1Snarking Harry Potter:
Opening sequence with intro graphic and zoom into the commentary bench with 4 witches in robes and surrounded by darkness.
Commentator: looking at the camera Who was Harry Potter? A typical man born into extraordinary circumstances… An evil, power-hungry man who would stop at nothing to get his way… Maybe he was a hero. Today on Historical Figures: Facts and Legends, we will explore his teenage years at Hogwarts before his defeat of the dark arch-magi Voldemort. With me are Mariana Thimblewilt of Excalibur University ; Rachel McDougal with Thistlewaite College of the Magical Arts; and finally Alicia Laurents of Snarkleblatt College of Magic. turns to Alicia We'll start with you Pr. Laurents: What do you think of the "Chosen One" prophesy?
Alicia: It is obviously apocryphal. There are no verifiable sources that it even exists and don't mention the obviously biased reviews of his friends. Who knows if he told them the truth or if they later lied to protect him. Remember, this was nearly one hundred and fifty years ago. The stories we have relate Potter's adventures a falsely glowing and rosy light. What really happened that night in the graveyard?
Mariana: Now see hear, we are not here to listen to any more of your crackpot theories on the evils endemic to Harry's character. sits back
Alicia: Yes we are... sits forward
Rachel: focus There is no proof that Harry was lying about what happen to Diggory /interrupt/ gestures during the
Commentator: focus That is Cedric Diggory, Harry's Quidditch rival.
Mariana: focus Yes. Plenty of children have rivals and do NOT kill them.
Alicia: Yes, but they don't have the chance. All we know is that Cedric is dead and Potter was the last boy to see him alive and he was found crouched over Cedric's dead body. And we only have Potter's description of a graveyard and Voldemort's rise. None of the death-eaters confirmed the story. It was later accepted only because Voldemort rose to power within a year. However I think /interrupt/ that its
Rachel: focus You are completely off base. Isn't it proof that he was telling the truth that Voldemort rose agin.
Alicia: A coincidence, or Potter helped Voldemort rise simply because he wanted the fame and power attained from defeating an obviously powerful wizard.
Rachel: No, Voldemort was one of the most powerful wizards of all time and no teenage wizard would battle him, no matter how cocky and overconfident. That would have been suicide. Remember the study last year ago by the Grindilow Research Center ? On the 150th anniversary of Voldemort's death; 80 of people still refuse to saw his name. 80 of people are still scared he will return. Consider what the feelings on Voldemort would have been like 150 years ago.
Mariana: focus Harry was a normal teenage boy of the time. I think he had a lot of help from adults who allowed him to take the credit. While he did go on to /interrupt/ do was be...
Commentator: We are considering his teenage years at the moments; let's leave the future for a future panel smile
Mariana: Yes. As I was saying… He obviously had many friendly and talented adults around him. Consider the great Tonks. A powerful witch whose reforms of Hogwarts made it possible /interrupt/ for less powerful
Commentator: ahem.
Mariana: She was a powerful witch even during her career as an auror. She defeated many of the worst death-eaters, some of whom were nearly as bad as Voldemort. I'm sure she was part of the team that defeated Voldemort.
Alicia: focus At the least we can agree that Harry Potter did not defeat Voldemort on his own. He had help. Including his friends Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley and Draco Malfoy. Without his fellow students and the help of the Order of the Phoenix, he couldn't have defeated a mouse.
Mariana: That is completely unwarranted. Most historical accounts say that Harry protected his friends from harm on several occasions.
Alicia: Tell that to Professor Dumbledore
Mariana: That was unavoidable. Professor Colin Creavy's Harry Potter: A Definitive Analysis says quite specifically that Harry did not need anyone's help and that Dumbledore killed himself.
Rachel: Dumbledore was killed by death-eater according to a letter written by Minerva McGonnagal, a professor at the time, to her brother Jovan. She said Dumbledore was killed while protecting the school from deatheaters.
Alicia: What else could she say?
Rachel: Anyway, Harry was quite skilled at Defense Against the Dark Arts and skills gained from that class were the skills necessary to beat Voldemort. Of his friends, he was the only was to get an Outstanding in his OWLs.
Alicia: Yes, his OWLs, that's all.
Rachel: I'm sure he would have scored an Outstanding in his NEWTs if given a chance.
Alicia: Granger was the smartest student in the class and Malfoy was considered to be the most cunning. Potter needed them and the support from Ron Weasley to kill Voldemort. And before everyone makes Potter into a hero. He KILLED Voldemort. Did he try to save the man or at least help him or even give him some chance for survival. No.
Rachel: Because Voldemort was a scourge of the Universe. He was not save-able.
Mariana: Everyone is redeemable.
Rachel: focus No they are not. As Marchester said. "Hope is a drop and to dream of more is a flop."
Mariana: And Dumbledore said "Life is and we are and we do change."
