Voicemail - What If Dumbledore Never Approached Riddle?

[Audio]: Hey guys, this is Brian calling from Canada and I thought of something basically and wanted to hear your thoughts. If Dumbledore had never taken Tom Riddle to be a wizard, do you think he would have discovered his magical talent anyway and even discover the wizarding world? Or do you think he'd just be the Muggle equivalent to Voldemort? Thanks and keep up the great work.

Kevin: I think that is was apparent that he was already showing a bad side, so I think he would have most definitely showed his magical abilities. He wouldn't have been as powerful because he wouldn't have had the resources.

Emily: He wouldn't have had the information about the Horcruxes either.

Kevin: Exactly. I'm not so sure he would have found the magical world. I think he would have tried to find if there was anyone else like him because he likes to gather powerful people to him, to control them. But I'm not sure about that. I say definitely he'd find his magical ability, discovering the wizarding world is a toss-up, and he would have been the Muggle equivalent to Voldemort. I think he without a doubt - by the time Dumbledore had met him he had already been well on the path to being evil.

Laura: Yeah, I agree with Kevin. I think that Voldemort is a very determined person and I think that he would have found out about his magical abilities, no doubt.

Kevin: I think they develop naturally at a point so he would have picked up something while he went along, you know.

Micah: Well, wouldn't he have gotten a letter regardless?

Kevin: Well yeah but I think that's the point of the question, if he had not because of living at an orphanage and all that big mix-up in his family life, if he had never gotten any indication that he was a wizard, had never have been visited by Dumbledore, would he have become what he has become now?

Micah: Right, well maybe not as much, but he certainly... I'm sure he would have used his abilities that were of use to him.

Kevin: Exactly, that's what I said.

Laura: Also, do we know how Hogwarts finds out about students? Because it seems to me that the Gaunts would have been so upset about their daughter fraternizing with a Muggle, that they would want to keep the child hushed up and stuff.

Kevin: Yeah. That's another good question. Voldemort discovered most of his family history in school, and that family history contiributed to his feelings about Muggles and Muggle-borns which also contributes to his Lord Voldemort persona. So just the fact that he wasn't exposed to that information that he would have...I think that he would have become just as evil, just not as powerful.

Laura: Mhm.

Micah: This is all Dumbledore's fault.

Kevin: And that's why he's dead.

Micah: It's all his fault.

[Laughing]

Voicemail - Draco's Destiny

[Audio]: Hey, I'm Jess Miranda from Clifton, New Jersey and I first want to say that MuggleCast is great, and when Andrew and Ben sing it's hilarious. And I'd like to ask, if Draco was going to die, how do you think he's going to die and by Snape? Or do you think Harry will do it? Or Voldemort? So, thanks. Bye, you guys are great. Bye!

Emily: I think he will die. But I don't think...

Kevin: You think so?

Emily: Yeah, I don't think that Snape would do it because if Snape was going to do it, what was the whole point of the Unbreakable Vow? I think it might be by Voldemort's hand or it might...

Kevin: But going back to what we said before, Emily, do you think that he's going to be dying as a Death Eater or as a member of the Order?

Emily: I think that since we don't quite know what Snape's doing, he's going to end up kind of being in the middle for a while, I don't think he can feasibly be Voldemort's side but that's a tough question. [laughs]

Kevin: Yeah see, I agree too because I don't think that - honestly, after reading the last book, I think that Draco's a misunderstood person. He's not as evil as everyone thought he was, and I think he going to be exactly that a monkey in the middle. He doesn't know which side he wants to be on.

Emily: I think that he'd resist Snape, if it does turn out that Snape is not a Death Eater. I think that he would resist, I'd imagine that Snape would have to explain his position, what's happening, why he killed Dumbledore. I think Draco would be very resistant of somebody he trusted of not being on the Death Eaters side. He'd probably be relieved because Snape would probably be under orders by Voldemort or something like that.

Kevin: Yeah, and that's a pretty good point that Draco does look up to Snape and if it does turn out that Snape killed Dumbledore at Dumbledore's request and he's not a Death Eater as Draco, you sort of get the impression that Draco thinks he is, I think that Draco will perhaps follow his lead in you know...

Andrew: No, I don't know.

Laura: I don't really see Draco as becoming a member of the Order. I think...

Kevin: I don't see him becoming a member but I think he may become - I shouldn't have said become a member, but I think he may be on their side.

