The Leaky Cauldron's Pottercast Interview with J.K. *Spoilers* Options

[Lilysowl]

For those who haven't had a chance or the time to listen to J.K. Rowling's interview on The Leaky Cauldron's Pottercast, I wanted to go ahead and give a summary of what she said because she had some good answers for some good questions.
I can't emphasize enough about the spoilers in this interview if you haven't completed the series. If I did, the moderators would accuse me of yelling. *lol*

The interview was divided into two parts. I did ask Dijares to review both parts before I posted them since it is pretty long. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wizard.jpg)

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Part 1

This interview was in two parts. It was made before Christmas, shortly after the auction for Tales of the Beedle Bard. It was an amusing and good interview. If you are a frequent visitor to "The Leaky Cauldron" website and podcast, you would appreciate the personal inside jokes and banter between J.K. and the interviewers, Melissa, John and Sue. I was tempted to do a detailed transcript, but found it simpler to do a summary of the topics discussed that I found interesting and informative.

The first thing J.K. discussed was what the stories were about in Tales of the Beedle Bard:

Wizards and the Hopping Pot - A moral to teach young witches and wizards that they should be using their powers altruistically.
Fountain of Fair Fortune (her favorite one) - It's about the qualities you need to reach your heart's desire and the moral being that magic, ultimately, is not the best weapon.
Warlock's Hairy Heart - J.K. said this was a dark and gothic story. "Voldemort would have done well to know that story before he started on his campaign of terror".
Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump ". . .the stupidest title ever written by man and beast. I never thought it would be a story when I gave the title to Ron. . ." - It's a story about revenge, one witch's cunning way of revenging herself from muggle persecution.
The Tale of the Three Brothers - "And you know the story of the three brothers. . ."

J.K. said she loved writing them. At the beginning of the interview, J.K. was still a bit shell-shocked and very happy over Amazon's winning bid of 1.95 million pounds.

Who made the first horcrux? J.K. believes the first horcrux was created by Herpo the Foul; and that other wizards have tried but either were maimed or killed themselves.

Dumbledore and homosexuality in the wizarding world: Is it taboo? According to Jo, it is exactly what it is in the muggle world. The greatest taboo to the prejudiced ones in the wizarding world is the blood status. "You could be gay and pure blood without any criticism from the Lucius Malfoys in the wizarding world. But I couldn't speak for all the witches and wizards. . ."

J.K. goes into more detail about her perception of Dumbledore. Her story for him was a man who was a defender of love and believed it to be the most powerful force; but he was a made a fool of by love in his youth from his infatuation with Grindelwald, a man who was like his dark twin.

Harry is not a horcrux: According to J.K., a horcrux is intentionally made. Voldemort never went through the grotesque process, that she imagines creates a horcrux, with Harry. Voldemort had destabilized his soul so much that it split when he was hit by the curse. A part of it attached it itself to the only living thing in the room. The other part flees in the very close to death limbo state that Voldemort goes off and exists in.

"It's very close to being a horcrux but Harry did not become an evil object. He didn't have any curses upon him that the other horcruxes had. He himself was not contaminated by carrying this bit of parasitic soul. The only time he ever felt it stirring and moving was in "Order of the Phoenix" when he himself goes through a very dark time. And there's a moment where he's looking at Dumbledore and he feels something rear, like a snake, inside him. And of course , at those times it's because the piece of soul inside him is feeding off his emotions. He's going through a dark time and that piece of soul is enjoying it and making its presence felt. But he doesn't know what he's feeling, of course. Also, I always imagined that the Sorting Hat detected the presence of that piece of soul when Harry first tried it on because it was strongly tempted to put him in Slytherin. And that's how I see it. . ."

The pain from the scar: According to J.K., when Voldemort is active or near, the pain is from the piece of soul seeking to rejoin the Master Soul. It wants to get out the way it entered.

How did Dumbledore find out what happened in Godric's Hollow? J.K. believes it would have been possible for Dumbledore to cast a charm on the dwelling which would immediately alert him if something happened to it and then he could dispatch Hagrid and so on. . .

Did the trio ever graduate from Hogwarts? According to J.K., Ron and Harry didn't go back. Hermione did, so she could get her N.E.W.T.S. For after the battle, Kingsley would have wanted survivors from the winning side to help him clean the Ministry. So, that's what Harry and Ron did while Hermione went back to finish her studies. Then, she joined them at the Ministry.

At this point, John asks J.K. what would a Graduation Ceremony have been like since she had written all those other ceremonies like the Sorting Hat ceremony, etc. J.K. said she had always felt a bit of sadness at not being able to write one for them, but she had always known, even from the beginning, that they would not graduate. John made one suggestion for a graduation ceremony. His idea was that perhaps they would leave on the boats just like they had arrived in their first year. J.K. liked that idea and they had a small discussion about the symbolism of water.

