LeakyCon Day 2: Dumbledore’s Army Reunites, PotterCast DHP2 Live Commentary & More!

Sep 01, 2017

Posted by: Emma Pocock

19 Years Later, Actor Interviews, Enoch, Enoch Interviews, Events, Fan Events, Fandom, Fans, Fantastic Beasts Movie, J.K. Rowling, Leung, Leung Interviews, Lynch, Lynch Interviews, News, Pottermore

September 1st kicked off at LeakyCon with a buzz, as guests queued up to visit the MarketPlace, featuring some marvellous wizarding vendors, Quidditch and The House of MinaLima. Throughout the day a huge array of panels and events took place, including a Dumbledore’s Army reunion with some of the Harry Potter cast, live PotterCast panels (and their long-awaited Deathly Hallows Part 2 commentary) and dozens of discussions on the intricacies, beauties and issues of the wizarding world.

Panels in the morning included discussions of House loyalty, inclusivity in the wizarding world, Cursed Child’s staging, Fantastic Beasts, Wizard Rock, House meet-ups and a pretty brilliant discussion on Harry Potter’s influence. The morning story session gave the next step in an unravelling Marauders / 19 Years Later storyline, showing James trying to carry out plans to use the Marauder’s Map to create mischief, only to find that the map isn’t working properly! (The story will all be available at the LeakyCon YouTube channel here, see P1 below)

After discussions of the language in Harry Potter, the women in Harry Potter, props and sets on the films, wizard activism in the muggle world and more, PotterCast were subjected to a panel on The Stuff You Want to Yell Back at PotterCast ahead of their live podcast (more to follow on all things PotterCast at LeakyCon in upcoming episodes!). A tonne of theories were discussed, from the sentience of snakes in the wizarding world to the technicalities of the venom in Fantastic Beasts, to the implications of memory charms and using Pensieves:

 An exciting panel with a few members of Dumbledore’s Army (Evanna Lynch, Alfred Enoch, Katie Leung and Afshan Azad) then joined PotterCast for a discussion of their time on Potter and their latest projects on the MainStage:
Evanna and Katie spent some time complimenting each other’s recent stage performances:

Afshan Azad then spoke about recent fan demands that she audition for the role of Jasmine in the upcoming live-action remake of Aladdin:

Alfred spoke about the difficulty he had in picking up the American accent for How to Get Away With Murder:

We then learned a highly interesting story (thanks to Evanna) from the set of Harry Potter – apparently Alfred streaked on set as what he saw as a kind of necessary ‘parting ritual’ (his words):

Evanna unleashed (as usual) her involvement in the fan community, introducing Katie Leung to the song ‘The Human Hosepipe’ by Harry and the Potters, which is about Cho Chang:

Evanna also spoke about her disappointment in her salmon patronus:

‘I thought patronuses were meant to make you happy – mine makes me want to quit patronuses!’ @Evy_Lynch on her salmon patronus #LeakyCon pic.twitter.com/dBIXlxfOS6

— The Leaky Cauldron (@leaky) September 1, 2017

Afshan also revealed that there was a scene she shot which didn’t make it into the movies:

On what she wanted to see in the films, Evanna Lynch wanted more from the Ravenclaw Common Room – it’s a demand of most Ravenclaw fans, and regularly comes up as an issue on PotterCast – Evanna and Frak had some mild Ravenclaw angst in discussing the intricacies of their Common Room and how cool it would’ve been to see it on screen:

“I wish we’d had more Ravenclaw Common Room time!” – @Evy_Lynch (DA @ #LeakyCon)

— The Leaky Cauldron (@leaky) September 1, 2017

Following this, guests tried their hands at winning trivia against other long-time never-die Potter fans, had the chance to attend the first live Potter Puppet Pals performance in Europe, discussions on engaging with Positive Fandom (countless other amazing panels) and a PotterCast Deathly Hallows Part 2 commentary, where guests finally got to hear Melissa, John and Frak unpick the movie with ‘the hug that shall not be named’, and we got to watch the 19 Years Later scene on the exact day it took place (again, more on this in future episodes coming up for those who couldn’t be there or want to relive the magic!).
Then it was time for the evening story session, which started with Lysander talking to Neville (Professor Longbottom) about being worried about James and the impact Albus being sorted into slytherin, Teddy leaving and then becoming distant from him in becoming a professor, and then his ‘project’ (the Marauder’s Map) not working out. After getting this off his chest and deciding to help James feel less alone, the scene cut to a flashback of the Marauders plotting to create the Marauder’s Map. After countless Animagus jokes (E.G: Lupin telling James on his love for Lily ‘Don’t come galloping to me when she hexes you’), werewolf jokes and Peter Pettigrew desperately trying to hide his inevitability as a traitor (‘Are you guys talking about secrets? Just so you know, for future reference, I’m really good at keeping those…’) , Sirius suggests making a map of Hogwarts.
Lupin creates the idea of layering spells, which sounds much like a computerised model with built-in encryptions in the muggle world – it’s quite genius, really. They ponder that if Hogwarts changes it wouldn’t work, and in returning to the present, the kids of 19 Years Later decide that perhaps the Battle of Hogwarts did irreparable damage, impacting the map’s ‘coding’, as it were. James, however, is insistent that the four of them (James, Lysander, Dominique and Katie) would become the “new marauders”. We’ll find out more of the story tomorrow!
With that it was time for another night of Wizard Rock from Solitary Snape, Siriusly Hazza P, Draco and the Malfoys and Harry and the Potters! We’ll be back tomorrow for another action-packed day of celebrating the magic of Harry Potter, so don’t miss our live coverage on @Leaky, and catch our coverage of Pottermore’s special Back to Hogwarts surprise and celebrations of 19 Years Later.




Related 19 Years Later News

Harry Potter Archive

Trans Rights are Human Rights

Harry Potter Essays

Scribbulus Issue 28
Scribbulus is THE place for Leaky Cauldron readers to submit their essays and opinion pieces!
You're Angry, I'm AngryThe Sorting Hat, Ideology, and Free WillThe (Un)Forgivable CursesSee the rest over at Scribbulus!
The Leaky Cauldron is not associated with J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros., or any of the individuals or companies associated with producing and publishing Harry Potter books and films.