HPMOR 第7章｜回赠（中英对照）

原文来源：HPMOR 官方第 7 章。下文保留作者认可公开版本的英文原文，每段英文下方紧跟依据英文重新判断和改写的中文；中文为非官方译文，不直接转载现成译本。

「你的爸爸几乎和我爸爸一样棒。」

Petunia Evans-Verres's lips were trembling and her eyes were tearing up as Harry hugged her midsection on Platform Nine of the King's Cross Station. "Are you sure you don't want me to come with you, Harry?"

在国王十字火车站的第九站台，当哈利拥抱佩妮·伊万斯－维瑞斯的腰的时候，她的嘴唇在发抖，眼里满含着泪水。「你确定不用我陪你去吗，哈利？」

Harry glanced over to his father Michael Verres-Evans, who was looking stereotypically stern-but-proud, and then back to his mother, who really did look rather... uncomposed. "Mum, I know you don't like the wizarding world very much. You don't have to come with. I mean it."

哈利看了一眼他的爸爸迈克·维瑞斯－伊万斯，一副典型的又严肃又骄傲的神情，再看看他的妈妈，她确实看上去很……不冷静。「妈妈，我知道你不喜欢魔法的世界。你不用去。我说真的。」

Petunia winced. "Harry, you shouldn't worry about me, I'm your mother and if you need someone with you -"

佩妮畏缩了一下。「哈利，你不用担心我。我是你妈妈，只要你需要有人陪着你——」

"Mum, I'm going to be on my own at Hogwarts for months and months. If I can't manage a train platform alone, better to find out sooner rather than later so we can abort." He lowered his voice to a whisper. "Besides, Mum, they all love me over there. If I have any problems, all I need to do is take off my sweatband," Harry tapped the exercise band covering his scar, "and I'll have way more help than I can handle."

「妈妈，我在霍格沃茨要独立生活好几个月呢。如果我一个人在火车站就受不了了的话，倒不如现在就发现的好，好趁早放弃。」他压低了声音。「再说了，妈妈，那里的人都很爱我。如果有什么问题的话，我只要把吸汗带拿下来就行了。」哈利点了点额头上用来遮住伤疤的吸汗带，「我得到的帮助会让我顾都顾不过来。」

"Oh, Harry," Petunia whispered. She knelt down and hugged him hard, face to face, their cheeks resting against each other. Harry could feel her ragged breathing, and then he heard a muffled sob escape. "Oh, Harry, I do love you, always remember that."

「哦，哈利，」佩妮低声说。她单膝跪下来，紧紧拥抱着他，把脸颊和他的脸颊靠在一起。哈利可以感到她的不规律的呼吸和一声不小心漏出的抽泣。「哦，哈利，请你永远记住，我真的很爱你。」

It's like she's afraid she'll never see me again, the thought popped into Harry's head. He knew the thought was true but he didn't know why Mum was so afraid.

就像她害怕永远见不到我了似的，这个念头出现在哈利的脑海里。他知道他的判断是对的，可是他不知道妈妈在怕什么。

So he made a guess. "Mum, you know that I'm not going to turn into your sister just because I'm learning magic, right? I'll do any magic you ask for - if I can, I mean - or if you want me not to use any magic around the house, I'll do that too, I promise I'll never let magic come between us -"

于是他做了个猜测。「妈妈，你知道我不会因为学过魔法就变成你妹妹那样，对不对？你要我施展什么魔法我都愿意——只要我做得到——或者如果你希望我在家里不要使用魔法，也可以，我决不会让魔法隔在我们中间——」

A tight hug cut off his words. "You have a good heart," his mother whispered into his ear. "A very good heart, my son."

一个紧紧的拥抱把他的话打断了。「你的心真好，」他的妈妈在他耳边小声说。「非常好，我的儿子。」

Harry choked up himself a little, then.

这时哈利自己也哽咽了。

His mother released him, and stood up. She took a handkerchief out of her handbag, and with a trembling hand dabbed at the running makeup around her eyes.

他的妈妈放开他站起来，从包里拿出一条手帕，用发抖的手擦去眼睛周围哭花了的妆容。

There were no questions about his father accompanying him to the magical side of King's Cross Station. Dad had trouble just looking at Harry's trunk directly. Magic ran in families, and Michael Verres-Evans couldn't even walk.

让爸爸送他去国王十字火车站的魔法区域是不可能的。爸爸几乎没办法正眼去看哈利的行李箱。魔法是遗传的，迈克·维瑞斯－伊万斯全没有这方面的基因。

So instead his father just cleared his throat. "Good luck at school, Harry," he said. "Do you think I bought you enough books?"

于是他的爸爸只是清清喉咙。「祝你在学校里一切顺利，哈利，」他说。「我给你买的书够用了吗？」

Harry had explained to his father about how he thought this might be his big chance to do something really revolutionary and important, and Professor Verres-Evans had nodded and dumped his extremely busy schedule for two solid days in order to go on the Greatest Secondhand Bookshop Raid Ever, which had covered four cities and produced thirty boxes of science books now sitting in the cavern level of Harry's trunk. Most of the books had gone for a pound or two, but some of them definitely hadn't, like the very latest Handbook of Chemistry and Physics or the complete 1972 set of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. His father had tried to block Harry off from seeing the till displays but Harry figured his father must have spent at least a thousand pounds. Harry had said to his father that he would pay him back as soon as he figured out how to convert wizarding gold into Muggle money, and his father had told him to go jump in a lake.

哈利对爸爸解释过，为什么他认为这是一个非常难得的机会，可能会让他获得真正重要的革命性的研究成果。维瑞斯－伊万斯教授听了以后点点头，把接下来整整两天的繁忙日程扔在了一边，陪着哈利完成了史上规模最大的二手书扫荡活动。他们去了四个城市，买了三十箱科学书籍，现在都放在哈利的行李箱里的小房间里面。大多数的书都是一两英镑一本，不过也有一些贵得多的，比如最新的物理化学手册，和整套的一九七二年版的大英百科全书。哈利的爸爸一直用身体遮住付款台不给他看帐单的数目，不过哈利估计爸爸至少花了一千英镑。他对爸爸说，一旦弄清楚魔法世界的金子怎么换成麻瓜货币就把钱还给他，而他的爸爸说，你去跳湖算了。

And then his father had asked him: Do you think I bought you enough books? It was quite clear what answer Dad wanted to hear.

现在爸爸问他：我给你买的书够用了吗？哈利完全明白爸爸期待的是怎样的回答。

Harry's throat was hoarse, for some reason. "You can never have enough books," he recited the Verres family motto, and his father knelt down and gave him a quick, firm embrace. "But you certainly tried," Harry said, and felt himself choking up again. "It was a really, really, really good try."

哈利的嗓音不知道为什么有些哑了。「书是永远不够的，」他背诵着维瑞斯家族的座右铭，爸爸单膝跪在地上给了他一个快速有力的拥抱。「但是你真的努力了，」哈利说，感觉又哽咽了。「是非常，非常，非常接近成功的努力。」

His Dad straightened. "So..." he said. "Do you see a Platform Nine and Three-Quarters?"

他的爸爸站起身来。「好啦……」他说。「你能看见九又四分之三站台吗？」

King's Cross Station was huge and busy, with walls and floors paved with ordinary dirt-stained tiles. It was full of ordinary people hurrying about their ordinary business, having ordinary conversations which generated lots and lots of ordinary noise. King's Cross Station had a Platform Nine (which they were standing on) and a Platform Ten (right nearby) but there was nothing between Platform Nine and Platform Ten except a thin, unpromising barrier wall. A great skylight overhead let in plenty of light to illuminate the total lack whatsoever of any Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.

国王十字火车站很大，也很繁忙，墙和地板都铺着普通的土色花纹的瓷砖。火车站里熙熙攘攘的都是些普通的人，忙着些普通的事，聊着些普通的话题，制造了许多普通的噪音。车站里有一个九号站台（就是他们在的地方）和一个十号站台（就在他们旁边），可是九号和十号站台之间除了一道薄薄的没多大希望的分隔墙以外什么都没有。阳光从头顶的大天窗照下来，让大家清清楚楚地看到，根本没有九又四分之三站台这种东西。

Harry stared around until his eyes watered, thinking, come on, mage-sight, come on, mage-sight, but absolutely nothing appeared to him. He thought about taking out his wand and waving it, but Professor McGonagall had warned him against using his wand. Plus if there was another shower of multicoloured sparks that might lead to being arrested for setting off fireworks inside a train station. And that was assuming his wand didn't decide to do something else, like blowing up all of King's Cross. Harry had only lightly skimmed his schoolbooks (though that skim was quite bizarre enough) in a very quick effort to determine what sort of science books to buy over the next 48 hours.

哈利盯着四周看，眼睛酸得都要流泪了。他想，来啊，灵视能力，来啊，灵视能力，可是什么也没看见。他想到过挥一下魔杖试试，但是麦格教授警告过他不能使用魔杖。再说，如果魔杖里又冒出彩色的火花的话，他也许会以在火车站里放烟火的罪名被逮捕的。这还是在假设他的魔杖不玩什么新花样的前提下，比如炸掉整个火车站之类的。哈利只是很粗略地浏览过一下他的课本（里面的内容有够希奇古怪），好决定在接下来的四十八小时里买什么科学书籍。

Well, he had - Harry glanced at his watch - one whole hour to figure it out, since he was supposed to be on the train at eleven. Maybe this was the equivalent of an IQ test and the stupid kids couldn't become wizards. (And the amount of extra time you gave yourself would determine your Conscientiousness, which was the second most important factor in scholarly success.)

哈利看了一下表，他还有一个小时的时间，火车的发车时间是十一点。也许这是一个智力测验，通不过的笨孩子不许当巫师。（你给自己预留的时间测试的是你的责任心，这是在学术界取得成功的第二重要的因素。）

"I'll figure it out," Harry said to his waiting parents. "It's probably some sort of test thingy."

「我会想办法的，」哈利对在他旁边等着的父母说。「也许这是一个测验。」

His father frowned. "Hm... maybe look for a trail of mixed footprints on the ground, leading somewhere that doesn't seem to make sense -"

他的爸爸皱起眉。「嗯……也许可以找一找，看看地上有没有很多脚印通向一个莫名其妙的地方——」

"Dad! " Harry said. "Stop that! I haven't even tried to figure it out on my own!" It was a very good suggestion, too, which was worse.

「爸爸！」哈利抗议道。「不许说！我都还没开始自己想呢！」更糟糕的是，这还是个很不错的建议。

"Sorry," his father apologised.

「对不起，」他的爸爸道歉道。

"Ah..." Harry's mother said. "I don't think they would do that to a student, do you? Are you sure Professor McGonagall didn't tell you anything?"

「嗯……」哈利的妈妈说。「我想他们应该不会对学生做这种事吧？你确定麦格教授什么都没说？」

"Maybe she was distracted," Harry said without thinking.

「可能她那时注意力不太集中吧，」哈利脱口而出。

"Harry! " hissed his father and mother in unison. "What did you do? "

「哈利！」他的爸爸妈妈一起吼道。「你又干了什么？」

"I, um -" Harry swallowed. "Look, we don't have time for this now -"

「我，嗯——」哈利咽了下口水。「哎呀，现在没时间解释了——」

"Harry! "

「哈利！」

"I mean it! We don't have time for this now! Because it's a really long story and I've got to figure out how to get to school!"

「真是这样！我们现在没时间了！这个说来话长，我还得想办法搞清楚怎么去学校！」

His mother had a hand over her face. "How bad was it?"

他的妈妈以手扶额。「有多糟？」

"I, ah," I can't talk about that for reasons of National Security, "about half as bad as the Incident with the Science Project?"

「我，嗯，」因为是国家安全机密所以我不能说，「大概有那次科学项目捅出的漏子一半那么糟？」

"Harry! "

「哈利！」

"I, er, oh look there are some people with an owl I'll go ask them how to get in!" and Harry ran away from his parents towards the family of fiery redheads, his trunk automatically slithering behind him.

「我，嗯，咦，你看那里有几个人带着猫头鹰耶我去问问他们怎么进站台！」哈利从他的父母身边跑开了，跑向那边长着耀眼的红头发的一家人；他的箱子自动跟在他后面。

The plump woman looked to him as he arrived. "Hello, dear. First time at Hogwarts? Ron's new, too -" and then she peered closely at him. "Harry Potter? "

胖胖的女人在他跑过来的时候看到了他。「你好，亲爱的，第一次去霍格沃茨吗？罗恩也是新生——」然后她仔细地看了他一眼。「哈利·波特？」

Four boys and a red-headed girl and an owl all swung around and then froze in place.

四个男孩，一个红头发的女孩和一只猫头鹰一起回过头，呆呆地盯着他。

"Oh, come on! " Harry protested. He'd been planning to go as Harry Verres at least until he got to Hogwarts. "I bought a sweatband and everything! How come you know who I am?"

「哦，不会吧！」哈利抗议道。他原本计划在到达霍格沃茨之前暂时使用哈利·维瑞斯这个化名的。「我都买了吸汗带了！你是怎么知道我是谁的？」

"Yes," Harry's father said, coming up behind him with long easy strides, "how do you know who he is?" His voice indicated a certain dread.

「对啊，」哈利的爸爸大步从后面跟过来问道，「你是怎么知道他是谁的？」他的声音里流露出一种担心。

"Your picture was in the newspapers," said one of two identical-looking twins.

「你的照片登在报纸上了，」一对看起来一模一样的双胞胎当中的一个说道。

"HARRY! "

「哈利！」

"Dad! It's not like that! It's 'cause I defeated the Dark Lord You-Know-Who when I was one year old!"

