Chapter 406 - 406

A/N: Do you want to finish reading the book today? Do it! Now you can ;)

https://www.pаtreon.com/HPMan

May the magic be with you! Enjoy! :3

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After breakfast, I noticed that the horizon was beginning to lighten outside the window, which meant it was time to move on to the second stage of the experiment. I went down to the first floor and headed for the exit. I put on my coat and enchanted myself with the charms of concealment and so on, and apparated, not just anywhere, but to a dead end in the backyard of the Leaky Cauldron - why hadn't I thought of that before? The rules of decency are observed because I didn't apparate into the house. The law is observed, and the charms are not disturbed around the Diagon Alley — you can't apparate from there and there.

Quickly opening the passage, I slipped like an invisible shadow into the still empty alley, the stores and shops of which were still closed, and the rare magic lanterns flooded everything with a dim yellow light. Without wasting any time, I headed to Knockturn Alley. The goal is a few hot spots, the memory of which was preserved by Rowena after my personality disorder. It was in these places that I was looking for someone to experiment on.

While walking along the alleys, in which the light of day is a rare guest, I thought about a simple question. Why does there even exist such a place as Knockturn Alley? The answer comes by itself — control. If you pin down all these magical incompetents, homeless people, petty thieves, smugglers, and other rabble, then it will automatically go to the outside world because since they are here, they do not have the skills to make their own safe corner. They'll scatter everywhere, make a mess, threaten the Statute of Secrecy with their inability to conceal their magic, and so on. And here, in Knockturn Alley, allowing the rabble to live, the Ministry keeps it under control, and petty crime is petty enough not to be of interest. The big players, like Borgin and Burkes, probably live on kickbacks. Outspoken criminals are being eradicated. At least during that short time of my acquaintance with Knockturn Alley, the owners of several specifically black businesses changed here, and the businesses themselves didn't live long, once turning into ashes. This is one of those firms, new but still alive, that interests me.

After passing a couple of suspicious characters, I got to a basement in a ramshackle old stone building and lurked across the street. I waited till dawn, and it was only at first light that a slightly hunched, a massive wizard came out of the basement, from under the black hood of his cloak, an evil and cold look of a seasoned murderer looked at the world - I saw such. Not a maniac, but a murderer.

Without any wands or extra movement, I sent a few paralyzing ones at the wizard. He managed to fight off two of them instantly but missed the third, falling backwards. I added a few more to be sure, then put him to sleep and transfigured his body into a statuette, immediately using telekinesis and putting it in my pocket.

Within a few hours, I had a few more test subjects to experiment with, and after some successful target captures, I walked briskly out of Knockturn and then left the Diagon Alley, apparating back to Grimmauld.

Without explaining anything to anyone, I walked briskly down to the ritual hall with its smooth walls and floor. I sat on the floor there and began to think about the Horcruxes in more detail, using Rowena's resources in the process.

It turned out that to create a Horcrux properly, in the understanding of the author of the book, you need three things - a ritual scheme or its equivalent in the form of a spell, a means to shatter the stability of the soul and an object that will eventually become a Horcrux. The ritual scheme was shown in the book, and its complexity is not too great - something like the Soul Catcher. It collects and holds either the scattered fragments of the soul or some large part of it. In the case of fragments, the ritual mixes them up thoroughly and then places it in an object, locking it there in a special way. If a piece of the soul is whole, then the mixing stage is omitted.

The question is how to damage the soul? Not mine, no - I don't need it. Someone else's. A banal way comes to mind - use Crucio to the point of insanity.

«You think right,» in the words that sounded in my head from Rowena, you could literally feel the consonant nods. «I have been analyzing the methods of influencing the soul for several months, relying on your both magical and ordinary knowledge and theories.»

And what conclusions have you come to?

"There is a high probability that the soul has some infinitesimal particle in all understandings, which is a kind of core. This idea is suggested by theories about the structure of matter because ordinary science now and then discovers particles that make up larger ones. It is quite possible that sooner or later, some basic particle will be discovered. But that's not the only thing. The Horcruxes known to us didn't show real independence in actions, didn't evolve, and didn't develop. At least based on the available data. They, like a program, acted and influenced the world around them within the limits of the knowledge and worldview that they received at the time of creation."

Interesting. And if to remember the Old Man's words, when I just appeared before him, saying: «You have not passed purification» ... It turns out that this very purification before rebirth was supposed to...

«To remove everything superfluous from life and send only the very core to be reborn. That's how I see it.»

It turns out that if the world holds the particles belonging to the soul, the wizard can keep himself from leaving the world if he wants and wishes to live.

«I think so too.»

But in order to do that, the soul needs to retain the «superfluous» because it forms the personality, desires, mind, and so forth?

"Sounds logical."

And so we will test this in the simplest and most effective way possible....