Laura: Right. I think if he does, it would only be, like, Pettigrew, you know, just to side up with who was powerful.

Kevin: Do you think so? Because, I mean, Draco knows who’s having the advantage right now. I mean, it’s apparent that Voldemort is pretty much ruling the battle right now. And he still hesitated before, when killing, you know, before killing Dumbledore.

Laura: Yeah, but he, I mean...

Kevin: ...before Dumbledore died.

Laura: I think anyone would hesitate before they killed someone. Honestly, I can’t...I don’t see Draco as being a good person at all. I think that he would side up to whoever would keep him protected.

Micah: I think if anything happened to one of his parents that that could have a large impact on which side he goes to or, if he stays on Voldemort’s side versus going to, maybe, at least, side with the Order for a brief period of time because I think he does care about...

Kevin: Yeah, see, honestly I don’t know which side he would...we should consider him on because I don’t see him as a pure evil character anymore. I always thought that he did a lot of things to Harry out of, you know, being much like Voldemort when he was younger, where he enjoyed it. And now you’re looking at it like that was just being childish, you know, he’s not as...he’s not the evil person everyone expected. He’s just as torn between the two sides as anyone else could be. So, I understand why you wouldn’t want...you wouldn’t see him as a good guy...

Laura: Mhm.

Kevin: But, I honestly see him, maybe in the future, being one of those characters that does something that you don’t expect it to help Harry.

Laura: I agree to an extent. I can see him going over to the good side, in essence. For something that benefits him, or because something happened to his mother...to get revenge on the people who are responsible for it, but not necessarily to side with the Order. Like, he’s never going to become friends with Harry. It’s just not going to happen

Kevin: I...

[Laura laughs]

Kevin: ...I understand that, but, I do see him making a decision where he realizes the importance of fighting Voldemort...

Laura: I can see him doing something inadvertently...

Kevin: Whether it be...

Laura: ...that would end up in Harry’s favor.

Kevin: Whether it be through the, you know, harming of his parents, or whatever.

Voicemail - How To Detect A Death Eater

[Audio]: Hi, my name is Claire and I’m from North Carolina. I love listening to your show every week and I just had a quick comment/question. I was wondering why, if all Death Eaters have Dark Marks on their left arm, why in the old days when they were looking for Death Eaters they didn't just check everyone's left arm and why didn't they see that Sirius did not have one? Thanks! Bye.

Emily: They didn’t know about it and nobody knew about the Death Mark until Snape showed Sirius in Goblet of Fire...I can’t remember. But, the Death Mark...Dark Mark was not known...it was not an indicator of a Death Eater.

Kevin: Yeah, but the same time, they also found people under the Imperius Curse which they were acting for the Death Eaters and they said it was very hard to distinguish whether someone was a Death Eater or not. I mean, I honestly believe that not everyone has a Dark Mark, only those who are most important to Voldemort.

Emily: But we also don’t know how often Voldemort used the Dark Mark to call his Death Eaters to him.

Kevin: Yeah, and not to mention that we don’t know that he can’t hide it altogether. I mean, they did mention that it fades, so why couldn’t you just hide it?

Andrew: Yeah...[Stutters and laughs] yeah...just yeah.

Kevin: Just yeah?

Andrew: Just yeah. Yeah, yeah all around.

Micah: And it fades when he’s not powerful so if they were, sort of, collecting people right after his fall, chances are it might not have been as prominent on the person’s arm.

Kevin: Yeah...yeah!

Andrew: Alright!

[All laugh]

Kevin: And I think that, I don’t think Voldemort is stupid so I can’t see him tattooing all of his followers with something that could give their position away.

Laura: Not to mention that we know that there is spells to conceal that kind of thing.

Kevin: Exactly, yeah.

Laura: Just like in Order of the Phoenix when students were making copies of The Quibbler look like blank pieces of parchment.

Kevin: Exactly.

Voicemail - The Wand Revisited

[Audio]: Oh my Gosh, I love you Andrew! – Okay, Hi MuggleCasters, my name’s Christina, I’m from New Jersey, South Jersey. I was just wondering what you guys think will happen to Dumbledore's wand? Was it buried with him or was it lost when he fell off the building? Just wanted to see what you guys think. Thanks! Great show.

