Podcast Alley

Laura: Yeah, it sounds like it. It sounds like you have a lot of people who are hyped up for it. So, good luck with that. One final announcement, it is a new month, so please be sure to vote for us on Podcast Alley. We've got to beat Keith and the Girl and all those other people.

Eric: Are we going to beat them up?

Laura: We haven't actually, you know, we haven't actually jabbed at them for a while on the show, so I thought it was appropriate. So let's move on to some of our newly named "Muggle Mail." As you know, these used to be called rebuttals, but apparently, Andrew decided they needed to be renamed.

Eric: Oh god. Why doesn't he just call them, like, Pickle Poppers or - I don't know.

Muggle Mail: Clearing Up a Name

Laura: Yeah, I don't know. The first one comes from Jessie, 21, of Virginia. She says:

Jaime read a feedback e-mail regarding the live episodes, and said that the e-mailer hadn't left their name, but thought they were from New Jersey because they went all fan-gasmic about Andrew. Nope! 'Twas me, Jessie, from Virginia! Virginians love Andrew, too. I promise. It must be known that the now-dubbed Mrs. Sims hails from Virginia, only because Virginians aren't recognized often enough on MuggleCast (our fault, I believe). That's why I figured I should e-mail this response-to-my-response, not at all because I would rather not be associated with New Jersey. No, not at all. Love from, Jessie.

Eric: What? So there's a rivalry between Virginia and New Jersey now, and not only did she clarify that it was Jessie from Virginia, but now she has said that we dubbed her "Mrs. Sims." That's a very tricky way to dub yourself Mrs. Sims.

Micah: I dubbed her - I dubbed him - well, is it a her or a him?

Eric: Jessie?

Micah: Do we know?

Eric: With an "i."

Laura: I'm assuming that's...

Eric: J-E-S-S-I-E. Is that really going to be a guy?

Micah: I don't know, I don't want to offend anybody.

Laura: Okay, let's just put this out there: we are assuming because you said "Mrs." So...

Micah: No, I called them "Mrs. Sims."

Eric: So, it could...

Laura: Okay, well, I think they would've corrected you if you were wrong.

Eric: Yeah, I think so, too.

Micah: All right, anyway, do you want me to read the next one here?

Eric: Unless they like being called" Mrs. Sims."

[Laura laughs]

Laura: Hey, some people... Some people are really...

Micah: All right.

Eric: Shout out to Virginians, shout out to Virginians everybody. We do know - hey all, holla. Holla, Virginia fans. Love you all, goodnight.

Micah: Okay...

Kevin: Oh boy.

Laura: All right, Micah, you want to read the next one?

Muggle Mai: Bill Nighy as Rufus Scrimgeour

Micah: All right, sure. The next one comes from Richard, 16, in Denver, Colorado about actors in movies six and seven, he says:

Hi, I'm a big fan of the show, I started listening to it this summer while I was on vacation, and I was counting the seconds for each podcast to come out during the weeks of the 'Deathly Hallows' hype. Anyway, I've heard a lot of stuff on the show about suggestions for actors for the future films, and I always thought that Bill Nighy...

Micah: Is that how you say that?

Laura: Yeah, that's right.

Micah: ...who plays Davy Jones from 'Pirates of the Caribbean' playing Rufus Scrimgeour. I read somewhere about him considering a role in 'Harry Potter,' joking that he was the only British actor to not be in a 'Harry Potter' film. Well, I hope you find this interesting. Good luck with future shows, and nice job with the 12-hour podcast.

So, what do you guys think?

Laura: I would actually really like that. Whenever she said that, I don't know if you guys have seen the second - or not the second one, the third Pirates of the Caribbean. There's one point where you actually see Davy Jones as he appeared before he grew tentacles, and I was thinking about that somewhat in context of what Aberforth might look like, and I really like Bill Nighy looked with, like, the white beard - or, the grey beard and everything. So, I think he'd be good, like, looks wise, at least. He's a great actor, so...

Micah: He's a straggly-looking guy.

Laura: Yeah.

Micah: Yeah.

Eric: Yeah.

Laura: Who likes goats.

