Floo Powder
Appearance: A shiny powder usually kept in a pot or a
box on the mantelpiece in Wizarding households.
Function: Floo Powder allows witches and wizards to travel
within seconds from one fireplace to another in the Ministry-managed Floo
Network. It makes the flames harmless. If you have errands to run, you can
step into the fire and be carried to your destination-or if you just want
to speak with someone, you can kneel on the hearth with your head in the fireplace
and communicate literally face-to-face.
How to Use: Throw a pinch of Floo Powder, available at
Diagon Alley shops, into the fireplace-whether the fire is lit or not-and
green flames will leap up, meaning it is safe to enter. These flames feel
warm rather than hot. Once inside the fireplace, clearly recite the address
or house name (e.g. The Burrow, or Twelve Grimmauld Place) you wish to travel
to, and you will be transported. If the address is not spoken clearly enough,
a traveler must make a conscious effort to get out at the right grate, but
most of the time the Floo Powder does that part easily. While traveling by
Floo Powder it is important to keep your elbows in, to avoid bumping them
as you spin around, to keep still, so you don't fall out on the wrong hearth,
and to keep your eyes shut, so the ashes don't get in. Likewise, it's a good
idea not to breathe in too hard or wear your best clothes as it is a rather
sooty mode of transportation.
Notes: The Ministry of Magic's Floo Network Authority,
part of the Department of Magical Transport, is located on Level Six at the
Ministry. The Network Authority controls which fireplaces can be used, to
ensure no traveling witches or wizards spin into Muggle fireplaces. A Network
fireplace can be watched by the Ministry if, for instance, it believes it
can catch criminals there. Arthur Weasley has a friend in this Department
who helped him temporarily connect the Dursleys to the Network. The Ministry
itself has many fireplaces along the walls of its entrance hall so employees
can commute via Floo Powder. Major Wizarding establishments like Hogwarts
have many fireplaces for this purpose as well. In Chamber of Secrets, when
the Weasleys used Floo Powder to get to Diagon Alley, the Floo Network carried
them to The Leaky Cauldron's fireplace, but most likely there are other points
of arrival and departure on this busy street.
Like the Knight Bus, Floo Powder is an efficient way to travel
but it is not for the faint of heart (or stomach). Spinning rapidly among
leaping green flames while fireplaces rush by and soot rains upon you is not
ideal for some travelers, though people do get used to it and it seems to
be one of the most popular methods aside from Apparation.
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