← MuggleCast: The Harry Potter Re-Read Podcast
MuggleCast: The Harry Potter Re-Read Podcast
Silent Chaos (HBP Chapter 11, Hermione's Helping Hand)
01:11:18
Loading summary
Transcript268 lines
- [00:00]
A
Are you able to cast any of these spells non verbally? That would be really unfair. I mean, I'm sure we've all done it right where we're walking past somebody and inside of our heads we're like Avada Kedavra.
- [00:12]
B
Yeah. Die.
- [00:13]
C
Oh yeah. All the time.
- [00:15]
A
All the time.
- [00:15]
C
Totally normal.
- [00:16]
B
Welcome to Mugglecast, your weekly ride into the world of Harry Potter. I'm Andrew.
- [00:20]
D
I'm Eric.
- [00:21]
A
I'm Micah.
- [00:22]
C
And I'm Laura.
- [00:24]
B
Happy New year everybody. And we're your Harry Potter friends time talking about the books and the movies and the upcoming TV show and whatever else 2026 throws our way. So make sure you press that follow button in your podcast app and you'll never miss an episode of the show. And this week, watch with us as Hermione breaks about 10 school rules and isn't sorry about it because we are discussing chapter 11 of Half Blood, Hermione's helping hands. By the way, did you all get any like Harry Potter stuff from Santa or anybody else over the holidays?
- [00:55]
C
I got a really cute Honeydukes blanket. Yeah, it's really cute and it's very like. It doesn't look like. I'm sure it is official merch, but it doesn't look like official merch. It definitely looks like something that somebody made. And it's so soft. I really like it.
- [01:15]
D
Aw, nice. I've been paying close attention to the Mugglecast patrons group on Facebook as the Secret Santa gifts roll in. People are really happy with some of the gifts they've been getting this year.
- [01:25]
A
So I really enj. I will say that is one of the longstanding patron just activities that traditions that the patrons created themselves, the listeners created themselves that I always enjoy. I did get a Hogwarts hoodie with the crest on the front. So I've been wearing that. It's very comfortable.
- [01:46]
B
Have you guys heard of the soap brand Dr. Squatch? Santa got me the Harry Potter collection of Dr. Squatches and there's one for each Hogwarts house. So I've opened up the Slytherin one thus far and now I'm lathering myself in the smells of Slytherin every day.
- [02:02]
A
Which is what? What does Slytherin smell like?
- [02:07]
B
Well, some of you might say it smells like garbage, but swamped.
- [02:11]
C
I bet it's something like sage and moss.
- [02:14]
B
Yeah, hold on, let me pull it up. Oh my God. There's a Voldemort soap too.
- [02:20]
A
So we all agreed that we're gonna.
- [02:22]
C
I don't think he uses soap Post.
- [02:24]
A
Pictures with our gifts. Right?
- [02:25]
B
So we could. It smells like snake grass.
- [02:31]
A
Andrew's video will go on the Onlyfans.
- [02:33]
B
Apparently it smells like snake.
- [02:34]
D
I miss. I mispronounced snake grass a moment ago. Too late.
- [02:38]
B
I heard what you said, Eric. It was very mean. Now I know what you think of Slytherins.
- [02:42]
D
Actually, when I think of. When I think of Squatch, the brand of soap to begin with, that's what I think of. Because it has like. It has like Bigfoot on the. On the bridge.
- [02:55]
A
Well, Andrew, now you know. Just clean. Clean your armpits and your bum with Hufflepuff.
- [03:01]
D
That's right.
- [03:03]
B
I use each Hogwarts house soap for a different part of my pocket.
- [03:06]
D
First of all, that's amazing. If that happens, you got to video that. And also we'll be there for you later.
- [03:12]
B
Yeah, well, listeners, listen where I should use the Gryffindor.
- [03:16]
D
This is the year. This is Mogocast. This is the year mogocast turns 21. We're adults now.
- [03:22]
B
Ravenclaw soap I'll use on my head. Cause Ravenclaw wands.
- [03:26]
A
To get smart.
- [03:27]
B
Yeah, exactly. To get smart.
- [03:28]
C
No, don't use soap on your hair.
- [03:32]
B
I know. Well, everywhere else but my hair. Everywhere else.
- [03:35]
C
No, don't use it on your. That's not made for your face. You need different cleansers for your. Oh my gosh. See, we're 21, but I'm still over here having to educate about skincare.
- [03:47]
D
Laura, Nobody. We were raised male. Nobody taught us well.
- [03:50]
C
I will teach you.
- [03:52]
B
Coming to the patreon at the $1,000 a month tier, Andrew bathes with different Hogwarts house soaps. Stay tuned. People will pay for it for a.
- [03:59]
A
Year up front, not throw that out there. People will pay for it.
- [04:05]
B
Okay, well, Micah, I. I agree. And if you love this show, listeners, we invite you to become a member of our community@patreon.com mugglecast we have exciting plans for the show this year. Besides showering videos, we're planning some new look forward and look back episodes that join our chapter by chapter episodes. So we could use your support in making those happen. And by pledging, you'll instantly receive two bonus episodes of the show every month. Ad free episodes, access to our live streams, and a lot more. And if you're looking for other ways to support us, you can leave us a review in your favorite podcast app where you can tell a fellow Muggle about our show. And you can visit mugglecastmerch.com to buy official show gear like the Security consultant hat that I'm wearing tonight. All right, and now it's time for chapter by chapter. And like we said, we're discussing Half blood prince, chapter 11, Hermione's helping hand.
- [04:58]
A
Bronn knows all about that.
- [05:00]
D
Oh, Jesus.
- [05:02]
A
Because she confunded Cormac her helping hand.
- [05:07]
B
Got it. Got it. We're feeling fresh after the holiday break.
- [05:11]
D
This chapter title, uh, that's. That's Micah's first adult joke of the year. And I'm living for it. It's hilarious. Also, this chapter title is like a very. This. This chapter title is great PR. Hermione's helping hand. AKA she breaks about 10 school rules. Anyway, we'll get into that.
- [05:31]
A
Lots of alliteration.
- [05:32]
C
It's for the greater good. Okay.
- [05:34]
D
The GG. The greater good. Helping hand for the greater good. HH for the GG. We last discussed chapter 11 of Half Blood Prince on Mugglecast 391, over eight years ago. This was on October 29, 2018. The episode, for some reason, was called Sluggy Bear.
- [05:53]
C
What you're looking at are memories.
- [05:56]
D
This is the most important memory I've collected. It is from Mugglekast episode 391.
- [06:06]
B
People are just coming out for tryouts just to, what, be in Harry's presence? See him around, be near him? It seems just very immature. And I think if they wanted to take these practices more seriously, maybe they should have had some more vetting involved.
- [06:22]
D
Yeah, I mean, it's pretty ridiculous. Even Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws turn out to try out for the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
- [06:30]
A
It's.
- [06:30]
D
It's really in. Harry's just got to go get off the pitch.
- [06:33]
B
See, there should be a rule at Hogwarts that you are kicked out of your house if you are going to try out for another house's Quidditch team. Like, that's, That's. That's treason. I would be pissed at my fellow students.
