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哈利·波特与密室
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

英文中文双语对照双语交替

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CHAPTER THIRTEEN THE VERY SECRET DIARY

第十三章　绝密日记

Hermione remained in the hospital wing for several weeks. There was a flurry of rumor about her disappearance when the rest of the school arrived back from their Christmas holidays, because of course everyone thought that she had been attacked. So many students filed past the hospital wing trying to catch a glimpse of her that Madam Pomfrey took out her curtains again and placed them around Hermione’s bed, to spare her the shame of being seen with a furry face.

赫敏在医院病房里住了几个星期。别的同学过完圣诞节回到学校后，对她的失踪议论纷纷，大家都理所当然地以为她遭到了攻击。所以，学生们排着队走过医院病房，想看她一眼。庞弗雷夫人不得不再次取出她的布帘子，挂在赫敏的病床周围，不让别人看见她毛茸茸的脸，免得她感到羞愧难当。

Harry and Ron went to visit her every evening. When the new term started, they brought her each day’s homework.

哈利和罗恩每天晚上都去看她。新学期开始后，他们把每天的家庭作业带给她。

“If I’d sprouted whiskers, I’d take a break from work,” said Ron, tipping a stack of books onto Hermione’s bedside table one evening.

“如果我的腮帮子上长出胡子，我也就可以体息休息，不用做功课了。”一天晚上，罗恩说着把一大堆书放在赫敏病床边的桌上。

“Don’t be silly, Ron, I’ve got to keep up,” said Hermione briskly. Her spirits were greatly improved by the fact that all the hair had gone from her face and her eyes were turning slowly back to brown. “I don’t suppose you’ve got any new leads?” she added in a whisper, so that Madam Pomfrey couldn’t hear her.

“别说傻话了，罗恩，我必须把功课赶上去。”赫敏轻快地说。她脸上的毛都消失了，眼睛也慢慢地重新变成褐色，这使她的情绪大大好转。“你们大概没有得到什么新的线索吧？”她又压低声音问，以免庞弗雷夫人听见。

“Nothing,” said Harry gloomily.

“没有。”哈利沮丧地说。

“I was so sure it was Malfoy,” said Ron, for about the hundredth time.

“我可以肯定就是马尔福。”罗恩说，这是他第一百次说这句话了。

“What’s that?” asked Harry, pointing to something gold sticking out from under Hermione’s pillow.

“那是什么？”哈利问，指着赫敏枕头下面伸出来的一个金色的东西。

“Just a get well card,” said Hermione hastily, trying to poke it out of sight, but Ron was too quick for her. He pulled it out, flicked it open, and read aloud:

“一张问候卡。”赫敏赶忙说，想把它塞进去，不想让他们看。可是罗恩出手比她快得多。他一把抽出卡片，打开来大声念道：致格兰杰小姐，希望你早日康复，关心你的教师吉德罗洛哈特教授，梅林爵士团三级勋章，反黑魔法联盟荣誉会员，五次荣获《巫师周刊》最迷人微笑奖。

“To Miss Granger, wishing you a speedy recovery, from your concerned teacher, Professor Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defense League, and fivetime winner of Witch Weekly’s Most-Charming-Smile Award.”

罗恩抬头看着赫敏，一脸厌恶的神情。

Ron looked up at Hermione, disgusted.

“你把这放在枕头底下睡觉？”

“You sleep with this under your pillow?”

赫敏用不着回答他了，因为庞弗雷夫人端着她晚上要吃的药匆匆走来。

But Hermione was spared answering by Madam Pomfrey sweeping over with her evening dose of medicine.

“洛哈特是不是你见过的最会溜须拍马的家伙？”罗恩问道，和哈利离开宿舍，开始上楼到城堡去。

“Is Lockhart the smarmiest bloke you’ve ever met, or what?” Ron said to Harry as they left the infirmary and started up the stairs toward Gryffindor Tower. Snape had given them so much homework, Harry thought he was likely to be in the sixth year before he finished it. Ron was just saying he wished he had asked Hermione how many rat tails you were supposed to add to a HairRaising Potion when an angry outburst from the floor above reached their ears.

斯内普给他们布置了一大堆家庭作业，哈利简直以为他要一直到六年级才能做完。罗恩正要说他真后悔没有问问赫敏，应该往生发药剂里加多少根老鼠尾巴才管用，突然他们听见楼上传来一个人愤怒的喊叫。

“That’s Filch,” Harry muttered as they hurried up the stairs and paused, out of sight, listening hard.

“是费尔奇。”哈利低声说。

“You don’t think someone else’s been attacked?” said Ron tensely.

他们三步两步奔上楼梯，躲在别人看不见的地方，侧耳细听。

They stood still, their heads inclined toward Filch’s voice, which sounded quite hysterical.

“你认为会不会又有人遭到攻击了？”罗恩紧张地问。

“— even more work for me! Mopping all night, like I haven’t got enough to do! No, this is the final straw, I’m going to Dumbledore —”

他们一动不动地站着，把头朝费尔奇声音的方向探去，那声音简直有些歇斯底里了。

His footsteps receded along the out-of-sight corridor and they heard a distant door slam.

“……又来给我添麻烦了！拖地拖了整整一晚上，就好像我的活儿还不够干的！不行，这实在令人无法忍受，我要去找邓布利多……”费尔奇的脚步声渐渐隐去，他们听见远处传来猛烈的关门声。

They poked their heads around the corner. Filch had clearly been manning his usual lookout post: They were once again on the spot where Mrs. Norris had been attacked. They saw at a glance what Filch had been shouting about. A great flood of water stretched over half the corridor, and it looked as though it was still seeping from under the door of Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom. Now that Filch had stopped shouting, they could hear Myrtle’s wails echoing off the bathroom walls.

他们从拐角处探出脑袋。费尔奇显然是在他平常的地方站岗放哨。他们又来到了洛丽丝夫人遭到攻击的地方。他们一眼就看出费尔奇为什么大喊大叫了。一大摊水蔓延了半个走廊，看样子，水还在源源不断地从哭泣的桃金娘的盥洗室的门缝下面渗出来。现在费尔奇不再吼叫了，他们就听见桃金娘的哭喊声在盥洗室的四壁间回荡。

“Now what’s up with her?” said Ron.

“她这又是怎么啦？”罗恩说。

“Let’s go and see,” said Harry, and holding their robes over their ankles they stepped through the great wash of water to the door bearing its out of order sign, ignored it as always, and entered.

“我们过去看看。”哈利说，于是他们把长袍提到脚脖子以上，蹬着汹涌蔓延的积水，走向挂着“故障”告示的房门。他们像平常一样，对这个告示视而不见，径直走了进去。

Moaning Myrtle was crying, if possible, louder and harder than ever before. She seemed to be hiding down her usual toilet. It was dark in the bathroom because the candles had been extinguished in the great rush of water that had left both walls and floor soaking wet.

哭泣的桃金娘哭喊的声音居然比以前还更加响亮、凄厉，这真是令人不敢相信。她似乎藏在她惯常的那个抽水马桶里。盥洗室里光线昏暗，因为喷涌的水浇灭了蜡烛，并使墙壁和地板都一片潮湿。

“What’s up, Myrtle?” said Harry.

“怎么回事，桃金娘？”哈利问。

“Who’s that?” glugged Myrtle miserably. “Come to throw something else at me?”

“你是谁？”桃金娘惨兮兮地用汩汩的声音说道，“又要用东西砸我？”

Harry waded across to her stall and said, “Why would I throw something at you?”

哈利水向她的单间走去，说道：“我为什么要用东西砸你？”

“Don’t ask me,” Myrtle shouted, emerging with a wave of yet more water, which splashed onto the already sopping floor. “Here I am, minding my own business, and someone thinks it’s funny to throw a book at me. . . .”

