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 Thirty

The Approaching Darkness and the Encroaching Darkness

It was the Friday the 22nd of December when Harry, Hermione, Neville and Daphne left the last Potions class of until January. Over a month had passed since the formation of the Order of the Twilight and the discovery of the Chambers of Time and Rituals. Well, at least for the rest of the world. For the members of the new Order, it had been a little over six months. How? Why of course through the use of both the Cassiopeia and Evangeline' Resort.

Every day after classes were over, they would Portkey to the Chamber of Secrets where the Resort was placed and go inside, where they would plan, study or simply train for two or three days. Yes, Portkey. How could they do so through the 'impenetrable' wards of Hogwarts? Quite simply, since Harry, as heir of Gryffindor was the one to cast the spells on the rings they all wore.

However, this was no simple Portkey charm that would at most take a person to one place and then back to the starting place. No, like the rings themselves the charm was within the mental control of the user. It had five initial targets where they could take the user, the four Chambers and the Shrieking Shack. But the user could add more targets with a mere mental command when they were in the place they wanted to add, and the update was made for all rings because of a certain Protean charm discovered by Hermione. The structure of the new Portkey spell took a little over a week spent in the Resort for Eva, Negi and Chao to develop. Only places it could be used from were within the area that the rings had mapped.

Still, the didn't spend all their time in the Resort, no matter how much they preferred the sandy beach to the frozen field of Hogwarts. They didn't go through all the trouble of finding the Chambers of the founders just for the fun of it. No, each and every resource they had was being put to good use.

The Chamber of Time, for instance, was now Neville' domain. He spent at least four hours per day in there, restoring the greenhouses and learning more and more about Herbology and surprisingly Potions. Still, that didn't stop the twins from lurking in the Potions labs, creating new potions that, while some were indeed funny, most of them were focussed on their use in combat. Their greatest breakthrough had been an odourless transparent liquid that turned into an invisible gas when in contact with air, unless the liquid was warm. While in liquid form this potion was near harmless, once it became gas and was inhaled by someone it would immediately put them into complete paralysis, similar to a Full Body-Bind, but unlike the hex, this didn't have any counter-hex or antidote. On the other hand, it would wear of in an hour unless it was being inhaled for a rather long period of time.

But the teens didn't stop there. No, they extended their work in the Chamber of Rituals as well, working alongside Hermione, Luna, Chao and to everyone's surprise Chisame as well. Apparently the girl had found Arithmancy an Runes so similar to computer codes that it came natural to her. They were working on enchanted weapons and armour for the Order of the Twilight. Sure, Negi and his Mahora students had those, but the ones from Hogwarts did not. And, while Chamo was always ready to go on a Pactio spree, the threats from Asuna and Eva were enough to make his lose his enthusiasm. So the six were working on daggers and armguards for everyone, even the non-combatants; there was no such thing as being over-prepared.

After numerous tries, Chao and Evangeline had managed to add the time dilation effect of a Diorama Sphere to the duelling area in the Chamber of Secrets, thus allowing them to use wizarding spells in a place that held little chance of being damaged. It was there that the group learned advanced duelling, with spells up to seventh year or beyond, as well as numerous spells considered 'dark' by the Ministry, at Evangeline' insistence. They were originally opposed to it, but after finding what spells they were to learn, they quickly accepted. The only reason these spells were dark was because they were very powerful, but also required a large magical core in order to be able to perform them. And the Ministry of Magic, in their great wisdom, had reached the conclusion that only someone that had gone through a dark enhancement ritual would be able to use the. Well, the translation to that bullshit was that they were afraid some halfblood or even worse a muggleborn would be able to use them while the inbreeded purebloods could not. After all, it wouldn't do for a muggleborn to know something like a mass stunner while the Death Eaters could usually have to gang up on even one muggleborn anyway.

Yue, Nodoka, Konoka, Haruna, Hermione, Luna and Astoria were also spending a considerable amount of time in the Chamber of Needs. Somehow, they had managed to turn the map' ability to recognize anything magical and give information on it into a wizarding version of Yue' artifact. So it was rather easy to adapt the ability to add locations from the Portkey into a way of add information, such as downloading Yue' artifact into it. True, they had to do it manually and only in the Room of requirement, but it was worth the effort. Getting pertinent advice on what spell to use when cornered as well as how to use it could save them in unpleasant situations.