- [06:48]
C
This memory is everything.
- [06:50]
D
Let's get on to the meat of the discussion. And the two topics we've singled out are also alliterative. We're going to be talking about Hermione, then we're going to be talking about Hagrid. This chapter, more than some others, features Hermione and the way that she influences events around the school. Of course, there's the Helping Hand we referenced earlier, but there's more stuff even before then. So it seems like Hermione's raising her hand in classes, which is like, much appreciated because the overall workload has intensified and the overall complexity of their schoolwork has just gotten worse. And I don't know about you guys, but have you ever been in class and you're wondering what the heck is going on? And but you're like too shy to ask. And then somebody else raises their hand and asks, and then the teacher gives a clarifying answer and you're like, oh, thank God somebody asked because I didn't know what was going on. I feel like that's happening every day now for Harry, Ron and Hermione.
- [07:52]
C
Yeah, completely. And the secret to that kind of thing is if you have a question, statistically at least a couple other people have the same question and they're just too scared to ask. So ask the question.
- [08:04]
B
There are no stupid questions. As is like to be sad.
- [08:08]
D
That's kind of the point of education, isn't it? Is ask questions and the teacher doesn't know what you don't know until they test you. Which is way too late to find out that you don't know some stuff. The most interesting thing about this for me though is that both Transfiguration and Charms Newt level classes are requiring the students to know nonverbal spells. What's interesting about this to me is nonverbal spells were taught by Snape. And I say taught, that's there's an asterisk there. But I always pictured it as more of a Defense against the Dark Arts thing. But for these other teachers classes to require it. Remember, this year not everyone's taking Defense against the Dark Arts. In fact, only 12 people are taking Defense against the Dark Arts this year. So how is it that non verbal spells were introduced to the other students? And do you think that McGonagall or Flitwick are taking time out of their day to explain it? Because if that's the standard now, non verbal spells, you would think that Harry and Ron would be, well, for two people. Just naming two random students here would be better at them. And as Harry notes throughout this chapter, people are turning purple in the face trying to like figure it out or master it. But if this were the Standard Again, Flitwick, McGonagall, all the heads of house would like be sitting the students down and showing them how to do it.
- [09:32]
C
It just makes me wonder how much there is to show the impression I get. And first of all, I think it's totally valid to point out here that the way non verbal spells work is not explained very well at all in the series. But I think we're just meant to assume that people Just have to sit there and try casting their incantation in their head and they just have to keep trying until they get it right. Until they figure out what works for them. Yeah, which isn't a great system.
- [10:08]
B
And then it's like what's the problem here? Am I not being focused enough? Am I not being clear enough in my head? Is my mind clear enough to begin with?
- [10:16]
C
Do I not mean it?
- [10:17]
D
You know, and, and that's the hardest part too because you would think also that after the introduction of non verbal spells combat would get so much more escalated. In the Harry Potter books it doesn't, thank God. But like if Harry had to contend with non verbal spells, like it really only happens at the end of this book with Snape when he faces off against Snape briefly. But like I don't recall Harry always having to now from this point forward deal with other people. Even Malfoy's like non verbal spells. Harry for the most part still remains verbal and so does pretty much everybody else.
- [10:51]
A
This just makes me think of a bunch of students sitting in class looking extremely constipated.
- [10:57]
C
It's kind of what it sounds like.
- [10:58]
D
Thanks to Weasley's wizard wheezes that can be all classes everywhere.
- [11:03]
A
The other piece of it though to me is non verbal spells feels like something that should really be at an advanced level that not everybody should know how to do. And I almost see it as like a threshold that witches or wizards reach it. It's not even necessarily age dependent. It's just based on their learning and how advanced they become in any one particular area. Because presumably as you're saying Eric, you could use non verbal magic in almost any subject. So the fact that it needs to be taught in defense against the dark arts doesn't really make sense.
- [11:47]
B
But I, I do think non verbal spells could be used in dangerous situations as kind of like a last resort or a safety mechanism. Like if you've been kidnapped or somebody's trying to attack you, you, you would probably want to use a non verbal spell to avoid being caught. So I could see why they should be taught because it feels pretty important. Does it matter in, I don't know, Charms? Not necessarily. But in Dada and even in transfiguration, I think it could be very helpful to protect yourself.
- [12:20]
C
I almost wonder if this is just a concept that is required academically but just not something that most people use in common day to day life. Like it's probably a bad example but I'm thinking about when we were all in school. School and we were taking upper level math and MO more often than not. We were not allowed to use calculators because they wanted us to be able to show our work and that we understood the concept. Forget the fact that they told us, you know, you'll never be walking around with a calculator in your pocket. Because that ended up. Yes, it did. But at the same time, I, I could kind of see this non verbal spells being something that is conceptually important insofar as people need to understand that it exists and it is an option, but you don't necessarily need to be very good at it because it seems like most people aren't.
- [13:21]
B
Michelle, who's listening live tonight, also brings up an interesting question. I wonder what that looks like in practice. All the non verbal spells, all these nonverbal spells going around the room and causing things to happen. It'd be like silent chaos, right?
- [13:35]
C
Well, and think about how, how much they mess up when they're doing verbal incantations. Think about the number of times we've seen things go haywire because people don't cast a spell appropriately. Think about all the stuff that can go wild if people are trying non verbal. And they're not good at that.
- [13:54]
A
So one question I did want to ask, and this kind of fits nicely with what you just said, Laura, is related to the unforgivable curses. Speaking of things going really awry, are you able to cast any of these spells non verbally? Because presumably that would be really unfair. Somebody's just walking down the street inside their head. I mean, how many? I mean, I'm sure we've all done it right, where we're walking past somebody and inside of our heads we're like, avada Kedavra.
- [14:24]
B
Yeah, die.
- [14:25]
C
Oh yeah. All the time. Totally normal.
- [14:28]
D
If I had a nickel.
- [14:29]
A
How do you think Andre created all of his Horcruxes, by the way?
- [14:33]
B
It does look like there are a couple of instances of nonverbal, unforgivable curses being cast by Bellatrix and Voldemort in Half Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows respectively. But yeah, it does seem very unfair for such serious curses to be sneakily applied. Maybe it is extremely difficult to do and only one of the best wizards of our time could possibly pull off such a thing. But unfortunately it does seem possible.
- [15:00]
A
Right? Like think about the battle at the Ministry between Dumbledore and Voldemort. You don't hear any spells really being cast.
