Chapter 12: The Polyjuice Potion | Chamber of Secrets

[@CSMSoprano12]

It’s interesting that you guys keep bringing up Percy… because I don’t even think as a child I interpreted Percy as a red herring for the heir. I always assumed he was simply unhappy with the rule breaking and ‘nonsense’, but not being set up as a misdirect.

[@Vi_Vi_1]

Iirc they are going off JKR once saying that Percy was MEANT to be a red herring, and their stance was "well that didn't work at all because I've never thought that, even when when I read this as a kid" so they're only bringing it up in a kind of fascination with this intention that never paid off. So basically, they're exactly aligned with you, but due to having heard of this intention for Percy, they being it up to comment on how it's NOT working Edited to fix typos

[@jaredwonnacott9732]

It's the kind of weird. I never thought it would be Percy, but, if it has of been Percy, it would have felt like a weak twist, because it's so heavily set up. Maybe if there were a reason for the other characters to really care about the reason Percy's been so secretive, like if Ginny found out earlier, and Fred and George kept pestering her to know Percy's secret, and when she won't tell, the trio start to wonder if something is really wrong with him or something like that. The problem is, none of our characters care about why Percy is acting weird, so neither do we.

[@6666Imperator]

​@@jaredwonnacott9732 Percy is too morally up high to fit for what was done at the school, although I don't remember if I thought the same way as a kid reading the book for the first time.

[@bookcat123]

I remember picking up that he was supposed to be a red herring, but never believed it was actually him. I just kept waiting for them to fixate on Percy after Malfoy, and thought it was weird they never did.

[@6666Imperator]

@@bookcat123 how old were you, when you read it the first time?

[@ellaser93]

Probably my favorite little bit from any of the movies is from this chapter. In the movie, Harry (as Goyle) is still wearing his glasses, and Draco asks something like "Why are you wearing glasses?" Goyle (paraphrasing): "I need them for reading." Draco: "I didn't know you could read!" And then Draco gives a little nod like he's actually impressed about that. I always just find it really funny.

[@sonjaimmonen6610]

It's even better, once you find out Tom Felton improvised it, because he forgot is actual line

[@edwardwestmoreland-caunter6128]

""Reading?" I didn't know you could read...." one of the most iconic lines from the franchise. the fact that it was improvised makes it so much better

[@angellynn9937]

Please never split chapters in parts. I absolutely love you long content. I have listened to every chapter twice and have listened to the long all in one what ifs because it’s in long form. Thank you!

[@MrEvanNoyes]

Same I love hour+ videos

[@summerleia]

Never?? The chapters later in the series are pretty long

[@angellynn9937]

@@summerleia neverrrrr. I watch the 12 hour jvb often. I can and do listen to these guys go on forever.

[@MrEvanNoyes]

@@summerleia Nope never. I listen to them at work a lot, longer the better

[@hufflepom]

Percy=red hair-ing 😂 I’ll see myself out. lol.

[@Franzburg]

lol

[@MCGreggy28]

You’d better stock up on Floo powder, because you’re FIRED! 😂

[@hufflepom]

@@MCGreggy28 I love it!

[@TenThousandDoors]

Little did we know that's all she meant by it all along! 😂

[@Luverofmysoul2]

Red Heir-ing 😂😅

[@thirteenthandy]

Draco may have stayed at school for Christmas because Lucius wanted to stay informed about the Chamber activity. Draco was his dad's on-scene reporter.

[@heylolp9]

With the Prophet not reporting that makes a lot of sense

[@kimgrod]

Yup!

[@edoardoprevelato6577]

Yes, especially considering he planted the diary in the first place.

[@simplythatguy-o6n]

which is just cruel for poor Draco and really tells you a lot about Lucious as a character. if that is the case anyway.

[@thirteenthandy]

@@simplythatguy-o6n Well, yes, but at the same time Draco would have been super into the idea that his dad counted on him for an important task.

[@jamesfischer2427]

I think Ben is exactly right. I can just imagine the founders sitting at dinner one evening and realizing, "Hey, we're running a formal school here. When did that start?" Someone says, "5 Years ago?" Then someone else says, "" No, we had students here 10 years ago. " Then someone else ays, " Yes, but we didn't really have separate subjects until 7 years ago." It wasn't planned, it was organic.

[@torazely]

Gryffindor: dang, what's with all the kids around here? Ravenclaw: they're our students. Slytherin: students? What is this, a school? Ravenclaw: ...yes. Gryffindor: Slytherin: Gryffindor and Slytherin at the same time: WAIT, WHAT?!

[@hufflepom]

@@torazely in your head canon is what is Helga doing? Is she just happy that she has new babies to cook for? lol.

[@torazely]

@@hufflepom she's teaching. It's the middle of the day.

[@mlove.1376]

Great job on this chapter. I enjoyed listening to how you actually come up with theories and what the process is like. See you next week.

