The Apparition Curse
By SilverWolf7007
Somehow, someone had put a curse of some kind on the Slytherins and Gryffindors of the Hogwarts Graduating Class of 1997.
It hadn't been obvious at first, because most of the students in that year had elected to sit the test after graduation.
The first student in that year to receive his Apparition licence was Dean Thomas. Exactly a week later, he tried to Apparate to his apartment and ended up on the roof of the Burrow. People laughed, thought it was funny, and Dean made sure to be more careful. The event was then dismissed.
Not long after, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle managed to stun everyone by passing the test on the first try. A week later, they were headed for the local wizarding beach and ended up nearly being eaten by Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback, who was under the care of Charlie Weasley in Romania. Everyone merely put this down to their less than stellar intellect, and the incident was in no way connected with Dean's earlier accident.
Millicent Bulstrode, Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil all sat the test on the same day. They passed, they celebrated, and a week later they all experienced minor apparition accidents, landing in various small Muggle towns in the country and putting several young children into therapy until the Obliviators from the Ministry got around to modifying some memories.
Pansy Parkinson narrowly escaped falling off a cliff when she tried to Apparate from her home to Diagon Alley a week after her test, landing only two metres away from a deadly drop.
Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter realised then that these incidents were related, and that they could all be in danger. This realisation came too late to stop Neville Longbottom and Theodore Nott from sitting the exam.
However, after discussing it for hours, they informed their friends of the suspected plot, and both Neville and Theodore refrained from any apparition a week after they received their licences.
They did Apparate the next day.
Theodore ended up in New York, which had shocked him more than a little as he'd only been aiming for Malfoy Manor.
Neville had landed on a flight from Melbourne to London, and was lucky that there was a wizard on board who could perform Obliviate and help him create a false ticket and passport to get home.
Hermione Granger theorised that the longer between the day a week after the licence was issued, the more severe the accident. Blaise Zabini disagreed, as Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy had all come close to loosing their lives.
Ron Weasley was somewhat sceptical about the entire situation, but knew that his friends were probably right. However, he decided to sit the test regardless, because, in his words, the accidents had only been one-time things, and after it he'd be fine.
True to his words, a week after his test Ron Apparated, aiming for his childhood home.
He'd been more than a little annoyed to find himself at the bottom of a well, and even more annoyed when he realised that the well was in New Zealand.
Hermione and Blaise followed his example, and after meeting each other in Japan when they'd accidentally Apparated there, they found themselves relieved for it all to be over and suggested that Harry, Draco and Seamus Finnigan do the same.
Seamus had gone first. A week later, the day before Harry and Draco would apply for their licences, he tried to Apparate to Hogsmeade to meet Ron, Dean and Neville for drinks and vanished.
Despite not hearing from Seamus beforehand, Harry and Draco both sat the test the next morning, and were allocated their licences before lunch.
But when two days passed with no word from Seamus, they began to wish they hadn't.
Thankfully, six days after his disappearance, Seamus Apperated into Harry's kitchen, startling Harry, Draco, Hermione, Blaise, Theodore and Ron who had gathered there for breakfast.
Hermione quickly retrieved another plate for him, filled it, and pushed the exhausted looking man into her abandoned chair. "Eat while you tell us what happened."
Seamus nodded, digging into his meal. "Well, as you know, I tried to Apparate to Hogsmeade, and, as you know, we all seem to have a nice little curse on us. Unlike everyone else, I was not lucky when it came to where I ended up."
"Where were you?" Theodore asked him as he watched the blond eat.
Seamus swallowed quickly. "Antarctica, and bloody hell is it cold down there!"
They stared at him. He ignored them and continued both his meal and his tale.
"Yeah, so when I ended up in the land of ice, I tried for Tasmania, because it's close. I got there, spent the night, and kept hopping until I got here."
"You're lucky," Hermione told him.
He nodded. "Yeah, I know." He turned to Harry and Draco. "Did you two get your licences?"
They both nodded.
"So tomorrow's your day, eh?"
Harry sighed. "I really wish this wasn't happening."
"We've tried to find out how to stop it, but we just can't," Hermione said with a sigh. "I'm sorry Harry, Draco, but you'll both just have to take your chances tomorrow and hope for the best."
