| Quote #7 "So they're dead?" said Harry quietly. |
We do find it a little odd that nosy, curious Harry has never once asked why Neville lives with his grandmother and not his parents. Does this revelation about Neville's parents change your perception of his character in the previous three books? Is there anything about his characterization up until now that this scene explains?
| Quote #8 "Ignore him," said Cedric in a low voice to Harry, frowning after his father. "He's been angry ever since Rita Skeeter's article about the Triwizard Tournament – you know, when she made out you were the only Hogwarts champion." |
There are a couple of things we find interesting about this moment. First, if this is how Amos Diggory feels about Harry before the Triwizard Tournament, we're really impressed with how forgiving he is with Harry after the Tournament, poor guy. Second, there seems to be a plot inconsistency here: Mrs. Weasley knows that "Rita Skeeter goes out of her way to cause trouble." But she still has to be reassured a couple of pages later that "Hermione's not [Harry's] girlfriend" (31.109) before she treats Hermione with her usual friendliness. It seems weird that Mrs. Weasley knows that Rita Skeeter is a liar, but she still believes Rita Skeeter's rumor mongering about the Hermione-Harry-Viktor love triangle. Oh, we humans can be so silly sometimes.
| Quote #9 Wormtail's robes were shining with blood, now; he had wrapped the stump of his arm in them. |
Excuse us for launching into a brief story, but we think it's relevant to Voldemort. When one of us here at Shmoop was in high school, she had a rather sadistic biology teacher. He liked to make fun of the kids who were struggling with the material, and he was generally a tool. But, even though this guy was mean to just about everyone who came through his classroom, he was really popular with some of his students. Now, we don't want to say that this teacher was Voldemort in disguise (though now that we mention it...). The point is, people in positions of power will attract followers, even if they're mean jerks. Wormtail has just cut his own arm off to bring Voldemort back to life, and Voldemort lets Wormtail stew for a bit, bleeding all over the place, before he'll help the guy. Yet, Wormtail is still one of Voldemort's most faithful supporters. What power does Voldemort hold over Wormtail? How does Voldemort guarantee the loyalty of his supporters? And how is that cruel people can still be popular in this world?