[@aliceepalermo5047]

Slytherin: “Hey, we’re running a formal school here. When did that start?” Gryffindor: “5 years ago?” Hufflepuff: “No, we had students here 10 years ago” Ravenclaw: “Yes, but we didn’t really have separate subjects until 7 years ago”

[@richewilson6394]

I like to think Dumbledore was messing with the Dursley's by having Headwig sent over there asking for a present for Harry for Christmas.

[@MythStarFire]

I can so see Dumbledore sending Hegwig with a note “She does leave until you give her a present and a Christmas note for Harry”

[@nightfox6738]

I more like to think hedwig just loved harry that much that she took it upon herself to force the dursleys to give him some semblance of a Christmas present.

[@amymelsoner5775]

The reason Tom Riddle knows Hagrid is because he stands out! How many students are 10 feet tall? Draco knows Colin because he follows Harry around begging for pictures and autographs!

[@ailynrenee1796]

Also, Tom was a prefect, and Hagrid was always doing something crazy with animals and getting in trouble and whatnot.

[@Black3ight]

also the whole school will have heard about Colin's attack. So Draco would be able to deduce Colin was a mudblood

[@user-et6rz8qy4c]

And despite all his considerable faults, Tom is very intelligent. His memory must be above average as well

[@MidoriNatsume]

Theorists seem to abhorr the concept of the simplest solution.

[@user-et6rz8qy4c]

Arkhams razor it is!

[@ailynrenee1796]

I think it's more likely that Lucius Malfoy and not Dumbledore is blocking the school governors from reporting it to the Daily Prophet. Dumbledore has probably told the Governors, but Malfoy (Sr.) would absolutely want the attacks to continue, and have targets for those attacks present. He even tells Draco to let the Heir do his work and all that.

[@rittersportfan]

But Lucius Malfoy's greater goal is to get rid of Dumbledore. So he'd want the attacks to be publicly known, so the whole magical society could see that Dumbledore couldn't solve this problem.

[@ailynrenee1796]

@@rittersportfan i mean yeah, but the longer it goes on, the worse it looks for Dumbledore. Especially if he bullies the other Governors, as he already does, into going with his story

[@edoardoprevelato6577]

​@@ailynrenee1796 Lucius lets the attacks pile up before bringing in Fudge to do his dirty work. He also hoped that someone would die so that the firing of Dumbledore would be final

[@fraserjackson]

It's really strongly implied in HBP that Hagrid was in Gryffindor - when McGonagall takes over as 'Acting Head', she invites Hagrid to take her place as head of Gryffindor when the senior teachers discuss what to do next (Slughorn is there as the new head of Slytherin after Snape's departure).

[@bootlegdouglas]

It's a pretty simple solution for the Map to only "know" what the Marauders "knew" and to only show what they cared to see. The Marauders know about people, ghosts, poltergeists, animals, animagi and polyjuice; they probably didn't know anything about horcruxes and they definitely didn't know about the location of the Chamber. So the map shows people and poltergeists (and maybe ghosts). It doesn't show every animal. It shows animagi as their human idenity and people under the influence of polyjuice as their true identity. It doesn't show horcruxes or the Chamber or the basilisk.

[@PhilBagels]

Exactly! A map maker can't put something on a map that he doesn't know about. And the Homunculus charm tracks movement. Inanimate objects don't move. Pieces of furniture and other objects in the school aren't shown on the map. And the Marauders would only include animals that they cared about, such as Mrs. Norris. They didn't really need to keep track of every student's familiar or every spider or rat or owl in the castle. They made the map to facilitate their getting "up to no good". Not to locate dark magic items they hadn't even heard of. Therefore, they only put one the map those things that would be useful for them to know - like were all the teachers and staff are - including Filch and Mrs. Norris, since either of them could put a serious damper on their mischief. And no, Filch is not a poltergeist.

[@sarahdupuy1423]

More metalogic, but if the map could show a horocrux in Hogwarts, and Harry is in possession of it, it would have been a plot point in Deathly Hallows.

[@jojoendersen]

Yes. I'm also pretty sure Moody and Crouch Jr. showed up at the same time. But Harry never questioned Moody in his office, why should he?

[@robertgronewold3326]

As an adult, when it comes to Percy and Penelope sneaking around in remote parts of the castle, I can't help but think that they are up to more than just snogging. And of course as prefects they don't want others to know that wand polishing is going on. Lol

[@luisj.m2471]

:o

[@TenThousandDoors]

That's definitely how it reads to me now. Percy might be a "prude" but he's still a teenage boy with almost no supervision, not to mention a complete lack of sex ed.

[@demonicbunny3po]

These chats make me realize how fast these early books move. The books take place over a year and it feels like only two chapters ago we were on Summer break, and now we are in December.

[@redhat4242]

Merch idea: Ugly Christmas sweaters for main characters. Malfoy's has large font reading "I'm Dashing" with small text below "through the snow!"

[@eltraykov165]

The Millicent Bulstrode plot hole always gets me. Im so glad you guys brought it up

[@Molnek]

"Crabbe, Goyle, don't you remember we were talking to her?" "No Draco, sure that was the night we passed out and woke up in a broom cupboard but didn't tell anyone."

