Of High Learning and Extreme Danger: Attending or Watching Apparitions Class

by Timocleia Gwilym, Gryffindor, Second Year

One of the most amazing things wixen can do is Apparate. This is when you disappear somewhere, and appear somewhere else. It means you do not need a broom, or a Floo, or a flying car, or a magic train or anything else to go many places. However, you have to take a class to be able to do it, because there is a license. This is the class that is starting on January 7, 2030, at Hogwarts. Students may go and learn to Apparate, and get a license to Apparate, if they will be 17 years old on or before August 31 of this year. Of course, this means that only Seventh Years and some Sixth Years can do it. Or maybe all Sixth Years can do it because the date is so late now. So that would be all Sixth and Seventh Years.

The class is also dangerous.

This is because of something called Splinching, which can happen to someone who is just learning how to Apparate. Splinching is what happens when a person does not do the spell all the way properly, and does not Apparate all of themselves. They leave some of themselves behind. It can be very messy and very painful. There can be a lot of blood. It is never the same part twice. Sometimes a leg is left behind, sometimes a hand. Sometimes it is just some of someone’s insides that are left behind. It is always a very great surprise to the person who has Splinched. So far, nobody has died because of Splinching, but a person might die if they left their head behind.

Luckily we have Healer Flutterby, Healer Carstairs-McAlpin and others at the class to help people who Splinch. Some people might Splinch more than once, but usually no more than one or two people Splinch at any particular class. Usually nobody Splinches in the first class or two, when nobody knows at all what they are doing, but It is rare that nobody Splinches at a later class, when the students finally are trying very hard to Apparate.

This means that Apparitions class is an excellent opportunity to watch Healers do their work in stressful situations where survival can be uncertain. One can also learn a lot about anatomy as you are introduced to the ends of bones, sinews and muscles, or important internal organs that you would otherwise never get to see. Apparitions class is open to younger students of all years to watch and learn! You can see all the ways in which not to try to Apparate, long before you must try it yourself. Going as a young student could save your life later on.

If you are old enough to learn to Apparate, you should definitely do it! The cost is 12 Galleons and the possibility that you could lose an important body part in each class and experience extreme pain, but at the end of the class you will be able to go anywhere you want just by thinking about it. And that is surely worth a little extra blood that you do not need anyway, right?

If you do go to watch, it might be considered bad manners to bring snacks, but class can last for up to two hours, so snacks can be helpful too. And maybe a cushion too. Just don’t let anyone bleed on it.