Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire facts for kids

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is the fourth book in the super popular Harry Potter series. J. K. Rowling wrote this exciting story. It came out on 8 July 2000. The book was quite long, with hundreds of pages! Later, in 2005, it was also made into a movie.

Discovering the Story: Harry's Journey Continues

Harry's Past and Magical Life

In the Harry Potter series, the main character, Harry Potter, faces many challenges. He is not just growing up, but also learning to be a famous wizard. When Harry was a baby, a very powerful dark wizard named Lord Voldemort tried to kill him. Voldemort killed Harry's parents. But strangely, he could not kill Harry. This attempt left a lightning-shaped scar on Harry's forehead.

Because of this, Harry became instantly famous. He was sent to live with his non-magical aunt and uncle, Petunia and Vernon Dursley. They had a son named Dudley. The Dursleys were not very kind to Harry.

On Harry's eleventh birthday, he learned he was a wizard. Rubeus Hagrid, who works at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, told him. Harry then started school at Hogwarts. He quickly became best friends with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Together, they often faced Lord Voldemort, who was trying to get his power back.

In his first year, Harry had to protect a special object called the Philosopher's Stone from Voldemort. The next year, students at Hogwarts were attacked. A secret room called the Chamber of Secrets was opened. Harry stopped the attacks by defeating a giant snake called a Basilisk. This also stopped Voldemort from becoming strong again.

The year after, Harry heard that a dangerous person named Sirius Black was after him. Even with strong security at Hogwarts, Harry met Black. He learned that Black was actually his godfather and was innocent. Harry also found out that his father's old friend, Peter Pettigrew, had betrayed his parents.

The Goblet of Fire: A New Adventure Begins

The story of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire starts with a strange dream Harry has. In this dream, he sees three people, the Riddles, murdered. They look perfectly healthy, but their faces are frozen in fear. Everyone thinks the old caretaker, Frank Bryce, is the killer. But he is set free. Later, in Harry's dream, Frank Bryce is killed by Lord Voldemort. This happens after Frank finds Voldemort and his servant, Wormtail, in an old house. Harry wakes up with his scar hurting.

The Weasley family invites Harry and Hermione Granger to the Quidditch World Cup. They travel there using a special object called a Portkey. On the way, they meet Cedric Diggory, a student from Hufflepuff. At the Quidditch match, Ireland wins against Bulgaria. Bulgaria's star player, Viktor Krum, is very skilled. Some Ministry of Magic workers at the World Cup talk about Bertha Jorkins. She is a Ministry worker who has gone missing. Her boss, Ludo Bagman, does not seem worried.

After the match, people wearing masks attack the campsite. These are Death Eaters, followers of Voldemort. They cause panic and hurt the non-magical campsite owners. The Dark Mark, Voldemort's symbol, appears in the sky. Harry finds his wand is missing. It is later found with Winky, Barty Crouch's house elf. The wand was used to cast the Dark Mark. Barty Crouch fires Winky, even though few believe she cast the Mark. Hermione is upset by this. She starts a group called S.P.E.W. to help house elves.

At Hogwarts, Professor Dumbledore announces a new teacher. Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody will teach Defence Against the Dark Arts. Dumbledore also says that Hogwarts will host the Triwizard Tournament again. This is a competition between Hogwarts and two other wizarding schools. These schools are Beauxbatons Academy and Durmstrang Institute. The Goblet of Fire chooses the champions. Harry is under 17, so he is not allowed to enter.

On Halloween, the Goblet of Fire picks the champions. Fleur Delacour from Beauxbatons, Viktor Krum from Durmstrang, and Cedric Diggory from Hogwarts are chosen. But then, the Goblet also chooses Harry as a fourth champion! The other schools are angry. But Harry is magically forced to compete. Few people believe Harry when he says he did not put his name in. Ron gets jealous of Harry being the center of attention again. He accuses Harry of lying and stops being his friend.

