Muggle Mail: Privet Drive Scene Cut from Movie 6

Eric: Okay, so the second Muggle Mail here is from Nora, age 18 from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Subject is the Dursleys in Half-Blood Prince.

"Dear MuggleCasters, I'm writing about a question I have concerning the upcoming "Half-Blood Prince" movie. Since the Dursleys are not appearing in this film, I was wondering how you guys think the movie is going to start out. Okay, so, as we know in the book, Dumbledore pays the Dursleys a visit and picks Harry to escort him to the Burrow. Do you think the Dursleys' absence would mean that this scene is going to be cut? It just seems a little weird to me if Dumbledore picks Harry up from Privet Drive and the Dursleys aren't there. I would be absolutely devastated if that entire scene with Dumbledore is cut because it's one of my favorite parts in the series, and my favorite scenes tend to be left out of the movies. Just wanted to hear your opinions on that, and love the show, thanks." So, Mikey, we did talk about this and you think that it's possible they're going to start with Harry and Dumbledore walking down the lane to Slughorn's house?

Mikey: Or straight into Slughorn's house with all the blood and everything on the wall, you know, and then you see Dumbledore and them come running in going, "What's going on?" You know, just - it's like one of those things where it's like, the Harry Potter movies, none of them have really had a real slow start. You know? They've all kind of - except for the first one, and even then it wasn't slow because it was kind of slow, and then you saw the magic happen and stuff like that. You know what I mean?

Eric: Well, you see the magic happen, yeah. You see McGonagall turn from cat into woman and, you know, Richard Harris was like, [impersonates] "I should have known that you would be here, Professor McGonagall."

Mikey: You know, and then also you see a flying motorcycle. So right away stuff happens kind of big, and I can see them just walking up the street towards the house, or running in the house, and then Harry and Dumbledore going, "Ha-ha! I'm here to help you!" And not obviously that comical, but...

Eric: And to make it perfectly clear, they did film that scene where they're walking up the lane. If you recall.

Micah: Yeah.

Eric: There used to be a lot of news stories about Slughorn and the actor who plays Slughorn and them filming those scenes, so there is a lot of - and they chose a little town square, a small town square to do that in. So, it seems like there will be outside scenes and it won't just be inside Slughorn's house and then somewhere else kind of random. So, I think you're probably right, Mikey, that might be where they swoop in for the opening credits.

Mikey: And you know what? It's going to fit with the rest with how the other movies have started. You know, all of them have started at night. Not all of them, but...

Eric: No, no, not all of them. The second one hasn't.

Mikey: Well, most of them have. And they fly through the clouds, and you get the title, and you get the Warner Brothers thing, and, you know, right now I'm thinking right away for this fourth movie where it's like the music [imitates music] and then you push through the Warner Brothers thing and then you go up the little thing, and it's all night. And again, that's a night scene, outdoors. They're going to fit the color scheme they've working with. The nice, metal Warner Brothers logo. So they definitely can do it, and the camera just drops down, see them walking up, and then Harry and Dumbledore can have that little event.

Micah: Doesn't he have the Dark Mark above his house, also?

Mikey: No, he didn't. That's why Dumbledore knew he was in no real danger, because there was no Dark Mark. Because Slughorn set up his entire house that way, really quick, you know, with all the stuff there.

Eric: Wait, are you sure there was no Dark Mark?

Mikey: There was no Dark Mark, and then Dumbledore specifically says to him, "The only thing you were missing was the Dark Mark." He was like, "Yeah, sadly, I've never learned that." So he couldn't pull it off that something had happened to him, because he never learned the Dark Mark, because he's not a Death Eater. Guys, you should know this! That's an easy one. Yeah, we knew it, Morsmordre. You know we know it.

Eric: We know what the incantation is: Morsmordre.

Laura: All right, well, Mikey, do you want to read the next one?

