PotterCast

For several years now, I've been regularly checking a site called The Leaky Cauldron . I found it when I was desperate for news about the next Harry Potter book, which at that time was not yet published and was eventually titled Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. There are lots of Harry Potter sites on the web, but The Leaky Cauldron is the absolute best. Even JK Rowling thinks so.

What makes this site so good? They are very professional. They do talk about rumors, but they identify them as rumors, and give their opinion as to whether or not they might be true. You'd be surprised how many Harry Potter related rumors turn out not to be true, and the Leaky staff can spot a false one a mile away. Here's a recent example: the article about the rumor and a follow-up.

They are careful to tell the truth, but they also almost always have news as soon as it happens. If you want to know the latest news about anything Harry Potter related, this is the site to check. Plus, it's run by adults, not kids, so it has a certain maturity many other Harry Potter sites lack.

After I'd been visiting this site for quite awhile, they started a forum called The Leaky Lounge. This is absolutely the best Harry Potter forum on the internet. Lots of interesting discussions, and even some other Christian homeschooling Harry Potter fans (and I thought I was the only one!)

Then, just over a year ago, the staff of the Leaky Cauldron started a podcast. I had just gotten an mp3 player, though I would have listened to this even if I didn't have one (you can download them and listen on your computer, if you don't have a portable mp3 player). Right from the start, PotterCast was very, very well done. I find myself talking back to the podcast while I'm walking along listening to it -- people give me strange looks. But it's hard to listen to it without wanting to talk back, to express your own opinion or just laugh because, in addition to being informative, they are also very funny.

Since I got my mp3 player, I've found other podcasts I also enjoy. A very eclectic mix of technology-related shows, sermons, etc., but PotterCast is still my favorite. I look forward to it each week and often wish it came out more often than weekly.


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My current favorite segment on PotterCast is called Canon Conundrums. Along with Steve Vander Ark from the Harry Potter Lexicon (another great grown-up Harry Potter site), the staff of PotterCast discuss a different theory regarding some of the mysteries in the Harry Potter series each week. This week's was about why Dumbledore had James Potter's Invisibility Cloak at the time of Jame's death, which, according to JK Rowling, is apparently a "crucial" question that no one has yet asked her. I know I've asked a similar question, just how did Dumbledore get the cloak. I thought that was the same question until I listened to the experts discuss it on PotterCast and realized there are more details here than I'd even thought of. Very interesting discussion, indeed!