We know that the Potter's house was reduced to rubble after V killed James and Lilly Potter, and failed to kill Harry. We also know that Hagrid showed up and rescued Harry shortly thereafter. After reading GoF again, a thought occurred to me. After all these years, how did V get his wand back? The books are replete with death eater activity in the wake of V's death, but I can find no reference to anyone recovering his wand. And we know it is the same wand from the events of the duel between V and Harry at the end of GoF. So how did he get it?

Well spotted! I never even thought of this before I started reading Redhen Publications. He mentions this in several articles. It's very interesting reading, so check it out. www.redhen-publications.com/potterverse.html

I think the article that will answer your question is the one on Pettigrew, under "Black Hats."

Anyway, the theory is that Pettigrew accompanied Voldemort to the Potter's, wittnessed his defeat, destroyed the house, took Voldemort's wand(and probably James and Lily's) and hightailed it out of there. It's almost all speculation, though it fits all the requirements of how Voldemort got his wand back.

Hmmmm... yes I did have a long thought on this and I've thought of it ever since Wormtail handed Voldemort his wand. If Voldemort was unable to hold a wand and Wormtail forced to run around as a rat, how on earth could they have retained Voldemorts wand? Especially as noone on the scene seems to have recovered it. We also know that Crouch Junior couldn't have given it to Voldemort as he has it to kill the old man in the Riddle House and at this point Crouch Junior has not joined them "when my loyal servant returns to me"

The only explanation I can see is that Wormtail did some kind of recovery spell or he somehow managed to work "accio wand" from hundreds of miles away which is unlikely. Although there is nothing in the books to suggest this.

If your going to ask that why not ask where did Sirius get his wand from since they dont have them while your locked away in Azkaban

Well, that's another topic, Titan?

I think that Voldemort took his wand after the Avada Kedavra curse reversed, we know from GoF that he was string enaugh to use a wand, so he took it after the curse reversed and he kepst it all along. But that doesn't explain how he kept the wadn while he was possesing sankes to survue..

hmm..

Hmmm... very interesting.

I guess, for Voldemort's situation, maybe, he has his wand from the very start. I mean, he never lost it. It's always with him. And for Sirius, that one is a mystery. One question about that, did the Ministry confiscated or destroyed his wand?

Or maybe Lucius Malfoy had it. We know that the Malfoys had all sorts of Dark artifacts in their house because of the Chamber of Secrets ordeal... would it be that farfetched to say that Malfoy was keeping his wand for him?

The same way Sirius had his when he scaped from Azkaban, I would say

When Hagrid picked up young Harry He said He met young sirius there and sirius gave Him the motorcycle. So, if Sirius was there when Hagrid came and left, then Sirius must have been there before Peter arrived.

There is the possibility that Peter was there but hiding and watching, then to be discovered by Sirius. Sirius states in POA that He "cornered Peter and before I could curse Him, He blew apart the street with "the" wand behind His back".......The possibility that "the" wand was Voldemort's wand is surely there. JKR not stating with "His" wand is quite significant to me.

Hmm....curious question. I guess there are many possibilities...My guess is that Pettigrew had it. But where was it when he was posing as a rat at the Burrow? Maybe he hid it somewhere...?

Good spotting, Former Death Eater. Wormtail could've had Voldemort's wand, but then, where would he keep it when he turned into a rat for 12 years? As for Sirius'.. I was about to say that Lupin could've bought a new wand for him, but Sirius had a wand before...maybe he had Wormtail's wand or something. Sirius could've gotten Wormtail's wand because Wormtail had Voldemort's, and hidden it somewhere...no, he could've done that with his own wand. So, Sirius hid his own wand, and had Wormtail's, and that's the one that the Ministry consatisfied, and when he escaped, he returned to the place where he hid his wand. Probably not true, but that could be it..

I just had another thought on this. Without reading through all the books at this time, I seem to remember, either Dumbledor or Mr. Olivander stating the the wand will work but not as well in someone elses hands. If that is the case, then how did Wormtail perform an obviously complicated curse that blew up the whole street with Voldemort's wand?

I wonder if book seven will tell us about Voldemort's wand?

Spefically, how he got it back and where it has been for 13 years. Assuming he left it behind when he tried to kill Harry, you would think someone would have noticed a wand sitting there for 13 years.
He has it back in time to kill Bertha, but could not have had it for much before then because he was not corporeal. Quirrel may have gotten it for him but he would have left it behind when he died. Wormtail must have gone and gotten it from where ever it was after he was exposed in PoA.

