Elphinstone Urquart clapped his hands to get the attention of the still chatting teenagers that filled the training center. Quiet slowly fell over them until all their eyes were turned to the wild-haired man at the front of the room.

"Well hello," Urquart said, pushing his glasses up his nose with his finger as he looked about at them all - his white hair as wildly untamed as ever, dressed in billowing blue robes that hung too big on his bony frame. He smiled about at them with his large teeth and said, "I know you're all here to learn how to disapparate, and you're all itching to get to it, but there's some rules to go over and important facts to cover before we begin..."

McGonagall stood to his side, nodding slightly, agreeing with very word Urquart had to say. Her eyes moved over all the students in the room, as though warning them to pay attention.

"Psst, Wormtail."

Peter looked over to see James, grinning. He was holding three rings - his own, Remus's, and Lily's - and he'd strung them together to form a chain, which he held up, tugged at the two ends to show they were connected, then did the whole act of a muggle illusionist at pushing them together and - voila - pulling them apart. Peter clapped softly and grinned as James pretended to take a bow.

At the front of the room McGonagall cleared her throat.

Peter and James turned to face forward as he handed the two extra hoops to Lily, who handed Remus his.

"Disapparation in and out of the auror training room is strictly prohibited and there is a charm over the facility that does not allow us to disapparate out of the building," Elphinstone Urquart was pacing at the front of the room as he spoke, and as he walked the frizz of his white hair that stuck out from the back bounced, making James smirk as he watched it. "So whatever you do, at any time during this program, do not try to disapparate out of the training room unless you are very clearly instructed to do so by myself or Ms. McGonagall."

"Ms. McGonagall?" James hissed.

"Well she is a Ms," Lily hissed back.

"It just sounds funny," James replied. "Professor, Minnie, Min-Min..."

"Only Sirius calls her Min-Min."

"Yes, but --"

McGonagall cleared her throat again and James's head snapped back about to look forward. He grinned at her wide so all his teeth showed and waved. She sniffed and continued looking about the room.

"I bloody love her," James whispered, smirking.

Lily whispered, "Pay attention, Potter."

"I am, Evans."

"No, you're not. You're talking to me."

"And you're talking to me, what's your point?"

Lily didn't reply, and James very resolutely straightened his shoulders and chin and watched Elphinstone Urquart exclusively.

"Now, you've got a silver ring already," he was saying, "Which we handed you as you came in.... If everyone could spread out, get at least two to three feet apart from one another..." he waved for them to shuffle out of their clusters and McGonagall started moving through them, parting them, positioning them, "And put your silver hoops on the floor. Stand in the middle..."

They all split up and tossed their hoops on the floor.

"James," Remus called.

James looked up to see Remus had his about his waist like a hula hoop and was rocking his hips. James laughed. "Now Sirius will really wish he'd been here. First it's Minnie he's missed, then its that awesome hip action from Moony."

Remus grinned.

"I'm sure Sirius has seen plenty of Remus's hip action already," Lily intoned.

"OHHHHHH," James laughed and he grinned, "Behold, the spirit of Sirius Black has possessed Evans."

"Mr. Lupin," came McGonagall's sharp voice, "Stop that with that hoop!"

"Yes, Professor." Remus lowered the hoop to the ground gently and stood carefully in the center.

"Minnieeee," James said, drawing her attention to him, "Hullo."

"Hello, Mr. Potter," she replied, and she took Peter's shoulders and centered him up in the loop, inspected James's position in his, and moved on to inspect Lily and Remus's. 

"How's your summer been, Minnie?" James asked, "Didn't get to talk to you much the other night, no chance to reconnect."

Lily glanced at James as though to ask why he'd seen McGonagall the other night, but he acted like he didnt notice.

"It has been alright, and yours, Mr. Potter?" she asked as she straightened Remus's hoop.

"Brilliant, Professor," James replied. Then, "Hey guess what?"

"What, Mr. Potter?" she looked up at him, finished fixing all their hoops, but pausing from moving on to the next row to finish her conversation.

James pointed at Lily. "Evans is my girlfriend."

