The Astronomy Tower was the tallest tower in Hogwarts Castle, and reaching it required climbing a steep spiral staircase. Yet it was actually Hogwarts's newest tower, built at the suggestion of Fosco, the headmaster in the sixteenth century.
At first, he encountered considerable resistance. People believed there was no need to build another tower at the school. On a mountaintop east of Hogwarts stood a watchtower, which might originally have been intended for the gamekeeper to prevent forest fires, before later being used as a military installation.
Besides offering a lofty vantage point, it was also well suited for observing the stars. Like Hogwarts Castle, it appeared to Muggles as a ruin.
Whenever there was an Astronomy lesson, the young witches and wizards would ride their brooms there after dark. Magical lamps often hung from the fronts of their brooms, while they clutched their textbooks and stationery to their chests.
Perhaps one day, a muddleheaded young wizard accidentally dropped his star chart from his arms, and it fell into the Black Lake. It passed the weeds at the bottom of the lake, the Mermaids' homes, and mysterious ruins before finally settling into the silt on the lakebed.
But not everyone could ride a broom, or rather, some rode terribly and might even fall into the lake themselves.
Many people could not understand that frustration. To them, flying seemed like an essential survival skill. That made it easy to understand how Artemisia Blackwood had felt when she gave birth to a Squib daughter. Though her daughter had no obvious physical disability, she simply could not use a wand.
Some mothers could patiently care for a disabled child, while others could not. In any case, all that changed after the International Statute of Secrecy was enacted. Even Quidditch had to be concealed