[@joasegoans3709]

I've always read Malfoy's attitude in this chapter as he was just bragging in front of Crabbe and Goyle. Like he thinks he looks so cool this way, like this is his idea of being mature. I also think JK want to contrast his attitude in this book with how he acts in The Half-Blood Prince. There's a ton of parallelisms between those two stories (the diary of Tom Riddle and the copy of Advanced Potion Making being the main one), and I think the fact that Malfoy thinks that commiting murders in school is a funny thing in year 2 contrast with the way he thinks about that when he is in fact asigned this same task, because by then he's more aware of the actual dangers of the war.

[@acmiller22]

Drinking game for every time the guys say"Dumbledore's Big Plan"😂😂

[@DeborahBarker-dh6nk]

If your going to be faithful to the book , Goyle doesn't destroy the diadem , Crabbe does .He cast the fiendfyre curse in Deathly Hallows . They changed it in the movie .

[@I_WillB]

They replaced Crabbe altogether for Blaze Zabini in the last couple movies because the actor was in some legal trouble at the time. But yes you are correct it was Crabbe in the book!

[@Hookert9997]

*You're fun at parties I bet

[@nightspawnson-of-luna4936]

@@I_WillB He was doing some extra credit herbology....If you catch my drift... And then they replaced him with a guy named Blaze... LMFAO

[@janvinbrux3699]

You are absolutely right Crabbe got replaced as the actor had legal trubble

[@SlyLashes]

Came here to point this out. Crabbe, who dies, conjured the fiend fyre.

[@Silver_Girl178]

Lucius is on the Board of Governors. I wouldn't put it past him to get the list of incoming students every year and then tell Draco who's who: who he needs to network with, who he can afford to bully, and who he wants dirt/more information on.

[@GibsonD90]

7:53 Hagrid barged in swingin’ his rooster everywhere 😂

[@thomascorrick5122]

My head canon is that Bill paid for his parents Christmas visit and the reason the other trip was so expensive was because they did lots of touristy things

[@donaldhanning1359]

I've been SO confused the whole time by the Percy Red Herring thing because I didn't see it and have NEVER heard anyone mention it before this

[@PcCAvioN]

Everything percy does is so Percy it doesn't seem suspicious

[@Mori_Nyx]

I always thought that Draco was frustrated with Harry for receiving attention as the heir of Slitherin because Draco respects the heir a lot, and is frustrated that Harry of all people, someone who he hates, is sullying the name of the heir of Slitherin

[@Am3lia77]

Yep, me too

[@martinschalken7583]

Heyy Brotherrr! 😆 Watching a new episode of Through the Griffin Door is the best part of the week! I’m jealous of the people who discover this series years from now and get to binge watch it for months non-stop! You said something in a recent video that got me thinking. You said that someone who had suffered a Dementor’s Kiss is the opposite of a ghost: a shell without a soul. So what would happen if a Dementor tried to kiss a ghost? Would they vanish completely?

[@marksken]

Good question!!

[@Purrabella]

Could a soulless person be inhabited by a ghost?

[@Cailus3542]

A ghost is not a soul. It is merely an imprint, an echo of the original person.

[@martinschalken7583]

@@Cailus3542 But where does the soul go then? It can’t fully cross over because that would be dying “properly” and Nick said he didn’t do that…

[@reinkdesigns]

Ok what is the deal with mandrakes, it's both common enough that they let 2nd years play with them, but also rare enough that Dumbledore can't just send an owl to st Mongo's and order some? He and Poppy both opt to just let the children be paralyzed for nearly half a year? Mandrake salve sounds like it would be insaney useful at st Mongo's and there no way they would just have some

[@jackweaver1846]

Inconsistencies in a J.K. Rowling book? Never…

[@sawanna508]

My assumtion is simple. That potion can't be stored it needs to be freshly made and they only grow each year around the same time liek a lot of plants too. (According to our folklore here mandrakes only have power at all if they grow underneth a gallow were the seet of a hanged thief fell to the ground).

[@Vincent.E.M.Thorn.Author]

1:10:15 I think either the Prefects set the passwords or some magic sets the passwords automatically, because Snape doesn't let the word Mudblood fly in his presence, so presumably wouldn't actively set passwords that encourage that line of thinking

[@christianeedel5160]

Re: date of school founding: We’re definitely still in the Dark Ages here, with little written history from that time and allegedly people were not much concerned / knowledgeable about what year it was anyway. Re: the Weasley children staying over Christmas: I think they would rather say they preferred to stay than admit that the family couldn’t afford for all of them going. That was my interpretation when I first read the book.

[@MythStarFire]

Yeah but there is just too much wizarding history that they teach for them to not keep a history. I think it goes back to a simpler answer, the school has a Fidelity’s Charm on the school, since magic was so dangerous at the time.

[@mavy2017]

@@MythStarFire and going back to an earlier theory of theirs (kzbin.info/www/bejne/op7Og62KbpV_jaM ) the sorting hat is the secret keeper for the history of the founding of the school.

