Wall of Fame
Lesson 2
HW - Essay
As much as I love the idea of moon frogs, I am going to have to disagree with the article in the 1995 edition of The Quibbler stating that a Cleansweep Six was used by a wizard to the moon and that he had moon frogs to prove it. Even if a wizard could use something like a bubble hard charm to be able to breathe in outer-space, there is just no way that a wizard could sit on a broom for that long comfortably! We can assume that the Cleansweep Six would not be as fast as the later version, the Cleansweep Eleven, which could go 70 miles an hour. (see source one) Even with Earth being at its closest to the Moon, it would be 356,400 km or 221,457 miles. (see source two) This means that it would take roughly 3,164 hours to fly to the Moon and the same amount back! In other words, it would take almost 264 to fly there and back (plus another day to catch the moon frogs as I've heard they are slippery little buggers!). Now I have sat on a broom for upwards of five hours for RQT practices and trust me when I say there is just no way someone could fly that long!
Source one: http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Cleansweep_Eleven
Source two: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon#Relationship_to_Earth
- Kyrie Adderholt, ky830, Ravenclaw
Source one: http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Cleansweep_Eleven
Source two: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon#Relationship_to_Earth
- Kyrie Adderholt, ky830, Ravenclaw
Though I don’t remember he original article when it was published I will saying believing anything the Quibbler publishes no matter how many “facts” they say they have it a risk people take. The Quibbler has a reputation for being a source of news that fabricates or plainly makes up things, though the writers of the magazine fully believe and stand by their articles. In the magical world the Quibbler tends to be the laughing stalk of news magazines. There are some that live and breathe what the Quibbler prints, but most of those people tend to be mad.
Realistically I think it’s impossible for a broom to travel to the moon. Honestly if someone had ridden a broomstick to the moon, don’t you think we would see or hear about more and more people trying it? When has anyone ever done something like fly to the moon once and then never done it again? That doesn’t happen. I think the story was a bit embellished for the article.
- Prof. Rorey Padfoot, pr_pad, Hufflepuff
Realistically I think it’s impossible for a broom to travel to the moon. Honestly if someone had ridden a broomstick to the moon, don’t you think we would see or hear about more and more people trying it? When has anyone ever done something like fly to the moon once and then never done it again? That doesn’t happen. I think the story was a bit embellished for the article.
- Prof. Rorey Padfoot, pr_pad, Hufflepuff
The first words of wondering are met by the mere fact that this article was published in The Quibbler. Xenophilius Lovegood is not particularly noted for the accuracy and veracity of his stories! That said, I would guess that this might have happened because one of the brags made to the Veela at the Quidditch World Cup (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) was Ron saying he had created or made a broomstick that would reach Jupiter. If someone had already reached the moon, that would be a known fact, most likely, and so of course, in bragging to Veela, Ron would have to up the ante to something that no one else had done. If someone had NOT been to the moon yet on a broomstick, he'd maybe have used that as his 'bragging rights'. The other question that I have is - why a Cleansweep Six? I would think that a person who wanted to go to the moon - and return! - would use a broomstick that was noted for being very reliable, as well as relatively fast. The Tinderblast, although an older broomstick, was noted for being highly resilient. I would think that any person wishing to reach the moon would be quite happy to have a broom that was noted for being resilient as it encountered the winds, the fluctuating magnetic fields, in space.
- Prof. Tarma Amelia Black, pr_tar, Hufflepuff
- Prof. Tarma Amelia Black, pr_tar, Hufflepuff
I would have to disagree with this article stating that a wizard using the Cleansweep Six has made it to the moon and back, and plus brought souvenirs to prove it. First of all, we're not really dealing with a serious paper here - the Quibbler and the Lovegoods have built themselves a profile that they're prone to believe in nonsense or simply eccentric things without any proof or proper research. Secondly, if someone with that model of broom managed to do that trip, why have there been no records of anyone else achieving the same with some of the newer models, which would be far better for that journey? It seems to me like the whole story was just someone trying to earn themselves some money and get published and they thought of the perfect way to do it - provide the Lovegoods with a story of their interest.
