Hawthorn Wand Wood

• Type: Wand Wood
• Notable Owners: Draco Malfoy
• Known Makers: Garrick Ollivander
• Associated Traits: Complexity, conflict, suitable for both healing magic and curses, requires a talented owner. (Pottermore)

Hawthorn is a complex and paradoxical wand wood. According to the notes of the wandmaker Garrick Ollivander, hawthorn wands are suited for both powerful healing magic and potent curses. This contradictory nature is said to mirror the hawthorn tree itself, whose blossoms can heal but whose cut branches smell of death (Pottermore). Hawthorn wands are best suited to a witch or wizard who is experiencing a period of inner turmoil or conflict. They are not easily mastered and should only be wielded by individuals of proven magical talent, as mishandling them can cause spells to backfire. These wands seem to have a particular affinity for owners with a conflicted nature (Pottermore).

The most prominent hawthorn wand in the series belonged to Draco Malfoy.

• Maker: Garrick Ollivander
• Specifications: Ten inches long, made of hawthorn with a unicorn hair core, and described as “reasonably pliant”.
• History and Allegiance: This wand was Draco Malfoy's primary wand throughout his Hogwarts years. During the Skirmish at Malfoy Manor in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry Potter physically wrested this wand, along with others, from Draco's grasp. According to the principles of wandlore, the wand's allegiance subsequently switched from Draco to Harry. Harry found that the hawthorn wand served him “as well as his own,” and it became his main wand for the remainder of the Second Wizarding War after his original holly wand was broken.

The hawthorn wand plays a crucial role in the final book of the series. Its change of allegiance to Harry Potter is a key event that helps him understand the “subtle laws of wands” that Garrick Ollivander later explains. This understanding is fundamental to Harry's eventual mastery of the Elder Wand and his final victory over Lord Voldemort. After his own wand was destroyed, Harry used Draco's hawthorn wand to perform powerful magic, including successfully casting an unforgivable curse—the Cruciatus Curse—on the Death Eater Amycus Carrow in the Ravenclaw Tower. He continued to use it through the Battle of Hogwarts until he could repair his original holly wand.

Information on the properties of hawthorn as a wand wood comes primarily from the Pottermore (now Wizarding World) website.

• The famous wandmaker Gregorovitch is quoted as writing that hawthorn “makes a strange, contradictory wand, as full of paradoxes as the tree that gave it birth” (Pottermore).
• The wood's association with owners in turmoil is a direct reflection of Draco Malfoy's character arc in the later books, where he is conflicted between his family's allegiance to Lord Voldemort and his own conscience.