Chapter 10

Time seemed to fly by after the first week of school. When Santana had been to all the classes, met all the professors and exploring the school no longer seemed as exciting, suddenly the days were whizzing by, the leaves on the trees were changing colour and it was nearly Halloween. 

As predicted, history of magic was the hardest subject for Santana to keep up with. It was not the most difficult, that was transfiguration, but Santana didn't feel like banging her head against the wall when McGonagall set them homework, and practicing in class was actually fun. It was at least funny to watch Sugar cause her rock to spurt feathers rather than turning it into a bird. Nothing about history of magic was ever fun. 

"Urgh" She groaned, putting her quill into the ink bottle and dropping her head on the table. 

Quinn stopped writing, turning to smirk at Santana. 

"Oh don't be so dramatic Santana." She said, nudging Santana's arm when she didn't lift her head. 

"I can feel my brain melting."

"You would know this stuff if you paid attention in class."

"Why do we even need to write an essay on a strike that happened over one hundred years ago?" Mike asked. 

"Yeah" Santana lifted her head. "Tell me how this helps me become a better witch?"

"They say that knowing our history is the only way we can keep it from repeating." Mercedes, a Hufflepuff girl said. She was virtually the only Hufflepuff that Santana had gotten to know on more than a first name basis and was always hanging around an Irish boy named Rory that Santana could stand less than Rachel, but whenever they would join Mike at the Hufflepuff table for meals or study time it had become an unsaid tradition that she join them. "But I agree. I don't know why we're not learning about more recent history."

"Like the two wizarding wars" Santana said, pointing at Mercedes. "Those were super important, and super interesting."

"I wouldn't mind writing a foot-long essay on Voldemort." Mike said, nodding. 

"Or how the ministry was a total joke during that time." Sebastian piped up, though he was still writing. 

Santana scowled at his hand, wondering how he had so much to write. 

"Cause Binns is ancient." Quinn said, dipping her quill in ink and pulling her text book closer with the other hand. "He probably lived through most of this rubbish."

"He's literally a ghost." Mercedes laughed. "Man has lived through everything."

"Including…the wizarding wars." Santana said. "So maybe we should petition Dumbledore to change the curriculum."

"Is it Dumbledore that sets the curriculum?" Mike asked. 

Santana, Quinn and Mercedes shrugged. 

"You'd think it would be the ministry." Quinn said. 

"Ha!" Sebastian barked. "As if Dumbledore would let the ministry have anything to do with Hogwarts."

"What makes you say that?" Santana asked. 

"Santana" Quinn one again stopped writing to smirk at Santana. "Stop trying to distract yourself."

"Quiiinnn" Santana groaned. She went to drop her head on the table again but Quinn caught it and shoved it back. 

"You'll get it once you stop telling yourself it's boring."

"I wasn't made to be bored." Santana said seriously. "I was born for adventure."

"Excellent!" For the first time Sebastian looked up from his homework. The others looked at him. "I've been thinking, and I think I figured out what to do for Halloween."

"What do you mean?" Mike asked, looking as happy as Santana felt for a chance to abandon their essays. 

"Well Halloween's this Thursday."

"And?" Mercedes asked with a quirked eyebrow. 

"And we have to do something for it." 

Santana frowned, blinked, turned to Quinn and blinked again. Quinn shrugged.

"There's already the Halloween feast." Mercedes said, looking confused that Sebastian didn't know that.

"No" Sebastian shook his head. "Halloween is-"

"Sshh" Santana slapped Quinn's arm, pointing quickly at an approaching McGonagall and snatching her quill. She frowned heavily at her piece of parchment, which compared to Quinn and Sebastian's was practically bare, pretending to be writing something down just as McGonagall strolled slowly passed them. 

When she had moved on to the Gryffindor table, far enough away that she wouldn't be called back by their conversation, Santana dropped her quill, as did Mike and Sebastian. 

"You were saying?" She prompted. 

"Right. Halloween is supposed to be a scary holiday."

"I say ghosts roaming around the halls is scary enough." Mercedes said, shaking her head. Mercedes was muggle born, and much like Lauren had nearly collapsed when she'd seen the ghosts for the first time. 

"Please." Sebastian scoffed. 

"Yeah they're not that scary" Mike said, giggling. "As long as you don't let them pass through you, you're solid."

"Yeah, no thank you."

"Anyway" Sebastian said loudly, drawing their attention back to him. "It's a holiday tradition to do something that scares you."

"Is it?" Santana pursed her lips. "I've never heard that before."

"Well you're hearing it now."

"Okay." Quinn nodded, returning to her homework. "I don't like where this is going."

"Oh come on let's hear him out." Mike said excitedly. Santana nodded. 

"What did you have in mind Seb?"

"We're going to find out once and for all if there are trolls in the dungeons."

"WHAT?!"

McGonagall was upon them before they could pretend to be working. 

"Do I need to remind you that prep time is for homework, not socialization?" she asked sternly. They all shook their heads. "Good. Because if you forget again, detention serves as a good reminder."

McGonagall tilted her head, looking down at Quinn, who was the one that had yelled, with narrowed eyes. 

"Yes professor" Quinn croaked. With a curt nod, McGonagall turned and swept to the other side of the great hall, towards the Slytherin table.

"She reminds me of an owl." Santana mused, watching McGonagall. 

"Are you crazy?!" Quinn hissed. Santana faced forward, frowning.

"It's just like…the eyes maybe. That's not that craz-"

"No not you." Quinn dismissed. "You" she pointed harshly at Sebastian. 

"What?" he asked.

"You want to go walking around the dungeons? What are we going to do if we do find a troll?"

"Wait I'm sorry. You guys are going to have to back up a bit here." Mercedes held her hand out. "Trolls?"

"Yeah. They're dirty great oafs" Mike said. "Pretty thick but really dangerous."

"What are we talking about here, like….like the troll under the bridge?"

Mike frowned, looking at Quinn and Santana for help. 

"I didn't know there were trolls in the muggle world." Santana said. 

"No it's a children's story. The three billy goats?"

"Nope, you've lost me." Quinn said, shaking her head.

"All you need to know is that they're giant, ugly, and dangerous okay?" Mike said. 

"And you want to go looking for them?" Mercedes asked with a confused frown. 

"Not looking for them exactly, more like…checking if they're actually there."

"And I repeat, what are we supposed to do if we find one?"

"Leave."

"Oh yeah" Santana laughed, quickly covering her mouth as it came out louder than she'd been expecting. When McGonagall didn't even turn in their direction she leaned forward and spoke in a whisper. "Like it'll just let us leave."

