HPMOR 第23章｜对信念的信念（中英对照）
德拉科替哈利跑遍霍格沃茨的画像，去数古代的一年级咒语、查哑炮夫妻的孩子；地下教室里，哈利在两排纸片之间讲完遗传、当众说出预测——数据回来时，被证伪的正是德拉科自己的信念，而成为科学家的代价，是一次再也收不回去的牺牲。
英文原文取自 HPMOR 官方第 23 章。下文保留章首题记，并严格按官方故事正文的自然段与分隔线逐段排列：每组英文在上、中文在下；中文为依据英文独立校订的非官方译文。hpmor.xyz 对应章 仅用于核对理解、专名、术语与遗漏，未原样转载。
Everybody wants a rock to wind a piece of string around J. K. Rowling.
每个人都想要一块石头，好把一根绳子绕在 J·K·罗琳身上。
"And then Janet was a Squib," said the portrait of a short young woman with a gold-trimmed hat.
「接着，珍妮特是哑炮，」一幅画像说道，画中人是个戴着镶金边帽子的矮个年轻女子。
Draco wrote it down. That was only twenty-eight but it was time to go back and meet Harry.
德拉科把它记了下来。这才只有二十八个，可已经该回去见哈利了。
He'd needed to ask other portraits to help translating, English had changed a lot, but the oldest portraits had described first-year spells that sounded an awful lot like the ones they had now. Draco had recognized around half of them and the other half didn't sound any more powerful.
他不得不请别的画像帮忙翻译，英语已经变了很多，但最古老的画像说起的一年级咒语，听上去和他们现在使的这套差不多。德拉科认得出其中大约一半，另一半听起来一点也没有更强。
The sick feeling in his stomach had grown with each answer until finally, unable to take it any more, he'd gone off and asked other portraits Harry Potter's strange question about Squib marriages, instead. The first five portraits hadn't known anyone and finally he'd asked those portraits to ask their acquaintances to ask their acquaintances and so managed to find some people who'd actually admit to being friends with Squibs.
每问出一个答案，他胃里那股恶心就重一分，到最后他再也受不了，索性跑去向别的画像打听哈利·波特问过的那桩哑炮婚姻怪事。头五幅画像谁都不认识，最后他只好请那些画像去问他们认识的人，再请那些人去问他们自己认识的人，这才找到几个真肯承认自己和哑炮是朋友的人。
(The first-year Slytherin had explained he was working on an important project with a Ravenclaw and the Ravenclaw had told him they needed this information and then run off without saying why. This had garnered many sympathetic looks.)
（这位斯莱特林的一年级学生解释说，他正跟一位拉文克劳一起做一项重要课题，那位拉文克劳说他们正需要这些东西，然后就跑了，也不说为什么。这给他换来了不少同情的目光。）
Draco's feet were heavy as he walked through the corridors of Hogwarts. He should have been running but he couldn't seem to muster the energy. He kept on thinking that he didn't want to know about this, he didn't want to be involved in any of this, he didn't want this to be his responsibility, just let Harry Potter do it, if magic was fading let Harry Potter take care of it...
德拉科走在霍格沃茨的走廊里，脚步沉得厉害。他本该跑起来的，却怎么也提不起劲。他脑子里反复转着：这些他不想知道，这些事他不想沾，这不该是他的责任，就让哈利·波特去做吧，如果魔法真在衰退，索性让哈利·波特去操心……
But Draco knew that wasn't right.
但德拉科知道，这样想不对。
Chill the dungeons of Slytherin, gray the stone walls, Draco usually liked the atmosphere, but now it seemed too much like fading.
斯莱特林的地下城阴冷，石墙灰暗，德拉科平时挺喜欢这气氛，可现在它看上去太像衰败了。
His hand on the doorknob, Harry Potter already inside and waiting, wearing his cowled cloak.
德拉科的手搭在门把上，哈利·波特已经等在里面了，披着他那件带兜帽的斗篷。
"The ancient first-year spells," Harry Potter said. "What did you find?"
「古代的一年级咒语，」哈利·波特说，「你查到了什么？」
"They're no more powerful than the spells we use now."
「它们并不比我们现在用的咒语更强。」
Harry Potter's fist struck a desk, hard. "Damn it. All right. My own experiment was a failure, Draco. There's something called the Interdict of Merlin -"
哈利·波特的拳头重重砸在一张书桌上。「该死。好吧。我自己那个实验失败了，德拉科。听说有个东西叫梅林禁令——」
Draco hit himself on the forehead, realizing.
德拉科一下子明白过来，抬手拍了下自己的额头。
"- which stops anyone from getting knowledge of powerful spells out of books, even if you find and read a powerful wizard's notes they won't make sense to you, it has to go from one living mind to another. I couldn't find any powerful spells that we had the instructions for but couldn't cast. But if you can't get them out of old books, why would anyone bother passing them on by word of mouth after they stopped working? Did you get the data on the Squib couples?"
「——它让人没法从书里得到强大咒语的知识，就算你翻到一位强大巫师的笔记，看了也读不明白，这种知识只能从一个活着的头脑传到另一个活着的头脑。我找不到任何有说明却施不出来的强大咒语。可既然从旧书里拿不到，那这些咒语一旦失效，又怎么会有人费劲去口耳相传？哑炮夫妻的数据你拿到了吗？」
Draco started to hand the parchment over -
德拉科开始把羊皮纸递过去——
But Harry Potter held up a hand. "Law of science, Draco. First I tell you the theory and the prediction. Then you show me the data. That way you know I'm not just making up a theory to fit; you know that the theory actually predicted the data in advance. I have to explain this to you anyway, so I have to explain it before you show me the data. That's the rule. So put on your cloak and let's sit down."
但哈利·波特举起一只手。「科学的规矩，德拉科。我先讲理论和预测，然后你再给我看数据。这样你才知道我不是照着数据现编一套理论，你知道那套理论是提前把数据预测出来的。反正这套理论我总得讲给你听，那我就必须在你把数据拿给我看之前讲。这是规矩。披上你的斗篷，坐下吧。」
Harry Potter sat down at a desk with torn scraps of paper arranged across its surface. Draco drew his cloak out of his bookbag, drew it on, and sat down across from Harry on the other side, giving the paper scraps a puzzled look. They were arranged in two rows and the rows were about twenty scraps long.
哈利·波特在一张桌前坐下，桌面上摊着一片片撕碎的纸。德拉科从书包里掏出斗篷披上，在哈利对面坐下，疑惑地打量着那些碎纸片。它们排成两行，每行大约二十片。
"The secret of blood," said Harry Potter, an intense look on his face, "is something called deoxyribonucleic acid. You don't say that name in front of anyone who's not a scientist. Deoxyribonucleic acid is the recipe that tells your body how to grow, two legs, two arms, short or tall, whether you have brown eyes or green. It's a material thing, you can see it if you have microscopes, which are like telescopes only they look at things that are very small instead of very far away. And that recipe has two copies of everything, always, in case one copy is broken. Imagine two long rows of pieces of paper. At each place in the row, there are two pieces of paper, and when you have children, your body selects one piece of paper at random from each place in the row, and the mother's body will do the same, and so the child also gets two pieces of paper at each place in the row. Two copies of everything, one from your mother, one from your father, and when you have children they get one piece of paper from you at random in each place."
「血统的秘密，」哈利·波特说，脸上神情专注得发紧，「是一种叫脱氧核糖核酸的东西。这个名字，在不是科学家的人面前不要提。脱氧核糖核酸是一份配方，它告诉你的身体该怎么长：两条腿、两条胳膊、个子高还是矮、眼睛是褐色还是绿色。它是实打实的东西，只要有显微镜，你就能看见它；显微镜就像望远镜，只不过它看的是极小的东西，不是极远的东西。而这份配方里，每一样都有两份，永远如此，为的是一份坏掉还有另一份。想象两排长长的纸片。每一排上每一处都放着两张纸。你要孩子的时候，身体会从每一处随便抽一张，母亲的身体也一样，所以孩子每一处拿到的也是两张纸。样样都是两份，一份来自你的母亲，一份来自你的父亲；等你有孩子的时候，他们会从你这里每一处随机拿走一张。」
As Harry spoke, his fingers ranged over the paired scraps of paper, pointing to one part of the pair when he said "from your mother", the other when he said "from your father". And as Harry talked about picking a piece of paper at random, his hand pulled a Knut out of his robes and flipped it; Harry looked at the coin, and then pointed to the top piece of paper. All without a pause in the speech.
哈利一边讲，手指一边在那成对的纸片上来回移动，说到「来自你的母亲」就点一对纸里的这一张，说到「来自你的父亲」就点另一张。说到随手抽一张纸，他的手就从袍子里摸出一枚纳特抛了起来，看了一眼硬币，才指向靠上的那张纸。讲这些话中间没有一点停顿。
"Now when it comes to something like being short or tall, there's a lot of places in the recipe that make little differences. So if a tall father marries a short mother, the child gets some pieces of paper saying 'tall' and some pieces of paper saying 'short', and usually the child ends up middle-sized. But not always. By luck, the child might get a lot of pieces saying 'tall', and not many papers saying 'short', and grow up pretty tall. You could have a tall father with five papers saying 'tall' and a tall mother with five papers saying 'tall' and by amazing luck the child gets all ten papers saying 'tall' and ends up taller than both of them. You see? Blood isn't a perfect fluid, it doesn't mix perfectly. Deoxyribonucleic acid is made up of lots of little pieces, like a glass of pebbles instead of a glass of water. That's why a child isn't always exactly in the middle of the parents."
