34 The Department of Mysteries

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR The Department of Mysteries Harry wound his hand tightly into the mane of the nearest Thestral, placed a foot on a stump nearby and scrambled clumsily on to the horse's silken back. It did not object, but twisted its head around, fangs bared, and attempted to continue its eager licking of his robes. He found there was a way of lodging his knees behind the wing joints that made him feel more secure, then looked around at the others. Neville had heaved himself over the back of the next Thestral and was now attempting to swing one short leg over the creature's back. Luna was

第三十四章神秘事务司哈利用手紧紧抓住离他最近的夜骐的鬃毛，一只脚踩在附近的树桩上，笨拙地爬上了那匹丝质的马背。 它没有反对，只是扭过头来，露出獠牙，想继续急切地舔他的袍子。 他发现有一种方法可以把膝盖放在机翼关节后面，让他觉得更安全，然后环顾了一下其他人。 纳威已经爬到了下一辆夜骐的背上，他正试图把一条短腿甩到夜骐背上。 月神是

already in place, sitting side-saddle and adjusting her robes as though she did this every day. Ron, Hermione and Ginny, however, were still standing motionless on the spot, open-mouthed and staring. 'What?' he said. 'How're we supposed to get on?' said Ron faintly. 'When we can't see the things?' 'Oh, it's easy,' said Luna, sliding obligingly from her Thestral and marching over to him, Hermione and Ginny. 'Come here…' She pulled them over to the other Thestrals standing around and one by one managed to help them on to the back of their mount. All three looked extremely nervous as she wound their hands into their horse's mane and told them to grip tightly before she got back on to her own steed. 'This is mad,' Ron murmured, moving his free hand gingerly up and down his horse's neck. 'Mad… if I could just see it–' 'You'd better hope it stays invisible,' said Harry darkly. 'We all ready, then?'

已经就位了，她坐在鞍侧，整理着袍子，好像每天都这样。 然而罗恩、赫敏和金妮仍然一动不动地站在原地，张着嘴瞪着眼睛。 “什么?他说。“我们怎么上去呢？”罗恩有气无力地说。 “当我们看不见东西的时候？”“哦，这很容易。”卢娜说着，顺从地从夜骐上滑下来，走向他、赫敏和金妮。 “过来……”她把他们拉到周围站着的夜骐身边，一个接一个地扶他们上了坐骑。 当她把他们的手放在马的鬃毛上，告诉他们在她回到自己的坐骑之前紧紧抓住时，三个人看起来都非常紧张。 “这太疯狂了。”罗恩低声说，用那只空着的手小心翼翼地在马脖子上上下移动。 “疯了……要是我能看见它就好了——”“你最好希望它永远看不见。”哈利阴郁地说。 “那么我们都准备好了吗？”

They all nodded and he saw five pairs of knees tighten beneath their robes. 'OK…' He looked down at the back of his Thestral's glossy black head and swallowed. 'Ministry of Magic, visitors' entrance, London, then,' he said uncertainly. 'Er… if you know… where to go…' For a moment Harry's Thestral did nothing at all; then, with a sweeping movement that nearly unseated him, the wings on either side extended; the horse crouched slowly, then rocketed upwards so fast and so steeply that Harry had to clench his arms and legs tightly around the horse to avoid sliding backwards over its bony rump. He closed his eyes and pressed his face down into the horse's silky mane as they burst through the topmost branches of the trees and soared out into a blood- red sunset. Harry did not think he had ever moved so fast: the Thestral streaked over the castle, its wide wings hardly beating; the cooling air was slapping Harry's face; eyes screwed up against the rushing

他们都点了点头，他看见五双膝盖在他们的长袍下绷紧了。 “好吧……”他低头看着夜骐乌黑发亮的后脑勺，咽了口气。 “那么，伦敦魔法部游客入口吧。”他不确定地说。 “嗯……如果你知道……去哪儿……”哈利的夜骐停了一会儿，什么也没动。接着，翅膀在两侧展开，动作迅速，几乎把他从椅子上赶了下来；那匹马慢慢地蹲下身子，然后陡然上升，又快又陡，哈利不得不紧紧地抱住它的胳膊和腿，以免从它瘦骨嶙峋的屁股上滑下来。 他闭上眼睛，把脸紧贴在马柔滑的鬃毛上，他们穿过树顶的树枝，飞向血红色的夕阳。 哈利觉得自己从来没有跑得这么快过。夜骐飞快地掠过城堡，宽大的翅膀几乎没有扇动。凉爽的空气拍打着哈利的脸；眼睛眯起，抵挡着潮水

wind, he looked round and saw his five fellows soaring along behind him, each of them bent as low as possible into the neck of their Thestral to protect themselves from his slipstream. They were over the Hogwarts grounds, they had passed Hogsmeade; Harry could see mountains and gullies below them. As the daylight began to fail, Harry saw small collections of lights as they passed over more villages, then a winding road on which a single car was beetling its way home through the hills… 'This is bizarre!' Harry barely heard Ron yell from somewhere behind him, and he imagined how it must feel to be speeding along at this height with no visible means of support. Twilight fell: the sky was turning to a light, dusky purple littered with tiny silver stars, and soon only the lights of Muggle towns gave them any clue of how far from the ground they were, or how very fast they were travelling. Harry's arms were wrapped tightly around his horse's neck as he willed it to go even faster. How much time had elapsed since he had seen Sirius lying on the

