Mid-Air Collision Required for Priori Incantatem? (WAS: Meaning of OotP

[erisedstraeh2002 <erisedstraeh2002@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 48843

Steve (bboy_mn)wrote:

> I like to remind people when this comes up that the Prior 
> Incantatum effect only occurs when both wizards throw curses at 
> that same time and those curses collide in mid-air. The collision 
> of simultaneous curses occurred earlier in Gof between Harry and 
> Draco. This is the scene where Hermione's teeth were enlarged. Of 
> course, the Prioir Incantatum effect only occurs with wands that 
> have the same core.

Now me:

In Ch. 36 of GoF, Sirius asks Dumbledore "So what happens when a wand 
meets its brother?" and Dumbledore responds "They will not work 
properly against each other...If, however, the owners of the wands 
force the wands to do battle...a very rare effect will take place.  
One of the wands will force the other to regurgitate spells it has 
performed - in reverse."

I don't read "wands doing battle" as necessarily meaning "curses 
colliding in mid-air."  While Harry and Voldemort's curses in the 
graveyard did collide in mid-air, it seems as if there's enough 
vagueness in Dumbledore's comment to suggest that the priori 
incantatem can take place without a mid-air curse collision.  
Moreover, it's only after Harry forces the beads of light back into 
Voldemort's wand that the spell regurgitation commences.  To me, 
the "wand battle" that Dumbledore references was when Harry and 
Voldemort's wands were locked together and Harry, strengthened by the 
phoenix song, forced the beads of light into Voldemort's wand, 
thereby winning the battle and forcing Voldemort's wand to 
regurgitate its past spells.

As for what happens with the wands now...I can't see Voldemort 
holding on to his wand now that he knows that there's the potential 
for priori incantatem and thus, the potential that he'll again lose 
his ability to kill Harry.  So my guess is that Voldemort will get a 
new wand (I think Harry will hold on to his wand, since he's not 
striving to kill Voldy.  Unfortunately!).

~Phyllis