[@grantmaxfield7301]

Maybe so but then oxford was founded in 1096 and we have the date of that

[@sawanna508]

@@MythStarFire At that time it was not yet much of a concern. Poeple might have been superstiouse but the actual persecutions of witches and wizards was later. -It came to my mind that Wizards might have had a different calander because of the change between the Julian and Gregorian Calander.

[@MythStarFire]

@@sawanna508 the calendar switch did cause a lot of problems later. Plus we have to keep in mind Great Britain didn’t exist at the time. We know Gryffindor was from England. It is assumed Ravenclaw was from Scotland, since she chose the Highlands as the location for the school. It is believed that Hufflepuff and Slytherin were from Wales and Ireland. Of course, we don’t really know for sure. Even if people were not as quick to attack due to witchcraft, wars were happening all around them. Between religious issues, fear of witchcraft, wars within each country and between each country, raids by outsiders, I think the founders would have had plenty of reasons to want to keep a magic school safely hidden. It was a bit of a violent time.

[@Crabcakes-yk6kg]

Here’s a Theory: What if Sirius Black had a Trial? This is where I’m going with it, but feel free to change it. After all you’re the experts. 1. Sirius would confess to being an animagi to prove that Peter transformed and therefore an animagi too. 2. A manhunt would be sent on Peter. He gets caught? If indeed he gets caught, how does that affect Voldemort coming back. 3. Sirius gets released(unless sent to Azkaban for being an unregistered/illegal animagi). How does Sirius play a role in Harry’s upbringing if he can’t be his legal guardian?(protective charm at the Dursley’s) I love this podcast and I hope you find this Theory interesting and new.

[@luluwi9501]

I think it's pretty obvious why Tom Riddle knew Hagrid's name. It's not very common for a half-giant to come to school. Therefore, it is likely that Hagrid's name got around. As you said, Harry doesn't know the other students' names but it's very likely that they know Harry's name because Harry is famous.

[@yiyithewuster]

It makes a lot of sense why Madam Pomfrey doesn’t really pry into what kids are doing. You don’t want to incentivize kids who hurt themselves doing things against school rules to not go to the hospital wing out of fear of getting detention or expelled

[@p.s.8171]

I like the idea, that the map recognizes personalities that had been named. It's probably not the most solid theory, but it's a nice one. The name is a kind of container for your personality. And the map recognizes such personalities and their names and displays those names of the currently dominant personality. That would disqualify horcrucses, half personalities like Voldemort in Quirrel, ants and spiders, but not ghosts or animals with strong personalities. That would also explain Peter Pettigrew until book 3, because he's more Scabbers than Peter in book 1, 2 and part of 3. As he's more and more often brought up, mentioned, remembered, and hears his human name and Sirius' name which is linked to him, the personality awakens and the map switches his name.

[@IskandrArchive]

1:02:41 i also really like this about Madam Pomfrey. She knows in a castle full of magical students that they need to be healed/fixed whatever and if she got them in trouble they would be less likely to come to her for help. The fact that she doesnt ask a lot of questions means to me that she must have other ways of getting information about a students injuries or condition. A lot of hospitals in my experience have a similar mentality, they dont care if you took drugs illegally, or got injured doing an illegal stunt or whatever, they just want to make you better.

[@kmccullough630]

Hermione was definitely the mastermind behind the entire polyjuice potion planning (library note, brewing the potion, using the washroom as a location, getting the robes, prepping the cupcakes, etc). I don't think Harry and Ron knew where to go to find the Slytherin common room because Hermione had planned every detail but couldn't join them last minute because of the cat fur fiasco. They are literally lost without her. She even solves the riddle of the basilisk while petrified😂. Also love this podcast! I read the chapter then watch while I do cozy cardio 😊

[@Zeke_O3773]

We need a founders series! Imagine knowing something about Ravenclaw other than having a tiara and a pouty daughter. *giddy*

[@mattphoenix4702]

She was haughty and incredibly prideful too. Slightly elitist. She’s sort of set up as Hufflepuff’s opposite, like Slytherin and Gryffindor. Her daughter might be a bit moody, but there also isn’t smoke without fire. She probably isn’t a terribly pleasant person. Not that it wouldn’t be interesting to know more about her.

[@richewilson6394]

McGonagall was obligated to send him to the headmaster because of the fact that yeah if you did find somebody there you're supposed to report them to the person in charge. And possibly could have been a witness to the scene as well to protect them you send them to the most important person in the school.

[@MythStarFire]

I love watching any SCB videos with the captions on. Makes you feel kinda bad for them, although on one trivia, I think they just started typing random letters. Quirrell really gave them a hard time on this one, from Coral to Quirl. I always thought the exact date of the founding being unknown was due to a Fidelius Charm on the school. The founders being the secret keepers shared the existence of the school, the location of the school, but not everything else about the school, such as it was once a dragon.

[@carlosmc2612]

The whole polyjuice hour time is probably more a digestion thing, like the way your body absorbs it, and that's why if you add animal stuff instead it takes longer to digest or something.

[@toriandtilly]

So does polyjuice go by alcohol rules? If you drink it several times a row does your tolerance build up? Are Harry and Ron just polyjuice lightweights?

