Goblet of Fire

This films brings further recognizable names to the cast; David Tennant (the Tenth Doctor, voices Scrooge McDuck in the updated DuckTales cartoon, and voices Spitelout [Snotlout’s father] in the How to Train Your Dragon series and currently stars opposite Michael Sheen in Good Omens [no, I have not watched it yet]) as Barty Crouch Jr, Robert Pattinson (before he starred as Edward Cullen in Twilight) as Cedric Diggory, Brenan Gleeson [he’s father to Domhnall Gleeson, who we will see in later films as Bill Weasley] as Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody, Miranda Richardson (she’s appeared in Young Victoria, was the queen in the first Prince and Me movie, Madam Giry in Phantom of the Opera and Queen Mab/Lady of the Lake in Merlin [with Sam Neill and Helena Bonham Carter]) as Rita Skeeter, and Ralph Fiennes (the new M in James Bond, the Duke in The Duchess, and voiced Rameses in Prince of Egypt) as Lord Voldemort.

This is one of the first books that I awaited the midnight release of the novel; I believe my mother pre-ordered it.  We drove to the bookstore to get it and when we got home, I spent the next day and a half reading it.  And was good for nothing else.  When the movie came out, it also had a midnight release that I attended with one of my best friends.  The story opens on the Riddle House, which is very creepy, partly due to something strange and horrible that happened fifty years prior, when the maid found the three Riddles dead.  Now, they were unpopular and rude, and their son, Tom was the worst.  But there wasn’t a mark on their bodies, so the police couldn’t convict anyone, namely the gardener, Frank Bryce, of the crime.  Now, Frank ventures up to the house in the middle of the night, seeing lights on.  He comes across intruders, who speak of “Wormtail,” “Quidditch World Cup,” and “Muggles.”  Wormtail is arguing that something can be “done without Harry Potter.”  His Lord responds, “I have my reasons for using the boy…and I will use no other.  I have waited thirteen years.  A few more months will make no difference.  As for the protection surrounding the boy, I believe my plan will be effective (pg. 10).”  “One more death and our path to Harry Potter is clear (pg.10).”  A gigantic snake slithers into the room, which in the movie also contains Barty Crouch Jr, and Lord Voldemort is informed that Frank is outside the door.  He calls the old Muggle in and soon the man is dead.  “Two hundred miles away, the boy called Harry Potter woke with a start (pg. 15).” 

We know that this is Voldemort and Wormtail planning Harry’s death and when Harry wakes his scar is burning.  He’s understandably a bit upset and ponders who can speak to.  The Dursleys are out.  He debates if he should mention it to his friends, but dismisses the idea.  He needs someone like a parent; “an adult wizard whose advice he could ask without feeling stupid, someone who cared about him, who had experience with Dark Magic (pg. 22).”  The answer is simple and obvious: Sirius.  He can be forgiven for not instantly thinking of his godfather, since he didn’t even know he existed until two months prior and is still on the run.  Which made it “doubly hard to return to the Dursleys knowing that he had so nearly escaped them for ever (pg. 23).”

Don’t ask why, but I remembered that Harry hid snacks in his room in the book, after Dudley got placed on a diet, and all of Harry’s friends send food to ensure he didn’t starve.  Harry is then invited by the Weasleys to attend the Quidditch World Cup.  Molly sent a well-intention letter through the Muggle post, but the Dursleys did not appreciate the extra stamps or her familiar tone.  Ron sends a note with his owl, and Harry manages to convince the Dursleys to allow him to attend.  It was a battle for Vernon, between his two most fundamental instincts, to make Harry happy, which he has struggled against for thirteen years, and getting rid of Harry two weeks early and he hates having Harry in the house (pg. 31).  Mentioning Sirius helps sway them.  Arthur arrives, via the fireplace (which the Dursleys boarded up after the mass of acceptance letters arrived four years previously), with Ron and the twins.  The very brief visit does not end well when Dudley tries one of the magical treats that the twins dropped, on purpose.  This is all left out of the movie; Harry wakes at the Burrow

At the Burrow, Harry meets the eldest two Weasley boys; Bill and Charlie.  Bill works for Gringotts, but looks extremely cool, and Charlie works in Romania with dragons (they do not appear in the movie).  The twins are working on Weasleys Wizarding Wheezes, a joke shop, though Molly does not approve.  The Wizarding World receives some worldbuilding [which I take note of as an aspiring fantasy author] and we learn about Portkeys, Apparation, and other wizarding families, along with formally meeting Amos and Cedric Diggory.  The Weasleys, along with Harry and Hermione, sleep in a tent that is larger on the inside.  In the film, Harry remarks, “I love magic.”  They are guests of the minister in his box, along with the Malfoys, and meet Winky, Barty Crouch’s house-elf.  Percy works for Mr. Crouch at the Ministry.  And Harry watches his first professional Quidditch match; Ireland, vs Bulgaria, with their star Seeker, Viktor Krum.  Fred and George’s bet is correct, that Ireland wins the match, but Krum catches the Snitch.  The Ireland has superior Chasers and run the score up, so Krum catches the Snitch before they’re completely embarrassed.  Ron is impressed by Krum.  In the film, they are not in the box, but rather the top level of the stadium, nor do they meet Winky.  She’s cut completely from the film, as is Ludo Bagman (which honestly makes sense; he’s a side plot that doesn’t add much to the main plot).

