HPMOR 第6章｜规划谬误（中英对照）

原文来源：HPMOR 官方第 6 章。下文保留英文原文，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。

你觉得你这一天够离奇了？试试我的。

Some children would have waited until after their first trip to Diagon Alley.

有些孩子会等第一次对角巷之行结束以后再说。

"Bag of element 79," Harry said, and withdrew his hand, empty, from the mokeskin pouch.

「装元素 79 的袋子，」哈利说着，把手从莫克皮袋里抽出来——空的。

Most children would have at least waited to get their wands first.

大多数孩子至少会先等到拿到魔杖再说。

"Bag of okane," said Harry. The heavy bag of gold popped up into his hand.

「装 okane 的袋子，」哈利说。沉甸甸的金币袋应声跳进他手里。

Harry withdrew the bag, then plunged it again into the mokeskin pouch. He took out his hand, put it back in, and said, "Bag of tokens of economic exchange." That time his hand came out empty.

哈利把袋子抽出来，又把它插回莫克皮袋里。他抽出空手，再伸进去，说：「装经济交换凭证的袋子。」这一次他的手是空的。

"Give me back the bag that I just put in." Out came the bag of gold once more.

「把我刚放进去的那个袋子还给我。」金币袋又一次出来了。

Harry James Potter-Evans-Verres had gotten his hands on at least one magical item. Why wait?

哈利·詹姆·波特-埃文斯-维雷斯总算摸到了一件魔法物品。还等什么？

"Professor McGonagall," Harry said to the bemused witch strolling beside him, "can you give me two words, one word for gold, and one word for something else that isn't money, in a language that I wouldn't know? But don't tell me which is which."

「麦格教授，」哈利对身旁那位一脸茫然、跟着他逛的女巫说，「你能不能给我两个词——一个词指金子，另一个词指别的东西、不是钱——用一种我不认识的语言？但别告诉我哪个是哪个。」

"Ahava and zahav," said Professor McGonagall. "That's Hebrew, and the other word means love."

「ahava 和 zahav，」麦格教授说。「那是希伯来语，另外一个词的意思是『爱』。」

"Thank you, Professor. Bag of ahava." Empty.

「谢谢您，教授。装 ahava 的袋子。」空的。

"Bag of zahav." And it popped up into his hand.

「装 zahav 的袋子。」它便跳进了他手里。

"Zahav is gold?" Harry questioned, and Professor McGonagall nodded.

「zahav 是金子？」哈利问道，麦格教授点点头。

Harry thought over his collected experimental data. It was only the most crude and preliminary sort of effort, but it was enough to support at least one conclusion:

哈利仔细想了想他收集到的实验数据。这不过是最粗糙、最初步的一次尝试，但已经足以支撑至少一个结论：

"Aaaaaaarrrgh this doesn't make any sense!"

「啊啊啊啊啊啊这根本说不通啊！」

The witch beside him lifted a lofty eyebrow. "Problems, Mr. Potter?"

他身旁的女巫扬起一道高傲的眉毛。「波特先生，出什么问题了吗？」

"I just falsified every single hypothesis I had! How can it know that 'bag of 115 Galleons' is okay but not 'bag of 90 plus 25 Galleons'? It can count but it can't add? It can understand nouns, but not some noun phrases that mean the same thing? The person who made this probably didn't speak Japanese and I don't speak any Hebrew, so it's not using their knowledge, and it's not using my knowledge -" Harry waved a hand helplessly. "The rules seem sorta consistent but they don't mean anything! I'm not even going to ask how a pouch ends up with voice recognition and natural language understanding when the best Artificial Intelligence programmers can't get the fastest supercomputers to do it after thirty-five years of hard work," Harry gasped for breath, "but what is going on?"

「我刚才把我所有假说全都证伪了！它怎么知道『装了 115 个加隆的袋子』可以，『装了 90 加 25 个加隆的袋子』就不行？它会数数，却不会做加法？它懂名词，却不懂意思相同的名词短语？做这个的人大概不懂日语，我也不懂希伯来语，所以它用的既不是他们的知识，也不是我的知识——」哈利无奈地挥了挥手。「这些规则好像挺一致，却什么意义都没有！我甚至都不想问，一个袋子怎么会做到语音识别和自然语言理解，要知道最顶尖的人工智能程序员忙活三十五年，都没法让最快的超级计算机做到这一点，」哈利喘了口气，「可这到底是怎么回事？」

"Magic," said Professor McGonagall.

