Hogwarts Herald

First of all, JK Rowling is a damn tease. Let’s just get that out of the way right now. This story reads like the first page of a book. I hereby reserve the right to hope that she changes her mind and this is the beginning of a whole new book. Beyond that the story was cute. Short (800 words is just not enough)!!! But good. It does, however, raise questions. Questions that may never be answered. PLEEEEEEAAAAASSSSSEEEE, write another book. Another series. Pretty Pretty Please with sugar on top?!?!?!?!?!

Ok, *Spoiler Warning* If you have not yet read the story card, please check it out at Waterstone’s website, and then come back here and read below the cut. Give me your theories on my questions, and raise whatever questions you may also have.

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Ok, so that title may be a bit misleading. No, I am not doing an interview with the world renowned author that we all love so much. Nor do I even hope to have something like that on the horizon. She’s just too big for that. However, I was thinking to myself today, what if I could interview JK Rowling? What if I had the chance to ask only 5 questions? What would those questions be?

Today, I’m doing just that. I’m writing out my 5 questions to Rowling, and the reasons behind them. And maybe even what I would answer if I were her. I’d like to know, also, what you would ask. Please leave a question or two in the comments, and the reasons behind that particular question…

OK, lets begin…

1) Something I’ve wondered since reading Deathly Hallows, and then re-reading Sorcerer’s (Philosopher’s)Stone… There were several tidbits left throughout Chapter One of SS. The Deluminator, Sirius Black etc… Was that intentional foreshadowing or did the ideas come later?

Mostly, readers, my interest in the question lies in particular with the deluminator. It becomes such an important tool in Deathly Hallows, but before that it’s entirely inconsequential. It’s just another bit of magic. Just another tool that the wizards have that we do not. So I wonder, pretty regularly, was this meant to become so important when she wrote the first words about it so long ago?

2) We find out in Order of the Phoenix that James was kind of a jerk. At least when it came to Severus. Since we all saw James through Harry’s eyes and he thought James was a saint, was it a difficult decision to burst his, and our, bubble like that?

Now I realize that James being a jerk to Severus was a necessary plot device. It’s explains everything. Why was Snape so mean to Harry? Payback. Why did Snape still do everything to keep Harry alive? True love. It just makes sense. Still, I was crushed when I found out that James Potter was one of “those” guys…

3) What age do you think is appropriate to begin, and finish, reading the Harry Potter series?

The first couple books are very much for children, in my opinion, but when it comes to the final books it kind of disturbs me to see 6 & 7 year olds reading them. I don’t know when I will let my son start them, but he will be at least 8, and I may very well be a mean mommy and start him at 11 with a new one each year on his birthday…

4) If you were to give any one of the characters that died in the series a free pass, who would it have been?

This is such a hard question for me to ask, as I’m sure it would be a very difficult question for her to answer. Especially since we know she did give one character a second chance at life. When Arthur Weasley was bitten by Nagini in Order of the Phoenix, he was supposed to die. Rowling changed her mind at the last minute, saying that it would have affected Ron too deeply for the remainder of the series. Still of the one’s that did die, if I were her, I would choose Dobby. I think his death was just so unnecessary. And not in the way that she shouldn’t have written it, but like so many deaths in wars are unnecessary. He was an innocent, not a warrior. His death affected me more deeply than any other in the books.

5) What is one interview question that you always wish would be asked, but never has been?

Of course the reasoning behind this is clear, what do you want to say that you never get the chance to?

I have so many more questions, but that is the point, if I could only ask her 5 things, what would they be. These are mine readers, what are yours?

Well, kind of. J.K. Rowling has hand written an 800 word outline of a prequel to Harry Potter. The story card is going to be auctioned off along with the story cards of 13 other authors. Proceeds will be going to two different charities, English PEN and Dyslexia Action. The project is all part of Waterstone’s celebration of the National year of Reading. In addition to auctioning off the originals, a book with all thirteen stories and the winners of a storycard contest that Waterstone’s holding will be published. The “What’s Your Story?” contest is going to have 2 adult and 1 child winners, who will be published in the storycard book. The proceeds from the book sales will also go to the charities. Fortunately for those of us that cannot afford the undoubted hundreds of thousands of dollars that this story card will probably start at, we will be able to visit Waterstone’s website and read all of the stories, starting June 11, 2008!!! Not just Jo’s, but stories by Doris Lessing, Neil Gaiman, Michael Rosen, Nick Hornby, Sebastian Faulks, Lauren Child, Tom Stoppard and Irvine Welsh as well. And that’s not even everyone.

