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In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Amos says:

Had to get up at two, didn't we, Ced? I tell you, I'll be glad when he's got his Apparation test[...]

I can infer that they had to wake up early to get there on time. Therefore, they had to use some other form of transportation that was not instant. Why didn't Amos just use Side-Along Apparation. It would have made the trip quick, and they wouldn't have to wake up so early.

Jake
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  • See also http://scifi.stackexchange.com/q/22435/4918 Why didn't Mr. Weasley use Side-Along Apparition to get to the Quidditch World Cup? – b_jonas Feb 26 '15 at 09:49
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    It's been a while - do we ever see Amos Apparate? – DavidS Feb 26 '15 at 10:15

1 Answers1

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Side-along Apparition probably requires more skill than just Apparating yourself.

The instructions for Apparition include “Let your yearning to enter it flood from your mind to every particle of your body.” This is probably easier if you only want to Apparate your body, rather than the body of other people too.

I believe we've seen only two wizards perform Side-along Apparition in the books. One was Professor Dumbledore, who has immense magical skill and experience. The other was Hermione, who did it as an emergency measure and when they were fugitives and didn't have much choice.

Further, we know that Apparating can be dangerous. If someone without the experience tries side-along Apparition, there's probably an even higher chance of accidents than for just Apparating themselves, and they'd be risking to injure their passengers.

It's quite possible that Amos hadn't learned how to use side-along Apparition safely.

b_jonas
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    IRIC, side-along apparating on the part of Hermione resulted in Ron being splinched? Or was that Ron himself? – DVK-on-Ahch-To Feb 26 '15 at 16:59
  • @DVK: yes, it did. I didn't want to bring that up much because it was an emergency. Hermione had to act in a hurry, she didn't have time to prepare the Apparition properly, which is why it was dangerous. – b_jonas Feb 26 '15 at 17:36
  • This wiki page says that Ron splinches himself twice: 1) Fleeing the Ministry of Magic in Deathly Hallows 1 chapters 13 and 14, losing a large chunk of his arm and bleeding quite a bit; 2) Fleeing the snatchers, losing 2 fingernails; and the wikia page mentions Ron splinched before at his apparation test, leaving behind half an eyebrow and therefore failing. The wording on this second page is more ambiguous as to who was apparating whom for the worst splinching. – Dacio Feb 26 '15 at 17:42
  • I hate to make you come back to this question, but I've only just noticed it. In DH the trio use side-along Apparition to get from place to place (with different people guiding) a lot. For example, they Disapparate together after Ron leaves. Harry leads the three of them away from the Ministry of Magic and then it's Hermione who leads them from Grimmauld Place. Hermione apparates her and Harry out of Godric's Hollow, they arrive in Godric's Hollow by apparition together, and at least a few more besides – Au101 Nov 18 '15 at 23:41
  • Also, given the way they move around Britain when on the run, to random deserted fields, it seems impossible that they could arrive in exactly the same place if they weren't using side-along apparition. The ones I've given above are ones where it is explicitly mentioned that they took each others hands and went together before Disapparating, or that they released their hands after Apparating, but it certainly sounds to me like virtually every time they moved it was by side-along apparition and it certainly wasn't just hermione who led – Au101 Nov 18 '15 at 23:43