Skip to main content

Why didn't Harry use the Summoning Charm to retrieve the Marauders' Map in GoF?


In my humble opinion, the turning point in Goblet of Fire, or maybe the whole of the Potter series, was when:



  • Harry was wandering around in Hogwarts in the middle of night with the Marauder's Map

  • Impostor Moody/Barty Crouch Jr searching Snape's office for Polyjuice Potion's ingredients


  • Harry wondering why would Barty Crouch Sr be inside Snape's office at that time

  • Snape catching Harry in the dark without warning

  • Marauder's Map flying away from Harry's hand and landing on the floor

  • Moody/Crouch Jr approaching and saving Harry from Snape

  • Snape leaves, Moody/Crouch Jr picks up the Map and takes a look at it and leaves him stupefied (pun unintended) for a moment as he realises he was so close to becoming unmasked...


Now, the question is why didn't Harry use the Summoning Charm to get the Map from the floor? He still held his wand if I'm not mistaken; a quick and quiet "Accio" from underneath the Invisibility Cloak should have served the purpose.


Harry had not too earlier proved to be quite an expert at the Summoning Charm itself, when he summoned his Broom (which was locked up far away inside the school, so it should have needed one of the best Summoning Charms for it to break away the chains binding it) when facing the dragon for the first task.


If Harry had really used the Charm for getting the Map, then of course as the impostor Moody approached, Harry would've seen that the Map was still showing Barty Crouch, and he would have realized it was an impostor and alerted Dumbledore. This would have prevented Cedric's murder and ultimately stopped Voldemort's return, at least for the time being, as Voldemort needed Harry to complete his return to his original form. The whole series would have taken another course.


So, why didn't Harry use the Charm, which should have been in the top of his mind coming out fresh from the first task? Did he just miss using it at that particular moment, or would it not have worked from underneath the Cloak?





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

harry potter - What is the difference between Diffindo and Sectumsempra?

In the Harry Potter books, Diffindo is called the 'Severing Charm' and it’s most commonly used to cut ropes and the like. However, in the last book Hermione uses it on Ron but misses, creating a 'slash in his jeans' and his knee gets cut, causing him to 'roar in pain'. We've only seen Sectumsempra used once on screen when Harry directly uses it on Malfoy in the sixth book, but there it's mentioned that he is 'waving his wand wildly'. Wouldn't Diffindo, if used in such a fashion also cause a similar effect? Similarly, if it was able to cut Ron, it would also be able to, say, chop off an ear (George's)? In that case, how are these two spells different, except for Sectumsempra seemingly used exclusively to hurt humans? Answer While Diffindo and Sectumsempra both can be countered by other spells, Diffindo is far more easily countered. Reparo, a relatively common spell, can completely reverse its effect when used once. “He pulled the old cop...
Post a Comment
Read more

aliens - Interstellar Zoo story

I vaguely remember this story from my childhood: it was about an interstellar zoo that came to Earth with lots of bizarre and unusual species, and humans would file through and gape at all the crazy looking creatures from other planets. The twist came at the end when the perspective shifted to the other side of the bars and we discovered that the "creatures" were traveling through space on a kind of safari. They thought they were the visitors and we were the animals. Neither side knew that the other side thought they were the zoo creatures. Answer Got it. Zoo, by Edward D. Hoch. Published in 1958. Link to Publication History Link to PDF
Post a Comment
Read more

harry potter - How could Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra?

I want to be very careful about how I ask this question – I am not asking How did Voldemort die? [CLOSED] Below the text is the relevant passages from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows if anyone wants to review them (I'm sorry for the amount of text). How did Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra and kill Voldemort? I feel the reason Harry's Expelliarmus overpowered Voldemort's Avada Kedavra curse has to do with who was master of the Elder Wand and how the Elder Wand works. I've always had trouble understanding fully how the Elder Wand works, though. How much did the fact that Voldemort never truly won or mastered the Elder Wand factor into how Expelliarmus reacted to Avada Kedavra and caused Avada Kedavra to rebound and kill Voldemort? An answer based in book canon would be especially welcome, but any canon source really is fine. Harry heard the high voice shriek as he, too, yelled his best hope to the heavens, pointing Draco’s wand: ‘ Avada Kedavra !’ ‘ Expelliarmus !...
Post a Comment
Read more