DISCLAIMER: I do not own Mahou Sensei Negima or Harry Potter. Mahou Sensei 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 Three

Equivalent Exchange – Always Balanced but Never Fair; Price of Power

Harry Potter was accustomed to Pain. He had felt it a good part of his time at the Dursleys, be it emotional or physical.

During his first year at Hogwarts he had reached new heights in his familiarity with Pain, first during his meeting with the Voldemort-possessed Quirrell in the Forbidden Forest, and then in the chamber that held the Philosopher's Stone under Hogwarts. A near level of Pain was achieved a year after that in the Chamber of Secrets when he was stabbed by the basilisk fang in his arm.

That was, of course, mostly physical Pain. In his Hogwarts years, his emotional Pain reached new heights in his second and third years, in the second due to the year-long shunning from the vast majority of the school populace when they were thinking he was the Heir of Slytherin who had been attacking students, followed by the despair of Hermione being petrified, Hagrid taken to Azkaban and Ginny taken into the Chamber itself and nearly killed, and in the third year due to the supposed betrayal of his Godfather which supposedly led to the death of his parents.

Compared to what he was currently feeling as he awoke after the first night spent at Nr. 12 Grimmauld Place, all that might as well been a vacation in Heaven.

Every inch… no, scratch that! Every cell of his body HURT. His skin was burning, his flesh was searing, his muscles tearing, his bones breaking, his organs bursting, his brain liquefying… and there was that agonizing inner pain, burning and freezing, blunt and sharp, all coming from inside of him, though he could not even begin to tell where inside of him, pushing, trying to burst out of him. In his mind as well, he could sea and hear people being tortured, dying, screaming…

"…Tsk, this is happening faster then I expected. Not even Boya's alignment to Darkness was this strong…" he heard a vaguely familiar voice in his rattled mind.

"…E… Evan…?" Harry managed to gasp out and immediately regretted it as the pain he already felt from his face doubled. Opening his eyes, he looked on in horror at his body being enveloped by what looked like a very dense pitch black mist. "…W-What's happening?" he asked in panic.

Rather then an answer, the world around him faded and he found himself within his mindscape. He immediately noticed that the same black mist was consuming most of it.

"What that hell?" Harry asked in horror.

"Oi, Brat." Eva called out as she came into view. "Good to see you here so fast." she nodded in satisfaction.

"What's happening to my body? AND with my mind?" Harry demanded.

"Well, a good part of it is due to me, another due to Voldemort's soul fragment, but the rest is all you." Eva shrugged as she walked through the black mist, completely unaffected.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked warily.

"I'm the Dark Evangel, Queen of the Night, Girl Queen of Darkness, and Disciple of dark Tones. Don't tell me that you did not realize that I specialize in Dark Magic." the sarcasm was oozing from her voice.

"But why is this happening to me?" Harry demanded.

"Look brat, I'll just say this once." Eva stared him straight in the eye. "Darkness corrupts. It consumes all that it comes in contact with. As far as I know, there are four categories for people that come in contact with it. Dark Magic Users, people that know a few dark spells and use them on occasion. Dark Magic Practitioners, people who know a few dozen dark spells and a good background on them and who practice them regularly – most Inner Circle Death Eaters, Voldemort's closest supporters, are in this category. Then there are what are known as Dark Lords, people that know and use so much dark magic that they go through various disfiguring transformations for the sake of power and furthering their experience in Dark Magic." here, she paused and took a breath, enjoying the look on Harry's face. "And then, there's ME. A being that is part of darkness itself, bypassing the addiction of Dark Lord and the atrocities they commit for their insane pleasure. A being that has not only avoided being consumed by Dark Magic, but who had consumed Dark Magic itself." Eva finished with an evil gloating laugh.

"Riiiight… so where exactly am I now on that scale?" Harry inquired.

"Currently, you're no on it. You're getting placed on it as we speak due to certain factors." Eva said.

"Certain factors?" Harry asked.

