The End of an Era | Prisoner of Azkaban Wrap Up, Set up for Goblet of Fire (Tea Leaves)

In this episode, we reflect on our just finished season three of Tea Leaves, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Tea Leaves is a series where we make our version of the Harry Potter TV show, episode by episode. Next week will begin season 4, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Enjoy!

Topics/Summary:

·      2:03 We are entering the “Dark Hogwarts” era. The first three seasons feel like the introduction to the wizarding world and setting up the conflict. The fourth season represents the beginning of the true conflict of the story.

·      12:00 The best moments are the most personal, and we should see a lot of those. Harry’s past is going to come alive before our very eyes this season. We are going to see a much darker current emerge in the story, and that kind of story demands a different kind of storytelling. Humans are empaths so we should be able to feel what Harry is feeling.

·      18:38 Malfoy follows the pattern of the story to a tee. He is something of a static bully for the first three books, but the moment the fourth book begins he becomes something more. Malfoy’s journey as a Death Eater defines his arc and reflects the greater conflict, and the Goblet of Fire is the kicking off point of his journey.

·      24:54 Complexity. Characters like Neville have just as complicated a past as Harry, and now that the first three seasons are over, we can dive into their characters more deeply. 

·      30:14 This is getting real. That’s what we’ve been dancing around this whole episode. Now is the time; it’s finally beginning. Voldemort is on the rise, and Harry must rise to meet him.

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Intro

Oscar 0:00

Welcome to the potter discussion. Welcome back to the potter disgusting disgusting Harry Potter books, films, TV show, and the wizard rule fandom. I'm your host, Oscar, and this is episode 339. Thank you everybody for joining me today. Of course, it is my greatest pleasure to be recording with you all today. I am so glad to be back. I was out of the studio last weekend, so unfortunately, we cannot uh do an episode, but we are back. We are wrapping up season three, we are prepping for season four. I always love these transition episodes because they're such a good opportunity to really look at where we've come and where we're going. So I am really excited for you to join me today. If this is your very first episode, first of all, welcome. I want to let you know that this is we are in in uh in between two seasons. So we were doing a series called Tea Leaves, which is our version of the Harry Power TV show. We are going through episode by episode, scene by scene, every single episode of the Harry Power TV show. We are making it ourselves. We just finished season three, and now we are in uh in between, and we are wrapping this whole season up, and we are prepping for season four because there's a lot we went over in this past season. It really started to get intense, and we are entering a new phase of the story. This is the end of an era. And of course, that and much more we will discuss in the episode ahead. So definitely stick around if you want to hear that. If you have any questions, comments, topics, anything at all you want to reach out with while you're listening, do not hesitate to reach out to thepotterdiscussion at gmail.com. That is the potter discussion at gmail.com for anything at all you want to let me know. Uh, and of course, uh make sure you subscribe or follow or whatever the word is now on your favorite podcast app because like I said, season four is gonna get pretty intense. So definitely make sure you are uh following the show wherever you get your podcast. All right, that is everything I wanted to mention before we begin. So without further ado, let's get into today's episode.