Eric: I mean, when they did that Pirates, I didn't know what they were doing it. I mean, it was cool to look at, but, at any rate, it's him and, what is it, Bob Hoskins, we mentioned at the live podcast in London and there was a fan who said that she heard that JKR, through an interview somewhere, said that she had a role reserved for Bob Hoskins in the seventh film, which we can now speculate might be Luna's Dad, Xenopheleous Lovegood. That's just my own personal opinion, I'm not starting a rumor - but, so it's Bill Nighy and Bob Hoskins are the two actors I think I'd like to see in Harry Potter 7.

Laura: Awesome. That sounds really cool. I really like that.

Micah: And where would we know him from?

Eric: Bob Hoskins? He played Smee in Hook with Robin Williams and Dustin Hoffman and Julia Roberts.

Micah: Okay.

Eric: Yep. That's my favorite movie with him in it that I've seen, but I think that's probably the only one that I've seen. So...

Laura: Okay. Eric, do you want to read the next one?

Eric: Yep, sure, let me just see in Firefox, by the way, shout out to Firefox.

Laura: It's Alex.

Muggle Mail: Could Harry Have Survived Another Killing Curse? Priori Incantatem vs. Resurrection Stone Beings

Eric: Okay, so this is from Alex, age 14, Charlotte, North Carolina, and this is a couple of questions for discussion. Message is:

Awesome show guys, just some questions I've had after finishing 'DH' for the 50th time.

Somehow, I'm doubting this guy's credibility.

During the final battle scene, could Harry have survived another 'Avada Kedavra' from Voldemort, since Lord Voldemort had, as Dumbledore put it, 'tethered [Harry] to life while he lives'? If so, would a Killing Curse from someone else be unable to kill him, or would it have to be from Lord Voldemort? What was the difference between the 'beings' that appeared from Harry using the Resurrection Stone, and the 'beings' that appeared during the 'Priori Incantatem' sequence in 'Goblet of Fire'? Thanks, and keep up the good work!

Should we take the second question first?

Laura: Sure, yeah. I have more thoughts on that one, but you go for it Eric.

Eric: I am just guessing that the Priori Incantatem - that is a good question though. Just imagine, actually I have a long reply so why don't you guys go first?

Laura: Okay.

Micah: Okay.

Laura: I was going to say that I am not sure that there is a different in the actual beings. I think of the difference as more of the way of invoking them. We know that the reason Harry saw all of those - and they were not even ghosts, Dumbledore referred them as "shadows" was because of Priori Incantatem, Harry forced all of the previous spells on in backwards order to erupt from Voldemort's wand. So, of course, we saw the last people he had killed. The Resurrection Stone, obviously shows you people that you love or people that are related to you who are dead. But, I don't think that they are actually spirits, if that is part of your prediction.

Micah: Yeah, I was just going to agree completely...

Kevin: I think so too, yeah.

Micah: ...what you said Laura. Yeah.

Eric: Do you think that they are not spirits?

Laura: I do not think...

Eric: From the Resurrection Stone. I mean from, do you really think that they are not though? Like from, because they seem to...

Laura: Because...

Eric: ...have current knowledge of Lupin and Tonks - or Lupin said, "I wish I would like to see my son grow up but oh well J.K.R. killed me off lets move on."

Laura: Yeah, but I almost wondered if a lot of that came from Harry's subconscious whenever he was at the "King's Cross" area with Dumbledore and Dumbledore said to Harry "This is all in your mind."

Eric: Yeah, but the Resurrection Stone is not something imaginary its not like it is something that will bring something back imaginarily to you. It was something that...

Laura: I guess, I do not know. But, I think it has something to do with the idea that Dumbledore said that the ones who love us never truly leave us, or was that Sirius, I do not remember who said that. [laughs]

Eric: You're right though. You're right though.

Laura: But, I do not think that necessarily Lilly and James trailed along behind Harry invisibly all of his years of life.

