Alex was getting distracted because of the Ravenclaw boy who had apparated in the wall. She stared at him for a few minutes, hoping a Professor would get there soon, so people could get back to practicing. After all, the rather loud screams were somewhat distracting to almost everyone.

She tried to shut off all the noise and concentrate only on those three words. They were now drilled in the back of the skull. The girl reapted them countless times and focused only on the hoop that was in front of her.

There was another loud crack. Alex looked down quickly and realized that she was in a hoop -- again. Only is still wasn't her hoop. Heck, she didn't even know whose it was.

Sighing, she went back to her spot and just stared at the hoop in front of her for at least five minutes. She was ready to actually step inside the hoop if she could not apparate in there soon. This wasn't pleasing her one bit.

Patrick attempts the spell again. He focuses on the hoop, he pictures himself standing inside it and he spins. He almosts loses him balance and when he opens his eyes he is somewhere other than the Great Hall. He looks around to see if he is still at least in the castle. He recongizes the books on the shelves as the ones in McAiken's Transfiguration classroom.

Patrick taps the lock with his wand and heads back to the Great Hall. He was excited. He had ended up in the right spot but he had apparated. He wondered if he needed to tell McAiken or Zoa of his mistake. Surely they had their hands full putting other right. He was fine after all. He entered the hall again. He retook his position to try again.

Nadia did not notice the poor boy "disappearing". Maybe she was too caught up in watching Alex defy the laws of psychics ( ), or just frustrated she hadn't got a chance to mention something about Jaren's magical lapsus meaning he missed them or something of that sorts because of it. Nadia had been mid way to politely ask them both to let her practice with her loop.

It was embarassing enough a thing her loop seemed to be the easiest place to Apparate in but for her. Embarrassment, yes, that was it. And, really! She had done this before, she had, on her own. As both jumped away and opposite directions, some of that moodiness seemed to lighten up and she focused on the matter at hand.

She just needed not to concentrate on the consequences. Wasn't that an easy thing? Her determination was set, not thinking of wrongs-to-be... and she sneezed.

And apparated somewhere near where the staff table was suppossed to be. She sneezed again, and had almost bumped into Raven near the door. Another sneezing and she didn't feel ground under her feet - had been seconds from landing on top of Terry Weasley before she sneezed again and was back over her place, staring at her loop.

She had had her eyes closed all the time she she barely realized she had been travelling around the Great Hall.

Kate heard a girl shouting at her across the room, and turned to see what was wrong. It took a moment for her to register that there was a boy stuck in the wall and another to actually believe that someone had gotten themselves stuck in a wall. She hurried over to the stretch of wall that was bulging from the student trapped inside. "How is the world..." Kate muttered quietly to herself. Kate tapped the wall with her wand, muttered "Diffindo", and the boy fell out of the wall and onto the floor. She kneeled down next to him to see if he was alright.

Jake fell onto the floor and started to cough. He shook his head while coughing.. He sputtered out. " Thanks professor. " He had a bad headache but he could get over it soon.. He didn't even know you could end up inside a wall. " Guess I can't clear my mind because of some things that are going around.. " He got up onto his feet. Still coughing every now and then.

McAiken saw Jake's hand and immediately went to assist him. Within a few moments the boy was freed but clearly shaken from him attempt and landing in the wall.

Andrew moved the boy to a chair, that was nearby. He a sured the boy he was okay and that he should attempt the spell again after he settled down.

Nadia opened her eyes and looked around, pouting about how nobody had "blessed" her.

"Well, how rude," she commented to herself as she rubbed the bridge of her nose, trying to ease that tickling feeling to stop the sneezing. Her attention as it was common in her, was once more on everything but the task. In this case, that Ravenclaw boy that appeared from the... what's that hole in the wall?

Frowning, looking from some place to another, she considered all she missed only by having her eyes closed for a couple of seconds.

ooc: Er, I think the lifting of the apparating charms only goes as far as the walls of the Great Hall.

