Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire | Chapter 28 Summary

Chapter Twenty-Eight

The Madness of Mr. Crouch

 

Hermione begins to receive angry letters via owl post because of the horrible article by Rita Skeeter. Some of the young wizards who write the letters are really hateful, especially one that sends her to the hospital wing after causing Hermione’s hands to hurt because of the magical sores the letter inspired. Hermione vows to find out how Rita Skeeter is spying on people to obtain this erroneous information about the witches and wizards at Hogwarts.

Ironically, Harry and the other Triwizard champions are asked to meet on the Quidditch field at Hogwarts to find out some pertinent information about the last task. Harry is amazed to find out how different the Quidditch field looks, for it is full of an eerie hedge maze: the final task of the Triwizard Tournament. Ludo Bagman appears and tells the champions that, for the last task, the four champions must complete the maze as well as battle the obstacles that can be found within it. 

Even Viktor Krum has been affected by the erroneous information in Rita Skeeter’s article. As Harry is walking back to the castle from the meeting about the last task of the tournament, Viktor Krum pulls Harry aside to find out if Harry and Hermione are truly in the romantic relationship that Skeeter says they are. Harry insists that Hermione is just his good friend.  Viktor Krum believes Harry and they start talking about Quidditch until they see something strange happen at the end of the Forbidden Forest. Suddenly, Barty Crouch appears looking incredibly ragged and acting strange. Crouch is not even speaking in full sentences out of fear; he mumbles things about Voldemort and Bertha Jorkins and warning Dumbledore. Harry decides to take Crouch’s advice. Harry asks Viktor Krum to keep an eye on Crouch while Harry runs as fast as he can to tell Dumbledore about Crouch and his strange behavior. When Harry returns with Dumbledore, Viktor Krum is laying there knocked out while Crouch is nowhere to be found. Ironically, Karkaroff is really angry that Viktor Krum was attacked. In fact, Karkaroff does everything but threaten Dumbledore because of it. Hagrid is just as angry at Karkaroff for even suggesting that Dumbledore was involved. As Hagrid walks Harry back to the Gryffindor Common Room, Hermione and Ron wait anxiously inside to hear the story.