 |
哈利·波特与混血王子
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince 英文 中文 双语对照 双语交替 首页 目录 上一章 下一章 | |
| CHAPTER NINETEEN ELF TAILS
| 第十九章 小精灵尾巴
|
|
|
|
| So, all in all, not one of Ron’s better birthdays?” said Fred.
| “所以，总而言之，罗恩这个生日过得不咋样。”弗雷德说。
|
| It was evening; the hospital wing was quiet, the windows curtained, the lamps lit. Ron’s was the only occupied bed. Harry, Hermione, and Ginny were sitting around him; they had spent all day waiting outside the double doors, trying to see inside whenever somebody went in or out. Madam Pomfrey had only let them enter at eight o’clock. Fred and George had arrived at ten past.
| 晚上，校医院很安静，拉着窗帘，亮着灯。只有罗恩这张病床上住了人。哈利、赫敏和金妮都坐在他身边。他们在门外等了一整天，每当有人进去或出来时便努力朝里面张望着。庞弗雷夫人八点钟才让他们进去。弗雷德和乔治是八点十分赶到的。
|
| “This isn’t how we imagined handing over our present,” said George grimly, putting down a large wrapped gift on Ron’s bedside cabinet and sitting beside Ginny.
| “我们没想到会是这样送礼物。”乔治阴郁地说着，一边把一个大礼包放在罗恩床头的柜子上，然后在金妮身边坐下来。
|
| “Yeah, when we pictured the scene, he was conscious,” said Fred.
| “就是，在我们想象的情景中，他是清醒的。”弗雷德说。
|
| “There we were in Hogsmeade, waiting to surprise him —” said George.
| “我们还在霍格莫德，等着给他个惊喜——”乔治说。
|
| “You were in Hogsmeade?” asked Ginny, looking up.
| “你们在霍格莫德？”金妮抬起头问。
|
| “We were thinking of buying Zonko’s,” said Fred gloomily. “A Hogsmeade branch, you know, but a fat lot of good it’ll do us if you lot aren’t allowed out at weekends to buy our stuff anymore. . . . But never mind that now.”
| “我们想买下佐科的店面，”弗雷德垂头丧气地说，“搞个霍格莫德分店。可是如果你们周末不能过去买东西，那个店还有个鬼用啊……不过现在先不说它了。”
|
| He drew up a chair beside Harry and looked at Ron’s pale face.
| 他拉了张椅子坐在哈利旁边，看着罗恩苍白的面孔。
|
| “How exactly did it happen, Harry?”
| “这事儿到底是怎么发生的，哈利？”
|
| Harry retold the story he had already recounted, it felt like a hundred times to Dumbledore, to McGonagall, to Madam Pomfrey, to Hermione, and to Ginny.
| 哈利又复述起他已经向邓布利多、麦格、庞弗雷夫人、赫敏、金妮等人说了好像有一百遍的故事。
|
| “. . . and then I got the bezoar down his throat and his breathing eased up a bit, Slughorn ran for help, McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey turned up, and they brought Ron up here. They reckon he’ll be all right. Madam Pomfrey says he’ll have to stay here a week or so . . . keep taking essence of rue . . .”
| “……然后我把粪石塞进了他的嗓子里，他的呼吸通畅了一些，斯拉格霍恩跑去叫人，麦格和庞弗雷夫人来了，把罗恩抬到了这里。他们认为他会好的。庞弗雷夫人说他还要在这儿待一两周……继续服用芸香精。”
|
| “Blimey, it was lucky you thought of a bezoar,” said George in a low voice.
| “老天，多亏你想到了粪石。”乔治低声说。
|
| “Lucky there was one in the room,” said Harry, who kept turning cold at the thought of what would have happened if he had not been able to lay hands on the little stone.
| “幸好屋里有一块。”哈利说，想到要是没找着那块小石头的后果，他不禁感到浑身冰冷。
|
| Hermione gave an almost inaudible sniff. She had been exceptionally quiet all day. Having hurtled, white-faced, up to Harry outside the hospital wing and demanded to know what had happened, she had taken almost no part in Harry and Ginny’s obsessive discussion about how Ron had been poisoned, but merely stood beside them, clench-jawed and frightened-looking, until at last they had been allowed in to see him.
| 赫敏发出一声几乎听不见的抽泣。她这一整天特别安静。刚才她脸色煞白地冲到校医院门口，询问哈利是怎么回事，之后，她几乎没有参加哈利和金妮关于罗恩是怎样中毒的反复讨论，只是咬着牙，神情恐惧地站在旁边，直到终于允许他们进去看他。
|
| “Do Mum and Dad know?” Fred asked Ginny.
| “爸爸妈妈知道吗？”弗雷德问金妮。
|
| “They’ve already seen him, they arrived an hour ago — they’re in Dumbledore’s office now, but they’ll be back soon. . . .”
| “他们已经看过他了，一小时前来的——这会儿在邓布利多的办公室呢，但很快就会回来……”
|
| There was a pause while they all watched Ron mumble a little in his sleep.
| 停了一会儿，大家看着罗恩在昏睡中小声嘟囔。
|
| “So the poison was in the drink?” said Fred quietly.
| “毒药在酒里？”弗雷德轻声问。
|
| “Yes,” said Harry at once; he could think of nothing else and was glad for the opportunity to start discussing it again. “Slughorn poured it out —”
| “是。”哈利马上说道。他现在没法想别的，很高兴有机会重新讨论这个话题。“斯拉格霍恩把它从——”
|
| “Would he have been able to slip something into Ron’s glass without you seeing?”
| “他会不会趁你不注意时往罗恩杯子里放了什么东西？”
|
| “Probably,” said Harry, “but why would Slughorn want to poison Ron?”
| “有可能，可斯拉格霍恩为什么要对罗恩下毒呢？”
|
| “No idea,” said Fred, frowning. “You don’t think he could have mixed up the glasses by mistake? Meaning to get you?”
| “不知道，”弗雷德皱起眉头，“你觉得他有没有可能把杯子搞混了？本来是想害你的？”
|
| “Why would Slughorn want to poison Harry?” asked Ginny.
| “斯拉格霍恩为什么要对哈利下毒？”金妮问。
|
| “I dunno,” said Fred, “but there must be loads of people who’d like to poison Harry, mustn’t there? ‘The Chosen One’ and all that?”
| “我不知道，”弗雷德说，“不过肯定有好多人想对哈利下毒，是不是？救世之星嘛。”
|
| “So you think Slughorn’s a Death Eater?” said Ginny.
| “你认为斯拉格霍恩是食死徒？”金妮说。
|
| “Anything’s possible,” said Fred darkly.
| “什么都有可能。”弗雷德阴沉地说。
|
| “He could be under the Imperius Curse,” said George.
| “他可能中了夺魂咒。”乔治插嘴道。
|
| “Or he could be innocent,” said Ginny. “The poison could have been in the bottle, in which case it was probably meant for Slughorn himself.”
| “他也可能是无辜的。”金妮说，“毒药可能下在酒瓶里，这样对象就可能是斯拉格霍恩本人。”
|
| “Who’d want to kill Slughorn?”
| “谁会想杀斯拉格霍恩呢？”
|
| “Dumbledore reckons Voldemort wanted Slughorn on his side,” said Harry. “Slughorn was in hiding for a year before he came to Hogwarts. And . . .” He thought of the memory Dumbledore had not yet been able to extract from Slughorn. “And maybe Voldemort wants him out of the way, maybe he thinks he could be valuable to Dumbledore.”
| “邓布利多认为伏地魔想把斯拉格霍恩拉过去，”哈利说道，“斯拉格霍恩在来霍格沃茨之前已经躲了一年。而且……”他想到了邓布利多还没从斯拉格霍恩那里获得的那段回忆，“也许伏地魔想除掉他，觉得他可能对邓布利多很有价值。”
|
| “But you said Slughorn had been planning to give that bottle to Dumbledore for Christmas,” Ginny reminded him. “So the poisoner could just as easily have been after Dumbledore.”
| “可你说斯拉格霍恩打算把那瓶酒送给邓布利多做圣诞礼物的，”金妮提醒他，“所以投毒者也可能是针对邓布利多的。”
|
| “Then the poisoner didn’t know Slughorn very well,” said Hermione, speaking for the first time in hours and sounding as though she had a bad head cold. “Anyone who knew Slughorn would have known there was a good chance he’d keep something that tasty for himself.”
| “那么投毒者不大了解斯拉格霍恩。”赫敏这么多小时里第一次开口，听上去像得了重伤风，“了解斯拉格霍恩的人都知道，他很可能把好吃的东西都自己留着。”
|
| “Er-my-nee,” croaked Ron unexpectedly from between them.
