.
It was ten in the morning, and Quinn was walking through a green field with Aksel following behind him. It was the day after Quinn had arrived at Aarhus, Denmark, and Quinn had gotten up at six in the morning to start his day with the two-hour workout exercise he had started in the summer break.
Unlike Hogwarts, where he had to walk across the lengthy webs of corridors and go down the stairs between every period to get to his next destination, the summers at West Manor were different, as they lacked the staircases and intricate corridors.
Therefore, Quinn had decided to compensate that by adding an hour to his morning conditioning session and his evening Muay Thai practices. Quinn had been thinking about upping the intensity and length of his sessions for the upcoming year. He had plans to tackle the mind, his body and soul.
After eating breakfast, Quinn and Aksel arrived at the place where Quinn was going to learn apparition.
Aksel looked at Quinn's back and thought about yesterday and this morning. Quinn had been perfectly polite and manageable while he escorted him through every place Quinn asked for. He had followed his lead and didn't seem to be a problem at all.
Yesterday, Quinn had promptly informed him that he exercised in the morning and asked Aksel to show him to a park to work out, preferably outdoors.
Aksel had met his share of kids from wealthy families; his job had made him come across a few of them. Rich kids who had all kinds of luxuries and, more often than not, those luxuries would make them complacent. They wouldn't know the fruit of hard work.
In his experience, rich kids didn't like to wake up early in the morning and work out till sweat was dripping down their entire bodies. But he had seen Quinn voluntarily wake up and vigorously work out. And from the looks of it, Quinn had been doing it for a while as he looked comfortable doing it despite putting a lot into it.
"When will this teacher of mine show up, I wonder" asked Quinn as he looked around the patch of green that surrounded him.
"There are a few minutes to go before the agreed time," replied Aksel, looking at his wristwatch.
The location of this place was also a good distance from the urban Aarhus. It was in the countryside. Many magical places were like this because they would provide a decent enough cover from non-magical people.
'There's only a simple non-magical repellent ward around the place,' noticed Quinn. He looked at the small wooden cabin in front of him and saw the sign hanging on the cabin roof. 'I wonder if it's a charm covering the area, or is there a ward stone inside that cabin with runes keyed to it.'
"What does that sign mean?" asked Quinn. He knew a number of languages, but Danish wasn't one of them.
Aksel gazed at the wooden sign and read the text written in his mother tongue.
"Haldor's Apparition Class."
'Haldor, that's a male name,' thought Quinn.
After a minute, Quinn and Aksel heard a familiar pop sound; they saw a man dressed in a jacket and pants with a cap over his head appear in the field.
The man had his hands tucked deep into his pockets, and the way he walked looked like he had just woken up and was slowly strolling through his house. It looked like the man didn't notice them because he kept walking towards the wooden cabin without looking at either Quinn or Aksel.
"Hello," called out Quinn.
The man stopped in his spot and turned his head to see two people standing nearby him. His face lightly scrunched up as he wanted to get a cup of coffee before starting his day.
"... Yes?" said the man in Danish. Quinn understood it as he had learned a few common phrases from Aksel yesterday.
"Are you the owner of this place?" asked Quinn.
The man stared at Quinn, who spoke in English, and from his accent, the man could guess that he was British. Then he glanced at Aksel suspiciously. The kid was smiling, but the big fellow with the kid had his arms crossed and was staring at him with unblinking and observing eyes.
"... yeah, I'm the owner, Haldor," replied the man in English, who owned and operated the Haldor's Apparition Classes.
"Excellent! Nice to meet you, Haldor. My name is Quinn West," introduced Quinn, happy to know that he could finally get started. "I'm here from my apparition lessons. You asked us to meet you here at ten."
The man looked confused for a second as he couldn't recall setting up a meeting today. Then he slightly grimaced because his head hurt.
'Damn, I shouldn't have drunk so much. This hangover is killing me,' thought the man. He suppressed a groan before saying. "Yeah, wait here. I'll be back in a second."
He entered the cabin and closed the door behind him. The interior of the cabin had only a single room with no partition or walls separating anything.
The cabin was messy, as if it wasn't cleaned regularly, and the things inside weren't arranged properly.
A small wooden desk stood near the wall that was opposite to the door with a wooden chair a distance behind it in the opposite direction from the table. Moving to the side, one could see a metal closet in a corner near the desk that had its door ajar open.
