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, and any other series belong to their respective authors.
Italics text = character thinking to themselves.
Underline+Italics = character communicating with telepathy
Bold text = shouting
Bold+Italcs = Casting Spell/Ability
Chapter Thirty-seven
The Lifemaker and the Master of Death
The first thing that the group did after leaving Gringotts was go into Eva' miniature mansion and decide on a new course of action.
"Well, with the amount of properties we have to choose from a proper Headquarters is no longer an issue." Harry began after they had all read each others list of properties.
"I suggest we use one of Harry' more secret properties." Eva said after a moment of silence. "I would normally say we go to Peverel Island, since it's the farthest from Britain and the old fool' grasp, but we don't really know anything about it other then the fact that it's in the Bermuda Triangle." she paused. "Plus, Dumbledore may know about it, since he knows you own the Cloak, thus being of Peverel blood."
"Yes, I thought so as well." Harry nodded. "So we'll be going to the Founder's Island. As far as Dumbledore knows, Neville was the one who claimed the title of Lord Hufflepuff. He knows this because the Hufflepuff seat in the Wizengot has become active. However, the Hogwarts seat is still inactive and will remain this way until I enter one of the Wizengot meeting chambers and claim the chair." he explained.
"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Hermione jumped to her feet in excitement.
"Well, I though you might be interested in Slytherin' Library as well…" Harry replied offhandedly with a small smirk.
"Yes, we need to get that Horcrux as soon as possible." Negi nodded. "It's by far the most valuable of them all. If Riddle gets word of the condition of the Lestrange vault, he will most certainly check on it and increase the protections, or even move it."
"Plus, I believe we will find out more information about this whole Hallows business if we have all of them." Harry agreed.
"If you have all of them." Eva corrected. "They belong to you by blood and two of them by magic."
"What do you mean?" Harry inquired. "I understand the Wand, but how does the Cloak belong to me by magic?"
"Family magic, Harry. It has been in your family for so long that it has absorbed a great deal of magic from them. Your magical signature, no mater what you do and how you change, will still reveal your heritage." Hermione explained.
"I see. Well, we need to visit the old Gaunt shack to get the Stone." Harry said as he got up.
"According to what you know about it, the ring the Stone is socketed on has an incredibly powerful compulsion charm on it, as well as a powerful flesh-rotting curse." Asuna began as she got up. "I'll handle carrying it until we remove those spells."
"I'll come as well. After we're done I want to set up a little trap for Tommy boy." Eva smirked.
"The three of us will be more then enough to handle it." Harry said. "We'll portkey back when we're done or if we run into trouble." he added.
With that they were taken by Eva through the shadow portal just outside the door of the shack.
"Harry, is that a dead snake nailed on the front door?" Asuna asked in disgust.
"Yep, looks like nothing has changed." Harry nodded.
"It must have as preservation charm placed on it." Eva added, as the snake looked as if it dies less then a day before.
"Yeah. It's sort of like a doorman." Harry shrugged before going to the snake and hissing "Open!"
The dead snake silently nodded and the door opened wide. As they entered Harry waved the Elder Wand, vanishing the poisoned dust that had been poured on the floor and the poisoned gas that was kept in invisible bubbles that waited to pop in order to claim their victim.
"Where is it?" Eva asked as she looked around in disgust.
Without a word Harry vanished a good portion of the wooden floor before them revealing a small box made of onix in the jaws of a large sleeping snake that appeared to be made of silver.
"It is time for you wake, my silver friend." Harry hissed, causing the snake' eyes to snap open and lock onto him.
"Who are you? You are not my master." the snake hissed dangerously.
"I have been tasked by him to retrieve one of his most precious possessions. How else would I be able to speak to you? He gave me this power." Harry half lied. True, he got the ability to talk to snakes from Voldemort, but it was not willing, nor did Voldemort task him with anything. But using Oclumency to project fake images of their supposed encounter was enough for the snake that had been looking him in the eyes.
"Very well." the snake hissed he placed the box at Harry' feet. "Did my master give me any other orders?"
"Yes. You are to remain here. The reason that he wanted me to retrieve this is that someone else has found out his secret." Harry said with an evil mental laugh. "Whoever disturbs your sleep after we leave is to considered an enemy. They may try to fake their appearances and scent to match our master, but now you know that they will be imposters. The master has reasons to believe that they may even enchant a large snake to follow then around in order to look more credible. Kill the snake first to teach it a lesson for being weak and then the one with it." Harry instructed.
With that the snake returned to its previous position and Harry replaced the wooden floor and the spells that had been on it.