[@menachemsalomon]

Percy being sure the monster won't attack a prefect -- which I've never noted in the past, so thanks -- is a perfect plant for why he was so upset when the monster did, in fact, attack a prefect, and Ron makes a comment to that effect. It quite nicely hides that the prefect attacked was Miss Clearwater, and that is why Percy was so upset. It also suggests as to why Miss Clearwater was where she was when she was attacked, and Percy realizes that it could have been him (he was just there with her, after all), and/or she was in the danger zone only because she was there with him, so he's not just terrified and worried, he's also feeling guilty.

[@apeksha07]

You guys have theory for Hagrid being slytherin because he keeps aragog in the dungeons, but couldn’t he be a hufflepuff who also have a common room in the dungeons near the kitchen? I see so many distinct hufflepuff traits in him such as unflinching loyalty to dumbledore, honesty (sometimes even unwillingly honest) and he also has green thumb traits common to hufflepuff because he grows a lot of the produce for hogwarts and himself. Even Newt’s fascination with beasts can be linked because he’s the only famous hufflepuff and hagrid’s love for beasts is very similar to Newt’s. I’ve always thought of hagrid as being hufflepuff but I would love to know your thoughts on it.

[@lucypreece7581]

Slightly related note I once met Josh Herdman who plays Goyle in the movies at my local Comic Con event and I have to say very nice man. He was very lovely and polite to everyone. He is also taller than he looks in the movies. But yeah generally I got good vibes from him.

[@stefanjentoft8107]

Weighing in on the "do house elves appear on the map" question: I thought I read somewhere that the map partially works off of the "hominum revelio" (or whatever it is) spell that Hermione casts when the first return to Grimmauld Place in Deathly Hallows. That spell doesn't reveal Kreacher, so I'd argue that they don't show up.

[@JoshToovey]

Draco Christmas jumper "jingle bells potter smells"

[@mygalpal9630]

My brother read Philosopher’s Stone to my niece (8) and nephew (6). They finished this week and they were shocked that it wasn’t Snape down through the trapped door. It was such a cute reaction. It made me think about J and Ben’s discussions on Snape and Quirrell, and who is trying to steal the stone. It totally tricks kids on a first read, even if there are flaws to it on a reread. I’m excited to see once they eventually finish Chamber of Secrets (the Easter bunny just gave them the illustrated version) if they will be shocked about the Percy and Ginny red herring.

[@wyattgigliotti]

Love the podcast and I love listening to it while I do homework

[@lauramarschmallow2922]

my personal headcanon for a few years was, that Mrs Weasly has a gambling addiction. The time Ron starts at Hogwarts two of their children have already moved out, three up until now are fed 3/4 of the year in the school, they upcicle a ton of clothing and even with the magic's rule that you cannot *produce* food out of thin air, if you have any, you can _reproduce_ the one you have and the Weaslys DO homestead. The school is a public school and they own their plot of land and defnitly don't have an electricity bill. The Weaslys are terrible at money handling.

[@Molnek]

The real problem is just how little muggle money is worth. Molly's great at blackjack but she has to put in a full day for like 2 galleons. They're poor in the summer because she has to look after the kids. This is the last book their poverty is really a plot point. Other than Ron complaining in book 4 the only other time it seems they recognise they're poor is when hosting Fleur's parents which is just dumb in a world with pocket dimension tents.

[@Amatwigger]

The Crabbe and Goyle actors had speaking lines when they found the cupcakes. I specially remember one of them saying, "Cool!"

[@IskandrArchive]

26:30 What i find is interesting is at this point when the series is coming out we have no real reason to think that the big bad of book 2 would be voldemort. There were a lot of cheap childrens books at the time that would introduce new villains each book for the heroes to defeat, with only minor throughlines between books. So when i first read this book i was thought it was gonna be like that. I called tom riddle as the villain of book 2 the minute we found his diary but it was a genuine surprise to me at the time when tom riddle revealed himself as lord voldemort.

[@itsallme1234]

I love the way this podcast gets me to notice the small details! Case in point, I have a new headcannon. The reason Slughorn has Polyjuice on hand on such short notice is because it doesn’t actually take a month to make, if you have the instructions in Advanced Potion Making. Hermione, who is stuck using a much older book, doesn’t know this. Until, that is, she opens her copy a few years later, flips to the page on Polyjuice, and does a stunned anime face when she read Quick and Easy Polyjuice potion in an hour!

[@nathans9764]

I don't think the recipe is ever mentioned as being in advanced potion making. Slughorn has some, like the other potions there, to show off. But they certainly don't have the recipes for veritaserum and Felix felicis in that book.

[@kalebzerger301]

Love your guys podcast, wish I had people to talk with about Harry Potter in person for an hour every week

[@bowbow8197]

lol ya I have a Dobby plushie and every time the holidays come around I put him on the mantel and he is our “house elf on the shelf.”

