Transcript for MuggleCast Episode #743, Peeves’ Fight Club (Half-Blood Prince Chapter 19, ‘Elf Tails’)
Cold Open
Micah: Snape needs to keep Draco in check here, too, because he’s not doing enough.
Eric: But he took an Unbreakable Vow saying he’s going to help Draco on his mission and not impede Draco.
Micah: Well, help him, then!
[Andrew and Stef laugh]
Show Intro
[Show music plays]
Andrew Sims: Welcome to MuggleCast, your weekly ride into the world of Harry Potter. I’m Andrew.
Eric Scull: I’m Eric.
Micah Tannenbaum: And I’m Micah.
Andrew: Laura is not here this week, but we are your Harry Potter friends talking about the books and the movies and the upcoming TV show. Be sure to follow us in your podcast app so you never miss an episode. Even though Laura is not here this week, we are lucky to have one of our Slug Club supporters on, Stef! Welcome to the show.
Stef: Hey, thanks for having me. It’s such an honor to be here.
Andrew: It’s a pleasure to have you on, and thank you so much for your longtime support. And this week, brace for Bludger, because we’re discussing Chapter 19 of Half-Blood Prince, “Elf Tales.” But before we get into the episode, Stef, can we please get your fandom ID?
Stef: You may. So my favorite book is Prisoner of Azkaban. My favorite movie is, again, Prisoner of Azkaban. Sorry, Eric.
Eric: I’m really confused right now.
Micah: I don’t want to interrupt, Stef. I’ll wait till the end.
Stef: No, go ahead.
Micah: I want to know if Prisoner of Azkaban has grown on you with age, Eric.
Eric: Oh, me? No.
Micah: As you watch it… oh, okay. It has for me; that’s why I ask that question.
Eric: I am curious… it has a little, and I said no very fast in jest. What I’m curious about, Stef… there’s a lot of ways to judge Movie 3 other than its faithfulness to the books, which is its biggest knock for me. So I’m assuming that you love the third book for how awesome the plot is, and you love the third movie for ultimately a different reason, like how visually adult it seems or anything like that. Don’t want to put words in your mouth.
Stef: No, yeah, I like it, I would say, for the reasons that maybe you don’t like it, because it is the one that has a creative stamp and is very weird and spooky and kind of stands on its own as its own little film.
Eric: It is art. It is art. I do see that now.
Andrew: Thank you, Alfonso.
[Stef laughs]
Andrew: So yeah, what’s the rest of your fandom ID?
Stef: And my Patronus is a lynx. Lynx sisters with Kingsley. My favorite Quidditch Gryffindor player is Ginny.
Andrew: Oh, okay.
Eric: Any particular reason?
Micah: [laughs] Here we go.
Stef: Oh my gosh, she’s a utility player. Micah knows what that means. She can pop into Seeker and then Chaser; she’s kind of your go-to girl. I loved when she smashed into Zacharias Smith in this book. And she just always calls it how it is, and I don’t know. She grew up teaching herself and playing with Fred and George.
Eric: I appreciate that you said that, Stef, because I have really been loving Ginny as of late as Harry is slowly falling, or realizing he’s fallen for her. Really makes me want to dig up the old fanfiction that I started but never finished on her. So watch this space, everyone, because I’m really into Ginny right now too.
Stef: There’s two great Ginny moments in this chapter.
Andrew: Well, be sure to flag those for us. Before we get to Chapter by Chapter, if you love MuggleCast as much as Ron loves avoiding Lavender Brown, we invite you to support us at Patreon.com/MuggleCast. We’ll hook you up with bonus episodes of the show, ad-free episodes, livestreams, a monthly Zoom hangout, and lots more, including the opportunity to cohost MuggleCast like Stef is today. We can’t do this without listener support, so thank you so much in advance. There are other great ways to support us, to help us run this podcast. You can leave us a review in your favorite podcast app, you can tell a fellow Muggle about our show, and you can visit MuggleCastMerch.com to buy shirts, hats, glassware, and lots more.
Chapter by Chapter: Pensieve
Andrew: All right, it’s time for Chapter by Chapter. Half-Blood Prince Chapter 19, “Elf Tales.”
Eric: This chapter was last discussed on 408, which was MuggleCast on March 11, 2019. The episode was titled “Ron Is Relevant?” And I don’t want to disappoint anybody, but this week’s Pensieve clip does contain spoilers for a 74-year-old children’s book by E.B. White.
[Andrew laughs]
Dumbledore: What you are looking at are memories. This is the most important memory I’ve collected. It is from MuggleCast Episode 408.
[Sound of memory uncorking]
[Sound of plunging into Pensieve]
Micah: Oh, Aragog, too, gets a mention.
Eric: Yep.
Micah: That’s where Hagrid was out.
Eric: He was reading to him! He says, “I was reading him stories; his health ain’t well.” We will ask our patrons what Hagrid was reading Aragog.
Andrew: “Spiders: A History.”
[Eric and Laura laugh]
Micah: Fantastic Beasts, of course.
Laura: Charlotte’s Web.
Eric: Oh, Charlotte’s Web!
Andrew: I loved that book.
Eric: But wait, the spider dies.
[Laura laughs]
Eric: If you have a spider best friend that’s near death, you’re going to read him a…?
Andrew: Hagrid was preparing him.
Laura: [laughs] But the ending is positive because Charlotte’s hundreds of thousands of children live on after her.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: Oh, wait, then that’s super relevant.
[Sound of exiting Pensieve]
Dumbledore: This memory is everything.
Andrew: Wow, spoilers.
[Stef laughs]
Eric: Sorry, guys.
Chapter by Chapter: Main Discussion
Andrew: Getting to the chapter, it is called “Elf Tales,” and Dobby and Kreacher are a big part of this chapter. Harry is out of options in cracking the mystery behind what Draco has been up to around the castle, so he decides to turn to Kreacher and Dobby, and they have been tasked with tailing Draco. Now, when Harry summons Kreacher/Dobby, Kreacher and Dobby were apparently fighting, and to his face once he arrives, Kreacher insults Harry multiple times. Now, I wanted to call that out because in Goblet of Fire, Dobby states that house-elves are forbidden to speak their mind about their master without punishing themselves. Dobby says, “‘Tis part of the house-elf’s enslavement, sir. We keep their secrets and our silence, sir. We upholds the family’s honor, and we never speaks ill of them.” So before we get to what Harry asks Kreacher and Dobby to do, I wanted to talk about how Kreacher is conducting himself here. Is Kreacher really punishing himself every time he insults Harry? Because he seems to do it a lot. And is it worth it?
Eric: [laughs] He loves it.
