What Position Does Harry Potter Play in Quidditch?
Harry Potter is one of the most beloved fictional characters ever. Ever since J.K. Rowling introduced the world with this young wizard in her series of Harry Potter novels, he won over the hearts of millions of fans instantly. Harry was a very talented wizard, and from the moment he got his Hogwarts letter, we knew he was destined for great things. One of his talents is that he is an exceptional Quidditch player, and in this article, we’ll talk about what position Harry Potter plays in Quidditch.
Harry Potter plays the position of Seeker. He is a member of Gryffindor House in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and was the youngest Seeker in the last century. He made it to Gryffindor’s Quidditch team in his first year after accidentally demonstrating his skills in the first Madam Hooch’s flying lesson class. He later became the team’s captain.
Quidditch was one of the many things the fans were fascinated by, both in the books and the movies. With the announcement of the ‘Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions’ game, Quidditch once again brought a lot of attention to itself, so let’s remind ourselves of some general rules of this sport, so we can be ready when the game comes!
What are the four positions in Quidditch?
Quidditch has four positions: Chasers, Beaters, Keeper, and Seeker. Each team has seven players- three Chasers, two Beaters, one Keeper, and one Seeker. The game is played on a large Quidditch field surrounded by hundreds of seats high in the air so the spectators can always see what’s going on on the field. On each side of the field are three golden poles with hoops, and Keeper’s job is to guard them. He flies around the hoops and tries to prevent the opponents from scoring a goal.
Quidditch is played with three different types of balls. One is Quaffle, a bright red ball around a soccer ball’s size. The Chasers pass the Quaffle to each other and try to throw the Quaffle through one of the hoops and score a goal. For each score, the team wins 10 points. When Harry heard the game’s rules for the first time, he thought it was like basketball on broomsticks with six hoops. And his statement does have some sense, now that I think of it. However, there are many differences.
Now that we have covered what Keepers and Chasers do let’s meet the Beaters. Four Beaters are on the field during the match, two in each team. Their job is to use the clubs (like a short baseball bat) to knock the Bludgers – two black balls, slightly smaller than a Quaffle, that rocket around and try to knock players out of their broomsticks. The Weasley twins were Griffindor’s Beaters for years and were pretty good at it. Oliver Wood even considered them as human versions of the Bludgers. The jokester twins used their bats to guard the Gryffindor’s team on the field and knocked the Bludgers toward the opponents. The Bludgers are not to be messed with as they rocket toward the players with enough force to break someone’s jaw or worse.
The remaining position in Quidditch is the Seeker. The Seekers’ focus is on the Golden Snitch – a small golden ball with silver wings. The Golden Snitch is the most important ball in this sport. It’s very fast and agile, which makes her hard to see and catch. And that’s where the Seekers come in. They must fly their broomsticks as fast as possible to catch the Golden Snitch and avoid collisions with other players, Quaffle and Bludgers. The Seeker who catches the Golden Snitch first wins 150 points for his team, meaning his team nearly always wins that way. It’s also important to mention that the Quidditch game can go on for days or months, and it stops only when one of the Seekers catches the Snitch.
What is the hardest position in Quidditch?
Quidditch is not an easy sport, and the players must have many skills, determination, and courage to participate. Every position in Quidditch requires the players to be concentrated and excellent broomstick handlers. That being said, some positions are harder than others.
The Seeker is probably the hardest position in Quidditch. Of course, opinions may vary, but generally speaking, most Harry Potter fans, and even the players in the Harry Potter wizarding world, think so. The reason for this is that the Seeker position is the most complex because the wizard trying to catch the Golden Snitch has to consider many factors during his endeavors.
As mentioned, the Golden Snitch is extremely fast, and catching it is never easy. And as that wasn’t enough, the Seeker is always the player who gets fouled the most by the opponents and is often the target of the Bludgers’ strikes. So, the Seeker has to be focused on the Snitch’s whereabouts and be agile and concentrated on all other obstacles simultaneously. Often, just catching the Snitch as soon as possible is not enough. When Seeker catches the Snitch, there is no guarantee that his team will win. That’s why he always needs to remember the right timing, ensuring that the 150 points that catching the Snitch brings will eventually be enough for the overall win.
The Seeker is often the most skillful broomstick handler on the field. And naturally so, because his flying needs to be so perfect that he can fly in versatile styles, changing directions in seconds and be prepared for regular elbowing, cobbing, and ”you’ve got nothing on me” attitude. That being said, other positions are not a piece of cake either, but in terms of the overall effort they need to put in, it is fair to say that the position of Seeker is somewhat harder than the rest.
For example, the Keeper can be considered as the simplest position. Sure, he needs to be a great goalie with his reflexes fast enough to guard all three hoops simultaneously, but besides that, the Keeper does not move much over the field but waits for the Chasers to come his way instead. Oliver Wood was Gryffindor’s Keeper, and he was the one who first introduced Harry Potter to the basic rules of Quidditch, and later on, Ron became his successor.
Chasers and Beaters are more complex positions than Keepers because those players move around the field much and are often fouled. Chasers need to pass the Quaffle to each other as fast as possible to score a goal and earn valuable points for their team, and Beaters are in constant danger of Bludgers being torpedoed their way, and they guard the rest of the teammates at the same time. It’s fair to say that the Beaters do most of the ”dirty work”, so their team can prosper.
What is Harry’s new position on the Quidditch team?
Harry was like any other boy at first. At least, he thought so. He didn’t choose anything that happened to him in life. All he wanted was to have a family and friends. He always knew how to judge people well and stood up for those who were weaker and couldn’t defend themselves. And that’s what earned him a place on the Quidditch team in the first place.
Before arriving at Hogwarts, Harry was completely unaware of the wizarding world and had never even thought about flying on a broomstick, let alone anything else. But that all changed at Hogwarts during the first flying lesson taught by Madam Hooch.
After Neville’s first attempt to learn how to fly ended badly, Harry stood up for him and confronted Malfoy, who was trying to hide Neville’s Remembrall somewhere where Neville wouldn’t find it. Harry wanted to stop Malfoy from doing so, and soon they were both flying on their broomsticks high in the air. Although it was the first time Harry had flown on a broomstick, it seemed he knew exactly what he was doing. He maneuvered the broomstick skillfully, and when Malfoy threw the Remembrall, Harry managed to catch it, much to everyone’s surprise. However, the excitement soon ended when Professor McGonagall arrived and took Harry away.
Everyone, including Harry, thought his days at Hogwarts were over, and he would be expelled. But Professor McGonagall had other things in mind. Seeing how Harry caught the Remembrall in the air, she was thrilled and decided that Harry was the right choice to be the new Gryffindor Seeker. She then took Harry to see Oliver Wood, Gryffindor’s Quidditch captain, who would teach Harry everything else. Harry thus became the youngest Seeker in the last century of Hogwarts because the school had a rule that first-year students couldn’t be part of the Quidditch team. Harry also learned that he had many similarities to his father, a successful Quidditch player.
And the rest is history. Harry always demonstrated courage and determination while playing Quidditch, even catching his first Golden Snitch with his mouth. Sure Quidditch brought him some broken bones, a few Dementor attacks, and various perils, but he enjoyed every second of it.