「魔法，」麦格教授说。

"That's just a word! Even after you tell me that, I can't make any new predictions! It's exactly like saying 'phlogiston' or 'elan vital' or 'emergence' or 'complexity'!"

「那只是个词！就算你告诉我这个，我也做不出任何新的预测！这就像你跟我说『燃素』、『生命力』、『涌现』或者『复杂性』一样！」

The black-robed witch laughed aloud. "But it is magic, Mr. Potter."

黑袍女巫大笑起来。「可它真的就是魔法啊，波特先生。」

Harry slumped over a little. "With respect, Professor McGonagall, I'm not quite sure you understand what I'm trying to do here."

哈利微微垮下了肩膀。「恕我冒昧，麦格教授，我不太确定你是否明白我在这里想做什么。」

"With respect, Mr. Potter, I'm quite sure I don't. Unless - this is just a guess, mind - you're trying to take over the world?"

「恕我冒昧，波特先生，我很确定我不明白。除非——这只是我的猜测——你是想统治世界？」

"No! I mean yes - well, no!"

「不！我的意思是，是——哎呀，不！」

"I think I should perhaps be alarmed that you have trouble answering the question."

「我觉得我恐怕应该感到担忧，因为你连回答这个问题都有困难。」

Harry glumly considered the Dartmouth Conference on Artificial Intelligence in 1956. It had been the first conference ever on the topic, the one that had coined the phrase "Artificial Intelligence". They had identified key problems such as making computers understand language, learn, and improve themselves. They had suggested, in perfect seriousness, that significant advances on these problems might be made by ten scientists working together for two months.

哈利闷闷不乐地想起 1956 年的达特茅斯人工智能会议。那是这个议题有史以来第一次会议，也是在那次会议上造出了「人工智能」这个词。他们确认了几个关键问题，比如让计算机理解语言、学会学习、自我改进。他们还一本正经地提出，十个科学家合作两个月，就能在这些问题上取得重大进展。

No. Chin up. You're just starting on the problem of unravelling all the secrets of magic. You don't actually know whether it's going to be too difficult to do in two months.

不。抬起头来。你不过是刚开始着手解开魔法全部秘密这个问题而已。你其实并不知道，用两个月会不会太难。

"And you really haven't heard of other wizards asking these sorts of questions or doing this sort of scientific experimenting?" Harry asked again. It just seemed so obvious to him.

「你真的没听说过有其他巫师问过这类问题，或者做过这种科学实验吗？」哈利又问道。在他看来，这实在太明显了。

Then again, it'd taken more than two hundred years after the invention of the scientific method before any Muggle scientists had thought to systematically investigate which sentences a human four-year-old could or couldn't understand. The developmental psychology of linguistics could've been discovered in the eighteenth century, in principle, but no one had even thought to look until the twentieth. So you couldn't really blame the much smaller wizarding world for not investigating the Retrieval Charm.

话说回来，科学方法发明两百多年以后，才有麻瓜科学家想到要系统地去研究，一个人类四岁小孩能听懂哪些句子、听不懂哪些。语言发展心理学，理论上在十八世纪就能被发现，可直到二十世纪才有人想到去研究。所以，你真的不能怪那个小得多的巫师世界没去研究取物咒。

Professor McGonagall pursed her lips, then shrugged. "I'm still not sure what you mean by 'scientific experimenting', Mr. Potter. As I said, I've seen Muggleborn students try to get Muggle science to work inside Hogwarts, and people invent new Charms and Potions every year."

麦格教授抿了抿嘴唇，然后耸耸肩。「我还是不明白你说的『科学实验』是什么意思，波特先生。就像我说过的，我见过麻瓜出身的学生在霍格沃茨里试着用麻瓜的科学，而且每年都有人发明新的咒语和魔药。」

Harry shook his head. "Technology isn't the same thing as science at all. And trying lots of different ways to do something isn't the same as experimenting to figure out the rules." There were plenty of people who'd tried to invent flying machines by trying out lots of things-with-wings, but only the Wright Brothers had built a wind tunnel to measure lift... "Um, how many Muggle-raised children do you get at Hogwarts every year?"

