GoF Chapter Thirty-One

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

• Once again Harry, Ron and Hermione stay up all night talking without seeming process any information whatsoever.



• Still, Harry feels his head is too full of thoughts. Harry just doesn't have much room in his head. His hair probably gets messier with too many thoughts.



• Heh. Harry is totally the girl in that video I just posted in my lj.
  
  
• Bagman didn't pass information on purpose. If he'd passed it on purpose he would have said so at his trial. Right?



• I'm sure we can just trust what our authority characters say about all these people--Stan totally wasn't a DE, right? Because Harry said so.



• I love the way the narrative gives Harry a little pat on the back for not telling Ron and Hermione about Neville's parents. Personally, I suspect he forgot about it until he saw Neville right there in front of him.



• Harry thinks maybe Neville more deserves the sympathy he (Harry) always gets for being an orphan. Well, there's another reason to not tell right there!



• Neville may deserve the sympathy more, but he would never bear it as well as Harry does.



• True to form, Harry feels a rush of hate for the people who hurt Neville's parents. It just comes more naturally than, say, feeling a desire to be a good friend to Neville.



• I can't help but sort of laugh at Harry's dramatic thoughts: "...it all came back to Voldemort. ... He was the one who had torn these families apart, who had ruined all these lives. . . ." Um, Harry? Neville's life isn't ruined. He could actually have a very good life in front of him. And so do you.



• Hermione says that even though she and Ron are completely putting off their own studying to help Harry, they'll get top marks in DADA because they've learned all this stuff they wouldn't in class. Um, why would stuff not in class help you get top marks? Aren't you going to get tested on the stuff you learned in class?



• And Ron pathetically still wants to be an Auror like superior Harry and Hermione. A world where these three are Aurors...yipes. Err...I mean, awesome! Fixed that MoM lickety-split!



• Poor Ron, either second-string to Harry or second-string to George for the rest of his life.



• Harry's practicing hexes whenever he can, but not yet practicing them on random people in the hallways. That's all the HBP's fault.



• Okay, so Malfoy is speaking to Rita here. Since I'm now on this whole Malfoy/Hermione parallel thing I ask: is Malfoy the other student who figured out about Rita? People have always assumed that Lucius set the whole thing up or that Rita approached him or something, but that was partly because Malfoy couldn't be seen to do anything himself. But reading the book again, he has very little to do with the articles about Harry except for the one where he's quoted about Hagrid.



• Sirius reminds Harry that the important thing is for Harry to be safe...right before sending him into a maze filled with deadly things as part of a pointless game.



• Sirius' good luck card to Harry is pretty adorable. I wish my dog could send me notes like that. Of course, it's also risking somebody figuring out he's a dog, but whatever.



• Once again stuff that became public knowledge years ago suddenly becomes...public knowledge. Does Draco Malfoy really have to "reveal" that Harry's a Parseltongue? Didn't Harry reveal that in front of the entire school years ago? Didn't everyone tell that to their parents? I mean, uh, that is a pretty straightforward report of the events of CoS that Draco's giving.



• Now Rita suggests everyone should reconsider whether Harry should compete in the Tournament. Too bad this plan didn't work, huh? Since that would have prevented Harry from meeting up with Voldemort. But it's still bad of Rita, trying to steal Harry's glory.



• I guess the Prophet hasn't heard about that important magic that means Harry *must* compete in the Tournament, though you'd think that'd be common knowledge too since it's the only reason he's competing.



• And Hermione's figured out what to do. She's going to take Rita Skeeter prisoner and later blackmail her and keep her from having a job for...being on the Hogwarts grounds when she's not allowed and overhearing things spoken in mostly public situations.



• Allow me to again say how ridiculous it is that Harry is let out of exams for this Tournament.



• The families are invited to watch the last Task. In the invisible maze that they can't see into.



• You know, I wouldn't be surprised if they're invited specifically for the potentially drama that might ensue when one of the champions dies.



• Harry's got no family to come watch him. Permission for lip to wobble, sir.



