snakes, rats, yew and holly...random thoughts

[artcase]

No: HPFGUIDX 90304

I am in the process of re-reading the series from the beginning (it 
gets so frustrating waiting for another book...) And came across the 
fact that Harry's wand isn't a "twin" of LV's, but actually 2 1/2 
inches shorter, and made of holly not yew. This begs me to wonder 
the difference in the properties of the woods the wands are made 
from. Willow is good for charms (Lily's wand was willow) and James' 
wand was good for transfiguration. (no wonder he became an 
animagus). 

Then, I was reading posts about Peter Pettigrew's contribution (or 
suspected contribution) to the resolution of this tale. That ran my 
mind on another tangent. Peter is a rat, the food of snakes. Both 
Harry and LV have the ability to talk to snakes. Both of these 
images were introduced at the very beginning of the series. 

In conclusion, rats vs. snakes ? yew and holly, which is better? 
(remember the holly was the ONLY plant that could kill Balder in 
Norse mythology, and YEW was the divine tree of the druids. The 
Yggdrasil(sp?) (tree of life) is supposed to be a yew tree, and the 
french celts worshipped yew as the tree most blessed by the gods. 

Like the subject says, random thoughts

Art.