MuggleCast EP37 Transcript
Intro
Andrew [Show Intro with music in background]: Because there is no chance of scoring this weekend, MuggleCast – Episode 37 for April 30th, 2006!
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Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls of all ages, welcomes back to the show. I’m Andrew Sims…
Jamie: [trying to interrupt Andrew] Jamie Lawrence.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: Oh, all right, Jamie.
Jamie: What?
Andrew: Since it’s your last week, I guess…
Jamie: Yeah.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: …we’ll let you go first.
Jamie: Finally!
Andrew: I’m Andrew Sims.
Kevin: I’m Kevin Steck.
Eric: I’m Eric Scull.
Laura: I’m Laura Thompson. Wow, you know, it feels like I just talked to you guys.
Jamie: And I’m not last for once.
Andrew: Laura, why is that?
Laura: You know, I don’t know. It just feels like yesterday, last time I talked to you.
Jamie: It does feel like that – it does.
Andrew: That’s because I called you up, remember?
Laura: Oh yeah, that’s right.
Andrew: All right, well before we do anything else, let’s check in with Micah for the past week’s top Harry Potter news stories.
News
Micah: Last week, Comingsoon.net conducted an interview with Rupert Grint where he discussed the progress of the fifth Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Another interview with Rupert has been posted at MTV.com where the actor discusses his second non-Potter film Driving Lessons. Rupert also briefly mentioned filming Order of the Phoenix and that the scenes with Dumbledore’s Army have gotten underway.
At the 2006 Empire Awards, the magazine caught up with the Jason Isaacs, the actor who plays Lucius Malfoy and he spoke a little about the Harry Potter movies as well as his beloved blond wig. When asked if he will be back in the fifth film, he said “Oh I don’t know, you’ll have to ask David (Heyman, Potter producer), I hope so, I can’t bear the idea that somebody else would get to wear my Paris Hilton wig, but you never know.”
Chris Rankin (Percy Weasley) recently did an interview icSurreyOnline about his role in the fifth Harry Potter film. Rankin talks about his character’s transformation from a stuck-up prefect to a quite a nasty piece of work who does the bidding of the Ministry of Magic.
Earlier this month, we told you that Girlguiding Scotland, an organization which help girls and young women to achieve their goals, would be interviewing 100 successful female members of the group. Jo Rowling is among them and her interview can now be seen at the Girlguiding website. In the interview, JKR discussed Scotland and being Scottish, her career, being a woman, and what’s important to her. To read all these interviews in full, head over to MuggleNet.com.
For their work on the Goblet of Fire film, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint have all been nominated for the 2006 MTV Movie Awards in the category of “Best On-Screen Team.” Additionally, Dan and Ralph Fiennes made the “Best Hero” and “Best Villain” categories respectively. Show the cast your support by voting online. The award ceremony will be televised on June 8th.
Movies.com has compiled a list of the top eight films of all time which each involve the resurrection of a character. The fourth Harry Potter movie made the #5 spot, for the return of Lord Voldemort, behind movies like The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
Two months ago we reported that Tony Maudsley was signed on for Order of the Phoenix. Now, Leaky has confirmed that Tony will be “playing” Grawp (Hagrid’s half-brother) in the film.
Although it was expected that the cover would be very similar to the hardback version, Scholastic has released a picture of the US Half-Blood Prince paperback cover which contains some minor variations. The book will be released in the United States on July 25th and on the 23rd in the UK.
That’s all the news for this April 30th, 2006 edition of MuggleCast.
Andrew: All right, thank you, Micah.
Announcements
Andrew: Now it’s time for a few announcements – actually only one announcement. Buy a MuggleCast T-shirt.
Jamie: A brand-new announcement.
Andrew: Why, Eric?
Eric: Don’t ask me.
[Andrew and Kevin laugh]
Jamie: I’ll tell you why. I’ll tell you why.
Kevin: Why?
Jamie: Because…
1. They will keep you comfy.
2. You’ll look so cool, it’ll be unbelievable – everyone’s heads will turn.
3. You’ll be supporting the site
4. See above.
[Andrew laughs]
Jamie: Awesome.
Kevin: And 5…
Jamie: Those are awesome reasons.
Eric: And 5… If you’ve made it to this reason…
Kevin: You’re going to be paying for Jamie’s food.
Jamie: Yeah.
Kevin: He’s poor and he’s living on the streets.
Jamie: I am. It’s absolutely true. And I’ve pieced together my own computer and headset to record the show.
Andrew: Oh, wow.
Eric: Yes, with scraps of stale bread.
Jamie: While living on the street.
Laura: Ohhh.
Jamie: I know, using nothing more than an empty toilet roll holder and an old spoon. It’s very impressive.
Eric: [laughs] You must looking really funny right now sitting on your computer with a spoon.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: [laughs] Wow.
Kevin: You really should go to college.
[Andrew laughs]
Jamie: Yeah, well, you know.
Laura: Yeah, you bum.
Jamie: I figure I’m a natural engineer.
[Andrew and Kevin laugh]
Chapter-by-Chapter: Chapter 11, Sorcerer’s Stone
Andrew: All right. Hey, let’s do something outrageous. Only a few minutes into the show let’s jump into Chapter-by-Chapter.
Laura: Gasp.
Jamie: Oooo.
Andrew: How does that sound?
Jamie: A good idea.
Eric: Oooo.
Kevin: Oooo. Switching things up a bit.
Laura: Sounds pretty dangerous, but…
Andrew: I know.
Jamie: It does. We’re taking a risk, Andrew.
Chapter 11 – Quidditch
Andrew: This week – Chapter 11 of Sorcerer’s Stone titles “Quidditch.” So, this chapter is really focused around…
Jamie: Quidditch?
Eric: [laughs] Quidditch?
Andrew: …the first Quidditch match.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Yeah.
Kevin: Wow.
Jamie: This chapter, “Quidditch” is pretty much focused around…Quidditch?
Eric: Yeah, I think this chapter is probably going to be about…
Jamie: Toasters?
Eric: Toasters.
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: Definitely.
[Kevin laughs]
Eric: You can totally tell because if you look at the chapter picture by Mary Grandpre…
Jamie: It just jumps out at you, doesn’t it?
Eric: …he looks charred black, doesn’t he, Andrew?
Jamie: [laughs] Yes.
Andrew: Sort of. I don’t know what you’re trying to say, though.
Eric: In Chapter 11, “Quidditch,” Harry is preparing for the upcoming infamous match of Gryffindor vs. Slytherin and is given a book by Hermione. This book is later taken by Snape and Harry goes to try and get it back, where he finds himself in the staff room, peaking in as Snape confides to Filch that he was bitten by Fluffy. Shocked and startled by his discovery, Harry returns to the Gryffindor common room and soon all thoughts are turned to the next day’s pending Quidditch match, during which Harry finds his broom jinxed and further has reason to suspect Snape. BOOM!
Laura: Yes! Perfect!
Jamie: Niceley done.
Laura: Good job, Eric.
Harry and Hermione
Andrew: The first thing we want to point out here – well, I found it interesting about this one sentence on pg. 181 of the US Edition. “It was really lucky that Harry now had Hermione as a friend.”
Laura: Awww.
Andrew: And the first thing I think of is, “Oh, thank god that they are friends now.” Because now you look at Book 6 and how much Hermione has helped Harry. But moving on.
Jamie: Yeah.
Kevin: As all the ‘shippers e-mail us.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: [laughs] Yeah.
Snape And The Point System
Andrew: But moving on: the Trio runs into Snape – well, actually Snape runs into the Trio and Harry gets caught with the Quidditch Through The Ages book and automatically Snape just goes, “Five points from Gryffindor.” And what I thought was interesting here, was that Snape is taking away five points from Gryffindor – with those same five points McGonagall awarded Harry, or rewarded Harry for saving Hermione’s life. What’s up with that?
