Extraordinary Floo Network

The Floo Network was a mode of wizarding transportation in which a witch or wizard went from one place to another by means of Floo powder and a fireplace. Many fireplaces were connected in the Floo Network, and the traveller needed only speak the location of the desired fireplace at which they wished to arrive very clearly as they stood in the emerald green flames.Although generally reliable, mistakes could happen. Speaking the name of the destination loudly and clearly upon entering the Floo flames was sometimes difficult, due to ash, heat and panic. The Head of the Department of Magical Transportation, and therefore the man that the Floo Network Authority reported to, was Percy Weasley by 2014.
==History==
The Floo Network was in use for centuries. The most notorious instance of accidental misdirection regarding the Floo Network happened in 1855 when, after a particularly nasty row with her husband, witch Violet Tillyman leapt into the living room fire and cried, between sobs and hiccups, that she wanted to go to her mother’s house. Several weeks later, with no clean pots in the house and his socks in urgent need of washing, her husband Albert decided that it was time she came home, and took the Floo Network to his mother-in-law's. To his surprise, she claimed that Violet had never arrived. Albert, a suspicious man and a bit of a bully, raged, stormed and searched the house, but his mother-in-law appeared to be telling the truth. A poster campaign and a series of articles in the Daily Prophet later, Violet had still not been found. Nobody seemed to know where she was and nobody had seen her come out of any other fireplace.For several months after her disappearance, people were afraid to take the Floo Network, in case it simply vanished them into thin air. However, time passed, memories of Violet faded, and nobody else disappeared, so the wizarding community continued as usual. Albert Tillyman returned grumpily to his house, learned cleaning and darning spells, and never used the Floo Network again for fear of what it had done to his wife.It was not until twenty years later, after Albert’s death, that Violet Tillyman resurfaced. Due to the incoherent way she had spoken when she had entered the Floo Network, she had not emerged from her mother’s fireplace, but that of Myron Otherhaus, a handsome wizard who lived in Bury St Edmunds. In spite of Violet’s tear-stained, ash-covered and blotchy appearance, it had been love at first sight when she toppled out of his fire, and Myron, Violet, and their seven children lived happily ever after.Officials apologised for Southern Floo Network congestion in The New York Ghost in 1926.When Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters took over the British Ministry of Magic, they imposed a new regulation that only senior-ranked Ministry employees were allowed to travel to the Ministry via the Floo Network or Apparition; all others had to use the Whitehall underground public toilets entryway to get there. This was immediately repealed once Voldemort was killed.
==Regulation and usage==
The British network was governed by the Floo Network Authority, a section of the Department of Magical Transportation of the Ministry of Magic. This department was located on Level Six of the Ministry. The Floo Network Authority controlled which fireplaces were connected to the Floo Network, which required specialised magic. Travelling by way of the Floo Network could be done without specialised magic, and could be preferable for wizards too young to Apparate or those without access to other forms of transportation, such as broomsticks. The Floo Network could also be used to transport underage children, the elderly, and the infirm. Nearly every wizarding home had a fireplace that was connected to the Floo Network. While a fireplace could be disconnected by the use of a simple spell, connection required the approval of the Ministry of Magic, which regulated the Floo Network and prevented Muggle fireplaces becoming inadvertently joined up (although temporary connections could be arranged in emergencies).In addition to domestic fireplaces, there were around a thousand fireplaces across Britain connected to the Floo Network, including those at the Ministry of Magic and various wizarding shops and inns. The fireplaces of Hogwarts were not generally connected, although there were some occasions when one or more had been tampered with, often without the staff’s knowledge.
==Description==
===Body transport===
This network connected all wizarding fireplaces that utilised Floo Powder as a mode of transportation. Muggle homes were not connected to the Floo Network unless special, temporary arrangements were made, which did not require the Authority to visit the location, as the connection could simply be made from the Ministry of Magic.To access the network, one had to toss a handful of Floo Powder into the fireplace, walk into the heatless, emerald green fire, and declare the desired destination. It was apparently also important for the traveller to keep their elbows close to their body. During the trip, the traveller would notice other fireplaces and hearths zooming past, but it was impossible for the traveller to see these locations clearly, as the speed of travel was too great.
===Head-only transport===
It was also possible to use the Floo Network to speak to someone in another location by merely putting their head through the green fire, as Sirius Black did to talk to Harry in the latter's fourth and fifth years at Hogwarts. The Floo Network could also be used to transport inanimate objects. For example: In 1994, Molly Weasley used the fire tongs to put a piece of toast into Amos Diggory's mouth while he was talking to Arthur Weasley via the Floo Network after the Quidditch World Cup incident.
