Author: Hawk (extracted from Symbolic Flight)
Having heard that the HMS Harmony is based on wishful thinking and over reading of text I think that this is long overdue (all text quoted comes from the US versions of the Harry Potter Series, in the case of Gof the paperback edition, and for that reason I will include the chapters and their titles with them). This post will be broken down (reasons of length) into the following parts,1.) Hermione & Fleur: The initial meeting
2.) Hermione’s reactions to Fleur
3.) Hermione and Krum before the Second Task
4.) Analysis of the Second Task
5.) Development of Hermione’s feelings after the Second Task
6.) Analysis of the red herrings in Gof. PART ONE - HERMIONE & FLEUR: THE INITIAL MEETING In an attempt to take all evidence into consideration we will begin our analysis with the first interaction between Hermione and Fleur.
Gof Ch 16 The Goblet of Fire pg 250-251 US.
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts and -most particularly-guests,"said Dumbledore, beaming around at the foreign students. "I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to Hogwarts. I hope and trust that your stay here will be both comfortable and enjoyable."Gof Ch 16 The Goblet of Fire pg 252 US
One of the Beauxbatons girls still clutching a muffler around her head gave what was unmistakably a derisive laugh.
"No one's making you stay!" Hermione whispered, bristling at her.
It was the girl from Beauxbatons who had laughed during Dumbledore's speech. She had finally removed her muffler. A long sheet of silvery-blonde hair fell almost to her waist. She had large, deep blue eyes, and very white, even teeth.It is important to note that this takes place before any Ron/Fleur and Harry/Fleur interaction. Let us begin to analyze this evidence;
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts and -most particularly-guests, “said Dumbledore, beaming around at the foreign students. "I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to Hogwarts. I hope and trust that your stay here will be both comfortable and enjoyable."Here Dumbledore is giving a welcoming speech, extending hospitality, and being a gracious host.
One of the Beauxbatons girls still clutching a muffler around her head gave what was unmistakably a derisive laugh.A derisive laugh is a scornful contemptible laugh. This particular student is making sure that people know exactly what she thinks of Hogwarts and its hospitality from the start. We should also take a close look at the way that JKR writes it, was unmistakably a derisive laugh. JKR is making sure that everyone knows that this student is being scornful of Hogwarts and the headmaster, there is no mistaking it. Another point of interest is Beauxbatons girls still clutching a muffler around her head. This girl is literally bundled from head to foot. Our first Hermione/Fleur interaction takes place before we receive any physical description of Fleur. A deliberate action by JKR in order to clearly establish that Hermione’s reaction to this girl is based on her actions and her actions alone. JKR left her bundled with a muffler clutched around her face so that we didn’t get a look at beauty and JKR did not confirm that Fleur was part veela or possessed any veela charms or traits. By her actions, and her actions alone, we get the following reaction from Hermione:
"No one's making you stay!" Hermione whispered, bristling at her.At this point I would like you to note that Hermione’s reaction to Fleur in this moment is bristled.
It was the girl from Beauxbatons who had laughed during Dumbledore's speech.Here JKR makes sure that we know that Fleur is the same girl that laughed at Dumbledore’s speech. We cannot debate if it was another girl and that Hermione was acting toward Fleur based on a wrong assumption. JKR makes it clear. It was Fleur.
She had finally removed her muffler. A long sheet of silvery-blonde hair fell almost to her waist. She had large, deep blue eyes, and very white, even teeth.Now and not before now do finally get a description of what Fleur looks like. Well after Hermione’s reaction and dislike for Fleur are established. JKR has not even given us a description of Fleur’s hair prior to this point in Gof.
Here we have our foundation laid in the text and from this foundation we will build our case. PART TWO - HERMIONE’S REACTIONS TO FLEUR Before proceeding, we pause for a minute to reaffirm that Hermione’s reactions to Fleur are based on Fleur’s attitude and actions and not on Fleur's beauty, veela traits, or the attention that Fleur gets based on these traits. By examination of the text we have seen that JKR established the initial Hermione/Fleur interaction without so much as a physical description of Fleur’s hair and also before we see the attention that Fleur’s beauty gives her. It is also interesting to note that this takes place prior to the other actions and reactions between Hermione and Fleur.
We should also note that the fact that Fleur is part veela is never confirmed in Hermione’s presence. Harry first learns that Fleur’s grandmother was a veela in Ch 18 The Weighing of the Wands Pg 308 at the actual weighing of the wands (Hermione is not present here) and later confirms this to Ron in Ch 22 The Unexpected Task Pg 399, yet once again Hermione is not present. JKR makes sure to show us when she enters so that we can see that it is after Harry and Ron’s conversation.
Here are the Hermione/Fleur interactions of Gof:
1)CH 16 The Goblet of Fire Pg 251
"No one's making you stay!" Hermione whispered, bristling at her.2)Ch 16 The Goblet of Fire Pg 252
“Of course she isn’t!” said Hermione tartly.3)Ch 23 The Yule Ball Pg 404
“Ooooh there’s a tragedy,” Hermione snapped as Fleur went out into the entrance hall.4)Ch 26 The Second Task Pg 506
Hermione looked simply furious,5)Ch 37 The Beginning Pg 724
Fleur smiled at him(Ron); Hermione scowled.1) Our initial Hermione/Fleur interaction, covered in detail in part one.
