Transcript for MuggleCast Episode #772, Get the Groit (DH Chapter 11, The Bribe)
Cold Open
Andrew: In terms of Lupin opening up to the trio, it makes me think: Does he have anybody else he could talk to? Who’s left, Arthur and Molly? I guess? Can’t talk to Dumbledore about this either.
Micah: “You’re a therapist, Harry.”
[Everyone laughs]
Micah: That’s what this is.
Andrew: Another episode title.
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: I’m Micah.
Laura Tee: And I’m Laura.
Andrew: We’re your Harry Potter friends, gathering to talk about the books and the movies and the TV show, so follow us in your favorite podcast app for new episodes every Wednesday. This week, get ready to tap into those daddy problems, because we’re discussing Chapter 11 of Deathly Hallows, “The Bribe.” But first, it’s time for this week’s Quizzitch question.
[Quizzitch music plays]
Eric: Who successfully Disarms Mundungus Fletcher in Grimmauld Place?
Andrew: Ooh, I like that question.
Eric: For those playing live on Discord, we’ll post that question during Lynx Line, and for everyone else playing at home, get the answer at the end of the episode.
Andrew: Also, we have some news to share: We’re excited to share that MuggleCast will be pivoting to full coverage of the Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone TV show beginning Wednesday, December 2.
[Fanfare plays]
Andrew: Micah, Laura, guests, and I will be bringing you the latest news and predictions and thoughts about the show in the weeks leading up to the Christmas premiere, and then once the show begins airing, each week we’ll be bringing you two – yes, we’re going to be doing two – episodes of MuggleCast, one quickly after the new Harry Potter TV show episode airs, and then a second a few days later, with a deeper dive into the episode, plus predictions for the next episode. So more details to come there. We will continue Chapter by Chapter through November, and then we’re going to put it on ice, or park it, as some creators like to say…
Eric: [imitating David Yates] “It’s just parked.”
Andrew: … until after the TV show finishes airing and we do a few Season 1 wrap-up episodes.
Laura: There’s going to be so much to talk about, and I know this is kind of beating a dead horse here, but we really didn’t think we were going to be able to talk about media adaptations of Harry Potter anymore, so it is fun to be back here.
Micah: [laughs] It’s a little bit of a throwback to the early days of MuggleCast, where yeah, we were doing some theorizing on what was going to be happening in Deathly Hallows, but at the same time, we were also getting a lot of news around the upcoming movies. So especially because this show is going to explore not just the main story, but also seeming to include some things that are new and different and exciting, I think that’s going to be part of the fun to react to.
Andrew: Totally. And I guess it is crazy, thinking back, that we only started the podcast two years before Deathly Hallows came out, ish, which I guess was a lot of time to speculate, but in hindsight, it would have been fun to have more to speculate about. So this is going to open up that opportunity.
Micah: Y’all started right after Half-Blood Prince.
Andrew: Yeah, yeah. If only we started even earlier… wait, podcasts didn’t exist, so I guess we would have had to figure out a different way to do that.
[Micah laughs]
Laura: Yeah, we were early adopters.
Andrew: [laughs] We were early enough.
Micah: Very early adopters.
Andrew: So as you can see, we have exciting plans ahead, and this is only thanks to listener support, so we’d appreciate if you joined our community of Harry Potter and MuggleCast fans at Patreon.com/MuggleCast, and you’ll receive a host of magical benefits, including bonus episodes, ad-free episodes, you’ll be able to participate in the Lynx Line, and a lot more.
Chapter by Chapter: Seven-Word Summary
Andrew: All right, well, without further ado, it’s time for Chapter by Chapter, and this week we’re discussing Chapter 11 of Deathly Hallows, “The Bribe.” And it’s time for the Seven-Word Summary.
[Seven-Word Summary music plays]
Micah: Remus…
Laura: … wants…
Eric: … Harry…
Andrew: … to…
Laura: … allow…
Eric: … him…
Micah: … along.
Andrew: Along, okay. I was thinking “truth,” “passage…”
Micah: We’re missing a word, but that’s okay.
Eric: Yeah, an extra word.
Andrew: [laughs] That’s all right. The Seven-Word Summary.
Laura: Yeah, it’s okay.
Eric: I agree. Sorry to put you in that sticky spot, Micah. It’s nice to see you navigated out of it successfully.
Micah: Thank you.
Andrew: Yes, yes.
Chapter by Chapter: Main Discussion
Andrew: So as we said last week, these two chapters, Chapters 10 and 11, they are dark, and I think this one is darker than the last chapter. We’ll kick things off, though, with the current situation. Two Death Eaters have arrived stationed outside of 12 Grimmauld Place, and even though these guys can’t see the house, they know it’s one location where Harry might be. I know this would make me so uncomfortable if I were the trio, knowing two people were stationed out front around the clock. Now, is it that Voldemort’s name was brought up in 12 Grimmauld Place quite a few times at this point? Or is it just simply they know Harry owns this place? Because as Hermione says, they know this is under Harry’s name now, this location.
Eric: Yeah, I think it’s still the protection of the charm that protects them from being heard, I guess, or being exactly identified where they are.
Micah: Yeah, I agree. I think it’s probably a mix of both, in that Voldemort’s name was dropped a ridiculous amount… I didn’t count, but I was just reading, thinking to myself, “Guys, stop. Stop saying his name.”
Andrew: Ding, ding, ding…
Micah: But it must be somewhat frustrating for these Death Eaters, if the name is continuously being used but they can’t really locate the person who’s… or the people who are saying it, so I think that probably is what initially drew them to this location. But that being said, it is also a place where Harry is known to have frequented in the past, and yeah, he owns it now. So I think both are possibilities.
Laura: And I think it is mentioned in the chapter that Death Eaters are probably camping out at multiple locations where they suspect Harry could be.
Andrew: Like I said, the trio is a little confused by why these Death Eaters are hanging out out front, and Hermione suggests that Snape likely did have his tongue tied by the curse; otherwise, he would have told the Death Eaters how to get in. But this raises questions for me in terms of how long this Tongue-Tying Curse lasts, or does it simply never go away? I guess that’s possible too. And then another question: What would have happened if he tried to write the secret rather than speak it? That feels like a plot hole.
Eric: Yeah, I’m confused about this whole tongue-tying thing. This curse doesn’t need to exist to prevent Snape from telling the secrets because Snape is already inclined not to do that because he’s on the side of good. I don’t know. It just… this is one of those things where it’s a concept introduced in half of a sentence a chapter ago, and we’re just supposed to take Hermione’s word for it that it’s all-encompassing, and I don’t know. I’m just confused.