As Sirius Black could use the fire to talk to Harry in the fourth and fifth years, but in Harry's sixth year, a special arrangement had to be made from the Ministry to enable students to arrive at Hogwarts, it seems that head-only transport was possible even if full human transportation was not. Otherwise, intruders, including Sirius Black, could simply use the fire in the common room to circumvent the castle's defences.
==Known uses==
Wizard(s) 	Notes
Harry Potter 	First travelled via the Floo Network in 1992 when he journeyed from The Burrow to London. However, Harry choked in the flames while saying "Diagon Alley". Therefore he accidentally ended up at Borgin and Burkes in Knockturn Alley, the alley infamous for the Dark Arts.
Arthur Weasley 	
In 1994, the Floo Network was temporarily connected to the Dursleys', as a favour to Arthur Weasley, so that he could transport Harry back to the Burrow in preparation of the upcoming trip to the 1994 Quidditch World Cup that Harry would be attending with the Weasley family and Hermione. The Dursleys, however, had an electric fire and Arthur Weasley had to blast open the fireplace to get out because he was stuck in there with Ron, Fred, and George.
Ron Weasley 	
In 1994, the Floo Network was temporarily connected to the Dursleys', as a favour to Arthur Weasley, so that he could transport Harry back to the Burrow in preparation of the upcoming trip to the 1994 Quidditch World Cup that Harry would be attending with the Weasley family and Hermione. The Dursleys, however, had an electric fire and Arthur Weasley had to blast open the fireplace to get out because he was stuck in there with Ron, Fred, and George.
Fred and George Weasley	
In 1994, the Floo Network was temporarily connected to the Dursleys', as a favour to Arthur Weasley, so that he could transport Harry back to the Burrow in preparation of the upcoming trip to the 1994 Quidditch World Cup that Harry would be attending with the Weasley family and Hermione. The Dursleys, however, had an electric fire and Arthur Weasley had to blast open the fireplace to get out because he was stuck in there with Ron, Fred, and George.
Harry Potter 	In 1996, Harry used the Floo Network connection in Dolores Umbridge's office to contact Sirius Black at 12 Grimmauld Place, as her fireplace was one of the only ones not being monitored. Harry attempted to contact Sirius a second time on 17 June, but was caught by Umbridge while speaking to Kreacher.
Hogwarts students 	At the end of the Christmas holidays in Harry's sixth year at Hogwarts, numerous students including Harry, Hermione and the Weasleys used the Floo Network to travel back to Hogwarts.
Ministry officials 	In 1997, when the Ministry was overthrown by Lord Voldemort, only the fireplaces in the homes and offices of senior Ministry officials were connected to the Network. This was repealed once Voldemort was killed.
===Known connections===
Location 	Notes
Hogsmeade 	Three Broomsticks Inn
Diagon Alley 	Leaky Cauldron
Knockturn Alley 	Borgin and Burkes
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry	Gryffindor common room
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry	Headmaster's office
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry	Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor's office
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry	Transfiguration Professor's office
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry	Head of Slytherin's office
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry	Hogwarts kitchen
The Burrow 	Kitchen
Little Whinging 	4 Privet Drive
==See also==
*Floo Network Authority
*Floo Powder
==Behind the scenes==
*In , Bellatrix Lestrange used the Floo Network to escape from the Battle of the Department of Mysteries. This is not canon, as in the book, Lord Voldemort Disapparated with her.
===Author's comments===
"Floo' came from the flue that you find on a chimney and don’t ask me to tell you exactly what a flue is, because I don't know. I just know it exists, but I’m not sure what it does exactly. I needed a way for particularly young witches and wizards to travel around because I'd created the International Statute of Secrecy, which was inconvenient, so immediately that made it quite difficult for them to move around, particularly over long distances, by magical means. So I thought they need something very discreet, and that's how the Floo Network came about, so it was a way of moving from house to house without ever being seen by Muggles. But it was fun and comical to have it a little bit difficult to use, so that you could easily make a mistake in where you ended up."
==Appearances==
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*Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore: Movie Magic 
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==Notes and references==
Category:Communication
Category:Department of Real Magical Transportation
Category:An-The Fire-Based Real-Magic
Category:Transportation