Transcript for MuggleCast Episode #664, Where’s the Skrewt Flute? (GOF Chapter 31, The Third Task)
Show Intro
[Show music plays]
Andrew Sims: Welcome to MuggleCast, your weekly ride into the Wizarding World fandom. I’m Andrew.
Eric Scull: I’m Eric.
Micah Tannenbaum: I’m Micah.
Laura Tee: And I’m Laura.
Andrew: And this week, get ready for an a-maze-ing episode…
[Laura laughs]
Eric: Ohhh.
Andrew: … as we take on the third task of the Triwizard Tournament. But first, we actually got some pretty big Harry Potter TV show news, and it is news that, while significant, it’s not exactly a shock because it had been rumored for a couple of months now. The Harry Potter TV show has officially signed on its showrunner and director, the latter of which will be directing at least multiple episodes. So the showrunner… and this is the person who’s supposed to carry the show from beginning to end; she’s like the boss, the big bad, if you will.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: It is J.K…. no. It’s Francesca Gardner.
Eric: Oh, wow. Okay.
Laura: I was about to say, I think there are going to be some problems here.
Eric: Heart stop moment. Thank you for that.
Andrew: So both of these people are actually alums from the world of HBO’s Succession, which, when you think Harry Potter, you don’t necessarily think Succession.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: But the show’s excellent, so that’s good news. Francesca’s background includes, like I said, Succession, but also His Dark Materials, the book to TV adaptation for HBO.
Laura: Heck yeah. That was excellent.
Micah: And she was a late add, right? When we were talking a little bit about some of the initial buzz around the show, I think a couple months ago, she was somebody that got pulled in a little bit late, right? So this was somebody I think they really wanted to work on the show, and it looks like they were able to get her.
Andrew: I also love it’s a woman running the show, honestly, in this male-dominated Hollywood. And of course, the Harry Potter movies were all directed by men, so it will be interesting to see if the storytelling changes at all with her at the helm. And then I mentioned a director; his name is Mark Mylod, and he’s worked on Game of Thrones, The Last of Us, Entourage, and, like I said, Succession. The chatter I’ve seen on social media from Hollywood gossipers and journalists is that these seem to be pretty good picks, and so far so good for me.
Eric: Yeah, I guess the next steps are the same as what I’m most interested in: the casting, and it’s going to be hard to strike lightning twice with the young kids. They’ve certainly done it once, so we’ll see.
Andrew: So now I think they will move to casting, now that they have the showrunner and the director for the first few episodes. So that is the update there, and we’ll continue to keep everybody posted as they work on the TV adaptation. Don’t forget; it’s probably not coming till 2026, so still a long ways away. Also, this year’s physical gift for Slug Club patrons has been revealed. Don’t forget; the clock is ticking. It is the MuggleCast 19 Years Later T-shirt. Micah is modeling it off right now on camera. Slug Club members, check your Patreon for the link to the order form and be sure to fill out the form by July 19. We have created a new version of the original MuggleCast Squares shirt, which was our very first shirt 19 years ago, and it now features the four of us in four colorful new silhouettes, and underneath, we have the MuggleCast mic bolt and “19 Years Later” to celebrate our own epilogue year. And if you aren’t a patron, now is a great time to join – honestly, the best time of year to join – because you can get the shirt, so pledge and fill out the form by July 19 to be eligible to receive the shirt. We won’t be on air next week, [laughs] so don’t forget in the next two weeks. That’s your homework assignment while we are off. And you will receive your shirt after you’ve been a patron for a minimum of three months. And in addition, you’ll get sweet benefits, like access to our monthly hangouts with the four MuggleCasters, two new bonus MuggleCast installments each month, ad-free MuggleCast, access to our planning docs, access to our recording studio every Thursday, and much more. And thank you everybody who supports us on Patreon; we could not do this without you, so your support there is greatly appreciated.
Chapter by Chapter: Seven-Word Summary
Andrew: Okay, let’s jump into Chapter by Chapter, and this week, we’re discussing Goblet of Fire Chapter 31, “The Third Task,” and we begin – like we always do – with our seven-word summary. Here we go.
[Seven-Word Summary music plays]
Eric: Riddles…
Laura: … guard…
Micah: … the…
Andrew: …misleading…
Micah: … way…
Laura: … to…
Eric: … victory.
Andrew: Ooh, love it. Well done, y’all.
Laura: Well done.
Eric: Yeah, I like the idea of riddles because Harry has to get past one riddle and inadvertently finds himself in front of another Riddle.
Laura: That…
Micah: Way to set us up for success with that first word, Eric.
Eric: Cheers.
Chapter by Chapter: Main Discussion
Micah: All right, so we are going to talk about the third task of the Triwizard Tournament, and I wanted to start with a section, though, on family matters. And we get Harry at Hogwarts receiving Mrs. Weasley, receiving Bill Weasley, but that’s not the only family that plays a role here in the lead up to the third task. Ron and Hermione are helping Harry; Sirius is corresponding with Harry. And then, of course, we get a little bit of some additional family banter as other family members of Triwizard champions arrive to Hogwarts. But let’s start with Ron and Hermione. Of course, this is coming off the Pensieve chapter; there’s been a huge info dump by Harry to Ron and Hermione about everything that went on in Dumbledore’s office, minus, of course, the status of Neville’s parents. But Ron and Hermione are all about making sure that Harry is going to be successful in the third task, and it’s really nice to see them show up as friends.
Eric: This is really – as it’s said – the first task that Harry feels fully prepared for. It’s getting to the point where he can’t feel very apprehensive, because he’s like, “Well, I kind of know what I’ve got to know.” He’s remembered all the spells; he’s figured out how to do them. Hermione has come through with what ends up being, I think, the MVP spell this chapter, which is a Four-Point Spell, something that gets your wand to point north just like a compass. It ends up being the entire way Harry is able to navigate the maze. She just found it in an old book; they are not teaching this anywhere else, apparently. It’s actually one of the few English language spells as well; all it is is “Point Me.” There’s no Latin incantation.
Andrew: Oh, yeah.
Laura: This was cool. I forgot about this.
Eric: Yeah, me too.
Laura: Well, and now I guess we all know that in order to get to the center of a maze, you just go northwest, right?
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: Or the maze? That maze? Maybe others, it would be a different direction.
Micah: You’re also getting lost all the time, too, and you get flipped upside down, so does that spell really help you at the end of the day?
Eric: Well, I think it can just orient you.
Andrew: To at least get your bearings, yeah.
Eric: Yeah, that’s exactly it. So you can make a left and then a right, and then another left and then another right, but that cancels it out, so you can kind of… it makes sense to me. I’m a non-directionally challenged person; I pride myself on being able to set foot in Chicago and know where to get places, but the compass is very useful.
Laura: Harry probably could have used some breadcrumbs or something to leave a trail so that if he ended up going back the way he came, he would at least know. But then the Skrewts might have eaten the breadcrumbs, so what are you going to do?
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Eric: Yeah, they’re big fans of bread. They’re big fans.
Micah: They’re more interested in human flesh than breadcrumbs, but…
Eric: Wow. [laughs] I bet that’s true.
