Harry's Wand, Dumbledore, Fawkes, Crookshanks

[Deirdre F Woodward]

No: HPFGUIDX 78760

orourkeg:
> Knowing the prophesy, might Dumbledore have commissioned the second
> wand using Fawkes' tail feather

bboy_mn:

>So this
>premonition of the need for a Phoenix wand in the future could have
>lead [Dumbledore}to commissioning it.

me (Deirdre):

pg 85, SS, Scholastic Press:  "It so happens that the phoenix whose tail
feather is in your wand, gave another feather . . . "

I've always read (red) this line as Fawkes giving the feather.  I read
(reed) Fawkes as being independent and autonomous, making his own
decisions -- much like Crookshanks.  I don't think Dumbledore had anything
to do with it, other than knowing that Fawkes gave two feathers, then
putting two and two together when the facts came in.

Which brings me to a larger point -- many of the animals in the stories have
a *much* wider range of ability than we give them credit for, I think.
Clearly there is something up with Crookshanks.  In PoA, Crookshanks plays a
pivotal role, and as has been discussed in this forum before, one of the
major characters (Lupin?  Sirius?) notes that Crooks is one of the more
intelligent of his kind -- a line that opens up the possibility of all kinds
of interpretation.

Anyhow, I think that while the humans play a great part in unfolding of
wizard events, the animals play a large part too, and do so on their *own*
terms -- many of the animals are fully autonomous entities who hang out with
wizards because they *like* that wizard, not because they are pets.

Deirdre
Eight of Eight