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 首页  目录  上一章   下一章

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CHAPTER NINETEEN THE SILVER DOE

第十九章　银色的牝鹿

It was snowing by the time Hermione took over the watch at midnight. Harry’s dreams were confused and disturbing: Nagini wove in and out of them, first through a gigantic, cracked ring, then through a wreath of Christmas roses. He woke repeatedly, panicky, convinced that somebody had called out to him in the distance, imagining that the wind whipping around the tent was footsteps or voices.

午夜赫敏来换班时，外面下起了雪。哈利的梦境混乱不安——纳吉尼游进游出，先是钻过一个巨大的、有裂缝的戒指，然后又钻过一个圣诞玫瑰花环。他一次次惊恐地醒来，相信刚才有人在远处叫他的名字，把风吹打帐篷的声音想象成脚步声和说话声。

Finally he got up in the darkness and joined Hermione, who was huddled in the entrance to the tent reading A History of Magic by the light of her wand. The snow was still falling thickly, and she greeted with relief his suggestion of packing up early and moving on.

终于，他在黑暗中爬起来，走到赫敏身边。她正蜷缩在帐篷口，借着魔杖的光亮看《魔法史》。大雪还在纷纷扬扬地下着，听到他提议早点收拾东西转移，她欣然同意。

“We’ll go somewhere more sheltered,” she agreed, shivering as she pulled on a sweatshirt over her pajamas. “I kept thinking I could hear people moving outside. I even thought I saw somebody once or twice.”

“是得换个更隐蔽的地方。”她赞同道，一边哆嗦着在睡衣上加了一件运动衫，“我总觉得听到有人在外面走动，有一两次还好像看到了人影。”

Harry paused in the act of pulling on a jumper and glanced at the silent, motionless Sneakoscope on the table.

正在穿套头衫的哈利停了下来，看了看桌子静悄悄的、纹丝不动的窥镜。

“I’m sure I imagined it,” said Hermione, looking nervous. “The snow in the dark, it plays tricks on your eyes. . . . But perhaps we ought to Disapparate under the Invisibility Cloak, just in case?”

“我相信是幻觉，”赫敏说，显得有点紧张，“黑暗中的雪，容易让人的眼睛产生错觉……但也许我们应该在隐形衣下面幻影移形，以防万一，对吗？”

Half an hour later, with the tent packed, Harry wearing the Horcrux, and Hermione clutching the beaded bag, they Disapparated. The usual tightness engulfed them; Harry’s feet parted company with the snowy ground, then slammed hard onto what felt like frozen earth covered with leaves.

半小时后，帐篷收拾好了，哈利带着魂器，赫敏抓着串珠小包，一同幻影移形。熟悉的窒息感吞没了他们，哈利的双脚离开雪地，然后重重地落在地面上，好像是一片覆满落叶的冻土。

“Where are we?” he asked, peering around at a fresh mass of trees as Hermione opened the beaded bag and began tugging out tent poles.

“我们在哪儿？”他问道，一边打量这片陌生的林子。赫敏已经打开串珠小包，开始把帐篷杆抽出来。

“The Forest of Dean,” she said. “I came camping here once with my mum and dad.”

“迪安森林，”她说，“我来这儿露营过一次，跟爸爸妈妈一起。”

Here too snow lay on the trees all around and it was bitterly cold, but they were at least protected from the wind. They spent most of the day inside the tent, huddled for warmth around the useful bright blue flames that Hermione was so adept at producing, and which could be scooped up and carried around in a jar. Harry felt as though he was recuperating from some brief but severe illness, an impression reinforced by Hermione’s solicitousness. That afternoon fresh flakes drifted down upon them, so that even their sheltered clearing had a fresh dusting of powdery snow.

这儿冷得够呛，树林也是银装素裹，但至少能挡风。他们大部分时间都躲在帐篷里，蜷在赫敏擅长营造的那些明亮的蓝色火苗旁边取暖。这些火苗很有用，可以舀起来放在瓶子里随身携带。哈利觉得自己像是经历了一场短暂但严重的疾病后在休养康复，赫敏的关怀强化了这种感觉。下午天空中又飘起雪花，连他们所在的这片有遮挡的空地也撒上了一层晶粉。

After two nights of little sleep, Harry’s senses seemed more alert than usual. Their escape from Godric’s Hollow had been so narrow that Voldemort seemed somehow closer than before, more threatening. As darkness drew in again Harry refused Hermione’s offer to keep watch and told her to go to bed.

哈利两夜没怎么睡觉，感官似乎更加警觉了。戈德里克山谷的死里逃生是那么惊险，伏地魔似乎比以前更近，威胁更大了。夜幕再次降临，哈利拒绝让赫敏放哨，叫她去睡觉。

Harry moved an old cushion into the tent mouth and sat down, wearing all the sweaters he owned but even so, still shivery. The darkness deepened with the passing hours until it was virtually impenetrable. He was on the point of taking out the Marauder’s Map, so as to watch Ginny’s dot for a while, before he remembered that it was the Christmas holidays and that she would be back at the Burrow.

哈利搬了个旧垫子坐到帐篷口，穿着他所有的毛衣，还是冷得直打哆嗦。黑暗越来越浓，浓得几乎无法穿透。他正要取出活点地图看一会儿金妮的黑点，这才想起今天是圣诞节，她应该在陋居。

Every tiny movement seemed magnified in the vastness of the forest. Harry knew that it must be full of living creatures, but he wished they would all remain still and silent so that he could separate their innocent scurryings and prowlings from noises that might proclaim other, sinister movements. He remembered the sound of a cloak slithering over dead leaves many years ago, and at once thought he heard it again before mentally shaking himself. Their protective enchantments had worked for weeks; why should they break now? And yet he could not throw off the feeling that something was different tonight.

在大森林中，每个细微的动静似乎都被放大了。哈利知道林子里一定有许多动物，但他希望它们都保持安静，免得他把它们无害的奔跑和蹑行声与其他预示危险的声音混在一起。他想起多年前斗篷在枯叶上滑动的声音，马上觉得又听到了似的，赶紧抖搂精神。防护魔法这么多星期来一直有效，现在怎么会不灵呢？然而他甩不掉一种感觉：今晚似乎有些异常。

Several times he jerked upright, his neck aching because he had fallen asleep, slumped at an awkward angle against the side of the tent. The night reached such a depth of velvety blackness that he might have been suspended in limbo between Disapparition and Apparition. He had just held up a hand in front of his face to see whether he could make out his fingers when it happened.

哈利几次猛然坐起，脖子僵硬发痛，因为他不知不觉地歪靠在帐篷壁上睡着了。夜色更加深沉，那是一种天鹅绒般的浓黑，他仿佛悬在幻影移形和幻影显形之间的境界。他正要把一只手举到面前，试试能否看到五指时，奇事发生了。

A bright silver light appeared right ahead of him, moving through the trees. Whatever the source, it was moving soundlessly. The light seemed simply to drift toward him.

一点明亮的银光出现在他的正前方，在树林间穿行。不知道光源是什么，但它的移动无声无息，那银光简直就像在向他飘来。

He jumped to his feet, his voice frozen in his throat, and raised Hermione’s wand. He screwed up his eyes as the light became blinding, the trees in front of it pitch-black in silhouette, and still the thing came closer. . . .

他跳了起来，举起赫敏的魔杖，声音在嗓子里冻结了。他眯起眼睛，因为那银光已非常耀眼，前面的树丛都成了漆黑的剪影，而那东西还在靠近……

And then the source of the light stepped out from behind an oak. It was a silver-white doe, moon-bright and dazzling, picking her way over the ground, still silent, and leaving no hoofprints in the fine powdering of snow. She stepped toward him, her beautiful head with its wide, long-lashed eyes held high.

然后那光源从一棵橡树后面飘了出来，是一头银白色的牝鹿，月光般皎洁明亮，优雅地轻踏地面，依然无声无息，细软的白雪上没有留下丝毫蹄印。它朝他走来，高昂着美丽的头，大眼睛，长睫毛。

Harry stared at the creature, filled with wonder, not at her strangeness, but at her inexplicable familiarity. He felt that he had been waiting for her to come, but that he had forgotten, until this moment, that they had arranged to meet. His impulse to shout for Hermione, which had been so strong a moment ago, had gone. He knew, he would have staked his life on it, that she had come for him, and him alone.

