Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

**Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire** is a British fantasy children's novel written by J.K. Rowling. It was first published in 2000 by Bloomsbury in the UK and Scholtastic Inc in the USA.

## Synopsis

The novel begins with the tale of the Riddle family- a wealthy, unpopular and snobbish muggle family who live in a manor house overlooking the village of Little Hangleton, in Yorkshire. In 1943, Thomas and Marry Riddle lived with their adult son, also named Thomas. However, on day in August, the maid comes into the house to find all three of the Riddles dead. Strangely, there is no evidence of the circumstances the Riddles died in. With no other leads, the police arrest Frank Bryce, the Riddle's family gardener. Bryce claims he is innocent, and tells the police that on the night of the murder, he saw a dark-haired boy who he did not recognise. Bryce is released without charge, but many residents of Little Hangleton still beleived Bryce committed the murders. Over 50 years latter, the now elderly Bryce still works as the gardener for the manor house. One night, he sees a fire in the manor house from his lodgings in the grounds. He goes in to investigate, assuming it is some youths misbehaving. When he enters the house, Bryce hears two men talking about a plan to catch someone called Harry Potter. Unbeknown to Bryce, these two men are Lord Voldermort and his recently reunited servent, Peter Petigrew. Voldermort learns of Bryce's presence by talking to his snake, Nagini. Voldermort asks Bryce to come into the room. Voldermort calls Bryce a muggle. Bryce does not know what a muggle is, but feels insulted and informs the men that he will call the police. Bryce breifly sees the weakened Voldermort, who then kills him using the Avada Kadabra curse. At this point, Harry Potter wakes up in his bed in Little Whinging, Surrey. His scar on his forehead is hurting, an indication that Voldermort is experiencing strong emotions. Harry writes a letter to his godfather- Sirius Black- to let him know about the pain. As Harry's owl- Hedwig- is out, Harry keeps the letter until she gets back so that she can post the letter.

The next morning, the postman knocks on the door while Harry is having breakfast with the Dursleys. The postman is bemused by a letter that is covered in stamps. The letter turns out to be from the Weasleys asking if Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon would give permission for Harry to go to the Quiddich World Cup. Uncle Vernon is furious with Harry because he feels the letter draws attention to Harry being a wizard- something which Vernon does not want to be made public, because of his dislike of anything out of the ordinary. However, Harry tells Uncle Vernon that he would contact Sirius if he was not allowed to go to the World Cup. Vernon reluctantly agrees to let Harry go. Harry writes a letter to Ron telling him that he is allowed to go. Harry also sends the letter that he wrote earlier to Sirius. A few days later, the Weasleys arrive to pick Harry up.

When Harry arrives at the Weasley's home, he learns that Ron's older brothers-Fred and George- have started inventing various joke items and wish to make a business of this when they leave school. However, their mother disaproves of this and wants them to work for the Ministry of Magic. They have a small arguement, but then make up and have dinner. During dinner, Percy Weasley mentions a secret large-scale event he is working on for the ministry that will take place after the Quiddich World Cup.

The day after, they set off to the Quiddich World Cup. Mr. Weasley takes Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George and Ginny to a portkey. He explains that a portkey is an ordinary object that is bewitched to allow many people to travel to a certain destination. They go to one that has been set up nearby especially for the world cup. While on their way there, they meet Cedric Diggory and his father.