Chapter 40

Explain the overall setting of this volume.

The title of Volume One is “Harry Potter and the Hopping Pot,” “HarryPotterAndtheHoppingPot.” Originally, we intended to write “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” and indeed most of the content mirrors the Deathly Hallows; but since “Deathly Hallows” is the title of the original seventh volume, we changed it to the Hopping Pot instead.

In the original seventh volume, they hunt Horcruxes with the Deathly Hallows; in this volume, they hunt the Deathly Hallows with the Hopping Pot—this misdirection can be seen as a subtle homage to the original.

The official “Tales of Beedle the Bard” is wildly popular among wizarding children; the original series held it back until Book Seven. We felt that since we wanted to establish from the very first volume that Voldemort is the enemy (also an homage to the Dao of Reason), we might as well introduce all the key elements upfront. To Harry, it may feel overwhelming, but for readers, these details should have been known all along.

When discussing Tang Dun, we merely needed to create a growth environment distinct from Stone Wall Primary School, giving Harry a chance to learn modern knowledge. At the suggestion of a fan who favored his appearance, we added aristocratic grace to Harry. It was implausible for the KGB to arrange Tang Dun, so we set George Crowley as a pro-Communist noble who had limited cooperation with the Soviet Union—in other words, the Soviets managed his assets, and he was responsible for adopting Harry and arranging Soviet personnel as tutors.

Regarding Harry’s Muggle education, we believe he should merely possess these concepts, to be tentatively applied in the magical world. The Statute of Secrecy must not be broken. One of the most compelling aspects of the Harry Potter universe lies precisely in its ambiguous, half-separate relationship between the two worlds. Writing a Harry Potter world that violates the Statute of Secrecy is no better than writing any other random magical world.

Now, we’ll discuss some settings never explicitly stated in the main text. We believe a novel needs hidden threads, but readers who dislike digging for clues should still have a place to find the answers.

Yanayev is playing a dual game, so Voldemort receives advice from Soviet “dog-headed strategists.” Here, he decides against risking himself personally and admits that the Horcruxes have clouded his judgment. In short, he leaves Quirrell and Snape (who has never been exposed) to plot freely at Hogwarts. Dumbledore’s miscalculation was in allowing them to actually form a Council (rather than fabricating a flimsy excuse to pretend he was leaving); once they arrived at the meeting, they were immediately ambushed and had no time to retreat. The Death Eaters who participated in the ambush were all Soviets, because Yanayev knew they could easily escape later, and Dumbledore would never kill captured enemies—only imprison them. Moreover, the Ministry of Magic had its own mole (Jim Hack), so these men were effectively sent to Azkaban for a vacation.

Additionally, here is the author’s stance on Yanayev (the Soviet line), in the exact words of a reader who meticulously researched pro-Soviet lore: For China today, the dead Soviet Union is the best Soviet Union. But once, we too dreamed of the Communist International. If conditions allowed, I wish to fulfill that dream in the magical world.

Ge Xuan’s character is slightly more complex (to avoid censorship). He traveled back to the Ming Dynasty and, leveraging his love for his people, became a “Earth Immortal”—invincible within China but forever unable to leave the country. The “Celestial Dynasty” mentioned in the text is a modernized Ming Dynasty; later, Yingzhou will be established as an autonomous prefecture incorporated into its territory. This avoids sensitive real-world topics by constructing an alternate setting—Harry will never visit the Celestial Dynasty in the main text. Ge Xuan’s task for Zhang Qiu is to witness the events of the original story—not every single one, but with a general progress requirement; the events she can witness far exceed the progress bar.

Snape is a character we felt could avoid internal friction—readers know he’s on their side, but the narrative must pretend otherwise, which is exhausting; so we gave Harry a minor advantage to make Snape believe he has exceptional Potions talent, greatly reducing his hostility and creating a dynamic of “I want to protect you, but you’d better stay away.” This way, Harry—who doesn’t know the truth—can genuinely keep his distance. In the final confrontation, Snape watches from the sidelines (he knows the blood obtained on Halloween is sufficient; Voldemort’s resurrection is inevitable, so he doesn’t care who controls the Philosopher’s Stone). Snape wants to protect Harry but also avoid exposure—he plans to act only after Harry collapses. But Zhang Qiu’s teleportation disrupts his plan.