[HPforGrownups] Re: OOP & Quidditch

[yr awen]

No: HPFGUIDX 41246

Lizbot wondered: 

Yeah, I know what you mean.  Like, do none of the kids play it on 
weekends or whatever?  Otherwise, they don't really need to know how 
to ride brooms.  They aren't mentioned using them in school, outside 
of Harry playing Quidditch, and when they're out of school they can 
Apparate.  Huh...  any thoughts, anyone, as to why they need to have 
brooms in the first place, if they aren't playing Quidditch?  Or does 
this imply they DO play Quidditch in their free time?
---

My reply:

I would imagine that they do play Quidditch during their free time, but because Harry & co. are always busy trying to save the school/wizarding/the world, there's not much mention of it. Additionally, I got the impression that Apparition is extremely difficult to do, which is why you have to get a license for it -- and, I believe, it's mentioned somewhere that some wizards/witches prefer other methods of transportation. Hence Floo powder, brooms, portkeys, etc.

I don't know what the rules at British universities are (or whatever the equivalent is for British high schools), but when I read SS/PS for the first time, I had to laugh at reading about Hogwarts' 'no brooms for first years' rule, as it's a common rule on American campuses that first-year students aren't allowed to bring their own cars to school. Maybe, in some way, having a broom is a status symbol, just as having a specific *kind* of broom for Quidditch is.

HF.

who wonders if the MM requires brooms used for transportation to be insured...




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