What school name was used to enter Harry into the Goblet of Fire?

Question

"It would have needed an exceptionally strong Confundus Charm to bamboozle that goblet into forgetting that only three schools compete in the tournament... I'm guessing they submitted Potter's name under a fourth school, to make sure he was the only one in his category..."
— Alastor Moody

I know this is a seemingly unimportant detail, but it has bothered me ever since I first read the book years and years ago. What was the name of the fake school that was written on the slip of paper to assure Harry would be picked? Has this ever been revealed?

My guess is that it was either "H0gwarts" or "Hogwarts " (with a space on the end). — Valorum, May 30 '16 at 22:53
@Valorum I personally like the 'camel case school', hogWarts. — kuhl, May 31 '16 at 01:35
@Mooz well I wouldn't describe a SQL injection as "way beyond the talents of a fourth year" :) — A. Darwin, May 31 '16 at 05:43
Something tells me that the Goblet of Fire doesn't use SQL though. — Thomas Jacobs, May 31 '16 at 10:40
@A.Darwin Crouch is a government official. When was the last time you met one of those who knew anything at all about computers? :P — Luaan, May 31 '16 at 12:23
@Luaan Hence.. http://wp.subnetzero.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/clue-1024x69.png (I don't know who originally coined it but first saw it in email from a long time mate many years ago ... though technically this is more generally about governments not having a clue - but it's in SQL ...) — Pryftan, Aug 10 '18 at 20:16

score 28 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 16 '20 at 09:31

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We don't know

We know that Crouch Jr. did indeed use this strategy, by his own admission:

“Who put your name in the Goblet of Fire, under the name of a different school? I did."

—Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

We can guess from his previous quote that he used a Confundus Charm to make the Goblet believe that four schools competed.

We know that Dumbledore must know, though:

“Anybody wishing to submit themselves as champion must write their name and school clearly upon a slip of parchment and drop it into the goblet,” said Dumbledore.

—Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Thus the name of the school must be written on the parchment.

Automatically, it seemed, Dumbledore reached out a long hand and seized the parchment. He held it out and stared at the name written upon it. There was a long pause, during which Dumbledore stared at the slip in his hands, and everyone in the room stared at Dumbledore. And then Dumbledore cleared his throat and read out —

“Harry Potter.”

—Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

But to my knowledge, nowhere in canon is it mentioned what that school was. It could have been any real school, or perhaps even a fake one.

edited Jun 16 '20 at 09:31

Community

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answered May 30 '16 at 22:14

Adamant

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Gotta disagree with your last sentence. If it was any other school, Dumbledore would have mentioned it. It was either "Hogwarts" or absent. – Valorum May 30 '16 at 23:23
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Exactly so. If a different school name was visible, Dumbledore would have realised what had happened immediately. – Valorum May 30 '16 at 23:27
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No, he's explaining how the hack worked. The school name must still have been disguised somehow. Perhaps the name of the school was blank or invisible in some way. Otherwise, why wouldn't Dumbledore have commented on it? Surely if it was anything other than Hogwarts, Dumbledore would have raised merry hell. – Valorum May 30 '16 at 23:47
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I disagree. If it said anything other than hogwarts (or was blank), that would have been a major issue. It pretty much has to have been one of those two options. – Valorum May 30 '16 at 23:53
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@Valorum - Who's to say it wasn't a big deal? It just didn't come up in the conversation that we were shown. The statement of the text seems clear. If JKR didn't think it through, so be it. – Adamant May 30 '16 at 23:55
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@Valorum - In addition, what difference would it have made? The possibilities would have been the same: Harry entered his name, or someone else entered it for him. It wouldn't have provided evidence one way or the other. – Adamant May 30 '16 at 23:58
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‘Because they hoodwinked a very powerful magical object!’ said Moody. ‘It would have needed an exceptionally strong Confundus Charm to bamboozle that Goblet into forgetting that only three schools compete in the Tournament … I’m guessing they submitted Potter’s name under a fourth school, to make sure he was the only one in his category …’** - Moody/Crouch wouldn't have needed to openly guess if the fourth school name was on the slip. – Valorum May 31 '16 at 00:03
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@Valorum - He wouldn't need to guess period, since he did it! But as to whether he would need to give the appearance of guessing, why? Dumbledore probably hadn't shown the slip to anyone yet - not to Crouch-as-Moody, anyway. Maybe he didn't at all (he is secretive). Had Harry been in the Hogwarts category, he would have competed with the other Hogwarts students for selection. Moody is clearly describing what he did there. Psychology of Dumbledore aside, the interpretation seems very clear. If you still disagree, though, maybe you could collect your comments into an answer? – Adamant May 31 '16 at 00:06
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It beggars belief that Dumbledore is the only person who's seen the slip at this point. I think you've nailed the answer, I just disagree with the very final statement since it's not supported by what seems likely. – Valorum May 31 '16 at 00:12
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In the movie, the bits of parchment came out of the Goblet partly burned; was that also true of the books? (Don't have them to hand right now.) If so, perhaps it is normal for the school name to have been burnt off? If the name of the "fourth school" was still there, or if it should have said Hogwarts but didn't, Dumbledore would have known that Harry didn't do it, wouldn't have had to ask him. – Harry Johnston May 31 '16 at 00:19
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@ valorum - it could have been Högwarts. Dumbledore mightn't have the best vision. – Scott May 31 '16 at 00:26
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He did read it out. It was "." Said it right after "Harry Potter". :-) – Eric Towers May 31 '16 at 05:25
Have to agree mostly with Richard here: if there had been anything on that slip other than Harry's name, Dumbledore would almost certainly have spoken and reacted differently. He said both school and champion name for the other three, so why not this one? The only logical conclusion, to my mind, is that the fourth school whose participation Croody Confunded the Cup into believing in had a blank name, or just no name at all. – Janus Bahs Jacquet May 31 '16 at 21:36
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@JanusBahsJacquet Because he knew Harry Potter did not belong to any school other than Hogwarts. He obviously knew something was terribly wrong since Harry's name came out in the first place. Why does having a fake school on the paper mean he would react differently than he did? – jpmc26 Jan 12 '18 at 02:00