哈利盯着这个灵物，心中充满惊讶，不是因为它的奇异，而是因为它那无法解释的熟悉和亲切。他觉得自己一直在等它，只是一度忘记了，现在才想起他们的约会。他想喊赫敏的冲动刚才还如此强烈，可现在一下子消失了。他知道，并可以用生命打赌，它是来找他的，是专门来找他的。

They gazed at each other for several long moments and then she turned and walked away.

他们对视了良久，然后它转身离去。

“No,” he said, and his voice was cracked with lack of use. “Come back!”

“不。”他说，嗓子因为长时间不用而沙哑了，“回来！”

She continued to step deliberately through the trees, and soon her brightness was striped by their thick black trunks. For one trembling second he hesitated. Caution murmured it could be a trick, a lure, a trap. But instinct, overwhelming instinct, told him that this was not Dark Magic. He set off in pursuit.

牝鹿继续从容不迫地在树林中穿行，很快，明亮的身体便印上了粗黑的树干的条纹。在紧张颤栗的一秒钟里，哈利犹豫着，警钟轻轻敲响——它可能是一个诡计，一个诱饵。但是本能，不可抗拒的本能，告诉他这不是黑魔法。他追了上去。

Snow crunched beneath his feet, but the doe made no noise as she passed through the trees, for she was nothing but light. Deeper and deeper into the forest she led him, and Harry walked quickly, sure that when she stopped, she would allow him to approach her properly. And then she would speak and the voice would tell him what he needed to know.

雪在哈利脚下嘎吱作响，但牝鹿无声无息地在林中穿行，因为它只是光。它领着他往森林里越走越深。哈利走得很快，相信等牝鹿停下时，会让他好好走近它的，然后它还会说话，那声音将说出他需要知道的东西。

At last, she came to a halt. She turned her beautiful head toward him once more, and he broke into a run, a question burning in him, but as he opened his lips to ask it, she vanished.

终于，牝鹿停了下来，再次把美丽的头转向哈利。哈利急忙奔过去，一个问题在他心中燃烧，但正当他张嘴要问时，它消失了。

Though the darkness had swallowed her whole, her burnished image was still imprinted on his retinas; it obscured his vision, brightening when he lowered his eyelids, disorienting him. Now fear came: Her presence had meant safety.

尽管黑暗已将它整个吞没，但它那明亮的形象仍印在他的视网膜上，模糊了他的视线。他垂下眼帘时，那形象变得更加明亮，让他辨不清方向。现在，恐惧袭上了他的心头：本来它的存在意味着安全。

“Lumos!” he whispered, and the wand-tip ignited.

“荧光闪烁！”他轻声说，杖尖发出亮光。

The imprint of the doe faded away with every blink of his eyes as he stood there, listening to the sounds of the forest, to distant crackles of twigs, soft swishes of snow. Was he about to be attacked? Had she enticed him into an ambush? Was he imagining that somebody stood beyond the reach of the wandlight, watching him?

牝鹿的形象随着哈利的每一次眨眼渐渐消失。他站在那儿，听着森林里的各种声音，远处树枝折断的声音，夜雪轻柔的沙沙声。他会受到袭击吗？它会不会把他引进一个埋伏圈？好像有人站在魔杖照不到的地方看着他，是他的想象吗？

He held the wand higher. Nobody ran out at him, no flash of green light burst from behind a tree. Why, then, had she led him to this spot?

哈利把魔杖举高了一些，没有人朝他冲过来，没有绿光从树后射出。那牝鹿为什么把他带到这儿来呢？

Something gleamed in the light of the wand, and Harry spun about, but all that was there was a small, frozen pool, its cracked black surface glittering as he raised the wand higher to examine it.

什么东西在魔杖的荧光中一闪，哈利猛然转身，原来只是一个结了冰的小池塘。他高举魔杖细看，破裂的黑色表面闪闪发光。

He moved forward rather cautiously and looked down. The ice reflected his distorted shadow and the beam of wandlight, but deep below the thick, misty gray carapace, something else glinted. A great silver cross . . .

他小心地走上前俯视，冰面映出他变形的影子和魔杖的光线。但那厚厚的、朦胧的灰色冰盖下还有一个东西在闪亮，一个银色的大十字……

His heart skipped into his mouth: He dropped to his knees at the pool’s edge and angled the wand so as to flood the bottom of the pool with as much light as possible. A glint of deep red . . . It was a sword with glittering rubies in its hilt. . . . The sword of Gryffindor was lying at the bottom of the forest pool.

他的心跳到了喉咙口，他在池塘边跑了下来，将魔杖倾斜，让光线尽可能照到池底。深红色的光芒一闪……是一把剑，柄上的红宝石闪闪发光……格兰芬多的宝剑躺在森林中的池底。

Barely breathing, he stared down at it. How was this possible? How could it have come to be lying in a forest pool, this close to the place where they were camping? Had some unknown magic drawn Hermione to this spot, or was the doe, which he had taken to be a Patronus, some kind of guardian of the pool? Or had the sword been put into the pool after they had arrived, precisely because they were here? In which case, where was the person who had wanted to pass it to Harry? Again he directed the wand at the surrounding trees and bushes, searching for a human outline, for the glint of an eye, but he could not see anyone there. All the same, a little more fear leavened his exhilaration as he returned his attention to the sword reposing upon the bottom of the frozen pool.

他几乎停止了呼吸，低头盯着它。这怎么可能呢？它怎么会躺在森林中的池塘里，离他们的宿营地这么近？是什么未知的魔法把赫敏吸引到这里的吗？或者牝鹿是守卫这个池塘的（他觉得它像守护神）？或者宝剑是在他们来了之后才特意被放进池塘的？要是这样，想把宝剑交给哈利的人又是谁呢？他再次用魔杖指着周围的树丛，搜索着一个人影或一只闪烁的眼睛，但没有发现任何人。不过，一丝新添的恐惧搀杂到兴奋中，他把注意力转到了静静躺在冰下的池底的那把宝剑上。

He pointed the wand at the silvery shape and murmured, “Accio Sword.”

他用魔杖指着银色的剑身，轻声念道：“宝剑飞来！”

It did not stir. He had not expected it to. If it had been that easy, the sword would have lain on the ground for him to pick up, not in the depths of a frozen pool. He set off around the circle of ice, thinking hard about the last time the sword had delivered itself to him. He had been in terrible danger then, and had asked for help.

宝剑一动不动，他并没指望它飞来。要是那么容易的话，宝剑就会躺在地上等他来捡，而不会在结冰的池塘深处了。他开始绕着圆形冰面走动，努力回忆着上次宝剑自动落到他手中的情形，当时他处境危急，正在求救。

“Help,” he murmured, but the sword remained upon the pool bottom, indifferent, motionless.

“救救我。”他轻声说，但宝剑还是躺在池底，冷冰冰地纹丝不动。

What was it, Harry asked himself (walking again), that Dumbledore had told him the last time he had retrieved the sword? Only a true Gryffindor could have pulled that out of the hat. And what were the qualities that defined a Gryffindor? A small voice inside Harry’s head answered him: Their daring, nerve, and chivalry set Gryffindors apart.

哈利问自己（又开始走动），上次他拿到宝剑后邓布利多是怎么说的？“只有真正的格兰芬多人，才能把它从帽子里抽出来。”什么是格兰芬多人的特有的品质呢？哈利脑子里有个小声音答道：他们的胆识、气魄和侠义，使格兰芬多出类拔萃。

Harry stopped walking and let out a long sigh, his smoky breath dispersing rapidly upon the frozen air. He knew what he had to do. If he was honest with himself, he had thought it might come to this from the moment he had spotted the sword through the ice.

哈利停住脚步，发出一声长长的叹息，呼出的水雾迅速在寒冷的空气中消散了。他知道该干什么，如果要坦白承认，他从看到宝剑躺在冰下的那一刻起就料到是这样了。

He glanced around at the surrounding trees again, but was convinced now that nobody was going to attack him. They had had their chance as he walked alone through the forest, had had plenty of opportunity as he examined the pool. The only reason to delay at this point was because the immediate prospect was so deeply uninviting.

他又扫视了一下周围的林子，但现在已确信没有人会来袭击他。要是有人想袭击他的话，在他独自穿过森林时就可以下手，在他察看池塘时也有许多机会。此刻拖延的惟一原因是，要做的事情太不愉快了。

With fumbling fingers Harry started to remove his many layers of clothing. Where “chivalry” entered into this, he thought ruefully, he was not entirely sure, unless it counted as chivalrous that he was not calling for Hermione to do it in his stead.