Andrew: Also, a bit of foreshadowing goes on in this area because the trio are working together and Ron says that this is good training for when they are all Aurors.
[Foreshadowing sound effect plays]
Eric: Definitely foreshadowing it. And yeah, they’re really warping into very competent wizards. These jinxes are… we actually end up seeing them use a number of these jinxes next year, at the end of next year in the Ministry against some Death Eaters, and they get them out of trouble there. So these are really, really good spells. Again, Harry just really is quite prepared, and it feels good.
Micah: And you could also consider this as a precursor to Dumbledore’s Army, right? The way that they are training in this particular chapter for the third task. But as mentioned, Ron and Hermione are not the only ones who are looking to help out Harry; Sirius is trying to do his best from afar, and he’s telling Harry, “Ignore anything outside of Hogwarts.” And this reminds me when we were talking about Sirius in a previous chapter. He’s well-intentioned, but Harry is 14 years old; his mind is going to be racing in a million and one different directions.
Eric: I think you need that coach to keep you focused, though, right? It’s like, these are daily letters from Sirius; I just think it feels good to have somebody care for him. And I just think it’s extremely cute that all the letters from Sirius are marked with a muddy paw print…
Andrew: Aww, yeah.
Eric: … which is just the most adorable thing I think I’ve ever seen. Also, Harry better save these letters; they’ll be worth something in about a year and a half.
Andrew: [laughs] Is the signature…? I mean, I know signatures go up after somebody dies, but Sirius?
Eric: I just think the value, yeah, of the letters. I hope he’s not just discarding.
Andrew: Well, I guess SiriusBlack423@aol.com would think that.
[Eric and Laura laugh]
Andrew: I just love the idea of Sirius being like a boxing coach, though; like before Harry is about to jump into the ring, he’s getting a pep talk and all that.
Micah: I mean, if Harry ignores Sirius’s gifts generally, why would he keep any letters from him? Is that too soon?
Eric: It might’ve been.
Laura: Well, it’s certainly not brought up that Harry keeps them in the future. You would think if he had them, they would come up at some point, like he’d be shuffling through his trunk and he would find those muddy paw print letters from Sirius. But maybe Harry is just not materialistic.
Eric: [laughs] Harry has really been working on clearing his feng shui.
Laura: Right?
Micah: He’s not a hoarder.
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: Sirius, on the other hand…
Eric: Well, the other aspect is if somebody found it and worked out that it was Sirius, they’d probably maybe be able to use it. Maybe Harry is intentionally destroying them right after he reads them.
Laura: Maybe, yeah.
Micah: Well, as if Harry didn’t have enough to worry about heading into the third task, he gets hit with a Rita Skeeter hit piece, and she paints him as this troubled attention-seeking young man who lacks just all credibility. And I’m wondering, does this kind of story help to substantiate the way the Ministry starts to paint Harry in Order of the Phoenix? This is actual written text that they can go back to and say, “Look, as early as last year, Harry was out of control.”
Eric: Rita Skeeter has done the Daily Prophet such a huge favor with this. She couldn’t possibly know it, necessarily; she doesn’t know what’s happening at the end of the evening. But yeah, you would think that you… they couldn’t have planned a better time for this to come out. But one thing that I find so maddening – and I’m sure this is by design – is that all of the content of that article plays on the usual prejudices and fears to basically discredit Harry. Draco Malfoy is the primary source that Skeeter is using. We already know – and it’s not difficult to find out – that he’s Harry’s sworn enemy, so that’s not objectivity, hello. And also, things like his friendship with werewolves, plural – yeah, right. It was Remus Lupin, their previous teacher. Giants – it’s Hagrid, come on, but see previous article. And this is the debut where everyone figures out worldwide that Harry is a Parselmouth, and that carries some specific negative vibes. But it’s just a shame to see that Skeeter is… she has no real content on Harry, and so she’s trying really hard to stoke public outrage or outcry, and even go so far as to suggest he shouldn’t be at Hogwarts at all.
Andrew: I do wonder if it’s possible that Fudge actually kind of did work with Rita on this, because this comes right after Harry stood up to him in the previous chapter. Remember, Fudge was embarrassed when Harry said Madame Maxine couldn’t hide if she were to commit a crime, and Fudge wasn’t happy about that remark. Think he was a little embarrassed, it said. So I wouldn’t be surprised if Fudge was willing to put some bad stuff about Harry into the Daily Prophet, or certainly wouldn’t be mad about it, seeing it published there, even if he didn’t know about it.
Eric and Laura: Yeah.
Laura: I mean, as we’ve established before, Fudge is the kind of guy who is just looking for optics opportunities to make himself look better and to not create troubled, fraught times for the Ministry that he’s currently leading. Joke’s on him, though; this is not going to go well. [laughs]
Eric: Well, and joke’s on him again because despite his reservations – very vocal – about Madame Maxime, Dumbledore or whoever’s in charge of seating has placed Fudge next to Madame Maxime at the last dinner before task three, and Fudge looks really upset about it.
Micah: Well, it would have been Percy, right? Fudge is sitting in for Percy.
Eric: Deniability.
Micah: That’s just where Percy happened to be seated when Dumbledore planned this three months ago.
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: Do we think Dumbledore plans anything that far in advance, apart from Horcrux hunting? I just don’t think he’s that organized of a guy.
Eric: But would he do anything to stop it? [laughs] No.
Laura: No, I agree with that wholeheartedly. And actually, I think it’s kind of mean to Madame Maxime to make her sit next to Fudge.
Eric: Well, right.
Micah: Well, is she even aware of the accusations, though? She may not be.
Andrew: Yeah, that’s possible.
Eric: Yeah, yeah. The important thing, though, is… I mean, it is shown that she doesn’t seem to be having a great time either. I think she’s looking down the whole dinner, so he probably said one thing and it probably related to her blood status.
Micah: I thought it was more to do with Hagrid than Fudge.
Laura: Yeah.
Eric: I mean, Hagrid is definitely either trying to get her attention or trying to say something, it’s said, but I can’t really read between the lines there about what’s going on.
Laura: Yeah. Well, it does say that her eyes were bloodshot or something. I thought she’d been crying or something like that.
Micah: I could see Dumbledore just looking down the table at Fudge, or walking by in front of him and being like, “How’s your dinner tonight, Cornelius?”
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: Right.
Micah: Little bit of sass in his voice.
Laura: Oh, 100%.
Micah: But I really do agree; I do think this is a piece that Fudge can look back on, especially as we get towards the beginning of Order of the Phoenix with everything that happens in Little Whinging, and knowing how he really starts to feel towards Harry and Dumbledore at the beginning part of that book. Well, we know how Mrs. Weasley has been taking to certain articles by Rita Skeeter, but she’s not the only one that seems to be using them as ammunition against Harry. Amos Diggory also happens to say a few unkind words in Harry’s direction. I’m curious, though, does he get a little bit of a mulligan because he’s at Hogwarts to support his son? What do you guys think?
Laura: He’s bullying a 14-year-old.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: A 14-year-old who’s competing against his son. So I think he lays it on a little too thick, personally, but I also understand… I mean, this reminds me of being a really bad soccer player in Little League and witnessing how serious the parents take it. They take their kids’ games very seriously…
Micah: More than the kids do.