The evening festivities are interrupted by screams and people fleeing with Death Eaters, followers of Voldemort, show up and Muggle bait, and cause mayhem.  Arthur goes to help the Ministry and sends the kids into the forest.  Harry, Ron, and Hermione get cut off from the rest and Harry loses his wand.  In the film, Harry stumbles and gets knocked out in the chaos of people fleeing.  Later, they hear a spell cast and a skull appears in the sky.  The Ministry arrives quickly and discovers the trio at the scene, but they can’t find who cast it.  Then, they come across Winky.  Hermione is appalled when Crouch dismisses the elf.  Arhtur fills Harry in on the meaning of what went on.  The sign in the sky was the Dark Mark, and it was cast wherever Voldemort and his followers killed and it spread terror throughout the wizarding community.

The younger kids are sent back to Hogwarts.  Hermione learns that the largest number of house elves in any dwelling in Britain work at Hogwarts, so she starts a campaign to get them wages and such, ignoring that the elves seem happy with their lot.  Dumbledore introduces a new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Alastor Moody, better known as “Mad-Eye” Moody, and announces that Hogwarts will host the Triwizard Tournament.  It is a friendly competition between the three largest European schools of wizardry; Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang (which have already been mentioned in the story by other characters; further worldbuilding).  It is also a way to establish ties between young witches and wizards of different nations; each school will have a champion chosen to compete.  The delegations will arrive at Halloween.  The prize is the Triwizard Cup, glory for the school, and a thousand Galleons.  This year, they are putting in place an age restriction; one must be seventeen in order to compete.  The twins are upset; they’re only a few months away from their birthday.

Moody makes an impression on Hogwarts.  He turns Malfoy into a ferret for attacking Harry, to later be told off by Professor McGonagall that teachers are not supposed to use Transfiguration as punishment.  Then he shows the fourth-year students the three Unforgivable Curses, which the Ministry of Magic would disapprove of.  The first is the Imperius Curse, which allows a wizard or witch total control of their victim.  The second is the Cruciatous Curse, or pain curse.  Neville is shown to react badly to seeing this in the movie, Hermione calls out to Professor Moody to stop it.  And the third is the killing curse, “Avada Kedavara.”  Only one person is known to have survived the last curse, Harry. Moody promotes constant vigilance.  Ron remarks in the movie that Moody is brilliant; a bit demented and terrifying to be in the same room as him.  Their conversation trails off when they come across Neville.  Moody comes along and leads the other boy to his office.

Harry gets a response from Sirius; he’s flying north immediately.  This news is the latest in a series of strange rumors, and Dumbledore is reading signs.  Harry worries his godfather will be caught.  He tries to tell Sirius not to come, but Sirius persists.  Harry discovers in Defenses Against the Dark Arts class that he can throw off the Imperius Curse.

Durmstrang and their headmaster, Igor Karkaroff arrives in a ship on the Black Lake and Beauxbatons arrives in a flying carriage with their headmistress, Madame Olympe Maxime.  There is a welcoming feast and the tournament is explained further.  There will be three tasks that test the champions’ magical prowess, their daring, powers of deduction, and ability to cope with danger.  The Goblet of Fire is brought out; it will be the impartial selector.  Students are warned again that entering into the tournament is a binding magical contract.  Fred and George attempt to beat Dumbledore’s age line, and get beards for their troubles.

In the film, the schools are shown arriving at the start of the semester, not a couple months in.  Beauxbatons is shown as all-female and Durmstrang is shown as all-male (I do like the music that plays behind their entrance), and they show off a bit of magic with their entrances.

Ultimately, Viktor Krum is chosen as the Durmstrang champion, Fleur Delacour from Beauxbatons, and Cedric Diggory from Hogwarts.  However, the Goblet of Fire spits out another name: Harry Potter.  He tries to hide in the film when his name is called, but Hermione pushes him forward.  And everyone calls out the difference between the book and the movie with how Dumbledore asks Harry if he put his name in the Goblet of Fire.  In the book, it is stated he does so calmly.  In the movie, he’s more aggressive, but honestly, it’s not as crazy as we remember it.  It’s shown to be born of worry and he’s also trying to get to Harry before the other headmasters arrive.  Harry’s pushed back into some items; but the scene doesn’t jar us out of watching to story progress.  Harry did not put his name in the Goblet of Fire, he did not ask anyone else to put his name in and in both cases, Dumbledore readily believes him.  But Crouch persists that it is a binding contract; Harry will have to compete.  It is Moody in the film that points out whoever is behind it managed to hoodwink a very powerful magical artifact.  Harry and the other champions learn that they will not be told what the first task will entail.  It is to test their daring and courage in the face of the unknown.  They will be armed only with their wand and they are not permitted to ask or accept any help.