Andrew: But what if Voldemort did ask about 12 Grimmauld Place? In a way, this was actually helping Snape, setting up this curse, because then he has an out. He says, “Tongue-Tying Curse. Sorry, my guy, I can’t do anything about it.” [imitating Voldemort] “Can you write it?”
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: [imitating Snape] “No, I don’t know how to write anything.”
Eric: [imitating Snape] “My mental tongue is tied too.”
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: Yeah, I kind of see it going that way, with Snape using the excuse of, “Hey, I’ll give you as much information as I can so that you can go stand outside where it is, but you’re not going to be able to get in because of the protections that are placed on it.” And I think the only thing that protects Snape in that lie is being such an accomplished Occlumens that he can close his mind so Voldemort can’t tell that he’s lying.
Eric: The thing is, so in Book 5 we know that Dumbledore was the Secret Keeper, and Harry gets the answer, is able to go into Grimmauld Place because of a letter, a little piece of paper that says, “The headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix is Number 12 Grimmauld Place,” and that makes the entire building visible. Snape could write a note just stating exactly that, “Number 12 Grimmauld Place is the place to be,” and all of a sudden these Death Eaters could get in it.
Andrew: That’s where the party’s happening this weekend.
[Eric laughs]
Micah: Well, and clearly because they’re all screaming Voldemort’s name.
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: But I think that Snape has already done his due diligence, right? He goes to Grimmauld Place immediately following Dumbledore’s death before Moody puts any of these protections in place, so he likely did a full sweep. We know he went up to Sirius’s room and took part of the letter and the photo. He likely reported back to Voldemort after that and said, “Headquarters are dark. There’s nothing there. We don’t need to concern ourselves with it anymore. Yeah, sorry.”
Andrew: [imitating Snape] “Nothing there, like there’s nothing in my soul.”
Micah: [imitating Snape] “Nothing there.”
Andrew: Thank you, thank you. I was going to ask you to do that.
Micah: [laughs] But now, though, clearly there’s some activity there, so I kind of do wonder why Voldemort doesn’t go to Snape in this moment and say, “Go back. Something’s going on here.”
Andrew: “Try again.” Wait a second, though; maybe Snape did tell them, because shortly after their speculation, the trio’s speculation, someone arrives at the door and knocks! Oh my gosh, who the…? Oh, it’s just Lupin. Okay, phew.
[Laura laughs]
Eric: [singing] “Somebody’s knocking at the door…”
Andrew: And you know what? This guy is not problematic…
Micah: Oh, not at all.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: … and there will be absolutely no issue with him darkening the door.
Eric: It’s about to be a wholesome chapter, y’all.
Andrew: But you think this is a mark of how Lupin has fallen, Eric?
Eric: Yeah, it’s a shame, because here… the times are not allowing for more than a passing moment of them being happy to see him. The times are so dark – there’s no denying it – that even Harry’s favorite teacher… this Book 3 Lupin is not the Lupin that is able to show up in this moment. And so while it’s already a deeply upsetting and just sad chapter in general for Lupin’s character, he already is… the stress of war and the stress of everything going on in his life, and the stress of the wider world, means that Harry and he cannot have the type of relationship that they had at the end of Book 3. And so it’s sad to see how far we’ve fallen between the two of them; in the inter-waning years, Harry has not really even seen or interacted with Lupin for more than 30 minutes.
Andrew: Yeah. It’s about to get sadder, but we’ll get to that. And the trio get an update on the Voldemort situation from Lupin, and like I keep saying, it’s just bad everywhere. Voldemort has taken over the Ministry. It’s bad at every turn. Lupin recalls what happened after the trio left the wedding; it was a mix of Death Eaters and Ministry who invaded, and Lupin notes that for all intents and purposes, they’re the same thing now.
Eric: Yeah, and that’s a huge line, right? “Oh, was it Death Eaters or the Ministry?” “Well, for all intents and purposes, they’re the same.” And it’s like, because Voldemort now has the authority to use Aurors or official government resources to hunt his enemies, and he also has legal authority to detain, imprison, harm anybody he wants, there actually does cease to be a difference between whether Death Eaters are being sent or whether he dispatches Aurors from the Auror department, right? Because he runs both. So the result is the same, and even… I mean, if I were Voldemort and just got in control of the Ministry, I would send Aurors over my Death Eaters, because they’re more trained, they have more gear, they have more experience…
Andrew: And Voldemort loves power and control.
Eric: Yeah! It’s terrifying that Voldemort can now officially send basically a SWAT team and government-trained government resources. The cops, basically.
Andrew: Yeah. One big revelation is that Arthur heard that the Death Eaters tried to torture Harry’s whereabouts out of Scrimgeour before they killed him, but he didn’t give Harry away.
Eric: Aw.
Andrew: Yeah, and in other words, his final act may have been trying to protect Harry. So what do we make of this? Because Harry didn’t have the best relationship with Scrimgeour, and yet he apparently was of huge help here.
Eric: I love this tidbit. It really speaks to… it shows us after the fact, a little too late, but it shows us that Scrimgeour was not Harry’s enemy. And Harry’s relationship with Scrimgeour was so strained – as you mentioned, Andrew – but in the end, Scrimgeour was not about to kowtow and give the Death Eaters what they wanted. In his final moments, it became very clear to him who was on the bad side, and he chose good. I mean, joking now, of course, but his act of protection for Harry should have bestowed upon Harry a sense of magical protection. So maybe Scrimgeour’s death, not giving up Harry, is what allows Harry to get kind of an extra life after the forest, so he gets a one-up sound. He gets an extra life.
[Laura laughs]
Eric: Because of Scrimgeour. Thanks, Rufus.
Laura: No, but that only works with mothers in this universe. [laughs]
Eric: Oh, right. No one else would sacrifice for a child.
Laura: Right. But I agree with you, Eric; I think that this really harkens back to what Sirius says a couple books ago, which is that the world isn’t made up of good people and Death Eaters. And so in this case, you have somebody who’s very clearly anti-Voldemort; he is not pro-Death Eater agenda. What he is pro is the Ministry agenda, and that’s really where he and Harry had friction in their relationship, is they just had different ideas of what fighting Voldemort looked like. That was what their beef was. It was never that Scrimgeour was on the fence about whether he was down with Voldemort or not, so at the end of the day, he was on the right side of history.