2) After Ron/Fleur interaction.
3) After Fleur criticizes Hogwarts food.
4) After Harry/Fleur & Ron/Fleur interaction.
5) After Ron/Fleur interaction.
Bristled, tartly, snapped, furious, and scowled. Hermione’s reactions to Fleur. Most of these actions seem to run along the lines of bristled. Tartly, snapped, and scowled which all denote a similar kind of anger and displeasure. However as we consider the reactions, one reaction is rather out of place when in connection with the others and that is furious. This reaction from Hermione is after the second task and it is the only time we see a heightened response from Hermione to Fleur. So since the Second Task is a singular event which provokes a unique response in regards to the other Hermione/Fleur reactions, we shall proceed to examine the Second Task and analyze it in depth. PART THREE - HERMIONE AND KRUM BEFORE THE SECOND TASK Before embarking on our analysis of the Second Task, I feel that it is important that we look a little at Hermione and Krum and their relationship. The Hermione/Krum relationship is important to our analysis of potential future relationships and is all too often overlooked or merely dismissed. By Hermione’s relationship with Krum, JKR gives us several clues to the development of Hermione’s feelings. One of the most important and interesting aspects of this relationship that is all too often overlooked is the simple fact that Krum asks Hermione out after the first Rita Skeeter Article comes out. The article that proclaims that Harry has found love at Hogwarts. Love in the form of Hermione Granger. A simple time line will probably demonstrate this better than I could explain it:
*Chapter 19 The Hungarian Horntail – The first Rita Skeeter article appears proclaiming Harry and Hermione to be a couple. Pg 315 US
*Chapter 20 The First Task – Krum is still coming into the Library to work up the courage to approach Hermione. Pg 339 US
*Chapter 23 The Yule Ball – We are first introduced to the fact that Hermione and Krum are dating. Pg 413 US
I call this to your attention now as it will figure in later.
We are first introduced to this couple at the Yule Ball, even though we had hints about it before the Yule Ball. At the Yule Ball Hermione is described as
Ch 23 The Yule Ball pg 416-417
Harry glanced up at Hermione to see how she felt about this new and more complicated method of dining---- surely it meant plenty of extra work for the house-elves?— but for once, Hermione didn’t seem to be thinking about S.P.E.W. She was deep in talk with Viktor Krum and hardly seemed to notice what she was eating.Later Hermione says about Krum,
CH 24 Rita Skeeter’s Scoop Pg 444
“He’s really nice, you know,” she(Hermione) said. “He’s not at all like you’d think, coming from Durmstang. He likes it much better here, he told me.”Now in Chapter 25 we are introduced to the riddle of the egg which contains this interesting little line,
we’ve taken what you’ll sorely missI think it’s safe to say that most of us are engaged enough in the Harry Potter series to state that this refers to the hostages that the Champions had to rescue:
Harry – Ron
Krum – Hermione
Cedric – Cho
Fleur – Gabrielle
without having to type the entire scene out.
Of course we will also include Krum’s statement at the Second Task,
Ch 27 Padfoot Returns pg 514
“And he did say he’d never felt the same way about anyone else,” Hermione went on.So we see that from The Yule Ball which took place on December 25 to the Second Task which took place on February 24 a progression from Hermione being a date to a formal ball to becoming the one that Krum would sorely miss and has never had felt the same way about anyone else before. Our progression seems quite normal for a young couple dating and nothing really stands out in this part with one exception.
Ch 23 The Yule Ball pg 422
Hermione talking: “No, I wasn’t! If you really want to know, he – he said he’d been coming up to the library every day to try and talk to me, but he hadn’t been able to pluck up the courage!”
I now call this to your attention, but we shall analyze it in further detail later in this essay. But I would like you to note that we have two attempts by Krum to approach Hermione in the library after the First Rita Skeeter article(stating that Harry has found love with Hermione at Hogwarts) is printed.
Then comes the Second Task and for that we head to part four.
PART FOUR - ANALYSIS OF THE SECOND TASK Now let us continue our chain of deduction and reasoning with an analysis of the second task.
Ch 26 The Second Task pg 504-505
“You haff a water beetle in your hair, Herm-own-ninny,” said Krum. Harry had the impression that Krum was drawing her attention back onto himself; perhaps to remind her that he had just rescued from the lake, but Hermione brushed away the beetle impatiently and said, “You’re well outside the time limit, though, Harry......Did it take you ages to find us?”Ch 27 Padfoot Returns pg 514
“And he did say he’d never felt the same way about anyone else,” Hermione went on, going so red now that Harry could almost feel the heat coming for her, “but how could Rita Skeeter have heard him?”At this point for clarity I will state that the he that Hermione is referring to is Viktor Krum. We however are given our answer to how Rita overheard later in Gof.
Ch 37 The Beginning pg 727
“Oh not electronic bugs,” said Hermione. “No, you see.....Rita Skeeter”----- Hermione’s voice trembled with quiet triumph----- “is an unregistered Animagus. She can turn-----“Hermione pulled a small sealed glass jar out of her bag.