• Mrs. Weasley must be thrilled--make sure you write about how we're Harry's family, Miss Skeeter!



• Who knew the first time we read this scene where Fleur gives Bill the once over that we were in fact witnessing the birth of an unnecessary subplot to be semi-resolved two books from now so that we can have an info dump at a wedding.



• Bill hasn't seen Gryffindor Tower in five years. Odds are Rowling is referring to his own seventh year here. Oh dear, maths.



• Arthur's still got the marks from being punished for walking with Molly late at night. How romantic.



• Wait, so Hagrid wasn't the groundskeeper then, and he's how old? Oh dear, maths again.



• How's Percy? Not good. And that's all anyone needs to know, really. *glares at Percy the Not Good*



• Mrs. Weasley says it's nice coming to see the task because she doesn't have to cook. Can't Arthur bring home food on the way home? Or has she forgotten that she actually has no children to cook for most of the year? Or that she cooks with magic?



• Mrs. Weasley takes a moment to prove that she is loyal, but stupid, and wraps up the Hermione the Scarlet Woman Subplot.



• Ginny comes to watch the last Task too, keeping her hideous personality under wraps. It really does seem to come out of the cauldron with Voldemort.



• I'm sorry, but I don't believe the Hagrid/Maxime subplot. Though of course it's very politically correct and non-racist to suggest that they have to have a real relationship since they're both half-giants and being the same race is all you need for love even if you have nothing else in common.



• I suppose the Skrewts appearance is to show us all how wrong we were in thinking they were useless. It didn't work.



• I notice that Riddikulus doesn't turn the Boggart into something funny when it doesn't humiliate Snape or make Neville happy.



• Fleur's out, naturally. And Harry is feeling all heroic about it. Perhaps she needs help! Will I get extra points for that?



• Oh, right. This is the first time Harry has considered the possibility of being champion, despite being in first place the entire time.



• Um, why is Krum made to Crucio Cedric? Wouldn't Stupefy be more helpful in getting him out of the contest?



• Maybe he's just showing us he's gallant.



• The use of an Unforgivable means a life sentence in Azkaban. According to Moody. Though people use the things all the time and never actually go to jail. As long as they use the unassailable "He's never been a saint!" defense.



• A spider being something you wouldn't want to kiss is a pretty lame riddle. Hagrid would totally kiss one. And not get killed doing it. Damn you, Hagrid!



• Harry and Cedric beat the spider because teamwork is better than personal glory as long as they're both Hogwarts students and blah blah blah. Please get me out of this maze for I am bored now. We get it; Cedric's not going to take the cup alone.



• Okay, Cedric did have help with the egg. Phew. I wouldn't want a champion who wasn't kind of cheating. Plus that totally makes Harry the best.

Hero's Death Battle Exemption
Just ask Fleur.

Idiot Picture
Yup, don't anybody ever try to get Harry out of this Tournament. Never. Death without game honor is worth than death!

Idiot World
Luckily there's stupidity on both sides, so Voldemort's stupid plan is counteracted by the good guy's efforts in keeping Harry in the contest. Also remember that despite all the help Harry's gotten the only thing that brings him to Voldemort is Cedric deciding to throw the contest.

Informed Attributes
As we get to the end of the maze, let's pause to review on how everything Harry has done throughout the book shows how he's the true hero.

Ken's Rule of Guns
So the idea was just that Harry had to touch a Portkey? And Moody never handed him one? Wow.

McGuffin
The McGuffin is about to be revealed at last. No, the Tournament was not my plan to kill you, it was just me making it difficult to kill you before I killed you.

Final score: 6

Comments

[montavilla.livejournal.com]

I actually heard a pretty good explanation. I think it was Jodel that came up with it, that Voldemort's plan was to resurrect himself, call his Death Eaters and then Portkey the whole lot of them back to Hogwarts with Harry's dead body.

It would have been very dramatic if it had come off. But, of course, it's a too brilliant to be true.