Thoughts on Wandsands

[jodel at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 53044

> Fleur, unless I'm mistake, is also tall and thin, yet she has a short wand.
> 
(bboy_mn)

Fleur also does not have an *Olivander* wand. Moreover, her wand is cored 
with her own grandmother's hair. This is obviously a custom job, specifically 
made for Flur herself, nor is there any reason to assume that she was not 
given it until she was 11. Her grandmother may have had that wand made for 
her when she was much younger. I don't think that the standards Olivander is 
following are relevant here.

I have always assumed that the magic tape which climbs all over the customer 
in Olivander's shop is measuring for potential growth and that the wands 
Olivander gives them to try reflect its findings. If this is the case, we may 
expect Ron to end up being very tall. (Bill and Percy are also tall, like 
Arthur. Molly, Charlie and the twins are all short and stocky. We still don't 
know which side of the family Gnny takes after.) Hagrid's wand may simply 
have been one of the largest that Olivander had in his stock. Half-Giants are 
not common, and Hagrid was already tall enough for his (very short) father to 
sit on his shoulder when he was 11. 

Going by this view, Voldemort is described as being quite tall, and his 
boyhood wand is the 13-inch yew/phoenix feather wand sold him (or his 
guardian) before he entered Hogwarts. Harry, with an 11-inch wand may not 
ever be as tall as his own father although he otherwise resembles him 
closely.

Or the length of the wand may indeed have no relation to the adult height of 
the wizard.

I may be the other person refered to in the back posts regarding wand cores 
and what all. I have a slightly different take on it than you do, but also 
agree that the whole Weasley family probably are best attuned to unicorn hair 
cores. (Quick, facile, dazling surface charm work, rather than the 
underlying, true transformation magic of phoenix feather or the deeply 
rooted, genuine "growth" of dragon heartstring.)

As to nobody's rib's question of why Charlie would get rid of a working wand; 
Well, would *you* choose to go off to work with *dragons* with a wand that 
has seen such rough usage that the core is poking out? That one may be usable 
for a kid in their first years at Hogwarts, but to deal with dragons you want 
something that is still in peak condition. It was time for Charlie to retire 
the old one. Anthough the postulation that Charlie may have already been the 
second or third Weasley to use it is a good one, too.

I think that Hagrid did get a new wand after CoS, but he is used to the pink 
umbrella, and keeps it around as well. Harry and Ron so far, haven't thought 
to ask Hagrid about his new wand. Or may just not have noticed it.

-JOdel


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