Chapter 15
Death and Disguise
The colours were swirling around his eyes, red and gold. It didn't make any sense. The colours swayed in front of his eyes. It took Harry several minutes to work out where he was. He had a feeling he wasn't dead but he wasn't sure where he was. He remembered smoke, and then the man- Snape. It was Snape; Snape had been standing at the door. It was Snape who was trying to get him. Why was he still alive, and where was he? His eyes had cleared a little and slowly he sat up. He was sitting on a couch in a circular room with red and gold panels. At one side there was a strange circular window. He was in the Turkish room. Beside him sitting on an ornate wood chair was Dumbledore watching him intently. Sirius was sleeping opposite the couch lying on the floor, but was no longer in his goblin disguise. Harry stared at them both his eyes questioning. "Ah Harry," Dumbledore gave him a small smile and then continued softly, "I think we owe you an explanation." "Sir, it was Snape. I saw him." Harry burst out. "Hush Harry. You will understand everything shortly. First for you to understand the present I believe you must understand the past. Allow me to tell you a little history. Please be patient, I will answer all your questions presently. About the time you were born I was present at a happy occasion. A married couple, close personal friends of mine gave birth to a son. However the happy morning was destroyed by a tragedy of the worst kind. The father had been a close follower of Lord Voldemort, however had changed allegiances and was now committed to bringing him down. To punish the father Lord Voldemort broke into the house just after the happy birth and murdered his newly born son, his beautiful wife and her sister. These tragic circumstances would change any man and the father became harder, sterner, some would not like him. All was not as it seemed. Lord Voldemort needed more information about how far he had been betrayed. He was not able to reach the father who was protected, so earlier this year he performed dark magic that only he would dare to perform. It is known as the Rite of Shakanti. It involves summoning the spirits of the dead. He went to a graveyard and called the spirit of the mother. He learnt not what he wanted to know but something worse, far worse. The mother had given birth to twins. By summoning the spirit of the sister, he was able to find out the fate of the second twin. On hearing the mother being attacked, the sister had used a protection on the blanket that the baby was wrapped in, and had laid the twin out of the window. She managed to complete this before Voldemort hearing her burst in and killed her also. The father in his grief never learned of his second son. This child would be the ideal tool to punish the father further and help Voldemort in his work. On finding this information, Lord Voldemort used muggle channels to discover the whereabouts of this child. The baby protected in its blanket was found by muggles a few hours after the death of his twin, aunt and mother. As is usual in such circumstances, the child was adopted into a muggle family. Voldemort using his dark powers found the whereabouts of the child and killing the boy's adoptive parents in the process, kidnapped the boy." Dumbledore stopped. Sirius was stirring, and gradually pulled himself upright and came to sit next to Harry. Harry used the pause to add a thought of his own, "The Rite of Shakanti, it involves fires and Voldemort cutting his arm doesn't it?" Dumbledore looked at him sharply, "How do you know that?" he asked quickly. "I saw it in a dream. It was in a graveyard. It was horrible." Harry shuddered. "Alas. That the scar will connect you, I fear. I am sorry you had to witness that." Dumbledore paused in thought. "Have you had any other strange dreams?" "I see a boy. His name is Richard. I see him often." "Richard. Richard- name is Richard." Sirius and Dumbledore stared at each other. There was another long pause. "Harry. The second twin. His name was Richard. Where was he? Do you know? " "He's in a cellar of some sort. Close to the sea I think. I could smell the sea salt. In a sort of cellar." "Interesting.that could be.well, we'll see, it gives us something to go on. I expect you are wondering how the story affects you. You know the father. It is Professor Snape." Nothing had prepared Harry for this. He looked at Dumbledore in horror. No wonder Snape was so bitter. "Voldemort has been in contact with Snape as I think you suspected. Voldemort demanded your death for Richard's release. Snape was in an impossible position. We discussed it in detail and eventually decided that he would try to kill you. It had to be convincing. Together we set up the hums. It was us who sent the goblet, but we made out biggest mistake. Neville was not supposed to drink it. Sirius was to knock it out of your hands before you drank a second mouthful. A single sip would have made you ill, but it would not have been enough to kill you." Sirius spoke for the first time, "I'm so sorry Harry. Can you forgive me?" Then Dumbledore continued, "Then two days ago Voldemort contacted Professor Snape again. He gave an ultimatum. If you weren't dead by the end of the week then Richard would die. We knew that if Snape didn't kill you He would find someone who could and would. This