GoF 11

[pauraque_bk]

If you have a lot of things to get done, I do not recommend playing with Google Earth, for it is quite possibly the coolest thing that has ever existed.


GoF 11: Aboard the Hogwarts Express

FINALLY.

Mr Diggory's head rolled its eyes. 'Says he heard an intruder in his yard. Says they were creeping towards the house, but they were ambushed by his dustbins.'

'What did the dustbins do?' asked Mr Weasley, scribbling frantically.

'Made one hell of a noise and fired rubbish everywhere, as far as I can tell,' said Mr Diggory. 'Apparently one of them was still rocketing around when the please-men turned up--' (142)

Okay. I have a hard time with the plot of this book, so bear with me. After the QWC, Peter shows up at the House of Crouch (with Baby Voldie in tow), they put Crouch Sr under the Imperius. A week later, Peter and Junior head over to Moody's place, Moody and his dustbins put up a fight but they subdue him and lock him in the trunk. Junior Polyjuices into Moody, Peter runs back to Chez Crouch.

One interesting thing about the detail of both Peter and Junior going to get Moody (as Junior mentions in Chapter 35) is that it confirms his other comment that it actually was Baby V who put and kept Crouch Sr under the Imperius, at least some of the time. I've tended to think that it was mostly Peter doing the actual Imperiusing, firstly because V is still weak, and secondly because when Senior does escape, V blames Peter.

Mrs Weasley took a piece of buttered toast from a stack on the kitchen table, put it into the fire tongs and transferred it into Mr Diggory's mouth.

'Fanks,' he said in a muffled voice, and then, with a small pop, vanished. (143)

First time we see fireplacing-calling (or whatever you want to call it -- there's no canon name). I'd forgotten that you could transfer objects through the fire.

'Mad-Eye Moody?' said George thoughtfully, spreading marmalade on his toast. 'Isn't he that nutter--'

'Your father thinks very highly of Mad-Eye Moody,' said Mrs Weasley sternly.

'Yeah, well, Dad collects plugs, doesn't he?' said Fred quietly, as Mrs Weasley left the room. 'Birds of a feather...'

'Moody was a great wizard in his time,' said Bill.

'He's an old friend of Dumbledore's, isn't he?' said Charlie.

'Dumbledore's not what you'd call normal, though, is he?' said Fred. 'I mean, I know he's a genius and everything...' (143-144)

I don't really see what's so abnormal about Dumbledore by wizard standards. I mean, there's that nitwit-blubber-oddment-tweak thing, but how often does he do things like that?

I know some people who collect plugs. Just not that kind. Hem hem.

'I just can't justify taking more time off at the moment,' [Percy] told them. 'Mr Crouch is really starting to rely on me.' (144)

I bet he is! Calling in Imperiused sick so often... aithopa and I used to amuse ourselves wondering what kind of antics Imperiused-by-Voldie!Crouch would get up to.

Ungrateful infidels,

I have decided not to come to work today on account of the fact that you are unworthy to kiss the hems of my robes. Even so do the weak fall and falter before my power! And yet I will be waiting, waiting, rebuilding my strength, awaiting the perfect moment for my return!

Your Lord,
Bartemius Crouch

(I really can't take credit for that. All aithopa! XD )

[Draco:] '...Father actually considered sending me to Durmstrang rather than Hogwarts, you know. He knows the Headmaster, you see. Well, you know his opinion of Dumbledore -- the man's such a Mudblood-lover -- and Durmstrang doesn't admit that sort of riff-raff. But Mother didn't like the idea of me going to school so far away. Father says Durmstrang takes a far more sensible line than Hogwarts about the Dark Arts. Durmstrang students actually learn them, not just the defence rubbish we do...' (147)

Despite Durmstrang's admittance policy, Krum doesn't seem to have a problem dating a Muggleborn (unless he doesn't realize she is one).

Although Narcissa's protectiveness of Draco is firmly canon now, there may be other reasons Lucius wouldn't have wanted to send him to Durmstrang. He sure does know Karkaroff -- because they were both DEs. And Lucius definitely tries to downplay his associations with that crowd.