Andrew: Yeah, yeah. And I guess that’s kind of my point; he’s bringing the aggressiveness we probably should be seeing from Cedric. But yeah, I think he just needs to bring it down a notch.
Laura: This is how Amos has always been, though. Remember when we first met him earlier in the book and he was saying something about, “Oh, yeah, Ced, you beating Harry Potter at Quidditch; that’ll be a story for the grandkids,” and Cedric tries to say, “Well, it didn’t really count, because Harry fell off his broom,” and Amos was like, “Nonsense, you still won, didn’t you?” And it was like, “What are you doing, man? You’re living vicariously through your teenager?” That’s what’s happening.
Eric: But it gets to the point where Molly Weasley steps in, too, and says to Amos, “Oh, surely you don’t believe Rita Skeeter, do you?” And he is shut down, but he’s still fuming to the point where his wife… he’s about to rebut even Mrs. Weasley, and his wife – whoever she is – Mrs. Diggory has to pull Amos away. I feel bad for his wife. I just think despite Cedric’s damage control, Amos goes too far.
Micah: He’s a proud parent. I think the point about him living vicariously through Cedric is definitely a good one. And let’s not forget, Harry is four years Cedric’s junior, right? And Harry has only been playing Quidditch for three years at the time that Cedric has supposedly bested him, so you know what? Yeah, way to beat up on the little kid, Ced.
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: Right.
Eric: Yeah, and they’re tied, though, too, for points, Harry and Cedric are. They get to go in the maze tonight first together. That should also tell Amos what a sincere competitor, and what an apt competitor, Harry is.
Laura: Since we brought up Mrs. Weasley for a moment there in talking about her defense of Harry and pushing back against Amos and saying, “You know that Rita Skeeter just likes to make everyone’s life hell working at the Ministry; you should know better,” I think it’s really funny that she can recognize this about Rita Skeeter when it comes to Harry, but not when it comes to Hermione. [laughs]
Eric: It’s so sad. And lucky that Harry gets a weird inkling to, out of nowhere in the middle of silence… it’s that meme, everyone: just nothing. Harry: “By the way, Mrs. Weasley, Hermione is not my girlfriend.” She’s like, “Oh, yep! Nobody said she was!”
Laura: Right. She’s like, “Duh, I knew that.”
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Eric: “Who was thinking that? I wasn’t thinking that. You were thinking that?” So it’s just ridiculous, though, because then Molly Weasley behaves so much better toward Hermione the rest of that day and then, presumably, forever. But this goes to show… I think it’s one of the most important lessons in the Harry Potter books that is applicable to our present day and age. People believe the written word, and the written word holds weight. Even adults who are trying not to believe what’s in print still end up believing parts or some of what they read because it’s printed. This is why it’s so important to have ethics in journalism and to have correct information be published, because you know what you’re doing. People are reading this and really believing that that’s the way things are. And with Rita Skeeter, she is on a personal vendetta to discredit the trio, and we see how it has real consequences in the future.
Andrew: I think a part of what’s at play here, too, is that the Daily Prophet is a very established publication. This isn’t some new media outlet. I mean, all these witches and wizards grew up reading this newspaper, presumably, or at least being aware of it. They trust it. They’ve learned to trust it over the decades, whether or not it’s becoming increasingly corrupt.
Micah: For me, the disappointing piece, though, is Hermione is somebody who Mrs. Weasley has come to know for three years at this point, somebody who is one of Ron and Harry’s best friends at school, and the fact that she would just flip the switch that easily and believe something that Rita has to say in an article… this may be a conversation for another time, but I wonder maybe Ron was sending some letters back home about his frustration around the Yule Ball; maybe that helped to light the fire a little bit.
Eric: Maybe. I like the idea that Ron inadvertently made Molly Weasley worse, but she’s been feeling this way since before the Yule Ball, because at Christmas didn’t Hermione not get a sweater?
Micah: It was significantly smaller. Or no, that was the Easter egg.
Laura: That was the egg, yeah.
Eric: But I mean, Molly has been fuming about this for six months. You know what? I’ve decided Amos Diggory is not the most frustrating parent in this chapter; it’s actually Molly Weasley.
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: Fair enough.
Eric: She’s 14! Get over yourself! Her protecting Harry instinct is way out of line here.
Micah: Hermione does feel like she finally has some answers when it comes to Rita Skeeter, so hopefully all of this nonsense that’s been going on throughout the fourth year is finally going to come to an end, and I think we might have Draco to thank for it. Or maybe we have Harry to thank for it with an assist from Draco, or Draco to thank for it with an assist from Harry, depending on how you want to look at it. But we’ll take a quick break and discuss that when we come back.
[Ad break]
Micah: Do we think that Hermione finally has Rita figured out?
Andrew: Certainly seems like it.
Eric: Rita herself says, “I was there. I witnessed the Divination class where Harry fainted.” And that is really what I think… well, that and Harry keeping saying “bugged,” and then witnessing Draco – to your point, Micah – talking to his hand, all of it. But especially Rita herself, I think, shoots herself in the… I want to say foot, but would a bug have…? I guess, just… she shoots herself in the buggy part of the leg…
Andrew: The wing.
Eric: … by saying that. She’s gone too far, she’s gotten too confident, I think.
Laura: Yeah, and I think we see Hermione putting the pieces together as well, because at one point she runs her fingers through her hair, which makes me think she’s thinking about when they were at the lake at the second task and the beetle was in her hair. She also puts her hand up to her mouth like a walkie talkie, similar to what Draco did, so she’s clearly starting to connect the dots. So it’s off to the library, as every brilliant Hermione moment must include.
Micah: Right.
Andrew: Yeah, and just the way that whole passage is written, you can tell she’s having this very unique, triumphant almost moment. She’s gazing into space, and she says, even, she thinks she knows what’s going on for real.
Micah: Yeah. Once again, similar to Book 2, Hermione is solving the mystery that’s going on at Hogwarts. Let’s talk a little bit more about Molly and Bill showing up to support Harry for the third task. Eric, this was your Quizzitch question last week. There’s a few other Weasleys that are noticeably missing from this contingent, but it is nice to see the support, right? This is the family that Harry has been adopted into over the course of the series. Are we surprised, though, that Harry is so surprised? I mean, Harry seems shocked that it’s the Weasleys that are there. He thinks it’s going to be the Dursleys somewhere in the back of his mind, but why in the world would the Dursleys come to Hogwarts?
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Micah: I mean, that’s got to be at the absolute… that’s not even on their list of places to visit.
Eric: He’s just used to thinking he has nobody that would come and see him for this, and so when Ron’s family steps in, it’s a big move. They haven’t done this before for him in this way.
Laura: Yeah. And this was actually kind of sad to me reading it, because whether Harry likes it or not, the Dursleys are the only living blood relatives that he has, and had they actually treated him well and raised him as a son, I’m sure he would have loved to have had them there at Hogwarts supporting him. So if somebody says, “Your family is here to support you,” to Eric’s point, Harry’s default is going to think, “My family? Well, I don’t see the ones I have wanting to come here.” But there’s some inner child trauma there, too, because as a kid, he probably wanted the Dursleys to like him. He probably didn’t understand.
