Chapter 35:
The snow melted around the school as February arrived, to be replaced by cold, dreary wetness. Purplish-grey clouds hung low over the castle and a constant fall of chilly rain made the lawns slippery and muddy. The upshot of this was that the sixth years' first Apparition lesson, which was scheduled for a Saturday morning so that no normal lessons would be missed, took place in the Great Hall instead of in the grounds.
Alicia, Harry and Hermione moved down together, Ron having been with Lavender, and found that the tables had disappeared. Rain lashed against the high windows and the enchanted ceiling swirled darkly above them as they assembled in front of Professors McGonagall, Snape, Flitwick, and Sprout — the Heads of Houses — and a small wizard whom was probably the Apparition instructor from the Ministry. He was oddly colourless, with transparent eyelashes, wispy hair, and an insubstantial air, as though a single gust of wind might blow him away.
"Good morning," said the Ministry wizard, when all the students had arrived and the Heads of Houses had called for quiet. "My name is Wilkie Twycross and I shall be your Ministry Apparition instructor for the next twelve weeks. I hope to be able to prepare you for your Apparition Tests in this time —"
"Malfoy, be quiet and pay attention!" barked Professor McGonagall.
Everybody looked around. Malfoy had flushed a dull pink; he looked furious as he stepped away from Crabbe, with whom he appeared to have been having a whispered argument.
"— by which time, many of you may be ready to take your tests," Twycross continued, as though there had been no interruption.
"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 practice. 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.
"I would like each of you to place yourselves now so that you have a clear five feet of space in front of you."
There was a great scrambling and jostling as people separated, banged into each other, and ordered others out of their space. The Heads of Houses moved among the students, marshalling them into position and breaking up arguments.
"Harry, where are you going?" demanded Hermione. Alicia shook her head as Harry ran off through the crowd and away from them. "What's he doing?" Hermione questioned her as the two took spots beside one another.
"Bet you anything it's something to do with Malfoy." the two turned to find he had moved right to the back of the hall and was exactly behind Malfoy who was beside Crabbe. The two girl's shared a look and both rolled their eyes before turning back to Wilkie Twycross.
Silence fell as the Heads of House called for it and Twycross began addressing them again as everyone had their own space.
"Thank you," said Twycross. "Now then…"
He waved his wand. Old-fashioned wooden hoops instantly appeared on the floor in front of every student.
"The important things to remember when Apparating are the three D's!" said Twycross. "Destination, Determination, Deliberation!
"Step one: Fix your mind firmly upon the desired destination," said Twycross. "In this case, the interior of your hoop. Kindly concentrate upon that destination now."
Alicia looked at the hoop in front of her, taking in the spots on the floor of the Great Hall and the colour and texture of the hoop. She ignored as many others around her looked to see if everyone else was staring at their hoops.
"Step two," said Twycross, "focus your determination to occupy the visualised space! Let your yearning to enter it flood from your mind to every particle of your body!"
Alicia thought of nothing else but herself suddenly appearing within the hoop before her, closing her eyes to visualise the hoop and her just appearing before it with a pop, as she knew sounded when a wizard apparated.
"Step three," called Twycross, "and only when I give the command… Turn on the spot, feeling your way into nothingness, moving with deliberation! On my command, now… one — two —" Alicia still had her eyes closed, thinking of her hoop and of her appearing within it. She remembered what Fred and George had told her. Visualise. She concentrated on the three D's. determination was the one that filled her most.
What are the three D's again? Harry's voice removed her concentration.
"— THREE!"
Alicia spun on the spot but she simply went no where as she turned, she'd lost her visualisation. She huffed in annoyance and turned as the whole Hall was suddenly full of staggering people; Neville was flat on his back; Ernie Macmillan, on the other hand, had done a kind of pirouetting leap into his hoop and looked momentarily thrilled, until he caught sight of Dean Thomas roaring with laughter at him.
Seriously!? she demanded as she looked at her brother and he flinched at her shout as she turned annoyed back to the front.
"Never mind, never mind," said Twycross dryly, who did not seem to have expected anything better. "Adjust your hoops, please, and back to your original positions…"
Alicia took a deep breath and removed her frustration at Harry as she breathed out, remembering her hoop, looking at it to retake it's image and imagining herself appearing within it. Her arms, her legs, her robes, her hair. Her entire being was ready to appear in a place other than her own.
