Horse Feathers

[arrowsmithbt]

No: HPFGUIDX 93925

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "justcarol67" <justcarol67 at y...> wrote:
> Carol chimes in:
> Kneasy, I think you've missed a key word here: "category." I think
> greatelderone is suggesting that the wands Ollivander is handing to
> Harry represent certain types or categories that Ollivander is ruling
> out. I would agree that there is at least some sort of system being
> employed here and that Ollivander is not handing out wands randomly.
> We know, based on Ollivander's words in that same chapter, that some
> wands are particularly effective for Charms, others for
> Transfiguration. We also know that some wands are more powerful than
> others. James's is a little more powerful than Lily's but Voldemort's
> is much more powerful than either.
>

Kneasy:
No, I  didn't miss the word, I do manage to read English quite well on 
occasion.

While wands do seem to fall into broad groups that lean towards certain 
types of magic, charms, transfiguration and the like, that does not preclude
them from being used for other purposes. That, as has been pointed out,
depends on the strength of the wizard. To theorise that Ollivander can 
devine an 11 year old's future magical skills and career with an albeit 
magical tape-measure seems to be stretching it too far IMO. 

The fact that Ollivander mentions the type of magic favoured by Harry's
parents wands could well be a JKR hint. So far as I have been able to 
determine at no other time does Ollivander mention what a wand is 
most suited for; not Hagrid's, not Fleur's, not Cedric's, not Krum's, not
Voldy's and most definitely not Harry's. Why not if it's an in-built and
easily identifiable wand characteristic and indication of magical ability?
Just what is Harry's wand good at?

DD wants Harry to be equal in power but to make different choices.
Or perhaps we're  reading too much between the lines. Certainly
he wants him to make different choices and he is making  certain 
he learns useful skills. But power? Harry is more advanced than
most students in some areas, producing a Patronus, for example. 
In other magic he's way behind Hermione. Up to now his magical 
power doesn't seem inordinate, even with the wand. 

Tom Riddle was a brilliant student by all accounts, the Hermione
of his day. Is Harry at that standard? He's good, but he's not
classed as brilliant. Additionally, Voldy has years of travel and
study behind him. Do  you really  think  that Harry can equal that 
in another two years at Hogwarts? I don't. In a straight contest of
magic Voldy wins hands down. Not just against Harry, but anyone
except DD - who has 150 years of magic behind him. So he needs 
help and a conflicting wand is a *big* help. Maybe the wand's 
strength is a negative one so far as Harry is concerned - it nullifies
Voldy's attacks. Since Voldy is determined to nail Harry, DD couldn't
do better than make sure such a wand ended up in Harry's hands. 

The magical skills that Harry is being coached in seem to be purely
defensive. Patronus, Occlumancy, DADA in general. He is not being
set up to defeat Voldy with attacking spell power; victory (if it 
happens at all) will come some other way. I may be wrong but I fancy
that possession will feature in it, but he  still needs to keep Voldy 
from destroying him -  and the wand can do it. 

carol67 
> I suggest that when Ollivander "measures" a student with his magical
> tape measure, he's not concerned with the length of his arm or the
> distance between his nostrils. The tape measure is sensing the magical
> composition (for lack of a better word) of the student--his latent
> skills and talents, and his potential power. So when he encountered
> young Tom Riddle, what he sensed was primarily power, perhaps with
> some strong Slytherinish tendencies mixed in, so he *knew* (possibly
> after some preliminary testing as in Harry's case) that this very
> powerful wand, the most powerful in his shop, was the right one for
> this young wizard. The decision would have been confirmed, of course,
> when Tom swished the wand through the air and produced what I presume
> were green and silver sparks. That does not make Ollivander evil, nor
> does it assume that Tom, age eleven, was already evil. Ollivander,
> after all, states that he didn't know what that wand was going out
> into the world to do, and Tom had not yet made the choices that would
> make him irredeemably evil.


Kneasy:
What you are suggesting is that Ollivander performs the same function
as the Sorting Hat - "Oh, Slytherinish - must give him one of this sort; 
Potter- must have a powerful wand." OK, that's an exaggeration, but
the passage above reads more like Fan Fiction than canon based 
suppositions. Nowhere does Ollivander say that the wands that
Harry and Voldy have are particularly powerful. What he does imply 
is that if this wand suits Harry, then he expects great things of him
because its counterpart belonged to Voldy and *Voldy* is powerful. 
It may well have power, but power comes in  different guises and the 
fact that Ollivander equates Harry with Voldy is an uncomfortable 
thought. "We must expect great things from you, Mr Potter....After all,
HWMNBN did great things - terrible, yes, but great." It goes along with
the Prophecy "...mark him as his equal". 
Equal does not mean opposite. It means the same. 
But in what respect?