In their first Defence Against the Dark Arts class, Professor Moody teaches about the Unforgivable Curses. These are very dark spells. The Imperius Curse lets a wizard control another person. The Cruciatus Curse causes terrible pain. And Avada Kedavra is the killing curse.

A reporter named Rita Skeeter starts writing untrue stories. She writes about Hogwarts students in The Daily Prophet. Her articles are full of gossip and lies. Because many people read the Prophet, her words are very powerful.

Challenges and Discoveries in the Tournament

Champions are not supposed to know the tasks. But Hagrid secretly tells Harry that the first task involves dragons. The headmistress of Beauxbatons and the headmaster of Durmstrang also find out. Harry tells Cedric about the dragons to be fair. Harry struggles to think how to get past a dragon. Then Moody suggests flying. Hermione helps Harry practice a Summoning Charm. He uses it to call his broomstick, the Firebolt. He flies past the dragon and gets a golden egg. The judges give him high marks. Ron and Harry become friends again. Ron now understands how dangerous the tournament is. Harry's egg is supposed to have a clue. But when he opens it, it just screams loudly.

Hermione goes into the school kitchen. She is still working on her house elf welfare campaign. She takes Harry and Ron there to meet Dobby. Dobby now works at Hogwarts after Harry freed him in his second year. They also find Winky, who is very sad after being fired. Dobby is the only house elf who likes being free. The others do not want payment or holidays.

Students learn about the Yule Ball. This is a tradition of the Triwizard Tournament. Harry needs to find a partner to open the dance. He asks Cho Chang, a girl he likes. But she is already going with Cedric. Harry eventually asks Parvati and Padma Patil to go with him and Ron. Hermione is upset that Ron did not ask her first. She goes with Viktor Krum. This makes Ron very jealous. At the ball, Cedric tells Harry to take the egg into the prefects' bathroom. He says to open it underwater for the clue. Harry is not sure because he is jealous about Cho.

Rita Skeeter writes an article about Hagrid. She reveals he is half-giant. This is a secret in the wizarding world. Hermione confronts her. Skeeter then writes articles saying Hermione is Harry's unfaithful girlfriend. Hermione gets a lot of hate mail. She promises to get revenge on Skeeter.

The trio secretly meets Sirius in Hogsmeade. Sirius tells them that Barty Crouch was very strict about catching dark wizards. He even sent his own son to Azkaban prison. His son supposedly died there. Sirius thinks someone is trying to attack Harry through the Tournament. He believes they want it to look like an accident. He suspects Karkaroff, who used to be a Death Eater.

Harry finally takes Cedric's advice. He takes the egg to the prefects' bathroom at night. With help from Moaning Myrtle, he listens to the egg underwater. The screams become a song. It tells Harry that the next task is to get something important from the Merpeople. This is at the bottom of the lake. While sneaking back to his dormitory, Harry sees Barty Crouch on the Marauder's Map. Crouch is supposed to be too sick to judge the tournament. Harry falls into a trick step and drops the egg. It screams loudly. Filch, Snape, and Moody come. Moody's magical eye sees Harry under his cloak. But Moody covers for him. He then borrows the Marauder's Map.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione cannot find a way to breathe underwater for the second task. Harry is very worried. On the morning of the task, Dobby helps him. Dobby gives him some Gillyweed. He heard Moody and Professor Sprout talking about it. The Gillyweed gives Harry gills and flippers. He finds Ron at the bottom of the lake. But he refuses to leave the other champions' hostages behind. He even saves Fleur's sister when Fleur does not arrive. Harry finishes last. But the judges, except Karkaroff, give him high marks for being brave and kind.

The Final Task and Voldemort's Return

One month before the final task, Harry and Krum are talking near the Forbidden Forest. They find Barty Crouch. He stopped working at the Ministry months ago. Crouch is not well. But he says he did "something terrible." He also says Bertha Jorkins is dead. He begs for Dumbledore. Harry leaves Krum with Crouch to get Dumbledore. But when he returns, Krum is stunned. Crouch is gone. Krum says Crouch attacked him. Moody chases after Crouch but does not find him.