After the boy had been dealt with, Jaren focused on getting into his hoop--not Nadia's, not Ganymede's, and NOT the chandelier.

Then Nadia had a very strange sneezing fit which had her apparating all over the place every time she sneezed, which was enough to break his concentration at the crucial moment and he did a 1280 degree spin on the spot, tumbling to the ground in an undignified heap.

Getting up with a scowl, he tried again, this time blocking out the chaos that was happening all around him.

Crack!

He Apparated directly next to Nadia with only a millimeter of space between them, flailed as he was pitching forward and collided into her.

Ah, another one for the blackmail folder.

...and NO, you may NOT take pictures.

ooc: If you mean because I said Nadia "bumped into Raven by the door", I mean inside the Great Hall. Raven is suppossed to assist to the Apparating lessons too 9_9

Nadia felt a crack coming from besides her and the little panic she always showed kicked in, turning to the source immediately and her mind in a double-take in a split of second, but the orders in her brain contradicted themselves. One said *you stupid girl, you bumped into him and now he is going to fall because of you, reach over and help!*

Another realized the body of this person was falling towards her and not away and the size of the person, hence going *Mayday! Mayday! Falling weight I can't support at 6 o'clock!* and yet a third one registered who was it and had... no rational thoughts to escort the realization.

Final result; Nadia reached over towards her, even though the body was coming her way, and since it was her and her only famous balance problem, it was her the one clinging to Jaren and not viceversa. Well, of course it was not viceversa...

Dizzy and growing red, Nadia looked up and found herself face to face with Jaren and not as if she had any more intelligent thing to say, commented, "Fancy having you fall around."

Her attanetion turned on the Professor until she let the Ravenclaw boy out. Now she feared that she would end up in a wall as well. After staring at the hoop for at least ten minutes, Alex was ready to try it again. Only problem was, this time she was distracted by the fact that Nadia had gone into an odd sneezing fit that made her apparate around the room.

Once Nadia was done with the sneezing, Jaren had once again attempted to apparate. And he succeeded. Just ignore the fact that he was on top of Nadia ...

Alex tried her best to stifle her laughter, but her eyes were twinkling in amusement. Besides the point. She closed her eyes again, and repated the words. After yet another loud crack, she found herself, once again, NOT in her hoop, but somewhere in the Great Hall.

She took a step forwards, only to trip over something and fall over. Oh, for crying out loud.

But when she looked down, she realized that she was on top of both Jaren and Nadia.

ooc:

OK, talking about circus circumstances. Nadia flat on her back, Jaren over her and trying to support the weight of Alex who happened to fall sitting over them both. Erm. Not exactly a circumstance... to have while watched by a rather large group in the middle of class.

It was official. Her loop-area was the best to apparate in for the majority of the population of Hogwarts in this Great Hall BUT her. Such irrational thoughts were crossing Nadia's mind as she tried to push the bloody red from her cheeks, failing and getting redder the minute.

ooc: I've seen the "Tag" deodorant commercial but this is ridiculous!

Jaren was in the midst of salvaging what dignity remained by pulling himself off of Nadia when Alex fell on top of him, sending him back down with a "whumph" and a grunt.

Out of all the confounded-- The rest was a string of mental curses as he pulled himself up, Alex still resting on his back but then sliding off. Nadia looked like she was on the brink of suffocating, nevermind that he looked properly and indignantly mortified.

Once on his feet, he turned and walked back to his previous station without another word, dignity in tatters and, to those overly observant souls, very slightly pink in the face.

ooc: But that commercial kinda reminds me of J. Can you imagine if he actually wore it?

With wide eyes, Alex stared at Jaren and awaited his reaction. Heck, you couldn't even see Nadia -- she was on the bottom. She felt Jaren slowly standing up and she just slided off him and fell on the floor. With a small grunt, she got up without saying anything and went back to her place. Hopefully no more incidents this time.

Staring at the hoop, yet again, she tried to concentrate. Only this time it was even harder, considering what just happened.

Destination, determination, deliberation.

This wasn't woooorking.

