In Chapter 30, Harry gets lost in Dumbledore’s thoughts. Let’s go!

Oh, I meant to do so much more reading and blogging this past weekend, including several chapters of Goblet of Fire. Oops. Oh well. Moving on!

We get more of Sassy Harry in the beginning of this chapter, and I love that! He just arrived at Dumbledore’s office door and overheard some fairly stupid ideas from Cornelius Fudge (like Hagrid or Maxime could be responsible for Crouch’s disappearance because half-giant=dangerous). Fudge starts up with his normal fake cheerfulness that he has around Harry, asking him about the Crouch situation, since Harry was the one who found him.

“Yes,” said Harry. Then, feeling it was pointless to pretend that he hadn’t overheard what they had been saying, he added, “I didn’t see Madame Maxime anywhere, though, and she’d have a job hiding, wouldn’t she?”

I love when Harry gets like this. It’s a breath of fresh air.

He tells Dumbledore that he needs to speak to him, but Dumbledore is escorting the Minister on a walk around the grounds. He tells Harry to wait for him in his office and they all leave Harry alone there. Well, not alone. Fawkes is there, though he doesn’t do much. Harry looks around the room and sees a weird silvery light coming from a cabinet. And, being Harry, he has to investigate. What he finds is a shallow stone bowl covered in runes and symbols with a strange, white-silver substance in it. At first he wants to touch the stuff, which is a stupid idea, Harry. You’ve lived in the wizarding world for almost four years now, and you don’t realize that randomly touching a substance that you don’t recognize could make bad things happen?

Instead he pokes at it with his wand, which makes the stuff start moving around and creates what looks like a window in the basin, looking down into a room that Harry doesn’t recognize. He leans closer and accidentally touches the silvery stuff with his nose, which pitches him into the basin, falling into the strange room.

“The room was dimly lit; he thought it might even be underground, for there were no windows, merely torches in brackets such as the ones that illuminated the walls of Hogwarts . . . Harry saw that rows and rows of witches and wizards were seated around every wall on what seemed to be benches rising in levels. An empty chair stood in the very center of the room. There was something about the chair that gave Harry an ominous feeling. Chains encircled the arms of it, as though its occupants were usually tied to it.

Harry ends up sitting on one of those benches, although none of the witches or wizards seem to notice his sudden appearance. He looks over and sees that he is sitting right next to Dumbledore, but when Harry tries to explain and apologize, Dumbledore doesn’t seem to see or hear him. It reminds Harry of when he fell into Tom Riddle’s diary and landed in Riddle’s memory.

As Harry ponders all of this, a door opens and a man is led into the room by two dementors. They sit him in the chair, which chains his arms to it, and Harry realizes that it’s a much younger looking Karkaroff. He looks terrible. A man starts to speak in the room and Harry seems that it’s a younger Mr. Crouch. He says that Karkaroff was brought from Azkaban to give them information. Which Karkaroff does. He has names of Death Eaters and wants to give them to the Ministry as proof that he has renounced his old ways.

Harry sees Moody sitting behind Dumbledore. Moody is not happy that they are planning to let Karkaroff go, after he went to all the trouble to apprehend him. Karkaroff starts giving names, but one by one, they are deemed useless: Dolohov (captured soon after Karkaroff was), Rosier (dead), Travers and Mulciber (already on the Ministry’s list). Karkaroff is getting desperate and finally tells them the name Rookwood, a Ministry member who works in the Department of Ministries. Crouch takes the information and goes to dismiss Karkaroff back to the dementors, but Karkaroff has one more name to give.

“Snape!” he shouted. “Severus Snape!”

“Snape has been cleared by this council,” said Crouch disdainfully. “He has been vouched for by Albus Dumbledore.”

“No!” shouted Karkaroff, straining at the chains that bound him to the chair. “I assure you! Severus Snape is a Death Eater!”

Dumbledore had gotten to his feet.

“I have given evidence already on this matter,” he said calmly. “Severus Snape was indeed a Death Eater. However, he rejoined our side before Lord Voldemort’s downfall and turned spy for us, at great personal risk. He is now no more a Death Eater than I am.”

An interesting exchange, to be sure. Karkaroff is led away and the scene changes. Now the same courtroom is more relaxed, and the person in the hot seat is Ludo Bagman. The chair doesn’t chain him up though. I guess it didn’t think he was all that dangerous. Crouch is still presenting questions and accuses Bagman of passing information to Voldemort’s supporters. Turns out, that supporter was Rookwood, so I guess Karkaroff’s information was sound. According to Bagman, he had no idea Rookwood was in league with Voldemort. Rookwood was a friend of his dad’s who had promised to help him get a job in the Ministry once Bagman retired from playing professional Quidditch. The jury is sympathetic and vote to let Bagman go. Crouch is not pleased, but there isn’t much he can do.