Eric: Well, no. I mean, whether or not the sprits were - I guess it is kind of irrelevant to think that but because - not what you think but that spirits wouldn't be - because it does not matter really if they are spirits or if they have been in Harry all along in a way, just because they are there to offer him guidance in ways that he would not, you know, otherwise predict. It does not matter that they exist because there is an afterlife or it does not matter simply because his psyche is willing them into being I guess because if they are in the Resurrection Stone then the fact is they sort of offer their character or whatever. I was just thinking though, I did think that there are spirits, like out of Priori Incantatem it seemed like not that Lily and James were trapped in Voldemort's wand or anything forever but, you know this sort of wand thing will hold him off, sort of his intelligence seemed to be sort of a spiritual entity to me. I just remember reading an R.L. Stine's "Goosebumps" book The Haunted School which reminded me of something to do with students trapped in school for a real long time for a really good reasons, probably my favorite "Goosebumps" book. It just seemed to me that they were sprits. That they possess some sort of sentient knowledge that was always beyond Harry, but does not necessarily mean that they were not spirits.

Laura: But, can't that be some what related to the portraits. I mean we know that the portraits are really - I mean they are not living people. But, they possess the knowledge of...

Kevin: I was thinking that - see, it seems to me that the portraits are, well, different because the portraits were at one time painted or created with magic to hold the personality of the person who would eventually go into them. But with the Resurrection Stone I am somewhat inclined that they were somewhat like spirits, but called by the Resurrection Stone itself.

Laura: That would make sense.

Kevin: Where it is not necessarily - with the wand I think it may have been different because it was re-living - it was sort of recounting the experiences of the wand and just like the portraits it picks up the personality and certain, maybe vivid memories of the person that had been killed with the wand, but it wasn't like Dumbledore said, "shadows," you know, the shadows of the person cast at the time of their death.

Eric: And wasn't the original story of The Beatle and the Bard about the Resurrection Stone? Wasn't that - didn't it say something about the love ones wanting to bring loves ones back? The brother who was trying to bring his - because I am trying to think that when Harry turned the Resurrection Stone specific people appeared to him, which is the same with Priori Incantatem, you know, the previous spells or whatever, but Lupin appeared to him and Sirius and all the people who could make his final decision whether or not he wanted to sort of go in guns ablazin' or try and give faith into the Hallows. Like, it just seemed like specific set of loved one were there and those were the ones that he originally seen all along and after this journey. It seemed to possess more of a knowledge and more of a presence than something that was specifically there because it had to be or for Priori Incantatem or a portrait or something.

Laura: Yeah. I like it. Very good.

Eric: The first part was just about Avada Kedavra's death-cursing Harry. Could Harry have jumped off a cliff and survive just for the mere fact that once Voldemort was in human form his blood was tying Harry to the world.

Kevin: I don't think so.

Eric: I don't think so either.

Kevin: Because you have to realize the prophecy and all that was surrounding it was giving certain circumstances: would Harry ever jump off a cliff? No. And because of that he would, you know, he would die if he jumped off the cliff but he would never jump off a cliff? You know what I mean?

Laura: Yeah. It is self-fulfilling.

Kevin: Yeah, exactly.

Eric: As Harry Potter that would suck. It would be like The Sopranos ending, it would just cut to black, you know?

Muggle Mail: Motorcylce Connection

Laura: Oh gosh. All right. The next one comes from Kim, 19 from Texas. She writes:

Hey Y'all. I just wanted to add something to your last discussion about parallels between the 1st and 7th books. I loved how in the 1st book, Hagrid and Harry rode the flying motorcycle to the Dursley's (for Harry's first time) and then in the 7th, Hagrid and Harry left the Dursley's (for Harry's last time) on the motorcycle as well. It was a nice touch of Jo, I think. Love the show!

Yeah. I didn't think about that at all, and then I saw about it in the Writely, and I thought it was really brilliant.

Micah: Kim's on top of things.

Laura: Yeah. I liked that a lot.

Eric: I want to cry now.

Muggle Mail: Voldemort in Books 1 and 7

Laura: Awww. Okay. The next ones comes from Bill "Gabrielle," 53, from Brisbane, I think that is how you say it.

Eric: Yeah. It's Brisbane, and I think it is Bill "Gabriel." Give the man some masculinity here.

Laura: "Gabriel?" Okay, Gabrielle, my bad. I'm sorry. I'm a girl. I read things differently.

Eric: Yeah, I know.

Laura: He's from Brisbane, Australia, and he writes:

There are seven books. The most obvious symmetry is that Voldemort attains physical form in 'Goblet of Fire.' Up until then he was a shadow and afterward a corporeal being.

Did I say that right?

