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哈利·波特与死亡圣器
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

英文中文双语对照双语交替

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CHAPTER TEN KREACHER’S TALE

第十章　克利切的故事

Harry woke early next morning, wrapped in a sleeping bag on the drawing room floor. A chink of sky was visible between the heavy curtains: It was the cool, clear blue of watered ink, somewhere between night and dawn, and everything was quiet except for Ron and Hermione’s slow, deep breathing. Harry glanced over at the dark shapes they made on the floor beside him. Ron had had a fit of gallantry and insisted that Hermione sleep on the cushions from the sofa, so that her silhouette was raised above his. Her arm curved to the floor, her fingers inches from Ron’s. Harry wondered whether they had fallen asleep holding hands. The idea made him feel strangely lonely.

哈利第二天清晨醒来，裹着睡袋躺在客厅地板上。厚厚的窗帘间漏出一线天空，像冲淡的蓝墨水一般凉爽清澈，是那种介于夜晚与黎明之间的颜色。周围静悄悄的，只听到罗恩和赫敏缓慢深长的呼吸。哈利望着他们投在他身边地板上的影子。罗恩昨晚一时大显绅士风度，坚持让赫敏睡在沙发垫子上，所以她的侧影比罗恩的高，她的胳膊弯着搭在地板上，手指距离罗恩的只有几英寸。哈利猜测他们或许是手拉手睡着的，这想法让他感到莫名的孤独。

He looked up at the shadowy ceiling, the cobwebbed chandelier. Less than twenty-four hours ago, he had been standing in the sunlight at the entrance to the marquee, waiting to show in wedding guests. It seemed a lifetime away. What was going to happen now? He lay on the floor and he thought of the Horcruxes, of the daunting, complex mission Dumbledore had left him. . . . Dumbledore . . .

他仰望着昏暗的天花板、结着蛛网的枝形吊灯。不到二十四小时前，他还站在阳光下，在大帐篷门口接待参加婚礼的嘉宾，这会儿想起来恍若隔世。现在会发生什么呢？他躺在地板上，想着魂器，想着邓布利多留给他的艰难而复杂的使命……邓布利多……

The grief that had possessed him since Dumbledore’s death felt different now. The accusations he had heard from Muriel at the wedding seemed to have nested in his brain like diseased things, infecting his memories of the wizard he had idolized. Could Dumbledore have let such things happen? Had he been like Dudley, content to watch neglect and abuse as long as it did not affect him? Could he have turned his back on a sister who was being imprisoned and hidden?

邓布利多死后一直笼罩在他心头的那种悲伤现在感觉不同了。婚礼上穆丽尔姨婆的非议仿佛病菌寄生在他脑子里，侵蚀着他原来心目中的偶像。邓布利多会让那种事发生吗？他会像达力那样，只要不影响到自己，就对冷落和虐待袖手旁观吗？他会遗弃一个被禁闭、被隐藏的亲妹妹吗？

Harry thought of Godric’s Hollow, of graves Dumbledore had never mentioned there; he thought of mysterious objects left without explanation in Dumbledore’s will, and resentment swelled in the darkness. Why hadn’t Dumbledore told him? Why hadn’t he explained? Had Dumbledore actually cared about Harry at all? Or had Harry been nothing more than a tool to be polished and honed, but not trusted, never confided in?

哈利又想到戈德里克山谷，想到邓布利多从没提过的坟墓，想到邓布利多遗嘱中那些未加解释的神秘赠物。怨恨在黑暗中翻涌。邓布利多为什么不告诉他？为什么没有解释？邓布利多真正关心哈利吗？还是只把哈利当成一个需要磨砺的工具，但不信任他，从来不会向他倾吐秘密？

Harry could not stand lying there with nothing but bitter thoughts for company. Desperate for something to do, for distraction, he slipped out of his sleeping bag, picked up his wand, and crept out of the room. On the landing he whispered, “Lumos,” and started to climb the stairs by wandlight.

哈利再也无法忍受躺在那里，只有怨恨的念头相伴。必须找点事情做，分分心。他钻出睡袋，拾起自己的魔杖，蹑手蹑脚地走出房间。到了楼梯口，他悄悄说了声“荧光闪烁”，用魔杖照着上楼。

On the second landing was the bedroom in which he and Ron had slept last time they had been here; he glanced into it. The wardrobe doors stood open and the bedclothes had been ripped back. Harry remembered the overturned troll leg downstairs. Somebody had searched the house since the Order had left. Snape? Or perhaps Mundungus, who had pilfered plenty from this house both before and after Sirius died? Harry’s gaze wandered to the portrait that sometimes contained Phineas Nigellus Black, Sirius’s great-great-grandfather, but it was empty, showing nothing but a stretch of muddy backdrop. Phineas Nigellus was evidently spending the night in the headmaster’s study at Hogwarts.

第二个楼梯口是他和罗恩上次住过的那间卧室，他往里面看了一眼，衣柜敞着，床单也拉开了。哈利想起楼下翻倒的巨怪断腿。凤凰社离开后有人搜查过这个房间。是斯内普吗？要么是蒙顿格斯？那家伙在小天狼星生前和死后从这所宅子里偷走了许多东西。哈利的目光移到那幅有时看到菲尼亚斯·奈杰勒斯·布莱克的肖像上面，然而此时画框中空空荡荡，只有一片浑浊的背景。小天狼星的这位高祖显然是在霍格沃茨的校长书房里过夜了。

Harry continued up the stairs until he reached the topmost landing, where there were only two doors. The one facing him bore a nameplate reading Sirius. Harry had never entered his godfather’s bedroom before. He pushed open the door, holding his wand high to cast light as widely as possible. The room was spacious and must once have been handsome. There was a large bed with a carved wooden headboard, a tall window obscured by long velvet curtains, and a chandelier thickly coated in dust with candle stubs still resting in its sockets, solid wax hanging in frostlike drips. A fine film of dust covered the pictures on the walls and the bed’s headboard; a spider’s web stretched between the chandelier and the top of the large wooden wardrobe, and as Harry moved deeper into the room, he heard a scurrying of disturbed mice.

哈利继续往楼上爬，一直爬到最高层楼梯口，那里只有两扇门，正对着他的那扇上面有块牌子写着小天狼星。哈利以前从未进过他教父的卧室，他推开门，高举魔杖，尽量照得远一点。

The teenage Sirius had plastered the walls with so many posters and pictures that little of the walls’ silvery-gray silk was visible. Harry could only assume that Sirius’s parents had been unable to remove the Permanent Sticking Charm that kept them on the wall, because he was sure they would not have appreciated their eldest son’s taste in decoration. Sirius seemed to have gone out of his way to annoy his parents. There were several large Gryffindor banners, faded scarlet and gold, just to underline his difference from all the rest of the Slytherin family. There were many pictures of Muggle motorcycles, and also (Harry had to admire Sirius’s nerve) several posters of bikini-clad Muggle girls; Harry could tell that they were Muggles because they remained quite stationary within their pictures, faded smiles and glazed eyes frozen on the paper. This was in contrast to the only Wizarding photograph on the walls, which was a picture of four Hogwarts students standing arm in arm, laughing at the camera.

屋里很宽敞，以前肯定是相当漂亮的。有一张床头雕花的大床，高窗上遮着长长的天鹅绒帷幔，枝形吊灯上积着厚厚的灰尘，蜡烛头还留在插座里，凝固的烛泪像冰晶一样滴垂着。墙上的图画和床头板上也蒙着一层薄灰，一张蜘蛛网从枝形吊灯拉到木制的大衣橱顶部。哈利往屋子中间走去时，听到有老鼠逃窜的声音。

With a leap of pleasure, Harry recognized his father; his untidy black hair stuck up at the back like Harry’s, and he too wore glasses. Beside him was Sirius, carelessly handsome, his slightly arrogant face so much younger and happier than Harry had ever seen it alive. To Sirius’s right stood Pettigrew, more than a head shorter, plump and watery-eyed, flushed with pleasure at his inclusion in this coolest of gangs, with the much-admired rebels that James and Sirius had been. On James’s left was Lupin, even then a little shabby-looking, but he had the same air of delighted surprise at finding himself liked and included . . . or was it simply because Harry knew how it had been, that he saw these things in the picture? He tried to take it from the wall; it was his now, after all, Sirius had left him everything, but it would not budge. Sirius had taken no chances in preventing his parents from redecorating his room.

