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

英文中文双语对照双语交替

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CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE THE BATTLE OF HOGWARTS

第三十一章　霍格沃茨的战斗

The enchanted ceiling of the Great Hall was dark and scattered with stars, and below it the four long House tables were lined with disheveled students, some in traveling cloaks, others in dressing gowns. Here and there shone the pearly white figures of the school ghosts. Every eye, living and dead, was fixed upon Professor McGonagall, who was speaking from the raised platform at the top of the Hall. Behind her stood the remaining teachers, including the palomino centaur, Firenze, and the members of the Order of the Phoenix who had arrived to fight.

大礼堂里那被施了魔法的天花板黑朦朦的，闪烁着点点星光，下面的四张长桌旁坐着衣冠不整、头发蓬乱的学生，有的披着旅行斗篷，有的穿着晨衣。这里那里不时闪过校内那些幽灵的乳白色身影。无论是死人还是活人，每双眼睛都盯着麦格教授，她正站在礼堂前高高的讲台上对大家讲话，身后站着留下来的教师们，包括银鬃马人费伦泽，还有起来参加战斗的凤凰社成员。

“. . . evacuation will be overseen by Mr. Filch and Madam Pomfrey. Prefects, when I give the word, you will organize your House and take your charges, in an orderly fashion, to the evacuation point.”

“……疏散工作由费尔奇先生和庞弗雷夫人负责监督。级长听到我的命令之后，组织你们学院的学生，负责将他们井然有序地送到疏散地点。”

Many of the students looked petrified. However, as Harry skirted the walls, scanning the Gryffindor table for Ron and Hermione, Ernie Macmillan stood up at the Hufflepuff table and shouted, “And what if we want to stay and fight?”

许多学生都是一副吓呆的样子。不过，当哈利贴着墙根移动，在格兰芬多桌旁寻找罗恩和赫敏时，厄尼·麦克米兰从赫奇帕奇桌旁站起来大声喊道：“如果我们想留下来参加战斗呢？”

HOGWARTS

他的话赢得了一些人的喝彩。

There was a smattering of applause.

“如果够年龄，可以留下。”麦格教授说。

“If you are of age, you may stay,” said Professor McGonagall.

“我们的东西呢？”拉文克劳桌旁的一位女生大声问道，“我们的箱子，还有猫头鹰呢？”

“What about our things?” called a girl at the Ravenclaw table. “Our trunks, our owls?”

“来不及收拾财物了，”麦格教授说，“最重要的是把你们从这里安全地转移出去。”

“We have no time to collect possessions,” said Professor McGonagall. “The important thing is to get you out of here safely.”

“斯内普教授呢？”斯莱特林桌旁的一位女生喊了起来。

“Where’s Professor Snape?” shouted a girl from the Slytherin table.

“用一句通俗的话来说，他逃跑了。”麦格教授说，格兰芬多、赫奇帕奇和拉文克劳桌旁爆发出一片欢呼。

“He has, to use the common phrase, done a bunk,” replied Professor McGonagall, and a great cheer erupted from the Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws.

哈利顺着格兰芬多的桌子往前走，仍在寻找罗恩和赫敏。他走动时，许多人朝他这边转过脸来，他身后响起一片窃窃私语声。

Harry moved up the Hall alongside the Gryffindor table, still looking for Ron and Hermione. As he passed, faces turned in his direction, and a great deal of whispering broke out in his wake.

“我们已经在城堡周围布下防御，”麦格教授说道，“但不可能守住很长时间，除非我们不断加固这种防御。因此，我要求你们必须迅速而沉着地行动，听级长的——”

“We have already placed protection around the castle,” Professor McGonagall was saying, “but it is unlikely to hold for very long unless we reinforce it. I must ask you, therefore, to move quickly and calmly, and do as your prefects —”

突然，另一个声音响彻了大礼堂，把她的话淹没了。那声音高亢、冷酷、清晰，说不清是从什么地方传来的，似乎是墙壁本身发出来的。这声音就像它曾经指挥过的蛇怪一样，仿佛也在那里沉睡了好几个世纪。

But her final words were drowned as a different voice echoed throughout the Hall. It was high, cold, and clear: There was no telling from where it came; it seemed to issue from the walls themselves. Like the monster it had once commanded, it might have lain dormant there for centuries.

“我知道你们在准备抵抗。”

“I know that you are preparing to fight.” There were screams amongst the students, some of whom clutched each other, looking around in terror for the source of the sound. “Your efforts are futile. You cannot fight me. I do not want to kill you. I have great respect for the teachers of Hogwarts. I do not want to spill magical blood.”

学生们中间发出尖叫，有些人搂作一团，惊恐地四处张望，寻找声音发出的地方。

There was silence in the Hall now, the kind of silence that presses against the eardrums, that seems too huge to be contained by walls.

“你们的努力是没有用的。你们不是我的对手。我不想杀死你们。我对霍格沃茨的教师十分尊敬。我不想让巫师流血。”

“Give me Harry Potter,” said Voldemort’s voice, “and none shall be harmed. Give me Harry Potter, and I shall leave the school untouched. Give me Harry Potter, and you will be rewarded.

大礼堂里一片寂静，这寂静压迫着人们的耳膜，这寂静如此巨大，大得似乎礼堂里都盛载不下。

“You have until midnight.”

“把哈利·波特交出来，”伏地魔的声音说道，“你们谁也不会受伤。把哈利·波特交出来，我会让学校安然无恙。把哈利·波特交出来，你们还会得到奖赏。”

The silence swallowed them all again. Every head turned, every eye in the place seemed to have found Harry, to hold him frozen in the glare of thousands of invisible beams. Then a figure rose from the Slytherin table and he recognized Pansy Parkinson as she raised a shaking arm and screamed, “But he’s there! Potter’s there! Someone grab him!”

“我等到午夜。”

Before Harry could speak, there was a massive movement. The Gryffindors in front of him had risen and stood facing, not Harry, but the Slytherins. Then the Hufflepuffs stood, and almost at the same moment, the Ravenclaws, all of them with their backs to Harry, all of them looking toward Pansy instead, and Harry, awestruck and overwhelmed, saw wands emerging everywhere, pulled from beneath cloaks and from under sleeves.

寂静再次把他们全部吞没了。每个人都转过脑袋，每双眼睛似乎都找到了哈利，千百道目光死死地盯着他，使他动弹不得。然后，斯莱特林桌旁站起一个身影，哈利认出是潘西·帕金森，只见她举起颤抖的胳膊尖叫道：“他在那儿！波特在那儿！快把他抓住！”

“Thank you, Miss Parkinson,” said Professor McGonagall in a clipped voice. “You will leave the Hall first with Mr. Filch. If the rest of your House could follow.”

哈利还没来得及说话，同学们已经采取行动了。他面前的格兰芬多学生站了起来，不是面对哈利，而是面对斯莱特林。接着赫奇帕奇学生也纷纷起立，拉文克劳学生几乎在同时也采取了同样的行动。他们全都背对哈利，他们全都面朝潘西，哈利百感交集，既敬畏又感动。他看见魔杖从四面八方被抽了出来，有从斗篷底下，有从袖子里面。

Harry heard the grinding of benches and then the sound of the Slytherins trooping out on the other side of the Hall.

“谢谢你，帕金森小姐，”麦格教授清楚而干脆地说，“你和费尔奇先生一起先离开礼堂。你们学院的其他同学也可以跟上。”

“Ravenclaws, follow on!” cried Professor McGonagall.

哈利听见了板凳的碰撞摩擦声，礼堂另一边的斯莱特林纷纷离开。

Slowly the four tables emptied. The Slytherin table was completely deserted, but a number of older Ravenclaws remained seated while their fellows filed out; even more Hufflepuffs stayed behind,

“拉文克劳，跟上！”麦格教授大声说。

HOGWARTS and half of Gryffindor remained in their seats, necessitating Professor McGonagall’s descent from the teachers’ platform to chivvy the underage on their way.

四张桌子渐渐地空了。斯莱特林桌旁空无一人；而拉文克劳鱼贯而出时，一些年纪较大的同学坐着没动；赫奇帕奇留下来的就更多了；格兰芬多更是有一半的同学都待在座位上。麦格教授只好从讲台上下来，强行驱赶不到年龄的学生。

“Absolutely not, Creevey, go! And you, Peakes!”

“绝对不行，克里维，快走！还有你，珀克斯！”

Harry hurried over to the Weasleys, all sitting together at the Gryffindor table.

哈利匆匆走向坐在格兰芬多桌旁的韦斯莱一家。

“Where are Ron and Hermione?”

“罗恩和赫敏呢？”

“Haven’t you found — ?” began Mr. Weasley, looking worried.

“你还没有找到——？”韦斯莱先生很担忧地问。

But he broke off as Kingsley had stepped forward on the raised platform to address those who had remained behind.

他的话没有说完，因为金斯莱已经走到讲台上，向留下来的人发表讲话。

“We’ve only got half an hour until midnight, so we need to act fast! A battle plan has been agreed between the teachers of Hogwarts and the Order of the Phoenix. Professors Flitwick, Sprout, and McGonagall are going to take groups of fighters up to the three highest towers — Ravenclaw, Astronomy, and Gryffindor — where they’ll have a good overview, excellent positions from which to work spells. Meanwhile Remus” — he indicated Lupin — “Arthur” — he pointed toward Mr. Weasley, sitting at the Gryffindor table — “and I will take groups into the grounds. We’ll need somebody to organize defense of the entrances of the passageways into the school —”

“到午夜只有半个小时了，我们需要迅速行动！霍格沃茨教师和凤凰社成员联合拟定了一个作战方案。弗立维、斯普劳特和麦格教授分别带领战斗队登上三个最高的塔楼——拉文克劳塔、天文塔和格兰芬多塔——那里视野开阔，位置有利，便于施魔法。莱姆斯，”他指指卢平，“亚瑟，”他指指坐在格兰芬多桌旁的韦斯莱先生，“和我带领队伍进入操场。我们需要有人组织把守进入学校的各个通道入口——”

“Sounds like a job for us,” called Fred, indicating himself and George, and Kingsley nodded his approval.

“听着像是我们的活儿。”弗雷德指指他自己和乔治大声说，金斯莱点头同意。

“All right, leaders up here and we’ll divide up the troops!”

“好了，领队的到上面来，我们分一下队伍！”

“Potter,” said Professor McGonagall, hurrying up to him, as students flooded the platform, jostling for position, receiving instructions, “Aren’t you supposed to be looking for something?”

“波特，”麦格教授说着匆匆向他走来，这时同学们都朝讲台拥去，推推搡搡地抢位置，接受指令，“你不是要寻找什么东西吗？”

“What? Oh,” said Harry, “oh yeah!”

“什么？噢，”哈利说，“噢，对了！”

He had almost forgotten about the Horcrux, almost forgotten that the battle was being fought so that he could search for it: The inexplicable absence of Ron and Hermione had momentarily driven every other thought from his mind.

