Horse Feathers now wand cores

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 93706

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "potioncat" <willsonkmom at m...>
wrote:
> Carol wrote: 
> > Carol, who wonders why Ollivander uses only three magical cores 
> when
> > so many other possibilities are available
> 
> 
> Potioncat:
> While we only know about 3 cores, does that mean he only uses 3 
> cores? Particularly since there is one core he only used twice.
> Potioncat: still singing (I'm on that awful song about the Titanic 
> now.)

Carol:
Mr. Ollivander has apparently used phoenix feathers from other
phoenixes, not just the two from Fawkes. One of the wands Harry tries
but doesn't succeed with also has a phoenix feather core: "Maple and
phoenix feather. Seven inches. Quite whippy" (SS Am. ed. 84). And as
Mr. O. tells Harry earlier in the same scene:

"Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Mr.
Potter. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers, and the
heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as
no two unicorns, dragons, or phoenixes are quite the same" (SS Am. ed.
84).

So it sounds to me as if the variety comes chiefly from the length,
the type of wood (which would affect flexibility and possibly the
magical properties of the wand), and whatever differences between one
beast of the same species and another might be reflected in their
hair, feathers, etc. Maybe the heartstring of a Norwegian Ridgeback
has different properties from that of a Chinese Fireball (or whatever
it's called).

Anyway, I understand why Ollivander doesn't use veela hair ("too
temperamental," as he tells Fleur in GoF, but he still seems very
limited in his choice of cores.

On a side note: There must be a lot of unicorn hair wands, so the fact
that both Cedric and Ron have them probably is not a sign that Ron is
going to die, as some people on this list have argued. More likely his
abilities have something in common with Cedric's.

And another side note: Whom does Ollivander mean by "we?" Are the
readers and Harry going to meet an Ollivander, Jr., destined to take
over the business when Mr. O. finally dies? (I actually hope so. What
a loss to the WW if his shop goes out of business because he has no
successor!)

Carol, who calls Kneasy's attention to another quotation from early in
the same scene: "I'm sorry to say I sold the wand that did it [caused
the scar]. . . . If I'd known what that wand was going out into the
world to do" (SS Am. ed. 83). Seems to argue against a conspiracy
theory. . . .