I’ve come to the end of Book 4 of the Harry Potter series. Despite too many shady new characters and a rather painful middle section, the introduction and conclusion were absolute highlights of the entire series for me and made it all worth it! AND I LOVE CEDRIC DIGGORY!
Turning the first page and seeing ‘Chapter One: The Riddle House’ made me internally exclaim YAAASSSS! I loved that we immediately got to see the consequences of Peter Pettigrew escaping, and was so happy to not be reading another Dursley-Household story right away. It was the best opening yet, even if Voldermort was basically a wet piece of scrambled egg sitting in a chair and barking orders. Truly intimidating. (Also, totally expected Nagini to be a cow when Voldy mentioned milking him. In hindsight, a snake is maybe a more appropriate pet for the Dark Lord).
I’ve realised Quidditch itself doesn’t interest me at all and is something I could happily go without, but I have to admit the dynamic between the Weasleys kept things interesting throughout the Quidditch World Cup. It’s taken 4 books for that family to grow on me, but I confess, they have. The whole business with the Dark Mark and the Death Eaters (great name) was brilliant and exciting, and as soon as another school was mentioned I knew it would be explored further.
That’s something I love about these books, nothing seems to be pointless – another school is mentioned, and then properly introduced. Port Keys are introduced, and then become a plot twist at the end of the book. Even the Quidditch World Cup was excellent foreshadowing for the Triwizard Tournament. Harry saw the World Cup and thought about how much he wanted to be on the pitch, wanted to be a star, and then a while later he’s living out his fantasy as a contestant in the Tournament. Nice one!
Speaking of which, the Triwizard Tournament was an amazing concept and I loved the way Harry found himself entered into it. It sure makes us Muggles look boring with our Eurovision, eh? Ron falling out with Harry over getting a place in the Tournament was such unnecessary melodrama – GET OVER IT RON; YOU’RE A SIDEKICK, KNOW YOUR PLACE!!! Ron is the only character to have me liking him one chapter and then detesting him the next. I may not have liked him then, but him and Harry faking their Divination homework was actually really funny. Harry’s definitely getting sassier the older he gets and is less afraid to fight back against adults and speak his mind – probably picking that up from Hermione.
The Goblet of Fire more than any other book felt like I was introduced to a bucket load of new characters, all of whom seemed shady as Hell. I felt particularly suspicious of Mad-Eye Moody – did he remind anyone else of Dr N. Gin from the Crash Bandicoot games? Just me? OK then.
The middle of this book did drag for me, though. After a really exciting first task in the Triwizard Tournament, task two felt like a let down and was a bit boring. I started to lose patience with too many mysteries, and just didn’t care at all about the storyline between Bagman and Crouch. I was second-guessing every character – seems like if you don’t have something to hide at Hogwarts you’re not allowed in. I found it hard to keep track of who was being shady about what, and by the end just didn’t care at all that Professor Moody turned out to be Crouch’s son in disguise. Yawn.
As far as I’m concerned the star of this book was Cedric Diggory. He grew on me so quickly, and annoyingly I was catching up on Season 3 of Orange is the New Black at the same time. Out of nowhere, the characters in it had a conversation about not wanting to end up ‘like Cedric Diggory who died in the Triwizard Tournament’… NOOO ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! This is the trouble with finally reading a famous book series; you never know where spoilers are going to pop up.


Knowing something bad was going to happen just made me even sadder when I realised how much I liked Cedric. The end of the third task was incredible, Rowling did a fantastic job of making him seem noble and heroic. But I knew it was the end of the cup, and I knew he had to die soon, and I genuinely didn’t want to keep reading, as though if I stopped reading he would stay alive. And then two pages later it happened. Click here to see a screenshot of messages showcasing my live-reaction to Cedric’s death – safe to say I was very sad! And really don’t like Peter Pettigrew.
After that though, the entire Graveyard scene was the best section of the series so far. Voldemort was AMAZING! I love him! In the best way you can love an evil tyrant, of course. He’s back, he’s menacing and intimidating, his build up was so worth it and I already want more. That long-awaited duel between him and Harry was brilliant, although how awkward that Voldemort failed to kill Harry in front of all of the Death Eaters. I bet Harry escaped with the port key and Voldemort just turned around to them all, shrugged, and said, “…Whoops.”
For my end of book four checkpoint, I’m liking Dumbledore, Voldemort, and an honourable mention to Cedric Diggory. I didn’t like Mr Crouch, Ludo Bagman, or Karkaroff – here’s hoping they’re done with for the series.
