GoF 25

[pauraque_bk]

HPANA: 'Goblet of Fire' running time confirmed.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire has a running time of 156 minutes and 54 seconds ... This length makes it the second longest Potter film after Chamber of Secrets, which clocked in at 161 minutes, even though the book is twice as long.

Well, they needed the time to get through that whole soft-focus There's-No-Hogwarts-Without-Hagrid sequence at the end, didn't they? Vital stuff.


GoF 25: The Egg and the Eye

Oh, this is a juicy one. Get your nightshirts on, and let's go!

His immediate reaction was that it would be worth becoming a Prefect just to use this bathroom. (399)

But when he actually becomes a Prefect... well, I guess he has more pressing concerns. [ETA: Excuse my lapse. Harry is not now, nor has he ever been, a Prefect. I have been smoking the crack cocaines.]

This, of course, is notable as the only point in canon where Harry actually bathes. That's right -- six years, innumerable sporting events, chase scenes, faceplants in the mud -- one bath. He'd better make it count.

Lucky for him, the Prefect's bathroom is ridiculously ornate:

softly lit [...] candle-filled chandelier [...] white marble [...] a hundred golden taps [...] diving board [...] linen curtains [...] pink and blue bubbles the size of footballs [...] heavily perfumed purple clouds hovering over the surface of the water [...] so deep that his feet barely touched the bottom (399-400)

You guys get the idea. The tub also has the awesome mystical property of filling up in "a very short time considering its size". Well hot damn! Sign me up!

'I'd try putting it in the water, if I were you.'

Harry had swallowed a considerable amount of bubbles in shock. He stood up, spluttering, and saw the ghost of a very glum-looking girl sitting cross-legged on top of one of the taps. It was Moaning Myrtle, who was usually to be heard sobbing in the S-bend of a toilet three floors below.

'Myrtle!' Harry said in outrage. 'I'm -- I'm not wearing anything!' (400)

'What d'you do, sneak up here in the evenings to watch the Prefects take baths?'

'Sometimes,' said Myrtle, rather slyly[...] (401)

'[Cedric] lay there talking to himself for ages about it. Ages and ages ... nearly all the bubbles had gone...'

'Underwater ...' Harry said slowly. 'Myrtle... what lives in the lake, apart from the giant squid?' (403)

I joke a lot about the double entendres in the books, but this is just plain sexual. As sistermagpie mentioned in her great essay What Makes Myrtle Moan?, she notes that although Harry's modesty here seems childish, Myrtle reflects the characters' increasing levels of sexual maturity, even though she, as a ghost, shouldn't really be maturing at all! But Harry is focused on the egg's clue; he completely ignores (or doesn't understand) her comment about watching oh-so-handsome Cedric lying there naked.

In any case, Myrtle helps Harry figure out his clue. Not for any ulterior reason, I don't think... she just enjoys telling him what to do.

Peeves was not the only thing moving [on the map]. A single dot was flitting around a room in the bottom left-hand corner -- Snape's office. But the dot wasn't labelled 'Severus Snape' ... it was Bartemius Crouch. (405)

I find this less troublesome than the "Why didn't Fred, George, or Harry notice Peter on the map?" question, for three reasons: 1) Barty Crouch Sr has been hanging around the school quite a bit, so seeing him wouldn't be odd to Harry, 2) the real Moody is locked in a trunk in "Moody's" office, which wouldn't be odd either, and 3) unlike in PoA, Harry just doesn't use the map very much in this book.

'Filch? What's going on?'

Filch stopped a few steps below Harry, and turned. At the foot of the stairs stood the only person who could make Harry's situation worse -- Snape. He was wearing a long grey nightshirt and he looked livid. (407)

Snape does favor his gray underthings, doesn't he. (You were expecting black silk, perhaps?)

All that's actually at stake for Harry here is getting in trouble for being out of bed past curfew. Not really that big of a deal, considering it's happened dozens of times. The person who really ends up in the hot seat is Snape, as follows:

'Filch, I don't give a damn about that wretched poltergeist, it's my office that--'

Clunk. Clunk. Clunk.

Snape stopped talking very abruptly. He and Filch both looked down at the foot of the stairs. Harry saw Mad-Eye Moody limp into sight through the narrow gap between their heads. Moody was wearing his old travelling cloak over his nightshirt, and leaning on his staff as usual.

'Pyjama party, is it?' he growled up the stairs. (408-409)

BEST. LINE. EVER. If this isn't in the movie, I shall demand a refund.

It's a little disappointing to me that Snape is so imperious with Filch here, and Filch so submissive to him. From the bandaging scene in PS/SS, you might have thought they were pals. And I do love me some Snape/Filch.

'Professor Snape and I heard noises, Professor,' said Filch at once. 'Peeves the poltergeist, throwing things around as usual -- and then Professor Snape discovered that someone had broken into his off--'

'Shut up!' Snape hissed to Filch. (409)

I can't pin down why he doesn't want "Moody" to know someone's broken into his office. He doesn't have anything to hide, does he?

'Reckon they were after potion ingredients, eh?' said Moody. 'Not hiding anything else in your office, are you?'

Harry saw the edge of Snape's sallow face turn a nasty brick colour, the vein in his temple pulsing more rapidly. (409)

Here I was going to make my usual remark about fanon!Snape not turning funny colors or having pulsing veins or spitting in rage and so on, but it seems a bit unsporting given that Snapefic production in general seems to have taken a distinct downturn since HBP. What's up with that? Fandom doesn't think he's guilty, do they?

