Everyone looked as if they had seen a ghost.
No, Dumbledore was already dead. They really had seen a ghost!
They watched the figure lying on the grass roll over and sit up.
Beneath his drooping, slack eyelids, a bewildered gaze emerged. Then, with a pair of withered hands, he touched his chest and aged face, utterly incredulous.
They heard him speak hoarsely, his voice gradually regaining its strength. "I should be dead... What happened?"
"Professor Dumbledore!"
The moment Leon released his mental restraints on everyone else, Harry Potter threw himself at Dumbledore.
"You're not dead! No, that's not right—you came back to life!" Harry clutched Dumbledore's shoulders, rambling incoherently.
"That's wonderful, that's wonderful! You're all right!" Harry choked out.
He had very few true family members left in this world, and most of them had already died at Voldemort's hands. Dumbledore was one of them.
The joy of getting him back almost instantly shattered Harry's composure.
Even though he tried his best to hold it in, tears of overwhelming joy still rolled down his face.
He looked at Dumbledore's lively eyes once more. He had a thousand things he wanted to say, but all that came out was a repeated, "That's wonderful."
"Harry, it's all right. Yes, everything is all right." Old Dumbledore still could not quite grasp the situation, but instinctively raised a hand and wiped Potter's tears away.
Still confused, he hugged Harry and caught sight of Professor McGonagall standing nearby, with nearly all the young wizards behind her.
At that moment, professors and young wizards alike were staring at him in shock.
As though he were an old man transformed from a troll, finally exposed for what he truly was.
He could even hear some of the young wizards whispering among themselves.
—Though calling it whispering