I am pretty sure that according to canon, intent to kill is the most important requirement. While it is not explicitly stated that the curse requires any particular emotion, negative emotions (or at least, a complete lack of positive feelings towards the target) seem to be an implied requirement. Or am I getting my canon and fanon mixed up again?

That is just silly. It is shown in canon that even a half giant resists a few stunners. The very idea that a single stunner could touch a giant is ridiculous. Either Hermione is being an idiot here or JKR forgot her own books again.

A question here-has canon or WOG ever stated the effect of the imperius on magical creatures? It seems to make sense that the creatures would have simpler minds, and hence would be easily controlled. But they are also supposed to be 'magically resistant', so a single imperius might have no effect at all.

 

Intent to kill is not stated as a magical requirement of the spell. The only magical requirements of the Killing Curse we know about are from Moody in GoF:

Of course, intent to kill is a logical requirement of the Killing Curse, in that you'd only cast it if you wanted to kill something, because that's all it does.

 

When Sirius caught up to Pettigrew after Potters' deaths, did they actually duel, or did Peter just skip straight to blowing up the street?

 

Does there exist anywhere a list of broomstick models with their canon "strength" relative to each other? I know there are various statements in canon about how, say, a Nimbus 2001 is better than the 2000 by a noteworthy margin, but has anyone complied a list of all such statements into a broomstick "power rankings"?

 

I think that having a "power ranking" of brooms would be as pointless has having the same of racing cars. Is a Ferrari better than a Lamborghini? Who knows, and who cares, given the same driver in either case. People will salivate over the stats no matter what.

 

How does Olivander get enough dragon heartstring, pheonix feather, and unicorn hair to make so many wands? What exactly is dragon heartstring?

 

Ollivander only had 2 phoenix feathers and they were from Fawkes, I assume he gets dragon heart strings from dragon preserves and he mentions something about unicorn hair during the weighing of the wands in GoF

Pettigrew shouted something about betraying Lily and James to the dark lord at Sirius be firing blowing up the street, I believe this is stated either in PoA or GoF

-Taure
Maybe a form of anger rather than hatred as displayed most of the times the killing curse was cast

 

According to wikipedia, "the chordae tendineae (tendinous chords), or heart strings, are cord-like tendons that connect the papillary muscles to the tricuspid valve and the mitral valve in the heart." Dragon heart strings will presumably be these tendons taken from a dragon's heart.

As for how he is able to make so many... I really don't see the problem. He has years to build up his collection and we know Olivander doesn't have a 'only one wand per creature' rule - see brother wands. He could take a dozen hairs from each unicorn and do it year after year. In the same way, hearts contain heart strings plural. Extracting them is probably lethal but there are lots of dragons too and we have other dragon products, like the uses of dragon blood and dragon leather.

Phoenix wands might be a bit harder to create a stock for, however.

I've seen the idea that Harry and Voldemort's are the only Phoenix feather wands pop up occasionally and I don't think it's supported. While its true we never meet any other characters with Phoenix feather wands, I tend to view that as out of universe symbolism, to keep the hero-villain connections special.

Let's look at the evidence.

Pottermore is quite clear that Phoenix feather wands are the rarest for Olivander. "This is the rarest core type" - Pottermore. But I don't think rare means only 2.

For example, Harry tries out a different phoenix feather wand in HPPS.

We are later told that holly and phoenix feather is an unusual combination. That implies there is a usual combination.

This tells us what I'm sure we all know: Fawkes gave only two feathers. However, Olivander must have other sources. We've seen a third phoenix feather wand (the Maple wand) in the books, a fourth is mentioned in Pottermore (Chestnut and phoenix feather, elven and a half inches, whippy - Silvanus Kettleburn, Pottermore) and we know other phoenixes exist in the world (Sparky the Quidditch mascot).

It short, while phoenix feathers might be harder to source, I hardly consider it impossible.

 

They are all behaving as if the hats Hermione is leaving could really set the house elves free, but the house elves must be picking up clothes students leave lying around all the time.
The only explanation I could think of is that maybe Hermione's intent to free them makes a difference. But then again when Lucius Malfoy accidentally freed Dobby in CoS intent didn't really seem to matter.

Is there anything in canon that supports the idea that students even have the authority to free house elves? Or something that contradicts Hermione's (and Ron's) assumption?
Is it ever mentioned that just leaving clothes lying around is enough to free them? I always thought the clothes had to be handed to them by their Master.

 

Nothing in canon, no. Dobby's freedom indicates freeing an elf doesn't require intent, just any passing them clothes. Ron's reaction here indicates that you don't have to directly pass them clothes - any transfer of clothes to an elf's possession will do. Though you might question Ron's reliability in the matter, Hermione seems to believe it will work, and she's generally considered firm authority on matters of magic.

Note that there's nothing in canon that says that House Elves pick up students' laundry. It's possible the students have to do that themselves.

I do have a fan theory, but that's not within the remit of this thread.

 

This is more of a 'how do you interpret' question, but when Ollivander says 'seven inches, quite whippy', do you see that measurement as the length of the whole wand or just what projects beyond the handle?

 

I don't imagine wands as having handles, I think that's just movie stuff.

 

Are dementors fully sentient beings?

 

Not much canon evidence either way - we know Voldemort can co-opt them somehow, but whether it's through intelligent communication, brute force, or some trick of magic is unknown.

 

Say that for one reason or another, Barty Crouch Jr. would not disguise himself as Moody to get the Defense position at Hogwarts, would then the real Moody be the teacher?

What I'm asking is if Moody's position was set before he was attacked by Barty, or did Barty apply for the position as Moody?

We know that Moody was attacked after the Quidditch World Cup, as Barty was still under his father's imperius during the game (more or less).

 

I think Moody was set to be the teacher beforehand. Moody (via Crouch) explicitly said he was doing the job as a favour to Dumbledore, suggesting Dumbledore came to him.

 

Say, the Burrow was burned to the ground, right? During HBP.

Was it ever rebuilt, or were the Weasleys forced to permanently relocate somewhere?

 

Was it burned down though? I think you may be confusing the film with the book.

Christmas in HBP was Scrimgeour's visit, not a DE attack, IIRC.

 

Indeed, the Burrow being burnt down was movie canon, not book canon. However, in movie canon, yes, the Burrow was rebuilt, and rather quickly too. By the start of DH Part 1 they had built the first floor, and by the wedding they had expanded it to 3 floors.