6.27: The Lightning-Struck Tower

LK: One of the most blessedly generous archives of fan imagination, collectively, is the Remus and Sirius fanworks world. Anybody who's wondering what is behind this devotion to a different reading of Remus Lupin than the one the author is giving us here… It's not hard to find. JC: If you're going to Google image search, be careful, as always. For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit hpafter2020.com.

Snape deliberately taught Harry and Draco to use Expelliarmus instead of attack. This early training in defensive disarmament became the signature magic of both boys, the only magic that these seventeen-year-old boys needed. You don't have to be wealthy, and no amount of power or wealth can necessarily defend you against this simple thing that even a kid can do. For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit hpafter2020.com.

Snape, the true Snape, does not want Harry to cast an Unforgivable because it would damage Harry's soul. He knows that because Snape, having just cast an Unforgivable, is just about to die from the pain of it because we know Avada Kedavra -- if you cast it successfully -- rips your soul apart. He's just killed Dumbledore; his soul has been ripped apart, it's incredibly painful.  For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit hpafter2020.com.

This astonishing, incredible, generous thing: Dumbledore says, "We have ability to protect you, your mom, and then, when he gets out of prison, your dad." This is the kind of thing that Death Eaters, and a lot of people, think is weakness. It cannot help but change Draco to hear this offer. For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit hpafter2020.com.

JC:  You need two competent people in some way to get through this. Who was the wizard and who was the victim? It took the two of them working together to get in and out. So not a victim, but someone who was willing to take on that sacrifice. That's the thing that Voldemort maybe couldn't imagine someone doing. For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit hpafter2020.com.

Snape is completely the kind of adult that has no love life and would be really mean to teenagers about theirs, but it's for real; it's topical. His having no love life is because he's in the middle of atoning for past regrets, because he chose the kind of dangerous wartime life to make up for them. For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit hpafter2020.com.

Harry and Draco seeing each other in the cracked mirror: Your fear, your terror, is like my fear and my terror.  For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit hpafter2020.com.

Splitting your soul and hiding it away from the rest of yourself so that that part remains unchanged… This is a form of self-harm when there's something in yourself that causes you so much misery that you disown part of yourself. For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit hpafter2020.com.

The lure of being told that you could earn back forgiveness (or that you could somehow make repairs or amends) is the fantasy that's powerful enough to overcome a shame that's so deep that you would literally let thousands of people die rather than face yourself. For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit hpafter2020.com.

The question that Ron's been asking this entire year feels so current and contemporary: "Anyone we know?" Because that is the risk, right? That's been contemporary life. Okay. In the news, who's being targeted today? Is it trans people again? Is it queers in general? Is it libraries and librarians? Is it legal immigrants? Is it birthright citizens? Is it farmers? Childhood cancer researchers… That's who's being targeted today. Canadians! For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit hpafter2020.com.