[HPforGrownups] Identifiable flying object (was: Sirius's Motorcycle)

[Jennifer Boggess Ramon]

No: HPFGUIDX 35890

At 7:16 AM -0500 2/28/02, Edblanning at aol.com wrote:
>
>Didn't Arthur Weasley frame the act?

Er - which act?  Ron and Harry stealing the car, or Sirius's "framing"?

>Hagrid had it last ( I've always wondered
>how he managed to sit on it. Perhaps he used an engorgement charm).

I'm sure Hagrid is used, by now, to balancing on things that are far 
too small for him.  Imagine the poor fellow trying to ride a 
Cleansweep!

>I suspect
>he discarded it in disgust on hearing of Sirius' supposed treachery. I have a
>vision of it trundling round the Forbidden Forest, where of course, it has
>now met the Flying Ford Anglia and is bringing up a little family of motor
>bikes with sidecars.

I'd always thought he'd returned it, as he said he would - so either 
it's sitting at Sirius's old house, patiently waiting, or it's been 
taken into custody by the MoM and is in a crate in some warehouse-23 
somewhere.

>The Beauxbatons carriage couldn't be mistaken for a muggle artefact, which is
>the basis of the law.

Not at the moment, but at some point in the past it _could_ have 
been.  Everything we have seen used for flying thin the Potterverse 
either is a Muggle artifact or was one at some point.

Harrumph.  It seems to point up a lack of crativity on the wizarding 
world's part, doesn't it?  After all, when the Muggles finally 
decided to fly, they built something entirely new - hot air balloons, 
then airplanes.  But the wixards have to keep borrowing.  Now, 
presumably this was originally for security reasons - but that seems 
to have changed.

>You see, lots of us have oriental style carpets, but
>not so many of us have witch-type broomsticks. I do, as it happens, but it
>has shown no inclination to take off as yet.

Well, yes, I do too, for the obvious reasons.  But - and here is my 
point - the witch-style broom could easily have been mistaken for a 
Muggle artifact several centuries ago, and IIRC it mentions in QttA 
that this was, in fact, one of the reasons the broom was chosen as 
the method of conveyance - if Muggles searched one's house for 
wizarding stuff, a twig broom would be highly un-suspicious, looking 
as it did just like one's neighbor's broom.  The Potions cauldron 
would not have been distinguishable, in the same era, from the family 
cookpot.  Presumably the same thought process led the mages of the 
Middle East to enchant carpets and trap djinn in oil lamps.

At any rate, wouldn't it be a _better_ idea to allow flying Muggle 
artifacts?  Some Muggle who looks up and sees a flying Ford Anglia is 
going to wonder what they've been drinking, or try and remember if 
someone was filming a movie near there.  The same Muggle, upon seeing 
a flying broom, is going to think "Aha!  Witches!" before enumerating 
that day's libations.  The current Wizarding law seems geared towards 
the protection of Muggles from Wizard influence, rather than the 
concealment of the wizarding world from the Muggles.

>Again, I think the flying carpet
>law is recent. Someone (?Crouch) mentions having had one in the past.

In GoF Chapter 7, Crouch Sr. mentions that his grandfather had one. 
Given the extended lifespans, that might well have been over a 
century ago; we really can't tell from the exchange.

>Banning
>broomsticks would cause a major incident.

If the (gulp) chapter illustrations and (double gulp) movie are any 
evidence at all, modern Quiddich broomsticks couldn't be mistaken for 
antique brooms, anyway - they're far too streamlined to be any use at 
cleaning a floor.  QttA seems to support this, albiet weakly, in its 
chapter on modern racing broom design.

>My thoughts on broomsticks are far more prosaic, more to do with the 'ouch'
>factor. I mean, sitting on one...even if you can balance on it....well, isn't
>it just painful?

That's what the Cushioning Charm is for!  However, if you want 
another culture's take on flying a broom, in a wizaring culture that 
hasn't developed said charm yet, the anime _Magic User's Club_ 
depicts the posterior consequences in a humorous manner.  (Oh, dear, 
I seem to have mentioned anime on this list twice in two days; I must 
stop that.)

>Eloise, who has a tendency towards vertigo, doesn't like speed, has enough
>trouble with horses, even of the non-flying variety and  certainly wouldn't
>dream of trying a broomstick or a carpet. Far too scary.

I'm acrophobic myself.  Apportation seems a much better deal.

-- 
  - Boggles, aka J. C. B. Ramon			boggles at earthlink.net
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