Another important part of using the Chambers was a certain ritual that suddenly explained how Godric Gryffindor had been so magically powerful, compared to the other founders: the core expansion ritual. Now that was something even Evangeline went through, despite her already enormous reserves. The ritual did not increase the size of one's core by a certain percent or to a certain size, but to the limit of the wizard' or mage' safety and stability. Sure, the initial version resulted in the death of user, but after Godric Gryffindor made his own version and lived, they were safe to assume that after both Chao and Negi had checked, double-checked and triple-checked the ritual, as well as running a few hundred simulations, it wouldn't harm them.

Unfortunately, not everyone was able to go through it. Neville and Harry were downright forbidden to do so. The reason? Neville was STILL using his father' wand, which meant that the ritual wouldn't be effective since a wand bonded to the user was one of the requirements for the ritual. As for Harry, his core unstable. Ever since Negi' birthday, he had to wear at least three containment rings, and now he had eight, so with his Twilight ring and Potter Head ring he had a ring on each finger. He was still the target of jewelry jokes from the twins even now.

According to Evangeline, Negi and Chao, the procedure required to 'fix' his core would draw way too much attention if done on Hogwarts grounds. So obviously, when he asked where they would do it and the answer was 'on Hogwarts grounds', he was quite a bit confused.

Flashback

"What do you mean we can't do it here, but we're doing it here?" Harry asked both confused and annoyed.

"Let me rephrase that." Negi chuckled. "We can't do it here while it could be tracked back to us. So we'll wait 'till the winter break, leave Hogwarts, then sneak back and do the procedure, erase as much evidence as possible, and then sneak out. We'll have to be wary of Dumbledore, we can't do it with him here. And we can't do it in the Chamber of Rituals either, since it would be detected and we certainly don't want that to happen. You may have control over most school wards, but Dumbledore has placed his own wards over the years. After all, that's how he found out who's core to put blocks on."

Flashback end

Indeed, the old codger had placed blocks on several students that were a little too gifted for his tastes. In fact, almost all of the Hogwarts students in the Order of the Twilight had around 30% of their core sealed of, as well their power output reduced by 45%. Needless to say, it took both Eva and Negi in their dark form to stop Daphne and the twins from killing Dumbledore for messing with their younger sisters. In fact, the only one different was Harry, and according to Chao his case was 'even more troublesome'.

And about Dumbledore…

Flashback

"Harry, my boy, I need to speak with you about something. Please come to my office around eight this evening." Dumbledore said in his grandfatherly voice as Harry and Hermione were passing the staff table after supper.

"Sorry professor, I'm afraid I have to study." Harry apologized with a fake smile while avoiding looking the old codger in the eye.

"Harry, this is something quite important." Dumbledore added.

"So are my studies, sir. This IS OWL year for me. It will influence my entire future." Harry said with a small smile. "If it's urgent, you can tell me right here."

"Well, I wanted to talk to you about you becoming the Head of the House of Potter." Dumbledore began with a slight discomfort.

"Oh? Is that so?" Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Yes. I believe you're too young for that kind of responsibilities and…" Dumbledore began.

"Yes, I tend to do a lot of things you would consider me too young for. Such as all of the physically and mentally exhausting chores my aunt and uncle had me do since I could walk." Harry said in a voice that sent chills to the spines of everyone at the staff table. "You remember them, don't you sir? They own that house on which doorstep you left me on in the middle of the night in NOVEMBER when I was one year old." he continued while everyone within hearing range within hearing range looked at a pale Dumbledore with shock and anger. "And even though you abandoned me there in those conditions and NEVER checked up on me, you were more then enthusiastic to become my magical guardian. Was it because of my bank accounts?" Harry asked while Dumbledore palled even more. "And let's not forget the things I'm too young for to do in school as well. Like finding and killing a monster such as a basilisk when you, as Headmaster, are able too use each and every painting in this castle to spy with. It IS part of the wards, after all." he added. "Let's not forget of all the Dementor attacks in my third year. There are wards around the school to keep them away. Why weren't they working at the time? And WHY exactly did you send the Slitherin and Hufflepuff houses to their dorm when that troll was in the dungeons on my first year, when their dorm ARE IN THE DUNGEONS?" Harry finished loudly, making every student from fifth year upwards glare at the old bastard.

"Mister Potter, don't you dare accuse the Headmaster…" McGonagall began a little upset.