“别问我，”桃金娘大喊一声冒了出来，又喷出一股更大的水流，泼溅在已经湿透了的地板上，“我在这里待得好好儿的，考虑自己的问题，有人觉得往我身上扔一本书怪好玩的……”

“But it can’t hurt you if someone throws something at you,” said Harry, reasonably. “I mean, it’d just go right through you, wouldn’t it?”

“即使有人扔东西砸你，也不会把你砸痛啊。”哈利很理智地说，“我的意思是，那东西可以径直从你身上穿过，是不是？”

He had said the wrong thing. Myrtle puffed herself up and shrieked, “Let’s all throw books at Myrtle, because she can’t feel it! Ten points if you can get it through her stomach! Fifty points if it goes through her head! Well, ha, ha, ha! What a lovely game, I don’t think!”

哈利说错了话。桃金娘一下子使自己膨胀起来，尖声叫道：“让大家都用书砸桃金娘吧，因为她根本感觉不到！如果你们用书投中了她的肚子，得十分！如果投中了她的脑袋，得五十分！很好，哈哈，哈哈！多么可爱的游戏，我看不见得！”

“Who threw it at you, anyway?” asked Harry.

“那么是谁用书砸你的？”哈利问。

“I don’t know. . . . I was just sitting in the U-bend, thinking about death, and it fell right through the top of my head,” said Myrtle, glaring at them. “It’s over there, it got washed out. . . .”

“我不知道……当时我坐在马桶圈上，想着死亡，那本书就突然从我脑袋上落了下来。”桃金娘狠狠地瞪着他们，说道。“就在那儿呢，全被水泡烂了。”

Harry and Ron looked under the sink where Myrtle was pointing. A small, thin book lay there. It had a shabby black cover and was as wet as everything else in the bathroom. Harry stepped forward to pick it up, but Ron suddenly flung out an arm to hold him back.

哈利和罗恩顺着桃金娘指的方向，朝水池下面一看，只见一本小小的、薄薄的书躺在地上。破破烂烂的黑色封皮，和盥洗室的每件东西一样，完全湿透了。哈利上前一步，想把它捡起来，可是罗恩突然伸出一只手臂，把他拉住了。

“What?” said Harry.

“怎么？”哈利问。

“Are you crazy?” said Ron. “It could be dangerous.”

“你疯了吗？”罗恩说，“可能有危险。”

“Dangerous?” said Harry, laughing. “Come off it, how could it be dangerous?”

“危险？”哈利说着，笑了起来，“别胡扯了，怎么可能有危险呢？”

“You’d be surprised,” said Ron, who was looking apprehensively at the book. “Some of the books the Ministry’s confiscated — Dad’s told me — there was one that burned your eyes out. And everyone who read Sonnets of a Sorcerer spoke in limericks for the rest of their lives. And some old witch in Bath had a book that you could never stop reading! You just had to wander around with your nose in it, trying to do everything one-handed. And —”

“说出来你会感到吃惊的，”罗恩说，恐惧地看着那本书，“我爸告诉我，有些被魔法部没收的书，其中有一本会把你的眼睛烧瞎。凡是读过《巫师的十四行诗》这本书的人，一辈子都只能用五行打油诗说话。巴斯的一位老巫师有一本书，你一看就永远也放不下来！你走到哪儿都把脸埋在书里，只好学着用一只手做所有的事情。还有——”

“All right, I’ve got the point,” said Harry.

“好了，我已经明白了。”哈利说。

The little book lay on the floor, nondescript and soggy.

那本小书躺在地板上，湿乎乎的，模糊不清。

“Well, we won’t find out unless we look at it,” he said, and he ducked around Ron and picked it up off the floor.

“可是，我们只有看了才会知道啊。”他说，一低头绕过罗恩，把书从地板上捡了起来。

Harry saw at once that it was a diary, and the faded year on the cover told him it was fifty years old. He opened it eagerly. On the first page he could just make out the name “T. M. Riddle” in smudged ink.

哈利一眼就看出这是一本日记，封皮上已经褪了色的日期表明它是五十年前的。哈和急切地翻开，在第一页上，只能认出一个用模糊不清的墨水写的名字：汤里德尔。

“Hang on,” said Ron, who had approached cautiously and was looking over Harry’s shoulder. “I know that name. . . . T. M. Riddle got an award for special services to the school fifty years ago.”

“慢着。”罗恩说，“我知道这个名字……里德尔五十年前获得了对学校的特殊贡献奖。”他已经小心翼翼地靠上前来，从哈利身后望着日记。

“How on earth d’you know that?” said Harry in amazement.

“你怎么会知道的？”哈利诧异地问。

“Because Filch made me polish his shield about fifty times in detention,” said Ron resentfully. “That was the one I burped slugs all over. If you’d wiped slime off a name for an hour, you’d remember it, too.”

“因为费尔奇罚我留校劳动，叫我给他擦奖牌，擦了有大约五十次呢。”罗恩忿忿不平地说，“我那天打嗝把鼻涕虫弄在上面了，我得把它们擦干净。如果你花整整一个小时擦掉一个名字上的黏液，你也会记住这个名字的。”

Harry peeled the wet pages apart. They were completely blank. There wasn’t the faintest trace of writing on any of them, not even Auntie Mabel’s birthday, or dentist, half-past three.

哈利撕开潮湿的纸页。一页一页完全是空白，没有丝毫写过字的痕迹，就连“梅布尔姨妈过生日”或“三点半看牙医”之类的字样都没有。

“He never wrote in it,” said Harry, disappointed.

“他一个字也没写。”哈利失望地说。

“I wonder why someone wanted to flush it away?” said Ron curiously.

“我不明白为什么有人要把它扔掉。”罗恩好奇地说。

Harry turned to the back cover of the book and saw the printed name of a variety store on Vauxhall Road, London.

哈利翻到封底，看见上面印着伦敦沃克斯霍尔路一位报刊经售人的名字。

“He must’ve been Muggle-born,” said Harry thoughtfully. “To have bought a diary from Vauxhall Road. . . .”

“里德尔一定是一个麻瓜，”哈利若有所思地说，“所以才会在沃克斯霍尔路买日记本……”

“Well, it’s not much use to you,” said Ron. He dropped his voice. “Fifty points if you can get it through Myrtle’s nose.”

“好啦，反正对你也没有多大用处。”罗恩说，放低声音，“如果你能用它投中桃金娘的鼻子，能得五十分。”

Harry, however, pocketed it. Hermione left the hospital wing, de-whiskered, tail-less, and furfree, at the beginning of February. On her first evening back in Gryffindor Tower, Harry showed her T. M. Riddle’s diary and told her the story of how they had found it.

然而，哈利却把日记放进了口袋。

“Oooh, it might have hidden powers,” said Hermione enthusiastically, taking the diary and looking at it closely.

二月初，赫敏出院了，她胡须没有了，尾巴没有了，浑身的猫毛也没有了。她回到格兰芬多城堡的第一天晚上，哈利就把汤里德尔的日记拿给她看了，并原原本本地对她讲了他们找到这本日记的经过。

“If it has, it’s hiding them very well,” said Ron. “Maybe it’s shy. I don’t know why you don’t chuck it, Harry.”

“哦，它里面可能藏着法术呢。”赫敏兴奋地说，接过日记，仔细地看着。

“I wish I knew why someone did try to chuck it,” said Harry. “I wouldn’t mind knowing how Riddle got an award for special services to Hogwarts either.”

“如果真是这样，倒隐藏得很巧妙。”罗恩说道，“也许它是不好意思见人吧。我不明白为什么你不把它扔掉，哈利。”

“Could’ve been anything,” said Ron. “Maybe he got thirty O.W.L.s or saved a teacher from the giant squid. Maybe he murdered Myrtle; that would’ve done everyone a favor. . . .”