"You had me inside of you from Day One. I being there would obviously at least slightly affect you. And with all the power I had to feed into your body and your magical core to keep you alive and relatively healthy, as well as absorb a few extra gifts you could make good use of, it was only a matter of time before it was to much for you to bear unconsciously. With the bindings on your core breaking, it was inevitable. But I didn't think that your own darkness alignment was so powerful… guess those years at the Dursleys affected you more then I feared…" Evangeline frowned.

"So… what can I do about it? How do I stop it?" Harry frowned.

"Stop it?" Eva raised a delicate eyebrow.

"Well, it's obvious it's not good for me! It's eating at my body!" Harry exclaimed. "And mind!" he added as he looked around.

"You don't get it, do you?" Eva asked in amusement. "You think the darkness here and outside is some of my power that's eating at you? Or some of Voldemort's power?"

"Well… yeah… I mean, I never…" Harry said, slightly lost.

"Well Boy, news flash! It's your power. The only reason why it's eating at you is that most of it has been locked away under Dumbledore's bindings and your mind and body doesn't know how to handle it." Eva smirked.

"My Power?" Harry screamed in shock.

"Think of it as accidental magic which you didn't get to control while at Hogwarts." Eva shrugged.

"Well, how do I handle it? You know, right?" Harry asked, trying to calm down.

"I know… but you may not like the result." Eva whispered as she looked him in the eye. "You may not be human after you do it."

"No longer human…" Harry whispered in shock. "You mean… a monster? Or a dark creature like a werewolf?" he asked quickly, not liking how Eva's eyes became icy at the word 'monster'.

"Well…those are the two options." Eva nodded, feeling an unexplainable relief. "Or you die." She added with an unconcerned shrug.

"…What are the odds for those options?" Harry asked after a couple minutes of silence.

"Well… the chance of you dieing is low, mainly due to you being accustomed enough to this power so your body won't reject it." Eva began. "The chance of you becoming a mindless monster is not that big either, but it's still around 20%-25%. The rest is you succeeding."

"And what would I be like if I succeed? Would I be like you at least?" Harry asked hopefully.

"Well… not quite like me." Eva said diplomatically. "You see, I was turned into a Shinso Vampire, a super vampire, at the age of then through an experimental ritual. I stopped being human right then and had to feed on human blood since, until I got sealed into you. The spell you would need to learn is something I came up with when I was barely a century old to use the darkness that was already part of me. And I should tell you that no regular human would survive it, not to mention master it."

"So, nobody succeeded? Ever?" Harry gulped.

"One person succeeded." Eva corrected. "My first apprentice, Negi Springfield, whose form you used yesterday for shopping. But he had a few unique advantages compared to regular humans. He was the direct descendant of the person who turned me into a Shinso Vampire and since the spell used on me was meant to be eventually used on that man, it was compatible with his blood. He had inherited enormous magical reserves from his hero father, so he had the power to use the spell. And finally, he was a one-in-a-billion genius, whose talent and determination were envied by all. But he had trouble with it as well. From what I heard, he was on the brink more then once before finally mastering it."

"So it's hopeless for me after all." Harry sighed.

"Oh, stop being such a whiner!" Eva said in annoyance. "You have some advantages too. But if you want to fail so badly, go ahead!"

"What advantages could I have?" Harry asked skeptically. "I mean, I'm a parselmouth, yeah. And then there's the Magic Cancel you told me about."

"Those are some very good points, the later even more then the former. You see, my second disciple, while not learning the spell to control darkness was also a direct descendant of that Royal Bloodline, so genetically she would have been compatible. And she possessed the Magic Cancel as well." Eva smirked at the look on Harry's face. "Shall I tell you more?"

"Well, I'm not going anywhere." Harry chuckled nervously.