"With all due respect that I'm suddenly lacking professor" Hermione began in an icy voice that shocked everyone "You lost all authority at the end of our first year when we TOLD you a known Death Eater" Snape stiffened "was attempting to steal the Philosopher's Stone for his master Voldemort…" cue gasps and shivers "and you told us off, like we were talking about a toddler stealing a cookie." Hermione said while looking straight in McGonagall' eyes, making the professor look away in shame for her mistake.

"Now, if that is all you wished to talk about, I have classes to study for." Harry said and turned to leave.

"Hold on a moment, Harry." Dumbledore stopped him and leaned forward slightly "I have arranged some private lessons for you with Severus to help with your scar." he finished in a hushed voice, so that only Harry, Hermione and McGonagall heard.

"I don't want them. He can't harm me because of my mother' sacrifice, remember?" Harry said rhetorically.

"Yes, quite possible" Dumbledore admitted "But HE may gain valuable information from your mind."

"And I should be concerned why?" Harry asked in a bored voice. On the inside, he was laughing maniacally. He had planned this discussion with two master manipulator, Evangeline and Chao. Whatever the old bastard tried, he was better prepared.

"Well, while it might not affect you, it could endanger the wizarding world." Dumbledore said with a frown. He did NOT like the way this conversation had started and he HATED the way it was going.

"Why should I give a damn about the wizarding world?" Harry asked loudly, his voice being heard in the now unusually silent Great Hall.

"But the people…" Dumbledore began with slight panic distinguishable in his voice.

"The people of the wizarding world consider me a nut." Harry said harshly. "They are mostly sheep that one second see me as a menace and next they expect me to save them." he continued in the same tone, making most of those who were listening look down in shame. "Why should I risk my life for such hypocrites?"

"Harry, if Lord Voldemort gains control of the wizarding world you will be in danger as well." Dumbledore said in a voice that one would use when talking with a rather slow child.

"No, I won't" Harry countered with a smirk.

"You won't?" Dumbledore asked in disbelief.

"No. because if he does gain control of the British Wizarding World I would simply move abroad. Being emancipated, that is now well within my power." Harry said with an evil smirk.

"I her that Beauxbatons is in southern France. It's quite warm over there this time of the year." Hermione added with a smirk of her own.

"What about your friends?" Dumbledore asked desperately while inwardly he wanted nothing more then to put the Imperius on the brat, preferably after the Cruciatus. "Would you abandon them?"
"Of course not." Harry said and Dumbledore almost sighed in relief before he added "With the amount of true friends I have, I could easily arrange to have them transfer with me." Now the old codger' blood froze. "After all, why would they refuse? With a level of bias in this country compared to the rest of the world, I'm surprised there are so many magical folk left in this country"

"But everyone else…" Dumbledore began.

"They have dug their own graves be allowing Voldemort and his Death Eaters to gain power in the first place. If I recall correctly, Voldemort started as the poor orphan Tomas Marvolo Riddle." Harry wrote the name in flames and then scrambled it to form 'I am Lord Voldemort' like the teenage Dark Lord from the diary had done three years ago. "Any power he gained was under your nose Headmaster. You were the one that brought his Hogwarts letter, after all." Harry finished with a knowing smirk.

"How do you know that?" Dumbledore asked hotly.

"Lets just say a little birdie told me." Harry chuckled. "At any rate, the citizens of the Wizarding World have allowed Voldemort to grow in power in the past, and apparently have taught their children to do the same. Why else would they put up with all the crap Malfoy and his cronies do?"

"Potter…" Snape began.

"But then again, with the Head of Slitherin being a Death Eater, I shouldn't be so surprised." Harry cut him off.

"Harry, like I told you last year, Severus is a former Death Eater. He helped the light side…" Dumbledore began defending his pawn.

"He helped do what?" Harry cut him off. "From what I know, despite his 'immense' help, the light side was loosing and loosing badly."

"We were up against superior numbers…" Dumbledore tried to say.

"And yet you allowed those numbers to grow even more superior as the war continued, while your own people were dieing." Harry said harshly. "In a war where one side uses mostly Unforgivables you don't use stunners. You must fight fire with fire."

"Alas Harry, when you have lived as long as I and have seen so much death you…" Dumbledore said in a sad version of his grandfatherly voice.

"Then you are not fit to lead the light side anymore." Harry said with finality, making Dumbledore snap his head towards him. "If you are not willing to kill the rapists and murderers that threaten they children in your care just because you consider those murderers deserve a second chance."

"Harry, everyone deserves a second chance." Dumbledore said.