哈利开始用不听使唤的手脱去了一层层衣服。这里面有什么“侠义”吗，他郁闷地想，除非没有叫赫敏替他来做也能算作侠义。

An owl hooted somewhere as he stripped off, and he thought with a pang of Hedwig. He was shivering now, his teeth chattering horribly, and yet he continued to strip off until at last he stood there in his underwear, barefooted in the snow. He placed the pouch containing his wand, his mother’s letter, the shard of Sirius’s mirror, and the old Snitch on top of his clothes, then he pointed Hermione’s wand at the ice.

脱衣服时不知何处有一只猫头鹰叫了起来，他心痛地想起了海德薇。他现在瑟瑟发抖，牙齿格格打战，但他还是继续脱着，直到只剩下内衣内裤，光脚站在雪地上。他把装着自己的魔杖、妈妈的信、小天狼星的镜子碎片和旧飞贼的袋子放到衣服堆上，然后用赫敏的魔杖指着冰面。

“Diffindo.”

“四分五裂。”

It cracked with a sound like a bullet in the silence: The surface of the pool broke and chunks of dark ice rocked on the ruffled water. As far as Harry could judge, it was not deep, but to retrieve the sword he would have to submerge himself completely.

一块爆响像子弹划破寂静，冰面裂开了，灰黑的大冰块在水面上随波晃动。哈利判断，水并不深，但要拿到宝剑，他必须完全没入水中。

Contemplating the task ahead would not make it easier or the water warmer. He stepped to the pool’s edge and placed Hermione’s wand on the ground, still lit. Then, trying not to imagine how much colder he was about to become or how violently he would soon be shivering, he jumped.

想得再多也不会使面前的任务变得容易，也不会让水变温暖。哈利走到池塘边，把赫敏的魔杖放在地上，仍让它亮着。然后，他竭力不去想自己会有多冷，也不去想自己很快会哆嗦成什么样子，一下跳了进去。

Every pore of his body screamed in protest: The very air in his lungs seemed to freeze solid as he was submerged to his shoulders in the frozen water. He could hardly breathe; trembling so violently the water lapped over the edges of the pool, he felt for the blade with his numb feet. He only wanted to dive once.

他身上的每个毛孔都在尖叫抗议，肺里的空气似乎都冻结了，刺骨的冰水没到了肩膀。他几乎无法呼吸，浑身哆嗦得那么厉害，水都晃得打到了岸上。他用麻木的双脚寻找剑身，只想潜下去一次。

Harry put off the moment of total submersion from second to second, gasping and shaking, until he told himself that it must be done, gathered all his courage, and dived.

哈利喘息着、哆嗦着，一秒一秒地推迟着全身浸没的那一刻。最后他对自己说不做不行了，便鼓起全部勇气潜入了水中。

The cold was agony: It attacked him like fire. His brain itself seemed to have frozen as he pushed through the dark water to the bottom and reached out, groping for the sword. His fingers closed around the hilt; he pulled it upward.

钻心透髓的冷，像火一样煎熬着他。脑子都似乎冻僵了，他在黑暗的冰水中潜到池底，伸出双臂摸索宝剑。手指抓到了剑柄，他把它往上拔。

Then something closed tight around his neck. He thought of water weeds, though nothing had brushed him as he dived, and raised his empty hand to free himself. It was not weed: The chain of the Horcrux had tightened and was slowly constricting his windpipe.

忽然，一个东西箍紧了他的脖子。他想到了水草，尽管下潜时他并没碰到什么东西。他抬起没拿宝剑的那只手想把它扯掉，发现不是水草：魂器的链子收紧了，正在慢慢勒住他的气管。

Harry kicked out wildly, trying to push himself back to the surface, but merely propelled himself into the rocky side of the pool. Thrashing, suffocating, he scrabbled at the strangling chain, his frozen fingers unable to loosen it, and now little lights were popping inside his head, and he was going to drown, there was nothing left, nothing he could do, and the arms that closed around his chest were surely Death’s. . . .

哈利拼命踢蹬，想把自己推上水面，却只是撞到池塘的石壁上。他扑打着，呼吸困难，用力扒住越勒越紧的链子，但冻僵的手指扒不开它。他脑子里开始冒出金星，想着，要淹死了，没希望了，已经无能为力了，抱住他的这双手臂一定是死神的……

Choking and retching, soaking and colder than he had ever been in his life, he came to facedown in the snow. Somewhere close by, another person was panting and coughing and staggering around. Hermione had come again, as she had come when the snake attacked. . . . Yet it did not sound like her, not with those deep coughs, not judging by the weight of the footsteps. . . .

他苏醒过来，咳嗽着，干呕着，浑身湿透了，从来没有这么冷过。不远处，另一个人在喘气，咳嗽，摇摇晃晃地走动。又是赫敏及时赶到了，就像大蛇袭来时那样……然而听起来不像她，听那低沉的咳嗽声，那沉重的脚步……

Harry had no strength to lift his head and see his savior’s identity. All he could do was raise a shaking hand to his throat and feel the place where the locket had cut tightly into his flesh. It was gone: Someone had cut him free. Then a panting voice spoke from over his head.

哈利没有力气抬起头来看看救他的是谁。他能做的只是将颤抖的手举到喉咙口，摸一摸刚才挂坠盒紧紧勒进他肉里的地方。挂坠盒没了：有人帮他割断了。这时，一个气喘吁吁地声音在头顶上响起。

“Are — you — mental?”

“你——你——你有病啊？”

Nothing but the shock of hearing that voice could have given Harry the strength to get up. Shivering violently, he staggered to his feet. There before him stood Ron, fully dressed but drenched to the skin, his hair plastered to his face, the sword of Gryffindor in one hand and the Horcrux dangling from its broken chain in the other.

也只有听到这个声音的震惊能够让哈利有力气爬起来。他剧烈地哆嗦着，摇摇晃晃地站了起来。他的面前站着罗恩，穿着衣服，但像个落汤鸡，头发贴在脸上，一手拿着格兰芬多的宝剑，一手握着被割断的金链子，魂器挂在上面。

“Why the hell,” panted Ron, holding up the Horcrux, which swung backward and forward on its shortened chain in some parody of hypnosis, “didn’t you take this thing off before you dived?”

“真见鬼，”罗恩喘着气举起魂器，它在截短的链子上荡来荡去，有点像模仿催眠术表演，“你跳下去时怎么没把这东西摘下来？”

Harry could not answer. The silver doe was nothing, nothing compared with Ron’s reappearance; he could not believe it. Shuddering with cold, he caught up the pile of clothes still lying at the water’s edge and began to pull them on. As he dragged sweater after sweater over his head, Harry stared at Ron, half expecting him to have disappeared every time he lost sight of him, and yet he had to be real: He had just dived into the pool, he had saved Harry’s life.

哈利无法回答。与罗恩重新出现相比，银色的牝鹿已无关紧要，真的无关紧要。他真不敢相信。他冷得瑟瑟发抖，抓起仍然搁在水边的那堆衣服，一边一件接一件地套到头上，一边盯着罗恩，有些担心每次一看不见他就会消失。但他应该是真的，他刚才跳进池塘救了自己的命。

“It was y-you?” Harry said at last, his teeth chattering, his voice weaker than usual due to his near-strangulation.

“是——是你？”哈利终于说道，牙齿格格打架，声音因为刚才差点被勒死而比平时微弱。

“Well, yeah,” said Ron, looking slightly confused.

“嗯。”罗恩说，显得有点慌乱。

“Y-you cast that doe?”

“你——你召出了那头牝鹿？”

“What? No, of course not! I thought it was you doing it!”

“什么？不是，当然不是！我以为是你呢！”

“My Patronus is a stag.”

“我的守护神是牡鹿。”

“Oh yeah. I thought it looked different. No antlers.”

“哦，对了，我是觉得长得不大一样，没有角。”

Harry put Hagrid’s pouch back around his neck, pulled on a final sweater, stooped to pick up Hermione’s wand, and faced Ron again.

哈利把海格送的皮袋子挂到脖子上，套上最后一件毛衣，弯腰捡起赫敏的魔杖，重新看着罗恩。

“How come you’re here?”

“你怎么会在这儿？”

Apparently Ron had hoped that this point would come up later, if at all.

显然，罗恩希望这个问题晚一点提出，或根本不提出。

“Well, I’ve — you know — I’ve come back. If —” He cleared his throat. “You know. You still want me.”

