16 A Very Frosty Christmas

CHAPTER SIXTEEN A Very Frosty Christmas 'So Snape was offering to help him? He was definitely offering to help him?' 'If you ask that once more,' said Harry, 'I'm going to stick this sprout–' 'I'm only checking!' said Ron. They were standing alone at The Burrow's kitchen sink, peeling a mountain of sprouts for Mrs Weasley. Snow was drifting past the window in front of them. 'Yes, Snape was offering to help him!' said Harry. 'He said he'd promised Malfoy's mother to

第十六章霜冻的圣诞节这么说斯内普主动提出要帮助他？ 他肯定是要帮他吗？“如果你再问一次，”哈利说，“我就把这个嫩芽——”“我只是看看！”罗恩说。 他们俩单独站在陋居厨房的水池边，给韦斯莱夫人削一堆豆芽。 雪从他们面前的窗口飘过。 “是的，斯内普提出要帮助他！”哈利问。 “他说他答应过马尔福的妈妈

protect him, that he'd made an Unbreakable Oath or something–' 'An Unbreakable Vow?' said Ron, looking stunned. 'Nah, he can't have… are you sure?' 'Yes, I'm sure,' said Harry. 'Why, what does it mean?' 'Well, you can't break an Unbreakable Vow…' 'I'd worked that much out for myself, funnily enough. What happens if you break it, then?' 'You die,' said Ron simply. 'Fred and George tried to get me to make one when I was about five. I nearly did, too, I was holding hands with Fred and everything when Dad found us. He went mental,' said Ron, with a reminiscent gleam in his eyes. 'Only time I've ever seen Dad as angry as Mum. Fred reckons his left buttock has never been the same since.' 'Yeah, well, passing over Fred's left buttock–' 'I beg your pardon?' said Fred's voice as the twins entered the kitchen. 'Aaah, George, look at this. They're using knives and everything. Bless them.'

保护他，说他立下了牢不可破的誓言之类的——”“牢不可破的誓言？罗恩惊愕地问。 “不，他不可能……你确定吗？”“是的，我肯定。”哈利说。 “怎么，这是什么意思？”“唉，你是不能违背牢不可破的誓言的……”“有趣的是，这是我自己算出来的。 如果你把它弄坏了怎么办？“你死定了。”罗恩简单地说。 “我五岁的时候，弗雷德和乔治想让我做一个。 我差点也这么做了，当爸爸发现我们的时候，我正和弗雷德手牵着手。 “他疯了。”罗恩说，眼里闪着回忆的光芒。 “这是我第一次看到爸爸像妈妈一样生气。 弗雷德估计他的左屁股从此变了样。“是啊，嗯，从弗雷德的左屁股上走过——”“你说什么？”弗雷德的声音说，这时双胞胎走进了厨房。 “啊，乔治，看这个。 他们用刀和其他东西。 为他们祝福。”

'I'll be seventeen in two and a bit months' time,' said Ron grumpily, 'and then I'll be able to do it by magic!' 'But meanwhile,' said George, sitting down at the kitchen table and putting his feet up on it, 'we can enjoy watching you demonstrate the correct use of a– whoops-a-daisy.' 'You made me do that!' said Ron angrily, sucking his cut thumb. 'You wait, when I'm seventeen–' 'I'm sure you'll dazzle us all with hitherto unsuspected magical skills,' yawned Fred. 'And speaking of hitherto unsuspected skills, Ronald,' said George, 'what is this we hear from Ginny about you and a young lady called– unless our information is faulty– Lavender Brown?' Ron turned a little pink, but did not look displeased as he turned back to the sprouts. 'Mind your own business.' 'What a snappy retort,' said Fred. 'I really don't know how you think of them. No, what we wanted to know was… how did it happen?'

“再过两个多月我就十七岁了，”罗恩暴躁地说，“到那时我就能用魔法变了！“但与此同时，”乔治说着，在厨房的桌子旁坐了下来，把脚搁在桌子上，“我们可以欣赏你示范‘呜呜-雏菊’的正确用法。”“是你逼我这么做的！”罗恩生气地说，吮吸着被割伤的大拇指。 “我相信你会用迄今为止没有人怀疑过的魔法技巧让我们大家眼花缭乱的。”弗雷德打了个哈欠。 “说到迄今为止无人怀疑的技巧，罗纳德，”乔治说，“我们从金妮那里听说你和一位年轻女士——除非我们的消息有误——拉文德·布朗是怎么回事？”罗恩的脸有点涨红了，但他转身看那些豆芽时，并没有露出不高兴的样子。 “管好你自己的事吧。“多么尖刻的反驳。”弗雷德说。 “我真不知道你是怎么看待他们的。 不，我们想知道的是……这是怎么发生的？”