“----into a beetle.”Ch 37 The Beginning Pg 728
“Exactly,” said Hermione. “And Viktor pulled a beetle out of my hair after we’d had our conversation by the lake.”Now why would I find all of this interesting. What we are looking at here are the pieces of a puzzle that are scattered throughout Gof. This is the classic form of a mystery. We all too often see the end result only after we have been given our conclusion, or when the author places the final piece of the puzzle in place, then and only then do we see the real picture. However by looking at that pieces of the puzzle and assembling them in order we can see the end result and create the outlines of the pieces that remain.
1) “You haff a water beetle in your hair, Herm-own-ninny,” said Krum.Now if we combine it with this piece of our puzzle:
“Exactly,” said Hermione. “And Viktor pulled a beetle out of my hair after we’d had our conversation by the lake.”Here we establish that Hermione and Krum’s conversation, the one in which he stated “he’d never felt the same way about anyone else” took place. Why should this be important? By looking at the next line in Gof;
2) Harry had the impression that Krum was drawing her attention back onto himself; perhaps to remind her that he had just rescued from the lake,We find a red herring!! Harry is wrong. Krum is not trying to draw Hermione’s attention back to the fact that he had just saved her from the lake. Krum is trying to draw Hermione’s attention back to their conversation. The very conversation in which Krum invited Hermione to visit him and admitted his feelings for Hermione. Their conversation in which Krum made that powerful statement.
3) but Hermione brushed away the beetle impatiently and said, “You’re well outside the time limit, though, Harry......Did it take you ages to find us?”Yet despite Krum’s admission of his feelings where do we find Hermione’s attention focused, on Harry.
And we have a second red herring to be considered at the Second Task as well.
Ch 26 The Second Task pg 507
Fleur was clapping very hard too, but Krum didn’t look happy at all. He attempted to engage Hermione in conversation again, but she was too busy cheering Harry to listen.Most will at this point say that Krum was unhappy because of Harry’s being tied for the lead. Seems to be a little out of character for a professional athlete who would certainly understand the importance of having one more event to go. But more importantly let us remember our red herring that we discussed earlier, what Krum was trying to draw Hermione’s attention back to, his admission of feelings. Here Krum tries once again to talk to Hermione about what he had said and once again (stronger this time really) Hermione is too focused on Harry to listen to Krum.
Now, when we examine both of these scenes from the Second Task we see a rather stark and vivid contrast in comparison with this scene from Gof.
Ch 23 The Yule Ball pg 416-417
Harry glanced up at Hermione to see how she felt about this new and more complicated method of dining---- surely it meant plenty of extra work for the house-elves?— but for once, Hermione didn’t seem to be thinking about S.P.E.W. She was deep in talk with Viktor Krum and hardly seemed to notice what she was eating.Simply stop for a minute and compare the three moments from our book. Krum is able to take her attention away from the house-elves, S.P.E.W., the extra work for the house-elves, but Krum is not able to take her attention away from Harry.
Now let us move on,
Ch 26 The Second Task pg 506
Fleur bent down, kissed Harry twice on each cheek (he felt his face burn and wouldn’t have been surprised if steam was coming out of his ears again), then said to Ron, “And you too-----you helped-----““Yeah,” said Ron, looking extremely hopeful, “yeah, a bit-----“Now, let us take a look at this part a little more in depth,
Fleur swooped down on him too and kissed him. Hermione looked simply furious,
Here is the only time we get heightened response from Hermione after JKR establishes the initial dislike that we examined in detail in part one of this essay. The rest of the Hermione/Fleur interactions and responses are quite similar, bristled, tartly, snapped, scowled. Here and only here do we get a truly unique response.
Just to briefly recap the reactions from Hermione to Fleur, that I have submitted, they are,
1) CH 16 The Goblet of Fire Pg 251
"No one's making you stay!" Hermione whispered, bristling at her.Fleur/Hogwarts/Dumbledore- Hermione bristled 2) Ch 16 The Goblet of Fire Pg 252
“Of course she isn’t!” said Hermione tartly.Ron/Fleur- Hermione tartly 3) Ch 23 The Yule Ball Pg 404
“Ooooh there’s a tragedy,” Hermione snapped as Fleur went out into the entrance hall.Fleur/Hogwarts food- Hermione snapped 4) Ch 26 The Second Task Pg 506
Hermione looked simply furious,Harry/Fleur, Ron/Fleur - Hermione furious 5)Ch 37 The Beginning Pg 724
Fleur smiled at him(Ron); Hermione scowled.Ron/Fleur- Hermione scowled Hopefully we have been able to see that the only time we get a heightened emotional response from Hermione to Fleur is when Harry is involved. Remove Harry and we see a rather dramatic decrease in Hermione’s reaction, it goes from furious to scowled.
Now some will counter that Hermione’s reaction comes after the Ron/Fleur interaction so let’s take a look at this section of the book and its grammar in a little more detail.
Ch 26 The Second Task pg 506
Fleur bent down, kissed Harry twice on each cheek (he felt his face burn and wouldn’t have been surprised if steam was coming out of his ears again), then said to Ron, “And you too-----you helped-----“I would like to begin by drawing one’s attention to the grammar.