My burning questions (though please don’t answer these and spoil anything for me in the comments below!) are:
- – What is Voldemort going to do now he’s back?!
- – What is Snape going to do?
- – WHAT IS DUMBLEDORE GOING TO DO, WHAT’S THE PLAN? AHH!
As for questions I’d be curious for you to answer:
- – Did you enjoy the Crouch/Bagman stuff?
- – This book feels like the tipping point for a shift of tone for the series, am I right? Do you prefer the first or second half?
- – Who do you wish you’d seen more of in this book? I kind of missed McGonagall.
Oh finally you’ve finished reading it! You post so infrequently it’s like you have a life or something. How long can you make me wait? 😛
– I didn’t separate Crouch/Bagman stuff specifically beacuse while I was reading they were parts of ‘lots of wierd stuff is going on’. Crouch was the most interesting because it has shown how Ministry operates and it’s dark side.
– Prisoner of Azkaban is a shift of tone in the series I think. While Myrtle death was introduced in Chamber, it was still more of the adventure, albeit a dark one. Since Prisoner story happens in the shadow of real Death Eaters and real consequences of their actions, not just a legendary Dark Wizard who disappeared long ago. Sirus-James-Peter-Lupin involvement in Wizarding War made it more tangible.
– Yep, it sucks that you don’t see teachers regularly, only for parts that are needed for plot. I woul like to hear more about magic theory and charms and stuff.
I wanted to ask, have you found it strange that Voldemort did nothing to take Harry before third task? It’s the qeustion that bothered me for a long time until someone came up with good explanation. Until then I thought ‘oh, it’s just because stuff needs to happen at the end of the year, not before’.
And welcome to a crowd of Cedric fans. I haven’t seen an appeal, maybe I like bad boys?
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Oh finally you’ve read. You post so infrequently it’s like you have a life or something. How long can you make me wait? 😛
– I didn’t separate Crouch/Bagman stuff specifically beacuse while I was reading they were parts of ‘lots of wierd stuff is going on’. Crouch was the most interesting because it has shown how Ministry operates and it’s dark side.
– Prisoner of Azkaban is a shift of tone in the series I think. While Myrtle death was introduced in Chamber, it was still more of the adventure, albeit a dark one. Since Prisoner story happens in the shadow of real Death Eaters and real consequences of their actions, not just a legendary Dark Wizard who disappeared long ago. Sirus-James-Peter-Lupin involvement in Wizarding War made it more tangible.
– Yep, it sucks that you don’t see teachers regularly, only for parts that are needed for plot. I woul like to hear more about magic theory and charms and stuff.
I wanted to ask, have you found it strange that Voldemort did nothing to take Harry before third task? It’s the qeustion that bothered me for a long time until someone came up with good explanation. Until then I thought ‘oh, it’s just because stuff needs to happen at the end of the year, not before’.
And welcome to a crowd of Cedric fans. I haven’t seen an appeal, maybe I like bad boys?
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Thanks so much for the comment again! Haha sorry this one took a while longer, I think I’ll do a post halfway through book 5 if it’s taking me a while again.
That’s actually a very good point about Voldemort! What was the good explanation you heard? (Only tell me if it doesn’t spoil future stuff, of course!) I do seem to remember wondering why they didn’t just turn any old object into a Portkey rather than the trophy, they surely could have done the same thing with a pair of Harry’s shoes!
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I think I won’t say anything for now, except for that books are written from Harry’s perspective in third person (might as well been written in first person excluding a couple of first chapters). Noone tells him everything, so reader don’t know everything, and there are other instances of such behabior.
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Bye the way one more thing (I can’t believe I have forgotten about it). I wouldn’t dismiss Divination just because of Professor Trelawney is a fraud.
Ron has a history of saying fun things that turn out to be true like a bit from Chamber of Secrets:
“I wouldn’t mind knowing how Riddle got an award for special services to Hogwarts either.”
“Could’ve been anything,” said Ron. “Maybe he got thirty O.W.L.s or saved a teacher from the giant squid. Maybe he murdered Myrtle; that would’ve done everyone a favor…”
Well, he was right in his Divinations regarding Harry. For example when he foretells that Harry will get an unexpected large sum of money, which he does when he wins Triwizard Tournament.
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Oh that is awesome!!! I hadn’t noticed that at all!
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Well, people rarely get this and mostly when they reread the series: “Huh. Ron was right?”. Divination part is harder to get because some predictions are more vague and not only do you have to check if all predictions come true, but also think how exactly.
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Oh buddy there ain’t any shady dark arts teacher in Order of Phoenix but there is this really annoying one.
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