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 EIGHT THE WEDDING

第八章　婚礼

Three o’clock on the following afternoon found Harry, Ron, Fred, and George standing outside the great white marquee in the orchard, awaiting the arrival of the wedding guests. Harry had taken a large dose of Polyjuice Potion and was now the double of a redheaded Muggle boy from the local village, Ottery St. Catchpole, from whom Fred had stolen hairs using a Summoning Charm. The plan was to introduce Harry as “Cousin Barny” and trust to the great number of Weasley relatives to camouflage him.

第二天下午三点钟，哈利、罗恩、弗雷德、乔治站在果园里巨大的白色帐篷外，恭候着来参加婚礼的客人们。哈利喝了大剂量的复方汤剂，现在成了当地奥特里·圣卡奇波尔村里一个红头发麻瓜男孩的模样，弗雷德用飞来咒偷了那个男孩的几根头发。他们计划向客人介绍哈利是“堂弟巴尼”，反正韦斯莱家的亲威众多，但愿能够把他掩护住。

All four of them were clutching seating plans, so that they could help show people to the right seats. A host of white-robed waiters had arrived an hour earlier, along with a golden-jacketed band, and all of these wizards were currently sitting a short distance away under a tree; Harry could see a blue haze of pipe smoke issuing from the spot.

四个人的手里都捏着座次表，可以帮着指点客人坐到合适的座位上。一个小时前，来了一群穿白色长袍的侍者和一支穿金黄色上衣的乐队，此刻这些巫师都坐在不远处的一棵树下，抽着烟斗。哈利可以看见那里袅袅升起的一片青色的烟雾。

Behind Harry, the entrance to the marquee revealed rows and rows of fragile golden chairs set on either side of a long purple carpet. The supporting poles were entwined with white and gold flowers. Fred and George had fastened an enormous bunch of golden balloons over the exact point where Bill and Fleur would shortly become husband and wife. Outside, butterflies and bees were hovering lazily over the grass and hedgerow. Harry was rather uncomfortable. The Muggle boy whose appearance he was affecting was slightly fatter than him, and his dress robes felt hot and tight in the full glare of a summer’s day.

在哈利身后，大帐篷的入口处铺着一条长长的紫色地毯，两边放着一排排精致纤巧的金色椅子。柱子上缠绕着白色和金色的鲜花。弗雷德和乔治把一大串金色气球拴在比尔和芙蓉即将举行结婚仪式的地点上空。外面，蜜蜂和蝴蝶懒洋洋地在草丛和灌木树篱上飞舞。哈利感到很不舒服。他冒充的那个麻瓜男孩比他稍胖一些，在夏天火辣辣的太阳底下，他感觉他的礼服长袍又热又紧。

“When I get married,” said Fred, tugging at the collar of his own robes, “I won’t be bothering with any of this nonsense. You can all wear what you like, and I’ll put a full Body-Bind Curse on Mum until it’s all over.”

“等我结婚的时候，”弗雷德一边扯着他长袍的领子，一边说道，“我才不搞这些讨厌的名堂呢。你们爱穿什么就穿什么，我要给妈妈来一个全身束缚咒，一直到事情办完。”

“She wasn’t too bad this morning, considering,” said George. “Cried a bit about Percy not being here, but who wants him? Oh blimey, brace yourselves — here they come, look.”

“不过，她今天上午表现还可以，”乔治说，“为珀西不能来哭了一鼻子，其实谁稀罕他来呢？哦，天哪，做好准备——他们来了，看。”

Brightly colored figures were appearing, one by one, out of nowhere at the distant boundary of the yard. Within minutes a procession had formed, which began to snake its way up through the garden toward the marquee. Exotic flowers and bewitched birds fluttered on the witches’ hats, while precious gems glittered from many of the wizards’ cravats; a hum of excited chatter grew louder and louder, drowning the sound of the bees as the crowd approached the tent.

在院子的最远端，一个又一个色彩鲜艳的身影凭空出现。几分钟后就形成了一支队伍，开始蜿蜒穿过花园，朝大帐篷走来。奇异的花朵和带魔法的小鸟在女巫们的帽子上颤动，珍贵的宝石在许多巫师的领结上闪闪发光。这群人离帐篷越来越近，兴奋的、嘁嘁喳喳的说话声越来越响，淹没了蜜蜂的嗡嗡声。

“Excellent, I think I see a few veela cousins,” said George, craning his neck for a better look. “They’ll need help understanding our English customs, I’ll look after them. . . .”

“太棒了，我好像看见了几个媚娃表妹。”乔治说，伸长脖子想看得更清楚些，“她们需要有人帮助她们了解英国习俗，我去照应她们……”

“Not so fast, Your Holeyness,” said Fred, and darting past the gaggle of middle-aged witches heading the procession, he said, “Here — permettez-moi to assister vous,” to a pair of pretty French girls, who giggled and allowed him to escort them inside. George was left to deal with the middle-aged witches and Ron took charge of Mr. Weasley’s old Ministry colleague Perkins, while a rather deaf old couple fell to Harry’s lot.

“不用这么着急，洞听，”弗雷德说着，冲过队伍前面的那群中年女巫，抢先对两个漂亮的法国姑娘说道，“嘿，请允许我为你们服务。（原文为法语）”法国姑娘咯咯笑着，让他陪着她们进去了。剩下乔治去对付那些中年女巫，罗恩负责招呼韦斯莱先生在魔法部的老同事珀金斯，而落到哈利手里的，是一对耳朵很背的老夫妻。

“Wotcher,” said a familiar voice as he came out of the marquee again and found Tonks and Lupin at the front of the queue. She had turned blonde for the occasion. “Arthur told us you were the one with the curly hair. Sorry about last night,” she added in a whisper as Harry led them up the aisle. “The Ministry’s being very anti-werewolf at the moment and we thought our presence might not do you any favors.”

“好啊。”他刚走出帐篷就听到一个熟悉的声音，接着看见唐克斯和卢平站在队伍前面。唐克斯专门把头发变成了金黄色。“亚瑟告诉我说你是卷头发的那个。昨晚真是抱歉，”哈利领他们走过通道时，她压低声音说，“魔法部目前对狼人镇压得很厉害，我们认为我们在场恐怕会给你们惹麻烦。”

“It’s fine, I understand,” said Harry, speaking more to Lupin than Tonks. Lupin gave him a swift smile, but as they turned away, Harry saw Lupin’s face fall again into lines of misery. He did not understand it, but there was no time to dwell on the matter: Hagrid was causing a certain amount of disruption. Having misunderstood Fred’s directions he had sat himself, not upon the magically enlarged and reinforced seat set aside for him in the back row, but on five seats that now resembled a large pile of golden matchsticks.

“没关系，我理解。”哈利更多是对卢平说的。卢平迅速朝他笑了笑，但他们转过身去时，哈利看见卢平的脸又变得阴郁愁苦起来。哈利很不理解，但没有时间琢磨这件事了：海格制造了一场大混乱。他把弗雷德指点的位置搞错了，没有坐在后排专门给他用魔法增大、加固的那个座位上，而是一屁股坐在了五把椅子上，现在那些椅子就像一大堆金色的火柴棍儿。

While Mr. Weasley repaired the damage and Hagrid shouted apologies to anybody who would listen, Harry hurried back to the entrance to find Ron face-to-face with a most eccentric-looking wizard. Slightly cross-eyed, with shoulder-length white hair the texture of candyfloss, he wore a cap whose tassel dangled in front of his nose and robes of an eye-watering shade of egg-yolk yellow. An odd symbol, rather like a triangular eye, glistened from a golden chain around his neck.

韦斯莱先生在修复那些破烂，海格大声对每个肯听他说话的人道歉，哈利匆匆回到入口处，发现罗恩正与一个模样十分古怪的巫师面对面站着。那人有点对眼儿，棉花糖一般的白发蓬在肩头，帽子上穗子直垂到鼻子前面，身上穿着一件蛋黄色的长袍，颜色耀眼刺目。他脖子上挂着一根金链子，上面闪着一个古怪的符号，很像一只三角形的眼睛。

“Xenophilius Lovegood,” he said, extending a hand to Harry, “my daughter and I live just over the hill, so kind of the good Weasleys to invite us. But I think you know my Luna?” he added to Ron.

“谢诺菲留斯·洛夫古德，”他朝哈利伸出一只手说，“我和女儿就住在山上，善良的韦斯莱夫妇好心邀请了我们。我想你认识我们家卢娜吧？”后面这句话是对罗恩说的。

“Yes,” said Ron. “Isn’t she with you?”

“认识，”罗恩说，“她没跟你一起来吗？”

“She lingered in that charming little garden to say hello to the gnomes, such a glorious infestation! How few wizards realize just how much we can learn from the wise little gnomes — or, to give them their correct name, the Gernumbli gardensi.”