And then the kids eat Cauldron Cakes and so on, and talk about Unplottable buildings. There are a lot of magicky details introduced in GoF -- fire-calling, Unplottability -- that see heavy use in fic.

Look at this!' said Malfoy in ecstasy, holding up Ron's robes and showing Crabbe and Goyle. 'Weasley, you weren't thinking of wearing these, were you? I mean -- they were very fashionable in about 1890...' (150)

We've already been over Harry's subtextual queerness, but am I the only one for whom Draco just reads as gay? Adorably so! He just sounds so much like some of the bitchy queens I know.

A gleeful smile spread across Malfoy's pale face.

'Don't tell me you don't know?' he said delightedly. 'You've got a father and a brother at the Ministry and you don't even know? My God, my father told me about it ages ago ... heard it from Cornelius Fudge. But then, Father's always associated with the top people at the Ministry ... maybe your father's too junior to know about it, Weasley ... yes ... they probably don't talk about important stuff in front of him...' (150)

Between CoS and HBP, Draco is not really Harry's rival -- he's Ron's. In this scene it's particularly evident. He spares a couple of sentences for Harry, but spends paragraphs delightedly mocking Ron.


Previous GoF posts are saved in memories here.

Comments

[scarah2.livejournal.com]

Crouch Jr. later confesses that everything was under control before the dustbins, but Muggles had heard a disturbance. He just made them fly around the yard to round out the story for Arthur Weasley.

LOL Dark Lord Barty. Percy probably would have ate it up.

I hope it isn't that Viktor doesn't realize Hermione's heritage. I have great hopes for Viktor. I'm hoping he can help us out with some reading material about Horcruxes.

[pauraque]

I did actually go look at Ch.35, yet I missed the dustbin part! Those loooooooooong swathes of exposition are hard for my little pea-brain to get through, which is why I'm making a point of connecting What Really Happened to the cover stories.

I love Junior's dramatic streak. No wonder he and Voldie get along so well!

[stellahobbit.livejournal.com]

I think Harry is queer and just hasn't picked up on it yet (or is leaning that way), but Draco is out there, baby.

[pauraque]

Word.

[playscape.livejournal.com]

Between CoS and HBP, Draco is not really Harry's rival -- he's Ron's. In this scene it's particularly evident. He spares a couple of sentences for Harry, but spends paragraphs delightedly mocking Ron.

This really is true. It's evident that Draco devotes more time to picking on Ron than Harry. In HBP in the robe shop, Draco makes sure to slam into Ron's shoulder as he's leaving, and also he makes a habit of making what Rowling refers to as a "rude hand gesture" at Ron whenever he sees him (according to Ron n the train). Draco never does this to Harry. Probably not too keen to start a fight directly with him, since Harry can be a little bitch.

[nakedcelt.livejournal.com]

Draco never does this to Harry. Probably not too keen to start a fight directly with him...

...but he does stomp on his face and try to send him back to London under the Invisibility Cloak.

[playscape.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but he did make sure he was stupified and defenseless first. You make a good point, though. By that point in the series, Draco is So Over Harry he doesn't care anymore.

[pauraque]

If you're right, it's interesting -- It seems to me that between CoS and HBP Draco really wants Harry to notice him, and Harry doesn't care in the least, which is what put me off H/D fic for a long time. In HBP there's a sudden reversal... Draco reappears on Harry's radar screen, and Harry regains intense interest, and Draco simultaneously stops caring.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

LOL--it's just what the series tries to do so ham-handedly with Harry/Ginny, only it's more interesting and natural. In the next book Draco will reveal he never really stopped hating Harry, and Harry will say how stupid he was to have not realized how great Draco was before because they could have had YEARS!

