Chapter 2

For the next two weeks, Santana was forced to spend every day volunteering at St Mungo's as punishment for hexing Quinn. Considering she was using a wand that wasn't hers, and a spell she'd only practiced in secret when Leon would let her, she'd been extremely proud of herself when boils erupted all over Quinn's body. It had been funny until the boils didn't stop swelling, looking like over blown balloons. That's when Leon had run to get Quinn's mum. 

Their mother had screamed herself hoarse for nearly an hour when Judy had called to tell her what Santana had done. She snatched Leon's wand, threatening to snap it in two as she ranted about how she'd told him over and over again not to let Santana use his wand, much less teach her spells. Finally, the punishment had been settled on, and instead of getting to spend the rest of her holiday playing Quidditch with her dad and brother or hanging out with Quinn, Santana was going to be spending her time helping the staff of St Mungo's with anything they needed. Anything. Including running around the hospital delivering messages she knew could be send magically.

On her way back from delivering one of these messages, she decided she'd had enough. It had been two weeks of walking up and down the hospital, looking for healers or trainee healers or receptionists or else delivering medicine or disposing of waste. It was almost lunch time and she'd served her sentence. As she wandered to the cafeteria to grab some lunch, she spotted one of the healers she's been working with. Thinking quickly, she bent low and sprinted out, only stopping when she slid through the closing doors of the elevator. There was a couple that smiled at her as the elevator started moving, she couldn't smile back since she was trying to catch her breath, but she nodded at them. "Thanks" she breathed. When the doors opened again, Santana stepped out, not even looking at what floor it was. As long as she was nowhere near any healers who would hand her basins filled with puss or urine or any other kind of bodily fluid, she was happy. Still breathing heavily, she looked cautiously around, making sure she didn't know any of the healers or trainees on the floor before relaxing. 

That was when she noticed the sign. 'The long-term resident ward' for permanent spell damage, she knew. She always wondered what could be so bad that all the healers in Britain, who were trained in potions, defence against the dark arts, herbology, charms and transfiguration couldn't help fix it. She'd seen her mum heal broken bones, cuts, and even cured someone who'd been poisoned. So Santana guessed it must be the effects of dark magic that stumped healers. She wanted to see what dark magic looked like. Deciding to be safe, just in case a healer passing by recognised her, Santana chose the room at the end of the hall to look into. She threw one more cautious look over her shoulder before gently pushing open the door. 

There were four people in this room, their beds separated by curtains which were at the moment all drawn open. In the middle of the room was a blonde girl with her hair tied up in a high pony tail who looked Santana's age, if not younger, in the strangest clothes she'd ever seen. It was like a bathing suit but made of leather, black, and shining with what looked like some kind of crystals. On her feet she wore black heels, as shiny as her costume, a black top hat on her head and held a cane, though she obviously didn't need it. She and a man dressed similarly, though he was in what Santana could at least recognise as a muggle suit, were dancing around the centre of the room. They didn't seem to notice Santana, so rather than disturb them, she remained silently by the door, watching. 

All of the patients clapped and sang along to each song as it played, cheering on the girl and the old man beside her. Santana marvelled at how good of a dancer the girl was, and how she'd been dancing for what must have been longer than half an hour and didn't seem to be tiring. She found herself smiling and laughing along with the other patients.

Finally, the old man tapped the girl's shoulder, proclaiming his inability to go on without a water break. That was when the girl finally noticed Santana. She smiled at her and walked over. 

"Have you come to visit your grandparents?"

"No" Santana said, unable to look away from the shiny costume. "What are you wearing?"

The girl looked down at her outfit, grinning. 

"Isn't it gorgeous?! My granddad got it for me."

"Mmhhh…" Santana grimaced, wondered what Quinn would say about it. 

"Muggles wear it when they dress up to do magic shows."

For the first time Santana met the girl's eyes. They were blue, which was odd for Santana to notice, because she never registered the eye colour of strangers.

"Muggles can't do magic."

"Well…they like to try." The girl smiled. "I'm Brittany."

Santana slid her hand into Brittany's, gripping loosely. 

"There you are!"

Santana jumped as a hand clamped down on her arm. She scowled heavily as Janet, the healer she'd seen at the cafeteria, loomed over her frowning. 

"How did you find me?"

Ignoring her, Janet peered round the room, as if looking for any damage Santana had caused.

"Where did you go?"

"To get lunch."

Janet raised an annoyed eyebrow. 

"Ugh Janet" Santana whined, trying to pull her arm free. "I've been here forever and you guys can definitely do everything you're torturing me with faster without me."

"That's not the point is it?"

"I don't deserve this." Santana huffed, giving up on freedom. Janet pulled her towards the elevators. 

"Did Quinn deserve to be hexed?"

"Of course she did!"

Santana heard Brittany giggling just before she reached the elevators. She turned back, curious as to what was so funny. She saw nothing but Brittany's wide smile. The girl waved at her. 

"Bye" she called out to Santana. Santana didn't answer, instead turning back to Janet as she was dragged into the elevator. 

  *****

Santana's mother came to find her at the receptionist's desk at the end of the day. She'd changed out of her lime green robes into a long black dress. As soon as Santana was old enough, she'd forced her mother to go shopping for more appropriate muggle clothes. She was pretty good at muggle fashion, since she and Quinn interacted a lot with the muggle kids that lived around them, so most of the clothes in both her parents' wardrobe were hand-picked by her. This tight fitting black dress was a favourite of both her and her mothers.

"Are we finally going home?" Santana barely lifted her head from the desk. 

Her mother ignored her, instead smiling at the receptionist. 

"Erin, I'm clocking out."

"I'm not far behind you Mrs Lopez."

"Good. Today's been a day innit."

"Every day's a day in this hell hole." Santana muttered. Her exaggerated sigh was cut short by the sharp look her mother sent her. She clamped her mouth shut. 

"I'll be seeing you tomorrow dear," her mother went on. 

"Have yourself a good night Mrs Lopez."

Santana stood up, feeling like her body was made of lead. She walked round the receptionist's desk to follow her mother out only to walk right into her. She looked up to find her looking expectantly at her. 

"What?" she whispered. 

Her mother's eyes flicked to Erin. 

Rolling her eyes, Santana turned back. 

"Bye Erin."

"Bye Santana" Erin said, chuckling. "It's been a pleasure tormenting you for the past two weeks."

Santana tried to fight back a smile and failed. 

"Yeah, yeah," she muttered. "I'm not the one who has to show up here every day till I die."

Erin laughed. "I'm gonna miss you when you go off to Hogwarts kiddo."

"You know it" Santana grinned.

Shaking her head, Mrs Lopez put her arm around Santana's shoulders to usher her out of the hospital. As they walked away, Santana realised that this may well be the last time she saw Erin for months to come. It was unlikely she'd see her during Christmas holidays, since her mother rarely worked during that time, which meant it wouldn't be till Easter that the possibility of coming by the hospital presented itself. The reality struck Santana as sad. 

She'd known Erin for three years, from the time she came as a trainee, having recently left Hogwarts. Erin was by far her favourite receptionist. 

Making up her mind, Santana slid out from her mother's arm and jogged back to Erin. The receptionist was clearly confused, but when Santana rounded the desk and stood before her, she smiled and stood up. Santana hugged her tight. 

"I'm gonna miss you too."