Wand Cores

[jodel at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 44403

Interesting speculations. Perhaps I might add a few more considerations;

Concerning dragon heartstring; 

We know that there are several breeds of dragon, of different sizes and that 
there are dragons in the wild. But there are also overseen colonies of 
dragons, such as the one in Roumania where Charles Weasley works. The 
population of these colonies must be strictly controled or the colony would 
get out of control, or possibly its members start exhibiting some (probably 
damned dangerous) pathologies due to overcrowding. 

Therefore, given that there is a permanent and probably quite lucrative 
market for dragon products in the WW, it stands to reason that in addition to 
those which die natural deaths, the colony is routinely culled of elderly, 
infirm, injured or redundent members (of the more common breeds, at least) 
and that these are the source of the dragon products which are used 
throughout at least the European market. They are effectively "ranch dragons".

We do not know exactly who owns these colonies, either. It seems inevitable 
that here is one fairly major source for wizards income. Either for private 
families, wizarding consortiums or various national Ministries.

Concerning unicorn hair;

The traditional method of capturing a unicorn was for a maiden to wait seated 
upon the ground in a location that unicorns were believed to frequent. 
Whereupon, eventually a unicorn would be hoped to appear, kneel down and 
place its head in her lap. What is interesting about this folktale is that 
when it has been depicted in manuscript illuminations or tapestries easily 
half of the time the maiden is shown to be holding a comb, or actually 
combing the unicorn's mane. 

Unicorns can be dangerous, and are certainly shy, but they can be handled, 
more readily by witches than by wizards. I suggest that while some wizards, 
such as Olivander may try taking the hairs himself, witches who live in 
proximity to forested areas known to contain unicorn flocks might annually 
(or even monthly, or whatever) take some grooming brushes, go out into the 
forest and wait in glades which show evidence of unicorn presence, wait for 
them to show up and start grooming. Any hairs which are taken in this manner 
would have none of the nasty consequences pretaining to damaging unicorns for 
personal gain, the flocks would gradually become accustomed to being 
aproached by witches with brushes and it would be a win-win situation all 
round. 

The only question would be whether this "unicorn harvest" would be managed as 
a cottage industry or whether the witches would be employed by a consortium. 
It standfs to reason that there are plenty of uses for unicorn hair in 
addition to the making of wand cores, so the business could be fairly 
lucrative.

Concerning phoenix feather;

Yes. it IS rare. There are not a lot of phoenixes and few of these have 
chosen to companion wizards. And the ones that have are no more generous with 
their feathers than those in the wild. 

However, birds groom themselves regularly and they DO lose feathers and they 
have favored places to roost. It stands to reason that anyone in the WW who 
hears rumors of a phoenix sighting is going to either go, or send someone to 
find the favored roosting spot. And once the bird is out os sight will 
investigate the area for shed feathers. 

It doesn't have to be tail feathers. Fawkes is described as being about the 
size of a swan. Swans are BIG birds (I would have expected him to be more in 
line with the size of a pheasent, or, at most, a peacock myself. Shorter 
tail, though). A quill feather would probably be quite large enough to core a 
wand. There is also the possibility that there might be some degree of 
limited moult before immolation. Feathers gleaned in this manner would be a 
nice monitary bonus to the finder. I do not believe that there is any way of 
managing a controlled harvest of them, and almost certainly no way to "ranch" 
them.

And, for the record; I do not agree that a feather taken will burn or 
disapear when the phoenix next immolates. That would make phoenix feather 
totally unsuitable as a material for wand cores. Harry watched Fawkes 
immolate in Dumbledore's office and his wand went on working just fine. And, 
no, the feather does not have to be "given" it only needs to be "released" a 
shed feather will work just fine. 

It may not, however, be *possible* to pluck a feather from an unwilling 
phoenix. For one thing, they CAN disapear at will. Feathers and all...

-JOdel