Summary

‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire‘ by J. K. Rowling picks up after Harry and Hermione help Sirius and Buckbeak escape. Harry is back in Privet Drive and has a dream that is very different from any other he has ever had because his scar starts hurting, and he immediately wakes up. When Harry, Ron, and Hermione go to Hogwarts, they find out that Hogwarts is supposed to host the Triwizard Tournament, which becomes very exciting news throughout the castle. A lot of new obstacles begin to present themselves over time, and Harry, with the help of Hermione and Ron, must figure out a way to face them and overcome them.

‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire‘ is known for how well Rowling’s vision of the magical world outside Hogwarts unfolds in this book. The Quidditch World Cup and, later, the Triwizard tournament work really well in establishing the nature of the magical community beyond what has been seen in the first three books.

‘Spoiler-Free’ Summary of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire‘ starts with Harry’s dream of Voldemort killing someone in a house. He is surprised and wakes up with his scar hurting. He eventually visits the Weasleys, and they all together go to see the Quidditch World Cup. There, at night, after the event, a group of Death Eaters (followers of Lord Voldemort) harass some muggles and create a riot, and eventually, somebody conjures the Dark Mark (Lord Voldemort’s sign). Eventually, things get back to normal, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione leave for Hogwarts. There, they are surprised to find out that the Triwizard Tournament is going to be held in Hogwarts.

Guests from Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and Durmstrang Institute of Magic arrive at Hogwarts, including Viktor Krum, the seeker of the Bulgarian Quidditch team. The trophy for the Triwizard Tournament is revealed, and it is decided that students below the age of seventeen are not allowed in the competition. Despite a lot of opposition to this, things go smoothly until the day the names of the champions of each school are selected.

After Fleur Delacour from Beauxbatons, Viktor Krum from Durmstrang, and Cedric Diggory from Hogwarts are selected by the Goblet of Fire to represent their respective schools for the tournament, and the Goblet suddenly throws out a fourth name – that of Harry Potter. Everybody is extremely surprised, including Harry himself, and it is eventually decided that Harry will have to take part in the tournament. Harry is left to figure out how to face these new challenges as the plot thickens.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Summary

Spoiler Alert: Important details of the novel are revealed below

After the events of the Quidditch World Cup and Harry’s accidental selection into the Triwizard Tournament, Harry is left with very little support when Ron suspects that Harry must have deliberately put his name in the Goblet of Fire. They eventually stop talking to each other, and despite Hermione’s frantic attempts to make them talk again, very little happens.

During a press conference for the champions, Harry meets Rita Skeeter, a reporter who ends up writing a lot of false details and exaggerated facts about Harry in the newspaper. Eventually, as the day for the first task approaches closer, Harry is tipped off by Mad Eye Moody to visit Hagrid, who shows him that the first task is facing a dragon. Harry, out of courtesy, also informs Cedric about the task.

Harry faces the dragon on the day of the first task and eventually uses his broomstick to fly around and get the golden egg which contains the clue for the second task. Harry completes the task the fastest and is in the lead. Ron eventually realizes his mistake, and they both start talking to each other again. The clue turns out to be a song by the merpeople about the details of the second task, something Cedric assists Harry with.

The second task happens to be saving one of the champions’ close ones who are kept captive at the bottom. Harry uses Neville’s advice and swallows gillyweed, which allows him to breathe underwater. He sees four people kept captive – Ron, Hermione, Cho, and Fleur’s little sister. He tries to save all of them because he is concerned about all of them, and in the end, he ends up saving both Ron and Gabrielle, Fleur’s little sister.

As the third task approaches closer, Harry happens to encounter Dumbledore’s Pensieve in his office and sees a lot of important details from Dumbledore’s past memories, which they discuss later. Barty Crouch, the man in charge of the Triwizard Tournament, is found dead on the Hogwarts grounds, and this raises a lot of suspicions. Amidst all this, the final task of the Triwizard Championship, solving a large maze, takes place, and eventually, Harry and Cedric Diggory are the only two people left when the maze starts caving in on itself. They see the Triwizard Championship trophy and decide to take it together.

But instead of just being able to pick up the trophy, they are transported to a strange graveyard. Harry suddenly remembers it from his dream, and his scar starts hurting. Voldemort and Wormtail appear and kill Cedric, and eventually, Voldemort is restored to his original form.

Voldemort summons his old death eaters and forces Harry, to duel with him. When Harry finally duels with him, he is saved by the Priori Incantatem, a situation where the wands with twin cores don’t fight each other. He sees the imprints of his mother, father, Cedric, and all the other people that Voldemort killed.

They protect him, and he is eventually able to escape the graveyard. It is later found out that the Mad-Eye Moody who has been residing in Hogwarts is actually an impostor and that it is actually Barty Crouch Jr, a death eater and son of Barty Crouch. The year ends with the sad turmoil of losing Cedric Diggory and the return of Lord Voldemort, something that many people do not believe yet.

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