The Readirect Podcast
Harry Potter and the Case Against Gun Control (Deep Dive Part 2)
In the second installment of our Harry Potter deep dive, we're covering Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire. Did we assure you we could wrap this series up in two parts? Yes. Did we fail miserably? Also yes.
As a reminder, we're raising money for the Trevor Project as long as this series continues. Donate at this link to enter for a chance to win the rights to pick a book for us to discuss in a future episode!
Plus, our recent reads:
Don't forget to follow us on Instagram at @readirectpodcast!
In the second installment of our Harry Potter deep dive, we're covering Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire. Did we assure you we could wrap this series up in two parts? Yes. Did we fail miserably? Also yes.
As a reminder, we're raising money for the Trevor Project as long as this series continues. Donate at this link to enter for a chance to win the rights to pick a book for us to discuss in a future episode!
Plus, our recent reads:
Don't forget to follow us on Instagram at @readirectpodcast!
Welcome to the Redirect Podcast. My name is Abigail Freshley and I'm Emily Rojas. The Redirect Podcast is a show where we shift the conversation back to books. We discuss themes from some of our favorite books and how those themes show up in real lived experiences. On today's episode, we are continuing our conversation on the complicated and nuanced book series Harry Potter. But first, if you love our show, which we know you do, we would humbly ask that's kind of a contradiction, humble that you support us in a few simple ways. Leave us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts and let us know that you love our show. We'd also love for you to follow our show. Follow us on Instagram at Redirect Podcast, and if you really, really, really like the show, we'd love for you to share it with a friend. Sharing our show with a friend is the best way to help us grow our community of book loving nerds.
Speaker 1:Welcome back for part two. We are going to try our darndest to get all the way through it today. Um, we're focused. I mean, we've covered a lot of stuff already. So I feel like, yeah, we can whip through these last, uh, several books. Totally, on our last episode, we recapped, like, the background of harry potter right, all the controversy around jQ Rowling. That took a while, you know we talked about our feelings about that. So for more of a nuanced conversation about that side of Harry Potter, if you're just starting with this episode and wondering why we're not talking about that, go back and listen to our first episode. Also a reminder that we are still raising money for the Trevor Project. So that's thank you for everyone who's already donated. We'll keep the fundraiser open through the next episode that comes out after this, which will be on July 15th or 16th, so we'll keep the it's coming out. The next one after this episode will come out July 16th, so we'll keep the fundra it's coming out. The next one after this episode will come on July 16th, so we'll keep the fundraiser open through the 15th. And as a reminder, if you choose to donate with your name, you will give yourself a shot to be selected for us to talk about your favorite book on the podcast. If you donate anonymously, we don't know how to get in touch with you, but if you did donate anonymously and you decided that you didn't mean to do that and you want to talk about your book, just DM us and we'll take care of it for you? Yeah, or you can DM and stay anonymous to the world. You know, yeah, dm and stay anonymous to the world. I will say I obviously donated through this fundraiser that we're doing and they make it super easy, like you can do with Apple Pay. So I don't know if sometimes, like you have to sign, they haven't like spammed me with email if you don't want that. So I think, if you want to, just it's a great cause to support. I mean, I think we can all get behind reducing suicides and helping with mental health of people. So, yeah, that's a positive thing, especially young people. Yeah, especially young people. So, yeah, let's go.
Speaker 1:Third summary Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. How do we feel this is the best book, right, and by far the best movie. Oh, really, okay, so just me. Well, actually, I think for me, when I read this book, it I, uh, I really liked it. I think my favorite book is Order of the Phoenix, that's fair. Yeah, I think probably the later books I enjoy more, but I think this is uh, colored by how much I think this movie like stands alone as the best of the films in my opinion. Really Interesting. Yeah, I don't know if I've ever thought about that. But it's a good movie, it's a good.
Speaker 1:I think what's interesting about harry potter is, like most of them or all of them, I don't remember, I'm not up to date on my harry potter lore anymore, but don't they? They all have like different directors, or at least most of them have different, like they change directors for sure, at least in the first. You know five, I think. Um, yeah, I think maybe the later ones have some consistency. So this one to me just has like a completely different tone. It's just, I think, one of the I don't know, I just think they're all good adaptations, I think, as far as book to film, you know, but this one to me is the best one. So this is where the plot really starts heating up and it starts building toward. Like the first couple books were really more about establishing the world, establishing characters, understanding harry, understanding hogwarts, and then this book really starts building toward what's going to end up being the epic finale in book seven, right, so, um, pieces start moving into place.
Speaker 1:So it opens and harry is entering his third year of hogwarts, which means he's also turning 13. Um, the night before his birthday he receives gifts from the owl through the owl post from his friends at breakfast and while he's chilling and no one in his family is acknowledging his birthday because they all hate him, he sees on television that a man named Black is on the loose from prison. This is on the Muggle News. Also going on, like in the weeks leading up to when he leads for Hogwarts for his third year, uncle Dursley's sister, aunt Marge, comes to pay a visit. She's just like a terrible person. Yeah, boo, they're all bad, they're all terrible. Yeah, so he gets really pissed off at her because she keeps picking on him and he accidentally does some magic on her and she inflates and turns into like. It's kind of like in Willy Wonka, where old boy turns into a blueberry. Yeah, the girl, oh, yeah the girl, um, so he's obvi in trouble and so he runs away and he gets on the night bus.
Speaker 1:Emily, what is the night bus? It's like an insane, um, public transportation that wizards have access to, that like goes super fast and can change shape and like. There's just a lot of bizarre characters that he encounters. Um, but, yeah, it's, it's like a bus, but, you know, in an insane magic way, yes, um, so he's like okay, I don't really know that much about the magical world. Where am I going? As he goes, I'm gonna go to diagonale, that's all. Yeah, that's like the one place he knows. So he goes there and then he pulls up in diagonale and he runs into the minister of magic, which is basically like the president, and he's like harry, my boy. What's up bro, what's up, dog? Thanks for saving the world. Yeah, good to see you. He's like I must be in so much trouble. But he's like no, don't worry about it, it's so chill. Like yeah, don't even sweat it. He's like that's weird. And when he shows up there at the leaky cauldron, guess who's there? Harry and ron, I mean hermione and ron, bfff.
