The lake is rising and Dennis Creevey falls in, and then it hit me: these kids are never going to have a normal year at Hogwarts. This is the crew that will never know what it was like. Not that any of them have really had a normal year, but compared to what's coming this year and the next year… We know what's happening and then it gets worse for these kids, and then I went, "Oh, it's like the pandemic." -JC

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Lorrie: I don't know if this is an unpopular opinion or not, but I think that Lucius and Narcissa have by far the most functional marriage in this whole series.

JC: I can't think of a couple that seems to be more of a team.

Lorrie: They discussed their disagreement and they compromised. Oh, my God.

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Since I've read this book last, the whole fake news thing has arisen and we have so much disinformation online, and the way that news spreads has changed. It just hit me that I'm going to read Rita Skeeter differently this time than I have in the past because of what's happened in the last decade.
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The transphobic messages communicate to especially trans youth -- but also queer and non-binary youth, LGBTQIA+ youth -- "you're broken"; "you are a danger, you're a threat." I think one of the things that is tough is that you can't not ingest toxic messages from that. It gets inside you and it's part of you, and the challenge is it's not just coming from J.K.; she's just someone with a huge megaphone.

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"This is the first time we have genuinely seen the intense fear that Voldemort stirs up in the adults who lived in that era. We've seen people shuddering when they say the name, but it almost becomes a joke at some point. And this is genuine panic."

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I love Viktor Krum. I love how he is graceful in some contexts and inept in others, and as we will see later in this volume, I love understanding him in context as an athlete who is from a minority, and because of his high skill is vulnerable to government exploitation.

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JC: How does Harry know what a slide rule is? But also, how would you even use a slide rule to trim a mustache? It makes no sense.

Lorrie: But it does call up a certain kind of old-fashioned fussiness.

JC: Yeah, and a certain 1950s, 1960s style of nerd with the pocket protector and the horn-rimmed glasses.

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I don't think, pre-2016, I would've thought about it so much: how much the wizarding world is a metaphor for any group of people that has to live outside of the power structure or parallel to it, or with an eye on it at all times to make sure that they're not catching the attention of the wrong people. -JC

For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit hpafter2020.com.