Andrew: Well, as we mentioned before, Christina, who lives strangely close to me and loves me, umm...we think, we are pretty much all in agreement, well it definitely, from what we can tell, breaks in half from that song. But then, it makes sense that they would burry it. I don’t know what else they would do it with it. It’s not like we’ve ever seen like a shrine so to speak of all the wines of...[Laughs] of all the wands of the dead wizards...sorry got wine of the mind. [Laughs]

Laura: I wonder why...

[Everyone laughs, Kevin laughs and sighs, and everyone laughs some more]

Emily: Do you think maybe that the wand went to his brother?

Andrew: Yeah. Maybe a family member could hold on to it. That’s a good thought.

Kevin: Let’s not talk about his brother...

[All laugh and sigh]

Laura: His brother likes goats. [laughs]

Kevin: Or perhaps it was used for firewood.

Laura: Umm....

Andrew: That would be terrible. [laughs]

Kevin: Okay! Well, ummm...

Laura: [Softly] Bonfire!

Kevin: Next voicemail!

[Audio]: Hey MuggleCasters, my name is Sasha and I’m from Manhattan. I have a question for you guys. JK Rowling only kills off her characters when they have fulfilled their purpose, could it be that Harry has no more to learn from Dumbledore himself? It seems that Harry didn’t even fully grasp what Dumbledore was trying to teach him, and as Harry very wisely put it, "He will only be gone from the school when none here are loyal to him." I would love to hear your opinions. Thanks so much, I love your show. Four last words: "Oddment, blubber, nitwick, and tweak."

Laura: Sasha, I love you! You brought up the point that I’ve been trying to get across this whole time: It’s that when she is done with a character, when a character has pervade all information that they possibly can, anything they can do to help Harry, she kills them. I know it seems brutal, Andrew, but...

Andrew: That is a good point. [Laura laughs]

Andrew: No, I would have to agree, I think that is a good point

Micah: Dumbledoresnotdead.com.

Andrew: It just makes sense, it makes sense.

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: Okay, we give you all this info, well, in Jo’s mind, okay we give you all this info, now let’s go on with them.

Laura: Well I mean, just to keep a character alive that has no purpose anymore...it takes...

[Andrew laughs]

Laura: It takes up...

Andrew:

[Laughing] That seems kind of dumb!

Laura: It takes up...

Andrew: I mean...

Laura: It takes up space!

Andrew: Dumbledore would still have purpose...

Laura: Would he?

Andrew: And Sirius would too

Laura: Wha...

Andrew: yeah he would!

Laura: What purpose would Sirius have?

Kevin: What purpose, yeah?

Andrew: Finding the Hor—Okay, well I don’t know about Sirius...

[Kevin laughs]

Andrew: ...but, moral support for Harry.

Kevin: No but see, that’s my point...

Laura: [Speaks at the same time as Kevin] Harry’s got moral support. He’s got Ron and Hermione.

Kevin: I believe...

Andrew: More! He misses Sirius terribly!!

Kevin: I believe that Dumbledore...Dumbledore’s death was his final purpose. It was, he served the purpose of showing Harry that he had no one else to turn to, except his friends, and he had to do it alone.

Laura: Mhm.

Kevin: I think that was THE perfect purpose for Dumbledore: it’s finally showing Harry that he has got to get his butt in gear, that he has got to do this alone and do what he is destined to do.

Laura: I think so too.

Emily: And the prophecy says if ...only one can kill the other.

Laura and Kevin: Yeah.

Kevin: Exactly. It’s not Dumbledore’s fight, it's Harry’s fight.

Laura: And the prophecy.

Kevin: And I think—

Laura: See, the prophecy needs to be like: "Harry, just do it!"

[Kevin and Laura laugh]

Laura: Stop depending on the people around you.

Kevin: "Just do it!" Okay, let’s plug Nike now.

Andrew: Put on your Nike shoes and just do it!

[All laugh]

Laura: I actually didn’t mean that, but that’s okay...

[All laugh]

Voicemail - Are There Things Worse Than Death?

[Audio]: Hi MuggleCast, this is Laura from Chicago and I’ve got a question for this week’s show. Dumbledore tells Voldemort that there are more ways to destroy a man than killing him, "that nearly taking your life will not satisfy me, I admit," and that his failure to understand there are things much worse then death has always been Voldemort's greatest weakness.  And, it reminded me of when Lupin told Harry in Prisoner of Azkaban that the Dementor's Kiss is much worse than death. Do you think this has any connection for how Harry would be able to defeat Voldemort? Or, what he would have to do to himself in the process if there are things that are worse than death? I love your show! Thanks! Bye.