“她在那个迷人的小花园里，跟地精们打招呼呢，它们遍地都是，真是讨人喜欢哪！很少有巫师明白我们能从聪明的小地精那儿学到多少东西——哦，它们准确的名字是，花园工兵精。”

“Ours do know a lot of excellent swear words,” said Ron, “but I think Fred and George taught them those.”

“我们的地精知道许多绝妙的骂人话，”罗恩说，“但我想是弗雷德和乔治教它们的。”

He led a party of warlocks into the marquee as Luna rushed up.

哈利领着一群男巫走进大帐篷，这时卢娜跑了过来。

“Hello, Harry!” she said.

“你好，哈利！”她说。

“Er — my name’s Barny,” said Harry, flummoxed.

“呃——我叫巴尼。”哈利慌乱地说。

“Oh, have you changed that too?” she asked brightly.

“哦，你连名字也变了？”卢娜愉快地问。

“How did you know — ?”

“你怎么知道——？”

“Oh, just your expression,” she said.

“噢，从你的表情看出来的。”她说。

Like her father, Luna was wearing bright yellow robes, which she had accessorized with a large sunflower in her hair. Once you got over the brightness of it all, the general effect was quite pleasant. At least there were no radishes dangling from her ears.

卢娜像她父亲一样，穿着亮黄色的长袍，头发上还配了一朵大大的向日葵。一旦适应了这些明亮的色彩，你会觉得整体效果其实还是赏心悦目的，至少她耳朵上没再挂小萝卜。

Xenophilius, who was deep in conversation with an acquaintance, had missed the exchange between Luna and Harry. Bidding the wizard farewell, he turned to his daughter, who held up her finger and said, “Daddy, look — one of the gnomes actually bit me!”

谢诺菲留斯正和一个熟人谈得投机，没有听见卢娜和哈利之间的对话。他跟那个巫师道了别，转脸看着女儿，卢娜举起一根手指说：“爸爸，看——一只地精居然咬了我！”

“How wonderful! Gnome saliva is enormously beneficial!” said Mr. Lovegood, seizing Luna’s outstretched finger and examining the bleeding puncture marks. “Luna, my love, if you should feel any burgeoning talent today — perhaps an unexpected urge to sing opera or to declaim in Mermish — do not repress it! You may have been gifted by the Gernumblies!”

“太棒了！地精的唾液特别有用！”洛夫古德先生说着，抓住卢娜伸出的手指，仔细打量那个出血点，“卢娜，我亲爱的，如果你今天觉得有什么才华冒头——也许是一种突如其来的冲动，想唱歌剧，想用人鱼的语言朗诵——千万不要抑制它！那可能是工兵精赠给你的才华！”

Ron, passing them in the opposite direction, let out a loud snort.

罗恩与他们擦肩而过，从鼻子里响亮地哼了一声。

“Ron can laugh,” said Luna serenely as Harry led her and Xenophilius toward their seats, “but my father has done a lot of research on Gernumbli magic.”

“罗恩尽管笑吧，”卢娜平静地说，这时哈利领着她和谢诺菲留斯走向他们的座位，“但我父亲工兵精魔法方面做了大量研究。”

“Really?” said Harry, who had long since decided not to challenge Luna or her father’s peculiar views. “Are you sure you don’t want to put anything on that bite, though?”

“真的？”哈利说，他早就决定不要对卢娜和她父亲的奇特观点提出质疑，“可是，你真的不需要在那伤口上涂点什么吗？”

“Oh, it’s fine,” said Luna, sucking her finger in a dreamy fashion and looking Harry up and down. “You look smart. I told Daddy most people would probably wear dress robes, but he believes you ought to wear sun colors to a wedding, for luck, you know.”

“哦，没关系。”卢娜说道，她像做梦一样吮着手指，上上下下地打量着哈利，“你看着真精神。我对爸爸说大多数人大概都会穿礼服长袍，但他相信出席婚礼应该穿太阳色的衣服，为了讨个彩头，你知道的。”

As she drifted off after her father, Ron reappeared with an elderly witch clutching his arm. Her beaky nose, red-rimmed eyes, and feathery pink hat gave her the look of a bad-tempered flamingo.

她飘飘然地跟着父亲走了。罗恩又出现了，一个年迈的女巫紧紧抓着他的胳膊。老女巫鹰钩鼻，红眼圈，粉红色的羽毛帽子，看上去活像一只坏脾气的火烈鸟。

“. . . and your hair’s much too long, Ronald, for a moment I thought you were Ginevra. Merlin’s beard, what is Xenophilius Lovegood wearing? He looks like an omelet. And who are you?” she barked at Harry.

“你的头发太长了，罗恩，刚才我还以为你是金妮呢。我的老天，谢诺菲留斯·洛夫古德穿的那是什么呀？他看着真像一块煎蛋饼。你是谁呀？”她朝哈利大声问。

“Oh yeah, Auntie Muriel, this is our cousin Barny.”

“哦，穆丽尔姨婆，这是我们的堂弟巴尼。”

“Another Weasley? You breed like gnomes. Isn’t Harry Potter here? I was hoping to meet him. I thought he was a friend of yours, Ronald, or have you merely been boasting?”

“又是韦斯莱家的？你们繁殖得像地精一样快。哈利·波特不在这儿吗？我还以为能见到他呢。罗恩，我好像记得他是你的朋友……那也许只是你自己吹牛吧？”

“No — he couldn’t come —”

“不——他不能来——”

“Hmm. Made an excuse, did he? Not as gormless as he looks in press photographs, then. I’ve just been instructing the bride on how best to wear my tiara,” she shouted at Harry. “Goblin-made, you know, and been in my family for centuries. She’s a good-looking girl, but still — French. Well, well, find me a good seat, Ronald, I am a hundred and seven and I ought not to be on my feet too long.”

“呣，找借口，是吗？看来他倒不像报纸照片上那样没头脑。我刚才一直在教新娘怎么戴我的头饰才最好看，”她嚷嚷着对哈利说，“妖精做的，知道吗，在我们家流传了好几个世纪。她倒是个漂亮姑娘，不过到底是个——法国人。好了，好了，快给我找个好座位，罗恩，我都一百零七岁了，最好别站得太久。”

Ron gave Harry a meaningful look as he passed and did not reappear for some time: When next they met at the entrance, Harry had shown a dozen more people to their places. The marquee was nearly full now, and for the first time there was no queue outside.

罗恩意味深长地看了哈利一眼，走了过去，很长时间没再露面。当他们在入口处再次碰面时，哈利已经又领十几个客人找到座位。帐篷里差不多坐满了，外面总算不再排队了。

“Nightmare, Muriel is,” said Ron, mopping his forehead on his sleeve. “She used to come for Christmas every year, then, thank God, she took offense because Fred and George set off a Dungbomb under her chair at dinner. Dad always says she’ll have written them out of her will — like they care, they’re going to end up richer than anyone in the family, rate they’re going. . . . Wow,” he added, blinking rather rapidly as Hermione came hurrying toward them. “You look great!”

“穆丽尔简直是个噩梦，”罗恩用袖子擦着脑门说，“她以前每年都来过圣诞节，后来，谢天谢地，她生气了，因为弗雷德和乔治吃饭时在她椅子底下放了个粪弹。爸爸总说她在遗嘱里不会赠给他们俩任何东西——他们才不稀罕呢，以后家里谁也赶不上他们俩有钱，估计他们会……哇，”他快速地眨巴眼睛，看着赫敏匆匆朝他们走来，“你的样子太棒了！”

“Always the tone of surprise,” said Hermione, though she smiled. She was wearing a floaty, lilac-colored dress with matching high heels; her hair was sleek and shiny. “Your Great-Aunt Muriel doesn’t agree, I just met her upstairs while she was giving Fleur the tiara. She said, ‘Oh dear, is this the Muggle-born?’ and then, ‘Bad posture and skinny ankles.’”

“总是用这副吃惊的口气。”赫敏说，不过脸上还是笑着。她穿着一件飘逸的淡紫色长裙，脚下是配套的高跟鞋，头发光滑、柔顺。“你的姨婆穆丽尔可不这么认为，刚才我在楼上碰到她在给芙蓉送头饰。她说：‘噢，天哪，这就是那个麻瓜出身的？’然后又说：‘姿势不美，踝骨太突出。’”

“Don’t take it personally, she’s rude to everyone,” said Ron.

“别往心里去，她对谁都不客气。”罗恩说。

“Talking about Muriel?” inquired George, reemerging from the marquee with Fred. “Yeah, she’s just told me my ears are lopsided. Old bat. I wish old Uncle Bilius was still with us, though; he was a right laugh at weddings.”

“是说穆丽尔吗？”乔治和弗雷德一起从大帐篷里钻出来，问道，“是啊，她刚才还说我的耳朵不对称，这个老太婆！噢，我真希望比利尔斯叔叔还在。他在婚礼上可是个活宝。”

“Wasn’t he the one who saw a Grim and died twenty-four hours later?” asked Hermione.

“就是看到‘不祥’后二十四小时就死掉的那个？”赫敏问。

“Well, yeah, he went a bit odd toward the end,” conceded George.

