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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

The awful thing that happens to Dudley, this body-horror thing of his tongue turning into something terrifying: that's the first announcement of one of the major themes in this volume that puberty is a time of monstrous, uncontrollable body changes. However your body changes on the outside, at all times you're going to have to somehow square it, coordinate it with who you feel like you are on the inside.

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

When he first gets the letter, Harry knows that it's the Weasleys asking permission, so at the very beginning of that scene he is not going to say or do anything to upset Uncle Vernon. And by the end of the scene, Harry is not at all worried about pissing off Uncle Vernon, and Uncle Vernon's the one who's scared of Harry. It's really wild to watch that change happen over the course of this one scene.

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

How is anyone ever going to know how Tom Riddle, the child, feels? Well, if he can brand his followers with a Dark Mark, then there will always be people who know how he feels. It's the closest thing to having friends. When he's angry, and he wants to punish the rest of the world for how much he's hurting, then he has these built-in victims that have sworn their lives and their souls over to him.

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

Crucio, Avada Kedavra, and Imperio were invented by infants who desperately need to control the behavior of others to keep them alive, and are terrified and enraged when that is endangered. That's why when you see out-of-control tyrants -- when things don't go their way -- exhibit appalling, punitive behavior, that's why they seem like babies.

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

"A not-insignificant number of people discovered their trans identities through Harry Potter roleplay and Harry Potter cosplay, because Harry Potter was so big and such a big part of our lives. I was trying to make a list of the people I knew on LiveJournal who went through transition, and it was so long that I gave up. It's a demographic, not just a few people we knew."

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

Giving Harry back the cloak and the Marauder's Map, Lupin so distinctly crosses over from being a teacher to being a pure agent of chaos. He has zero compunction about this, but that's his actual true nature. He is a very edgy character, and that's something that I want to advocate for in portrayals of Lupin in fanfiction. He is a mollifying person, but he isn't a domesticated safe human. He is chaotic. He has a lot of edge to him.

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