santana." Leon said, as he got up to get his cards from his trunk.

"Hi" one of the girls said, smiling. 

Santana forced a smile, not wanting to be rude to her brother's friends.

"Hi"

"Aw she's so cute." The other girl said. 

Santana's smile dropped as Leon laughed. 

"She's not cute." He shook his head. "By tomorrow you'll be sure she's the devil."

He handed Santana the deck of cards.

"Ha, ha" Santana said, snatching the cards. 

As she turned to walk out of the compartment, something large, grey and fury nearly collided with her as it streaked down the aisle. She jumped back to avoid it. A second later, a girl ran past Santana, in pursuit of what as she calmed down Santana realised was a cat. 

"What the hell was that?" One of the boys asked, standing to peer out of the compartment. 

"Someone's chasing their cat." Santana told him. 

"Running on the train…." The girl who'd called Santana cute sighed. 

"No one said being a prefect is easy." Leon said sympathetically. 

"You're a prefect?" Santana asked.

The girl nodded as she stood, pulling aside her robe to show Santana the badge pinned to her sweater. 

Slytherin prefect, Santana realised. Now she was glad she hadn't been rude. 

"I'm sure another prefect will deal with it Willow." The second girl said, trying to pull her back down to the chair. 

"Oh yeah, probably Mary-Anne." Willow sneered. "And the first thing she'll do when we get to Hogwarts is tell Professor McGonagall how she was the only prefect on the train actually doing their job."

Santana saw everyone except Leon's best friend roll their eyes. She had to fight a smile. 

"Gryffindor prefect" Leon told her.

"She's hot though" Leon's best friend said. "Pity."

Scoffing, Willow glared at him before shaking her head. 

"Excuse me." She said, more politely than Santana was expecting. Santana quickly moved to let her out of the compartment. "Thanks" she smiled. Santana felt her lips curve up before her brain had even given the command. 

"You're welcome." She watched Willow walk away. 

"Are you guys still bouncing off the walls?" 

Leon's voice brought her back to the moment.

"No" she turned to look at him. "Thanks for these." She waved the cards and left, closing the door behind her. 

She'd just gotten back to her compartment, when there was a crash to her right. There was a split second after the loud noise that everything seemed to be still, and then Santana saw the massive ball of grey fur that she'd seen earlier, heading right towards her. She scurried backwards quickly, tripped, and fell right on her backside, but the cat never made impact. Instead it made a sharp corner and skidded right into her compartment. Santana heard Quinn's unmistakable scream. 

"Lord!"

The girl Santana had seen chasing the cat the first time turned out to be the girl from the hospital. 

"Brittany?" Santana said curiously.

The girl stopped before her, smiling.

"You remember me."

"Yeah." 

Truthfully she found Brittany hard to forget. 

"Well are you going to tell me your name?"

Santana frowned at her. "You forgot my name?"

"You never told me your name."

"Oh…Santana."

"That's a pretty name" Brittany smiled down at her. 

Behind Brittany, Santana could see curly black hair. She jumped to her feet just as Willow stopped before her. 

"Is that thing yours?!" Quinn said pulling the compartment door open angrily and looking severely harassed. 

Brittany blushed, seeming to shrink into herself. 

"Sorry." She said meekly. "He's bored in the compartment and when Dotty opened it to go to the bathroom he escaped."

"That doesn't mean you can just let him attack people on the train."

"He didn't attack you" Mike laughed, appearing beside Quinn with an amused smile. "He didn't see you."

"He shouldn't even be in our compartment!" Quinn snapped. 

"Yeah Brittany" Willow said. "I get that he's been cooped up for hours but you can't let him become the whole train's problem."

Brittany nodded, looking at the floor. 

"I'll take him back."

Willow put a hand on Brittany's shoulder. 

"I'll help you."

Brittany smiled gratefully and made her way into Santana's compartment. 

