Harry's Competition Experience

Ever since parting ways with Natalia, Harry had not encountered another competitor.

In the silent forest, it seemed there was only the sound of his own breathing and the occasional unidentified noise drifting over.

He could not help but wonder—

Had he gone the wrong way?

When he had taken that detour earlier, perhaps he should have chosen the other path... Maybe someone was already close to claiming the Cup?

Once a champion emerged, would the remaining competitors still have to fight for the rankings, or would someone simply take them away...?

As Harry hurried onward, all sorts of messy thoughts kept popping into his head. For the third time, he took out his compass and watched the needle wobble for a while before stubbornly pointing in the same direction.

He had not gone the wrong way.

But where had everyone else gone?

Could it be that while he was still trying to find his way through, the others had already reached the Cup and begun a fierce battle over it?

And he—the famous Harry Potter—was wandering around far from the battlefield like an idiot, fighting thorns and vines. By the time he reached the Cup, everything would probably be over.

For some reason, all those thoughts automatically took on Snape's tone and manner in Harry's mind, with the laughter of the Slytherins playing in the background.

The imagined scene made his stomach twist faintly. Harry wiped the sweat from his face and suddenly realized he did not even know how much time had passed. The dense canopy of the Forbidden Forest blocked out the daylight, making it impossible to tell whether it was afternoon or evening.

A little blue bird sometimes flew beside him, sometimes pulled away and soared high into the sky. Whenever it came close, Harry wanted