「爸爸！不是你想的那样！那是因为我在一岁的时候打败了黑魔王！」

"WHAT? "

「什么？」

"Mum can explain."

「妈妈可以解释给你听。」

"WHAT? "

「什么？」

"Ah... Michael dear, there are certain things I thought it would be best not to bother you with until now -"

「啊……迈克亲爱的，有些事情我原本想还是不要麻烦你比较好——」

"Excuse me," Harry said to the redheaded family who were all staring at him, "but it would be quite extremely helpful if you could tell me how to get to Platform Nine and Three Quarters right now."

「对不起，」哈利对盯着他看的红头发一家人说道，「不过如果你们能现在告诉我怎么去九又四分之三站台的话，我将非常非常感激。」

"Ah..." said the woman. She raised a hand and pointed at the wall between platforms. "Just walk straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Don't stop and don't be scared you'll crash into it, that's very important. Best do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous."

「啊……」女人说道。她抬起一只手，指向站台之间的分隔墙。「直接朝着第九站台和第十站台中间的分隔墙走过去就可以了。别停下来，也别害怕会撞上墙，这一点很重要。如果你觉得紧张，小跑过去会比较好。」

"And whatever you do, don't think of an elephant."

「还有不管你做什么，千万别去想一头大象。」

"George! Ignore him, Harry dear, there's no reason not to think of an elephant."

「乔治！别理他，哈利亲爱的，根本用不着不去想一头大象。」

"I'm Fred, Mum, not George -"

「我是弗雷德，妈妈，不是乔治——」

"Thanks!" Harry said and took off at a run towards the barrier -

「谢谢！」哈利说完后向分隔墙跑去——

Wait a minute, it wouldn't work unless he believed in it?

等一下，如果不相信就不会成功吗？

It was at times like this that Harry hated his mind for actually working fast enough to realise that this was a case where "resonant doubt" applied, that is, if he'd started out thinking that he would go through the barrier he'd have been fine, only now he was worried about whether he sufficiently believed he'd go through the barrier, which meant that he actually was worried about crashing into it -

就是在这种时候，哈利会痛恨自己的脑筋转得太快，能及时意识到这是一个「合理存疑」的规则适用的情况，也就是说，如果他一开始就相信能穿过分隔墙，他就会成功，但是现在他已经在担心自己不够相信自己能穿过这道墙，这就意味着他实际上在担心会撞上去——

"Harry! Get back here, you have some explaining to do! " That was his Dad.

「哈利！你给我回来，你还欠我一个解释！」爸爸在后面大喊。

Harry shut his eyes and ignored everything he knew about justified credibility and just tried to believe really hard that he'd go through the barrier and -

哈利闭上眼睛，尽量忘记所有他知道的所有有关合理存疑的理论，拼命努力去相信他会穿过这道墙——

- the sounds around him changed.

——他周围的声音变了。

Harry opened his eyes and stumbled to a halt, feeling vaguely dirtied by having made a deliberate effort to believe something.

哈利睁开眼睛，停下了脚步，心里因为刚才故意去相信一件事觉得有点可耻。

He was standing in a bright, open-air platform next to a single huge train, fourteen long carriages headed up by a massive scarlet-metal steam engine with a tall chimney that promised death to air quality. The platform was already lightly crowded (even though Harry was a full hour early); dozens of children and their parents swarmed around benches, tables, and various hawkers and stalls.

他站在一个明亮的，露天的火车站台上，站台边停着一列巨大的火车，十四节长长的车厢，红色金属的蒸汽火车头，高高的烟囱，开动起来一定会把空气污染到死。站台上已经开始有点拥挤（虽然哈利其实早到了整整一个小时），很多孩子和他们的父母成群结队地聚在长凳，桌子，和各种小摊小贩旁边。

It went entirely without saying that there was no such place in King's Cross Station and no room to hide it.

无庸置疑，国王十字火车站绝无可能存在着这么一个地方，根本藏不住。

好吧，所以，可能性如下(a)我给传送到完全不同的一个地方了(b)他们可以随心所欲地折叠空间或者(c)他们可以强悍地忽略一切法则。

There was a slithering sound behind him, and Harry turned around to observe that his trunk had indeed followed him on its small clawed tentacles. Apparently, for magical purposes, his luggage had also managed to believe with sufficient strength to pass through the barrier. That was actually a little disturbing when Harry started thinking about it.

在他的身后传来滑动的声音，哈利转过身，看到他的行李箱伸出了爪子一样的触角，正跟在他后面。显然，为了魔法的目的，他的箱子也有足够的信心穿过分隔墙。哈利想到这一点的时候感觉有点不安。

A moment later, the youngest-looking red-haired boy came through the iron archway (iron archway?) at a run, pulling his trunk behind him on a lead and nearly crashing into Harry. Harry, feeling stupid for having stayed around, quickly began moving away from the landing area, and the red-haired boy followed him, yanking hard on his trunk's lead in order to keep up. A moment later, a white owl fluttered through the archway and came to rest on the boy's shoulder.

过了一会儿，最小的那个红头发男孩拉着行李，从铁制的拱门（铁制的拱门？）那边跑进来了，差点撞到哈利身上。哈利一边骂自己是个笨蛋，居然一直站在原地不动，一边迅速离开门口那片区域。红头发的男孩用力拉着行李箱的拉杆，努力跟在他后面。又过了一会儿，一只白色的猫头鹰从拱门那边飞过来，落在男孩的肩上。

"Cor," said the red-haired boy, "are you really Harry Potter?"

「老天，」红头发的男孩说，「你真的是哈利·波特？」

Not this again. "I have no logical way of knowing that for certain. My parents raised me to believe that my name was Harry James Potter-Evans-Verres, and many people here have told me that I look like my parents, I mean my other parents, but," Harry frowned, realising, "for all I know, there could easily be spells to polymorph a child into a specified appearance -"

不会吧，又来了。「我没办法从逻辑上确认这件事。我的爸爸妈妈在养大我的时候让我相信我的名字是哈利·詹姆·波特－伊万斯－维瑞斯，这里很多人说我长得很像我的父母，我是说我的另外的父母，不过，」哈利皱起眉头，意识到一件事，「天知道，也许有什么法术能让孩子长成一个特定的样子——」

"Er, what, mate?"

「呃，你说什么啊，伙计？」

Not headed for Ravenclaw, I take it. "Yes, I'm Harry Potter."

不是拉文克劳的料，我猜。「是的，我是哈利·波特。」

"I'm Ron Weasley," said the tall skinny freckled long-nosed kid, and stuck out a hand, which Harry politely shook as they walked. The owl gave Harry an oddly measured and courteous hoot (actually more of an eehhhhh sound, which surprised Harry).

「我是罗恩·韦斯莱，」这个又高又瘦，长长的鼻子上长着雀斑的男孩说，伸出一只手，哈利礼貌地握了握。那只猫头鹰以一种奇怪的慎重和礼貌对哈利叫了一声（实际上是类似于哎哎哎的声音，令哈利吃了一惊。）

At this point Harry realised the potential for imminent catastrophe. "Just a second," he said to Ron, and opened one of the drawers of his trunk, the one that if he recalled correctly was for Winter Clothes - it was - and then he found the lightest scarf he owned, underneath his winter coat. Harry took off his sweatband, and just as quickly unfolded the scarf and tied it around his face. It was a little hot, especially in the summer, but Harry could live with that.

这时哈利忽然意识到一个可怕的灾难迫在眉睫。「等我一下，」他对罗恩说，然后打开了他的行李箱的一个抽屉，他记得冬天的衣服是放在这里的——果然如此——他找出里面最薄的一条围巾，就压在冬天的大衣下面。哈利解下吸汗带，迅速地把围巾打开围在头上，在脸的附近打了个结。夏天这么穿是太热了，不过哈利还能忍受。

Then he shut that drawer and pulled out another drawer and drew forth black wizarding robes, which he shrugged over his head, now that he was out of Muggle territory.

他关上这个抽屉，打开另外一个抽屉，拉出一件黑色的巫师袍子，从头上套进去，现在他看起来就不像从麻瓜世界来的了。

"There," Harry said. The sound came out slightly muffled through the scarf over his face. He turned to Ron. "How do I look? Stupid, I know, but am I identifiable as Harry Potter?"

「好了，」哈利说道。他的声音从围巾后面传过来，显得有点闷闷的。他转身面对罗恩。「我看起来怎么样？我知道很傻，不过能认出来是哈利·波特吗？」

"Er," Ron said. He closed his mouth, which had been open. "Not really, Harry."

「呃，」罗恩说。他把张开的嘴巴关上了。「认不出来了，哈利。」

"Very good," Harry said. "However, so as not to obviate the point of the whole exercise, you will henceforth address me as," Verres might not work anymore, "Mr. Spoo."

「太好了，」哈利说。「不过，为了让这个努力不至于毫无意义，请你以后叫我，」维瑞斯恐怕混不过去了，「斯布先生。」

"Okay, Harry," Ron said uncertainly.

「好吧，哈利，」罗恩犹豫地说。

The Force is not particularly strong in this one. "Call... me... Mister... Spoo."

原力在这一只上不太给力啊。「叫……我……斯布……先生。」

"Okay, Mister Spoo -" Ron stopped. "I can't do that, it makes me feel stupid."

「好吧，斯布先生——」罗恩停住了。「我做不到，那样让我感觉自己好傻。」

That's not just a feeling. "Okay. You pick a name."

不止是感觉而已啦。「好吧。那你来选个名字好了。」

"Mr. Cannon," Ron said at once. "For the Chudley Cannons."

「加农先生，」罗恩马上说道。「代表查德利加农队。」

"Ah..." Harry knew he was going to terribly regret asking this. "Who or what are the Chudley Cannons?"

「嗯……」哈利知道他一定会后悔问这个问题的。「查德利加农队是什么人，或者什么东西？」

"Who're the Chudley Cannons? Only the most brilliant team in the whole history of Quidditch! Sure, they finished at the bottom of the league last year, but -"

「查德利加农队是什么？是史上最杰出的魁地奇球队！他们去年是在联盟里垫底了没错，但是——」

"What's Quidditch?"

「魁地奇是什么？」

Asking this was also a mistake.

问这个问题也是一个错误。

"So let me get this straight," Harry said as it seemed that Ron's explanation (with associated hand gestures) was winding down. "Catching the Snitch is worth one hundred and fifty points? "

「让我确定一下，」哈利在罗恩连比带划的解释快要结束的时候说道。「抓住金色飞贼球的得分是一百五十点？」

"Yeah -"

「是啊——」

"How many ten-point goals does one side usually score not counting the Snitch?"

「如果不包括抓住金色飞贼球的得分，比赛里每次十分的进球一般会出现多少次？」

"Um, maybe fifteen or twenty in professional games -"

「嗯，在职业比赛里大概是十五到二十次——」

"That's just wrong. That violates every possible rule of game design. Look, the rest of this game sounds like it might make sense, sort of, for a sport I mean, but you're basically saying that catching the Snitch overwhelms almost any ordinary point spread. The two Seekers are up there flying around looking for the Snitch and usually not interacting with anyone else, spotting the Snitch first is going to be mostly luck -"

「这完全不合理。这会违背所有可能的游戏设计的规则。你看，这个比赛的其他部分听起来大致上是合理的，我是说，对于一项运动来说是合理的，但是你刚才说的基本上就是，金色飞贼球的归属几乎总是可以压倒性地决定比赛的结果。两个找球手在天上飞来飞去地找金色飞贼球，几乎不和其他人互动，发现金色飞贼球基本上是靠运气——」

"It's not luck!" protested Ron. "You've got to keep your eyes moving in the right pattern -"

「根本不是运气！」罗恩抗议道。「你在扫视的时候必须让眼睛按照正确的规律移动——」

"That's not interactive, there's no back-and-forth with the other player and how much fun is it to watch someone incredibly good at moving their eyes? And then whichever Seeker gets lucky swoops in and grabs the Snitch and makes everyone else's work moot. It's like someone took a real game and grafted on this pointless extra position so that you could be the Most Important Player without needing to really get involved or learn the rest of it. Who was the first Seeker, the King's idiot son who wanted to play Quidditch but couldn't understand the rules?" Actually, now that Harry thought about it, that seemed like a surprisingly good hypothesis. Put him on a broomstick and tell him to catch the shiny thing...

「那不是互动，没有和其他人的配合和对抗，比赛谁转眼睛比较厉害有什么好看？然后不管哪个找球手碰巧看到了球，他就扑上去一把抓住，然后所有其他人的努力就都没有意义了。这就像是有人给一个真实的比赛嫁接了这么一个特别的位置，好让你不用真正参加，也不用学习比赛的其余部分就能变成最有价值球员。第一个找球手是谁，是哪个国王的傻儿子想玩魁地奇又学不会规则吗？」实际上，这么一想，这个猜测还真是令人吃惊地靠谱。把他弄到一根扫把上去，跟他说去抓那个亮闪闪的东西就好……

Ron's face pulled into a scowl. "If you don't like Quidditch, you don't have to make fun of it!"

罗恩的脸皱起来了。「就算你不喜欢魁地奇，也不用嘲笑它吧！」

"If you can't criticise, you can't optimise. I'm suggesting how to improve the game. And it's very simple. Get rid of the Snitch."

「如果你不能批评的话，你就不能优化。我是在建议怎么改进这个比赛。很简单。把金色飞贼球的部分去掉就行了。」

"They won't change the game just 'cause you say so!"