Fabich · Answer 2 · 2016-05-31T18:49:03.157

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In the movie, when the slips of parchment come out of the Goblet of Fire, there are no school names on them. The school names could have burnt but it seems more probable that the candidates did not write them on the parchments.

EDIT : These pictures do not come from a scene in the movie. Tanks to @Valorum for pointing out that they are movie props.

This does not really help you but it reinforces @Jonah's answer : we may never know.

_{Source of the picture : https://www.emaze.com/@AIRTFOCW/goblet-of-fire or https://www.pinterest.com/pin/92253492341296800/}

edited May 31 '16 at 18:49

answered May 30 '16 at 23:07

Fabich

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Gosh, isn't Fleur's awfully pretty? – Valorum May 30 '16 at 23:21
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@Valorum I can't get past the fact that she apparently wrote it on a coffee filter. – Thunderforge May 30 '16 at 23:38
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If only someone had taken a picture of what was written on the back... – Often Right May 31 '16 at 00:26
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Great pictures, but do they really come from the movie? The background of the slips of parchment doesn't seem to be Dumbledore's hand or something like that. – A. Darwin May 31 '16 at 12:40
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I'm not convinced Harry's handwriting would be that good... – mattumotu May 31 '16 at 14:43
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@A.Darwin Well You are right :/ I have checked the scene where Dumbledore read the parchments and we don't see these. I found the picture on the internet and stupidily assumed it was from movies. Now there are two possiblities : they are the real slips of parchment from the movie or they are just some useless fan art. Should I delete this answer then ? – Fabich May 31 '16 at 14:48
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Don't beat yourself up for a simple mistake, it happens to everybody! You could edit the answer, for example writing that this image doesn't belong to canon, or delete it if you want. BTW, you don't get any penalty if you delete it, and no one will ever hate you :) – A. Darwin May 31 '16 at 15:13
If you watch the movie segment - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDyju7qp9zs - the one for Harry Potter is a different shape (around 2.05) and does not have anything written on the back. – Jack Aidley May 31 '16 at 15:30
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@mattumotu How about Barty Crouch Jr.'s? – Milo P May 31 '16 at 15:43
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@MiloPrice Mhm... If that was indeed Barty's handwriting, and not Harry's, Dumbledore might have realized that something was wrong. Although I'm not sure he knew Harry's or Barty's handwriting. Maybe Crouch even forged Harry's handwriting. – A. Darwin May 31 '16 at 17:28
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The pictures above appear to be movie prop relicas; https://www.yourprops.com/view_items.php?movie=Harry+Potter+and+the+Goblet+of+Fire+%282005%29&user_name=harryluna1 – Valorum May 31 '16 at 18:26
@A.Darwin Well how would he have done that? Steal some of his old homework to study? – Thomas Jacobs May 31 '16 at 18:55
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I don't know, there might be a spell for it. Plus, I think he already gave some lectures, possibly even some homeworks to Harry, so he didn't need to steal his homework. – A. Darwin May 31 '16 at 19:12
@MiloPrice good point, I was more getting at they look like movie props rather than actual students writing (based on my, and my friends, handwriting at school (or even now!)) – mattumotu Jun 01 '16 at 08:44

What school name was used to enter Harry into the Goblet of Fire?

2 Answers2

We don't know