[slinkhard.livejournal.com]

Smart boy, that Crabbe. I bet it was his suggestion that Draco show his 'real' self. ;)

[slinkhard.livejournal.com]

Oh, I think CoS is one of Harry's more responsive books, personally. The whole suspicion of Draco added to his reaction to Draco seeing the Valentine, and even the mention in the beginning of wanting to see him just to reaffirm his wizardness (if that's a word. Oh, well.)

[pauraque]

Yeah, when I say "between CoS and HBP" I mean it exclusively. I'm talking about PoA, GoF, and OotP.

[slinkhard.livejournal.com]

Probably not too keen to start a fight directly with him, since Harry can be a little bitch.

Yeah, starting a fight with Harry usually means starting one with Ron/Hermione/the Twins/DA/miscellaenous extras...

[arclevel.livejournal.com]

I do not recommend playing with Google Earth, for it is quite possibly the coolest thing that has ever existed.

Isn't it, though? I discovered it when a coworker downloaded it onto a computer at work. Keep in mind that my lab includes people from Michigan (most of us), Maine, Colorado, Taiwan, India, and Japan. We pretty effectively frittered away that morning.

I know this timeline works best for dramatic purposes, that the "false alarm" occurs directly before Moody starts his new job, but it's never worked for me. Crouch Jr is already doing a hell of a difficult job -- and very impressively -- in impersonating Moody in a setting that includes a number of people who know him, including one who's a very old friend. As far as we know, he'd never even *met* Moody before this incident. How on earth did he manage to learn enough to do an even passable impersonation, much less the very, very good one he apparently had to learn (not to mention that he needed to learn extra info to start his new teaching job, and be good at *that*) in less than 24 hours?

Poor Percy. I know at this point, it seems laughable, but I think he really *does* believe that Crouch turning increasing amounts of things over to him is due to Crouch's increased trust in his abilities, whether or not he knows what name to credit them to. A touch OT, but I also don't see why Percy should have known that something was wrong. That seems to be Percy's biggest screw-up, to a lot of people (siding with the Ministry being in a rather different category), but all he knew, presumably, was that Crouch was sending his instructions by OWL rather than coming into work. Suspicious over the long-term, yes, but also being reported in the Daily Prophet. Hardly some secret information that only Percy knew and was hiding from people. Why didn't anyone who knew Crouch better (Fudge, another department head) go to his house to check it out?

I like the idea of Draco the queen, but there is Pansy to be considered. D/P is apparently the most stable student relationship we've seen, and Pansy, at least, certainly seems to act like it's romance, not friendship. Unlike Cho and Ginny, she's hardly sporty and such, too. I can't really see Draco bothering with a beard; I'm more inclined to think that he'd be so very, very out. It's possible, I suppose, that he's bi or that he's touch-starved and thus leading her on.

[amythis.livejournal.com]

D/P is apparently the most stable student relationship we've seen,

Well, of the couples at the Yule Ball, they're the only ones that we know are still together two years later. (HBP sunk my Seamus/Lavender ship.)

Pansy, at least, certainly seems to act like it's romance, not friendship.

Definitely. But is it possible they're not actually dating and she's just flirting in hopes that they will?

I can't really see Draco bothering with a beard;

Draco/Hagrid! Draco/Dumbledore! Draco/Karkaroff! The mind reels. (I know, you probably meant "beard" as "decoy.")

It's possible, I suppose, that he's bi or that he's touch-starved and thus leading her on.

Well, I assume most of the characters are bi. Touch-starved? Hm, possible, though I would guess that he's more used to physical affection than Harry is. Another possibility is that he likes the status it confers to have someone who treats him "as though anyone would have loved to have been in her place."

[slinkhard.livejournal.com]

I also don't see why Percy should have known that something was wrong.

Especially since it's specifically described in canon as being such a huge mistake not because he didn't realise his boss was becoming unstable, which perhaps was more evident, but that he didn't realise he was possessed by Voldie, so to speak. And considering that Dumbledore, the greatest wizard since etcetera failed to spot both a DE at Hogwarts parading as one of his close friends (apparently) and Voldie himself in first year, I'm gonna say that Percy gets a pass on this one in my book!

but there is Pansy to be considered.