What if the Potter house in Godric's hollow was unplottable for all these years. This would have been a huge giveaway that Wormtail was still alive though! I am assuming that bit of magic stops when the secret keeper is dead, something we may find out with the Black family house.

This might mean Godric's hollow is still unplottable, making it a bit harder for Harry to visit in book 7.

I think in one of the books (im thinking GoF) somehwere it says something about how wormtail showed up after and collected all voldys things. So, he would have had his wand somewhere

I think there would have to be something like that, as Hagrid and Sirius- at least- are able to rubble of the house. Hagrid retrieves Harry from the house, at which point he meets Sirius (who tells him to give harry to him).

I can't remember where it says something about Voldemorts things being collected, but I agree with Solorund, that I believe it says it somewhere about that.

I doubt that Godric's hollow is unplottable because Hagrid and Sirius came after the murder of James and Lily. Sirius would have been invited by Pettigrew to the Potter home, but Hagrid would not have been. Hagrid still thought that Sirius was the Potter's secret keeper. I think that the Fidelus charm would be lifted when the charmed ones die, when James and Lily died the charm was lifted.

I think that being unplottable is a different charm than the Fidelus Charm.

Peter was the secret keeper for the house not the Potters, so them dieing wouldn't have changed anything. But I think the fact that the house was completely destroyed lifted the charm from it.

I have no idea how/why Hargid knew. Peter would've naturally known since Sirius told him, that's how Sirius knew. Maybe Albus knew where it was, just not by whom was Secret-Keeper. I couldn't guess here...I believe that Harry will be able to find it now that everything is over with concerning that specific area of the charm.

Hmmm, this is interesting. I'm a little confused, but I'm not quite sure what I'm confused about . I think that Wormtail must have been the one to retrieve Voldemort's wand from the Potters' house, as Quirrel would hav used his own wand. What I don't get is why Wormtail would bother, because he thought Voldemort was gone initially, but I think he would have had to get the wand right away.

As to Godric's Hollow: the village didn't have a fidelus charm on it, just the Potters' house, so Harry can return to the village. Although I think that the fidelus charm must have been broken, because otherwise how could Hagrid have gotten Harry. Come to think, how did Hagrid know where to go if no one knew that Wormtail was the secret keeper? Okay, I'm going to have to stop now because I'm making myself more confused.

Godric's Hollow had to be plottable. Sirius, Hagrid, Dumbledore, and other people knew about it, and Godric's Hollow is a neighborhood, not a house.

There are other people living there, it has to be plottable.

I think Darth_Oz is right. DD at the very least knew was in on the secret. He probably cast the fidelius charm, which may mean that it no longer works NOW (which will make the house easier for Harry to find.) If DD did cast the charm, he could probably tell people like Hagrid and Sirius where the house was.

But then again, what good would a secret keeper be? Does that mean that Wormtail had to be the one that cast the fidelius charm?

Wormtail probably collected LV's wand to just have something of great power and value that was his. He's such a worm (pardon the pun) that he'd collect a famous dead person's item for what it could be worth to him. Anyway, he hid it somewhere to use later, until he realized that LV was still around and then he went back, found it where he hid it, and went to LV.

The house was definately unplottable or else Voldy wouldn't've needed Pettigrew in the first place. But, I think Harry's gonna find the house 'cause Harry lived there, so he'd probably be able to find it, even if it was sixteen years before.

Huh! Dumbledore couldn't have been the one to perform the fidelius charm because no one knew that Peter was secret keeper except the Potters, Peter, and Sirius. Otherwise, everyone would have known from the begining that Sirius was innocent. This strikes me as rather odd just because I was under the impression that the fidelius charm was quite comple. Obviously, Peter has proven himself to be a better wizard than was originally thought, but I still don't think he was good enough for this. Hmm, very mysterious.

I think that making something unplottable is entirely different from having it hidden by a secret keeper . The Potters' house in Godric's Hollow was not unplottable. You couldn't find it unless Peter told you where it was. This is why I don't quite understand how Hagrid got there , unless the charm was broken by Voldemort's attack or you could find it if you knew where it was before the charm was performed (I don't think this is likely).

The village had no spells on it, so anyone could find Godric's Hollow, meaning Harry will have no problems returning there. I think the house was destroyed, though, so Harry might be out of luck in that aspect.

