Chapter 14

It was the worst experienced of Santana's life. From the minute she threw down the floo powder she was spinning uncomfortable. She slammed her eyes shut, trying not to focus on the way her stomach was turning uncomfortably and then she was tucking her hands in to her side as she banged her elbow on something hard. 

When they landed, they landed hard. Santana hadn't been prepared at all, so her feet weren't ready to catch her. She and Quinn toppled out of the fireplace, both coughing up all the smoke they'd inhaled, her elbow throbbing painfully. She kept her eyes shut. Her brain still felt like it was spinning and she was afraid if she opened them she'd throw up. 

But then all of a sudden, the floor vanished, and she found herself dangling in the air. She opened her eyes to find Quinn suspended beside her, and a tall, skinny, brown haired woman scowling at them, wand raised.

"Identify yourselves." She said angrily. 

Santana glanced at Quinn again, eyes wide with fear. They must have come through the wrong fireplace.

"Identify yourselves!"

Afraid she might be attacked further, Santana sputtered out 'Santana Lopez'.

"Quinn Fabray."

They were falling again. Santana threw her arms out to break her fall, but it never came. She'd stopped inches from the ground, then she was being slowly lowered. 

"I'm so sorry" the woman gasped, rushing to them. "I didn't know. You gave me such a fright." She helped Quinn up, brushing off the soot. "KITSO"

The house elf in his usual deep green rags came bustling into the room. 

"We have guests. Clean them up."

"Yes mistress." The house elf bowed, then turned to Quinn and Santana and held up his hand. Wind blew Santana's clothes fiercely for a few seconds before it stopped. She looked down to find herself clean. 

"Good. Now get us drinks please. Water will do."

The house elf bowed and left the room. 

"Terribly sorry girls, but you understand…" the woman turned to them both, smiling. Quinn tried to smile back, but it looked more like a cringe. Santana tried not to grimace. Something about this woman told Santana she didn't smile often. It looked unnatural and Santana had never even seen her before. 

But she looked familiar. 

"I'm sure you understand. You came bursting out of my fireplace I thought….well you could have been anyone."

"Sorry about that." Quinn said. "We…well we didn't mean to arrive like that."

"Obviously" Santana muttered. Quinn shot her a glare.

"No, no" the woman shook her head, gesturing for them to sit on the couch. "You're of course welcome any time. Sebastian has told us about you."

His mum! Santana glanced at the family portrait hanging on the wall to see the woman before them standing behind Sebastian and next to a tall, dark haired man. That was why she looked familiar. Santana had seen her in the picture every time she had come to Sebastian's house. But in person she seemed much colder than in the picture, which is why Santana hadn't recognised her. Her hair wasn't tied in the bun it was in the picture, but the way it framed her face made it look thin. It contrasted with her dark green eyes reminding Santana of a snake. It made her look dangerous. 

Or maybe that was because she'd dangled Santana in the air on their first meeting. 

"He didn't tell me who you were…"

Santana frowned. "He's told you all about us but not who we were?"

The woman's eyes narrowed before returning to normal so fast Santana wasn't sure she'd seen it. 

"Well he told me your first names."

"Oh right" Santana rolled her eyes again. Sometimes Santana hated her family's reputation. It had its perks, definitely, but she hated when people would act like she told her parents everything. Like if she wasn't treated right she'd go home and tell her dad so he could take it up with them. It was funny that people thought her dad cared at all. Her grandfather was the Lopez that people really cared about, and Santana hardly ever saw him. Her dad only cared about Quidditch. 

"Mother" Sebastian came striding into his room, frowning. "Why didn't you tell me they were here."

"We were just talking dear." His mother smiled again. This time Santana did grimace. "I was getting to know your friends."

"Right well they're my guests not yours. You don't need to bore them to death."

She stood up. "Watch your tone." 

Sebastian glared at her, but remained silent. 

"This is my house, I can talk to whomever comes into it if I so wish."

"It's your house is it?" Sebastian crossed his arms over his chest. "Funny, I hardly see you in it." 

Santana turned to Quinn, widening her eyes. Quinn shifted uncomfortably. 

"The egg's in my room." Sebastian said to them. Santana wasted no time in rushing out of the living room. Sebastian's mother looked like she was about to turn into a dragon with how her nostril's were flaring. 

"Is your mum an auror?" Quinn asked, whispering even though they were halfway up the stairs. 

