Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire Book Chapter Three Summary

Chapter Three: The Invitation

When Harry arrives downstairs for breakfast, nobody blinks an eye. Uncle Vernon is buried behind the morning paper, and his son Dudley is sulking furiously about the grapefruit that Aunt Petunia is slicing into quarters. Dudley’s school has written to the Dursleys, saying that they have no knickerbockers to accommodate his gigantic behind. Dursely has gone on a diet. Aunt Petunia has placed the whole family under Dudley’s diet, which Harry has survived by asking his friends to send him food by owl.

Breakfast is interrupted by the arrival of the postman with a letter, and Uncle Vernon calls Harry into a side room. He is furious that the letter is from Ron’s mother, Molly Weasley, who is inviting Harry to attend the Quidditch World Cup and stay with her family for the rest of the summer. What most infuriates Uncle Vernon is that the letter is in an envelope covered in dozens of stamps. Uncle Vernon makes it clear that he doesn’t want Harry around for the rest of the summer, but that he doesn’t want Harry to get his way by getting to leave. Finally Harry mentions casually that he must finish a letter to Sirius Black, and Uncle Vernon looks terrified and grumpily tells Harry to go, not wanting a convicted murderer to show up thinking that Harry is being mistreated.

Harry bounces upstairs delightedly to find that his snowy owl, Hedwig, has returned from a night flight, and that another, smaller owl is zooming around the room. The smaller owl, Pig, is Ron Weasley’s new owl, and it delivered a note from Ron saying for Harry to be ready to leave for the Quidditch Cup the following night at five. Harry writes back to Ron and sends his letter out to Sirius, feeling most optimistic about the end of the summer.