J.K. Rowling has repeatedly announced that she is not writing a prequel to the Harry Potter series, and in fact would not write another book in the series. However she did hand write several copies of the Tales of Beedle the Bard which were also auctioned off to charity. Does this mean that with a good enough charity Jo might write a full prequel and donate ALL of the proceeds to said charity? I don’t think so, but we can hope can’t we?

The morning after encountering the three headed dog, Ron & Harry were quite excited about their adventure. Neville, on the other hand, just wanted to stay away from them and the danger they seemed to bring along with them, and Hermione just wants to forget it ever happened. She decides that these are not the type of boys she needs to associate with. It is at this point that I began wondering to myself if perhaps Hermione was sorted into the wrong house. After all, Gryffindor is “where dwell the brave at heart”. Perhaps someone of her intelligence and love of learning would have been better suited to Ravenclaw, with the Wise old Raven as their mascot, rather than the brave lion. Anyhow, back to the story. Ron & Harry are spending their free time trying to figure out exactly what might have been in the safe that was now being guarded by a giant monstrosity at Hogwarts.

“It was a horrible sight. Twelve feet tall, its skin was a dull, granite gray, its great lumpy body like a boulder with its small bald head perched on top like a coconut.”

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Stopping by Emma Watson’s official website has been very informative for me this fine day. By the way, if you haven’t been, it’s a lovely and well designed site and you should definately visit. Different journal entries to date have updated me on some amazing things!!!

First of all, it was posted that the principal filming on Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has finshed. Filming finished on Saturday May 17th, and now the entire cast and crew is “eagerly awaiting the November release.” HBP is scheduled to be released in theaters in the US November 21, 2008. I, for one, will be in line at 10 minutes to midnight in my wizarding best. My goal on the read-along is to be done with boox six in time for the November release of the film. I had better get cracking!

The next wonderful tidbit is about Harry Potter the Exhibition. That’s right, just like Titanic: The Exhibition and Bodies: The Exhibiton, there will now be Harry Potter: The Exhibition. A 10,000 square foot experience that will include costumes props and artifacts of many of the Hogwarts environments including the Gryffindor Common Room and Hagrid’s Hut. The Exhibition will be opening Spring of 2009 and will be touring the world stopping in at least 10 cities. Let’s hope Vegas is one of them. Of course, Titanic and Bodies were both supposed to be here for only a month or two, and they are both still here several years later. One can only hope the same will be true of Harry. More details as they come in, I promise!

In other news, not from Emma, it looks like Warner Brothers has heard my cry of lament. The official Harry Potter website has been updated with tons of new content. Games and graphics. Finally it is more than just an ad for the newest DVDs. It has the Sorting Hat, and Olivanders Wand Shop where you get your very own wand. And everywhere you navigate there is something interactive and fun! Thank you Warner Brothers for paying attention to what your customers want!!!

And finally, in celebration of the 10th anniversary of Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone, Scholastic has announced a special edition of SS to be released in September. The new copy of the book will have a brand new cover by Marie GrandPre as well as some extra tidbits from JK Rowling. I can’t wait!!!

This chapter illustrates a habit of Harry’s that continues throughout all of the books. One that Hermione doesn’t approve of at all for the most part, but Ron is pretty ok with. Harry has a habit of breaking the rules, and not only getting away with it, but actually being rewarded for it. In this chapter specifically Harry breaks several rules that should have, by all rights, gotten him kicked out of Hogwarts for good. Instead, he earns a place on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and finds the trapdoor below the three headed dog that will be the catalyst for the rest of the book.

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Robert Knox (right) 18 year old actor to portray Marcus Belby in Half-Blood Prince.