少年小天狼星在墙上贴了这么多的招贴画和照片，原来银灰色的缎面墙壁几乎都看不到了。哈利只能猜测小天狼星的父母无法消除墙上的永久粘贴咒，因为他相信他们不会欣赏大儿子的装饰品位。小天狼星似乎有意要惹父母生气，屋里有几面大大的格兰芬多旗帜，强调他与这个斯莱特林家族中的其他人不同，金红的旗子已经褪色。还有许多麻瓜摩托车的图片，甚至有几张身着比基尼的麻瓜女孩招贴画（哈利不得不佩服小天狼星的勇气）。之所以看出是麻瓜女孩，是因为他们在画上一动不动，褪色的笑容和凝固在纸上的目光，与墙上惟一的一张巫师照片形成对比，那是四个霍格沃茨学生挽着手臂站在一起，冲着镜头呵呵笑着。

Harry looked around at the floor. The sky outside was growing brighter: A shaft of light revealed bits of paper, books, and small objects scattered over the carpet. Evidently Sirius’s bedroom had been searched too, although its contents seemed to have been judged mostly, if not entirely, worthless. A few of the books had been shaken roughly enough to part company with their covers, and sundry pages littered the floor.

哈利的心欢跳起来，他认出了自己的父亲，不服帖的黑发像哈利的一样在脑后支棱着，而且也戴着眼镜。他旁边是小天狼星，英俊而洒脱不羁，稍带高傲的面庞比哈利见过的任何时候都更加年轻快乐。小天狼星的右边是小矮星，比他矮一个头还多，胖乎乎的，眼睛湿润，为自己能加入这最酷的一群，与詹姆和小天狼星这样的受人钦佩的叛逆者结交而兴奋不已。詹姆的左边是卢平，甚至那时候也显得有一点邋遢，但他也带着那种惊讶而快乐的神情，发现自己被喜欢，被接纳……是否只是因为哈利知道了内情，才会在照片中看出这些东西？他想把它从墙上摘下来，反正这照片是他的了——小天狼星把一切都留给了他。可是他拿不下来，小天狼星为了不让自己的父母改变这间屋子的装饰，真是不遗余力。

Harry bent down, picked up a few of the pieces of paper, and examined them. He recognized one as part of an old edition of A History of Magic, by Bathilda Bagshot, and another as belonging to a motorcycle maintenance manual. The third was handwritten and crumpled. He smoothed it out.

哈利扫视地面，外面天色亮了起来，一道光线照出地毯上凌乱的纸片、书籍和小物品。显然小天狼星的卧室也被搜过了，不过里面的东西似乎大都被认为无用——或全部无用。有几本书被粗暴地抖过，封皮都掉了，书页散落在地上。

Dear Padfoot,

哈利弯下腰，捡起几张纸看了看，认出有一张是巴希达·巴沙特所著《魔法史》的老版本散页，还有一张是摩托车维修手册里的；第三张是手写的字条，揉皱了，他把它抹平来看。

Thank you, thank you, for Harry’s birthday present! It

亲爱的大脚板：

was his favorite by far. One year old and already zooming

谢谢你，谢谢你送给哈利的生日礼物！这是他最喜欢的玩具了。才一岁就已经能骑着玩具扫帚飞来飞去，他看上去好开心哪。我附上一张照片给你看看。你知道小扫帚只能离地两英尺，但哈利差点撞死了小猫，还差点打碎了一只难看的花瓶，那是佩妮送给我的圣诞礼物（不是抱怨）。当然，詹姆觉得非常好玩，说这孩子会成为下一个魁地奇明星，但我们不得不把所有的装饰品都收起来，并且在他飞的时候一直看着他。

along on a toy broomstick, he looked so pleased with himself,

我们搞了一个很安静的生日茶会，只有老巴希达在场，她一直对我们很好，也特别宠爱哈利。很遗憾你不能来，但凤凰社是第一位的，再说哈利这么小也不懂过生日！关在这里詹姆有些憋闷，他尽量不表现出来，可是我看得出——隐形衣还在邓布利多那里，所以没有机会出去。如果你能来，他会多么高兴啊。小虫上周末来过了，我觉得他情绪低落，但也许是因为麦金农夫妇的消息吧。我听到后也哭了一夜。

I’m enclosing a picture so you can see. You know it only

巴希达经常过来，她是个有趣的老太太，讲了好些邓布利多的故事，真是想象不到。我不知道他本人听到会不会高兴！说实在的，我不知道该相信多少，很难相信邓布利多……

rises about two feet off the ground, but he nearly killed the

哈利的四肢似乎麻木了，他静立在那里，失去知觉的手指举着那张神奇的纸片，心里却像火山喷发。喜悦与悲伤等量地在血管中涌动。他摇摇晃晃地走到床边，坐了下来。

cat and he smashed a horrible vase Petunia sent me for

他又读了一遍信，却并不能比第一次读懂更多的含义，而只是盯着纸上的笔迹。母亲写字母g的方式与他一样。他在信中寻找每一个这样的字母，每一个都像透过面纱看到的温柔的挥手。这封信是一件不可思议的珍宝，证明莉莉·波特存在过，真正存在过。她温暖的手曾经在这张羊皮纸上移动，将墨水注入这些字母，这些字句，写的是他，哈利，她的儿子。

Christmas (no complaints there). Of course, James thought it

他急切地抹去眼中的泪花，重新读起信来，这次专心体会含义，就像聆听一个似曾相识的声音。

was so funny, says he’s going to be a great Quidditch player,

他们有一只猫……它也许像父母一样，死在戈德里克山谷……也可能因为没人喂养而离开了……小天狼星给他买了第一把飞天扫帚……他父母认识巴希达·巴沙特，是邓布利多介绍的吗？隐形衣还在邓布利多那里……这儿有点蹊跷……

but we’ve had to pack away all the ornaments and make sure

哈利停下来，琢磨着母亲的话。邓布利多为什么拿走詹姆的隐形衣呢？哈利清楚地记得校长多年前对他说过：“我不用隐形衣就能隐身。”也许某个法术较弱的凤凰社成员需要用它，邓布利多帮着借一下？哈利又往下读……

we don’t take our eyes off him when he gets going.

小虫来过……小矮星，那个叛徒，显得“情绪低落”？他是否知道这是最后一次见到詹姆和莉莉？

We had a very quiet birthday tea, just us and old

最后又是巴希达，讲了关于邓布利多的惊人故事：很难相信邓布利多……

Bathilda, who has always been sweet to us and who dotes on

很难相信邓布利多什么呢？可是有许多关于邓布利多的事都令人难以相信：比如，他有一次在变形课上得了最低分，还有像阿不福思一样对山羊念咒……

Harry. We were so sorry you couldn’t come, but the Order’s

哈利起起来在地面上搜寻，也许缺失的信纸还在屋里。他抓起一张张纸片，心急中，像前一位搜索者那样不顾一切，翻抽屉，抖书页，站在椅子上摸衣柜顶部，钻到床肚里和扶手椅底下去找。

got to come first, and Harry’s not old enough to know

终于，他趴在地上，在一个五斗橱底下看到了一张破纸，抽出来之后，发现是莉莉信中提到的那张照片的大部分。一个黑头发的婴儿骑着小扫帚飞进飞出，咯咯欢笑，还有两条腿（想必是詹姆的）在追着他。哈利把照片和莉莉的信一直塞进衣袋，继续寻找第二页信纸。

it’s his birthday anyway! James is getting a bit frustrated

又过了一刻钟，他不得不断定母亲这封信的后面部分不在了。它是在十六年中遗失的，还是被搜屋子的人拿走的呢？哈利又读了读第一页，这次仔细寻找着能使第二页有价值的线索。他的玩具扫帚不大会引起食死徒的兴趣……惟一可能有用的就是关于邓布利多的内容，很难相信邓布利多——什么呢？

shut up here, he tries not to show it but I can tell — also,

“哈利？哈利！哈利！”

Dumbledore’s still got his Invisibility Cloak, so no chance

“我在这儿！”他喊道，“什么事？”

of little excursions. If you could visit, it would cheer him

门外一阵急促的脚步声，赫敏冲了进来。

up so much. Wormy was here last weekend, I thought he

“我们醒来不知道你去哪儿了！”她气喘吁吁地说，又扭头叫道，“罗恩！我找到他了！”

seemed down, but that was probably the news about the

罗恩恼火的声音从几层楼下面远远传来。

McKinnons; I cried all evening when I heard.

“好！告诉他，我骂他是混蛋！”

Bathilda drops in most days, she’s a fascinating old thing

“哈利，求求你不要失踪，我们都吓坏了！你上这儿来干什么？”她打量着翻得乱糟糟的房间，“你在做什么？”

with the most amazing stories about Dumbledore, I’m not

“瞧，我找到了什么。”

sure he’d be pleased if he knew! I don’t know how much to

他举起母亲的信。赫敏接过去读了起来，哈利注视着她。读到末尾，赫敏抬起头看着哈利。

believe, actually, because it seems incredible that Dumbledore

“哦，哈利……”

Harry’s extremities seemed to have gone numb. He stood quite still, holding the miraculous paper in his nerveless fingers while inside him a kind of quiet eruption sent joy and grief thundering in equal measure through his veins. Lurching to the bed, he sat down.

