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Something that sixth years had grown accustomed to (other than the pleasant excess of free periods) was the introduction of apparition lessons.
Elle had proven that she definitely excelled at this. Whether it had something to do with her gift of foresight or just because she was oddly good at teleporting, there was no denying that she was talented at it.
The apparition teacher (Wilkie Twycross) had been so happy with her improvement in the lessons that he'd written home to her parents about how impressed he was.
Although Elle was assured her parents would be rather confused and concerned about the idea of their daughter apparating, they took it upon themselves to inform Remus about this letter as they knew he would understand.
She received two letters one morning while sitting at the Ravenclaw table (which had become her permanent seating arrangement).
One of the letters was from her parents which although was slightly off topic and confusing when it came to the subject of teleporting, still had an ere of congratulations which Elle was happy about.
The other letter was from her uncle who actually understood how big of a deal a successful apparating experience was. He thoroughly congratulated us niece while repeating how proud he was.
The letters definitely raised Elle's spirits as well as making her feel more confident about the upcoming apparition exam taking place later that week.
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Lessons had been taking place regularly and each time Elle had been improving her skills by transferring herself further and more accurately every time.
Exams took place towards the end of April for everyone who was turning seventeen prior to this or around this date. Considering Elle was lucky enough to be born on the 15th of April, she was able to get in the first batch of tests.
Patrick has made the decision with his head of house (Professor Flitwick) to move down a year. He told Elle this was because he wanted to be able to get the best grades he could while Anna said he wasn't ready to leave Hogwarts at the end of the year.
This being said he was also taking his apparition exam as he had unfortunately failed it when he'd initially taken it the year prior.
Anna and Patrick were also able to join in these exams as Patrick was born in november while Anna was born in January.
They talked about it a lot towards the last week in april as it was exciting to them. The idea of being able to be in one place one second and then magically appear somewhere else.
"as soon as the holidays come i'm apparating my self far away from my dad and never coming back" Patrick stated surely,
"you'll splinch yourself if you try to go too far" Anna shuddered "just imagine showing up at your destination missing a limb.
"personally i'm going to use it in the most stupid circumstances, like just going down the stairs" Elle smiled proudly,
"i want to go to spain" Patrick hummed "or maybe america"
"they're two very different places" Elle shrugged,
"i'd go to france for sure, though anywhere out of this country would be nice"
"you've never been out this country" Patrick gawped while poring syrup over his pancakes.
"nope" Elle smirked "not too bothered though, i'd like to go to Paris... maybe i'll live there one day" she pondered,
"well you could just apperate there whenever you want"
"as long as you pass your test" Anna smiled sweetly.
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In other news, Elle's plan of avoiding her gryffindor friends was going perfectly. Every morning she'd set her wrist watch to buzz at six am. She'd have breakfast before any one else and then disappear to lessons.
In frees she'd usually be in the library sometimes with her other friends, sometimes alone. She enjoyed sitting out by the lake as well since the weather was clearing up.
At lunch and dinner she'd sit with Anna and Patrick who were fast becoming her best friends. They weren't only hilarious but helped her feel less stressed about everything.
At night she'd stay in the library as late as she could before walking slowly back to the common room. By the time she arrived most people were in their rooms.
Elle would sit by the fire until around twelve before being sure her friends would be asleep. Only then would she sneak up into her room and have a solid six hours of sleep. Solid not being an accurate word.
Elle always had another one of her friends in her lessons which meant she wasn't alone despite trying to avoid the Gryffindor's.
However even though she'd found people to sit with, that didn't stop the fact that the twins were still in her lessons.
She didn't really have problems with her other friends. She didn't want to hang around with them as she worried they hated or resented her but at the end of the day they didn't strike fear in her every time she saw them.
The twins however definitely did. She wasn't sure if they were deliberately trying to but the death glares certainly suggested that they did.
She wasn't sure what she'd done to deserve such anger. Elle was sure that by the end of the argument, George had decided that he didn't think anything was going on between the two of them.
Therefore she wasn't sure why he was so angry at her. However she wasn't about to ask. She spent most lessons with her head down in shame. Paying attention as much as she could and ignoring the striking red heads from across the room.
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The apparition exam was the only thing keeping Elle's mind off the whole ordeal which she was deeply grateful for.
It started in the morning working through an alphabetical list of names. Starting with Katie Bell and ending with George Weasley.
Elle was sorted into a group with Patrick and Anna (as their surnames began with L and J). Angelina was also in the group along with some other students Elle didn't know.
The brunette talked to Patrick and Anna as usual however she couldn't help but notice how Angelina kept glancing up at her sadly.
As they waited for their turn Elle decided nothing bad could come of her talking to Angelina, they were friends after all.
She walked over to the dark haired girl and sat down next to her on the grass.