Speaker 1:And this is where we get introduced into the world of magical pets, which is fun, emily. What is that all about? So, basically, at Hogwarts you can have, isn't it three, like you can have a cat, an owl or a rat. Well, no, because Neville has a toad. That's so true. Why did I think there's only three? Maybe it's four. Anyways, who knows? Uh, maybe you can have any kind of pet, but, um, yeah, so there's a handheld, a handheld pet or a functional pet, like an owl. That's also like the male system. Why are we allowing 12, 11, 13, 14 year olds in this boarding school to have whatever pets they want, basically? Also, multiple of those pets are predators to the other. So a cat can eat a rat, yeah, an owl can eat a rat, and probably a cat, yeah, or at least maim it.
Speaker 1:You know An owl? Well, have you seen the documentary with Colin? Oh, have I the I owl. What is that called? Again, the staircase, oh, my god, that was consumed. Every piece of media on that, okay, so, so if, if that is to be believed, right, then an owl could kill a person too, human. So, but these are chill, smart owls. They're not normal owls. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyways, here's my thing. We'll come to find out later. That rat, okay, so Ron has a rat. He hates the rat. Wait, also, yes, this is a great point.
Speaker 1:Why are people, why are these kids allowed to have animals when in this world, it has been established from the first page of the very first book that adult wizards and witches can transform into animals? Okay, the thing is obviously, all the marauders are animage, animag, how do you pronounce that? Animagus, animagi, yeah, animagi. They all three, three kings, except lupin, who's a werewolf, but they're not registered and that's illegal. You're supposed to be registered, but if they could do it at like 14 whenever they figure that out.
Speaker 1:I just think there needs to be a stronger vetting process and maybe it was implemented after this incident, because we do come to find out that ron's, like old, decrepit rat scabbers which he's inherited, is actually peter pedigree, who betrayed harry's parents and caused him to be killed. All right, so let's get into your vetting of that. You know, in this book we learn stuff about harry potter's parents and their lore. So basically, the guy who was on the muggle news, serious black. He's also wanted in the wizard world because it turns out he escaped from azkaban, the wizard prison, and he is believed to have um turned over harry's parents to voldemort and like betrayed them. Um, they were besties. James, serious, I mean, you are the expert on this as you consume so much online content about the Marauders but James, sirius, peter and Lupin, yes, and so Harry is everyone's like oh, he's out. He's probably after Harry because he wants to finish the job. So Harry is like all freaked out.
Speaker 1:They also believe at this time that Sirius killed Peter Pettigrew and that Peter's dead. Oh right, so that's why he's an ass of man as well, because all that was left was his toe Right. Coincidentally, scabbers is also missing a tooth. That's crazy, but whatever. Anyways. Also, scabbers has lived like 20 years. Yeah, way beyond the lifespan of our man. Not 20 years, I. Yeah, way beyond the lifespan of a rat. Not 20 years, I mean 13 years, because he's 13. So that's crazy. Rats don't normally live that long, probably. So all this crazy stuff starts happening. So Harry is getting free job at Sirius Black Also, other things keep happening.
Speaker 1:So they start going to divination and old girl Professor Triani is like I see the grim and your teacup and it's a black dog. And then he starts seeing this black dog places where he has like near scrapes with death. So you're playing quidditch and like almost has a horrible accident. And then he sees this black dog, yeah. And then all of the kids that are in year three and older get to go to Hogsmeade with parental consent on the weekends. And he doesn't have parental consent, obviously because his parents are dead, but also because Anna and Uncle hate him. So he uses the invisibility cloak. He's also able to sneaky listen into adult conversations about Sirius Black when all of the teachers are at the local tavern Genius, actually. Yeah, yeah. Also, there's a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, emily, who is the new Defense Against the Dark Arts King of my heart, remus, no.
Speaker 1:But so lupin comes on in. They find him, the. The trio encounters him initially on the train to hogwarts. He's like sleeping. They're like, who's this homeless guy? Um, but he's, he's their new professor.
Speaker 1:He's also a werewolf, which you find out. Um, there's a point where, like snape takes over his class to your books, to page 19, isn't it 394, 394? And he's like, hey, guys, we're going to study about werewolves today, for no reason, because Snape obviously grew up with them, he knows about the werewolf thing. And then you also have a moment where he sees, like his Boggart, his biggest fear, and it's like the full moon. So you're like, oh, that's weird. So, yeah, he's a werewolf. He obviously figures it out, but nobody else figures it out. Also, what's going on at this time is because serious black is on the loose.
Speaker 1:Um, hogwarts has been, is starting to be guarded by these things called dementors. So this is our intro to dementors, which are like these soul-sucking wraiths that if they like get too close to you, they like suck all the happiness and joy from your life and can like basically freeze your heart if they like, do the dementors kiss, which, again, I'm gonna question dumby on that, because what the hell, like, there's literal children here. I'll be, I'll be. I know why they're, I'll be, I'll be. I mean, I guess you're afraid of sirius. But, like, should these dementors be at a school? No, probably not.
Speaker 1:But it's an important plot device because you get the introduction of patronuses, which kind of scare off the dementors. Um, and harry's learning how to cast his own patronus throughout the course of this book. So, yeah, you know, and it turns out he's pretty good at it, yeah, as he is with everything, naturally, yeah, because he's just great. And then, also, harry, when he's in the defensive incident art class, they're learning how to like, as you mentioned, to fight off these bog arts that are like turn, take the shape of something you're afraid of. And, um, lupin thinks that when he goes up the voldemort, like the thing is going to take the shape of voldemort and it would scare everybody. But it didn't. It took the shape of a dementor. Yeah, um, which is like a flex, because I would be most scared of the person who killed my parents, probably, but no, no. So another little wrinkle here.
Speaker 1:A cool thing this one is very cool and takes like really helps launch the rest of the series. Is that because Harry can't go to Hogsmeade with all the homies? Fred and George give Harry this map and they're like this is a secret map, it's like charmed. So you have to say this like charm for it to like populate with the stuff and it shows you everyone who's in Hogwarts. It shows you secret passages in and out and you can see when people are coming. And it's awesome. And you have to say I so solemnly swear I'm up to no good, and then tap the thing and then when you want it to go away, you tap it and say mischief managed, which is just so freaking cool. I loved this concept, yes, and so.