"What'll it do?" Mercedes asked nervously. 

"Kill us probably." Mike said. Mercedes gaped at him, eyes bugging. 

"Which is why there's no way we're going do it." Quinn said.

"What are the chances there are actually trolls though?" Sebastian said, rolling his eyes. "Very low. Let's just go look around and get the evidence."

"No" Quinn said seriously, banging her hand on the table. Mercedes shook her head emphatically. "You're going to get us kill."

Sebastian glared at Quinn for a moment before turning to Santana. 

"Didn't realise Santana Lopez was such a coward."

Santana narrowed her eyes. 

"Don't." Quinn said, gripping Santana's hand. "Don't, he's just baiting you."

"It's not bait if it's true. I'm willing to go…Mike?"

Though he looked nervous, there was a kind of giddy excitement in Mike's eyes as he nodded. 

Sebastian smirked. 

"Mike's going. Guess you girls can stay in the dorms where it's safe and braid each other's hair."

"Piss off!" Santana said. 

"If you're not scared, then come with." Sebastian raised a challenging eyebrow.

Santana had no desire to confirm whether there were trolls in the dungeons or not, but she couldn't allow people to think she was too scared to do something. She'd garnered a nice reputation for herself as one of the toughest first years, and she didn't need that called into question when Sebastian returned on the night of Halloween talking about exploring the dungeons. People would ask why she hadn't gone with him, and no amount of rational explanations about trolls eating children would dissuade them from thinking she was scared. 

"Fine!" 

"Dammit!" Quinn yelled.

"Mrs Fabray" Professor McGonagall called. "Ten points from Slytherin. Another outburst like that and you will have detention for a week."

The table was quiet as Quinn scribbled furiously on her parchment. Mike and Santana looked at each other awkwardly while Mercedes swirled her quill slowly in the ink bottle. 

"So I guess that means you're in too Quinn?" Sebastian asked. Quinn glared at him. 

"Like I'm going to stay behind to deal with the aftermath of you three dying?"

"Yes!" Sebastian cheered quietly. "Mercedes?"

"Hell no." Mercedes shook her head. "You can tell me all about it on Friday Morning if you survive. I don't mind people thinking I'm a coward."

Santana laughed, patting Mercedes' arm. 

"That's good, since we already do, but that's the spirit." 

Quinn's angry scowl gave way to a suppressed smile as she giggled into her hand at Mercedes' offended expression.

  *****

On the morning of the 31st, Santana found herself staring speechlessly at the common room. They'd gone to bed with it looking pretty normal. There had been a single pumpkin lanterns in the corner, and a small skeleton hanging from the fireplace, which a sixth year had placed there. But now there was orange everywhere. Pumpkins on each study table, with gold goblets filled with colourful candy. The skeleton was still there, but now accompanied by three other much larger ones and orange streamers decorating the fire place and hanging from the ceiling. 

"What the heck?" Sugar mumbled, bumping into Santana's back. "Did you do this?"

Santana grimaced, finally moving fully into the room. 

"Guess not" Sugar yawned. "So who did?"

"The house elves most likely" Rachel said, emerging behind Sugar. "It looks quite festive, I can't wait to see what they do for Christmas."

"I thought you said your family doesn't celebrate Christmas?" Quinn said. She came out running a brush over her hair to tame her bed head. 

"Yeah you said your grandmother was….Jewellery or something" Sugar said. "I don't get what that has to do with Christmas. I have lots of jewellery and I still celebrate Christmas."

"Jewish" Rachel corrected.

"What is that again?" Sugar asked. 

"And how can I make sure I don't get it?" Santana asked. Quinn chuckled.

Lauren came walking sleepily into the common room, frowning at Santana. 

"It's a religion." She said, clearly disapproving of Santana's joke. 

"That doesn't mean anything to me." Santana deadpanned, gesturing for Quinn's brush. Quinn handed it over, leaning heavily against Santana's side and yawning.

"It's like….people with the same beliefs who come together to…like talk and…pray and stuff."

Sugar frowned. "Pray?"

"Yeah. Talk to god." Lauren explained. "Whoever they believe created the universe and watches over us."

"Muggle's are weird" Quinn whispered to Santana. She nodded.

"What do the Jewish believe?" Sugar asked.

"I'm not very sure. I'm not Jewish." Lauren said, turning to Rachel. Santana, Quinn and Sugar turned to her as well. 

"I don't know." Rachel finally admitted. "It didn't make a lot of sense to me when my grandmother explained it. There was a man who died and came back to life-"

"An inferi?!" Sugar shrieked. 

"More like a zombie I think" Rachel said thoughtfully.

"No" Lauren gasped, staring wide eyed at all of them. "Jesus wasn't a zombie."

"Sounds like one to me." Santana shrugged, her shoulder shifting Quinn's head. "Sorry" she whispered to Quinn.

"Anyway, the point is that they don't celebrate Christmas for some reason. But that doesn't mean I don't know what Christmas is."

Finishing with her hair, Santana tapped Quinn to let her know to get up, handed her the brush and stretched her arms over her head. 

"Why are we even talking about Christmas?" she asked. "It's like two months away."

"I was just saying that I am excited to see how the house elves transform the common room then, given how much more popular of a holiday it is compared to Halloween. There will probably be a tree, hopefully-"

Santana was grateful when more people came filing out of the dorms, distracting her from whatever Rachel was saying. When Sebastian came out, looking so well put together, as he always did, Santana grabbed Quinn's arm and pulled her to him. 

"Just in time." she said once they reached him. Sebastian smiled, glancing at the other first year girls. 

"Rachel?"

"Never shuts up" Quinn mumbled. 

"Stop looking at her" Santana whispered harshly, shoving Sebastian's chest. "She'll think you're inviting her over."

Laughing, Sebastian stored his wand in his robes and shook his head.

"Are you guys ready to go?"

"Yeah" Quinn nodded, yawned and then flipped her short blond hair out of her face. "I need a cup of coffee."

"Me too" Santana said. "And now I kind of really want to see what the rest of the school looks like." She let her eyes wonder over the common room. "Bet it's crazy."

  ******

It was not. The rest of the school was pretty much the same as it was every day, save for some corridors, which Peeves had littered with bugs and rodents to scare unsuspecting students.

"Do you think Snape just really loves Halloween?" Sebastian asked as they walked into the great hall.

"That's weird to think about." Quinn said slowly, as all of them looked at Professor Snape up on the professors table. 