「他们不会因为你说要改就把比赛改掉的！」

"I am the Boy-Who-Lived, you know. People will listen to me. And maybe if I can persuade them to change the game at Hogwarts, the innovation will spread."

「我是『大难不死的男孩』嘛，你知道。大家会听我说话的。如果我能说服他们改变霍格沃茨校内比赛的规则的话，说不定这个创新就会传播开来。」

A look of absolute horror was spreading over Ron's face. "But, but if you get rid of the Snitch, how will anyone know when the game ends?"

绝对的恐怖出现在罗恩的脸上。「可是，如果把金色飞贼球的部分去掉了，大家怎么知道比赛什么时候结束呢？」

"Buy... a... clock. It would be a lot fairer than having the game sometimes end after ten minutes and sometimes not end for hours, and the schedule would be a lot more predictable for the spectators, too." Harry sighed. "Oh, stop giving me that look of absolute horror, I probably won't actually take the time to destroy this pathetic excuse for a national sport and remake it stronger and smarter in my own image. I've got way, way, way more important stuff to worry about." Harry looked thoughtful. "Then again, it wouldn't take much time to write up the Ninety-Five Theses of the Snitchless Reformation and nail it to a church door -"

「买……一只……钟。比起这种有时候花十分钟，有时候花好几个小时的比赛，时间长度固定的比赛公平多了。对于观众来说，时间安排上也会减少很多不确定性。」哈利叹了口气。「好啦，别吓成这样了，我大概不会真的花时间去摧毁这个差劲的全民运动，按我的理念把它重新设计得强一点，聪明一点。我还有重要得多得多的事情需要操心。」哈利显得若有所思。「不过，写一篇《取消金色飞贼球的九十五条论纲》，钉在教堂的门上，也花不了多少时间——」

"Potter," drawled a young boy's voice, "what is that on your face and what is standing next to you?"

「波特，」一个小男孩带着拖腔说道，「你脸上那是什么呀，站在你旁边的又是什么？」

Ron's look of horror was replaced by utter hatred. "You! "

罗恩脸上的恐怖被完全的痛恨取代了。「是你！」

Harry turned his head; and indeed it was Draco Malfoy, who might have been forced to wear standard school robes, but was making up for that with a trunk looking at least as magical and far more elegant than Harry's own, decorated in silver and emeralds and bearing what Harry guessed to be the Malfoy family crest, a beautiful fanged serpent over crossed ivory wands.

哈利转过头；果然是德拉科·马尔福，恐怕是不情愿地穿着学校的标准制服，但是他的行李箱弥补了这个遗憾；它看起来至少和哈利的一样神奇，但是要优雅得多；箱子上面镶嵌着纯银和祖母绿的宝石，上面有一个图案，哈利怀疑是马尔福家族的纹章，是一条美丽的露出獠牙的蛇，缠绕在两根交叉的象牙魔杖上。

"Draco!" Harry said. "Er, or Malfoy if you prefer, though that kind of sounds like Lucius to me. I'm glad to see you're doing so well after, um, our last meeting. This is Ron Weasley. And I'm trying to go incognito, so call me, eh," Harry looked down at his robes, "Mister Black."

「德拉科！」哈利说道。「嗯，如果你希望的话，我可以叫你马尔福，但是那样会让我感觉叫的是卢修斯。我很高兴看见你在，呃，在我们的会面之后过得很好。这位是罗恩·韦斯莱。还有，我现在正努力不给人认出来，所以请叫我，嗯，」哈利看了一眼他的袍子，「布莱克先生。」

"Harry! " hissed Ron. "You can't use that name!"

「哈利！」罗恩小声怒道。「你不能用那个姓！」

Harry blinked. "Why not?" It sounded nicely dark, like an international man of mystery -

哈利楞了一下。「为什么不能？」听起来很酷很黑暗啊，像一个神秘的外国人——

"I'd say it's a fine name," said Draco, "but it belongs to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. I'll call you Mr. Silver."

「我觉得这个姓很不错，」德拉科说，「但是它属于高贵和最古老的布莱克家族。我叫你银先生好了。「

"You get away from... from Mr. Gold," Ron said coldly, and took a forward step. "He doesn't need to talk to the likes of you!"

「你不许接近……金先生，」罗恩冷冷地说，向前迈进一步。」他不需要和你这样的人说话！」

Harry raised a placating hand. "I'll go by Mr. Bronze, thanks for the naming schema. And, Ron, um," Harry struggled to find a way to say this, "I'm glad you're so... enthusiastic about protecting me, but I don't particularly mind talking to Draco -"

哈利抬起一只手想安抚局势。「我还是叫铜先生好了，谢谢你们提供这个起名的模式。还有，罗恩，嗯，」哈利挣扎着说出这句话，「我很高兴你这么……热情地保护我，但是我真的不介意和德拉科说话——」

This was apparently the last straw for Ron, who spun on Harry with eyes now aflame with outrage. "What? Do you know who this is?"

对于罗恩来说，这很显然是压垮骆驼的最后一根稻草，他转身看着哈利，眼睛里燃烧着不可思议的愤怒。「什么？你知道他是谁吗？」

"Yes, Ron," Harry said, "you may remember that I called him Draco without him needing to introduce himself."

「是的，罗恩，」哈利说，「你应该记得，刚才他并没有介绍自己，我就叫他德拉科了。」

Draco sniggered. Then his eyes lit on the white owl on Ron's shoulder. "Oh, what's this? " Draco said in a drawl rich with malice. "Where's the famous Weasley family rat?"

德拉科窃笑起来。他看到罗恩肩上的白色猫头鹰的时候眼睛一亮。「哦，这是什么？」德拉科用恶毒的语气慢吞吞地说。「韦斯莱家著名的家庭老鼠呢？」

"Buried in the backyard," Ron said coldly.

「埋在后院了，」罗恩冷冰冰地答道。

"Aw, how sad. Pot... ah, Mr. Bronze, I should mention that the Weasley family is widely agreed to have the best pet story ever. Want to tell it, Weasley?"

「哦，太让人伤心了。波……啊，铜先生，我应该告诉你的，大家普遍公认韦斯莱家族发生过史上最有意思的宠物故事。你想说说吗，韦斯莱？」

Ron's face contorted. "You wouldn't think it was funny if it happened to your family!"

罗恩的脸扭曲了。「如果发生在你家，你就不会觉得有趣了！」

"Oh," Draco purred, "but it wouldn't ever happen to the Malfoys."

「哦，」德拉科笑嘻嘻地说道，「可是马尔福家永远不会发生这种事。」

Ron's hands clenched into fists -

罗恩的双手攥成了拳头——

"That's enough," Harry said, putting as much quiet authority into the voice as he could manage. It was clear that whatever this was about, it was a painful memory for the red-haired kid. "If Ron doesn't want to talk about it, he doesn't have to talk about it, and I'd ask that you not talk about it either."

「够了，」哈利说道，尽量让自己的声音显得平静而有权威。很明显，不管是怎么回事，它对于这个红头发的孩子来说是个痛苦的回忆。「如果罗恩不想说，他就不用说，我也希望请你不要再说了。」

Draco turned a surprised look on Harry, and Ron nodded. "That's right, Harry! I mean Mr. Bronze! You see what kind of person he is? Now tell him to go away!"

德拉科惊讶地看着哈利，罗恩点点头。「就是这样，哈利！我的意思是，铜先生！你看到他是什么样的人了吧？现在叫他走开！」

Harry counted to ten inside his head, which for him was a very quick 12345678910 - an odd habit left over from the age of five when his mother had first instructed him to do it, and Harry had reasoned that his way was faster and ought to be just as effective. "I'm not telling him to go away," Harry said calmly. "He's welcome to talk to me if he wants."

哈利在心里默默数到十，对他来说是一个迅速的 12345678910——这个奇怪的习惯是妈妈在他五岁的时候教他的，哈利觉得他的方式更快，而且同样有效。「我不会叫他走开的，」哈利平静地说。「如果他想和我说话，我很欢迎。」

"Well, I don't intend to hang around with anyone who hangs around with Draco Malfoy," Ron announced coldly.

「好吧，可是我不想和跟德拉科·马尔福混在一起的人做朋友，」罗恩冷冰冰地宣布。

Harry shrugged. "That's up to you. I don't intend to let anyone say who I can and can't hang around with." Silently chanting, please go away, please go away...

哈利耸耸肩膀。「随你吧。我不想让别人来决定我可以或者不可以和谁在一起。」他在心里默祷，走开，走开……

Ron's face went blank with surprise, like he'd actually expected that line to work. Then Ron spun about, yanked his luggage's lead and stormed off down the platform.

罗恩的的脸上是一片惊讶的茫然，好像他真的以为他刚才的话会起作用。接着他转过身，拉着行李，怒气冲天地向站台的另一边走去。

"If you didn't like him," Draco said curiously, "why didn't you just walk away?"

「如果你不喜欢他，」德拉科好奇地问，「你为什么不直接走开呢？」

"Um... his mother helped me figure out how to get to this platform from the King's Cross Station, so it was kind of hard to tell him to get lost. And it's not that I hate this Ron guy," Harry said, "I just, just..." Harry searched for words.

「嗯..他的妈妈帮过我的忙，告诉我怎么从国王十字火车站来这个站台，所以不太好意思叫他走开。而且我并不讨厌这个叫罗恩的家伙，」哈利说，「我只是，只是……」哈利搜寻着恰当的词句。

"Don't see any reason for him to exist?" offered Draco.

「看不出他有什么存在的理由？」德拉科帮他说道。

"Pretty much."

「差不多就是这样。」

"Anyway, Potter... if you really were raised by Muggles -" Draco paused here, as if waiting for a denial, but Harry didn't say anything "- then you mightn't know what it's like to be famous. People want to take up all of our time. You have to learn to say no."

「不管怎么样，波特……如果你真的是麻瓜养大的话——」德拉科停顿了一下，好像在等哈利否认，可是哈利什么也没说「——你可能还不知道出名是什么感觉。大家会想要占用我们所有的时间。你必须学会说不。」

Harry nodded, putting a thoughtful look on his face. "That sounds like good advice."

哈利点点头，让脸上露出沉思的表情。「听起来是个不错的建议。」

"If you try to be nice, you just end up spending the most time with the pushiest ones. Decide who you want to spend time with and make everyone else leave. You're just getting here, Potter, so everyone's going to judge you by who they see you with, and you don't want to be seen with the likes of Ron Weasley."

「如果你想对所有人友好，其结果就是把大部分的时间花在脸皮最厚的人身上。你要想好你愿意花时间和谁在一起，让其他所有人走开。你才刚来，波特，所以大家会通过你和谁在一起来判断你，你可不想被人看见和罗恩·韦斯莱这种人混在一起。」

Harry nodded again. "If you don't mind my asking, how did you recognise me?"

哈利再次点点头。「如果你不介意我问的话，你是怎么认出我的？」

"Mister Bronze," Draco drawled, "I have met you, remember. I saw someone going around with a scarf wrapped around his head, looking absolutely ridiculous. So I took a guess."

「铜先生，」德拉科拖长了声音答道，「我以前就见过你，你还记得吧。我看见有人把围巾蒙在头上走来走去，看上去可笑得要命。所以我就猜了一下。」

Harry bowed his head, accepting the compliment. "I'm terribly sorry about that," Harry said. "Our first meeting, I mean. I didn't mean to embarrass you in front of Lucius."

哈利低头致意，接受了这个恭维。「我非常非常抱歉，」哈利说，「我是说，关于我们的第一次会面。我没想让你在卢修斯面前丢面子。」

Draco waved it off while giving Harry an odd look. "I just wish Father could have come in while you were flattering me -" Draco laughed. "But thank you for what you said to Father. If not for that, I might've had a harder time explaining."

德拉科挥挥手表示不介意，同时以古怪的眼神看了一眼哈利。「要是爸爸看见你是怎么奉承我的就好了——」德拉科笑起来。「不过得谢谢你对爸爸说的那些话。不然的话向他解释就更难了。」

Harry swept a deeper bow. "And thank you for reciprocating with what you said to Professor McGonagall."

哈利深深鞠了一躬。「也谢谢你作为回赠，对麦格教授说的话。」

"You're welcome. Though one of the assistants must've sworn her closest friend to absolute secrecy, because Father says there're weird rumors going around, like you and I got in a fight or something."

「不客气。不过有一个助手恐怕让她的最好的朋友绝不外传了，因为爸爸说外面流传着一些奇怪的谣言，什么你和我打了一架之类的。」

"Ouch," Harry said, wincing. "I'm really sorry -"

「哎呀，」哈利退缩了一下。「我非常抱歉——」

"No, we're used to it, Merlin knows there's lots of rumors about the Malfoy family already."

「无所谓，我们都习惯了。梅林在上，关于马尔福家族的谣言反正也够多的了。」

Harry nodded. "I'm glad to hear you're not in trouble."

哈利点点头。」我很高兴你没惹上麻烦。「

Draco smirked. "Father has, um, a refined sense of humor, but he does understand making friends. He understands it very well. He made me repeat that before I went to bed every night for the last month, 'I will make friends at Hogwarts.' When I explained everything to him and he saw that's what I was doing, he bought me an ice-cream."

