Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire

In the middle of the night, Harry is suddenly woken up by Mr. Weasley, who orders the underage wizards in the tent to hide in the woods while the adult wizards try to figure out what is happening. Outside, chaos has engulfed the campgrounds, and strange figures wearing hoods and masks are levitating the Muggle Mr. Roberts and his family and torturing them. Harry, Ron, and Hermione get separated from Fred, George, and Ginny in the woods. They run into Draco Malfoy, who is not afraid at all but seems amused by the horrifying scene in the campgrounds. They leave him and continue walking into the woods, but Harry realizes he has lost his wand. Suddenly, they hear the sound of someone casting a spell, and the glittering green image of “a colossal skull” with “a serpent protruding from its mouth” (51) appears in the sky. Hermione explains that it is the Dark Mark: Voldemort’s sign. Ministry of Magic wizards appear and search the area, and although Mr. Crouch accuses Harry, Ron, and Hermione, Amos Diggory finds Winky in the woods nearby with Harry’s missing wand. Mr. Diggory confirms that Harry’s wand was used to cast the Dark Mark, and although Winky tearfully denies that she had anything to do with it, Mr. Crouch punishes her by releasing her from her servitude. Back at the tent, Mr. Weasley explains that Voldemort’s followers, known as Death Eaters, used the Dark Mark whenever they committed a murder. Harry lays in bed and thinks about how three days ago, he woke up with his scar hurting, and now, “for the first time in thirteen years, Lord Voldemort’s mark had appeared in the sky” (58).

Harry, Hermione, and the Weasleys return to the Burrow the morning after the World Cup fiasco. Mrs. Weasley is relieved because news of the incident has broken in the Wizarding newspaper, the Daily Prophet. The Ministry of Magic is doing damage control, and a reporter named Rita Skeeter has written a scathing article about how poorly the Ministry handled the situation. Rita Skeeter’s article is full of inflammatory language and unfound claims, including a rumor that “several bodies were removed from the woods” (59) following the attack. Meanwhile, Harry tells Ron and Hermione about his scar hurting before he came to the Burrow and how he wrote to Sirius asking for his advice. Hedwig hasn’t returned with his answer yet, and Harry is starting to worry. Later, as Harry and Ron pack their things to leave on the Hogwarts Express, Ron discovers a strange outfit his mother bought him while he was gone. Mrs. Weasley explains that all the Hogwarts students are supposed to bring dress robes this year, but Mrs. Weasley could only afford second-hand robes. Ron laments that “everything [he] own[s] [is] rubbish” (63), and Harry feels a stab of guilt because his parents left him a large amount of money when they died.

On the morning Hogwarts students are supposed to leave for the Hogwarts Express, Amos Diggory reports that there has been an incident at a man named Mad-Eye Moody’s house. According to Amos, Moody’s Muggle neighbors heard what sounded like a struggle and called the police. Amos says Moody thought he heard someone sneaking into his yard to attack him, and he probably “leapt out of bed and started jinxing everything he could reach through the window” (64). Mr. Weasley leaves in a hurry, and Mrs. Weasley, Bill, and Charlie escort Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, and Ginny to the Hogwarts Express. Bill comments that he wishes he could be at Hogwarts this year to see the big event, and Mrs. Weasley says that she thinks they will all want to stay at Hogwarts over the Christmas holiday because of what will be happening on campus. However, they won’t come out and say what is happening at Hogwarts just yet, and the train pulls away. On the Hogwarts Express, Harry, Ron, and Hermione overhear Draco Malfoy telling his friends that his father wanted to send him to Durmstrang, another Wizarding school, and Hermione remarks that Durmstrang has “a horrible reputation” because it “puts a lot of emphasis on the Dark Arts” (66). Hermione explains that there has historically been a lot of competition and distrust among the Wizarding schools, and Durmstrang and Beauxbatons Academy—the other two European Wizarding schools—conceal their location from the others. The train arrives at Hogwarts to an enormous downpour of rain, and the students climb aboard horseless carriages that take them up to Hogwarts Castle.

The students arrive at Hogwarts and enter the Great Hall for the beginning-of-year feast. Much to Harry’s chagrin, his least-favorite teacher, Professor Snape, is still there. Harry spots Cho Chang, a pretty Ravenclaw girl he has had a crush on since last year. Professor Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts, welcomes the students to enjoy their dinner. In the middle of the feast, the Gryffindor Ghost Nearly Headless Nick mentions that house-elves are responsible for the cooking and cleaning in Hogwarts, and Hermione is outraged at the idea that her meals are made using “slave labor.”

The feast is interrupted by the arrival of a strange man with scars all over his face and a terrifying eye that “[moves] ceaselessly, without blinking” (74) in his head. Dumbledore introduces the man as Professor Moody, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, and Harry realizes that this is the man whom Mr. Weasley went to help. Dumbledore announces that Hogwarts will host a special competition known as the Triwizard Tournament this year and will welcome students from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons. Each school will select a champion to compete in three tasks, and the overall winner is awarded 1,000 golden Galleons. However, because the competition is dangerous and requires advanced magic, students must be 17 to enter. Fred and George are furious and begin to plan how they will fool the impartial judge responsible for choosing the champions. The feast concludes, and Harry and his friends retire to their dormitories with fanciful daydreams about entering and winning the Triwizard Tournament.