Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Chapter Notes

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Chapter 18: The Weighing of the Wands

• In previous years we saw Hermione being social awkward (she initially had a hard time finding friends) or at times (unintentionally) hurtful in her honesty, especially if she believes to be right. But she is a very empathic person, and the best evidence is how she handles the situation between Harry and Ron. She doesn’t take a side. She shows Harry that she believes him and supports him, but at the same time she tries to make him understand how Ron feels, and that Harry should try to look at the situation from Ron’s perspective. She also refuses to deliver any messages because she knows they can only fix this if they talk to each other.

• Also Hedwig is a Drama Queen.

• “Then there was the fact that Cedric looked the part of a champion so much more than he did. Exceptionally handsome, with his straight nose, dark hair and grey eyes, it was hard to say who was receiving more admiration these days, Cedric or Viktor Krum. Harry actually saw the same sixth-year girls who had been so keen to get Krum’s autograph, begging Cedric to sign their schoolbags one lunchtime.” – I didn’t quite remember how Cedric was described in the book, and so for years I just imagined him to look a bit like Robert Pattinson (who portrayed him the movie adaption), but he actually looks quite different. At least with his dark hair and grey eyes. Also, I know a lot of people take the fact that Harry noticed that Cedric is handsome as a support for queer Harry (just as he noticed that Bill looked cool) but I think it is rather based on jealously than attraction. But also I’m the last person to say you can’t read Harry as queer, I just never did, at least regarding the actual books (even though I read a lot of Harry/Draco-FanFic). And Harry is 17 when the series ends (casually ignoring the epilogue) and he spends the most of his teenage years being anxious because there is a war going on, and so he has other things on his mind, and there is still a lot of time left for him to figure out his sexuality.

• Oh God, Draco and his badges, he is so petty. And really, this is the best he could come up with? “Potter stinks”? You can do better, honey.

• “He forced Hermione to show Snape her teeth – she was doing her best to hide them with her hands, though this was difficult as they had now grown down past her collar. […] Snape looked coldly at Hermione, then said, ‘I see no difference.’ Hermione let out a whimper; her eyes filled with tears, she turned on her heel and ran, ran all the way up the corridor and out of sight.” – Reason number 36876 why Snape is the worst. It says something when the biggest bully in the room is the teacher himself. And yet, while Harry and Ron openly hate Snape, Hermione usually defends him, and justifies that if Dumbledore trusts Snape so should they. Still I wonder how she managed to respect him as a teacher when he never showed any kind of respect towards her. Maybe she is simply the better person.

• “Her hair was set in elaborate and curiously rigid curls that contrasted oddly with her heavy-jawed face. She wore jewelled spectacles. The thick fingers clutching her crocodile-skin handbag ended in two-inch nails, painted crimson.” – It is interesting how Rita Skeeter is described here – as something unnatural. Her appearance seems artificial, like she tries to appear overly feminine in contrast to her natural heavy face and body. I saw a reading of Rita as a trans-woman, which is definitely an interesting possibility, but regarding how negative her character appears it is also slightly transphobic. She seems fake – her stories are obviously fake, but also the way she presents herself, which is a stark contrast to how positive female characters as Hermione are described – as a girl who doesn’t really care how she looks like (and more to that when we get to the Yule Ball).

• With the introduction of Rita Skeeter media and the news play a larger role within the series. Like we obviously know that Harry is famous, but it isn’t until this book that Harry realizes how much of a public figure is. That people talk about him and have ideas about him not just in Hogwarts but in the Wizarding World as well. And we see the importance of media and how easily people believe everything they read without questioning it. At the end of the book Fudge questions Harry’s reliability because Rita described him as unstable. Molly Weasley temporarily acts cold towards Hermione because of what Rita wrote about her. And we obviously see this at large in book 5 when the media refuses to acknowledge the return of Voldemort and people start question Harry’s version of events. And those are two very different aspects of media. Rita Skeeter represents the yellow press and how they can destroy a life with a few words. Book 5 however shows us how very important independent media is – even more so in times of fake news (the ones who are actually fake and the ones who are accused of it). (Fun fact: the origin of the word “fake news”, especially in the context to question the reliability of news outlets, is in Nazi Germany)

• One of Fleur’s ancestors was a Veela, and later we find out that Hagrid is a half-giant (giant-mother & human-father). So while they are rare, relationships between humans and none humans exist. But we also see the reaction to this once it gets public – Hagrid is accused of being a monster and to be non-human (and it is really no wonder Madame Maxime denies that she probably half-giant as well). And especially in the Wizarding World we have a lot of beings that have human like intelligence and/or emotions, but are in many ways looked down upon and treated second class. They even have their own category – Being – because they are obviously not Beasts, but the Wizarding World makes it very clear that they are not human as well. And pureblood fanatics make it very clear what they think of non-human Beings as well. Fleur however is a different story – perhaps because half-Veelas are not as easy to spot or simply because she is a beautiful young woman, but we never see her receive as much hate as Hagrid did.  

• “’[…]It’s in fine condition … you treat it regularly?’ ‘Polished it last night,’ said Cedric, grinning. Harry looked down at his own wand. He could see finger marks all over it. He gathered a fistful of robe from his knee and tried to rub it clean surreptitiously. Several gold sparks shot out of the end of it. Fleur Delacour gave him a very patronising look, and he desisted.” - *whispers* Wands = dicks.