Wands [was: About Ron (not shipping)]

[blpurdom]

No: HPFGUIDX 34538

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., NOTaMuggleFamily at a... wrote:
> << Also, another thing I've wondered about: Ron uses a
> "hand-me-down wand in the first 2 books. How does this
> influence his studies?
> 
> As we have seen when Harry gets his wand, things can go
> quite wrong, if the wand isn't right for the wizard. >>

You are confused.  Yes, in the film Harry wreaks havoc on the wand 
shop until he finds the right one, but in the book, nothing at all 
happens until he gets the right wand.  Ollivander repeatedly pulls 
wands out of Harry's hand when he sees that nothing at all is 
occurring, until Harry finally feels a warmth in his hand and sparks 
spill from the end of his true wand.  

While Ron's magical ability should--in theory--improve with a wand 
that has chosen him, we aren't told that he's suddenly the star of 
his year in PoA because of the new wand.  He simply stops doing 
things like having curses backfire on him, causing him to spit up 
slugs (the result of the broken wand).  His hand-me-down wand in the 
first book doesn't seem to impede his magical education; it's just 
the wand being broken in the second book which poses a problem.  
(And one has to wonder how he didn't fail every exam with this 
thing.)

--Barb
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HP_Psych
http://schnoogle.com/authorLinks/Barb