In an online chat on Bloomsbury.com, J.K. Rowling has just answered a bunch of questions about characters and events in the seventh book, including the Malfoys, the Peverells. Read it here!
By the way, a shout out to some of the Lost Epilogues on this site, because Hermione does begin her post-Hogwarts career at the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, Kingsley becomes Minister of Magic, and Ron starts working at Weasley's Wizarding Wheazes!
And lots of other interesting things -- I'm still reading the chat! The transcript will also be published on Bloomsbury.com sometime soon.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Thursday, July 26, 2007
News: J.K. Rowling Reveals the Epilogue in her Mind
In the new TODAY show interview, J.K. Rowling reveals the as-yet-unpublished details of the future of Harry Potter and the other characters:
Harry, Ron and Hermione
We know that Harry marries Ginny and has three kids, essentially, as Rowling explains, creating the family and the peace and calm he never had as a child.
As for his occupation, Harry, along with Ron, is working at the Auror Department at the Ministry of Magic. After all these years, Harry is now the department head.
“Harry and Ron utterly revolutionized the Auror Department,” Rowling said. “They are now the experts. It doesn’t matter how old they are or what else they’ve done.”
Meanwhile, Hermione, Ron’s wife, is “pretty high up” in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, despite laughing at the idea of becoming a lawyer in “Deathly Hallows.”
“I would imagine that her brainpower and her knowledge of how the Dark Arts operate would really give her a sound grounding,” Rowling said.
Harry, Ron and Hermione don’t join the same Ministry of Magic they had been at odds with for years; they revolutionize it and the ministry evolves into a “really good place to be.”
“They made a new world,” Rowling said.
The wizarding naturalist
Luna Lovegood, the eccentric Ravenclaw who was fascinated with Crumple-Horned Snorkacks and Umgubular Slashkilters, continues to march to the beat of her own drum.
“I think that Luna is now traveling the world looking for various mad creatures,” Rowling said. “She’s a naturalist, whatever the wizarding equivalent of that is.”
Luna comes to see the truth about her father, eventually acknowledging there are some creatures that don’t exist.
“But I do think that she’s so open-minded and just an incredible person that she probably would be uncovering things that no one’s ever seen before,” Rowling said.
Luna and Neville Longbottom?
It’s possible Luna has also found love with another member of the D.A.
When she was first asked about the possibility of Luna hooking up with Neville Longbottom several years ago, Rowling’s response was “Definitely not.” But as time passed and she watched her characters mature, Rowling started to “feel a bit of a pull” between the unlikely pair.
Ultimately, Rowling left the question of their relationship open at the end of the book because doing otherwise “felt too neat.”
Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom: “The damage is done.”
There is no chance, however, that Neville’s parents, who were tortured into madness by Bellatrix Lestrange, ever left St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies.
“I know people really wanted some hope for that, and I can quite see why because, in a way, what happens to Neville’s parents is even worse than what happened to Harry’s parents,” Rowling said. “The damage that is done, in some cases with very dark magic, is done permanently.”
Rowling said Neville finds happiness in his grandmother’s acceptance of him as a gifted wizard and as the new herbology professor at Hogwarts.
The fate of Hogwarts
Nineteen years after the Battle of Hogwarts, the school for witchcraft and wizardry is led by an entirely new headmaster (“McGonagall was really getting on a bit”) as well as a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. That position is now as safe as the other teaching posts at Hogwarts, since Voldemort’s death broke the jinx that kept a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor from remaining for more than a year.
While Rowling didn’t clarify whether Harry, Ron and Hermione ever return to school to finish their seventh year, she did say she could see Harry popping up every now and again to give the “odd talk” on Defense Against the Dark Arts. (from TODAY.msnbc.com)
Rowling also tells us why the epilogue of Deathly Hallows may have felt a bit, er, lacking:
The author was shooting for “nebulous,” something “poetic.” She wanted the readers to feel as if they were looking at Platform 9¾ through the mist, unable to make out exactly who was there and who was not....
Rowling said her original epilogue was “a lot more detailed,” including the name of every child born to the Weasley clan in the past 19 years. (Victoire, who was snogging Teddy — Lupin and Tonks’ son — is Bill and Fleur’s eldest.)
“But it didn’t work very well as a piece of writing,” Rowling said. “It felt very much that I had crowbarred in every bit of information I could … In a novel you have to resist the urge to tell everything.” (from TODAY.msnbc.com)
Well, that answers those questions! But what has changed at the Ministry of Magic? Have the elves and goblins been given the right to use wands? Are the Malfoys still evil? The Potter Fandom wants to know! (Click here for video and more from Rowling's TODAY Show interview.)
News: J.K. Rowling Speaks on Harry's Life, Future Writing Projects
In a new interview published in USA Today, J.K. Rowling gives her take on Harry's missing nineteen years between the end and the epologue of Deathly Hallows.
With the publication of Deathly Hallows, Rowling begins a new chapter in her writing life — a life, she says, that will not include filling in the 19-year gap between Harry's final battle with Voldemort and the epilogue, which revisits Harry and his friends Ron and Hermione as happy adults.