McGonagall blinked quickly in surprise, then looked to Lily, who flushed and nodded, and then back to James. Without cracking a smile or anything - the straightest her lips had ever been, she said, "Well it's about time!" And turned to the next row.

Remus snickered and Peter clapped, "Here, here!"

James grinned.

Lily said, "You're literally telling everybody, aren't you?"

James nodded, "I'm tempted to do a sonorous maximus right now, but I think it would be rather fun to just stand in the Entrance Hall at school and announce it to everyone individually. I could hand out flyers as they enter the Great Hall."

Lily rolled her eyes, laughing and shaking her head.

Peter offered, "I can help hand out the flyers, James."

James laughed, "Thanks Pete."

Elphinstone Urquart had put his silver hoop down up front and now held up a bright red hoop, which he put next to his silver hoop. "My silver hoop is Point A, and my red hoop is Point B. They are separate, distinct locations. If I step from my silver hoop into my red hoop, I am crossing from Point A -" he stepped, "- to Point B."

Remus yawned, "Bloody hell, like we need to learn about how motion works."

"Might've forgot in the time we've been standing here listening to him," James answered.

"And stepping back into my silver hoop from my red hoop, I am moving from Point B into Point A," Elphinstone stepped again. He looked around at everyone in the room. "Any questions?"

"Yeah, when do we get to disapparate?" came a voice from across the room - a Slytherin boy that James only barely recognized.

Urquart said, "Once you've learned the proper technique and theory behind it." Then, "Any questions about Point A and Point B?"

There was silence throughout the room.

"Very good," Urqurat said. "Now, Disapparation is all about knowing where you want to go. You must be able to summons to mind the destination very clearly. In fact, to help you remember and properly disapparate, the Ministry has suggested you learn and memorize The Three D's: Determination, Destination, Deliberation... You must have determined where you are going - Determination, be able to clearly name and visualize the place you are going - Destination, and go through the motion of disapparation only after careful consideration and intent - Deliberation. Repeat after me: Determination... Destination... Deliberation."

"Determination... Destination... Deliberation," everyone repeated.

"Very good." Elphinstone Urquart nodded, pleased, as McGonagall started moving through the room, magicking red hoops next to everyone's silver hoops.

As McGonagall passed by James, he said, "Professor?"

"Yes, Mr. Potter?" she asked.

"Lily Evans is still my girlfriend," he grinned.

McGonagall looked at him, then at Lily, who rolled her eyes, and back to James, "I've a feeling, Mr. Potter, that if you want it to stay that way, then you had better shut up." And she stepped on as Lily laughed and Peter snickered, covering his mouth.

Remus leaned forward, a wildly wide grin upon his face, "Now Sirius will really be sorry he missed this -- Minnie telling James to shut up may just well be the best thing that's ever happened in the history of all time."

James laughed, "It was rather brilliant."

"Perhaps you ought to listen to her," Lily suggested, raising her eyebrows.

James grinned. "Alright, I will."

"Alright, good."

James was quiet for a long moment, then he whispered, "Hey. Evans?"

"What, Potter?" she turned to look at him.

James blew her a kiss.

She turned red and faced forward again.

James grinned.

Up front, Elphinstone Urquart was explaining the theory behind disapparation - exactly what it was that happened when one disapparated, and what to expect as far as how it should feel, and possible side effects. "Splinching," he said, "Is when you move without enough careful Deliberation and you end up leaving a bit of yourself behind - a toe, a leg, an arm..."

James glanced over at Peter, "Wonder if anyone's ever left anything else behind in a splinch?"

"Eunuchs were invented some way," Peter whispered.

Two rows away, McGonagall cleared her throat, glaring at the pair of them again and James had to choke back the laugh that Pete had caused.

Urquart hadn't heard any of it, and he was continuing on with the lesson: "It may indeed look funny when one's nose is left sitting on the ground in London and the rest of them is in Mould on the Would, but let me tell you, it's awfully hard to breathe when your face is missing something as important as it's nose." One of the kids up front made some comment the Marauders couldn't hear and Elphinstone said, "You'd only save on the cost of handkerchiefs as long as you didn't bleed out, Mr. Rowling. Splinching, as I am trying to impress upon you lot, is very serious business."

