Tom Marvolo Riddle is officially back! | Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Tea Leaves S2 E6)

In this episode, Harry sees the memories from Tom Riddle's diary and begins to wonder: who's the real heir of Slytherin? Lockhart throws a Valentine's Day party, and Hermione gets petrified. After Harry and Ron's visit to Hagrid to discuss the basilisk ends in Hagrid arrest, they are resolved to "following the spiders" to finally see the end of this saga. Enjoy!

Topics/Summary:

·      Listen to Tea Leaves S2 E5 here!

·      1:33 Quick Recap and Riddle’s first memory. This memory isn’t really coherent. It’s more to show us who Riddle is and how important he will be. Quick shots of Riddle, maybe standing in the Chamber of Secrets, maybe somewhere in the castle.

·      14:17 Polyjuice! This whole saga is going to be fun. The trio takes the potion in the bathroom, and Hermione unfortunately grabbed the wrong kind of hair and becomes a cat. Harry and Ron are still on a timer, however, so they must forge on. They go talk to Malfoy and find that he is not the heir.

·      20:55 Valentine’s Day. This is a great time for Lockhart to be an idiot. The Great Hall is adorned with a million gift shops of decorations. Ginny sends Harry a singing dwarf.

·      23:30 The diary has been stolen. His bed sheets are hanging off the frame and his trunk was rifled through. He finds that the diary has been stolen, and he rushes down to tell Ron, but instead he finds out that Hermione was petrified. 

·      28:50 Harry and Ron go talk to Hagrid to get more information on the basilisk that Hermione found out, but he is taken to Azkaban. He tells Harry and Ron to “follow the spiders.” The episode ends with Riddle’s second memory. He shows Harry how Hagrid was found out as the heir and was expelled. Harry thinks Riddle is a true Hogwarts hero, but still wonders: how in the world could it be Hagrid?

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Transcript

Intro

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the potter discussion. Welcome back to the potter discussion, discussing the hair powder books, films, TV show, and the original fandom. I'm your host Oscar and this is episode 330. Thank you everybody for joining me today on this lovely day. It is, of course, my greatest pleasure to be recording with you all today. I am so excited to be here because we are continuing our T Lee series. We are on season two, episode six. We are nearing the end of this season, and boy, have have things been going on. This episode is no different. We are going to make some some good progress and end with a bang. There are some really interesting developments that are going to come to pass in this episode. So I really hope you're going to stick around here the whole thing because there's going to be some fun stuff to discuss. If you have any thoughts while you're recording, anything at all you want to add to the conversation, please reach out to thepodger discussion at gmail.com. That is thepoderdiscussion at gmail.com. Anything at all you want to rechat with, questions, comments, topics, anything like that, that's a great place to do that. And if you're listening and you think of someone who might enjoy it, maybe there's a there's there's a group chat on your phone you think might enjoy the show, go ahead and share it. It only takes a few seconds, a few words, a few clicks, whatever it is. But it really does just go a long way. I don't spend time marketing, I don't spend doing any of that. I just sit here and talk with you every week. So if you go ahead and share the show, just just a few people, that would really help me out. Uh but that is everything that I wanted to mention before this episode. So without further ado, let's get into today's episode.