Speaker 1:Uh, harry is like oh, I can do lots of more hijinks than sneak out to the library and because I know whenever people are coming around the corner, right, but one day, well, we'll get to that other things that happen is in the middle of this book, like during christmas, harry gets a firebolt yeah, from from an anonymous sender. Yeah, that's like the best top of the line. Uh, broomstick for quidditch. Yes, odd, um, okay, so that happens, things are weird. And then one day he's looking down at the map and he sees peter pedigree is in hogwarts and he's like, wait, that's weird, he's dead. And then he shows it to professor lupin and he's like, yeah, that's crazy, give me this map. You're not allowed to have this low-key. I saw this one, um tiktok.
Speaker 1:That was made me devastated and this made me think of it. They were like always professor lupin and never uncle mooney, because, like if his parents had lived, this was his parents best friend and like throughout this entire book, he takes such an interest in harry and like it's kind of a surrogate father, uncle figure to him and it's like that must be so devastating, though, to be like man, if your parents had lived, I would have been like a part of your life. And now you're just like thank you, professor, I don't know, but yeah, he becomes a trusted adult for Harry, which should have been the first sign that this will be ripped away from him. You know, yeah, nothing, he can't ever keep anything good. Also, just like at any point Dumbledore could have explained the connection to Harry Again, he's the true smallest man you ever loved the villain Again. Yeah, I do think honestly, though, to not ultimately only praise Lupin. I think he could have been more honest with Harry too, of like this is what happened. I mean, he ultimately does explain everything, but I think he could have been like. You know, this is complicated. I was best friends with sirius and peter and your parents, and you know there could have been some more. I feel like adults constantly are not thinking that he's capable of understanding things or trying to protect him, and it's like it ends up hurting him more in the end because he doesn't know what's going on, and so I think, um, he's a little bit to blame there. But anyways, let's get to the climactic. Yeah, so great to start happening.
Speaker 1:Also, we didn't mention this, but Hagrid, who, again, as we mentioned, is Harry's really close buddy. He becomes a care of magical creatures professor this year and something happens with Draco and this hippogriff called Buckbeak, and now they're like we have to kill the hippogriff, even though it was totally Draco's fault. So Harry is at his divination exam with Professor Trelawney towards the end of the year. She predicts that the return of Voldemort's servant will happen before midnight. Obviously, they're like oh, that's Sirius Black, but of course no adults will listen to us. And Trelawney to oh, that's serious black, but of course no adults will listen to us.
Speaker 1:So ron and trulani to to put a finer point on it, she has like no actual abilities, but literally she's the one who made the prophecy about harry being the chosen one who has to kill voldemort. So this is believed like this is an actual second prediction that she's made. But the rest are fully crazy, you know. So like she looks crazy when she's doing it. She's like possessed. She's like, yeah, yes, totally. And she's played by um, my queen, um, oh my god, what's her name? Elizabeth, I can't remember her name. Oh, my god, I love no, emma thompson, emma thom, thank you, she is my favorite of all time. Okay, yeah, she's amazing, so good.
Speaker 1:So they're there. They're like, hmm, that was weird, anyways, so got to go save the hippogriff. They're like everyone get under the invisibility cloak because we're all still like 13 Hagrid's house and like dap him up before his beloved Hippogriff is killed. When they're there, they discover Scabbers is in Hagrid's milk jug. That's weird. When they leave, buckbeak is executed and Ron, harry and Hermione are leaving Hagrid's house. They're really sad and they're reeling from the sound of the axe, you know key, the sound reportedly going into Hippogriff's neck and a huge black dog appears before them, pounces on Ron and drags him under the whomping willow. Harry and Hermione and Crookshanks dash down after them. Oddly, Crookshanks knows the secret knob to press to still the flailing tree and they move through an underground tunnel and arrive at the shrieking shack, which is a place in Hogsmeade. Yeah, they find the black dog has turned into serious black and is in a room with Ron. Oh my God.
Speaker 1:Also, to note, like, when you're reading this book and this happens there's, you're only like two thirds of the way through. So you like, when you're reading this book and this happens, you're only like two-thirds of the way through. So you're like what could happen? What could happen? Yeah, harry, ron and Hermione manage to disarm Black and before Harry can kill Black, avenging his parents' deaths, professor Lupin enters the room and disarms him.
Speaker 1:What You're like is Lupin bad In cahoots. Harry, ron, hermione are gassed as lupin and black exchange a series of nods and embrace. Well, well, sirius looking rather ragged, aren't we? Finally, the flesh reflects the madness within. Well, you'd know all about the madness within, wouldn't you? Remus, once the three students calm down enough to listen. Lupin and black explain everything.
Speaker 1:Lupin is a werewolf who remains tamed through a special steaming, steaming potion made by for him by Snape. While Lupin was a student at Hogwarts, his best friends James, sirius and Peter became animagi so that they could romp the grounds with Lupin at the full moon. They explain how Snape once allowed Lupin, once followed Lupin toward his transformation site in a practical joke set up by Sirius and was rescued narrowly by James Potter. At this moment, snape reveals himself from underneath Harry's dropped invisibility cloak, but Harry, ron and Hermione disarm him, rendering him unconscious. Lupin and Black then explain that the real murderer of Harry's parents is not Black but Peter. Pettigrew has been presumed dead but really hidden all these years. Disguised as scabbers, lupin transforms scabbers into Pettigrew, who squeals and hedges but ultimately confesses, revealing himself to be Voldemort's servant and black to be innocent.
Speaker 1:They all travel back to Hogwarts but at the sight of the full moon, lupin, who has forgotten to take his potion, turns into a werewolf. Sirius Black responds by turning into a large black dog in order to protect Harry and Ron and Hermione from Lupin. As Black returns from driving the werewolf into the woods, a swarm of Dementors approaches and Black is paralyzed with fear. One of the Dementors prepares to suck the soul out of Harry, whose Patronus charm is simply not strong enough. Out of somewhat nowhere comes a Patronus that drives the Dementors away and harry faints when you this whole patronus thing that ends up. That is okay.