Andrew: And is it that crazy of an idea for the Dursleys to come when Petunia herself as a child wanted to visit Hogwarts?
Micah: No.
Andrew: Potentially they did receive an invitation to Hogwarts for the third task. By the way, this reminds me of the episode of shows like Survivor where they get the letters from the family and it’s all emotional. This happens on Drag Race too.
Micah: Well, back in the day, they used to actually have the family members come, but I think it got too expensive. [laughs] So they just did the letters.
Andrew: Yeah, no room in the budget anymore. [laughs] “Here’s a letter.”
Micah: But I’m so glad you asked that, Andrew. Let’s do a “What if?” What if the Dursleys did come to Hogwarts? How would that have played out?
[“What if?” sound effect plays]
Andrew: Well, Vernon would have hated every second of it, of course.
[Laura and Micah laugh]
Andrew: And Petunia would have acted like she hated it, but deep down, you know she’s enjoying the experience, finally getting to check out Hogwarts for herself. And she can go up to Dumbledore and be like, “Well, guess who’s finally at Hogwarts, bitch?”
[Laura laughs]
Eric: Just like that. He would say it just like that. Dudley would never leave the Great Hall. Three square meals of Hogwarts cooking, he would be hooked.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: What? I would too!
Andrew: Yeah, of course!
Eric: I mean, this is not saying anything other than truly anyone would be at this.
Andrew: It’s all free. It’s not like coming to New York City to visit your child and you’ve got to pay for the meals. This is presumably free.
Eric: No, that’s a great point. But yeah, I think Petunia is the one to watch. Vernon would absolutely hate it, but as we’ve seen in the first chapter of the first book, his priority is his wife’s wellbeing mentally. He would be in crisis mode trying to make sure that he could read her emotions and cater to her needs more than his own. And Petunia, gosh, if she showed up, this would really be that coming to Hogwarts moment. Presumably she didn’t come to support Lily in anything; it would never have been up offered to her as a Muggle, so it’s kind of wild to think about.
Laura: I wonder if the Dursleys might be tempted to come to this if Dumbledore sent them a letter saying, “Hey, Harry is a school champion, he’s participating in these tasks, the third one is coming up, and he might die.”
Eric: He might die.
Laura: “So… do you want to come?”
Andrew: They’d be like, “Ooh, I get to watch him die? Now that is something I’m interested in witnessing.”
[Laura and Micah laugh]
Micah: “PS: Remember my last.”
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Micah: But yeah, it certainly would be an interesting scenario to watch play out and the Dursleys interact with other family members of the other champions and other students at Hogwarts. It was nice to see Krum’s parents there. The Diggorys, we already mentioned. And obviously, Fleur, her sister. Eric, she was there again. She made another appearance.
Eric: Gabrielle, yeah.
Micah: She’s safe. She made it out of the lake.
Eric: They flew her there again. Along with Krum’s parents, which, by the way, why aren’t one of them his prizes to get from the bottom of the lake? They exist.
Laura: They said no.
Micah: Budget. They only had budget to bring them in for the third task. [laughs]
Andrew: Yeah, I think what Laura just said; they said no. I mean, the people who were put underwater were told what was going to happen, we found out, and…
Eric: So they were like, “No, we won’t do it. Just use a Hogwarts girl instead of us.”
Andrew: “Use a Hogwarts girl.”
Eric: “Instead of us, our grown wizard adult parents, you figure it out.”
Andrew: I don’t want to get into that again; I’m just saying that they put their foot down, as should everybody else have done. [laughs]
Eric: Oh yeah, yeah. Okay, that works.
Micah: So Harry is able to really enjoy the day, and I think this was set up well, right? From a mental health perspective before having to go into the third task, at least for Harry. I’m sure Cedric Diggory’s father was just hounding him all day about how he was going to perform in the third task. But for Harry, it’s just a really nice moment to be able to spend this time with Molly and with Bill, to walk around the Hogwarts grounds, to eat with them… it’s something he just hasn’t really had in his life at all, and I think that that’s really just… it’s a nice moment for him before things really start to go off the rails.
Laura: Yeah, it’s too good to last.
Micah: One of the things I just wanted to call out was that it seems like Molly and Bill haven’t been back to Hogwarts since they graduated. What’s curious to me, though, and I don’t know – I think, Laura, you have a good question here as to whether or not Hogwarts actually has graduations – but Molly has had three sons who would have graduated within the very recent past, so it’s curious that she’s walking around and observing things for the first time in a long time. Thinking about the Whomping Willow; she references that that wasn’t there when she went to Hogwarts.
Eric: Yeah. I mean, she was technically at Hogwarts when… what, at the end of Chamber? When she was there to figure out what happened with Ginny.
Laura: That’s true. But she had bigger fish to fry at that point, so…
Eric: Yeah, that wasn’t a leisurely walk across the lake. But yeah, it’s wild.
Andrew: I guess we could argue that this confirms they don’t have graduations at Hogwarts if Molly hasn’t been there, despite three kids now leaving the school. But that seems very odd; I’m surprised that there wouldn’t be a graduation. All they get at the end of the year is funerals. That’s really sad.
Laura: Yeah, that’s a bummer.
[Eric laughs]
Laura: I mean, you can also win the House Cup, so there’s that? [laughs] Something that I noted that I thought was really funny is Molly is talking about her experiences at Hogwarts, and she talks about how the Fat Lady kind of chewed her out when she went on a late night stroll with Arthur until 4:00 a.m. when they were at school.
Andrew: Oooh.
Laura: And when I read this, I was like, “I see you, girl.”
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Eric: Late night stroll.
Andrew: Well, also, Molly is always “Abide by the rules, be good,” and this seems a little bad. I mean, Molly was younger, so there’s that, but…
Laura: She had a twinkle in her eye, though, when she said it. [laughs]
Andrew and Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: Aw, she’s reminiscing. That’s really sweet.
Micah: And she didn’t mind getting caught either. She references what the caretaker back then would have done to her, right? Apollyon Pringle, the precursor, as far as we know, to Argus Filch.
Eric: Right.
Micah: It seems like he may have been the one to implement those more barbaric tactics that Filch really lusts for because it’s pretty graphic what Molly says would have been done to her had she been caught.
Laura: Doesn’t she say Arthur still has the scars or something? Because he did get caught.
Micah: Where?
Laura: [laughs] I don’t know. Unclear.
Eric: On his feet from all that strolling.
Andrew: On his rubber duck. Jumping back to graduations real quick, I remembered Rowling actually did say at one point outside of the books that there are graduations. This came up in the Pottercast interview. Those who are graduating take the boats away from the school after graduating.
Laura: Oh, that’s right.
Andrew: So there’s that full circle moment. So yes, apparently there is… though, I guess let’s play this out further: Molly has been near Hogwarts to watch them graduate, but watches from the other side of the lake, maybe. From the Hogwarts Express, let’s say? From the station?
Eric: Fair enough.
Laura: Maybe. But is that their graduation ceremony? Just getting in a boat?
