Thoughts and questions on wands

[Amy Z]

No: HPFGUIDX 13468

-Witches and wizards can identify their own wand very easily, so 
easily that it seems to be done by a sense other than sight:  Harry 
knows his immediately when Amos Diggory holds it up in GF.

-They can also easily match up another witch/wizard and her/his wand, 
or at least Lupin does in the Shrieking Shack (he throws Harry, Ron, 
and Hermione their wands, the right one to each).  Again, is this 
done by some kind of magical sense that connects a person to her/his 
wand?  Could anyone have done this with a moment's reflection, or is 
it because Lupin knows them?  Or is it simply that he's seen their 
wands in their hands many times, and the differences in size and color 
are obvious to wizards and witches, though they might be too subtle to 
your average Muggle?  (I think of a fascinating study I saw on TV, of 
Australian Aboriginal children whose ability to pick out which small 
rock or twig was missing from an assortment they had just seen for 60 
seconds was astounding to someone from my culture.)

-Every wand is unique and uniquely matched to the witch/wizard 
(therefore, Ron would've had a hard time owl-ordering one in CoS, even 
if he'd been willing to tell his parents he needed one), and although 
you can use someone else's wand, it won't work as well  (Ollivander, 
84 US ed. of SS, "Diagon Alley").  Is this going to figure into a plot 
at some point?  Someone uses someone else's wand and the results 
aren't powerful enough to do what she/he needs to do?

-They are apparently quite easy to break; Ron's snaps in the car 
accident and Hagrid's was broken when he was expelled.  The latter, 
being a deliberate attempt to deprive a wizard of his power (unlike 
the intent-less violence that snapped Ron's), *might* take powerful 
magic.  If not, it's pretty scary, since in a duel one could easily 
render one's opponent helpless by breaking his/her wand.  Scary, also, 
because we know that Harry's wand is one of the few weapons in the 
world that's effective against V, certainly the only thing known that 
can block his Avada Kedavra.  That's a mighty fragile thing to have 
standing between the well-being of the world and Voldemort.  Maybe 
Fawkes could be persuaded to donate a magical army's worth of 
feathers--hence the name, "The Order of the Phoenix"?

Off the point but sweet: my mom says the scene she most wants to see 
is Harry in Mr. Ollivander's.

Amy Z

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  "What's this?" he asked Aunt Petunia.  Her lips tightened
as they always did if he dared to ask a question.
  "Your new school uniform," she said.
  Harry looked in the bowl again.
  "Oh," he said, "I didn't realize it had to be so wet."
                           -HP and the Philosopher's Stone 
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