6 The Journey from Platform Nine and Three-quarters

CHAPTER SIX THE JOURNEY FROM PLATFORM NINE AND THREE-QUARTERS Harry's last month with the Dursleys wasn't fun. True, Dudley was now so scared of Harry he wouldn't stay in the same room, while Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon didn't shut Harry in his cupboard, force him to do anything, or shout at him in fact, they didn't speak to him at all. Half terrified, half furious, they acted as though any chair with Harry in it were empty. Although

第六章从九又四分之三站台出发哈利和德思礼一家在一起的最后一个月并不好玩。 的确，达力现在非常害怕哈利，不敢和他呆在一个房间里，佩妮姨妈和弗农姨父也不再把哈利关在柜子里，也不再强迫他做任何事，也不再朝他大喊大叫——事实上，他们根本不跟他说话。 他们一半害怕，一半愤怒，就好像哈利坐的椅子都是空的一样。 虽然

this was an improvement in many ways, it did become a bit depressing after a while. Harry kept to his room, with his new owl for company. He had decided to call her Hedwig, a name he had found in A History of Magic. His school books were very interesting. He lay on his bed reading late into the night, Hedwig swooping in and out of the open window as she pleased. It was lucky that Aunt Petunia didn't come in to vacuum anymore, because Hedwig kept bringing back dead mice. Every night before he went to sleep, Harry ticked off another day on the piece of paper he had pinned to the wall, counting down to September the first. On the last day of August he thought he'd better speak to his aunt and uncle about getting to King's Cross station the next day, so he went down to the living room where they were watching a quiz show on television. He cleared his throat to let

这在很多方面都是一种进步，但一段时间后确实变得有点沮丧。 哈利待在自己的房间里，有他的新猫头鹰作伴。 他决定叫她海德薇，这是他在《魔法史》里找到的名字。 他的课本很有趣。 他躺在床上看书，一直读到深夜，海德薇在开着的窗户里随心所欲地飞来飞去。 幸亏佩妮姨妈不再来吸尘了，因为海德薇老是带死老鼠回来。 每天晚上睡觉前，哈利都要在别在墙上的那张纸上在另一天上打勾，倒计时到九月一日。 8月的最后一天，他想最好跟姨妈和姨父商量一下第二天去国王十字车站的事，于是他下楼到客厅，他们正在那儿看电视上的智力竞赛节目。 他清了清嗓子

them know he was there, and Dudley screamed and ran from the room. "Er Uncle Vernon?" Uncle Vernon grunted to show he was listening. "Er I need to be at King's Cross tomorrow to to go to Hogwarts." Uncle Vernon grunted again. "Would it be all right if you gave me a lift?" Grunt. Harry supposed that meant yes. "Thank you." He was about to go back upstairs when Uncle Vernon actually spoke. "Funny way to get to a wizards' school, the train. Magic carpets all got punctures, have they?" Harry didn't say anything. "Where is this school, anyway?" "I don't know," said Harry, realizing this for the first time. He pulled the ticket Hagrid had given him out of his pocket.

他们知道他在那里，达力尖叫着跑出了房间。 “呃，弗农姨父？”弗农姨父哼了一声，表示他在听。 “嗯，我明天要到国王十字车站去霍格沃茨。” 弗农姨父又哼了一声。 “你能载我一程吗？”咕哝。 哈利猜想这意味着“是”。 “谢谢你。”他刚要上楼，弗农姨父就开口了。 “去巫师学校的方式真有趣，坐火车。 魔毯都被刺破了，是吗？”哈利什么也没说。 “这所学校到底在哪儿？”“我不知道。”哈利说，这是他第一次意识到这一点。 他从口袋里掏出海格给他的那张票。

"I just take the train from platform nine and three-quarters at eleven o'clock," he read. His aunt and uncle stared. "Platform what?" "Nine and three-quarters." "Don't talk rubbish," said Uncle Vernon. "There is no platform nine and three-quarters." "It's on my ticket." "Barking," said Uncle Vernon, "howling mad, the lot of them. You'll see. You just wait. All right, we'll take you to King's Cross. We're going up to London tomorrow anyway, or I wouldn't bother." "Why are you going to London?" Harry asked, trying to keep things friendly. "Taking Dudley to the hospital," growled Uncle Vernon. "Got to have that ruddy tail removed before he goes to Smeltings." ikcjeo. Harry woke at five o'clock the next morning and was too excited and nervous to go back to sleep.

