Hogwarts: Even Voldemort Can't Stop Me From Studying

Chapter 839 - 210: Harry’s Tournament Experience

Since parting with Natalia, Harry hasn’t encountered any other competitors.

The silent forest seemed to echo only his own breathing and occasional unknown sounds.

This made him somewhat doubtful—

Had he gone the wrong way?

Perhaps when he had detoured earlier, he should have chosen another path... maybe someone was already about to claim the trophy?

He didn’t know if, after the champion appeared, the remaining participants would compete for a ranking or if someone would just take them away...

As Harry hurried along, he couldn’t help but have all sorts of disorganized thoughts. He took out the compass for the third time and saw the needle wavering for a while before stubbornly pointing in the same direction.

No, he hadn’t gone wrong.

But where had everyone else gone?

Could it be that while he was still trying to find a way, others had already reached the vicinity of the trophy and were engaged in a fierce battle?

And he—famous Harry Potter—was wandering like a fool far from the battlefield, fighting with thorns and vines. By the time he reached the trophy’s location, everything would probably be over.

For some reason, these thoughts rearranged themselves in Harry’s mind to Snape’s tone and manner, with the background music of Slytherin’s laughter.

The imagined scene made his stomach tighten painfully. Harry wiped the sweat from his face, suddenly realizing he wasn’t even sure how much time had passed; the dense canopy of the Forbidden Forest blocked the sunlight, making it difficult to tell whether it was afternoon or evening.

A small blue bird sometimes flew by his side, sometimes pulled away and soared high. Whenever it got close, Harry wanted to hide himself.

He didn’t know if, when the spectators saw him sweaty and gasping, they would mock Hogwarts for choosing such a champion.

He gritted his teeth, forcing himself to continue in the direction the compass indicated; amidst the dense forest, this was the only thing he could trust.

Harry walked for a long time again, always ending up in dead ends or on impassable paths—until now, he hadn’t realized just how difficult it was to travel through the forest.

Sweat soaked through his shirt, sticking clammy against his back. Each step felt like his body was filled with lead, and he longed to collapse right there and rest.

He leaned against an ancient oak tree and sat down, exhausted, retrieving from his backpack the provisions Sirius had prepared—

A large bottle of chilled pumpkin juice, so cold there were still beads of condensation on the bottle;

A box of beef pies, the crust baked to a golden brown with the aroma of beef filling the air;

Then a few Fizzing Whizzbees-flavored energy bars, chocolates shaped like the Golden Snitch, and a fist-sized piece of cream cake.

Harry knew that eating too much would affect his subsequent actions, so he restrained himself to only eating half of the pie. But he felt he had eaten too much when he got up, thinking he’d rested enough.

Just as he was about to put the pie back into his backpack, a strange "click" sounded above his head. Harry looked up to see a spider as large as a carriage wheel descending slowly from the canopy, its eight black eyes gleaming coldly, unavoidably reminding him of Snape’s eyes.

"Stupefy!"

Harry rolled to his feet, firing a spell that struck the spider’s abdomen, though it felt as ineffective as throwing a stone at it.

The spider twitched and quickly descended from the tree, rushing toward Harry at speed.

Harry moved quickly, casting spells as he went:

"Stupefy! Impedimenta! Stupefy!"

But it was no use... or, rather, it didn’t have a clear effect...

The spider continued its forward crawl, seemingly provoked by Harry’s spells. It suddenly leaped, its pincers sweeping past him. Harry narrowly avoided it, but his backpack strap was sliced, spilling supplies everywhere.

In the moment the spider pinned him with its front legs, Harry instinctively shouted out the spell he knew best—

"Expelliarmus!"

Surprisingly, the spider actually released him. Seizing this fleeting opportunity, Harry shouted loudly, "Incendio!"

The spider’s body, covered in black hair, instantly burst into flames. It shrieked in terror, retreating several steps, curling its body up almost into a ball, frantically batting at the flames, yet still too wary to approach Harry, its eyes moving slyly.

Harry keenly sensed that this creature was observing the power of his Flame Curse, apparently skeptical that his magic could pose a threat to it.

He jumped up and waved his wand again: "Expecto Patronum!"

From the wand tip exploded a silver Patronus Deer, its form lithe and graceful. As it ran, you could almost hear the "thud thud thud" of its hooves.

The stag’s antlers slammed hard into the spider’s eyes, and the Acromantula emitted a piercing screech. When the stag charged again, the spider completely abandoned the fight, turning to flee at speed.

Harry sat breathlessly on the ground, clutching his wand.

Attempting to stand, he moved his body and only then realized the sharp pain in his shoulder—a hideous wound was bleeding profusely, with each breath bringing a searing pain.

When the spider had pinned him, its pincers had sliced his shoulder, but Harry hadn’t realized it in his tension.

The Patronus Deer pranced back, patrolling the area, its body shimmering with a holy, pure silver light, alert to any nearby disturbances.

Once assured of temporary safety, Harry gritted his teeth and rummaged through his backpack, pulling out a small bottle of Dittany Essence from his pocket, thanking his luck that it hadn’t shattered during the fight.

The grim wound seemed like a small mouth opening wide; as the potion was poured onto it, fine bubbles immediately appeared. Harry gasped in pain, clenching his fists tightly.

Meanwhile, the flesh knit together before his eyes. A few minutes later, only a fresh pink scar remained.

After resting a bit, Harry leaned on the tree trunk to stand. His legs were still a bit shaky, but he resolved not to linger any longer.

He checked the compass once more; the needle pointed straight into the thick forest ahead.

This time, Harry did not detour; he parted the weeds, used a spell to move the bushes, and climbed over the huge fallen tree blocking his path, revealing open ground.

A lush green meadow softly stretched before him, and beyond it stood an imposing hedge wall, so tall as to be daunting.

Amidst the dense thorns, there was only a low, narrow passage.

"If those creatures appear in there... I probably wouldn’t be able to handle it, right?"

Harry murmured to himself.

The Patronus Deer had vanished at some point. He paused on the grass, then resolutely stepped inside.

...

In the stands, someone muttered, "Does anyone else feel that this competitor’s style in the tournament is entirely different from the others’?"

Fudge’s rounded ears twitched as he heard this, and the muscles in his face contracted slightly.

Admittedly, though he disliked the Savior whom Dumbledore had promoted, Harry Potter’s experiences in the competition were exactly what he had envisioned for the tournament style.

The champions endure dangerous beasts in the Forbidden Forest, face bizarre and unpredictable plants, and overcome traps set by the Ministry of Magic. They either compete against or cooperate with one another, eventually engaging in a fierce battle in front of the Goblet of Fire...

Just as in a Quidditch match, where the Seeker chases after that single Golden Snitch, and a touch sounds the horn of victory.

But who could have expected it? Vid Gray single-handedly turned the tournament into a confrontation between the competitors and the Poppets, inadvertently making Harry Potter, who is having a typical journey, stand out.

"Vid Gray went easy on him, didn’t he? Haven’t you noticed the Poppets don’t attack him?"

The audience chatted.

"But Cedric was the first to be eliminated!"

"They say Potter and Gray are friends... but what will they do once they reach the trophy? Lift the Goblet of Fire together?"

"Hey, wait... look, the Poppet has appeared!"

On the big screen, a lizard Poppet silently emerged into view, its eyes spinning eerily as it watched Harry’s departure.