“我希望知道为什么有人想把它扔掉。”哈利说，“另外，我还很想了解里德尔是如何获得对霍格沃茨的特殊贡献奖的。”

But Harry could tell from the arrested look on Hermione’s face that she was thinking what he was thinking.

“什么都有可能，”罗恩说，“也许他抓住了三十只猫头鹰，或者从大鱿鱼的巨爪下救出了一位老师。也许他谋杀了桃金娘，那一定使大家都感到称心如意……”

“What?” said Ron, looking from one to the other.

可是哈利看到赫敏脸上专注的神色，知道她正在转着和自己同样的念头。

“Well, the Chamber of Secrets was opened fifty years ago, wasn’t it?” he said. “That’s what Malfoy said.”

“怎么？”罗恩说，望望哈利，又望望赫敏。

“Yeah . . .” said Ron slowly.

“是这样，密室是五十年前被打开的，是不是？”赫敏说，“马尔福是这么说的。”

“And this diary is fifty years old,” said Hermione, tapping it excitedly.

“是啊……”罗恩慢悠悠地说。

“So?”

“这本日记也是五十年前的。”赫敏激动地拍着日记。

“Oh, Ron, wake up,” snapped Hermione. “We know the person who opened the Chamber last time was expelled fifty years ago. We know T. M. Riddle got an award for special services to the school fifty years ago. Well, what if Riddle got his special award for catching the Heir of Slytherin? His diary would probably tell us everything — where the Chamber is, and how to open it, and what sort of creature lives in it — the person who’s behind the attacks this time wouldn’t want that lying around, would they?”

“那又怎么样？”

“That’s a brilliant theory, Hermione,” said Ron, “with just one tiny little flaw. There’s nothing written in his diary.”

“哦，罗恩，你醒醒吧。”赫敏毫不客气地说道，“你知道，上次打开密室的那个人是五十年前被开除的。我们知道，汤里德尔是五十年前获得了对学校的特殊贡献奖。那么，里德尔会不会是因为抓住了斯菜特林的继承人而获奖的呢？他的日记很可能会把一切都告诉我们——密室在哪里，怎样打开，里面关着什么样的动物。这次制造这些攻击行为的那个人，不会希望这本日记到处乱放的，是吗？”

But Hermione was pulling her wand out of her bag.

“是个绝妙的推理，赫敏，”罗恩说，“只有一点儿美中不足。他的日记里什么也没写。”

“It might be invisible ink!” she whispered.

赫敏从她的书包里抽出魔杖。

She tapped the diary three times and said, “Aparecium!”

“也许是隐形墨水！”她小声说。

Nothing happened. Undaunted, Hermione shoved her hand back into her bag and pulled out what appeared to be a bright red eraser.

她用魔杖敲了日记三下，说道：“急急现形！”

“It’s a Revealer, I got it in Diagon Alley,” she said.

没有反应。赫敏毫不气馁，又把手伸进书包，掏出一个东西，像一块鲜红色的橡皮。“这是显形橡皮，我在对角巷弄到的。”她说。她在“一月一日”上面使劲地擦，结果什么也没有出现。

She rubbed hard on January first. Nothing happened.

“告诉你吧，你不会在这里面发现什么的。”罗恩说，“里德尔就是圣诞节得到了一个日记本，不高兴花工夫在上面写东西。”

“I’m telling you, there’s nothing to find in there,” said Ron. “Riddle just got a diary for Christmas and couldn’t be bothered filling it in.” Harry couldn’t explain, even to himself, why he didn’t just throw Riddle’s diary away. The fact was that even though he knew the diary was blank, he kept absentmindedly picking it up and turning the pages, as though it were a story he wanted to finish. And while Harry was sure he had never heard the name T. M. Riddle before, it still seemed to mean something to him, almost as though Riddle was a friend he’d had when he was very small, and had halfforgotten. But this was absurd. He’d never had friends before Hogwarts, Dudley had made sure of that.

哈利甚至对自己也无法解释，他为什么不把里德尔的日记一扔了之。实际的情况是，他尽管知道日记里是空的，却总是若有所思地把它拿起来，一页页地翻着，就好像这是一个故事，他希望能有一个结局。哈利虽然肯定自己以前从未听说过汤里德尔这个名字，但心里总觉得这名字对他意味着一些什么，就仿佛里德尔是他小时候的一个朋友，已经被他淡忘。然而这是荒唐的。他在来霍格沃茨之前一个朋友也没有，德思礼夫妇决不肯让他交朋友。

Nevertheless, Harry was determined to find out more about Riddle, so next day at break, he headed for the trophy room to examine Riddle’s special award, accompanied by an interested Hermione and a thoroughly unconvinced Ron, who told them he’d seen enough of the trophy room to last him a lifetime.

尽管如此，哈利还是决定多了解一些里德尔的情况。

Riddle’s burnished gold shield was tucked away in a corner cabinet. It didn’t carry details of why it had been given to him (“Good thing, too, or it’d be even bigger and I’d still be polishing it,” said Ron). However, they did find Riddle’s name on an old Medal for Magical Merit, and on a list of old Head Boys.

第二天课间休息时，他朝奖品陈列室走去，想仔细看看里德尔的特别奖牌。他后面跟着兴趣盎然的赫敏，以及完全抱着怀疑态度的罗恩。罗恩对他们说，他对奖品陈列室早就看腻了，一辈子不想再看。

“He sounds like Percy,” said Ron, wrinkling his nose in disgust. “Prefect, Head Boy . . . probably top of every class —”

里德尔的那个擦得锃亮的金色奖牌，收在墙角的一只陈列柜里。它上面并没有详细说明为什么要颁发给里德尔。（“幸亏如此，不然奖牌就更大了，我擦到现在都擦不完呢。”罗恩说。）不过，他们在一枚旧的优秀品德奖章和一份昔日的男生学生会主席名单上，都发现了里德尔的名字。

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” said Hermione in a slightly hurt voice. The sun had now begun to shine weakly on Hogwarts again. Inside the castle, the mood had grown more hopeful. There had been no more attacks since those on Justin and Nearly Headless Nick, and Madam Pomfrey was pleased to report that the Mandrakes were becoming moody and secretive, meaning that they were fast leaving childhood.

“听起来他很像珀西，”罗恩说着，厌恶地皱起鼻子，“级长，男生学生会主席——也许还是门门功课第一。”

“The moment their acne clears up, they’ll be ready for repotting again,” Harry heard her telling Filch kindly one afternoon. “And after that, it won’t be long until we’re cutting them up and stewing them. You’ll have Mrs. Norris back in no time.”

“听你说话的口气，似乎这是一件不好的事情。”赫敏以一种略微受到伤害的声音说。

Perhaps the Heir of Slytherin had lost his or her nerve, thought Harry. It must be getting riskier and riskier to open the Chamber of Secrets, with the school so alert and suspicious. Perhaps the monster, whatever it was, was even now settling itself down to hibernate for another fifty years. . . .

现在，太阳又开始微弱地照耀霍格沃茨了。在城堡里，人们的情绪变得乐观起来。自从贾斯廷和差点没头的尼克之后，没有再发生攻击事件。庞弗雷夫人很高兴地报告说，曼德拉草变得喜怒无常和沉默寡言了，这就是说，它们正在迅速脱离童年时代。

Ernie Macmillan of Hufflepuff didn’t take this cheerful view. He was still convinced that Harry was the guilty one, that he had “given himself away” at the Dueling Club. Peeves wasn’t helping matters; he kept popping up in the crowded corridors singing “Oh, Potter, you rotter . . .” now with a dance routine to match.

