Vanishing and Conjuring - how does it work?

[ebeth0000000000]

No: HPFGUIDX 70742

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Rach" <rachrobins at h...> wrote:
> I have been thinking since reading OOP about the limitations of 
the 
> wizarding world, and how things cannot be fixed with the wave of a 
> wand. This led me to wondering how vanishing and conjuring works. 
> 
> When Bill vanished the scrolls from the table in Sirius' kitchen 
> where did they go? They obviously go somewhere so they can be 
> produced again. I'm sure the Order would have needed the scrolls 
> back. But what about Snape vanishing Harry's Potion. Is this 
> retrievable?  Is there a number of shell-less snails and tail-less 
> mice floating around somewhere as a result of McGonnagal's 
vanishing 
> class? 
> 

Hey, Rach, something else I thought of that doesn't make sense is 
how when the kids practice vanishing mice in transfiguration class, 
if a student vanishes all but the tail, we can't see the creature 
(except for the tail) but it is still there, squirming, to be put 
back in a box.
So how come when Bill vanishes the scrolls, the scrolls are no 
longer physically there on the table.  That sounds to me more like 
he transported them somewhere else, like you said, rather than just 
made them invisible to the naked eye, like the mice or like Fred and 
George's invisibility hats (which make not only the hat, but some of 
the person invisible.)   I see three distinct types of vanishing--
maybe they are different types of spells, with different words and 
everything?  I don't have my canon in front of me to see what and if 
the words are mentioned. . .too tired.
1.  Making something invisible to see with the naked eye, but the 
object is still there.

2.  Putting something away (like Bill with the scrolls). 

3.  Making something cease to exist entirely, forever.  (Like Snape 
with the potion, maybe, unless it was really #2.--like some sort of 
wizarding black hole of vanished objects).  

The corollary Conjuring spells could be:

1.  The reverse command to make an invisible object visible again (I 
notice with the mice they just put them away, presumably until the 
spell wore off--maybe they hadn't learned the 'visibility' spell 
yet, or maybe they just didn't have time in class)

2.  Making some re-appear (the Order's scrolls?)

3.  Making something brand new appear, as they say, out of thin air.
(like the chairs--is this possible, or is it really #2?)

I dunno,
EBeth