Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Working Title was:
Harry Potter and the Doomspell Tournament
Facts and Statistics
- First U.S. Printing, July, 2000
- First British Printing, July, 2000
- ISBN 0-439-13959-7
Book Four Awards:
- Scottish Arts Council Book Award 2001
- Children's Book Award 9-11 category 2001
WARNING!!
This book includes information that will give away the plots of the previous books...
Read at your own risk!
SUMMARY OF BOOK 4
A Painful Nightmare
In the village of Little Hagleton, a deserted manor that the villagers call "the Riddle house," had been the scene of a triple death of all the Riddles. Frank Bryce, the gardener who lived in a cottage on the grounds, was accused for lack of any other suspects, but when the doctors could not find a cause of death, he was acquitted. For some reason, he stayed on to tend the grounds while the current owner did not reside there.
This night in August, he notices a light flickering in a window and goes in to investigate. He sees, through a partially open door, a man called "Wormtail" talking to his "master" about plans they retrieved from a Bertha Jorkins before murdering her, and about using that information for a plot to murder a boy named Harry Potter. Lord Voldemort hisses and spits, calling Nagini, a 12-foot snake, and it is obvious that Voldemort can talk to snakes as it informs him that there is a Muggle outside their door. Voldemort calls Frank inside, and kills him with a wave of his wand.
Harry, who is 200 miles away at Privet Drive, awakes from a vivid nightmare about the old man and Voldemort, with his scar burning in pain. He looks at it in the mirror, but it looks normal. However, the last time his scar hurt, Voldemort had been nearby, so he writes to Sirius.
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Food Fights
Dudley's school has put him on a diet, and to make him feel better, the Dursleys are all following his diet - including Harry. Realizing that, as an already skinny 13-year-old, he could not survive on grapefruit quarters, Harry had written to his friends who all sent him food packages, which he hides in his bedroom under a floor board.
The Weasleys come to take Harry to the Quidditch World Cup match between Bulgaria and Ireland - hosted by Britain for the first time in 30 years. They arrive by Floo Powder but find that the Dursleys have boarded up their flue since they have an electric fireplace. To the horror of the Dursleys, Mr. Weasley blasts through their wall. As Fred and George drag Harry's trunk through the hole, Fred drops some candies out of his pocket. They pick them up and exit, but Dudley had grabbed one of Fred and George's Ton-Tongue Toffee, and Dudley is on the floor with his tongue swelled to over a foot long before Mr. Weasley resolves the situation. Mrs. Weasley is very upset as she had been when the twins invented Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.
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Family Reunion
Hermione is at the Burrow, as are the two oldest Weasley brothers, who are visiting to attend the World Cup. Charlie works with dragons in Rumania, while Bill, who works for Gringotts Bank, had been Head Boy like Percy, but unlike Percy, is cool.
Percy is now working for a Mr. Barty Crouch in the Department of International Magical Cooperation at the Ministry, and reveres Crouch. Percy badmouths Ludo Bagman, head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports, because he has not sent anyone to search for Bertha Jorkins who has been missing for over a month, but Arthur Weasley says he likes Ludo, who got them their tickets for the World Cup.
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The Quidditch World Cup
Since the kids cannot yet apparate (disappear from one place and reappear in another), they use a "Portkey" to magically transport the whole group to the World Cup. A Portkey can be any object - typically things that look like litter are used so Muggles don't pick them up. They all walk up to Stoatshead Hill where the nearest Portkey (an old boot) is located, and everyone touches the Portkey which brings them to the designated area - hitting the ground hard.
The property used for the World Cup is Muggle-owned, so they have to dress and look as much like Muggles as possible. The Weasleys erect two-man tents on the outside that are complete three-room flats on the inside. Harry sees moving likenesses everywhere of the Bulgarian Seeker, Viktor Krum, who is currently the biggest celebrity of the sport.
Ludo Bagman, who played Beater for England's Wimbourne Wasps and is the announcer for this match, stops by and makes a bet with Fred and George. They wager just over 37 Galleons (their whole savings) that Viktor Krum catches the Snitch but Ireland wins the game.
