Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Chapter 31: The Third Task
Harry tells Ron and Hermione everything he heard and saw at Dumbledore’s office, and Ron wonders if Fudge might be right about suspecting Madame Maxime, whereas Hermione immediately defends her, claiming she would have lied about her heritage as well, knowing about the prejudice Madame Maxime had to face. It once again shows that Ron is much more willing to believe certain prejudices and stereotypes, because there must be some truth to it, if everyone says so, whereas Hermione questions everything. And it is not just because Hermione is more rational, logical thinking and suspicious. But because she, unlike Ron, had to face prejudice because of her heritage. People tell her how incredible talented she is, but usually add that she is despite being Muggleborn. Hermione’s perfectionism, her deep fear of failure, is based on the fact that she has to work extra hard to prove her value, to prove that she belongs in the Wizarding World, despite her being Muggleborn and a girl.
“Lying in the darkness, Harry felt a rush of anger and hate towards the people who had tortured Mr and Mrs Longbottom … he remembered the jeers of the crowd as Crouch’s son and his companions had been dragged from the court by the Dementors … he understood how they had felt … then he remembered the milk-white face of the screaming boy, and realised with a jolt that he had died a year later … It was Voldemort, Harry thought, staring up at the canopy of his bed in the darkness, it all came back to Voldemort … he was the one who had torn these families apart, who had ruined all these lives …” – But that’s too easy, isn’t it? To blame a single person for all those terrible things. Because even someone as Voldemort needs followers, needs an army, needs people who fight for him and in his name. You can’t fight a war without followers after all. And the Death Eaters weren’t simply soldiers following orders. They were or still are devoted to Voldemort and his ideals. Voldemort’s radical ideas only worked because pureblood already fanatics existed – he just took things to a next level. And nobody forced them to do this. Some might have joined him out of fear or to protect their families, but many did because they agreed with his ideas about the purity of blood, because they did enjoy to torture and kill people. And that is an aspect that I like about the Fantastic Beasts-movies and the exploration of Grindelwald: that Voldemort isn’t a singular event. And if it wasn’t for him some other Dark Wizard would have taken his place. Terror-regimes don’t stand and fall with one person. And we see this in book 7, because otherwise Voldemort didn’t have to take over the entire government.
I wonder if they even asked the Dursleys to come see Harry at the Third Task or if they straight out just wrote to the Weasleys instead. Anyway, I always loved that scene, of Harry thinking he has no family, nobody that would care about him, and then the Weasleys showing up.
“‘Hmm,’ said Mrs Weasley, pursing her lips. She had always refrained from criticising the Dursleys in front of Harry, but her eyes flashed every time they were mentioned.” – Can you imagine how hard that must be though? But that is something I really like about Molly Weasley – she knows that they are still Harry’s family, that despite everything they demand some very basic respect and that it would be rude to talk bad about them. It somehow reminds me that when couples get divorced, and one starts to talk badly about the other in front of their child. Which is simply something you shouldn’t do, because despite whatever happened in the marriage, kids still look up to their parents, and sometimes people are shitty spouses but still good parents. (And I’m obviously not talking here about abusive and violent spouses/parents, they can rot in hell)
“‘Your father and I had been for a night-time stroll,’ she said. ‘He got caught by Apollyon Pringle – he was the caretaker in those days – your father’s still got the marks.’” – Casual reminder that obviously beating was an accepted punishment at Hogwarts not that long ago. According to the interwebs Molly attended Hogwarts in the 60s. I couldn’t find an exact date when Dumbledore became headmaster, so it is possible that this form of punishment stopped once he took over.
Mrs. Weasley tells Amos Diggory off for coming after Harry, claiming he should know that Rita Skeeter is always out to cause trouble, and that he should be aware that she is not always (or never) writing the truth. And yet, she still believed what Rita wrote about Hermione, and it is not until Harry tells her that none of it is true that she acts normal to her again. I wonder why that is? There is no implication that Mrs. Weasley had any kind of reservations towards Hermione before, which might explain why she was willing to believe those rumours about her. Maybe it is simply because she is overly protective when it comes to Harry.
Oh Harry, do you really think Dumbledore would have allowed an actual Dementor in the maze? Of course it is only a Boggart.
Harry hears Fleur screaming and his very first instinct is to help her, before he remembers that it is not his job.
Krum attacks Cedric, with an Unforgiveable Curse nonetheless, and yet none of them suspects that something might be wrong with Krum, that somebody might have forced him to do it. They both got to know him, and yet they assume that Krum is rather a Dark Wizard himself than a victim of one.
So much about book 4 and the Triwizard Tournament is what it means to be a hero. And mostly it comes down to being selfless. Harry didn’t enter the Tournament, he has no intention of winning it, he just wants to survive the whole thing. He doesn’t see the others as rivals but rather as people who have to face the same burden as he does, despite them being older and more competent wizards and participating voluntarily in the Tournament. And because of that Harry acts selfless. He tells Cedric about the dragons, because he wants to give him an even chance. He wants to rescue all the hostages in the Second Task, because their survival is more important than winning. He helps Cedric twice in the Maze, he wanted to help Fleur as well. He offers Cedric the cup. And he is the one suggesting they both should win. And all those selfless acts cost him so much. And in the end, in book 7, he has to do the ultimate sacrifice: to give his life. And that is what makes him a hero: his ability to love, to think about others before thinking about himself, to care about them in the most fundamental way.
As it turns out the Triwizard Cup is a portkey. Earlier we learned that they only work at a specific time, so how could this particular portkey work? There was no way of knowing at what time Harry would reach the cup after all.