哈利摇摇头。「技术跟科学根本不是一回事。而且，试很多种不同的做法，也并不等于做实验去弄清规则。」想发明飞行机器的人很多，大家试过各种带翅膀的东西，可只有莱特兄弟造了个风洞去测升力……「嗯，你们霍格沃茨每年收多少麻瓜养大的孩子？」

"Perhaps ten or so?"

「大概十个左右吧？」

Harry missed a step and almost tripped over his own feet. "Ten?"

哈利踩空了一步，差点绊倒自己。「十个？」

The Muggle world had a population of six billion and counting. If you were one in a million, there were seven of you in London and a thousand more in China. It was inevitable that the Muggle population would produce some eleven-year-olds who could do calculus - Harry knew he wasn't the only one. He'd met other prodigies in mathematical competitions. In fact he'd been thoroughly trounced by competitors who probably spent literally all day practising maths problems and who'd never read a science-fiction book and who would burn out completely before puberty and never amount to anything in their future lives because they'd just practised known techniques instead of learning to think creatively. (Harry was something of a sore loser.)

麻瓜世界有六十亿人口，而且还在增加。你要是百万里挑一的天才，那么在伦敦就有七个你这样的人，在中国还有一千多个。麻瓜人口注定会产出一些十一岁就会微积分的孩子——哈利知道自己不是唯一一个。他在数学竞赛里见过别的神童。事实上，他曾被竞争对手打得一败涂地，那些人大概整天都在练习做题，从没读过一本科幻小说，还没到青春期就会彻底耗尽，将来一辈子也不会有任何成就，因为他们只会在练习已知的技巧，而不是学习创造性地思考。（哈利是个有点输不起的人。）

But... in the wizarding world...

可是……在巫师世界里……

Ten Muggle-raised children per year, who'd all ended their Muggle educations at the age of eleven? And Professor McGonagall might be biased, but she had claimed that Hogwarts was the largest and most eminent wizarding school in the world... and it only educated up to the age of seventeen.

每年十个麻瓜养大的孩子，而且都在十一岁就结束了麻瓜教育？麦格教授可能带有偏见，可她说霍格沃茨是世界上最大、最负盛名的魔法学校……而且只教到十七岁。

Professor McGonagall undoubtedly knew every last detail of how you went about turning into a cat. But she seemed to have literally never heard of the scientific method. To her it was just Muggle magic. And she didn't even seem curious about what secrets might be hiding behind the natural language understanding of the Retrieval Charm.

麦格教授无疑知道变成猫的每一个细节。但她似乎压根没听说过科学方法。对她来说，那只是麻瓜的魔法。她甚至好像都不好奇，取物咒背后的自然语言理解到底藏着什么秘密。

That left two possibilities, really.

这样看来，其实只有两种可能。

Possibility one: Magic was so incredibly opaque, convoluted, and impenetrable, that even though wizards and witches had tried their best to understand, they'd made little or no progress and eventually given up; and Harry would do no better.

可能一：魔法实在太过晦涩、曲折、深不可测，以至于巫师和女巫们尽了最大努力去理解，却几乎没有什么进展，最后放弃了；而哈利也不会做得更好。

Or...

或者……

Harry cracked his knuckles in determination, but they only made a quiet sort of clicking sound, rather than echoing ominously off the walls of Diagon Alley.

哈利在决断中把指关节捏得咔咔作响，可它们只发出一声轻轻的咔嗒声，并不能在整条对角巷的墙上发出不祥的回响。

Possibility two: He'd be taking over the world.

可能二：他要统治世界。

Eventually. Perhaps not right away.

早晚的事。也许不是立刻。

That sort of thing did sometimes take longer than two months. Muggle science hadn't gone to the moon in the first week after Galileo.

那种事有时候确实会拖到两个月以上。麻瓜科学在伽利略之后的第一周并没有登上月球。

But Harry still couldn't stop the huge smile that was stretching his cheeks so wide they were starting to hurt.

可哈利还是止不住那咧到脸颊都开始发疼的巨大笑容。

Harry had always been frightened of ending up as one of those child prodigies that never amounted to anything and spent the rest of their lives boasting about how far ahead they'd been at age ten. But then most adult geniuses never amounted to anything either. There were probably a thousand people as intelligent as Einstein for every actual Einstein in history. Because those other geniuses hadn't gotten their hands on the one thing you absolutely needed to achieve greatness. They'd never found an important problem.

