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Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
In the summer following her third Year at Hogwarts, Hermione attends the
Quidditch World Cup with Harry and the Weasley family. It is here for the first
time that she becomes familiar with Viktor Krum, the famous Bulgarian
International Seeker, himself still a student. Hermione initially considers him
a gloomy, off-putting fellow, unaware that she will encounter him again at
Hogwarts, where he takes to visiting the Hogwarts library frequently just to
watch her study before approaching her. After getting to know him better,
Hermione sees later on that Krum is in fact a genuinely kind-hearted person.
In her Fourth Year,[HP4] Hermione's attention is drawn to what she views as the
poor quality of life for house-elves. She therefore starts the organisation she
calls the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare, but which becomes known
by its unfortunate acronym, SPEW (also nicknamed "The House-Elf Liberation
Front" by Ron Weasley). Although Hermione zealously works for her cause, few
others display any interest. Harry and Ron officially join her organisation in
the hope she will stop nagging them; she does, however, trick them both into
following her to the kitchens to persuade the elves to accept wages after she
discovers that Dobby the house-elf has been hired by Professor Dumbledore. This
is one of the most obvious examples of her sense of moral superiority at play.
Hermione helps Harry to practice the Summoning Charm which allows him to
successfully complete the First Task of the Triwizard Tournament; despite Harry
and Ron's row over the tactics Harry supposedly used to get into the tournament.
Hermione attends the Yule Ball with Viktor Krum, making Ron extremely jealous.
She has had school nurse Madame Pomfrey shrink her teeth to a "normal size" by
magic after being hit by an errant hex earlier in the year, and when she applies
Sleekeazy's Hair Potion and does her hair up in a chignon, she turns heads at
the Ball and gains new appreciation from her best male friends. Hermione gets
into a nasty fight with Ron over her date with Krum, so heated it draws stares
from people. Hermione is the "hostage" that Krum has to save in the Tournament's
Second Task. After the task, Krum asks Hermione to visit him in the summer.
Ron's jealousy of Viktor Krum appears countered by Hermione's dislike of Fleur
Delacour, for whom Ron has a soft spot; Hermione becomes visibly angry when
Fleur does so much as smile at Ron.
Rita Skeeter, a tabloid reporter, fabricates a love triangle between Harry,
Hermione, and Krum. Hermione's relationship with Mrs Weasley is temporarily
harmed by this incident. Krum too questions Harry over his relationship with
Hermione, and Harry denies any romance.
After much work, Hermione determines Rita is an illegal Animagus who can change
into a beetle and manages to catch her in this form by trapping her in a jar.
She blackmails Rita with this information to make Rita stop writing for The
Daily Prophet.
As is implied in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,[HP6] Harry believes
that at some point during the year Hermione kissed Viktor Krum.
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