Safe House

Forty Three

It was the first Saturday of February, also meaning, our first Apparition lesson.

We were all told to gather in the Great Hall, to meet with the instructor.

Theo, Draco, Blaise and I joined Pansy and Daphne who was stood in front of a bored looking Snape.

The other Houses stood in front of their Head-of-House.

A small wizard, who I'm guessing was the Apparition Instructor from the Ministry stood between Professor's Flitwick and Sprout.

"This guy looks like he would be put in a casket after a light breeze" Theo whispered to us.

"Good morning." The small wizard greeted us. "My name is Wilkie Twycross"

Theo and I silently cracked up at his name.

"Will you two grow up?" Pansy tutted.

"You know, we are both older than you" Theo told her

"Then act like it" She hissed at us

"-I shall be your Ministry Apparition instructor for the next twelve weeks. I hope to be able to prepare you for your Apparition test in this time-"

"Malfoy, be quiet and pay attention!" Professor McGonagall barked at Draco, who had previously been arguing with Crabbe about something.

"-by which time, many of you may be ready to take your test." Twycross carried on. "As you may know, it is usually impossible to Apparate or Disapparate within Hogwarts. The Headmaster has lifted this enchantment, purely within the Great Hall, for one hour, so as to enable you to practise. May I emphasise that you will not be able to Apparate outside the walls of this Hall, and that you would be unwise to try." He warned us. "I would like each of you to place yourselves now so that you have a clear five feet of space in front of you."

I spread out from my friends, stretching my arms out and moving my hips around to create a circle of space for myself.

Theo ordered the Ravenclaws to move out the way, pushing me to the front, so that I could get a better view of the Instructor.

"I could've done that myself y'know" I told him, rolling my eyes.

"I know" He said smugly.

"Quiet!" The heads of house's shouted and silence fell on the room, putting a stop to the arguing.

"Thank you" Twycross said. "Now then..."

He waved his wand and wooden hoops appeared in front of us all.

"The important things to remember when Apparating are the three D's"

I accidently let out a chuckle at what he said.

"Miss Weasley!" Snape snapped at me "I will remove you if you don't learn to behave."

"Yep, sorry, carry on" I muttered.

"Thank you, Destination, Determination, Deliberation!" Twycross continued. "Step one: Fix your mind firmly upon the desired destination, in this case, the interior of your hoop. kindly concentrate upon that destination now."

I looked around at everyone else, to see that they were focusing on the inside of the hoop, I then focused on the inside of mine, noticing all the specs of dust and footstep prints.

"Step two. Focus your determination to occupy the visualised space! Let your yearning to enter it flood from your mind to every particle of your body!"

I was too focused, focusing on focusing on the hoop that I forgot to focus on the hoop.

"Step three. and only when I give the command ... turn on the spot, feeling your way into nothingness, moving with deliberation! On my command, now ... one-"