The Eye of the Storm

Perks of Almost Dying (a lot)

The next morning was Apparition lessons. The lessons were supposed to be in the courtyard, but there was so much snow they had been moved to the great hall.

I went down to the Great Hall with Harry and Hermione. Ron has gone with Lavender. I was disappointed to discover that was still happening. When we entered the Great Hall, we saw that all the tables had disappeared.

Assembled in front of us were the Professors McGonagall, Snape, Flitwick, and Sprout — the Heads of Houses — and a small wizard whom I took to be the Apparition instructor from the Ministry.

Grandma gave me a small smile which I returned. I wondered how she was dealing with the death of Mom.

"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. 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.

I sighed and gave Draco a look. It seemed he was much more willing to clean up his act at 2am then when he is with his friends.

"— 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."

Hermione and I positioned ourselves so that there was five feet of space between us and in front of us.

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

I looked around and saw Harry disappear into the crowd.

"Do you see Malfoy anywhere?" asked Hermione. She was standing on her tiptoes looking around.

"He's by the back corner with Crabbe," I said. Before I could say anything else, the instructor screamed for silence.

"Thank you," said Twycross. "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!" 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."

I stared at the hoop in front of me. I tried to block everything out. Learning how to teleport was a lot more important than whatever was happening between Malfoy and Harry. I took a deep breath and focused.

"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!"

So a mind over matter kind of thing. I can do that. I had some practice with wandless magic. Sure it had been in a life or death situation. I tried to think of a time magic had flowed from my brain to my body. A time it had completely taken over.