Muggle Mail: Last Week's Chapter-by-Chapter

Mikey: From Antoine, age 18, from Los Angeles, California. California, here we go. So his message is:

"Hello, Mugglecasters. Just started listening to your podcast very recently, even though my friends told me to listen to you guys ages ago. I have some comments to make about last week's Chapter-by-Chapter. First, regarding Ron's spell work. Like someone said - sorry, I can't tell your voices apart..." and so on. Actually, I should read that whole thing, huh? I shouldn't just paraphrase, huh? Let me go back for a minute. "First regarding Ron's spell work. Like someone said - sorry, I can't tell your voices apart from the others except Jamie and Laura - Ron was under pressure and had no idea what spell to use. Plus, when had Ron ever been known to solve a problem like getting rid of a raining cloud? He's pretty incompetent when it comes to spell work. Second, I liked the name Undesirable Number One. It's very wizard-like, and Ministry-like. They have funny names like that, and like Arthur's enormously large department name title, which I believe is called Head of the Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects. Trying to say that five times fast. Third, regarding the voices of the actors in the film during the Polyjuice scene, it annoyed me a bit, as well, that Harry and Ron's voices were dubbed over Crabbe and Goyle's, but looking at it from the viewer's point of view, and to introduce Polyjuice Potion, they had to have their voices that way to establish that, within the facade of Crabbe and Goyle, were Harry and Ron. In "Deathly Hallows," though, the voices will probably be kept to the original actors, like with Moody's, and the only changes will be when they become their respective Ministry workers, and when they begin to change back into themselves. For seven Potters, it can go either way." Ron's spell work? What do you guys think?

Laura: I mean, I honestly agree. He was probably under pressure. I mean, I don't know. I think - and I mean, I think a lot of people get this impression from me, that I hate Ron or something, because I've mentioned...

Eric: You do, don't you?

Laura: No, I don't. I...

Mikey: You don't like him because he's got red hair. Come on, we all know this, Laura.

Laura: No, red heads are very attractive.

[Mikey laughs]

Laura: But the thing - my thing with Ron is mostly, sometimes, he's just very daft, and I get annoyed with that, but I really do love Ron as a character. He's actually my favorite of the trio. So I think a lot of the time people sit around and say, "Oh, Ron's dumb. Ron would be nothing without the other two." And I don't think that's true. I think he's just a different person. And he operates in different ways. So, he...

Micah: What exactly was his relation too, though? I mean, I know you were talking, obviously, about him in the chapter, but is it just that he doesn't seem smart enough to be able to try and get rid of something like that on his own? Or...

Laura: I think - I think there was a debate going on. I don't remember specifically about whether Ron was under pressure, or he just didn't know. If he was just dumb, or whatever.

Mikey: Yeah, I'm the one that said like, ""Come on, Ron was the one..." I kind of stood up for Ron, saying that he was under pressure. You know, if you were under that much pressure - Ron doesn't do well under pressure. We've kind of seen that historically through the books and the movies. And that's where we kind of stepped up, and I kind of stepped up for him. But the last part of the comment from...

Eric: Antoine.

Mikey: ...Antoine is that he's pretty incompetent when it comes to spell work. And I don't think Ron's incompetent. I just think he's not, you know - Hermione is the bright one.

Eric: His wits get in the way.

Mikey: Yeah, he thinks too much for a lot of things, and Hermione - it doesn't look like he does, but he does on a lot of things. He's a powerful wizard, and we see that by the end of the book. I mean, come on, he was able to come back and destroy the first Horcrux that they destroy together, you know what I mean?

Eric: Yeah, and he was able to open the Chamber of Secrets, which is...

Mikey: Which is pretty awesome.

[Eric and Mikey laugh]

Mikey: But it's one of those things where, yes, he was under pressure, and I don't think he's incompetent. I think it's - you know, we've constantly seen him compared to the brightest wizard of their age, which is Hermione, and, come on, Harry Potter is Harry Potter. The book's titled after him. Harry's got to be cool. You know what I mean? So...

Laura: Right.

Mikey: So yeah, other than you just not liking red heads, Laura, I agree, you know?

Laura: Mikey...

Mikey: Sorry.

Laura: I dyed my hair red three months ago.

Eric: Okay, okay, okay.

Mikey: Oh yeah, I forgot, okay. Moving on.