"No, I told you. She works in the international liaison office."

"She sure seems like an auror." Santana muttered. "What kind of people does she expect to come bursting out of her fireplace."

"You'd be surprised." Sebastian said. 

He led them into his room. 

"You guys came quick."

"You saved us both from a rubbish Christmas." Quinn muttered. 

Santana made her way Quickly to the glass box the egg was contained in.

"When did it start hatching?" she asked, watching a tiny piece of the egg fall off. 

"Half an hour ago." Sebastian answered. I wrote as soon as I saw the first crack.

"Looks like it'll be out any minute." Santana said. Quinn came to stand beside her, and together they watched as the egg shook and larger cracks formed. 

After about a minute, they finally saw something blue poke through one of the small holes that had been made in the egg. Another piece fell off from there, widening the hole. The blue thing pushed again, causing the largest crack yet, and on the third push, broke through the egg. 

"Bloody hell." Santana breathed, taking a step back. The Occamy, which looked like a scaley serpent bird with feathers at the top of its head, blinked its large brown eyes at them and opened it's mouth, but no sound came out. It wriggled, shaking both it and the egg, seemed to try and pull itself out of the egg, but only succeeded in toppling over, then it retreated back into it. "It's like a snake, phoenix, dragon hybrid…"

Suddenly, the egg shook violently, and then exploded, pieces of the shell propelling into the glass walls. There was a second where the Occamy just lay there, blinking at them and stretching it's small wings, and then it exploded to.

"OH!" Santana ducked, clutching her head. She heard Quinn and Sebastian stumble back, one of them falling over. But there was no other sound, she didn't feel a hard beak pecking at her, or anything else for that matter. Slowly, she lifted her head and looked at the glass box. All she saw was blue. She took out her wand, gripping it tight in her left hand, and cautiously stood up. 

The creature had grown to fill the entire space of the box. It was coiled around itself, purple feathery wings pressed against the sides of the box and one giant brown eye staring at Santana from where its face was pressed against the front. 

It looked so silly Santana couldn't help but laugh.

"What happened?" Quinn asked, walking forward. Santana turned to see Sebastian getting up from the floor. 

"I guess it missed being cramped in the egg?" Santana shrugged. 

"Stupid." Sebastian laughed, crouching over so he was eye level with it. 

"What are you going to name it?" 

"Sebocamy."

Santana turned to him, frowning. 

"What kind of name is that?"

"Sebastian's Occamy" he said, pointing at himself then the creature. "Sebocamy." 

"Now who's stupid." Santana laughed, shaking her head.

"No one's going to care what his name is." Sebastian said, "he's a freaking Occamy."

  ******

Santana and Quinn decided to go home half an hour later, when even the novelty of a rare magical creature wasn't enough to quell their growing dread of what they would find when they returned home. They went separately, neither wanting to be present for the other person's fallout. 

At first Santana thought her mother had gone to bed. The lights in the living room were off as she stepped out of her fireplace, and she couldn't hear anything upstairs. But she wasn't so lucky. She walked into her room to find her mother sitting on her bed. 

"How nice of you to finally return."

Before leaving Sebastian's, Santana had decided that saying less was the best approach. She would just take whatever punishment her mother decided to give her and hopefully it would all be over quickly. 

"I don't suppose you thought at all how worried Judy and I must have been, having no idea where our children had gone?"

Santana bit the inside of her lip and remained silent. 

"Where did you go!" Her mother yelled, standing up and making Santana jump.

"We went to Sebastian's."

"With whose permission?"

Santana had to bite her lip to keep quiet. She had never needed permission to leave the house before. Informing them where she was going and when she'd be back, maybe, but never permission. 

"I asked you a question. Who gave you permission? Or did you forget that you were in trouble?"

"You took my broom and walked away." Santana said angrily, forgetting her plan to be silent. "You never said anything about not being able to leave the house."

"You knew you weren't allowed to go that's why you used Quinn's fireplace and why you rushed off when you saw us."

"We…I didn't leave because I saw you. We were already leaving by the time you walked in-"

"Don't lie to me Santana Marie!" Her mother said, pointing her finger at Santana and narrowing her eyes. "Don't lie to me."

Santana pressed her lips together, looking to the side. 