- [15:07]
D
Right? Right. And even when at the cave at the end of this book, when Harry hears Dumbledore like murmuring something. It's a completely next level of magic that like Harry is sure isn't even like he's constipated. Yeah, yeah, that's just the sound he makes. So it's pretty interesting to think about. I mean, in the way that the movies were adapted too, pretty much. I don't know. As of movie five, everybody's non verbal. It's like the action sequences with the spells going everywhere. But at the same time, I think you should figure out or be able to figure out. I mean the AK has that telltale green light, but it's not like by the time you see the green light you have any way of getting any kind of recourse against it. Something else that Hermione does in this chapter is she is the driving force for the kids to finally see and hopefully make up with Hagrid. And this, this is pretty much at the start of the chapter. They're down at breakfast. Hermione notices that Hagrid's absent. This is a recurring thing with him. He's not often there. But she says, you guys, we have to go see Hagrid. And it's been enough time. And it's, you know, besides Quidditch, Quidditch practice, they're not doing anything else today. So they agree that it's going to happen. But Hermione, in this chapter still at breakfast, tells Harry, and I quote that he's never been more fanciable than he is now. Of course in context there's an explanation that makes sense for everybody. But out of context, I'm reading this going, is this one of the vestiges of people who felt that Harry and Hermione would be together romantically? Is this their, you know, big moment to shine where you have this quote from Hermione where she's calling Harry fanciable? Is this did, did people's. Do any of us remember reading this in our heart, leaping off the page, jumping for joy for this comment from Hermione?
- [17:19]
B
Oh yeah, Micah, were you a Harry Hermione shipper?
- [17:23]
A
Oh totally. I was writing fan fiction. I was posting in the forums, commenting, doing everything I could backathon when we were on dial up.
- [17:32]
C
Yeah, I moderated so much of Micah's fanfiction back in the day.
- [17:35]
B
Couldn't keep up with all of it.
- [17:36]
D
The secret origins of how Laura knows Micah is because of all the editing she had to do the moderating.
- [17:43]
C
Exactly.
- [17:43]
A
We kept that on the down low.
- [17:46]
B
Amazing.
- [17:46]
C
You heard it here first, folks.
- [17:48]
A
No, to me this is a very sibling esque type of moment. It's, it's a brother sister moment and not brother and sister like Jamie and Cersei Lannister or brother and sister. That, that's just how I feel. I think Hermione is paying Harry a very nice compliment here.
- [18:08]
C
I think it's rooted in their relationship being platonic. And I just contend that almost no teenager is going to so publicly declare their romantic interest in this way. Like, I try to put myself in the shoes of someone who's 16 years old and imagine telling them, oh, you're fancy able. Nah.
- [18:33]
B
Well, yeah, I mean, that could be a British thing. So maybe that's part of the reason why we have a hard time.
- [18:39]
C
Okay, yeah, it's a British thing. But even if you. Okay.
- [18:43]
D
What if you Americanize it?
- [18:44]
C
What if we Americanize it?
- [18:46]
D
Yeah.
- [18:47]
C
You're very cute, sharp. What would we say?
- [18:50]
D
Dateable?
- [18:51]
C
Yeah, you're dateable. Like if you were a 16 year old, would you say that to the person that you harbored secret feelings for?
- [19:00]
B
Right.
- [19:01]
D
You know, Americanizing this really helps. Yeah.
- [19:03]
B
That said, I do agree that this is platonic affection in action. And I love that. And it speaks to how close platonically Harry and Hermione actually are. She's just a proud friend. She's talking about how everyone is on his side, now they know he was telling the truth. Now she's happy. He's getting the attention and the reception that he deserves. And I think. I don't know if I've said it on the show before, but I think platonic affection needs to be normalized more. It's like a good thing to do with your friends. It's a good thing to do more openly because. Because people are like, oh, I can't be platonically affectionate because then people might think it's romantic. It doesn't have to be. You just want to call your friends hot.
- [19:46]
D
So. So here's the full quote from Hermione. It's not Quidditch that's popular, it's you. You've never been more interesting. And frankly, you've never been more fancy bowl. So we all agree that that's just a friend talking. But you know who doesn't see it that way? Ron Weasley.
- [20:05]
C
He's just so jealous. Oh, he's so jealous.
- [20:10]
D
Ron proceeds to just bend over backwards trying to kind of argue. He inserts himself in the conversation like, I'm tall. I have this, I have that. He's making a fool of himself here because he thinks it's A competition. But here's the thing, okay? So like, we laugh. It's funny when Ron's like, I'm tall. But if he is capable, he's their closest friend, too. He should know by now that the ship has sailed on hhr. On Harry. Hermione. He doesn't. Obviously, the big part of book seven that he doesn't. But if somebody that close to Harry and Hermione can still think that Hermione has romantic feelings for Harry, then anyone else surely can still.
- [20:56]
B
That's true. Yeah. He should understand by now that this just is platonic.
- [21:02]
C
I don't know. I mean, again, let's put ourselves in the shoes of being in this dynamic as teenagers. I don't know that I had the level of maturity to understand the difference when I was this age. And I don't know, I could see myself feeling a little jealous if I were in Ron's shoes and if I had his temperament, you know?
- [21:24]
A
Yeah. And Ron has always played second fiddle to Harry and he's likely looking at this situation and saying to himself, here we go again. Harry's going to get the girl that I'm really interested in.
- [21:42]
D
You know, it's interesting though, because I think Hermione is trying to prepare Harry for Quidditch practice. Right. So that's like totally on topic. Totally. Harry says, I don't know how we're going to get through all the students because so many people signed up. And Hermione says, it's not Quidditch, it's you. So, you know, it is topical. But certainly her comments, even if they are received, I think they're received by Harry in the way that they're meant to. You know, he's like, oh, my God. My friend said I'm fanciful, but she's a girl. So, like, I'm fanciful to girls. All the same, it gets him warm, you know. And that's kind of how that works, as it should.
- [22:17]
A
I mean, I feel like we all have moments that we can probably look back on from when we were younger when we've been paid a compliment and we blush as a result of it. It's just. It's a natural reaction. And I think for Harry, this is probably the first time that somebody has said something like that to him in public where other people can hear it. And it's. I think you get. You get embarrassed on two fronts. Right. One is the front of the person making the comment to you. And then the other is the fact that there's all these other people around who Just heard what that person said.
- [22:49]
C
Yeah, yeah. It's also a compliment that is not rooted in something that Harry did as an infant.
- [22:58]
A
Yeah, he never got that.
- [23:00]
C
It's actually all about something that he actually did that he can remember now that he chose to do.
- [23:08]
D
Wow.
- [23:09]
C
So he's getting payoff for that a little bit, which is deserved.
- [23:13]
D
Yeah, yeah. So unfortunately, I do think that, you know, Hermione's comments kind of cause Ron to overreact. Actually. I feel nervous, like, assigning blame to Hermione for Ron's actions, that's a problem. But essentially, this is where it starts. You know, they're walking down to Quidditch practice and Lavender smiles at Ron or something and he sees it and then he's like, oh, another girl likes me. I should just ditch this ship and go off with her. And like, this is where it starts, ultimately, is maybe in Hermione's comment here to Harry that he's fanciful. Ron feels the need to act out and it's. It's gonna get way worse from here. So as we're doing our read through, I wanted to kind of pinpoint this moment and say, well, Ron's choices are his own, but I think his ego right here is maybe bruised or in danger of being injured.
- [24:06]
C
Totally. Yeah. I mean, Ron is. He can be kind of immature. Not all the time, but definitely in this realm of conversation, he is. He's also deeply insecure. And we also know that he is desperate for any kind of validation. And all it takes is for him to see, oh, there's a girl who actually does like me and is expressing interest in me. So Ron goes on in this book to make the rookie mistake that I'm sure we all made when we were young of saying, you know what? I'm gonna date that person because they like me, and not thinking for two seconds about whether or not you like them back.