Speaker 1:So the this is skipping ahead a little, I guess, but the, the patronus, harry's patronus, is like the same form that his dad's anime in a magi, whatever was in of the um, deer or whatever stag and um, like did any part of you, do you remember? When you read this? Think like maybe his dad is still alive and like, yeah, I fully believed it. I remember thinking like my gosh, his dad's. Because, yeah, earlier in the book it had been established by lupin that his, his dad's was a stag. Yes, um and yeah, and he was like I think I saw my dad and everyone's like, oh, harry, that's really sad that you think that mental illness saves in it. So, anyways, you're like, okay, what could possibly happen now? Yeah, what happens is that harry wakes up in the hospital wing, um and snape and, uh, cornelius fudge, the minister of magic, are discussing the fact that sirius black is about to be given the fatal dementor's kiss. But at this point harry knows that sirius was a good guy and his godfather and he did his waiting in azkaban. He's already paid, by the way, the the punishment.
Speaker 1:I understand killing is bad, okay, yeah, but the punishment in the wizarding world is whack. If you think that the death penalty is not great that we have here, try thinking like taking someone's soul and also he was imprisoned just in this, like horrific, the conditions are not good. Like, at that point, killing is more humane. They're not trying to rehabilitate people in the wizarding world, okay, they are trying to suck their souls. Avada, kedavra, avada, kedavra, avada, kedavra. No, yeah, so I just cadaver, cadaver, cadaver. No, yeah, so I just have a lot of problems. Um, they need criminal justice reform, hermione, let the house elves go and focus on something that really matters. The prison conditions are not good anyways, they go back in time literally and then, like also, you would just think that in the wizarding world, the use of magic would allow you better pathways to not falsely imprison someone like we do in the muggle world, right, but like that didn't happen here.
Speaker 1:There's some, like you know, lore that sirius could have, um, given his memories to like clear himself up, but then he would have revealed that lupin was a werewolf and that his friends were unregistered animagi. So he decided to not do that to clear his name and suffered. I truly don't think that jk rowling thought of that, but I think that's always online. Have thought of that, and that is here's the thing. Though I'm just objectively, this is gonna have to be three episodes. It's fine, it's fine, it's fine, no, no, no. Here's the thing. She didn't think of it because she's an idiot, you know.
Speaker 1:But what you're like, you're saying, what is the other explanation? Like he, obviously there's's some like there's there's a truth telling potion. They literally can take a memory out of your mind and look at it. Like there, that would be so easy to reveal. That either has to be the explanation or it's just a gaping plot hole, exactly so. When in doubt, may the explanation benefit me. Right, and it's just that he was trying to be selfless. And maybe also, you know what, if he just didn't feel I mean, this is right after the fall of Voldemort, so maybe he just didn't trust the people who were in power and didn't want to give them more of the inside knowledge that he had from the Order of the Phoenix no, valid.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I also saw something online that was like so true, for Sirius, the war never ended. Like he went to prison there was still war going on and then he got out and like Voldemort is back, you know. So like he never. Yeah, there is no first war and second war. It's all the same war. Anyways, I'm in too deep with this and that's why this is half an hour. Yeah, so they find out that Hermione has been going back in time to live every day.
Speaker 1:Okay, no, dumbledore comes in and he assesses the situation. Oh right, and he's like I. He's like, yeah, no, I know that Sirius is innocent. Yeah, and that's why I'm going to put his fate in the hands of three 13 year olds with not even a completed three years of magical training. And, by the way, earlier this year, um, I had an overachieving probably like mentally ill eldest daughter student who's 13 years old, who wanted to take like basically, ap courses, and so I gave her this device. It was my idea. I did this as a grown man. I gave her this thing called a time turner so that she could go back and relive hours of her life, so she could do more school, sure, and now I'm going to wink wink at them and tell them that they need to go do that and relive the last three hours of their lives so that they can save Sirius and Buckbeak. Yeah, he heavily implies. He's like I think two innocent lives could be spared, could be saved. Like, couldn't you do this, bro? You are one of the most powerful and respected wizards in the entire wizarding world. Literally, you could just say that, yeah, it is beyond. Again, if Dumbledore has no haters, the two of us are dead. It's just so beyond. Oh my god. Okay, but they do it. They save them. The parentification of these three children, all right, so they go back in time. They do this.
Speaker 1:Um question for you if you had a time turner, how would you use it? Good question, good question. Oh yeah, yeah, that would be great. Or like read more. You know you could go back in time and use your whole day read two books at once simultaneously. So the key, the key here is that, like, you can't let yourself see yourself right, so you can't be where you were before, right, um, and you can't undo things. Yeah, you can't change past. You still on their course. You were basically just doubling you, so like when they went back in time they were trying to basically compete against themselves right to change the outcome of what happened. Yeah, I think more sleep sounds good. I think I would use it for like messy reasons. I would like eavesdrop on people and stuff. Oh, that would be good too, but you need the invisibility cloak as well. That would be he. Yeah, you would need that.
Speaker 1:So basically, they let buck be go, they set him free, they uh, you know, they go follow these people. They let serious out, and then he also is the person who sends the patronus to get the dementors away. So the patronus that appeared out of nowhere was harry all along, and, yeah, his dad casting it for himself. Yeah, and then they give serious buckbeak, but like they, because, but Peter Pettigrew got away, so they weren't able to clear Sirius's name. So Sirius can't just be integrated back into society, he has to remain in hiding, which again, like Tumbledore, can't help with that. Like you said, the most powerful wizard, he is a witness, the trios were witnesses, lupin's a witness. They can't be trusted to say, no, we definitely saw this. They can be trusted to hold the entire fate of the wizard world in their hands, but not this.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so harry gets back on the train back home, which, again, they're still sending him back home, right, and lupin is not allowed to come back to hogwarts because he almost became a werewolf in front of you, know all the kids, which okay questions. Yeah, fair enough. But like we can have dementors, we can have voldemort literally living in there's a giant squid on the back of someone's head, right. But we can't have a professor who accidentally forgot his potion one night because the love of his life had returned from prison. Like, excuse me, is it the love of? Do you think? Do you think that in her mind at all, she was like there could be some like homo there? No, no, no, no, i't.
Speaker 1:But sometimes the characters like live their own lives, sometimes they become people that like they surpass the boundaries of what the author intended. Exactly, exactly. Life in Imitates Art. So he gets on the drive home, he gets a letter from Sirius and it confirms that he's safe and in hiding. He gets a letter from Sirius and it confirms that he's safe and in hiding, and in fact he was the center of the fire bolt and a small pet owl for Ron, because Ron's owl is just like totally jacked up and then he feels slightly better but he's like, yeah, I got to go home and spend another horrible summer with the Dursleys.