他几乎忘记了魂器，几乎忘记了作战的目的是让他能够寻找魂器。罗恩和赫敏的离奇失踪暂时赶跑了他脑子里所有的其他念头。

“Then go, Potter, go!”

“那就去吧，波特，快去吧！”

“Right — yeah —”

“行——好的——”

He sensed eyes following him as he ran out of the Great Hall again, into the entrance hall still crowded with evacuating students. He allowed himself to be swept up the marble staircase with them, but at the top he hurried off along a deserted corridor. Fear and panic were clouding his thought processes. He tried to calm himself, to concentrate on finding the Horcrux, but his thoughts buzzed as frantically and fruitlessly as wasps trapped beneath a glass. Without Ron and Hermione to help him he could not seem to marshal his ideas. He slowed down, coming to a halt halfway along an empty passage, where he sat down upon the plinth of a departed statue and pulled the Marauder’s Map out of the pouch around his neck. He could not see Ron’s or Hermione’s names anywhere on it, though the density of the crowd of dots now making its way to the Room of Requirement might, he thought, be concealing them. He put the map away, pressed his hands over his face, and closed his eyes, trying to concentrate. . . .

他从大礼堂里跑了出去，感觉到后面有许多双眼睛在跟着他。门厅里仍然挤着正在疏散的学生。哈利被他们挟裹着上了大理石楼梯，到了顶上他立刻顺着一条空荡荡的走廊跑去。恐慌和紧张使他的思绪混乱不清。他试着平静下来，集中思想考虑怎么该找到魂器，可是思想像关在玻璃罩里的黄蜂一样，疯狂地、漫无目的地嗡嗡乱飞。没有罗恩和赫敏在旁相助，他似乎理不清自己的思路。他放慢脚步，在空无一人的过道中间停了下来，坐在一个塑像离开后留下的底座上，从脖子上的皮袋里掏出活点地图。他在地图上怎么也找不到罗恩和赫敏的名字，不过，它们可能藏在那片拥向有求必应屋的密密麻麻的小点当中了。他把地图收了起来，用两只手捂住脸，闭上眼睛，努力集中思绪……

Voldemort thought I’d go to Ravenclaw Tower.

伏地魔认为我会去拉文克劳塔。

There it was: a solid fact, the place to start. Voldemort had stationed Alecto Carrow in the Ravenclaw common room, and there could only be one explanation: Voldemort feared that Harry already knew his Horcrux was connected to that House.

没错，这是一个可靠的事实，就从那里开始。伏地魔派阿莱克托·卡罗驻守在拉文克劳公共休息室，这只能有一个解释：伏地魔担心哈利已经知道他的魂器跟那个学院有关。

But the only object anyone seemed to associate with Ravenclaw was the lost diadem . . . and how could the Horcrux be the diadem? How was it possible that Voldemort, the Slytherin, had found the diadem that had eluded generations of Ravenclaws? Who could

可是，惟一能跟拉文克劳联系在一起的似乎只有失踪的冠冕……魂器怎么可能是冠冕呢？伏地魔是斯莱特林的学生，怎么可能找到拉文克劳多少代人都没见过的冠冕呢？会是谁告诉他上哪儿去寻找的呢？活着的人的记忆中谁也没见过那个冠冕呀。

HOGWARTS have told him where to look, when nobody had seen the diadem in living memory?

活着的人记忆中……

In living memory . . .

哈利用手捂着的眼睛突然睁开了。他从底座上一跃而起，顺着原路往回跑，追逐他的最后一个希望。回到大理石楼梯时，成百上千的人朝有求必应屋进发的声音越来越响。级长们大声喊着指令，努力分辨自己学院的学生。哈利看见扎卡赖斯·史密斯为了抢到队伍前面而把一年级新生撞得东倒西歪。随处可见年级较小的学生在哭鼻子，年级较大的学生焦急地呼唤朋友或兄弟姐妹……

Beneath his fingers, Harry’s eyes flew open again. He leapt up from the plinth and tore back the way he had come, now in pursuit of his one last hope. The sound of hundreds of people marching toward the Room of Requirement grew louder and louder as he returned to the marble stairs. Prefects were shouting instructions, trying to keep track of the students in their own Houses; there was much pushing and shoving; Harry saw Zacharias Smith bowling over first-years to get to the front of the queue; here and there younger students were in tears, while older ones called desperately for friends or siblings. . . .

哈利看见一个乳白色的身影在上面的门厅里飘然而过，他赶紧在喧闹声中扯足嗓子大喊起来。

Harry caught sight of a pearly white figure drifting across the entrance hall below and yelled as loudly as he could over the clamor.

“尼克！尼克！我有话对你说！”

“Nick! NICK! I need to talk to you!”

他在拥挤的人流中拼命往下挤，终于到了楼梯下，格兰芬多塔楼的幽灵——差点没头的尼克正站在那里等他。

He forced his way back through the tide of students, finally reaching the bottom of the stairs, where Nearly Headless Nick, ghost of Gryffindor Tower, stood waiting for him.

“哈利！我亲爱的孩子！”

“Harry! My dear boy!”

尼克用双手攥住哈利的两只手，哈利立刻觉得双手像是插进了冰水里。

Nick made to grasp Harry’s hands with both of his own: Harry’s felt as though they had been thrust into icy water.

“尼克，你一定得帮帮我。拉文克劳塔楼的幽灵是谁？”

“Nick, you’ve got to help me. Who’s the ghost of Ravenclaw Tower?”

差点没头的尼克显得又吃惊又有点儿生气。

Nearly Headless Nick looked surprised and a little offended.

“是格雷女士，这还用问。但如果你需要幽灵为你服务——？”

“The Gray Lady, of course; but if it is ghostly services you require — ?”

“必须是她——你知道她在哪儿吗？”

“It’s got to be her — d’you know where she is?”

“让我看看……”

“Let’s see. . . .”

尼克东张张西望望，在人头攒动的学生中间寻找，他的脑袋在轮状皱领上微微摇晃着。

Nick’s head wobbled a little on his ruff as he turned hither and thither, peering over the heads of the swarming students.

“她在那儿，哈利，那个长头发的年轻女人。”

“That’s her over there, Harry, the young woman with the long hair.”

哈利循着尼克透明的手指所指的方向望去，看见一个身材修长的幽灵。她发现哈利在看她，惊讶地扬起眉毛，然后转身飘然穿墙而去。

Harry looked in the direction of Nick’s transparent, pointing finger and saw a tall ghost who caught sight of Harry looking at her, raised her eyebrows, and drifted away through a solid wall.

哈利追了过去，冲进墙对面那道走廊的门，看见她在通道尽头，仍然幽幽地越飘越远。

Harry ran after her. Once through the door of the corridor into which she had disappeared, he saw her at the very end of the passage, still gliding smoothly away from him.

“喂——等等——回来！”

“Hey — wait — come back!”

她总算停了下来，悬在离地几英寸高的地方。哈利猜想她长得很美，长发齐腰，长袍及地，但她同时又显得很傲慢，目中无人。待走近一些，哈利认出自己曾几次在走廊里碰见过这个幽灵，但一次也没跟她说过话。

She consented to pause, floating a few inches from the ground. Harry supposed that she was beautiful, with her waist-length hair and floor-length cloak, but she also looked haughty and proud. Close to, he recognized her as a ghost he had passed several times in the corridor, but to whom he had never spoken.

“你是格雷女士？”

“You’re the Gray Lady?”

她点点头，没有说话。

She nodded but did not speak.

“是拉文克劳塔楼的幽灵？”

“The ghost of Ravenclaw Tower?”

“不错。”

“That is correct.”

她的口气一点也不热情。

Her tone was not encouraging.

“求求你，我需要帮助。我需要你把失踪的冠冕的情况都告诉我。”

“Please: I need some help. I need to know anything you can tell me about the lost diadem.”

她的嘴唇扭曲成一个冷笑。

A cold smile curved her lips.

“恐怕，”她说着转身要离开，“我帮不了你。”

“I am afraid,” she said, turning to leave, “that I cannot help you.”

“等等！”

“WAIT!”

哈利并没打算叫嚷，但愤怒和紧张几乎把他压垮了。幽灵在他面前盘旋，他着急地看看表：离午夜只有一刻钟了。

He had not meant to shout, but anger and panic were threatening to overwhelm him. He glanced at his watch as she hovered in front of him: It was a quarter to midnight.

“事情很紧急，”哈利焦躁地说，“如果那个冠冕在霍格沃茨，我必须找到它，马上。”

HOGWARTS

“你不是第一个垂涎冠冕的学生，”她轻蔑地说，“一代一代的学生都缠着我——”

“This is urgent,” he said fiercely. “If that diadem’s at Hogwarts, I’ve got to find it, fast.”

“这不是为了得到好分数！”哈利朝她嚷道，“是为了伏地魔——打败伏地魔——难道你对这个不感兴趣？”

“You are hardly the first student to covet the diadem,” she said disdainfully. “Generations of students have badgered me —”

她不会脸红，但是透明的面颊似乎变得不那么透明了，回答时声音里透着激动：“我当然——你怎么敢说——？”

“This isn’t about trying to get better marks!” Harry shouted at her. “It’s about Voldemort — defeating Voldemort — or aren’t you interested in that?”

“那就快帮助我吧！”

She could not blush, but her transparent cheeks became more opaque, and her voice was heated as she replied, “Of course I — how dare you suggest — ?”

她不像刚才那么镇静了。

“Well, help me, then!”

“这——这问题不是——”她结结巴巴地说，“我母亲的冠冕——”

Her composure was slipping.

“你母亲的？”

“It — it is not a question of —” she stammered. “My mother’s diadem —”

她似乎对自己感到很恼火。

“Your mother’s?”

“我活着的时候，”她生硬地说，“是海莲娜·拉文克劳。”

She looked angry with herself.

“你是她的女儿？那你肯定知道冠冕的下落！”

“When I lived,” she said stiffly, “I was Helena Ravenclaw.”

“虽然冠冕赐予人智慧，”她说，显然想使自己重新镇静下来，“但我怀疑它不会帮助你打败那个自称是黑——”

“You’re her daughter? But then, you must know what happened to it!”

“我不是跟你说了吗，我感兴趣的不是自己戴它！”哈利激烈地说，“没时间解释了——如果你关心霍格沃茨，如果你希望看到伏地魔完蛋，就必须把你知道的关于冠冕的事情都告诉我！”

“While the diadem bestows wisdom,” she said with an obvious effort to pull herself together, “I doubt that it would greatly increase your chances of defeating the wizard who calls himself Lord —”

她还是不动声色，在空中飘飘荡荡，低头望着哈利。一种绝望的情绪把哈利淹没了。她如果知道一些情况，肯定早就告诉弗立维或邓布利多了，他们想必问过她同样的问题。哈利摇了摇头，正转身要走，她却低声说话了。

“Haven’t I just told you, I’m not interested in wearing it!” Harry said fiercely. “There’s no time to explain — but if you care about Hogwarts, if you want to see Voldemort finished, you’ve got to tell me anything you know about the diadem!”