「再说个子高矮这种事，配方里很多地方只造成很小的差别。所以一个高个子父亲娶了矮个子母亲，孩子会拿到一些写着『高』的纸片，也拿到一些写着『矮』的纸片，通常孩子就长成中等个子。但也不是每次都这样。运气好的话，孩子拿到的『高』纸片多、『矮』纸片少，长大后相当高。也可能一个高个父亲手里有五张写着『高』的纸，高个母亲手里也有五张写着『高』的纸，而孩子撞上惊人的运气，把全部十张写着『高』的纸都拿到手，结果比父母俩都高。明白了吗？血不是一种完美的流体，它混不匀。脱氧核糖核酸是由许许多多小碎片拼成的，像一杯石子，而不是一杯水。所以孩子并不总是不偏不倚落在父母中间。」
Draco listened with his mouth open. How in Merlin's name had the Muggles figured all this out? They could see the recipe?
德拉科张着嘴听完了。梅林在上，麻瓜到底是怎么把这些弄明白的？他们能看见配方？
"Now," Harry Potter said, "suppose that, just like with tallness, there's lots of little places in the recipe where you can have a piece of paper that says 'magic' or 'not magic'. If you have enough pieces of paper saying 'magic' you're a wizard, if you have a lot of pieces of paper you're a powerful wizard, if you have too few you're a Muggle, and in between you're a Squib. Then, when two Squibs marry, most of the time the children should also be Squibs, but once in a while a child will get lucky and get most of the father's magic papers and most of the mother's magic papers, and be strong enough to be a wizard. But probably not a very powerful one. If you started out with a lot of powerful wizards and they married only each other, they would stay powerful. But if they started marrying Muggleborns who were just barely magical, or Squibs... you see? The blood wouldn't mix perfectly, it would be a glass of pebbles, not a glass of water, because that's just the way blood works. There would still be powerful wizards now and then, when they got a lot of magic papers by luck. But they wouldn't be as powerful as the most powerful wizards from earlier."
「那么，」哈利·波特说，「假设跟身高一样，配方里有很多小地方，那里可以是一张写着『魔法』的纸，也可以是一张写着『不魔法』的纸。写着『魔法』的纸够多，你就是巫师；写着『魔法』的纸很多，你就是强大的巫师；太少，你就是麻瓜；夹在中间不多不少，你就是哑炮。那么两个哑炮结婚，大多数时候孩子也该是哑炮，但偶尔会有孩子撞上运气，拿到父亲的大部分魔法纸和母亲的大部分魔法纸，强得够当一个巫师。不过大概不会很强。假如一开始有一大群强大的巫师，他们只在自己人里通婚，这份强大就能保住。可要是他们开始跟魔法勉强够格的麻瓜出身者结婚，或者跟哑炮结婚……明白了吗？血混不匀，它是一杯石子，不是一杯水，因为血本来就是这样起作用的。偶尔还是会有谁运气好、拿到一大堆魔法纸片，于是又冒出个强大的巫师，但比不上早先那些最强的人。」
Draco nodded slowly. He'd never heard it explained that way before. There was a surprising beauty to how exactly it fit.
德拉科慢慢点了点头。他从没听过有人这样解释。它吻合得如此精确，有种出人意料的美。
"But," Harry said. "That's only one hypothesis. Suppose that instead there's only a single place in the recipe that makes you a wizard. Only one place where a piece of paper can say 'magic' or 'not magic'. And there are two copies of everything, always. So then there are only three possibilities. Both copies can say 'magic'. One copy can say 'magic' and one copy can say 'not magic'. Or both copies can say 'not magic'. Wizards, Squibs, and Muggles. Two copies and you can cast spells, one copy and you can still use potions or magic devices, and zero copies means you might even have trouble looking straight at magic. Muggleborns wouldn't really be born to Muggles, they would be born to two Squibs, two parents each with one magic copy who'd grown up in the Muggle world. Now imagine a witch marries a Squib. Each child will get one paper saying 'magic' from the mother, always, it doesn't matter which piece gets picked at random, both say 'magic'. But like flipping a coin, half the time the child will get a paper saying 'magic' from the father, and half the time the child will get the father's paper saying 'not magic'. When a witch marries a Squib, the result won't be a lot of weak wizarding children. Half the children will be wizards and witches just as powerful as their mother, and half the children will be Squibs. Because if there's just one place in the recipe that makes you a wizard, then magic isn't like a glass of pebbles that can mix. It's like a single magical pebble, a sorcerer's stone."
「可是，」哈利说，「那只是一种假设。假设换成另一种情况：配方里只有一个位置决定你是不是巫师。只有一个位置，那里的纸可以写『魔法』，也可以写『不魔法』。而每样东西永远有两份。这样就只有三种可能。两份都写着『魔法』。一份写着『魔法』，一份写着『不魔法』。或者两份都写着『不魔法』。于是就是巫师、哑炮、麻瓜。有两份，你能施咒；有一份，你还用得了魔药和魔法器物；一份都没有，你可能连正眼看魔法都费劲。麻瓜出身者其实不是麻瓜生的，他们是两个哑炮生的——父母都在麻瓜世界长大，各带着一份魔法。现在想象一个女巫嫁给一个哑炮。每个孩子一定会从母亲那里拿到一张写着『魔法』的纸，随便抽哪张都一样，因为两张都写着『魔法』。但就像抛硬币，有一半机会孩子从父亲那里拿到写着『魔法』的那张，另一半机会拿到写着『不魔法』的那张。女巫嫁给哑炮，生出来的不会是满屋弱小的巫师。一半孩子会跟母亲一样强，是巫师和女巫，另一半孩子是哑炮。因为如果配方里只有一个位置决定你是不是巫师，那魔法就不是一杯能混起来的石子，而是一颗单独的魔法石子，一块魔法石。」
Harry arranged three pairs of papers side by side. On one pair he wrote 'magic' and 'magic'. On another pair he wrote 'magic' on the top paper only. And the third pair he left blank.
哈利把三对纸片并排摆开。在一对上，他写下了『魔法』和『魔法』；在另一对上，他只在上面的那张纸上写了『魔法』；第三对则留着空白。
"In which case," Harry said, "either you have two stones or you don't. Either you're a wizard or not. Powerful wizards would get that way by studying harder and practicing more. And if wizards get inherently less powerful, not because of spells being lost but because people can't cast them... then maybe they're eating the wrong foods or something. But if it's gotten steadily worse over eight hundred years, then that could mean magic itself is fading out of the world."
「照这么说，」哈利说，「你要么有两块石头，要么没有。你要么是巫师，要么不是。强大的巫师之所以强大，是因为学得更苦、练得更多。而如果巫师的强大是天生在减弱，不是因为咒语失传，而是因为人根本施展不出来……那也许只是他们小时候吃错了东西之类的。可如果这种事在八百年里持续恶化，那就可能意味着，魔法本身正从这个世界消逝。」
Harry arranged another two pairs of papers side by side, and took out a quill. Soon each pair had one piece of paper saying 'magic' and the other paper blank.
哈利又把两对纸片并排摆开，取出一支羽毛笔。很快，每一对都变成一张写着『魔法』的纸和一张空白的纸。
"And that brings me to the prediction," said Harry. "What happens when two Squibs marry. Flip a coin twice. It can come up heads and heads, heads and tails, tails and heads, or tails and tails. So one quarter of the time you'll get two heads, one quarter of the time you'll get two tails, and half the time you'll get one heads and one tail. Same thing if two Squibs marry. One quarter of the children would come up magic and magic, and be wizards. One quarter would come up not-magic and not-magic, and be Muggles. The other half would be Squibs. It's a very old and very classic pattern. It was discovered by Gregor Mendel who is not forgotten, and it was the first hint ever uncovered for how the recipe worked. Anyone who knows anything about blood science would recognize that pattern in an instant. It wouldn't be exact, any more than if you flip a coin twice forty times you'll always get exactly ten pairs of two heads. But if it's seven or thirteen wizards out of forty children that'll be a strong indicator. That's the test I had you do. Now let's see your data."
「说到这里，就是我的预测了，」哈利说，「两个哑炮结婚会怎么样。把一枚硬币抛两次，可能出现正正、正反、反正、反反。所以四分之一的情况是两个正面，四分之一是两个反面，一半的情况是一正一反。两个哑炮结婚也是一样。四分之一的孩子会抽到魔法加魔法，成为巫师；四分之一会抽到没有魔法加没有魔法，成为麻瓜；剩下的那一半就是哑炮。这是一个非常古老、也非常经典的规律。发现它的是格雷戈尔·孟德尔，他并没有被遗忘，而这是人类第一次发现关于配方如何运作的线索。任何对血统科学略知一二的人，都能一眼认出这个规律。它不会分毫不差，就好比你把硬币连抛两次、连抛四十轮，也不会次次都正好掷出十组两个正面。但如果四十个孩子里出了七个或十三个巫师，那就是很强的指标。我让你做的就是这个测试。现在，把你的数据拿出来吧。」
And before Draco could even think, Harry Potter had taken the parchment out of Draco's hand.