“Yeah,” said Ron, looking extremely hopeful, “yeah, a bit-----“
Fleur swooped down on him too and kissed him. Hermione looked simply furious,
The dash
Often typed as two hyphens side by side with no space between the dash and the words on either side of it—is used to connect groups of words to other groups.
The comma
Tells the reader to pause, just as the blinking yellow light tells a driver to slow down and proceed with caution.
Period
1: The completion of a cycle, a series of events, or a single action: conclusion
One will notice that despite its appearance this is actually one long sequence of events. The only period comes right before Hermione’s reaction. The rest of the punctuation is commas and dashes which are used to combine words and ideas. So the moment actually reads Harry/Fleur/Ron/Fleur Period (conclusion) Hermione’s reaction.
We have all read enough of JKR’s interviews to be familiar with the fact that she writes and rewrites her books almost constantly. And when we consider the fact that JKR is an ex-teacher we can see that this grammar and structure are quite deliberate. As a side experiment I placed periods in several places in this part of Gof and ran them through the grammar correction program on my computer and found out that one could have placed a period after helped and bit in our series and would have created no grammatical error.
Here we pause to recap the events and clues that lead up to and surround the Second Task. Immediately after the Second Task we have no less than three red herrings to be considered. The two times Krum tries to draw Hermione’s attention back to himself and Harry’s wrong impressions of the reasons why, and the grammar that surrounds the Harry/Fleur/Ron/Fleur interaction. PART FIVE - DEVELOPMENT OF HERMIONE’S FEELINGS At this point I had begun to wonder if I should have renamed this part the development of Hermione’s sub-conscience feelings for Harry. For that is what these feelings that we are about to see are. Hermione is beginning to develop feelings for Harry and to see him as more than a friend but Hermione herself is unaware that this is subtly taking place right in front of her. We have to rely on Viktor Krum for our clues and answers.
At the Second Task we begin to see Hermione developing feelings for Harry. These feelings run deeper than friendship and we are not the only ones who begin to take notice of Hermione’s sub conscience feelings developing. Viktor Krum provides us with several clues to the development of Hermione’s feelings.
Now I can almost hear everyone who has been debating for a while groan with pain as we are about to look at Krum’s confrontation of Harry (yes we will get there soon enough) but before we do that let us take a look at a couple of other instances where Krum was jealous of Harry.
Ch 26 The Second Task pg 504-505
“You haff a water beetle in your hair, Herm-own-ninny,” said Krum. Harry had the impression that Krum was drawing her attention back onto himself; perhaps to remind her that he had just rescued from the lake, but Hermione brushed away the beetle impatiently and said, “You’re well outside the time limit, though, Harry......Did it take you ages to find us?”Ch 27 Padfoot Returns pg 514
“And he did say he’d never felt the same way about anyone else,” Hermione went on, going so red now that Harry could almost feel the heat coming for her, “but how could Rita Skeeter have heard him?”At this point for clarity I will state that the he that Hermione is referring to is Viktor Krum. We however are given our answer to how Rita overheard later in Gof.
Ch 37 The Beginning pg 727
“Oh not electronic bugs,” said Hermione. “No, you see.....Rita Skeeter”----- Hermione’s voice trembled with quiet triumph----- “is an unregistered Animagus. She can turn-----“Ch 37 The Beginning Pg 728
Hermione pulled a small sealed glass jar out of her bag.
“----into a beetle.”
“Exactly,” said Hermione. “And Viktor pulled a beetle out of my hair after we’d had our conversation by the lake.”Now those who have read Part Three - Analysis of the Second Task will already be familiar with the points that I have already brought up about Rita Skeeter being the beetle and overhearing the Hermione/Krum conversation. We can see that this conversation took place before Krum told Hermione about the water beetle in her hair. But simply look at this rather interesting development:
Harry had the impression that Krum was drawing her attention back onto himself; perhaps to remind her that he had just rescued from the lake,As we look at this part, a couple of things come to mind.
1) JKR is confirming that despite Krum’s admission of feelings Hermione’s attention is focused solely on Harry. Otherwise, Krum would have had no need to draw attention back to himself.
2) We see the establishment of a red herring. Harry’s impression is wrong. Krum is not trying to remind Hermione that he had just saved her from the lake. He is trying to remind her of what he had told her.
but Hermione brushed away the beetle impatiently and said, “You’re well outside the time limit, though, Harry......Did it take you ages to find us?”Yet despite Krum’s efforts Hermione’s attention is still focused on Harry. We do have a rather interesting contrast in this section from Gof however,
Ch 23 The Yule Ball pg 416-417
Harry glanced up at Hermione to see how she felt about this new and more complicated method of dining---- surely it meant plenty of extra work for the house-elves?— but for once, Hermione didn’t seem to be thinking about S.P.E.W. She was deep in talk with Viktor Krum and hardly seemed to notice what she was eating.Simply stop for a minute and compare the two. Krum is able to take her attention away from the house-elves, S.P.E.W., the extra work for the house-elves, but Krum is not able to take her attention away from Harry.