"I truly have no desire to do that," she says, "and I feel it would be an enormous anticlimax. After the arc of the Voldemort story, what could match up?"
That, she says, would require creating a new supervillain. And to revisit Harry's story would be "continuing it for the sake of continuing it. I don't feel that's(another battle of good vs. evil) what happened in Harry's life. I think Harry gained peace. He got what he always wanted, which was a happy family." (from USAtoday.com)
But that doesn't mean there can't be a few twists! And what happens after those nineteen years?
In the "No Spoilers" version of the article, Rowling was decidedly ambiguous on her future writing plans.
"I think that there will be some disappointment if I don't write another fantasy," she says. "But I must admit, I think I've done my fantasy. To go and create another fantasy universe would feel wrong, and I don't know if I'm capable of it."
She wants to take off "lots" of time to spend with her family. But good news, Potter fans — she's writing.
"I'm sort of writing two things at the moment," she says. "One is for children and the other is not for children. The weird thing is that this is exactly the way I started writing Harry. I was writing two things simultaneously for a year before Harry took over. So one will oust the other in due course, and I'll know that's my next thing."
But it may be a while before the world sees another book from her.
"What's quite uplifting is that in the middle of all this sadness I feel about Harry ending — and I do feel a lot of sadness about it — is the thought that financially I don't have to publish immediately," she says. "So I can take my time. And the idea of just wandering off to a cafe with a notebook and writing and seeing where that takes me for awhile is just bliss. Heaven. No pressure." (from USAtoday.com)
So, she is writing, but she doesn't know when it will be published. She's working on two projects, but may abandon either at any moment. She feels the pressure to create another fantasy universe, but doesn't think she has it in her. It's okay, Jo. We like the one you made just fine!
I hope you enjoy the epilogues, and feel free to submit more! (Your content will remain your own, and we will link to your website, contact info, or whatever you choose.)
Lost Epilogue #3
It was hard for Harry to lead a normal life, for now was he not only "The Boy Who Lived" but he was also "The One Who Vanquished The Dark Lord". Voldemort had been the darkest and most evil of evil wizards, and it had been quite a task and one that Harry had not achieved without great sacrifices.
A few weeks after the Battle of Hogwarts Harry, Hermione, and Ron were awarded their NEWTs and diplomas from Hogwarts. Then they took an extended trip to Albania, Austria, and France with Ginny, Neville and Luna and stayed in the best wizard 5-star hotels.
Harry proposed to Ginny and she accepted but they wouldn't be married until she finished her last year at Hogwarts. Ron and Hermione became engaged and left for Australia to find Hermione's parents and bring them back.
When they returned, they had a lovely wedding and moved to Diagon Alley to help George in the Joke Shop. Hermione decided to start a library, and with the help of Flourish and Blotts has made a good start.
The trio was pardoned for breaking into Gringots, but Griphook never forgave them for magicking the sword away from him once again. The sword remains at Hogwarts in Professor McGonagall’s office at the topmost tower behind the gargoyle. The new password is “tartan plaid.”
Harry was so interested in wandlore, he became an apprentice to Mr. Olivander, splitting his time between there and staying with Aberforth in the Hogshead, where he is writing a manuscript about the Rise and Fall of The Dark Lord. It will be published by Lovegood publishing and possibly read aloud by Dean Thomas over the wizarding wireless. The wizarding world is anxiously awaiting its completion.
He occasionally stays at Grimmauld Place when he has business at the Ministry. Kreacher is still there to take good care of him and Ginny and their friends. The house elves from Hogwarts took turns cleaning and sprucing up the place to show their appreciation for liberation from the Dark Lord. It’s a bright and happy place, as it should be.
It's now four years later, and Harry is at the Burrow on the eve of his wedding day.
"Hey, mate, are ya nervous? Hagrid and Grawp just arrived, I sure hope that enchantment holds so the neighbors don't panic! Do ya think your aunt and uncle will show up?"
“Yeah, Ron, I am just a bit. I've waited a long time for this!" He smelled that familiar flowery smell and turned to see Ginny in the doorway.
“Mum says to come down and greet your guests! We're about ready for the rehearsal and dinner anyhow." She hastened to Harry's arms and gave him a quick hug and a kiss. "I can't believe tomorrow we'll be married! Come on!" She tugged his hand and he gave himself one more glance in the mirror. A little cleaner than in times past, he surmised, patted his hair down unsuccessfully and left the room.
“Hey, wait for me!,” Ron called. “Yo, Hermione, aren’t you finished changing Fred yet?”
As Hermione shot him an exasperated look and opened her mouth to retort, Ron noticed a very unfamiliar sight out the window. "Harry! Look!"
Dudley was in the yard, looking decidedly out of place, staring up at Grawp with a severely frightened look on his face.
Harry came hurrying out, “Big D! When did you get here?”
“Whoo-oo-oo's that?,” he stammered pointing up at Grawp.
“Him? Oh that's just Hagrid's little brother, he's mostly harmless. Come on and meet everybody! Did you bring your wife?” He hadn't really expected any of the Dursleys to come, but Mrs. Weasley had insisted on inviting them. Dudley had been the only one who responded, he hadn’t been much in touch with them in the years since they’d come out of hiding. Harry was amazed. Dudley would probably be the only Muggle at the ceremony.