- [24:44]
D
Oh, that hits home.
- [24:46]
C
Yeah.
- [24:46]
D
Well, Ron, Ron wants the glory of being in a relationship and he doesn't want to do anything to work for it. So. And, and believe me, part of that analysis is autobiographical where it's like, if somebody shows interest in you or smiles at you, you think, hey, that's my foot in the door. Like, yeah. And. And it's not not your foot in the door, but let's take a picture of who Ron really wants to be with right now. Hermione. In fact, he's so threatened by Hermione saying somebody else is fancy bowl, even his best friend of his, like the last five years, that Ron goes crazy about it. But like, if he wants Hermione to say that he is fanciful or if he wants to date Hermione, why not pay her compliments?
- [25:25]
B
He should be talking to her about it. But in fairness to Ron, that foot in the door is important. And maybe there will be a part of him or anybody else who's like, well, maybe this could work. So why not just give it a shot? Because they already like me, which is half the battle. You know, when dangerous, find somebody who's going to like you back. So if you find somebody who's going to give you the light of day, then maybe you can just give it a shot to see if it will work out. So I get where Ron's coming from here, but yes, he has to shoot a shot with Hermione.
- [25:53]
D
Yeah. Oh, it's just so interesting because I really did have the impression of like I took somebody to prom that showed interest and I was like, you know, it would. There was nothing romantic about it. But it's like, oh, they showed me infection. It was, it was that foot in the door. It was making it easier to break down the barriers, I guess between the two groups.
- [26:11]
B
And with, with prom there's always that pressure too. You gotta find a date. You got to have a date for the prom. You know, we see this in Goblet of Fire. You get. You might get a little desperate. Maybe you're not thinking clearly. Like, I went to prom with a girl who ended up not being interested in guys later on in her life, you know, and, and, and for me, same. I wasn't interested in girls later on. So it all worked out. But it's like we were the only two people who were interested in each other. You know, like, well, I gotta pick somebody. So I guess it's gonna be her.
- [26:44]
D
You know, it's interesting. It's like, do you think that you both knew that you were both queer? Like, not maybe in our heart of hearts, but like subconsciously. Cause it's always interesting when you hear those stories. When you think about those like personal life stories of like, oh, the people I surrounded myself with are like, safe. It's interesting. But anyway, the biggest thing Hermione does in this chapter that warrants the name of the chapter being her Helping Hand is interferes with the eventual Quidditch tryout. So after a ton of people show up, we talked about this. After a ton of treasonous Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs show up to the Gryffnor practice and Harry sorts through all it's finally time for keeper tryouts and it's between Ron and this guy that shows up out of nowhere, Cormac McLaggin. And Harry recognizes him from the slug club. Actually, it doesn't, because Cormac's like the one who brings it up. And what I find to be interesting is that there's some trickery afoot, right? Cormac is being tested, and so is Ron, on how many goals they can save out of five. Presumably the keepers, or the keepers to be, are the ones that are tossing the Quaffle. And Cormac saves four out of five and on the fifth one shoots off in like completely the opposite direction. Like Harry's, like, even notices that due to his wide berth, Cormac probably doesn't even need to move barely at all, and instead he just flies off in the wrong direction. That should have been more suspicious than it was. Ron manages to save all five of his goals. Harry's already suspicious of Hermione, sort of, but he lets the points speak for themselves. He doesn't like Cormac, he's a bit of a braggart. And he just says to Cormac, sorry, Ron scored more. My friend is in and I feel like there's something uncomfortable here in that Harry eventually rests the confession from her money in this chapter that she did in fact Confund Cormac. He's not rushing for a rematch, he's not rushing to. To basically retry these two keepers and ultimately Hermione's little justification of Cormac being the wrong, you know, personality. Harry agrees. But wouldn't you as a coach want the best player, the best athlete on your team? So is this a moment where Harry's choosing to be a friend to Ron over being a Quidditch captain?
- [29:17]
A
What I really don't like about this whole situation though, is that Hermione is taking this decision away from Harry because she confounds McClaggin. Presumably he would have saved all of them and Ron would have saved all of them. And who knows, maybe you go to a shootout of sorts, or maybe it's Harry then knowing that they both tied has to make a choice. And to your point about do you go with better athlete or do you go with your best friend? That's a kind of minor life decision though, that Harry is. Is faced with. And he doesn't have to face it though, because Hermione basically makes the decision for him.
- [30:00]
B
And, well, I guess his bias is at play too, if he's ultimately going with Ron. Even though Ron didn't presumably do better than Cormac.
- [30:12]
C
Yeah, there is bias at play, for sure. But isn't there something also to be said for team dynamics? Sure. Kind of team you want to have. So my question for you, Mike, is, on a sports team, would a team captain typically pick the B athlete who's a good team player over the A athlete who's kind of an ass and doesn't work well with anyone else?
- [30:36]
A
Depends on the captain. Depends on what kind of team they want. Depends whether or not they want to win. No, I mean, it's hard to say because you don't know what situations are going to present themselves throughout the course of the season. And that question, Laura, actually raised another one for me, which is, why don't Quidditch teams have benches? You think about how physical this sport is, how dangerous it is. Injury is, you know, so prevalent, and.
- [31:06]
D
We hear about all the time, and.
- [31:08]
A
Then, you know, when somebody's knocked out, they're out for that game. It's not like you can sub somebody else in to take their place. And so, you know, this is a situation where I could almost see you having McClag in as a backup to Ron or Ron as a backup to McLaggin, depending on maybe who you're playing against. Right. Your opponent always dictates your roster in a lot of situations.
- [31:31]
B
Yeah. And there's only seven people on a Quidditch team. That means seven people in each Hogwarts house get to actually play competitive Quidditch.
- [31:39]
A
Right.
- [31:39]
B
Which doesn't seem right. You should have probably 14 people. A backup for each, at least role.
- [31:46]
D
Yeah.
- [31:46]
B
Yeah. I love that point. Especially because of how dangerous Quidditch is, and not to mention how dangerous the whole darn school is. Like, if you're not getting injured in Quidditch, you're getting injured because of something else.
- [31:58]
D
Yeah, sorry, I just took. I just came here from care of Magical Creatures class, and Hagrid's got his half giant brother, or full giant brother, teaching it now. And I've lost my arm. I'm sorry. I can't. I got crushed.
- [32:10]
B
Have I mentioned we have a security consultant hat for sale? Starting to sound like a security nightmare. Security nightmare?
- [32:17]
D
No, they should have a bench. You know, the unspoken thing here, though, too, is Cormack went first in these trials, and Hermione deliberately interfered with the fifth goal, maybe others, but he, you know, managed to succeed. If Cormac had gotten a perfect score, Ron's nerves would have been through the roof. Right. There's actually not a guarantee that Ron Gets all five the way that he does with. I mean, maybe the reason Ron did so well is he's like, there's a chance, there's a chance I could outperform him. I gotta do it. If Cormac had done so impressively as he was on track to do, maybe Ron didn't even get five and then what would Harry do?
