Silver or Silvery? (WAS: How Long Will Wormtail's New Hand Last?)

[grey_wolf_c]

No: HPFGUIDX 42760

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "erisedstraeh2002" <bdmorrp at b...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., "grey_wolf_c" <greywolf1 at j...> wrote:
> 
> > Since Voldemort is at the top with the very best, it's entirely 
> > possible that the hand lasts a long time. Then again, it may not 
> > have been conjured out of thin air at all: it may be a summon of 
> > some sort of ghostly energy. Remember that it's not silver, it's 
> > just silvery. So was the bird Dumbledore used to call Hagrid 
> > previously in GoF. Whatever that material is, we don't know it's 
> > properties or how easy it is to conjure, nor how much it lasts.
> 
> Now me:
> 
> OK, does this mean Scholastic is playing tricks on me again?  My US 
> GoF hardcover edition reads (p. 649, my emphases): "Voldemort raised 
> his wand again and whirled it through the air.  A streak of what 
> looked like *molten silver* hung shining in the wand's wake."  and 
> Wormtail's "breathing harsh and ragged, he raised his head and stared 
> in disbelief at the *silver* hand, now attached seamlessly to his 
> arm, as through he were wearing a dazzling glove."  Does the UK 
> version say "silvery" instead of "silver" here?

I couldn't say. I haven't got the UK edition either, after all. I must 
admit I'm using hearsay here. The last time I participated in the 
"silver hand" debate, a fellow listee pointed out that, in fact, we are 
never told that the hand is made form silver, only that it has a silver 
shine. My own edition in my own language identifies the hand first as 
silver and then as silvery, though, so it doesn't help. I never 
actually asked about the original, but I'm correcting that right now. 
All you Brits, I need your original editions once more. Sorry for 
bothering you once again, and thanks!

At any rate, there is no canon that the werwolves in Potterverse are 
affected by silver. Although it's a general sort of affliction for 
werewolves, the weak points of those sort of creatures changes widely 
from book to book. For example, most of the werewoves I've read about 
are *not* affected by wolvesbane (a plant), but traditionally it's 
either death for a werewolf, or what changes you into one to begin 
with.

To give weight to the "silver doesn't harm werewolves in Potterverse" 
theory, just point out that sickles are made of silver, and I don't 
think that Lupin is incapable of accepting change when buying something 
(although that would explain why he's so poor: everything he buys has 
to be rounded up to the next galleon, unless he happens to carry enough 
knuts).

> I liked your idea that the hand would need to be re-conjured from 
> time to time.  I've heard other listies say that silver kills 
> werewolves, so perhaps in a future book we'll see Wormtail raise his 
> silver/silvery hand to kill Remus Lupin only to see the hand 
> disappear before Wormtail can strike!
> 
> This also got me thinking about why Wormtail couldn't just conjure 
> (or re-conjure) his own new hand.  It occurred to me that it's 
> perhaps because Wormtail doesn't own his own wand.  Wormtail uses 
> Voldemort's wand to kill Cedric Diggory in the graveyard, and I can't 
> think of any other time when there's a reference to Wormtail using 
> his own wand (after he frames Sirius in the street in PoA, that is).
>
> ~Phyllis

Of course, maybe he just plain isn't strong enough, and the fact that 
when he hasn't got the hand he's squirming on the ground in pain 
shouldn't make things any easier for him to cast it.
 
Hope that helps,

Grey Wolf