"Mmh." Santana grunted. "Anyway, let's talk about this mad plan of yours."

They took seats on the Slytherin table, not wanting anyone not in their house to hear their plan and tell a professor. Santana would rather take her chances with Rachel over hearing them than a Gryffindor. She made sure to sit far from Rachel none the less.

"Since we're going ahead with this stupid plan" Quinn said, shaking her head as they sat down. "I think we need to prepare."

"How?" Sebastian asked. 

"We should at least know some kind of spells that'll be useful against a troll."

"I hear you" Santana said, as she buttered a slice of toast, "but I think that's a bit of a long shot, considering we've been practicing magic for all of two months. We don't have the time to learn a spell strong enough to work against a troll."

"We have to try." Quinn said. "I'm not willing to simply walk to my death."

"Alright. What spell did you have in mind?" Santana asked. 

"Stupefy."

There was a beat of silence before Santana and Sebastian burst out laughing. 

"Who's mad now?" Sebastian gasped. 

"It has to be a strong spell. Trolls have really thick skin."

"You expect us to learn a spell that aurors for the ministry use, in a couple of hours?" Santana asked incredulously. 

Mike came running up to them, nearly knocking over Quinn's goblet as he climbed over the bench and slid in next to them. 

"Whoa what's the rush Mikey?" Santana asked. 

"I over slept." Mike said breathily. "No one woke me for breakfast and then when I did wake up I remembered that we were supposed to talk about…" he lowered his voice to a whisper. "Going into the dungeons tonight."

Amused by Mike's enthusiasm, Santana shook her head and poured herself a cup of coffee.

"Well you didn't miss much" Sebastian said. "Just Quinn wanting us to learn an OWL level spell."

"Right" Mike laughed. 

"No seriously." Santana said. Mike's eyes widened. 

"Which one?"

"Stupefy."

"You're having a go at me." Mike said, shaking his head. 

"Nope." Santana laughed. 

"We need to be able to protect ourselves!" Quinn said heatedly. 

"Aren't there any spells that can do that without attacking a giant blood thirsty monster?" Mike asked. 

"Should be." Santana said thoughtfully. "Let me ask Leon."

She stood up, climbed over the bench and made her way to Leon. He was sitting in between Willow and Zachary, a boy with thick black hair and sharp blue eyes who also happened to be Leon's best friend. 

"Morning baby Lope-"

"Stop it!" Santana yelled over her brother. Leon laughed. 

"Morning Santana" Willow said, with a smile. 

"Morning. I had a question" She shoved the back of Leon's head. 

"What?" Leon turned to face her properly, throwing one leg over the bench so he was straddling it. 

"Is there a spell that you can use to like…protect yourself from an attack?"

"Yeah. They're called counter spells."

"No" Santana shook her head quickly. "Not like….a counter attack or something, like…like to protect yourself from a physical attack?"

Leon frowned. 

"Is someone bullying you?"

"No" Santana rolled her eyes. "And as if I would use a defensive spell if someone was bullying me."

His shoulders relaxing, Leon chuckled. "Yeah true."

"So…is there?"

"I don't know." He sighed, facing his food once more. "Probably, since there's a spell for everything, but I couldn't tell you."

"Helpful." Santana grumbled. 

"Protego" Willow spoke up. Santana raised an eyebrow. "That's the spell you're looking for. It's a shield charm."

"And it works on physical attacks?"

"Blocks spells and when it's strong enough, physical entities yeah." Willow nodded. She picked a piece of bacon from her plate and pointed it at Santana. "What do you need it for?"

"We were just having a debate. Mike didn't think there was one. Glad to know I was right…." Santana smiled innocently. 

"Mmh" Leon nodded. "I'm sure that's it."

"It's true."

"Sure" Leon nodded again. "Just don't hurt yourself, whatever you're doing." He looked at her seriously. 

"Yeah, yeah." Santana rolled her eyes. "Thanks Willow. Thanks for nothing Leon."

"You're welcome."

As Santana was walking away she caught Willow brushing back some of Leon's unruly hair from his forehead. She paused. 

"You're cute with your sister." Willow said quietly. Leon shrugged with a soft smile on his face. 

Santana rolled her eyes, grimacing. Not wanting to see more, she went back to her seat. 

"What did he say?" Quinn asked as Santana sat down. 

"He's a wanker" Santana said scowling in Leon's directions. "He's a literal wanker."

Mike and Sebastian burst out laughing. 

"So nothing helpful?" Quinn asked, grinning. 

"No."

"Well I guess we go back to stupefy then." 

"Willow was helpful though. She said there's a shield charm. Protego."

"Excellent." Sebastian said. "So let's forget about stunning spells that will really only make the situation more dangerous, say if one of us gets spooked and shoots the spell only to find out it's a professor or something."

"That's assuming we even master the spell." Mike piped up.

"Fine." Quinn sighed. "So let's meet up before lunch to find the spell, and then we'll practice after flying. You have a free period before lunch right?" Mike nodded. "Do you have class after 4?"

Mike nodded again. 

"Flying after you."

"Damn." Sebastian muttered. 

"It's fine." Santana said. "We'll start after flying, and you can join us when you're done. That way we'll have practiced a bit and might even be able to help you get it faster."

Mike nodded. 

  *****

As they left potions, Santana couldn't help feeling like there was someone out there who had it out for her. Thursdays were quickly shaping up to be her least favourite day. They had defence against the dark arts and then potions with the Gryffindors, Herbology with the Ravenclaws, which wasn't bad, and then double flying, with the Gryffindors once again. It wouldn't be too bad if they kept to themselves, but Azimio and his pose seemed unable to let the Slytherins be. 

It was more than irritating.

"I say we get that curse of the bogies down and hit them with it." Sebastian said as the three of them made their way to the great hall. 

"I say we each take a jinx, perfect it, and hit them with all three at once." Santana muttered. She had her wand gripped tightly in her left hand, fighting the impulse to send a hex at Azimio's back. 

Azimio had been more insufferable during this potions lesson that he usually was. He'd thrown his berry, which they were supposed to be squeezing into their potions, right into Rachel's cauldron. It had bubbled over instantly, spilling all over the work station. Luckily it wasn't anything acidic, but it had hardened quickly into something like plastic, and become impossible to remove. 

Snape had been furious. He'd yelled at Rachel, called her less than useless, and then forced her to stay behind and clean up, while the rest of the class was dismissed early. 

