Transcript for MuggleCast Episode #415, The Worst at Everything He Does (HBP 24, Sectumsempra)
Show Intro
[Show music plays]
Andrew Sims: Welcome to MuggleCast Episode 415. I’m Andrew.
Eric Scull: I’m Eric.
Micah Tannenbaum: I’m Micah.
Laura Tee: And I’m Laura.
Andrew: On today’s episode, we’re discussing Half-Blood Prince Chapter 24, “Sectumsempra,” and we have some feedback to get to. But first, I just want to point out, y’all, that we have a special anniversary coming up. It’s one we always look forward to: the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts. I know it’s hard to believe – it feels like it was just yesterday – but it’s been 21 years since that fateful day.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: Can you believe it’s been that long? [laughs]
Laura: Way to make me feel old.
Andrew: Yeah, yeah.
Micah: Well, only 12 years since we read about it, though.
Laura: Right, since it came into our lives.
Andrew: Yeah, but it’s funnier to pretend that it actually happened 21 years ago, in my opinion.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Andrew: Even 12 years is actually pretty shocking. God. So J.K. Rowling has actually made a tradition out of apologizing, or issuing an apology on the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts, and as we all know, that date is May 2. She has issued an apology the past four years in a row. [laughs] Although 2018’s wasn’t an apology about a death in the Battle of Hogwarts; she apologized for Dobby. In 2017 she apologized for Snape, in 2016 it was Lupin, and in 2015 it was Fred. So my question is… it’s twofold. One, will she actually make an apology this year? Because, as we know, she’s been off Twitter. She’s been off Twitter again for over a month now. Not even a single tweet has been liked by her; I looked. So will she make an apology this year? And if she does, who will she apologize for?
Eric: I think this is the year of Lavender Brown.
Laura: I was thinking that too. But I think as a fandom, we’ve probably ticked her off so much that she’s just going to say, “I apologize for not making it clear whether or not Lavender Brown died.”
Andrew: Yeah, mix it up.
Laura: Just leave it at that.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: Oh, but she won’t even answer. My head will explode if that’s what happens.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: Do you think she’ll apologize, Micah? I know you’ve had a rocky relationship with her on Twitter.
Micah: Yeah, I mean, it goes back a couple years at this point.
[Eric and Laura laugh]
Micah: I actually think she’s going to deviate a little bit, and she’s going to apologize for killing the Fantastic Beasts series in just two movies.
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Laura: Oof. Dang.
Andrew: So I think she’s going to apologize. I think she’ll come back. I did tweet her a reminder a few days ago that it’s coming up, just in case she forgot.
Eric: Well, that was helpful.
Andrew: So I think that’ll help, yeah. I think she is going to apologize for killing Aragog, because I know she’s been listening to our Chapter by Chapter series, and it’s fresh in her mind. So that’ll be the one. And it’ll also cause a ruckus in the fandom, because everybody will be like, “Why? Why apologize for Aragog? Nobody liked him, most of all the trio.”
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Andrew: Any other predictions?
Micah: I know she’s not going to do what I said, so I’ll pick an actual character: Tonks. She actually hasn’t apologized for killing a female character at all.
Eric: Oh.
Andrew: That’s a good point. We asked this question on Patreon; Katy said, “She should apologize for murdering canon.” [laughs]
Eric: Oh, God.
Andrew: Yikes.
Eric: We’re not jaded at all, people.
Andrew: Y’all are rough.
Micah: Katy and I are on the same page.
Andrew: Well, some of us are still true fans. Rebecca said Colin Creevey, and that one got a bunch of votes.
Laura: I thought about that too.
Andrew: Rebecca said, “He was so young and always so excited and keen to help. He only gets about a sentence in the Battle of Hogwarts when Harry sees Oliver Wood carrying his body. The poor kid deserved better.” She also felt Tonks would be a good choice. Megan thought Tonks. Julianna thought… sorry, Megan thought Colin. Julianna thought Colin as well. Michael said, “I think it should be Hedwig, because it kind of signifies the death of Harry’s childhood, and we all just really loved that owl.” But since it did signify the death of Harry’s childhood, which I think J.K. Rowling herself also said, should she really apologize for that? That was an important one.
Eric: Yeah, a lot of the ones… they have literary merit. Killing Snape, which she apologized for. Killing Dobby. They’re all point steps along the way on Harry’s journey. But it feels nice to get this kind of direct from Jo, “I’m sorry I did this,” because we always used to hear how her husband would find her crying in the kitchen, and she’d be like, “I wrote the scene; I just killed this person,” and get some comfort. It just shows that she’s human, and although she resigned some of these characters to their mortal fates, that she doesn’t have to feel good about it. I don’t know. It was a nice connecting point between the author and us as readers, but given the tension lately, I really don’t know if she will show up for it.
Andrew: [laughs] The tension.
Micah: What tension? What are you talking about?
Eric: Well, the backlash of various…
Andrew: No, I know. It was just funny.
Micah: Maybe she just decided to have a resolution in the new year to stay off social media.
Andrew: Yeah, sure. [laughs]
Micah: How about Mad-Eye?
Andrew: Mad-Eye, yeah.
Eric: Yeah, he’d be good.
Andrew: A couple of our patrons said that as well. Angela. Somebody said Dumbledore. I actually think Dumbledore would be a good one. He’s relevant again with the Fantastic Beasts film series. Did he have to die? We’ll discuss that.
Laura: I mean, yeah, he did.
Andrew: How about just murdering…? I don’t know. He was the greatest wizard of all time, so maybe apologizing for that could be nice. And then there’s also the question of, does J.K. Rowling even have to apologize to begin with? I guess it’s kind of a fun tradition for fans to talk about from time to time, but she shouldn’t really apologize for anything that she writes in her stories.
Eric: Eleanor wants to get an apology for “the unidentified fallen 50 at the Battle of Hogwarts, as they didn’t even get named.” So just various…
Andrew: Well, they weren’t named for a reason. They’re irrelevant.
Laura: [laughs] Geez. I’m just imagining a monument to the fallen at the Battle of Hogwarts, and there will be a blank stone to be representative of the people they couldn’t identify, but then Andrew has it inscribed on this, “Not listed because they’re irrelevant.”
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Yeah, I would just inscribe on it, “Who cares?”
[Laura laughs]
Eric: God.
Andrew: Anyway, we’ll see what J.K. Rowling does. Maybe she’ll do something; maybe she won’t. Maybe she’ll post it on her website.
Eric: Oh, yeah.
Andrew: That would be nice. [laughs] Just don’t use Twitter at all anymore; just keep everything on her website. Anyway, we’ll update everybody. We’ll see what happens on May 2. Also want to give a shout-out today to a couple of our patrons who join us for our monthly Slug Club hangout over at Patreon.com/MuggleCast. Thanks to Shannon, Michelle, and Terrence for joining us. The Slug Club hangout is a monthly benefit where we just talk on video, one on one, basically, for a half hour before recording an episode of MuggleCast. And it’s always nice to hang out with the listeners, kind of virtually meet them, and we’ll just talk about whatever you want, so it’s always a good time. And thanks, everybody, who sent in responses regarding who J.K. Rowling will apologize for murdering this year as part of our Lynx Line benefit over at Patreon.com/MuggleCast.
Listener Feedback
Andrew: We have some emails now. Eric, do you want to read the first one?
Eric: Yep. This is from Ryan.
“Hey, guys. Long time listener, first time emailing in. Thanks so much for everything you do; you are consistently a highlight of my weeks. Regarding the latest Chapter by Chapter discussion, I really enjoyed it, but was a little disappointed you guys didn’t touch on the last few paragraphs. I think there was a critical transformation that took place in Harry in terms of the prophecy and the power of love. His realization of what that actually means, and the difference it makes to ‘walk into the arena with your head held high,’ is critical to his success and the story. Not to mention super motivational for me; the ability to face each day, even difficult ones, with an eagerness as opposed to reluctance, is one of the most powerful gifts we can have. That’s all. Thanks for reading my email; keep up the great work.
PS: Micah, you’re the greatest. Whenever you bring up the goat, I lose it. You’re all the best, though, and the show means a lot to me and all of your listeners.”
Eric: Thanks, Ryan.
Laura: Oh, Micah, you and that goat have been dancing this dance for years.
Micah: It’s true.
Andrew: Make it official already.
Laura: [laughs] Put a ring on it.
[Eric and Micah laugh]
Andrew: Anyway, that is a good point about this line. I know a lot of people are moved by it, because I read the book on my Kindle, and it’s one of the most highlighted lines in the book. [laughs]
Eric: Oh, you can see what lines other people highlight that also have that version?