“我从我母亲那里偷走了冠冕。”

She remained quite still, floating in midair, staring down at him, and a sense of hopelessness engulfed Harry. Of course, if she had known anything, she would have told Flitwick or Dumbledore, who had surely asked her the same question. He had shaken his head and made to turn away when she spoke in a low voice.

“你——你做了什么？”

“I stole the diadem from my mother.”

“我偷了冠冕，”海莲娜·拉文克劳又轻声说了一遍，“我想让自己比母亲更聪明，更有名望。我带着冠冕逃走了。”

“You — you did what?”

哈利不知道自己怎么赢得了她的信任，他没有问，只是仔细地听她往下说：“他们说，我母亲始终没有承认冠冕不见了，她一直假装冠冕还在。她甚至对霍格沃茨的另外几个创办人也隐瞒了她的损失，隐瞒了我可怕的背叛。”

“I stole the diadem,” repeated Helena Ravenclaw in a whisper. “I sought to make myself cleverer, more important than my mother. I ran away with it.”

“后来我母亲病了——病得很重。虽然我做了不孝不义的事，她仍然迫切地想再见我一面。她派了一个男人来找我。那人爱了我很久，但我拒绝了他。我母亲知道那人不找到我是不肯罢休的。”

He did not know how he had managed to gain her confidence, and did not ask; he simply listened, hard, as she went on:

哈利等着。她深深吸了口气，把脑袋往后一仰。

“My mother, they say, never admitted that the diadem was gone, but pretended that she had it still. She concealed her loss, my dreadful betrayal, even from the other founders of Hogwarts.

“他找到了我藏身的森林。我不肯跟他回去，他就暴怒起来。巴罗一向是个脾气暴躁的人。他恨我拒绝了他，嫉妒我的自由，就把我给刺死了。”

“Then my mother fell ill — fatally ill. In spite of my perfidy, she was desperate to see me one more time. She sent a man who had long loved me, though I spurned his advances, to find me. She knew that he would not rest until he had done so.”

“巴罗？你是说——？”

Harry waited. She drew a deep breath and threw back her head.

“血人巴罗，是的，”格雷女士说着撩起斗篷，露出雪白的胸脯上一道黑色的伤口，“他醒过神来后，痛悔莫及，拿起他索取了我性命的武器，自杀了。这么多世纪过去了，他为了悔罪，至今还戴着镣铐……他是活该。”她愤愤地加了一句。

“He tracked me to the forest where I was hiding. When I refused to return with him, he became violent. The Baron was always a hot-tempered man. Furious at my refusal, jealous of my freedom, he stabbed me.”

“那么……那么冠冕呢？”

“The Baron? You mean — ?”

“当时我听见巴罗在森林里跌跌撞撞地向我走来，就把它藏了起来，后来一直留在那里。藏在一棵空心树里。”

“The Bloody Baron, yes,” said the Gray Lady, and she lifted aside the cloak she wore to reveal a single dark wound in her white chest. “When he saw what he had done, he was overcome with remorse. He took the weapon that had claimed my life, and used it to kill himself. All these centuries later, he wears his chains as an act of penitence . . . as he should,” she added bitterly.

“一棵空心树？”哈利追问道，“什么树？在哪儿？”

HOGWARTS

“在阿尔巴尼亚的一座森林里，一个非常荒凉的地方，我以为我母亲鞭长莫及。”

“And . . . and the diadem?”

“阿尔巴尼亚，”哈利重复道，奇迹般地从一片混乱中理清了思绪，他现在明白她为什么把没有告诉邓布利多和弗立维的事情告诉他了，“你已经跟人讲过这个故事，对吗？跟另一个学生？”

“It remained where I had hidden it when I heard the Baron blundering through the forest toward me. Concealed inside a hollow tree.

她闭上眼睛，点了点头。

“A hollow tree?” repeated Harry. “What tree? Where was this?”

“我……我不知道……他……很会讨人喜欢。他似乎……似乎善解人意……有同情心……”

“A forest in Albania. A lonely place I thought was far beyond my mother’s reach.”

没错，哈利想，海莲娜·拉文克劳想要霸占她无权获得的财宝的欲望，汤姆·里德尔当然能够理解。

“Albania,” repeated Harry. Sense was emerging miraculously from confusion, and now he understood why she was telling him what she had denied Dumbledore and Flitwick. “You’ve already told someone this story, haven’t you? Another student?”

“唉，被里德尔花言巧语骗去东西的，可不止你一个人。”哈利说道，“需要的时候，他可以使自己变得很迷人……”

She closed her eyes and nodded.

这么说，伏地魔从格雷女士那里套出了失踪的冠冕的下落。他去了那座遥远的森林，把藏着的冠冕取了回来，大概就在他离开霍格沃茨不久，还没有开始在博金－博克商店工作。

“I had . . . no idea. . . . He was . . . flattering. He seemed to . . . to understand . . . to sympathize. . . .”

多年以后，当伏地魔需要一个地方潜伏下来，不受打扰地度过那漫长的十年时，那些荒凉偏僻的阿尔巴尼亚森林不正是他理想的避难所吗？

Yes, Harry thought, Tom Riddle would certainly have understood Helena Ravenclaw’s desire to possess fabulous objects to which she had little right.

可是，冠冕一旦成为他宝贵的魂器，就不会留在那棵卑微的树里了……不，冠冕已被秘密送回它真正的家，伏地魔肯定把它放在了那里——

“Well, you weren’t the first person Riddle wormed things out of,” Harry muttered. “He could be charming when he wanted. . . .”

“——他来申请工作的那天夜里！”哈利终于理清了思路。

So Voldemort had managed to wheedle the location of the lost diadem out of the Gray Lady. He had traveled to that far-flung forest and retrieved the diadem from its hiding place, perhaps as soon as he left Hogwarts, before he even started work at Borgin and Burkes.

“你说什么？”

And wouldn’t those secluded Albanian woods have seemed an excellent refuge when, so much later, Voldemort had needed a place to lie low, undisturbed, for ten long years?

“他来请求邓布利多让他教书的那天晚上，把冠冕藏在城堡里！”哈利说，把想法大声说出来使推理变得更清晰了，“他上楼或下楼到邓布利多的办公室去时，肯定顺路把冠冕藏了起来！但他仍然想争取到那份工作——那样他就有机会把格兰芬多的宝剑也偷到手了——谢谢你，太感谢了！”

But the diadem, once it became his precious Horcrux, had not been left in that lowly tree. . . . No, the diadem had been returned secretly to its true home, and Voldemort must have put it there —

哈利转身离去，只留下幽灵飘飘悠悠地浮荡在那里，一脸迷惑。哈利转弯返回门厅时看了看表：离午夜还差五分钟了，他虽然弄清了最后一个魂器是什么，但它究竟藏在哪里，他仍然一无所知……

“— the night he asked for a job!” said Harry, finishing his thought.

多少代学生都没能找到冠冕，这就说明它不在拉文克劳塔楼里——但不在那里，又在哪里呢？汤姆·里德尔在霍格沃茨城堡里找到了怎样的秘密场所，并且相信那个地方永远不为人知呢？

“I beg your pardon?”

哈利一边拼命思索，一边又拐过一个弯，但他在新的走廊里没走几步，就听到哗啦一声巨响，左边的窗户突然爆开。他赶紧跳到一边，一个庞然大物从窗户外飞了进来，撞在对面的墙上。紧接着又见一个毛茸茸的大东西从这庞然大物身上挣脱出来，低声吠叫着朝哈利扑来。

“He hid the diadem in the castle, the night he asked Dumbledore to let him teach!” said Harry. Saying it out loud enabled him to make sense of it all. “He must’ve hidden the diadem on his way up to, or down from, Dumbledore’s office! But it was still worth trying to get the job — then he might’ve got the chance to nick Gryffindor’s sword as well — thank you, thanks!”

“海格！”哈利大吼一声，拼命摆脱猎犬牙牙的殷勤，胡子拉碴的庞然大物费力地站了起来，“怎么——？”

Harry left her floating there, looking utterly bewildered. As he rounded the corner back into the entrance hall, he checked his watch. It was five minutes until midnight, and though he now knew what the last Horcrux was, he was no closer to discovering where it was. . . .

“哈利，你在这儿！你在这儿！”

Generations of students had failed to find the diadem; that suggested that it was not in Ravenclaw Tower — but if not there, where? What hiding place had Tom Riddle discovered inside Hogwarts Castle, that he believed would remain secret forever?

海格弯下腰匆匆抱了一下哈利，几乎勒断了他的肋骨，然后又跑回打碎的窗户前。

Lost in desperate speculation, Harry turned a corner, but he had taken only a few steps down the new corridor when the window to his left broke open with a deafening, shattering crash. As he leapt aside, a gigantic body flew in through the window and hit the opposite wall. Something large and furry detached itself, whimpering, from the new arrival and flung itself at Harry.

“好孩子，格洛普！”他对着窗户上的窟窿喊道，“待会儿见，乖孩子！”

“Hagrid!” Harry bellowed, fighting off Fang the boarhound’s attentions as the enormous bearded figure clambered to his feet. “What the — ?”

在海格身后漆黑的夜色中，哈利看见远处突然射出几道强光，又听见一声古怪的、哀恸的尖叫。他低头看了看表：正是午夜。战斗开始了。

“Harry, yer here! Yer here!”

“天哪，哈利，”海格喘着气说，“这就来了，是不？开战了？”

HOGWARTS

“海格，你从哪儿来的？”

Hagrid stooped down, bestowed upon Harry a cursory and ribcracking hug, then ran back to the shattered window.

“我们在上面山洞里听见了神秘人的声音，”海格神色严峻地说道，“那声音传得真远，是不？‘午夜之前你们必须把波特交出来。’我就知道你肯定在这儿，就知道发生了什么事。下来，牙牙。所以我们就来参战了，我和格洛普还有牙牙。格洛普驮着我和牙牙，从森林里突破了学校的边界。我叫他在城堡里把我放下来，结果他把我从窗口塞了进来，真有他的！其实我不是那个意思，可——罗恩和赫敏呢？”

“Good boy, Grawpy!” he bellowed through the hole in the window. “I’ll see yer in a moment, there’s a good lad!”

“嘿，”哈利说，“可真让你问着了。走吧。”

Beyond Hagrid, out in the dark night, Harry saw bursts of light in the distance and heard a weird, keening scream. He looked down at his watch: It was midnight. The battle had begun.

他们一起在走廊上匆匆往前走，牙牙蹦蹦跳跳地跟在旁边。哈利听见四下的走廊里响声杂沓：奔跑声，喊叫声。他透过窗户看见漆黑的操场上闪烁着一道道强光。

“Blimey, Harry,” panted Hagrid, “this is it, eh? Time ter fight?”

“我们去哪儿？”海格气喘吁吁地问，他脚步沉重地跟着哈利，震得地板都在颤抖。

“Hagrid, where have you come from?”