"Well, I could tell you that ironically, the Peverell Bloodline is quite close to the Royal Bloodline of Ostia, so your own genetic makeup should be compatible enough for the spell." Eva began. "Then, there's the fact that I've been increasing your core over the years by pouring some of my own power in it. While Dumbledore's bindings limited how much power you were capable of using, it did not limit the size of your core. So I had it grow until the 5% you had access to made you a powerhouse among your peers." this earned wide eyes from Harry. "Also, I used my own Dark Magic to reach out of your body at times to take some types of magic and substances and add them to your body, making you stronger."

"The Phoenix Tears." Harry whispered.

"The Basilisk Venom as well." Eva nodded. "It gave you immunity to all venoms and likely all poisons as well." she explained when he paled. "I also absorbed some magic from the Cloak of Invisibility, some of the blood and magic from the unicorn blood and body after I made sure you won't get cursed, the fire immunity from Snape's potion, the power and knowledge of the Philosopher's Stone, the magic from the Skele-Gro potion, some house elf magic from Dobby like house elf Apparition and wandless magic, and let's not forget the magic from Voldemort's soul fragment like an animagus form, healing powers and Mage Sight along with the parseltongue you already mentioned."

"Okay… but will these things help? I mean, besides parseltongue and Magic Cancel, I never even used them." Harry gulped.

"Well, they made you less human, so the transition will be easier." Eva explained. "And let's not forget that behind those attempts to be 'normal'" she said as she made quote signs "both I and the Sorting Hat saw that you have plenty of courage, a bright mind, a shitload of talent and ambition, and let's not forget that stubbornness that kept you out of Slytherin."

"You still didn't answer my question though? What will I be like? Will I keep my human appearance and sanity like you have?" Harry asked.

"Yes, you will." Eva nodded. "Negi only undergone physical transformation when he wanted to, such as his hair getting longer, but that was due to active use of the spell."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Harry opened his arms wide. "Let's do it."

"I was expecting you to be more reluctant to renounce your humanity." Eva raised an eyebrow.

"With a werewolf honorary uncle like professor Lupin, who's such a nice person and has been friends with my parents and Sirius, and with you who has been keeping me alive for most of my life, why should I hesitate?" Harry shrugged. "I'm pretty sure professor Flitwick is part goblin and Hagrid part giant too. With so many decent people that aren't fully human, what should I be afraid off changing? Besides, even if someone does find out about it, the Ministry won't be able to classify me so I won't have that much prejudice. And even if they do, who gives a damn about what those corrupted bastards say? They took Hagrid to Azkaban just so they would be seen doing something, kept Sirius there without a trial for a dozen years, got bribed by Malfoy into executing Buckbeak… and who knows what the hell else."

"My, my, the brat it growing up." Eva smirked with a hint of pride. "Well, we have to do something else before that, I'm afraid."

"What?" Harry asked curiously.

"You need to make a body for me… or rather give me control so make the preparations and you just finish things off." Eva said. "It would be dangerous for you to have me inside of you during the acceptance of the spell."

"What about the soul fragment?" Harry inquired in worry as he glanced around.

"Well… I initially wanted to remove it, stick it to a coin an blast it to pieces." Eva admited. "But with the way things are now, neither of us would have the control needed for such delicate spells, so I had to find an alternative."

"I have a feeling I won't like this." Harry muttered.

"You won't." Eva grimaced. "It involves reducing the soul fragment to a blank slate, cutting all ties it has to Voldemort, and then you assimilating it as you accept my spell."

"Besides the EWWW" Harry grimaced "Are there any drawbacks?"

"No. reducing it to a blank slate would erase all of its previous personality, memories and talents. All of its magic will become neutral, with no affinity, and merged with your own." Eva explained.

"Okay. I take it you already blanked it?" Harry inquired.

"It was easy. I had already ripped out all of the memories, destroyed its personality and transferred all his valuable talents to you. All that was left was to purge to core of all taints and affinities… which reminds me, you likely have assimilated my ice affinity and Voldemort's fire affinity over the years, adding it to your wind and lightning ones." Eva added as an afterthought.

"I had two affinities when you had only one?" Harry asked in shock.

