Apparation
Disclaimer: The characters belong to the wonderful J.K.Rowling
It was a sunny summer day at Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Hermione Granger sat up and yawned. She looked around her and remembered that she was back at Hogwarts. She thought happily of what had happened in the past few months.
Her summer had been fun and carefree. Her family had gone on a trip around Europe as a treat for her good grades. They had seen all the sights and had even been to some wizarding communities. She had had the time of her life, learning different languages, seeing fine art and meeting all kinds of different people. When they came back around August 20th, she had recieved two letters from Hogwarts. One was a list of the books they would need for this year. The other informed her that she was a prefect. Hermione had been estatic. The next day, she had gone to Diagon Alley with Ron and Harry to pick up the things they would need for this year. She had also gotten some an interesting books on animagi, which she was hoping to become. Then, yesterday, they had gone to King's Cross Station to take the train. She had shared a compartment with Harry, Ron, and Ginny. By some stroke of luck, Malfoy didn't come in to bother them. Then they saw the Sorting, had a feast, and went back to the Gryffindor common room. When they got there, Professor McGonagall called her, Harry and Ron to her office.
"I'm holding an apparation class. Since it isn't required for 5th years, I've told the heads of each house to only invite the 3 brightest 5th years. Would you three be interested?"
Harry, Ron and Hermione looked at each other enthusiastically.
"We'd love to" they said.
"Great" said Professor McGonagall."Your first class is tomorrow evening at 7:00 in the Tranfiguration classroom. After that, your classes will be every other day, same time, same place."
Hermione sighed happily. She got out of bed and got dressed. She went to wake Harry and Ron and the three of them walked down to breakfast together. The rest of the day was a blur for Hermione. By supper she could barely stay seated. She didn't even touch her food.
"Eat up Hermione" said Harry."You'll need your strength."
Hermione wolfed down her food.
"I can't wait for our class" she said."It's going to be so much fun."
"Yeah" said Harry and Ron.
"I just wonder who else is going to be there" said Hermione.
"We'll see tonight" said Ron.
"Oooooooh. I can't wait. I just can't wait." She looked at her watch."Omigawd! Our class is in fifteen minutes. I better go get ready." She ran out of the Great Hall.
"We'd better go. Hermione's right" said Harry to Ron.
They caught up with Hermione right in front of the Fat Lady.
"Jellybeans" they said and entered the common room. They all went to get their wands they walked down to the Tranfiguration Classroom. By now it was alrealdy five to seven. They opened the door and walked in. All the other students were already there.
Harry looked around. Hannah Abbot, Susan Bones and Justin Finch-Fletchly from Hufflepuff were gossiping cheerfully in one corner of the room. The Ravenclaws, Terry Boot, Mandy Brocklehurst and Lisa Turpin were reading a big book on Apparation. Pansy Parkinson, Blaise Zabini and Draco Malfoy from Slytherin were huddled in a tight group, whispering nastily to each other.
"I betcha Malfoy bought his way in" said Ron to Harry.
"Maybe. But then again, Malfoy is Snape's favourite student." Harry said.
Hermione, Ron and Harry stepped in the room. Malfoy noticed them in the doorway.
"Well if it isn't Potter, Weasel and the Mudblood" he drawled nastily.
"Shut up.." Ron started but Hermione cut him off.
"You're nothing but a filthy little brat who buys his way into everything, Malfoy. You don't deserve to be here. And I swear, if you call me a Mudblood again, I will turn you into a fly and feed you to Trevor." she retorted angrily.
Malfoy actually looked taken aback. He had never seen Hermione this angry. The room had become quiet. They were all surprised at Hermione's outburst. Then everyone burst into cheers.
Hermione stalked into the last remaining corner of the room, dragging Ron and Harry with her.
"Go Hermione" they whispered.
At 7 o'clock sharp, Professor McGonagall walked into the room.
"Good evening class" she began,"here, you'll be learning the precise art of Apparation. It can be very dangerous if not done properly and if you don't say the right words, you could be permanately damaged. Now, who doesn't knows what Apparation is?"
Nobody raised their hands.
"Good," she said. "Now let's start our lesson."
Everyone listened animatedly as she talked. Apparation was something they had all wanted to do for a long time. Especially that they were the only 5th years at Hogwarts that got to learn this.
Lessons went on like that for quite a while. At the end of two weeks of lessons, Professor McGonagall decided to let them try apparating for the first time.
"Who wants to go first?" she asked.
Hermione raised her hand.
"I will" she volunteered bravely.
"Okay Hermione," said Professor McGonagall."I want you to apparate into the hall outside the classroom.
Hermione nodded. "Apparatious outside the classroom" she bellowed and a second later, she was gone.
