Tiny part of the enchantment your mother laid upon you when she died for you. His body

Keeps her sacrafice alive, and while that enchantment survives, so do you and so does

Voldemort’s one last hope for himself.”

Dumbledore smiled at Harry, and Harry stared at him.

“And you knew this? You knew – all along?”

“I guessed. But my guesses have usually been good,” said Dumbledore happily,

And they sat in silence for what seemed like a long time, while the creature behind them

Continued to whimper and tremble.

“There’s more,” said Harry. “There’s more to it. Why did my wand break the

wand he borrowed?”

“As to that, I cannot be sure.”

“Have a guess, then,” said Harry, and Dumbledore laughed.

“What you must understand, Harry, is that you and Lord Voldemort have

Journeyed together into realms of magic hitherto unknown and untested. But here is what

I think happened, and it is unprecedented, and no wandmaker could, I think, ever have

Predicted or explained it to Voldemort.

“Without meaning to, as you now know, Lord Voldemort doubled the bond

Between you when he returned to a human form. A part of his soul was still attached to

yours, and, thinking to strengthen himself, he took a part of your mother’s sacrafice into

Himself. If he could only have understood the precise and terrible power of that sacrifice,

He would not, perhaps, have dared to touch your blood. . . . But then, if he had been able

To understand, he could not be Lord Voldemort, and might never have murdered at all.

“Having ensured this two-fold connection, having wrapped your destinies

Together more securely than ever two wizards were joined in history, Voldemort

Proceeded to attack you with a wand that shared a core with yours. And now something

Very strange happened, as we know. The cores reacted in a way that Lord Voldemort,

Who never knew that your wand was a twin of his, had ever expected.

“He was more afraid than you were that night, Harry. You had accepted, even

Embraced, the possibility of death, something Lord Voldemort has never been able to do.

Your courage won, your wand overpowered his. And in doing so, something happened

Between those wands, something that echoed the relationship between their masters.

“I believe that your wand imbibed some of the power and qualities of

Voldemort’s wand that night, which is to say that it contained a little of Voldemort

Himself. So your wand recognized him when he pursued you, recognized a man who was

Both kin and mortal enemy, and it regurgitated some of his own magic against him, magic

much more powerful than anything Lucius’s wand had ever performed. Your wand now

contained the power of your enormous courage and of Voldemort’s own deadly skill:

What chance did that poor stick of Lucius Malfoy’s stand?”

“But if my wand was so powerful, how come Hermione was able to break it?”

Asked Harry.

“My dear boy, its remarkable effects were directed only at Voldemort, who had

Tampered so ill-advisedly with the deepest laws of magic. Only toward him was that

Wand abnormally powerful. Otherwise it was a wand like any other . . . though a good

one, I am sure,” Dumbledore finished kindly.

Harry sat in thought for a long time, or perhaps seconds. It was very hard to be

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 569