Whither the Wand -Sirius & More

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 124942


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "gelite67" <gelite67 at y...> wrote:
> 
> Angie wrote:
> > 1) How and when did Voldy get his wand back? >
> <snip> 
> 
> ...edited...
> 
>  
> > >Angie also wrote :
> > 3) Where did Sirius get the wand he used in OOP?
 
> > vmonte replied:
> > An escaped convict wouldn't be carrying a wand and wouldn't have 
> > money to buy one. (During OOTP he probably had someone buy him one 
> or had one lying around his house.)  

 
> Angie replies:
> 
> I realize he wouldn't have had a wand when he first escaped, but 
> going to the someone-else-bought-it-theory, I just wonder if any 
> wizard is allowed to have more than one wand?  
> 

bboyminn:

Let's not forget that Sirius spent a certain amount of time out of the
country. Remember Harry received letters delivered by large tropical
birds? So, it's entirely possible that Sirius bought a wand while he
was out of the country (in continental Europe, Africa, Asia, ...etc...). 

As to how he was able to buy a wand, let's remember that he was able
to buy a Firebolt Broom for Harry. If there is one and only one
wizard's bank in the world, then it wouldn't have mattered where
Sirius was, he could have withdrawn money from his account remotely,
much the way we might withdraw money from a branch bank or from an
ATM/Cash machine. 

If other parts of the world have other wizard banks, then Sirius would
only have to hang around until money was transfered from Gringott's to
 the new foreign bank. If he can buy a Firebolt without detection,
then he could certainly transfer money without detection. 

Which, of course, always brings up the question, how was Sirius able
to do ANY banking when he was a fugitive? 

My answer to myself has always been that the Bank Goblins don't seem
to be on the best of terms with the wizard's government. I'm sure they
feel the confidentiality of their client's personal financial affairs
is none of the governments damn business. I don't see the Goblins
acting as agents of the government or cooperating in helping them
catch criminals unless those were crimes directly against the Bank.
That's the governments business, the Goblins business is to guard
their clients finances which is something that is very personal and
private, and something the Goblins would take very very seriously.

This does bring up another question though. Sirius left home when he
was young, and using the money he inherited from his Uncle, Sirius got
a place of his own. What happened to that place? 

One could speculate it sat empty for 12 years while Sirius was in
prison, but even a living space that is paid for still requires
on-going payment for taxes and city services like sewer, water,
lights, gas, etc.... I guess the easiest answer is to simply say he
rented a place to live, even though that's not how I originally read it. 

Another alternative is to say that when Sirius went to prison,
everything he owned, since he has a life sentance, was given to his
parents. That could account for Sirius's living space (flat, house,
whatever...) being taken care of and his wand being available to him
at Grimmauld Place.

Small problem her too though, Sirius parents and all other senior
relatives appear to be dead. Sirius's mother seems to have died not
long after Sirius went to prison, while that doesn't effect his wand
being at Grimmauld Place, it doesn't leave anyone to take care of his
real estate. 


> > 4) Does the MOM monitor wand usage by wizards who have achieved
> > majority? 
> > 
> > vmonte said:
> > (Maturity?) I doubt it.


> Angie again:  No, I mean wizards who are at least 17, the age of 
> majority/adulthood in the WW. The reason I qualified the question is 
> because we know the MOM monitors the wand activity of underaged 
> wizards (hence the Harry-Dobby flying pudding fiasco in COS and the 
> Dementor episode in OOP).


bboyminn:

I agree with Vmonte; I doubt it. I have previously speculated that the
Ministry's primary magical detection is much like muggle weather
radar. It's looking for /storms/ of magic. It's looking from intense
bursts of magic that could potentially represent magical disasters
which may need intervention by the Accidental Magic Revesal Squads
and/or by the Obliviator Squads. 

When they see a /storm/ of magic on the detectors, they can probably
then consult more specific magic detectors that would given them a
better idea of what kind magic was being performed which in turn would
help them determine if intervention was needed. 

I do believe they monitor underage magic more closely than general
magic. We must remember that there are many thousands of wizard in the
UK and it would be next to impossible to monitor them individually.
Consider how many people that would require. In addition, we must
remember that those thousands of wizards are doing magic all the time,
so the magic detectors would be constantly going off. 

That said, I don't think they are monitoring underage magic as closely
as many people have lead themselves to believe. I think what is
distorting people view of the monitoring of underage magic, is that
Harry specifically is being monitored very very closely. We can't take
the level of monitoring on Harry and transpose that the all other
underage wizards. Remember, Fred and George are engaged in magical
research in their bedroom all the time. 

Although, I suspect Fred and George walked a very fine line. At some
point, if their magical activity went beyond a certain level, they
would have gotten a warning from the Ministry. But I don't think the
Ministry can waste it's resources on every single little case of
underage magic taking place in the magical world. 

We must also note that supervised underage magic in magical space
(witness Fred and George) is far less serious than underage magic in
muggle space and/or in the presents of muggles. Underage magic in
muggle space is a very serious problem that would likely require a
swift and sure response on the part of the Ministry. Magic in private,
supervised magical space, again Fred and George at the Burrow, would
be no more that a mischief crime, and would not require intervention.

So, we must be careful to not tranfer what happens to the closely
monitored Harry and apply it to the rest of the wizard world. Harry is
a special case.

Just passing it along.

Steve/bboyminn