Chapter 990: His Own Horcrux
Chapter 990: His Own Horcrux
"Keer, are you sure about this?"
On a street in London, Miller McGonagall looked at Kyle with worry, "I'm not against you treating Frank and Aili Xi. In fact, I also want them to wake up."
"But Keer, I must remind you that the Ministry of Magic has strictly forbidden any discussion related to Horcruxes. Once they find out, they might cause trouble for you."
"Don't worry, Headmistress," Kyle smiled and walked towards the window of a disguised department store, entering without hesitation.
Headmistress McGonagall hesitated, but Kyle had already gone in. In the end, she didn't say anything else and just quickened her pace to follow him.
The waiting room was filled with people, including Na Wei and Lady Longbodun at the front, with Professor Saxia among them.
Even Minister of Magic, Amiliya Bons, and the Head of the Auror Office, Jinkslai Shakuer, were present.
They all seemed to be waiting for Kyle.
"Keer, is it true?" Amiliya Bons took the lead and walked over, almost bumping into a witch with a golden Snitch stuck in her left nostril.
"I heard you found the counter-curse for the Cruciatus Curse."
Kyle didn't quite catch what Bons said.
His attention was now focused on the witch, and the Snitch fluttering at the corner of her mouth.
Catching a Snitch with her nose?
How did she manage that?
Kyle had always thought that Harry catching the Snitch with his mouth was already quite unusual.
It had to be said that St. Mungo's never failed to open his eyes to new things.
It wasn't until someone tapped him from behind that Kyle snapped back to reality.
"Minister Bons, I'm not sure if this is the counter-curse for the Cruciatus Curse," Headmistress McGonagall asked clearly, "To be honest, I only received this news last night and haven't had time to confirm it yet."
"Well, it's not exactly a counter-curse," Kyle immediately continued, "It just has a certain restraining effect on the Cruciatus Curse, repairing shattered souls."
"That's already quite remarkable," said Bons, but her tone still carried doubt.
Lady Longbodun stepped forward and once again expressed her gratitude to Kyle, and then everyone went upstairs together.
On the fifth floor, the Spell Damage Department.
The Longbottoms were in one of the rooms.
When the door opened, the couple also looked over.
Kyle had been here once before, but compared to that time, they now looked more haggard, their faces thin, eyes appearing especially large, their hair now white and disheveled.
It seemed that the number of people entering made them feel uneasy. Na Wei's mother shrank into the corner, looking timidly at Na Wei in the crowd.
She was holding something in her hand.
Kyle approached and saw that it was a wrapper from a Choco-Frogs Super Bubble Gum.
"As you can see," Lady Longbodun said wearily, "They've been like this all the time, mostly without any sense of reason."
"But there are moments of clarity," Na Wei suddenly spoke up, "Many times she can recognize me, but she just can't speak... I can feel it."
"She'll be able to recognize you from now on," Kyle patted his shoulder.
Na Wei's face visibly turned red, whether from nervousness or excitement, or perhaps both.
"Alright, unrelated personnel, please leave," Professor Saxia said sternly.
No one moved. Amiliya Bons and Jinkslai Shakuer stood there, showing no intention of leaving, and they wouldn't have left anyway.
Headmistress McGonagall didn't move either. Somehow, the original healer in the room was pushed out, and the accompanying Aurors also left, standing guard outside the door.
"Shall we begin now?" Jinkslai asked in a low voice.
"Yes," Kyle nodded, "Just in time to make it back for dinner."
He took out his wand, and everyone around him immediately held their breath, looking tense.
"Then, let's take a nap first," Kyle waved his wand, and the couple, who had been a little afraid, immediately closed their eyes and fainted on the bed.
A red light emerged from the tip of Kyle's wand.
"Soul Departure!"
The red light entered Frank Longbottom's forehead and then stopped moving.
Kyle also became still.
At this moment, the scene before his eyes had completely changed.
He seemed to have entered a huge, shattered space without any color or boundaries.
Or perhaps he was facing a dozen screens of various sizes, each playing different scenes.
This is the Soul Extraction Curse… those 'screens' he sees now are Frank Longbottom's soul.
Keer knew he was in Mr. Longbottom's consciousness, but at the same time, he hadn't left his own body.
It was incredible.
"Now, we just need to separate them..."
Keer tried to move his wand.
"Transformation!"
He whispered a spell, but his voice was so soft that even Minister Bones, standing next to him, only caught the last two words.
Then, Frank Longbottom suddenly twitched unconsciously, as if something was moving inside his body.
Minister Bones couldn't help but frown, but in the end, she held back and said nothing.
...
The process took a little longer than expected and was rather boring.
The two lay there, with Keer standing before them, neither speaking nor making any unnecessary movements, doing little more than moving his wand.
Fortunately, everyone in the room had the patience to endure, and not until noon did anyone show any signs of impatience.
Minister Bones and Kingsley had the patience, but only Professor Saxia wasn't bored; as a healer, she could clearly sense the changes in the Longbottom couple.
Each time Keer moved his wand, she would gently shift her gaze, her eyes growing brighter.
...
Outside, Neville stood in the corridor, gazing at the closed door, tightly clutching a crumpled candy wrapper in his hand.
He had been sent out as well, dismissed by Mrs. Longbottom as an irrelevant person.
He had been like this all morning, standing motionless by the wall with his head down, a mix of tension, fear, and anticipation... He couldn't calm down," Neville thought.
But not knowing what was happening inside the room, he could only fret and unconsciously fiddle with the candy wrapper in his hand.
"Click..."
After an unknown amount of time, the door opened.
Keer walked out, followed by Amelia Bones' voice.
"I dare say the entire wizarding world would go crazy if your method truly works... I can assure you of the First Class Order of Merlin," she said.