“嗯，我——你知道——我回来了，如果——”他清了清嗓子，“你知道，如果你们还要我的话。”

There was a pause, in which the subject of Ron’s departure seemed to rise like a wall between them. Yet he was here. He had returned. He had just saved Harry’s life.

一阵沉默，罗恩出走的话题似乎像一道墙挡在两人之间。但他在这儿，他回来了，他刚刚救了哈利的命。

Ron looked down at his hands. He seemed momentarily surprised to see the things he was holding.

罗恩低头看看手里的东西，一时似乎很惊讶。

“Oh yeah, I got it out,” he said, rather unnecessarily, holding up the sword for Harry’s inspection. “That’s why you jumped in, right?”

“哦，对了，我把它捞出来了。”他不必要地说，一边把宝剑给哈利检查，“你就是为这个跳下去的，是吧？”

“Yeah,” said Harry. “But I don’t understand. How did you get here? How did you find us?”

“是，”哈利说，“但我不明白，你怎么会到这儿来？你是怎么怎么找到我们的？”

“Long story,” said Ron. “I’ve been looking for you for hours, it’s a big forest, isn’t it? And I was just thinking I’d have to kip under a tree and wait for morning when I saw that deer coming and you following.”

“说来话长。”罗恩说，“我找了你们好几个小时，这森林真大，是不是？我正想在树下睡一觉等天亮再说，就看到了那头鹿跑了过来，你在后面跟着。”

“You didn’t see anyone else?”

“你没有看到别人？”

“No,” said Ron. “I —”

“没有，”罗恩说，“我——”

But he hesitated, glancing at two trees growing close together some yards away.

他犹豫了，望着几米外两棵挨在一起的树。

“I did think I saw something move over there, but I was running to the pool at the time, because you’d gone in and you hadn’t come up, so I wasn’t going to make a detour to — hey!”

“——我好像是看到那边有东西在动，但我正在往池塘边跑，因为你跳下去了，没有上来，所以我不想绕道——嘿！”

Harry was already hurrying to the place Ron had indicated. The two oaks grew close together; there was a gap of only a few inches between the trunks at eye level, an ideal place to see but not be seen. The ground around the roots, however, was free of snow, and Harry could see no sign of footprints. He walked back to where Ron stood waiting, still holding the sword and the Horcrux.

哈利已经往罗恩指的地方奔去。两棵橡树长得紧挨在一起，在眼睛那么高的地方有个仅几英寸的空隙，是个可以偷窃而不被发现的好地方。但树根周围没有雪，哈利没看见脚印。他走回原地，罗恩站在那儿等着，仍然握着宝剑和魂器。

“Anything there?” Ron asked.

“那儿有东西吗？”罗恩问。

“No,” said Harry.

“没有。”

“So how did the sword get in that pool?”

“宝剑怎么会在池塘里呢？”

“Whoever cast the Patronus must have put it there.”

“肯定是召出守护神的那位把它放进去的。”

They both looked at the ornate silver sword, its rubied hilt glinting a little in the light from Hermione’s wand.

两人看着精美的银剑，嵌着红宝石的剑柄在赫敏魔杖的荧光中微微闪亮。

“You reckon this is the real one?” asked Ron.

“你觉得这把是真的吗？”罗恩问。

“One way to find out, isn’t there?” said Harry.

“有个办法知道，是不是？”哈利问。

The Horcrux was still swinging from Ron’s hand. The locket was twitching slightly. Harry knew that the thing inside it was agitated again. It had sensed the presence of the sword and had tried to kill Harry rather than let him possess it. Now was not the time for long discussions; now was the moment to destroy the locket once and for all. Harry looked around, holding Hermione’s wand high, and saw the place: a flattish rock lying in the shadow of a sycamore tree.

魂器仍在罗恩手中晃荡，挂坠盒微微颤动。哈利知道里面的东西又焦躁不安了，它刚才感到宝剑就在近旁，便试图勒死哈利，不让他拿到宝剑。现在不是长谈的时候，应该马上彻底摧毁挂坠盒。哈利高举着赫敏的魔杖环顾四周，找到了地方：在一棵悬铃木的树荫下，有一块平坦的大石头。

“Come here,” he said, and he led the way, brushed snow from the rock’s surface, and held out his hand for the Horcrux. When Ron offered the sword, however, Harry shook his head.

“跟我来。”他率先走过去，拂去石上的积雪，伸手拿过魂器。但当罗恩把宝剑也递过去时，哈利摇了摇头。

“No, you should do it.”

“不，应该你来做。”

“Me?” said Ron, looking shocked. “Why?”

“我？”罗恩惊愕地说，“为什么？”

“Because you got the sword out of the pool. I think it’s supposed to be you.”

“因为是你把宝剑从池塘里捞上来的。我想应该由你来。”

He was not being kind or generous. As certainly as he had known that the doe was benign, he knew that Ron had to be the one to wield the sword. Dumbledore had at least taught Harry something about certain kinds of magic, of the incalculable power of certain acts.

他不是大方或谦让。就像刚才知道牝鹿是无害的一样，他确信必须由罗恩来使这把剑。邓布利多至少教哈利认识到某些类型的魔法，认识到某些行为有不可估量的神力。

“I’m going to open it,” said Harry, “and you stab it. Straightaway, okay? Because whatever’s in there will put up a fight. The bit of Riddle in the diary tried to kill me.”

“我来打开它，”哈利说，“你来刺。一打开就刺，行吗？因为里面的东西会反抗的，日记中的里德尔就想杀死我。”

“How are you going to open it?” asked Ron. He looked terrified.

“你怎么打开呢？”罗恩神情惊恐地问。

“I’m going to ask it to open, using Parseltongue,” said Harry. The answer came so readily to his lips that he thought that he had always known it deep down: Perhaps it had taken his recent encounter with Nagini to make him realize it. He looked at the serpentine S, inlaid with glittering green stones: It was easy to visualize it as a minuscule snake, curled upon the cold rock.

“我来叫它打开，用蛇佬腔。”哈利说，这答案如此自然地脱口而出，他觉得好像内心深处一直就知道：也许是最后遭遇纳吉尼才让他意识到的。他看着那蛇形的“S”，由闪闪发光的绿宝石嵌成，很容易把它想象成一条小蛇，盘在冰冷的石头上。

“No!” said Ron. “No, don’t open it! I’m serious!”

“不！”罗恩说，“不，别打开它！真的！”

“Why not?” asked Harry. “Let’s get rid of the damn thing, it’s been months —”

“为什么？”哈利问，“我们快除掉这该死的东西，已经好几个月——”

“I can’t, Harry, I’m serious — you do it —”

“我不行，哈利，真的——你来吧——”

“But why?”

“可是为什么？”

“Because that thing’s bad for me!” said Ron, backing away from the locket on the rock. “I can’t handle it! I’m not making excuses, Harry, for what I was like, but it affects me worse than it affected you and Hermione, it made me think stuff — stuff I was thinking anyway, but it made everything worse, I can’t explain it, and then I’d take it off and I’d get my head on straight again, and then I’d have to put the effing thing back on — I can’t do it, Harry!”

“因为这东西对我有害！”罗恩望着石头上的挂坠盒，直往后退，“我对付不了它！我并不是在为自己借口，哈利，但这玩意儿对我的影响比对你和赫敏要大，它让我产生了一些念头，那些念头我原来也有，但它使一切变得更糟。我无法解释，每当把它拿下来，我就会清醒过来，可是然后我又得戴上这该死的东西——我不行，哈利！”

He had backed away, the sword dragging at his side, shaking his head.

他已经拖着宝剑退到远处，连连摇头。

“You can do it,” said Harry, “you can! You’ve just got the sword, I know it’s supposed to be you who uses it. Please, just get rid of it, Ron.”

“你能做到，”哈利说，“你行的！你刚才捞上了宝剑，我知道应该由你来用它。拜托，除掉它吧，罗恩。”

The sound of his name seemed to act like a stimulant. Ron swallowed, then, still breathing hard through his long nose, moved back toward the rock.

听到自己的名字好像是一种激励，罗恩咽了口唾沫，走回大石头跟前，长长的鼻子仍然呼吸粗重。

“Tell me when,” he croaked.

“告诉我什么时候。”他低沉沙哑地说。

“On three,” said Harry, looking back down at the locket and narrowing his eyes, concentrating on the letter S, imagining a serpent, while the contents of the locket rattled like a trapped cockroach. It would have been easy to pity it, except that the cut around Harry’s neck still burned.

