"Why would you do that, Harry?" Vega asked, looking more upset than angry as she pulled him along with herself. "We were supposed to take our time and ask him properly – it isn't something he would just give up! It was something that needed to be discussed in an intimate setting, not blasted upon him so suddenly and just like Voldemort, too!"
On the other hand, neither Ron nor Hermione was at all sympathetic when Harry told them of this disastrous interview. Hermione was still seething at the way Harry had triumphed without doing the work properly. Ron was resentful that Harry hadn't slipped him a bezoar too.
"It would've just looked stupid if we'd both done it, especially with Vega!" Harry said irritably. "Look, I had to try and soften him up so I could ask him about Voldemort, didn't I? Oh, will you get a grip!" He added in exasperation, as Ron winced at the sound of the name.
Infuriated by his failure and by Ron's and Hermione's attitudes, Harry brooded for the next few days with Vega over what to do next about Slughorn. Realising that he should've listened to what she had to say in the first place, Harry agreed that he would not do anything stupid and just do whatever she planned to do with Slughorn and the memory.
"Our first issue is to recover all the mess you've made," Vega told him as they walked together. "It's going to be hard and he's not going to believe us but pretend you know nothing about Horcruxes. Ugh, I don't like how we're trying to gaslight someone..."
"Look, I'm sorry, okay?" Harry responded in frustration and Vega gave him sharp look that shut up him immediately and she pursed her lips.
"For now, let's lull him into a false sense of security," Vega told him. "And then we will start to lay a plan... that includes a bit of emotional blackmail. We have to stress upon him how important this memory is and convince him to give it up to us to help ease his burden,"
"And what if it doesn't work?" Harry asked.
"Well, in that case... I suppose we might have to use force," Vega said and Harry's eyes immediately went to her wand. "Hey!" She snapped her fingers. "My first plans always work,"
When Harry did not question Slughorn again, the Potions Master finally reverted to his usual affectionate treatment of him, and appeared to have put the matter from his mind. Harry seemed happy that Vega's plan was working until she pointed it out to him.
"We're still not in the clear," Vega admitted. "He's still quite wary of your motives, and I think he figured out that Dumbledore would put both of us on it,"
"Doesn't help we look like him either, does it?" Harry muttered and Vega shook her head. "Let's wait for another one of his invitations, huh?"
And so, Vega and Harry awaited an invitation to one of his little evening parties, determined to accept this time, even if they had to reschedule Quidditch practice as Vega believed that right after the party would be the right time to do it.
"He's always very energetic during his parties," Vega told Harry. "And when he comes down from that high, it will be easy for us to increase his emotional burden and then offer to relieve him of it,"
"You're scary, you know?" Harry replied.
"Well, not scarier than what plagues Slughorn – knowing that he helped Voldemort become what it is," Vega responded. "We need to know what Horcruxes are,"
Unfortunately, however, no such invitation arrived.
Vega personally checked with Hermione and Ginny: neither of them had received an invitation and nor, as far as they knew, had anybody else. It made it very clear that Slughorn was not quite as forgetful as he appeared, simply determined to give Harry – or her – no additional opportunities to question him about that memory.
Meanwhile, the Hogwarts library had failed Hermione for the first time in living memory.
Hermione was so shocked, she even forgot that she was annoyed at Harry for his trick with the bezoar when she descended upon him and Vega.
"I haven't found one single explanation of what Horcruxes do!" Hermione told them. "Not a single one! I've been right through the restricted section and even in the most horrible books, where they tell you how to brew the most gruesome potions – nothing!
"All I could find was this, in the introduction to Magick Moste Evile – listen – 'Of the Horcrux, wickedest of magical inventions, we shall not speak nor give direction...' I mean, why mention it then?" Hermione said impatiently, slamming the old book shut; it let out a ghostly wail. "Oh, shut up," She snapped, stuffing it back into her bag.