Eric: Right, when it became clear that the Ministry was now Voldemort’s to control, Scrimgeour had a choice, right? He could have been like, “Oh, well, I’m pro-Ministry, so I’m pro-Voldemort now.” No, he’s like, “No, I’m still anti-Voldemort, and I’m going to not…”
Andrew: He’s-pro somebody not taking over the Ministry, at the least. Anybody just capturing it. We also find out that the Death Eaters found the ghoul in Ron’s room and didn’t want to get too close.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: And so in other words, this plan to have the ghoul in Ron’s bed and have him have a case of Spattergroit, it worked. It worked. It kind of blows my mind that this actually worked. If Voldemort found out these Death Eaters didn’t get a close look at fake Ron, he would have killed them immediately. The trio outsmarted the Death Eaters.
Micah: Again.
Andrew and Eric: Again.
Micah: Yeah, it’s a bit frustrating. Not that we’re reading it from the perspective of wanting the Death Eaters to succeed, but…
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: Yeah, careful what you say.
Micah: I’ve always had this kind of comparison in my mind of we’re meant to view the Death Eaters as henchmen. I think of Jessie and James from Pokémon, right? Every time they show up, they’re very rarely successful, right? But they’re kind of these henchmen that are always in Ash’s way. And I’m sure there’s plenty of other comparisons that we could use here.
Andrew: Crabbe and Goyle.
Micah: Yeah, and adult Crabbe and Goyle too. The apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree. Not too much going on upstairs, right?
Andrew: Right, exactly.
Micah: Yeah, and henchmen generally aren’t very bright, right? That’s usually how they’re portrayed. So this kind of a situation just… it speaks to that. They’re not going to do more than is necessary. They’re here; they’re evaluating the situation. They don’t want to get the ‘groit.
[Everyone laughs]
Eric: The ‘groit.
Andrew: “I want to capture them, but I don’t want to capture them that badly.”
Eric: They don’t want to get the ‘groit.
Andrew: Could be the episode title. “Get the ‘groit.”
Micah: But they have wands, though. I’m sure they could do things with magic, and that’s what bothers me about this.
Andrew: Right.
Eric: Oh, yeah, if they want to lift back the covers… they don’t want to get too close to the ghoul. The ghoul is disgusting; it’s described so gross. I wouldn’t want to get near it.
Andrew: Cooties!
Eric: But you have magic! That’s such a good point, Micah. You could lift the covers or rotate the ghoul or anything from afar. [laughs]
Laura: Yeah, I think there are a couple things here. One, the Death Eaters are going to be looking at the Weasleys as blood traitors, and they’re not going to be thinking very much of them and their abilities to outsmart them, so the Death Eaters also kind of have the ego thing going on that Voldemort does. But also, they know that they’re disposable, so I could very much see the Death Eaters being like, “Uh, I’m not going to take chances getting too close to that and getting infected, because Voldemort is not going to help me if I get sick. So we’re just going to go back to him and tell him, ‘Wasn’t there. Dunno.'”
Eric: Yeah, being a Death Eater doesn’t come with an insurance package, so they’re not going to risk it.
Laura: Right.
Andrew: And Voldemort doesn’t want to get the ‘groit either, so that’s another reason he would kill these guys before they got close to him. [imitating Voldemort] “Ew, cooties! Avada Kedavra!”
[Laura laughs]
Micah: That’s the title of the episode. “Got the ‘groit.”
Andrew: Yeah, I made a note. We’re set. So it’s been difficult to find Harry, and the Death Eaters are turning and Voldemort is turning to a new strategy. The Ministry is trying to bring Harry in for questioning about the death of Dumbledore, and this was reported in the Prophet, and we’re also getting confirmation that the Prophet, too, has been taken over by Death Eaters. And Lupin makes a fine point about the current reality: Voldemort is essentially the Minister for Magic right now, which is a terrifying thought. That said, the public actually suspects that Voldemort is in charge, since there has been such a dramatic change in Ministry policy so quickly. But everyone’s just whispering out of fear about it and not knowing who to trust, and it’s sad, but I think understandable, that people aren’t more openly discussing this and trying to fight back, right?
Micah: Yeah. And Lupin also points out how Voldemort, he doesn’t need to be physically present. It’s almost like a shadow government of sorts, right? He’s got Pius Thicknesse under his full control, who’s now the Minister for Magic, who stepped in following the death of Scrimgeour. And a little bit of a name origin there with Pius: “Pious” means, right, dutiful, loyal, so it’s appropriate of… we know he’s under the Imperius Curse, but the fact that he is acting on behalf of Voldemort. And I don’t know, really, with Thicknesse, if he’s thick in the head, maybe, is not quite all there.
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: I don’t know what we want to do with that. But again, just another situation where the name is appropriate for the behavior, the actions that the character is taking in this case.
Andrew: Yeah, so the other factor is Voldemort is definitely not someone who wants to go into an office. He’s totally a work from home girlie.
Laura: Oh, yeah.
Micah: Oh, you don’t see that?
Andrew: Going into the office for Voldemort? No.
Micah: Remember, in one of the movies he was on the train platform in a nice suit.
Andrew: That’s true.
Eric: It did look good. He does know business attire. But I think he makes the office come to him, right?
Andrew: Yeah, exactly.
Eric: He’s positioned… his base of operations is Malfoy Manor. Surprise, that’s the new office that everyone else reports to him at.
Andrew: And I just know he’s someone who doesn’t turn on his camera during a Zoom call. He’s above that. He makes everybody else turn on the cameras to make sure they’re working in the office.
Eric: Yes, yes.
Micah: Would you want his camera to be on?
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: And his camera picture is his favorite photo of him, but just the only one that’s approved for dissemination of anything is his one… he’s probably killing somebody or something in it.
Andrew: Micah, he actually had the Ministry create a Zoom filter that would put a nose back on him. You know how you can have the puppy ears and whatnot? Yeah, there’s a nose one too.
Eric: Oh.
Laura: I love that for him.
Andrew: So anyway. [laughs] Okay, and I’m glad we’re having fun, because here is probably one of the darkest parts of this chapter. The Ministry has launched a Muggle-born Register, and I’m going to read a quote now. “The Ministry of Magic is undertaking a survey of so-called ‘Muggle-borns,’ the better to understand how they came to possess magical secrets. Recent research undertaken by the Department of Mysteries reveals that magic can only be passed from person to person when wizards reproduce. Where no proven wizarding ancestry exists, therefore, the so-called Muggle-born is likely to have obtained magical power by theft or force. The Ministry is determined to root out such usurpers of magical power, and to this end has issued an invitation to every so-called Muggle-born to present themselves for interview by the newly appointed Muggle-born Registration Commission.” So now they’re just saying, “If you’re Muggle-born and you have magic, you stole that magic.” That’s crazy.