I like Pansy, and Draco/Pansy, but I'm fairly sure Rowling's intentions are to present it, if she's considered it at all; as a fairly unhealthy, even unnatural relationship, if there is one.
(For starters, the girl is pursuing the boy - horrors! And double horrors - she dresses in feminine colours and has female friends. Ew.)

[amythis.livejournal.com]

(For starters, the girl is pursuing the boy - horrors! And double horrors - she dresses in feminine colours and has female friends. Ew.)

I hadn't thought of that. Now I wonder how JKR feels about Hermione wearing pink in the new movie.

[pauraque]

I know this timeline works best for dramatic purposes, that the "false alarm" occurs directly before Moody starts his new job, but it's never worked for me. Crouch Jr is already doing a hell of a difficult job -- and very impressively -- in impersonating Moody in a setting that includes a number of people who know him, including one who's a very old friend. As far as we know, he'd never even *met* Moody before this incident. How on earth did he manage to learn enough to do an even passable impersonation, much less the very, very good one he apparently had to learn (not to mention that he needed to learn extra info to start his new teaching job, and be good at *that*) in less than 24 hours?

I feel like we have to assume Junior was acquainted with Moody previously. It's not that much of a stretch -- Moody and Crouch Sr worked at the Ministry at the same time. The Weasley kids know Moody too, and for the same reason -- he worked with their dad. It's still hard to believe that Junior could pull off the impersonation with nothing more than theatrical panache (by which I mean, no magical assistance, no fogging the minds of the people he was fooling), but if he knew Moody in advance it's less outrageous.

Why didn't anyone who knew Crouch better (Fudge, another department head) go to his house to check it out?

Seems to be a general pattern of the Ministry not paying much attention to its employees. Bertha Jorkins has been gone for what, two months now?

I like the idea of Draco the queen, but there is Pansy to be considered. D/P is apparently the most stable student relationship we've seen, and Pansy, at least, certainly seems to act like it's romance, not friendship.

She's certainly interested in him, but he never seems strongly interested in her, if you ask me. She's convenient arm candy for him (and he does like to look good for his classmates), but nothing comes to mind as evidence that he actually cares about her.

[amythis.livejournal.com]

GoF 11: Aboard the Hogwarts Express
FINALLY.

At this point in PS, Quirrell had jinxed Harry's broom. In CoS, Harry had been hit by the Rogue Bludger. And in PoA, his Nimbus had been hit by the Whomping Willow.

First time we see fireplacing-calling (or whatever you want to call it -- there's no canon name).

Floo something probably. Coming down with the Floo?

Despite Durmstrang's admittance policy, Krum doesn't seem to have a problem dating a Muggleborn (unless he doesn't realize she is one).

My impression was that Krum was uncharacteristically a good person despite Durmstrang. All that character-building Quidditch?

He sure does know Karkaroff -- because they were both DEs. And Lucius definitely tries to downplay his associations with that crowd.

Also, do the DEs actually get along? Seems like they're always squabbling over who's most loyal to LV.

We've already been over Harry's subtextual queerness, but am I the only one for whom Draco just reads as gay? Adorably so! He just sounds so much like some of the bitchy queens I know.

I assume that that was a rhetorical question about gay!Draco, considering fanfic and all. But yes, he is a bitchy queen here. His whole style of insult is queer, in an old-fashioned way. (How does he know what they wore in 1890? Been reading Oscar Wilde biographies?)

Between CoS and HBP, Draco is not really Harry's rival -- he's Ron's. In this scene it's particularly evident. He spares a couple of sentences for Harry, but spends paragraphs delightedly mocking Ron.

Agreed. Is all the poor-baiting in the movies canon-based? Because when I try to think of examples, I picture Tom Felton rather than print!Draco. (And I don't have time at the moment to actually go read the text.)

Even Draco's insults of Hermione seem calculated to annoy Ron.

[slinkhard.livejournal.com]

How does he know what they wore in 1890? Been reading Oscar Wilde biographies?