Speaker 1:Yeah, this whole Sirius Black arc is so sad to me for a lot of reasons, but also when I was reading the books, like, okay, you never got into a series of unfortunate events. But if you guys have read the series of unfortunate events, every time there is something good in these kids' life it's just taken away. And the feeling of what happens with Sirius and Harry makes me feel the same way. Because he gets a godfather Again. Dumbledore could have let him go with him. He's like I don't have to go home. Yeah, he gets Lupin, who is this again like surrogate, not father figure, but yeah, like an uncle figure to him, and they both are taken away from him. It's so sad to me, like this was so devastating. I remember at the end of this book it feels like, oh my gosh, he has like connection to his parents, his godfather, like someone who has cared for him, who never betrayed his parents, as he finds out, and then he can't even like go be with him or spend any time with him because he's still wrongfully accused and no one wants to clear that up for him. So this is, to me, the most well, it's probably to me, the saddest thing in the books is everything that happens with serious, because you know, it's like he's so close to having a family that he's always wanted and it's taken away. You know, it is really sad, his life is really sad, his life is very sad.
Speaker 1:So now we're on the Goblet of Fire. Let's just try and get through this one. We can go fast. I feel like this one's like fine, they go to the World Cup, yeah.
Speaker 1:So it starts out and Mr Weasley invites Harry to go to the Quidditch World Cup with them, which is Liddy they find out about with them, which is Liddy. They find out about portkeys, which is basically any household object that's turned into a portal that can take you to another place where there's like a connected object. Yeah, the wizards will do anything except like drive a car or, you know, fly on a plane like normal people. They will find any way to zero carbon emissions. Yeah, facts, we should all be more like wizards, yeah, um, and this is where we meet cedric de glory, who is really connected to our bonus episode, which we're going to be releasing, because it's, of course, wink our introduction to um robert pattinson as cedric degree, our future beloved edward cullen. Yes, hufflepuff king, um, yeah, uh, six year, I think, yeah, okay, yeah.
Speaker 1:So they go to. They go to the quidditch world cup and when the really cool thing that happens is they they like set up this tiny little tent and Harry is like how are we all going to fit in there? And then they walk in and it's like huge and expansive and basically like this amazing hotel. That would be amazing. This is something I would love to have in real life in the human world. This is actually an interesting game too, because, as we talked about Quidditch in our first episode, in this Quidditch game, ireland wins. In our first episode in this quidditch game, ireland wins, but victor crumb, the bulgarian seeker, he catches the snitch, so the team that catches the snitch does not actually win. And also, how is victor crumb playing professional quidditch as a student? That doesn't seem right. Yeah, because we're gonna meet him later. I don't know. I don't know what their education systems like in bulgaria. I actually had a huge note about that. I just have questions about I'll get to it when we get to the star wars tournament, but like the magical education system and the infrastructure around that and all that stuff.
Speaker 1:Yes, so, um, at the world cup, though, the death eaters kind of basically come back. Yeah, basically like someone cast a dark mark, yeah, to the sky. And then all these people are like, oh my god, these are like voldemort's servants and so they have to get out of there. And then everyone's freaking out because, um, like the government officials are like no, that didn't really happen, and like gaslighting everyone into thinking that, like that's silly, voldemort's not back, but they're like, no, he's definitely back. And meanwhile Harry's wand is missing while that happens. So it's suspicious.
Speaker 1:You know, yes, we get a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher again, mad-eye Moody. Who this says? Mad-eye Moody is a, a competent teacher, which is a first for them. Yeah, no, lupin was pretty good, lupin was pretty good, but yeah, um, so the gang goes to hogwarts. Mad I moody is their new teacher. Um, and then dumbledore gets up at the beginning of the school year and is like, hey, everybody, the tri, the Triwizard Tournament is happening, and it happens between schools Us, beauxbaton, beauxbaton, which is like French girls school, and Durmstrang. Okay, in the books it was not a girls school, oh really, and Durmstrang was not a boys school. In the movies that's what happens, but in the books they were all normal co-ed. It's just I don't know why they did that in the movies. Well, thank you for that correction. You're welcome.
Speaker 1:So here's my question about the magical education infrastructure. Right, does it vary just from country to country? Because, like, could you be in a foreign exchange student? Is there only one magical school per country? Right, do they have a baseline curriculum? Because it seems like in the magical worlds, like you would need you know what I'm saying. Like, yeah, that that is not explained and I would love a further explanation of that. I do think that and I'm sorry for people who are more versed I do think that on what's that website? Uh, jake and rolling made pottermore. I do think she had more lore about the schools. On um harrypotterfandomcom slash wiki, it says there are 11 schools in the world which are registered with the International Confederation of Wizards, but there were smaller and less well-regulated institutions as well, and most countries in the world do not have their own wizarding school.
Speaker 1:Magical children were typically homeschooled or educated via correspondence courses. This is very detailed. Were typically homeschooled or educated via correspondence courses. This is very detailed. So, um, it seems like maybe organized education is not the best, um, but there's only one for america, which is ilvermory ilvermorny and it's in massachusetts, and there's only one in all of south america, apparently, okay. So there's like not one per country, okay, all right, but somehow there's three in europe, cool, basically, I don't know.
Speaker 1:So, anyways, dumbledore is like we're doing this triwizard tournament. You can't get in unless you're like a fifth year or older isn't that right? Or six year older, six or seven, I think you have to be like 16 or something like maybe, yeah, yeah, um, so don't even try it if you're not. And what you're gonna do is everyone has to go, put their names into this goblet of fire and then the goblet, like if you want to maybe be in it, then the goblet will spit out the names of the people from each school who are going to participate, normal um and um. So there are people in the hogwarts that are trying to get around this. You know, fred and george, who are not yet, who don't yet qualify, trying to use, like this aging charm to get in, um, whatever, so, uh, it's like the day that they are gonna, it's gonna spit out all the names. It spits out cedric diggory for hogwarts, our king, uh floor de la croix, de la croix for bobaton and victor crumb the seeker, the professional quidditch player, the professional for Bobaton. And Victor Crumb the seeker, the professional Quidditch player, the professional Quidditch player, who's also still in school. And then it's like they're going to be like okay, yay, these are our people. And then it's like also Harry Potter.