Santana didn't like Rachel. She spoke too much, too loud and way too often, often inserting herself into conversation that previously didn't involve her and she wasn't welcome in. If Sebastian or Quinn had done the same thing Santana was sure she would have laughed, so it wasn't that she thought the joke itself was wrong, but Rachel was a Slytherin, and Santana would be damned if she allowed Gryffindors to pick on her. 

She was going to have to teach Azimio a lesson. 

"You guys are out early!" Mike came running at them from the courtyard as they passed it. "Excellent. Let's go."

He ran passed them to the stairs, taking them two at a time. His excitement reminded Santana what they were planning to do that evening. Suddenly she wasn't angry anymore. Sharing a cheeky smile with Quinn, she tore after Mike.

  *****

Santana didn't spend a lot of time in the library. She wasn't good at staying quiet for long periods of time, and luckily her homework wasn't so hard that it required more research than what could be found in the assigned texts for each class. So she'd only been in the library twice before. Once when they were still exploring the school, and once when professor Lupin sent her to get a book for him. 

They spent a few minutes hunting for the right book. Quinn didn't want the librarian getting suspicious, which she thought she would if they went up to ask her which book they could find the shield charm. It didn't take long. They found the spell in the sixth year set book. Mike, who was the one reading it, slowly looked up at the others. 

"We're never going to learn this spell."

"We'll find it." Santana dismissed. 

"No finding it isn't the problem. I found it, but-"

"Where?" Quinn snapped her own book closed, pulling Mike's towards her. 

"Standard book of spells grade six."

Santana and Sebastian both closed their books as well, their shoulders dropping.

"That's worse than Stupefy." Santana groaned. 

"Let's learn both then." Quinn said. 

"Now I know you're joking." Santana said, pushing her book away.

"Why not?" Quinn asked. "There's no spell we're going to learn in first year that will save us from a troll. So whatever we learn is going to be hard. Second or fifth or sixth year, what does it matter?"

Santana leaned back in her chair, picking up her wand and twirling it slowly. 

"We don't have the skills." Mike shook his head. "I haven't even been able to cast incendio yet."

"Wait." Sebastian perked up. "That's perfect. I'm sure even a troll can catch fire."

Santana stopped twirling her wand, raising an eyebrow. 

"You're not wrong." She said slowly. "Especially if we all hit it at the same time."

"Yeah" Quinn nodded. "That could work too."

  *****

After flying, which Santana was really beginning to feel was a waste of time for her, she, Sebastian and Quinn ran all the way back to the castle to the fourth floor class room they'd scouted during lunch. It looked more like a storage room than a classroom, with three abandoned chalk boards, some stacks of chairs and a few desks that were old, and some broken. It was the perfect place to set things on fire. 

Quinn closed the door behind them as they entered and bolted it. 

"What about Mike?" Sebastian asked. 

"He'll have to knock. We don't want anyone stumbling in on us setting school property on fire."

"Why?" Santana asked. "It all looks abandoned, and it makes perfect sense for us to be practicing what we learned in class."

"Right." Quinn placed her wand on a desk and began to drag it across the room. "So I know we agreed we'll just do the fire but…" she stopped, moved around the desk and shoved it against the wall. 

"But you still want to try the spells five times above our level." Sebastian said, jumping onto a desk and shaking his head. 

Quinn moved to another desk and pulled it next to the other one. 

"Are you going to help me?" she asked when neither Santana nor Sebastian had moved any desks.

"Why are we doing this?"

"We're going to be setting fires. The last thing we need is kindle spread out around us. The fire could spread."

Sighing, Santana walked up to a desk. She'd just placed her hands on it, ready to start pushing, when an idea came to her. She took a few steps back, took a deep breath and pointed her wand at the desk. 

"Wingardium Leviosa" 

Slowly the desk rose into the air. She manoeuvred it to the back of the room, next to where Quinn had put the other two, keeping her hand steady the whole time. When it touched the ground once more, she grinned. 

"Come on Seb, get to pushing!"

Groaning, Sebastian jumped off the desk and began to move desks and chairs to the back. 

"Why do you want us to waste time learning advanced spells?" Sebastian asked. 

Quinn shrugged. 

"Can't hurt." Santana said, keeping her eye on the chair she was levitating.

"Actually it could." Sebastian pointed at her. "How do you think we're going to be practicing stunning spells?" He looked pointedly at Quinn. "On each other" he said when neither of them answered him. 

"We'll be fine." Quinn said. "And if we do wind up bumping into a troll, this is assuming there's only one, we'll be glad to have more than one spell."

Santana nodded. 

Of course she agreed with Sebastian and Mike that there was no way they would learn the spell by tonight. It would be complete stupidity to believe they could learn in a few hours what it took fully grown witches and wizards years to learn. But she wanted to try. Charms were easy for her, she'd learned that in the last two months, and though it was fun to set things on fire or unlock doors, once the idea of being able to stun people was planted in her head, she needed to try. 

"You know what?" Sebastian said, as he forcefully pushed a desk against another one, since they'd filled up the space against the wall. "Fine. You two want to stun each other go for it. Until you actually know how to do it, neither of you are pointing your wands at me."

"There have to be multiple stunning spells for it to work on a troll though. So you have to practice too." Quinn said. 

"Nope." Sebastian shook his head.

"Oh come on! What are you worried about?"

"You don't know what could go wrong." Sebastian said angrily. "There's a reason we learn the spell in fifth year, so…" he shook again. "I'm not doing it."

"Urgh you're so infuriating!" Quinn said in exasperation. 

"Let it be Q." Santana said, pointing her wand at the last stack of chairs. "If he doesn't want to learn the spell it just means more practice time for us."

  *****

They practiced incendio until all of them could successfully set an entire desk on fire with ease. By that time it was ten minutes past dinner and the Halloween feast had already began. 

Despite wanting to at least attempt the shield charm, Santana agreed to stop for the day. There was plenty of time for her to practice the more advanced spells, and she was hungry. 

"Wooaah" she breathed reflexively, as she, Mike, Quinn and Sebastian walked into the great hall. The decorations she had been looking for in the morning had arrived in full force, transforming the great hall into the perfect Halloween scene. It was darker than the room usually was, because the bewitched ceiling was a completely dark night sky with only a dim full moon. The only light came from the, admittedly abundant, pumpkin lanterns, which were placed all around the hall, lining the tables, along the walls and windows.  Bats circled above them, their eyes glowing as they caught the light from the lanterns with orange streamers floating among them like clouds. In front of the professor's table, there was a pair of skeletons dancing together to music played by self-playing instruments in the corner. Carved pumpkins floated above each table, casting an orange tinge of light over the students. The ones that were facing the walls cast the shadows of their scary carvings onto it, an effect that made the ghosts seem more frightening. Cob webs littered the walls, corners and tables in between the plates and dishes, with spiders crawling all over the walls. Santana cringed back as a particularly large one positioned itself behind Dumbledore's seat and snapped its pincers. 