Eric: Yeah, corporeal being. Yeah, something like that. Nobody knows how to pronounce that word for real. Don't send in e-mails.

Voicemail: Peter Pettigrew

Laura: Yeah. All right. Thank you everybody for sending in those rebuttals, or Muggle Mail as we now call it. This week we will be moving into an all voicemail show which we haven't done in a while, so we are pretty excited about that. Kevin, are you ready to roll the first one?

[Audio]: Hi, this is Louise, and I'm from Tennesee, and I was calling because I have a question about Peter Pettigrew. I've just, I've always had a hard time understanding why he was sorted into Gryffindor. I thought he would redeem himself in the seventh book, but he never really did anything in my opinion that made it make sense that he was in Gryffindor, so I was wondering if you guys could talk about that. Thanks! Love the show!

Eric: Micah, what do you think?

Micah: Oh, thanks for throwing it right to me.

[Laura laughs]

Micah: Uhhh, I think...

Eric: I thought I'd catch you off guard.

Micah: No. You didn't catch me off guard. I actually have a response, so...

Eric: Oh. Well darn!

Micah: You tried your best. You tried your best.

Eric: Laura, what do you think?

Micah: No, no, no! Um, I think...

Eric: All right. I pass.

Micah: I think that there are different forms of bravery, and I think that with Pettigrew, he was brave in a different way. I takes a tremendous amount of courage, I think, to betray your friends, and to go and do what he did.

[Kevin sighs]

Laura: Oooo!

Eric: Wait a minute.

Laura: That's dark, Micah!

Eric: Wait a minute. It takes fear. It takes fear, Micah.

Micah: No, no. It takes courage, because you may not be seeing - I think part of with Pettigrew was sorted into Gryffindor is also Jo's way of saying not every bad wizard is in Slytherin.

Eric: Yeah.

Micah: And I think she meant to demonstrate that point, but I think if you look at Pettigrew in that aspect, you see what he does. He is a Gryffindor, I think that there is an element courage in what he does, and it may not be courage in the good sense, because people like to think about courage in the good sense all the time, but it doesn't necessarily exist that way.

Eric: Or something to be - yeah. Yep.

Kevin: Well, I thought of it in a different way. The way I thought of it was, at the end of Book 7, Harry leaned down to Albus was it? Hello?

Laura: Yeah.

Kevin: Albus...

Eric: Albus Severus. Give the kid his middle name back. Hyarr gve it to him. Never take it away.

Kevin: And said that you don't necessarily have to be sorted into a particular house, you can ask.

Eric: Well, it's that the choices aren't - It's not FINAL based on...

Kevin: Exactly.

Eric: Yeah.

Laura: Yeah.

Kevin: If Peter had found friends who were in Gryffindor, what do you think he would have said to the Sorting Hat given that his friends all got sorted into Gryffindor?

Eric: Or not even that. Let's keep with his personality. Maybe he thought all the mean kids in Slytherin would beat him up. [laughs] So he's like, please don't put me in there. I know that I'm a rat pip-squeak, but those kids are going to beat me up. Please put me in Gryffindor, which happened to be their rival. Maybe he didn't know, and so the Sorting Hat did.

Kevin: Exactly, so I think it's not necessarily him being brave either. It's just possibly that he had asked.

Eric: I think that I would probably plea not enough info.

Kevin: Well, of course, yeah.

Eric: The whole thing is just speculation.

Micah: No, I don't think he would have asked. I don't think that his will is as strong as Harry's. I don't think that. I think that Harry was a specific case asking to be in Gryffindor. He sort of willed it to happen. It was his choice. I don't think Pettigrew would have had that sort of power.

Eric: Oh, you're probably true. Though, again, do we know or do we not know what house Dumbledore was in? I'm sorry if I asked that stupid question.

Laura: I believe he was a Gryffindor, right?

Eric: Yeah, because Dumbledore's quite questionable, isn't he now? In light of Book 7, it's questionable whether it was moral to go - and I'm not going to go into a rant except to say that some of it is actually - and Harry questioned Godric Gryffindor's, I don't want to say, integrity. Godric Gryffindor himself- it was rumored by Griphook that he stole the sword from the Goblins and all that sort of thing, so there could be a nepharious quality or character trait in Gryffindors and I think it shows that writing a book with four houses, you have to make cuts and say, look this house is this. This house is this, without actually meaning it, and luckily Jo has provided us with some different characters that are ambiguous to their house.

