A Tapestry of Secrets (OOTP Chapter 6, The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black)

Summary

MuggleCast: A Tapestry of Secrets – Detailed Summary

Episode Title: A Tapestry of Secrets (OOTP Chapter 6, The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black)
Release Date: November 12, 2024
Hosts: Eric, Micah, Laura
Podcast: MuggleCast: the Harry Potter podcast

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Introduction

In this episode of MuggleCast, the hosts Eric, Micah, and Laura delve deep into Chapter 6 of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, titled "The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black." As lifelong friends and devoted Harry Potter aficionados, they unpack the intricate details of the Black family legacy, character dynamics, and foreshadowing elements that J.K. Rowling masterfully weaves into the narrative.

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Chapter Overview

Chapter 6 provides significant insights into the Black family, their household at Grimmauld Place, and their complex relationships with each other and the larger wizarding world. The chapter introduces key elements such as the family's dark history, the house's current state under the Order of the Phoenix, and the introduction of pivotal artifacts like Regulus Black's locket.

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Key Discussions and Insights

1. Molly Weasley's Overbearing Nature [17:27]

• Micah: Highlights Molly Weasley's attempt to keep the children occupied with house chores as a distraction from the unsettling events surrounding them.
  “She employs the same thing in Deathly Hallows, putting the kids to work for the wedding to keep them apart.” [17:27]

• Laura: Critiques Molly's approach, noting the irony of her enforcing silence while the children remain in close proximity.
  “They're in the same room with each other, and she thinks Jenny won't learn anything from what's happening downstairs.” [21:35]

• Eric: Reflects on common childhood experiences where adults attempt to control conversations, drawing parallels to Molly's methods.
  “Choose not to stay up, go to bed. The quintessential adult versus kids situation.” [19:12]

2. Sirius Black's Character Development [36:27]

• Laura: Raises a critical point about Sirius appearing self-centered, immersing himself in family history rather than connecting with Harry.
  “Sirius is brooding so much on his own misfortune that he misses a genuine moment to connect with his godson.” [36:27]

• Micah: Discusses the potential reasons behind Sirius's behavior, including his painful family history and unresolved grief over Regulus Black.
  “Regulus was a heroic figure who defied Voldemort, and Sirius never gets to know about his brother's bravery.” [41:03]

• Eric: Emphasizes the missed opportunity for emotional connection between Sirius and Harry, highlighting Sirius's inability to share joyful moments.
  “Harry offers to move in with Sirius, but Sirius remains oblivious, weighed down by dark memories.” [37:52]

3. The Black Family Tapestry and Pure-Blood Legacy [46:16]

• Micah: Explores the significance of the Black family tapestry, noting how it underscores the interconnectedness of pure-blood families and their insular practices.
  “All pure blood wizard families are related, creating an almost incestuous bond to maintain purity.” [46:42]

• Laura: Points out the dark elements of the Black family's legacy, including their adherence to pure-blood superiority and exclusion of those who deviate, such as the Weasleys.
  “The Weasleys don't make the cut on the tapestry, indicating their status as traitors in the Black family’s eyes.” [46:16]

• Eric: Connects the tapestry to broader themes of blood purity and its real-world parallels, discussing how these elements drive the narrative's conflict.
  “Hagrid’s line about no wizard being half-blood emphasizes the extreme inbreeding and intermarrying among pure-blood families.” [48:51]

4. Doxies and Fred & George's Entrepreneurial Ventures [26:31]

• Micah: Describes Fred and George’s inventive use of doxies, depicting their entrepreneurial spirit even amidst chaos.
  “They’re experimenting with doxy venom for their skiving snack boxes, showcasing their ingenuity.” [26:31]

• Laura: Expresses concern over the safety of Fred and George’s experiments, highlighting the potential dangers of handling creatures like doxies.
  “Handling doxies is dangerous, as they can revive and cause harm, which makes Fred and George’s meddling risky.” [27:35]

• Eric: Appreciates the twins' open-mindedness in sourcing ingredients, reflecting their proactive approach to problem-solving.
  “Their willingness to experiment with various substances keeps their ventures fresh and innovative.” [26:31]

5. Introduction of Regulus Black and Foreshadowing [39:06]

• Laura: Discusses the introduction of Regulus Black through the tapestry, contemplating his pivotal role and tragic fate.
  “Regulus is hinted to have defied Voldemort, adding depth to his character as a tragic hero.” [42:02]

• Micah: Analyzes the timeline implications of Regulus’s death and his actions, questioning how they fit within the broader narrative.
  “Regulus died around Harry’s birth year, making his actions a critical piece of Voldemort’s timeline.” [43:08]

• Eric: Speculates on potential connections between the Hogwarts Legacy game and the TV show, pondering how Regulus’s story might intertwine with established lore.
  “Linking ancient magic from the game to young Harry’s era poses narrative challenges but offers exciting possibilities.” [10:19]

6. Creature/Kreacher's Role and Symbolism [54:43]

• Laura: Compares Kreacher to Gollum, emphasizing his damaged state and complex relationship with Sirius.
  “Kreacher's behavior mirrors Gollum’s, reflecting his deep-seated trauma and loyalty conflicts.” [56:31]

• Micah: Raises questions about Kreacher's awareness of impending events and his manipulative tendencies.
  “Does Kreacher know about future threats and is he intentionally pushing Sirius towards certain actions?” [54:59]

• Eric: Highlights the symbiotic yet strained relationship between Kreacher and the Black family, noting his embodiment of the house's dark legacy.
  “Kreacher embodies the darkness of Grimmauld Place, serving as a tangible reminder of the family's corrupt values.” [57:31]

7. The Order's Dynamics and Support Members [57:31]

• Micah: Observes the presence of other Order members like Tonks and Remus at Grimmauld Place, hinting at underlying romantic developments and operational strategies.
  “Tonks and Remus staying at the Order’s headquarters indicate deeper personal connections forming amidst the chaos.” [57:31]

• Eric: Speculates on the timeline of Remus and Tonks’s relationship, considering how their interactions might evolve in upcoming chapters.
  “Remus’s dedication might delay romantic developments with Tonks, preserving the narrative’s emotional trajectory.” [59:59]

• Laura: Contemplates the strategic importance of Grimmauld Place, recognizing it as a hub for covert operations and personal alliances within the Order.
  “Grimmauld Place serves not just as a home but as a strategic headquarters for the Order, fostering both camaraderie and covert missions.” [57:31]

---

Notable Quotes

1. Micah on Self-Care:
   “Try to remember to pour energy into yourselves and take care of yourself first.” [02:25]

2. Laura on Molly's Strategy:
   “She’s crafty, that one. Crafty.” [03:39]

3. Eric on Available Merchandise:
   “This time, I'm finally wearing the shirt Security Nightmare pink. Yeah, it's awesome.” [03:34]

4. Micah on Sirius's Brooding:
   “Sirius is being a little self-centered here.” [36:27]

5. Laura on Regulus's Heroism:
   “Regulus went on to become a Death Eater, but he defied Voldemort.” [42:02]

6. Micah on Family Tree Interconnections:
   “Harry, you probably are too because your dad was a pure blood.” [48:51]

7. Laura on Pure-Blood Society:
   “All pure blood wizard families are related, creating an almost incestuous bond to maintain purity.” [46:42]

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Conclusions and Final Thoughts

The hosts conclude that Chapter 6 serves as a pivotal point in unraveling the complex web of relationships and histories within the Black family. They appreciate J.K. Rowling’s ability to embed foreshadowing and subtle hints that enrich the overarching narrative. The discussion emphasizes the moral ambiguities within the wizarding world, particularly how even ostensibly 'pure' families harbor dark secrets and divided loyalties.

As the episode wraps up, the hosts tease upcoming discussions on Chapter 7, "The Ministry of Magic," promising to continue their in-depth exploration of the Harry Potter series.

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Final Remarks

For those who haven't listened to the episode, MuggleCast offers a comprehensive and engaging analysis of Order of the Phoenix Chapter 6, blending character studies with thematic explorations. With rich discussions and insightful commentary, the podcast stands as a valuable companion for any Harry Potter enthusiast seeking to deepen their understanding of the series.

