Ashlie studies her wand numbly. A born leader and yet... death and loss...? She shivered to herself. The Moondust, she knew, wassincerity and hidden power. She wrapped her arms around herself, closing her eyes.

Francis smiles at points at her, mouthing 18 inches = Intuition, endurance. // Lies, deceit, risks.

She then writes more notes on her wand, Willow (French) = Bravery and Humanity.Unicorn: Mutable, Earth (ruler Mercury) The sixth sign, it marks the end of the summer season. Unicorn hair tends to exhibit the qualities of both the magical equine whose glyph symbolizes their sign, and the planet Mercury, which rules it. They are discriminating and often critical. They have great analytical ability, but may lack compassion. They have an attunement to the bounties of nature, and are innately sensitive to matter concerning illness and health. They dislike excess and self indulgence and have little sympathy for the troubles of others when they are caused by foolish behavior. Throughout history, art, literature, and even religion, the unicorn has been upheld as a symbol of endurance, purity, pride, peerless strength of spirit as well as a having a certain skill for Charmwork.

"so that means...if i use my wand for good, then i would have Strength. Courage, determination, honour, reliability, honesty, purpose, physical strength, triumph...and if i use it for bad purposes, i would be a Cowardice, giving in..? is that about right?"

Riiya wrote down her specs of her wand. She listened as the other students gave comments about their length. "it is affected by my height?" she was indeed a petite figure, but...not that small..

"Professor, what if a person grows? do they have to change thier wand length as well? does the length affect the magic it shoots out? as you said earlier, the length is the body of the wand...but a small body could only hold so much..."

Catherine re reads the textbook. " *raises hand* "A lot of the wood qualities and the lenght matches me, so can there be more than one .... wand i guess for each of us? I know you said that throughout puberty, people change but....i don't know. Im a little confused" she says looking at her wand.
Catherine then looks around to see that everyone is looking at their wands,thinking about how it matches them.

Jaren barely realized what he had been writing down all class until he actually read it once over.

He felt rather odd as he stared at this information. It was too much like Divination, which he disliked, and not like Charms lessons that he had experienced in the past. The information was partially true, and there was much more left to be unsaid. He wasn't even sure if he wanted to know the character of his wand's core...it was probably very rare, given that his wand was an heirloom passed down from his family, one he barely knew. Slowly, he raised his hand.

"Professor, I have a question. Suppose the core material was taken from a Chimera...what properties would it have?"

"So I'm lucky and friendly?" Eric mused. "Nice combination."

She smiled reassurignly. "No I'm not half house-elf. If I were I doubt there is any way I'd have gotten into Slytherin. My gran...my mum...and...well me as far as my mum's side goes...am a different race of elf....Hasse-Amari. Though any of them I know will behead you for calling them that." She reports and laughs a little. "But anyway..me having house-elf blood would create problems would it not? If wand length reciporicates height...and my wand is seventeen inches...well that's a problem all in it's self is it not? No person with an ounce of house-elf in them could have ever reached anywhere near six feet, let alone six five."

OK, so mine (14½ inches and beechwood) represents prosperity if used for good.

"Wow, this is fascinating Professor!" said Serena taking notes.

14 inches: Temperance. Control, harmony, peace, self-control, adaptability, imagination. // Quarrels, corruption, strife.

Didymus swiftly made some notes about her own wand.
After this she raised her hand.
"Professor, do you know what the properties of Raven feathers are?"

"It's most likely because your wand has Thestral hair as its core, I remember you saying so earlier. The majority of people believe Thestrals in general are bad luck and an omen of death. This is probably because Thestrals can only be seen by people who have seen death with their own eyes. I wouldn't worry about it though, it all appears to be superstition as more and more people are beginning to realise that Thestrals aren't as bad as they were once thought to be."

Pookah turned and looked at Didymus.

"I hope you are right, I love my wand, I really don't think it's unlucky or anything."

14 inches: Temperance. Control, harmony, peace, self-control, adaptability, imagination. // Quarrels, corruption, strife.
"Hmm. I think it suits my character. I like imagine things and usually I am peaceful. And olive trees are connected with peace. But adaptable? I am not sure."

Shannon finishes her notes, and rolls her wand between her fingers while waiting for further instructions.

Arkee took out a tape measure and carefully sized up her wand. 11 and 1/2 inches.

Quote:

11 inches: Justice. Mercy, good judgement, unity, balance, harmony. // Injustice, bad judgement, misguided advice.

She looked around at other student's wands.

"Hey! Kali and I have the same length wands! That's got to mean something, right?"

Sorry for not attending classes, Professor, I've been sick. I'll just catch up from here
My wand:
11 and 1/2 inches, mahogany, pheonix contour feather. Whippy and I can use it well in charms. I can produce powerful spells, and it is very good for healing (because of the pheonix feathers)
It represents my cleverness and beauty.
And Didymus, a raven feather represents knowledge, sharpness and good virtues!

mintnorth24: "The reason your wand length does not seem to describe you is because it doesn't really describe you yourself; but rather, your future."

