Chapter Thirty-Five: Veritaserum
In chapter thirty-five of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Amos Diggory and Winky break my heart, and Barty gets unmasked.
(Please be advised that this is a reread and I will be discussing book and movie spoilers.)
We open up our chapter with what is possibly the second saddest movie moment to me, mostly because the acting is phenomenal.
Kill me into a puddle of tears with your acting, good sir!
Cedric’s death didn’t mean much to me on first read through, as likable as he was. It’s on reread that it gets much sadder, and this scene being changed in the movies really gut punches you in the feels that Cedric, a total innocent, has been killed for absolutely no reason.
Imposter Barty is taking Harry away while Dumbledore deals with his teenage student’s death and Cornelius Fudge, twin horrors, and we get our reveal that “Moody” is our villainous Death Eater, which I maintain is one of the best twists in all of Harry Potter. Sure, the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher being up to something is not super surprising in and of itself. But we’ve been set up all book that Alastor Moody is a good man, a retired Auror who loathes Death Eaters and is BFF’s with Dumbledore, so when we originally find out that Moody is a Death Eater we are in disbelief at how ridiculous this twist is…until we find out it’s…
wait for it…
Barty Crouch Junior, alleged dead teenage boy!
This ALSO seems totally ridiculous, until Dumbles, McGoogles, and Snapimus show up to force truth potion down his throat (totes legal I’m sure) and we find out the whole twisted truth, which makes every single piece slide into place except why on Earth does Barty not just casually transport Harry to Voldemort a hundred times over during office hours? No I will not let this go! Why is this so ridiculous?!
Ok, you know what? I’ll just say to myself that Voldemort is a giant drama queen and wanted this to be as epic as possible and move on.
But of course, what I’ve got to move on to is talking about how Winky is given one of the most subtly sad subplots in the series. This poor elf has been serving a family filled with tragedy, is cruelly fired, and then is forced to listen as one of her “masters” reveals that he’s killed her favorite master and is evil.
Can’t someone help poor Winky?!
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What did you think of the Barty/Moody plot twist when you first read it?
On a scale of 1-10, how illegal was the Veritaserum questioning done by Dumbles and co?
What is your second saddest moment in the movies for you?
Who do you think has the saddest subplot in the series?
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