Chapter 6

The first sight of the castle was all Santana needed to take her mind off the mermaid. It was huge, that was the first thing she thought. The second was that it was beautiful. The way it sat atop the rocks made it look almost like it was floating, the candles lighting the inside in such contrast to the jet black sky that it looked almost like a painting. 

Santana didn't take her eyes off it, not even to blink, until they entered a tunnel that seemed to take them under the school. 

None of the images she'd conjured up in her head even came close to comparing to the real thing. The sheer size of it alone was beyond Santana's imaginings. Castle was the right word for it. She could just imagine how many house elves it took to keep the place clean. 

When they hit the shore, Hagrid pulled their boat full out of the water, holding it steady for them to climb out.

"Come on there's Quinn." 

Sam took her hand and dragged her closer to the front, where Mike, Quinn and the black haired boy she'd smiled at earlier were walking together. 

"Never could have imagined this" Santana said, pushing in between Mike and Quinn.

"Never" Quinn agreed. "Noah this is our friend Santana."

"I told you to call me Puck." The boy said, pouting. 

Quinn rolled her eyes, turning to Santana. 

"This is Puck."

Santana chuckled. 

"Why are you wet?" Mike asked Sam, as they began the journey up the steps to Hogwarts. 

"Three guesses." Santana said. 

"You're the one who fell in the lake?" Quinn whispered harshly, as if afraid others would hear. Noah was already laughing. 

"I didn't fall in. Santana dared me to jump."

Santana shrugged as Quinn and Mike turned to her. 

"Wicked" Mike said, high fiving Sam. 

"It was until a merman tried to kill me."

"What?" Noah, Quinn and Mike all asked, eyes wide with awe, disbelief and fear respectively. 

"Hurry up, hurry up." A woman's voice was calling from inside a large door. "You're late for goodness sake. Hurry up!"

"I'll tell you later, Sam said, as they started running to the door. 

The inside of the castle felt just as grand and awe-inspiring as the outside, if a bit out dated. Maybe it was the rows of paintings along the walls that were all of old people Santana was sure hadn't been alive in half a millennia. She couldn't really bring herself to care though. Not when they were all waving happily at her, some of them yelling out greetings. 

They climbed yet another staircase, something Santana realised given the sheer size of the castle was going to become a common thing, before finally stopping before a set of large wooden doors. 

"Good evening." The lady who'd been rushing them said. Santana got her first good look at her. 

She was tall and slim, with her black hair drawn into a tight bun under her hat, but what Santana really noticed was that she was a stern-looking witch. Like if she caught you breaking a rule she'd turn you into a toad. 

"I am professor McGonagall, deputy head mistress and Head of Gryffindor house."

"Thank Merlin Leon stopped you from hexing her prefect huh?"

Santana nodded slowly, making note to thank her brother for that later. 

"Through there is the great hall" she pointed at the doors behind her. "It is where you will eat all your meals and where, in a few short minutes, you will be getting sorted into your houses."

There was a buzz of excitement at her words. 

"The four houses are, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, my own house, and Slytherin. Once you are sorted, your house becomes your family. You will live together, learn together and play Quidditch together. Any outstanding thing you do can win your house points, and any rule breaking…" she paused then, to look students in the eye, "will lose you points." She took a sharp breath and continued. "At the end of the year, the house with the most points wins the house cup. Any questions?"

"Yes, how exactly do we get sorted?"

Santana wasn't surprised that the same small brown haired girl, Rachel, who'd been hounding Hagrid earlier was the one to ask the question, but she couldn't bring herself to be irritated. She herself was dying to know the same thing. 

"You are about to see."

Professor McGonagall tilted her head down, surveying the students in a manner that seemed almost amused, before spinning on her heel and waving her wand. 

The great doors opened slowly to reveal hundreds of candles floating in the air, illuminating the giant hall. As they walked in, Santana saw that the ceiling above the candles looked just like the sky outside, as though there was no ceiling at all. 

