Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Chapter Notes

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire 

Chapter 12: The Triwizard Tournament

• It is strange that despite Hermione’s curiosity about well… everything, she did not know and never wondered who cooked their meals and took care of the castle they live in. And I mean children don’t ask these questions. We don’t not wonder where our food comes from, that someone had to pay for it and made it, or that our clothes get washed and these sort of things. We just take it for granted. And I think to some point that is ok. Children shouldn’t have to worry about that. But this book marks the end of Harry’s (and Ron and Hermione’s) childhood, and not just by the terrible events at the end or because they are suddenly teenagers who start dating. For Hermione the house elves start her activism for social justice. To ask uncomfortable questions and to question the status quo. And the way she asks Nearly Headless Nick if House Elves get sick leave and pension, it is clear she has thought about these concepts of labour before and the value of labour. In a way Ron and Harry haven’t and won’t for quite some time (I’m not even sure they do it within the series and probably only do so when they start working themselves).

• The fact that only Dumbledore and Hagrid clapped for Moody and no other staff member is quite telling. Snape of course wouldn’t for several reasons. But others like McGonagall did neither and I think it is fair to assume that most of teachers weren’t too excited by the idea of Moody as one of their colleagues. Perhaps because they knew about his reputation as well?

• So both Karkaroff and Madame Maxime and their selected students didn’t attend their respective schools for the bigger part of the school year. Did the students attempt the Hogwarts lessons then? Did Karkaroff and Maxime teach them themselves? They were all presumably in their final years, so how did that work?

• The age restriction is new to the Triwizard Tournament, meaning before every student could enter, even those who were quite young and hadn’t finished their education, which already gives them a disadvantage (the way it will be for Harry). And this makes me wonder under what preconditions the Goblet chooses the champion? The bravest? The most qualified? The one most eager to win?

• I think Harry’s dream of becoming a Triwizard Champion is just that – a dream, a boyish fantasy, the way he had fantasized about becoming a professional Quidditch player. I think at least at Hogwarts most people are so used to Harry that he can forget that he already is famous. (Though of course being famous for what was the worst day in his life and being famous because of own achievements is quite different.) He doesn’t really think about it – not about the additional attention he gets (which he hates) or the risk of the tasks. And then his fantasy will be crushed by the cruel reality of what it means to take part in the Tournament.