"Well, technically my affinities are wind and water, but I used ice magic nearly all my life so they nearly merged into ice. And all three of us have darkness as well, so both me an you had three affinities while Voldemort had two, with the darkness one eating at him." Eva explained.

"Okay… so now you need a body… how do we do that?" Harry asked nervously.

"…First of all, I want you to promise me that you won't do this on your own before I specifically tell you to. We will be using a forbidden form of Alchemy: Human Alchemy." Eva said with disgust. "It involves using Alchemy usually to change a human, at times to attempt to bring someone back to life. I want you to promise me that you won't try to bring your parents back to life."

"…Why?" Harry had to ask.

"Because the most important Law of Alchemy is that of Equivalent Exchange. Unlike magic when you can conjure objects, Alchemy can only change what you already have into something made out of the same materials. You can't make iron out of stone, for example. But you can turn a block of stone into a statue." Eva explained. "To bring someone back to life, you can't just gather the materials that compose a human body and try to make a living person out of them. The human is more then flesh. There's also the soul, and for magic folk there's also magic."

"So you would have to give up something of equal value to the soul of the person you're tryin to bring back." Harry understood.

"Yes. And while the failed alchemic reaction creates a rebound that will attempt to take parts of the alchemist such as limbs or organs to balance out what they were trying to achieve and what they give up, the results are monstrous at worst and dead at best." Eva closed her eyes as a few images gained from absorbing the knowledge of the stone flashed before her eyes. "The Philosopher's Stone was made by sacrificing hundreds, thousands of people. When I absorbed it, I… filtered it. I only took its power. I drained it dry of power and knowledge and left the souls inside it. I'm pretty sure that Flamel used the criminals of a prison or two in order to make the Stone, but I made sure they all passed on, to either Heaven or Hell, when Dumbledore destroyed it."

"I understand." Harry nodded. "I won't use Human Alchemy without your permission. But what about regular Alchemy? The stone to statue stuff. If you'll teach me, that is."

"That will be fine. And no, I won't teach you, per say. But you will learn, you can be certain of that." Eva said with a dark smile.

"Okay, take over then. I just remembered that my body is being eaten by my own darkness." Harry grimaced.

"It won't affect me much." Eva said before she took over.

As soon as she opened his eyes, she began channeling her magic through the body, healing everything she found damaged.

"Kreacher!" 'he' called out as 'he' got up.

"What can Kreacher do for Master Harry?" the old elf appeared, cleaner that in the last decade, wearing a black toga that covered most of his body with the Black Family crest painted in silver on the front.

"Have you cleaned the house?" 'Harry' inquired.

"Yes Master." Kreacher bowed.

"Does the house have a ritual room? Or a room that has not been magically altered in some way and is devoid of magical objects?" 'he' asked.

"Yes, Master Harry! We is having ritual chamber in the basement. Entrance is hidden. Is Master wanting Kreacher to show Master the ritual chamber?" Kreacher asked curiously.

"Yes, lead the way." 'Harry' nodded.

A few minutes later 'he' was in the now sealed off ritual chamber, just finishing drawing a complex human transmutation circle. Throwing the piece of chalk away, 'he' sighed.

"Alright Harry, here's what you need to do." Eva told him. "I'm going to give you back control, and then I'll quickly push a lot of alchemical energy through your body so you can feel it. As soon as you can, I want you to place your hands on the circle I drew. Don't erase it, just tap it as you push the alchemical energy into it. After that, I want you to agree to whatever I say, during the process."

"Got it. I'm ready." Harry replied and a moment later he found himself in control of his body again. He felt the darkness getting out of control again, but it was very slow compared to the influx of foreign power that flowed though him. Quickly pushing it into his hands, he crouched and activated the human transmutation circle… and then there was darkness.