“我也不知道。”哈利说着，又盲目地拐了个弯，“但罗恩和赫敏肯定在这附近的什么地方。”

“Heard You-Know-Who from up in our cave,” said Hagrid grimly. “Voice carried, didn’ it? ‘Yeh got till midnight ter gimme Potter.’ Knew yeh mus’ be here, knew what mus’ be happenin’. Get down, Fang. So we come ter join in, me an’ Grawpy an’ Fang. Smashed our way through the boundary by the forest, Grawpy was carryin’ us, Fang an’ me. Told him ter let me down at the castle, so he shoved me through the window, bless him. Not exac’ly what I meant, bu’ — where’s Ron an’ Hermione?”

前面的通道上已经躺着战场上的第一批伤亡者：平时看守教师办公室入口的两个石兽已被从另一扇破窗户射进来的恶咒击中，变得四个四分五裂，残片在地板上有气无力地蠕动着。哈利从一个与身体分家的脑袋上一跃而过时，它虚弱地呻吟道：“哦，别管我……就让我躺在这儿，自生自灭吧……”

“That,” said Harry, “is a really good question. Come on.”

那张丑陋的石脸使哈利突然想起了谢诺菲留斯家那尊罗伊纳·拉文克劳的大理石半身像，戴着那个可笑的头饰——接着又想起拉文克劳塔楼里的那尊塑像，白色的鬈发上戴着石头冠冕……

They hurried together along the corridor, Fang lolloping beside them. Harry could hear movement through the corridors all around: running footsteps, shouts; through the windows, he could see more flashes of light in the dark grounds.

跑到通道尽头时，他又想起第三尊石像：一个丑陋的老男巫，哈利亲手给他脑袋上戴了一个旧发套和一个破烂的冠冕。哈利突然一个激灵，就像受了火焰威士忌的刺激，差点跌倒在地。

“Where’re we goin’?” puffed Hagrid, pounding along at Harry’s heels, making the floorboards quake.

他终于知道了，知道魂器在什么地方等着他……

“I dunno exactly,” said Harry, making another random turn, “but Ron and Hermione must be around here somewhere. . . .”

汤姆·里德尔一向独来独往，不相信任何人，他是那么傲慢自大，大概以为他——只有他一个人——了解霍格沃茨城堡里隐藏的最深的秘密。邓布利多和弗立维这些模范学生无疑从不涉足那个特殊的场所，然而哈利，在校时曾经去过常人没去过的地方——终于，有了一个惟独他和伏地魔知道而邓布利多从未发现的秘密——

The first casualties of the battle were already strewn across the passage ahead: The two stone gargoyles that usually guarded the entrance to the staffroom had been smashed apart by a jinx that had sailed through another broken window. Their remains stirred feebly on the floor, and as Harry leapt over one of their disembodied heads, it moaned faintly, “Oh, don’t mind me . . . I’ll just lie here and crumble. . . .”

斯普劳特教授把他从沉思中惊醒，她脚步重重地走了过去，后面跟着纳威和六七个其他同学，都戴着耳套，手里拎着像是大型的盆栽植物。

Its ugly stone face made Harry think suddenly of the marble bust of Rowena Ravenclaw at Xenophilius’s house, wearing that mad headdress — and then of the statue in Ravenclaw Tower, with the stone diadem upon her white curls. . . .

“曼德拉草！”纳威一边跑，一边扭头对哈利喊道，“准备把它们抛出墙去——让他们尝尝滋味！”

And as he reached the end of the passage, the memory of a third stone effigy came back to him: that of an ugly old warlock, onto whose head Harry himself had placed a wig and a battered old tiara. The shock shot through Harry with the heat of firewhisky, and he nearly stumbled.

现在哈利知道该往哪儿去了。他撒腿就跑，海格和牙牙跟在后面。他们经过一幅又一幅肖像，画中人跟着他们一起跑，那些戴轮状皱领、穿马裤、套铠甲、披斗篷的男女巫师，乱纷纷地挤进别人的画框，大声通报着城堡别处的消息。他们跑到这条走廊的尽头，整个城堡都在颤抖，一只巨大的花瓶突然爆裂，从底座炸碎了，于是哈利知道此刻控制城堡的是另一种魔法，比教师和凤凰社成员的咒语要邪恶得多。

He knew, at last, where the Horcrux sat waiting for him. . . .

“没关系，牙牙——没关系！”海格大声喊道，可是破碎的瓷片像榴霰弹一样在空中飞溅，吓得大猎狗惊慌逃窜。海格嗵嗵嗵地跑去追它，留下了哈利一个人。

Tom Riddle, who confided in no one and operated alone, might have been arrogant enough to assume that he, and only he, had penetrated the deepest mysteries of Hogwarts Castle. Of course, Dumbledore and Flitwick, those model pupils, had never set foot in that particular place, but he, Harry, had strayed off the beaten track in his time at school — here at last was a secret he and Voldemort knew, that Dumbledore had never discovered —

他举着魔杖，稳住脚步穿过一条条颤抖的通道，一个画中人——小个子骑士卡多根爵士，陪在他身旁从一幅画冲出另一幅画，大声喊着一些鼓励的话，一直跑了整整一条走廊。他的铠甲铿锵作响，那匹肥胖的小矮马小跑着跟在后面。

He was roused by Professor Sprout, who was thundering past followed by Neville and half a dozen others, all of them wearing earmuffs and carrying what appeared to be large potted plants.

“吹牛大王、混蛋、臭流氓、无赖，把他们赶出去，哈利·波特，把他们打退！”

“Mandrakes!” Neville bellowed at Harry over his shoulder as he ran. “Going to lob them over the walls — they won’t like this!”

哈利快速拐过一个弯，发现弗雷德和一小伙学生，包括李·乔丹和汉娜·艾博，站在另一个空底座旁边，那上面的雕像原来掩藏着一个秘密通道。这些人都拿着魔杖，聚在隐蔽的洞口倾听动静。

Harry knew now where to go: He sped off, with Hagrid and Fang galloping behind him. They passed portrait after portrait, and the

“这个夜晚真过瘾！”弗雷德喊道。城堡又震颤起来，哈利既兴奋又害怕地冲了过去。他在另一条走廊里奔跑时，到处都是猫头鹰在飞，洛丽丝夫人嘶嘶叫着用爪子去拍打，无疑是想把它们赶回合适的地方……

HOGWARTS painted figures raced alongside them, wizards and witches in ruffs and breeches, in armor and cloaks, cramming themselves into each others’ canvases, screaming news from other parts of the castle. As they reached the end of this corridor, the whole castle shook, and Harry knew, as a gigantic vase blew off its plinth with explosive force, that it was in the grip of enchantments more sinister than those of the teachers and the Order.

“波特！”

“It’s all righ’, Fang — it’s all righ’!” yelled Hagrid, but the great boarhound had taken flight as slivers of china flew like shrapnel through the air, and Hagrid pounded off after the terrified dog, leaving Harry alone.

阿不福思·邓布利多挡在了前面的走廊上，手里举着魔杖。

He forged on through the trembling passages, his wand at the ready, and for the length of one corridor the little painted knight, Sir Cadogan, rushed from painting to painting beside him, clanking along in his armor, screaming encouragement, his fat little pony cantering behind him.

“几百个孩子闹纷纷地穿过我的酒吧，波特！”

“Braggarts and rogues, dogs and scoundrels, drive them out, Harry Potter, see them off!”

“我知道，我们在疏散，”哈利说，“伏地魔——”

Harry hurtled around a corner and found Fred and a small knot of students, including Lee Jordan and Hannah Abbott, standing beside another empty plinth, whose statue had concealed a secret passageway. Their wands were drawn and they were listening at the concealed hole.

“——在进攻，因为他们没有把你交出去，我知道。”阿不福思说，“我不是聋子，整个霍格莫德村都听见了他的话。难道你们谁都没想到留下几个斯莱特林当人质吗？刚才被安全疏散的就有食死徒的孩子。把他们留在这里岂不更高明一些？”

“Nice night for it!” Fred shouted as the castle quaked again, and Harry sprinted by, elated and terrified in equal measure. Along yet another corridor he dashed, and then there were owls everywhere, and Mrs. Norris was hissing and trying to bat them with her paws, no doubt to return them to their proper place. . . .

“那也挡不住伏地魔，”哈利说，“而且你哥哥绝不会这么做。”

“Potter!”

阿不福思不满地嘟嚷着，大步朝另一个方向走远了。

Aberforth Dumbledore stood blocking the corridor ahead, his wand held ready.

你哥哥绝不会这么做……没错，正是这样，哈利一边想一边继续往前跑。邓布利多维护了斯内普那么长时间，他绝不会把学生扣作人质……

“I’ve had hundreds of kids thundering through my pub, Potter!”

他脚步打滑地拐过最后一个弯，顿时既放心又恼火地喊了起来。他看见他们了，罗恩和赫敏，两人怀里都抱着又大又弯、黄乎乎、脏兮兮的东西，罗恩胳膊底下还夹着一把扫帚。

“I know, we’re evacuating,” Harry said, “Voldemort’s —”

“你们俩到底上哪儿去了？”哈利喊道。

“— attacking because they haven’t handed you over, yeah,” said Aberforth, “I’m not deaf, the whole of Hogsmeade heard him. And it never occurred to any of you to keep a few Slytherins hostage? There are kids of Death Eaters you’ve just sent to safety. Wouldn’t it have been a bit smarter to keep ’em here?”

“密室。”罗恩说。

“It wouldn’t stop Voldemort,” said Harry, “and your brother would never have done it.”

“密——什么？”哈利说着，在他们面前摇摇晃晃地刹住脚步。

Aberforth grunted and tore away in the opposite direction.

“是罗恩，这都是罗恩的主意！”赫敏激动得气喘吁吁，“真是绝妙，不是吗？你走了以后，我就对罗恩说，即使找到了另一个魂器，又怎么毁掉它呢？那个金杯还没能毁掉呢！于是他就想起来了！蛇怪！”

Your brother would never have done it. . . . Well, it was the truth, Harry thought as he ran on again; Dumbledore, who had defended Snape for so long, would never have held students ransom. . . .

“什么——？”

And then he skidded around a final corner and with a yell of mingled relief and fury he saw them: Ron and Hermione, both with their arms full of large, curved, dirty yellow objects, Ron with a broomstick under his arm.

“除掉魂器的东西。”罗恩简单地说。

“Where the hell have you been?” Harry shouted.

哈利的目光落在罗恩和赫敏怀里抱的那些东西上，才发现是从一个死去的蛇怪身上掰下来的弯曲的巨牙。

“Chamber of Secrets,” said Ron.

“你们怎么进去的呢？”哈利把目光从蛇怪挪到罗恩身上，问道，“需要说蛇佬腔呀！”

“Chamber — what?” said Harry, coming to an unsteady halt before them.

“他说了！”赫敏小声说，“说给他听听，罗恩！”

“It was Ron, all Ron’s idea!” said Hermione breathlessly. “Wasn’t it absolutely brilliant? There we were, after you left, and I said to Ron, even if we find the other one, how are we going to get rid of it? We still hadn’t got rid of the cup! And then he thought of it! The basilisk!”