"Every marked Death Eater has killed multiple times to gain his Mark." Harry said clearly. "I believe that they had lost that chance the moment that Mark was put on their skin. I dare you to say that someone that had tortured and killed a child in front of his parents before killing them all deserves a second chance." Harry said and gave the old man one last glare before leaving the Great Hall with Hermione on his heels.

Flashback end

After that little chat with the Headmaster, Harry had been flooded with pleading letter from various witches and wizards, begging him to not abandon them. Apparently, everyone with wizarding relatives had written home, telling about Harry' discussion with Dumbledore.

Immediately after his performance Eva had congratulated him and told him to look her up if he wanted lessons on world domination when he was younger. Apparently, she considered he had what it takes to be a dark lord. Harry honestly didn't know whether to be insulted or be grateful for one of her rare praises.

Now, as he headed for his dorm, he couldn't help but grin at the prospect of leaving Hogwarts the next day. He along with the Order of the Twilight were leaving Hogwarts and supposedly going home while he was going to Gringotts to find out the location of his family house. In truth, his entire Order had previously written home that they were staying in the castle before changing their minds at the last minute. That way, Fred, George and Ginny could avoid going home where Dumbledore could give them a visit. The whole Order was coming with Harry to set up one of their bases at his new house before going to Negi' to do the same. Also, everyone was curious about the identity of his third fiancée, so they were coming to Gringotts with him as well. They were also interested in meeting Nekane, Anya as well as the others Dean Konoe Konoemon was sending to help. For some reason, Harry just knew things were going to be even more hectic.

They had planned to talk with most of the parents of the Hogwarts Order members, to warn them about Dumbles and tell them about the blocks on their cores. Harry was eager to talk with both Amelia Bones and Augusta Longbttom, as they were respected members of the Wizengot that could help them greatly. He was less then eager, however, to talk to the parents of his fiancées.

But all plans were put in the back-seat when Harry woke up screaming his heart out in the middle of the night after having a vision of Arthur Weasley being attacked by Nagini.

As he was heading for Dumbledore' office along with McGonagall, he discretely sent a Patronus messenger when they turned a corner.

"Professor, Mister Potter here says he had a dream…" McGonagall began after they had entered the office.

"It was no dream and everyone in this room knows it, so please stop wasting time Mr. Weasley doesn't have!" Harry cut her off angrily before looking at Dumbledore. "Mr. Weasley has been bitten by a large snake. Apparently his invisibility cloak had fallen off when he fell asleep. He needs help and he needs it now."

"Is that so?" Dumbledore said quietly, not noticing Negi, Konoka and Setsuna entering the office. "I though you said you didn't care about what happens to everyone else." Dumbledore taunted with a little glee in his eyes, shocking McGonagall.

"I don't think he said anything you helping sir. Apparently you don't care either." Negi brought attention to himself.

"No, no, I'll send a message for someone to find and take Arthur to St. Mungo immediately." Dumbledore said quickly.

"There will be no need for a hospital, when one of the most powerful healers in the world is right here." Setsuna said coldly, motioning to Konoka.

"Yes, but Arthur isn't." Dumbledore countered.

"Yet." Negi said as he gently woke up Fawkes. "We need your help, old one. Arthur Weasley is gravely wounded and we need you to bring him here in order to save him." he spoke to the immortal bird. A few moments later the phoenix flamed away.

"How did you order my phoenix to do as you say?" Dumbledore asked harshly, as Fawkes had begun to disobey his orders in the past few years, like that stunt with the Chamber of Secrets.

"I didn't order him to do anything. I simply asked him to." Nagi said before narrowing his eyes at Dumbledore. "As for his being YOUR phoenix, you are sadly mistaken. He is merely your companion, not your pet or even familiar. As such, he can do as he pleases."

"At any rate, Harry you see now why I wanted you to have lessons with professor Snape." Dumbledore changed the subject.

"He is not trustworthy. I will NOT allow someone like him to mess with my mind." Harry replied.

"Harry, I trust Severus completely and…" Dumbledore began.

"And I don't trust you." Harry cut him off.

"Harry, what can this old man do to regain your trust?" Dumbledore asked pleadingly.

"Roll over and die." was what Harry was about to say, but luckily Fawkes chose that moment to reappear with a bleeding and unconscious Arthur.

Without a moment of hesitation Konoka approached her patient while summoning her artifact.