Destination, determination, deliberation.

Another loud crack and Alex found herself in Nadia's hoop. AGAIN. Groaning loudly -- heck, it sounded more like a roar, rather than a groan, she walked back to her place while muttering curses incoheretly.

Indeed suffocating, she had forgotten to breath again. She really had to stop doing that. It turned out that wasn't exactly paling her to contrast the red so she was still red even much afterwards she had no weight over her. In fact, she didn't even feel the weight, but anyways.

After visible physical effort, Alex slidded off, quite having Jaren as chute, Jaren pulled himself up, all too composedly (since Nadia had predicted a fit), and Nadia finally got to put herself into a sitting position. She couldn't explain the clattering of teeth, even after they were off. Literally. So she suspected it had nothing to do with humiliation itself. More like certain repressed urge to...

Anyways.

She wasn't moving from there. Just... She needed a couple of minutes.

In that, Alex appeared before her loop again and Nadia frowned. What should Nadia take from this exactly? Not that she was even attempting to analyze the situation, so... she just regarded Alex mutely.

This time she would get it. She had to get it before she would explode. Perhaps Alex was too much of a perfectionist? Or -- I don't know. But this was starting to drive her right up to the wall. And when she got mad, it was never a pretty sight.

How about she just stepped inside the hoop?

Destination, determination, deliberation. THE HOOP. Not Nadia's hoop. Or Jaren's back. Or Nadia's back, at that. The hoop in front of you.

CRACK!

Her eyes were closed the whole time. She was afraid to even open them. Well, Alex had to sooner or later, no? Once she did, she looked down and realized that she was in a hoop. Her hoop.

Giving a triumphant yell, she jumped out of the hoop and went to rest against the wall for a few seconds.

Professor Rae stuck her head in the door just in time to witness quite the student pile up. Well... just well. She couldn't think of any way to respond to the situation that would live up to the sight of three Slytherins in a most undignified pyramid. Rae chuckled softly to herself and entered the Great Hall to watch.

Nadia finally and after some minutes picked herself up again. Having Alex apparate in her loop, well, one would wonder. What kind of magical lapsus was that and what it was suppossed to mean and what kind of thoughts were on Alex lately--

Surely not. As soon as Nadia came with the answers, another thought intruded and she just lost track of her thoughts. For, yes, one couldn't wonder about one without considering the other.

Maybe Nadia should give Alex a map of the Great Hall, she thought, frowning and a bit frustrated. Well, at least I didn't make a fool of myself further on, and I could have, she considered and stared hard at her loop.

At that time there was a trumphant yell at the background. Sadly that was enough of lack of concentration to send Nadia spinning on the spot and loose her glasses, which she went immediately crawling though the floor to get back, blind as a bat.

While Alex was still resting against the wall, she noticed Nadia actually crawling on the floor, like a -- well, like a blind person. Only then she realized that Nadia had lost her glasses while spinning around crazily.

The girl rushed over to her, picked up Nadia's glasses and cleaned them with her robe. "Here," she muttered quietly and placed Nadia's glasses in her hand. "Don't lose them again, or you'll end up crawling around the Great Hall again," she added and wandered back over to her spot.

She noticed Professor Rae had entered the Great Hall and waved. Sighing, she tried concentraiting again ... but her thoughts were far off the moment she had seen the Headmistress. And it was more than obvious as to what she was thinking about.

With another loud crack, Alex ended up right beside Professor Rae this time.

Rae gave a surprised laugh and put her arm around Alex's shoulder, guiding her back towards the hoop she'd been standing near. Halfway there, she paused and gestured towards Nadia. They both looked frustrated, and Rae remembered her own apparation lessons many years ago. They hadn't been pretty.

"I hope the other professors won't mind, but let me offer you a bit of advice that helped me. Moving yourself through space on faith that you'll get there is fine for those who are emotionally oriented, but if you're a bit more logically oriented, take a bit more time in the determination phase and think about exactly what is happening to you. Envision your molecules moving and recollecting in all the right spots. Once you feel the apparition process a few times, you won't have to take so much time at this phase, but take the time now to understand what you're doing." She shrugged and led Alex the rst of the way to her hoop before stepping out of the way again.

