broomsticks vs. flying carpets (and a note on Portkeys)

[Hollydaze]

No: HPFGUIDX 55439

Tom wrote:
<SNIP>
> > We don't have any evidence to suggest that flying
> > carpets are all created by charming a regular muggle
> > carpet - for instance, I wouldn't be surprised to
> > discover that there were indeed companies/people that
> > made carpets *expressly* for flying, along the same
> > lines as the Nimbus/Firebolt. And what's to say that a
> > flying carpet could even be used as a regular carpet?
> > For all we know, after all, stepping on the thing
> > could make it lift into the air, which would be most
> > inconvenient for in-home usage, if you see what I
> > mean. ;-)

bboy_mn replied:
> Precisely why they are banded as a charmable object, someone would
> look at them and see a carpet, and step on it. 

But we don't know that is definately the case.


bboy_mn continues:
> But if someone mistood
> a flying broom for a really crappy sweeping broom and tried to sweep
> with it, there probably wouldn't be any ill effects. A flying broom
> held in a sweeping position would not be likely to take off flying.

They may not try and sweep with it but I can think of other things that might happen that should mean the broom should be banned as well. It states in GoF that the Firebolt hovered in the air so you could mount it, don't you think a Muggle might find it a bit odd if they say, dropped the broom and it didn't drop, seems similar to the idea of the carpet rising if you step on it (and we don't even know that that is the case!). 


bboy_mn continues:
> 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.

But it is still a broom even if it if you can not use it for sweeping. Also, if the brooms in the book do look anything like those in the film (sorry for the cross referance) then I think it might be a bit obvious to a muggle that the broom had been designed for somthing other than sweeping, I mean what would you think if you saw a broom like that with foot rests and such. I'm almost certain that the first thing I'd thnk wouldn't be anything to do with kindling. Although now I'm really getting into an argument about whether any object is actually "safe" to charm, muggle or not. What really is the difference between a muggle finding a flying carpet or broom (both of which are muggle objects) or finding something exclusively magical such as a time turner or the put-outer, in either case it could cause problems. And do you have any idea how difficult it actually is to think of any magical object that couldn't be thought of as Muggle, even the two I just mentioned are described as looking like muggle objects.

As a note to the portkey business and why they are not frequently used, could the reason have something to do with the fact that they are noramlly everyday objects (normally rubbish), surely the more portkey's you have laying around the more likely it is that one would fall into the hands of a muggle.

HOLLYDAZE!!!




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