Eric: Yes, it’s kind of like the inflation we’re talking about last week, where all of sudden it’s getting – you can take five points away for nothing as opposed to five points for saving someone’s life. But you just made a connection that I didn’t originally think about – that the five points is simply the five points they gained by doing the Troll thing. So, by Snape…
Jamie: Ah yes, he saw it, didn’t he? Yeah.
Eric: See? So, by Snape coming by and taking five points away for nothing, it’s not necessarily like he’s just…
Jamie: He was undoing the good. Yeah.
Eric: Yeah, he’s just trying to get…
Andrew: Ohhh.
Eric: He’s taking – he’s reclaiming the five points that Gryffindor has won by that thing, you know what I’m saying? So, it make not exactly be that he’s…
Andrew: Good point.
Eric: …you know, starting to take away more points than he used to and everything’s inflating and getting bigger. I just think that’s really, that’s just his way of, “Oh my god” because he got the points back then that they had earned – five points.
Andrew: Yeah. That’s a good point. I didn’t even think of that.
Eric: Well, you did it, Andrew. I mean, you said it…
Kevin: Yeah.
Eric: …you’re like, somewhere in there…
Andrew: I said, “What’s up with that?”
Jamie: Yeah, take a bow, Andrew. Take a bow.
Kevin: Yeah, take a bow.
Andrew: No thanks, I’m too modest to do that.
[Laura laughs]
Kevin: Oh yeah, right.
Snape, Filch, And Fluffy
Eric: So Harry tries to get his book back, right? And he finds his way to the staff room – first of all, he tells Ron and Hermione and they’re like, “nice knowing you.” [laughs] So, he peeks in and who does he see, but Snape with Filch showing him his leg and saying, “How are you supposed to keep an eye on all three heads at once?” So, what I wanted to ask – and this is a note that I brought up, but you guys said you had the same thing – Snape is with Filch right now and he’s showing Filch that he got bitten by Fluffy. He can obviously trust Filch and I’m questioning what’s up with that because if Snape is the kind of person to like Filch, either Filch is good or Snape is looking to be a little bit more bad than we thought.
Jamie: It also shows that Filch is privy to all of the goings-on at the castle. Which, I mean, I assume you should expect since he’s the caretaker and I mean, he has to know that he can’t go on the third floor corridor, and he has to know it so he can enforce the policy that students can’t go there as well. So, as well as what you said, which was a good point, I think it just also shows that Dumbledore trusts him as well. And perhaps, because Dumbledore trusts him, perhaps Snape trusts him as well.
Laura: It really makes me wonder how much Filch knows about Snape currently.
Jamie: Yeah.
Laura: Talking Half-Blood Prince.
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: Well, I wanted to comparison also with Snape and Filch. Snape is obviously a very tormented soul. I mean, I think you guys would agree with that as far as he had a very tortured student-hood, student life at Hogwarts and I think, well, Snape – sorry, Filch is also tortured by students constantly like, today he’s facing these teenagers who will hang his cat up by a wall and throw stuff at him and create this havoc. Both of them are very tormented by students in certain ways. Like, Snape more so in the past, but I wanted to – maybe you think that they draw that connection and therefore they’re a little bit close, so they can share these goings-on. Or was this simply, “Well, Dumbledore trusts him so I should go tell him.”
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: I mean, it seemed to me that Snape was confiding in Filch by saying, “Oh, the blasted thing. How are you supposed to” – what exactly – what point was supposed to be made by him telling Filch about that?
Laura: I also think that it’s interesting considering Snape’s past as a Death Eater and also the possibility that he might still be evil since Snape…
Eric: Yeah.
Laura: …excuse me, not Snape, Filch is a Squib.
Jamie: Also, if we move on slightly, it says, “He tried to empty his mind. He needed to sleep, he had to, he had his first Quidditch match in a few hours, but the expression on Snape’s face when Harry had seen his leg wasn’t easy to forget.” And it says at the top that, “Snape’s face was twisted with fury.” But, do you think it’s just trying to show that that was something else there and we have to kind of guess what it is? If it’s hate or jealousy or just something like that?
Eric: I think that was a moment where Snape knew – Harry was the last person that Snape wanted to see when bearing his leg…
Jamie: Yeah, I agree.
Eric: …and I think he knows Harry’s curious nature will, like…
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: …further derail and that would set off this chain of events. So Snape, at that moment, is realizing, by Harry seeing this, he is going to be inquisitive and is going to go around talking about me and he’s going to do all sorts of stuff. He can’t predict – it’s a situation going out of control right in front of him.
Jamie: Yeah, I think that’s right.
Laura: He probably also realizes then that it’s very possible Harry was the student who was out sneaking around that night.
Eric: Well, he knows – he suspects Quirrell at this point.
Laura: Yeah, but, I mean I’m pretty sure Filch knew that there were students out of bed because Peeves yelled it. And I guess it all really depends on if he found out they ended up in the third floor corridor or not.
Center Of Attention
Jamie: It says, just before they start playing, and Madam Hooch is saying that she wants a “nice fair game” and Harry sees “out of the corner of his eye the fluttering banner high above, flashing Potter for President over the crowd. His heart skipped. He felt braver.” I think it’s just important to point out there that him seeing all these things that are completely concentrated on him and he being the center of attention, it doesn’t show that – I mean, his arrogance doesn’t shine through. It sort of empowers him rather than strokes his ego, if that makes sense. And I think that carries on all the way through. He doesn’t like the attention because he’s an attention-seeker. He likes it just because it helps him to do what he feels he has to do.
Eric: It gives him confidence. I mean, “Potter for President,” you know?
Andrew: Well, especially in the first book…
Eric: Yeah.
Jamie: Oh yeah.
Andrew: …but by Book 5 and 6, he hates it. Right now, it’s to help him get on his feet.
Eric: Well, I had thought that this had actually come later in the books. I don’t know why, but this whole Lee Jordan thing where McGonagall [laughs] has to keep reminding him to stay on top of the game because he’s talking about how beautiful Angelina Johnson is, and how mean the Slytherin team is and stuff, I think it’s funny because it’s interesting to see McGonagall try and keep Jordan on this straight, unbiased, unfair – or fair path.
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: And, yet we’ve always seen her in the books doing things that kind of favored Gryffindor, but not widely. So, she had to tell Jordan to be quiet and not judge the Slytherin team, and it has funny results because Jordan says, “okay so the Slytherin Beaters nearly killed the Seeker…”
Andrew: I think it just shows his immaturity…
Jamie: It’s just a funny thing.
Andrew: Yeah, it’s funny.
Eric: I thought it came later in the books though; I was very surprised.
Jinxed Broomstick
Eric: At the end of the match, or towards the end of the match, Harry finds that his broom’s kind of going out of control, and at first nobody notices this, but soon everybody notices, everybody looks up, and Marcus Flint scores a bunch of goals and nobody really cares because they’re looking at Harry. So, Harry’s broom is shaking and Hagrid looks up and makes a statement – let me find this. Page 190 – yeah, 190 here. They’re kind of questioning what’s going on. It says – I’m more interested in what Hagrid’s saying about this whole dark magic thing, “No kid could do that to a Nimbus Two Thousand.”
Kevin: Well, it’s not only that, its the fact that his broom is shaking and the only one to try to help him is Snape. You would think that Dumbledore or…
Jamie: Dumbledore, or Hooch. Yeah.
Kevin: …one of the other professors sitting there would go “something’s wrong” and do something about it.
