[HPforGrownups] Innocent Victims

[Jenny]

No: HPFGUIDX 41276

> Remember in SS/PS:
> "Ronan states, when the unicorn is killed, that it is always the innocent
> that are the first to die. Interestingly, the two people who we know have
> unicorn hairs in their wands are Cedric Diggory and Ron Weasley.  Cedric
> Diggory was killed, an innocent bystander who got in Voldemort's
> way. Is Ron also fated to die?"   [quoted]
>
> Sian

(If I'm misunderstanding your quote, I apologize.)

Is it necessary to kill the unicorn to get a couple of hairs?  The procurer
of the wand ingredients could follow a unicorn around the forest, waiting
for it to snag some hairs on a bit of flora, and then simply gather them up.
They could also obtain a few hairs from someone who's befriended the
unicorns, or is adept at capturing them.  Hagrid seems to befriend many
animals in the forbidden forest, and it's not out of the realm of
possibility that he could simply ask a unicorn for a few hairs.  He also
showed that it wasn't too hard to capture young ones at least, and then a
procurer could simply grab a few without the unicorn's consent.  I cannot
imagine that too many hairs would fit into one thin little wand (how _do_
the cram all that stuff into a tiny little stick of wood???), especially if
it's supposed to have more than one ingredient, so a handful of hairs might
do nicely for a very large amount of wands.

The way that killing unicorns is talked about in SS makes it sound like a
very bad crime indeed, so I really doubt that they have to kill one to get
the hairs to make wands with.  Thus, the fact that a unicorn is killed in
SS, and that Ron has unicorn hair in his wand would seem to be simply
coincidence.  His wand has to be made of _something_ after all.

I _do_ feel sorry for those poor dragons that have to be killed to get the
"dragon heartstring" for wands though.  I don't imagine there's much other
way to get heartstrings from dragons other than to butcher the poor beasts.
Hopefully when this is done they use the _whole_ dragon, like the whole cow
is used.  :)  Perhaps there's someone who raises dragons to provide the raw
materials for dragon heartstring wands, dragonhide gloves, dragons's blood,
etc?  *imagines a dragon farm, and the chaos that would exist on such a farm
raising such undomesticated creatures*......*imagines a tame dragon-cow
instead, much funnier...*  :)

I do find it a little ironic that dragons are supposed to be endangered, yet
the wizards use their parts all the time.  It must be that some are more
common than others, or they _are_ raised domestically for the WW purposes.
I wonder if they sell dragon steaks at fancy WW resturants?

Jenny from Elfwood