德拉科还没来得及想，哈利·波特就已经把羊皮纸从他手里抽走了。
Draco's throat was very dry.
德拉科的喉咙干得厉害。
Twenty-eight children.
二十八个孩子。
He wasn't sure of the exact number but he was pretty sure around a fourth had been wizards.
他记不清确切的数目，但他相当肯定，大约有四分之一是巫师。
"Six wizards out of twenty-eight children," Harry Potter said after a moment. "Well, that's that, then. And first-years were casting the same spells at the same power level eight centuries ago, too. Your test and my test both came out the same way."
「二十八个孩子里出了六个巫师，」哈利·波特过了一会儿说。「好吧，那就这么定了。而且八百年前的一年级学生，施展的也是同样的咒语、同样的威力。你的测试和我的测试，结果一模一样。」
There was a long silence in the classroom.
教室里沉默了很久。
"What now?" Draco whispered.
「那现在怎么办？」德拉科低声说。
He'd never been so terrified.
他从来没有这么害怕过。
"It's not definite yet," said Harry Potter. "My experiment failed, remember? I need you to design another test, Draco."
「眼下还不能下定论，」哈利·波特说。「我的实验失败了，你还记得吧？所以下一个测试得由你来设计，德拉科。」
"I, I..." Draco said. His voice was breaking. "I can't do this Harry, it's too much for me."
「我，我……」德拉科说。他的声音发颤。「我做不到，哈利，我扛不住。」
Harry's look was fierce. "Yes you can, because you have to. I thought about it myself, too, after I found out about the Interdict of Merlin. Draco, is there any way of observing the strength of magic directly? Some way that doesn't have anything to do with wizards' blood or the spells we learn?"
哈利的目光很凌厉。「你能做到，因为你不得不做。当初知道有梅林禁令这回事以后，这个问题我也翻来覆去想过。德拉科，有没有什么办法，能直接量出魔法的强弱？一种跟巫师的血统、跟我们学的咒语都毫无关系的办法？」
Draco's mind was just blank.
德拉科的脑子一片空白。
"Anything that affects magic affects wizards," said Harry. "But then we can't tell if it's the wizards or the magic. What does magic affect that isn't a wizard?"
「只要一样东西能影响魔法，它就会影响巫师，」哈利说，「可是这么一来，究竟是巫师变了还是魔法变了，我们就分不清了。魔法还会影响什么不是巫师的东西？」
"Magical creatures, obviously," said Draco without even thinking about it.
「魔法生物啊，这还用说，」德拉科想都没想就答。
Harry Potter slowly smiled. "Draco, that's brilliant."
哈利·波特慢慢笑了。「德拉科，这太妙了。」
It's the sort of dumb question you'd only ask in the first place if you'd been raised by Muggles.
这种傻问题，也只有被麻瓜养大的人才会一开口就问出来。
Then the sickness in Draco's stomach got even worse as he realized what it would mean if magical creatures were getting weaker. They would know for certain then that magic was fading, and there was a part of Draco that was already sure that was exactly what they would find. He didn't want to see this, he didn't want to know...
接着，德拉科想明白了：如果魔法生物真的在变弱，那意味着什么。这一想，他胃里的恶心更厉害了。那样他们就能确定，魔法正在消逝，而德拉科心里有一部分早已认定，他们查出来的结果一定会正是如此。他不想看到这个，他不想知道……
Harry Potter was already halfway to the door. "Come on, Draco! There's a portrait not far from here, we'll just ask them to go get someone old and find out right away! We're cloaked, if someone sees us we can just run away! Let's go!"
哈利·波特已经快走到门口了。「快点，德拉科！离这儿不远就有一幅画像，我们请他们去找个年纪够大的人，马上就能问出来！我们披着斗篷，被谁看见跑掉就是了！走吧！」
It didn't take long after that.
那之后没过多久。
It was a wide portrait, but the three people in it were looking rather crowded. There was a middle-aged man from the twelfth century, dressed in black swathes of cloth; who spoke to a sad-looking young woman from the fourteenth century, with hair that seemed to constantly frizz about her head as if she'd been charged up by a static spell; and she spoke to a dignified, wizened old man from the seventeenth century with a solid gold bowtie; and him they could understand.
那是一幅很宽的画像，可里面的三个人挤在一起，显得相当局促。一位十二世纪的中年男子，身上裹着一层层黑布；他在跟一位十四世纪、神情悲伤的年轻女子说话，那女子的头发好像一直在脑袋周围炸开，仿佛被一道静电咒充过电；而她又在跟一位十七世纪、庄重干瘦的老人说话，老人系着一只纯金的领结；只有这位老人的话，哈利和德拉科听得懂。
They had asked about Dementors.
他们问过摄魂怪。
They had asked about phoenixes.
他们问过凤凰。
They had asked about dragons and trolls and house elves.
他们问过龙、巨怪和家养小精灵。
Harry had frowned, pointed out that creatures which needed the most magic could just be dying out entirely, and had asked for the most powerful magical creatures known.
哈利皱起眉，指出那些最依赖魔法的生物说不定干脆整个灭绝了，于是转而要他们说出已知最强大的魔法生物。
There wasn't anything unfamiliar on the list, except for a species of Dark creature called mind flayers which the translator noted had finally been exterminated by Harold Shea, and those didn't sound half as scary as Dementors.
名单上没有什么陌生的东西，只有一种叫夺心魔的黑暗生物，那位充当翻译的老人说，它早就被哈罗德·谢伊彻底灭绝了；而这东西听上去远不如摄魂怪吓人。
Magical creatures were as powerful now as they'd ever been, apparently.
看来，魔法生物如今和以往任何时候一样强大。
The sickness in Draco's stomach was easing, and now he just felt confused.
德拉科胃里那股恶心正在退去，现在他只觉得困惑。
"Harry," Draco said in the middle of the old man translating a list of all eleven powers of a beholder's eyes, "what does this mean?"
「哈利，」德拉科在老人念到一半时开了口——老人正念着一份清单，上面是眼魔那十一只眼睛各自的法力——「这是什么意思？」
Harry held up a finger and the old man finished the list.
哈利举起一根手指，老人把清单念完了。
Then Harry thanked all the portraits for helping - Draco, pretty much on automatic, did so as well and more graciously - and they headed back to the classroom.
随后哈利向所有画像一一道谢——德拉科几乎是不假思索地跟着道谢，还道得更有礼数——然后他们回到了教室。
And Harry brought out the original parchment with the hypotheses, and began scribbling.
哈利拿出那张写着假设的原始羊皮纸，动手飞快地写起来。
Observation:
观察：
Wizardry isn't as powerful now as it was when Hogwarts was founded.
如今的巫术，已经不像霍格沃茨创立时那样强大了。
Hypotheses:
假设：
1. Magic itself is fading.
2. Wizards are interbreeding with Muggles and Squibs.
3. Knowledge to cast powerful spells is being lost.
4. Wizards are eating the wrong foods as children, or something else besides blood is making them grow up weaker.
5. Muggle technology is interfering with magic. (Since 800 years ago?)
6. Stronger wizards are having fewer children. (Draco = only child? Check if 3 powerful wizards, Quirrell / Dumbledore / Dark Lord, had any children.)
2. Wizards are interbreeding with Muggles and Squibs.
3. Knowledge to cast powerful spells is being lost.
4. Wizards are eating the wrong foods as children, or something else besides blood is making them grow up weaker.
5. Muggle technology is interfering with magic. (Since 800 years ago?)
6. Stronger wizards are having fewer children. (Draco = only child? Check if 3 powerful wizards, Quirrell / Dumbledore / Dark Lord, had any children.)
1. 魔法本身正在消逝。
2. 巫师在与麻瓜、哑炮通婚混血。
3. 施展强大咒语的知识正在失传。
4. 巫师小时候吃错了东西，或者除了血统之外另有原因，让他们长大后变弱了。
5. 麻瓜科技在干扰魔法。（从八百年前就开始了？）
6. 更强的巫师生孩子更少。（德拉科＝独生子女？查查三位强大的巫师——奇洛、邓布利多、黑魔王——有没有留下孩子。）
2. 巫师在与麻瓜、哑炮通婚混血。
3. 施展强大咒语的知识正在失传。
4. 巫师小时候吃错了东西，或者除了血统之外另有原因，让他们长大后变弱了。
5. 麻瓜科技在干扰魔法。（从八百年前就开始了？）
6. 更强的巫师生孩子更少。（德拉科＝独生子女？查查三位强大的巫师——奇洛、邓布利多、黑魔王——有没有留下孩子。）
Tests:
测试：
A. Are there spells we know but can't cast (1 or 2) or are the lost spells no longer known (3)? Result: Inconclusive due to Interdict of Merlin. No known uncastable spell, but could simply have not been passed on.
A. 有没有我们知晓却施展不出的咒语（指向 1 或 2），还是那些失传的咒语如今已无人知晓（指向 3）？结果：由于梅林禁令而无从判定。没有任何已知却施展不出的咒语，但也可能只是没能传下来。
B. Did ancient first-year students cast the same sort of spells, with the same power, as now? (Weak evidence for 1 over 2, but blood could also be losing powerful wizardry only.) Result: Same level of first-year spells then as now.
