18 Birthday Surprises

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN Birthday Surprises The next day Harry confided in both Ron and Hermione the task that Dumbledore had set him, though separately, for Hermione still refused to remain in Ron's presence longer than it took to give him a contemptuous look. Ron thought that Harry was unlikely to have any trouble with Slughorn at all. 'He loves you,' he said over breakfast, waving an airy forkful of fried egg. 'Won't refuse you anything, will he? Not his little Potions Prince. Just hang back after class this afternoon and ask him.' Hermione, however, took a gloomier view.

第十八章生日惊喜第二天，哈利向罗恩和赫敏吐露了邓布利多给他布置的任务，虽然是分开的，因为赫敏仍然不肯在罗恩面前多待一会儿，只是轻蔑地看了他一眼。 罗恩认为哈利在斯拉格霍恩那里不会有什么麻烦。 “他爱你，”他一边吃早饭一边说，手里轻快地挥舞着一把煎蛋。 “他不会拒绝你的，是吗？” 不是他的小魔药王子。 今天下午下课后留下来问问他就行了。”然而，赫敏的看法却比较悲观。

'He must be determined to hide what really happened if Dumbledore couldn't get it out of him,' she said in a low voice, as they stood in the deserted, snowy courtyard at break. 'Horcruxes… Horcruxes… I've never even heard of them…' 'You haven't?' Harry was disappointed; he had hoped that Hermione might have been able to give him a clue as to what Horcruxes were. 'They must be really advanced Dark magic, or why would Voldemort have wanted to know about them? I think it's going to be difficult to get the information, Harry, you'll have to be very careful about how you approach Slughorn, think out a strategy…' 'Ron reckons I should just hang back after Potions this afternoon…' 'Oh, well, if Won-Won thinks that, you'd better do it,' she said, flaring up at once. 'After all, when has Won-Won's judgement ever been faulty?' 'Hermione, can't you–'

“如果邓布利多无法从他嘴里套出真相，他一定下定决心要把真相隐藏起来。”课间休息时，他们站在空荡荡的、下雪的院子里，她低声说。 “魂器……魂器……我从来没有听说过它们……”哈利很失望。他希望赫敏能给他一些关于魂器是什么的线索。 “它们一定是非常高级的黑魔法，否则伏地魔为什么想知道它们呢？” “罗恩认为我应该在今天下午魔药课结束后留在学校里……”“哦，好吧，如果Won-Won这么想，你最好这么做，”她说，立刻火了起来。 “毕竟，Won-Won的判断什么时候出过差错？”“赫敏，你就不能——”

'No!' she said angrily, and stormed away, leaving Harry alone and ankle-deep in snow. Potions lessons were uncomfortable enough these days, seeing as Harry, Ron and Hermione had to share a desk. Today, Hermione moved her cauldron around the table so that she was close to Ernie, and ignored both Harry and Ron. 'What've you done?' Ron muttered to Harry, looking at Hermione's haughty profile. But before Harry could answer, Slughorn was calling for silence from the front of the room. 'Settle down, settle down, please! Quickly, now, lots of work to get through this afternoon! Golpalott's Third Law… who can tell me–? But Miss Granger can, of course!' Hermione recited at top speed: 'Golpalott's- Third-Law-states-that-the-antidote-for-a-blended- poison-will-be-equal-to-more-than-the-sum-of- the-antidotes-for-each-of-the-separate- components.' 'Precisely!' beamed Slughorn. 'Ten points for Gryffindor! Now, if we accept Golpalott's Third Law as true…'

“不!她生气地说，气冲冲地走开了，留下哈利一个人陷在齐脚踝深的雪里。 这些天来，魔药课已经够不舒服的了，哈利、罗恩和赫敏不得不共用一张课桌。 今天，赫敏把坩埚绕着桌子挪了挪，这样她就离厄尼更近一些，没有理睬哈利和罗恩。 “你干了什么？”罗恩看着赫敏傲慢的侧面，低声对哈利说。 哈利还没来得及回答，斯拉格霍恩就在教室前面叫大家安静下来。 “安静，安静，请安静！”快点，现在，今天下午有很多工作要做！戈巴洛特第三定律……谁能告诉我——？ 不过格兰杰小姐当然可以！”赫敏以最快的速度背诵道：“戈巴洛特第三定律说，混合毒药的解药等于每一种单独成分的解药的总和。“正是!斯拉格霍恩笑道。 “格兰芬多加十分！”现在，如果我们承认戈巴洛特第三定律是正确的……”