"Cool" someone said beside her, but Santana didn't turn to see who. She was now looking around the hall itself, taking everything in. There were four long tables that ran the length of the hall, she spotted her brother sitting at the table on the far left, surrounded by, she noticed, only slytherin students. She guessed that meant the table were arranged by house. She waved at him. He sent her two thumbs up. 

At the front of the hall was another table facing the students, with who Santana assumed were all the professors. She recognised professor Dumbledore sitting in the very centre, by his long silver hair and beard, both of which looked long enough to be tucked into his belt. 

Professor McGonagall led them to the front of the hall, just before the professor's table, where an old and battered looking wizard's hat sat on a three legged stool. It was only when she stopped them at the bottom of the three steps that led up to the stool (and professor's table), that Santana realised the entire hall was silent. 

Suddenly she felt nervous. She couldn't imagine what they were going to have to do, but she hadn't realised it was going to be in front of the entire school. She glanced at her brother, but couldn't see him through the bodies of the rest of the first years. 

"When I call your name." Professor McGonagall said loudly, calling Santana's attention back to the front. "You will step forward, sit on this stool, and place the sorting hat on your head."

Santana frowned. Place the hat on her head? That was all? She turned to Quinn, who was biting her bottom lip, staring at the hat. 

"Arthur Abrams."

Professor McGonagall called out. A shaggy haired brown boy with glasses walked shakily to the front. When he got to the stool Professor McGonagall motioned for him to turn around. He sat facing the rest of the school. 

"Oh Merlin." Quinn breathed. Santana reached out and grabbed one of Quinn's shaking hands. When Quinn glanced at her she pressed her lips together and squeezed her hand. 

"It'll be okay."

She didn't know what was happing. Arthur was just be sitting there. Nothing seemed to have happened at all after he put on the hat, and Santana was beginning to wonder if it was some kind of joke being played on them before the real test started. She glanced around the hall but all the students she could see were staring intently at the hat. 

She actually jumped as a voice boomed across the hall. 

"RAVENCLAW"

The table second from the left erupted in loud cheers as Arthur removed the hat from his head and stood up, looking shaky. Santana's brain rushed for an explanation as Professor McGonagall pointed Arthur to the Ravenclaw table. 

"Do you think it's some kind of mental…test?" she asked Quinn. Quinn just shook her head. The colour was steadily draining from her cheeks as she continued to bite her lip. Santana held her hand tighter. 

"Azimio Adams"

The same thing happened with the second boy. Santana could see nothing happening, not even a sign that the boy under the hat was straining in any way, and then the voice echoed again. 

"GRYFFINDOR"

"Michael Chang"

Santana held her breath, for the first time actually interested in what the hat had to say. Mike looked so small under the hat, Santana thought, trying to distract herself from the anxiety.

"HUFFLEPUFF"

She clapped along with the others. Hufflepuff was okay. Hufflepuff was good even. Loyal and hard-working, Santana should have seen it coming. Truthfully she'd been afraid he'd end up with Gryffindor. 

With one of her friends having been sorted, Santana was beginning to panic. Suddenly everything felt real. As each name was called out, she felt her stomach tighten further and further. The moment when her life began was inches away, and she had no idea what to do. No way to prepare. Your Hogwarts house basically defined you for the rest of your life, and it was all in the hands of what she could tell was a moth eaten hat.

"Samuel Evans."

Santana felt Sam stiffen beside her. She gently nudged his arm to get him to face her. 

"Good luck" 

And she meant it. She didn't know what was happening but she didn't want Sam to fail somehow. She also had a sickening feeling that she knew what house he would end up in. Sam nodded and made his way to the stool. Unlike all the other students, there was no moment of silent anticipation. The hat had barely touched Sam's head when it screamed out, 

"GRYFFINDOR."

Sam grinned as he hopped off the stool. Santana groaned. Even though she'd been expecting it, she was still disappointed. That was a shame because she actually really liked Sam. 