Quick Recap and Riddle’s first memory

SPEAKER_00 1:34

So as all of our tea leaves begins, we must begin with a quick recap of the last episode. Episode 329 Tea Leaves Season 2 Episode 5 will be linked in the show notes below. It's the very first link. I highly recommend you listen to that episode before coming here because it is a good setup for this episode. But if you do uh if if you want to keep plowing on, here's a quick recap of that last episode. So we began with Dumbledore taking the true into his office after Mrs. Norris have been petrified and they and they discuss. Lockhart is, you know, clearly an idiot. Uh we move to the big Gryffindor Slither and Quidditch match. Uh Harry gets the snitch, but Dobby's blood bludger gets him, and then Lockhart disappears all the all the bones in Harry's arm. Harry has to spend the night in the hospital wing where he talks to Dobby, and then sees Colin Creevy getting taken in after he was petrified. And we mentioned how that was a good time for dreams, flashbacks, all that good stuff. And then the trio begins to plan for their further investigation. They decide on Polyjuice potion. Uh, then there was the dueling club, and we learned that Harry was a parcel tongue and he was egging on. It seemed this the snake that Draco had conjured uh to attack Justin Finch Fletchley, which of course is not the case, but that is not the uh word on the street. And then the episode ends with Harry conveniently finding Justin Finch Fletchley's petrified body and nearly headless Nick similarly petrified in the hallway. Uh and that is where we ended that that episode. Quite the cliffhanger, Harry is made out to be this this this villain, and as it as it were, and now we get to continue with this this very uh exciting episode. And boy oh boy, does a lot happen in this episode. We begin, we begin with a bang, and I want this to be dramatic. So dramatic that we don't even we don't even know what's happening. And that is we be I I so I I want to begin this episode with Riddle's memory, the very first memory that Harry sees, because of course in that last episode, uh, or I actually forgot if it was the last episode or two episodes ago, whatever it was, recently in the last few episodes, Harry got the diary. Harry went into the girls' bathroom after it was all flooded and he found the diary completely dry, very suspicious. So he now has the diary, and he is, you know, you know, it's a little curious. It was completely dry when he found it, and there's, you know, TMR on the front, so it's a it's definitely an interesting object, and we don't quite know what it does yet. But this very first, the very opening moments of this of this episode, I want to be Harry, kind of like in the films, Harry sitting by himself uh at night writing in this diary. I think that is a great place to go. And I honestly haven't quite decided where he should be doing this because I think this is definitely a little bit more of a you know an eerie scene. It shouldn't happen, you know, broad daylight in you know the Great Hall during lunch. Like it shouldn't, it shouldn't be, you know, everyone's around and everyone's there. We should have this otherworldly feeling. And I think it's important that Harry's completely alone because it adds to that, to that, you know, feeling of like he's getting drawn into this world. And there's definitely, you know, there's there's pretty strong symbolism for that, I think, because both figuratively and literally in this you know sense, Harry's getting drawn in because, of course, as the story is stretching on, as Voldemort's getting more power, Harry's slowly being drawn into this, you know, fight that of course he doesn't want to fight, but he knows he has to. And with the knowledge that we have, of course, viewers are watching this knowing exactly where he's going, knowing exactly what's gonna happen. So it's not like we are in the dark. We know exactly where he's going, and we know that this is just the first step, the very first battle to the many battles you might even call war to come. So this is a good symbol for Harry being drawn into Tom Riddle's world. This is his memory that he is showing Harry. This is his time. And I'm honestly torn between if Riddle seems to be this like threatening, kind of dark figure, or if he's, you know, friendly and you know, not not necessarily like friendly, but he is clearly, you know, Harry's, I guess you could say peer, something like that, because of course I would not call Voldemort a peer later on. I wouldn't even call the the Riddle who we meet in the Chamber of Secrets a peer. I think