Quinn and Sam came out to join Santana in the aisle since the compartment was getting crowded. Mike stayed back to show them where the cat had hidden.

Brittany stood on the seat, but she was too short to see into the bag storage unit. 

"Here, let me" Willow said. She and Brittany exchanged places. "Oh I see him. What's his name?"

"Lord Tubbington."

Everyone turned to Brittany. Santana, Quinn, and Mike with frowns, Sam and Willow with amused raised eyebrows.

"That's a funny name." Sam said. 

"Interesting, it's an interesting name" Mike said when Brittany looked hurt. 

It took a few minutes of both Willow and Brittany cooing and calling the cat for him to come out. Willow handed him to Brittany, who kissed his head and hugged him to her chest. 

"Thank you."

"No problem, just….keep an eye on him from now on. Hogwarts is a big place, you don't want him getting lost."

Brittany nodded frantically. As she exited the compartment, Quinn took several steps back, holding up her hand.

"Keep that thing away from me."

Santana turned to smirk at Quinn. 

"And you wanted to get a cat."

"Really?" Sam asked, leading them back into the compartment. "When?"

"When we went to buy our school supplies…"

As they talked, none of them noticed Brittany still standing outside their door, a sad look on her face. It wasn't until Sam asked where Santana had gone and she remembered the exploding snap, that she saw Brittany. She'd turned to close the compartment door and saw her just standing there. 

"Oh" she frowned. "Did you need something?"

Brittany shook her head. 

Santana shifted uncomfortably, turning to Quinn for help. 

"Well we need to close the door…" Santana said, unsure why she felt bad about that.

"We're going to play exploding snap." Sam said. "You know how loud it can be."

"Wanna play?" Mike asked. 

Brittany looked like she wanted to say yes. Santana could see the desire in her eyes.

"She has to put her cat back in its cage."

The cat was now so calm Santana couldn't believe it was the same beast that had been causing chaos just minutes ago. It was lounging relaxed in Brittany's arms like a baby, one of its paws stretched out on her chest. He was almost cute.

"He seems to have chilled out now Q"

"No." Quinn stood up and crossed her arms. "It's not allowed in here."

Santana turned back to Brittany, shrugging apologetically. 

"I guess it really scared her."

"It's okay." Brittany tried to smile but Santana saw the sadness. "I should be getting back to my friends."

"Cool."

"Bye"

When Brittany turned to leave she shut the door.

"Something tells me she doesn't have friends." Mike said when Santana turned to face them.

"Why did that feel mean?" Sam asked, frowning. 

"Cause you're too nice" Quinn said, sitting back down.

"It's not our business if she has friends or not." Santana said, though she understood where Sam was coming from. Brittany had just looked so much like a sad pygmy puff. "Besides we didn't say she couldn't play, just that she couldn't bring her cat."

"Moving on" Quinn said.

Santana sat on the floor, crossing her legs. Sam sat opposite her. Quinn was already sitting to her left, so Mike took the seat next to Sam.

"Alright" she said as she dealt the cards. "We're playing Bavarian Rules Snap"

  ****

It was dark when the train finally showed signs of stopping. Mike was the first to notice, but soon they had all jumped to the window, hoping to catch a glance a Hogwarts. 

"You won't see anything."

Santana spun round to see her brother standing at the door to their compartment, smiling amusedly at them. 

"Why not?"

"We still have a bit to go to the castle. We're just at Hogsmead station."

"That sucks" Quinn said, moving away from the window. "How far away are we?"

"Less than five minutes." Leon chuckled. "Don't worry you'll get to drop your jaws soon enough."

"Urgh I can't wait!" Santana groaned, dropping onto her seat. "Why does it have to take so long?"

"It's worth it." Leon said seriously. 

"Yeah?"

"Totally. Now put on your school robes, you won't have time when the train stops."