At the dinner in the garden later that night, Dudley pulled Harry aside and seemed to have something to tell him. The others were talking and laughing about their favorite battle stories, a little misty-eyed in remembering the ones they had lost. George was a little quieter than usual. Dudley stood there looking down at his feet for a minute as if to muster the courage to speak. "Listen Harry, I never appreciated before what you could do, and now I hear you practically saved the whole country? Those stories are all about you? I guess I should say Thanks."
Harry looked at Dudley, surprised that he had learned to speak so eloquently, and then Dudley continued.
“But another reason I've come, is about Mum. She's sick, Harry, and she's been asking for you.”
“Me? What does she want with me?” Harry was surprised to say the least.
“I’m not sure, Harry, but will you come back with me before you leave on your honeymoon? Dad’s beside himself.”
“Well, I don’t see how I can help, but okay,” promised Harry, trying to keep the incredulous wonder from his voice.
“Great. Now, whatcha got to drink here, Harry”, said Dudley, rubbing his great beefy hands together and heading back to the table. “Is it time for dessert yet?”
-- by zanys
A few weeks after the Battle of Hogwarts Harry, Hermione, and Ron were awarded their NEWTs and diplomas from Hogwarts. Then they took an extended trip to Albania, Austria, and France with Ginny, Neville and Luna and stayed in the best wizard 5-star hotels.
Harry proposed to Ginny and she accepted but they wouldn't be married until she finished her last year at Hogwarts. Ron and Hermione became engaged and left for Australia to find Hermione's parents and bring them back.
When they returned, they had a lovely wedding and moved to Diagon Alley to help George in the Joke Shop. Hermione decided to start a library, and with the help of Flourish and Blotts has made a good start.
The trio was pardoned for breaking into Gringots, but Griphook never forgave them for magicking the sword away from him once again. The sword remains at Hogwarts in Professor McGonagall’s office at the topmost tower behind the gargoyle. The new password is “tartan plaid.”
Harry was so interested in wandlore, he became an apprentice to Mr. Olivander, splitting his time between there and staying with Aberforth in the Hogshead, where he is writing a manuscript about the Rise and Fall of The Dark Lord. It will be published by Lovegood publishing and possibly read aloud by Dean Thomas over the wizarding wireless. The wizarding world is anxiously awaiting its completion.
He occasionally stays at Grimmauld Place when he has business at the Ministry. Kreacher is still there to take good care of him and Ginny and their friends. The house elves from Hogwarts took turns cleaning and sprucing up the place to show their appreciation for liberation from the Dark Lord. It’s a bright and happy place, as it should be.
It's now four years later, and Harry is at the Burrow on the eve of his wedding day.
"Hey, mate, are ya nervous? Hagrid and Grawp just arrived, I sure hope that enchantment holds so the neighbors don't panic! Do ya think your aunt and uncle will show up?"
“Yeah, Ron, I am just a bit. I've waited a long time for this!" He smelled that familiar flowery smell and turned to see Ginny in the doorway.
“Mum says to come down and greet your guests! We're about ready for the rehearsal and dinner anyhow." She hastened to Harry's arms and gave him a quick hug and a kiss. "I can't believe tomorrow we'll be married! Come on!" She tugged his hand and he gave himself one more glance in the mirror. A little cleaner than in times past, he surmised, patted his hair down unsuccessfully and left the room.
“Hey, wait for me!,” Ron called. “Yo, Hermione, aren’t you finished changing Fred yet?”
As Hermione shot him an exasperated look and opened her mouth to retort, Ron noticed a very unfamiliar sight out the window. "Harry! Look!"
Dudley was in the yard, looking decidedly out of place, staring up at Grawp with a severely frightened look on his face.
Harry came hurrying out, “Big D! When did you get here?”
“Whoo-oo-oo's that?,” he stammered pointing up at Grawp.
“Him? Oh that's just Hagrid's little brother, he's mostly harmless. Come on and meet everybody! Did you bring your wife?” He hadn't really expected any of the Dursleys to come, but Mrs. Weasley had insisted on inviting them. Dudley had been the only one who responded, he hadn’t been much in touch with them in the years since they’d come out of hiding. Harry was amazed. Dudley would probably be the only Muggle at the ceremony.
At the dinner in the garden later that night, Dudley pulled Harry aside and seemed to have something to tell him. The others were talking and laughing about their favorite battle stories, a little misty-eyed in remembering the ones they had lost. George was a little quieter than usual. Dudley stood there looking down at his feet for a minute as if to muster the courage to speak. "Listen Harry, I never appreciated before what you could do, and now I hear you practically saved the whole country? Those stories are all about you? I guess I should say Thanks."
Harry looked at Dudley, surprised that he had learned to speak so eloquently, and then Dudley continued.
“But another reason I've come, is about Mum. She's sick, Harry, and she's been asking for you.”
“Me? What does she want with me?” Harry was surprised to say the least.