“还有这个。”

He read the letter again, but could not take in any more meaning than he had done the first time, and was reduced to staring at the handwriting itself. She had made her “g”s the same way he did: He searched through the letter for every one of them, and each felt like a friendly little wave glimpsed from behind a veil. The letter was an incredible treasure, proof that Lily Potter had lived, really lived, that her warm hand had once moved across this parchment, tracing ink into these letters, these words, words about him, Harry, her son.

他又递过撕破的照片，赫敏冲着那个骑着玩具扫帚飞出飞进的婴儿微笑着。

Impatiently brushing away the wetness in his eyes, he reread the letter, this time concentrating on the meaning. It was like listening to a half-remembered voice.

“我在找缺掉的信纸，”哈利说，“可是找不到。”

They had had a cat . . . perhaps it had perished, like his parents, at Godric’s Hollow . . . or else fled when there was nobody left to feed it. . . . Sirius had bought him his first broomstick. . . . His parents had known Bathilda Bagshot; had Dumbledore introduced them? Dumbledore’s still got his Invisibility Cloak . . . There was something funny there. . . .

赫敏环顾四周。

Harry paused, pondering his mother’s words. Why had Dumbledore taken James’s Invisibility Cloak? Harry distinctly remembered his headmaster telling him years before, “I don’t need a cloak to become invisible.” Perhaps some less gifted Order member had needed its assistance, and Dumbledore had acted as carrier? Harry passed on. . . .

“这全是你翻乱的吗，还是你进来时已经乱了？”

Wormy was here . . . Pettigrew, the traitor, had seemed “down,” had he? Was he aware that he was seeing James and Lily alive for the last time?

“有人在我之前翻过了。”哈利说。

And finally Bathilda again, who told incredible stories about Dumbledore. It seems incredible that Dumbledore —

“我猜也是。我上来时看到每间屋子都有点乱，你认为他们在找什么呢？”

That Dumbledore what? But there were any number of things that would seem incredible about Dumbledore; that he had once received bottom marks in a Transfiguration test, for instance, or had taken up goat-charming like Aberforth. . . .

“关于凤凰社的消息，如果是斯内普的话。”

Harry got to his feet and scanned the floor: Perhaps the rest of the letter was here somewhere. He seized papers, treating them, in his eagerness, with as little consideration as the original searcher; he pulled open drawers, shook out books, stood on a chair to run his hand over the top of the wardrobe, and crawled under the bed and armchair.

“但他不是都已经知道了吗，我是说，他曾经是凤凰社成员，不是吗？”

At last, lying facedown on the floor, he spotted what looked like a torn piece of paper under the chest of drawers. When he pulled it out, it proved to be most of the photograph Lily had described in her letter. A black-haired baby was zooming in and out of the picture on a tiny broom, roaring with laughter, and a pair of legs that must have belonged to James was chasing after him. Harry tucked the photograph into his pocket with Lily’s letter and continued to look for the second sheet.

“那么，”哈利急于讨论他的推想，“关于邓布利多的消息呢？比如这封信的第二页，我妈妈提到的这个巴希达，你知道她是谁吗？”

After another quarter of an hour, however, he was forced to conclude that the rest of his mother’s letter was gone. Had it simply been lost in the sixteen years that had elapsed since it had been written, or had it been taken by whoever had searched the room? Harry read the first sheet again, this time looking for clues as to what might have made the second sheet valuable. His toy broomstick could hardly be considered interesting to the Death Eaters. . . . The only potentially useful thing he could see here was possible information on Dumbledore. It seems incredible that Dumbledore — what?

“谁？”

“Harry? Harry! Harry!”

“巴希达·巴沙特，写过——”

“I’m here!” he called. “What’s happened?”

“《魔法史》，”赫敏说，看上去来了兴趣，“你爸爸妈妈认识她？她是一位了不起的魔法史专家。”

There was a clatter of footsteps outside the door, and Hermione burst inside.

“她还活着，”哈利说，“住在戈德里克山谷。罗恩的穆丽尔姨婆在婚礼上讲到过她，她还认识邓布利多一家，跟她聊聊会很有意思，是不是？”

“We woke up and didn’t know where you were!” she said breathlessly. She turned and shouted over her shoulder, “Ron! I’ve found him!”

赫敏的笑容中有太多心照不宣的意味。哈利觉得不大自在。他收回信纸和照片，塞进挂在脖子上的袋子里，避免与她对视，泄露自己的心思。

Ron’s annoyed voice echoed distantly from several floors below.

“我明白你为什么想跟她聊聊你爸爸妈妈，还有邓布利多，”赫敏说，“可这对我们寻找魂器没有多大帮助，是不是？”哈利没有回答，她一口气说下去，“哈利，我知道你真的想去戈德里克山谷，可我害怕……昨天食死徒那么容易就发现我们，我很害怕。这让我更加觉得应该避开你父母长眠的地方，我相信他们会猜到你要去的。”

“Good! Tell him from me he’s a git!”

“不光是那样，”哈利说，仍然不敢看她，“穆丽尔在婚礼上提到了邓布利多的一些事，我想知道真相……”

“Harry, don’t just disappear, please, we were terrified! Why did you come up here anyway?” She gazed around the ransacked room. “What have you been doing?”

他把穆丽尔讲的事全部告诉赫敏，赫敏听完后说：“当然，我能理解这为什么让你心烦意乱，哈利——”

“Look what I’ve just found.”

“——我没有心烦意乱，”他撒了个谎，“只不过想知道是真是假——”

He held out his mother’s letter. Hermione took it and read it while Harry watched her. When she reached the end of the page she looked up at him.

“哈利，你真以为能从穆丽尔这样恶毒的老太婆和丽塔·斯基特那里得到真相吗？你怎么能相信她们呢？你了解邓布利多！”

“Oh, Harry . . .”

他看着别处，努力不泄露内心的恼恨。又是这样：选择相信什么。他要的是真相。为什么所有的人都坚决不让他了解呢？

“And there’s this too.”

“下楼到厨房去吧？”赫敏沉默片刻后说道，“弄点早饭吃？”

He handed her the torn photograph, and Hermione smiled at the baby zooming in and out of sight on the toy broom.

他同意了，但很不情愿，跟着她走到楼梯口，经过另一扇门前。刚才在黑暗中没注意到，门上有块小牌子，下面的油漆有深深的划痕。他停在楼梯口细看，这是一块气派十足的小牌子，工整的手写字母，很像珀西·韦斯莱会在卧室门上钉的东西：

“I’ve been looking for the rest of the letter,” Harry said, “but it’s not here.”

未经本人明示允许

Hermione glanced around.

禁止入内

“Did you make all this mess, or was some of it done when you got here?”

雷古勒斯·阿克图勒斯·布莱克

“Someone had searched before me,” said Harry.

一阵兴奋传遍哈利的全身，可他并没有马上意识到为什么。他又读了一遍牌子，赫敏已经下了一段楼梯。

“I thought so. Every room I looked into on the way up had been disturbed. What were they after, do you think?”

“赫敏，”哈利说，一边惊讶自己的声音如此平静，“上来。”

“Information on the Order, if it was Snape.”

“怎么啦？”

“But you’d think he’d already have all he needed, I mean, he was in the Order, wasn’t he?”

“R．A．B．，我想我找到他了。”

“Well then,” said Harry, keen to discuss his theory, “what about information on Dumbledore? The second page of this letter, for instance. You know this Bathilda my mum mentions, you know who she is?”

一声惊叫，赫敏奔上楼梯。

“Who?”

“在你妈妈的信里？可我没看见——”

“Bathilda Bagshot, the author of —”

哈利摇摇头，指着雷古勒斯的牌子。赫敏看后紧紧抓住哈利的胳膊，疼得他龇牙咧嘴。

“A History of Magic,” said Hermione, looking interested. “So your parents knew her? She was an incredible magical historian.”

“小天狼星的弟弟？”她低声问。

“And she’s still alive,” said Harry, “and she lives in Godric’s Hollow, Ron’s Auntie Muriel was talking about her at the wedding. She knew Dumbledore’s family too. Be pretty interesting to talk to, wouldn’t she?”

“是个食死徒，”哈利说，“小天狼星跟我说过，他年轻时候加入的，后来害怕了，想要退出——他们就杀死了他。”

There was a little too much understanding in the smile Hermione gave him for Harry’s liking. He took back the letter and the photograph and tucked them inside the pouch around his neck, so as not to have to look at her and give himself away.

