Muggles in Helicopters!

My dad is about halfway through the first book now, and last night he remarked to me, "You know, for these people who are suppsed to be so secretive, these wizards aren't really very careful." I asked what he meant, and he said, "They're flying around dodging helicopters!" Sure enough, there was something in there about Malfoy bragging about narrowly missing Muggles in helicopters while zooming around on his broom - though considering the source, there's a good chance it didn't happen... I'd forgotten all about that little boast but told him that the Ministry would have quite a memory modifying job ahead of them!

And then I mentioned the precautions outined in Quidditch Through the Ages to keep Muggles from seeing witches and wizards in flight, though in the chapter devoted to that subjects, it says, "As every school-age wizard knows, the fact that we fly on broomsticks is probably our worst-kept secret." Nonetheless, in an effort to curb all the sightings, the Wizards' Council - a precursor to the Ministry of Magic - put forth a series of restrictions: no Quidditch within 50 miles of town, then 100, and finally, in 1419, "anywhere near any place where there is the slightest chance that a Muggle might be watching or we'll see how well you can play whilst chained to a dungeon wall." Harsh! Whenever they are quoted in the book, representatives of the Council and the Ministry always sound irritable and harrassed, with most of the wizarding community annoyed with them for making yet more rules to ruin their fun. I don't think I would want such a stressful job...

Perhaps the most interesting part of the book to me is the fourth chapter, which discusses the Golden Snidget, a tiny hummingbird-like creature that was hunted heavily for sport from the 1100s on and introduced to Quidditch almost three hundred years after the first recorded game. A Chief of the Wizards' Council released a Snidget at the match, offering 150 Galleons to whoever could catch it. Though a conscientious witch in the audience Summoned the bird and released it, the tradition was established, with 150 points as the reward instead of Galleons and a player designated for the job, but the bird was always killed, and several decades later, the Council made the Snidget a protected species. While others were searching for a species of bird to replace it, a wizard (interestingly, from Godric's Hollow) took it upon himself to create a mechanical version that mimicked the appearance and movements of the bird and was bewitched to stay within the grounds of the field. I thought it was nice how Rowling managed to sneak in a little consevationist message there, while the bird explanation makes sense, since the Snitch is such an unusual ball.

The book is only about 50 pages long, and there aren't very many illustrations, but there is a replica of the latest list of those who have borrowed the book. What I find odd is that Cedric, Angelina, Ernie and a couple other Hogwarts students took the book out during summer vacation. What were they doing at school? Were they so desperate to read the book that they went back during their vacation? How did they get there? Hmmmm... Questions, questions...