B. 古代的一年级学生施展的咒语种类和威力，是否和现在一样？（这是支持 1 而非 2 的弱证据，不过血统也可能只是让强大的巫术流失掉了。）结果：当时一年级咒语的水平与现在相同。
C. Additional test that distinguishes 1 and 2 using scientific knowledge of blood, will explain later. Result: There's only one place in the recipe that makes you a wizard, and either you have two papers saying 'magic' or you don't.
C. 补充一个测试，借助关于血统的科学知识把 1 和 2 区分开，稍后解释。结果：配方里只有一个地方决定你是不是巫师，你要么有两张写着『魔法』的纸，要么没有。
D. Are magical creatures losing their powers? Distinguishes 1 from (2 or 3). Result: Magical creatures seem to be as strong as they ever were.
D. 魔法生物是否正在失去力量？用以区分 1 与（2 或 3）。结果：魔法生物似乎和以往一样强大。
"A failed," said Harry Potter. "B is weak evidence for 1 over 2. C falsifies 2. D falsifies 1. 4 was unlikely and B argues against 4 as well. 5 was unlikely and D argues against it. 6 is falsified along with 2. That leaves 3. Interdict of Merlin or not, I didn't actually find any known spell that couldn't be cast. So when you add it all up, it looks like knowledge is being lost."
「A 失败了，」哈利·波特说。「B 是支持 1 而非 2 的弱证据。C 否定了 2。D 否定了 1。4 本来就不太可能，B 也不利于它。5 本来就不太可能，D 反驳了它。6 和 2 一起被否定。剩下只有 3。不管有没有梅林禁令，我实际上并没有找到任何已知却施展不出的咒语。所以全都加起来看，结论就是：知识正在失传。」
And the trap snapped shut.
陷阱啪的一声合上了。
As soon as the panic went away, as soon as Draco understood that magic wasn't fading out, it took all of five seconds to realize.
等恐慌退去、等德拉科明白魔法并没有在消逝，他只用了五秒钟就想清楚了整件事是怎么回事。
Draco shoved himself away from the desk and stood up so hard that his chair skittered with a scraping noise across the floor and fell over.
德拉科猛地把身子从桌边推开，站起来时用力过猛，椅子蹭着地板，发出一阵刺耳的刮擦声，翻倒在地。
"So it was all just a stupid trick, then."
「这么说，这一切都只是个愚蠢的把戏。」
Harry Potter stared at him for a moment, still sitting. When he spoke, his voice was quiet. "It was a fair test, Draco. If it had come out a different way, I would have accepted it. That's not something I would ever cheat on. Ever. I didn't look at your data before I made my predictions. I told you up front when the Interdict of Merlin invalidated the first experiment -"
哈利·波特坐在原处，盯着他看了一会儿。开口时，他的声音很轻。「那是一场公平的测试，德拉科。如果结果不是这样，我也会接受。这种事我绝不会作弊。绝不会。我在做出预测之前，没有看过你的数据。梅林禁令让第一个实验作废时，我当场就告诉你了——」
"Oh," Draco said, the anger starting to come out into his voice, "you didn't know how the whole thing was going to come out?"
「哦，」德拉科说，火气开始往声音里冒，「原来你也不知道整件事会怎么收场？」
"I didn't know anything you didn't know," Harry said, still quietly. "I admit that I suspected. Hermione Granger was too powerful, she should have been barely magical and she wasn't, how can a Muggleborn be the best spellcaster in Hogwarts? And she's getting the best grades on her essays too, it's too much coincidence for one girl to be the strongest magically and academically unless there's a single cause. Hermione Granger's existence pointed to there being only one thing that makes you a wizard, something you either have or you don't, and the power differences coming from how much we know and how much we practice. And there weren't different classes for purebloods and Muggleborns, and so on. There were too many ways the world didn't look the way it would look if you were right. But Draco, I didn't see anything you couldn't see too. I didn't perform any tests I didn't tell you about. I didn't cheat, Draco. I wanted us to work out the answer together. And I never thought that magic might be fading out of the world until you said it. It was a scary idea for me, too."
「我知道的每一件事，你也都知道，」哈利说，声音还是很轻。「我承认，我起过疑心。赫敏·格兰杰强得太过头了——按那套说法，她本该只是勉强沾一点魔法，可她不是——一个麻瓜出身者怎么会是霍格沃茨最能施咒的人？她的论文还次次拿最高分，一个女孩同时在魔法上最强、在学业上最强，除非背后只有一个原因，否则这巧得没道理。赫敏·格兰杰这个人的存在，指向这样一件事：让人成为巫师的因素只有一样，你要么有、要么没有，而强弱差别只取决于我们懂多少、练多少。再说纯血和麻瓜出身的课也不是分开上的，等等。而要按你说的那样成立，这个世界有太多地方都不该是现在这个样子。可德拉科，我看见的每一样东西，你也都看得见。我没背着你做过任何测试。我没耍过花样，德拉科。我本来希望这个答案是我们一起找出来的。还有，在你说出来之前，我从没想过魔法可能正在从世上消退。那个念头同样让我害怕。」
"Whatever," Draco said. He was working very hard to control his voice and not just start screaming at Harry. "You claim you're not going to run off and tell anyone else about this."
「随便吧，」德拉科说。他拼命压着自己的声音，不让自己直接冲哈利吼出来。「你口口声声说，不会跑去把这件事告诉别人。」
"Not without consulting you first," Harry said. He opened his hands in a pleading gesture. "Draco, I'm being as nice as I can but the world turned out to just not be that way."
「不会。我会先跟你商量，」哈利说。他摊开双手，做出恳求的样子。「德拉科，我已经尽量把话说得好听了，可这世界偏偏就不是那样。」
"Fine. Then you and I are through. I'm going to just walk away and forget any of this ever happened."
「行。那咱俩就算完了。我这就走开，把这一切都当没发生过。」
Draco spun around, feeling the burning sensation in his throat, the sense of betrayal, and that was when he realized he really had liked Harry Potter, and that thought didn't slow him down for a moment as he strode toward the classroom door.
德拉科猛地转过身，喉咙里烧得发烫，满是被背叛的感觉。就在这时候，他意识到自己原来的确喜欢过哈利·波特——可这个念头一点也没让他脚下一慢，他大步朝教室门口走去。
And Harry Potter's voice came, now louder, and worried:
哈利·波特的声音追了上来，比刚才响，带着担忧：
"Draco... you can't forget. Don't you understand? That was your sacrifice."
「德拉科……你不可能忘掉。你还不懂吗？那就是你付出的牺牲。」
Draco stopped in midstride and turned around. "What are you talking about?"
德拉科一步跨到一半停住，转过身来。「你到底在说什么？」
But there was already a freezing coldness in Draco's spine.
但一股冰冷的寒意已经顺着德拉科的脊梁爬了上来。
He knew even before Harry Potter said it.
不用哈利·波特开口，他就已经知道了。
"To become a scientist. You questioned one of your beliefs, not just a small belief but something that had great significance to you. You did experiments, gathered data, and the outcome proved the belief was wrong. You saw the results and understood what they meant." Harry Potter's voice was faltering. "Remember, Draco, you can't sacrifice a true belief that way, because the experiments will confirm it instead of falsifying it. Your sacrifice to become a scientist was your false belief that wizard blood was mixing and getting weaker."
「为了成为科学家。你质疑了自己信过的一个念头，而且不是小念头，是对你意义重大的东西。你动手做了实验，把数据收集起来，结果证明那个念头是错的。你看到了结果，也看懂了它意味着什么。」哈利·波特的声音开始发飘。「记住，德拉科，真的信念你没办法这样牺牲掉，因为实验只会证实它，不会推翻它。你为了成为科学家所牺牲的，是你那个假信念——你以为巫师的血统正在混杂、正在变弱。」
"That's not true!" said Draco. "I didn't sacrifice the belief. I still believe that!" His voice was getting louder, and the chill was getting worse.
「才不是那样！」德拉科说。「我没有牺牲掉那个信念。我照样信它！」他的声音越来越大，寒意也越来越重。
Harry Potter shook his head. His voice came in a whisper. "Draco... I'm sorry, Draco, you don't believe it, not anymore." Harry's voice rose again. "I'll prove it to you. Imagine that someone tells you they're keeping a dragon in their house. You tell them you want to see it. They say it's an invisible dragon. You say fine, you'll listen to it move. They say it's an inaudible dragon. You say you'll throw some cooking flour into the air and see the outline of the dragon. They say the dragon is permeable to flour. And the telling thing is that they know, in advance, exactly which experimental results they'll have to explain away. They know everything will come out the way it does if there's no dragon, they know in advance just which excuses they'll have to make. So maybe they say there's a dragon. Maybe they believe they believe there's a dragon, it's called belief-in-belief. But they don't actually believe it. You can be mistaken about what you believe, most people never realize there's a difference between believing something and thinking it's good to believe it." Harry Potter had risen from the desk now, and taken a few steps toward Draco. "And Draco, you don't believe any more in blood purism, I'll show you that you don't. If blood purism is true, then Hermione Granger doesn't make sense, so what could explain her? Maybe she's a wizarding orphan raised by Muggles, just like I was? I could go to Granger and ask to see pictures of her parents, to see if she looks like them. Would you expect her to look different? Should we go perform that test?"
