"Get The Golden Egg" Plot Hole!

[lupinesque]

No: HPFGUIDX 37883

Anglinsbees delurked in order

> to bring up a point that struck me real hard 
> as I listent to the GOF Book on tape this morning.
> 
> Damn I'm Dense.
> So is Harry.
> So are all the triwizard Champions.
> So are We all!
> 
> Why didn't Harry just use the summoning charm he had ready to summon 
> the golden egg to himself?  If He could summon his broom all the way 
> from the castle, on a route that is certainly not direct. (It had to 
> come around the woods, after all.  Then Why not just summon the egg 
> he wants from the other side of the enclosure.

Welcome, Anglinsbees!  This is a really good question, answerable 
only, I think, by "because dragon eggs are protected by very strong 
magic and one can't just Summon one out of the nest, even if it's just 
a golden fake."  JKR doesn't explain this; I'm just speculating.  But 
it makes a lot of sense given how powerful dragons' magic is, and it's 
the kind of thing that she might leave out for the sake of 
compression.  The Triwizard Cup would be unSummonable for the same 
reason.

> I wouldn't be suprised if Moody/ Crouch was standing by, cursing the 
> obtuse Griffindor for not making the easy leap to simply summoning 
> the egg.  His conversation with Harry before hand, when he drops the 
> hints to the summoning charms could be interpreted as especially 
> subtle manupulation.  He asks Harry what he is good at. (Build up 
> their confidence.) Then drops a suggestion- a simple spell to "GET 
> WHAT YOU NEED!"  

I love the image of FakeMoody fretting at the first task, his stomach 
acids churning, but if the intent of his hint was to get Harry to just 
summon the darn egg, why did he bring up "Play to your strengths" and 
seize on flying?  No, I think Harry got the hint exactly as it was 
intended.  Moody knows you can't Summon a dragon's egg away from her.

You aren't the only one who's noticed that Accio! opens up a world of 
possibilities and, possibly, plot holes.  E.g. a lot of people have 
asked why Harry didn't simply Accio the Map in "The Egg and the Eye" 
(he might've been able to Accio the egg, too).  Other than "because it 
would end a terrific scene before it even got started" <g>, a common 
answer is "because he was totally rattled and just didn't think of 
it."

> He is told in the tent that his task is to "Get the golden Egg" 
> Not 'Get past the dragon.'  or 'Prove your bravory by getting the 
> egg in as showy a way as possible."  Just "Get the Golden Egg" 

Now this is a question I have.  Harry seems to know nothing about the 
rules of this thing except "get the golden egg" (presumably "and live 
to tell the tale" is a part of that <g>), but there's at least one 
other rule:  try not to let the other eggs be damaged (Viktor loses 
points for having done so).  I know none of the champions probably 
cares any more than Harry does about such niceties--they just want to 
get through this thing alive, never mind any points--but still, you'd 
think Bagman would have told them, right?  I suppose this is another 
case of compression, but it always jars me a bit.  I need a line 
in the tent scene like "Bagman was telling them some other things 
about the task, but Harry was too numb to listen."

Amy Z
who would really like to learn beekeeping