[@tayters8763]

it was fun to see the spinning up of the theory video from this week. i will add that i think since the point of a horcrux is to hide a piece of your sole, its probable that a horcrux container, regardless of whether or not that container is organic, would protect the piece of sole from detection. with that in mind, the new tom riddle that emerged from the diary would at that point show up but not before.

[@Viajandocomoexperto]

Heeey brother! This is Paula from Miami. I wish the tour went to Florida. I absolutely love the podcast and your KZbin channel. Every Monday I listen to the weeks I episode to start my week with a great mood. I then listen to the next chapter so I start to thinking about it prior to the next episode. After listening to this episode and your comments about the gifts that Harry receives for Christmas. I thought how weird that it is not mentioned until book 4 that he gives Ron or hermionie anything. Harry is super rich and never gets his friends a gift and is always getting gifts from Ron 💔

[@ShireLeaf]

This is definitely the best day of my week!

[@jlerrickson]

I love the tangled thought web you two went down on that horcrux question. It was a bit like watching Gru and Guy get stuck in tar, only to tangle themselves even more solidly in string while attempting to escape. I look forward to the video with your clarified thoughts! 😄

[@jamessmithson-br7rm]

Wait, was it not fairly obvious to everyone else on their first read through that the monster in the Chamber of Secrets was some sort of snake? I remember my Dad reading it to me when I was a child and I said it must be a snake of some sort because: 1) only Harry can hear the voice saying it wants to kill, and we’ve now learnt he is a parselmouth 2) the first thing 8 year old me associated petrification with was Medusa… with her snake hair… Greek mythology was the only place I’d heard of anything similar (maybe I was a bit of an odd child) 3) it’s Slytherin’s monster and the symbol of his house is a snake (which was the nail in the coffin) There was literally no doubt in my mind that we were looking for some sort of snake. Dumbledore should have been all over it. Really making me question if he was all that 😅

[@srayj]

I imagine that the situation with the sorting hat is similar to the headmaster portraits. They probably sat with the hat and put their knowledge into it so that it could reflect all four of their thoughts as opposed to a portrait, which just reflects one person’s essence.

[@rustyeshleman2947]

I was listening to the end and you guys said, “And Voldemort would end up as…” then an ad came on and said,” a professional mechanic.”😂😂😂 So Voldemort would show up as a professional mechanic apparently.😂🎉❤

[@johnanderson6124]

Isnt possible that hagrid, being a half giant, that everyone knows his name because he is a half giant?

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

Love your podcast guys! Keep up the good work 🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@stuffingtonjfluffypantsiii]

One of the rare times the movie did something better than the books was when Malfoy asked the polyjuiced Harry why he was wearing glasses and then said "I didn't know you could read."

[@lovelylife-tz4be]

Sunday. Best day of the week. Gets to listen to some great podcast❤

[@hufflepom]

One thing I’ve been thinking about all week and kind of bugs me. Harry has loads of money. You can buy potion ingredients at a store. You can order things from stores and have them delivered to school. Why didn’t Harry just buy the Polyjuice ingredients from the shop and have them shipped to school? This way there is no risk of getting in troubling nicking them from Snape. Am I thinking too much like a grownup? lol.

[@riluna3695]

In later books Harry has to deal with things like Filch looking through his packages for contraband and the like. These are usually preceeded by specific things like "security's tighter because Sirius Black is loose" and so on, but there may just by default be some level of checking things. Though I guess we can rule out "reading the contents of letters", because that selfsame Sirius sends some rather incriminating messages by morning owl, and nothing happens. Packages, though, perhaps. They might at least be logged, and someone could check back later and see "these are all the ingredients of a potion this student should not be brewing and could be used for mischief....also he's a mischief-lover already". But all of that is really nothing more than a way of suggesting why he might potentially have not had the option. Far more likely Rowling either didn't think of it, or thought that it was fine to not bother closing the option. I for one vastly prefer checking my stories for exactly these sorts of alternate solutions, and if they don't lead to a better story, systematically close them off.

[@Black3ight]

well something like Polyjuice potions would i guess/hope be illegal for students to purchase. atleast 12 year olds.

[@hufflepom]

@@riluna3695 the packages are being checked because Umbridge is a nosy butt and then for dark objects. It could be an “oopsie I ran out of potion ingredients.” To make is less suspicious they could split the ingredients into three orders between the trio. But you do bring up some very good points.

[@madalynnr9940]

​@@hufflepom you're asking this question when near the beginning of the book Harry and Ron opt to fly a car to school, and in the previous book when faced with a teacher hexing Harrys broom opts to set the teacher on fire. The group goes to extremes very quickly

[@hufflepom]

@@madalynnr9940 so I’m thinking like a grownup. lol.

[@jeffgammons431]

Great episode guys!!!! I was beyond excited when I saw it was nearly two hours long!!! I love your channels and always looking forward to more great content!!!! God bless….

[@DavidJones-gu3bz]

Pretty sure the interaction of Tom Riddle being asked if there was anything he wanted to tell him was actually with Dippet but the film changed it to Dumbledore. There is a parallel but not one that gives Dumbledore advanced knowledge (unless he interrogates Dippet's portrait)

[@Jake-hw9kp]

I absolutely love how there is like a 20 min detour at the end of this video 😂😂

[@RedDragonForce2]

@1:29:29 Thank you, reviewer. You have just opened a rabbit hole for the rest of the video!!

