New Harry Potter Video Released by WB, More Posters from DH2, and Podcast News
This is a lovely retrospective video of the making of the Harry Potter series with a preview of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two.
Watching Daniel, Rupert, and Emma grow up together on screen has been an amazing emotional journey for the cast, crew, and the fans. There will never be another film series like this one. What an incredible accomplishment!
Neville Longbottom
I am looking forward to seeing Neville standing up to Voldemort as well as Neville's epic battle with Nagini.
Draco Malfoy. Are the Malfoys evil, mislead, or misunderstood? I wonder how the Draco's family will be portrayed in the final film.
I love all of the new posters. These are three more of my favorites. 
If you listen to SQPN's Secrets of Harry Potter podcast, our next episode will be a Father's Day show. We are discussing the roles of Arthur Weasley, James Potter, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, Xenophilius Lovegood, and Lucius Malfoy as fathers or father-figures in the series. I was fascinated by this interview with J. K. Rowling, in which Arthur Weasley is discussed, and thought we could launch a great discussion from it.
From J. K. Rowling's Interview with Merdith Vieira on Dateline MSNBC, posted at http://www.accio-quote.org/
VO: [clip of Arthur Weasley in 'Order of the Phoenix'] One character, Arthur Weasley, the father of Harry's friend, Ron, seen here in 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix', actually got a new lease on life.
JKR: When I sketched out the books, Mr. Weasley was due to die in Book 5.
MV: So what happened there? Why did he get the reprieve?
JKR: Well, I swapped him for someone else, and I don't want to say who, for the people who haven't– read. But I– I made a decision as I went into writing Phoenix that I was going to reprieve Mr. Weasley and I was going to kill someone else. And if you finish the book, I– I expect you probably know and someone else who is a father. Because I– I wanted there to be an echo of– of Harry's loss of parents. And you probably know who I'm talking about if you've finished the book. But– so there are two characters who are killed instead in Seven. So Mr. Weasley did get attacked, as you know, in Five. But he would have died if I'd have stuck to the original plan. But he survived. I had to keep him alive partly– partly because I couldn't bear to kill him.
MV: But there were two that weren't supposed to die that did end up dying.
JKR: Yeah, yeah. I swapped them for Mr. Weasley. But they didn't then die until Seven.
MV: So as an author, then, there were certain characters you couldn't bear to part with?
JKR: If there's one character I couldn't bear to part with, it's Arthur Weasley. And I think part of the reason for that is there were very few good fathers in the books. In fact, you could make a very good case for Arthur Weasley being the only good father in the whole series.
VO: [clip from 'Order of the Phoenix'] Jo was especially reluctant to lose Mr. Weasley because Harry had already lost so many father figures: his godfather Sirius Black and Hogwarts school headmaster Dumbledore. They were victims in the struggle against evil arch villain Voldemort, who killed Harry's parents when he was just a baby.
So what do you think? Is Arthur Weasley the only good father in the series? Comments are welcome!