Note: Out of all the tidbits discussed in part 1 of the interview, those were the most interesting ones to me that I thought others would like to know, too.

Part 2
Since J.K.’s interview was pre-recorded and divided into two parts, the first 23 minutes of the Pottercast featured current news before the second part of the interview began.

Draco Malfoy: “Did he graduate? And who did he marry? It wasn’t Pansy, right?, or was it?”
J.K.: “No, god, it wasn’t Pansy Parkinson! I loathe that girl! . . .I don’t love Draco, but I really dislike her. She’s every girl who ever teased me in school. She’s the anti-Hermione. I loathe her. . . uh, yeah, sorry, side-tracked there by my latent bitterness. Uh, he married Astoria (not sure of spelling) Greengrass. . .”
Melissa commented that the name sounded familiar. J.K. said Astoria is the younger sister of Daphne, two years younger than Draco was at Hogwarts.

They go on about other Gryffindor girl names which J.K. said she would put on her website.

John brought up the subject about the dog barking on her website. He asked if the creators had recorded the sound of her own dog. J.K. said she believed they did. She says the wallpaper is not hers “I’d like the opportunity to say my taste is not that bad. That’s not good wallpaper. . .” (no offense to the one who designed it: non-direct quote) She goes on to say that a lot of other things were pretty accurate like the rubbish on the floor and the desk “It was taken from life. They took a photograph of my desk and it’s actual”

John asked if she really has a “Do Not Disturb” sign. She says she does now because she took the one from the Balmoral (spelling?) Hotel where she finished “Deathly Hallows”.

J.K. says she it is such a relief, after 17 years, to finish the series. She doesn’t believe many people, except Stephen King, understands how it feels. She says she knows where she was when she wrote every part of the books. She remembers where she was when she thought up Quidditch and Professor Sprout, etc. “Harry really saved me during some bleak moments in my life, so it’s been massive saying goodbye; but the up side, you saw the up side at Carnegie Hall, and that was. . . they. . . you can ask me. . .readers can ask me anything and I don’t have to say (she mimics herself) ‘You’ll find that out in Book 5’, ‘I can’t tell you that. It’s important for the ending of Book 7’, ‘Oh, what a good question.
‘What a shame, you’ll find out in the next book.’ And all that rubbish. . .” She went on to say that no author likes to put people off when it’s so flattering that they want to know, but then again the author knows how much pleasure will be ruined if they “spill the beans” three years early. She continues by saying how much she enjoyed answering questions at Carnegie Hall. “. . .I had the best questions. The most amazing crowd turned up. . .That was really a magical night for me. . .magical. . .the adjective that is most often used in connection with Harry Potter. . .such a cliché. . .but it was.. .”

The Department of Mysteries-Love Room: J.K. said it is the place where they study what love means. The center would contain a large well or fountain of a powerful love potion. The love potion that Professor Slughorn mentions in Potions class as “the most dangerous potion in the room” is what would be in the fountain or well.

In the Love Room, one would see witches and wizards taking it to study its effects. J.K. brings up “the thread in the books” of how love raises people like Lily, Harry, Neville to the heights of absolute heroism and also leads people into evil like Bellatrix and foolishness like Dumbledore who lost his moral center when he became infatuated. “That’s what it (love) does, that’s what makes it dangerous”.

As for Bellatrix, according to J.K., she was madly, romantically in love with Voldemort. He was the obsession of her life. J.K. comments that she believes Helena Bonham Carter had to be asked to tone it down. The producer had called J.K. to get background information on Bellatrix so they could tell Helena about it. J.K. said her response was that there was a sexual attraction, “she’s madly in love with this man and obsessed by him”. J.K. gathered that Helena had to be asked to tone it down because she was being a bit too sexy. (Lot of laughter).

What exactly did Alan Rickman know and when? Sue changed the subject from Helena to Alan. J.K. said that early on, Alan did know Snape had been in love with Lily because she did tell him. She said they needed to have the conversation in the beginning because Alan needed to understand “where this bitterness towards this boy who’s living proof of her preference for another man came from”. Alan was the only person who knew that for a “long, long, long time”

Snape - was he truly meant to be in Slytherin? Upon following the topic of Alan Rickman/Snape, Sue asked this question about Snape. J.K.’s response: “Yes, god yes, definitely. At the time when he was sorted—I believe what Dumbledore believes, when he said . . .says to Snape in the very last book., ‘Sometimes, I think we sort too soon. To judge someone at the age of 11, to judge them, to set their future course so young seems to me to be a very harsh thing to do. And it doesn’t take into account the fact that we do change and evolve.’ A lot of people are at 40 what they were at 11. Having said that, so I think the Sorting Hat is shrewd. But Snape does redeem himself and it fails to take that into account. But then again, you can turn that on its head and say ‘But maybe with these people being sorted into Slytherin, someone who has the capacity to change themselves might also have the capacity to change Slytherin.”