coincided with your concerns for your friends. You wanted to get your friends out of danger, and they certainly would be if Voldemort tried to attack Hogwarts. So we "killed" you. The whole wizarding world apart from Professor Snape, Professor McGonegall, Sirius and myself believes you to be dead." "What about Ron and Hermione? They know too don't they?" Dumbledore looked slightly guilty. "Voldemort will check all possibilities. He will not believe us cruel enough to deceive your closest friends. He will be watching the Weasleys. I wish with all my heart that this was not necessary but we didn't have much choice. If we are to beat Voldemort then sometimes it is necessary to be as ruthless as he is." Harry sat back weakly, digesting what he'd been told. Sirius sat next to him and put his arm protectively around Harry. After several minutes Harry asked "So now what do I do? And what will happen to Richard?" "Well I am fairly sure that everyone believes you to be dead, even Lord Voldemort. He will naturally be suspicious, but I believe that there will be no evidence to the contrary. He will send out spies, so I have taken the liberty of making the window invisible from the outside so you should be quite safe here, unless one of the four I mentioned are captured, there is no evidence of you. For the moment we believe you to be safe. Sirius will repay his debt to you and become your secret keeper. I in turn will become Sirius's secret keeper. As for Richard we are not sure. Voldemort may keep his side of his bargain, but I see no reason why he should. You must wonder why we went to such pains to disguise your death with little hope of reward. Voldemort will be thrown by this move. He may trust Professor Snape enough to let him become a Death Eater again, or he may kill him. Professor Snape is willing to take the risk it may be his only chance to exact revenge on Voldemort. However his main hope is to rescue his son. Your safety is equally important. Voldemort now has great power. Hogwarts may not be safe. He may have the strength to enter it normally, or more likely use his contacts in The Ministry of Magic to enter. With the students home and you believed dead, I think I have minimised the risk to all. "As for what you are to do now, I think the simplest answer is nothing. I will arrange for your Quiddax set and books for you to use. Is there anything else we can provide you with?" Harry shook his head dumbly. "One more thing Harry. I know that there is no love lost between you and Professor Snape. However, I will personally vouch to the great risks he has been through to protect your life. He has put his life in danger by protecting you. Not only that, he has risked what is most precious to him for your safety. He could have taken the easy path and crossed to the dark side, even if he hadn't he could have killed you to get back his son. I don't expect you to be friends now but I would like you to respect the sacrifices he has made for you. If Voldemort ever finds the extent of his deceit and seeks revenge then Professor Snape will pay the greatest price for your life." Dumbledore was staring straight at Harry. Harry looked away embarrassed. "I'm sorry sir," Harry wasn't sure what he was apologising for, but it seemed the right thing to say. "I understand how you must be feeling. This is an adult's burden on one who has already suffered much. I honour you Harry." With that Dumbledore left the room, his midnight blue cloak sweeping the floor. Sirius was watching Harry carefully. Remembering Sirius's mood at the Snow Ball, Harry asked Sirius, "What do you think about all this?" "I believe that some of the measures that Professor Dumbledore have taken are a little excessive, however your safety is most important to me and I therefore consent to Professor Dumbledore's actions. You should be safe now. I would like to express my deep regret for Neville's accident. I was entirely to blame. I would apologise to him, but I wouldn't be able to explain everything. He is alright though," Sirius added catching Harry's worried expression, "We were foresighted enough to have an antidote which revived him within a few hours. We had to pretend that it was worse than it was to continue the deceit. We do not know how far Voldemort has penetrated Hogwarts, whether he has willing or unwilling servants here. Some of the older students are not above suspicion. Voldemort we hope will have believed what his spies have told him." "Sirius, I know I'm supposed to like Snape, but why does he hate me so much? I know he still hates my father, but I think there is more than that." Sirius considered it so long, that Harry thought that he wasn't going to answer. "I don't know for sure Harry, I don't know everything Dumbledore knows, but Richard is about the same age as you. The death of his family is enough to unsettle any man, I think he seems to hate the Ministry because they failed to protect his family.but he hates you I think because you survived You Know Who's wand whereas his own family perished. It's funny how grief can affect people. Anyway, I beseech you not to consider the subject further.There is one last thing. In case our secret is discovered we, Dumbledore and I have decided that, if you are willing, you should learn to apparate." That Harry thought was the first piece of good news he had heard all day.