Kevin: Well, either way I think Micah was right. His character was used to say that, you know, Slytherin isn't the only house that produces bad wizards.

Laura: Yeah. I agree with that.

Eric: Yeah, and Snape, obviously Snape was, you know?

Voicemail: Moaning Myrtle and Horcruxes

Laura: Mhm. All right. Next voicemail:

[Audio]: Hi. This is Katy Barrett. I'm from Idaho. I was just listening to Episode 97. It's kind of a long time ago, I know, but I was noticing how you guys were talking about the Horcruxes and how you thought Tom Riddle could have made a Horcrux from Moaning Myrtle's death, because he used the basilisk, and whether it was the malicious intent or whether it was the actual killing. I don't think that Tom Riddle sent the basilisk to kill Moaning Myrtle. It was by sheer happenstance that she was in the bathroom at the same time that the basilisk was sent out to probably harm or stun or petrify someone else. I was just wondering about your comments on that, because I don't think he really sent that to her, but I do think that it is the actual killing that has to do with the Horcrux. Anyways, I love the show. I just started listening. It's a favorite of mine now, okay. Thanks! Bye!

Eric: That's awesome.

Laura: Yeah. I think that was a very good point.

Eric: That's the best. A new listener. So, I think it would follow then that he didn't make a Horcrux with the killing, because it would have just been an accident that he killed Moaning Myrtle in the first place, and I think that is probably right given Myrtle's account in Book 2.

Kevin: See, but see the thing is is that I don't think - I think he could have made a Horcrux with it, because he sent the basilisk out, which was with malicious intent. Whether it killed her by accident or not, it doesn't matter. It still killed her with his order to go out into the school.

Eric: That's like saying - no that's not like saying. I'm not sure I agree with that.

Kevin: It's sort of like saying, I'm going to set up a gun, so that if anyone pulls this door handle, the gun is going to go off and fire at them...

Eric: Right.

Kevin: And then when your good friend opens the door handle, and pulls it and gets killed from the gun...

Eric: Dude...

Kevin: It's still...

Eric: Have you been watching Saw?

[Laura laughs]

Kevin: No, but what I'm saying is...

Eric: Ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, Saw IV, October 26th. Don't go see it, okay?

Kevin: No, but what I'm saying is that perhaps your intention was a thief kept breaking into your house and, you know, doing something, but the intent - you set up the gun, knowing that it could hurt someone.

Eric: Well, look, these days...

Kevin: Just like he sent out the basilisk knowing it could easily kill someone.

Laura: I can tell you're in a philosophy class right now.

[Eric and Laura laugh]

Eric: Kevin, remember, these days if a thief breaks into your thing and gets hurt, he can actually sue you.

Kevin: Yeah, this has actually happened.

Eric: [laughs] So...

Kevin: This has actually happened.

Eric: Oh god, so you know the story?

Kevin: Where someone actually set up a gun, because a thief kept breaking into his summer house, and it ended up...

Eric: And his friend?

Kevin: No, it ended up seriously hurting the thief, and he sued and got arrested, the guy who set up the gun. But...

Laura: Wow!

Kevin: Yeah.

Eric: Now that's a little bit messed up.

Micah: Back to the basilisk.

Eric: I was just going to say how hard it must be to go after the family, that's just questionable.

Kevin: But, what I was trying to say was, the intent of doing- sending out the basilisk, was knowing all the consequences surrounding it.

Micah: Oh yeah, no, I agree with that.

Eric: That's true.

Kevin: Okay.

Micah: But I don't necessarily think that he initially was going to release the basilisk to create a Horcrux. I think he was doing it to just kill all the people who weren't pureblood, and so, you know, I agree with what the person who sent in the voicemail said. I think that it was just an unintentional death. I don't think that he created a Horcrux out of Moaning Myrtle. I think she just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Kevin: Well, hasn't...

Eric: Well, I think...

Kevin: Hasn't J.K. Rowling said which Horcruxes were created from which people?

Eric: I wish. No.

Kevin: I could...