Micah: It’s just second nature at this point. I feel like where we’re at right now in the story with Kreacher, he doesn’t care all that much. And we really don’t see Kreacher start to punish himself, or at least consider it, until Deathly Hallows, and that’s more or less when he starts to show some level of loyalty towards Harry, where he starts to feel conflicted on some level, and that’s, of course, as the locket storyline plays itself out and Regulus comes back into the picture, even though he’s no longer with us. Right now I just have a hard time seeing Kreacher punishing himself for saying anything against Harry. I don’t think he cares.
Andrew: But he has to. It’s in their DNA.
Eric: Right.
Andrew: You don’t think so?
Micah: I think maybe when he’s in the kitchens, he just goes by and puts his hand on the stove really quickly and then takes it away and considers that enough.
Andrew: [laughs] “Ooh, I was such a bad boy.”
Eric: “I did five little punishments before breakfast for all the times I’m going to insult Harry later to his face.”
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: I feel like with Kreacher, it’s almost as if he’s just broken, because he has served more than one master. He passed into servitude to Harry in an unusual way, right? So the beginning of the book, Dumbledore shows up at Privet Drive and is like, “We don’t really know if Kreacher is really yours, but Sirius Black willed him to you, so we’re going to test something out.” And there are so many opportunities along the way where Kreacher might… if he chooses to still view his master as being… was it Elladora Black? Or Sirius’s mom, whatever her name was. Then anyone, even Regulus or anybody that came after her, could be insulted by rule of…
Micah: Walburga.
Eric: Walburga Black. I knew Elladora was too nice a name.
Andrew: The owner of Wahlburgers, in Vegas and many other places.
[Micah laughs]
Eric: It’s actually a big… you know, there’s one in Chicago now. They’re opening downtown on the Mag Mile.
Andrew: Oh, wow. Way to go, Mrs. Black.
Eric: $18 per burger, which is actually cheaper than McDonald’s right now.
[Andrew and Stef laugh]
Eric: So anyway, I feel like it’s a matter of perspective, somehow, with Kreacher, where because he’s still so loyal to Walburga Black and because she would have hated half-bloods and everything that Harry stands for, he does have to obey Harry’s command, but every other rule in the house-elf book doesn’t seem to apply.
Micah: It’s hundreds of years of conditioning for him as well; I think that’s a big part of this. And there is something to the brokenness that you’re talking about, Eric. I think he could also very much be numb to the pain, especially after having consumed the drink of despair in the cave; we know that he was never the same after that. And so I just think he’s very internally conflicted at this point, and it’s really sad, honestly, to watch.
Andrew: It is. I’m thinking he’s broken, too. He’s just broken himself down. I mean, he’s 600 years old. Dobby, by comparison, is way, way younger. We don’t have an exact age, but could be around 40 or 50 years old, from what I was looking at. So the pain would hurt more to a younger house-elf, I think, and so they’re more resistant to not following orders.
Eric: Kreacher’s already got calluses on all of his hands, so he puts his hand in the oven and doesn’t feel anything.
Andrew: Yeah, maybe there’s something to that.
Eric: Maybe. And I’m not saying broken is any kind of insult; I’m like, literally he’s been through so much. Exactly what we’re talking about here, is he’s been through so much, and so yeah, he’s able to fudge the rules, whereas Dobby is still so fresh and young and spring chicken-y that he would… well, I mean, Dobby was able to do tremendous subversion of the house-elf magical contract by showing up at Privet Drive to begin with in Book 2 and all this other stuff, but the punishments still have to happen. But Kreacher, I don’t think he’s going and doing anything to himself after insulting Harry to his face.
Stef: I like Micah’s point, too, about Kreacher kind of absorbing each of the Black family members’ prejudices. And I wonder if that’s a thing with house-elves, if they have to anticipate the needs of their magical family, are they absorbing the way they communicate, the things that they might request of them, almost like Devil Wears Prada, or if you have a pretty bad boss and you need to absorb their expectations. [laughs]
Eric: Take on their toxic traits.
Andrew: Yeah, just like being a member of any family, I think you take on the traits of who you surround yourself with. I’ve heard it said you are a combination of the three people you hang out with most.
Eric: Oh!
Andrew: Don’t quote me on the exact number, but that’s what is said. So maybe that’s what’s happening with Kreacher too. And it stands to reason that if you’re going to be so loyal to a family, you do want to inherit their traits and how they conduct themselves to be the best servant you can be.
Eric: Plus, hatred is taught, is another common saying, and it’s like if you grew up serving this family day in, day out, you hear them spew their prejudices, then you’re going to start to take it in. It’s really as part of serving them, almost, as was said.
Stef: I mean, this is what’s so interesting about rereading the books as adults. I feel like this is probably not a conversation we would have had when we were 16 years old.
Andrew: Totally.
Stef: So yeah, I think this book especially, I find I enjoy rereading it as an adult because of themes like this.
Eric: And Dobby is so pure in comparison, because Dobby grew up at the Malfoys; that couldn’t have been much better than growing up at the Blacks, and yet Dobby is so pure, and “Harry Potter is everything!” And we don’t see Dobby calling people the M word, or like, “Oh, that Mudblood Hermione Granger sure is smart.”
Micah: For Kreacher, I think he’s just gotten to the point in his career where he doesn’t care anymore. [laughs] You just get to that point where…
Andrew: Senior-itis.
Micah: But I will say, it is very impressive that Kreacher has so many of his teeth at 600 years old. That’s some serious dental hygiene.
[Andrew and Stef laugh]
Eric: Well, he’s about to lose half of them.
Micah: I know some of them are on the floor, thanks to Dobby.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: Yeah, thanks, Dobby. I love how Kreacher is just like, “I’m going to break all the rules about being a house-elf,” and Dobby is like, “Oh, yeah? Well, I’m going to break you!” and punches him right in the face.
Micah: It’s a little bit of like the devil and the angel, right? On your shoulder. One shoulder and the other.
Eric: Oh, yeah, little bit.
Andrew: Well, speaking of the fight, they are fighting. And Peeves is actually there too…
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: … and he’s actually encouraging the fight…
Micah: He is.
Andrew: … and he seems to have been watching the fight before Harry summoned Kreacher. Dobby does imply that the fight started when Kreacher insulted Harry pre-summons. Is that just something Peeves likes to do, Micah? Watch fights?
Micah: I think that maybe he runs an underground house-elf fight club that we’re unaware of, and this was happening in the kitchens when Harry summoned Kreacher, and the two were tussling with each other. But it is interesting that Peeves shows up.
Andrew and Eric: Yeah.
