86 Overtakes!

At the whistle, all six brooms shot forward at once.

Thunderous cheers erupted from the pitch. This concerned house honor—losing to their opponents in front of the entire school would be utterly humiliating.

It was clear that Cedric and Marcus, both riding Cleansweep Sevens, were the fastest. They flew side by side at the very front of the pack.

Fred, Angelina, and another Slytherin student followed closely behind them, riding the same model of Cleansweep Seven.

Roy's battered Type 86 broom was clearly less powerful, but with the body control of a special operations operative, he still clung stubbornly to the back of the group.

The stretch from the pitch to the first watchtower by the castle was nothing but straight-line acceleration. In a straight flight, Cedric and Marcus, who were in the lead, clearly had better control over their bodies.

As they approached the first bend, Lee Jordan in the stands somehow took on the role of commentator, loudly calling the race.

"They're coming up on the first bend! Let's see how the racers handle it!"

At the bend, the two who had been flying side by side finally pulled apart. Cedric's skill seemed to be superior. With Marcus blocking the inside line, Cedric used a clever early brake to seize the inner position. After rounding the tower's pointed tip, his earlier acceleration put him a full length ahead of Marcus.

Though Angelina was a girl, her flying skills were formidable. Thanks to her smaller frame, she had a more flexible turning radius through the bend. This let her pull slightly ahead of Fred and the other racer after the corner, leaving her only half a length behind Marcus.

Though Roy accelerated slowly, his control through corners was the strongest. After the first bend, he somehow edged slightly ahead of Fred with an outside-line acceleration.

"My God! It's Roy! What a beautiful outside-line overtake! Could he and his 86 create a miracle in this race?!"

Marcus, having been pulled ahead of by Cedric, looked utterly unwilling to accept it. Yet no matter how desperately he chased, that gray-black-haired figure ahead was always one step faster.

With Cedric in the lead, the Hufflepuff students on the pitch erupted into wild cheers.

As they neared the bend at the Astronomy Tower, perhaps provoked by the faint cheers drifting over from the pitch, Marcus hardened his resolve and chose to fly straight through the pavilion at the top of the tower.

That bold move shortened his turning distance. Cedric, who had been playing it safe while leading, was caught by Marcus because of it.

That spectacular maneuver instantly ignited the Slytherin students' enthusiasm. Many young wizards even leaped straight out of their seats. For a time, shouts of Marcus Flint's name echoed through the entire school.

Flying through the pavilion was extremely dangerous. Lina and the others chose the safer route, widening the gap between themselves and the two in front.

Lina, who had been about to catch Marcus, was pulled back again. Unwillingly, she returned to the second group—but this time, Roy surged forward.

"Roy! It's Roy! He chose to fly through the pavilion too! What a brilliant maneuver! That moves him up another place! He's now only behind Cedric and Marcus—the outcome of this race is still undecided!"

Someone had apparently cast an Amplifying Charm on Lee Jordan. His machine-gun-like commentary was now loud enough for the entire school to hear.

Professor McGonagall had been grading this week's Transfiguration assignments in her office in the tower. Just as she finished marking Cedric's essay, the commotion outside the window caught her attention.

Outside, Cedric and Marcus flew side by side on their brooms, whooshing past Professor McGonagall's office window.

"What was that? Did I see that correctly?" Professor McGonagall could hardly believe her eyes.

She had indeed seen correctly. Roy immediately shot past the window on his broom as well, with Fred and the others following behind him.

Professor McGonagall hurriedly pushed open the window and stuck her head out in disbelief, wanting to see what was happening.

In fact, it was not just Professor McGonagall. Nearly every student and professor near a window in the school noticed the racers chasing one another through the air and the noisy pitch below.

When they flew past Ravenclaw Tower, nearly every student in the Ravenclaw common room crowded around the windows to watch the race.

"Why aren't any Ravenclaw students taking part in this race?"

After witnessing the spectacle, an older Ravenclaw student could not help asking.

The office tower, Ravenclaw Tower, then Gryffindor Tower, the main tower, and the headmaster's office tower.

The six racers pursued one another, the distances between them constantly narrowing and widening, but their rankings never changed.

After passing the headmaster's office tower, they had completed most of the course. Once they rounded the second annex, they would return to the straight sprint back to the pitch.

After weaving among the castle towers for so long, Roy had drifted continuously. By now, he had caught up until he was almost within reach of Cedric and Marcus at the front.

Roy gripped his broom tightly and silently calculated as he looked at the track that was nearly over.

"That tower is—Professor Thorn's office!"

They were about to reach the final bend. By now, many older students had gathered on the pitch to watch the excitement, all loudly cheering for their own house's racers.

Lee Jordan's commentary rang through the sky above the pitch.

"They're coming up on the final bend! Cedric and Marcus are still neck and neck. It looks like the final—my God! It's the 86! The 86 has overtaken them!"

From a distance, Roy saw that both windows of Professor Thorn's office were wide open. Professor Thorn himself was sitting in his chair, enjoying the race outside.

A bold plan formed in Roy's mind. He flipped himself upside down beneath his broom and, like a cannonball, plunged precisely through Professor Thorn's office window.

Roy shot straight through the room, kicking up a powerful gust that scattered countless sheets of parchment everywhere.

Flying through two such small windows in one breath stunned everyone. But it also saved Roy a great deal of distance, and with that maneuver, he had taken first place.

The pitch seemed to fall silent for two seconds. Then the Hufflepuff students erupted into even louder cheers.

Thorne, who had been watching the excitement from his office, had not reacted at all. He only felt something whoosh through the room.

By the time he came to his senses, the office had been ravaged by the gale into a complete mess.

Thorne sat in his chair, still shaken as he looked at the wreckage across the floor. He truly had no idea what to do.

"Roy, you really are..."