17 A Sluggish Memory

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN A Sluggish Memory Late in the afternoon, a few days after New Year, Harry, Ron and Ginny lined up beside the kitchen fire to return to Hogwarts. The Ministry had arranged this one-off connection to the Floo Network to return students quickly and safely to the school. Only Mrs Weasley was there to say goodbye, as Mr Weasley, Fred, George, Bill and Fleur were all at work. Mrs Weasley dissolved into tears at the moment of parting. Admittedly, it took very little to set her off lately; she had been crying on and off ever since Percy had stormed from the house on Christmas Day with his glasses splattered with mashed parsnip (for which Fred, George and Ginny all claimed credit).

第十七章呆滞的记忆新年过后几天，下午晚些时候，哈利、罗恩和金妮在厨房的火炉旁排队，准备返回霍格沃茨。 魔法部安排了这次与飞路网的一次性连接，以便让学生们快速安全地返回学校。 只有韦斯莱夫人在那里告别，韦斯莱先生、弗雷德、乔治、比尔和芙蓉都在上班。 韦斯莱夫人在离别的那一刻泪流满面。 不可否认，最近她很容易激动；自从圣诞节那天珀西眼镜上溅满了防风草泥（弗雷德、乔治和金妮都声称是他干的），愤然冲出家门后，她就一直在断断续续地哭。

'Don't cry, Mum,' said Ginny, patting her on the back as Mrs Weasley sobbed into her shoulder. 'It's OK…' 'Yeah, don't worry about us,' said Ron, permitting his mother to plant a very wet kiss on his cheek, 'or about Percy. He's such a prat, it's not really a loss, is it?' Mrs Weasley sobbed harder than ever as she enfolded Harry in her arms. 'Promise me you'll look after yourself… stay out of trouble…' 'I always do, Mrs Weasley,' said Harry. 'I like a quiet life, you know me.' She gave a watery chuckle and stood back. 'Be good, then, all of you…' Harry stepped into the emerald fire and shouted, 'Hogwarts!' He had one last fleeting view of the Weasleys' kitchen and Mrs Weasley's tearful face before the flames engulfed him; spinning very fast, he caught blurred glimpses of other wizarding rooms, which were whipped out of sight before he could get a proper look; then he

“别哭，妈妈。”金妮拍拍她的背说，韦斯莱夫人趴在她的肩膀上抽泣着。 “没事，别为我们担心，”罗恩说着，让母亲在他脸颊上亲了一下，“也别为珀西担心。 他真是个笨蛋，这也不算损失，对吧？”韦斯莱夫人把哈利搂在怀里，哭得更厉害了。 “我总是这么做的，韦斯莱夫人。”哈利说。 “我喜欢平静的生活，你知道我的。”她含泪地笑了一声，退了回去。 “那么，你们都要听话……”哈利跨进祖母绿的炉火，喊道：“霍格沃茨！”他最后瞥了一眼韦斯莱家的厨房和韦斯莱夫人泪流满面的脸，然后被火焰吞没了。他飞快地旋转着，模糊地瞥见了其他巫师的房间，但还没来得及仔细看，那些房间就被嗖地一声消失了。然后,他

was slowing down, finally stopping squarely in the fireplace in Professor McGonagall's office. She barely glanced up from her work as he clambered out over the grate. 'Evening, Potter. Try not to get too much ash on the carpet.' 'No, Professor.' Harry straightened his glasses and flattened his hair as Ron came spinning into view. When Ginny had arrived, all three of them trooped out of McGonagall's office and off towards Gryffindor Tower. Harry glanced out of the corridor windows as they passed; the sun was already sinking over grounds carpeted in deeper snow than had lain over The Burrow garden. In the distance, he could see Hagrid feeding Buckbeak in front of his cabin. 'Baubles,' said Ron confidently, when they reached the Fat Lady, who was looking rather paler than usual, and winced at his loud voice. 'No,' she said. 'What d'you mean, "no"?'

他放慢了脚步，终于在麦格教授办公室的壁炉前停了下来。 当他从炉栅上爬出来时，她几乎没有抬起头来。 “晚上,波特。尽量不要把太多灰弄到地毯上。“没有，教授。”哈利正了正眼镜，捋了捋头发，罗恩旋转着走进了他的视野。 金妮一到，他们三个人就成群结队地走出麦格的办公室，朝格兰芬多塔楼走去。 他们走过时，哈利朝走廊窗户外瞥了一眼。太阳已经下山了，地面上的雪比陋居花园里的雪还要厚。 在远处，他看见海格正在小屋前喂巴克比克。 “小玩意儿。”当他们走到胖夫人身边时，罗恩自信地说，胖夫人看上去比平时苍白得多，听到他的大声声音，她皱起了眉头。 “不，”她说。“你说‘不’是什么意思？”