Opening his eyes, he found himself in a completely white endless space, noticing a naked Eva next to him and glancing away in embarrassment, privately relived that he was still dressed. He also noticed two huge grey stabs of stone, floating upright behind them, a few centimeters above the surface they were standing on. The one directly behind him showed what he recognized as the Tree of Life, Sephiroth. The one next to it showed what looked like tattooed wings around a series of overlapping complex magic circles.

"Oi, where are you? Truth!" Eva called out in annoyance.

"Oh? I don't think we met before." a playful voice was heard and looking in the direction it came from Harry say a transparent humanoid figure, about the same stature as him. The only reason he was visible was due to its darkish outline.

"We have not. But I know enough about you from the Philosopher's Stone that I drained dry." Eva smirked as the large toothy grin of the figure turned into a pout.

"Damn! I was sure I recognized that energy signature!" he exclaimed. "Bah, so you're gonna cheat on the toll. I was hoping you would sacrifice one another."

"What?" Harry exclaimed in outrage.

"The Philosopher's Stone bypasses Equivalent Exchange, so you won't have to give up anything of yours in order to give me a body. It will merely drain the alchemical energy equivalent from the Stone." Eva explained.

"Didn't Dumbledore destroy the Stone itself though?" Harry inquired.

"That was more of a shell, actually. The physical form of the Stone does not really matter, though solid form is preferred for obvious reasons over liquid or gas. I took the alchemical energy, the 'true Stone' and moved it into your body. You yourself could be considered a Philosopher's Stone." she shrugged.

"Tsk. Is that all you want today?" Truth inquired.

"Not quite…" Eva hesitated a bit. "We have a few questions that you should be able of answering."

"What are you willing to give in exchange?" Truth smirked.

"How about this?" Harry cut in. "We ask you a question and you tell us the price for it and whether we would be capable of paying it without damaging ourselves or Eva's future body."

"Mm… that's acceptable." Truth agreed reluctantly.

"First question then." Eva gave Harry a nod of appreciation. "In terms of human lives, how many units are left in Harry's Stone? And you're not counting him or me."

"That one's free since I'm not giving you anything." Truth groaned. "He has 35.854 units."

"So Flamel used more then criminals… there are no prisons that big now, let alone back then." Eva growled.

"Maybe he added more to the stone as he found them?" Harry suggested.

"Maybe." Truth grinned.

"Okay, next question. Will Harry and I be able of using Alchemy without a circle after this?" Eva asked.

"That will cost you half a unit… ask another question to make a full one." Truth replied.

"Very well… How many units would it cost us to learn all the Knowledge that the Gate can grant? And that means besides what I already know from the Stone. I know for a fact that it's not complete." Eva narrowed her eyes.

"You will be able to use alchemy without a circle. The boy however must give at least a part of himself to the Gate in order to be able to." Truth said before pausing to think. "And to learn everything, both of you, you would need to sacrifice all the additional life units Harry Potter holds besides his own, yours, the fractured soul of Tom Marvolo Riddle, and the unit you already own me for the questions. It would effectively exhaust the Philosopher's Stone."

"That… convenient." Eva muttered. "Will his appendices be enough toll for allowing his to transmute without a circle?"

"Yes. It will be." Truth smirked.

"Then let's do this." Eva nodded. "Take Harry's appendices and exhaust the Philosopher's Stone in exchange for giving me a body compatible to my soul and powers, us being able to transmute without circles and us gaining all the knowledge the Gate can offer us. Come on, we need to hurry since Harry needs to learn Magia Erebea before his darkness consumes him."

"You asked for it. Goodbye, alchemists." Truth chuckled as another slab of stone appeared behind it and opened, making Harry realize that it was the Gate they had been speaking about.

Dozens of long shadow hands reached out of the Gate and grabbed them, dragging them in as Truth waved cheerfully.

It was hell. Knowledge was being poured into his head, making him scream in agony while Eva was right besides him, watching him in worry. Barely at the end did she join him in screaming her head off and only for a few moments. Then, they awoke in the ritual chamber, with a naked Eva straddling Harry. They quickly moved away from each other, but Harry gasped in pain.