The scene changes again and it is a very different atmosphere this time. It’s nearly silent, except for a witch sitting next to Crouch sobbing. Six dementors lead four people in: two men, one woman, and a teenage boy. Crouch begins the trial.

“You have been brought here before the Council of Magical Law,” he said clearly, “so that we may pass judgment on you, for a crime so heinous –”

“Father,” said the boy with the straw-colored hair. “Father . . . please . . .”

“– that we have rarely heard the like of it within this court,” said Crouch, speaking more loudly, drowning out his son’s voice. “We have heard the evidence against you. The four of you stand accused of capturing an Auror — Frank Longbottom — and subjecting him to the Cruciatus Curse, believing him to have knowledge of the present whereabouts of your exiled master, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named –“

The boy gets more and more hysterical, saying over and over that he didn’t do it and begging his father to believe him. Crouch continues, stating that not only did they torture Frank Longbottom, but also his wife. The jury unanimously votes that they are guilty. As they are led away, the woman unrepentant, the boy screaming his innocence, Harry is pulled out of the memory by the present-day Dumbledore, who has just returned. Harry immediately apologizes for snooping, but Dumbledore understands. He tells Harry that the bowl is called a Pensieve and is used to store thoughts and memories. He even shows Harry how to extract a memory and add it to the bowl. Harry sees a few more memories: Snape telling Dumbledore that something is “coming back . . .stronger and clearer than ever,” a younger Bertha Jorkins talking to Dumbledore about something that happened in school.

Dumbledore asks Harry what he came to see him for. Harry explains his vision in Divination and tells him about when his scar hurt over the summer, which Dumbledore already knew about. Turns out Sirius has been writing to Dumbledore too. Harry asks why his scar is hurting and Dumbledore says it’s because they are “connected by the curse that failed.” It is very probable that the visions Harry is having are true. Dumbledore has a lot of ideas of what might be happening, due to seeing connections to what had happened during Voldemort’s rise to power last time. Three disappearances (the muggle Frank Bryce, Bertha Jorkins, and now Crouch). The Ministry doesn’t believe that these incidents are connected at all.

Harry asks if the Longbottoms mentioned in the trial are Neville’s parents. Dumbledore asks if Harry ever wondered why Neville was raised by his grandmother, which Harry realizes he never asked about.

“Yes, they were talking about Neville’s parents,” said Dumbledore. “His father, Frank, was an Auror just like Professor Moody. He and his wife were tortured for information about Voldemort’s whereabouts after he lost his powers, as you heard.”

“So they’re dead?” said Harry quietly.

“No,” said Dumbledore, his voice full of a bitterness Harry had never heard there before. “They are insane. They are both in St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. I believe Neville visits them, with his grandmother, during the holidays. They do not recognize him.”

This is by far one of the most heartbreaking parts of this series, the fate of the Longbottoms. And Neville! Poor, sweet Neville! The first time I read this, I actually had to put the book down for a few minutes. Harry is just as horrified, not just by what happened, but also because he had known Neville for four years and had never bothered to ask what had happened to his parents. He asks if Dumbledore knows if Mr. Crouch’s son was really involved, but Dumbledore doesn’t know. Dumbledore also confirms that Bagman has never been accused of Dark activity since, and neither has Snape. When Harry asks how Dumbledore can really believe that Snape stopped supporting Voldemort, Dumbledore says that it is a private matter between him and Snape.

He also asks Harry to not speak of what he learned about the Longbottoms, but let Neville reveal that information when he feels it’s right. I honestly don’t believe Harry would have told anyone, but it’s probably for the best that Dumbledore says this. Even Ron and Hermione don’t need to know that part. Dumbledore dismisses Harry by wishing him luck on the third task.

See you next time for Chapter 31!

In Chapter 29, Harry tries to make sense of the disappearance of Mr. Crouch and has a terrifying vision. Let’s go!

This chapter opens up with Harry, Ron and Hermione trying to figure out what the heck happened to Mr. Crouch. It’s a valid question! He seemed really weak, and it’s doubtful that Krum did anything to him since he was stunned. And you can’t Disapparate on Hogwarts grounds (just ask Hermione, she loves reminding people of this). Besides, Crouch was acting so weird.

“I’ve told you, he wasn’t making much sense,” said Harry. “He said he wanted to warn Dumbledore about something. He definitely mentioned Bertha Jorkins, and he seemed to think she was dead. He kept saying stuff was his fault . . . He mentioned his son.”

