The owls are not what they seem.

[prillalar]

I've been thinking about owls and owl post in the HP universe. How does the owl post system work?

Are the owls themselves:

• trained
• enchanted
• not actually real owls

I'd go for enchanted myself, because they are really quite amazing. All you have to do to send a letter is tell your owl who you want to send it to. They do the rest.

But how do they know where to go? As if that weren't extraordinary enough, consider this:

Harry could send owl post to Sirius Black when Sirius was on the run. It would reach him regardless of where he was. So, why couldn't the ministry do the same thing? And track the owl? We know that people receive post that they don't want, so it's not like the owls only deliver letters that you want.

Also, Harry was able to send Hedwig with letters to Ron and Hermione while they were in the headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix and protected by the Fidelius Charm.

How could Hedwig have known where to deliver to? Is she not under the Charm because she's not human? If so, then, again, what's to stop enemies of the order owling to see if they can trace the owls back.

I am plagued by questions.

Comments

[ethrosdemon.livejournal.com]

I agree with this theory. I always assumed they track the wands sold at the offical wizarding shops. There is bound to be a way to get illegal wands. Shady wandmakers must make tons of galleons during war time.

[musesfool.livejournal.com]

*nod*

What I want to know is, who got Sirius his wand? Was it a family wand? And if so, why wasn't *that* traced? Or is it because the house is Unplottable, that even tracking won't work?

[prillalar]

I can't remember if I read this in a fic somewhere, but I've got it fixed in my brain that Ollivander is strictly neutral, that he'll sell a wand to anyone.

He strikes me as rather shady, actually.

I don't think that the wands are registered. Or even traced, else why doesn't Hagrid get in trouble for using his?

OTOH, if they were all registered and traced and all, it wouldn't surprise me. The MoM, and really, the wizarding world in general is fucking creepy.

[biascut.livejournal.com]

But doesn't Ollivander have a monopoly on wands? I bet there aren't any other wand shops in the UK...

[musesfool.livejournal.com]

In the UK he does, apparently.

However, both Fleur's and Krum's wands came from elsewhere, right?

And yes, I think he's neutral at best and a fairly shady character. He also remembers every wand he's sold, but the question is, would he turn that information over to the MoM without being forced?

[cangetmad.livejournal.com]

I still hold to my original point: the registration and tracking, whether it's wizards or wands, only aplies to underage wizards.

Actually, though, it's not very accurate, is it? Because Dobby's magic got "assigned" to Harry in PoA. So it's not detecting wand use, because Dobby didn't use Harry's wand. Must be "magic in an area around a tracked wizardling". Which makes it rather unfair for Harry and Hermione and others summer-holidaying in Muggle environments: presumably juvenile Weasleys just claim it was their older brothers doing the magic.

[musesfool.livejournal.com]

I still hold to my original point: the registration and tracking, whether it's wizards or wands, only aplies to underage wizards.

Most likely, but don't you think it's possible to turn it back on after an adult becomes a wanted criminal? (Though this would not apply to Sirius, as his original wand was probably snapped.)