There is an added scene in the film with McGonagall, Snape, and Moody in Dumbledore’s office.  Minerva tells Dumbledore “don’t let Potter compete.”  First the Dark Mark, now this.  But Dumbledore abides by Crouch’s rules.  Minerva shoots back, when has that ever stopped Dumbledore before?  Snape agrees that this can be no mere coincidence, but they should let events unfold for the time being.  McGonagall disapproves of offering Harry as bait; he’s a boy, not a piece of meat.  Albus agrees with Severus, then asks Alastor to keep an eye on Harry.

The school turns on Harry, thinking he just wanted glory and to steal the spotlight from Cedric.  Worse, Ron doesn’t even believe Harry.  This is a major fight between the friends.  Harry doesn’t want enteral glory.  (And the movie audience is a bit shocked, at least the younger members of the audience, to hear Ron tell Harry to “Piss off.”)   Luckily, Hermione stands beside Harry and urges him to write Sirius.  Malfoy and Harry get into an argument and cast spells at each other, hitting Goyle and Hermione.  Hermione has to go to the hospital wing to have her teeth put to right (this bit does not appear in the film).

We’re introduced to Rita Skeeter as a reporter for the Daily Prophet at the Weighing of the Wands, and she dedicates most of her article to made-up stuff about Harry, courtesy of her Quick Quotes Quill, which does nothing to endear him to his schoolmates.  This must all stem from his traumatic past and may be a cry for attention, or a death wish.  In the film, when Harry remarks that they are sitting in a broom cupboard, Rita bites back that he should feel right at home [ok, low blow lady.]  Hagrid wants to meet up with Harry one evening, though in the film, this message passes through Ron to Hermione to Harry, amidst other people; it’s very confusing, and Hermione does not like being treated as an owl just because the boys refuse to speak to each other.  Hagrid brings Madame Maxime along, Harry hidden under his cloak…and shows them dragons that have been brought in for the first task, still insisting they are misunderstood creatures.  Harry races back to meet with Sirius in the fireplace of the Gryffindor Tower.  He’s interrupted by Ron and they have another argument.  Harry also decides to pull Cedric aside and tell him about the dragons. 

It’s here in the film that Draco approaches Harry, saying his father and he have a bet on Harry not lasting long in the tournament.  Harry retorts “I don’t give a damn what your father thinks.  He’s vile and cruel, and you’re just pathetic.”  When Draco pulls his wand, Moody turns him into a ferret, and yes, it’s hilarious.  McGonagall doesn’t approve; “What are you doing?”  “Teaching.”  “Is that a student?”  “Technically, it’s a ferret.”   She returns Draco to his usual self.  Draco pulls out the line “my father will hear about this!” but that doesn’t faze Moody.  McGonagall steps in again and reprimands Moody for using Transfiguration.  Harry and everyone else laughs, even Cedric and his buddies.  Moody pulls Harry aside and advises him to play to his strengths in the competition, and use a simple spell to get what he needs.  (In the film, he more directly pulls the answer from Harry to fly.)  Harry turns to Hermione to teach him the Summoning Charm.

Harry summons his Firebolt to fly against the Hungarian Horntail and capture a golden egg (Hermione shouts “your wand, Harry!  Your wand!” In the movie).  There’s more to the flight in the movie, with the Hungarian Horntail breaking free from its chain and taking the confrontation to the rooftops of the castle.  Harry takes a tumble near one of the bridges and the dragon falls, but he manages to make it back to the ring and get the egg.  Ron finally comes around that someone must have put Harry’s name in the Goblet.  The boys make up, and the rest of the school, after seeing what Harry had to face, finally side with Harry.  Our protagonist is happy with Ron be his side, having survived the first task and he’s got three whole months before the second.  When he goes to solve the clue in the egg, he finds out that it screeches.

On a fun side note, Hermione finds her way into the kitchen and shows Harry that Dobby is now working at Hogwarts.  He’s a free elf and has Dumbledore paying him one Galleon a week and he has a one day off a month, and he’s happy.  Unlike Winky, who misses Mr. Crouch.  Again, none of this appears in the film.

