They all woke up at five, remembering that they had to find the book for Albert before going to their apparition lesson.. Amelia snuck out to the great hall and walked over to the Slytherin table.

‘Why would you do this to Albert?’ she asked Draco, who had black bags under his eyes.

‘He deserved it,’ Draco replied coldly.

‘What’s the counterspell?’ 

‘There isn’t one, that’s why I used the spell.’

‘You’re lying, aren’t you.’

Draco didn’t reply as he took a bite of his sandwich. Amelia looked at him and felt herself being sucked into a black hole.

I have a feeling this secret is important…

She saw the usual green glow and touched it, but this time it was freezing. Amelia saw Draco talking to himself in the Slytherin Common Room. There was a clock on the wall. It was 3 am in the morning.

‘...tell him…no counterspell…’ he was muttering wickedly.

Amelia saw a book on the table. It was wide open. She walked towards it and could read it clearly. It said:

The counterspell for the “langlock” spell is “iterum dico”. It must be done carefully, or otherwise, the person you are performing the counterspell on will start speaking gibberish forever.

Amelia glared at Draco, who didn’t see her since it was just a secret. She kept the book close to her so that she wouldn’t lose the only way Albert could continue speaking.

She felt herself rising up until she was facing Draco again. He spotted the book and yelled angrily. Amelia hurried to the common room to find her friends sitting near the fire and talking to one another. Well, only Olivia and Isabell. The common room seemed deserted. Albert immediately jumped up when he saw Amelia and looked desperately at her. He looked at the book and gulped. 

I don’t want to speak gibberish… 

Isabell and Olivia came to them. 

‘Olivia. You do it. I’ll fail if I do it,’ Amelia said, shoving the book to Olivia. 

‘You can do it,’ Olivia replied, handing the book back to Amelia, who sighed. ‘You found the book, you do it.’

Albert wrote something on a parchment. 

Hurry up it’s almost time for the apparition lessons so stop deciding on who does the spell. JUST DO IT! 

Amelia took out her wand and pointed it at Albert. Isabell and Olivia held their breaths. 

‘Iterum… dico.’

The spell worked and Albert’s lips unglued. 

‘Thank god. I never knew the disability to talk was that challenging…’ Albert said, relieved. ‘Thanks, Amelia, by the way.’

Amelia nodded in appreciation as Albert fist bumped her. They then noticed that there was only three minutes until their first apparition lesson. 

‘We have to go! It takes us three minutes to get to the hall!’ Albert yelled, but the girls were already rushing outside the common room and down the stairs. 

The girls and Albert arrived at the doors of the hall, panting and breathing heavily. 

‘Ms. Dragonheart, Clearwater, Bluesky and Mr. Foxglove. Didn’t I inform all Ravenclaws that you arrive five minutes before the time of the apparition lesson?’ Professor Flitwick, who was shorter than any other student, even the First-years, yelled with his high-pitched voice. 

‘Sorry Professor, we had something important to do,’ Isabell said quickly.

There was a stout man at the place where, usually, there used to be the teachers table. His name was Wilkie Twycross. He was from the Ministry of Magic, more specifically, from the Department of Magical Transportation. The house tables weren’t there, so the great hall looked larger than ever. More students, sixth years, filled the great hall and stood in rows. Teachers, such as Professor Flitwick, Mcgonagall, Snape and Sprout (the heads of the houses) were there too.

‘Good morning everyone!’ The ministry employee called out, his voice magically magnified. 

‘More like a hungry morning. I can’t believe they wouldn’t let us have breakfast!’ Isabell complained.

Amelia and Olivia rolled their eyes and let their focus on Mr. Twycross. 

‘As you know, you shall take a twelve week course of apparition and students who are the age of seventeen by the 30th of April will be taking the apparition test to receive an apparition licence!’ 

‘He literally said “apparition” three times,’ Isabell groaned as Amelia and Olivia shushed her. 

‘The reason you weren’t allowed to have breakfast is that disapparating is a bit… stomach-churning.’

