Book 1 Questions

[lagattalucianese]

No: HPFGUIDX 146721

Sherry:
> 
> > 2.   The Malfoy's are suppose to be "upper crust" in the WW and,
> > according to Draco,"...mother's up the street looking at wands,"
> > (Ch. 5, Pg 77).  Mr. Ollivander states, The wand chooses the 
> > wizard." (Ch. 5, Pg 85).  Is Mrs. Malfoy buying Draco's wand while
> > he's being fitted for robes?  Would a wand that did not choose the
> > wizard be good enough for the Malfoy's son, considering their
> >  standing in the WW?
> 
> Richard again:
> 
> I always saw it as either of two things: Narcissa making sure that 
> Olivander's had wands in stock suitable to someone of the Malfoy's 
> standing, or Narcissa shopping for another wand to go with some new 
> robes she may have purchased.  After all, there is nothing in the 
> books that indicates that there can be only one wand for each 
> wizard, and the Malfoy's strike me as folk who would want even 
> their wands to be coordinated with their clothes and jewelry.
>
La Gatta Lucianese:
 
Wizarding families can be rather offhanded where wands of school-age 
wizards are concerned. Ron chooses his second wand (or it chooses 
him), but his first one, the one trashed by the Whomping Willow, is a 
hand-me-down from brother Charlie. So it may be that a parent or 
elder sibling can select a wand for a kid, and everything is fine as 
long as the wand itself has no serious objections.

Pne question that has always puzzled me: How did Ron come to inherit 
something as personal as a wand from an older brother? Surely Charlie 
would want to hang onto his wand? Or was it a hand-me-down to Charlie 
as well, from Bill or one of his parents, and when he graduated and 
got a job, he got a wand that selected him? (I should think that a 
wand that had had to work its way down through the Weasley ranks 
would be rather spiritless and not to be relied upon, but what do I 
know?)

It's interesting that per JKR's Web site, this first wand, the hand-
me-down, was of wood that matched Ron's birthdate in the Celtic 
system. Why, then, did JKR make it a hand-me-down? Was this for 
humorous effect, to emphasize the Weasleys' impecunious situation?