Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Chapters Seventeen–Eighteen Summary & Analysis

Chapter Seventeen: The Four Champions

Summary

Upon hearing Dumbledore announce his name, Harry is stunned; he moves slowly to the room with the other champions, feeling shocked and confused. In the back room, Cedric, Krum, and Fleur are waiting quietly, and before Harry can say anything, a hoard of teachers and judges follows him and begins speaking all at once. Ludo Bagman seems delighted about Harry's being one of the champions. Madame Maxime and Karkaroff angrily suspect that the contest has been rigged; Dumbledore is stern, but believes Harry when he says that he didn't put his name in the Goblet. Snape is certain that Harry managed somehow to cheat. Moody enters in the middle of all the chaos, and begins speculating morbidly. He reminds everyone what being chosen by the Goblet represents an unbreakable contract; he says that someone put Harry's name in the Goblet knowing that he would have to compete, perhaps in the hope that Harry would die doing so. Moody continues by saying that only a very strong charm could confuse the Goblet into accepting a submission from a fourth school, which someone must have done when entering Harry's name. Karkaroff takes this moment to accuse Moody of having done it, since he seems to know exactly how to do it; Moody responds belligerently by saying that he needed to think as Dark wizards do, as Karkaroff ought to remember. Dumbledore interrupts and ends the argument.

Mr. Crouch explains briefly that the contest will consist of three surprise tasks beginning in late November, and that the first task is designed to test the students' daring. Harry and Cedric return to their respective houses, and Cedric, though he acts diplomatically, clearly doesn't believe Harry when he claims not to have submitted his name to the Goblet. In the Gryffindor common room, everybody is celebrating Harry as the Hogwarts champion; Harry does not feel like celebrating, and when he finally returns to his dorm room, he finds Ron, who is sullen that Harry found a secret way to enter and didn't invite Ron to join him. Harry is thunderstruck that Ron, of all people, doesn't believe him.

Chapter Eighteen: The Weighing of the Wands

Summary

The next morning, Harry is met by Hermione, who brings him toast and takes him for a walk. She believes that he didn't put his name in the goblet, and she explains that Ron would believe it too, but that he is jealous of all the attention Harry always gets. Harry is indignant, as he usually resents the attention and cannot imagine why Ron would envy it. He then writes a letter, updating Sirius on the previous night's events. Classes resume. Although Hagrid believes Harry, most people do not; students from all houses except Gryffindor scowl at Harry in the corridors, believing that he entered in hope of attracting even more attention. Harry is stressed, lonely without Ron, and doing very poorly in his classes.

In Potions class, all the Slytherins wear light-up badges that say, "Support Cedric Diggory-the REAL Hogwarts Champion!" When pressed, the badges chirp, "Potter Stinks!" Malfoy, after tiring of insulting Harry, decides to turn on Hermione, and Harry explodes, casting a mild disfiguring curse on Malfoy, just as Malfoy does the same to Harry; the curses miss and hit Goyle and Hermione instead, and instantly Hermione's already-large teeth begin to grow down past her chin. Snape sends Goyle to the hospital wing but dismisses Hermione's wound, saying that she looks the same. She flees in tears, and Ron and Harry both turn angrily on Snape, receiving detentions in the process. Potions class is interrupted by Colin Creevey, who takes Harry out of class and to the weighing of the champions' wands.

Before the weighing begins, Rita Skeeter, a brash middle-aged reporter, pulls Harry into a broom closet and begins firing questions at him. He doesn't answer them, and still her Quick-Quotes Quill manages to sketch out a tragic portrait of him before Dumbledore enters the closet and rescues Harry. The weighing is done by Mr. Ollivander, who sold Harry his wand. Fleur's wand contains a hair of her grandmother, a Veela; Cedric's contains a unicorn tail- hair. Krum's contains a dragon heartstring, and Harry's contains, although Mr. Ollivander tactfully refrains from mentioning it aloud, a feather from the phoenix whose other feather resides in Voldemort's wand. Photographs follow, and Rita Skeeter manages to push Harry up towards the front. Finally, that evening, Harry receives a request to be in the Gryffindor Common room alone at one in the morning on November 22, just two days before the first task.

Analysis

When Harry is announced as the fourth Triwizard champion, everybody reacts in a way emblematic of his or her personality. Dumbledore is concerned and surprised that something unexpected has happened after he prepared the tournament so seamlessly, but he is willing to believe in the uncanny, and he knows that Harry did not try to put his name in the Goblet. Ludo, who loves sport far too much to take a moral stake in it, or to think ahead to possible reasons or repercussions of Harry's involvement, is simply thrilled. Snape begrudges Harry for having thwarted the rules. The two visiting teachers are still gathering their new footing, and thus they are wary of everything, including Dumbledore, the Goblet, and the tournament in general. Moody is instantly suspicious of the tournament having been rigged by someone who wants Harry dead, which is not surprising, considering his reputation of anything unusual to be a mark of Dark Wizardry. Hermione is a good friend, allowing Harry to talk to her outside of the public ear, and believing Harry when he says he didn't place himself in the situation deliberately. Ron is jealous of Harry's fame and money, and so he shuns him.

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