Phoenix Feather

• Type: Wand Core, Magical Ingredient
• Owners: This core is found in wands owned by Harry Potter, Lord Voldemort, and Celestina Warbeck (Pottermore). Silvanus Kettleburn's wand also contained a phoenix feather core (Pottermore).
• Maker: The feathers are sourced from a Phoenix. The two most famous feathers used in wandmaking came from Fawkes, the phoenix belonging to Albus Dumbledore.

A phoenix feather is a tail feather from a Phoenix. The feathers given by Fawkes were noted for their striking scarlet color, consistent with his plumage. When used as a wand core, a single feather is placed at the center of the wand's wood. Harry Potter's wand is described as containing one such feather.

Phoenix feather is one of the three “Supreme Cores” used by the renowned wandmaker Garrick Ollivander, alongside dragon heartstring and unicorn hair. It is considered an exceptionally powerful and rare wand core.

• Range of Magic: Wands with phoenix feather cores are capable of the greatest range of magic, though they may take longer than unicorn hair or dragon heartstring cores to reveal this.
• Initiative: A key trait of phoenix feather wands is their ability to show initiative, sometimes acting of their own accord to protect their owner.
• Allegiance: These wands are the most discerning in choosing a potential owner, and the allegiance of a phoenix feather wand is notoriously hard-won. They are difficult to tame and personalize.
• Twin Cores: In an extremely rare occurrence, two feathers from the same Phoenix were used as cores in two separate wands. This created a unique and powerful connection between the wands belonging to Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort. When these “brother wands” are forced to duel, they cannot properly harm each other's owners. Instead, they connect and trigger a rare magical effect known as Priori Incantatem. This effect forces the losing wand to regurgitate the spells it has recently performed in reverse order.

The most significant phoenix feathers in wizarding history were the two given by Albus Dumbledore's phoenix, Fawkes. The master wandmaker Garrick Ollivander procured these feathers and used them to craft two individual wands. The first wand, made of yew, was thirteen-and-a-half inches long. It was sold to a young Tom Riddle, who would later become Lord Voldemort. Decades later, the second wand, made of holly and eleven inches long, was presented to Harry Potter at Ollivanders in Diagon Alley. The wand “chose” Harry, a decision Ollivander found very curious, as its brother wand had been the one to give Harry his lightning-bolt scar. This shared core bound the two nemeses together long before either of them understood the connection's full significance.

The phoenix feather core is central to the connection between Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort, serving as a physical manifestation of their shared destiny.

• Priori Incantatem: During the duel in the Little Hangleton graveyard, the twin cores in Harry's and Voldemort's wands connected. This triggered Priori Incantatem, allowing spectral echoes of Voldemort's recent victims—including Cedric Diggory, Frank Bryce, Bertha Jorkins, Lily Potter, and James Potter—to emerge from his wand. These echoes provided a crucial distraction, enabling Harry to escape.
• Independent Action: During the Battle of the Seven Potters, Harry's phoenix feather wand acted on its own to defend him from Lord Voldemort. It recognized its owner's nemesis and unleashed a jet of golden fire, destroying the borrowed wand of Lucius Malfoy that Voldemort was using. This event demonstrated the profound and active magic of phoenix feather cores and deepened the mystery surrounding the wands' connection. It also led Voldemort to seek the Elder Wand, believing his own wand was not powerful enough to overcome Harry's.

• According to writings by J.K. Rowling, phoenix feather is the rarest of the three Supreme Cores she established. Its properties of showing initiative and being “pickiest” about owners are detailed in her writings on wand cores (Pottermore).
• The allegiance of phoenix feather wands is often to a wizard who is a “lone wolf” or who has a strong, independent moral code (Pottermore).
• While the books only confirm Harry Potter's and Lord Voldemort's wands having this core, supplementary materials name singer Celestina Warbeck and former Care of Magical Creatures professor Silvanus Kettleburn as other owners of wands with a phoenix feather core (Pottermore).