Laura: It is.
Eric: And they’re utilizing the full power of the Ministry again because they’re “able to reveal that the secrets of the Department of Mysteries have now revealed this.”
Andrew: Right, just now?
Eric: Like, “There’s a new study that confirms everything horrible that we want to politically promote.”
Andrew: Just now the wizarding world is realizing this alleged fact? No. In other words, Voldemort wants to capture and kill all Muggle-borns, and this is unfortunately something that reflects current reality and has reflected reality in the past. We see the current US administration deporting immigrants without merit, and the administration uses exaggerated numbers about crime and other fear-mongering techniques to try and make their case, i.e. using the term “illegal aliens” to scare people. But it’s a throwback to other times too, right, Micah?
Micah: Yeah, and I know we’ve dove pretty deep in other episodes in discussing these comparisons, but it’s definitely a throwback to World War II and Nazi Germany when the Nazis rounded up the Jews and anyone that they considered to not be a part of the Aryan race.
Eric: Yeah, undesirables, people that were basically being propagandized against in much the same way, to give them a so-called legal reason or legal method of doing it. It’s definitely fear-mongering, and it’s a dirty lie, right? The stolen magic? No, people are born this way. And theft implies that there’s a victim, right? That the victim is everyone who is half-blood or more, basically. Or pure-blood. Essentially, it’s making the pure-bloods, who probably have all the privilege in the world, who grew up knowing they were magical their entire lives and all that stuff, it’s giving them an excuse to feel like they have been somehow victimized, and it would get support from them to have these people rounded up. And it’s just disgusting, but very, very, very close to reality.
Laura: It’s classic divide and conquer of the populace, right? To make some people feel like they’re special, and this would never happen to them. “But look at those people; they’re the problem. Let’s round them up so that we can take care of the issue.”
Andrew: Right.
Laura: “And we’re never going to come for you. You’re fine.”
Micah: Until you’re not.
Andrew: Yeah, we’ll address that too. So Ron says, “People won’t let this happen,” but Lupin says, “It is happening now. Muggle-borns are being rounded up as we speak.” And I think this is another element that’s reflective of reality. There’s so much bad happening at once that it’s hard to keep track and try to respond to it all, and then people will also stick their heads in the sand… unless the issue directly impacts them.
Laura: Yep, it’s called flooding the zone.
Eric: And it works.
Andrew: So Ron observes… and this is a moment where we see and are reminded that he is a very smart character. He observes that this argument that Muggle-borns are stealing or forcing magic into themselves falls flat because if it were possible to do that, Squibs wouldn’t deal with the shame of being Squibs! They would steal the magic. And it’s a great point, and I think it’s something that I would hope that people are discussing privately in their own homes after reading this Daily Prophet article. And again, reflective of reality; it’s a reminder that even if something literally makes no sense, the population might still go along with it or just ignore the lies because maybe it suits their personal feelings or agenda.
Eric: Yeah. And it definitely is why you have to be careful who you put in power, because if they leverage the machinery of government to put out propaganda like this, it’s difficult to… you’re always going to have people who are like, “I read it in the Prophet; it must be true.” And it’s a very slippery slope because after a few years of that, and then four years off, and then another four years of that, it’s real hard to discern truth from reality.
Laura: Yeah. This just reminds me of the poem by Pastor Martin Niemöller, “First They Came For,” and this is about the Holocaust. I’m sure we’re all familiar with it from school, but it’s essentially, “First they came for this group, but I wasn’t a member of that group, so I didn’t say anything,” and it goes through the list of all the groups the Nazis came for through the Jews, and then finally at the end, it’s “And then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.”
Eric: And that’s the lesson, is that as soon as you allow a government apparatus to dehumanize a swath of people, a percent of a portion of the population, it becomes so much easier in the public mind and for them, and it emboldens them to do it with other groups, and that’s why there’s… basically the only way to prevent it is to speak up when the first person’s rights are being violated. This is why there’s LGBTQ; this is why there’s advocacy for immigration that is not backed by a Gestapo, an ICE that’s deporting people. So it’s because as soon as they do it with one group, it’s so much easier to do it for all the rest. And if you think you’re safe, you’re not, and that’s why it’s important to fight for equal rights for everybody.
Andrew: Give an inch, they’ll take a mile.
Eric: But unfortunately, I mean, Lupin’s line to Ron, that “People wouldn’t let this happen,” it is happening.
Andrew: Right.
Eric: It’s a real wake-up call. There’s so much else going on in this chapter that doesn’t focus on it, but it’s chilling because it is… you like to believe the best in people, you like to believe that there will be an outcry, but everyone’s just keeping their head… everyone’s been terrified that Voldemort would come back, and now that he’s actually back, people don’t know how to handle it. They’re just trying to survive.
Andrew: Part of the problem, too, is the Prophet‘s been taken over, so the truth is being suppressed as well. Well, that’s the current situation. Of course, we’re going to see more of this as the book progresses. Also a current situation: Lupin and Harry’s fight. Let’s get into that. So after Lupin updates the trio on the situation in the wizarding world, Lupin tries to ask Harry about the mission that Dumbledore gave him, and Harry says he can’t tell him. And Harry says, “If Dumbledore didn’t tell you, I don’t think I can.” Now, we discussed this a few weeks ago too, I think. I’m officially rejecting Harry’s decision to not tell others about the grand plan. Because think of it this way: If you became the CEO of a company after someone else steps down, and that person had given you advice, do you have to listen to it? No. Harry is the CEO of Save the Wizarding World Inc. right now. He can make his own decisions and think for himself; he does not have to follow Dumbledore’s orders. And I think you see this too when there’s a passing of the torch. Sure, you can take advice from people; it doesn’t mean you have to follow in their footsteps exactly. Forge your own path! So I’m officially over this whole “Well, Dumbledore didn’t tell you, so I can’t tell you either” thing. It’s stupid!
Eric: Especially because with every passing chapter, Harry has more and more reasons to believe that Dumbledore either can’t be trusted or wasn’t the best dude with the best plan.
