Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Goblet of Fire/Chapter 34
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[edit] Overview
Title: Priori Incantatem
[edit] Synopsis
As ordered, Wormtail removes Harry's gag, and with a single slash of his new hand, cuts the bonds. Harry considers running, but his injured leg is still weak, and Death Eaters are closing in, filling the gaps where some are missing. Wormtail retrieves Harry's wand from near Cedric's body, and roughly thrusts it at Harry.Voldemort asks if Harry knows how to duel, telling him the first step is to bow to each other. When Harry stands mute, Voldemort raises his wand, forcing Harry to bend forward. "And then, we duel," says Voldemort; and Harry is again in unbelievable pain as Voldemort uses the Cruciatus curse. When the pain stops, Harry recovers his feet. Shaking, he falls into the wall of Death Eaters who push him back into the circle's center. Voldemort asks if that hurt and would he like a bit more. Harry remains mute, knowing it does not matter; Voldemort is going to kill him. Voldemort casts the Imperius curse to force a response and is impressed when Harry resists it. As Voldemort raises his wand again, Harry ducks behind Tom Riddle's gravestone, hearing it crack as the curse hits it.
Saying they are not playing "hide and seek," Voldemort asks if Harry wants to end it quickly. Harry, not wanting to die while crouched subserviently, stands up and casts the the only dueling spell he knows as Voldemort hurls the killing curse. The wands' streams meet in mid-air, fusing into a single, golden beam. Harry and Voldemort are lifted into the air and set down some distance away from Riddle's headstone. They are surrounded by a dome of golden light. Voldemort, taken aback by what has happened, orders the Death Eaters to do nothing. Harry hears a familiar sound: a Phoenix song. It speaks of Dumbledore and says: Don't break the connection. Beads of golden light appear on the wands' connection. As one approaches Harry, he feels his wand heat up and fears it will explode. Concentrating, he forces the bead away, and it begins moving towards Voldemort. As a bead reaches Voldemort's wand, screams are heard, and a smoky replica of Wormtail's silvery hand appears. More screams, and the ghostly head, torso, and finally legs of Cedric Diggory emerge from Voldemort's wand.
Harry grips his wand tightly as, amidst more screams, Cedric is joined by an old man that Harry saw in a dream, and Bertha Jorkins. Harry's father and mother appear next; Voldemort becomes fearful as his victims prowl around him. Lily Potter quietly tells Harry that when the wands' connection is broken their spirit echoes can only remain a few moments to protect him as he escapes to the Portkey. Cedric asks Harry to take his body to his parents. At his father's command, Harry breaks the connection. The golden dome disappears, and the spirits converge on Voldemort. Dodging curses, Harry sprints to Cedric's body. Reaching it, Harry Summons the Triwizard Cup. As it touches his hand, he is pulled from the graveyard, hearing Voldemort's furious screams as he is whisked to Hogwarts.
[edit] Analysis
The themes of life, death, and rebirth are seen throughout the series as Harry is confronted by and struggles with not only loss and grief, but a tantalizing hope that magic can restore dead loved ones to him, just as it has resurrected Voldemort, although it was powerful Dark magic that revived him. This hope to be reunited with his parents is born by Harry's encounter with their spirit echoes that were released from Voldemort's wand. For the first time, Harry is able to communicate directly with James and Lily, and they, in turn, are able to protect their son. Even though their powers may be limited, the shades are unafraid – Voldemort can no longer harm them – though he apparently fears them. He also now fears Harry who, being the stronger wizard, forced the interlocking magical streams backwards into Voldemort's wand, a feat Voldemort never anticipated. The Potters and the other spirits disgorged from Voldemort's wand were, collectively, able to protect Harry long enough for him to escape as they perpetrated their retribution upon Voldemort for having stolen their lives.
Throughout the series, ghosts have mostly been seen as benign but ineffectual spirits floating through Hogwarts, seemingly limited to observing the living world, occasionally providing important information, but unable to actively participate in human affairs. Here it is shown that spirits actually can play a more significant role by directly influencing events from beyond the grave. Harry may also have been aided by a living person – Dumbledore is mentioned in the Phoenix song. If Dumbledore is somehow communicating with Harry, then it is logical to conclude that it was Fawkes' song that Harry heard during the Priori Incantatem. Could Fawkes have detected Harry's danger, just as he did in Chamber of Secrets? This may be what occurred here, although there could be an additional reason why it was Fawkes' song that was heard, one that may be tied to something that both Harry and Voldemort possess.
It is unclear yet if these spirit echoes are actually ghosts or something else. Also, the order in which Voldemort's victims appear from the wand is slightly wrong. Harry's father died first, and therefore should have emerged last from Voldemort's wand. The author has stated that she had originally written it that way, but her American editor, who was almost always right about such details, had questioned it at the end of a marathon editing session, and short on sleep, she had agreed to change it.
This is the first time that Harry and Voldemort actually duel. Before this, the disembodied Voldemort had ordered others to fight for him. Throughout the series, Harry and Voldemort duel each other on four occasions, including this time in the cemetery.
[edit] Questions
- Why does Harry hear the Phoenix song? Why is Harry reminded of Dumbledore?
- What causes the streams from Harry and Voldemort's wands to interconnect? Who and what are the images that spill out from Voldemort's wand?
- Why does Voldemort fear the spirits? Does he also fear Harry? If so, why?
- Why are Harry and Voldemort's wands considered "brothers"?
[edit] Greater Picture
Why does Harry hear the Phoenix song? Recall what lies within his wand's core: one of only two tail feathers from a particular Phoenix. The other feather is within Voldemort's wand, making them "brothers." The Phoenix who gave the feathers, as revealed shortly, is Fawkes.
The images that appear during the Priori Incantatem are not actually ghosts, but the "spirit echoes" or shades of victims killed with Voldemort's wand, although each person's essence is retained somewhat. A wand records the former spells that it has performed, and under certain circumstances, those spells can be shown in the reverse order they were cast. In this case, the spell being retrieved from the wand is the killing curse, which separates soul from body, so the spell's echo represents the separated soul.