Eric: And it’s a really interesting bit of magic, almost. We’re told constantly that house-elf magic works differently, but poltergeist magic is something I’d never had to consider before. Because not only did Kreacher and Dobby Apparate somewhere, but Peeves, who was where they used to be, was able to track wherever they Apparated to. It’s not like he grabbed hold of them and was therefore Portkeyed with them; he literally had to trace wherever they went so that he could follow and also Apparate of his own will? I don’t understand Peeves transporting.
Andrew: Does Peeves know that Kreacher is Harry’s elf? So maybe he deduced, “Well, Harry is in the hospital wing.” So Harry asks Kreacher – and by extension, Dobby – to track Draco, because he’s out of options for figuring out what Draco is up to. Ethically, what do we make of this? Harry is asking his slave to stalk someone, and also just the servant/master dynamic aside, it’s just wrong to follow somebody around all day, no matter who you’re enlisting, right?
Eric: Yeah… yes. I mean, yes. It’s unambiguously yes.
[Everyone laughs]
Micah: Stalking is not good.
Andrew: Eric follows somebody on the “Find My” app. [laughs]
Eric: I mean, who among us has not hired a private eye? This is basically what this is, actually. I was looking into this, and what I would try and equate it to is like hiring a private investigator. This is somebody who you… say you want somebody investigated, whether it’s somebody you’re close with, or an ex, and you ask somebody, you pay somebody to stalk them, essentially. But I’ve learned since looking this up during this chapter that there are some key differences. So a private detective that’s hired to follow… let’s say this is your ex. Harry and Draco as exes; I love it. But they can go wherever a person goes if a person is in a public place. They can’t break privacy law in order to follow somebody. So if they’re in front of an open window, that’s one thing, but what Harry is asking Dobby and Kreacher to do is a little extra.
Andrew: Yes, Kreacher is not going to be like, “Oh, Draco went into the common room or his dormitory, so I’m not going to dare enter there. That’s too far.”
Stef: Well, I was thinking that maybe the house-elves are ChatGPT of the ’90s wizarding world, and they’re just tasked with all the things.
Andrew: I could see that.
Eric: Except they can think for themselves, which is a bonus.
Stef: Can they?
Eric: Oh, yeah, maybe. Well, we see Dobby do it when he shows up at Privet Drive. He’s like, “Oh, the events that are planned for this year are objectively bad. I should go warn the one kid who might be able to prevent that from happening.”
Micah: He seems to be the exception, though, not the rule.
Eric: He really is.
Micah: Especially as we’re introduced to Winky in Goblet of Fire, and we have Hokey coming up in maybe even the next chapter with Hepzibah Smith.
Andrew: Yeah. And Stef, you’ve also observed that how Harry does his research very much differs from Dumbledore.
Stef: Yeah, I think… something I’ve been thinking about as I’ve been rereading Half-Blood Prince is how Dumbledore really just does everything on his own. There’s so many moments throughout where it’s like, “Dumbledore is not here; he’s off for weeks on end.” And it just… I find that Harry’s strategy with bringing in the house-elves – and he’s also wanting to involve Hermione and Ron – there’s just so much more of a relational approach to the way he tries to investigate, and to me, that feels like a really interesting contrast to Dumbledore, who’s like, “I’m just going to use my own magic. I’m just going to rely on myself and use my own spells.”
Eric: Well, blessed as Dumbledore is with superior brainpower, he can afford to just be the one going off and doing these things…
[Andrew and Micah laugh]
Eric: … and us mere mortals like Harry have to rely on the group. But I think that’s such an important point, because it mirrors the quest Dumbledore lays out for Harry in the next book.
Stef: But I think… yeah. Well, I was going to say I think that he could have benefited with bringing more people in. I mean, he takes this entire book to locate the one Horcrux, and meanwhile there’s however many other ones waiting, specifically the Hogwarts one, the diadem, and he could have been employing ghosts, or the headmaster portraits, or even… does he have…? He definitely has loyal allies who would be discreet. And I think we find out in the last book that a non-Dumbledore perspective is what was needed in order to find the diadem that’s hidden within Hogwarts. So to me, I think it goes back to… I think it was last discussion, or one of the previous discussions, you guys were talking about how there is strength in numbers and having a variety of perspectives.
Andrew and Eric: Yeah.
Eric: Knowing that Neville… I mean, at the end of… midway through the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry is just like, “All right, I’m going to have to start telling people about some things.” And Neville destroys a Horcrux. Ron and Hermione go and do it without Harry there. It takes a village to destroy Voldemort.
Micah: Dumbledore is very guarded, and I wonder if that stems from his past with Grindelwald in terms of working relationships. We know that he worked with Flamel, but how much…? I mean, even going back to the Fantastic Beasts series, he doesn’t fully trust Newt with all of the information that he could potentially provide him. It’s very similar to his relationship with Harry. Now, I understand Harry is a bit younger than Newt is, but let’s just even look back at Order of the Phoenix in terms of how guarded Dumbledore is. He ignores Harry for the better part of an entire school year, right?
Andrew: Maybe it has to do with his upbringing, Dumbledore.
Micah: Maybe.
Andrew: He wasn’t raised somebody to ask for help, and maybe that’s the difference.
Eric and Micah: Could be.
Andrew: I mean, then again, Harry was an orphan, so he didn’t get the greatest upbringing either.
Eric: Yeah. Well, it’s interesting that Dumbledore should talk about how Voldemort doesn’t have friends-friends, right? Like, “I use the term ‘friends,’ when really he doesn’t care about anybody.” And then Dumbledore proceeds to be almost as isolationist or antisocial at times.
Andrew: But generally, it is a good lesson from these books that teamwork makes the dream work. Don’t be like Dumbledore; be like Harry. Ask for help. Micah?
Micah: One other thing I just wanted to say before we moved on about Kreacher is that it is kind of sad that it takes this for Harry to even remember that Kreacher exists at Hogwarts and could be of help to him. And he’s actually very lucky that Dobby does come along, because I wouldn’t trust Kreacher to tail Draco. It’s quite fortunate that Dobby just happened to be right there.
Andrew: Yeah. And they were fighting, and they’re still going to team up. That’s great.
Eric: Harry has a checking in with his secondary peeps problem. Remember last book when he didn’t check in with Hedwig until December? This is your owl, dude. Go say hi to her. [laughs]
Micah: Right. We’re, what, in the spring at this point?
Eric: Yeah, this is late.
Micah: So how many months has it been since…?
Eric: Since they last saw each other, Kreacher and Harry? I mean, since…
Micah: Privet Drive.
Eric: Yeah, before… yeah.
Andrew: Wow.