| “呃——敏——恩。”罗恩突然嘶哑地叫道。
|
| They all fell silent, watching him anxiously, but after muttering incomprehensibly for a moment he merely started snoring.
| 大家沉默下来，担心地看着他，但他嘟囔了几声人们听不懂的话之后又打起鼾来。
|
| The dormitory doors flew open, making them all jump: Hagrid came striding toward them, his hair rain-flecked, his bearskin coat flapping behind him, a crossbow in his hand, leaving a trail of muddy dolphin-sized footprints all over the floor.
| 病房门猛然打开了，他们都吓了一跳，海格大步走进来，头发上带着雨水，熊皮大衣在身后拍打着，手里拿着弩弓，在地上踏出海豚一般大的泥脚印。
|
| “Bin in the forest all day!” he panted. “Aragog’s worse, I bin readin’ to him — didn’ get up ter dinner till jus’ now an’ then Professor Sprout told me abou’ Ron! How is he?”
| “一天都在林子里！”他喘着气说，“阿拉戈克病得更重了，我念东西给它听——刚刚才上来吃晚饭，斯普劳特教授跟我讲了罗恩的事！他怎么样？”
|
| “Not bad,” said Harry. “They say he’ll be okay.”
| “还好，”哈利说，“他们说他会好的。”
|
| “No more than six visitors at a time!” said Madam Pomfrey, hurrying out of her office.
| “一次探视不能超过六人！”庞弗雷夫人急忙从办公室里跑了过来。
|
| “Hagrid makes six,” George pointed out.
| “加上海格是六个。”乔治指出说。
|
| “Oh . . . yes . . .” said Madam Pomfrey, who seemed to have been counting Hagrid as several people due to his vastness. To cover her confusion, she hurried off to clear up his muddy footprints with her wand.
| “哦……对……”庞弗雷夫人似乎把庞大的海格当成了好几个人，为了掩饰她的错误，她赶紧去用魔杖清除他的泥脚印。
|
| “I don’ believe this,” said Hagrid hoarsely, shaking his great shaggy head as he stared down at Ron. “Jus’ don’ believe it . . . Look at him lyin’ there. . . . Who’d want ter hurt him, eh?”
| “我不相信，”海格俯视着罗恩，摇摇他那乱蓬蓬的大脑袋，粗声粗气地说道，“就是不相信……看他躺在那儿……谁会想伤害他呢？”
|
| “That’s just what we were discussing,” said Harry. “We don’t know.”
| “这正是我们在讨论的问题，”哈利说，“我们也不知道。”
|
| “Someone couldn’ have a grudge against the Gryffindor Quidditch team, could they?” said Hagrid anxiously. “Firs’ Katie, now Ron . . .”
| “不会是有人跟格兰芬多魁地奇球队过不去吧？”海格担心地说，“先是凯蒂，现在是罗恩……”
|
| “I can’t see anyone trying to bump off a Quidditch team,” said George.
| “我看不出有谁想干掉一支魁地奇球队。”乔治说。
|
| “Wood might’ve done the Slytherins if he could’ve got away with it,” said Fred fairly.
| “如果不会受处罚的话，伍德很可能会对斯莱特林这么干。”弗雷德比较公正。
|
| “Well, I don’t think it’s Quidditch, but I think there’s a connection between the attacks,” said Hermione quietly.
| “我想不是为了魁地奇，但两次事件之间有联系。”赫敏轻声说。
|
| “How d’you work that out?” asked Fred.
| “何以见得？”弗雷德问。
|
| “Well, for one thing, they both ought to have been fatal and weren’t, although that was pure luck. And for another, neither the poison nor the necklace seems to have reached the person who was supposed to be killed. Of course,” she added broodingly, “that makes the person behind this even more dangerous in a way, because they don’t seem to care how many people they finish off before they actually reach their victim.”
| “第一，两次本来都该致命的，却没有致命，尽管这纯粹是运气。第二，毒药和项链似乎都没害到原定要害的人。当然，”她沉吟地说，“这样看来幕后那个人更加阴险，因为他们为了袭击真正的目标似乎不在乎干掉多少人。”
|
| Before anybody could respond to this ominous pronouncement, the dormitory doors opened again and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley hurried up the ward. They had done no more than satisfy themselves that Ron would make a full recovery on their last visit to the ward; now Mrs. Weasley seized hold of Harry and hugged him very tightly. “Dumbledore’s told us how you saved him with the bezoar,” she sobbed. “Oh, Harry, what can we say? You saved Ginny . . . you saved Arthur . . . now you’ve saved Ron . . .”
| 还没有人对这个不祥的预言做出回答，病房的门又开了，韦斯莱夫妇匆匆走向病床。他们上次探视只是确定罗恩能完全康复。现在韦斯莱夫人抓住哈利，紧紧地拥抱着他。
|
| “Don’t be . . . I didn’t . . .” muttered Harry awkwardly.
| “邓布利多告诉我们你用粪石救了他。”她抽泣道，“哦，哈利，我们说什么好呢？你救过金妮……救过亚瑟……现在又救了罗恩……”
|
| “Half our family does seem to owe you their lives, now I stop and think about it,” Mr. Weasley said in a constricted voice. “Well, all I can say is that it was a lucky day for the Weasleys when Ron decided to sit in your compartment on the Hogwarts Express, Harry.”
| “不用……我没有……”哈利局促地说。
|
| Harry could not think of any reply to this and was almost glad when Madam Pomfrey reminded them that there were only supposed to be six visitors around Ron’s bed; he and Hermione rose at once to leave and Hagrid decided to go with them, leaving Ron with his family.
| “还真是，现在想起来，我们家好像有一半人的命都是你救的。”韦斯莱先生说，他的嗓子眼有些发紧，“我只能说，罗恩在霍格沃茨特快列车上决定坐在你的车厢里，那真是幸运的一天，哈利。”
|
| “It’s terrible,” growled Hagrid into his beard, as the three of them walked back along the corridor to the marble staircase. “All this new security, an’ kids are still gettin’ hurt. . . . Dumbledore’s worried sick. . . . He don’ say much, but I can tell. . . .”
| 哈利不知道该怎么回答，当庞弗雷夫人又提醒他们罗恩床边只能有六位探视者时，他几乎有些庆幸。哈利和赫敏立刻起身离去，海格决定跟他们一起走，让罗恩跟他的家人待在一起。
|
| “Hasn’t he got any ideas, Hagrid?” asked Hermione desperately.
| “太可怕了，”海格吹着他的大胡子咆哮道，三人沿着走廊往大理石台阶走去，“采取了这么多新的保安措施，还是继续有孩子受伤……邓布利多担心坏了……他不大说，但我看得出……”
|
| “I ’spect he’s got hundreds of ideas, brain like his,” said Hagrid. “But he doesn’ know who sent that necklace nor put poison in that wine, or they’d’ve bin caught, wouldn’ they? Wha’ worries me,” said Hagrid, lowering his voice and glancing over his shoulder (Harry, for good measure, checked the ceiling for Peeves), “is how long Hogwarts can stay open if kids are bein’ attacked. Chamber o’ Secrets all over again, isn’ it? There’ll be panic, more parents takin’ their kids outta school, an’ nex’ thing yeh know the board o’ governors . . .”
| “他没有什么主意吗，海格？”赫敏急切地问。
|
| Hagrid stopped talking as the ghost of a long-haired woman drifted serenely past, then resumed in a hoarse whisper, “. . . the board o’ governors’ll be talkin’ about shuttin’ us up fer good.”
| “我想他有几百个主意，他那样的脑子，”海格忠诚地说道，“可他不知道是谁送的项链，是谁在酒里下的毒，要不然早就抓住他们了，是不是？我担心的是，”海格压低嗓门，回头看了看（哈利帮着看天花板上有没有皮皮鬼），“像这样接连有孩子出事，霍格沃茨还能办多久。这不又像密室事件了吗？会搞得人心惶惶，家长把孩子接出学校，然后董事会……”
|
| “Surely not?” said Hermione, looking worried.
| 一个长发女郎的幽灵恬静地飘过，海格停下来，然后沙哑地小声说：“……董事会就会讨论把我们关掉。”
|
| “Gotta see it from their point o’ view,” said Hagrid heavily. “I mean, it’s always bin a bit of a risk sendin’ a kid ter Hogwarts, hasn’ it? Yer expect accidents, don’ yeh, with hundreds of underage wizards all locked up tergether, but attempted murder, tha’s diff ’rent. ’S’no wonder Dumbledore’s angry with Sn —”
| “不会的吧？”赫敏担心地问。
|
| Hagrid stopped in his tracks, a familiar, guilty expression on what was visible of his face above his tangled black beard.