“对得上啊！”赫敏叫道，“如果他是食死徒，就能接触伏地魔，他后来悔悟了，就有可能打败伏地魔！”

“I understand why you’d love to talk to her about your mum and dad, and Dumbledore too,” said Hermione. “But that wouldn’t really help us in our search for the Horcruxes, would it?” Harry did not answer, and she rushed on, “Harry, I know you really want to go to Godric’s Hollow, but I’m scared, I’m scared at how easily those Death Eaters found us yesterday. It just makes me feel more than ever that we ought to avoid the place where your parents are buried, I’m sure they’d be expecting you to visit it.”

她放开哈利，伏在栏杆上尖叫道：“罗恩！罗恩！快来啊！”

“It’s not just that,” Harry said, still avoiding looking at her. “Muriel said stuff about Dumbledore at the wedding. I want to know the truth. . . .”

一分钟后，罗恩出现了，举着魔杖，气喘吁吁。

He told Hermione everything that Muriel had told him. When he had finished, Hermione said, “Of course, I can see why that’s upset you, Harry —”

“搞什么名堂？如果又是巨蜘蛛，我可要先吃早饭——”

“I’m not upset,” he lied, “I’d just like to know whether or not it’s true or —”

赫敏指指门上雷古勒斯的牌子，罗恩皱眉端详着。

“Harry, do you really think you’ll get the truth from a malicious old woman like Muriel, or from Rita Skeeter? How can you believe them? You knew Dumbledore!”

“什么呀？这是小天狼星的弟弟，对不对？雷古勒斯·阿克图勒斯……雷古勒斯……R．A．B．！挂坠盒——你们不会认为——？”

“I thought I did,” he muttered.

“我们来查个明白。”哈利说。他推了推门，是锁着的。赫敏用魔杖指着门把手说：“阿拉霍洞开。”咔哒一声，门开了。

“But you know how much truth there was in everything Rita wrote about you! Doge is right, how can you let these people tarnish your memories of Dumbledore?”

三人跨过门槛，打量着四周，雷古勒斯的卧室比小天狼星的小一点儿，但也同样可以感到先前的富丽。小天狼星希望表现出自己与家中其他成员不同，雷古勒斯强调的则恰恰相反。斯莱特林的银色和绿色随处可见，覆盖着床、墙壁和窗户。布莱克家族饰章和永远纯粹（原文为法语）的格言精心描绘的床头，下面有许多泛黄的剪报，粘成不规则的拼贴画。赫敏走过去看了看。

He looked away, trying not to betray the resentment he felt. There it was again: Choose what to believe. He wanted the truth. Why was everybody so determined that he should not get it?

“都是关于伏地魔的，”她说，“雷古勒斯似乎是当了几年崇拜者之后成为食死徒的……”

“Shall we go down to the kitchen?” Hermione suggested after a little pause. “Find something for breakfast?”

她坐下来读剪报，床罩上扬起一小股灰尘。哈利则注意到一张照片，一支霍格沃茨魁地奇球队在像框中微笑挥手。他凑近了一些，看到了球员胸前的蛇形图案，是斯莱特林队。他一眼就找到了雷古勒斯，坐在前排中间：黑头发和略带高傲的表情，和他哥哥一样，但个子瘦小一些，不如小天狼星那么英俊。

He agreed, but grudgingly, and followed her out onto the landing and past the second door that led off it. There were deep scratch marks in the paintwork below a small sign that he had not noticed in the dark. He paused at the top of the stairs to read it. It was a pompous little sign, neatly lettered by hand, the sort of thing that Percy Weasley might have stuck on his bedroom door:

“他是找球手。”哈利说。

Do Not Enter

“什么？”赫敏茫然地问，还沉浸在伏地魔的剪报中。

Without the Express Permission of

“他坐在前排中间，那是找球手的……没什么。”哈利意识到没人在听，罗恩趴在地上查看衣柜底下。哈利寻找着可能藏东西的地方，走到桌边。然而，这里也有人搜过了，抽屉里的东西不久前翻动过，灰尘被搅乱了。可是看不到什么有价值的东西，旧羽毛笔、看上去被粗鲁翻动过的老课本，还有一只不久前打破的墨水瓶，黏稠的墨汁沾得抽屉里到处都是。

Regulus Arcturus Black

“有个轻巧的办法，”看见哈利把沾了墨汁的手往牛仔裤上擦，赫敏说。她举起魔杖念道：“挂坠盒飞来！”

Excitement trickled through Harry, but he was not immediately sure why. He read the sign again. Hermione was already a flight of stairs below him.

没有动静。罗恩刚才正在褪色的窗帘褶缝中搜寻，见状一脸失望。

“Hermione,” he said, and he was surprised that his voice was so calm. “Come back up here.”

“那就完了？不在这儿？”

“What’s the matter?”

“哦，它可能还这这儿，但被施了抵抗咒，”赫敏说道，“防止它被咒语召出，你知道。”

“R.A.B. I think I’ve found him.”

“就像伏地魔对岩洞中的石盆施的那种。”哈利说，想起了他无法召出假挂坠盒。

There was a gasp, and then Hermione ran back up the stairs.

“那我们怎么能找到它呢？”罗恩问。

“In your mum’s letter? But I didn’t see —”

“用手搜。”赫敏说。

Harry shook his head, pointing at Regulus’s sign. She read it, then clutched Harry’s arm so tightly that he winced.

“好主意。”罗恩翻了翻眼睛，继续检查他的窗帘。

“Sirius’s brother?” she whispered.

他们花了一个多小时，找遍了屋里的每一寸角落，最后被迫得出结论：挂坠盒不在这里。

“He was a Death Eater,” said Harry, “Sirius told me about him, he joined up when he was really young and then got cold feet and tried to leave — so they killed him.”

太阳已经升起，隔着楼梯口污浊的窗玻璃仍然光芒刺眼。

“That fits!” gasped Hermione. “If he was a Death Eater he had access to Voldemort, and if he became disenchanted, then he would have wanted to bring Voldemort down!”

“不过，它有可能在宅子里的其他地方。”下楼时，赫敏用鼓劲的语气说。哈利和罗恩有些气馁，她却似乎更加坚定了。“不管他是否摧毁了挂坠盒，他都不会希望伏地魔发现它，是不是？还记得我们上次来的时候有那么多可怕的机关吗？朝每个人发射螺丝钉的老爷钟，还有要把罗恩勒死的旧袍子。也许都是雷古勒斯用来掩护挂坠盒的，尽管我们当时没有意……意……”

She released Harry, leaned over the banister, and screamed, “Ron! RON! Get up here, quick!”

哈利和罗恩都望着她，赫敏一只脚悬在空中，表情好像刚刚被施了消除记忆咒，甚至眼神都散了。

Ron appeared, panting, a minute later, his wand ready in his hand.

“……意识到。”她耳语般地说。

“What’s up? If it’s massive spiders again I want breakfast before I —”

“怎么回事？”罗恩问。

He frowned at the sign on Regulus’s door, to which Hermione was silently pointing.

“是有个挂坠盒。”

“What? That was Sirius’s brother, wasn’t it? Regulus Arcturus . . . Regulus . . . R.A.B.! The locket — you don’t reckon — ?”

“什么？”哈利和罗恩齐声叫道。

“Let’s find out,” said Harry. He pushed the door: It was locked. Hermione pointed her wand at the handle and said, “Alohomora.” There was a click, and the door swung open.

“在客厅的柜子里，没人打得开，我们……我们……”

They moved over the threshold together, gazing around. Regulus’s bedroom was slightly smaller than Sirius’s, though it had the same sense of former grandeur. Whereas Sirius had sought to advertise his difference from the rest of the family, Regulus had striven to emphasize the opposite. The Slytherin colors of emerald and silver were everywhere, draping the bed, the walls, and the windows. The Black family crest was painstakingly painted over the bed, along with its motto, Toujours Pur. Beneath this was a collection of yellow newspaper cuttings, all stuck together to make a ragged collage. Hermione crossed the room to examine them.

哈利感到一块砖头朋胸口坠到肚子里。他记起来了：他还摸过一下呢，当时大家传看着那个东西，轮流尝试想把它撬开。后来它被丢进了一个垃圾袋，那里面还有装着肉瘤粉的鼻烟盒和让每个人打瞌睡的音乐盒……

“They’re all about Voldemort,” she said. “Regulus seems to have been a fan for a few years before he joined the Death Eaters. . . .”

“克利切从我们这里偷走了许多东西。”哈利说，这是最后的可能性，他们的最后一线希望，他要紧紧抓住，直到不得不放手。“他在厨房碗柜里藏了一大堆宝贝。来吧。”

A little puff of dust rose from the bedcovers as she sat down to read the clippings. Harry, meanwhile, had noticed another photograph; a Hogwarts Quidditch team was smiling and waving out of the frame. He moved closer and saw the snakes emblazoned on their chests: Slytherins. Regulus was instantly recognizable as the boy sitting in the middle of the front row: He had the same dark hair and slightly haughty look of his brother, though he was smaller, slighter, and rather less handsome than Sirius had been.