Eric: I mean, I would assume - I mean, I just don't remember, but I assume that Tom Riddle, at the point, was interested in finding out all the secrets as much as he could, as to quote, about Salazar Slytherin. Somehow he found the Chamber- -god, I'd like to know actually.

Laura: Yeah.

Micah: Laura, that's...

Eric: But...

Micah: That's your...

Laura: What?

Eric: Or not as much about Horcruxes.

Micah: Laura, that's you question. Don't you get to ask a question? Or is it selected people get to ask questions?

Laura: Yes, everybody does get to submit a question, and then they select a certain amount of them, just like they did...

Micah: That's a good question. Ask J.K. Rowling who died...

Laura: [laughs] Okay.

Micah: ...ro create all these Horcruxes.

Laura: Which Horcruxes, okay.

Kevin: I'm fairly sure she said Moaning Myrtle was a person in an interview.

Eric: But that's messed up. Even if it did, I'm sorry, I would say that would be messed up. Not...

Laura: [laughs] Well, if she said that, it's not.

Eric: Not out of spite, but I think that that's just condensing everything. That's like saying, "Okay, I wrote it in the book because that's when it was." That's like saying, "Nothing that didn't happen in the book didn't happen." Which is unrealistic in a way. It's sort of unrealistic to say she chronicled all of the important events in Voldemort's life already in the past. I don't k now that that would make her an expert author, as much as it would, sort of - it seems like things were- were sort of being pushed in and saying, "This was this, and also that, and by the way." You know? All that sort of stuff gets a little bit confusing, cramped, I think. To say that Moaning Myrtle not only was the girl who died 50 years ago to serve Book 2's plot, but the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, that she died by this and was...

Micah: Well, Wikipedia, here...

Eric: I'm not saying- it's a possibility.

Micah: No, Wikipedia here is saying that she was used to create the diary Horcrux. Now, whether that- there's no evidence saying that J.K. Rowling said that. There's no link to an article.

Kevin: I have - I'm looking at that, too. One sec.

Laura: Yeah, let's look at that really quick and then correct ourselves if we were wrong.

Micah: But that's what Wikipedia says.

Eric: Don't- no, don't believe Wikipedia. I mean, that's the first time I've ever said that in my life, because I'm writing an essay, right now, and they tell you Wikipedia is not a credible source, so...

Kevin: Yes, I was - I was right, during her little web chat with Bloomsbury, Lady Bella asked, "Whose murders did Voldemort use to create each of the Horcruxes?" J.K. Rowling's response, "The Diary, Moaning Myrtle. The Cup, Hepzibah Smith, the previous owner. The locket, a Muggle tramp. Nagini, Bertha Jerkins. The [stumbles over word] Diadem...

Laura: Diadem.

Kevin: ...an Albanian peasant. The ring, Tom Riddle, Senior."

Laura: Okay.

Micah: Oh, wait a second...

Eric: And Harry.

Micah: So much for killing meaningful people. The tramp and the peasant.

[Laura laughs]

Micah: I mean come on.

Eric: Well, it wasn't about killing meaningful people. It was about meaningful, significant deaths. Oh yeah, that's the same thing. [ laughs] Oh gosh.

Micah: Well, I guess the item has to be significant, not the person that he killed.

Eric: I don't know, man. You got Jo, man.

Micah: A tramp and a peasant.

Eric: You got her.

Micah: She was grasping for straws. She wasn't ready for that question.

[Laura laughs]

Eric: Yeah, actually I agree. Maybe we can ask her that - Laura, ask her that same question. See if you get a different answer.

Laura: No, I'm not going to ask her the same question. I'm pretty sure she knows what she was doing. So let's move on to the next voicemail?

Micah: Sure.

Voicemail: The Potion Basin

[Audio]: Hey, Mugglenet, this is Julian from Andover. I'm calling to say I love the show and I have a question about Deathly Hallows, about how the potion basin refills itself. Because in Chapter 10, Kreacher says that when he goes to the lake with Voldemort, Voldemort makes him drink the potion and then he has to refill the basin, but who refills it when he goes with Regulas? Regulas, obviously, isn't in a state to do that. Anyways, just wondering what your thoughts were on that. I love listening to the show. Thanks for your time. Bye!