罗恩发出一种难听的、窒息般的嘶嘶声。

HOGWARTS

“你打开挂坠盒时就这么说的，”他带点歉意地对哈利说，“我试了几次才说对，不过，”他谦虚地耸了耸肩，“我们总算进去了。”

“What the — ?”

“他真神！”赫敏说，“太神了！”

“Something to get rid of Horcruxes,” said Ron simply.

“所以……”哈利努力跟上他们的思路，“所以……”

Harry’s eyes dropped to the objects clutched in Ron and Hermione’s arms: great curved fangs, torn, he now realized, from the skull of a dead basilisk.

“所以我们又干掉了一个魂器，”罗恩说着，从外衣里掏出赫奇帕奇金杯的残片，“是赫敏刺的，觉得应该由她来，她还没享受过这份乐趣呢。”

“But how did you get in there?” he asked, staring from the fangs to Ron. “You need to speak Parseltongue!”

“你太有才了！”哈利喊道。

“He did!” whispered Hermione. “Show him, Ron!”

“没什么，”罗恩说，不过看上去对自己还是挺满意的，“你怎么样？”

Ron made a horrible strangled hissing noise.

他话音未落，他们的头顶上突然响起爆炸声。三人抬头看去，灰尘从天花板上纷纷撒落，接着远处传来一声喊叫。

“It’s what you did to open the locket,” he told Harry apologetically. “I had to have a few goes to get it right, but,” he shrugged modestly, “we got there in the end.”

“我知道冠冕是什么样子了，也知道它在哪儿。”哈利快速地说，“他把它藏在了我藏那本旧魔药课本的地方，好多世纪的人都把东西藏在那儿。他以为只有他一个人才能找到。走吧。”

“He was amazing.” said Hermione. “Amazing!”

墙壁又在颤抖，哈利领着两个同伴穿过隐蔽的入口，下楼来到有求必应屋。里面空荡荡的，只有三个女人：金妮、唐克斯和一位头戴一顶虫蛀的帽子的老女巫，哈利一眼认出是纳威的奶奶。

“So . . .” Harry was struggling to keep up. “So . . .”

“啊，波特，”她脆嘣嘣地说，似乎一直在等着他，“你可以跟我们说说情况了。”

“So we’re another Horcrux down,” said Ron, and from under his jacket he pulled the mangled remains of Hufflepuff’s cup. “Hermione stabbed it. Thought she should. She hasn’t had the pleasure yet.”

“大家都好吗？”金妮和唐克斯同时问道。

“Genius!” yelled Harry.

“据我们所知还行，”哈利说，“通往猪头酒吧的通道里还有人吗？”

“It was nothing,” said Ron, though he looked delighted with himself. “So what’s new with you?”

哈利知道，如果还有人在有求必应屋里面，它就不能变形。

As he said it, there was an explosion from overhead: All three of them looked up as dust fell from the ceiling and they heard a distant scream.

“我是最后一个过来的，”隆巴顿夫人说，“我把它封上了。我想，现在阿不福思已经离开酒吧，再让通道敞着就不妥当了。你看见我孙子了吗？”

“I know what the diadem looks like, and I know where it is,” said Harry, talking fast. “He hid it exactly where I hid my old Potions book, where everyone’s been hiding stuff for centuries. He thought he was the only one to find it. Come on.”

“他在战斗呢。”哈利说。

As the walls trembled again, he led the other two back through the concealed entrance and down the staircase into the Room of Requirement. It was empty except for three women: Ginny, Tonks, and an elderly witch wearing a moth-eaten hat, whom Harry recognized immediately as Neville’s grandmother.

“那是当然，”老太太自豪地说，“请原谅，我得去帮他。”说着，她以惊人的速度奔向了石阶。

“Ah, Potter,” she said crisply as if she had been waiting for him. “You can tell us what’s going on.”

哈利看着唐克斯。

“Is everyone okay?” said Ginny and Tonks together.

“你不是在你母亲家里陪着小泰迪吗？”

“ ’S far as we know,” said Harry. “Are there still people in the passage to the Hog’s Head?”

“我受不了蒙在鼓里的滋味——”唐克斯显得很痛苦，“我母亲会照顾他的——你看见莱姆斯了吗？”

He knew that the room would not be able to transform while there were still users inside it.

“他要领一支队伍去操场作战——”

“I was the last to come through,” said Mrs. Longbottom. “I sealed it, I think it unwise to leave it open now Aberforth has left his pub. Have you seen my grandson?”

唐克斯二话没说就跑了。

“He’s fighting,” said Harry.

“金妮。”哈利说，“对不起，我们需要你也离开一下。就一会儿，然后你可以再进来。”

“Naturally,” said the old lady proudly. “Excuse me, I must go and assist him.”

金妮似乎正巴不得离开她的庇护所呢。

With surprising speed she trotted off toward the stone steps.

“然后你可以再进来！”哈利看见金妮跟着唐克斯跑上石阶，忙冲着她的背影喊道，“你一定要再进来！”

Harry looked at Tonks.

“等等！”罗恩突然说道，“我们把谁给忘记了！”

“I thought you were supposed to be with Teddy at your mother’s?”

“谁？”赫敏问。

“I couldn’t stand not knowing —” Tonks looked anguished. “She’ll look after him — have you seen Remus?”

“家养小精灵，他们都在下面的厨房里，不是吗？”

“He was planning to lead a group of fighters into the grounds —”

“你是说应该让他们参加战斗？”哈利问。

Without another word, Tonks sped off.

“不，”罗恩严肃地说，“我是说应该叫他们赶紧逃走。我们不想再出现更多的多比，对吗？不能要求他们为我们去死——”

“Ginny,” said Harry, “I’m sorry, but we need you to leave too. Just for a bit. Then you can come back in.”

哗啪啪，赫敏怀里的蛇怪牙齿纷纷落在地上。她奔向罗恩，一把搂紧他的脖子，吻在他的嘴唇。罗恩丢掉手里的蛇牙和扫帚，以火热的激情做出回应，把赫敏抱得双脚离地。

Ginny looked simply delighted to leave her sanctuary.

“这时间合适吗？”哈利底气不足地说，罗恩和赫敏却搂得更紧了，在那里相拥着微微摇晃，哈利提高了声音，“喂！这里正打仗呢！”

HOGWARTS

罗恩和赫敏猛地松开，但胳膊还搂着对方。

“And then you can come back in!” he shouted after her as she ran up the steps after Tonks. “You’ve got to come back in!”

“我知道，伙计，”罗恩说道，他的模样就像被一个游走球砸中了后脑勺，“机不可失，时不再来嘛，对吧？”

“Hang on a moment!” said Ron sharply. “We’ve forgotten someone!”

“这事先放一放吧，魂器怎么办？”哈利大声说，“你们能不能——能不能先忍一忍，等我们找到冠冕再说？”

“Who?” asked Hermione.

“噢——好的——对不起——”罗恩说，然后赶紧和赫敏捡起蛇怪的牙齿，两个人的脸都红红的。

“The house-elves, they’ll all be down in the kitchen, won’t they?”

三个人回到楼上的走廊里，才发现就在刚才进入有求必应屋的几分钟内，城堡里的局势严重恶化：墙壁和天花板抖得更厉害了，空气里灰尘弥漫。哈利透过近旁的窗户看见一道道绿光和红光在城堡脚下很近的地方飞射，他知道食死徒肯定很快就要冲进来了。哈利往下望去，巨人格洛普漫无目的地走过，一边甩着一个像是从房顶上拽下来的石兽，一边不高兴地吼叫着。

“You mean we ought to get them fighting?” asked Harry.

“但愿他能踩倒几个人！”罗恩说，旁边又传来几声惨叫。

“No,” said Ron seriously, “I mean we should tell them to get out. We don’t want any more Dobbies, do we? We can’t order them to die for us —”

“只要不是我们自己人就行！”一个声音说，哈利一扭头，看见金妮和唐克斯都已拔出魔杖，站在旁边缺了几块玻璃的窗户前。就在他注视她们的当儿，金妮朝下面一群搏斗的人中发了个恶咒，打得很准。

There was a clatter as the basilisk fangs cascaded out of Hermione’s arms. Running at Ron, she flung them around his neck and kissed him full on the mouth. Ron threw away the fangs and broomstick he was holding and responded with such enthusiasm that he lifted Hermione off her feet.

“好姑娘！”尘土中一个身影朝他们跑过来吼道，哈利又看见了阿不福思，他灰色的头发四下飘舞，领着一小群学生匆匆而过，“看样子他们要攻破北面的墙垛，他们也带了巨人！”

“Is this the moment?” Harry asked weakly, and when nothing happened except that Ron and Hermione gripped each other still more firmly and swayed on the spot, he raised his voice. “OI! There’s a war going on here!”

“你看见莱姆斯了吗？”唐克斯冲着他的背影大声问。

Ron and Hermione broke apart, their arms still around each other.

“刚才他在和多洛霍夫决斗，”阿不福思喊道，“后来就没看见他了！”

“I know, mate,” said Ron, who looked as though he had recently been hit on the back of the head with a Bludger, “so it’s now or never, isn’t it?”

“唐克斯，”金妮说，“唐克斯，我相信他没事的——”

“Never mind that, what about the Horcrux?” Harry shouted. “D’you think you could just — just hold it in until we’ve got the diadem?”

可是唐克斯已经在飞扬的尘土中跑去追赶阿不福思了。

“Yeah — right — sorry —” said Ron, and he and Hermione set about gathering up fangs, both pink in the face.

金妮无奈地转过身，看着哈利、罗恩和赫敏。

It was clear, as the three of them stepped back into the corridor upstairs, that in the minutes that they had spent in the Room of Requirement the situation within the castle had deteriorated severely: The walls and ceiling were shaking worse than ever; dust filled the air, and through the nearest window, Harry saw bursts of green and red light so close to the foot of the castle that he knew the Death Eaters must be very near to entering the place. Looking down, Harry saw Grawp the giant meandering past, swinging what looked like a stone gargoyle torn from the roof and roaring his displeasure.

“他们不会有事的，”哈利说，但也知道这句话空洞无力，“金妮，我们过一会儿就回来，你要远离危险，注意安全——走吧！”他对罗恩、赫敏说，三个人跑回那面墙，墙后面就是有求必应屋，正等着执行进入者的吩咐。

“Let’s hope he steps on some of them!” said Ron as more screams echoed from close by.

我需要那个藏东西的地方，哈利在脑海里恳求道，当他们第三次跑过时，门出现了。

“As long as it’s not any of our lot!” said a voice: Harry turned and saw Ginny and Tonks, both with their wands drawn at the next window, which was missing several panes. Even as he watched, Ginny sent a well-aimed jinx into a crowd of fighters below.

他们刚跨过门槛，把门关上，战斗的喧闹声就听不见了，四下里一片寂寞。这地方有教堂那么大，周围的景物看着像一座城市，那些林立的高墙，是由成千上万个早已不在人世的学生所藏的东西组成的。

“Good girl!” roared a figure running through the dust toward them, and Harry saw Aberforth again, his gray hair flying as he led a small group of students past. “They look like they might be breaching the north battlements, they’ve brought giants of their own!”