“是啊，他最后变得有点古怪。”乔治承认。

“But before he went loopy he was the life and soul of the party,” said Fred. “He used to down an entire bottle of firewhisky, then run onto the dance floor, hoist up his robes, and start pulling bunches of flowers out of his —”

“但他在发疯前，可是每次聚会的生命和灵魂哪。”弗雷德说道，“他经常一气灌下整整一瓶火焰威士忌，然后跑到舞池里，撩起长袍，掏出一束又一束鲜花，就从他的——”

“Yes, he sounds a real charmer,” said Hermione, while Harry roared with laughter.

“是啊，听上去他真是个可爱的人。”赫敏说，哈利哈哈大笑起来。

“Never married, for some reason,” said Ron.

“一辈子没结婚，不知为什么。”罗恩说。

“You amaze me,” said Hermione.

“真让我吃惊。”赫敏说。

They were all laughing so much that none of them noticed the latecomer, a dark-haired young man with a large, curved nose and thick black eyebrows, until he held out his invitation to Ron and said, with his eyes on Hermione, “You look vunderful.”

他们笑得太厉害了，谁也没有注意到新来的人，那是个黑头发的年轻人，大鹰钩鼻子，两道黑黑的浓眉。最后他把请柬递到罗恩面前，眼睛盯着赫敏说道：“你看上去太美了。”

“Viktor!” she shrieked, and dropped her small beaded bag, which made a loud thump quite disproportionate to its size. As she scrambled, blushing, to pick it up, she said, “I didn’t know you were — goodness — it’s lovely to see — how are you?”

“威克多尔！”赫敏尖叫一声，砰，她的串珠小包掉在地上，发出与它的体积不相称的一声巨响。她红着脸捡起包，说道：“我不知道你也——天哪——见到你真是太好了——你怎么样？”

Ron’s ears had turned bright red again. After glancing at Krum’s invitation as if he did not believe a word of it, he said, much too loudly, “How come you’re here?”

罗恩的耳朵又变得通红。他扫了一眼克鲁姆的请柬，似乎对上面的字一个也不相信，然后他粗声大气地问：“你怎么会来这儿？”

“Fleur invited me,” said Krum, eyebrows raised.

“芙蓉邀请我的呀。”克鲁姆扬起眉毛说。

Harry, who had no grudge against Krum, shook hands; then, feeling that it would be prudent to remove Krum from Ron’s vicinity, offered to show him his seat.

哈利对克鲁姆并无恶感，跟他握了握手。他觉得还是让克鲁姆离开罗恩身边比较明智，就主动领他去找座位。

“Your friend is not pleased to see me,” said Krum as they entered the now packed marquee. “Or is he a relative?” he added with a glance at Harry’s red curly hair.

“你的朋友看到我不太高兴嘛。”他们走进已经挤满了人的大帐篷时，克鲁姆说。“他是你的亲戚？”他扫了一眼哈利的红色鬈发，又问了一句。

“Cousin,” Harry muttered, but Krum was not really listening. His appearance was causing a stir, particularly amongst the veela cousins: He was, after all, a famous Quidditch player. While people were still craning their necks to get a good look at him, Ron, Hermione, Fred, and George came hurrying down the aisle.

“堂哥。”哈利嘟囔了一句，但克鲁姆并没有听。他的出现引起一片骚动，特别是在那些媚娃表姐妹当中当中：他毕竟是一位著名的魁地奇球星呀。就在人们还伸着脖子看他时，罗恩、赫敏、弗雷德和乔治匆匆从过道上走来。

“Time to sit down,” Fred told Harry, “or we’re going to get run over by the bride.”

“该坐下了，”弗雷德对哈利说，“不然就要被新娘撞上了。”

Harry, Ron, and Hermione took their seats in the second row behind Fred and George. Hermione looked rather pink and Ron’s ears were still scarlet. After a few moments he muttered to Harry, “Did you see he’s grown a stupid little beard?”

哈利、罗恩和赫敏在弗雷德和乔治后面的第二排落座。赫敏脸色绯红，罗恩的耳朵仍然红得耀眼。过了一会儿，他小声对哈利说：“你有没有看见，他留了个傻乎乎的小胡子？”

Harry gave a noncommittal grunt.

哈利不置可否地嘟囔一声。

A sense of jittery anticipation had filled the warm tent, the general murmuring broken by occasional spurts of excited laughter. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley strolled up the aisle, smiling and waving at relatives; Mrs. Weasley was wearing a brand-new set of amethystcolored robes with a matching hat.

温暖的帐篷里充满了紧张不安的期待，嗡嗡的说话声不时被兴奋的大笑声打断。韦斯莱夫妇顺着通道慢慢走来，笑吟吟地朝亲戚们挥手致意。韦斯莱夫人穿了件崭新的紫色长袍，戴着配套的帽子。

A moment later Bill and Charlie stood up at the front of the marquee, both wearing dress robes, with large white roses in their buttonholes; Fred wolf-whistled and there was an outbreak of giggling from the veela cousins. Then the crowd fell silent as music swelled from what seemed to be the golden balloons.

片刻之后，比尔和查理站在了大帐篷的前面，两人都穿着礼服长袍，纽扣眼里插着大朵的白玫瑰。弗雷德挑逗地吹起了口哨，那群媚娃表妹们顿时咯咯笑成一片。接着响起了音乐，似乎是从那些金色气球里飘出来的。人群安静下来。

“Ooooh!” said Hermione, swiveling around in her seat to look at the entrance.

“噢！”赫敏在座位里转过身看着入口处说。

A great collective sigh issued from the assembled witches and wizards as Monsieur Delacour and Fleur came walking up the aisle, Fleur gliding, Monsieur Delacour bouncing and beaming. Fleur was wearing a very simple white dress and seemed to be emitting a strong, silvery glow. While her radiance usually dimmed everyone else by comparison, today it beautified everybody it fell upon. Ginny and Gabrielle, both wearing golden dresses, looked even prettier than usual, and once Fleur had reached him, Bill did not look as though he had ever met Fenrir Greyback.

德拉库尔先生和芙蓉顺着通道走来时，聚集在帐篷里的巫师们异口同声地发出叹息。芙蓉步态轻盈，德拉库尔先生连蹦带跳，满脸笑容。芙蓉穿着一件非常简单的白色连衣裙，周身似乎散发出一种强烈的银光。平常，光彩照人的她总是把别人比得黯然失色，但今天这银光却把每个人照得更加美丽。金妮和加布丽都穿着金黄色的连衣裙，看上去比平常还要漂亮。芙蓉走到比尔面前，顿时，比尔看上去就像从未遭过芬里尔·格雷伯克的毒手似的。

“Ladies and gentlemen,” said a slightly singsong voice, and with a slight shock, Harry saw the same small, tufty-haired wizard who had presided at Dumbledore’s funeral, now standing in front of Bill and Fleur. “We are gathered here today to celebrate the union of two faithful souls . . .”

“女士们先生们，”一个有点单调的声音说，哈利微微吃惊地看到主持邓布利多葬礼的那个头发浓密的小个子巫师，此刻站在了比尔和芙蓉面前，“今天我们聚集在这里，庆祝两个忠贞的灵魂彼此结合……”

“Yes, my tiara sets off the whole thing nicely,” said Auntie Muriel in a rather carrying whisper. “But I must say, Ginevra’s dress is far too low cut.”

“没错，我的头饰使她整个人更漂亮了，”穆丽尔姨婆用传得很远的低语声说，“可是我得说一句，金妮的裙子开口太低了。”

Ginny glanced around, grinning, winked at Harry, then quickly faced the front again. Harry’s mind wandered a long way from the marquee, back to afternoons spent alone with Ginny in lonely parts of the school grounds. They seemed so long ago; they had always seemed too good to be true, as though he had been stealing shining hours from a normal person’s life, a person without a lightningshaped scar on his forehead. . . .

金妮扭过脸笑笑，朝哈利眨了眨眼睛，又赶紧面朝前方。哈利的思绪飘离的帐篷，回到他和金妮在学校操场上独处的那些下午。那似乎是很久很久以前的事了。他总是觉得那些下午太过美好，不像是真的，就好像他从一个普通人——一个额头上没有闪电形伤疤的人的生命里偷来了一些幸福时光……

“Do you, William Arthur, take Fleur Isabelle . . . ?”

“威廉姆·亚瑟，你愿意娶芙蓉·伊萨贝尔……？”

In the front row, Mrs. Weasley and Madame Delacour were both sobbing quietly into scraps of lace. Trumpetlike sounds from the back of the marquee told everyone that Hagrid had taken out one of his own tablecloth-sized handkerchiefs. Hermione turned and beamed at Harry; her eyes too were full of tears.

坐在前排的韦斯莱夫人和德拉库尔夫人都用花边帕子捂着脸小声哭泣。大帐篷后面传来了吹喇叭似的声音，大家便知道海格掏出了他的桌布那么大的手帕。赫敏转脸微笑地看着哈利，眼里也满是泪水。

“. . . then I declare you bonded for life.”