18 year old Robert Knox, set to appear as Marcus Belby in November’s release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was stabbed to death today at a bar in Sidcup, London. The young man was stabbed along with three other men while defending his 16 year old brother Jamie Knox. A 21 year old man has been arrested for the stabbing. The man arrested had wounds to his face, but was not seriously injured.

Robert was known by family and friends as a kind and loving young man who would “spend his last penny on other people instead of himself.” The family is shocked and saddened by the loss of what was clearly a very loved and “genuinely nice” person. Flowers and tributes were being left on Station Road, the site of the stabbing, by friends and family today.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said: “We believe the stabbings took place in the street, outside the venue. We do not believe the incident is gang-related.”

Robert plays Marcus Belby (Ravenclaw) in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. According to the Harry Potter Lexicon, Marcus Belby was one of Professor Slughorn’s Slug Club candidates who didn’t quite make the cut. Marcus’ Uncle Damocles was part of the Slug Club, and also the famed inventor of the Wolfsbane Potion. That potion stops Werewolves from turning feral at the full moon.

My thoughts and wishes go out to the Knox family in this time of tragedy. It is my sincere hope that the man who committed this awful crime is punished to the fullest extent of the law.

Throughout Harry’s life, his main enemy has always been his cousin Dudley. While Dudley was fat and stupid and mean however, his new adversary is the exact opposite of that. Draco Malfoy is thin, good looking, and intelligent. He is also much meaner than Dudley could ever hope to be. Beyond mean, Draco Malfoy is cruel. Something Harry would learn as early on as their flying lessons together. That’s right, it’s not bad enough that they have to have potions together, but now they have flying lessons together too. Harry is positive that he will be no good at flying. He’s not very athletic after all, and he’s never been on a broom in his life. All of the wizarding family kids know all about brooms and Quidditch, and have already flown all the time. Or so they would have everyone think. The only people more frightened of flying than Harry are Neville and Hermione. Neville, because his Gran had very wisely kept his feet on the ground, and Hermione, because you just can’t learn to fly from books. No matter how much she reads about flying, that doesn’t guarantee that she will be good at it. That is a trauma that all of us bookish types (myself included) have experienced throughout the ages. No matter how good you are at all the rest of your classes, there is no promise that you are going to pass gym.

“Hermione wasn’t going to give up that easily. She followed Ron through the portrait hole, hissing at them like an angry goose.”

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Have you ever wondered which of the creatures that roam Hogwarts and the Forbidden Forest came straight out of JK Rowling’s head? And which of them have a place in myths and legends long before her time? I am beginning a new series to look closely at the critters that roam throughout Rowling’s English countryside. The one animal in the series that struck a chord in my mind and heart was the Thestrals. Maybe it’s just the Luna Lovegood in me, but I think that these are the most amazing and beautiful animals in any of the books.

Thestrals, it seems, did indeed come fully out of Jo’s head, although they may have basis in several different myths. First lets explore what we do know about the Thestrals. The first time we really encounter them is on the horseless carriages. Of course we don’t know it at the time. For years the students at Hogwarts believe that the carriages draw themselves. It’s not until after Harry sees Cedric die that he is able to see the Thestrals for what they are. And then we can see them too. Stately skeletal black horses. Winged, and slightly scary. Especially when Harry realizes that nobody else can see them. That is until “Loony” Luna Lovegood pipes up and tells Harry that she can see them too. When Hagrid introduces his Care of Magical Creatures class to the Thestrals, most of the students can’t see them. The reason for that? Only those who have seen death can see the Thestrals. While Harry was there when his parents were killed, he didn’t actually see the death. That’s why he wasn’t able to see them in the first four books. Luna can see them too, because she watched her mother die. It was an accidental death, and experimental spell gone horribly wrong. Who did Hagrid see die? As far as I know that is never made actually clear. If you know better than I on that subject, please let me know.

The Thestrals are carnivores. This is made quite clear when we see Luna walking with them in the Forbidden Forest and feeding them chunks of raw meat. The DA 6, namely Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna & Ginny flew on the Thestrals to London in order to try to save Sirius Black. In Book 7 the Order of the Phoenix members brought Thestrals to help with the Seven Potters Plan. They are indeed, as Hagrid said, dead useful. Perhaps one of the most interesting things though, is that the core of the Elder Wand is made with Hair of Thestral. Of course the core of one of the Deathly Hallows would be from a Thestral Hair.

