Nightmare Fuel / Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

His Royal Ugliness is back!

WARNING: Spoilers are unmarked.

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• Frank Bryce's opening chapter has a few moments:
  • The Reveal that he had seen Tom Riddle, Jr., aka Lord Voldemort before he became the snake dude, before the Riddles were killed. And Frank was arrested for the crime, though fortunately the police defied Police Are Useless and let him go because there was no evidence connecting him to the deaths, especially the cause. Tom Jr. didn't see Frank as a threat, but if he had, Frank could have easily joined the dead bodies. It gets worse when Half-Blood Prince reveals that Tom framed his uncle Morfin Gaunt and brainwashed him into confessing to the murders; the Wizarding World had thought they had caught the culprit, but didn't bother telling the understandably concerned Muggle authorities.
  • The scene when Frank goes up to the Riddle House on seeing the lights on and knowing that it must be squatters. He doesn't call the police, feeling cynical about his arrest, and decides to confront what he thinks are harmless miscreants at most, like the teens that run their bikes over the lawn. He goes Oh, Crap! on listening to two men talking casually about how they murdered a woman named Bertha Jorkins and plan to capture a child named Harry Potter. It doubles as a Heartwarming Moment that Frank then decides to go to the police because this Harry Potter person needs to be protected. Then Nagini busts Frank before he can even leave, and he's forced to enter the room with Lord Voldemort, who quickly kills him.
  • Voldemort doesn't even remember Frank as the groundskeeper from all those decades ago. He's in a But for Me, It Was Tuesday moment and condescendingly addresses him as "Muggle". Frank tries to bluff and say his wife is waiting for him. Voldemort tells him he knows Frank has no wife, but admires his bravery and decides to "face him" as Frank defiantly suggests. Frank, a seasoned war veteran who went through hell once, screams on seeing Voldemort's form and gets killed mid-scream. Then his disappearance is noted in the papers, but no one finds his body. Dumbledore is the only one who checks up on him while Harry remembers him from his dream.
  • In the film, as Voldemort kills Frank, the camera cuts back to Frank's cottage where the forgotten kettle, still on the lit stove, is seen boiling over, its whistling in sync with Frank's terrible dying scream.
• It's treated as a throwaway gag, but in order for the Quidditch World Cup to be held, it was necessary to inflict amnesia and varying amounts of Mind Control on dozens of people who weren't doing anything nastier than visiting/living in an out-of-the-way bit of the moors.
• The whole scene in the book where the Death Eaters first reveal themselves at the Quidditch World Cup. Even though they don't cause any lasting harm, it's made abundantly clear that they're essentially a lynch mob with magical powers. The scene of them humiliating the Roberts family is the first of many future atrocities committed by Voldemort's followers against Muggles, and a chilling prelude. We have four powerless people, including two children, completely at the mercy of a group of racists who can do anything to them, and relish in their misery.
  • They magically levitate the family of Muggles and rotate the wife such that her underwear is exposed. It just gets worse when the Trio runs into Malfoy, who smugly informs the Muggle-born Hermione that they're targeting Muggles. From that point on, it was impossible to ignore the real-world subtext of this series.
  Malfoy: Granger, they're after Muggles. D'you want to be showing off your knickers in midair? Because if you do, hang around... they're moving this way, and it would give us all a laugh.
  Harry: Hermione's a witch!
  Malfoy: Have it your own way, Potter. If you think they can't spot a Mudblood, stay where you are.
  • And let's be honest: Malfoy's "knickers" line is about fifty times more unsettling if you're over the age of thirteen. To someone who's old enough to know about the concept of sexual harassment, Malfoy comes off like he's not-so-subtly suggesting that Hermione might be raped.
    • Which is certainly a disturbing-enough implication on its own, but the fact that Hermione is a fourteen-year-old girl just adds so much more Squick to the scene.
    • Oh, and it gets worse. These particular Death Eaters likely aren't strangers to Malfoy. The fathers of his two lackeys were probably there. Hell, his own dad was there, as Voldemort later says that Lucius's antics at the World Cup were entertaining.
    • While it's massively cut-down in the film than in the book, the Death Eater riot at the Quidditch World Cup has quite a bit of terrifying imagery. In the film, for starters, you can see the silhouettes of them marching amongst the burning tents, wearing tall pointed caps and masks and overall looking very similar to Klansmen.
• The Unforgivable Curses. They are so-called and net a lifetime sentence in Azkaban for very good reasons, especially when used on a fellow wizard/muggle:
  • The Imperius Curse. Imagine being forced to do things like mutilate yourself and kill others with it. It puts you in a blissful state where you feel removed from any concept of consequence or responsibility. In other words, not only will you do whatever the caster wants, you will be happy while you do it.