McGonagall next announces the Yule Ball, where everyone can socialize with their foreign guests.  Dress robes will be required and the champions and their partners are to open the ball with dancing.  She even instructs the Gryffindors in the movies, stating that the Yule Ball is an evening of “well-mannered frivolity.”  “The House of Godric Gryffindor has commanded the respect of the wizard world for nearly ten centuries.  I will not have you, in the course of a single evening, besmirching that name by behaving like a babbling, bumbling band of baboons.”  (Maggie Smith is great!)  She calls Ron up to demonstrate and he’s nervous about putting his hand on her waist.  Neville is the first lad to step forward to learn and we see him practicing later.

Harry and Ron struggle to ask a girl to the ball, bemoaning that they travel in packs.  Though Harry gets asked by a few and is shocked and nervously says no.  In the film, he remarks he’d rather face the dragon again.  There’s also an incredible scene with Alan Rickman in the movie, taking place in study hall, where the boys are remarking their lack of dates.  Snape picks on duo, ignoring the fact that others are talking, smacking Ron and Harry over the head with a notebook, then forcing their heads down.  Actually, he’d really like to ask out Cho Chang, but hasn’t plucked up the courage.  When he finally manages to talk to Cho, he finds out that she’s already doing with Cedric (which changes Harry’s opinion on his schoolmate a little).  She’s very kind in the film, admitting that she is truthfully sorry she can’t go with Harry since she’s already agreed to someone else; she doesn’t who at this point in the film.  Ron attempts to ask Fleur Delacour and finds out that Neville tried to ask out Hermione, but she’s already going with someone, though Ron does not believe it.  He even asks Hermione and is told the same thing.  “Just because it’s taken you three years to notice Ron, doesn’t mean no one else has spotted I’m a girl (pg. 400)!”  And Ron still doesn’t believe her.  Ginny ends up going with Neville, so Harry finds Parvati Patil, who arranges for her twin sister, Padma, to go with Ron.  Harry feels that the ball is more trouble than it’s worth.

The night of the Yule Ball, Roger Davis accompanies Fleur, Cedric takes Cho, and Krum takes Hermione.  Ron is not pleased.  Hermione looks lovely in her gown (yes, it’s pink compared to blue in the film, but still pretty.  I had my hair arranged like hers from prom.)  Harry and Ron are rude and ignore their dates, who gleefully hang out with Beauxbatons boys.  Neville impresses everyone with his waltzing.  Harry is not great (admittedly, Daniel only had a few days to rehearse that bit compared to everyone else, but Harry isn’t supposed to be good anyway).  And there is rock’n’roll in the wizarding world with Do the Hippogriff.  In the book, the two boys wander outside and notice Karkaroff speaking to Snape, and Hagrid speaking to Madame Maxime and overhear him mention he’s a half-giant.  The night ends with another argument between Ron and Hermione: “next time there’s a ball, ask me before someone else does and not as a last resort (pg.432)!”  Hermione had been enjoying a nice evening with Krum, and now Ron has spoiled everything.  She’s left crying on the stairs in the movie.  Harry’s night doesn’t end well either, with another dream about the graveyard.

When classes start back up, another Skeeter article runs, revealing Hagrid as a half-giant and calling him out for his dangerous classes.  Next time he sees Skeeter, he shouts at her, and Hermione manages to get riled up.  Hermione’s worried about Harry and the next task, remarking that the “tasks are designed to test you, in the most brutal way, they’re almost cruel.”

Cedric repays Harry’s tip on the dragon by suggesting he take a bath with his egg in the prefect’s bathroom.  Harry finally sets his pride aside and does so, only to be interrupted by Moaning Myrtle.  Who does suggest he put the egg in the water, and flirt with him. He finally hears the clue and figures out that the voices that cannot be heard above ground means merepeople: “Come seek us where our voices sound.  We cannot sing above the ground.  An hour long you’ll have to look.  To recover what we took.”  On his way back to his dorm, Harry stumbles across Moody and Snape.  Moody manages to help Harry, though discovers the map and asks to borrow it.  Harry then has to find a way to breathe underwater.  Dobby comes through at the last minute with gillyweed.  Again, since Dobby is cut out of the film, Neville is brought in to help Harry.  Each champion must retrieve someone from the bottom of the Black Lake within an hour.  Ron is Harry’s hostage, Hermione is Krum’s, Cho for Cedric, and Fleur’s little sister.  Harry actually is the first to get to the hostages and wants to make sure everyone is rescued.  Krum, who partially transfigured into a shark, and Cedric, who used a Bubblehead Charm, arrive and leave.  When Fleur does not, Harry grabs the young girl and kicks to the surface with both hostages.  The judges score him well for his actions.  Harry earns the respect of Fleur for saving her sister, and even Ron gets a kiss since he helped.  The third task will take place at the end of June.