Amelia spotted Draco in the far end of the rows. He was having an argument with Crabbe, his gorilla-like “bodyguard”. What’s more, Harry Potter was eavesdropping on their conversation. Amelia raised her eyebrows at the sight she was witnessing-

‘Stop talking Mr. Malfoy!’ Professor Mcgonagall suddenly barked.

Snape glared at her with his dull black eyes as students’ heads jerked toward the place Professor Mcgonagall was looking at. There stood Draco, flushing with embarrassment. Snape’s eyes flashed at Draco then back at Mcgonagall.

‘Sorry, Mr. Twycross. Please continue,’ said Professor Sprout, nodding at the Ministry of Magic instructor. 

He nodded back as students’ focus went back to him.

‘As I was saying, students who are the age of seventeen by the 30th of April will be taking the apparition test to receive an apparition licence. There are three words that you need to memorise when you apparate, The Three Ds: Destination, Determination and Deliberation. One has to be completely determined to reach one's destination, and move without haste, but with deliberation.’

Everyone was listening carefully, catching every single word.

‘A witch or wizard ordinarily required a wand in order to apparate, but like many other spells, it could be performed without one. If a place is far away, it may be harder for you to disapparate there and may cause splinching, but if a place is close, it is quite easy. Any questions for now?’

Neville Longbottom raised his hand from the other side of the hall. Twycross looked at him and gestured to him to ask his question.

‘What is splinching?’ he asked worriedly.

‘Ah, splinching. Splinching, or the separation of random body parts, occurs when the mind is insufficiently determined. The degree of splinching could range from minimal, such as loss of hair, to life-threatening, such as loss of flesh or muscle, though the damage is usually repairable.’

‘Sounds exciting, don’t ya think?’ Amelia spoke, in a mischievous voice.

Olivia and Isabell stared at her, shocked.

‘Wha-’

Amelia laughed, shaking her head. Flitwick shot a look to them as though he spotted them talking, making their focus go back to Twycross, but when they looked forward, in front of each of them were hoops, about ten metres away from them.

‘Now you will practise to disapparate. I do not expect any of you to do it at the first try. You will be determined  to reach your destination, the hoops, and apparate without haste, but with deliberation. Is that clear?’

Everyone nodded as they focused on their hoops. 

‘You may begin.’

Hermione raised her hand.

‘Yes, Ms…..’

‘Granger, sir. How are we supposed to apparate though? I thought Dumbledore put a spell in Hogwarts so no one can apparate except outside the Hogwarts grounds.’

‘Ah, it has been lifted for now in this Great Hall, just for this apparition course.’

There was nothing exciting that happened on the first try, and no one had made any improvements. Students were straining themselves as they glared at their hoops. Juliette looked as though she was angry at something. Her face was red and she was clenching her fists as she stared at the hoop with narrowed eyes. Opal wasn’t even attempting anything, but she was staring at Theodore, then Albert, then Theodore, then Albert and so on. Olivia and Amelia were calm, and they both made slight improvements such as disapparating about a step forward. Isabell and Albert, however, didn’t move forward, but they kept falling hard on their backs and Twycross said it was an improvement to an amature, adding a lot of emphasis on the word, as though wanting to prove no one was good enough. There was nothing exciting either about the second try, except that the trio and Albert made many improvements. The third try, many more people were flat on their back or disapparated a step forward. 

‘If you feel a little bit of pain in your chest, that’s called an Apparition Loop!’ Twycross yelled as the students continued to perform their best on apparition. 

On the fourth try, nothing exciting happened either, until…. There was a horrible screech of pain and everybody looked around, terrified, to see Susan Bones from Hufflepuff wobbling in her hoop with her left leg still standing five feet from where she had started.

‘Oh, uh, maybe one of the teachers...’ Twycross said in an unsteady way.

Professor Mcgonagall, Snape, Flitwick and Sprout easily apparated to her. There was a puff of dark purple smoke and Susan Bones’s leg was reattached. She was too shaken and refused to continue trying to apparate. She wobbled slightly when she went back to the Hufflepuff Common Room. 

The lessons of disapparition continued over the course of a few weeks until it was finally time for the test. Since Olivia was underage, she had asked Professor Flitwick to give her an assignment in an empty classroom as a way to waste time until her friends finished their test.  

