Chapter Twenty-Two: The Unexpected Task
In chapter twenty-two of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Hermione’s got a mysterious date to the Yule Ball, Cho gets caught in the middle of a Champion triangle, and Ginny’s probably crying into a stuffed animal somewhere.
(Please be advised that this is a reread and I will be discussing book and movie spoilers.)
Ron and Harry are screwing around in Transfiguration and yeah I know I’m a very broken record about this, but these little touches is what I really missed in the movies but there’s time for in say, a multi-episode series with a large budget that religulously follows the text:
The bell was due to ring at any moment, and Harry and Ron, who had been having a sword fight with a couple of Fred and George’s fake wands at the back of the class, looked up, Ron holding a tin parrot and Harry, a rubber haddock.
“Now that Potter and Weasley have been kind enough to act their age,” said Professor McGonagall, with an angry look at the pair of them as the head of Harry’s haddock drooped and fell silently to the floor–Ron’s parrot’s beak had severed it moments before–
–JK Rowling,Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
McG is out of sorts because she hasn’t given a death detention in a while because she’s stressed about the upcoming Yule Ball she’s just announced. Oddly, Lavender and Parvati giggly wildly and look at Harry when she says this line:
“Now, the ball will be open only to fourth years and above — although you may invite a younger student if you wish–“
-JK Rowling,Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Are they giggling because they want to go to the ball with Harry? Because they’re thinking of Ginny Weasley?
But Harry’s not got time to ponder this at all because McG is letting him know that a Yule Ball is a dance (no shit, Harry, you dense delight) and that he’s expected to lead it with a dance partner and goddamn, they are trying to kill this poor child with embarrassment, aren’t they?
It’s here I’ve got to give snaps again to the movie, which has a supremely funny scene with McGonagall forcing the Gryffindors to learn how to dance in what is one of the best moments of the movie series.
I feel like Goblet of Fire the movie really missed the mark overall, but where it went right was the little human funny moments and the sad moments (RIP C-Digg.) Where it went terribly wrong was having oh, a completely incoherent plot and leaving out half the book.
Ron and Harry are suffering rather mightily at this point trying to find a date to the Yule Ball, and I feel like this chapter is something the vast majority of us can relate to on one level or another. The pain of having to ask someone out. The pain of waiting for someone to ask you out. Supporting a friend failing at one or the other of this. Ron points out to Harry that girls will be lining up to ask Harry out as a Triwizard champion (and also, he’s still famous Harry Potter) and he’s right when multiple girls ask out Harry, who has the mental fortitude to realize it’s probably (just like with Krum) because he’s famous.
It turns out Cedric is as decent a person as Harry is, when he tells the Hufflepuffs to leave Harry alone, presumably in return for the tip-off about the dragon, and dammit why are you so noble Cedric? Quick someone show me a bizarre Robert Pattinson gif so I can cheer up!
Excellent!
Anyway, the odious Rita Skeeter’s interviewed Hagrid, who reports to the trio that she seemed most interested in getting dirt on Harry to write another tabloid like article, this time in a seemingly nastier angle, because Rita Skeeter is human sludge and really should join with her fellow human sludgemates, the Dursley’s, and interview them if she wants the dirt on Harry. Bonus points for the fact that Uncle Vernon will probably throw heavy objects at her head!
Hermione’s nagging Harry about his egg, and I, a fellow terrible procrastinator, feel for Harry and would probably have done the same thing, all while thinking Hermione is one billion percent right about this all.
Fred and George are furthering the Bagman/Fred and George are suspicious plot some more (sigh) but then it turns into the alpha move of Fred asking Angelina to the ball in front of everyone and getting a yes and alright movie, well done again!
Ron reverts to his occasional asshole teenage boy persona and says he and Harry have got to get a move on or else they will get stuck with a pair of trolls as their dates, and Hermione rightfully takes offense that Ron is only interested in finding the best looking girl he can get for the ball instead of caring about personality.
Dammit movie, stop making Snape’s bullying so entertaining! Not when Book!Snape is a flaming asshole!