- [32:54]
B
Also, one more comment about this whole team mindset. So we're talking about who does Harry want on his team? We could also take this team question into a larger picture, more of a bird's eye view. Harry has selected Hermione for his team. Getting through his seven years at Hogwarts, Hermione will be a little bad to get what she wants or what the trio wants. We've seen other examples of Hermione having a bit of like a bad side, like trapping Rita in a jar or Marietta Edgecomb's face. That little charm or curse that she put on the sign up shirt.
- [33:30]
D
Still wearing it. Yeah.
- [33:32]
B
His teammate Hermione did that during Quidditch tryouts. And here are the results.
- [33:38]
D
So there's a little bit of hypocrisy there from Harry.
- [33:41]
B
Well, and almost like he supports it, like he had a smirk, doesn't he, in the scene when he's confronting Hermione.
- [33:49]
C
Yeah, he doesn't like, he's not mad.
- [33:51]
D
No, he doesn't like Cormac. But it, but it betrays Harry's better nature to look at Cormac and say, I'm sorry, it's down to goals. Bron did better, so he's keeper. That betrays what's really going on, which is Harry doesn't like Cormac. And Harry could easily say, Cormac, you're too over the top. Even though you and Ron both did five goals or whatever say that happened. He has to make the decision. It's still going to go to Ron. And Cormac is the kind of jerk who would absolutely, you know, shout at him, oh, favoritism this, you know, somebody that. And what's Harry going to do? But I think the stronger reaction would have been to say, actually, no, you're not a fit for this team. You, you, even if you scored better than Ron, I don't want you on this team because you're too much of a name dropper, too much of an ass.
- [34:39]
B
That's, that's the role of the captain. You have to have those hard conversations.
- [34:43]
D
Yeah, exactly. So shying away from it, Harry doesn't learn anything.
- [34:46]
A
McClagan was maybe a Little bit quicker on the uptake, he could have raised. Hey, I felt something, something weird happened on that one goal. But he doesn't choose to do that. Which actually to me is kind of surprising because if he is that good, presumably he would notice that somebody did something which caused him to move in one direction or another.
- [35:09]
D
You know, maybe that's Hermione's skill level.
- [35:13]
A
And this is also very reminiscent of Chamber of Secrets when the rogue Bludger is attacking Harry.
- [35:20]
C
Right. Oh, that's a great connection.
- [35:23]
D
So I'm concerned that Hermione maybe even put herself at risk. Like if she had been caught doing what she was doing. If it wasn't just Ron making an offhand comment, Harry noticing Hermione turns pink, Harry confronting Hermione. Truly anybody next to Hermione. I mean, I guess she must have mastered the non verbal version of the Confundus spell because nobody points at Hermione. So why is it that Hermione should go so far to put it out? Does she do it because she loves Ron? Does she do it because she cares about the Gryffindor Quidditch team getting along and having the right people on it? This is sticking her neck out. And I'm curious what we think her motives are.
- [36:07]
C
I think it's mostly because she. I don't know if she's fully figured out what her feelings are for Ron yet, but I think they're definitely flowering for sure. So whether consciously or subconsciously, I think that's the main reason that she did it. And maybe the reasoning she's telling herself to give Harry a reason is to say, oh well, you wouldn't want to work with him anyway, you know, and I don't want my friends to have to deal with somebody really annoying like that. So that.
- [36:38]
B
And I think she believes in Ron. He is a good Quidditch player. He does well during the tryouts. Like it's not like he did terrible.
- [36:44]
C
Yeah, yeah. She just doesn't know that he's going to end up being an alcoholic one day. If you take Cursed Child as canon. Anyway.
- [36:53]
D
Oh goodness. And so we mentioned earlier that Hagrid was not in the Great hall. And something that I find interesting is this dynamic of teachers like missing lunch or not showing up for meals. My understanding is that the teachers, you know, they sit at the head table, they are all there, they're all present probably for most meals. And so, you know, I think of it a few ways, but Hagrid's absence to me would be an like a inexcusable or unforgivable? Lack of professionalism. Not sure if that's the right word. But, like, think about it this way. If your teacher is in the lunchroom when you're eating lunch and they're also eating lunch, you have a chance to go up and ask them a question. Right. It's like, we don't hear about any teachers having office hours, so maybe seeing them in the cafeteria is how you do that. If Hagrid is missing lunches because he's still upset with the trio, which is a stretch. It's not. There's some. There's other things going on, but he shouldn't be allowed to simply not show up because that's putting the other students at a loss. Does that make sense?
- [38:10]
B
Yeah, I. I do think it could. It would be good for the teachers to always be there. Okay, there's exceptions from time to time. You're sick, you have an appointment, whatever else. But I think by having all the teachers there all the time, it imp house in school unity. It's like we're all in this together. I do like the office hours idea. I think having teachers missing on the reg is not a good look for how they feel about their fellow faculty or the students. Like, I don't want to be around these people. They have the break room. They can go there when they want.
- [38:41]
C
Where else? Wait, where else have we gone to school where it was mandatory for teachers to eat in the cafeteria with students every single time? Like, I just have to think we would all want the occasional break from eating every meal in the school cafeteria surrounded by children.
- [38:58]
A
Yeah, Maybe we go to the staff room. Maybe we go eat our lunch outside if it's nice. We have the ability to do that because we're adults. I just feel like it would get old very quick, like. Right?
- [39:15]
C
Yeah, yeah.
- [39:16]
D
But I don't know.
- [39:17]
C
That's.
- [39:17]
D
At least my impression is that they're all always in there because it's such a point that Hagrid and Dumbledore haven't been this year.
- [39:28]
A
Maybe not lunch, but maybe like, dinner seems more of, like, a appropriate time for everybody to be there. But there's stuff going on during the day. Who knows? Maybe they're teaching an extra course or something.
- [39:39]
B
Yeah, Yeah. I like the dinner idea because you think about family dinners. You know, maybe you're not all eating breakfast or lunch together because of your schedules, but typically, at least here in America, you have dinner as a family at the end of the day.
- [39:53]
D
They all live here, too. They all live at Hogwarts They're a family.
- [39:57]
A
That's the thing. They see them all the time. They all live together.
- [40:00]
C
Right.
- [40:01]
A
Why do they need to be in the meal room every day?
- [40:04]
B
Just dinners. So what is going on with Hagrid?
- [40:14]
D
It turns out that in addition to the trio's snub of him, we got an excellent email coming up about that. It turns out Aragog is unwell. Aragog being Hagrid's oldest friend and somebody that he raised from very young with him, came with him probably to Hogwarts or you know, through. What is it, a traveler's pocket, maybe newt? Scamander gives a first or second year old Hagrid the spider. Well, he's not. Well, traveling into the forest is dangerous. And Hagrid, after the children apologize for not taking his class this year, Hagrid actually positively breaks down and says, I don't know what I do when he's gone. And even though they find it difficult to feel overly too sad, Ron and Harry having actually met Aragog and moreover his family and nearly escaped with their lives. Thanks, Carr. They still feel bad for him. I mean seeing your grown adult man and especially somebody that you care about or like a teacher you like or however you want to phrase that breaking down crying because like of grief is earth shattering shaking and not just because Hagrid's tall.
