Goblet of Fire
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The Goblet of Fire is a powerful magical object, and traditionally the judge that selects the champions that compete in the Triwizard Tournament. It is a roughly chiselled wooden cup filled with lively blue-white flames.
The Goblet is usually kept in a casket—an ancient large wooden chest ornated with jewels—from where Albus Dumbledore removes it in order to display the object to the students of the three schools participating in the 1994 Tournament. He taps the lid three times in order to gain access to the Goblet, and placed it on top of the casket in order to announce its magical properties to the onlookers.
Each potential champion has to drop a parchment with his or her name and school into the Goblet of Fire so that it can perform its duty. After a valid name is added, the Goblet's flames turn red for a moment and emit sparks. Twenty-four hours after the selection process begins, the object returns the names of three champions that are, according to it, worthy of representing their schools. This is done when the Goblet's flames turn red once more, letting out sparks and a tongue of flame, which carries a slightly burnt piece of parchment with the name and school of each appointed champion (GF16).
After the selection, the Goblet of Fire's flames are automatically extinguished. It only reignites when another Triwizard Tournament takes place (GF17).
The Goblet of Fire does not ponder the potential champions' ages when making its choice. However, an age restriction, enforced with the aid of an Age Line, was imposed in the 1994 edition of the Triwizard Tournament in order to avoid casualties and extreme danger to unprepared wizards (GF16). For this reason, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang sent only a small delegation of their students over the age of seventeen to Hogwarts, where the Tournament was scheduled to take place (GF17).
Adding one's name to the Goblet of Fire is a binding magical contract. The champion selected is legally obliged to compete until the end of the Tournament (GF16). This forced all the judges to accept Harry Potter as a champion in 1994, even though three others had already been selected; both Barty Crouch, Sr. and Ludo Bagman were of the opinion that Harry could not back out after his naming.
Due to the fact that the Goblet is an object of extraordinary magical power, it would take a powerful Confundus Charm to fool it (GF17), such as the one used by Bartemius Crouch, Jr. in 1994 (GF35).
1994 edition
The selection of the champions for the 1994 edition of the Triwizard Tournament took place at Hallowe'en of the same year. Delegations from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons arrived at Hogwarts on October 30, and all potential champions had to drop a parchment with their name and school inside the Goblet of Fire. The object was revealed to all prospective champions during the feast in honour of the newcomers, and placed in the Entrance Hall of the Hogwarts castle so that it could be accessible to all.
For safety reasons, the British Ministry of Magic and the Headmasters of the three schools had chosen to bar wizards under the age of seventeen from competing. Dumbledore drew an Age Line around the Goblet, which caused underage wizards who attempted to fool the object with the use of an Ageing Potion or a similar artifice to be thrown ten feet from the Goblet and to sprout a beard. This happened to Fred and George Weasley, Fawcett and Summers. All students who suffered with the consequences of trying to trick the Age Line were sent to the hospital wing.
By the time Fred and George attempted to get past the Age Line, all the Durmstrang students had already added their names to the Goblet. According to a rumour repeated by Dean Thomas , the Slytherin Chaser Warrington had woken up early on October 31 to add his name. Angelina Johnson put her name later that day. After her, the Beauxbatons students dropped their pieces of parchment into the Goblet.
After the Hallowe'en Feast, Dumbledore announced that it was almost time for the Goblet to announce the champions it had chosen, and instructed all students regarding what champions had to do right after being selected. The Headmaster used his wands to extinguish most lights in the Great Hall, with the exception of the candle-lit pumpkins.
Suddenly, the Goblet of Fire's flames turned red, and sparks started flying from it. A tongue of flame gave Dumbledore the name of the first champion: Viktor Krum. The flames were blue again, but soon afterwards they revealed the names of the Beauxbatons champion—Fleur Delacour—and the Hogwarts champion, Cedric Diggory.
All Hufflepuffs cheered wildly. Their celebration lasted for a while, and Dumbledore had to wait a while to speak again. However, he soon had to stop talking, for the Goblet of Fire had manifested itself once more: a fourth tongue of flame carried another piece of parchment. The Hogwarts Headmaster reached out for the slip automatically, and announced Harry Potter's name (GF16).
This shocked everyone in the Great Hall. Harry grudgingly made his way to join the other champions. The Headmasters of the three schools followed him shortly afterwards, along with Minerva McGonagall, Severus Snape, Barty Crouch, Sr. and Ludo Bagman. The teachers debated whether Harry should be allowed to participate in the tournament, but the argument reached a standstill when Bagman and Crouch reminded the others of the binding nature of the Goblet's choice.
Igor Karkaroff suggested that they should add more names from all schools until the three competing faculties had two champions each; Bagman pointed out that such a thing was not possible, for the Goblet of Fire would not reignite until the start of the next tournament.
Unwilling to accept his defeat, Karkaroff threatened to abandon the competition. As Professor Moody pointed out, this was an empty threat, for, according to the rules, Krum could not quit after being selected. Karkaroff stated that he would complain to the Ministry of Magic and to the International Confederation of Wizards about the Hogwarts representatives' disloyal conduct.
Moody noted that whoever had Harry enter the tournament sought to do him harm, and had probably used a strong Confundus Charm to fool the Goblet into thinking four schools competed, and not three; adding Harry as the sole candidate for the fourth school ensured that he would be one of the selected champions (GF17). Later that year, Moody—who was in fact Barty Crouch, Jr. in disguise—revealed that he had done precisely that (GF35).
Harry's selection by the Goblet of Fire to be the second Hogwarts champion caused a rift between him and Ron Weasley. Ron believed that his best friend had found out a way to get past the Age Line and had failed to share this information with him (GF17). They did not speak until after the first task (GF20).