Eric: It's like a screensaver.

Laura: Oooh, good question.

Eric: You know, after five minutes of inactivity, it goes back.

Laura: [laughs] That is very interesting. Because I was actually just reading that and it did specifically say that Voldemort had to refill it the first time.

Eric: Oh crap.

Micah: Hmmm.

Laura: Hmmm.

Kevin: My- my inclination would be that there were instructions. I would say that J.K. Rowling initially intended to write it so that either Kreacher or Regulas refilled it, because he did not want to leave it so that Voldemort would have an inclination that something was wrong. But I would guess that she, either through editing or, you know, by mistake, left out that.

Micah: Now, who refilled it, though, after Dumbledore drank it? 'Cause, does - in the scene where Voldemort goes to the cave, doesn't he have to...

Eric: Oh, isn't it there again?

Kevin: Oh, you're right. I don't know.

Eric: I think...

Laura: Maybe she intended for it to actually refill itself.

Micah: Yeah, that's what I thought.

Laura: And there was just...

Eric: Like, I mean - like, I mean, you can drink it and it doesn't refill itself immediately. Like, the only thing that can affect it is if you drink it, but we're talking, like, you know, an hour, two hours.

Kevin: Yeah, but...

Eric: Like, after you don't drink it, it refills itself.

Kevin: It just seems strange that Voldemort would refill it though.

Eric: Yeah, like...

Kevin: There's -t here...

Eric: I'm going to come back here a refill it. He would have never expected.

Kevin: I would say - I would say it's one of those small inconsistencies that were left open.

Laura: Yeah.

Kevin: You should ask that, Laura.

Laura: Yeah, but I'm not going to ask her about an inconsistency. That's...

Kevin: Yeah.

Eric: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like a technicality type thing...

Laura: Ridiculous.

Eric: Where she can just go...

Kevin: So, you can nitpick everything she does. Yeah.

Laura: Yeah, so she can glare at me and be, like...

Kevin: You've only written over five, six-thousand pages, you know. Why'd you make this one mistake in...?

Eric: Laura - yeah, yeah, honestly. There, Kevin's got it. She wouldn't glare, though. She'd smile. Very big JKR smile.

Laura: Okay.

Eric: Yeah. You know, because she respects people. The - the thing I like is that all this scene in the green phosphorescent goo is all going to be a set as opposed to CGI. I mean, I don't know about the goo, but that's the other thing. They didn't say it in the interview, but the cave is going to be a set, as a opposed to, you know, just sort of a CGI - blue screen type thing.

Kevin: I wonder if they're putting it...

Eric: It's going to be cool.

Kevin: In a real cave. I think that would be cool.

Eric: Or real actors to play the corpses.

Laura: That would be awesome.

Eric: That would be awesome. So that we get like a bunch of guys in scuba gear in, like, the set pics. And that would be awesome.

Laura: [laughs] All right, well that - pretty sharp eye there. Good job. Next one.

Voicemail: Slytherin's Outcome

[Audio]: Hey there, MuggleCast. This is Delve, 26 in the UK. I tried to call in to the MuggleCast Live, but unfortunately, it seems I've been unsuccessful. Well, my question for you guys is how do you feel about how Slytherin comes out at the end of the book? Personally, I was hoping that they would come to maybe have a little bit of good in them, but I guess other than one or two things we see in the fight, she gave the idea that Slytherin equals evil. So, what do you guys think about that? Okay, bye!

Laura: I don't think that she left it with the idea that the house itself was evil. I think she was talking about the people who had sort of given it that reputation.

Kevin: I think so, too. Yeah.

Laura: And I - yeah, I think that by the time Harry's children go to Hogwarts, those people aren't necessarily there anymore because, if you think about it, anybody who would ardently support Voldemort at that point would not be going to Hogwarts.

[Everyone laughs]

Laura: They would be going somewhere where they could learn dark magic. So...

Eric: You couldn't support Lord Voldemort anymore. [laughs]

Laura: Well, yeah. Anybody - anybody who still wanted to operate under the very flawed theories that he had could not go to Hogwarts at that point.

Eric: Yeah.