Transcript

[Eric]

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[Laura]

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[Micah]

Okay, I have to tell you, I was just looking on ebay, where I go for all kinds of things I love. And there it was, that hologram trading card.

[Laura]

One of the rarest.

[Micah]

The last one I needed for my set. Shiny like the designer handbag of my dreams. One of a kind. Ebay had it.

[Laura]

And now everyone's asking, ooh, where'd you.

[Micah]

Get your windshield wipers? Ebay has all the parts that fit my car. No more annoying, just beautiful. Whatever you love, find it on eBay. EBay things people love.

[Eric]

Welcome to Mugglecast, your weekly ride into the wizarding world fandom, and currently the Order the Phoenix book. Grab your doxy spray and settle in. Maybe a Swiffer duster or two as well, because today on the pod, we will be discussing chapter six of Order of the Phoenix, the noble and most ancient house of black. I have Laura and Micah with me. Hello, guys.

[Micah]

Hey, Eric. How you doing?

[Eric]

Hanging in there?

[Micah]

Yep, same.

[Eric]

It's nice to have habits that, that you can go back to on a weekly basis that keep you grounded and centered during all tumult.

[Micah]

Yeah, I think that's a really great message for us to start this week's show with because there's. There's just a lot going on and people aren't living under rocks. So, you know, we all know. And I think it's really important during times like these when there are so many difficult conversations and just a lot going on that is outside of all of our spheres of influence. Try to remember to pour energy into yourselves and take care of yourself first. And then focus. Then turn your focus to your communities because the people you love need you.

[Eric]

Yeah. And you know, we Are really happy to continue to be everyone's Harry Potter friends in your ears. So that has not changed. That will not change.

[Laura]

No. And we've been here through many an administration since 2005.

[Eric]

Yeah, we counted, right?

[Micah]

Yeah, we have.

[Eric]

It's quite a lot.

[Laura]

And we haven't changed one bit. And we're not going to. So there you go.

[Micah]

Yeah, we're not going anywhere.

[Eric]

Yeah. As we move forward and do what I think will be a fun episode with chapter six, chapter by chapter, we also want to remind people that we have cool mugglecast merch. This time, I'm finally wearing the shirt Security Nightmare pink. Yeah, it's awesome. I'm very proud of it. And we've received several posts from our listeners as well that they're getting their exclusive merchandise one off anyone who visits the Mugucast merch store. You're in for a good time. We've got some really good products. Choo choo hats and otherwise.

[Micah]

Yeah. And honestly, something that I love about our merch store is the customization that is available for shirts. You know, a lot of the shirts that we offer, you can get in multiple different colors that might sound, I don't know, like, maybe not the most exciting thing in the shop. And it's definitely not because there's exciting. But I am someone who likes to customize. I have. I have a very specific, like, aesthetic that I'm going for. So when I got my no theory is safe shirt, I wanted it in that, like, deep maroon color because I thought it was so beautiful. So it just gives everyone some customization where mugglecast your way.

[Eric]

Oh, I mean, Laura, what you're talking about is exactly what got me to getting this shirt. I mean, I love the decal for security nightmare that Anna designed for our collector's club. But when I saw I could get in a pink shirt, I'm like, oh, yeah, all in.

[Micah]

That looks great on you.

[Eric]

Micah, do you want to do the Santa reminder?

[Laura]

Yes. Something cheery in these not so cheery times, at least for some of us. But speaking about Patreon, one of the things that I love each and every year is the Secret Santa that we do over on, usually organized through our Facebook group. And Brittany is the one who's been doing it for the last several years. And it is now open through December 2nd. So if you are a patron and you're not a part of this Facebook group and you want to be a part of the Secret Santa, definitely now is the time. And as I said, it's something that I really do look forward to each and every year. And I've gotten a lot of great Secret Santa gifts over the years and I've hopefully gifted a lot of very fun Secret Santa gifts over the years.

[Eric]

So, yes, your recipients here are not here to. They're not here to testify, but they always seem very well received.

[Laura]

I have not once drawn a fellow co host as part of the Secret Santa, though I assume that could be a possibility.

[Micah]

Maybe.

[Laura]

But that's not as fun. Sorry.

[Eric]

I agree.

[Micah]

Wow. Micah, tell us how you really feel.

[Laura]

I take care of y'all anyway, so it's fine.

[Eric]

We get each other.

[Micah]

That is true.

[Eric]

Yeah. Yeah. And even Dumbledore participates in our secret host. Yeah. With cookies.

[Laura]

Dumbledore. Oh, yes. He has a special kind of cookie that he sends.

[Eric]

Okay.

[Micah]

All right.

[Eric]

So as we move forward, I'm gonna need me some of those. I really need to calm. There is actually something that is newsworthy for this episode. You know, let's go to our news center in New York for that as well.

[Laura]

Is it still open after all these.

[Eric]

Years we've been paying the lease on it. Have you not been going?

[Laura]

No. Well, there hasn't been a whole lot of news. I'm not sure why we're paying at lease, but actually some exciting news. And I think we had talked a little bit about the fact that Hogwarts Legacy will be getting a sequel, but new information that came out this week is that it's going to at least the some of the storylines in Hogwarts Legacy 2. The plan is to cross over with the new Harry Potter TV show. David Haddad, who is the president of Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment, told Variety that Avalanche has been coordinating some of the big picture storytelling elements in the Hogwarts Legacy sequel with the storylines that will play out in the Harry Potter HBO TV show. I don't know what that means. I'm very confused. Anybody. Laura, you're a big. Well, both of you are big gamers.

[Micah]

I guess the thing that immediately comes to mind for me is that whatever elements they're going to cross over from the game into the show either need to not matter that much or they need to be like definitive convergence points that all players in the game will reach. Because sometimes in certain games, Eric, you know this, like you can make choices. Hogwarts Legacy is a game where you can make some choices. So they're gonna have to if they want to integrate it. At least the way I'm imagining it, they need to do it at almost like a bottleneck's not the right word, but a point that is going to be mutually converged on by all players so that everyone can have the same experience.

[Eric]

That's. Yeah, that's a good point. So like their house specific missions could never be referenced. Like Hogwarts Legacy. Each had one of those. To me this news is a shock. It they couldn't be more different. Hogwarts Legacy, you know, the narrative is there's this thing called ancient magic and it typically manifests in the way of a late blooming wizard who then is. Is doing these sort of amazing feats kind of akin to what we see Dumbledore doing when he's facing off against Voldemort at the end of book five. It's that kind of stuff, that level stuff. I can't see that how that's anywhere close to 10 or 11 year old Harry, which is going to be the age Harry is when the TV show starts. Presumably. He won't be older than that, that's for sure. So how can you connect anything to do with the Hogwarts Legacy universe in this ancient magic to having anything to do with baby Harry? I don't know.

[Laura]

Great question. Yeah, because we're in 1800s. Correct.

[Eric]

That's another thing. Yeah. We're 90 years at least away from the plot of Sorcerer's Stone.

[Laura]

But not Dumbledore.

[Eric]

But not Dumbledore.

[Micah]

Yeah. Wait, when was, when does Hogwarts Legacy take place? And when was Dumbledore born?

[Eric]

In the late 1880s. And well, the earliest reports on Dumbledore's age was that he was 150 and.

[Laura]

That was in the 1990s.

[Eric]

Yeah.

[Laura]

So presumably he's around.

[Eric]

Yeah.

[Micah]

Yeah. So are they gonna like retcon it? I mean, to be honest though, he would have been born about like 1840 based on that.

[Eric]

Yeah.

[Micah]

So yeah. I don't know. I wonder how they're gonna retcon it to make Dumbledore involved because it seems like that's their favorite move just based on Fantastic Beasts.

[Eric]

Well, but at the same time, if he was in love with Grindelwald, who later rose to power around World War II, that puts him being a teenager in the early 1900s. Maybe. So there's that aspect of it where he would be maybe a student in the game. Uncertain on that maybe.

[Laura]

Sure. Let's not forget that this is also a sequel. So it could be totally different from a storyline perspective than what we got in the first edition of it.

[Eric]

Fair enough.