他一步两级地跑下楼梯，两个朋友噔噔噔地跟在后面。声音那么大，跑过走廊时，把小天狼星母亲的画像都吵醒了。

“He played Seeker,” said Harry.

“脏货！泥巴种！渣滓！”她在后面尖叫。三个人冲进地下的厨房，把门重重地着关上。

“What?” said Hermione vaguely; she was still immersed in Voldemort’s press clippings.

哈利冲过房间，在克利切的碗柜门前打着滑煞住了脚，拽开了门。家养小精灵睡过的那堆肮脏的旧毯子还在，可是不再闪闪发光地缀满了克利切搜集的小摆设。只有一本旧版的《生而高贵：巫师家谱》。哈利不愿相信自己的眼睛，抓起毯子抖了又抖。一只死耗子掉了出来，惨兮兮地滚到地上。罗恩呻吟了一声，倒在一张椅子上。赫敏闭上了眼睛。

“He’s sitting in the middle of the front row, that’s where the Seeker . . . Never mind,” said Harry, realizing that nobody was listening: Ron was on his hands and knees, searching under the wardrobe. Harry looked around the room for likely hiding places and approached the desk. Yet again, somebody had searched before them. The drawers’ contents had been turned over recently, the dust disturbed, but there was nothing of value there: old quills, out-of-date textbooks that bore evidence of being roughly handled, a recently smashed ink bottle, its sticky residue covering the contents of the drawer.

“还没有完，”哈利说，他提高嗓门叫道，“克利切！”

“There’s an easier way,” said Hermione, as Harry wiped his inky fingers on his jeans. She raised her wand and said, “Accio Locket!”

啪的一声，哈利极不情愿地从小天狼星名下继承的家养小精灵出现了。他站在冷冰冰、空荡荡的壁炉跟前，瘦瘦小小，只有半人高，苍白的皮肤打着褶垂下来，蝙蝠般的耳朵里冒出大量白毛。他仍穿着他们第一次见他时穿的那块肮脏的抹布，投向哈利的轻蔑眼神表明他对换主人的态度也和衣着一样没有改变。

Nothing happened. Ron, who had been searching the folds of the faded curtains, looked disappointed.

“主人，”克利切用他牛蛙嗓子嘶哑地说，低低地鞠了一躬，对着膝盖嘀咕道，“回到我女主人的老宅，带着败类韦斯莱和泥巴种——”

“Is that it, then? It’s not here?”

“我禁止你叫任何人‘败类’或是‘泥巴种’。”哈利吼道，就算这家养小精灵没有把小天狼星出卖给伏地魔，他也会觉得克利切那长长的鼻子和充血的眼睛极不可爱。

“Oh, it could still be here, but under counter-enchantments,” said Hermione. “Charms to prevent it being summoned magically, you know.”

“我有话问你，”哈利说，他低头望着小精灵，心跳加快，“我命令你如实回答，明白吗？”

“Like Voldemort put on the stone basin in the cave,” said Harry, remembering how he had been unable to Summon the fake locket.

“是，主人。”克利切说，又低低地鞠了一躬。哈利看到他的嘴唇在无声地蠕动，无疑是在默念现在禁止他说的侮辱性的话语。

“How are we supposed to find it then?” asked Ron.

“两年前，”哈利说道，心脏咚咚地撞击着肋骨，“楼上客厅里有一个挺大的金挂坠盒，被我们扔掉了，你有没有把它捡回来？”

“We search manually,” said Hermione.

片刻的沉默，克利切直起身子注视着哈利的面庞，然后说：“捡回来了。”

“That’s a good idea,” said Ron, rolling his eyes, and he resumed his examination of the curtains.

“它现在在哪儿？”哈利欣然问道，罗恩和赫敏也露出了喜色。

They combed every inch of the room for more than an hour, but were forced, finally, to conclude that the locket was not there.

克利切闭上眼睛，似乎不忍看到他们对他下一个词的反应。

The sun had risen now; its light dazzled them even through the grimy landing windows.

“没了。”

“It could be somewhere else in the house, though,” said Hermione in a rallying tone as they walked back downstairs: As Harry and Ron had become more discouraged, she seemed to have become more determined. “Whether he’d managed to destroy it or not, he’d want to keep it hidden from Voldemort, wouldn’t he? Remember all those awful things we had to get rid of when we were here last time? That clock that shot bolts at everyone and those old robes that tried to strangle Ron; Regulus might have put them there to protect the locket’s hiding place, even though we didn’t realize it at . . . at . . .”

“没了？”哈利失声叫道，喜悦一下子泄去，“你说什么，挂坠盒没了？”

Harry and Ron looked at her. She was standing with one foot in midair, with the dumbstruck look of one who had just been Obliviated; her eyes had even drifted out of focus.

小精灵哆嗦着，摇摇晃晃。

“. . . at the time,” she finished in a whisper.

“克利切，”哈利厉声说，“我命令你——”

“Something wrong?” asked Ron.

“蒙顿格斯·弗莱奇，”小精灵嘶声说，仍然紧闭双眼，“都被蒙顿格斯·弗莱奇偷走了：贝拉小姐和西茜小姐的照片、我女主人的手套、一级梅林勋章、有家族饰章的高脚杯，还有，还有——”

“There was a locket.”

克利切大口喘气，干瘪的胸脯急剧起伏，然后他睁开眼睛，发出一声令人血液凝固的尖叫。

“What?” said Harry and Ron together.

“——还有挂坠盒，雷古勒斯少爷的挂坠盒，克利切犯了错误，克利切没能执行少爷的命令！”

“In the cabinet in the drawing room. Nobody could open it. And we . . . we . . .”

哈利本能地做出反应：当克利切冲向立在炉边的拨火棍时，他扑到小精灵身上，把他压住。赫敏的尖叫声和克利切的哭喊声混在一起，但哈利的吼声比它们都响：“克利切，我命令你不许动！”

Harry felt as though a brick had slid down through his chest into his stomach. He remembered: He had even handled the thing as they passed it around, each trying in turn to prise it open. It had been tossed into a sack of rubbish, along with the snuffbox of Wartcap powder and the music box that had made everyone sleepy. . . .

他感到小精灵僵住了，才放开手。克利切直挺挺地躺在冰冷的石板地上，泪水从凹陷的眼窝里哗哗涌出。

“Kreacher nicked loads of things back from us,” said Harry. It was the only chance, the only slender hope left to them, and he was going to cling to it until forced to let go. “He had a whole stash of stuff in his cupboard in the kitchen. C’mon.”

“哈利，让他起来！”赫敏悄声说。

He ran down the stairs taking two steps at a time, the other two thundering along in his wake. They made so much noise that they woke the portrait of Sirius’s mother as they passed through the hall.

“好让他用拨火棍痛打自己？”哈利不以为然地说道，在小精灵旁边跪了下来，“我可不想。好了，克利切，我要听真话：你怎么知道蒙顿格斯·弗莱奇偷走了挂坠盒？”

“Filth! Mudbloods! Scum!” she screamed after them as they dashed down into the basement kitchen and slammed the door behind them.

“克利切看到的！”小精灵叫道，泪水顺着他的长鼻子流进咧开的嘴巴里，可以看到一口发灰的牙齿，“克利切看到他从克利切的碗柜里出来，捧的全是克利切的宝贝，克利切叫那个窃贼站住，可是蒙顿格斯·弗莱奇哈哈大笑，跑——跑……”

Harry ran the length of the room, skidded to a halt at the door of Kreacher’s cupboard, and wrenched it open. There was the nest of dirty old blankets in which the house-elf had once slept, but they were no longer glittering with the trinkets Kreacher had salvaged. The only thing there was an old copy of Nature’s Nobility: A Wizarding Genealogy. Refusing to believe his eyes, Harry snatched up the blankets and shook them. A dead mouse fell out and rolled dismally across the floor. Ron groaned as he threw himself into a kitchen chair; Hermione closed her eyes.

“你说那挂坠盒是‘雷古勒斯少爷的’，”哈利说，“为什么？它是哪儿来的？雷古勒斯跟它有什么关系？克利切，坐起来，告诉我你所知道的一切，关于那个挂坠盒，还有雷古勒斯跟它的关系！”

“It’s not over yet,” said Harry, and he raised his voice and called, “Kreacher!”