  • The Cruciatus Curse, which is painful enough that two of its victims were rendered insane for life! Harry even described it as feeling like his head was split open and his insides were lit on fire!
  • And, last but not least, Avada Kedavra AKA the Killing Curse. Lily and James sacrificed themselves to this to protect a baby Harry, and Harry sees it hit Cedric and later Dumbledore with his own eyes. The utter horror of the Killing Curse is just too mind-boggling to think, especially for Muggles. Imagine: It is a spell that is cast specifically to kill. It's like shooting point-blank with a pistol, except that pistol kills because the bullet it shoots physically wreaks havoc on the body, which depending on which region of the body it hits and how fast it's going, may not always end with fatality (though as the word says: "When you shoot, you shoot to kill"). The primary characteristic of the Killing Curse (and why it is so handy to Dark Wizards) is that it leaves no biological damage. Once you are hit by the green flash (which you will hear coming as a gush of wind), you just drop dead, your internal organs being as the same before, except that they immediately stop functioning. Not even wizards know why exactly it happens; imagine having to explain it to Muggles who have absolutely no idea why their neighbors suddenly have their life-force ripped from them as if the beings above stripped them of their right to live.
    • The Killing Curse is such an atrocity that later books note that the damage on one's soul it inflicts is a reliable way to create Horcruxes. This spell is such an abomination that not even the caster is safe from its effects.
  • During the demonstration of the Imperius Curse, "Moody" initially plays off the Imperius Curse as a playful spell by doing humorous gestures with the spider to the laughter of the students. Then "Moody" suddenly points out all the things he could force the spider to do... including jump out a window, drown herself or (in the book) launch herself down one of the student's throats. The laughter stops when the students realize why the Imperius Curse is considered unforgivable.
    • Also, when he demonstrates it on the students, he makes them do things that sound funny at first (such as Lavender imitating a squirrel or Dean singing the national anthem), but are still rather horrifying since they're being forced to do it (and he's casting it on a bunch of kids).
  • The scene where "Moody" tortures the spider is one of the most disturbing scenes in the series when put into context. Crouch Jr. was convicted as one of the Death Eaters who tortured Neville's parents into insanity, and now he is performing the same thing on a spider in front of their son Neville just to torment him, under the guise of being a concerned teacher preparing the class for life, causing him to stare at the scene in horror with wide open eyes and his knuckles white from gripping the desk. Hermione even begs for the "Moody" to stop torturing it, which leads into... AVADA KEDAVRA!. It's creepy and disturbing enough as it is, but is it possible to come to this scene with context without having nightmares?
  • In the movie, it's even worse, as we see the spider twist and screech in pain, and while Neville obviously feels sick in witnessing it, but Hermione just screams at "Moody" to stop because it's bothering him, and it's clear that she can't take it anymore either.
  • In the book, before Moody uses Avada Kedavra on the last spider, it's described as scuttling around in fear like it knows what's about to happen.
  • When Moody asks Hermione what the final Unforgivable Curse is, this is one of the few times in the series where she is hesitant to actually give an answer and she never does. She knows full well what it is, and is on the verge of tears knowing exactly what Moody was going to do to the spider.
  • Harry's reaction to Avada Kedavra is only slightly better. He instantly remembers he sometimes saw its green flash when he tried to concentrate on that fateful night and is almost as shocked as Neville. Only difference? Avada lasts for only a second. Cruciatus is prolonged.
    • The only time the effects of the curse are described in detail is in the opening of Goblet of Fire when Voldemort's human family are described as having looks of abject terror on their faces as if they had been frightened to death.
  • And then a bit of Fridge Horror kicks in; these are the "Unforgivable" Curses, right? So why is the professor so okay with a casual demonstration of them in full view of a bunch of students...? Of course, it's later revealed that the "professor" was a veteran Death Eater in disguise for almost the entire school year. Spiders be damned, Crouch didn't care what he was casting.
• The second task of the Triwizard Tournament in the Black Lake in the film adaptation. The merpeople's design and their shockingly aggressive attitude when the Berserk Button is pressed; and the unexpected appearance of Viktor Krum's transfigured shark head.
  • And the Grindylows which, despite the fact that they were only seen from a distance or below, were extremely territorial...
• Rita Skeeter. She does her own bugging. It's a creepy thought that an unscrupulous character can crawl through any crack and crevice and spy on others in the form of a beetle.
