[HPforGrownups] Questions: Apparating

[Kelly Grosskreutz]

No: HPFGUIDX 72870


> Faith asked:
> 1. .  When Harry is at headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix, Fred and
> George do a lot of showing off of their apparating skills.  One evening
they
> apparate into Harry and Ron's room and land on Ron's knees - they say that
> apparating at night is harder.  WHY??
>
> My (Kaesa) somewhat confused response:
> I thought maybe this was because they couldn't see - remember that
wizarding
> households don't have electricity, and candle/torchlight isn't the
greatest
> thing to use when you're trying to do something complicated.
>
> As for why Apparation requires sight, I have no idea.  Perhaps there is an
> intermediate stage between Disapparation and Apparation where one decides
> *exactly* where to appear, which requires sight?  Or maybe he didn't
Apparate *onto*
> Ron's knees, which seems more like he'd be fused with Ron's knees or
> something, but *fell* onto Ron's knees after Apparation?
>
I think it's not necessarily that they need to be able to see to Apparate.
I think it is much easier to Apparate to a place that you have seen before.
I'm not sure how this would apply for an experienced Apparater, but for a
newbie, I think they need to be able to envision the place to which they are
Apparating.  Fred and George have no problems Apparating to the bedroom in
the day because they are used to seeing it in the day and know what it looks
like.  However, they may not have been there at night, and things tend to
look different in the dark.  This might explain their problem.

I was reading a fanfic last night that discussed Apparating, and it made
sense.  In this story, there were three levels to Apparating.  The first is
what I have just said, envisioning a place you have already been and
picturing yourself there.  The second level was to Apparate by using
coordinates.  One calculates where the place they wish to go is, and is able
to direct themselves to that spot.  I think the third level dealt with being
able to go somewhere without having been there and without knowing
coordinates.  I know I'm not explaining this well and it was explained much
better in the fic, but some of this might actually apply.  For those
interested, it was on Sugar Quill, and I think it was called Harry Potter
and the Fifth Year from Hell.

Kelly Grosskreutz
http://www.idcnet.com/~ivanova