Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire | Chapter 9 Summary

Chapter Nine

The Dark Mark

 

The excited crowds from the quidditch match return to their campsites to celebrate. Harry, Hermione, Ron and the Weasleys all fall asleep to the sound of raucous celebration. Just as Harry is having a nice dream about being the seeker winning the Quidditch Cup, Mr. Weasley is jerking everyone awake, saying that they all have to leave immediately. As Harry steps out of the tent, he notices that everyone seems to be fleeing. Suddenly, Harry notices a masked and hooded group of wizards marching along eerily, acting as puppeteers of the muggle campsite manager and his family who were floating above the masked figures. Mr. Weasley tells the kids to stick together as he vows to “help the Ministry,” leaving the children to make their own way to the safety of the woods. They meet up with Malfoy who looks totally relaxed. They decide that Malfoy’s dad just might be one of the masked figures. Harry loses his wand and the friends notice Winky, the house elf, running for cover but being held back by an invisible force. Hermione gets angry at elf treatment and vows to do something about it. 

The group makes it to the woods and finds Ludo Bagman looking pale and worried before dissaparating into thin air. Suddenly, they get to a clearing and hear a wizard shouting a spell that puts a strange marking of green into the air. The huge marking is shaped like a skull with a snake protruding from its mouth. Screaming ensues, and Hermione warns that the skull was “the Dark Mark” calling Voldemort’s followers together. Barty Crouch, Arthur Weasley and the others from the Ministry of Magic arrive and Crouch accuses Harry and his gang for conjuring the Dark Mark, . . . until Winky is found unconscious on the ground with Harry’s wand making Crouch and Harry look responsible. Winky is revived and admits finding the wand but denies conjuring the Dark Mark, but Harry’s wand that she holds reveals it to be the last spell cast. Crouch insists on dealing with Winky himself, which would not be the usual course of events (and casts a bit of suspicion on the very important Crouch). Harry is given his wand back as Hermione rails on about the treatment of Winky. 

As the group gets back to the tent, Mr. Weasley talks about how the Dark Mark was seen each time the Death Eaters killed someone: everyone’s worst fear realized. The Death Eaters turn out to be Voldemort’s followers, the masked men who were marching through the camp and puppeting the muggles; however, it seems that this time the Dark Mark actually scared them away because all of the followers had denied the Dark Lord in order to return to daily live (and escape Azkaban prison). Harry lies awake in the tent worrying about the night’s events.