Obviously I cannot prove that this article doesn't speak the truth, but a simple logical process of thinking does point out that it's quite off from the reality. So I guess I cannot state with a certainty that the event of discussion has not taken place, but as far as my opinion and thoughts go, I'm standing firm that it's something that brings journalism a shame. It's outrageous to bring yourself fame and profit by publishing lies.
- Zoki Phantom, zo808, Hufflepuff
Obviously I cannot prove that this article doesn't speak the truth, but a simple logical process of thinking does point out that it's quite off from the reality. So I guess I cannot state with a certainty that the event of discussion has not taken place, but as far as my opinion and thoughts go, I'm standing firm that it's something that brings journalism a shame. It's outrageous to bring yourself fame and profit by publishing lies.
- Zoki Phantom, zo808, Hufflepuff
EC - Opinion Writing
If we're choosing which broom made the biggest impact on the whole Wizarding community and brooms in general, it would obviously have to be the Cleansweep One. It might be just me who's a fan of antiques, but I also believe that the source should get most of the credit. This was by fact the first ever racing broom and the first broom to be made in a vast quantity, so therefore it was the core broom. Compared to the Cleansweep One all other brooms made in the future are obviously improved versions of this one. At first you have improved properties, advanced work of the same type, and then you move onto new models which are still based on this one.
It's kind of like music in the Muggle community. The old songs were masterpieces - simple or otherwise, they were still the best discovery in that field at their point. Then came the music which was developed through the elements of those older songs and was simply modified to make it more catchy for the audience and that's how popular music is done. But ask the majority of muggles and they will tell you that they believe the 80's and 90's had far better music than today, even with all the new technology nowadays.
I'm not implying that the Cleansweep One is a better broomstick than the ones made more recently, I mean look at the Firebolt, the Nimbus 2001 - they're basically the royalty of brooms! But if we're speaking royalty, we have to remember royalty was spread through the bloodline, so whoever or whatever was the oldest member of a family would be the root and leader of that royalty (until said person or object is gone and the next one in line is the successor). If brooms are the family we're looking at, the Cleansweep One was first of its kind and therefore it is the leader of said family.
You can go ahead and buy yourself a fancy Firebolt and ride the wind like there is no tomorrow, but whenever you grab your broom be sure to remember that if it wasn't for the Cleansweep One, flying would still be part of our dreams. Oh and, don't get too excited - you can't really reach the moon with a broomstick, regardless of what you tell yourself.
- Zoki Phantom, zo808, Hufflepuff
It's kind of like music in the Muggle community. The old songs were masterpieces - simple or otherwise, they were still the best discovery in that field at their point. Then came the music which was developed through the elements of those older songs and was simply modified to make it more catchy for the audience and that's how popular music is done. But ask the majority of muggles and they will tell you that they believe the 80's and 90's had far better music than today, even with all the new technology nowadays.
I'm not implying that the Cleansweep One is a better broomstick than the ones made more recently, I mean look at the Firebolt, the Nimbus 2001 - they're basically the royalty of brooms! But if we're speaking royalty, we have to remember royalty was spread through the bloodline, so whoever or whatever was the oldest member of a family would be the root and leader of that royalty (until said person or object is gone and the next one in line is the successor). If brooms are the family we're looking at, the Cleansweep One was first of its kind and therefore it is the leader of said family.
You can go ahead and buy yourself a fancy Firebolt and ride the wind like there is no tomorrow, but whenever you grab your broom be sure to remember that if it wasn't for the Cleansweep One, flying would still be part of our dreams. Oh and, don't get too excited - you can't really reach the moon with a broomstick, regardless of what you tell yourself.
- Zoki Phantom, zo808, Hufflepuff
EC - Creative Writing
My family raises winged horses. Being the typical horse-struck girl, I could see nothing of value in broomsticks. But I was interested, very interested, in charms. I LOVE performing charms, charms of all kinds. And, of course, the winged horses fly and with one thing leading to another, I thought wouldn't it be a lot of fun to FLY with them? Not while riding them, although that is fun, but to fly with them. I am not that great at levitating myself (even though my dream is to fly without a broomstick some day, just like Professor Snape could) but I got very good at hover charms and levitation charms and ... well, you get the drift.