he is so beyond Harry, you know, in so many ways, I think, and he knows it, and that's maybe what gets to his head, and maybe that's why he's such a threat. But the riddle who we meet in the diary, I think should be something more similar to Harry. Of course, Harry is pretty young, and Riddle in this memory is not, but I think it's still worth kind of having them seem more similar than not, because it aids that sensation of change. And this is really the first, I think this is this is an interesting progression because as the story goes on, Voldemort kind of becomes more and more real. And this is a really good way of starting that process off because he is not real in the slightest here. You know, he is literally a memory, you know, he is just writing in a diary, and that is, I think, the most impactful part of this whole sequence, is that it is, you know, Riddle is this phantom, you can call it some spirit, some some thing that that that doesn't really exist. And that is the part of this equation that Harry is, I think, so drawn in by, you know, because of course Riddle Riddle is this this this thing that that doesn't exist, but and yet is is speaking to Harry. And Harry doesn't know who Riddle is, Harry doesn't know anything about him, but of course Riddle says, I can show you. You know, this is not the first time uh, you know, that the chamber's been open. I can show you what happened last time. And though there is only one memory in the books, I do split this into two in this episode for a for a for a good reason, I promise. So we aren't really gonna get to the good stuff in this memory, but what I really want, uh, by good stuff I mean the the actual kind of like the meat, like the actual content of the memory, uh, which is you know, Hagrid and all that, that will be in the second memory that uh Riddle shows Harry. But in this memory, the reason why I want to start off with this is because I'm imagining like something kind of erratic to begin. Like it's not like we're following someone, you know, walking somewhere and having conversations. No, this shouldn't be a rational experience, and it honestly shouldn't even be clear that Harry is the one going through it. I think the whole, you know, writing back and forth, the whole like everything like that, that maybe should come later. Because Harry at this point is not really sure what the diary is. And maybe he's written in it, maybe someone's written back, but that's not the point. The point is that he's dealing with something he has no idea how to control. And that's the important part. I'm imagining like the very beginning, like the first shot of the whole episode is like this like flash on, this flash cut open to Riddle just like standing somewhere. Maybe, you know what? There you go. I just wrote it. The very opening shot is you know, the the screen flashes on with without without any warning, and it's Riddle standing in the Chamber of Secrets. And we don't know that's that's what it is, but we can clearly see something in the background that's like that's that's something, like there's something back there, but we just don't know what it is. Perfect. That is a great beginning to the episode because it is jarring and it we just don't know what's going on. But it should be clear who it is. I don't want to be wondering who it is. Of course, you know, it shouldn't be, you know, he shouldn't she should she shouldn't be wearing a name tag, but if he's got like the curly like the the the short cropped kind of wavy black brown hair, and he's wearing his Slytherin robes, I think we can kind of figure out who it is. So I definitely want to be clear on on who that is. And maybe we see him walking through the halls. Like I imagine like a very like, you know, um a very uh a perfect example of this is in Deathly Hollow's oh gosh, is it one or two? I think it's I think it's part two, Deathly Hollow's part two of the film. It is when Harry, Ron, and Hermione escape from Gringotts on uh the dragon's back, and they're flying across the countryside, and then they want to leave. They want to jump off, so they jump off the dragon's back into a lake. It's that scene. It's kind of that that uh almost vibe of like what like Harry's visions, you know. Like Harry jumps off this dragon's back and then he goes underwater, and we we're kind of like it's so silent. We get flashes of Voldemort at Gringotts, like killing all these wizards and goblins who are meant to protect the vault, and he's walking around, and then like we see Harry fallen again. You know, it's like this like very abstract, like very kind of difficult to to