- [41:30]
A
There's a lot of immaturity though that is going on in this scene with Hagrid. I'm not trying to dismiss what you were talking about, Eric, with respect to Aragog because clearly beasts mean just as much to Hagrid, if not more so than humans do. And so I think there's definitely a very emotional connection there and, and he has every right to be feeling the way that he's feeling, but the way that he is choosing to behave towards Harry, Ron and Hermione because they chose not to take his class. You know, again, I understand their friends and I think like that this is where the line blurs a little bit between friend and professor. Hagrid doesn't really know how to behave like an adult. He very much behaves like a child. And this could also speak to whether or not we feel like he's qualified to be a professor. I know we've talked about that quite a bit on the show.
- [42:24]
B
Yeah, this is tough for me because Harry, Ron and Hermione are so close with Hagrid so I understand why Hagrid would be frustrated that they weren't attending his class. But yeah, I think Hagrid needs to be the adult here and be like, that's life. People are not going to take my class. And maybe he should look inward and think, well, what could I have done differently that would have inspired them to take my care of Magical Creatures class? And it's also like he, he, the adult shouldn't burden the kids with his drama. Honestly. Like Aragog.
- [43:00]
A
Okay, he does that a lot.
- [43:01]
B
Yeah, he does that a lot. He needs to find some friends, right. Who are adults.
- [43:07]
D
The problem with him doing that a lot is there's nobody else. Right. So it's like if he had friends, he wouldn't be crossing, I guess the immense, you know, the invisible line there of they could just support him as students and friends and not his entire emotional carrier. Like, well, caregiver.
- [43:26]
C
It doesn't justify anything. But Hagrid is socially and emotionally stunted because of what happened to him when he was a young teen at Hogwarts. But I think it's really valid to point out that at this point in time, Hagrid's gotta be pushing 70.
- [43:45]
D
Yeah.
- [43:46]
C
Like he's not he. Because it was what it was 50 years since the chamber was opened in Chamber of secrets, which was five years ago. Hagrid was like 13 when it happened. So, you know, the math ain't math and. But I think a lot of that can be chalked up to the fact that Hagrid just didn't. He didn't really get to grow up and have the kinds of experiences that his peers did. And so, yeah, he is going to be more immature. I think he does come around though, in conversation because it becomes immediately clear that there's something else going on that's bothering him.
- [44:25]
A
Yeah.
- [44:26]
C
And it feels like he's kind of using his frustration at the trio as a bit of armor.
- [44:33]
D
Yeah, that, that's, that for sure is, is the case because as soon as Hermione ushers like even, even the tiniest little apology of Hagrid, we couldn't fit into our schedules. Like she's pulling that out of her bum. Like nobody ever like cares. Hagrid's like, oh, I always assumed that it would get tough the older you got to fit it into your schedule. So like he' her like pre apology almost preemptively. It's like as soon as there was pretext for any excuse at all, he's like, I guess it's all right. I guess I figured that makes sense. So. Well, here's actually an email that we got from Meg about this subject and I would read it in full because it reminds me of things that I long forgot about.
- [45:14]
B
Meg says, hi Mugglecast. Here's something that's been jumping out to me during this reread of book six. Why does Hermione drop care of Magical Creatures? Considering how passionate she is about Spew and the well being of house elves, it's surprising to me that she has no interest in continuing a class about creatures. It's true that house elves are classified as beings and thus would not be a topic covered in Care of Magical Creatures, but they are still technically creatures. And considering how after Hogwarts, Hermione ends up working in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, wouldn't you think she would have prioritized getting a newt in the Hogwarts class that covers creatures? In chapter 11, she tells Hagrid that she, Harry and Ron all really wanted to carry on with the class, but they couldn't fit it into their schedules. This is undoubtedly true most of all for Hermione, but throughout the series we see her show much more passion for creatures than she does for Arithmancy or ancient ruins, Ancient Runes. And sure, maybe at the time of dropping Hagrid's class, she didn't realize she ultimately wanted to work in that specific Ministry department, but I just imagined her sometime after the series sharing the news with Hagrid that she's been offered a position there and him being extremely proud but also responding. But Hermione, if you care so much about magical creatures, why do you drop care Magical Creatures? Love to hear your thoughts, Meg.
- [46:36]
C
I love how it is.
- [46:38]
B
Yeah, with a bit of a. Yeah, I love it. I know it's, it's, it's a great question, but I think it kind of speaks to the respect that Hermione has for Hagrid as a teacher. If this was a teacher, which isn't much. Yeah, exactly. If she had respect.
- [46:55]
A
Yeah. No, I agree with you because look at Trelawney. She doesn't, she doesn't value. I'm going to be careful here with how I characterize Trelawney and Haggard, since I'm lumping them together. But I think she has a standard and if she doesn't feel as if a teacher reaches that standard, then she doesn't feel the need to take their class.
- [47:19]
D
Yeah, I mean, that's a good point, honestly. And, but I just think it's interesting because if she, if her destiny is to be the Department of Magical Creatures, Control and Regulation and then Minister for Magic, it is kind of funny that she skips out on the last two years of Magical Creatures schooling.
- [47:37]
C
Who among us is doing anything related to what we studied in school? Yeah, you know, Hermione ends up hitting it pretty close to the mark, if you think about it.
- [47:48]
D
So let's see, going back 21 years, I guess I was doing Mugglecasts when I was a junior and now I'm still doing Muggle Cast. So does that mean.
- [47:55]
B
I mean, I was in TV tech and that now I do a lot of video editing. So that's. But yes, I. I see your point.
- [48:01]
D
The point is well received. And, you know, this is another mark of their friendship with Hagrid. But the way that this hangout ends is sort of toxic and disappointing. And it's basically the trio all decide to take turns lying their faces off about how horrible Grubbly Plank is as a teacher. And this cheers Hagrid up so much that he, you know, temporarily forgets all about Aragog and all of his woes. And I'm just thinking, you know, it shouldn't be up to them to, like, lie about Grubbly Plank to make Hagrid feel okay about himself. Like, we'd all do it for a friend, but it's kind of a shame that that is what has to happen, I think.
- [48:51]
C
Well, I mean, we're never gonna see Grubbly Plank again in the book. So I guess, you know, nobody's giving her a rebuttal.
- [48:59]
D
I mean, here's the thing is, like, if I were a teacher and somebody else said this other teacher was better than you at teaching, I would try and improve my teaching and try to.
- [49:08]
C
Learn from that person.
- [49:09]
D
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [49:11]
A
I, you know, I think as adults, it's easier for us to look back on this with a little bit more of a critical lens and, and be disappointed in the trio for saying these types of things about Grubbly Plank. But if we were a little bit younger, I feel like we probably. Or even the Age of Harry, Ron and Hermione would. Would probably be in the same boat as them, where Hagrid's our friend and we just want to cheer him up and we want to make him feel better. And if it takes, you know, trashing another teacher, why not?
- [49:44]
B
I think it's worth it.