The Weasley's seats are in the prestigious Top Box, where behind Harry sits an elf-like creature with its head in its hands. He thinks it's Dobby, but when he calls that name, a female house-elf, by the name of Winky looks up saying she knows Dobby and sees from the scar that he is Harry Potter who Dobby talks about all the time. She says that Dobby is well but that being freed has changed him since he now wants to get paid for his work - which is unnatural and embarrassing. She does not like heights, but her master, Barty Crouch, has sent her to hold a seat for him, so she goes back to covering her eyes.
The Quidditch match is very brutal. Bulgaria does some dangerous yet effective maneuvers, but Ireland's Beaters are ruthless, and their Chasers keep scoring. When Ireland is up 170 to 10, Krum races Lynch to the Snitch and catches it - ending the game - thus losing to Ireland, just as the Weasley twins had wagered. They collect their gold from Ludo Bagman.
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Death Eaters' Dark Mark
That night, Mr. Weasley suddenly wakes everyone in the tent and has them hurry into the woods as wizards scream and run from hooded Death Eaters (Voldemort's followers) who are panicking the campers, setting fires, and tormenting Muggles. Harry, Ron, and Hermione get separated from Fred, George, and Ginny, when Harry realizes that his wand is missing. They see Winky heading toward the forest as though struggling against a great force.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione find a clearing where they hear footsteps and a voice whisper an incantation - sending a big green sparkling skull with a snake in its mouth hovering in the air. The skull is the Dark Mark that Lord Voldemort displayed whenever he killed, and at that moment, the Ministry wizards apparate on the spot and simultaneously zap the area as Harry dives with Ron and Hermione to the ground to avoid being stunned.
The Ministry wizards search the grounds for the person they heard utter the spell, but all they find is a stunned Winky with Harry's lost wand in her hand. No one can believe that she or the kids would have conjured the Dark Mark, but they do not catch anyone else. As Winky had disobeyed Mr. Crouch's orders to stay in the tent, he will dismiss her - which really upsets Hermione.
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Skeeter's Scandals
Mr. Weasley and Percy are very busy at the Ministry because a Daily Prophet reporter, Rita Skeeter, has uncovered that Bertha Jorkins is missing, and a scuffle involving Muggles and a prowler at Mad-Eye Moody's residence. Mad-Eye, who used to be an Auror and was personally responsible for capturing about half the Dark wizards in Azkaban, always thinks that someone is out to get him back, and overreacts to everyday noises and events.
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A Triwizard Tournament
At the welcoming feast, Hermione is incensed when she finds out from Nearly-Headless Nick that Hogwarts uses house-elves to prepare the food and do the linens and other housekeeping.
Dumbledore announces that Mad-Eye Moody is the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, and then lets the students know that Hogwarts will be hosting the Triwizard Tournament this year. The Tournament had been stopped because of too many deaths, so with many new safeguards, including an age restriction of at least 17, this is the first time in centuries that it will be held. The Triwizard Tournament was established as a friendly competition between the three top wizarding schools in Europe - Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang - and the finalists from those schools will be arriving at Hogwarts in October.
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Unforgivable Curses
In their Defense Against the Dark Arts class, Moody says that he needs to show them what a curse looks like if they are to defend against it, so he shows them the three Unforgivable Curses, that when used against a human being, carry a life sentence in Azkaban.
Moody brings out three spiders. On the first one, he performs the Imperius Curse - in which he takes control of the spider - making it do anything he wants - including harm itself. He mentions that this curse was used during Voldemort's time, and that the Ministry had a tough job determining who was being controlled and who was acting of their own free will. The second spider writhes in silent agony from the Cruciatus Curse, as Neville grips his desk in terror. The third spider dies instantly with the incantation "Avada Kadavra," leaving no mark on the body. He lets them know that the only person known to survive that one is Harry Potter, whose scar is from that very curse. Moody teaches the class how to resist the Imperius Curse - which Harry learns to combat completely.