Andrew: Yeah, the ebook version. It’s a super cool feature, because you can see what people are really connecting with in any book. It’s pretty cool. But yeah, I mean, when you think about this line, “Walking into the arena with your head held high,” it’s also something Harry applies in Deathly Hallows when he is prepared to die. “I’ve got to do this.” So yeah, thanks for pointing that out, Ryan.
Eric: Yeah, many people cite “Into the Forest Again” as the best chapter, or their favorite chapter of all seven books, and people are moved by Harry’s hero’s sacrifice, which sort of kicks off at the end of the last chapter that we discussed, like Ryan said.
Micah: And if you read very closely within the later chapters, when all the villagers from Hogsmeade are running into the battle, there’s actually a very brief line, brief mention, of Aberforth’s goat leading the charge.
Andrew: Oh.
Micah: He’s leading the villagers from Hogsmeade.
Eric: That’s a brave goat.
Andrew: I thought you were going to continue talking about Harry holding his head high in the later chapters, but no, it was about the goat. [laughs]
Micah: Just trying to continue to make…
Andrew: Give the people what they want?
Micah: Yeah, Ryan. Hopefully he lost it again.
[Everyone laughs]
Eric: We give Micah an inch and takes a little bit more.
Andrew: He takes that inch.
Micah: He takes a goat.
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Andrew: How about you read the next one, Micah? No goats in this email.
Micah: Okay. It comes from Charlotte, who says,
“Hi, guys. I am obsessed with Harry Potter, and I was listening to Episode 413 and I was just thinking how much quicker the last book would’ve been if someone had been smart enough to use Felix Felicis! So many lives could have been spared. Teddy Lupin could have had parents, George could have had his other half, etc. I was mainly surprised that Hermione didn’t think of this. Yes, it wouldn’t guarantee the win, but if someone brewed a huge amount and each person had a few drops, it would have been so much easier!
You have the English seal of approval (except the accent – no one really speaks like that). Keep up the good work!”
Andrew: That’s not true, Charlotte. If you’re talking about people in the UK, [in an exaggerated English accent] they absolutely talk like this.
Micah: All right.
Andrew: You just don’t realize it, because you live it every day.
Micah: Well, going back to the previous email, though, the whole sacrifice that’s made by Harry, it’s almost like he gets Felix Felicis for free. He doesn’t even have to take it, because I mean, I’ve always thought – or at least it was implied – that by him doing that, it basically created this wall of protection around him and those that were fighting on his side.
Eric: That’s true. Yes, that’s totally a thing.
Micah: It’s the same sort of protection that Lily gave to him.
Eric: Yeah, it’s just weird that that doesn’t happen consistently, every day, all the time around the world when people are jumping in front of their loved ones in J.K. Rowling’s books, as must surely happen. But yeah, I do recall in Book 7 it being said that everybody had that protection. And to be fair, without wanting to overuse plot points, we know that at the end of this book, Harry does give the rest of his Felix out to his fellow Dumbledore’s Army members. So it’s not an uncommon sort of thing, but I don’t know what good it would have been to them out in the wild, necessarily.
Andrew: Right, right. It nudges you in that direction that you were heading anyway; I think that’s even referenced in this chapter that we’re discussing today. And yeah, we don’t want to overuse plot points. [laughs] I think the ones that are arguably a little overused are just enough.
Micah: Right.
Andrew: And it’s refreshing as a reader to see how characters can take things on in other ways.
Micah: Yeah, I think we probably could say that about a lot of moments in the series. “What if they had just done this? What if they had just done that?” Same thing with Slughorn; we talked a lot about in this book, why not Dumbledore just chain him to a chair and put Veritaserum down his throat? I mean, you achieve the same goal as Felix Felicis, don’t you?
Andrew: Why not just go back in time and kill baby Tom Riddle? Don’t say you can’t with Time-Turners; we saw in Cursed Child you could.
[Eric and Laura laugh]
Andrew: Final email today is from Amy. We had been speaking about where you listen to the podcast; we love to hear where people listen to the show. She said,
“I just hit pause on the feed of Episode 414 to tell you I was listening to the podcast while analyzing data off of a mass spectrometer. I can listen while I look at chromatograms, but not once the data is in Excel and I have to pay attention to numbers. So there you go! Thanks again for all you do. (I’m sure this is against the rules to send you a screenshot.)”
Andrew: But she sent us a screenshot of her data analysis anyway. I don’t know what a chromatogram is.
Laura: I think it’s chemistry.
Andrew: Oh, I see. Of course you know that, Laura. You’re so smart.
Eric: “Chromatography is the separation of a mixture by passing it in solution or suspension, or a vapor (as in gas chromatography), through a medium in which the components move at different rates.” It does sound like chemistry.
Micah: So she’s in Potions.
[Everyone laughs]
Laura: Make some Felix!
Andrew: [laughs] Give them to the characters for Book 7.
Eric: This is super awesome. I love our talented and smart listeners that have really unique gigs going on there.
Andrew: Yeah, continue to email in; let us know where you listen to the show. Include a picture as well, if you can. We won’t post it online if you shouldn’t be sending us a picture, but we will tell people you took the picture.
Eric: Before we move on to Chapter by Chapter, we’d like to take a moment to let our listeners know about this week’s sponsor, OpenFit.
[Ad break]
Chapter by Chapter: Seven-Word Summary
Andrew: All right, it’s time now for Chapter by Chapter, Chapter 24 of Half-Blood Prince, “Sectumsempra,” and let’s do our Seven-Word Summary. I will start. Harry…
Laura: … almost…
Micah: … gets…
Eric: … discovered…
Andrew: … by…
Laura: … Snape…
Andrew: Comma, Severus.
[Laura and Micah laugh]
Andrew: Don’t worry. It doesn’t matter.
Micah: … bathroom.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Andrew: Sure.
Laura: “Harry almost gets discovered by Snape bathroom.”
Andrew: I like it.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: I was going to say “today,” but…
Micah: That’s not as funny.
Eric: At least we didn’t end it with “hooray,” like we have in the past.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Boo.
Laura: We could have end ended it with, “Ahhh!”
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Laura: “Harry almost gets discovered by Snape. Ahhh!” [laughs]
Eric: Yeah, interjections.
Micah: All right. Well, I’ll somehow find a way to transition into the start of the main discussion.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: No bathroom at the start of this chapter.
Micah: No, but it’s coming later, so be prepared.
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: We can revisit our discussion of students who just poop right in place and make it vanish.
Eric: Oh, God.
[Andrew laughs]
Chapter by Chapter: Main Discussion
Micah: Anyway, so the chapter starts off, really, in breakup central, but we learn that Ron and Lavender have split up, as have Dean and Ginny. And Harry shares with Ron and Hermione all of the information that he himself found out about in the last chapter from Dumbledore, and also lets them know that he’s going to be traveling with Dumbledore in the near future. And what did you all make of just the whole breakup situation? It’s kind of like we go from one chapter that’s super serious, or two chapters that are super serious, to moments that are a little bit more lighthearted.
Andrew: Yeah. It’s kind of like what you see in a movie or television show; you’ve got to break up all the seriousness with some breakups, in this case.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: And yeah, I don’t… personally, I’ve never been somebody who is invested in the relationships, the romantic relationships of the characters, so I don’t really care for it, and to be honest with you, it’s stuff that I usually just skim over. [laughs]
Laura: I like it because I think it’s very grounding. I think it reminds us that we’re still dealing with teenagers, they’re still at school, and surrounding everything that Harry has to do is just his regular life.
Eric: Yeah, and Harry’s pursuit of Ginny interests me, because it’s Harry; he’s the hero of the story that we’re reading everything through his eyes. So I don’t necessarily… there’s a lot more dancing that goes on internally in Harry this whole chapter. He kind of is developing… with the news that Ginny is single, begins to argue with himself over whether or not he should approach her and try and be alone with her. This all under the assumption that she will like him back in return. But this whole news at the beginning of the chapter really sets up a chain of events that chapter-wise has a satisfying arc, a little conclusion at the end of it, and kind of a throwback to last week’s chapter, because the idea… and Hermione conveys that the reason Ginny and Dean broke up more recently was that he was always helping her through the portrait hole, but we know that was, in fact, Harry under the Invisibility Cloak accidentally bumped into Ginny, and she thought that was actually Dean’s hand helping her through, and she is a very strong, independent woman that doesn’t need any of that. So Felix Felicis – we mentioned this last week, but – managed to help Harry out in sort of an unexpected way, in facilitating the breakup of Harry’s love interest with her former flame.