哈利一直害怕自己会变成一个一事无成的神童，一辈子都在吹嘘自己十岁那年有多超前。但话说回来，大多数成年天才们一辈子也一事无成。历史上每出现一个爱因斯坦，大概就有一千个跟他一样聪明的人。因为那些别的天才没能得到那件绝对必要的东西——他们从没找到一个重要的问题。

You're mine now, Harry thought at the walls of Diagon Alley, and all the shops and items, and all the shopkeepers and customers; and all the lands and people of wizarding Britain, and all the wider wizarding world; and the entire greater universe of which Muggle scientists understood so much less than they believed. I, Harry James Potter-Evans-Verres, do now claim this territory in the name of Science.

你是我的了，哈利对着对角巷的墙壁想，还有所有的店铺、物件、店家和顾客；整个魔法英国的国土与人民，以及更广阔的整个巫师世界；还有那个更为广大的宇宙——麻瓜科学家对它的了解，远没有他们自己以为的多。我，哈利·詹姆·波特-埃文斯-维雷斯，现在以科学之名宣称这片领地。

Lightning and thunder completely failed to flash and boom in the cloudless skies.

万里无云的天空，完全没能闪起电、响起雷。

"What are you smiling about?" inquired Professor McGonagall, warily and wearily.

「你在笑什么？」麦格教授问道，又警惕又疲惫。

"I'm wondering if there's a spell to make lightning flash in the background whenever I make an ominous resolution," explained Harry. He was carefully memorising the exact words of his ominous resolution so that future history books would get it right.

「我在想，有没有一种咒语，能让我每次下定决心要做不祥之事时，背景里都电闪雷鸣，」哈利解释说。他正小心地把这句不祥决心的原话记下来，好让将来史书写得准确无误。

"I have the distinct feeling that I ought to be doing something about this," sighed Professor McGonagall.

「我有个强烈的感觉，我该做点什么阻止这件事，」麦格教授叹了口气。

"Ignore it, it'll go away. Ooh, shiny!" Harry put his thoughts of world conquest temporarily on hold and skipped over to a shop with an open display, and Professor McGonagall followed.

「别理它，它自己会过去的。哦，闪闪发光的东西！」哈利把统治世界的念头暂时放到一边，蹦跳着跑向一家开放式陈列的店铺，麦格教授跟了上去。

Harry had now bought his potions ingredients and cauldron, and, oh, a few more things. Items that seemed like good things to carry in Harry's Bag of Holding (aka Moke Super Pouch QX31 with Undetectable Extension Charm, Retrieval Charm, and Widening Lip). Smart, sensible purchases.

哈利现在已经买好了魔药材料、坩埚，还有，哦，几件别的东西。都是些看起来适合随身带在哈利的万用袋（又叫莫克超级袋 QX31，带无痕伸展咒、取物咒和扩口咒）里的东西。明智又稳妥的采购。

Harry genuinely didn't understand why Professor McGonagall was looking so suspicious.

哈利真的不明白，麦格教授为什么一脸怀疑。

Right now, Harry was in a shop expensive enough to display in the twisting main street of Diagon Alley. The shop had an open front with merchandise laid out on slanted wooden rows, guarded only by slight grey glows and a young-looking salesgirl in a much-shortened version of witch's robes that exposed her knees and elbows.

此刻，哈利在一家气派到能在对角巷蜿蜒主街上摆出来的店里。店面是开放的，商品摆在斜斜的木头货架上，只靠淡淡的灰色光晕和一位看起来年纪很轻的女店员看守；女店员穿着一件大幅缩短的女巫袍，露出了膝盖和手肘。

Harry was examining the wizarding equivalent of a first-aid kit, the Emergency Healing Pack Plus. There were two self-tightening tourniquets. A syringe of what looked like liquid fire, which was supposed to drastically slow circulation in a treated area while maintaining oxygenation of the blood for up to three minutes, if you needed to prevent a poison from spreading through the body. White cloth that could be wrapped over a part of the body to temporarily numb pain. Plus any number of other items that Harry totally failed to comprehend, like the "Dementor Exposure Treatment", which looked and smelled like ordinary chocolate. Or the "Bafflesnaffle Counter", which looked like a small quivering egg and carried a placard showing how to jam it up someone's nostril.