  ******

Leon was right. As soon as the train stopped twenty minutes later, the aisles were filled with children clambering to get off and prefects trying to assert some sense of order. Santana, who hated crowds, remained in the compartment, watching the madness. 

"What are we waiting for?" Sam asked, his eyes wide with excitement. Santana stepped away from the door and crossed her arms. 

"If you want to be shoved around in there, be my guest."

Sam paused only to eye her curiously, before shrugging and walking out of the compartment. 

"We'll have to get off sometime." Quinn said. Santana could tell that even she was anxious to get off the train. 

"No one's stopping you."

"I don't want to leave you-"

"I don't need a babysitter." 

Quinn frowned at her with narrow eyes. 

"Fine." She said after a moment, when all Santana did was look at her. "See you outside."

When Santana could no longer see Quinn in the sea of people, she turned to Mike, who was sitting staring out of the window.

"Aren't you going to get off?"

Without looking at her, Mike shrugged. 

Fighting a smile, Santana at down as well. 

  *****

Leon found her a few minute later when the crowd had thinned out enough to actually walk through but not enough for Santana to feel comfortable. He smiled knowingly at her and held out his hand. 

"Come on" he said. 

She stood up and took his hand. 

"Ready Mike?" Leon asked. 

"Yeah" Mike nodded. 

"Alright stay close."

As he led them through the crowded aisles, he kept Santana's hand tightly gripped in his own, shoving people out of the way before they could bump into Santana. When a boy who looked about Leon's age came bursting out of a compartment on Santana's left as she was walking past it, Leon tugged her quickly out of the way, his wand out in a flash.

"Watch it before I hex you Clearmont."

The boy backed into the compartment with his hands up. 

Finally they got to the train doors. Santana quickly jumped off the train. When they were a safe distance from it and the people still trying to get off, Santana stopped walking and wrapped her arms around her brother, tucking her head into his chest. 

"FIRST YEARS OVER HERE"

"You better go" Leon said, patting her back. "Hogwarts is waiting for you remember."

Santana let him go. 

"Where are you going?"

"First years get to the school a different way. Don't worry it's fun." He smiled cheekily.

"Why don't I believe you?"

"Oh come on" Leon shoved her in the direction of the voice still calling out for first years. "Where's the fun in it if I tell you everything. Nobody told me on my first day."

Santana could see his point. Knowing everything that was about to happen wasn't how her introduction to Hogwarts was supposed to go. 

"Leon come on," 

Santana saw Willow and one of the boys who had been in Leon's compartment waving him over. 

"The carriages are filling up" Willow said.

"I'll see you after the sorting ceremony" Leon hugged her quickly before running to his friends.

"Let's go find Sam and Quinn" Mike said, nudging Santana. She nodded, turning away from her brother. 

  *****

"Wooow" Mike exclaimed, when they finally found their way to the shouting voice. 

"He's a giant" Sam said excitedly, appearing out of nowhere on Santana's other side. 

Quinn came walking casually after him.

"He's not a giant, moron."

"Do you know any normal wizards who are that height?"

Santana had to agree that the man standing before them was abnormally large. From the fact that he was probably twice as tall as the tallest person Santana had ever seen, to the gigantic brown coat he was wearing that looked like it could securely cover an entire muggle car. But a giant he was not.

"Have you ever seen a giant?" she asked Sam.

"No."

"Exactly. Because giants don't just walk around the civilized world. They're animalistic brutes that would kill you in sight."

"I doubt Dumbledore would employ one to bring first years to the school." Quinn said. 

"Unless this is the test for which house we're in." Sam said with wide eyes. "They want to see how we react and that's how they know where to put us."

Santana bit her lip, surveying the massive man. What would she do if he did attack them? What would a Slytherin do?

"Get behind me" Sam said, suddenly forcing Santana behind his back and holding out his wand.

Santana rolled her eyes, though she couldn't help but smile. 

"What are you going to do, poke him with it?" Mike asked, howling with laughter. Sam turned to glare at him. 