Another Skeeter article runs; this time calling Hermione out for being associated with both Harry and Viktor Krum.  Sirius has arrived in Hogsmeade and is hiding out.  Harry, Ron, and Hermione go to visit him.  Sirius tells Harry he is fulfilling his duty as godfather and keeping an eye on him.  He passes himself off as a loveable stray, Snuffles.  He’s not fond of Crouch and says “if you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals (pg. 525).”  Crouch was the one who sent Sirius to Azkaban without a trial.  He fought violence with violence and authorized the use of Unforgivable Curses against suspects.  “I would say he became as ruthless and cruel as many on the Dark Side (pg. 527).”  Crouch’s rise to fame was derailed when his son, Barty Crouch Jr, was found with Death Eaters.  He sent his son to Azkaban, where the boy died.  They already know Karkaroff was a Death Eater; as for Snape, he was part of a group of Slytherins who turned out to be Death Eaters, though Sirius never heard of Snape being accused.  Sadly, this face-to-face meeting was cut from the film.  The only time that Sirius actually appears is as a face in the fireplace.

It’s a good thing there won’t be a Quidditch Cup this year, because they’ve taken over the field to grow a maze for the third task, which will be filled with obstacles for the champions.  As the champions walk back to the castle, Krum pulls Harry aside to ask about Hermione.  Harry is quick to assure the Bulgarian that he and Hermione are only friends.  Then they’re set on by Crouch, who is very confused, managing to get across that he needs to see Dumbledore, something about Voldemort and Harry is his fault.  When Harry gets back, Krum has been attacked and Moody has to go searching for Crouch.  This happens a bit differently in the movie, but the same result.  Harry now dreams of Voldemort and Wormtail in Divination class.  He decides it’s time to go to Dumbledore, where he’s instructed to wait in Dumbledore’s office.  He spies a stone basin with silver light.  He prods the surface with his wand (magic has taught him that much at least), and falls into a memory, where the younger Dumbledore can’t hear him.  There’s a trial, where Karkaroff names other Death Eaters, including Snape, whom Dumbledore has already testified turn spy for the Light Side.  None of the other names do any good.  Four more Death Eaters are led in, charged with torturing Frank and Alice Longbottom (Neville’s parents).  One is Crouch’s son, whom shouts for his father, but he’s sent to Azkaban. 

The trials are condensed into one in the film, with Karkaroff naming Barty Crouch Jr as a Death Eater.  The young man is in attendance and is taken into custody.  He’s already showing his madness here, yelling at his father, with a telltale flicker of his tongue.

Dumbledore pulls Harry out and they talk about the memories, warning “curiosity is not a crime, Harry.  But you should exercise caution.”  Harry explains that his scar has been hurting and Dumbledore theorizes that it hurts when Voldemort is near or feeling particularly hateful.  The two are connected by the curse that failed.  Leaving, Harry thinks that “it all came back to Voldemort…he was the one who had torn those families apart, who had ruined all these lives (pg. 607).”  In the film, Harry asks Dumbledore whether his dreams are really happening.  The old wizard’s response is to tell the teen, it is unwise to linger on them and best to cast them aside (not helpful).

In preparation for the third task, the trio practice hexes (even with McGonagall’s permission after she gets tired of walking in on them).  Sirius sends along guidance; his primary concern is keeping Harry safe.  Voldemort can’t touch him while under Dumbledore’s protection.

The champions are informed that professors will be patrolling the outside of the maze (with a fun little Hogwarts March tune), should any run into difficulty and wish to be recues, they are to send up red sparks.  Once in the maze, the lack of obstacles unnerves Harry.  He manages to save Cedric from Krum, then runs into a sphinx [which I was disappointed was not in the movie.  And the phrasing makes me wonder if it was influenced at all by Tolkien’s cave scene].  Harry saves Cedric from a spider [luckily not in the film; I am not fond of spiders.  Instead, the walls of the maze are more alive and will try to crush the champions], though Cedric is closer to the Cup.  Cedric argues that Harry should take the Cup; he’s saved him twice in the maze.  Harry compromises; they should both take it; it’ll still be a Hogwarts win.

The boys find out upon touching the Cup that it’s a Portkey and they’re brought to a graveyard.  Harry’s scar explodes with pain; “it was agony such as he had never felt in all his life (pg. 637).”  A voice calls out “kill the spare” and Cedric dies in a flash of green.  Harry is tied to Tom Riddle’s headstone by Wormtail.  There’s also a cauldron, in to which Wormtail dumps a diminutive form.  Then he incants, “bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will renew your son!  Flesh of the servant, willingly given, you will revive your master.  Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken, you will resurrect your foe.”  The flesh of the servant in Wormtail’s hand, and the blood of the enemy is taken from Harry. 