Speaker 1:And then this is the iconic moment from the movie where Dumbledore's like Harry, did you put your name in the Goblet of Fire? Can I shake it? I, harry, did you put your name in the Goblet of Fire? Can I shake it? I do a conspiracy theory. I protest, harry, I protest. Harry, did you put your name in the Goblet of Fire? Close up. And he's like no. And then the book's, like Dumbledore calmly asked Harry, did you put your name in the Goblet of Fire? Yeah, how did we get?
Speaker 1:Anyways, my question is also like they don't want harry to compete because it's dangerous. He's too young. Why is any student competing in this? Because, if it's that dangerous, yeah, this is my question why are we doing it? Why can't we just have field day? Why can't we do a good old sack race, a tug of war. Why are we bad like doing things where you're going to risk your life for what, literally the glory of your school, like you don't even get money for it, schools that we've, by the way, never heard of before now. There's not even longstanding rivalries between them, there's no established rivalry, it's just vibes. Let's just send these kids out Ridiculous.
Speaker 1:And so, yeah, harry's freaking out because he's at a significant disadvantage for a few reasons. One he has, you know, less magical training than his peers who are participating in this. Um, also, everyone thinks that he's annoying because, like harry, this harry, that gryffindor wins the the cup every year. Because alan harry, by the way, right, and um, ron is mad at him because he's like, dude, you're always like, just tell the truth. Yeah, they're like 14, he's like, you're always like overshadowing me. I'm so annoyed you're being. They're all just kind of like hormonal and pissy and like annoying. Right also in this stage in the movie is their haircuts are just out of control, atrocious, they're just atrocious. So he's like trying to figure out what he's going to do.
Speaker 1:Also, at this time, we're introduced to the unforgivable curses through the defense of dark arts, which are the imperious curse, the one that controls your mind, the cruciatus curse, which inflicts pain, and Avada K kedavra, the killing curse, unforgivable which I guess I really mean unforgivable again, because they will take your soul if you do this. Yeah, they do, it's like um. So there's three tasks. First challenge comes dragons. First one is a dragon. You have to go in arena.
Speaker 1:It's a crossover between fourth wing. So a dragon without his rider is a travesty, a rider without his dragon is dead. Welcome to the fourth wing. So, god, I love the four, I love, I love the feeling I had the first time I read fourth wing. Yeah, it just unmatched, ignited something in my life.
Speaker 1:Um, harry is tipped off to the fact that they are. Well, they will be fighting dragons via this very complicated situation with ron, because his older brother, charlie, helped bring in the dragons, but he didn't want to tell him because he was mad at him, but he didn't want him to die. So he told like a million people who told him. And the way that he fights the dragon is that he summons his broom all the way from his dorm room and then just flies around the dragon right until you can capture the golden egg, which is the whole point. They have to get this egg. So he wins and everyone's happy and him and ron make up and they kiss, it's just kidding, um, what's the second task, emily?
Speaker 1:The second task blah, blah, blah is they have to swim right into the ocean, into the lake, and have to get in. What is it called like the something, lagoon, or yeah, what is that called um, I don't know, but the, the egg has like a clue inside of it. That's how that's right, I think monty myrtle tells him and also he tells cedric no, no, cedric, sorry, no, he told cedric about the dragons, yes, and then in turn, cedric, cedric tells him about the egg. Take a bath with the egg. Yes, because also cedric feels bad, because everyone at school is wearing these like pins that say potter stinks. Yeah, which is funny, it's actually like low-key, a horrible burn.
Speaker 1:I was telling zach about this the other day. But like when you call someone like a bum, yeah, it's like there's nothing that's flagrant about it. Yeah, because it's so like tame, it's just, yes, viscerating. Because it's like oh, you meant that. Or like a loser, yeah, you stink, man, you stink. And also during this, during this time, this is like sexual awakening book, because, oh my god, harry like likes cho chang, but she's with cedric. Pause, pause, madam, I'm sorry. We need like an alarm for every time something problematic happens in these books.
Speaker 1:But you, literally, it's a crazy name. The only asian character in this entire book is named cho chang. Yeah, also, it's established in this book, I think, that um seamus is like super into fire and pyrotechnics. Yeah, and it's like he's the one Irish student Whatever. Kingsley Shacklebolt.
Speaker 1:I saw a tweet. It's the one that I just cannot Shacklebolt. No, this is a tweet I screenshotted for this episode. It says so it's actual names, this Twitter account, and it has a passenger arrival list from Ellis Island, and so it's like real people's names. And there's a name and someone quote, tweeted it and they said were there any gay Italian students at Hogwarts? Miss Rowling, there sure was, and his name was, and the name is Giuseppe, giuseppe De Homo. Oh, the name is giuseppe, giuseppe de homo. That is how she comes up with these freaking names in this book, though, if anyone is non-white, that's how you know that.
Speaker 1:She didn't mean for hermione to be black, although I'm, again, all for a black hermione but wait, did she say something about hermione being black? Well, in um, in the cursed child stage play, I believe hermione is played by a black hermione. But wait, did she say something about hermione being black? Well, in um, in the cursed child stage play, I believe hermione is played by a black woman, or at least was when it first started. Um, but if she had meant for hermione to be black, you would have known. Yeah, she would have been like something I don't, like, don't even don't go there. It would have been trying to think of something anyways.
Speaker 1:Okay, so there's tension between cho chang. Harry wants to do a show, chose with cedric. Ron is obviously into hermione, hermione's into ron, but they can't admit that to themselves yet because they're too young also. But also there's like that tension between them. But ron is also with this girl named lavender. I don't think he's with lavender yet. I don't think that happens until a later book. Okay, jk, jk, jk.
Speaker 1:But she's going to the dance with victor chrome and he can't just be like hey, I wanted to go to the dance with you. He just has to be a jerk to her instead. Yeah, yeah. So there you go. So, yeah, they go to this. And also it's really funny because, like you know, ron is poor, so like he has to wear these really ugly dress robes. And, yeah, the hand me, um, they have to do all this dancing and it's just, her money looks amazing, um, gorgeous dress, mean to her, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Anyways, they have to go into the lake. Oh, also another thing. Let's just say that the dates that Ron and Hermione have I mean sorry that Ron and Harry have they end up taking Padma and Pavarti, right, justice for them. They had a horrible time because their dates didn't want to be there and it was so mean and they were chosen last and I just want good things for them, yeah. So, anyways, harry is illegally helped again, not illegally, but um, dobby, our favorite house elf. He um gives a gillyweed to harry, so like he doesn't have to figure anything out for himself. Dobby gives him this ball, which means when he eats it he grows gills so he can swim through the lake.
