Chapter Summaries

Harry and Ron sought a hint about the Triwizard Tournament’s Fourth Task, and Bagman secretly told them it would involve flying and technique. The Champions were left to prepare for a task beginning the next day.

• Bagman warned the Champions that the Fourth Task was near and that their earlier points would still matter.
• Harry and Ron asked Bagman for a hint, and he said he would try to get information from Dolores.
• Harry and Ron met Bagman at the Quidditch pitch, where a friendly match gave them cover to talk privately.
• Bagman told Harry and Ron that the Fourth Task should involve flying and technique.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione saw an enormous vine rise through the clouds on the Quidditch pitch and suspected it was part of the fourth task. Harry recalled how he and Ron had studied flying spells with Professor Flitwick, but they had mastered only one and planned to keep practicing.

• A colossal vine appeared in the center of the Quidditch pitch, and Harry wondered what it was.
• Hermione noted that the vine seemed connected to flying, which Harry and Ron suspected would feature in the fourth task.
• Harry and Ron had learned several flying spells from Professor Flitwick, but each had mastered only one.
• Hermione agreed to practice with Harry and Ron, but advised them not to invite Qiu or Lavender because they distracted them.
• Harry and Ron planned to practice in the Room of Requirement, and Harry sent Hedwig to tell Qiu.

The fourth Triwizard task began with the champions receiving Gemstones and being told to climb the Sky-Piercing Vine while collecting items along the way. Ron set off first with the Levitation Charm, and Elizabeth Xilieikesi followed by transforming her robe into wings.

• Bagman introduced the Sky-Piercing Vine as the fourth task and explained that champions had to climb it, collect unknown items, and obey limits on what they could carry.
• The spectators looked at Harry after Bagman mentioned new rules meant to prevent contestants from interfering with one another, and Harry took their attention in stride.
• Bagman gave Ron Gemstones and sent him off first because he had the highest score.
• Ron used the Levitation Charm to rise to the vine’s first leaf, then began circling the plant to search for something.
• Bagman gave Elizabeth Xilieikesi Gemstones, and she used her robe as wings and a spell to lighten herself before flying upward.

Harry discovered that the vine’s fruits played instructions when eaten, then began searching the Sky-Piercing Vine for more clues. As the other Champions took flight, Krum, Yi Qianqian, and Delacour followed with their own methods.

• Harry ate a red fruit and heard a song instructing the Champions to collect fruit for clues, including searching the vines as well as the leaves.
• Harry vanished the broken fruit scraps with Scourgify, then used the Hovering Charm to rise and search.
• Krum followed the Champions ahead by using a proficient Hovering Charm.
• Yi Qianqian used Transfiguration to fly and waved to Cedric in the crowd, who waved back.
• Delacour took flight after Yi Qianqian.

Jean Gardner transformed into a peregrine falcon without a wand or incantation, and Professor McGonagall identified her as an Animagus. As the champions continued the flying task, Julianne Sirtute amazed the crowd with magic that let her step on empty air, and Carlos Blanco was next to begin.

• Jean Gardner transformed into a peregrine falcon, prompting Professor McGonagall to confirm she was an Animagus.
• The wizards discussed Jean’s transformation and compared her with Ryan Moning Meng, another champion who had revealed her Animagus form.
• Shen Yalan flew with an Ice Wings-like spell, but her flight was unsteady.
• Julianne Sirtute used a series of incantations to float upward and then push off empty air to rise again.
• Karkaroff beamed at Sturt’s impressive display, and Carlos Blanco took his turn next.

Blanco spotted the smashed fruits left by earlier Champions and understood the Tournament Committee’s trap, while several contestants had saved their fruits through quick reactions or sharp eyesight. As the Champions climbed the Sky-Piercing Vine, Meng’s cloud magic carried her past Xilieikesi and toward Ron.