Kevin: I don’t think Voldemort is going to die through a Dementor’s Kiss.

Laura: No.

Kevin: If that’s what you mean. But, I do believe that it was foreshadowing to the fact that Harry may not use, or in my opinion, probably won’t use, Avada Kedavra to kill Dumbledore.

Laura: [Correcting Kevin] Voldemort!

Kevin: I find it highly unlike...Dumble...urgh! I’m stuck on Dumbledore now...Voldemort! [laughs] I don’t see Harry casting that spell, honestly.

Laura: No, I think that Voldemort is going to have to feel some sort of...pain. I’m not sure whether that will be mental or physical but I don’t want to see Voldemort just get the easy way out, you know...

Kevin: Yeah...

Laura: I want to see something that just really gets to him.

Kevin: Well I think that, I think just the fact that, I think I said this in one of the earlier episodes, I think it would be a perfect way to finish Voldemort off just telling him that all those protections he put in place to keep himself alive were gone.

Micah: Yeah that would be a pretty good shock.

Kevin: Yeah I mean, yeah. Just that in itself would, I mean, that’s a slap to Voldemort.

Laura: Oh yeah.

Kevin: Saying...

Laura: Mmmm. Ow.

Kevin: You’re not as invincible as you once thought you were.

Laura: And it was just all taken away from you by a teenager.

Kevin: Exactly.

Laura: Ouch!

Kevin: The teenager that you failed to kill three times.

Micah: And of course there are things far worse than death. I mean, look at Harry; the life that he’s lived and losing...

Laura: Yeah.

Micah: ...all those people that are close to him. That’s probably far worse than dying if you know, you go inside Harry’s mind.

Laura: Yeah. I agree, definitely.

Kevin: But...I agree, I think that he shouldn’t be killed just flat out. I think he deserves a little more...

Laura: Mhm.

Kevin: ...suffering than that. If that doesn’t sound too...morbid.

Laura: Oh no, I agree. Think about him, nothing’s too morbid for Voldemort.

Kevin: True. But still...

Andrew: Yeah.

Laura: He’s a jerk.

Kevin: You really don’t want to wish...

Andrew: It’s like Osama.

[Kevin laughs, and then Laura laughs]

Kevin: True...true...but you never want to wish suffering on people but...

Laura: Well, there’s a difference.

Kevin: ...sometimes you do!

[All laugh]

Andrew: Let’s make an exception for Voldemort.

Laura: There is a difference, there is a difference.

Kevin: And Osama.

Laura: You don’t want to wish harm on a person. Voldemort is not a person. Voldemort is a monster. And I would, I know it sounds cruel, but I would wish just absolutely, positively anything on him because he is a Grade A jerk.

Kevin: [Gasps] Laura!

[All laugh]

Spy on Spartz

Andrew: Great! Now for this week’s edition of Spy on Spartz. Emerson has been in Hawaii over the past week on vacation before he heads back to Notre Dame. He had a lot of fun.

Laura: He’s visiting Tara.

Andrew: He said he misses it already. Is he visiting Tara?

Laura: I don’t know. [laughs]

Andrew: I don’t think so.

Laura: I just made that up.

Andrew: Tara is of course, the webmistress of EmersonSpartz.net, I believe it is.

Laura: I...guess.

Andrew: ...who lives in Hawaii. I really did think that she would go after him, especially since, you know, Hawaii is like, so small.

Kevin: Yeah. Maybe we should send her an email with his location.

[Andrew and Laura laugh sly, girly laughs]

Andrew: Well he’s already back now so it’s a little too late.

Kevin: Oh yeah, that’s true.

Andrew: So...

Kevin: We should’ve, we really should’ve.

Andrew: So, that’s that. Surprisingly, it’s No. 3 on the...the No. 3 favorite segment according to our MuggleCast poll. I really didn’t realize it was such...it was so big!

Laura: Oh my god.

Andrew: How about "Spy on Sims"? How about that?

Laura:Vote for something else.

Andrew: "Andrew’s recording MuggleCast right now." [laughs]

Kevin: And you can use the same clip of audio every episode.

Andrew: Yeah!