“只要它们的粉刺一痊愈，就可以重新移植了。”一天下午，哈利听见她温和地对费尔奇说道。“然后，用不了多久，我们就可以把它们割下来，放在火上熬。你的洛丽丝夫人很快就会回来了。”

Gilderoy Lockhart seemed to think he himself had made the attacks stop. Harry overheard him telling Professor McGonagall so while the Gryffindors were lining up for Transfiguration.

斯莱特林的继承人也许已经失去了勇气，哈利心想。全校的师生都提高了警惕，整天疑神疑鬼，这时候要打开密室，风险一定越来越大。也许那怪物——不管是什么怪物，现在已经安稳下来，准备再冬眠五十年……

“I don’t think there’ll be any more trouble, Minerva,” he said, tapping his nose knowingly and winking. “I think the Chamber has been locked for good this time. The culprit must have known it was only a matter of time before I caught him. Rather sensible to stop now, before I came down hard on him.

赫奇帕奇的厄尼却不赞成这种令人愉快的观点。他仍然相信哈利才是罪魁祸首，在决斗俱乐部里“不小心露出了狐狸尾巴”。皮皮鬼也没有起好作用：他总是突然出现在拥挤的走廊上，放声大唱“哦，波特，你这个讨厌鬼……”，而且现在还配上了固定的舞蹈动作。

“You know, what the school needs now is a morale-booster. Wash away the memories of last term! I won’t say any more just now, but I think I know just the thing. . . .”

吉德罗洛哈特似乎认为是他阻止了这些进攻。一天，格兰芬多的学生排着队去上变形课时，哈利无意中听见他对麦格教授这么说。

He tapped his nose again and strode off.

“我认为不会再有麻烦了，米勒娃。”他说，心照不宣地轻轻敲了敲自己的鼻子，又眨眨眼睛，“我认为密室这次是永远不会被打开了。那些罪犯肯定已经知道，我迟早都会抓住他们的，只是一个时间问题。趁我还没有开始收拾他们，现在罢手是明智的。

Lockhart’s idea of a morale-booster became clear at breakfast time on February fourteenth. Harry hadn’t had much sleep because of a late-running Quidditch practice the night before, and he hurried down to the Great Hall, slightly late. He thought, for a moment, that he’d walked through the wrong doors.

“你知道，现在学校里需要鼓舞鼓舞士气。消除记忆里上学期的那些事情！我现在不便多说，但我认为我是胸有成竹的……”他又敲了敲他的鼻子，迈着大步走开了。

The walls were all covered with large, lurid pink flowers. Worse still, heart-shaped confetti was falling from the pale blue ceiling. Harry went over to the Gryffindor table, where Ron was sitting looking sickened, and Hermione seemed to have been overcome with giggles.

二月十四日吃早饭的时候，大家便知道洛哈特是用什么办法鼓舞士气了。哈利前一天晚上训练魁地奇，一直练到很晚，所以睡眠不足，匆匆赶到礼堂时已经有点儿晚了。一时间，他还以为自己走错了门。

“What’s going on?” Harry asked them, sitting down and wiping confetti off his bacon.

四面墙上都布满了大朵大朵的耀眼的粉红色鲜花。更糟糕的是，还有许多心形的五彩纸屑不停地从浅蓝色的天花板上飘落下来。哈利朝着格兰芬多的餐桌走去，罗恩坐在那里，一脸厌恶的表情，赫敏似乎一直在傻笑。

Ron pointed to the teachers’ table, apparently too disgusted to speak. Lockhart, wearing lurid pink robes to match the decorations, was waving for silence. The teachers on either side of him were looking stony-faced. From where he sat, Harry could see a muscle going in Professor McGonagall’s cheek. Snape looked as though someone had just fed him a large beaker of Skele-Gro.

“这是怎么回事？”哈利问他们，一边坐下来，拂去落在他的熏咸肉上的五彩纸屑。

“Happy Valentine’s Day!” Lockhart shouted. “And may I thank the forty-six people who have so far sent me cards! Yes, I have taken the liberty of arranging this little surprise for you all — and it doesn’t end here!”

罗恩指着教师的餐桌，显然是厌恶得不想说话。洛哈特穿着与那些装饰品相配的鲜艳的粉红色长袍，挥着手让大家安静。坐在他对面的老师们一个个都板着脸。哈利从他坐的地方可以看见，麦格教授面颊上的一块肌肉突了起来。斯内普的样子，就好像有人刚给他灌了一大杯烈性酒。

Lockhart clapped his hands and through the doors to the entrance hall marched a dozen surly-looking dwarfs. Not just any dwarfs, however. Lockhart had them all wearing golden wings and carrying harps.

“诸位，情人节快乐！”洛哈特大声说，“到现在为止，已有四十六个人向我赠送了贺卡，我谨向他们表示感谢！是的，我自作主张，为大家安排了这一小小的惊喜——而且还不止这些！”

“My friendly, card-carrying cupids!” beamed Lockhart. “They will be roving around the school today delivering your valentines! And the fun doesn’t stop here! I’m sure my colleagues will want to enter into the spirit of the occasion! Why not ask Professor Snape to show you how to whip up a Love Potion! And while you’re at it, Professor Flitwick knows more about Entrancing Enchantments than any wizard I’ve ever met, the sly old dog!”

洛哈特拍了拍手，从通往门厅的几道门里大步走进十二个脸色阴沉的矮子。而且他们不同于一般的矮子，洛哈特让他们都插着金色的翅膀，背着竖琴。

Professor Flitwick buried his face in his hands. Snape was looking as though the first person to ask him for a Love Potion would be force-fed poison.

“我的友好的、带着贺卡的小爱神！”洛哈特喜气洋洋地说道，“他们今天要在学校里到处游荡，给你们递送情人节贺卡！乐趣还不止这些！我相信我的同事们都愿意踊跃地参加进来！为什么不请斯内普教授教你们怎么调制迷魂药呢！如果你们感兴趣的话，弗立维教授比我所见过的任何巫师都更精通使人着迷的魔法，那只狡猾的老狗！”

“Please, Hermione, tell me you weren’t one of the forty-six,” said Ron as they left the Great Hall for their first lesson. Hermione suddenly became very interested in searching her bag for her schedule and didn’t answer.

弗立维教授把脸埋在双手里。看斯内普的神情，似乎如果有谁向他请教迷魂药的制法，准会被强迫灌进毒药。

All day long, the dwarfs kept barging into their classes to deliver valentines, to the annoyance of the teachers, and late that afternoon as the Gryffindors were walking upstairs for Charms, one of the dwarfs caught up with Harry.

“赫敏，求求你告诉我，你不是那四十六个人中的一个吧？”当他们离开礼堂去上第一节课时，罗恩说。

“Oy, you! ’Arry Potter!” shouted a particularly grim-looking dwarf, elbowing people out of the way to get to Harry.

赫敏突然兴趣很浓地在书包里翻找她的课程表，没有回答。

Hot all over at the thought of being given a valentine in front of a line of first years, which happened to include Ginny Weasley, Harry tried to escape. The dwarf, however, cut his way through the crowd by kicking people’s shins, and reached him before he’d gone two paces.

整整一天，矮子们不停地闯进他们的教室，递送情人节贺卡，弄得老师们厌烦透顶。下午，当格兰芬多的学生上楼去上魔法课时，一个矮子突然撵上哈利。“喂，你！哈利波特！”一位脸色特别阴沉的矮子喊道，用胳膊肘分开众人，朝哈利挤来。

“I’ve got a musical message to deliver to ’Arry Potter in person,” he said, twanging his harp in a threatening sort of way.