We are entering the “Dark Hogwarts” era

Oscar 2:03

So the first thing that I want to talk about, and this is kind of the main point that I want to make with this episode, is that to me, especially because now we're going through so carefully, seasons one, two, and three kind of feel like their own little package. Like Harry is first discovering the wizarding world. This is kind of his foray into, you know, the story beyond. And that's kind of the feeling that I got, especially because of how much time we were taking with each moment in the story and how far back we went. I'm thinking especially of the episodes in season one where we're talking about, I think it was the very first episode was we started with the founders of Hog, which we started a thousand years ago, and we really built up the story from there and we saw Lillian James. Like all of those episodes. I'm also thinking of the one uh last season where we had the whole Marauders episode, uh, or even the one, the very first episode that we did where we followed Sirius as he um, you know, found Lillian James and then went on the run and found Pettigrew. So those episodes really draw out this backstory. And we're kind of now at this point where Harry is learned. You know, he is, he understands what's going on, he understands the challenges, and now he's almost, I mean, not ready, but now he has to be ready, I guess, to face them. So, I mean, often I I love talking about that uh that me, that meme I see all the time, which is, you know, season or books one and two are like very light and very whatever, and then the season, uh, the second uh the third book hits, it's like all dark and doom and gloom. And I do agree with the sentiment there, but I think it's slightly off because honestly, I think books one, two, and three are kind of that uh more, you know, whimsy. I mean, I mean, of course, like book three is really getting into some of the dark stuff. I mean, Dementors and Sirius and all these really kind of dark topics. And I totally understand. Like, I'm not uh I'm not saying that the third book is any less you know dark than it is, because of course it is, and it is absolutely more intense than then the uh first two. But it feels like it's still part of that beginning world, like Harry still is getting a hang of it, like we're all kind of still slowly integrating into the wizarding world because the truth is we're heading for a conflict with with Wold Warren. That's where we're heading, that's kind of where the story is based. That's exactly where Harry is, you know, making all his plans, and of course, Demoldor is already looking forward to that uh time, looking forward as in he is he is preparing, not he's he's not uh excited for it at all. And I always think of the first three books as kind of the pre-Voldemort, you know, era because it's like, well, I guess you could also kind of call it the post. It's kind of the post-Voldemort pre-Voldemort, you know, you know what I'm saying? Like we're we're in between Voldemorts. Because the very first episode saw uh how Voldemort was, you know, vanquished, and the very last episode of season three kind of saw how we are now releasing, you know, we're slowly uncovering the past, and we have all these pieces finally in place. It feels like we're finally unlocking these parts of the story that have been hidden for so long. So now heading into season four, it's almost like we are finally on the right track. Like we've been kind of chasing these kind of strange places and going down these odd winding paths, and now we're finally kind of out of the thick and really into the true story, and that's kind of what I feel. And you know, whatever the f whatever the the intensity of the first three books are, I think it's impossible to s you know to say that book three is somehow separate from those because the truth is it's really not. Hogwarts is still this not kind of this kind of light, airy place, and I think, you know, even though we have these intense chases with Sirius, you know, running through the holes and it's nighttime and all that, I think the strongest piece of evidence for this kind of dark Hogwarts idea of the uh third season is the Dementors, because I mean, yeah, like I you can't you can't deny that. And we had so much fun. Gosh, I think it was maybe episode like three or something. It was one of one of those episodes where uh Harry was going to Hogwarts and they had the encounter on the train. We spent like 20 minutes talking about that, that like one, you know, like 20-second scene because it is just so cool. Those the I mean that scene in particular, you know, especially I love how they did it in the film. Uh, this is where Harry is on the Hogwarts Express, he's going to Hogwarts, and these, you know, the train stops and the Dementors get on, and they we see the Dementors slowly drifting into the the view of the of their car. Like that scene is so