Harry's face-off with the Sphinx should, by rights, have been a major highlight, worthy of the largest magical Viewing Screen in the center.
In reality, however, the magical Viewing Screen was not focused on him, but on the other side. The Sphinx was certainly interesting and unusual. But by comparison, the Tournament Committee felt that a battle between champions deserved more attention.
Yes, two more champions had run into each other.
And this time, they were two champions who had been considered strong contenders during the middle stages of the tournament.
Viktor Krum of Durmstrang and Lei Kaiming of Nanyang Magic School.
Lei Kaiming's scores in the previous events had never been particularly high, especially in the underwater Third Task, which had seriously dragged him down. But anyone with a discerning eye could tell from his performance that he was a highly skilled competitor.
Krum, meanwhile, had been a hot favorite from the very beginning of the tournament. After all, he was a Quidditch superstar, well known throughout the wizard world.
Their combined scores from the preceding events were also very close, and they had entered the maze seventh and eighth respectively.
Now that the two had met in the maze, every spectator felt that this was a clash of major contenders. And that was indeed the case.
Durmstrang was the only one of Europe's three great magic schools to teach dark magic directly. Nanyang Magic School also taught dark magic, though as an elective.
But no one would have believed that anyone who could become a champion was not adept at magical combat.
Although they had entered the maze in completely different areas, an extraordinary coincidence had brought them together after all their twists and turns. They had even turned their respective corners almost simultaneously, coming face-to-face.
Seeing the