Ask not for whom the bell tolls, for in Book 7, it tolled for quite a few folks.  The body count in the final book gets higher and higher as the book goes on.  Some deaths, granted, were quite welcome, such as Bellatrix and Voldemort; others were tragic and shocking.  All of them, however, held a special meaning for Harry and for the books.  In this episode, we examine the specific meaning of that which gives ultimate meaning, the deaths of Deathly Hallows.

This episode is dedicated to the memory of Hedwig the Owl, Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody, Dobby the Free Elf, Fred Weasley, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Colin Creevy and all those who gave their lives in the Battle of Hogwarts.  And, of course, Severus Snape.

In the news:

• Rowena Ravenclaw is Wizard of the Month at JKRowling.com.
• 16 year-old French boy arrested for posting his translation of Deathly Hallows online.
• J.K. Rowling fights the law, and the law wins.
• Bookie lose over ambigious death of Harry.
• Scholastic printing an additional two million copies of Deathly Hallows.

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*Deathly Hallows Spoilers Included*

It’s been less than a week since the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, yet most of us have now read the book more than once; inevitably, bits and pieces need to be re-read to make sense of them. In addition to re-reading, the comments on our last post were extremely amazing, and really helped make sense of the book. This week, we look back through the comments and pull out a few topics to discuss further: a possible relationship between Harry and Voldemort? Examples of Voldemort’s spells not working, references to Nazis, the fittingness of Snape’s death. What was the purpose of the epilogue? And what did we need the Deathly Hallows for anyhow? Of course, there’s more questions that need to be discussed (who discovered magic later in life? Where did Harry’s parents get all that money from?), but they’ll have to wait until next time.

Thanks so much for all the great comments, keep them coming, we couldn’t do the show without them!

In the News:

• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is breaking sales records.
• JK Rowling on the Today show: Announces Encyclopedia of characters and talks about DH.
• Naomi Watts, Joseph Fiennes, and Stuart Townsend not necessarily in the Half Blood Prince movie.

Make sure to listen to our interview on The James Madison Show from Friday, July 20. The interview can be found a the website if you click the podcast button. Special thanks to James and Frank for having us on.

Don’t forget to order your HPProgs t-shirts! Contact us if you’re interested in a red, white or black limited edition t-shirt.

Join in on the HPProgs Thank-You Book to JK Rowling!

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House Elves were made to serve…or were they? This week’s podcast uncovers the complex philosophical conundrums disguised as bug-eyed, self-flagellating little green monsters.

In the News:

• If you work in a library, don’t even think about abusing your Deathly Hallows rights.
• The Scholastic Knight Bus: Coming to a library near you?
• Darn, I misplaced my invisibility cloak AGAIN!
• The Hogwarts Express’s vandalism has been avenged!

If you’re interested, the book mentioned in this week’s podcast is The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten: 100 Experiments for the Armchair Philosopher.

If you speak any kind of English other than American, don’t forget to enter our So You Think OUR Accents are Rubbish? contest.

You can listen to the podcast using the player below, or you can download it directly as an mp3.

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