Hand of Glory and other Mysteries

[Steve]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Carol" <justcarol67 at ...> wrote:
>
> Lee Storm wrote:
> > > As far as the Hand Of Glory, that's easy.  Harry probably mentioned it to Ron since he had seen it; Draco probably went back to B&B when he had some extra galleons and bought it for himself.
> > 
> > Miles
> > I agree and disagree ;).
> > On the one hand, there's no problem about things happening offpage. ...<snip>. And Draco was interested in the Hand of Glory in CoS, and could easily have bought it in the following years, .... It's not really a Flint, but if I had to bet, I'd bed on a JKR mistake.
> >
> Carol responds:
> 
> I agree. Not to mention that Ron (twice) remembers the Hand of Glory as something that Draco already has in his possession as if he and Harry have actually seen it at Hogwarts. ... Since Filch, who confiscated Crabbe's shrunken head, had a Dark Detector, he would also have detected a Hand of Glory, another Dark object from Borgin and Burke's. 
> 
> The only way Draco could have gotten it into the school during sixth year without its being detected was through the Vanishing Cabinet when he finally succeeded in fixing it. ...
> 
> So Ron could not have seen Draco's Hand of Glory at school, ...
> 
> Carol, who hates moments like Ron's two remarks about the Hand of Glory that jerk her out of her willingly suspended disbelief
>


bboyminn:

But we are assuming the Ron is not assuming facts not in evidence.
Does that make sense. Ron, having has an encounter with Draco in
which Draco could clearly see even though the hallway was filled
with Peruvian Darkness Power, may have simple lead Ron to 
remember back to Harry's account of Borgin and Burks, and to 
conclude that Draco had the Hand of Glory. 

Ron may be stating it as if it were a know fact, but it could
well be simply a conclusion he reached. He is, sort of, filling
in the blanks with supposition and then taking that supposition
as fact.

As to how Draco got the Hand, well I think he certainly felt he
was going to need it. And they certainly need some way to test
the Vanishing Cabinet. When Trelawney heard the 'Whoop', it might 
have been Draco successfully transferring the Hand to Hogwarts.
The Hand being an essential tool in what they were about to do.

Once the Hand moved through unscathed, it was then time to find
a volunteer to try it. I'm not sure who the volunteer was or
how he was picked, but likely he was not too pleased at the 
idea, but was even less pleased that the idea of his sure death
and/or torture for disobeying. 

Keep in mind that we don't even know for sure the Draco purchased
the Hand. They may have simply forced Borgin to send it through
under threat of punishment. I suspect a good 'punishment' might
have been to threaten to send him through instead. 

So, while Ron states himself with a certain certainty, he may
only have that certainty because he analyzed the evidence and
reached that conclusion. Draco had a way of seeing through the
Darkness Powder. Also, Ginny confirms that they saw Draco had
the 'shriveled arm' before Draco throws the Darkness Power. 
Also, Ron only says one line, "His Hand of Glory" as a way of
explaining Ginny's 'shriveled arm' remark. From then on, it
is pretty much Ginny talking. 

So, we know they saw the Hand, we know they knew what the Hand
was and what it did, but there doesn't seem to be any 
speculation about how or where Draco got it except among fans.

I think it likely that my scenario is correct, the confirmation
that the Cabinet worked was the arrival of the much needed
Hand of Glory, after that it was a single test with a human,
and they were ready to go. I mean, since Draco has a supply of
Darkness Power, logically he would need a way to see while 
under its effects, so he made sure he had the Hand. 

Just a few thoughts.

Steve/bluewizard