[Micah]

That's true. It does make me wonder who you're gonna play as you know, Cause in the first one you just get to invent your own character. If they're somehow trying to connect the second one to the Harry Potter story, are you going to be playing as a specific character? Are you just going to still create your own character but you're in the universe with these other characters that we know and have like actually met in Harry Potter lore?

[Eric]

Yeah, well, I mean, what, what I liked possibly most about Hogwarts Legacy is how disconnected it was from Harry Potter main story because it was still Hogwarts that we knew and love. There were familiar archetypes almost and that with the teachers, but I liked that they didn't connect.

[Laura]

I agree with you. That was one of the things I really did enjoy is that when you're talking about the expansion of the world, this was the best example of that expansion that we've gotten since the books concluded in 2007. And I don't know that I want something that's more modern day or that weaves into some of the storylines in the Harry Potter series. I like where we are, so I hope they don't do things a little too drastically.

[Micah]

Yeah. Becky in our Discord is suggesting maybe the show is going to be flashback heavy. Either that or the sequel will be set in the modern day and maybe there will be a lot of young Dumbledore flashbacks. So y'all are definitely onto something there. I just, I hope that they don't lean into this in order to drive success because I hope they already saw From Hogwarts Legacy 1, they don't need to do that to get people interested. Hogwarts Legacy was a huge success. So they, I mean, they've already got the formula right.

[Laura]

This Variety article overall was an interesting read because a lot of it was talking about the expansion of the Harry Potter franchise as we move into 2025 and beyond, where they were talking about the TV show, they were talking about Hogwarts Legacy 2, the new theme park at Epic Universe. And now something that's coming in the next couple of days from the time this is released is the Hogwarts Wizards of Baking, which is going to premiere on Food Network and Max on November 14th. It's hosted by James and Oliver Phelps. And there's going to be some guest judges, as we would expect. Warwick Davis, Evanna Lynch, Bonnie Wright, and we've seen them explore these types of shows before. I'm thinking of the quiz show that they did, which was not the name of it, but Tournament of Champions. There you go. This seems fun. It seems interesting. I'm sure everything is going to be themed Harry Potter that the contestants are going to have to bake. It seems more of like a dessert focused show, but it's something fun for the holidays I think that Harry Potter fans could get into. And they seem to do a good job in bringing on James and Oliver Phelps. They, those two seem to be the signature go to guys when it comes to a lot of these different events that and shows that Warner Brothers explores. So I always think back to them like they're always at the opening of everything.

[Micah]

Yeah, that's true.

[Eric]

They're the hype guys.

[Micah]

Yeah. Kind of surprised they didn't get Bradley Bakes to join for this.

[Eric]

Maybe he's an extra surprise guest.

[Laura]

Oh, that was a contestant.

[Micah]

Oh, yeah.

[Eric]

Oh, and we didn't hear about it because he's sworn by an NDA.

[Micah]

Right, right.

[Eric]

That would be very cool.

[Laura]

So it's nice we haven't had some news in a while.

[Micah]

Yeah. Yeah. I love getting fun news like that.

[Eric]

With that, let us delve into chapter by chapter. We've had a few weeks off, honestly. Feel a little rusty. Feels a little odd getting into.

[Laura]

So we're gonna do a seven word summary.

[Micah]

Hell no, that's too off.

[Eric]

And also Laura's like, no, we're done with those.

[Micah]

Absolutely not.

[Eric]

But we are going to get into Mugglecast Time Turner segment. Let's herald the return of that. The last time in which we Talked about Chapter 6 of Order the Phoenix was October 21st of 2019 for episode 439 titled Dumbledip. And before that was episode 230 of Mugglecast Trendsetter for June 4th, 2011. Three turns should do a living. Good luck.

[Micah]

What the.

[Eric]

Episode 230.

[Laura]

In this chapter, we also see Mrs. Weasley really keeping them busy with house chores. And that's again another thing. And the kids pick up on it. This is a way for them to be distracted from discussing what's going on. Yeah, I mean, she employs the same thing in Deathly Hallows when you know, she wants to keep them apart as much as possible so she puts them to work for the wedding. She's crafty, that one. Crafty. Yeah, I guess that's one way to Describe it.

[Eric]

Episode 439.

[Micah]

It's probably therapeutic for. Because he's been cramped up in here and not allowed to leave anyway. So in order to, you know, do.

[Eric]

Something productive, at least he can like sort through and throw out a bunch.

[Micah]

Of stuff that has really bad associations for him, which is pretty Much everything in the house.

[Eric]

Exactly.

[Micah]

Everything he can remove without being stuck on the walls. Nothing Sparks Joy Sirius. Except maybe Harry.

[Eric]

Mysterious thing time. A whole lot of cleaning going on.

[Micah]

Yeah, Yeah. I actually titled the first part of this discussion Clean Up. Clean up everybody everywhere. Does anyone remember singing that in pre K and kindergarten?

[Eric]

Oh, it's from Barney, right?

[Micah]

Yeah, yeah, it definitely. It's ringing some. Some Barney bells. I would say.

[Eric]

Barney, do your share.

[Micah]

Right. Well, we've definitely touched on a couple of different interpretations of how Molly shows up in this chapter with the cleaning and how the cleaning, like, serves the double purpose of, I think, trying to distract the kids and keep them occupied, but also making the place livable. But something I wanted to look at a little differently was her very overt orders before the cleaning even starts to tell the kids not to talk to each other after they're going to bed for the night. So I'm wondering, to kick us off, have we ever been in a situation where an adult forbade us from talking to our friends about hearing something that they deemed inappropriate for us?

[Eric]

I. I'm thinking back to scout camp, really. And I don't know that there was any one instance where we heard something we shouldn't have, but that whole, okay, children, we know you could probably be up for three more hours, but it's past midnight and you really have to go to bed, so don't talk to each other. Even though I'm now leaving the room and leaving you to your own devices, don't stay up, go to bed. Seems like the quintessential adult, you know, versus a group of kids situation.

[Laura]

Yeah, I'm sure for me, at some point I did that, but I thought it would be almost funny in that if we were to look at how many different mediums of communication there are today versus back then when this is taking place or even when we were growing up, the, you know, speed with which communication can happen almost. Phones, texting, apps, computers. It has to be a lose, lose situation for parents or guardians, authority figures, to try and keep their children from talking about things that maybe they don't want them to be talking about. Right.

[Eric]

I mean, even just. Yeah. Looking back to how I used to read books at night with, like a tiny little light that was part of, like, a gloved hand device that was like. And it was this whole thing now you could just use your phone, flashlight and screen time is unlimited when you're unsupervised. So, yeah, it's a good thing that's set in the 90s. So Molly doesn't have to like take their phones before bed.

[Laura]

What I find to be very just comical about how Molly approaches all of this is that they're in the same room with each other. Right. Ron and Harry are in the same room. Fred and George are in the same room. Hermione and Ginny are in the same room. So the fact that she thinks that Jenny is not going to learn anything from what happened downstairs is, in my opinion, comical. And then the way that she's kind of policing outside of the doors trying to listen to see if there's anything being said, it's just relax Molly, like chill out. Like she, she is making me anxious reading this chapter.

[Micah]

Yeah, I'm so glad you called that out, Micah, because I felt the same way. I was like, does Molly not know how teenagers work? And Camille in our discord is calling that out as well and saying, I kind of can't believe Molly is telling teenagers to go to bed. You think that's gonna work? Of course not. And it doesn't. I mean, the second she leaves them, Fred and George apparate into Harry and Ron's room and you know, they're going back and forth for a while until Molly comes around with her policing to make sure that nobody's talking. It's just like you're not gonna, you're not gonna be able to avoid it. Like, these are kids who are home from, from school for the summer. They don't really have anything else to do except hang out with each other and.

[Laura]

Yeah, yeah. And this the first time they're seeing each other, at least for Harry.

[Micah]

Right.

[Eric]

Well, and, and things are just getting interesting. Right. This is the first time all summer. I think they've had enough to talk about or to speculate about. And the thing of it is they, they have to kind of utilize this after bedtime because it's not like Molly's gonna let them talk about it during the day either. She keeps them occupied during the day. So I did appreciate the sympathetic look we took toward Molly in the previous chapter. Discussion about how she us trying to control the things that she can control because there's so much that she can't control. But in this chapter, it absolutely feels like overkill.