Harry was going to have to take Slughorn's word for it that Golpalott's Third Law was true, because he had not understood any of it. Nobody apart from Hermione seemed to be following what Slughorn said next, either. '…which means, of course, that assuming we have achieved correct identification of the potion's ingredients by Scarpin's Revelaspell, our primary aim is not the relatively simple one of selecting antidotes to those ingredients in and of themselves, but to find that added component which will, by an almost alchemical process, transform these disparate elements–' Ron was sitting beside Harry with his mouth half-open, doodling absently on his new copy of Advanced Potion-Making. Ron kept forgetting that he could no longer rely on Hermione to help him out of trouble when he failed to grasp what was going on. '…and so,' finished Slughorn, 'I want each of you to come and take one of these phials from my desk. You are to create an antidote for the poison

哈利只能相信斯拉格霍恩所说的戈巴洛特第三定律是正确的，因为他一点也不懂。 除了赫敏，似乎也没有人听进去斯拉格霍恩接下来说的话。 “……当然，这意味着，假设我们已经通过斯卡潘的揭示咒正确地鉴定出了魔药的成分，我们的主要目标就不是相对简单地为这些成分本身选择解药，而是要找到一种添加的成分，这种成分可以用一种近乎炼金术的方法，把这些完全不同的元素转化——”罗恩半张着嘴坐在哈利旁边，心不在焉地在他那本新买的《高级魔药制作》上乱涂乱画。 罗恩总是忘记，当他搞不明白发生了什么事时，他再也不能指望赫敏帮他摆脱困境了。 “……所以，”斯拉格霍恩把话说完，“我希望你们每个人都过来，从我的桌子上拿一个小药瓶。 你要制造一种解毒剂

within it before the end of the lesson. Good luck, and don't forget your protective gloves!' Hermione had left her stool and was halfway towards Slughorn's desk before the rest of the class had realised it was time to move, and by the time Harry, Ron and Ernie returned to the table, she had already tipped the contents of her phial into her cauldron and was kindling a fire underneath it. 'It's a shame that the Prince won't be able to help you much with this, Harry,' she said brightly as she straightened up. 'You have to understand the principles involved this time. No short cuts or cheats!' Annoyed, Harry uncorked the poison he had taken from Slughorn's desk, which was a garish shade of pink, tipped it into his cauldron and lit a fire underneath it. He did not have the faintest idea what he was supposed to do next. He glanced at Ron, who was now standing there looking rather gormless, having copied everything Harry had done.

在这节课结束前。 祝你好运，别忘了戴防护手套！”赫敏离开凳子，朝斯拉格霍恩的桌子走去，全班同学还没意识到该走了。等哈利、罗恩和厄尼回到桌子旁时，她已经把小药瓶里的药液倒进坩埚里，在坩埚下面生起了火。 “真遗憾，王子在这件事上帮不了你太多忙，哈利。”她高兴地说着，直起身子。 “你必须理解这次涉及的原则。 没有捷径或作弊！”哈利气恼地打开从斯拉格霍恩桌子上拿来的毒药的瓶塞，那是一种艳丽的粉红色，他把毒药倒进坩埚里，在坩埚下面生起了火。 他根本不知道下一步该做什么。 他瞥了罗恩一眼，罗恩呆呆地站在那里，模仿着哈利的一举一动。

'You sure the Prince hasn't got any tips?' Ron muttered to Harry. Harry pulled out his trusty copy of Advanced Potion-Making and turned to the chapter on Antidotes. There was Golpalott's Third Law, stated word for word as Hermione had recited it, but not a single illuminating note in the Prince's hand to explain what it meant. Apparently the Prince, like Hermione, had had no difficulty understanding it. 'Nothing,' said Harry gloomily. Hermione was now waving her wand enthusiastically over her cauldron. Unfortunately, they could not copy the spell she was doing because she was now so good at non-verbal incantations that she did not need to say the words aloud. Ernie Macmillan, however, was muttering, 'Specialis revelio!' over his cauldron, which sounded impressive, so Harry and Ron hastened to imitate him. It took Harry only five minutes to realise that his reputation as the best potion-maker in the class was crashing around his ears. Slughorn had peered

“你确定王子没有得到任何提示吗？”罗恩小声对哈利说。 哈利掏出他那本信得过的《高级魔药制作》，翻到解药那一章。 还有戈巴洛特第三定律，是赫敏逐字逐句背出来的，但王子手里没有一张说明其含义的纸条。 显然，王子和赫敏一样，不难理解这句话。 “没什么。”哈利沮丧地说。 赫敏正在坩埚上方热情地挥舞着魔杖。 不幸的是，他们无法模仿她正在念的咒语，因为她现在非常擅长非语言咒语，不需要大声念出来。 厄尼·麦克米伦却嘟囔着：“特别的启示！”这句话听起来令人印象深刻，哈利和罗恩赶紧模仿他。 哈利只花了五分钟就意识到，他作为班上最好的魔药师的名声正在他耳边崩塌。 斯拉格霍恩瞥了一眼