[@violacola]

I love this podcast. Every week when I listen I find that you bring up everything I hoped and more from my read through. I'm not sure if you guys read these comments but since I don't have an Apple account I figured this was the best way to ask a question: do you think that Molly Weasley ever met James and Lily Potter? A good friend and I were comparing and contrasting Sirius and Molly as dueling parental figures in Harry's life and the question came up when I offered that their differing approaches to Harry might come from Molly only knowing of Harry that boy while Sirius is bringing in his experience from being James' best friend, but then my friend reminded me that Molly's brothers were in the original Order of the Phoenix with the Potters, and it's very likely that Molly may have met several members through them, even if it never comes up in the main story. So, I bring the question to you. If Molly did meet the Potters before they died, what effect do you think that might have had on her approach to Harry?

[@The_Early_Gamer]

I can see many situations for Draco to stay at the castle, he totally wants to be there for the chamber of secrets situation, maybe even to report to his dad. But also I do have a hunch that Draco's life at home is not great... The times we do see him interact with his dad, it doesn't paint the best relationship.

[@glebjohnson9057]

1:05:20 Fun fact about speaking roles. They are indeed different in case of payment and also the definition of the role. Griphook was played by an american actor in the first movie, but he was dubbed by Warwick Davis who later played him. There was the rule to only have british actors in speaking roles and that's how they avoided that. So a dubbed role is not a speaking role and Crabbe and Goyle did not have one until the 8th movie. By definition they were more likely extras.

[@kyriepitcher355]

Here's a What if: What if all the Wesley brothers at the school went with Harry to save Ginny( in the chamber of secrets). I think even Percy would break the rules to save his sister's life. Fred and George would be interesting to see in such a serious situation. Would Percy's brains be an asset? How would Fred and George trick Tom or the basilisk? Would Lockhart even be there? Would the brothers bond in a way that effects the story?

[@gopackgo1984]

The sweater should be the movie, Elf meme where he is super excited, but Malfoy’s face 😂.

[@orangetuxedoman]

Hey Brothers, this podcast is Soo much fun, the Super Carlin Brothers KZbin channel helped me remember my love for the series, and the podcast has brought me back to the craftsmanship of the pages and back to the happier parts of my childhood. I had a thought, Hogwarts predates the founding of the Ministry, doesn't it? What do you think that means about Government Organization in early wizard history, Hogwarts would have also needed to serve as a political power / center earlier on, Discuss...

[@guineapigrecordings9683]

Eggnog in the uk always has alcohol in it I think. We mix it with lemo to drink

[@wilmerlopez9003]

FINALLY. I’ve need searching for the silver instruments answer for 17 years… kind of love how like in math, “the limit doesn’t exist”

[@Halfbloodprincesss8]

I always likened the potions recipes to baking recipes. When you’re starting out, you follow the recipe exactly even if it means you end up with double what you need because your skills are basic. Once you practice and get confidence, you can divide or multiply a recipe much better and get closer to the amount you need. So in Deathly Hallows when the trio is running out of Polyjuice, Hermione has no idea how long they’ll have in the Ministry which makes me think it’s less magic based and more amount based.

[@Pixiemage]

Thinking about the Weasleys’ trips to Egypt…I have a brother that lives in NYC, and there’s definitely a difference in cost between “I’m visiting Colin this week” and “We’re taking a vacation to the city”. On one hand, it’s “Oh we’ll catch a flight to New York, stay in his apartment to save money, and just spend time together”. On the other, it’s “We’re making a TRIP out of this! There’s more people, so we’ll get a hotel, we’ll get some Broadway tickets, go on some city tours, go to see the Statue of Liberty, take a trip up to the Empire State Building-” Going to visit family is one thing, but if the Weasleys won the LOTTERY, I imagine they would’ve made a whole Family Vacation out of it complete with the classic touristy things that often cost money for ticket/entry. They’d skip all that during a Christmas visit because that’s not the point of the trip. Granted, spending all 700 galleons in one go is DEFINITELY going all out for a family vaycay lol…but they feel like people who care more about the memories they make with family and the experience of a fun trip, than tucking every penny away even if it means never splurging on fun things.

[@clairethompson5549]

As a knitter, I have never been more inspired 46:23

[@jamessmithson-br7rm]

Ben just had that moment when you realise your teach has an actual first name and isn’t just “Mr” and “Mrs” [x].

[@dakotadamron3268]

I listen to you guys every week on my way to work I love y'all! One thing that has always bothered me is that the locket makes everyone grumpy including harry but harry being a hulcrux has no effect on anyone other than maybe his aunt and uncle. You would think at least harry would be a miserable person having lived with a halcrux inside him

[@Am3lia77]

45:17 - 46:51 I died at the sweater part 🤣 🤣 🤣 Also I interpreted the same way

[@kable_t.v.]

