"But most of all, you need to practise constant, never-ceasing vigilance".

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Part 1 & 2

 Sooo...this past Friday I was supposed to have my last post up for the Goblet of Fire, except, I haven't had any posts up for Goblet of Fire yet. I know, I'm failing at this readalong. #failing. My excuses are nothing new: work, life, sickness, poor time management, etc. But I'm not giving up just yet! I'm only half way done the Goblet of Fire so I'm going to do one post for the first half of this book and a second one for the second half, in attempts to catch up to the rest of the readalongers in Alice's HARRY POTTER READALONG ALL THE GIFS.

And in an effort to make up for lost time, these posts will be sweet and short (bullet-point style!) and of course, spoilers are fair game.

Random Thoughts on Chapters 1 thru 20:

*The Quidditch World Cup = boooorrrring. And it seemed like a lot of work to set up, and a lot of memory charms on Muggles, just for one game! But the tents = awesome and I would totally be up for camping more often than I actually do if my tent looked like the Weasley's on the inside. Although, come to think of it, some people's RV trailers are pretty much like their homes on wheels...

*If everybody already knows what's going to be revealed at school, why can't Harry, Ron and Hermione know? And since they aren't even old enough to enter the Triwizard Tournament anyway, does it matter if they know?

*I think one of my favourite parts is when Hermione is outraged over learning that Hogwart's employs over 100 house-elves: 'But they get paid?' she said. 'They get holidays, don't they? And - sick leave, and pensions and everything?' (p.161).  Leave it to Hermione to make it her mission to fight for the rights of house-elves.

*"Spotted dick" - and a million young children (and me) reading this book giggled.

*I honestly thought Harry and Ginny might have a "thing", but Ginny is pretty non-existent in this book so far and then there's this: "...[Harry] had just won the Triwizard Tournament...Cho's face stood out particularly clearly in the blurred crowd, her face glowing with admiration...Harry grinned into his pillow, exceptionally glad that Ron couldn't see what he could." (p.170)

*We meet Professor Moody and while the description of his appearance gives me the chills, "It looked as though [his face] had been carved out of weathered wood by someone who had only the vaguest idea of what a human face were supposed to look like,and was none too skilled with a chisel." (p. 163), I have a feeling Professor Moody has been employed by Hogwart's to protect Harry.

*Even before the names are drawn for contestants of the Triwizard Tournament, we all know Harry's name will be called (duh). And maybe it's just me, but no one seemed that concerned with HOW Harry's name got in the goblet or WHO put his name in it. They seem more concerned with following the rules of whoever's name is called MUST compete, no exceptions, even if Harry isn't of competing age.

*Ron, Ron, Ron. Now, after all you've been through together, you don't believe Harry when he says he didn't enter his own name into the goblet?! I get it, you're jealous, but you've always been a *little* jealous.

*We end this first half of the book with Harry preparing for the first task in the Triwizard tournament. Is it too early to predict that Harry will do well in all the tasks??*

I know I've missed many things I would probably want to talk about had I done the readings and these posts on time, but even with my little notebook, this is all I got friends. But on the upside! I have watched the first two movies so far! And I will finish this readalong to the end, goddammit, even if it means I'm still writing these posts long after everyone else is finished (but hopefully not!).


*Edit: I was just looking back at my notes and I see that Chapter 20 actually ends with Harry completing the first task in the Triwizard tournament. Successfully of course.