• Blanco transformed into a Harpy Eagle, spotted the fruit fragments, and saved his own fruit after exchanging for it.
• The Champions’ fallen fruits showed that Ron, Krum, Corvinus, Jacob Covenas, Jean Gardner, and others had avoided wasting a Gemstone, while several contestants had smashed theirs.
• Bagman told the audience that seven of the thirteen Champions ahead of Blanco had saved their fruits, though his count was mistaken.
• Ron climbed slowly with the Levitation Charm before switching to the Hovering Charm, while Elizabeth abandoned her Transfigured wings and also began using the Hovering Charm.
• Meng used her cloud magic to overtake Xilieikesi and close in on Ron.

Jean Gardner found a marked spot on the vine and used a Gemstone to obtain a blue fruit inscribed with simplified Ancient Runes. After identifying the spell as Rhythm of the Ocean, she realized the fruit marking was single-use and wondered whether to search higher up the vine.

• Jean Gardner lifted a leaf and found a bright red fruit image with a small hole beneath it.
• Jean Gardner inserted a Gemstone into the hole and collected a hard, scentless blue fruit.
• Jean Gardner read the fruit’s simplified Ancient Runes and examined the nearby text, which identified the spell as Rhythm of the Ocean.
• Jean Gardner noticed that the fruit image and hole disappeared after the fruit was collected, then considered flying higher to search the vine.

Harry and the other Champions searched the Sky-Piercing Vine for fruit patterns and spent Gemstones to collect fruit, while spectators speculated about how many colors there were. Jean Gardner took the lead in her peregrine falcon form and obtained a green fruit, leaving the total number of colors uncertain.

• Harry found an eighth fruit pattern, spent a Gemstone, and received a purple fruit despite expecting a different color.
• Spectators laughed when Harry complained that the Tournament Committee favored people with good eyesight, and Champions discussed the fruit colors.
• Carlos Blanco carefully spent only two of his Gemstones and collected one blue fruit and one red fruit.
• Hermione guessed that the fruits came in five colors, based on Carlos Blanco's limited supply of Gemstones.
• Jean Gardner surged into the lead with her peregrine falcon form, then spent another Gemstone and received a green fruit, the fifth color seen so far.

Jean Gardner solved the Fourth Task quickly by collecting five differently colored fruits and using them to obtain a Golden Apple, then returned to the ground in under an hour. The other Champions were still climbing and searching, while Harry hesitated over an ambiguous hint as he looked for his final yellow fruit.

• Jean Gardner solved the runic spell, placed one fruit of each color in the tray, and recited the spell to make a Golden Apple fall.
• Jean tried to bring down more apples, but the Tournament Committee's spell limitation allowed each person to claim only one.
• Jean obtained her Golden Apple and heard the music announce that the task was over.
• The audience saw that the Champions had encountered many distinct, often misleading fruit hints, while Meng had collected four colors and still lacked red fruit.
• Hermione recorded and analyzed the hints as Ginny watched Harry, who remained in eighth place and debated whether “Autumn's gift” indicated a yellow or red fruit.

Harry and Ron’s fruit-gathering strategy changed the Fourth Task as several champions turned back to exchange missing items with partners. Harry and Ron reached the Golden Apple Tree first, while Julianne, Carlos Blanco, and Krum followed in a close race.

• Harry and Ron flew upward together after collecting five fruit colors, prompting Meng, Julianne Sirtute, and Lei Kaiming to turn back and seek partners for exchanges.
• Meng and Corvinus discovered they were missing the same fruit color, while Julianne and Krum successfully exchanged what they lacked and flew upward together.
• Elizabeth and Delacour pooled their fruit and set off for the top, while Carlos Blanco remained alone after Jean Gardner had completed the task.
• Harry and Ron used Air Ballistics to reach the Golden Apple Tree first and collect their Golden Apples.
• Julianne reached the top next, and Carlos Blanco found his last fruit color, transformed into a harpy eagle, and overtook Krum on the way up.
• Harry and Ron returned to the ground first, followed by Julianne and Blanco, as Jean Gardner apologized to Carlos for finishing too hastily.

The champions completed the Sky-Piercing Vine task far sooner than the Tournament Committee had expected, and the vine was packed away as soon as the last champion returned. The judges began announcing scores, with Jean Gardner, Ron, and Harry receiving their results before the chapter ended.