| “你得从他们的观点来看，”海格语气沉重地说道，“把孩子送进霍格沃茨总会有一些风险，是不是？几百个未成年的巫师关在一起，难免会有事故，是不是？可是谋杀事件性质不同啊，难怪邓布利多那么生斯内——”
|
| “What?” said Harry quickly. “Dumbledore’s angry with Snape?”
| 海格突然刹住了，蓬乱的黑胡子间露出的那块面孔带着熟悉的心虚表情。
|
| “I never said tha’,” said Hagrid, though his look of panic could not have been a bigger giveaway. “Look at the time, it’s gettin’ on fer midnight, I need ter —”
| “什么？”哈利马上问，“邓布利多生斯内普的气？”
|
| “Hagrid, why is Dumbledore angry with Snape?” Harry asked loudly.
| “我没那么说。”海格否认道，但他那惶恐的样子是最有力的揭发，“看看时间，快十二点了，我得——”
|
| “Shhhh!” said Hagrid, looking both nervous and angry. “Don’ shout stuff like that, Harry, d’yeh wan’ me ter lose me job? Mind, I don’ suppose yeh’d care, would yeh, not now yeh’ve given up Care of Mag —”
| “海格，邓布利多为什么生斯内普的气？”哈利大声问。
|
| “Don’t try and make me feel guilty, it won’t work!” said Harry forcefully. “What’s Snape done?”
| “嘘！”海格说，看上去既紧张又恼火，“别嚷嚷那种话，你想让我丢掉工作吗？哦，我想你不在乎，是不是，反正你已经放弃了保护神奇——”
|
| “I dunno, Harry, I shouldn’ta heard it at all! I — well, I was comin’ outta the forest the other evenin’ an’ I overheard ’em talking — well, arguin’. Didn’t like ter draw attention to meself, so I sorta skulked an’ tried not ter listen, but it was a — well, a heated discussion an’ it wasn’ easy ter block it out.”
| “别想让我觉得内疚，那没用！”哈利激烈地说，“斯内普干了什么？”
|
| “Well?” Harry urged him, as Hagrid shuffled his enormous feet uneasily.
| “我不知道，哈利，我根本不该听到的！我——唉，那天我从林子里出来，听到他们在说话——在吵架。我不喜欢引人注意，就偷偷走在后面，努力不听，可那是一场——激烈的讨论，想不听也不容易。”
|
| “Well — I jus’ heard Snape sayin’ Dumbledore took too much fer granted an’ maybe he — Snape — didn’ wan’ ter do it anymore —”
| “说呀？”哈利催促道，海格那双大脚不安地动了动。
|
| “Do what?”
| “嗯——我听到斯内普说邓布利多太想当然，也许他——斯内普——不想再干了——”
|
| “I dunno, Harry, it sounded like Snape was feelin’ a bit overworked, tha’s all — anyway, Dumbledore told him flat out he’d agreed ter do it an’ that was all there was to it. Pretty firm with him. An’ then he said summat abou’ Snape makin’ investigations in his House, in Slytherin. Well, there’s nothin’ strange abou’ that!” Hagrid added hastily, as Harry and Hermione exchanged looks full of meaning. “All the Heads o’ Houses were asked ter look inter that necklace business —”
| “再干什么？”
|
| “Yeah, but Dumbledore’s not having rows with the rest of them, is he?” said Harry.
| “我不知道，哈利，听起来好像是斯内普觉得工作太重了，就是这样——但是，邓布利多直截了当地说是斯内普同意干的，没什么可说的。对他挺强硬的。然后又说到要斯内普调查他的学院，斯莱特林。咳，这没什么奇怪的！”海格见哈利和赫敏意味深长地对视了一下，急忙说，“所有学院的院长都要调查项链的事——”
|
| “Look,” Hagrid twisted his crossbow uncomfortably in his hands; there was a loud splintering sound and it snapped in two. “I know what yeh’re like abou’ Snape, Harry, an’ I don’ want yeh ter go readin’ more inter this than there is.”
| “对，可是邓布利多没跟其他人争吵，是不是？”哈利说。
|
| “Look out,” said Hermione tersely.
| “听着，”海格说，一边局促地扳着弩弓，嘎嘣一声，弩弓被折成了两半，“我知道你对斯内普是怎么想的，哈利，我不希望你去猜疑本来没有的事情。”
|
| They turned just in time to see the shadow of Argus Filch looming over the wall behind them before the man himself turned the corner, hunchbacked, his jowls aquiver.
| “小心！”赫敏急促地说。
|
| “Oho!” he wheezed. “Out of bed so late, this’ll mean detention!”
| 他们回过头，看见阿格斯·费尔奇的阴影正投到他们身后的墙上，然后他本人从一个拐角走了出来，他佝偻着背，下巴的垂肉抖动着。
|
| “No it won’, Filch,” said Hagrid shortly. “They’re with me, aren’ they?”
| “哦嗬！”他呼哧呼哧地说，“这么晚了还不睡觉，关禁闭！”
|
| “And what difference does that make?” asked Filch obnoxiously.
| “不，费尔奇，”海格马上说，“他们跟我在一起，是吧？”
|
| “I’m a ruddy teacher, aren’ I, yeh sneakin’ Squib!” said Hagrid, firing up at once.
| “那有什么区别？”费尔奇可憎地问。
|
| There was a nasty hissing noise as Filch swelled with fury; Mrs. Norris had arrived, unseen, and was twisting herself sinuously around Filch’s skinny ankles.
| “我是教师，不是吗？你这鬼鬼祟祟的哑炮！”海格登时火了。
|
| “Get goin’,” said Hagrid out of the corner of his mouth.
| 费尔奇勃然大怒，发出可怕的嘶嘶声，洛丽丝夫人不知什么时候来了，蛇一样绕在费尔奇的瘦脚踝上。
|
| Harry did not need telling twice; he and Hermione both hurried off; Hagrid’s and Filch’s raised voices echoed behind them as they ran. They passed Peeves near the turning into Gryffindor Tower, but he was streaking happily toward the source of the yelling, cackling and calling,
| “走。”海格从牙缝中挤出声音说。
|
| When there’s strife and when there’s trouble
| 哈利不需要再提醒，他跟赫敏匆匆逃走了，海格和费尔奇的高嗓门在身后回响着。在即将拐进格兰芬多塔楼时，他们碰到了皮皮鬼，他正快活地朝着吵嚷声的方向冲去，咯咯地笑着叫道：
|
| Call on Peevsie, he’ll make double!
| 哪儿有打架，哪儿有麻烦，
|
| The Fat Lady was snoozing and not pleased to be woken, but swung forward grumpily to allow them to clamber into the mercifully peaceful and empty common room. It did not seem that people knew about Ron yet; Harry was very relieved: He had been interrogated enough that day. Hermione bade him good night and set off for the girls’ dormitory. Harry, however, remained behind, taking a seat beside the fire and looking down into the dying embers.
| 就叫皮皮鬼，他会去添乱！
|
| So Dumbledore had argued with Snape. In spite of all he had told Harry, in spite of his insistence that he trusted Snape completely, he had lost his temper with him. . . . He did not think that Snape had tried hard enough to investigate the Slytherins . . . or, perhaps, to investigate a single Slytherin: Malfoy?
| 胖夫人正在打瞌睡，被吵醒了不大高兴，拉长了脸，但还是旋开了，让他们爬进去，幸好公共休息室里一片清静，空无一人。大家似乎还不知道罗恩的事，哈利大大地松了口气，他今天已经被问得够多了。赫敏跟他道了晚安，回女生宿舍了。哈利留了下来，坐在壁炉旁凝视着那些即将燃尽的炉灰。
|
| Was it because Dumbledore did not want Harry to do anything foolish, to take matters into his own hands, that he had pretended there was nothing in Harry’s suspicions? That seemed likely. It might even be that Dumbledore did not want anything to distract Harry from their lessons, or from procuring that memory from Slughorn. Perhaps Dumbledore did not think it right to confide suspicions about his staff to sixteen-year-olds. . . .
| 邓布利多跟斯内普吵架了，尽管他对哈利口口声声坚持说他是完全信任斯内普的，他还是跟斯内普发脾气了……觉得斯内普没有尽力调查斯莱特林……或调查某一个斯莱特林的学生——马尔福？
|
| “There you are, Potter!”
