December 4, 2002

Today I finished the fourth Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. It was the darkest, scariest book so far.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6.Harry_Potter_and_the_Goblet_of_Fire

First the Weasleys came and picked Harry up and took him to the Quidditch World Cup. While they were there, the gathered wizards and witches see the Dark Mark, the sign of Lord Voldemort, in the sky.

When school starts, the students learn that Hogwarts will be one of three wizarding schools competing in the Triwizard Tournament. It's a difficult and dangerous competition, so only the 17- and 18-year-olds are supposed to enter.

One student was supposed to be chosen from each school. But the goblet of fire selects 2 students from Hogwarts--Hufflepuff Quidditch player Cedric Diggory, and Harry Potter. (Harry was 11 in the first book, and has aged to 15 in the 4th book.)

The four students battle dragons, survive romantic complications at a Christmas dance, save their friends from the merpeople, and finally enter a maze. Cedric and Harry are just about to win the cup together when they're transported to a graveyard. There, Voldemort uses Harry's blood (and, in a gruesome twist, the severed hand of Wormtail, the wizard formerly known as Scabbers the rat) to get a new body. Cedric dies, but of course Harry fights off Voldemort again. Then Harry lives happily until Book 5 comes out.

Harry has a crush on the Ravenclaw seeker, Cho Chang. But Cho loves Cedric. Well, she did before Cedric died. Ron seems to have a crush on Hermione, but his head is turned by the supernaturally beautiful Fleur Delacour from Baeuxbatons school. (She's part veela, a beautiful woman who can turn into a harpy-like creature.) Hermione has a crush on a Quidditch player from the third school. His name is Viktor Crum. He likes Hermione, too.

Even Hagrid developed a crush, on the Beauxbatons headmistress, who is also half-giant. (She says she's just big-boned.)

Also, we learn that Snape used to be one of Voldemort's followers, the Death Eaters. But then he turned on Voldemort and became a spy, and has been fighting against the dark wizards ever since. Of course there's still the possibility that he may go back to his evil ways. I hope not; I like Snape and I want him to be good, even if he does hate Harry.

And that's just a summary of what I liked about Goblet of Fire.

Appropriately, I saw a TV show about J.K. Rowling on the Biography channel this evening. She said it was not true that she began the first book in coffeehouses because she couldn't afford a flat with heat. The truth is, Scotland is way too cold in the winter to live in an unheated apartment. Her daughter Jessica was an infant then, and now she's about ten. J.K. Rowling recently got remarried, and now she has a baby son, too. She's very creative, and she can draw, too. She also has already written the epilogue to the seventh book, telling what Harry and his friends did when they grew up, who they married, etc.

Personally, I think Ron and Hermione will get married and have seven kids, just like Molly and Arthur Weasley.