Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Throughout the three previous novels in the Harry Potter series, the main character, Harry Potter, has struggled with the difficulties of growing up and the added challenge of being a famed wizard. When Harry was a baby, Lord Voldemort, the most powerful dark wizard in history, killed Harry's parents but was mysteriously defeated after unsuccessfully trying to kill Harry, though his attempt left a lightning-shaped scar on Harry's forehead. This results in Harry's immediate fame and his being placed in the care of his abusive Muggle (non-magical) aunt and uncle, Petunia and Vernon Dursley, who have a son named Dudley.

On Harry's eleventh birthday, he learns he is a wizard from Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and enrols in Hogwarts. He befriends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger and confronts Lord Voldemort, who is trying to regain power. In Harry's first year, he has to protect the Philosopher's Stone from Voldemort and one of his faithful followers at Hogwarts. After returning to school after summer break, students at Hogwarts are attacked by the legendary monster of the Chamber of Secrets after the Chamber is opened. Harry ends the attacks by killing a Basilisk and thwarting another attempt by Lord Voldemort to return to full strength. The following year, Harry hears he has been targeted by escaped mass murderer Sirius Black. Despite stringent security measures at Hogwarts, Harry encounters Black at the end of his third year and learns Black was framed and is actually Harry's godfather. He also learns that it was his father's old school friend Peter Pettigrew who betrayed his parents.

In a prologue, which Harry sees through a dream, the 3 Riddles are murdered. But they weren't poisoned or hurt in any way. They were in perfect health but when they died, they had a petrified face. Everyone suspects the caretaker Frank Bryce, but he was released. Later on (in Harry's dream) Frank Bryce, Muggle caretaker of an abandoned mansion known as the Riddle House, is murdered by Lord Voldemort after stumbling upon him and Wormtail. Harry is awoken by his scar hurting.

The Weasleys invite Harry and Hermione Granger to the Quidditch World Cup, to which they travel using a Portkey, meeting Cedric Diggory, a Hufflepuff sixth-year, on the way. In the match, Ireland triumph over Bulgaria, despite the skill of Bulgaria's star seeker, Viktor Krum. Various Ministry of Magic employees at the World Cup discuss Bertha Jorkins, a Ministry worker who has gone missing. Her head-of-department, the charismatic Ludo Bagman, is unconcerned.

After the match, hooded and masked Death Eaters, followers of Voldemort, attack the camp site, causing terror and abusing the Muggle campsite owners. The Dark Mark is fired into the sky, causing mass panic. Harry discovers that his wand is missing. It is later found in the possession of Winky, Barty Crouch's house elf, and the wand is found to have been used to cast the Mark. Although very few believe Winky could have conjured the Mark, Barty Crouch dismisses Winky from his service. Hermione, angry at this injustice, forms a society to promote house elf rights, known as S.P.E.W. (Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare).

At Hogwarts, Professor Dumbledore announces that Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody will be the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher for the year. Dumbledore also announces that Hogwarts will host a revival of the Triwizard Tournament, in which a champion of Hogwarts will compete against champions from two other European wizarding schools: Beauxbatons Academy, and Durmstrang Institute. The champions are chosen by the Goblet of Fire from names dropped into it. Because Harry is under 17 (the age of majority in the wizarding world), he is disallowed from entering.

At Halloween, the Goblet of Fire picks Fleur Delacour from Beauxbatons Academy, Viktor Krum, the Bulgaria seeker that played at the Quiditch World Cup, from Durmstrang Institute, and Cedric Diggory from Hogwarts to compete in the tournament. Unexpectedly, however, it also chooses Harry as a fourth champion. Despite anger from the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang contingents, Harry's being chosen magically binds him to compete, forcing him to be an unwilling participant in the Tournament. Very few people believe Harry's protests that he did not put his own name in; Ron, envious of Harry again being the centre of attention, accuses Harry of lying and breaks up their friendship.

In their first Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson, Professor Moody introduces the class to the Unforgivable Curses: the Imperius Curse, through which a wizard can be controlled as another wills; the Cruciatus Curse, which causes immense pain; and Avada Kedavra, the killing curse.

A tabloid-style reporter, Rita Skeeter, starts writing scandalous articles of half-truths and outright fabrications in The Daily Prophet about those at Hogwarts, starting with Harry. Because of the Prophet's high readership, her words hold a lot of sway among the wizarding population.