The door to the cabin was near the corner of a wall and on the other corner of that wall laid a cot that had enough space for one person to sleep comfortably. The covering sheet was haphazardly spread out, and the bedding, too, was a mess.
On one side was a brick fireplace built into a wall that looked like it had been recently used. It was connected to the chimney. The brickwork framed the fireplace and had a ledge over it for storing things. Right now, the ledge held empty liquor bottles, dirty mugs, glasses, and ash.
Haldor walked to the table in the cabin and started to riffle through the unorganized mess of parchment, newspaper, magazines to find something.
"Where is it?" asked Haldor, reading papers, seams of the newspapers, and flipping through the magazines in an attempt to find a particular parchment.
Haldor's hands moved through the pile, and his eyes studied until they caught sight of the item he was looking for. He snatched up the crumpled sheet of parchment and moved it in the path of the sole window in the cabin to get some light on it.
"Here it is," muttered Haldor. "Quinn West; paid in full. Today at ten. Classes will be every day, yes, I remember now."
Haldor, through his hangover haze, remembered being contacted for this case. He had got this client through his landlady, who had suddenly, out of nowhere, brought him a customer.
'Didn't she say that the kid out there is someone from a rich family?' thought Haldor while rubbing his shoulder.
Haldor's landlady had suddenly knocked on his door and said that she had a job for him and wanted him to teach a kid how to apparate, which wasn't unusual here in Denmark, but then, she said that the kid would be a foreigner.
She told him that some kid from Britain would be coming to Denmark to learn apparition and that she had snatched this opportunity for him. The landlady told him that the kid was from a rich and powerful family, so the pay would be extremely good.
Haldor, who was short on money and was deep in debt, had accepted because he ran apparition classes and knew how to speak English. Haldor really needed the money because the people he owed were getting annoyed that he couldn't pay up; some of them had even come up to his house to ask for money.
It wasn't until he had a fat pouch of coins in his hand that Haldor realized the landlady wasn't kidding when she said that the kid was from a rich family. He was able to pay all his debt, pay his bills for the month, and still had some coins left. So to celebrate being debt-free for the first time in years, he went to drink and splurged to his heart's desire.
And now here he was, suffering from a heavy hangover on the day he needed to teach.
'Well, whatever, I'm sure they won't notice,' thought Haldor, and a yawn overcame him and then another bout of headache. 'Ugh, I'm not drinking ever again.'
Haldor, who was thinking about getting a coffee before starting his day, threw the thought out of his mind and walked out to do the job.
.
- (Scene Break) -
.
"Good morning," greeted Haldor. "My name is Haldor, no family name, just Haldor. I'll be your apparition instructor as long as it takes you to learn apparition. I realize that you aren't from Denmark, but I hope that by the end of our time together you pass the apparition test set up by our ministry."
Haldor looked at Quinn, who stood in front of him, listening to him attentively. Then looked at Aksel, who stood under the shade of trees, observing them with a lazy, yet watchful eye.
Haldor withdrew his eyes from Aksel and looked back to Quinn. "Before we start, I would like to warn you that apparition, if not used properly, is a dangerous magic. There are places where you can't apparate because of wards and enchantments. And some of those wards can be nasty, so I insist that you exercise caution."
Quinn nodded. He knew about the danger of anti-apparition wards. He had read about anti-apparition wards and knew the variety of extra effects that could be added into the wards aside from just prohibiting spatial travel.
Some wards wouldn't allow apparition when you tried it from your origin/destination point. The apparator wouldn't be able to jump to the destination and would simply remain in their spot while feeling a wall-like feeling while trying to apparate to the ward destination.
Other wards would allow the apparition to be initiated. But just before reaching the destination, the ward would come into effect and they would be violently thrown just outside the ward line. If the person was skilled at apparating, they would only suffer physical damage from being thrown down mid-travel, but if they weren't, there were good chances of being severely splinched.
"This area here doesn't have restrictions against apparition. Thus there won't be any danger in that regard," assured Haldor. He didn't want to scare Quinn before they could even get started.
"That's good to hear," smiled Quinn. He took out his fake wand.
"Let's get started," said Haldor and took out his wand from his pocket and held it in his hands which were covered in fingerless gloves.