“我11点刚从9又3 / 4站台上车，”他念道。 他的姨妈和姨父瞪大了眼睛。 “平台什么?”“九又四分之三。” “别说废话。”弗农姨父说。 “没有九又四分之三站台。” “我的票上写着呢。”“狂吠，”弗农姨父说，“他们都是疯子，嚎叫着。 你会看到。你就等着吧。 好吧，我们带你去国王十字车站。 反正我们明天也要去伦敦，不然我也不会费事了。” “你为什么要去伦敦？”哈利问，尽量使气氛友好些。 “送达力去医院。”弗农姨父咆哮道。 “在他去斯梅廷之前，得把那条红尾巴割掉。” 第二天早晨，哈利五点钟就醒了，他既兴奋又紧张，再也睡不着了。

He got up and pulled on his jeans because he didn't want to walk into the station in his wizard's robes he'd change on the train. He checked his Hogwarts list yet again to make sure he had everything he needed, saw that Hedwig was shut safely in her cage, and then paced the room, waiting for the Dursleys to get up. Two hours later, Harry's huge, heavy trunk had been loaded into the Dursleys' car, Aunt Petunia had talked Dudley into sitting next to Harry, and they had set off. They reached King's Cross at half past ten. Uncle Vernon dumped Harry's trunk onto a cart and wheeled it into the station for him. Harry thought this was strangely kind until Uncle Vernon stopped dead, facing the platforms with a nasty grin on his face. "Well, there you are, boy. Platform nine platform ten. Your platform should be somewhere

他站起身来，穿上牛仔裤，因为他不想穿着他在火车上要换的巫师袍走进车站。 他又检查了一遍霍格沃茨的清单，以确保他需要的东西都有了，他看到海德薇被安全地关在笼子里，然后在房间里踱来踱去，等着德思礼一家起床。 两个小时后，哈利那只又大又沉的箱子装进了德思礼家的汽车，佩妮姨妈说服达力坐在哈利旁边，他们就出发了。 他们十点半到达国王十字车站。 弗农姨父把哈利的箱子放在一辆手推车上，推着它进了车站。 哈利觉得这是一种异乎寻常的善良，直到弗农姨父突然停住脚步，面朝站台，咧嘴一笑。 “好了，你在这儿，孩子。 九号站台，十号站台。 你的平台应该在某个地方

in the middle, but they don't seem to have built it yet, do they?" He was quite right, of course. There was a big plastic number nine over one platform and a big plastic number ten over the one next to it, and in the middle, nothing at all. "Have a good term," said Uncle Vernon with an even nastier smile. He left without another word. Harry turned and saw the Dursleys drive away. All three of them were laughing. Harry's mouth went rather dry. What on earth was he going to do? He was starting to attract a lot of funny looks, because of Hedwig. He'd have to ask someone. He stopped a passing guard, but didn't dare mention platform nine and three-quarters. The guard had never heard of Hogwarts and when Harry couldn't even tell him what part of the country it was in, he started to get annoyed, as though Harry was being stupid on purpose. Getting desperate, Harry asked for the train that

在中间，不过他们好像还没有建好，是吗？”当然，他说得很对。 一个站台上有一个大大的塑料数字9，旁边的站台上有一个大大的塑料数字10，中间什么都没有。 “祝你学期愉快。”弗农姨父说，脸上的笑容更令人讨厌了。 他二话没说就走了。 哈利转过身，看见德思礼一家开车走了。 他们三个都在笑。 哈利的嘴变得很干。 他到底要做什么呢？ 因为海德薇的缘故，他开始吸引了许多奇怪的目光。 他得问问别人。他拦住了一个路过的卫兵，但不敢提九又四分之三站台。 卫兵从来没有听说过霍格沃茨，当哈利甚至不能告诉他霍格沃茨在这个国家的哪个地方时，他开始生气了，好像哈利是故意犯傻似的。 哈利绝望了，他想要那辆火车