德拉科得意地笑。」爸爸的幽默感，嗯，比较文雅，不过他确实懂得什么是交朋友。非常懂得。上个月，他让我在每天晚上睡觉之前反复念，』我会在霍格沃茨交朋友。』当我把发生的所有事情解释给他听，他明白我在做什么以后，他给我买了个冰淇淋。」

Harry's jaw dropped. "You managed to spin that into an ice-cream? "

哈利的下巴掉下来了。「这样的事你能忽悠出冰淇淋？」

Draco nodded, looking every bit as smug as the feat deserved. "Well, father knew what I was doing, of course, but he's the one who taught me how to do it, and if I grin the right way while I'm doing it, that makes it a father-son thing and then he has to buy me an ice-cream or I'll give him this sort of sad look, like I think I must have disappointed him."

德拉科点点头，就如这个成就所值得的那样得意洋洋。「噢，爸爸当然知道我在做什么，不过教我应该怎么做的就是他，所以我只要露出恰如其分的笑容，这就会变成我们父子之间的一种默契。他必须给我买冰淇淋，不然我就会装出可怜兮兮的样子，好像我觉得让他失望了似的。」

Harry eyed Draco calculatingly, sensing the presence of another master. "You've had lessons on how to manipulate people?"

哈利以估量的眼光打量着德拉科，发现自己遇上了一位专家。「你上过怎么操纵别人的课？」

"Of course," Draco said proudly. "I'm a Malfoy. Father bought me tutors."

「当然，」德拉科自豪地说。「我可是马尔福家的人。爸爸给我请了私人教师。」

"Wow," Harry said. Reading Robert Cialdini's Influence: Science and Practice probably didn't stack up very high compared to that (though it was still one heck of a book). "Your dad is almost as awesome as my dad."

「哇哦，」哈利说。读过罗伯特·塞阿丁尼的《影响力：科学和实践》和这个比起来就不值一提了（虽然那也是一本超级了不起的书）。「你的爸爸几乎和我爸爸一样棒。」

Draco's eyebrows rose loftily. "Oh? And what does your father do?"

德拉科高高地挑起了眉毛。「哦？你的爸爸做过什么？」

"He buys me books."

「他给我买了很多书。」

Draco considered this. "That doesn't sound very impressive."

德拉科想了想。「这个没什么特别啊。」

"You had to be there. Anyway, I'm glad to hear all that. The way Lucius was looking at you, I thought he was going to c-crucify you."

「你要看见他才会知道。不管怎么说，我很高兴听到这些。卢修斯那样看你的时候，我差点以为他要把——把你钉上十字架呢。」

"My father really loves me," Draco said firmly. "He wouldn't ever do that."

「我爸爸非常爱我，」德拉科坚定地说。「他决不会做这样的事。」

"Um..." Harry said. He remembered the black-robed, white-haired figure of elegance that had stormed through Madam Malkin's, wielding that beautiful, deadly silver-handled cane. It wasn't easy to visualise him as a doting father. "Don't take this the wrong way, but how do you know that?"

「嗯……」哈利说。他想起那个黑袍银发的优雅身影，手持美丽而致命的银柄手杖，勃然大怒地冲进摩金夫人店里的样子。很难想象他会是个溺爱的父亲。「请你不要误会我的意思，不过你是怎么知道的呢？」

"Huh?" It was clear that this was a question Draco did not commonly ask himself.

「啊？」显然，德拉科很少问自己这个问题。

"I ask the fundamental question of rationality: Why do you believe what you believe? What do you think you know and how do you think you know it? What makes you think Lucius wouldn't sacrifice you the same way he'd sacrifice anything else for power?"

「我问的是理性思维的最基本的问题：你为什么相信你所相信的？你认为你知道些什么，你又认为你是怎么知道的？是什么让你认为卢修斯不会为了获得个人的权力牺牲你，像他牺牲其他的事物一样？」

Draco shot Harry another odd look. "Just what do you know about Father?"

德拉科又用古怪的眼神看了一眼哈利。「关于我爸爸你又知道什么？」

"Um... seat on the Wizengamot, seat on Hogwarts' Board of Governors, incredibly wealthy, has the ear of Minister Fudge, has the confidence of Minister Fudge, probably has some highly embarrassing photos of Minister Fudge, most prominent blood purist now that the Dark Lord's gone, former Death Eater who was found to have the Dark Mark but got off by claiming to be under the Imperius Curse, which was ridiculously implausible and pretty much everyone knew it... evil with a capital 'E' and a born killer... I think that's it."

「嗯……威森加摩的席位，霍格沃茨学校董事会的席位，难以置信的财富，能和魔法部长福吉说上话的人，魔法部长福吉信任的人，也许藏有魔法部长福吉极不体面的照片的人，黑魔王以下第一位血统论者，曾经的食死徒，身上有黑魔标记，因为号称中了夺魂咒免遭法律制裁，只是这种可能性太离奇，谁也不信……大写的邪恶，天生的杀手……我想就这些了。」

Draco's eyes had narrowed to slits. "McGonagall told you that, did she."

德拉科的眼睛眯成了一条缝。「麦格告诉你的，是不是？」

"No, she wouldn't say anything to me about Lucius afterwards, except to stay away from him. So during the Incident at the Potions Shop, while Professor McGonagall was busy yelling at the shopkeeper and trying to get everything under control, I grabbed one of the customers and asked them about Lucius."

「不是，关于卢修斯的事她什么都不肯说，只叫我离他远一点。后来我们在魔药店出了一点小意外，趁麦格教授忙着对店主发脾气和收拾残局的时候，我抓住了一个顾客，向他们打听了一下卢修斯的事。」

Draco's eyes were wide again. "Did you really? "

德拉科的眼睛再次睁大了。「你真的吗？」

Harry gave Draco a puzzled look. "If I lied the first time, I'm not going to tell you the truth just because you ask twice."

哈利莫名其妙地看了德拉科一眼。「如果我第一次是在撒谎，你多问我一次我也不会说实话啊。」

There was a certain pause as Draco absorbed this.

德拉科呆了一下才明白这句话的意思。

"You're so completely going to be in Slytherin."

「你绝对会给分到斯莱特林。」

"I'm so completely going to be in Ravenclaw, thank you very much. I only want power so I can get books."

「我绝对会给分到拉文克劳，谢谢你。我要的权力只是书而已。」

Draco giggled. "Yeah, right. Anyway... to answer what you asked..." Draco took a deep breath, and his face turned serious. "Father once missed a Wizengamot vote for me. I was on a broom and I fell off and broke a lot of ribs. It really hurt. I'd never hurt that much before and I thought I was going to die. So Father missed this really important vote, because he was there by my bed at St. Mungo's, holding my hands and promising me that I was going to be okay."

德拉科格格笑了。「随你怎么说吧。无论如何……关于你刚才的问题…」德拉科深吸了一口气，表情严肃起来。「爸爸有一次为我错过了威森加摩的投票。我骑扫把的时候摔了下来，断了好几根肋骨。痛死了。我从来没那么痛过，以为自己要死了。爸爸因此缺席了一次特别重要的投票，因为他要在圣芒戈医院陪我，拉着我的手，跟我说我不会有事的。」

Harry glanced away uncomfortably, then, with an effort, forced himself to look back at Draco. "Why are you telling me that? It seems sort of... private..."

哈利尴尬地移开目光，又努力让视线回到德拉科身上。「你为什么告诉我这个？感觉比较……私人……」

Draco gave Harry a serious look. "One of my tutors once said that people form close friendships by knowing private things about each other, and the reason most people don't make close friends is because they're too embarrassed to share anything really important about themselves." Draco turned his palms out invitingly. "Your turn?"

德拉科严肃地看着哈利。「我的一个老师告诉我，互相了解对方比较私人的事情有助于建立起亲密的友谊。大多数人没有好朋友的原因是他们觉得太尴尬了，不愿意告诉别人关于他们的真正重要的事。」德拉科邀请地伸出手掌。「轮到你了？」

Knowing that Draco's hopeful face had probably been drilled into him by months of practice did not make it any less effective, Harry observed. Actually it did make it less effective, but unfortunately not ineffective. The same could be said of Draco's clever use of reciprocation pressure for an unsolicited gift, a technique which Harry had read about in his social psychology books (one experiment had shown that an unconditional gift of $5 was twice as effective as a conditional offer of $50 in getting people to fill out surveys). Draco had made an unsolicited gift of a confidence, and now invited Harry to offer a confidence in return... and the thing was, Harry did feel pressured. Refusal, Harry was certain, would be met with a look of sad disappointment, and maybe a small amount of contempt indicating that Harry had lost points.

哈利注意到，即使明知德拉科充满期待的脸多半是成年累月反复练习过的，也不会减少它的效果。实际上确实减少了一些，不过很不幸，还不能令它完全无效。同样的，德拉科巧妙地使用了无条件的礼物引起的回赠的压力，这个技巧哈利在社会心理学的书里看到过（实验说明，如果你想请大家填写调查问卷，无条件地送给每人五美元，比提出付给每个填完的人五十美元要有效一倍）。德拉科无条件地分享了一个私人秘密，现在邀请哈利说出一个秘密作为回报……问题在于，哈利确实感到了压力。如果拒绝的话，哈利非常确定，等着他的肯定是一个难过的失望表情，说不定还夹杂着一点小小的轻蔑，显示出他被扣了分。

"Draco," Harry said, "just so you know, I recognise exactly what you're doing right now. My own books called it reciprocation and they talk about how giving someone a straight gift of two Sickles was found to be twice as effective as offering them twenty Sickles in getting them to do what you want..." Harry trailed off.

「德拉科，」哈利说，「我想让你知道，我很清楚你现在在做什么。这个在我的书上叫做回赠，他们说，如果你想让别人做什么事的话，无条件地送给他们两个银西可，比出二十个银西可去买还要有效一倍……」哈利的声音低下去了。

Draco was looking sad and disappointed. "It's not meant as a trick, Harry. It's a real way of becoming friends."

德拉科看起来很难过，很失望。「这不是一个诡计，哈利。这是真正的成为朋友的方法。」

Harry held up a hand. "I didn't say I wasn't going to respond. I just need time to pick something that's private but just as non-damaging. Let's say... I wanted you to know that I can't be rushed into things." A pause to reflect could go a long way in defusing the power of a lot of compliance techniques, once you learned to recognise them for what they were.

哈利举起一只手。「我没说我不回应啊。我只是需要一点时间，来找一件比较私人又没什么破坏性的事。这么说吧……我想让你知道，我不喜欢被人催着做决定。」当你学会辨认这些施加压力的技巧以后，停下来考虑一下，是消除它们的影响的很有效的办法。

"All right," Draco said. "I'll wait while you come up with something. Oh, and please take off the scarf while you say it."

「好啊，」德拉科说道。「你想的时候我等着好了。哦对了，请你说的时候把围巾拿下来。」

简单，然而有效。

And Harry couldn't help but notice how clumsy, awkward, graceless his attempt at resisting manipulation / saving face / showing off had appeared compared to Draco. I need those tutors.

哈利禁不住注意到，他的那些为了抗拒被操纵／挽回面子／自我炫耀作出的努力，和德拉科比起来显得多么笨拙，生硬，难看。我很需要那些私人教师。

"All right," Harry said after a time. "Here's mine." He glanced around and then rolled the scarf back up over his face, exposing everything but the scar. "Um... it sounds like you can really rely on your father. I mean... if you talk to him seriously, he'll always listen to you and take you seriously."

「好吧，」哈利过了一会儿以后说道。「我要说了。」他向周围看了看，然后把围巾往上卷，露出了伤疤以外的其他部分。「嗯……从你说的听起来，你真的可以依靠你父亲。我是说……如果你认真对他说一件事的话，他会听，而且会认真考虑你的意见。」

Draco nodded.

德拉科点点头。

"Sometimes," Harry said, and swallowed. This was surprisingly hard, but then it was meant to be. "Sometimes I wish my own Dad was like yours." Harry's eyes flinched away from Draco's face, more or less automatically, and then Harry forced himself to look back at Draco.

「有的时候，」哈利说，咽了一口口水。要说出来令人意外地困难，不过这是应该的。「有的时候，我但愿我的爸爸也能像你爸爸那样。」哈利的目光不由自主地从德拉科的脸上移开了，但是他逼自己继续看着德拉科。

Then it hit Harry what on Earth he'd just said, and Harry hastily added, "Not that I wish my Dad was a flawless instrument of death like Lucius, I only mean taking me seriously -"

这时哈利才意识到自己刚才说的是什么话，他赶紧解释道，「我不是说想让爸爸变成像卢修斯那样的完美的杀人机器，我是说，希望他认真考虑我的意见——」

"I understand," Draco said with a smile. "There... now doesn't it feel like we're a little closer to being friends?"

「我知道，」德拉科笑着说。「好啦……现在我们不是离朋友又近一步了吗？」

Harry nodded. "Yeah. It does, actually. Um... no offence, but I'm going to put on my disguise again, I really don't want to deal with -"

哈利点点头。「是的。确实是。嗯……请别见怪，不过我还是要伪装起来。我真的不想去应付——」

"I understand."

「我理解。」

Harry rolled the scarf back down over his face.

哈利再次把围巾放下遮住脸。

"My father takes all his friends seriously," Draco said. "That's why he has lots of friends. You should meet him."

「我的爸爸对所有的朋友都很重视，」德拉科说。「这就是为什么他有很多朋友。你应该去见见他的。」

"I'll think about it," Harry said in a neutral voice. He shook his head in wonder. "So you really are his one weak point. Huh."

「我会考虑的，」哈利不置可否地答道。他惊叹地摇摇头。「所以你真的是他唯一的弱点。嗯。」

Now Draco was giving Harry a really odd look. "You want to go get something to drink and find somewhere to sit down?"

现在德拉科看着哈利的眼神变得非常古怪了。「要不要找个地方坐下来喝点什么？」

Harry realised he had been standing in one place for too long, and stretched himself, trying to crick his back. "Sure."