They heard a thump outside the door where she had landed. Then Hermione walked into the classroom, smiling happily.
"Good job Hermione," said Professor McGonagall. "Who else wants to go?"
Everyone else raised their hands eagerly.
"Okay, okay," said Professer McGonagall."Let's go by houses. Gryffindor, since Hermione has already gone,why don't you go first?"
Harry and Ron both apparated safely. The Hufflepuffs went next. They also made it safely. Next went the Ravenclaws. Terry, Mandy and Lisa all apparated outside and came back. Then came the Slytherins. Pansy and Blaise both apparated sucessfully but Malfoy was another story.
When his turn came, he shouted "Apparatious outside" and disappeared. However, he didn't return as soon as the others. Professor McGonagall started getting worried and stuck her head outside the door to see if he was there. He wasn't. She decided to wait for him.
Five minutes later he stumbled in, his robes ragged and torn, a twig caught in his silvery blond hair.
"I apparated outside of Hogwarts instead of outside the hall," he managed to say. Then he fell to the floor in a dead faint of exhaustion.
"Oh dear," said Professor McGonagall."I better take him to the hospital wing. By the way everyone, apparating takes a lot of energy so don't use it unless you need to. That's the end of today's lesson. I need to get Mr. Malfoy here to the hospital wing."
She walked out, carrying Malfoy with her.
Hermione, Ron and Harry walked back to their common room happily.
"I can't believe it," said Hermione,"it's only been two weeks and I already know how to apparate."
"I'm surprised you didn't learn it sooner" said Harry.
Ron snickered. "It was so funny when Malfoy didn't apparate to the right place. He was such a mess."
The three friends laughed. They said "insane purple cows" to the Fat Lady and entered the Gryffindor common room.
The apparation classes flew by. Everyone learned to apparate correctly, even Malfoy. They were learning to apparate farther and farther distances. Soon, they could all apparate to France and back.
Professor McGonagall smiled happily at her regular class. She didn't expect for them to learn apparation so quickly. But they all did. Even Malfoy. She frowned as she thought of his little accident the first time they had tried to apparate. 'He should really listen to instructions' she thought. 'Oh well'. Nothing could darken her happy mood. 'I think I'll teach them how to apparate in groups tomorrow' she thought. 'This will kind of be like a field trip for them once they learn. I'll let each house choose where to go and they will apparate the whole group there, each person apparating three people. If it works, they can spend the day there. They deserve a vacation after all that hard work. I'll tell them tonight.'
Hermione, Ron and Harry walked into apparation class the next day and sat down at their desks. Everyone else was already there, watching Professor McGonagall intentively.
"I have an anouncement for you all." she anounced."Since you have all been doing so well, I have a little treat for you. Over the course of the next few weeks, I will be teaching you how to have one person apparate a whole group to one place. Once we learn this, I will choose one house every week and they will choose a place to apparate everyone. When they do, I will allow you to spend the day there, doing whatever you wish."
Everyone cheered.
"I'm glad to see you're so excited about this." Professor McGonagall smiled."But first we have to learn how."
Her students listened eagerly as she explained the process.
"Apparating a group of people is basically the same as just apparating yourself. However the words are different and it takes a lot more energy. We will practice this with short distances first because if you try to go a long way the first time, you will almost certainly pass out." She went on to tell them what the words were and gave them a demonstration, apparating herself and Ron outside the classroom.
They went on to practice this for a while, working in pairs. They would take turns apparating themself and their partner to various places in the room. After they had each tried it a few times, Professor McGonagall asked them to stop.
"You've all done very well for your first time. Next class we'll try going further distances and apparating more people. I will also explain how we'll be going on our trip. You should rest now."
Once again, Hermione, Ron and Harry left the classroom happily.
"This is going to be so much fun" said Hermione. "Where do you think we should go?"
"I dunno." said Ron. "Somewhere fun of course. Maybe to some tropical island or something."
"Let's go to an amusement park" suggested Harry. "On Dudley's fifth birthday, my aunt and uncle took him and his friend to an amusement park. When they got back, Dudley kept teasing me about how it was so much fun and I wasn't able to go."
"Yeah! Let's go." agreed Hermione and Ron.
"But which one?" asked Ron.
"I know." said Hermione. "My pen pal from the USA said that Disney World was the biggest and funnest amusement park in the country. Her family went there last summer and she had the time of her life."
"Cool" said Ron.
"Then it's settled" said Harry. "When we get to pick, we'll go to Disney World."
"Yeah" agreed Ron and Hermione.
A/N: So whatcha think? If I get enough reviews I'll write a sequel. Oh, just to clear something up. Where does it say that Draco have silvery blond hair? I've heard it so much but I've never actually read it. Please review. =P