kind of be be present in kind of sequence. That's what I'm envisioning here. And it's it's for the purpose, it's to serve the purpose of Harry's, you know, hair the the horcrux inside Harry. I think this is a theme that we are, first of all, not gonna see for a long time. You know, this is something that is gonna be a very slow burn, but I think the best slow burns start early, and this is about as early as it gets. I really want to begin this whole idea of Harry uh and his whorecrux. Harry and the piece of Wildemor's soul that is living inside her, I think this is a really important time to begin building up that uh kind of bank of experiences. Because especially considering how thinking of like when like the timeline, like in in in in our world and like the mug-a-world of when the books were being published and when the films were being published, the idea of horror cruxes really weren't like a thing. Like no one really knew what it was. And honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if you know the author just kind of used the diary as a horror crux just for convenience. Like, I don't I wouldn't even guess that the that the diary was meant to be a horror crux from the beginning. Of course, the whole idea of a horror crux really only emerged like fifth, sixth, seventh books. You know, it's really towards the end. So this is where we begin to get the horror cruxes, and I want to be clear that it is a horror crux, but not by saying it is. That's a key theme with this episode. We aren't told anything, we don't we aren't given information, we are just shown what we need to see in order to understand these plot points and these characters. So, what I'm imagining is like uh I think thinking back to the film, thinking back to the Deathly Hollows films, plural, when you think of the locket, I think of that like tinny scratching sound. Like that's the sound of a horror crux to me. So I'm not saying it has to be that exact sound. In fact, I would encourage them to branch out a little bit. But I want to begin the motif of horror cruxes here. This is a perfect time to begin showing us first of all, what does it mean to witness a horror crux? Like, what is it and how do we recognize it? How do we see a horror crux and know what it is? And again, it's not because they tell us, it's because we get filmmaker clues, sounds, maybe shots, maybe a style, maybe a color, something that that alerts us to this is something important. And I would be okay if it's tied to a larger theme. Like there is a certain, you know, color that that means something, and that color appears with horror cruxes. Like I would be okay with that. But what I want, the bottom line here is what I want out of this experience is that we know that horcruxes mean something. And having Harry and Harry being a horror crux interacting with this thing that is a horrorx as well, that is kind of like a you know a world's colliding moment. So this opening sequence of Riddle's memory is important. And again, not much happens. I don't think that this, like, the story shouldn't happen in this memory. What I'm imagining is just like shots back and forth, you know. We see Riddle in the chamber secret, we see him walking, we see him, you know, doing something, we see him talking, we see him like you know upside down, and then you know, whatever, like he and Harry have like are like joined, you know, they're like something like that. Like something just so abstract and so strange, but still so meaningful. I think that would be really interesting. And maybe we don't even like we aren't even sure if Harry's seeing it. Maybe it's not even memory, maybe it's just like a dream. That could honestly be even like a better, you know, option there. Is that it's just a dream? I don't even know. Like the point of this opening sequence is that it is it is ambiguous, you know, it is opaque whether this is real or not, whether this is in the real world or not, whether Harry is experiencing this or not. We shouldn't know what's going on. We should only be seeing kind of this this roots, you know, these roots of the villain, you know, the uh of of the villain of the whole story kind of taking taking place here. So there is a lot to unpack. And and I'm honestly I'm imagining like two minutes, like very short, one maybe even one minute. Just like lay it, like lay it on us. We are gonna this is gonna be crazy. Like that's kind of what I'm what I'm hoping for. So that is how this episode begins. It is quite a fun time, I will say. Quite a fun time indeed. Uh, and that is the beginning of the episode. So with that, let's move

