So.

This is how Petunia Dursley felt.

Fuck all you people.

Edit:

Nevermind, just got the email. Fuck all you other people.

 

Well, in that case, I'm totally Lily'ing over here.

Finally.

KnightSeeker10, add me if you're cool enough.

 

^^ Just got mine as well. BladeBat73

:awesome:awesome:awesome

 

Are you at least from the other than the first day?

 

I was from the first day.

 

Second account FTW. I'm now a proud Ravenclaw.

 

Raging I missed the early registration.

 

Expected Ravenclaw, got Hufflepuff. I suppose it fits.

I did get a large, black, unyielding wand though. Good for charms.

 

Got a choice between Slytherin and Hufflepuff. Chose Slytherin. Wand is "HAZEL WITH UNICORN CORE, THIRTEEN AND A QUARTER INCHES, UNYIELDING"

 

Rosehawthorn186, Wand: Chestnut with Unicorn Core, Eleven and a half inches, surprisingly swishy. Got into Slytherin but wanted Ravenclaw.

 

HawthornNight19 - getting sorted now

Mnemosyne - are you adding random people to your friend's list? I got a friendship request from you and I just got my e-mail acceptance.

WAND: SPRUCE WITH UNICORN CORE, NINE AND THREE QUARTER INCHES, SLIGHTLY SPRINGY.

Also. Slytherin FTW

 

GODDAMIT YOU BASTARDS!!!!!

 

Pretty much.

 

I'm in Ravenclaw. ThornSpell62.

My wand: Hawthorn with a phoenix tail feather core, 10 3/4 inches, swishy.

Was a bit disappointed at first to not get elm, acacia or walnut (all of which are said to be particularly good with complex/subtle magic), and I wanted a unicorn hair core, but on reflection I'm happy with the wand I got. Hawthorn descripton:

Amusing, given how much I go on about Healer!Harry.

But yeah. Good at healing (which involves charms, transfiguration and potions) and curses, and only given to the talented? I'm happy with that.

Still a bit bummed about the Phoenix core though. I don't want my wand randomly pulling shit. Lol. At least the whole "capable of the greatest range of magic" thing is cool.

---------

The stuff on wand woods is interesting, but I'm conflicted on it.

One the one hand, it's interesting info and works well as part of an online game (or whatever you want to call Pottermore) and gives your characters more individuation. It's also just fun to read about.

On the other hand, I never really liked the importance that wandlore took in the later books. I don't like the idea that wands play such a massively significant part of accounting for a wizard's skill and power. I don't like that a wizard can just suddenly be more powerful or better at different parts of magic by using a new wand. I always liked to think that it was about the wizard, not the wand.

And I suppose to some extent that's still true. The wand is meant to match the wizard, so whatever properties your wand has are properties that reflect what a person is like anyway.

But even with that in place, I still don't like the idea that a wizard could lose his wand, have to get a replacement, and suddenly have a different level of ability in different areas of magic, just because the wand is of a different type. It removes too much ability from the wizard to the wand.

-------

What I really love about Pottermore so far - apart from the sorting and the wand selection, which are by far the best bits - are the books and potions ingredients. there's something about collecting them that I really love. It's like discovering the HP world all over again.

And obviously most of us have probably had daydreams at one point or another about us going to Hogwarts when we turned 11. For some of us they may have been quite detailed.

<_<

>_>

But in those daydreams we were likely Mary Sues, and involved in some way with the Voldemort storyline.

What Pottermore really helps you to envisage is a scenario in which you did get to go to Hogwarts, but weren't a Mary Sue. You have your own strengths and weaknesses and so on. You're a realistic character. And the books and the potions really help bring that to life. You can really imagine going to Diagon alley, getting those books and going back to whatever home you lived in at age 11 and reading them. It's very fun.

All in all, I'm very happy with the Pottermore experience so far. Though I do wish there was a bit more information. And a bit more stuff to do in the moments. Though I like the artwork a lot. Especially the cathedral-like library.

 

I wonder how different Gregorovitch's wands will be from Ollivander's. He'll probably use different cores, maybe even allows customers to bring their own. Ollivander said something about a difference in style in GoF, but I'm not really sure what he means by that.

 

You aren't that well endowed, are you?

lulz aside:

Just compare it with glasses. If you break them you need a new set which match your (dis)abilities the best. It's the same here. For best performance you need a wand which matchs your abilities. If you break or lose it, you get a new one also matching your abilities.

 

The wand also grows with the wizard. So when a wizard becomes better at, say, Transfiguration, I'd like to think the wand itself becomes better at that as well. That would mean a new wand wouldn't be all that different from the wand the wizard already had, seeing as they both suit the wizard well. Or the wizard suits both wands well. Same difference.

Either way, I don't think a new wand that's better suited for a certain kind of magic will suddenly make you a lot better at that magic. Both because you wouldn't get that wand if you weren't already good at that kind of magic and because your former wand probably gained an affinity for it as well.

I can actually imagine a new wand needing to get used to its wizard and thus working slightly less well (at first) than the old familiar wand. In a way, you can see this when Harry repairs his old Phoenix Feather wand. While Draco's wand might have switched its alliance to him and should work perfectly, Harry's old wand still felt better. Perhaps, over time, that difference would have faded away until Draco's wand would have felt as much a part of him as his old wand once did.

 

I decided to track down Ron and Hermione's wands.

Ron has an Ash wand:

And Hermione has vine wood:

Neville's second wand was Cherry:

He had unicorn hair core, not dragon heartstring.

What other characters do we know about?

Cedric has ash as well.

Fleur's is rosewood, but there's nothing on that on Pottermore.

Viktor Krum has hornbeam:

Given that Viktor was able to use the Cruciatus curse under the Imperious, and given that the wand refuses to do spells that are at odds with its masters principles, I can only assume that the using the Cruciatus wasn't against his principles. Lol.

Lucius Malfoy's wand is pretty boss: elm with a dragon heartstring. That means he's both powerful and capable of casting complex spells:

 

Bellatrix has Walnut:

Tom Riddle, of course, has Yew:

James Potter had Mahogany, which isn't on the list, but was good for Transfiguration.

Lily Potter had Willow, which gives about as much insight in her personality as all the seven books toghether:

Peter Pettigrew had Chestnut with Dragon Heartstring:

I want to bet Charlie Weasley had Chestnut as well.

Draco Malfoy has Blackthorn:

And Hagric had Oak, which isn't mentioned either.