• Out of all the Nightmare Fuel in the Harry Potter series, one of the most unnerving has to be in "The Madness of Mr. Crouch". You have a possessed man, dragging himself through the forest and foaming at the mouth; talking to a tree one moment, then desperately clutching at Harry's robes the next, issuing a warning and saying his son's death was all his fault. All the while, Harry can do virtually nothing to help the situation, Viktor is useless, and Crouch Sr. mysteriously disappears.
• "I'M YOUR SON! I'M YOUR SON!" Crouch Jr. screaming and begging incite pure feelings of terror in that moment.
  • And then there's Crouch Sr.'s response. "You are no son of mine! I Have No Son!"
• The third trial in the tournament is frightening in both the book and movie. It's a giant, magic-infused maze full of dangerous creatures and tests, designed to push the competitors to their physical and mental limits.
  • In the book, Harry faces down Boggarts, Acromantulas, and Hagrid's blast-ended skrewts, and witnesses Cedric being unexpectedly tortured by an Imperius-ed Krum. And of course, after Cedric and Harry decide to both take the cup, they're whisked to the graveyard where Cedric is murdered by Wormtail.
  • The movie gives the whole scene an incredibly dark and surreal vibe as the maze itself attacks the competitors. And when it's not doing that, you're still practically alone, wondering around an endless maze that seems to cover the entire grounds, knowing that time is against you and yet trying to keep a cool head... but how long can you, by yourself? Fleur is nearly in tears and when she's attacked by Krum, the maze seems to be trying to eat her, though Harry thankfully marks her spot for help. Then Krum almost attacks Harry and the viewer can see the creepy effect of the Imperius curse on his eyes. Cedric and Harry brawling as they each try to reach the cup first is very disturbing as well, culminating in Cedric nearly being pulled under by the maze.
• The Erklings in the video game version are creepy as hell. They are known to lure children away from their parents to eat them. Oh, and they also sing this eerie melody.
• The fate of Bertha Jorkins: She's captured by Wormtail and brought to Voldemort, who then proceeds to torture her for information about the Quidditch World Cup and the Triwizard Tournament, even managing to break through the Memory Charm that Crouch Sr. placed on her. Note that he doesn't specifically mention the Cruciatus Curse; he only says "with a little persuasion," so there's no telling what methods he used to get all he needed out of her. When he's done with Bertha, her mind and body are both damaged beyond the repair of even magic and utterly useless if he tried to possess her. And so, as he describes it to the Death Eaters, he 'disposes' of her, like a bit of rubbish, then uses her death to make Nagini into a Horcrux.
• The entire graveyard scene, really, which is complete with mutilation, dead bodies, and torture.
  • The description of the first new material form of Voldemort:"It looked as though Wormtail had flipped over a rock and revealed something ugly, slimy, and blind. Only worse, a hundred times worse. [...] A crouched human child, only Harry had never seen anything that looked less like a child. It was hairless and scaly-looking, a dark, raw, reddish black. Its arms and legs were thin and feeble and its face—no child alive had ever had a face like that—flat and snakelike, with gleaming red eyes."
  • Three words: "Kill the spare". Cedric Diggory, a 17-year-old Hogwarts student who participates in a tournament that can finally raise his house's prestige with a successful Quidditch career, a caring father, and a loving girlfriend, with a compassion towards his fellow compatriot on the tournament even if it reduces his prestige and goes out his way to help him, killed because he happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. From this point onward, it begs no question of why Harry acts paranoid all the time and desperately wants no one to associate with him; he's afraid that Cedric's fate is going to befall them. Though, it also speaks an awesome moment for his friends and Ron and Hermione in particular, who stubbornly always follow him no matter how dangerous being in that position is.
  • Even worse: It was Harry who suggested that they take the cup together.
  • When Nagini speaks in the film adaptation, it sounds way too human. Thirteen years later, we find out that there may have been a good reason for this.
  • The ingredients that allow him to reincarnate have a disturbing connection to him. He harvests his own dead father's bones that he murdered for the magic ritual that would resurrect himself and even notes callously that his father finally proved himself useful after all.
• Lord Voldemort's return. It's not just the fact that he's done something incredibly dark to return. And not just the fact he had Wormtail kill a seventeen-year-old boy whom he saw as spare weight. It's because of what this MEANS. Avada Kedavra doesn't have just ONE survivor. It has TWO. One of which is THE MOST evil and vile wizard of the past century, a monster who started a war because he wanted to rule over everything. Seeing it in the film and reading it in the book doesn't change ANYTHING about what it means. And imagine Harry seeing him not in another person's body, not as a child, but what was most likely him as he looked at the height of his power, the same monster that killed his parents.
  • The books were rereleased with illustrations by Jim Kay, and the pages leading up to Voldemort's return just ooze with Nightmare Fuel, with him rising out of the cauldron depicting him as a gaunt, almost wraithlike horror, and the next chapter where he summons the Death Eaters? Two pages are dominated by Voldemort's hellish red eyes staring right at you.
