Floo Network
- This article is about the magical transportation system in the Harry Potter books. For the Harry Potter Web ring, see Floo Network (web ring).
The Floo Network is a system by which the wizards and witches of the world of Harry Potter travel as an alternative to apparition, portkeys and broomsticks. It is maintained by the Floo Network Authority, an office that is part of the Department of Magical Transportation within the Ministry of Magic[1].
Using the Floo Network
The network is accessed through fireplaces. The traveller takes a handful of floo powder and throws it into the fireplace, turning the flames to a shade of green. He or she walks into the fireplace, then clearly and loudly states the desired destination. The sensation of travelling via Floo powder is described as rapid spinning; other wizarding fireplaces can be glimpsed as they are passed during the trip. The witch or wizard then appears in the destination fireplace.
Mispronunciation of the destination can result in the traveller being carried to the wrong place. In the second book of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, for example, when using the Floo Network for the first time, Harry failed to clearly speak the name of his destination (Diagon Alley), and as a result was somehow directed to Knockturn Alley.
A wizard can use the Floo Network for speedy - albeit uncomfortable - communication. When the wizard so desires, only his head is visible floating on the flames of the destination fireplace. He accomplishes this feat by crouching on the floor next to the transporting fireplace and sticking his head into the floo-powder-enchanted flame. The head spins but the body remains stationary. Sirius Black and Amos Diggory both used this method to communicate with Harry and Molly Weasley, respectively. Harry used it, with a little guesswork because of his ignorance of the technique, to talk to Sirius and Lupin about Snape's worst memory, which Harry had seen in Dumbledore's pensieve.
A destination fireplace must be connected to the network by a magical process, not revealed in the books. A fireplace can be temporarily connected, as when the Weasley family used the Floo Network to visit the Dursley's house and when the students of Hogwarts returned after the Christmas holiday in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
Prior to Umbridge taking over Hogwarts, the Floo network was never monitored (Sirius is able to use it contact Harry on several occasions). Unusually, there has never been any mention of a student using their common room fireplace to leave Hogwarts.
References
- ^ Harry Potter Lexicon - Department of Magical Transportation. URL checked 2006-04-27