"I didn't do all this for a medal, Minister," Keer replied. "Plus, their bodies are too weak; it might take some time before they wake up, so let's talk about it later."
Neville first glanced into the room.
His parents lay on the bed, sleeping peacefully.
Neville's heart skipped a beat.
Keer had succeeded! Although they hadn't woken up yet, Neville keenly noticed the changes in them.
It was a calmness he had never seen before; sleeping had been a torture for them, and they would soon be awakened by nightmares.
But now, they seemed like... like Harry after a Quidditch training session.
Exhausted, they could fall asleep in bed and sleep until morning.
This description might not be entirely accurate, but the meaning was similar. Neville was sure that this time, his parents would not be awakened by nightmares.
However, just as Neville turned around with joy, wanting to thank Keer, the corridor in front of him was already empty.
While Neville was peering into the room, Keer had already left St. Mungo's and returned to Hogwarts.
Now, he was just in time for lunch.
After a busy morning, he was indeed a bit hungry.
...
With a soft whooshing sound, the two appeared at Hogsmeade Station.
"Aren't we waiting for the Headmistress?"
"No, she should be meeting with Minister Bones," Keer replied.
He tossed away the glass bottle in his hand and walked into the school gates with Conna, one after the other.
To be honest, even now, Conna hadn't fully recovered from the shock.
"They... are they okay now?"
"Yeah, what's up?"
"Nothing, it's just different from what I imagined."
"That's the observer's perspective; I'm exhausted," Keer said, rubbing his slightly trembling wrist.
After using over twenty Horcrux spells... his wrist felt like it was being pricked with needles, and he could barely hold his wand steady.
This time, even Keer and Conna's return was facilitated by Headmistress McGonagall, who helped create a door key instead of using Apparition.
The last time he felt this tired was when he encountered Voldemort on the Hestia Islands.
Keer couldn't help but rub his buzzing head; he hadn't expected Frank Longbottom's soul to be so fragmented.
No wonder Neville had only mentioned his mother being lucid and never his father... With his soul shattered into over a dozen pieces, it was a wonder he was conscious at all.
"But Minister Bones mentioned that she'd recommend you for the Merlin Knight First Class Medal," Conna whispered. "You'd probably be the youngest recipient of the highest honor."
"Oh, that..." Kyle casually replied, seemingly not taking the highest honor seriously.
"What do you mean?" Conna frowned, "If you can solve the three Unforgivable Curses, you definitely deserve the First Class Medal."
"On the condition that this method can be popularized, like the Wolfsbane Potion," Kyle explained. "But the truth is, I'd never teach this method to others."
"Because of the Horcruxes?"
"Exactly." Kyle nodded, "The essence of this curse is the Horcrux. If someone figures that out and makes slight modifications, they could easily master the art of creating Horcruxes."
"The wizarding world is never short of geniuses," Kyle glanced at the Hogwarts Castle, "I'm not arrogant enough to think no one can understand this spell; it's impossible."
Conna sighed softly, feeling a bit sorry for Kyle.
He could have received the Merlin Knight First Class Medal...
"It's nothing," Kyle seemed to read her thoughts and smiled, "That medal isn't even made of gold, and it's not that valuable. I've got something better."
"What is it?"
"Bragging rights," Kyle raised his eyebrows, "If I hadn't graduated yet, I might have gotten the Hogwarts Special Contribution Award... That one can only be displayed in the trophy room, but at least it's made of gold... I wonder if professors can receive it."
"Definitely not," Conna laughed, "Don't forget that the recipient of the Hogwarts Special Contribution Award also gets 200 points. If you got it, who would you give those points to?"
"Hufflepuff, of course."
"The other three Houses would never agree."
As they talked, they walked forward and soon arrived in front of the castle.
"Oh, right," Conna stopped at the entrance of the Great Hall, suddenly remembering something.
"You made a Horcrux for Mr. Lombard, didn't you? If it's been a long time, won't it be discovered?" She asked in a low voice.
"Also, what did you choose as the container for their souls? I was watching the whole time, and you never left."
"You finally asked about that," Kyle smirked. "They are their own containers, and I got the idea from Harry."
"Potter?"
"Yes, he's Voldemort's Horcrux," Kyle nodded and explained, "I was thinking, if a wizard can be another wizard's Horcrux, why can't they be their own?"
"So I tried to make Mr. Lombard his own Horcrux. If it didn't work, I'd break a few bones as I had planned before."
"But I succeeded!"
Conna furrowed her brows, slightly puzzled.
"But he's just one person, and you made over a dozen Horcruxes?"
"Separate them," Kyle said.
The space he had seen earlier, without any color boundaries, was Mr. Lombard's consciousness, or his soul.
Anyway, he didn't need to avoid risks. He just had to gather the fragments, put one in the 'head,' and then put one each in the 'hands' and 'legs.' It could all be managed somehow.
The advantage of doing this was obvious; since all the soul fragments were in one container, there would be no personality split like Voldemort's.
They would remain the same Lombard, with no changes.
But the downside... well, it couldn't really be called a downside.
The advantage of Horcruxes was that the soul fragments would continue with the container... In theory, if a stone could exist forever, so could the soul fragments attached to it.
However, if the container was a wizard, this advantage wouldn't apply.
But this also depended on the situation.
After all, Kyle just wanted Mr. and Mrs. Lombard to regain consciousness, not create two immortal wizards.
Initially, Kyle planned to insert the separated soul fragments into their bones, directly inside their bodies, making it invisible from the outside.
Later, after the Ministry officials left, he would remove those bones, either destroying them or asking Headmistress McGonagall for help in sealing them.
However, this method might cause some harm to the Lombards, but fortunately, this problem was perfectly solved.
...
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
Report