"I don't think it's real." Quinn whispered to Santana, catching what she was staring at.

"You don't know that" Santana whispered back. 

Deciding to be safe, Santana sat on the other side of the table so that she was facing the wall and could keep an eye on the spiders. 

"I didn't think I could get any more impressed with the spread here, but then they go and do this…" Mike was staring wide eyes at the table, scanning the food all the way up the length of the table. 

It was colourful, Santana had to admit. There were large cauldrons every few placing settings that were letting out a white mist that floated gently over the food, plates, and down to the floor. The mash potatoes seemed more orange, the mince looked a lot like worms, and the goblets of juice seemed redder and thicker. Like blood. 

"Is that…a hand?" Quinn frowned at what looked like a real hand, severed at the wrist, which was just laying on the table near the potatoes. She reached out tentatively to touch it, stroking it gently with her pointer finger. At once, the hand jerked forward, trying to grab Quinn's hand. She retracted it quickly, scrambling backwards and falling to the floor as she, Santana and Mike screamed. 

Sebastian laughed hard, gasping for air as his eyes filled with tears of laughter. 

"Are you okay?" a second year girl ask Quinn climbed back into her seat. 

Quinn, who was completely red in the face, nodded.

"Fine" she mumbled. She kept her eyes on the table, not wanting to look at the many people who were watching her.

"Did falling on your ass hurt Fabray?" Sebastian chortled.

"Shut up" she scowled at him. 

The school had clearly gone all out on the Halloween theatrics. 

  ***** 

It wasn't until Santana had eaten so much dessert that she it was hard for her to take in deep breaths without feeling like her stomach would explode, that the excitement of their upcoming mission really began to set in. She was finding it hard to sit still as she waited for Mike to finish. He seemed to be an endless pit, gobbling up more cake, which he'd drenched in custard. 

"How can you still be eating?" She asked incredulously. 

"We don't get this much dessert usually" Mike said, scooping some whipped cream into an already full mouth. 

"Well can you hurry up?" Sebastian asked, taking a candied apple from one of the cauldrons. "We have stuff to do remember?" 

Mike nodded emphatically, speeding up his chewing. He cleared the rest of his plate before Sebastian finished his apple.

"Let's go" he stood up, reaching into a different cauldron and taking out a giant lollipop the size of his hand, wrist to the tip of his fingers, and climbed over the bench. 

"Really?" Quinn asked, standing as well.

"When am I gonna get this again?" he asked. 

Cocking her head, Santana took a lollipop for herself as well. 

"He's right" She said, when Quinn and Sebastian frowned at her.

"Whatever, let's just go." Sebastian said. 

Leon called out to her as they reached the end of the Slytherin table. 

"Wait here." Santana told them, before walking to her brother. 

"Where are you going?"

"Common room." Santana said, blinking her eyes slowly to give off the impression that she was tired. "I ate way too much." She rubbed her stomach. Leon laughed. 

"Yeah, but it's so worth it right?"

"So worth it" she agreed."

Leon glanced at Quinn, Mike and Sebastian. 

"Mike's coming with you?" 

Santana shook her head. 

"Of course not. He's going to the bathroom."

Leon nodded slowly. 

"Okay."

"Can I go now dad?"

"You're not funny." Leon said, narrowing his eyes. 

Santana giggled. "Night bro" She spun and walked back to her friends. 

"Is he on to us already?" Mike asked. 

"No. He was just asking where I was going." She pushed Mike's shoulder to get him to move. "It's fine. Let's go."

  *****

The rest of the castle seemed so cold and empty compared to the great hall, which was filled with warm light, laughter and loud conversation. Devoid of students and ghosts, and with minimal candles lit, it was almost like the place was abandoned, and it was only going to get worse when they descended into the dungeons. It made the reality of what they were going creep in amidst the excitement. Santana swallowed back her fear and walked forward towards the stairs to the dungeons.

"Last chance" Quinn said, as they stood at the bottom of the stairs. 

If they turned right, they would wind up at the Slytherin common room. Santana turned her back to that hallway, not wanting to be tempted. 

When no one expressed a desire to leave, Quinn sighed heavily and took out her wand. 

"Alright." She turned slowly to the darker hallway, taking steady breaths. "Let's hope Montgomery is a liar."

The hallway ended up splitting into three. It was so dark that it was hard to see more than a few feet into them, so they all looked the same. 

"Pick one" Quinn turned to Sebastian. 

"Middle." He said, walking forward slowly.

Nodding, they followed him into it. There was only one torch perched on the wall, casting ominous shadows on the walls and providing very little practical light. 

Santana transferred her lollipop to her right hand took out her wand with her left, holding it up. 

"Lumos" she whispered. The tip of her wand immediately lit up, allowing them to see the entire hallway. There was a single large wooden door at the end of it. 

"Thanks" Mike said quietly. "So….do we just go in?"

"This is really stupid" Quinn shook her head. "What if there is a troll in there? And they locked it up, and we just open the door for it to escape into the castle."

"Get ready to run" Sebastian said. "We open the door slowly and if there's any hint of a troll we slam it shut and lock it again."

"Do you know the locking charm?" Mike asked, eyes fixed on the door. 

"No…" Sebastian said. "But I don't think trolls even know how to open doors."

Quinn was still shaking her head. 

"We're going to die."

"Oh come on" Santana groaned, rolling her eyes. Standing outside talking about it was allowing her fear to grow and giving the rational part of her brain time to come up with good arguments in favour of turning tail. One more minute of it and she knew she wouldn't be able to go in. "Alohomora" she said, pointing her wand at the door. They heard a click. 

"No going back now" Sebastian said, looking pointedly at Quinn. 

"Go on then." Quinn sighed. Santana could see that Quinn was gripping her wand so tight her knuckles had turned white. Nodding, she stepped forward and slowly pushed the door open. When the space was just big enough for her to stick her head through, she paused and listened. There was no heavy breathing, no deep rumbling or growling, or heavy footsteps. 

"I don't hear anything." She whispered, turning to the others. 

"Okay" Mike nodded quickly. He was breathing fast, shifting from foot to foot. "That's a good sign right? Trolls aren't exactly quiet."

Santana and Sebastian nodded. 