| 是否因为邓布利多不希望哈利做傻事，害怕哈利自己插手去管，才假装说哈利怀疑的事情是无中生有？有可能。甚至可能是他不希望哈利上课分心或耽误了从斯拉格霍恩那里搞到真实的记忆。也可能邓布利多觉得不该对一个十六岁学生说他对教员的怀疑……
|
| Harry jumped to his feet in shock, his wand at the ready. He had been quite convinced that the common room was empty; he had not been at all prepared for a hulking figure to rise suddenly out of a distant chair. A closer look showed him that it was Cormac McLaggen.
| “你在这儿，波特！”
|
| “I’ve been waiting for you to come back,” said McLaggen, disregarding Harry’s drawn wand. “Must’ve fallen asleep. Look, I saw them taking Weasley up to the hospital wing earlier. Didn’t look like he’ll be fit for next week’s match.”
| 哈利惊得跳了起来，拿起了魔杖。他本来以为休息室里没人，完全没想到会突然从远处座位上冒出一个庞大的身影。哈利定睛一看，是考迈克·麦克拉根。
|
| It took Harry a few moments to realize what McLaggen was talking about.
| “我一直在等你回来，”麦克拉根说，没理会哈利拔出的魔杖，“准是打了个盹儿。我看到他们把韦斯莱抬到校医院去了。看样子他不能参加下星期的比赛了。”
|
| “Oh . . . right . . . Quidditch,” he said, putting his wand back into the belt of his jeans and running a hand wearily through his hair. “Yeah . . . he might not make it.”
| 哈利过了一会儿才明白过来他在说什么。
|
| “Well, then, I’ll be playing Keeper, won’t I?” said McLaggen.
| “哦……对了……魁地奇，”他把魔杖插回牛仔裤的腰带中，疲惫地捋了一下头发，“是啊……他可能去不了啦。”
|
| “Yeah,” said Harry. “Yeah, I suppose so. . . .”
| “那就该我当守门员了，是不是？”麦克拉根问。
|
| He could not think of an argument against it; after all, McLaggen had certainly performed second-best in the trials.
| “啊，”哈利说，“啊，我想是……”
|
| “Excellent,” said McLaggen in a satisfied voice. “So when’s practice?”
| 哈利想不出反驳的理由，毕竟，麦克拉根在选拔赛上名列第二。
|
| “What? Oh . . . there’s one tomorrow evening.”
| “太好了，”麦克拉根用满意的口气说，“什么时候训练？”
|
| “Good. Listen, Potter, we should have a talk beforehand. I’ve got some ideas on strategy you might find useful.”
| “什么？哦……明天晚上有一次。”
|
| “Right,” said Harry unenthusiastically. “Well, I’ll hear them tomorrow, then. I’m pretty tired now . . . see you . . .”
| “好，听我说，波特，我们应该事先谈一谈。我有一些战略想法，可能对你有用。”
|
| The news that Ron had been poisoned spread quickly next day, but it did not cause the sensation that Katie’s attack had done. People seemed to think that it might have been an accident, given that he had been in the Potions master’s room at the time, and that as he had been given an antidote immediately there was no real harm done. In fact, the Gryffindors were generally much more interested in the upcoming Quidditch match against Hufflepuff, for many of them wanted to see Zacharias Smith, who played Chaser on the Hufflepuff team, punished soundly for his commentary during the opening match against Slytherin.
| “行，”哈利不太热情地说，“我明天再听吧，现在挺累的……再见……”
|
| Harry, however, had never been less interested in Quidditch; he was rapidly becoming obsessed with Draco Malfoy. Still checking the Marauder’s Map whenever he got a chance, he sometimes made detours to wherever Malfoy happened to be, but had not yet detected him doing anything out of the ordinary. And still there were those inexplicable times when Malfoy simply vanished from the map. . . .
| 罗恩中毒的事第二天就迅速传开了，但没有像凯蒂受伤那么轰动，大家似乎认为这也许是个意外，因为他当时在魔药老师的屋里，而且立刻服了解药，没什么大碍。实际上，格兰芬多的学生普遍更关心的是对赫奇帕奇的魁地奇比赛，很多人都想看到该队追球手扎卡赖斯·史密斯受到惩罚，因为他在对斯莱特林的开场赛中解说得那么恶劣。
|
| But Harry did not get a lot of time to consider the problem, what with Quidditch practice, homework, and the fact that he was now being dogged wherever he went by Cormac McLaggen and Lavender Brown.
| 哈利对魁地奇的兴趣却是从未像现在这样低过，他的心思迅速被德拉科·马尔福占满了，还是一有机会就查看活点地图，有时还会绕到马尔福所在的地方，但仍未发现他有异常行为。然而，还是有些神秘的时刻，马尔福会完全从地图上消失……
|
| He could not decide which of them was more annoying. McLaggen kept up a constant stream of hints that he would make a better permanent Keeper for the team than Ron, and that now that Harry was seeing him play regularly he would surely come around to this way of thinking too; he was also keen to criticize the other players and provide Harry with detailed training schemes, so that more than once Harry was forced to remind him who was Captain.
| 但哈利没有很多时间想这个问题，要参加魁地奇训练，要做作业，还有走到哪里都会遭到麦克拉根和拉文德的纠缠。
|
| Meanwhile, Lavender kept sidling up to Harry to discuss Ron, which Harry found almost more wearing than McLaggen’s Quidditch lectures. At first, Lavender had been very annoyed that nobody had thought to tell her that Ron was in the hospital wing — “I mean, I am his girlfriend!” — but unfortunately she had now decided to forgive Harry this lapse of memory and was keen to have lots of in-depth chats with him about Ron’s feelings, a most uncomfortable experience that Harry would have happily forgone.
| 哈利不能确定这两个人哪个更讨厌。麦克拉根不断暗示他当守门员会比罗恩更好，认为现在哈利经常看到他的训练，一定会得出同样的结论。他还喜欢批评其他球员，向哈利提供详细的训练方案，哈利好几次不得不提醒他谁是队长。
|
| “Look, why don’t you talk to Ron about all this?” Harry asked, after a particularly long interrogation from Lavender that took in everything from precisely what Ron had said about her new dress robes to whether or not Harry thought that Ron considered his relationship with Lavender to be “serious.”
| 与此同时，拉文德经常凑上来讨论罗恩，哈利觉得这比麦克拉根的魁地奇讲座更令人厌烦。一开始，拉文德很生气没人想到告诉她罗恩进了校医院——“我是他的女朋友！”不幸的是，她现在决定原谅哈利的失忆，很喜欢跟他就罗恩的感情做一次次深谈，这种极不舒服的经历哈利宁可没有。
|
| “Well, I would, but he’s always asleep when I go and see him!” said Lavender fretfully.
| “听我说，你为什么不跟罗恩谈这些呢？”哈利问。
|
| “Is he?” said Harry, surprised, for he had found Ron perfectly alert every time he had been up to the hospital wing, both highly interested in the news of Dumbledore and Snape’s row and keen to abuse McLaggen as much as possible.
| 在一次特别长的问话里，拉文德无所不谈，从罗恩对她的新袍子到底发表了什么评论，一直问到哈利是否觉得罗恩对她是“认真的”。
|
| “Is Hermione Granger still visiting him?” Lavender demanded suddenly.
| “唉，我是想问啊，可我去看他的时候，他总是在睡觉。”拉文德烦恼地说道。
|
| “Yeah, I think so. Well, they’re friends, aren’t they?” said Harry uncomfortably.
| “是吗？”哈利很惊讶，因为每次他去校医院，罗恩都很清醒，对邓布利多和斯内普吵架的消息很感兴趣，骂起麦克拉根来也积极起劲。
|
| “Friends, don’t make me laugh,” said Lavender scornfully. “She didn’t talk to him for weeks after he started going out with me! But I suppose she wants to make up with him now he’s all interesting. . . .”
| “赫敏·格兰杰还去看他吗？”拉文德突然问。
|
| “Would you call getting poisoned being interesting?” asked Harry. “Anyway — sorry, got to go — there’s McLaggen coming for a talk about Quidditch,” said Harry hurriedly, and he dashed sideways through a door pretending to be solid wall and sprinted down the shortcut that would take him off to Potions where, thankfully, neither Lavender nor McLaggen could follow him.
| “嗯，我想是的。他们是朋友嘛，是不是？”哈利尴尬地答道。
|
| On the morning of the Quidditch match against Hufflepuff, Harry dropped in on the hospital wing before heading down to the pitch. Ron was very agitated; Madam Pomfrey would not let him go down to watch the match, feeling it would overexcite him.