Andrew: Yeah, well, the music plays. [sings “Pomp & Circumstance”]
Laura: [laughs] I’m just thinking if there are graduations, I feel so bad for the graduating classes in Goblet, Order of the Phoenix, and Half-Blood Prince. I mean, also Deathly Hallows. How are you going to have graduations those four years? I bet they canceled them.
Andrew: Well, the unique twists of the graduation ceremonies those years is that in addition to you going across the lake, so too does the casket of the person who died that year or the people who died that year.
Eric: Right.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: I’m also thinking that the graduation song, the owls are also hooting it, so it’s like… [hoots “Pomp & Circumstance”]
[Micah laughs]
Laura: Wasn’t that Vitamin C?
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: Oh, yeah.
Eric: It’s hard to fit the same people in boats as well, the same amount of people in the boats. They’ve grown quite a bit.
Andrew: Graduation (Friends Forever). [sings] “All the times when… Harry got in trouble…”
Micah: Graduating class of 2000, that was our big song. I think that’s what it was written for, actually.
Laura: It was, yeah.
Micah: All right, let’s talk about the maze. After Harry spends the afternoon strolling around with Molly and Bill and gets a nice dinner, it’s time to go down to the Quidditch pitch, which has been transformed into this really scary, eerie maze. And there’s not as much pomp and circumstance – speaking of that – as there was in the movie. I was expecting a little bit more, but it’s just like, “Okay, everybody’s here? In you go.” I was reading up a little bit on this task, and I wanted to ask the question: Do we feel like this task in particular is the ultimate test of self-discovery? Does it show that Harry is able to play with the big boys and girls? Or is he just benefiting from the aid of a Death Eater in disguise?
Laura: So not to downplay the things that Harry encounters in the maze – because there are some pretty dangerous moments, and it’s not to say nothing happens – but he spends a shocking amount of time just walking around in the dark, and it made me wonder if Fakey was potentially removing obstacles from Harry’s path while he was patrolling the perimeter of the maze, because remember, he was one of the few people doing that. We know that’s how he gets Krum later. So it just made me wonder if he was maybe trying to grease the wheels a little bit for Harry.
Eric: It’s possible, but I mean, the hedges are 20 feet tall; that’s huge. So if you really think about it, the maze doesn’t need to be alive the way that it is in the movie in order to be imposing. And like I said, you could actually get lost; it doesn’t take something that large or confusing to actually just wind up all turned around. So I would say… my inclination is that there really weren’t many more obstacles than what they planned. To your point, Laura, the ones that are in there, though, are very dangerous. They’re very, very tough, actually. Any one of them I could see knocking a grown wizard out.
Andrew: Yeah, I think Fakey… I like this idea, Laura. I think he has to pull the strings a little bit, but not too much to the point where Harry is on his guard even further, because then he’s like, “This is too easy; something weird is going on,” and then he’s bracing for something bigger, and then maybe he becomes even more suspicious. So I think it’s just kind of finding that line where he’s helping him, but not too much.
Laura: Yeah. Gets real desperate at the end with Krum, I guess, and is like, “Ah, we gotta take out Diggory now.” [laughs]
Andrew: Yeah. The task also revealed that Harry cares more about people than he does the Triwizard Tournament. He’s looking out for Cedric; he’s concerned about Fleur. That was a really nice character moment from Harry as well.
Eric: Yeah, and as well as Harry struggling with, “Oh, I guess I’m that much closer to victory,” there’s a part of him that is keeping track of people and caring about his classmates or fellow champions, but then another part that’s like, “Ooh,” when he sees the spark go up or something. He’s like, “Oh, somebody’s out of the game; I have one less competitor,” and it’s just such an… I think it’s written in a really realistic way of how your mind considers all the angles there.
Andrew: So let’s talk about the enemies that Harry faces, and we’ll go in order here: the Dementor.
Laura: I just love the connection to Prisoner of Azkaban here, and the image of the Dementor tripping over its cloak.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Eric: Yeah, yeah. And keep in mind, if Harry hadn’t had the previous year’s experience… the Dementor alone – well, it’s a Boggart – but the Dementor alone could have really caused him a lot of trouble. And in fact, I think a Boggart is so overpowered because it takes the position – the size and shape – of your exact worst fear, so no matter what, you’re guaranteed a difficult obstacle in having a Boggart there. So I think it’s brilliant, actually, that this is what’s in the maze.
Andrew: The next thing Harry faces is the upside down, not to be confused with the Upside Down in the Stranger Things TV series. This reminds me of like in a video game, actually, where sometimes you get flipped upside down, or your controller suddenly starts working backwards. I was like, “Oh, I hate when that happens.”
Eric and Laura: Yeah.
Laura: Well, there’s actually a part – I’m trying to think because I don’t want to give spoilers – there is a part in Hogwarts Legacy where this can happen.
Andrew: Huh. Okay.
Laura: And I don’t know, because I know that the extra mission came out, or the PS5 exclusive mission came out…
Eric: Oh, it did. It did now. Yeah, I played it.
Laura: Yeah. And there is a moment in there where this happens, and it’s very disorienting.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Eric: It is extremely… yeah. How does Harry get out of this, by the way? Is it just that he has to let go, and then eventually…? Because he’s hanging and he’s going to fall to the bottomless stars, but then something with his foot moves, and then he’s all of a sudden righted?
Andrew: He just had to center himself mentally, I think, and just push through the confusion. That’s how I read it.
Eric: As a kid, I would definitely think for long amounts of time, like, “What would happen if the ceiling were the floor,” right? Indoors, though. I would never go outside. But I always thought that would be kind of cool.
Micah: So the next creature – or kind of sub task within the task that Harry faces – is the Blast-Ended Skrewt.
Andrew: So Hagrid bred the Blast-Ended Skrewts. Did Hagrid…? Am I forgetting something? Did Hagrid not give Harry any tips for fighting these things? They’re good buds. [laughs] Come on, man.
Laura: He did teach them how to walk the Skrewts on leashes, so maybe he should have given Harry a leash to go into the maze with.
Eric: I don’t think Hagrid knows how to subdue these things. He’s bred them with absolutely no care or restriction or restraint at all.
Andrew: I’m being very generous, aren’t I? You would just think there’s some sort of kill switch. Like, what’s the flute for the Blast-Ended Skrewt? That almost rhymes, actually.
Micah: That rhymed. It does. It’s definitely troubling, though, too, that they would have just cleared this creature who nobody knows anything about; forget about Hagrid.
Andrew: [laughs] Right.
Micah: This is a illegally cross-bred creature that is… who knows how much larger it can grow? It might just be based on the number of humans it consumes.
[Eric laughs]
Micah: And it’s just in the maze. So to your point, who knows if anybody knows how to actually subdue it? It’s horrifying that this thing is in the maze.
Andrew: Nobody knows. Nobody knows how to subdue it.
Eric: I mean, Harry’s strategy is – it works the same for the Acromantula – look for the soft spot on its belly. But it doesn’t kill it; it just kind of gets it out of the…
Micah: Stuns it, yeah. Well, where most creatures are vulnerable.
Eric: Right.