good, and it is such a good example of the darkening air of the story. So, you know, if we're thinking about how do we lump these kind of stories in with each other, I think looking at it from the perspective of the Ask Vanta kind of you know point of view, it's tough to then say, ah, well, you know, it's not exactly fitting in with this Chamber of Secrets idea. But speaking of the Chamber of Secrets, is it really that much different? I mean, there's this huge snake monster going around killing people. Like, yeah, that's not so great either. So I think the idea is just the presentation, because the Dementors are a much deeper, kind of darker feeling creature. They represent a much darker part of magic, I think, it's as as a whole. And the truth is, I mean, that's kind of just that's that's how it's presented, also. The basilisk, of course, the basilisk isn't this, you know, like, oh, there it is, let's get it, everyone. Like, it's not really that kind of uh, you know, joyful air. But it's also not this deeply intense feel that I think the Dementors bring. So that is, I think, the argument that you could make. So at the very least, I think the farthest you could go to separate these is to say that the that seasons one and two are a package, season three is part of that package, but it is kind of a transition into season four, which represents the beginning of the of the real conflict. So I would be okay with that why by saying that season three is instead of part of the you know first three, it is kind of the the the transition out of the first three. That makes sense. However, I do still think that it is very much still a part of that. Uh because you know, looking at the classes and then and all that, we just like I think it's it's it's really hard to say that season three is this, you know, is the beginning of the Voldemort storyline because it just it just isn't. It just it just isn't. I'm also thinking of of what we are also going to get into later in in this episode is the characters, just they aren't in their final form yet. And obviously they take, you know, they are always evolving and they're always changing, but I'm thinking of someone like Malfoy. I mean, it took me like I wasn't really thinking about it, but writing this episode and kind of reflecting on how we're going to, you know, what changes are gonna be made, kind of what we're gonna begin to truly see in season four. Malfoy is a huge example of that. I'm not gonna go into too much detail, but it's those kinds of things, like the real cornerstones of the story that are yet to come haven't quite come to pass. Like Voldemort. It's like we're kind of dancing around Voldemort and we're about to kind of dive in. But even the very first, you know, few scenes of season four, which we're gonna get into next week, it's him. It's not a memory, it's not his follower who's actually not, it's not his Harry's past, it's literally Voldemort. So season four is the undisputed beginning of this kind of Dark Hogwarts age, is kind of what I want to call it. This, this, you know, the true beginning of the conflict between Harry and Voldemort. It is gonna be intense, it is gonna be super intense, and book four is absolutely the beginning of it. I think we are gonna see a lot of things changing, and this is a good, you know, this this episode is a good kind of buffer, it's a good moment, it's a good breath of fresh air. Because there is a lot to come. There's a lot to come, and the complexity that we're gonna see, that's another point that we're gonna make later in this episode. The complexity that we're gonna see from the story and from the characters, it is really going to begin to uh increase. So season four is gonna be a lot. It is gonna be our largest season to date, it is gonna be a very vivid season from beginning to end, and I think there's a lot that we have to pack in uh to stay on schedule, to hit all the important points of the story, to fix some mistakes in the films, to highlight some important points in the books. I think there is a lot to do, and I think that's kind of the beginning point that I want to make in this episode. That we are kind of done with this. Harry is this, this, you know, you're a wizard, Harry. That's kind of what I feel like we've been living in that world for the fur for the past three seasons. But now it feels like we're finally breaking that, we are coming to the end of that. Sirius is free, Voldemort's on the rise, and we are finally gonna dive into to this this central conflict of the story. I mean, you know, the first and last seasons don't have much in common, but the fourth and last definitely do. So that's kind of the frame of reference I'm using. We are finally kind of diving into this, and I really can't wait. So that is the first point I wanted to make. That first three are over, and the fourth is going to begin. So let's get into some specifics now. Le t's move on.

