The Goblet of Fire

(started July 1st, finished July 11th)

Chapter 1: The Riddle House.

– Voldemort’s started to regain power! And he’s after Harry…
– That rat Peter Pettigrew is with him. I hate him.

Chapter 2: The Scar.

– A recap chapter for the most part.
– I really want to see Sirius again!

Chapter 3: The invitation.

– Another wholesome start to these books! I love Sirius’ effect on the Dursleys.

Chapter 4: Back to the Burrow.

– That last bit of dialogue with Mr Weasley telling Uncle Vernon to say goodbye to his nephew was really good. For us readers and Harry it’s become so normal for us, but the Dursleys really are horrible people. They have no right to treat Harry the way they’ve been treating him his entire life.

Chapter 5: Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes.

– I love when Harry spends time in the Burrow.
– First time seeing Bill and Charlie and they’re so cool! I love Bill more, but Charlie’s job is way cooler.

Chapter 6: The Portkey

– The world cup is going to be interesting. Can’t wait to see what professional Quidditch is like!

Chapter 7: Bagman and Grouch

– Wizarding across the world!!
– The ministry is planning something exciting at Hogwarts, I wonder what it will be?
– Already seven chapters in and we haven’t started the new term at Hogwarts yet. That’s a first!
– The Quidditch World Cup is about to begin!

Chapter 8: The Quidditch World Cup.

– Very exciting chapter full of intense Quidditch action!

Chapter 9: The Dark Mark.

– A lot of things happened all at once here. When the ministry wizards, including Crouch and Amos Diggory started accusing Harry, Ron and Hermione of conjuring the Dark Mark I was angry that they would jump to such conclusions but by the end of the chapter I sympathised with them. The Dark Mark contains a terrible history and frankly they were scared at the implications of seeing it in the night sky again.
– The house elf situation is being explored, Hermione really has her heart in the right place

Chapter 10: Mayhem at the Ministry.

– Aw, Ron. The way Harry gets embarrassed about having so much money is so pure. So human.

Chapter 11: Aboard the Hogwarts Express.

– Something is happening at Hogwarts!!
– One of the other wizarding schools teaches their students dark magic…

Chapter 12: The Triwizard Tournament.

– So it’s the Triwizard tournament!
– Hermione really cares about the elves. And for good reason too! I’m rooting for her.
– HARRY has a crush on Cho Chang.

Chapter 13: Mad-Eye Moody.

– Malfoy deserved it.

Chapter 14: The Unforgivable Curses.

– They’re finally learning some really cool stuff in Defense Against The Dark Arts. Do the other schools really teach their students curses like these?
– So Sirius is on his way back and apparently Dumbledore is well aware of things moving in the shadows. It’s good to know that even now there are things happening outside of Harry’s influence. Even if he didn’t say anything about his scar to anyone that the adults would begin to take measures.
– So Neville was lying awake at night. What’s got him so preoccupied? And strangely enough he knew about one of the Unforgivable Curses – the Cruciatus Curse. His grandmother was apparently a highly respectable witch so I wonder if she’s had experience with the Dark Arts.

Chapter 15: Beauxbatons and Durmstrang.

– Wow, so Krum is a current student at Durmstrang? Does that mean we’ll soon see a match between Harry and one of the world’s best Quidditch player? That’s strange though – he seems a tad old to be a student. Maybe he’s a coach or something.
– Hermione’s campaigning for elf rights is honestly really fun to read. It feels like one of those things that’ll grow to be really big later on down the line, so watching the grassroots of it now is exciting!
– So far the other students seem pretty tame!

Chapter 16: The Goblet of Fire.

– WHAT! Harry was selected as a champion by the Goblet of fire!! I honestly did NOT expect that. I’ll be honest, at this point I had accidentally spoiled myself yet again by googling Cedric Diggory a few chapters back and finding out that he was the champion representing Hogwarts, but to think that the Goblet would spit out Harry’s name! He didn’t even put his name in! Even Dumbledore was shocked.
– Also that Beauxbatons girl who was picked – is she a half-veela or something?

Chapter 17: The Four Champions.