“……我宣布你们结为终身伴侣。”

The tufty-haired wizard waved his wand high over the heads of Bill and Fleur and a shower of silver stars fell upon them, spiraling around their now entwined figures. As Fred and George led a round of applause, the golden balloons overhead burst: Birds of paradise and tiny golden bells flew and floated out of them, adding their songs and chimes to the din.

头发浓密的巫师在比尔和芙蓉头顶上高高挥舞魔杖，一大片银色的星星落在他们身上，绕着他们此刻紧紧相拥的身体旋转。弗雷德和乔治领头鼓掌喝彩，头顶上金色的气球炸开了，极乐鸟和小金铃铛从里面飞出来，飘浮在半空，于是，全场的喧闹声中又增添了鸟叫声和铃铛声。

“Ladies and gentlemen!” called the tufty-haired wizard. “If you would please stand up!”

“女士们先生们！”头发浓密的巫师大声说，“请起立！”

They all did so, Auntie Muriel grumbling audibly; he waved his wand again. The seats on which they had been sitting rose gracefully into the air as the canvas walls of the marquee vanished, so that they stood beneath a canopy supported by golden poles, with a glorious view of the sunlit orchard and surrounding countryside. Next, a pool of molten gold spread from the center of the tent to form a gleaming dance floor; the hovering chairs grouped themselves around small, white-clothed tables, which all floated gracefully back to earth around it, and the golden-jacketed band trooped toward a podium.

大家都站了起来，穆丽尔姨婆嘟嘟囔囔地抱怨了几句。巫师又挥起了魔杖。所有的座位都轻盈优雅地升到了半空，大帐篷的帆布消失了，他们站在由金柱子支撑的天棚下面，放眼看去是阳光灿烂的果园和环绕的乡村，景致美丽极了。接着，一摊熔化的金子从帐篷中央铺散开来，形成了一个金光闪闪的舞池。那些飘浮在半空的椅子自动聚集在铺着白桌布的小桌子旁边，一起轻盈优雅地飘回舞池周围的地面上，穿金黄色上衣的乐队齐步走向演出台。

“Smooth,” said Ron approvingly as the waiters popped up on all sides, some bearing silver trays of pumpkin juice, butterbeer, and firewhisky, others tottering piles of tarts and sandwiches.

“绝了。”罗恩赞叹道。侍者从四面八方冒了出来，有的托着银色的托盘，上面是南瓜汁、黄油啤酒和火焰威士忌；有的托着一大堆摇摇欲坠的馅饼和三明治。

“We should go and congratulate them!” said Hermione, standing on tiptoe to see the place where Bill and Fleur had vanished amid a crowd of well-wishers.

“我们应该过去向他们表示祝贺！”赫敏说着，踮着脚尖看比尔和芙蓉消失在祝福的人群中。

“We’ll have time later,” shrugged Ron, snatching three butterbeers from a passing tray and handing one to Harry. “Hermione, cop hold, let’s grab a table. . . . Not there! Nowhere near Muriel —”

“侍会儿会有时间的。”罗恩耸耸肩膀说道，一边从旁边经过的一个托盘上抓了三杯黄油啤酒，递了一杯给哈利，“赫敏，等等再说，我们先去找一张桌子……别在那儿！离穆丽尔远点儿——”

Ron led the way across the empty dance floor, glancing left and right as he went: Harry felt sure that he was keeping an eye out for Krum. By the time they had reached the other side of the marquee, most of the tables were occupied: The emptiest was the one where Luna sat alone.

罗恩打头走过空荡荡的舞池，边走边左右张望。哈利知道他肯定是在提防克鲁姆。他们来到大帐篷的另一边，发现大多数桌子旁都坐满了人，最空的就数卢娜独坐的那张桌子了。

“All right if we join you?” asked Ron.

“我们和你坐在一起好吗？”罗恩问。

“Oh yes,” she said happily. “Daddy’s just gone to give Bill and Fleur our present.”

“好啊，”卢娜高兴地说，“爸爸刚去把我们的礼物送给比尔和芙蓉。”

“What is it, a lifetime’s supply of Gurdyroots?” asked Ron.

“是什么？向他们终生提供戈迪根？”罗恩问。

Hermione aimed a kick at him under the table, but caught Harry instead. Eyes watering in pain, Harry lost track of the conversation for a few moments.

赫敏在桌子底下踢他一脚，不料却踢到了哈利。哈利疼得眼泪直流。一时间都听不见他们在说什么了。

The band had begun to play. Bill and Fleur took to the dance floor first, to great applause; after a while, Mr. Weasley led Madame Delacour onto the floor, followed by Mrs. Weasley and Fleur’s father.

乐队开始演奏了。比尔和芙蓉首先步入舞池，赢得大家的热烈喝彩。过了一会儿，韦斯莱先生领着德拉库尔夫人走向舞池，后面跟着韦斯莱夫人和芙蓉的父亲。

“I like this song,” said Luna, swaying in time to the waltzlike tune, and a few seconds later she stood up and glided onto the dance floor, where she revolved on the spot, quite alone, eyes closed and waving her arms.

“我喜欢这首歌。”卢娜说，她和着类似华尔兹乐曲的节奏轻轻摇摆。几秒钟后，她站起身，脚步轻盈地滑向舞池，在那里独自一人原地旋转，闭着眼睛，摆着双臂。

“She’s great, isn’t she?” said Ron admiringly. “Always good value.”

“她可真棒，是不是？”罗恩赞叹地说，“总是很有品位。”

But the smile vanished from his face at once: Viktor Krum had dropped into Luna’s vacant seat. Hermione looked pleasurably flustered, but this time Krum had not come to compliment her. With a scowl on his face he said, “Who is that man in the yellow?”

可是他脸上的笑容突然隐去了：威克多尔·克鲁姆坐在了卢娜空出来的座位上。赫敏看上去既高兴又慌乱，但这次克鲁姆可不是来恭维她的。他皱着眉头说道：“穿黄衣服的那个男人是谁？”

“That’s Xenophilius Lovegood, he’s the father of a friend of ours,” said Ron. His pugnacious tone indicated that they were not about to laugh at Xenophilius, despite the clear provocation. “Come and dance,” he added abruptly to Hermione.

“谢诺菲留斯·洛夫古德，是我们一个朋友的父亲。”罗恩说。他口气里的火药味很浓，表明他们并不打算嘲笑谢诺菲留斯，尽管那人明显可笑。“跳舞去吧。”他很突兀地对赫敏说。

She looked taken aback, but pleased too, and got up. They vanished together into the growing throng on the dance floor.

赫敏显得很吃惊但也很高兴，立刻站了起来。他们一起消失在舞池里越来越拥挤的人群中。

“Ah, they are together now?” asked Krum, momentarily distracted.

“啊，他们俩好上了？”克鲁姆问，一时有点走神。

“Er — sort of,” said Harry.

“嗯——就算是吧。”哈利说。

“Who are you?” Krum asked.

“你是谁？”

“Barny Weasley.”

“巴尼·韦斯莱。”

They shook hands.

他们握了握手。

“You, Barny — you know this man Lovegood vell?”

“巴尼——你熟悉这个姓洛夫古德的人吗？”

“No, I only met him today. Why?”

“不熟悉，我今天第一次见到他。怎么啦？”

Krum glowered over the top of his drink, watching Xenophilius, who was chatting to several warlocks on the other side of the dance floor.

克鲁姆端着酒杯，怒气冲冲地盯着谢诺菲留斯在舞池的另一边跟几个男巫聊天。

“Because,” said Krum, “if he vos not a guest of Fleur’s, I vould duel him, here and now, for vearing that filthy sign upon his chest.”

“因为，”克鲁姆说，“他要不是芙蓉请来的客人，我就要跟他当场决斗，他居然在胸口戴着那个邪恶的标志。”

“Sign?” said Harry, looking over at Xenophilius too. The strange triangular eye was gleaming on his chest. “Why? What’s wrong with it?”

“标志？”哈利说着，也朝谢诺菲留斯望去。那个奇怪的三角形眼睛在他胸口闪闪发亮。“怎么啦？有什么不对吗？”

“Grindelvald. That is Grindelvald’s sign.”

“格林德沃。那是格林德沃的标志。”

“Grindelwald . . . the Dark wizard Dumbledore defeated?”

“格林德沃……就是邓布利多打败的那个黑巫师？”

“Exactly.”

“没错。”

Krum’s jaw muscles worked as if he were chewing, then he said, “Grindelvald killed many people, my grandfather, for instance. Of course, he vos never poverful in this country, they said he feared Dumbledore — and rightly, seeing how he vos finished. But this” — he pointed a finger at Xenophilius — “this is his symbol, I recognized it at vunce: Grindelvald carved it into a vall at Durmstrang ven he vos a pupil there. Some idiots copied it onto their books and clothes, thinking to shock, make themselves impressive — until those of us who had lost family members to Grindelvald taught them better.”