Harry soon found that being dead wasn't all it was made out to be. He was restricted to the Turkish room and after a day he was extremely bored. His Quiddax set was a great help in helping him keeping his mind off being bored. Much to his disappointment, studying to apparate involved a lot of reading and preparatory work. Sirius found him many books to read on the subject that seemed to paint a very dangerous picture of apparation. There seemed to be many descriptions of splinchings. Connor Denk in 1125 became the first person to leave his headless body behind. This had contributed to many muggle ghost stories around the area. It was nearly a week before Harry was given his first lesson on how to actually apparate. As with most hard spells it wasn't the words you said or the action with the wand that meant you could do it, but the concentration. Sirius taught him how to let his mind go completely blank and concentrate on precisely where he was going. Any distractions to this single thought would cause him to be splinched. You didn't actually need to have been to the place before. Harry practised hard at his concentration skills, but Sirius wouldn't teach him any more; "As Hermione has reminded you numerous times, you can't apparate within Hogwarts grounds. We'll have to go somewhere else to do that." The next day Harry left the Turkish Room for the first time since his "death". Using his invisibility cloak he followed Sirius out of the Turkish room. They went a short way down the corridor before Sirius whispered Oblivion to a Victorian witch sitting next to a boiling cauldron. Her portrait lifted slowly up to revel a small door. They passed through it and found themselves at the top of a flight of small circular steps that led steeply down and down. Sirius said lumos, and a pale light cut through the blackness. The steps went down and down, until Harry guessed they were far under the castle. They walked through dark, dank passages that lead deep under the castle. The stale air smelt murky and stifling, and drips slip down the walls. They had been walking in a straight line for nearly ten minutes when the passage abruptly stopped. There was a ladder attached to the wall, which they climbed. They hadn't gone far when they reached a trap door, which Sirius threw open. Harry knew they were well out of the castle, and maybe beyond the Hogwarts grounds, but the circular staircase had confused his sense of direction. Harry climbed out of the tunnel and found himself in what looked from the inside like a muggle potting shed. It was made of weathered wood, smelled musty and had a small window at one end. Outside there were towering trees, and Harry realised they must be in the Forbidden Forest. "Are you still with me?" whispered Sirius looking in completely the wrong direction. "Yes," Harry replied whispering so loudly that Sirius jumped. "It's alright. We don't have to whisper here. It's sound proof, and no one can see in. Right. I need you to sit and concentrate on this shed, like I told you to do yesterday. You will be apparating here, and you need it crystal clear in your head. Oh, and you can take off your invisibility cloak. No-one but the centaurs know of this room, and they will be sleeping as likely as not." Harry took of his cloak, and surveyed the room. It was so plain, that Harry found it hard to remember. As he looked, Harry found for the first time that there were two trap doors on the floor, and there was no door. The floor was varnished wood, and the window was slightly grimy. There were no items of furniture, but on the wall nearest to Harry was a large knot in the wood. It looked oddly like a head. Harry stared at it, he could see a mouth, and it somehow seemed to be screaming in agony. He shuddered involuntary. It reminded him of the spirit that Voldemort had called from the grave. He looked round the room one more time, and then nodded at Sirius. Sirius opened the other trapdoor and went down some steps. Harry followed, and shortly they found themselves in another room. This was circular in shape, and the walls were made of gnarled wood. Harry suddenly realised that they were inside a huge tree. This room was obviously better-used than the shed they had just come from. It contained what looked liked a wardrobe and cupboards and even had a small couch. There was a door cut out of the tree trunk but there were no windows. Light streamed in from hollows high in the tree. "This is Professor Dumbledore's apparating chamber. This is where he apparates from if he needs to leave in a hurry. We are in a large tree near the gates, on the edge of the Forbidden Forest." Harry had a sudden thought. This was a way out of the castle, but he couldn't remember seeing anything about it on the Marauders Map. He asked Sirius who replied in surprise, "How did you get hold of that? It was of great use to us." Harry had forgotten that Sirius was one of the makers, "Well Dumbledore wouldn't let us know all the secrets of Hogwarts would he? There are many places we knew nothing about, they