"What? What happened?" Eva demanded immediately.

"Hurts… in my guts…" Harry grunted.

Quickly performing a medical scan, Eva swore.

"The bastard took your appendices but let the wound open. Stand still for a few seconds. I'll accelerate the healing." Eva muttered and pushed her magic at the wound, feeding it to the already closing wound, and making it work faster. In less then thirty seconds, it was closed.

"Thanks." Harry nodded in appreciation.

"You're welcome. I know only the basics of healing since I never needed it myself though." Eva confessed.

"Well, it was enough… gah!" Harry screamed as darkness began leaking out of him again.

"Already?" Eva asked annoyed. "Fine, let's do this. It will hurt." she told him before grabbing his head and pouring her own magic in him, causing him to fall unconscious.

"Hogwarts?" Harry managed to say as he looked at the familiar scenery.

"No time for sightseeing, Harry Potter." Evangeline whispered as she appeared before him, still naked. "You're here to learn Magia Erebea, the Magic of Darkness. In essence, it grants you the ability to absorb spells into your body in order to increase your capabilities for a time. I do not know if it works with non-elemental spells though, so don't try it before I tell you so."

"She just said all I know will be useless!" Harry internally panicked.

"By the end of this training session, you will have either have mastered Magia Erebea, been overcome by it, or died. So be careful, brat, as while this is a Phantasmagoria, an illusionary world, if you fail I'll be the death of you soul!" Eva said, causing fear to paralyze Harry.

"No wonder there's the chance of becoming a mindless monster! She could kill my soul!" Harry realized.

"Initially, you would have been able to learn Magia Erebea and then later master it when it begun eating at your body, but you are already in that stage." Eva said. "It has both ups and downs. The advantage it is obvious: you get everything done faster. The disadvantages are greater: with the original method, if you could not master your darkness, it would have been permanently sealed and you would have had other magics left. Also, your body wouldn't have been affected for a month or two, maybe more, depending on how much you used Magia Erebea." she shrugged. "But enough 'could have been's! We're wasting time."

"You're wasting time." Harry deadpanned.

"So sell me, what it darkness? Eh, Boy?" Eva inquired with and evil grin. "The shadow's opposite is light. The night's opposite is day. Right and wrong, good and evil, order and chaos, reason and irrationality." she recited with passion as she began to levitate and wave her hands as frosty energy coated them "But what you need is a much simpler strength!" she declared before unleashing the spell at Harry who barely jumped away and avoided getting frozen or skewered by her Crystallizatio Tellutris. "It's the beginning of darkness, a small black hole which takes in everything… The origin of Chaos!" she shouted before sending another attack at him.

He dodged and the Nivis Casus coated the ground in ice.

"The beginning of darkness… small black hole which takes in everything…" Harry mentally repeated.

"If you can't understand what it means, I'll destroy you here and now!" Eva told him grimly.

"…takes in everything… like the Magia Erebea that I'm supposed to learn…" Harry thought.

"Although I'd expect you to already know what it means." Evangeline smiled.

"Eh?" Harry's eyes widened in surprise.

That cost him dearly as Eva appeared crouched before him plunging her Ensis Exequens trough him like butter, killing him in seconds. Moments after she backed away Harry gasped as he slowly got up perfectly healed.

"H-How…?" he asked in shock.

"You can't truly die here. But if you get pushed far enough, your mind and soul will break." Eva smirked evilly. "Come, boy, show me what you got! Get in touch with your power! Let it flow through you! Come at me!"

Growling in frustration, Harry tapped into his unbound core, easily drawing magic as he remembered some of the additions Eva made. Such as wandless magic…

"Bombarda!" Harry roared and thrust his right hand towards Eva who dodged the blast of magic which destroyed a few meter radius of the part of the forest it hit. "Incendio!" he continued and fire erupted from his hand like a flamethrower, but Eva canceled it out with a lazy wave of her hand expelling ice.