“Well, that was his fault,” said Hermione testily.

“He was out of his mind,” said Harry. “Half the time he seemed to think his wife and son were still alive, and he kept talking to Percy about work and giving him instructions.”

This sounds terrifying, to be honest.

They are up in the Owlery discussing this, but hush up when they hear voices approaching. The voices are talking about “it’s time to play dirty” and “blackmail.” The owners of those voices? Fred and George. When Ron questions them, they refuse to say anything and get angry. They send a letter to someone, making sure to hide the name, and then leave. Ron worries that they might do anything to make money at this point – they are determined to start their joke shop.

After class, they track down Moody and ask if he was able to find Crouch. He wasn’t. He even tried the Marauder’s Map, but Crouch didn’t appear on it. When Hermione points out that there were other ways for Crouch to disappear, Moody comments that she ought to think of being an Auror as well. Ron suggests that maybe someone pulled Crouch on a broom and flew away, which Moody agrees could be a possibility. He also tells them to stay out of it, that there is nothing they can do. Harry needs to focus on getting through the final task. That’s all.

Sirius also sends Harry a letter letting him have it for going off alone with Krum. He tells Harry to be more careful. In the meantime, Ron and Hermione help Harry start to research spells to help him get through the maze. They don’t have much time left. After their practice session, Harry and Ron head to Divination, their favorite class (haha). Trelawney pulls out a display of the solar system and starts teaching, but the room is so warm dark, Harry falls asleep.

He has a dream. He’s flying on a giant owl to an old house. Inside the house: Voldemort and Wormtail and a huge snake.

“Now, Wormtail,” said the cold voice, “perhaps one more little reminder why I will not tolerate another blunder from you . . .”

“My Lord . . . no . . . I beg you . . .”

The tip of a wand emerged from around the back of the chair. It was pointing at Wormtail.

“Crucio!”

Harry wakes up on the floor of the classroom with his head hurting so bad he can barely see. Trelawney thinks he’s having vision due to the “extraordinary claivoyant vibrations,” but Harry tries to pretend that it’s just a headache and rushes out of the room, claiming to go to the hospital wing. Instead, he heads straight to Dumbledore’s office. The door is closed and Harry can hear voices inside belonging to Moody and Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic. They are discussing the Barty Crouch situation. Fudge seems to think that either Crouch has “finally cracked” or that maybe Hagrid or Madame Maxime had something to do with it, since this happened somewhat near the Beauxbatons carriage and clearly, with their giant heritage, they could be dangerous. Shut up, Fudge! Get out of here with your bigoted ideas! Finally, Moody tells them they need to wrap things up, because Harry is at the door.

See you next time for Chapter 30!

 

In Chapter 28, we finally see a reappearance of Mr. Crouch, and it’s not pretty. Let’s go!

This chapter starts off with a somewhat funny scene and then ends up really, really dark. I like it!

The three start off by sending a note to Percy asking about Mr. Crouch and then going down to the kitchens to get some food to send to Sirius. Dobby is very happy to see them, but Winky . . . eh, Winky’s not doing well. She’s still sitting by the fireplace, but she is filthy dirty and, apparently, completely drunk on butterbeer. Turns out that stuff is really strong for house-elves, and Winky is drinking a LOT of it. According to Dobby, Winky can’t get over the fact that Mr. Crouch is not her master anymore.

“Master is needing his — hic — Winky!” whimpered the elf. “Master cannon — hic — manage — hic — all by himself . . .”

“Other people manage to do their own housework, you know, Winky,” Hermione said severely.

“Winky — hic — is not only — hic — doing housework for Mr. Crouch!” Winky squeaked indignantly, swaying worse than ever and slopping butterbeer down her already heavily stained blouse. “Master is — hic — trusting Winky with — hic — the most important — hic — the most secret –“

Winky won’t tell them what this secret stuff is though, and when pressed, she gets angry and eventually passes out. The other elves just cover her up neatly with a tablecloth and leave her be. Hermione takes great offense to this and asks them why they aren’t actually helping her. I do think it’s funny that Hermione tries to use Dobby as an example and Dobby wants to be kept out of it. He knows that he is an anomaly among house-elves, that most of them don’t want what he does, and doesn’t want to make waves anymore than he already is. Ron is worried that Hermione is making the other elves angry and won’t give them food anymore. That’s Ron, thinking with his stomach!

They send the food to Sirius while Ron and Hermione keep arguing. The next day, they have stopped for the most part, especially once Hermione starts getting a lot of mail. Specifically, hate mail from people who have read the Witch Weekly article and want Hermione to leave Harry alone. One of them has undiluted bubotuber pus in it which makes her hands swell up with painful boils. Throughout the week, they don’t get better, although Hermione decides to burn them instead of opening any. That doesn’t stop the Howlers though.