哈利这才意识到他在同一个地方站的时间太长了，他伸伸懒腰，活动了一下僵硬的后背。「好啊。」

The platform was starting to fill up now, but there was still a quieter area on the far side away from the red steam engine. Along the way they passed a stall containing a bald, bearded man offering newspapers and comic books and stacked neon-green cans.

站台上的人开始多起来了，不过在离红色的蒸汽机车头比较远的地方还有一片相对比较安静的区域。他们在路上经过了一个小摊，一个秃顶络腮胡子的男人在卖报纸和漫画，还有堆在一起的一种鲜绿色的罐装饮料。

The stallholder was, in fact, leaning back and drinking out of one of the neon-green cans at the exact point when he spotted the refined and elegant Draco Malfoy approaching along with a mysterious boy looking incredibly stupid with a scarf tied over his face, causing the stallholder to experience a sudden coughing fit in mid-drink and dribble a large amount of neon-green liquid onto his beard.

摊主靠在椅背上，正在喝一罐鲜绿色饮料。他刚喝了一口，正好看见优雅高贵的德拉科·马尔福陪着一个脸上包着围巾，看起来蠢得要命的神秘男孩走过来，不由得呛住咳嗽起来，鲜绿色的饮料从他嘴里溢出，把胡子弄湿了一大块。

"'Scuse me," Harry said, "but what is that stuff, exactly?"

「劳驾问一下，」哈利说，「这玩意儿到底是什么啊？」

"Comed-Tea," said the stallholder. "If you drink it, something surprising is bound to happen which makes you spill it on yourself or someone else. But it's charmed to vanish just a few seconds later -" Indeed the stain on his beard was already disappearing.

「笑话茶，」摊主说。「喝了它就会有令人惊奇的事情发生，让你把茶溅到自己或者别人身上。不过茶里加持了法术，几秒以后就会消失——」真的，他的胡子上的茶渍已经开始消失了。

"How droll," said Draco. "How very, very droll. Come, Mr. Bronze, let's go find another -"

「太有意思了，」德拉科说。「实在太，太好笑了。走吧，铜先生，我们去找个别的——」

"Hold on," Harry said.

「等一下，」哈利说。

"Oh come on! That's just, just juvenile! "

「噢不会吧！这也太低龄了！」

"No, I'm sorry Draco, I have to investigate this. What happens if I drink Comed-Tea while doing my best to keep the conversation completely serious?"

「不行，对不起，德拉科，我必须要调查一下。如果我喝笑话茶的时候拼命保持严肃，一点也不开玩笑，会怎么样呢？」

The stallholder smiled mysteriously. "Who knows? A friend walks by in a frog costume? Something unexpected is bound to happen -"

摊主神秘地笑笑。「谁知道？一个朋友打扮成青蛙从你身边走过？反正一定会发生意料之外的事——」

"No. I'm sorry. I just don't believe it. That violates my much-abused suspension of disbelief on so many levels I don't even have the language to describe it. There is, there is just no way a bloody drink can manipulate reality to produce comedy setups, or I'm going to give up and retire to the Bahamas -"

「不。对不起。我不信。这在如此之多的层面上折磨着我对荒唐设定的忍耐系统，我都没办法用语言描述了。一杯天杀的饮料不可能改写现实，让它产生喜剧效果，不然我就彻底放弃，退休到巴哈马去——」

Draco groaned. "Are we really going to do this?"

德拉科哀叹一声。「我们真的一定要这样吗？」

"You don't have to drink it but I have to investigate. Have to. How much?"

「你不用喝，但是我必须调查一下。必须。多少钱？」

"Five Knuts the can," the stallholder said.

「五个铜纳特一罐，」摊主说。

"Five Knuts? You can sell reality-manipulating fizzy drinks for five Knuts the can?" Harry reached into his pouch, said "four Sickles, four Knuts", and slapped them down on the counter. "Two dozen cans please."

「五个铜纳特？能改变现实的碳酸饮料，一罐卖五个铜纳特？」哈利把手伸到莫克袋里，说道「四个银西可，四个铜纳特」，把钱拍在桌上。「请给我来两打。」

"I'll also take one," Draco sighed, and started to reach for his pockets.

「我也来一罐，」德拉科叹了口气，把手伸到口袋里。

Harry shook his head rapidly. "No, I've got this, doesn't count as a favor either, I want to see if it works for you too." He took a can from the stack now placed on the counter and tossed it to Draco, then started feeding his pouch. The pouch's Widening Lip ate the cans accompanied by small burping noises, which wasn't exactly helping to restore Harry's faith that he would someday discover a reasonable explanation for all this.

哈利马上摇摇头。「不用，让我来。不算请客，我想看看它对你是不是一样有效。」卖给他的饮料堆在柜台上了，他拿起一罐扔给德拉科，把剩下的放到莫克袋里。莫克袋的自动扩张袋口一边吃一边小声地打嗝，让哈利对于终有一天他会为所有的这一切找到一个合理的解释的信心不禁有些动摇。

Twenty-two burps later, Harry had the last purchased can in his hand, Draco was looking at him expectantly, and the two of them pulled the ring at the same time.

莫克袋打了二十二个嗝以后，哈利把最后一罐拿在手里。德拉克期待地看着他，他们同时拉开了饮料罐的拉环。

Harry rolled up his scarf to expose his mouth, and they tilted their heads back and drank the Comed-Tea.

哈利把围巾卷起来露出嘴巴，他们一起仰头喝了一口。

It somehow tasted bright green - extra-fizzy and limer than lime.

不知道为什么，茶的味道是亮绿色的——有很多泡沫，比青柠还要绿。

Aside from that, nothing else happened.

除此以外，什么也没发生。

Harry looked at the stallholder, who was watching them benevolently.

哈利看着摊主，他正善意地看着他们。

All right, if this guy just took advantage of a natural accident to sell me twenty-four cans of nothing_, I'm going to applaud his creative entrepreneurial spirit and then kill him._

好吧，如果这家伙利用一个偶然的意外卖给我二十四罐普通饮料的话，我要先为他的创造性的创业精神鼓掌，然后杀了他。

"It doesn't always happen immediately," the stallholder said. "But it's guaranteed to happen once per can, or your money back."

「不一定会马上发生，」店主说。「但是一罐之内一定会发生一次。如果没有，我退你钱。」

Harry took another long drink.

哈利又喝了一大口。

Once again, nothing happened.

还是什么也没发生。

也许我应该把这罐东西一口喝完……然后希望我的胃不会因为过多的二氧化碳爆掉，并且喝的时候不会打嗝……

No, he could afford to be a little patient. But honestly, Harry didn't see how this was going to work. You couldn't go up to someone and say "Now I'm going to surprise you" or "And now I'm going to tell you the punchline of the joke, and it'll be really funny." It ruined the shock value. In Harry's state of mental preparedness, Lucius Malfoy could have walked past in a ballerina outfit and it wouldn't have made him do a proper spit-take. Just what sort of wacky shenanigan was the universe supposed to cough up now?

算了，稍微耐心一点也没什么。不过说实话，哈利还是觉得不可能。你不能走到一个人面前，说：「现在我要让你大吃一惊」或者「现在我来告诉你这个笑话最好笑的地方，很可笑哦。」这就会破坏令人惊讶的效果。以哈利目前的思想准备，就算卢修斯穿着芭蕾舞女演员的衣服走过他面前，他也不至于把饮料喷出来。现在这个宇宙得玩出多古怪的花样才能成功啊？

"Anyway, let's sit down," Harry said. He prepared to swig another drink and started towards the distant seating area, which put him at the right angle to glance back and see the portion of the stall's newspaper stand that was devoted to a newspaper called The Quibbler, which was showing the following headline:

「不管怎么样，先找个地方坐吧，」哈利说。他准备再喝一口就开始走向远处的座位。这时他的角度刚好可以看到刚才的小摊在展示一份名叫《唱唱反调》的报纸，上面的头条是：

「大难不死的男孩」让德拉科·马尔福怀孕了

"Gah! " screamed Draco as bright green liquid sprayed all over him from Harry's direction. Draco turned to Harry with fire in his eyes and grabbed his own can. "You son of a mudblood! Let's see how you like being spat upon!" Draco took a deliberate swig from the can just as his own eyes caught sight of the headline.

「啊！」德拉科尖叫起来，哈利喷出来的亮绿色的茶水溅了他一身。德拉科转过身，怒火中烧地瞪着哈利，拿起他自己的那罐。「你个泥巴种养的！让你也尝尝被喷一身的滋味！」德拉科故意喝了一大口，就在这时，他自己的眼睛也落到了报纸的标题上。

In sheer reflex action, Harry tried to block his face as the spray of liquid flew in his direction. Unfortunately he blocked using the hand containing the Comed-Tea, sending the rest of the green liquid to splash out over his shoulder.

茶水向他喷过来的时候，哈利出于本能的条件反射把脸挡住了。不幸的是，他用来挡脸的那只手还拿着笑话茶，于是罐子里剩下的绿色饮料全泼翻在他肩膀上了。

Harry stared at the can in his hand even as he went on choking and spluttering and the green colour started to vanish from Draco's robes.

哈利瞪着手里的饮料罐子，拼命地咳呛了一阵。这时德拉科袍子上的绿色已经开始消失了。

Then he looked up and stared at the newspaper headline.

然后他抬头再次瞪着报纸的头条。

「大难不死的男孩」让德拉科·马尔福怀孕了

Harry's lips opened and said, "buh-bluh-buh-buh..."

哈利的嘴巴张开了，说：「可——可是——可——……」

Too many competing objections, that was the problem. Every time Harry tried to say "But we're only eleven!" the objection "But men can't get pregnant!" demanded first priority and was then run over by "But there's nothing between us, really!"

问题在于，有太多抗议在互相打架。每次哈利想说「可是我们才十一岁！」的时候，「可是男生不会怀孕！」就会要求优先发言，又随之被「可是我们之间真的没有什么」取代。

Then Harry looked down at the can in his hand again.

然后哈利再次低头看着他手里的饮料罐子。

He was feeling a deep-seated desire to run away screaming at the top of his lungs until he dropped from lack of oxygen, and the only thing stopping him was that he had once read that outright panic was the sign of a truly important scientific problem.

他感到一种很深的渴望，想要一边拼命尖叫一边跑掉，直到缺氧倒下为止，唯一令他没有这么做的原因是因为他曾经读到过，这种惊惶失措的感觉往往意味着你遇到了一个真正重要的科学问题。

Harry snarled, threw the can violently into a nearby rubbish bin, and stalked back over to the stall. "One copy of The Quibbler, please." Harry paid over four more Knuts, retrieved another can of Comed-Tea from his pouch, and then stalked over to the picnic area with the blond-haired boy, who was staring at his own can with an expression of frank admiration.

哈利怒骂一声，狠狠把手里的空罐子扔进附近的垃圾桶，走回那个小摊。「请给我来一份《唱唱反调》。」他付了四个铜纳特，从莫克袋里取出另一罐笑话茶，走到浅金色头发的男孩坐着的那张野餐桌前。他正以一种坦率的欣赏态度看着自己的饮料罐。

"I take it back," Draco said, "that was pretty good."

「我收回刚才的话，」德拉科说，「这个还不错嘛。」

"Hey, Draco, you know what I bet is even better for becoming friends than exchanging secrets? Committing murder."

「嗨，德拉科，你知道还有一个比交换秘密更有效的办法可以让我们变成朋友吗？谋杀。」

"I have a tutor who says that," Draco allowed. He reached inside his robes and scratched himself with an easy, natural motion. "Who've you got in mind?"

「我有个老师也是这么说的，」德拉科同意道。他把手伸到袍子里，潇洒自如地地挠了挠痒痒。「你想杀谁？」

Harry slammed The Quibbler down hard on the picnic table. "The guy who came up with this headline."

哈利把《唱唱反调》重重拍在桌上。「写这个头条的家伙。」

Draco groaned. "Not a guy. A girl. A ten-year-old girl, can you believe it? She went nuts after her mother died and her father, who owns this newspaper, is convinced that she's a seer, so when he doesn't know he asks Luna Lovegood and believes anything she says."

德拉科哼了一声。「不是男的。是女的。十岁的女孩，你敢相信吗？她妈妈死了以后她就疯了，她爸爸是这个报纸的主编，确信女儿是个预言家，有什么不知道就去问卢娜·洛夫古德，她说什么他都信。」

Not really thinking about it, Harry pulled the ring on his next can of Comed-Tea and prepared to drink. "Are you kidding me? That's even worse than Muggle journalism, which I would have thought was physically impossible."

哈利心不在焉地拉开第二罐笑话茶的拉环，准备开始喝。「开什么玩笑？这比麻瓜的新闻报道还糟，我以前还以为那是不可能的事呢。」

Draco snarled. "She has some sort of perverse obsession about the Malfoys, too, and her father is politically opposed to us so he prints every word. As soon as I'm old enough I'm going to rape her."

德拉科怒骂一声。「她对编排马尔福家的人有一种变态的爱好。她爸爸在政治上是反对我们的，所以不管她说什么他都登出来。等我长大了我要强暴她。」

Green liquid spurted out of Harry's nostrils, soaking into the scarf still covering that area. Comed-Tea and lungs did not mix, and Harry spent the next few seconds frantically coughing.

绿色的液体从哈利的鼻孔里喷出来，把鼻子上的围巾弄湿了。肺叶和笑话茶和不该互相接触的，哈利在接下来的几秒里都在剧烈地咳嗽。

Draco looked at him sharply. "Something wrong?"