| “朋友？别逗我了。”拉文德轻蔑地说，“罗恩跟我好了之后，她几星期都没跟他说话！可是我估计她想跟他和好，因为现在他那么有趣……”
|
| “So how’s McLaggen shaping up?” he asked Harry nervously, apparently forgetting that he had already asked the same question twice.
| “你是说中毒有趣？算了——对不起，我该走了——麦克拉根要过来谈魁地奇了。”哈利急忙说，然后冲进旁边一扇伪装成墙壁的门中，抄近路逃去上魔药课了，幸好拉文德和麦克拉根不能跟去。
|
| “I’ve told you,” said Harry patiently, “he could be world-class and I wouldn’t want to keep him. He keeps trying to tell everyone what to do, he thinks he could play every position better than the rest of us. I can’t wait to be shot of him. And speaking of getting shot of people,” Harry added, getting to his feet and picking up his Firebolt, “will you stop pretending to be asleep when Lavender comes to see you? She’s driving me mad as well.”
| 在对赫奇帕奇比赛的那天早上，哈利去球场前到校医院看了看。罗恩焦躁不安，庞弗雷夫人不让他去观看比赛，怕他兴奋过度。
|
| “Oh,” said Ron, looking sheepish. “Yeah. All right.”
| “麦克拉根表现得怎么样？”他紧张地问哈利，好像不记得他已经问过两遍了。
|
| “If you don’t want to go out with her anymore, just tell her,” said Harry.
| “我跟你说了，”哈利耐心地说，“他就是世界一流我也不想留他。他老是教训别人，觉得他在哪个位置都能比我们其他人更好。我巴不得早点儿摆脱他。说到摆脱，”哈利站起来，拿起他的火弩箭，“你能不能在拉文德来看你时不假装睡觉？她也要让我发疯了。”
|
| “Yeah . . . well . . . it’s not that easy, is it?” said Ron. He paused. “Hermione going to look in before the match?” he added casually.
| “哦，”罗恩难为情地说，“是，好的。”
|
| “No, she’s already gone down to the pitch with Ginny.”
| “如果你不想再跟她处下去，就告诉她。”
|
| “Oh,” said Ron, looking rather glum. “Right. Well, good luck. Hope you hammer McLag — I mean, Smith.”
| “嗯……这……不那么容易，是不是？”罗恩停了一会儿，又不经意地加了一句，“赫敏比赛前会来吗？”
|
| “I’ll try,” said Harry, shouldering his broom. “See you after the match.”
| “不，她已经跟金妮去球场了。”
|
| He hurried down through the deserted corridors; the whole school was outside, either already seated in the stadium or heading down toward it. He was looking out of the windows he passed, trying to gauge how much wind they were facing, when a noise ahead made him glance up and he saw Malfoy walking toward him, accompanied by two girls, both of whom looked sulky and resentful.
| “哦，”罗恩显得有些沮丧，“好吧，祝你们好运，希望你痛揍麦克拉——我是说史密斯。”
|
| Malfoy stopped short at the sight of Harry, then gave a short, humorless laugh and continued walking.
| “我尽量。”哈利说着扛起飞天扫帚，“赛后再见。”
|
| “Where’re you going?” Harry demanded.
| 他匆匆穿过无人的走廊。全校人都出去了，不是已坐在体育场里就是正往那儿走。哈利边走边看窗外，判断风力多大。听到前方有响动，他抬起目光，看到马尔福朝他走来，旁边有两个女孩，其中一个面有愠色。
|
| “Yeah, I’m really going to tell you, because it’s your business, Potter,” sneered Malfoy. “You’d better hurry up, they’ll be waiting for ‘the Chosen Captain’ — ‘the Boy Who Scored’ — whatever they call you these days.”
| 看到哈利，马尔福突然停住了，然后短促地干笑一声，继续往前走。
|
| One of the girls gave an unwilling giggle. Harry stared at her. She blushed. Malfoy pushed past Harry and she and her friend followed at a trot, turning the corner and vanishing from view.
| “你去哪儿？”哈利问。
|
| Harry stood rooted on the spot and watched them disappear. This was infuriating; he was already cutting it fine to get to the match on time and yet there was Malfoy, skulking off while the rest of the school was absent: Harry’s best chance yet of discovering what Malfoy was up to. The silent seconds trickled past, and Harry remained where he was, frozen, gazing at the place where Malfoy had vanished. . . .
| “啊，我正要告诉你呢，因为这是你的事，波特，”马尔福讥笑道，“你最好快点儿，他们在等‘救世队长’——‘得分之星’——谁知道他们现在叫你什么呢。”
|
| “Where have you been?” demanded Ginny, as Harry sprinted into the changing rooms. The whole team was changed and ready; Coote and Peakes, the Beaters, were both hitting their clubs nervously against their legs.
| 一个女孩勉强地笑了一声，哈利盯着她，她的脸红了。马尔福从哈利身旁挤了过去，那女孩跟她的朋友小跑着跟上，转过拐角不见了。
|
| “I met Malfoy,” Harry told her quietly, as he pulled his scarlet robes over his head.
| 哈利定在原地，眼睁睁地看着他们消失了。真够气人的，他已经是卡着时间去赛场，可却发现马尔福趁全校人都去看球赛的时候在偷偷行动：到现在为止，这是搞清马尔福在干什么的最好机会。时间一秒一秒无声地过去，哈利还站在那儿，望着马尔福消失的地方……
|
| “So?”
| “你去哪儿了？”哈利冲进更衣室时金妮问。全队都已换好衣服，准备上场了。击球手古特和珀克斯紧张地用球棍敲着小腿。
|
| “So I wanted to know how come he’s up at the castle with a couple of girlfriends while everyone else is down here. . . .”
| “我碰到马尔福了。”哈利小声告诉她，一边把红色的球袍套到头上。
|
| “Does it matter right now?”
| “噢？”
|
| “Well, I’m not likely to find out, am I?” said Harry, seizing his Firebolt and pushing his glasses straight. “Come on then!”
| “我想知道，所有的人都在这儿，他怎么会带着两个女孩在城堡里……”
|
| And without another word, he marched out onto the pitch to deafening cheers and boos.
| “这个时候这件事很要紧吗？”
|
| There was little wind; the clouds were patchy; every now and then there were dazzling flashes of bright sunlight.
| “咳，我不可能搞清楚，是不是？”哈利急忙抓起火弩箭，戴好眼镜，“走吧！”
|
| “Tricky conditions!” McLaggen said bracingly to the team. “Coote, Peakes, you’ll want to fly out of the sun, so they don’t see you coming —”
| 他没再说话，大步走到球场上，迎来震耳欲聋的欢呼和嘘声。没有什么风，白云朵朵，时而有耀眼的阳光射出。
|
| “I’m the Captain, McLaggen, shut up giving them instructions,” said Harry angrily. “Just get up by the goal posts!”
| “麻烦的天气！”麦克拉根给队员们打气说，“古特，珀克斯，你们要在阳光照不到的地方飞，让对方看不到你们过来——”
|
| Once McLaggen had marched off, Harry turned to Coote and Peakes.
| “我是队长，麦克拉根，不要再指导他们了，”哈利恼火地说，“到球门那儿去。”
|
| “Make sure you do fly out of the sun,” he told them grudgingly.
| 麦克拉根走了之后，哈利转向了古特和珀克斯。
|
| He shook hands with the Hufflepuff Captain, and then, on Madam Hooch’s whistle, kicked off and rose into the air, higher than the rest of his team, streaking around the pitch in search of the Snitch. If he could catch it good and early, there might be a chance he could get back up to the castle, seize the Marauder’s Map, and find out what Malfoy was doing. . . .
| “记着要在阳光照不到的地方飞。”他不情愿地叮嘱道。
|
| “And that’s Smith of Hufflepuff with the Quaffle,” said a dreamy voice, echoing over the grounds. “He did the commentary last time, of course, and Ginny Weasley flew into him, I think probably on purpose, it looked like it. Smith was being quite rude about Gryffindor, I expect he regrets that now he’s playing them — oh, look, he’s lost the Quaffle, Ginny took it from him, I do like her, she’s very nice. . . .”
| 他跟赫奇帕奇的队长握了手，然后在霍琦夫人的哨声中腾空而起，升得比其他队员都高，围绕球场疾驰，寻找飞贼。如果能早点儿抓到它，也许还有机会返回城堡拿上活点地图，去搞清马尔福在干什么……
|
| Harry stared down at the commentator’s podium. Surely nobody in their right mind would have let Luna Lovegood commentate? But even from above there was no mistaking that long, dirty-blonde hair, nor the necklace of butterbeer corks. . . . Beside Luna, Professor McGonagall was looking slightly uncomfortable, as though she was indeed having second thoughts about this appointment.