Kevin: Because nothing will change.

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: Except for when I’m away. When I’m away, guys, would you do a "Spy on Sims"?

Laura: Sure.

Andrew: I’ve never been away. Over thirty shows, including...

Laura: Well guys, no, no, no. All we have to do is record two separate sets of audio. One for "Andrew’s recording MuggleCast" and one for "Andrew’s at the Jersey Shore." [laughs]

Kevin: That’s true.

Andrew: That IS true. Especially when summer comes around.

Dueling Club - 16 Yr. Old Snape vs. 16 Yr. Old Harry

Andrew: Okay, now it’s time for this week’s Dueling Club, where Laura had received an email over the past week.

Laura: Yep.

Andrew: A suggestion...

Laura: Yep. My Mom’s friend Bert, who actually listens to this show (which is really, really cool), suggested that we do...

Kevin: Hello, Bert!

Laura: [Laughs] Suggested that we do sixteen-year-old...

Andrew: [In a funny voice] Hello, Ernie!

[All laugh]

Laura: All right, all right.

Andrew: [Singing] "Rubber ducky..." Sorry.

[Everyone laughs, Andrew sighs]

Laura: Okay...[Andrew continues to laugh] Suggested...Bert suggested that we do sixteen-year-old Snape versus sixteen-year-old Harry. And I thought that was pretty interesting so I wanted to see what you guys thought of it.

Andrew: Yes.

Kevin: Well, what do you think? To start it off...

Laura: What do I think? I think, that at first glance, because of how advanced we know Snape was, you would that that, you know, Snape would just totally dominate Harry in a duel. But, I think, while he may win overall, Harry could definitely put a hurting on him.

Kevin: I think that it’s a hard match-up because where Harry focuses more on defensive spells than offensive, Snape obviously focuses more on offensive than defensive. So I would wonder whether Harry’s knowledge of defensive spells would make it so that Snape’s offensive spells would be almost useless.

Laura: So it would be kind of like, a toss-up?

Kevin: Exactly.

Laura: Mhm. I think that’s possible.

Kevin: Depends on who trips first, you know?

Laura: Mhm. It could definitely just be a situation involving who’s on their form that day.

Kevin: I’m hoping that by next book, we’ll be able to say...

Laura: That Harry...

Kevin: ...without a doubt that...

Laura: Yeah. See that’s what I was about to say. What do you think, would a "current Harry" or, you know, "Book 7 Harry?" So, I mean, I think there is definitely going to be some distinguishing traits between the Harry that we’ve known in Half Blood Prince and the Harry that we see in Book 7.

Kevin: Exactly, yeah. I...one thing...that’s one of my main concerns about Book 7. I truly hope that when Harry faces Voldemort, that he’s facing Voldemort on an equal playing field...

Laura: Mhm.

Kevin: ...where both of their knowledge is somewhat equal and their power is somewhat equal and, in that case, I think that it would be obvious that Harry would just destroy Snape.

Laura: Mhm, definitely.

Emily: I think, when it comes to initiative, Snape shows a lot more initiative when it comes to just expanding his knowledge and talent. So I think that Snape would probably out-duel Harry.

Kevin: Just because of his, not only initiative, but his creative—you know, creativity in making spells and stuff. That’s true.

Laura: I mean, there is no denying he is very creative.

Emily: Harry has passion, but Snape just kinda has, I don’t know, improvisation on his side. He’s able to, I think, improvise a little bit more.

Micah: Hmm...yeah I don’t think Harry stands a chance.

Andrew: Yeah I think Emily makes a good point. She says that Snape does have a lot more initiative. Yeah, I can picture Snape as a much more...a very intense wizard compared to Harry at that age.

Micah: It’s like Kevin was saying, how—

Andrew: Sort of like Tom Riddle.

Micah: Yeah. How much would DADA really help if Snape is using all these offensive-type spells that maybe DADA wouldn’t necessarily work against. You know, he’s not going to shoot a Patronus out of his wand at some crazy spell that Snape made up.

Kevin: That’s true, that’s true. Well, hopefully...

Laura: Definitely.

Kevin: ...by Book 7 we will all be saying exactly the opposite.

Laura: I do think, yeah. I think by Book 7, Harry is just going to be able to, hopefully, defeat someone like Snape. I’d be kind of disappointed if he couldn’t.

Click here to go to page three