Harry Potter: 10 Amazing Chapters That Aren’t In The Movies
3. Back To The Burrow (The Goblet Of Fire)
The comedy in the Harry Potter series never gets enough credit. Rowling has a knack for writing comedic characters and putting them in amusing scenarios, and ‘Back to the Burrow’ is the funniest chapter she’s ever written.
Towards the end of the summer holidays, Mr Weasley, Ron, and the twins arrive at Privet Drive via floo powder. Unfortunately, they get stuck in the chimney because the Dursleys have an electric fire. Mr Weasley manages to magic his way out of the situation but ends up covering the Dursleys with dust and rubble.
Mr Weasley makes several brave attempts at a conversation. The Dursleys – through a combination of shock and fear – remain silent… at least to begin with. When Dudley eats one of Fred and George’s sweets, his tongue starts to swell, and the whole situation turns into chaos:
“Aunt Petunia was sobbing hysterically, tugging Dudley’s tongue as though determined to rip it out; Dudley appeared to be suffocating under the combined pressure of his mother and his tongue, and Uncle Vernon, who had lost control completely, seized a china figure from on top of the sideboard, and threw it very hard at Mr Weasley…”
The clash of Mr Weasley’s jovial personality and the Dursleys’ hysteria is what makes this chapter so funny. No matter how times you read it, it never fails to be hilarious.