Speaker 1:And they have captured like someone who the person cares about, and they're like tied up in the merpeople land and they have to go rescue them. And who did Harry have? Again, he had Ron. Victor had to rescue Hermione, yes, and then Flora had to rescue her sister, yeah, and. And cedric had to rescue cho chang. Harry waits to make sure everyone's rescued and flora never comes, so he um brings her sister and ron as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because, like, the implication is that, um, like they're gonna, oh man, it suck, they're just going to die down there. Whatever the fact is, I'm sure that's not true, right? I'm sure that someone would have saved them if the yeah, but Harry believes that. But Harry believes it. He has reason enough to believe it. Yeah, exactly, he has reason enough to believe that they might actually let these people who non-consensually were captured it is abuse, it's just a tournament anyways. Blah, blah, blah.
Speaker 1:Okay, um, so then they go to their third task. I'm skipping all this rita skeeter drama. Yeah, rita skeeter. Yeah, just go read the book if you want to find out about that. Um, so the third one. Uh, they are taken to the grounds of a maze, like a corn maze, basically Like a corn maze, hedge maze. Yeah, just come to the south during the fall and you guys would have been prepared, okay, so they have to go through there, and when they get to the end is when there's going to be like the cup, right, and that's like how they would win, right.
Speaker 1:But when they get there, harry and cedric are the last two and they get to the trophy and they get transported to a faraway graveyard where a man in a hood eventually instantly goes and kills cedric, riip and ties up Harry and that was, of course, the worst Peter Pettigrew. And he's carrying Voldemort's current form, which is like a creepy chicken wing, baby chicken wing, baby fetus creature, and he drops him into a pot and then he puts ashes from Voldemort's father, blood from harry's arm and wormtail's own right hand yes, he chops off his hand. This is how deep he's gone down this. He has no remorse and he rises voldemort back to his full form and, um, then death eaters are summoned. Basically, voldemort's wild and wild and Voldemort tries to kill him.
Speaker 1:This is foreshadowing, because Harry like has no self-preservation and he just tries to disarm people. The only person he's actually intentionally thought he was going to kill was freaking Sirius Black. But he's face to face with Voldemort and he's like, I don't know, I'm just going to do Expelliarmus. Yeah, I'm just actually going Expelliarmus. Yeah, I'm just actually gonna like, just disarm him. He could punch me or something or like, shoot me with a gun, but at least all of this could have been solved respectfully. I know that the European continent has better gun control than we do, but apparently someone just had a freaking shotgun. I don't think Voldemort could protect himself from that. If this was set in America, everyone would have a right to a gun and everyone would have been killed already. Literally, someone respectfully someone would have shot up hogwarts.
Speaker 1:Yeah, anyways, he makes his way back. So they're like they're wands, like splinter or something. Yeah, they meet in the air and they're like oh, yeah. And then, um, harry grabs audio, audio medium. Emily put her hands up in the air and did this like they're connecting in the air.
Speaker 1:And, um, he goes back to hogwarts and everyone's like you're back, and then he's carrying cedric's dead body. It's not funny. But, and I'm like like dumbledore, his blood is on your hands again. This is literally only your fault. Then who knew dumbledore's like? Dumby is like yeah, I've been trying to tell you guys, but well, actually I haven't been trying that hard. But now I am dumbled up voldemort's back and the ministry of magic needs to do something about it. And then they're like yeah, no, like, stop his deal, this is a hoax, stop the count, stop the count. Um, he's not back and this would be politically bad for me if he was, which actually that part is believable, yeah, yeah, a hundred percent. But if this was america, they would have been like voldemort was a hoax made up by the chinese, yes, or like that's actually a fake voldemort body double. They want you to think he's back and actually voldemort has been the president for like since 1990. Actually, yeah, he's controlling everything. So a different military, yes, anyways. Um, it's very calm, save us anyways.
Speaker 1:So, um, then you find out, maddie moody was not maddie moody. He, oh, yeah, the whole time he was bardy crouch, junior, junior, uh, who was a servant of voldemort and his whole thing was to get harry into the thing so that he would make it into the tournament. So he put his name in the goblet of fire, right, and then he made the triwizard cup into a portkey, right, and did all this so that harry could get to voldemort, so that he could then embody the voldemort, could be back and embodied into a larger more. You know, human, like man, like actual person, yeah, which, again we're gonna question. We sent lupin packing because of the werewolf thing throughout the entire book and movie bar.
Speaker 1:Uh, moody, who is barty crouch jr, is literally carrying a flask and constantly taking swigs from the flask, and no one is like hey, man, you can't drink on the job. They're just like. That seems normal for a professor here. Oh, it's just that guy, yeah, moody, he just has ptsd and so he's self-medicating. No, he was drinking polyjuice potion which had been established in book two right to wear off after you know an hour. So he has to keep drinking it every hour to, um, yeah, save himself from being revealed.
Speaker 1:And then sirius shows back up, you know, and, uh, they have to explain to dumbledore and sirius what happened. And then sirius shows back up, you know, and, uh, they have to explain to dumbledore and sirius what happened. And then dumbledore is like oh yeah, your wands are the same, so you can't like I don't know you, that's why they connected like that in midair. And then, um, the core is the same. Yeah, so they couldn't fight each other or something.
Speaker 1:And so dumbledore is trying to tell cornelius fudge, the minister, that he needs to be cautious because voldemort's back fudge doesn't believe him. He gives the prize money to harry and leaves in a huff and the term ends. And I guess there was money. Yeah, dumbledore, because harry needs more of that. He's already secretly rich. Anyways, dumbledore makes a speech telling everyone that cedric was murdered and the future is bleak and we got to join together.