他回头一看，只见他的五个同伴在他身后飞升，每个人都尽可能低地弯下腰，伏在夜骐的脖子上，以保护自己不受他的气流的伤害。 他们飞过霍格沃茨的场地，经过霍格莫德村；哈利可以看到下面的群山和沟壑。 天色渐渐暗下来，哈利看到他们经过了更多的村庄，然后是一条弯弯曲曲的道路，一辆汽车在山间疾驰而归……“这太奇怪了！”哈利几乎没听见罗恩在身后什么地方大喊大叫，他想象着在这么高的地方疾速前进，没有看得见的支撑是什么感觉。 暮色降临了，天空变成了一种淡淡的暗紫色，布满了小小的银星。很快，只有麻瓜城镇的灯光能让他们知道自己离地面有多远，或者飞行得有多快。 哈利的胳膊紧紧地搂住马的脖子，想让它跑得更快。 从他看到小天狼星躺在床上到现在，有多久了

Department of Mysteries floor? How much longer would Sirius be able to resist Voldemort? All Harry knew for sure was that his godfather had neither done as Voldemort wanted, nor died, for he was convinced that either outcome would have caused him to feel Voldemort's jubilation or fury course through his own body, making his scar sear as painfully as it had on the night Mr Weasley was attacked. On they flew through the gathering darkness; Harry's face felt stiff and cold, his legs numb from gripping the Thestral's sides so tightly, but he did not dare shift his position lest he slip… he was deaf from the thundering rush of air in his ears, and his mouth was dry and frozen from the cold night wind. He had lost all sense of how far they had come; all his faith was in the beast beneath him, still streaking purposefully through the night, barely flapping its wings as it sped ever onwards. If they were too late… He's still alive, he's still fighting, I can feel it… If Voldemort decided Sirius was not going to crack…

神秘事务司楼层？ 小天狼星还能抵抗伏地魔多久？ 哈利唯一确定的是，他的教父既没有按照伏地魔的要求去做，也没有死，因为他相信，无论结果如何，他都会感觉到伏地魔的喜悦或愤怒在他自己的身体里蔓延，使他的伤疤像韦斯莱先生被袭击的那天晚上一样痛苦地灼烧。 他们继续在渐浓的黑暗中飞翔；哈利的脸僵硬而冰冷，他的腿因为紧紧地抓着夜骐的两侧而麻木，但他不敢改变姿势，唯恐滑倒……耳朵里雷鸣般的气流使他耳聋，嘴巴被寒冷的夜风吹得干裂、冻僵。 他完全不知道他们已经走了多远；他的全部信心都寄托在身下的那头野兽身上，它仍然在黑夜中坚定地奔跑，几乎不拍打翅膀，一直向前飞奔。 如果他们来得太晚……他还活着，还在战斗，我能感觉到……如果伏地魔认为小天狼星不会屈服……

I'd know… Harry's stomach gave a jolt; the Thestral's head was suddenly pointing towards the ground and he actually slid forwards a few inches along its neck. They were descending at last… he thought he heard a shriek behind him and twisted around dangerously, but could see no sign of a falling body… presumably they had all received a shock from the change of direction, just as he had. And now bright orange lights were growing larger and rounder on all sides; they could see the tops of buildings, streams of headlights like luminous insect eyes, squares of pale yellow that were windows. Quite suddenly, it seemed, they were hurtling towards the pavement; Harry gripped the Thestral with every last ounce of his strength, braced for a sudden impact, but the horse touched the dark ground as lightly as a shadow and Harry slid from its back, looking around at the street where the overflowing skip still stood a short way from the vandalised telephone box, both drained of colour in the flat orange glare of the streetlights.

哈利的胃猛地一震。夜骐的头突然指向地面，他顺着夜骐的脖子向前滑了几英寸。 他们终于下来了……他好像听到身后有一声尖叫，急忙转过身去，但没有看到有尸体下落的迹象……大概他们都像他一样，因为改变了方向而受到了惊吓。 现在，四面八方明亮的橘黄色灯光变得越来越大，越来越圆；他们可以看到建筑物的顶部，像发光的昆虫眼睛一样的车灯，还有像窗户一样的浅黄色方块。 他们似乎很突然地冲向人行道；哈利用尽最后一丝力气抓住夜骐，做好突然撞击的准备，但那匹马像影子一样轻轻触到了黑暗的地面，哈利从它背上滑了下来，环顾街道，满溢出来的料斗仍然停在离被破坏的电话亭不远的地方，在单调的橘黄色街灯的照射下，两者都失去了颜色。