Eric: So it’s just… Harry is bad at following… he’s probably got my brand of ADHD where it can be hard to remember, “Oh, yeah, I should reach out.”
Stef: And that’s the one person Dumbledore is relying on to follow up with the Horcruxes. Classic procrastinator. He needs to spread it out.
Eric: Terminal procrastinator, even, yeah.
Andrew: So I’m not really a fan of Harry asking Kreacher to tail Draco, as much as I don’t like Draco. Are there any other options for Harry here? Maybe something like… how about we AirTag him, at least?
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: Which I know presents a series of its own ethical issues.
Micah: Would it work, though, in Hogwarts?
Andrew: Well, let’s say an AirTag adjacent type of magic.
Micah: Ah, okay.
Stef: Is it clothing, technically?
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: Well, he’s already using it! He’s already using the AirTag adjacent magical thing, and it’s the Marauder’s Map!
Andrew: But it has a limit.
Eric: Well, the limit is he doesn’t at all piece together that Crabbe and Goyle are doing exactly what he heard that Crabbe and Goyle are doing, which is being lookouts. And so he sees where they are on the map, doesn’t see Malfoy at all, and is like, “Oh, well, there’s thousands of dots on here anyway.” But if he had paid more attention to where Crabbe and Goyle are, specifically where they are, he knows that corridor like the back of his hand at this point.
Micah: He could do what he did in Chamber of Secrets and use Polyjuice Potion.
Andrew: Ooh, there’s a thread.
Micah: That could be a solution to allow him to follow Draco. And going off of what you just mentioned, Eric, just to connect some threads, Harry unknowingly bumps into a Polyjuiced Crabbe and Goyle. And we know that Harry and Ron used that in Chamber of Secrets to transform into, guess who?
Eric: Oh, Crabbe and Goyle!
[Andrew and Stef laugh]
Micah: It’s almost like these two books are connected in some way.
Andrew: We are very much proving that. Stef, do you have any suggestions for Harry if he came to you?
Stef: I was thinking he might consult old Newt Scamander, who might have a tracking trick or two up his sleeve.
Andrew and Eric: Oooh.
Stef: I think we saw… was it in the second one? When he’s tracking down Tina in Paris, there’s the swirly charm that illuminates the footprints.
Eric: The time rewind spell.
Stef: Appare Vestigium, I think.
Andrew: Ooh, nice.
Stef: And then the one where he charms the feather, and then it follows to find Tina.
[Andrew laughs]
Stef: I’m not going to pronounce that one… Avenseguim?
Andrew: Yeah, something like that. Yeah, no, those are good ideas. I like that you’re tying in Fantastic Beasts, because we need more reasons to connect these two series and explain the purpose of Fantastic Beasts.
Stef: I also wonder, are they taught those charms? Would Harry know anything like that? Or is that more of a postgrad training?
Andrew: Maybe. I think we’ve also discussed in recent weeks that spells come in and out of fashion, so these two, for example, may have been hot in the 1920s or ’30s, and they fell out of style. But all these spells, in theory, would still work, but yeah, Harry just doesn’t know. I mean… I’m going to say in theory yet again. In theory, there’s an infinite number of spells. People can just make them up and make them work. So yeah, he just wasn’t aware of these spells/the author hadn’t thought of them yet either. And for the plot. I also have a little foreshadow alert. This one’s too on the nose, too on the pointy nose. Dobby says, “If Dobby does it wrong -“ that being tracking Draco “- Dobby will throw himself off the topmost tower!” Wow.
[Foreshadowing sound effect plays]
Eric: It was almost Dobby the House-Elf’s Tower of Terror. Sorry… [takes a deep breath] Dobby the House-Elf’s Tower of Terror Ride at Universal Studios Orlando Florida.
Andrew: [laughs] Yeah, that was pretty good. And also, just want to mention that it is adorable how even though Dobby is a free elf, he says that he can obey anyone he wants, and he wishes to obey Harry. Aww.
Stef: It’s almost like Dobby wants to be Harry’s Pillion.
Andrew: [laughs] And what is that? What is that?
Stef: Reference to the new dom-com that’s out starring Harry Melling, a.k.a. Dudley Dursley.
Eric: Sorry, dom-com?
Andrew: And by dom-com, Stef means dominant, and we should probably just leave it there. [laughs]
Eric: This is a genre of film? Dom-com?
Stef: It is now, starring Dudley Dursley and Eric Northman, bringing the fantasies together.
Eric: Well, Harry Melling was a really creepy guy, a cool villain, in a movie I saw recently. I can’t remember what it was. But yeah, he’s really good.
Andrew: All right, well, we are going to talk about Ron getting poisoned and the fear of being replaced, but first, a quick break. We’ll be right back.
[Ad break]
Andrew: So over the course of the last chapter, Ron was pretty much double poisoned, the poor guy. He consumes the love potion that Romilda had intended for Harry, and then after he was “cured,” he gets poisoned again by a drink that we’ll come to later find out was intended for Dumbledore. Draco had Imperiused Madam Rosmerta into giving it to Slughorn after betting that Slughorn would then give it to Dumbledore as a gift, and that did end up being the plan – Slughorn said as much – but he needed it for Ron to allegedly cure him.
Eric: What a mess. I feel like it’s just… it’s really interesting what Hermione says, that because this plan was… because Ron wasn’t the intended victim, and that much they’ve deduced already, that it actually makes the person doing this more dangerous, because they don’t care who they hurt on the way to their intended target. So they guess that Dumbledore was probably the target, but they don’t know, but they’re pretty sure. And Hermione has a point.
Stef: Yeah, and Draco has been pretty sloppy. I mean, he’s, as she said, not anticipating that Slughorn might keep the mead. He assumed Katie could smuggle the necklace back into the castle, past Hogwarts’s protections. So I don’t know. I wanted to pose the question to all of you: Are we reading this as incompetence or as self-sabotage?
Eric: Ah, like he doesn’t want it enough? Because doesn’t Dumbledore even say, “I question whether your heart was in it”?
Stef: At the end, yeah.
Eric: And Draco is like, “Whaaat?”
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Well, I think partly his heart isn’t in it because he’s a child. But I think it’s both, Stef. I think he’s incompetent, and he’s self-sabotaging because he doesn’t really want to do this. This is a massive task for him, and Draco is kind of rushing, I think, with all these little hacky type of ways to make it happen, rather than just doing it himself.
