23 The Yule Ball

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE The Yule Ball Despite the very heavy load of homework that the fourth-years had been given for the holidays, Harry was in no mood to work when term ended, and spent the week leading up to Christmas enjoying himself as fully as possible along with everyone else. Gryffindor Tower was hardly less crowded now than during term-time; it seemed to have shrunk slightly, too, as its inhabitants were being so much rowdier than usual. Fred and George had had a great success with their Canary Creams, and for the first couple of days of the holidays, people kept bursting into feather all over the place. Before long, however, all the Gryffindors had learnt to treat food anybody else

第二十三章圣诞舞会尽管四年级学生在假期里被布置了一大堆家庭作业，但学期结束后，哈利没有心情学习，他在圣诞节前的一个星期里尽可能地和大家一起尽情享受。 现在格兰芬多塔楼里的人并不比上课时少多少。它似乎也缩小了一点，因为里面的居民比平时吵闹得多。 弗雷德和乔治的金丝雀奶油大获成功，在假期的头几天里，到处都是羽毛。 不过，没过多久，所有格兰芬多的学生都学会了如何对待别人的食物

offered them with extreme caution, in case it had a Canary Cream concealed in the centre, and George confided to Harry that he and Fred were now working on developing something else. Harry made a mental note never to accept so much as a crisp from Fred and George in future. He still hadn't forgotten Dudley and the Ton-Tongue Toffee. Snow was falling thickly upon the castle and its grounds now. The pale blue Beauxbatons carriage looked like a large, chilly, frosted pumpkin next to the iced gingerbread house that was Hagrid's cabin, while the Durmstrang ship's portholes were glazed with ice, the rigging white with frost. The house-elves down in the kitchen were outdoing themselves with a series of rich, warming stews and savoury puddings, and only Fleur Delacour seemed to be able to find anything to complain about. 'It is too 'eavy, all zis 'Ogwarts food,' they heard her saying grumpily, as they left the Great Hall behind her one evening (Ron skulking behind

乔治向哈利吐露，他和弗雷德正在研制另一种东西。 哈利在心里记着，以后再也不要接受弗雷德和乔治的薯片了。 他仍然没有忘记达力和肥舌太妃糖。 大雪纷飞，落在城堡和场地上。 布斯巴顿那辆淡蓝色的马车，在海格的小屋旁边，就像一个冰冷的、结了霜的大南瓜，德姆斯特朗那艘船的舷窗上结了冰，索具上结了霜。 楼下厨房里的家养小精灵们做了一系列热气腾腾的丰盛炖菜和美味的布丁，似乎只有芙蓉·德拉库尔有什么可抱怨的。 “霍格沃茨的食物太重了。”一天晚上，他们跟在她身后离开礼堂时，听见她闷闷不乐地说(罗恩偷偷地跟在后面

Harry, keen not to be spotted by Fleur). 'I will not fit into my dress robes!' 'Oooh, there's a tragedy,' said Hermione snappily, as Fleur went out into the Entrance Hall. 'She really thinks a lot of herself, that one, doesn't she?' 'Hermione– who are you going to the ball with?' said Ron. He kept springing this question on her, hoping to startle her into a response by asking it when she least expected it. However, Hermione merely frowned and said, 'I'm not telling you, you'll just make fun of me.' 'You're joking, Weasley?' said Malfoy, behind them. 'You're not telling me someone's asked that to the ball? Not the long-molared Mudblood?' Harry and Ron both whipped around, but Hermione said loudly, waving to somebody over Malfoy's shoulder, 'Hello, Professor Moody!' Malfoy went pale and jumped backwards, looking wildly around for Moody, but he was still up at the staff table, finishing his stew.

哈利，生怕被芙蓉发现)。 “我穿不下我的礼服了！”“哦，悲剧发生了。”赫敏厉声说，这时芙蓉走到门厅里去了。 “她真是把自己看得太重了，是不是？”“赫敏——你要和谁一起去参加舞会？”罗恩说。 他不断地向她提出这个问题，希望在她最意想不到的时候提出这个问题，让她大吃一惊，做出回应。 赫敏只是皱了皱眉头，说：“我不会告诉你的，你只会取笑我。“你在开玩笑吧，韦斯莱？”马尔福在他们身后说。 “你不会是说有人邀请他去参加舞会吧？” 不是那个长牙泥巴种吧？”哈利和罗恩都猛地转过身来，但赫敏在马尔福身后向什么人挥手，大声说：“你好，穆迪教授！”马尔福脸色苍白，向后一跳，疯狂地四处寻找穆迪，但他仍然坐在教工桌子旁，吃着他的炖菜。