那小精灵坐起来，蜷成一团，把潮湿的面孔夹在膝盖之间，开始前后摇晃。当他开口说话时，声音低沉发闷，但在安静的、有回音的厨房里听得相当清楚。

There was a loud crack and the house-elf that Harry had so reluctantly inherited from Sirius appeared out of nowhere in front of the cold and empty fireplace: tiny, half human-sized, his pale skin hanging off him in folds, white hair sprouting copiously from his batlike ears. He was still wearing the filthy rag in which they had first met him, and the contemptuous look he bent upon Harry showed that his attitude to his change of ownership had altered no more than his outfit.

“小天狼星少爷逃走了，走了倒好，因为他是个坏孩子，他那些不守规矩的行为让我的女主人伤透了心。但雷古勒斯少爷有自尊心，他知道布莱克这个姓氏和他纯正的血统意味着什么。许多年里他经常谈到黑魔王，黑魔王要让巫师不必再躲躲藏藏，而能出来统治麻瓜和麻瓜的后代……雷古勒斯少爷十六岁时，加入了黑魔王的组织，他那么自豪，那么自豪，那么快乐，能够效力于……”

“Master,” croaked Kreacher in his bullfrog’s voice, and he bowed low, muttering to his knees, “back in my Mistress’s old house with the blood-traitor Weasley and the Mudblood —”

“一年之后，有一天，雷古勒斯少爷到厨房里来看望克利切。雷古勒斯少爷一直都喜欢克利切。雷古勒斯少爷说……他说……”

“I forbid you to call anyone ‘blood traitor’ or ‘Mudblood,’ ” growled Harry. He would have found Kreacher, with his snoutlike nose and bloodshot eyes, a distinctly unlovable object even if the elf had not betrayed Sirius to Voldemort.

年迈的小精灵摇晃得更快了。

“I’ve got a question for you,” said Harry, his heart beating rather fast as he looked down at the elf, “and I order you to answer it truthfully. Understand?”

“……他说黑魔王要一个小精灵。”

“Yes, Master,” said Kreacher, bowing low again: Harry saw his lips moving soundlessly, undoubtedly framing the insults he was now forbidden to utter.

“伏地魔要一个小精灵？”哈利问道，回头看看罗恩和赫敏，他俩也和他一样困惑。

“Two years ago,” said Harry, his heart now hammering against his ribs, “there was a big gold locket in the drawing room upstairs. We threw it out. Did you steal it back?”

“哦，是的，”克利切痛苦地说，“雷古勒斯少爷贡献了克利切。这是一种荣耀，雷古勒斯少爷说，是他本人和克利切的荣耀。克利切必须去做黑魔王要他做的一切事情……然后回——回家。”

There was a moment’s silence, during which Kreacher straightened up to look Harry full in the face. Then he said, “Yes.”

克利切摇晃得更快了，呼吸变成了抽泣。

“Where is it now?” asked Harry jubilantly as Ron and Hermione looked gleeful.

“于是克利切到了黑魔王那里。黑魔王没有告诉克利切要干什么，而是把克利切带到海边的一个山洞里。那是个大岩洞，洞中有一片黑色的大湖……”

Kreacher closed his eyes as though he could not bear to see their reactions to his next word.

哈利颈后的汗毛竖了起来，克利切嘶哑的声音似乎是从那黑色的水面上传来的。他看到了当时的情景，就像亲身经历的一样。

“Gone.”

“……有一条船……”

“Gone?” echoed Harry, elation flooding out of him. “What do you mean, it’s gone?”

当然有一条船，哈利知道那条船，幽灵般的绿色小船，被施了魔法，只能带一名巫师和一个牺牲品到湖心小岛。那么，伏地魔就是这样测试魂器的保护措施的：借助一个无足轻重的生命，一个家养小精灵……

The elf shivered. He swayed.

“岛上有一个石——石盆，盛满魔药。黑——黑魔王让克利切喝……”

“Kreacher,” said Harry fiercely, “I order you —”

小精灵浑身发抖。

“Mundungus Fletcher,” croaked the elf, his eyes still tight shut. “Mundungus Fletcher stole it all: Miss Bella’s and Miss Cissy’s pictures, my Mistress’s gloves, the Order of Merlin, First Class, the goblets with the family crest, and — and —”

“克利切喝了，喝的时候看到好多恐怖的景象……克利切的五脏六腑都着火了……克利切喊雷古勒斯少爷救救他，喊女主人，可是黑魔王只是大笑……他逼克利切喝光了魔药……他把一个挂坠盒丢进空盆中……又在盆里加满了魔药。”

Kreacher was gulping for air: His hollow chest was rising and falling rapidly, then his eyes flew open and he uttered a bloodcurdling scream.

“然后黑魔王上船走了，把克利切留在岛上……”

“— and the locket, Master Regulus’s locket, Kreacher did wrong, Kreacher failed in his orders!”

哈利能看到那一幕。他看到伏地魔苍白的蛇脸消失在黑暗中，红红的眼睛冷酷地盯着那个痛苦打滚的小精灵。那小精灵几分钟后就会死亡，当他抵抗不住那魔药烧心造成的极度干渴……但到这里，哈利的想象进行不下去了，因为他想不通克利切是怎么逃出来的。

Harry reacted instinctively: As Kreacher lunged for the poker standing in the grate, he launched himself upon the elf, flattening him. Hermione’s scream mingled with Kreacher’s, but Harry bellowed louder than both of them: “Kreacher, I order you to stay still!”

“克利切需要水，他爬到小岛边缘，去喝黑湖里的水……有许多手，死人的手，从水里伸出来把克利切拖了下去……”

He felt the elf freeze and released him. Kreacher lay flat on the cold stone floor, tears gushing from his sagging eyes.

“你是怎么逃脱的？”哈利问道，听到自己声音像耳语，他并不奇怪。

“Harry, let him up!” Hermione whispered.

克利切抬起他那丑陋的脑袋，用充血的大眼睛望着哈利。

“So he can beat himself up with the poker?” snorted Harry, kneeling beside the elf. “I don’t think so. Right, Kreacher, I want the truth: How do you know Mundungus Fletcher stole the locket?”

“雷古勒斯少爷说过要克利切回家。”他说。

“Kreacher saw him!” gasped the elf as tears poured over his snout and into his mouth full of graying teeth. “Kreacher saw him coming out of Kreacher’s cupboard with his hands full of Kreacher’s treasures. Kreacher told the sneak thief to stop, but Mundungus Fletcher laughed and r-ran. . . .”

“我知道——可是你是怎么摆脱阴尸的呢？”

“You called the locket ‘Master Regulus’s,’ ” said Harry. “Why? Where did it come from? What did Regulus have to do with it? Kreacher, sit up and tell me everything you know about that locket, and everything Regulus had to do with it!”

克利切似乎听不懂。

The elf sat up, curled into a ball, placed his wet face between his knees, and began to rock backward and forward. When he spoke, his voice was muffled but quite distinct in the silent, echoing kitchen.

“雷古勒斯少爷说过要克利切回家。”他重复道。

“Master Sirius ran away, good riddance, for he was a bad boy and broke my Mistress’s heart with his lawless ways. But Master Regulus had proper pride; he knew what was due to the name of Black and the dignity of his pure blood. For years he talked of the Dark Lord, who was going to bring the wizards out of hiding to rule the Muggles and the Muggle-borns . . . and when he was sixteen years old, Master Regulus joined the Dark Lord. So proud, so proud, so happy to serve . . .

“我知道，可是——”

“And one day, a year after he had joined, Master Regulus came down to the kitchen to see Kreacher. Master Regulus always liked Kreacher. And Master Regulus said . . . he said . . .

“哎呀，很明显是不是，哈利？”罗恩说，“他幻影移形了！”

The old elf rocked faster than ever.

“可是……你没法通过幻影显形进出那个岩洞，”哈利说，“不然邓布利多——”

“. . . he said that the Dark Lord required an elf.”

“小精灵的魔法与巫师的魔法不同，是不是？”罗恩说，“我是说，他们可以在霍格沃茨幻影显形或移形，而我们不能。”

“Voldemort needed an elf ?” Harry repeated, looking around at Ron and Hermione, who looked just as puzzled as he did.

一阵静默，哈利回味着这句话。伏地魔怎么会犯这样的错误？正当他想到这里时，赫敏说话了，声音冰冷。

“Oh yes,” moaned Kreacher. “And Master Regulus had volunteered Kreacher. It was an honor, said Master Regulus, an honor for him and for Kreacher, who must be sure to do whatever the Dark Lord ordered him to do . . . and then to c-come home.”

“当然啦，伏地魔对家养小精灵的行为是不屑一顾的，就像所有把小精灵当畜牲的纯种巫师那样……他永远不会想到小精灵也许具备他所没有的魔法。”

Kreacher rocked still faster, his breath coming in sobs.