Polyjuice!

SPEAKER_00 14:17

on. Now it's time for polyjuice. This is gonna be fun. So this is now time for the polyjuice whole saga, the whole journey. And I am I'm really excited to see this because with our with with the amazing modern technology of today, there's gonna be some really, really cool things that I hope that go on. And it might be a little a little grotesque to kind of see because of course they describe it as like their skin is bubbling and like changing, and it's gonna be it's it's it's gonna be strange, but I am really looking forward to it. I think there's there's gonna be a really this this is a cool opportunity to really show uh show off the magic of the wizarding world. So the Polyce Potion is ready. Finally, it's ready, and after all the attacks of the last few days, the trio is finally ready to see what the heck is going on. They suspect Malfoy, of course. The whole school knows thinks it's Harry, because Harry is one egging, you know, these snakes on he clearly speaks parcel tongue, and now the person who he attacked is petrified. Obviously, it's Harry, but the trio doesn't think so for good reason. So they are going after Draco. They think that it is Malfoy, who is the who is the heir who is casting all these all these, you know, horrible curses over this castle. So it is finally time to go undercover. They have Crap and Goyle, they have their their hair, and they are ready to do this. Of course, uh Hermione is not gonna be so lucky. She has a hair off of Millicent Balstrod's uh robe, what a name. Uh and but unfortunately, it is a cat hair, so she is unfortunately gonna be turned into a cat. That all that's coming up. So they gather in the girls' bathroom and they are ready to go. This is we are uh pretty close to uh this is right around Christmas time, I believe, and they are ready to go. So it is it is winter, it is cold, and they are gathering in this in this girl's bathroom. They get their glasses and they drop it in, and uh it turns this awful, like I think they describe it as a green swamp, disgusting, just ugh. I'm hoping we see that. I I always go back to this, but the uh the uh flubber worms we saw in the Finding Harry special, that is kind of the vibe here, you know. It's just like you just don't you just don't want to look at it, and they have to drink it, it's gonna be disgusting. They they they drink this Padges potion, they go into their stalls and they they're changing, like their hands are like like stretching and their fingers are changing and they feel just it is just awful. I mean, it is just awful, this this this transformation. And eventually they come out and they are crab and goyle herring around look at each other and say, Oh my gosh, we're crab and goyle. Uh but then Hermione, not so lucky, uh, they they go into Hermione's uh they they they knock on her door, and unfortunately, she is a cat. And uh, so sad, so sad. She has to go to the hospital wing to get all of her cat uh you know caught cat parts removed. It is it is really too bad. So she is not having a good time. But Harry and Ron have to keep going, they have to keep going. So they go to the Slytherin common room. And I think there are a few key things that have to happen uh outside this common room, one of which is Percy. We definitely have to see Percy, and it's really funny to see Ron speak to Percy in such a familiar way. But of course, uh Kragman Goyle would never speak to a a Gryffindor prefect, so that is off the table, but still they are they are they are still talking, uh, and uh Percy is very short with him, with with Ron, and they they they move on, of course. They claim that they're just like they're just they're just waiting outside, they're just waiting outside. So definitely important that that we see Percy. And the next important thing is I really want to see Harry with glasses. Uh though I oh, I believe Harry is Goyle, right? Harry's Goyle and uh Ron is Crab. I think that's how it is. Uh so if Harry is Goyle, Goyle's wearing glasses, Draco comes up to them, and uh, the reason I put this in is because I so want to keep in the line of Draco. Like, oh, I didn't I don't know you could read. Like, that's such a good line. So perfect. And of course, you know, very famous, famously improvised by by Tom Felton. So I'm very happy to keep that line in. I for sure want that, but it all adds to the suspicion. It's just it's such a ridiculous like scene. Like, obviously, this is such a ridiculous scene. So it is it is definitely important that that we that we keep this this very light air, this very strange, you know, just kind of uh big uh the point is contrasting the last, uh the last sequence, the last scene, the the opening scene of the very erratic memory, uh the very erratic dream. I want that to be very heavily contrasted with this. So they go into the Slither and Comroom and they're talking, and I mean I think the conversation should largely stay the same. I like how the book did it, uh I think, because it's very much, you know, it's very awkward, it's very like they don't know when to laugh. Like I I love how I think uh Draco says, like, you know, Crab, if you were any slower, you'd you'd be going backward. It's so funny. And it's so funny to see how he's so mean to his like his friends. Like it's not like there are people he's mean to people he's nice to. No, he's just kind of mean to everyone. But Crab and Girl are just too too idiotic to see that, so they just stick around, you know. So really funny stuff. I'm so looking forward to that. Uh, but Draco makes it clear he says, Oh gosh, you know, this this heir is really, you know, really making a name for himself. You know, I'd you know love to meet him someday, you know, yeah, taking out all the all the mud bloods. It's very, you know, he is Draco is very insensitive, clearly making these these horrible comments about the students at Hogwarts. And Ron and Harry are disappointed, but still they are glad to find out some more information. They find out that Draco is not the heir. And just in time, too, because we see, you know, Ron's hair is uh starting to come back. It's starting to get a little brighter, and we see Harry's uh Harry's scar start to slowly fade back in. So Ron's well, Ron has cry because uh stomach stomach ache, like something it gave me, I would say, and they run out, and it is the strangest thing ever. And honestly, I think it's gonna be a really funny scene. Uh, but I it's of course, of course, the point of the scene is that we find out that it is not Drago who's the heir. He is simply a bystander, he's simply an observer. So that's what we find out uh from this whole polyjuice sequence. There we have it. Let's move

