9 The Midnight Duel

CHAPTER NINE THE MIDNIGHT DUEL Harry had never believed he would meet a boy he hated more than Dudley, but that was before he met Draco Malfoy. Still, first-year Gryffindors only had Potions with the Slytherins, so they didn't have to put up with Malfoy much. Or at least, they didn't until they spotted a notice pinned up in the Gryffindor common room that made them all groan. Flying lessons would be

第九章午夜决斗哈利从来没有想到他会遇到一个比讨厌达力更讨厌的男孩，但那是在他遇到德拉科·马尔福之前。 不过，格兰芬多的一年级学生只上斯莱特林的魔药课，所以他们不必太忍受马尔福。 至少，直到他们看到贴在格兰芬多公共休息室里的一张告示，大家都唉声叹气。 飞行课将是

starting on Thursday and Gryffindor and Slytherin would be learning together. "Typical," said Harry darkly. "Just what I always wanted. To make a fool of myself on a broomstick in front of Malfoy." He had been looking forward to learning to fly more than anything else. "You don't know that you'll make a fool of yourself," said Ron reasonably. "Anyway, I know Malfoy's always going on about how good he is at Quidditch, but I bet that's all talk." Malfoy certainly did talk about flying a lot. He complained loudly about first years never getting on the House Quidditch teams and told long, boastful stories that always seemed to end with him narrowly escaping Muggles in helicopters. He wasn't the only one, though: the way Seamus Finnigan told it, he'd spent most of his childhood zooming around the countryside on his broomstick. Even Ron would tell anyone who'd

星期四开学，格兰芬多和斯莱特林一起上课。 “典型的。”哈利阴郁地说。 “正是我一直想要的。 在马尔福面前骑着飞天扫帚出丑。” 他一直盼望着学习飞行。 “你不知道你会不会出洋相。”罗恩理智地说。 “不管怎么说，我知道马尔福老说他魁地奇打得多好，但我敢打赌那都是空话。” 马尔福确实经常谈论飞行。 他大声抱怨一年级学生从来没有进过学院的魁地奇球队，还讲了很多自高自大的故事，而这些故事的结局似乎总是以他乘坐直升机死里逃生而告终。 不过，他并不是唯一一个这样的人：据西莫·斐尼甘说，他童年的大部分时间都骑着扫帚在乡间飞驰。 就连罗恩也会告诉别人

listen about the time he'd almost hit a hang glider on Charlie's old broom. Everyone from wizarding families talked about Quidditch constantly. Ron had already had a big argument with Dean Thomas, who shared their dormitory, about soccer. Ron couldn't see what was exciting about a game with only one ball where no one was allowed to fly. Harry had caught Ron prodding Dean's poster of West Ham soccer team, trying to make the players move. Neville had never been on a broomstick in his life, because his grandmother had never let him near one. Privately, Harry felt she'd had good reason, because Neville managed to have an extraordinary number of accidents even with both feet on the ground. Hermione Granger was almost as nervous about flying as Neville was. This was something you couldn't learn by heart out of a book not that she hadn't tried. At breakfast on Thursday she

听着，有一次他用查理的旧扫帚差点撞上悬挂式滑翔机。 每个来自巫师家庭的人都在不停地谈论魁地奇。 罗恩已经和同住一个宿舍的迪安·托马斯就足球问题大吵了一架。 罗恩看不出一场只有一个球，谁也不能飞的比赛有什么令人兴奋的。 哈利看见罗恩在戳迪安的西汉姆足球队的海报，想让球员们动起来。 纳威一生中从来没有骑过飞天扫帚，因为他的祖母从来不让他靠近飞天扫帚。 私下里，哈利觉得她是有理由的，因为纳威即使两只脚都站在地上，也会出很多事故。 赫敏·格兰杰对飞行几乎和纳威一样紧张。 这是你不可能从书本上背下来的东西不是说她没试过。 在星期四的早餐她

bored them all stupid with flying tips she'd gotten out of a library book called Quidditch Through the Ages. Neville was hanging on to her every word, desperate for anything that might help him hang on to his broomstick later, but everybody else was very pleased when Hermione's lecture was interrupted by the arrival of the mail. Harry hadn't had a single letter since Hagrid's note, something that Malfoy had been quick to notice, of course. Malfoy's eagle owl was always bringing him packages of sweets from home, which he opened gloatingly at the Slytherin table. A barn owl brought Neville a small package from his grandmother. He opened it excitedly and showed them a glass ball the size of a large marble, which seemed to be full of white smoke. "It's a Remembrall!" he explained. "Gran knows I forget things this tells you if there's something you've forgotten to do. Look, you hold it tight like this and if it turns red oh His

