Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: Chapter 30 Summary.
The Pensieve
Chapter 30 of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, titled ‘The Pensieve’ deals with an old memory, three trials, and a whole lot of questions.
The Stone Basin
Harry walks inside Dumbledore’s office as Moody invites him. Fudge greets Harry, and Dumbledore asks him to wait in the office as the three men go out to examine the grounds.
Feeling calmer now, Harry looks around the office. He recognizes the Sword of Gordic Gryffindor perched inside a glass case since he had pulled it out of the Sorting Hat himself in his second year. On the glass case, he sees a patch of silver light, which makes him rather curious.
He looks for the source of the light and finds it to be a black cabinet behind him. Harry hesitates for a second, then pulls its door open. The cabinet reveals a shallow stone basin with odd carvings and a mysterious silver liquid/gas within it. He prods the contents with his wand, and it begins to swirl very fast.
Harry bends in closer, expecting to see the bottom of the basin, but instead finds an enormous room beneath the substance. He leans in further and the tip of his nose touches the substance. Dumbledore’s office gives an almighty lurch, and Harry falls inside the basin.
The Strange Room
Harry now finds himself sitting on a bench inside the strange room. There are atleast two hundred witches and wizards in the room, but none of them seem to have noticed him. He then realizes he is sitting right next to Dumbledore.
Harry apologizes, but like the rest of the wizards, Dumbledore ignores him. At this moment, it dawns on him that he is inside a memory.
However, before Harry can reach any conclusions as to what this place is, the door in the corner of the room opens, and a man flanked by two Dementors walks in.
Harry’s insides go cold. The Dementors place the man in a self-chaining chair and glide out of the room. Harry recognizes the man as Igor Karkaroff.
A witch next to Harry announces that Karkaroff has been brought here from Azkaban because he has important information for the Ministry.
Karkaroff agrees, which earns him a distasteful remark from Moody.
Young Moody was sitting past Dumbledore, and did not have his magical eye yet. He whispers to Dumbledore that Crouch has a deal with Karkaroff, and he will be let free if he gives them enough names.
Igor’s Plea
Mr Crouch, who is also present there, asks Karkaroff for the names. Karkaroff talks about Antonin Dolohov, but he has already been caught. Next is Evan Rosier, who died shortly after Karkaroff was caught. He then talks about Travers, Mulciber, and Rookwood; names which are finally useful.
Crouch tells Karkaroff that he will be returned to Azkaban as the council decides his fate, and in a desperate attempt, he takes another name. Severus Snape.
At this point, Dumbledore gets up and vouches for Snape. He announces that while Snape was indeed a Death Eater, he rejoined the Ministry’s side before Voldemort’s downfall. Moreover, he turned into a spy at great personal risk. Due to this, his name has been cleared by the council.
Mr Crouch reiterates that Karkaroff’s case will be reviewed and that he will be returned to Azkaban in the meantime.
Ludo Bagman’s Trial
With this, the dungeon around Harry dissolves and he finds himself seated on the highest bench, Next to him is Mr Crouch, and the atmosphere seems relaxed.
Halfway up the rows of benches, Harry spots Rita Skeeter. A minute later, the door at the corner of the room opens up and Ludo Bagman walks inside. He is clearly at the prime of his Quidditch Career, and his nose wasn’t broken yet.
He sits on the same chair that had bound Karkaroff, but it does not bind him. Crouch announces that he had been caught passing information to Voldemort’s supporters, but Ludo argues that he had no idea. Rookwood was a friend of his dad, and had promised him a position in the ministry.
Crouch asks for a vote, but no one on the jury favors Crouch’s imprisonment. Instead, they begin to clap and one of the witches congratulates him on his performance against Turkey. Crouch shows visible anger at this but is powerless to do anything.
Son of Barty Crouch
With this, the room dissolves for a third time. Dumbledore and Crouch are still next to him, but the atmosphere is entirely different. There is complete silence, broken only by the sobs of a frail old woman next to Crouch.
The door opens yet again, and this time four wizards walk inside, accompanied by 6 Dementors. As they are bound by the chairs, the jury begins whispering amongst itself.
Crouch, with a look of pure hatred, announces that the crime committed by the four wizards was rarely heard in the courtroom. The accused captured Auror Frank Longbottom and tortured him along with his wife Alice with the Cruciatus curse. All this, in hopes of finding out the whereabouts of their exiled master Voldemort.
One of the four wizards, Crouch Junior, yells for his father. He pleads that he did not do anything, but Mr Crouch does not listen. He asks the Jury to pass judgment, and the Jury finds them guilty.
The dementors glide back inside, and the boy screams helplessly as he is taken back to Azkaban. At this point, a voice whispers in Harry’s ear that it is time to return.
Back to the Office
Dumbledore has entered the memory and brings Harry back outside. Harry apologizes, but Dumbledore is not mad at him. He explains that the basin is a pensieve that Dumbledore uses to siphon out and store some extra memories.
Harry asks if the contents of the pensieve are Dumbledore’s thoughts, and they are indeed.
To demonstrate, Dumbledore grabs his wand and pulls out a silvery thread of the same substance from his temples.
He puts it inside the pensieve, and explains that he was using it when Fudge walked inside. As a result, he was forced to put it away rather hastily, which led to Harry discovering it.
Harry apologizes once more, but Dumbledore simply asks what was it he wanted to talk about. Harry tells him everything about the dream and the scar. Dumbledore asks if Harry’s scar has ever hurt before, apart from the time in the summer.
Harry asks how he knows, and Dumbledore explains that Harry is not Sirius’s only correspondent. Harry further asks if Dumbledore knows why his scar hurts, but Dumbledore only has a theory. According to it, Voldemort and Harry are connected by the scar of a failed killing curse, which is rather powerful. The connection makes it hurt whenever Harry is near Voldemort, or Voldemort feels extreme rage.
Finally, Harry asks if Voldemort is getting stronger. Once again, Dumbledore can only offer his suspicions.
The ascent of Voldemort’s power was marked with disappearances. Now, Bertha Jorkins has vanished in a place Voldemort was last known to be. Crouch has vanished on the grounds of Hogwarts. Further, a third disappearance of Frank Bryce has taken place, which the Ministry is not concerned about. Frank lived in the village Voldemort’s father grew up in, and has not been seen since last August.
Final Questions
Harry then asks Dumbledore if they were talking about Neville’s parents in the Crouch Jr trial. They were.
Frank had been an Auror just like Moody. He and his wife were both tortured into insanity by the group of Death Eaters. It was an attack that came after Voldemort’s fall, which angered the entire wizarding community. The Ministry was under intense pressure to punish the culprits, and the only piece of evidence was the word of the Longbottoms, which given their condition wasn’t very reliable.
Next, he asks about Ludo, but Dumbledore simply says he has never been accused of any dark activity since. Neither has Snape. Harry asks why Dumbledore trusts him, but Dumbledore refuses to answer, saying it’s between Snape and him. With this, Harry realizes it is time for him to go.
The chapter ends as Dumbledore asks Harry not to speak about Neville’s parents to anyone. He then wishes him luck for the third task, and Harry exits the office.
