Quirrel and Garlic -- Wand Snapping

[caliburncy at yahoo.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 28669

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "David" <dfrankiswork at n...> wrote:
> At the risk of a deluge of we-discussed-this-to-death-in-1978
> posts, may I ask, why does Quirrell smell of garlic?

I have generally suspected this to be some kind of cover-up, either 
as:

A) Further support of the perception of him as "poor, stuttering 
Professor Quirrell" by making him appear paranoid, and therefore an 
unlikely suspect.

B) A literal cover-up of the possible smell of Mouldy Voldy, as 
Parker suggests

Any other ideas?  I haven't ever given this much thought, if truth be 
told, having instantly assumed either A or B as potential 
explanations and never bothering to speculate further.

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., cynthiaanncoe at h... wrote:
> So what good does it do to snap a wizard's wand in half if he can
> buy another at Ollivanders?  Maybe the official "snapping" of the
> wand permanently disrupts the energy bond, the connection with the
> wizard that Harry feels when his fingers get warm.  So every other
> wand at Ollivanders knows that a wizard with a snapped wand doesn't 
> have the proper "energy" field to be allowed to select another.

Although a far less fun and imaginative theory then yours (BTW, has 
anyone told you how creative you are with this?), isn't it equally 
possible that the expectation is just that Ollivander *himself* or 
any other wandmaker will refuse sale to an ex-Azkabanian or 
especially Azkaban escapee?  After all, this is roughly how we poor 
Muggles handle gun control.  And considering the high number of 
European wizard prisons (one), it seems that a 'background check' 
could be done pretty much from memory.  Ollivander et al might just 
be expected (explicitly told or tacitly understood) by the MoM to 
know who Sirius is and not sell to him.  Of course, we already know 
that either Gringotts has apparently not heeded any warning they may 
have been given or Sirius somehow duped them, so a similar hole in 
the (clearly fallible) system might be possible with wands as well.

Hmm, it seems that, once again, we lack information.  At this point I 
am really holding out for JKR to write an HP Encyclopedia when she's 
all finished.  Not that this sort of minor thing would probably be 
addressed in *that*, either.

-Luke