"He's poisoned. I need to take care of that first." Konoka said quietly as she waved one of her fans over the wound, vanishing some of the blood and making Arthur breathe a little easily. She then waved the other fan and a torrent of magic passed through the wound, healing it instantly. "He needs some time to rest and maybe a blood replenishing potion, though he didn't lose too much, I made sure of it." Konoka gave her verdict.

"I see." Dumbledore blinked. "Fawkes, please flash him to the Hospital Wing. I believe Poppy said she had a few things to take care of before going to sleep. I'll send her a message right now." he said as he sent a Patronus out the window. In a flash of fire, the bird and the redhead were gone.

"I think you should send him home once he gets that potion. Or Mrs. Weasley may be upset" Harry suggested.

"Agreed." Dumbledore said with a slight shudder. Molly Weasley upset… brrrr, what a frightening thought. "At any rate, I believe you should go to Headquarters tomorrow, Harry. You need to lay low for a while and Sirius will be happy to see you as well."

"Headquarters?" Negi asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Of the Order of the Phoenix." McGonagall supplied.

"And where may I find it? Harry and myself have some business at Gringotts that can't be delayed and I could pick him up." Negi asked.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that. Only a few besides the Order members know the location, and I cannot risk telling you." Dumbledore said apologetically.

"I see." Negi sighed. "Well, then I'll just have to meet up with Harry someplace else." he shrugged.

"Very well. Please return to bed, everyone, I'll have Arthur sent to the Burrow within the hour." Dumbledore dismissed them.

As Negi, Konoka and Setsuna said goodnight to McGonagall and Harry and headed for their tower, they met up with Nodoka who was holding her Diarum Ejus with a victorious smile.

"I have it." she said and opened the book, showing Dumbledore' thoughts throughout the conversation, mostly swearwords, and most importantly "Headquarters of my Order of the Phoenix is at nr 12 Grimauld Place, in London no less. I still can't believe how easy it was to convince that idiot Black to let me use it. The Noble and Ancient House of Black! The fool!"

"I think we should drop by and say hi to Harry tomorrow." Konoka smiled deviously.

"I couldn't agree more." Negi snickered.

But before they could enjoy their success any longer, Harry' stag Patronus arrived.

"Help… Seventh floor… boy' bathroom… darkness… can't control…" here the message ended and that was all they needed to hear. With a mere though they were transported by their Portkeys just outside the indicated bathroom. As Nodoka, Setsuna and Konoka rushed inside to find a struggling and collapsed Harry almost completely covered in darkness, Negi summoned Asuna and Eva using the pactio cards while telepathically telling Chao what happened and to bring more containment rings before coming as well.

All it took was a few moments of direct contact with Asuna for the darkness to disappear, but the damage had already been done, as Harry' scar was now pulsing with a black aura, magic cancel or not.

"It's gotten worse." Chao frowned as she changed the eight rings with pith black stones for eight new ones with white stones.

"This vision had ruined our timetable completely. We need to deal with this as soon as possible" Negi added.

"And when you say soon you mean now, right?" Eva added.

"Yes. Call everyone. We're going one day into the future to do the ritual." Negi decided. "I know it's dangerous to venture into the future, that's why I wanted to wait till the break, but with only one day it's acceptable."

"Yeah, I'm sure Dumbledore will try to mess with our plans tomorrow anyway, he won't be around." Asuna added.

"Of course he will; meddling is what he's best at." Eva scoffed.

At those words Harry stirred from his unconsciousness and his green eyes met Eva's own. Their emerald green eyes were almost identical, as Harry' pupils were slowly becoming slightly slit like Evangeline'. That made the Shinso vampire stare in shock for a few seconds before she gasped in shock. Then, to everyone' surprise, she channeled some lightning energy into her hand and electrocuted Harry, forcing him back to unconsciousness.

"What the hell was that for?" Asuna asked angrily.

"He's in a worse state then we feared." Eva said grimly. "I just delayed things a bit to buy us some more time. I'll gather everyone with my teleportation via shadow. We'll do the ritual in the Room of Requirement. We'll do the time jump there as well. Go." she ordered and the others used their Portkeys and disappeared. The vampire stood there in silence for a few seconds to gather her thoughts before she shook her head and sank in her shadow.

"No reason to think about it now. We'll find out at Gringotts." She said to herself.

A.N.: Another chapter has arrived. I honestly didn't want more fillers and decided to ship to the important stuff.

I hope you liked the chapter. If you did, please share your thoughts in a Review.