“数到三。”哈利低头看着挂坠盒，眯起眼睛盯住字母“S”，想象着一条蛇，而此时挂坠盒里的东西像笼中的蟑螂一样在窸窣作响。几乎很容易可怜它，只是哈利脖子上的伤痕还在火辣辣地痛。

“One . . . two . . . three . . . open.”

“一……二……三……开。”

The last word came as a hiss and a snarl and the golden doors of the locket swung wide with a little click.

最后一个词是一声嘶嘶的咆哮，挂坠盒的小金盖咔哒一声弹开了。

Behind both of the glass windows within blinked a living eye, dark and handsome as Tom Riddle’s eyes had been before he turned them scarlet and slit-pupiled.

两扇小玻璃窗后各有一只活的眼睛在眨动，黑亮有神，像汤姆·里德尔的眼球变成红色、瞳孔变成一条线之前。

“Stab,” said Harry, holding the locket steady on the rock.

“刺啊！”哈利说，一边把挂坠盒牢牢地按在石头上。

Ron raised the sword in his shaking hands: The point dangled over the frantically swiveling eyes, and Harry gripped the locket tightly, bracing himself, already imagining blood pouring from the empty windows.

罗恩用颤抖的双手举起宝剑，剑尖悬在两只疯狂转动的眼睛上面。哈利紧紧地抓着挂坠盒，做好准备，已经想象着鲜血从空了的小窗里喷出来。

Then a voice hissed from out of the Horcrux.

这时一个声音从魂器中嘶嘶响起。

“I have seen your heart, and it is mine.”

“我看到了你的心，它是我的。”

“Don’t listen to it!” Harry said harshly. “Stab it!”

“别听它的！”哈利厉声说，“快刺！”

“I have seen your dreams, Ronald Weasley, and I have seen your fears. All you desire is possible, but all that you dread is also possible. . . .”

“我看到了你的梦想，罗恩·韦斯莱，我也看到了你的恐惧。你渴望的都可能发生，但你惧怕的也都可能发生……”

“Stab!” shouted Harry; his voice echoed off the surrounding trees, the sword point trembled, and Ron gazed down into Riddle’s eyes.

“快刺！”哈利高喊，树林中响着回声。剑尖颤抖着，罗恩盯着里德尔的眼睛。

“Least loved, always, by the mother who craved a daughter . . . Least loved, now, by the girl who prefers your friend . . . Second best, always, eternally overshadowed . . .”

“一直最不受宠爱，妈妈偏爱女儿……最不受宠爱，现在那女孩又倾心于你的朋友……总是屈居第二，永远相形见绌……”

“Ron, stab it now!” Harry bellowed: He could feel the locket quivering in his grip and was scared of what was coming. Ron raised the sword still higher, and as he did so, Riddle’s eyes gleamed scarlet.

“罗恩，赶快刺它！”哈利吼道，他能感到挂坠盒在他手中颤动，很害怕会发生什么。罗恩把宝剑举得更高，里德尔的眼睛变红了。

Out of the locket’s two windows, out of the eyes, there bloomed, like two grotesque bubbles, the heads of Harry and Hermione, weirdly distorted.

从挂坠盒的两扇小窗里，从那对眼睛里，冒出两个怪诞的肥皂泡似的东西，是哈利和赫敏的脑袋，离奇地变了形。

Ron yelled in shock and backed away as the figures blossomed out of the locket, first chests, then waists, then legs, until they stood in the locket, side by side like trees with a common root, swaying over Ron and the real Harry, who had snatched his fingers away from the locket as it burned, suddenly, white-hot.

罗恩惊叫一声，倒退几步，两个人形从挂坠盒里升起，胸部，腰部，双腿，最后像两棵同根的树一样站在挂坠盒里，在罗恩和真哈利上方摇摆。哈利已经把手从挂坠盒上缩回，因为它突然变得炽热无比。

“Ron!” he shouted, but the Riddle-Harry was now speaking with Voldemort’s voice and Ron was gazing, mesmerized, into its face.

“罗恩！”他喊道，但现在里德尔－哈利用伏地魔的声音说起话来，罗恩像被催眠了一般盯着那张面孔。

“Why return? We were better without you, happier without you, glad of your absence. . . . We laughed at your stupidity, your cowardice, your presumption —”

“干吗回来？没有你我们更好，更快乐，很高兴你不在……我们嘲笑你的愚蠢、你的懦弱、你的自以为是——”

“Presumption!” echoed the Riddle-Hermione, who was more beautiful and yet more terrible than the real Hermione: She swayed, cackling, before Ron, who looked horrified yet transfixed, the sword hanging pointlessly at his side. “Who could look at you, who would ever look at you, beside Harry Potter? What have you ever done, compared with the Chosen One? What are you, compared with the Boy Who Lived?”

“自以为是！”里德尔－赫敏重复道，她比真赫敏漂亮，但很可怕——她在罗恩面前摇摆着，高笑着。罗恩似乎惊恐万分但又无法动弹，宝剑无力地垂在身边。“谁会看你啊，站在哈利·波特旁边，谁会看你一眼？跟‘救世之星’比起来，你做过什么？跟‘大难不死的男孩’比起来，你算什么？”

“Ron, stab it, STAB IT!” Harry yelled, but Ron did not move: His eyes were wide, and the Riddle-Harry and the Riddle-Hermione were reflected in them, their hair swirling like flames, their eyes shining red, their voices lifted in an evil duet.

“罗恩，刺它，刺它！”哈利大喊，但罗恩没有动，他的眼睛睁得大大的，里面映出里德尔－哈利和里德尔－赫敏，他们的头发像火焰一般旋舞，眼睛发着红光，声音升高成邪恶的二重唱。

“Your mother confessed,” sneered Riddle-Harry, while RiddleHermione jeered, “that she would have preferred me as a son, would be glad to exchange . . .”

“你妈妈承认过，”里德尔－哈利讥讽地说，里德尔－赫敏大声嘲笑，“她更喜欢要我当儿子，她很愿意交换……”

“Who wouldn’t prefer him, what woman would take you, you are nothing, nothing, nothing to him,” crooned Riddle-Hermione, and she stretched like a snake and entwined herself around RiddleHarry, wrapping him in a close embrace: Their lips met.

“谁不会更喜欢他呢，哪个女人会选择你呢？跟他比起来，你什么都不是，什么都不是。”里德尔－赫敏轻唱道，她身子变得像蛇一样长，缠住里德尔－哈利，与他紧紧拥抱，嘴唇相接。

On the ground in front of them, Ron’s face filled with anguish. He raised the sword high, his arms shaking.

在他们前面的地上，罗恩的脸上充满了痛苦，他高高地举着宝剑，手臂在发抖。

“Do it, Ron!” Harry yelled.

“刺呀，罗恩！”哈利觉得他看到看到罗恩眼里有一丝红色。

Ron looked toward him, and Harry thought he saw a trace of scarlet in his eyes.

“罗恩——？”

“Ron — ?”

剑光一闪，宝剑突然刺出，哈利纵身闪开，金属声当的一响，接着是一声长长的尖叫。哈利急速转身，在雪上滑了一下，举起魔杖准备自卫，但并没有东西要抵挡。

The sword flashed, plunged: Harry threw himself out of the way, there was a clang of metal and a long, drawn-out scream. Harry whirled around, slipping in the snow, wand held ready to defend himself: but there was nothing to fight.

他自己和赫敏的恐怖幻影不见了，只有罗恩站在那儿，无力地提前宝剑，低头看着石头上挂坠盒的碎片。

The monstrous versions of himself and Hermione were gone: There was only Ron, standing there with the sword held slackly in his hand, looking down at the shattered remains of the locket on the flat rock.

哈利慢慢走回他身边，不知该说些什么，做些什么。罗恩呼吸粗暴，眼睛一点也不红，还是原来那样的蓝色，还有点湿润。

Slowly, Harry walked back to him, hardly knowing what to say or do. Ron was breathing heavily: His eyes were no longer red at all, but their normal blue; they were also wet.

哈利假装没看见，弯腰捡起破碎的魂器。罗恩把两扇小窗的玻璃都刺破了，里德尔的眼睛没有了，挂坠盒的彩色丝绸内衬冒出缕缕轻烟。活在魂器中的那个东西消失了，折磨罗恩是它的最后一个行为。

Harry stooped, pretending he had not seen, and picked up the broken Horcrux. Ron had pierced the glass in both windows: Riddle’s eyes were gone, and the stained silk lining of the locket was smoking slightly. The thing that had lived in the Horcrux had vanished; torturing Ron had been its final act.