哈利·波特摇了摇头，声音低得几乎听不见。「德拉科……对不起。你已经不信它了，德拉科，再也不信了。」哈利的声音又高了起来。「我证明给你看。假设有人跟你说，他家里养了一条龙。你说你想看看。他说那是条隐形的龙。你说行，那我就听听它动起来的声音。他说那条龙发不出声音。你说那我就往空中撒一把面粉，看看龙的轮廓。他说那条龙是面粉能穿透的。最说明问题的是：他们事先就知道，自己将来得给哪些实验结果找借口。他们清楚，就算根本没有龙，一切也都会是他们看到的这个样子；他们事先就知道自己得编哪些理由。所以，也许他们嘴上说家里有龙。也许他们相信自己相信家里有龙——这叫做『对信念的信念』。可他们其实并不信。人是会弄错自己到底信什么的；大多数人一辈子都没分出这两者的区别：真的信一件事，和觉得信这件事是件好事。」哈利·波特这时已经从桌边站起来，朝德拉科走了几步。「而德拉科，你已经不信纯血主义了。我会让你看到你确实不信了。如果纯血主义是对的，那赫敏·格兰杰就说不通，那该怎么解释她？也许她是个巫师孤儿，被麻瓜养大，就跟我一样？我可以去找格兰杰，让她把父母的照片给我看，看她长得像不像他们。你觉得她会不像吗？要不我们去做这个测试？」
"They would have put her with relatives," Draco said, his voice trembling. "They'll still look the same."
「他们会把她交给亲戚养的，」德拉科说，声音在抖。「她照样会跟她的父母长得像。」
"You see. You already know what experimental result you'll have to excuse. If you still believed in blood purism you would say, sure, let's go take a look, I bet she won't look like her parents, she's too powerful to be a real Muggleborn -"
「你看。你早就知道自己将来得为哪个实验结果找借口了。要是你还信纯血主义，你会说：好啊，走，去看看，我赌她长得不像她父母——她这么强，不可能真是个麻瓜出身——」
"They would have put her with relatives!"
「他们就是会把她交给亲戚养！」
"Scientists can do tests to check for sure if someone is the true child of a father. Granger would probably do it if I paid her family enough. She wouldn't be afraid of the results. So what do you expect that test to show? Tell me to run it and we will. But you already know what the test will say. You'll always know. You won't ever be able to forget. You might wish you believed in blood purism, but you'll always expect to see happen just exactly what would happen if there was only one thing that made you a wizard. That was your sacrifice to become a scientist."
「科学家有办法查清楚一个人到底是不是某位父亲的亲生孩子，而且查得很准。只要我给她家够多的钱，格兰杰大概会同意做的。她不会怕那个结果。那你觉得那个测试会显示什么？你让我去做，我们就去做。可你早就知道测试会说什么了。你永远都会知道。你这辈子都忘不掉。你也许希望自己还信纯血主义，但你料到会发生的，永远是『只有一件事决定你是不是巫师』时才会发生的那种结果。这就是你为了成为科学家付出的牺牲。」
Draco's breathing was ragged. "Do you realize what you've done?" Draco surged forward and he seized Harry by the collar of his robes. His voice rose to a scream, it sounded unbearably loud in the closed classroom and the silence. "Do you realize what you've done?"
德拉科的呼吸乱成一团。「你知不知道你干了什么？」他猛地扑上前，一把揪住哈利的袍领。他的声音越拔越高，变成了尖叫，在这间关着门、静得发空的教室里响得让人受不了。「你知不知道你干了什么？」
Harry's voice was shaky. "You had a belief. The belief was false. I helped you see that. What's true is already so, owning up to it doesn't make it worse -"
哈利的声音在发抖。「你有过一个信念。那个信念是假的。是我帮你看到了这一点。事实本来就是这样，承认它并不会让它变得更糟——」
The fingers on Draco's right hand clenched into a fist and that hand dropped down and blasted up unstoppably and punched Harry Potter in the jaw so hard that his body went crashing back into a desk and then to the floor.
德拉科右手的手指攥成拳头，那只手往下一沉，然后拦都拦不住地往上轰出去，一拳砸在哈利·波特下巴上，重得让他整个人往后撞在课桌上，又摔到地上。
"Idiot!" screamed Draco. "Idiot! Idiot!"
「蠢货！」德拉科尖叫道。「蠢货！蠢货！」
"Draco," whispered Harry from the floor, "Draco, I'm sorry, I didn't think this would happen for months, I didn't expect you to awaken as a scientist this quickly, I thought I would have longer to prepare you, teach you the techniques that make it hurt less to admit you're wrong -"
「德拉科，」哈利躺在地上低声说，「德拉科，对不起，我以为这事还得几个月才会发生，没想到你这么快就觉醒成科学家了，我还以为我的时间更多一些，能先给你做准备，教你怎么让承认自己错了这件事没那么疼——」
"What about Father?" Draco said. His voice trembled with rage. "Were you going to prepare him or did you just not care what happened after this?"
「那父亲呢？」德拉科说。他的声音气得发颤。「你打算给他做准备吗，还是说之后会怎么样，你根本不在乎？」
"You can't tell him!" Harry said, his voice rising in alarm. "He's not a scientist! You promised, Draco!"
「你不能告诉他！」哈利说，声音里带着惊慌，一下高了起来。「他不是科学家！你答应过的，德拉科！」
For a moment the thought of Father not knowing came as a relief.
有那么一瞬间，想到父亲不会知道这件事，他心里松了口气。
And then the real anger started to rise.
然后，真正的火气开始往上冒。
"So you planned for me to lie to him and tell him I still believe," Draco said, voice shaking. "I'll always have to lie to him, and now when I grow up I can't be a Death Eater, and I won't even be able to tell him why not."
「所以你是安排好的，让我去骗他，跟他说我还信，」德拉科说，声音发抖。「我这辈子都得骗他。等我长大了，我当不成食死徒了，而我连为什么都告诉不了他。」
"If your father really loves you," whispered Harry from the floor, "he'll still love you even if you don't become a Death Eater, and it sounds like your father does really love you, Draco -"
「如果你父亲真的爱你，」哈利躺在地上低声说，「就算你不当食死徒，他也会照样爱你；听你的说法，你父亲确实是真心爱你的，德拉科——」
"Your stepfather is a scientist," Draco said. The words coming out like biting knives. "If you weren't going to be a scientist, he would still love you. But you'd be a little less special to him."
「你的继父是科学家，」德拉科说。每个字出口都像刀子割人。「要是你不去当科学家，他照样会爱你。可你在他眼里就会没那么特别。」
Harry flinched. The boy opened his mouth, as if to say 'I'm sorry', and then closed his mouth, seeming to think better of it, which was either very smart of him or very lucky, because Draco might have tried to kill him.
哈利往后缩了一下。男孩张开嘴，像是要说「对不起」，又把嘴闭上了，看来是改了主意——这要么说明他很机灵，要么说明他运气很好，因为德拉科说不定真会动手杀他。
"You should have warned me," Draco said. His voice rose. "You should have warned me!"
「你该警告我的，」德拉科说。他的声音又高了。「你该警告我的！」
"I... I did... every time I told you about the power, I told you about the price. I said, you have to admit you're wrong. I said this would be the hardest path for you. That this was the sacrifice anyone had to make to become a scientist. I said, what if the experiment says one thing and your family and friends say another -"
「我……我说过……每次我跟你说起那份力量，我都跟你说过它的代价。我说过，你得承认自己错了。我说过这条路对你来说会是最难走的一条。我说过，这是任何人想成为科学家都得付的牺牲。我说过，万一实验说的是一回事，而你的家人朋友说的是另一回事——」
"You call that a warning?" Draco was screaming now. "You call that a warning? When we're doing a ritual that calls for a permanent sacrifice?"
「这也叫警告？」德拉科已经在尖叫了。「这也叫警告？我们现在进行的仪式，要的可是永久的献祭！」
"I... I..." The boy on the floor swallowed. "I guess maybe it wasn't clear. I'm sorry. But that which can be destroyed by the truth should be."
「我……我……」躺在地上的男孩咽了口唾沫。「大概是我说得不够清楚。对不起。不过，能被真相摧毁的东西，就该被真相摧毁。」
Hitting him wasn't enough.
光揍他一顿是不够的。
"You're wrong about one thing," Draco said, his voice deadly. "Granger isn't the strongest student in Hogwarts. She just gets the best grades in class. You're about to find out the difference."
「有一点你说错了，」德拉科说，语气冷得吓人。「格兰杰算不上霍格沃茨最强的学生，她只是班上分数最高而已。你很快就能看到这两者的差别。」
Sudden shock showed in Harry's face, and he tried to roll quickly to his feet -
哈利脸上骤然显出惊骇，他急着翻身站起——
It was already too late for him.
但对他来说已经太迟了。
"Expelliarmus!"
「除你武器！」
Harry's wand flew across the room.
哈利的魔杖飞到了教室另一头。
"Gom jabbar!"
「Gom jabbar！」
A pulse of inky blackness struck Harry's left hand.