“他从来不知道别人也能进来？”罗恩说，声音在寂静中回响。

“Have you seen Remus?” Tonks called after him.

“他以为只有他能进来，”哈利说道，“也该他倒霉，我那时碰巧要藏东西……这边走，”他又说，“我想就在这里……”

“He was dueling Dolohov,” shouted Aberforth, “haven’t seen him since!

他经过巨怪标本，又经过德拉科·马尔福去年试图修理、结果却很悲惨的那个消失柜，然后他迟疑了，打量着垃圾堆之间的通道，不记得接下来该往哪儿走……

“Tonks,” said Ginny, “Tonks, I’m sure he’s okay —”

“冠冕飞来。”赫敏焦急地大喊一声，可是并没有东西朝他们飞来。这房间似乎也像古灵阁的地下金库一样，不肯轻易把它收藏的东西交出来。

But Tonks had run off into the dust after Aberforth.

“我们分头寻找吧，”哈利对两个同伴说，“找到一个戴发套和头冠的老头儿的半身石像！它放在一个大柜子上，肯定就在这附近的什么地方……”

Ginny turned, helpless, to Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

他们顺着邻近的几条通道迅速跑开。哈利听见两个同伴的脚步声在高高耸立的垃圾堆间回响，瓶子、帽子、箱子、椅子、书本、武器、扫帚、球棒……

“They’ll be all right,” said Harry, though he knew they were

“就在这附近的什么地方，”哈利喃喃自语，“就在……就在……”

HOGWARTS empty words. “Ginny, we’ll be back in a moment, just keep out of the way, keep safe — come on!” he said to Ron and Hermione, and they ran back to the stretch of wall beyond which the Room of Requirement was waiting to do the bidding of the next entrant.

他在迷宫里越走越深，寻找着上次进这个房间看见过的东西，耳边响着自己粗重的呼吸声。突然，他的灵魂似乎颤抖起来：有了，就在前面。那个表面起泡的旧柜子，他曾把那本旧魔药课本藏在了里面，而在柜子的顶上，正是那个布满麻点的男巫半身像，头上戴着灰扑扑的旧发套，还有一个古旧褪色的王冠一样的东西。

I need the place where everything is hidden, Harry begged of it inside his head, and the door materialized on their third run past.

虽然还差十来步，哈利已经把手伸了出去，可是突然他身后有个声音说道：“站住，波特。”

The furor of the battle died the moment they crossed the threshold and closed the door behind them: All was silent. They were in a place the size of a cathedral with the appearance of a city, its towering walls built of objects hidden by thousands of long-gone students.

哈利脚下打着滑停了下来，转身一看，克拉布和高尔并肩站在他身后，都用魔杖指着他。在两张讥讽的面孔之间狭小的空当里，他看见了德拉科·马尔福。

“And he never realized anyone could get in?” said Ron, his voice echoing in the silence.

“你拿的是我的魔杖，波特。”马尔福说，他自己手里的魔杖从克拉布和高尔之间的空隙里指着哈利。

“He thought he was the only one,” said Harry. “Too bad for him I’ve had to hide stuff in my time . . . this way,” he added, “I think it’s down here. . . .”

“已经不是了，”哈利喘着气说，一边攥紧手里的山楂木魔杖，“谁赢的归谁，马尔福。谁把自己的魔杖借给了你？”

He passed the stuffed troll and the Vanishing Cabinet Draco Malfoy had mended last year with such disastrous consequences, then hesitated, looking up and down aisles of junk; he could not remember where to go next. . . .

“我母亲。”德拉科说。

“Accio Diadem!” cried Hermione in desperation, but nothing flew through the air toward them. It seemed that, like the vault at Gringotts, the room would not yield its hidden objects that easily.

哈利笑了起来，其实这情形并没有什么可笑的。他已经听不见罗恩和赫敏的声音，他们大概跑到远处去寻找冠冕了。

“Let’s split up,” Harry told the other two. “Look for a stone bust of an old man wearing a wig and a tiara! It’s standing on a cupboard and it’s definitely somewhere near here. . . .”

“你们三个怎么没跟伏地魔在一起？”哈利问。

They sped off up adjacent aisles; Harry could hear the others’ footsteps echoing through the towering piles of junk, of bottles, hats, crates, chairs, books, weapons, broomsticks, bats. . . .

“我们想得到奖赏。”克拉布说，对于这么一个大块头来说，他的声音低得令人吃惊。哈利以前几乎没有听他说过话。克拉布像个将要得到一大袋糖果的小孩一样天真地笑着。“我们留下来了，波特。我们决定不走了，决定把你带去见他。”

“Somewhere near here,” Harry muttered to himself. “Somewhere . . . somewhere . . .”

“想得真妙。”哈利假装夸奖他。他简直不敢相信马尔福、克拉布和高尔将要使他功亏一篑。他开始慢慢地、一点一点地向后挪动，魂器就在那里，歪戴在半身像的脑袋上。只要开战前他能用手把它抓住……

Deeper and deeper into the labyrinth he went, looking for objects he recognized from his one previous trip into the room. His breath was loud in his ears, and then his very soul seemed to shiver: There it was, right ahead, the blistered old cupboard in which he had hidden his old Potions book, and on top of it, the pockmarked stone warlock wearing a dusty old wig and what looked like an ancient, discolored tiara.

“你们是怎么进来的？”他问，想转移他们的注意力。

He had already stretched out his hand, though he remained ten feet away, when a voice behind him said, “Hold it, Potter.”

“去年一年我几乎都住在藏宝屋里，”马尔福用尖利的声音说，“我知道怎么进来。”

He skidded to a halt and turned around. Crabbe and Goyle were standing behind him, shoulder to shoulder, wands pointing right at Harry. Through the small space between their jeering faces he saw Draco Malfoy.

“我们刚才就躲在外面的走廊里，”高尔嘟嘟囔囔地说，“我们现在会施幻身咒啦！结果，”他绽开一个傻乎乎的笑容，“你突然在我们面前冒了出来，说要找一个冠帽！什么是冠帽？”

“That’s my wand you’re holding, Potter,” said Malfoy, pointing his own through the gap between Crabbe and Goyle.

“哈利？”罗恩的声音突然从哈利右侧墙的另一边传了过来，“你在跟人说话吗？”

“Not anymore,” panted Harry, tightening his grip on the hawthorn wand. “Winners, keepers, Malfoy. Who’s lent you theirs?”

说时迟那时快，克拉布突然用魔杖一指那堆五十英尺高的垃圾堆——都是破旧的家具、箱子、课本、校袍，以及无法辨认的其他杂物，大喊一声：“应声落地！”

“My mother,” said Draco.

垃圾墙开始摇晃，然后倒塌在罗恩所在的隔壁通道里。

Harry laughed, though there was nothing very humorous about the situation. He could not hear Ron or Hermione anymore. They seemed to have run out of earshot, searching for the diadem.

“罗恩！”哈利喊道，赫敏在看不见的地方发出尖叫，摇摆不定的垃圾墙的另一边有数不清的东西稀里哗啦地落到地上。哈利用魔杖指着墙大叫道：“咒立停！”垃圾墙不再摇晃了。

“So how come you three aren’t with Voldemort?” asked Harry.

“别！”克拉布还想再念一遍那个咒语，马尔福大喊一声拽住了他的胳膊，“如果你把这屋子毁了，那个什么冠冕就会被埋掉！”

“We’re gonna be rewarded,” said Crabbe: His voice was surprisingly soft for such an enormous person; Harry had hardly ever heard him speak before. Crabbe was smiling like a small child promised a large bag of sweets. “We ’ung back, Potter. We decided not to go. Decided to bring you to ’im.”

“那有什么关系？”克拉布说着，使劲挣脱了马尔福，“黑魔王要的只是波特，谁在乎一个破帽子？”

HOGWARTS

“波特到这儿来是为了找它，”马尔福勉强掩饰着对头脑迟钝的同伙的不耐烦，说道，“那肯定意味着——”

“Good plan,” said Harry in mock admiration. He could not believe that he was this close, and was going to be thwarted by Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle. He began edging slowly backward toward the place where the Horcrux sat lopsided upon the bust. If he could just get his hands on it before the fight broke out . . .

“‘肯定意味着’？”克拉布带着不加掩饰的凶狠转向马尔福，“谁管你是怎么想的，我再也不听你发号施令了，德拉科。你和你爹都完蛋了。”

“So how did you get in here?” he asked, trying to distract them.

“哈利？”罗恩又在垃圾墙的另一边喊道，“怎么回事？”

“I virtually lived in the Room of Hidden Things all last year,” said Malfoy, his voice brittle. “I know how to get in.”

“哈利？”克拉布学着他的腔调说，“怎么回事？不，波特！钻心剜骨！”

“We was hiding in the corridor outside,” grunted Goyle. “We can do Diss-lusion Charms now! And then,” his face split into a gormless grin, “you turned up right in front of us and said you was looking for a die-dum! What’s a die-dum?”

哈利已经冲过去拿那头冠，克拉布的咒语没有击中他，却击中了石像。石像立刻飞到空中，冠冕被抛了起来，然后随着石像落在一大堆杂物里，看不见了。

“Harry?” Ron’s voice echoed suddenly from the other side of the wall to Harry’s right. “Are you talking to someone?”

“住手！”马尔福冲克拉布大喊，声音在巨大的房间里回响，“黑魔王想要抓活的——”

With a whiplike movement, Crabbe pointed his wand at the fifty-foot mountain of old furniture, of broken trunks, of old books and robes and unidentifiable junk, and shouted, “Descendo!”

“那又怎么样？我又没有要他的命！”克拉布嚷道，使劲挣脱马尔福拉着他的胳膊，“要是能把他干掉也好，反正黑魔王是要他死，有什么两样——？”

The wall began to totter, then the top third crumbled into the aisle next door where Ron stood.

一道耀眼的红光从哈利身旁几寸的地方射过——是赫敏在他身后的拐弯处跑来，冲着克拉布的脑袋发了个昏迷咒。马尔福赶紧把克拉布拉到一边，咒语没有击中。

“Ron!” Harry bellowed, as somewhere out of sight Hermione screamed, and Harry heard innumerable objects crashing to the floor on the other side of the destabilized wall: He pointed his wand at the rampart, cried, “Finite!” and it steadied.

“是那个泥巴种！阿瓦达索命！”

“No!” shouted Malfoy, staying Crabbe’s arm as the latter made to repeat his spell. “If you wreck the room you might bury this diadem thing!”

哈利看见赫敏倒地躲闪。克拉布竟然起了杀心，哈利的怒火腾地冒起来，脑子里忘记了一切。他朝克拉布发了个昏迷咒，克拉布赶紧闪身躲避，把马尔福手里的魔杖撞掉了。魔杖滚到堆积如山的旧家具和破箱子下面不见了。

“What’s that matter?” said Crabbe, tugging himself free. “It’s Potter the Dark Lord wants, who cares about a die-dum?”

