Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is the fourth book in the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling. Published in 2000 A.D., the release of this book was surrounded by more hype than any other children's book in recent times - possibly outdone only by its successor, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. At 636 pages (hardback British edition) it was fairly large for a children's book. The book attracted a lot of hype, because J. K. Rowling warned that one of the characters would be murdered in the book, raising pre-publishing rumours as to who the murdered character would be. This was also the first Harry Potter book to be published after Pottermania[?] had comprehensively gripped the world.

Warning: Wikipedia contains spoilers!

In this book, Harry Potter spends his summer with the Weasleys in anticipation of the Quidditch World Cup. During the World Cup, a group of Death Eaters attacked a number of muggles, but fled when the Death Mask[?] - Voldemort's sign - mysterious appeared above them. The sign was found to have been made by a wand found with Winky, the house elf of Barty Crouch[?], a respected minister in the Ministry of Magic. Winky was fired by her master at once. Crouch's treatment of Winky prompts Hermione to start campaining for elves' rights.

When Harry arrives at Hogwarts, he finds that the Triwizard Tournament - which was banned since many participants died during it - was to be restarted, and to be held at Hogwarts. The names of all intending participants would be put into a goblet - known as the Goblet of Fire - which would shoot out one name from each of the three competing wizarding schools (Hogwarts, Beauxbatons[?], and Durmstrang[?]). After choosing Viktor Krum[?] from Durmstrang, Fleur Delacour from Beauxbatons, and Cedric Diggory from Hogwarts, the Goblet spits out Harry's name - although he was too young to have added his name to the Goblet.

With help from his friends and teachers, Harry manages to make it through the first two parts of the Triwizard Tournament. During the second task—to rescue the person the competitor would miss most—though Harry finishied outside the time limit, he was given bonus points by all but one of the judges—as the limit was drawing close, with no sign of the others, he attempted to rescue all of the "victims", believing they would die. During this time, his relationship with his best friend, Ron Weasley, is strained by Harry's sudden explosion of fame. This fame soon backfires, as Daily Prophet[?] reporter Rita Skeeter[?] begins to dig deep to find anything which will tarnish Harry's reputation. Harry's friendship with Ron is saved once Ron realises just how perilous the Tournament will be for Harry.

In the last part of the Tournament - in which the four competitors will have to run through a maze populated by many dangerous creatures - Harry and Cedric arrive at the trophy (placed in the centre of the maze), and decided, because of the help they provided to each other, that it wouldn't be right if either one won by himself. Instead, they decide to grab the trophy at the same time.

The trophy turns out to be a Portkey, a magical object which transports them to a graveyard - where they find Peter Pettigrew[?] (also known as Wormtail) and Voldemort. Peter kills Cedric using the unstoppable Avada Kedavra curse, then uses Harry's blood as part of a macabre ritual which results in Voldemort being reborn, more powerful than before, and immune to the charm which had prevented him from harming Harry twice before. Voldemort then summons the Death Eaters, and attempts to kill Harry, to prove that "the boy who lived" will not prove to be his undoing again.

Since Harry's and Voldemort's wands are formed from the same core - a feather from Fawkes - a freak phenomenon known as Priori Incantetum occurs, in which Voldemort's wand begins to produce ghostly echoes of its past victims - including Harry's parents. The ghosts hold off Voldemort while Harry manages to escape to the trophy.

On reaching Hogwarts again, Harry lands in the centre of the confusion caused by his disappearance. In the confusion, he is lead up to his castle by his Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Moody. Moody reveals that it was he who put Harry's name into the Goblet, who ensured that Harry made it through the three rounds of the tournment. At this point, Dumbledore barges into the room, and stops Moody, who is about to attack Harry. After his interrogation of "Prof. Moody", it is revealed that "Moody" was Barty Crouch's son in disguise. The real professor Moody had been kept imprisoned in a magical trunk. Having learned that Voldemort had risen again, Dumbledore began proceedings to restart the Order of the Phoenix. The Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, refused to believe that Voldemort had risen again, which results in Dumbledore being removed from several important posts within the wizard community, and the reputation of Harry Potter being trampled judiciously, in the next book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.