The Ford Anglia, wands

[Elizabeth Dalton]

No: HPFGUIDX 32040

ftah3 wrote:

> Well, but if a break would cause a wand to leak magic, wouldn't Ron's
> wand have been inadvertantly magicking things for a while, seeing as
> prior to being completely broken it was so worn that it's insides
> (unicorn hair) were sticking out of the tip?
> 

Well, maybe every time a little bit more got worn off the wand, it leaked a
little magic, but nobody particularly noticed. I mean, Harry accidentally breaks
a wineglass (without his wand), and that passes for a coincidence. I would think
that around wizarding kids, stuff just tends to happen, and people get on with
life. How would you notice that a wand was leaking magic?

OTOH, maybe that's how the wand *got* "worn out." Maybe a bit comes off of it
every time it gets used. (I'm reaching, here. I know.)

In any case, I would think that a sudden, complete break would be a lot more
dramatic than any gradual leakage.

I still think it's strange that there is such a thing as a hand-me-down wand,
given how personal they are. I know JKR wanted to give the impression of poverty
in the Weasley family right from the start, but this particular detail seems
odd.

Then again, we didn't notice such a dramatic improvement in Ron's Charms work
after he got a new wand. Do we ever get a description of the wood of Ron's first
wand? I know both his wands have Unicorn hair as the core. Maybe wand traits
tend to run in families. Maybe Charlie had willow wood, too, so the wand wasn't
such a bad fit after all.

Elizabeth
(who is thinking she'd like birch or apple for her wand, but not because of any
particular tree lore-- she just likes the trees.)