are hidden by concealing charms and repelling charms. Our limited schoolboy seeking charms could only find those that were forgotten about, or not protected. Trust you to get hold of that. How did you come by it, you never told me?" Harry felt he shouldn't say but he knew Sirius wouldn't let it go any further. "The Weasley twins," he said at last. Sirius grinned, "I might have guessed. I wonder how they got it. Anyway no matter. Let's get on with this. Sit on that stool and concentrate on the room we left. It has to appear so clear in your head that you could actually be there. Harry concentrated, he could see some things, but he didn't feel like he was actually there. He told Sirius, "You better go back, and see if you can memorise it better, I don't want to take any risks. You must know exactly where you're going. Go back. I'll wait for you here." Harry slipped back along the passage, and sat on the floor of the shed room trying to remember every detail. After several minutes he felt he had committed it to memory and returned quickly to Sirius. Sirius looked pleased. "Now apparation is hard to learn, but is easy when you get the hang of it. Firstly recreate the room in your head. Then you need to hold your wand like this, and say the apparating spell. I will demonstrate first and return to you before you do it yourself." Sirius stood in the middle of the room, held our his wand at right angles to his body and gave it a sharp flick, saying Locomotis Apparatus. Then next moment he was gone. Harry was feeling very nervous. He was terribly afraid of getting splinched. There were butterflies roaming his stomach, but he tried to ignore them. Sirius apparated back within seconds. "Perhaps before we actually do it, you'd better practise the wand movements again. It's straight ahead, and a sharp flick. Like this. And the words. They must be stressed at the right place - LOCOmortis APParaTUS. Harry practised the words and actions a few times. Sirius seemed pleased. "Now picture yourself in the room. That's the trick. To picture yourself in the room. I'll follow you, wait for me there. In your own time." Harry ignored the urge to be sick, and banished the pictures from the book showing people being splinched. He cleared his mind of everything except that small room that smelled musty and had a large knot that looked like a woman screaming and had a dusty floor, and grimy windows. Before he knew really what he was doing he had the wand out in front of him and was saying locomotis apparatus. His body was wrenched sharply, like being in a speeding car that has just done an emergency stop. This is it he thought. I've been splinched. He opened his eyes, which he hadn't realised he'd closed and found himself staring at the wooded wall of the shed. A huge wave of relief flooded him. It wasn't that hard. He could do that again. Sirius appeared beside him. "Well done Harry. That was your first apparation. It's a wizarding tradition to have a small cake called an apparating cake. He produced one from his coat. It was green and orange and had black lumps in it. Harry was about to ask what the black lumps were, but when one of them moved he thought he'd rather not know. He took the small cake, and took a large bite. The result was incredible. It was a cross between the hottest curry, and a mouth full of fizzing sherbet. His whole mouth seemed to be spitting, bubbling and on fire at the same time. Harry swallowed it quickly, tears coming to his eyes. As it went down his throat, his entire body tingled like pins and needles all over. Sirius was watching him happily, "It's not usual to take such a big bite," he said with a broad smile. Harry quickly wiping his eyes, stared at the remainder of the cake with suspicion. He was sure one of the black beans was waving at him. Assuming it was his eyes he rubbed them again. The black bean now looked like it was leering at him. Harry was sure it had a little grinning face. "Do you want any more?" Sirius asked. Feeling it would be impolite not to eat it Harry regretfully took a smaller bite than before. Oddly enough he found the experience quite pleasurable this time. It was a fizzing sweetness, with a sharp after-taste. He finished off the cake and smiled back at Sirius. "OK then Harry let's have a few more apparations and then we'll head back to the castle. He disappeared and Harry his mouth still fizzing, imagined the tree house in his head and followed him. (
oHo
Death and Disguise