"Quinn Fabray."

Santana had to actually push Quinn to get her feet moving. Quinn was taking long deep breaths as if marching straight to her death, and it did nothing to help Santana's own nerves. 

"It'll be fine" she whispered, when Quinn turned to face her. "It'll be fine whatever you get."

"Just not Gryffindor." Quinn tried to smile. 

"Yeah" Santana chuckled. She shoved her one more time, finally getting Quinn to walk up to the stool. 

Santana wasn't sure if Quinn's sorting actually took longer than the others before her, or if it only seemed to because of how scared she was. Quinn continued to bite her lips the entire time, so much that Santana actually saw her start to bleed as she pulled the skin off one particularly pink section. She hissed loudly, letting go of her lip. 

"Please, please" Santana said under her breath, closing her eyes. She needed Quinn not to be in Gryffindor. Anything but,

"SLYTHERIN"

"YES" Santana shouted, not even caring that the students around her were looking at her funnily. Quinn's smile was wider than Santana had ever seen it as she took off the hat. Before walking to the Slytherin table she ran back into the crowd of first years and hugged Santana. 

"You did it." Santana said happily, hugging her friend back. 

"Now you do it." Quinn said, before leaving her.

The wait was agonizing. There seemed to be one hundred names in between Santana's and the rest of her life. Finally, after a boy named David Karofsky was sorted into Slytherin, Professor McGonagall called out her name. 

"Santana Lopez"

She heard a whoop from somewhere to her left, which she would bet a galleon was Leon, but she couldn't laugh along with everyone else. 

Now that Quinn was in Slytherin, Santana couldn't imagine any other option. She'd been saying for the past year that she wanted to be in Slytherin, but truthfully all she cared about was not being in Gryffindor. Ravenclaw would make her mum happy, and Hufflepuff would make her dad happy. They both had pretty good attributes, one meant she was smart and the other that she was hard-working and loyal. Those were pretty good in her opinion. But her brother had gotten into Slytherin, and now so had her best friend. She couldn't spend the rest of her time there in a different house than both of them. Forced to play against them, eating all her meals separate from them. Walking from class to class with strangers. 

She sat down, allowing professor McGonagall to place the hat on her head. 

"A Lopez…"

She jumped at the voice in her head. 

"Mmhh….now this is interesting."

"What?" 

Santana wasn't sure she said it out loud, but the voice seemed to hear her. 

"Strong magical family…Brains, that's for sure…but courage too…"

Santana's heart picked up at the mention of courage. That was not a good sign. 

"I see you've already formed strong bonds, there's loyalty, but a willingness to protect them that I have not seen in one so young in quite a while…"

Nothing that meant Slytherin, Santana thought. 

"What to do…..what to do?"

It seemed to take forever. On and on the voice went, listing off the different qualities it saw in her, almost as if it couldn't decide. Through it all Santana dreaded the worst. She crossed her fingers, screwed up her eyes and kept her breathing even, trying not to panic. The last thing she needed was to burst into tears in front of the whole school.

Finally, the voice went quiet. Santana wondered what that meant. It hadn't said any house but it was no longer assessing her. Just when she was afraid she'd be told no house suited her and she had to go back home, the voice boomed so loud she thought her head would explode. 

"SLYTHERIN"

  *****

Santana could have been walking on clouds for how happy she felt. Everything had worked out perfectly.  Except for Sam. But then he'd always been annoying like that. She practically floated to the Slytherin table, where Leon grabbed her into a tight hug, lifting her off the floor. 

"Leon!" she laughed. 

"Looks like you were right all along." He said, putting her down. "I'm actually really happy you're in Slytherin. We're going to win all the Quidditch matches when you join the team."

"That's not till next year."

After accepting all the congratulations and pats on the back from Leon's friends and the other Slytherins, Santana sat down next to Quinn.

"Yeah well….I've already told Daniels to put your name down."