Laura: I love red heads!

Eric: Oh, I forgot about that. I love that too. That was really nice.

Muggle Mail: Umbridge and the Locket

Eric: Okay, fourth Muggle Mail from Rachael Walsh, age 32, from San Antonio, Texas. She says: "I don't think the locket bothers Umbridge, because it knows that she reveres the locket. It knows she's not trying to destroy it. She thinks that the locket is very similar to the one ring, and how it affects the wearer when it knows it's in danger." That's a good comparison between the one ring and the Horcrux.

Laura: Right, and we actually have that as one of our discussion points for Chapter-by-Chapter, which we're going to be getting to, but first we have the second and final part of our interview with Freddie Highmore, so, Andrew, why don't you take it away?

Second and Final Part of Interview with Freddie Highmore

Andrew: Now how about those magical creatures? That must have been another challenge. Was it hard acting with these - what were they? You said ping pong balls. And I think I looked in a picture book in the bookstore the other day, and they were - they were just props. Is it hard acting with those?

Freddie: I guess it's a bit harder than just having an actor there, but they did quite a lot to make it easier, and they had the actors pre-record some of the voiceovers for the animated characters, and they were played over a loud speaker, so we had something to - to react to.

Andrew: Oh, okay.

Freddie: And also, we were shown pictures and various animations and they had big cardboard cutouts of the - of the creatures, so we knew what we were looking at. It wans't just, like, going at it blind.

Andrew: Right, right. Now, what was your favorite scene to film?

Freddie: Favorite scene to film. I think it was kind of fun doing the scene on the gryffin. There's a gryffin ride towards the middle of the film.

Andrew: Okay.

Freddie: And it was kind of fun. We did it all on - all on blue screen and, basically, it was like a - almost like a bucking bronco kind of thing that you sit on, and it moves around. They have big wind machines in your face and Mark Waters, the director, was always trying to call out, and we couldn't really hear him, but it was - it was a great scene to film.

Andrew: Cool. I know a lot of fans are going to be coming to this movie already having read the book. My brother actually just started reading Spiderwick a few weeks ago and he loves the books, and he loved you in Willy Wonka. Are these book readers going to - those who have read Spiderwick, do you think they're going to really love the movie?

Freddie: Yeah, I think so. I think it's - it hasn't changed things too much, which, I think, you know, sometimes films can do with a book. And it's kept with all the - all the magical creatures that are already written in there and, I mean, I know there are other things that you can get with the books before, like field guides...

Andrew: Yeah.

Freddie: ...and stuff, and that all matches in with the film quite well.

Andrew: Okay, great. Great. Now, moving on to your career.

[Freddie laughs]

Andrew: [laughs] Have you always wanted to be an actor?

Freddie: It's always been something I found - like it would be fun to do, you know, and have a go at. And when I was younger, I was just got lucky, really, as I say to everyone, I'm just a pretty lucky guy.

Andrew: Uh huh.

Freddie: And I started by doing some smaller parts and they got bigger and bigger and that's how it really was. There was never one moment when I said "Oh, I'd really - I'm just going to go for being - being an actor now and that's what I want to be for the rest of my life."

Andrew: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Freddie: Because - I don't know. I guess I can still change my mind, you know, and wake up and say, "Oh, I'd love to try something else." So...

Andrew: Right.

Freddie: Just keep my options open, but, as I said, at the moment, it's - it's just a great thing to do.

Andrew: Great. And do you want to continue it as you get older?

Freddie: Yeah, definitely, at the moment. But keep going at school at the same time, so...

Andrew: Right.

Freddie: You can change your mind...

Andrew: Well...

Freddie: ...if there's an issue or something terrible.

Andrew: Yeah. While you're filming, are you being tutored or do you just take breaks from school?

Freddie: No, we have a tutor that always comes out with us.

Andrew: Okay.

Freddie: I mean, that's kind of the law. You have to keep going with school, I'm afraid.

Andrew: Oh okay.

Freddie: And so, we normally do - it's three hours a day you have to do.

Andrew: Okay.