| “赫奇帕奇的史密斯拿到了鬼飞球，”一个梦幻般的声音在球场上空回响，“当然，上次是他做的解说。金妮·韦斯莱撞到了他，我想可能是故意的——看上去很像。史密斯上次对格兰芬多出言不逊。我想他现在后悔了——哦，快看，他丢掉了鬼飞球，金妮抢了过去，我喜欢她，她人很好……”
|
| “. . . but now that big Hufflepuff player’s got the Quaffle from her, I can’t remember his name, it’s something like Bibble — no, Buggins —”
| 哈利朝解说台看去，哪个头脑正常的人会让卢娜做解说呢？可就是在高空也不会看错，那淡金色的长发，黄油啤酒瓶塞做的项链……她旁边的麦格教授显得有点不自在，好像确实对这一任命感到有些后悔。
|
| “It’s Cadwallader!” said Professor McGonagall loudly from beside Luna. The crowd laughed.
| “……可现在那个赫奇帕奇的大个子球员把鬼飞球从她手里夺走了，我不记得他的名字，好像是毕勃——不，巴金思——”
|
| Harry stared around for the Snitch; there was no sign of it. Moments later, Cadwallader scored. McLaggen had been shouting criticism at Ginny for allowing the Quaffle out of her possession, with the result that he had not noticed the large red ball soaring past his right ear.
| “是卡德瓦拉德！”麦格教授在卢娜旁边高声说道，观众哄堂大笑。
|
| “McLaggen, will you pay attention to what you’re supposed to be doing and leave everyone else alone!” bellowed Harry, wheeling around to face his Keeper.
| 哈利举目四望寻找飞贼，却不见它的踪影。过了一会儿，卡德瓦拉德进了一球。麦克拉根在那儿大声指责金妮丢掉了鬼飞球，结果没注意大红球从他左耳边飞了过去。
|
| “You’re not setting a great example!” McLaggen shouted back, red-faced and furious.
| “麦克拉根，请专心干你该干的事，不要干涉别人！”哈利转过身冲着他的守门员吼道。
|
| “And Harry Potter’s now having an argument with his Keeper,” said Luna serenely, while both Hufflepuffs and Slytherins below in the crowd cheered and jeered. “I don’t think that’ll help him find the Snitch, but maybe it’s a clever ruse. . . .”
| “你也没做个好榜样！”麦克拉根也吼道，面孔通红，怒气冲冲。
|
| Swearing angrily, Harry spun round and set off around the pitch again, scanning the skies for some sign of the tiny, winged golden ball.
| “哈利·波特在和他的守门员争吵，”卢娜平静地说，下面赫奇帕奇和斯莱特林的观众都喝起了倒彩，“我不认为那有助于他找到飞贼，但这也许是个巧妙的幌子……”
|
| Ginny and Demelza scored a goal apiece, giving the red-and-gold-clad supporters below something to cheer about. Then Cadwallader scored again, making things level, but Luna did not seem to have noticed; she appeared singularly uninterested in such mundane things as the score, and kept attempting to draw the crowd’s attention to such things as interestingly shaped clouds and the possibility that Zacharias Smith, who had so far failed to maintain possession of the Quaffle for longer than a minute, was suffering from something called “Loser’s Lurgy.”
| 哈利愤怒地诅咒了一声，转身继续绕场疾驰，在天空中搜寻那个带翅膀的小金球的影子。
|
| “Seventy-forty to Hufflepuff!” barked Professor McGonagall into Luna’s megaphone.
| 金妮和德米尔扎各进一球，让下面穿着红金双色服装的观众有了一点可以欢呼的东西。然后卡德瓦拉德又进了一球，把比分扳平了，但卢娜好像没注意到。她似乎对比分这种庸俗的东西特别不感兴趣，总是把观众的注意力引到别处，如奇形怪状的云彩，还有扎卡赖斯·史密斯开场后把鬼飞球拿在手里都没超过一分钟，是不是得了“丢球症”，等等。
|
| “Is it, already?” said Luna vaguely. “Oh, look! The Gryffindor Keeper’s got hold of one of the Beater’s bats.”
| “赫奇帕奇队七十比四十领先！”麦格教授朝卢娜的麦克风中喊道。
|
| Harry spun around in midair. Sure enough, McLaggen, for reasons best known to himself, had pulled Peakes’s bat from him and appeared to be demonstrating how to hit a Bludger toward an oncoming Cadwallader.
| “是吗，已经这样了？”卢娜茫然地说，“哦，看哪！格兰芬多的守门员抓住了一个击球手的球棍。”
|
| “Will you give him back his bat and get back to the goal posts!” roared Harry, pelting toward McLaggen just as McLaggen took a ferocious swipe at the Bludger and mishit it.
| 哈利在空中急忙转过身，果然，麦克拉根出于只有他自己才知道的原因，从珀克斯手里夺过了球棍，好像在示范怎么向飞来的卡德拉瓦德打游走球。
|
| A blinding, sickening pain . . . a flash of light . . . distant screams . . . and the sensation of falling down a long tunnel . . .
| “把球棍还给他，回球门里去！”哈利咆哮着朝麦克拉根冲了过去，麦克拉根朝游走球狠抽一棍，球打飞了。
|
| And the next thing Harry knew, he was lying in a remarkably warm and comfortable bed and looking up at a lamp that was throwing a circle of golden light onto a shadowy ceiling. He raised his head awkwardly. There on his left was a familiar-looking, freckly, red-haired person.
| 一阵头晕目眩的剧痛……一道亮光……远处的尖叫声……然后像在长长的隧道里坠落……
|
| “Nice of you to drop in,” said Ron, grinning.
| 哈利知道的下一件事，就是发现自己躺在一张异常温暖舒适的床上，看着一盏在朦胧的天花板上投下金色光圈的吊灯。他艰难地抬起头，看到左边有一个很眼熟的雀斑脸的红头发的人。
|
| Harry blinked and looked around. Of course: He was in the hospital wing. The sky outside was indigo streaked with crimson. The match must have finished hours ago . . . as had any hope of cornering Malfoy. Harry’s head felt strangely heavy; he raised a hand and felt a stiff turban of bandages.
| “谢谢你来陪我。”罗恩笑嘻嘻地说。
|
| “What happened?”
| 哈利眨眨眼睛，环顾着四周。没错，他在校医院里。外面的天空靛蓝中夹着深红的条纹。比赛一定早结束了……抓住马尔福的希望也落空了。哈利觉得脑袋沉得出奇，他举起手，摸到了一大圈硬硬的绷带，像阿拉伯人的缠头巾。
|
| “Cracked skull,” said Madam Pomfrey, bustling up and pushing him back against his pillows. “Nothing to worry about, I mended it at once, but I’m keeping you in overnight. You shouldn’t overexert yourself for a few hours.”
| “怎么回事？”
|
| “I don’t want to stay here overnight,” said Harry angrily, sitting up and throwing back his covers. “I want to find McLaggen and kill him.”
| “头骨碎裂，”庞弗雷夫人急忙走来，把他按回枕头上，“不用担心，我立刻就缝合上，但你要住一晚上，几小时之内不可用力过度。”
|
| “I’m afraid that would come under the heading of ‘overexertion,’ ” said Madam Pomfrey, pushing him firmly back onto the bed and raising her wand in a threatening manner. “You will stay here until I discharge you, Potter, or I shall call the headmaster.”
| “我不想在这儿过夜，”哈利愤怒地说，一边掀开被单坐了起来，“我想找到麦克拉根，把他杀了。”
|
| She bustled back into her office, and Harry sank back into his pillows, fuming.
| “这恐怕属于‘用力过度’，”庞弗雷夫人坚决地把他推回床上，威胁地举起魔杖，“你要住到我让你出院为止，波特，不然我就要叫校长了。”
|
| “D’you know how much we lost by?” he asked Ron through clenched teeth.
| 她匆匆走回办公室，哈利倒回枕头上，怒不可遏。
|
| “Well, yeah I do,” said Ron apologetically. “Final score was three hundred and twenty to sixty.”
| “你知道我们输了多少？”他咬着牙问罗恩。
|
| “Brilliant,” said Harry savagely. “Really brilliant! When I get hold of McLaggen —”
| “嗯，我知道，”罗恩抱歉地说，“最后比分是三百二十比六十。”
|
| “You don’t want to get hold of him, he’s the size of a troll,” said Ron reasonably. “Personally, I think there’s a lot to be said for hexing him with that toenail thing of the Prince’s. Anyway, the rest of the team might’ve dealt with him before you get out of here, they’re not happy. . . .”