LOL!

Is all the poor-baiting in the movies canon-based?

Heh, there's less poor-baiting in the movies. The 'My father can afford the best' line in CoS isn't canon, though, and I'm sure there's quite a few other minor changes. (One day I'll do a post on it...)

[amythis.livejournal.com]

Well, there's less of almost everything non-Harry in the movies. I'd be interested to see a post on the poor-baiting.

[pauraque]

All that character-building Quidditch?

Hahaha! Of course! No one who can pull off that Wronski Feint could possibly be all bad. :D

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I don't really see what's so abnormal about Dumbledore by wizard standards. I mean, there's that nitwit-blubber-oddment-tweak thing, but how often does he do things like that?

Yes, it seems almost there to make DD seem like an outcast and so cool.

Although Narcissa's protectiveness of Draco is firmly canon now, there may be other reasons Lucius wouldn't have wanted to send him to Durmstrang. He sure does know Karkaroff -- because they were both DEs. And Lucius definitely tries to downplay his associations with that crowd.

I tend to wonder if Lucius wasn't trying to keep Draco out of trouble by putting him at Durmstrang as well. Hogwarts is the hotspot, after all. Not that I think Narcissa wanted him to be a DE, but Lucius went to Hogwarts and he's a DE, so it's not like that's necessarily a way to keep him away from that.

We've already been over Harry's subtextual queerness, but am I the only one for whom Draco just reads as gay? Adorably so! He just sounds so much like some of the bitchy queens I know.

He certainly does here! There's times where Draco doesn't seem gay to me, but then there's a lot of stuff that's wonderfully OTT. Like here where Draco doesn't insult Ron's ridiculous robes for being girlie and lacey, but for being out of fashion. It's a subtle distinction, but it's there.

What I love about the scene with the Slytherins here is that I don't really think he's going after either Harry or Ron-I mean, he is when he gets the opportunity, but the scene really isn't that antagonistic. He arrives with an insult, but it doesn't seem like here's there to fight. Draco actually attempts to have a pretty normal conversation about the Tournament and (echoes of the first robe shop scene) the kids get angry because they don't know what he's talking about. But he comes in assuming they do know about it. And Ron's robes are really just too good to pass up. There's probably few boys who wouldn't laugh at those things if they saw them.

[playscape.livejournal.com]

Draco actually attempts to have a pretty normal conversation about the Tournament

Oh I know. I still think it's interesting that if Harry shook Draco's hand in PS they'd be pals. So what does Draco have against Harry now? His friends? He just wants to have a normal conversation, but those stupid Gryffindor hotheads keep screwing it up every time.

[pilly2009.livejournal.com]

the scene really isn't that antagonistic. He arrives with an insult, but it doesn't seem like here's there to fight. Draco actually attempts to have a pretty normal conversation about the Tournament and (echoes of the first robe shop scene) the kids get angry because they don't know what he's talking about.

The scene is probably the least antagonistic encounter they've had on the Hogwarts Express, but it didn't read to me as a ruined attempt at being friendly, unless it was ruined equally on both sides. Draco enters with an insult, then goes on to the robes. By the time he starts in on the Tournament, they are already angry, but still debatably willing to listen until the "decent robes" and "show-off" cracks, and even these responses don't seem antagonistic so much as they seem like an attempt to get him to talk more ("What are you talking about?" "Either explain what you're on about or go away, Malfoy.") Had they all been on better terms with each other, it might have been a comparatively agreeable conversation.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, I wouldn't go so far as to say Malfoy is trying to be friends or anything. It just reads to me like a believeable conversation between kids at school. Most of the insults just are not that big of a deal. "For the last time in your life, Weasley," and "Weasley, what is that?" sound like something I can imagine perfectly ordinary boys having, even if they were friends. I think I thought Harry's "Don't recall anyone inviting you," struck me as the most openly antagonistic, and Draco ignores that. Ron's shutting the door so hard the glass breaks seems way OTT given the conversation--though I suppose that's explained by Ron having an over-sensitive year.