• Markov Horton returned last, completing the task in an hour and a half, and the Sky-Piercing Vine shrank into a seed.
• Bagman and the spectators discussed the vine and the possibility of using it in a future tournament before Crouch called the judges to score the champions.
• The judges gave Jean Gardner 56 points for the task, bringing her cumulative score to 181.
• Ron received one more point than Jean because Li Jinglong awarded him an extra point for helping his companion.
• Harry received 53 points, with most judges giving him nine points while Karkaroff gave him seven and Weir Hallen gave him eight.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione struggled to discover how to open the Golden Apple during the Easter holidays while Neville brought them news from Witch Weekly. The chapter left Ron pleased to learn that the Ballycastle Bats' coach wanted him as their Keeper.

• Harry and Ron tried more than fifty ways to open the Golden Apple, but even knives, axes, and magic had no effect.
• Hermione stayed at Hogwarts and puzzled over the apple with Harry and Ron while helping Neville prepare for his final exams.
• Neville brought Witch Weekly to the Gryffindor Common Room and told Harry and Ron about the Quidditch League results.
• Neville read that the Ballycastle Bats' coach said Ron could have helped them beat the Montrose Magpies.
• Ron blushed and felt appreciated, though he had already agreed to try out for the Chudley Cannons.

Harry and his friends learned that Barty Crouch had been found dead near the Forbidden Forest and joined the crowd around his body. As Dumbledore secured the scene, Rufus Scrimgeour arrived, while Harry and Ron suspected that Umbridge was reacting strangely to Crouch’s death.

• Dennis Creevey told Harry and his friends that Ilvermorny students had found Crouch dead at the edge of the Forbidden Forest.
• Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville hurried out of the castle and saw Dumbledore, McGonagall, Bagman, Umbridge, and the visiting headmasters gathered around Crouch’s body.
• Harry recalled that Crouch had been competing with Umbridge for the Senior Undersecretary position and wondered whether she was secretly pleased by his death.
• Harry and Ron noticed that Umbridge’s expression seemed suspiciously strange as they looked at Crouch’s disheveled body.
• Rufus Scrimgeour arrived from the direction of Hogsmeade, and Karkaroff deliberately moved behind the other headmasters.

After Barty Crouch's death faded from discussion, Harry learned that disappearances and deaths were common in the wizarding world, then refocused on the unsolved clue for the Triwizard Tournament's fifth task. The Golden Apple remained untouched by every attempt to open it, leaving Harry and his friends without progress.

• Parvati, Ron, and Neville explained to Harry and Hermione that wizards often vanished or died without attracting much attention.
• Harry recalled the murdered wizards in the woods and Professor Babbling's warnings about dangerous runic phrases.
• Harry stopped dwelling on Crouch's death and concentrated on finding the clue for the fifth task.
• Harry, Ron, and the others failed to damage the Golden Apple, even after asking Professor Flitwick to test it with magic.

Harry and Ron entered the sixth task confident that its challenge suited their strengths, while the other Champions remained unsure how to prepare. Before the task began, the scores showed Hogwarts had a commanding lead in the race for the award for the most outstanding school.

• Harry and Ron knew Hermione had solved the Golden Apple clue, and Julianne Sirtute had apparently brought its answer to Durmstrang.
• The Champions gathered at the Quidditch pitch, where a seven-story pagoda had appeared as the sixth task’s setting.
• Ludo Bagman announced that the task was the final chance to earn points before the schools’ combined Champion scores were tallied.
• Bagman’s score announcement showed Harry and Ron had 412 points together, 73 ahead of Castelobruxo and 62 ahead of Nagudinnaf.
• Jean Gardner, Carlos Blanco, and Nagudinnaf’s Champions faced a near-impossible task to overtake Hogwarts.

Hermione explained how the little dragon opened the Golden Apple, then Bagman described the tower’s soul-testing illusions as Harry became the first Champion to reach its second floor. Harry appeared to be seeing no illusion at all, and Weir Hallen asked whether the tower had malfunctioned.

