"Gods?"
Dumbledore turned the word over in his mind, his gaze drifting involuntarily toward Leonard.
When people spoke of the distant past, words like gods were naturally easy to connect with ancient magic.
But compared to most others, Dumbledore knew some even more secret things.
Ancient magic, so widely praised in those days, was incredibly powerful, but also extremely difficult to learn. As a result, the number of wizards was once extraordinarily small.
Many exceptionally gifted wizards stumbled over ancient magic, yet refused to give up such a powerful form of magic. At one point, that even led to a stretch of nearly a hundred years in which no new wizards appeared.
That was a grave problem, one that threatened wizardkind at its root.
So the wizards who had mastered ancient magic at the time decided to suppress knowledge of it, allowing only a very small number of extraordinarily gifted wizards to inherit it.
Ordinary wizards, through later research, exploration, and gradual refinement, developed blood magic and the rudiments of modern magic, and in that way ensured the continuation of wizardkind.
So if Harris was right, then the person he was talking about... could he be some ancient heir to ancient magic?
Dumbledore's thinking was not entirely wrong. At its core, the power of ancient magic still came from the World Tree, and Odin was merely the strongest inheritor of it.
"You mean some wizard from the ancient era? An inheritor of ancient magic?" Dumbledore asked.
"No." Harris Raymons's tone was grave. "He absolutely cannot be some inheritor of ancient magic. In magical terms, he's more like the creator of ancient magic."
That was not entirely inaccurate either. As the first inheritor of ancient magic, Odin had already become an Eternal Wizard through it. Calling him the creator of ancient magic was not unreasonable.
It was a bit like this. The World Tree had invented ancient magic, but instead of patenting it, handed it to Odin to use. Then Odin shamelessly claimed it for himself and registered the patent first.
"The creator of ancient magic?" Only then did Dumbledore truly realize how serious this was.
So this was not some magical duel between people under two hundred after all. The opponent was over two thousand?
That was not a gap of generations. That was a gap of centuries.
Wizards did not necessarily grow stronger with age, but once someone reached a certain point, it became a matter of fundamental difference.
For ordinary people, "older and more spirited" was already high praise. But if the other side belonged to the realm of gods, then this was simply impossible to play on equal footing.
In the end, no matter how Dumbledore phrased it to himself, the meaning was the same.
This was bad.
How was one supposed to face an enemy who seemed impossible to defeat?
Dumbledore's face twitched. Harris Raymons had handed him a truly difficult problem.
But he could not refuse. Whether because of how others would see it, or because of the kind of person he was, Dumbledore would not turn away.
Nicolas Flamel had been both teacher and friend to him. Even if it meant going all out, he would avenge him.
Leonard stood off to the side, happily watching the show.
In truth, Odin was Leonard's own problem. Whatever grand ambition Odin had, whether to rule the world or restore the glory of Eternal Wizards, the World Tree, meaning Leonard, would always be his primary target.
But Dumbledore did not know that. He was still caught up in the fact that an old friend had died because of Odin, and was already thinking about revenge.
Given Dumbledore's character, even an unbeatable enemy would not make him back down. He was, after all, the sort of moral standard-bearer who could not help stepping forward.
Good people were always the easiest to point a gun at.
Harris Raymons really was useful. Future Leonard had done a brilliant job, forcibly hauling the unsuspecting Dumbledore onto the battlefield.
Still, Leonard was not worried that anything would happen to Dumbledore. When the sky fell, the tallest ones held it up. And if Dumbledore could not hold it, was Grindelwald not still there?
If his old flame was really going to throw himself into this, could Grindelwald possibly stand by and watch?
"When you put it like that, aren't you afraid I might give up on avenging Flamel?" Dumbledore asked after a moment of thought.
Harris Raymons answered without hesitation, "I trust your character, Professor, so I would never lie to you about something like this. That would only be harming you."
"I understand." Dumbledore nodded. "I'll find a way to avenge Nicolas Flamel. But before that, I still have more important matters to deal with..."
"I understand. You mean the Dark Lord, don't you? I'll help with that too." Harris Raymons said, "Then I'll take my leave for now. During this time, I'll look into the Dark Lord's whereabouts, and the locations of the other Horcruxes."
Voldemort's Horcruxes were no longer any secret. Harris Raymons did not need Horace Slughorn's information. He could dig up Voldemort's entire past on his own.
"You don't intend to stay at Hogwarts?" Dumbledore asked. "Your appearance is... unusual, but we can still arrange a room for you."
It was not as though Hogwarts lacked places for birds to stay. There was the Owlery, for instance.
But Harris Raymons was still a person. Even if he now wore the form of a raven, he was still a person.
Stuffing a person into the Owlery to squeeze in with the owls would be going a bit too far.
Dumbledore was even worried Harris Raymons might be bullied by the owls, so arranging a room was clearly the better choice. Hogwarts was enormous. Surely there was some corner where a raven could stay.
More importantly, Dumbledore wanted Harris Raymons kept away from Leonard. He had a persistent sense that Leonard was plotting something.
"No need to trouble yourself, Professor." Harris Raymons declined. "My injuries haven't fully healed yet, and I still need Mr. William's help. Staying in that tree will help my recovery."
"I see." Dumbledore nodded. "Then I'll see you later. I hope to hear good news from you soon."
"Don't worry." Harris Raymons flapped up and landed on Leonard's shoulder, then left the Headmaster's Office with him.
Dumbledore watched the two leave, a subtle expression crossing his face.
"Harris probably won't get too close to Leonard William. They're not exactly enemies, but there is some resentment between them after all..."
If that was the case, there was no need to worry that Harris Raymons might conceal anything.
Inside Hogwarts Castle, Leonard and Raven-Harris Raymons said nothing. Only after they left the castle grounds and Leonard Apparated away, returning to the World Tree, did he finally speak.
"This is a little outside my expectations. You actually didn't expose the connection between Odin and me."
Leonard smiled as he looked at the raven on his shoulder and spoke slowly.