Sirius finally writes back to Harry letting him know that his scar is one of several signs that something is going on, so he is returning back north immediately, instructing Harry to go straight to Dumbledore if it hurts again.
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Free the House-elves
Hermione has created an organization called the "Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare" (S.P.E.W.), and appoints Harry as Secretary and Ron as Treasurer. She wants to get house-elves fair wages and representation in the Ministry, whereas Ron insists that they "like" their situation, and doesn't understand her obsession with changing it.
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The Champions
On October 30, the Beauxbatons students arrive by air in a huge blue carriage pulled by a dozen giant winged Palominos, while the Durmstrang students arrive by ship thrust out of the center of the lake in a whirlpool jet. The Beauxbatons headmistress is Madam Maxime who is as large as Hagrid. The Headmaster of Durmstrang is Professor Karkaroff who, to everyone's astonishment, has Viktor Krum, the Quidditch Seeker, as one of his students.
Dumbledore announces that there will be three tasks spaced throughout the school year, and the champions will be scored based on their performance in each task. The competitor who wins the Cup, wins 1000 gold Galleons. The impartial selection of the final three champions (one to represent each school) will be made from names submitted into the "Goblet of Fire," which emits blue-white flames and sits inside an "age line" that blocks anyone under 17.
At the Halloween feast, the Goblet flames turn red and it ejects the names of the three students who will compete in the Triwizard Tournament: Viktor Krum is chosen as the Durmstrang champion, Fleur Delacour is chosen from Beauxbatons, and Cedric Diggory from Hufflepuff House will represent Hogwarts. As Dumbledore calls for support for all three champions, the Goblet ejects a fourth name - Harry Potter. Harry and everyone else are in shock.
Not only is a fourth champion unprecedented, but Harry is underage and gives Hogwarts two chances to win versus one for each of the visiting schools - upsetting the other schools. However, Mr. Crouch is definitive in that the rules state that whatever names come out of the Goblet are bound by legal contract, and since the Goblet's fire automatically extinguishes, a re-submission cannot take place. Crouch informs the champions that since the purpose of the first task is to test their daring, they will not know anything about the task until November 24, when it takes place.
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All Eyes on Harry
Once again, Harry is in the spotlight, and this time it is too much for Ron to handle. Ron is upset with him, as well as convinced (just like the rest of the school) that Harry figured out a way to put his own name into the Goblet. Hermione seeing the look on Harry's face when his name was called, knows he didn't, but tries to help him understand how Ron feels and is very concerned about who might want Harry exposed to the dangers in a Triwizard Tournament.
Harry has to attend a wand weighing ceremony and photo session for the Daily Prophet. Rita Skeeter takes Harry into a closet where she "privately" interviews him by using a "Quick Quotes Quill" to embellish Harry responses. The result is an article that focuses on Harry and barely mentions the Tournament while omitting Cedric's name completely, plus implying that Harry is emotionally afflicted and has a personal relationship with Hermione.
Harry cannot stand the looks and comments he is getting, so he goes to Hogsmeade with Hermione wearing the Invisibility Cloak. While they are in the Three Broomsticks, Moody and Hagrid come over to Hermione. Moody leans over and mutters "Nice cloak, Potter" - letting him know that his magical eye can see through invisibility cloaks - while Hagrid tells to Harry to meet him at his cabin at midnight under the cloak.
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Midnight Rendezvous
That night, Hagrid meets Madame Maxime and strolls (with Harry tagging along) to a remote area of the grounds where they see Charlie Weasley and a bunch of wizards attempting to control four full-grown, cranky dragons, that he tells Hagrid is the first task - the champions must get past them. On his way back to the castle, Harry bumps into Karkaroff who is also sneaking over to take a look, meaning that everyone will know about the dragons except Cedric.