Leon pointed at a boy sitting on the other side of the table, a few seats down from Santana. He waved at her. 

"He's Slytherin Quidditch captain."

"Cool." Santana waved back.

"Oh I can't believe this!" Quinn squealed, quite uncharacteristically and grabbed Santana's arm. "We actually did it. We got sorted into the same house."

"I told you everything was going to be fine." Santana chuckled as Quinn shook her. "Ate your poor lip up for nothing."

Quinn gingerly ran the pad of her thumb over her lip. 

"Yeah…but whatever, it'll heal in a day."

As she shook her head, Santana caught sight of Brittany walking up to the stool. 

"I just realised how hungry I-"

"Hold on" She told Quinn, eager for some reason to see what house Brittany ended up in. After what couldn't have been a minute, the hat yelled out,

"GRYFFINDOR"

Santana felt something inside her sink in disappointment. She didn't know Brittany, but she'd assumed given their shared experience surviving a mermaid attack, that they would become friends. That wasn't likely now. She was glad at least, that Brittany would have Sam.

Shrugging away the feeling, she turned back to Quinn.

"What were you saying?" 

  ****

When the final person, a girl named Lauren Zizes was sorted into Slytherin, professor Dumbledore stood up to give what Leon told Santana was his annual welcome back speech. He welcomed all the old students back and expressed how happy he was to see new faces. He talked about the start of lessons, Quidditch try outs and reminded everyone that the forest on the edge of the school was forbidden. He ended by saying how excited he was for the year to come.

The feast was like nothing Santana had ever seen before. Everything she could think of eating was laid out before her, from potatoes to pasta, chicken to pork, and all the veggies imaginable. The entire length of the table was filled with food. Halfway through piling her plate, Willow came to stand behind her and Quinn. 

"Hey Santana, Quinn" she said cheerfully. Santana turned to her. 

"Hi" she smiled. 

"I just wanted to come welcome you into Slytherin. I'm sure we're gonna love having you."

"Thanks" Santana said genuinely, feeling like she was really being welcomed into a family. Willow smiled at them both and walked away.

"How did she know my name?" Quinn asked, frowning after her. 

"She's a Slytherin prefect. I'm sure she knows everyone's names."

"No" Leon laughed, round a mouth full of steak. "She knows Santana, cause you're my sister, and she asked me about you after you got sorted Quinn. She said she remembered you from the train." He swallowed. "Something about a cat?"

"Yeah. Don't ask" Quinn rolled her eyes. 

"She's nice." Santana said. "And seemed cool. I thought prefects were supposed to be lame rule followers."

"Yeah she's cool. Top of the class and plays Quidditch. I think that's why Snape chose her. All rounded student and all that. But yeah, only prefect nicer than her is Hughes."

"Ravenclaw's right?"

Leon stuffed his mouth with some fries, nodding proudly at her. 

"That's right" he mumbled.

  ****

As she ate, Santana noticed some of the teachers looking at her. Snape in particular, who Leon had pointed out to her as the tall slim professor with long jet black hair and a pointy crooked nose, seemed to look at her every five minutes. 

"Why do they keep looking at me?" Santana finally asked Leon. He followed her gaze to the professor's table. 

"Oh it's probably cause of the hat stall."

She turned to frown at him.

"The what?"

"Hat stall" he repeated. 

"What in the bloody hell is a hat stall Leon!"

"It's when the hat takes longer than five minutes to decide which house a student should go in." The boy sitting opposite Leon said. Santana recognised him from Leon's compartment on the train. Leon, whose mouth was once again full, pointed his fork at the boy and nodded. 

"So? What's so special about that?" Quinn asked. 

"It doesn't happen very often." The boy said. "Five minutes is a long time for the hat to decide. You saw how for some people it took just seconds."

"People did seem really surprised." Quinn mused. "The professors were all whispering."

Santana frowned. 

"Is it a bad thing?" she asked tentatively, glancing at professor Snape. 

