Things had been going well for Hannah and Adrian. They had become closer than ever, only leaving each other's side for brief moments or whenever Hannah had to retire to Snape's quarters. Hannah finally enjoyed participating in classes; she stopped caring about Pansy and other Slytherins glaring at her as she walked past; she even controlled the urge to curse Umbridge every time she saw her. Adrian had taken the drawing of Ligo and hung it above his dormitory bed, seemingly content that he got to spend time with Ligo without watching him endure the pain of old age. The room of requirement had become a frequent destination for Hannah and Adrian – the perfect place to fool around away from prying eyes. Dani made no effort to resist teasing Hannah as she and Adrian left the room of requirement as Dani tried to enter for the DA meeting.
"With hair like that, you'd think you and Adrian have already started practice without us." She said as Hannah and Adrian straightened their robes.
"Just mastering my wand work." Hannah joked. She entered the room of requirement again with Dani and Adrian, this time in the DA room.
"Did you see they're starting apparition lessons soon?" Dani asked as she pulled a flyer from her robe pocket and handed it to Hannah. "I didn't take the lessons last year since my parents are muggles and insist on driving everywhere, but I think it could be valuable." Hannah looked at the flyer: 'APPARITION LESSONS STARTING FEBRUARY 1ST'.
"I already know how to apparate," Hannah admitted. Dani looked disappointed.
"I thought it'd be cool if you could come with me. Fred did his test last year, so I don't really have anyone else to ask. I'm happy to pay the fee for you." Hannah thought. No harm in learning to apparate properly; perhaps she could actually get a license, too.
"Do you have an apparition license?" Hannah looked to Adrian, who shook his head.
"I was just slightly underage last year to take the test." He shrugged, "I'm happy to do the lessons if you are." Dani looked gleeful.
"Awesome! We can all learn together!" Dani smiled widely as she ran over to Fred to practice the Confundus charm.
February 1st swiftly arrived, and Hannah, Dani, and Adrian found themselves walking down to the grounds next to Hagrid's cabin, where the apparition lesson was to take place. A large group of sixth- and seventh-year students piled into the area, chatting animatedly. At the front of the students was a tall platform, atop which a small, frail man stood. The man, Wilkie Twycross, called for the students' attention before giving a long speech about apparition. Hannah found it particularly difficult to pay attention.
"...you will focus on the three D's: destination, determination, and deliberation..."
"I can think of one D that I'd prefer to focus on." She whispered to Dani, who giggled. Hannah found herself watching Adrian as he listened and wished nothing more than to apparate away with him, somewhere quiet, where they could be alone.
"Now, everyone spread out. We need at least five metres between each student." Hannah, Adrian, and Dani moved far out of the way, behind Hagrid's cabin, out of sight from everyone else. Wooden circles appeared in front of each of them. The voice continued to sound behind the cabin, "You will have one hour to practice your apparition before the restriction is reapplied. Your goal is to apparate into the wooden hoop in front of you. Remember: destination, determination, deliberation!" Upon finishing his speech, students immediately started chattering loudly and trying to apparate. Hannah glanced into the hoop for a quick second before apparating into it with a quiet pop. Dani looked at Hannah, envious, before screwing up her face and trying to apparate herself.
After twenty minutes, neither Dani nor Adrian had managed to apparate into the hoop. Dani peered around Hagrid's cabin a few times just to make sure they weren't the only ones struggling; to her delight, nobody else had managed to apparate yet, either. Cho Chang had just managed to splinch her arm off, which resulted in half of the class screaming.
"I think I'll just settle with side-along apparition with you," Adrian said to Hannah before pecking her on the lips. Over the screams, a slightly louder crack emitted as a scraggly blonde woman appeared in front of them. Hannah froze, processing. Adrian looked between Hannah, the woman, and then at Hannah again as realization dawned upon him. This isn't a student. Dani stood in the background, confused. In a split-second decision, Hannah looked Dani in the eyes and used legilimency:
"Get Snape. Nobody else. Run." Dani ran off a second later without question. The woman walked towards Hannah and Adrian, looking the two up and down as she stroked the wand in her hand. To her right, Hannah saw Adrian stick his hand in his pocket and draw his wand,
"No!" Hannah tried to push his hand back into his pocket, but it was too late. Adrian lifted his wand, sending a stream of red sparks towards the woman. She effortlessly deflected them with a lazy flick of her wand. "Adrian, run!" Hannah stood in front of Adrian, with her wand held in front of her as she conjured a shield. Adrian pushed past Hannah and continued flinging a string of spells towards the woman.
"Confringo! Reducto! Diffindo!" Each spell deflected away effortlessly as the woman continued to walk towards the pair of them. She raised her wand towards Adrian, a green stream emitted from her wand, and hit Adrian straight in the chest.