"Go in." Sebastian encouraged. With one last look at Quinn, who was pressing her lips tightly together, Santana pushed the door open a little more and slid inside. 

The room was large, and completely pitch black. She could tell it was big by how her light seemed to be swallowed up by the darkness. Even when she held it out she couldn't see any walls. Only the door she'd just come through. It wasn't until the others filled in after her with their wands lit that Santana started being able to make the room out.  There were dark vines along the walls that were shrinking slowly away from them. They were thick, like as thick as Santana herself, and made a rustling sound as they moved. Santana stared at them as she walked deeper into the room. 

"What are these?" Quinn asked, walking to the nearest wall to inspect the strange plant. The vines retreated faster as she got closer. 

Santana shrugged. 

"It doesn't like the light" Sebastian said. 

Santana tripped, stumbled and fell to the floor, dropping her lollipop and wand. 

"Are you okay?" Quinn called to her. 

"Yeah, just tripped." Santana groaned, pushing up on her hands and knees. That was when she noticed that the vines were weaving all along the floor as well. "Stupid plant" she muttered. Just as she got to her feet, she felt one of the vines wrap around her leg and squeeze. She didn't think twice about the possible troll nearby as she screamed. 

"Oh my god it's got her!" Mike yelled. He ran to Santana and began pulling at the vine, but it didn't give. Another one slid along the ground and wrapped itself around Mike's foot as well. "IT'S GOT ME"

Moving quickly, the plant took hold of Santana and Mike's other feet, creeping up to their thighs and then round their waists, all the time getting tighter and tighter. 

"Oh my god" Quinn breathed.

"DO SOMETHING!" Santana screamed, as the plant crushed her stomach painfully, restricting her ability to breathe.

"Right." Quinn nodded. "Um…Um…" she lifted her wand, her hand shaking violently, and pointed it as the plant.

"Not at me!" Santana chocked out. 

"Right" Quinn shook her head and lowered her wand to the part of the plant that was still on the floor. 

"Incendia"

"Inc-" Santana gasped, trying to breathe. She felt like her blood was being cut off, building up in her neck and head and causing her to feel every beat of her heart in the pounding of her head. She felt like her eyes were going to pop, if the veins in her neck didn't first. But none of that was as bad as her chest, which was going to explode, the pleading of her lungs for oxygen so agonizing she had to close her eyes. 

"Why isn't it working?" Quinn asked frantically, shaking her wand and clearly panicking.

"Incendio!" Santana wheezed. Her body was beginning to feel weak. Right now the plant was holding her up more than her legs.

"Oh" Quinn turned red right to the tips of her ears. "Incendio" she cast again. This time fire shot out of her wand and hit the floor, missing the plant thanks to her shaking hands. But it worked. The plant jumped away from the flame, loosening its grip on Santana. 

Santana felt light headed as she took in a deep, gasping breath and air rushed into her lungs. Her head continued to pound, but the pressure that was making Santana's ears feel blocked was gone. 

"Again!" Santana yelled. 

"Help Mike." Quinn said to Sebastian. Together, they set as many fires as they could, on and around the plants. Santana and Mike collapsed on the floor as the plant finally let them go and retreated to the far corner and ceiling. 

Santana quickly grabbed her wand, raising it and panting. Her heart was beating wildly as the four of them stayed silently watching for any more signs of movement. She could feel it beat against her ribcage frantically, almost sure the sound of it could be heard if anyone listened closely enough. 

"Are you okay?"

Santana jumped as Quinn's hand gripped her shoulder. The fact that she had to tilt her head all the way up to look at Quinn reminded her that she was still on the floor, but her legs didn't have the strength to move. She swallowed to erase the dryness in her throat and nodded. 

She was glad Quinn didn't push her to speak. Instead she inspected the rest of Santana's body, from her legs to her torso.

"What are you looking for?" Sebastian asked, coming over to Santana with Mike's hand over his shoulder, helping him walk. 

"I want to make sure there were no thorns or something that could poison her."

When Quinn tried to get her to take off her robe, Santana felt her heart begin to calm down. She blinked for what she realised was the first time since feeling the rubbery plant tentacles grab her foot and cleared her throat. 

"I'm fine Q"

It came out raspy and quiet, but that she'd spoken at all was a huge feat. 

"Are you sure?" Quinn asked, abandoning her attempt at disrobing Santana to look into her eyes. 

"Yeah." Santana nodded. She got shakily to her feet, noticing the small fires on the floor around her, and how warm it made the room. Then her eyes landed on Mike, who was pale in the face and wincing. "What happened?"

"I was trying to get my leg free." Mike glanced down at his foot, which he was holding gingerly above the floor. "The harder I pulled the tighter it got, then I just felt something pop."

Santana sucked air sharply through her teeth, closing her eyes. 

"We should get him to the hospital wing." Sebastian said.

"This is all your fault!" Quinn yelled, pointing angrily at Sebastian. "You insisted we come into these infernal dungeons and if it were up to you we wouldn't even have been able to save them."

Sebastian looked guilty at Santana, averting his eyes when he met her gaze. 

"I know, I'm sorry." He spoke to the floor. "I didn't think we'd actually find anything."

"I told you this was dangerous, you were just too stupid to listen."

"Hey you were worried about a troll!" Sebastian yelled back, lifting his head to look at Quinn. "You didn't know there would be other stuff down here either."

"There still might be a troll down here." Mike groaned. 

"But I told you there was a reason we were told not to come in here. I told you we'd get hurt."

"Guys" Santana murmured, squinting into the darkness the plant had crawled into. Something seemed to be coming out of the shadows. Something darker than the shadows themselves. At first it was like a black cloud, but the closer it got to the light and to Santana, she could see shapes forming in it as well. She held her wand up higher, squinting at the approaching figures.

"How was I supposed to know that there are murderous plants in the school?" Sebastian was yelling. Santana heard Mike groan louder and assumed his foot had been moved in some way, but she couldn't take her eyes off the figure in front of her. 

"Guys" she said louder. "What is that?"

She was having an internal battle with herself, wanting to both step back and step forward. Her experience with the thick tentacles squeezing the breath out of her had her cautious of any new creatures that might be kept in this particular room, but what she was seeing was…confusing. 

There was a girl, looking only a few years older than her, with long black flowing hair down to her back, just longer than Santana's, and olive skin that showed the collection of beauty spots Santana hated on the back of her neck. She was facing away from Santana, so she couldn't be sure the girl was her, but she recognised the two people standing with her. 