Micah: Harry next comes upon Krum and Cedric; he actually hears Cedric crying out and forces himself through a portion of the maze in order to get over to the two of them. And we know Harry has a saving people thing, right, Laura?
Laura: Yeah, he definitely does. And I have to think that Moody hoped that Harry would not encounter this; I think he was trying to really just do away with any and all obstacles at this point so Harry would just make it to the center of the maze. He also knows Harry is a decent person and would help Cedric if he came across this, so the fact that Harry ended up intervening was not according to plan, I think.
Micah: No, and it potentially puts Harry in danger as well.
Eric: Yeah, right. Moody definitely wouldn’t have wanted that. His cursed Krum is for Cedric only.
Micah: And as we know, Harry comes to the aid of Cedric, and the two of them part ways here. It’s not until later on that they come back together. But Harry ends up saving Cedric from Krum, and presumably they send up red sparks to have Krum removed from the maze.
Eric: Yeah, the interaction between Harry and Krum here is really special. This whole chapter is very meaningful. You see the pain in Cedric’s eyes about what had just happened to him and his hesitance to send up red sparks, but the desire to get Krum out of the maze for presumed cheating. Harry and Cedric both relate to each other on “I didn’t think Krum was a bad guy. It’s very interesting that just happened to us.” And if given more time, they would have figured something out.
Micah: I think that’s important because it goes back to the question at the top about self-discovery, and I think what we come to realize as readers is that Harry cares more about people than he does about this particular tournament, and you see that with Fleur when he hears her crying out. And he was obviously in a little bit of a challenging position when that happened, because he was not long after there turned upside down. But he does go to save Cedric, right? He has a saving people problem, if we want to call it that.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: Yeah, and major shout-out to HedwigsTheme, by the way, for quoting Moody from the later chapter – Fakey. He actually says, “You had an easier time of it than you should have in the maze tonight… I was patrolling around it, able to see through the outer hedges, able to curse many obstacles out of your way. I Stunned Fleur Delacour as she passed. I put the Imperius Curse on Krum.” So actually, he took out half the champions, Fakey himself.
Andrew: [whispers] Monster.
Eric: Not upside down dust or anything.
Andrew: Right.
Micah: And you could say three quarters of the champions, because if not under the Imperius Curse, Krum would not have used Crucio on Cedric.
Eric: That’s exactly it. And without Moody there – or Fakey there – it wouldn’t even be a Portkey that they were going for.
Micah: And it’s natural progression, right? Imperio, Crucio, and what’s coming in the next chapter.
Andrew and Eric: Ohhh.
Laura: Oh, yeah.
Eric: Nice. Okay.
Laura: Love that.
Micah: Well, the next thing that we encounter is one we’ve never seen before in this series, and it has a riddle for us. But luckily, we have a few moments to think about what the answer to that riddle is, and we’ll be right back after this.
[Ad break]
Micah: So let’s talk about the sphinx, and I thought, having managed the name origin section of MuggleNet many, many, many, many, many years ago…
Eric: Throwback.
Micah: … wanted to talk about the origin of the sphinx, and it’s most famous in legend and was said to have terrorized people by demanding the answer to a riddle that was taught to the sphinx by the Muses, and it devoured a man each time the riddle was answered incorrectly. And so this is a little bit of a play on that, right? We see it in Egyptian mythology, we see it in Greek mythology, the sphinx, and we know that J.K. Rowling took very much from mythology in her writing. And with all this conversation about how much Harry was aided in his course to get through this task, does Harry actually solve it?
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: Or was he always going to get a free pass from the sphinx, no matter what his answer was?
Laura: Ohh.
Micah: Because if Moody hoodwinked many other things in this maze – and did have his eye on Harry, presumably, let’s say, 95% of the time – why did he not… why not the sphinx too?
Eric: I would argue that the sphinx is 100% not messed with because Cedric did not come this way, and Cedric still winds up… they meet up in the future next to the cup, so there is a way around the sphinx. And the sphinx says to Harry, “You can back away.”
Andrew: Yes.
Eric: So if this were clearly the only path to the cup, I would say Moody would have had to do something to it, but because it’s not the only path to the cup, maybe this is one he missed. The problem with… I read this when I was 14 for the first time and I could not figure out this riddle, and honestly, it wasn’t until many years later…
Andrew: Me neither. Well, even in present day. [laughs] I didn’t try that hard, though.
Eric: Truly, I was 31 and started dating Meg and she explained it to me. But I didn’t understand at all how the thing… I thought the thing you wouldn’t want to kiss is a Dementor, and I was kind of hung up on that. It all relies on, I guess, knowing that when you say “um,” the Brits spell it “er,” E-R. That’s a, er… is kind of “er” versus “um,” U-M.
Andrew: And he gets the beginning and the end, but not the middle, right? Something like that.
Eric: Yeah, spy-er. “Oh, spider!”
Andrew: Yeah, so you can kind of put the pieces together from there.
Eric: Harry gets, like, 66% of the way there.
Laura: It’s context clues.
Andrew: And that could be enough. Think of a Wheel of Fortune puzzle. If you got the start and the end, you could probably guess the middle.
Eric and Micah: Yeah.
Micah: Or Wordle.
Eric: I was going to say, what’s harder, this or Connections?
Andrew: Ugh, Connections.
Micah: So I thought it’d be good just to read the riddle that the sphinx gives to Harry, and it says,
“First think of the person who lives in disguise,
Who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies.
Next, tell me what’s always the last thing to mend,
The middle of middle and end of the end?
And finally give me the sound often heard
During the search for a hard-to-find word.
Now string them together, and answer me this,
Which creature would you be unwilling to kiss?”
The reason why I wanted to bring it up is once we do get the answer, spy-d-er, right? But spider is not spelled the way that we are accustomed to, right? Because at least in reference to this riddle, “spi” is S-P-Y. And we can go into a lot of different theories about who’s the spy here, but there was a long standing one that this riddle answer was actually a reference to Snape.
Laura: I do remember that.
Andrew: While the debate was still going on about whether he’s good or bad? Interesting.
Micah: Now, the real spider shows up right after this.
[Eric and Micah laugh]
Eric: Right, yes! There is actually a spider in here, an Acromantula, a big one.
Micah: So it’s like, “Congrats for getting it right; now you can get eaten by an Acromantula.”
Andrew: I assume that was the intention; it was kind of teasing what was about to come. So you solve the riddle, you get to go through, and you also get a brief heads-up about what you’re going to encounter next.
Eric: Maybe the proper way to deal with the big spider is to kiss it.
Andrew: Ooh. Don’t ask Ron to do that. He would never win.
Eric: Maybe it’s bewitched that if you kiss it, it… I don’t know, gets your number and walks away.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Eric: Harry nearly dies during the confrontation, and in fact, Harry and Cedric both nearly get wiped out by this thing. It’s massive. It’s horrible. That’s why, like, yeah, there’s only a few obstacles, but each and every one of them can and probably would kill you. I’m just blown away again by Harry’s resilience and his trying every little thing under the sun. You know what works, though? Harry casts Expelliarmus and it works.
Micah: Of course it works.