Micah: Yeah, and to your point, it does come full circle at the end of the chapter with Harry and Ginny getting together. It also brings Ginny to the forefront, I think, much like in Chamber of Secrets, where she becomes a focal point of, really, that book, with what happens in Chamber of Secrets. She does kind of do that in this chapter as well when she goes after Hermione, and then at the end of the chapter, of course, when her and Harry get together.
Eric: Yeah, she has dialogue in this chapter. It’s great. [laughs]
Micah: Maybe this is where you’re finally going to get your illustrated art.
[Laura laughs]
Eric: The single illustration of… yeah.
Laura: No, but just to spite you, it will be Ginny sitting in one of the chairs in the common room, but the view will be from behind her so you’ll just see the back of her head.
[Eric and Laura laugh]
Micah: Ginny looking out the window.
Eric: Probably. I’ve said this before, but I genuinely like Harry and Ginny as a ship. It was something that I felt was fated, because it’s in the earlier books that there’s a little bit of a crush situation going on, but it’s able to have matured throughout the years, and Ginny, as we know, is very competent, so I think she’s great for Harry. And I’ll just reiterate that the coming chapter, too, it’s nice to get these moments with them, in my opinion, but it is sort of short-lived, because Harry does have the conclusion of the book to get off to, and I always want more than what this chapter and the next chapter provide. I want more Harry and Ginny actually just existing in space talking about stuff. I want it. It’s sort of skimmed over, but I definitely want more of that from Jo. That would be, I think, a candidate for extended writing that I just want to see, them interacting with one another, because the pursuit takes up a lot of time.
Micah: You’re going to have to follow them, then, through the portrait hole and out to the secret areas of the castle.
Eric: In my mind it is.
Laura: Where they may or may not be discussing the outcome of the Quidditch match.
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Andrew: Yeah, definitely.
Eric: I don’t need specific, yeah, details either; it’s just I think that it may be a fallen plot point or something that once they’re together, J.K. Rowling is not really interested for the purpose of the story in really showing what it’s like to interact. They have a few good conversations.
Andrew: Or wait for the TV show.
Eric: Yeah, exactly.
Andrew: This would be perfect fodder for a Harry Potter reboot television series. They can spend a lot of time diving into the romance.
Eric: Yeah, 100%.
Laura: I have a feeling that what they’re doing is PG material; it’s just a lot of smooching. I don’t know that we need to see that. I think the fact that it’s alluded to is enough.
Andrew: Sounds like Eric does need to see the smooching.
[Laura laughs]
Eric: No, no, I don’t need anything to be explicit as far as them interacting; I’m saying it’s genuinely one or two conversations, and then Harry comes up to Ginny when he tries to break up with her at the end of this book, from my memory, and says, “These past few months have been the best of my life,” and you’re just like, “What? That doesn’t really explain anything.”
Andrew: [laughs] Right.
Micah: Give the guy a break, though.
Eric: I know.
Micah: He’s had some rough couple of years.
Eric: No, I know, but it’s just it gets forgotten. The gains of this chapter get, I think, buried under the plot as the book comes to an end. We’ll see if I’m wrong.
Micah: Well, I’m kind of glad, though, that you said that, because one thing I wanted to raise – and I forgot to include it here, though – is that we’re really coming to the tail end of Harry’s time at Hogwarts, and so a lot of what we’re reading now are things for the final time. So Harry is in Charms class. Quidditch was supposed to be a big part of this chapter; would have been the last time we would have seen it in the series outside of the Quidditch pitch being destroyed in Deathly Hallows. But these are things that we as readers have been with for six books now, and they’re really some of the final times that we’re going to read about them in the series.
Eric and Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: That’s sad to think about in hindsight. I haven’t really been thinking about that.
Laura: Especially knowing that when we were all reading this for the first time, we had no idea that we were coming up on a lot of lasts, and I love that because it kind of puts us in the passenger seat with Harry, right? We’re experiencing all of his lasts at Hogwarts right alongside him, and I feel like there’s a lot of payoff that comes with that when you realize at the end of the book that he’s not coming back, and you’re like, “Oh, crap. Probably the next time I see Hogwarts, it’s going to be on fire.”
[Everyone laughs]
Micah: It’s true. And we’ll get to this a little bit later, but with Quidditch, we know how important that is to Harry, and it’s Snape that takes it away from him. And not without reason, of course – I think it’s certainly warranted – but there’s probably just an extra bit of satisfaction that comes from that particular detention that Snape is giving Harry.
Eric: You’re right, so Harry has already had his last Quidditch match at Hogwarts.
Laura and Micah: Yeah.
Micah: And it was him getting drilled in the head thanks to Cormac McLaggen.
Eric: [laughs] It’s very sad.
Micah: Well, speaking of Quidditch, we learn that Katie is back. She has recovered from her injuries, or being cursed, and of course, Harry is very much wanting to find out exactly what happened to her, because he’s got Draco on the mind 24/7 when he’s not thinking about Ginny.
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Micah: And Katie mentions the fact that all she can recall is really the moments before going into the girls’ bathroom in Hogsmeade. And Hermione thinks that since Katie was going into the girls’ bathroom when she was cursed, it would have had to have been a female who cursed her, and I wanted to ask the question: Don’t you think this is a little bit short-sighted for Hermione’s character? Given Polyjuice, given just the fact that anybody could have been there.
Andrew: Well, it’s quickly brought up, I think, that it could have been somebody under Polyjuice, so at least there’s that. But maybe is Hermione just so hell-bent on following all the rules that she can’t even imagine a scenario where somebody, not a woman, would step into the ladies’ bathroom?
Laura: So that was kind of my thought. I feel like it would be short-sighted for 2019 Hermione, who is probably well aware at this point that all bathrooms are gender neutral, really and truly, or at least they should be. But Hermione is definitely very much attached to what she perceives to be the rules of things, and I could see this being a moment where she just doesn’t even think about it. Why would there be someone in the ladies’ bathroom or going in there who wasn’t a female? And I think she’d recognize that now.
Eric: But isn’t there hidden magic that prevents men from going into women’s bathrooms? Because there is in the girls’ dormitory when Harry and Ron both go up and get her. I forget when exactly it occurs, but the stairs turn into slides, and they freaking slide down the stairs.
Laura: Oh, yeah. That was funny. But it doesn’t exist for the boys’ dormitories.
Eric: Yeah, exactly. So the double standard is awful at Hogwarts.
Laura: [laughs] Yes.
Eric: But it’s totally a thing. So I think Hermione probably knows that a boy couldn’t be in there, but that doesn’t account for Polyjuice, because Crabbe and Goyle probably could get in after what they’ve been doing.
Laura: Very true.
Eric: So it just kind of… I don’t know, but I got the impression that there was some kind of unspoken magic that would have prevented that.
Micah: But doesn’t Hermione bring Harry and Ron into the girls’ bathroom in Chamber of Secrets?
Eric: Oh, yep, she does. So maybe bathrooms aren’t as protected as dormitories.
Micah: And this is also outside of Hogwarts too. Let’s remember that.
Eric: Yeah, yeah.
Andrew: Dormitories have more reason to be protected, I think, because I feel like guys would maybe not only want to go into a girls’ dormitory to be a creep toward other girls, but also to potentially steal things? I don’t know for what specific reason. Whereas a bathroom, there’s less personal things in there at any given moment.
Eric: Yeah, yeah, I agree with that.
Micah: So despite Katie’s inability to remember, Harry is convinced that Draco was behind this attack, and he’s pretty much been of that mindset since it first happened. And so Harry starts to think about the Room of Requirement again, and he talks about wanting to use Felix Felicis again, and Hermione has a really interesting quote, and wanted to talk about it, where she says, “Luck can only get you so far, Harry. The situation with Slughorn was different; you always had the ability to persuade him, you just needed to tweak the circumstances a bit. Luck isn’t enough to get you through a powerful enchantment.” What do we make of this statement? It does seem a bit Dumbledore-esque in the way that she’s talking to Harry. It seems like she knows more about Felix than maybe she’s letting on. But just how she says this to Harry makes it seem like maybe it all wasn’t luck at the end of the day.