Jamie: But even before that, the thing that got me was that if Quirrell wanted to hurt him, the last place I thought you’d do it would be at a crowded Quidditch match with everyone watching…
Eric: Yeah, in front of everybody.
Jamie: …and a thousand teachers there as well. I mean, perhaps he was trying to set Snape up which, I mean, he almost succeeded in doing. But, it just seems like such a very weird place to do it when he could have just held him back after a Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson and just curse him or something. It just seems completely illogical.
Eric: You’re right because clearly it kind of states that there’s somebody high up – a powerful teacher who could do dark magic who’s doing dark magic in front of everybody.
Jamie: Yeah.
Kevin: Yep.
Jamie: Yeah.
Andrew: Well, it was in such a crowded area that anyone could have assumed – or someone could have assumed it could be anyone.
Eric: No.
Andrew: Like, there could be some…
Laura: Exactly.
Andrew: There could be some dark wizard hiding in this huge crowd of hundreds of thousands of people.
Kevin: Yeah, but it still doesn’t answer why they didn’t do more.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: You mean the teachers?
Jamie: Dumbledore could have stopped it, yeah.
Andrew: Well, Dumbledore could have been under the assumption that Snape had it under control.
Jamie: He wouldn’t leave it to chance. There’s no way Dumbledore would leave something like that to chance. He’d have to intervene just to make sure that Harry was safe.
Andrew: Well, would two people doing the curse Snape was doing – or, the counter-curse Snape was doing…
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: …could have taken it off any faster?
Kevin: It’s not only that, Andrew. The fact that they didn’t try to catch the person who was doing it…
Jamie: Yeah.
Kevin: They just completely disregarded the person doing it.
Eric: “Okay, if it does throw him off, we’ll catch him,” there’s nothing like that.
Andrew: That’s true.
Eric: But, I was worried because Hagrid’s saying this whole thing about “Oh, it can’t be any students because only dark magic can effect the broom.” Do you think they’re a little bit careless about that or they’re a little bit more ignorant like – I mean, in Book 2, Dobby takes the whole Bludger and bewitches that to kill Harry.
Jamie: Well, the thing is, here he didn’t actually fall off. He wasn’t actually hurt. I mean, as soon as he got back on he just came down to the ground and caught the Snitch. So, I mean do you think if you’re angry, that anger can sort of like, go into your broomstick and – and how you fly and that kind of thing. Perhaps they just thought that he was having a bad time flying out there, and after he controlled himself, he got back up on the broom and went down and caught the Snitch. And only the people who saw Snape and Quirrell – or that kind of thing, knew the whole story?
Emotions When Flying
Eric: What’s your question? Like, do you think he’s like “I hate this game, I hate this sport!” and suddenly his broom like, stops functioning or similar. Like if he were to say, “I don’t want to be playing this game,” so then his broom stops.
Jamie: No, no. No, no, no, no. But it’s like if you – if you’re doing magic, yeah? And you’re influenced by emotion – that emotion projects itself onto your magic. Like in the…
Kevin: Oh, that’s true. Yeah.
Jamie: Like in the – after Snape kills Dumbledore, Harry’s actions and his use of magic is influenced by how he’s feeling, and I’d imagine that spells are more powerful when influenced by emotion. I mean, I don’t want to draw parallels to Star Wars.
[Kevin and Eric Laugh]
Jamie: Well, actually…
Eric: I’d like to. Actually I would like it very, very much. [laughs]
Jamie: [laughs] I’d absolutely love it. I was just thinking about like, the sort of dark Jedi – the Sith versus the good Jedi. How some believe that emotion and power and greed help fuel your – help fuel your personal power. Whereas the Jedi believe that it’s self-help, meditation, calming yourself and true life is the real power.
Eric: And it is through hatred. Yeah.
Jamie: And it just comes down…
Eric: I mean, it’s through hatred that Luke is like…
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: …you know, striking and eventually cuts off his father’s arm. It’s through letting…
Jamie: Yeah, yeah. Exactly. And I just don’t know if like, if you cast stronger spells if you are calm and if you can concentrate fully or if your emotion can help channel your power and just make it stronger, and I just don’t know if that can be put into the broomstick.
Eric: But then I’m wondering what’s he thinking about that’s making his broomstick stop? Like, what emotions would Harry have that would then prevent him from flying? Like, I don’t think – that’s the last thing he’d want his broom to do is to stop working.
Jamie: Oh no. I mean, I completely agree, but people could just put it down to that. People who don’t know him that well could just think he’s a bad flyer, he isn’t flying that well, he can’t control his broom. You know?
Laura: Yeah, that’s actually what I was going to say. I think Jo made a point of stating early in the chapter that Wood wanted to keep Harry a secret so not that many people had seen him fly.
Jamie: Yeah, that’s true.
Laura: And I see Quirrell as taking advantage of the fact that not many people had seen him and he was also a first-year and a new flyer, so that people might think that he had no clue what he was doing.
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: I never thought about that. And up until then he wasn’t even really flying at all. He was just kind of – he did like, one swoop because in the beginning, the game was just standing up and then he went to swoop and then he kind of…
Laura: Well, there was Quidditch practice, but we don’t see that actually in the book.
Eric: Right. And Wood was trying to keep Harry a secret. I think that’s cool.
Jamie: Yeah.
Broomstick Enchantments
Andrew: So, what’s up with these broomsticks? Do they – what other enchantments are on these things? Because Hagrid says – I lost the quote.
Eric: “‘Can’t nothing interfere with a broomstick except powerful Dark magic – no kid…'” you know?
Andrew: Yeah. Right.
Eric: So, this whole thing about, “Oh yeah. We don’t need to worry about the Bludgers because only strong magic bewitches them to kill Harry” and “Oh, we don’t need to worry about the broomsticks because only powerful…” And it’s like, dark magic is here. Dobby completely messed with the Bludger.
Jamie: Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
Eric: I just don’t think they give enough credit to the fact that the strong magic stuff – they think, like their, broomsticks and their Bludgers and their Quidditch stuff is all so protected, but here it is being abused.
Jamie: Yeah. It’s too generic, too. It’s like, these spells that keep the broomsticks safe from dark magic – I mean, according to this must be like, public knowledge.
Kevin: Yeah.
Jamie: So, it isn’t like these broomsticks have been specially overhauled by Dumbledore so that they can protect against dark magic. You know, it’s actually – you’re saying, Eric, these people think that normal everyday magic is more powerful than the most powerful dark magic, and I think it just foreshadows that even in the later books, people’s faith in the good side, as it were – oh no, one more Star Wars parallel – isn’t as founded as they really think it is.
Kevin: Now, now that quote, was it referring to Harry’s broom specifically…
Eric: Yeah. It was. Because…
Kevin: …or was it brooms in general?
Andrew: Well, brooms in general, too.
Laura: Mhm.
Eric: Okay, so well, because Seamus – well, yeah it is. But Seamus was just asking like, what happened – did something happen when Flint hit him and Hagrid’s like, “No, nothing can stop a broom except for dark magic.”
Hermione Right Except When Emotional?
Jamie: Also, slightly further on – Eric, I’m sure you can elaborate slightly on this – one of the rules of Harry Potter, according to Galadriel Waters’ book, is that Hermione is always right apart from when she gets emotional? Is that right?
Eric: Well, I would say she’s emotional.
Jamie: One kind of, you know, rule. And – no but she says, “‘So why did he just try and kill Harry?’ cried Hermione.” She seems pretty emotional to me. I mean, I don’t know, I just assume that.
Laura: Mhm.
Jamie: And then – and obviously he didn’t just try and kill Harry, so it could just be Jo setting up a kind of, you know, running septology thing there.
Eric: Wait. What page, what page, what page?
Jamie: It’s pg. 141 in the UK edition.
