July 1987

Moody stepped through the window of Purge and Dowse, LTD, and into the lobby of St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. He walked past reception and the Welcome Witch, who yelled at him to stop. He ignored her and met Hagrid by the elevator.

Hagrid looked at the shackles and the chain Moody carried and grabbed him. "Now, wait a damn minute. When I told ya he was here, you said he wouldn't be arrested. He can't control his appariting."

"It's a precaution," Moody said. "Where the hell is he?"

"I'm not taking you to see him 'til ya tell me you won't arrest him."

"I won't fucking arrest him, Hagrid. Let go of me."

Hagrid released Moody. "He's a kid, not a criminal."

"Where is he?"

"It's not like he-"

"Where is he? I can find him with or without you."

Hagrid called the elevator. "At first, they thought he'd been jinxed, so they put him on the fourth floor."

"He wasn't, was he?"

"No," Hagrid said. They got on the elevator before the Welcome Witch could stop Moody. "It's not right. After all this time where he couldn't do no magic at all and now his first time he can't control it."

"First time? Adelaide said he was a damn fourth year."

"Aaron's never been able ta do magic," Hagrid said.

"And now, what, he can't stop doing it?"

"Doesn't seem he can, no, at least not the appariting. Haven't tried getting him to do anything else," Hagrid said. "Not like anyone ever taught him to apparate either. He can't get a hold on it."

"Of course not. He's a damn fourth year."

"I felt terrible, seeing him on the floor like that. I thought I gave him too much to drink. It took me a few minutes to realize he was appariting."

"He was at your hut?"

Hagrid nodded. "That's where it all started. I thought he was going to kill himself the way his body was-"

"He apparaited from Hogwarts?"

"He did, yeah."

"He shouldn't be able to, not with the wards," Moody said.

"Well, he went and did it anyhow."

The elevator doors opened. Arthur and Molly Weasley stood in the hallway.

Molly walked up to him first. "Don't you dare arrest him, Alastor. They finally got him sedated."

"I won't arrest him," Moody said, but he didn't let go of the shackles or the chain.

"Honest to Merlin," Arthur said. "The boy couldn't control it. It was like 1978 when Ezra McCallen couldn't stop levitating. It's not a criminal act, it's a magical aliment."

"What room is he in?"

"You're not seeing him until they figure out what's causing it," Molly said.

"Molly, if you don't show me where he is, I'll walk into every damn room on this floor until I find him."

"You won't take him to The Ministry until he's got it under control?"

"I won't," Moody said. "It's not like that would be good for The Ministry, either."

Molly didn't move.

"I'm not going to arrest him, Molly," Moody said. "I'm going to fucking teach him to apparate."

"We've already tried that," Arthur said. "The healers tried that. This isn't like normal apparition. It's . . . "

"Aggressive," Molly said.

"I have a lot of fucking experience with unstable young wizards," Moody said.

Arthur said, "Room 408."

"I want a few minutes alone with him. That's all."

"If he apparates," Molly said, "he won't have any control over where he ends up. It could be hours before we find him again. And he could kill himself doing it the way he is."

Moody held up the shackles and the chain. "That's why I brought these."

He walked past Molly and took the left hallway to Room 408.

Hagrid followed him. "There's a ward. I'll let ya in."

The door to Room 408 was closed and enchanted with a ward meant to keep out anyone who wasn't on the patients' lists of approved visitors. Hagrid took the handle and pushed the door open. He stood in the hallway while Moody walked inside.

There were two beds. A woman in her sixties was in the first bed. Her face was covered with green boils that leaked puss. She snored through her open mouth. In the bed by the window was a dark-haired boy.

Moody stopped. He had seen the boy's face before.

Where?

He walked forward and stood over the bed. "Rennervate."

The boy opened his eyes.

"Aaron Stone?"

"Yes?"

The boy was exhausted. He didn't lift his head.

He is just a kid.

"I'm Alastor Moody. I'm an Auror with The Ministry of Magic. You've been appariting all over the United Kingdom. You know about the underage wizarding laws, I assume."

"I know," Aaron said. "I can't-"

"How did you dissipate from Hogwarts?"

"I don't know," Aaron said.

"I know you didn't break the fucking wards," Moody said.

"No," Aaron said.

"But here you are," Moody said.

"The wards weren't there," Aaron said. "Nothing stopped me."