"Mum?" Santana called, her body taking a subconscious step forward. Her parents looked older, with her mum's hair cut to her shoulders and her father having grown a beard, but they were still her parents. "Dad what are you doing here?" She took another step forward. 

"Santana" Quinn's shaky voice stopped her foot mid-air. Santana glanced at her, took a step back and turned back to the image before her. "I don't think they're real." Quinn continued. 

The girl with Santana's hair and Santana's skin and beauty spots turned enough for Santana to catch her content smile as she stared at her parents. She saw her eyes and the dimples in her cheeks as she smiled, and there was no mistaking it. Santana was looking at an older smokey version of herself.

Suddenly, blood began to stain her dad's shirt, spreading down it like ink and soaking it. He fell to his knees just as Santana's mum started to bleed profusely from her nose and eyes. 

Quinn screamed as Santana ran forward.

"DAD!" she reached out, but her hands went right through them, like mist. Santana wracked her brain for a spell that could help, but she didn't know any healing spells. She didn't know any potions to cure whatever was happening, and even if she did she didn't have the ingredients. All she could do was watch, standing inches from her parents as they both bled out in front of her. The older smoke version of herself caught her mum as she fell, lifeless eyes staring right at the real Santana and forcing tears from her eyes. "MUM!" she screamed, feeling her chest tighten painfully as the older version of herself clutched her mother to her chest, sobbing.

Then her parents disappeared, and from behind her, Santana could see Quinn and Leon standing together, crying. Their lips were moving but no sound came out. Santana watched through teary eyes as the older version of herself turned to them, stood up and began to run towards them. Leon was older as well. He had stubble on his chin and his hair tamed back and was holding his arms open for Santana to run into. But this other Santana couldn't reach them. She was running, calling out to them, reaching out to them, but not actually moving any closer. Santana could see the pure devastation on her own face. The sorrow, the fear. It weakened her knees and forced her to the floor, tears now almost completely obstructing her vision. What she could make out, was Leon and Quinn getting further and further from her, as the older Santana ran in a futile effort to catch up to them. 

"Leon" she chocked out, her chin dropping to her chest, hands coming to cover her face as sobs wracked her body. "Leon don't leave me. Don't leave me alone."

"SANTANA!" She felt her whole body shake, but all she could think of was the terror she had seen on her own face when she realised she wasn't going to get to Leon or Quinn and the cold empty look in her mother's eyes as she'd held her, with blood dripping from her nose and down her cheeks from her eyes.

"Santana snap out of it" Leon's voice came, clear enough for her to realise she wasn't imagining it. "Look at me Santana." He was saying forcefully, still shaking her shoulders. "It's not real."

"Leon?" she dropped her hands and opened her eyes to see her brother kneeling before her. 

There was relief in his eyes when she looked at him, before she was being squashed against his chest in a tight hug. "I'm here." He whispered into the top of her head. "I'm right here."

Santana heard another voice, though her brain couldn't decipher who it was at that moment, uttering a spell she hadn't heard before. She hesitantly pulled back to look over Leon's shoulder, afraid to see herself still crying, still running. But the scene was gone. Willow was standing in front of her, holding her wand pointed in the direction the smoke had first come from, but nothing was there. 

"Can you stand?" Leon asked, drawing her eyes back to him. She nodded. "Good. Let's go to the hospital wing."

"No" Santana sniffed, shaking her head quickly. "No, I'm fine."

Leon's eyes softened. "Santana you're not fine."

"No, I am." She wiped furiously at her eyes. "I'm not injured."

Leon stared at her, his eyes flicking between both of hers.

"Fine." He finally said. "Then we're going straight to the common room. You need to drink something warm." He put his arm around her waist and helped her stand. 

When she was on her own two feet, he wiped the tears tenderly from her red cheeks, shook his head, and pulled her into another, much tighter hug. Santana didn't have the energy to pretend this wasn't exactly what she wanted. After watching herself desperate for her brother but unable to reach him, having him hug her so tight she could barely breathe was comforting. So she closed her eyes and let him. 

Mike groaned loudly from somewhere in the room, reminding Santana that there were other people there, not just Leon. She cleared her throat.

"I'm okay." The crack in her voice wasn't very reassuring, but Leon let her go none the less, leaving only his arm draped over her shoulder protectively. 

Everyone was staring at them when they turned around. Quinn with sad eyes and tear-stained cheeks, Sebastian with wide worried eyes and Willow with sympathy. Santana hated it. Only Mike, whose eyes were screwed up in a grimace of pain was not looking at them. She shimmied closer to Leon's side and looked down at the floor. 

"I'm going to take her back to the common room." Leon said.

"I'll take Mike to the hospital wing to get his leg checked out." Willow said. "Then I'll meet you there."

"Okay." Leon and Santana walked a few steps before Leon stopped, turned back and stretched out his arm. "Come on Quinn." 

Quinn rushed forward, taking his hand and letting him lead her out of the dark room. Santana noticed she was holding both their wands. 

"Thanks" she whispered. Quinn smiled weakly.

"Call me a coward but I didn't want to come back and get it."

Santana felt her chest ease up just a little more as a giggle bubbled out of her. It was so unexpected that her body wasn't prepared and she choked, having to cough a few times before her airway was once again clear. Leon and Quinn's laughter echoed in the dark corridor, filling Santana with a simple joy. She'd been laughing with Leon and Quinn all of her life, and that sense of familiarity and comfort wiped away the last of the feelings of grief brought on by whatever evil smoke they had stumbled upon in that horrible dungeon. 

As her brother walked them back the way they'd come, Santana wrapped her one arm around his back and squeezed, not caring that she was never this affectionate. 

Leon looked down at her. "I love you too Santana"

  *****

When they walked into the common room, it was like re-joining the world. It was loud and bright, filled with laughing students and exploding snap. It was startling to realise that no one had even noticed they were gone. That they had been in the dungeons experiencing hell and the rest of the school had just kept up the festivities. The Halloween feast seemed decades ago. Santana couldn't believe that less than an hour ago they had been as happy as everyone currently was. As excited. 

She had been excited to go into the dungeons. She shook her head at herself. 

She was about to detach herself from Leon's side to go into her room, when Leon removed himself. He stormed across the room, grabbed Montgomery by the collar of his robes and shoved him against the glass window with the view into the lake. The common room went suddenly quiet. 

"If you don't want the bloody job, give the badge back and be done with it, but mess with my sister again and you'll regret it."

"What are you talking about mate?" Montgomery said, struggling to get out of Leon's grip. 

