broomsticks vs. flying carpets (was: It's all Lucius Malfoy's fault....)

[Tom Wall]

No: HPFGUIDX 55410


Steve wrote:
The sweep of a flying broom is made out of twigs. I believe the
Firebolt has an Ash handle and Birch twig sweep. You might be able to
move around clods or chunks of dirt, but for anything as as fine as
dust or common household dirt, it truly would be worthless. It would
be more like a very very fine rake than anything anyone would consider
a functional broom. 

To a Muggle who has seen real world functional sweeping brooms, a
flying broom would certainly seem very broom like, but I just can't
see any Muggle looking at a sweep that coarse and seeing any function
beyond kindling.
END QUOTE.

I reply:
On the twigs – aren't all broomsweeps (minus plastic and artificial 
materials) made of fine twigs? You might be thinking of larger twigs, 
like, tinder-sized twigs, but I believe that before modern materials 
came along, all brooms were made that way.

As for functionality and utility I agree with you if the twigs are 
unreasonably large, which again, we don't know. I was just being 
semantic... We don't know for sure that it couldn't be used, is all I 
was saying, so in that sense, a muggle could use it to sweep, as 
could a wizard family. ;-) Again, I'd hope that they don't, but hey, 
no one's saying they couldn't.

After all, Devika wrote:
---
The following is from PoA, chapter 11, "The Firebolt:"

[after Harry has shown Hermione the Firebolt:]

"I don't think anyone should ride that broom just yet!" said Hermione 
shrilly.

Harry and Ron looked at her.

"What d'you think Harry's going to do with it--sweep the floor?" said 
Ron.
---

So, Ron is aware that brooms can be used for sweeping, which I guess 
makes one wonder where he could get that idea, since he's so 
unfamiliar with the rest of the muggle world. You'd think, if brooms 
were only used for flying in the WW, then he wouldn't have come up 
with that.

So, there are probably special brooms and carpets for flying, and 
normal brooms and carpets for sweeping and, er, sitting on the floor. 
And I'd guess that regular brooms and carpets can be enchanted to 
fly, but are not the same thing as a 'professionally made' version. 
And regarding the example of stepping on the carpet and it 
automatically lifting up into the air, I was being facetious – I'd 
hope that no one would use their flying carpet that way. ;-)


Steve wrote:
<snip>
Carpet manufacturing - even if a wizard manufactures a carpet as a
flying carpet, he must indeed first make a carpet. Muggle made or
wizard made, it is still a carpet. 

A broom on the other hand, is constructed for balance, comfort, and
aerodynamics rather than functional sweeping ability. Any Muggle who
looked at a flying broom, would see a really crappy sweeping broom
worth nothing beyond the wood it was made from.
END QUOTE.

I reply:
I guess I just don't see where you're going with this. A "brand name" 
flying carpet could easily have special construction needs, and could 
easily be built with comfort and aerodynamics in mind. For 
instance, 'flapping in the wind' seems like a problem that might be 
addressed this way. 'Weather resistant material.' 'Extra-fluffy soft 
for comfy seating.' That sort of stuff.

I don't see why you're suggesting that the flying carpets aren't like 
the flying broomsticks in this regard. Just like a broom-maker makes 
the broom before it's enchanted, so does the carpet-maker make the 
carpet, and there probably are special design requirements for both. 

The difference between them is simply that we don't know what's going 
on with the "brand name" flying-carpets, because Britain has an 
embargo on them.


Steve wrote:
There is a large legion of people who believe that the Tri-Wizard's
Cup was already a portkey which is why it was able to take Harry back
to Hogwarts without being reprogrammed. The theory goes that
fake!Moody only inserted a stop.

I reply: 
I'm familiar with the abundance of Portkey theories out there, and 
like with the conjecture on the carpet, I just don't get it. Not that 
I disagree necessarily with any of them, just that I tend to fall 
back on the canon when I don't know what to think. And as far as what 
happened with Crouch, Jr., I believe his confession under Veritaserum.

"I offered to carry the Triwizard Cup into the maze before dinner," 
whispered Barty Crouch. "Turned it into a Portkey." (GoF, US 
paperback, Ch.35, 691)

I understand that a lot of the necessity for the Portkey theories 
derives from the fact that Harry uses the Triwizard Cup to get back 
to Hogwarts after Priori Incantantem. In that case, all we have is 
conjecture – we don't know how he did that, or who turned the cup 
into a Portkey, and although I do like the layering idea, again, 
that's all theorizing. Creative theorizing, but it's not confirmed 
fact, y'know? So, we have to be careful when we talk about these 
things - it's easy to confuse fact and theory when it comes to this 
stuff - I do it all the time myself.

But as far as Crouch, Jr. goes, he says that he `turned it into a 
Portkey.' So it must've been easy. And even if he `added a layer,' he 
was able to do it without difficulty. Which is why I said that we 
don't have any evidence to suggest that it's a difficult process. I 
do see where you're going with your reasoning, and with the 
possibility that he had been prepping the cup for a potentially 
difficult procedure for a while, but all I'm saying is that it's not 
canon... yet. ;-)

-Tom