"Yeah Santana's better off in front of all of us. She's the only one here who actually knows any spells. All you're doing is blocking her line of sight." 

"I don't mind him shielding me." 

Mike stopped laughing, frowning at her curiously.

"Really?" he asked, as Sam smirked proudly at him. 

"Yeah. If the giant man decides he's hungry, he'll reach for Sam instead of me, and I can escape."

Mike laughed so hard he had to lean against Sam to remain upright. Sam turned red. He shoved Mike off him and pocketed his wand, pouting. 

"Alright" The big man said, clapping his hands together. "I think that's everyone. Anyone else will just have to enjoy the train ride back to London."

"Shouldn't you go check?" A small girl at the very front of the group piped up. She had light brown hair that was tied in pig tails. Santana turned to Quinn just as Quinn turned to her, both of them smirking. 

"No." The man said simply. "So if you'll all follow me."

"Why are we separated from the rest of the students?"

"Tradition."

"Who are you?" the girl asked again, as the group scurried to keep up with the man's large steps. "Are you a professor?"

"No. I'm the grounds keeper and keeper of the keys."

"At Hogwarts?"

"Obviously" Quinn said loudly, the same time a boy at the front said "no at the ministry."

Quinn and the boy, who had black hair shaved down at the sides so it looked almost like a mohawk, smirked at each other. 

"Yes, at Hogwarts." The man answered. 

"What's your name?"

"Hagrid."

"I'm Rachel Berry. Why are you so large?"

"Is she serious?" Quinn whispered to Santana. 

"Sshh" Sam pushed Quinn's head away from Santana's, leaning forward eagerly as Hagrid turned to look at the tiny girl. 

"He doesn't look too happy with her question" Mike laughed. 

"SSHHH" Sam said louder. 

"Why're you so small?"

"Ha" Santana barked, as the girl huffed indignantly. 

"That's it?" Sam whined, when Hagrid faced forward. "I thought for sure he was going to say it."

"I wouldn't" Santana said. "If I was even part giant I wouldn't tell anyone. I told you they're vicious beasts."

"But what is he afraid of? He could just snap the neck of anyone who tried to-"

"And end up in Azkaban?" Sam said, cutting Mike off. "The ministry has a whole department that regulates magical creatures."

"Azkaban would be the least of his problems" Quinn said. "He'd more likely be…" she ran her hand across her throat. 

Santana and Mike had identical looks of alarm on their faces as Sam nodded sadly. 

"Woah." Santana breathed. 

"Yeah the ministry doesn't play nice with dangerous magical creatures that attack wizards."

"Blimmey" Mike said. 

"Listen up" Hagrid yelled over the chatter. Everyone went quiet. "No more an three per boat. Once you're in there, no fooling about you hear? I don't need any of yas falling into the water."

"We're getting to Hogwarts by boat?" A skinny boy with short brown hair to Santana's left asked, eyeing the water like something was about to jump out and attack him. 

"Yes" Hagrid answered. 

"But it's pitch black."

"There are lamps on each boat."

"What about the animals in the water?"

"I read there was a giant squid in that lake" Santana said. She had to fight a smile at the horrified looks of all the other first years. Hagrid frowned at her.

"Yes well…you don't need to worry-"

"I am not going in a rickety little boat when there's a giant bloody squid monster in there." Next to the skinny brown haired boy, was a dark skinned plump girl with black hair curly hair sleeked back in a ponytail. She was pointing aggressively at the water and shaking her head. 

"And mer people" Santana added. 

Several people backed away from the water as conversation flared. Santana smiled innocently at Hagrid, who once again was frowning at her. 

"LISTEN" he bellowed, silencing everyone. "The squid isn't a monster, he's harmless really."

"Harmless?" Mike whispered, frowning. Santana shook her head. 