Eric: I think this is a weak argument, considering later in the book, they literally all take Felix so that spells bounce off the walls and miss them. It’s kind of like you can use Felix to really sort out a lot of extraneous circumstances. But I think the events of this chapter show that she’s right; Harry is able to penetrate the Room of Requirement, the very Room of Requirement, the version of it – or close enough – that Draco is using all year, simply by asking it something different that isn’t Draco-focused and has nothing to do with luck at all whatsoever. So I think that Hermione’s point is proven almost immediately that a lot of the power of Felix comes from your specific privileges, and it just kind of enhances what you’ve already got. But if you’ve got it, then you’ve got it. You don’t need to use Felix to solve all the world’s problems.
Laura: Yeah. Well, it goes back to the point of the placebo effect that we’ve talked about before. I mean, remember, Ron only performed well at Quidditch because he thought he’d taken it, and he never did. So I think it’s a matter of if you put your mind to it enough, as Harry shows with the Room of Requirement here, and he’s no longer trying to get into the room as Draco saw it, he was able to get what he actually needed in that moment, which was also what Draco needed.
Andrew: And he also put his mind to it in the Slughorn situation…
Laura: Yep.
Andrew: … when he was just adamant about getting the answer out of him. He asks Slughorn multiple times; he really does push him. So yeah, I like what Hermione has to say here, and I agree with it.
Micah: Cool. Harry, though, can’t get enough of Felix. First he wants to use it to find the Room of Requirement, then he starts thinking about using it to pursue Ginny. Is this a little sleazy?
Laura: So it’s funny, because who…? I forget… I feel really bad, but we had a really great voicemail from a teenage listener a couple weeks ago talking about how, “Hey, you know what? Actually, the intention here isn’t creepy, because we all have to put ourselves in the shoes of being teenagers.” And did we not all at some point have some sort of really fantastic situation that we would concoct in our heads about how all the circumstances would line up perfectly for us to get with our crush? We’ve all had that, right?
Eric: Yeah, and it was a perfect voicemail. It was really, really great.
Laura: It really, really was. And so I was thinking about that when I thought about this point, and I was like, yeah, I mean, this is just Harry’s version of that. This is Harry’s version of, “Oh, well, if I go where I know this person hangs out a bit, and I’m just hanging out there, and we happen to have this chance encounter because I’m there, the stars might align and everything will come together.” So I’ll take back my former statements about the Felix usage when it comes to Ginny being creepy, because I don’t think that’s the intention. I think if an adult were doing that, it would be super creepy.
Eric: That is interesting reading it as we are now, as adults, thinking it could be creepy, because we’re reading it as if it’s our age going after Ginny.
Laura: Right.
Eric: Yeah, that’s definitely changed in perspective. And I think a lot of Harry’s internal struggle here, I question, too, whether that’s creepy or untoward, but it’s just probably not. It’s probably as innocuous as you’re saying, because he has this internal struggle of, “But she’s my best friend’s sister, but I wish that she were kissing me, but she’s my best friend’s sister,” and it’s just sort of important to go through the steps of this to see just how human he is, I guess.
Andrew: You do silly things for love. But I’m also wondering here, is Harry really thinking this through long term? Does he want his relationship with Ginny to be built on Felix Felicis? It’s not genuine, then.
Eric: Right.
Andrew: You might not be thinking that, because all you can think about is, “Oh my God, I will do anything to get with her,” but you have to consider that at some point, and then you have to wonder, if you had gone the Felix route, what would have happened if you didn’t?
Eric: Yeah, it’s important that Felix does not guarantee that it’ll really work out, or there’s no guarantees in life in general that Ginny will reciprocate, necessarily. He doesn’t know that. She had a crush on him five years ago; doesn’t mean that it’s stayed the same, or that she’d even be into him. He wants the opportunity, which is great, and when it comes at the end of this chapter, it’s great, it’s requited, it seems to be fantastic, but he kind of just wants what he wants. He wants the opportunity to do it, so making the chance easier. And it’s weird how… one of the things I think this chapter does beautifully is has a lot of these little character beats, like Ginny facing off against Cho in Quidditch. Who can have predicted that Harry’s ex would be head to head with his current romantic pursuit? It’s a weird plot point that’s really kind of cool, although it’s never called out. It’s just one of those little factoids that reminds you, one, it’s a small town, small school…
Micah: But it’s not.
Eric: … and two, kind of a passing of the baton. What were you saying?
Micah: Supposedly there are hundreds of students there; we just don’t see them all.
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Andrew: That’s a whole discussion in itself.
Micah: They’re irrelevant, right, Andrew?
Andrew: Yes, yeah. Fallen 50? Who cares?
[Everyone laughs]
Micah: Wow.
Laura: Speaking of Quidditch, there was a short passage here that was really interesting to me that talked about a lot of hazing and sort of a sports team mentality and bullying that was happening across the student body, but particularly amongst Ravenclaws and Gryffindors, because the upcoming Quidditch match was for the House championship. And I love this because it’s so easy to scapegoat Slytherins as being the poorly behaved, ruthless bullies, and that’s not always the case. This just shows that all teenagers have a propensity to be jerks sometimes, and I love it, and I wish this was something we saw a little more of. I feel like as the books progressed, J.K. Rowling did a really good job of providing more varied types of characters, so obviously, not all Gryffindors are great people; look at Cormac McLaggen. And then later on, we get characters from other Houses. Look at Leta Lestrange, for example; she’s a Slytherin, but she’s not a horrible human being. And I love that she’s doing that, because for the longest time, it kind of felt like there was a very stark difference between Slytherins, who were the “bad people,” and everyone else who were good people, and that’s just not how the world works, so I like that we get this more nuanced perspective on the student body as they’re getting older.
Micah: Definitely. And yeah, just to see these Houses that otherwise, normally, we would think would fall within certain ways of behaving, they’re doing probably what any school would do if there was this intense of a matchup that was coming up. As you mentioned, this is for the championship, and they’re just hardcore going at each other. And it’s not unlike what we see even in the Muggle world, right? When you have teams playing each other, you have fans from both teams that are in the same arena with each other, and you hope that it doesn’t escalate to something crazy, but generally, they’re not always very nice to each other, so I think it’s just a fair representation of two sports teams who are about to go at it.
Eric: J.K. Rowling has confessed to not really enjoying writing Quidditch, and that’s probably also another reason why we don’t see this match, just the aftermath. She’s given herself a break. But I like how strategically she placed it so that Gryffindor really has an opportunity to be in each of the positions for the longstanding Quidditch cup. They can be in first place or last place, and she kind of goes through how that would be possible depending on the outcome of the final match, which weighs heavily on Harry, but it’s kind of cool because I think that’s probably not always the case that there’s such a margin for error, that it just kind of adds some stakes to this internal chapter’s struggle. And she does mention…
Micah: And it also shows… oh, go ahead.
Eric: She does mention that Gryffindor has never in 200 years been in the bottom of standings, which they do have an opportunity to do. And I wonder, is that sheer force of will for the Gryffindors’ part? Is it because they really just are… to reduce them against what Laura was saying? Are they just the jocks? Gryffindor has never been in the bottom of the bottom in 200 years.
Micah: It also just shows that Harry is not focused on what he should be focused on in this moment, which is the Quidditch match. He really has had Draco on the mind for the entire year, but now that Katie is back, it’s almost a reminder to him – he’s gotten Slughorn’s memory, so let’s refocus on Draco – and because he decides to do what he does, it costs not only him, but his team and people who rely upon him, his presence during this Quidditch match. Now, they end up winning, but who knows what could have happened? Anything could have happened, right? We don’t… it’s written that way, but I think it’s an important lesson, kind of going back to what we were talking about earlier, from a teenage perspective, that you do things like what Harry is about to do, and you have to suffer the consequences of those actions. And I’m not against him getting detention; I think the punishment should have been far more severe than what he got, but we can talk about that in a little bit. So Harry now is constantly checking the Marauder’s Map, looking for Draco. He’s just come off this really great Quidditch practice. Everybody is in high spirits; Katie is back, Dean is off the team. So he sees Draco in a bathroom, and first off, Draco could have just been doing some business down there, taking a dump…
[Eric and Laura laugh]
Micah: … and Harry is just like, “Oh, let me go check in on Draco. Open the door on him.”
Andrew: Well, wait a second, is this a private one-person bathroom, or is it…?
Micah: It’s not, but he still could have been taking a shit.
[Eric and Laura laugh]
Andrew: Well, and then if he saw the door was locked, maybe he would have respected his privacy.
Micah: No, no, he could have walked in, right? I’m assuming it has multiple stalls available.
Andrew: Right, that’s my point. If the stall was locked. Go on.
Micah: I mean, yes, he was at the sink crying…
Laura: Yeah, but does it have those really awkward cracks between the door and the stall wall that you can totally see through if you’re being a creep?
