DISCLAIMER: I do not own Negima or Harry Potter. Negima is the property of Ken Akamatsu, and Harry Potter is the property of J.K. Rowling.
Italics text = character thinking to themselves.
Underline+Italics = character communicating with telepathy
Bold text = shouting
Bold+Italcs = Casting Spell/Ability
Chapter Twelve
Draco's attempts and The Ala Alba's Seal
As the week continued, the students got used to their guests. Well, except the obvious examples that somehow managed to get themselves frozen almost daily. Of course, we're talking about Draco Malfoy. Even though he had to resign to the fact that Negi and Eva were out of reach until his father answered his letter, that didn't mean he forgot that Asuna made him jog 10 miles in the artic area of Eva's resort.
So, on Saturday morning, he decided to follow her around and look for a chance to curse her. Obviously, he forgot her magic canceller.
As Asuna got up from the Gryffindor table (the Ala Alba decided to continue eating there) along with Setsuna and Konoka, Draco got up himself and followed them to the outside of the castle. There, Chao had installed a smaller version of the school barrier she was building, so she asked Asuna and Setsuna to test it by fighting inside it.
Of course, once they've entered the barrier Draco realized that his spells wouldn't get through. Not because of modesty, but simply because he couldn't possibly compare the blows that were being dealt to the barrier by the two girls to his own spells. So he hid behind a tree and waited for them to get out.
But the experiment ended sooner then expected as the barrier collapsed. Normally, Draco would have been considered lucky, but this wasn't the case as the accumulated energy exploded outside the barrier, blasting him away with a huge gust of wind. Of course, Chao and Konoka were aware of the possibility of failure so they had their barriers raised.
Most people would give up after they were blown away over 50 meters, but Malfoy was more then stubborn. As Asuna left alone and headed for the castle, Draco closed in on her and, seeing nobody else around, he took the chance and castled: "Stupefy!"
But to his complete disappointment, all the red lightning that hit Asuna's head merely made her scratch the spot like it was nothing. Also, before he had another shot, the girl entered the castle and headed for the Headmaster's office. Once she arrived there, she saw Negi and Eva talking to the old wizard.
"Your levels of power are beyond my expectations. But you are revealing your skills too quickly. As much as I want to trust our students, some of their parents are Death Eaters. Willingly or not, the information will get to Voldemort." Dumbledore said.
"Oh, I wouldn't worry about it." Eva smirked. "I casted some insurance on my Resort."
"What kind of insurance?" Dumbledore asked.
"The barrier outside the Resort" Negi began the explanation. "Once within the barrier, a seal is placed on the occupants. The seal affects them in both mind and body, preventing them to give any information on us to someone without the seal. Even letters sent to those with the seal are charmed, making any secret unreadable to ones without a seal. In the case someone invades the mind, the information is sealed."
"Not even I can dispel that." Asuna said.
"Furthermore, it's active as long as at least one of the Ala Alba is alive. And in the case we want the information to be divulged, it can be done as long the receiver accepts a seal and if at least half of the Ala Alba agrees."
"That's one powerful spell you use. Was it tested before?" the old man asked.
"Yes, during our adventure in Ostia, after we discovered that Asuna was replaced with a very convincing fake." Negi explained.
"That poor girl, acting like this idiot for over a week" Eva grinned.
"Hey!" Asuna said offended.
"What happened to that girl?" Dumbledore asked worried.
"Well, she lost her cover at the same time we found out Auveruncus recruited her and his other ministra from among the orphans resulted from the wars he caused himself. When she found out he was responsible, she joined our group and helped us stop his plans and defeat him." Negi explained. "And since she and the other girls were proven by Nodoka to not have done anything really bad, they only received some community service as punishment and should be allowed to join the Ariadne Guards in a few days from now."
"I could add that Shiori-chan had become quite fond of Negi, since she shared with me the memories accumulated while she pretended to be me." Asuna said a little dissatisfied.
"Is that so?" Dumbledore smiled amused.
"Hmph!" Eva let out with the same look on her face as Asuna.
"Anyway, nobody can't find out our powers unless they come here themselves." Negi hurried to get back on topic, much to the Headmaster's amusement.
"Well, since that's settled and it's Saturday, how about a full tour of the castle?" Dumbledore proposed.
"That would be nice." Negi agreed.
"Will you be coming along?" Eva asked.
"As much as I would want to, I'm leaving for London in an hour. But I know some students that might know more about this school's secret passages then I do." Dumbledore informed them with a slick smile.
"Very well, then tell them to meet us by the Main Entrance. We'll explore the outside first, since we may run out of daylight otherwise." Eva said.
"Ok, I'll also ask them to bring them to bring that special map of theirs."
"Special map?"
"You'll see".
Twenty minutes later, Negi and his group that was composed of Eva, Chachamaru, Asuna, Konoka, Setsuna, Asakura, Yue, Nodoka, Haruna, Chisame and Chao met up with Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George and Ginny.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, professor!" Hermione apologized. "We were in our tower and then it took a while to gather everyone and..."
"And you were in the middle of the huge amount of homework you had to do" Negi finished for her, making her blush. "Don't worry, after we're done we can take you to Eva's resort and give you enough time to finish."
"You'll also have enough time to visit Eva's castle and learn a few new tricks" Asakura winked at them.
With that, the tour started.