Magical Objects - Transportation

Broomsticks

Broomsticks are used for transportation by wizards and witches of all ages, and for the game of Quidditch. Their use is similar to that of flying carpets, although the latter are banned in Great Britain. However, they are uncomfortable for extensive trips, even with the cushion charm.

Broomsticks are treated as a major consumer product in the Wizarding world. There are numerous brands and models of brooms, all of which vary in their capabilities. These range from expensive high-performance models to toy broomsticks for young children that only fly a few feet off the ground to even family-sized broomsticks that have room for an entire family to sit down on and have a luggage compartment below the seating area. The cultural significance of broomsticks in the world of Harry Potter is similar to that of the real life automobiles.

Since Harry Potter plays Quidditch, his brooms - a Nimbus 2000, and later a Firebolt - are prominent in the series. The Nimbus 2000 was given to him by special consent of Dumbledore via Professor Minerva McGonagall, who had chosen him as Seeker.[HP1] The Firebolt was given to him by Sirius as a Christmas gift.[HP3] The Firebolt remains the fastest broom in the world, having surpassed the previous record holder, the Nimbus 2001, and its price is so grand that it is only available upon request (Harry Potter never asks for the price, and thus it remains unknown). However Harry loses his Firebolt in Deathly Hallows and it is unknown what he replaces it with afterwards, or if he does at all.

Cars and Motorbikes

Enchanted motor vehicles appear in most of the books.

In Chamber of Secrets, Ron and Harry miss the train and travel to Hogwarts in Ron's father's car, a flying Ford Anglia.

Sirius owned a flying motorbike, which he lent to Hagrid the night James and Lily Potter died; it is first seen when Hagrid delivers the baby Harry to Number Four, Privet Drive in the first book, and then again when Hagrid uses it to help Harry escape from the Dursley's in the seventh book.
Knight Bus

The Knight Bus is a heavily enchanted, violently purple, triple-decker bus that transports wizards and witches. It makes its first appearance in Prisoner of Azkaban where Harry unintentionally hails it by holding his wand arm out. Harry has a final ride on the Knight Bus with a number of his friends in Order of the Phoenix. The Knight Bus is faster than travelling by broomstick, but not as fast as near instantaneous Floo powder and Apparating. The bus charges for the service; Harry Potter is charged 11 Sickles to travel from the town of Little Whinging to The Leaky Cauldron[HP3].

The bus functions as public transportation for the wizard or witch who cannot or will not choose another means of transportation. The riders are seemingly picked up by the bus from all over in-universe Great Britain, bringing passengers to the destinations of their choice with seemingly no set route. It bolts through the streets, entirely invisible to muggles and causes other objects to dodge it (rather than dodging the objects) for travelling short distances. For longer distances, the Knight Bus makes 160 km (hundred-mile) leaps accompanied by a great bang and jolt. The interior of the bus changes depending on the time of day, having seats by day and beds by night. The only mentioned limitation in travelling is that it cannot enter water.

The conductor of the Knight Bus is Stan Shunpike, and its driver is Ernie Prang in the third book of the series. In the third film, Stan is accompanied by a talking shrunken head voiced by Lenny Henry.

Floo Powder

Floo powder is a glittering powder used by wizards to travel and communicate using fireplaces. It was invented by Ignatia Wildsmith (1227-1320) and named after the flue, which is the passageway that leads from a fireplace to the chimney so hot gases can escape. Strangely, flues did not exist at the supposed time of Floo powder's invention. It is possible that the muggles could have taken the word from the wizards and made it their own.

Floo powder can be used with any fireplace connected to the Floo Network. To transport from one fireplace to another, the traveller throws a handful of the Floo powder into the fireplace, steps into the fireplace, and states the intended destination in a clear and purposeful voice. Floo Powder can also be used for communication; a wizard or witch can kneel in front of the fire and stick their head into the fire, which will appear in the fire at another fireplace, leaving the witch or wizard free to talk.

In Chamber of Secrets, the Weasleys travelled to Diagon Alley by Floo powder. Harry did not say "Diagon Alley" clearly: he coughed while saying "Diagon Alley" so he was instead sent to Borgin and Burkes, in Knockturn Alley. In the fourth book, Arthur Weasley uses his position at the Ministry of Magic to have the Dursleys' fireplace temporarily connected to the Floo network, unaware that the fireplace had been blocked. Sirius uses the network to communicate with Harry in the same book. In the fifth book, Harry uses the Gryffindor fireplace and finally Dolores Umbridge's fireplace to communicate with Sirius; he is however forced to do so because Umbridge is monitoring all other lines of communication in and out of Hogwarts (thus why he did not communicate through Gryffindor's). The Floo Network is controlled by the Ministry of Magic. The Ministry also has over 700 fireplaces in its headquarters so ministry officials and workers can teleport straight from their homes to the ministry without the hustle and bustle of travelling on broom or by portkey.
Flying carpets

Flying carpets are usually thick rugs, frequently highly patterned and often manufactured in the Middle East that are enchanted with the ability to fly.[original research?] Flying Carpets were once an accepted form of travel for the British magical community, but they are now banned due to being defined as a "Muggle Artifact" by the Registry of Proscribed Charmable Objects. It is therefore now against British wizarding law to charm carpets or fly them, although they are still legal in other countries. Arthur Weasley was very much involved in the introduction of this legislation due to his position in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office. It is known that the ban was relatively recent, not only from Arthur's involvement, but also from the fact that Barty Crouch Sr's grandfather owned a 12-seater Axminster carpet before flying carpets were prohibited.

