Do you guys want a long ass analysis? Well, I made one anyways :)
How did Draco’s wand work for Harry? First and foremost, we have to look at each of the properties of the wands, for then you’ll be able to understand Draco’s wand and why it helped Harry defeat Voldemort in the final battle. The wand of Draco Malfoy is 10" precisely, reasonably flexible, Hawthorn wood and with a unicorn hair core.
Let’s take a look at what Ollivander has to say about hawthorn wands:
The wandmaker Gregorovitch wrote that hawthorn ‘makes a strange, contradictory wand, as full of paradoxes as the tree that gave it birth, whose leaves and blossoms heal, and yet whose cut branches smell of death.’ While I disagree with many of Gregorovitch’s conclusions, we concur about hawthorn wands, which are complex and intriguing in their natures, just like the owners who best suit them. Hawthorn wands may be particularly suited to healing magic, but they are also adept at curses, and I have generally observed that the hawthorn wand seems most at home with a conflicted nature, or with a witch or wizard passing through a period of turmoil. Hawthorn is not easy to master, however, and I would only ever consider placing a hawthorn wand in the hands of a witch or wizard of proven talent, or the consequences might be dangerous. Hawthorn wands have a notable peculiarity: their spells can, when badly handled, backfire.
I think Draco’s whole storyline is there lol.
So, a Hawthorn wand is not easy to master.
Length and flexibility:
Ollivander wrote, about the length: “longer wands might suit taller wizards, but they tend to be drawn to bigger personalities, and those of a more spacious and dramatic style of magic”. Draco is 10” showing how his magic is more introspective and he is more guarded, closed off.
He also wrote, about the flexibility: “denotes the degree of adaptability and willingness to change possessed by the wand-and-owner pair”. Draco’s wand is reasonably flexible. Which could mean it’s consistent, but if forced, adaptable. So again, it’s not in its nature to just accept changing allegiances. It will fight until the end not to be mastered.
So both its wood and its flexibility are huge indicators of how hard it would be for his wand to be mastered and change loyalties.
The core:
The core is an even more complex aspect of wands. While the wood represents the wizard’s nature as a person (their body and heart), the core represents the nature of their magic. It’s in the way they use it. Now let’s take a look at Ollivander’s comments on Unicorn hair, Draco’s wand core:
Unicorn hair generally produces the most consistent magic, and is least subject to fluctuations and blockages. Wands with unicorn cores are generally the most difficult to turn to the Dark Arts. They are the most faithful of all wands, and usually remain strongly attached to their first owner, irrespective of whether he or she was an accomplished witch or wizard. Minor disadvantages of unicorn hair are that they do not make the most powerful wands (although the wand wood may compensate) and that they are prone to melancholy if seriously mishandled, meaning that the hair may ‘die’ and need replacing. It’s also the most difficult to turn to the Dark Arts, and that is a clear sign that Draco was never a dark wizard by nature, he didn’t want to be dark. He wasn’t dark, otherwise this wand wouldn’t have chosen him in the first place.
And last, but definitely not least, they are the most faithful, and tend to remain attached to their first owner.
All the aspects in Draco’s wand are adamant to it being difficult to master and even harder to change allegiances. It would fight until the end to work only for its master, and the hair could even die from it.
So why did it change masters that easily, then?
Here’s my theory:
Love
Love is always the answer in this series. Lily’s, Narcissa’s, Snape’s, Harry’s. And Draco’s, I would say, is just as meaningful. It matters just as much in the final battle. It was the reason Harry won in the first place.
He trusted Harry with his heart and soul.
I will never accept the Hawthorn wand changed allegiances, because we have proof it didn’t have any reason to, and it’s not in its nature to just do it.
He never lost the wand’s loyalty completely, he just shared it with Harry.
Drarry is canon ❤️💚
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Hello! Very random and no worries if that's not your intention for the blog, but I love reading about your teacher experience and insights! Take this ask more so as encouragement to write more about it if you feel like it, because I'm going to start teaching soon (and yes, many people I've met have warned me about both its miracles and horrors lol) and it's really helpful to hear others' experiences :)
Thanks for the ask! Honestly I'm just a first year, so I don't have a tonnnn of advice to give. But here's a few general first year tips from one to a future another:
1 — No matter what, having a good department team is ESSENTIAL. You're going to be relying on them a lot your first year for help, advice, curriculum stuff, behavioral management stuff, etc. Talk to them, get to know them, have lunch with them, share issues/seek advice from them. You're going to encounter situations that your degree did not prepare you for (likely, in the first week lol. For me, it was Day 1) and having people around to help you judgement free is going to be crucial. I was super lucky that my department team and all the teachers from other departments that I work closely with are really amazing, easy to work with, etc.
2 — You're also going to want a good relationship with the "other" departments. The library staff, tech staff, sped department, guidance, janitors, etc. They're all lovely people, so don't be afraid to pop in to introduce yourself on the first week!
3 — Crazy things are going to happen. Like....all the time. Don't bring them home with you. As soon as you exit the doors, shake it off. All your students made it on the bus to their parents alive, so it's fine. Your job is done for the day. I've been going to the gym a lot right from school, and it's been really helpful to prevent myself from taking anything home with me so to speak.