哈利正在打量魔法世界的急救箱，也就是「紧急治疗包加强版」。里面有两条自动收紧的止血带。一支看起来像液态火焰的注射剂，据说能在需要防止毒药在全身蔓延时，把治疗部位的血液循环大大减缓，同时让血液维持供氧足足三分钟。还有能包在身体某处暂时麻痹疼痛的白布。再加上无数件哈利完全搞不懂的东西，比如那个「摄魂怪接触治疗剂」，看起来、闻起来都像普通巧克力；还有那个「巴弗斯纳夫计数器」，看起来像一枚微微颤动的小蛋，旁边立着一块牌子，演示怎么把它塞进某人的鼻孔。

"A definite buy at five Galleons, wouldn't you agree?" Harry said to Professor McGonagall, and the teenage salesgirl hovering nearby nodded eagerly.

「五加隆绝对值得买，你说是不是？」哈利对麦格教授说，旁边一直徘徊的年轻女店员连连点头。

Harry had expected the Professor to make some sort of approving remark about his prudence and preparedness.

哈利本以为教授会夸奖他几句，说他谨慎、有备无患。

What he was getting instead could only be described as the Evil Eye.

可他收到的，只能用「杀人目光」来形容。

"And just why," Professor McGonagall said with heavy scepticism, "do you expect to need a healer's kit, young man?" (After the unfortunate incident at the Potions shop, Professor McGonagall was trying to avoid saying "Mr. Potter" while anyone else was nearby.)

「那么，」麦格教授带着浓重的怀疑说，「你为什么觉得自己会需要一套治疗包，年轻人？」（在魔药店那场不幸事件之后，只要旁边有别人，麦格教授就尽量不说「波特先生」。）

Harry's mouth opened and closed. "I don't expect to need it! It's just in case!"

哈利的嘴张了又合。「我不觉得自己会需要它！这只是以防万一！」

"Just in case of what?"

「以防万一什么样的情况？」

Harry's eyes widened. "You think I'm planning to do something dangerous and that's why I want a medical kit?"

哈利睁大眼睛。「你认为我打算做什么危险的事，所以我才想要一个医疗包？」

A look of grim suspicion and ironic disbelief was the answer.

回答他的是一个阴沉怀疑、带着讽刺难以置信的表情。

"Great Scott!" said Harry. (This was an expression he'd learned from the mad scientist Doc Brown in Back to the Future.) "Were you also thinking that when I bought the Feather-Falling Potion, the Gillyweed, and the bottle of Food and Water Pills?"

「老天！」哈利说。（这是他从《回到未来》里那个疯狂科学家布朗博士那儿学来的说法。）「我买羽落药剂、鳃囊草和那瓶食物与水药丸的时候，你是不是也那么想？」

"Yes."

「是的。」

Harry shook his head in amazement. "Just what sort of plan do you think I have going, here?"

哈利惊讶地摇摇头。「你到底觉得我这儿打的是什么算盘？」

"I don't know," Professor McGonagall said darkly, "but it ends either in you delivering a ton of silver to Gringotts, or in world domination."

「我不知道，」麦格教授阴沉地说，「但结局要么是你往古灵阁送一吨银子，要么是统治世界。」

"World domination is such an ugly phrase. I prefer to call it world optimisation."

「『统治世界』这说法太难听了。我更愿意叫它『世界优化』。」

This hilarious joke failed to reassure the witch giving him the Look of Doom.

这个滑稽的笑话没让那个正用「死亡凝视」看着他的女巫安心分毫。

"Wow," Harry said, as he realised that she was serious. "You really think that. You really think I'm planning to do something dangerous."

「哇，」哈利说，因为他意识到她是认真的。「你真是这么想的。你真觉得我打算做什么危险的事。」

"Yes."

「是的。」

"Like that's the only reason anyone would ever buy a first-aid kit? Don't take this the wrong way, Professor McGonagall, but what sort of crazy children are you used to dealing with?"