• Hermione said the little dragon had bitten through the Golden Apple’s skin and revealed its hidden clue.
• Bagman explained that the tower tested the Champions’ willpower and souls through illusions, and that reaching its second floor usually took several minutes.
• Harry appeared on the Viewing Screen as the first Champion to overcome the darkness in less than a minute.
• Harry cautiously examined a fierce statue on the tower’s second floor, while Bagman noticed that no illusion appeared to be affecting him.
• Bagman explained that the audience should normally see the Champions’ illusory visions, and Weir Hallen asked whether the tower had malfunctioned.

Harry and Ron remained unaffected by the Illusion Tower because their Occlumency blocked its magic, while the audience and headmasters debated how that was possible. Corvinus also broke through an illusion quickly, leaving the spectators to watch two more Champions appear on the Viewing Screens.

• Harry and Ron cautiously advanced toward the third floor while the audience began questioning whether the illusion affected them.
• Bagman repeated the Tournament Committee's claim that Harry and Ron's Occlumency and wills could be blocking the illusion, but Madame Maxime and Headmaster Stuart doubted it.
• A Viewing Screen showed Corvinus emerging from a dark doorway into a Colosseum, where an enormous lion appeared before him.
• Corvinus killed the lion, then recognized the transformed tiger as an illusion and cast spells at his own head to shatter the scene.
• Corvinus reached the platform, found the concealed staircase, and went upstairs as two more Viewing Screens lit up.

The Champions continued through the Illusion Tower, and Lei Kaiming became the first after Harry and Ron to reach the Fourth Floor by breaking the water illusion with a wandless spell. He encountered an apparently real Hungarian Horntail and fled back through the entrance as the audience heard him complain about the Headmaster.

• Jacob became the third Champion to escape the dark illusion after Harry and Ron, while Ryan Moning Meng followed shortly afterward but became trapped in the next illusion.
• While Corvinus and Elizabeth remained caught in their respective illusions, Lei Kaiming broke the water illusion with a long wandless incantation and reached the Fourth Floor.
• Lei Kaiming found a platform marked “The path of the brave” and discovered that his Illusion-Breaking Charm did not work there.
• Lei Kaiming entered the platform and faced an adult Hungarian Horntail, which attacked him with dragon fire.
• Lei Kaiming retreated through the doorway, complained that the dragon seemed real and that the Headmaster had lied to him, and was shown on the main screen.
• Li Jinglong looked embarrassed as Professor McGonagall watched him with amusement.

Harry and Ron reached the sixth layer of the Tower’s illusions, while the other Champions struggled against the Hungarian Horntail. Carlos Blanco became the first to brave the dragon and escape the fourth layer, and Harry broke free of his own illusion with Occlumency as the spectators questioned how he had done it.

• Harry noticed something was wrong on the sixth layer, while Ron had not yet noticed.
• Carlos Blanco charged the Hungarian Horntail through its flames and escaped the fourth layer, revealing that the dragon’s attacks were an illusion for anyone who believed it was one.
• Blanco climbed the stairs, followed them as they turned downward, and emerged onto an open plain outside the Stone Tower.
• Harry used Occlumency to break free of his illusion and reappeared at the center of the platform.
• Professor McGonagall asked Dumbledore whether Occlumency could actively break someone free of an illusion.

Harry escaped the sixth task’s Illusion Tower first, thanks to his Occlumency and spells Professor Lupin had taught him. After Yuerjinho and Weir Hallen questioned whether Harry could truly resist the illusions, the chapter left his victory under scrutiny.

• Harry broke free of the Illusion Tower and became the first champion to complete the sixth task.
• Harry and Ron’s preparations against illusions had included learning practical spells from Professor Lupin.
• Harry embraced and kissed Cho Chang after emerging, and she secretly pinched him while their friends congratulated him.
• Yuerjinho questioned whether Harry’s Occlumency could withstand illusions of that caliber and requested a test.
• Weir Hallen voiced similar doubts, though he cared more about keeping Horton and Shen Yalan in the competition than about rankings.