Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

If Voldemort is really getting stronger again
, he wrote, 
my priority is to ensure your safety. He 
cannot hope to lay hands on you while you are under Dumbledore’s protection, but all the same, 
take no risks: Concentrate on getting through that maze safely, and then we can turn our 
attention to other matters.
Harry’s nerves mounted as June the twenty-fourth drew closer, but they were not as bad as those 
he had felt before the first and second tasks. For one thing, he was confident that, this time, he 
had done everything in his power to prepare for the task. For another, this was the final hurdle, 
and however well or badly he did, the tournament would at last be over, which would be an 
enormous relief. 
Breakfast was a very noisy affair at the Gryffindor table on the morning of the third task. The 
post owls appeared, bringing Harry a good-luck card from Sirius. It was only a piece of 
parchment, folded over and bearing a muddy paw print on its front, but Harry appreciated it all 
the same. A screech owl arrived for Hermione, carrying her morning copy of the Daily Prophet 
as usual. She unfolded the paper, glanced at the front page, and spat out a mouthful of pumpkin 
juice all over it. 

---

“What?” said Harry and Ron together, staring at her. “Nothing,” said Hermione quickly, trying to 
shove the paper out of sight, but Ron grabbed it. He stared at the headline and said, “No way. 
Not today. That old cow.” 
“What?” said Harry. “Rita Skeeter again?” 
“No,” said Ron, and just like Hermione, he attempted to push the paper out of sight. 
“It’s about me, isn’t it?” said Harry. 
“No,” said Ron, in an entirely unconvincing tone. But before Harry could demand to see the 
paper Draco Malfoy shouted across the Great Hall from the Slytherin table. 
“Hey, Potter! Potter! How’s your head? You feeling all right? Sure you’re not going to go 
berserk on us?” 
Malfoy was holding a copy of the Daily Prophet too. Slytherins up and down the table were 
sniggering, twisting in their seats to see Harry’s reaction. 
“Let me see it,” Harry said to Ron. “Give it here.” 
Very reluctantly, Ron handed over the newspaper. Harry turned it over and found himself staring 
at his own picture, beneath the banner headline: 
‘HARRY POTTER DISTURBED AND DANGEROUS
’
 
 
The boy who defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is unstable and possibly dangerous, writes 
Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. Alarming evidence has recently come to light about Harry 
Potter
’
s strange behavior, which casts doubts upon his suitability to compete in a demanding 
competition like the Triwizard Tournament, or even to attend Hogwarts School. 
 
Potter, the Daily Prophet can exclusively reveal, regularly collapses at school, and is often 
heard to complain of pain in the scar on his forehead (relic of the curse with which You-Know-
Who attempted to kill him). On Monday last, midway through a Divination lesson, your Daily 
Prophet reporter witnessed Potter storming from the class, claiming that his scar was hurting 
too badly to continue studying. 
 
It is possible, say top experts at St. Mungo
’
s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, that 
Potters brain was affected by the attack inflicted upon him by You- Know-Who, and that his 
insistence that the scar is still hurting is an expression of his deep-seated confusion. 
 
“
He might even be pretending,
”
 said one specialist. 
“
This could be a plea for attention.
”