Flying on smoke? You talking about book or movie? In book there is no mention of any smoke, so it could have been similar to broom flight.

 

Remember the film, The Mummy? The way that the evil undead Egyptian priest's face would appear in the sand, or in a waterfall, or whatever? I imagined this like that, only with smoke.

Edit: Found a pic. A bit like this:

http://www.horrordvds.com/reviews/a-m/mummy99/mummy99_shot4l.jpg

Only with smoke and on a much smaller scale.

 

...Taure. That's a simile; Rowling was describing something that was similar to what Voldemort was doing. There was no actual smoke there.

 

It could be the same charm as broom-flying. Just with extra added affects. I think you might be digging a little to deep. Demon_Vigilante is correct, it's a simile. I doubt there was any actual smoke.

It's not beyond measure to think that Voldie slapped a few charms on his boots to make him fly and look even more badass at the same time (if there really was smoke or whatnot).

Afterall, if there's one thing we know about Voldemort throughout the entire series... it's that he always looks like a badass, no matter.

 

Oh? Then how does a body fly "like smoke" without first becoming smoke-like in essence?

If it's a simile, it's a terrible one.

 

As the quote clearly states, Rowling is referring to smoke's ability to fly without any aid, as smoke tends to be capable of doing. He doesn't need to become smoke-like in essence in order to fly without aid.

 

I disagree.

You have taken the "...without broomstick or Thestral to hold him..." to be a continuation of the smoke description. I view it as a seperate piece of description.

Your view:

He was flying like smoke on the wind: which is to say, without an aid.

My view:

He was flying like smoke on the wind, also, he didn't have any aid.

So it all comes down to how we read it I guess.

 

Here's the description of Snape's flight:

Note that McGonagall said he was using his wand, implying that he cast a spell on himself, and that he was described as simply flying, no smoke.

The use of the word like in the original quote shows that it's a simile. Rowling was probably trying to illustrate how fast he was going, as smoke on the wind tends to drift away quickly. And Taure is right; it is a rather horrible simile, as shown by all the confusion.

 

Ohh, that Snape quote just made me think: it can't be the same spell as is used for broomsticks, because Hogwarts is spelled against broomstick flight, and Snape just flew across the grounds.

 

Did I miss it getting new wards in HBP/DH? Because Fred and George seemed to do just fine... It's entirely possible that I missed it, though, because I haven't read these two as obsessively as the first 5.

 

In GOF (I think it was GOF at least), in the same scene where we first learn that you can't apparate into and out of Hogwarts, Hermione also says that Hogwarts: A History says that you can't fly into the grounds. Obviously, within the grounds you can fly (Quidditch anyone?) but you can't cross the boundry by broom.

 

I think you're referring to the scene PoA when everyone's speculating about how Sirius got into the castle- Hermione says that you can't apparate in, and that the dementors would have seen/sensed him flying in. (pg 164, American paperback edition). Even if there is an enchantment to block flying into the castle, there isn't one that blocks outgoing flight- Fred and George flew out of the castle without a problem in OotP. I think it's possible that he used the broom enchantment on his shoes or some other clothing article.

 

It's possible of course, but we've also got to take into account JKR's intention. Do you think she would have made Voldemort possess a pair of flying shoes, or do you think she would have had him discover a new and impressive spell that allows you to fly?

 

Well - Snape is the Headmaster. Like Dumbledore at the end of HBP he should be able to flight in and out of Hogwarts whenever he wants. He just has to disable the protections for a moment.

 

Snape's headship is a bit in question though, by the fact that he didn't get a wizarding portrait in the Headmaster's office.

Also, as we saw in HBP, there's a lot more to disabling the anti-broom protections than being the headmaster. In fact, though we hardly notice it, it's possibly the most advaced piece of magic that we've seen in the Harry Potter series, when Dumbledore is flying towards Hogwarts and has to constantly be muttering counter spells to the enchantments. We don't know if Dumbledore ever told Snape the spells needed to undo the enchantments.

 

Other than Umbridge Snape had access to the Headmaster's office, that indicates 'the castle' accepted him as headmaster. Considering the plan Snape followed it is not unlikely Dumbledore taught him how to disable the wards - if he needed to be taught. There could be a manual (accessable for headmaster/headmistress only) "Hogwarts Castle, a How To for Beginners".

 

Unless of course your name is Hermione and you accio the book from the Headmaster's office.



I think, now that we have passed into the realm of speculation, everything from this point forwards is just going to be opinion, not canon fact. Oh well.

 

I always assumed that it was something that was passed from Headmaster to Headmaster, with the portraits teaching the incoming headmaster if the previous one died unexpectedly. Since we know Phineas excepted him, maybe they taught him how to disable the wards, if Dumbledore didn't before his death.

As for the broomstick charm, I checked the Lexicon, and I think you can probably rule out the broomstick enchantment, as it is actually a number of enchantments that might take a while to do. See this and this. I don't think that this was something that was hinted in canon- we probably won't know unless she reveals it in an interview.

EDIT- too slow.. Taure is probably right- all of this is speculation until she confirms or deny.

 

I think starting with the initial post we never left the realm of speculation.

 

I maintain that Voldemort had Wormtail sew him a pair of underpants out of an old flying carpet.