Micah: No. There is no plan; that’s the thing. The mission, sure, is destroy the Horcruxes, but there’s no strategy. It’s so nebulous that having more people weigh in could actually be beneficial. And I’m not saying he needs to put it out there for all the world to see…
Eric: Open the doors of…
Micah: Yeah, but I think there are select people that would be extremely helpful to him, and honestly, people who know how to do more advanced magic than him too. There would be value in having an adult with them as opposed to just the three of them on the run by themselves. But Laura, you look like you disagree. [laughs]
Laura: Yeah, I was going to say, this adult?
Micah: Well… [laughs]
Laura: Honestly, I think this adult is a liability.
Eric: Oof.
Laura: Because his motivation is not, “Hey, I want to help you do this right and I want to protect you.” His number one motivation is to abandon his pregnant wife and unborn child because he doesn’t want to deal with it.
Eric: It’s unfortunate when this comes out.
Laura: So I don’t know that… and the thing is, I’m not saying Lupin is a bad guy. Obviously he’s on the right side of this conflict. He and the trio share the same desire for how this should come out, right? I’m not saying any of that.
Eric: Right.
Laura: But I don’t know that you can trust the judgment of someone who is willingly suggesting walking away from their wife and unborn child to go camping with teenagers.
Andrew: Definitely.
Laura: It just doesn’t make sense to me. I don’t even think Lupin would intend to be a liability, but what might he do if, say, he receives word that his pregnant wife and her family have been taken hostage by Death Eaters because they suspect that Lupin is traveling with Harry, so they’ve done that to try and eke information out of Lupin? Sorry, if he’s this rash in this moment, he’s not going to be logical and reasonable when his family’s at risk, and the excuse he gives them to say, “Well, I could provide you with protection.” You know who else you could provide with protection? Your wife and your child…
Andrew: [laughs] Sorry, I shouldn’t laugh.
Laura: … that you’re so concerned with being in danger because of their affiliation with you. I’m not having it.
Eric: Yeah, he very much doesn’t… he made the decision to get married to Tonks. He made the decision to consummate that marriage. He made the decision to start a family, and now he’s just running from all of that, the responsibility and the repercussions that come with that. Dude, my man, sit with the consequences, man. And also, find a way to justify, to make okay your continuing what you’ve done, and the way to do that is to protect it. Protect what you’ve created. Don’t run away from it.
Andrew: I was also thinking, “Okay, maybe Lupin wouldn’t be the best adult to bring along,” but what…? Okay, Harry is not going to share the plan with him or anybody else. What if the trio all died? What if they died on Tottenham Court Road? Who the heck is going to save the day then? Slughorn?
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: No! Somebody else needs to know. Even if they’re not going along, which we’ll get into, somebody needs to know, especially these three are always together. You know how…? This is kind of a random tangent, but an artist I like, I heard once that they travel on a separate plane from their wife because what if one of the planes were to go down? Well, at least the other person is still alive to take care of your kids. Kind of the same situation. They’re all traveling together, so they need somebody else on the outside knowing the plan just in case they were to all die.
Micah: Right.
Laura: You know what I think the problem is, though? I kind of think it doesn’t matter if they die and if somebody else knew the plan. Not that there’s much of a plan to communicate, by the way. But if Harry dies, there is no plan, right? If he’s gone, there’s no stopping Voldemort.
Eric: There’s no “one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord.”
Laura: Right.
Andrew: Oh. Well, you could still try to go for the Horcruxes. Give it a shot.
Micah: Well, there’s the chance that he rebounds, right? That he has an extra life in his pocket. Because if it’s Voldemort who kills him, then he’s going to destroy the Horcrux, Harry will make the decision to come back…
Eric: Thanks, Scrimgeour.
Laura: Maybe.
Andrew: So speaking of Lupin being messy, he offers to come with the trio on their journey to provide protection. And he says, “Oh, guys, there would be no need to tell me exactly what you’re up to, so no worries.” But I mean, Lupin is going to be there the whole time. He would overhear so much of the conversation taking place. That is not true, Lupin.
Eric: I’m just so devastated by this fall…
Laura: This is manipulative.
Eric: The character… it’s manipulative. It doesn’t… the longer you think about it, the more it falls apart. Oh, it’s a shame to see him this way.
Andrew: It’s sad. It’s just sad.
Micah: It’s super frustrating. As somebody who really liked…
Andrew: Lupin is your favorite character.
Micah: Yeah, exactly. And I can go to this now because I think it’s relevant to what we’re talking about. Just sort of the decline of him as a character in the story… the thing that really bothers me about the end of his story is how suddenly he goes from being this thoughtful, compassionate, deeply responsible character, to contemplating abandoning his pregnant wife and unborn child, as you were talking about earlier, Laura. I actually think Lupin having a crisis about fatherhood makes total sense.
Laura: Of course.
Micah: He spent his entire life being ashamed of being a werewolf. He’s experienced rejection, isolation, discrimination. So him thinking, “What if my child inherits this? What if I’m not good enough to be a father?” That’s believable. What doesn’t work for me is that we don’t really see enough of that deterioration beforehand. It feels like the book suddenly needs Lupin to make this terrible decision so that Harry can confront him about it, and that’s different from giving a character a believable flaw, right? The flaw in and of itself is believable. This transition, to me, just feels really underwritten, like she needed somebody that she was going to do this to, and she chose to do it with Lupin.
Eric: I couldn’t have said it better. This is 100% it, and it’s a shame because for those of you listeners or readers that really love Lupin… I could see – even though I prefer Sirius Black because I made him my screen name – you could read Book 3 and be left with the best character that you’ve ever seen, right? And for people who Lupin is their favorite Harry Potter character, there has been just too little of him in the subsequent books. The most Harry gets is maybe at Christmas or something; he gets to chat with Lupin around a fire. But Lupin is quickly dispatched to go be with the werewolves, then he spends a book… we don’t even see him, I don’t think, in Book 6, and for him to show up here… “underwritten” is a great word for it. But we didn’t… maybe if we had gotten more of him, we could see how this would make sense.
Andrew and Laura: Yeah.
Laura: I do think that the foundation is there to set this up, but I do agree that we didn’t get enough time with Lupin for this to feel natural. Because we do see, for example, as a teenager – a teenager who was a prefect, by the way – he stood by and allowed his friends to be massive bullies, and he was tacitly complicit with that because he found community for the first time in his life, and he didn’t want to lose it, right?
Micah: Right.
Laura: And then additionally, in Book 5, he pushes Tonks away because he’s so afraid of the implications on her life if they were to get together, right? So we have seen these tendencies he has towards maybe not the most ethical decision-making, but it’s been very much in the background. It’s not something that we’ve gotten to see firsthand until this moment, so it does feel kind of jarring.