克鲁姆面颊上肌肉蠕动，好像在咀嚼什么东西，然后他说：“格林德沃杀害了许多人，我祖父就是其中一个。当然，他在这个国家一直没什么势力，他们说他害怕邓布利多——说得不错，看他最后的下场！可是，这个——”他用手指指谢诺菲留斯，“——是他的符号，我一眼就认出来了。格林德沃在德姆斯特朗读书时，把它刻在了一面墙上。有些傻瓜把这符号复制在课本上、衣服上，想用它吓唬别人，使自己显得了不起——后来，我们这些因格林德沃而失去亲人的人给了他们一些教训。”

Krum cracked his knuckles menacingly and glowered at Xenophilius. Harry felt perplexed. It seemed incredibly unlikely that Luna’s father was a supporter of the Dark Arts, and nobody else in the tent seemed to have recognized the triangular, runelike shape.

克鲁姆气势汹汹地把指关节按得啪啪响，狠狠地瞪着谢诺菲留斯。哈利觉得很不理解。卢娜的父亲是黑魔法的支持者？这实在令人难以置信，而且，帐篷里的其他人似乎都没认出那个如尼文般的三角形标志。

“Are you — er — quite sure it’s Grindelwald’s — ?”

“你——嗯——你真的肯定那是格林德沃的——？”

“I am not mistaken,” said Krum coldly. “I valked past that sign for several years, I know it vell.”

“我不会弄错的，”克鲁姆冷冷地说，“几年来我几乎天天经过那个标志，对它了如指掌。”

“Well, there’s a chance,” said Harry, “that Xenophilius doesn’t actually know what the symbol means. The Lovegoods are quite . . . unusual. He could easily have picked it up somewhere and think it’s a cross section of the head of a Crumple-Horned Snorkack or something.”

“嗯，”哈利说，“说不定谢诺菲留斯并不知道那个符号的意思。洛夫古德家的人都很……不同寻常。他可能无意中在什么地方看见了它，以为是弯角鼾兽之类的横切面图。”

“The cross section of a vot?”

“什么的横切面图？”

“Well, I don’t know what they are, but apparently he and his daughter go on holiday looking for them. . . .”

“咳，我也不知道是什么，但他和他女儿放假时好像在找这东西……”

Harry felt he was doing a bad job explaining Luna and her father.

哈利觉得自己根本没把卢娜和她父亲介绍清楚。

“That’s her,” he said, pointing at Luna, who was still dancing alone, waving her arms around her head like someone attempting to beat off midges.

“那就是他女儿。”他指着卢娜说。卢娜还在独自跳舞，双臂在脑袋周围舞动，就像试图赶走蚊虫一样。

“Vy is she doing that?” asked Krum.

“她干吗那样？”克鲁姆问。

“Probably trying to get rid of a Wrackspurt,” said Harry, who recognized the symptoms.

“大概想摆脱一只骚扰虻吧。”哈利认出了这种征兆，说道。

Krum did not seem to know whether or not Harry was making fun of him. He drew his wand from inside his robes and tapped it menacingly on his thigh; sparks flew out of the end.

克鲁姆似乎弄不清哈利是不是在捉弄他。他从长袍里抽出魔杖，狠狠地用它敲着大腿，杖尖冒出金星。

“Gregorovitch!” said Harry loudly, and Krum started, but Harry was too excited to care; the memory had come back to him at the sight of Krum’s wand: Ollivander taking it and examining it carefully before the Triwizard Tournament.

“格里戈维奇！”哈利大声说道，克鲁姆一惊，但哈利太兴奋了，没有注意到。看到克鲁姆的魔杖，他想起了过去的一幕：在三强争霸赛前，奥利凡德曾接过这根魔杖仔细端详。

“Vot about him?” asked Krum suspiciously.

“他怎么啦？”克鲁姆怀疑地问。

“He’s a wandmaker!”

“他是个制作魔杖的人！”

“I know that,” said Krum.

“这我知道。”克鲁姆说。

“He made your wand! That’s why I thought — Quidditch —”

“你的魔杖就是他做的！所以我想——魁地奇——”

Krum was looking more and more suspicious.

克鲁姆似乎越来越疑心了。

“How do you know Gregorovitch made my vand?”

“你怎么知道我的魔杖是格里戈维奇做的？”

“I . . . I read it somewhere, I think,” said Harry. “In a — a fan magazine,” he improvised wildly and Krum looked mollified.

“我……我大概是从什么地方看来的，”哈利说道，“在——在球迷杂志上吧。”他信口胡编，克鲁姆的怒容似乎缓和了。

“I had not realized I ever discussed my vand with fans,” he said.

“我不记得我跟球迷谈过我的魔杖。”他说。

“So . . . er . . . where is Gregorovitch these days?”

“那么……嗯……格里戈维奇最近在哪儿？”

Krum looked puzzled.

克鲁姆一脸困惑。

“He retired several years ago. I vos one of the last to purchase a Gregorovitch vand. They are the best — although I know, of course, that you Britons set much store by Ollivander.”

“他几年前就退休了。我是最后一批购买格里戈维奇魔杖的人之一。它们是最棒的——不过我知道，你们英国人看重的是奥利凡德的魔杖。”

Harry did not answer. He pretended to watch the dancers, like Krum, but he was thinking hard. So Voldemort was looking for a celebrated wandmaker, and Harry did not have to search far for a reason: It was surely because of what Harry’s wand had done on the night that Voldemort had pursued him across the skies. The holly and phoenix feather wand had conquered the borrowed wand, something that Ollivander had not anticipated or understood. Would Gregorovitch know better? Was he truly more skilled than Ollivander, did he know secrets of wands that Ollivander did not?

哈利没有回答。他假装像克鲁姆一样看别人跳舞，心里却在苦苦思索。这么说伏地魔寻找的是一位著名的魔杖制作人，哈利觉得这个原因倒不难理解：肯定是因为伏地魔在空中追他的那天夜里哈利魔杖的所作所为。冬青木和凤凰羽毛的魔杖征服了那根借来的魔杖，这是奥利凡德没有料到、不能理解的。格里戈维奇是不是知道得更多？他真的比奥利凡德技术高明，他真的知道奥利凡德不知道的魔杖秘密吗？

“This girl is very nice-looking,” Krum said, recalling Harry to his surroundings. Krum was pointing at Ginny, who had just joined Luna. “She is also a relative of yours?”

“这姑娘很漂亮。”克鲁姆的话把哈利拉回到眼前的场景中。克鲁姆指的是金妮，她来到卢娜身边和她一起跳舞。“她也是你们家亲戚？”

“Yeah,” said Harry, suddenly irritated, “and she’s seeing someone. Jealous type. Big bloke. You wouldn’t want to cross him.”

“对，”哈利说，心头突然烦燥起来，“她有男朋友了。那家伙块头挺大，爱吃醋。你可千万别惹他。”

Krum grunted.

克鲁姆不满地嘟哝着。

“Vot,” he said, draining his goblet and getting to his feet again, “is the point of being an international Quidditch player if all the good-looking girls are taken?”

“唉，”他喝干了杯里的酒，重又站起身来，“所有的漂亮姑娘都名花有主了，做一个国际球星又有什么用呢？”

And he strode off, leaving Harry to take a sandwich from a passing waiter and make his way around the edge of the crowded dance floor. He wanted to find Ron, to tell him about Gregorovitch, but Ron was dancing with Hermione out in the middle of the floor. Harry leaned up against one of the golden pillars and watched Ginny, who was now dancing with Fred and George’s friend Lee Jordan, trying not to feel resentful about the promise he had given Ron.

他大步走开了，哈利从旁边走过的侍者手里拿过一块三明治，在拥挤的舞池边缘穿行。他想找到罗恩，跟他说说格里戈维奇的事，可是罗恩正在舞池中央跟赫敏跳舞呢。哈利靠在一根金柱子上注视着金妮，她现在正跟弗雷德和乔治的朋友李·乔丹一起翩翩起舞，哈利努力不让自己因为对罗恩许了诺言而心生怨恨。

He had never been to a wedding before, so he could not judge how Wizarding celebrations differed from Muggle ones, though he was pretty sure that the latter would not involve a wedding cake topped with two model phoenixes that took flight when the cake was cut, or bottles of champagne that floated unsupported through the crowd. As evening drew in, and moths began to swoop under the canopy, now lit with floating golden lanterns, the revelry became more and more uncontained. Fred and George had long since disappeared into the darkness with a pair of Fleur’s cousins; Charlie, Hagrid, and a squat wizard in a purple porkpie hat were singing “Odo the Hero” in a corner.