Santana stared wide eyed at the scene. She'd never seen her brother this angry or physical. He was usually such a happy, go with the flow kind of guy. Sarcastic like she was, and maybe confrontational, but never aggressive. It was a little scary to see him towering over another boy like that, overpowering him.

"You told the first years there were trolls in the dungeon?"

Montgomery scoffed, his eyes flicking around the room. 

"So?" he tried to push Leon's chest but he wouldn't budge. 

"So my sister's a first year" Leon pulled Montgomery forward then slammed him harder against the glass.

"Woah Lopez" A sixth year stepped forward, holding his hand out. "Why don't you calm down mate? What happened?"

"This git told my sister there were trolls in the dungeons. He told them to go have a look if they didn't believe him."

"Woah hold on" A note of fear touched Montgomery's voice as the sixth year boy frowned at him. "I didn't tell them to go poking around in there."

Leon's grip tightened visibly as he hoisted Montgomery higher, forcing him to go on his toes. 

"Oh yeah?" he sneered. "Lie again."

"Technically he asked if we wanted to go in and see if he was lying." Rachel piped up. 

"Shut up Rachel" Sugar said. 

"I don't care what he said. Snape told you to tell them not to go in there, I was with you when he did it. Instead you find it funny to practically dare them?"

"Nah" Montgomery shook his head. "If they went in there that's cause they're stupid-"

Quinn and a few other girls screamed as Leon punched Montgomery's cheek hard. Santana threw her hands over her mouth, which was open in shock. The sixth year boy rushed forward and pulled Leon off Montgomery. Another boy went to Montgomery to keep him from attacking Leon back.

"Lopez!" The sixth year boy was yelling, as Leon fought to get back at Montgomery. "Calm down!"

"Mess with my sisters like that again and I'll end you Chester" Leon growled, pointing aggressively at Montgomery, who was holding his hand over his cheek and scowling at him. "Put my sisters in danger like that again and I'll kill you!"

Zachary grabbed Leon's arm and he and the sixth year boy pulled him into the corridor to the boy's dorm. The common room was left awkwardly silent, with only Montgomery's annoyed mutterings to be heard. Once it became clear the fight was over, most people turned to look at Santana and Quinn, clearly wondering what had happened. 

Quinn nudged Santana's arm. 

"Let's go to our room."

As they turned to walk out of the common room, Willow came walking in. She looked from Quinn and Santana, to the entire common room watching them, to Montgomery, who was still cursing by the window. 

"What the hell happened?"

"Your boyfriend went ape shit." Montgomery spat. She frowned at Santana.

"They'll tell you" She mumbled, having no desire to rehash what had just unfolded. "I'm going to bed."

She didn't wait for the 'are you okay?' that she knew was going to come from Willow. She didn't look back at the rest of the common room. Santana simply walked forward, away from all the staring eyes and worried expressions, away from crazy murderous plants and evil black smoke.

She changed into her pyjamas slowly, her whole body feeling drained, and climbed into bed. She'd just laid her head on her pillow when she heard something being placed on the night stand by her bed. She turned to see Quinn standing there, and her wand on the table. 

"Oh thanks."

Quinn nodded. 

"Can I…" Quinn pointed at Santana's bed. Without a word, Santana scooted to the end that was against the wall and flipped open her covers. Quinn climbed in, laying down facing her. 

They didn't speak. Santana let her eyes slide closed, though she was sure she wouldn't be sleeping for a while, and tried to relax her body. All of her muscles felt tense, and her heart still felt like it was beating harder than normal, especially since she was lying down. So she focused on her breathing, taking deep steadying breaths in through her nose and letting them out in a slow blow out of her mouth. 

It felt like a long time before the beating of her heart was no longer a distraction. When she felt normal, she opened her eyes. 

Quinn was lying on her back, hands on her stomach and eyes closed. 

"I just didn't know that Nearly Headless Nick was…Like that he could do that"

The door to their room opened as Rachel, Sugar and Lauren came in. Quinn shifted, her eyes fluttering as their loud conversation shattered the calm silence they had been lying in. 

"It is very disgusting. Nobody needs to see a half severed neck." Rachel agreed. "I don't think that just because he can do it that he should."

"But it's Halloween." Sugar said. "Things are supposed to be scary on Halloween."

Santana and Quinn both scoffed. A small smile tugged at Quinn's lips as she opened her eyes to look at Santana, amused that they made the exact same noise. 

"Oh" Rachel walked up to Santana's bed. "Why are you in her bed? Are you both okay?"

Santana didn't respond. 

"Peachy." Quinn said dismissively. 

"What was all that about?" Sugar asked, standing beside Rachel. "Did you guys really go into the dungeons?"

"Maybe" Quinn said. 

"Wicked." Sugar grinned. 

"No. Didn't you see Leon's reaction?" Rachel asked with wide eyes. "They were clearly in danger."

"We're here aren't we?" Quinn asked. 

"Because he came to get you."

"And who told you that?"

"His reaction" Rachel said, almost smugly. "You were obviously in over your heads and he had to come and save you."

Santana rolled her eyes, taking a deep breath.

"Where was Sebastian?" Sugar asked. Her eyes shot wide open. "Did he die by troll?"

"Sugar don't say that" Rachel gasped. 

"You're both idiots" Santana said, sitting up and getting on her knees. "And Rachel, just because you like the sound of your voice doesn't mean anyone else does. So why don't you do us all a favour, and shove a sock in it."

Sugar giggled. Rachel's mouth dropped open, looking hurt, but Santana couldn't care. Rachel's voice was grating her already frayed nerves, and she couldn't put up with it. Before either one of them could say anything, Santana gripped the drapes of her bed and drew them closed. She heard Rachel and Sugar walking back to their side of the room. 

"You do talk too much" They heard Sugar mutter to Rachel. 

"Plus, something clearly happened in the dungeons. She probably just doesn't want to talk about it." Lauren said quietly. 

"She didn't have to be so rude about it." Rachel whispered back. 

"I'm glad you were." Quinn said to Santana, turning on her side to face her. Santana lay back down, sighing. "She needed to get the hint."

"Mmhh" Santana grunted. 

"Are we talking about it, or no?"

Santana always thought Quinn's eyes were so pretty. When she was younger she used to be really jealous of how Quinn's eyes changed colour in different lighting. Always green, but different shades. Sometimes Santana was sure they changed with her emotions too. Right now the green was darker, clouded by Quinn's worry for Santana. It wasn't a look she got often from her best friend, and Santana couldn't say she liked it. 

She slowly shook her head.

"Okay." Quinn shifted closer, rubbing Santana's arm. "We won't talk about it then."