「就好像那是任何人买急救包的唯一理由？别误会，麦格教授，你到底习惯跟什么样的疯小孩打交道？」

"Gryffindors," spat Professor McGonagall, the word carrying a freight of bitterness and despair that fell like an eternal curse on all youthful enthusiasm and high spirits.

「格兰芬多，」麦格教授啐道，这个词压着苦涩与绝望的分量，像永恒诅咒一样落在所有青春热情与高昂兴致上。

"Deputy Headmistress Professor Minerva McGonagall," Harry said, putting his hands sternly on his hips. "I am not going to be in Gryffindor -"

「副校长米勒娃·麦格教授，」哈利说着，严厉地把双手叉在腰上。「我不会进格兰芬多——」

At this point the Deputy Headmistress interjected something about how if he was she would figure out how to kill a hat, which odd remark Harry let pass without comment, though the salesgirl seemed to be having a sudden coughing fit.

这时，副校长插了一句，大意是如果他真进了格兰芬多，她就要想法子弄死那顶帽子；这句奇怪的评论哈利没有多作评论，放过去了，虽然女店员似乎突然爆发了一阵咳嗽。

"- I am going to be in Ravenclaw. And if you really think that I'm planning to do something dangerous, then, honestly, you don't understand me at all. I don't like danger, it is scary. I am being prudent. I am being cautious. I am preparing for unforeseen contingencies. Like my parents used to sing to me: Be prepared! That's the Boy Scout's marching song! Be prepared! As through life you march along! Don't be nervous, don't be flustered, don't be scared - be prepared!"

「——我要进拉文克劳。而如果你真的觉得我打算做什么危险的事，那么，说真的，你一点也不了解我。我不喜欢危险，危险很吓人。我是在保持谨慎。我是在小心。我是在为不可预见的意外做准备。就像我父母常唱给我听的那样：『Be prepared！（做好准备！）那是童子军的行军歌！要准备好！当你的人生一路行进！别紧张、别慌乱、别害怕——要准备好！』」

(Harry's parents had in fact only ever sung him those particular lines of that Tom Lehrer song, and Harry was blissfully unaware of the rest.)

（事实上，哈利父母只给他唱过汤姆·莱勒那首歌的这几句，而哈利对剩下的部分一无所知。）

Professor McGonagall's stance had slightly softened - though mostly when Harry had said that he was heading for Ravenclaw. "What sort of contingency do you imagine this kit might prepare you for, young man?"

麦格教授的态度稍微软化了一点——不过主要是在哈利说自己要进拉文克劳的时候。「你觉得这套治疗包能让你应对什么样的意外呢，年轻人？」

"One of my classmates gets bitten by a horrible monster, and as I scrabble frantically in my mokeskin pouch for something that could help her, she looks at me sadly and with her last breath says, 'Why weren't you prepared?' And then she dies, and I know as her eyes close that she won't ever forgive me -"

「我有个同学被一个可怕的怪物咬了，我手忙脚乱地在我莫克皮袋里乱翻，想找点能帮她的东西，她却悲伤地看着我，用最后一口气说：『你为什么不早做准备呢？』然后她就死了，在她闭上眼睛的那一刻，我知道她永远不会原谅我——」

Harry heard the salesgirl gasp, and he looked up to see her staring at him with her lips pressed tight. Then the young woman whirled and fled into the deeper recesses of the shop.

哈利听到女店员倒抽一口气，抬头看见她嘴唇紧闭地盯着他。然后，那个年轻女人猛地转身，逃进了店铺更深处的角落。

什么……？

Professor McGonagall reached down, and took Harry's hand in hers, gently but firmly, and pulled Harry out of the main street of Diagon Alley, leading him into an alleyway between two shops which was paved in dirty bricks and dead-ended in a wall of solid black dirt.

麦格教授弯下腰，轻轻却坚定地握住哈利的手，把他拉出对角巷主街，带进两条商店之间一条铺着脏砖、尽头是一堵黑泥墙的小巷。

The tall witch pointed her wand at the main street and spoke, "Quietus" she said, and a screen of silence descended around them, blocking out all the street noises.

高个子女巫把魔杖指向主街，说：「静音（Quietus）。」一道寂静的屏障笼罩了他们，隔绝了街上所有的喧嚣。

我到底做错了什么……

Professor McGonagall turned to regard Harry. She didn't have a full adult Wrongdoing Face, but her expression was flat, controlled. "You must remember, Mr. Potter," she said, "that there was a war in this country not ten years ago. Everyone has lost someone, and to speak of friends dying in your arms - is not done lightly."

