[HPforGrownups] Harry's Wand Hand

[Alexander]

No: HPFGUIDX 33612

  Greetings!

> Christi wrote to us in her wisdom:

c>  I got the impression from the scene when Harry gets his wand 
c> (SS/PS) that he holds his wand in his right hand, but the 
c> illustration for PoA12 shows him holding his wand in his left hand. 
c> Did the illustrator make a mistake? Could the illustration have 
c> gotten flipped when the book was layed out? Or did I just 
c> misunderstand which hand Harry holds his wand in? Ah, the things you 
c> notice when you are trying to do anything other than clean the 
c> house...

c>  Christi

  I don't think that's so important. After all, wand is just
a tool, though a demisentient one (at least it's the
impression I got).
  Orders to hold the wand in the right hand could easily
have no direct connection to magic, but to psychology (that
is, to persuade Harry that if he will hold the wand in right
hand, something will happen, to make him confident enough to
create something indeed).
  But my version is that it's not important at all - you can
hold your wand by your right or left arm with no troubles.

  Did anyone consider an alternative punishment for wizard
criminals? I mean, why bother with Dementors and Azkaban,
when you can simply cut bad dude's arms off and break his
wand (just in case)? Despite the cruelty, I think this to be
a much more humanistic approach to punishment than to let
the guy go insane and die in 1-2 years...
  Of course, this still doesn't guarantee the punishment if
one can hold a wand by his foot fingers, or in the mouth...

Sincerely yours,
Alexander Lomski,
(Gryffindor/Slytherin crossbreed),
always happy to throw weird ideas into the community.