"No choice, really," Draco muttered. "Anyway, I think we should change the subject. Quick, someone say something interesting."
Laughing, Harry obliged. "Very well. Seamus, I get the feeling that there was more to this little Antarctic adventure than you're letting on. Spill."
Seamus winced. "Look, all I'm admitting to is the involvement of a llama and some pink dye. And Antarctica, of course. And possibly an Australian wizard who shall remain nameless for his sake, if not for mine."
The next morning started out normally. Harry immediately saw this as a very bad sign, and almost decided to give up then and there and live under a permanent self-imposed ban on Apparition. Draco had thought that this idea was pure genius.
Hermione then pointed out that for all they knew, not Apparating could actually get them killed.
"How?" Harry demanded. "How could not exposing ourselves to possible mortal peril get us killed?"
She glared at him. "Well for one, the curse, or whatever it is, might divert its attention to all of your magic. Either that, or just explode."
Draco gulped. "Explode?"
"Yes," Hermione replied with inordinate cheer. "Quite possibly spreading the two of you over several surrounding…countries…"
They quickly decided to skip breakfast and just bite the bullet, so to speak.
In order to show their support, Hermione, Ron, Blaise, Seamus, Dean, Neville, Parvati, Greg, Vince, Lavender, Pansy, Millicent and Theodore all showed up at the house that Harry owned (the guest rooms of which each had several semi-regular occupants – Harry's house was in a very convenient area).
Lavender and Blaise immediately began cooking breakfast for everyone, while Harry and Draco avoided the smell of food in the lounge room.
Finally those who were going to eat had done so (while Harry and Draco paced the house nervously). They gathered in the lounge room, watching Harry and Draco.
"Where are you going to try to Apparate to?" Seamus asked them.
The two men exchanged glances before answering together. "The kitchen."
They exchanged several nervous glances, tried to start conversations with their uncooperative friends and nearly managed to start a game of Exploding Snap before Hermione took the cards, Pansy smacked them both around the back of their heads and Theodore demanded they stop their bloody dithering and get the hell on with it.
Unwillingly, Harry and Draco took a few deep breaths, gulped, exchanged one last reluctant look, and with a pop, they were gone.
There was complete silence for a total of ten minutes.
It was about then that the current occupants of the lounge room accepted that their friends weren't suddenly going to come running out of the kitchen and suggest throwing a party to celebrate beating the odds again.
Mostly they were finding this hard to accept, and they moved back into the empty kitchen.
Lavender sighed. "Anyone for ice cream while we wait for the boys to turn up?"
Millicent answered by opening the freezer and beginning to take out the numerous tubs of ice cream that Harry kept for occasions when his friends were present.
As much as they all wanted to find Harry and Draco, they knew perfectly well that there wasn't anything they could do.
They would just have to wait.
Seamus's six-day disappearance had left his friends incredibly worried, but they had all expected that his would be the longest.
This was not to be.
It was, in fact, four weeks before anyone heard from Draco and Harry.
Draco, Seamus, Blaise, Theodore, Hermione, Ron and Dean had been talking about giving up their apartments, moving into Harry's house (also known as a mansion) and paying their friend some rent. Harry had been trying to convince them to hurry up about it.
While he and Draco were absent, the other six finally gave in, left their apartments and took up permanent residence in their usual 'guest' rooms.
And so, this meant that they were all sitting in the kitchen eating the remaining pizza Theodore had cooked the previous night for breakfast when a large grey owl flew in the window carrying a florescent purple envelope addressed in silver ink.
They all stared.
Finally, Dean snapped out of his daze and accepted the envelope from the owl.
The owl flew over to the section of the kitchen set aside for use by owls and made himself at home, while Dean raised an eyebrow at the names the letter was addressed to.
"It's addressed to the six of us, Millicent, Neville, Pansy, Lavender, Parvati, Greg and Vince. And it's in Harry's handwriting."
Immediately, the other five leaned forward expectantly.
Dean shook his head. "Shouldn't we call the others, first?"
Seamus rolled his eyes, poked his friend in the back of the head, stood up and headed for the fireplace. "All right, all right. I'll do the girls from here, Theo, you do Greg and Vince from the lounge, and 'Mione, you can call Nev from whichever other fireplace you like."
