Sirius' Wand

[DM]

No: HPFGUIDX 21054

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Rita Winston" <catlady at w...> wrote:
> >The only spell we've seem him perform
> >(as far as I can remember - correct me if I'm wrong) is a disarming
> > spell, which is something they learned very early on. 
> 
> I don't know when they would have learned Expelliarmus (early or 
late 
> in schooling) if Lockhart hadn't started a Dueling Club (which also 
> gave some information about extracurricular clubs at Hogwarts).

That's true, but on the other hand, this ~is~ Sirius we're talking 
about.  I'm sure MWPP were 'dueling' with the Slytherins for some 
time (after all, Severus is skilled in it).  Knowing how they have a 
tendency to stick their noses where they don't belong is a good 
indication that they may have learned Expelliarmus on their own quite 
early, IMO.
 
> In the Shrieking Shack, Sirius does a number of spells after 
> Expelliarmus. When Harry jumps him, " there was a blinding flash as
> [Ron's] wand in Black's hand sent a jet of sparks into the air that 
> missed Harry's face by inches"
> 
> Lupin hands Black Snape's wand and together they turned Scabbers 
> back into Pettigrew: "A flash of blue-white light erupted from both 
> wands; for a moment,Scabbers was frozen in midair, his small gray 
> form twisting madly -- Ron yelled -- the rat fell and hit the 
floor. 
> There was another blinding flash of light and then --"

You're right about all of those of course (I can't seem to locate my 
book three and was going on memory alone).  Still, none of those 
spells were very impressive - for the really difficult ones, Lupin 
was helping him out.  As for the sparks, you can shoot sparks out of 
a wand just by waving it around.  It was probably just the shock of 
the moment when Harry jumped him (since we know he didn't want to 
hurt Harry).

> Then they were going to kill Peter together -- they both rolled 
> up their sleeves and pointed their wands at him -- WHY did they 
> roll up their sleeves?

Oh, most likely just for effect.  One doesn't have to roll up their 
sleaves to punch somebody, but it's done anyway.  I also think it 
helps with concentration - no billowy sleaves hanging  around your 
wrist.
 
> When they decided to capture Peter instead of killing him, "Black 
> conjured heavy manacles from thin air". T

Right again.  But still, manacles - prison... coincidence?  Maybe not.

> Then they all went back to the castle, with "Next came Professor 
> Snape, drifting creepily along, his toes hitting each stair as they 
> descended, held up by his own wand, which was being pointed at him 
by 
> Sirius." I admit that one is less impressive, as it was Lupin that 
> orginally cast the Mobilicorpus on Snape.

Also true.  Thanks for pointing that out.  
All right, maybe he can remember a few spells.  But my point in the 
previous post was that he probably (IMO) isn't strong enough to 
handle doing complicated magic without a wand, like Dumbledore and 
Voldemort can do to some degree.  He didn't seem to perform any magic 
besides the Animagus transformation (which he had been doing for 
years and years in Azkaban) up until the end of Book Three, as far as 
we know.  I wonder if magic use can be detected from a distance, like 
the incident with Harry and the pudding (of course, he could have 
just been tattled on by Dobby or Mrs. Figg).
DM