Are students required to attend Quidditch matches?

Question

Given that students from all houses attend Quidditch matches, whether their house is playing or not, can it be concluded that matches are compulsory for students? In The Half Blood Prince, Harry says goodbye to Ron in the hospital wing and leaves for the match:

He hurried through the deserted corridors; the whole school was outside, either already seated in the stadium or heading down toward it.

'The whole school' could be an exaggeration for the sake of simplicity. Harry then runs into Malfoy, who is 'skulking off' when the match is about to start. It's unclear if Harry's suspicion is only because he is already wary of Malfoy, or if leaving a match is not allowed.

Apart from being bedridden or having detention, are students allowed to skip matches simply because they've chosen not to?

Answer 1

All signs point to inter-school Quidditch matches being voluntary to attend, but also extremely popular, to the point where attendance is pretty much essential, from a social perspective.

‘Stop worrying, Oliver,’ said Alicia soothingly, ‘we don’t mind a bit of rain.’

But it was considerably more than a bit of rain. Such was the popularity of Quidditch that the whole school turned out to watch the match as usual, but they ran down the lawns towards the Quidditch pitch, heads bowed against the ferocious wind, umbrellas being whipped out of their hands as they went. Just before he entered the changing room, Harry saw Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle laughing and pointing at him from under an enormous umbrella on their way to the stadium.

_{^{Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban}}

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Malfoy is notable in his absence on at least two occasions. The crowd is described as comprising 'the rest of the school'

“Yeah … well, I saw Malfoy sneaking off with a couple of girls who didn’t look like they wanted to be with him, and that’s the second time he’s made sure he isn’t down on the Quidditch pitch with the rest of the school. He skipped the last match too, remember?’ Harry sighed.”

_{^{Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince}}

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On at least one occasion Hermione (who else?) skips a match so that she can use her free period for (what else?) additional study (where else?) in the library.

“But why’s she got to go to the library?’ ‘Because that’s what Hermione does,’ said Ron, shrugging. ‘When in doubt, go to the library.’
Harry stood, irresolute, trying to catch the voice again, but people were now emerging from the Great Hall behind him, talking loudly, exiting through the front doors on their way to the Quidditch pitch.
‘You’d better get moving,’ said Ron. ‘It’s nearly eleven – the match.”

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

There appears to be no restriction on her doing so and no punishment for having done so.

Answer 2

The question here seems to combine two separate things: 1. Is attending Quidditch matches compulsory? 2. Did anyone ever skip Quidditch simply of their own choice?

I think we can infer that Quidditch attendance is not mandatory from the fact that in Chapter Twenty-Four of Half-Blood Prince Harry has detention during a Quidditch match:

"Well, we shall see how you feel after your detentions," said Snape. "Ten o'clock Saturday morning, Potter. My office."

"But sir..." said Harry, looking up desperately. "Quidditch... the last match of the..."

"Ten o'clock," whispered Snape, with a smile that showed his yellow teeth. "Poor Gryffindor... fourth place this year, I fear..."

Given that we never find detentions occurring during mandatory student activities, it would seem to be reasonable to conclude that attendance at Quidditch matches was not, in fact, mandatory.

As for whether anyone ever ditched a Quidditch match of their own volition, Harry himself did this in Chapter Thirty of Order of the Phoenix:

“Listen,” he whispered, “can yeh come with me? Now? While ev’ryone’s watchin’ the match?”

“Er... can’t it wait, Hagrid?” asked Harry. “Till the match is over?

“No,” said Hagrid. “No, Harry, it’s gotta be now... while ev’ryone’s lookin’ the other way... Please?”

Hagrid’s nose was gently dripping blood. His eyes were both blackened. Harry had not seen him this close up since his return to the school; he looked utterly woebegone.

“’Course,” said Harry at once, “’course we’ll come...”

There are some implications over the following pages that they are doing something they shouldn't be doing. For example:

“I ’ppreciate this, you two, I really do,” said Hagrid as they reached the stairs. He kept looking around nervously as they descended toward the lawn below. “I jus’ hope she doesn’ notice us goin’...”

And:

“Yeah,” said Hagrid. “C’mon now, quick, before we’re spotted!”

And:

“Look — there’s people comin’ out already — if you two hurry yeh’ll be able ter blend in with the crowd an’ no one’ll know you weren’t there!”

But this may not be because missing Quidditch itself is problematic, but that the specific nature of what they were doing instead was problematic.