"I don't think anyone knows." Leon said, finally swallowing. 

"It's not good or bad." The boy said. "I think they're just curious to see what it means."

"Like if the hat put me in the wrong house?"

"The hat has never been wrong." 

"Never?" Quinn asked sceptically. "Hogwarts has been around for centuries and you're telling me in all that time the hat has never put someone in…say Hufflepuff, and they turned out to be super lazy?"

"TJ's right Quinn," Leon said, shaking his head. "The hat is never wrong."

"Okay, then if it's not to see if I'm in the wrong house then what are they waiting to see?"

"Some people believe that a hat stall is a sign of a really good witch or wizard. Someone who's like…exceptional." TJ said. "It's not a guarantee, but usually…" he shrugged. "I mean look at professor McGonagall. She was a hat stall."

Santana relaxed at this. Even though she didn't know the woman, Professor McGonagall did not seem like a disappointing witch. The fact that she was deputy headmistress said she was at least considered a good witch by Dumbledore, and that was not a small thing. 

"Who else?" she asked, resuming eating. 

TJ shrugged. "Don't know."

"What do you mean?" Quinn asked. 

"I've never heard of any other hat stall."

"Are you kidding?" Santana asked.

"That's why they're all staring at you" Leon said. "Hat stalls don't happen."

Santana turned back to the professors table, this time catching Professor McGonagall herself looking at her. 

"Guess I shouldn't slack in class then…"

  *****

Despite knowing her body was probably exhausted, Santana couldn't feel it. She wanted to go explore the castle as soon as Dumbledore dismissed them all. It took some convincing, but eventually she got Leon to agree to quickly show her around while everyone else was getting ready for bed. They had to go with everyone else to the common room, so they could get the password and be shown to their dorm, but Leon told her to meet him in the common room once everyone went to their rooms. 

Exiting the great hall, there were five path available to them. The first was to go right, to what from the sheer size of the door Santana assumed was the entrance to the castle, the second was to go left, which was down a corridor, the third was to go up a flight of stairs, and the last two were both staircases leading down, one of which were the ones they'd used to come up from the lake. Willow and the other prefect, Montgomery, led them down the second set.

Lamps lit the walls as they descended, illuminating more portraits and paintings. At the bottom of the stairs the path split into two corridors. As they turned down the one to the right, Willow explained that the other corridor led to the dungeons. 

"Cool…" A boy just in front of Santana said. He was taller than most of the other first years, and had dark brown hair that looked meticulously combed, specifically at the front, where it was styled up into a wave. He was craning his head to see down the other corridor. "Do they keep dangerous animals in there?" he asked. "Like trolls?"

Montgomery, laughed. 

"Yeah, so you better be careful."

Willow laughed, shaking her head at him, but Santana couldn't tell if that meant he was joking or not. 

"Are there really?" Rachel squeaked. 

"Do you wanna test it?" Montgomery asked with a raised eyebrow.

Rachel shook her head frantically. 

Santana decided to stay away from the dungeons. 

Finally they reached a bare stretch of stone wall and stopped. The two prefects waited for all the first years to stand before them before speaking. 

"This is the entrance" Montgomery said. "It's the only part of the hallway that's not covered in hideous painting-"

"Excuse you" The portrait of a squat looking man with glasses too small for his face called out. 

"Not you Sir Westwood." Willow stage whispered. The man cleared his throat, nodding smugly.

"So it'll be hard to miss." Montgomery finished. "Ready?" When all the first years nodded, he nudged Willow. "Go on."

"Super Omnia" Willow said, facing the wall. 

Out of nowhere, a passage was revealed. Unlike the lamps on the outside, the ones that lit up this corridor had a green tinge to them. 

Santana's heart thumped with excitement. 

