15 The Unbreakable Vow

CHAPTER FIFTEEN The Unbreakable Vow Snow was swirling against the icy windows once more; Christmas was approaching fast. Hagrid had already single-handedly delivered the usual twelve Christmas trees for the Great Hall; garlands of holly and tinsel had been twisted around the banisters of the stairs; everlasting candles glowed from inside the helmets of suits of armour and great bunches of mistletoe had been hung at intervals along the corridors. Large groups of girls tended to converge underneath the mistletoe bunches every time Harry went past, which caused blockages in the corridors; fortunately, however, Harry's frequent night-time wanderings had given him an unusually good knowledge of the castle's

第十五章牢不可破的誓言雪又打在结了冰的窗户上；圣诞节很快就要到了。 海格已经像往常一样，一个人把十二棵圣诞树送到了礼堂。楼梯扶手上缠着冬青和金属丝编成的花环；盔甲的头盔里闪烁着永恒的蜡烛，走廊上时不时地挂着一大束槲寄生。 每当哈利经过时，一大群女生都会聚集在槲寄生丛中，这就堵塞了走廊。不过幸运的是，哈利频繁的夜间游荡使他对城堡的情况有了不同寻常的了解

secret passageways, so that he was able, without too much difficulty, to navigate mistletoe-free routes between classes. Ron, who might once have found the necessity of these detours a cause for jealousy rather than hilarity, simply roared with laughter about it all. Although Harry much preferred this new laughing, joking Ron to the moody, aggressive model he had been enduring for the last few weeks, the improved Ron came at a heavy price. Firstly, Harry had to put up with the frequent presence of Lavender Brown, who seemed to regard any moment that she was not kissing Ron as a moment wasted; and secondly, Harry found himself, once more, the best friend of two people who seemed unlikely ever to speak to each other again. Ron, whose hands and forearms still bore scratches and cuts from Hermione's bird attack, was taking a defensive and resentful tone. 'She can't complain,' he told Harry. 'She snogged Krum. So she's found out someone wants to snog me, too. Well, it's a free country. I haven't done anything wrong.'

秘密通道，这样他就可以不太困难地在没有槲寄生的路线上穿行。 罗恩以前可能会觉得这些绕路的必要性只会让他嫉妒，而不会让他开心，现在他对这一切只是哈哈大笑。 虽然哈利更喜欢这个爱说笑的新罗恩，而不是他过去几个星期忍受的那个喜怒无常、好斗的罗恩，但改变后的罗恩付出了沉重的代价。 首先，哈利不得不忍受拉文德·布朗的频繁出现，她似乎认为任何不亲吻罗恩的时间都是浪费。其次，哈利发现自己又一次成为了两个人最好的朋友，而这两个人似乎再也不可能说话了。 罗恩的手和前臂上仍然有赫敏被鸟袭击时留下的抓痕和割伤，他的语气是自卫和怨恨的。 “她不能抱怨。”他对哈利说。 她吻了吻克鲁姆。所以她发现有人也想亲我。 这是一个自由的国家。 我没做错什么。”

Harry did not answer, but pretended to be absorbed in the book they were supposed to have read before Charms the following morning (Quintessence: A Quest). Determined as he was to remain friends with both Ron and Hermione, he was spending a lot of time with his mouth shut tight. 'I never promised Hermione anything,' Ron mumbled. 'I mean, all right, I was going to go to Slughorn's Christmas party with her, but she never said… just as friends… I'm a free agent…' Harry turned a page of Quintessence, aware that Ron was watching him. Ron's voice tailed away in mutters, barely audible over the loud crackling of the fire, though Harry thought he caught the words 'Krum' and 'can't complain' again. Hermione's timetable was so full that Harry could only talk to her properly in the evenings, when Ron was in any case so tightly wrapped around Lavender that he did not notice what Harry was doing. Hermione refused to sit in the common room while Ron was there, so Harry generally

哈利没有回答，假装在全神贯注地读第二天早上魔咒课前要读的那本书（《精粹：探索》）。 虽然他决心继续和罗恩和赫敏做朋友，但他很多时候都紧闭着嘴巴。 “我从来没有答应过赫敏什么。”罗恩咕哝道。 “我的意思是，好吧，我本来要和她一起去斯拉格霍恩的圣诞晚会的，但她从来没有说过……只是作为朋友……我是一个自由的人……”哈利翻了翻《国粹》，意识到罗恩在看着他。 罗恩的声音越来越低，在噼啪作响的炉火声中几乎听不见，不过哈利觉得他又听到了“克鲁姆”和“没什么可抱怨的”这两个词。 赫敏的课程表排得满满的，哈利只有在晚上才能好好地跟她说话，而那时罗恩总是紧紧地缠着拉文德，根本没有注意到哈利在做什么。 罗恩在公共休息室的时候，赫敏不愿意坐在那里，哈利也一样