Despite champions not being allowed to know, Hagrid covertly reveals to Harry that the first task is to get past a dragon. Madame Maxime, the headmistress of Beauxbatons, and Professor Karkaroff, headmaster of Durmstrang, also discover this. Sure that they will tell their respective champions, Harry informs Cedric about the dragons in the interest of fairness. Harry struggles to think of a way past a dragon, until Moody suggests flying. Hermione helps him to perfect a Summoning Charm, which he uses to summon his Firebolt broomstick and fly past the dragon to retrieve a golden egg, receiving high marks from the judges. Ron and Harry subsequently reconcile, Ron now understanding the full danger of the tournament. Harry's egg is supposed to contain a clue to the next task, but when opened it merely shrieks loudly.

Hermione infiltrates the school kitchen as part of her house elf welfare campaign (in which she is finding few allies and much resistance). She takes Harry and Ron there to meet Dobby, who now works there after his freeing in Harry's second year. They also find a distraught Winky, who is seriously depressed after being sacked. Dobby is the only known house elf to appreciate his freedom, despite his hardworking nature; the others reject Hermione's idea of payment and holidays, which they find distressing.

The students are informed of the Yule Ball, a Triwizard Tournament tradition, which requires Harry to find a partner with whom to open the dance. He eventually asks Cho Chang, a Ravenclaw fifth-year with whom he is smitten, but she has already agreed to go with Cedric. Ultimately, Harry asks Parvati and Padma Patil to go with him and Ron. Hermione, offended that Ron did not consider her except as a last resort, attends with Viktor Krum, causing intense jealousy in Ron. At the ball, Cedric tells Harry to take the egg into the bath in the prefects' bathroom to work out the clue, but Harry is reluctant to accept the advice because he is jealous over Cho.

Rita Skeeter writes an article revealing Hagrid's half-giant parentage (though it is a mystery how she found out), a taboo in the wizarding world. After Hermione confronts her, Skeeter writes articles painting Hermione as Harry's unfaithful girlfriend. After masses of hate mail, Hermione swears revenge on Skeeter.

The trio secretly meet Sirius at Hogsmeade, who tells them that Barty Crouch was fanatical about catching dark wizards, often stooping to the same level to punish them. This culminated in Crouch sending his own son to Azkaban. His son later died there. Sirius suspects that someone is attempting to attack Harry through the Tournament and make it look like an accident. He suspects Karkaroff, who is a former Death Eater who walked free.

Finally acting on Cedric's tip, Harry takes the egg to the prefects' bathroom by night, where with help from Moaning Myrtle he listens to the egg underwater. There, the shrieks become the words of a song, which tells Harry that the task is to recover something dear to him from Merpeople at the bottom of the lake in the grounds. While sneaking back to Gryffindor Tower under his invisibility cloak, he sees Barty Crouch in Snape's office on the Marauder's Map, despite Crouch supposedly being too ill to judge the Triwizard Tournament. While investigating, Harry falls into a trick step and drops the egg, which shrieks loudly and attracts Filch, Snape (who has had potion ingredients stolen), and Moody. Moody's magical eye sees Harry stuck in the stair under his cloak, but Moody covers for him, then borrows the Marauder's Map.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione are unable to find a way to survive underwater for the second task, leaving Harry panic-stricken. He is rescued on the morning of the task by Dobby, who gives him some Gillyweed that he heard Moody and Professor Sprout talking about. The Gillyweed gives Harry flippers and gills and allows him to find Ron at the bottom of the lake. However, he refuses to leave the hostages belonging to the other champions behind, and insists on rescuing Fleur's sister when Fleur does not arrive. Although Harry finishes last, the judges (apart from Karkaroff) still award him high marks for 'moral fibre.'

One month before the final task, Harry and Krum are talking near the Forbidden Forest when they encounter Barty Crouch, who stopped appearing to work at the Ministry several months ago. Although insane, in moments of clarity he confesses to have done 'something terrible,' that Bertha Jorkins is dead, and begs for Dumbledore. Leaving Krum with Crouch, Harry fetches Dumbledore but returns to find Krum stunned and Crouch gone, Krum claiming that Crouch attacked him from behind. Moody gives chase but does not find Crouch.