“I’m not sure, Harry, but will you come back with me before you leave on your honeymoon? Dad’s beside himself.”
“Well, I don’t see how I can help, but okay,” promised Harry, trying to keep the incredulous wonder from his voice.
“Great. Now, whatcha got to drink here, Harry”, said Dudley, rubbing his great beefy hands together and heading back to the table. “Is it time for dessert yet?”
-- by zanys
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Lost Epilogue #2
The Dark Lord's Passing
Where is this? Voldemort thought, as the place came into focus. He wondered how he had ended up there.
THE BOY. With a ferocious hiss, thought erupted through him. His last moments had been with that talentless, arrogant waste of wizard blood. He knew that the boy must have caused this. What had happened now? He did not feel as he had the last time he nearly ruined himself attacking the boy -- this time there was no pain, no retreat. This time he hadn't felt his soul tear from his dead flesh. This time he only felt dry, empty, and dull.
Dull was not something Voldemort was accustomed to feeling. Others were dull, stupid, but that was only to his advantage. He was always one step ahead, overpowering his enemies, conquering his surroundings. But what were these surroundings? It was hard to make anything out through the noxious green vapor. It was hot, and it saturated him. He was floating aimlessly, as he had those ill-fated years in the forests of Albania. All else that surrounded him was rocky outcropping. The cave. He must be in the cave. But why would he return here, when his Horcrux had been stolen?
Had it been destroyed? Had they all been destroyed? The boy. He had said ... what? ... That there were no more Horcruxes.
Then why was he here?
"Tom Marvolo Riddle," said a voice, sounding as disembodied as Voldemort felt.
"How dare you?" hissed Vodemort. "Show yourself!"
"If you insist," said a man, emerging from a dense cloud of the green mist, or from nowhere, Voldemort couldn't tell. The silver-haired figure was wearing flowing robes of deep blue.
"Dumbledore." Voldemort's dullness outweighed his surprise. "You are dead. I saw your decaying body."
"Yes, Tom. Now think, what might that say about you?"
"Dead?" hissed Voldemort, considering the information. "Perhaps. What happened with the boy?"
"You underestimated old magic, just as you have always done. Potter understands the power of sacrifice. He also seems to have developed an understanding of wandlore, which you don't seem to have thought worthy of your attention."
"Yes, the wand. The Elder Wand. It failed me, I remember now." Voldemort was not happy to hear the news. He had not defeated his final enemy. Death, not only the boy, had conquered him at last. "What now?"
"Now you must choose, Tom. You may move on, or you may become a shadow of your former self. Even more a shadow, I dare say, than you were before."
"I refuse to become a powerless ghost, like that ridiculous Bloody Baron. I shall pass," declared Voldemort, violently, authoritatively.
"Excellent choice, Tom. It is good to see you are braver in death than you were in life -- again, considering that you were quite the coward. Best of luck to you." With a slight smile and nod, Dumbledore turned and walked into the mist.
"But, am I to follow?" Voldemort asked, allowing some confusion and fear to enter his cold, high voice.
"No," said Dumbledore's voice, as his body was now nowhere to be seen. "I think some old friends will be coming to accompany you on your journey."
At that, Voldemort shifted his gaze expectantly. Figures were emerging from the lake that he knew had lain below the green fumes. Without anywhere to turn, for they were coming from every direction, the cold, dead hands of the Inferi enveloped his very essence, dragging Voldemort to the cold, dark resting place of his wicked and damaged soul.
-- by s-bomb
Where is this? Voldemort thought, as the place came into focus. He wondered how he had ended up there.
THE BOY. With a ferocious hiss, thought erupted through him. His last moments had been with that talentless, arrogant waste of wizard blood. He knew that the boy must have caused this. What had happened now? He did not feel as he had the last time he nearly ruined himself attacking the boy -- this time there was no pain, no retreat. This time he hadn't felt his soul tear from his dead flesh. This time he only felt dry, empty, and dull.
Dull was not something Voldemort was accustomed to feeling. Others were dull, stupid, but that was only to his advantage. He was always one step ahead, overpowering his enemies, conquering his surroundings. But what were these surroundings? It was hard to make anything out through the noxious green vapor. It was hot, and it saturated him. He was floating aimlessly, as he had those ill-fated years in the forests of Albania. All else that surrounded him was rocky outcropping. The cave. He must be in the cave. But why would he return here, when his Horcrux had been stolen?
Had it been destroyed? Had they all been destroyed? The boy. He had said ... what? ... That there were no more Horcruxes.
Then why was he here?
"Tom Marvolo Riddle," said a voice, sounding as disembodied as Voldemort felt.
"How dare you?" hissed Vodemort. "Show yourself!"
"If you insist," said a man, emerging from a dense cloud of the green mist, or from nowhere, Voldemort couldn't tell. The silver-haired figure was wearing flowing robes of deep blue.
"Dumbledore." Voldemort's dullness outweighed his surprise. "You are dead. I saw your decaying body."
"Yes, Tom. Now think, what might that say about you?"
"Dead?" hissed Voldemort, considering the information. "Perhaps. What happened with the boy?"