So, what Myths may the Thestral be based upon? Well the first one that pops into my head is a Celtic Myth of the Pooka. The Pooka is a shapeshifting Hobgoblin that usually takes the shape of an ugly black horse. The Pooka is one of the fairy creatures, but is generally considered to be evil. Rather than evil though, the Pooka is largely misunderstood. He often appears before death because that is a point when the veil between the worlds is thin, and therefore a good time to see any of the fairy folk. People therefore see him as an omen of death when really he was there all the time, you just didn’t see him. He is also quite mischevious, as all hobgoblin and fairy creatures are.

Leah at Mugglenet has found a different myth, though, that seems much more similar. She has found a Celtic story that describe a skeletal black horse called the Mare of Doom who can transport it’s rider magically from one place to the next with the untying of a halter knot. Stop on by and read the story she has placed there. It’s a really good story and reflects the Thestrals remarkably.

Can you think of any other myth that you think might have sparked the imagination of the talented writer we love so much? Something else that may have been the first seeds of the Thestrals? What magical creature would you like me to explore next?

This chapter is the first where we really see how much Professor Snape hates Harry. Harry gets a good sense of it by Snape’s look at him during the first banquet of the year, but here he gets hit by full force in class. Snape speaks to him with disdain, and treats him with utter contempt. Throughout this first book his attitude toward Harry gets worse and worse. Of course this causes Harry to believe that Snape is the one that is after the Sorcerer’s Stone. In each successive book Snape’s behaviors become more and more agressive. The more that Harry begins to resemble his father, the more that Snape seems to despise him.

Eventually we find out that Snape attended school together with James, Lily, Sirius, and Remus. Also that Snape was just as much of an outcast as a student, as he is as a teacher and member of the Order of the Phoenix. His mother was a witch, but his father was a muggle, and he was bookish and snotty. In short, he was easy to pick on, and as hard as it was for Harry (and me) to believe it, James was one of the ones that did the most picking. James was handsome, and popular, and had a crush on the beautiful Lily Evans, who happened to be young Severus’ best friend. She was the only one who didn’t see him as a freak. She was friends with him because he was nice to her. She stepped away, however, when she found that he was as nasty to students he considered of lesser lineage, as James and his buddies were to him.

Yes, it is understandable that Severus Snape would not be too fond of the only child of James and Lily Potter. James had made his life a nightmare throughout school, and Lily, well he loved Lily more than he ever loved anyone before or after. Loved her enough that he risked his own life by going against the Dark Lord and going to Dumbledore once he figured out that he would be going after the Potters. Still, are the things that he has done to Harry excused by his dislike of his father? How about by the things that he has done to save Harry’s life? And do we think that he has saved Harrys life repeatedly because of his vows to Dumbledore, or because he loved Lily so much? What do you think readers? Was Snape’s near torture of a young boy excused by the fact that that boy’s father tortured him?

As this chapter opens we find Harry struggling to find his classes while everyone at the school is trying their best to get a gander at him. The poor little guy just trying to get to his classes on time and rather than being helpful everyone’s trying to take a peek at the famous kid. His first week is spent just figuring out the staircases and doorways. Hogwarts, it seems, is a difficult place to get around. Unless you’ve been there a while that is. Especially when you’ve got a poltergeist wandering the halls doing his best to misdirect or irritate you. And then there’s Filch, and his cat Mrs. Norris. For some strange reason Argus Filch seems to have it in for the students at Hogwarts and he has his cat trained to spy on and snitch out said students. Harry and Ron had the unfortunate experience of being “caught” by them trying to get into a locked door. They thought they were on their way to class, turns out, they were trying to get into the forbidden corridor on the third floor. Luckily ‘professor Quirrel happened by and stopped Filch from locking the lost first years in the dungeons.