"Now let me." Eva smirked and she began drawing runes in the air using some dark mist as ink. When she was done they all left the shack before she activated the runes, causing the mist to enter the walls and ceiling, leaving no trace.
"What will that do?" Harry inquired.
"It's and unblockable bone-crushing curse. It's set to take out his arms and legs." Eva smirked. "What did you tell the snake anyway?"
"To attack the next person that disturbs it, and more importantly kill any snake that person has with them." Harry returned the smirk.
With that they returned to the rest of the group, where Asuna placed the onix box into a special bubble designed by Chao that allowed magic to be cast from the outside to the inside, and blocked all magic from the inside to the outside.
"Well, her we go." Harry whispered as he waved the Elder Wand, opening the box to reveal the crude gold ring with the Resurrection Stone on it.
Another wave of the wand revealed the compulsion charm in a yellow glow and the flesh-rotting curse in a red glow.
"Nothing has been added since he first placed it at the Gaunt shack." Harry whispered in relief before removing the curse and then the compulsion charm. It was a rather ingenuous piece of magic. You couldn't remove the charm while the curse was on it, and it would be almost impossible to focus hard enough to remove the curse with the compulsion charm affecting you. If it weren't for Chao' idea, he might not had risked it and simply used some basilisk venom to be done with it.
After several other diagnostic charms, some even in parceltongue, Harry deemed it safe and took the stone in his hand. That's when it happened.
The Stone of Resurrection in his left hand, the Elder Wand in his right hand and the Cloak of True Invisibility in his pocket began to pulse while emanating both blood red and Avada Kedavra green light. They then lost their solid form and left his grasp, merging into dark shape before him.
At the same time the Grand Master Staff hidden inside of him left his body before floating next to the dark shape. A slightly larger ghostly version of the Staff emerged from it and then stood between the dark shape and Harry.
After that, the dark shape lunged at Harry, passed through the ghostly Staff and entered Harry' body, lighting him up like a Christmas tree with a rainbow of colors, before finally settling on alternating between dark red and green. It lasted a minute and Harry stood completely still, his eyes closed and his face showing no emotion. Everyone was being kept away from him by some sort of barrier that seemed immune even to Asuna' Magic Cancel. When it ended the glow retreated to Harry' right forearm, taking the shape of the mark of the Deathly Hallow before the light faded into a birthmark in the shape of the mark.
Harry let go of the breath he seemed to have been holding before snapping his eyes open and grasping the ghostly Staff before him. When his left hand made contact the Staff it took a solid form as it emanated a dark aura of power while Harry' right eyes glowed as well, the left one with red and the right one green. After that both Staffs shattered into black feathers and entered Harry' chest, his eyes now back to normal.
It took a few seconds for everyone to snap out of their staring and rush to Harry' side, checking if he's alright.
"I'm fine." Harry assured them. "I just need to lie down a bit, my head is killing me."
"So you interfaced with the Hallows?" Chao inquired after Harry had lied down on a sofa, his head on her lap.
"Yes, I did." Harry said while showing them the birthmark. "All three of them are stored in here. I can call them out at will." he told them as he summoned and dismissed the Elder Wand.
"What else happened? What was that new Staff?" Hermione asked a little worried.
"That's called the Great Grand Master Staff of the Master of Death." Harry closed his eyes. "It took a lot of my magic to make, of that I assure you. I can also make Grand Master Staffs and Master Staffs, but I don't have that much energy left at the moment, so I'll do that some other time if needed."
"What have you learned of its powers?" Eva inquired.
"It's pretty much like the Great Grand Master Staff of the Lifemaker. It can rewrite whatever was created using its power; it perfects the user's control over his magic, etc." Harry told them.
"So it can't affect any of us." Negi concluded.
"No, it can affect Evangeline. You see, the staff holds power over life and death. And since vampirism is a form of undeath…" Harry trailed off.
"I see." Eva sighed in annoyance.
"Did I mention that it might modify your body to your preferred age after I adjust your soul with your sister' spells to that age?" Harry smitked.
"Well, that's an interesting bit of trivia." Eva returned the smirk.
"That's enough talking for now, you need to rest and recover your energy." Konoka decided.
"Hold on, what happed with the Horcrux?" Luna asked worried.
"Don't tell me that you got another soul fragment inside you!" Hermione added with horror.
"Nah, the Stone wasn't a Horcrux. It was the gold ring." Harry shook his head as he pointed out the ring on the floor. "Most likely the Stone rejected the soul fragment and it attached to the ring in order to survive."
"I'll put it next to the others in another kregora box, to make sure it's isolated." Asuna said as she picked up the ring.
They had decided that it was safer to place the Horcruxes separate from one another, since they didn't really know how they would react together. So magically-resistant containers it was.