The best moments are the most personal, and we should see a lot of those

Oscar 12:01

So that was a much more general point, but now I want to kind of dial it in a little bit with a very specific idea, and that is the best moments in, I mean any film, are the ones that are the most personal. The ones that we really feel like we are inside the minds of the characters, we feel like we are it is just, you know, us watching and just them. You know, that's kind of the feeling that a really good intimate moment in film can evoke. And we have definitely had those in the past three seasons. You know, Harry has a tough time of it sometimes, and we often have to kind of dive into his world to really understand that. But now it's kind of shifting because we're getting into this much more this much darker current of the story. Harry's past is going to come alive before our very eyes this season. And I think that demands something of a greater degree. I want to have moments that are almost uncomfortably personal in this season. And I think that is going to aid this idea of, you know, it's it's finally getting real. You know, finally we are seeing these actual, you know, leaps that Voldemort is taking in the real world, who uh, you know, and he's he's finally kind of making this progress that is giving him the f a foothold in the visiting world. And we have definitely talked about these kind of personal moments in the in the past few seasons, but what I think makes a great moment is first of all, we don't hear any like dramatic music, we don't hear anything like that, like, because I mean a a real personal moment, it r it reflects real life. You know, like when when when you get a piece of like really bad news, or like some kind of shock, or some kind of like like a moment that just like you you know you're gonna remember forever. You don't hear music playing, no, because it's it's you thinking, reacting, feeling, and that's I think an important point to make here. When, you know, for example, I think a good a good example of that is when Harry learns about his uh parents that they were betrayed by Sirius, that happened. I think the film does it okay, you know, because he reacts and he storms out and all that. But I would rather see something like he like it's we we the only shot we see, like it's not where we're cutting away, cutting away, cutting away. No. We're in the three broomsticks, Harry has the invisibility cloak on, we see his face, we see his we hear his breath, we don't hear anything else but the clatter of the pub and the professor's discussion. And then they say, like, oh, you know, I can't believe that it was serious block, you know, wh whatever line they have. We just see Harry like it's like his face doesn't change, it just like bec it just kind of like darkens, but it also his eyes brighten like it's just a strange thing. And we kind of we hear his breath almost like not quicken, but just just become like become deeper. Like he's not br he's not, he's not like his lungs aren't moving, it's like his his kind of soul is like kind of shaking a little bit. Like that's the feeling that I want. And like maybe we start to kind of our heart pounds a little bit more and our breath becomes a little shaky because we're watching him. We are, you know, humans are are are empathetic creatures, and I think the empathy that we feel for him in that moment is gonna be such an important ingredient to that scene. That's the feeling that I want for a lot of this upcoming season. There are gonna be really intense moments. I mean, Harry is going to come face to face with the very things that have defined his life up to this point and that will continue to define his life. I mean, it is incredible to imagine, and I'm glad, I am hopefully, uh I am very hopeful that no one listening has a similar experience to that, because that would probably mean that something really bad happened to you in your past. I hope that we are all uh we we we don't have that kind of struggle. But we can still understand him, you know, we can still understand what that means. So, in that, you know, in that sense, I think it is it is gonna be, you know, a similarly impactful moment for us, too. So I I want to reiterate this point, and this this is these are the words that I wrote down. We are gonna see his past come alive before our eyes in this season. That is kind of the the point that I want to make here. So, past, I mean, memory, that is, that is one of the most important parts of this story as a whole. And this is the book where, like I just said, it begins to truly shift and come apart. And Harry is bearing is is is is gonna bear witness to that, and we have to bear witness to him. You know, I think it we we owe it to him almost. That's that's the feeling that I want. We owe it to him to to sit in these moments of kind of shock or grief or whatever, and sit there with him and feel what he's feeling. That is what makes a true personal moment. It's not, you know, it's not like if you cut out music, instantly it becomes personal. No. That is an element of it, but it's because it aids a larger, you know, function that it becomes something that is, you know, it's it's it's almost like we forget we're watching something on our TV or our phone or or or you know, whatever. We're not we're not watching a TV show, we're not watching like an HBO show. We are living a moment, and that is what I want to feel because there is so much, so much that is gonna fall squarely on Harry's shoulders this season. He's gonna be faced with some of the greatest challenges he ever has, and he is going to truly see what he is up against. The the the graveyard is only for it's it's for us, it's only a few weeks away. I mean, you know, because now that we're getting to these long seasons, we have to really start start plowing through. I mean, that is it's it's almost strange to think that we are so close to that to that graveyard. I mean, I can't wait, and I can't wait to really see how Harry's uh life is going to change in between that, because of course there is there's a lot more to discuss than just the graveyard. We've got a lot of Quidditch, a lot of tasks, and a lot of drama. So this scene really gets this this season gets much more vivid. There's a lot that gets drummed up, there's a lot that must stay down, and I think these personal moments is really good is that's that's what is going to be our uh way of of experiencing all of that. So, with all that said, let's move on.