He pointed his wand, and at a distance of ten feet, a patch of grass turned bright yellow.
"As you can see, I turned a patch of grass to yellow. The yellow color is the most noticeable color to the human eye, you see," explained Haldor and then instructed. "I would like you to concentrate on that spot and properly memorize it. Make sure that you can hold it in your mind."
Quinn nodded and gazed at the yellow patch of grass and nothing else for a few seconds before diving into his mindscape to use occlumency to strengthen that memory by magical means.
Haldor continued to stand beside Quinn, but didn't urge him to hurry up. He wanted Quinn to be satisfied with his image of the yellow spot so that the upcoming tasks would be smoother. Plus, he felt lethargic and didn't want to speak anything more than his usual teaching dialogue.
"I'm ready. What's next?"
Haldor nodded and started. "There are three important things you need to remember while apparating..." Haldor paused for a second before continuing. "... In English, they would be Destination, Purpose, and Deliberation."
"How about we call them, Destination, Determination, and Deliberation," smiled Quinn as gave him the three concepts he had read in some books. "That would make it three D's. The three D's of apparition."
"I see. Alright, let's go with that," nodded Haldor at the suggestion. It didn't matter what the three principles were called as long Quinn understood what the three points meant. And it was Haldor's job to explain to him right now.
"Step one: Focus your mind firmly on the desired destination," started Haldor. "We already have done that. You've already memorized the yellow patch, which is the destination that we will be going to. But still, concentrate upon that destination once more, please."
Quinn nodded and immersed himself into the memory book that held the image of the yellow patch of grass.
"Alright, I'm done," informed Quinn.
"Step two," said Haldor and tried to put some strength into the speech. "Focus. Be determined, as if you were occupying the visualized space! You have to long for it. Let that thought invade your mind, to every particle of your body! You want to feel from the bottom of heart that you want to be on top of that yellow spot!"
Quinn followed the instruction and willed his magic to transport him to the yellow spot. Quinn called upon the magic inside his body to permeate all over his body.
"Step three," called Haldor, "And only when I give you the command... Rotate around yourself. Feel yourself delve into nothing, but always with deliberation! At my count of three. On my command, now... one -"
Quinn took a deep breath, looked at the yellow grass patch, and focused on the image that he had created in his mind.
"- two -"
The sight from his eyes and the image in his mind started to overlap as Haldor continued to countdown.
"- THREE!"
Quinn triggered and felt himself spin; he momentarily felt the tug and the slight feeling of being sucked, and just when Quinn thought he was successful, then proceeded to lose his balance, and fell over the ground... on his butt.
What greeted him was the clear blue sky staring down at him with fluffy clouds carelessly floating away.
"Never mind, never mind," said Haldor dryly, who did not seem to have expected anything better. "Get up, please, and we will try again..."
Haldor had been teaching apparition for a while now, and even though he didn't get students regularly, he had enough teaching experience to be used to seeing his students fail.
Aksel, on the side, under the shade of the tree, also didn't look surprised. He had learned apparition in a group with his friends and remembered that it had taken him and his friends a lot of time to get themselves from one spot to another.
And even though Aksel was supposed to protect Quinn, he couldn't protect him from splinching mishaps. Of course, Aksel was going to make sure that if Quinn left behind some of his body parts, the damage would be fixed as soon as possible.
Quinn got up from the ground and brushed his clothes.
"That was fun," said Quinn. "Let's do this again."
He thought back to his recent and first failed attempt at apparition.
'What went wrong? The first D, that is, destination, was perfect. My memory wasn't the problem,' thought Quinn, 'which means it was one of the last two Ds.'
Quinn prided himself on having firm control over his emotions and, consequently, his will. As long as it was magic, Quinn's will was the one thing he could count upon. And as Quinn never used a focus, so he was pretty sure his will when it came to magic was quite strong.
'Let's hope it's not will that I am lacking,' thought Quinn.
Determination was the part where Quinn had to imagine traveling to the place that he was imagining; wanting his magic to make him travel to the destination. Deliberation was the part where he would trigger the magic to apparate; it was the thing that would let his magic do the job and appear on the other side.
Quinn closed his eyes and imagined the yellow patch of grass. He then let his magic flow throughout his body so that every part of his body could apparate when he triggered the magic. And then, he triggered the magic so he could transfer his body to the yellow grass patch.