"You underestimated old magic, just as you have always done. Potter understands the power of sacrifice. He also seems to have developed an understanding of wandlore, which you don't seem to have thought worthy of your attention."
"Yes, the wand. The Elder Wand. It failed me, I remember now." Voldemort was not happy to hear the news. He had not defeated his final enemy. Death, not only the boy, had conquered him at last. "What now?"
"Now you must choose, Tom. You may move on, or you may become a shadow of your former self. Even more a shadow, I dare say, than you were before."
"I refuse to become a powerless ghost, like that ridiculous Bloody Baron. I shall pass," declared Voldemort, violently, authoritatively.
"Excellent choice, Tom. It is good to see you are braver in death than you were in life -- again, considering that you were quite the coward. Best of luck to you." With a slight smile and nod, Dumbledore turned and walked into the mist.
"But, am I to follow?" Voldemort asked, allowing some confusion and fear to enter his cold, high voice.
"No," said Dumbledore's voice, as his body was now nowhere to be seen. "I think some old friends will be coming to accompany you on your journey."
At that, Voldemort shifted his gaze expectantly. Figures were emerging from the lake that he knew had lain below the green fumes. Without anywhere to turn, for they were coming from every direction, the cold, dead hands of the Inferi enveloped his very essence, dragging Voldemort to the cold, dark resting place of his wicked and damaged soul.
-- by s-bomb
News: The Epilogue Is Not The End
J.K. Rowling told the TODAY Show yesterday that she will write an encyclopedia on the characters in the Potterverse. Although Rowling had previously discussed the possibility of an encyclopedia, she told Meredith Vieira in the interview that she "probably will" publish the volume, including more details on the fate of the characters than were provided in the epilogue. (A partial transcript of the interview is available here. The interview will air on TODAY on Thursday, July 26, and Friday, July 27)
In the meantime, let's put the quill to the parchment and conjure up more epilogues of our own! We all know that there is far more to the Potterverse than obvious marriages and kids named after Hogwarts headmasters...
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Lost Epilogue #1
SIX MONTHS LATER
PotterWatch, Episode 17
Exclusive Harry Potter Interview
Hello, this is Lee Jordan and you're listening to PotterWatch. Today we have a most special guest, the Boy Who Lived, the Wizard of the Year, and the man this show is named for ... Harry Potter.
PotterWatch: Harry, we are absolutely honored to have you with us today. I know this is the first public interview you've granted since the Quibbler interview a few years back. So much has happened and changed since then. Where have you been?
Harry Potter: Er, well, I've been hiding out, Lee. I'm very glad its all over, honestly, and I'd like some peace and quiet. I've spent a bit of time abroad with a friend ...
PW: Yes, I understand you've been spending quite a lot of time with Ginny Weasley. What is the nature that relationship ... if you don't mind my asking?
HP: Er, right, we have been spending a lot of time together. Well, we're engaged.
PW: Engaged! Blimey Harry, contragulations! Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley are engaged to be married!
HP: Thank you! We're very happy. I'm happy. I feel like I can live a regular life now.
PW: Harry Potter, a regular life? No offense Harry, but it's a hard thing to imagine. What do you expect you'll get up to next, now that You-Know-Who is out of the picture?
HP: Well, honestly ... I don't know. Lately I've been glad just to spend time with Ginny and my good friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. I feel like I've got a second life now that Voldemort is gone.
PW: Uh, yes, Voldemmm... Harry, er ... You-Know-Who, he's gone now, is he? Gone for good?
HP: Yes, I believe this time he's gone for good.
PW: How were you able to kill him? Those who were at the Battle of Hogwarts back in June seemed to think you had his number.
HP: Well, I can hardly take credit for all that. Dumbledore had done a lot of research into Tom Riddle's -- Voldemort's -- past, and had found out that he was using very black magic to try to, well, become immortal. It didn't work.
PW: ... Obviously not! ...
HP: Dumbledore had guessed what the dark objects were, that were supposed to keep him immortal, but when he died, Ron and Hermione and I had to track them down and destroy him. In the Hogwarts Battle, he killed Severus Snape, who both Voldemort and I thought was a Death Eater. Ron and Hermione and I found him as he was dying, and it turned out that Snape hadn't been a Death Eater since ... years ago. He was on Dumbledore's side. He never revealed it to anyone but Dumbledore ... Voldemort thought Snape was his man until the very end, when I told him the truth.
PW: Snape! Yes, I've heard that he was on our side. But I also heard that he killed Dumbledore. That's unbelievable! Even coming from you, Harry!
HP: Yes, well, I got a lot of information from Snape about Dumbledore and Voldemort. Snape was Dumbledore's man. And after I'd heard, I thought that I'd have to ... die. I understood that Voldemort would have to kill me before he would be mortal again.
PW: Kill you! Vold... kill you! What made you think that?
HP: Well, he'd marked me, you see, he'd marked me when he tried to kill me when he murdered my parents. He marked me again when he returned to his body, he used my blood -- the blood of his enemy -- to strengthen his new body.
PW: Your blood! He took your blood, Harry? That's positively dreadful!
