10 Mayhem at the Ministry

—CHAPTER TEN— Mayhem at the Ministry Mr Weasley woke them after only a few hours' sleep. He used magic to pack up the tents, and they left the campsite as quickly as possible, passing Mr Roberts at the door of his cottage. Mr Roberts had a strange, dazed look about him, and he waved them off with a vague 'Merry Christmas'. 'He'll be all right,' said Mr Weasley quietly, as they marched off onto the moor. 'Sometimes, when a person's memory's modified, it makes them a bit disorientated for a while… and that was a big thing they had to make him forget.'

第十章魔法部的混乱韦斯莱先生只睡了几个小时就把他们叫醒了。 他用魔法把帐篷收拾好，他们尽快离开了营地，在罗伯茨先生的小屋门口与他擦肩而过。 罗伯茨先生一副奇怪而茫然的样子，含糊其辞地挥了挥手，说了声“圣诞快乐”，让他们走开。 “他不会有事的。”他们朝沼地走去时，韦斯莱先生平静地说。 “有时候，当一个人的记忆被改变时，会让他们在一段时间内有点迷失方向……这是他们必须让他忘记的一件大事。”

They heard urgent voices as they approached the spot where the Portkeys lay and, when they reached it, they found a great number of witches and wizards gathered around Basil, the keeper of the Portkeys, all clamouring to get away from the campsite as quickly as possible. Mr Weasley had a hurried discussion with Basil; they joined the queue, and were able to take an old rubber tyre back to Stoatshead Hill before the sun had really risen. They walked back through Ottery St Catchpole towards The Burrow in the dawn light, talking very little because they were so exhausted, and thinking longingly of their breakfast. As they rounded the corner in the lane, and The Burrow came into view, a cry echoed along the damp lane. 'Oh, thank goodness, thank goodness!' Mrs Weasley, who had evidently been waiting for them in the front yard, came running towards them, still wearing her bedroom slippers, her face pale and strained, a screwed-up copy of the Daily Prophet clutched in her hand. 'Arthur– I've been so worried– so worried–'

当他们走近门钥匙所在的地方时，他们听到了急切的声音，当他们到达那里时，他们发现一大群男女巫师聚集在看守门钥匙的巴兹尔周围，都嚷着要尽快离开营地。 韦斯莱先生和巴兹尔匆匆商量了一下。他们也加入了队伍，在太阳真正升起之前，就把一个旧橡胶轮胎带回了白鼬山。 他们在晨光中穿过奥特里圣卡奇波尔朝陋居走去，很少说话，因为他们太累了，一心想着早餐。 他们在巷子里转过拐角，陋居映入眼帘时，一声喊叫在潮湿的巷子里回荡。 “哦，谢天谢地，谢天谢地！”韦斯莱夫人显然一直在前院等着他们，她朝他们跑过来，仍然穿着卧室里穿的拖鞋，脸色苍白，神情紧张，手里攥着一份揉皱了的《预言家日报》。 “亚瑟——我一直很担心——很担心——”

She flung her arms around Mr Weasley's neck, and the Daily Prophet fell out of her limp hand onto the ground. Looking down, Harry saw the headline: SCENES OF TERROR AT THE QUIDDITCH WORLD CUP, complete with a twinkling, black-and-white photograph of the Dark Mark over the tree-tops. 'You're all right,' Mrs Weasley muttered distractedly, releasing Mr Weasley and staring around at them all with red eyes, 'you're alive… oh, boys…' And to everybody's surprise, she seized Fred and George and pulled them both into such a tight hug that their heads banged together. 'Ouch! Mum– you're strangling us–' 'I shouted at you before you left!' Mrs Weasley said, starting to sob. 'It's all I've been thinking about! What if You-Know-Who had got you, and the last thing I ever said to you was that you didn't get enough O.W.Ls? Oh, Fred… George…' 'Come on, now, Molly, we're all perfectly OK,' said Mr Weasley soothingly, prising her off the twins and leading her back towards the house.

她猛地搂住韦斯莱先生的脖子，《预言家日报》从她软弱无力的手里掉到了地上。 哈利低头一看，看到了标题：魁地奇世界杯的恐怖场面，还有一张黑魔标记在树梢上闪烁的黑白照片。 “你们没事，”韦斯莱夫人心烦意乱地嘟囔着，松开韦斯莱先生，红着眼睛打量着大家，“你们还活着……哦，孩子们……”出乎大家意料的是，她一把抓住弗雷德和乔治，把他们紧紧地搂在一起，他们的头撞在了一起。 “哎哟!”妈妈——你在勒死我们——”“你走之前我对你大喊大叫！”韦斯莱夫人说，开始抽泣起来。 “我一直在想这件事！”如果神秘人抓住了你，而我对你说的最后一句话是你没有得到足够的O.W.Ls证书，那该怎么办？ “好了，莫丽，我们都很好。”韦斯莱先生安慰她说，把她从双胞胎身边拉开，领她回房子去。

'Bill,' he added in an undertone, 'pick up that paper, I want to see what it says…' When they were all crammed into the tiny kitchen, and Hermione had made Mrs Weasley a cup of very strong tea, into which Mr Weasley insisted on pouring a shot of Ogdens Old Firewhisky, Bill handed his father the newspaper. Mr Weasley scanned the front page while Percy looked over his shoulder. 'I knew it,' said Mr Weasley heavily. 'Ministry blunders… culprits not apprehended… lax security… Dark wizards running unchecked… national disgrace… Who wrote this? Ah… of course… Rita Skeeter.' 'That woman's got it in for the Ministry of Magic!' said Percy furiously. 'Last week she was saying we're wasting our time quibbling about cauldron thickness, when we should be stamping out vampires! As if it wasn't specifically stated in paragraph twelve of the Guidelines for the Treatment of Non-Wizard Part-Humans–' 'Do us a favour, Perce,' said Bill, yawning, 'and shut up.'