Freddie: I mean, it works quite well. The school can e-mail out the work and we - you know, I do it with my tutor and go through it and we e-mail it back and they mark it, you know, within 24 hours or so, so...

Andrew: Okay.

Freddie: ...with the time difference, it's almost like I'm still at school.

Andrew: Yeah. Now, do you want to continue on taking films such as Willy Wonka and Spiderwick, which are sort of fantasy, or do you prefer roles like August Rush?

Freddie: I think it's nice to do different things every time.

Andrew: Yeah.

Freddie: And, you know, not just do - I mean, like, I think I've managed to do that. I've done one with twins.

Andrew: Mhm.

Freddie: And then there was Charlie and August Rush, where I played the guitar and was like, you know, a musical person.

Andrew: Yeah.

Freddie: And I think it's kind of interesting not to have to play the same character every time and be able to create a new one and work with them in every way so it's new every time. You're not playing the same person and the same old emotions.

Andrew: Right, right. And do you have any other movies lined up in the future?

Freddie: No, not at the moment.

Andrew: Okay. Are you going to take a break?

Freddie: I've got GCSC's, which...

Andrew: Oh, okay.

Freddie: ...are big exams here that we've got to do.

Andrew: Yeah, yeah.

Freddie: So, I'm working towards them. I just did my mock exams last week. So that's practice for it and they went quite well, actually. Hopefully, in June, the real ones will be a success, but...

Andrew: Oh, great.

Freddie: ...I don't know, I'm just preparing for them.

Andrew: Yeah.

Freddie: But maybe in the summer or something, if anything came up.

Andrew: Okay, cool. So what we're going to do now is Freddie is going to ask you guys a question related to Spiderwick, and if you don't know the answer you can always check SpiderwickChronicles.comfor the answer. Freddie's going to ask you a question and then the first 15 people to sent their contact information and the correct answer to kaitlin at staff dot mugglenet dot com will receive a pair of tickets to see the movie in IMAX. So, Freddie, what is the question this week?

Freddie: The second question is: What are the two distinct varieties of trolls?

Andrew: All right, so once again, send your correct answer and contact information to kaitlin at staff dot mugglenet dot com. That's K-A-I-T-L-I-N at staff dot mugglenet dot com. And the first 15 people to send in their correct answers will receive a pair of tickets to see the movie in IMAX.

Freddie: Thank you !

Andrew: Thank you very much, Freddie, for joining us.

Freddie: Yeah, it was great to talk to you.

Andrew: It was great talking to you, too, and we're definitely looking forward to seeing Spiderwick when it comes out on February 15th. Thanks very much!

Freddie: Perfect, yeah. I think you'll have great fun.

Andrew: Yes. We will. Bye!

Freddie: See you!

Chapter-by-Chapter: Chapter 14 - The Thief

Laura: All right, well, thank you, Andrew. That was a really, really good interview. Very interesting. It's always good to hear from Freddie Highmore. He's a good kid. So we're moving on to Chapter-by-Chapter now for Chapter 14: The Thief. Just for a brief summary of this chapter: It's right after Harry, Ron and Hermione infiltrate the Ministry and they've Apparated. They tried to go back to Grimmauld Place but Yaxley, I believe...

Mikey: Yep, Yaxley.

Laura: ...was it? That like grabbed Hermione's sleeve? So they've had to abandon Grimmauld Place. They can't go back. So now they're in the forest where the Quidditch World Cup takes place, and Harry actually sees into Voldemort's mind when he's using Occlumency against Gregorovitch to find out who took the Elder Wand.

Secrets Under the Fidelius Charm

Laura: So just looking at some of the points here, what I found interesting, towards the beginning of the chapter, Hermione talks about how you can actually give away the secret under the Fidelius Charm without meaning to, because she said, "I gave away the secret, didn't I?" Because he was holding onto her. So, theoretically, let's say if somebody followed someone else under an Invisibility Cloak into a place that was protected...

Eric: Mmmm. No, no, no, no. No, that won't actually work.

Mikey: No, no, no, no. I caught it right away, too, Eric.