Before we move onto the most well known indicator of Krum’s jealousy we should take a look at another instance,
Ch 26 The Second Task pg 507
Fleur was clapping very hard too, but Krum didn’t look happy at all. He attempted to engage Hermione in conversation again, but she was too busy cheering Harry to listen.Most will at this point say that Krum was unhappy because of Harry’s being tied for the lead. Seems a little out of character for a professional athlete who still has one more event to go. But more importantly remember our red herring that we discussed earlier, what Krum was trying to draw Hermione’s attention back to, his admission of feelings. Here Krum tries once again to talk to Hermione about what he had said and once again (stronger this time really) Hermione is too focused on Harry to listen to Krum. Once again I would like to point out the contrast between this and the Yule Ball as I stated above.
Ch 28 The Madness of Mr. Couch Pg 552-553
“I vant to know,” he said glowering, “vot there is between you and Hermy-own-ninny.”Let me address the first rebuttal that will come to this. Harry states that they are just friends and that nothing is going on. Please keep in mind that we are talking about Hermione’s feelings and their development for Harry.
Harry, who from Krum’s secretive manner had been expected something much more serious than this, stared up at Krum in amazement.
“Nothing,” he said. But Krum glowered at him, and Harry, somehow struck anew by how tall Krum was elaborated. “We’re just friends. She’s not my girlfriend and she never has been. It’s just that Skeeter woman making things up.”
“Hermy-own-ninny talks about you very often,” said Krum, looking suspiciously at Harry.
“Yeah,” said Harry, “because we’re friends.”
He couldn’t quite believe he was having this conversation with Viktor Krum, the famous International Quiddich player. It was as though the eighteen-year-old Krum thought he, Harry, was an equal—a real rival----
“You haff never......you haff not.....”
“No,” said Harry very firmly.
Krum looked slightly happier.
Let us now analyze this scene,
“I vant to know,” he said glowering, “vot there is between you and Hermy-own-ninny.”I think its safe to say that Krum is really jealous. And that might be a bit of an understatement. We know that Harry faces danger and that Harry is truly brave. Krum must be very mad to make Harry take notice of how tall he is.
Harry, who from Krum’s secretive manner had been expected something much more serious than this, stared up at Krum in amazement.
“Nothing,” he said. But Krum glowered at him, and Harry, somehow struck anew by how tall Krum was elaborated.
“We’re just friends. She’s not my girlfriend and she never has been. It’s just that Skeeter woman making things up.”Remember the red herring that we discussed at the Second Task and the following Hermione/Krum interaction. Remember that these took place before Rita’s article so Harry’s conclusion is wrong. Yet another red herring has found its way into our theory and needs to be considered First off the events that we have dealt with surrounding the Second Task, Krum trying to draw Hermione’s attention back to their conversation and Hermione’s cheering Harry while Krum looks on unhappily, take place before the second Rita Skeeter article comes out. Now I would also like to draw your attention to the fact that the first article that says the Harry and Hermione are seeing each other comes out in Chapter 19 The Hungarian Horntail, the Yule Ball takes place in Chapter 23. We have already looked at the Hermione/Krum relationship from the Yule Ball on, so how could we come to the conclusion that Krum is basing anything on these articles. Even if we say the Krum read them he didn’t believe the first one and since he has come to know Hermione better I truly doubt the he believes the second one. Krum is basing his conclusion on other things as we see here next.
“Hermy-own-ninny talks about you very often,” said Krum, looking suspiciously at Harry.But the Rita answer is not enough to satisfy Krum. Further proof that Krum is not basing his suspicion based on either of Rita’s articles but on what he has seen between Harry and Hermione. Had this been the primary factor we would have seen Krum become less jealous right here. But Krum is still suspicious. I would also like to point out that once again we are talking about Hermione’s feelings for Harry. Krum does not say to Harry that Harry talks about Hermione often or too much to suit him in which case Harry’s denial would hold considerably more weight.
He couldn’t quite believe he was having this conversation with Viktor Krum, the famous International Quiddich player. It was as though the eighteen-year-old Krum thought he, Harry, was an equal—a real rival----Interesting, Harry thinks that Krum sees him as a real rival, but a rival at what? Everyone at this point now says without a doubt the answer is Quiddich. But Krum has never seen Harry play Quiddich so how could it be Quiddich? Nor is the topic of conversation Quiddich so how can we justify a leap in the conversation like this. We can’t. Krum sees Harry as a rival for Hermione’s affection. Harry, of course, stops just short of making this connection.
“You haff never......you haff not.....”Krum only looked slightly happier. I don’t think Krum is 100% satisfied at this point. Why would Krum not be 100% satisfied at this point. Because Krum is not basing his jealousy on the Rita articles.
“No,” said Harry very firmly.
Krum looked slightly happier.
Let us move on now.
Ch 37 The Beginning Pg 725
Krum had come to say good-bye to Hermione.So what took place during this conversation is open largely to speculation. This is the last piece of the puzzle that JKR has kept for herself until she is ready to reveal it to us. As with so many of her other puzzles JKR shows us the conversation without giving us the details, but we know the conversation took place. We are not speculating that they spoke. Here we have assembled enough of the puzzle to be able to see the outline of the missing piece and with that information in hand we can deduce three possible conversations,
“Could I have a vord?” he asked her.