Andrew: Oh, that’s further. That’s towards the end. 192, Eric.
Eric: Hmmm. So wait, what does this prove? If she’s being emotional.
Jamie: Just that she’s wrong.
Laura: That she’s wrong.
Jamie: She’s completely wrong there. Everything she said there is completely wrong. She says, “So why did he try and kill Harry?” He didn’t try and kill him. She says, “I know a jinx when I see one,” and it wasn’t a jinx, it was a counter-jinx, counter-charm, whatever. “I read all about them!” So it’s just that – it’s setting it up.
Eric: Yeah, it’s a reinforcement of – I mean, that definitely proves by that, “Why didn’t he just try and kill Harry?” that she’s emotional at that point.
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: So, I think it’s a great indicator, too, that if she’s emotional, then what she’s saying is likely to be untrue or she’s likely to be wrong. In which case, she is.
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: Which is why I like Galadriel Waters’ books…
Jamie: Shameless plug.
Eric: …but that’s okay.
Laura: Yeah, that’s interesting, though. Do you guys think that she would fare well in a duel because of the fact that when she gets emotional, she doesn’t think straight?
Jamie: I think she’d keep her head in a duel, to be honest. I don’t think she’d get emotional.
Eric: She can compartmentalize, I think. Kind of like Snape, but I’m not going to make that parallel but you’ve seen…
[Andrew laughs]
Jamie: But you’d love to, right?
Eric: But, [laughs] I would love to.
[Laura laughs]
Eric: No. In the DADA and stuff like that, when she’s practicing, when she’s doing things and Patronuses – even though she was angry at Ron in Half Blood Prince, even, she was able to send a flock of birds at him. She can still…
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: She can still concentrate enough to…
Jamie: Yeah, that’s true.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: …okay, spell time. And she knows she’s using the birds thing to get back at Ron and she’s highly emotional at that point, but she can still conjure magic and still do certain things.
Laura: Yeah, but don’t you think – excuse me – don’t you think that’s a bit different, though? For instance, if she had been at that point in the Department of Mysteries when Sirius fell through the veil, do you think she would have been able to keep her cool?
Jamie: Hmmm.
Laura: If she’d been there when Snape AK-ed Dumbledore, do you think she would’ve been able to keep her head?
Eric: I think it would have been in the same kind of thing that Harry has, where he, like [gasps], you know, big gasp, and then he has to fight.
Jamie: His stomach lurched.
Eric: He has to do what he has to do. Where he’s like, “Oh my god.” There’s that point where he’s like, “Oh, my god, Sirius is gone.” But he still, he just – it immediately went out of his mind right after that initial shock. He was still, you know, emotionally distraught. It was in his veins; it was in everything around him, but he still brought himself to concentrate. Everything became clear, and he was swift, and he thought of – he dodged all those spells coming at him. It just really enhanced his perception, and he was able to focus, and I think that even though Hermione might be caught up in the moment and ready to cry, tears might be streaming, but I think she’d still – I think that would help enhance her senses. I think even though she’d be emotional, I think that would just – I think she’d still be able to – she wouldn’t just collapse on the floor and cry if everybody is attacking her.
Laura: No, I don’t think she would do that, either.
Tapping Magical Potential
Laura: However, I think if you remember, Jo said that up until halfway through Book 3, Hermione would have won a duel against Harry, and I am kind of wondering if that changed purely because of Harry’s advancement…
Eric: She said that?
Laura: …in the magical world. Yes, she did.
Jamie: What did she say?
Laura: She said in an interview that up until halfway through Book 3…
Eric: And then…
Jamie: Really…
Laura: Hermione would have beat Harry in a duel, but after that point, it would be Harry that would win.
Eric: Whoa!
Laura: And I’m wondering if that was purely because of Harry’s advancement or because Harry can actually channel his anger somewhere else.
Eric: And then she would have lost – she would’ve not been able to fight him. I don’t know. That’s a pretty cool quote. I’ve never even heard that.
Jamie: That’s true. But – oh, yeah. That’s the point, but you sort of give two possible explanations there, Laura. But do you think as Eric just sort of hinted at, that it could just be because by Book – you know, it’s kind of a red herring posed by Jo, that by Book 3, Hermione has such big feelings for Harry that she couldn’t beat him in a duel because she wouldn’t fight him in a duel. I mean, I’m just clutching at straws, but…
Laura: Mhm. I don’t think – I think she was just sort of speaking objectively, because it’s really around halfway through Book 3 where Harry starts learning…
Jamie: Yeah, that’s true. Yeah.
Laura: …about Dementors.
Andrew: Hmm.
Laura: And he starts gaining that confidence in himself.
Jamie: No, yeah. I think that’s right.
Snape’s Countercurse
Eric: So, we’ve strayed a little bit. But, it was a good stray. Okay, when Quirrell was knocked over, that’s supposedly when, you know, he was no longer jinxing the broom and when he lost his focus [snaps], lost his concentration.
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: So, the – and Snape at that point, at the point when Quirrell was knocked over, Snape was still muttering the counterjinx. So, you would think that Harry would be pretty much okay as soon as Quirrell was knocked over, you know?
Andrew: He would be back up on his broom by then.
Eric: Yeah, he’d be a little bit okay. So, Hermione still makes her way over to Snape, who is still muttering the counterjinx, and there is nothing to counterjinx anymore, because the jinx should have lifted. Maybe it is on its way out, you know, whatever. And so she lights the cloak on fire, and it takes thirty seconds for Snape to realize, so that’s thirty more seconds where Snape is muttering the counterjinx, and there is no jinx going on, because – because Quirrell lost his confusion. And then finally, Snape notices. He looks down and then it says up above, you know, Harry was doing – Harry was able to regain…
Jamie: Yeah, but Eric, curses and countercurses, don’t just cancel – well, I’m just assuming they don’t just cancel each other out. It’s like, I mean, if like a curse takes twenty minutes to say, and the countercurse is ten seconds, I just don’t think that the ten-second thing with no effort is going to completely counter. I mean, the curse could be said with more power or with more enthusiasm, so the countercurse takes longer to, you know, get rid of the curse. I mean, if Quirrell has Voldemort in his head by this point, doesn’t he? Do we know…
Laura: Yes, he does.
Jamie: …or not?
Eric: Yes, he does. He does.
Jamie: Okay, then – then, Voldemort could be helping him with the thing. You know? Giving him advice, magical advice, that makes it stronger. So, it needs – it needs Quirrell to stop thirty seconds and give Snape thirty seconds of pure, uninterrupted countercurse time.
Kevin: Right. And I think…
Jamie: …without him, you know, saying that curse.
Kevin: And I think the only reason why Quirrell was sitting there muttering the curse constantly was because he knew that Snape was trying to counter.
Jamie: Yeah, definitely.
Kevin: So, he was maintaining it so that Snape couldn’t fully…
Jamie: Yeah.
Kevin: …get rid of it.
Jamie: I think that’s right. Yeah.
Eric: Ahhh, kind of like, yeah. I know what you mean. Well, I personally think that it was just the way JK was writing the story. I think immediately after Quirrell fell, Harry was regaining control.
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: But she was still writing about Hermione finding Snape that only later did she say, you know, up above Harry was doing pretty good. I mean, I just thought it was the way it was worded, and I think that he probably regained control…
Jamie: Yeah, it could be.
Eric: …right away. Let me find the actual page. Hang on. Page 190. All right. Yeah, okay. “It was enough. Up in the air, Harry was…” Oh, no! This is – okay. Never mind!
Kevin: Yep!
Eric: That completely contradicts everything. “Up in the air, Harry was suddenly able to clamber back on his broom.” It doesn’t say, “Oh, by the way, Harry was doing well.” It says, “Up in the air, Harry was suddenly able to clamber back onto his broom.” So, he was suddenly able, after Snape fell.
