9 The Half-Blood Prince

CHAPTER NINE The Half-Blood Prince Harry and Ron met Hermione in the common room before breakfast next morning. Hoping for some support for his theory, Harry lost no time in telling Hermione what he had overheard Malfoy saying on the Hogwarts Express. 'But he was obviously showing off for Parkinson, wasn't he?' interjected Ron quickly, before Hermione could say anything. 'Well,' she said uncertainly, 'I don't know… it would be like Malfoy to make himself seem more important than he is… but that's a big lie to tell…' 'Exactly,' said Harry, but he could not press the point, because so many people were trying to

第九章混血王子第二天早饭前，哈利和罗恩在公共休息室遇见了赫敏。 哈利希望能有人支持他的理论，于是赶紧把他在霍格沃茨特快列车上听到马尔福说的话告诉了赫敏。 “但他显然是在向帕金森炫耀，不是吗？”赫敏还没来得及说话，罗恩赶紧插嘴说。 “是啊，”她犹豫地说，“我不知道……马尔福可能是想让自己显得比实际更重要……不过这是一个弥天大谎……

listen in to his conversation, not to mention staring at him and whispering behind their hands. 'It's rude to point,' Ron snapped at a particularly minuscule first-year as they joined the queue to climb out of the portrait hole. The boy, who had been muttering something about Harry behind his hand to his friend, promptly turned scarlet and toppled out of the hole in alarm. Ron sniggered. 'I love being a sixth-year. And we're going to be getting free time this year. Whole periods when we can just sit up here and relax.' 'We're going to need that time for studying, Ron!' said Hermione, as they set off down the corridor. 'Yeah, but not today,' said Ron, 'today's going to be a real doss, I reckon.' 'Hold it!' said Hermione, throwing out an arm and halting a passing fourth-year, who was attempting to push past her with a lime-green disc clutched tightly in his hand. 'Fanged Frisbees are banned, hand it over,' she told him sternly. The scowling boy handed over the snarling Frisbee,

倾听他的谈话，更不用说盯着他，用手捂着嘴窃窃私语。 “指指点点是不礼貌的。”罗恩对一个特别瘦小的一年级新生厉声说，这时他们正排队从肖像洞口爬出来。 那个男孩刚才还在用手捂着嘴对他的朋友嘀咕着什么关于哈利的事，突然脸涨得通红，惊慌地从洞里钻了出来。 罗恩都在偷笑。“我喜欢做六年级学生。 今年我们会有空闲时间。 整节课我们都可以坐在这里放松。“我们需要时间学习，罗恩！”他们沿着走廊出发时，赫敏说。 “是啊，但不是今天，”罗恩说，“我想今天会很糟糕。“别动！”赫敏说着，伸出一只胳膊，拦住了一个四年级学生。那个四年级学生手里紧紧攥着一个青绿色的圆盘，正试图从她身边挤过去。 “有尖牙的飞盘是禁止的，给我。”她严厉地对他说。 愁眉苦脸的男孩把咆哮的飞盘递了过来，

ducked under Hermione's arm and took off after his friends. Ron waited for him to vanish, then tugged the Frisbee from Hermione's grip. 'Excellent, I've always wanted one of these.' Hermione's remonstration was drowned by a loud giggle; Lavender Brown had apparently found Ron's remark highly amusing. She continued to laugh as she passed them, glancing back at Ron over her shoulder. Ron looked rather pleased with himself. The ceiling of the Great Hall was serenely blue and streaked with frail, wispy clouds, just like the squares of sky visible through the high mullioned windows. While they tucked into porridge and eggs and bacon, Harry and Ron told Hermione about their embarrassing conversation with Hagrid the previous evening. 'But he can't really think we'd continue Care of Magical Creatures!' she said, looking distressed. 'I mean, when has any of us expressed… you know… any enthusiasm?' 'That's it, though, innit?' said Ron, swallowing an entire fried egg whole. 'We were the ones who

他钻到赫敏胳膊底下，跟着他的朋友们跑去了。 罗恩等他消失后，从赫敏手里把飞盘夺了过来。 “太好了，我一直想要一个。”赫敏的抗议被一阵响亮的咯咯笑声淹没了。拉文德·布朗显然觉得罗恩的话非常有趣。 她从他们身边走过时继续笑着，回头看了罗恩一眼。 罗恩看上去对自己相当满意。 大礼堂的天花板是宁静的蓝色，上面点缀着缕缕薄云，就像透过高高的竖框窗户看到的天空一样。 哈利和罗恩一边津津有味地吃着粥、鸡蛋和熏肉，一边把前一天晚上和海格的尴尬谈话告诉了赫敏。 “但他不会真的认为我们会继续上保护神奇生物课吧！”她说，显得很苦恼。 “我的意思是，我们什么时候表达过……你知道……任何热情？”“就是这样，不是吗？”罗恩说，一口吞下了整个煎蛋。 “是我们

made the most effort in classes because we like Hagrid. But he thinks we liked the stupid subject. D'you reckon anyone's going to go on to N.E.W.T.?' Neither Harry nor Hermione answered; there was no need. They knew perfectly well that nobody in their year would want to continue Care of Magical Creatures. They avoided Hagrid's eye and returned his cheery wave only half-heartedly when he left the staff table ten minutes later. After they had eaten, they remained in their places, awaiting Professor McGonagall's descent from the staff table. The distribution of timetables was more complicated than usual this year, for Professor McGonagall needed first to confirm that everybody had achieved the necessary O.W.L. grades to continue with their chosen N.E.W.T.s. Hermione was immediately cleared to continue with Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Herbology, Arithmancy, Ancient Runes and Potions, and shot off to a first-period Ancient Runes class without further ado. mclhfa. Neville took a little longer to sort out; his round face was