Eric: Yeah. I think that was a very - unfortunately for Hermione and everyone else, it was a very specific way of telling the secret to Yaxley. The fact that they Apparated into the place - if - the way magic works in Side-Along Apparition, I assume it would be as if Hermione were taking Yaxley there to invite him in for a cup of tea. To, you know, to take him and show him, so - because they Apparated into, or onto the front doorstep, you know - they Apparated to a part that was underneath the Fidelius Charm. That was Hermione basically telling Yaxley the secret by taking him there. Even though she didn't want to take him there, she did, and that was what she meant.

Laura: So this was - you're basically saying this was a cause of almost a flaw with Apparition, because you can actually potentially take somebody somewhere with you even if you don't want to if they touch you. Right.

Mikey: Yeah.

Eric: If they were to grab hold, yeah.

Laura: Mhm.

Mikey: Yeah, same thing. And a big thing is the wording for it, I believe - because I read it last week and I haven't reread it again - but it was like, "I took him within the Fidelius Charm's..."

Eric: Bubble.

Mikey: "...power".

Laura: Yeah, that's right.

Mikey: Yeah, within it. You know what I mean? And it was because it was within it that she kind of brought him in, and since Dumbledore died, everyone that knew was now Secret-Keepers. And I'm sure Voldemort probably asked Snape, "Well where was the Order of the Phoenix?" They probably all left and I wouldn't be surprised if, you know, Snape had said, "They're all gone. They're not that stupid, so it doesn't matter." But if Yaxley was like, "That's where Harry Potter is," I'm sure they'll - you know, Yaxley is not a Secret-Keeper because he wasn't told, but Snape was, so Snape could actually go ahead and say, "Hey, this is where it is," and get all the Death Eaters in, so, you know?

Abandoning Kreacher

Eric: Well, they wrote in the book as well. She wrote then that at that very moment Yaxley could be Apparating people into Grimmauld Place now that he knew where it was, now that he was able to see it and the charm - he was basically told, either the charm itself broke, or Yaxley knows where Grimmauld Place is. When I was reading that the first time, it was very emotional for me because I was getting very attached to Kreacher, and just the idea that they paint Harry as thinking about Kreacher, who was making steak and kidney pie for them, you know, well, what would happen to Kreacher? Should we call him or not? And they decide that they shouldn't actually call him just in case Yaxley can trace where Kreacher is going. So they had to abandon Kreacher in this scene and I thought that was particularly emotional.

Laura: Right.

Micah: It was, but the thing that I didn't understand about that, you know, you could argue either way on their decision. But I don't know that Kreacher wouldn't have been able to come without any sort of problem because he's under the control of Harry. It's not like he would just allow Yaxley to do anything to him.

Eric: Or to grab hold, or he would be smart enough, I think. See, the other thing I think about Hermione - she panicked, you know? It all happened so fast. Yaxley grabbed hold of her while they were Apparating, you know, and it all happened so fast. I think if they did – if they did want to call Kreacher, he would've been able to - or, you know, you could say, "Kreacher, come here when you're safe," you know, sort of thing and Kreacher would hear that and then wait to Apparate. That sort of thing I think could happen. But then again, we've seen even Mundungus Fletcher - we've seen him sort of dodge Kreacher when Kreacher was searching for him. So there may have been a risk involved in either tracing Kreacher, and I think they were right because they don't - the thing about the trio is that they don't actually really know what's going on. They don't know - it's not even revealed to them yet that there is a taboo, as they call it, on the word "Voldemort." They don't know how the Death Eaters found them last time. They really don't want to take any chances.

The Trio Not Thinking Ahead

Micah: Right, and I think a lot of it goes back to...

Eric: Yeah.

Micah: ...this idea of just being rushed and being completely moronic in some ways in how they go about it. I mean, going into the Ministry of Magic, and I didn't get to weigh in on this last week, but going in there dressed up as three officials and just kind of thinking that there would be no consequences whatsoever, that they wouldn't get caught in any way, shape, or form - it was just unreal. And you think about Harry feeling the need to go down to the trial that was taking place because - and I can't remember who brought this up - but he has a thing for saving people. And it's just - it gets in the way sometimes. And I know that they had to go down there to try and...

