Harry Potter After 2020

How does it feel to read Harry Potter after 2020? The words on the page don’t change. But times change. We, the readers, change. And that changes the story. Join podcast hosts Lorrie Kim and JC on a re-read of the series, chapter by chapter. As we delve into the story, we’ll remember what the books meant to us when they were first published and analyze what we see differently now. Find more episodes, transcripts, and more at hpafter2020.com.

5.16: In the Hog's Head 11/19/2025

5.16: In the Hog's Head Ernie -- bless Ernie -- points out the thing that has to be said: "We are prefects." He is verbalizing the risk that they have all agreed to take if they go on this path, and that is, in fact, what they're all deciding, and he himself has made the argument for why they should: that this is even more important than O.W.L.s. For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit . /episode/index/show/11a7f4ac-40ef-499a-93b4-537ae4aade2e/id/38781495

5.15: The Hogwarts High Inquisitor 11/12/2025

5.15: The Hogwarts High Inquisitor JC: I went into reading this chapter thinking when I read it before, this seemed so incredibly super dark and hard to imagine. It did not feel that way this time; it was even funny to me in ways that it would not have been funny before. I'm starting to wonder if the rest of this book is going to feel that way to me. I remember this book being so dark, and now I'm like, 'It doesn't feel quite as dark.' For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit . /episode/index/show/11a7f4ac-40ef-499a-93b4-537ae4aade2e/id/38889255

5.14: Percy and Padfoot 11/05/2025

5.14: Percy and Padfoot Harry's thinking he had known Percy for four years, had stayed in his house during the summers, yet now, Percy thought him 'unbalanced and possibly violent'? That was a feeling that was really powerful in the fandom during the first disbelief of TERFpocalypse. That vertigo when you realize that somebody has made you into a monster in their head, even though they had human connection with you that went back quite a way. For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit . /episode/index/show/11a7f4ac-40ef-499a-93b4-537ae4aade2e/id/38765905

5.13: Detention with Dolores 10/29/2025

5.13: Detention with Dolores LK: Your friends and allies are the ones who will hear you, so you have to be mindful of how you direct the anger that you're constantly being provoked to feel. I remember, in 2016, I had to be schooled. I had to be taught, "Do not make small hands jokes. The only people who are going to hear you are your trans-masc friends." That's true. Shoot, sorry. JC: Similarly, when people mock his weight or other things about his appearance, it's the same thing. Who hears those jokes? For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit . /episode/index/show/11a7f4ac-40ef-499a-93b4-537ae4aade2e/id/38752250

5.12: Professor Umbridge 10/22/2025

5.12: Professor Umbridge They're all sitting there and it's just like *groans* and everyone's falling asleep… It's intended to be that the room is quiet. The appearance of learning is there, but no learning is actually happening. This is exactly what Umbridge wants. Then Hermione's hand goes up and stays up, and then slowly, everyone starts to notice, and it's this building and building and building. It's so good. For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit . /episode/index/show/11a7f4ac-40ef-499a-93b4-537ae4aade2e/id/38602580

5.11: The Sorting Hat's New Song 10/15/2025

5.11: The Sorting Hat's New Song I would love to go through some of what Umbridge is saying here. First of all, the jargon that she's using…the words that she used to me as an educator were like red flags. The emphasis is not on creating thinking human beings that can reason and question things. No, we want them to have a very specific set of skills that they can apply, then, to whatever we tell them to. For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit . /episode/index/show/11a7f4ac-40ef-499a-93b4-537ae4aade2e/id/38521780

5.10: Luna Lovegood 10/08/2025

5.10: Luna Lovegood Luna's final words to him are such a masterful end to this chapter, because she's smiling faintly when she says it; she knows. She is in charge of this moment. It's not one of her thoughtless things where she doesn't realize the effect she has on people, and I think she's chosen these words on purpose to be unsettling. "Don't worry. You're just as sane as I am." For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit . /episode/index/show/11a7f4ac-40ef-499a-93b4-537ae4aade2e/id/38436200

5.9: The Woes of Mrs. Weasley 10/01/2025

5.9: The Woes of Mrs. Weasley She is a resistance fighter who's already lost family and now has children; the more people you love in life, the more they have on you. This is just a fact. Snape is the opposite, of course; he deliberately prevents himself from having attachments so that he doesn't have that liability. But Molly… she went all in on giving birth to resistance fighters, so yeah, this is the price she pays. For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit . /episode/index/show/11a7f4ac-40ef-499a-93b4-537ae4aade2e/id/38198300

5.8: The Hearing 09/24/2025

5.8: The Hearing This way that Harry is being set up here -- drawing more blame to himself in proportion to how well he could defend himself from attack -- the only way for Harry to be virtuous in Fudge's eyes is to let himself get killed? There's no winning. There's no way to be a good victim that gets approval. For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit . /episode/index/show/11a7f4ac-40ef-499a-93b4-537ae4aade2e/id/38198460