Eric: He’s trying his best to do a half-ass job. And the thing is, if Slughorn had been murdered, if Slughorn had gotten it, gotten poisoned, had taken the mead to himself, or if Ron had died, that brings such scrutiny to Hogwarts and such a close eye on what everyone is doing that it would almost certainly result in Draco being found out, which would stop his ability to complete his mission, which maybe he wants. So there is some element of “Is Draco self-sabotaging here?” that I could see being pretty reasonable. But in the meantime, our friends are getting hurt, and this sucks.
Stef: And what does this say about how much choice he has? I don’t know. I feel like when I first read this, you’re seeing it through Harry’s perspective, so you’re just immersed in the story. But then as an adult, I find it’s really sad how much pain Draco clearly is throughout the book. And he’s just inheriting generational violence from his family; you’re kind of starting to see that, the role that he’s taken on and these “choices” he’s making. How much choice does he have?
Andrew: He doesn’t.
Eric: Well, they’re causing a lot of pain to others, too.
Micah: I don’t think he fully grasps the severity of what he’s doing in these situations either. I think that the thought is just, “Oh, if I can try and achieve the end goal with the fewest steps possible,” but he doesn’t actually think it all the way through, because it doesn’t just require one or two steps. To me, it’s almost very juvenile, the fact that he thinks, “Oh, if I just Imperius Madam Rosmerta to hand off this necklace or this poisoned mead.” You’re expecting that then all the other steps are going to magically happen for you, much like Dumbledore just expects everything to just happen while he’s not in Deathly Hallows, and that Harry is just going to figure it all out by himself. That’s the kind of approach that Draco is taking. And in fairness to him, he’s only 16 years old, so what would you expect from a 16-year-old? And that’s what Voldemort loves about it. It’s really an impossible task, if you think about it.
Andrew: Dumbledore and Snape are caught feuding, and Hagrid happens to notice this happening. Micah, I think you’re none too pleased about how Dumbledore is conducting himself this chapter. [laughs] And every chapter.
Micah: There’s just this overbearing feeling of negligence, for me, anyway. And the reason why I say that has nothing to even do really with the conversation with Snape, although that does kind of shine a light on it, because Dumbledore has a responsibility to the school and the students in it, and he knows that somebody is actively trying to murder somebody at the school, and now you’ve had two very close calls in Katie Bell and Ron, and he just doesn’t seem to really care all that much. He’s focused on the end game, and I understand that, but again, there’s that responsibility as headmaster that you need to be protecting the students. And he actually knows more or less who’s responsible, and he’s not stepping in, and that’s why I feel Snape needs to keep Draco in check here, too, because he’s not doing enough.
Andrew: It’s a good point.
Eric: Well, but he took an Unbreakable Vow saying he’s going to help Draco on his mission and not impede Draco.
Micah: Well, help him, then!
[Andrew and Stef laugh]
Andrew: But Draco doesn’t want the help.
Eric: Help him get this over with. Yeah, but I mean, that’s literally it, is if…
Micah: Stop him sending poisoned artifacts into the school.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: No, you’re absolutely right that Dumbledore cannot simply allow all of these attempts on his life to hit other people, and cause other people to be put into St. Mungo’s for months and months and months on end, or hospital wing for two nights, as Ron is, and still call himself a good headmaster. You’re absolutely right about that. But yeah, I feel like he can’t also… or Snape can’t also step in, which might be why they’re fighting, because Snape can’t say… Snape tells Draco, “You’re being reckless,” but if he went any further, he would be actively impeding Draco on his mission, which would kill Snape there and then right there.
Andrew: Yeah, between a rock and a hard place. I do like the points that you’re bringing up, Micah, and I’m feeling mad at my boy Dumbledore right now; you’re absolutely right. Because what it’s reminding me of is when you get on the plane, and what does the pilot say to everybody on board? What does the flight attendant say? “Your safety is our number one priority.” That should be Dumbledore’s goal too. That is the role of headmaster, that and educating the students, right? And he’s failing at 50%. He’s got an F. You might be able to argue the education system ain’t too great at the school either. [laughs]
Stef: See, this is why he needs help finding the Horcruxes, because he’s off doing that rather than being present at school, overlooking everything. I mean, it’s like the situation that Harry finds himself in. He’s the captain of his Quidditch team. He wants to go and follow Draco, but instead of doing that, he shows up and he’s there at the game. But where’s Dumbledore? He’s not there.
Andrew: Where’s Dumbledore? Yeah, the question Micah and Harry are always wondering. Eric, I’m curious what you think of Hagrid being able to sneak up on Dumbledore and Snape undetected in the forest. [laughs]
Eric: Yeah, it must be a mark of how… I’m trying to say this without being offensive. It must be a mark of how deeply upset Snape and Dumbledore are with each other that neither of them notice Hagrid’s dolphin-sized feet traipsing through the woods right next to them…
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: … close enough to be within earshot. So I’m just going to go out and say that the… animity? Animosity between…
Andrew: Anonymity?
Eric: All of those, probably.
Andrew: Ano-ano-ano-ne-ne-ne-nimity, to quote Finding Nemo.
Eric: Between the two of them that drowns out… because they’re finally duking it out. This is the big deal that Hagrid is so shocked about, because Snape has finally sort of stood up for himself and said, “What you ask… you are taking for granted what I’m doing.” And Dumbledore kind of gives a real kindergarten answer of, “Well, you promised. Just keep your promises,” and walks away. And it’s like, “Hello?” We now know what they’re talking about, of course. And I think this a great moment to feel bad for Snape.
Andrew: What do you think, Stef?
Stef: I mean, I was trying to remember what it was like first reading this as a teen, and if I noticed this as a sign of Dumbledore’s vulnerability. I think it’s one of the first times we see the illusion around him crack. I mean, we see the blackened hand, but now we’re hearing that this relationship that kind of always has this protective wall around, which is Snape and Dumbledore’s trust and connection… there’s so many times where Harry, the reader, other characters try to crack in there of, “But do we trust Snape? Do we trust Snape?” And there’s just this very solid foundation between those two, and so now you’re seeing, “Wait, is that foundation that solid?” And also, just like Eric said, with the “You agreed,” it’s showing that maybe Dumbledore doesn’t have it all figured out, and that just makes me think of when we’re kids, and we have an adult figure that’s a teacher or a parent and they seem omniscient to us, and then we start seeing things and we’re like, “Oh, they’re a person too. They also have vulnerability.”
Eric: Yeah, and what I like to think about when it comes to Snape and his motivations is this all… I think the falling out between he and Dumbledore started when Dumbledore said, “You’re going to have to kill me.” Snape doesn’t want to do that. Snape actually has, I think, a lot of respect for exactly one person, and it’s the person in front of him. And so I think… we’ve never seen them fight; we’ve never heard them arguing. Dumbledore has always been the one like, “I trust Snape completely. ‘Professor Snape,’ Harry.” But now they’re fighting, and it’s because Dumbledore has actually asked too much of Snape, and Snape is mad at him because he loves him. He’s mad at this man because he’s going to end up having to do this horrible thing.