- [49:45]
A
Yeah.
- [49:46]
B
I think that's the easy way to go and it's effective.
- [49:49]
A
Even though she's a good professor, we. We've heard other students speak so highly of her, but my question is, are they only speaking so highly of her? Because the standard for Hagrid is so low. Yeah.
- [50:02]
B
Oh, that's true too. It kind of reminds me of when like your friend, like breaks up with somebody and then you want to take the side of your friend so you're like, oh, that person wasn't great. Anyway.
- [50:12]
D
I always hated that.
- [50:14]
B
Even if it wasn't true. Yeah, even if what you're saying isn't true, you just say it to make them feel better. Especially if the breakup was messy.
- [50:21]
D
It's very human nature. Y. Yeah, well. Awesome. We have a number of odds and ends from this chapter and making the connections between different books. One of the ones that I want to lead with is that when they're first outside his hut, Hagrid comes out of the woods, sees a group of people. He doesn't know who they are. They're with Buckbeak. And he shouts at him and says, hey, get away from. He'll hurt you. And I was thinking, did Hagrid's heart just skip a beat? Because this is not only a hippogriff, but this is the same hippogriff that has injured a student before. And all of a sudden there's a student, a group of students really close to Buckbeak and in fact petting him when Haggard comes out. So did Hagrid have an oh my God moment right here?
- [51:08]
B
I bet that is why he was partly defensive, but it also just makes you think that the Beast would be magically tagged in some way to know their true identities. That this is actually Buckbeak. You know, you would think the Ministry would have some sort of control.
- [51:22]
C
That's too logical.
- [51:24]
B
Oh, sorry.
- [51:25]
C
You know, they wouldn't be able to have so many security nightmares if they took those kinds of regulations seriously.
- [51:32]
D
We wouldn't get to play the sound effect as much if they were more grown up.
- [51:36]
B
I wanted to mention that the Daily Prophet says Stan Shunpike was taken into custody on suspicions of Death Eater activity. But wouldn't people have a hard time believing he's a Death Eater? Considering he's a somewhat well known figure in the wizarding world, at least I would think he's handling a lone mass transportation vehicle in the Wizarding world. You would think. A lot of people know and trust this guy. And when we've been rereading over the last couple years, I like to think about what the average person is thinking outside of the characters that we hear. And if you're at home reading about Stan Shunpike, I would think you're putting the paper down and being like, really? This guy? Especially now that we trust Harry. It just doesn't check out. Maybe that's the fear. I just wanted to randomly.
- [52:23]
D
No, maybe that's the fear because you don't know who it could be, right? So you're like, oh man, if the guy who runs the night bus is not safe, then I'll never take the night bus again.
- [52:34]
B
The trio do note that the Ministry probably wants to show people that they are taking some action. So there is that. But still, Stan Shunpike is not a believable suspect to me.
- [52:46]
C
They probably have quotas. They have to hit Sam.
- [52:50]
A
Yeah, well, one other bit of news that we do get in this chapter is that Hannah Abbott's mother has been murdered. And so this continues that trend, as we've seen, where some of the students, family members at Hogwarts are being captured or being killed by Death Eaters, by Voldemort. And yeah, just a sad point in this chapter.
- [53:19]
C
It felt like such a random diversion from what we were reading about in the moment because it's like a sentence, literally, it says something along the lines of, as a matter of fact, Hannah Abbott got pulled out of herbology the other day because her mom turned up dead. And then it like dropped the topic and kept moving on to something else.
- [53:43]
B
I was like, when they left the.
- [53:44]
D
Gryffindor table five minutes later to head down, it was like, oh God. Okay, all right.
- [53:49]
A
Another thing that we just probably want to keep tabs on is that despite getting a new copy of Advanced Potion Making, Harry makes the decision to keep the old meat of the book. He swaps the covers and returns the version that is brand new to Slughorn. So he's still going to keep up these antics, at least for the foreseeable future.
- [54:18]
D
Sneaky, sneaky.
- [54:20]
A
And then finally for me, we know that Harry does mention something to Arthur Weasley just before getting on the Hogwarts Express about Draco. And Arthur follows through on this tip. We hear about it in the Daily Prophet that there was a raid on Malfoy Manor. Nothing suspicious was turned up, but good on Arthur for actually believing what Harry said and believing in him enough to follow through on it. Because there was that stretch where Harry was just not getting any support at all.
- [54:55]
C
Right.
- [54:56]
D
Two things really satisfy me about this news article in the Daily Prophet. One is that Lucius Malfoy is openly referred to as Death Eater. That's very exciting, right? Because for the longest time he had some level of standing and right now you just see his name right next to Death Eater. Lucius Malfoy. That's very satisfying second is that although it doesn't affect the plot of this book, they don't sort of raid and confiscate anything that will prevent Malfoy from doing what he's doing this year. Nevertheless, Harry has already told Mr. Weasley about the drawing room floor, secret passageway or whatever. And so what this means is they probably have pretty thoroughly actually gotten rid of a ton of dark stuff from Malfoy Manor. And that to me is satisfying. They might not have turned up anything new this time, but you know what that means. It means they got it all on previous raids. Surely there was a raid after Lucius was arrested. So that's satisfying to me is knowing that they have fewer dark objects just laying around Malfoy Manor. Speaking of objects just laying around, my final Connecting the thread here is actually about the Time Turners. You guys. I forget that this whole all of the Time Turners were destroyed is actually in the books. I always assumed it was something the author said in some interview somewhere. But this is in the books. It happens with Hagrid. Hagrid says if you applied for term Time Turners maybe you would have been able to take my class. And Hermione says we couldn't have done. We smashed the entire stock of Ministry Time Turners when we were there last summer. It was in the Daily Prophet. My question is can we trust the Daily Prophet on this? Why is there an article? What does the article say? Oh, we have to halt studies of time because there aren't any Time Turners now everybody. Sorry about that. Why would that be a thing that you publish? It's from the Department of Mysteries. The Unspeakables work there. Nobody would have ever found out about the Time Turners. Or like the fact that they were all destroyed. Why are they reporting it? The fact that they are reporting on it in the Daily Prophet makes me more suspicious that there aren't any Time Turners that that some may remain.
- [57:05]
C
Yeah, I think this was conveniently written in because the author realized this could be a pretty big plot hole. Which I mean made sense until Cursed.
- [57:16]
D
Child came along and there were two secret prototype whatever Time. I'm just saying why publish anything about it at all? That seems suspicious to me.
- [57:27]
B
It does seem like a big deal for all the Time Turners to be destroyed. So I guess that could be a reason they want to. And I can see why Hermione buys it because she was there. She kind of saw the mess that they made. But you still think like maybe okay, one would have survived.
- [57:41]
D
We did that.
- [57:43]
B
Yeah, yeah, we did that.
- [57:44]
A
And who's to say you don't know how to create more or that somebody somewhere doesn't know how to create more?
- [57:50]
D
They had to be creative.
- [57:52]
A
But I like what Laura said though, about the plot hole because I think that it's really for us as readers more than anything else to let us know that this is not gonna be coming up the rest of the series.