HP: Yes, well, Voldemort was hardly a man. He had no remorse. His soul is ... wretched ... Well, anyway, we had become, Voldemort and I, connected. And I thought he would have to destroy me so he could be killed. And I would have been glad to die to have him killed, after he killed my parents, my friends, after the things he'd done. So I went to see him. To let him kill me. And he tried.
PW: He tried! How?
HP: The Killing Curse.
PW: Blimey, Harry! The Killing Curse! What happened then? Did he miss?
HP: No, I just stood there. I let him hit me. Right in the chest.
PW: Harry, seriously ... well, I know you survived the Killing Curse before. But again?
HP: Well, we both fell down. And I had ... well, I had a bit of time to think anyway. And I discovered that I wasn't dead. And that I had weakened Voldemort as I'd hoped to do, made him more mortal than he had been before. It turned out that I had also given protection, through sacrifice, I guess, to whoever fought against him at Hogwarts that night.
PW: And this happened in the Forbidden Forest?
HP: Yes.
PW: But Voldemort thought you were dead. He declared that he'd won the Battle. He came back to the Castle with what everyone thought was your dead body. You weren't dead? You were only pretending?
HP: That's right. I should have been dead. Killing curse and all that. So it wasn't hard to pretend. And when Neville -- Neville Longbottom -- came out of the Castle, wanting to keep fighting. Well, Neville was amazing. He killed Voldemort's giant snake with Godric Griffendor's sword right in front of him! And that was when the Battle started back again, with reinforcements from Hogsmeade and the Forest and everywhere. It was incredible. And thanks to Neville, Voldemort was mortal again.
PW: Wow, because of Neville? That's brilliant!
HP: That's right. Neville was brilliant. And I was pretending to be dead, so I hid right away, so Voldemort and the Death Eaters wouldn't see I was alive.
PW: As I heard it, you absolutely disappeared. Rumor has it you've got rather nice Invisibility Cloak.
HP: Well, while I was hidden, I saw the battle rage and tried to fight as best I could. And then when Voldemort was alone -- when Bellatrix Lestrange had been killled --
PW: Yes, killed by Molly Weasley! You're best friend's mum. How did that strike you?
HP: It was brilliant! Nobody messes with Mrs. Weasley. She was downright formidable.
PW: And that's when you came out from ... hiding, eh?
HP: Yes. It was like coming back from the dead. Startled Voldemort ... and then I started to talk. I guess I wasn't even scared, since I felt like I had already been dead. It seemed like it wasn't that bad. Well, Voldemort thought death was miserable, and now we'd made him mortal again, Dumbledore and Ron and Hermione and Neville and everyone. And, as you said, I had his number. Thanks to Dumbledore and everyone, I knew things about Tom Riddle -- Voldemort -- that even he didn't know. Or thought nobody knew.
PW: As I heard it, you said a lot of things to him ... things no one really understood much. The things you said you were destroying ... were they ... Horcruxes?
HP: Well, yes. They were. Voldemort had created a number of them.
PW: A number of them? For himself? I thought ... I thought creating just one would ... destroy a person.
HP: Yes, it would ... and he'd created many. He was barely a person. His soul was ... well, I can't imagine a soul's ever been that damaged.
PW: And then, after a while, he tried to kill you. And he was killed! Harry, I'm surprised anyone would touch you after that. Back from the dead, backfiring killing curses on You-Know-Who with a simple Disarming Spell! They say that you can't be killed.
HP: No, that's not true. Fortunately for me -- for all of us -- Voldemort didn't really get wands. He thought he'd won this wand that could finally kill me -- because wands had made me hard to kill before -- but really, he only thought it was his wand. The wand had actually become mine by happy mistake.
PW: Happy mistake! Amazing. And Harry, that reminds me -- one of the few things I've heard about your recent activities. Rumor has it you've been seen hanging about Ollivander's wand shop more than once.
HP: Oh, well, yes. I'm a bit interested in wand-lore, now that I've seen how inexplicable things have happened to me -- and, er, not happened to me -- because of wands. And I accumulated a small collection of them during the war. They use ancient magic, and we use them every day, yet we know so little about them and how they really work. They're mysterious, and I'm very curious to find out more about them.
PW: Well, it's been suggested that a joint paper by Potter and Ollivander may be hitting the presses, expounding on your recent work in that field.
HP: Oh, well, maybe. I'm just working from some of the things that Dumbledore had theorized. And Ollivander is really knows his stuff.
PW: And also ... well, I've heard rumors that Minister Shacklebolt -- former PotterWatch contributor! -- has had a lot of meetings with your friend Hermione Granger, that she might have a new job in the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.
HP: Well, you'll have to ask her about that. Although if I know her ... she might want to do something a bit more, um, daring.
PW: Daring? Well, I guess we'll see. She's spending quite a bit of time in Diagon Alley around your best mate, Ron Weasley, isn't she?
HP: Um, yeah, they're ... a bit close. But Ron's been spending a lot of time helping his brother George out ... with the shop, I mean.
PW: Right. I imagine so. Well, we've all lost friends and loved ones ... including former PotterWatch correspondents Fred Weasley and Remus Lupin. But not many of us have, er, lost more than you, Harry. Still, you look all right ... you're in good spirits.