5.7: The Ministry of Magic 09/17/2025

5.7: The Ministry of Magic Harry, looking at the layers and layers as he goes down, he's learning how to operate in this world that's built on secrets and hidden agendas and subversive speech, whether it's subversive because it's wizards trying to hide, escaping detection by Muggles, or whether it's members of the Order pretending in public not to know each other for their own safety. For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit . /episode/index/show/11a7f4ac-40ef-499a-93b4-537ae4aade2e/id/38138965

5.6: The Ancient and Most Noble House of Black 09/10/2025

5.6: The Ancient and Most Noble House of Black When Sirius looks around at how they're refitting the house for the Order, he says, "If my parents could see the use it was being put to now…" I thought, 'Oh, that's actually honest and hopeful,' because one of the words that came to my mind was 'reparations.' For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit . /episode/index/show/11a7f4ac-40ef-499a-93b4-537ae4aade2e/id/38043320

5.5: The Order of the Phoenix 09/03/2025

5.5: The Order of the Phoenix Everybody thought more highly of Harry's achievement than Harry did. He didn't realize what an advantage he's just given everybody and what a giant defeat he handed Voldemort, because as Harry has been rightly complaining, nobody's saying "Good job, Harry." And it's good for all these adults to realize, "Wait, Harry, you don't know what you did?" "No. If anybody would talk to me, maybe I would have some idea." For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit . /episode/index/show/11a7f4ac-40ef-499a-93b4-537ae4aade2e/id/37958255

5.4: Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place 08/29/2025

5.4: Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place In Korean, there are no capital or lowercase letters, so when I got this volume of Harry Potter in Korean translation, I checked to see how they did Capslock Harry and it's in boldface. If you're familiar with Capslock Harry, you don't have to read Korean to know what chapter this is; you can just see it and know. For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit . /episode/index/show/11a7f4ac-40ef-499a-93b4-537ae4aade2e/id/37808530

5.3: The Advance Guard 08/20/2025

5.3: The Advance Guard The moment he starts flying, he feels like himself again. This is something that we've really needed in this political landscape. The respite it gives your whole system to get back in touch with who you really are… That is something that anybody who's struggling should keep in mind like this. We actively want to reconnect to that feeling as much as possible, because it just resets your body if you can find a way. For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit . /episode/index/show/11a7f4ac-40ef-499a-93b4-537ae4aade2e/id/37698895

5.2: A Peck of Owls 08/13/2025

5.2: A Peck of Owls Sometimes, there's a fantasy where you think, 'Well, if you could just make contact with somebody who's prejudiced and get them to see the common humanity, then they wouldn't be able to say to somebody's face, "Well, I hope you die."' But no, Vernon is fully aware of who Harry Potter is and has said right to his face, "Do your lot have the death penalty?" For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit . /episode/index/show/11a7f4ac-40ef-499a-93b4-537ae4aade2e/id/37671250

5.1: Dudley Demented 08/06/2025

5.1: Dudley Demented There is no getting away from knowing that for nine and three-quarter years, Dumbledore let him live a hopeless childhood with the Dursleys, never contacted him until he was eleven, never let him know "somebody knows about you," never gave him any reason to think his life would be anything other than that. When Dumbledore ignores or abandons Harry in this novel, that triggers Harry beyond anything else. For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit . /episode/index/show/11a7f4ac-40ef-499a-93b4-537ae4aade2e/id/37605185

4.37: The Beginning 07/30/2025

4.37: The Beginning Cedric was special, but just that Dumbledore goes into the personal... This is such an important thing to reaffirm at a time like that: the individuality of a person who's gone is important, because that's the opposite of how Cedric was treated when he was killed. For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit . /episode/index/show/11a7f4ac-40ef-499a-93b4-537ae4aade2e/id/37500930

4.36: The Parting of the Ways 07/23/2025

4.36: The Parting of the Ways "Snape strode forward, past Dumbledore, pulling up the left sleeve of his robes as he went. He stuck out his forearm and showed it to Fudge, who recoiled." This is one of the moments in the series when Snape shows his true self. There aren't that many. This is his Time-Turner moment. We have seen throughout this entire volume how immature and unprepared he really is for this, but it's his time.For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit . /episode/index/show/11a7f4ac-40ef-499a-93b4-537ae4aade2e/id/37420605

4.35: Veritaserum 07/16/2025

4.35: Veritaserum When you're a child, you want somebody to have wanted you and to love you even if there's absolutely no evidence that this will ever happen for you. The need doesn't go away, and you may hate yourself for it. You may try, like Voldemort, to split your soul and deny that need and put it away from yourself so you never feel it again, but it doesn't go away, and this is the bond that Voldemort and Barty Crouch Jr. found in each other. For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit . /episode/index/show/11a7f4ac-40ef-499a-93b4-537ae4aade2e/id/37371560

4.34: Priori Incantatem 07/09/2025

4.34: Priori Incantatem He's just rebuilt his entire body with Harry's blood that has protective love in it. That is what it takes to feel human connection and empathy and grief and remorse; those are the qualities in a person that help you heal. All of the effort that Voldemort has always put into compartmentalizing his soul -- walling off his feelings -- now, those efforts are being countered and undermined by the love in his blood that's a solvent. For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit . /episode/index/show/11a7f4ac-40ef-499a-93b4-537ae4aade2e/id/37253035

