Priori Incantatem/ Prior Incantato (was: Re: prior incantantum... )

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 124258


Becky: 
> I was just reading the thread about 'prior incantantum'. The 
> thing I'm confused about (now that I've just thought of it), is 
> what happened to the AK that LV aimed at Harry? It was a spell 
> cast by LV's wand, why is there no prior incantantum of any sort 
> for this spell? ...

Eloise:
> Actually, I noticed something in the wording as I was copying that 
> quote from GoF. A wand is forced 'to regurgitate spells it has 
> performed'. Not *all* the spells it has performed, or even *the* 
> spells it has performed, but just 'spells'. JKR may have got the 
> order wrong the first time, but perhaps she did realise that there 
> were some spells that she couldn't describe and worded accordingly.


Jen: I like the theory that Voldemort's wand didn't regurgitate the 
AK meant for Harry because the spell was not completed. The spell 
bounces off Harry, hits Voldemort, but LV isn't killed; instead we 
see the very odd occurence of his essence being ripped from his body 
(I'm not going to say soul here, because JKR seems to be giving us 
clues he is souless). Presumably the wand could regurgitate 
Voldemort's screaming, but it doesn't. After all he felt "pain 
beyond pain" and we hear other screams emitting from the wand.

Come to think of it, all those screams of pain are inconsistent. We 
hear one before Wormtail's hand appears, which is Wormtail at the 
moment his hand is severed. Then another scream before Cedric 
appears, but Cedric doesn't have time to react at all and certainly 
doesn't scream. Frank Bryce does scream and that's duly recorded...

Anyway, back to the AK on Harry. It could merely be that the spell 
was incomplete, or that the wand can't record a spell done to its 
owner. Or it could be a clue to Voldemort's state at the time of the 
AK, meaning a wand can't record what it doesn't recognize.

Jen