And Speaking of Wands...

Here's a question I've been puzzling over for ages. If the "wand chooses the wizard," then why on earth did Voldemort's wand choose him? It's got a tail feather from Fawkes! Apparently there have only ever been two such wands in existence. (Where they made at the same time? And on what occasion did Fawkes decide to donate two of his feathers for such a purpose? Did Dumbledore have anything to do with those wands being made? And why were there two?)

It's just always seemed very odd to me that a wand, seemingly so connected to a bird of beauty, rightness, and power, a bird symbolic of resurrection, a bird connected so deeply and fondly with a Gryffindor (meaning Dumbledore), that THAT wand would choose an orphan boy with a penchant for cruelty who happens to be the last remaining ancestor of Salazar Slytherin, is decidedly strange. Remember when Harry first chooses his wand; or rather the wand chooses Harry? Red and gold sparks actually fly out of it! It's hard to imagine that green and silver sparks would have flown out of Tom Riddle's wand, made with the same core. Unless....

here are my two ideas. One is a new idea for me, and the other is an old one I've played around with for a while. And it's possible to connect them.

My new idea is that perhaps Fawkes, who I suspect is quite ancient (we don't know how many times a phoenix can die and rise from the ashes, but I don't think there's any time limit) originally had some connection to BOTH founders, Salazar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor. What if Fawkes was originally a bird that was close to them both? A gift from one to the other? A mark of their friendship? Because the sorting hat tells us that they were very good friends until their falling out and ultimate separation. If Fawkes was part of some sort of connection between the founders originally, perhaps he gave two tail feathers in the hope that one day the wands would somehow re-forge a connection between the two houses and heal the enmity. I know, I know...this doesn't quite wash in one way. I'm not for one moment supposing that we're going to see Voldemort repent. He's too far gone down a destructive and dehumanizing path. But because of what he did with his wand, because of the strange bond that was forged between him and Harry, there is ultimately still the possibility that through Harry's victory over Voldemort and the events that play out around it, we will see at least some Gryffindors and Slytherins united on the same side and some healing taking place. Snape is a big candidate for that; Draco another.

Which leads me to my second thought, and one I've been thinking of for a long time. Is there some level of Providence functioning in these stories? It would appear that the particular wands choosing these particular wizards lends at least some credence to the idea that some force, some power, is at work in and through our good guys. A power with a purpose. That wand didn't choose Harry accidentally. Did it only choose him because he bore the scar? Would it have chosen someone else (Neville) if circumstances had been different? (Harry himself wonders about questions similar to this in HBP, though not directly related to his wand.) Is it possible that the first wand chose Riddle precisely because the second wand would one day choose Harry? Or is that taking things too far and getting too convoluted?

At any rate, I find this one of the most fascinating questions in the entire series, and one I hope has not been entirely answered by the priori incantatem scene in Goblet.