A man emerges with a “face that had haunted his [Harry’s] nightmares for three years.  Whiter than a skull, with wide, livid scarlet eyes and a nose that was flat as a snake’s with slits for nostrils…Lord Voldemort had risen again (pg. 643).”  [Ralph’s blue eyes are used in the film so his performance would not be impeded, and it was felt that the blue eyes actually made Voldemort creepier.]  Voldemort touches Wormtail’s tattoo of the Dark Mark and Harry’s scar erupts in pain again.  Death Eaters arrive.  Voldemort ponders aloud how many will be brave enough to return.  How many will be foolish enough to stay away.  To his followers, he asks why none of them tried to seek their Lord out.  Perhaps they believed that Dumbledore’s power was greater.  He wants thirteen years’ worth of repayment from them.  He rewards Wormtail with a silver hand.  He points to an empty spot, where three Death Eaters are missing; one who is too cowardly to return; he will pay.  One has left forever and will thus be killed, and one is his most faithful servant and has already reentered service to his lord.

With Harry’s blood in his body, it now negates the protection Lily’s sacrifice had on Harry.  Voldemort can touch him now.  Again, Harry’s scar feels like it will split in pain.  Voldemort mocks those who believed this boy ever truly defeated him.  “I, who have gone further than anybody along the path that leads to immortality.  You know my goal – to conquer death.  And now, I was tested, and it appeared that one or more of my experiments had worked…for I had not been killed (pg. 653).”  In his resurrection ritual, he wanted Harry’s blood, the “blood of the one who had stripped me of power thirteen years ago…for the lingering protection his mother once gave him would then reside in my veins too (pg. 657).”  Harry was better protected than even he knows.  But Voldemort’s faithful servant entered Harry into the Triwizard Tournament.

Now he uses Crucio on Harry.  Further pain than Harry’s ever felt.  Voldemort continues speaking; Harry escaped the first time by luck and now the Dark Lord will prove his power by killing Harry.  He will be allowed to fight, so no doubt will be left on who is stronger.  “Bow to death, Harry,” he commands.  “Harry did not bow.  He was not going to let Voldemort play with him before killing him…he was not going to give him that satisfaction (pg.660).”

The speech is changed a little in movie, but it’s just as good: “I’m going to kill you, Harry Potter.  I’m going to destroy you.  After tonight, noe one will ever again question my powers.  After tonight, if they speak of you, they’ll speak only of how you begged for death.  And I, being a merciful Lord, obliged.”  “I want you to look at me when I kill you!  I want to see the light leave your eyes!”

“And now you face me, like a man…straight-backed and proud, the way your father died (pg. 660),” Voldemort taunts Harry.  He shoots Crucio and Imperio at Harry, but the teen doges the next spell, with reflexes born of Quidditch training.  Harry finally shoots Expelliarmus against Voldemort’s Avada Kedavara.  Their red and green beams meet and connects.  Harry instinctively knows he mustn’t break the connection.  A bead of light floats between the two wands and Harry manages to force to Voldemort’s.  Cedric’s form emerges from the wand, then an old man, finally Lily and James Potter.  They can give Harry some time in order to get to the Portkey, and Cedric asks Harry to take his body back.  At their command, Harry breaks away and runs, summoning the Cup to him, and grabs Cedric.

[I almost hate to admit it, but I like the…it’s not quite banter, because there’s no humor, but Voldemort is well written in this spot.  Yes, he’s mocking Harry and he’s treating Harry like a teenager; he refers to him as a boy occasionally, but the dialogue would also work against an adult.]

When he lands in front of the maze at Hogwarts, he manages to inform Dumbledore that Voldemort is back, though he won’t let go of Cedric.  Dumbledore manages to pick Harry up, there is screaming erupting in the stands, and sobs.  People talk over each other and Harry is rather out of it.  In the movie, it’s more heart-rending.  Harry’s sobbing while he tells Dumbledore “he’s back, Voldemort’s back,” and he couldn’t leave Cedric, not there.  Dumbledore calms Harry, “you’re both home.”  Fleur screams when she sees Cedric’s dead and Fudge tells McGonagall and Snape to keep the crowd back.  Snape even steps to Dumbledore’s side.  Amos makes his way to the front and sobs when he sees it’s his son, his boy.  Arthur Weasley is behind him and Ron and Hermione start to make their way forward to see Harry.  And Harry hasn’t stopped crying.