“I don’t expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with it’s shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses…I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death…”

And the classes, the difficulty of learning “1000 Herbs and Fungi” with Professor Sprout, and the task of keeping awake in History of Magic with Professor Binns. The ghostly instructor died by the fire one night and got up the next morning to teach class, with or without his body. Then there’s Professor Flitwick, the Charms instructor, who stands on a pile of books behind his desk, and fell out of sight with an excited squeak when he came to Harrys name in the roll ledger.

Professor McGonagall, the head of Gryffindor House, teaches what looks to be the most difficult of all the classes. Transfiguration consists of magically transforming one thing to another. Professor McGonagall demonstrates with an impressive maneuver, transfiguring her desk to a pig and back. The students, however, start much smaller. Attempting to change a match into a needle. Nobody but Hermione made any realy progress though. It’s much more difficult than it seems. After Transfiguration they headed to Defense Against the Dark Arts, Professor Quirrell’s class. While all the students were very excited about it, the class was uneventful, leaving them all talking more about the Professors affinity for garlic, and the odd smell coming out of his turban.

All in all, Harry is very happy that he wasn’t too far behind the other students. After all, a bunch of kids also came from muggle families, and even those from wizarding families are having a hard time keeping up with all that they have to learn. So by the end of the first week, on Friday, Harry is already having a hard time with all that they have to learn. Between classes and studying, and staring at the late into Wednesday nights, this has probably been one of the most taxing weeks of his short life. He is eating breakfast with Ron when the mail call comes in, and for the first time since coming to Hogwarts he gets mail. Of the dozens of owls swooping through the Great Hall, Hedwig comes through and finds Harry. She drops a note, from Hagrid, asking Harry to tea after his classes that afternoon. Harry replies that he will be there, and then they’re off to class. Potions, a class together with the Slytherin students. The teacher is Professor Snape, the same hook nosed greasy haired professor that was talking to Professor Quirrell when Harry got the sharp pain in his scar. He is the head of Slytherin House, and everyone says that he plays favorites with the Slytherin students.

Harry & Ron make their way down into the dungeons where Potions is held. Professor Snape, like Professor Flitwick, pauses when reading Harry’s name. Commenting that Harry is “our new celebrity” in what sounds more like an insult than a compliment. He then peppers Harry with questions about herbs and their uses reacting with disgust when Harry doesn’t know the answer, and docking Gryffindor points both for his lask of knowledge, and his attitude when he points out that Hermione clearly does know the answers to his questions. Then, in their very first class, they are set to prepare a potion. Which turns out to be a total disaster when Neville messes his up completely. Snape snaps at Harry for not stopping Neville, accusing him of letting him do it so he would look better. Poor Harry doesn’t have any idea what he’s talking about and wants to say something, but thinks better of it when advised that Snape can get very nasty.

Finally they make their way out of class and up to Hagrid’s Hut. What they find there is a small one room hut complete with hams and pheasants hanging from the ceilings and a large slobbery dog named fang. Hagrid sits them down for rock cakes and tea. He took the name rock cakes a bit too literally though, as they nearly broke Harry’s tooth. They have a nice chat about everything from how much Snape hates Harry to Ron’s brothers. Then Harry notices the newspaper clipping on Hagrid’s table. It’s a clipping from the Daily Prophet about the Gringotts break in. Noting that the vault that was broken into had been emptied the same day the break in happened, which incidentally was Harry’s birthday, and the day that Hagrid and Harry had gone to Gringotts and emptied the vault for Dumbledore. Vault Seven Hundred Thirteen. It was strange, but Harry didn’t really have time to think about it on the way back to the castle for dinner.

Ah, the Sorting Hat. One of my favorite characters in the series. What’s that you say? A hat is not a character? Well this one is, at least in my opinion. When we are first introduced to the Sorting hat, it seems maybe a cool bit of magic. But the Hat is so much more than that. Looking into the very beings of each and every child that attends the school, I think the Sorting hat is rather under-utilized. He would have been phenomenal as a student counselor. A child has a problem, sits aloone in a room, puts on the hat, and has an entire counseling session in his head. I think it would have solved quite a few problems…

