Vague Thoughts on Apparation

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 93464

"Steve" <bboy_mn at y...> wrote:
> I'm confused about apparation and how the students learn it. Curious
> about how other see the process.
><snip>
> 
> Shifting the model to the Wizard World, I have always assumed that in
> 6th year at Hogwarts, the students would be taught how to apparate at
> school. Although I don't think it will be a regular full-time, every
> week, all year class. Perhaps just an hour or two every a couple times
> a week at night for a month, or something like that.
> 
> Some how, there have to be classes and there has to be opportunities
> for students to learn and try apparating before they take the test for
> their license.
> 
> True it is illegal for student to apparate before they are 'of
> age'(17), but it's also illegal for people to drive (in my example)
> before they are of the proper age, but none the less the law allows
> for a learning process.
> 
> Also, note that for students ALL magic is illegal since they are not
> of age, however, in the supervised learning enviroment of school they
> are allowed to perform magic. I can't see why Apparation would be any
> different.
<snip>
> It seems that both Percy and the Twins took there Apparation test at
> the beginning of the summer holiday, which implies to me that they
> learned the process during the previous school year.
> 
> So, does this sound reasonable to everyone, or am I way off base?


Carol:
We know that the Twins turned seventeen in April of their sixth year.
I had assumed that they practiced at home over the summer, maybe under
their father's supervision, before taking their tests. Percy, in
contrast, didn't take his test till after he'd left Hogwarts (two
weeks before the Quidditch World Cup, IIRC). Of course, we don't know
when his birthday is, but I think he must not have turned seventeen
until just before his seventh year or he would have taken his test the
previous summer. Instead, he apparently had to wait until he was
almost eighteen, again presumably practicing at home under his
father's supervision until he was ready to take the test. In any case,
if such classes were offered to the older sixth years, Percy would not
have been eligible because he'd still have been sixteen. And if Fred
and George, with their April birthdays, had been old enough to take
the classes for a month or two before the term ended, surely we'd have
heard about it? They'd have been as excited about learining to
apparate as they were about canary creams. 

I could be wrong, of course, and there might be an Apparation teacher
we haven't yet heard of at Hogwarts, or it could be one of Madam
Hooch's duties, since she teaches only first-years (and coaches
Quidditch). But there's one hitch: As Hermione keeps informing us, you
can't apparate inside Hogwarts or on the Hogwarts grounds. They'd have
to go to Hogsmeade to do it.

So I don't have any answers, really, just my own thoughts on the
subject. But if Hermione turns seventeen in September of her sixth
year--an early birthday instead of a late one--you can bet we'll be
watching her learn it.

Carol