Chapter 1

When Santana was seven, her brother got his first Hogwarts letter. They'd been waiting for it all summer, every morning both of them sitting out on the front steps of their house, looking out for the morning post owl. 

Finally, on the very warm morning of July 28th, Santana had spotted a large almost hawk like owl flying towards their house. The letter had dropped directly into Leon's hand. 

Their parents found them sitting at the dining table, staring at the cream-coloured envelope, and more specifically, the red Hogwarts seal on the back, completely enthralled. Leon didn't want to break it because this would be the last time he would open a Hogwarts letter for the first time. Santana just thought it was too beautiful to simply rip apart.

Nothing could describe the jealousy she felt when their dad finally convinced Leon to open the letter, or when Leon passed her the second enclosed parchment while he read the first one and she saw all the things he would need for his first year of school. She wanted to go to Hogwarts so badly. She and her brother had grown up on stories of their parents' time in Hogwarts, and for as long as she could remember, she had wanted to go. Every night they would hound one of their parents to tell them about Hogwarts, until eventually they had just gotten them Hogwarts: a history as one of their Christmas presents. She and Leon could often be found sitting together in his room, the giant book open between them as he read to her and she looked at the pictures.

It was clear to her that a witch's life only started once they got that letter. And now her brother was getting to go without her. 

Despite this, his excitement won over her jealousy, and the two of them spent hours talking about what it was going to be like and which house he was going to be in. Leon was convinced he would be a Ravenclaw, but Santana didn't think he was smart enough. Her mother was a Ravenclaw, and a healer at St Mungo's. Leon had only learned to read when he was eight. Their father was a Hufflepuff but this too didn't really seem to be Leon. Her father was a trainer for Puddlemere United and woke up every day at 5 to practice Quidditch, and every day at sunset he had Santana and Leon throwing small hard to see objects as far as they could for him to try and catch. That was working hard. Meanwhile, Leon gave up learning to fly because he didn't like how their dad forced them to keep their brooms clean. 

That left Slytherin or Gryffindor. 

Santana's bet was on Gryffindor, and in her book, that was the worst hand to be dealt. 

Santana couldn't help thinking about that day now, as she stared at her own Hogwarts letter. Unlike her brother she didn't feel the need to conserve the seal. The only reason she hadn't ripped it open was because she was stunned. She hadn't been expecting it. She hadn't been anxiously awaiting its arrival. Somehow she had completely forgotten that it was time for Hogwarts letters to even be sent out. It was their house elf, Gingin who woke Santana up with the letter in his hand. 

Her sleep filled brain had registered the Hogwarts seal and stalled. 

She jumped as her mother's voice came booming through her slightly ajar door. 

"Gingin!"

Santana always hated it when her mother magnified her voice like that, especially when Gingin would hear her no matter how far away he was.

There was a loud pop, presumably Gingin apparating to wherever her mother had summoned him. It was enough of a distraction to get Santana's brain working again. 

"LEON" she screamed, launching out of bed. She ran across the hall to her brother's room, not even bothering to knock as she threw the door open. 

"What?" he asked groggily.

She held up the envelope. 

Leon's eyes widened as he sat up. 

"It's here?"

Santana nodded. 

"Open it then you goof."

Sitting on the edge of his bed, Santana pulled apart the seal. Everything looked exactly like her brother's had. Two letters, one much fatter than the other as it had her book list as well as everything she could possibly need in all of her classes, typed in the same font, same colour and same size .The list itself was identical to the one her brother had gotten. There was only one difference; the letter was addressed to her. 

Once she'd read the letter through twice, and gotten a hug from her still very sleepy brother, Santana had gone straight to the fire place in the living room, grabbed a hand full of flu powder and stepped into it. 

"Where are you heading off to honey?" Her mother paused in her walk to the kitchen, Gingin trailing behind her with his arms full of material. 

"Quinn's."

"Oh say hi will you."

Nodding, Santana cleared her throat. "3 Leving avenue" she said loudly, before throwing the powder down. 

Michael Fabray, Quinn's father, was always the first person awake in his house, so Santana wasn't surprised to see him already in the living room with a cup of tea. Santana had learned this one night when she and Leon tried to prank Quinn with a jinx rigged to go off when the person walked through the corridor. Michael hadn't been happy when trumpets erupted from his walls and followed him down the stairs playing a muggle rock song. Leon was the only one in trouble though, seeing as he was the only one of the two of them with a wand. 

"Santana" he said, lowering his paper. He seemed completely unfazed by Santana's sudden appearance in his living room.

"Morning Mr Fabray."

"You're up early."

"Yeah…" Santana didn't often talk to Michael Fabray, as he always seemed just a breath away from annoyed, but she couldn't help wanting to talk about this. "My Hogwarts letter came in today."

"Oh" his eyebrows rose. "Well…congratulations." His smile seemed genuine enough, so Santana mirrored it. "That means Quinn's should be-"

There was a scream from upstairs, followed by rushed footsteps down the many steps of the Fabray household. 