他以前从没参加过婚礼，所以没法判断巫师的仪式和麻瓜们有什么不同，不过他知道麻瓜婚礼上肯定不会有在人群中悬空飘浮的一瓶瓶香槟酒，也不会有这样的结婚蛋糕：顶上有两个凤凰模型，蛋糕一切开它们就展翅起飞。夜幕降临，浮在半空的金色灯笼照亮了天棚，蛾子开始在天棚下成群飞舞，狂欢的气氛越来越浓，越来越没有节制。弗雷德和乔治早就跟芙蓉的一对表姐妹消失在黑暗里。查理、海格和一个戴紫色馅饼式男帽的矮胖巫师在墙角高唱《英雄奥多》。

Wandering through the crowd so as to escape a drunken uncle of Ron’s who seemed unsure whether or not Harry was his son, Harry spotted an old wizard sitting alone at a table. His cloud of white hair made him look rather like an aged dandelion clock and was topped by a moth-eaten fez. He was vaguely familiar: Racking his brains, Harry suddenly realized that this was Elphias Doge, member of the Order of the Phoenix and the writer of Dumbledore’s obituary.

罗恩的一个叔叔喝醉了，弄不清哈利到底是不是他儿子。哈利为了躲避他，在人群里胡乱穿行，突然看见一个年迈的蒲公英茸毛头，头顶上还戴着一顶被虫蛀了的土耳其帽。哈利觉得他有点眼熟，使劲儿想了想，突然想起这是埃非亚斯·多吉，凤凰社成员，邓布利多那篇讣文的作者。

Harry approached him.

哈利朝他走去。

“May I sit down?”

“我可以坐下吗？”

“Of course, of course,” said Doge; he had a rather high-pitched, wheezy voice.

“当然，当然。”多吉说，他的声音非常尖细，呼哧带喘。

Harry leaned in.

哈利探过身去。

“Mr. Doge, I’m Harry Potter.”

“多吉先生，我是哈利·波特。”

Doge gasped.

多吉倒抽了口冷气。

“My dear boy! Arthur told me you were here, disguised. . . . I am so glad, so honored!”

“我亲爱的孩子！亚瑟告诉我说你在这儿，化了装……我太高兴了，太荣幸了！”

In a flutter of nervous pleasure Doge poured Harry a goblet of champagne.

多吉又是紧张又是高兴，手忙脚乱地给哈利倒了杯香槟。

“I thought of writing to you,” he whispered, “after Dumbledore . . . the shock . . . and for you, I am sure . . .”

“我早就想给你写信，”他小声说，“邓布利多死后……那种震惊……我相信对你来说……”

Doge’s tiny eyes filled with sudden tears.

多吉的小眼睛里突然充满泪水。

“I saw the obituary you wrote for the Daily Prophet,’’ said Harry. “I didn’t realize you knew Professor Dumbledore so well.”

“我看了你给《预言家日报》写的那篇讣文，”哈利说，“没想到你对邓布利多教授这么熟悉。”

“As well as anyone,” said Doge, dabbing his eyes with a napkin. “Certainly I knew him longest, if you don’t count Aberforth — and somehow, people never do seem to count Aberforth.”

“并不比别人更熟悉。”多吉说着，用一块餐巾擦了擦眼睛，“当然啦。我认识他的时间最长，如果不算阿不福思——不知怎么，人们好像确实从不算上阿不福思。”

“Speaking of the Daily Prophet . . . I don’t know whether you saw, Mr. Doge — ?”

“说到《预言家日报》……多吉先生，我不知道你有没有看到——？”

“Oh, please call me Elphias, dear boy.”

“哦，就叫我埃非亚斯吧，亲爱的孩子。”

“Elphias, I don’t know whether you saw the interview Rita Skeeter gave about Dumbledore?”

“埃非亚斯，我不知道你有没有看到丽塔·斯基特的关于邓布利多的那篇专访？”

Doge’s face flooded with angry color.

多吉的脸顿时气得通红。

“Oh yes, Harry, I saw it. That woman, or vulture might be a more accurate term, positively pestered me to talk to her. I am ashamed to say that I became rather rude, called her an interfering trout, which resulted, as you may have seen, in aspersions cast upon my sanity.”

“看到了，哈利，我看到了。那个女人，叫她秃老雕恐怕更合适些，她竟然缠着我跟她说话。说来惭愧，我当时态度很粗野，跟她叫爱管闲事的讨厌婆娘，结果，你大概也看到了，她给我泼脏水，诽谤我神志不清。”

“Well, in that interview,” Harry went on, “Rita Skeeter hinted that Professor Dumbledore was involved in the Dark Arts when he was young.”

“嗯，在那篇专访里，”哈利继续说，“丽塔·斯基特暗示说邓布利多教授年轻时接触过黑魔法。”

“Don’t believe a word of it!” said Doge at once. “Not a word, Harry! Let nothing tarnish your memories of Albus Dumbledore!”

“一个字儿也别信！”多吉立刻说道，“一个字儿也别信，哈利！别让任何东西玷污你记忆中的阿不思·邓布利多！”

Harry looked into Doge’s earnest, pained face and felt, not reassured, but frustrated. Did Doge really think it was that easy, that Harry could simply choose not to believe? Didn’t Doge understand Harry’s need to be sure, to know everything?

哈利凝视着多吉那张真诚而痛苦的脸，心里并没有得到安慰，反而觉得很失望。难道多吉真的以为事情那么简单，哈利只要选择不去相信就行了吗？难道多吉不明白哈利的感受，他露出担忧的神情，又急忙说道：“哈利，丽塔·斯基特是个非常讨厌的——”

Perhaps Doge suspected Harry’s feelings, for he looked concerned and hurried on, “Harry, Rita Skeeter is a dreadful —”

一声刺耳的嘎嘎尖笑打断了他的话。

But he was interrupted by a shrill cackle.

“丽塔·斯基特？哦，我喜欢她，总是读她写的东西！”

“Rita Skeeter? Oh, I love her, always read her!”

哈利和多吉抬头一看，面前站在穆丽尔姨婆，她帽子上的羽毛上下翻飞，手里端着一杯香槟。“知道吗，她写了一本关于邓布利多的书！”

Harry and Doge looked up to see Auntie Muriel standing there, the plumes dancing on her hat, a goblet of champagne in her hand. “She’s written a book about Dumbledore, you know!”

“你好，穆丽尔，”多吉说，“是啊，我们正在谈论——”

“Hello, Muriel,” said Doge. “Yes, we were just discussing —”

“是嘛！把你的椅子给我，我都一百零七岁了！”

“You there! Give me your chair, I’m a hundred and seven!”

韦斯莱家的另一个红头发堂哥惊慌失措地从椅子上跳起来，穆丽尔姨婆用惊人的力气把椅子转了圈，放在多吉和哈利中间，然后扑通坐了下去。

Another redheaded Weasley cousin jumped off his seat, looking alarmed, and Auntie Muriel swung it around with surprising strength and plopped herself down upon it between Doge and Harry.

“又见到你了，巴利，（穆丽尔姨婆对哈利化装后所用的名字巴尼的误称）不管你叫什么名字啊。”她对哈利说，“好了，埃非亚斯，你们刚才在说丽塔·斯基特什么？知道她写了一本邓布利多的传记吗？我迫不及待地想读呢，我得记着在丽痕书店订购一本。”

“Hello again, Barry, or whatever your name is,” she said to Harry. “Now, what were you saying about Rita Skeeter, Elphias? You know she’s written a biography of Dumbledore? I can’t wait to read it, I must remember to place an order at Flourish and Blotts!”

听了这话，多吉沉了脸，表情僵硬，可是穆丽尔姨婆一口喝干杯里的酒，用瘦骨嶙峋的手朝旁边一位侍者打了个响指，要求斟满。她又喝下一大口香槟，打了个响嗝，才说道：“没必要看上去像两只青蛙标本似的！阿不思在变得这么德高望重、受人尊敬之前，曾经有过一些非常滑稽的谣传呢！”

Doge looked stiff and solemn at this, but Auntie Muriel drained her goblet and clicked her bony fingers at a passing waiter for a replacement. She took another large gulp of champagne, belched, and then said, “There’s no need to look like a pair of stuffed frogs! Before he became so respected and respectable and all that tosh, there were some mighty funny rumors about Albus!”

“无中生有的乌鸦嘴。”多吉说，脸又变得像萝卜一样通红。

“Ill-informed sniping,” said Doge, turning radish-colored again.

“随你怎么说吧，埃非亚斯，”穆丽尔姨婆咯咯笑着说，“我注意到你那篇讣文把不好处理的地方一带而过！”

“You would say that, Elphias,” cackled Auntie Muriel. “I noticed how you skated over the sticky patches in that obituary of yours!”

“很遗憾你这么想，”多吉口气更加冷淡地说，“我向你保证，我写的都是发自内心的话。”

“I’m sorry you think so,” said Doge, more coldly still. “I assure you I was writing from the heart.”

“噢，我们都知道你崇拜邓布利多。我敢说你一直都把他看成圣人，即使后来发现他真的杀死了他的哑炮妹妹！”

“Oh, we all know you worshipped Dumbledore; I daresay you’ll still think he was a saint even if it does turn out that he did away with his Squib sister!”

“穆丽尔！”多吉惊叫。

“Muriel !” exclaimed Doge.