德拉科的目光锐利地盯着他。「有什么问题吗？」

It was at this point that Harry came to the sudden realisation that (a) the sounds coming from the rest of the train platform had turned into more of a blurred white noise at around the same time Draco had reached inside his robes, and (b) when he had discussed committing murder as a bonding method, there had been exactly one person in the conversation who'd thought they were joking.

在这一刻，哈利开始意识到（a)德拉科把手伸进袍子里的时候，从火车站台传来的声音变成了模糊的白噪声；（b)当他建议用谋杀作为建立友情的手段的时候，只有一个人认为那是在开玩笑。

Right. Because he seemed like such a normal kid. And he is a normal kid, he is just what you'd expect a baseline male child to be like if Darth Vader were his doting father.

对了。因为他看上去完全像个正常的孩子。其实他就是个正常的孩子，一个普通的男孩子如果有达斯·维达那样的溺爱的父亲，就会变成这种样子。

"Yes, well," Harry coughed, oh god how was he going to get out of this conversational wedge, "I was just surprised at how you were willing to discuss it so openly, you didn't seem worried about getting caught or anything."

「嗯，没有，」哈利咳嗽道，哦上帝这下他该怎么给自己圆场呢，「我只是有点惊讶，你怎么公开谈论这样的事。你好像并不担心被抓住之类的。」

Draco snorted. "Are you joking? Luna Lovegood's word against mine?"

德拉科嗤之以鼻。「你在什么开玩笑？卢娜·洛夫古德的证词，想赢过我的？」

Holy crap on a holy stick. "There's no such thing as magical truth detection, I take it?" Or DNA testing... yet.

真是活见鬼。「也就是说，没有魔法可以用来查出发生的真相了？」也没有 DNA 测试……目前还没有。

Draco looked around. His eyes narrowed. "That's right, you don't know anything. Look, I'll explain things to you, I mean the way it really works, just like you were already in Slytherin and asked me the same question. But you've got to swear not to say anything about it."

德拉科向四周看了看，眯起了眼睛。「也是，你还什么都不知道呢。这样吧，我来解释给你听，我是说，真正的解释，就好像你已经进了斯莱特林，来问我这个问题一样。但是你必须发誓保守秘密。」

"I swear," Harry said.

「我发誓，」哈利说。

"The courts use Veritaserum, but it's a joke really, you just get yourself Obliviated before you testify and then claim the other person was Memory-Charmed with a fake memory. Of course if you're just some normal person, the courts presume in favor of Obliviation, not False Memory Charms. But the court has discretion, and if I'm involved then it impinges on the honor of a Noble House, so it goes to the Wizengamot, where Father has the votes. After I'm found not guilty the Lovegood family has to pay reparations for tarnishing my honor. And they know from the start that's how it'll go, so they'll just keep their mouths shut."

「法庭上用的是吐真剂，不过那其实是个笑话，你只要在上庭作证之前消除自己的记忆，然后一口咬定对方植入了假的记忆就行了。当然，如果你只是普通人的话，法庭在未经审判之前会优先推定是一忘皆空的法术，而不是假记忆术。但是法庭还是可以自行裁定，而且如果牵涉到我，这件案子的判决就会影响到贵族的荣誉，在这种情况下，审判权会上交到威森加摩，爸爸在那里掌握着多数的投票。我被宣判无罪以后，洛夫古德一家就必须为污蔑我的名誉赔款。他们也知道整件事会这样发展，所以在一开始就会闭上嘴巴。」

A cold chill was coming over Harry, a chill that came with instructions to keep his voice and face normal. Note to self: Overthrow government of magical Britain at earliest convenience.

哈利感到一阵恶寒，伴随着恶寒而来的是一个指令，要求他保持正常的声音和表情。备忘录：尽快抽空推翻魔法英国的政府。

Harry coughed again to clear his throat. "Draco, please please please don't take this the wrong way, my word is my bond, but like you said I could be in Slytherin and I really want to ask for informational purposes, so what would happen theoretically speaking if I did testify that I'd heard you plan it?"

哈利咳嗽了一下，清了清喉咙。「德拉科，请你一定一定一定不要误会我。我说过保密就一定会做到，可是就像你刚才说的，我也许会去斯莱特林，所以我想了解一下，从理论上来说，如果我上庭作证说我听到过你计划这件事，会怎么样呢？」

"Then if I was anyone other than a Malfoy, I'd be in trouble," Draco answered smugly. "Since I am a Malfoy... Father has the votes. And afterwards he'd crush you... well, I guess not easily, since you are the Boy-Who-Lived, but Father is pretty good at that sort of thing." Draco frowned. "'Sides, you talked about murdering her, why weren't you worried about me testifying after she turns up dead?"

「在那种情况的话，如果我不是马尔福家的人，我就要倒霉了，」德拉科得意洋洋地回答道。「不过我是马尔福…爸爸掌握着多数的投票。之后他会灭了你……嗯，我想不会太容易，因为你是『大难不死的男孩』，不过这种事情爸爸很拿手。」德拉科皱起眉头。「再说了，你说过要杀了她，你怎么不担心她忽然死掉了，然后我去上庭作证说，听到过你计划这件事呢？」

How, oh how did my day go this wrong? Harry's mouth was already moving faster than he could think. "That's when I thought she was older! I don't know how it works here, but in Muggle Britain the courts would get a lot more upset about someone killing a child -"

天啊，我这一天怎么会错到这样离谱的地步？哈利的嘴巴在他仔细考虑前就开口了。「我那时候以为她是大人！我不知道这里是怎样，不过在麻瓜英国，杀死一个孩子是会激起陪审团的义愤的——」

"That makes sense," Draco said, still looking a bit suspicious. "But anyway, it's always smarter if it doesn't go to the Aurors at all. If we're careful only to do things that Healing Charms can fix, we can just Obliviate her afterwards and then do it all again next week." Then the blonde-haired boy giggled, a youthful high-pitched sound. "Though just imagine her saying she'd been done by Draco Malfoy and the Boy-Who-Lived, not even Dumbledore would believe her."

「也有道理，」德拉科说，看起来还是有点疑心。「不过无论如何，最聪明的做法还是不要惊动傲罗。如果我们小心点，不做医疗法术治不好的伤害的话，只要在事后消除她的记忆就行了，下个星期还可以照样再来一次。」浅金色头发的男孩格格笑了，孩子气的尖锐的笑声。「不过想象一下，如果她说德拉科·马尔福还有『大难不死的男孩』都侵犯过她，连邓布利多都不会相信。」

_I am going to tear apart your pathetic little magical remnant of the Dark Ages into pieces smaller than its constituent atoms. "_Actually, can we hold off on that? After I found out that headline came from a girl a year younger than me, I had a different thought for my revenge."

我要把你们这个小得可怜的黑暗时代的余孽撕成比原子还小的碎片。「我说，我们把这个计划放一放好吗？在发现写那个头条的人是个比我小一岁的女孩以后，我想到了另外一个报复的办法。」

"Huh? Do tell," Draco said, and started to take another swig of his Comed-Tea.

「啊？说来听听，」德拉科说，喝了一口笑话茶。

Harry didn't know if the enchantment worked more than once per can, but he did know he could avoid the blame, so he was careful to time it exactly right:

哈利不知道笑话茶的法术是不是一罐只有一次，不过他确实知道可以赖在什么头上，所以他小心地选择了正确的时机：

"I was thinking someday I'm going to marry that woman."

「我在想，有一天我要和那个女人结婚。」

Draco made a horrid ker-splutching sound and leaked green fluid out the corners of his mouth like a broken car radiator. "Are you nuts? "

德拉科发出一声可怕的呛住了的声音，绿色的液体从他嘴边流下来，让他看起来就像一个坏掉了的汽车散热器。「你发神经啊？」

"Quite the opposite, I'm so sane it burns like ice."

「正相反，我的理性正像冰块一样燃烧。」

"You've got weirder taste than a Lestrange," Draco said, sounding half-admiring about it. "And I suppose you want her all to yourself, huh?"

「你的品味比莱斯特兰奇家的人还怪，」德拉科说，听起来似乎有几分敬佩。「这么说，你想她完全归你所有咯？」

"Yep. I can owe you a favor for it -"

「是的。我会欠你一个人情——」

Draco waved it off. "Nah, this one's free."

德拉科摇摇手。「不用啦，这个免费。」

Harry stared down at the can in his hand, the coldness settling into his blood. Charming, happy, generous with his favors to his friends, Draco wasn't a psychopath. That was the sad and awful part, knowing human psychology well enough to know that Draco wasn't a monster. There had been ten thousand societies over the history of the world where this conversation could have happened. No, the world would have been a very different place indeed, if it took an evil mutant to say what Draco had said. It was very simple, very human, it was the default if nothing else intervened. To Draco, his enemies weren't people.

哈利低头盯着手里的饮料罐，感到血液在逐渐变冷。德拉科迷人，快乐，对朋友慷慨大方；他并没有反社会的人格障碍。最可悲和最糟糕的部分就在这里：哈利对人类心理学足够了解，他知道德拉科不是一个怪物。在世界历史上，能让类似的谈话发生的社会少说也有一万个。不是的，我们目前的世界距离一个只有邪恶的变态才能说出德拉科刚才的话的世界还差很远。他的言行其实非常简单，非常人性化，如果没有外力的介入，人类就是这样。对于德拉科来说，他的敌人不能算人。

And in the slowed time of this slowed country, here and now as in the darkness-before-dawn prior to the Age of Reason, the son of a sufficiently powerful noble would simply take for granted that he was above the law, at least when it came to some peasant girl. There were places in Muggle-land where it was still the same way, countries where that sort of nobility still existed and still thought like that, or even grimmer lands where it wasn't just the nobility. It was like that in every place and time that didn't descend directly from the Enlightenment. A line of descent, it seemed, which didn't quite include magical Britain, for all that there had been cross-cultural contamination of things like ring-pull drinks cans.

在这个时间的流逝似乎放慢了的国家，就在此时此地，像在理性时代之前的黎明前的黑暗一样，一个拥有足够权力的贵族的儿子理所当然地认为自己凌驾于法律之上，至少在受害人是农家姑娘的时候是如此。即使在麻瓜的世界里，也还有些地方仍然是这样。在有的国家，贵族仍然存在，他们也仍然这样思考；甚至于在更黑暗的土地上，凌驾于法律之上的人不止是贵族而已。所有没有继承理性时代的文化的地方都是这样。魔法英国看起来就是这样的一个地方，即使他们已经在文化的互相渗透作用下引入了拉环的饮料罐子。

如果德拉科不改变他想要报仇的想法，如果我不想放弃获得终身幸福的机会去娶一个可怜的疯子女孩，那么我刚才争取到的只是时间，而且时间不长——

For one girl. Not for others.

只能救一个女孩。救不了其他人。

不知道列一张血统论的领袖的单子，把他们挨个杀掉有多难。

They'd tried exactly that during the French Revolution, more or less - make a list of all the enemies of Progress and remove everything above the neck - and it hadn't worked out well from what Harry recalled. Maybe he needed to dust off some of those history books his father had bought him, and see if what had gone wrong with the French Revolution was something easy to fix.

他们在法国大革命的时候基本上就是这么干的——把所有反对革命的敌人列一张单子，去掉他们脖子以上的部分——哈利记得好像效果不怎么样。也许他需要回去复习一下爸爸给他买的历史书，看看法国大革命的问题是不是很容易解决的一种。

Harry gazed up at the sky, and at the pale shape of the Moon, visible this morning through the cloudless air.

哈利抬头望天，在万里无云的天空中，可以看见苍白的月亮的形状。

也就是说，这个世界是崩坏，残缺，疯狂的，而且残忍，血腥，黑暗。这是新闻吗？不管怎么说，你以前就知道了……

"You're looking all serious," Draco said. "Let me guess, your Muggle parents told you that this sort of thing was bad."

「你看起来好严肃，」德拉科说。「我来猜一下，你的麻瓜父母告诉你，这样的事情是不对的。」

Harry nodded, not quite trusting his voice.

哈利点点头没说话，他不太信任自己的声音。

"Well, like Father says, there may be four houses, but in the end everyone belongs to either Slytherin or Hufflepuff. And frankly, you're not on the Hufflepuff end. If you decide to side with the Malfoys under the table... our power and your reputation... you could get away with things even I can't do. Want to try it for a while? See what it's like?"

「嗯，就像爸爸说的那样，学院也许有四个，可是最终每个人不是斯莱特林就是赫奇帕奇。坦率地说，你不是赫奇帕奇那边的。如果你愿意在暗地里和马尔福家结盟的话……我们的力量，加上你的名望……你能比我更为所欲为。想试试看吗？感受一下那是什么滋味？」

我们是多么狡猾的一条小蛇啊。才十一岁，已经知道怎么哄猎物出洞了..

Harry thought, considered, chose his weapon. "Draco, you want to explain the whole blood purity thing to me? I'm sort of new."

哈利想了想，权衡了一下，然后选定了他的武器。「德拉科，你能跟我解释一下血统论的理念吗？我是新人，还不太懂。」

A wide smile crossed Draco's face. "You really should meet Father and ask him, you know, he's our leader."

德拉科的脸上出现了一个大大的笑容。「你真的应该见见我爸爸，问他这个问题。你知道，他是我们的领袖。」

"Give me the thirty-second version."