She spun when commanded but she simply lost her balance slightly as Hermione chuckled at her.
"Right cause you're better." Alicia responded as she stood straight but she was grinning slightly.
She would have been amazed if she'd grasped the concept of apparation instantly, after all there are plenty of times she'd concentrated whole heartedly on wanting to be somewhere else. Last year for example when she'd wanted to be at Grimmauld place. Of course she hadn't spun on the spot or imagined herself appearing there.
For the third attempt Alicia was muttering to herself and trying to focus her entire will power and determination as she concentrated on her hoop and imagined herself disappearing from her spot and reappearing in her hoop. Remembering about splinching she was very careful to see her entire body within the hoop.
She spun on the spot and imagined herself reappearing in the hoop with a pop and she felt the familiar sensation of being forced a through a very tight rubber rube. Her lungs breathed and the girl looked around blinking. She looked down to find herself in her hoop and she spun around to double check everything was fine. She ran a hand over her face ad eyed her robes before she grinned and looked up. Hermione was staring at her as were those around her. She laughed and spun around again, catching more people's attention.
"You did it!" Hermione grinned at her and the girl bowed.
She instantly moved back to her spot and looked at her hoop as everyone else was moving back to their spots and realigning their moved hoops. She was able to successfully apparate a second time but her delight was short lived as a horrible screech of pain sounded throughout the hall. Everyone spun around, terrified, to see Susan Bones of Hufflepuff wobbling in her hoop with her left leg still standing five feet away where she had started.
The Heads of House converged on her; there was a great bang and a puff of purple smoke, which cleared to reveal Susan sobbing, reunited with her leg but looking horrified.
"Splinching, or the separation of random body parts," said Wilkie Twycross dispassionately, "occurs when the mind is insufficiently determined. You must concentrate continuously upon your destination, and move, without haste, but with deliberation… thus."
Twycross stepped forward, turned gracefully on the spot with his arms outstretched, and vanished in a swirl of robes, reappearing at the back of the Hall.
"Remember the three D's," he said, "and try again… one — two — three —"
Alicia missed apparating three times but succeeded two more, making her attempts and failures about even. Many had noticed her success however and a few around her had been whispering to her for pointers.
Despite Alicia seeming to be the only one to succeed in apparating, Twycross did not seem discouraged. Fastening his cloak at his neck, he merely said, "Until next Saturday, everybody, and do not forget: Destination. Determination. Deliberation."
With that, he waved his wand, vanishing the hoops, and walked out of the Hall accompanied by Professor McGonagall. Talk broke out at once as people began moving toward the entrance hall.
"I can't believe you managed it in your first lesson!" Hermione said
"Well I've done it enough times to know the principle, I've read enough to understand the importance and come on, when am I not determined when I put my mind to something. Fred and George also told me how to do it a little so." she shrugged and was filled with excitement as the two moved from the hall.
They passed Ron and Harry just as Ron spoke. "I think I felt something the last time I tried — a kind of tingling in my feet."
"I expect your trainers are too small, Won-Won," said Hermione as they stalked past and she was smirking.
"Oh come on," Alicia said "Was that even necessary, you're just being petty now."
Hermione did nothing but stalk off away from her. Alicia gapped at her but made no move to follow or make up with the girl.
Alicia moved to the common room to move up the dormitory were her book was waiting for her to continue but never made it that far. Harry came running down the boy's dormitory stairs and moved straight for her with Ron behind him looking confused.
"I need the map." he said in a hushed but forceful whisper.
"Map?" Alicia said confused before she understood and her eyes narrowed. "Why?" she asked
"I heard Malfoy saying he was using Crabbe and Goyle as look outs and I want to know why." Harry responded.
"Look outs?" Alicia asked and he nodded. The girl rose an eyebrow but she moved towards the girl's dormitories and up the stairs. She collected her books and then rummaged through her trunk to find the old piece of parchment. She hadn't touched it since the previous year and so it took her a minute to dig it out from the bottom. The Mauraders Map was the thing Alicia kept that was from her and Harry's father James, while Harry and the invisibility cloak. Although Alicia had never said it out-loud, she was determined to keep the map as long as Harry keep the cloak, in order to have something of her father's as well. She walked down the steps of the dormitory to find Harry and Ron at the bottom. Harry almost made an immediate grasp for it but Alicia moved her hand to stop him.