| “精彩，”哈利说，气得眼睛都红了，“真精彩！等我抓住麦克拉根——”
|
| There was a note of badly suppressed glee in Ron’s voice; Harry could tell he was nothing short of thrilled that McLaggen had messed up so badly. Harry lay there, staring up at the patch of light on the ceiling, his recently mended skull not hurting, precisely, but feeling slightly tender underneath all the bandaging.
| “别抓他，他的块头像巨怪。”罗恩理智地说，“我个人认为完全可以用王子那个让脚趾疯长的咒语教训他一下。不过，在你出院前可能其他队员已经整过他了，他们都不痛快……”
|
| “I could hear the match commentary from here,” said Ron, his voice now shaking with laughter. “I hope Luna always commentates from now on. . . . Loser’s Lurgy . . .”
| 罗恩的语气中有抑制不住的开心。哈利看得出他为麦克拉根捅了这么大的娄子而暗暗高兴。哈利躺在那儿，盯着天花板上的光圈，新缝合的头骨不是很疼，只是在绷带下隐隐作痛。
|
| But Harry was still too angry to see much humor in the situation, and after a while Ron’s snorts subsided.
| “在这儿能听到解说，”罗恩说，他笑得声音都抖了，“我希望以后都由卢娜解说……丢球症！……”
|
| “Ginny came in to visit while you were unconscious,” he said, after a long pause, and Harry’s imagination zoomed into overdrive, rapidly constructing a scene in which Ginny, weeping over his lifeless form, confessed her feelings of deep attraction to him while Ron gave them his blessing. . . . “She reckons you only just arrived on time for the match. How come? You left here early enough.”
| 但哈利还在盛怒中，看不出这里面有多少幽默。过了一会儿，罗恩的笑声低了下去。
|
| “Oh . . .” said Harry, as the scene in his mind’s eye imploded. “Yeah . . . well, I saw Malfoy sneaking off with a couple of girls who didn’t look like they wanted to be with him, and that’s the second time he’s made sure he isn’t down on the Quidditch pitch with the rest of the school; he skipped the last match too, remember?” Harry sighed. “Wish I’d followed him now, the match was such a fiasco. . . .”
| “你昏迷的时候金妮来过。”停了好长时间，他说。哈利的想象立刻超速运转起来，飞快构思出一幕画面——金妮对着他没有知觉的身体抽泣，表白着她对他深深的爱恋，罗恩为他们俩祝福……“她说你去的时候刚刚赶上比赛，怎么会呢？你走得挺早的啊。”
|
| “Don’t be stupid,” said Ron sharply. “You couldn’t have missed a Quidditch match just to follow Malfoy, you’re the Captain!”
| “哦……”哈利说，脑海中幻想的那一幕坍塌了，“是……我看到马尔福跟两个女孩走了，她们好像不想跟他走，这是他第二次没跟全校师生一起待在魁地奇球场。他上次比赛也溜了，记得吗？”哈利叹了一口气。“当时要跟踪他就好了，比赛输得这么惨……”
|
| “I want to know what he’s up to,” said Harry. “And don’t tell me it’s all in my head, not after what I overheard between him and Snape —”
| “别傻了，”罗恩劈头说，“你不能为跟踪马尔福而错过魁地奇比赛，你是队长！”
|
| “I never said it was all in your head,” said Ron, hoisting himself up on an elbow in turn and frowning at Harry, “but there’s no rule saying only one person at a time can be plotting anything in this place! You’re getting a bit obsessed with Malfoy, Harry. I mean, thinking about missing a match just to follow him . . .”
| “我想知道他在干什么。别跟我说这是我的想象，我听到他和斯内普——”
|
| “I want to catch him at it!” said Harry in frustration. “I mean, where’s he going when he disappears off the map?”
| “我从来没说这是你的想象，”罗恩用胳膊肘支起身子，皱着眉头对哈利说道，“可是没有哪条规定说这地方每次只能有一个人搞阴谋啊！你对马尔福有点着魔了，哈利，竟然想为了跟踪他而放弃比赛……”
|
| “I dunno . . . Hogsmeade?” suggested Ron, yawning.
| “我想抓到他！”哈利沮丧地说，“我的意思是，他从地图上消失的时候都到哪儿去了？”
|
| “I’ve never seen him going along any of the secret passageways on the map. I thought they were being watched now anyway?”
| “不知道……霍格莫德？”罗恩打着哈欠说。
|
| “Well then, I dunno,” said Ron.
| “我在地图上从来没见他走过秘密通道。再说我想通道也受到监视了，是不是？”
|
| Silence fell between them. Harry stared up at the circle of lamplight above him, thinking. . . .
| “那我就不知道了。”
|
| If only he had Rufus Scrimgeour’s power, he would have been able to set a tail upon Malfoy, but unfortunately Harry did not have an office full of Aurors at his command. . . . He thought fleetingly of trying to set something up with the D.A., but there again was the problem that people would be missed from lessons; most of them, after all, still had full schedules. . . .
| 两人沉默下来。哈利盯着天花板上的光圈，思索着……
|
| There was a low, rumbling snore from Ron’s bed. After a while Madam Pomfrey came out of her office, this time wearing a thick dressing gown. It was easiest to feign sleep; Harry rolled over onto his side and listened to all the curtains closing themselves as she waved her wand. The lamps dimmed, and she returned to her office; he heard the door click behind her and knew that she was off to bed.
| 要是他有鲁弗斯·斯克林杰的权力，就可以派人盯马尔福的梢。可惜哈利没有一批傲罗听他调遣……他想到利用D．A．，可仍然有缺课的问题，大部分人的日程还是挺满的……
|
| This was, Harry reflected in the darkness, the third time that he had been brought to the hospital wing because of a Quidditch injury. Last time he had fallen off his broom due to the presence of dementors around the pitch, and the time before that, all the bones had been removed from his arm by the incurably inept Professor Lockhart. . . . That had been his most painful injury by far . . . he remembered the agony of regrowing an armful of bones in one night, a discomfort not eased by the arrival of an unexpected visitor in the middle of the —
| 罗恩的床上响起了低沉的呼噜声。稍后庞弗雷夫人走了出来，这次她穿了件厚厚的睡衣。装睡最容易不过了，哈利翻了个身，听到她挥动魔杖拉上所有的窗帘。灯暗下来，她走回办公室，哈利听到门咔哒一声关上了，知道她去睡觉了。
|
| Harry sat bolt upright, his heart pounding, his bandage turban askew. He had the solution at last: There was a way to have Malfoy followed — how could he have forgotten, why hadn’t he thought of it before?
| 哈利在黑暗中回忆着，这是他第三次在魁地奇赛场上受伤而被送进校医院。上次是因为球场周围有摄魂怪，他从扫帚上摔了下来。再上次是因为不可救药的洛哈特教授把他手臂内的骨头变没了……那是他最痛的一次……他想起了一夜长出手臂里全部骨头的那种剧痛，还有意外的午夜来访——
|
| But the question was, how to call him? What did you do?
| 哈利腾地坐了起来，心嗵嗵地跳着，绷带歪到了一边。他终于有了一个办法可以跟踪马尔福——他怎么会忘了呢？为什么先前没想起来呢？
|
| Quietly, tentatively, Harry spoke into the darkness.
| 问题是，怎么去叫他？怎么做呢？
|
| “Kreacher?”
| 哈利轻声试探着向黑暗中呼唤。
|
| There was a very loud crack, and the sounds of scuffling and squeaks filled the silent room. Ron awoke with a yelp.
| “克利切？”
|
| “What’s going — ?”
| 噼啪一声巨响，扭打声和尖叫声随即充满了原本寂静的病房。
|
| Harry pointed his wand hastily at the door of Madam Pomfrey’s office and muttered, “Muffliato!” so that she would not come running. Then he scrambled to the end of his bed for a better look at what was going on.
| 罗恩惊醒了，叫道：“出了什么——”
|
| Two house-elves were rolling around on the floor in the middle of the dormitory, one wearing a shrunken maroon jumper and several woolly hats, the other, a filthy old rag strung over his hips like a loincloth. Then there was another loud bang, and Peeves the Poltergeist appeared in midair above the wrestling elves.