Valentine’s Day

SPEAKER_00 20:55

on. And now, perfect segue. It is time for Valentine's Day. I think it's important that we have one Lockhart is stupid moment every single episode, and this is a perfect, perfect moment for that, because Lockhart, boy oh boy, is he stupid, looking at this Valentine's Day party, he throws. I mean, the Great Hall is simply adorned with every single, you know, every single little thing, every piece of confetti, every cart, every sign, every heart you could possibly imagine. I would be if if every shop within a thousand square miles was sold out of Valentine's Day, you know, paraphernalia, I would not be surprised. Lockhart really went all out, and he uh was at the Great Hall. Uh, this is I think I think was this breakfast or lunch. I'm I'm I forget what what meal it was, but everyone walks in for the meal and they find it all decked out, and you know, Lockhart's wearing his his brilliantly colored robes. Actually, I forget what color it is in the books, but it should be something like purple or pink. That's perfect. A nice, nice pink or a deep red for Valentine's Day, you know, something like that. Uh that really shows off. You know, his his his glamour. And there are cards flying, and there are, you know, it's all that. Uh it's such a such a fun experience. You know, I think this is a great time to show kind of the magic of of the castle, you know, as in like magical things happening, like people like suits of armor singing and things like that, like uh portraits, you know. Uh, and then Harry, of course, gets a Valentine from Ginny. It's all it's very sweet. Ginny sends him a a dwarf, I believe it is a dwarf to go sing to him, and then the dwarf tackles him in the hallway. What a great time. 100% fan, no notes, it's perfect. Um, I'm I'm really happy to keep that. And this will come back later, but I definitely want to make sure that we see Ginny. That it is like clear that it's Ginny, that she is a big part of this scene, that it is her who sent the uh Valentine to Harry. And I want to make sure that we see it's her because she is gonna come back to bite him in only a few minutes, really. So I think it's important that we uh keep that herher in mind. So this is honestly just kind of a quick one. I'm not really too too concerned about what goes on in this whole Valentine's Day sequence. I just want to see the light, the light airiness, you know, a nice break from the doom and gloom that we've had over the last few episodes, and of course the doom and gloom that we will see uh in just a few moments. So Valentine's Day, hip hip, hooray. It is lovely, it is brilliant, and now something not so brilliant. Let's move on.

The diary has been stolen

SPEAKER_00 23:30

So the Valentine's Day celebrations are continuing, and maybe it's winding down a little bit, maybe classes are starting, whatever it may be. But Harry returns to his dorm and finds it destroyed, ransacked, his bags are just thrown out. I mean, his clothes are everywhere, his his bed sheets are hanging off, like he is just like, what happened? Like his his his luggage is just like it's like a bear came through. Like it is just crazy. He is dumbfounded of what's going on here, but something in the back of his head tells him, look for the diary, and the diary is gone. And that is where that's that's the turning point of this episode. Because though we had a, you know, a memory slash dream slash whatever at the beginning of the episode, it was kind of just the opener. But now that we're kind of like living this, you know, that is now that it's actually conscious, we are acknowledging the diary as something important. You know, Harry just found it and it was kind of a kind of a one-off, and we know that it was important, but it wasn't important for the story at the time. However, now at this point, we are beginning to understand the importance of the diary from a story perspective