Eric: Get Umbridge's necklace.

Micah: ...get the locket.

Mikey: Well, he had to get Hermione out. No, I agree with you, Micah, and even it's brought up in the book. Harry is in Umbridge's office by himself and he's like, "I can't believe..." - I don't remember the exact wording, because, again, it was last week but it was along the lines of he can't believe that they spent all that time planning how to get in but they didn't have a single plan what to do once they're in if they got separated.

Laura: Yeah.

Mikey: They didn't think about that at all. And that's one of those things. It's like, "Okay, we're three random people."

Micah: Exactly.

Mikey: What are the chances if some Death Eater, Rancorn - Ranhorn, or whatever Harry was - Sorry, I don't know it off the top of my head.

Eric: Rancorn.

Mikey: Rancorn, yeah. Rancorn and the guy that Ron was, he's from Magical Maintenance, and these people probably don't hang out.

[Micah laughs]

Mikey: They're not arriving at the same time. So there's not a really good chance that they hang out together. How would these three people walk around together inside the Ministry of Magic? And Hermione's smart; she should've realized this. But they didn't think about it, and so they definitely get in over their head with that.

Laura: And not to mention, Harry actually tells them that the reason that they knew there were intruders was because he took Mad Eye's eye off her office door. And it's like, you know, I understand that it's infuriating to see that they've taken this. But the thing is, Mad Eye's dead now, you know? And it's just - I understand that there's a certain amount of closure they would gain from that, but it was really a stupid move.

Micah: It really was.

Eric: What just shocks me is that if they had planned it for months, which they had, Hermione makes a duplicate locket, which is something that I was particularly proud of her for doing. Last week, I mentioned, "Wow, that's so cool. Hermione made a duplicate," so I think if they would've talked a little bit or if Hermione would've spoken the plan, she would've told Harry how to make a duplicate. And if he wanted to take Mad-Eye's eye, he could of at least put something back in its place instead of being that obvious by just taking the eye. It just seems like a not very well coordinated plan, which is just - we're not bashing the trio, necessarily. I mean I particularly enjoy how the mystery unfolds as to whose identities they did take, but it's still a bit of a leap and it's a bit of a just sort of - they fall into the Ministry and don't expect to get caught. It's no wonder they're in over their heads. They're just kind of still blundering.

Micah: It's almost like it's one of those scenes where you see Mad-Eye banging his head against the desk if he was still...

Laura: Yeah.

[Eric and Laura laugh]

Micah: ...alive, because he would just be so infuriated that Harry would do something like that.

Eric: Well, same thing happens in Gringotts, doesn't it? Don't you remember? They just sort of blunder in, you know, with no real plan.

Laura: Yeah.

Mikey: You know what, though? It's who these three characters are. It kind of shows you that they're still kids, you know what I mean? They're kind of bumbling through this, trying to defeat the darkest wizard ever, and they really don't have that good of a plan. I remember reading the book, my first time reading through, when Lupin shows up at Grimmauld Place, I was excited going, "Yes, now they can finally do what they need to do because they have someone helping them." And come on, Lupin. He even says, "I was your teacher," and then Harry goes off on him. And I'm like okay, I understand why Harry did this, but it's one of those things where it's like, now they're still on their own, though. And they got in there. And what was Hermione doing? Polyjuice Potion only lasts for so long. She's going to be sitting there taking notes and turn back into Hermione Granger. You know what I mean? And Ron is drenched. Harry's running around - it's ridiculous. But they're still kids, you know?

Micah: And not only...

Mikey: They're not even adults. Well, they're seventeen now. So...

Micah: Yeah. Not only did they not consider who they were, they didn't consider what their jobs entailed. You know, what you just said - that she was going to be sitting there taking notes. It was just very rushed but let's, I guess, get back to - Eric, you brought up earlier the whole taboo. Did you want to go into that a little bit more?