一团墨黑的暗色重重打在哈利的左手上。
"That's a torture spell," said Draco. "It's for getting information out of people. I'm just going to leave it on you and lock the door behind me when I go. Maybe I'll set the locking spell to wear off after a few hours. Maybe it won't wear off until you die in here. Have fun."
「那是折磨咒，」德拉科说。「用来从人嘴里撬出情报的。我就让它留在你身上，出去的时候把门锁上。也许我会让锁门咒过几个小时失效。也许它会一直不失效，直到你死在这里。好好享受。」
Draco moved smoothly backward, wand still on Harry. Draco's hand dipped down, picked up his bookbag, without his aim wavering.
德拉科平稳地向后挪去，魔杖始终对着哈利。他探手往下一捞，拎起书包，瞄准一刻也没晃。
The pain was already showing in Harry Potter's face as he spoke. "Malfoys are above the underage magic laws, I take it? It's not because your blood is stronger. It's because you already practiced. In the beginning you were as weak as any of us. Is my prediction wrong?"
哈利·波特开口时，疼痛已经写在脸上了。「我猜，马尔福家不必理会未成年人使用魔法条例？你强，不是因为你的血统更强，而是因为你早就练过。刚起步的时候，你跟我们一样弱。我这条预测错了吗？」
Draco's hand whitened on his wand, but his aim stayed steady.
德拉科握杖的手白了一下，可瞄准依旧纹丝不动。
"Just so you know," Harry said through gritted teeth, "if you'd told me I was wrong I would have listened. I won't ever torture you when you show me that I'm wrong. And you will. Someday. You're awakened as a scientist now, and even if you never learn to use your power, you'll always," Harry gasped, "be looking, for ways, to test, your beliefs -"
「先跟你说一声，」哈利咬着牙说，「你要是告诉我我错了，我本来会听的。哪天你证明我错了，我绝不会折磨你。而你一定会的。总有一天。你现在已经觉醒成科学家了，就算你永远学不会运用这份力量，你也永远会，」哈利喘着气，「去寻找，办法，检验，你的信念——」
Draco's backing away was less smooth, now, a little faster, and he had to work to keep his wand on Harry as he reached back to open the door and stepped back out of the classroom.
德拉科后退的步子不再那么流畅，也快了些；他得一边费力把魔杖继续对准哈利，一边伸手到背后开门，然后退出了教室。
Then Draco shut the door again.
然后德拉科把门重新关上了。
He cast the most powerful locking Charm he knew.
他施出自己所会的最强的锁门咒。
Draco waited until he heard Harry's first scream before casting the Quietus.
德拉科一直等到哈利的头一声尖叫传来，才施下静音咒。
And then he walked away.
随后，他离开了。
"Aaahhhhh! Finite Incantatem! Aaaahhh!"
「啊——啊啊啊！咒立停！啊啊！」
Harry's left hand had been put into a pot of boiling cooking oil and left there. He'd put everything he had into the Finite Incantatem and it still wasn't working.
哈利的左手仿佛浸在一锅沸滚的食用油里，抽不出来。他倾尽全力念出咒立停，却还是没起作用。
Some hexes required specific counters or you couldn't undo them, or maybe it was just that Draco was that much stronger.
有些恶咒必须用专门的解咒，否则撤不掉；也可能只是德拉科强了太多。
"Aaaaahhhh!"
「啊啊啊啊啊！」
Harry's hand was really starting to hurt, now, and that was interfering with his attempts to think creatively.
现在哈利的左手是真的疼起来了，而这疼正在妨碍他动脑筋想别的办法。
But a few screams later, Harry realized what he had to do.
可是喊过几声之后，哈利想清楚了自己该做什么。
His pouch, unfortunately, was on the wrong side of his body, and it took some twisting to reach into it, especially with his other arm flailing around in a reflex, unstoppable attempt to fling off the source of pain. By the time he managed it his other arm had managed to throw away his wand again.
不巧的是，他的莫克皮袋在身体另一边，得扭着身子才探得进去——何况他另一条手臂正凭着本能乱甩，停不下来地要把疼痛的源头赶走。等他终于探到袋子，那条手臂已经又一次把魔杖甩了出去。
"Medical ahhhhh kit! Medical kit!"
「紧急治疗啊啊啊包！紧急治疗包！」
On the floor, the green light was too dim to see by.
在地板上，那点绿光太暗，根本照不了路。
Harry couldn't stand. He couldn't crawl. He rolled across the floor to where he thought his wand was, and it wasn't there, and with one hand he managed to raise himself high enough to see his wand, and he rolled there, and got the wand, and rolled back to where the medical kit was opened. There was also a good deal of screaming, and a bit of throwing up.
哈利站不起来，也爬不动。他在地板上朝自己以为魔杖所在的地方滚过去，那儿却没有；他用一只手勉强把自己撑到能看见魔杖的高度，再滚过去，抓到魔杖，又滚回摊开着的紧急治疗包旁边。这中间自然少不了尖叫，还吐了一点。
It took eight tries before Harry could cast Lumos.
哈利试了八次，才施出荧光闪烁。
And then, well, the package wasn't designed to be opened one-handed, because all wizards were idiots, that was why. Harry had to use his teeth and so it took a while before Harry finally managed to wrap the Numbcloth over his left hand.
接着嘛，那包装本来就不是给单手开的——因为所有的巫师都是白痴，就这么回事。哈利只好用上牙，折腾了好一会儿，才终于把麻醉布缠上左手。
When all feeling in his left hand was finally gone, Harry let his mind come apart, and lay motionless on the floor, and cried for a while.
等左手的知觉终于彻底消失，哈利任自己的脑子散成一片，一动不动地躺在地上，哭了一阵。
Well, Harry's mind said silently into itself, when it had recovered enough to think in words again. Was it worth it?
*好吧，*等哈利的脑子恢复到能用词语思考的时候，它无声地问了自己一句，这值得吗？
Slowly, Harry's functional hand reached up to a desk.
慢慢地，哈利那只还能使唤的手攀住了一张课桌。
Harry pulled himself to his feet.
哈利借着桌子把自己撑了起来。
Took a deep breath.
他深吸一口气。
Exhaled.
再吐出来。
Smiled.
笑了笑。
It wasn't much of a smile, but it was a smile nonetheless.
笑得不算好看，但终究是个笑。
Thank you, Professor Quirrell, I couldn't have lost without you.
谢谢你，奇洛教授，没有你，我根本输不了。
He hadn't redeemed Draco yet, not even close. Contrary to what Draco himself might now believe, Draco was still the child of a Death Eater, through and through. Still a boy who'd grown up thinking "rape" was something the cool older kids did. But it was one heck of a start.
他还没有把德拉科救回来，差得远呢。跟德拉科此刻可能相信的相反，这孩子骨子里仍旧是食死徒的孩子，彻头彻尾；仍旧是那个男孩——从小以为『强奸』是那种很酷的大孩子才会干的事。但这个开头实在了不起。
Harry couldn't claim it had all gone just as planned. It had all gone just as completely made up on the spot. The plan hadn't called for this to happen until December or thereabouts, after Harry had taught Draco the techniques not to deny the evidence when he saw it.
哈利不能说这一切都是照计划走的。这一切全都是当场现编的。那份计划本来要等到十二月前后，等哈利教会德拉科看到证据也不要否认的技巧之后，才会轮到这件事发生。
But he'd seen the look of fear on Draco's face, realized that Draco was already taking an alternative hypothesis seriously, and seized the moment. One case of true curiosity had the same sort of redeeming power in rationality that one case of true love had in movies.
但他看见了德拉科脸上的恐惧，意识到德拉科已经在认真对待另一个假设，于是他抓住了那一刻。在理性这套道理里，一次真诚的好奇心所拥有的救赎之力，抵得上电影里的一段真爱。
In retrospect, Harry had given himself hours to make the most important discovery in the history of magic, and months to break through the undeveloped mental barriers of an eleven-year-old boy. This could indicate that Harry had some sort of major cognitive deficit with respect to estimating task completion times.
回头再看，哈利只给自己留了几个小时，去完成整个魔法史上最关键的一项发现；却给自己留了几个月，去打通一个十一岁男孩尚未开发的心智壁垒。这或许说明，哈利在估算一件事多久能做完这方面，有某种严重的认知缺陷。
Was Harry going to Science Hell for what he'd done? Harry wasn't sure. He'd contrived to keep Draco's mind on the possibility that magic was fading, made sure Draco would carry out the part of the experiment that would seem at first to point in that direction. He'd waited until after explaining genetics to prompt Draco into realizing about magical creatures (though Harry had thought in terms of ancient artifacts like the Sorting Hat, which no one could duplicate anymore, but which continued to function). But Harry hadn't actually exaggerated any evidence, hadn't distorted the meaning of any results. When the Interdict of Merlin had invalidated the test that should have been definitive, he'd told Draco up front.
哈利会因为自己做过的事下科学地狱吗？他不确定。他设法让德拉科的注意力始终停在魔法正在衰退这个可能性上，也确保德拉科会去做实验里那部分、一开始看起来正指向这个方向的内容。他等到讲完遗传学，才把德拉科引到魔法生物上去（虽然哈利心里的例子是分院帽这类古代宝物：没人再能复制一个，可它一直在运转）。可哈利不曾夸大过任何一条证据，也没有曲解过任何结果的含义。当梅林禁令让那个本该是决定性的测试失效时，他当面就告诉了德拉科。
And then there was the part after that...
