PS11: Quidditch

Professor Snape takes Harry's book, leading to Harry seeing Snape's injured leg when he tries to get it back. Harry plays in his first Quidditch match against Slytherin in which someone jinxes his broom but he catches the Snitch and wins anyway. Hagrid later lets a secret slip.

## Calendar and Dates

This chapter begins the first week of November. Harry's run-ins with Snape happen on Friday the 8th, and the Quidditch match is on Saturday the 9th.

## Interesting Facts and Notes

This chapter is filled with lovely bits of information. In it we're introduced to the dynamics of the friendship between Harry, Ron, Flick, and Hermione, including the fact that Hermione helps Harry and Ron cheat on their homework. We get to watch our first ever Quidditch match. We find out about *Quidditch Through the Ages*. Even though the chapter is focused almost exclusively on Quidditch, as the title suggests, it does propel the story forward in several key ways. And in this chapter we have the very rare occurrence of a shift of point of view away from Harry.

**As they entered November, the weather turned very cold.**

We left the story at the end of the last chapter on the evening of 31 October, with the Gryffindors enjoying the remains of their Halloween feast in the common room on the seventh floor. Now we move into the month of November.

**Hagrid could be seen from the upstairs windows defrosting broomsticks on the Quidditch pitch...**

Defrosting broomsticks? Presumably these are the school brooms he's defrosting, kept in the broomshed which is adjacent to the Quidditch pitch. Why these would need to be defrosted or why it's Hagrid's job to do it is anyone's guess.

**The Quidditch season had begun. On Saturday, Harry would be playing in his first match after weeks of training: Gryffindor versus Slytherin. If Gryffindor won, they would move up into second place in the house championship.**

From this we can deduce that at least one game had already been played (probably one, given that the season has barely begun), and that Gryffindor wasn't involved. The two teams which did play would now be in first and second place, while the other two, which includes Gryffindor, would be tied for third place with zero points. It seems logical that the first game was Ravenclaw versus Hufflepuff, but we don't know that for sure.

**It was really lucky that Harry now had Hermione as a friend.**

Very lucky indeed. And not just for the sake of getting homework done. As events unfold over the next few years, we find that it's lucky for the entire wizarding world that Harry has Hermione for a friend.

**...she had conjured them up a bright blue fire that could be carried around in a jam jar...**

This small blue fire is referred to as Bluebell Flames. It's really quite a clever spell for a first year. Hermione later uses this spell to set Snape's robes on fire in the Quidditch stands and later still to drive off the Devil's Snare plant in the first chamber leading toward the Philosopher's Stone.

**... they were sure it wouldn't be allowed.**

Magic is specifically forbidden in the corridors, according to the start of term notices (PS7). While the courtyard isn't mentioned, it is likely that the same rule applies here. One can't help but wonder if magic is allowed in the dormitories, and if not, where Hermione found the time and place to work out this magical fire spell. After all, this is only a week or two after the rest of the first-years failed to even levitate a feather a few feet off their desks. I think it's safe to assume that this spell wasn't part of their coursework at this point in the year.

**He made his way down to the staffroom and knocked.**

Just about anywhere in the castle is "down" from the Gryffindor Common Room, which is on the seventh floor. We learn in a few chapters that the staff room is almost certainly on the first floor. It must be quite early in the evening for Harry to be allowed to leave the common room. We aren't told when curfew is for first years, but we do know that for fifth years it's nine p.m., so we might reasonably assume it's before eight o'clock at this point.

The scene with Filch and Snape is very intriguing. Why didn't Snape go to Madam Pomfrey for help with his wounds? She does have a reputation for confidentially when it comes to strange wounds; she never does tell on Ron when he shows up with a dragon bite, for example. Why Filch? They do seem to be on fairly friendly terms in this book.

**Ron, Flick and Hermione joined Neville, Seamus, and Dean the West Ham fan up in the top row.**

This is one of those rare occasions when the story point of view shifts away from Harry. This shift happens off and on for the rest of the chapter.