[Eric and Micah laugh]
Andrew: That’s why I bring a blanket. I cover those up.
[Eric and Laura laugh]
Eric: Yeah, it does strike the… what’s the urge to go to the bathroom that Malfoy is in and seek him out?
Micah: You couldn’t wait for him to come out of the bathroom?
Andrew: Because he knows… well, I guess he doesn’t know, but he has a good reason to believe that maybe Draco was up to no good in there.
Eric: In the bathroom? [laughs]
Andrew: Yes! Look, how often do we see the Harry Potter characters actually using the bathroom in the series?
Eric: I know.
Andrew: If it’s going to be brought into the narration, it’s for good reason.
Micah: They just poop in place, according to J.K. Rowling.
Andrew: Well, and that’s why Harry is like, “Well, wait, why did Draco go into the bathroom to poop? He didn’t need to do that.”
Laura: Yeah, the bathrooms are just decorative at Hogwarts.
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Andrew: It’s just for real estate value that those things actually exist in there.
[Eric laughs]
Micah: All right. Well, we have yet another key moment in the Potter series taking place in a bathroom, and with Moaning Myrtle yet again. So connecting the threads, I think, across multiple books, not just Chamber of Secrets; we know that in Sorcerer’s Stone, Hermione goes and runs into the bathroom and Harry and Ron need to save her. So Draco is crying at the sink….
Andrew: Well, and don’t forget, another thread is that all seven books have bathrooms in them.
Micah: Oh, okay.
Laura: [laughs] Andrew.
Andrew: Go ahead. What were you saying?
Eric: Uh, what does the third book have? What does the third book have in the…?
Micah: Somebody do some research that’s listening.
Andrew: The Shrieking Shack is where the bathroom is.
Micah: That’s just where Lupin goes to the bathroom.
[Everyone laughs]
Eric: Anyway.
Andrew: Go on.
Micah: Going to try and bring it back. Draco is crying at the sink, Harry walks in, Draco notices him, and it’s immediate battle. Both draw their wands. Draco fires a hex that misses Harry, and then follows it up with an Unforgivable Curse. Harry uses Sectumsempra, not knowing what it is, and it’s a pretty intense moment, reading it. It really sounds like Draco is about to bleed out from what Harry has cursed him with, and you see the immediate regret on Harry’s part for what he’s done, because I think despite how much the two of them dislike each other – and I think this is reflected even further in Deathly Hallows – they don’t want to kill each other.
Andrew and Eric: Yeah.
Micah: And Harry, though… he does this earlier on in the book, where he uses Levicorpus on Ron, and that was also something that was written in the Half-Blood Prince’s book. And I’m wondering why, though… Levicorpus, luckily, didn’t have any serious effect on Ron, but not knowing what a spell is and just casting it could have had some really, really serious consequences if Snape wasn’t around to save Draco.
Andrew: Yeah. So I have a few thoughts on this: When you’re a kid, you make big mistakes sometimes, and sometimes as soon as you make them, you realize just how big of a mistake it is, and that’s what happens here. I also think that Harry, for this entire book, has been trusting the Prince’s notes, and he has no reason to believe that he should be trusting this one sight unseen. I mean, everything he does, everything he uses from the book, he just goes for it. Yes, this one was particularly bad. I don’t blame Harry for using this spell. He had to think on his feet, and he wanted to trust the Prince again. And even J.K. Rowling notes a page or two later, “It was as if a beloved pet had suddenly turned on him.” Harry realizes he made a mistake here, and this was a great learning lesson for him that he shouldn’t trust any random note that he finds in a book.
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Laura: Yeah. I also think it was heat of the moment, because we can’t forget that Malfoy was getting ready to use the Cruciatus Curse on Harry. He gets halfway through saying Crucio, right? And Harry just sort of reacts spur the moment, because we’ve seen, I think at this point, multiple mentions of how the Sectumsempra curse is mentioned as being “for enemies” in the book.
Eric: Right.
Laura: And I think that goes to Andrew’s point about how Harry thought he could trust the Prince, which is interesting because the last time he thought that he could trust a book was Chamber of Secrets, which is another thread.
Micah: Right.
Laura: Alongside all the bathroom stuff. [laughs] But another thing that I really like here that’s a cool throwback to Chamber of Secrets, of course, is that Myrtle starts shouting after Harry hits Draco with Sectumsempra. She starts shouting, “MURDER IN THE BATHROOM!” And I like that because, of course, Myrtle was murdered in a bathroom, and it was another student who discovered her, so now she’s sort of the one doing the discovering in this case, which I really, really like.
Eric: That’s totally great. And I wouldn’t say it’s unrealistic that Snape is close enough to show up; I wonder sort of what circumstances… maybe he, too, was following Malfoy because he’s supposed to, or what, but he shows up quick. But that’s not something we could ever rely on in the real world, I think. Children are going to make these mistakes, and they’re going to make big, big, big mistakes and cause people they don’t like, and even the ones they do, to be injured. And you can’t always rely on somebody like Snape to show up and make it all better, and I think we feel the weight of that in this chapter. Harry was very lucky that Snape showed up. And when we learn that Snape intimately knows the spell, having created it, then it’s even more lucky that he was able to reverse it. But the idea that Snape… he shows up and is able to not only seal the wounds, and I love the way it’s described as being like music; shit that is way above Harry’s level, which further indicates why he should not have been using it. But maybe Snape shouldn’t have just written it down, then, in the first place.
Andrew: Right.
Eric: But it just kind of… yeah, it’s lucky that Snape was there by the grace of God. You just can’t rely on that sort of thing to happen very often at all.
Micah: Yeah, it was definitely very fortunate for Draco that Snape was there. It also shows us that it’s not just an Unforgivable Curse that could potentially kill somebody else in the Potter series. This spell, if it had taken its full effect, likely would have killed Draco…
Eric: That’s a good point.
Micah: … and Harry would have that on his conscience for the rest of his life.
Laura: I had a question for you guys. This thought just occurred to me. So I know we’re kind of wondering… or rather, we were ruminating on how lucky it was that Snape was nearby, and we had toyed with the idea that maybe he was also tailing Draco because he made an Unbreakable Vow to do so effectively. But given the fact that Draco has been confiding in Moaning Myrtle, I wonder if Myrtle has been talking to Snape behind the scenes. And the reason I say this is because Myrtle has a big mouth; we’ve seen this in the books before, like when she confided in Harry that she had spied on Cedric Diggory in the bathroom, and that kind of helped Harry realize what he was supposed to do with the egg in the Triwizard Tournament.
Eric: Oh, yeah.
Laura: So it just makes me wonder… Myrtle really seems to like openly discussing when she gets the attention of a male student, so she’s very pliable, and I could see Snape taking advantage of that if he realizes that she’s got easy access to Draco and what he’s doing. That’s a way of letting Draco feel like he has some privacy when it comes to his mission, but not really, because Snape is able to keep tabs on him that way.
Andrew: Yeah, that’s a great point.
Eric: Wow.
Andrew: I could totally see that happening.
Eric: So do you think he’s using Myrtle to inform him about Draco’s whereabouts?
Laura: He could be. I think she’d be really happy to talk about it. Or at the very least, I think that she’d be happy to talk about how this Slytherin boy is constantly visiting her in the bathroom and talking about all these woes he has, and it wouldn’t be difficult to put the pieces together there like we did when we read the chapter where she talked to Harry about that.
Eric: Yeah, just a couple chapters ago. She told him pretty much everything.
Laura: Yep.
Eric: And I want to focus on that little dialogue, too, that Harry hears right before it all happens, because it’s clear Draco is very distraught, and he says that “If I don’t finish soon, he’ll kill me.” Draco has been at this point… and granted, it’s the month of May; term is very much coming to a close. Draco had eight or nine months already to get this thing off the ground. But he’s had some kind of contact with Voldemort, and Voldemort’s word is, “Fix this, end this soon, or I’ll kill you.” And that’s pretty rough.
Micah: Right. It’s just more insight for us as readers that Draco has been tasked with something that he most likely can’t carry out.
Andrew: I also liked how Snape “mutters an incantation that sounds like a song.” I don’t think we’ve ever heard of a spell being a song before.
Laura: I thought this was something that was well done in the movie, because whatever incantation he used in the movie also sounded very songlike.
Andrew: Oh, I forgot that.
Laura: Do you guys remember?
Eric and Micah: Yeah.
