Everyone looked as if they had seen a ghost.
No, wait—Dumbledore was already dead. Didn't that mean they had really seen a ghost?
They watched as the figure lying on the grass turned over and sat up.
His drooping eyelids, which had been slack, lifted slightly, revealing a dazed gaze. Then, with a pair of withered hands, he touched his chest and his aged face, filled with disbelief.
His hoarse voice gradually grew louder as he spoke, "I... should be dead... What happened?"
"Professor Dumbledore!"
As soon as Lyon lifted the psychic restraints on the others, Harry Potter lunged at Dumbledore.
"You're not dead! No—wait—you came back to life!" Harry clutched Dumbledore's shoulders, completely incoherent.
"This is amazing—this is great! You're okay!" Harry choked up, his voice trembling.
In this world, he had very few true family members, and most of them had already perished at Voldemort's hands. Dumbledore was one of them.
The overwhelming surprise of regaining what was lost shattered Harry's emotions almost instantly.
Even though he tried to hold back, tears of joy still rolled down his cheeks.
Looking into Dumbledore's now-lively eyes, he had countless things he wanted to say—but in the end, all he could do was repeat, over and over, "This is great."
"Harry, it's okay now. Yes, everything is fine."
Old Dumbledore still hadn't fully grasped the situation, but instinctively, he reached out and wiped Potter's tears away.
With a puzzled expression, he gave Harry a brief hug. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Professor McGonagall standing nearby, with nearly all the young wizards gathered behind her.
At that moment, both the professors and the students were staring at him in utter shock.
It was as if he had just transformed from a troll into an old man, finally revealing his true identity.
He could even hear some of the young wizards whispering—Though calling it whispering wasn't exactly accurate, as their shock had made them forget to control their volume.
"Fred, did you see that? Professor Dumbledore has resurrected, hasn't he?"
"Of course I saw it! Merlin's pants, George, what do you think that guy—who's even more handsome than Sirius—gave the professor to drink?"
"Shh! You two! Don't mention Sirius around Harry! And besides, I bet it was Felix Felicis!"
"That isn't Felix Felicis, do you have a troll's brain or what? That potion literally brought him back to life! I bet it was something from an ancient text—like dew from the Fairy Forest!"
"You mean the Fairy Forest—the one from legend, where Merlin himself supposedly went?"
The students' discussion was growing more off-track, and their voices were getting louder and louder.
They glanced back and forth between Dumbledore and Lyon.
Even after performing something truly extraordinary, the unfamiliar man remained as calm as still water, as if he were a god of death himself.
The young wizards were the most fascinated by such mysterious figures, and they each had their own theories and speculations.
This forced Professor McGonagall to cast a Sonorus charm.
"Silence! Headmaster Dumbledore is fine now. The funeral here is canceled. All of you, return to your dormitories immediately!"
She then turned to Hagrid in the crowd and said, "Hagrid, take the students back first. Come back here after that."
Hagrid agreed, but the young wizards showed strong resistance.
Especially the Gryffindor lions.
They were absolutely unwilling to be sent back to their dormitories at such a crucial spectating moment.
One after another, they loudly protested, saying that since even Professor Dumbledore had died once, they had the right to understand exactly what kind of danger had occurred.
Professor McGonagall sighed helplessly, ultimately allowing them to stay—but she emphasized once again that they must remain quiet.
Dumbledore, however, didn't mind at all.
In fact, he rather enjoyed being surrounded by the young wizards.
"Minerva, after I fell from the Astronomy Tower... what exactly happened? Ah—it's you, Lyon, isn't it?"
Dumbledore was just about to ask Professor McGonagall for details when he finally noticed a presence that had been quietly blending into the background all along.
The unfamiliar visitor.
Tony and his companions, with their distinctly modern attire, had actually been quite conspicuous.
It was just that after Dumbledore's resurrection, his brain had only just regained proper blood flow, making his attention too scattered to notice them at first.