Andrew: So in this fight that Hagrid overhears, whose side…? Well, I guess just generally, whose side are we on in this debate? Micah, do you want to go first?
Micah: I would probably lean in Snape’s direction. I don’t really like either of them, to be honest with you.
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Micah: I would side with Hagrid.
Andrew: Team Switzerland? Side with Hagrid? Okay.
Micah: I would be, yeah, overhearing the conversation, as opposed to picking one of them. But yeah, it’s for all the reasons discussed. It’s just very tough, and Snape is being put in an impossible position. It is really not fair to him. So if we’re asking from that context, then I would definitely be Team Snape.
Eric: Keeping in mind that a few chapters ago, Dumbledore almost told Harry everything, almost told him about Snape’s love for Lily. There’s that moment where Harry sees him consider something, and we assume it to be that. Dumbledore almost betrayed Snape’s confidence, his one confidence. Where am I going with this? I think that knowing that he chose not to and protect this, but that Dumbledore, in the same chapter, or within days, is holding it over Snape’s head that Snape said in a moment of deep self-loathing that he would spy on Voldemort for Dumbledore, 16 years ago at this point, that’s what Dumbledore is harkening back to in this argument, of like, “Well, you said you’d do this; you’ve got to keep your word,” and then walking out without actually handling any of the emotional stuff that Snape is going through right now, feels insufficient and makes me Team Snape.
Andrew: Okay. How about you, Stef?
Stef: I feel like at the time I probably was team Dumbledore, but I hadn’t yet been devastated by “The Prince’s Tale.” So knowing what I know now, I feel empathy for Snape like the rest of you.
Andrew: Yeah, I agree as well. Y’all made good points, so I won’t repeat them. I did want to mention, concerning Hagrid successfully sneaking up on Snape and Dumbledore, it’s funny that he gets away with this in this chapter, when earlier in the chapter Madam Pomfrey thinks there’s more than six people visiting Ron in the hospital wing, but there wasn’t; she was just “counting Hagrid as several people due to his vastness.” That’s a quote.
[Andrew and Stef laugh]
Andrew: So this guy, who gets confused for multiple people, successfully sneaks up on two very smart wizards in a crunchy forest. Well done, Hagrid, I guess.
Eric: Yeah, very crunchy forest. That forest floor always be crunching.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: And people think I’m being prejudiced about the dolphin feet; it literally… in this chapter, page 402. Hagrid, “his hair rain-flecked, his bearskin coat flapping behind him, a crossbow in his hand, leaving a trail of muddy dolphin-sized footprints all over the floor.”
Andrew: Wow.
Eric: Sorry, it’s in this chapter.
Andrew: Wow.
Eric: Unbelievable.
Lynx Line
Andrew: So looking at what happened to Ron, he was sidelined from Quidditch because he was poisoned and he’s recovering. He worries in this chapter that Cormac temporarily filling in for him will turn into being permanently replaced; you see it in how he’s asking Harry how Cormac did during practice. That said, Harry does try to put Ron’s mind at ease. He reminds Ron that Cormac is annoying as hell, and by the end of the chapter, Harry is ready to kill Cormac when he accidentally sends a Bludger at Harry. But I thought this was another good one of these moments that reflects life, where you might go through experiences where you’re afraid you’re going to be replaced, maybe because you missed out on something, you had to call out sick, whatever. So for this week’s Lynx Line – and this is also a Make the Real Life Connection – we asked our patrons, have we ever worried about being replaced when we missed something? And what was that experience like for you?
Eric: Carlee says,
“When I went on maternity leave with my oldest child, my long-term substitute was great. So great, in fact, that once I came back, a few kids felt it important to say (out loud, during class) that they liked her better than me and they wanted her to come back! Probably relevant that these particular children just happened to say such things after I corrected their behavior. Regardless, my feelings were hurt and I hated not being the ‘favorite’ anymore!”
Andrew: Aww, that’s sad.
Eric: That’s real sad.
Micah: Hope you failed them.
Andrew: [laughs] Failed them? Well, you have new students come in in future years, right? So turn a new leaf.
Micah: Danielle said,
“I took a step back from singing at church when I was pregnant with twins. I was singing about twice a month at that time, but I could hardly breathe with the decreased lung capacity. Those twins are now 6.5 years old, and I’m still not back to singing. They replaced me with someone else while I had my kids. I tried to get back to it when they were 2 months old, and have been struggling ever since. It’s been heartbreaking.”
Andrew: I’m sorry to hear that, but hopefully…
Micah: We support you. Get out there and sing.
Eric: Get out there.
Andrew: Yeah, yeah.
Stef: There’s been a whole little conversation happening on Patreon. I think Carlee got in on the conversation with Danielle and encouraged…
Andrew: Yeah, Carlee said that she could relate, right? Or along those lines, yeah. Mason said,
“There is a very real example of when I did miss something and was replaced. Basically, my crush in 9th grade asked me if I wanted to be his partner on this debate team, but the debate team conflicted with this play I was doing so I said no… then he stopped liking me and started liking my friend! I’m almost positive that he liked me, but after, he was distant. :/ The fear is real!”
Eric: Oh!
Andrew: Noooo! I’m sorry, Mason.
Eric: I’m waiting for the happy ending one.
Andrew: I hope you found someone else. [laughs]
Eric: Yeah. This comes from Zachary:
“While I was in high school, our marching band was the best in our city and always came down to literal fractions of a point when it came to state and regional competitions. Our band was so big that we had to have alternates. Everyone auditioned for their spot throughout the entire season, and if you didn’t have the show music memorized by the dates posted, you were swapped out with someone who did. This added some stress, but allowed an equal opportunity for those who really wanted to be there.”
So this seems like a high stakes “I am always living in fear of being replaced, because I am always being tested on this matter.” That’s terrifying.
Andrew: Yeah. Thanks to everybody who submitted an answer to that question.
Make the Personal Connection
Andrew: But I did also want to pose this question to the panel: Have y’all ever been in this type of situation where maybe you had to miss something, and then you grew fearful that you would be replaced? For me, Carlee brought up the teacher example. As an uncle to two – actually, three – adorable nephews now, I don’t see them often, so I’m kind of worried that they’re going to forget about me. And then just socially, I sometimes do get some FOMO, so I’m like, “Don’t have too much fun without me, then you’ll not invite me anymore.”