Eric: And the only time you hear magic being described like a song is when Dumbledore does it too, I think either in the cave scene later or something. It’s just there’s levels of magic that are, I think it’s safe to say, well beyond Hogwarts level, and only certain skilled magicians actually use it, and it’s this kind of stuff.
Andrew: Possibly singing Coldplay’s “Fix You” as the incantation.
[Everyone laughs]
Micah: Maybe.
Eric: Do you have a clip of that to play?
Andrew: No, I don’t even know how it goes.
Eric: Oh.
Andrew: Otherwise I would do it.
Eric: Well, it’s a heck of a reference.
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Andrew: I was thinking of a song that has “fix” in the title, and that’s the first that came to mind.
Eric: [laughs] Oh, man. But I know in bonus MuggleCast this week, we’re going to be talking about what if the worst had happened? What if Malfoy died from this, if Snape wasn’t there to save him, what the grander implications are? And I’m looking very forward to discussing that on Patreon as our bonus MuggleCast.
Micah: And this also raises the question, how does Snape know Sectumsempra? It’s a little too coincidental. He seems to have a lot of familiarity with what he’s witnessing and what needs to be done in order to heal Draco, almost to reverse the effects of the curse that’s just been done. This should have been a larger, I think, clue to us that perhaps there’s a tie between Snape and the Half-Blood Prince, particularly once he uses Legilimency on Harry. And we can talk a little bit about this, because I don’t think that should be allowed from a professor to a student to figure out what has just happened, and Harry is very mentally weak at that moment and not prepared for what’s about to happen; he says as much. And if not from the Sectumsempra curse, Snape definitely is now aware of the fact that Harry has his old Potions book.
Andrew and Eric: Yeah.
Eric: It’s very weird how Snape reacts to this. But ultimately, regarding Legilimency, he’s not going to get it out of Harry any other way. Unfortunately, I side with Snape on the level of even though Harry has just witnessed him nearly murdering a kid by accident, he’s not being forthcoming. He’s going to still protect, if not the Prince himself, he’s going to cover his own ass here, and that intuitiveness is something we all have, but it’s not good.
Micah: But shouldn’t this have been escalated higher than Snape? This should have… McGonagall is talked about a little bit later on agreeing with the punishment that’s been given, but in this moment, this should have gone all the way up to Dumbledore. This is a serious attack on a student that could have resulted in his death. It’s not for Snape to decide what should be done.
Eric: I agree, but because we know that Snape is the Prince, there might be a level of culpability that Snape is trying to cover his own ass about. Like, “Oops, I left my old Potion book…” That’s the only thing I can think of that really explains it, that and the idea that Snape’s Unbreakable Vow means he had to be there to protect Draco. So maybe because of the more intricate scenario of Snape having to protect Draco, Snape is kind of just either focused on that and doesn’t try and get Harry expelled, like he’s done hundreds of times before, or… I don’t know. His punishment with Harry is very not as severe as it possibly should have been. I completely agree.
Andrew: Don’t you think Dumbledore knows, though?
Eric: He must.
Laura: Oh, I’m sure he does. And I think he also knows that they have bigger fish to fry.
Andrew: Right, so why does Dumbledore need to get personally involved here? I don’t think that would be necessary. He trusts that Snape will give him the proper punishment, and this appears to be the right punishment, because as you said, Micah, McGonagall does agree with it.
Eric and Micah: Yeah.
Micah: And so Harry is tasked with going and getting his book and bringing it back to Snape. On his way, he’s able to get into the Room of Requirement to hide the book – he takes Ron’s in place of his own – and there’s a bunch of stuff in that room that we should talk about. But Laura, you have an interesting point here about when Harry brings the book back to Snape, and it’s Ron’s, and he reads a name in there, and it’s actually a really good catch on your part.
Laura: Oh, yeah, so it’s obviously Ron’s copy of the Potions textbook, but I guess his… was it that his quill…? There was something wrong with it.
Eric: It was a Spell-Check quill, yeah.
Laura: Yeah, and so it wasn’t functioning correctly, and so his name was written as “Roonil Wazlib” or something like that. [laughs] And when Snape looks in the book and says, “Are you sure this is yours? Because it says it belongs to Roonil Wazlib,” Harry responds by saying, “It’s a nickname,” and Snape is like, “What?” and Harry is like, “Yeah, it’s what my friends call me.” And Snape, who has assigned himself with a nickname of the Half-Blood Prince, informs Harry, “Yeah, I know what a nickname is, idiot.”
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Micah: Hint, hint.
Eric: Oh, man.
Micah: Lots of hints in this book, or this chapter.
Andrew: I didn’t even catch that as a particular hint, but yeah, I guess you’re right. I mean, whether or not Snape was the Half-Blood Prince, yeah, obviously Snape knows what a nickname is.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: He also dealt with the Marauders, who all had nicknames.
Eric: Can you just believe Harry’s stupidity here? Does he really think Snape is going to buy that?
Micah: No.
Andrew: He’s thinking on his feet in the moment. I don’t know. Can you blame him?
Micah: Yeah. But let’s talk about the Room of Requirement for a second, because it’s important where he hides this book, and then he also flies by a Vanishing Cabinet that he notes that Montague got trapped in… was it the previous year? And we know that Vanishing Cabinets were discussed earlier in this book, but there’s no connection that is made in Harry’s mind, because I think it’s even specified by Arthur Weasley that there is a Vanishing Cabinet in Borgin and Burke.
Eric and Laura: Right.
Laura: I think this just goes to show that Harry is maybe not the best multitasker.
[Eric laughs]
Micah: He was too focused on hiding his book.
Eric: Yeah, and he even missed the Horcrux that he grabbed to put on a bust of a…
Laura and Micah: Yeah.
Micah: It says, “Seizing the chipped bust of an ugly old warlock from on top of a nearby crate, he stood it on top of the cupboard where the book was now hidden, perched a dusty old wig and a tarnished tiara on the statue’s head to make it more distinctive.”
Eric: So he literally…
Andrew: Anyway, moving on. Nothing to see here.
[Eric and Laura laugh]
Micah: Never mind the Horcrux.
Eric: It’s important to note he didn’t get a jolt; he didn’t get any kind of feeling or read off the tiara. The tiara was sleeping. The bit of soul inside it – inside of the diadem, we should now call it – was sleeping.
Micah: True. Harry and company are back in the common room, and Harry has detention with Snape. He tries to get out of it with the Quidditch excuse, and I’m just thinking to myself, “Dude, you just almost killed somebody. You’re not going to get Snape to…” And I think this is where the McGonagall piece is referenced a little bit later on. So despite it being his final Quidditch match at Hogwarts, he’s not going to get to play in it. And Harry and Hermione and Ron are all having a conversation, and Harry makes some pretty good defenses of the Half-Blood Prince book. He notes that it helped him make Felix Felicis, and that ultimately led to him getting Slughorn’s memory. It saved Ron’s life because of the bezoar. And he flat out admits that he should have never used the spell on Draco. And I agree, the… despite this incident, everything else that preceded it would have led you to believe that perhaps the spell wouldn’t have had that kind of an effect on Draco. It’s been all beneficial for Harry so far.
Andrew: Yeah. They’re all just jealous that they didn’t have this book.
Eric: [laughs] I mean, this one…
Andrew: And then Hermione goes so far as to say to Harry that he “got a reputation for Potions brilliance you don’t deserve.” And I didn’t think that was fair at all, because he was successfully following the Prince’s instructions like you would instructions in any other book.
Micah: Exactly.
Laura: Yeah, so I agree that her argument here lacks a little bit of nuance, but what I will say is that Harry gained a reputation around being an innovative potions maker as a result of following somebody else’s innovation and not giving them the credit for it. You know what I mean?
Eric: Right. He’s plagiarizing.
Laura: Yeah, exactly. And I think that’s part of the reason why Snape is really punishing Harry in this way. He’s like, “Oh, you’re going to take my brilliant work and pass it off as your own? Well, you’re not going to play in the championship match for Quidditch.”
Eric: Yeah, it’s the lowest amount of shackle you can put on this reckless plagiarist, this reckless child who is passing off somebody else’s credit as his own, and has been living off of the glory of Slughorn’s praise all damn year.
Andrew: Yeah. I see the point about it being innovative. But still, if they all have the same Potions book, and students, as is always the case, some of them are better than others, don’t they deserve credit for doing a better job than their other students? Their fellow students?
Laura: Sure.
Eric: Well, it’s just… we’ve pointed this out before: If Harry paid attention in Potions, or even had the slightest grasp on Potions, a bezoar would have come naturally to him far before the Prince’s book came into his hands.
