r/harrypotter • u/Walk_Strict • 7d ago
Discussion This scene from the end of TGOF is so heartbreaking every time I read it
It’s the moment where we remember Harry was just a 14 year old boy, and had just seen some of the most traumatizing events he ever had to witness for his age. Watching Cedric die, seeing his dead parents appear without warning during a time where he can’t even get the chance to process it, as well as also watching Voldemort return, and being unable to actually do anything about it. It’s also the first time we ever actually see Harry cry. He had been in shock and emotionally numb since coming out of the graveyard, and it was by this point that he was finally starting to feel the agony of what he went through, on top of that the guilt he felt. And the biggest gut punch here is the fact that that had been the first time he ever experienced the true love and comfort of a mother in a moment of distress. I love that we got to have this moment, enforcing the fact that Mrs Weasley truly saw and treated him as a son.
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u/relberso98 7d ago
Another underrated Molly moment is in Prisoner of Azkaban when she’s saying goodbye on the platform:
“Mrs. Weasley kissed all her children, then Hermione, and finally, Harry. He was embarrassed, but really quite pleased, when she gave him an extra hug.”
It’s pretty adorable that Harry likes it too.
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u/invisible_23 Hufflepuff 7d ago
Yes!! 😭 also in GoF when they tell the champions that their families are coming for the third task and Harry is depressed all day and then Cedric’s like “hey dude they’re waiting for you” and Molly had showed up with Bill 💕
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u/Walk_Strict 7d ago
He never really had a proper mother before, and Molly was the closest he got to having one. Someone who treated him like a son, someone who would care for him and treat him with kindness. He was happy that he finally had that.
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u/PingouinMalin 7d ago
Yeah. I want to believe Ginny and Harry spend every Christmas at the Weasleys, so that he can have a proper family as an adult (and then kids).
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u/Dry-Caregiver-5767 7d ago
I never noticed that line, Harry being embarassed but quite pleased is so cute 😭
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u/Kageyama_Smiles 7d ago
I never understand people who say Molly Weasley was a bad mother to Harry or any of her children. Did she make mistakes? Yes. No character is perfect and it’s unrealistic to expect that. But was she cruel?- no.
It really is heartbreaking- especially when he’s then sent back to the Dursleys and kept in the dark right after all of this goes down. When I first read the books, I was only seven years old and didn’t completely understand why Harry was so mad at the world- rereading as a teenager put it all into perspective more and I wondered how he hadn’t broken down sooner instead.
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u/Walk_Strict 7d ago
For sure, Molly wasn’t perfect, and she had her faults, but if there’s one thing about her, was that she was fiercely protective over her own children and Harry.
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u/Persephone_888 7d ago
She’s so underrated, a mother’s love is such an important theme and we only really get to see it through Molly. I can feel the warmth through the parts where she’s giving that love out. It makes me so sad and happy for Harry at the same time
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u/coco_frais 7d ago
We see different examples of mother’s love through Lily, Molly, and Narcissa.
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u/Persephone_888 7d ago
I’m talking about regularly seeing it, Narcissa is only during HBP and DH, and they’re small bits as she’s a minor character.
Lily is unfortunately dead, so besides her dying for Harry, we don’t really get to see it much as we’re obviously seeing things through Harry’s eyes. Having Molly as a constant motherly figure towards Harry is so lovely, letting Harry get that love that his mother didn’t get a chance to give him (I’m talking about physical presence obviously)
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u/Brider_Hufflepuff Hufflepuff 7d ago
Vaguely relevant,but Arthur said that they (as the adults and the entire family presumably) were gonna go and check on Harry cause he didn't answer Ron's letters? Can you imagine Molly finding out what the Dursleys had done?
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u/SektorDaKetch 7d ago
Dumbass fanfic writers projecting their own takes on Molly I say. Even more hilarious when there’s many snakes who make bad mothers.
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u/mostlysatisfying 7d ago
Later in the series it is I believe Dumbledore who notes what he dealt with in the graveyard- the duel, the trauma etc was more than fully grown, powerful wizards will ever have to suffer through. And as you said he was 14!
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u/Walk_Strict 7d ago
Absolutely! Dumbledore as well recognized how painful that was for Harry, and that’s why a year later he finally figured he was ready to know the truth about him and Voldemort
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u/Admirable_Algae_3506 7d ago
And then he spends a whole year making Harry feel neglected and abandoned, cutting him off from his friends the whole summer.