「给我一个三十秒的版本。」

"Okay," Draco said. He drew in a deep breath, and his voice grew slightly lower, and took on a cadence. "Our powers have grown weaker, generation by generation, as the mudblood taint increases. Where Salazar and Godric and Rowena and Helga once raised Hogwarts by their power, creating the Locket and the Sword and the Diadem and the Cup, no wizard of these faded days has risen to rival them. We are fading, all fading into Muggles as we interbreed with their spawn and allow our Squibs to live. If the taint is not checked, soon our wands will break and all our arts cease, the line of Merlin will end and the blood of Atlantis fail. Our children will be left scratching at the dirt to survive like the mere Muggles, and darkness will cover all the world for ever." Draco took another swig from his drinks can, looking satisfied; that seemed to be the whole argument as far as he was concerned.

「好吧，」德拉科说道。他深吸了一口气，声音变得略微低沉，开始抑扬顿挫地演讲。「麻瓜出身的巫师污染了魔法世界，令我们的魔力越来越弱，一代不如一代。曾经萨拉查·斯莱特林和戈德里克·格兰芬多和罗依纳·拉文克劳和赫尔加·赫奇帕奇以他们的力量创建了霍格沃茨，制造了挂坠盒，宝剑，王冠，圣杯这样的魔法宝物，近代的巫师没有一个人能和他们比肩。我们正在变弱，在往麻瓜的方向退化，因为我们和麻瓜出身的人通婚，让没有魔力的哑炮（squib)孩子活下来。如果任这样的污染继续的话，很快我们的魔杖就会折断，我们的艺术就会失传，梅林的传人就会灭绝，亚特兰帝斯的血脉就会从此沉沦。我们的孩子们会像麻瓜们一样在尘埃里刨食，黑暗会永远笼罩这个世界。」德拉科喝了一口茶，看上去很满意；看起来，这就是他的整个的论点了。

"Persuasive," Harry said, meaning it descriptively rather than normatively. It was a standard pattern: The Fall from Grace, the need to guard what purity remained against contamination, the past sloping upwards and the future sloping only down. And that pattern also had its counter... "I have to correct you on one point of fact, though. Your information about the Muggles is a bit out of date. We aren't exactly scratching at the dirt anymore."

「很有说服力，」哈利说，不过他指的是修辞手段，不是内容。这是一个标准的模式：光荣的时代的堕落，为了保护仅存的珍贵部分必须保持纯洁，抗拒污染，过去是上坡路而未来是下坡路。而这个模式也有它的天敌…「不过我必须纠正一个事实。你关于麻瓜的信息有点过时了。我们已经不再在灰尘里刨食了。」

Draco's head snapped around. "What? What do you mean, we? "

德拉科猛地回过头。「什么？你什么意思，我们？」

"We. The scientists. The line of Francis Bacon and the blood of the Enlightenment. Muggles didn't just sit around crying about not having wands, we have our own powers now, with or without magic. If all your powers fail then we will all have lost something very precious, because your magic is the only hint we have as to how the universe must really work - but you won't be left scratching at the ground. Your houses will still be cool in summer and warm in winter, there will still be doctors and medicine. Science can keep you alive if magic fails. It'd be a tragedy, but not literally the end of all the light in the world. Just saying."

「我们。我们科学家。弗兰西斯·培根的传人和启蒙运动的血脉。麻瓜们没有呆坐着哭诉没有魔杖的悲哀，我们有我们自己的力量，有没有魔法都没关系。如果你们的力量消失了，对我们大家都是巨大的损失，因为对于我们来说，你们的魔法是指向这个世界的真正规则的唯一线索——但是你们不会在灰尘里刨食的。你们的房子还是会冬暖夏凉，你们还是会有医生和药物。如果魔法失传了，科学会让你活下去。那会是个悲剧，但决不会是世界的光芒熄灭的时刻。我是这么认为的。」

Draco had backed up several feet and his face was full of mixed fear and disbelief. "What in the name of Merlin are you talking about, Potter? "

德拉科往后退了几英尺，脸上满是恐惧和不可置信。「以梅林的名义，你到底在说什么，波特？」

"Hey, I listened to your story, won't you listen to mine?" Clumsy, Harry chided himself, but Draco actually did stop backing off and seem to listen.

「嗨，我都听了你的说法，你不能听听我的吗？」太生硬了，哈利指责自己。不过仍然有效；德拉科不再后退了，开始听他说话。

"Anyway," Harry said, "I'm saying that you don't seem to have been paying much attention to what goes on in the Muggle world." Probably because the whole wizarding world seemed to regard the rest of Earth as a slum, deserving around as much news coverage as the Financial Times awarded to the routine agonies of Burundi. "All right. Quick check. Have wizards ever been to the Moon? You know, that thing?" Harry pointed up to that huge and distant globe.

「总之，」哈利说道，「我要说的是，你们对麻瓜世界发生的事似乎没有太多关注。」也许魔法世界认为地球的其余部分是一个巨大的贫民窟，所有值得关注的新闻都类似于《经济时报》对布隆迪水深火热的状况的报道。「好了。问个问题。巫师们去过月亮吗？你知道，那个东西？」哈利抬手指向那个遥远而巨大的星球。

"What? " Draco said. It was pretty clear the thought had never occured to the boy. "Go to the - it's just a -" His finger pointed at the little pale thingy in the sky. "You can't Apparate to somewhere you've never been and how would anyone get to the Moon in the first place?"

「什么？」德拉科说。很显然这个男孩从来没有过这样的想法。「去月——它只是一个——」他的手指向天上那个苍白渺小的东西。「幻影移形不能用来去你以前没去过的地方，你第一次的时候怎么去呢？」

"Hold on," Harry said to Draco, "I'd like to show you a book I brought with me, I think I remember what box it's in." And Harry stood up and kneeled down and yanked out the stairs to the cavern level of his trunk, then tore down the stairs and heaved a box off another box, coming perilously close to treating his books with disrespect, and snatched off the box cover and quickly but carefully pried out a stack of books -

「等一下，」哈利对德拉科说，「我想给你看一本我带来的书，我想我记得放在哪个箱子里了。」他站起身来，跪在地上拉开了行李箱底通往地下室的楼梯，飞奔下去，把一个书箱从另一个书箱上拽开了，几乎到了无礼对待他的书籍的程度，一把拉开箱盖，快速而小心地抽出来一摞书——

(Harry had inherited the nigh-magical Verres ability to remember where all his books were, even after seeing them just once, which was rather mysterious considering the lack of any genetic connection.)

（哈利遗传了维瑞斯对于什么书放在哪里的近乎魔法的记性，哪怕只见过一次也记得在哪里，其实挺奇怪的，因为他们根本没有血缘关系。）

And Harry raced back up the stairs and shoved the staircase back into the trunk with his heel, and, panting, turned the pages of the book until he found the picture he wanted to show to Draco.

然后哈利飞奔上楼，把脚后跟把楼梯踢回到箱子里去，一边喘气，一边翻书，直到他找到想给德拉科看的那张照片。

The one with the white, dry, cratered land, and the suited people, and the blue-white globe hanging over it all.

那张有着干裂的白色的环形山的土地，穿着宇航服的人，天上挂着蓝色和白色交织的星球的照片。

That picture.

那张照片。

The picture, if only one picture in all the world were to survive.

那张照片，如果全世界上只能留下一张照片，就是这一张。

"That," Harry said, his voice trembling because he couldn't quite keep the pride out, "is what the Earth looks like from the Moon."

「那个，」哈利说，他的声音因为控制不住内心的自豪在发抖，「就是从月亮上看地球的样子。」

Draco slowly leaned over. There was a strange expression on his young face. "If that's a real picture, why isn't it moving?"

德拉科慢慢地俯下身来。他的年轻的脸上有一种奇怪的表情。「如果这照片是真的，它为什么不动呢？」

Moving? Oh. "Muggles can do moving pictures but they need a bigger box to show it, they can't fit them onto single book pages yet."

动？哦。「麻瓜们也能做会动的照片，但是需要一个更大的盒子才能放出来，他们还不能把会动的照片放到每页书里。」

Draco's finger moved to one of the suits. "What are those?" His voice starting to waver.

德拉科的手指移动到一件宇航服身上。「这是什么？」他的声音开始动摇了。

"Those are human beings. They are wearing suits that cover their whole bodies to give them air, because there is no air on the Moon."

「这是人。他们穿的宇航服覆盖全身，是给他们供氧的，因为月亮上没有空气。」

"That's impossible," Draco whispered. There was terror in his eyes, and utter confusion. "No Muggle could ever do that. How..."

「不可能，」德拉科低语道。他的眼睛里是恐惧和完全的迷惑。「麻瓜不可能做到这个。怎么才能……」

Harry took back the book, flipped the pages until he found what he saw. "This is a rocket going up. The fire pushes it higher and higher, until it gets to the Moon." Flipped pages again. "This is a rocket on the ground. That tiny speck next to it is a person." Draco gasped. "Going to the Moon cost the equivalent of... probably around a thousand million Galleons." Draco choked. "And it took the efforts of... probably more people than live in all of magical Britain." And when they arrived, they left a plaque that said, 'We came in peace, for all mankind.' Though you're not yet ready to hear those words, Draco Malfoy...

哈利把书拿回来，翻到他想要的那一页。「这是火箭发射。火箭下面的火焰会把它越推越高，一直到月亮为止。」再翻一页。「这是火箭在地上的样子。旁边的那个小点是人。」德拉科倒吸了一口凉气。「去月球的费用是……大概十亿个金加隆。」德拉科呛住了。「这是很多人一起努力的结果……总的人数恐怕超过魔法英国的人口总量。」当他们到达了月球以后，他们留下了一块牌子，「我们为和平而来，代表全人类。」不过这句话现在还不能说给你听，德拉科·马尔福……

"You're telling the truth," Draco said slowly. "You wouldn't fake a whole book just for this - and I can hear it in your voice. But... but..."

「你在说实话，」德拉科慢慢说道。「你不至于为这个假造整整一本书——我从你的声音里也听得出来。但是……但是……」

"How, without wands or magic? It's a long story, Draco. Science doesn't work by waving wands and chanting spells, it works by knowing how the universe works on such a deep level that you know exactly what to do in order to make the universe do what you want. If magic is like casting Imperio on someone to make them do what you want, then science is like knowing them so well that you can convince them it was their own idea all along. It's a lot more difficult than waving a wand, but it works when wands fail, just like if the Imperius failed you could still try persuading a person. And Science builds from generation to generation. You have to really know what you're doing to do science - and when you really understand something, you can explain it to someone else. The greatest scientists of one century ago, the brightest names that are still spoken with reverence, their powers are as nothing to the greatest scientists of today. There is no equivalent in science of your lost arts that raised Hogwarts. In science our powers wax by the year. And we are beginning to understand and unravel the secrets of life and inheritance. We'll be able to look at the very blood of which you spoke, and see what makes you a wizard, and in one or two more generations, we'll be able to persuade that blood to make all your children powerful wizards too. So you see, your problem isn't nearly as bad as it looks, because in a few more decades, science will be able to solve it for you."

「怎么做到的呢，如果没有魔杖和魔法？这个说来话长，德拉科。科学不是挥挥魔杖，念念咒语的事情，而是通过深刻地理解事物运行的规律，从而确切地知道要怎样让这个宇宙去做你要它做的事情。如果说魔法就像对人施展夺魂咒，让他们为你做事的话，科学就像深刻地了解别人，可以说服他们主动去做你希望的事。这比挥一下魔杖难很多，但是即使魔杖失败了，它还是能成功，就像如果夺魂咒失败了，你还是可以试着说服一个人。而且科学是一代一代不断壮大的。你做科学研究的时候必须真正理解自己在做的事情——当你真正理解一件事的时候，你就可以解释给别人听。一个世纪前的最伟大的科学家，我们现在提起他们的名字还是满怀尊敬，但是他们的力量和现代最伟大的科学家比起来已经微不足道了。在科学里没有失传的秘密这种事，我们的力量每年都在增加。还有我们已经开始理解生命的秘密和遗传的原理。我们可以研究你所说的血统，看看到底是什么让你成为一个巫师，然后在一代或者两代之内，说服血统让你们的孩子也变成强大的巫师。所以你看，你的问题根本没有你想象的那么糟，因为再过几十年，科学就能为你们解决这件事了。」

"But..." Draco said. His voice was trembling. "If Muggles have that kind of power... then... what are we? "

「但是..」德拉科说，他的声音在发抖。「如果麻瓜有那样的力量……那么……我们算什么呢？」

"No, Draco, that's not it, don't you see? Science taps the power of human understanding to look at the world and figure out how it works. It can't fail without humanity itself failing. Your magic could turn off, and you would hate that, but you would still be you. You would still be alive to regret it. But because science rests upon my human intelligence, it is the power that cannot be removed from me without removing me. Even if the laws of the universe change on me, so that all my knowledge is void, I'll just figure out the new laws, as has been done before. It's not a Muggle thing, it's a human thing, it just refines and trains the power you use every time you look at something you don't understand and ask 'Why?' You're of Slytherin, Draco, don't you see the implication?"

「不是，德拉科，不应该这样看，你还没明白吗？科学利用的是人类的理解力，通过观察世界找出事物的规律。只要人类还在，这种力量就不会消失。也许你的魔法会消失，你会痛恨这样的事，可是你还是你。你还会活下来，用余生怀念它。但是科学存在于人类的智慧里，它的力量是夺不走的，只要我还在，这种力量就在。即使宇宙的规则改变了，以前的知识都没用了，我还是可以去探索新的规律，就像从前一样。这不是麻瓜的力量，这是人类的力量，每一次你看到不懂的东西问『为什么』的时候，这种力量就会得到淬炼。你是个斯莱特林，德拉科，你难道看不出这意味着什么吗？」

Draco looked up from the book to Harry. His face showed dawning understanding. "Wizards can learn to use this power."

