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.

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

8.4 Bess Carnan of WZRD and Geoff Hutton, aka Dream Quaffle 04/26/2025

8.4 Bess Carnan of WZRD and Geoff Hutton, aka Dream Quaffle “I know people who've come out within the last few years as trans or non-binary because of the book series. It is the perfect metaphor for being gay, for being trans, and that's the community that makes up the heart of, at least, the Wizard Rock portion of the fandom. Regardless of what she says, her books make a difference to little queer kids every day.” – Bess Carnan of WZRD Radio 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/36002150

4.23: The Yule Ball 04/23/2025

4.23: The Yule Ball "Hermione, for once, gets to be the main character." 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/36228795

4.22: The Unexpected Task 04/16/2025

4.22: The Unexpected Task My friend Lokifan wrote a meta about how Rowling writes friendship as romance and romance as mystery, because we don't know at this point who Hermione is going with. When friends are separated, their misery is how we consider romance difficulties to feel, and when friends are happy together, that's the great fulfillment that you get in a romance from the couple getting together. 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/36049285

4.21: The House-Elf Liberation Front 04/09/2025

4.21: The House-Elf Liberation Front Oh, Winky. She's nothing but pain, but I love her so much. She has, for me, some of the greatest pain of any character in this series, because she has all of the anxiety and burden of being a caretaker but none of the power. She can't stop caring; she's not even with the family anymore, but she genuinely cared and she can't stop. 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/36001805

4.20: The First Task 04/02/2025

4.20: The First Task Not all of your strengths have to be in being academic, right? And that's really true for Harry. He's got a lot of things that he's good at, but that idea of playing to your strengths and having someone remind you, "What are you good at? What are you bringing to this that no one else is?" That’s powerful, right? -JC 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/35849235

8.3: Lily Reevaluating HP After 2020 03/29/2025

8.3: Lily Reevaluating HP After 2020 I've been a fan of the Harry Potter series for a long time, and have been reevaluating my relationship with it as a trans woman over the last few years. I think that despite herself, J.K. Rowling created a world that made me feel like I could be whatever I wanted. 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/35590875

4.19: The Hungarian Horntail 03/26/2025

4.19: The Hungarian Horntail The Invisibility Cloak felt like such a symbol of escape and safety in this way that Harry was able to put it on and briefly escape from all the awfulness that's coming his way. And it was such a relief for me as a reader, too. You can think of it as being able to go into a safe space or a place where you know that, "Here, I can do whatever I want," and he can just be there and be safe. The only people who can see him are people that he really trusts. -JC 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/35590975

4.18: The Weighing of the Wands 03/19/2025

4.18: The Weighing of the Wands The thing about Voldemort is that he doesn't connect with people, except that there's this wand that makes it possible that somebody else has. All of this about second chances and the Christian symbolic wood and core in Harry's wand… No matter how badly Voldemort has damaged his soul, if he connects with Harry, there is a chance that his soul could be restored. 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/35585605

4.17: The Four Champions 03/12/2025

4.17: The Four Champions All right, JC, let's hear it! JC: "Did you put your name into the Goblet of Fire, Harry?" Lorrie: "He asked calmly." 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/35267890

4.16: The Goblet of Fire 03/05/2025

4.16: The Goblet of Fire Mad-Eye Moody shows up and says, "Yeah, that's Harry Potter," and the color drains from Karkaroff's face. "A terrible look of mingled fury and fear came over him. ‘You!’" This shows why Merlin took infant Arthur away and hid him. If we see Karkaroff looking at Harry and then *gasps* being checkmated by the sight of this person who scares him, 'Oh, yeah, maybe baby Arthur and baby Harry... maybe we did have to go put them where nobody was going to try to kill them.' This child means something to people that is beyond himself; he is not safe. 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/35267875

4.15: Beauxbatons and Durmstrang 02/26/2025

4.15: Beauxbatons and Durmstrang Hagrid as kind of a second-class citizen in the British wizarding world he's not really part of is because of what happened when he was younger and his wand got snapped, but Madame Maxime shows you if all that stuff hadn't happened, would he be a fully qualified wizard? Would he have the same respect? Could he have risen to the same kind of station as Madame Maxime has in her world? -JCFor 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/35235310

4.14: The Unforgivable Curses 02/19/2025

4.14: The Unforgivable Curses If you're the person who was a victim of one of these crimes, you do not owe the criminal your forgiveness. If somebody has tried to mind-control you, torture you, or kill you, it's not your job to forgive them. It's not your job to restore their human dignity, to tell them it was okay. They may need that; that's on them. They have to go find whatever peace they can from somebody 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/34847470

4.13: Mad-Eye Moody 02/12/2025

4.13: Mad-Eye Moody This fake Moody seizes an opportunity to get on Harry's good side. Knowing the relationship or even just observing the relationship right there between Harry and Draco, to just jump in and go so over the top taking Draco out of the equation -- is absolutely the best thing that he could have done to get Harry and Ron to like him. -JC 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/34831150

4.12: The Triwizard Tournament 02/05/2025

4.12: The Triwizard Tournament 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 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/34814820

4.11: Aboard the Hogwarts Express 01/29/2025

4.11: Aboard the Hogwarts Express 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. 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/34735150

4.10: Mayhem at the Ministry 01/24/2025

4.10: Mayhem at the Ministry 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. 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/34567840

8.2: Dr. Brent Satterly, aka Clitoris Umbridge 01/18/2025

8.2: Dr. Brent Satterly, aka Clitoris Umbridge 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. 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/34735195

4.9: The Dark Mark 01/15/2025

4.9: The Dark Mark "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." 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/34560445

4.8: The Quidditch World Cup 01/08/2025

4.8: The Quidditch World Cup 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 . /episode/index/show/11a7f4ac-40ef-499a-93b4-537ae4aade2e/id/34542935

4.7: Bagman and Crouch 01/01/2025

4.7: Bagman and Crouch 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 . /episode/index/show/11a7f4ac-40ef-499a-93b4-537ae4aade2e/id/34528175

Harry Potter After 2020

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