我们在课堂上最努力，因为我们喜欢海格。 但他认为我们喜欢愚蠢的科目。 你认为会有人去上提高班吗？”哈利和赫敏都没有回答。没有必要。 他们非常清楚，他们这一年级没有人愿意继续学习保护神奇生物课。 十分钟后，当海格离开教工桌子时，他们避开海格的目光，只是半心半意地回了他愉快的挥手。 吃完饭后，他们呆在自己的位置上，等着麦格教授从教工桌子上下来。 今年课程表的分发比平时要复杂得多，因为麦格教授首先要确认每个人都达到了o.w.l s的要求 继续他们选择的新提高班课程。 赫敏立刻被允许继续上魔咒课、黑魔法防御术课、变形课、草药课、算术占卜课、古代符文课和魔药课，然后一声不响地去上第一节古代符文课。 纳威花了更长的时间才理清思路；他的圆脸是

anxious as Professor McGonagall looked down his application and then consulted his O.W.L. results. 'Herbology, fine,' she said. 'Professor Sprout will be delighted to see you back with an "Outstanding" O.W.L. And you qualify for Defence Against the Dark Arts with "Exceeds Expectations". But the problem is Transfiguration. I'm sorry, Longbottom, but an "Acceptable" really isn't good enough to continue to N.E.W.T. level, I just don't think you'd be able to cope with the coursework.' Neville hung his head. Professor McGonagall peered at him through her square spectacles. 'Why do you want to continue with Transfiguration, anyway? I've never had the impression that you particularly enjoyed it.' Neville looked miserable and muttered something about 'my grandmother wants'. 'Humph,' snorted Professor McGonagall. 'It's high time your grandmother learned to be proud of the grandson she's got, rather than the one she thinks she ought to have– particularly after what happened at the Ministry.'

麦格教授看了看他的申请表，又看了看他的o.w.l s考试成绩 结果。“草药，很好。”她说。 “斯普劳特教授会很高兴看到你带着‘优秀’的o.w.l s成绩回来的 黑魔法防御术课的成绩是“超出预期”。 但问题是变形。 对不起，隆巴顿，“尚可”真的不足以继续上提高班 我只是觉得你应付不了这些课程。”纳威低下了头。 麦格教授透过方框眼镜凝视着他。 “你为什么想继续学习变形课呢？” 我从来没有觉得你特别喜欢它。"纳威看上去很痛苦，嘴里嘟囔着“我奶奶想要什么”之类的话。 “哼。”麦格教授哼了一声。 “你祖母早该学会为她的孙子感到骄傲了，而不是为她认为应该有的那个孙子感到骄傲——尤其是在魔法部发生了那件事之后。”

Neville turned very pink and blinked confusedly; Professor McGonagall had never paid him a compliment before. 'I'm sorry, Longbottom, but I cannot let you into my N.E.W.T. class. I see that you have an "Exceeds Expectations" in Charms, however– why not try for a N.E.W.T. in Charms?' 'My grandmother thinks Charms is a soft option,' mumbled Neville. 'Take Charms,' said Professor McGonagall, 'and I shall drop Augusta a line reminding her that just because she failed her Charms O.W.L., the subject is not necessarily worthless.' Smiling slightly at the look of delighted incredulity on Neville's face, Professor McGonagall tapped a blank timetable with the tip of her wand and handed it, now carrying details of his new classes, to Neville. Professor McGonagall turned next to Parvati Patil, whose first question was whether Firenze, the handsome centaur, was still teaching Divination.

纳威的脸涨得通红，困惑地眨着眼睛。麦格教授以前从来没有称赞过他。 “对不起，隆巴顿，我不能让你进我的提高班 类。不过，我看到你的魔咒课得了“优异”——为什么不试试提高班呢 在魅力?“我奶奶认为魔咒是一门软性的课程。”纳威咕哝道。 “选魔咒课，”麦格教授说，“我要给奥古斯塔写封信，提醒她魔咒课O.W.L s不及格，并不意味着这门课一无是处。”麦格教授看到纳威脸上喜悦的、难以置信的表情，微微一笑，用魔杖尖敲了敲一张空白的课程表，递给纳威，上面写着他新课程的细节。 麦格教授转向帕瓦蒂·佩蒂尔，佩蒂尔的第一个问题是，那个英俊的马人费伦泽是否还在教占卜课。