“比尔，”他压低声音说，“把那张报纸捡起来，我想看看上面写了些什么……”他们都挤进了狭小的厨房，赫敏给韦斯莱夫人泡了一杯浓茶，韦斯莱先生坚持要在里面倒上一小杯奥格登陈年火威士忌，比尔把报纸递给了父亲。 韦斯莱先生浏览了一下头版，珀西扭头看了看。 “我就知道。”韦斯莱先生沉重地说。 “魔法部的失误……罪犯没有被捕……安全措施松懈……黑巫师逍遥法外……国家的耻辱……谁写的？” 啊……当然……丽塔·斯基特。“那个女人跟魔法部过不去！”珀西愤怒地说。 “上个星期，她还说我们应该去消灭吸血鬼，而在坩埚的厚度上吹毛求疵是在浪费时间！”好像《非巫师半人类待遇准则》第十二段没有特别规定似的——”“帮我们个忙，珀西，”比尔打着哈欠说，“闭嘴。”

'I'm mentioned,' said Mr Weasley, his eyes widening behind his glasses as he reached the bottom of the Daily Prophet article. 'Where?' spluttered Mrs Weasley, choking on her tea and whisky. 'If I'd seen that, I'd have known you were alive!' 'Not by name,' said Mr Weasley. 'Listen to this: "If the terrified wizards and witches who waited breathlessly for news at the edge of the wood expected reassurance from the Ministry of Magic, they were sadly disappointed. A Ministry official emerged some time after the appearance of the Dark Mark, alleging that nobody had been hurt, but refusing to give any more information. Whether this statement will be enough to quash the rumours that several bodies were removed from the woods an hour later, remains to be seen." Oh, really,' said Mr Weasley in exasperation, handing the paper to Percy. 'Nobody was hurt, what was I supposed to say? Rumours that several bodies were removed from the woods… well, there certainly will be rumours now she's printed that.'

“有人提到了我。”韦斯莱先生说，当他读到《预言家日报》那篇文章的末尾时，眼镜后面的眼睛睁得大大的。 “在哪里?韦斯莱夫人结结巴巴地说，她被茶和威士忌噎着了。 “要是我看见了，我就知道你还活着！”“没有名字。”韦斯莱先生说。 “听我说：‘如果那些在树林边气喘吁吁地等待消息的惊恐的男女巫师指望从魔法部那里得到安慰的话，他们恐怕要失望了。 黑魔标记出现一段时间后，一位魔法部官员出现了，声称没有人受伤，但拒绝提供更多信息。 这一声明是否足以平息一小时后从树林中移出几具尸体的谣言，还有待观察。” “哦，是吗？”韦斯莱先生恼怒地说，把报纸递给了珀西。 “没人受伤，我该说什么？” 有传言说有几具尸体被从树林里移走了……嗯，既然她把这事印出来了，肯定会有谣言的。”

He heaved a deep sigh. 'Molly, I'm going to have to go into the office, this is going to take some smoothing over.' 'I'll come with you, Father,' said Percy importantly. 'Mr Crouch will need all hands on deck. And I can give him my cauldron report in person.' He bustled out of the kitchen. Mrs Weasley looked most upset. 'Arthur, you're supposed to be on holiday! This hasn't got anything to do with your office, surely they can handle this without you?' 'I've got to go, Molly,' said Mr Weasley, 'I've made things worse. I'll just change into my robes and I'll be off…' 'Mrs Weasley,' said Harry suddenly, unable to contain himself, 'Hedwig hasn't arrived with a letter for me, has she?' 'Hedwig, dear?' said Mrs Weasley distractedly. 'No… no, there hasn't been any post at all.' Ron and Hermione looked curiously at Harry.

他深深地叹了口气。“莫莉，我得去一趟办公室，这件事需要一些时间来处理。“我和你一起去，爸爸。”珀西重要地说。 “克劳奇先生需要大家齐心协力。 我可以亲自把我的坩埚报告给他。”他匆匆走出厨房。 韦斯莱夫人看上去非常不安。 “亚瑟，你应该去度假的！”这和你的办公室没有任何关系，他们没有你肯定能处理好吧？“我得走了，莫丽，”韦斯莱先生说，“我把事情弄得更糟了。 “韦斯莱夫人，”哈利突然控制不住自己，说道，“海德薇没有带来给我的信吧？“海德薇，亲爱的？”韦斯莱夫人心烦意乱地说。 “没有……没有，根本就没有邮件。”罗恩和赫敏好奇地看着哈利。