再往后，还有那之后的一段……
But he hadn't actually lied to Draco. Draco had believed it, and that would make it true.
但他其实没有对德拉科撒谎。德拉科信了，而这会让它成真。
The end, admittedly, had not been fun.
得承认，这个收尾并不愉快。
Harry turned, and staggered toward the door.
哈利转过身，踉踉跄跄地朝门口走去。
Time to test Draco's locking spell.
该试试德拉科的锁门咒了。
The first step was simply trying to turn the doorknob. Draco could have been bluffing.
第一步很简单：转一下门把手。德拉科也许只是在吓唬他。
Draco hadn't been bluffing.
德拉科并不是在吓唬人。
"Finite Incantatem." Harry's voice came out rather hoarse, and he could feel that the spell hadn't taken.
「咒立停。」哈利的嗓音相当沙哑，他能感到咒语没有生效。
So Harry tried it again, and that time it felt true. But another twist at the doorknob showed it hadn't worked. No surprise there.
于是哈利又试了一次，这一回感觉像是成了。可再一拧门把手，就知道并没用。这也在意料之中。
Time to bring out the big guns. Harry drew a deep breath. This spell was one of the most powerful he'd learned so far.
该拿出压箱底的了。哈利深深吸了一口气。这条咒语是他迄今学会的最强的咒语之一。
"Alohomora!"
「阿拉霍洞开！」
Harry staggered a little after saying it.
念完之后，哈利晃了一下。
And the classroom door still didn't open.
教室的门还是没有开。
That shocked Harry. Harry hadn't been planning to go anywhere near Dumbledore's forbidden corridor, of course. But a spell to open magical locks had seemed like a useful sort of spell anyway, and so Harry had learned it. Was Dumbledore's forbidden corridor meant to lure people so stupid that they didn't notice the security was worse than what Draco Malfoy could put on it?
这让哈利吃了一惊。当然，哈利从没打算靠近邓布利多的那条禁入走廊。可一条能打开魔法锁的咒语，怎么看都算有用，所以哈利还是学了。难道邓布利多的禁入走廊，就是要钓那些蠢到看不出它的安保还不如德拉科·马尔福随手施上去的那点东西？
Fear was creeping back into Harry's system. The placard in the medical kit had said the Numbcloth could only safely be used for up to thirty minutes. After that it would come off automatically, and not be reusable for 24 hours. Right now it was 6:51pm. He'd put on the Numbcloth about five minutes ago.
恐惧又渗回了哈利身上。紧急治疗包里的说明牌上写着，麻醉布能安全使用的时间最多只有三十分钟，之后它会自动脱落，并且二十四小时内都不能再用。现在是晚上六点五十一分。他贴上麻醉布大约是五分钟前的事。
So Harry took a step back, and considered the door. It was a solid panel of dark oaken wood, interrupted only by the brass metal doorknob.
于是哈利退后一步，端详那扇门。它是一整块深色橡木的门板，上面只有那个黄铜门把手。
Harry didn't know any explosive or cutting or smashing spells, and Transfiguring explosive would have violated the rule against Transfiguring things to be burned. Acid was a liquid and would have made fumes...
哈利不会任何爆炸、切割或砸击类的咒语；而要变出一份炸药，就得把东西变形为拿去烧的材料，那正是那条规矩禁止的事。酸是液体，会冒烟……
But that was no obstacle to a creative thinker.
可这对一位有创造力的思考者来说，算不了什么障碍。
Harry laid his wand against one of the door's brass hinges, and concentrated on the form of cotton as a pure abstraction apart from any material cotton, and also on the pure material apart from the pattern that made it a brass hinge, and brought the two concepts together, imposing shape on substance. An hour of Transfiguration practice every day for a month had gotten Harry to the point where he could Transfigure a subject of five cubic centimeters in just under a minute.
哈利把魔杖抵在门上的一副黄铜铰链上，心里专注地想着棉花之形——不是任何一种实在的棉花，而是抽掉质料之后剩下的纯粹形状；同时想着纯粹的质料——不是这副铰链的形状，而是构成它的那点材料；再把这两个概念合到一起，把形状加到质料上。一个月里他每天练一小时的变形术，如今已经能把五立方厘米大的一块东西变形出来，用时不到一分钟。
After two minutes the hinge hadn't changed at all.
两分钟过去，铰链一点变化都没有。
Whoever had designed Draco's locking spell, they'd thought of that, too. Or the door was part of Hogwarts and the castle was immune.
设计德拉科这道锁门咒的人，看来也想到了这一点。又或者，这扇门本就属于霍格沃茨，城堡本身对变形术免疫。
A glance showed the walls to be solid stone. So was the floor. So was the ceiling. You couldn't separately Transfigure a part of something that was a solid whole; Harry would have needed to try Transfiguring the whole wall, which would have taken hours or maybe days of continuous effort, if he could have done it at all, and if the wall wasn't contiguous with the rest of the whole castle...
他扫了一眼，四面墙是整块的石头，地板也是，天花板也是。一个浑然一体的东西，你没法只把其中一部分单独变形；哈利得去变形整面墙，那得连着干上好几个钟头、也许好几天，前提是他真办得到，还得假设这面墙并不和城堡的其余部分连成一体……
Harry's Time-Turner wouldn't open until 9pm. After that he could go back to 6pm, before the door was locked.
时间转换器要到晚上九点才会打开。等它开了，哈利就能回到下午六点，回到门被反锁之前。
How long would the torture spell last?
那个折磨咒会持续多久？
Harry swallowed hard. Tears were coming into his eyes again.
哈利艰难地咽了一下，泪水又涌进眼里。
His brilliantly creative mind had just offered the ingenious suggestion that Harry could cut his hand off using the hacksaw in the toolset stored in his pouch, which would hurt, obviously, but might hurt a lot less than Draco's pain spell, since the nerves would be gone; and he had tourniquets in the healer's kit.
他那颗才华横溢的创造性头脑刚刚提出一个绝妙的建议：哈利可以用莫克皮袋里那套工具中的钢锯把自己的手锯掉。这当然会很疼，但说不定比德拉科的折磨咒轻得多，因为到时候神经已经没了；而且紧急治疗包里还有止血带。
And that was obviously a hideously stupid idea that Harry would regret the rest of his entire life.
而这显然是个蠢到极点的主意，哈利会为此后悔一辈子。
But Harry didn't know if he could hold out for two hours under torture.
可哈利没把握自己能不能在折磨下扛过两个钟头。
He wanted out of this classroom, he wanted out of this classroom now, he didn't want to wait in here screaming for two hours until he could use the Time-Turner, he needed to get out and find someone to get the torture spell off his hand...
他想离开这间教室，他想现在马上离开这间教室，他不想在这里尖叫着等上两个钟头、一直等到能用时间转换器，他必须出去，找人把他手上的折磨咒解掉……
Think! Harry screamed at his brain. Think! Think!
*快想！*哈利冲自己的脑子尖叫。快想！快想！
The Slytherin dorm was mostly empty. People were at dinner. For some reason Draco himself wasn't feeling very hungry.
斯莱特林的宿舍里几乎空着，大家都去吃晚饭了。不知为什么，德拉科自己一点也不觉得饿。
Draco closed the door to his private room, locked it, Charmed it shut, Quieted it, sat down on his bed, and started to cry.
德拉科关上私人房间的门，锁好，施咒封住，又加了静音咒，然后在床上坐下，哭了起来。
It wasn't fair.
这不公平。
It wasn't fair.
这不公平。
It was the first time Draco had ever really lost before, Father had warned him that losing for real would hurt the first time it happened, but he'd lost so much, it wasn't fair, it wasn't fair for him to lose everything the very first time he lost.
这是德拉科头一回真正输，父亲警告过他，真正输掉的时候，第一次会疼得要命；可他输得太多了，这不公平，凭什么他第一次输，就要输掉一切。
Somewhere in the dungeons, a boy Draco had actually liked was screaming in pain. Draco had never hurt anyone he'd liked before. Punishing people who deserved it was supposed to be fun, but this just felt sick inside. Father hadn't warned him about that, and Draco wondered if it was a hard lesson everyone had to learn when they grew up, or if Draco was just weak.
地下城某处，有个德拉科其实挺喜欢的男孩，正疼得连声尖叫。德拉科从没伤害过自己喜欢的人。惩罚那些活该受罚的人本该是件乐事，可这一次只让他心里难受得发慌。父亲没警告过他这个；德拉科忍不住想，这是每个人长大时都非学不可的一堂难受的课，还是说，只是德拉科自己太软弱。
Draco wished it were Pansy screaming. That would have felt better.
德拉科倒希望此刻尖叫的人是潘西。那样他大概会觉得舒服些。
And the worst part was knowing that it might have been a mistake to hurt Harry Potter.
而最让他难受的一点是，他意识到自己对哈利·波特动手也许根本就是个错误。
Who else was there for Draco now? Dumbledore? After what he'd done? Draco would sooner have been burned alive.
