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Why don't wizards ever seem to disapparate themselves out of trouble?
Grey Wolf suggested:
The easiest reason is that it takes a little time to apparate, during which time you're half-here/half-there. . . . During those precious seconds, a wizard cannot do a simgle blessed thing, and he's fully in the aim of his enemy, so apparating cannot be used for a quick escape, or you would be blasted into smitherins when you started to fade (and became a sitting duck).
I like this suggestion, but I'm afraid that apparition does seem to be fairly instantaneous. We see Ludo Bagman do it in Chapter Nine of _GoF:_
Bagman swore loudly.
'Damn them!' he said, looking quite distracted, and without another word, he Disapparated with a small pop!
(Thus answering Eloise's question. Apparently when wizards disapparate, they "pop," just like House Elves do.)
Now admittedly, Bagman does look "distracted." But it doesn't seem to take him more than a second or so, if that, to Disapparate, nor does he "fade" or have any apparant transitional period at all.
I suppose, though, that a good magical duellist could probably whip off a spell at an opponent in even that split-second, and I am perfectly willing to entertain the notion that being the target of any spell while in the middle of disapparating might interfere with the process sufficiently to cause a splinch. That fact alone might cause wizards to think twice about trying to disapparate out of trouble in the middle of a magical confrontation. This might explain why Rosier, for example, who was unwilling to be taken alive by the Aurors, didn't just flee them rather than fighting to the death. Once you're already locked in combat, I imagine that it's really just a bit too late for that option.
I also find Grey Wolf's suggestion that using any form of magical shield (if such do in fact exist) would prevent one from apparating to be perfectly sensible and plausible.
Really, it seems to me that there are perfectly reasonable explanations for wizards failing to consider apparating as an option in all of the examples that Cindy originally cited.
We never see anyone save Dobby (who as an Elf has special magical powers and therefore is not bothered by shields and such) apparate in or out of a house. (Percy does so inside the Burrow, but apparating down the stairs does not involve crossing the boundaries of the house itself.) I imagine that this is because all wizarding houses are protected, as Hogwarts is, against this form of intrusion as a matter of basic security. If you can't apparate in, then you can't disapparate out. This covers the Potters, the Longbottoms, and Peter in the Shrieking Shack.
Apparating does not help you if you are ambushed or otherwise taken by surprise because, um, well, isn't that the whole point of being taken by surprise? So Bertha Jorkins didn't disapparate out of trouble because from her point of view, one minute she was out for a nice walk with Peter Pettigrew (had that memory charm problem of hers led her to forget that he was supposed to be dead, perhaps?), and the next minute she was unconscious or under Imperius or stunned or otherwise rendered incapable. Same with Moody. He went out to confront whatever was troubling his trash bins, and he got jumped. Crouch Sr. opened his front door and was immediately hit with the Imperius. None of these people really ever had the opportunity to disapparate themselves out of trouble.
You need to be in good mental and physical condition to apparate. We know that it is very difficult, and that if done improperly, it can lead you into trouble. I think it reasonable to assume that you have to be in pretty good form to pull it off. So Lupin takes the train, rather than apparating to Hogsmeade, because he is ill. Sirius doesn't apparate anywhere because he's a weakened and emaciated wreck. Crouch Jr. has just spent over a decade under the Imperius Curse in that Top Box, so even if Winky weren't binding him, he probably wouldn't have been in any condition to apparate anywhere anyway. And Pettigrew at the end of _PoA_ isn't in good condition either: he's sick and weak; he's been scrounging around for food in Hagrid's cupboards; and on top of all of that, he's just spent over a decade in his animagus form, which has just got to mess with your magical abilities.
Nah. It doesn't bother me at all.
You know what does sometimes trouble my sleep though? Wondering how all of those Death Eaters actually got home from the graveyard. I do worry about that sometimes. After all, how well can you apparate if you don't even know where you are? And it's hard to imagine a more awkward circumstance under which one could get oneself splinched, isn't it?
—Elkins (who thinks that Avery probably took the train)
Posted to HPfGU by Elkins on June 6, 2002 9:48 AM
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