As I recall, didn't Hagrid say he retrieved Harry from "the rubble" in Book1?

If so, and given the fact that the village itself cannot be unplottable, could we not assume that all one would have to do to find the place would be to go to the village and look for the destroyed house? Would the house having been destroyed nullify the spell (if the house was indeed unplottable)?

More than likely, the Potters were living in Godric's Hollow under an assumed identity. Clearly, Godric's Hollow was a wizarding community, given its name, so this would have been necessary for them to be "hidden." I'm thinking along the lines of a "witness protection" kind of arrangement; they were living under assumed identities, but living out in the open. Wormtail's betrayal allowed Voldemort to find them because, as their secret keeper, he was the only one who knew where they were. Indeed, if we wanted to push the speculation further, could we not assume that the Potters had somehow changed their appearance to remain anonymous? But that's another tpic, to be sure...

Any road, I just thought I'd jump in...

Cheers!

I think we are forgetting that JKR has told us that there was at least one other person there at the Potter's house the night they died.

I've heard speculation that it was Wormtail (Voldy taking him as the secret-keeper along would make sense, then, if we think it was Wormtail who retreived LV's wand, etc. This would mean wormtail would know that LV was still "alive" after killing Harry, (i think - as he was confident in setting out to find him at the end of PoA), but he couldn't return immediately BECAUSE A lot of stuff went down immediately after the Potter's died. Namely, Sirius going after wormtail with a vengence. When Sirius tried to kill him, wormtail turned into a rat and ran into the gutter, and Sirius went off to jail. THe thing I don't remember is where Sirius tried to kill Wormtail. I know it was a place with lots of muggles around, so it could have been around Godric's Hollow, but in any case, wormtail might have had time to stash LV's wand somewhere before Sirius came.

I also am unsure of time frame here - like, was sirius trying to kill wormtail during that mysterious 24 hour period when Harry was with Hagrid and Mevera was waiting outside the Dursleys?

It's also a mystery how much DD knew about all what went down. Which begs the question - was there yet another person in the house that night? like Sirius, who could have turned into snuffles? (unlikely I guess since sirius is too hotheaded to sit there and let his best friends die.) My money is actually on Snape. I think he and wormtail both were there. And while wormtail was gathering up voldy's things, snape went and told DD who told the order. Then sirius came immediately to find wormail, etc. etc. [I]

About the house being unplottable - let's look at the Black's house as a guide, since it is also unplottable and also has the secret-keeper charm on it. All the members of the Order knew where it was and how to get there, as did Krecher, but no one could tell other people except the secret keeper or the people who made the charm. right? what we don't know is if the people who made the charm are dead, if the charm still holds.

Applying this to Godric's Hollow, probably a lot of people know where the Potter's house is. We know at the very least that Hagrid and Wormtail and LV know, and probably Lupin and Menerva and Snape know as well. What we don't know is if the charm still holds that Wormtail would be the only one who could tell Harry. (sticky situation) But if the charm ceases to hold when the Potter's died, then let's say Hagrid, could just tell Harry. right?

Excuse me but you are all using the wrong terms. Unplottable is when a spell has been cast on a house,village,castle,Quidditch Stadium to stop Muggles from entering. Sirius said his father made the house unplottable to stop muggles knocking on the door. The quidditch world cup stadium and Hogwarts are unplottable to stop muggles exposing wizards. The Potters house might have been unplottable but that doesnt change a thingunless Harry was taking the Dursleys there so he could drown them in the rubble. Yes Harry will be able to get in but by himself. The Fidelius Charm was also cast upon him so that meens he can enter but Ron and Hermione cant(unless youre willing to believe the rubbish that is the sibling theory)
Hagrid and Sirius could enter because they had been there before

yeah, you make total sense. to help us all - here are the definitions for both those terms from mugglenet:

Unplottable: A magical effect on a place; makes it impossible to plot its location on a map.
Hermione suggested that this may have been done to make Durmstrang and Beauxbatons harder to locate by other witches and wizards (GF11).
Hogwarts also has wards and spells on it to hide its true nature from Muggles, but it is apparently not Unplottable. (b/c it looks like an old rundown castle to the muggle's eye)
Number 12 Grimmauld Place is Unplottable (OP6)

so yeah - it wouldn't matter to Harry at all if Godric's Hollow was unplottable - it only applies to muggles.