Jamie: No, it’s – that’s just backing up what we first thought when reading the book, that it was Quirrell – sorry, that it was Snape doing it. That’s – it’s just that things worked out so that after…
Kevin: It’s coincidence.
Jamie: …after Snape realized he was on fire.
Kevin: Yeah.
Jamie: It’s just coincidence, and, that’s just it.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: Not only that, but Snape could have just not noticed that he was on fire because he could have been breathing a sigh of relief or looking around or contemplating a rose or something like that.
Kevin: Or concentrating constantly or something like that.
Jamie: Yeah.
Andrew: Yeah.
Kevin: He was not concentrating on anything surrounding him. He was just concentrating on the countercurse.
Eric: Well, see, I’d like to think that if you imagine two beams of light going at each other, one red, one green, and you know – and they grow a little stronger in one direction, they grow a little stronger in the other direction. I’d like to think that Snape, in his full concentration, would be still a little bit stronger than the weak Voldemort and Quirrell as one muttering the curse. So, you’re right. Even if the curse was said before and was a little bit stronger, I’d like to think that Snape was making a little bit of headway, and I think Harry would have probably gotten his control back before, you know, thirty seconds, it seems like, and plus the time that it took for Hermione to run from Quirrell to Snape. I just think it might have been, really, sooner than the story – I mean, it’s a plot device. You know, but I don’t know. This was Andrew’s note, too. Andrew, say something!
Nicholas Flamel (Or Not)
Eric: I don’t know if you want to mention this in this chapter, but at the very end of it, Hagrid mentions Nicholas Flamel, and do you guys want to talk about this guy, who is an established, real guy? Do you want to talk about JKR’s using an actual, real story to start out her fiction stories?
Andrew: Well, we get e-mails on this sometimes.
Eric: Yeah! I mean, because we can do that later in the book when they actually discuss it…
Kevin: Yeah, we probably should.
Jamie: We probably should. Yeah.
Kevin: Wait until…
Eric: I think we should. We should save it until then because here, it’s just like it’s mentioned.
Kevin: It becomes more detailed, yeah.
Jamie: We’ll save it. Yeah
Misplaced Trust
Andrew: Is there anything to say about why Hagrid just assumes that Snape – he trusts Snape?
Eric: His justification was just like, [imitating Hagrid] “Professor Snape is a Hogwarts teacher!” But so is Quirrell! So it’s just as likely that Quirrell would be – you know, if they were to say Quirrell was doing it, Hagrid might still reply, [imitating Hagrid again] “Professor Quirrell is a Hogwarts teacher!”
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: You think? I mean…
Jamie: Hagrid’s too grounded in tradition, and, you know, the old man’s club. Like, you know, loyalty and…
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: …and people of position can’t do anything bad. I think that that’s kind of – he comes out of his shell soon and realizes that it’s not black and white. People – you know, the old people who seem good aren’t always good. That kind of thing.
Eric: You know what I want to mention? What Jamie just brought up made me think a little bit. Do you not think they should have a little – Hagrid, or everybody, in fact. None of the staff, I don’t think, pays enough attention to the fact that there has not been a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher who has lasted more than a year since the day that Voldemort came and asked for a job.
Jamie: But, Eric. Sorry. It’s just something that happens, though. It’s normal there. It’s like, what could they do about it? They either think it’s coincidence, or they just think it’s going to happen. I just don’t think there’s anything they can do about it.
Eric: Well no, there isn’t, but even if it’s a coincidence or even if it’s just like, “Oh, well.” I think that they could make a safe decision saying that for whatever reason, “Quirrell isn’t going to be here next year, so gee, I wonder what’s going to happen to him?”
Jamie: But he’s… Oh yeah, well of course.
Laura: Well, maybe they do. Maybe they do, they just don’t talk about it to the students.
Jamie: Or they think that it’s Snape – sorry. Or they think people who are privy to the fact that no teacher has lasted more than a year could think that it’s Snape doing it, and Quirrell will be the victim, and that’s why he won’t last more than a year, rather than that he won’t last more than a year because he’s the…
Eric: Well, I’m not saying necessarily that they should convict Quirrell. I think that Hagrid should just – I don’t know, everyone should be more open to it. It is fact, as established in Book 6. It is fact that no Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher has lasted more than a year. If I were a teacher, to amuse myself, I’d say, “Gee, I wonder why this one’s not going to be here next year?” You know?
Jamie: Oh yeah, Definitely.
Andrew: We know that Snape has been after it. I don’t know if he was after it in Book 1 when we first heard about it. Why not just give him the role, and find a good Potions teacher?
Eric: Well that’s just the question, because Dumbledore did.
Jamie: Was it – yes! Do you think, Andrew? That’s the thing. I’ve never actually ever thought of that. Do you think the only reason he gave Snape the job was so he could give him a way to kill himself, and then leave? I mean, I don’t know.
Kevin: A grand plan.
Eric: Yeah, I think…
Jamie: Yeah, I never actually thought about it.
Eric: I think it’s a grand plan because of the way…
Jamie: Yeah, a grand plan.
Eric: I don’t think Dumbledore really expected Snape to last more – to be… I think he places him in that…
Jamie: Yeah, he couldn’t, it’s jinxed. It’s jinxed – the job now.
Eric: It’s jinxed!
Jamie: You know?
Eric: So, Dumbledore must have known that by placing Snape there, he wouldn’t be there by the end of the year. I think that just further enforces his knowledge of Snape’s events, and also…
Jamie: Or – yeah?
Eric: Well, if you realize that by placing Slughorn as the Potions master, Harry could then get into that N.E.W.T class, which was cool.
Jamie: There could be a more sinister explanation, that Dumbledore’s finally testing Snape’s loyalty. I mean, he has to go at the end of the year.
Eric: Yeah.
Jamie: Is he going to go to the good side, or is he going to go to the bad side?
Kevin: It’s possible, yeah.
Andrew: Hmmm. Good point.
Eric: And by finally giving him what he’s always wanted, will it tempt him back into his ways, as somebody said.
Jamie: Yeah.
Kevin: And once again we’ve gone from Book 1 to Book 6 in about two minutes. [laughs]
[Everyone laughs]
Eric: About Snape, about Snape.
Andrew: Book 6 is all the rage, man!
Jamie: So, that about wraps up chapter-by-chapter discussion? Thanks, Andrew!
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: Thanks, Andrew.
Andrew: Ah, you’re welcome, any time. Just give me a call whenever you want to talk chapters. [laughs]
Jamie: I will, I’ll give you a buzz.
Voicemail – Dedalus Diggle
Andrew: All right now, moving along to the general voicemails.
[Audio]:
Hey MuggleCasters and Kevin… handsome Kevin. Anyways, I’m calling because I wanted to know if you thought that Dedalus Diggle will have a bigger role? He is mentioned in the first book briefly twice – in the Leaky Cauldron and at the beginning, and JKR has done this before. So, I was wondering what do you think? And I hope I didn’t overdo the sucking up thing. I took that quite to heart. Bye!
Jamie: He does have a bigger role, doesn’t he? He’s a member of the Order of the Phoenix.
Kevin: Yeah, but I think that by bigger role she means significant, like…
Jamie: Ah.
Kevin: I don’t think – I don’t know about significant.
Jamie: I don’t either.
Kevin: I think she’s – or he is going to play the same part that all the other Order people are going to.
Jamie: Background characters play.
Kevin: Exactly, they’re just filler, but it’s possible.