[Micah]

Yeah, I mean, I think it's a good reminder that all people have stressors and all people have stress behaviors that manifest when they're going through something really bad. And I think this is Molly's stress behavior. I think she's trying to control the kids because in her mind she's keeping them Safe. And they may not like it and it may not be a perfect arrangement, but from her perspective, she's thinking, well, if they stay alive, then that'll be good enough. I've done my job, you know.

[Eric]

Yeah, that'll justify. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Em in Our Discord says Molly doesn't respect personal space or boundaries, and it's kind of toxic sometimes. I can get behind that. I complained about her cutting off Mundungus's apology to Harry in the last chapter that I felt was. Was a branch too far. But Aran Beth in Our Discord says there's this weird theme of safety in isolation that runs throughout the books, which is the kids are constantly pushing back on. This is just another example, and that is a much broader view that I really love. Actually thinking about all the times in which Harry's out of bed at night and we know why he's doing it, that it's accomplishing some goal that he has and doing good. But it's unsafe, for starters, and Molly would hate it.

[Micah]

Yeah. Well, Molly is, at the very least, at the very least, trying to make grim old place livable for all of them. So she doesn't list a small army of teenagers to help her deal with a doxie infestation. I thought we could chat a little bit about the doxies and we'll also get into, over the course of this discussion, some of the other things that they find in Grimald Place, because this place really is a treasure trove of little breadcrumbs for what is to come the rest of the series. In this cleaning, Harry notices that Fred and George are trying to make off with one of the doxies that has been stunned. Basically, they're using some kind of stunning spray. They have spray bottles and they're squirting these doxies. The doxies are paralyzed by this, not killed. And Fred and George, one of them don't remember who is trying to stuff one of the doxies in his pocket. And he tells Harry, yeah, we actually want to experiment with doxy venom for our skiving snack boxes, which we're going to play a little. A little game with later in this episode. But I just think it's so funny to see the, like, ingenuity at work from Fred and George. They confirm that right now they are their only test subjects. Thank goodness, their materials, which is great. It's not going to stay that way, though. No. And it definitely should raise eyebrows that they're saying, yeah, we want to experiment with these edible candies. We're making with poison, you know. Yeah.

[Eric]

Well, a little bit of venom here and there, build up immunities, make you stronger. No, I like that. I like that they're keeping an open mind as far as sourcing ingredients. Though they are not worldly yet, they're still tied to a school year. So the fact that Grimald Place can provide these interesting substances like doxy venom is something that I like that they're keeping an open mind and kind of open to the idea of seeing if it's anything worthwhile.

[Laura]

Yeah. And I think that it's very brave on the part of Fred or George. Again, I don't all. I'm not able to recall either which of the twins puts the doxy into their pants. But it seems a very dangerous thing to do because presumably those doxies at some point in the future are going to be revived and just seems like something you don't want hanging around in your. Your front pocket or your back pocket, for that matter.

[Eric]

Any pocket. They'll nibble your buttocks off.

[Micah]

Yeah, well, so that. That was kind of my question. I was like, what, what do they do with them? Because in this scene, they're just piling these immobilized doxies into a bucket and I'm like, presumably you're doing something with them to make sure they don't reinfest the home. What is that? Like, are we, like, doing a capture release program on the doxy is like. I kind of. I kind of doubt it. Because they consider them household pests. Right, right.

[Laura]

So one thing I just wanted to bring up from earlier and Eric, you were talking about this a bit, was that this idea of cleaning the house really does seem like a task to preoccupy the kids from actually doing other things, maybe exploring it. It's busy work at the end of the day. But I do think, and we'll get to talking about the tapestry in the black family, that there is something to be said for cleansing a place that's consumed by pure blood mania.

[Micah]

Yeah.

[Eric]

Oh, yeah. Decluttering feels amazing. It's just, you know, it's not an appropriate headquarters until they've gotten a little further in than this. And it's not really fit for habitation until they make sure they're not breathing in clouds of whatever's been there for 10 years with a apparently dysfunctional house elf that is, you know, possibly making matters worse. Even so, I think that's the real concern. And, you know, that's kind of what kids are good for, that free unpaid labor of it all, if you're a parent with multiple kids at your disposal it's like, hey, why not clean the living room today? I mean, you could make a game out of it. You could play music, you know, who knows?

[Micah]

Yeah, well, for this particular cleaning assignment, they have to have antidote on hand because obviously doxy bites are poisonous. And Mrs. Weasley is kind of cavalier about it. She's just like, yeah, we got antidote over here if anyone needs it. Because presumably these doxies are going to go straight to the source of whatever is trying to paralyze them and they're gonna bite.

[Eric]

Presumably, yeah.

[Micah]

Also, over the course of this afternoon of cleaning, and it is a full afternoon of cleaning Mundungus Fletcher shows back up and he rings the doorbell. Which becomes somewhat of a theme this chapter. It seems like nobody who's been to the Order before can remember not to ring the doorbell because of course that sets Mrs. Black's portrait off and just creates total mayhem downstairs. But he not only shows up and does that, he shows up with a crap ton of the dodgy cauldrons that he ditched Harry's security detail to obtain and Molly's not having it. And honestly, when, when I was reminded of this, I was like, why don't they wipe his memory and kick him out of the Order? He's a liability.

[Eric]

They need his skills. They need him to be this ill reputable thief, this complete. I don't even know what the word is for it, this complete ass. They, they kind of need that because, like, so that's why they put up with his whole. He has some redeeming qualities. He saves one of the, the Weasley kids is Iran from getting eaten by a sweater or cardigan in this chapter.

[Micah]

Yeah, but like, do we think nobody else would have saved him?

[Eric]

I mean, Harry was just gonna let him die. He's still mad about it. You know, the other stuff.

[Micah]

You've ignored me all summer.

[Laura]

I, I'm trying to recall offhand throughout the series has he ever had a shining moment where he's come through outside of supposedly passing information along to the Order, that is valuable information.

[Eric]

No, he kind of sucks.

[Micah]

I mean, I guess there's something to be said for they're in a phase where they can't trust a lot of people and you only have so many who are going to be willing to sign up for, you know, an anti Voldemort resistance operation. Especially when nobody in the wizarding world even knows or believes he's back. So I guess this is one of those beggars can't be choosers moments about order membership. Yeah, we do have a foreshadow, Al. There's this mysterious locket that no one can open that's going to be huge in the next book and even bigger when we get the full payoff for the story at the end. So it's just really crazy. And one of those Easter eggs that I always love picking up on when we're doing these rereads are these blink and you'll miss it moments of quick asides, quick mentions of things that end up becoming extremely consequential later on. And, you know, the fact that it's here, you know, in this room that they're trying to clean out. We also get quite a bit of interaction with Creature coming up soon. So just the fact that two big answers were actually right there staring in them in the face. They just didn't know the question to ask, Right?

[Eric]

Exactly. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. You know, it's a shame Dumbledore isn't around to help with the house cleaning because I bet if he were given the lock, it'd be like, hey, you know, we can't seem to figure this out. Can you open this? He would have figured it out or taken it for further study.

[Micah]

Well, we're gonna get into all of that and much more in a moment. But first I think I need to go check my curtains to make sure that we don't have a doxy infestation. So I'm gonna go take care of that while we're gone. Listen to these sponsors and we'll be right back.

[Laura]

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Visit shopify.com to upgrade your selling today. Okay, so there's a portion of this whole cleaning in the chapter sequence where Harry and Sirius come upon the noble and most ancient house of Black Family Tree. And I wanted to ask a question that might be controversial, Eric, so I apologize in advance. Do we feel like Sirius is being a little self centered here? Because over the course of this conversation, Harry is clearly trying to relate to Sirius and both feeling like they've been prisoners in their homes, in their childhood homes where they were miserable all summer. But it kind of feels like Sirius is brooding so much on his own misfortune, he misses a genuine moment to connect with his godson.