“家养小精灵的最高法律就是主人的命令，”克利切唱歌般地说，“主人叫克利切回家，克利切就回家了……”

“So Kreacher went to the Dark Lord. The Dark Lord did not tell Kreacher what they were to do, but took Kreacher with him to a cave beside the sea. And beyond the cave there was a cavern, and in the cavern was a great black lake . . .”

“那么，你做了命令你做的事，是吗？”赫敏温和地问，“一点也没有违反命令？”

The hairs on the back of Harry’s neck stood up. Kreacher’s croaking voice seemed to come to him from across that dark water. He saw what had happened as clearly as though he had been present.

克利切点点头，摇晃得更快了。

“. . . There was a boat . . .”

“那你回来之后发生了什么？”哈利问，“当你把事情告诉主人之后，雷古勒斯怎么说？”

Of course there had been a boat; Harry knew the boat, ghostly green and tiny, bewitched so as to carry one wizard and one victim toward the island in the center. This, then, was how Voldemort had tested the defenses surrounding the Horcrux: by borrowing a disposable creature, a house-elf . . .

“雷古勒斯少爷非常担心，非常担心。”克利切嘶声叫道，“雷古勒斯叫克利切躲起来，不要离开家门。然后……过了一阵子……一天夜里，雷古勒斯少爷到碗柜来找到了克利切。雷古勒斯少爷显得怪怪的，不像平常的样子，克利切看得出他心里很乱……少爷叫克利切带他到岩洞去，就是克利切跟黑魔王去过的那个岩洞……”

“There was a b-basin full of potion on the island. The D-Dark Lord made Kreacher drink it. . . .”

于是他们就出发了，哈利能清楚地想象出，一个惊恐万分的衰老的小精灵，和那个精瘦黝黑、与小天狼星如此相像的找球手……克利切知道怎样打开地下岩洞的秘密入口，知道怎样让小船浮上来，这次是跟他热爱的雷古勒斯一起驶向那盛有魔药的小岛……

The elf quaked from head to foot.

“他让你喝了魔药？”哈利反感地问。

“Kreacher drank, and as he drank, he saw terrible things. . . . Kreacher’s insides burned. . . . Kreacher cried for Master Regulus to save him, he cried for his Mistress Black, but the Dark Lord only laughed. . . . He made Kreacher drink all the potion. . . . He dropped a locket into the empty basin. . . . He filled it with more potion.

克利切摇摇头，痛哭失声。赫敏捂住了嘴巴：她似乎猜到了什么。

“And then the Dark Lord sailed away, leaving Kreacher on the island. . . .”

“雷——雷古勒斯少爷从口袋里掏出一个挂坠盒，跟黑魔王的那个一样，”克利切说，泪水顺着他的长鼻子两边哗哗地流淌，“他叫克利切拿着它，等石盆干了之后，把挂坠盒掉换一下……”

Harry could see it happening. He watched Voldemort’s white, snakelike face vanishing into darkness, those red eyes fixed pitilessly on the thrashing elf whose death would occur within minutes, whenever he succumbed to the desperate thirst that the burning potion caused its victim. . . . But here, Harry’s imagination could go no further, for he could not see how Kreacher had escaped.

克利切的抽泣变得粗重刺耳，哈利必须全神贯注才能听懂他的话。

“Kreacher needed water, he crawled to the island’s edge and he drank from the black lake . . . and hands, dead hands, came out of the water and dragged Kreacher under the surface. . . .”

“他命令——克利切离开——不要管他。他叫克利切——回家——不许对女主人说——他做的事——但是必须摧毁——第一个挂坠盒。然后他就喝了——喝干了魔药——克利切掉换了挂坠盒——眼睁睁看着……雷古勒斯少爷……被拖到水下……然后……”

“How did you get away?” Harry asked, and he was not surprised to hear himself whispering.

“哦，克利切！”赫敏哀叫道，她哭了，跪在小精灵身边，想拥抱他。小精灵马上站了起来，直往后躲，带着明显的厌恶。

Kreacher raised his ugly head and looked at Harry with his great, bloodshot eyes.

“泥巴种碰了克利切，克利切不允许，女主人会怎么说啊？”

“Master Regulus told Kreacher to come back,” he said.

“我说过不许再叫她‘泥巴种’！”哈利吼道，可是小精灵已经在惩罚自己了：他扑倒在地，把头往地板上撞着。

“I know — but how did you escape the Inferi?”

“拦住他——拦住他！”赫敏叫起来，“哦，我们现在还看不到这是多么残忍吗，他们只能服从！”

Kreacher did not seem to understand.

“克利切——停止，停止！”哈利高喊。

“Master Regulus told Kreacher to come back,” he repeated.

小精灵躺在地上，喘着气，浑身发抖，鼻子周围亮晶晶的全是绿色黏液，苍白的额头已经肿起了一个大包，眼睛红肿充血，泪汪汪的。哈利从没见过如此可怜的景象。

“I know, but —”

“那么，你把挂坠盒带回了家，”他狠狠心继续问，决心要了解全部经过，“试着摧毁它了吗？”

“Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it, Harry?” said Ron. “He Disapparated!”

“克利切没法在它上面留下一点痕迹。”小精灵难过地说道，“克利切试了所有的办法，所有的办法，可是没有一个，没有一个成功……盒子上有那么多强大的魔法，克利切相信只有从里面才能摧毁它，可是它打不开……克利切惩罚自己，重新再试，又惩罚自己，重新重试。克利切没能执行命令，克利切摧毁不了挂坠盒！女主人悲伤得发了疯，因为雷古勒斯少爷失踪了，克利切不能告诉她发生了什么，不能，因为雷古勒斯少爷禁——禁止他对家——家里人说岩——岩洞里的事……”

“But . . . you couldn’t Apparate in and out of that cave,” said Harry, “otherwise Dumbledore —”

克利切泣不成声，赫敏望着克利切，也泪流满面，可是不敢再碰他。就连对克利切毫无好感的罗恩也显得有些不安。哈利跪坐起来，甩甩头，想让脑子清楚一些。

“Elf magic isn’t like wizard’s magic, is it?” said Ron. “I mean, they can Apparate and Disapparate in and out of Hogwarts when we can’t.”

“我搞不懂你，克利切，”他开口道，“伏地魔想害死你，雷古勒斯又为打败伏地魔而死，可你却甘愿把小天狼星出卖给伏地魔？甘愿到纳西莎和贝拉特里克斯那里，给伏地魔通风报信……”

There was silence as Harry digested this. How could Voldemort have made such a mistake? But even as he thought this, Hermione spoke, and her voice was icy.

“哈利，克利切不是那么想的，”赫敏用手背擦着眼睛说，“他是个奴隶，家养小精灵受惯了粗鲁的，甚至残暴的待遇。伏地魔对克利切做的事情并不那么罕见。巫师间的战争对克利切这样的小精灵有什么意义呢？他只是忠于对他好的人，布莱克夫人想必是如此，雷古勒斯当然也是，所以他心甘情愿为他们效命，并完全接受了他们的信仰。我知道你要说什么，”哈利正待争辩，她已经说道，“雷古勒斯思想转变了……但他似乎并未向克利切解释，是不是？我想我知道为什么。保持纯血统的老观念，克利切和雷古勒斯的家人都会更安全，雷古勒斯是想保护他们。”

“Of course, Voldemort would have considered the ways of houseelves far beneath his notice, just like all the purebloods who treat them like animals. . . . It would never have occurred to him that they might have magic that he didn’t.”

“小天狼星——”

“The house-elf ’s highest law is his Master’s bidding,” intoned Kreacher. “Kreacher was told to come home, so Kreacher came home. . . .”

“小天狼星对克利切态度很恶劣，哈利。那样看着我也没有用，你知道这是事实。小天狼星住到这里来时，克利切已经独自生活了很长时间，他也许正渴望一点温情，我相信‘西茜小姐’和‘贝拉小姐’对克利切相当亲切，于是他便愿意帮忙，说出了她们想知道的一切。我一直说巫师要为他们对待家养小精灵的方式付出代价，看，伏地魔付出了代价……还有小天狼星。”

“Well, then, you did what you were told, didn’t you?” said Hermione kindly. “You didn’t disobey orders at all!”

哈利无言反驳，看着克利切躺在地上哭泣，他想起邓布利多在小天狼星刚刚去世几小时后说的话：我认为小天狼星从没把克利切看作是跟人类拥有同样敏感情绪的一种生物……

Kreacher shook his head, rocking as fast as ever.

“克利切，”过了一会儿哈利说道，“当你觉得可以的时候，嗯……请坐起来。”

“So what happened when you got back?” Harry asked. “What did Regulus say when you told him what had happened?”

