Emma Potter

89 The Quidditch World Cup

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I felt as though I had barely lain down to sleep in Ginny's room when I was being shaken awake by Mrs.Weasley. 

"Time to go, Emma, dear," she whispered, moving away to wake Ginny and Hermione. 

I sat up. It wasstill dark outside. Ginny muttered indistinctly as her mother rousedhim. We dressed in silence, too sleepy to talk, then, yawning andstretching, the three of us headed downstairs into the kitchen.Mrs. Weasley was stirring the contents of a large pot on thestove, while Mr. Weasley was sitting at the table, checking a sheafof large parchment tickets. He looked up as the we entered andspread his arms so that we could see his clothes more clearly. He was wearing what appeared to be a golfing sweater and a very oldpair of jeans, slightly too big for him and held up with a thickleather belt.

 "What d'you think?" he asked anxiously. "We're supposed to goincognito — do I look like a Muggle, Emma?"

 "Yeah," I said, smiling, "very good."

 "Where're Bill and Charlie and Per-Per-Percy?" said Ginny, failing to stifle a huge yawn. 

"Well, they're Apparating, aren't they?" said Mrs. Weasley, heaving the large pot over to the table and starting to ladle porridge intobowls. "So they can have a bit of a lie-in." 

I knew that Apparating meant disappearing from one placeand reappearing almost instantly in another, but had never knownany Hogwarts student to do it, and understood that it was verydifficult.

 "So they're still in bed?" said Ginny grumpily, pulling her bowl ofporridge toward her. "Why can't we Apparate too?"

 "Because you're not of age and you haven't passed your test,"snapped Mrs. Weasley. "And where have those boyss got to?" 

She bustled out of the kitchen and they heard her climbing thestairs.

 "You have to pass a test to Apparate?" I asked. 

"Oh yes," said Mr. Weasley, tucking the tickets safely into theback pocket of his jeans. "The Department of Magical Transportation had to fine a couple of people the other day for Apparatingwithout a license. It's not easy, Apparition, and when it's not doneproperly it can lead to nasty complications. This pair I'm talkingabout went and splinched themselves." 

Everyone around the table except me and Hermione winced.

"Er — splinched?" I said.

 "They left half of themselves behind," said Mr. Weasley, nowspooning large amounts of treacle onto his porridge. "So, of course,they were stuck. Couldn't move either way. Had to wait for theAccidental Magic Reversal Squad to sort them out. Meant a fair oldbit of paperwork, I can tell you, what with the Muggles who spotted the body parts they'd left behind. . . ." 

I had a sudden vision of a pair of legs and an eyeball lyingabandoned on the pavement of Privet Drive. 

"Were they okay?" Hermione asked, startled. 

"Oh yes," said Mr. Weasley matter-of-factly. "But they got aheavy fine, and I don't think they'll be trying it again in a hurry.You don't mess around with Apparition. There are plenty of adultwizards who don't bother with it. Prefer brooms — slower, butsafer." 

"But Bill and Charlie and Percy can all do it?" 

"Charlie had to take the test twice," said Ginny, grinning. "Hefailed the first time, Apparated five miles south of where he meantto, right on top of some poor old dear doing her shopping,remember?"