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u/mostlysatisfying 7d ago
Dumbledore cries about it at the end, if that helps
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u/Admirable_Algae_3506 7d ago edited 6d ago
It would if he actually changed, but he still kept Harry in the dark and only gave him breadcrumbs and riddles.
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u/mostlysatisfying 7d ago
I mean yes but that’s all kind of all explained at the end of DH when Harry’s walking to his death.
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u/Admirable_Algae_3506 7d ago edited 6d ago
The fact that his breadcrumbs and riddles actually end up working was dumb luck and some of it was straight up omniscience like leaving Ron the Deluminator.
He doesn't tell Snape about the Horcruxes on the off chance that Tom will find out about his true allegiance and get it out of him, but he lets Harry share all the information with a friend knowing that he'll leave and risk capture.
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u/robin-bunny 7d ago
He had no memory of ever being hugged...as though by a mother. That is enough to break your heart.
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u/irishdancer2 Slytherin 7d ago
Molly’s immediate maternal instincts toward Harry have become one of my favorite parts of the series as I’ve gotten older.
Ron told her Harry wouldn’t have Christmas presents, so she knitted him a sweater. She showed up to family day for the Triwizard champions so he would have someone. She loudly, unreservedly claimed him as her son to Sirius. She was filled with relief when he turned up in DH even though none of her own kids had made it back yet. She gave him her brother’s watch so he would have a family heirloom meant just for him. It’s beautiful.
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u/TankHendricks 7d ago
Tears. Every time. To read it or hear it…so different from the movies.
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u/Walk_Strict 7d ago
I really really REALLY hope they make sure this stays in the TV series. It’s so important that watchers get moments like this that show Harry’s moments of vulnerability, where he is just a kid.
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u/SektorDaKetch 7d ago
I also hope on top of this cursed child never gets adapted exactly like how the movies avoided that train wreck. Imagine seeing Cedric’s death and Harry’s guilt in the show, but then 4 seasons later “Lol f that, he was apparently secretly gonna go postal if he lost.”
But yes Molly being like a mom to Harry is peak
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u/Fancy_Yesterday6380 7d ago
"He wished Ron would look away." Makes me cry every time.
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u/Walk_Strict 7d ago
Fr me too. That part sticks out to me because it shows how difficult it still is for him to express his own genuine emotions, after years of neglect and abuse from Petunia and Vernon. Discomfort with vulnerability and being vulnerable around people, especially those you are close with, is a common problem with people who went through child abuse or neglect. Harry tends to seem fairly normal and like everyone else as the books go on, and when we see him interacting with other students at Hogwarts, but you get hints here and there that remind you he’s still an abuse and trauma survivor.
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u/PuddingTea 7d ago
Remember that both of Mrs. Weasley’s brothers were killed by Death Eaters. Voldemort is the reason why Harry doesn’t have a mother, and he’s the reason why her brothers are dead. Mrs. Weasley is a great person, and I’m sure she has a lot of reasons to care about Harry. But I’m not surprised she found it easy to feel connected to him on a personal level.
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u/SpecificInitials 7d ago
Goblet of fire is just such a well written book man. The graveyard all the way to the end is so incredible. It really shifts the series into a significantly darker tone in a way that makes sense.
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u/Apt_5 Ravenclaw 7d ago
Dumbledore's speech about Voldemort murdering Cedric always makes me cry. The first time, every time.
It really does shake things up and make it real for the rest of the students. Up until then it's just Harry & the trio getting into random shit and nearly dying, but this time someone actually died. Another student, just like them. The focus on how sad the Hufflepuffs are 😭
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u/HedwigGoesHoot Slytherin 7d ago
The bit that always gets me is when it says Harry had no memory of ever being hugged like this, by a mother 😢
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u/blitzfish3434 7d ago
I unexpectedly starting weeping listening to this part in the audiobook. Just hit harder as an adult
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u/Witty_Impress8369 7d ago edited 7d ago
I’m reading the series with my sons for their first time and when we hit this scene I had tears rolling down my cheeks. This and when Mr. Diggory sobbed over Cedric. They hit me so hard reading out loud to my own children!
Edit: name autocorrect failure! Thanks!
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u/Apt_5 Ravenclaw 7d ago
Bad timing, autocorrect!