I know I was around 8 years old when I first experimented on performing a hover charm on a broomstick. It was a family broomstick but the charms, the enchantments, that made it fly were all worn out and it was actually being used ... as a broom. That was SO sad to me, for some reason. So I asked that I could have it! Please please please! And of course, I got it in trade for doing the dishes and cleaning the floors and feeding all the horses for a month.
(I'm not really bragging about my charms ability at such a young age, by the way. They are one of the few places I shine. Don't ask about arithmancy or ancient runes or things like that, okay? Just somehow, charming objects has always come easy for me. So I guess you could say I was precocious with charms/jinxes/hexes (they are all really the same thing, right? Just sort of judged to be good or bad depending on what they DO.))
Anyway, back to the broomstick. I loved that broomstick. I sanded it and polished it and oiled it and straightened out all the tail twigs, replacing all of those that were bent or broken. And I practiced (and practiced and practiced) my hover charms on it until it started being able to hover a few feet off the ground. That's all well and good, but to fly with the horses, it needed to move too! And move well enough to get out of their way ... and go fast and well, there were a lot of challenges for an 8 year old witch to figure out.
Yes, my parents helped me, but they thought it would strengthen my character (so they told me several years later), would give me very good practice at working charms and also they didn't think that I'd be able to really pull it off.
It took me about a year; sometimes I'd throw that broomstick under my bed and deliberately forget about it for a week or 5, but I'd always dig it out again and try again.
One day, though, I sat on it and it responded! It rose up to about 5 feet off the ground and went forward, right, left and circled. I cried I was so happy!
Then, the next day, I went to be with the horses and flew around their pasture on my old broomstick. Some of the foals were curious enough that they joined me in flight. So there was my dream -- fulfilled.
And that is my story about my first, my childhood, memories of broomsticks.
- Prof. Tarma Amelia Black, pr_tar, Hufflepuff
I know I was around 8 years old when I first experimented on performing a hover charm on a broomstick. It was a family broomstick but the charms, the enchantments, that made it fly were all worn out and it was actually being used ... as a broom. That was SO sad to me, for some reason. So I asked that I could have it! Please please please! And of course, I got it in trade for doing the dishes and cleaning the floors and feeding all the horses for a month.
(I'm not really bragging about my charms ability at such a young age, by the way. They are one of the few places I shine. Don't ask about arithmancy or ancient runes or things like that, okay? Just somehow, charming objects has always come easy for me. So I guess you could say I was precocious with charms/jinxes/hexes (they are all really the same thing, right? Just sort of judged to be good or bad depending on what they DO.))
Anyway, back to the broomstick. I loved that broomstick. I sanded it and polished it and oiled it and straightened out all the tail twigs, replacing all of those that were bent or broken. And I practiced (and practiced and practiced) my hover charms on it until it started being able to hover a few feet off the ground. That's all well and good, but to fly with the horses, it needed to move too! And move well enough to get out of their way ... and go fast and well, there were a lot of challenges for an 8 year old witch to figure out.
Yes, my parents helped me, but they thought it would strengthen my character (so they told me several years later), would give me very good practice at working charms and also they didn't think that I'd be able to really pull it off.
It took me about a year; sometimes I'd throw that broomstick under my bed and deliberately forget about it for a week or 5, but I'd always dig it out again and try again.
One day, though, I sat on it and it responded! It rose up to about 5 feet off the ground and went forward, right, left and circled. I cried I was so happy!
Then, the next day, I went to be with the horses and flew around their pasture on my old broomstick. Some of the foals were curious enough that they joined me in flight. So there was my dream -- fulfilled.
And that is my story about my first, my childhood, memories of broomsticks.
- Prof. Tarma Amelia Black, pr_tar, Hufflepuff