Sufficiently recovered from the pileup incident, Jaren regarded his hoop again as he caught ear of some of Rae's advice directed mainly at Nadia and Alex.

The problem with this excercise was that all the hoops looked exactly the same, which Jaren supposed was why he kept ending up in his neighbour's hoops.

For some reason, Rae's description reminded him of a Muggle science fiction series he had once seen many years ago, before he had come to Hogwarts. What was the expression..."beaming".

Shrugging that thought aside, Jaren focused on his hoop--HIS hoop, not Nadia's, not Alex's, not some unspecified location near some other person and NOT the chandelier...

Crack!

He landed solidly in his hoop. Looking around briefly, he decided to check if he could go a step further and land back in the same position as before--

Crack!

--and ended up a few feet to the right of his starting point, next to Headmistress Rae.

He shouldn't have pushed it.

Her first instinct when Rae touched her was to jump back about one hundered feet. But that wouldn't work now. And after all, she was a teacher. The only teacher she would probably jump back from would be -- nevermind.

Alex listened carefully to what the Headmistress said and walked beside her until she got to her usual place. Well, the words had already been drilled over and over inside her head, that it was not even necessary for her to say them over again.

Crack!

And yet again, she found herself right beside the Headmistress -- and next to Jaren.

Kate saw the headmistress enter and made her way over to her. "Glad to see you could find some time to drop by, Cass. You missed some interesting incidents... I do believe Jaren's eyes will be dry for some time." Kate smiled at the headmistress as she told her some of the class' highlights. "We'll probably be wrapping up in a few minutes so dinner can proceed as normal. I was just about to tell them to make their final attempts."

Rae laughed as she was suddenly surrounded by students. "My... don't I feel popular." She turned to greet Kate with more laughter as she heard about some of what she'd missed. "Apparition is one of those really important things that is very humorous up until you learn it," she nodded, gesturing to Kate to make her announcement.

Last attempt?! But -- but -- there wasn't enough time. Alex wanted to be able to apparate inside the hoop at least twice. Now there was even more determination to actually land inside the hoop.

Closing her eyes, she thought only about the hoop. Heck, she didn't even bother to move from where she was -- she remained right beside the Headmistress, Jaren and Professor Zoa. There was no time to waste. She had to do it.

Crack!

When opening her eyes, the girl realized that she finally managed to get to where she wanted -- her hoop. With a small grin, she jumped out of the hoop and waited for the Professor to make her announcement.

Motivation and determination was what she needed.

Nadia thought she had finally felt something when something or someone had taken them away from her. She stared hard on the blurry figure, even though she could not really stare or glare, and afraid to be talking to a chair if she asked to be given the glasses back.

At that, a voice came from the figure and she knew it was Alex up there, who seemed to be offering the glasses. Nadia felt her hand grop the glasses, turning from her all four position to a squirrel standing position to take them, and thanked Alex while she put them on. Sneezed, appeared behind Alex, sneezed again, and was back before Alex.

It was then and as she pulled herself up into a sitting position that she spotted for a professor motioning her to-- wait, not a professor, the Headmistress. Eyebrows raising, and a bit panicky as she expected... hoped... it wasn't that there was something wrong, she approached.

"Ah, yes," Nadia responded rather illogically to Rae's advise. But was Nadia an emotionally oriented or logically oriented person? The latter, yes, probably. But determination wasn't her problem, seemly, Nadia was proud to say she had "splinched" a total of zero times. Well, not counting her clothes getting upside down.

"Thanks, professor," Nadia said, bowing slightly and noticing that she was starting to blush again. But it wasn't much later that she found in front of her not Rae alone but surrounded by... Surely coming here for some needed advise, Nadia told herself as she turned around and started going back to her own loop. Destination, determination and deliber---- WHAAAAA!

She had done it again, she had rolled all her way up against a wall.