Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is the fourth novel in the Harry Potter series.<p />
The fourth book opens as Frank Bryce, the Riddle manor's elderly caretaker, sees lights inside the abandoned house. Investigating, he overhears Lord Voldemort and Peter Pettigrew (Wormtail) plotting Harry Potter's death. Frank is discovered and killed; at that same moment, Harry awakes with his scar hurting and having seen the murder in his dream.<p />
Soon after, Harry departs for the Quidditch World Cup with Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, the Weasley family and Minor Ministry officials, and Cedric Diggory. Following the match, Death Eaters, Lord Voldemort's servants, storm the camp, creating panic and mayhem. The trio flee into the forest where they see the Dark Mark, Lord Voldemort's sign, shot into the night sky. The head of the Department Of International Magical Co-operation, Barty Crouch Sr, arrives and accuses the trio of Ron, Harry and Hermione of conjuring it, but upon investigating, Crouch's house elf Winky, is found clutching Harry's stolen wand. Crouch is furious and fires Winky.<p />
Professor Dumbledore announces during the Welcoming Feast that Hogwarts will host the Triwizard Tournament. The centuries old inter-school competition was discontinued because it became too dangerous, but has been recently revived. The tournament includes three difficult tasks, one held during each school term.<p />
The Goblet of Fire chooses one student from each competing school. Because the tournament is so dangerous, students must be at least 17 years old to enter. Cedric Diggory is chosen as Hogwarts' champion, Fleur Delacour is selected for Beauxbatons Academy and Durmstrang Institute is represented by Viktor Krum. The Goblet unexpectedly selects a fourth champion, Harry Potter, even though Harry never entered and is underage. This leads to a falling out with Ron, who thinks Harry cheated to enter.<p />
Harry is guided through the tournament by Professor Alastor Moody, the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher and a former Auror. In the first task, the champions must retrieve a golden egg from a dragon. With advice from Hagrid, Moody, and Hermione, Harry uses his broom to fly past the dragon and capture the egg, earning high marks. Seeing how dangerous the task was, Ron realises Harry would not have cheated, and they reconcile. Meanwhile, Hermione begins the Society For the Protection of Elfish Welfare.<p />
The champions are required to attend the Yule Ball, a tradition associated with the Triwizard Tournament. Harry wants to invite Cho Chang, but when he learns she is attending with Cedric Diggory, he agrees to take Parvati Patil, while her twin sister, Padma, goes with Ron. Hermione Granger attends with Viktor Krum - sparking Ron's jealousy, made worse by Hermione's unexpectedly beautiful appearance at the Ball.<p />
The second task requires retrieving something important to each champion that is hidden in Hogwarts' lake. Harry has delayed in finding a way to stay submerged for an hour. As the event is about to begin, Dobby gives Harry gillyweed so he can breathe underwater (In the movie version, it is Neville that gives the gillyweed to Harry). Harry stays by Ron, watching as Cho and Hermione are rescued by Cedric and Krum. He waits for Fleur to show up and save her little sister Gabrielle, but when she does not, Harry rescues Gabrielle, losing time but awarding him additional points for "moral fiber". This ties him for first place with Cedric Diggory.<p />
For the third task, the champions must navigate through a large maze filled with dangerous obstacles. Shortly before the event, Harry and Viktor Krum are startled when a dishevelled Mr. Crouch emerges from the forest, mumbling incoherently and demanding to see Dumbledore.Harry makes his way through the forest, where he rescues the unconscious Fleur from being choked by the magical hedges. Harry runs for help, but when he returns with Dumbledore, they find Krum unconscious and Crouch missing. While waiting in Dumbledore's office, Harry peers inside a pensieve containing the professor's memories. In one, Harry sees a wizarding trial in which Barty Crouch, Jr., a Death Eater, is sentenced to Azkaban by his father, Crouch Sr. Harry also hears testimony that Severus Snape was once a Death Eater.<p />
During the third task, Harry and Cedric successfully navigate the maze and, because they helped each other, agree to grab the Cup simultaneously. Unknown to them, the Cup is actually a portkey that transports them to an old cemetery in Little Hangleton. Awaiting them is Peter Pettigrew carrying what appears to be a deformed infant, but is actually Lord Voldemort who orders Pettigrew to "kill the spare". Pettigrew kills Diggory with the Avada Kedavra curse and then ties Harry to a tombstone. He then uses Harry's blood, a bone from Voldemort's long-dead father, and his own severed hand in a bizarre ritual that restores Lord Voldemort to his full body and power. Voldemort now carries Harry's blood within him and is no longer affected by the magic that has protected the boy since infancy.<p />
Voldemort reveals that his servant at Hogwarts ensured Harry would win the tournament and be brought to the graveyard. After summoning his Death Eaters, Voldemort challenges Harry to a duel. Unknown to Voldemort, his and Harry's wands are "twins", each containing the same magical core (a tail feather from Dumbledore's phoenix, Fawkes). As the wands' streams interlock, a Magic effect occurs, causing the spirit echoes of Voldemort's victims, including Cedric Diggory, Bertha Jorkins, James and Lily Potter, and even the Muggle Frank Bryce, to spill out from his wand. The echoes momentarily protect Harry by distracting Voldemort, allowing him to grab the portkey and escape to Hogwarts with Diggory's body.<p />
After Harry returns to the school grounds through the portkey, Moody takes Harry to his office immediately. He reveals that he has been helping Harry throughout all of the tournament's events including helping Harry pass some obstacles in the maze from the exterior. He tells Harry that he did this so that Harry would reach the portkey, and thus send him to the cemetery so that Voldemort could be restored. After the explanation, Mad-Eye attempts to attack Harry but is stopped by Dumbledore, Snape and Minerva McGonagall. Dumbledore states that when he saw Moody take Harry out of sight after returning from the maze, he knew instantly that something was not right, and thus he followed. When Dumbledore feeds Moody 3 drops of Veritaserum obtained from Snape's private store, Moody is exposed as Barty Crouch, Jr. who escaped Azkaban and used a Polyjuice Potion to impersonate the real Alastor Moody, who is trapped in a magical trunk. Crouch Jr. murdered his father and entered Harry's name into the Goblet of Fire, covertly ensuring that Harry completed each difficult task. Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, arrives at Hogwarts accompanied by a Dementor. Fudge denies Dumbledore's claim that Voldemort has returned and before Crouch can repeat his confession his soul is sucked out when the Dementor performs the Dementor's Kiss on him (on Fudge's orders to silence him).<p />
Dumbledore swiftly and urgently revives the Order of the Phoenix and against the Ministry's orders, tells students the truth about Cedric's death and that Voldemort has returned, stating "It would be an insult to his memory" to claim otherwise. As for Harry, he is crowned the Triwizard Tournament champion and is awarded one-thousand Galleons, which he gives to Ron's twin brothers, Fred and George, telling them to use it to open their own joke shop, their life-long ambition.<p />
