Sebastian did not directly answer Neville's question, but instead smiled and asked,
"Neville, even though your parents' souls are fragmented, do they still show you acts of love?"
Acts of love?
Neville's eyes lit up, and he blurted out, "Yes, Mom always gives me Super Bubble Gum wrappers as gifts."
"That's right," Sebastian nodded, "That's the love for you etched deep within their souls."
"You need to use a Patronus Charm to convey an extremely strong emotional response to their love, activating the instincts of all soul fragments, allowing them to spontaneously gather together."
"Just like this."
As he spoke, he waved his wand again, and the fragments of the puppet on the ground slowly gathered together, forming a cracked puppet.
"Then, use your Patronus Charm to nourish their souls, permanently repairing them."
Under Sebastian's control, the cracks on the puppet slowly disappeared, gradually becoming smooth and even.
Neville had an epiphany, completely understanding the process of healing his parents.
He looked into Sebastian's eyes, revealing a strong desire to learn.
"Of course, those are still a bit far off for you," Sebastian patted Neville's shoulder.
"The first step you need to take now is to learn how to use a Patronus Charm to heal the most basic soul cracks."
"To accelerate your learning progress, let's go straight to practical application."
Practical application?!
Then he would need to find someone with a soul injury first.
But where could he find such a person to practice on now?
Neville gritted his teeth, stood up, and patted his chest, saying,
"Professor, you can tear my soul, and then let me practice with my own soul."
"I'm not afraid of pain!"
What an astonishing thought process!
You're not afraid of pain, but I'm afraid of something going wrong.
If others found out I tore a student's soul, would I still keep my Professor position?
How did this young man even think of using himself for an experiment?
Headache!
To prevent Neville from continuing to say things that would make his heart stop, Sebastian quickly interjected,
"Don't worry, I've already prepared the practice subject."
Saying that, he opened a special black box in the corner of his office, took out a specially made pet cage, and placed it in front of Neville: "We'll use this mouse for practice."
Neville looked at the mouse in the cage, and the more he looked, the more familiar it seemed.
This looks like…
Scabbers?
"Professor," Neville asked, full of doubt, "Isn't this Ron's Scabbers?"
"I remember you bought it for research, is it appropriate for me to use it for an experiment?"
"Will it affect your research?"
"Don't worry," Sebastian smiled gently, speaking casually, "I only use its blood for research at most."
"And your experiment uses its soul; we not only don't interfere with each other, but we also make the best use of everything."
Before Neville could react, the mouse in the cage was already frantically jumping up and down.
Scabbers was terribly panicked.
Soul experiment?
Is this kind of experiment something you can just do casually?!
And letting such an unreliable young Wizard do it, this is going to be the death of me!
He clearly remembered how clumsy this little fellow named Neville was.
Damn it, a mouse's life is also a life.
Let me go, I want to go back to Ron!
"Professor," Neville said, feeling a little sorry, "Scabbers seems to have understood us, it's scared."
Hehe —
There's a Wizard's soul inside this mouse, of course it's scared.
"Simple," Sebastian opened the mouse cage, then waved his wand and shot a spell, hitting Scabbers, who was frantically trying to escape.
"Obliviate!"
In an instant, Scabbers forgot everything it had just heard.
It lay dazed on the floor, unable to figure out how it had escaped from the mouse cage.
Before it could even observe its surroundings, the light of Stupefy hit its body.
"See, it's not scared now, is it?" Sebastian said to Neville with a smile.
"Of course, that's still not safe enough; the pain of a torn soul is extremely intense, and Scabbers will definitely wake up again."
"In the spirit of humanitarianism, we can let it sleep more soundly."
Sebastian controlled the mouse to fly in front of them, then took out a bottle of Draught of Living Death and poured it into the mouse's mouth.
"Alright, no matter how much we mess with this mouse, it won't wake up."
Watching Sebastian's skillful movements, Neville was dumbfounded.
So it could be done this way, what an eye-opener.
He couldn't help but swallow, his mind racing.
Professor Swan was good in every way, but sometimes he seemed quite scary.
This set of techniques, no matter how you looked at it, seemed a bit like a Dark Wizard from stories.
"Neville, next I need to use Crucio to tear a crack in the mouse's soul; if you can't bear it, you can turn away first."
Crucio?
The Death Eaters used this spell to torture his parents.
Neville's heart trembled, and he quickly turned his head, covering his ears with both hands.
"Crucio!"
In an instant, the unconscious Scabbers let out a piercing squeal.
The sound was extremely penetrating, passing through Neville's hands and drilling into his ears.
His brows furrowed in pain.
When the Death Eaters tortured his parents, did they scream like this too?
Just as Neville was about to give up, Sebastian patted his shoulder.
"The teaching aid is ready for you; let's begin today's practice."
Looking at Scabbers, who was still faintly twitching in its unconscious state, Neville felt a pang of pity.
If Ron saw this, he didn't know how heartbroken he would be, or if he would regret selling Scabbers to the Professor.
However, thinking of his parents lying in St. Mungo's, he forced himself to harden his heart.
He gently shook his head, clearing all distracting thoughts from his mind, and with a determined gaze, raised his wand: "Expecto Patronum!"
"Very good, control your Patronus Charm to enter the mouse's body and feel the crack in its soul."
Neville quickly controlled his Patronus Charm, carefully wrapping the mouse, and the Patronus Charm's light gradually converged, fully entering the mouse's body.
Through the lingering Dark Arts aura, he easily found the crack in the other party's soul.
Under his control, the Patronus Charm began to clear the Dark Arts aura from the crack little by little.
However, those auras were extremely stubborn; no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't clear them from the soul crack.
Watching Neville's furrowed brows, Sebastian spoke to remind him.
"Your will to protect is not strong enough; such a Patronus Charm cannot heal soul injuries. Withdraw this Patronus Charm, mobilize your emotions and will, and try again."
Under Sebastian's patient guidance, Neville seemed tireless, correcting his shortcomings again and again.
For an entire day, he worked hard to train his Patronus Charm, wrestling with the wound on the mouse's soul, and even his lunch was just a hastily eaten piece of bread.
It wasn't until dusk that he ended today's practice under Sebastian's instruction.
Neville, panting, put away his wand, thanked Sebastian, pushed open the door, and left the office.
On the way back to the Gryffindor common room, he couldn't help but think to himself.
For the sake of his friendship with Ron, it's better not to tell him about Scabbers.
...
...