‘You have free time, yet you choose to do an assignment?’ Isabell demanded in disbelief. 

Olivia nodded absentmindedly. She bade them goodbye when Professor Mcgonagall started calling everyone to form a line based on a list she called out. The four tables of the Great Hall disappeared, only a bubble in the far end of the room. Unfortunately for Isabell, she was first on the list. 

‘Isabell, it’s fine, you’ll ace it…’ Amelia said, trying to comfort her, though she kept giving Draco worried glances. 

‘IT’S NOT FINE!’ Isabell yelled, so that several heads turned her direction. 

‘Mrs. Bluesky, we are not in a theatre; don’t be overdramatic. Now, stand straight and wait until Mr. Twycross calls you in,’ Professor Mcgonagall fumed, nostrils flaring. 

Isabell nodded embarrassedly as she stood hesitantly in front of Professor Mcgonagall. 

‘May Isabell Bluesky come in, please!’ a voice yelled from inside the bubble. 

Several students looked at it interestingly. Amelia and Albert gave Isabell a thumbs up as she slowly walked towards the bubble. She disappeared as soon as she walked through the bubble. 

‘Hope she does well,’ Amelia said anxiously. 

Albert nodded. 

It was after three minutes that Isabell came out, sweaty. Amelia and Albert rushed to her. She looked like she was on the verge of tears. 

‘Did you p-’ began Amelia, but stopped when she saw what was in Isabell’s hand. 

A shiny card was in her hand, reading:

It is hereby stated that Isabell Bluesky has aced the apparition test at the age of 17 and has been approved to have an apparition licence.

Tester: Wilkie Twycross 

A Ministry of Magic employee, currently holding the job of: Apparition Instructor and Tester.

‘You passed!’ Amelia gasped. 

Isabell now looked like she was about to twerk in front of everyone right on the spot. Professor Flitwick gestured to her to go back to the Common Room. Some students were looking at Isabell’s card in awe. There were other nervous students that were after Isabell, some passed with cards in their hands, and a few failed; Hannah Abbott’s leg was a foot away from her body when she tried her test. Finally, it was Amelia’s turn. Just as she was about to enter, a boy came out of the bubble. He had brown hair and grey eyes and gave Amelia a small smile as he walked out, twirling an apparition card in his hand. She suddenly made a move and started running after him.

‘Ms. Clearwater, come back here!’ Professor Mcgonagall barked, but Amelia was already gone. 

Amelia kept following the boy, going in corridors that he went through, until he made a stop. 

‘Amelia, I know you’re there,’ the boy whispered, but his soft voice echoed around the empty corridor. 

He turned his head around so that he looked right at Amelia’s angry face. Neither said a word as they kept looking at each other, one with anger, the other with calmness. 

‘Long time no see, since, you know, you’ve been trying to kill Dumbledore with Draco and all,’ the boy whispered, his fingers trailing down his wand.

‘For a million times, I offered to help!’ Amelia snapped, then her voice softened. ‘And… by the way, I guess it felt good killing three muggles…’

The boy’s eyes suddenly glistened in the dark. 

‘Me? Kill three muggles? Are you alright?’ the boy started laughing. ‘Why would I want to kill-’ 

‘Don’t act so innocent!’ Amelia interrupted. 

The boy couldn’t find any words to fight back. Then, his expression suddenly changed from calm to worried, then to mad. 

‘Him,’ he growled.

‘Who’s him?’ Amelia demanded. 

‘He framed me…’ the boy looked back at her. ‘Draco framed me…’

‘Oh, don’t start blaming it on Draco!’ Amelia fumed. ‘It was you! You killed them!’ 

‘Amie, please-’

‘DON’T YOU DARE CALL ME THAT EVER AGAIN!’ 

Amelia took out a necklace and took it off. She then threw it aggressively on the ground and the pendant on it broke from the necklace and went to the boy, who picked it up, tears in his eyes. He looked up at Amelia, but her outline was walking away from him, and he was all alone, looking at the pendant, which was an outline of a boy and girl...