Wand Question

[Eric Oppen]

No: HPFGUIDX 33884


>
> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Eric Oppen" <oppen at c...> wrote:
> > One thing I want to know is this:  If a wizard or witch has their
> wand broken (as happened to Hagrid) what's preventing him
> from getting a replacement somewhere? <<
>
> Perhaps the wand itself has something to do with it.  Perhaps
> some rather complex magic has to be done to sever the bond
> between the user and the old wand before it is broken or
> discarded.  Maybe a new wand won't choose you if there is still a
> bond with your old one. I wonder about Narcissa going to look at
> wands in SS/PS.

Especially since she's looking at them for her son, while when Harry goes to
Ollivander's, Mr. Ollivander says that the individual _must_ be attuned to
the wand.  Of course, Harry doesn't have parents, and for all we know to the
contrary, an experienced witch who's also a parent might be able to properly
select a wand for her child.

Does she care more about the appearance of
> her wand than its magical properties? If she is a sort of trophy
> witch she might regard it as beneath her to do her own magic.
> Maybe her House Elves and servants do it all.

I love this phrase, "Trophy witch!"  *HEH*
>
> I imagine it is the spellwork more than the raw ingredients which
> make wands difficult to manufacture, though all the animals are
> noted in FB as difficult to catch. It could be that when Hagrid
> says, "only place for wands, Ollivander's" he is telling the literal
> truth: Ollivander's really is the only place in the British Isles to get
> a wand.
>
>
> <snip>
>  Would Hagrid have been able to use his father's wand?  What
> _does_
> > happen to a wizard's wand when he dies?
>
>   I assume that stage magicians adopted from wizards the
> custom of snapping the wand in two at the funeral and placing it
> in the coffin to be buried. If this was done when Hagrid's father
> died, of course the wand wouldn't be available.

This also sounds like the (archaic?) ritual observed at the death of a
reigning British monarch.  Certain officials in very old offices used to
break their rods of office upon the death (or official deposition) of a
reigning king or queen, and in the case of a death, casting the broken
pieces of their official staves into the grave on top of the coffin, to
signify that their terms of office were over. I don't know if this is still
done.

 If this is part of a wizard's funeral, then of course Hagrid couldn't use
his daddy's wand.  Unfortunately, there's a lot of stuff about wizard life
we haven't seen yet---neither a wedding nor a funeral, so far.