pauraque_bk | GoF 6 (Reply)

Happy birthday wishes to sistermagpie!

Discussion on Chapter 5 included Ginny's Great Personality Shift (+ love potions) and wizarding Imperialism.

This chapter is totally short and chock full of exposition. A holiday for my weary fingers.

GoF 6: The Portkey

[Mr Weasley] was wearing what appeared to be a golfing jumper and a very old pair of jeans, slightly too big for him and held up with a thick leather belt.

'What d'you think?' he asked anxiously. 'We're supposed to go incognito -- do I look like a Muggle, Harry?'

'Yeah,' said Harry, smiling, 'very good.' (62)

Since we've been ragging on Arthur's lack of Muggle skillz for the last few chapters, I thought it was only fair to point out his total success in dressing reasonably. Kudos, good sir!

And then a load of exposition about Apparition.

'We told you to destroy them!' said Mrs Weasley furiously, holding up what were unmistakeably more Ton-Tongue Toffees. 'We told you to get rid of the lot! Empty your pockets, go on, both of you!' (64-65)

And good for Molly. Speaking of Molly, she's the only one who doesn't go to the QWC.

And then a load of exposition about Portkeys.

Hermione came over the crest of the hill last, clutching a stitch in her side. (67)

This reminded me of something I almost pointed out in the last chapter, but didn't:

One, with very bushy brown hair and rather large front teeth, was Harry and Ron's friend, Hermione Granger. The other, who was small and red-haired, was Ron's younger sister, Ginny. (51)

It seemed odd to contrast Ginny with Hermione by saying she was "small". There seems to be no reason to point out that Hermione had a harder time making it up the hill (the sentence just sits there in its own paragraph, unrelated to anything else). Is it possible to read that Hermione is overweight, or is there something else to contradict that?

Cedric Diggory was an extremely handsome boy of around seventeen. He was captain and Seeker of the Hufflepuff house Quidditch team at Hogwarts. (67)

Cedric is so extreeeeemely handsome! It's been pointed out that the external reason for Harry to remark on the attractiveness of the guys he meets is that the books are being written by a straight female who doesn't know that straight teenaged boys don't think like that. But internally, it just makes Harry read as queer. Which doesn't bother me in the least. :D

'Ced's talked about you, of course,' said Amos Diggory. 'Told us all about playing against you last year ... I said to him, I said -- Ced, that'll be something to tell your grandchildren, that will ... you beat Harry Potter!!'

[...] Cedric looked slightly embarrassed.

'Harry fell off his broom, Dad,' he muttered. 'I told you ... it was an accident...' (68)

Aw, Cedric's so sweet. And he talks about Harry. OTP! Er.

Since we're here, let's talk about why Cedric exists. I've been thinking about this, and I can't quite pin it down. What happens if Cedric isn't present in the story? Harry is the sole Hogwarts champion. Crouch-as-Moody has to find a different indirect way to tell Harry what to do with the egg. Cho goes out with someone else, who (presumably) doesn't die, so she isn't all distraught in OotP. Fleur can't die because she has to marry Bill, so let's say it's Krum who gets killed by Peter. (Hermione would be affected by that.)

We don't know what (if anything) Krum will be needed for in Book 7. Does he make a worse martyr than Cedric? Is Cedric's death more shocking because he's from Hogwarts -- and because he's so inescapably good?

Quick, someone make me a Cedric icon!

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