Harry Potter and the First Time Readers

By: Jon Danny Kristen Jenn
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  • Summary

  • It's every Harry Potter fan's dream to read the books for the first time again. The wonder, the joy, the excitement and forums and not knowing what is going to happen on the next page. It's one of the best experiences ever. Join four readers (Jon is a read-harry-potter-every-year kinda guy, Kristen has only read it once, and Jenn and Danny haven't read it at all) as they read and talk about Harry Potter, theories, plot points, favorite characters, and everything else Harry Potter universe. So come vicariously live through some first-time readers!
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Episodes
  • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Ch 29-32

    Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Ch 29-32
    Nov 18 2024
    Chapter 29 - The Lost Diadem“Alecto, Amycus’s sister, teaches Muggle Studies, which is compulsory for everyone. We’ve all got to listen to her explain how Muggles are like animals, stupid and dirty, and how they drove wizards into hiding by being vicious toward them, and how the natural order is being reestablished. I got this one,” he indicated another slash to his face, “for asking her how much Muggle blood she and her brother have got.”Q1 - Obviously not entertaining Death Eater ideas, but do they have any kind of point?Thing was,” he faced them, and Harry was astonished to see that he was grinning, “they bit off a bit more than they could chew with Gran. Little old witch living alone, they probably thought they didn’t need to send anyone particularly powerful. Anyway,” Neville laughed, “Dawlish is still in St. Mungo’s and Gran’s on the run. She sent me a letter,” he clapped a hand to the breast pocket of his robes, “telling me she was proud of me, that I’m my parents’ son, and to keep it up.”Q2 - What do you think of all the students rebelling at Hogwarts?Q3 - What do you think about the Room of Requirement hideout?“There’s something important we need to do —” “What is it?” “I — I can’t tell you.” There was a ripple of muttering at this: Neville’s brows contracted. “Why can’t you tell us? It’s something to do with fighting YouKnow-Who, right?” “Well, yeah —” “Then we’ll help you.” The other members of Dumbledore’s Army were nodding, some enthusiastically, others solemnly. A couple of them rose from their chairs to demonstrate their willingness for immediate action. “You don’t understand.” Harry seemed to have said that a lot in the last few hours. “We — we can’t tell you. We’ve got to do it — alone.” Q4 - Is it good they’re being so secretive? Harry looked from Ron to Hermione, who murmured, “I think Ron’s right. We don’t even know what we’re looking for, we need them.” And when Harry looked unconvinced, “You don’t have to do everything alone, Harry.” Q5 - Should they tell?Q6 - Where is the Diadem?“Which came first, the phoenix or the flame?” “Hmm . . . What do you think, Harry?” said Luna, looking thoughtful. “What? Isn’t there just a password?” “Oh no, you’ve got to answer a question,” said Luna. “What if you get it wrong?” “Well, you have to wait for somebody who gets it right,” said Luna. “That way you learn, you see?” “Yeah . . . Trouble is, we can’t really afford to wait for anyone else, Luna.” “No, I see what you mean,” said Luna seriously. “Well then, I think the answer is that a circle has no beginning.” Q7 - What do you think about the Ravenclaw tower’s entrance?Harry stepped out from under the Cloak and climbed up onto Ravenclaw’s plinth to read them. “‘Wit beyond measure is man’s greatest treasure.’” “Which makes you pretty skint, witless,” said a cackling voice. Harry whirled around, slipped off the plinth, and landed on the floor. The sloping-shouldered figure of Alecto Carrow was standing before him, and even as Harry raised his wand, she pressed a stubby forefinger to the skull and snake branded on her forearm. Chapter 30 - The Sacking of Severus Snape“We can push it off on the kids,” said Amycus, his piglike face suddenly crafty. “Yeah, that’s what we’ll do. We’ll say Alecto was ambushed by the kids, them kids up there” — he looked up at the starry ceiling toward the dormitories — “and we’ll say they forced her to press her Mark, and that’s why he got a false alarm. . . . He can punish them. Couple of kids more or less, what’s the difference?” “Only the difference between truth and lies, courage and cowardice,” said Professor McGonagall, who had turned pale, “a difference, in short, which you and your sister seem unable to appreciate. But let me make one thing very clear. You are not going to pass off your many ineptitudes on the students of Hogwarts. I shall not permit it.” Q1 - Thoughts on McGongall and the Carrows?“It’s not a case of what you’ll permit, Minerva McGonagall. Your time’s over. It’s us what’s in charge here now, and you’ll back me up or you’ll pay the price.” And he spat in her face. Harry pulled the Cloak off himself, raised his wand, and said, “You shouldn’t have done that.” As Amycus spun around, Harry shouted, “Crucio!” Q2 - Should Harry have used crucio?“Time’s running out, Voldemort’s getting nearer. Professor, I’m acting on Dumbledore’s orders, I must find what he wanted me to find! But we’ve got to get the students out while I’m searching the castle — it’s me Voldemort wants, but he won’t care about killing a few more or less, not now —” not now he knows I’m attacking Horcruxes, Harry finished the sentence in his head. “You’re acting on Dumbledore’s orders?” she repeated with a ...
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    1 hr and 17 mins
  • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Ch 24-28

    Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Ch 24-28
    Nov 11 2024
    Chapter 24 - The Wandmaker“I want to do it properly,” were the first words of which Harry was fully conscious of speaking. “Not by magic. Have you got a spade?” And shortly afterward he had set to work, alone, digging the grave in the place that Bill had shown him at the end of the garden, between bushes. He dug with a kind of fury, relishing the manual work, glorying in the non-magic of it, for every drop of his sweat and every blister felt like a gift to the elf who had saved their lives. Q1 - Why did Harry want to do this without magic?“No,” Harry said, and Bill looked startled. “I need both of them here. I need to talk to them. It’s important.” He heard the authority in his own voice, the conviction, the sense of purpose that had come to him as he dug Dobby’s grave. All of their faces were turned toward him, looking puzzled. Dobby would never be able to tell them who had sent him to the cellar, but Harry knew what he had seen. A piercing blue eye had looked out of the mirror fragment, and then help had come. Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it.Q2 - What’s the deal with the mirror?You gave Ron the Deluminator. You understood him. . . . You gave him a way back. . . . And you understood Wormtail too. . . . You knew there was a bit of regret there, somewhere. . . . And if you knew them . . . What did you know about me, Dumbledore? Am I meant to know, but not to seek? Did you know how hard I’d find that? Is that why you made it this difficult? So I’d have time to work that out?Q3 - Do you think he’s right about Dumbledore here?Q4 - They’re going to break into Gringotts? Are they going to succeed?“I took this wand from Draco Malfoy by force,” said Harry. “Can I use it safely?” “I think so. Subtle laws govern wand ownership, but the conquered wand will usually bend its will to its new master.” Q5 - Is Harry truly the master of Draco’s wand?Yes, if you won it, it is more likely to do your bidding, and do it well, than another wand.” “And this holds true for all wands, does it?” asked Harry. “I think so,” replied Ollivander, his protuberant eyes upon Harry’s face. “You ask deep questions, Mr. Potter. Wandlore is a complex and mysterious branch of magic.” “So, it isn’t necessary to kill the previous owner to take true possession of a wand?” asked Harry. Ollivander swallowed. “Necessary? No, I should not say that it is necessary to kill.” Q6 - Do you think this is true? That wands can pass without killing?“You told him about the twin cores? You said he just had to borrow another wizard’s wand?” Ollivander looked horrified, transfixed, by the amount that Harry knew. He nodded slowly. “But it didn’t work,” Harry went on. “Mine still beat the borrowed wand. Do you know why that is?” Ollivander shook his head as slowly as he had just nodded. “I had . . . never heard of such a thing. Your wand performed something unique that night. The connection of the twin cores is incredibly rare, yet why your wand should have snapped the borrowed wand, I do not know. . . .” Q7 - Why do you think Harry’s wand acted like this?“Gregorovitch had the Elder Wand a long time ago,” he said. “I saw You-Know-Who trying to find him. When he tracked him down, he found that Gregorovitch didn’t have it anymore: It was stolen from him by Grindelwald. How Grindelwald found out that Gregorovitch had it, I don’t know — but if Gregorovitch was stupid enough to spread the rumor, it can’t have been that difficult.” Voldemort was at the gates of Hogwarts; Harry could see him standing there, and see too the lamp bobbing in the pre-dawn, coming closer and closer. “And Grindelwald used the Elder Wand to become powerful. And at the height of his power, when Dumbledore knew he was the only one who could stop him, he dueled Grindelwald and beat him, and he took the Elder Wand.” “Dumbledore had the Elder Wand?” said Ron. “But then — where is it now?” Q8 - What do you think about this?And here it was, beside the lake, reflected in the dark waters. The white marble tomb, an unnecessary blot on the familiar landscape. He felt again that rush of controlled euphoria, that heady sense of purpose in destruction. He raised the old yew wand: How fitting that this would be its last great act. The tomb split open from head to foot. The shrouded figure was as long and thin as it had been in life. He raised the wand again. The wrappings fell open. The face was translucent, pale, sunken, yet almost perfectly preserved. They had left his spectacles on the crooked nose: He felt amused derision. Dumbledore’s hands were folded upon his chest, and there it lay, clutched beneath them, buried with him. Had the old fool imagined that marble or death would protect the wand? Had he thought that the Dark Lord would be scared to violate his tomb? The spiderlike hand swooped and pulled the wand from Dumbledore’s grasp, and as ...
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    52 mins
  • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Ch 21-23

    Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Ch 21-23
    Nov 4 2024
    Chapter 21 - The Tale of the Three Brothers“ ‘There were once three brothers who were traveling along a lonely, winding road at twilight —’ ” “Midnight, our mum always told us,” said Ron, who had stretched out, arms behind his head, to listen. Hermione shot him a look of annoyance.We are talking about a cloak that really and truly renders the wearer completely invisible, and endures eternally, giving constant and impenetrable concealment, no matter what spells are cast at it. How many cloaks have you ever seen like that, Miss Granger?” Hermione opened her mouth to answer, then closed it again, looking more confused than ever. She, Harry, and Ron glanced at one another, and Harry knew that they were all thinking the same thing. It so happened that a cloak exactly like the one Xenophilius had just described was in the room with them at that very moment. Q1 - Do you think Harry’s cloak could be one of the Hallows?Q2 - If it exists, where do you think the Resurrection stone is?“So where do you think the Elder Wand is now?” asked Ron. “Alas, who knows?” said Xenophilius, as he gazed out of the window.Q3 - If it exists, where is the wand?“It’s just a morality tale, it’s obvious which gift is best, which one you’d choose —” The three of them spoke at the same time; Hermione said, “the Cloak,” Ron said, “the wand,” and Harry said, “the stone.” They looked at each other, half surprised, half amused. Q4 - Which is the best?Harry held out his left hand. Ron vanished beneath the Cloak. The printing press blocking the stairs was vibrating: Xenophilius was trying to shift it using a Hover Charm. Harry did not know what Hermione was waiting for. “Hold tight,” she whispered. “Hold tight . . . any second . . .” Xenophilius’s paper-white face appeared over the top of the sideboard. “Obliviate!” cried Hermione, pointing her wand first into his face, then at the floor beneath them. “Deprimo!” She had blasted a hole in the sitting room floor. They fell like boulders, Harry still holding onto her hand for dear life; there was a scream from below, and he glimpsed two men trying to get out of the way as vast quantities of rubble and broken furniture rained all around them from the shattered ceiling. Hermione twisted in midair and the thundering of the collapsing house rang in Harry’s ears as she dragged him once more into darkness. Q5 - What is Hermione doing here?Chapter 22 - The Deathly Hallows“Then she’ll be in Azkaban, I expect,” said Ron. “Whether she survives the place, though . . . Loads don’t. . . .” “She will,” said Harry. He could not bear to contemplate the alternative. “She’s tough, Luna, much tougher than you’d think. She’s probably teaching all the inmates about Wrackspurts and Nargles.” Q1 - Who could survive Azkaban the best out of everyone we’ve met?“Yes . . . and that’s all very interesting,” said Hermione cautiously, “but Harry, if you’re thinking what I think you’re think —” “Well, why not? Why not?” said Harry, abandoning caution. “It was a stone, wasn’t it?” He looked at Ron for support. “What if it was the Resurrection Stone?” Ron’s mouth fell open. “Blimey — but would it still work if Dumbledore broke — ?”Q2 - Do you think that the stone is the ring?And he saw himself, possessor of the Hallows, facing Voldemort, whose Horcruxes were no match . . . Neither can live while the other survives. . . . Was this the answer? Hallows versus Horcruxes? Was there a way, after all, to ensure that he was the one who triumphed? If he were the master of the Deathly Hallows, would he be safe? Q3 - What do you think of Harry’s questions here?He turned his back on their strained, incredulous faces. He knew it was the truth. It all made sense. Voldemort was not seeking a new wand; he was seeking an old wand, a very old wand indeed. Harry walked to the entrance of the tent, forgetting about Ron and Hermione as he looked out into the night, thinking. . . . “Harry, this isn’t a game, this isn’t practice! This is the real thing, and Dumbledore left you very clear instructions: Find and destroy the Horcruxes! That symbol doesn’t mean anything, forget the Deathly Hallows, we can’t afford to get sidetracked —” Q4 - What did Dumbledore want?“But before we hear from Royal and Romulus,” Lee went on, “let’s take a moment to report those deaths that the Wizarding Wireless Network News and Daily Prophet don’t think important enough to mention. It is with great regret that we inform our listeners of the murders of Ted Tonks and Dirk Cresswell.” “I’d tell him we’re all with him in spirit,” said Lupin, then hesitated slightly. “And I’d tell him to follow his instincts, which are good and nearly always right.” Q5 - Are Harry’s instincts always right?“And the rumors that he keeps being sighted abroad?” asked Lee. “Well, who wouldn’t want a nice...
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    1 hr and 1 min

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