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In this episode, we discuss the good and bad parts of the trapdoor and replace the worst obstacles. Enjoy!

Topics/Summary:
· 2:20 Fluffy. He doesn’t really do anything. Playing music to put him to sleep is a weakness that is far too easily exploited to be considered an effective obstacle.

· 7:32 Devil Snare. This is a very good choice. In order to escape, the wizard must know what it is and how to defeat it. In addition, death is the punishment for failure. This is a puzzle that must be completed by someone who know knows what they are doing.

· 12:35 Potions. Snape’s room has fire at the front and back and the wizard must choose the right potion to get through. This is terrible! Logic is a good skill to have, but they could just put out the fire or blast the wall down. Instead, they should be poisoned when they walk in and must make an antidote.

· 17:35 Flying Keys. This room is a thumbs down for sure. It tests how well you can play quidditch, not use charms. A better room would be to lock them in the room with protective charms around it. They would have to figure out how they can escape.

· 22:08 The Chess Game. Thumbs up! As long as we are sure that the wizard cannot leave during the game, this is a good task. Chess is one of the bests tests of brain power and thinking ahead.

· 24:14 A boggart. The troll for Defense Against the Dark Arts is a terrible task, so replacing it with a boggart is perfect. The door is open, so you have to have courage to walk past it to make it further.

26:10 Mirror of Erised. This is a very clever task, but there is an asterisk. There is nothing stopping someone taking the stone after someone who didn’t want it already got it. Harry got it from the mirror and then Quirrell could have just taken in. If it only gave the stone to one person would be best. This is of course all to say this: the smartest change of all would be to put the stone somewhere else.

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In this episode, we discuss some of the unsung heroes of Hogwarts. Enjoy!

Topics/Summary:
· 2:25 The Fat Lady. We never hear from her despite having such an important tole. She is the guard of the secret common room of the Gryffindors When Sirius Black attacks the school, she doesn’t let him in and sacrifices her portrait to make sure he can’t make it in. The other guards of the tower didn’t do the same thing.

· 9:37 McGonagall. Don’t get mad here because by no means is McGonagall unsung. She teaches classes and defends Hogwarts and we know it, but what she does on the back end is what is unsung. She is Dumbledore’s fixer. If he wants something done on the DL, she can handle it. We don’t hear about some of the biggest problems at the school for a reason…

· 15:27 Percy Weasley. It is difficult for the readers to look past the fact that he is stuck up and ambitious, but the misconception here is we think that means he doesn’t care. In actuality, Percy does all these things and bosses people around because he cares about what happens to his peers and values things like the rules and respect.

· 21:24 Professor Grubbly Plank. She stepped in when Hagrid was unable to teach and later when he was on a mission for Dumbledore. Further, she asked no questions and filled the role without a second thought. She is fair and to the point. It is no small task to come teach at a moment’s notice.

· 25:10 Madame Pomfrey. She takes care of the entire castle! If Dumbledore needs a medical solution to a problem, Pomfrey is well up to the task. She can regrow bones and cure illness and do anything else the students need. She also has been at the castle for a long time and helps during the Battle of Hogwarts.

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In this episode, we rewrite the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Enjoy!

Topics/Summary:
Listen to The Tri-Wizard Tournament is the smartest and dumbest competition of all time here

· 2:16 Cedric should get hurt in the first task. This would be a good way of foreshadowing his death, but further, it would show the dangerous nature of the competition. None of the champions receive terrible injuries that shock the schools into realizing that this is no joke, so a moment where the audience goes silent after a blow would go a long way.

· 6:55 Fleur should come out stronger. She is the bottom of the pack character and she doesn’t do well in any of the tasks. If she were to do well in the first task, it would set her up as a stronger competitor. More importantly, it would create more of a buzz around the times when she is stopped like when she was attacked in the lake and then again in the maze.

· 15:38 Harry and Cedric should switch places. Harry stays behind to make sure every prize is brought up and Cedric arrives second but doesn’t hesitate to go up and gets first. These two should be switched. Harry should get a leg up and shown to be in the tournament for the win. It would also make Cedric’s loss so much worse if she was shown to be a truly good person and willing to stay behind and sacrifice first place.