如今德拉科还能去找谁？邓布利多？自己干下了那种事，哪还有脸去？他宁愿让人把他活活烧死。
Draco would have to go back to Harry Potter because there was nowhere else for him to go. And if Harry Potter said he didn't want him, then Draco would be nothing, just a pathetic little boy who could never be a Death Eater, never join Dumbledore's faction, never learn science.
德拉科只能回头去找哈利·波特，他没有别处可去。而要是哈利·波特说不要他，德拉科便什么都不是了，只是个可悲的小男孩，当不成食死徒，进不了邓布利多那一派，也永远学不了科学。
The trap had been perfectly set, perfectly executed. Father had warned Draco over and over that what you sacrificed to Dark rituals couldn't be regained. But Father hadn't known that the accursed Muggles had invented rituals that didn't need wands, rituals you could be tricked into doing without knowing it, and that was only one of the terrible secrets which scientists knew and which Harry Potter had brought with him.
这个陷阱设得毫无破绽，执行得也毫无破绽。父亲没少警告德拉科：献给黑暗仪式的祭品是拿不回来的。但父亲不知道的是，该死的麻瓜发明了不用魔杖的仪式，一种能骗你在不知不觉中加入的仪式；而这只是科学家们掌握、又被哈利·波特带进这个世界来的可怕秘密之一。
Draco started crying harder, then.
这时候，德拉科哭得更厉害了。
He didn't want this, he didn't want this but there was no turning back. It was too late. He was already a scientist.
他不要这样，他不要这样，可是已经没有退路了。太迟了。他已经是个科学家了。
Draco knew he should go back and free Harry Potter and apologize. It would have been the smart thing to do.
德拉科知道自己应该回去，把哈利·波特放出来，向他道歉。那才是聪明的做法。
Instead Draco stayed in his bed and sobbed.
结果德拉科还是留在床上，抽泣个不停。
He'd already hurt Harry Potter. It might be the only time Draco ever got to hurt him, and he would have to hold to that one memory for the rest of his life.
他已经伤过哈利·波特了。这也许是他这辈子唯一一次能伤到他的机会，往后的日子里，他只能守着这一段记忆过下去。
Let him keep screaming.
就让他一直叫下去吧。
Harry dropped the remnants of his hacksaw to the ground. The brass hinges had proved impervious, not even scratched, and Harry was beginning to suspect that even the desperation act of trying to Transfigure acid or explosives would have failed to open this door. On the plus side, the attempt had destroyed the hacksaw.
哈利把钢锯的残片丢到地上。黄铜铰链纹丝不动，连一道划痕都没留下；哈利开始怀疑，就算他孤注一掷去变形出酸液或炸药，也照样打不开这扇门。往好里说，这一通锯反倒把钢锯给毁了。
His watch said it was 7:02pm, with less than fifteen minutes left, and Harry tried to remember if there were any other sharp things in his pouch that needed destroying, and felt another fit of tears welling up. If only, when his Time-Turner opened, he could go back and prevent -
手表上是晚上七点零二分，剩下的时间不到一刻钟。哈利努力回想莫克皮袋里还有没有别的需要毁掉的尖锐东西，同时又觉得一阵眼泪要涌上来。要是等时间转换器打开，他能回去阻止这件事——
And that was when Harry realized he was being silly.
就在这时，哈利意识到自己在犯傻。
It wasn't the first time he'd been locked in a room.
被人锁在屋子里，这已经不是头一回了。
Professor McGonagall had already told him the correct way to do this.
麦格教授早就告诉过他，这种时候正确的做法是什么。
...she'd also told him not to use the Time-Turner for this sort of thing.
……不过她也说过，不许拿时间转换器来做这种事。
Would Professor McGonagall realize that this occasion really did warrant a special exception? Or just take away the Time-Turner entirely?
麦格教授会不会明白，这一次确实该破例？还是干脆把时间转换器整个收走？
Harry gathered up all his things, all the evidence, into his pouch. A Scourgify took care of the vomit on the floor, though not the sweat that had soaked his robes. He left the overturned desks overturned, it wasn't important enough to be worth doing with one hand.
哈利把所有东西、所有证据都收进莫克皮袋。一个清理一新把地板上的呕吐物收拾干净了，可长袍上浸透的汗水没能清掉。翻倒的课桌就让它那么翻着——这点小事不值得他用一只手去扶。
When he was done, Harry glanced down at his watch. 7:04pm.
收拾完，哈利低头看了一眼手表。晚上七点零四分。
And then Harry waited. Seconds passed, feeling like years.
然后哈利就开始等。一秒钟一秒钟过去，漫长得像过了一年。
At 7:07pm, the door opened.
晚上七点零七分，门开了。
Professor Flitwick's puff-bearded face looked rather concerned. "Are you all right, Harry?" said the squeaky voice of Ravenclaw's Head of House. "I got a note saying you'd been locked in here -"
弗立维教授胡子蓬松的脸上露出颇为担忧的神色。「你没事吧，哈利？」拉文克劳的院长用尖细的嗓音说，「我收到一张字条，说你被锁在这儿了——」
梗与典故
- 「血不是一种完美的流体，它混不匀」「像一杯石子，而不是一杯水」这两句背后，是一场真实的历史争论。 十九世纪主流信的是「融合遗传」——子代是双亲性状的平均值，红花配白花得粉花。1867 年 6 月，工程师弗莱明·詹金在《North British Review》上匿名发表长书评，用后来被称为「淹没论证」的理由反对达尔文：一个偶然出现的有利用变异会被普通性状稀释掉，自然选择来不及把它保住。达尔文 1869 年致信华莱士说自己被说服了，并在《物种起源》第五版里改写了相关段落；直到 1900 年前后孟德尔的颗粒遗传被接受，这条直觉才被推翻。本章哈利讲的「每处两份、只随机传一份，所以性状不会被稀释」正是颗粒遗传，德拉科原来深信的那套「血混着混着就变弱」正是融合遗传——这一节的比喻不是随口打的。910
- 那份名单上的怪物，和那个把夺心魔灭绝掉的名字，都来自别处。 夺心魔与眼魔都是《龙与地下城》里的怪物：夺心魔（正式种族名 illithid）1975 年春第一次刊登在 TSR 的通讯《The Strategic Review》第 1 期上；眼魔是一颗中央大眼外加十根眼柄，合起来十一只眼、十一种力量——中央那只放的是反魔法锥，十根眼柄各有一种射线，本章老人念到一半的那份『十一只眼睛各自的法力』的清单说的就是它。哈罗德·谢伊则是德·坎普与普拉特 1940 年代「魔法师」系列小说的主角，靠一套符号逻辑穿越进神话世界。但「夺心魔最终被他灭绝」这句话查不到任何出处：夺心魔要到 1975 年才被造出来，比那套小说晚了二十年，两边没有交手记录。这一句只能当成作者自造的玩笑，不要当作设定去考据。111213
- 「梅林禁令」是本书加进去的设定，不是正典。 它在本章第一次出现——前面各章里一次都没有提到过。它管的内容是：强大咒语的知识没法从书本里取得，就算翻到强大巫师的笔记也读不懂，只能由一个活着的头脑传给另一个活着的头脑。作者本人在 Science Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange 回答过它是否出自正典，开头一句就是「The Interdict is an added plot device」——是他为了解释「为什么古人留下一千年都造不出来的强大遗物，后来的人却造不出同样的东西」而加的一件装置。14
- 哈利心里那句「被人锁在屋子里，这已经不是头一回了」，指的是第 18 章那件事。 斯内普的魔药课上，哈利当着全班走进储物间、用时间转换器消失；事后麦格训他的原话里有这么一句：你从储物间里消失，全班的同学都看得见，你本该先出来，等时间转换器能用了再回到过去，让我或者别的老师来开门。本章结尾弗立维教授在晚上七点零七分拿着字条来开门，走的正是这条被骂回来的路——也正是哈利担心的那件事的另一半：麦格会不会认定这一次确实该破例，还是干脆把时间转换器收走。15
References
- 1Belief in Belief（LessWrong，2007-07-29）
lesswrong.com
- 2Belief in Belief（《Rationality: From AI to Zombies》正式文本）
readthesequences.com
- 3
- 4
- 5Gom jabbar（Dune Wiki，含小说附录术语表原文）
dune.fandom.com
- 6Bene Gesserit（Wikipedia，交叉核实那场测试）
en.wikipedia.org
- 7Mendel's Paper（MendelWeb，论文英译全文）
mendelweb.org
- 8Gregor Mendel（Wikipedia，含被引用次数与 1900 年重发现）
en.wikipedia.org
- 9Swamping argument（Wikipedia，含 1867 年那篇匿名书评与达尔文的反应）
en.wikipedia.org
- 10Blending inheritance（Wikipedia）
en.wikipedia.org
- 11Illithid（Wikipedia，1975 年首发与创作者）
en.wikipedia.org
- 12Beholder（D&D 2024 规则文本，十一只眼与十一种力量）
roll20.net
- 13Harold Shea（Wikipedia，五个原始故事与所访世界）
en.wikipedia.org
- 14
- 15Chapter 18: Dominance Hierarchies（LessWrong，含麦格那段原话）
lesswrong.com
- 16
- 17The Trace（Harry Potter Lexicon）
hp-lexicon.org
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