Malfoy follows the pattern of the story to a tee

Oscar 18:38

I mentioned Malfoy, and I want to definitely discuss him before we close out this episode. So let's talk a little bit about Draco, where is he headed, what's going on, why is he so important? Well, I was talking about Draco in the context of the transition between the first three books and the fourth. Because that is the barker, you know. Whether you think that the third is a transition or you think it's part of the first three, whatever it is, the fourth book is the beginning of something. I think that is pretty definitive. And Malfoy is a kind of subtle, but I mean almost identical marker of that. Identical in the sense of he follows this transition to a T just like Harry does. In the first three books, what what is Malfoy? What is he? He's a bully, he is clearly, you know, hiding things, he has his, you know, his his goons who do his bidding, his father's rich, he's stuck up, he's, you know, this is like he's kind of on he's kind of like the archetype. His whole my father will will hear about this, you know, like we know him, we've met him a hundred times, like okay. But it's it's the we get whispers in the third book of something a little bit deeper than that. The whole, you know, dogging. That's what I'm thinking of. That's that that's that's that's the whisper where Sirius is a dog, you know, and uh, you know, we're beginning to see that Lucius has a really tight hold on Hogwarts, and we're beginning to see this infiltration of the Death Eaters. Uh the whole idea, um, I I the reason I say dogging is of course in in in the future books, when Sirius transforms as a dog and comes to the platform, uh Malfoy says, you know, I'll be dogging your footsteps. You know, he makes it very clear that he knows what's what's going on. So this is kind of the third book is where we see like the whispers of, you know, Malfoy knows maybe a little more than he should. Maybe maybe a little more than Harry is comfortable with. And then when the four season hits, it is pretty clear that he is on the track to become a death eater. I mean, it is it is pretty obvious, especially from someone, you know, from us. We've been watching this thing forever, so we know exactly what's going on. It's pretty, it's pretty clear. Even from the very first few scenes, like from the Quidditch World Cup when the Death Eaters attack the camp, and Harry run from I Fred George and Ginny, like they kind of stumble away into the woods, and Malfla kind of finds them, he is clearly pretty relaxed about this whole thing. And then, you know, Ron and Harry say, Well, it's because your dad is down there in a mask, probably. Like, in that moment, Draco almost becomes a death eater, and this kind of begins as a journey, because in the fifth book, he would become even more uh committed to this whole idea of being a death eater, and then of course the sixth book is when it really happens, uh, and that is where he has an impossible challenge. So Draco's storyline is a really compelling one, but he almost is a different person in the l in the first three books because he doesn't really like he doesn't have a say, you know, in the story. Like it's it's not like Harry's not trying to stop him, it's just like he's kinda he's just like a fly. He's just like, you know, a raspberry seed in his tooth. Like he's not anything really. He's just a bully. Like that's all. But this fourth book kind of marks that that shift, and he is now something maybe a little bit, you know, deeper. Maybe he's something a little bit more, you know. Profound in as far as Harry is concerned, at least, because especially as this book goes on, we will begin to understand just what being a Death Eater means and just how tough it is to be one. And that that theme is, of course, going to be what defines Draco's arc as the story goes on, and what uh eventually is kind of brings about the end of the Malfoy line in the final few moments of this whole story. So this is Malfoy is a kind of a good he's he's he's a good uh bellwether for where we're headed because as Malfoy gets more serious and more brooding and more uh you know laden with responsibility, that's kind of where we begin to see that Voldemort is more on the rise and that the conflict between Harry and Voldemort is only becoming more intense. And it is when, you know, uh in the Half Blood Prince, it is when Draco is faced with the impossible task of killing Dumbledore, and when he eventually can't, and Snape can, that is a very, very pivotal moment for Draco. And that is, I would say, the pivotal moment for Harry, too. I mean, you know, Dumbledore is uh Dumbledore defines him. Dumbledore is his spirit animal, you know, Harry's. And the moment that Dumbledore is killed, it's it's like that breaks off into a new chunk of the story, and that's when Draco breaks off into a new character as well. So Draco is a really good indicator of the story. So it would do us very well to keep an extremely close eye on Draco and what he's doing and why he's doing it. Because his relationship with his family, his relationship with Voldemort, and most importantly, his relationship with himself, those three are going to weave his story just alongside, you know, the the the the arc of almost everyone else. He is kind of an amalgamation of it all because he is caught in between so many worlds. He is a Hogwarts student, but he is a Slytherin. You know, he's a death theater, but he's a son. This is going to be his eternal struggle, and this is the book where it all begins. I am so excited to see this shift. I mean, honestly, the like the moments that we were just discussing at the Quiddish World Cup, those are some of the most exciting moments in his in his arc, I think, because it's, you know, his beginning. This is where he is beginning to truly become a death eater. And it's those, you know, few uh little lines that he has, uh, the you know, the quick conversation that he has with Harry in the dark, that is his beginning uh uh as a death eater, and that is a really kind of that's that's a very momentous uh thing for him. So Malfoy is a great indicator of the story, and we should track him very closely. Uh but there are a few more things we want to discuss in this episode, so let's move