'You know I'm hiding nothing, Moody,' he said, in a soft and dagnerous voice, 'as you've searched my office pretty thoroughly yourself.'

Moody's face twisted into a smile. 'Auror's privilege, Snape. Dumbledore told me to keep an eye--'

'Dumbledore happens to trust me,' said Snape, through clenched teeth. 'I refuse to believe that he gave you orders to search my office!' (409-410)

Oh-ho, now it's on. As we saw with the Karkaroff scene, Dumbledore is Snape's trump card -- his protector. By suggesting that D's protection and trust might not be so certain, Junior really hits him where it hurts.

''Course Dumbledore trusts you,' growled Moody. 'He's a trusting man, isn't he? Believes in second chances. But me -- I say there are spots that don't come off, Snape. Spots that never come off, d'you know what I mean?'

Snape suddenly did something very strange. He seized his left forearm convulsively with his right hand, as though something on it had hurt him.

Moody laughed. 'Get back to bed, Snape.'

'You don't have the authority to send me anywhere!' Snape hissed, letting go of his arm as though angry with himself. 'I have as much right to prowl about this school after dark as you do!' (410)

As is often the case when Snape gets upset, he regresses to behaving like a petulant, hyperdramatic child. "You're not the boss of me! I, the Half-Blood Prince, shall prowl about wherever I please!"

It shouldn't surprise Snape that "Moody" would know he was a Death Eater, though. Judging from the Pensieve scene we'll get to in a few chapters, I'd say it was common knowledge among magical law enforcement.

Snape had reached out for [the map], a horrible expression of dawning comprehension on his face-- (410)

I don't know if Harry quite gets this, but Snape's just realized that he let slip in front of Harry that he has the Mark. Harry doesn't really understand what that means yet, but Snape doesn't know that.

'There's nothing there, Snape!' barked Moody. 'But I'll be happy to tell the Headmaster how quickly your mind jumped to Harry Potter! [...] Dumbledore's very interested to know who's got it in for that boy!'

[...]

'I merely thought,' said Snape, in a voice of forced calm, 'that if Potter was wandering around after hours again ... it's an unfortunate habit of his ... he should be stopped. For -- for his own safety.' (411)

I think everyone here knows that Snape did not put Harry's name in the Goblet -- even Harry never seems to really consider the possibility. Junior sure is having a good time messing with Snape's head, though. I wonder if they had a rivalry even before Snape turned back to the Good side.

'I think I will go back to bed,' Snape said curtly.

'Best idea you've had all night,' said Moody. 'Now, Filch, if you'll just give me that egg--'

'No!' said Filch, clutching the egg as though it was his firstborn son. 'Professor Moody, this is evidence of Peeves's treachery!' (412)

We get no reaction shots from Filch throughout this whole exchange, and when they're done, all he can think about is Peeves. He doesn't understand the gravity of what's just taken place.

'Merlin's beard,' Moody whispered, staring at the map, his magical eye going haywire. 'This ... this is some map, Potter!' (412)

This is maybe the one point where Junior has a flash of doubt about his (Voldemort's) plan. He frantically scans the map to see if it shows him as "Moody" or "Crouch", then hurries to assure himself that Harry believes it was Senior he saw.

'Potter ...' he said slowly, 'you didn't happen, by any chance, to see who broke into Snape's office, did you? On this map, I mean?'

'Er ... yeah, I did ...' Harry admitted. 'It was Mr Crouch.'

Moody's magical eye whizzed over the entire surface of the map. He looked suddenly alarmed.

'Crouch?' he said. 'You're -- you're sure, Potter?'

'Positive,' said Harry.

'Well, he's not here any more,' said Moody, his eye still whizzing over the map. (413)

Oh, but he is! Standing right next to the dot labeled 'Harry Potter'. You'll notice, of course, that Harry doesn't actually get a good look at the map -- Junior makes sure of that, and then asks to borrow it. Harry lets him, naturally.

When I visited JKR's site, I noticed another relevant FAQ article: How did Harry get the Marauder's Map back at the end of 'Goblet of Fire'?

'Er ... Professor Moody ... why d'you reckon Mr Crouch wanted to look around Snape's office?'

[...]

'Put it this way, Potter,' Moody muttered finally, 'they say old Mad-Eye's obsessed with catching Dark wizards ... but Mad-Eye's nothing -- nothing -- compared to Barty Crouch.' (413)

Junior had to tell a direct lie a moment ago to cover for himself, but now he's back to his usual tack of speaking the literal truth. Although I certainly think he enjoys the irony, I also wonder if he's trying to avoid setting off any magical devices that detect lies.

'Oh, if there's one thing I hate,' he muttered, more to himself than Harry, and his magical eye was fixed on the bottom left-hand corner of the map, 'it's a Death Eater who walked free...'

Harry stared at him. Could Moody possibly mean what Harry thought he meant? (414)

The bottom left being the location of Snape's office. It's not exactly hot news for us that Snape was a DE -- nor did it really feel like hot news when I first read the book. What about the rest of you? Think allllll the way back to when you first read GoF. Were you surprised?


Previous GoF posts are saved in memories here.

Comments

[skelkins.livejournal.com]

At this point in the story, Voldemort believes that Snape is no longer loyal to him. Snape mentions having had to convince him otherwise in the beginning of HBP: "Yes, the Dark Lord thought that I had left him forever, but he was wrong."

Possibly Crouch Jr. was the one to convince Voldemort that Snape was really Dumbledore's Man. Or, it could have been Pettigrew. Either way, it would seem that by the time of the graveyard scene, Voldemort had no faith in Snape's loyalty.