Alicia: focus Voldemort was not as bad as he was painted by media and popular opinions of the time. I saw a picture of Tom Riddle before he became Voldemort, and I know that boy could not have done what was historical sources have proposed. He was a figurehead, that's all.
Commentator: focus We are off topic. We should be discussing Harry Potter's school years, not his defeat of Voldemort.So what do you three think of the Neville Longbottom vs Harry Potter rivalry.
Mariana: Neville Longbottom?
Rachel: He was one of Harry's schoolmates. I'll start this one. There was no rivalry. They were friends. In fact Longbottom purportedly helped Harry on many occasions. The fight with the basilisk in Harry's second year at Hogwarts for example. Neville was captured by the monster and almost killed by the shade of Voldemort, yet he still helped defeat Voldemort.
Alicia: Don't tell me you believe in that twaddle. There is no Chamber of Secrets. It's propaganda circulated by Dumbledore to support his chosen hero. Dumbledore was setting Potter up to become famous because he owed Potter's mother Lily for saving his life years earlier.
Mariana: There is proof that the chamber of secrets was opened and does exist. In fact, Professor Dennis Creavy says that Ginny Weasley was actually captured by the monster.
Rachel: His work has been completely discredited.
Alicia: Only because he disagrees with the majority of magical historians. His brave attempt to tell the real story of Harry Potter was interrupt completely...
Rachel: He cited sources that do not exist.
Alicia: They were destroyed.
Commentator: Let's move on to Goblet of Fire controversy.
Mariana: While it is most irregular that Harry was allowed into the competition, he did purport himself well.
Alicia: But he did so illegally.
Rachel: It's a school competition.
Mariana: Yes, but once again he showed his flagrant disregard for the rules that should have kept him safe. He had charisma, a death wish, and a healthy dose of megalomania. This is not a good combination. He nearly led the Order of the Phoenix to their doom in that last battle in the Voldemort conflict.
Rachel: Yes, but they accomplished their goal. Voldemort was destroyed.
Mariana: Yes
Alicia: Yes
Commentator: Given Potter's background with Muggles, Dr. Raines of Gregorian Univeristy says that Harry Potter avoided muggles most of his life and denigrated those he could not avoid. Your takes?.
Alicia: I agree. I can't believe he would truly treat muggle-borns or muggles with any but distaste given what we know of his purported background. I do believe that the Dursley family locked Potter in a closet.
Rachel: Dudley Dursley wrote to his mother in a letter right before her death in 2026 that he felt sorry for how he treated Harry early in life. He admitted that Harry had been locked in a closet and starved.
Mariana: Doesn't that seem a little convenient. I agree that he could not have been friends with muggles or muggle-borns. In those days, muggle-borns did not mix with pure-bloods, or even many half-bloods.
Rachel: He overcame the bias of the time. There are many first-hand accounts of his relationship with Hermione Granger. They were considered by many to be an item. Rita Skeeter of the Daily Prophet detailed their romantic relationship in a series of articles.
Mariana: It is interesting that despite the failure of their romance, they became good friends until the short-lived house-elf rebellion.
Commentator: The house-elf revolution is a matter for another debate.
Mariana: Yes, as I was saying. Potter and the muggle-born Hermione Granger were good friends for most of their lives.
Commentator: Harry Potter showed a cavalier attitude at many times. How did this relate to his school years?
Alicia: focus Humph. He was sorted into Griffindor, the house of heroes and blowhards for many centuries. One of his professor's, a Professor Snape I believe, claimed Harry was unprepared and was docked points the first day of school. Thus, we know that he did not take school seriously and misbehaved enough to have points taken of on his first day.
Mariana: You can't infer he was a bad child from misbehaving on the first day of school. Plenty of children do that.
Alicia: Ah, but they are usually too scared to do so on their first day in a new school. Potter was not afraid. He demonstrated the same reckless disregard for rules and the lives of those around him throughout his life. Consider what happen to his first wife and son...
Commentator: focus That would be off topic.
Mariana: He may not have behaved in his classes, but he was also not a bad boy.
Commentator: We seem to have run out of time for this session of Historical Figures: Facts and Legends. You may have the last word Dr. McDougal.
Rachel: Harry Potter was not a perfect boy or man, but he made the freedoms we have today possible. Without Harry Potter's defeat of Voldemort, the world would be overrun by monsters and normal witches and wizards would be subjugated. We owe Harry and it is ungrateful not to admit it.
Alicia: Ooh...
Commentator: Thank you for your comments. looks at the camera Please join us next week when we continue our discussion of Harry Potter: The Boy, The Man. Thank you.
Camera zooms out. Closing Credits and Music
How to film:
Go through once and film the straight shots.
Go through again twice with closeups of each person with the two cameras during their lines.
We will have 50 minutes of footage at the end to be edited together.
We may have to do some sound dubbing as well.
But it'll be fun and unusual.