Tthe Prude with a Very Un-Prudish Question

[Caius Marcius]

No: HPFGUIDX 24776

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Jen Faulkner <jfaulkne at e...> wrote:
> On Wed, 22 Aug 2001, Mindy, a.k.a. CLH wrote:
> 
> > Isn't it awfully uncomfortable to be flying on a broom? Think 
into it.
> > Harry jerking up and down on this thin slab of wood... isn't it 
even
> > painful?
 
> Magical brooms, unlike the Muggle variety, are enchanted to make 
riding
> comfortable.  According to QTA (Amer. ed., pp. 47f.), Elliot 
Smethwyck
> invented the Cushioning Charm in 1820 which provides a sort of 
invisible
> seat 

According to QTA, the original brooms were quite 
uncomfortable. "Records show that witches and wizards in Europe were 
using flying bromsticks as early as 962 AD. A German illustrated 
manuscript of this period shows three warlocks dismounting from their 
brooms with looks of exquisite discomfort on their face. Guthrie 
Lochrin, a Scottish wizard writing in 1107, spoke of the 'splinter-
filled buttocks and bulging piles' he suffered after a short 
broomride from Montrose to Arbroath." (p.2 in the American edition)

  - CMC