Year 4: The Goblet of Fire

Since Peter Pettigrew escaped at the end of book 3, Voldemort has had an ally to help him recover his former powers, and throughout Harry's fourth year they are plotting in secret from the house where the dark wizard grew up. This year something a little different happens at Hogwarts, as instead of the usual school Quidditch tournament, representatives from two other prestigious schools of magic arrive to participate in the Tri-Wizard Tournament. This event has not been held for a number of years due to the danger of injury and death which became quite serious as the competitors were asked to face very difficult tests of magic. At the start of the year, all the students old enough to participate are allowed to enter their names should they wish to do so. Entry involves dropping a scrap of parchment with your name on it into a magical goblet of fire. Doing this seals you into a contract, obliging you to complete the tournament tests to the best of your ability. One student of each school, Hogwarts, Durmstrang and Beauxbatons, is selected to compete. At least that's what should happen. For some reason however, Harry's name comes out of the goblet as a fourth competitor, and as the tournament is bound by a magical contract, he has no choice but to compete.

Enduring comments from many that he put himself into the competition to get attention, and articles by malicious and dishonest journalist Rita Skeeter, Harry is faced with the prospect of daunting and dangerous tasks ahead. The first task is to retrieve a golden egg placed amongst a clutch of dragon eggs, where it is defended by the mother dragon. While this is supposedly a secret, all the competitors are fully aware of the test before it arrives. Harry achieves victory in the test by summoning his broomstick and flying circles around his dragon, before scooping the egg from under its nose. Secondly, the competitors must dive into the lake to rescue the person they will miss most from the merpeople who live there. Harry fails badly, coming back up last by a long way, but only because he stayed down to make sure all the hostages were rescued, rather than taking Ron back to the surface as soon as he could. For this he is awarded bonus points. The final test is to negotiate a hedge maze set up on the Quidditch pitch, full of traps and monstrous creatures. The prize, the Tri-Wizard Cup, is in the centre of the maze.