The three of them made the calls quickly. Only fifteen minutes after the arrival of the letter, the thirteen of them were seated around the table.
All eyes were on Dean, who still had possession of the envelope. He grabbed the nearest clean butter knife off the table and used it to slit open the envelope. He dropped it back onto the table and pulled out the letter.
Blaise snorted as he saw it. "Trust Harry to write us a letter on black paper."
"Actually," Dean informed them. "It's from Harry and Draco."
"Well, read the damn thing already!" Parvati snapped impatiently.
Dean held up his hands in surrender before bringing them down and beginning to read aloud.
'Dear Everyone,
As I'm sure you've noticed, Draco and I have been somewhat absent for the past four weeks or so. This is the fault of that tricky Apparition issue we've all been dealing with.
However, unlike the rest of you, we have continued to be plagued by this curse for the past four weeks.
What Harry is attempting to say is that we're STILL affected by it. We originally Apparated to a place called Sunnydale in California. We spent about a week there helping the locals out with a small problem –
Which we'll tell you about when we get home.
Yes, we will. Anyway, once that was done, we tried to Apparate home.
Instead, we Apparated to Colorado Springs, Colorado, where we again ran into some interesting individuals and hung about to lend a hand. After which, we tried again and ended up in Los Angeles, again in California.
Yet again, we found ourselves caught up in some strange happenings that we felt compelled to help sort out. And again, we tried to come home.
As I'm sure you can guess, it again failed. Thankfully, we ran into the friends we met in Colorado and they helped us out of a sticky situation. We tried again to Apparate home, and again we failed.
This time, we ended up in Australia, where we found out EXACTLY what happened with Seamus, the llama and the pink dye. And yes, Finnigan, we DO plan to tell everyone all about it when we get home.
We Apparated out of there quite quickly, and ended up back in LA, where our Sunnydale friends were visiting. That's where we are at the moment.
We have decided to send you this letter to assure you that we're still alive, and to tell you that we might still be a while.
We've chosen not to fly home on a plane or anything, but to wait until our Apparition issues have cleared up and we can do it properly. The one think I AM thankful for is that we haven't been separated…yet.
Thanks for jinxing us like this, Har. Very astute of you.
No problem, Dray, as I seem to recall you doing the very same thing.
Never mind that, there's no point filling up a letter with our random arguments, no matter how much I'm sure our friends have missed them.
Yeah, sure they have, Dray. Whatever you want to believe.
Anyway guys, we're alive, we're safe, we'll try to be home soon, we love you all, and whatever you do, DON'T BLOW UP MY BLOODY HOUSE!
You heard the man; no explosives. Or potions making. Or Weasley twin pranks. Or wild parties. Or anything of the sort, actually.
See you soon,
Love from,
Draco & Harry'
PS. Don't worry, we'll bring souvenirs. And possibly a random person or two.
PPS. Though we'll try not to. And can one of you make sure that Severus, Sirius and Remus all read this? Thanks.
PPPS. You don't know me, but I'm one of those random friends these guys have made while they've been in the states. I just thought I'd let you know that we're taking good care of them – or, well, they're still alive, at any rate. And considering Sunnydale's fatality rate…that's quite an accomplishment.
Dray, did you give Buffy the quill and letter?
No, I thought you must have.
Oh dear…
My thoughts exactly, Har.
Once Dean finished reading, the letter was passed from hand to hand, each of them utterly astounded at the account of events the errant young men had supplied them with and needing to see it with their own eyes.
Dean didn't blame them, and knew that if someone else had been doing the reading, he'd have needed to look it over for himself as well.
Finally, everyone was done and convinced.
"So what do we do now?" asked a bewildered Ron.
Blaise shrugged. "I guess we wait. And of course, someone gets to give the Godfathers the news."
The ex-Slytherins exchanged looks before a disgruntled Theodore gave a sigh. "I'll take Severus, I suppose. Who wants the puppies?"
The ex-Gryffindors also had a quick non-verbal debate, quickly nominating an annoyed Hermione. "Very well, I'll do it."
"So back to waiting, I suppose," sighed Pansy.
Neville nodded glumly. "Anyone for ice cream? Assuming you guys have any?"