The Taboo That is Voldemort's Name

Eric: Yeah. It's interesting because in this chapter, they pitch the tent, obviously, which is the same tent as they had in Book 4, when they were at the same place they are now basically, in the same woods. They pitch the tent and they're beginning to discuss what has just happened to them, and Harry is about to say Voldemort's name when Ron stops him and says, "Don't say the name!" Of course Ron then says, "Show Voldemort a little respect." [laughs] But basically speaking, Ron has sensed, sort of precognitively in a way, that they shouldn't be saying "Voldemort." I mean, and he makes a great point and he says, "Look at where that got Dumbledore." He just says, "If it really doesn't matter that much to you, just please don't say the name." And, so he stops Harry from saying "Voldemort," and I think it's two or three times it happens where Ron quickly tells them not to say the name "Voldemort." So Ron, in a way, even without knowing it, saves them, and I thought it was interesting, kind of cool, how Ron is piecing things together and preventing his friends from doing that.

Mikey: It's also Ron who - because he leaves and storms out, he's also the one that comes back and let's them know about what's going on when you say Voldemort's name and that's how they track you.

Eric: Ah.

Mikey: So, it's him that lets them know that, and it's kind of nice that it's Ron throughout the entire time who says, "Don't say it," and we automatically assume it's because Ron just hasn't got enough courage to actually speak this guy's name.

Eric: Yeah, right. We assume it's a lack of courage thing.

Mikey: Yeah, and it's because Hermione and Harry have, but Ron hasn't. But then when we find out, it's like Ron - it feels like a jinx to him. It's one of those things where it just didn't feel right to say, and the minute - as soon as he said it that's when...

Eric: Now it is a jinx.

Micah: Well, he does say it in Grimmauld Place.

Eric: He does.

Micah: He says it I think it was two chapters ago or three chapters ago - but he doesn't say it after that and you have to wonder - I know you said "precognitively," but, you know, it's almost like maybe he knows something or thinks he's onto something and just what he learns while he's away kind of confirms that. But...

Eric: Yeah.

Laura: Well...

Eric: Another thing as far as the courage flaw, is that - he was raised in a wizarding family (unlike Hermione and Harry), so he's been raised to fear the name. He has been. None of his family would say the name either, so...

Laura: Yeah, and in relation to that, I was kind of going to say, you know - Eric, you just brought this up. Ron, out of the three of them, has had the most exposure to the wizarding world throughout his entire life. And I think this could really say something about how intuitive he might be. How he might have that over the other two, just knowing how things work and just having grown up there. Maybe he might not be able to explain why something is, but he knows somewhere deep down that they shouldn't be saying it. And I just think it's really great, I think it lends a great amount of credibility to Ron's character, because people are so ready to bash him any chance they get.

Eric: Because he has red hair.

Mikey: It's because he has read hair!

[Everyone laughs]

Eric: So...

Mikey: I think that's the title of this episode.

Eric: No - hairist or something. Instead of racist. You're racist if you...

Laura: Haircist.

Eric: If you're prejudice against someone's hair, what does that make you? A hair-racist?

Laura: Well, hair is not a race.

Eric: Well, what would you say?

Laura: I would say you're prejudice against people with certain hair colors.

Eric: We need to come up with a word. J.K. Rowling would be able to do this.

Laura: Hairajudiced?

Eric: Hairacide?

Laura: Anyway.

Mikey: Whatever. Anyway, continue on.

Harry versus Frodo

Laura: Anyway, now that we're done kind of discussing this whole taboo thing, I want to go back to a point that was actually brought up during our Muggle Mail. And it's the idea of Harry wearing the locket around his neck so that it falls over his chest and that connection to Frodo wearing the one ring over his chest, and the very similar effects it has on both of them. I personally have not read Lord of the Rings in a very long time. I've only read it once. Mikey, I think you're a pretty big fan, aren't you?

Mikey: Yeah. Matt's really the one who should really be here. I've only read the books, the Lord of the Rings trilogy plus The Hobbit. I haven't really gone any further because I know there's a lot of other books out there, like fandom type stuff.

Laura: Right. Yeah, same.

