[HPforGrownups] Re: ps/ss chapter 5

[Alcuin York]

No: HPFGUIDX 192516

Geoff:

I'm sorry, Chris, but I don't quite see your point re wandless magic...

Me:
The point being that some of JKR's ideas seem to have developed after writing PS/SS, so that certain things in that book contradict what comes later. While it's pretty clear later on that spells can't be cast without a wand, Quirrell does just that at the end of PS/SS: he merely snaps his fingers and thereby casts an Incarcerous jinx on Harry. Why couldn't Dumbledore have done exactly that to Malfoy after he had been disarmed on the Astronomy tower? The only reason I can think of is that, by then, JKR had decided that casting spells without a wand can't be done, which is why Dumbledore was helpless in that situation. Likewise, my suggestion that the DADA curse might have been an idea that she came up with after PS/SS, and so when writing that book she didn't see any issue in having Quirrell teach it for a second year.

Chris