The colours were swirling around his eyes, red and gold. It didn't make any sense. The colours swayed in front of his eyes. It took Harry several minutes to work out where he was. He had a feeling he wasn't dead but he wasn't sure where he was. He remembered smoke, and then the man- Snape. It was Snape; Snape had been standing at the door. It was Snape who was trying to get him. Why was he still alive, and where was he? His eyes had cleared a little and slowly he sat up. He was sitting on a couch in a circular room with red and gold panels. At one side there was a strange circular window. He was in the Turkish room. Beside him sitting on an ornate wood chair was Dumbledore watching him intently. Sirius was sleeping opposite the couch lying on the floor, but was no longer in his goblin disguise. Harry stared at them both his eyes questioning. "Ah Harry," Dumbledore gave him a small smile and then continued softly, "I think we owe you an explanation." "Sir, it was Snape. I saw him." Harry burst out. "Hush Harry. You will understand everything shortly. First for you to understand the present I believe you must understand the past. Allow me to tell you a little history. Please be patient, I will answer all your questions presently. About the time you were born I was present at a happy occasion. A married couple, close personal friends of mine gave birth to a son. However the happy morning was destroyed by a tragedy of the worst kind. The father had been a close follower of Lord Voldemort, however had changed allegiances and was now committed to bringing him down. To punish the father Lord Voldemort broke into the house just after the happy birth and murdered his newly born son, his beautiful wife and her sister. These tragic circumstances would change any man and the father became harder, sterner, some would not like him. All was not as it seemed. Lord Voldemort needed more information about how far he had been betrayed. He was not able to reach the father who was protected, so earlier this year he performed dark magic that only he would dare to perform. It is known as the Rite of Shakanti. It involves summoning the spirits of the dead. He went to a graveyard and called the spirit of the mother. He learnt not what he wanted to know but something worse, far worse. The mother had given birth to twins. By summoning the spirit of the sister, he was able to find out the fate of the second twin. On hearing the mother being attacked, the sister had used a protection on the blanket that the baby was wrapped in, and had laid the twin out of the window. She managed to complete this before Voldemort hearing her burst in and killed her also. The father in his grief never learned of his second son. This child would be the ideal tool to punish the father further and help Voldemort in his work. On finding this information, Lord Voldemort used muggle channels to discover the whereabouts of this child. The baby protected in its blanket was found by muggles a few hours after the death of his twin, aunt and mother. As is usual in such circumstances, the child was adopted into a muggle family. Voldemort using his dark powers found the whereabouts of the child and killing the boy's adoptive parents in the process, kidnapped the boy." Dumbledore stopped. Sirius was stirring, and gradually pulled himself upright and came to sit next to Harry. Harry used the pause to add a thought of his own, "The Rite of Shakanti, it involves fires and Voldemort cutting his arm doesn't it?" Dumbledore looked at him sharply, "How do you know that?" he asked quickly. "I saw it in a dream. It was in a graveyard. It was horrible." Harry shuddered. "Alas. That the scar will connect you, I fear. I am sorry you had to witness that." Dumbledore paused in thought. "Have you had any other strange dreams?" "I see a boy. His name is Richard. I see him often." "Richard. Richard- name is Richard." Sirius and Dumbledore stared at each other. There was another long pause. "Harry. The second twin. His name was Richard. Where was he? Do you know? " "He's in a cellar of some sort. Close to the sea I think. I could smell the sea salt. In a sort of cellar." "Interesting.that could be.well, we'll see, it gives us something to go on. I expect you are wondering how the story affects you. You know the father. It is Professor Snape." Nothing had prepared Harry for this. He looked at Dumbledore in horror. No wonder Snape was so bitter. "Voldemort has been in contact with Snape as I think you suspected. Voldemort demanded your death for Richard's release. Snape was in an impossible position. We discussed it in detail and eventually decided that he would try to kill you. It had to be convincing. Together we set up the hums. It was us who sent the goblet, but we made out biggest mistake. Neville was not supposed to drink it. Sirius was to knock it out of your hands before you drank a second mouthful. A single sip would have made you ill, but it would not have been enough to kill you." Sirius spoke for the first time, "I'm so sorry Harry. Can you forgive me?" Then Dumbledore continued, "Then two days ago Voldemort contacted Professor Snape again. He gave an ultimatum. If you weren't dead by the end of the week then Richard would die. We knew that if Snape didn't kill you He would find someone who could and would. This coincided with your concerns for your friends. You wanted to get your friends out of danger, and they certainly would be if Voldemort tried to attack Hogwarts. So we "killed" you. The whole wizarding world apart from Professor Snape, Professor McGonegall, Sirius and myself believes you to be dead." "What about