Aria Ashborn and the Half-Blood Prince (A Harry Potter fanfiction)

Chapter 16: Hidden Away

"Destination, Determination, and Deliberation." Aria was saying over and over again to herself. Her, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were sitting in the warm courtyard. "Destination, Determination, and Deliberation." They had their apparition test soon and Aria was very paranoid that she'd forget everything she had learned about apparating.

"Aria." said Harry but Aria did not hear.

"Destination, Determination, and...erm..."

"Aria."

"Deliberation!"

"Aria." Harry said, finally getting Aria's attention, "You'll do fine."

Ron, who was also nervous, turned to Harry, "You've apparated perfectly. You'll be great come July!" Harry was one of the few sixth years who was not of age and therefore, he could not take the apparition test just yet.

"Only once." said Harry.

"Oh for heaven's sake Ron," Hermione, who was the calmest out of them all, "they'll give us plenty of time to practice if we get there early, so let's get going." Aria stood up hesitantly. What was the third D again? Ron and Hermione had already begun their walk to Hogsmeade village. Aria went to follow but Harry grabbed her hand and she looked to him.

"Good luck." he said kindly, "You'll do fine."

Aria looked down at their feet shyly before saying, "You're going to watch the Room of Requirement again, aren't you?"

"Yeah, it's the only way to maybe figure out what's happening with Malfoy." Harry replied.

"Aria, hurry up!" Ron called from across the courtyard.

"Well, good luck to you too then." Aria said with a smile. She then gave Harry a quick peck on the lips and she broke into a sprint to catch up with Ron and Hermione. Hermione was nervous, Aria could tell. When Hermione spoke, however, she acted as though she had been apparating all her life. It would take a keen eye to see her bite her lip when they reached the site of the test in Hogsmeade or how she kept hiding her probably sweaty palms in the folds of her cloak.

The apparition test was taking place across the street from the Hog's Head which Aria figured when she saw the cluster of sixth years and Mr. Twycross. Many of the students were practicing their apparating at various locations around the square and when Hermione, Ron, and Aria reached the Hog's Head, they dispersed to do their own practicing. Aria managed to successfully apparate a few paces from her location multiple times before Twycross began to test students, luckily starting from the opposite end of the alphabet.

Aria took a moment to watch as the first three students to be tested were successful in apparating across the street to the front of the Hog's Head and back. This was a little farther than Aria had been practicing and so she decided that maybe she to should try to apparate as far as the Hog's Head.

"Weasley, Ronald." called Twycross as Aria found a location on the side of the Hog's Head to practice apparating to so she wouldn't be in Ron's way. Ron, who looked very nervous, almost shaking, made his way to Twycross.

Aria knew Ron did not like people watching him so she tried not to pay attention and instead, focus on her own practice. She recounted the three D's in her head as she prepared to apparate. "Come on." she said silently to herself. With that, she closed her eyes and spun on the spot. She felt the ground beneath her disappear and she knew she had apparated. The only question was: was it to her intended target? Aria slowly opened her eyes. She was not, in fact, to the side of the Hog's Head. She was inside of it. She sighed, not knowing how she had overestimated so much?