"Better, you can do far better, Harry." Eva taunted before fading from view. "Iaculatio Grandinis!" was the evil whisper Harry heard before his chest was pierced by a spear of ice, also blasting him a couple dozen meters away.

Moments later, Harry got up again and stated off with a Diffindo as he slashed his hand at Eva, taking her by surprise but not even close enough to hit her. He continued in the same note for several hours, sending overpowered wandless spell at Eva to no avail as she kept dodging and killing him, with or without magic, to the point where Harry realized that considering how small and apparently weak her body was, she probably enhancing it with magic. Attempting to replicate it, he managed what Eva recognized as a rough form of Cantus Bellax increasing his speed and strength, getting him to get closer to scoring a hit.

As he flooded his body and head with magic, he began to perceive things clearer, more efficient, finding better ways of attacking and dodging. He soon realized that he was fighting on instinct and, seeing how it increased his power, he surrendered himself to it, something that Evangeline appreciated greatly.

"Finally!" she grinned as she dodged a Bombarda and then blocked a few punches, delivering a few of her own which were barely blocked or dodged. "You're finally beginning to understand what it means to fight! Look at it!" she punched him away, breaking a rib but he Apparated before her with his fist cocked back. "Savor it!" she screamed as she blocked it with her own. "And remember it well! Cause that's the source of your power! Your initial impulses! Your first drive! Your Original Self!" she declared before her posture shifted slightly "But you can't win with just that… sorry boy…" her calculative emerald eyes met his own as she cut him open once again, sending him away.

"Gah!... got killed again… I can't win… I can't beat her… it's impossible… she's much stronger then me… more powerful… more experienced… more knowledgeable… She already has Magia Erebea…" Harry though as he lay on the ground, waiting for the wound to kill him, hopefully for the last time. "…Wait… Win? Why the hell should I be trying to win? I came here to learn Magia Erebea! She came here to teach me! Not to fight me! Why isn't she…? Unless she already did…" Harry's eyes pained eyes widened. "…it grants you the ability to absorb spells into your body in order to increase your capabilities…" Eva's words came back to him "… nearly all o my magic is useless…" he remembered his own realization "…what you need is a much simpler strength… It's the beginning of darkness, a small black hole which takes in everything…" her words rang in his head as Eva stalked towards him, Ensis Exsequens ready to end him "…absorbs spells… my magic is useless… small black hole which takes in everything!" his eyes widened as the sword of pure ice magic descended on his fallen form.

"Oh?" Eva raised an eyebrow as Harry's hand caught the blade. Eyes widening, she jumped away but it was too late as the blade of ice magic was ripped from her and sucked into the twisting ball of energy now in Harry's outstretched hand.

"Magia Erebea… it's a magic that allow the user to absorb other magic into himself… be they fire or water… light or shadow… good and evil… it's not just about absorbing magic… it about taking it all in… right or wrong… strength or weakness… to accept it all, to accept my true self… my instincts… my power!" Harry growled as darkness poured out of him and converged into the ball in his hand, tainting it pitch black. "It looks ugly… it looks evil… it looks like it could kill me… but it's MINE!" Harry screamed in his mind as he closed his fist, absorbing the magic into himself "It's part of me! And I'm fine with it!" he decided with a grim smirk as power exploded from him, enveloping him in terrifying darkness and a bit of frost…

But this time it no longer hurt… it no longer ate at him… because it was part of him.

"Heh heh heh! Wonderful, Harry!" Eva applauded. "Do you understand it now? Dark Magic…?"

"It's not something new I have to learn… it's something I've always had… I just had to understand it… to accept it… to use it and make it part of me for good… isn't that right… Master?" Harry smirked confidently.

"Heh heh heh, it looks like my disciple is finally learning!" Eva smiled fully. "Now enough talk… Show me what you gained!" she roared as she descended on him with her magically charged fist cocked back.

Pushing more magic into his fist, Harry lunged to meet her head on.

As their attacks met, the scenery exploded and the Phantasmagoria shattered. Seconds later, they opened their eyes in the real world.

