"Now you may be wondering why you've never seen anyone pull out their wand to apparate before. They are not doing it wandlessly. The fact of the matter is that it's easy to perform the wand movement inconspicuously as it only requires just a little twist. Say my wand was tucked into my belt like this," Sirius commented as he stuffed his wand into his trousers. "I could just put my hand on my hip and twist the wand without ever taking it out." Sirius finished the last half of the sentence on the other side of the room. "Well I guess apparation works more or less the same here. Why don't you give it a shot?"
Harry stood up and looked at Sirius questioningly.
Sirius gave him a grin and said, "Just choose a place in this room to apparate to. Focus on the exact spot and lock it in your mind. Then concentrate on being in that spot and give your wand a twist."
Harry nodded to his godfather then glanced around the room before locking his eyes onto one of the corners. His brow furrowed in concentration as Harry secured the spot in his mind. He pulled out his wand and continued staring at his spot for another moment before giving a twist. There was a loud crack, but Harry was still in the same spot he had been in all along. He looked over to his godfather.
"Not bad for a first try," Sirius grinned. "You did what's called flickering. You technically apparated to the exact spot you were in. It usually means that when you actually went to twist you weren't concentrating on being anywhere else. Give it another shot."
Harry did as he was told and focused his mind on his corner. When he was satisfied he gave his wand another twist. There was another loud crack, and Harry found himself a foot away from the corner of the room staring at where the two walls met. He quickly spun around. "I did it!" he exclaimed with a whoop of joy.
"Good. Very good" his godfather commended. "Do that a couple more times to different spots in the room, and then we'll move on."
Harry did as he was told, apparating to several different spots in the room with the same results. After his fifth successful apparation, he turned to his godfather for more instructions.
"Okay, you're doing great. You can apparate to a specific spot without a problem, but now you need to work on your position in that spot," Sirius explained. "You don't want to apparate facing the wall. You want to apparate facing the room. Once you really get the hang of apparation you can try more difficult things like apparating into a sitting position on a chair. But for now, just concentrate on apparating to a spot and facing a certain direction."
Harry nodded to Sirius to show that he understood the instructions before focusing on the task at hand. His eyes moved back to that first corner he had apparated to, and Harry concentrated on being in that spot facing out into the room. He took a minute to really lock it into his mind before giving his wand a twist and willing himself into the new position. Harry had closed his eyes right before giving his wand the twist. After he heard the telltale crack, he slowly opened his eyes and immediately zeroed in on his beaming godfather.
"Excellent Harry," Sirius praised. "Now do it again all around the room."
Harry did as he was instructed. The rest of the training passed in the same manner, with Harry apparating around the room. Sirius had him work on his speed and precision. By the time Sirius was calling the night's lesson to an end, Harry was able to apparate to any spot in the room facing any direction in a matter of a couple seconds.
Harry awoke to find Hedwig perched on the headboard of his bed with a letter waiting for him to claim it. He sat up in his bed and took the parchment. He unfolded it with one hand while stroking Hedwig's feathers with his other. What met him was Hermione's precise script.
Dear Harry,
I hope you don't mind, I asked Hedwig to deliver a note to Ron and then come back to me for my reply. Not having an owl of your own can make keeping in touch quite a hassle in the Wizarding World. I was very pleased to receive your letter. I was very worried about you, but it's quite a relief to hear from you and to know that you're beginning to feel better. Sirius would have wanted you to make the most of your life and to honor his memory by enjoying yourself.
I must say I was pleasantly surprised to hear that you've taken to studying this summer. It's good to see that you're finally taking your schoolwork more seriously. With NEWT classes coming up, these next two years will be the most important of our lives. Our NEWT grades will determine what career paths we will be able to take after Hogwarts. I wouldn't want your future to be limited because you didn't apply yourself in school. I only hope your new attitude will rub off on Ron. If he thinks he can just coast through NEWT classes, he's got another thing coming.
Speaking of Ron, he seems rather upset that you haven't written to him yet. It sounds like he's been giving Ginny a hard time since you wrote to her, and she won't let him read your note to her. You should write to him soon so he can stop worrying. We're only worried about you, Harry. Keep in touch.
Love from,
Hermione
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