Good afternoon class, and welcome to your first flying lesson!  Well, what are you waiting for?

Below is a photo of the "prized possession" in my collection.  This is THE broom that Harry Potter first learned to fly on, the one that Daniel Radcliffe used in the Flying Lesson scene!  Misha is attempting to gain some altitude, but unfortunately, Muggle that he is, he just can't seem to get off the ground!  This broom was used in the "ground shots" in the Flying Lesson scene in Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone.  All the scenes where Harry is on the ground in the flying lesson scene use this broom.   A different broom was used when Harry was actually flying (the "green screen" shots). 

Here is a photo of Misha holding the broom like Harry does - the broom is pretty tall, huh? It's heavy too!

While we are still in Hogwart's Courtyard, how about a short Quidditch lesson?   Unfortunately, Oliver Wood isn't here, so you'll have to settle for the photo below.  This is one of the three Quaffles that were used in filming Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone.  This is the only Quaffle of the three that is not completely thrashed and split open.  In fact, it is completely intact and in one piece, and is showing no signs of splitting apart like the other two.  The Hogwart's crest is on the Quaffle, although because the Quaffle was used a lot, the crest has worn off a bit.  In case you are curious, the Quaffle weighs precisely 2 pounds, which is very interesting considering that the pound is an American weight measurement (we're talking weight here folks, not money.)  It feels like a "dodge ball" from school.

Wow, what was that flash?  Why, it was a Golden Snitch flashing by!  Below is one of the Golden Snitches from Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone.  I have gotten conflicting information from different (normally reliable) sources that there were either 3 or 4 snitches, but there is disagreement on how many there were.  You will notice that there are no wings.  The wings were computer generated - they did not actually exist on the screen-used snitches.  They all look like the snitch when Harry spits it out into his hand when he catches it in his mouth in his first Quidditch game.

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