Eric: It works! Why does it work?
Laura: It’s his signature spell. [laughs]
Eric: The spider doesn’t have a wand! It drops him when it’s holding him with multiple arms.
Laura: Well, I think he cast it against the spider’s pincers, right? And I guess that would be the spider’s equivalent of a weapon.
Eric: I mean, if the pincers then flew off, that would be wild. But I think it’s just enough to jilt it. I can’t tell whether I’m really, really mad or really impressed that it works this time for Harry.
Micah: I was hoping to see the Ford Anglia just stroll in.
[Everyone laughs]
Laura: Can you imagine?
Andrew: Oh, that would’ve been cool.
Eric: That spider-killing Anglia. [laughs]
Laura: Honestly, the Ford Anglia should have totally been in the maze. Why not? We know it’s out in the forest.
Eric: That rogue element that helps take you up over a couple of walls at a time.
Laura: Exactly.
Micah: But this is a full circle moment, right? Because it’s Cedric who comes to Harry’s aid when he’s facing the Acromantula, just like Harry came to Cedric’s aid earlier on in the task with Krum. And they put aside their differences for the greater good of Hogwarts – it’s actually a really longwinded conversation that could have taken much less time – and decide that together they will claim the Triwizard cup and enjoy an all-expense paid vacation to Little Hangleton…
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: Woohoo!
Micah: Return airfare currently unavailable.
Laura: Womp-womp. [laughs]
Andrew: Yeah. So Moody – Fakey – could not have predicted this…
Micah: No.
Andrew: … and this is maybe his big flaw in the plan, though he might not care that Cedric is going to get killed. He didn’t predict a scenario in which they would decide to take it together. It’s too selfless, it’s too friendly, it’s too… for Hogwarts! They wanted to win it together because they’re both Hogwarts students.
Eric and Laura: Yeah.
Laura: I mean, the thing is, I think that Fakey actually would care about Cedric going because wasn’t the plan Harry was going to go to Little Hangleton, Voldemort was going to kill him, they were then going to return his body to the maze, so it would be easily explained that Harry just died during the third task and that way…
Eric: Ohh. I never put that together before! That makes so much… that’s why the Portkey is a return Portkey.
Laura: Yeah, because then Voldemort would be able to continue rising…
Eric: In secrecy.
Laura: In secrecy, exactly.
Andrew: Okay.
Eric: That’s why later Dumbledore is like, “You really helped things by seeing that that day, because it completely ruined the surprise.” Okay, I just understood a major thing.
[Eric and Laura laugh]
Laura: That’s what I love about these books.
Eric: No, I know; there’s always something new on a reread. But I think that what it comes down to for Harry is he never wanted this. He never wanted that eternal glory. He didn’t put his name in the Goblet, and this is why Fakey failed to predict this is because… if Harry had wanted this from day one and chosen to put his own name in, he would be possessive of it, and I think he would run for the cup, especially after Cedric is like, “I’m not going to do this. You should take it.” Harry would have just sucked it up and gone. But because Harry doesn’t want to even… he can’t take credit for even being in the circumstance to begin with. Harry doesn’t want it at all, so it’s really lovely the solution they come up with because that school loyalty aspect is really just wonderful. I mean, if it had been able to go off like that, I’m sure everyone in the world would have cried favoritism and home field advantage and all that other stuff, but it was a nice sentiment in the moment.
Micah: Let’s ask the question, then: What would have happened…? Do we think Moody would have intervened before Cedric got to the cup?
Andrew: Yes, had to have. 100%.
Micah: Could have Stunned him…
Eric: Oh, if he predicted it, yeah.
Andrew: Or maybe sent another surprise enemy down.
Micah: Because it’s clear that Fakey is not trying to harm anybody here, right? The end goal is Harry get to the cup. But if you look at his treatment of Fleur and Krum, it’s not to kill, right? So it’s likely that he would have done something that would have eliminated Cedric from the competition, but likely not done any real significant damage to him.
Eric: Well, it’s the Crucio Curse. Essentially, if Harry hadn’t stepped in, Krum and Cedric would still be right where they were when Harry found him.
Laura: Yeah. And it would have been too suspicious if Fakey had been doing lethal things to all of the competitors except Harry. Imagine Harry wins the Triwizard Cup, comes out of the maze at the end, and the three other champions are dead in the maze.
Eric: Right.
Laura: Suspicious; that’s not really what Fakey is going for here. He’s trying to fly under the radar.
Eric: So all the other people have to be alive. And essentially, the patsy for casting Crucio on Cedric is the kid from the Dark Arts school, whose English is a second language, and nobody would really ever… oh, and his tutor is an ex-Death Eater. I can see the smear job that Fakey had planned for Krum this whole time.
Laura: Oh, and when you think about how Barty Crouch, Jr. feels about Karkaroff? Oof, yeah. That gets deep.
Eric: Right, because even if Krum says he was Imperiused, you blame Karkaroff.
Laura: I have to ask: How awkward would it have been if Harry had said, “No, Cedric, please. You.” And Cedric had been like, “Okay,” and if he had grabbed the cup himself and been transported to Little Hangleton without Harry. I’m just imagining Voldemort waiting and building up to this moment all year, just for this random Hufflepuff student to show up in the graveyard. [laughs]
Andrew: He’s like, [inhales excitedly] … and then it’s not him.
Micah: Cedric could have been the real champion here. Let’s think about the scenario is that Voldemort is not in full strength here – he only becomes to full strength once he gets Harry’s blood – and it’s Wormtail. If everything else equal, could Cedric have taken out Wormtail? Because he’s not injured, right, in the same way he is in the movie?
Andrew: Yeah, that would have been pretty incredible. That’s a good question. I mean, the only thing really working in Wormtail’s favor would be that Cedric would be so caught off guard that he just kind of panics and doesn’t know what to do.
Eric and Laura: Yeah.
Eric: I mean, in the first page of the next chapter, Harry and Cedric think it might be part of the task still, and so they…
Andrew: Right, so at least he would still be on his guard, in a way.
Eric: Well, yes. Yeah, on his guard. But yeah, unfortunately, the Dark side has all the cards here. But it is hilarious to think of Voldemort having to improvise, or just like, “Well, I guess we’ll use somebody who’s not Harry after all.”
Odds & Ends
Micah: All right, we’ll be heading off to the Little Hangleton graveyard in a couple of weeks, but that’s how the third task wraps up. And we have one odd and end that we wanted to call attention to.
Andrew: Yeah, just wanted to call out a little foreshadow alert: Fleur was eyeing Bill with great interest earlier in the chapter, and Harry could tell she had no objection whatsoever to long hair or earrings with fangs on them, so setting up what is to come in the future.
[Foreshadowing sound effect plays]
Laura: She has good taste.
Eric: Bill’s got something. Bill is a little playboy here. He’s getting eyes from two ladies in the room; not just Fleur, but also the Fat Lady’s friend. Just unbelievable.
Laura: Oh, Violet, yeah.
Eric: The portrait of Violet is happy to see him after all this time.
Micah: She knows things. [laughs]
MVP of the Week
Andrew: And now it’s time for MVP of the week.