McGonagall had reached the front of the room again and she walked over and stood in her silver hoop as Urquart put down a red hoop on the opposite side of the platform they stood upon. "Now," he said, "Watch closely as Ms. McGonagall demonstrates Determination, Destination, Deliberation and apparates from Point A to Point B."

McGonagall exaggeratedly thought about the destination, made a face of exaggerated determination, paused... and then very carefully, with very exacting moves as though in slow motion, she turned on the spot and -- CRACK -- from Point A to Point B in an instant. 

A smattering of people applauded, James most enthusiastically, and he shouted, "OH GOOD SHOW, MINNIE! GOOD SHOW!"

Remus laughed and clapped, too, and Lily said, "Shhh, you."

Elphinstone Urquart heard James and nodded, clapping also, "Yes, very good Minerva," he announced. "A very fine demonstration! Now --" he turned to the crowd of them. "Let's practice, shall we?"

"About time," muttered Remus.

"Somebody's a cranky wolf," James murmured.

Remus glared at him.

There was a great deal of commotion then as everyone started practicing at disapparation, and James stopped being a pain in the arse as he started concentrating. What they learned over the next twenty minutes or so was that disapparation was a lot harder than it appeared to be when the grown up wizards did it and James found himself worrying that he wasn't concentrating long enough and he'd be about to try the spin when he'd stop himself in fear of splinching something.

Lily was getting frustrated, too. "I took ballet when I was really small," she said at one point, pausing to look at James, "And I feel like I did when I was three and shoved into a sickening pink tutu... Just spinning for no reason."

James said, "Well, if it's any help, I'm enjoying watching you spin."

Lily flushed.

"Seriously!" he said, "Bravo."

"SHhh!" She said.

James grinned.

It was most shocking, when there was a sudden CRACK to James's left and he looked to see Peter standing in his red hoop, eyes squeezed tightly shut, hands balled into fists. "Bloody hell," James whispered.

Peter opened his eyes slowly, and looked down and around in shock, "Did I - I - I did it?! I did it!? JAMES LOOK, I DID IT! REMUS! LILY! LOOK!"

McGonagall, hearing the shouting, came running over to be sure nobody was splinched, and she saw Peter jumping up and down in his red hoop with excitement. Her face registered actual surprise. "Mr. Pettigrew! A most excellent job."

James clapped his hands.

Elphinstone Urquart announced, "We have our first disapparator! Excellent job, Mr. Pettigrew!" And he checked his watch, "And that actually will conclude today's lesson! Next week, we'll try again and perhaps see if anyone has any questions. Absolutely no practicing in non-training areas!" he reminded them, "Collect a pamphlet on the way out that will give you some questions to consider to prepare for our next class!"

McGonagall gave Peter a pat on the head and she turned to help collect the hoops from students, magicking them into a pile in the corner.

James leaped at Peter, wrapping his arm over Peter's shoulders. "You've done an excellent job, mate!" he announced, "You ought to come back to our place with us to celebrate! Or perhaps we could all go to Diagon Alley and get an ice cream! My treat! What do you say?"

Peter's eyes went to James's watch, glinting in the lights of the Auror Centre for Training as they walked down the hall to the exit. His wrist burned at the sight of it, and he realized that until he managed to get that stupid watch away from James Potter that he wouldn't get to hang out with his friends properly, and they'd eventually stop asking him to come along. The thought terrified him. And what harm could giving a watch to Voldemort really do anyway? he reasoned. It wasn't like Voldemort could do much of anything with a stupid watch, yeah? And James didn't even like the watch. And the only way to get the watch would be to be around James to knick it from him - avoiding him wasn't getting any closer to solving the problem, it was only making the situation more dire as every time he was near to James and the watch and didn't procure it, his wrist hurt all the more... And the things Voldemort had said on his birthday were most alarming...

"You've not got much longer before my patience will run thin, Wormtail," the Dark Lord had said, staring down at Peter as he sat on the stone wall outside of the Muggle Library that day. "Soon, I will demand results and if those results are not met, you will face the consequences..."

Peter shivered and he looked up at James, "Yeah. Let's do it. Let's go to Diagon Alley."