Chapter 119 ⭃ Thoughts on Horcruxes

Augusta Longbottom and Neville stood waiting deliberately.

Minutes earlier, Neville had misinterpreted Kyle's instructions. Rather than finding a Healer, he had rushed downstairs, shouting about a werewolf and trying to summon help to the second floor.

Despite hearing the commotion upstairs, no one believed him. After all, werewolves don't appear during daylight — this was basic knowledge in the wizarding world.

Furthermore, at St. Mungo's, a hospital filled with skilled healers and mentally troubled patients alike, such claims weren't unusual. Just twenty minutes prior, someone had insisted there was a dragon on the upper floor.

A werewolf? Hardly worth the concern.

The Healers, too, dismissed the round-faced boy's warnings. They only arrived on the second floor because of another witness entirely.

The curly-haired trainee Healer who had guided Kyle earlier had been in the werewolf ward during the transformation. He'd escaped with remarkable luck — the newly transformed and disoriented werewolf had merely thrown him against the wall rather than biting him.

After extracting himself, he'd immediately alerted his colleagues through St. Mungo's special communication system about the werewolf situation.

This explained the earlier commotion.

Upon learning what had transpired, Augusta had quickly located Neville. After hearing her grandson's account, she'd immediately wished to express their gratitude to Kyle.

They arrived too late, however. When they found Kyle, he had already departed for the sixth floor with the Head Healer and Dumbledore.

Augusta chose to wait with Neville in the staircase corner until they returned.

Later, she led Kyle to a ward on the fifth floor. There lay Neville's parents in their beds, their vacant eyes fixed upon their son's "savior".

"You saved Neville, and they want to express their gratitude too." Augusta turned to look at the beds, her voice trembling slightly, "Frank, Alice, the boy is here."

But their eyes remained vacant, as though they hadn't heard her words at all.

"Don't mind them, child." Augusta explained, "I know they very much want to thank you personally — they just can't express it."

While Augusta was speaking, Neville stood beside her, head down, studying his toes intently.

His grandmother's anger flared at this posture.

"Head up, Neville!" She commanded sternly, "You shouldn't feel ashamed of what happened to your parents — you should be proud!"

"I'm not..." Neville protested, his voice quiet but firm.

Augusta turned to Kyle, standing straight and proud, "They were tortured into insanity by Death Eaters using the Cruciatus Curse. Those curs wanted to force them to reveal their master's whereabouts, but they picked the wrong target — the Longbottom family never yields to Dark wizards!"

"Admirable..." Kyle said with deep respect.

"As are you, child." Augusta said, "To defeat a werewolf at such a young age — not many people could do that. I hope Neville will show such courage too, and become an Auror after graduation to restore the Longbottom family's glory..."

She turned her gaze to her grandson, suddenly frowning.

"Stand straight, Neville, I've told you many times, stand straight!"

After leaving the ward, Kyle could still clearly hear Augusta scolding the poor boy.

He looked at Pegasus beside him and asked, "Can't the damage from the Cruciatus Curse be healed?"

"It's difficult. Any problems involving the soul are hard to cure, whether they're from werewolves or the Cruciatus Curse." Pegasus said after a moment's thought, "The Cruciatus Curse doesn't just cause physical damage — it tears at the soul. A wizard's body is very fragile — like trying to piece together a shattered mirror on a taut balloon. One wrong move and the balloon will burst. For now, we can only roughly reconstruct the mirror's outline while keeping the balloon intact, as we wait for more effective treatments."

"Like the Wolfsbane Potion?" Kyle pondered.

"Exactly." Pegasus smiled, "We're waiting for a 'Wolfsbane Potion' that can cure the Cruciatus Curse's effects, and we're constantly working toward that goal."

Kyle fell silent and walked on, his mind churning.

The mention of shattered souls made him think of Horcruxes — those most evil Dark magical objects invented by the despicable Herpo the Foul.

Kyle knew that to create a Horcrux, one first had to split their soul through murder before containing it within the object.

But what if the soul was already split? Wouldn't that step be unnecessary?

Take the Longbottoms — their souls were shattered by the Cruciatus Curse. Wouldn't that satisfy the requirements for creating a Horcrux?

Kyle's thoughts deepened. If they couldn't piece the mirror back together on the balloon, why not simply remove the pieces?

A Horcrux was unique — like an extra body, or rather a bridge, connecting soul fragments. More intriguingly, once this bridge formed, each soul fragment would become relatively complete. This explained why Voldemort hadn't gone mad even after six of his Horcruxes were destroyed. This very property enabled immortality.

If that was the case, couldn't the Longbottoms' shattered souls be made into Horcruxes too? Once properly divided, wouldn't that resolve the problem of the fragments?

Of course, this was merely Kyle's theory. The problem was that he hadn't read any books about Horcruxes, and his understanding was limited to his memories — he had no idea if this would actually work.

He instinctively glanced at Dumbledore nearby. The headmaster noticed and gave him a puzzled look.

Kyle hurriedly looked away.

Ask Dumbledore? Better not. He was certain that merely mentioning the word "Horcrux" would result in him being blasted into the wall by the Elder Wand — and explaining his survival would be rather awkward.

With direct questions out of the question, he'd need to research independently. His plan was to investigate the Restricted Section once school resumed. If that proved fruitless, it wasn't a major setback — the diary would be available next year.

As for the diadem in the Room of Requirement... well, Kyle preferred to stay far away from that particular artifact. It was far too dangerous and offered him no benefit.

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