- [58:03]
B
Maybe two Time Turners had a Time Turner baby, and the Prophet and the Ministry didn't know about that Time Turner baby. And that's the prototype.
- [58:12]
D
I'm gonna write a fan fiction episode we must do.
- [58:14]
C
Time Turners love each other very much.
- [58:18]
B
They turn back time.
- [58:20]
D
Oh, my God. Okay, it explains this current timeline we're living in. Then let's move on to MVP of the week. I'm very excited about this one, you guys, because it's positive toward Hagrid. For anyone thinking we weren't positive to Hagrid, my question this week is what is the best creature that Hagrid was responsible for introducing the kids to? Even if it's by accident.
- [58:48]
B
I'm gonna say Fluffy. I was always fascinated by that three headed dog. And I used to have this Hallmark toy that sat on your floor and it was motion activated. So if somebody like walked into your bedroom, Fluffy would bark. And this was like, which head? I don't know which head, but it was like. It just felt like my own little security system at. In my childhood bedroom. So for those reasons, Fluffy, my favorite.
- [59:17]
D
Creature that Hagrid introduced them to is Norbert, Princess Norbert, the Norwegian Ridgeback. Because despite being like the most illegal thing Hagrid has ever done, I will bet that fewer than 20 Wizards alive can say they've ever seen a dragon hatch from an egg. That has to be such a unique experience. Dragons themselves are rare, but watching one hatch, that is a lifelong experience that they will remember forever. Thanks, Hagrid.
- [59:45]
A
I went with the Nifflers first because this is one of the, if not the best lesson that Hagrid actually gives to the students and they end up torturing Umbridge in order of the Phoenix.
- [59:59]
C
So they're still so damn cute even when they're torturing Umbridge. I went with Festral first of all, because thestrals are just hella cool and I will not hear any slander against them. Honestly, like, my favorite part about Hogwarts legacy to this day is managing my Magical Creatures Menagerie. I have a whole tribe. I have a whole pack of thestrals that I tend to. But also they end up being such an integral part of the plot and the climax of book five. So you know, whether Hagrid knew it or not, he was introducing something really integral with the Pestrels.
- [60:42]
D
I love that. I I thought that was a really good topic for an mvp.
- [60:45]
B
We love you, Hagrid.
- [60:47]
D
Yeah, thank you, Hagrid. So let's move on to our links line segment. Of course, this is when we ask our Slug Club members over on our Patreon to submit their answer to each week's question that ties into our discussion. And in this chapter we see Hermione do Ron a pretty big favor, which leads to him winning the tryouts for Gryffindor Keeper. So our links line question is, have you ever helped a friend swing the odds in their favor to get something that they wanted? Whether it was job winning, a contest or something else? And did you technically cheat or bend the rules to do it for them? We're really asking our patrons to lay it all out on the line.
- [61:31]
B
Mev said Years ago, my workmate got accepted to university. She needed to go finalize her enrollment, but our boss did not let her go. I argued with him and said that he may be ruining her future. Etc. After that, he let her go enroll and work part time so she could study. Nice.
- [61:48]
D
Oh, good looking out. Matthew says the best people do these things. They help their friends while hanging back to let them shine. So not me.
- [62:01]
A
All right, Matthew, I'll take the next two. I guess 40 says nice try FBI.
- [62:12]
B
Oh, good point.
- [62:13]
C
Oh man, you're on to us.
- [62:16]
A
And then Rachel says, the instance that came that first came to mind was when I was a camp counselor at a place I'd attended as a camper for years. It was an equestrian camp, and a girl I bunked with the year before was back again. I knew which horse she really wanted for the week. So when it came time for the counselors to assign horses, I gave a very compelling argument for why she should get that horse. The other counselors agreed.
- [62:42]
C
Oh, this.
- [62:44]
D
This one warms my heart. And I think it's exactly the sort of thing we're looking for in this question is like, okay, is that cheating? No, it's looking out. I think.
- [62:53]
C
Yeah, yeah. Megan says, I think this is what everyone does in the professional world. Or rather, it's what everyone says in the professional world. It's not what you know, it's who you know. Aside from networking, which is one of my most dreaded phrases, I've been on numerous interview panels and may have prepped one of my friends for the interview process and repeatedly sang her praises to my boss to help her get hired. Unfortunately for me, she decided to stay at her former position. I think that's. I think that's pretty normal to like, put in a good word for someone, but just, you know, make sure that you're actually confident in that.
- [63:36]
D
Make sure they want the job. Oh, goodness.
- [63:38]
B
That.
- [63:38]
D
That just. That's sad. But I appreciate this being shared because, like, yeah, sometimes it doesn't work out for reasons having nothing to do with you.
- [63:45]
B
And finally, Kyle said, I failed to disclose that someone was a friend when they were interviewing to join a show I was working on as I enthusiastically recommended them. Yeah, well, y' all are good friends. Thanks everybody who participated in that question. Yeah, you can participate in the Links line by visiting patreon.com mugglecast and we ask a new Links line question pretty much every week. If you have any feedback about today's episode, you can contact us by emailing or sending a voice memo recorded on your phone to mugglecastmail.com you can also leave a comment on Spotify or YouTube or social media, whatever convenient for you. And next week we continue our Half Blood Prince discussion with Chapter 12, Silver and Opals. Visit michaelcast.com for links to our social media channels, our Patreon, our transcripts, our favorite episodes, and lots more. And if you're looking for more podcasting from the four of us, you can listen to our other shows, Millennial and what the Hype for more pop culture.
- [64:43]
D
And real world talk.
- [64:45]
B
And now it's time for Quizzage.
- [64:51]
D
This week's question which British queen popularized lockets to during her reign, often wearing lockets to commemorate her friends and loved ones? The answer that we were looking for is Queen Victoria. But Queen Elizabeth also had some stuff to do with locket, so 57% of the people with the correct answer said they did not look this up. And this week's winners were. Ashley B. Bort, Voldemort, Cormac McBragon. Don't worry, Snape, I get crampy and crabby too. If Danrad is a short king, am I a medium king? Five' ten Ingrid Monochrome Queen Nutu Kwisich, Prince Albert in a Can, Secunda Teacher of Mungles, Teacher of Muggles, Turtleman, the Selected Learners United for gifting, aka the Slug Club, Zombie Queen Elizabeth 2, and of course, Tofu Tom. Here is next week's Quizzet question. In Chapter 11 of Book Book 6, Ron asks Hagrid what his barrel full of grubs will grow into. And Hagrid doesn't say, in real life, grubs are the larval stage of what type of insect. So submit your answer to us on the Quizzic form located on the Mugglecast website@mugglecast.com Quizzitch that's the easiest way to submit. And when you you're on our website, if you're hopping around checking out transcripts or must listens or anything else at all, click on Quizzage from the main nav bar.
- [66:27]
B
Thanks everyone for listening. I'm Andrew.
- [66:29]
D
I'm Eric.
- [66:30]
A
I'm Micah.
- [66:31]
C
And I'm Laura. Bye, everyone. Bye y'. All. See you next time.
- [66:35]
D
Happy 2026.
- [66:45]
B
Sam.