Micah: Yeah, I agree with that.
Andrew: In terms of Lupin opening up to the trio like this, it makes me think: Does he have anybody else he could talk to? He’s not going to talk to Tonks about this because she’s involved in this problem of his. His old Marauder buddies, two of them are dead; the last one betrayed the rest of the Marauders. Who’s left, Arthur and Molly? I guess? Can’t talk to Dumbledore about this either.
Eric: For Lupin?
Andrew: Yeah, for Lupin. To talk to, to open up about his problems.
Micah: “You’re a therapist, Harry.”
[Everyone laughs]
Micah: That’s what this is.
Andrew: Another episode title. We have two. We’re going to have to…
Laura: Oh, so good.
Eric: Damn, it has to compete with “Get the ‘groit” with the best possible episode title.
Andrew: I tend to side… would be in favor of the alliteration one.
Eric and Micah: Yeah.
Andrew: But yeah, I just… it is sad that Lupin feels like he can only talk to the trio, seemingly. So who else could he talk to? I guess Arthur and Molly would be the best bets at this point.
Eric: Arthur and Molly, especially because Molly has already been there emotionally for Tonks last year, so for…
Micah: And she tried to be there for Lupin too, didn’t she?
Eric: Yeah, well, she did, and he wasn’t letting her in enough to… so he didn’t want to confide in Molly his actual reasons for not getting together with Tonks. But then at the moment that Lupin decides, “Ah, what the hell, I’ll get with Tonks and marry her,” that’s when you’ve got to step up, buddy. That’s when you’ve got to be a real adult. And the Lupin that saw Neville’s needs as a student and saw a chance to make Neville shine and be funny about it, that level of emotional insight that Lupin displayed then into the minds of his students, is not the same character that would ever do this.
Micah: Right, that’s probably the biggest issue in all of this, is that he’s putting this on Harry’s shoulders, and he’s asking Harry to unpack all of this for him, right?
Andrew: Right.
Micah: Harry’s got enough going on. [laughs]
Eric: Yeah, yeah. It’s like, “Here, handle my collateral damage for me.” And what he promises in return isn’t usable, as we’ve discussed.
Andrew: Harry has a very strong reaction to Lupin saying he wants to go with the trio rather than being with his wife and unborn child. And I do love this flip of a light switch that Harry has. He just goes in with a dig that probably, you’re initially caught off-guard. Like, “Wait, are we going there right now? Or is Harry going to be chill about this?” And how this starts is Hermione says, “How could any child be ashamed of you?”, talking to Lupin. And Harry says, “I’d be pretty ashamed of him.” And that’s when things start to go off. Harry accuses Lupin of seeking danger or personal glory and feeling like stepping into Sirius’s shoes to become a daredevil, and worse still, he says he can’t believe the man who taught him to fight Dementors is a coward. Harry does end up regretting this coward part, in particular.
Micah: Well, Snape is the coward. We can’t have two cowards in the same story.
[Andrew and Micah laugh]
Andrew: Is that how it works?
Eric: Yeah, choose a different insult, Harry.
Micah: It feels like it’s overstepping a little bit here, but at the same time, Harry’s reaction is justified because he’s comparing this to his own situation. He’s looking at what happened to his parents, and for somebody who was so close to his parents to look at abandoning their own child by going out and seeking danger, personal glory, I feel like that’s a little bit of a stretch too. Lupin doesn’t seem like a glory seeker to me, but I understand why Harry is drawing that comparison. It’s a justifiable reaction. I mean, he goes hard here. [laughs]
Andrew: It’s justifiable. I also think it’s not that abnormal for a teacher, no matter the course, whether they taught you how to fight Dementors or not, to be afraid of the current wizarding world, to be afraid that Voldemort has taken over the Ministry of Magic, the Daily Prophet, everything. It’s scary, no matter who you are.
Laura: Yeah, for sure.
Micah: I just think Lupin is so lost. He’s lost. He’s very much… he’s struggling a lot here in this moment, and he’s looking, I think, to the one person who could potentially validate him, and he’s not getting that validation from Harry.
Laura: No, because at the end of the day, there’s no shame in feeling afraid. In fact, it would be weird if these characters didn’t feel afraid. But there is shame in being a coward, and in that regard, I’m on Harry’s side here. I love this.
Micah: The thing he’s running from, too, is so much about “Well, what if I pass this along to my unborn child, right? This lycanthropy.” What if you don’t, and then you’ve run from this for absolutely no reason?
Laura: Yeah, or what if you did, and you’re not there to shepherd this child?
Andrew: Oooh, love that point.
Laura: Yeah. Come on, man.
Micah: Which ends up happening anyway.
Andrew: He also seems quite confident that Teddy is going to end up a werewolf, in the way he’s talking here. He’s jumping to worst case scenario. He’s not thinking clearly at all.
Laura: Also, self-inflicted, because if this was really a big worry of yours, birth control, my man. I don’t know what birth control methods look like in the wizarding world, but I’m presuming they have them.
Andrew: I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: Cover that wand. Cover that wand.
[Laura and Micah laugh]
Micah: There’s another episode title.
Andrew: At the Harry Potter conferences, they used to hand out condoms that said, “Cover your wand.”
Laura: Yeah, they did. [laughs]
Eric: Oh my God.
Andrew: So this fight takes on another level of meaning by the end of the book when both Lupin and Tonks die. Prior to this, Lupin makes Harry Teddy’s godfather and forgives him for their fight, so they do end up making up before Lupin dies. But Teddy also ends up being a human, so all that worrying was for nothing. Now, about this fight, I do wonder if the author had decided on killing Tonks and Lupin before or after writing this scene, because this feels like a scene that maybe wouldn’t have made it in the book if they lived.
Eric: That’s interesting. It’s like, you want to do character assassination before actual assassination?
Andrew: [laughs] Well, just because of how Teddy and Harry both end up orphans, this conversation takes on a different meaning because of how Harry is comparing Lupin’s actions to his own parents. And Harry, of course, is very frustrated by Lupin talking this way because he doesn’t want to see another child lose his parents.
