Fleur was the unknown quantity in this event. Harry noticed the broom she was holding wasn't one he saw on a regular basis- a Cloudrunner Hurricane. Cloudrunner was a division of the Nimbus broom company that specialized in racing brooms. While not nearly as agile as Quidditch brooms, they could nearly double the top speed of the Firebolt on a long, straight stretch. Quidditch players would never use them, of course, because they'd never reach those speeds inside of a Quidditch pitch. Fleur was either taking a gamble that speed would win over agility, or she was simply more comfortable with this broom- which meant she had experience in broom racing. Either way, she was most definitely looking at flight over fight to win.
Harry was rather nervous, and once again reverted to his occlumency to help soothe himself. He systematically went over every spell Hermione had taught him over the past two weeks, as well as the creatures she mentioned. He noticed the other champions staring at him. Krum was looking at him with a bit of amusement, probably because they shared a broom. Cedric had a kind, big-brotherly smile on his face. He didn't wish Harry any harm, but he obviously didn't consider him a threat. To be honest, Cedric knew Harry was a fairly average student, three years below him- although he probably hadn't heard about Harry's training with Moody or his rapid learning rate since the beginning of summer. Fleur was still watching him with disdain, as if he was more of an obstacle than an opponent.
Ludo Bagman walked into the tent. "Alright, Champions, the race will begin in one hour. I'll tell you what you're about to face now." The champions sat down while Bagman remained standing in front of them. "Your task is to retrieve a golden egg from a Zuu nest at the other end of the gorge. The gorge is 57 km in length. You will bring the egg back to the starting point, which makes the entire course a 114km long race."
We have to go to the end and back? Damnit, I should have seen this coming. It's probably going to take nearly an hour and a half, not forty minutes, thought Harry.
"I'm glad you all brought your brooms. I'll reiterate anyways, brooms are the only flying device allowed on this course. Touching the ground or flying above the top of the gorge is a disqualification. You will be scored by the judges based primarily on your time, but you will also receive bonuses or penalties depending on your spellwork, any fouls against your fellow champions, and any injuries you sustain. Any questions?"
That's pretty clear. Get the egg, get back, thought Harry.
"Get yourselves ready. We'll be calling you out of the tent at quarter-to."
Bagman left the tent, and the four champions settled down. They all prepared themselves for the upcoming race. Harry settled on drinking some juice and meditating some more, making sure he had all the best spells at the top of his mind. Outside, there were anthems playing and people making speeches, all of which bored him. Finally they all heard the announcement.
"...Please welcome, our champion from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Cedric Diggory!" A huge round of applause came as Cedric stepped out of the tent.
"...from Durmstrang Institute, Viktor Krum!" Another round of cheering.
"...from Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, Fleur Delacour!" Lots of cheers, as well as a few wolf-whistles were heard from the crowd.
"...and from Hogwarts, but competing as an independent, Harry Potter!" Harry stepped out of the tent to see an extremely large amphitheatre encircling the starting line, filled to the brim with people cheering and clapping. It wasn't nearly as strong as the applause for the other three champions, however, as it appeared many of the people had read Skeeter's article. He could even make out a few people booing him, but they were lost to the general noise of the crowd. He made his way to the starting line next to the champions.
"Champions, are you ready?" They all nodded, and mounted their brooms.
"Take your marks..." Harry leaned into his broom and tensed up, ready to blast away at the signal. The others did the same.
"GO!"
"GO!" Bagman's wand emitted a bright green flare and a loud bang. Before the sound could even echo, all four champions were rocketing away. Harry and Viktor took the immediate lead, thanks to the fast acceleration of their Firebolts. Cedric followed far behind, while Fleur tailed just behind him. In a few short seconds, they had already flown past the last of the stands, and only had tracking orbs along the course to watch them now.
Krum was pulling away from Harry gradually. Despite his larger frame, it seemed his customized Firebolt let him move slightly faster. Fleur had shot past Cedric and was now right behind Harry. Oddly enough, Fleur hadn't passed them. He knew she could have easily maintained her speed and taken the lead, but she held back. Her reason for doing so became clear immediately. The first major obstacle was a tangle of vines across the canyon. They were all moving- Harry was sure they would snare him if he tried to blast his way through. Krum was heading straight to the center of the net, while Harry dove down to the bottom to avoid it completely.
"Incendio!" Krum let off a powerful flame hex that cut straight through the center of the mass of vines. As soon as the flames abated, the vines quickly began to regrow. Fleur took the opportunity to catch up to Krum and squeeze in behind him without wasting her strength, while Harry dropped behind from taking the longer route. So that's what she's planning, thought Harry. Let Krum do all the work first, huh? He tried to keep up with the two of them, but they were pulling further ahead. He heard another Incendio shouted behind him. Apparently Cedric had chosen to fly straight through as well, and wasn't far behind. Pouring on the speed, Harry pushed his broom to the limit to outrun Cedric, and tried not to let Fleur or Krum out of sight.
A few minutes later, he had run into the next obstacle- thick, heavy trunks of trees were splayed across the gorge for quite a distance. Even the Bulgarian powerhouse would have trouble blasting his way through all of them- the only choice was to squeeze through the tangled maze. He saw Krum already halfway through, while Fleur lagged behind considerably. Her broom was made for wide, banking, high-speed turns, not rapid and jerky movements. She was using a combination of reductors and manoeuvring to try to maintain her speed and fly as straight as possible. Harry caught up to her quickly and began nimbly swerving past the thick logs. Cedric followed, and both managed to leapfrog ahead of the French witch.
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