一股与冰镇香槟酒无关的寒意穿过哈利的脸膛。

A chill that had nothing to do with the iced champagne was stealing through Harry’s chest.

“你说什么？”他问穆丽尔，“谁说他妹妹是哑炮？他不是身体有病吗？”

“What do you mean?” he asked Muriel. “Who said his sister was a Squib? I thought she was ill?”

“那你可就错了，巴利！”穆丽尔姨婆说，似乎对她制造的效果非常满意，“是啊，你怎么可能知道这件事呢？亲爱的，事情发生的时候，你连影子都没有呢，事实上，我们这些当时活着的人也根本不清楚到底是怎么回事。所以我才等不及要看看斯基特挖掘出了什么！邓布利多很长时间都只字不提他那个妹妹！”

“Thought wrong, then, didn’t you, Barry!” said Auntie Muriel, looking delighted at the effect she had produced. “Anyway, how could you expect to know anything about it? It all happened years and years before you were even thought of, my dear, and the truth is that those of us who were alive then never knew what really happened. That’s why I can’t wait to find out what Skeeter’s unearthed! Dumbledore kept that sister of his quiet for a long time!”

“不实之词！”多吉气呼呼地说，“纯粹是不实之词！”

“Untrue!” wheezed Doge. “Absolutely untrue!”

“他从没对我说过他妹妹是个哑炮。”哈利的话脱口而出，心里仍然充满寒意。

“He never told me his sister was a Squib,” said Harry, without thinking, still cold inside.

“他凭什么要对你说？”穆丽尔尖声说道，在椅子上摇晃着身子，想把目光对准哈利的脸。

“And why on earth would he tell you?” screeched Muriel, swaying a little in her seat as she attempted to focus upon Harry.

“阿不思从来不提阿利安娜，”埃非亚斯用激动得发紧的声音说，“其中的原因我想是很明显的。她的死让他伤心欲绝——”

“The reason Albus never spoke about Ariana,” began Elphias in a voice stiff with emotion, “is, I should have thought, quite clear. He was so devastated by her death —”

“为什么从来没有人见过她，埃非亚斯？”穆丽尔粗声大气地问，“为什么我们一半的人甚至都不知道有她这个人存在，直到他们从房子里抬出棺材，为她举行葬礼？阿利安娜被关在地窖里的时候，圣人阿不思在哪儿呢？他在霍格沃茨大出风头，根本不关心自己家里发生的事儿！”

“Why did nobody ever see her, Elphias?” squawked Muriel. “Why did half of us never even know she existed, until they carried the coffin out of the house and held a funeral for her? Where was saintly Albus while Ariana was locked in the cellar? Off being brilliant at Hogwarts, and never mind what was going on in his own house!”

“你说什么，‘关在地窖里’？”哈利问，“这是怎么回事？”

“What d’you mean, locked in the cellar?” asked Harry. “What is this?”

多吉显出痛苦的样子。穆丽尔姨婆又咯咯大笑一阵，然后回答了哈利。

Doge looked wretched. Auntie Muriel cackled again and answered Harry.

“邓布利多的母亲是个可怕的女人，非常可怕，麻瓜出身，但我听说她谎称自己不是——”

“Dumbledore’s mother was a terrifying woman, simply terrifying. Muggle-born, though I heard she pretended otherwise —”

“她从来没有谎称过那样的事！坎德拉是个很好的女人。”多吉可怜巴巴地小声说，但穆丽尔姨婆根本不理他。

“She never pretended anything of the sort! Kendra was a fine woman,” whispered Doge miserably, but Auntie Muriel ignored him.

“——非常骄傲，盛气凌人，那种女巫生下了一个哑炮，肯定觉得大丢面子——”

“— proud and very domineering, the sort of witch who would have been mortified to produce a Squib —”

“阿利安娜不是哑炮！”多吉喘着气说。

“Ariana was not a Squib!” wheezed Doge.

“那么，埃非亚斯，请你解释一下，她为什么一直没上霍格沃茨？”穆丽尔姨婆说道。然后她又转向哈利。“在我们那个年代，家里有个哑炮经常要遮掩起来，但是做得那么过分，竟然把一个小姑娘囚禁在家里，假装她不存在——”

“So you say, Elphias, but explain, then, why she never attended Hogwarts!” said Auntie Muriel. She turned back to Harry. “In our day, Squibs were often hushed up, though to take it to the extreme of actually imprisoning a little girl in the house and pretending she didn’t exist —”

“我告诉你，根本就没有那回事！”多吉说，但穆丽尔姨婆继续努力势不可挡地往下说，仍然冲着哈利。

“I tell you, that’s not what happened!” said Doge, but Auntie Muriel steamrollered on, still addressing Harry.

“一般是把哑炮送到麻瓜学校，鼓励他们融入麻瓜社会……这要比给他们在巫师界找个位置仁慈得多，因为他们在巫师界永远只能是二等公民。可是，当然啦，坎德拉·邓布利多做梦也不想把女儿送进一所麻瓜学校——”

“Squibs were usually shipped off to Muggle schools and encouraged to integrate into the Muggle community . . . much kinder than trying to find them a place in the Wizarding world, where they must always be second class; but naturally Kendra Dumbledore wouldn’t have dreamed of letting her daughter go to a Muggle school —”

“阿利安娜身体不好！”多吉绝望地说，“她健康状况很差，不能——”

“Ariana was delicate!” said Doge desperately. “Her health was always too poor to permit her —”

“——不能离开家门？”穆丽尔咯咯笑着说，“她从来不上圣芒戈医院，也没有请治疗师上门去看她！”

“— to permit her to leave the house?” cackled Muriel. “And yet she was never taken to St. Mungo’s and no Healer was ever summoned to see her!”

“说真的，穆丽尔，你怎么可能知道是不是——”

“Really, Muriel, how you can possibly know whether —”

“告诉你吧，埃非亚斯，我的亲戚兰斯洛特当时就是圣芒戈医院的治疗师，他非常机密地告诉我们家人，他们从没看见阿利安娜去过医院。兰斯洛特认为这十分可疑！”

“For your information, Elphias, my cousin Lancelot was a Healer at St. Mungo’s at the time, and he told my family in strictest confidence that Ariana had never been seen there. All most suspicious, Lancelot thought!”

多吉看上去快要哭了。穆丽尔姨婆似乎开心极了，又打着响指要香槟。哈利呆呆地想想德思礼一家曾经把他关起来、锁起来、不让别人看见他，就因为他是个巫师。难道邓布利多的妹妹由于相反的原因遭受过同样的命运：因为不会魔法而被囚禁？难道邓布利多真的对她的命运不闻不问，只管在霍格沃茨证明自己有多么优秀、多么才华横溢？

Doge looked to be on the verge of tears. Auntie Muriel, who seemed to be enjoying herself hugely, snapped her fingers for more champagne. Numbly Harry thought of how the Dursleys had once shut him up, locked him away, kept him out of sight, all for the crime of being a wizard. Had Dumbledore’s sister suffered the same fate in reverse: imprisoned for her lack of magic? And had Dumbledore truly left her to her fate while he went off to Hogwarts, to prove himself brilliant and talented?

“咳，要不是坎德拉死在前面，”穆丽尔又说道，“我都怀疑是她干掉了阿利安娜——”

“Now, if Kendra hadn’t died first,” Muriel resumed, “I’d have said that it was she who finished off Ariana —”

“你怎么能这么说，穆丽尔？”多吉哀叹着说，“一个母亲杀死自己的亲生女儿？你想想你都在说些什么！”

“How can you, Muriel?” groaned Doge. “A mother kill her own daughter? Think what you are saying!”

“如果这位母亲能够多年囚禁自己的女儿，还有什么做不出来的？”穆丽尔姨婆耸耸肩膀说，“不过我说了，这不成立，因为坎德拉死在阿利安娜之前——怎么死的，似乎谁都说不准——”

“If the mother in question was capable of imprisoning her daughter for years on end, why not?” shrugged Auntie Muriel. “But as I say, it doesn’t fit, because Kendra died before Ariana — of what, nobody ever seemed sure —”

“哦，肯定是阿利安娜谋杀了她，”多吉勇敢地做出讥笑的神情说，“有什么做不出来的？”

“Oh, no doubt Ariana murdered her,” said Doge with a brave attempt at scorn. “Why not?”

“对，阿利安娜可能为了自己拼死反抗，在搏斗中杀死了坎德拉。”穆丽尔姨婆若有所思地说，“你就尽管摇头吧，埃非亚斯！你当时也参加了阿利安娜的葬礼，不是吗？”

“Yes, Ariana might have made a desperate bid for freedom and killed Kendra in the struggle,” said Auntie Muriel thoughtfully. “Shake your head all you like, Elphias! You were at Ariana’s funeral, were you not?”