[Eric]

I can see that because at one point Harry restates his interest in moving in with Sirius. Yeah, and Sirius is almost entirely oblivious to it. Gone is the joy he felt at the end of book three when Harry suggests and he's like, wait, you would want that. And it's this amazing moment here. Harry flat out says, you know, after my hearing, if it doesn't go well, I'd love to come back here. Anything's better than privet drive. And serious is like, you'd hate it here. It kind of sucks here, you know. So that's an opportunity. Where is his brooding is overtaking kind of what could be a nice moment. I see that entirely. I think also though, you know, the fact of the matter is serious is a lot of information about the context of this room. Who's on the tapestry? It's just they're not happy memories for him. It's fascinating stuff, but he doesn't necessarily like, you're not gonna love talking about your cousins that are all evil and you know, various family members that were cool but then your mom struck him off the record like it's, it's I, I. Sirius is having a hard time finding the joy in relating to Harry. I pick up that he likes to tell Harry this stuff, especially when it gets excited about being able to tell him that he's went over to James's when he moved out. There's that, that's like a touching moment. But the rest of the scene is entirely like you're saying, he just. It's lost on Sirius, the joy of this moment because of the bad memories and he's kind of in his head.

[Micah]

Well. And we get to hear a little bit more about the Potters as a family. Sirius says, you know, I was always welcome at Mr. And Mrs. Potter's for Sunday dinner. He talks about how it got to the point where he stayed with James's family during school holidays, so they kind of adopted him. In fact, I think he says they kind of adopted him as a second son.

[Eric]

Yep.

[Micah]

So that. That just paints a really rosy picture of the family dynamic Harry never got to experience as a kid. And that is really sad. But speaking of families, we do get introduced to Regulus Black on this family tapestry. Interestingly enough, his middle name is omitted. Yeah. You know, from this. And, you know, I don't know if that's because he didn't have a middle name at this point or if it was an intentional choice to make sure that people didn't connect the dots for what's going to happen in the next book, but I feel like people kind of already did that anyway because that was the prevailing theory at the time that RAB was Regulus lockeless.

[Eric]

I remember some of the earliest Muggle casts have that theory, I think, which actually it. Oh, it wasn't a theory at that point. It was confirmed because Regulus's locket is opened at the end of book six, the fake one.

[Micah]

Right, Got it. Yeah. Yeah. Because the real one is right here in this room with them as they're cleaning. Right.

[Eric]

Wait, it is. It is until book seven. Yes. But you're right, Laura. Yeah. It's not revealed to be. So the locket just says signed rab. So that sparked the. I remember thinking that it could have been Regulus, though.

[Micah]

Yeah, no, that was. That was the note that he left in the locket.

[Eric]

Yeah. Like, dear Dark Lord, neener, neener, neener.

[Micah]

Yeah.

[Eric]

Basically, founder, darkest secret.

[Laura]

That would have been much better, actually.

[Micah]

That would have been funny.

[Eric]

It was pretty sassy, honestly. I mean, we love. I think I love Regulus. And it's amazing that Sirius has no sort of capacity for love because that they grew up years apart and he was considered the. The perfect son by Black standards. Which. Which means they. They really didn't have the same personality. They were probably more alike than they, each of them ever knew. One thing that strikes me, Laura, you mentioned creature popping in and out. You know, you really do have all the ingredients here that for. For figuring out what happened. You know, if anybody were to ask Creature, God, can you tell me this story about this locket? Or do you know anything about it? Or. Speaking of Regulus, hey, Creature, you. When was the last time you saw Regulus? You know, there could have been a lot of character growth in a short amount of time. Would have ruined the whole series and the plot. But, you know, I find myself wanting this catharsis to come to Sirius, especially in a moment when he's feeling down about his family to find that his brother actually would have done a heroic act in defiance of Voldemort would have been a really nice thing for Sirius to know about before he died.

[Laura]

That is, in a way, the tragedy of Regulus because we hear in this conversation that both of Sirius's parents had died prior to them learning that he went on to become that Regulus went on to become a Death Eater. And Sirius points out that he's sure that his parents would have been thrilled by that information. And on the flip side, Sirius dies prior to finding out that Regulus actually defied the Dark Lord and, you know, committed probably one of the biggest acts of bravery against him. But what I find so interesting about Regulus is that he's another one of those characters much like Draco when they get in too far and they realize just how sinister Voldemort actually is, they can't escape it. Yeah, this wasn't Draco does to some extent, but Regulus.

[Micah]

Yeah, I mean, Draco. Draco only escapes it because that mother's love story came full circle with Narcissa and Regulus didn't have that opportunity. You know, but we do get some good timeline information here. I don't know that we've ever looked at it this way, but Harry notes that Regulus Black's death is listed as some 15 years prior to this. So we know this takes place in 1995. So that would have meant Regulus died in 1980, which is the same year Harry was born. So does that mean that Rab stole the locket the year that Harry was born? Or did. Maybe he did it in advance and ultimately he carried out his mission near when Harry was born. I guess I'm just wondering, where does this fit in the timeline in relation to Snape overhearing the prophecy?

[Eric]

God, what a great question. Yeah, maybe. Maybe Snape would have heard the prophecy a few months before Regulus did his thing. Though they aren't necessarily connected because Regulus never made it out of that cave. So no one knew he was going in there to Begin with. But I love the idea that Voldemort's deepest, darkest secret was found out like a month or two before he was killed.

[Micah]

Yeah, I just, I like. And I mean it's sad too, but I like the fact that there were actually multiple inside efforts invold inner circle to try and overthrow him. They just didn't recognize each other. Like Snape. Of course. I don't know why Regulus reached the point where he wanted to turncoat, um, Snape did it purely out of self interest. But at the end of the day, you had two people very close, Voldemort, who made the conscious choice to go on their own and try to overthrow the guy. And I mean, who knows if they had communicated with each other with their powers combined, could have been different.

[Eric]

Yeah, neither of them sat back and waited for a lucrative book deal to do their, their work against. So that's kind of cool of each of them.

[Micah]

Wow. Are you saying that they have more ethics than people who say they can wait for books out?

[Eric]

Yes, absolutely. Yes.

[Micah]

Anyway, yeah, would have been useful information. But at any rate, we do, when we're looking at this tapestry as well, we do get this reminder that all pure blood wizard families are related. And this is something we touch on from time to time. But the way Sirius describes it here is so matter of fact and I think that's an important takeaway to have that there is this pure blood society that's basically saying, yeah, we're gonna get kind of incestuous within ourselves to stay pure and keep it pure. That's historically accurate. I mean, you look at, you know, royal families at a certain point in history and they were, they were keeping it all in the family, literally. So it's an intentional choice. But it's funny because not every relative of the Black family is listed here. The Weasleys don't even make the cut. You know, there, there are members of the family that are just simply blasted off the tapestry because they've become traitors. But yeah, Molly and Arthur never end up on here. I don't think there's anyone with the last name Weasley on this tapestry.

[Eric]

No. But, you know, maybe their ancestors, maybe they're such blood traders that like their grandfather's grandfather was a blood trader and so he was blasted off way at the top.

[Laura]

Would be interesting to see if Pruitt was on there anywhere though.

[Eric]

Yeah. Thinking about that.

[Micah]

Yeah. I kind of wish we had an official version of this family tree.

[Laura]

I want to say it was on a website. It might have been on jkrolling.com at some point her like she wrote it out. Does that sound familiar at all? Maybe the discord can check me on that.

[Eric]

What I keep thinking about is the notebook paper that had the various chapters of book five and how different things related to each other. Like in a circle that was on rowling.com at one point.

[Laura]

Yeah Laura, also when you were talking about the fact that there are so many breadcrumbs in this chapter. There is one that comes out of this moment too. There's probably several as Sirius is talking Harry through the family tree. But I'm thinking about when Neville's parents pop into Harry's mind because of the mention of Bellatrix Lestrange he's able to recall back to that moment where he was inside of the memory in Goblet of Fire during Barty Crouch Jr. S trial. And while it's not explicitly stated here, he seems to remember her name for explicitly the reason of the torture of the Longbottoms. And that comes into play later on in this book because Harry is able to actually meet. Not meet but like walks in on Neville and his grandmother with Frank and Alice in the, in St. Mungo's.