as well. So it means something now that the diary has been stolen, it is gone. We don't know who took it. Notice I said it's important that we see Ginny uh in the in the previous uh scene with with Harry's Valentine, and we see that she is so embarrassed, her face is red, she can't look, you know, and of course we assume that's because it's a Valentine, you know, and she is she is uh sending Harry Valentine. But the truth is maybe part of it is also that she has already taken the diary back. And we haven't really talked about Ginny in that way yet, but I am confident that we will. Because she is she has the diary, she is the one who finds it, and she is the one who, well, I guess is i it is planted on her, is more accurate, and she is the one who has to uh uh go through that horrible, whole, horrible thing at the end of this of this season. So she is the one who takes the diary back, and we just don't know why. But unfortunately, that is not the last part of this whole thing. That's not the last part of this episode, because he now learns that Hermione has been petrified. That's the turning point of the turning point right there. It is so I think a good way of doing this is Harry goes out to his dormitory, finds it destroyed. He runs down to the common room to find Ron and McGonagal. And McGonagall says, you know, Harry, you've you better come with me. And McGonagal takes Harry and Ron to the hospital wing to find Hermione petrified. She is she is like lying on a hospital bed with her hands out like she is like she she was doing something, like it wasn't like she was just standing there. There was definitely an action being done. And they see in her hand, once McGonagall leaves, they see in her hand a crumpled up piece of paper. They pull out that piece of paper from her hand, and they see that it is a page about the basilisk, and it is here that they finally realize what is going on. A basilisk is the thing that has been crawling around the school and and then uh the halls and the walls more accurately, and now Harry begins to realize maybe that's why he can understand it, because he speaks partial tongue. So the plot thickens, and this is I think it's easy for this scene to be, you know, kind of shallow, because we know that she gets, you know, she she is fine by the end of the year and she's not dead, and so it's like, well, she's kind of fine. But I don't want that to be the vibe. I don't want that to be the vibe at all. What I want is something really somber. Something like, oh my, like, oh my gosh, that's Hermione. And that might be aided by some, you know, some some dramatic elements. Like I'm I'm imagining maybe like there there isn't much music. Maybe there isn't, you know, there they're it's like it's it's it's very quiet. It's very like it's it's just it's hushed, you know. It's like walking into like a huge cathedral, you know. There's like there's something about it that just like you know asks, you know, asks you to be silent because it's just like such it's such like a uh momentous sight, and that's kind of what this is. Because this is what what I want the audience, what I want the viewers to get out of the scene is that like the idea that no one is safe here, you know, no one is really, you know, it's it's not like it's it's the idea of like it couldn't happen to me. Like this this thing is going around petrifying people, but it couldn't happen to me, right? That's the idea here. And of course, with Hermione being petrified, it is quite evident that it, yes, it could happen to you, and that no one is safe. So I want this this very like dramatic, like, oh my gosh, this is Hermione. And I want then Harry and Ron to say, okay, well, we have to do something. Like, we can't just let her, you know, be petrified. Like, we have to solve this. So they make a resolution, and that is where we will move on to the final sequence of this episode. So let's move

