ELIXIR: A Harry Potter Fan Fiction

Fifteen. Apparation.

Caiti walked into the great hall on Saturday to find all the house tables stacked against the walls. The stone floor had been covered in silver hoops, arranged in neat lines with several feet of open space behind each one. The sixth years were scheduled for their first apparation lesson and for once in her life, Caiti had arrived too early. This was something that, had she not been eternally late anyway, she would normally have tried to avoid. She hated having to spend the minutes waiting for something to begin standing around awkwardly.

More than ever, she felt uncomfortable when it was only her class around. Though she was certainly friendly enough with many of them, Caiti wasn't close with the other sixth years. Now that she was no longer dating Theo, her one go-to person was hardly an option and she was certainly not going to try to talk to Amelia and Miriam and the rest of their clique. She wished she could have taken apparation with the seventh years the previous year. She had been one of the first to turn seventeen after all, and had not started lessons until after her birthday, which seemed silly now she realized it.

She saw Theo laughing with a group of his friends a little ways over, people she had formerly known quite well, but now felt she was not allowed to talk to. Breaking up sucked. Having all your best friends in another year sucked. The fact that the first term of her sixth year was already nearing its halfway point, putting her ever-closer to the dreaded friendless seventh year... that definitely sucked.

Caiti sat down in the center of a hoop in the center of the room, thinking that, perhaps someone would take pity and talk to her. It looked very odd to see the great hall so empty and it felt all the emptier because she felt so out of place. She could not wait for the hour to be up so she could return to the common room and meet Marlowe. They were going to go get some work done in the library to escape Sean and Evelyn's drama. The two of them had stopped fighting, but were being unbearably polite to each other. The elephant in the room could not have been more massive.

Just for something to do, she pulled her hairband out of her hair and began combing her finger through the top, separating a bit of hair from the front so that she could begin to french braid. No one seemed bothered that she was sitting all by herself in the middle of the room, not talking to anyone. Not even the people she talked to regularly in classes.

Finally, the apparation teacher arrived, escorted by wispy, old Professor Munslow. Caiti hoisted herself up and folded her arms behind her back, clasping each hand at the elbow of the opposite arm.

She thought the teacher seemed far too large to be able to apparate at all. He was fairly short, but quite wide, with a stocky, muscular build. She wondered if this made him a good teacher, because perhaps he had had such a hard time apparating at first that he could now sympathize with those dunces who could not manage it. Caiti was sure she'd be spending a lot of one on one time with him, as one such dunce.

"Welcome," said the teacher in a loud and powerful voice, "to your first apparation lesson. My name is Mr. Barnaby. Over the next twelve weeks, we'll be practicing and preparing you for your tests this spring. Apparation is not learned in one day. I expect very little progress in the first weeks and you should not either, though that should not discourage you whatsoever. Please remember that except for special circumstances inside the great hall and only during these lesson times, there is no apparation in or out of Hogwarts and you would be very ill-advised to try." He paused here for effect. "Now, the first thing you need to do is memorize what we call 'the three d's.' They are destination, deliberation, and determination."

Mr. Barnaby paced back and forth while he talked, exactly three steps to the right and then three to the left each time, punching his right fist into the palm of his left hand whenever he emphasized a word. Caiti was not sure whether she felt exceptionally safe in his presence or if she was terrified of what might happen if she disappointed him.