宝剑当啷一声从罗恩手中掉下，他跪倒在地，抱着脑袋。他在发抖，哈利知道那不是因为寒冷。哈利把破挂坠盒塞进口袋，跪到罗恩身边，谨慎地把一只手放到他的肩上。没有被甩掉，他觉得是个好兆头。

The sword clanged as Ron dropped it. He had sunk to his knees, his head in his arms. He was shaking, but not, Harry realized, from cold. Harry crammed the broken locket into his pocket, knelt down beside Ron, and placed a hand cautiously on his shoulder. He took it as a good sign that Ron did not throw it off.

“你走后，”他低声说，暗处庆幸罗恩的脸被挡住了，“她哭了一个星期，也许更长，只是她不想让我看见。有好些个夜晚，我们都不说话。你不在……”

“After you left,” he said in a low voice, grateful for the fact that Ron’s face was hidden, “she cried for a week. Probably longer, only she didn’t want me to see. There were loads of nights when we never even spoke to each other. With you gone . . .”

他说不下去了，现在罗恩回来了，哈利才完全意识到，对他们来说，没有他是多大的缺憾。

He could not finish; it was only now that Ron was here again that Harry fully realized how much his absence had cost them.

“她就像我的姐妹，”他继续说，“我像爱姐妹一样爱她，我相信她对我也是这样。一直都是这样，我以为你知道。”

“She’s like my sister,” he went on. “I love her like a sister and I reckon she feels the same way about me. It’s always been like that. I thought you knew.”

罗恩没有回答，而是扭过脸去，响亮地衣袖擦了擦鼻子。哈利起身走向几米外罗恩的那只巨大的背包，那是罗恩奔向池塘去救他时丢下的。哈利把它扛到背上，走回罗恩身边。罗恩也爬了起来，眼睛充血，但还平静。

Ron did not respond, but turned his face away from Harry and wiped his nose noisily on his sleeve. Harry got to his feet again and walked to where Ron’s enormous rucksack lay yards away, discarded as Ron had run toward the pool to save Harry from drowning. He hoisted it onto his own back and walked back to Ron, who clambered to his feet as Harry approached, eyes bloodshot but otherwise composed.

“对不起，”他瓮声瓮气地说，“对不起，我不该离开。我知道我是个——是个——”

“I’m sorry,” he said in a thick voice. “I’m sorry I left. I know I was a — a —”

他在黑暗中环顾四周，仿佛希望一个足够恶毒的词会飞扑下来认领他。

He looked around at the darkness, as if hoping a bad enough word would swoop down upon him and claim him.

“你今晚差不多都补偿了，”哈利说，“捞出宝剑，消灭魂器，还救了我的命。”

“You’ve sort of made up for it tonight,” said Harry. “Getting the sword. Finishing off the Horcrux. Saving my life.”

“听起来比我本人伟大得多。”罗恩嘟嚷道。

“That makes me sound a lot cooler than I was,” Ron mumbled.

“这样的事听起来总是比实际伟大得多，”哈利说，“我这些年一直想告诉你这一点。”

“Stuff like that always sounds cooler than it really was,” said Harry. “I’ve been trying to tell you that for years.”

两人同时走上前，抱在一起，哈利抓着罗恩背上仍然潮湿的衣服。

Simultaneously they walked forward and hugged, Harry gripping the still-sopping back of Ron’s jacket.

“现在，”他们分开之后哈利说，“我们要做的就是找到帐篷了。”

“And now,” said Harry as they broke apart, “all we’ve got to do is find the tent again.”

找到帐篷并不难。虽然跟着牝鹿在黑森林里走的路似乎很长，但有罗恩在身边，回去时用的时间短得令人惊讶。哈利迫不及待地要叫醒赫敏。他兴奋地走进帐篷，罗恩有点迟疑地跟在后面。

But it was not difficult. Though the walk through the dark forest with the doe had seemed lengthy, with Ron by his side the journey back seemed to take a surprisingly short time. Harry could not wait to wake Hermione, and it was with quickening excitement that he entered the tent, Ron lagging a little behind him.

与池塘和森林里比起来，这里暖和极了。惟一的光源是那些像蓝铃花一般的火苗，它还在地上的一只碗里闪闪发光。赫敏蜷在毯子里睡得正香，哈利叫了好几遍她才醒过来。

It was gloriously warm after the pool and the forest, the only illumination the bluebell flames still shimmering in a bowl on the floor. Hermione was fast asleep, curled up under her blankets, and did not move until Harry had said her name several times.

“赫敏！”

“Hermione!”

她动了一下，迅速坐起来，拨开脸上的头发。

She stirred, then sat up quickly, pushing her hair out of her face.

“怎么啦，哈利？你没事吧？”

“What’s wrong? Harry? Are you all right?”

“没事，一切都好，不只是好，是棒极了，这儿有个人。”

“It’s okay, everything’s fine. More than fine. I’m great. There’s someone here.”

“你说什么？谁——？”

“What do you mean? Who — ?”

她看到提着剑站在那儿、往破地毯上滴水的罗恩。哈利退到角落的阴影中，取下罗恩的背包，努力与帐篷的帆布墙融为一体。

She saw Ron, who stood there holding the sword and dripping onto the threadbare carpet. Harry backed into a shadowy corner, slipped off Ron’s rucksack, and attempted to blend in with the canvas.

赫敏下了床，梦游似的朝着罗恩走去，眼睛盯着他苍白的面孔。她停在他面前，嘴唇微张，双眼圆睁。罗恩抱着希望无力地笑了一下，半张开手臂。

Hermione slid out of her bunk and moved like a sleepwalker toward Ron, her eyes upon his pale face. She stopped right in front of him, her lips slightly parted, her eyes wide. Ron gave a weak, hopeful smile and half raised his arms.

赫敏往前一冲，开始痛打他身上每一寸她够得到的地方。

Hermione launched herself forward and started punching every inch of him that she could reach.

“哎哟——嗷——放开！干吗——？赫敏——嗷！”

“Ouch — ow — gerroff! What the — ? Hermione — OW!”

“你这个——大——混蛋——罗恩——韦斯莱！”

“You — complete — arse — Ronald — Weasley!”

她每说一个词都加上一拳。罗恩护着脑袋往后躲，赫敏紧追向前。

She punctuated every word with a blow: Ron backed away, shielding his head as Hermione advanced.

“你——爬回——来了？——这么多——这么多——星期——之后——哦，我的魔杖呢？”

“You — crawl — back — here — after — weeks — and — weeks — oh, where’s my wand?”

她好像要把它从哈利手里夺过去，哈利本能地做出了反应。

She looked as though ready to wrestle it out of Harry’s hands and he reacted instinctively.

“盔甲护身！”

“Protego!”

无形的竖壁立时将罗恩和赫敏隔开了，冲力把她撞得仰面摔倒。她吐着嘴里的头发，又跳了起来。

The invisible shield erupted between Ron and Hermione: The force of it knocked her backward onto the floor. Spitting hair out of her mouth, she leapt up again.

“赫敏！”哈利说，“冷静——”

“Hermione!” said Harry. “Calm —”

“我不会冷静！”她尖叫着。他从来没见过她如此失控，简直像疯了一样。“把魔杖还给我！还给我！”

“I will not calm down!” she screamed. Never before had he seen her lose control like this; she looked quite demented. “Give me back my wand! Give it back to me!”

“赫敏，请你——”

“Hermione, will you please —”

“别来指挥我，哈利·波特！”她厉声喊道，“我警告你！快还给我！还有你！”

“Don’t you tell me what to do, Harry Potter!” she screeched. “Don’t you dare! Give it back now! And YOU!”

她控诉地狠狠指着罗恩，像诅咒一般，哈利觉得不能怪罗恩连退了几步。

She was pointing at Ron in dire accusation: It was like a malediction, and Harry could not blame Ron for retreating several steps.

“我跑出去追你！我喊你！哀求你回来！”

“I came running after you! I called you! I begged you to come back!”

“我知道，”罗恩说，“赫敏，对不起，我真的——”

“I know,” Ron said, “Hermione, I’m sorry, I’m really —”

“哦，你对不起！”

“Oh, you’re sorry!”

她大笑起来，那是一种尖利的、歇斯底里的声音。罗恩求助地看看哈利，但哈利只是苦着脸表示无可奈何。

She laughed, a high-pitched, out-of-control sound; Ron looked at Harry for help, but Harry merely grimaced his helplessness.

