As if he knew what he was thinking, a barn owl knocked on his window while he was preparing for class.
Anthony took off the letter paper from its feet in confusion. It read in slender and slanted fonts with circles inside circles:
Dear Henry:
Congratulations on winning the love of your students. If you would like, please come to my office at ten o'clock tomorrow morning. Looking forward to your reply and wish you a nice evening.
Yours faithfully
Albus Dumbledore
Also: It's been a good time to eat Lemon Olaf lately.
"Headmaster?" Anthony muttered, grabbing his quill and writing a note, promising to be there on time the next morning.
The owl looked around and found no owl food. It flew to the table dissatisfied and tried to peck his hand.
The cat suddenly jumped up from under the table. The owl was so frightened that it immediately flew up, and without even slapping twice, it was pulled down by the cat's claws that were separated from the body. The cat, as Anthony's first summon, seemed to have also gained part of his abilities.
As he gradually understood undead magic, the cat also gained many more ways to fight... some methods that Anthony would not use in order to maintain his sanity.
For example, controlling the separation of limbs from the body.
"Uh." Anthony said disgustedly, "Don't kill the owl. It is school property."
The cat retracted its paws, stared at the owl with bright eyes, and swung its tail back and forth.
Anthony rubbed the base of its ears: "Good cat."
…
"Lemon Olaf," Anthony said to the gargoyle, feeling somewhat silly in his actions. It's like he's ordering from a stone monster.
The stone statue jumped aside, and in the cracked wall was a moving spiral staircase. Anthony stepped up and looked around curiously. He hasn't been to the principal's office yet.
The door opened automatically.
"Come in, Henry, come in quickly." Dumbledore looked at him with a smile, "Before we start talking, I must say, it's great to see the owl back almost intact."
Anthony nodded: "My cat's temper has improved a lot."
He restrained himself from staring at the instruments on a table. The strange silver instrument was whirring, and the sun shone into the office through the half-closed windows, its smoke dissipating in the beam. He forcibly retracted his gaze, and the next second he discovered something that made him unable to take his eyes away.
A phoenix.
It was sleeping standing on a perch, its head buried under its huge wings, and its red and gold feathers were so gorgeous that it took your breath away.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" said Dumbledore. "No matter how many years I have with it, it never ceases to amaze me. Sit down, Henry, and I promise it won't fly away anytime soon."
Anthony sat down slowly in awe. The phoenix glanced at him from under its wings, moved towards Dumbledore, and fell asleep again.
"What do you want from me, sir?" he asked. You can't just ask him for the Yorkshire pudding recipe.
"It's not a big deal." Dumbledore promised. "First of all, of course, congratulations to you, Henry. It seems that you have adapted well at Hogwarts. I have heard a lot of compliments on you, both from students and staff. Like you...well, most of the faculty."
Anthony understood immediately. Snape reported.
"Whether it's a troll or a basilisk, it has nothing to do with me," he declared, mentally cursing the perpetrator of the Halloween troll incident. The man didn't know how much trouble he had brought to him.
Dumbledore shook his head: "Relax, Henry, I didn't say it had anything to do with you. I just wanted to ask you, what do you think of Hogwarts?"
"Oh, that's alright?"
Dumbledore smiled and looked at Anthony: "Personally, I think it's too easy to get lost in the castle. Once I wanted to go to Minerva's office, but I accidentally walked to the kitchen. House elves are really weird. It was so enthusiastic that I had to eat three pieces of cake and two cups of ice cream there."
Anthony also smiled: "The elves are like this. They always want to decorate my office in a Baroque style."
"I can imagine," said Dumbledore.
Under his encouraging and penetrating gaze, Anthony talked about the parts he liked (students, colleagues, centaurs, meals, and the library) and the parts he didn't like so much (the troll, the basilisk, the eight-footed monster). Oculus, Filch and Snape).
He finally concluded: "Overall, I think this is indeed a magic castle. It may not be the same as in fairy tales, but it is still magical."
"Great, I'm glad you like this magic castle. Ah, speaking of magic." Dumbledore's expression became solemn, "Henry, how is your undead magic?"
Anthony looked at him with wide eyes. Dumbledore said "Necromancer" easily.
Before this, even in the most tit-for-tat situation, the leader of the investigation team had always been very secretive about this word, as if just letting these syllables roll down his throat would turn him into an undead. (The only known living necromancer declares this to be wishful thinking.)
"There is some progress." Anthony said honestly. "Sir, would you like to see a walking roast chicken?"
"Are you saying you can bring a roasted chicken to life?" Dumbledore asked him seriously.
"No, I can control it," Anthony said. "Except for myself - oh, by the way, you don't think it's resurrection - I haven't touched on the resurrection part yet."
Dumbledore put his fingertips together, looked at him, and finally said gently: "I really don't want to believe that it is the resurrection."
Anthony stared at Dumbledore nervously, hearing a "but" in his words. He didn't know why he was nervous, but he could feel...he had a premonition...that Dumbledore was about to say something that he was hesitant to tell Anthony.
"But we did some research," Dumbledore said. "It seems that your experience is indeed inconsistent with my initial guess. I have to admit that resurrection may be the simplest explanation... I mean, The simplest wording. Believe me, the magic involved is complex enough to give even the most advanced magical theorist a headache."
Anthony shook his head and said: "For me, it's just the opposite, sir. I would rather believe that the soul can come back from death than introduce time magic that will mess up everything."
"Well, both are almost equally troublesome," Dumbledore admitted. "Anyway, I have a project for you."
He stared at Anthony seriously and said briefly: "Think about it for me, Henry, if someone wanted to be resurrected, what would he need to do?"
"First of all, you have to live." Anthony said without hesitation, "Secondly, you have to have some perseverance." Those were not good memories.
Dumbledore nodded: "I believe these conditions are present. I mean, what methods might this person who wants to be resurrected try?"
"Find a necromancer and let him summon the resentful spirits after death?" Anthony said without any hope.
Dumbledore smiled a little: "Don't worry, Henry, just help me think about it. Severus kindly suggested that I find a topic for you to 'satisfy your overly strong curiosity'."