Ron and Hermione? They know too don't they?" Dumbledore looked slightly guilty. "Voldemort will check all possibilities. He will not believe us cruel enough to deceive your closest friends. He will be watching the Weasleys. I wish with all my heart that this was not necessary but we didn't have much choice. If we are to beat Voldemort then sometimes it is necessary to be as ruthless as he is." Harry sat back weakly, digesting what he'd been told. Sirius sat next to him and put his arm protectively around Harry. After several minutes Harry asked "So now what do I do? And what will happen to Richard?" "Well I am fairly sure that everyone believes you to be dead, even Lord Voldemort. He will naturally be suspicious, but I believe that there will be no evidence to the contrary. He will send out spies, so I have taken the liberty of making the window invisible from the outside so you should be quite safe here, unless one of the four I mentioned are captured, there is no evidence of you. For the moment we believe you to be safe. Sirius will repay his debt to you and become your secret keeper. I in turn will become Sirius's secret keeper. As for Richard we are not sure. Voldemort may keep his side of his bargain, but I see no reason why he should. You must wonder why we went to such pains to disguise your death with little hope of reward. Voldemort will be thrown by this move. He may trust Professor Snape enough to let him become a Death Eater again, or he may kill him. Professor Snape is willing to take the risk it may be his only chance to exact revenge on Voldemort. However his main hope is to rescue his son. Your safety is equally important. Voldemort now has great power. Hogwarts may not be safe. He may have the strength to enter it normally, or more likely use his contacts in The Ministry of Magic to enter. With the students home and you believed dead, I think I have minimised the risk to all. "As for what you are to do now, I think the simplest answer is nothing. I will arrange for your Quiddax set and books for you to use. Is there anything else we can provide you with?" Harry shook his head dumbly. "One more thing Harry. I know that there is no love lost between you and Professor Snape. However, I will personally vouch to the great risks he has been through to protect your life. He has put his life in danger by protecting you. Not only that, he has risked what is most precious to him for your safety. He could have taken the easy path and crossed to the dark side, even if he hadn't he could have killed you to get back his son. I don't expect you to be friends now but I would like you to respect the sacrifices he has made for you. If Voldemort ever finds the extent of his deceit and seeks revenge then Professor Snape will pay the greatest price for your life." Dumbledore was staring straight at Harry. Harry looked away embarrassed. "I'm sorry sir," Harry wasn't sure what he was apologising for, but it seemed the right thing to say. "I understand how you must be feeling. This is an adult's burden on one who has already suffered much. I honour you Harry." With that Dumbledore left the room, his midnight blue cloak sweeping the floor. Sirius was watching Harry carefully. Remembering Sirius's mood at the Snow Ball, Harry asked Sirius, "What do you think about all this?" "I believe that some of the measures that Professor Dumbledore have taken are a little excessive, however your safety is most important to me and I therefore consent to Professor Dumbledore's actions. You should be safe now. I would like to express my deep regret for Neville's accident. I was entirely to blame. I would apologise to him, but I wouldn't be able to explain everything. He is alright though," Sirius added catching Harry's worried expression, "We were foresighted enough to have an antidote which revived him within a few hours. We had to pretend that it was worse than it was to continue the deceit. We do not know how far Voldemort has penetrated Hogwarts, whether he has willing or unwilling servants here. Some of the older students are not above suspicion. Voldemort we hope will have believed what his spies have told him." "Sirius, I know I'm supposed to like Snape, but why does he hate me so much? I know he still hates my father, but I think there is more than that." Sirius considered it so long, that Harry thought that he wasn't going to answer. "I don't know for sure Harry, I don't know everything Dumbledore knows, but Richard is about the same age as you. The death of his family is enough to unsettle any man, I think he seems to hate the Ministry because they failed to protect his family.but he hates you I think because you survived You Know Who's wand whereas his own family perished. It's funny how grief can affect people. Anyway, I beseech you not to consider the subject further.There is one last thing. In case our secret is discovered we, Dumbledore and I have decided that, if you are willing, you should learn to apparate." That Harry thought was the first piece of good news he had heard all day.
