Thankfully, Rose didn't have much time to dwell on Scorpius. The amount of homework and number of essays were increasing daily, and Rose was struggling to keep up with it all, despite staying up late into the night, doing her work by the light from the fire in the common room whilst rain lashed at the windows. For the whole week, thick fog hung over the castle and heavy rain turned the grounds into one giant, muddy puddle, making the walk to the Herbology greenhouses much more hazardous. The weather didn't seem to help anyone's mood, almost everyone felt miserable from the weather if not due to the homework. However there was a noticeable feeling of excitement among many sixth years when it was announced their first Apparition lesson would take place on Saturday morning, scheduled to happen in the Hall rather than in the grounds.

When Rose walked into the Hall on Saturday morning with Alice and Chelsea, she saw that the tables had been removed, leaving a large empty space. Rain hammered at the windows and the bewitched ceiling showed dark, ominous clouds. The Heads of Houses stood at the front with a short, stubby wizard who Rose assumed was their instructor from the Ministry. The wizard had small, watery eyes and a few wisps of hair on his head. He was oddly pale and his skin looked like crumpled paper. When everyone who had signed up had gathered, the Ministry wizard stepped forward, trying to get everyone's attention, yet he was so small that hardly anyone noticed. He tried clearing his throat and called 'Excuse me," but his voice was so weak he couldn't be heard over the chatter from the group. Eventually, Professor Chang called for attention in a booming voice and the group instantly quietened down. The Ministry wizard nodded his thanks to Professor Chang, then addressed the gathered students. "Good morning. I'm William Twycross and I'll be your Apparition Instructor for these lessons. I'll be preparing you for your test in approximately twelve weeks time. The enchantment which prevents anyone from Apparating or Disapparating in the Hogwarts ground has been lifted from the Hall, and only the Hall, for this hour. Now, please stand somewhere that each of you have five feet of space in front of you." There was a slight commotion as everyone hurried to carry out the instruction. Despite the command being something so simple, it took several minutes for everyone to find a space. Students were ordering others out of their space and the Heads of House moved throughout the crowd, directing the group and breaking up arguments. It also took several more minutes for everyone to quieten down again, but once silence had fallen, Twycross waved his wand and wooden hoops appeared on the floor in front of each student. "Apparition can only be successful through the use of the Three D's: Destination, Determination and Deliberation." Twycross began. "One must first fix their mind firmly on the desired destination. In this case, the centre of the hoop" Rose stared fixedly at the interior of her hoop, trying not to let anything distract her from it. "Next, you must focus on your determination to be in that place. Let your extreme want to get to that destination fill every part of your body. And finally, when I tell you to, turn on the spot with deliberation, feeling your way into nothingness." Rose quickly glanced around and noticed she wasn't the only one who was feeling shocked at being asked to Apparate so quickly. Many others were exchanging worried or nervous expressions with their friends and some were looking at Twycross as if he was crazy. "On my command..." Rose quickly refocussed her attention on the hoop, trying to remember the Three D's. "One... Two... Three!" Rose spun in her heel, trying to feel her way into 'nothingness' (whatever that meant) but stayed exactly where she was. She looked around the room and noticed no one had been successful. Some had fallen over, whilst others still stood staring at their hoop. "Right, nothing to worry about. Let's try again." Twycross said.
Twycross got them to try several more times, each time repeating the main points of the Three D's. No one had any success. On about the sixth try, on Twycross' command, Rose turned on her heel and saw everything go black and felt as if she was being compressed from all sides, although only on the right side of her body. She instantly felt something was wrong, and moments later when she felt her right foot land in the hoop, she couldn't move, her whole body felt paralysed and numb, except for an excruciating pain through the middle of her body. She wanted to scream, but she could do nothing except for move her eyes and breathe. Around her, Rose heard several screams and saw, through her fuzzy vision, the Heads of Houses converging upon her. She felt a warm tingling in her fingertips, and then she was lying on the floor in the middle of her hoop, the pain and frozen feelings gone. "Don't worry, you just splinched, nothing to worry about, you're in one piece now." Professor Forsvar said, smiling kindly at Rose. She offered her hand, which Rose gratefully took, and helped her up. She glanced around and saw that everyone was staring at her with a horrified expression, many of them looking pale and like they were about to faint. "That was an example of splinching." Twycross said to the group, recalling their attention to him. "Where one part of the body is left behind, whilst the other part Apparates to the destination. It can be fatal if there is no one around to fix it, and has often been the downfall of many wizarding criminals, who, in most cases, Apparate without a license and splinch, effectively getting themselves caught by the authorities."

"If you want, you can go to Madam Hartley. It was a pretty bad splinch, almost through the heart, and you must feel pretty shaken." Forsvar said. Rose simply nodded and walked out of the Hall, ignoring the furtive glances from other students.