Destination, Determination, & Deliberation... Zekke thought to himself as his eyes fluttered closed and he concentrated.

Destination... the hoop over there... that particular hoop over there... that hoop over there...

Determination... I AM going to make it... I AM going to succeed... I WILL learn to apparate! Here goes nothing and everything!

Deliberation... NOW!!!

Quite suddenly, he spun around and around in such a force that it made him go utterly dizzy. He finally stopped spinning and landed on the ground with a 'bump!' and he blinked his eyes a few times to clear the stars.

Hebe concentrated on the hoop. She was also whispering "Hoop" over and over again. She jumped and spun. She didn't apperate but did manage to jump into the hoop. "Not exactly what I meant to do." She said embarrassed. She left the hoop and stood near it again. "Hoop, Hoop, HOOP!" she chanted like an audiance member from The Arsenio Hall Show. She twisted quickly and continued to spin on the spot. "Ugh!" Hebe squared herself and concentrated. "Hoop, Hoop, HOOOP!" She said for the third time and turned. POP! She had apperated to the hoop. She was about to jump for joy when she rolled foreword and caught herself on her hands. "My Shoes! My TOES!" she shrieked as she looked at her former location. Sitting not five feet away were a pair of black dress shoes. No doubt, by the look of her feet, did these shoes contain her toes. "Professor! Professor! MY TOES!" She yelled and pointed at her feet. She was sobbing and becoming hysterical.

"Hebe, calm down! They'll get you... reconnected, don't worry!" Zekke called from his location, his voice soothing with empathy and sympathy.

The shouts had broken his concentration and so he had to start all over again.

Destination, Determination, & Deliberation...

Destination... the hoop over there... that particular hoop over there... that hoop over there...

Determination... I AM going to make it... I AM going to succeed... I WILL learn to apparate! Here goes nothing and everything!

Deliberation... NOW!!!

He spun around again, but this time with even greater force than before.

"I'm not trying to be a top, you know!" He muttered to himself and tried again.

Hebe was crying and kept trying to get up. Everytime she stood up she fell foreword. "Atleast I know why we have toes now." She said sarcasticly and laughed a little.

Zekke chuckled with Hebe. "It's for balance, certainly. But hey! You're apparating! Isn't that something?" He smiled encouragingly and closed his eyes and tried again.

Destination, Determination, & Deliberation...

Destination... the hoop over there... that particular hoop over there... that hoop over there...

Determination... I AM going to make it... I AM going to succeed... I WILL learn to apparate! Here goes nothing and everything!

Deliberation... NOW!!!

With a funny 'pop' sound, he found himself... Where in Merlin WAS he?!

"PROFESSOR MC AIKEN?! PROFESSOR ZOA!!! HELP ME!" His voice floated out from... somewhere near the ceiling of the room, more specifically, in a chandalier. "I meant THAT hoop, not THIS one, blasted buggery of all..." His voice was riled and his tone of voice was slightly scared.

Zekke de Barticot, while not on a broom, was VERY VERY afraid of heights and right now, his eyes were scrunched closed as tight as possible and not caring about the fact that he had apparated and somehow managed to leave half of his robes behind.

:: Ganymede ran over to her sister. "Does it hurt? Does it hurt?" She collected her sisters shoes and tried putting them on her toeless feet. Her teos knocked about it the shoes as she struggled to reconnect her sister's toes. "What do I do?" She asked in a panicky high voice. "Professor! Make her better!" The statement sounded childish. Under her Slytherin ball cap her hair had turned white with panic. "It's ok Hebe, It's ok." She cooed to her sister, trying to hopefully get a grip.

She then suddenly heard a pop and couldn't see Zekke. SHe heard his voice coming from above.

"Zekke! I can see your underwear!" She said in awe as she pointed to the attractive slytherin prefect and friend. "Zekke, Get down from there! Can't you see Hebe has no toes!" She was thinking about pulling her wand out, but decided against it. With a quick movement she collected the Slytherin Prefects clothing articles that he left behind, and went back over to her sister. Who know's what fan girls will do if they got a hold of these. She thought as her eyes darted about. ::

McAiken and the others surrounded her and suddenly a puff of purple smoke was seen. She was restored.

"Zekke let go and we will lower you to the floor. You won't fall," McAiken trained his wand on the Slytherin to prevent a fall. After Zekke was on the ground and the Slytherin girl was restore McAiken held up his hand and called for everyone's attention.

"We're going to stop the practice for now. Later this evening after dinner Professor Zoe and I will return here to allow you more practice. Until then try to relax and clear your mind of other things that might be drawing your concentration away from this task."

"Good effort, this isn't easy, but you will master it." McAiken encouraged them as they gathered their things."

