11 The Bribe

CHAPTER ELEVEN THE BRIBE If Kreacher could escape a lake full of Inferi, Harry was confident that the capture of Mundungus would take a few hours at most, and he prowled the house all morning in a state of high anticipation. However, Kreacher did not return that morning or even that afternoon. By nightfall, Harry felt discouraged and anxious, and a supper

十一贿赂既然克利切能逃出一个满是阴尸的湖，哈利相信抓住蒙顿格斯顶多只需要几个小时。整个上午，他都满怀期待地在屋里徘徊。 然而，克利切那天早上甚至下午都没有回来。 夜幕降临时，哈利感到沮丧和焦虑，只好吃晚饭

composed largely of moldy bread, upon which Hermione had tried a variety of unsuccessful Transfigurations, did nothing to help. Kreacher did not return the following day, nor the day after that. However, two cloaked men had appeared in the square outside number twelve, and they remained there into the night, gazing in the direction of the house that they could not see. "Death Eaters, for sure," said Ron, as he, Harry, and Hermione watched from the drawing room windows. "Reckon they know we're in here?" "I don't think so," said Hermione, though she looked frightened, "or they'd have sent Snape in after us, wouldn't they?" "D'you reckon he's been in here and had his tongue tied by Moody's curse?" asked Ron. "Yes," said Hermione, "otherwise he'd have been able to tell that lot how to get in, wouldn't he? But they're probably watching to see whether

主要是由发霉的面包做成的，赫敏在面包上试过各种变形术，但都没有成功。 克利切第二天没有回来，第三天也没有回来。 然而，有两个披着斗篷的人出现在十二号房外面的广场上，他们一直呆到深夜，凝视着他们看不见的房子的方向。 “肯定是食死徒。”罗恩说，他和哈利、赫敏从客厅的窗户往外看。 “他们知道我们在这里吗？”“我不这么认为，”赫敏说，但她看上去很害怕，“否则他们就会派斯内普来追我们了，是不是？”“你说他是不是来过这里，被穆迪的咒语捆住了舌头？”罗恩问。 “是啊，”赫敏说，“不然他就能告诉那帮人怎么进去了，是不是？ 但他们可能在观望是否

we turn up. They know that Harry owns the house, after all." "How do they—?" began Harry. "Wizarding wills are examined by the Ministry, remember? They'll know Sirius left you the place." The presence of the Death Eaters outside increased the ominous mood inside number twelve. They had not heard a word from anyone beyond Grimmauld Place since Mr. Weasley's Patronus, and the strain was starting to tell. Restless and irritable, Ron had developed an annoying habit of playing with the Deluminator in his pocket: This particularly infuriated Hermione, who was whiling away the wait for Kreacher by studying The Tales of Beedle the Bard and did not appreciate the way the lights kept flashing on and off. "Will you stop it!" she cried on the third evening of Kreacher's absence, as all light was

我们出现了。毕竟，他们知道这房子是哈利的。” “他们怎么——？”哈利问。 “巫师的遗嘱是由魔法部审查的，记得吗？” 他们会知道小天狼星把这个地方留给你的。” 外面食死徒的出现增加了12号房间里不祥的气氛。 自从韦斯莱先生的守护神出现后，他们再也没有听到格里莫广场以外任何人的消息，紧张的气氛开始显现出来。 罗恩烦躁不安，脾气暴躁，养成了玩口袋里熄灯器的坏习惯，这让赫敏特别恼火，她正在读《诗翁彼豆故事集》来消磨等待克利切的时间，不喜欢灯一闪一闪地熄灭。 “你能不能别这样！”克利切离开的第三个晚上，天色暗了下来，她喊道

sucked from the drawing room yet again. "Sorry, sorry!" said Ron, clicking the Deluminator and restoring the lights. "I don't know I'm doing it!" "Well, can't you find something useful to occupy yourself?" "What, like reading kids' stories?" "Dumbledore left me this book, Ron—" "—and he left me the Deluminator, maybe I'm supposed to use it!" Unable to stand the bickering, Harry slipped out of the room unnoticed by either of them. He headed downstairs toward the kitchen, which he kept visiting because he was sure that was where Kreacher was most likely to reappear. Halfway down the flight of stairs into the hall, however, he heard a tap on the front door, then metallic clicks and the grinding of the chain. Every nerve in his body seemed to tauten: He pulled out his wand, moved into the shadows