HP: I am? Well, I guess I've been missing the dead my whole life. Now, I only miss the dead more, I miss so many people ... but I feel like they're with me, with everyone. The ones who've moved on are with us ... they aren't gone. Dumbledore wasn't gone when he died, or my parents, or their friends, they helped me fight, and live, and finally kill Voldemort.
PW: Well, that's touching. We are all missing someone. But thanks to you --
HP: Thanks to a lot of people, the Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore's Army, all my friends, and ... the friends I didn't even know I had.
PW: Yes. Many thanks, much gratitude -- to all those friends and supporters who joined the cause. And Harry, thank you. You have done more for all of us than any one of us could ever hope to do. And that concludes our interview! Thank you, Harry Potter, very much, for being on PotterWatch!
HP: Cheers, Lee, all the best ... and I, er, hope you can find a better name for the show after a while ...
PW: Really, Harry, we wouldn't dream of it. G'night!
PotterWatch, Episode 17
Exclusive Harry Potter Interview
Hello, this is Lee Jordan and you're listening to PotterWatch. Today we have a most special guest, the Boy Who Lived, the Wizard of the Year, and the man this show is named for ... Harry Potter.
PotterWatch: Harry, we are absolutely honored to have you with us today. I know this is the first public interview you've granted since the Quibbler interview a few years back. So much has happened and changed since then. Where have you been?
Harry Potter: Er, well, I've been hiding out, Lee. I'm very glad its all over, honestly, and I'd like some peace and quiet. I've spent a bit of time abroad with a friend ...
PW: Yes, I understand you've been spending quite a lot of time with Ginny Weasley. What is the nature that relationship ... if you don't mind my asking?
HP: Er, right, we have been spending a lot of time together. Well, we're engaged.
PW: Engaged! Blimey Harry, contragulations! Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley are engaged to be married!
HP: Thank you! We're very happy. I'm happy. I feel like I can live a regular life now.
PW: Harry Potter, a regular life? No offense Harry, but it's a hard thing to imagine. What do you expect you'll get up to next, now that You-Know-Who is out of the picture?
HP: Well, honestly ... I don't know. Lately I've been glad just to spend time with Ginny and my good friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. I feel like I've got a second life now that Voldemort is gone.
PW: Uh, yes, Voldemmm... Harry, er ... You-Know-Who, he's gone now, is he? Gone for good?
HP: Yes, I believe this time he's gone for good.
PW: How were you able to kill him? Those who were at the Battle of Hogwarts back in June seemed to think you had his number.
HP: Well, I can hardly take credit for all that. Dumbledore had done a lot of research into Tom Riddle's -- Voldemort's -- past, and had found out that he was using very black magic to try to, well, become immortal. It didn't work.
PW: ... Obviously not! ...
HP: Dumbledore had guessed what the dark objects were, that were supposed to keep him immortal, but when he died, Ron and Hermione and I had to track them down and destroy him. In the Hogwarts Battle, he killed Severus Snape, who both Voldemort and I thought was a Death Eater. Ron and Hermione and I found him as he was dying, and it turned out that Snape hadn't been a Death Eater since ... years ago. He was on Dumbledore's side. He never revealed it to anyone but Dumbledore ... Voldemort thought Snape was his man until the very end, when I told him the truth.
PW: Snape! Yes, I've heard that he was on our side. But I also heard that he killed Dumbledore. That's unbelievable! Even coming from you, Harry!
HP: Yes, well, I got a lot of information from Snape about Dumbledore and Voldemort. Snape was Dumbledore's man. And after I'd heard, I thought that I'd have to ... die. I understood that Voldemort would have to kill me before he would be mortal again.
PW: Kill you! Vold... kill you! What made you think that?
HP: Well, he'd marked me, you see, he'd marked me when he tried to kill me when he murdered my parents. He marked me again when he returned to his body, he used my blood -- the blood of his enemy -- to strengthen his new body.
PW: Your blood! He took your blood, Harry? That's positively dreadful!
HP: Yes, well, Voldemort was hardly a man. He had no remorse. His soul is ... wretched ... Well, anyway, we had become, Voldemort and I, connected. And I thought he would have to destroy me so he could be killed. And I would have been glad to die to have him killed, after he killed my parents, my friends, after the things he'd done. So I went to see him. To let him kill me. And he tried.
PW: He tried! How?
HP: The Killing Curse.
PW: Blimey, Harry! The Killing Curse! What happened then? Did he miss?
HP: No, I just stood there. I let him hit me. Right in the chest.
PW: Harry, seriously ... well, I know you survived the Killing Curse before. But again?
HP: Well, we both fell down. And I had ... well, I had a bit of time to think anyway. And I discovered that I wasn't dead. And that I had weakened Voldemort as I'd hoped to do, made him more mortal than he had been before. It turned out that I had also given protection, through sacrifice, I guess, to whoever fought against him at Hogwarts that night.
PW: And this happened in the Forbidden Forest?
HP: Yes.