当着一队一年级新生的面——尤其是金妮韦斯莱碰巧也在里面，收到一张情人节贺卡，这简直太令人恼火了，哈利想逃跑。可是没等他跑出两步，矮子就一路踢着人们的小腿，挤开人群追上了他。

“Not here,” Harry hissed, trying to escape.

“我有一个配乐的口信要亲自传达给哈利波特。”矮子说着，用咄咄逼人的架势拨响了竖琴。

“Stay still !” grunted the dwarf, grabbing hold of Harry’s bag and pulling him back.

“别在这儿。”哈利压低声音说，一边又想逃跑。

“Let me go!” Harry snarled, tugging.

“站住别动！”矮子咕哝了一声，一把抓住哈利的书包，把他拉了回来。

With a loud ripping noise, his bag split in two. His books, wand, parchment, and quill spilled onto the floor and his ink bottle smashed over everything.

“让我走！”哈利吼道，用力拽着书包。随着一声很响的撕裂声，他的书包被扯成了两半。他的书、魔杖、羊皮纸和羽毛笔稀里哗啦地落到地板上，墨水瓶摔碎在最上面。哈利趴在地上手忙脚乱，想赶在矮子开始唱歌之前把东西都捡起来，结果造成了走廊里的交通堵塞。

Harry scrambled around, trying to pick it all up before the dwarf started singing, causing something of a holdup in the corridor.

“这是怎么回事儿？”传来了德拉科马尔福那冷冷的、拖腔拖调的声音。

“What’s going on here?” came the cold, drawling voice of Draco Malfoy. Harry started stuffing everything feverishly into his ripped bag, desperate to get away before Malfoy could hear his musical valentine.

哈利开始狂乱地把东西都往被撕裂的书包里塞，不顾一切地想赶紧逃走，不让马尔福听见他的情人节配乐贺礼。

“What’s all this commotion?” said another familiar voice as Percy Weasley arrived.

“怎么这么乱？”又传来一个熟悉的声音，珀西韦斯莱来了。

Losing his head, Harry tried to make a run for it, but the dwarf seized him around the knees and brought him crashing to the floor.

哈利完全慌了神，只想赶紧逃脱，可是矮子一把抱住他的两个膝盖，使他重重地摔倒在地。“好了，”他说，一屁股坐在哈利的膝盖上，“这就是你的带歌声的情人节贺礼：他的眼睛绿得像刚腌过的癞蛤蟆，他像黑板一样乌黑潇洒，我希望他是我的，他真的很帅气，是征服黑魔头的勇士。”

“Right,” he said, sitting on Harry’s ankles. “Here is your singing valentine:

哈利愿意交出古灵阁的所有金子，只希望能当场变作蒸气消失。他勇敢地强迫自己和大家一起哈哈大笑，一边站了起来，他的脚被矮子坐得发麻了。

His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad,

珀西韦斯莱尽力驱散人群，有些人开心得大喊大叫。“你们走吧，走吧，上课铃五分钟前就响过了，快去上课吧。”他说着，把年纪较小的学生轰走。“还有你，马尔福。”

His hair is as dark as a blackboard.

哈利瞥了一眼，看见马尔福弯腰从地上抓起了什么东西。他斜着眼睛，把它拿给克拉布和高尔看，哈利明白了，他抓去的是里德尔的日记。

I wish he was mine, he’s really divine,

“还给我。”哈利小声说。

The hero who conquered the Dark Lord.”

“想知道波特在里面写了什么吗？”马尔福说，他显然没有注意到封皮上的日期，以为拿到的是哈利自己的日记。

Harry would have given all the gold in Gringotts to evaporate on the spot. Trying valiantly to laugh along with everyone else, he got up, his feet numb from the weight of the dwarf, as Percy Weasley did his best to disperse the crowd, some of whom were crying with mirth.

围观者们顿时安静下来。金妮看看日记，又看看哈利，神色惊恐。

“Off you go, off you go, the bell rang five minutes ago, off to class, now,” he said, shooing some of the younger students away. “And you, Malfoy —”

“拿过来，马尔福。”珀西严厉地说。

Harry, glancing over, saw Malfoy stoop and snatch up something. Leering, he showed it to Crabbe and Goyle, and Harry realized that he’d got Riddle’s diary.

“等我看一眼再说。”马尔福说着，嘲弄地朝哈利挥舞日记。

“Give that back,” said Harry quietly.

珀西说：“我作为一个级长——”

“Wonder what Potter’s written in this?” said Malfoy, who obviously hadn’t noticed the year on the cover and thought he had Harry’s own diary. A hush fell over the onlookers. Ginny was staring from the diary to Harry, looking terrified.

可是哈利发脾气了，他抽出魔杖，喊道：“除你武器！”

“Hand it over, Malfoy,” said Percy sternly.

于是，就像斯内普解除了洛哈特的武器一样，马尔福发现日记突然从他手中飞向空中。罗恩开心地笑着，一把抓住了它。

“When I’ve had a look,” said Malfoy, waving the diary tauntingly at Harry.

“哈利！”珀西大声地说，“不许在走廊里施魔法。这件事我要汇报的，你知道！”

Percy said, “As a school prefect —” but Harry had lost his temper. He pulled out his wand and shouted, “Expelliarmus!” and just as Snape had disarmed Lockhart, so Malfoy found the diary shooting out of his hand into the air. Ron, grinning broadly, caught it.

可是哈利不在乎，他又赢了马尔福一个回合，即使格兰芬多要为此而丢掉五分，也是完全值得的。马尔福看上去气疯了，当金妮从他身边走进教室时，他恶狠狠地冲着她的后背嚷道：“我认为波特不太喜欢你的情人节贺礼！”

“Harry!” said Percy loudly. “No magic in the corridors. I’ll have to report this, you know!”

金妮双手捂着脸，跑进了教室。罗恩大吼一声，也拔出了他的魔杖，可是哈利把他拉走了。罗恩犯不着整堂魔法课都忙着吐鼻涕虫。

But Harry didn’t care, he was one-up on Malfoy, and that was worth five points from Gryffindor any day. Malfoy was looking furious, and as Ginny passed him to enter her classroom, he yelled spitefully after her, “I don’t think Potter liked your valentine much!”

直到他们来到弗立维教授的课堂上，哈利才注意到里德尔先生的日记十分奇怪。他的其他书都染上了鲜红色的墨水。而那本日记，却像以前一样，干干净净的。他想向罗恩指出这一点，但罗恩的魔杖又出了麻烦：魔杖头上喷出大朵大朵的紫色泡泡，弄得他对什么都不感兴趣。

Ginny covered her face with her hands and ran into class. Snarling, Ron pulled out his wand, too, but Harry pulled him away. Ron didn’t need to spend the whole of Charms belching slugs.

那天晚上，哈利上床比宿舍里其他人都早。这一半是因为他认为他无法忍受弗雷德和乔治再一次高唱“他的眼睛绿得像刚腌过的癜蛤蟆”，另一半是因为他想再仔细研究一下里德尔的日记，他知道罗恩认为他是在浪费时间。

It wasn’t until they had reached Professor Flitwick’s class that Harry noticed something rather odd about Riddle’s diary. All his other books were drenched in scarlet ink. The diary, however, was as clean as it had been before the ink bottle had smashed all over it. He tried to point this out to Ron, but Ron was having trouble with his wand again; large purple bubbles were blossoming out of the end, and he wasn’t much interested in anything else.

哈利坐在他的四柱床上，翻着那些空白的纸页，上面没有一点儿红墨水的痕迹。然后，他从床头柜里取出一瓶新墨水，将羽毛笔插进去蘸了蘸，让一滴墨水落在日记的第一页上。

Harry went to bed before anyone else in his dormitory that night. This was partly because he didn’t think he could stand Fred and George singing, “His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad” one more time, and partly because he wanted to examine Riddle’s diary again, and knew that Ron thought he was wasting his time.