“你过了这么多星期才回来——这么多星期——你以为说一声对不起就没事了？”

“You come back after weeks — weeks — and you think it’s all going to be all right if you just say sorry?”

“那我还能说什么？”罗恩喊道，哈利很高兴罗恩开始反抗了。

“Well, what else can I say?” Ron shouted, and Harry was glad that Ron was fighting back.

“哦，我不知道！”赫敏高叫道，带着辛辣的讽刺，“绞尽你的脑汁吧，罗恩，那只需要两秒钟——”

“Oh, I don’t know!” yelled Hermione with awful sarcasm. “Rack your brains, Ron, that should only take a couple of seconds —”

“赫敏，”哈利插嘴说道，他认为这是很不厚道的攻击，“他刚才救了我的——”

“Hermione,” interjected Harry, who considered this a low blow, “he just saved my —”

“我不管！”她尖叫道，“我不管他做了什么！这么多星期，我们说不定都死了——”

“I don’t care!” she screamed. “I don’t care what he’s done! Weeks and weeks, we could have been dead for all he knew —”

“我知道你们没死！”罗恩吼了起来，第一次压过了她的声音，并且隔着铁甲咒尽可能靠上前，“《预言家日报》上成天讲哈利，广播里也是，他们到处找你，好多谣言和荒谬的故事，我知道你们要是死了我马上就会听说的，你们不知道——”

“I knew you weren’t dead!” bellowed Ron, drowning her voice for the first time, and approaching as close as he could with the Shield Charm between them. “Harry’s all over the Prophet, all over the radio, they’re looking for you everywhere, all these rumors and mental stories, I knew I’d hear straight off if you were dead, you don’t know what it’s been like —”

“不知道你是怎么过的？”

“What it’s been like for you?”

她的声音现在是如此之尖，很快就只有蝙蝠才能听见了。但她已经气愤到了一时说不出话的程度，罗恩抓住了机会。

Her voice was now so shrill only bats would be able to hear it soon, but she had reached a level of indignation that rendered her temporarily speechless, and Ron seized his opportunity.

“我一幻影移形就想回来，可是我落在了一群搜捕队员中间，赫敏，根本走不掉！”

“I wanted to come back the minute I’d Disapparated, but I walked straight into a gang of Snatchers, Hermione, and I couldn’t go anywhere!”

“一群什么？”哈利问道。赫敏一屁股坐到椅子上，紧紧抱着胳膊，交叉着双腿，看样子几年都不会松开。

“A gang of what?” asked Harry, as Hermione threw herself down into a chair with her arms and legs crossed so tightly it seemed unlikely that she would unravel them for several years.

“搜捕队员，”罗恩说，“到处都是，一帮想靠搜捕麻瓜出身的巫师和纯血统的叛徒赚金子的家伙。每抓一个人魔法部都有赏。我独自一人，看上去又像上学的年龄，他们可兴奋了，以为我是逃出来的麻瓜出身的人。我赶紧好说歹说，才没有被拖进魔法部。”

“Snatchers,” said Ron. “They’re everywhere — gangs trying to earn gold by rounding up Muggle-borns and blood traitors, there’s a reward from the Ministry for everyone captured. I was on my own and I look like I might be school age; they got really excited, thought I was a Muggle-born in hiding. I had to talk fast to get out of being dragged to the Ministry.”

“你是怎么对他们说的？”

“What did you say to them?”

“我说是斯坦·桑帕克，我能想到的第一个人。”

“Told them I was Stan Shunpike. First person I could think of.”

“他们相信了？”

“And they believed that?”

“那帮人不怎么聪明。有一个肯定是巨怪血统，身上那味儿……”

“They weren’t the brightest. One of them was definitely part troll, the smell off him. . . .”

罗恩瞥了一眼赫敏，显然希望这个小幽默能使她情绪缓和一些，但她仍然四肢紧紧地缠结在一起，表情像石板一块。

Ron glanced at Hermione, clearly hopeful she might soften at this small instance of humor, but her expression remained stony above her tightly knotted limbs.

“总之，他们为我是不是斯坦而争吵了起来，说实在的真是有点可怜。但他们毕竟是五个对我一个，还抢走了我的魔杖。后来有两个人打了起来，趁其他人分神的时候，我一拳打在抓我的那人肚子上，夺过他的魔杖，对拿我魔杖的家伙使了个缴械咒，就幻影移形了。我做得不大好，又分体了——”罗恩举起右手，少了两个指甲。赫敏冷冷地扬起眉毛。“——显形的地方离你们好远。等我回到原来的河边时——你们已经走了。”

“Anyway, they had a row about whether I was Stan or not. It was a bit pathetic to be honest, but there were still five of them and only one of me and they’d taken my wand. Then two of them got into a fight and while the others were distracted I managed to hit the one holding me in the stomach, grabbed his wand, Disarmed the bloke holding mine, and Disapparated. I didn’t do it so well, Splinched myself again” — Ron held up his right hand to show two missing fingernails; Hermione raised her eyebrows coldly — “and I came out miles from where you were. By the time I got back to that bit of riverbank where we’d been . . . you’d gone.”

“哎呀，多么惊心动魄的故事，”赫敏用她想伤害别人时惯用的那种高傲语气说，“你一定吓坏了吧。而我们去了戈德里克山谷。让我想想，那儿发生了什么，哈利？哦，对了，神秘人的蛇蹿了出来，差点把我们咬死，然后神秘人亲自赶到，只差一秒就抓住我们了。”

“Gosh, what a gripping story,” Hermione said in the lofty voice she adopted when wishing to wound. “You must have been simply terrified. Meanwhile we went to Godric’s Hollow and, let’s think, what happened there, Harry? Oh yes, You-Know-Who’s snake turned up, it nearly killed both of us, and then You-Know-Who himself arrived and missed us by about a second.”

“什么？”罗恩张大了嘴巴，望望赫敏又望望哈利，但哈利没有睬他。

“What?” Ron said, gaping from her to Harry, but Hermione ignored him.

“想想看丢了指甲，哈利！这真衬出我们遭的罪多么渺小，是不是？”

“Imagine losing fingernails, Harry! That really puts our sufferings into perspective, doesn’t it?”

“赫敏，”哈利低声说，“罗恩刚才救了我的命。”

“Hermione,” said Harry quietly, “Ron just saved my life.”

她好像没听见。

She appeared not to have heard him.

“不过，我倒想知道一点，”她说道，眼睛盯着罗恩头顶上一英尺的地方，“你今晚是怎么找到我们的？这很重要。知道了这个，可以保证我们不会再有我们不想见到的人来打搅。”

“One thing I would like to know, though,” she said, fixing her eyes on a spot a foot over Ron’s head. “How exactly did you find us tonight? That’s important. Once we know, we’ll be able to make sure we’re not visited by anyone else we don’t want to see.”

罗恩瞪着她，然后从牛仔裤口袋里掏出一个银色的小东西。

Ron glared at her, then pulled a small silver object from his jeans pocket.

“这个。”

“This.”

为了看到他拿出的东西，她不得不看了罗恩一眼。

She had to look at Ron to see what he was showing them.

“熄灯器？”她问，惊讶得忘记了摆出冷漠、凶狠的样子。

“The Deluminator?” she asked, so surprised she forgot to look cold and fierce.

“它不只是能点灯熄灯，”罗恩说，“我也不知道它怎么会这样，也不知道为什么偏偏在那一次而不是在其他时候，因为我自从离开之后一直都想回来呀。可那天我在听广播，是圣诞节的一大早，我听到——听到了你。”

“It doesn’t just turn the lights on and off,” said Ron. “I don’t know how it works or why it happened then and not any other time, because I’ve been wanting to come back ever since I left. But I was listening to the radio really early on Christmas morning and I heard . . . I heard you.”

他看着赫敏。

He was looking at Hermione.

“你在广播里听到了我？”她不相信地问。

“You heard me on the radio?” she asked incredulously.

“不，我听到你在我的口袋里。你的声音，”他又举起熄灯器，“是从这个里面发出来的。”

“No, I heard you coming out of my pocket. Your voice,” he held up the Deluminator again, “came out of this.”

“我究竟在说什么？”赫敏问，语调介于怀疑和好奇之间。

“And what exactly did I say?” asked Hermione, her tone somewhere between skepticism and curiosity.

“我的名字，‘罗恩’。你说到……什么魔杖……”

“My name. ‘Ron.’ And you said . . . something about a wand. . . .”