45:35 Harry is the subect of that sentence. Thus that whole sentence is talking about Harry and his sweater, which would be the object.

[@Maxman918]

In the Deathly Hallows, the snatchers ask the students they catch what house they are in. When the student says Slytherin, the snatchers ask where the common room is, and most can't say where it is. So clearly many students don't know where it is, if they are not in Slytherin. Harry can only answer the question correctly because he has actually been there.

[@CarrotsKing]

The idea of dunking the sorting hat in the pensieve made me snort 😂

[@kookiezinski7969]

Fun episode as always! Personally it never occurred to me that it could possibly be Percy, even with dozens of rereads. I figured Percy was trying to solve the puzzle and be the hero.

[@laurapoplett6212]

I definitely read a fanfiction story once where the Malfoys take a sleigh with bells through the snow to visit a friend on Christmas. Lol.

[@keithg460]

For the "We did" addon, authors do sometimes agonize over small changes, and even after the book is published, sometimes want to change little things for multiple reasons. You think that they would just be thinking about large changes like character backstories, scene alterations, adding metaphors and secret easter eggs. Sometimes sure, but also most of that is such a big part of the building blocks of our stories that we have already made those decisions a long time ago. We spend more time editing and rewriting the same sentences and paragraphs over and over to make them sound and read better.

[@ZChantie]

The Chudley Cannon jingle was excellent. 😂

[@ZoranBlackRose]

i saw the lateness of the ministries sentencing Auther for the flying car as it took them a couple months to find out who it was were they were so fast with harry because of the trace. Personally I think had Molly not sent the howler to Ron the would have never have known but since she did and Draco heard it Draco probably told Lucius who put the ministry onto Authers trail and it took them a while to prove it because the car never came back.

[@Boundwithflame23]

I figured Molly and Arthur might be able to stay at Bill’s house if it’s just them two and him but they’d need to rent accommodations if it’s the entire household. Also didn’t they spend some of the prize money getting Ron a new wand?

[@Fogo_pogo]

And Bill could have paid for his parents to visit, so Arthur and Molly wouldn’t have had to spend anything…just thoughts.

[@Boundwithflame23]

@@Fogo_pogo ye

[@EloImFizzy]

I took it as Draco being jealous that Harry is a parselmouth, and possibly related to Salazar Slytherin.

[@misterjeckyll]

I believe we know some of what the silvery puffy instruments are doing. Its a similar instrument that is used in the ministry of magic to register Harry's wand, and the smoke effect is the same as when doing priori incantatum on a wand. So basically they are instruments to seek information and materialize it, with an element of automation

[@mahdrashid8670]

the Draco Christmas jokes had me rolling 🤣 love this podcast

[@richewilson6394]

They did address in the movie that their voices were not changed so you can say maybe the potion wasn't completely done. But yeah they still could have made it like seem like their voices were changing over They just did it for the audience to get a hint.

[@rfactor1502]

My guess on the finances for the Weasleys going to Egypt this year 2 vs year 3 despite them being in the hole financially year 2 is simply that a lot of their costs (accommodations that could house however many decided to make the trip and whatnot) were paid ahead of time during year 2. This causes an issue when they get hit with unexpected legal fees, and leaves them with little to work with in the interim between some point around the start of term and the Christmas vacation. Then in year 3 they get to actually take the trip again, for a longer period, with everyone 100% going, despite having spent this gold the year before, because they wouldn't have saved that much gold in the maybe six or so months between trips. It feels less weird, and more a case of one trip being funded by long term savings, already spent by the time of the trip into the vault we get to see, and one funded by 'unexpected' good fortune. I say unexpected in quotes because the timing of that prize and how it was used, despite the finances otherwise making some sense under this train of thought still smacks of Dumbledore executing another step in his big plan.

[@keeperofthevoidful]

1:44:00 Ot maybe they did see Tom Riddle's name on the map next to Quirrell's and that is why they were throwing Snowballs. 😂

[@Luverofmysoul2]

I think I remember reading somewhere that Fluxweed is the time element for the Polyjuice potion.

[@pixywings]

Jingle bells, Potter smells, Granger laid an egg!

[@RedDragonForce2]

@1:41:50 There is also the factor of just ow much soul is in each Horcrux. Diary is 50% Voldemort, as determined in your "Harry is more Voldemort than Voldemort" video, so there's also that to consider.

[@ThomasBarrettMusic]

I think the answer to the marauders map question is that it’s a combination of spells. I think there’s a spell to detect people, a spell we see exists in Deathly Hallows. A spell that detects ghosts, and one that detects poltergeists. The animals do make it hairier but I’d argue that it can be explained by saying that there’s a spell looking for pets, not just any animal, which would mean Fluffy or Aragog appears on the map but not every animal. The other option (and I’m surprised you didn’t come up with this one) is what if the spell is actually looking for beings with names? Not unlike Naming from name of the wind

[@simplythatguy-o6n]

1:19:33 everytime these two talk about red moon and harmione I desperately want to hear their thoughts on drinny, as that ship compliments the other two so well.