Chapter Thirty-Six: The Parting of the Ways
In chapter thirty-six of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Sirius fulfills his godfather-ly duties some more, Dumbledore is shady, and Harry breaks my heart.
(Please be advised that this is a reread and I will be discussing book and movie spoilers.)
Harry’s in shock after the wild revelations of BJ Junior, and Dumbledore finally takes some pity on him and brings him to Sirius. This touching moment was #cutfortime from the movies (gotta extend that random dragon chase by sixteen more minutes) but I find it important that Sirius is there for Harry, advocating for his mental health above all else. But as we all know, Dumbledore’s allllll about that #GreaterGood
and he forces Harry to tell them everything. We get what I consider our first true glimpse of young Dumbledore (no I don’t mean he’s hot Jude Law)
but rather, the power hungry assrag who throws anyone under the bus that doesn’t fit his agenda. Take this moment. Cedric is dead for no reason. His poor parents are presumably crying over his corpse. But Dumbledore says they’re with Professor Sprout, and not him, the freaking Headmaster, because “Professor Sprout knew him best,” and certainly not because he’s got to interrogate a traumatized child.
Here’s Harry, shocked, almost murdered, tortured, Cedric dead and rotting, and Dumbledore’s got a “gleam of something like triumph” in his eyes because Voldemort used Harry’s blood. Don’t get me wrong, I like Dumbledore. But it’s here his character takes a turn for the complicated.
Dumbs and Sirius discuss the Priori spell with Harry, and look I’m sorry to always be nitpicking but…how in the bloody hell did Voldemort get back his original wand that he used to kill the Potters when he was not corporeal for eleven solid years?! Did Peter sneak in, steal the wand over the cooling corpses of his BFF’s and sneak out? Holding onto it as Scabbers…? Yeah, no. Does anyone have an explanation?!
Poor Harz is escorted to the Hospital wing with Padfoot, Hermz and the Weasleys, and his attempt to decompress is ruined by the knowledge that Fudge, the one person who could really help in this fight against Voldz, is a cowardly asshole who’s chosen to stick his head in the sand. Oh, and Barty’s gotten his soul sucked out by a dementor Jesus H! Won’t someone think of Winky?!
Fudge ignores Dumbledore, McG, (blasphemy!) Harry, (thanks Rita!) and Snape, who finally reveals that all of the Death Eaters have a mark branded on them and again I ask how this could have possibly remained a secret in Voldy’s first reign of terror?
Dumbledore finally remembers poor Winky and dispatches Madam P to help just in time for Sirius and Snape to have round two in their hate-fest commence.
As much as a I think Snape is a total jerkface to his students, he too has one of his complicated moments in this chapter, when he argues with Fudge about Voldemort coming back, and goes off to infiltrate the Death Eaters again, knowing he might be tortured and killed. And that’s what makes him such an intriguing character.
But then we get to one of the saddest moment of the series to me. Harry’s alone with Hermione, Ron, Mrs. Weasley, the last of whom tries to cheer him up by suggesting he think of what to buy with his winnings. One of the most brilliant passages follows:
“I don’t want that gold,” said Harry in an expressionless voice. “You have it. Anyone can have it. I shouldn’t have won it. It should’ve been Cedric’s.”
The thing against which he had been fighting on and off ever since he had come out of the maze was threatening to overpower him. He could feel a burning, prickling feeling in the inner corners of his eyes. He blinked and stared up at the ceiling.
“It wasn’t your fault. Harry,” Mrs. Weasley whispered.
“I told him to take the cup with me,” said Harry.
Now the burning feeling was in his throat too. He wished Ron would look away.
Mrs. Weasley set the potion down on the bedside cabinet, bent down, and put her arms around Harry. He had no memory of ever being hugged like this, as though by a mother. The full weight of everything he had seen that night seemed to fall in upon him as Mrs. Weasley held him to her. His mother s face, his father’s voice, the sight of Cedric, dead on the ground all started spinning in his head until he could hardly bear it, until he was screwing up his face against the howl of misery fighting to get out of him.
Everything about this is so real, and so tragic. The small details of Harry not wanting Ron to look at him. Harry insisting he doesn’t want the gold, that Cedric’s death is his fault, and the comfort of a mother’s hug he doesn’t remember ever getting before is heartbreaking. I’m a broken record, but this scene would’ve been so important to keep in the movie. It humanizes Harry, instead of making him the bland hero. It shows the bond between him and Mrs. Weasley. And it underscores the tragedy of Cedric’s death.
But we do end our chapter on a hidden happy note, when Hermione catches Rita Skeeter!
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So does anyone know how Voldemort got back his wand?
How does Fudge get away with a man getting his soul sucked out by a dementor?
Was Harry right? Did he have any fault in Cedric’s death?
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