· 19:23 Giving Krum and Fleur less sideline parts. Their big moments aren’t very central to the story and it might make for a more interesting task if they were involved. Maybe Harry and Krum work together to find the settlement because they both want to find Hermione. Maybe Fleur arrives late and they all have an underwater conversation about what kept her and they all go up after that.

· 24:34 Cedric should have put up a fight. He was killed far too easily. Pettigrew walked out, got the order from Voldemort, and Cedric was killed. If someone walked out from a building in a graveyard and yelled “Kill the spare” I wouldn’t stick around to find out what he meant. Cedric’s end in wrought too easily for the caliber of character which he brought. He deserved and much more fitting end.

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In this episode, we discuss Harry's worst eyebrow raising decisions. Enjoy!

Topics/Summary:
· 2:01 Harry forgetting the invisibility cloak after handing off Norbert. Moving the plot forward is important, but this was a ridiculous mistake. It was the only thing he couldn’t forget being the sole barrier between him and a lot of trouble which he eventually finds himself in.

· 8:14 Harry attacking Umbridge to get the locket. Yes, he had to take is by force eventually but this was perhaps the worst way to do it. He does it in front of everyone and then has to fight his way out of the entire ministry from the very deepest point. He couldn’t have somehow gotten her alone and then taken in much more quietly?

· 14:20 Not preparing for the second task. It is the one thing he has to do! There are no other responsibilities on his shoulders than to prepare for the Tri-Wizard Tournament and his just doesn’t. He deserves to have some rest after the first task, but after weeks of doing nothing we have to start asking.

· 18:30 Going to the ministry to save Sirius. He went for a good reason except for the fact that it was a complete lie. He even goes as far as to acknowledge that it is possible that he is walking into a trap, but should he tell anyone or get backup? No.

· 21:54 Not taking occlumency seriously. Voldemort uses Harry’s vulnerable mind to put memories and thoughts and vision that can manipulate him. Occlumency is the perfect way to try and repel it, but with Snape teaching it Harry was doomed to fail. The first time Snape pushed too far and Harry fought back, they were done.

· 25:02 Returning to Godric’s Hallow. It is a perfectly reasonable thing for him to assume that the sword is there, but the reason why it is on this list is because he didn’t recognize the signs. There were so many things before Nagini showed up that could have been a red alarm blaring tip off to Harry that something was wrong, but he ignored it. It was only when Bathilda started turning into a snake that he thought to do something.

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In this episode, we discuss who didn't deserve to die in the Battle of Hogwarts. Enjoy!

Topics/Summary:
· 2:08 Fred. Harry walks into the Great Hall and sees all the Weasleys gathered around a cot. The twins were always the life of the party and had a joke to say at every turn. Killing one of them was very grim indeed. Fred had such a bright future at the joke shop and he would never get the chance to see it.

· 11:15 Lupin. His spot is undisputed. Lupin understands people, situation, and he is all around a good guy. The reason why he is on this list is he has lost so much already. His friends were killed and he has had to live as a werewolf, all to be capped off by being killed for his efforts.

· 17:10 Crabbe. He was among the casualties and I felt unexpectedly sorry for him. This wasn’t his battle to fight and he didn’t deserve to die for a cause that he wasn’t personally invested in. Someone told him where to stand and to kill people so that’s what he did.

· 22:13. Collin Creevey. Collin was too young to die. We think of him as a little kid with stars in his eyes as he spends his days gazing at his idol, Harry. Collin snuck back to the castle to fight alongside his hero and he was killed for it. He had too much more life to live.

· 24:00 Snape. This spot was made out to Snape from the very beginning. He is on this list because he was the one who sacrificed the most for the battle. Harry and he only made that moment of connection at the very end of his life and they never had the chance to be together as two people who had gone through the same things.

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In this episode, we discuss some of the most underrated professors at Hogwarts. Enjoy!

Topics/Summary:
· Audible Announcement

· 2:38 Slughorn. With all the events of the Half Blood Prince we look over his appointment as the potion’s professor after a while, but that is a mistake. He introduces us to many facets of magic that become important later and his guidance in potions becomes quite valuable.

· 8:36 Flitwick. We talk about our favorite charms professor often, but not about how much he gave Harry. Some of the most basic and most important spells that the trio and the rest of the students use come from charms class. He also conducts the school’s frog chorus.

