Hogwarts: I am Snape

Chapter 78 Phantom Manifestation Special Training
The peaceful weeks of campus life passed quickly.

James reappeared in class. Apart from being much quieter, he seemed otherwise normal.

However, every time Snape glanced over unintentionally, he would meet James's eyes, which were filled with hatred like a black lake overflowing during the rainy season.

So it seems Sirius didn't use the love potion on James. The question is, did Sirius throw it away or keep it?

This made Snape more cautious and try to avoid acting alone.

On the first Friday evening of April, when Snape and the others returned to the common room after dinner, they saw several sixth-year Slytherin students sitting around the crackling fire talking about something.

When they reached the bulletin board, they found a new notice posted on it, announcing the time for the Phantom Exam.

The notice stated that students who were 17 years of age or older could register to attend special training at Hogsmeade before the first exam (April 24th) (under strict supervision).

After reading the notice, Abbott slumped into his armchair like a deflated balloon. Despite being of legal age, he had never successfully apparated anyone, and he felt his chances of passing the exam were extremely slim.

"Sigh..." he said, "Looks like I'll have to take the train home again this holiday. I can't give my family a fright..."

Snape had succeeded a few times. However, he had no objection to riding the Hogwarts Express.

“We probably won’t have many more chances to take the train,” Snape said, pulling an empty chair from the fire and sitting down next to Abbott and Barty. “I’m a little sad to leave. Even if I pass the Apparition test, I’m planning to take the train back.”

Sitting by the warm fire, they chatted for a while about the few remaining days of their student days before they had to face their own realities: mountains of homework.

The assignments for the NEWT advanced course are more difficult than ever before; even a seemingly simple question may require consulting a large number of documents.

These days, Snape had many more opportunities to meet with Ms. Pince. Each time a book was borrowed or returned, she would bring her wrinkled face close to the book and carefully check whether the student would do anything inappropriate with these precious books.

On Sunday morning, Snape and Abbott waited in the foyer.

A short while later, Pandora walked from the west corridor toward the foyer. That was the direction where the Ravenclaw Tower was located.

After reuniting, they prepared to travel to Hogsmeade to participate in special Apparition training.

The weather outside was comfortable and pleasant, with a warm spring atmosphere and a rare clear blue sky with white clouds above the castle.

Upon arriving in Hogsmeade, they followed the purple magical arrows floating in the air, crossed the streets, and headed towards the part of the village closest to the mountains.

On the distant mountain peaks, the snow has melted and been replaced by a light blue hue.

Pale and slender Vicki Tykroth stood near Lady Patif's teahouse. Beside him stood a small witch wearing a pretty magenta wizard's hat, who appeared to be Tykroth's assistant.

Beside them, on the ground, lay an old-fashioned broom, a three-star flying broom. The broom handle bore many marks, clearly indicating its age.

Several students had already gathered around them, flipping through the booklets in their hands.

"Come here quickly!" The little witch waved enthusiastically to Snape and the others.

“Hello, I’m Celie Polk from the Apparition Testing Center, Mr. Tykros’s assistant.” As she spoke, Polk took out several booklets from her bag and handed them to them. “They contain everything you need to know about Apparition.”

"Of course, the most important thing is the three Ds that Mr. Tecros taught you: goal, determination, and composure."

Snape took the booklet titled "Common Mistakes in Appearance and How to Avoid Them" and flipped through it.

The booklet's cover bears the abbreviation for the Ministry of Magic—MoM—at the bottom, and features a nearly transparent cartoon wizard with hair and beard like Tycros. The cartoon wizard flickers across the booklet, appearing at the top and then at the bottom, politely bowing towards the outside of the pages.

“Listen up, everyone,” Polk told Tecrosseus after the students had all arrived, raising his voice to draw everyone’s attention, “Today, in Hogsmeade, you can relax and try Apparition.”

He paused for a moment, then continued, "There are no restrictions on apparitions here, so even if there are slight deviations, there's no need to worry too much."

“However, I still have to remind everyone that your target—” Tykros pointed to an open space outside Lady Patif’s Tea House marked with red ink. Compared to the wooden hoop they usually practiced on, that open space was surprisingly large. “I still hope that everyone can move as precisely as possible.”

"After all, when actually using Apparition, even the slightest mistake can lead to major problems. These terrible consequences are all written in the booklet, you can take a look."

“We’ll have more practice opportunities next week and the week after,” he added. “Then, the circle will be shrunk to the same size as the final assessment. Come on, line up, one at a time…”

When it was Snape's turn, he took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and tried to visualize the red circle in his mind, attempting to see his hair as part of his body as well.

With a soft click, he successfully apparated into the red circle. Pandora also succeeded in her subsequent attempts, even though her foot landed right on the edge of the circle.

Snape and Pandora's success greatly encouraged Abbott. He gripped his wand tightly, stood confidently beside Tychoros, and stared intently at the empty space.

Then he disappeared.

However, there was no one in sight in the open space.

The scene suddenly descended into chaos.

"Don't panic!" Tecros calmly told everyone, then bent down to pick up the flying broom from the ground and straddled it.

Sweeping Samsung, it wobbled into the sky at a speed befitting its performance.

Under the watchful eyes of his classmates, Tykroth spun in the air, squinting as he carefully searched for any sign of Abbot nearby.

After a while, he suddenly pointed in the direction of Hogsmeade Station and shouted, "He's there!"

Snape looked in the direction Tycros pointed and saw Abbott jogging towards them from the bottom of the slope.

When Abbott ran up to him, panting, Snape went up to him and asked, "Where have you been?"

"I manifested three brooms," Abbot said, panting, his hands on his knees.

"Did you do it on purpose, or by accident?" Snape couldn't help but ask.

　Thank you to the following readers for their monthly votes: I will always love Ximo-chan, Book Friend 150512230419451, enjoyAndy669, Book Friend 20170815190137064, Book Friend 20230919104755893, Ku Ge Zuo Ge, and He Hu Luo Ji.

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　　We're preparing to speed up the timeline so that Lily's storyline can come out.

　　The main problem is that this part is not easy to write; without major changes, it will be somewhat out of character (OOC).

　　I'll try to update more during the May Day holiday.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)