Sighing in disappointment at how things were going, Vega looked away toward the nearest window that looked outside the library, watching the snow swirl down.
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.
Since Ron had been hoarded by Lavender and came down with his girlfriend, the rest of them – Vega, Harry and Hermione – arrived to the Great Hall together, where all the house tables had disappeared to provide ample room for movement.
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 House – and a small wizard whom Vega took to be the Apparition Instructor from the Ministry.
The Instructor was oddly colourless, with transparent eyelashes, wispy hair and an insubstantial air, as though a single gust of wind might blow him away. Vega wondered whether constant disappearances and reappearances had somehow diminished his substance, or whether this frail build was ideal for anyone wishing to vanish.
"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, and Vega raised her eyebrows when her eyes fell upon the Slytherin. 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.
When Vega looked back ahead at Snape, she saw that he also looked annoyed, though she strongly suspected that this was less because of Malfoy's rudeness than the fact that McGonagall had reprimanded one of his House.
Or maybe he still thought Malfoy would expose himself.
"– 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, marshalling them into position and breaking up arguments.
"Harry, where are you going?" Hermione demanded, and Vega looked over her shoulder.
But Harry did not answer; he was moving quickly through the crowd, past the place where Professor Flitwick was making squeaky attempts to position a few Ravenclaws, all of whom wanted to be near the front, past Professor Sprout, who was chivvying the Hufflepuffs into line, until, by dodging around Ernie Macmillan, he managed to position himself right at the back of the crowd, directly behind Malfoy, who was taking advantage of the general upheaval to continue his argument with Crabbe, standing five feet away and looking mutinous.
"The idiot..." Vega muttered, noticing that Malfoy did not see Harry behind him as he continued to hiss at Crabbe about something.
Whatever Malfoy and Crabbe were talking about, Harry must've heard them because he said something loudly and Malfoy spun around on the spot, his hand flying to his wand, but at that precise moment the four Heads of House shouted, "Quiet!" and silence fell again.
Malfoy turned slowly to face the front again.
"Thank you," Twycross said. "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!" Twycross said. "Destination, Determination, Deliberation! Step one: Fix your mind firmly upon the desired destination. In this case, the interior of your hoop. Kindly concentrate upon that destination now,"
Vega took a deep breath as she focused on the circular patch of dusty floor enclosed by her hoop, completely clearing her mind of everything else. The rest of the students looked around furtively to check that everyone else was staring into their hoop, then hastily did as they were told.
"Step two," Twycross said. "Focus your determination to occupy the visualised space! Let your yearning to enter it flood from your mind to every particle of your body!"
It was quiet as everyone concentrated.
"Step three," Twycross called out. "And only when I give the command... turn on the spot, feeling your way into nothingness, moving with deliberation! On my command, now... one –" Vega kept her eyes glued onto the hoop. "– two –" The three D's rang through her head as she focused on her whole being to go through it. "– THREE!"
There was a loud snap and Vega felt her body undergo the sensation of Apparation, although it much more focused compared to Side-Along Apparation. And the next second, Vega was staggering until she gathered her the strength in her knees and she looked down to see that she had actually landed in the middle of the hoop as she hoped.
Everyone was staring at her in disbelief and Vega hurriedly looked to make sure that she had brought every part of herself – she didn't feel any pain and even looking around showed her that all of her limbs were intact on her body.
Twycross nodded approvingly at Vega and then instructed the rest of the students to return back to their own concentration with the Apparation.
"You must continue to work on it until you don't stagger or anything," Twycross told Vega as he almost floated around the Great Hall to her.
Around her, 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," Twycross said 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 for most of the hall while Vega continued to get into her hoop but far too clumsily for her liking. The third was just as bad but things were starting to improve as she equalised her weight through her body.
Next to Vega, Hermione was turning pink from concentrating so hard. The brunette, much like the rest of the students, kept spinning in one place and staggering around. Harry and Ron did not look much better either compared to the rest.