“Oh....yes....all right,” said Hermione, looking slightly flustered, and following Krum through the crowd and out of sight.
“You’d better hurry up!” Ron called loudly after her. “The carriages’ll be here in a minute!”
He let Harry keep a watch for the carriages, however, and spent the next few minutes craning his neck over the crowd to try and see what Krum and Hermione might be up to. They returned quite soon. Ron stared at Hermione, but her face was quite impassive.
1) Hermione and Krum spoke about Ron
2) Hermione and Krum spoke about her having feelings for someone else but didn’t use a name and spoke in rather general terms
3) Hermione and Krum spoke about Harry
There is a fourth possible conversation to take place Hermione and Krum spoke about Hermione’s coming to see Krum over the summer and that they are still dating. But Hermione’s references to Krum as a pen pal in OotP kind of put some kinks in this conversation as do the events that follow this. While we can’t rule it out completely there is little to support it at this point. So let us now consider the other three possibilities,
1) Hermione and Krum spoke about Ron: I’m not sure why anyone would think that Hermione and Krum are talking about Ron. There is no indication anywhere that Krum has been jealous of Ron or even knows that much about Ron. Krum never confronts Ron about his actions at the Yule Ball which would indicate that Hermione has never told him about the events that took place that night. I can see that Ron is inserted into the text so that one could be tempted to read him into this situation. But given our analysis I think that this conversation is the least possible.
2) Hermione and Krum spoke about her having feelings for someone else but didn’t use a name and spoke in rather general terms: Krum could have confronted Hermione about her feelings for another person and simply left the name out. Something along the lines of- Krum: Hermy-own-ninny you are in love (or like) someone else. Hermione: Who? Krum: A boy here at Hogwarts. And it would go on. I don’t think that Krum would be able to make much of a case for the change in his feelings, after his admission at the Lake in the Second Task, if he spoke only in general terms. One would also think that Hermione would not take this well at all and not remain in contact with him after the conversation. To speak in general terms would appear that Krum was simply through with Hermione after this year and was moving on. Also they returned very shortly and this type of conversation, in which Krum would have had to convince Hermione that she was in love with someone else, would take a bit of time.
3) Hermione and Krum spoke about Harry: Krum talks about what he has observed between Hermione and Harry. Remember the Second Task and how Krum tried twice to draw Hermione’s attention back to himself. He failed. We also have the confrontation between Harry and Krum in which we are given another clue, that Hermione talks about Harry often. Given the progression through Gof of Krum/Hermione/Harry interaction this is the most likely conclusion. Krum brings Hermione’s feelings to the surface and she confronts feelings that she has never felt before but we have witnessed forming, quite without her realizing it. But Krum saw it.
Which leads us to this,
Ch 37 The Beginning pg 734
“Bye, Harry!” said Hermione, and she did something she had never done before, and kissed him on the cheek.Already we hear the cries of red herring. However if we go back to the Second Task and follow our chain of events we see that this is the seal of Hermione’s caring for Harry. Having feelings for Harry that she has never had before, or realized before, she does something that she has never done before. PART SIX - ANALYSIS OF THE RED HERRINGS IN GOF
First of all I wish to say thanks to those of you who had read this far with an open mind. Parts 3 and 4 were rather massive and I appreciate those who read them both openly and honestly. Now we shall give careful consideration to some of the red herrings that I have pointed out in Gof and why they are significant.
We have identified four red herrings so far in our little study.
Ch 26 The Second Task pg 504-505
“You haff a water beetle in your hair, Herm-own-ninny,” said Krum. Harry had the impression that Krum was drawing her attention back onto himself; perhaps to remind her that he had just rescued from the lake, but Hermione brushed away the beetle impatiently and said, “You’re well outside the time limit, though, Harry......Did it take you ages to find us?”Ch 26 The Second Task pg 507
Fleur was clapping very hard too, but Krum didn’t look happy at all. He attempted to engage Hermione in conversation again, but she was too busy cheering Harry to listen.Ch 26 The Second Task pg 506
Fleur bent down, kissed Harry twice on each cheek (he felt his face burn and wouldn’t have been surprised if steam was coming out of his ears again), then said to Ron, “And you too-----you helped-----“Ch 28 The Madness of Mr. Couch Pg 552-553
“Yeah,” said Ron, looking extremely hopeful, “yeah, a bit-----“
Fleur swooped down on him too and kissed him. Hermione looked simply furious,
“I vant to know,” he said glowering, “vot there is between you and Hermy-own-ninny.”I only count four but we could break the last one down into two. But lets stick with four for now. I should say four from Gof there is one more I’d like to add from OotP;
Harry, who from Krum’s secretive manner had been expected something much more serious than this, stared up at Krum in amazement.
“Nothing,” he said. But Krum glowered at him, and Harry, somehow struck anew by how tall Krum was elaborated. “We’re just friends. She’s not my girlfriend and she never has been. It’s just that Skeeter woman making things up.”
“Hermy-own-ninny talks about you very often,” said Krum, looking suspiciously at Harry.
