The only way to split a soul was through "murder"… only then could the severed soul fragment enter a Horcrux.
Astoria knew this all too well.
The two of them sat waiting inside the room, but Astoria insisted on keeping a certain distance from Jon.
They waited in silence as time passed, second by second. It was almost time…
If they had been outside, dawn might already have been breaking.
The emerald-green liquid coating Astoria's body had faded noticeably.
It was time.
...
Jon raised his wand and pointed it at his suitcase.
He cast a Hover Charm, lifting the suitcase slowly into the air.
At the same time, the Room of Requirement began to expand at a visible rate… until it opened into a vast, empty space.
Then, a massive shape was forced out of Jon's suitcase, as if squeezed from a tube of paste, before crashing heavily onto the floor.
A Giant… more precisely, a female Giant.
She was at least twenty feet tall, her grotesque features immediately striking. Her eyes, however, were tightly shut, her body completely unconscious, and her limbs were firmly bound with thick ropes.
"This is…" Astoria said, startled.
"She's one of the culprits behind the 'West Coast Massacre.' After the Ministry of Magic captured her, she was sentenced to death," Jon replied calmly. "I found an excuse to bring her out. A Giant's soul is stronger than a wizard's, so she should be more suitable than a Death Eater. I'll return the body to the Ministry afterward—there won't be any problems."
He added at once, "Don't worry. She won't wake up easily. I gave her a massive dose of Draught of the Living Dead. She'll be unconscious for at least several more days."
"I need to… kill her… right?" Astoria murmured.
"Yes," Jon nodded.
...
Astoria looked hesitant. She hesitated for a long time before slowly raising her wand toward the Giant.
But even after holding it there for ages, she still didn't know which spell to cast.
Jon rummaged through his pocket and handed her a small object.
It was the PSM pistol—a lightweight handgun small enough to fit in one's palm and weighing less than half a kilogram. Even a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old girl with little strength, like Astoria, could use it.
"This is…" Astoria looked at the pistol with curiosity.
Jon stood beside her, guiding her step by step—how to load it, how to aim.
"Aim for the back of the Giant's head," Jon instructed at last. "And make sure you pull the trigger firmly." At the same time, he drew his wand, just in case.
Astoria raised the pistol, recalled Jon's instructions, and gently pulled the trigger—
Bang! Bang! Bang!
She fired three shots in succession. The bullets punched straight through the Giant's brainstem, blood spilling out instantly.
The Giant jolted awake, struggling to rise from the ground… but her limbs were tightly bound with Auror ropes, leaving her completely immobilized.
She thrashed weakly for barely a minute or two in the Room of Requirement before collapsing entirely.
She was dead.
Astoria seemed terrified. The moment she finished firing, she dropped the pistol to the floor, her face twisted in shock.
Only after Jon used a Levitation Charm to return the Giant's corpse to his suitcase did Astoria begin to recover slightly.
...
"How do you feel… now?" Jon asked gravely after stowing the body away.
"I just feel… so awful…" Pain twisted across Astoria's face, her voice turning hoarse.
With this act of killing, the soul's division had begun.
Jon stepped forward, trying to take her hand.
But Astoria shook him off.
She ran alone to a corner of the Room of Requirement, clutching the locket tightly—the "Horcrux" Jon had made for her.
"Ah… it hurts… Jon, don't come any closer…" Her screams of agony rang out intermittently.
Jon stood silently about ten yards away, watching her. When a soul splits, a wizard endures unimaginable pain—this was stated clearly in Unveiling the Secrets of the Darkest Art.
And now, he had done everything he possibly could.
There was nothing more he could do. What remained depended entirely on Astoria herself.
He could only hope she would overcome the monster's soul within her.
"Stay strong," Jon said softly. "Force that monster's soul into the Horcrux… stay strong… I believe in you. You can do this."
...
The air suddenly turned icy cold.
The agony on the girl's face slowly faded… but she also seemed to lose consciousness.
"Did it work?" Jon wondered silently.
But his expression changed abruptly.
No… something was wrong…
The aura emanating from Astoria was weakening. She no longer felt like the girl he knew… or rather, she seemed to be gradually turning into something unfamiliar.
At the same time, traces of the girl she once was could only be faintly sensed from the Horcrux in her hand.
Jon's face went deathly pale.
Damn it—this was the worst possible outcome.
For a Horcrux to successfully separate the blood curse soul, Astoria's own soul had to be stronger than the blood curse soul.
Only then, after the soul was softened and a gap formed between the two, could the blood curse soul be forced into the Horcrux.
But now it seemed… the blood curse had erupted earlier than he'd expected, and its growth had been faster than he'd imagined.
In such a short time, the blood curse soul had already become stronger than Astoria's own soul. As a result, the one being pushed into the Horcrux wasn't the blood curse soul—but her own.
If this continued, in just a moment, the monster would completely take over Astoria's body.
By then, everything would be over.
"Damn it… what should I do?"
Jon raised his wand, his hands trembling.
The only solution he could think of was to destroy the Horcrux immediately, stopping the blood curse soul—
But if he did that, the part of Astoria's soul already inside the Horcrux would be destroyed as well.
With part of her soul gone and her vitality severely damaged, she would be even less capable of resisting the blood curse soul.
What should he do?
…
What choice was left to him?