"Forget about my underwear!" Zekke yelled back and groaned. "They're black, just like my robes! Nothing particularly interesting at all! And yes, of course I know Hebe didn't have toes!"

He clung to the chandalier for dear life and hoped to all things good that the chandalier would hold his weight.

"Did I leave anything else of myself behind?!" He called out, his voice strained and anxious.

Hearing Professor McAiken's voice, he closed his eyes and... let go. He projected all his faith into the Transfigurations professor when he did that and just... waited.

Roma looked up at the Slytherin prefect who had apparated in the chandelier and gasped. "Errr...at least you apparated!" she called out to him, trying to make him feel better. She was trying very hard not to laugh since his clothing was lying on the ground. "Thank god I can't apparate yet," she mumbled to herself, thinking that if she tried to again, she might turn out worse than those two.

Well, so you say, Nadia thought, but the first time she attempted it she actually had succeeded. Then have haven't been able to repeat her lucky happening. In fact, she tried when at Diagon Alley, with no anti-apparating restrictions. And, true, they had covered theory in courses, but the practice had been on her own, despite having no Ministry representative to aid her if she happened to 'splinch'.

Gulping as she remembered her own negligence, Nadia re-placed herself in about 5 inches away from everyone. Happily, they weren't so many people. The loop appeared. Deliberation was her weakness, the reason one every six tries something went wrong. Taking a gulp of air, Nadia set her mind on the ubication, on the determination, which was strong enough, and then deliberation... and hesistated and did nothing.

And tried again, and kept starting over when feeling her mind suddenly blocked by fear. "Arg," was the word. It didn't help that her concentration was so easily lost with Hebe loosing her toes and Zekke hanging of the chandalier talking about... underwear? OK, that was enough to distract her from the matter at hand.

"Good job, everyone. We'll pick this up after dinner. Go relax for bit," McAiken spoke. Zekke was on the ground where he belonged and all body part had been restored.

OOC: Since this class must be monitored we will close for a couple of hours until Zoa or McAiken can be here again. Keep checking back we will reopen tonight.

Jaren appeared to be having trouble concentrating, which was odd for him.

Destination, determination, deliberation...

He didn't seem to be getting anywhere this time, other than to spin crazily on the spot and crash onto the floor in an undignified tangle.

At least he didn't end up on the chandelier with only half of what he was wearing...

Kate walked amoung the students, offer advice to those who looked most frustrated. She had to surpress a smile when a few students got themselves into interesting predicatments, but rushed to their aide immediately. After they're dinner break, Kate cleared the tables away again so anyone who wanted to practice could.

Hebe's toes were restored. "Thank you Professor." She said as she calmed down. She stood near her hoop again. Closing her blue eyes she tried to concentrate on her destination and was sure to remember to bring her toes along with her. Taking a deep breath she spun swishing her robes and opened her eyes. She had sucessfully apperated into the hoop. Exhaling with relief as she checked herself for any missing parts, she then stepped out of the hoop to see if she could do it again.

Jaren tried again, focusing so much that, with his concentrated stare, he could probably have ignited the nearest flammable object.

Destination, determination, deliberation...NOW!

If one has ever seen a Muggle cartoon where the hero whips the bandages off an Egyptian mummy, making it spin crazily like a top, that was exactly what happened, except the propulsion sent him spinning in the air to land, disorientated, into the hoop in front of Ganymede.

Kay tried to clear her mind but the thought of being splinched was terrifying. But she knew that she had to try and it wasn't going to be easy.

"Determination, destination, deliberation...wait that's not it!" she muttered to herself. "Why did someone have to say the word splinch! Now think! Oh, yeah. Destination, determination, deliberation - I think that's it. Time to give it a go!"

Destination!
Determination!
Deliberation!

She rapidly spun around in a circle like an out-of-control top and ended up landing hard on the floor. "Ouch!" she said as she rubbed her backside.

With murmured thanks, Zekke returned to his place 5 feet away from his hoop and practiced again. He had definitely been right in telling Branxton that he wouldn't show up for advising until after apparition lessons. Learning to apparate was extremely tiresome!

However, it was perhaps this very thing that actually allowed him to apparate more successfully.

The tiredness allowed him to fall into a sort of meditative trance so to speak and the next time he concentrated...

Determination... Destination... Deliberation...

He found himself feeling like his molecules were being pulled and moved around and before he knew it, he was standing just outside his hoop.

Not quite the right destination, but at least...

He checked himself over anxiously and smiled. At least he didn't lose any articles of clothing! With narrowed eyes, he looked at his original standing position and wondered if perhaps he had lost a hair or two in the process.

Actually, maybe he had lost a whole bundle of hair.

He sighed. "Professor? I don't suppose one is supposed to lose hairs while apparating?" He gestured to the floor where his ponytail had fallen in the apparating process.