墨水在纸上鲜艳地闪耀了一秒钟，接着就好像被纸吸了进去，消失得无影无踪。哈利兴奋起来，他又将羽毛笔蘸满墨水，写道：“我叫哈利波特。”这行文字在纸上闪了闪，也被吸了进去，一点痕迹也没留下。然后，终于出现了奇迹。纸上突然渗出一些哈利从未写过的文字，用的正是他的墨水。

Harry sat on his four-poster and flicked through the blank pages, not one of which had a trace of scarlet ink on it. Then he pulled a new bottle out of his bedside cabinet, dipped his quill into it, and dropped a blot onto the first page of the diary.

你好，哈利波特。我名叫汤姆里德尔。你怎么找到我的日记的？

The ink shone brightly on the paper for a second and then, as though it was being sucked into the page, vanished. Excited, Harry loaded up his quill a second time and wrote, “My name is Harry Potter.”

这些文字也很快消失了，不过是在哈利开始匆匆写字后才消失的。

The words shone momentarily on the page and they, too, sank without trace. Then, at last, something happened.

“有人想把它扔进厕所里。”他迫不及待地等着里德尔的回答。

Oozing back out of the page, in his very own ink, came words Harry had never written.

幸好我用比墨水更持久的方式记录我的往事。我一直知道总有一些人不愿意这本日记被人读到。

“Hello, Harry Potter. My name is Tom Riddle. How did you come by my diary?”

“你是什么意思？”哈利潦草地写，激动得把纸都戳破了。

These words, too, faded away, but not before Harry had started to scribble back.

我的意思是，这本日记里记载着一些可怕的往事。一些被掩盖的往事。一些发生在霍格沃茨魔法学校的往事。

“Someone tried to flush it down a toilet.”

“我现在就在这里，”哈利飞快地写着，“我在霍格沃茨学校，这里不断发生可怕的事情。你知道关于密室的事吗？”他的心狂跳起来。里德尔很快就回答了，他的笔迹变得凌乱潦草，就好像他迫不及待地要把他知道的一切都说出来。

He waited eagerly for Riddle’s reply.

我当然知道关于密室的事。在我那个时候，他们告诉我们这是一个传说，一个并不存在的东西。但这是谎话。我上五年级时，密室被打开了，怪兽攻击了几个学生，最后还弄死了一个。我抓住了那个打开密室的人，他被开除了。但是校长迪佩特教授因为霍格沃茨出了这样的事而感到丢脸，不许我说出真相。他们向外面宣布说，那个姑娘死于一次古怪的事故。他们给了我一块刻着字的、金光闪闪的漂亮奖牌，奖励我的辛劳，并警告我不许乱说。但我知道这种事还会发生。怪兽还活着，而那个有能力释放它的人并没有被关起来。

“Lucky that I recorded my memories in some more lasting way than ink. But I always knew that there would be those who would not want this diary read.”

哈利忙着写话回答，差点把墨水瓶打翻了。“现在事情又发生了。已经出现了三起攻击事件，似乎没有人知道是谁策划的。上次是谁？”

“What do you mean?” Harry scrawled, blotting the page in his excitement.

“如果你愿意，我可以领你去看，”里德尔这榉答复，“你不用看我写的文字。我可以把你带入我的记忆，进入我抓住他的那天晚上。”

“I mean that this diary holds memories of terrible things. Things that were covered up. Things that happened at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.”

哈利迟疑了，羽毛笔悬在日记上方。里德尔是什么意思？他怎么可能被带进别人的记忆？他紧张地朝宿舍门口瞥了一眼，那里渐渐黑了下来。当他的目光回到日记上时，发现又有一行字冒了出来。

“That’s where I am now,” Harry wrote quickly. “I’m at Hogwarts, and horrible stuff ’s been happening. Do you know anything about the Chamber of Secrets?”

我领你去看。

His heart was hammering. Riddle’s reply came quickly, his writing becoming untidier, as though he was hurrying to tell all he knew.

哈利只停顿了一下，便立刻写了两个字。

“Of course I know about the Chamber of Secrets. In my day, they told us it was a legend, that it did not exist. But this was a lie. In my fifth year, the Chamber was opened and the monster attacked several students, finally killing one. I caught the person who’d opened the Chamber and he was expelled. But the headmaster, Professor Dippet, ashamed that such a thing had happened at Hogwarts, forbade me to tell the truth. A story was given out that the girl had died in a freak accident. They gave me a nice, shiny, engraved trophy for my trouble and warned me to keep my mouth shut. But I knew it could happen again. The monster lived on, and the one who had the power to release it was not imprisoned.”

好吧。

Harry nearly upset his ink bottle in his hurry to write back.

日记仿佛被一股大风吹着，纸页哗啦啦地翻过，停在六月中旬的某一页。哈利目瞪口呆地看着六月十三日的那个小方块似乎变成了一个微型的电视屏幕。他双手微微颤抖着，把本子举起来，让眼睛贴在那个小窗口上；没等他反应过来是怎么回事，他就向前倾倒过去；窗口正在变大，他觉得自己的身体离开了床铺，头朝前跌进了那一页的豁口，进入了一片飞舞旋转的色彩与光影之中。他觉得双脚落在了坚实的地面上。他颤抖着站住了，周围模糊的景象突然变得清晰起来。

“It’s happening again now. There have been three attacks and no one seems to know who’s behind them. Who was it last time?”

他一下子就知道自己到了哪里。这间墙上挂着呼呼大睡的肖像的圆形房间，正是邓布利多的办公室——但此刻坐在桌子后面的却不是邓布利多，而是一个显得很虚弱的干瘪巫师，秃头上只有几缕白毛，正就着烛光读一封信。哈利以前从未见过这个人。

“I can show you, if you like,” came Riddle’s reply. “You don’t have to take my word for it. I can take you inside my memory of the night when I caught him.”

“对不起，”他声音发抖地说，“我不是故意闯进来……”

Harry hesitated, his quill suspended over the diary. What did Riddle mean? How could he be taken inside somebody else’s memory? He glanced nervously at the door to the dormitory, which was growing dark. When he looked back at the diary, he saw fresh words forming.

但是那个巫师连头也没抬。他继续读信，并微微皱起了眉头。

“Let me show you.”

哈利走近他的办公桌，结结巴巴地说：“哦——那我走了。行吗？”

Harry paused for a fraction of a second and then wrote two letters.

巫师还是不理他，似乎根本就没有听见他的话。哈利以为那巫师大概耳朵不好，便提高了嗓门。

“OK.”

“对不起，打扰你了，我走了。”他简直喊了起来。

The pages of the diary began to blow as though caught in a high wind, stopping halfway through the month of June. Mouth hanging open, Harry saw that the little square for June thirteenth seemed to have turned into a minuscule television screen. His hands trembling slightly, he raised the book to press his eye against the little window, and before he knew what was happening, he was tilting forward; the window was widening, he felt his body leave his bed, and he was pitched headfirst through the opening in the page, into a whirl of color and shadow.

巫师叹了口气，把信叠起，站起身来，从哈利身边走过，连看都不看他，径直过去拉开窗帘。

He felt his feet hit solid ground, and stood, shaking, as the blurred shapes around him came suddenly into focus.

窗外的天空布满红霞，似乎此刻正是日落时分。巫师返回桌边，坐下来，心不在焉地玩弄着两个大拇指，望着门口。

He knew immediately where he was. This circular room with the sleeping portraits was Dumbledore’s office — but it wasn’t Dumbledore who was sitting behind the desk. A wizened, fraillooking wizard, bald except for a few wisps of white hair, was reading a letter by candlelight. Harry had never seen this man before.