Jamie: They’re also filler because – I mean this is going off a tangent and I’m sorry, but I was thinking they’re also filler because we don’t know anything about them, and we haven’t seen them develop and evolve as characters, so when Jo has to report casualties to show that the war is really happening, and it’s a real life war, she can sort of say that Amelia Bones has been killed, or whatever, because even though we can spare a passing thought for them, we don’t think they’re essential to the plot. So these people are also there, to you know…
Kevin: Knock off? [laughs]
Jamie: Just to… Uh, yes. [laughs] That was what I was trying to say, just in a nicer way.
Kevin: Okay. [laughs]
Eric: Well, I think that she has characterized – she has made some effort to characterize Dedalus Diggle as a goof, you know? He totally screwed up the shooting stars, he never has any sense, and then we begin to meet him a bit, but I wouldn’t mind – even though she characterized him, I wouldn’t mind if he stayed a background character. I think it’s important to have those certain characters where we don’t really know, but we know certain traits about them that make them seem more like real background people.
Kevin: And they’re sort of whimsical.
Eric: Yeah.
Kevin: Like sort of good for fun characters. Yeah.
Eric: I think that Dedalus Diggle reminds me too much of Mundungus Fletcher to [laughs] permit as another main character.
Jamie: Yeah.
Kevin: Yeah, definitely.
Voicemail – Legilimency
[Audio]:
Hi, my name is Blake from Long Island, New York, and I just had a really random question about Legilimency, and why wasn’t it used in the first four books, and only used in the fifth and sixth book? Did people know about it and use it on students? Or was it not allowed? So, thank you! Love your show!
Jamie: Thank you, Blake.
Kevin: I think it’s because it wasn’t introduced to Harry.
Eric: Yeah.
Kevin: We were following Harry around.
Jamie: Yeah, I think that’s right. Yeah.
Kevin: I don’t think they were hiding it or anything like that. It’s common knowledge. It’s just that it wasn’t introduced to Harry.
Jamie: Yeah.
Kevin: So, because of that she never mentioned it before.
Eric: No, but here’s the question. When I first heard about Legilimency, when I first read it in Book 5, I thought, “Wow!…”
Laura: Yeah.
Eric: “…This is THE answer to all those piercing stares that Dumbledore and Snape would give people.
[Andrew laughs]
Andrew: Occlumency and Legilimency, this is the answer. This is…
Kevin: Oh yeah.
Jamie: No, that’s right. Yeah.
Eric: Every time people were staring at you, piercing as if they knew, it was Legilimency and/or Occlumency, whatever it was. But it actually wasn’t, and you know why? Because when people use Legilimency, especially Snape on Harry, Harry is forced to relive his thoughts. It’s actually his own thoughts that Snape is reading, is flashing before his own eyes. And that has never happened in the first four books. When Harry gets the piercing stare, he’s never – so people are like reading his mind without that flashing before his… So, I don’t even think it is Legilimency, or Occlumency, that they’re using on him with the piercing stare. It can’t be, because Harry would then know what they’re trying to read. Legilimency seems to work as a specific function.
Jamie: No, but isn’t it more like that it’s normal in the wizarding world, but it’s just that it’s completely alien to Harry that it’s so important in those books. Do you think Occlumency becomes so second nature that you just close your mind all the time? So, when two people first meet, or when one person tries to…
Kevin: Probe? Yeah.
Jamie: …use Legilimency. Yeah, just to probe, but the other person’s automatically closed, it’s just like that. It’s just second nature to try to do it, and…
Kevin: Counteract it, yeah.
Jamie: Second nature to counteract it, yeah. I think it’s just…
Kevin: Not…
Jamie: Sorry, go on.
Kevin: And not to mention that, if you’re good at it, you can do it without the person knowing.
Jamie: Yeah, I think that’s right.
Kevin: He’s reliving his thoughts, and he’s thinking about it, but the only reason he’s thinking about it is because he knows what’s happening. If he doesn’t know what’s happening, he could just be reminiscing on something.
Jamie: Yeah, staring off into space.
Kevin: So… Exactly. It’s not – you know, these are thoughts, it’s not like you’re physically reliving the experience.
Laura: Yeah. Mhm.
Voicemail – McGonagall
[Audio]: Hi, I’m Connor from Canada. I just wanted to say, “Hi, guys, and I love your show!” I have a question. McGonagall didn’t seem very surprised when Dumbledore was killed by Snape. Do you think that Dumbledore had been letting McGonagall in on all of his plans? Thanks guys, bye.
Andrew: We were so excited about this voice mail that we decided to discuss it before the show. [laughs]
Kevin: [laughs] It’s true.
Jamie: We feel stupid we did, though.
Kevin: So, we have to discuss it again.
Laura: I really don’t think he was – I really don’t think he was readying her for that. I mean, I think that in times like these, people are pretty much getting prepared for the fact that you might not see your best friend tomorrow, you know?
Kevin: I also think that she’s a very stern woman.
Jamie: Yeah.
Kevin: And that she’s not very open with her feelings. So even though…
Andrew: Yeah, when have we ever seen emotion from her?
Eric: Exactly. Very few times.
Jamie: Well, a few times we’ve seen it.
Kevin: Well yeah, a few times. I mean, shock, and we’ve seen her…
Andrew: Yeah, but nothing huge.
Kevin: Sure.
Jamie: Yeah.
Andrew: Like you won’t see her crying, or…
Kevin: But I think it – I think it was her trying to be professional. She realized that she had to take over…
Jamie: Yeah, I think that’s it.
Kevin: …she had to hold herself up for the children…
Laura: Yeah.
Kevin: …make sure that she was representing someone dignified.
Eric: Yeah, that’s exactly it. I mean, now is not the time to…
Jamie: Who’s…
Eric: …be surprised.
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: Now is not the time to be: [gasps] “He’s dead!” [laughs] You know? Now is the time to be saying…
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: …what are we going to do about his body, what are we going to do about Snape.
Jamie: That wasn’t the time for mourning.
Eric: Yeah, exactly. The fact that Hogwarts has been infiltrated.
Kevin: Yep.
Jamie: Dumbledore must’ve told some people, though.
Kevin: Well, I think that Dumbledore did – I mean, everyone knows, but…
Jamie: No, but I mean if Snape is good and the plan was for Snape to kill Dumbledore, then if he didn’t tell anyone, then everyone would assume quite rightly that, you know, Snape was evil and that he…
Eric: But they did assume that!
Jamie: …killed Dumbledore. He’d to tell one person at least who could pass the message on and show some proof of it or whatever. Sorry?
Eric: But everybody was shocked! Everybody did convict Snape. I mean…
Jamie: The only advantage to not telling anyone I can see is that the secret would literally die with Dumbledore, and only Snape would know. So, Voldemort and every single other person couldn’t find out that – I mean, unless they tortured Snape or used some kind of magic on him – that the plan was for Snape to kill Dumbledore, and that Snape is still on Dumbledore’s side.
Kevin: Yeah, but getting back more to the topic, I think that – well, I think that…
Jamie: Sorry.
Kevin: …Dumbledore generally prepared people, in the sense that everyone knows that by going into it, you could die.
Jamie: That’s true.
Laura: Mhm.
Kevin: And people who don’t think Dumbledore could die are lying to themselves. So…
Jamie: Yeah.
Kevin: So, the whole point is even if he didn’t tell someone about Snape – if it was pre-planned, that is – he still…
Jamie: Yeah.
Kevin: …everyone knows that there’s a potential that he will get killed.
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: Yeah, definitely.
Jamie: Yeah.
Laura: And also, Dumbledore also made it very clear that he does not fear death.
Kevin: Exactly, yeah.
Jamie: Yeah.
Laura: And I think McGonagall is smart enough to realize, you know, sad as it may be, there’s nothing she can do for Dumbledore. He’s dead. So, she needs to put her focus on maintaining the calm with the students.
