Quidditch Brooms. The various brooomsticks used by Quidditch players

Quidditch Brooms

The Firebolt is the world's fastest, finest and most famous broom. It is also the most expensive. The Nimbus 2000 and Nimbus 2001 brooms are still the Firebolt's main competitor, and are considerably more affordable. Comet is fast and good at cornering, but tends to warp with age. A Cleansweep broom is similar in speed and usefullness to the Comet, but cheaper and not as good at braking.

All the above broom manufacturers appear in the Harry Potter books at various times, with various Comets and Cleansweeps being most common. In Harry Potter's first year at Hogwarts, he is chosen to play Seeker for Gryffindor after displaying amazing natural talent in his first ever flying lesson. That year he flies a Nimbus 2000, the best broom available at the time, aquired for him by Professor McGonagall, presumably at her own expense. The next year, Malfor joins the Slytherin team, probably in exchange for the Nimbus 2001s his father kindly donated to each of the Slytherin players. Harry is still riding his 2000. Then in the third year Harry receives a Firebolt, the very best broom available even now. The sender is unknown until near the end of the book, when Sirius Black admits it was his present to Harry. It is interesting to note that the Hogwarts staff gave the broom a thorough vetting to check for any jinxes or hexes which might have been placed on it, and yet it returned to Harry in pristine condition. A testament to the professional skills available at Hogwarts. In recent years Harry hasn't played much Quidditch, for various reasons, but in the fourth year he does use his Firebolt to confuse a dragon whilst he steals a fake egg from her nest. Hopefully, in his last few years at Hogwarts Harry will find


the opportunity to shine on the Quidditch pitch once more.