The Trouble With Magical Devices
We all love magical devices. They're, well, magical.
Take the magic wand. Mr. Olivander explained to Harry Potter that the wand chooses the wizard, so they're pretty special. In fact, there was only one other wand like Harry's, and that belonged to You-Know-Who.
With a few words of pidgin Latin and a flourish, the perfect magic wand does wonders. But what happens when you break it? Remember Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets? Professor Gilderoy Lockhart grabs Ron Weasley's wand and invokes a memory-wiping spell on poor Ron, but the scotch-taped wand backfires on him.
It's never explained how Ron got another wand. Presumably it meant an expensive trip to Olivander's shop to find another rare and highly personal stick. Wands just don't have any user-serviceable components.
Last year, I bought a piece of magic from my friendly neighborhood Apple store, about as far from Olivander's cramped and dusty emporium as you can get. When I discovered that my brand-new MacBook Air had a squeaky key, I brought it back for service and they replaced the whole unit. "It's supposed to be perfect," they told me.
It was perfect. The most perfect Mac I've ever owned. It's light and fast and does magical things. I almost never have to think about it - it's the the perfect tool. "Wingardium Leviosa!"
But yesterday, I while moving stuff around my desk, I carelessly pushed a monitor with sharp corners into the MacBook Air. The result: a big evil scratch in the middle of the Air's screen.
I tried to work around it. It's just a scratch. A long hideous scratch. But I can ignore it. I'll get used to it, scarred and horribly disfigured as it is. Soon I'll forget it's even there, right?
No, I won't. I brought it over to the Apple Genius bar today. The nice young lady was sympathetic. Sure, it can be fixed. But the screen is one integral piece with the top cover. It's magic, you see. The whole top half of the clamshell has to be replaced. And the price will be just a small sack of gold galleons from my vault at Gringott's.
I gulped, but in the end I agreed to pay whatever it costs to get the magical perfection back.
Is there a protection spell for magic wands, I wonder?
Take the magic wand. Mr. Olivander explained to Harry Potter that the wand chooses the wizard, so they're pretty special. In fact, there was only one other wand like Harry's, and that belonged to You-Know-Who.
With a few words of pidgin Latin and a flourish, the perfect magic wand does wonders. But what happens when you break it? Remember Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets? Professor Gilderoy Lockhart grabs Ron Weasley's wand and invokes a memory-wiping spell on poor Ron, but the scotch-taped wand backfires on him.
It's never explained how Ron got another wand. Presumably it meant an expensive trip to Olivander's shop to find another rare and highly personal stick. Wands just don't have any user-serviceable components.
Last year, I bought a piece of magic from my friendly neighborhood Apple store, about as far from Olivander's cramped and dusty emporium as you can get. When I discovered that my brand-new MacBook Air had a squeaky key, I brought it back for service and they replaced the whole unit. "It's supposed to be perfect," they told me.
It was perfect. The most perfect Mac I've ever owned. It's light and fast and does magical things. I almost never have to think about it - it's the the perfect tool. "Wingardium Leviosa!"
But yesterday, I while moving stuff around my desk, I carelessly pushed a monitor with sharp corners into the MacBook Air. The result: a big evil scratch in the middle of the Air's screen.
I tried to work around it. It's just a scratch. A long hideous scratch. But I can ignore it. I'll get used to it, scarred and horribly disfigured as it is. Soon I'll forget it's even there, right?
No, I won't. I brought it over to the Apple Genius bar today. The nice young lady was sympathetic. Sure, it can be fixed. But the screen is one integral piece with the top cover. It's magic, you see. The whole top half of the clamshell has to be replaced. And the price will be just a small sack of gold galleons from my vault at Gringott's.
I gulped, but in the end I agreed to pay whatever it costs to get the magical perfection back.
Is there a protection spell for magic wands, I wonder?