"hi" she muttered half expecting the girl to ignore her. She didn't.
"hi" she smiled happily, she seemed relieved that Elle had approached her "how are you?"
"been better" she laughed half sarcastically.
"i've missed you"
"i've missed you"
The two of them stated at each other for shock about saying the same thing. They laughed and everything seemed good.
"i'm sorry i've been so distant, i thought you all hated me" Elle admitted,
"we don't hate you Elle things are just a bit awkward that's all" Angelina shrugged.
"what did George say about what happened?" Elle asked the question that had been burning in her mind,
"well that's the thing" Angelina sighed "he never said anything so we all assumed it must have been something bad"
"most of us assumed that it wasn't bad on either of your behalf but well... Fred assumed that you must have done something awful" Elle felt upset by this, her and Fred had always been so close and he still expected the worse for her.
Angelina noticed Elle's sadness,
"i'm sure he's only saying that because he's trying to stick up for his brother"
"He doesn't need to, I didn't do anything wrong... well not really" Elle defended.
"You never did tell us what happened so we just started to assume" Angelina mumbled,
"Assume what?" Elle snapped, it came out harsher than she meant considering she doubted Angelina would be one to put blame on Elle.
"Well personally I assumed that you just argued about something stupid and it turned into something big" she retorted,
"That's exactly what happened" Elle sighed in relief "at least someone doesn't assume the worst of me" Angelina smiled,
"What were you arguing about then?"
"Cedric Diggory... he saw us hugging and assumed something was going on which obviously it wasn't he was just helping me out with transfigurations anyway that turned into something larger and from what I remember I lost it at him for not trusting me and then told him it was never going to work" Elle shrugged "I'm not sure why he hates me so much, we both had things to say but I'm not mad at him"
"I think I have an idea why George is so upset" Elle turned to Angelina hopefully. The star chaser was incredible at understanding feelings which was a skill Elle had never mastered.
"Well George was probably upset about Cedric because he was jealous which leads into a complex about him not feeling good enough for you, that's probably why he lashed out... I'm sure he does trust you he just saw that and panicked maybe as though his fear was coming to life, when you said that it was never going to work, in a way you comfirmed that fear"
Elle stopped and took the words over in her mind. She had never thought of it that way but now that she did, it made perfect logical sense,
"Then why is he acting so angry around me?"
"Probably his way of masking his insecurities, I doubt he told Fred so maybe he's just following along with his brother" Angelina shrugged.
Just as Elle turned to thank Angelina, her name was called for her test. The dark haired girl stood up,
"Will you stop avoiding us now?" Elle nodded keenly as the chaser walked away to go do the exam.
Elle was left with Patrick as Anna had already been called. They didn't talk much as Patrick seemed sick to his stomach. Either he was worried about splinching or the pile of pancakes he'd eaten at breakfast weren't agreeing with him.
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Eventually it was Elle's turn. The exam was very straight forward. All she had to do was apperate to the chosen location which was (for her) some way out of the village near a grassy moor. Ministry officials would be there to judge accuracy, timing and placement.
She cleared her head of all worries which was easier now after her talk with Angelina. She pictured the place clearly in her mind and imagined herself appearing there standing exactly where she meant to. As her image strengthened she took a deep breath and apperated. She could explain exactly how it worked but it did.
She popped back into the world and found herself standing perfectly on the x marked out for the students. The ministry officials didn't smile at her but instead scribbled down notes on their clipboards.
Elle smiled happily known that she'd done well.
Turns out she'd passed with flying colours and was now able to apperate as she pleased. Of course she couldn't do it in Hogwarts due to safety restrictions but seeing as she was seventeen now, she couldn't do it at home. Not in front of the muggles of course.
The prospect of her being able to perform magic at home now was not only exciting but also slightly worrying. It marked the near end of her Hogwarts experience but also she feared how her parents would react to her whipping out her wand to perform simple tasks or appearing randomly and unexpectedly in the house.
She walked into the great hall happily with Patrick and Anna, unluckily Patrick hadn't passed this time either as he'd apperated on top of a ministry official and had then proceed to be sick on him. Anna however had done brilliantly.
The brunette had planned on sitting with the two blondes at dinner but as she walked in she noticed Angelina and Alicia staring at her expectantly.
She waved goodbye to the Ravenclaw's ensuring them that she'd sit with them again tomorrow lunch before she strode off to meet her two best friends.
She sat down confidently feeling better after her talk with Angie. She didn't know where the rest of the group was but she didn't care. She could work her way back into the group slowly, maybe one day she'd even be able to reconcile her friendship with the twins. However it seemed unlikely at this time.
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A/n
I think I spelt apparition differently every time I wrote it. Sorry about that I'll come back and fix it at some point but at the moment I can't be bothered :D
Thank you if you're still reading though!!