“别杀死他！别杀死他！”马尔福朝同时瞄准哈利的克拉布和高尔嚷道，他俩略一迟疑，这对哈利来说已经够了。

“Potter came in here to get it,” said Malfoy with ill-disguised impatience at the slow-wittedness of his colleagues, “so that must mean —”

“除你武器！”

“ ‘Must mean’?” Crabbe turned on Malfoy with undisguised ferocity. “Who cares what you think? I don’t take your orders no more, Draco. You an’ your dad are finished.”

高尔的魔杖从手里飞了出去，消失在他身旁的杂物堆里，高尔傻乎乎地原地跳了跳，想把魔杖抢回来。马尔福蹿起来躲过赫敏的第二个昏迷咒，罗恩突然出现在通道尽头，对准克拉布发了个全身束缚咒，但偏了一点没有击中。

“Harry?” shouted Ron again, from the other side of the junk wall. “What’s going on?”

克拉布迅速转身，又叫了一声：“阿瓦达索命！”罗恩纵身一跳，躲过了那道绿光。赫敏冲上前，边跑边用昏迷咒击中了高尔，没有魔杖的马尔福缩在一个三条腿的大衣柜后面。

“Harry?” mimicked Crabbe. “What’s going — no, Potter! Crucio!”

“它就在这里！”哈利指着旧头冠落入的那堆垃圾对赫敏喊道，“把它找出来，我去帮罗——”

Harry had lunged for the tiara; Crabbe’s curse missed him but hit the stone bust, which flew into the air; the diadem soared upward and then dropped out of sight in the mass of objects on which the bust had rested.

“哈利！”赫敏大叫一声。

“STOP!” Malfoy shouted at Crabbe, his voice echoing through the enormous room. “The Dark Lord wants him alive —”

哈利身后突然传来滚动、奔涌的声音，刹那间他有了一种不祥的预感。他转身看见罗恩和克拉布顺着通道没命地奔了过来。

“So? I’m not killing him, am I?” yelled Crabbe, throwing off Malfoy’s restraining arm. “But if I can, I will, the Dark Lord wants him dead anyway, what’s the diff — ?”

“喜欢烫的吧，废物？”克拉布边跑边吼。

A jet of scarlet light shot past Harry by inches: Hermione had run around the corner behind him and sent a Stunning Spell straight at Crabbe’s head. It only missed because Malfoy pulled him out of the way.

但是克拉布似乎无法控制他所做的事情。熊熊的烈焰追着他们，吞噬着垃圾墙的边缘，火舌所到之处都变成了灰烬。

“It’s that Mudblood! Avada Kedavra!”

“清水如泉！”哈利大叫，但是杖尖喷出的水柱立刻在空气中蒸发了。

Harry saw Hermione dive aside, and his fury that Crabbe had aimed to kill wiped all else from his mind. He shot a Stunning Spell at Crabbe, who lurched out of the way, knocking Malfoy’s wand out of his hand; it rolled out of sight beneath a mountain of broken furniture and boxes.

“快跑！”

“Don’t kill him! DON’T KILL HIM!” Malfoy yelled at Crabbe

马尔福一把抓住被击昏的高尔，拖着他一起逃去，神色惊慌的克拉布跑在最前面。哈利、罗恩和赫敏跟着他飞奔，大火追在他们身后。这不是一般的火，克拉布施了一个哈利不知道的魔咒。他们拐了个弯，火立刻追了上来，就好像这些火焰是有生命有感觉的，决意要把他们烧死。这时候，火焰开始变形，变成一大群由火组成的野兽：火蛇、客迈拉和火龙，它们腾起来，落下去，又腾起来，多少个世纪积累的破烂垃圾被抛在空中，掉进它们长着獠牙的嘴里，落在它们长着利爪的脚上，最后被地狱般的烈火吞没了。

HOGWARTS and Goyle, who were both aiming at Harry: Their split second’s hesitation was all Harry needed.

马尔福、克拉布和高尔不见了，哈利、罗恩和赫敏突然停下脚步。那些火兽所他们围在中间，越逼越近，爪子、触角和尾巴在啪啪甩动，热浪像墙壁一样围住他们。

“Expelliarmus!”

“怎么办？”赫敏在火焰震耳欲聋的怒吼中尖叫着问，“怎么办哪？”

Goyle’s wand flew out of his hand and disappeared into the bulwark of objects beside him; Goyle leapt foolishly on the spot, trying to retrieve it; Malfoy jumped out of range of Hermione’s second Stunning Spell, and Ron, appearing suddenly at the end of the aisle, shot a full Body-Bind Curse at Crabbe, which narrowly missed.

“给！”

Crabbe wheeled around and screamed, “Avada Kedavra!” again. Ron leapt out of sight to avoid the jet of green light. The wandless Malfoy cowered behind a three-legged wardrobe as Hermione charged toward them, hitting Goyle with a Stunning Spell as she came.

哈利从最近的垃圾堆上抓过两把看着很沉重的扫帚，扔了一把给罗恩。罗恩拉过赫敏坐在他的身后，哈利骑上第二把扫帚，用脚使劲踢了几下地面，飞到空中，离一只张嘴要咬他们的喷火巨鸟的利喙只差几英尺。浓烟和热浪令人窒息，在他们下面，邪恶的大火吞噬着多少代被追查的学生的非法物品，吞噬着千百个违禁试验的罪恶成果，吞噬着数不清的人藏在这个房间里的秘密。哈利四处都看不见马尔福、克拉布和高尔的影子。他在那些贪婪凶恶的火兽的上方尽量飞得很低，寻找他们，但是除了火看不见别的。这样的死法太惨了……他绝不希望……

“It’s somewhere here!” Harry yelled at her, pointing at the pile of junk into which the old tiara had fallen. “Look for it while I go and help R —”

“哈利，我们出去吧，我们出去吧！”罗恩吼道，但是在黑黑的浓烟中根本看不见门在哪里。

“HARRY!” she screamed.

就在这时，在可怕的混乱中，在吞噬一切的火焰的轰鸣中，哈利听见了一个人微弱的惨叫声。

A roaring, billowing noise behind him gave him a moment’s warning. He turned and saw both Ron and Crabbe running as hard as they could up the aisle toward them.

“太——太——危险了——！”罗恩嚷道，可是哈利还在空中盘旋。浓烟弥漫中，他的眼镜多少对眼睛起了些保护作用。他掠过下面熊熊的火阵，寻找生命的迹象，寻找没被烧成焦炭的一只胳膊、一张脸……

“Like it hot, scum?” roared Crabbe as he ran.

他看见了，马尔福搂着不省人事的高尔，在烧焦的桌子堆成的摇摇欲坠的高塔上。哈利俯冲下去。马尔福看见他过来，赶紧举起一只胳膊，但哈利刚一抓住就知道没有用：高尔太重，马尔福的手上都是汗，立刻就从哈利手中滑脱了——

But he seemed to have no control over what he had done. Flames of abnormal size were pursuing them, licking up the sides of the junk bulwarks, which were crumbling to soot at their touch.

“如果我们被他们拖死，我就杀了你，哈利！”罗恩的声音吼道。就在一个巨大的喷火客迈拉扑过来时，他和赫敏把高尔拖到了他们的扫帚上，然后打着转儿、起伏不定地再次飞到空中，与此同时，马尔福爬到了哈利身后。

“Aguamenti !” Harry bawled, but the jet of water that soared from the tip of his wand evaporated in the air.

“门，往门那儿飞，门！”马尔福在哈利的耳边叫道。哈利加快速度，跟着罗恩、赫敏和高尔穿过令人窒息的滚滚黑烟。在他们周围，最后几件没被烈焰烧毁的东西，被邪恶的火中怪兽们欢庆地抛向了空中：杯子、盾牌、一串闪亮的项链，还有一个古旧而褪色的王冠——

“RUN!”

“你干什么，你干什么？门在那边！”马尔福尖叫。但是哈利突然一个急转弯，俯冲下去。闪闪发光的冠冕似乎在以慢动作降落，翻转着，慢慢地落向一条正张着大口的巨蛇嘴里。在这千钧一发之际，哈利得手了，用手腕套住了它——

Malfoy grabbed the Stunned Goyle and dragged him along; Crabbe outstripped all of them, now looking terrified; Harry, Ron, and Hermione pelted along in his wake, and the fire pursued them. It was not normal fire; Crabbe had used a curse of which Harry had no knowledge: As they turned a corner the flames chased them as though they were alive, sentient, intent upon killing them. Now the fire was mutating, forming a gigantic pack of fiery beasts: Flaming serpents, chimaeras, and dragons rose and fell and rose again, and the detritus of centuries on which they were feeding was thrown up in the air into their fanged mouths, tossed high on clawed feet, before being consumed by the inferno.

巨蛇朝他扑来，哈利又一转身飞向空中，朝着他祈祷有门开着的地方飞去。罗恩、赫敏和高尔不见了，马尔福一边尖叫着，一边紧紧抓住哈利，把哈利抓得生疼。接着，哈利在浓烟中看见墙上有一块长方形的东西，便调整扫帚对准它冲去。片刻之后，新鲜的空气灌进了他的肺里，他们撞在了外面走廊的墙上。

Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle had vanished from view: Harry, Ron, and Hermione stopped dead; the fiery monsters were circling them, drawing closer and closer, claws and horns and tails lashed, and the heat was solid as a wall around them.

马尔福从扫帚上摔了下去，脸朝下趴在地上，喘气、咳嗽，连连干呕。哈利翻了个身坐起来。有求必应屋的门消失了，罗恩和赫敏坐在地板上高尔的身边喘着粗气，高尔仍然神志不清。

“What can we do?” Hermione screamed over the deafening roars of the fire. “What can we do?”

“克——克拉布，”马尔福刚能说话，就哽噎着说，“克——克拉布……”

“Here!”

“他死了。”罗恩毫不客气地说。

Harry seized a pair of heavy-looking broomsticks from the nearest pile of junk and threw one to Ron, who pulled Hermione onto it behind him. Harry swung his leg over the second broom and, with hard kicks to the ground, they soared up into the air, missing by feet the horned beak of a flaming raptor that snapped its jaws at them. The smoke and heat were becoming overwhelming: Below them the cursed fire was consuming the contraband of generations of hunted students, the guilty outcomes of a thousand banned experiments, the secrets of the countless souls who had sought refuge in the room. Harry could not see a trace of Malfoy, Crabbe, or Goyle anywhere: He swooped as low as he dared over the marauding monsters of flame to try to find them, but there was nothing but fire: What a terrible way to die. . . . He had never wanted this. . . .

沉默，只听见喘气和咳嗽声。接着一连串砰砰的巨响，震得整个城堡都在颤抖，一支由透明的人影组成的浩浩荡荡的队伍，骑着马飞奔而过，他们的脑袋夹在胳膊底下，还在杀气腾腾地呐喊着。无头猎手队经过后，哈利摇摇晃晃地站起来，打量着四周：战斗还在进行。除了刚才那些撤退的幽灵，他还听到更多的人在喊叫。他的内心恐慌极了。

HOGWARTS

“金妮在哪儿？”他突然说道，“她刚才还在这儿，她应该回到有求必应屋的。”

“Harry, let’s get out, let’s get out!” bellowed Ron, though it was impossible to see where the door was through the black smoke.