Harry has a secret meeting with Sirius whose head appears in the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room. Harry tells him about the dragons and Sirius is concerned that whoever put his name into the Goblet probably wants to kill him while making it look like an accident. Sirius relates that: Karkaroff used to be a Death Eater who turned informer, so is not liked by either side; Moody's "false alarm" on the night before he came to Hogwarts might have been an attempt to stop him from getting to Hogwarts; and Bertha Jorkins disappeared in Albania - the last rumored location of Voldemort. He thinks all those events are related.
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First Task
Harry gets Cedric alone to inform him that he is the only one who does not know that the first task will be to get past a dragon. Cedric is not sure whether to believe him or not, but is thankful for the gesture. Hermione and Harry spend most of the night before the First Task teaching Harry to do a reliable Summoning Spell.
The four champions go to a tent where they pull from a pouch a model of the dragon under which they must steal a golden egg - Harry's is the most fearsome black Hungarian Horntail. Before going out, Bagman surprises Harry by offering him help, but Harry refuses. Harry goes last, so listens nervously to the crowds as the others accomplish their feats: Cedric transfigures a stone into a dog to draw the dragon's attention away, Fleur puts hers to sleep, and Krum temporarily blinds his. Harry summons his Firebolt, flies up to draw the dragon off her eggs, and then dives to retrieve the golden egg - making the crowd go wild. Ron is so relieved that Harry has survived and they end their feud. Harry is tied with Krum for first place, while the second task will take place on February 24, and the eggs they have retrieved open to reveal a clue to the next task.
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It's Dobby!
Hermione drags Harry and Ron down to the Hogwarts kitchens where Dobby and Winky are there among the Hogwarts house-elves, as Dumbledore is the only one who will pay them for work. Dobby loves socks, but does not yet have a shirt. Winky sobs over her Master Crouch, but will not tell them what is wrong with him.
On Christmas day, Dobby wakes Harry for whom he has brought a present - a pair of socks that he knit. Ron gives Dobby his Mom's yearly sweater, and Dobby says that Ron is a great and generous wizard.
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Yule Ball
The Yule Ball is a tradition with the Triwizard Tournament, and all the champions, including Harry, must bring a dance partner to the Ball. Harry waits too long to ask Cho Chang, so she has already been asked by Cedric (which aggravates Harry). Ron waits too long to ask Fleur (who he is too embarrassed to address), or Hermione, who will not reveal who is taking her. Therefore, Harry and Ron take the Patil twins who they mostly ignore, and they see Krum enter the Hall with a very pretty girl - who they eventually recognize as Hermione, and Ron seems to be jealous of Krum. Percy, who has been recently promoted as Mr. Crouch's personal assistant, is attending for Crouch who he says has not been feeling well.
While hanging out in the rose garden, they overhear Hagrid tell Madame Maxime about his giantess mother who left his father, and his normal-sized wizard father who had died shortly after he started at Hogwarts, so Dumbledore had looked after him. Harry feels a bit awkward listening in, and tries to concentrate on a beetle crawling around to feel less self-conscious. When Hagrid implies that Madame Maxime has giant blood, she is outraged and stalks off in a huff. Ron explains to Harry that giants are dangerous by nature and that humans and giants do not normally get along at all.
As Harry returns from the Ball, Cedric gets Harry alone and tells him that he "owes him one" for the information about the dragons, and gives him a clue to take his egg up to the Prefect bathroom and to "take a bath" - giving him the password.
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Rita's Latest Victim
When Harry, Ron, and Hermione get to Hagrid's class, there is a substitute teacher, and Malfoy smugly shows them Rita Skeeter's latest article which exposes Hagrid's giant heritage, and reports that all the students hate Hagrid but are too scared to admit it. Ron and Hermione want to know how Rita found out about his heritage, but Hagrid is too ashamed to open his door to anyone. Hermione bangs on Hagrid's door to let them in - saying they don't care what blood he has in him. Dumbledore is there and is pleased to let them in and offer their comments as evidence as to why he refuses to accept Hagrid's resignation.
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Harry Takes a Bath
Harry sits in the tub in the Prefects bathroom with his egg, but it makes a terrible wail and he cannot figure out the clue until Moaning Myrtle comes in through the pipes and tells him to hold it underwater where he hears a riddle. He figures out that he will have only one hour to search the lake for something of his that the merpeople have stolen, and if he does not retrieve it, it will be lost forever. Harry's only problem now is to figure out how to breathe underwater for an hour.
