CHAPDISC: DH32, The Elder Wand

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 184752

Zara:
> 5) What was Draco doing on the upper landing of the marble
staircase,  to need rescuing from a Death Eater, in your opinion? What
do you  suppose happened to Goyle?

Pippin:
I suppose Draco hid Goyle and was trying to get back to his parents,
though on first reading I thought he was being "two-faced". But like
his mother, he can only get through the lines as  a loyal servant of
Voldemort. 

Zara: 
> 12) Please excuse the length of these last. They concern 
> the "official" subject of this chapter as expressed by the title. I 
> begin with some quotes from the text and an observation.
> 
> "Why doesn't it work for me, Severus?" <snip>
> "I do not understand. You – you have performed extraordinary magic 
> with that wand."
> 
> This seems to me to establish the fact that Snape is aware Voldemort 
> has acquired a new wand, and has been for some time.  If you 
> disagree, part a) of the question can be explaining to me why I am 
> wrong. <g> What, if anything, does Snape's choice of the 
> words "extraordinary magic" suggest to you? Would you expect Snape 
> recognized the new wand as the one Dumbledore has had throughout 
> Snape's entire life?

Pippin:
Voldemort was planning to meet with Snape after he retrieved the wand
from the tomb (ch 24), so I suppose LV showed off his new wand then,
without telling Snape where it came from. I suspect a wizard like
Voldemort could disguise the appearance of a wand, or simply confund
Snape so that he wouldn't recognize it. 

I have just noticed now that Snape's face as he hears where Voldemort
got the wand is "like a death mask" and "marble white" which recalls
the imagery of Dumbledore's tomb.

> 
> 13) Do you think the acquisition of this new wand might be a matter 
> Severus would have mentioned to Albus? Why or why not, and what do 
> you suppose Albus would have said back, if yes? 

Pippin:
It seems likely to me now that neither Snape nor Portrait!Dumbledore
realized that Voldemort's new wand was the Elder Wand. As Ron says
somewhere, it's not wise for the owner of the wand to reveal that he
has it.

I don't imagine Snape and Voldemort would meet  in the Headmaster's
office, or that Voldemort would allow the portraits to spy on him, so
portrait!Dumbledore would only know whatever Snape was able to tell him. 

If the Elder Wand did not offer any of its special powers to
Voldemort, Snape could not have reported anything but Voldemort's
usual magic, however impressive it seemed to him. So how would
portrait!Dumbledore know? Harry knew that the Gregorovich family and
Grindelwald had been murdered, but I don't think this was common
knowledge, was it? Everyone else only seems to know that Voldemort has
been abroad.

Zara:
> 14) How do you feel about not knowing the answers to these questions
 about two major characters and the magical artifact that settled the
 central conflict of the series?

Pippin:
It isn't really something we need to know, except out of curiosity,
IMO. The wand didn't actually settle the conflict, Harry's sacrifice
did that, and probably would have allowed him to turn the curse even
if Voldemort had been master of the EW. It's a McGuffin, really.

Pippin