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It is mentioned many times that people cannot Apparate or Disappate within Hogwarts. That is all well and good. Except in Harry's 6th year, when all the 6th years are learning how to Apparate.

The Apparation Instructor says

Dumbledore has removed the restriction on Apparation within the Great Hall.

This means the Headmaster has the ability to remove the enchantment at will. So why the restriction?

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  • 9
    I don't know that it's ever answered in canon (thus, a comment, not an answer).. But one answer seems obvious -- Security. Boarding schools tend to be In loco parentis for the kids they house; if anyone with significant knowledge of the school (like, say, former students) could pop in, literaly ANYWHERE in the school, that would represent a serious security hazard that they would be negligent to prevent. Then, of course, there are the students.. Popping into the girls showers, various classes loaded with stinkbombs,.. the list goes on..
    – K-H-W
    Commented Jun 1, 2012 at 22:44
  • 4
    Girls showers, stinkbombs... you have GOT to get your priorities straight!
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Commented Jun 2, 2012 at 2:03

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There are three answers that come to mind:

  1. As Keith mentioned in his comment, security. You don't want a random guy just appearing in a dormitory at midnight. It would be nearly impossible to police comings and goings, and there would be no guarantee that the students would be safe.
  2. Apparating could encourage truancy. The students could disappear at will and leave overnight. While many students do sneak out or around in the books, attempts are made to apprehend them, sometimes successfully. This couldn't happen if apparating were a possibilty.
  3. Apparating is, in and of itself, dangerous. As in, do it wrong, and you could die. This is not the kind of activity that you want inexperienced students experimenting with. There would be bits of children popping up all over the place, or they'd get stuck in walls. The mess would be obscene.
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  • "The mess would be obscene." - Pffft, that can't be the (only) reason. They'd just make Filch clean it up!
    – Kevin
    Commented Feb 28, 2018 at 4:19
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It is forbidden because:

A) Security reasons. Criminals could come and go as they please. Illicit activities of students would also be facilitated. Further, essentially, Hogwarts would not be a boarding school if students could go home at their convenience.

B) It could go very very wrong. Apparition has been known to cause serious accidents and in extreme cases, death. We wouldn't want a student being sent to Madam Pomfrey every few days...

C) Discipline would be hugely compromised. Imagine boys and girls in each others dorms, pranks, cheating on o.w.l.'s etc etc... Imagine if people like the Weasley twins could apparate within the school... the extent of their mayhem would be doubled.

It could be argued that children should be allowed to disparate to put the method of transportation into practice, but its simply too dangerous and has too many drawbacks. Also, in the case of emergencies at home, etc, dumbledore always lifts the charm and accompanies the students.

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  • Dumbledore doesn’t even have to lift the charm—“being Headmaster has its advantages”.
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Commented Feb 18, 2016 at 19:09
  • @JanusBahsJacquet - Where is that quote from? I don't remember reading it.
    – ibid
    Commented Nov 20, 2018 at 21:12
  • @ibid I think it’s actually “being me has its perks” or something like that. I think he says it somewhere in HBP when they’re leaving the castle. I’ll have to have a rummage to find the exact place.
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Commented Nov 20, 2018 at 21:14
  • @ibid Ah! No, it’s a movie thing – it’s mentioned in this question. “Being Me has its privileges” is apparently the actual words he uses.
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Commented Nov 20, 2018 at 21:19
  • @JanusBahsJacquet - Ah well, movies. They seemed to play a bit loose with three whole apparating at Hogwarts thing. (e.g. FB2)
    – ibid
    Commented Nov 20, 2018 at 21:42

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