On his way back from the bathroom, Harry is astounded to see on the Marauder's Map that Barty Crouch is in Snape's office, and heads that direction. He is so intent on getting there, that he forgets about a trick stair and falls right through it, sending the wailing egg crashing to the floor. He stays under his invisibility cloak, but his map has fluttered away, and he is stuck in the stair as he watches Filch, Snape, and then Moody come to see what is going on. Moody can, of course, see him stuck in the stair, and saves him by talking Snape and Filch into leaving, while retrieving the map - which he then borrows from Harry.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione wonder what a sick Barty Crouch was doing in Snape's office in the middle of the night. They also are at a loss to find Harry a way to breathe under water.
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The Second Task
The morning of the second task, Harry awakes in a panic, but Dobby has come with gillyweed that he overheard Moody discussing with McGonagall, and tells him that it is Ron Weasley who they have taken and who Harry must now recover. Harry takes the gillyweed and runs down to the Tournament just in time, but is scolded by Percy who is again substituting for Crouch.
Harry eats the gillyweed which forms gills on his neck, webs on his hands and feet, and gives him clear visibility under water. With the help of Moaning Myrtle, he is first to find the merpeople's "hostages." Eventually, Cedric arrives for Cho using an air bubble around his head, and Krum makes it for Hermione using a shark transfiguration that partially worked, but when Harry does not see Fleur in time, he threatens the merpeople and takes both Ron and Fleur's little sister, Gabrielle, to the surface.
Fleur, who was attacked by grindylows is waiting onshore, hysterical over her sister, and is very grateful that Harry has brought her. Krum is brushing a water beetle out of Hermione's hair as they sit wrapped up in thick blankets. Dumbledore, who can speak mermish, discusses what happened underwater with the merpeople, and they decide to deduct only 5 points out of 50 from Harry's score - putting him tied in first place with Cedric.
Rita Skeeter writes an article about Hermione - and mentions that Krum asked her to visit him in Bulgaria, but Hermione is mystified how she could possibly have heard him ask her.
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Snuffles
Harry, Ron, and Hermione bring food to Sirius Buckbeak who are hiding in a cave outside Hogsmeade. They discuss all the events, and Sirius lets them know that it was Crouch who put him in Azkaban without a trial. Sirius cannot understand why Crouch would be in Snape's office but not make it to the Tournament, and he still does not understand why Dumbledore hired Snape. Sirius insists that Harry not leave Hogwarts without his permission, and tells them all to call him "Snuffles" as a precaution.
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Crouch Cracks
The last week of May, the champions meet on the Quidditch field at night for their instructions, where the field has been transformed into a giant maze. The Triwizard Cup will be at the center of the maze, and the first champion to touch it will win the Tournament. On the way back, to the castle, the famous Krum questions Harry about his relationship with Hermione, which is very eerie to 14-year-old Harry. While they are talking, Harry suddenly sees a bloody, unshaven Mr. Crouch weaving around the grounds and talking incoherently - addressing trees and objects as if they were people at the Ministry. In-between his hallucinations, Crouch manages to communicate to that he needs to talk to Dumbledore, so Harry leaves Krum with Crouch, and runs to the castle. By the time Dumbledore gets there, Krum has been stunned and Crouch is missing. Moody, who says he heard about Crouch from Snape, searches the forest for Crouch.
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Troubled Thoughts
In Professor Trelawney's class, it is very warm, and Harry nods off while listenning to the buzz of an insect. Harry dreams that someone is telling Wornmtail that his blunder did not ruin everything since "he" is dead. Then, a wand appears and a voice casts the Cruciatus Curse on Wormtail, who screams from pain as Harry awakes in pain from his scar - to find himself on the floor with the class looking down at him. Harry tells Professor Trelawney that he is going to the hospital, but heads right for Dumbledore's office as Sirius had instructed.