Harry soon found that being dead wasn't all it was made out to be. He was restricted to the Turkish room and after a day he was extremely bored. His Quiddax set was a great help in helping him keeping his mind off being bored. Much to his disappointment, studying to apparate involved a lot of reading and preparatory work. Sirius found him many books to read on the subject that seemed to paint a very dangerous picture of apparation. There seemed to be many descriptions of splinchings. Connor Denk in 1125 became the first person to leave his headless body behind. This had contributed to many muggle ghost stories around the area. It was nearly a week before Harry was given his first lesson on how to actually apparate. As with most hard spells it wasn't the words you said or the action with the wand that meant you could do it, but the concentration. Sirius taught him how to let his mind go completely blank and concentrate on precisely where he was going. Any distractions to this single thought would cause him to be splinched. You didn't actually need to have been to the place before. Harry practised hard at his concentration skills, but Sirius wouldn't teach him any more; "As Hermione has reminded you numerous times, you can't apparate within Hogwarts grounds. We'll have to go somewhere else to do that." The next day Harry left the Turkish Room for the first time since his "death". Using his invisibility cloak he followed Sirius out of the Turkish room. They went a short way down the corridor before Sirius whispered Oblivion to a Victorian witch sitting next to a boiling cauldron. Her portrait lifted slowly up to revel a small door. They passed through it and found themselves at the top of a flight of small circular steps that led steeply down and down. Sirius said lumos, and a pale light cut through the blackness. The steps went down and down, until Harry guessed they were far under the castle. They walked through dark, dank passages that lead deep under the castle. The stale air smelt murky and stifling, and drips slip down the walls. They had been walking in a straight line for nearly ten minutes when the passage abruptly stopped. There was a ladder attached to the wall, which they climbed. They hadn't gone far when they reached a trap door, which Sirius threw open. Harry knew they were well out of the castle, and maybe beyond the Hogwarts grounds, but the circular staircase had confused his sense of direction. Harry climbed out of the tunnel and found himself in what looked from the inside like a muggle potting shed. It was made of weathered wood, smelled musty and had a small window at one end. Outside there were towering trees, and Harry realised they must be in the Forbidden Forest. "Are you still with me?" whispered Sirius looking in completely the wrong direction. "Yes," Harry replied whispering so loudly that Sirius jumped. "It's alright. We don't have to whisper here. It's sound proof, and no one can see in. Right. I need you to sit and concentrate on this shed, like I told you to do yesterday. You will be apparating here, and you need it crystal clear in your head. Oh, and you can take off your invisibility cloak. No-one but the centaurs know of this room, and they will be sleeping as likely as not." Harry took of his cloak, and surveyed the room. It was so plain, that Harry found it hard to remember. As he looked, Harry found for the first time that there were two trap doors on the floor, and there was no door. The floor was varnished wood, and the window was slightly grimy. There were no items of furniture, but on the wall nearest to Harry was a large knot in the wood. It looked oddly like a head. Harry stared at it, he could see a mouth, and it somehow seemed to be screaming in agony. He shuddered involuntary. It reminded him of the spirit that Voldemort had called from the grave. He looked round the room one more time, and then nodded at Sirius. Sirius opened the other trapdoor and went down some steps. Harry followed, and shortly they found themselves in another room. This was circular in shape, and the walls were made of gnarled wood. Harry suddenly realised that they were inside a huge tree. This room was obviously better-used than the shed they had just come from. It contained what looked liked a wardrobe and cupboards and even had a small couch. There was a door cut out of the tree trunk but there were no windows. Light streamed in from hollows high in the tree. "This is Professor Dumbledore's apparating chamber. This is where he apparates from if he needs to leave in a hurry. We are in a large tree near the gates, on the edge of the Forbidden Forest." Harry had a sudden thought. This was a way out of the castle, but he couldn't remember seeing anything about it