Not until the fourth did anything exciting happen.
There was a horrible screech of pain and everybody looked 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.
In an instant, all the four 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. Vega bit her lower lip, very concerned over the episode.
"Splinching, or the separation of random body parts," Wilkie Twycross said 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, and try again..." Twycross told them. "One – two – three –"
Vega looked back ahead and concentrated upon the spot once again and she felt her body spin. She focused on keeping her body straight and she found herself not staggering as she landed in the spot but she swayed slightly until she fixed herself.
It earned her the praise of Twycross and an approving nod from Professor McGonagall, and that convinced Vega to work even harder until she fixed it.
But an hour later, Susan's Splinching was still the most interesting thing that had happened other than Vega perfecting her Apparation. Twycross did not seem discouraged that only one of the students had managed to Apparate thus far.
Fastening his cloak at his neck, Wilkie Twycross merely said, "Until next Saturday, everybody, and do not forget: Destination. Determination. Deliberation,"
With that, Twycross 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. Vega found herself converged by students, all demanding tips.
"Let's talk later," Vega replied, feeling a bit uncertain with the crowd and she rushed to join Harry.
"How did you do?" Ron asked, hurrying toward Vega and Harry. "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 a voice behind them, and Hermione stalked past, smirking, and Vega shook her head at the brunette.
"I didn't feel anything," Harry said, ignoring this interruption. "But I don't care about that now –"
"What do you mean, you don't care?" Ron asked incredulously. "Don't you want to learn to Apparate?"
"I'm not fussed, really, I prefer flying," Harry said, glancing over his shoulder to see where Malfoy was, and speeding up as they came into the entrance hall. "Look, hurry up, will you, there's something I want to do..."
Perplexed, Vega and Ron followed Harry back to the Gryffindor Tower at a run. They were temporarily detained by Peeves, who had jammed a door on the fourth floor shut and was refusing to let anyone pass until they set fire to their own pants.
"Let's just take a short-cut," Vega said, not in the mood to put her skirt on fire.
The three of them turned back and took one of their trusted shortcuts. Within five minutes, they were climbing through the portrait hole.
"Are you going to tell us what we're doing, then?" Ron asked, panting slightly.
"Up here," Harry said, and he crossed the common room and led the way through the door to the boys' staircase. Their dormitory was empty. He flung open his trunk and began to rummage in it, while Ron watched impatiently.
"While you look for your map, can you at least tell us why you brought us here?" Vega inquired as she sat down on the edge of his bed to watch him ferret through his trunk.
"Malfoy's using Crabbe and Goyle as lookouts," Harry told them quickly. "He was arguing with Crabbe just now. I want to know – aha," He pulled out folded square of apparently blank parchment, which he now smoothed out and tapped with the tip of his wand. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good... or Malfoy is anyway,"
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, labelled black dots that signified each of the castle's occupants. Vega peered over curiously.
"Help me find Malfoy, you two," Harry said urgently. He laid the map upon his bed, and he, Vega and Ron leaned over it, searching through the numerous levels of the school.
"Oh, there he is!" Vega said suddenly and pointed onto a spot. "He's in the Slytherin common room with Crabbe, Goyle, Parkinson and – ugh – Zabini, look,"
Harry looked down at the map, disappointed, but rallied almost at once, firmly speaking, "Well, I'm keeping an eye on him from now on. 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 –"
Harry broke off as Neville entered the dormitory, bringing with him a strong smell of singed material, and began rummaging in his trunk for a fresh pair of pants. Vega moved to her feet and Neville jumped and fell down in shock as she covered her eyes.
"Neville!" Vega cried out. "Let me leave – wait a minute!"
Vega fled the dormitory and the tower quickly, avoiding running into anything until she arrived in the common room where she caught eye of a very unhappy-looking Lavender. But Vega quickly walked past her to hurry out of the common room.
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