“It’s slavery, that’s what it is! That Mr. Crouch made her go up to the top of the stadium, and she was terrified, and he’s got her bewitched so she can’t even run when they start trampling tents! Why doesn’t anyone do something about it?”
Hermione expresses outrage to Harry and Ron about the plight of house-elves, which becomes especially clear to her in the extreme moment of crisis that is the terrorist attack on the campgrounds after the Quidditch World Cup. Winky, a house-elf, is unable even to run for safety because she is bound to obey the command of her Master, despite the fact that it puts her life in grave danger.
“Oh I would never dream of assuming I know all Hogwarts’ secrets, Igor,” said Dumbledore amicably. “Only this morning, for instance, I took a wrong turning on the way to the bathroom and found myself in a beautifully proportioned room I have never seen before, containing a really rather magnificent collection of chamber pots. When I went back to investigate more closely, I discovered that the room had vanished. But I must keep an eye out for it. Possibly it is only accessible at five-thirty in the morning. Or it may only appear at the quarter moon—or when the seeker has an exceptionally full bladder.”
This quote is Dumbledore's irreverent response to Igor Karkaroff's serious reproach of Viktor Krum. Krum describes Durmstrang to his fellow champions, and Karkaroff tells him to stop describing the school for fear that he may give away their secret location. Dumbledore's anecdote foreshadows the appearance of the Room of Requirement in book five.
He knew immediately, from the look Ron was giving him, that he was once again revealing his ignorance of the wizarding world. Brought up by the Dursleys, there were many things that wizards took for granted that were revelations to Harry, but these surprises had become fewer with each successive year. Now, however, he could tell that most wizards would not have said “So what?” upon finding out that one of their friends had a giantess for a mother.
This account describes Harry's internal thought process when Ron tells him that Hagrid is part-giant. Harry, who was not raised in the wizarding world, does not know the connotation of being part-giant. Ron, however, is raised with the stereotype that giants are violent creatures easily swayed to the dark side. This passage demonstrates Harry's status as an outsider to the wizarding world, despite his defining role in it.
“Well, I thought he must be,” she said, shrugging. “I knew he couldn’t be pure giant because they’re about twenty feet tall. But honestly, all this hysteria about giants. They can’t all be horrible. . . . It’s the same sort of prejudice that people have toward werewolves. . . . It’s just bigotry, isn’t it?”
Hermione's quote is a direct counterpoint to Ron's fearful communication to Harry about Hagrid's giant background. Hermione, also not raised in the wizarding world and steeped in wizarding stereotypes, but also well-read and self-educated about the politics of the wizarding world, attributes the negative perception of giants to bigotry.
“She’s got the measure of Crouch better than you have, Ron. If you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”
Sirius refers to the way that Barty Crouch treats his house-elf, Winky. His statement is, of course, ironic in that Sirius owns a house-elf too.
“All those substitutes for magic Muggles use—electricity, computers, and radar, and all those things — they all go haywire around Hogwarts, there’s too much magic in the air. No, Rita’s using magic to eavesdrop, she must be. . . . If I could just find out what it is . . . ooh, if it’s illegal, I’ll have her . . .”
This quote from Hermione contextualizes Muggle technology in an interesting way, from a wizard's perspective. Hermione refers to electricity and computers as "substitutes for magic." These technologies are ways for humans to organize their lives and also ways to make work easier and more efficient, so it is a surprising comparison for Hermione to make, since ease and convenience seem to be side-effects of magic, but surely not the purpose of it.
"One simply siphons the excess thoughts from one’s mind, pours them into the basin, and examines them at one’s leisure. It becomes easier to spot patterns and links, you understand, when they are in this form.”
Dumbledore explains to Harry the function and benefit of the Pensieve. Dumbledore's claim that the Pensieve allows him to "spot patterns and links" further emphasize his extreme solipsism and omniscience as an authority figure in this literary universe. He can literally go back to his memories and tour them, as if they are exhibits as a museum, observing himself and others as an invisible third-party.
Lying in the darkness, Harry felt a rush of anger and hate toward the people who had tortured Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom. . . . He remembered the jeers of the crowd as Crouch’s son and his companions had been dragged from the court by the Dementors. . . . He understood how they had felt. . . . Then he remembered the milk-white face of the screaming boy and realized with a jolt that he had died a year later. . . .
This passage demonstrates the complicated emotions Harry feels regarding crime and punishment. On the one hand, Neville is his friend, and he's seen what the Cruciatus curse is capable of doing to a person. On the other hand, he knows Barty Crouch Jr.'s history, and he can vaguely understand how his upbringing might have driven him to his wayward path.
“He will stay, Minerva, because he needs to understand,” said Dumbledore curtly. “Understanding is the first step to acceptance, and only with acceptance can there be recovery. He needs to know who has put him through the ordeal he has suffered tonight, and why.”
Dumbledore refuses to let Harry leave the room before he interrogates Barty Crouch Jr. Dumbledore believes that in order to heal from the trauma of the Triwizard Tournament, Harry must learn the circumstances that led to his participation.
“Every guest in this Hall,” said Dumbledore, and his eyes lingered upon the Durmstrang students, “will be welcomed back here at any time, should they wish to come. I say to you all, once again—in the light of Lord Voldemort’s return, we are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided. Lord Voldemort’s gift for spreading discord and enmity is very great. We can fight it only by showing an equally strong bond of friendship and trust. Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open.
Dumbledore gives a speech during the Leaving Feast, which is uncharacteristically somber this year given the death of Cedric Diggory during the Tournament. Dumbledore's speech prepares his students (and Rowling's reader) for a much darker chapter in the wizarding world than they are used to. The speech addresses the recent return of Lord Voldemort and emphasizes the importance of unity and tolerance amongst wizards of different cultures and backgrounds in order to combat Voldemort's divisive, bigoted campaign against wizards of mixed or Muggle origins.