"Am I getting it back?" she asked
"What for?" Ron asked
"Does it matter? It's in better hands with me considering you've lost it to both Lupin and Barty Crouch junior. I don't want it getting lost again." she said turning to Harry. Her expression was very serous and Harry actually faltered in his determination to have it. He hadn't realised how much Alicia clung to the map until now, he didn't think she had that much care for it.
"It wont leave the dormitory." he said
"You realise I'll know instantly if you brake that promise." Alicia said and Harry was reminded of Professor McGonagall with the stern expression Alicia had on her face. He took a deep breath and he nodded. She handed it over to him and Harry turned, so that his back was on the common room. He tapped his wand to the parchment. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good… or Malfoy is anyway."
At once, the Marauder's Map appeared on the parchment's surface. Here was a detailed plan of every one of the castle's floors and, moving around it, the tiny, labeled black dots that signified each of the castle's occupants.
"Help me find Malfoy," said Harry urgently.
The three looked over the parchment and over the tiny little dots, keeping it hidden behind their three figures.
"There!" said Ron, after a minute or so. "He's in the Slytherin common room, look… with Parkinson and Zabini and Crabbe and Goyle…"
"Well guess he's not out fixing his device right now." Alicia said "Do not run around the castle with that!" Alicia snapped harshly at Harry before she moved back up the girl's dormitory stairs.
"I never knew how attached she was to this before." Ron said
"Me either." Harry agreed. "I'm keeping an eye on him from now on," he said firmly, turning back to the map. "And the moment I see him lurking somewhere with Crabbe and Goyle keeping watch outside, it'll be on with the old Invisibility Cloak and off to find out what he's —" he cut off as Neville moved off past the two, his pants singed and the material filled the common room with the smell of it.
Harry constantly checked the map every chance he could for the next few weeks. After a while he confessed he hadn't seen Malfoy doing anything out of place, and that all he'd noticed was that Crabbe and Goyle moved around the castle on their own more often than usual, sometimes remaining stationary in deserted corridors, but at these times Malfoy was not only nowhere near them, but impossible to locate on the map at all.
Alicia was the most interested in this compared to Ron and Hermione, for Malfoy disappearing off the map had her captivated almost as much as Crabbe and Goyle standing in random corridors. Unfortunately for Harry however she was preoccupied with her book. She was also trying to work out how to get the memory of Horcruxes from Slughorn. She figured if she could connect it to something else to have a conversation with Slughorn with, it'd make it easy to breeze into and he'd be calm and relaxed. She figured bribing Slughorn might help as well, seeing as Tom had done so with the crystallised pineapple he loved so much. She'd have to get some on their visit to Hogsmeade in March.
This also excited her as Fred and George were still planning on visiting Hogsmeade in order to surprise Ron while looking at Zonkos. However as February moved into march, a sign went up on all common room notice boards that the next trip into Hogsmeade had been canceled. Ron was furious.
"It was on my birthday!" he said. "I was looking forward to that!"
"Not a big surprise, though, is it?" said Harry. "Not after what happened to Katie."
She had still not returned from St. Mungo's. What was more, further disappearances had been reported in the Daily Prophet, including several relatives of students at Hogwarts.
"But now all I've got to look forward to is stupid Apparition!" said Ron grumpily. "Big birthday treat…"
Three lessons on, Apparition was proving as difficult as ever, though a few more people had managed to Splinch themselves, Alicia seemed the only one who'd successfully completed it and could now successfully apparate and disapparate at will. Frustration was running high and there was a certain amount of ill-feeling toward Wilkie Twycross and his three D's, which had inspired a number of nicknames for him, the politest of which were Dogbreath and Dunghead.
When Alicia saw the sign in the common room, catching her attention by Ron's complaining she'd been mutinous.
"Are you fricken kidding me!" she's screeched "They're the one's who've increased all this security and now they can't even let us out of the fricken castle!"
"Why are you mad?" Ron asked her as she looked ready to rip down the sign.
"Fred and George were going to come and visit!" she snapped before she took a deep breath. "Excuse me." and she moved up the stairs grumbling under her breath with serious aggravation.