When I first read this book in the year 2000 (holy crap), I
blissfully charged through up until this moment:
Then a very strange thing happened. My forehead got all
prickly, my jaw dropped open, and this strange salty liquid started leaking
from the corners of my eyes. And it didn’t stop until the giant Hex Fest 2k
happened on the Hogwarts Express.
So the last quarter of book 4 is the big turning point in
the series, right? And it’s going to be hard for me to keep things light because
I have ALL THE FEELINGS about this bit. First, how genius is JK? (We already
know the answer to this, her difficulties with math and dragon heartstring farming firmly aside.) Cedric’s character arc is
utterly perfect; he’s set up as this generic do-gooder, and it’s not till he
and Harry end up together in the center of the maze that he gains some depth.
Along with Harry, we start to genuinely like Cedric for himself, and then JUST
KIDDING!
And then the echoes come out of Voldemort’s wand and Harry’s
dad shows up – is it weird to anyone else that James died after Lily? Hmm
cultural doxaaaaaa! – and then his MUM and for some reason, that’s more
heart-wrenching.
Sooooo veritaserum – JK is super-good at planting
definitions of magical stuff earlier in the books so when it’s dramatically
relevant, she doesn’t have to spend time explaining – and I really hope someone
covered what a freaking GREAT teacher Barty Crouch Jr. was, dark motives aside,
because dang. Fudge is a jerk, but it’s kind of understandable (though
unacceptable) from his point of view; how many people do we all know who will
stick their fingers in their ears and shriek that they can’t hear sense? But seriously, dementors as protection,
Fudge?
But then this:
“He had no memory of ever being hugged like this, as if by a
mother.”
That’s where I lose it, every time. I have to go make a
fresh cup of tea and blow my nose and ugly cry for a minute because how tragic
is it to get to fourteen years old and never have been hugged by a mom? Just
TYPING that sentence makes my throat swell and my eyes burn. Couple that with the speech Dumbledore
gives at the feast later when he says, “Remember Cedric Diggory” and I want to
stand up and say, YES! I will remember! My emotions, JK, you manipulate them so
hard.
 |
| And then I cried. |