"As for the mer people, they have an agreement with Dumbledore. So while I don't advise you go pocking around and disturbing them, they're not going to fly out of the water and attack you. Now everybody in a boat, we're late."

Sam, Quinn, Santana and Mike all climbed into a boat.

"Hey, three in a boat I said." Hagrid yelled at them, as he picked up the girl who'd refused to enter the boats and plopped her into one. 

Santana frowned around as people picked who they were sharing a boat with. She spotted Brittany standing alone at the back of the group, her arms wrapped tightly around herself. There was that sad pygmy puff look again. 

"Come on Sam." She grabbed Sam's hand to pull him out of the boat. He nearly fell over as he tried to jump back over. 

"Wait where are you going?" Quinn asked, rising from the boat she too had already climbed into.

"It would be better for us to split up in twos, instead of one person being stuck with randoms."

"Alright then I'll come with you."

Santana shook her head. 

"No you're already in the boat."

She began pulling Sam to the back.

"So was Sam!" Quinn yelled after her.

"I'll see you at the school." Santana yelled back. 

"Where are we going?" Sam asked. 

Santana ignored him. 

Brittany's hands dropped slowly from around herself when she saw Santana approaching. She almost looked relieved. 

"Hi Santana." She smiled. 

"Hi Brittany. This is Sam."

"Hi Sam"

Sam waved. "You're the girl with the crazy cat."

"Yeah" Brittany's smile fell, her eyes dropping to the floor. "Sorry about him."

"Nah" Sam shrugged. "I thought it was really funny how he scared Quinn. I've never seen her scream like that."

"Quinn?" Brittany looked up. 

"Our other friend, the girl with blonde hair."

"Oh…the one with the green eyes?"

"Yeah." Santana frowned. "Do you always remember people by eye colour?"

"Yeah" Brittany nodded. "How can you not, when you look at their eyes when you're talking to them?"

"Mmhh" Santana figured that made a lot of sense. She wondered why she never really noticed people's eye colours before.

"You three get over here." Hagrid called, making all three of them turn to face him. "Or you'll get left behind."

They ran to the last boat and clambered in. 

  ****

"This isn't as scary as I thought it would be" 

Actually, the gentle movement of the boat was almost soothing, and the silence compared to the noise on the train and at the station, gave Santana's mind room to actually process what was happening. She was minutes, five minutes, if her brother was to be believed, from setting foot in Hogwarts. After years of imagining and dreaming, she was finally going to see what it looked like for herself. 

"Yeah" Brittany agreed. "I wish I could see a mermaid though."

"Why?" Santana asked, frowning. "They're god-ugly."

"And mean, I heard" Sam said. He was peering over the edge of the boat, hoping to catch a glimpse of the squid.

Glancing at Brittany, Santana placed her finger on her lips. When Brittany nodded she leaned over and lightly shoved Sam's back. Sam jumped so hard he rocked the whole boat. 

"Santana!" he yelled, dropping to the floor of the boat to be safe from another attack. Santana was clutching her stomach, barely able to breathe from how hard she was laughing. 

"That wasn't funny" Brittany said softly, gripping the edge of the boat so hard her knuckles were white.

"Yeah it was" Santana managed to choke out in between laughs. You should have seen your face Sam."

Sam seemed to be infected by her laughter, because soon the shock on his face was replaced by a grin. 

"You'd scream if I did that to you."

"I'd pull you in with me if you tried to push me, you know that."

Sam got up and once again bent over the edge, this time letting his fingers trail over the water. 

"It's not that cold."

"I dare you to jump in." 

Sam whipped his head around to face Santana. She nodded encouragingly. 

"What do I get?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest. Santana looked up in thought. She removed her wand from her robes and began twirling it. 

"I won't hex you till Christmas."

Sam shook his head. 

"Um….I'll….I'll let you copy off me whenever you ask….three times."