During a Divination lesson, Harry has another dream. Voldemort is punishing Wormtail for a "mistake." Harry tells Dumbledore about this. He finds a memory device in Dumbledore's office called a Pensieve. Inside, he sees that Ludo Bagman was accused of being a Death Eater but was found innocent. He also sees that Barty Crouch's son was sent to Azkaban. He was accused of helping to hurt Neville Longbottom's parents.

Harry gets ready for the final task. It is a large hedge maze with dangerous creatures and obstacles. The goal is to reach the Triwizard Cup in the middle. Inside the maze, Harry stuns Krum. Krum was using a dark curse on Cedric. Harry and Cedric help each other. They reach the Cup. They agree to touch it at the same time and win together.

But when they touch it, the Cup acts as a Portkey. It takes them to a graveyard. Wormtail appears there. He kills Cedric using Voldemort's wand. He ties up Harry. Wormtail uses Harry's blood, Tom Riddle Sr.'s bone, and his own hand. This brings Lord Voldemort back to a body.

Voldemort is alive again. He calls his Death Eaters. He scolds them for thinking he was dead. He says he has a "faithful servant" hidden at Hogwarts. This servant led Harry to the graveyard for the resurrection. Voldemort hurts Harry. Then he challenges Harry to a duel. But when they cast spells at each other, their wands connect. This causes echoes of Voldemort's past magic to appear. Cedric and Harry's parents appear as ghostly figures. These echoes distract Voldemort. Harry escapes with Cedric's body back to the Cup. The Cup takes him back to Hogwarts.

Everyone is panicking when Harry arrives. Moody takes a shocked Harry to his office. Moody then reveals he is Voldemort's "faithful servant." He explains that he put Harry's name in the Goblet of Fire. He guided Harry through the tournament. He wanted Harry to touch the Cup first. He gave Harry the hint about flying. He made sure Dobby heard about the Gillyweed. He cursed obstacles from outside the maze. He even used the Imperius Curse on Krum to make him curse Cedric. As Moody prepares to kill Harry, Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape arrive. They stun Moody. Slowly, Moody changes. He becomes Barty Crouch Jr. He is Barty Crouch Sr.'s son, who was thought to be dead. He was using a special potion called Polyjuice Potion to look like Moody.

Using a truth potion, they learn the full story. Barty Crouch Sr. rescued his son from Azkaban. He did this for his dying wife. The Crouch Jr. who died in Azkaban was actually his mother, disguised with Polyjuice Potion. Crouch Jr. was kept prisoner at home. Winky convinced Crouch Sr. to let Crouch Jr. see the Quidditch World Cup. There, Crouch Jr. stole Harry's wand. He escaped and cast the Dark Mark. Meanwhile, Wormtail had captured Bertha Jorkins. She had seen Crouch Jr. at home and was made to forget. This allowed Voldemort to find Crouch Jr. Then Voldemort planned to put Crouch Jr. at Hogwarts. He wanted Crouch Jr. to lead Harry to him. Wormtail imprisoned Crouch Sr. When Crouch Sr. escaped to Hogwarts, Crouch Jr. killed him.

Dumbledore explains why Harry's and Voldemort's wands connected. They both have a feather from the same phoenix at their core. This phoenix is Dumbledore's own phoenix, Fawkes.

Dumbledore announces that Lord Voldemort has returned. But many people, including the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge, refuse to believe it. Fudge quickly has Crouch Jr. punished. He cannot give testimony about Voldemort's return. Dumbledore starts his own plans to fight Voldemort.

Hermione finds out Rita Skeeter is an unregistered Animagus. This means she can turn into an animal, a beetle. This allowed her to listen in on secrets. Hermione makes Skeeter stop writing her mean stories. Harry does not want his tournament winnings. He gives all one thousand Galleons to Fred and George. They use it to start their joke shop. Harry then goes home with the Dursleys.

See also

In Spanish: Harry Potter y el cáliz de fuego para niños