The FastSize Extender is currently the most powerful traction…

Related to the idea of the Sorting Hat and the 4 houses, their link to four “elements,” and the importance of uniting the 4 houses to defeat LV:

I recently stumbled on some info that part of the traditional mythology surrounding dragons is the notion that dragons are “special” because they embody all four elements in the same creature – something about how only they can live in water or on land, and fly, and breath fire. In addition to Draco’s name, we have the Hogwarts motto: “Never tickle a sleeping dragon”. Wonder if any of those dragon references mean anything in light of the mythology of the “unity” of 4 elements? Maybe the seemingly silly Hogwarts motto is actually a hint about the power of the “sleeping dragon” of wizarding unity?

It’s also interesting how we’ve seen the other two houses – Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw – get drawn in to the story. In the earlier books, you encounter them more as Quidditch and “points” rivals, abstract crushes, and people who doubt Harry. By Book 6, all 3 houses are working together and Quidditch and point rivalries seem silly – but Slytherin is still missing. But there are “openings” for rapprochement (did I spell that right?) or for second thoughts about how evil they are – Slughorn is friendly, Draco has shown potential for redemption, Narcissa made a desperate attempt to protect the son she loves – members of the “other side” are starting to seem multi-dimensional. But the question is, what next?

I won’t even get into the free-will vs. pre-destination discussion – too complex for comments, and I think you guys are doing a good enough job!

Anyway, thanks so much for the kind words as well as for letting your HP friends know about us! We look forward to hearing from you in the future. BTW, if you ever want to e-mail us you can do that at harrypotterprogs@yahoo.com, but leaving comments here is fine as well!

Anyway, first thanks all for the generally kind words- you all are great.

Raffy, Jessica (welcome, have we seen you here before?) and Greg from T: good calls on the sorting hat’s significance. Who would have thought a piece of cloth could have such important characteristics?

Sean- I agree with you 100%it has always bothered me that the wizarding world is so separate from the muggle world. It just doesn’t seem realistic in the 20th century (which is when the HP books take place) that the wizards/muggles would be so removed from each other. Especially when (according to JKR) only like 20 percent of each class are purebloods. I have found it to be selectively separate though. JKR has also said that a basic muggle education is not necessary to enter Hogwarts- so when exactly are these kids learning the basics? Maybe we are getting bogged down with the specifics but I do find this annoying.
I do wonder how the rest of the wizarding world interacts with the muggle world. I have always imagined the American wizarding community to be more interactive with the muggle community. I have always thought that the HP books would be really interesting if JKR would have made this wizarding world very in sync with the muggle (modern) world. Oh well.

JB- I am glad it worked out. You have a great friend in Spenser. Don’t forget that

Welcome Cricket- Thanks for this comment as well as for the e-mail (which I will address at some point). yeah, it sort of bothered me that JKR said that the sorting hat was never wrong, but I guess I should give her a bit of credit since she is the one who invented it. I think it would be interesting if the sorting hat occasionally made mistakes or if there were occasional “resorts”. What if…

Greg from T: Bellatrix is definitely an interesting character to discuss. I can’t wait to see how Helena Bonham Carter portrays her in OoTP- she is so dark and wicked! Thanks for the suggestion. Keep em coming!

I enjoy your podcasts and wanted to let you know. I am listening to the latest as I type this and found your thoughts on the sorting hat interesting.
(Itunes on my Ipod).

I also agree that the sorting hat could be influenced, so I don’t know if I totally agree that it could not(or has not) ever made a mistake (per JKR). If a student who would be naturally sorted into Slytherin (based on charateristics) became fast friends with someone who would, let’s say, be naturally sorted into Ravenclaw on the way to their first session at school and really wanted to be placed in Ravenclaw (sound familiar?) but later showed the “cruelness” of a true Slytherin, wouldn’t that be a mistake?

O.k. I may need to type without listening to Greg at the same time. I would like to suggest a topic for review: House Elves. I’ll send an email.

this isn’t on topic with the sorting hat at all, but I’ve got my own prognosticatorial question that might be of some interest.

Why is the wizarding world as very separate from the Muggle world as it appears to be?

A couple things come to mind

Hermione takes an elective class called “Muggle Studies”, but this is the only mention we hear of wizard students studying anything that could even possibly be things like math, science, and “muggle” history. Math and science being universal and still applicable in the wizarding world even with magic, it seems highly bizarre that these things would be completely ignored. What, wizards don’t have accountants? They’ve got their own currency independent of the pound and the euro and no treasury department to manage it? Wizards need math.

Also, I find it very strange that the history of the wizarding world seems to be so completely seperate from the history of the muggle world, and thus wizarding students don’t even bother learning any of it. It seems at the very least that large world muggle events, for example the two world wars, must have had some kind of impact on the wizarding community. Of course they might have just not mentioned stuff like this in the books since it has no bearing on the story.

Even though magic basically replaces technology in the wizarding world, I also find it hard to believe that wizards have no interest in certain things like computers and cell phones. Oh, and video games. But seriously, I can imagine cell phones being introduced to the wizarding community by muggle born wizards and becoming vastly popular for the same reasons they’re popular in the muggle world.