好几分钟后，克利切才打着嗝安静下来。他撑着坐了起来，像小孩子似的用拳头揉着眼睛。

“Master Regulus was very worried, very worried,” croaked Kreacher. “Master Regulus told Kreacher to stay hidden and not to leave the house. And then . . . it was a little while later . . . Master Regulus came to find Kreacher in his cupboard one night, and Master Regulus was strange, not as he usually was, disturbed in his mind, Kreacher could tell . . . and he asked Kreacher to take him to the cave, the cave where Kreacher had gone with the Dark Lord. . . .”

“克利切，我要请你做一件事。”哈利说，望了望赫敏，希望得到支持。他想把命令说得和蔼些，但又不能假装这不是个命令。不过，他语气的变化似乎赢得了她的赞成，她鼓励地微笑着。

And so they had set off. Harry could visualize them quite clearly, the frightened old elf and the thin, dark Seeker who had so resembled Sirius. . . . Kreacher knew how to open the concealed entrance to the underground cavern, knew how to raise the tiny boat; this time it was his beloved Regulus who sailed with him to the island with its basin of poison. . . .

“克利切，我要请你，去找到蒙顿格斯·弗莱奇。我们需要查明那个挂坠盒——雷古勒斯少爷的挂坠盒在那儿。这真的很重要。我们想完成雷古勒斯少爷未完成的事。我们想——嗯——想确保他没有白死。”

“And he made you drink the potion?” said Harry, disgusted.

克利切放下拳头，抬头望着哈利。

But Kreacher shook his head and wept. Hermione’s hands leapt to her mouth: She seemed to have understood something.

“找到蒙顿格斯·弗莱奇？”他嘶哑地说。

“M-Master Regulus took from his pocket a locket like the one the Dark Lord had,” said Kreacher, tears pouring down either side of his snoutlike nose. “And he told Kreacher to take it and, when the basin was empty, to switch the lockets. . . .”

“把他带到格里莫广场来，”哈利说，“你觉得能为我们办这件事吗？”

Kreacher’s sobs came in great rasps now; Harry had to concentrate hard to understand him.

克利切点点头，爬了起来。哈利灵机一动，掏出海格送的皮袋子，取出那个假魂器，那个冒牌的挂坠盒，里面有雷古勒斯给伏地魔的字条。

“And he ordered — Kreacher to leave — without him. And he told Kreacher — to go home — and never to tell my Mistress — what he had done — but to destroy — the first locket. And he drank — all the potion — and Kreacher swapped the lockets — and watched . . . as Master Regulus . . . was dragged beneath the water . . . and . . .”

“克利切，我，呃，希望你收下这个，”他把挂坠盒塞进小精灵手中，“这是雷古勒斯的，我相信他会愿意把它给你，以感谢你——”

“Oh, Kreacher!” wailed Hermione, who was crying. She dropped to her knees beside the elf and tried to hug him. At once he was on his feet, cringing away from her, quite obviously repulsed.

“过头了，伙计。”罗恩说，小精灵一看到挂坠盒，发出一声又是吃惊又是痛苦的号叫，再次瘫倒在地。

“The Mudblood touched Kreacher, he will not allow it, what would his Mistress say?”

他们花了将近半个小时才使克利切平静下来，自己竟能得到一件布莱克家族的遗物，小精灵激动得膝盖发软，站都站不住了。当他终于能蹒跚几步时，他们陪他走到碗柜前，看着他把挂坠盒仔细地藏在脏毯子里，并向他保证说，他离开期间他们一定会好好保护它。小精灵分别向哈利和罗恩低低地鞠了一躬，甚至朝赫敏滑稽地抽搐了一下，也许是试图行一个礼，随后便在熟悉的啪的一声中幻影移形了。

“I told you not to call her ‘Mudblood’!” snarled Harry, but the elf was already punishing himself: He fell to the ground and banged his forehead on the floor.

“Stop him — stop him!” Hermione cried. “Oh, don’t you see now how sick it is, the way they’ve got to obey?”

“Kreacher — stop, stop!” shouted Harry.

The elf lay on the floor, panting and shivering, green mucus glistening around his snout, a bruise already blooming on his pallid forehead where he had struck himself, his eyes swollen and bloodshot and swimming in tears. Harry had never seen anything so pitiful.

“So you brought the locket home,” he said relentlessly, for he was determined to know the full story. “And you tried to destroy it?”

“Nothing Kreacher did made any mark upon it,” moaned the elf. “Kreacher tried everything, everything he knew, but nothing, nothing would work. . . . So many powerful spells upon the casing, Kreacher was sure the way to destroy it was to get inside it, but it would not open. . . . Kreacher punished himself, he tried again, he punished himself, he tried again. Kreacher failed to obey orders, Kreacher could not destroy the locket! And his Mistress was mad with grief, because Master Regulus had disappeared, and Kreacher could not tell her what had happened, no, because Master Regulus had f-f-forbidden him to tell any of the f-f-family what happened in the c-cave. . . .”

Kreacher began to sob so hard that there were no more coherent words. Tears flowed down Hermione’s cheeks as she watched Kreacher, but she did not dare touch him again. Even Ron, who was no fan of Kreacher’s, looked troubled. Harry sat back on his heels and shook his head, trying to clear it.

“I don’t understand you, Kreacher,” he said finally. “Voldemort tried to kill you, Regulus died to bring Voldemort down, but you were still happy to betray Sirius to Voldemort? You were happy to go to Narcissa and Bellatrix, and pass information to Voldemort through them. . . .”

“Harry, Kreacher doesn’t think like that,” said Hermione, wiping her eyes on the back of her hand. “He’s a slave; house-elves are used to bad, even brutal treatment; what Voldemort did to Kreacher wasn’t that far out of the common way. What do wizard wars mean to an elf like Kreacher? He’s loyal to people who are kind to him, and Mrs. Black must have been, and Regulus certainly was, so he served them willingly and parroted their beliefs. I know what you’re going to say,” she went on as Harry began to protest, “that Regulus changed his mind . . . but he doesn’t seem to have explained that to Kreacher, does he? And I think I know why. Kreacher and Regulus’s family were all safer if they kept to the old pure-blood line. Regulus was trying to protect them all.”

“Sirius —”

“Sirius was horrible to Kreacher, Harry, and it’s no good looking like that, you know it’s true. Kreacher had been alone for a long time when Sirius came to live here, and he was probably starving for a bit of affection. I’m sure ‘Miss Cissy’ and ‘Miss Bella’ were perfectly lovely to Kreacher when he turned up, so he did them a favor and told them everything they wanted to know. I’ve said all along that wizards would pay for how they treat house-elves. Well, Voldemort did . . . and so did Sirius.”

Harry had no retort. As he watched Kreacher sobbing on the floor, he remembered what Dumbledore had said to him, mere hours after Sirius’s death: I do not think Sirius ever saw Kreacher as a being with feelings as acute as a human’s. . . .

“Kreacher,” said Harry after a while, “when you feel up to it, er . . . please sit up.”

It was several minutes before Kreacher hiccuped himself into silence. Then he pushed himself into a sitting position again, rubbing his knuckles into his eyes like a small child.

“Kreacher, I am going to ask you to do something,” said Harry. He glanced at Hermione for assistance. He wanted to give the order kindly, but at the same time, he could not pretend that it was not an order. However, the change in his tone seemed to have gained her approval: She smiled encouragingly.

“Kreacher, I want you, please, to go and find Mundungus Fletcher. We need to find out where the locket — where Master Regulus’s locket is. It’s really important. We want to finish the work Master Regulus started, we want to — er — ensure that he didn’t die in vain.”

Kreacher dropped his fists and looked up at Harry.

“Find Mundungus Fletcher?” he croaked.

“And bring him here, to Grimmauld Place,” said Harry. “Do you think you could do that for us?”

As Kreacher nodded and got to his feet, Harry had a sudden inspiration. He pulled out Hagrid’s purse and took out the fake Horcrux, the substitute locket in which Regulus had placed the note to Voldemort.

“Kreacher, I’d, er, like you to have this,” he said, pressing the locket into the elf ’s hand. “This belonged to Regulus and I’m sure he’d want you to have it as a token of gratitude for what you —”

“Overkill, mate,” said Ron as the elf took one look at the locket, let out a howl of shock and misery, and threw himself back onto the ground.

It took them nearly half an hour to calm down Kreacher, who was so overcome to be presented with a Black family heirloom for his very own that he was too weak at the knees to stand properly. When finally he was able to totter a few steps they all accompanied him to his cupboard, watched him tuck up the locket safely in his dirty blankets, and assured him that they would make its protection their first priority while he was away. He then made two low bows to Harry and Ron, and even gave a funny little spasm in Hermione’s direction that might have been an attempt at a respectful salute, before Disapparating with the usual loud crack.