He had hung to the back when the race began, waiting to see what tricks would be up the Professor's sleeves this time. Nicholai flew hard to the right of the jack- in - the- box to get around the thing. The racing was something he preferred since as far as flying went his passion was not to do with Quidditch but actually racing. One of his dreams was to participate in the long distance broom races in Europe once he had finished school. He got around the Jack-in-the-box but lost time by having to swerve far off course to do so. But now that he was past it he bent low over his broom to catch up with the others that had made it around.