Laura: Yeah, exactly.
Andrew: Well, Hermione is also just, again, jealous in this scene.
Eric: That’s true.
Micah: She is.
Andrew: So I think that’s why she said this.
Micah: Absolutely. And it’s just funny that it’s about Potions. And I also think I said earlier that he used it to make Felix Felicis; he uses it to make… I’m forgetting the potion that ends up winning him the Felix Felicis. But regardless, really, if you look at it, Snape is responsible for Harry getting the memory from Slughorn, so we should congratulate him and throw a party.
Eric: I think it was euphoria, right?
Laura: That’s what it was, yeah.
Micah: Now, something interesting that happens, though, during this conversation is Ginny jumps to Harry’s defense.
Eric: Oh my God.
Micah: And basically, if this were WWE, she body slams Hermione, not once, but twice.
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: And I just… this was out of left field for me, her just jumping right in there. And couldn’t help but feel a little bit good for Harry, that somebody was finally standing up to Hermione in this respect. She was nasty; I think she could have done it a little bit nicer. But what do we feel like here? Did somebody finally put Hermione in her place a little bit?
Laura: Maybe a little, but I think this was also a show of Ginny reciprocating Harry’s feelings.
Eric: Yep.
Laura: More than anything. I mean, we are definitely all predisposed to jump to the defense of the person we care about, even if we don’t necessarily agree with everything they do.
Eric and Micah: Yeah.
Eric: And I think that it’s right on the head, nail on the head there, because I think that it indicates that Ginny, although we don’t see into her thoughts and feelings, is on a parallel journey to kind of… maybe she’s also thinking about how to get Harry alone in a room. And although I could do without this women attacking women aspect of it, because it’s very ugly, the way that Ginny says to Hermione, “Don’t actually pretend that you comprehend Quidditch.”
Micah: Yeah, that’s a little rough.
Eric: Very rough.
Micah: But it’s kind of in contrast to the Potions statement, where basically Hermione is saying to Harry, “Don’t pretend like you understand Potions.”
Eric: Yeah, that’s a good point.
Laura: Definitely.
Micah: But yeah, I agree with what both of you said. I think it’s just one of those moments where Ginny is finally kind of stepping in to the forefront a bit, and she’s also had her own experience with books that have taken advantage of her, so maybe she’s a bit sympathetic to what’s going on. And thinking of the fact that Harry has just come from a pretty traumatic situation, and he’s got Hermione there chewing his ear off about how he shouldn’t be using this book, and I just think that it almost felt nice to have somebody come in there and say, “You know what, Hermione? You need to just take a couple steps back.” But maybe I’m alone on that one.
Laura: On the books, you just mentioned the connection to Ginny and Tom Riddle’s diary. I also just want to point out I love the fact that they’re both authored by half-blood people.
Andrew: Oh.
Eric: [laughs] Half-bloods are the real killers.
Laura: Yep, that’s right. And Harry is a half-blood.
Micah: Yes, he is. So the chapter wraps up with Harry being in detention with Snape, and as we mentioned earlier, Snape robs Harry of his final Quidditch match at Hogwarts, though it could be argued that Harry robs Harry of his final Quidditch match at Hogwarts. And we see Snape’s extra salty side, as I like to call it, because he gives Harry a detention that begins with insulting his dead father and godfather.
[Andrew sighs]
Micah: He even says, “It must be such a comfort to think that, though they are gone, a record of their great achievements remain.”
Eric: Is that insulting? Because I love every aspect of this detention. I think it’s the greatest thing ever.
Micah: All right.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Eric: Because I mean, it’s… I mean, not to be extra about it, but I think that it… because this so carefully mirrors what Harry just did, in not only taking credit for Potions that we talked about, but his just blatant arrogance and all the things Snape has basically been accusing Harry of being, Harry is, in not coming forward with his Potions book. And so this copying without magic, these cards that are records of misdeeds that his father and all of his friends got into, I think is the most innocent – let’s be real – the most innocent way you could punish somebody for the seriousness of what Harry did.
Micah: Well, I don’t disagree with you, but I think what he did is a Ministry-level offense, and I’m surprised by the fact that it’s just being given a detention as a result of what he did to Draco. We didn’t touch on this earlier, but how often do things like this happen at Hogwarts where students get injured at that level? We haven’t really seen too much of that.
Andrew: But we’ve brought this up previously: For Snape, an adult, to be so harsh against a student – I mean, reminding him about his dead father, and the bad things that his father did – is just absolutely awful.
Eric: I think Snape is justified in showing the parallel, really, because Harry has never been more like James until this chapter.
Andrew: Yeah, yeah…
Eric: Until this chapter, Harry was never… I mean, even look at the card that is read; some poor kid had his head grow two sizes too big. That could cause lasting brain damage; you don’t know. And that’s just one of the things Harry is reading off. So while he sees it as busy work, and it clearly has multiple purposes – like to make him not show up at Quidditch and make Gryffindor lose the cup – ultimately, this is a very therapeutic… I think he could learn something from this work, unlike so many other of Snape’s punishments.
Andrew: Yeah. By the way, Micah, I don’t know if you were alluding to this or not, but you asked, “How did Snape have this spell, Sectumsempra?” He invented it himself, and…
Micah: Right.
Andrew: Okay, just wanted to make that clear.
Micah: No, no, I was asking… well, I was saying it more from the standpoint of the reader learning…
Andrew: Okay. “How did he…?”
Micah: Yeah, how is he so familiar with this spell? We should be asking ourselves that question.
Andrew: Beat up the Marauders.
Eric: Yeah. Well, I get the impression he could have healed that… that the healing spell that Snape used could have been used on similar injuries. It’s not that he specifically knew the counter-curse. Although he did, I think you can play it off as Snape is just an accomplished Potions Master, who Dumbledore has been singing his praises all year about healing him from his arm that’s falling off slowly. So I think Snape’s healing prowess has been hinted at throughout the book, so when you get to Sectumsempra, I don’t think it necessarily draws unusual attention on Snape that he can fix the spell.
Andrew: Yeah, that’s fair. Kind of a catch-all repair.
Eric: You never see Poppy Pomfrey doing shit like this.
Andrew: [laughs] I also just want to add, I’m glad that Gryffindor was able to win the Quidditch match without Harry.
[Eric laughs]
Laura: Me too.
Andrew: We don’t need him being this… “Oh my God, only Harry can get us the cup.” Let the other students have their time to shine. And I think this was a good learning lesson as a reader that you don’t need the best guy on the team to win.
Laura: Yeah. I think also, it’s interesting because we see this moment where Harry sort of, I think, over-inflates his importance to the team. Not to say that he’s not important, but he was like, “Oh, God, if we lose for the first time in two centuries, everyone’s going to blame me,” and it’s like, well, yeah, you can be a great captain, but your team can still lose a match. So the fact that they were able to win without him, I think, is an interesting parallel to what’s coming next at Hogwarts. They’re able to remain somewhat safe, and access the Room of Requirement and keep Dumbledore’s Army alive, without Harry even being there.
Eric: So that begs the question, is Harry really secretly the worst at everything he does?
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Andrew: No.
Laura: I mean, Ginny is the one who goes on to be a professional Quidditch player.
Eric: [laughs] So let’s be real, there’s somebody better than Harry at everything Harry does, except killing Voldemort.
Micah: And the end of the chapter, Harry and Ginny finally get together.
Eric: Woohoo!
Micah: And I just threw the question out there: Did this seem forced, rushed, out of left field? Any of the above? All of the above? We talked about at the beginning of the chapter how things were set in motion for this to potentially happen, but clearly, in that heat of the moment from the Quidditch cup, they’re Ron and Lavender all over again.
Andrew: Right. Yeah, it is heat of the moment. I think Harry is very happy that Gryffindor won, and that Ginny had a big role, so I think it was justified in this moment. Look, if you’re trying to make your first move, you’re looking for an excuse to do it, and this was the moment to do it. This is where it just worked naturally; you don’t have to think much about it. You just go in for the kiss.
Laura: Yeah, and I love it because leading up to this, Harry has been wondering how he could use Felix Felicis to sort of orchestrate this kind of event, and as soon as he had nothing to do with it, it just naturally happened.
Andrew and Eric: Yeah.
Laura: Again, maybe he’s the worst at everything he does.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Episode title to draw people in this week: Harry is the worst at everything he does.
