"(The Tournament) was generally agreed to be a most excellent way of establishing ties between young witches and wizards of different nationalities--until, that is, the death toll mounted so hight that the tournament was discontinued."
     -- Albus Dumbledore

"Cheating's a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament and always has been."
     -- Barty Crouch Jr. as Alastor Moody

The Triwizard Tournament is a famous contest between the schools of Hogwarts, Durmstrang, and Beauxbatons. It originated some 700 years ago as a friendly competition between the three schools. Each school took turns hosting the Tournament, which took place every five years. The judges for the Tournament included the heads of the three schools. 

The Triwizard Tournament consists of a series of tasks designed to test the champions in many different ways: their magical prowess, their daring, their powers of deduction, and their ability to cope with danger. Cheating was also considered a normal, traditional part of the Tournament.

The contests were extremely dangerous. In 1792, "a cockatrice the champions were supposed to be catching went on the rampage” and all three school heads were injured. As the death toll mounted, the Tournament was discontinued. Most Witches and Wizards have grown up only hearing stories of these great magical contests of years gone by. The Tournament was gone, but its legacy remained and all Wizard children are familiar with it. No one expected it ever to return.

However, Dumbledore saw the Tournament as an excellent opportunity to reach out in friendship to the other schools. The contest was reinstated during the 1994-1995 school year and held at Hogwarts. The Champions from each school were selected by the Goblet of Fire. They were Cedric Diggory from Hogwarts, Fleur Delacour from Beauxbatons, Viktor Krum from Durmstrang, and Harry Potter, also from Hogwarts.

The Arrival At Hogwarts
Delegations from the three competing schools arrived at Hogwarts on October 30, 1994. Just after dusk, a huge carriage pulled by a team of flying horses, landed on the Hogwarts lawn, carrying the group from Beauxbatons. A few moments later, a ghostly sailing ship carrying the group from Durmstrang rose from the depths of the Lake and glided to the shore. A feast followed which included foods from the countries represented. At this feast, Dumbledore presented the Goblet of Fire and announced the arrangements for entering the contest.

The Goblet of Fire
In order to make the selection of champions completely fair, the decision is left up to a very powerful magic artifact, the Goblet of Fire. The Goblet is contained in a ancient wooden chest which is encrusted with jewels. When the casket it tapped three times with a wand, it opens. The Goblet is then removed and set on top of the chest. 

The Goblet of Fire is a large, roughly hewn cup, filled to the brim with dancing blue flames. Dumbledore described the selection process in this way:

“Anybody wishing to submit themselves as champion must write their name and school clearly upon a slip of parchment and drop it into the goble. Aspiring champions have twenty-four hours in which to put their names forward.  Tomorrow night, Halloween, the goblet will return the names of the three it has judged most worthy to represent their schools. The goblet will be placed in the entrance hall tonight, where it will be freely accessible to all those wishing to compete. To ensure that no underage student yields to temptation, I will be drawing an Age Line around the Goblet of Fire once it has been placed in the entrance hall. Nobody under the age of seventeen will be able to cross this line...I wish to impress upon any of you wishing to compete that this tournament is not to be entered into lightly. Once a champion has been selected by the Goblet of Fire, he or she is obliged to see the tournament through to the end. The placing of your name in the goblet constitutes a binding, magical contract. There can be no change of heart once you have become a champion. Please be very sure, therefore, that you are wholeheartedly prepared to play before you drop your name into the goblet." (GF

The Weighing of the Wands
Before the champions could compete, their wands had to be checked by Mr. Ollivander in a short ceremony. He examined each wand and then cast a simple spell. The opportunity of having all four champions together was used by Rita Skeeter and Bozo, her photographer, to get pictures and interviews. 

The First Task - Dragons
In the first task, which was designed to test courage and daring, the Champions each had to try to steal a golden egg from a mother dragon. The First Task took place on November 24, 1994. The golden egg was the clue for the second task. The champions entered a small tent where Bagman gave them each a chance to pull a model of the dragon they were to face out of a purple bag. Each model dragon (which moved, naturally) had a number around its neck. The number referred to the order in which the task would proceed. Cedric Diggory led things off. He transfigured a boulder into a Labrador, which diverted the attention of the dragon long enough to let him steal the egg. He was burned in the process. Fleur attempted to charm her dragon into something of a trance. The dragon wasn't completely subdued, however, and it blasted her with fire which ignited her robes. Viktor Krum used a Conjunctivitis Curse on his dragon, but the beast stomped around and damaged its other eggs as Krum was retrieving the golden one and this caused him to lose points. Harry used a Summoning Charm to call his Firebolt to him. Then he flew around the dragon, finally enticing it to take to the air after him. When that happened, he dove for the ground and scooped up the golden egg. Harry's marks were quite high. Bagman gave him a 10, Dumbledore and Crouch a 9, Maxime an 8, and Karkaroff a 4, in an obvious bit of favoritism toward his own champion.

The Golden Egg
When the golden egg was opened, it emitted a screeching, wailing sound. The egg contained nothing at all. The sound was a song in Mermish, the language of the Mermaids. The champions were required to figure out what the song meant and then find a way to survive underwater in the Lake for an hour. Harry took advice from Cedric and "took a bath" with the egg. When he listened to the sound underwater, he could understand the words.

The Second Task - The Lake

The Second Task, which lasted for one hour starting at 9:30 am, February 24, 1995, required the Champions to swim in the lake and find the settlement of the Merpeople to rescue people who were dear to them. For Harry, this was Ron. For Viktor, it was Hermione and for Cedric it was Cho Chang. Fleur had to rescue her sister, Gabrielle, but failed to get to her, so Harry rescued the little girl. Along the way, the champions encountered Grindylows which tried to grab onto them from the weeds. Harry was helped along by Moaning Myrtle, who traveled down to the lake by way of the plumbing from the castle to see how he was doing. She pointed him along the way to the Merfolk village.

There were stands set up along the lake for the second task, but it is unclear just what the specators would have been able to see. From everything we can tell, they just stared at the surface of the Lake for an hour or so. Perhaps there was some kind of play by play provided by magical observers. The exact details of what happened under the lake were not known to those on the surface, however, since Merkus has to explain to Dumbledore what Harry had done. 

The Third Task - The Maze
In the Third Task, which took place on June 24, 1995, the Champions had to enter a maze of hedges which was filled with dangerous obstacles. Some of the dangers in the maze included a Blast-Ended Skrewt, a giant spider, and anti-gravity mist. The Triwizard Cup was located in the center of the maze, protected by a Sphinx which posed a riddle. The first Champion to touch the cup would win the Tournament.