4 — Document, document, document. Did something happen? Document it, email a copy to whoever's applicable: admin, guidance, sped, BCBA, etc. "Hello, just emailing a summary of what happened today" is not an uncommon email for me to send out. If an IEP isn't working, well at the next IEP meeting it shows they have 10 emails in the last month from you about little Timmy's hourly verbal threats and attempted physical violence to his classmates, so maybe the BCBA needs to do some data collection to adjust his BIP, or they need to give him a 1-1, or give him more resource intervention, etc.
5 — This isn't so much of advice, more like reassurance. The small moments when it clicks for a student and they get something, and then the confidence and excitement shows, it's really the best. That's probably why I've fallen so in love with working where I did. The other day, after weeks of struggling to help this student with Downs with his math, I tried a totally different approach based off a few example problems I saw in a math intervention workbook and hOLY HELL IT WORKED. It totally clicked for him, and the kid was so excited to do a problem out on the board for the class. It was amazing. Another student with an LD who I've been helping heavily school aced a quiz in one of her classes and legit ran into the room to show me. Cue me literally jumping out of my chair to high-five her, and her calling her parents to deliver the good news. Like, little things like that are really really special, and they're going to mean so much to you. And I hope you get to experience LOTS of them too!
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Crying over the way Cas was making an apology care package for Dean with all his favourite things complete with burgers, his favourite toilet paper and even that busty Asians magazine that he can't get enough of
He even almost beat up a cashier for deans favourite pie ALL BECAUSE HE WANTED TO APOLOGISE
He walked into that store with no knowledge of human material possessions but the things he's seen around Dean. He may not be the best at talking but he's observant and he knows exactly what makes Dean tick , what he likes and what he loves.
The acts of service, the gift giving ALL THAT TO SAY SORRY
I'm done I AM DONE NO ONE SPEAK TO ME
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Maybe I’m delusional but I cant be the only one who believes that the “Rise Again” short story is a parallel to what must’ve happened when Lisa realized what Viren “had to do” to save their son.
Pretty consistently we see that Claudia is a parallel to her father meanwhile more subtly we see Soren as a parallel to his mother.
I believe it is strongest in the scene where Soren makes the decision to runaway and he tries to ask Claudia to come with him. Claudia shakes her head overwhelmed with whats going on and begging Soren to not make her choose between him and their father, much like when their parents asked her to choose which parent she’d stay with.
And so, just like their mother, Soren chooses for Claudia. Telling her goodbye.
I feel like it is especially reinforced with these images.
With that established i want to clarify my thoughts on exactly what happened to Soren when he was a kid.
I know a lot of people believe Soren didn’t actually die and instead was just really sick and about to die but between the symbolism of being turned to stone=death and how whatever spell he did crossed a line even his Mentor wouldn’t to the point of getting into a physical altercation I believed Soren actually died.
It seems to me that to at least to some degree this was resurrection. But why it didn’t require a blood of his child?
Soren was young and small and probably not dead for very long unlike Viren who had been dead for TWO YEARS.
But now onto ‘Rise Again’.
Of course the spell Claudia used wasn’t as strong as bringing something to life. She didn’t actually bring back a dead cat she was just animating cat ashes into the form of the cat she loved but regardless other she and Soren treat it as if the ashes were truly the cat and not a puppet Claudia made. But these snippets stuck out the most to me
If we take this short story as a parallel of their parents after Soren’s death/near death I feel like the language paints a good picture of how it went:
Viren:
“- I know but I fixed it.”
“It wasn’t fair that [he] died. [He] wasn’t even that old.”
Lisa:
“We had a little ceremony remember?”
“Because [Soren] died.”
But I think the biggest one is this scene:
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So I don't know if it was ever revealed how Duncan felt when we killed Malistaire all three times but I'm wondering if maybe some part of him could hate us for that too. Like you hear that and you go "but why. Malistaire was terrible and even Duncan knew that(?). Why would he hate you for getting rid of him."
But like I think it's so....... interesting in a very, very, very sad way how Duncan so easily latches onto anyone who directly feeds into his delusions of grandeur. And that's no fault of his own that he was manipulated by the nasty Schism but when you think about how desperately clung to the idea that Malistaire, easily one of the greatest necromancers any of us had ever heard of (at that time), somehow actually recognized Duncan's talents (even when canon supports that Duncan wasn't all that talented, at least no more than the next necromancer) and then praised him for it so often that Duncan believed that he would be the next Death Professor is. I mean ☹️
So like with that mindset I unfortunately feel like it would be quite easy to twist even Malistaire's death as something that's horrible and awful and all our fault. ESPECIALLY if the Schism was feeding into Duncan's already broken mind and shattered ego and was constantly telling him that everything bad that ever happened to him ever in his life was Our Fault. That's like a realistic conclusion that someone like Duncan could come to
And like, at this point in time, are Malistaire's crimes even a factor in how he thinks????? Was Duncan ever able to separate Malistaire's talent and skills and prowess from the terrible and awful things he did? If Duncan wasn't able to consciously tell that distinction in the first place I can't imagine it would be any better during the years he was being manipulated and isolated and lied to
Like in Duncan's mind it probably isn't, "maybe I shouldn't idolize a national criminal, or idolize anyone at all for that matter, and aspire to be like someone so harmful when I can recognize my own talent and build from there" it's probably more like, "you (the wizard) permanently got rid of a brilliant mind, an innocent person who just made a few mistakes, and someone who believed in me no matter what just so that you could be the better than me and loved by everyone else" and that's! very sad actually!
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