Disclaimer: I do not own Magister Magi Negima! or any other variant of the name.

"So, how is she doing?" Zazie asked.

Evangeline lifted a cup of tea. "She's… learning, I suppose."

"You suppose?" The demon girl lifted her own teacup.

"She soaks up knowledge like a sponge, but seems to have difficulty with unfamiliar concepts. Adding in that we have to be cautious because of her unusual situation…"

"I see. Ordinarily you could just shove a practise wand in her hands and tell her to tryArdescat, but that would be far too risky."

"Until we can teach her how to control her input, I can't let her try magic. I will admit I am also concerned about what her output might be."

"Fair enough." Zazie took a contemplative sip of the tea. "Are there… rose petals in the tea blend?"

"Good catch. Chachamaru wanted us to give Katarina something for doing so well in the exams, and she professed a fondness for tea with rose petals in it."

"Is that so? I never would have thought."

"Honestly, she's a far more avid tea-drinker than I ever expected her to be. The only time she doesn't drink tea is for lunch or dinner."

"Who would have ever thought. Setting that aside to return to the main matter at hand, I think we will need to strengthen her ability to withstand magic energy influx as well."

"I agree. I'm still considering the options, but I'm thinking of having her train her body as well."

"Just don't overdo it. Ignoring what I think her chronological age is, I am quite certain her physical age is right about what it seems to be."

"Right, right. I'll take that into consideration."

Zazie almost seemed a bit dubious about Eva's attitude, but if she had any concerns, chose not to voice them.

"Well, it would be nice to see some progress before the school trip." She instead remarked.

"You think she would be allowed to go?"

"I don't see any reason not."

Eva sighed softly. "I suppose it would be nice for her. She has expressed interest in going as well."

"Is that some bitterness I sense?"

"Why did you become so chatty anyways?"

"I just am."

The vampire scowled.

Zazie merely smiled. "Still, I look forward to seeing the end result."

"I just hope she doesn't accidentally kill herself."

"Let's not think like that."

-Break—

"So, how goes the magic training?" Hakase casually asked as she provided Katarina with a hot cup of tea.

"I don't really know. I still haven't managed to wrap my head around 'feeling' and 'controlling' magical energy…" Katarina responded as she idly fiddled with making a robotic limb move.

"Well, I'm sure you'll get the hang of it eventually. You're a pretty quick study after all."

"I guess…"

"I mean, look how far you've gotten, and that is just something you've been working on while you are here." Hakase indicated the limb Katarina had been working on.

"Yes, but this is different. I have an inkling about how to go about it, and you've been helping me greatly."

"Are you saying you aren't getting any help with your magic training?"

"No, that's… Zazie-san and Eva-chan are there to help."

"I know, I was just messing with you."

Katarina sighed. "Of course. Thanks, Hakase."

"I had come under the impression we were friends, so it was only natural."

The younger girl gave a wry smile. "I suppose I'm under the same impression… Also, it should get better once I start getting the hang of it."

"It should get better once you start to get the hang of it?"

"That's how it was with some other things, at least as far as I can remember. Could be remembering wrong but…"

"You really can be strange sometimes."

"Is that really something you should be saying?" Katarina glanced over at the somewhat conspicuous pile of Hakase's clothes present in the lab.

"I think I should still be allowed to say that, yes."

"True, if you weren't allowed to call someone strange because you are, then in reality no one would be able to do so."

"Define 'normal'?"

"Define 'normal'."

-Break—

The closing ceremony rolled in like a storm front, the classroom about as chaotic and noisy as it got.

Katarina did her level best to endure it while watching things unfold.

Especially amusing where Chisame's breakdown as her sanity was slowly being eroded.

Well, such was the fate of the straight (wo)man of this class.

Perfectly demonstrated as her hopes were crushed after the twins questioned the fact that Negi-sensei was only ten only to turn it into a suggestion for having a party.

Honestly, that caused Katarina to feel some sympathy for the girl.

Keyword being 'some'.

It was also kind of funny.

Honestly, the biggest surprise when Chisame stormed off with a flimsy excuse was that Negi was so concerned for her, but even that made perfect sense Katarina guessed.

Negi was, for lack of a nicer way to put it, hopelessly naïve when it came to people and their feelings and motives.

"Kat-tan! You're going too, right!" Haruna suddenly exclaimed, forcing the younger girl to abandon her ruminations.

Of course, it led her straight into another set of ruminations, but that was beside the point.

"Well…"

Honestly, Katarina didn't care overly much for stuff like this, but a cursory glace around her told her that everyone else was going, including Eva, for some inexplicable reason.

She sighed softly. "Seems like I don't really have a choice."

Negi did manage to drag Chisame there, although Katarina almost did a double take when she saw that the girl was wearing some sort of a bunny suit, even if the surprise faded far too quickly.

Katarina could only sigh when Negi accidentally used Exarmatio by sneezing, again.

At least it made a lot more sense now that she knew what it actually was.

That was probably going to get the boy into a lot of awkward situations, wasn't it?

-Break—

Most of the break was spent either training Katarina's magic energy control, performing simple physical conditioning or working to raise her general tolerance towards the energy she drew in by spending time in areas she normally found uncomfortable.

It was the last day of the break when an uproar was raised because someone (Konoka) had started a rumour that Negi-sensei was actually there to find a marriage partner.

