https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-513-Golden-Flyer-and-the-Wanderball/12538853/
https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-515-The-Final-Challenge-Fire-Dragons/12538855/
Chapter 514: Now This is a Real Flying Broomstick
Chapter 514: Now This is a Real Flying Broomstick
There was no need to guess; the designer of this challenge was undoubtedly Demelza Demelstrange.
The Wandering Balls and the Golden Snitch... It was obvious that this challenge was tailor-made for Krum, and he didn't even need to pretend.
They even had a broomstick ready...
Kyle picked up the broomstick floating beside him.
The broomstick was new, still coated in a layer of protective wax. But when Kyle held it, he found it big and heavy, like it was made of stone. Forget about shooting at high speeds; even the Comet 260 in the school's broom cupboard was lighter than this.
At the end of the broomstick handle, Kyle found a line of small golden words... "Cleansweep One."
Wow, the first broomstick in the Cleansweep series, a seventy-year-old product.
Kudos to the people at the Ministry; this antique model was a rare find, even in the second-hand section of the Shop of Your Dreams. To find a new one was impressive.
After all, this model was long outdated. In the Diagon Alley Quidditch shop, even the oldest models had been replaced by the Cleansweep Seven.
Kyle took a few steps forward with the broomstick and approached the edge of the cliff... To be honest, the appearance of twenty-nine Wandering Balls was quite stunning. They moved swiftly and erratically above the pitch, emitting a low, buzzing sound.
As for the Golden Snitch, it only showed its face for a moment before disappearing again.
"Let's give it a try," Kyle said.
Mounting the Cleansweep One, he gently kicked off from the ground and took flight.
The Cleansweep series was always renowned for its quality, and even this seventy-year-old model provided a stable ride, albeit slow and cumbersome, especially when turning.
For Kyle, who was accustomed to the Nimbus 2000, it took some getting used to... and he didn't have much time to adapt.
As soon as he took to the air, the previously erratic Wandering Balls suddenly found their target and rushed towards Kyle from all directions, blocking almost every path.
Fortunately, Kyle hadn't flown far. Seeing this, he quickly turned his broomstick around and swiftly returned to the small patch of ground.
When he touched down, the Wandering Balls in the sky dispersed and stopped pursuing him.
Now, the second challenge was clear: a unique "Seeker training" session. He had to catch the Golden Snitch among the twenty-nine Wandering Balls, and the only safe place was this circular platform with a radius of just one foot.
Kyle walked to the edge and looked down... Although he didn't know how deep it was, it had to be several hundred feet. Falling off the broomstick would undoubtedly be fatal.
Of course... perhaps the school had other means to protect the challengers' safety, but then, getting a good score for this challenge would be out of the question.
...
"It's a good thing they set an age limit," Ron said to Harry as he watched Kyle, feeling relieved. "If I were there in Kyle's place... I'd probably just stand there until the end of the game."
Even just watching made his legs shake uncontrollably.
"Yeah..." Harry nodded in strong agreement.
He loved Quidditch, and he enjoyed riding a broomstick and flying fifty feet above the ground, but that was under normal circumstances.
In Kyle's situation, flying over a deep abyss while facing several times the number of Wandering Balls, he wasn't sure he would have the courage to take that first step... just like that Durmstrang student, Krum.
She had tried earlier, almost falling off, and it took a lot of effort for her to clamber back onto the platform, looking thoroughly disheveled. After that, she didn't move again.
"Oh, look, Kyle threw away his broomstick!"
Hearing Hermione's shout, Harry quickly averted his gaze from Fleur and looked back at Kyle.
On the platform, Kyle had set the Cleansweep One aside.
"What's going on? Is he giving up?" Ron frowned.
Strictly speaking, this challenge was much simpler than the first, as long as one could overcome their fear of heights. All he needed to do was shatter those Wandering Balls with magic, then he could calmly search for the Golden Snitch and pass the challenge in due time.
However, doing so might affect his score a little, and more importantly, the Cleansweep One was terribly uncomfortable to ride... So, Kyle decided to use the second method.
He raised his wand.
"Firebolt, come to me!"
Kyle waited, and soon he heard something whooshing through the air behind him at great speed.
The Firebolt that Sirius had given him flew past the stands and into the Quidditch pitch, coming to a sudden halt beside him.
The crowd's voices grew louder, and Bagman was shouting as well.
"A clever idea..."
As for what he said after that, Kyle couldn't hear him anymore.
He stepped onto the Firebolt, and it nimbly spun in the air.
This was his first time riding the Firebolt, and the effect was simply perfect. The Firebolt responded as if it were a part of his body; he could maneuver it with a mere thought.
Now this was a real flying broomstick... The Cleansweep One belonged back in a museum.
Kyle spun around again, and before he knew it, he had flown beyond the range of the platform.
The Wandering Balls immediately sprang into action.
However, this time, Kyle didn't care at all. He lightly lifted his hands, and the Firebolt swiftly carried him out of the encirclement of the Wandering Balls.
Kyle was like a nimble swallow, deftly weaving through the Wandering Balls.
"A brilliant reverse swoop, he dodged an almost certain hit!"
Bagman seemed to have completely forgotten about the other two. "Oh, this is a slanting flight... a Depulso Float... I never thought there would be someone at Hogwarts who could fly this well... He should join a professional team, and he might even have the chance to represent the national team in the next Quidditch World Cup!"
Cheers erupted from the stands, and countless fireworks exploded in the sky.
On the judges' bench, Karkaroff's face was terribly gloomy, while Dumbledore, on the other hand, was beaming with a smile and applauding.
And he didn't just smile; he wanted to share this joy with others.
"Professor Karkaroff, do you have any team recommendations?"
"What?" Karkaroff seemed to have just come back to his senses.
"I mean, if the boy has this idea, joining a professional team is also a good choice. Bagman is right; England hasn't made it to the Quidditch World Cup finals in a long time."
Dumbledore said with a smile, "But I don't know much about this myself, so I want to ask for your opinion... If I remember correctly, you spent nearly a year visiting various teams with Viktor, didn't you?"
Madame Maxime, sitting beside him, glanced sideways.
She had also heard about this. It was during the year they decided to restart the Triwizard Tournament, but she didn't know that he had been traveling with Viktor Krum all this time.
This meant that Krum would be delaying his graduation by a year due to his missed studies.
"That's unavoidable." Seeing Maxime's increasingly strange expression, Karkaroff fiddled with his goatee, "Viktor has exceptional talent, and it's my responsibility as a headmaster to help him find the most suitable team."
"A headmaster's responsibility?" Maxime's eyes flashed with a hint of contempt, as if she wanted to laugh but held it back.
She didn't say anything more but turned her head back to Fleur in the arena.
...
(End of Chapter)
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