"Today's my bad day I think," he chuckled ruefully as he grouched. "Losing half my robes and now half of my hair!" Curiously, he shook his head to see if losing his ponytail meant he had loose short hair now.

"I'm the Splinch-Meister," he mumbled and his eyes narrowed as he thought of the reason why he kept splinching. He was apparently apparating, that wasn't the problem. He just wasn't apparating properly and THAT was worse than not apparating at all.

Strangely enough, he didn't see his mishaps as particularly embarrassing issues, but maybe that was because he was so focused on the task at hand and trying to analyze what went wrong that he didn't care who saw what at what time.

Though he did make a mental note to thank Ganymede for saving his robes so no one could grab them, should they had gotten the inspiration to.

Kate smiled at the Slytherin prefect's question. "No, I don't think your meant to lose your hair when you apparate, but if that's all that's missing, your getting very close." Kate waved her wand, and with a puff of purple smoke, Zekke's hair was back to normal. "Splinching is usually a lack of 'determination'; you can't just think you want it, you have to really want it, with every particle of your being. Give it another try."

"With every particle of my being..." Zekke mused after thanking his Charms professor for putting him back together. He took this moment to sit down on the floor, heedless of all the dust and whatnot, and ponder.

He'd try again after a few minutes of rest.

Jaren walked back to his starting point. He appeared to be having problems walking in a straight line after that dizzying top-like incidence, and when he finally got back to his starting point he paused, swaying slightly on the spot, until the whizzing in his brain had subsided. Only then did he continue with the task of apperating.

Destination, determination, deliberation...

There was a loud crack and Jaren ended up in his hoop, however...

"NOBODY STEP WHERE I LEFT MY EYEBALLS!"

Jaren's eyes were screwed shut and his teeth were gritted as if he was in a significant amount of pain. If silent Jaren was scary to most people, Jaren roaring at the top of his lungs like a Chimera which stepped on a tack would probably do worse...at the same time, the yell had been more of a shouted order than a cry of panic.

Where he had been standing, two lone staring green eyes rested on the ground next to a shoe he had somehow left behind.

Splitching... lack of determination... Well, at least her determination was fine. It was her strenght, no? With all the spells that needed determination.

Then how was it that she was still at this step?

What about she grabbed her wand inside her pocket? That might help. The surge of energy usually gave her confidence, made her forget about consecuences... Then again, the sight of Jaren spinning and remembering of Zekke over the chandelier weren't encouraging.

Just... don't think. Do it. Don't think of consecuences, be determined like with every other spell. Mental map, check, and here she stared pointedly at the loop. So why the bloody not?! She gave one almost angry, determined mental step, unaware that she hadn't released her wand but was gripping it tightly and... ended up with every item of her clothing upside down. Somehow she was wearing her pants over her body trunk and shirt as a skirt.

The predicament would only get worst when there was a shout about eyeballs and Nadia lost her balance, in the current situation, falling backwards on her butt. To the population's interest I shall explain that no eyeball was squished by said butt.

"HOLY -!" Zekke's exclamation was about as loud as Jaren's. "Oh dear Merlin!"

He scrambled to his feet and immediately went to stand watch over Jaren's... errr... uhhh... splinched... parts. "No one's going to tromp over your eyeballs... or shoe!" He knelt by the two eyeballs and shoe and despite being a more than a little freaked out by the sight, found himself staring at them and back at Jaren in morbid fascination.

Horrified, Kate ran to Jaren's aide immediately. He was ingulfed with a puff of purple smoke and there was a loud bang. When Jaren and Kate were visable again, Jaren's eyes were securely back in place. His shoe, however, was still where he had left it, so Kate went to retrieve it for him. As she handed it to him, she smiled at him and said "Don't be discouraged. My sister left her tounge behind once and could taste the floor for days after wards. She's a very fine apparater now, but for awhile she would stick out her tongue after every apparation to make sure it was still there. Keep trying." Kate gave him a pat on the shoulder and then turned to Nadia, who appeared to be very strangely dressed. "You can be excused to go put your clothes right, if you wish. Although I must say, your shirt makes a very fine looking skirt."

So no help? OK, OK, she could see how Jaren's predicament was much, much worse, but she was expecting she would have to walk around trapped in her pants. In fact, how was she suppossed to take the clothes off and back in when she only had one free hand (and by free we mean she could move it in the other pant-leg, hence freelier than the rest of her body in the other pant-leg).

Hence, she started crawling much like a worm, trying to get into a standing position after failing a couple of times, getting too but dizzy. After all, she had been sent spinning but upside down and up. Anyways, trying not to tip her pants and humiliate herself further (who knows where her underwears were! Her flower Thusday underwears, ugh), Nadia walked outside the Great Hall ready to take the blow.