In Care of Magical Creatures class, Hagrid introduces them to nifflers, little fluffy creatures who like to look for treasure. I love that these have become more well known through the Fantastic Beasts movies – they’re so cute! Hagrid set up a treasure hunt for them with buried gold coins, but tells them that it’s only leprechaun gold, so it will disappear in a few hours. Ron realizes that the money he gave Harry at the World Cup actually disappeared and Harry didn’t notice it.

“Must be nice,” Ron said abruptly . . . “To have so much money you don’t notice if a pocketful of Galleons goes missing . . .

“I hate being poor.”

I feel really bad for Ron here. This is something that he’s already insecure about and this has made him feel even worse.

Hagrid also tells Hermione not to worry about all the negative attention. He had received some angry mail after his Rita Skeeter article came out, so he knows the feeling. Hermione just wants to know how Rita Skeeter is doing it – she’s not supposed to be on school grounds, and yet she is somehow overhearing private conversations. Hermione vows to “get her back,” and I wouldn’t want to get on Hermione’s bad side!

The final task of the tournament is approaching and they finally get to see what their task will be: a maze. They have turned the Quidditch pitch into a large hedge maze, much to Harry and Cedric’s dismay. They liked their Quidditch pitch the way it was, thank you! But at least this seems like a straightforward situation. Get through a maze. Nothing else to figure out beforehand. Harry and Cedric will get a head start, since they are currently tied for first place, then Krum, and then Fleur.

As they leave, Krum asks Harry if he can speak to him and leads him towards the forest. This seems really creepy at first, but then Krum asks if there is anything between Harry and Hermione. I think this is so sweet! Krum comes off as being really gruff and tough, but he’s just a boy with a crush and it’s adorable. Harry assures him that he and Hermione are just friends and they both talk about flying and Quidditch. I really think that, under different circumstances, these two would have been friends. They don’t talk for long though before someone staggers out of the forest towards them: Mr. Crouch!

He looked as though he had been traveling for days. The knees of his robes were ripped and bloody, his face scratched; he was unshaven and gray with exhaustion. His neat hair and mustache were both in need of a wash and a trim. His strange appearance, however, was nothing to the way he was behaving. Muttering and gesticulating, Mr. Crouch appeared to be talking to someone that he alone could see.

Crouch keeps going back and forth between thinking he’s talking to Percy at work, talking as if his son is still alive, and then panicked requests to see Dumbledore and that he has escaped from something. Harry tells Krum to stay with him and runs up to the castle to find Dumbledore. He runs into Snape while trying to get into the headmaster’s office, Snape being as unhelpful and snarky as ever, but Dumbledore soon comes down and goes with Harry. They arrive to find Krum stunned and Crouch gone.

Dumbledore wakes Krum up, who says that Crouch attacked him. They are soon joined by Hagrid, but Dumbledore sends him off to go get Karkaroff. Moody also appears, saying that Snape had said something about Crouch, and then goes off to search for him. Again, such excellent misdirection here! Our attention is taken up so much by Karkaroff, who is extremely upset that his champion has been attacked by someone from the opposing country’s Ministry, and a judge to boot.

“Treachery!” he bellowed, pointing at Dumbledore. “It’s a plot! You and your Ministry of Magic have lured me here under false pretenses, Dumbledore! This is not an equal competition! First you sneak Potter into the tournament, though he is underage! Now one of your Ministry friends attempts to put my champion out of action! I smell double-dealing and corruption in this whole affair, and you, Dumbledore, you, with your talk of closer international Wizarding links, of rebuilding old ties, of forgetting old differences — here’s what I think of you!”

He spits at Dumbledore’s feet, which is not a good thing to do in front of Hagrid, who immediately slams Karkaroff into a tree. The thing is though, if we weren’t already suspicious of Karkaroff, it’s easy to see how this looks really bad. If you’re just looking at the tournament, Hogwarts had a huge advantage with two competitors, both of which who are currently tied for first place. And now the Durmstrang champion is attacked. It does look fishy.

Dumbledore tells Hagrid to put Karkaroff down and walk Harry back up to the castle. On the way, Hagrid tells off Harry for going off with Krum in the first place. He’s from Durmstrang and might be dangerous. Harry tries to tell Hagrid that Krum seemed fine, that their talk was completely innocent, but Hagrid is in no place to listen. So Harry waits until he can get back up to the common room and tell Ron and Hermione everything that happened.

See you next time for Chapter 29!