**... Dean, who was good at drawing...**

Two years later Dean offers to force Uncle Vernon's signature because he's good with a quill.

**... a tricky little charm so that the paint flashed different colours.**

Another very clever bit of magic from a first-year.

**"We know Oliver's speech by heart," Fred told Harry, "we were on the team last year."**

So Oliver Wood was captain last year. We know that Charlie was Quidditch Captain when he was on the team, which was also last year, so this is a bit of a muddle.

**... Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor - what an excellent Chaser that girl is...**

Angelina is a third year at this point. She will become Captain in Harry's fifth year. Although we don't know it for a fact, it seems very likely that Angelina was on the team last year as well.

**... Alicia Spinnet, a good find of Oliver Wood's, last year only a reserve...**

Wood "found" Alicia last year (when she was a sixth year), another indication that Oliver was captain of the Gryffindor team during the 1990-1991 season. It's a shame she was only a reserve the previous year, as this would be her first and last year playing Chaser on the team.

**... Chaser Katie Bell of Gryffindor there... hit in the back of the head by a Bludger...**

Katie is only a second year at this point: twelve years old. She couldn't have been on last year's team, so this is her very first match as well. Here we see that she takes a Bludger to the head just moments into the game.

**... Adrian Pucey speeding off toward the goal posts...**

Slytherin Chaser Pucey is at least a second year at this point. He continues to play through Harry's fifth year, so we know he's no more than a third year in this book. If he played in the sixth book, we aren't told about it.

**"Budge up there, move along."**

Our point of view shifts briefly here to the stands.

**... Slytherin Seeker Terence Higgs...**

Higgs is possibly a seventh year, since he's replaced by Malfoy next year.

**Marcus Flint had blocked Harry on purpose... "Foul!" screamed the Gryffindors.**

Either this is blatching or skinning, both of which mean flying to intentionally collide with another player.

**... hit hard in the face by a Bludger...**

Okay, another player has been hit hard in the head by a flying iron ball and is still playing. This is clear evidence that wizards don't get hurt as easily or suffer as severely from injuries which would completely incapacitate a Muggle.

**Flint seized the Quaffle and scored five times without anyone noticing.**

Now everyone knows that there's a problem, since they're all staring up at Harry. Certainly Madam Hooch will have called a time-out. Do Flint's goals even count?

**... she didn't even stop to say sorry as she knocked Professor Quirrell headfirst into the row in front...**

So at this moment the spell is actually broken.

**It took perhaps thirty seconds for Snape to realise that he was on fire.**

Time that out. Thirty seconds is a V-E-R-Y L-O-N-G time. Let's think this through. The spell is broken before Hermione even gets to Snape. She sets the fire, but by this time Harry has already climbed back onto his broom. The game is already recommencing and is well underway after thirty seconds. There would be no way that anyone would assume that Snape's reaction to the flames broke the spell on Harry if it happened thirty seconds after Harry got back on his broom. So we think we can assume that everything happened quite a bit faster here. From Quirrell being knocked down to Snape noticing the Bluebell Flames must have only been a matter of about ten seconds.

**Gryffindor had won by one hundred and seventy points to sixty...**

So yes, Flint's cheating goals did count. Since these points count toward the House Cup championship, Flint has just moved Slytherin up by fifty points. At the end of the year, Slytherin had 472 points while Ravenclaw had 426. If Flint's extra cheating goals hadn't been counted, Ravenclaw would have won the House Cup, since Slytherin would have only had 422 points.

## Memorable Lines

*Hermione had become a bit more relaxed about breaking rules since Harry, Ron and Flick had saved her from the mountain troll, and she was much nicer for it.*

*Although people rarely died playing Quidditch, referees had been known to vanish and turn up months later in the Sahara Desert.*

"*Flint nearly kills the Gryffindor Seeker, which could happen to anyone, I'm sure.*"
— Lee Jordan commentating on the Quidditch match