During a Divination lesson, Harry experiences another dream involving Voldemort punishing Wormtail for a 'mistake.' Harry tells Dumbledore about this, and stumbles upon a memory-keeping device in Dumbledore's office, a Pensieve. Inside the Pensieve, he discovers that Ludo Bagman was accused and acquitted of Death Eater activity, and that Barty Crouch's son was sent to Azkaban for supposedly helping to torture Neville Longbottom's parents into insanity.

Harry prepares for the final task, a hedge maze filled with dangerous creatures and obstacles, the goal being to reach the Triwizard Cup at the centre. Inside the maze, Harry stuns Krum, who was using the Cruciatus Curse on Cedric. Helping each other, the two reach the Cup. They agree to touch it at the same time and become joint winners. However, on touching it they discover that it is a Portkey that transports them to a graveyard. There, Wormtail appears, kills Cedric using Voldemort's wand, and ties up Harry. Wormtail uses Harry's blood, Tom Riddle Sr.'s bone, and his own hand to restore Lord Voldemort to a body.

Voldemort, alive again, summons his Death Eaters, berates them for believing him dead, and mentions that he has a single 'faithful servant' concealed at Hogwarts, who has led Harry to the graveyard for the resurrection. He tortures Harry, then challenges him to a duel to prove his prowess. However, when he and Harry fire spells at each other, their wands connect unexpectedly, causing echoes of Voldemort's previous magic to appear, including manifestations of Cedric and Harry's parents. These echoes provide a distraction for Harry, who escapes with Cedric's body to the Cup, which takes him back to Hogwarts.

Under the panic caused by his arrival, Moody takes a traumatised Harry to his office. He reveals himself to be Voldemort's 'faithful servant.' He explains that he put Harry's name into the Goblet of Fire under a different school and has been guiding him through the tournament to ensure he would touch the Cup first: he gave him the hint about flying, staged a conversation about Gillyweed in front of Dobby, cursed obstacles from outside the hedge maze, and used the Imperius Curse on Krum to force him to curse Cedric. As Moody prepares to kill Harry, Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape intervene and stun Moody. Slowly, Moody changes appearance to become Barty Crouch Jr., the supposedly long-dead son of Barty Crouch Sr., who was using Polyjuice Potion to impersonate Moody.

Using Veritaserum, a truth potion, they learn that Barty Crouch Sr. rescued his son from Azkaban as a favour to his dying wife: the Crouch Jr. who died in Azkaban was his mother, disguised under Polyjuice Potion. Crouch Jr. was kept imprisoned at home. Winky convinced Crouch Sr. to allow Crouch Jr. to see the Quidditch World Cup, where he stole Harry's wand, escaped, and conjured the Dark Mark. Wormtail, meanwhile, had captured Bertha Jorkins, who had once seen Crouch Jr. at home and been bewitched to forget. This allowed Voldemort to discover Crouch Jr.'s whereabouts, then formulate a plan to install Crouch at Hogwarts and lead Harry to him. Crouch Sr. was imprisoned by Wormtail, and when he escaped to Hogwarts, Crouch Jr. killed him.

Dumbledore explains that Harry's and Voldemort's wands connected because they share a core of a feather from the same phoenix, coincidentally Dumbledore's own phoenix Fawkes.

Dumbledore announces Lord Voldemort's return to the school. However, many people, including Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge, refuse to believe it. Fudge hastily has the Dementor's Kiss performed on Crouch Jr., who is thus unable to give testimony proving Voldemort's return. Dumbledore puts his own anti-Voldemort plans into action.

Hermione discovers Rita Skeeter is an unregistered Animagus who can take the form of a beetle, allowing her to eavesdrop on secrets. She blackmails Skeeter to force her to stop writing her libelous stories. Not wanting his tournament winnings, Harry gives all one thousand Galleons to Fred and George to start their joke shop, and returns home with the Dursleys.