A wizard merchant by the name of Ali Bashir is very keen to import flying carpets into Britain and is very upset that local laws are preventing him from doing so. He regularly berates Arthur about the subject, but it is very unlikely that the law will be changed.

Portkeys

The Portkeys are first mentioned in Goblet of Fire. Once created by using the Portus spell, a Portkey can be set to transport anybody who touches it to a designated location, or to become active at a pre-determined time and transport to that location anybody who happens to be touching it at the moment of activation. The creation of Portkeys may be highly restricted in general; although Dumbledore is able to set up an "unauthorised Portkey" in the fifth book, it is treated as a serious crime; Fudge is upset that Dumbledore would create one in front of him, and at one point Remus Lupin says "...it's more than our life's worth to set up an unauthorised Portkey."

In the Harry Potter series, a portkey is usually made from an unobtrusive object or bit of rubbish, to prevent Muggles from discovering their magical nature. When activated, the user feels a pulling or jerking sensation behind the navel, and then suddenly appears at the destination.[HP4] With enough practice, a graceful landing is possible: after the Portkeyed trip to the Quidditch World Cup in fourth film, Cedric Diggory, Arthur Weasley, and Amos Diggory landed on their feet, while the others (Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and the twins) fell onto the ground.

In Goblet of Fire, Crouch Jr., who was impersonating Moody, made the Triwizard Tournament cup a Portkey so it would transport anybody who touched it straight to the hands of Voldemort, expecting it would be Harry. However, Harry took the cup together with Cedric, so Pettigrew murdered Cedric.
Time-Turners

A Time Turner may be used for time travel. A large supply of Time-Turners is kept at the Ministry of Magic, as seen in Order of the Phoenix; however, during the events of that book a glass-fronted cabinet containing Time-Turners is destroyed. Due to their time-affecting properties, the cabinet is seen to fall, shatter and repair itself repeatedly. In Half-Blood Prince, Hermione mentions a Daily Prophet article stating that "the entire stock of Ministry Time-Turners" was destroyed during that incident. The books do not discuss who else may be in possession of Time-Turners outside of the Ministry.

Hermione receives a Time-Turner from McGonagall in Prisoner of Azkaban, so she could attend more classes than time would normally allow. Hermione is ordered to keep it a secret from everyone, including Harry and Ron, although they do notice the impossibility of her schedule, and several bizarre disappearances and reappearances- the increased schedule does leave her strained towards the end of the year, however. Hermione lets Harry and Ron in on the secret near the end of the book, where she and Harry use the Time-Turner to save Sirius and Buckbeak.

Hermione's Time-Turner resembles an hourglass pendant on a necklace; it is unclear if all of them do. The hourglass pendant is twisted to move through time, and the number of turns on the hourglass corresponds to the number of hours one travelled back in time. The travel ends as the traveller arrives to the point in time of which s/he went back in time (e.g. Hermione and Harry go back three hours; three hours after their arrival in the past, they return to the time period they turned back).
Vanishing Cabinet

The Vanishing Cabinet is a cabinet located in Hogwarts that is a part of a set of two; the other cabinet resides in Borgin and Burkes. One simply enters a cabinet at one location and exits the cabinet at the other location.

The Vanishing Cabinet is first seen in Chamber of Secrets when Harry in mistakenly transported to Borgin and Burkes in Knockturn Alley and hides in it to elude Draco and the man that appears to be his father. That cabinet's counterpart is mentioned in Chamber of Secrets when Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington convinces Peeves to drop it (thus breaking it) over Argus Filch's office in order to help Harry escape detention for "befouling of the castle" (tracking in mud). It was also used in Order of the Phoenix by Fred and George, when they forced Montague, the Slytherin Quidditch captain and member of the Inquisitorial Squad into it when he tried to take house points from Gryffindor. Draco then learns of Montague’s experience, learning that you could transport between the two cabinets and that the other is located in Borgin and Burkes. He later tells Voldemort of this and is instructed to fix the broken one at Hogwarts as so to transport the Death Eaters into the highly secured castle.

In Half-Blood Prince Draco visits the dark shop to ask for instruction in fixing the one broken Cabinet placed in the Room of Requirement at Hogwarts after Peeves broke it by dropping it in Draco's second year. After Draco pales and becomes fatigue in his complex struggle to fix the cabinet, he madly yells in triumph as he succeeds and allows the Death Eaters to finally enter the school. Thus, a chaotic battle begins in the castle between them and the Order of the Phoenix, ultimately leading to Dumbledore's death.