Riona (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rionaleonhart) wrote2015-05-19 08:57 am
rionaleonhart) wrote2015-05-19 08:57 am
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The Third Triwizard Task Is 'Try Not To Drench The Book With Your Tears'.
I'd forgotten that Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is a really messed-up, horrible book. I've always thought of it as the bridge between the 'light' and the 'dark' Harry Potter books, leaning towards the light side, but there's an awful lot of darkness in here. Watching Crouch sentence his son to Azkaban in the Pensieve flashback is distressing enough, and then you find out what happened to Neville's parents, and then there's the ending.
And... all right, I feel strange talking about this outside a spoiler cut, even if the book's been out for fifteen years, so my notes on the ending are below:
I got so upset when Harry and Cedric agreed to take the Triwizard Cup together after both trying to nobly give it to the other - there's such respect between them, there's the potential for a real friendship to develop, and let's just agree that the book ends there, shall we?
(I don't really actively 'ship anything in the Harry Potter series, but I've always sort of liked the idea of Harry/Cedric. Although I'm not sure I can see it taking place anywhere in the canonical timeline. I feel that the seeds for a relationship are planted when they're working together in the maze, and then they... don't really have time to grow.)
I started to cry at 'Take my body back to my parents.' And then there's the scene where Harry's lying on the grass, clinging to Cedric's body, refusing to let go as everyone tries to prise him away, and I'm getting tearful again just thinking about this. I THOUGHT THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A CHILDREN'S BOOK.
I don't think Cedric's fate has ever hit me so hard before. I wasn't really expecting this reread to affect me that much emotionally, as I know these books so well, but apparently knowing what's coming provides no emotional defence!
When Moody is bringing the horribly traumatised Harry back to the castle after the events in the graveyard, he's described as 'half pulling, half carrying him' and later as 'helping him walk'. I'm startled and oddly sad to realise that the image of this scene I've carried since childhood was incorrect; I always thought that Moody was actually carrying Harry in his arms, like a child (with Harry mostly curled up into himself on account of aforementioned horrible trauma).
Back when I signed up for Pottermore, I was a little frustrated that I was Sorted into Hufflepuff when I'd always thought of myself as a Ravenclaw. I wondered whether perhaps it was because the Sorting quiz only pulled seven questions from a larger pool, so, when a quiz popped up elsewhere online with the entire pool of official Sorting questions, I tried that out.
The full quiz basically said 'you are the biggest Hufflepuff we've ever seen'.
I've come to realise that the Sorting Hat was absolutely right. I've always been a capable student rather than a brilliant one. If I can call myself intelligent, it's not inherent; it's something I've tried to work towards. And I do value the pursuit of knowledge, but I value kindness and fair play more. I think being in Hufflepuff would bring out the best in me.
There aren't many prominent Hufflepuffs in the Harry Potter series, but I think I can be proud of being in the same house as Cedric Diggory. And Makoto Naegi, who is not technically a Harry Potter character but is absolutely, unquestionably in Hufflepuff. He might as well be the Hufflepuff mascot. I will fight anyone who tries to say otherwise.
Newt Scamander was a Hufflepuff as well, wasn't he? I keep forgetting we're getting a trilogy of films about him! It's going to be so strange to have new Harry Potter canon.
I was going to say 'it's a shame that none of the book characters are going to show up, as the films are set seventy years earlier', but then I remembered that we could absolutely see Dumbledore in his late thirties. I'm up for this.
And... all right, I feel strange talking about this outside a spoiler cut, even if the book's been out for fifteen years, so my notes on the ending are below:
I got so upset when Harry and Cedric agreed to take the Triwizard Cup together after both trying to nobly give it to the other - there's such respect between them, there's the potential for a real friendship to develop, and let's just agree that the book ends there, shall we?
(I don't really actively 'ship anything in the Harry Potter series, but I've always sort of liked the idea of Harry/Cedric. Although I'm not sure I can see it taking place anywhere in the canonical timeline. I feel that the seeds for a relationship are planted when they're working together in the maze, and then they... don't really have time to grow.)
I started to cry at 'Take my body back to my parents.' And then there's the scene where Harry's lying on the grass, clinging to Cedric's body, refusing to let go as everyone tries to prise him away, and I'm getting tearful again just thinking about this. I THOUGHT THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A CHILDREN'S BOOK.
I don't think Cedric's fate has ever hit me so hard before. I wasn't really expecting this reread to affect me that much emotionally, as I know these books so well, but apparently knowing what's coming provides no emotional defence!
When Moody is bringing the horribly traumatised Harry back to the castle after the events in the graveyard, he's described as 'half pulling, half carrying him' and later as 'helping him walk'. I'm startled and oddly sad to realise that the image of this scene I've carried since childhood was incorrect; I always thought that Moody was actually carrying Harry in his arms, like a child (with Harry mostly curled up into himself on account of aforementioned horrible trauma).
Back when I signed up for Pottermore, I was a little frustrated that I was Sorted into Hufflepuff when I'd always thought of myself as a Ravenclaw. I wondered whether perhaps it was because the Sorting quiz only pulled seven questions from a larger pool, so, when a quiz popped up elsewhere online with the entire pool of official Sorting questions, I tried that out.
The full quiz basically said 'you are the biggest Hufflepuff we've ever seen'.
I've come to realise that the Sorting Hat was absolutely right. I've always been a capable student rather than a brilliant one. If I can call myself intelligent, it's not inherent; it's something I've tried to work towards. And I do value the pursuit of knowledge, but I value kindness and fair play more. I think being in Hufflepuff would bring out the best in me.
There aren't many prominent Hufflepuffs in the Harry Potter series, but I think I can be proud of being in the same house as Cedric Diggory. And Makoto Naegi, who is not technically a Harry Potter character but is absolutely, unquestionably in Hufflepuff. He might as well be the Hufflepuff mascot. I will fight anyone who tries to say otherwise.
Newt Scamander was a Hufflepuff as well, wasn't he? I keep forgetting we're getting a trilogy of films about him! It's going to be so strange to have new Harry Potter canon.
I was going to say 'it's a shame that none of the book characters are going to show up, as the films are set seventy years earlier', but then I remembered that we could absolutely see Dumbledore in his late thirties. I'm up for this.
no subject
I, too, am a Hufflepuff. I was also a little disappointed at first, although I think, in hindsight, it's not because I don't like Hufflepuff as a house so much as because it's made out to be boring in the books. The characters from Hufflepuff are generally side-characters, and Harry never visited their dorms or learned much about Helga Hufflepuff. Until you get the secret info on Pottermore, it's ... kind of bland.
I have one of those soft toys you can put in the microwave to turn into a heat pad - it is a badger and is named Cedric, after Harry Potter.