It didn't take long before they were emerging into the common room. Santana had to keep her mouth from dropping open in awe. The room was massive, which she had not been expecting. It was a dungeon-like room with greenish lamps and chairs. The entire room itself seemed seeped in the colour green. There were lots of low backed black and dark green button-tufted, leather sofas; skulls; and dark wood cupboards. One of the wooden tables had a Wizard's Chess set on it, Santana noted. It was decorated with tapestries featuring the adventures of famous Medieval Slytherins. 

It has quite a grand atmosphere, given it was a children's common room, and Santana couldn't believe she was going to spend the next seven years in this majestic place more than her own home. 

"What's with all the green?" the tall brown haired boy asked. 

"Yes, while I do understand house pride, I really think that the amount of green may be just a tad excessive."

Santana knew she was going to tire of the small girl who'd spoken very quickly. From the way she talked to how she seemed to stretch every sentence to the longest possible version…Rachel was not likely to be someone Santana befriended. 

"It's because of the lake." Montgomery said. "Makes everything look greener than it really is."

"We're under the lake?" Santana asked. 

"Partially." Willow answered. "See" she pointed at the floor to ceiling window Santana hadn't even noticed. All the first years rushed to it, pressing their faces against it.

"Will we get to see the giant squid?" the tall boy asked. At his question Santana thought of Sam and how he would have loved this common room. 

"Sometimes." Willow shrugged. "Anyway it's late, so here's what you need to know. This is a Slytherin common room. So if you go and make friends with other houses, that's up to you, but do not bring them in here."

"And definitely don't tell them the password." Montgomery added. "They change every two weeks, and are posted on the noticeboard" he pointed to a wall at the back of the room, by the entryway. 

There was a loud piercing scream, making them all jump and spin around. Santana backed away quickly as a very pale, pearly-white and slightly transparent man floated through the floor. He had wide, staring, black eyes and a gaunt face, His robes were covered in silver stains that looked suspiciously like blood to Santana, and he wore chains around his body, like he'd been bound. 

Santana watched him float all the way to the high ceiling of the common room and then through it, disappearing. 

"What the bloody hell was that?" A large girl with round glasses and a muggle hat covering most of her long brown hair finally spoke up, her voice high pitched and shaking. 

"That's the bloody Baron. " Willow laughed. "Not a very cheerful ghost but…" she shrugged. 

"Not very cheerful?" Quinn asked in disbelief. "Did you see him?"

"Was that blood on his robes?" Santana asked. 

"Yeah." Montgomery nodded. "Don't ask him about it though."

"He's the Slytherin ghost." Willow told them.

"So each house has a ghost?" the tall boy asked. 

"Yeah. There are many ghosts wandering around the castle, but there are the four house ghosts."

"Bloody Baron is ours, nearly headless Nick is Gryffindor's, the Grey Lady is Ravenclaw's, and the fat Friar is Hufflepuff's."

"And what do they ghosts do…?" A girl even tinier than Rachel asked. 

"They're the only ones that haunt the common rooms."

"Haunt the common rooms?" Quinn exclaimed, her eyes bugging. 

"Yes, now no more questions." Montgomery said, yawning. "We're all tired and need to go to bed."

"Girls…follow me, boys follow Montgomery."

Santana watched the boys trail after Montgomery, down a corridor on the left side of the common room. She turned and followed Willow down a corridor on the right. They passed three doors before Willow stopped them.

"This is your room. Your stuff has already been brought up. Mine's the one at the end of the corridor, to the left, if you ever need to find me."

"Thanks" the five girls muttered. 

"Alright well goodnight."

Willow turned to leave. 

"Goodnight Willow." Santana called out. Willow smiled at her over her shoulder, waved, and walked off.

"What was that?" Quinn asked, looking like she was fighting a smile. Santana shrugged. She herself wasn't so sure why she'd felt the need to call after Willow.  Noticing that the other girls were looking at her as well, she decided to change the topic. 

"What are we waiting for?"

"Indeed." Rachel said eagerly, jumping forward to open the door. 