"So, what, you just started appariting once you realized the wards were down? Did you figure out you could dissipate from Hogwarts and then decide to have some fun while everyone was gone for the summer? Did you think no one would notice?"

"No," Aaron said. He pushed himself up. "I can't fucking control it."

"That part's true enough," Moody said. "You lost control all over fucking England and Scotland. You lit up The Ministry trace alerts like a fucking Christmas tree. How long did it take you to realize you're shite at apparition before you stopped trying to get back inside Hogwarts?"

Aaron said. "I wasn't trying to get back inside Hogwarts. I was trying to stop fucking appariting. I was seeing all these places and my damn body was being torn apart. If I didn't apparate-"

"What? You'd die?"

Aaron looked at the shackles. Moody set them on an empty chair with the chain.

"That's what apparition does when you use it like you did," Moody said. "The farther you go, the more energy it takes. And you were jumping clear across the country."

Aaron said, "I kept trying to stop."

Where the hell have I seen him before?

"How did you get to the Underground station?"

The boy's hands shook. "I don't know."

"Had you been there before?"

"No," Aaron said.

"That's not how apparition works."

"I know," Aaron said. "I wrote a fucking report on it."

"Tell me about the Underground station."

The boy's arms shook now, too. "Did you go there?"

"I did," Moody said. "I found the body."

"I don't know how it got there. I have no idea who it was."

"That body was all that was left of an execution," Moody said.

"I didn't kill anyone," Aaron said.

"No, you didn't," Moody said. "Not recently. The body was far too decomposed for that. Did you apparate it there?"

"What? No," Aaron said.

The boy's whole body shook. It was subtle, like his skin vibrated.

He's not shaking. He's appariting.

Shite.

"It's happening again, isn't it?"

Aaron nodded and closed his eyes.

"When you did your report on apparition, do you remember what you're supposed to do?"

"Arthur reminded me. Deliberation. Destination. Determination. None of it fucking works. All the destinations layer over each other and I'm pulled into whatever one decides to grab me."

"All the destinations?"

"I see everything at once, like every place I've ever been, and some I haven't," Aaron said. "It's happening now. I hear traffic and voices, like I'm already there. I can't pick a destination when they are all forcing their way down my throat."

"Then worry about the other two," Moody said. "Be determined. Deliberate."

"Be determined to what? To make it stop?"

"Focus on one of the places. Pick one you've been to before," Moody said. "Don't wait to see it. Picture it in your mind. Start with this room. Apparate to the doorway."

"I can't see the room anymore-"

Aaron's voice faded in and out.

"Yes, you can. Find the fucking doorway."

Aaron dissipated with a loud crack and appeared on the floor by the doorway.

"Do it again," Moody said, "apparate back."

Aaron looked at his hospital bed. He apparaited and landed on top of it.

"Again," Moody said, but Aaron's entire body shook. Moody grabbed his shoulders. Aaron winced, lost his grip on the room, and dissipated, pulling Moody with him.

They appeared in Dumbledore's office. Aaron shoved Moody off of him.

The air twitched.

"No, you don't." He grabbed Aaron again.

They appeared in the Gryffindor common room, disappeared again and landed on the floor in the Three Broomsticks. Another jump and they appeared in a park. Before Moody could worry about who saw them, Aaron dissipated again.

They appeared in Moody's apartment. Aaron held onto the table to keep himself upright.

"What the hell are we doing here?"

"I don't know," Aaron said. "I don't know where the hell here is."

"We're in my fucking apartment. In Edinburgh."

"It was one of the layers," Aaron said.

"Get us back to Hogwarts," Moody said. "I need to make sure the fucking wards aren't compromised."

"I can't-"

"No, you can. Fucking focus. Think of the details. Think of the way the fucking hallways smell after Filch walks by."

"It's lost in all the other-"

"Think of the house elves and the ghosts. Think of your Potions classroom. Think of the fucking dust all over the-"

The air collapsed around them. They appeared in the library at Hogwarts.

Moody laughed. "You fucking did it!"

Moody let go of Aaron and took out his wand. He checked the wards. They were still in-place.

How the fuck is he doing it?

Aaron collapsed. Moody grabbed him before he hit the floor.

Moody tired, but he couldn't apparate. The wards blocked him.

"Aaron? Get us back to St. Mungo's."

Aaron's eyes rolled to the back of his head.

Fuck.

Now he'd have to find a fireplace.