Jamie: Yeah, I think that’s true.
Eric: And you realize, she did want to know. And I think clearly, Dumbledore was leaving her out of at least the big secret, because she was asking Harry about where they went that evening. She didn’t even know that they were going out, let alone – and she was trying to get all of that out of Harry, and he wouldn’t tell her, and she glared at him. She was actually being very smart with him, very stern and…
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: …wrong. And it just shows – I think she regretted a little bit, not being – I don’t know, further in on the circle. I think clearly Dumbledore trusted Harry with maybe some things he didn’t even tell McGonagall. And Hermione and Ron, for that matter, too. Because he tells Harry that he should only confide in Hermione and Ron, and then Harry goes…
Kevin: Yeah.
Eric: …and interprets that like he can’t even tell McGonagall. That’s really interesting. That shocked me. Like, it made sense after I read it, but I’m like, wait a minute, why has he not been telling McGonagall?
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: Like, what kind of good inclination can you possibly get by that?
Andrew: Yeah. That was pretty long for such a… [laughs]
Jamie: [laughs] Yeah.
Andrew: …for easy. Yeah, yeah.
[Kevin laughs]
Andrew: All right! That wraps up this week’s voicemails. Don’t forget, everyone, you can call in your voicemails to 1-218-20-MAGIC (62442). We do not have foreign numbers yet. Australia – we can’t get a number for you Australians. I’m really sorry about that. We’re still trying to figure out a solution, but…
Kevin: But we can get England, so we’ll be getting that soon.
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: Whee.
Kevin: Is that any better for Australians?
Jamie: No, it’s – no, it’ll still be international.
Kevin: Ugh. That stinks.
Andrew: Well, we’ll figure something – I’m sure, there’s got to be a solution. [laughs] Hopefully.
Jamie: Yeah, there will be.
Jamie’s British Joke Of The Day
Andrew: Now, moving on to Jamie’s British Joke of the Day!
Jamie: Okay. I finally got one straight away now, instead of having to [laughs] always have to…
Andrew: Sweet!
Jamie: Okay.
[Kevin laughs]
Jamie: I’ve done kind of ‘a guy walks into a bar’ theme for the past few shows, and so I thought I’d round that up now with a few more “a guy walks into a bar” jokes.
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Andrew: Okay.
Jamie: A guy walks into a bar with jumper cables. [laughs] The bartender says, “You can come in, but don’t start anything.”
[Everyone laughs]
Jamie: Okay, okay. A penguin walks into a bar, goes to the counter, and asks the bartender, “Have you seen my brother?” The bartender asks, “I don’t know. What does he look like?”
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: I get it!
Kevin: Yeah, that was delayed. I got like… Yeah.
Jamie: And finally – actually no, I think finally – a grasshopper hops into a bar. The bartender says, “You’re quite a celebrity around here. We’ve even got a drink named after you.” So, the grasshopper says, “What, you’ve got a drink named Steve?”
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Jamie: And, to finish up, the neutron walks into a bar and orders a beer. The bartender sets the beer down and says, “For you, no charge.”
[Everyone laughs]
Jamie: I should really apologize for how bad these are this week.
Andrew: No, it’s okay.
Jamie: I won’t be on for ages, but I promise after I’m back…
Andrew: For ages? Don’t say that.
Jamie: …I’ll have a whopper. Well, not that – quite a long time. But I’ll bring back an absolute whopper of the best joke ever, okay?
Andrew: Okay. Awesome.
Jamie: You’ll be falling over laughing, okay?
Kevin: Okay.
Favorite Harry Potter Book – Kevin Steck Style
Andrew: All right, for favorites this week, we are just going to put Kevin on the spotlight. We want to know: what is your favorite Harry Potter book?
Kevin: First time I read them or after multiple times?
Jamie: Just in general.
Eric: Both. [laughs]
Kevin: I actually enjoyed Goblet of Fire, myself.
Laura: Yes!
Kevin: I really enjoyed it.
Laura: Why?
Kevin: Because it was the first time Harry started actually taking responsibility and kicking some butt. [laughs]
Laura: Yesss.
Andrew: It’s interesting, because Jo admits – didn’t Jo admit that it was her least favorite? Because I know she says that she rushed that book, remember that?
Kevin: Yeah, but from a writer’s standpoint – I mean, she doesn’t like the book as much because she thought she could’ve done better.
Andrew: Right.
Kevin: Even though it could be her best book, in her opinion, she could have thought she could’ve done better. So, she…
Jamie: Yeah.
Kevin: …you know…
Laura: Mhm.
Jamie: Yeah.
Andrew: But if – but if she never even said that she rush – rushed the book and didn’t like it as much as the others, we would never have noticed.
Kevin: Right. It was an excellent book. I liked it.
Laura: Mhm.
Andrew: Yeah.
Kevin: Yeah.
Andrew: We’ll get back to our normal favorites segment next week.
What If…Harry Hadn’t Been Raised By The Dursleys
Andrew: Now it is time for this week’s “What If” segment. Jamie?
Jamie: Okay. Our What If this week is from Kristen, age 16 from North Carolina, and she asks: “What if Harry had not been taken to the Dursleys after his parents were killed? How much different do you think he would have been?”
Kevin: A lot. I don’t know who he would have gone to.
Eric: He would have – he was almost given to, he was almost given to Sirius. He was almost given to Sirius by Hagrid.
Laura: Oh yeah.
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: Remember that, guys? Sirius asked for Harry. He asked to be given Harry.
Kevin: Yeah, but you have to remember that Sirius was unavailable at the time. So… But I definitely think he would be different, in probably or possibly a bad way.
Eric: Yeah.
Kevin: Because he sort of learned – he appreciates people…
Jamie: Yeah, definitely. Yeah.
Kevin: …far more because of his situation.
Eric: Exactly. I think that was a very…
Kevin: And if you removed that…
Laura: I think it depends on who he was raised with.
Kevin: True, true, but…
Eric: Well, that was the very point of Dumbledore’s placing him with the Dursleys – is that exactly – he’ll be better growing up away from that. He said, “Harry will be better going away from all that.” That’s exactly – he exactly why I am placing him with these mean people.
Laura: Whether it would be negative or positive is anyone’s guess.
Kevin: Yeah, but he better appreciates people because of his situation at the Dursleys.
Laura: Definitely.
Jamie: Yeah.
Kevin: Those characters.
Andrew: So, who else could he have been raised by. I mean, what if the Dursleys didn’t even exist, or they had gotten killed?
Eric: Well, I mean, I don’t know, but Sirius offered to take him, and then Hagrid said, “No,” you know, “I’ve got orders from Dumbledore.” But, so Sirius nearly almost had him.
Kevin: So, maybe Sirius, yeah.
Laura: Yeah, but they were also suspecting that someone close to the Potters had been passing information to Voldemort, so they weren’t just going to release him to anyone right away.
Eric: Yeah, and I think it actually would have been a bad thing if Sirius was to have been given Harry, because right the next day…
Kevin: Harry would have become a rebel.
Eric: Oh, yeah. And…
Kevin: Big time.
Laura: Mhm.
Eric: …right the next day, you know, Sirius would have gone after Pettigrew.
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: You know? His life is too unpredictable. He would have just uprooted and gone to face off Pettigrew and left Harry [laughs] at home in a carriage or – just left him home to go do that or whatever.
Laura: Yeah, Sirius has good intentions, but he’s far too erratic to be a parent.
Kevin: Definitely. So who else is a potential?
Laura: You know, I wonder, would Dumbledore have gone looking for a substitute family, like say the Weasleys?
Andrew: I was just going to think that, but, like, what are the chances of Harry getting into the Weasleys? Like…
Laura: Well, not necessarily them.
