5 An Excess of Phlegm

CHAPTER FIVE An Excess of Phlegm Harry and Dumbledore approached the back door of The Burrow, which was surrounded by the familiar litter of old wellington boots and rusty cauldrons; Harry could hear the soft clucking of sleepy chickens coming from a distant shed. Dumbledore knocked three times and Harry saw sudden movement behind the kitchen window. 'Who's there?' said a nervous voice that he recognised as Mrs Weasley's. 'Declare yourself!' 'It is I, Dumbledore, bringing Harry.' The door opened at once. There stood Mrs Weasley, short, plump and wearing an old green dressing-gown.

第五章多痰哈利和邓布利多走近陋居的后门，那里到处是熟悉的一堆旧惠灵顿长筒靴和生锈的坩埚。哈利可以听到远处棚子里传来昏昏欲睡的鸡的咯咯声。 邓布利多敲了三下门，哈利看见厨房窗户后面突然有动静。 “谁在那?一个紧张的声音说，哈利听出是韦斯莱夫人的声音。 “声明自己!“是我，邓布利多，带哈利来的。”门立刻开了。 韦斯莱夫人站在那里，矮矮胖胖的，穿着一件旧的绿色晨衣。

'Harry, dear! Gracious, Albus, you gave me a fright, you said not to expect you before morning!' 'We were lucky,' said Dumbledore, ushering Harry over the threshold. 'Slughorn proved much more persuadable than I had expected. Harry's doing, of course. Ah, hello, Nymphadora!' Harry looked around and saw that Mrs Weasley was not alone, despite the lateness of the hour. A young witch with a pale, heart-shaped face and mousy-brown hair was sitting at the table clutching a large mug between her hands. 'Hello, Professor,' she said. 'Wotcher, Harry.' 'Hi, Tonks.' Harry thought she looked drawn, even ill, and there was something forced in her smile. Certainly her appearance was less colourful than usual without her customary shade of bubblegum-pink hair. 'I'd better be off,' she said quickly, standing up and pulling her cloak around her shoulders. 'Thanks for the tea and sympathy, Molly.'

“哈利,亲爱的!天哪，阿不思，你把我吓了一跳，你说早上之前不要等你的！“我们很幸运。”邓布利多说着，把哈利领进了门槛。 “斯拉格霍恩比我想象的要容易说服得多。 当然是哈利干的。啊，你好，尼法朵拉！”哈利环顾四周，发现韦斯莱夫人并不孤单，尽管时间已经很晚了。 一个年轻的女巫，苍白的心型脸，灰褐色的头发，坐在桌旁，手里拿着一个大杯子。 “你好，教授。”她说。 “Wotcher,哈利。“嗨，唐克斯。”哈利觉得她看上去很憔悴，甚至是生病了，她的笑容里有一种勉强的神情。 毫无疑问，没有了她惯常的那种泡泡糖般的粉红色头发，她的外表就没有平时那么鲜艳了。 “我得走了。”她赶紧说，站起身来，把斗篷披在肩上。 “谢谢你的茶和同情，莫利。”

'Please don't leave on my account,' said Dumbledore courteously. 'I cannot stay, I have urgent matters to discuss with Rufus Scrimgeour.' 'No, no, I need to get going,' said Tonks, not meeting Dumbledore's eyes. ''Night–' 'Dear, why not come to dinner at the weekend, Remus and Mad-Eye are coming–?' 'No, really, Molly… thanks anyway… goodnight, everyone.' Tonks hurried past Dumbledore and Harry into the yard; a few paces beyond the doorstep, she turned on the spot and vanished into thin air. Harry noticed that Mrs Weasley looked troubled. 'Well, I shall see you at Hogwarts, Harry,' said Dumbledore. 'Take care of yourself. Molly, your servant.' He made Mrs Weasley a bow and followed Tonks, vanishing at precisely the same spot. Mrs Weasley closed the door on the empty yard and then steered Harry by the shoulders into the full glow of the lantern on the table to examine his appearance.

“请不要因为我而离开。”邓布利多彬彬有礼地说。 “我不能留下来，我有紧急的事情要和鲁弗斯·斯克林杰商量。“不，不，我得走了。”唐克斯说，没有直视邓布利多的眼睛。 “晚安——”“亲爱的，周末来吃晚饭吧，莱姆斯和疯眼汉要来——”“不，真的，莫丽……谢谢……大家晚安。”唐克斯匆匆走过邓布利多和哈利，来到院子里。走出台阶几步，她原地一转身，就消失得无影无踪了。 哈利注意到韦斯莱夫人看上去很不安。 “好吧，我们霍格沃茨见，哈利。”邓布利多说。 “照顾好自己。莫丽，你的仆人。”他向韦斯莱夫人鞠了一躬，跟着唐克斯，在同一个地方消失了。 韦斯莱夫人关上了空荡荡的院子里的门，然后拉着哈利的肩膀，把他带到桌子上那盏灯火通亮的灯笼前，仔细端详着他的样子。

'You're like Ron,' she sighed, looking him up and down. 'Both of you look as though you've had Stretching Jinxes put on you. I swear Ron's grown four inches since I last bought him school robes. Are you hungry, Harry?' 'Yeah, I am,' said Harry, suddenly realising just how hungry he was. 'Sit down, dear, I'll knock something up.' As Harry sat down a furry ginger cat with a squashed face jumped on to his knees and settled there, purring. 'So Hermione's here?' he asked happily as he tickled Crookshanks behind the ear. 'Oh yes, she arrived the day before yesterday,' said Mrs Weasley, rapping a large iron pot with her wand: it bounced on to the stove with a loud clang and began to bubble at once. 'Everyone's in bed, of course, we didn't expect you for hours. Here you are–' She tapped the pot again; it rose into the air, flew towards Harry and tipped over; Mrs Weasley slid a bowl neatly beneath it just in time to catch the stream of thick, steaming onion soup.