[Eric]

It's really doing for such a low key or like not well stated moment in the books is doing double and triple duty because Sirius also tells Harry that anyone on this tapestry creature would be loyal to. So the Bellatrix being on there is double and triple duty. Like it works on so many levels.

[Micah]

Right. It's, it's so interesting too because Harry of course when he makes the connection about all these families being interrelated he kind of gasp and he's like you're related to the Malfoys. And I found myself thinking, well Harry, you probably are too because your dad was a pure blood. So presumably the Potters were interrelated with all the other pure blood families. So yeah, you probably are related to the Malfoys. And I mean we know he's distantly related to Voldemort.

[Eric]

Yeah. So the. This is like the extrapolation of that I think Very good line from Hagrid. That's in Chamber of Secrets right? Where it's like there's not a wizard alive who's not half or less.

[Micah]

Yeah.

[Eric]

You know, it's like literally because all this inbreeding and you know, interner marrying of cousins.

[Laura]

One of the things that I wanted to bring up was the black family motto that's on this tapestry. Toujour Pure. I think it's notable that Mr. And Mrs. Black were subscribed to Voldemort's way of thinking but wouldn't go so far themselves as to become Death Eaters or part of his inner circle. I think Sirius calls that out specifically, basically that they support the way of thinking but they're not willing to actually step into the ring.

[Eric]

They sat out this election.

[Laura]

Yeah, exactly. And I wonder, does that show that there's a bit of middle ground even amongst a family that is pure blood? I'm not saying that they were good people by any stretch with some of the things that Mrs. Black is screaming when the doorbell rings all the time. Which, by the way, I think is a reminder to all of us and, and to the members of the Order of, of where they are and whose house they're in and what that means and what that represents. I think that's why the doorbell keeps getting rung over and over again. It's the author's way of reminding all of us that there's danger inside of the house. As much cleaning as they may do, this is still home to a dark pure blood family.

[Eric]

Yeah. And that ant of Siriuses that started the tradition of beheading the house elf, you know, and all of that is in this chapter. And you're like, this place is dark. These are dark people. But yeah, the idea that Regulus was the only, like, straight up Death Eater of the group does speak to Sirius's own line of the world is not divided into good people and Death Eaters.

[Laura]

It does say something, though, about the Black family that their motto is always pure. I mean, that that's. It's pretty intense like that. There's no cutting corners on that one.

[Micah]

No, but it's also, I mean, it's a lie, right? I mean, you just brought up the great point that Hagrid raised. And it's the kind of thing that you see in the real world too when people take pride in certain genetics and they want to claim beyond a shadow of a doubt that they know back to the start of time what their exact genealogy is. And a lot of times you don't know. And people sometimes take, you know, their ancestry or their 23andMe and they get surprised to learn, like, oh, I guess I just hate myself. But yeah, I think that this book in particular really drives home a lot of the real world consequences and attitudes that emerge in this type of environment.

[Laura]

Right. And I do think it's a lesson for Harry too as he's talking with Sirius. I think he's learning a lot about the Wizarding world. He's learning a lot about wizarding families. I think, you know, up until this point, for the most part, it's been very clear cut, right? Like you have Malfoy. Malfoy's bad. His father's bad, his mother's bad. You have the Weasleys. For the most part, they're all good. Ron is good. Fred and George, on and on you go. But now the waters are starting to get a little bit more murky when he looks up and sees this tapestry and all these different people and how they're interrelated to each other. They're all part of the same family. It goes to what, Eric, we said earlier that, you know, the world isn't divided into good people in Death Eaters. And I think that's a huge lesson for Harry here too. It's like it's not just one family. This is who they are. They're good or they're not good. Everything is kind of mixed together here.

[Eric]

I just learned that Wahlberg of Black's maiden name is most likely Rosier. Rosie.

[Micah]

Oh, interesting.

[Eric]

At least Bellatrix and Narcissa and Andromeda. Or not Andromeda. Wait, who's. Yeah, Andromeda. Their father was, I think. Or no, their mother was Druello. Rosier. So they're Rosiers.

[Micah]

Interesting.

[Eric]

So I'm looking. So the HP Wikia, by the way, our listeners, it does have it.

[Micah]

Great. Thanks for sending that, y'all.

[Eric]

Sirius and Regulus's father's name was Orion. That's kind of cool. It's another star.

[Laura]

He's playing on these constellations way too much.

[Micah]

And last cool thing about him, apparently. But while we're talking about some of these disturbing trends and themes and breadcrumbs and foreshadowing, let's talk about Creature because we get to spend some time with Kreacher. And my initial thought upon reading this is I was like, is it not alarming to anyone that Kreacher basically already predicted the ending of this story when he says Kasirius claims that he's going to kick him out and Kreacher starts talking about himself in the third person and saying, oh well, you can't kick Creature out because then Kreacher could go and share all of your plans to try and defeat the Dark Lord?

[Laura]

Like we.

[Micah]

He basically tells us what's going to happen. So I'm wondering, like, does Kreacher kind of have an inkling that this might come to pass? And is he goading Sirius intentionally to try and make that Happen.

[Eric]

Oh, I think it's clear that Sirius has no love for Creature. It is one of his character flaws. His. It's no ability to kind of reckon with him. And it's also clear that Creature fantasizes about being closer to a black cousin that is not, you know, a muggle lover. So I think the pieces are there for sure.

[Laura]

I, I agree. And Creature is a reflection of this house. He is, he is the embodiment of, of Grimald Place. And that said, I, I do think that Sirius, it's not that he wrongly associates, but it's not, it's not full story when he's. He really is saying that creatures behavior is a result of him being locked up in grim old place all these years. I think that's partly true. But Creature's been damaged. He's been damaged by the cave potion. He's been damaged by the Horcrux locket. He's been damaged by losing Regulus and Laura. When you were talking about how he was referring to himself in the third person, you know, as I was reading through this chapter, I kept saying to myself, why, who does Kreacher remind me of? And it finally clicked that he. He's so like Gollum from Lord of the Rings.

[Micah]

Oh yeah.

[Laura]

He behaves almost identically to him. And if you want to kind of like lock it ring comparisons, I definitely think that there's something there. Now, I don't know that the author was a huge Tolkien fan or that she was. She was, she was. Okay. So I mean there's possibility that she drew upon Gollum to, to inspire Creature.

[Micah]

Yeah, I think there's a lot of overlap and a lot of inspiration there. I think that's a safe bet.

[Eric]

What I love about something that Michelle just said in our Discord is that it's so interesting that they are all creatures of that house, but they each went their different ways and made different choices. It is understandable that Creature is damaged. They all were. It's just so interesting to see the diversity. I agree with that. The Black family are each unique, I think, in their personality. Despite all coming from the same, you know, house.

[Micah]

As we move on towards the end of the chapter, Harry actually gets a little bit of a reprieve from all the cleaning and all the worrying that he has about his upcoming trial. Because sometimes certain members of the order will hang out with them around the house to help with things. Tonks is one such person. And what I love about this is it also mentions in like the same large paragraph that Remus was Also staying at the Order of the Phoenix. He would go away for long periods of time on missions, but he was staying there. And I was like, were they just keeping things quiet at this point, or did the other adults know and just not mention anything about. About Remus and Tonks?

[Eric]

Oh, I thought that was. I thought something else entirely was happening here. Because if. Doesn't it say that when Remus comes, he stays with Sirius?

[Laura]

That's what I found.

[Eric]

Interesting reading that.

[Micah]

Oh, yeah. No, I mean, that's. That's another way to read it too, but, like, knowing the way that the story goes.

[Eric]

Yeah. Oh, right. You have to bring canon into this.

[Micah]

I know, I know. It's so boring. Listen, the Wolfstar read is way more interesting.

[Eric]

I love it. But this would be where Tonks and Lupin are getting the most of each other's company for sure. During these little cleaning sessions, even. Or dinner. During dinners.

[Micah]

Yeah, during dinners. I mean, and then it's mentioned at least once that Tonks is there, helping them to get a particularly nasty ghoul out of there. But, yeah, I just. I found it interesting and I thought that this could be one of those really cool opportunities for fan fiction to kind of fill in the gaps here. Like, what was going on from Remus and Tonks perspectives during this time? Like, was their romance already starting?