[MVP of the Week music plays]
Andrew: I’m going to give it to Hermione for helping Harry prepare for the third task over her exams. Prioritizing a friend over exams is Hermione’s love language. Message received.
Micah: Don’t tell Mrs. Weasley.
Eric: I’m going to give my MVP of the week to Bill Weasley for catching the attention of not just Fleur but the painting known as Violet. You player, you. I wonder what your love language is.
[Laura laughs]
Micah: All right, I’m going to give it to the maze for making the Quidditch pitch relevant in this book.
[Eric laughs]
Laura: And for one last time, I’m going to give it to Cedric, a true gentleman and good sport to the very end.
Andrew: [tearfully] Well said. If you have any feedback about today’s discussion, you can contact us by emailing or sending a voice memo that is recorded on your phone to MuggleCast@gmail.com, or you can use our phone number, which is 1-920-3-MUGGLE; that’s 1-920-368-4453. We prefer you record a voice memo on your phone, but we’ll take a phone call. Just remember to keep your message around a minute long, please. And next week, like we said, we are off due to both LeakyCon and the Fourth of July holiday, so if you’re looking for something new to enjoy, why not check out the latest episodes of our new pop culture podcast What the Hype?!, which is available in the MuggleCast feed.
Quizzitch
Andrew: And now it’s time for Quizzitch.
[Quizzitch music plays]
Eric: All right, last week’s question: Which family members are not present for the third task? And as Micah told you all last week, you must list them all. So it’s Charlie, who can’t get the time off from work, but sends his regards to Harry; Percy, who’s inundated with questions from the Ministry about Crouch, and he’s replaced tonight as Crouch’s reserve judge with Cornelius Fudge; and Arthur Weasley, who’s just not there for some reason. But Molly comes, so that’s nice. Charlie, Percy, and Arthur were correct. I did also accept those who added on top of Arthur, Charlie, and Percy, Auntie Muriel. And also somebody asked if Errol counts. Sure, why not?
[Laura laughs]
Micah: But we know why Arthur couldn’t come. I mean, just the thought of walking the Hogwarts grounds with Molly again; who knows what would have happened?
[Eric and Laura laugh]
Eric: You wouldn’t see them till about 4:00 a.m.
Micah: The Whomping Willow.
Eric: Wow. When the Willow is Whomping, you come stomping? I’m trying to figure that out.
Andrew: That’s good.
Eric: Yeah, thanks. Correct answers were submitted by Buff Daddy; Dead Boy Walking; Maze, Maze go away; Niffleroni and extra cheese; Now all I think about is Dumbledore as one of those old dads who sit on their porches reading the newspaper after he said he reads our newspaper…
[Micah laughs]
Eric: … Robbie; The stiffness in Mrs. Weasley’s voice that needs to stretch; and WeaselBee. So think that’s about eight winners out of 40 entries, so it was a hard one last week.
Laura: Wow.
Eric: I know, I know. And here is next week’s Quizzitch question: What are Voldemort’s first words after he climbs out of the cauldron fully grown?
Micah: “Where’s my nose?”
Eric: “Oh, I’m nakey.”
[Laura laughs]
Eric: Submit your answer to us on the MuggleCast website, MuggleCast.com/Quizzitch, or if you’re on the MuggleCast website checking out transcripts or, I don’t know, click on “Quizzitch” from the main nav bar.
Andrew: This show is brought to you by Muggles like you. We thankfully don’t have a Ministry of Magic running the show; we’re just everyday Muggles putting together this podcast, flying by the seat of our pants like we’re Hagrid inventing Blast-Ended Skrewts. But that means we need support from listeners like you. If you’re an Apple Podcasts user, you can subscribe to MuggleCast Gold, which gets you ad-free and early access to MuggleCast, plus two bonus MuggleCast installments every month. And there’s also Patreon.com/MuggleCast. Now is the best time to pledge, y’all. You’ll get all the benefits of MuggleCast Gold, plus the MuggleCast 19 Years Later T-shirt. Make sure to pledge and fill out the form by July 19. And you’ll also get access to our livestreams, our recording studio – in other words, get access to our planning docs – the chance to co-host the show one day, a video message from one of the four of us, and a lot more. So check it all out at Patreon.com/MuggleCast.
Micah: And we are just a few days away from LeakyCon 2024. Eric, Chloé, and I will be out at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Oregon from July 5-7, and Eric, I’m going to turn it over to you.
Eric: Yeah, we have some updates. So we were added to two more panels, and including one with the Fantasy Fangirls, so listen up. This is the most current and up-to-date info you’re going to get before the con, so recommend checking LeakyCon.com, clicking on the schedule – which is a Grenadine site – but here’s the info: On Friday, July 5 at 11:15 a.m., we are doing the MuggleCast meetup. That’s for all convention attendees who are listening to this now and want to come see us; it’ll be an intimate gathering. Then later on Friday, 3:45 p.m., I will be on a panel called “Love Is Love – Diversity and Inclusion in Fantasy.” On Saturday, July 6, 10:00 a.m., we’re going to be on our LeakyCon 2024 Podcaster Mega Panel featuring Pottercast, Potterless, Fantasy Fangirls, and us. And later that day at 5:00 p.m., MuggleCast Live; Micah, me, and Chloé having a lot of fun and reflecting on the 19th year of our podcast and the legacy therein. Then on Sunday, 2:30 to 3:30 p.m., “Rediscovering the Magic: Reading for Joy as an Adult.” This is the panel that’s with Fantasy Fangirls and us, and again, that’s at 2:30. And then in the Portland ballroom for closing ceremonies from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. is the LeakyMug Live. We did just confirm it is going to be like a variety show, which is very exciting, with some time at the end to get together, have a conversation, and reflect. So totally love that; we’re very excited to see you at Leaky if you’re going to Portland. We’ll see you there.
Andrew: Cool.
Laura: Sounds fun.
Andrew: Well, hope you all have a good time. And we haven’t said this yet, I don’t think, but the MuggleCast Live that is happening there will be recorded, and we hope to get it out on the stream in a future week.
Eric: Absolutely.
Andrew: Hopefully sooner rather than later. So last but not least, if you enjoy the show and think other Muggles would, too, tell a friend. Spread the good Harry Potter word. And you can also help us spread the word by leaving a review in your favorite podcast app; we really appreciate those. Those give us all the warm fuzzy feelings. Finally, visit MuggleCast.com for transcripts, social media links, our full episode archive, Quizzitch, our favorite episodes, and more. Thanks, everybody, for listening. Americans, have a nice Fourth of July. We’ll see you all in two weeks. I’m Andrew.
Eric: I’m Eric.
Micah: I’m Micah.
Laura: And I’m Laura.
Andrew: Bye, everyone.
Bloopers
Andrew: So that’s the update dere… so that’s the up… so that is the up… [laughs] Why can’t I say it right?
Eric: What is going on? Somebody unplug Andrew and plug him back in.
Micah: Somebody’s excited for the debate.
Andrew: So that is the update there. I forgot how to pivot to a D. So that is…
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Eric: Don’t you hate it when that happens?
Micah: You know, sometimes things just set themselves up so well, you don’t need to say anything.