“你真像罗恩。”她叹了口气，上下打量着他。 “你们俩看上去好像都被施了拉伸咒。 我发誓自从我上次给罗恩买校服以来，他长高了四英寸。 你饿了吗，哈利？“是的，我是。”哈利说，突然意识到自己有多饿。 “坐下吧，亲爱的，我要弄点东西出来。”哈利刚坐下，一只脸被压扁的姜黄色毛茸茸的猫跳上他的膝盖，停在那里，咕噜咕噜地叫着。 “赫敏在这儿？”他一边搔克鲁克山的耳后，一边高兴地问。 “哦，是的，她是前天来的。”韦斯莱夫人说着，用魔杖敲了敲一个大铁锅，铁锅砰的一声弹到炉子上，立刻冒起了泡泡。 “当然，大家都上床睡觉了，我们以为你几个小时后才会回来。 给你——”她又敲了敲锅；它升到空中，朝哈利飞来，翻了个身；韦斯莱夫人把一只碗整齐地塞到它下面，正好接住了汩汩流出的浓稠、冒着热气的洋葱汤。

'Bread, dear?' 'Thanks, Mrs Weasley.' She waved her wand over her shoulder; a loaf of bread and a knife soared gracefully on to the table. As the loaf sliced itself and the soup pot dropped back on to the stove, Mrs Weasley sat down opposite him. 'So you persuaded Horace Slughorn to take the job?' Harry nodded, his mouth so full of hot soup that he could not speak. 'He taught Arthur and me,' said Mrs Weasley. 'He was at Hogwarts for ages, started around the same time as Dumbledore, I think. Did you like him?' His mouth now full of bread, Harry shrugged and gave a non-committal jerk of the head. 'I know what you mean,' said Mrs Weasley, nodding wisely. 'Of course he can be charming when he wants to be, but Arthur's never liked him much. The Ministry's littered with Slughorn's old favourites, he was always good at giving leg-ups,

“面包,亲爱的?“谢谢，韦斯莱夫人。”她在肩上挥舞着魔杖；一块面包和一把刀优雅地飞到桌子上。 面包自己切成了薄片，汤锅又掉到炉子上，韦斯莱夫人在他对面坐了下来。 “所以你说服了霍拉斯·斯拉格霍恩接受这份工作？”哈利点了点头，嘴里满是热汤，说不出话来。 “他教亚瑟和我。”韦斯莱夫人说。 “他在霍格沃茨待了很长时间，我想他和邓布利多差不多同时来的。 你喜欢他吗？”哈利嘴里塞满了面包，他耸了耸肩，摇了摇头，表示不确定。 “我明白你的意思。”韦斯莱夫人明智地点点头说。 “当然，只要他愿意，他可以变得迷人，但阿瑟从来都不怎么喜欢他。 魔法部到处都是斯拉格霍恩以前的宠儿，他总是善于帮助别人，

but he never had much time for Arthur– didn't seem to think he was enough of a high-flier. Well, that just shows you, even Slughorn makes mistakes. I don't know whether Ron's told you in any of his letters– it's only just happened– but Arthur's been promoted!' It could not have been clearer that Mrs Weasley had been bursting to say this. Harry swallowed a large amount of very hot soup and thought he could feel his throat blistering. 'That's great!' he gasped. 'You are sweet,' beamed Mrs Weasley, possibly taking his watering eyes for emotion at the news. 'Yes, Rufus Scrimgeour has set up several new offices in response to the present situation, and Arthur's heading the Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects. It's a big job, he's got ten people reporting to him now!' 'What exactly–?' 'Well, you see, in all the panic about You- Know-Who, odd things have been cropping up for sale everywhere, things that are supposed to guard

但他从来没有多少时间陪阿瑟——似乎觉得阿瑟不够有抱负。 这就说明，即使是斯拉格霍恩也会犯错。 我不知道罗恩有没有在信里告诉过你——这件事才刚刚发生——亚瑟升职了！”韦斯莱夫人迫不及待地想说这句话，这再清楚不过了。 哈利喝了一大口热汤，觉得喉咙在冒泡。 “太好了!他喘着气说。 “你真可爱。”韦斯莱夫人微笑着说，可能把他那流泪的眼睛当成了听到这个消息后的激动。 “是的，鲁弗斯·斯克林杰针对目前的形势成立了几个新办公室，亚瑟是假冒防御咒和防护物品侦察与没收办公室的主任。 这是一项大工作，他现在有十个人向他汇报！“到底——？”“嗯，你知道，在人们对神秘人的恐慌中，奇怪的东西到处都在出售，那些应该是用来保护的东西。