– Oh…okay. So it’s not actually that great of a thing to have been chosen.
– Something I learn time and time again with these books is that there are well established rules when it comes to magic. Whenever something unexpected happens my first instinct is to go “omg magic!!! there must be some weird mystic thing going on” but really there’s always an explanation. For example with the Sorting Hat, he wanted to put Harry on Slytherin but he ended up in Gryffindor. Why? Well we find out in Chamber of Secrets that it was just because Harry didn’t want to go to Slytherin. As simple as that!
– So when it comes to the Goblet of Fire, it’s easy for me to think “wow, Harry must be destined to compete” when really all that happened was that someone put his name in somehow – and like Mad-Eye Moody said, most likely by affiliating him with another school. It’s sad because really the only readily available explanations are that his name ended up in the Goblet somehow. And Harry is the most likely culprit. Good thing Mad-Eye Moody has his back.
– Speaking of which, Mad-Eye has really been keeping a Mad-Eye out for Harry huh? Or maybe he’s just really suspicious of Krakaroff. Both times he’s stood up for Harry have been when he suspects Krakaroff of antagonizing him. Though he did check on Harry after that one class. I’m all for Mad-Eye being a great guy!
– Looks like Room and Harry are mad at each other 😦 are the two best of friends since the beginning going to have their first fight?

Chapter 18: The Weighing of the Wands.

– I was worried that it might have come out that Harry’s wand was used to conjure the Dark Mark over the summer but luckily that didn’t happen.
– Ron and Harry have detention together, hopefully they’ll be able to make up and be friends again!
– Harry is going to see Sirius again!

Chapter 19: The Hungarian Horntail

– Ah shit.
– Karkaroff was a death eater. No surprise there. My question is how does a confirmed death eater who spent time in Azkaban not only leave scot free but also end up a professor/headmaster at a wizarding school. Nevermind that he traded information for it. There’s just too crazy.
– Harry really needs someone right now. I really hope he can see Sirius again soon.
– This whole situation with Ron is heartbreaking.

Chapter 20: The First Task.

– What an exhilarating chapter!
– Unsurprisingly Krum was the only one to actually hurt a dragon.
– Ron is friends with Harry again!

HALFWAY POINT THOUGHTS: So while it’s obvious that there are things moving in the darkness, the sheer excitement of the Triwizard Tournament makes it easy to miss. And while there are so so many signs (the death eaters making an appearance, the dark Mark, Harry’s dream, Bertha jorkins’ disappearance, Harry being entered in the tournament by someone, Karkaroff being an ex-death eater, Mad-Eye Moody taking the role of professor this year, his taking extra care of Harry) they are still not connecting fully so it all seems barely related. But again, it’s evident that something is going on.

Chapter 21: The House-Elf Liberation Front.

– Dumbledore is such a good person to readily offer the house-elves such high wages. Warms my heart but I didn’t expect anything else from him!
– So Bagman’s shady. Interesting, he didn’t seem all that suspicious. Besides for his enthusiasm about Quidditch and the Triwizard Tournament. But maybe that’s it.

Chapter 22: The Unexpected Task.

– Hilarious.

Chapter 23: The Yule Ball.

– Ron likes Hermione.
– Also Snape’s in league with Karkaroff.

Chapter 24: Rita Skeeter’s Scoop

– Hagrid is literally the kindest and gentlest soul on earth. Rita Skeeter is nothing but a rotten old hag. That’s all I have to say on the matter.
– “Lying to Hagrid wasn’t quite like lying to anyone else.” Geez.

Chapter 25: The Egg and the Eye.

– So reading between the lines, Snape was an ex Death Eater. And Crouch suspects Snape of something bad? Probably.

Chapter 26: The Second Task.

– Harry is such a hero! Karkaroff is such an ass though.

Chapter 27: Padfoot Returns.

– Sirius!! He seems really preoccupied with the events that have transpiring though. He said he’ll breathe free air after the tournament is over so hopefully Harry will get to live with his godfather soon!

Chapter 28: The Madness of Mr Crouch.

– Mr Crouch has definitely encountered Voldemort I think. He’s gone absolutely insane. Nice to know that Krum isn’t such a bad guy after all though. He really likes Hermione! Karkaroff on the other hand is just absolutely neurotic. He’s not right in the head.

Chapter 29: The Dream.

– I’m pretty sure these dreams of Harry’s are him being linked to Voldemort’s senses or something like that

Chapter 30: The Pensieve.

– Ludo Bagman was an ex-death eater too!
– So Voldemort is slowly rising to power once again. But the ministry refuses to accept this. I think this is the most serious I’ve ever seen Dumbledore so far.

Chapter 31: The Third Task.

– They did it! They won together!

Chapter 32: Flesh, Blood and Bone.

– Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit.

Chapter 33: The Death Eaters.

– Oh fuck.

Chapter 34: Priori Incantatem.

– HOLY SHIT.

Chapter 35: Veritaserum.

– …

Chapter 36: The Parting of the Ways.

– …

Chapter 37: The Beginning.

– …

OVERALL SUMMARY.

– I…I don’t know what to say.
– I want to learn more about ancient magic.