Now, to my faithful readers, I have a new chapter for you. Sorry it's a bit short. I'm uploading another one later today.
The Duelling Tournament and Apparition lessons began on the first Saturday in February.
Each House had its own in-House tournament. The winners of each tournament would be named House Champions, and would then compete against each other in six duels, much like the Quidditch Cup championship. The duellist with the most points, which were scored by the four Aurors in charge based on performance, would be named the Interhouse Champion and their house won the Duelling Cup.
Before the official tournament, there was a preliminary round, in which all students wishing to compete were paired with an opponent to spar with. The winners of this round were allowed to enter the tournament.
Thirty-two Gryffindors made it past the preliminaries, including Harry, Hermione, Neville, Ron, and Ginny. Luna made it as well, in the Ravenclaw House Tournament. With no time left due to Apparition lessons beginning, the Duelling participants were cleared out of the Great Hall.
The sixth years waited outside the hall while the Ministry officials prepared the Great Hall for the first Apparition lesson.
Finally, the doors opened once more and they entered to find many small, circular hoops lying scattered across the floor. They were just large enough for a person to stand in. Apparently, it was possible for the Headmaster to temporarily lower the Anti-Apparition wards in a part of the school, though it did not allow people to Apparate in or out of the castle.
The instructor, Wilkie Twycross, carried on about the three D's of Apparition: Destination, Determination and Deliberation.
They each stood a distance away from a hoop and were given a chance to Apparate into the circle. Harry tried very hard to imagine himself in the circle, and turned on his heel.
But when he opened his eyes, he was still the same spot. He watched for a moment as Ernie turned on his heel so fast and hard that he twirled through the air and landed in his circle. He looked extremely excited, thinking he'd actually Apparated, until he noticed Seamus and Dean laughing at him. Harry laughed, and turned back to his own hoop to try again.
There was suddenly an ear-splitting scream. Hannah Abbott had splinched herself. She was in the circle, but part of her leg was left behind. The Heads of Houses fell upon her immediately and a few seconds later, her leg was back where it should be, though it took her a few minutes to stop crying.
At the end of the day, nobody succeeded in a true Apparition. Even Hermione didn't manage to do more than spin around. The sixth years left the great hall slightly crestfallen but not feeling too bad since nobody had any reason to brag. Ernie, of course, was teased by some of his friends for his graceful pirouette through the air.
Hermione stepped in. "At least you didn't splinch yourself like Hannah. That would have been worse than the teasing. She's still very upset."
Ernie felt a little more optimistic after that.