Prophecy Contradiction

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 79031

Jen Reese: > > I DO wonder about the wand thing, whether they can 
duel. Dumbledore 
> > states in GOF, when asked by Sirius what happens when a wand 
meets 
> > its brother: "They will not work properly against each other...If 
> > however, the owners of the wands force the wands to do battle...a 
> > very rare effect will take place."  Then he goes on to describe 
> > Priori Incantatem.
> > 
> > That seems ambiguous though. Do wands of the same core 
> > work "improperly," which indicates any number of problems might 
> > develop, or will it only result in *priori incantatem*?  Also, 
I'm wondering now whether Voldemort would have been able to kill 
Harry in OOTP when he AK's him---can a wand kill the person who owns 
the brother wand, or is it just the wands themselves that can't "do 
battle?"  We do know Voldemort can use his wand to Crucio Harry.
> 


> 
> Geoff:
> I think the important point here is "they will not work /against 
each 
> other/. If one of the wands is used independently then it will 
work - 
> viz Voldemort's use of the Cruciatus Curse, mentioned above. It's 
> when they come into eyeball to eyeball contact, so to speak, that 
> they refuse to work.


Yes, that makes sense. Here's the part that still seems ambiguous to 
me:  Say Voldemort and Harry are dueling and throwing curses left and 
right. And unlike in GOF, none of the curses are made at the exact 
same instant, so priori incantatem doesn't occur.  The wands are 
still *battling* with each other, so it follows from Dumbledore's 
explanation that in some way they wouldn't work properly against each 
other.

Dumbledore didn't say: "If the wands are battling and two curses are 
made at the same exact moment, the wands won't work properly" he just 
said the wands won't work properly against each other. This indicates 
to me they won't work at ANY time, not just if two curses meet at 
some point. If that occurs, you get priori incantatem; if it doesn't 
occur, what?!?
Jen