Spoilers, I said, spoilers! Jeez. Get out. And wipe your feet.
I was reading Order of the Phoenix the other day and I encountered the passage
where I made a realization about something unusual and I’d never really been curious about it before. Hey, you’re reading the spoilers, aren’t you? Shame on you. No peeking!
Seriously, now.
At the beginning of OotP, Harry is introduced to Nymphadora Tonks, who is a Metamorphimagus. Or something. Harry asked if this skill can be learned, and she laughs: “You’ll have to learn it the hard way. Metamorphimagi are born, not made.” She points out that most wizards cannot change themselves without a wand or a potion.
Most of Tonks’ transformations involve changing the color and style of her hair.
But Harry
has already shown in the very first book that he can change his hair. When Aunt Petunia cut his hair, it grew back overnight! What does this mean? Is Harry a Metamorphimagus? Or is that what it’s called? And why are you still reading these spoilers, you cheater?
Okay, point two. Also in OotP, during the dementor attack in Little Whinging, Harry is able to cast the spell lumos
while his hand isn’t touching his wand. The spell ignites the wand several inches from his hand. What’s this all about? Are all wizards capable of doing this? Is this something Rowling is saving up for later? When do wizards really need wands, anyway?
In the very first book, Hagrid asks if Harry had ever done anything strange when he was angry or frightened: and he had. He vanished the glass in the boa constrictor cage, he jumped upon the roof of his school, he shrank an ugly sweater, he puffed his uncle’s sister up like a balloon.
What’s the significance of being able to perform magic without a wand? Why can Harry do this, and can other wizards do this as well?
Oh, and don’t bother with the spoiler boxes. I think we frightened away the faint of heart by now.