Goblet of Fire: Veritaserum & The Parting of the Ways (Chapters 35 & 36)[JAB]

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: Chapters 35-36

Mark True statements with a “T” and False statements with an “F.” Write your answers to the discussion points in the com boxes below.

1._____ Harry, the Triwizard Cup, and what’s left of Cedric arrive back at the Maze. The Headmaster asks Alastor Moody to take Harry to the hospital wing but “Mad-Eye” takes Harry to his office instead.

2._____ Harry answers Moody’s questions until he asks how the Dark Lord treated the returning Death Eaters. Harry remembers that he had learned there was a Death Eater at Hogwarts. Crouch/Moody claims he is the Hogwarts Death Eater.

3._____ Crouch/Moody tells Harry how he fixed the Tournament in Harry’s favor. He is about to kill him to win the Dark Lord’s great favor when Albus & Co. break down the office door and stupefy him.

4._____ The real Moody crawls out of his seven lock chest with Dumby’s help. They give Veritaserum to Crouch/Moody as he comes out of his Polyjuiced state and he tells them how he escaped from Azkaban and from his father’s house.

5._____ Faux Moody confesses to killing his father when dad escaped from Wormtail and Voldemort. He buried Crouch, Sr.’s body in the forest as a bone.

6._____ Dumbledore asks Severus (1) to get Madame Pomfrey to help Moody and (2) to bring Fudge to interview Crouch/Moody. The Headmaster takes Harry to his office where Sirius Black is waiting. Black asks that Harry be allowed to sleep

7._____ Dumbledore refuses Sirius’ request because “Numbing the pain for a while will make it worse when you finally feel it.” Harry tells the story of everything that happened in the graveyard from Cedric’s death to Harry’s escape.

8._____ “Harry thought he saw a gleam of something like triumph in Dumbledore’s eyes” when he told him about the golden cage of light singing Phoenix song.

9._____ Harry doesn’t understand how his and Voldemort’s wand cores connected until Sirius explains Priori Incantatem, the Reverse Spell effect. It was only possible because the two wands had feathers from Fawkes the Phoenix.

10._____ Dumbledore and Sirius in dog form go to the Hospital Wing where Dumbledore explains that Harry must be allowed to sleep. Harry tells Ron and Hermione, “I’m all right. I’m just tired.” He drinks a purple potion and sleeps.

Discussion Points: Why does Dumbledore use Veritaserum to get the true story out of Crouch, Jr.? What is behind Dumbledore’s “gleam of something like triumph”? What is Sirius’ place in the telling of the Graveyard re-birthing party story? Goblet of Fire and Deathly Hallows share a structural element not seen in the other five novels–the double climax. After the duel in the graveyard is past, we suddenly get a second adrenaline surge as Mad-Eye turns out to be less Moody than we thought. In DH, we have the forest duel and Harry’s “death”, and then a second adrenaline surge in the duel in Hogwarts Hall. Why did Rowling choose this dual structure, and how are the four incidents related?

Comments

  1. [JAB]
    1. T
    2. T
    3. T
    4. F Moody is unconscious throughout he is carried to the hospital wing.
    5. F The father bone (parallel to the scene in the graveyard) is buried in the freshly dug earth in front of Hagrid’s cabin…not in the Forest.
    6. T
    7. T
    8. F The gleam was caused by LV using Harry’s blood.
    9. F Dumbledore explained Priori Incantatem.
    10. T

    Veritaserum brought out things that Barty might not have admitted otherwise. Dumbledore “suspects” that the blood link will allow Harry to “return from the dead” in the final battle. (As we find out in DH). What is Sirius place in the telling of the graveyard rebirthing ceremony? He is Harry’s anchor, in a way, he is the good cop to Dumbledore’s, of necessity, bad cop who forces Harry to experience a sort of “confessional” moment relieving himself of the burdens of his experience–a sort of “draining of the poison”. In this there is an analogy to the penitent in the confessional, God in His Heaven, with Sirius playing the role of priestly go-between.

    The dual-climax structure and the reasons behind it are probably deserving of an entire thread, however in a very cramped nutshell, this structure indicates that there are (at least) two major thematic elements present, each getting its own separate climax. We have the “Return of LV theme”, which appears to culminate finally in his “great victory over Harry” in DH; and we have the “Interaction of Good and Evil” theme which here shows us the Evil among the Good with Barty, Jr.; but will culminate with the “Good among the Evil” in the final memoirs (memories) of Severus Snape in DH. The final triumph of Good over Evil will then come as the Resurrection of Harry and the final battle in Hogwarts Hall unites both themes and brings about a final resolution.

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