Source:PotterCast Interview

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The PotterCast interview is an interview of the PotterCast staff with J. K. Rowling. It was released as two PotterCast episodes on December 18 and December 23, 2007. Full transcripts can be found here: part 1, part 2.

Part 1

Notes:

• Hufflepuff and house-elves: JKR: Yeah, it's a complicated issue. I would say that Hufflepuff gave- Hufflepuff did what was the most moral thing to do at that time, and we are talking about over a thousand years ago. So that would be to give them good conditions of work. There was no kind of activism there, so no one's going to say, "Here's an idea, let's free them. (SU: Yeah.) Let's pay them." It was just, "Well we'll bring them somewhere they can work and not be abused."
• What each of the tales in Beedle is about
• Herpo the Foul created the first Horcrux
• Dawlish's first name: he had to be good, because he became an Auror. He has his weaknesses, and Dumbledore knew how to explore him. By the time Augusta got to him, several people had attacked him. But Mrs. Longbottom was a powerful witch.
• Homosexuality in the wizarding world is pretty much like it is in the Muggle world, but in the wizarding world people care about your blood far more. A gay Pure-blood would not suffer prejudice from the likes of Lucius Malfoy.
• It wasn't just an infatuation. Grindelwald appeared to be offering him a solution—Dumbledore wasn't cut out to be home caring for Ariana, he was cut out to be a brilliant man. He knows that about himself, and he's ashamed of it.
• Madam Hooch really did not have a romantic backstory.
• By definition, a Horcrux has to be made intentionally. Voldemort never went through the process that creates a Horcrux with Harry. He didn't become an evil object, he wasn't contaminated by carrying this bit of soul with him—he only felt it stirring in Order of the Phoenix, when he himself goes through a really hard time, and that piece of soul is feeding on his emotion. The Sorting Hat also detected the presence of that piece of soul. The strict definition of Horcrux is that the receptacle was prepared by Dark magic to become the receptacle of a fragment piece of soul and that that piece of soul was deliberately detached from the master soul to act as her future safeguard or anchor to life.
• PS7 dream: the pain he feels whenever Voldemort is active is the piece of soul trying to rejoin the master soul. When the scar is hurting, it's not scar tissue hurting, it's the soul wanting to get back out the way it entered. It entered this boy's body through a wound, so when Voldemort is near him or particularly active, this connection—it was always there. There's a moment, when Dumbledore casts a charm—in essence divided. That's the way he sees Voldemort's soul, the head divided.
• If Harry had this Horcrux in him, would he have died if he'd fallen playing Quidditch or if a dragon had gotten to him? If his body had been irreparably destroyed—he has to die to get rid of that piece of soul. He didn't die in CS; his body wasn't destroyed, he got the antidote. Harry chooses to sacrifice himself, like Lily, and he chooses to pull himself back to life—it's more important than the magic.
• Neville was born hours before Harry; Voldemort singled him out as a second possibility, and he proves himself as someone who could have done it.
• The Longbottoms were efficient. They had rounded up Death Eaters, they were very good Aurors, they knew what they were doing, were responsible for lots of arrests.
• Lily and James, Alice and Frank's three times: any time you arrested one of his henchmen, any time you escaped him, thwarted him; both couples qualified. Also, Lily and James turned him down. Voldemort wanted them on his side. They wouldn't do it, and that's one strike against them, before they were even out of their teens.
• 10/31: Dumbledore could cast a spell on a dwelling that would immediately alert him if something happened to it, so he could've known instantly.
• Hermione went back to get her NEWTs. Ron goes to the Auror department—anyone who was in the BoH who's overage, Kingsley would've wanted them (Ron, Harry, Neville) to help clean up and finish the job, round up the corrupt people who were doing a Lucius Malfoy and pretending. Hermione had a bigger heart than a brain—but she wasn't really drawn to battle, she wasn't a Bellatrix.
• Graduation: they use the boats to leave.

Part 2

• Astoria is two years younger than Draco etc.
• Love Room: they study what love means. Fountain or well containing a very powerful love potion—wizards and witches taking Amortentia and studying its effects.
• Dumbledore lost his moral centre when he became infatuated with Gellert
• Bellatrix is madly, romantically infatuated with Voldemort
• Florean Fortescue was killed
• The only beasts that Hagrid ever created were Blast-Ended Skrewt
• Wands are quasi-sentient, close to animate, because they carry so much magic. The reactions vary form wand to wand; the Elder Wand is simply the most dispassionate of wands, in that it will only take strength into account. One would expect a certain amount of loyalty from a wand. Even if you are Disarmed or lost a fight, it has developed a certain affinity with you that it will not give up easily. If, however, a wand is properly won in a duel between adults (in practices or the Duelling Club, a situation without significance attached to it in the wizard's mind, that won't happen), it will work well for the person who won it, even if it hasn't switched allegiance fully. So that's what happens when Harry takes Draco's wand in DH23. The wand favours the person who has skill to take it. On the other hand, the Elder Wand knows no loyalty except strength. It will only go where the power is. So if you win, you've won the Wand. You don't need to kill in order to obtain it, but it is a wand of such immense power that it tends to attract wizards who are prepared to kill, and wizards like Voldemort, who confuse being prepared to murder with strength.