Once again, Quinn felt the tug of the apparition and felt being sucked in. This time it was a little more than before, but once again, the magic was interrupted. And Quinn, once again, fell down.
"Damn," muttered Quinn as he admired the clouds. "That cloud looks like a wolf, or is it a dog."
Haldor sat down on the grass beside Quinn and said. "Don't give up; it will take a lot more time to get to the destination. Apparition is a difficult art; it takes a lot more practice time to get the hang of it."
Quinn didn't reply and used his hands to roll on his back. He then pushed himself into a handstand, and then he thrust himself up to get up on his feet.
He walked to the starting point, lightly held his fake wand in his hand, and slightly tilted his head as he gazed at the yellow patch ten feet in front of him. Magic once again covered his body, and the desire to get to his destination coursed throughout the active magic.
A cool breeze rustled the grass on the ground and the leaves on the trees. Flapping of wings could be heard as birds took off in the distance. The sun shone warmly from above the clouds. All of it came together to create the perfect day to be outside.
Then everything went silent as the wind paused for a moment.
Aksel was looking at the leaves above his head and the light filtering through the gaps in the canopy. Haldor let his eyes drop to give them a rest after a night of drinking and short sleep.
And in that moment, Quinn imagined traveling through the fabric of space to the yellow patch.
Quinn recalled the words that Haldor had spoken to him.
'Feeling my way into the nothingness. That's it.'
Quinn felt the tug and pull of the apparition. It wasn't like a side-along apparition; it wasn't his entire being was being remodeled to be fit into a pipe. No, this felt much natural, a little uncomfortable, but natural.
And then he was gone.
*Pop*
Haldor and Aksel heard a loud pop, one that akin to a small explosion. Their eyes widened after they noticed what happened. Both adults looked up to see Quinn, who had disappeared from where he was standing.
Their eyes immediately went to the yellow patch of grass, and there he stood, looking at his arms and body with a watchful eye.
The two grown men looked at Quinn with their eyes as wide as saucers. Haldor even had a slightly open jaw. Both were shocked that the kid in front of them only took three attempts to successfully apparate.
But to Quinn, it wasn't surprising. Even though it was Quinn's first day performing apparition; it wasn't his first day at reading about it. He had read a lot about apparition magic. Knew what to look for, and that's what he did.
In his first turn, Quinn attempted to apparate and failed. But in doing so, he was able to identify the process of activating apparition. From that identification, Quinn was able to draft a list of possible fail-points.
In his second turn, after activating apparition, Quinn analyzed every fail-point he had considered and checked listed to see what caused the travel to fail. And in doing so, he was able to find what the problem was.
After thinking about it, Quinn realized why his magic failed— his magic had resisted aparating. Apparition was magic that, when activated properly, made sure that the user would be teleported without fault.
Splinching happened when some parts of the body weren't covered with the 'apparating magic' and, thus, was left behind. As long as the entire body was covered, apparition magic would take care of the rest by itself.
But Quinn's apparition had failed because he didn't relinquish control to the magic. Apparition magic wanted to teleport Quinn, but his magic wouldn't let the 'apparating magic' take control. Quinn's tight rein over his magic after the sin vault interfered with his ability to apparate.
When Quinn was lying down on the ground, looking at the sky, he also thought about why he could side-along apparate just fine. Why didn't his magic resist side-along apparition?
Quinn concluded that his magic didn't act up because he let the other person take him along. It was like he was letting someone drive him to a place, and as such, his magic didn't act up.
Back to the problem. What was the answer? Quinn had to let the magic do its job.
If this was any other situation, Quinn wouldn't have relinquished control, but this was his own magic, so he let the apparition magic take him.
And his imagination of traveling through the fabric of space became a reality through the use of magic.
Quinn had traveled from the spot beside Haldor to the yellow grass patch.
He turned to them and grinned. "I am whole. I didn't leave anything behind. But I think I need to work on the sound. It was rather loud, wasn't it?"
Quinn looked at the stunned men and then at the sky above.
"It's a really good day today."
.
-*-*-*-*-*-
.
Quinn West - MC - "I can teleport! Pop-pop-pop!"
Haldor - Apparition instructor - Hungover but debt-free, so he can't complain.
Aksel Thorn - Standing under the tree - "... How?"