Complexity

Oscar 24:54

on. Another thing I mentioned previously was complexity. And complexity is another point that is really gonna make this season much more vivid. I've used that word a few times, and the complexity is, I think, what adds so much to that. The example that I think illustrates this the best is Neville. Because Neville, like Malfoy, is kind of a static character for the first three books. He's kind of the same, and I'm not saying that's a bad thing, that's just what he is, you know. He uh isn't really growing, he isn't really changing, he's just kind of status quo. And you know what? That's chill. You know, totally, totally cool. Uh, not everyone has to be changing their entire personality every three years, like that's okay. But this is the book where we begin to kind of see that happening with with Neville. And uh the uh example that I can think of most specifically is his past. Because just like Harry, Neville has a complicated past, and that is something that we're gonna know a lot about in the next book, that's that's for sure, uh, in uh book five. But we aren't we aren't quite there yet. So Neville hasn't quite reached the level of complexity that we need for him to become a truly compelling character, but this is the book where that happened. So this season is gonna be a really good one for Neville. His parents are are unfortunately extremely impaired. They were tortured, I mean, uh, like no one has ever been. Like they were they were tortured beyond recognition by Bellatrix Lestrange, and now they are they they are almost different people, and it is really a sad thing. And I think we brush, we almost brush over that in the st in the in the books, and I I really don't want to do that. I think the trip to St. Mungo's in the uh next in the Order of the Phoenix, that's gonna really give us that that perspective. But right now, I want to make it clear that Neville has more to him than what we see uh with with with our eyes, than you know what is what is clearly obvious. The film does this well, I think, but it's it's almost too passing. I want this to be kind of sprinkled throughout. So it can uh but but I am okay with it all coming to a head in uh Moody's class when they're talking about the unforgivable curses and the uh the Christiardis curse is demonstrated right in front of Neville's eyes. It's rough. I mean, it is rough to say the least, and I think now that we're coming into this with that prior knowledge and the knowledge that we are going to see exactly, you know, for ourselves in real life in St. Mongos. We're gonna see why Neville is so traumatized from a spell like that. Moody knows, and this should be a first, one of the first indicators that he is truly heartless. I mean, it is really awful to watch. We were talking about those personal moments. Uh, Neville, I think, deserves one here, that's for sure. So it's gonna be a tough, a tough time for Neville, and I so love um gosh, is it this moment? Uh, one of the scenes that for some reason sticks out in my mind so clearly. I think it is this moment. Neville is uh looking out the window, and uh, so this is after Moody's class that had this happens in the film. Neville is standing on a spiral staircase, he's kind of looking out the window, clearly lost in thought. Harry sees him and is kind of like, Oh, are you know, are you okay? And then Moody comes down, grabs him, says, Come on, like let's let's go for a cup of tea. You know, it's very gruff. And he he gets pulled away, and then we see the window he's looking at, and it's raining, and we see a tear. I mean, it's a drop of water, but we see a tear kind of running from one of the figures in the stained glass window's eye, you know, running down the window. I think this is that moment. If not, I do I so clearly see that tear running down the window. That is the kind of thing that I so, so love that we just that we are, you know, getting this uh very creative way of kind of showing us just how you know much emotional baggage Neville has about a topic like this. So Neville is a great example of the emotional complexity of the story, that we are really turning it up to 11 in season four, and he is not alone. I mean, Ron, Ron's relationship with his family, that's gonna be super important. I think also Percy, I think, I mean, you know, uh I we didn't get enough of Percy, and I am so hoping to see uh more and more of him, but we also have people like, you know, some some you know see somewhat background characters like McGonagall. Like, I want to see her also kind of grow and develop. I want to see Harry as part of the Quidditch team and how that you know affects him. And then uh as the Tri-Wizard Tournament rolls around, I want to see, you know, Cho and Harry's relationship with Cho and then you know, subsequently Cedric, and how that like they're they're teenagers, like this is this is they're they're they're living their best lives here, you know. I I really want to see the complexity, the social webs, the the the drama, because again, vivid. That is the key word for this sequest. It is uh or this this this this whole season, really. Vivid. I mean the their their relationships, their their feuds, you know, these tasks, these dangers, these great you know, feats that are gonna be demanded of them, you know, in only a few short weeks, like I was saying, the graveyard's coming up. That's really what's gonna make this this uh season so vivid. So I am so much looking forward to the complexity of this.