“是啊，”多吉嘴唇颤抖地说，“这是我记忆中最最令人伤心的场面。阿不思的心都碎了——”

“Yes I was,” said Doge, through trembling lips. “And a more desperately sad occasion I cannot remember. Albus was heartbroken —”

“碎的不止是他的心。葬礼举行到一半的时候，阿不福思是不是打碎了阿不思的鼻子？”

“His heart wasn’t the only thing. Didn’t Aberforth break Albus’s nose halfway through the service?”

如果说刚才多吉显出的是惊恐的神情，那跟他此刻的神情相比简直算不了什么，就好像穆丽尔一刀刺中了他似的。穆丽尔姨婆咯咯大笑着，又喝了一大口香槟，酒顺着下巴滴滴答答地流下来。

If Doge had looked horrified before this, it was nothing to how he looked now. Muriel might have stabbed him. She cackled loudly and took another swig of champagne, which dribbled down her chin.

“你怎么——？”多吉哑着嗓子问。

“How do you — ?” croaked Doge.

“我母亲跟巴希达·巴沙特关系很好，”穆丽尔姨婆兴高采烈地说道，“巴希达跟我母亲讲述了整个事情，我在门口听见了。棺材边的争斗！巴希达说，阿不福思大声嚷嚷说阿利安娜的死都怪阿不思，然后一拳砸在阿不思脸上。巴希达说，阿不思甚至都没有抵挡一下，这本身就够奇怪的，阿不思即使两个手捆在背后跟阿不福思决斗，也能把他干掉。”

“My mother was friendly with old Bathilda Bagshot,” said Auntie Muriel happily. “Bathilda described the whole thing to Mother while I was listening at the door. A coffin-side brawl! The way Bathilda told it, Aberforth shouted that it was all Albus’s fault that Ariana was dead and then punched him in the face. According to Bathilda, Albus did not even defend himself, and that’s odd enough in itself, Albus could have destroyed Aberforth in a duel with both hands tied behind his back.”

穆丽尔又大口喝了一些香槟。讲述这些昔日的丑闻把多吉吓得不轻，却使她自己兴致盎然。哈利不知道该怎么想，该相信什么：他希望了解事实，可多吉只是坐在那里用颤抖的声音有气无力地说阿利安娜体弱多病。如果邓布利多家里真的发生了这样惨无人道的事，哈利相信他绝不会听之任之，可是这故事里无疑存在着一些蹊跷之处。

Muriel swigged yet more champagne. The recitation of these old scandals seemed to elate her as much as they horrified Doge. Harry did not know what to think, what to believe: He wanted the truth, and yet all Doge did was sit there and bleat feebly that Ariana had been ill. Harry could hardly believe that Dumbledore would not have intervened if such cruelty was happening inside his own house, and yet there was undoubtedly something odd about the story.

“我再告诉你一件事吧，”穆丽尔姨婆放下酒杯，轻轻打着嗝儿说，“我猜想巴希达向丽塔·斯基特透露了秘密。斯基特的那篇专访暗示说，有一个与邓布利多一家关系密切的人提供了重要消息——老天做证，巴希达从头到尾目睹了阿利安娜的事情，肯定是她！”

“And I’ll tell you something else,” Muriel said, hiccuping slightly as she lowered her goblet. “I think Bathilda has spilled the beans to Rita Skeeter. All those hints in Skeeter’s interview about an important source close to the Dumbledores — goodness knows she was there all through the Ariana business, and it would fit!”

“巴希达·巴沙特？”哈利说，“《魔法史》的作者？”

“Bathilda would never talk to Rita Skeeter!” whispered Doge.

这个名字印在哈利一本教科书的封面上，不过必须承认，这本书他读得并不认真。

“Bathilda Bagshot?” Harry said. “The author of A History of Magic?”

“是啊，”多吉说，他一把抓住哈利的问题，就像一个快要淹死的人抓住救生带一样，“一位最有天分的魔法历史学家，也是阿不思的老朋友。”

The name was printed on the front of one of Harry’s textbooks, though admittedly not one of the ones he had read most attentively.

“听说最近糊涂得厉害。”穆丽尔姨婆开心地说。

“Yes,” said Doge, clutching at Harry’s question like a drowning man at a life belt. “A most gifted magical historian and an old friend of Albus’s.”

“如果是这样，斯基特利用她就更可耻了，”多吉说，“巴希达说的任何东西都不可信！”

“Quite gaga these days, I’ve heard,” said Auntie Muriel cheerfully.

“哦，有许多办法可以唤回记忆，我相信丽塔·斯基特对它们都很精通。”穆丽尔姨婆说，“就算巴希达成了彻头彻尾的老傻瓜，她肯定还会有老照片，甚至以前的信件。她认识邓布利多一家好多年……没错，完全值得去一趟戈德里克山谷。”

“If that is so, it is even more dishonorable for Skeeter to have taken advantage of her,” said Doge, “and no reliance can be placed on anything Bathilda may have said!”

哈利正在喝黄油啤酒，突然被呛住了，多吉使劲拍着他的后背。哈利一边咳嗽，一边用泪汪汪的眼睛看着穆丽尔姨婆。他刚找回自己的声音就问道：“巴希达·巴沙特住在戈德里克山谷？”

“Oh, there are ways of bringing back memories, and I’m sure Rita Skeeter knows them all,” said Auntie Muriel. “But even if Bathilda’s completely cuckoo, I’m sure she’d still have old photographs, maybe even letters. She knew the Dumbledores for years. . . . Well worth a trip to Godric’s Hollow, I’d have thought.”

“是啊，一直住在那儿！邓布利多一家在珀西瓦尔坐牢后搬到了那儿，巴希达就是他们的邻居。”

Harry, who had been taking a sip of butterbeer, choked. Doge banged him on the back as Harry coughed, looking at Auntie Muriel through streaming eyes. Once he had control of his voice again, he asked, “Bathilda Bagshot lives in Godric’s Hollow?”

“邓布利多一家住在戈德里克山谷？”

“Oh yes, she’s been there forever! The Dumbledores moved there after Percival was imprisoned, and she was their neighbor.”

“是啊，巴利，我刚才已经说了。”穆丽尔姨婆不耐烦地说。

“The Dumbledores lived in Godric’s Hollow?”

哈利觉得心里一下子被抽空了。六年来，邓布利多一次也没有告诉过哈利，他们都曾在戈德里克山谷生活过并失去过自己的亲人。为什么？莉莉和詹姆是不是就埋在邓布利多的母亲和妹妹旁边？邓布利多扫墓时，是不是要经过莉莉和詹姆的坟墓？而他一次也没有告诉过哈利……从来没说过……

“Yes, Barry, that’s what I just said,” said Auntie Muriel testily.

为什么这一点如此重要，哈利自己也无法解释，但他觉得，邓布利多对他只字不提他们共同拥有这个地方和这些经历，那就等于是在撒谎。他呆呆地望着前面，几乎没有注意到周围的动静，直到赫敏搬了把椅子坐到他身边，他才发现她已经从人群里出来了。

Harry felt drained, empty. Never once, in six years, had Dumbledore told Harry that they had both lived and lost loved ones in Godric’s Hollow. Why? Were Lily and James buried close to Dumbledore’s mother and sister? Had Dumbledore visited their graves, perhaps walked past Lily’s and James’s to do so? And he had never once told Harry . . . never bothered to say . . .

“我实在不能再跳了。”赫敏喘着气说，她脱掉一只鞋子，揉着脚底，“罗恩去找黄油啤酒了。真是怪事，我刚才看见威克多尔怒气冲冲地从卢娜父亲的身边走开，好像他们吵架了——”她放低声音，望着哈利，“哈利，你没事吧？”

And why it was so important, Harry could not explain even to himself, yet he felt it had been tantamount to a lie not to tell him that they had this place and these experiences in common. He stared ahead of him, barely noticing what was going on around him, and did not realize that Hermione had appeared out of the crowd until she drew up a chair beside him.

哈利不知从何说起，但已经没关系了。就在这时，一个银色的大家伙穿透舞池上方的一天蓬掉了下来。这只猞猁姿态优雅、闪闪发光，轻盈地落在大惊失色的跳舞者中间。人们纷纷转过脑袋，离它最近的一些人滑稽地僵住了。守护神把嘴张得大大的，用金斯莱·沙克尔那响亮、浑厚而缓慢的声音说话了。

“I simply can’t dance anymore,” she panted, slipping off one of her shoes and rubbing the sole of her foot. “Ron’s gone looking to find more butterbeers. It’s a bit odd, I’ve just seen Viktor storming away from Luna’s father, it looked like they’d been arguing —” She dropped her voice, staring at him. “Harry, are you okay?”

“魔法部垮台了。斯克林杰死了。他们来了。”

Harry did not know where to begin, but it did not matter. At that moment, something large and silver came falling through the canopy over the dance floor. Graceful and gleaming, the lynx landed lightly in the middle of the astonished dancers. Heads turned, as those nearest it froze absurdly in mid-dance. Then the Patronus’s mouth opened wide and it spoke in the loud, deep, slow voice of Kingsley Shacklebolt.

“The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming.”

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