"So you're saying this raven is Mr. Raymons?"
Dumbledore looked at Leonard, then at the raven in front of him, a trace of doubt in his eyes.
If someone came up to you early in the morning, pointed at a dog, and told you it was an acquaintance of yours, what would you think?
An ordinary person would assume it was a joke. A wizard would probably suspect it was an Animagus.
But Dumbledore was a legendary wizard. His eye was naturally sharp, and he could tell that the raven before him was no ordinary raven.
An Animagus in animal form showed no abnormalities at all. From beginning to end, they were indistinguishable from a normal animal, and certainly did not radiate magic from head to toe.
Otherwise, Sirius would never have found it so easy to evade a pack of bounty hunters. If someone saw a perfectly ordinary-looking dog out on the street but could somehow sense magic rolling off it, who would ignore that?
So this raven was clearly not an Animagus.
And yet Leonard was pointing at a magical raven and claiming it was Harris Raymons...
That was hard for Dumbledore to accept.
"The details are a bit complicated. You can explain it to him yourself. That should be enough to convince him, right?" Leonard said with an indifferent shrug.
He had genuinely come to deliver information. Before that, he had even had a "friendly" talk with Harris Raymons and got him to selectively ignore the scene inside the World Tree that he had seen when he was rescued.
Harris Raymons stood on Dumbledore's desk and shifted uneasily.
Mainly because the phoenix beside him had been staring at him like a predator the whole time, and it was making him rather uncomfortable.
"Professor Dumbledore, it really is me," Harris Raymons said clearly. "I'm Harris Raymons. The Harris Raymons who's always pestering the giant squid in the Black Lake."
At that, Dumbledore began to believe him a little. After all, aside from a few professors, only the person involved would know about Harris Raymons's fondness for bothering the giant squid.
"Harris? How did you end up like this?" Dumbledore asked with concern. "And your teacher, Nicolas Flamel..."
Dumbledore knew Harris Raymons's teacher was Nicolas Flamel. The two of them could be considered friends across generations, and it had been Dumbledore himself who recommended Harris Raymons to Nicolas Flamel in the first place.
That bit of news, however, was quite interesting to Leonard.
So Nicolas Flamel had also been a member of Raven.
The moment Dumbledore mentioned his teacher, Harris Raymons's expression darkened. Watching a raven make an expression at all was already a fairly magical experience for Leonard.
"It's a long story..." Harris Raymons sighed. "Teacher is dead."
Leonard's expression did not change.
Nicolas Flamel's death had nothing to do with him. In the original story, Flamel had already given up the Philosopher's Stone himself. Leonard's presence or absence would not have changed that. He would have died anyway.
"By the timing, I suppose it does make sense. But didn't Raven hold a funeral for him?" Dumbledore frowned.
"Professor, Raven is gone," Harris Raymons said hoarsely. "And Teacher... Teacher's body was taken over by someone terrifying."
"His body was taken over?"
"Yes. And the process was extremely painful. Even now, I can still almost hear Teacher's screams before he died."
Grief-stricken, Harris Raymons could barely keep his voice steady.
Dumbledore's expression changed. The thought that his friend had not even been allowed peace in death stirred a long-buried anger in him.
"Where is that person?" Dumbledore asked, drawing a deep breath to suppress his anger.
Harris Raymons hesitated. "Well..."
When Dumbledore saw him hesitate, he softened his tone a little. "Do you have reservations?"
As Nicolas Flamel's student, Harris Raymons's feelings and attitude deserved consideration.
Harris Raymons stammered and hesitated for a long while before finally making up his mind.
"I'll just say it plainly... Professor, you might not be his match."
That "might" was just to spare Dumbledore some face. In truth, even ancient magic had failed to harm Odin's maidservant in the slightest. Harris Raymons did not believe Dumbledore could do much to Odin either.
Dumbledore froze.
After all these years, someone was once again saying he was not strong enough.
The last time he had heard something like that had been when he faced Grindelwald. Thinking back on it now, it was oddly nostalgic.
No. This was not the time for nostalgia.
Harris was actually questioning his strength.
He was a legendary wizard with the Elder Wand in his hand. What kind of enemy could make Harris believe he was not a match?
Although Harris Raymons had used the ambiguous word "might," Dumbledore was far too old to miss what was really meant.
"Harris, I think you may not fully understand my strength..." Dumbledore said tactfully after a moment's thought.
"Of course I understand. You have the Elder Wand, and you're called the greatest wizard in history." Harris Raymons sighed and involuntarily pecked at his own feathers.
The phoenix's stare was incredibly intimidating. Especially after saying Dumbledore was no match for Odin, Harris Raymons was under enormous pressure, enough that he felt like plucking out his own feathers.
But every word he had said was true.
The Elder Wand was certainly powerful, but it was only the magic of Death, an Eternal Wizard. It was not the complete power of an Eternal Wizard.
Odin, on the other hand, was a true Eternal Wizard.
Perhaps Dumbledore, with the Elder Wand, might be able to hold Odin off for a while, but defeating him was sheer fantasy.
At that thought, Harris Raymons could not help glancing at Leonard. He still could not understand this young Hufflepuff. What exactly did he know, and what was he trying to do?
Harris Raymons fell silent in thought.
Dumbledore did the same.
So he even knows about the Elder Wand?
Dumbledore's expression grew serious. Then again, Harris Raymons had held a fairly high position in Raven, so it was not surprising that he knew some of the wizarding world's hidden secrets.
If Harris still believed Dumbledore was no match for this enemy even after taking the Elder Wand into account...
Then perhaps Dumbledore truly was not.
"It seems the title of greatest wizard in history may indeed be undeserved," Dumbledore said with a sigh.
"No. Among wizards, you truly are the greatest wizard," Harris Raymons said. "But... our enemy can no longer really be called a wizard."
His tone turned heavy.
"In the distant past, beings like him were worshipped as gods."