她从图书馆一本叫《魁地奇古史》的书里学到一些飞行技巧，把他们都烦死了。 纳威全神贯注地听着她说的每一句话，急切地想找到任何能帮助他以后牢牢抓住飞天扫帚的东西，但是当赫敏的讲课被邮件打断时，大家都很高兴。 自从海格的那封信之后，哈利再没有收到过一封信，当然，马尔福很快就注意到了这一点。 马尔福的鹰鸮总是从家里给他送来一包包糖果，他在斯莱特林的餐桌上幸灾乐祸地打开。 一只仓鸮给纳威带来了祖母给他的一个小包裹。 他兴奋地打开门，给他们看了一个大弹子大小的玻璃球，里面似乎充满了白烟。 “这是记忆球！” “奶奶知道，如果你忘了做什么事，这个东西就会告诉你。 看，你像这样握着它，如果它变红了天哪

face fell, because the Remembrall had suddenly glowed scarlet, you've forgotten something Neville was trying to remember what he'd forgotten when Draco Malfoy, who was passing the Gryffindor table, snatched the Remembrall out of his hand. Harry and Ron jumped to their feet. They were half hoping for a reason to fight Malfoy, but Professor McGonagall, who could spot trouble quicker than any teacher in the school, was there in a flash. "What's going on?" "Malfoy's got my Remembrall, Professor." Scowling, Malfoy quickly dropped the Remembrall back on the table. "Just looking," he said, and he sloped away with Crabbe and Goyle behind him.

纳威正在努力回忆他忘记了什么，这时经过格兰芬多桌子的德拉科·马尔福一把从他手里抢走了记忆球。 哈利和罗恩一跃而起。 他们有点希望找个理由跟马尔福打一架，可是麦格教授一眨眼就赶到了，她比学校里任何老师都能更快地发现麻烦。 “发生什么事了？”“马尔福拿走了我的记忆球，教授。” 马尔福皱着眉头，迅速把记忆球扔回桌子上。 “随便看看。”他说着就溜了，克拉布和高尔跟在后面。

At three-thirty that afternoon, Harry, Ron, and the other Gryffindors hurried down the front steps onto the grounds for their first flying lesson. It was a clear, breezy day, and the grass rippled under their feet as they marched down the sloping lawns toward a smooth, flat lawn on the opposite side of the grounds to the forbidden forest, whose trees were swaying darkly in the distance. The Slytherins were already there, and so were twenty broomsticks lying in neat lines on the ground. Harry had heard Fred and George Weasley complain about the school brooms, saying that some of them started to vibrate if you flew too high, or always flew slightly to the left. Their teacher, Madam Hooch, arrived. She had short, gray hair, and yellow eyes like a hawk. "Well, what are you all waiting for?" she barked. "Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up."

那天下午三点半，哈利、罗恩和其他格兰芬多的学生匆匆走下门前的台阶，来到操场上他们的第一堂飞行课。 这是一个晴朗的日子，微风轻拂，草地在他们脚下荡漾，他们穿过倾斜的草坪，走向禁林对面一块光滑平坦的草坪，树林里的树木在远处黑暗地摇曳着。 斯莱特林的学生已经在那里了，还有二十把扫帚，整整齐齐地放在地上。 哈利曾听弗雷德和乔治·韦斯莱抱怨过学校的扫帚，说如果你飞得太高，有些扫帚就会震动，或者总是稍微向左飞。 他们的老师霍琦夫人来了。 她有一头灰白的短发，一双鹰一般的黄眼睛。 “好吧，你们还在等什么？”她吼道。 “每个人都站在扫把旁边。 快点，快点。”