Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: Chapter 23 Summary.
The Yule Ball
Chapter 23 of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, titled ‘The Yule Ball’ deals with much anticipated Yule Ball, two secret conversations and one big fight.
Mood for the Holidays
The holidays start, and despite the large amount of homework the fourth years have been given, Harry has no motivation to study. Fred and George have had tremendous success with their Canary Creams, and for the first couple of days into the holidays, people kept bursting into feathers.
Ron keeps asking Hermione who she is going to the ball with, but she does not answer him. He notices that her teeth are different than before; they are straighter and not as large now. Hermione explains that when she went to Madam Pompfrey to fix the fangs Malfoy gave her, she let her carry on with the shrinking.
Right then, Pigwidgeon brings Harry a letter from Sirius. Sirius congratulates Harry on beating the Horntail and says he was going to suggest the conjunctivitis curse. He also warns Harry to not get complacent, because there are still two tasks left. Hermione shares the same opinion, but Harry feels still has a lot of time before the second task.
Christmas is Here
On the morning of Christmas, Harry wakes up to a pair of large green eyes almost nose-to-nose with him. He screams in shock, but realizes it is just Dobby, who came to wish Harry a Merry Christmas.
The commotion wakes up everyone else. Instead of going back to sleep, they decide to stay awake and open their presents. Dobby asks for Harry’s permission to give him his gift, which Harry grants him. He then scrambles around to find something to give Dobby, and decides on an old and foul pair of socks.
Dobby is delighted, and when Ron gives him another pair of socks along with his annual Weasley sweater, the elf’s happiness knows no bounds.
Dobby then gives Harry his gift; a pair of socks that he knit. Harry thanks him and puts them on, which nearly makes Dobby cry. He then bids the boys goodbye, since he is needed in the kitchens for making the Christmas dinner.
Harry unwraps his other presents, which are far better than Dobby’s. After lunch, he heads to the grounds with Ron and Hermione. The boys have a snowball fight with the twins, which Hermione doesn’t take part in and decides to watch instead. At 5 O’clock, three hours before the ball, she leaves to get ready for the ball, which is in three hours.
A couple hours later, the boys too go up to their dormitory to get dressed. With their dress robes on, they head down. Parvati greets Harry in the common room and informs Ron that Padma will meet him downstairs. They head downstairs into the Entrance Hall. Padma is not very enthusiastic to see Ron, and eyes his weird dress robes.
The Much Awaited Yule Ball Begins.
Soon, Professor McGonagall calls the Champions to the front. Fleur is accompanied by Roger Davies, Cedric by Cho Chang and Viktor by a very pretty-looking Hermione, which shocks Harry.
Professor McGonagall calls for the Champions to line up in pairs and approach the round table at the top of the Hall. Harry tries his best to not trip over, but Parvati looks like she is having fun. He looks at Ron and Padma on the way; Ron is looking at Hermione with narrowed eyes while Padma is sulking beside him.
The Champions approach the table, which is partially occupied by the judges, and Percy. Harry sits beside Percy, and before he can even ask, Percy begins explaining. He has been promoted to Crouch’s personal assistant, and is hence here in place of him. Percy then says that Crouch isn’t well, and hasn’t been so ever since the World Cup.
Harry shifts his focus to his plate instead, which is still empty and next to a small menu. As everyone waits for food to appear, Dumbledore goes through the menu and ‘orders’ pork chops. Instantly, pork chops appear in front of him. Everyone follows him and starts ordering food for themselves.
Harry looks at Hermione, wondering what she thinks about this new way of dining. However, she is engaged in a deep conversation with Viktor, who seems very enthusiastic about it. She tries to teach him the pronunciaton of her name, but he just can’t get it right.
Once everyone has eaten, Dumbledore rises up and with a wave of his wand, moves the tables to the ends of the room. He then conjures a platform with musical instruments along the right wall, and the Weird Sisters occupy the stage.
Fraternizing with the Enemy.
The Champions start the dance, and soon everyone else joins in. It goes better than Harry expected, as Parvati steers him around. He looks around and sees Neville dancing with Ginny, Dumbledore with Madam Maxime and Moody with Professor Sinstra. However, the second the Weird Sisters take a break from playing their song, Harry lets go of Parvati and asks to go sit.
He settles down next to Ron, who is staring at Hermione and Krum and completely ignoring his date Padma. Parvati sits next to Harry, but is soon asked out by a boy from Beauxbatons. Harry clearly doesn’t care, so she leaves.
The boys are joined by Hermione after the second song ends. Ron is clearly mad at her, and taunts her for fraternizing with the enemy. Hermione argues back and tells Ron that Krum asked her out while she was in the library. In fact, he had been coming to the library every day just because he wanted to talk to her.
Ron thinks it is all a farce, and Krum just wants to get inside information on Harry through her. Hermione argues back, and Harry supports her but Ron chooses to ignore him. Offended, she leaves the table.
Padma asks Ron if he is going to dance with her at all, but he isn’t. Irritated, she also leaves their table. Percy takes her seat, and the boys watch as Fred and George approach Ludo Bagman for something. However, Ludo shakes them off and comes over to Harry’s table. He asks Percy about Crouch, and Ron takes this opportunity to leave the table with Harry.
Overhearing Conversations
The boys head out towards the entrance hall and out into the rose garden. They walk a short way through the rosebushes, and overhear Snape having a conversation with Karkaroff.
Karkaroff seems to be worried about something becoming ‘clearer and clearer for months‘. Snape asks Karkaroff to calm down and flee if he wants to, but says he is going to stay at Hogwarts.
Snape spots Ron and Harry nearby and stops talking. He asks them to continue walking, and leaves with Karkaroff. The conversation sparks questions, and they discuss as they walk. They reach a tall fountain, where they overhead another conversation.
It is Hagrid talking to Madam Maxime. He tells her about his parents, how his mom left him and his dad died when he was young. Madam Maxime starts getting uncomfortable when Hagrid hints at her being similar to him, and gets offended when he calls her a half-giant. She screams against the accusation and states that she just has big bones, before storming off.
The boys quietly head back after witnessing this. Ron asks if Harry knew about Hagrid being a half giant, but he did not. Ron explains that while Hagrid is harmless, giants have a reputation of being ruthless and vicious. It probably won’t be good for him if this fact came out.
Cedric’s Clue
The boys spend the rest of the dance discussing giants in their corner. After the Weird Sisters finally stop playing, everyone gives them a round of applause and starts to head out. Hermione bids goodbye to Krum, before giving Ron a cold look and walking away. Ron doesn’t retaliate, and makes his way back with Harry.
On their way to the dormitory, Harry is stopped by Cedric. Cedric tells Harry he owes him one for sharing the information about the dragons, and advices him to take a bath with his egg. Further, he suggests Harry to use the prefects bathroom on the fourth floor, and tells him the password before running off.
Confused if Cedric’s advice was genuine or a prank, Harry enters the common room. In front of him are Ron and Hermione, engaged in a heated argument.
The chapter ends as Hermione yells at Ron to ask her out the next time there is a ball, and not as a last resort. Harry doesn’t say anything, but he realizes that something might be happening here.
