Horse Feathers

[arrowsmithbt]

No: HPFGUIDX 93826

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "greatelderone" <greatelderone at y...> wrote:
> > 
> > Why  would Ollie think that the counterpart wand to the one that 
> >killed  his parents and scarred him be just the wand for Harry? 
> 
greatelderonr:
> Because he was running out of wands. Remember. Testing out each wand 
> probably narrowed down the category for him until he decided to give 
> the phoenix wand a try. 
> 

Kneasy:
Not so. "....looked instead at the thousands of narrow boxes piled
neatly right  up  to  the ceiling."
Whereas "...the pile of tried wands was mounting higher and higher on
the spindly chair." (PS chap.5) Still several thousand  to go, it seems.

We don't know the significance of the different woods Ollivander
uses to make the wands but he only uses three substances for
magical cores - unicorn hairs, phoenix feathers, dragon heart-
strings. And he implies that it is the core that matters - "No two
unicorns, dragons or phoenixes are the same.." 

Therefore on average, every third wand Harry tried would have a 
Phoenix feather core; in fact, he tries one of Maple and Phoenix 
feather early on. What is significant is that it is a  feather from
one particular Phoenix (Fawkes) that bonds to him.

greatelderone:
> That makes no sense. The wand isn't inherently evil only its user. 
> Harry would recoil from Voldemort or something touched by him not the 
> wand unless it's being touched by him. 
> 

Kneasy:
Perhaps. But if you accept that the wand chooses the wizard, then it
must do so based on some criteria. How does the wand choose?
Voldy's wand chose an evil wizard, or if it  chose Tom, a twisted 
personality. What does that say about the nature of the wand?

greatelderone: 
> How would dumbledore even know that the wand would choose Harry. 
> If it's so easy as you say why doesn't he just create more phoenix 
> wands and start handling them out as weapons or tools of protection 
> to people chosen by it? The fact that the wands are rare and yet 
> Fawkes's feather are not implies that very few are chosen for the 
> honor.

Kneasy:
Good question. But I bet he did know that it would end up with Harry.

Fawkes' feathers not rare? Only two have been given. How much rarer
can you get? Sure, others float to the ground on occasion but  they
haven't ended up in wands. Maybe they're not suitable, maybe they
have to be specifically chosen. Ollivander states that the feathers
used in wands are tail feathers. What sort of feathers has Fawkes shed
at other times? Are they tail feathers? It doesn't say, but if they're not
then they're no good for wands.
Why choose Harry as the recepient of this special  wand? Easy. The
Prophecy. DD believes Harry is *the one* who can vanquish Voldy.
Nobody else really matters if the war is to be won; only Harry can do it.
Voldy has already tried to kill him at Godrics Hollow and as DD tells
Harry in 'The Lost Prophecy' in OoP, he always believed that Voldy
would come back. He admits that Harry needs special protection,
specifically that of family blood, but he must also be aware that 
Harry will not spend all his days in Privet Drive. A wand that can 
deflect spells from Voldy's wand would be very useful. 

You may not agree. That's your privilege. But just  basing your
dissent on chance as the deciding factor (something JKR is not
renowned for) does limit the scope for devious speculation,
something I find addictive. Or maybe you do have a theory of
how  and why the two main combatants in the series have 
somehow ended up with wands that can cancel each other out.
Chance  is unlikely IMO.

Kneasy