[pauraque]

GoF is to Ron what OotP is to Harry. It's his OMGTEENANGST year.

[pilly2009.livejournal.com]

"For the last time in your life, Weasley," and "Weasley, what is that?" sound like something I can imagine perfectly ordinary boys having, even if they were friends.

Well I agree with the latter, though not so much with the former. I can imagine that being teased about embarrasing robes is akin to being teased about cock-size (sorry for any vulgarity), which boys oddly seem to do frequently enough without any real problem. But setting aside the fact that it was petty digs at each other's families that started the feud between Ron and Draco in the first place (and that Harry responded negatively to Draco's Weasley-centric insult back then, too), teasing someone about their family's poverty/low-standing seems somewhat like teasing someone about living in the ghetto, which is really not something I can picture friends doing to each other (unless, of course, it's the sort of friendship where "it's just a joke" is used to cover up often-deliberate insults).

So, I don't see it as a friendship attempt either, though I could see it as a ruined opportunity: Draco choosing the latter half of Hermione's ultimatum and leaving without saying a word about the Tournament, Ron's slamming the door after he goes, shattering glass in the process.

[pauraque]

Yeah, Draco's asking a legitimate question -- whether the Trio are planning to enter the competition -- and I think he really wants to know the answer. He just gets sidetracked by the opportunity to rag on Ron's silly robes.

[nakedcelt.livejournal.com]

We've already been over Harry's subtextual queerness, but am I the only one for whom Draco just reads as gay?

Pardon my heterosexual ignorance, but isn't the idea that only gay men care about fashion, you know, a stereotype?

Well, I don't care much about fashion, but I did have enough features of the local "ugghh, he must be gay" stereotype, when I was at school, to end up at the receiving end of some very nasty treatment. There was even a guy very much like Draco Malfoy. Not that this has anything to do with GoF, but it does mean I'm a bit sensitive to this kind of stereotyping.

[pauraque]

I'm sorry you felt offended. The fact remains that I'm a queer guy who spends a lot of time with other queer guys, and Draco reminds me of some of them in a way that makes him seem gay to me -- not just in this chapter, but often. It's based on my experience with actual individuals, not an imaginary stereotype. This is actually one of the things I like about Draco; he reminds me of friends of mine.

[chthonya]

Although Narcissa's protectiveness of Draco is firmly canon now, there may be other reasons Lucius wouldn't have wanted to send him to Durmstrang. He sure does know Karkaroff -- because they were both DEs. And Lucius definitely tries to downplay his associations with that crowd.

There are lots of reasons why Lucius might not have wanted Draco to go to Hogwarts, for example:

-Given the importance of Hogwarts in social networking, Draco would be at a serious disadvantage in the UK wizarding world if he didn't go.

-Lucius would be in a better position to influence Hogwarts - and by extension UK society - if he had a child there.

-Lucius might prefer to oversee Draco's Dark Arts education himself. Personally I do think Lucius cares about Draco (canonically subjective, I know, but his attititude comes across to me as disappointed, not indifferent), and he might well be wary of Karkaroff having influence on him, especially if he knows about Karkaroff's betrayal.

-Lucius might want not want to be too close to Karkaroff, partly because (as you say) it could affect his rehabilitation into respectable society, but also because showing alliance with him is not the best move politically within the DEs.


If you're interested, I've explored this from Narcissa's PoV in my one-shot fic A Mother's Place, which arose from wondering how Narcissa might have persuaded Lucius not to send Draco to Durmstrang. (I don't like pimping my fics in other's LJs, but I tend to explore characterisation issues through fic rather than essay so I hope you'll excuse me in this case.)

[pauraque]

All good points! Draco seems pretty oblivious to his father's political maneuverings at this point, though, just as he did in PoA. He really thinks he's at the center of his dad's concerns, which I don't think he is.

[vvvexation.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure the term "fire-call" is used somewhere in the last two books, but I can't recall exactly where.