Oh, and watch where you step. This article contains spoilers from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

8: All the dancing

Yes, there were magical mazes, dangerous dragons and aquatic adventures in the Triwizard Tournament, but they weren’t the only tasks that needed to be conquered that year. Enter the Yule Ball – keyword being ball aka having to reveal your dancing skills (or lack of) to a Great Hall full of people. We’re sure there were some nimble-footed students at each of the magical schools, but for most of the students (and their teenage awkwardness) it was probably a mortifying challenge. Poor Harry, dancing was not his forte and he had to open the entire spectacle! While he thought he might die from embarrassment, the Yule Ball never really posed a threat to his life. Excruciating and a huge social test? Yes. Life threatening? Not really. This is why it is last place on our list.

7: Figuring out the infuriatingly difficult golden egg clue

You would think after battling a crochety dragon that saw you as an annoying but tasty snack, a Triwizard champion might get the chance to rest, recuperate and fully prepare for the next task. Alas, like most things in the magical world, it wasn’t quite that simple. Yes, the first task was over but there was the golden egg concealing a clue that needed to be dealt with – one with an ear-piercing screech. For Harry, that proved to be both unexpected and unwelcome. To solve it, not only did he have to sneak around the castle at night, but he had to take the advice of the handsome champion who happened to be his romance rival – not ideal. Nevertheless, we have put this second to last because while it was tricky, and solving it only seemed to raise more questions, Harry did get to experience one of the best baths Hogwarts had to offer. Who doesn’t love a little pampering?

6: Putting your name in the Goblet of Fire

With the pressure, expectation… and risk of catastrophic injury or death, the wizarding world thought it best that only the oldest school students should be allowed to take part in the Triwizard Tournament (sensible). This meant using some clever magic, cast by Albus Dumbledore himself, to ensure no underage students could enter themselves into the competition. His Age Line appeared to work perfectly – as demonstrated by Fred and George’s glorious white beards. Then Harry’s name was called… the Goblet of Fire could be hoodwinked after all. It would take some seriously powerful magic to do such a thing. However, we think it deserves a place near the bottom of the list because if a wizard such as Barty Crouch Jr. could manipulate the competition, then there were plenty of others who could too. Yes, it was a challenge, but it was one that could be overcome.

5: The third task

Fifth place goes to the third task. You might be surprised to find this one quite so low on our list, but we do have our reasons. Firstly, this ranking only applies to the official task (what happened after was its own horrifying ordeal). There’s no doubt that the maze was the master of disorientation – overcoming a Boggart, Sphinx and competitors who weren’t themselves was no stroll in the park. The champions had to keep their wits sharp and their wands ready. Having said that, we think this was the least deadly of the three tasks. Experienced witches and wizards patrolled the maze perimeter, poised and ready to rescue any champion that found themselves in danger – they only needed to send up a shower of red sparks. The other Triwizard tasks felt like they had a little less of a safety net.

4: Successfully asking someone to the Yule Ball

We think a lot of teenagers would rather face one of Hagrid’s Blast-Ended Skrewts than ask their crush (to their face) if they would be their date to the Yule Ball. This unforeseen task felt positively Herculean. While Fred asking Angelina to the ball was a masterclass in smooth, many struggled. Ron’s attempt at asking Fleur Delacour to the dance was positively harrowing – we’re not sure he ever quite recovered. And Harry’s garbled and mostly unintelligible attempt at asking Cho Chang gave us some serious second-hand embarrassment. Finding a date was a marathon, not a sprint, and tapped into every teenage insecurity and fear. Even when Harry and Ron successfully found dates... they didn’t end well. A perfect storm of humiliation, this has firmly earned its place in the middle of our list.

3: The first task

Any task involving dragons deserves to be near the top of our ranking. After all, there is a reason they have been given the most dangerous Ministry classification (we reckon it might have something to do with their teeth, claws and ability to barbecue someone on the spot in a raging inferno). The champions had to survive, demonstrate brilliant magical skill and do it in front of an audience… no pressure then. However, one thing about this task, was it allowed each champion to play to their strengths – Harry Summoning his Firebolt was inspired. Being able to approach this task in myriad ways, plus having staff close enough to rescue you if things got too dicey, suggests it wasn’t quite the toughest task of the Tournament. Thrilling, dangerous but it could be tailored to each competitor.

2: The second task

Out of the three expected Triwizard tasks, we think this was the one with the highest stakes. Why? Humans can’t breathe underwater. We don’t think we have to say much more than that. With teachers above the surface and champions below for a whole hour, if something went wrong… nobody would hear you scream. Ok, the merpeople would step in and alert those above, but they would have to be quick. Once your chosen method for breathing underwater failed, you’d only have a minute or so to make it back to the surface. Plus, nobody knows exactly what lives in the Hogwarts lake. Anything could have been down there.

1: Getting through the year without ending up in a Rita Skeeter article

With a legendary Tournament taking place for the first time in over 700 years, all eyes were on Hogwarts… including Rita Skeeter’s. She was everywhere – using secrets and twisted truths to leave an epic trail of destruction with her Quick-Quotes Quill. She might have taken a particular interest in Harry but nobody around him was safe – whether that was revealing the closely guarded truth about Hagrid’s heritage (sending him into hiding) or sharing twisted half-truths about Hermione’s love life (resulting in some rather painful hate mail). Yes, her illegal Animagus secret was eventually uncovered but not wasn’t until after the Triwizard Tournament had ended. Throughout the competition, Harry and his friends tried to avoid Rita’s poison pen. Yet, this was one task that proved to be impossible, sending it straight to the top of our list.