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

Twitchy little ferret, aren't you, Malfoy?

Happy Friday everyone. Once again we have another Harry Potter readalong post (and thank you Alice for hosting this potteralong).

As with every week, there are spoilers below. And also bitching about really minor details and the fact that Rowling can't do math. The usual. So let's go

I LOVE Hermione's scenes when she's yelling at Ron about taking her for granted and not thinking anyone else would want to go to the dance with her. Hermione, you rule

Harry and Ron were both jerks during the dance. But not really more than normal 14 year old boy jerks. Doesn't mean it's OK, but it does mean (from my perspective) it's understandable. And had the girls smacked each of the boys upside the head, that would have been understandable too.

When Harry is caught in the trick step and he drops the egg AND the Marauder's Map, and Filch, Snape and Moody show up, how many times did you mumble "Motherfucker"? It was 7 for me. 

I'd like to get an indication of how much help all of the other Champions are getting. Cos Harry would have been screwed at pretty much every step of that second task. He couldn't figure out the egg without both Cedric and Moaning Myrtle telling him what to do. He couldn't figure out how to stay underwater for an hour without Dobby. Hell, he would have missed the task ENTIRELY without Dobby. And he couldn't find his way to the hostages without Myrtle again.* We know Fleur and Krum were told about the Dragons before the first task by their headmasters (probably) and Harry told Cedric but are any of them getting this much help? This is getting sad.

Another point to add to the 'I love you Rowling, but you suck at math" file, she has Hagrid pull out a picture of him as a young boy with his father sitting on his shoulder. Except then she says in the picture Hagrid is smaller than he is now, about 7-8 feet tall. Which...that's not HUGE. It's bigger than the average person sure, but not so big that a full sized normal adult man can fit on his shoulder. 

Sirius is back. More back than just head-in-the-fire-place back. Now it's spending-most-of-his-time-as-a-dog-and-living-off-rats back. Which he's doing because he CARES FOR HARRY THAT MUCH. Because he's great.
Though I kinda feel bad for Buckbeak who's probably thinking "What the hell is this? We were hanging out somewhere nice and warm and now we're back here living in a cave that who knows how the hell I fit in AND I'm living off scraps? This is bullshit, food guy."**

Sirius's story about Barty Crouch and him being all I HATE DARK WIZARDS RAWR. I get that it's sad and sucks that Crouch sent his son to Azkaban and that makes him seem all heartless. But if he DIDN'T do this, and he kept his son out of Azkaban and got him special treatment, wouldn't that be what we're bitching about? Poor Crouch was screwed either way.

Winky gets drunk on butterbeer so does that mean butterbeer is kinda alcoholic? Cos even Harry(?) says something about it not really being that strong before Dobby tells him it's strong to house elves. Is the "beer" part of the drink true, albeit very light? I thought it was more like root beer.*** Cos, you know, children are drinking it.

Krum is all nervous Harry is dating Hermione and it's the cutest thing. Aww even though he's a professional Quidditch player Krum is intimidated by Harry. Which he really shouldn't be. Sorry Harry.

Oh hey, Crouch as showed up. And he's clearly delusional and spouting nonsense and apparently wandering around the forest. So that's creepy. And while I'm glad Harry ran to get help, I can't help but think it would have been a good idea to first move Crouch OUT of the forest. Maybe out into the open. Not to say that would have prevented what happened from happening, but still.

ALSO, so I know Snape is a super asshole and obviously Harry hates him, etc. but I couldn't help thinking it would have probably been a good thing for Harry-Snape relations if he had tried to bring Snape outside when he realized he couldn't get to Dumbledore. Like instead of yelling at Snape that he needed to get Dumbles for him if he had been like "Fine Snape, you have to come quick!!" First up, then Snape sees that Harry is serious because OBV Harry wouldn't be asking Snape for something if it wasn't a big deal. And Snape helping Harry would put them both in a better mindset about the other. They're not going to be besties but less tense? Think how much better Snape's rescue of HRH would have been in Prisoner of Azkaban if Snape actually HAD rescued them instead of sending Sirius to the dementors.

How things could have been****

Next week, we finish things up with Goblet and THINGS WILL BE REVEALED. Can't wait.

*Who he totally blows off when she asks him if she'll visit him again. Jerk. Although she did admit to watching prefects get naked just ALL the time so that's pervy and maybe best not to visit her. Not that I think that was Harry's logic, but you know.

**I assume pets primarily know their owners as the food people. Does Buckbeak count as a pet? Kinda? Pet/fellow fugitive?

***Wow this post has a lot of asides today. Anyway, I once had an actual beer at a bar that TASTED like someone had first filled the glass with butter. It was gross. And the closest I've come to "butter beer"

****Googling "Snape & Harry" brings up a LOT of images that I'm pretty sure if you click on them you get put on a watch list. The more you know.