on the Marauders Map. He asked Sirius who replied in surprise, "How did you get hold of that? It was of great use to us." Harry had forgotten that Sirius was one of the makers, "Well Dumbledore wouldn't let us know all the secrets of Hogwarts would he? There are many places we knew nothing about, they are hidden by concealing charms and repelling charms. Our limited schoolboy seeking charms could only find those that were forgotten about, or not protected. Trust you to get hold of that. How did you come by it, you never told me?" Harry felt he shouldn't say but he knew Sirius wouldn't let it go any further. "The Weasley twins," he said at last. Sirius grinned, "I might have guessed. I wonder how they got it. Anyway no matter. Let's get on with this. Sit on that stool and concentrate on the room we left. It has to appear so clear in your head that you could actually be there. Harry concentrated, he could see some things, but he didn't feel like he was actually there. He told Sirius, "You better go back, and see if you can memorise it better, I don't want to take any risks. You must know exactly where you're going. Go back. I'll wait for you here." Harry slipped back along the passage, and sat on the floor of the shed room trying to remember every detail. After several minutes he felt he had committed it to memory and returned quickly to Sirius. Sirius looked pleased. "Now apparation is hard to learn, but is easy when you get the hang of it. Firstly recreate the room in your head. Then you need to hold your wand like this, and say the apparating spell. I will demonstrate first and return to you before you do it yourself." Sirius stood in the middle of the room, held our his wand at right angles to his body and gave it a sharp flick, saying Locomotis Apparatus. Then next moment he was gone. Harry was feeling very nervous. He was terribly afraid of getting splinched. There were butterflies roaming his stomach, but he tried to ignore them. Sirius apparated back within seconds. "Perhaps before we actually do it, you'd better practise the wand movements again. It's straight ahead, and a sharp flick. Like this. And the words. They must be stressed at the right place - LOCOmortis APParaTUS. Harry practised the words and actions a few times. Sirius seemed pleased. "Now picture yourself in the room. That's the trick. To picture yourself in the room. I'll follow you, wait for me there. In your own time." Harry ignored the urge to be sick, and banished the pictures from the book showing people being splinched. He cleared his mind of everything except that small room that smelled musty and had a large knot that looked like a woman screaming and had a dusty floor, and grimy windows. Before he knew really what he was doing he had the wand out in front of him and was saying locomotis apparatus. His body was wrenched sharply, like being in a speeding car that has just done an emergency stop. This is it he thought. I've been splinched. He opened his eyes, which he hadn't realised he'd closed and found himself staring at the wooded wall of the shed. A huge wave of relief flooded him. It wasn't that hard. He could do that again. Sirius appeared beside him. "Well done Harry. That was your first apparation. It's a wizarding tradition to have a small cake called an apparating cake. He produced one from his coat. It was green and orange and had black lumps in it. Harry was about to ask what the black lumps were, but when one of them moved he thought he'd rather not know. He took the small cake, and took a large bite. The result was incredible. It was a cross between the hottest curry, and a mouth full of fizzing sherbet. His whole mouth seemed to be spitting, bubbling and on fire at the same time. Harry swallowed it quickly, tears coming to his eyes. As it went down his throat, his entire body tingled like pins and needles all over. Sirius was watching him happily, "It's not usual to take such a big bite," he said with a broad smile. Harry quickly wiping his eyes, stared at the remainder of the cake with suspicion. He was sure one of the black beans was waving at him. Assuming it was his eyes he rubbed them again. The black bean now looked like it was leering at him. Harry was sure it had a little grinning face. "Do you want any more?" Sirius asked. Feeling it would be impolite not to eat it Harry regretfully took a smaller bite than before. Oddly enough he found the experience quite pleasurable this time. It was a fizzing sweetness, with a sharp after-taste. He finished off the cake and smiled back at Sirius. "OK then Harry let's have a few more apparations and then we'll head back to the castle. He disappeared and Harry his mouth still fizzing, imagined the tree house in his head and followed him. (
oHo