Mikey: But I've only read those four books about maybe two or three times, which is a lot for some books but they were really good stories. But no, I agree with you totally. There's a huge parallel. Same thing with, you know, when Frodo first puts - wears the ring, not necessarily wearing it around his neck. He feels, you know - I think even the movies show this. It's a totally bizarre and kind of a cold experience to him. Same thing with Harry, you know, it's not warming up from his body heat. It stays cold. It's this object that's just kind of almost like pure evil, and the ring is not - the One Ring in Lord of the Rings is not considered pure evil; it's one ring to control them all. But it's like, you know, it's one of those things where - I'm trying to stay away from a Star Wars parallel here, but it's one of those things where it's just so, like - it could be abused. Same thing with, you know, splitting your soul. That's an abusive thing to yourself. It's just really bad and that's why it stays cold and...

Laura: Yeah.

Mikey: And again, you see it in Ron really how it makes him just feel bad. You see it in Gollum, too, where it's like he's obsessed with it and it's like it totally warps him. Same thing with Ron, it totally makes him not the same character. So, there's definitely a parallel there.

Micah: Isn't this where he starts to think about things happening to Kreacher...

Laura: Yeah.

Micah: ...at the hands of Yaxley? So, I mean, we start to see it begin to take effect on him in very small ways and, you know, we start to get that idea that maybe there's more to this Horcrux (or Horcruxes in general) that we end up learning about later on in the book, that they can sort of have this negative effect on you.

The Locket's Effect

Laura: Yeah. What about this idea of the Horcrux having that kind of effect because it knows it's in danger? Like the one Muggle Mailer brought up.

Eric: Well, I could swear I've seen it before or something, but just the idea that the Horcrux itself - that the locket has a little beating heart in it - like, if you were to open that locket and it would just be this little beating heart inside detached from everything - I could swear that that was so familiar to me when I read that. That just the idea of a little beating heart - and I don't know what that's from, it could be from another series, maybe something else I read, but it...

Laura: Pirates of the Caribbean?

Eric: Maybe.

[Everyone laughs]

Laura: Davey Jones?

Eric: Maybe.

Mikey: Davey Jones' heart. "He who holds his heart controls Davey Jones."

Eric: But no, it just seemed so familiar that it would be a little beating heart in this evil - just this thing. It was such a good - just the idea, the imagery that there would be a little beating heart inside this little locket is just really kind of creepy, and eerie, and it's really good stuff.

Laura: Yeah. I really liked the way she described the heartbeat, too. Because, generally, when you think of something human or something good, it's described just as a heartbeat, you know? But she actually called it a ticking.

Eric: Yeah.

Laura: Which I found interesting. Almost like - I mean, I was thinking something almost along the lines of a ticking time bomb.

Eric: Exactly.

Laura: Essentially, so...

Eric: Well, she says - she says, "Is it ticking down to how many days I have left?"

Laura: Mhm.

Eric: She...

Laura: It's very interesting.

Mikey: That whole thing reminds me of the R.L. Stine Goosebumps - that whole, like, imagery you get.

Laura: Yeah.

Mikey: It's something you'd read back in first or second grade about the R.L. Stine Goosebumps.

Eric: Yeah.

Mikey: It was a ticking heart inside this locket and it was just eerie.

Eric: Yeah. Totally. And she uses, sort of, descriptors like irregular. Like it was an irregular ticking, or it wasn't on time with his heartbeat. You know, you sort of think of something - if it's sapping him it would sort of join his heart, become warmer, but it stayed cold and it stayed, you know, sort of an offbeat of Harry's heart. It's just this separate thing - this separate entity that's just there and it's sort of - it's damning, and it's an evil, evil thing.

Micah: What I thought was kind of cool was during this whole scene with the Horcrux, J.K. Rowling, a couple of times, uses the word "mastering," and that Harry tries to master himself, his fear, his exhaustion, and I just thought, you know, kind of going back to the whole idea of him being the Master of Death in the end of the book, that she was dropping these subtle clues very early on.

Eric: Okay, so, there are some things we didn't mention.

Laura: Well, do you want to bring those up, Eric?

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