"GAH!" Harry screamed in pain.

Looking towards him in worry, Eva grimaced. She had the feeling she forgot something. A very small portion of the damage received in the Phantasmagoria transcended to his physical body. And with the number of wounds accumulated, most of his ribs were broken, his muscles torn, and skin turned to shreds. She was happy she did not crush his skull at all though. That would have been a pain to heal. And he was healing. Faster and faster. His magic resonating perfectly with his mind, body and soul. His now inhuman body quickly integrating the Shinso abilities. She could tell that he was not a vampire. He might have been even more human then Negi was after his transformation.

Checking his inner world, she was pleased to see that her plan had worked even without Harry fully understanding it. The real reason why she had blanked out Voldemort's soul fragment was not just because they could no longer remove it. She knew that she could have isolated it and had it removed after Harry mastered Magia Erebea. But she knew that he needed it. His alignment to darkness was too close to her own, far too close. At the time she created Magia Erebea, her darkness alignment was likely lower then Negi's. But for a thirteen year old like Harry, such a powerful alignment was less of an advantage and more of a problem, as it would make it harder for him to learn other elemental magics. So she watered it down slightly with the blank soul fragment. Stretched his darkness over it in order to absorb it and make it his own. She knew, of course, that it would eventually reach the same intensity as before, but it gave her enough time to teach him what else he needed, enough so that that powerful darkness alignment would not interfere in his development.

By the time she finished, his wounds were fully healed and she knew that not only had he fully adapted to his healing, but he was also using the passive form of Magia Erebea, leaching at the surrounding magic to replenish his own and strengthen it.

"Hm… there's an idea…" Eva smirked. "Alright, Harry?"

"Eh… yeah." he muttered, looking away with a blush.

Right, she was naked.

"Well, there's just one more thing for us to do for the today, and then you have the day off to rest." Eva smirked deviously as with a wave the transmutation circle disappeared and was replaced by a pactio circle. "Now, stand with me in this circle… that's it." she nodded.

"What now?" Harry inquired as he turned to look at her face… only for Eva to capture his lips with her own as a warm feeling enveloped him and he leaned into the kiss as well while the pactio circle glowed brightly before flashing once as the pactio card materialized above them.

"Now, you're officially my apprentice." Eva smiled as she broke the kiss and absently caught the card. "Rest now." she whispered as she touched his cheek, unleashing a silent wandless Stunner through skin contact, sending him into dreamland.

After dragging him to his room, she dressed in some of the clothes they bought the day before and called Kreacher.

"Where did you put the cursed objects?" she asked immediately.

A couple minutes later she was standing in a room holding a humongous pile of cursed objects, from magical items, and jewels to books and pictures. Shaking her head, she activated her Mage Sight, something she has assimilated into her own magic just as she did with Harry's other gifts, and selected a few pieces of jewelry, made of gold or silver and decorated with diamonds, onyx and rubies. Removing the curses placed on them and then any an all magic they contained, she clapped her hands and touches each of them, reshaping them into gears of various sizes and decorations, as well as other forms. When she was done, it took her less then fifteen minutes to assemble it into a Cassiopeia. It was not the latest version she knew how to build, not even close, but she didn't have the patience nor the need to build something capable of traveling centuries through time. Cassiopeia vs. 23 would do more then nicely for her currents, and likely future needs.

Pocketing the watch, she calmly walked out of the house and into a deserted back alley before activating the time machine as she allowed her enormous power to flood it.

"Time to do some… shopping." Eva smirked evilly before disappearing in a flash of light.

A.N.: Surprise! Yep, Chapter Three DID come out this early. But as far as chronological chapters go, this is it for now. Mystery will begin to claim its rightful place. Flashbacks will be introduced.

And many, many more. But that's only if this chapter received its share of review, in other words more then a dozen, like the previous two had. Of course, the more reviews I receive, the more inclined to write I am. Still, don't expect chapter 4 for at least three or four days.