"You are…you are spoilt, and arrogant. Your father gives you everything…let's you run wild and do as you please, because that's how he was raised. We let you practice magic outside of school because that's how he was raised. That's how all the Lopez's raise their children. Well let me tell you something." She walked closer to Santana, pressing her finger into her own chest. "I am not a Lopez."

"That much is clear." Santana muttered.

"Excuse you?" 

"You know why every Lopez is brilliant? Because we were raised to be brilliant. Dad let's us do magic at home, because he knows practice makes perfect. I'm brilliant, because I was doing spells before I even arrived at Hogwarts. When I performed the hover charm at King's cross you were proud of me. Well don't be a hypocrite mother. You can't be proud of the results of dad's parenting, but at the same time turn your nose up at it. I'm arrogant because I'm impressive, not because I was born a Lopez but because I work at it. Because dad taught me to work at it. I'm an excellent Quidditch player, because dad had me on a broom before I was five."

"Something I was opposed to."

"If you don't like the way dad raised us, maybe you should have been around more often."

"Don't talk to me like that Santana."

"You may not be a Lopez mum, but I am. Maybe that comes with arrogance. Maybe I am spoilt. But I don't see why that's a bad thing. You nag Leon for being lazy. For doing nothing. For having no goals, no drive and no passion, but you are always trying to squash those things out of me. I don't get why you hate that I'm so good at magic."

Her mother scoffed, closing her eyes. 

"You know what Santana?" she shook her head. "Your grandparents and your father have filled your head with all these ideas of what it means to be good at magic. What it means to be a witch. And maybe you're right, and I should have been there to stop them…" she took a deep breath, straightening her back. "But I am here now. And I will not allow you to continue like this. You will learn respect. You will learn restraint, and until I am satisfied that you have…" she marched up to Santana, flicking through her robes until she pulled out Santana's wand. 

"Mum." Santana shook her head. 

"You will only use your wand at Hogwarts."

"Mum you can't take my wand." Santana yelled, feeling very close to tears. 

"I can and I will." Her mother glared. "The Lopez name is associated with amazing witches and wizards, that is true. But you know what else is a part of that legacy? Dying young. I will not have you be one of them."

She turned on her heel and stormed towards the open door. Just as she gripped the handle, she looked over her shoulder at Santana. 

"And just so it's clear this time, no leaving this house."

She slammed the door shut behind her. 

  Santana had never been so angry in her life. She kicked her bed, dropped onto it and screamed into her pillow. She couldn't believe she was going to be stuck in the house, without her wand, without her broom and without Quinn. This was really the worst Christmas she had ever had. 

  ********

Her father didn't come back for three days, or if he did, Santana never saw him. She spent all her time locked in her room, refusing to talk even to Leon, exchanging letters with Quinn, who had also been grounded. 

She was sure her father was back on the fourth day however, because she heard him and her mother arguing. At first she didn't care, because them arguing was nothing new, but then she heard her name. She crept to her door and pressed her ear against it. 

"….Your father telling her that the name Lopez comes with expectations-"

"It does. Don't pretend you don't know that." Her father hissed. "And so what? She's not cracking under any pressure Maribel she is brilliant."

"Aha!" Santana heard some clapping, she was sure it was her mother. She liked to clap her hands when she was mad. It meant a change to Spanish was imminent. "That word again. Brilliant. So you're the one telling her she's brilliant."

"She is. She was performing magic before she was eleven, with a wand that wasn't hers, just from reading her brother's books or watching him do it. Even you said she was gifted."

"But I don't go telling her how gifted she is all the time. Do you know what it does to a child to have them think they're better than everyone else? That they're more impressive? "

And there was the Spanish. 

"She is!" Her father yelled. "You've always had an issue with the Lopez name and everything that came with it Mari. Now you're trying to pass that on to our children?"

"I will not have her head filled with the idea that she is above consequences, be it because of the name, the money, or the talent. I will not have her become so arrogant in her abilities that she is blinded. I will not have her turn into your brother!"

There was a heavy silence. Even from inside her room Santana felt it. She moved away from her door, frowning. As far as she knew, her dad only had one, a sister, and she had moved to Germany when Santana was still young. She had never met another sibling, never seen any pictures in her grandparents' house and certainly never heard anyone talking about one. So her dad had a secret brother? She wondered what could have happened to him that he was cut off from the family like that. 

She wondered what he did that her mother was afraid she would too.