[Eric]

I definitely wonder. I think it wouldn't have evolved into something as close to romance until later, because Remus wouldn't allow it. He's not open to that kind of a thing. And it's only after, like, persistence that he would realize he does have feelings for Tonks as well. Is my read on that?

[Micah]

Yeah. Remind me, when does Snape tell Tonks that her patronus is weak? Is that the train or the next one?

[Eric]

It's the next one. And I'm not sure if it's, like, September 1st, like, after Harry's got his nose smashed and, you know, all that, or if it's later that year, as she's, like, guarding the school and Harry happens to, like. I think it's probably way later. So maybe Christmas of next year.

[Micah]

Yeah, probably. At any rate, I think this is where it started fairly. I think it all started this summer.

[Laura]

That's why the doorbell kept getting rung.

[Micah]

I mean, I think Tonks is smart enough not to do that. She will knock over the damn umbrella stand every time she comes in.

[Eric]

I was surprised that she didn't botch something when she was helping out cleaning in this chapter. I was waiting for that to happen.

[Micah]

Yeah, I don't know, maybe as a writing device that had already been used too many times.

[Eric]

Maybe. Yeah.

[Micah]

Yeah. Well, we kind of are left on a foreboding note at the end of this chapter because Harry is suddenly jerked back to reality when Mrs. Weasley is like, hey, just a reminder, your trial's tomorrow and you're gonna go to work with Arthur. I ironed out your best clothes, so you need to eat and go to bed. And what worse feeling for a 15 year old who's on their summer break.

[Eric]

Yeah.

[Micah]

Than to have just been reunited with his friends and finally feeling normal and then boom, you got to go to your trial tomorrow.

[Eric]

Plus he finds out that Dumbledore has been there but gone away.

[Micah]

Yeah too.

[Eric]

And I'm like, man. Again.

[Micah]

Well, and it was even the excuse was you were sleeping or something, like you were occupied and it's oh yes.

[Eric]

I missed my chance.

[Micah]

Yeah, like excuse me, no, you should have come and woken me up so I could talk to this man. I got a bone to pick. Subtle results. Still you, but with fewer lines Botox Cosmetic Adobotulinum Toxinae is a prescription prescription medicine used to temporarily make moderate to severe frown lines, crow's feet and forehead lines look better in adults.

[Laura]

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[Micah]

See for yourself at botox botoxcosmetic.com this.

[Eric]

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[Micah]

Anyway, we will see how Harry's trial goes in our next chapter by chapter installment. Um, but for now we are going to turn to our links line. This is our newest benefit on Patreon. Um, thank you so much to all of us who support us over there. This is a benefit where we will ask our Slug Club patrons a question pertaining to either our discussion that week or pertaining specifically to the chapter. And the question that we asked was, you have to pick one item from the noble and most ancient House of Black to display in your home. What is your choice?

[Eric]

First one comes from Carly, who says, I think I take the music box that makes people sleep. My husband is chronic insomnia and sometimes it keeps me from sleeping. Plus, when my 6 year old won't sleep, mama has a little trick up her sleeve. This is, of course, assuming the music box only makes you sleep and doesn't do anything more nefarious. I agree. This would be. I kind of slated this for something I would want to take with me. Also, creepy music boxes are creepy. Perfect for this season we just got out of. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Micah]

Also, props to Ginny here, right? Because she's the only one who has enough sense to snap the box shut when they all start getting drowsy and sleepy.

[Eric]

I'm so, you know, I'm so glad that you caught that moment of Ginny's triumph there. Lauren gave her her flowers.

[Micah]

Honestly, you know, I think Ginny is a great character who didn't get enough moments like that in the series. I think I would have enjoyed her a lot more if she had.

[Eric]

Fair enough.

[Laura]

Zack says the portrait of Phineas Nigell is black. I would love to pester him daily about that potion he needed in Hogwarts Legacy.

[Eric]

Oh, my God. He's not going to talk about it. He's never going to talk about it.

[Micah]

Oh, man. Oh, how fun would it be if they cast Simon Pegg to play Phineas Angelus Black in the tv.

[Eric]

Absolutely.

[Micah]

Oh, God, that would be incredible. And they could include. Maybe this is how they can include, like, game lore in the show.

[Eric]

So good not to like season eight, right? Or season five. Yeah.

[Micah]

But the funny thing is, like, they can show Phineas and he can be, like, seated and he can be, like, shifting uncomfortably in his chair to kind of like give a hint about what it was he was using that potion for. Our next one comes from Rachel, who says the family tree would be so cool. I don't Remember if there was any kind of grandfather clock, but I'd be interested in that if so. Yeah, that's a good one. Yeah, the family tree is cool.

[Eric]

Definitely agree. Ashley says the coughing wastebasket, no explanation given. So we were left to speculate on that. Ashley's leave it at that would get.

[Laura]

Annoying really quickly, though. So Michael says, I think they had a piano that didn't seem to be nefarious in any way. So I'll please take that. Thank you very much.

[Micah]

That's what you think, Michael. Basically everything that is in the noble and most ancient house of Black is haunted automatically. Bare minimum.

[Eric]

There was a ghoul in a toilet upstairs.

[Micah]

Yeah.

[Eric]

What's that doing there?

[Laura]

It's a banana.

[Micah]

I mean, it's not the first time we've heard of a ghoul in a toilet. So in this series, next one comes from Eleanor, who also says family tree. It's very cool, but it's very cool, both in concept and design from the film. I also really like the fact that it proves that even in a bad family, Pure blood mania and Death Eater support, there are people who turn their backs on that. What Dumbledore said is true. There's light and dark in all of us. Yeah, absolutely. Just like what we were touching on about Regulus earlier in this discussion.

[Eric]

Kate also says the creepy music box. Not sure what that says about me as a person. Kate, you're all right. Like I said, I would go for that one too.

[Micah]

Yeah, I think it's fun.

[Laura]

Leah also likes the family tree. I already purchased it and display it in my living room as a throw pillow. Thanks.

[Eric]

Melanima. That would be a very comfortable pillow.

[Micah]

Yeah, no, that's very cool. And, I mean, you can't go wrong with Minalima either, right?

[Laura]

I wonder, did you, like, burn cigarette butts into it to like, make it more authentic, distressed?

[Micah]

I would hope that it would come with that already on there. I feel like that's a major part of the aesthetic. Cassandra says, I would like my house to have the Black House's ability to hide in the neighborhood to be unplottable. Yeah, I love that idea.

[Eric]

Yeah, it's pretty. And I believe that that probably wouldn't have been a thing until the order took it over. Or was it? Do we think that that's unique to Dumbledore's secret keeping here?

[Micah]

Honestly, I think it was already unplottable because Sirius mentioned that it was the perfect location for headquarters because his father had put so many different protective charms on it.

[Eric]

Well, see you've changed my mind because I would have thought I always associate the Fidelius Charm with Dumbledore because that's exactly what he suggested Lillian James do, but that doesn't. Yeah, I mean, you would also think that Orion Black would know some stuff, so that's cool. Yeah. Okay. Julianne says I'd take the writing desk with the Boggart inside. Would certainly liven up my work days. I feel like there's a fun, quirky sense of humor to these links. Line replies like you're kidnapping a boggart just for an interesting afternoon.

[Micah]

Oh. Can boggarts experience trauma?

[Eric]

Boggarts are trauma.

[Micah]

True. Can trauma experience trauma?

[Eric]

Let's not get it. Yes, and I'm living it right now.

[Laura]

Ning has a interesting one. The portrait of Mrs. Black. It's how I'm scaring off those pesky door to door salespeople, scammers, burglars.

[Micah]

That'll do it for sure.

[Laura]

I just want to put a filter on her though, because she may get you in a little bit of trouble.

[Eric]

Oh, yeah. Jump ahead to Chelsea. Who says one of Sirius's bikini clad woman posters. You know, I bet they're vintage. They were. They were in 20 years ago.