哈利环顾着这间办公室。没有凤凰福克斯，也没有那些嘤嘤嗡嗡的银制小玩艺儿。这是里德尔所知道的那个霍格沃茨，也就是说，这位他不认识的巫师是校长，不是邓布利多，而他哈利比幽灵强不了多少，五十年前的人是完全看不见他的。

“I’m sorry,” he said shakily. “I didn’t mean to butt in —”

办公室外面有人敲门。

But the wizard didn’t look up. He continued to read, frowning slightly. Harry drew nearer to his desk and stammered, “Er — I’ll just go, shall I?”

“进来。”老巫师用虚弱无力的声音说。

Still the wizard ignored him. He didn’t seem even to have heard him. Thinking that the wizard might be deaf, Harry raised his voice.

一个大约十六岁的男孩走了进来，摘下他的尖帽子。一枚级长的银质徽章在他胸口闪闪发光。他比哈利高得多，但也有一头乌黑发亮的头发。

“Sorry I disturbed you. I’ll go now,” he half-shouted.

“啊，里德尔。”校长说。

The wizard folded up the letter with a sigh, stood up, walked past Harry without glancing at him, and went to draw the curtains at his window.

“您想见我，迪佩特教授？”里德尔说，显得有些紧张。

The sky outside the window was ruby-red; it seemed to be sunset. The wizard went back to the desk, sat down, and twiddled his thumbs, watching the door.

“坐下吧，”迪佩特说，“我刚才一直在读你给我的那封信。”

Harry looked around the office. No Fawkes the phoenix — no whirring silver contraptions. This was Hogwarts as Riddle had known it, meaning that this unknown wizard was headmaster, not Dumbledore, and he, Harry, was little more than a phantom, completely invisible to the people of fifty years ago.

“哦。”里德尔说。他坐了下来，双手紧紧地攥在一起。

There was a knock on the office door.

“我亲爱的孩子，”迪佩特慈祥地说，“我不能让你留在学校过暑假。你肯定愿意回家度假吧？”

“Enter,” said the old wizard in a feeble voice.

“不，”里德尔立刻说道，“我情愿留在霍格沃茨，也不愿到那个——那个——”

A boy of about sixteen entered, taking off his pointed hat. A silver prefect’s badge was glinting on his chest. He was much taller than Harry, but he, too, had jet-black hair.

“你假期住在一家麻瓜的孤儿院里，是吗？”迪佩特好奇地说。

“Ah, Riddle,” said the headmaster.

“是的，先生。”里德尔说，微微地红了脸。

“You wanted to see me, Professor Dippet?” said Riddle. He looked nervous.

“你是麻瓜生的吗？”

“Sit down,” said Dippet. “I’ve just been reading the letter you sent me.”

“是混血种，先生，”里德尔说，“父亲是麻瓜，母亲是巫女。”

“Oh,” said Riddle. He sat down, gripping his hands together very tightly.

“你的父母都——”

“My dear boy,” said Dippet kindly, “I cannot possibly let you stay at school over the summer. Surely you want to go home for the holidays?”

“我母亲刚生下我就去世了，先生。他们在孤儿院里对我说，她只来得及给我起了名字：汤姆，随我的父亲。”

“No,” said Riddle at once. “I’d much rather stay at Hogwarts than go back to that — to that —”

迪佩特同情地咂了咂舌头。“事情是这样的，汤姆，”他叹了口气说，“我们本来想对你做一些特殊的安排，可是在目前的情形下……”

“You live in a Muggle orphanage during the holidays, I believe?” said Dippet curiously.

“你指的是所有这些攻击事件吗，先生？”里德尔问。

“Yes, sir,” said Riddle, reddening slightly.

哈利的心跳顿时加快了，他凑得更近些，生怕漏掉一句话。

“You are Muggle-born?”

“一点儿不错，”校长说，“我亲爱的孩子，你必须看到，如果我允许你学期结束后继续待在城堡里，该是多么愚蠢。尤其是发生了最近那场悲剧之后……那个可怜的小姑娘死了……你待在孤儿院里要安全得多。实话对你说吧，魔法部甚至在讨论要关闭学校呢。对所有这些不幸事件的——哦——根源，我们还没有半点儿头绪……”

“Half-blood, sir,” said Riddle. “Muggle father, witch mother.”

里德尔的眼睛睁大了。“先生——如果那个人被抓住了……如果一切都停止了……”

“And are both your parents — ?”

“你是什么意思？”迪佩特说，声音有点刺耳，一边从椅子上站起来。“里德尔，你难道是说你对这些攻击事件有所了解？”

“My mother died just after I was born, sir. They told me at the orphanage she lived just long enough to name me — Tom after my father, Marvolo after my grandfather.”

“不，先生。”里德尔赶紧说道。

Dippet clucked his tongue sympathetically.

然而哈利可以肯定，里德尔说的“不”，和他自己对邓布利多说的“不”是一样的性质。

“The thing is, Tom,” he sighed, “special arrangements might have been made for you, but in the current circumstances. . . .”

迪佩特跌坐回去，显得微微有些失望。

“You mean all these attacks, sir?” said Riddle, and Harry’s heart leapt, and he moved closer, scared of missing anything.

“你可以走了，汤姆……”

“Precisely,” said the headmaster. “My dear boy, you must see how foolish it would be of me to allow you to remain at the castle when term ends. Particularly in light of the recent tragedy . . . the death of that poor little girl. . . . You will be safer by far at your orphanage. As a matter of fact, the Ministry of Magic is even now talking about closing the school. We are no nearer locating the — er — source of all this unpleasantness. . . .”

里德尔从他的椅子上滑下来，拖着沉重的脚步走出房间。哈利跟了上去。

Riddle’s eyes had widened.

他们走下旋转楼梯，接着从逐渐黑暗下来的走廊里的怪兽状的滴水嘴旁边出来。里德尔停下了脚步，哈利也停住了，注视着他。哈利可以看出里德尔在进行很严肃的思考。只见他咬着嘴唇，前额上起了皱纹。接着，他似乎突然拿定了主意，匆匆走开了，哈利悄没声地跟在后面。一路上，他们没有看见一个人，最后他们来到门厅，一个高个子的巫师，留着赤褐色的飘逸的长头发和长胡子，在大理石楼梯上向里德尔打招呼：“你在做什么，汤姆，这么晚了还在乱逛？”

“Sir — if the person was caught — if it all stopped —”

哈利目瞪口呆地望着这位巫师。

“What do you mean?” said Dippet with a squeak in his voice, sitting up in his chair. “Riddle, do you mean you know something about these attacks?”

他不是别人，正是年轻了五十岁的邓布利多。

“No, sir,” said Riddle quickly.

“我刚才要去见校长，先生。”里德尔说。

But Harry was sure it was the same sort of “no” that he himself had given Dumbledore.

“好了，快上床睡觉吧。”邓布利多说着，用哈利非常熟悉的那种具有穿透性的目光，凝视着里德尔。“这些日子最好不要在走廊里闲逛。既然已经……”他沉重地叹息一声，向里德尔道了晚安，就大踏步地走开了。

Dippet sank back, looking faintly disappointed.

里德尔看着他走出视线，然后迅速迈开脚步，走下通往地下教室的石阶，哈利在后面紧追不舍。

“You may go, Tom. . . .”

然而，令哈利失望的是，里德尔并没有把他带到一个隐秘通道或者一个秘密地道，而是来到了哈利跟着斯内普上魔药课的那间地下教室。火把没有点燃，所以，当里德尔把门差不多推上时，哈利只能看见里德尔一动不动地站在门口，注视着外面的通道。

Riddle slid off his chair and slouched out of the room. Harry followed him.