Speaker 1:And then, um, they find out that rita skeeter, who we didn't talk about, is a animagi, which again, we gotta, we gotta take more precautions. She's a bug, and so that's how she's been finding so much gossip out. And then the students leave the train and Harry gives his gold to the Weasley twins to help them start their practical joke company oh, that's right and ask that they use some of it to buy Ron a new pair of dress robes. And then he goes once again back to the Dursleys, pack it back up. So that's book four. All right, right, I think we got a positive for today. I think we do, but we can. But what a great convo. We will finish this in three parts. Yeah, we got, we've got to finish the fifth, sixth and seventh next episode. But, thank you, in the special bonus episode coming soon very special, um, yeah, what have you been reading recently?
Speaker 1:Okay, I've been reading a lot recently. I've really been reading a lot. I'm back reading back, you're back. I'll start with one. Okay, I gotta space it out because we have to record another part to this, but I read a book that you mentioned on the podcast I texted you about, and it's called raiders of the lost heart oh, did you like it?
Speaker 1:By joe segura. Okay, did I like it? I think this book needs to be read during the summer. It is so stupid, but so good. It is stupid. It's like. Do I think that these two people are compelling? Not necessarily. Let me just show you guys what it's about. So it's rival archaeologists. Okay, that's a cool premise, very cool premise. It looks like. I rated it a three. That seems valid. I think you should take this book to the beach or to the pool. Don't expect to be intellectually stimulated, but expect to have a great time.
Speaker 1:So these are two rival archaeologists um, dr cory mejia. She is a super hot, curvy hispanic woman who, um, believes that she is possibly a long-lost descendant of this aztec warrior, chimalí chimalí I'm so sorry, chimalí, sure, chimalí? And um, she has, like, believed that her whole life, and that's kind of part of what got her into archaeology. And she has this guy who she knew back in the day, um, dr ford matthews. Yes, in case you're wondering, he's named after harrison ford. Um, yeah, he was like her nemesis in grad school, but he's really hot as well. They're just two hot people. He's blonde, so, anyways, yeah, not to be trusted, not to be trusted. So she is.
Speaker 1:The book opens where she's being approached by, like a mysterious guy who's like hey, um, you are coming to the stig and we are gonna look for chamali, which is she's written this whole her dissertations on this guy. She's an expert and she's like I should have been leading this expedition, but okay, you're right, I'm gonna go. When she shows up, she finds out it's being led by her nemesis. They're like in the middle of the woods, forest, searching for this. She has, like the spiritual connection to the earth, um, and she also knows everything about this guy. And, anyways, they're there's like they are insanely attracted to each other, but they hate each other. That's all you really need to know. Yeah, and they're there's like they are insanely attracted to each other, but they hate each other. That's all you really need to know. Yeah, and they're outside camping and doing stuff like that. Yeah, they're, they're in the water, there's waterfalls, there's rapids, there's trees, there's the you know the camp vibes.
Speaker 1:Anyways, this book was like so stupid, but also I want it to be a movie. Uh, did you watch hitman? Oh, it would. Yes, I did. You know it would be a great like amazon prime movie. Yes, that's what I want, and I want glenn powell and that girl I don't know her name who was in hitman with him, to star in it, because I just thought they had really great chemistry and, yeah, it's. It's stupid. This book is stupid. These people are not like that interesting, despite being doctors. But it was a really fun book. I mean, it's not gonna like change your life, but it's no, it was fun. So that was what I read recently.
Speaker 1:Thanks for sharing. Nice good. I'm glad that you could enjoy it for what it was. I think, yeah, good, like have good expectations, like have appropriate expectations. Okay, I'm here with a book to share. That isn't necessarily like an endorsement from me, but I have been taught. We've we've talked about releases.
Speaker 1:I read it and I'm here to do a report. So I read not in love by Hallie Allie Hazelwood. Okay, I just got it delivered to report. So I read not in love by Hallie Allie Hazelwood. Okay, I just got it delivered to me. So, oh, okay, I will. I want to hear what you say.
Speaker 1:I'll go easy on spoilers, but, um, okay, so, as we mentioned before, she knows she had released some like disclaimers about this book that there was going to be more subject matter about like traumas and things that characters went through, um, which that was not my gripe at all. I mean, I think I think she does a great job at writing a rom-com and this wasn't so much that I thought the characters were still really cool, I thought the world of stem that was still really interesting, right, but there was something a little weird and off about the dynamic between the male main character and the female main character, um and I think it's because she was on the heels of writing this supernatural romance, bride, right when in the world of this book there are like you know, it's like about a whale werewolves and vampires. So there are like instinctual and like genetic compulsions and things like that that these characters have, like, for instance, the male character being like I need to. I'm a werewolf and my instincts are telling me to like protect you, or like that I'm a werewolf and my instincts are telling me to like protect you or like then you know, I'm so drawn to you, or whatever. That doesn't feel realistic when you're not in that world, like it's forgivable and understandable when you're there. And I feel like I got that little bit of that sense in this book in a way. That was just like a little off putting.
Speaker 1:Um, I think it was like good, not great. I enjoyed it. Um, I gave it three and a half stars. I would say like, yeah, I don't know if it was necessarily my thing and I think I had a hard time like really enjoying the romance between the characters because it felt just a little bit off. Yeah, and it is enemies to lovers, but not in as much of a fun way, I don't know. So I actually don't think that you're going to like it. Yeah, probably not. Yeah, I was actually thinking I was like, oh, I don't think Emily's going to like this because it was less on like the humor, the cool side characters, and more on the heavy conversations about food insecurity and parent loss and trauma and all this stuff, but in and then just like the smut part. So, yeah, hmm, I don't know if it's going to be your face, but I'll let you guys know. I hope we proved wrong. But, um, still, we'll read her next release.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and she released another book or she announced another book that's going to be released. That is a sports romance between a diver it sounds so good. Yes, a diver and a water polo player, something like that, or a swimmer. I'm excited about that. I have some kind of secret. I've been trying to figure out what the secret could be, but I'm really excited to read that. Yes, I love Honestly, I love a sports romance. What can I say? Yeah, and I don't love as much enemies to lovers. Yeah, I will still. The thing is it's like complicated, like the. The tension in the book is that she works for this um, like tech startup thing that his company is trying to acquire, and interesting. It makes her feel bad, but in the end he's not really bad. So, um, anyways, I'll still read anything she releases. Yeah, this one just didn't hit that high level for me. Yeah, fair enough. All right, see you guys in part three. Okay, bye.