Wordlessly, Ron, Seamus and Dean opened the freezer and began pulling out tubs, while Theodore and Blaise went for bowls and Hermione supplied spoons.
As usual, the Potions classroom at Hogwarts was full of students botching up their potions.
This was why when Theodore knocked on and then opened the door, a billowing cloud of pink, purple and aqua smoke assaulted him.
Waving it away and stepping inside, he raised an eyebrow at the stressed looking Severus, who was standing at the front of the classroom and surveying the damage with an oddly defeated expression.
"What can I do for you, Theodore?" he asked as his former student walked to the front of the classroom.
Theodore looked away from his ex-Head of House and put off the explanation by inquiring as to what was going on. "I can't help but notice that the room is looking oddly colourful, Severus. What on earth did this lot do?"
Severus just sighed. "This year's Gryffindor and Slytherin second years, I'm afraid, are completely hopeless at potions," he told him in an undertone so the students in the room wouldn't hear.
"But these are Ravenclaw fifth years…"
"I know. It was yesterday's lesson, actually, that the little brats all ruined their Allergy Alleviator Potions and gave us this lovely coloured smoke as a semi permanent decoration."
Theodore winced. "Ouch. Anyway, I have something for you, but it should probably wait until your lesson is over – never mind," he amended as the bell rang to signify the end of class.
He waited as Severus dismissed the Ravenclaws and watched them leave the classroom in haste. In his time in the room, Theodore couldn't help but notice that the somewhat sickly scent of fairy floss was heavily upon the air.
"How about we go somewhere less scented," Severus offered.
Nodding gratefully, Theodore agreed and followed the man to his private rooms.
Once they were seated on the green velvet couch, Theodore could no longer put off the bad news. "Severus, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but Harry and Draco have been stuck in the US for the past four weeks."
Severus blinked. "How, exactly, did that happen?"
Wordlessly, Theodore handed him the copy of the original letter that Hermione had made and waited as the older man read it through silently.
Finally, he finished. "What is this 'Apparition issue' they keep referring to?"
Theodore sighed. "When we Apparated exactly a week to the day we all took our Apparition tests, we all suffered an accident. Greg and Vince were nearly eaten by a dragon, Neville ended up on a plane, Pansy nearly fell off a cliff, Ron landed at the bottom of a well in New Zealand, Hermione and I met up in Japan after heading for different destinations, Seamus somehow reached Antarctica…but for us, it was a one-time thing."
"But it keeps happening to Harry and Draco," Severus mused. "Very odd. Thank you for bringing me the letter, Theodore. Who, may I ask, is taking it to Black and Lupin."
"Hermione."
"I wish her luck. I doubt they'll take this nearly as calmly as I am…especially Black."
Severus, of course, was right.
Hermione was sitting at the edge of the couch in front of the fire, while Remus stood by it and Sirius was pacing restlessly between them.
"Why the hell are they stranded in the US? Why wont they get a plane home? What if something happens to them? Or has happened! They mentioned all these things…what if they're hurt?"
"They're not hurt," Hermione soothed. "They wrote the letter to tell us that they were fine, remember?"
"Yes, but, but…"
"Sirius, sit down before you run into something," Remus advised. "Harry and Draco are no doubt fine."
Sirius sat, reluctantly, beside Hermione. "But Moony, you know what sort of town Sunnydale is, and LA is hardly better!"
"And you know perfectly well that Sunnydale is patrolled by a Slayer. If they got into trouble, she probably bailed them out."
"But – "
"No buts, Black," Remus said briskly. "You're going to deal with this calmly and rationally."
Hermione snorted softly.
"Hush, you," Remus told her, trying to hold back a smirk. "You listen, Sirius Black. Harry is fine. Draco is fine. They're both extremely competent wizards who can take care of themselves. They're also being quite sensible in their decision to stay until their problems with Apparition are resolved. Even if they did catch a plane back, they would probably Apparate right back to the US again, and have wasted the money for the tickets."
Sirius sighed, slumping back into the couch. "Fine. I'm calm; I'm rational. I can deal. Honestly."
"Good. Now all we have to do is wait for the boys to return from the US."
It was another two and a half weeks before they did so, and they did it with style.
