Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Chapter Notes

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire 

Chapter 2: The Scar

• The first chapter is mostly told from Frank’s perspective and at first, when Harry tries to remember his dream, it seems like he has seen it from Frank’s perspective as well. Later though he mentions an old man (Frank), so he saw the entire scene as an unparticipating observer, the way he later watches memories through the Pensieve. I think this perspective is a bit odd. Much later we learn about Harry’s connection to Voldemort, learn that Harry is a Horcrux as well, which would explain why he at times sees things from Voldemort’s perspective or one time from Nagini’s perspective, as all the pieces of Voldemort’s soul are connected. There is also nothing significant happening here; they talk about their evil plan and kill a Muggle, but that is a usual Friday night for Voldemort. It is a nice bookend to the end of the story, but within the story it makes no real sense why Harry would see it, and why he would see it from an outsider perspective.

• Harry of course can’t be sure if what he saw was real or not, if it actually happened or not, and he remembers too little about it to find out more (he doesn’t know where Voldemort is, doesn’t know who Frank is, or who the woman is that they killed). This might be the reason why he writes Sirius about his scar hurting but not about his dream, the dream that showed him Voldemort planning his death. The question of what is real or not will play a bigger role in book 5, and Harry’s connection to Voldemort and the manipulation of reality will lead ultimately to Sirius’s death.

• This chapter again recaps Harry’s story so far, the way the first chapter of book 2 and 3 have done as well. I wonder though if by now this has been more of an editor’s request, because it makes no sense to summarize Harry’s story so far, after the first chapter, that makes little to no sense if you are not familiar with these books. I think it is fair to assume that if you read the fourth book of a series you have read the first three books, and you haven’t entirely forgotten what they are about.

• “Harry had never been able to confide in them, or tell them anything about his life in the wizarding world. The very idea of going to them when they awoke, and telling them about his scar hurting him, and about his worries about Voldemort, was laughable. […]What he really wanted (and it felt almost shameful to admit it to himself) was someone like – someone like a parent […]” – Harry is completely used to deal with his problems on his own. Vernon and Petunia never acted, and Harry never saw them, as parents. Prior to Hogwarts he had no friends and there were no other adults in his life he could tell his worries about. There is a reason why Harry keeps things to himself and sometimes even doesn’t want to talk to Ron and Hermione. It is the result of years of neglect by the Dursleys, and even though Harry is by now surrounded by people who care about him, he finds it hard to share what troubles him. And then of course there is also the fear that people might think of him as weak, that he doesn’t want them to make a fuss about him. It is the way boys are raised, a lesson he learned by the Dursleys as well, that men are though, that they endure pain (both physical and emotional) without complaining. And this is a theme that will go on throughout the series, Harry’s determination to deal with things on his own, because that is the only way he knows how.

• Sirius then becomes one of the very few adults he trusts entirely, more than Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, more than Dumbledore. To Harry Sirius is the closest he could get to an actual parent and he projects all his longing and expectations on him. But Sirius, as much as he loves and cares about Harry, is no parent, and can’t give Harry what he needs.