Title quote from page 404

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

CONSTANT VIGILANCE

Another Harry Potter Day! I assume at this point you know the drill. Except I'll repeat it again or else I don't have an intro.

So first THANK YOU Alice for hosting this readalong which is so much fun and I'm glad we focus on the important things like work for squibs and wizard taxes.

Next, there will be spoilers so, heads up.

Thirdly I ended up listening to the majority of this section as an audiobook because the fourth one is where Rowling decided to triple the size of her books. Plus this is the copy I have in hardback, just to make it that much heavier. And since I do most of my reading on the subway I decided screw that. I'll do any actual reading when I'm at home and anything while commuting is audio.

Oh as with last week, I still can't upload gifs like I used to, so I have to make due with the ones I already have, which unfortunately isn't THAT many since I normally just find them as I'm writing this deal. If anyone would like to offer advice on how they do this, I am ALL EARS because Photobucket is frustrating the hell out of me.

And with that, onto my random thoughts!

Hermione, Hermione, Hermione. You named your cause S.P.E.W.?
S.P.E.W. is an awful name. She really needs to think how these things sound if she wants to get people on her side. It's been pretty well establish that the wizarding community is TERRIBLE towards anyone that's not a magical human, so already she's fighting an uphill battle. No need to shoot herself in the foot. That said, I do appreciate her suggest to retitle Hogwarts, A History to A Highly Biased and Selective History of Hogwarts, Which Glosses Over the Nastier Aspects of the School. Still not a great name, (and certainly not a fun acronym) but it's at least funnier.

Last week I wanted to give Harry a big hug after he was thinking how much he wanted a parent to talk to. This week it's Neville right after Moody's class. Or when he's still sitting up late, even though Harry totally doesn't notice this because Harry is not the most observant of other people. Neville needs a big hug almost more than Harry, cos Harry is at least SUPER beloved and amazing at Quidditch and has lots of money and other wonderful things that happened to him. Poor Neville is mostly a bumbling mess.

Speaking of hugs, I was recently watching Pushing Daisies and Chuck has a great quote about hugs. PLUS that show is narrated by Jim Dale, who also narrated the HP audiobooks so see, it's all connected. Anyway that quote:
Chuck: I can't even hug you? What if you need a hug? A hug can turn your day around.
Ned: I'm not a fan of the hug.
Chuck: Then you haven't been hugged properly. It's like an emotional Heimlich. Someone puts their arms around you and they give you a squeeze and all your fear and anxiety come shooting out of your mouth in a big wet wad and you can breath again.

Chien-Po gets hugs

I love seeing the other wizarding schools. Do the students who came have to take all of their classes in English? That seems difficult, but I guess everyone just speaks English?

Rita Skeeter is an amazing/terrible character, just behind Umbridge in characters you most wish would die in a fire. But as a reporter, Skeeter is terrible. She's not actually the one writing her stories, her magic floaty pen deal does that. And she makes shit up constantly. I mean going beyond manipulating the story to just flat our writing stuff that never happened, quotes that were never said. I'm not saying this doesn't happen in the real world, but I'd like to think it's less obvious. The Daily Prophet needs to up their standards.

Ron and Harry fighting is so sad. Almost sadder than Harry and Ron being mean to Hermione, except that was way worse and they were way doucheier. But since the story is from Harry's POV and we see how sad he is, that makes it seem worse. Poor guy, getting yelled at for something he didn't even do.

Yay Sirius is back! Kinda! Head in the fireplace but good enough.

How much do you want one of those little dragon things the Champions pulled out of the bag? So much? So much.

I'm really glad Harry didn't outfly Krum in the first task. I know Harry's a great flyer and all, but being better than a professional Quidditch player would have been a bit much.

Poor Winky. I'm glad Dobby is doing well, with his one Galleon a week and one day off a month. Quite the negotiating skills, that one. Although I don't know what to do about Hermione's S.P.E.W. Cos on the one hand (other than the name) it's obviously a good thing to make sure the house elves have rights and are treated respectfully. But then there's the fact that they don't seem to want everything Hermione is trying to give them. And then I don't really know what to think.

Well I don't really know how to end this, so let's go with some great advice from Metatron
Till next week!

Title quote from page 217

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

Moody, we never use Transfiguration as punishment

Another Friday which means another Harry Potter day! Callooh Callay and what not.

As always thank you Alice for hosting this readalong shindig. And thar be spoilers, so you've been warned.

I'm giving up all hope that I can write one of these Harry Potter posts that's not made up of just random bullet points. To those of you that can manage it, I salute you because that is impressive.