Harry and Ron go talk to Hagrid

SPEAKER_00 28:50

on. Harry and Ron are resolved. After Hermione's petrified, they know that they cannot let this slide. So they decide, okay, we are going to the one person who knows everything there is to know about magical creatures. They go to Hagrid. They bring the piece of paper about the basilisk, and they go to Hagrid. And this is a really important moment because Hagrid is unfortunately not going to be able to stick around for very long. So, Harry and Ron, under the cover of night, they get the invisibility cloak and they leave the castle. They go to Hagrid's hut and they open Hagrid opens the door and he sees no one's there, but Harringron takes off the invisibility cloak, and maybe Hagrid like has his crossbow, you know. Maybe he's, you know, on guard a little bit. We see some of the harsher side of of him. And he takes Harringron into his hut, and the the air is the air is subdued. The air is very subdued. We have, you know, Harry and Ron tell him about Hermione. He is devastated to hear that. And you know, they ask him, like, so this is a basilisk. Like, what's going on here, Hagrid? Uh, I don't really know what's, you know, so they are they're trying to get some info out of him. But before the conversation can go much further, another knock at the door. Harry and Ron throw on the invisibility click, go in the corner, and lo and behold, walks in Lucius Malfoy, Dumbledore, and the Minister for Magic. What a trio that is. Harry and Ron are are silent and invisible. And I think we should we should get the you know, we get the sense that Dumbledore kind of knows that they're there, whether because of magical means, because he he recognizes the traces of it of invisibility, or because he just happens to have seen them, he doesn't know everything that that that goes on around here, so I wouldn't be surprised. But the point of that visit is Hagrid is being taken to Azkaban. Really horrible, really horrible place. And they, I mean, Harry and Ron are shocked. They are truly shocked because why? Like, why would that have to happen? Hagrid is the last person they would suspect, he is the kindest, gentlest soul, and yet they are taking him away to ask him, and they say they suspect him, they say, you know, they should use words, and you know, they they should, their their diction should be kind of you know ambiguous because we aren't supposed to know that it's Hagrid who was accused, you know, 50 years ago. So they should say, like, Hagrid, like the past speaks for itself, you know, we have to keep up appearances, we have to take you in. Something like that. And we can tell that Lucius is enjoying it, and and Dumbledore is aghast, and Fudge is somewhere in between, because he he knows in his heart of hearts that it's not Hagrid, but he still has to look like he's doing something. So he arrests Hagrid, takes him to uh Azgaben, and as he's walking out, Hagrid says, You know, someone has to feed Fang while I'm gone, very pointedly, and if anyone wants to know anything more, follow the spiders. Important line that. Where we are gonna end this episode is the last memory that Riddle has to show Harry. So Harry and Ron don't know what the heck is going on. They make their way back up to the castle, and maybe we have Harry, maybe he's sitting in the same place that he was at at the beginning, you know, and we have the second memory, and this memory is more cohesive. We we understand that there is actually some content to this. We see, you know, Harry is sucked into this, and we see that, you know, Mal, uh, not Malfoy, we see Riddle. He's walking up to the headmaster's office, uh uh Dippet, I believe it's uh Headmaster Dippet, and he says, I know what's causing this, I know what it is. And Dippitt says, No, no, no. Like, we let's let's let's not cause a panic. And Riddle is is so angry. Uh he uh he wants to frame Hagrid, he wants to be this this hero. So he goes to Hagrid anyway and he says, Hagrid, you cannot be doing this. We know it's you. These are poor, innocent people that that you're attacking. Of course, totally framing him. Hagrid says, No, no, no, it's not me, it's not me. You know, I am I am innocent. Riddle, Riddle, you know, casts a spell at at the crate under Hagrid's bed, and Aragog, baby Aragog, jumps out. Understandably, horrifying sight. I mean, giant spiders are never fun, and this is currently this is absolutely no exception. Aragog jumps out of the crate under Hagrid's bed and runs off, and Hagrid is is aghast, and the whole school realizes that it is Hagrid who has opened the chamber. They they he is expelled and he's carted off to the hut at the edge of the woods, and that is Hagrid's backstory. So we learn a bit more about Hagrid, and we see TMR in the flesh giving this justice, delivering justice to the school, in this horrible, horrible way. So that is where we end this episode. Our final shot is is TMR. He is being he is being celebrated, he has vanquished the heir of Slytherin, he is, you know, coming out of this situation as a hero. And it is a an eerie note to end, because of course we know that's not the case at all. But Harry doesn't. So honestly, I think we should end this episode with Harry saying, like, wow, this this you know, TMR guy, he's he's pretty cool. Like he did it the first time, but Harry, the one thing that Harry can't possibly believe is that it was Hagrid who was the heir Slytherin, and Harry just can't believe it, and that's the little seed at the back of his mind that carries us through the rest of the story and eventually leads to the revelation that it is Tom Riddle that is the true heir, not Hagrid. So Harry should end this episode thinking, like, wow, like I can't believe it's Hagrid. I can't believe that, you know, Tom Riddle seems to be this, this, this hero, this, this hero of of the castle. But I just can't believe it was Hagrid. And that's where we end. That's the end of the episode right there. Season two, episode six in the bag. I haven't quite decided if we have seven or eight episodes in the season. It would be kind of juicy to end with one more, honestly. I think that wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. So, you might see the season finale next week of Tea Leys. How fun is that? Uh, but in any case, I want to thank you all so much for listening. It's always a pleasure to be here with you. Again, please share this episode. If you know someone who you think would enjoy it, it would really mean the world to me. I know I say this um uh almost every episode, and it's be it's it's it's because I mean it. It's because I really want to spread this message, I want to celebrate this story, and I really want to prepare the fandom. I want me and you to be ready for the release of the TV show this coming Christmas. So definitely share this with someone who you also want to be prepared. And maybe you can gain a new topic conversation, something like that. It's just just just a fun way to stay engaged with your friends and family. I always encourage that. And of course, like I said at the beginning of this episode, questions, comments, topics, anything at all you want to reach out with, the potter discussion at gmail.com. That is thepodter discussion at gmail.com. Alrighty, that is everything I have for you today. Again, thank you so much for listening. I will see you next week. Have a wonderful week. And as always, remember that happiness can be found even in the darkest of times if one only remembers to turn on the light. I will see you all later.