John then asks how much is it that being sorted into Slytherin is sorted into bad guys and good guys. J.K. responded that they are not all bad. And then she jokes that they may just have a highly developed sense of self-preservation than other people. She uses the example from the final battle of Slughorn galloping back with Slytherins, but they had first gone off to get reinforcements. “. . .but yes, they had come back to fight.” She laughs with the others.

The Potter Park: John leads the conversation into the creation of Harry Potter theme park in Orlando, FL. J.K. said she had just been looking at plans for that just before the auction. “How much is going to have the Jo touch?”

J.K.’s reply: “I would have to say a lot of it is going to have the ‘Jo touch’ because I’ve been very, very, very involved, which has been amazing. And Universal—I think I’m right in saying and I know I may sound confused, but it is a very confusing issue, but I think I’m right in saying that these rights were Warner Bros., not mine. However, Warner Bros. asked me did I want it to happen. And I think. . .they have been amazing in that respect, you know, as the underlying creator, as its known in legal terms, as the underlying creator of the series, they came to me and they asked me what I felt about it. And we---there were a few things that I really wanted to happen if it went ahead. And the key, the key thing for me, if there was to be a theme park, that Stuart Craig, who is the production designer on the films, would be involved. I mean more than involved, that he would pretty much design it, because I love the look of the films. They really mirror what’s been in my imagination for all these years. And I think he’s just done an incredible job. He’s an Oscar winning, very well-known guy in the industry, so it’s not just me who thinks that. And he did consent to get involved, so I truly think that walking into the theme park will be as close as you’ll ever get to walking onto the film set or to walk into Hogsmeade—better, of course, because it’s 3D and you can walk around the corner and look at the back and, you know, it’s going to be quite incredible. I really believe that. And I think that. . .personally, I think it will be the best thing in the world of its type, having seen what I've seen."

John commented how impressed they had been over the drawings they had seen already. J.K. agrees that it is going to be impressive. Melissa jokes with her about getting them (herself, John, and Sue) jobs as bartenders at the park’s Leaky Cauldron. J.K. jokes back about how they may want to re-think that since there will be quite a lot of traffic.

What happened to Florean Fortescue? He died. Jo regrets that, but she said something bizarre happened after she created that name and character. Her best friend met and soon to marry a man named Florean “which is bizarre because it’s not a common name. . .” But he will be mentioned in the encyclopedia because J.K. had a subplot for him which had to do with the wand lore “. . .that had to be sacrificed because it was not leading anywhere. . .”

Wand lore: J.K. mentioned that there had been “immediate angst” from people about a thestral hair being in the Elder wand because they pointed out that Hagrid bred Thestrals. J.K. points out that Hagrid did not bred Thestrals, only the ones at Hogwarts.
Melissa asked if J.K. would go into a more detailed explanation as to how wands switch hands because there was still confusion among fans about that. J.K. said she will update her website on that subject. But here is a summary of what she did say about wands:

Wands as quasi-sentient beings: “. . .They are not exactly animate, but they’re close to it, as close to it as you can get to an object because they carry so much magic. So, that’s really the key point about a wand. Now, their reactions will vary, from wand to wand. The Elder Wand is simply the most dispassionate and ruthless of wands, in that it will only take into consideration strength. So, one would expect a certain amount of loyalty from one’s wand. So even if you were disarmed while carrying it, even if you lost a fight while carrying it, it has developed an affinity with you that it will not give up easily. If, however, a wand is won, properly won, in an adult duel, then a wand may switch allegiance. And it will certainly work better, even if it hasn’t fully switched allegiance, for the person who won it. So that, of course, is what happens when Harry takes Draco’s wand from him. And that’s what happens when. . .but you know what I mean. Um, oh yeah, Ron. . .the blackthorn wand. . . from the Snatcher. . .” (examples of a wand favoring the person who had the skill to take it). J.K. goes on by saying that the Elder Wand knows no loyalty except to strength. And that it is “completely unsentimental” and that it will only go to where the power is. “So if you won, then you’ve won the wand. So, you don’t need to kill with it.” J.K. goes on to concede that it is noted in the books that the Elder Wand has such an immense power that it, inevitably, attracts wizards who are prepared to kill and who will kill. And, it attracts wizards like Voldemort who confuse being prepared to murder with strength.