• Voldemort's resurrection scene is much more nightmarish in the film than in the book. The Riddle gravestone is a statue of a skeletal Angel of Death which Wormtail animates to trap Harry with its scythe rather than tying the boy to a plain gravestone. Instead of just a bit of dust, a femur bone is levitated from Tom Riddle Sr.'s grave and ignites as it falls into the potion, and a few drops of Harry's blood is dripped off the knife with which Wormtail cut him and not more collected into a vial.
  • The film version is probably Ralph Fiennes's best performance as Voldemort. He speaks calmly and gently, even when talking about how he's going to kill Harry to prove his strength. Even his request to not wear contacts works because seeing his natural blue eyes makes you remember he Was Once a Man but not anymore...
    • Worth considering: Voldemort had no body at the beginning of the novel. By the time he arrives in the Little Hangleton graveyard, he has acquired the one described above from somewhere. Voldemort and Wormtail made what has since been referred to as the potion made with unicorn blood and venom from his devoted Nagini, but the books' editor put her foot down at Rowling's plans to reveal the full process in supplementary material because it was apparently too disturbing. Voldemort's body was incredibly feeble and required the potion regularly to sustain himself, and the result was still a deformed, monstrous excuse for a human body.
• The film version of Harry returning to the stadium with Cedric's body is both this and a Tear Jerker; everyone initially believes that this means Harry and Cedric were victorious and starts celebrating, the crowd cheering, Professor Flitwick starting the band and everything. Then Fleur gets a better look at the state the two are in and screams the minute she realizes what really happened...
• Fake!Moody reverting into Crouch Jr. and clawing at his own eye... because another eye is trying to grow in the place of the magical eye Moody had to replace his lost one. And Fridge Horror sets in that at one time, he had to go through the reverse process: turning a perfectly-functional eye into an empty socket.
  • Also, this eye itself is a little scary because it's electric blue, it can move independently from the other eye, and it can see inside Moody's head and through solid objects.
  • For some more of the Fridge Horror, there is the fact that Polyjuice Potion only lasts an hour per dose. In other words, Crouch Jr. would have almost certainly kept swapping between his disguise and real self each morning and night, since he wouldn’t be able to drink the potion while sleeping.
• Moody was locked in his trunk for the better part of a year. Anyone who fears And I Must Scream will shudder at that thought.
  • Along with the reminder that the right potion is enough to allow the user to impersonate any human and that could be anyone, not only a group of schoolchildren who wish to play heroes but also murderous cultists working as undercover agents.
  • Crouch Jr.'s sheer uncanny ability to impersonate a trusted authority figure for months on end, and to play on Harry's desire for a parental figure, is also chilling. His bout of Evil Gloating, when he reveals his actual intentions just before his real identity is exposed, is quite the jarring whiplash for both Harry and the audience.
• Crouch Sr. and Frank Bryce were actually the first true deaths in the series (after Quirrell, and Harry passed out before that guy fully expired). Both minor characters, so they're sort of skated over, but upon re-reads, it's really the first warning sign that the stakes are about to get really high.
  • And then his corpse is transformed into a bone and buried so it can never be found. And all this was done by his own son.
• The final fate of Barty Crouch Jr. Thanks to Cornelius Fudge being too spineless to even feel able to face an already neutralized criminal without backup, he brings a Dementor with him and according to McGonagall, it immediately swoops down on Crouch Jr. and he suffers the Dementor's Kiss, reducing him to an Empty Shell. Even Harry, who has just been rescued from being killed by Crouch, feels a chill when he hears what happened...
• The fact that Harry knows many of the Death Eaters present at the Graveyard, four of them are the fathers of his classmates(and in the case of three of them, bullies) whilst another is an executioner. Harry also learns that one of his OWN TEACHERS was a Death Eater, it really brings you a sense of paranoia that must have been present during the first war, where many of Voldemort’s followers remained anonymous and weren’t caught.
• Voldemort himself muses about how many will dare to come back right before summoning the Death Eaters, but it is implied that Karakoff and Snape (the former of whom may just stay away because he has betrayed Voldemort too thoroughly to expect forgiveness) are the only two ex-Death Eaters not to return. The rest of the Death Eaters who avoided Azkaban fear or revere their Ax-Crazy leader that much. In other words, Voldemort, who revels in being the most powerful and dreaded dark lord of the century, actually underestimates just how scary he is. All of this helps set the ominous stage for the Second Wizarding War in ways that even Voldemort’s past appearances and the secondhand descriptions of his crimes may not have managed.