Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: Chapter 18 Summary.
The Weighing of the Wands
Chapter 18 of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, titled ‘The Weighing of the Wands’ deals with Harry’s social life after being declared a champion, an interview with Rita Skeeter and a pre-Triwizard Tournament ceremony.
A Conversation with Hermione
Next morning, Harry rolls out of his bed hoping to talk to Ron. Ron, however, is not in his bed, and Harry assumes he went to breakfast. Intending to join him, Harry dresses up and heads out. When Harry enters the common room, people who have already finished breakfast break into an applause. He heads out of the portrait, and comes face to face with Hermione.
Hermione invites him for a walk and Harry gratefully accepts. They head towards the lake, munching on a stack of toast that Hermione brought back from the Great Hall.
Harry explains his side of the story, and to his relief, Hermione accepts it without question. She also explains that Ron is just jealous of the attention Harry always seems to be getting, and that he should talk to him. Harry does not want to explain his side to Ron once again, so he does not agree.
Hermione suggests Harry writes to Sirius. They head to the Owlery, and Harry sits down to write the letter. He informs Sirius that he has been picked the fourth Hogwarts champion against his knowledge, and he isn’t sure who put his name in. Hedwig swoops down to take the letter, but Harry picks a large barn owl instead, offending her in the process.
Hufflepuffs turn Hostile
Harry thinks that once everyone gets used to him being a Champion, things would be easier for him. The following day proves how wrong he is. The Hufflepuffs, who are normally on great terms with the Gryffindors, hate the fact that Harry has stolen their thunder. The fact that they barely are ever in the limelight does not help, and they all give Harry a cold shoulder.
In their Herbology lesson, both Justin and Ernie ignore Harry. Ron doesn’t talk to him as well, and Harry feels that even Professor Sprout is acting distant with him. Hermione tries to make a few forced conversations, but neither Harry nor Ron make an attempt to talk to each other.
The next lesson is Care of Magical Creatures, combined with the Slytherins. Malfoy starts making fun of Harry upon seeing him, but is distracted when Hagrid brings out the Skrewts. The creatures have grown immensely, and Hagrid tells the class to take them for a walk. He calls Harry to help him tie a leash around the big Blast-Ended Skrewt, but all he really wants to do is talk to him alone.
Hagrid trusts that Harry didn’t put his name in. He asks if Harry has any idea, but he doesn’t. Hagrid looks lovingly at the Skrewts, then with a worried voice wonders why everything seems to happen to Harry.
Cedric Diggory, The Real Hogwarts Champion
As the days progressed, things get increasingly worse for Harry. He fully expected Hufflepuff and Slytherin to be hostile towards him, but even the Ravenclaws did not support him. Harry misses Ron, but does not want to go and talk to him if Ron doesn’t.
On their way to Double potions one day, Harry and Hermione come across the Slytherins. All of them are sporting a badge, which says ‘Support Cedric Diggory, the REAL Hogwarts champion’. Upon touching the badge, the text changes to ‘Potter Stinks’, something which the Slytherins find immensely amusing.
Malfoy offers a badge to Hermione, but asks her not to touch his hand since she is a ‘Mudblood’. Enraged, Harry pulls out his wand and fires a spell at Malfoy, who retaliates with a spell of his own. Harry’s spell hits Goyle, while Malfoy’s hits Hermione. Fungi start growing on Goyle’s face, while Hermione’s larger than usual front teeth grow out past beyond her collar.
Snape hears the commotion and walks in to check. Malfoy complains about Harry attacking him and hitting Goyle, and Ron retaliates by saying he attacked Hermione. Snape looks at Hermione’s teeth and says he sees no difference, which angers both Harry and Ron. They scream at him, and he awards them both detention and deducts fifty points from Gryffindor.
Angry but powerless, the boys head inside. Ron sits with Dean and Thomas, leaving Harry alone with his cauldron. Snape starts his lesson on antidotes, and one look at him makes Harry realize Snape is going to test his antidote by poisoning him.
Rita Skeeter
Before Snape can say anything however, Colin Creevey knocks on the class door. He says that Ludo Bagman has asked for Harry, since there is a photoshoot for all the champions. Having no choice, Snape lets him leave.
The photoshoot is in a small classroom. The desks have been pushed away to make space in the middle, and three of them had been lined end to end and covered with velvet. Behind it were five chairs. Ludo sat on one of them, talking to a witch Harry had never seen before.
Ludo sees Harry and jumps to his feet, welcoming and assuring that it they have been called for ‘weighing their wands’. It is a test to verify that the champions’ wands are fully functional. He also introduces the witch as Rita Skeeter, journalist for the Daily Prophet.
Rita asks to have a word with Harry for her article before the ceremony begins. She steers him out of the room, and takes him inside a broom cupboard.
Rita takes out a Quick-Quotes-Quill, which writes on its own and greatly exaggerates everything Rita says. She asks Harry why he decided to participate. Harry explains he doesn’t know how his name got in the Goblet of Fire, but she doesn’t believe him. She throws a bunch of other questions at him, not really waiting for his responses.
A few moments later, the door of the broom closet whips open, revealing Dumbledore. Rita is taken aback and hides the piece of parchment on which her quill had been working its magic. Dumbledore tells Rita that the Weighing of the Wands is about to start, and they cannot do it without Harry. More than happy to get away from her, Harry runs out of the broom cupboard and goes back into the old classroom.
Weighing the Wands with Ollivander
Harry sits down near Cedric. Everyone else is present in the room, including Rita, the judges, the champions, and Ollivander the Wand Maker. Dumbledore introduces him as an expert who would be checking the champions wands.
Ollivander asks for Fleur’s wand first. It is nine and a half inches, inflexible and rosewood with a Veela-hair core. She acknowledges that the hair belonged to her grandmother, and Ollivander admits that he has never used a Veela hair in his own wands. He inspects the wand for damage and casts the ‘Orchideous‘ spell, which sprouts a bunch of flowers from the tip of the wand. Ollivander declares that the wand is fine, and gives it back to Fleur.
Next, he asks for Cedric’s wand. It is one of Ollivanders; twelve and a quarter inches and pleasantly springy, with a unicorn-hair core. Ollivander inspects the wand and deems it good to go. He also acknowledges how well Cedric maintains it.
He then calls Viktor, who presents his wand. It is a Gregorgovitch creation, ten and a quarter inches, made of hornbeam and containing a dragon heartstring core. He inspects it similarly, and returns it back after deeming it fit.
A Letter from Sirius
Finally, it is Harry’s turn. Ollivander takes longer than usual to inspect his wand; eleven inches, made of holly and containing a phoenix hair. Finally, he makes a fountain of wine shoot from the end of it and returns it back, calling it fit.
Next, the champions have a photo session. It takes a long time, and Harry heads straight to dinner after it. He looks around for Hermione, but she is nowhere to be found. He assumes she is in the hospital wing, and eats alone before heading back to the common room.
Harry runs into Ron, who coldly informs him of the owl waiting for him on his bed. He also reminds Harry that they have detention in Snape’s office the next day, and leaves.
Harry unties the letter off the large barn owl’s leg and reads it. It is a reply from Sirius, who wants to meet Harry in the Gryffindor common room on 22nd November. He assures that Harry is safe under the supervision of Moody and Dumbledore, but wishes to talk to him about some things.
The chapter ends as Harry reads the letter. Sirius has asked him to make sure he is alone at one o’clock on 22nd November, and confirm the date as soon as possible.