THe Fidelius Charm: "An immensely complex spell involving the magical concealment of a secret inside a single, living soul. The information is hidden inside the chosen person, or Secret-Keeper, and is henceforth impossible to find -- unless, of course, the Secret-Keeper chooses to divulge it" (PA10).
Used to try to protect Lily and James Potter from Voldemort. "As long as the Secret-Keeper refused to speak, You-Know-Who could search the village where Lily and James were staying for years and never find them, not even if he had his nose pressed against their sitting room window!" (PA10) Unfortunately, Peter Pettigrew was chosen as Secret-Keeper, and he betrayed James and Lily.
Dumbledore used the Fidelius Charm to hide Number 12 Grimmauld Place, the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. He himself was the Secret Keeper for the Order (OP6).
Snape could refer (at least indirectly) to the fact that a Fidelius Charm applied to the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, but since he was not the Secret Keeper he could not mention the name of the place (HBP2).

So I guess what I was saying in my other posts is just applicable to the fidelius charm. THanks for the clarification, remus_lupin!

It is also possible that lily could have put other kinds of repelling charms or other concealment charms on the house, but I guess we'll wait and see.

You are very right Remus_Lupin. It would appear the Potters themselves were hidden with the Fidelius Charm and not their house. So anybody could have gone through the rubble.

Geneva has a point about somebody else may have been there. That explains how DD knew to send Hagrid to pick up Harry. Whoever it was ran off and left Harry behind. This could be one of the reasons why Snape hates him so much and also went nuts at been called a coward. (Time to jump over to the Snape threat on that subject)

So that just leaves the question of where was Voldy's wand for the years after the Potters died. I still can't see Wormtail going back and taking it before faking his death, or while he was meant to be dead. Yet Voldy had it at the beginning of GOF when nobody else knew he was back.

Any ideas?

I m very confused about the matter that happened that night when Voldemort killed James and Lilly . He was finished ,his soul separated from his body that night. But where did his body go after that.......and his wand too. Did anyone came after that incident......any death eater....who took Voldemort's want or body!
When Voldemort rise again in part 4 (GOF), he has his own wand.....but from where he get that back again??
And also Peter Pettigrew has the same incident,.....he become animagus, cut his finger and ran away and live with Weasleys, he also lost his wand......but in part 4 (GOF), he killed Cedric Diggory from his own wand.....from where did he get that??

After reading all of your views.....I got the point that someone was there in GOdric HOllow at that time or came after Voldemorts downfall, whoever had did something with that and volde's body. SOmone did bury Lilly's and James bodies too, if they were there!!

And Peter Petigrew had wand of VOldemort with him.....after becoming Animagus.....I think the wand remains with that creature, and when he or she regains her original shape, the wand comees up back naturally. So does Peter did. And So did Serius, he told that he was in Azkaban in the shape of Dog, in his animagus state, so the Dementers didn't cause any worse effect on him.

this is a great notice

but i think voldemort when he lost power he still had his wand and when petegrew found him he had it.

petegrew (as voldemort said) found him off because he was scared not loyalty. but he found his wand with voldemort and kept it because he knew he would return to power

From PS

Professor McGonagall's voice trembled as she went on. "That's not all. They're saying he tried to kill the Potter's son, Harry. But -- he couldn't. He couldn't kill that little boy. No one knows why, or how, but they're saying that when he couldn't kill Harry Potter, Voldemort's power somehow broke -- and that's why he's gone.
...
"Exactly," said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn any boy's head. Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won't even remember! Can’t you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he's ready to take it?"
...

"Is that where -?" whispered Professor McGonagall.
"Yes," said Dumbledore. "He'll have that scar forever."
...

Here is something that has always bothered me - Who started the rumours?

Dumbledore had not even seen Harry yet, so how could anybody have already started rumors about his defeating the Dark Lord?

Even if Death Eaters had known Voldemort was going to the Potters to kill Harry and had somehow been defeated, why would DD (or anybody) think Harry was to blame, and how could the legend about his scar start when (at that time) it was just a cut that only Sirius, Hagrid, Dumbledore and McGonagall had seen?

This might be proof somebody else was there that night, but Hagrid had to dig Harry out of the ruined house "before the muggle's started swarming around".

This means he got there fairly soon after the 'explosion'. If anybody else had been there, he would have seen them, especially if they had been close enough to Harry to see the cut on his forehead and know it had been caused by the AK (as per the rumor).

Unless it wasn't human - a rat for instance - and it grabbed the wand and ran off to tell the tale to somebody, thus starting the rumours.

Or it could just be another plot hole.