The Lost Legacy || hp

|6.17| Birthday Surprises

"Malfoy, be quiet and pay attention!" barked Professor McGonagall.

Everybody looked around. Draco 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 emphasize 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, marshaling them into position and breaking up arguments.

"Harry, where are you going?" demanded Hermione.

But Harry did not answer; he was moving quickly through the crowd towards Draco. Grace rolled her eyes. Twycross 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."

Everybody looked around furtively to check that everyone else was staring into their hoop, then hastily did as they were told. Grace gazed at the circular patch of dusty floor enclosed by her hoop and tried hard to think of nothing else. 

"Step two," said Twycross, "focus your determination to occupy the visualized space! Let your yearning to enter it flood from your mind to every particle of your body!"

Grace glanced around surreptitiously. A little way to her left, Ernie Macmillan was contemplating his hoop so hard that his face had turned pink; it looked as though he was straining to lay a Quaffle-sized egg. Grace bit back a laugh and hastily returned her gaze to her own hoop.

"Step three," called Twycross, "and only when I give the com- mand . . . Turn on the spot, feeling your way into nothingness, moving with deliberation! On my command, now . . . one —"

Grace glanced around again; lots of people were looking positively alarmed at being asked to Apparate so quickly.

"— two —"

Grace tried to fix her thoughts on her hoop again.

"— THREE!"

Grace spun on the spot, lost balance, and nearly fell over. She was not the only one. 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.

"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. . . ."

The second attempt was no better than the first. It was on the third attempt that Grace felt the feeling of her body being sucked in a wormhole and the next thing she knew was that she was standing in the inside of her loop, perfectly whole. This caused everyone to look at her stunned and in admiration.