Goblet of Fire. The first book that's split into four books instead of two because there's SO MUCH to go through. However this isn't really my favorite book. It's not lower than CoS but it's around there. Again, this doesn't mean it's a BAD book. This is all relative to the other books in the series. Also I don't remember books 6 or 7 all that well, so I could be wrong.

The opening chapter and we break away from Harry's point of view. I don't know how I feel about this. On the one hand, we can't know what's happening with Voldie unless Harry sees it and we need to know what he's up to. But I like sticking to Harry's point of view. I know Rowling sort of gets away with this by having the opening chapter also be Harry's dream, but that doesn't really work for me. It feels like a cheat.

However I LOVE the first chapter directly from Harry's point of view (aka Chapter 2), when his scar hurts and he decides to turn to Sirius for help. Because Harry needs a parent. And I'm still thinking of  Jenny's defense of Sirius because it is so good and this opening just serves to prove how much Harry needs a parent. Even he says it. "What he really wanted (and it felt almost shameful to admit it to himself) was someone like -- someone like a parent: an adult wizard whose advice he could ask without feeling stupid, someone who cared about him." Then my heart breaks again for him and I want to give him big hugs.

We get to meet the rest of the Weasley brood when Bill and Charlie finally make an appearance. Naturally they're the cool older brothers. How the hell did Percy end up in this family? He is so different from everyone else. He's like the black sheep? Except not? Grey sheep maybe?

I love the scenes before the Quidditch World Cup (which like the student games I'm sort of meh on) when Harry, Ron, and Hermione are wandering around the grounds and seeing all of the witches and wizards from around the world. There's also evidence in this section that Hogwarts is the only wizarding school in the UK, since they make a point of saying that the teens they don't recognize go to schools in other countries, rather than them being students at other UK schools. I did like the little nod to the American witches being from Salem. Cute.

Do you think all those memory charms are going to screw with Mr. Roberts? I feel bad for the guy. I know Mr. Weasley says any ill effects don't last long, but still. Seems like the sort of thing that should be used sparingly, given we saw what happened to Gildaroy Lockhart when the spell is performed too strongly? Not to say anyone's going to do that to the Muggles, but just that there are possible bad side effects to this spell.

Poor Winky. First she has to go up to the top box even though she's terrified of heights. Then she's blamed for the dark mark that's sent out AND she's fired. Except I guess for house elves it's more than fired? It's not like she can just put out an ad and find another family, right?

Also question, Harry says that his wand fell out of his pocket, right? (Or there is at least references to wands being in pockets at some point in the series.) But wants are pretty long right? Sometimes over a foot. What pockets are they using? I now like to picture Harry with JNCO jeans that have those GIANT pockets, of course then he couldn't really run. Nevermind, they're probably magic pockets.

The prank pulled on the Roberts is really terrifying, especially when you consider the two children. I don't know why it hit me that it's really a cruel and scary thing to do this time around when other times I sort of glossed over it. This time I paid more attention to it. Maybe because I listened to that part on audiobook.

Oh yeah, I've been doing about 1/2 of the books on audiobook and the other 1/2 reading. This way I a) don't need to bring giant books on the subway with me and b) when I finish up the section we're supposed to read to, I can turn off the audiobook and switch to whatever other book I'm reading. Hence my thoughts on audiobooks earlier.

Hermione makes a very good point about house elves being slave labor. That doesn't not however make her less insufferable or make Ron any less correct when he says Hermione starts eating again because she's hungry more than she's figured other ways to show her house elf solidarity.

Hagrid, I want to love you as a professor. I do. But blast-ended skrewts? No thank you.

"'Can I have a look at Uranus too, Lavender?' said Ron" Hooray for them acting like teenagers and making stupid jokes like this. (Also, while typing this I have the TV on and the people are in Beaver, PA. And once again, I laughed and laughed.)
Moody turning Malfoy into a bouncing ferret is one of the best moments. Up there with Hermione punching Malfoy in the last book. And yes, I know she slaps him in the book, but I prefer the movie version so I'm going with that.

I am excited to continue on! The Tri-Wizard Tournament! The other wizarding schools! Mad-Eye! EXCITEMENT! Until next week

*This doesn't come up in this book,** but to build off of the number of students at Hogwarts, because apparently I'm ALL ABOUT numbers in Harry Potter, here's some more evidence for small classes:
20 broomsticks waiting for Griffs & Slyths at their first flying lesson
20 cauldrons had been set up in double potions
20 earmuffs set out in Herbology for the mandrakes lesson
How Many Students Are At Hogwarts

**Clearly, I can't let this go. Also I found this while trying to find stuff about the age of the Weasley kids.

Title quote from page 206

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