Quiddich

Quiddich is perhaps the most favoured of all wizarding sports. The first known account of Quiddich can be found in the letters of one Gertie Keddle who lived on the Queerdich marsh (hence the name) histories show that the early version of Quiddich witnessed, and hated by Gertie Keddle only had one ball and three players. These players and one ball of course being the chasers and Quaffle. Histories show that the others players and balls were added much later in the games history. The Capture of the Golden Snitch, now so crucial to the game was the last part to be added. It was actually derived from the ancient sport of Snidget Hunting, however when these tiny birds were all but extinct the practice was eliminated, and the Golden Snitch was born.
As any Quiddich fan knows there are 700 ways to commit a foul in the game of Quiddich. Of course half of the fouls in the rule book have only ever been committed once, however, certain fouls have survived. Things like blagging, blatching, and the ever popular cobbing. Blagging, of course, means seizing the broom tail in front of you with intent to slow down your opponent. This is an all player offense, but it seems to be especially popular with Seekers and Chasers. Not so much with Beaters. Blatching merely means to fly with the intent of colliding. And Cobbing is simply nudging or whacking your opponent with your elbows way too much.
One of the most serious thing you can do to get in trouble with someone is bash their favourite Quiddich team. As many people know, Ronald Weaslys favourite Quiddich team is the Chudley Cannons, the bright orange clad failures who used to be a great team but has since fallen from grace. My personal favourite Quiddich team is the Yorkshire Yellowhammers. By far the oldest team in the league is Pride of Portree, which was started in the late 1200's. Perhaps the best known Quiddich rivalry is that of the Appleby Arrows and the Wimbourn Wasps. The most violent team in the league is probably the Falmouth Falcons, who are famous for their hard playing Beaters Kevin and Karl Broadmoor. And the most unique, of course, is the all Witch comprised Holeyhead Harpies.
But my favorite part of Quiddich is the broom sticks. early broom sticks were very uncomfortable, and very slow. Today we have the cushioning charm and of course wood finish, which makes them bearable for boys to ride. Harry Potter's first racing broom was, of course, the famous Nimbus 2000. the 2000 model featured a mahogany handle and a birch twig tail. But soon after the 2000 came the 2001. this featured a darker ebony handle. while the Nimbus series is nice it will develop drag after a few years. The solution to this is, of course, the top of the line Firebolt. The Firebolt has a handle of ash and a tail of birch. It is famous for going 150 miles an hour in ten seconds. But the fact remains that custom, handmade, one-of-a-kind broomsticks will always be faster than anything you can buy in Quality Quiddich Supplies. My favourite broommaker is the famed Evangelista Vericcimii. In fact she made my broom, the Sierra Skimmer. it has an Oak handle, and can go 170 mph. in 8 sec. considerably faster than the Firebolt wouldn't you say? Even though I only play Beater on the Hufflepuff team.


Yours Most Sincerely,
M.V. Bones



All italicized words or phrases are from the writings of J.K. Rowling

Wandlore

Of all the branches of magic, Wandlore is the most mysterious and complicated. To practice Wandlore takes years of experience. Not to mention alot of precision, patience, and fearlesness when it comes to potentialy being gored by unicorns. Along with all that, one must know the magical properties of different woods, and which woods are strong enough to make a good wand. for instance, woods like pine and balsa are much too soft and brittle to make for good, durable wands. Oak, ceder, and mahogany are much harder, and therefore better for wandmaking.
As to the matter of magical properties, beechwood is known for increasing wisdom; a ledgend encouraged by the fact that Rowena Ravenclaw owned a beechwood wand for the greater part of her professional life. Almond is known for increasing creativity and is excellent for creating spells. Cherry, when paired with a core like unicorn hair, is good for love charms, but when paired with Phoenix feather is even better for offensive spells. And then there are some woods that are just more powerful than others. Ironwood, Ebony and Black Palm are widely accepted as the most powerful woods out there when it comes to wandlore. Ironwood wands are commonly called "Aurors wands" beacause of their great powers in offensive, defensive, and healing spells. Some woods, like Yew and Black Walnut, have destructive workings. This is emphassiezed by the fact that Voldemort's wand is yew and Bellatrix Lestranges' is black walnut. And some wands just shouldn't be made at all. Exhibit "A": the Elder Wand. The Elder Wand's trail of murder and betrayal can be easily traced. More than one wizard has claimed to have owned it.(Emeric the Evil and Egbert the Egregious just to name two.)
Many superstitions have cropped up to do with wands. Like: "Rowan gossips, Chestnut groans Ash is stubborn, Hazle moans. Or: "When his wand's Oak and hers is Holly, then to marry would be folly." Or the ever popular: "Wand of Elder, never prosper."
But no matter what you do, there will always be those idiots who think thay are smarter than many wand makers and try stupid things with their wands. Like engraving so called "power enhancing runes" on the surface of their wand, attempting to use charmed owl feathers as a core, or even using protection and "invincibility charms" -note the quotation marks- on their brand new wand. the last one is extreamly inadvisable as your spells will congeal in the wand before they ever leave it and can cause major complecations when you try to repair it.

Whatever the wand, whatever the wood, wandlore is an acient practice. Not to be dabbled in unless you really know what your doing.

Yours sincerly,
M.V. Bones


all italiscized words or phrases are from the wrightings of J.K. Rowling.