Harry Potter and the First Time Readers

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: Ch 11-15

Episode Summary

Jon and Lizzy talk about what they think about the unforgivable curses

Episode Notes

Chapter 11 - Aboard the Hogwarts Express

Q1 - How do you like the name Mad-Eye?

• Mrs Weasley took a piece of buttered toast from a stack on the kitchen table, put it into the fire tongs and transferred it into Mr Diggory’s mouth.

Q2 - have you guys ever had a mountain pie?

• “Your father thinks very highly of Mad-Eye Moody,” said Mrs Weasley sternly. “Yeah, well Dad collects plugs, doesn’t he?” said Fred quietly, as Mrs Weasley left the room. “Birds of a feather.”

Q3 - Which is your favorite Weasley?

Q4 - What is your favorite part of the books?

Q5 - You don’t know a ton about Durmstrang and Beauxbatons, but which would you rather go to?

• “But Hogwarts is hidden,” said Hermione, in surprise, “Everyone who’s read Hogwarts: A History, anyway.” “Just you, then,” said Ron. 
• “If a Muggle looks at it, all they see is a moldering old ruin with a sign over the entrance saying DANGER, DO NOT ENTER, UNSAFE.”

Q6 - Is this sign keeping you out?

Q7 - What do you think of the summoning charm?

Q8 - Would you wear Ron’s robes?

Chapter 12 - The Triwizard Tournament

Q1 - Do you like Peeves?

Q2 - What’s the best prank you ever pulled?

• “Now slip me snug around your ears, I've never yet been wrong, I’ll have a look inside your mind and tell you where you belong!”

Q3 - Thoughts on Dennis Creevey?

• “There are house-elves here?” she said….”Certainly,” said Nearly Headless Nick, looking surprised at her reaction. “The largest number in any dwelling in Britain, I believe. Over a hundred.”

Q4 - What are your thoughts on Hogwarts having house elves?

• A man stood in the doorway, leaning upon a long staff, shrouded in a black traveling cloak. Every head in the Great Hall swiveled toward the stranger, suddenly brightly illuminated by a fork of lightning that flashed across the ceiling. He lowered his hood, shook out a long mane of grizzled, dark gray hair, then began to walk up toward the teachers' table. A dull clunk echoed through the Hall on his every other step. He reached the end of the top table, turned right, and limped heavily toward Dumbledore. Another flash of lightning crossed the ceiling. Hermione gasped. The lightning had thrown the man's face into sharp relief, and it was a face unlike any Harry had ever seen. It looked as though it had been carved out of weathered wood by someone who had only the vaguest idea of what human faces are supposed to look like, and was none too skilled with a chisel. Every inch of skin seemed to be scarred. The mouth looked like a diagonal gash, and a large chunk of the nose was missing. But it was the man's eyes that made him frightening. One of them was small, dark, and beady. The other was large, round as a coin, and a vivid, electric blue. The blue eye was moving ceaselessly, without blinking, and was rolling up, down, and from side to side, quite independently of the normal eye - and then it rolled right over, pointing into the back of the man's head, so that all they could see was whiteness.

Q5 - Is this her best description of someone that she’s given so far?

• “It is my pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year.” “You’re joking!” said Fred Weasley loudly. The tension that had filled the hall every since Moody’s arrival suddenly broke. Nearly everyone laughed, and Dumbledore chuckled appreciatively. “I am not joking, Mr Weasley.” he said, “though, now that you mention is, I did hear an excellent one over the summer about a troll, a hag, and a leprechaun who all go into a bar —” Professor McGonagall cleared her throat loudly.

Q6 - What are your thoughts on the Triwizard Tournament and what do you think they’ll have to do in it?

Q7 - Neville falls through a trap step…why does Hogwarts have these?

Chapter 13 - Mad-Eye Moody

Q1 - Would you want to squeeze the pus out of a bubotuber?

Q2 - Which lesson would you rather go to—care of magical creatures or herbology?

• You are preoccupied, my dear. My Inner Eye sees past your brave face to the troubled soul within. And I regret to say that your worries are not baseless. I see difficult times ahead for you, alas… most difficult… I fear the thing you dread will indeed come to pass… and perhaps sooner than you think.”

Q3 - What do you think Trelawney is talking about here?

