What's Your Wand?

I think we've covered this very briefly in another post, but JKR has this knack for using writing tricks that only a few people ever really pick up on that show us a great deal about the character they relate to. Boggarts, The Mirror of Erised, and patronuses (...patroni...?) are three great examples. Wands are a fourth that isn't quite as obvious.

First you look at the wood it's made of. Sometimes these are according to the Celtic Tree Calendar, sometimes they are not in the books. Mine doesn't follow the Celtic Tree Calendar. You see, I was born in the Willow month. Much as I've never truly felt like a Taurus, I don't feel like a Willow either. Some of this detachment from my signs is due to my hatred of the aspects of these things in myself. Some of it is because typical Willow and Taurus aspects aren't present in me. I've always related much more to the Ash (that's partly why my public magical name is Aislynn, pronounced ASH-lin).

The ash is associated with free thinkers as well as those with strong intuition, imagination, creativity, and artistic gifts. It's also common for those born during the ash month to be quite moody and withdrawn at times. They're mostly drawn to art, writing, science, and theology. That's me in a nutshell! Willows are often patient (pfft! Not me!), intelligent (all right, that's me), share a lot of characteristics with Ashes, and tend to hold themselves back (not the case with me since I'm always pushing myself forward to achieve more and reach for more).

As some of you know, ash comes in two types—white and black. There's little difference between the two magically speaking, but I think my wand would be white if only because of my own paleness.

So, my wand would be made of white ash. The core is not that difficult either. At first, after hearing that Fleur's core was a veela hair, I thought for a few years that I'd like that core. However, the wand isn't determined by what we'd like but who we are. As much as I'd like to be that person with the rather unique core, anyone who knows me is aware that while I'm somewhat temperamental myself, I am also quite impatient (yep, we covered that above) and wouldn't do well with a wand that was as temperamental as myself. There would be a lot of throwing the wand about angrily, stamping of feet, and cursing if I had a veela hair core, I think.

Dragon heartstring wasn't really ever something I even gave any thought after looking at the people who use it because none of them seemed much like myself, and I've never really been interested in most of the hexes mentioned in the books (the type of magic dragon heartstring is best suited to perform). I feel sort of the same as phoenix feather. Though I love phoenixes, I don't necessarily feel drawn to them in this way.

The only other core mentioned in the books is unicorn tail hair (though there are undoubtedly ones not mentioned specifically in the books) which has always appealed to me anyway. Many sources state that this particular core is best for the pure of heart and is possibly good for charm work (which is an area that I am interested in and feel I'd be well suited to perform).

Given that I am about 5'6”, I expect my wand would not exceed 9 ½ inches. So, we'll just be safe and say 9 ¼ inches.

Ollivander always threw in an adjective for good measure, didn't he? So, let's think about that, shall we? Ash is typically tough but somewhat bendy, which also suits me because I stand my ground but I'm always open to looking at something a new way in case it might shed light on something and teach me something. So, while Cedric's ash wand got a “pleasantly springy” from Ollivander, I anticipate an “elastic” for mine.

The movies added a new element to wands. When reading, I always saw them as more or less uniform. They had a rounded handle, but that was about as ornate as they got.

The movies show us that there can be carve work on them, making each a truly unique creation (because you might have noticed that I basically have the same wand as Cedric except for length).

So, after looking at a few wands, I think mine would be somewhat similar to Cornelius Fudge's wand as seen in GoF (or Flitwick's wand in SS because they're the same) with the small bead-like addition separating the handle from the rest of the wand, but I also see a pointed tip at the end of the handle like McGonagall's wand. This would give it a pleasant exterior while showing that it does possess a strength inside, again, much like myself.

So, there you have it. I'd have an “elastic” 9 ¼ inch ash wand with a unicorn tail hair core.