Harry Potter and the First Time Readers

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: Ch 1-5

Episode Summary

Jon and Lizzy talk about how Lizzy hates the start of this book.

Episode Notes

Chapter 1 - The Riddle House

• The villagers of Little Hangleton still called it “the Riddle House,” even though it had been many years since the Riddle family had lived there.
• Fifty years before, at daybreak on a fine summer’s morning, when the Riddle House had still been well kept and impressive, and a maid had entered the drawing room to find all three Riddles dead.

Q1 - What do you think happened to the three Riddles?

• “Frank!” cried several people. “Never!” … By the following morning, hardly anyone in Little Hangleton doubted that Frank Bryce had killed the Riddles.

Q2 - Are you guys into true crime podcasts?

Q3 - Have you ever been to a spooky or haunted place?

Q4 - What are Wormtail and Voldemort talking about?

• “I will allow you to perform an essential task for me, one that many of my followers would give their right hand to perform.”

Q5 - What do you think this task is?

• “But I am not a man, Muggle,” said the cold voice, barely audible now over the crackling of the flames. “I am much, much more than a man.”

Q6 - What does Voldemort mean that he is much more than a man?

Q7 - Who is Voldemort's most faithful servant?

Q8 - What happened in this chapter and how did you like this opening chapter compared with the other books?

Chapter 2 - The Scar

• No, the thing that was bothering Harry was that the last time his scar had hurt him, it had been because Voldemort had been close by… but Voldemort couldn’t be here, now…the idea of Voldemort lurking in Privet Drive was absurd, impossible…

Q1 - Why do you think Harry’s scar hurts whenever things like that happen?

Q2 - Do you think Voldemort knows where Harry lives, and would he ever attack the house?

• As far as he knew, he was the only living person to have survived a curse like Voldemort’s.

Q3 - Do you think there is anyone else alive or even dead who has survived a curse like Voldemorts?

Q4 - If you had to choose a bird to deliver mail to you, which bird are you picking?

Chapter 3 - The Invitation

• The school nurse had seen what Aunt Petunia's eyes – so sharp when it came to spotting fingerprints on her gleaming walls, and in observing the comings and goings of the neighbors – simply refused to see: that, far from needing extra nourishment, Dudley had reached roughly the size and weight of a young killer whale.

Q1 - What are your thoughts on Dudley? 

Q2 - So far in this series, if there is a character who is irredeemable, who would it be?

Q3 - Is it animal abuse to keep sending Errol to deliver your mail?

Q4 - What do you normally eat for breakfast?

• “Look at this,” he growled. He held up the envelope in which Mrs Weasley’s letter had come, and Harry had to fight down a laugh. Every bit of the letter was covered in stamps except for a square inch on the front, into which Mrs Weasley had squeezed the Dursleys’ address in minute writing.

Q5 - Who do you think is going to win the Quidditch World Cup?

• A slight spasm crossed Uncle Vernon's large purple face. The mustache bristled. Harry thought he knew what was going on behind the mustache: a furious battle as two of Uncle Vernon's most fundamental instincts came into conflict. Allowing Harry to go would make Harry happy, something Uncle Vernon had struggled against for thirteen years. On the other hand, allowing Harry to disappear to the Weasleys' for the rest of the summer would get rid of him two weeks earlier than anyone could have hoped, and Uncle Vernon hated having Harry in the house. To give himself thinking time, it seemed, he looked down at Mrs. Weasley's letter again.
• “If they say yes, send Pig back with your answer pronto, and we’ll come get you at five o’clock on Sunday. If they say no, send Pig back pronto and we’ll come get you at five o’clock on Sunday anyway.”

Q6 - Harry eats his birthday cake…how long can he hide birthday cake under his floorboards before it starts to get moldy and inedible?

• He was going to the Quidditch World Cup. It was hard, just not, to feel worried about anything — even Lord Voldemort.

Q7 - Should Harry be more worried about Lord Voldemort and his scar?

Chapter 4 - Back to the Burrow

Q1 - Thoughts on the Dursley’s nerve and annoyance in the beginning of this chapter?

Q2 - Are the Weasleys wrong for being so late?

Q3 - Is the Floo Network a normal practice…to show up in someone's living room just unannounced?

• The electric fireplace shot across the room as the boarded-up fireplace burst outwards, expelling Mr Weasley, Fred, George, and Ron in a cloud of loose chippings.

Q4 - What are your feelings on all of this happening?

• Indeed, from the tone of his voice when he next spoke, Harry was quite sure that Mr Weasley thought Dudley was quite as mad as the Dursleys thought he was, except that Mr Weasley felt sympathy rather than fear.

Q5 - What do you think of the idea of having sympathy on people who are different from you? What should you do?

Q6 - What is the rudest anyone has ever acted toward you?

Q7 - Petunia in particular seems very terrified of magic, why do you think that she is?

Chapter 5 - Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes

Q1 - Would you rather work with dragons or work at gringotts?

• “It isn’t funny!” Mr Weasley shouted. “That sort of behavior seriously undermines wizard-muggle relations! I spend half my life campaigning against the mistreatment of Muggles, and my own sons —”

Q2 - What is the Wizard perception of Muggles?

Q3 - What do you think the of Fred and George’s inventions? 

Q4 - What else do you think they’d make, or that you would make, if you were making a joke shop for wizards?

• “A report for the Department of International Magical Cooperation,” said Percy smugly. “We're trying to standardize cauldron thickness. Some of these foreign imports are just a shade too thin — leakages have been increasing at a rate of almost three percent a year —”

Q5 - What do you think of Percy and his new job?

• “Just don’t get him onto the subject of his boss. According to Mr Crouch…as I was saying to Mr Crouch…Mr Crouch is of the opinion…Mr Crouch was telling me…They’ll be announcing their engagement any day now.”

NOTE: Harry did not send any thank you letters or mail to his friends.

Q6 - What are your thoughts on Mr and Mrs Weasley?

PREDICTION: Scotland slaughtered by Luxembourg.

Q7 - Is there a specific time you remember having a really good meal with people you loved?

• “I shudder to think what the state of my in-tray would be if I was away from work for five days.” “Yeah, someone might slip dragon dung in it again, eh, Perce?” said Fred. “That was a sample of fertilizer from Norway!” said Percy, going very red in the face. “It was nothing personal.” “It was,” Fred Whispered to Harry, as they got up from the table. “We sent it.”