As Harry waits in Dumbledore's office, he investigates a shimmering light coming from a stone basin. He sees what looks like a room through a misty liquid, and as he peers closer, he is pulled down into the room. Just as in the Riddle diary, Harry finds himself a phantom - seated next to Dumbledore while Crouch interrogates a much younger Karkaroff who has been imprisoned for his crimes as a Death Eater. Karkaroff names names - one of which is Snape - but Dumbledore testifies that although Snape had been a Death Eater, he had turned spy before the fall of Voldemort at great personal risk. The scene changes slightly as Ludo Bagman is brought before the Ministry for passing information, but is unanimously acquitted. The scene changes to a new memory where Crouch's frail wife looks on as he sends his own son, and the three other prisoners with whom he had been caught, off to Azkaban for having tortured Frank Longbottom and his wife. The "real" Dumbledore arrives to escort Harry back up to his office. Dumbledore explains that this is a Pensieve, into which he can siphon off his thoughts from his head on silver threads, and then stir them up to arrange them into patterns so he can see any links between them.
Harry tells Dumbledore about his dream and his scar hurting. Dumbledore thinks that it possibly hurts when Voldemort is nearby feeling strong hatred, and that the dream probably happened in real life as well - which means that Voldemort can now hold a wand.
Harry asks Dumbledore about the trial he observed about Neville's parents. Dumbledore explains that they were Aurors just like Moody, and after Voldemort's demise, they were unexpectedly approached by Death Eaters and tortured using the Cruciatus Curse. They had gone so insane that they do not even recognize Neville, who visits them during the holidays at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.
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Rita Strikes Again
Harry, Ron, and Hermione watch from a distance as Malfoy holds his hand up to his mouth, speaking into it. Harry thinks it looks like he is using a walkie-talkie, but Hermione reminds them that electronics do not work within the castle grounds.
Rita Skeeter writes a story about Harry Potter calling him "Disturbed and Dangerous," saying that he regularly collapses in class claiming that his scar hurts. She quotes experts from St. Mungo's Hospital who say his brain could have been affected by the attack or that he is pretending and looking for attention. She reveals to her readers that Harry can speak Parseltongue, plus since he has werewolves and giants for friends, she feels he must have a violent personality. Once again, they cannot figure out how she would have found out, but Hermione suddenly gets an idea and runs off to the library.
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Third Task
The families of the other champions have come to watch them in the third task, while, to Harry's delight, Mrs. Weasley and Bill show up to watch him. As the sky darkens, they walk to the entrance of the maze where they are instructed that if they are in trouble and want to be rescued, to send red sparks into the air.
Using his wand as a compass, Harry works his way toward the center of the maze. Harry hears Fleur scream but cannot get to her and assumes she is no longer a participant. He encounters a boggart, a confounding mist, and a ten-foot long Blast-Ended Skrewt. He then hears Cedric screaming and cuts through the hedge to see Krum performing the Cruciatus Curse on Cedric - which seems extreme for Krum. Harry stuns Krum and he and Cedric send up red sparks over the body. They separate, and Harry faces a sphinx, whereupon solving her riddle, is allowed to use a short-cut to the Cup, but Cedric enters the path in front of him - about to reach the Cup. Harry suddenly sees that a huge monster is about to intercept Cedric from the side, and yells just in time, but a monsterous spider grabs Harry by the leg, injuring it, and when Harry casts a disarming spell, it drops Harry on the bad leg. He and Cedric stun the spider together, but he can barely walk, so Harry tells Cedric to grab the cup, but Cedric refuses, so they agree to grab it simultaneously.
As their hands touch the Cup, they discover it is a Portkey - transporting them to a graveyard where they draw their wands as they watch a figure approach with a bundle in his arms. They were not aware that the Cup was a Portkey and are confused as to whether this is part of the Task or not. As the figure walks up to Harry, his scar sears and he drops to the ground, writhing in pain. This was clearly not part of the Task….
--- PLOT ENDING NOT COVERED ---
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