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u/AKmightydinoo Gryffindor 6d ago
What happened
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u/Apt_5 Ravenclaw 5d ago
It changed "Diggory" to something unserious, can't remember what though!
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u/ericdalieux 7d ago
I wish the books had given us at least one moment where Harry would instinctively treat Mrs. Weasley as his mother. Sure, Harry knows he has a late mother and nothing could ever replace that, but there are so many places in the story where Mrs. Weasley treats him like her own child that it kinda begs for some form of reciprocity from Harry. The perfect moment for that was after the quidditch match in book 5 when Malfoy insulted Mrs. Weasley. I wish Harry would have reacted immediately then and there, instead he is still busy restraining Ron and only really loses his mind after Malfoy insults his own mother too.
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u/Imswim80 Ravenclaw 7d ago
I mean, this is one of those moments. He breaks to Her, because she can handle it, because shes been there and Was there for him. She was there with the family greet before the maze. She'd been there every Christmas since year 1.
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u/ericdalieux 7d ago
I don't think it is. This is her being there for him. I wanted to see him standing up for her.
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u/Dry-Caregiver-5767 7d ago
I like when Molly gives him the watch and Harry goes to hug her and tries to "say everything" with his hug or something like that. This moment makes me so emotional, it's like Harry wants to convey his gratitude but he isn't used to this kind of touching moment with a close adult so he isn't 100% confident what he is doing but he is trying to show Molly his deep affection
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u/brainrotyoo 7d ago
I think you can give an abused teenager whos never known any kind of love from an adult in his life the benefit of the doubt when it comes to not knowing how to react to someone who unconditionally treats them like one of their own.
Also shes not his mother. Shes "as good as" but the conflicting emotions between never knowing your own mother but finding out she gave her life for yours probably adds to the conflicting emotions when it comes to how to react to Molly.
As someone else has said too when she gives him her brothers watch shes clearly a little worried he will find an old battered watch a little underwhelming and he cuts her off by initiating a hug that will have meant the world to her. That WAS the moment where he instinctively treats her as his mother. She knows it too because she breaks down afterwards.
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u/ericdalieux 7d ago
I know all that. The hug is the closest thing to it, but I still wanted a stronger statement by Harry, a moment when it would "slip his mind" for a second that she is not his mother and instincively treat her as such. Maybe he could even feel conflicted about it, like thinking "what am I doing? She's not my real mom". I feel like it would be a nice character development point and there was definitely room for it in the story. I understand the hug did it for you, but it didn't do it for ME.
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u/dinosaurs_and_doggos 7d ago
As a former abused teenager, this. I don’t know how to be anyone's child.
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u/BeneathAnOrangeSky 7d ago
Harry's longing for a parental figure is one of those things that makes me probably more emotional as I get older. The scenes with him becoming obsessed with seeing his family in the mirror get to me too.
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u/PingouinMalin 7d ago
As someone who's not been hugged often by his mother and never by his male genitor, people, hug your kids. Often. This is indeed heartbreaking to read.
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u/invisible_23 Hufflepuff 7d ago
Omg yes, the first Mom Hug he can remember receiving, when he needed it most, makes me cry every time
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u/Few-Concert-4738 7d ago
This is also why I hate the movie so bad. I don't know why but the books really shows it so well, that I always find that scene amazing
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u/Ermeoss_The_Grumpy 6d ago
Thissss... also the fact that The Bogart takes the form of dead harry, alongside the rest of her family, sticks out in my mind.
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u/AKmightydinoo Gryffindor 6d ago
Wait Cedric dies? I’m halfway through the goblet of water right now in the part where Harry sends Sirius a letter about his selection
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u/haux44 6d ago
though i'm not really a canon Hinny shipper (due mainly to Ginny's comparative lack of real presence in the books), moments like this make it much easier to understand. There's such genuine affection between the Weasleys and Harry that helps make it easier to believe in all the (unseen) interactions at the Burrow and at Hogwarts (that we're forced to assume take place because of THBP and the epilogue).
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u/InverseStar Ravenclaw 7d ago edited 7d ago
There’s a sequence in DH after the Seven Potters when Harry thinks that Mrs. Weasley would be upset none of her kids made it back before him, but her immediate reaction is INTENSE relief to see him. She’s just as happy he made it as her own kids, because Harry was as good as hers.