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Chapter 978: Improving the Soul Artifact
Chapter 978: Improving the Soul Artifact
In the evening, Kyle, who had been left behind with a stunned Sirius, finally spoke up as he was about to leave the Black family's private library.
For the entire afternoon, Sirius had been wearing a conflicted expression, especially when Kyle was flipping through those Dark Arts books.
These books were the Black family's collection spanning centuries, and many of them were explicitly banned by the Ministry of Magic.
To be honest, just a glance at the cover of these books was enough to land one in Azkaban for a couple of days.
Sirius had never found the time to dispose of them, and now Kyle had taken them all.
Before stepping out of the room, Kyle had hesitated numerous times, considering whether to take the books back.
Sirius didn't doubt Kyle's ability to create a Horcrux; a few years ago, Kyle had made a similar request and taken the book "Advanced Dark Magic Unveiled" from this very library.
If Kyle couldn't make a Horcrux, that would be surprising, but what worried Sirius was the possibility of Kyle actually creating one.
Until now, Sirius had thought Kyle was joking about wanting to make a Horcrux, especially since Dumbledore was still alive when Kyle first came for "Advanced Dark Magic Unveiled."
But it seemed this was no joke.
For some unknown reason, every time Sirius tried to speak, the words wouldn't come out.
Perhaps... Kyle was just joking.
He tried to reassure himself.
"Hey, Kyle," Fred called out as he jumped down the stairs in the foyer.
"We've been looking for you. Where did you and Sirius go?"
"The Black family's private library," Kyle said, holding up the books in his arms.
"You're truly a professor at Hogwarts, still studying even during the holidays," George drawled. "Are you sure you're not Percy in Polyjuice Potion?"
"I don't think Percy would read these kinds of books," Kyle said, picking up the topmost book and waving it at them.
The title on the cover was written in an exaggerated, flowery script.
"Soul into Crucible"
The cover was old, but the dark red script hadn't faded a bit, and there wasn't a speck of dust. It seemed like something was constantly moving across each character, eerily drawing everyone's gaze.
George, who was closest, shivered involuntarily when he saw the book, feeling a sudden chill despite it being summer.
"What is this thing!"
"I guess it's a forbidden book," Harry said, appearing to have moved past his concerns about Snape as he descended the stairs with the others.
He seemed to have hurt his leg, limping as he walked.
"I've seen books like this in the Restricted Section of the school library," Harry said seriously. "Besides the ones with moving covers, there are also those bound in chains, looking dangerous at a glance.
"Some books even scream like Mandrakes when opened."
"But this isn't the Restricted Section of the library," Fred mumbled, looking up at Kyle.
"Ah, I'm trying to make a Horcrux, so I found some reference books."
"What?"
"You want to make a Horcrux?"
"You're going to make a Horcrux!"
Like Sirius, everyone in the room was shocked beyond belief when they heard Kyle's words.
But the difference was that after the initial shock, Harry's face showed panic and fear, while Fred and George were excited and thrilled.
"We'll help too!"
"When you start, please, please tell us!"
Like two shooting stars, the twins rushed to Kyle's side in the blink of an eye, even becoming unusually polite.
"This... we'll talk about it later," Kyle waved his hand vaguely. "Weren't you looking for me all afternoon? What's the rush?"
"It's nothing, it's not important," George said, still staring at Kyle without blinking.
"This isn't something good," Kyle unconsciously took a small step back.
"So what? We don't do good things anyway." The twins stepped forward, dragging Kyle out of the house.
It wasn't until the door opened and closed again that Harry finally snapped out of his shock, instinctively wanting to chase after them.
"Wait..." Sirius stopped him with an outstretched hand.
"Horcrux... Sirius..." Harry said anxiously. "Dumbledore said it's the most terrifying Dark Magic, we can't let Kyle..."
"Don't worry, Harry... don't worry, Kyle is different from Voldemort.
"Sirius spoke, his hand gripping his arm tightly."
Harry gradually calmed down as he listened to Sirius, and turned to look at him.
"Do you know anything?"
"Oh, I remember. You two have been together all this time."
"He never told me anything," Sirius shrugged, "In fact, since I took him to the basement, I've felt exactly the same as you did just now."
"Then why did you stop me just now..."
"Because of Fred and George," Sirius whispered, "If you remember what they said, you'd realize that they never doubted Kyle from the start, and never believed his purpose for creating Horcruxes was the same as Voldemort's."
Harry blinked, briefly recalling Fred and George's reaction from earlier.
Indeed, they weren't panicked but excited, as if they found the idea of creating Horcruxes intriguing rather than researching some terrifying Dark Magic.
"This reminds me of Lupin."
Sirius suddenly laughed, "Everyone has an innate fear and caution towards werewolves, but when we first saw Lupin in his werewolf form, none of us backed away."
"I didn't, nor did your father. Even your mother, after learning about this, didn't retreat. She even started self-studying Wolfsbane Potion the next day and complained that Lupin hadn't told her sooner."
Harry nodded, half-understanding, "Do you mean we should trust Kyle like Fred and George do?"
"Something like that," Sirius waved his hand and poured himself a glass of whiskey.
"What I truly mean is, we know Lupin, and we know that even as a werewolf, he wouldn't harm us.
Just as the Weasley brothers know Kyle, and they know he wouldn't be the next Voldemort."
"Of course, your understanding isn't wrong either," he sat in the chair, took a sip of whiskey, and muttered, "I should be ashamed of my suspicions."
Harry also felt a bit ashamed.
He couldn't help but think, if Kyle was replaced with Hermione or Ron, would he still be as nervous and scared as he was earlier?
Harry was surprised to find that the answer was no.
After going through so much together, he trusted Hermione and Ron almost as much as he trusted himself.