Eric: Well, and it’s a heck of a strong moral conviction from Harry. Not that Harry has ever not had good moral conviction, except to say Harry taking the stance feels out of character for Harry. We can see why he does it, but at what point is Harry just going to be this bastion last best hope of keeping families together? That comes out of nowhere. It’s a random moment for Harry. Harry is… we’ve known he’s brave, we’ve known he’s Gryffindor, but to hand Lupin his ass like this – and I’m glad it happens; we agree with Harry in this moment – but it just is like he’s at a ten all of a sudden, and it seems to have come out of nowhere.
Andrew: All right, well, that is the situation for now, and luckily it’s time for Harry to cool off with some light reading. He picks up the Prophet…
Eric: Oh!
Micah: What?
Eric: There was this moment where Lupin sends Harry backwards into a wall.
Andrew: Oh right, yeah.
Micah: Physical violence is never the answer.
Andrew: So Harry and Lupin are fighting, and Lupin sends Harry into the wall before leaving 12 Grimmauld Place. Pretty dramatic, and yeah, pretty bad for an adult friend to do this to Harry. Not great.
Eric: Yeah, I mean, it was just… it was heated all around. My question is, does this now make Remus Lupin the owner of the Elder Wand?
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: Because he just overcame Harry in a fight, in a duel.
Micah: But Harry doesn’t have the…
Laura: Harry doesn’t have it yet.
Eric: Yeah, but neither did Draco, right?
Micah: Technically the allegiance…
Laura: Well, no, Draco disarmed Dumbledore, didn’t he? So yeah.
Eric: Oh, so Harry doesn’t have it in the interim to be able to be… okay, yeah, I got it.
Micah: Harry and Draco didn’t wrestle for the wand yet.
Eric: I’m glad we settled that. Right, okay. Good point.
Micah: Yeah. It’s just, again, as somebody who enjoyed Lupin as a character previously, I think him just showing up to Grimmauld Place… he had a clear mission. He knew what he wanted to try and get out of the situation. But yeah, it’s just surprising.
Andrew: I’m sorry, Micah. I’m sorry about this.
Laura: It is a bummer.
Micah: It’s a bummer, but yeah, I’m not not having any of it, though, in terms of… especially how he treats Harry at the end.
Andrew: Yeah. Well, Harry decides to cool off with some light reading. He picks up the Prophet that Lupin brought over, and there’s an extract from Rita’s upcoming book about Dumbledore, and in it, he learns that the Dumbledore family was embarrassed by Percival’s time in Azkaban. This, of course, was for assaulting the three Muggles who attacked Ariana, which left her unable to control her magic. So they moved to Godric’s Hollow to become more anonymous, and this move also had the benefit of making it easier to hide Ariana in a place where no one knew about her and her condition, because the thinking was if the Ministry knew about her condition, they would send her to St. Mungo’s. And these new revelations send Harry into a further spiral about what he thought he knew about Dumbledore, and it further convinces him that he needs to meet with Bathilda and to visit the place where both he and Dumbledore lost loved ones.
Micah: Yeah. Going from one flawed adult figure to the next in this chapter. It is almost ironic that Harry uses Dumbledore as his reasoning in the Lupin conversation – at least before it goes into the whole Tonks situation – that the reasoning why was, “Well, Dumbledore said, and I’m doing what Dumbledore says.” And he only becomes further frustrated with Dumbledore after reading this.
Andrew and Laura: Yeah.
Eric: It’s just so sad that everyone that Harry has around him wants a piece of him. Lupin wants to go with Harry to excuse his thing, and Harry just doesn’t have any… there’s no competent adult nearby that Harry is tapping. This made me think about why Harry wouldn’t seek out McGonagall. McGonagall has done nothing but show up for Harry and prove that she is 100% on the side of whatever Dumbledore would have wanted to happen. She’d be pretty much the only one who’s wise enough not to have some folly of an idea about loyalty like Lupin is doing. And McGonagall would never put herself in this situation, so she could be trusted.
Micah: This actually makes me wonder, then, was the whole point of this Lupin confrontation was to remove him as a possibility of being that resource? Because we really don’t hear or see from him much, as far as I can remember, until the Battle of Hogwarts.
Eric: Right.
Andrew: Maybe.
Micah: We know Molly and Arthur are busy with the Burrow, right? If we’re going down the list, essentially, McGonagall would be the only one that would make a lot of sense.
Andrew: And I think, too, part of the reason this scene exists is to remind the reader that the adults are really struggling too, and Lupin is feeling like he’s in an impossible situation. This was a shock on multiple levels, and showing how hard this situation is on everybody, even if we don’t agree with Lupin’s thinking. So the chapter ends with Kreacher successfully bringing back Dung, and they get a lead on the locket. Dung sold it to a toad-looking woman at the Ministry, and Harry’s hand starts to tingle again. It’s Umbridge. “Hem-hem!”
Eric: Well, see, I went into this chapter going, “What in the hell is the bribe? Why is it called ‘The Bribe’?”
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: It’s one of the worst chapter titles.
Andrew: I agree with that.
Eric: There is one in it, but it’s Umbridge comes up to Dung and says, “You could get in trouble for selling illegal… where you don’t have a permit for this, so I’m going to take this locket,” and that’s the bribe. Whereas we typically think of a bribe as “I’m going to choose to do this to the authorities to let me go.” It’s basically… Dung got volun-told to give up the locket, and that was the so-called bribe. I mean, might as well name the chapter “Lupin Sucks.” It’s at least more relevant.
[Andrew and Micah laugh]
Andrew: Yeah. When Kreacher came back successful, I had such a surge of pride that Harry’s trust in him paid off, that Harry gave him that fake locket, that they felt like a team, and Kreacher was doing something good for them.
Micah: He even apologizes to Harry for taking so long.
Andrew: [laughs] Which, it wasn’t really long, right? It was a few days, but it wasn’t bad.
Eric: Yeah, but you know what? Good on Mundungus Fletcher for his… Kreacher is like, “He has a series of associates and hideouts.”
Micah: Geez.
Eric: And it was just like, “Oh my God.”
Andrew: Good on him, wow.
Eric: Dung actually did a pretty good job of trying to get away.
Micah: But I thought for all the heaviness of this chapter, and even going back to “Kreacher’s Tale,” the relationship that’s established here between Harry and Kreacher, even the short dialogue, is very fun to read, and I think even for the first time he calls him “Master Harry.”
Andrew and Eric: Yeah.
Micah: So you can tell that Kreacher is softening a little bit, and it’s a much-needed levity as we wrap up this chapter.
Andrew: For sure.
Laura: Yeah, well, they let him cry it out in the last chapter. When was the last time somebody gave Kreacher that opportunity?