• “I was saying, my dear, that you were clearly born under the baleful influence of Saturn,” said Professor Trelawney, a faint note of resentment in her voice at the fact that he had obviously not been hanging on her words. “Born under — what, sorry?” said Harry. “Saturn, dear, the planet Saturn!” said Professor Trelawney, sounding definitely irritated that he wasn’t riveted by this news. “I was saying that Saturn was surely in a position of power in the heavens at the moment of your birth… Your dark hair… your mean stature… tragic losses so young in life… I think I am right in saying, my dear, that you were born in midwinter?” “No,” said Harry, “I was born in July.”

Q4 - Trelawney is wrong.

• “Oh, professor, look! I think I’ve got an unaspected planet! Oooh, which one’s that, Professor?” “It’s Uranus, my dear,” said Professor Trelawney peering down at the chart. “Can I have a look at Uranus, too, Lavender?” said Ron.

Q5 - Do you still like Rita Skeeter? Do you think her portrayal of Moody is accurate? (A handshake from attempted murder)

• “Professor Moody!” said a shicked voice. Professor McGonagall was coing down the marble staircase with her arms full of books. “Hello, Professor McGonagall,” said Moody calmly bounding the ferret still higher. “What — what are you doing?” said Professor McGonagall, her eyes following the bouncing ferrets progress through the air. “Teaching,” said Moody. “Teach — Moody, is that a student?” shrieked Professor McGonagall, the books spilling out of her arms.

Q6 - What do you think of Moody?

Chapter 14 - The Unforgivable Curses

• “So…do any of you know which curses are most heavily punished by wizarding law?”

Q1 - Should Moody be teaching them these things?

Q2 - Thoughts on the imperious curse?

• “Some job for the Ministry, trying to sort out who was being forced to act, and who was acting of their own free will?”

Q3 - How do you think the ministry did this?

• Hermione’s hand flew into the air again and so, to Harry’s slight surprise, did Neville’s…Neville looked surprised at his own daring. “Yes?” said Moody, his magical eye rolling over to fix on Neville. “There’s one — the Cruciatus Curse,” said Neville, in a small but very distinct voice. Moody was looking very intently at Neville, this time with both eyes. “Your name’s Longbottom?” he said, his magical eye swooping down to check the register again. 

Q4 - Thoughts on the Cruciatus Curse?

• “Not nice,” he said calmly. “Not pleasant. And there’s no counter-curse. There’s no blocking it. Only one known person has ever survived it, and he’s sitting right in front of me.”

Q5 - What are your thoughts on the killing curse?

Q6 - What do you think this means to Harry to know?

Q7 - Do you side with the students in thinking this was a good lesson, or with Harry and Hermione?

• “You’ve got to know. It seems harsh, maybe, but you’ve got to know. No point pretending.

Q8 - What do you think about Neville?

• “No—that sounds like we’re accusing him. Got to be careful…”

Q9 - What are Fred and George up to?

Q10 - What do you think of Harry and Ron’s predictions, and what would you predict about yourself?

• “You’re treasurer, Ron. I got you a collecting tin upstairs — and Harry, you’re secretary, so you might want to write down everything I’m saying now, as a record of our first meeting.”

Q11 - Why is Harry such a bad pet owner?

Q12 - Do you think Sirius coming back is a good thing?

• The dormitory was completely silent, and, had he been less preoccupied, Harry would have realized that the absence of Neville’s usual snores meant that he was not the only one lying awake.

Q13 - Why is Neville awake?

Chapter 15 - Beaubatons and Durmstrang

Q1 - Do you think Dumbledore really wants Moody to teach these things, or is he just using the name of Dumbledore as an excuse to teach what he wants?

Q2 - Why do you think Harry was able to resist the Imperius curse when everyone else in the class couldn’t?

• “Well, the Heads of the participating schools are always on the panel,” said Hermione, and everyone looked around at her, rather surprised, “because all three of them were injured during the Tournament of 1792, when a cockatrice the champions were supposed to be catching went on the rampage.”

Q3 - What do you think a cockatrice is?

• “Will you inform zis ‘agrid zat ze ‘orses drink only single malt whisky?”

Q4 - How drunk are these horses?

Q5 - Which school entrance do you like better?

• Karkaroff beckoned forward on of his students. As the boy passed, Harry caught a glimpse of a prominent, curved nose and thick black eyebrows. He didn’t need the punch on the arm Ron gave him, or the hiss in the ear, to recognize that profile. “Harry—it’s Krum!”

Q6 - What do you think of Victor Krum being a student at Durmstrang?