'Twitchy little ferret, aren't you, Malfoy?' said Hermione scathingly, and she, Harry and Ron went up the marble staircase laughing heartily. 'Hermione,' said Ron, looking sideways at her, suddenly frowning, 'your teeth…' 'What about them?' she said. 'Well, they're different… I've just noticed…' 'Of course they are– did you expect me to keep those fangs Malfoy gave me?' 'No, I mean, they're different to how they were before he put that hex on you… they're all… straight and– and normal sized.' Hermione suddenly smiled very mischievously, and Harry noticed it too: it was a very different smile to the one he remembered. 'Well… when I went up to Madam Pomfrey to get them shrunk, she held up a mirror, and told me to stop her when they were back to how they normally were,' she said. 'And I just… let her carry on a bit.' She smiled even more widely. 'Mum and Dad won't be too pleased. I've been trying to persuade them to let me shrink them for

“你是个神经质的小雪貂，是不是，马尔福？”赫敏尖刻地说，她和哈利、罗恩走上大理石楼梯，哈哈大笑起来。 “赫敏，”罗恩说，斜着眼睛望着她，突然皱起了眉头，“你的牙齿……”她说。 “它们当然是——你指望我留着马尔福给我的那些尖牙吗？”“不，我的意思是，它们和他对你施那个魔咒之前不一样了……它们都……笔直的，而且——而且大小正常。”赫敏突然调皮地笑了笑，哈利也注意到了，这和他记忆中的笑容大不相同。 “嗯……当我去找庞弗雷夫人把它们缩小时，她举起一面镜子，让我等它们恢复正常时再阻止她。”她说。 “我只是……让她继续做下去。”她笑得更欢了。 “爸爸妈妈会不高兴的。 我一直想说服他们让我把它们缩小

ages, but they wanted me to carry on with my brace. You know, they're dentists, they just don't think teeth and magic should– look! Pigwidgeon's back!' Ron's tiny owl was twittering madly on the top of the icicle-laden banisters, a scroll of parchment tied to his leg. People passing him were pointing and laughing, and a group of third-year girls paused and said, 'Oh, look at the weeny owl! Isn't he cute?' 'Stupid little feathery git!' Ron hissed, hurrying up the stairs and snatching Pigwidgeon up. 'You bring letters straight to the addressee! You don't hang around showing off!' Pigwidgeon hooted happily, his head protruding over Ron's fist. The third-year girls all looked very shocked. 'Clear off!' Ron snapped at them, waving the fist holding Pigwidgeon, who hooted more happily than ever as he soared through the air. 'Here– take it, Harry,' Ron added in an undertone, as the third-year girls scuttled away looking scandalised. He pulled Sirius' reply off

很多年了，但他们想让我继续戴着支架。 他们是牙医，他们只是不认为牙齿和魔法应该——看！小猪则回来了!”罗恩的小猫头鹰腿上系着一卷羊皮纸，在满是冰柱的栏杆顶上疯狂地叫着。 经过他身边的人都指着他笑，一群三年级女生停下来说：“哦，看那只小猫头鹰！他是不是很可爱？“愚蠢的长羽毛的小东西！”罗恩嘶嘶地说，匆匆上楼，一把把小猪抱了上去。 “你把信直接送到收件人那里！”你不能到处炫耀！”小猪高兴地叫着，脑袋从罗恩的拳头上探了出来。 三年级的女生们看起来都很震惊。 “走开!”罗恩厉声呵斥他们，挥舞着抱着小猪的拳头。小猪在空中翱翔时，比以前更高兴地叫着。 “给——拿去吧，哈利。”罗恩低声补充道，这时三年级的女生们都惊慌失措地走开了。 他扯掉了小天狼星的回答

Pigwidgeon's leg, Harry pocketed it, and they hurried back to Gryffindor Tower to read it. Everyone in the common room was much too busy letting off more holiday steam to observe what anyone else was up to. Harry, Ron and Hermione sat apart from everyone else by a dark window that was gradually filling up with snow, and Harry read out: Dear Harry, Congratulations on getting past the Horntail, whoever put your name in that Goblet shouldn't be feeling too happy right now! I was going to suggest a Conjunctivitis curse, as a dragon's eyes are its weakest point– 'That's what Krum did!' Hermione whispered.– but your way was better, I'm impressed. Don't get complacent, though, Harry. You've only done one task; whoever put you

哈利把小猪的腿装进口袋，匆匆赶回格兰芬多塔楼去看。 公共休息室里的每个人都在忙着发泄节日的情绪，无暇观察别人在干什么。 哈利、罗恩和赫敏与大家分开坐在一扇逐渐被雪填满的黑暗窗户旁，哈利念道：亲爱的哈利，恭喜你通过了树蜂，把你的名字投进火焰杯的人现在不应该太高兴了！我本想建议使用结膜炎咒，因为龙的眼睛是它最薄弱的地方——“克鲁姆就是这么做的！”赫敏小声说。-但你的方式更好，我很佩服。 不过，不要自满，哈利。 你只完成了一项任务；不管是谁把你