joined her in the library, which meant that their conversations were held in whispers. 'He's at perfect liberty to kiss whomever he likes,' said Hermione, while the librarian, Madam Pince, prowled the shelves behind them. 'I really couldn't care less.' She raised her quill and dotted an 'i' so ferociously that she punctured a hole in her parchment. Harry said nothing. He thought his voice might soon vanish from lack of use. He bent a little lower over Advanced Potion-Making and continued to make notes on Everlasting Elixirs, occasionally pausing to decipher the Prince's useful additions to Libatius Borage's text. 'And incidentally,' said Hermione, after a few moments, 'you need to be careful.' 'For the last time,' said Harry, speaking in a slightly hoarse whisper after three-quarters of an hour of silence, 'I am not giving back this book, I've learned more from the Half-Blood Prince than Snape or Slughorn have taught me in–' 'I'm not talking about your stupid so-called Prince,' said Hermione, giving his book a nasty

和她一起去了图书馆，这意味着他们的谈话都很小声。 “他完全可以随心所欲地亲吻他喜欢的人。”赫敏说，图书管理员平斯夫人正在他们身后的书架上徘徊。 “我真的一点也不在乎。”她举起羽毛笔，使劲地在“i”上点了几个字，把羊皮纸戳了一个洞。 哈利什么也没说。他想他的声音可能很快就会因为不常用而消失。 他在《高级魔药制作》上弯下腰，继续在《长生不老药》上做笔记，偶尔停下来解读王子对利巴修斯·波拉日的课本所作的有用补充。 “顺便说一句，”过了一会儿，赫敏说，“你需要小心。“我再说最后一次，”沉默了三刻钟后，哈利用略带沙哑的声音说，“我不会把这本书还给你的，我从混血王子那里学到的东西，比斯内普和斯拉格霍恩教给我的还要多——

look as though it had been rude to her, 'I'm talking about earlier. I went into the girls' bathroom just before I came in here and there were about a dozen girls in there, including that Romilda Vane, trying to decide how to slip you a love potion. They're all hoping they're going to get you to take them to Slughorn's party and they all seem to have bought Fred and George's love potions, which I'm afraid to say probably work–' 'Why didn't you confiscate them, then?' demanded Harry. It seemed extraordinary that Hermione's mania for upholding rules could have abandoned her at this crucial juncture. 'They didn't have the potions with them in the bathroom,' said Hermione scornfully. 'They were just discussing tactics. As I doubt whether even the Half-Blood Prince,' she gave the book another nasty look, 'could dream up an antidote for a dozen different love potions at once, I'd just invite someone to go with you– that'll stop all the others thinking they've still got a chance. It's tomorrow night, they're getting desperate.'

看起来好像对她很无礼，我说的是之前的事。 就在我进来之前，我去了趟女厕所里面有一打女孩，包括罗米达·万尼，在想怎么给你下迷情药。 他们都希望能让你带他们去参加斯拉格霍恩的晚会，而且他们似乎都买了弗雷德和乔治的迷情药，我恐怕这很可能奏效——”“那你为什么不没收它们呢？”哈利问。 赫敏坚持规则的狂热在这个关键时刻放弃了，这似乎是不可思议的。 “他们在浴室里没带魔药。”赫敏轻蔑地说。 他们只是在讨论战术。 “就连混血王子，”她又嫌恶地看了那本书一眼，“也想不出一打不同的迷情药的解药来，所以我就邀请一个人跟你一起去——这样别人就不会觉得自己还有机会了。” 就在明天晚上，他们已经绝望了。”

'There isn't anyone I want to invite,' mumbled Harry, who was still trying not to think about Ginny any more than he could help, despite the fact that she kept cropping up in his dreams in ways that made him devoutly thankful that Ron could not perform Legilimency. 'Well, just be careful what you drink, because Romilda Vane looked like she meant business,' said Hermione grimly. She hitched up the long roll of parchment on which she was writing her Arithmancy essay and continued to scratch away with her quill. Harry watched her with his mind a long way away. 'Hang on a moment,' he said slowly. 'I thought Filch had banned anything bought at Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes?' 'And when has anyone ever paid attention to what Filch has banned?' asked Hermione, still concentrating on her essay. 'But I thought all the owls were being searched? So how come these girls are able to bring love potions into school?'

“我不想邀请任何人。”哈利嘟囔着，他仍然尽力不去想金妮，尽管她不断在他的梦中出现，让他由衷地感谢罗恩不会念摄神取念。 “好吧，你喝的东西要小心，因为罗米达·万尼看上去是认真的。”赫敏严肃地说。 她把正在写算术占卜课论文的那卷长长的羊皮纸捆起来，继续用羽毛笔刮来刮去。 哈利望着她，心里却在想很远的地方。 “等一下，”他慢慢地说。 “我以为费尔奇禁止在韦斯莱魔法把戏店买东西呢？”“什么时候有人注意过费尔奇禁止的东西？”赫敏问，仍在专心写她的论文。 “可是我以为所有的猫头鹰都被搜查了呢？” 那么，这些女孩怎么能把爱情药水带到学校来呢？”