For some inexplicable reason, Katarina knew that it was in truth so that he should be looking for a partner, a Minister or Ministra, which Konoka partially overheard.

Unfortunately, Katarina did get slightly caught up in it because she had been going for a stroll after the day's training had ended.

And for some reason someone had started a rumour that he was a prince, which caused her to almost do a spit-take.

Not because it was hilarious or silly, no, not at all.

Rather, it was because it was, as a matter of fact, in some ways, true.

The country in question may be gone, and the royal family in question reduced to only him and Asuna, with neither being aware of it, but technicalities.

Katarina had known the identity of Negi's mother for some time, but it was only now that that detail really struck her.

Well, sure, Arika had been deposed, but that didn't really change that Negi belonged to the royal family.

Why did she get the feeling Sakurako had started that rumour?

"Oh my, Katarina-chan! Are you also looking to become a princess?" Ayaka's voice suddenly asked.

Katarina twirled to look at the class representative, who was running over to her.

"Iincho. No, I just happened to get too close to this madness while taking a stroll. Besides, he's too young for me."

Ayaka narrowed her eyes a bit at the girl. "He's not that much younger than you are."

"That may be so, but he's still too young for me."

"So, you would prefer someone older than you?" There was something in the rich girl's look that said that she felt that she knew something.

Well, Yukihiro Ayaka was more perceptive than she might at times seem, Katarina didn't doubt that she had made an observation on the subject matter long ago.

"Honestly, I'm not sure what I would prefer." The bespectacled girl responded.

Ayaka spent a few moments looking at Katarina, before smiling a bit. "Well, I'll leave you to your stroll. You are free to like who you want." She then said and left with a benevolent wave.

"Like you are free to be a total shotacon?" Katarina mumbled to herself with a wry smile.

-Break—

The new term arrived, with just as much energy as before, and class 2-A became class 3-A with Negi remaining their homeroom teacher.

There was one difference though…

Eva was glaring at Negi harder than usual, and this time he seemed to notice it.

'How much trouble could he have been spared if he had only taken the time to find out about the more unusual members of the class?' Katarina mused silently in her head.

A lot, probably.

Funnily enough, their usual chaos was interrupted with a new chaos when Negi was informed it was time for their health check-up and carelessly told them all to take off their clothes, leading to an all too predictable ruckus.

Unsurprisingly this ended with the boy fleeing the classroom with the greatest of haste.

Katarina could only sigh as she removed her own clothes.

"What's this? Katarina-chan, is it only me, or have you taken up some training during the break?" Ku Fei suddenly asked, staring intently at her body.

"Y-yes, I'd… gotten a bit lazy…" Katarina responded once the surprise had faded, although she felt incredibly self-conscious being scrutinized like that.

Ku Fei probably didn't mean anything by it, but it was impressive that she had noticed.

"Huh, where's Makie?" Someone suddenly asked, saving Katarina as Ku Fei's attention was redirected.

The discussion first made a bit of fun of Makie, before it suddenly turned to a rumour.

A rumour of a vampire appearing amongst the Sakura trees when the moon was full.

Katarina automatically turned her gaze towards Evangeline, an actual vampire, but unsurprisingly her expression betrayed nothing.

Asuna questioned it, before she suddenly fell in thought, probably realising that with all the magic she'd been exposed to, maybe a vampire wasn't so farfetched after all.

"That's right Kagurazaka Asuna." Suddenly Eva actually addressed Asuna. "They say that the vampire in the rumours love energetic, cheerful girls like you. You should be careful…"

Katarina couldn't help but stare in absolute shock.

How unsubtle could you get?

Why would she do that?

To anyone with even the slightest ability to infer things that was the same as straight up saying it was your handywork…

As everyone else was distracted by the news that Makie was in the infirmary, causing a bit rush over there, Katarina approached her 'sister'.

"Why did you say that?" She asked in a low voice.

"Is it any of your business?" Eva replied, though she also kept her voice low.

"It was you."

"So what if it was?"

"You were being weirdly obvious about it."

"She won't be able to figure it out."

"Wouldn't it be an issue if someone like Sakurazaki found out?"

"Maybe."

Katarina sighed. "Gudars skymning."

Eva looked at her questioningly, but didn't say anything.

"I'm just worried that it's going to affect me if you get into trouble." Katarina finally said and left Eva alone.

"It'll be just fine." Katarina could hear Eva declare confidently.

She had no idea why Eva was so confident on the matter.

Wouldn't Takamichi be able to realise and pose a problem?

That man was far from a lightweight…

Author's notes: Been a while... again... This took a little bit of time trying to figure out what I was doing. When I got to the last part, also known as the beginning of the Evangeline Arc, I suddenly realised how weird it all was. Why didn't it get Eva in trouble? Takamichi should have been capable of noticing, and certainly would have wiped the floor with her at this point (during their first confrontation Negi is able to overpower Eva with magic, a feat he won't be replicating against Eva's proper power until the very end when he steals some of her power). And what about Setsuna? She's also stronger than Negi at this point, and if she suspected Konoka might be targeted would probably interfere...

Let's... just chalk it up to early story weirdness. Kind of like how in early Naruto they say that the Byakugan is better than the Sharingan, a statement that by late Naruto is revealed to be so laughably false it's not even funny.

I hope you enjoyed, and that you have a nice day.