Today, we’ll be discussing why, in Merlin’s beard, convicted criminals get to keep their wands, but expelled children do not.
Hagrid’s Expulsion and Consequences
During the events of the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter learns the reason Hagrid isn’t allowed to own a wand or perform magic. He was expelled from Hogwarts at the mere age of 13. His wand was taken from him and destroyed. His future was also taken from him and destroyed.
Told that he could no longer practice magic, Hagrid was turned away from the majority of the wizarding community in disgrace before he even reached the age of 14.
The only reason he was able to continue to be actively involved in magical society at all was due to the kindness and generosity of Albus Dumbledore, as the professor never believed that young Rubeus was capable of the crime that got him expelled.
And indeed, as it turns out, Hagrid was innocent and had been falsely accused by Tom Riddle, the future Lord Voldemort, for opening the Chamber of Secrets, which of course, the devious 16-year-old Riddle was actually responsible for.
Now, I suppose you could make the argument that the severity of Hagrid’s expulsion was due to the fact that a young witch was killed as a result of the Chamber of Secrets being reopened.
But that doesn’t actually make all that much sense when you consider that not even convicted criminals, who actually torture and murder people with their own hands, lose their wands when they’re sent to Azkaban, nor are these convicts forbidden from practicing magic upon their release.
So, what I want to know is, how does that make any sense at all?
Convicts and Their Wands
Of course, when a witch or wizard is found guilty of a crime punishable by imprisonment, their material personal items, including their wands, are taken from them.
However, these items, wands included, are not destroyed. No one knows for certain where they are kept exactly, but what we do know is that they are kept somewhere, entirely intact.
This is proven throughout the series by the fact that multiple witches and wizards who have served time at the wizarding prison of Azkaban, such as Igor Karkaroff and Lucius Malfoy, get their wands back when they re-enter magical society.
We also know that these individuals continue to practice magic. Igor Karkaroff even goes on to become the headmaster of Durmstrang Institute, the wizarding school in Eastern Europe.
Clearly, both of these wizards, who were known Death Eaters during Voldemort’s first rise to power, served their time at Azkaban, and then had their items returned to them, either by the Dementors at the prison or the Ministry.
Some fans have even speculated that convicts’ possessions, including their wands, are released to their next of kin. So perhaps those leaving Azkaban retrieve their belongings from family members upon their release.
Whatever the situation, though, it’s clear that a convict’s wand is kept safe and sound somewhere. Even Bellatrix Lestrange, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in Azkaban for performing the Cruciatus Curse on Alice and Frank Longbottom, managed to get her wand back after she escaped from the prison.
This means that even if a convict is never meant to be released from Azkaban and is supposed to rot away in prison for the rest of their life, their wand is still not destroyed. And yet, a third-year student had his wand snapped in half, and his magical future taken away from him, for a crime he didn’t even commit.
Why This Discrepancy?
While there is no canonical explanation for this, here are a few ideas I’ve had on the subject:
1. Underage Magic is Dangerous
Although obviously not as dangerous as the magic produced by a dark witch or wizard, I suppose you could argue that a student who hasn’t completed their magical education is a liability.
Perhaps expelled students who are incredibly young are prohibited from practicing magic because they don’t have as much control over their abilities as an adult witch or wizard who has finished all of their years of study.
The magical community could be especially worried about this in terms of accidental exposure in front of muggles, which would directly conflict with the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy.
But this is obviously a flawed way of looking at things since some students like Harry Potter and Hermione Granger were able to perform some pretty powerful magic at the age of 13. I also don’t see why a student who was expelled from one school couldn’t just apply to another one, you know, like us muggles do.
2. Controlling a Released Convict Would Be Difficult
I guess it’s possible that the reason convicts get their wands back and they’re able to continue practicing magic is because it would be rather hard for the Ministry of Magic to prevent criminals from doing magic after they’ve been released from Azkaban.
Who knows, maybe at one point they even tried to prohibit this, only to discover just how difficult it was to enforce. For starters, a dark witch or wizard sentenced to serve time in prison is likely a pretty powerful individual.
They could probably perform lots of untraceable magic, or maybe they have the ability to simply disappear without a trace.
After all, these witches and wizards are adults who’ve all completed their magical educations and honed their skills in the dark arts. With that in mind, it also seems rather likely that if their wand was destroyed when they went to prison, they would be able to just go out and buy themselves a new one upon release.
And of course, neither of these options would be nearly as easy for an expelled underage witch or wizard who was still living at home and had not completed their schooling.
And with that, we’ve come to the end of today’s theory. What do you think? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