J.K. adds to the subject by saying she has been asked how her concept applies to the duel clubs. Her answer is that in the clubs the duels are for practice, fun and there is no weight or significance attached to the wizards’ minds of a wand flying out of someone’s hand. But in a serious duel, the emotional state between the wizards, that is different, “that’s about real power and that’s about a transference that will have far reaching effects in some cases. So, I think the wand will behave differently then ”.

The Next Generation: “How much of the next generation do you have worked out?” J.K. answered that by saying “You’ll see when or if you watch the documentary that I’ve been doing, that I’ve been filmed for, because I do talk about that quite often. I have a lot of the next generation worked out. . .because, you know, it’s me. How could I not have it. . .?”

Melissa, John, and Sue express their anticipation about seeing the documentary. J.K. said she did it because she had been approached by many people who said “ we want to do a ten years of Harry Potter special program”. She said they had all these different things they wanted to do. So eventually, she did find someone who she believed would do a good job because he was also an author and understood her life at a certain level, “which some interviewers don’t”. She expressed her pleasure and belief how it turned out right. She comments how odd it was to see how her haircuts had changed during the years she had worked on Harry Potter.

The interview ended with Melissa telling J.K. that The Leaky Cauldron had created a questionnaire with 400 questions about what will happen in “Deathly Hallows”. A boy by the name of Ricky Carter had answered 350 of the questions correctly. J.K. was pleased to hear that because she believed she had left a lot of clues for people to guess what will happen. Although, she concedes that the death of Dobby would have been unexpected. But she claims she had a very good reason for doing that.

Melissa, John, and Sue added their mourning over Hedwig. Then, John joked that Hedwig didn’t really die because he was part phoenix. This led into the discussion of fan fiction. J.K. said one header she had read that made her laugh was “My Name is Lily Potter. You thought I was dead. You were wrong." And she said there must be one that starts out with "My name is Hedwig. As I fell through the icy, night sky. . ."

Melissa says she believes it’s all done in good fun. J.K. interrupts by saying she agrees and that she finds some of the stuff “. . .very, very, very funny. I have frequently laughed myself stupid reading some of the things. . .letters I get, they’re amazing.”

Melissa asked J.K. if she would come back. J.K. said she would and wished everyone a Merry Christmas “or whichever religion you are keeping”.

John tells her that they were inspired to end Pottercast the same way she ended Potterwatch from “Deathly Hallows”. Then, the subject of Fred was brought up with a bit of some more mourning, except for John who commented (jokingly) how they forgot to mention Fred’s demise during the interview “oh well, whatever”. Just a little more joking and they all said “Good night”.

[the_prisoner_of_...]

Harry is not a horcrux: According to J.K., a horcrux is intentionally made. Voldemort never went through the grotesque process, that she imagines creates a horcrux, with Harry. Voldemort had destabilized his soul so much that it split when he was hit by the curse. A part of it attached it itself to the only living thing in the room. The other part flees in the very close to death limbo state that Voldemort goes off and exists in.

"It's very close to being a horcrux but Harry did not become an evil object. He didn't have any curses upon him that the other horcruxes had. He himself was not contaminated by carrying this bit of parasitic soul. The only time he ever felt it stirring and moving was in "Order of the Phoenix" when he himself goes through a very dark time. And there's a moment where he's looking at Dumbledore and he feels something rear, like a snake, inside him. And of course , at those times it's because the piece of soul inside him is feeding off his emotions. He's going through a dark time and that piece of soul is enjoying it and making its presence felt. But he doesn't know what he's feeling, of course. Also, I always imagined that the Sorting Hat detected the presence of that piece of soul when Harry first tried it on because it was strongly tempted to put him in Slytherin. And that's how I see it. . ."

I'm sorry but....
Yes yes yes yes! JKR, how I love you, you have just redeemed me for my 4 years of Harry is not a Horcrux defence.

[Lilysowl]

It's too funny, prisoner. Dijares had the same reaction after she reviewed the first part for me.

[xc coach]

Draco Malfoy: “Did he graduate? And who did he marry? It wasn’t Pansy, right?, or was it?”
J.K.: “No, god, it wasn’t Pansy Parkinson! I loathe that girl! . . .I don’t love Draco, but I really dislike her. She’s every girl who ever teased me in school. She’s the anti-Hermione. I loathe her. . . uh, yeah, sorry, side-tracked there by my latent bitterness. Uh, he married Astoria (not sure of spelling) Greengrass. . .”
Melissa commented that the name sounded familiar. J.K. said Astoria is the younger sister of Daphne, two years younger than Draco was at Hogwarts.

So, Draco had a little bit of good taste. Thank goodness!