“Yeah,” said Harry, “because we’re friends.”
He couldn’t quite believe he was having this conversation with Viktor Krum, the famous International Quiddich player. It was as though the eighteen-year-old Krum thought he, Harry, was an equal—a real rival----
Ch 18 Dumbledore’s Army Pg 391
“Harry’s leader,” said Cho at once, looking at Hermione as though she were mad, and Harry’s stomach did yet another back flip.Wrong again there Harry. Cho was jealous of Hermione.
Now I added the OotP red herring to show that the continuity of the red herrings is still there. Why? Because JKR wants to keep us guessing is the most likely answer. Therefore we may also say that it is the most correct answer. But there is another reason to these red herrings. They establish the fact that Harry himself has not made the connection. Harry has yet to see that Hermione does have feelings for him. The closest he came to putting the pieces of the puzzle together himself, was when he was talking to Krum and began to see himself as a rival, only to be interrupted. So there is a twofold purpose to these red herrings;
1) To throw us off the track
2) To show us that Harry hasn’t realized himself what Hermione feels about him.
To simplify these red herrings so that we may see the truth has been the goal of this essay so an attempt to break them down follows.
The Red Herring at the Second Task
The difficulty with this particular red herring is that if requires one to work in reverse. The logic does not go A>>B>>.C rather C>>B>>A, however it still runs in a logical line and leads us to our conclusion. As we tend to think A>>B>>C this is a classic red herring for many of us do not start with the last clue and work our way backwards in order to solve our puzzle. So for this analysis let us start with our last clue in order to see the solution to our puzzle.
Ch 37 The Beginning Pg 728
“Exactly,” said Hermione. “And Viktor pulled a beetle out of my hair after we’d had our conversation by the lake.”I have made a slight adjustment to this scene to show you exactly what I mean. I have bolded, emphasized, and underlined the word after. So with the help of a relatively crude diagram we can hope to show you the truth
Hermione and Krum’s conversation took place before the beetle was removed from Hermione’s hair.
With our next clue we establish what the conversation was about;
Ch 27 Padfoot Returns pg 514
“And he did say he’d never felt the same way about anyone else,” Hermione went on, going so red now that Harry could almost feel the heat coming for her, “but how could Rita Skeeter have heard him?”With this piece of evidence we can place another piece of our puzzle in place, what the conversation was about. So we return to our little recap;
Hermione and Krum’s conversation about Krum having feelings for her that he had never felt for anyone else and inviting Hermione to visit him took place before the beetle was removed from Hermione’s hair.
Which now leads us to our final piece of our puzzle.
Ch 26 The Second Task pg 504-505
“You haff a water beetle in your hair, Herm-own-ninny,” said Krum. Harry had the impression that Krum was drawing her attention back onto himself; perhaps to remind her that he had just rescued from the lake, but Hermione brushed away the beetle impatiently and said, “You’re well outside the time limit, though, Harry......Did it take you ages to find us?”We can now establish when this conversation took place. Between their coming out of the lake and this moment in the book;
Hermione and Krum’s conversation about Krum having feelings for her that he had never felt for anyone else and inviting Hermione to visit him took place before the beetle was removed from Hermione’s hair. This conversation took place before this part of the book;
Ch 26 The Second Task pg 504-505
“You haff a water beetle in your hair, Herm-own-ninny,” said Krum.Now why is this of interest to us. All of the other events of the Second Task take place after this conversation. Then we are mislead by Harry and JKR here:
Harry had the impression that Krum was drawing her attention back onto himself; perhaps to remind her that he had just rescued from the lake,so that we don’t make the connection. That despite Krum’s admission Hermione is focused on Harry and Harry alone. By failing to make this connection we do not see all the other pieces of evidence that surround the Second Task. Take a brief minute and reflect. If the story had run along these lines;
Harry walks up to Hermione and Krum.
Krum has just finished telling Hermione how he feels and asks her to visit him.
Harry has heard it, so now we have heard it.
Hermione turns away from Krum and begins to cheer and focus on Harry.
What conclusion would we come away with?
This did happen and precisely in this manner. However JKR did not write it openly. We had to piece this puzzle together.
If you pause to look another piece of evidence at the Second Task;
Ch 26 The Second Task pg 506
Fleur bent down, kissed Harry twice on each cheek (he felt his face burn and wouldn’t have been surprised if steam was coming out of his ears again), then said to Ron, “And you too-----you helped-----“We have already seen that Hermione is focused on Harry in this part of the book and we have noted the grammar, and then look a little further down the page at this;
“Yeah,” said Ron, looking extremely hopeful, “yeah, a bit-----“
Fleur swooped down on him too and kissed him. Hermione looked simply furious,
Ch 26 The Second Task pg 507
Fleur was clapping very hard too, but Krum didn’t look happy at all. He attempted to engage Hermione in conversation again, but she was too busy cheering Harry to listen.You will see it established that Krum is attempting to talk to Hermione again but she seems to be in a bit of a cheering contest with Fleur. Once again too centered on Harry to listen to Krum.
Now to look at our other little red herring.