It was another large room, which this time Santana was expecting. Leon had already told her that though there were five people in his dorm room they had plenty of space to themselves. The ceiling wasn't as high as the common room, but it was still twice as high as the one in her room back home. Opposite the door was a large window, much like the one in the common room, with a view into the lake. Under it was a nook lined with plush, comfortable looking pillows that looked big enough for all five of them to fit. 

There were five queen sized beds, each with green drapes hanging open on either side, waiting to be drawn closed around the beds. Two were in the corners on either side of the door, though there was room on either side of the beds to walk as they were not completely against the wall. The third bed was to the left of the door, several feet from the one in the corner, with its bedpost pushed against the wall to leave the centre of the room empty, save for the green and black carpet that sported the Slytherin crest. The two final beds were in the corners opposite the door. Rather than being four poster like the other three, these two had only two at the foot bed, with the drapes running from the walls on either side of the large window. 

Beside each bed was a small desk with a chair one side, and a polished black cupboard on the other. 

"Wow" Santana couldn't help but say. 

"You could say that again." The large girl said. 

"Personally, I would have preferred a single room." Tiny girl said. When the other girls frowned at her, her eyes widened. "But this is fine too."

Santana shook her head, deciding not to comment. 

"So I guess we should all learn each other's names." Rachel said. Santana was already walking away from her, looking for which bed had her trunk.

"I'm Rachel Berry."

When Santana didn't see her trunk on any of the three beds on this end of the room, she grinned at Quinn. 

"We get the window" she said happily. 

"Score." Quinn said, following her to their beds. Santana vaguely registered the other three girls talking, but she wasn't paying attention as she spun around and dropped onto her bed, back first. 

"And you two are?"

Santana looked up to see Rachel and the other two talking to her. 

"Santana." She said, dropping her head back down, closing her eyes and sighing happily. . 

"Santana who?"

She rolled her eyes behind her closed eyelids. 

"Lopez."

"Lopez…Wait, like Lopez Lopez?"

"What does that even mean?"

"One of the oldest magical families. Your great grandfather was like, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards. I saw it on a chocolate frog's card. Then one of your grandmothers…she was the witch that invented the charm that causes brooms to hover at the perfect height for their rider to mount them, and plus, your family like….owns Gringotts or something." The tiny girl said. 

Santana sat up. "We don't own Gringotts."

"You could, I heard you don't even need a key, the goblins just take you to any volt you want."

Santana rolled her eyes as Quinn snorted. 

"No they don't. We don't use a key cause we're in the high security section. You show them your wand and then a goblin takes you to your vault and opens it themselves."

"So you are that Lopez?" Rachel asked. 

"Yeah." Santana nodded. 

Rachel looked at her with wide eyes until, getting uncomfortable, Santana stood up and opened her trunk. 

"And what's your name?" 

"Quinn Fabray."

Rachel's eyes widened again. 

"That explains how you guys know each other."

"How's that?" Quinn asked. 

"All ancient wizarding families know each other, especially the pure blood ones."

"And how would you know?" Santana asked. "You're not one."

Rachel frowned. 

"Well I am." The tiny girl said. "And it's true."

"Who are you again?" Quinn asked. 

"Sugar Motta."

"That explains how you know about my grandmother." Santana mumbled.

"Yup." Sugar grinned. "My daddy owns the Nimbus Racing Broom Company."

"Impressive" Santana had to say. She could already hear her mother telling her not to get on Sugar's bad side. 

"And that's Lauren, in case you didn't hear" Rachel pointed at the plump girl. "I think this is going to be fun. By the end of term I'm sure we'll all be the best of friends."

"Not bloody likely" Santana chuckled.

"What?" Rachel asked, seeming to have genuinely not heard her. 

"Nothing." Santana shut her trunk. "Come on Quinn."

Before Rachel could ask any more questions, Santana ran straight out the room. 

Leon was lying across one of the couches, his arm over his eyes. 

"We're here." Santana announced. 

"Finally." Leon swung his legs to the ground and sat up. "Let's get this illegal tour over with."