Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Chapter Notes

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire 

Chapter 5: Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes

• “However, Bill was – there was no other word for it – cool. He was tall, with long hair that he had tied back in a ponytail. He was wearing an earring with what looked like a fang dangling from it. His clothes would not have looked out of place at a rock concert, except that Harry recognised his boots to be made, not of leather, but of dragon hide.” – I know that this passage, along with recognizing that Cedric is handsome, has been used as evidence to read Harry as bisexual. And I’m the last person who would prevent anyone from reading characters as queer. In the case of Harry however, I never felt him recognizing another man as handsome as a sign for attraction. I think he mostly admires Bill and wants to be as cool as him. Cedric’s good looks result in a great portion of jealously from Harry. And characters like Tom Riddle and Gilderoy Lockhart are seen as antagonists specifically because they use their good looks and charm to manipulate other people. Of course it is possible that Harry is just confusing admiration and jealously with attraction – after all it took him quite some time to realize he was attracted to Ginny. I think there is enough evidence in the books that would made it possible for Harry to have his queer awakening later in life, and 95% of the fan fiction I have read depend on it. But as far as the text is concerned it remains subtext, the same as for every other character that could be read as queer.
• “‘It isn’t funny!’ Mr Weasley shouted. ‘That sort of behaviour seriously undermines wizard–Muggle relations! I spend half my life campaigning against the mistreatment of Muggles, and my own sons –’ ‘We didn’t give it to him because he was a Muggle!’ said Fred indignantly. ‘No, we gave it to him because he’s a great bullying git,’ said George.” – Still, Fred and George are missing the point their father is trying to make. There is an unbalance of power when it comes to Fred & George vs Dudley. Because they are wizards, and they can hurt Dudley in ways Dudley can’t even imagine. And they abuse this power, justifying it with the fact that Dudley is a bully himself. Which is always a bullshit excuse. And Mr Weasley sees the danger in the way the twins are thinking. It might have been a prank, and we know that Fred & George are not bad people, and yet it isn’t that far away from what will happen at the World Cup. Muggles are seen as Other, as toys that wizards can play with. It doesn’t matter if Dudley is a bully himself, it is an abuse of power and privilege. And Harry, in enjoying the entire scene, is no better.
• We know that Ron is always a bit anxious when it comes to the standards his older brothers have set, and what he thinks is expected of him (good marks, being good at Quidditch, becoming a prefect etc). And Fred and George are completely unaffected by that. They never try to be as good as their older brothers but instead do their own thing. And despite having not as much O.W.L.’s as expected, despite not even having a proper graduation they become successful, and it is mentioned more than once that they are very competent wizards and are extraordinary good at what they are doing. Showing that academic grades are not everything and should not be the only measurement of talent.
• It is interesting (and quite telling) that in part Voldemort’s plan succeed because of the ignorant treatment of Bertha Jorkins. Which already starts after Barty Crouch Sen. first modified her memory and nobody cared enough about her sudden forgetfulness to realize what had happened to her. And then Voldemort violated her mind again in breaking the memory charm and killed her afterwards, and yet nobody again seems to care about her missing (Barty Crouch cares but only because she knows his secret). Nobody liked or cared enough about her to find out what happened, and that ignorance made it possible for Voldemort to return.