Eric: Yeah, for me, it happens pretty much every MuggleCast I miss. If I were missing this episode and not Laura, I’d be really worried that y’all would bring Stef on to just replace me, because she’s awesome.
[Andrew laughs]
Stef: I am Hufflepuff.
Micah: Wow.
Eric: We all know we just need one Hufflepuff to fill the void, and that could be anybody. So I’m kind of eyeballing, side-eyeing, worried here. So yeah, I have felt it too. But yeah, on a serious note, I think it’s definitely something that can happen from… it’s not a comfortable feeling. I think what you have to do, and what Ron has to do, is make comfort within yourself for the possibility that something may happen that feels averse to you, but you also have to know that both other opportunities may open up instead, or that because something goes the way you’re fearing it does doesn’t mean it happened for the reasons that you think it is happening. You know what I’m saying?
Micah: Yeah. I mean, look at how things actually play themselves out, and it proves that Harry made the right choice in selecting Ron.
Andrew: Bingo.
Micah: And so yeah, I mean, the only example that comes to mind for me that’s more recent is when I went on sabbatical from work. You think, “Oh, well, I’m gone for a month. Who knows what can happen?”
[Andrew and Micah laugh]
Eric: Will they realize they don’t need you? And it turns out they didn’t, because they do need you.
Micah: Well, I appreciate you saying that.
Eric: Well, and it’s like the chorus; having kids and no longer being able to sing in chorus. I bet there’s colleagues of yours that still sing in church choir, and if you’ve been replaced, whatever, they probably still say, “What happened to the lady that used to do this? I really liked her. I liked her more.”
[Micah laughs]
Eric: And they’re saying it, but you don’t hear it because you’re not doing that anymore.
Micah: You’re not there.
Andrew: Yeah, good point.
Micah: And just one thing, too, with Cormac that I think is important is it shows a different side of Gryffindor. We’ve really always kind of been gung ho about Gryffindor, or at least, I think when you’re reading the series for the first time and you’re a young kid, Gryffindor is always the House that everybody seems to be drawn to, for the most part, at least in terms of having the good guys or the good gals. And Cormac is a complete asshole, and he’s not good at Quidditch either.
Andrew: No.
Micah: He’s basically just a meathead in the end.
Eric: He’s got main character energy. The problem is he’s not the main character.
Micah: Yeah, there you go.
[Eric and Micah laugh]
Andrew: Stef, do you have anything to add here?
Stef: Well, I just think what Eric shared was really beautiful, and that’s something I was thinking about, especially with Ron, is that we really see him always looking outside of himself – he’s wanting to be shown that he’s desirable – instead of checking in with himself, of like, “Well, who do I desire? What do I desire?” He’s just… I think it’s a great lesson, especially for the young listeners. It’s so often when we see that we’re missing something, or that we’re not good enough for something, it might be a little nudge to check in with yourself and recognize you are great for that. This is a moment to really love up on and celebrate yourself, and not measure your self-worth based off of the situation.
Andrew: Comparison is the thief of joy.
Stef: Yes, it is. I think for me, there aren’t a lot of things I have fear of missing out on. I’d say I suffer from JOMO, which is the joy of missing out.
[Eric and Stef laugh]
Andrew: Oh!
Stef: I mean, similar to what Eric shared, too, it’s like sometimes missing one thing opens up the opportunity for taking on something else, and you never know what you discover.
Eric: Oh, so you’re looking at your appointment book or your calendar and going, “What if I don’t show up at this? What new opportunities will show up?”
Andrew: And I saw a TikTok about that recently; I think they even described it as the joy of missing out.
Eric: Oh my God.
Andrew: The joy of just staying home on a Friday, watching TV, and not feeling FOMO when the rest of your friends are out, like, “I don’t need to be out. I can say no and just relax at home and it’s okay.”
Eric: There’s a saying that I’ve known for a few years; it’s like, “At a certain point in your 30s, the only thing better than making plans is canceling plans.”
[Stef laughs]
Andrew: Oh, especially when somebody else cancels on you? I feel so relieved every time.
Eric: Yes, and you’re like, “Ah, I’m free!”
[Micah laughs]
Andrew: Yes. “Oh, thank God, I can stay at home.”
Eric: And it’s real. But JOMO; I’ve got to look up JOMO. That’s fantastic.
Andrew: I need to learn that.
Stef: Yeah, we’ll just be snacking on our late night snacks, Eric, on the bean bags in Hufflepuff.
Eric: Look, I can go to my fridge. I’ve got string cheese.
Micah: Oooh.
Eric: I don’t need to be out with beer and nachos.
Stef: Laura is having JOMO right now.
Eric: She’s really happy that she’s sick and not here right now.
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Andrew: I felt like I got bullied into going to an escape room tomorrow night. It starts at 8:20 p.m.; I don’t want to start anything at 8:20 p.m., but I just… I had FOMO. I didn’t want to say no.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: I should have had JOMO.
Micah: They’re fun, though.
Eric: Honestly, it sounds amazing.
Micah: You know what, Andrew? Look up online how to solve it; you’ll be out in ten minutes.
[Everyone laughs]
Eric: Oh my God. “I’ve got places to be, everybody.”
Andrew: I’ll watch a YouTube video, yeah.
Odds & Ends
Andrew: Couple of odds and ends now. Stef, you noticed a couple things you wanted to share, right?
Stef: Yeah, one of the things is there’s a lot of secrecy in this chapter; it feels like the movie Conclave or something. There’s a lot of whispers in dark corners. Hagrid is overhearing the argument, Harry is having the house-elves spy for him, Draco is cooking up a plan in the shadows… just a lot of little hidden things. The other thing, little odd and end, is Luna announcing Quidditch is everything. I tried to find my Luna glasses for this, but I don’t know where they are.
Andrew: Aww.
Stef: But I do have them. And then there’s a really great Molly quote that just speaks for itself. “Well, all I can say is that it was a lucky day for the Weasleys when Ron decided to sit in your compartment on the Hogwarts Express, Harry.”
Andrew: Aww. That was really sweet, and it kind of ties into what you were saying earlier, Stef; if you say no to something, it might open up the opportunity for something else. You never know what’s going to happen. You never know what a chance encounter might lead to.
Micah: Was it lucky, though? I mean, Ginny is kind of Harry’s fault. Arthur is definitely Harry’s fault.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Pros and cons, Micah.
Micah: Ron is kind of Harry’s fault too because…
Andrew: The pros outweigh the cons.
Eric: You mean them coming across… coming into injury? I think it’s all Voldemort’s fault, and it’s wrong to blame Harry. Hilarious.
Micah: Well, I mean, yes, but they’re all the same person at the end of the day, aren’t they?
