Welcome back, magical friends, to WZRD Radio! I’m your hostwitch Bess and I don’t know about you, but I’m excited to be getting back to Hogwarts after our summer break. I hope you had a lovely break, more Weasley- or Granger- style than Harry’s.
To ease us back into the swing of things, here’s our first music break, with Autumn Brooke and “Ode to Wizard Rock.”
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Our first song break started with “Ode to Wizard Rock” from Autumn Brooke [lyrics], followed that up with Quills to Parchment and “the answer to my wish is right here in my hand” [lyrics], and closed out with “Oh Hey Neville” by Katie Utke [lyrics].
And now it’s time to check in with that wandering wix, our Special Correspondent in the Field—who probably had an excellent summer break as well—DQ!
SCitF DQ: Happy Back to Hogwarts Day, listeners. This is Special Correspondent in the Field DQ, with a Fanfic Fieldwork just for you. As we all know, September first is the day when Hogwarts students gather up their trunks and their owls and head to Platform 9 3/4 to board the Hogwarts Express at exactly 11 o’clock, because they’ve got to get back to Hogwarts. They’ve got to get back to school. They’ve got to get back to Hogwarts, where everyone thinks they’re cool. And as such, I thought it would be appropriate to offer up a back to school fan fiction for this month. And so I am recommending “Oh God, Not Again” by Sarah1281, which can be found on fanfiction.net. This fanfiction was first published on September 13th, 2008, and the last update was included on December 22nd, 2009. And this is a bit more popular than some of my other offerings with a very impressive 31,725 faves as well as 17,290 reviews. Unlike some fanfictions, this piece does not include a summary per se, but it does have a very interesting disclaimer at the beginning of the first chapter. And so now, as a preview for this fan fiction, I will now share with you the disclaimer as well as the first few paragraphs of the first chapter.
Disclaimer, I do not own Harry Potter. Note: please be aware that this is a parody. I know that this may seem redundant as that is made clear as it is labeled ‘parody’ in the genre section at the top, but some people do not look at that apparently and I have gotten quite a few reviews from people who thought it was too over-the-top to enjoy until they noticed that it was a parody. If you are one of those people, then be sure to be aware of this now. THIS IS A PARODY. (All capital letters.) Also, this story had at least twenty chapters published before “A Very Potter Musical” even came out. I didn’t even hear of it, let alone SEE it until after the story was completed. Please keep that in mind when wondering if the references to the musical are intentional.
He’d been dreaming of it since the defeat of Voldemort. The Veil, that is. The one that Sirius had fallen behind. The last time he’d dreamed about the Department of Mysteries, Sirius had died. The world had also finally woken up to the truth about Voldemort, but the price had been too high for him to be grateful. And once the truth was out, the attacks had gotten worse. He wondered, briefly, why he was there. Ginny was at home, she was pregnant, she needed him. Yet he could not seem to stay away. Voldemort was gone, true. But then, so were so many other people, good people, who should not have died. He counted the steps until he was standing right in front of where Sirius had fallen through. Cedric. Sirius. Dumbledore. Hedwig. Moody. Dobby. Tonks father. Remus. Colin Creevy. Tonks. Snape. Fred. Hell, even Crabbe didn’t deserve to die then. There were more, many more, but none of them close to him. They were close to somebody, though. Maybe that was why he couldn’t stay away. Why he couldn’t look away. Why, even at that very moment, he couldn’t walk away.
Listeners will no doubt notice the Sirius tone, pun intended, of the opening of that chapter. Will the rest of the fan fiction proceed in much the same fashion? It said it was a parody and parody implies comedy, or does it? I suppose the only way for you to find out for sure is to read “Oh God Not Again” by Sarah1281 on fanfiction.net. This is Special Correspondent in the Field saying, “I hope you have a very happy Back to Hogwarts day.” And on a personal note, I would like to thank every single person in the world of wizard rock who contributed to this year’s Wizard Rock Sampler, including Eric of Striking Down Diggory who mastered the tracks and Eli, who provided the incredible cover art.
Thank you so much, DQ! It’s good to have you back.
To soundtrack your reading, here’s ERWA with “Noses.”
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That was “Noses” by ERWA [lyrics], “I’m Hermione the Cat, I Am” from filch. [lyrics], and Dream Quaffle’s “Rowena,” which I often sing to myself around the house [lyrics].
As Special Correspondent in the Field DQ pointed out to me the other day, September is the herald of strong months for us, magical friends. Back to Hogwarts, Halloween, conventions, Christmas….much excitement is on the horizon.
Here are a few of the things we’ve got coming up!
This year’s Sampler listening party in the Wrock Discord has been set for September 5th, 5pm eastern, and I can’t wait to hear all the magic you created!
The Langham in Chicago, PA is hosting a “Forbidden Forest Afternoon Tea” all month that sounds positively decadent. [link]
Moon Wizarding Festival returns on September 12th in Moon Township, PA. [link]
September 13th sees the “Samantha’s Friends’ Wizarding World of Harry Potter,” a mysterious fundraiser at a fancy country club. [link]
Tucson, AZ sees “Harry Potter Days” from the 11th to the 18th at a doggie day care, complete with dog quidditch that I dearly hope they post pictures of. [link]
Queen City Mischief & Magic is back again in Staunton, VA for September 26th & 27th. [link]
Dragon’s Gate Brewery in Milton-Freewater, OR is having a “Harry Potter Celebration” on the 26th, with muggles welcome. [link]
And holy hopping hippogriffs, magical friends! Y’all were busy with the music during the break.
Harry and the Howlers (a joint project by Hope and the Howers and Bisexual Harry) released “Werewolf Liberation.” [link]
Slytherin popped back in to give us “Fall of Dumbeldore.” [link]
The Bookish Hufflepuff released “Chiconwarts. [link]
Ben Newman released a mashup called “Melisa Meilfee and the Omphalonian Orchid.” [link]
Striking Down Diggory got back to our roots with “Imperfect Wizardry.” [link]
Chuck and Brenda gave us “The Scar Upon His Head.” [link]
And Lauren Fairweather released the meta “Welcome Home.” [link]
Not too shabby, I think!
You can go check those out while I cue up the last set of music for this month. The links are in the transcript and our first song is “For Dobby” from Totally Knuts.
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And that was Totally Knuts’ singing “For Dobby” [lyrics], “Always” from Niimy [lyrics] and “In the Empty Space” by Dots & Lines [lyrics]
And that’s the end of our episode. It’s wonderful to be back, magical friends.
If you heard your new favorite song, go to the transcript at WZRDRadioPod.com, follow the link, and buy yourself a copy. You’ll get a great new addition to your music collection and a wizard rocker will know they’ve got a fan. And you know what I always say: without our wizard rockers, we wouldn’t be here.
You can support WZRD and the Community Wrock Fund by joining the Patreon at Patreon.com/WZRDRadioPod. There are two, five, and ten dollar tiers that all get the same perks, including early episodes and bonus content, and support the Fund in helping our wizard rockers get their music out there.
You can still guess this episode’s theme on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok at WZRDRadioPod. You can also get in touch by commenting on the transcript or emailing me at WZRDRadioPod@gmail.com.
Until next time, magical friends!
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