Santana saw Sam's eyes light up. He wasn't the smartest. In their friend group he was the last to learn to read, and always had to have extra time with Mike's mum during class to help him understand things. She knew he'd been dreading having to do not just reading, writing and number, but subjects like history of magic or potions which required good memory and attention to detail. 

"Seven times."

"Fine."

"No ten times."

"Fine" Santana said. She held out her hand. Sam flashed her a toothy grin and gripped her it. They shook on it. 

"Brilliant" she mirrored his grin. "Go on then."

Sam pulled off his robes and Hogwarts sweater, took off his shoes and socks, and stood as close to the edge as he could. 

"You're not really going to are you?" Brittany asked, eyeing the water.

"Course" Sam and Santana said at the same time. 

"We shook on it" Sam said, before gripping the boat and launching himself over, into the water. 

There were screams from the boats around them, some laughter as people thought he'd fallen in, and Hagrid's annoyed shouting.

"Oy! What did I say about falling in the lake?!"

Santana found herself once again clutching her stomach, struggling to breathe. When Sam's mess of blonde hair emerged from the water, grinning happily up at her, she had to give him a proud nod. It made his smile widen. 

"Help me out." Sam said, raising a hand. But neither she nor Brittany could lift him out. Every time they tried the boat tipped dangerously, threatening to dump them both in. 

"Sorry Sammy. Looks like you're going to have to swim the who-"

Before Santana could finish, Sam was rising out of the water. When his shoulders came into view, so did a slimy green creature, with hair that looked like it was made out of worms. Santana and Brittany scrambled back, colliding with the other end of the boat as Sam was held up over the boat. The creature's bulging yellow eyes bore into them as it scowled at them, slowly lifting its sharp trident to point directly at Sam.

Santana's heart was pounding. She could feel her chest rising and falling as she watched Sam writhe and kick, trying to break free. 

"Leave him alone." Brittany said from beside Santana. "He fell in that's not his fault."

Santana couldn't bring herself to turn away from the creature, despite her utter disbelief in Brittany's tone. She sounded almost angry.

The creature moved its trident slowly, finally stopping on Sam's discarded shoes and clothes. 

Santana managed to glance sideways, quickly, curious as to how Brittany would react to the evidence that Sam's dip in the water was not in fact accidental.

"Are we not allowed in the lake?"

The creature seemed to grow even angrier. Santana could see its grasp on Sam tighten even as he yelled out in pain. Then she realised with a start that the trident was now pointing at Brittany. 

"Santana" Sam called weakly, trying to turn his head to look at her. His voice startled her, allowing her for the first time to fully look away from the creature. Her eyes locked with his for a split second. 

"H-Hagrid said you had an agreement with Dumbledore." She said, swallowing thickly. "He…What would he do if he found out you attacked his students?"

Santana saw real fury in the creature's eyes when it turned to look at her. Then it opened its mouth and let out the most horrible sound Santana had ever heard. She dropped her wand as she rushed to cover her ears, noticing Brittany and Sam do the same before slamming her eyes shut. 

Just as her ears started feeling like they might bleed, Sam dropped heavily before her, splashing her with some water. When she opened her eyes the creature was gone. 

"Are you okay?" Brittany asked, helping Sam get up. 

"Yeah" Sam said. He was breathing as heavily as Santana, looking pale white in the face. "Yeah I am."

Santana couldn't move. She was staring at the spot the creature had occupied, even though the boat's forward momentum was taking her further away from it. She'd never felt such fear. Real, raw, tangible fear that gripped her and rendered her mute. She'd always thought she was quite brave. That in situations like that she wouldn't hesitate to act. But she had. Sam had been in danger and she'd hesitated. She hadn't been able to think of a single thing to do. 

"Well there you go" Sam said, chuckling as he put on his cloak. "You got to see a mermaid Brittany."

"I guess you were right about mean."

"And ugly huh Santana?" Sam said, sitting down next to her. Santana simply nodded. 

She didn't talk for the rest of the boat ride.