Aphrodite: "Yes, that is usually the case. Unicorn hair, dragon heartstring and phoenix feather are all fairly universal. But other wand cores, such as veela hair, usually mean that the wand owner has a closer relationship with the origins or meanings of the core. For example, with veela hair, there is usually some veela blood running in the family. It would be pretty impossible to list all the personality traits etc. of all wand cores in the world, because there are thousands of them - if not millions.

Unicorn, dragon and phoenix cores are the most common, as I believe I have repeated too much, and most used in Britain, Central Europe, Asia, Australia and North America. Other parts of the world, like Africa and Scandinavia, don't really have popular wand cores. This might be because the said animals are scarcer there. In Africa it is normal to use things like Erumpetent horn or Sphinx tail hairs. Scandinavians have access to dragon heartstring, but phoenixes don't really enjoy the cold environment. In Scandinavia, South America and some Mediterranean countries it is common for a family to make their own wands. The cores used are often of magical herbs and spices treated with special rituals and finally dried inside the wand.

Infact..." Madame Noire digs out her own wand now. "My wand also has a herb core. I'm from Finland, which is in Scandinavia."

She twirls the wand between her fingers. It is perfectly ordinary-looking, light in colour with a few black streaks here and there, and slightly battered.

"In my family, it's been tradition for everyone to make their wand before they go to school. My father is a Frenchman, so his family have always bought wands from shops: but my mother's side is very traditional, and they insist on making all wands from scratch. Which is good, in my opinion, as you get a closer feel to the wand that way.

Birch. It's a common tree in Finland. The wood is white with darker streaks, which explains why my wand's colouring. 9 and a half inches. The core is of blueberry, raspberry, vanilla, nettle, pine and a bit of black pepper. There might be something else as well, I just don't remember it right now. But I'd rather not waste your time by going into details about how herb cores are made, so if someone is interested they can pop by my office some time."

Madame Noire casts a quick glance at the large clock on the wall.

"Hmm. We have about five minutes left. Time for those last few questions! Of course, if you have questions you'd rather not discuss in front of the class, as always, my office door is open.

Riiya: Yes, that's right.

Backslash: As the Chimaera is one-third dragon, it posesses some dragonish qualities. For example, possible exaggeration in speech sometimes: the Chimaera, after all, is a very rare creature. It's endurance is high and it is very unique, so one might expect the same from a wizard with a Chimaera wand core. Actually, Arkee Maldemer just listed some very basic points of Chimaeran traits - five points to you, Arkee.

Pookah: No, it doesn't. It is your choices which make you Dark. A core's definition may seem negative, but think of Slytherins, for example: cunning, yes, sly, yes, ambitious, yes; but would that always mean every Slytherin will become a Dark wizard? No, it doesn't. It's pretty much the same with wand cores. Everyone has a possibility to become a Dark wizard, regardless of their wand. Oh, their wand could be pink with faerie fluff and flower petals and they could still become Death Eaters! In the long run, the wand doesn't say that much about your personality. It is here," Madame Noire says, tapping her head.

"So... final questions before I give you your homework task?"

Jaren wrote down a few final lines in his notes, staring at his wand. He never knew that it had such significance to the wizard that wielded it. Intriguing indeed...very intriguing. No other questions popped into his mind at the moment, it was strangely blank as it processed what he'd just learned.

Didymus added some extra notes to her parchment from what the Professor had said. She looked at her wand one last time, smiled and then crossed her arms as she waited to see if anyone had anymore questions. She felt that today had been an interesting lesson and that she had learnt alot. She stifled a small yawn and then began checking through her notes, trying to see if she had made any mistakes.

Shannon shakes her head and begins to clear her things from her desk. She leaves out a quill and some parchment to write down the homework.

I never really thought wands had this much influence...
*Sarah thought quietly to herself*
So, if my wand is ebony wood, phoenix feather core, and 8 1/4 inches...
*She scribbled down on her paper*

Catherine takes down some final notes and has no more questions. This has been an interesting first class. She began to clear her desk, and with one final look at her wand she put that away too.

Megan started to pack away everything exept her quill and some parchment tho write the homework on and sat and waited for the teacher to tell them their homework.

Nadia heard the speech in awe, feeling suddenly proud of this professor.

"No, no questions at all," she said, not able to help a smile.

*ponders* "A-actually... do you think you could tell me what would happen if your wand doesn't describe you any more in the future? Or, say, you broke the wand and you need a new one that is as good as the one before, would it work?"

Ashlie laughed numbly at Eric. "That's how you met me," she teased, looking back at her wand.