Harry Potter and God

[Carol]

Kemper now:
> Don't get me wrong! I enjoyed reading GOF and rereading it and rereading it and ....  OP is the most difficult book for me to read because of PTSD!Harry... and Grawp.  God blessed it, that chapter is long!  Out of my 5 or 6 reads of the book, I've only read it once.
> 
> But back to topic.  OP, imo, is a structurally well put together story with few if any blaring plot holes that one might stumble on and twist the ankle.  GOF has a huge one for me.  Moody!CrouchJr and Voldemort waiting until the last task to whisk away Harry when they could've easily done in on September 2nd.  I know it's been argued that LV is a famewhore, but still.  I don't buy it.  
> 
> So, Carol, as someone in the print world, which book do you think is tighter as far as story goes?
  
Carol responds:

That's a good question and not one I can answer to my own satisfaction without closely examining the two books again. GoF does rely to some degree on the TWT as an organizational device, but not as blatantly as the movie does, because it also (like all the books, even, to a slight degree, DH) is organized around the school year, meaning that other plot elements, such as the DADA-teacher subplot, can unfold naturally. OoP, of course, does the same thing, minus the TWT, with the DADA teacher turned High Inquisitor taking a rather larger than usual portion of the story. The new 12 GP setting is brought in quite naturally in summer and at Christmas, again because of the organization around the school year.

But, speaking as a reader and not as an editor or literary critic, I was caught up in the GoF story in a way that I wasn't with OoP (with exceptions--I loved the Occlumency lessons and the glimpses they gave of Snape's true loyalties, such as his anger when Harry sees the door to the Department of Mysteries, the very thing they're trying to keep him from knowing about). But even though I didn't like "Moody" (I'm one of those readers who found his teaching and disciplinary techniques disturbing, as well as his helping Harry to cheat on the TWT), I was completely fooled and reacted exactly as Harry did when "Moody" said that he'd put Harry's name in the cup. In terms of clues and red herrings and "who done it," the mystery portion of the novel was perfectly structured. My only question is who the other death (mentioned by Voldemort in the opening chapter) had to be. Were they planning to murder Mr. Crouch from the beginning? That doesn't make sense. He was already Imperiused.

I don't agree that the kidnapping could have been done at any time. It had to be when Wormtail's potion was ready (it wasn't just blood, bone, and flesh). I don't know whether he could just conjure a big stone cauldron, either. Maybe he somehow had to obtain that. Meanwhile, the WW could feel deludedly safe and Voldemort could plan what he intended to do once he called the very surprised DEs to him in the graveyard. I'm sure that Barty Jr. liked the plan, too, since it enabled him to use his cleverness and feel important.

At any rate, just calling Harry into his office and handing him a portkey at whatever time he could manage wouldn't work unless Voldemort and Wormtail were waiting in the graveyard with the potion ready. It wouldn't do to have Harry transported to the graveyard when they weren't there or just transported to the Riddle's house to lie around and be tortured while Wormtail did whatever he needed to do to get that potion ready. Some potions, as you know, take months to brew. Most likely this one, which, after all, restores Voldemort to his own body, must have been extremely complicated.

Carol, not at all bothered by that particular "plot hole"