Andrew: …what would have been the chances of Dumbledore – or a family like the Weasleys. I mean…
Laura: But, I mean, Dumbledore just finding a family that he could trust.
Eric: Do you think that Dumbledore would have raised Harry himself?
Laura: I wondered that as well.
Kevin: I don’t think so.
Andrew: I was thinking that too, but he lives at Hogwarts.
Eric: No, I know.
Andrew: So what are you going to do, keep a little kid at Hogwarts?
Kevin: It’s not only that, it’s that you have to remember a lot of stuff with the war was still going on even though Voldemort was gone. So…
Eric: I understand that…
Laura: Then what better place than Hogwarts to keep Harry?
Kevin: Yeah, but safety-wise…
Laura: I mean – excuse me.
Kevin: …Dumbledore is the – you know, everyone’s looking for Dumbledore.
Eric: I don’t know. I’d think…
Andrew: Well didn’t Dumbledore say it was best for Harry to live a normal life?
Kevin: True. That too.
Eric: I agree with that, but I actually would have liked if Dumbledore had raised Harry.
Kevin: Oh yeah, but…
Eric: You know, Hogwarts would have been the safest place to keep him.
Andrew: Oh, of course.
Eric: Even safer than Privet Drive. Hogwarts, I mean, come on. And the staff could watch him if Hagrid had to – if Dumbledore had to go off and fight somebody.
Jamie: Is it safer than Privet Drive?
Eric: Well, Priv – I don’t know.
Laura: I don’t think it is, because it doesn’t have the ancient magic. I mean, I’ll concede that Hogwarts is possibly not as safe as Privet Drive is, but I think that seeing as Hogwarts is known as one of the only safe places in the wizarding world during the war, that Harry would have been okay there, especially with all the eyes that would have been on him.
Jamie: Yeah, yeah.
Eric: By all the staff and stuff, he could have – you know, if Dumbledore did have to go off and fight some more evil, he could have left him at Hogwarts with McGonagall or someone.
Laura: Yeah.
Kevin: Yeah, but what does that do to a young kid, seeing his…
Eric: Well, it’s not like your father’s always going away and never spending time with you. I’m pretty sure that Dumbledore would have, you know, spent the time and raised him properly if he had it. I just don’t think Dumbledore would bring that upon himself, but if he did I think it would be – you know, it would be pretty cool.
Kevin: Yeah, but it’s also the argument that Dumbledore’s always the one who goes to war first, kind of. And…
Eric: Eh, that’s true, that’s true, that’s definitely true.
Jamie: Yeah, that is.
Kevin: And do you want to have the…
Jamie: He’s the embodiment of the good side, Dumbledore.
Kevin: Exactly.
Laura: Mhm.
Kevin: Do you want to have a kid being raised where his parent could die at any moment, because he’s always going to war.
Jamie: Yeah.
Kevin: I mean, I’m sure it would have been great, and that’s not even always the case, even in our current world. But, you know?
Laura: It’s a lose-lose situation, though, because…
Kevin: Yeah, it’s a question Dumbledore had to ask himself.
Laura: I mean, in the end, Harry ends up with a completely crappy upbringing from the Dursleys, so it’s like, you either have the chance of living a life where you’re loved and you’re cherished, but you’re not spoiled to the point where you’d be a brat. And, you know…
Jamie: Yeah.
Laura: …you have this possibility of your parental figure dying, or you get…
Eric: Yeah.
Laura: …treated like complete crap, beat up by your cousin…
Eric: But…
Laura: …and you have two very awful parental figures.
Eric: Yeah.
Kevin: Yeah, true.
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: But, I mean, as Dumbledore said, they were the only family he had left, so if there was no family left, it really begs the question what if he went somewhere else?
Kevin: I think we killed it.
[Andrew and Laura laughs]
Chicken Soul For The MuggleCast Soul
Andrew: All right, now this week we’re going to rap things up with Chicken Soup for the MuggleCast Soul. This one comes from Katie, 17, from Chicago. She writes:
It’s e-mails like that, that keep us going…
Jamie: Yeah.
Andrew: …because we always like to know how we’re helping people, so…
Eric: And up until now I’ve only heard of me giving people headaches.
[Everyone laughs]
Eric: I mean, I’m shocked.
Andrew: I am too, Eric.
Eric: There’s like – there’s like this giant death toll, and there’s this tally on a whiteboard somewhere, and now they’re going to have to buy a new whiteboard just to do like, the saved-people toll.
Andrews: [laughs]Reasons Eric’s good for.
Eric: There aren’t many.
Andrew: I’m just kidding, Eric. [laughs]
Eric: But I completely agree with what Jamie was saying earlier, before the show about these chicken soups gradually getting worse and worse…
[Andrew, Laura, and Eric laugh]
Eric: …until somebody’s going to be like, covered with 100 tons of rock, and listening to MuggleCast, and like bursting.
Show Close
Andrew [Show Close with music in background]: Well, on that note, that does wrap up MuggleCast 37. Oh my gosh we’re so old. Thirteen episodes until our one year anniversary.
Eric: Whoo.
Laura: Wow.
Andrew: And MuggleCast 50. What good timing.
Eric: Wow, that’s brilliant.
Kevin: Crazy.
Andrew: So, on that note.
Eric: What – no, actually, wait what note is that, Andrew?
Andrew: Uh, C. C minor.
Eric: Is that like, a high G?
Andrew: C minor.
Eric: C minor?
Andrew: [singing] C minor.
Kevin: C minor.
Eric: [singing] C minor.
Jamie: On that note, he’s Andrew Sims, she’s Laura Thompson, he’s Eric Skull, he’s Kevin Steck, and I’m Jamie Lawrence, good night.
Andrew: Good night, everybody.
Kevin: Good night.
Laura: Good night.
Comments
[Music begins playing]
[Audio]: Hey MuggleCast guys, this is Amanda, from Tampa, Florida. I just want to say that I love your podcast, and I listen to it every weekend, it’s what I look forward to all week, and I must say that me and my friend Megan love British Joke of the Day. I love you Jamie! Bye!
[Audio]: MuggleNet, this is Josh, from Salt Lake City, Utah. You guys rock! Love the show! Thanks!
[Audio]: Hi MuggleCast, my name is Karen from Ohio, and I really adore your show and all of the MuggleCasters, but Ben and Laura, you’re the best. I called to ask everybody who is listening for donations to help women who have breast cancer. Two of my friend’s mothers are suffering from it, and both of them would really appreciate it if you would donate to help find a cure, and support those who have breast cancer. If you would like to donate, go to www.breastcancer.org and click on “Support and Community.” Then click on “Make A Donation.” Next, click on “Donate To This Fund.” It doesn’t matter how much you donate, but it would really mean a lot to me and my friends. Please contribute! Thanks again! I love MuggleCast! Bye!
[Audio]: Hi, this is Kevin from Long Island. I really don’t have much to say, but, love your show! I was playing Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and thought of you guys, so I thought I’d call and say what’s up. Um, yeah. Whatever. Peace out.
[Music ends]
Bloopers
Eric: [singing] Muh! Gull! Cast! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing, yahoo!
——————————————————–
Laura: It really makes me…
Jamie: Just maybe, you know…
Laura: Sorry, Jamie.
Jamie: That’s okay, don’t worry.
Laura: It really makes me, uh, want –
[Static]
[Everyone laughs]
Eric: What?
[Everyone laughs]
Laura: Thank you, Jamie.
Jamie: Sorry.
Laura: I feel so warm and fuzzy inside now.
Andrew: I didn’t say anything.
Laura: Anyway…
———————–
Written by: Micah, Amanda, Jessica, Martina, Rhiannon, Roni, and Sarah