He believed Hermione wouldn't do such a thing, and Ron was incapable of creating Horcruxes.
After all, reading Forbidden Books required a knowledge foundation, and the requirements were even higher than regular books. For instance, the Potent Potion he secretly obtained from the school's Forbidden Book section was only understood by Hermione.
He and Ron couldn't handle the materials when they tried to follow the instructions.
And the Forbidden Book that recorded Horcruxes would definitely be even more profound.
Harry shook his head.
To be fair, although he understood the logic, he couldn't convince himself as quickly as Sirius did, especially after seeing the memories Dumbledore had shown him earlier.
He could only try to stop himself from thinking about it.
Sirius noticed his current state and took the initiative to speak, "I remember that snot-nosed Snape sent over a photo album. Have you looked at it yet?"
"Not yet," Harry snapped out of his thoughts and took out a well-preserved photo album from his pocket.
The album wasn't thick, probably about an inch, with a green cover that resembled the color of his eyes.
Oh! Harry frowned, wondering why he suddenly thought of this.
"You haven't looked at it?" Sirius was incredulous, "You should know that there might be photos of your mother inside."
"I... know," Harry's expression was odd.
Snape had sent over photos of his mother... it all felt a bit off.
"I'm worried he has some ulterior motive," Harry whispered, "Or he added some strange potion to the photo album. When I was in school, Snape mentioned more than once that he wanted to put Veritaserum in my pumpkin juice."
"Don't worry, Dumbledore wouldn't agree to that," Sirius snorted, "But I think you don't need to have such concerns anymore.
Although I don't like that snot-nosed git, I feel he's telling the truth, and there's no need to tamper with that photo album."
"Go ahead and open it, it's fine."
With Sirius' encouragement, Harry took a deep breath and carefully opened the photo album in his hand.
Nothing happened.
Harry saw a young witch, probably in her first year, with red hair blowing in the wind and a pair of beautiful green eyes.
"This is what your mother looked like when she was young," Sirius said, "But back then, she seemed to dislike James."
Harry Potter's mouth curled into an unconscious arc...
...
Meanwhile, after being dragged out of Grimmauld Place Number 12 by Fred and George, Kyle was taken back to the attic of his home in Hogsmeade.
This was one of their secret bases... dedicated to researching some less conventional little projects.
This was also where Kyle had been researching Horcruxes over the past few days.
"Just take us with you, Kyle..."
"We promise to keep it a secret..."
The attic door was pushed open, and Fred and George entered simultaneously from outside. As they turned their heads, they froze in place, stunned.
In the attic, there was another person who looked exactly like them.
He was missing an ear, looking identical to Fred, but also possessing some subtle features of George, as if they were a combination of the two.
But this person was dead, lying motionless on the ground.
"What a joke!"
As the two stood there in a daze, Kyle's voice came from behind them.
The "Fred" on the ground, or perhaps "George," instantly swelled up and transformed into a goblin wearing a wig.
"Bogart, I found it in the attic cabinet," Kyle said as he walked in and used his wand to put the Bogart into a bottle, shaking it.
The goblin then transformed into something indescribable, like a memory with an ugly color.
"What did we just see?"
"Of course, it's what you fear the most," Kyle said. "You're both afraid of seeing each other killed."
"Is that so?" George pursed his lips. "But I didn't feel very scared just now."
"That's right," Fred nodded. "I was more surprised."
"That's because you both looked up at the same time," Kyle explained. "The Bogart didn't know which one to focus on, so it combined your fears."
"So you both saw your own features in it, and your original fear turned into surprise."
"Alright, you're right," George nodded, pretending to agree.
Kyle ignored him and continued to stare at the Bogart in the bottle.
The two of them moved closer.
"Kyle, just take us with you to make Horcruxes. We promise not to talk about it."
"Yes, we swear on Cedric's character."
"His character was used up long ago!" Kyle said without turning back.
Horcruxes were indeed Dark Magic, but they were also a form of alchemy... well, unacknowledged alchemy.
After all, a long time ago, Nicolas Flamel had removed Horcruxes from alchemy, and no one had objected to it since.
However, this didn't change the fact that it was essentially alchemy, so it wasn't surprising that Fred and George were interested.
"It's not that I won't take you with me, and I'm not afraid you'll talk about it," Kyle turned around. "But I've been researching Horcruxes since my second year, and although it's been on and off, I've never stopped. Are you sure you want to learn?"
Fred and George fell silent.
"Are Horcruxes... that complicated?" Fred muttered.
"What do you think?" Kyle said impatiently. "Do you think this is like cutting a cake and casually putting it into another plate?"
"I..." George wanted to say something but couldn't find the words.
Because that's exactly what they had thought, although not as simple and crude, they had never imagined it would take that long.
"But I heard you say that Voldemort learned it very quickly when he was young."
"It's different," Kyle said. "His goal was his own soul, so he just had to follow the correct steps, which is why it was so fast. But I've made a small improvement to Horcruxes."
"What improvement?"
Kyle didn't explain but directly opened the bottle in his hand.
The Bogart crawled out, looked at Kyle, and then naturally transformed into the image of a Dementor.
"Avada Kedavra!" A blue light shot out from Kyle's wand.
Fred and George rubbed their eyes simultaneously, thinking they were seeing things.
Wait... Avada Kedavra, in blue?
Did they mishear the spell? But there was more to surprise them.
The 'Dementor' transformed into two after being hit by the Killing Curse, not splitting from the middle but becoming two smaller yet identical 'Dementors.'
Kyle tried to move one of them, but as soon as he moved his wand, the Dementor exploded, and both of them exploded, turning back into Bogarts like deflated balloons.
"As you saw, I'm preparing to help others make Horcruxes," Kyle said.
...
(End of Chapter)
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