"We don't have time to waste sleeping." Harry protested. "Let me use the resort for two hours and I'll be fine." he added at Konoka' glare.
"Fine." the healer puffed her cheeks.
And so Harry 'slept' for nearly 48 hours straight before joining the others. In reality, he had spent the entire time in his mindscape modifying it and redesigning his Oclumency shields and defenses.
His mindscape now looked like outer space. One could see stars all around. With some effort they would reach the Solar System. If they were to search for his memories on planet Earth, they would be mistaken. They would be closer to what they seek, yes, but not nearly there. They would have to choose one of the twelve Portgates to Mundus Magicus, and only one would lead them to the desired dimension, the one at Mahora. The others would send them to various versions of hell where any invader would be forced to exit his mind or suffer a terrible mental torture.
If they chose correctly, they would end up in Ostia, where they would be attacked by various demons and monsters. Harry could walk passed them without any worry, but anyone that was invading his mind would be attacked. If they escaped they would have to leave the Mars of this dimension. Not for earth, but for the Sun. Yes, Harry had hidden his memories inside the Sun. sure, he could pass easily, but others would need to survive the flames before moving further.
If one passed the flames they would find themselves before a humongous spherical structure made of adamantium. If once were to pass that impenetrable defense they would be forced to enter a labyrinth the size of the Earth in order to reach the memories hidden in the center. Of course various deadly monsters and traps were within the labyrinth, the Triwizard Labyrinth looking lame in comparison. At the core one would have to pass through and relieve several of Harry' worst memories, such as having their soul attacked by a thousand Inferi, a hundred Acromantula, by a hundred Dementors and then by a Slytherin' Basilisk, getting Imperioused to leave his mind, being tortured under the Cruciatus, and finally getting hit by the Avada Kedavra. If they weren't brain-dead by this point, whoever made it here deserved to see his memories!
His memories were stored in an extremely large version of the Hall of Prophecies in small unbreakable diamond spheres.
After finishing up his defenses, Harry had reviewed everything he had learned from Voldemorts' memories, Anastasia McDowell' replica of the Claire Bible and from interfacing with his new Staff and the Deathly Hallows. And he reached a rather disturbing conclusion: he was becoming a lot like Voldemort since absorbing his memories!
Apparently that was the reason it's a bad idea to see someone's entire life from that person's perspective. Also, the darkness within him was beginning to get out of his control again, that was why the creation of the Staff had taken so much of his energy, as well as why it emanated that dark aura. Finishing his review, Harry had immediately brought out the Elder Wand and cast the most efficient self-purifying spell that Anastasia had left him and felt a lot better, as if a weight had been lifted from his soul – and it had. Most of his excess darkness magic had been converted in the new power his core had recently gained, life and death magic, thus giving him far more control ever his new abilities.
When he exited the Resort he told the others what had happened and he immediately taught Negi the spell in case he ever again loses control of his darkness.
After that he was approached by Asuna who gave him a more detailed version of what he knew about Mundus Magicus and the Lifemaker. To say that he was surprised would be and understatement.
"He was able to split himself in several bodies!" Harry exclaimed when he heard of the Auveruncus series.
"Yes, but those copies were not exactly mentally stable. They live for a purpose and one purpose only, nothing more then puppets to be brought out when needed." Asuna explained.
"It's kind of disturbing." Harry frowned. "The way both the Lifemaker and Voldemort decided to leave pieces of them as insurance."
"Yes. But it's safe to say that they never met, and probably never even heard of each other." Asuna shrugged.
"Still, from what you told me of the powers of the Lifemaker, many of them are available to me as well." Harry said thoughtfully.
"Well, we can think about this some other time. Right now, we need to head for the Chamber of Secrets." Asuna reminded him.
"First I need to make a quick trip to the Hufflepuff vault at Gringotts. There is something there we will need." Harry replied.
"We were there earlier, why didn't you take it then?" Asuna asked a little annoyed.
"I didn't realize what it was until I reviewed Voldemort' memories." Harry said apologetically. "Besides, you all read my list of holdings and didn't notice either."
"Fine. What do you need to take?" Asuna gave up.
"The Cauldron of Plenty, a cauldron that multiplies by 100 the quantity of potion made in it, as well as any potion or magical substance poured in it and left there for an hour." Harry smirked.
A.N.: Some action in this chapter but not too much. Suffice to say, the new Staff will have many uses, but it won't make Harry a god, since he can't control the world with it as much as the Lifemaker did with Mundus Magicus.
I'm nearly at the good stuff, since after they got to the Founder' Island there will be a timeskip. For the Order of the Twilight, anyway….
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