[Stef laughs]
Eric: Well, there’s that.
Andrew: Wow. That was really rude, Micah.
Micah: But just a few more threads to connect to Chamber of Secrets: Harry has a serious Quidditch injury in both Chamber of Secrets and Half-Blood Prince – both due to a Bludger, by the way – and who shows up both times in the hospital wing but Dobby?
Andrew: Unbelievable.
Micah: And I did also wanted to say very quickly that the conversation that Hagrid and Harry have as they’re leaving the hospital wing – and I think Hermione is there too – is very Chamber of Secrets heavy. There’s a lot of references to what happened in Book 2. I think even the school governors get mentioned again, and there’s talk of closing the school down.
Andrew: Yeah, Hagrid had said, “It’s always bin a bit of a risk sendin’ a kid ter Hogwarts, hasn’ it? Yer expect accidents, don’ yeh, with hundreds of underage wizards all locked up together.” [laughs]
Stef: And Dumbledore as headmaster.
Micah: But Stef, you had one too, right?
Stef: Yeah, just Harry obsessing over Draco and no one taking him seriously.
Andrew: Nice, nice.
Superlative of the Week
Andrew: All right, time for MVP of the Week. So in this chapter, Draco taunts Harry by calling him “the Chosen Captain” and “the Boy Who Scored” in the context of the upcoming…
Eric: That second one is real fun, actually.
Andrew: Yeah. [laughs] So I asked the panel to create your own Quidditch-oriented name for Harry that Draco would call him, and I asked you to say it like Draco would. Think of Tom Felton’s “Pottah!”
Stef: That was really good.
Andrew: Oh, thank you.
[MVP of the Week music plays]
Andrew: [imitating Malfoy] “Captain Crash a Lot!”
Eric: [imitating Malfoy] “Oh, I bet they’re calling you Dumbledore’s Seeker Through and Through, aren’t they, Potter?”
[Micah and Stef laugh]
Micah: That was good. [imitating Malfoy] “Snitch Bitch.”
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Oh, yeah, Draco would definitely say it like that.
Eric: That was very Draco, yeah. Gryffindor Draco.
Stef: [imitating Malfoy] “Ate and Left No Krum.”
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: Oh my God, that’s glorious.
Andrew: Ahh, short and sweet. If you have feedback about today’s discussion, you can contact us by emailing or sending a voice memo that you record on your phone to MuggleCast@gmail.com, but maybe you find it easier to leave a comment on Spotify or YouTube or DM us on social. Whatever’s most convenient for you, reach out to us that way. And next week, Chapter by Chapter continues with Chapter 20, “Lord Voldemort’s Request.” Eerie.
Eric: It’s a good one.
Andrew: Visit MuggleCast.com for links to our social media, our Patreon, our transcripts, our favorite episodes, and lots more.
Quizzitch
Andrew: And now it’s time for Quizzitch.
[Quizzitch music plays]
Eric: This week’s question: In this chapter, a bezoar from the stomach of a goat is used as a cure for a poison. In reality, bezoars can appear in humans as ailments. What popular soft drink brand is used to treat bezoars in humans? I said last week it was the one that you think; the answer is Coca-Cola. And if you’ve ever seen videos of what Coke does to certain things when left in a tub of Coke, that’s a rabbit hole you can go down. You’re welcome. 66% of people with the correct answer said they didn’t look it up, so a lot of people did, in fact, guess. Maybe my hint helped. And this week’s winners included… [laughs] Just get ready, because some of them are long. Administered by Dr. Pepper; Bort Voldemort; Carly; Dobby’s Coca-Cola socks; Dumbledore’s PR Team; Eden the Muggle established 2012… she’s back. Also, she says, “I told all my friends about your podcast, so now you have at least five 14-year-old listeners.”
Andrew: Oh, thank you.
Eric: Elvis Dumbledore; Ginny Beverly; I Drink Too Many of These Per Week; I Play Fluffy’s Harp; King Arthur of the Britains, my quest is to find the Holy Grail, and my favorite color is blue; My little soda pop; No soda for me – I look it up!; Tom Peed-a-little Riddle; Tofu Tom; and Slytherin Squib. And here’s next week’s Quizzitch question: In Chapter 19, Luna Lovegood diagnoses Zacharias Smith with “Loser’s Lurgy.” Which 1950s BBC Radio program first coined the term, meaning a nonfatal unspecified illness such as a cold or flu, and called it the “Dreaded Lurgy”? See if you know your history about “lurgy” as a word. Submit your answer to us on the Quidditch form located on the MuggleCast website, at MuggleCast.com/Quizzitch.
Andrew: Stef, thank you so much for joining us today, and we’ll be in touch about you replacing Eric as the Hufflepuff on the panel.
[Stef laughs]
Eric: Augh, because I can’t get… it was my plug at the end. I always botch it.
[Andrew laughs]
Stef: Can’t wait to read all those names.
[Andrew and Micah laugh]
Andrew: No, but seriously, thank you for your support, and thanks for everything that you brought to the panel today. You brought a lot of great wisdom. You have a good radio voice, too, I feel.
Micah: You do.
Stef: I mean, this is my first podcast…
Micah: First of many.
Stef: … so it’s kind of multitasking, looking at the video, and like, “How is my voice?”
Andrew: [laughs] You’re a natural.
Eric: Sibilance.
Stef: I also use my arms a lot, so I’ve been trying not to do that as much. But I’m glad it sounds good.
Andrew: Oh. Well, it keeps the visuals lively, I think, if your hands are moving.
[Andrew and Stef laugh]
Andrew: For the YouTube viewers or Spotify.
Stef: But thank you so much for having me. It’s such an honor to be here. I mean, I think I’ve been listening for maybe eight or so years.
Andrew: Wow, awesome.
Eric: How’d you find us? Do you remember?
Stef: How did I find you guys? I don’t know. Maybe it was Fantastic Beasts time?
Andrew: Oh!
Eric: That sounds about right.
Stef: I’m not sure, but actually, that was a FOMO moment. I had FOMO that I didn’t know about you guys when I was a teenager through college…
Andrew: Aww.
Stef: … and I was like, “What have I been missing all of these years?”
Andrew: We get emails like that from time to time, like, “I can’t believe we didn’t discover you sooner.”
Stef: I was just alone in my room reading Harry Potter without all of these Harry Potter friends.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Yeah, exactly. Love that. All right, well, thanks, everybody, for listening. I’m Andrew.
Eric: I’m Eric.
Micah: I’m Micah.
Stef: And I’m Stef.
Andrew: Bye, everyone.
Micah and Stef: Bye.