“天哪，在那场大火之后，你以为那屋子还管用吗？”罗恩问，但他也站了起来，一边揉着胸口一边左右张望，“我们分头找找——？”

And then Harry heard a thin, piteous human scream from amidst the terrible commotion, the thunder of devouring flame.

“不，”赫敏说着也站起身。马尔福和高尔还是无力地瘫在走廊的地板上，两人都没了魔杖。“我们不要分开。我们走吧——哈利，你胳膊上是什么？”

“It’s — too — dangerous — !” Ron yelled, but Harry wheeled in the air. His glasses giving his eyes some small protection from the smoke, he raked the firestorm below, seeking a sign of life, a limb or a face that was not yet charred like wood. . . .

“什么？噢，对了——”

And he saw them: Malfoy with his arms around the unconscious Goyle, the pair of them perched on a fragile tower of charred desks, and Harry dived. Malfoy saw him coming and raised one arm, but even as Harry grasped it he knew at once that it was no good: Goyle was too heavy and Malfoy’s hand, covered in sweat, slid instantly out of Harry’s —

他把冠冕从手腕上褪下来举在手里。冠冕还是滚烫的，上面沾满了黑色的烟灰，但他仔细看时，勉强辨认出了上面刻着的细小的文字：过人的聪明才智是人类最大的财宝。

“IF WE DIE FOR THEM, I’LL KILL YOU, HARRY!” roared Ron’s voice, and, as a great flaming chimaera bore down upon them, he and Hermione dragged Goyle onto their broom and rose, rolling and pitching, into the air once more as Malfoy clambered up behind Harry.

一种血一般的、乌黑黏稠的东西，似乎正从冠冕里渗透出来。突然，哈利感到冠冕在剧烈地振动，然后在他手里裂成了碎片。它裂开时，哈利隐约听见了极其微弱、极其遥远的痛苦的惨叫，不是从城堡或操场传来，而是从他手指间那个刚刚碎裂的东西里发出来的。

“The door, get to the door, the door!” screamed Malfoy in Harry’s ear, and Harry sped up, following Ron, Hermione, and Goyle through the billowing black smoke, hardly able to breathe: and all around them the last few objects unburned by the devouring flames were flung into the air, as the creatures of the cursed fire cast them high in celebration: cups and shields, a sparkling necklace, and an old, discolored tiara —

“肯定是厉火！”赫敏眼睛盯着那些碎片，带着哭腔说。

“What are you doing, what are you doing, the door’s that way!” screamed Malfoy, but Harry made a hairpin swerve and dived. The diadem seemed to fall in slow motion, turning and glittering as it dropped toward the maw of a yawning serpent, and then he had it, caught it around his wrist —

“你说什么？”

Harry swerved again as the serpent lunged at him; he soared upward and straight toward the place where, he prayed, the door stood open: Ron, Hermione, and Goyle had vanished; Malfoy was screaming and holding Harry so tightly it hurt. Then, through the smoke, Harry saw a rectangular patch on the wall and steered the broom at it, and moments later clean air filled his lungs and they collided with the wall in the corridor beyond.

“厉火——邪恶的火——可以毁灭魂器的物质之一，但我一辈子也没胆量使用它，太危险了。克拉布怎么知道——？”

Malfoy fell off the broom and lay facedown, gasping, coughing, and retching. Harry rolled over and sat up: The door to the Room of Requirement had vanished, and Ron and Hermione sat panting on the floor beside Goyle, who was still unconscious.

“肯定是从卡罗兄妹那里学来的。”哈利神色严峻地说。

“C-Crabbe,” choked Malfoy as soon as he could speak. “CCrabbe . . .”

“真可惜，他没有专心听他们讲怎么把火熄灭。”罗恩说，他的头发跟赫敏的一样被烤焦了，脸上黑乎乎的，“要不是他一心想杀死我们，我也会为他的死感到难过呢。”

“He’s dead,” said Ron harshly.

“可是你有没有想到——”赫敏小声说，“这就是说，如果我们能把那条蛇——”

There was silence, apart from panting and coughing. Then a number of huge bangs shook the castle, and a great cavalcade of transparent figures galloped past on horses, their heads screaming with bloodlust under their arms. Harry staggered to his feet when the Headless Hunt had passed and looked around: The battle was still going on all around him. He could hear more screams than those of the retreating ghosts. Panic flared within him.

她的话没说完，因为尖叫声、呐喊声，还有分明的格斗声响彻了整个走廊。哈利环顾四周，心里不禁一沉：食死徒已经攻进了霍格沃茨。弗雷德和珀西后退着出现了，两人都在跟戴兜帽的蒙面大汉决斗。

“Where’s Ginny?” he said sharply. “She was here. She was supposed to be going back into the Room of Requirement.”

哈利、罗恩和赫敏跑上前去相助，一道道强光射向四面八方，跟珀西格斗的那个人快速后退，他的兜帽滑落了，他们看见他高高的额头和杂色的头发。

“Blimey, d’you reckon it’ll still work after that fire?” asked Ron, but he too got to his feet, rubbing his chest and looking left and right. “Shall we split up and look — ?”

“你好，部长！”珀西大喊一声，冲着辛克尼斯干脆利落地发了个恶咒。辛克尼斯丢掉魔杖，用手抓住长袍的胸口处，显然难受极了。“我说过我要辞职的吧？”珀西补充了一句。

“No,” said Hermione, getting to her feet too. Malfoy and Goyle

“你在开玩笑，珀西！”弗雷德喊道，跟他搏斗的那个食死徒在三个昏迷咒的重击下瘫倒了。辛克尼斯倒在地上，全身冒出许多小钉子，好像正在变成一种海胆。弗雷德高兴地看着珀西。

HOGWARTS remained slumped hopelessly on the corridor floor; neither of them had wands. “Let’s stick together. I say we go — Harry, what’s that on your arm?”

“你真是在开玩笑，珀西……我好像很久没听你开玩笑了，自从你——”

“What? Oh yeah —”

空气突然间爆炸了。他们刚才聚拢在一起，哈利、罗恩、赫敏、弗雷德、珀西，还有他们脚边的两个食死徒，一个中了昏迷咒，一个中了变形咒。在危险似乎暂未来临的一瞬间，世界被撕裂了。哈利觉得自己飞到了空中，他只能死死地抓住那根细细的木棍——他惟一的武器，并用双臂护住脑袋。他听见了同伴们的大喊和惨叫，却无法知道他们到底怎么了——

He pulled the diadem from his wrist and held it up. It was still hot, blackened with soot, but as he looked at it closely he was just able to make out the tiny words etched upon it: Wit beyond measure is man’s greatest treasure.

然后，世界渐渐化为疼痛和一片模糊。他的半个身子都被废墟埋住了，走廊刚才遭到了可怕的袭击。寒冷的空气告诉他，城堡的一侧被炸飞了，面颊上热乎乎的、黏稠的感觉告诉他，他正在大量流血。接着，他听见了一声令他揪心的惨叫，那叫声里所表达的痛苦，绝不是火焰或咒语能够引起的。哈利摇摇晃晃地站起身，心头极度，比他这一天、这一辈子的任何时候都要恐惧……

A bloodlike substance, dark and tarry, seemed to be leaking from the diadem. Suddenly Harry felt the thing vibrate violently, then break apart in his hands, and as it did so, he thought he heard the faintest, most distant scream of pain, echoing not from the grounds or the castle, but from the thing that had just fragmented in his fingers.

赫敏从废墟挣扎着站起来，三个红头发的人聚在墙壁被炸飞的地方。哈利抓住赫敏的手，两人跌跌撞撞地走过碎石头和碎木片。

“It must have been Fiendfyre!” whimpered Hermione, her eyes on the broken pieces.

“不——不——不！”有人在大喊，“不！弗雷德！不！”

“Sorry?”

珀西摇晃着他的弟弟，罗恩跪在他们身边，弗雷德的两只眼睛空洞地瞪着，脸上还留着最后的一丝笑容。

“Fiendfyre — cursed fire — it’s one of the substances that destroy Horcruxes, but I would never, ever have dared use it, it’s so dangerous — how did Crabbe know how to — ?”

“Must’ve learned from the Carrows,” said Harry grimly.

“Shame he wasn’t concentrating when they mentioned how to stop it, really,” said Ron, whose hair, like Hermione’s, was singed, and whose face was blackened. “If he hadn’t tried to kill us all, I’d be quite sorry he was dead.”

“But don’t you realize?” whispered Hermione. “This means, if we can just get the snake —”

But she broke off as yells and shouts and the unmistakable noises of dueling filled the corridor. Harry looked around and his heart seemed to fail: Death Eaters had penetrated Hogwarts. Fred and Percy had just backed into view, both of them dueling masked and hooded men.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione ran forward to help: Jets of light flew in every direction and the man dueling Percy backed off, fast: Then his hood slipped and they saw a high forehead and streaked hair —

“Hello, Minister!” bellowed Percy, sending a neat jinx straight at Thicknesse, who dropped his wand and clawed at the front of his robes, apparently in awful discomfort. “Did I mention I’m resigning?”

“You’re joking, Perce!” shouted Fred as the Death Eater he was battling collapsed under the weight of three separate Stunning Spells. Thicknesse had fallen to the ground with tiny spikes erupting all over him; he seemed to be turning into some form of sea urchin. Fred looked at Percy with glee.

“You actually are joking, Perce. . . . I don’t think I’ve heard you joke since you were —”

The air exploded. They had been grouped together, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, and Percy, the two Death Eaters at their feet, one Stunned, the other Transfigured; and in that fragment of a moment, when danger seemed temporarily at bay, the world was rent apart. Harry felt himself flying through the air, and all he could do was hold as tightly as possible to that thin stick of wood that was his one and only weapon, and shield his head in his arms: He heard the screams and yells of his companions without a hope of knowing what had happened to them —

And then the world resolved itself into pain and semidarkness: He was half buried in the wreckage of a corridor that had been

HOGWARTS subjected to a terrible attack. Cold air told him that the side of the castle had been blown away, and hot stickiness on his cheek told him that he was bleeding copiously. Then he heard a terrible cry that pulled at his insides, that expressed agony of a kind neither flame nor curse could cause, and he stood up, swaying, more frightened than he had been that day, more frightened, perhaps, than he had been in his life. . . .

And Hermione was struggling to her feet in the wreckage, and three redheaded men were grouped on the ground where the wall had blasted apart. Harry grabbed Hermione’s hand as they staggered and stumbled over stone and wood.

“No — no — no!” someone was shouting. “No! Fred! No!”

And Percy was shaking his brother, and Ron was kneeling beside them, and Fred’s eyes stared without seeing, the ghost of his last laugh still etched upon his face.