Moody takes Harry back to the castle and Harry starts explaining.  Moody knows there’s a Death Eater at Hogwarts and they put Harry’s name in the Goblet, though it wasn’t Karkaroff.  He fled.  Then, in his office, Moody admits that he was the one who did it and asks Harry if Voldemort forgave the Death Eaters who didn’t try to find the Dark Lord.  It was Moody who cast the Dark Mark at the Quidditch World Cup and he hates the Death Eaters who walked free; he wants them punished and tortured.  During the Tournament, Moody frightened off every person who might hurt or prevent Harry from winning, though he had to be careful not to tip his hand.  He grouses he had to contend with Harry’s stupidity, such as planting the book on underwater plants with Longbottom early in the year.  Harry has a “steak of pride and independence that might have ruined it all (pg. 677).”  In the maze, Moody stunned Fleur and put the Imperius Curse on Krum to finish off Cedric.

None of this is making sense to Harry.  Moody continues; the Dark Lord will reward him when he kills Harry.  He will be honored beyond all other Death Eaters, Voldemort’s closest supporter, closer than a son.  He and the Dark Lord have much in common; disappointing fathers that they were named for, and they both had to kill their fathers to ensure the rise of the Dark Order.  At this point, Moody is stunned by Dumbledore, alongside Snape and McGonagall.  Harry now understands why Dumbledore is the only wizard Voldemort fears.  He looks more terrible than ever, with cold fury in every line of his ancient face.  “A sense of power radiated from Dumbledore as though he were giving off burning heat (pg. 679).”

Dumbledore has Harry stay, so he will understand, which is the first step to acceptance, “and only with acceptance can there be recovery (pg.680).”  Harry “needs to know who has put him through the ordeal he has suffered tonight, and why (pg. 680).”  [This is when we still like and trust Dumbledore.]  This man before Harry is not Alastor Moody; Harry has never known the real Moody.  The real Moody “would not have removed you from my sight after what happened tonight (pg. 680).”  [It’s good to know that there are good adults who would have looked after Harry in a traumatic situation.]  With that action, Dumbledore knew something was wrong and followed ‘Moody.’  The headmaster has Snape use his truth potion (Veritaserum) on the man; he also sends McGonagall to fetch a black dock from Hagrid’s and take it to the headmaster’s office.  In the film, the cut on Harry’s arm almost echoes the Dark Mark, though opposite arms, best seen when Dumbledore compares it to Crouch Jr’s tattoo.

Dumbledore continues his investigation; in the seventh compartment of the trunk is the real Alastor Moody.  The flask that the man has been carrying is filled with Polyjuice Potion; it’s a well-known fact that the real Alastor only drinks from his flask.  The imposter is really Barty Crouch Jr.  His mother saved him from Azkaban and died in his place, but his father kept him hidden away at home, concealed and controlled, with only Winky to care for him.  The secret got out to Bertha Jorkins, a Ministry employee, whom Crouch Sr put under a Memory Charm.  When she wandered across Voldemort’s path, he broke that Charm, got his information, then killed her [this whole bit was left out of the movie; again, it would have dragged the story to put in all the side plots].  Crouch Jr was actually at the Quidditch World Cup, in the box with Harry and the Weasleys, under an Invisibility Cloak alongside Winky.  He’d been growing stronger, fighting his father’s magical control, and saw the opportunity to steal a wizard’s wand – Harry’s.  When Crouch Jr heard the Death Eaters, the ones who had escaped Azkaban, he used the stolen wand to cast the Dark Mark.  When the Ministry sent stunners into the woods, he was caught and finding Winky at the scene, his father knew what happened.  Voldemort comes to the Crouch home, frees Jr and puts Sr under the Imperius Curse.  That is why Percy Weasley took on many of Crouch Sr’s responsibilities [also not seen in the movie].  Voldemort tasks Barty Crouch Jr as his servant at Hogwarts, impersonating Alastor Moody.  When Harry met Crouch Sr acting oddly, it was after the old man had escaped; Crouch Jr had been hiding out, and killed his father while Harry went for help, then circled back around as Moody and pretended to look for Crouch Sr.  It was also Crouch Jr who turned the Triwizard Cup into a Portkey.

Testimony over, Dumbledore takes Harry to his office, where Sirius is waiting.  Harry would rather not think about the memories he has of this night.  Dumbledore understands Harry’s feelings and if it would help to put them off in an enchanted sleep, he would do it.  But “numbing the pain for a while will make it worse when you finally feel it (pg. 695).”  Harry has already been brave beyond Dumbledore’s expectation; the old man is asking for a little more courage from the teen.  Harry recounts the events in the graveyard.  For a moment, when he mentions that his mother’s blood protection is over, Harry thinks he sees “a gleam of something like triumph in Dumbledore’s eyes (pg. 696).”  Dumbledore explains that when Harry’s and Voldemort’s wands connected, it was Priori Incantatem, along with the fact that their wands share a core, a tailfeather from Fawkes.  When a wand meets its brother, it will not work properly against each other when forced to battle.  One will force the other wand to regurgitate spells in reverse order.