Goblet of Fire was the first book in the Harry Potter series to be released in the United States on the same date as the United Kingdom, on 8 July 2000, strategically on a Saturday so children did not have to worry about school conflicting with buying the book.[1] It had a combined first-printing of over five million copies.[1] It was given a record-breaking print run of 3.9 million. Three million copies of the book were sold over the first weekend in the US alone.[6] FedEx dispatched more than 9,000 trucks and 100 planes to fulfil book deliveries.[7] The pressure in editing caused a mistake which shows Harry's father emerging first from Voldemort's wand; however, as confirmed in Prisoner of Azkaban, James died first, so then Harry's mother ought to have come out first.[8] This was corrected in later editions.[9]

To publicise the book, a special train named Hogwarts Express was organised by Bloomsbury, and run from King's Cross to Perth, carrying J.K. Rowling, a consignment of books for her to sign and sell, also representatives of Bloomsbury and the press. The book was launched on 8 July 2000, on platform 1 at King's Cross – which had been given "Platform ​9 ³⁄₄" signs for the occasion – following which the train departed. En route it called at Didcot Railway Centre, Kidderminster, the Severn Valley Railway, Crewe (overnight stop), Manchester, Bradford, York, the National Railway Museum (overnight stop), Newcastle, Edinburgh, arriving at Perth on 11 July.[10] The locomotive was West Country class steam locomotive no. 34027 Taw Valley, which was specially repainted red for the tour; it later returned to its normal green livery (the repaints were requested and paid for by Bloomsbury). The coaches of the train included a sleeping car. A Diesel locomotive was coupled at the other end, for use when reversals were necessary, such as the first stage of the journey as far as Ferme Park, just south of Hornsey. The tour generated considerably more press interest than the launch of the film Thomas and the Magic Railroad which was premiered in London the same weekend.[11][12][13]

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire has received mostly positive reviews. In The New York Times Book Review, author Stephen King stated the Goblet of Fire was "every bit as good as Potters 1 through 3" and praised the humour and subplots, although he commented that "there's also a moderately tiresome amount of adolescent squabbling...it's a teenage thing".[14] Kirkus Reviews called it "another grand tale of magic and mystery...and clicking along so smoothly that it seems shorter than it is". However, they commented that it did tend to lag, especially at the end where two "bad guys" stopped the action to give extended explanations, and that the issues to be resolved in sequels would leave "many readers, particularly American ones, uncomfortable".[15] For The Horn Book Magazine, Martha V. Parravano gave a mixed review, saying "some will find [it] wide-ranging, compellingly written, and absorbing; others, long, rambling, and tortuously fraught with adverbs".[16] A Publishers Weekly review praised the book's "red herrings, the artful clues and tricky surprises that disarm the most attentive audience" and saying it "might be her most thrilling yet."[17] Writing for The New Yorker, Joan Acocella noted that "where the prior volumes moved like lightning, here the pace is slower, the energy more dispersed. At the same time, the tone becomes more grim."[18]

Kristin Lemmerman of CNN said that it is not great literature: 'Her prose has more in common with your typical beach-blanket fare and the beginning contained too much recap to introduce characters to new readers, although Rowling quickly gets back on track, introducing readers to a host of well-drawn new characters.'[19] Writing for Salon.com, Charles Taylor was generally positive about the change of mood and development of characters.[20] Entertainment Weekly's reviewer Kristen Baldwin gave Goblet of Fire the grade of A-, praising the development of the characters as well as the many themes presented. However, she did worry that a shocking climax may be a "nightmare factory" for young readers.[21]

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire won several awards, including the 2001 Hugo Award for Best Novel.[22] It won the 2002 Indian Paintbrush Book Award, the third after Philosopher's Stone and Prisoner of Azkaban.[23] The novel also won an Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award for one of the best books, who claimed it was "more intense than the first three books".[24] In addition, Entertainment Weekly listed Goblet of Fire in second place on their list of The New Classics: Books – The 100 best reads from 1983 to 2008.[25] The Guardian ranked Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire #97 in its list of 100 Best Books of the 21st Century.[26]

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was adapted into a film, released worldwide on 18 November 2005, which was directed by Mike Newell and written by Steve Kloves. The film grossed $102.7 million for the opening weekend,[27] and eventually grossed $896 million worldwide.[28] The film was also nominated for Best Art Direction at the 78th Academy Awards.[29]

It was also made into a video game for PC, PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS, Nintendo GameCube, Xbox, Game Boy Advance, and PlayStation Portable by Electronic Arts. It was released just before the film.

Much of the plot of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child involves revisiting scenes from Goblet of Fire, with younger protagonists born long after these events travelling back in time in a misguided effort to change history and save Cedric Diggory - which only leads to them damaging events in the present and worsening the situation.