'There is a new password,' she said. 'And please don't shout.' 'But we've been away, how're we supposed to–?' 'Harry! Ginny!' Hermione was hurrying towards them, very pink-faced and wearing a cloak, hat and gloves. 'I got back a couple of hours ago, I've just been down to visit Hagrid and Buck— I mean Witherwings,' she said breathlessly. 'Did you have a good Christmas?' 'Yeah,' said Ron at once, 'pretty eventful, Rufus Scrim—' 'I've got something for you, Harry,' said Hermione, neither looking at Ron nor giving any sign that she had heard him. 'Oh, hang on– password. Abstinence.' 'Precisely,' said the Fat Lady in a feeble voice, and swung forwards to reveal the portrait hole. 'What's up with her?' asked Harry. 'Overindulged over Christmas, apparently,' said Hermione, rolling her eyes as she led the way into

“有一个新密码，”她说。 “请不要大喊大叫。“可是我们离开了，我们怎么能——？”“哈利!金妮!”赫敏匆匆朝他们走来，脸色通红，穿着一件斗篷，戴着帽子和手套。 “我是两个小时前回来的，我刚去看海格和巴克——我是说凋零之翼。” “你圣诞节过得好吗？”“我有东西要给你，哈利。”赫敏说，她既没有看罗恩，也没有表现出听见他说话的样子。 “哦，等一下——密码。禁欲。“一点不错。”胖夫人用微弱的声音说，然后向前一甩，露出了肖像洞口。 “她怎么啦？”哈利问。 “显然是圣诞节过得太放纵了。”赫敏一边说，一边翻着白眼

the packed common room. 'She and her friend Violet drank their way through all the wine in that picture of drunk monks down by the Charms corridor. Anyway…' She rummaged in her pocket for a moment, then pulled out a scroll of parchment with Dumbledore's writing on it. 'Great,' said Harry, unrolling it at once to discover that his next lesson with Dumbledore was scheduled for the following night. 'I've got loads to tell him– and you. Let's sit down–' But at that moment there was a loud squeal of 'Won-Won!' and Lavender Brown came hurtling out of nowhere and flung herself into Ron's arms. Several onlookers sniggered; Hermione gave a tinkling laugh and said, 'There's a table over here… coming, Ginny?' 'No, thanks, I said I'd meet Dean,' said Ginny, though Harry could not help noticing that she did not sound very enthusiastic. Leaving Ron and Lavender locked in a kind of vertical wrestling match, Harry led Hermione over to the spare table. 'So how was your Christmas?'

拥挤的公共休息室。“她和她的朋友维奥莱特喝光了魔咒课走廊那边那幅画里的所有酒。 她在口袋里翻了一会儿，然后抽出一卷羊皮纸，上面写着邓布利多的字。 “太好了。”哈利说，立刻把它展开，发现他和邓布利多的下一堂课安排在第二天晚上。 “我有很多话要告诉他——还有你。 我们坐下吧——”但就在这时，传来一声响亮的尖叫：“赢——赢！拉文德·布朗不知从哪里冲了出来，扑进了罗恩的怀里。 几个旁观者在窃笑；赫敏发出一声清脆的笑声，说道：“那边有张桌子……金妮，过来吗？”“不，谢谢，我说过我要去见迪安。”金妮说，但哈利不禁注意到她听起来并不怎么热情。 罗恩和拉文德在进行一场垂直摔跤比赛，哈利把赫敏领到那张空桌子旁。 “你的圣诞节过得怎么样？”

'Oh, fine,' she shrugged. 'Nothing special. How was it at Won-Won's?' 'I'll tell you in a minute,' said Harry. 'Look, Hermione, can't you–?' 'No, I can't,' she said flatly. 'So don't even ask.' 'I thought maybe, you know, over Christmas–' 'It was the Fat Lady who drank a vat of five- hundred-year-old wine, Harry, not me. So what was this important news you wanted to tell me?' She looked too fierce to argue with at that moment, so Harry dropped the subject of Ron and recounted all that he had overheard between Malfoy and Snape. When he had finished, Hermione sat in thought for a moment and then said, 'Don't you think–?' '–he was pretending to offer help so that he could trick Malfoy into telling him what he's doing?' 'Well, yes,' said Hermione. 'Ron's dad and Lupin think so,' Harry said grudgingly. 'But this definitely proves Malfoy's

“哦，好吧，”她耸耸肩。“没什么特别的。 在Won-Won餐厅过得怎么样？“我马上就告诉你。”哈利说。 “听着，赫敏，你就不能——？”“不，我不能，”她断然地说。 所以别问了。“我想也许，你知道，圣诞节期间——”“是胖夫人喝了一大桶五百年的酒，哈利，不是我。 那么，你要告诉我的这个重要消息是什么？”那一刻，她显得太凶狠了，没法跟她争论，所以哈利把罗恩的话题放下了，把他听到的马尔福和斯内普之间的对话都讲了一遍。 他讲完后，赫敏沉思了一会儿，然后说：“你不觉得——？”“——他假装要帮忙，好骗马尔福告诉他他在做什么？”“嗯，是的。”赫敏说。 “罗恩的爸爸和卢平是这么认为的。”哈利不情愿地说。 “但这绝对证明了马尔福的