[Laura laughs]
Eric: I mean, I think, too, if we had Ginny’s perspective and seen her journey, it would have felt less spur of the moment. Maybe she, too, was feeling… I think earlier in this chapter, it’s like, “Harry was grateful for the excuse to be able to innocently look and talk to Ginny.” I’m just like, “Oh, that’s kind of weird and one-sided.” But if you read it from her perspective, I’m sure it would read… she’s been trying to probably do the same thing. So the kiss is that perfect moment, that moment lost in time. It could have been a thousand years, I think the writing says, and it makes my heart leap.
Micah: All right, well, I feel like that wraps up this chapter. And we’re closing in on the end of Half-Blood Prince, which is crazy to think about.
Andrew: I know. Where did the time go?
Rename the Chapter
Andrew: Let’s rename the chapter now. Eric, what’s yours?
Eric: Mine is Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Chapter 24, “Marauders’ Greatest Hits.”
[Laura laughs]
Micah: All right.
Eric: I just love that scene. I love detention. I don’t know.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Andrew: “I love detention.”
Laura: Mine is Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Chapter 24, “Pay No Attention to that Tiara.”
[Eric laughs]
Micah: I went with Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Chapter 24, “Knock First.”
[Eric and Laura laugh]
Micah: “I’m pooping in here.”
Andrew: God. [laughs] And mine is Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Chapter 24, [singing] “I will try to fix you.”
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: I looked up the song on YouTube while we were talking, and I found how to sing it.
MVP of the Week
Andrew: Now MVP of the Week. Eric?
Eric: I’m going to preface this by saying all the good ones were taken by the time I got to the doc…
[Laura laughs]
Eric: So I fully support everybody else’s MVPs…
Micah: Doc is there all week long, baby.
Eric: Yeah, I know, I know.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: But I will go with Moaning Myrtle, because I think it’s actually important that in her afterlife, she has really grown as a person, I think, or is able to be empathetic to people who are being bullied as a result of her being bullied in life, and I think she probably is providing some kind of modicum of comfort to Draco and has been all year round, and I admire that in her. So she’s not just some useless side ghost character that doesn’t really serve a purpose and is slightly creepy, looking at boys, but I think, yeah, she is emotionally supporting Draco? Good for her.
Laura: I’m going to have to give it to Ginny, because she really had to orchestrate when she was going to catch the Snitch, because as was established in the chapter, in order to win and actually come in first place, they would have to allow Gryffindor to score a significant number of points before catching the Snitch. So I’ve got to give it to Ginny for keeping Cho off the Snitch for the entire match until the correct opportunity presented itself.
Andrew: Yeah. Such a tricky part of Quidditch.
Laura: I know, because you can technically catch the Snitch and still lose.
Eric: That’s 30 goals, by the way. 30 more goals than Ravenclaw. That’s a lot of goals.
Andrew: Damn, Ginny, you’re perfect.
Eric: [laughs] But not a Mary Sue.
Micah: Oh, boy.
Laura: Let’s not start this.
[Laura and Micah laugh]
Andrew: Micah?
Micah: I gave my MVP of the Week to Snape. Right place, right time, saves Draco’s life, and gives Harry the appropriate “punishment.” I still think it could have been far more severe; I know we’ll probably talk about that a little bit in bonus MuggleCast. But this was a standout chapter, I think, for Snape.
Andrew: You all really feel bad for Draco. It’s very interesting. I see where your loyalties lie. Mine is… my MVP of the Week is Sectumsempra for giving Harry a reality check, for teaching him the lesson that he needs to think things through, again, and that not everything he reads should just be blindly followed.
Micah: That’s a good one.
Andrew: All right, so that does it for Chapter 24. If you have any feedback, feel free to email it in – MuggleCast@gmail.com – or use the contact form on the website. Or call us. 1-920-3-MUGGLE; that’s 1-920-368-4453. Or hit us up on Twitter, Twitter.com/MuggleCast, or over on our new Instagram, which is Instagram.com/MuggleCastPod. Micah, I thought you were going to help us get rid of the “Pod” part and claim MuggleCast. Are you working on that? What’s happening?
Micah: I’m working on it, yeah. It’s a process, Andrew.
Andrew: Get on it. Are you and your goat heading over to San Francisco to have a meeting with Instagram in their office?
Micah: Yes.
Andrew: I see.
Micah: I’m just going to let the goat run rampant in their office until they give us what we need.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Andrew: Till they give it up.
Micah: That’s right.
Quizzitch
Andrew: Okay, it’s time now for Quizzitch.
Eric: Yes, last week’s question: How long does Felix Felicis take to make? Well, as we found out in this chapter – unfortunately for Harry, who wants to use it at every opportunity – that the correct answer is six months. It takes six months to brew the potion.
Andrew: Seems like Fred and George… that’s something that they would have in their shop. I’m surprised that they don’t. They just set up a Felix farm where they brew this stuff for six months in large batches. Just sell, sell, sell.
Eric: Yeah, I think you’re right for sure.
Laura: Yeah, because we know that Harry sure couldn’t brew it on his own, not without the Prince’s book.
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Eric: Yeah, it does sound like something they’d have just on rotation.
Andrew: You know everybody would buy it, just like those love potions.
Eric: Yeah. So anyway, the correct answers were submitted to us over on Twitter by using hashtag #Quizzitch and @ replying MuggleCast. The winners are Beth Marie, Real Slim Brady, Issy, Tara, Young Susie Blood, Fluffy McNutters, A Man Has No Name, Pranvi, Karin, Retta Gamboe, Dan Hill, Amy Hill, Count Ravioli, Justice for Dean, Mandrake Patronus, Dana Monsees CNS, and Vanessa Cho.
Micah: Justice for Dean, okay.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: Justice for Dean. And Justice for Dean has a nice little headshot of young Alfred Enoch, and zero followers. You know what, I’m going to follow.
Micah: From your account or from MuggleCast?
Eric: From mine, I think I’m on. @QuizJustice. “Here for Quizzitch,” is the bio. [laughs]
Andrew: Wow, only here for Quizzitch. Good for you.
Eric: Somebody created an account specifically to get noticed by us, which it turned out worked.
Andrew: That’s really the only reason to use Twitter. There’s no other good reason, to be honest with you.
Eric: [laughs] So next week’s question: What unlikely ally does Harry discover by the Room of Requirement? It’s a fairly big point in the chapter; I made an easy question this week. But we’re still… Quizzitch is in flux, you guys. We’re still deciding on the future, now that we moved over partially to Instagram. We aren’t mentioning the Instagram winners here; we do that in Instagram stories, so just give an easy question and we’ll figure out where it all falls.
Andrew: The future of Quizzitch is in flux? Oh my gosh!
Eric: [laughs] We talked about maybe randomly announcing winner names and all sorts of stuff, so it’s…
Andrew: Yeah, but such an ominous warning. I’m scared. The future of Quizzitch…
Eric: We’re just deciding on what to do with it.
Andrew: I’m kidding.
Eric: This is great; we’ve got so many participants and a lot of common names. We strive to make the segment interesting, and if you have any suggestions, feel free to send them to us as well on how we can make this segment more dynamic and more fun.
Andrew: So Draco was a big focus of the chapter, and as we’ve said a couple times now, this week’s bonus MuggleCast, we’ll play the “What if?” segment. What if Draco had died? And we’ll just consider what the ramifications would have been there. [laughs] It would have been a very different ending to Half-Blood Prince, and obviously, to Deathly Hallows, so we’ll talk about all that at Patreon.com/MuggleCast. That’s where you can get all the bonus content we put out, not just the bonus installments of MuggleCast, but you can join us for our livestreams, typically on one weekend morning each week. We also do the Slug Club hangout, which we did today, and we also send you a physical gift every year. There are a lot of benefits over at Patreon.com/MuggleCast, and we appreciate everybody’s support. It is the reason why we are doing the show weekly again. It’s hard to believe. It’s the reason why Laura is back too. It’s the reason other things will happen in the future. [laughs] The Patreon has just really been a game changer, not just for our podcast, but for lots of podcasts out there. It’s really a great way to support creators that you love. So ours is at Patreon.com/MuggleCast; thank you so much to everybody who supports us.
Eric: Thank you.
Andrew: And I think that does it for this week’s episode. Next week, we’ll talk about the next chapter in Half-Blood Prince. We’ll also talk about if J.K. Rowling said anything for the Battle of Hogwarts.
[Eric and Laura laugh]
Andrew: And we’ll talk about any other news that happens. Thanks, everybody, for listening. I’m Andrew.
Eric: I’m Eric.
Micah: I’m Micah.
Laura: And I’m Laura.
Andrew: Bye, everybody.
Eric and Micah: Bye.
Laura: See ya.