德拉科抬起头看着哈利。他的脸上露出理解的神情。「巫师也可以学着使用这种力量。」

Very carefully, now... the bait is set, now the hook... "If you can learn to think of yourself as a human instead of a wizard then you can train and refine your powers as a human."

现在，要特别小心……饵已经撒下，轮到钩子了……「如果你学会把自己当成一个人，而不是一个巫师的话，你就能训练和强化你作为人的力量。」

And if that instruction wasn't in every science curriculum, Draco didn't need to know it, did he?

如果这条规则没有写在所有的科学教程里，德拉科也不用知道，对吧？

Draco's eyes were now thoughtful. "You've... already done this?"

德拉科的眼睛露出深思的表情。「你自己……已经在这么做了吗？」

"To some extent," Harry allowed. "My training isn't complete. Not at eleven. But - my father also bought me tutors, you see." Sure, they'd been starving grad students, and it had only been because Harry slept on a 26-hour cycle, but leave all that aside for now...

「在某种程度上，是的，」哈利承认道。「我的训练还没有结束。十一岁还太早。不过——你看，我爸爸也给我请了私人教师。」当然了，他们只是些缺钱花的研究生，而且也只是因为哈利的睡眠周期是二十六小时，不过这些可以暂时不提……

Slowly, Draco nodded. "You think you can master both arts, add the powers together, and..." Draco stared at Harry. "Make yourself Lord of the two worlds?"

德拉科慢慢地点点头。「你觉得你能同时掌握这两种艺术，把它们的力量合起来，然后..」德拉科瞪着哈利。「让自己成为两个世界的主宰？」

Harry gave an evil laugh, it just seemed to come naturally at that point. "You have to realise, Draco, that the whole world you know, all of magical Britain, is just one square on a much larger gameboard. The gameboard that includes places like the Moon, and the stars in the night sky, which are lights just like the Sun only unimaginably far away, and things like galaxies that are vastly huger than the Earth and Sun, things so large that only scientists can see them and you don't even know they exist. But I really am Ravenclaw, you know, not Slytherin. I don't want to rule the universe. I just think it could be more sensibly organised."

哈利邪恶地笑了一声，因为感觉在这时候这么做很自然。「你必须知道，德拉科，你心目中全部的世界，整个的魔法英国，在一个更大的棋盘上只是其中一格而已。这个棋盘包括月亮，包括夜空里的星星，它们其实像太阳一样光明，只不过离我们难以想象地远；还有比地球和太阳都大很多很多的星系，只有科学家能看到它们，你都不知道它们的存在。可是我真的是拉文克劳，不是斯莱特林。我无意主宰这个宇宙。我只是认为它们可以安排得更合理。」

There was awe on Draco's face. "Why are you telling me this?"

德拉科的脸上露出敬仰的表情。「你告诉我这些干什么？」

"Oh... there aren't many people who know how to do true science - understanding something for the very first time, even if it confuses the hell out of you. Help would be helpful."

「哦……懂得真正的科学方法的人不多——第一个去试着理解一件事，无论它让你觉得多么不可理喻。我需要帮助。」

Draco stared at Harry with his mouth open.

德拉科张着嘴巴，瞪着哈利。

"But make no mistake, Draco, true science really isn't like magic, you can't just do it and walk away unchanged like learning how to say the words of a new spell. The power comes with a cost, a cost so high that most people refuse to pay it."

「但是要搞清楚，德拉科，真正的科学不像魔法，不可能像你学一个新咒语的发音那样，可以在学会的同时不改变自己。这个力量是有代价的，代价很高，以至于很多人都拒绝付出这样的代价。」

Draco nodded at this as though, finally, he'd heard something he could understand. "And that cost?"

德拉科点点头，好像终于听到了他能理解的东西。「代价是什么？」

"Learning to admit you're wrong."

「学会承认你是错的。」

"Um," Draco said after the dramatic pause had stretched on for a while. "You going to explain that?"

「嗯，」德拉科在接下来的戏剧性的暂停延续了一会儿以后说道。「你准备解释一下吗？」

"Trying to figure out how something works on that deep level, the first ninety-nine explanations you come up with are wrong. The hundredth is right. So you have to learn how to admit you're wrong, over and over and over again. It doesn't sound like much, but it's so hard that most people can't do science. Always questioning yourself, always taking another look at things you've always taken for granted," like having a Snitch in Quidditch, "and every time you change your mind, you change yourself. But I'm getting way ahead of myself here. Way ahead of myself. I just want you to know... I'm offering to share some of my knowledge. If you want. There's just one condition."

「在深入研究事物运行的规律的时候，你想出来的前九十九个解释都是错的。第一百个才是对的。所以你必须学会承认自己错了，一次又一次地承认自己的错误。这个听起来好像没什么，可是实际上非常困难，大多数人因此不能从事科学研究。要不断地质疑自己，不断地重新审视你一直觉得理所当然的事物。」比如魁地奇里的金色飞贼球，「每次你改变自己的想法的时候，你也改变了自己。不过说这些还太早。实在太早了。我只是想让你知道…如果你愿意的话，我可以和你分享我知道的知识。只有一个条件。」

"Uh huh," Draco said. "You know, Father says that when someone says that to you, it is never a good sign, ever."

「嗯哼，」德拉科说道。「你知道，爸爸说过，如果有人对你这么说，这决不是一个好迹象，永远不是。」

Harry nodded. "Now, don't mistake me and think that I'm trying to drive a wedge between you and your father. It's not about that. It's just about me wanting to deal with someone my own age, rather than having this be between me and Lucius. I think your father would be okay with that too, he knows you have to grow up sometime. But your moves in our game have to be your own. That's my condition - that I'm dealing with you, Draco, not your father."

哈利点点头。「好了，不要误会我，以为我的目的是在你和你爸爸之间造成什么隔阂。不是这样的。但是我希望和我合作的是我的同龄人，而不是卢修斯。我想你爸爸应该会同意的，他也知道你总有一天会长大。这个游戏里的每一步都必须由你自己来走。这是我的条件——我希望合作的人是你，德拉科，而不是你的爸爸。」

"I've got to go," Draco said. He stood up. "I've got to go off and think about this."

「我该走了，」德拉科说。他站起身来。「我需要离开考虑一下。」

"Take your time," Harry said.

「不用着急，」哈利说。

The sounds of the train platform changed from blurs into murmurs as Draco wandered off.

在德拉科离开以后，火车站台的声音又从模糊的背景变成了嗡嗡的杂音。

Harry slowly exhaled the air he'd been holding in without quite realising it, and then looked at the watch on his wrist, a simple mechanical model that his father had bought him in hope it would work in magic's presence. The second-hand was still ticking, and if the minute hand was right, then it wasn't quite eleven just yet. He probably ought to get on the train soon and start looking for whatsherface, but it seemed worth taking a few minutes first to do some breathing exercises and see if his blood warmed up again.

哈利慢慢地吁出一口气，才意识到自己刚才不自觉地屏住了呼吸。他看看腕上的手表，爸爸给他买的时候专门选了简单的机械款式，希望它在魔法环境里也能正常工作。手表的秒针还在滴答滴答地走，如果分针的位置没错的话，现在还离十一点还有一点时间。也许他应该赶快上火车开始找那个女生，不过最好还是先花几分钟调整一下呼吸，看看他的血液会不会回暖一点。

But when Harry looked up from his watch, he saw two figures approaching, looking utterly ridiculous with their faces cloaked by winter scarves.

哈利看完表抬起头的时候，他看见两个人向他走过来，脸上蒙着冬天的围巾，看上去可笑极了。

"Hello, Mr. Bronze," said one of the masked figures. "Can we interest you in joining the Order of Chaos?"

「你好，铜先生，」蒙面人中的一个说道。「有兴趣加入我们的混乱联盟吗？」

余波：

Not too long after that, when all that day's fuss had finally subsided, Draco was bent over a desk with quill in hand. He had a private room in the Slytherin dungeons, with its own desk and its own fire - sadly not even he rated a connection to the Floo system, but at least Slytherin didn't buy into that utter nonsense about making everyone sleep in dorms. There weren't many private rooms, you had to be the very best within the House of the better sort, but that could be taken for granted with the House of Malfoy.

不久以后，在整个白天的混乱终于结束之后，德拉科伏在桌前，手里拿着一支羽毛笔。他在斯莱特林的地窖有一个私人的房间，有自己的桌子和壁炉——遗憾的是，连他也不够资格让这个壁炉和飞路网连通起来，不过斯莱特林至少没有荒唐到让每个人都住宿舍的地步。私人房间并不多，你必须在学院里处于金字塔的顶端才能弄到，不过这样的待遇对马尔福家族来说是理所当然的。

Dear Father, Draco wrote.

亲爱的爸爸，德拉科写道。

And then he stopped.

然后他停住了。

Ink slowly dripped from his quill, staining the parchment near the words.

墨水慢慢从他的羽毛笔上滴下来，把字迹附近的羊皮纸弄脏了。

Draco wasn't stupid. He was young, but his tutors had trained him well. Draco knew that Potter probably felt a lot more sympathy towards Dumbledore's faction than Potter was letting on... though Draco did think Potter could be tempted. But it was crystal clear that Potter was trying to tempt Draco just as Draco was trying to tempt him.

德拉科并不傻。他还小，但是他的私人教师们把他训练得很好。德拉科知道波特对邓布利多的好感恐怕远比他表现出来的多……但是德拉科觉得可以把波特引诱过来。不过非常明显，波特也在争取德拉科，就像德拉科想要争取波特一样。

And it was also clear that Potter was brilliant, and a whole lot more than just slightly mad, and playing a vast game that Potter himself mostly didn't understand, improvised at top speed with the subtlety of a rampaging nundu. But Potter had managed to choose a tactic that Draco couldn't just walk away from. He had offered Draco a part of his own power, gambling that Draco couldn't use it without becoming more like him. His father had called this an advanced technique, and had warned Draco that it often didn't work.

同样非常明显的是，波特聪明绝顶，而且不止是一点点疯，这个巨大的游戏是怎么回事，他其实基本上都不懂，就是飞快地见招拆招，像横冲直撞的美洲鸵鸟一样毫不掩饰。但是德拉科对波特选择的策略不可能无动于衷。他承诺给德拉科一部分他自己的力量，打赌德拉科如果使用的话，就会被他同化。爸爸曾经说过这是一种高端的策略，而且警告德拉科说，这种策略以失败居多。

Draco knew he hadn't understood everything that had happened... but Potter had offered him the chance to play and right now it was his. And if he blurted the whole thing out, it would become Father's.

德拉科知道他还没有理解发生的所有事情……可是波特给了他一个加入游戏的机会，现在这个机会是他的。如果他把整件事情说出来的话，这个机会就会变成爸爸的。

In the end it was as simple as that. The lesser techniques require the unawareness of the target, or at least their uncertainty. Flattery has to be plausibly disguised as admiration. ("You should have been in Slytherin" is an old classic, highly effective on a certain type of person who isn't expecting it, and if it works you can repeat it.) But when you find someone's ultimate lever it doesn't matter if they know you know. Potter, in his mad rush, had guessed a key to Draco's soul. And if Draco knew that Potter knew it - even if it had been an obvious sort of guess - that didn't change anything.

最终就是这么简单。比较低级的策略里面，策略的对象不能知情，或者至少不能确定。奉承看起来必须像是真心的赞美。（「你该被分到斯莱特林的」就是一个经典，对于有些类型的人极为有效，如果成功了还可以反复使用）。但是如果你发现了撬动一个人的真正的机关，他们知不知情都没关系。波特以他的疯狂的速度，猜中了通向德拉科灵魂的一把钥匙。即使德拉科知道哈利猜中了——即使其实很容易猜中——也不能改变什么。

So now, for the first time in his life, he had real secrets to keep. He was playing his own game. There was an obscure pain to it, but he knew that Father would be proud, and that made it all right.

所以现在，在生命中的第一次，他有了真正的秘密。他要自己玩这个游戏。这让他感到一种莫名的痛苦，可是他知道爸爸知道以后会为他骄傲的，这样就没问题了。

Leaving the ink drippings in place - there was a message there, and one that his father would understand, for they had played the game of subtleties more than once - Draco wrote out the one question that really had gnawed at him about the whole affair, the part that it seemed he ought to understand, but he didn't, not at all.

他没有擦掉信上的墨迹——这个墨迹也是一个信息，爸爸会明白的，他们不止一次玩过这种微妙的游戏——德拉科写下了在整件事里一直非常困扰他的一个疑问，这个部分似乎他本来应该懂的，可是他不懂，一点也不。

亲爱的爸爸：

如果我告诉你我遇到了一个霍格沃茨的学生，以前不是我们认识的圈子里的人，他把你称为「完美的杀人机器」，还说我是你的「唯一的弱点」。你会说他什么呢？

It didn't take long after that for the family owl to bring the reply.

家里的猫头鹰很快送来了回信。

我亲爱的儿子：

我会说，你很幸运，遇到了我们的朋友和宝贵的同盟，西弗勒斯·斯内普的密友。

Draco stared at the letter for a while, and finally threw it into the fire.

德拉科盯着信看了一会儿，最终把它扔进了火里。

本篇英文均据官方第 7 章逐段保留；中文为依据英文独立重写的非官方翻译。译文参考过 hpmor.xyz 的对应章节，仅用于核对理解、专名、术语与遗漏，未原样转载其整章译文。