Our boys make a pact to get a date the next day, and Harry shows his Gryffindor bravery by finding Cho when she’s with a group of her giggling friends and asking her to go to the ball with him in a way that…well…as we say in the south…bless his heart.
HARRY: Cho—I—I was wondering if…
CHO: Yes, Harry?
HARRY: If… wondering if… you would… maybe…
CHO: If I would…?
© 2007 Cleolinda Jones. Please quote or link back, do not repost. cleolinda.livejournal.com
HARRY: Go baaaaall. Biiiig dance. Comb hair, bring flower? Baaaaall.
CHO: Oh, Harry… I wish I could, but I told Cedric five minutes ago that I’d go with him.
HARRY: *sob*
–Cleolinda Movies in 15 Minutes
….OK it goes a little better then that, but not by much. Cho is super sweet about it, and seems regretful that she can’t say yes, apologizing to Harry repeatedly that she’s already promised to go with someone else, and I wonder afresh if Cho would’ve preferred to go with Cedric or Harry, based on how she acts here and in the next book.
As if Harry’s little heart hasn’t been squashed enough, he asks who Cho is attending with and she responds that she’s going with oh, y’know, the hot popular older boy in school that everyone loves.
He had been starting to quite like Cedric – prepared to overlook the fact that he had once beaten him at Quidditch, and was handsome, and popular, and nearly everyone’s favourite champion. Now he suddenly realised Cedric was in fact a useless pretty-boy who didn’t have enough brains to fill an eggcup.”
-JK Rowling,Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Not the hot Irish sheriff, Regina! Oh sorry, wrong series. Ahem.
Harry’s feeling pretty damn sorry for himself when he finds out Ron’s situation is even more dire, as he quasi screamed a ball invite at Fleur in front of many witnesses, but when Harry lets Ron know it wasn’t totally his fault because Fleur is part veela and also, that Cho turned him down as well, and poor Ginny’s heart snaps in half a little while she holds it in.
All these broken hearts this chapter, it’s a bloodbath!
I know our boys are feeling low, but they take it out by laughing at Neville asking out Hermione, and now they’ve insulted Ginny as well, since she’s actually going with Neville and they don’t know it. Hermione shows up to taunt Ron (justifiably) on how he’s going to have to ask a less good looking girl (the horror!) and Ron suddenly notices that Hermione’s a girl and asks her to go with him or Harry and really, why didn’t either of these simpletons think of this in the first place?! Herp derp, we need a date to the Yule Ball and it’s painful to ask someone, we only have a best friend that’s a girl!
Hermione tells Ron that she can’t because she’s already going with someone *cough*
and Ron opens his mouth and inserts his foot fully.
‘I can’t come with you,’ said Hermione, now blushing, ‘because I’m already going with someone.’
‘No, you’re not!’ said Ron. ‘You just said that to get rid of Neville!’
‘Oh, did I?’ said Hermione, and her eyes flashed dangerously. ‘Just because it’s taken you three years to notice, Ron, doesn’t mean no one else has spotted I’m a girl!’
Ron stared at her. Then he grinned again.
‘OK, OK, we know you’re a girl,’ he said. ‘That do? Will you come now?’
‘I’ve already told you!’ Hermione said, very angrily. ‘I’m going with someone else!’
And she stormed off towards the girls’ dormitories again.
-JK Rowling,Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Ginny confirms that Hermione is telling the truth and Ron decides that Ginny should go with Harry instead, which is just a cruel thing to do to his sister, who’s surely deeply regretting saying yes to Neville at this point.
Harry resorts to asking the next girls he sees when he invites Parvati and then tries to get Lavender to go with Ron, but as she’s busy Parvati offers up her twin sister Padma instead. Boy are the twins going to regret this one!
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Why do Lavender and Parvati laugh and look at Harry right when McG announced you can take a younger student to the ball?
If you’re wiling, do you have a painful dance memory to share?
So weigh in…would Cho choose Harry or Cedric if they’d asked her simultaneously?
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