Goblet of Fire

The book opens with Harry Potter having a dream about Frank Bryce, the ex-caretaker at the Riddle family mansion, who is caught eavesdropping on a deformed Lord Voldemort and his servant, Peter Pettigrew. In Harry's dream, Bryce is killed by Voldemort. Later in the summer, Harry, Hermione Granger, and the Weasley family take a trip to the Quidditch World Cup. While there, Death Eaters, Voldemort's servants, storm the grounds, harass some muggles, and run away when they see the Dark Mark in the sky.

Albus Dumbledore announces during the welcoming feast that the school will host the Triwizard Tournament, an inter-school competition. One student from each of three magical schools will be chosen by the Goblet of Fire to compete. The other two magical institutions, Beauxbatons Academy, and Durmstrang Institute, arrive at Hogwarts two months into the school term. The champions chosen by the goblet were Fleur Delacour from Beauxbatons, Viktor Krum of Durmstrang, and Cedric Diggory of Hogwarts. Mysteriously, Harry is also chosen, even though he did not submit his name. Ron Weasley is instantly infuriated, thinking Harry submitted himself, and their friendship suffers.

The new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor is Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody, a former Auror and Dumbledore's friend. In class, he illegally talks about and demonstrates the three Unforgivable Curses: the Imperius Curse, which forces the victim to do the caster's bidding; the Cruciatus Curse, a spell that tortures its victim; and the Killing Curse, Avada Kedavra. Harry learns he and Voldemort are the only known persons who have survived the Killing Curse, cast against him by Voldemort when he was a baby. Because of his mother's loving sacrifice Harry survives the curse and the curse rebounds over Lord Voldemort.

In the first of the three tasks of the Triwizard Tournament, the champions are to collect a golden egg guarded by a dragon. Harry completes the task with hints from Rubeus Hagrid and Moody. Following the first task, Ron and Harry mend their broken friendship. The second task requires retrieving something important that was taken from each champion and hidden in the Hogwarts lake. Ten minutes before the task, Harry is given gillyweed by Dobby so he can breathe underwater. Harry finds the four "important objects" of the tournament's contestants: Ron, Hermione, Cho Chang, and Fleur’s little sister,Gabrielle Delacour. He is forced to rescue Gabrielle along with Ron when Fleur does not come, so he loses the challenge but gains points for 'moral fibre.'

One night, Harry and Krum are startled when a dishevelled Barty Crouch, Sr. emerges from the forest, mumbling nonsense and demanding to see Dumbledore. Harry runs for help, but when he returns with Dumbledore, they find Krum unconscious and Crouch missing. Harry learns more about the Crouches when he sees one of Dumbledore's memories in the Pensieve, a memory-storing tool. The memory shows Barty Crouch, Jr., a Death Eater, sentenced to Azkaban by his father for helping Bellatrix Lestrange torture Frank and Alice Longbottom, Neville's parents, into insanity.

The third and final tournament task involves navigating a labyrinth filled with magical obstacles. Harry and Cedric successfully help each other navigate the maze. They reach the Triwizard cup and agree to take hold of it simultaneously, making both of them winners. The Cup turns out to be a portkey that transports them to an old graveyard in Little Hangleton, where they see Pettigrew and a deformed Lord Voldemort. Pettigrew kills Cedric and ties Harry to the Riddle tombstone. He then uses a bone from Voldemort's father's grave, some of Harry's blood, and his own cut-off hand in a magical ritual that restores Lord Voldemort to a new body.

Voldemort summons the Death Eaters and reveals that a servant of his at Hogwarts ensured that Harry would participate in the tournament, win it, and thus be brought to the graveyard. Harry tries to disarm Voldemort with the Expelliarmus spell at exactly the same time that Voldemort uses the Killing Curse. Since the wands are twins, the two spells meet and interlock, causing a bond between the wands that displays the "echoes" of Voldemort's most recent victims, including Frank Bryce, Cedric, Bertha Jorkins, James Potter, and Lily Potter. The echoes provide protection to Harry, allowing him to escape with Cedric's body and leave Voldemort behind in a rage.

Harry, carrying Cedric's body, returns to the school grounds by using the portkey. Moody rushes Harry to his office, where he reveals that he was Voldemort's servant and attempts to kill Harry himself. Moody is stopped by Dumbledore, Severus Snape, and Minerva McGonagall. Dumbledore feeds Moody Veritaserum, and they discover that "Moody" is actually Barty Crouch, Jr., who was smuggled out of Azkaban and was using a Polyjuice Potion to impersonate the real Alastor Moody.Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, arrives at Hogwarts but refuses to believe Dumbledore's and Harry's word that Voldemort is back.

Harry is crowned Triwizard Champion and awarded with 1,000 galleons. Days later, Dumbledore makes an announcement at the gloomy Leaving Feast, telling everybody about Voldemort. While leaving the Hogwarts Express on King's Cross Station, Harry gives his winnings to Fred and George so they can start a joke shop.

[Credit: Wikipedia]