"We meet again, Professor Dumbledore. We had an agreement that we'd see each other again, didn't we?" Lyon stood with his hands clasped behind his back.
Dumbledore understood immediately. "So... it was you who brought me back to life, wasn't it? I don't even know how to begin thanking you."
"It was just a small effort," Lyon replied.
Dumbledore shook his head. "That was not just a small effort."
"You used a precious potion on me, didn't you?"
"Though I am deeply grateful that you saved my life…"
"Using something so valuable on me is truly a waste."
He touched the jade vial in his palm, realizing that this was the container Lyon had used to store the spring water.
For a moment, his heart was filled with complex emotions.
Last summer at Hogwarts, Dumbledore had been cursed by the dark magic Voldemort had left on a Horcrux.
That curse would gradually erode his body until it ultimately killed him.
He hadn't had much time left to live anyway.
So his death had been intentional.
And in his plan, his death played a crucial role in the eventual defeat of Voldemort.
Which was why, for a moment, Dumbledore wasn't sure whether his resurrection was a blessing or a misfortune.
"That was Divine Spring Water," Lyon explained with a slight smile. "It contains immense life force. As long as the soul hasn't fully dissipated and the body is still intact, it can bring someone back."
"Something so valuable, of course, should be used on the most valuable people. Professor, you shouldn't have died at the hands of those Death Eater scum."
Fortunately, Dumbledore's soul had remained unharmed. Otherwise, Lyon would have had to use additional magic to restore it.
"Thank you for speaking so highly of me," Dumbledore said as he placed a steadying hand on Harry's shoulder and stood up.
"Something called 'spring water'… A treasure like that must be finite, isn't it? Every drop used is one less remaining… That makes me feel quite ashamed."
Lyon shook his head. "The spring water has already been used. There's no need to say anything more."
Technically, he wasn't wrong. Even an ocean of spring water spanning a million kilometers in diameter would eventually be depleted.
"I haven't asked yet—may I know if you are from the Ministry of Magic? Or are you.." Dumbledore suddenly inquired, as if the thought had just occurred to him.
He paused for a moment. "Forgive my rudeness, but… were you sent by Grindelwald to help?"
Lyon was momentarily speechless.
Old Dumbledore actually thought they were sent by his old flame, Grindelwald.
That kind of assumption was so in character for those two.
"No, neither. We come from Kamar-Taj. We're here at Hogwarts for a magical exchange," Lyon stated plainly.
"Kamar-Taj?" Dumbledore had never heard of the name before.
"Kamar-Taj is located in the Himalayas. It is a sanctuary of sorcerers. Respected Lyon is our Sorcerer Supreme," Wong stepped forward to explain.
He had been listening quietly from the sidelines, waiting for just the right moment to join the conversation.
After all, their group had yet to introduce themselves properly.
How could they let their Sorcerer Supreme do something as mundane as announcing his own name?
"So Lord Lyon is the Sorcerer Supreme!" Dumbledore repeated, though he wasn't familiar with the title. Still, it was enough for him to regard Lyon with newfound importance.
"The Himalayas… That's the domain of the mystical Eastern sorcerers, isn't it?"
He gestured to the side and said warmly, "It is an honor to meet you all. My apologies—it completely slipped my mind until now, but please allow me to introduce you to the professors of Hogwarts."
From Transfiguration Professor McGonagall to Potions Professor Slughorn, Dumbledore introduced each of them one by one.
On the other side, Lyon took charge of introducing Mordo and the others.
However, Tony occasionally raised an eyebrow—he couldn't shake the feeling that some of these names sounded oddly familiar.
Still, at least both sides had now gained a basic understanding of each other.
At that moment, Dumbledore suddenly let out a sigh.
"Our esteemed sorcerer friends from the East, we warmly welcome you."
"But to be honest… I fear your arrival may not have come at the best time."
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