Goblet of Fire

Instead of posting a plothole, this time I’m going to try to solve one.  I only had one minor gripe with PoA (having to do with butterbeer), so we’re on to GoF.  The biggest plothole that folks have mentioned from GoF is the use of the Triwizard Cup by Faux Moody as the portkey as Harry’s invite to Lord Thingy’s second birthday party.  Why such a complicated process?  Why wait so long?  Why chance Harry not being the one to touch it?  Why couldn’t Crouch, Jr. have just passed him something in a little office chat at some point earlier in the year? 

Well, obviously the book wouldn’t have been anywhere near as long, so it could have simply been a plot necessity.  But I’m going to make some suggestions that might help us make more sense of it. 

Voldemort’s Power:  While Wormtail suggested that they could use someone other than Harry and get the thing done with a lot quicker, it is rather evident that Baby-mort was gaining power throughout the course of the book.  The Dark Mark tattoos kept getting clearer throughout, as we heard from both Karkarov and Snape.  Frequent mentions were made about Dumbledore “reading the signs.”  It seems a reasonable explanation that Voldemort wanted to wait long enough to achieve a certain amount of regained strength, even in his defeated form, before the re-birth occurred.  We have no idea what kind of magic took place in that cauldron, but it might indeed be a process that could have failed had Babymort not been strong enough.

Voldemort’s Planning: Voldemort is very patient and cunning.  As the symbol of pure evil in the series, it’s likely that we can draw some parallels between him and the current world threat of terrorism, which also embodies one of the clearest forms of present-day evil.  And we know terrorists are patient and cunning.  They are willing to wait as long as it takes to make sure their plans go correctly. 

As such, it would also make sense for Harry to grasp a portkey at a time when it would not be noticed that he was missing.  Were Harry expected in a class, at lunch, or back in the common room after an office meeting with Faux Moody, people would have noticed he was missing.  At the Third Task, however, no one had any idea how long it would take the champions to find the cup.  The whole plan moved him at significant distance from Dumbledore and the rest of the school, ironically, during the very time that they were most aware of Harry’s absence!

Crafty fella, that Voldemort.

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