Kevin: And you also - you also have to remember that the Gryffindors had somewhat of an advantage over the Slytherins when choosing to stay because of their involvement with Dumbledore's Army and stuff like that. Like, all the other houses, I should say, had an advantage over Slytherins. And I think that she - it would be difficult to write in that kind of sub-story given that she would also have to convince people that the person was very willing to stay. You know what I mean?

Laura: Yeah, that's a good point.

Kevin: Because if you think of that situation, if you're not involved with anything regarding Voldemort and Dumbledore's Army and stuff like that, why would you stay?

Laura: Yeah, that's true.

Kevin: Your - your parents are telling you you have to get out of there.

Eric: Look, dude, you could just have just a regular liking for Hogwarts. I mean, I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm just saying that there are probably other people...

Kevin: Yeah, but our expectations of a kid at that age are pretty high...

Eric: Oh, yeah. True.

Kevin: Because we're basing them on Dumbledore's Army and Harry Potter.

Eric: Well..

Kevin: But if you're a normal kid, given the life or death situation that's, you know, presenting, if your parents tell you to get out of there, you're going to get out of there.

Eric: Well, maybe though, I mean there were - I mean, again Gryffindors, of course, because that's the only people we've heard from, there were people sort of contesting their parents' wishes and saying that, well, you know, isn't - doesn't the whole world really believe that Hogwarts is a safe place? But then again, even saying that, Hogwarts wasn't really a safe place the entire seven years. Sirius Black got in and everything else happened, and yeah. So, I wouldn't really - sorry. I refrain from comment.

Micah: I have a question, though, about the end scene talking about Slytherin. It's something that always confused me and maybe it was the wording surrounding Slughorn. Because - and I'm sure somebody's sent something in about this, but it almost seemed like - the way that the - whoever he was in the scene with - it seemed like he was fighting against, whether it was Bill or Charlie, I can't remember, but the way that the scene was worded. And I didn't know if that was supposed to mean that he was secretly a Death Eater or what the deal was. Do you guys know what I'm talking about or am I going to have to get the book?

Laura: I can't say I do.

Kevin: I can't say I do either.

Eric: I just think it's so depressing really, not just how little of Hogwarts we saw, but Slughorn was kind of a good character in Book 6 and - I mean, not a good character - well, I - a thorough character and I mean, its very much established to be discarded in a certain way and that's life. You've got to get on with it. But I - I just wish Slughorn was - I'm sorry, it was just too quick a departure, you know what I'm saying? Like, I didn't - I didn't misread that scene. I wasn't quite sure what was going on with Slughorn, but I think - do you guys remember - was it - was it Slughorn who helped chase Snape out? Because wasn't Snape - there was a scene with Snape and he ran into McGonagall and a few others and he sort of ran out and then they chase after him, firing off spells or something sort of like that. Do you guys remember that? Like, wasn't...

Laura: Hang on. Let me check it really quick.

Eric: There's a scene - yeah, there's definitely a scene where he sort of met them, like, either the Heads of Houses or something and he met with them and then ran off.

Micah: Well, it always - something else that kind of was in the back of my mind was in the first chapter there's a man that's described similar to Slughorn at the table, but Jo never says exactly what his name is. Hold on, I'm looking to see here. But, I mean, it says later in this chapter that Voldemort was dueling with McGonagall, Slughorn, and Kingsley, but I don't know. It was just really weird the way it was phrased.

Eric: I - I'd like to see, like, a play-by-play. I mean, just - just like, generally, like. I wonder if she sat there with like chess pieces or figurines - the action figures, of course! They'd be the action figures. She'd grab the action figures and play them out in the battle.

Micah: Oh, I see.

Eric: I was just thinking, you know, how does JKR plan this stuff?

Laura: Yeah, I don't see Slughorn mentioned here.

Micah: Now I know why it was confusing. Because it says "Charlie was, overtaking Horace Slughorn..." but it was referring to the people running up the steps, not battling each other.

Eric: Oh!

Micah: So that was - because I had seen a couple rebuttals about that, but very poor wording.

Eric: So, overtaking. Yeah. Poor wording? Oooh.

Micah: Yeah.

Eric: That's harsh. No, I agree with you. I agree with you. That's - that's - if I were to have misread that, I would have had something else to complain about.

Laura: [laughs] All right, are we ready for the next one?

Eric: Like I need that. Yep.

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