又从客厅被吸走了。 “对不起，对不起！”罗恩说，咔哒一下熄灯器，把灯恢复了。 “我不知道我在做什么！”“那么，你就不能找点有用的事情来打发时间吗？”“什么，就像读儿童故事一样？”“邓布利多给我留下了这本书，罗恩——”“他还给我留下了熄灯器，也许我应该用它！”哈利无法忍受他们的争吵，悄悄地溜出了房间，两人都没有注意到。 他朝楼下的厨房走去，他不断地去厨房，因为他确信克利切最有可能再次出现在那里。 然而，在通往大厅的楼梯走到一半时，他听到了前门上的敲门声，接着是金属的咔哒声和链条的磨擦声。 他身上的每一根神经似乎都绷紧了，他抽出魔杖，走到阴影里

beside the decapitated elf heads, and waited. The door opened: He saw a glimpse of the lamplit square outside, and a cloaked figure edged into the hall and closed the door behind it. The intruder took a step forward, and Moody's voice asked, "Severus Snape?" Then the dust figure rose from the end of the hall and rushed him, raising its dead hand. "It was not I who killed you, Albus," said a quiet voice. The jinx broke: The dust-figure exploded again, and it was impossible to make out the newcomer through the dense gray cloud it left behind. Harry pointed his wand into the middle of it. "Don't move!" He had forgotten the portrait of Mrs. Black: At the sound of his yell, the curtains hiding her flew open and she began to scream, "Mudbloods and filth dishonoring my house—"

在那些被砍头的精灵脑袋旁，等待着。 门开了，他瞥见了外面灯火通明的广场，一个披着斗篷的身影缓缓走进大厅，随手把门关上。 闯入者向前迈了一步，穆迪的声音问道：“西弗勒斯·斯内普？”接着，那个尘土飞扬的身影从大厅的尽头站起来，举起一只死手，向他冲了过来。 “不是我杀了你，阿不思。”一个平静的声音说。 魔咒被打破了，那个人影又爆炸了，透过它留下的浓密的灰云，根本看不清新来的人。 哈利用魔杖指着它中间。 “不要动!”他忘记了布莱克夫人的画像。听到他的喊声，遮住她的窗帘猛地拉开，她尖叫起来：“泥巴种和污秽物玷污了我的房子——”

Ron and Hermione came crashing down the stairs behind Harry, wands pointing, like his, at the unknown man now standing with his arms raised in the hall below. "Hold your fire, it's me, Remus!" "Oh, thank goodness," said Hermione weakly, pointing her wand at Mrs. Black instead; with a bang, the curtains swished shut again and silence fell. Ron too lowered his wand, but Harry did not. "Show yourself!" he called back. Lupin moved forward into the lamplight, hands still held high in a gesture of surrender. "I am Remus John Lupin, werewolf, sometimes known as Moony, one of the four creators of the Marauder's Map, married to Nymphadora, usually known as Tonks, and I taught you how to produce a Patronus, Harry, which takes the form of a stag." "Oh, all right," said Harry, lowering his wand, "but I had to check, didn't I?"

罗恩和赫敏跟在哈利后面轰隆隆地走下楼梯，魔杖和哈利一样，指向那个站在下面的门厅里举起双臂的陌生人。 “别开枪，是我，莱姆斯！”“哦，谢天谢地。”赫敏虚弱地说，转而用魔杖指着布莱克夫人。“砰”的一声，窗帘又唰地合上了，一片寂静。 罗恩也放下了魔杖，但哈利没有。 “出来！”他喊道。 卢平走到灯光下，双手仍然高高举起，做着投降的手势。 “我是莱姆斯·约翰·卢平，狼人，有时被称为月亮脸，活点地图的四个创作人之一，我娶了尼法朵拉，通常被称为唐克斯。我教你如何产生守护神，哈利，它是雄鹿的样子。” “哦，好吧，”哈利放下魔杖说，“但我必须检查一下，是不是？”