'What d'you mean?' 'Did she have an accident or something?' 'What?' 'Well, how did she sustain such extensive brain damage? Careful, now!' Mrs Weasley entered the room just in time to see Ron throw the sprouts knife at Fred, who turned it into a paper aeroplane with one lazy flick of his wand. 'Ron!' she said furiously. 'Don't you ever let me see you throwing knives again!' 'I won't,' said Ron, 'let you see,' he added under his breath, as he turned back to the sprout mountain. 'Fred, George, I'm sorry, dears, but Remus is arriving tonight, so Bill will have to squeeze in with you two!' 'No problem,' said George. mclhfa. 'Then, as Charlie isn't coming home, that just leaves Harry and Ron in the attic, and if Fleur shares with Ginny–'

“你这是什么意思？”“她出意外了还是怎么了？”“什么?“那么，她的大脑怎么会受到这么大的损伤呢？” 小心,现在!”韦斯莱夫人走进房间，正好看见罗恩把豆芽刀扔向弗雷德，弗雷德懒洋洋地一挥魔杖，把豆芽刀变成了一架纸飞机。 “罗恩!”她愤怒地说。 “别再让我看到你扔刀子！”“我不会的，”罗恩说，“让你看看。”他压低声音又说了一句，转身向那座长满嫩芽的山走去。 “弗雷德，乔治，对不起，亲爱的，莱姆斯今晚要来，所以比尔只能挤在你们俩中间了！”“没问题，”乔治说。 “那么，既然查理不回家，那就只剩下哈利和罗恩住在阁楼上，如果芙蓉和金妮住在一起——”

'–that'll make Ginny's Christmas–' muttered Fred. '–everyone should be comfortable. Well, they'll have a bed, anyway,' said Mrs Weasley, sounding slightly harassed. 'Percy definitely not showing his ugly face, then?' asked Fred. Mrs Weasley turned away before she answered. 'No, he's busy, I expect, at the Ministry.' 'Or he's the world's biggest prat,' said Fred, as Mrs Weasley left the kitchen. 'One of the two. Well, let's get going, then, George.' 'What are you two up to?' asked Ron. 'Can't you help us with these sprouts? You could just use your wand and then we'll be free, too!' 'No, I don't think we can do that,' said Fred seriously. 'It's very character-building stuff, learning to peel sprouts without magic, makes you appreciate how difficult it is for Muggles and Squibs–' '–and if you want people to help you, Ron,' added George, throwing the paper aeroplane at

“——那会是金妮的圣诞节——”弗雷德嘟囔着。 ——每个人都应该感到舒适。 “好吧，反正他们会有一张床的。”韦斯莱夫人说，声音里有些不安。 “那么，珀西肯定没有露出他那张丑脸吧？”弗雷德问。 韦斯莱夫人没回答就转过身去。 “不，我想他在魔法部很忙。“或者他是世界上最大的笨蛋。”韦斯莱夫人离开厨房时，弗雷德说。 “两个中的一个。那我们走吧，乔治。“你们俩在搞什么鬼？”罗恩问。 “你不能帮我们种这些豆芽吗？” 你只要用你的魔杖，我们就自由了！“不，我想我们不能那样做。”弗雷德严肃地说。 “不用魔法就学会削豆芽，这是很能塑造性格的事情，会让你体会到麻瓜和哑炮是多么困难——”“如果你想要别人帮助你，罗恩。”乔治补充道，一边把纸飞机扔向罗恩

him, 'I wouldn't chuck knives at them. Just a little hint. We're off to the village, there's a very pretty girl working in the paper shop who thinks my card tricks are something marvellous… almost like real magic…' 'Gits,' said Ron darkly, watching Fred and George setting off across the snowy yard. 'Would've only taken them ten seconds and then we could've gone, too.' 'I couldn't,' said Harry. 'I promised Dumbledore I wouldn't wander off while I'm staying here.' 'Oh, yeah,' said Ron. He peeled a few more sprouts and then said, 'Are you going to tell Dumbledore what you heard Snape and Malfoy saying to each other?' 'Yep,' said Harry. 'I'm going to tell anyone who can put a stop to it and Dumbledore's top of the list. I might have another word with your dad, too.' 'Pity you didn't hear what Malfoy's actually doing, though.'

他说，“我不会朝他们扔刀子。 给你一点提示。“我们要去村里，有一个非常漂亮的女孩在纸店工作，她认为我的纸牌戏法很神奇……几乎就像真正的魔法……” “他们只需要十秒钟，然后我们也可以走了。“我不能。”哈利说。 “我答应过邓布利多，在这里我不会走神的。“哦，是啊。”罗恩说。 他又削了几颗豆芽，然后说：“你打算把你听到斯内普和马尔福说的话告诉邓布利多吗？“是的。”哈利说。 “我要告诉所有能阻止这件事的人，邓布利多是头号人选。 我可能还要跟你爸爸说几句。“可惜你没听到马尔福到底在干什么。”