Hermione had invited Sirius, Remus and Severus around for lunch, and the nine of them were sitting at picnic tables under the trees in the backyard of Harry's house, eating a meal cooked by Theodore, Hermione and Dean – the only three occupants of the house, aside from Harry and Draco, who were allowed to use the kitchen for anything more strenuous than toast.
They had moved onto the desert of ice cream sundaes when they all heard a loud crack from the area between the tables and the house.
Looking up, they were greeted by the sight of a slightly tanner than usual Draco dressed in a bright green with pineapples Hawaiian shirt and denim shorts, standing between two suitcases. "Hiya guys."
Before anyone could speak, there was a second pop, and he was gone.
Again, a pop startled them out of their stunned silence, and Harry was standing to the side of where Draco had appeared, with another two suitcases. He too was wearing a Hawaiian shirt (electric blue with orange and red flowers) and denim shorts. "Miss us?" he asked impishly before disappearing with another pop.
"What the hell is going on?" Sirius burst out, just in time to be heard by the returned Draco and Harry, both with another two suitcases each.
"My god I hope that's all," Remus muttered.
"It is," Harry assured him. "Only because we can't Apparate with other people yet. Our friends are having to fly over."
"Such a shame, really," Draco lamented, smirking.
Harry slapped his arm. "Shut up. You're not the one who has to pay for all the tickets."
"It won't kill you, Har, you're filthy rich, remember?"
"Would have been easier if Jack had managed to talk General Hammond into paying out of the SGC budget," Harry sulked.
Seamus cleared his throat. "Uh, boys? Now's not really the time to be debating such things."
Both Harry and Draco looked up and seemed to realise for the first time that not only were six of their friends present, but their respective godfathers were as well.
"Oh," Harry murmured.
"Oops," Draco added.
They exchanged a glance. "Shall we go inside so we can explain?" Harry suggested.
"Good idea," Severus growled.
They both winced, but levitated their suitcases before them and headed into the house, the others on their heels.
"We'll just take these upstairs," Draco said quickly. "You guys head into the lounge and sit down, we'll be back soon."
They darted upstairs in an obvious delaying tactic.
Nevertheless, the others all did as suggested.
Which was why they were all seated comfortably when a yell sounded from either Harry or Draco's room.
"Bloody hell, Angel nicked off with my jacket!"
"Harry, you stole it from him in the first place."
"But he let me!"
"Get over it!"
"This from the guy who sulked for three hours because Spike wouldn't let you have his duster!"
"Hey, that's a damn nice jacket!"
"So was this one, and I was allowed to have it!"
"You can get it back later!"
"Oh no, I'm getting it back now!" This was followed by a telltale crack.
Draco emerged sheepishly a few minutes later. "Um, Harry's had to nip back to LA for something, but don't worry, he'll be back soon."
There were several growls, and Remus had apparently had all he could take. He grabbed Draco, pushed him into the nearest armchair, and used a spell to tie him to it with duct tape.
"Spill, Malfoy," Seamus commanded with a devious smirk. "You may as well get started while we wait."
Meanwhile, at the Hyperion Hotel in LA, Harry had cornered the only person he could find. "Buffy, where's Angel? And more specifically, the jacket he said I could keep?"
The blonde Slayer looked around hopefully, but saw no one who could come to her rescue. "I don't know, Har. Honest. Well, I don't know about Angel, anyway. The jacket is on the coat rack, where you left it."
"Oh," Harry said sheepishly. "Oops."
She rolled her eyes. "Delaying tactic, much? Get the jacket, get home, and tell whoever is waiting for you the whole story." She grinned brightly and handed him a camera. "I forgot to give you this, too, so I'm glad you came back. Get some pictures when you tell."
Harry gave her a devious smirk as he retrieved his jacket. "Oh, I will. Don't worry. I'll see you soon."
Buffy watched him vanish with a pop. Once he was gone, her smile faded.
She, like everyone else here and several people in Colorado Springs, was really going to miss having those two guys around.
Thankfully, they would get to visit soon, and meet the family and friends who had been mentioned at length.
It promised to be fun.
This is a complete fic, but at some point there will be sequels documenting exactly what Harry and Draco got up to when participating in crossovers with Stargate: SG1, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Angel. And what happens when their new friends come to visit.
I hope you enjoyed it. Please review and tell me what you think.
S. Wolf