Tuesday, May 7, 2019

#YearOfHarryPotter: Goblet of Fire, Chapters 9-12

Over the weekend, I read the next four chapters (9-12) of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: "The Dark Mark," "Mayhem at the Ministry," "Aboard the Hogwarts Express," and "The Tri-Wizard Tournament." Spoilers for the entire book and series beyond this point.

The whole time I was reading these chapters, I kept thinking that this is the book where the story of this series really takes off. Whereas the first three books are largely self-contained stories used primarily to introduce the wizarding world, this one begins the serious over-arching plot that will take Harry through the rest of the series.

There are so many important details in the scenes at the Quidditch World Cup that I'd forgotten: that Harry's wand goes missing just before the Dark Mark appears; that Winky is found with it and accused of conjuring the Mark; that Harry had never heard the term "Death Eater" until that night. I also didn't remember that the fake Mad-Eye Moody told everyone there had been an attempted robbery at his house that same night. What a convenient way to explain away the fact that he kidnapped the real Moody and took his place.

I also didn't remember much about the history of the tri-wizard tournament, but it did strike me as somewhat unbelievable that the three schools involved have decided to reinstate it now, just at the time when Harry Potter is at Hogwarts to witness it. It would have felt less forced if this had just been another thing about the wizarding world that Harry didn't know about until it became important.  But since things are about to get even more likely in this book, I have to just suspend my disbelief and go along for the ride...

No comments:

Post a Comment