Ch 28 The Madness of Mr. Couch Pg 552-553
“I vant to know,” he said glowering, “vot there is between you and Hermy-own-ninny.”By now I hope that I have managed to show you the wrong conclusion that Harry came to in the Second Task. Here we find another wrong conclusion by Harry at this part of the story,
Harry, who from Krum’s secretive manner had been expected something much more serious than this, stared up at Krum in amazement.
“Nothing,” he said. But Krum glowered at him, and Harry, somehow struck anew by how tall Krum was elaborated. “We’re just friends. She’s not my girlfriend and she never has been. It’s just that Skeeter woman making things up.”
“Hermy-own-ninny talks about you very often,” said Krum, looking suspiciously at Harry.
“Yeah,” said Harry, “because we’re friends.”
He couldn’t quite believe he was having this conversation with Viktor Krum, the famous International Quiddich player. It was as though the eighteen-year-old Krum thought he, Harry, was an equal—a real rival–
“We’re just friends. She’s not my girlfriend and she never has been. It’s just that Skeeter woman making things up.”however with a little analysis we can see through this red herring. This one will be simpler as we can work in the fashion better suited to our reasoning A>>B>>C.
Why Harry’s conclusion is wrong.
I am not going to go into the events surrounding the Second Task again. I have dealt with these events in complete detail in the other parts of this essay. Rather we can resort to a simple time line that will help to shed the light upon this red herring;
*Chapter 19 The Hungarian Horntail – The first Rita Skeeter article appears proclaiming Harry and Hermione to be a couple. Pg 315 US
*Chapter 20 The First Task – Krum is still coming into the Library to work up the courage to approach Hermione. Pg 339 US
*Chapter 23 The Yule Ball – We are first introduced to the fact that Hermione and Krum are dating. Pg 413 US
*Chapter 24 Rita Skeeter’s Scoop – Hermione points out that Krum is really nice once you get to know him. Pg 444 US
*Chapter 26 The Second Task – Krum’s admission of feelings for Hermione. Pg 504 US
*Chapter 27 Padfoot Returns – The second Rita Skeeter article appears proclaiming Hermione to be a scarlet woman toying with both Harry and Krum. Pg 512
*Chapter 28 The Madness of Mr. Couch – Krum confronts Harry about Hermione. Points out that Hermione talks about Harry often. Pg 552
*Chapter 37 The Beginning – The Krum/Hermione conversation takes place. Krum initiates the conversation. Hermione returns shortly with an unreadable look upon her face. Pg 725 US
*Chapter 37 The Beginning – Hermione kisses Harry. Pg 734 US
A brief examination of this time line helps us to see the Red Herring established in Chapter 28 when Krum confronts Harry. We can easily see that after the first article has come out Krum has not yet asked Hermione to go to the Yule Ball with him. So Krum is not basing his decision to ask Hermione out based on the article. If he was then there would be no need for the confrontation that takes place between Harry and Krum because Krum would have had to eliminate that possibility before he asked Hermione out. This leads us to 2 conclusions,
1) Krum is not reading Rita’s articles
2) Krum is not basing his decisions on Rita’s articles.
Given these possibilities how can one say that Krum is basing his suspicion on Rita’s articles? One can’t. Krum is not basing his decision to ask a girl out that he hardly knows on the article, therefore Krum is not basing his suspicions of a girl that he now knows better based on an article. To claim that Krum is basing one decision separate from the articles and the second one based on the articles is far fetched to say the least.
By looking at the Hermione/Krum relationship separate from the Rita articles we see a rather interesting fact indeed. Hermione and Krum’s relationship progresses quite normally and naturally from the Yule Ball to the Second Task. After the Second Task and before the Third Task we get a clue that things between Hermione and Krum have hit a bit of a snag. By examination of the text we have seen what the snag was. We have also seen that Krum is basing his suspicion independent of Rita’s articles. Therefore Harry’s statement that it is merely Rita making things up is wrong. Therefore it is a red herring. CONCLUSION First I would like to thank all who helped out with this theory Turambar, Perdy, BabyMars, FlyingPhoenix, AvadaKadava, Sirius 83, Mad Eye Mike, Grace Granger, Earendil, Evaluna, Ecthelion, and the members of the Harmony. Thank you for your hard work, criticism, suggestions, support and most of all time. Thanks again. JKR is a excellent writer who loves a good mystery and a terrific plot twist. She writes the Harry Potter series in the 3rd person limited. This style of narration (along with the first person narrative) is often favored by mystery and suspense writers as it allows them to focus their audience on the clues but give them misleading conclusions and steers their captive readers away from the final conclusion. By doing this the writer misleads without conning the reader, as all to often happens when a mystery, or suspense, is written from the omniscient narrative. In our case we have seen how JKR has achieved this in Gof, showing us Hermione having feelings for Harry while effectively steering us away from realizing this. My purpose in this essay was to show you the pieces of the puzzle that JKR has scattered throughout Goblet of Fire and to assemble these pieces to the best of my ability in order to show you the completed picture. I am aware that one piece of the puzzle remains safely in the hands of JKR, the conversation with Krum, but hopefully I have assembled enough pieces of the puzzle around the conversation to at least present you with a general outline of what that pieces looks like.