Now, Dumbledore will take Harry to the hospital wing to get some peaceful sleep; Sirius may stay with him as Padfoot.  “You have shown bravery equal to those who died fighting Voldemort at the height of his powers.  You have shouldered a grown wizard’s burden and found yourself equal to it (pg. 699).”  Waiting for him in the hospital wing are the Weasleys and Hermione.  Dumbledore informs them not to ask Harry any questions that night.  Later, Harry is woken to angry voices.  Fudge refuses to believe that Voldemort is back and took care of Crouch Jr before he could testify again.  Fudge no longer believes Harry’s word, listening to Skeeter’s gossip that he’s mentally disturbed.  He fears the news will start a panic that will destabilize everything.  Dumbledore argues for the Minister to see sense; “you are blinded…by the love of the office you hold, Cornelius!  You place too much importance, and you always have done, on the so-called purity of blood!  You fail to recognize that it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be (pg. 708)!”  [And this is why we liked Rowling, until recently.]  If Fudge will take steps now, he will be remembered as brave and the greatest Minister of Magic.  “Fail to act – and history will remember you as the man who stepped aside and allowed Voldemort a second chance to destroy the world we have tried to rebuild (pg. 708)!”

In response, Fudge calls Dumbledore man and insane.  This is a parting of ways.  Snape even shows his Dark Mark, that it’s grown darker all year, but Fudge refuses to see reason.  He leaves.  Dumbledore asks Molly and Arthur for help.  Then he has Sirius resume his normal form and face Snape.  He will ask for a lack of open hostility between the two rivals; they are on the same side.  He tasks Sirius to gather Lupin and the old crowd.  Harry already misses his godfather’s presence by his side.  Snape in turn, is ready for what Dumbledore will asks.  He leaves.  Left alone with the Weasleys, Molly offers Harry a hug.  And the poor boy has no memory of being hugged like by a mother.

This is all left out of the film, sadly.

When Harry awakes again, he meets with Cedric’s parents, who do not blame Harry.  Harry tries offering them the winnings, but they won’t take it.  Harry doesn’t want it.  There is a memorial service for Cedric.  “Cedric Diggory was…exceptionally hard-working, infinitely fair-minded, and most importantly, a fierce, fierce friend.”  Dumbledore announces that Cedric was murdered by Voldemort; the Ministry of Magic does not want him to tell, but that would be an insult to Cedric’s memory.  He advocates, “in light of Lord Voldemort’s return, we are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided.  Lord Voldemort’s gift for spreading discord and enmity is very great.  We can fight it only by showing an equally strong bond of friendship and trust (ph. 723).” 

The movie puts it: “while we may come from different places and speak in different tongues, our hearts beat as one” [which the world would do well to remember].  “In light of recent events, the bonds of friendship we made this year will be more important than ever.”  Remember that, and Cedric Diggory will not have died in vain.  And remember the young man that was brave, kind, honest, and true to the very end.  After the service, Dumbledore visits Harry in his dorm.  “O put you in terrible danger this year, Harry.  I’m sorry” [it’s nice he apologized.]  Harry does ask about seeing his parents, but Dumbledore doesn’t bring up the shared wand cores.  Instead, Dumbledore says “dark and difficult times lay ahead.  Soon we must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy.  But remember this.  You have friends here.  You are not alone.”

Krum asks Hermione to write to him.  Fleur and her sister kiss Ron farewell.  Ron asks “do you ever think we’ll just have a quiet year at Hogwarts?”  Both Hermione and Harry answer no.  “Oh well, what’s life without a few dragons?”

There’s some good news on the train ride home.  Rita Skeeter won’t be writing any more terrible articles for a while; Hermione figured out how she had been able to get private information.  She’s an unregistered Animagus; a beetle.  Hermione managed to catch her the night in the hospital wing and is keeping her in a jar.  Malfoy and his cronies try to start a fight, but the twins join the trio in hexing the Slytherins, then tossing them in another compartment.  Harry gives the twins his winnings as they exit the train, telling them to use it for their joke shop.  Oh, and maybe get Ron some new dress robes.  This is also left out of the film.

I have to admit, this book and movie were better than I remember them being.  There are some excellently written passages, and the movie dialogue is just as good.  Yes, the book drags on and the movie rightly cut side plots that didn’t really aid the main plot.  I mean, I don’t like the teen drama, but I also didn’t like teen drama when I was a teenager.  The plot has matured, alongside the characters.  Events and happenings are getting darker.

I will say, there is a fanfiction story that I highly recommend that is an alternate universe following the end of Prisoner of Azkaban and follows the plotline of Goblet of Fire.  It’s A Marauder’s Plan by CatsAreCool.  It is one of the best written Harry Potter fanfictions I’ve read, and my favorite thing is Sirius is in it way more.  So, I definitely recommend you read it (it’s one of those that you wish was actual canon).

Up Next: Order of the Phoenix