[HPforGrownups] Voldemort's wand (was Re: Wormtail's Wand)

[Troels Forchhammer]

No: HPFGUIDX 54803

At 17:35 04-04-03 +0000, Alex wrote:
>Troels:
> > The gardener (Frank Bryce) and Bertha Jorkins are killed by Voldemort.
> > Not that it matters much (it must be Peter killing Cedric, I agree), but
> > just to keep it straight ;-)
>
>I'm sorry, as I'm probably wrong on some of my details as I'm passionately
>arguing these points without my GoF in front of me, but is it canon that
>Voldemort killed Frank and Bertha?

Yes, it is canon - GoF-1 'The Riddle House':
   "  'Wormtail, Wormtail,' said the cold voice silkily, 'why
    would I kill you? I killed Bertha because I had to. She was
    fit for nothing after my questioning, quite useless. In any
    case, awkward questions would have been asked if she had gone
    back to the Ministry with the news that she had met you on her
    holidays. Wizards who are supposed to be dead would do well
    not to run into Ministry of Magic witches at wayside inns ...' "
(p. 16, Bloomsbury) and
   "  And then the chair was facing Frank, and he saw what was
    sitting in it. His walking stick fell to the floor with a
    clatter. He opened his mouth and let out a scream. He was
    screaming so loudly that he never heard the words the thing in
    the chair spoke, as it raised a wand. There was a flash of
    green light, a rushing sound, and Frank Bryce crumpled. He was
    dead before he hit the floor. "
(p. 19, Bloomsbury)

And later in GoF-29 'The Dream' Lord Voldemort uses the
Cruciatus curse on Peter.

>  I'm almost positive that it is explicitly described that Voldemort
>commands Pettigrew to "kill the spare (Cedric)", though.

That seems quite certain. Those words ('Kill the spare') are spoken
in that 'high, cold voice' that is associated with Lord Voldemort,
while the curse is cast in a second voice.

>  If Voldemort has the capacity to use his wand to kill Frank and Bertha,
>why isn't he using it for numerous other day-to-day reasons during that 
>entire
>school year that we would see come out of the wand before Frank, Bertha and
>Lily and James emerge?

Because Rowling couldn't be bothered with these details?
IIRC there are even spells that we know he cast that are missing.
I have long planned to go through the thing carefully with an eye
to exactly this, but I haven't found the time yet ;-)
I also wonder how Voldemort 'questioned' Bertha. Did it really
involve no spells at all? (There is no indication of any spells
emerging between the shadows/echoes of Bertha and the first of
Harry's parents (James or Lily depending on edition).

Troels