哈利觉得，他们在那里待了至少一个小时。他只能看见里德尔站在门口的身影，正从门缝里向外窥视，像一尊雕塑一样等候着。然后，就在哈利不再感到紧张和有所期待、并开始希望回到现实中来时，他听见门外有了动静。

Down the moving spiral staircase they went, emerging next to the gargoyle in the darkening corridor. Riddle stopped, and so did Harry, watching him. Harry could tell that Riddle was doing some serious thinking. He was biting his lip, his forehead furrowed.

有人悄悄地在通道里走动。他听见那个人走过他和里德尔藏身的地下教室。里德尔像影子一样毫无声息，侧着身子从门缝穿过，跟了上去。哈利踮着脚跟在后面，他忘了别人是昕不见他的声音的。

Then, as though he had suddenly reached a decision, he hurried off, Harry gliding noiselessly behind him. They didn’t see another person until they reached the entrance hall, when a tall wizard with long, sweeping auburn hair and a beard called to Riddle from the marble staircase.

有大约五分钟的时间，他们一直跟着那个脚步。最后里德尔突然停住了，侧着脑袋，倾听刚刚出现的声音。哈利听见一扇门吱呀一声开了，然后有人用沙哑的嗓音低声说活。

“What are you doing, wandering around this late, Tom?”

“过来……出来，上这儿来……过来吧……到箱子里来……”这个人的声音似乎有点儿熟悉。

Harry gaped at the wizard. He was none other than a fifty-year-younger Dumbledore.

里德尔突然一跳，转过墙角。哈利跟着他蹿了出去。他可以看见一个大块头男孩的黑黑的身影，那男孩蹲在一扇开着的门前面，门边放着一只很大的箱子。

“I had to see the headmaster, sir,” said Riddle.

“晚上好，鲁伯。”里德尔严厉地说。

“Well, hurry off to bed,” said Dumbledore, giving Riddle exactly the kind of penetrating stare Harry knew so well. “Best not to roam the corridors these days. Not since . . .”

男孩砰地把门关上，站了起来。“你在这儿做什么，汤姆？”

He sighed heavily, bade Riddle good night, and strode off. Riddle watched him walk out of sight and then, moving quickly, headed straight down the stone steps to the dungeons, with Harry in hot pursuit.

里德尔逼近几步。“该结束了，”他说，“我不得不告发你了，鲁伯。他们正在商量，如果攻击事件再不停止，就要关闭霍格沃茨了。”

But to Harry’s disappointment, Riddle led him not into a hidden passageway or a secret tunnel but to the very dungeon in which Harry had Potions with Snape. The torches hadn’t been lit, and when Riddle pushed the door almost closed, Harry could only just see him, standing stock-still by the door, watching the passage outside.

“你说什——”

It felt to Harry that they were there for at least an hour. All he could see was the figure of Riddle at the door, staring through the crack, waiting like a statue. And just when Harry had stopped feeling expectant and tense and started wishing he could return to the present, he heard something move beyond the door.

“我知道你不是故意要杀人。但是怪兽可不是理想的宠物。我猜想你只是让它出来活动活动，结——”

Someone was creeping along the passage. He heard whoever it was pass the dungeon where he and Riddle were hidden. Riddle, quiet as a shadow, edged through the door and followed, Harry tiptoeing behind him, forgetting that he couldn’t be heard.

“它没有杀人！”大块头男孩说着，后退几步，把身体靠向那扇关着的门。

For perhaps five minutes they followed the footsteps, until Riddle stopped suddenly, his head inclined in the direction of new noises. Harry heard a door creak open, and then someone speaking in a hoarse whisper.

哈利可以听见他后面传来一阵古怪的窸窸窣窣和咔啦咔啦的声音。

“C’mon . . . gotta get yeh outta here. . . . C’mon now . . . in the box . . .”

“来吧，鲁伯，”里德尔说着，又向前逼近了一些，“那个死去的姑娘的父母明天就要到这儿来了。霍格沃茨至少可以保证把那个弄死他们女儿的家伙杀死……”

There was something familiar about that voice. . . .

“不是它！”男孩大吼一声，他的声音在昏暗的通道里回响，“它不会！绝不会！”

Riddle suddenly jumped around the corner. Harry stepped out behind him. He could see the dark outline of a huge boy who was crouching in front of an open door, a very large box next to it.

“闪开。”里德尔说着，拔出了他的魔杖。

“ ’Evening, Rubeus,” said Riddle sharply.

他的咒语以一道突如其来的火光，照亮了走廊。大块头男孩身后的门猛地弹开了，那股巨大的力量把他撞向对面的墙上。从门里出来了一个东西，使哈利发出了一声凄厉的、长长的尖叫，但除了他本人以外，似乎谁也没有听见。

The boy slammed the door shut and stood up.

一个硕大的、毛森森的低矮身躯、结成一团的黑乎乎的腿、许多闪闪发亮的眼睛、两把刀子般锋利的钳子——

“What yer doin’ down here, Tom?”

里德尔又举起他的魔杖，可是已经来不及了。那怪物慌忙逃跑，把他撞翻在地，然后飞快地奔过走廊，消失了。里德尔跌跌撞撞地站起来，看着它的背影。他举起魔杖，但是大块头男孩朝他扑去，一把抓住魔杖，又把他打翻在地，一边大声嚷道：“不——！”

Riddle stepped closer.

接着，天旋地转，周围漆黑一片。哈利感到自己在坠落，最后轰的一声，掉在格兰芬多宿舍他的四柱床上。里德尔的日记打开了放在他的肚子上。

“It’s all over,” he said. “I’m going to have to turn you in, Rubeus. They’re talking about closing Hogwarts if the attacks don’t stop.”

没等他来得及把气喘匀，宿舍的门开了，罗恩走了进来。“你在这儿。”他说。

“What d’yeh —”

哈利坐了起来。他大汗淋漓，浑身发抖。

“I don’t think you meant to kill anyone. But monsters don’t make good pets. I suppose you just let it out for exercise and —”

“怎么了？”罗恩问，一边关切地看着他。

“It never killed no one!” said the large boy, backing against the closed door. From behind him, Harry could hear a funny rustling and clicking.

“是海格，罗恩。五十年前是海格打开了密室。”

“Come on, Rubeus,” said Riddle, moving yet closer. “The dead girl’s parents will be here tomorrow. The least Hogwarts can do is make sure that the thing that killed their daughter is slaughtered. . . .”

“It wasn’t him!” roared the boy, his voice echoing in the dark passage. “He wouldn’! He never!”

“Stand aside,” said Riddle, drawing out his wand.

His spell lit the corridor with a sudden flaming light. The door behind the large boy flew open with such force it knocked him into the wall opposite. And out of it came something that made Harry let out a long, piercing scream unheard by anyone —

A vast, low-slung, hairy body and a tangle of black legs; a gleam of many eyes and a pair of razor-sharp pincers — Riddle raised his wand again, but he was too late. The thing bowled him over as it scuttled away, tearing up the corridor and out of sight. Riddle scrambled to his feet, looking after it; he raised his wand, but the huge boy leapt on him, seized his wand, and threw him back down, yelling, “NOOOOOOO!”

The scene whirled, the darkness became complete; Harry felt himself falling and, with a crash, he landed spread-eagled on his four-poster in the Gryffindor dormitory, Riddle’s diary lying open on his stomach.

Before he had had time to regain his breath, the dormitory door opened and Ron came in.

“There you are,” he said.

Harry sat up. He was sweating and shaking.

“What’s up?” said Ron, looking at him with concern.

“It was Hagrid, Ron. Hagrid opened the Chamber of Secrets fifty years ago.”