Chapter 123: Mastering Apparition, Plans, and Dreams (1/2)
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The link is also in the synopsis.
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*Pop!*
Quinn vanished from his spot and appeared near Aksel, who was standing under a tree.
”Pop!” grinned Quinn, enjoying his new ability to apparate.
It was two days after Quinn learned to apparate. On the first day, he had shocked both Aksel and Haldor by succeeding apparition in mere three tries. At first, both of them thought that Quinn had gotten lucky, but then he proceeded to apparate five times in a row and established that it wasn't a fluke.
On the second day, Haldor repeated the exercise from the first day and kept it safe. He wanted Quinn to get used to the feeling of apparition before moving on.
Aksel looked at Quinn, who was grinning, and asked. ”If you want, we can switch instructors and join someone more competent.”
”Hmm? Now, what would prompt you to say that?” questioned Quinn.
”You saw how he arrived yesterday,” pointed Aksel. ”He was clearly hungover and not prepared. That wasn't professional. You already understand the first level of apparition. So, if you want, we can go and choose another instructor. I know some good ones and can arrange classes with them by the end of the day.”
Aksel didn't have a positive impression of Haldor. He didn't like those who didn't take their jobs seriously, and Haldor coming to his job in an unsightly manner didn't make a good impression.
Quinn shook his head with a small smile. ”Actually, I think Haldor is a good teacher. A teacher needs to be two things to be a good educator. First, they need to be good at what they teach, and Haldor was clearly good at apparition.”
Quinn, too, had noticed Haldor's condition when he had arrived, but he also noticed something else.
”Haldor wasn't feeling good, and from the looks of it, he was feeling it bad, yet he still apparated without a problem. Despite suffering from what I am guessing, headaches, nausea, and dizziness, which are all big red signs for not apparating, he did it without splinching.”
”That just shows he is good at apparition,” shrugged Quinn.
”Point the second, a teacher needs to be good at teaching,” continued Quinn. If Haldor wasn't good at explaining, it wouldn't matter how good he was at his craft. ”Haldor taught just fine. If he was hungover yesterday and I still managed to apparate, then I'm sure that he would do better today, given that he isn't hungover.”
A light pop was heard behind them.
”Speaking of the devil...” said Quinn and turned saw Haldor standing at a distance from them. ”... See, he is better today.”
Unlike yesterday, when Haldor arrived with a messy appearance: uncombed hair, rumpled clothes, black circles under his eyes, and his mood was also down. Today's Haldor looked like he had taken a bath, used a comb on his hair, wore clothes that weren't from the last day, and had a good night's sleep.
”... Good morning,” greeted Haldor, his voice held more energy than yesterday.
”Morning,” replied Quinn while Aksel silently nodded.
Haldor beckoned Quinn to the center of the field and started today's lesson.
”Yesterday, we got you familiarized with apparition. And you somehow grasped it quickly, too quickly, really quickly,” said Haldor. He still couldn't believe what Quinn had accomplished yesterday. ”So today, we will be moving on and practice the next step. Follow me.”
Haldor and Quinn walked to the edge of the circular clearing, just beneath the trees surrounding the clearing, which Haldor used as his instruction center.
”Yesterday, we stuck to apparating to a three-meter (10 feet) distance,” recapped Haldor. ”So today, we will be going beyond that and go further.”
He pointed somewhere around the center of the circular clearing and expressed. ”The distance from here to the center of the field is thirty meters (100 feet). I want you to apparate to the center.”
Haldor then, without any warning, disapparated from beside Quinn and appeared at the center of the field.
”Right around here!” shouted Haldor as he looked at Quinn from his new spot.
Quinn grinned, visualized his destination, covered his body with magic, triggered the apparition magic, and then let the magic do its work.
Haldor watched Quinn disapparate from his spot and was expecting Quinn to appear beside him, but Quinn didn't. Haldor heard the loud pop and looked in that direction to see Quinn standing near the opposite edge of the clearing and was waving his hand.
”How about we move on to the next step?” beamed Quinn, traveling double the distance Haldor had specified. ”You should change the exercise to something more fun.”
Haldor looked at Quinn and felt amazed. When still new to apparating, people tend to be scared about apparating to lengthy distances. Unlike Quinn, a majority of people experienced splinching or at the very least witnessed splinching while learning. And that created a slight fear about apparating longer distances.
But Quinn lacked the experience of splinching and thus lacked the fear. He understood that as long as the distances weren't changed exponentially, the difficulty remained the same.
”Well, let's do something else,” sighed Haldor and called Quinn closer, who apparated to arrive near Haldor.
Haldor took out a thin tie from his pocket and handed it to Quinn. ”Blindfold yourself with this, and then you will try apparating without your sight. You will try to picture the place and apparate to it.” He pointed back to the initial spot Quinn apparate from and continued. ”Apparate back the point we started from. You won't be able to see it, so let's see how strong your imagination is. It's all about the image, Quinn. It all starts with the picture in your head.”
Quinn shrugged and wrapped the tie around his eyes and secured it tightly so that he couldn't see anything.
'Hmm, this is different from Tehom's Delight,' thought Quinn. The time spent in Tehom's Delight had taught Quinn that lack of sense wasn't a bad thing.
He had spent a lot of time in the darkness of Tehom's Delight before he got the ripple sonar. All that time had numbed to the lack of sight, numbness of hearing, the dullness of touch, altered hearing, and scent deadness.
Quinn imagined the spot he apparated from and then let the apparition magic do its work. And Haldor and Aksel watched as Quinn apparated to a destination that wasn't in his vision.
”How was it?” asked Quinn, still blindfolded and confident smile on his face. ”Did I get it right?”
”Yes, you did,” answered Haldor. But before he could continue, Quinn disappeared and popped right in front of Haldor. ”What's next?”
Haldor blinked at his blindfolded student and sighed. ”Now, remove your blindfold. I have the next task for you.”
Quinn removed his blindfold and walked towards Haldor as he described the task.
”Where are you staying?”
”At a hotel.”
”Is it warded against apparition?”
”I haven't checked my room, but the lobby isn't warded against apparition.”
”Where is it?”
Quinn turned to Aksel and jutted with his chin.
Haldor turned to Aksled and called out in Danish. Aksel turned his attention to Haldor and replied back in Danish. The two communicated about the hotel's location and how far it was from here.
”That works out for us,” nodded Haldor. ”The distance within the range that will be perfect for this. I want you to apparate to the hotel and come back. It's a distance much greater than the one you just traveled. If you are able to apparate to the hotel, it shows that you have the basics of apparition under your belt.”
The distance from Haldor's apparition classes to Quinn's hotel was within the range most people used apparition for travel. It was nearly the same distance that the apparition-license test in Denmark used as a benchmark. If a person could travel that distance, they would check one of the things off the list.
”Alright, let's see if I can do it,” nodded Quinn and loosened his body and was about to start the apparition magic when Aksel spoke up.
”Wait. I will go to the hotel lobby first. If you mess up and splinch, I will be there to take care of you.” And before he apparated, Aksel advised, ”Do remember to imagine the lobby. Specifically, the center of the lobby. That's what the hotel tells you to do.”
After then Aksel apparated off to the hotel lobby.
Quinn put his hands behind his back, his fake wand in his hands, and smiled. He stood straight up and looked at Haldor while smiling.