| 哈利急忙用魔杖指着庞弗雷夫人的房门说：“闭耳塞听！”免得她冲过来。然后他爬到床脚，细看发生了什么。
|
| “I was watching that, Potty!” he told Harry indignantly, pointing at the fight below, before letting out a loud cackle. “Look at the ickle creatures squabbling, bitey bitey, punchy punchy —”
| 两个家养小精灵在病房中央的地板上打着滚，一个穿着一件缩水的栗色套头衫，戴着几顶绒线帽，另一个屁股上裹着块脏兮兮的破布。然后又是一声巨响，皮皮鬼这个恶作剧专家出现在扭成一团的小精灵上空。
|
| “Kreacher will not insult Harry Potter in front of Dobby, no he won’t, or Dobby will shut Kreacher’s mouth for him!” cried Dobby in a high-pitched voice.
| “我在看他们呢，傻宝宝波特！”他指着下面气愤地告诉哈利，然后高声尖笑道，“看那两个小东西吵架，咬呀咬，打呀打。”
|
| “— kicky, scratchy!” cried Peeves happily, now pelting bits of chalk at the elves to enrage them further. “Tweaky, pokey!”
| “不许克利切在多比面前侮辱哈利·波特，不许！不然多比就帮克利切闭上嘴巴！”多比尖叫道。
|
| “Kreacher will say what he likes about his master, oh yes, and what a master he is, filthy friend of Mudbloods, oh, what would poor Kreacher’s mistress say — ?”
| “——踢呀踢，抓呀抓！”皮皮鬼兴奋地喊道，一边朝小精灵扔着粉笔头，给他们火上浇油，“掐呀掐，戳呀戳！”
|
| Exactly what Kreacher’s mistress would have said they did not find out, for at that moment Dobby sank his knobbly little fist into Kreacher’s mouth and knocked out half of his teeth. Harry and Ron both leapt out of their beds and wrenched the two elves apart, though they continued to try and kick and punch each other, egged on by Peeves, who swooped around the lamp squealing, “Stick your fingers up his nosey, draw his cork and pull his earsies —”
| “克利切对他主人想说什么就说什么，没错。什么主人呀，龌龊的泥巴种的朋友，哦，克利切的女主人会怎么说——？”
|
| Harry aimed his wand at Peeves and said, “Langlock!” Peeves clutched at his throat, gulped, then swooped from the room making obscene gestures but unable to speak, owing to the fact that his tongue had just glued itself to the roof of his mouth.
| 克利切的女主人到底会说什么，他们没听到，因为这时多比把他那疙疙瘩瘩的小拳头杵进了克利切的嘴里，打掉了他的半口牙齿。哈利和罗恩一齐从床上跳了起来，拉开了两个小精灵，但他们还在企图踢打对方。皮皮鬼在旁边怂恿着，一边绕着吊灯飞舞，一边尖叫道，“用手指捅他鼻孔，打他的鼻子，揪他的耳朵——”
|
| “Nice one,” said Ron appreciatively, lifting Dobby into the air so that his flailing limbs no longer made contact with Kreacher. “That was another Prince hex, wasn’t it?”
| 哈利用魔杖朝皮皮鬼一指，“锁舌封喉！”皮皮鬼抓着喉咙，噎住了，从窗口飞了出去，一边做着下流的手势，但说不出话来，因为他的舌头跟上颚粘到了一起。
|
| “Yeah,” said Harry, twisting Kreacher’s wizened arm into a half nelson. “Right — I’m forbidding you to fight each other! Well, Kreacher, you’re forbidden to fight Dobby. Dobby, I know I’m not allowed to give you orders —”
| “漂亮，”罗恩欣赏地说着，把多比举到空中，他乱舞的四肢再也碰不到克利切，“又是王子的魔法吧？”
|
| “Dobby is a free house-elf and he can obey anyone he likes and Dobby will do whatever Harry Potter wants him to do!” said Dobby, tears now streaming down his shriveled little face onto his jumper.
| “对，”哈利扭着克利切枯瘦的胳膊，扼住他的脖子，“——我禁止你们再打架！噢，克利切，禁止你再打多比。多比，我知道我不能再命令你——”
|
| “Okay then,” said Harry, and he and Ron both released the elves, who fell to the floor but did not continue fighting.
| “多比是自由的家养小精灵，可以服从他喜欢的任何人，多比会做哈利·波特要他做的任何事情！”多比说，泪水顺着他皱巴巴的小脸淌到套头衫上。
|
| “Master called me?” croaked Kreacher, sinking into a bow even as he gave Harry a look that plainly wished him a painful death.
| “那好。”哈利说。他和罗恩放开了小精灵，他们落到地上，但没再打架。
|
| “Yeah, I did,” said Harry, glancing toward Madam Pomfrey’s office door to check that the Muffliato spell was still working; there was no sign that she had heard any of the commotion. “I’ve got a job for you.”
| “主人叫我？”克利切嘶哑地问，鞠了一躬，尽管他那眼神显然希望哈利不得好死。
|
| “Kreacher will do whatever Master wants,” said Kreacher, sinking so low that his lips almost touched his gnarled toes, “because Kreacher has no choice, but Kreacher is ashamed to have such a master, yes —”
| “是，我叫你。”哈利看看庞弗雷夫人的房门，确定闭耳塞听咒还有效，看不出她有听到吵闹声的迹象。“我要给你一个任务。”
|
| “Dobby will do it, Harry Potter!” squeaked Dobby, his tennis-ball-sized eyes still swimming in tears. “Dobby would be honored to help Harry Potter!”
| “克利切听凭主人吩咐，”克利切腰弯得那么深，嘴几乎碰到了他那疙疙瘩瘩的脚趾，“因为克利切别无选择，但克利切为有这样一个主人而感到羞耻，没错——”
|
| “Come to think of it, it would be good to have both of you,” said Harry. “Okay then . . . I want you to tail Draco Malfoy.”
| “多比愿意做，哈利·波特！”多比尖叫道，他那网球大的眼睛中仍盈满泪水，“能为哈利·波特效劳是多比的荣幸！”
|
| Ignoring the look of mingled surprise and exasperation on Ron’s face, Harry went on, “I want to know where he’s going, who he’s meeting, and what he’s doing. I want you to follow him around the clock.”
| “细想起来，有你们两个在一起倒不错。”哈利说，“好吧，那么……我希望你们跟踪德拉科·马尔福。”
|
| “Yes, Harry Potter!” said Dobby at once, his great eyes shining with excitement. “And if Dobby does it wrong, Dobby will throw himself off the topmost tower, Harry Potter!”
| 他不顾罗恩脸上那又惊又恼的表情，接着说：“我想知道他去哪儿，见谁，干什么。我要你们全天盯着他。”
|
| “There won’t be any need for that,” said Harry hastily.
| “是，哈利·波特！”多比马上说，大圆眼睛闪着兴奋的光芒，“要是多比做错了，多比就从最高层楼跳下去，哈利·波特！”
|
| “Master wants me to follow the youngest of the Malfoys?” croaked Kreacher. “Master wants me to spy upon the pure-blood great-nephew of my old mistress?”
| “那可不必。”哈利忙说。
|
| “That’s the one,” said Harry, foreseeing a great danger and determining to prevent it immediately. “And you’re forbidden to tip him off, Kreacher, or to show him what you’re up to, or to talk to him at all, or to write him messages or . . . or to contact him in any way. Got it?”
| “主人要我跟踪马尔福家最小的公子？”克利切嘶声道，“主人要我监视我旧主人的纯血统外孙？”
|
| He thought he could see Kreacher struggling to see a loophole in the instructions he had just been given and waited. After a moment or two, and to Harry’s great satisfaction, Kreacher bowed deeply again and said, with bitter resentment, “Master thinks of everything, and Kreacher must obey him even though Kreacher would much rather be the servant of the Malfoy boy, oh yes. . . .”
| “正是他，”哈利看到了一个很大的危险，决定立刻防止，“禁止你向他告密，克利切，禁止让他知道你在干什么，禁止跟他说话，给他写信，或……或用任何方式跟他联系。听到了吗？”
|
| “That’s settled, then,” said Harry. “I’ll want regular reports, but make sure I’m not surrounded by people when you turn up. Ron and Hermione are okay. And don’t tell anyone what you’re doing. Just stick to Malfoy like a couple of wart plasters.”
| 他看出克利切正努力在刚才的命令里寻找漏洞，就停在那儿等待着。过了一会儿，克利切又深鞠一躬，恨恨地说：“主人把一切都想到了，克利切必须服从他，尽管克利切宁可当马尔福少爷的仆人，没错……”
|
|
| “那就这么定了，”哈利说，“我要你们定期汇报，但要看准我周围没人时再来，罗恩跟赫敏在没关系。别告诉其他任何人你们在干什么。只要像两张膏药一样粘着马尔福。”
|
| |
|
目录 上一章 下一章
OK阅读网 版权所有(C)2017 | 联系我们