As the years pass, and the magnitude of the war that is coming encloses on Hogwarts, the sorting hat proves time and again that he has an opinion on the current events. He believes that the students and staff should lay down whatever differences they may have to fight against a common foe. Three out of 4 of his creators would have been proud. In the traditional song sung by the hat at the beginning of each year, we see that he has the wisdom of the ages. It would do the whole world good to have a sorting hat come out and give us bits of wisdom each year. Especially in an election year… ;o)

Chapter 7 opens right where Chapter 6 closed. All of the first years are gathered together in a small room just inside the chamber of Hogwarts waiting to be sorted into their houses. Into the chamber strides Professor McGonagall. In turn, she takes them into a huuuuge entrance chamber to a small room off of the Great Hall. There they are to await whatever challenge may come to decide where they will be when they are at Hogwarts. The House that you get sorted into on your very first night at Hogwarts, she advises them, is very important because your house is like your family. You eat, sleep, learn, and relax with others in your house. Also, your triumphs, and your tragedies are your that of your housemates as well. You can earn, and lose your house points with your behavior, and whichever house has the most at the end of the year wins the house cup. A great honor. She then enters the Great Hall to prepare, and the kids are left to their own devices for a few minutes. It seems the sorting ceremony is a bit of a secret when it comes to the first year students. Why, even Ron doesn’t know how it’s done. I’m sure it’s partly to hold the traditions a secret, and to improve anticipation, but in poor Ron’s case, it was also a way for his brothers to torture him in the loving way big brothers do. By telling him that he had to fight a troll, or something else very painful. And there is much nervous tension about how exactly they will figure out where they are supposed to go. And hopes beyond hope that they won’t have to take a test, since nobody actually knows anything yet.

“There was a pop, and a little man with wicked, dark eyes and a wide mouth appeared, floating cross-legged in the air, clutching the walking sticks”

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So, I got the Harry Potter Interactive DVD Challenge game from Netflix last week. I have to say, I enjoyed it. It wasn’t a phenomenal game, and certainly nothing I would buy, but it killed an hour and it was fun to see the clips and whatnot. The game starts off with you picking a house. You can either choose one, or have the Sorting Hat sort you into one. Strangely enough, I am always sorted into Ravenclaw, and I was going to choose that one, but I decided to go with the Sorting Hat, to get the full experience. I was sorted, without it asking me any questions, into Ravenclaw. WEEEIIIIRRRDDDD….

OK, as for the game itself. You must attend four classes per “year” and you have the option for “extracurricular activities” after you have completed and passed two classes. The fourth class must be passed in order to move on to the next year. I got halfway through year three before I got bored and turned it off. Actually, I could have kept playing, but Hubby got bored watching me crash over and over again.

There are some criticisms.

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So many new characters, so many new faces. Where to start?

How about with the Weasley family? In this chapter we meet a mere 4 Weasley brothers, and little sister Ginny. Dad must have been at work at the time because he’s not there seeing the boys off to school. Judging by what we know of Arthur Weasley, I find this a bit odd. He is a very family oriented kind of guy and for him to not send Ron off for his first day seems very out of character for him. Of course by this point we don’t know whay kind of character he has, or even if there is a Mr. Weasley, so it doesn’t really matter.

Mrs. Weasley is the epitome of the loving mother Harry has no memory of ever having. She is cheerful and pleasant, and obviously very caring toward her children, without actually coddling them. In other words, she is the Anti-Petunia. She handles five children, two animals, and lots and lots of luggage without blinking, and actually takes the time and kindness out of her heart to help Harry. Throughout the series we see this over and over. Molly Weasley faces horrors that no mother should ever have to face, and while on occassion we see it waring on her, she always has a smile and a hug for her children. Any children really. One of the greatest scenes featuring Molly, is I think, one of the most powerful scenes in the entire series. It was in Order of the Phoenix, and it is with great dismay that I realized that it was not included in the film. The scene of which I speak, is of course one of great foreshadowing as well, as Molly Weasley faces the boggart. She is found curled up in a ball whimpering, Ridikkulus, over and over again as the boggart changes one by one into each of her loved ones, dead, in one grotesque way or another. By the end of the final battle, she is fortunate to have lost only one of her children, but no mother should ever have to lose any of them.

Speaking of her children…

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