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J.K. Rowling's richly plotted fourth book more than lives up to all the hooplaJuly 10, 2000
BY MARTA SALIJ
Warning: This story contains Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire spoilers, so if you don't want to know the secrets of the book, you'll need to stop reading in a few paragraphs. (We'll tell you when.)
OK -- anyone who doesn't want to know more about the plot should stop reading now. In brief, in this fourth installment, the unfathomably evil Lord Voldemort is restored to his full power -- with Harry's unwitting help. After spending part of the summer with his hateful relations, the Dursleys, Harry gets invited to watch the Quidditch World Cup finals by his good friend, Ron Weasley, and Ron's family. Ron's father, a wizard who works in the Ministry of Magic (kind of like the federal government, for wizards), gets some fantastic, Top Box tickets in the 100,000-seat stadium (not as big as Michigan Stadium, maybe, but this one is still rimmed in gold). The celebration at the World Cup soon turns ominous. Some followers of Voldemort reband to perform nasty tricks on Muggles (non-magic humans) and to send the Dark Mark of Voldemort into the night sky. That hideous mark hasn't been seen since Harry's infancy, when Voldemort killed his parents -- but lost his power and his body when his hex on Harry backfired. Harry and Ron and their friend, Hermione Granger, start their fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry shortly after. This year, the three wizard schools of Europe -- Hogwarts, the vaguely French Beauxbatons and the vaguely Eastern European Durmstrang -- reinstate the Triwizard Tournament, a three-part magical battle of courage. Three students will compete one from each school, at Hogwarts. The winner of the year-long tournament will gain honor for his school, as well as 1,000 gold Galleons. (That's big money.) Harry isn't eligible to compete -- he's three years too young -- but the Goblet of Fire, enlisted to choose the worthiest students, spits out his name, anyway, as a fourth contender. The Goblet's decision is binding magic, so Headmaster Albus Dumbledore can do nothing. Who would want to put Harry into a competition that is very dangerous even for the best student wizards? Meanwhile, the Triwizard competition brings with it a Yule Ball, and Harry has to ask some girl to go with him. Harry and Ron's flummoxed mishandling of the dance is endearing. Hermione has her own battles. She learns that Hogwarts has about a hundred house-elves, who do all the housekeeping at Hogwarts but are slaves. She's disgusted that most wizards see nothing wrong with the house-elves' enslavement and exasperated that most house-elves don't want to be freed (they are the most trusted advisers of their owners and value that status). But the most important business of "Goblet" is to bring Voldemort back. Harry knows he is being manipulated to take part in the Triwizard competition, but he thinks it's solely to put him into mortal peril. The true goal is to provide Voldemort with the materials he needs to resume human shape, regain his power and restore his network of supporters. The dark wizards have little choice -- to defy him is to risk horrific torture. Among the hints that leaked out about the fourth book were that Voldemort would kill someone close to Harry. The victim is not one of his closest friends -- though the death does have the intended effect on Harry. What comes next? The Ministry of Magic seems utterly inadequate to deal with Voldemort's threat. Dumbledore seems to have blundered badly in where he placed his trust this year; it's the duplicity of a teacher that delivers Harry to Voldemort. And a number of wizards at Hogwarts appear to be at least partly under the control of Voldemort. (Snape, who it turns out had been a follower of Voldemort, appears truly to be aiding the good wizards. But is Snape strong enough to continue resisting Voldemort? Or is Dumbledore making another mistake?) Of course, Harry has grown greatly in knowledge and backbone during the Triwizard competition. He's shown himself able to seek help and to apply it wisely. He's grown in his ability to share victories. He's grown in his concern for other creatures. He has a whole summer (we learn that he is, ironically, safest when with the Dursleys) to rest. You know, he may just be up to dealing with this Voldemort.
MARTA SALIJ can be reached at 313-223-4530 or salij@freepress.com. Detroit Free Press (Jul 10, 2000)
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