This is getting real

Oscar 30:14

There is one final note that I think uh will do us well to close out this uh episode. And this is the real jumping off point. I think this is the last that we are going to to talk until we begin season four, which is really exciting. So I hope you're just as excited as as as I am. And we've we've been kind of dancing around this, we've been kind of saying this, you know, indirectly this whole episode, but it's getting real. Now is the time, it is finally beginning. We had Harry's Past. We had you know Dumbledore, we had Sirius, we had the Dementors, which were, you know, creepy, but now it is getting real. There's no more beating around the bush, there is no more whimsy to rely on. We are now no longer discovering the wizarding world, we are fighting for the wizarding world, okay? That is this that is the most important distinction. Voldemort is coming back, he is on the rise, and he is on the hunt for Harry. This is the season where we really begin the runway to the final few moments. I mean, I feel this this connection, you know, already thinking about how we're gonna start season four is almost like thinking how we're gonna end season seven. So there is so much that we are going to pack in this because it is finally time to really dial in and begin the and be and and begin Voldemort. Begin Voldemort as a concept, as a character, and really cement him in this story like no other character. I mean, he is like we haven't seen him. We saw memories, we saw ghosts, we saw, you know, these shadows of who he was, but he is still somehow one of the largest players in this story. Without, you know, interacting with him too much, he is still the thing that we think about the most. He's still the driver of almost all the conflict, and that should tell you something. He's not even here and he's still making waves. That is the kind of character we are meeting. That is what is really going to uh bring us, you know, face to face uh here. So I am thrilled. I am so, so, so thrilled to really dive in. I am so uh proud of our past three seasons, and that makes me even more excited to really dive in. Again, if this is your first episode with us, welcome. I am so glad that first of all, you made it to the end of the episode, so hopefully you like what you hear. Uh, but also I'm so so happy for you that we are finally beginning this journey together. This is your, you know, 339th episode. Then uh I I extend a similar uh thanks to you. I am so glad that we have uh shared this journey up to this point. And we are, it almost feels like we're kind of beginning, we're we're taxiing and we are about to begin takeoff to the TV show itself. Like, I mean, I like I think I've said this a few times. My absolute dream for Tea Leaves is that the final episode of season seven is the week before, or like the day before uh uh the release of the TV show. Like something like that. Like, and I mean the timing is gonna be tight because we have a lot to get through in, you know, only a short few months. So I'll see if I can finagle that. But I feel like we're finally starting, you know, the run-up to the actual TV show. I mean, there've been news and uh all that and castings and whatever, but now I think we're finally getting going. So I'm so excited. Thank you all so much for joining me today. Uh, I am really glad to be back in the studio, and I am so much looking forward to next week. Season four is gonna kick off with a bang, and I certainly hope you will be there on Sunday to hear it. So definitely tune in on your favorite favorite podcast app. If anything uh you uh know, you feel, you think, any parts of the store that you that you want to see in season four, now is the time, it is not too late. Reach out to the podja discussion at gmo.com. That is thepodger discussion at gmail.com. If you want your thoughts heard, uh I I see every single email you send, and even if I don't have a chance to respond to them all, I see every single one. So absolutely write in. I am so, so glad to hear from you guys. Uh so season four is on the horizon. I am so excited. This is gonna be such a cool season. Uh, 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.