Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Chapter 36 Summary

How It All Goes Down

The Parting of the Ways

  • Professor Dumbledore brings Harry to his office.
  • Sirius is waiting in Professor Dumbledore's office, in his human form.
  • Sirius asks, "Harry, are you all right I knew it – I knew something like this – what happened?" (36.13).
  • Professor Dumbledore makes Harry tell him everything that happened in the maze.
  • At first, Harry finds it almost impossible to start.
  • But then it becomes a relief: "he felt almost as though something poisonous were being extracted from him" (36.26).
  • Professor Dumbledore reminds Harry that he and Voldemort share wand cores.
  • Both of their wands are filled with phoenix feather – the same phoenix that currently occupies Professor Dumbledore's office, Fawkes.
  • When two wands with the same center face off against each other, "One of the wands will force the other to regurgitate the spells it has performed – in reverse" (36.43).
  • That's how the ghostly figures of the people Voldemort had killed reappear at the right moment to help Harry.
  • Professor Dumbledore thanks Harry for having "shouldered a grown wizard's burden and found [him]self equal to it" (36.59).
  • And then Professor Dumbledore sends Harry off to sleep in the hospital wing.
  • Professor Moody – the real Moody – is also sleeping in the hospital wing. Looks like he'll recover.
  • Harry falls into a deep sleep.
  • Sirius Black falls asleep on the floor by his side, in dog form.
  • Harry wakes up to arguing voices.
  • Professor McGonagall is shouting furiously at Cornelius Fudge.
  • Apparently, when Fudge went in to interrogate Barty Crouch, Jr., he brought a Dementor with him for protection.
  • But, as soon as they entered the room, the Dementor swooped in and gave Barty Crouch, Jr. its fatal Kiss: "It had sucked his soul out through his mouth" (36.100).
  • So now, Barty Crouch, Jr. can't be questioned directly.
  • And Professor Dumbledore can't prove definitely that "Lord Voldemort was giving [Barty Crouch, Jr.] instructions" (36.104).
  • Fudge absolutely refuses to believe that Voldemort has risen again, no matter how much anyone argues with him.
  • Professor Snape even pulls up his sleeve to show him the Dark Mark, which "burned black" (36.153) an hour before. But Fudge still won't hear it. (This doesn't sound like good leadership to us.)
  • Before leaving in a huff, Fudge drops a bag of Galleons on Harry's bedside table.
  • It's his prize money for the Triwizard Tournament.
  • Professor Dumbledore sends the nurse, Madame Pomfrey, to look after Winky in the kitchen.
  • When it's just Professor Dumbledore, Professor Snape, Mrs. Weasley, Harry, Hermione, and Ron in the hospital wing, Professor Dumbledore tells Sirius Black to change back to his human form.
  • He tells Sirius to go stay with Remus Lupin so that they can start alerting "the old crowd" (36.181).
  • And then Professor Dumbledore addresses Professor Snape: "you know what I must ask you to do. If you are ready ... if you are prepared ..." (36.187).
  • Professor Snape says only: "I am" (36.188).
  • And then Professor Snape leaves the room.
  • Professor Dumbledore goes to speak with Cedric Diggory's family.
  • Hermione, Ron, and Mrs. Weasley stay to watch Harry.
  • Harry's throat is burning and he feels utterly miserable.
  • In the midst of all this awfulness, Hermione sudden slams her hand down on the windowsill.
  • She's holding something.
  • Harry takes the rest of his potion and falls asleep again.