"Mum its here!" Quinn continued to scream. She jumped the last three steps and ran straight past her dad and Santana to the backyard, where Judy Fabray had a small garden. Santana watched her in amusement.

"I guess it's here." She chuckled. 

"Mmh" Michael grunted. "Nice and early that's good. It means she was high on the list."

Santana couldn't see what this had to do with anything, but she was saved from answering by Quinn running back into the house. 

"I have to go to Santana's." She was saying as she walked into the living room. She stopped in her tracks when she finally looked up. "Santana!"

Santana grinned at her. 

"I see you got your letter."

"Yeah" Quinn beamed, holding it up. "And…did you…"

Santana held her own letter up.

"Wicked" Quinn breathed.

Santana had known Quinn literally all her life. Their mothers had been best friends while at Hogwarts and went on to work together at St Mungo's. Whenever they went on vacation they usually went together and they spent their summers together every year they didn't travel at the vacation homes in Tinworth. 

"Come on let's go to my room before breakfast is ready."

"Bye Mr Fabray." Santana threw over her shoulder as she followed Quinn to her room. 

"I can't believe we're finally going." Quinn said as she climbed back into her bed. 

"I know…" Santana looked down at her letter. "Finally."

They went over their lists together, talking about each of the classes and which ones they though they'd enjoy most. 

"Defence against the dark arts is bound to be our favourite." Santana said. "It's the most fun by far."

"Positions can be fun" Quinn shrugged. "We're bound to be the best in our house at that. After all these years watching our mums cook up remedies, it has to pay off."

"If we end up in the same house." Santana pointed out.

Quinn looked up from her list, the excitement in her eyes dimming.

"Do you think we're not going to be in the same house? What's the likelihood do you think?"

"There's no way of knowing is there?"

"Right…" 

Santana dropped her parchment and crawled so she was sitting next to Quinn. 

"Are you still worried?"

All year Quinn had been abnormally stressed about what house she was going to be in. She jumped between the four houses nearly every month, unable to decide which one best suited her. It was funny at first, but by the start of summer Santana began to notice the genuine fear in Quinn's eyes whenever they would talk about it. 

"Just…I wish I knew which house he wanted me in."

"I don't think he cares."

Quinn side eyed Santana. "Of course he cares." She scoffed.

"What about your mum?" Santana changed gears. Quinn chuckled. 

"Ravenclaw of course."

"Yeah mine too" Santana laughed. "She keeps saying how it's her last chance to have a smart kid."

"I can see you in Ravenclaw." Quinn turned, looking her up and down. "Yeah, you're smart."

Santana shrugged. "I wouldn't mind."

"But you're set on Slytherin."

"Yup." Santana nodded. "Green's definitely my colour." She reached over and pulled her parchment to her, stretching her legs out and resting her head on one of Quinn's millions of pillows. 

Quinn shook her head. "Well whatever it is, I just hope we're together."

"Me too" Santana said sincerely. Hogwarts was her dream, but she knew through Leon how easy it was for friendships to fizzle out when you were in different houses. The last thing she wanted when she was finally getting to the place of her dreams was to lose Quinn along the way. It wouldn't be the same without her. 

  ****

Their parents decided to have a huge lunch in celebration of the pair finally getting their Hogwarts letters. Even though it wasn't really an accomplishment, seeing as all they had to do to get them was be born with magic and turn eleven, but the festivities affirmed Santana's belief that going to Hogwarts was a big deal. It was like a rite of passage that marked a child becoming a witch or wizard, and after watching her brother go through it in painful jealousy, it was finally Santana's turn.

That night, after everyone had gone home and their parents had gone to bed, Santana Quinn and Leon stayed up together, excitedly talking about leaving for Hogwarts together all together for the first time. Leon couldn't wait to show them around Hogwarts, and neither could Santana. As lame as she knew it would be to be following her big brother around, they'd fantasized about Hogwarts together, and it wouldn't feel right to explore it without him since he was already there. 

"Are you excited to have your little sister in your house?"

Leon shrugged. "It's not going to be any different to living with her" 

"So you also think she's destined for Slytherin"

Leon nodded. "Almost everyone in it is exactly like her."

Santana smirked. 

"Man I can't wait."

"It's not very likely if you ask me."

Santana and Leon frowned at Quinn.

"Why not?" Leon asked. 

"Well…balance. Santana's probably going to finish off the set."

"What the devil are you talking about Fabray?

"Think about it" Quinn said, looking them both in the eye before continuing. "Your mum was in Ravenclaw, dad in Hufflepuff, brother in Slytherin-"

"So you think she's going to end up in…" Leon broke off, eyeing Santana warily. 

"Gryffindor" Quinn said with a nod of certainty. She didn't see as Santana grabbed Leon's wand from his bedside table and pointed it at her chest.