PW: But Voldemort thought you were dead. He declared that he'd won the Battle. He came back to the Castle with what everyone thought was your dead body. You weren't dead? You were only pretending?
HP: That's right. I should have been dead. Killing curse and all that. So it wasn't hard to pretend. And when Neville -- Neville Longbottom -- came out of the Castle, wanting to keep fighting. Well, Neville was amazing. He killed Voldemort's giant snake with Godric Griffendor's sword right in front of him! And that was when the Battle started back again, with reinforcements from Hogsmeade and the Forest and everywhere. It was incredible. And thanks to Neville, Voldemort was mortal again.
PW: Wow, because of Neville? That's brilliant!
HP: That's right. Neville was brilliant. And I was pretending to be dead, so I hid right away, so Voldemort and the Death Eaters wouldn't see I was alive.
PW: As I heard it, you absolutely disappeared. Rumor has it you've got rather nice Invisibility Cloak.
HP: Well, while I was hidden, I saw the battle rage and tried to fight as best I could. And then when Voldemort was alone -- when Bellatrix Lestrange had been killled --
PW: Yes, killed by Molly Weasley! You're best friend's mum. How did that strike you?
HP: It was brilliant! Nobody messes with Mrs. Weasley. She was downright formidable.
PW: And that's when you came out from ... hiding, eh?
HP: Yes. It was like coming back from the dead. Startled Voldemort ... and then I started to talk. I guess I wasn't even scared, since I felt like I had already been dead. It seemed like it wasn't that bad. Well, Voldemort thought death was miserable, and now we'd made him mortal again, Dumbledore and Ron and Hermione and Neville and everyone. And, as you said, I had his number. Thanks to Dumbledore and everyone, I knew things about Tom Riddle -- Voldemort -- that even he didn't know. Or thought nobody knew.
PW: As I heard it, you said a lot of things to him ... things no one really understood much. The things you said you were destroying ... were they ... Horcruxes?
HP: Well, yes. They were. Voldemort had created a number of them.
PW: A number of them? For himself? I thought ... I thought creating just one would ... destroy a person.
HP: Yes, it would ... and he'd created many. He was barely a person. His soul was ... well, I can't imagine a soul's ever been that damaged.
PW: And then, after a while, he tried to kill you. And he was killed! Harry, I'm surprised anyone would touch you after that. Back from the dead, backfiring killing curses on You-Know-Who with a simple Disarming Spell! They say that you can't be killed.
HP: No, that's not true. Fortunately for me -- for all of us -- Voldemort didn't really get wands. He thought he'd won this wand that could finally kill me -- because wands had made me hard to kill before -- but really, he only thought it was his wand. The wand had actually become mine by happy mistake.
PW: Happy mistake! Amazing. And Harry, that reminds me -- one of the few things I've heard about your recent activities. Rumor has it you've been seen hanging about Ollivander's wand shop more than once.
HP: Oh, well, yes. I'm a bit interested in wand-lore, now that I've seen how inexplicable things have happened to me -- and, er, not happened to me -- because of wands. And I accumulated a small collection of them during the war. They use ancient magic, and we use them every day, yet we know so little about them and how they really work. They're mysterious, and I'm very curious to find out more about them.
PW: Well, it's been suggested that a joint paper by Potter and Ollivander may be hitting the presses, expounding on your recent work in that field.
HP: Oh, well, maybe. I'm just working from some of the things that Dumbledore had theorized. And Ollivander is really knows his stuff.
PW: And also ... well, I've heard rumors that Minister Shacklebolt -- former PotterWatch contributor! -- has had a lot of meetings with your friend Hermione Granger, that she might have a new job in the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.
HP: Well, you'll have to ask her about that. Although if I know her ... she might want to do something a bit more, um, daring.
PW: Daring? Well, I guess we'll see. She's spending quite a bit of time in Diagon Alley around your best mate, Ron Weasley, isn't she?
HP: Um, yeah, they're ... a bit close. But Ron's been spending a lot of time helping his brother George out ... with the shop, I mean.
PW: Right. I imagine so. Well, we've all lost friends and loved ones ... including former PotterWatch correspondents Fred Weasley and Remus Lupin. But not many of us have, er, lost more than you, Harry. Still, you look all right ... you're in good spirits.
HP: I am? Well, I guess I've been missing the dead my whole life. Now, I only miss the dead more, I miss so many people ... but I feel like they're with me, with everyone. The ones who've moved on are with us ... they aren't gone. Dumbledore wasn't gone when he died, or my parents, or their friends, they helped me fight, and live, and finally kill Voldemort.
PW: Well, that's touching. We are all missing someone. But thanks to you --
HP: Thanks to a lot of people, the Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore's Army, all my friends, and ... the friends I didn't even know I had.
PW: Yes. Many thanks, much gratitude -- to all those friends and supporters who joined the cause. And Harry, thank you. You have done more for all of us than any one of us could ever hope to do. And that concludes our interview! Thank you, Harry Potter, very much, for being on PotterWatch!
HP: Cheers, Lee, all the best ... and I, er, hope you can find a better name for the show after a while ...
PW: Really, Harry, we wouldn't dream of it. G'night!
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