We are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided

Happy Friday! Happy Harry Potter day! Thank you Alice for hosting this readalong which is all the fun. We now move on to the final part of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Be warned, there are spoilers.

The end of this book is where shit starts to get real in HP land.
Even in the earlier books, when Harry is fighting Voldemort, things are fun and the kids are playing detective and the danger doesn't seem as real. It's there lurking, but there are other more pressing matters to deal with. The majority of Goblet of Fire was like that as well. Sure, someone wants to harm Harry, which is why he was put in the cup and the whole point of the book. But it seemed far more important that Harry do a good job in the tournament and make sure he find a dance to the ball. But not the end. The end is when everything goes dark and you realize exactly what is at stake and what it means for Voldie to be back.

I ended up listening the this last section entirely on audiobook. I didn't mean to but I ended up spending extra time on the train, which meant more time to listen. Then I thought about reading the end of it at home, cos you know, the sadz and I don't need to be crying over imaginary people while on the subway.
But I really wanted to finish the book. I knew how it ended but I still didn't want to read something else in the meantime. However, the audio isn't as bad as if I had been reading it. I think had that been the case, it would have been a lot of awkward ugly crying going on.

My favorite part of the book is what happens after Harry comes back and he's told his story to Dumbledore. It's Harry trying to process everything he's been through, it's Fudge being a jackass and not believing him, it's Sirius being so protective of Harry, it's Snape acknowledging he was a death eater and agreeing to take up whatever dangerous post he had previously held when Voldie was in power the first time, it's Dumbledore's speech that everyone remember Cedric Diggory.

Clearly this isn't the happiest part of the book but it's the part I find myself going back to.

Lighter note, for the second and third challenge, what exactly were the spectators watching? The first one it made sense, cos they could actually watch the champions try to get the egg from the dragon. But then at the lake they were underwater the whole time. The merpeople had to tell Dumbledore what took Harry so long, so I think it's safe to assume there weren't some sort of underwater cameras letting the people watch the action. Same deal with the maze. If they COULD have seen what was going on in the maze, then they would have see Mad-Eye clearing the way for Harry while attacking the others, and Krum getting all imperious-ed.

Other than the "the spectators can't spectate anything" I don't really have any random thoughts to list out. Probably because I am just focused on that ending.

Next up Order of the Phoenix which is my favorite book but also one I sorta hate FOR  REASONS that are obvious if you've read the book. If not then just know REASONS.

Title quote from page 723

Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Scholastic, 2000