[Micah]

Honestly, I found this to be such an interesting piece of, like, context about his character because presumably these are Muggle women.

[Eric]

I'm guessing that's why his family.

[Micah]

Maybe that's why they were like, get out.

[Eric]

The only thing more controversial than your son looking at calendar of scantily clad women is if they're Muggle women.

[Micah]

Well, because I don't recall that we ever see anything like this in the wizarding world. Really?

[Eric]

Like if Witch Weekly has a bikini calendar. Yeah, Yeah. I don't know.

[Laura]

Oh, it's got to exist. But I don't know if we can talk about it right now.

[Micah]

Yeah, probably not.

[Eric]

Play whiz.

[Micah]

Oh, my God.

[Laura]

Brock wants to know, is Creature an option? Having some help with chores would be a hell of a convenience. And after you warm up to him, you know he has some mad stories to tell.

[Eric]

Yeah. Agreed with that.

[Micah]

Yeah. I mean, honestly, Creature's not doing too well here, so, Brock, if you wanted to treat him as a roommate, I think you could really move the needle for sure. Agree. Catherine says I don't know about display, but does Buckbeat count?

[Eric]

Yeah, Bugbeak's upstairs. That was a good. That was a good catch.

[Micah]

Yeah, that was a good catch. I think we said items though, right?

[Eric]

Yeah.

[Micah]

Yeah.

[Eric]

So maybe the bag of treats for Buckbeak. And then if you put them Out.

[Micah]

Oh, the bag of dead rats.

[Eric]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Micah]

Well, thanks so much to all of our patrons who participated in this week's and every week's links line. I did want to pose a question to the panel. Now, we didn't talk a ton about the variety of skipping snack boxes that Fred and George are getting into, but we do learn about a couple of them this chapter. So I wanted to ask, which joke candy would we be willing to try to get out of something we don't want to do? And your options are puking pastels, fainting fancies, or nosebleed nougat.

[Eric]

This is like that game fmk, because there's not. There's one I would never choose, which is the puking pestle. I just feel like that is not a pleasant feeling. None of them are pleasant. Having a nosebleed is not pleasant. I'm choosing the least annoying option, which is still pretty dangerous, but not in a wizarding world where they can heal your bones. Fainting fancies would be my choice.

[Micah]

Oh, that would be so scary to me.

[Eric]

Yeah. You ever just want to disconnect, unplug, lose consciousness?

[Micah]

I mean, but lose losing consciousness? I don't know if I want that.

[Eric]

I'll take it.

[Micah]

But I understand not wanting to puke.

[Eric]

Yeah. And I had nosebleeds a lot as a kid.

[Micah]

Oh, I see. See, I didn't. I've never been someone to have a lot of nosebleeds, so I chose nosebleed nougat.

[Eric]

I can see how that would be a novelty.

[Micah]

Yeah. Well, also, I mean, I have had them before, and they've never been severe for me, so I guess that's what I'm comparing it to.

[Eric]

Yeah. Like, what seems the least severe?

[Micah]

Yeah. What about you, Micah?

[Eric]

How about you, Micah?

[Micah]

We're doing, like, suffering Olympics over here with our skipping snack boxes, so I'm.

[Laura]

Trying to think, what's the one most likely to get you out of class with least suspicion?

[Micah]

Probably puking.

[Eric]

Yeah.

[Micah]

Nobody can argue with that.

[Laura]

Yeah, that is true. None of these, like, widely appeal to me.

[Eric]

Yeah.

[Micah]

Yeah.

[Laura]

And it's funny because, like, one could lead to the other. You know, like, if you bleed enough from your nose, you could get a little bit faint or you could, you know, puke as a result of it. So, yeah, if I had to pick one, I'd probably go with the puking pastels.

[Micah]

Yeah. Well, and don't forget, y'all, there is, like, an escape plan that comes with these. Remember, they're two tabbed candies. You take one to Bring your illness on. And as soon as you are away from any parties who could witness you doing so, you can take the other half and you'll be right. It's rain. So no more puking, no more nosebleed fainting. Although I don't know how that works with the fainting because if you faint, how do you.

[Eric]

You kind of like come to and then, you know, you're in the hospital. Yeah, I don't know, maybe you have some of your afternoon back. Maybe not Asterisk, though. Fred and George are still working on fixing the puking thing.

[Micah]

Yes. Yeah, they are. And we're going to get to see them test it out in not, not too many moons here.

[Eric]

Well, so the one that's not mentioned that apparently is also confirmed is fever fudge.

[Micah]

That's.

[Eric]

That's the best one because first of all, it's fudge. Yeah, it's fudge. And also you just have to be ill enough present ill enough to get out of class. So if you feel your forehead, you're like, oh, like teacher says, oh, you're so hot. And then you leave. It's. But getting a fever can be pretty dangerous, so.

[Micah]

Yeah, no, that's true. That's true. I think I left it out because I hate getting fevers.

[Eric]

Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Micah]

We don't hear about it yet, but we, we do find out about it later. Well, thanks so much for taking part in my. My particular spin on the weekly question. We like to mix it up here on the show. Instead of leaning into the old MVP of the week format, we want to ask each other a specific question about the chapter. I love that. If you have any feedback about today's discussion, you can contact us by emailing or sending a voice memo recorded on your phone to mugglecastmail.com and now it is time for Kwizzitch.

[Eric]

Last week's question. How many Halloween feasts do we see Harry attend during his time at Hogwarts? And the correct answer was three. As a matter of fact, he misses the second year Halloween feast because he's at the death day party. And he attends the first, the third and the fourth years, but after that, they never mention them again. 75% of people said they didn't look it up. They got the correct answer. Congratulations to these winners, Buff Daddy Ben. Educational decree number 31, Halloween feasts will hereby be disbanded. Which is pretty much what happened. Elizabeth K. Pilbus Dumbledore. Spooky, scary, Slytherin. Stubby Boardman's biggest fan and whipped Aquafaba. Aquafaba. They will go with that. Here is next week's quizzet question in the so a lot of talk about doxies in this chapter in the Sorcerer Stone PC game, what spell do you primarily use to deal with doxies? It's one of the classics of old video gaming. Submit your answer to us on the quizzitch form on the Mugglecast website mugglecast.comquizzitch or if you're already on the website, maybe reading transcripts, checking out our Must Listens page AKA the hall of Fame. Just click on quizzes from the main nav.

[Micah]

You know Eric, I actually have a copy of the OG Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for PS1 that Mark got for me as a gift. So and I am going to be playing it soon and y'all might should.

[Eric]

Submit your quizzage answer.

[Micah]

Yeah, so I'm going to have to go back and see if I can get the answer to this because I don't remember.

[Eric]

They go to the greenhouses I think is when you first meet them.

[Micah]

Oh, okay. Okay. Well I'm looking forward to sitting down and playing that game and flipendo ing everything because that's all I remember from that game. Flip Endo.

[Laura]

You can't Avada Kedavra them, can you?

[Micah]

No you can't. No you can't.

[Eric]

You have to really mean it.

[Micah]

That is where Hogwarts legacy is superior.

[Eric]

Oh man. As a reminder, everyone listening Listener support is the only reason we've been able to podcast 19 years later. And there are in fact three great ways to help us out. If you are an Apple podcast user, please subscribe to Mugglecast Gold, which gets you instant access to ad free and early releases of Mugglecast plus as our Patreon too. Two bonus Mugglecast installments every month and October's were both very spooky for even more benefits and this is the best way to support us. [e-mail], you'll get the benefits of MogoCast Gold plus live streams, yearly stickers, links, line participation, physical gift, a video message from one of the four of us made just for you, our private Facebook and Discord groups where you can hang out with fellow Potter fans and so much more. And once again please visit mugglecastmerch.com it's the giving season and it's all of our brand new one of merchandise that has never been seen before. It's exclusively for you and if you enjoy Mugglecast and think other Muggles would too. Please tell a friend about the show and leave a five star review on your favorite podcast app. And we're excited to get to chapter by chapter next week. Chapter seven, the Ministry of Magic.

[Micah]

Looking forward to it. Thanks so much, y'all.

[Eric]

Bye.

[Micah]

Bye, everybody.

[Laura]

Bye.