· 12:36 Snape. We discuss Snape a bunch, but not how hard he works and how much he is vilified. We see him as the big bad professor that exists to put Harry down and be a big bully. It is a real shame that it takes until after his death to realize that he was working hard for many years to keep Harry safe.

· 17:30 Binns. What a guy. First of all, he teaches a boring class according to the students and he is very dedicated to the history of magic. He is so dedicated in fact that one day he died and he just kept on teaching. He left his body behind and continued on.

· 19:57 Sinistra. The astronomy professor is one who we never talk about. She works in the background and in completely invisible. But she has to wake up very late a lot of teach the students a fascinating part of magic.

· 22:39 Madame Pince. The library is extremely important! And we never talk about the librarian. If you need to find a book or find some piece of knowledge, she is the one to talk to. She also probably keeps Dumbledore up to date on the status of the library.

· 26:06 Madame Pomfrey. She heals all and can bring a quick fix to any problem with a student’s health. She grew Harry’s arm back! Without Madame Pomfrey, we would be reading about a much more deadly castle.

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In this episode, we discuss what things and places make Hogwarts what we know it to be. Enjoy!

Topics/Summary:
· 1:44 The Owlrey. This is one of the most British wizarding systems thing there is at Hogwarts. They use owls to send messages and the Owlery is where the owls live. It is the boundary between the Muggle and wizarding world, and is made all the more magical because it can also be found in the Muggle world.

· 8:11 The great hall and the sorting hat. These two things are very symbolic of Hogwarts. When Bellatrix runs through the castle in the sixth book she destroys the great hall. The sorting hat was the beginning of everyone’s journey at Hogwarts, but it was also the end when Neville pulled the sword out of the hat. The final duel between Harry and Voldemort took place in the great hall.

· 14:25 The moving staircases and the moving portraits. Without these, would moving around in Hogwarts be the same? No. The moving staircases don’t seem that important, but they act as the symbolic bridge between the beginning and end of the story. The portraits are the nod to the readers and students that even when a character dies, they may live on in a portrait like Dumbledore.

· 21:40 Quidditch. This is one of the most important parts of the castle. They are side by side for the entire story, and the quidditch pitch is where Harry found his passion. Hogwarts wouldn’t be even close to the same without this magical sport. Much of the story occurs around quidditch like when Quirrell tries to curse Harry off his broom or when Cedric catches the snitch in the storm and tries to give it back. It is important to every member of the magical world, especially in Hogwarts.

· 26:40 Deadly events. Without all the opened chambers, horrible creatures on the lose, spies, imposters, double crosses, and Death Eaters, would Hogwarts be the same?

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In this episode, we discuss why Hermione deserves more credit in honor of Emma Watson's birthday. Enjoy!

Topics/Summary:
· 1:54. Absolutely she does. This episode is not to decide if she does or not, but to find some of the best examples of where she works in the shadows and didn’t receive the credit she deserves. For example in the Prisoner of Azkaban, it is Hermione’s skill with the time turner is why they manage to save multiple lives. She knows to hide and knows how to time their exits and entrances so no one knows that they are there and they can do the things they need to do.

· 9:20 She figures out the Chamber of Secrets. She had the paper in her hand crumpled up from the beginning! Harry and Ron just didn’t see it for a very long time and it was only when they found Hermione’s discovery that they began to make progress on the case. Without her, they wouldn’t have made it in time and Ginny might be dead.

· 13:09 The trap door was all Hermione. She saw it, first of all, when they were running away from Filch after the midnight duel. Then it was her who saved the other two from the devil snare. She also figures out the logic puzzle and propels Harry to the rest of the challenges. Most importantly, she recognizes that it is bravery and friendship that make a good wizard.

· 18:14 She doesn’t get in the middle of Harry and Ron. In the Goblet of Fire, Harry and Ron have an argument because Harry’s name found itself in the Goblet and Ron felt betrayed. Hermione had the smarts to stay out of it.

· 20:24 Dumbledore’s Army. In the Order of the Phoenix, the idea for the DA came from Hermione. She convinced Harry and set up the ledger, the gold coins, and decided the leader. She was the one who incited it and kept it going.

· 24:23 The woods in the Deathly Hallows. She cooks and cleans, casts the protective spells, brings the other’s things when the leave the wedding, and she has just about everything in the extended bag of hers. Would they have gotten even half as far without her? Even Harry and Ron agree: not even close.

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