4.33: The Death Eaters 07/02/2025

4.33: The Death Eaters I imagine that this entire series is being imagined by Tom Riddle, an orphan in an orphanage who is a brilliant and violent and lonely child, and that he's fantasizing that somewhere in the world there is a little kid like himself who has spent the exact same time suffering and can understand him, and if he finds this kid, this kid can give him some answers, put some limits on his pain, maybe help him heal. For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit . /episode/index/show/11a7f4ac-40ef-499a-93b4-537ae4aade2e/id/36967225

4.32: Flesh, Blood, and Bone 06/25/2025

4.32: Flesh, Blood, and Bone No matter how potent Voldemort is, he can't make himself grow. That is magic he doesn't have and that is what he needs Harry for, because what makes you grow? Does brilliance make you grow? Does being magically powerful make you grow? No. The most completely dirty, mundane, commonplace caregiver affection is what makes babies grow. For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit . /episode/index/show/11a7f4ac-40ef-499a-93b4-537ae4aade2e/id/36798510

4.31: The Third Task 06/18/2025

4.31: The Third Task JC: When I think Voldemort, sexual magnetism is not the word that comes to mind. Lorrie: I think his focus is on how he feels against people who have intact families; he is breaking apart those bonds to create people who feel more like how he does so that he's not quite so alone -- so he doesn't have to be torn apart by this death-like jealousy. For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit . /episode/index/show/11a7f4ac-40ef-499a-93b4-537ae4aade2e/id/36766180

4.30: The Pensieve 06/11/2025

4.30: The Pensieve By the end of this chapter, Harry sees how old Dumbledore is for the first time. Dumbledore ages in this chapter. He sees Dumbledore at first as the great wizard that Harry's always believed he is, and at the end of the chapter, he's looking at Dumbledore and realizing he's an old man and he looks exhausted. Maturing, looking at the adults in your life and realizing they're mortal. For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit . /episode/index/show/11a7f4ac-40ef-499a-93b4-537ae4aade2e/id/36701735

4.29: The Dream 06/04/2025

4.29: The Dream He is riding on the back of the eagle owl that he has seen earlier. Apparently the eagle owl is going to Riddle Manor and then Harry's perspective leaves the owl's back. He can see the owl, too, as well as the back of the chair with that thing in it, that thing that Harry has never seen head on: that small, baby-shaped, scary thing. So yeah, he's having a vision. For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit . /episode/index/show/11a7f4ac-40ef-499a-93b4-537ae4aade2e/id/36696850

4.28: The Madness of Mr. Crouch 05/28/2025

4.28: The Madness of Mr. Crouch Maybe, if we show how upset we are, she'll understand how angry and desperate she's made people. The thing is, that doesn't work because strangely, recipients of hate mail don't take that lesson away from it. When your defenses and alarm shoot way up because somebody is threatening you and sending hatred your way, your first response is not sympathy for the person who's threatening you. For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit . /episode/index/show/11a7f4ac-40ef-499a-93b4-537ae4aade2e/id/36621685

4.27: Padfoot Returns 05/21/2025

4.27: Padfoot Returns He says to Harry, "I'll breathe freely again when this tournament's over, and that's not until June." To me, this is the proof. Yeah, Sirius is a parent, godfather. He and Molly Weasley have an argument in the next volume about whether he's really the same as a father. Yeah, this qualifies to me. For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit . /episode/index/show/11a7f4ac-40ef-499a-93b4-537ae4aade2e/id/36433830

4.26: The Second Task 05/14/2025

4.26: The Second Task She was the mother of a three-month-old, kicked out of the house with her baby still inside. That's something that happened to this author, and I can't help but remember that when I look at the passage of Fleur going crazy because she was physically unable to go rescue her sister. I'm not going to read literature separated from details of the biography of the author. I find it more rich, more human and rewarding to integrate what I know into my reading of it. For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit . /episode/index/show/11a7f4ac-40ef-499a-93b4-537ae4aade2e/id/36423740

4.25: The Egg and the Eye 05/07/2025

4.25: The Egg and the Eye Whether or not you change on the inside, there are choices you've made in your past that you cannot run away from, and there are people who remember that commitment you made and were in it, too. You can't disavow this. Snape seizes his left forearm as if "something on it had hurt him," and that's one of those rare moments when we get to see the real Snape. For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit . /episode/index/show/11a7f4ac-40ef-499a-93b4-537ae4aade2e/id/36350950

4.24: RIta Skeeter's Scoop 04/30/2025

4.24: RIta Skeeter's Scoop "Boys, keep back! They prefer the woman's touch... Girls to the front…" This is a de facto magical gender test, right? If you're a kid who might not fall neatly into the gender binary, then you have to wonder, “How is this magical creature going to respond to me?” You might be able to pass by human standards or wizard standards. What is a unicorn going to think? For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit . /episode/index/show/11a7f4ac-40ef-499a-93b4-537ae4aade2e/id/36325360

Harry Potter After 2020

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