Another chapter to make up for my lack of posting for forever! This one's a little longer because a couple people said the last one was too short.

I do not own Harry Potter or Negima.

Chapter IV: Asuna

Negi was unusually quiet as they walked down the second-floor corridor. Asuna knew what that meant; he was nervous, but he didn't want to worry anyone. She sighed.

"Negi, you're gonna be great, y'know?" She gave him a firm pat on the shoulder. "You know your stuff."

"Thanks, Asuna-san." Negi gave her a faint smile, but Asuna could tell he wasn't convinced. She thought for a minute.

"You know what this kind of reminds me of?" she said, "Remember when you first came to Mahora?"

Negi laughed a little. "Yes, now that you mention it, it does feel similar. I got lost and you helped me find the classroom."

"You mean you followed me," Asuna said wryly, "yup, and for some reason everyone loved you."

"They definitely loved playing tricks on me."

"They could tell you were gonna be a great teacher." Asuna mentally shooed the memories of Negi getting pranked, Negi flailing as chaos erupted, Negi accidentally sneezing and blowing off their clothes.

They had come to a stop in front of the classroom. "What are you waiting for?"

Negi was smiling. "Thank you, Asuna-san."

"Yeah yeah, go ahead, Mr. Magister Magi." Negi unlocked the door.

Asuna watched the wizard students buzz as they settled in, all wearing yellow ties. Negi's "Specialized Magic Defense" class was only available to third years and up, so they had none of the timid, first year anxiety Asuna had seen at the Sorting Ceremony. The students had been shocked at the fifteen year old teacher- no, professor- but Asuna's jaw had actually dropped when the hat started singing.

The thirteen year olds gave her curious glances as they passed her in her seat at the back of the room. She avoided their gaze. It must be ten times worse for Negi. She looked up front. Negi was beaming at the class from behind his desk, all traces of nervousness gone. Or not.

"Welcome everyone!" he called, effectively quieting the classroom. He began explaining what they'd be covering in the course, and what they'd be learning. (Most of it went over Asuna's head.) It was impressive, although she didn't like to admit it. A year or two ago he'd barely been able to get his voice heard over the sea of thirty-two chattering girls. Then again, 2-A had been a slightly special case…

"I think that the best way to learn is hands-on." Negi was saying, "and so, we're going to start with an easy spell. But first, are there any questions?"

One girl near the back raised her hand. Negi called on her.

"How old are you, Professor?"

"Um. El- sixteen. Any questions related to magic?" The girl giggled with her friends. "No? Then let's practice some basic spells. I know this is elementary, but would somebody mind showing me a Ardescat?"

Silence.

"Or, if you'd like, Lux or Vente."

Silence.

Uh oh.

"Um… anyone? No volunteers?" Negi said, flustered, "Can… does anyone know how to cast Practi Bigi Nar?"

There was a round of shaking heads. One student in the front of the room- Asuna couldn't see- raised their hand.

"Sorry Professor, but what is a… that spell?" Negi stared at him in wonder.

"You don't know-" he said, "then what's the first spell you wizards learn?"

"Wingardium Leviosa."

"Wingardium Leviosa…?" Negi echoed. Asuna saw the students giving each other looks, most of them just confused, some nervous, and a few suspicious. She cleared her throat loudly. The class turned to look at her, but Negi snapped back to his senses.

"Okay," Negi said, "then, why don't we all learn it together? Can everyone take out their wands?"

The students all brought out their strange, wooden wands and began to chant the spell. Even with Negi's help, though, no one seemed successful. After fifteen minutes, Negi made his way to the back.

"How's it goin', teach?" Asuna asked.

"Er, well," Negi said, face flushed, "It takes a while to learn. I thought since Hogwarts is in the West they'd at least have activation keywords but…"

After another fifteen minutes, Asuna overheard a student near her say, "Is this even possible? He didn't even demonstrate it." At almost the same time, across the room someone exclaimed, "Look, he's got it!"

"Oh!" Negi exlcaimed, hurrying over, "very good!"

Asuna gave the kid near her a smug smile. He went pink and angrily turned back to his desk, saying, "What's so great about a tiny, useless flame? Can't we just use Incendio?"

"Hey," Asuna started to say hotly, "that flame once saved me-"

"Actually, the purpose of learning these beginner spells right now isn't to make fire, light or wind," Negi said, "it's so we can start to feel how m- er, specialized magic feels, since it's very different from your regular wizardry. Some people even say it's a completely different kind of magic."

That shut the kid up, but another student raised her hand and asked, "Professor, exactly what kind of magic is this? 'Defensive magic' isn't very clear…"

"It's. Er, it's…" Negi stammered, "Specialized… Defensive… uh, Combat magic."

That set everyone talking. Asuna heard the same obnoxious student say to his friend, "Specialized Defensive Combat magic? Sounds like a load of bull to me. Very suspicious. I think I might just drop this class."

"You want suspicious?" his friend said, waving his wand, "My mum works for the ministry, right? Well she told me that in July they were attacked by some dark magic organization. Not even people in the ministry know, but she just happened to be there. That's why I took this class."

"I didn't hear anything like that, and it be in the Prophet or Quibbler if it were true."

"You calling my mum a liar?"

On Asuna's other side, a group of three girls had abandoned their wand practice.

"I dunno, combative magic sounds cool, but the Professor's awfully young, isn't he? Does he really know jack?"

"He;s handsome though," another giggled.

"I know," the last girl said, raising her hand and her voice. "Professor Springfield?"

"Yes?"

"Would you mind please doing a demonstration? Not of Practi Bigi Nar, but something we could actually use in combat? I think it would help us to feel the magic."

"Um…" Negi said, "I… I'm not supposed to teach anything besides defensive magic though…"

"Just a minute there!" Asuna declared, standing up. "I'll help demonstrate. Okay, Negi? I'm going to attack you, and you defend. Then it's fine, right?"

"Wha- Asuna-san, that's not really-"

"Adeat!"

The students gasped (one screamed) as Asuna went into full-on battle gear, Ensis Exorcizans and all. "Here I come!"

This time several students yelled as she launched herself through the air and brought her sword down on Negi, who leapt back just in time.

"Asuna-san," Negi cried, still dodging, "what are you doing?"

"Just- attack- me- with- a- spell!" Asuna said, swinging with each word. "I- have magic- cancel- er- remem- ber?"

"But-"

"Just- do- it!"

"Ras tel ma scir-" In a flash, Negi had conjured up five lighting arrows "Sagitta Magica!"

Asuna threw herself out of the way at the last millisecond and the arrows hit a cabinet, exploding in a blinding flash of light and flying wood. When all had cleared, Negi was panicking.

"Asuna-san… you said you would use magic canceler…!"

"Can we learn that!?" The student whose mom worked at the ministry said, standing up.

"That was bloody amazing!"

"So cool-"

"-they never taught this before!"

Negi looked at Asuna. She gave him a thumbs up.

"Everyone,settle down! This is the type of magic you can eventually learn in Specialized Defensive Combat Magic, but you'll never be able to do Sagitta Magica if you can't at least do a Practi Bigi Nar spell." Negi smiled. "So right now, your classmate uh, Mr. Akashi is closest." He nodded at the one student who had succeeded. "Keep practicing! We'll go over fundamental rules of Combative magic next time. Class dismissed!"

Is this length better? Let me know what you think! Next chapter up soon (probably).