赫敏脸色变得赤红，哈利想起来了——那是罗恩走后他们第一次说出他的名字。赫敏在说修复哈利的魔杖时提到了他。

Hermione turned a fiery shade of scarlet. Harry remembered: It had been the first time Ron’s name had been said aloud by either of them since the day he had left; Hermione had mentioned it when talking about repairing Harry’s wand.

“于是我把它拿了出来，”罗恩看着熄灯器继续说，“它看上去没有什么异样，但我很确定我听到了你的声音，所以就摁了一下，我屋里的灯熄了，但另一个灯出现在窗外。”

“So I took it out,” Ron went on, looking at the Deluminator, “and it didn’t seem different or anything, but I was sure I’d heard you. So I clicked it. And the light went out in my room, but another light appeared right outside the window.”

罗恩举手指向前方，眼睛盯着哈利和赫敏都看不见的东西。

Ron raised his empty hand and pointed in front of him, his eyes focused on something neither Harry nor Hermione could see.

“那是一个光球，好像在搏动，蓝莹莹的，就像门钥匙周围的那种光，你们知道吧？”

“It was a ball of light, kind of pulsing, and bluish, like that light you get around a Portkey, you know?”

“嗯。”哈利、赫敏一起不由自主地说。

“Yeah,” said Harry and Hermione together automatically.

“我知道这就是了，”罗恩说道，“于是赶紧收拾东西，背上背包走进了花园。”

“I knew this was it,” said Ron. “I grabbed my stuff and packed it, then I put on my rucksack and went out into the garden.

“那个小光球停在空中等着我，我出来后它上下浮动飘了一段，我跟着它走到小屋后面，然后它……嗯，它飘进了我的身体里。”

“The little ball of light was hovering there, waiting for me, and when I came out it bobbed along a bit and I followed it behind the shed and then it . . . well, it went inside me.”

“什么？”哈利认为自己没听清。

“Sorry?” said Harry, sure he had not heard correctly.

“它向我飘了过来，”罗恩用食指演示着说，“一直飘到我胸口，然后——它就进去了。在这儿，”他指着心脏附近的一点，“我能感觉到它，热乎乎的。它一进入我体内，我就知道该做什么了，它会带我去我必须去的地方。于是我幻影移形，来到了一个山坡上，到处都是雪……”

“It sort of floated toward me,” said Ron, illustrating the movement with his free index finger, “right to my chest, and then — it just went straight through. It was here,” he touched a point close to his heart, “I could feel it, it was hot. And once it was inside me I knew what I was supposed to do, I knew it would take me where I needed to go. So I Disapparated and came out on the side of a hill. There was snow everywhere. . . .”

“我们去过那儿，”哈利说，“在那儿待了两夜，第二夜我总觉得有人在黑暗中走动、呼喊！”

“We were there,” said Harry. “We spent two nights there, and the second night I kept thinking I could hear someone moving around in the dark and calling out!”

“嗯，那应该就是我。”罗恩说，“至少，你们的防护咒是有效的，因为我看不见也听不见你们。但我相信你们就在附近，所以最后就钻进了睡袋，等你们哪一个出现。我想你们收帐篷时总会现身的。”

“Yeah, well, that would’ve been me,” said Ron. “Your protective spells work, anyway, because I couldn’t see you and I couldn’t hear you. I was sure you were around, though, so in the end I got in my sleeping bag and waited for one of you to appear. I thought you’d have to show yourselves when you packed up the tent.”

“不一定，”赫敏说，“为了更加保险，我们都是在隐形衣下幻影移形。而且我们走得很早，因为正如哈利说的，我们听到有人在周围东碰西撞。”

“No, actually,” said Hermione. “We’ve been Disapparating under the Invisibility Cloak as an extra precaution. And we left really early, because, as Harry says, we’d heard somebody blundering around.”

“我在那座山上待了一整天，”罗恩说，“一直希望你们会出现。但到了天黑时，我知道大概错过了，就又摁了一下熄灯器，蓝光出现了，又飘进了我的体内，我幻影移形到了这片林子里。还是看不到你们，我只能希望你们哪一个会出现——哈利出现了。哦，显然，我先看到了那头牝鹿。”

“Well, I stayed on that hill all day,” said Ron. “I kept hoping you’d appear. But when it started to get dark I knew I must have missed you, so I clicked the Deluminator again, the blue light came out and went inside me, and I Disapparated and arrived here in these woods. I still couldn’t see you, so I just had to hope one of you would show yourselves in the end — and Harry did. Well, I saw the doe first, obviously.”

“你看到了什么？”赫敏尖声问。

“You saw the what?” said Hermione sharply.

他俩讲述了刚才的奇遇。随着银色的牝鹿和池底宝剑故事的展开，赫敏皱着眉头来回看着他俩，专心得都忘了缠紧四肢。

They explained what had happened, and as the story of the silver doe and the sword in the pool unfolded, Hermione frowned from one to the other of them, concentrating so hard she forgot to keep her limbs locked together.

“但它一定是个守护神！”她说，“你们没看见是谁把它召出来的吗？没看见有人吗？它把你们领到了宝剑那里！难以置信！那后来呢？”

“But it must have been a Patronus!” she said. “Couldn’t you see who was casting it? Didn’t you see anyone? And it led you to the sword! I can’t believe this! Then what happened?”

罗恩讲了自己看到哈利跳进池塘，想等他上来，然后意识到出了问题，急忙跳下去救上哈利，又回去捞出那把剑。他一直讲到打开挂坠盒，然后就犹豫了，于是哈利插了进来。

Ron explained how he had watched Harry jump into the pool and had waited for him to resurface; how he had realized that something was wrong, dived in, and saved Harry, then returned for the sword. He got as far as the opening of the locket, then hesitated, and Harry cut in.

“——罗恩用宝剑刺穿了它。”

“— and Ron stabbed it with the sword.”

“然后……然后它就死了？就这样？”她轻声问。

“And . . . and it went? Just like that?” she whispered.

“哦，它——它尖叫来着。”哈利瞥了瞥罗恩说，“给。”

“Well, it — it screamed,” said Harry with half a glance at Ron. “Here.”

他把挂坠盒丢到她膝上，她小心翼翼地拿起来，细细查看被刺破的小窗口。

He threw the locket into her lap; gingerly she picked it up and examined its punctured windows.

断定终于安全了，哈利一挥赫敏的魔杖解除了铁甲咒，又转向罗恩。

Deciding that it was at last safe to do so, Harry removed the Shield Charm with a wave of Hermione’s wand and turned to Ron.

“你刚才说，你从搜捕队那儿逃走时还赚了根魔杖？”

“Did you just say you got away from the Snatchers with a spare wand?”

“什么？”正在看赫敏检查挂坠盒的罗恩说，“哦——是啊。”

“What?” said Ron, who had been watching Hermione examining the locket. “Oh — oh yeah.”

耸扯开背包的扣带，从袋子里抽出了一根短而黑的魔杖。“这儿呢。我想有根备用总是好的。”

He tugged open a buckle on his rucksack and pulled a short, dark wand out of its pocket. “Here. I figured it’s always handy to have a backup.”

“你说得对，”哈利伸出手说，“我的断了。”

“You were right,” said Harry, holding out his hand. “Mine’s broken.”

“你开玩笑吧？”罗恩说，但这时赫敏站起身，他又惶恐不安起来。

“You’re kidding?” Ron said, but at that moment Hermione got to her feet, and he looked apprehensive again.

赫敏把被征服的魂器放进串珠小包，爬回自己的床上，一言不发地躺下了。

Hermione put the vanquished Horcrux into the beaded bag, then climbed back into her bed and settled down without another word.

罗恩把新魔杖递给了哈利。

Ron passed Harry the new wand.

“几乎是你能希望的最好情况了，我想。”哈利悄声道。

“About the best you could hope for, I think,” murmured Harry.

“是啊，”罗恩说，“还不算最糟，还记得她放出来啄我的那些鸟吗？”

“Yeah,” said Ron. “Could’ve been worse. Remember those birds she set on me?”

“我还没有排除这个可能。”赫敏闷闷的声音从毯子下传来，但哈利看到罗恩露出了一丝微笑，从背包里抽出了他的暗紫红色的睡衣。

“I still haven’t ruled it out,” came Hermione’s muffled voice from beneath her blankets, but Harry saw Ron smiling slightly as he pulled his maroon pajamas out of his rucksack.

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