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 Fifteen
Negi's first class of Defense Against the Dark Arts
Monday morning, about 24 hours after they've left the Resort, Ron, Hermione and Harry were once again standing in the warping area, but this time the other fifth year students were beside them.
"Well" Negi began, "since last time we started with elemental magic, today we'll start with the Defense Against the Dark Arts. Well start with a short test."
"All you need to do is cast "Expeliarmus" at this surface. Make it as strong as you can. But first form a line." he instructed.
"But "Expeliarmus" is a disarming spell! It won't do any damage!" Hermione said.
"Don't worry about the details, I'll explain later. Now just do it." Eva snapped at her.
"Okay….Then: "Expeliarmus!"
As her spell hit the white wall, the color changed forming a red circle where the energy hit, about three meters in diameter.
"Hm, not bad" Negi said as he wrote down something. "Next!"
The procedure continued, the red circles that were being formed varying in size, from fifty centimeters in diameter to ten meters.
"Ok, now let's look at how things stand. In first place is Harry Potter, followed by Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. And in the last three places stand Pansy Parkinson, Crabe and Goyle."
"How did you judge anyway!?" Parkinson asked angrily.
"From the size of the circles your spells did. I did tell you to put in as much power as possible."
"Hm, tough luck, guys." Draco said both with arrogance and compassion for his fellow Slytherin.
"You're jus barely a little better yourself!" Eva told him with disgust. Actually, with the exception of the first three or four, the others are pretty pathetic. Not worth my time. Good luck, boya." she finished and walked away, switching to her adult form and drawing the eyes of most of the boys. She was in a bikini.
"Hm" Negi brought their attention back to the class. "Well, we'll start by doing some laps. Let's say five laps around this terrace."
"What the bloody hell does laps have to do with magic?" Ron asked, not being able to believe his ears.
"It helps you warm up. Now move." Setsuna answered sharply.
At that, the students looked at each other and started running. Unfortunately for then, Negi was running alongside them, making sure they kept up the pace.
"H-how…can you …run so…fast and… not get t-tired?" Ron asked as they reached the fourth lap.
"Let's just say we have different concepts of "fast"" Negi smiled.
"W-what do you mean?" Hermione asked barely keeping up.
"Do you know the speed of lightning?" the young mage asked.
"Y-Yes, about a hundred fifty kilometer per second. But what does…" she began before the words stopped in her throat. "You're surely joking" she finally said in disbelief.
"About what?" Harry asked confused.
"He's saying he can move at 150 km/s. That's not humanly possible." Hermione said.
"Is that so? Let's give it a try." Negi said as they finished their fifth lap and dropped on the stone benches like stones themselves.
"This terrace has a perimeter of about 150 meters. I'll finish one lap before you even count to one. Just jive me a sec to power up." Negi said as he began chanting and two large lightning orbs formed in his hands one after another. Then, as he said "Duplex Complexio!" he became lightning himself.
"Now, will you please take the count?" he asked Hermione, whose already messy hair was now electrified.
"O-Ok" she agreed a little scared.
"Go!" the girl said. But before she even finished the word, Negi had already returned. They wouldn't have even realized he ever left if it wasn't for the scourged path he made. Needless to say, they were all dumbstruck.
"Now" Negi continued class as if nothing had happened after he discharged the electricity towards a far away empty area "do thirty pushups."
"P-pushups?!" the class asked revolted.
"Now just a minute here..." Draco began yelling.
"Now!" Negi demanded entering his "Dark Form" while mentally chanting "Actus Noctis Erebeae!".
"I-I'm doing it!" Malfoy said starting his pushups.
"Scary!" most of the others thought, but Harry noticed the amused smirk on the young teachers face as he turned around and thought: "He's good!".
After they finished, which was relatively quick, they were asked to try casting "Expeliarmus" at that wall again.
And to their amazement, the size of their circles were up to three times larger.
"How did this happen?" Harry asked amazed, as his spell painted the entire wall red.
"Last week, I had you try the most basic of mage spells. Even if you couldn't get it right, your inner Magic Core has been released and can now absorb more magic from your environment. Thus, by doing some workout and connecting with the environment, your power supply has been replenished and even increased. But that's because you're only at the beginning. Everyone has a limit in growth both physical and spiritual." Negi explained.
"In other words, even if our spiritual power could grow further, our bodies can't sustain it and collapse." Hermione said with a grim smile.
"Don't worry; by the time you reach that age, you would be grandparents. And besides, that's not the point I was trying to make." Negi calmed down the students that had the impression they could explode at any minute.
"Then what? Ron asked confused.
"The point is that you must advance your physical strength as well, if you want to be a good magic combatant. Mainly your speed." Negi cut Crabe and Goyle's enthusiasm with his final words.
"But that takes years of practice! We can't become Hercules all of the sudden!" Hermione tried to bring reason in the discussion.
"And that's where your magic comes in. By powering up yourselves with your own magic, you would be able to increase your physical power at least tenfold. And besides, I did say each of you have your own elements; using the characteristics of your elements in your everyday life should be rather easy, if you manage to tap into your power." Negi said with a smile.
"I see, so that's how a ten-year old can run faster then us without using that lightning form." Ron understood.
"Yep. Well, that's all with Defense Against the Dark Arts for today. Let's move over to Elemental Magic. Today, we'll uncover your elemental capabilities and start your study."
"What study?" Draco asked annoyed.
"The 78 hours of study you will have to do in order to efficiently use your elements. And yes, it will be done in fragments inside this Resort for the next three weeks during class. You can also study outside the resort, but in here is more efficient since there's more magic in here, and mainly time wise. But first let's see what elements you posses."
As it turned out, most of the students had light or shadow, a nature or stone here and there. One of the few exceptions was Draco who had darkness and nature, while Neville had sand, wind and fire as primary.
"Now, during your study you will learn the most common elemental spell, the "Sagitta Magica". Some of them deal damage, others capture the enemy or stun him. The most important point is that you most first learn it for the element you are most compatible with. Now, Yue will give you your books, so begin!" Negi finished and lwft them under Yue, Nodoka, Haruna, Konaka and Setsuna's watch and went to have his usual training with Eva and Asuna in the desert area. He usually avoided the artic area because it gave Evangeline the advantage and that's the last thing a sane person would want.