From: samuelluter@gmail.com   
      
   On Tue, 30 Nov 2010 15:09:37 -0500, Draco Malfoy wrote:   
      
   > The Elder Wand is only powerful when in use. If you just hold it   
   > without casting a spell that instant, or you cast something at any   
   > target other than your dueling opponent you can still lose it to brute   
   > force (Gregorovitch vs Grindelwald) or by magical disarming (Me vs   
   > Dumbledore). So all sorts of scenarios are possible.   
   >   
   > - Albus could have shamed Gellert into handing the wand in   
   > - Albus could have distracted Gellert ('Where have you been all these   
   > years? I was so sad to hear of what you were doing. That wasn't at all   
   > what we were dreaming of') and cast an Expeliarmus while Gellert was   
   > distracted.   
      
   I just to add to Draco's ideas here: the EW's reputation as an   
   "unbeatable" wand is just a legend - rather like the notion that Death   
   made the Hallows is a legend - spun from the Tale of the Three   
   Brothers. Yes, the Hallows exist, which is why some readers (and Ron)   
   are apt to believe that the EW is actually unbeatable, but in reality,   
   the EW is just extraordinarily powerful (as we see when Harry uses it   
   to fully repair his shattered wand that a wizard who was well-studied   
   in wandlore thought couldn't be repared). If it's not used with   
   caution, the bearer of the wand will lose it (as we saw with   
   Gregorvitch and the Peverell brother who made it).   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)