Eric: To just cry for hours. [laughs]
Andrew: And to give… for Kreacher to receive a Black family heirloom? That’s why he was crying? Oh my gosh, incredibly, incredibly kind gift for Harry to give him, in Kreacher’s mind.
Lynx Line
Andrew: So time for the Lynx Line. So this is kind of… I wanted to have fun with this question. What could Lupin have said to Harry that would have convinced Harry to let Lupin go with the trio on their journey? Laura, what’s your idea?
Laura: “I’ll bring chocolate.”
[Andrew and Micah laugh]
Eric: “Harry, I’ve got a hookup.”
Andrew: Yeah. I thought he could say, “If you let me go with you, I’ll work to break up Ron and Hermione so you don’t have to see their cooties anymore. Cootie sharing.”
Eric: I like that. Harry is kind of squigged out about that.
Micah: Oh, I thought the way you said that it was so that he was going to free up Hermione for Harry.
Andrew: That too. It’s got layers.
Micah: Okay, it’s implied.
Laura: Movie version.
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: That’s for the movie version.
Eric: Steve Kloves’s wet dream, yeah.
[Andrew and Micah laugh]
Micah: There’s another episode title.
[Everyone laughs]
Micah: I wonder how many clicks that would get. Oh, boy.
Laura: That’s behind the paywall. [laughs]
Micah: “Harry, Tonks knows I’m here. She doesn’t need me to be another soldier in this war; she needs me to make sure you survive it.”
Andrew: Ooh, I don’t know if that would have worked, but hey, I like it.
Eric: That’s tempting. I went with a different kind of bribe: “Harry, if you don’t let me come with you, I’ll send you an owl every day. Wherever you are, the owls will find you, and in every letter will be tales of your father’s school exploits with girls before he and your mom started dating, and then after with your mom. I’m going to send you so much dirty detail about your parents that you’re going to wish you had taken me.”
Andrew: This makes me think, though, that if Lupin did come along, he could have regaled Harry with stories of his friendship with James.
Laura: Sure.
Eric: Wholesome ones, yeah.
Andrew: I think that may have actually sold him. [laughs] All right, well, turning to the patron responses now, people took this a little more seriously, I think, which is fine. Eleanor said,
“He would have had to have lied outright. Said that Tonks and baby Teddy were dead at the Death Eaters’ hands and he was wanting to come along to seek revenge. And of course Harry would have known he was lying so it wouldn’t have worked.”
Eric: Charlotte says,
“The only thing I can think of is Lupin telling Harry that he’s seen the future and he (Lupin) will be dead soon, and so he wants to contribute one last thing to the world Teddy will live in. He could phrase it as ‘a dying man’s wish.’ Even then, Harry would probably tell him that it’s all the more reason to go be with Teddy. But maybe Lupin could say that Teddy won’t have any memory of him as a father, so he’d rather take down Voldemort instead.”
That’s pretty heavy.
Micah: Zachary says,
“Coming from the upbringing I had, this was the moment I really didn’t like Lupin. As much as I’d like to think of a way to convince Harry that having him with them is a great idea, I fully stand behind the anger and frustration he dishes out. The only way I could see him tagging along is somehow placing a Trace on the trio and helping them from the shadows without their knowledge.”
Laura: I like that. Shannon says,
“He would’ve had to convince Harry it was for his family’s safety. ‘The world is never going to be safe until Voldy is dead, and I need the world to be safe for my wife and unborn child. Let me help you make it safe for them.'”
Andrew: Matthew said Lupin would say,
“I have a very particular set of skills. Skills I have acquired over a very long career as a grade school teacher. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like Voldemort…”
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: What is this a reference to? It sounds like you were…?
Eric and Laura: Taken.
Andrew: Okay, I haven’t seen it.
Eric: Yeah. Oh, it’s incredible.
Laura: Yeah, you know that Liam Neeson…? He’s on the phone; he’s like, “I will find you and I will kill you.
Andrew: I guess. By the way, I meant to tell y’all, I saw the new Chris Hansen movie last night.
Micah: How was it?
Andrew: It was pretty good. It was good.
Laura: Okay, cool.
Andrew: Interesting character profile of Chris Hansen more than anything. I can see why he’s not a fan of it.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Eric: Oh, yeah?
Andrew: Doesn’t make him look too great.
Eric: Well, the last one here is very, I think, canon compliant, and Rachel says, “Dumbledore told me what you’re up to and wanted me to accompany you.” And the reason this works for me is because Kingsley and Lupin, right, saw Dumbledore more recently, and in a time that Harry didn’t know about. So I think it could have been very conceivable that Dumbledore told them of the plan.
Andrew: I like this one. Short and sweet. And yeah, it makes a lot of sense. And Harry is in a period right now where he’s questioning everything about Dumbledore, so would he put it past Dumbledore right now to have said this to Lupin?
Eric: Right, and not go back on that one thing that was said at the… I don’t know, in the Weasleys’ former outhouse where he’s like, “Oh, just keep this between the two…” Come on.
Andrew: Yeah. Listeners, if you have any feedback about today’s episode, you can contact us by emailing or sending a voice memo that you record on your phone to MuggleCast@gmail.com. You can also reach out via Spotify or YouTube, or DM us on social.
Quizzitch
Andrew: Before we wrap up, it’s time for the answer to this week’s Quizzitch question.
[Quizzitch music plays]
Eric: Again, the question was, who successfully Disarms Mundungus Fletcher at Grimmauld Place? The correct answer is Hermione Granger, in the kitchen, with the Expelliarmus.
Andrew: [laughs] Way to go, Hermione.
Micah: Good job.
Eric: Love it, to Hermione, and love it for Charlie and Forty, who answered that correctly in the Discord. And Forty adds, “Let’s face it, though, Kreach does the heavy lifting.”
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: I completely agree.
Micah: It’s true.
Eric: But good on Hermione for casting a spell that she’s very unfamiliar with.
Andrew: If we were still doing MVP of the Week, Kreacher would be the MVP of the Week for sure.
Eric: Aww.
Andrew: Next week, Chapter by Chapter continues with Chapter 12 of Deathly Hallows, “Magic Is Might.” Ruh-roh. Visit MuggleCast.com for links to our social media, our Patreon, our transcripts, our favorite episodes, and lots more. Thanks, everybody, for listening. I’m Andrew.
Eric: I’m Eric.
Micah: I’m Micah.
Laura: And I’m Laura.
Andrew: See you next week. Bye, everyone!
Eric, Laura, and Micah: Bye.