麦格教授转过身来看向哈利。她并没有摆出成年人全套的「你做错事」表情，但她的神情是平的、克制的。「你必须记住，波特先生，」她说，「这个国家不到十年前刚打过一场战争。每个人都失去了亲人，而说到朋友在你怀里死去——不是能轻飘飘带过的事。」

"I - I didn't mean to -" The inference dropped like a falling stone into Harry's exceptionally vivid imagination. He'd talked about someone breathing their last breath - and then the salesgirl had run away - and the war had ended ten years ago so that girl would have been at most eight or nine years old, when, when, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." Harry choked up, and turned away to run from the older witch's gaze but there was a wall of dirt blocking his way and he didn't have his wand yet. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

「我——我不是有意的——」这个推断像一块落石，砸进哈利异常生动的想象里。他说了有人咽下最后一口气——然后那个女店员就跑掉了——而战争十年前才结束，所以那个女孩当时最多八九岁，当时，当时，「对不起，我不是有意的……」哈利哽咽了，转身想躲开这位年长女巫的目光，可有一堵墙挡着他的路，而他还没拿到魔杖。「对不起，对不起，对不起！」

There came a heavy sigh from behind him. "I know you are, Mr. Potter."

身后传来一声沉重的叹息。「我知道你是真心的，波特先生。」

Harry dared to peek behind him. Professor McGonagall only seemed sad, now. "I'm sorry," Harry said again, feeling wretched. "Did anything like that happen to -" and then Harry shut his lips and slapped a hand over his mouth for good measure.

哈利鼓起勇气回头偷看。现在，麦格教授似乎只显得悲伤。「对不起，」哈利又说了一遍，心里很难受。「您有没有经历过像那样的事——」然后哈利闭上嘴，又用手掌捂住了嘴，以防万一。

The older witch's face grew a little sadder. "You must learn to think before you speak, Mr. Potter, or else go through life without many friends. That has been the fate of many a Ravenclaw, and I hope it will not be yours."

年长女巫的脸更悲伤了一点。「你必须学会开口前先想一想，波特先生，否则这一生都不会有多少朋友。那是许多拉文克劳的命运，我希望那不是你的命运。」

Harry wanted to just run away. He wanted to pull out a wand and erase the whole thing from Professor McGonagall's memory, be back with her outside the shop again, make it didn't happen -

哈利只想逃走。他想拔出魔杖，把整件事从麦格教授的记忆里抹掉，回到店外跟她站在一起，当作什么都没发生过——

"But to answer your question, Mr. Potter, no, nothing like that has ever happened to me. Certainly I've watched a friend breathe their last, once or seven times. But not one of them ever cursed me as they died, and I never thought that they wouldn't forgive me. Why would you say such a thing, Mr. Potter? Why would you even think it?"

「不过，回答你的问题，波特先生，没有，我从来没经历过那样的事。我当然看过朋友咽下最后一口气，一次，或者七次。但没有一个在死的时候咒骂过我，我也从没想过他们会不原谅我。你为什么要说那种话，波特先生？你甚至为什么会那样想？」

"I, I, I," Harry swallowed. "It's just that I always try to imagine the worst thing that could happen," and maybe he'd also been joking around a little but he would rather have bitten off his own tongue than say that now.

「我、我、我，」哈利咽了口唾沫。「只是因为我总是尽量去想象可能发生的最坏情况，」也许他刚才还有一点点在开玩笑，但他宁可咬掉自己的舌头，也不愿现在说出口。

"What?" said Professor McGonagall. "But why?"

「什么？」麦格教授说。「可是为什么？」

"So I can stop it from happening!"

「这样我才能阻止它发生！」

"Mr. Potter..." the older witch's voice trailed off. Then she sighed, and knelt down beside him. "Mr. Potter," she said, gently now, "it's not your responsibility to take care of the students at Hogwarts. It's mine. I won't let anything bad happen to you or anyone else. Hogwarts is the safest place for magical children in all the wizarding world, and Madam Pomfrey has a full healer's office. You won't need a healer's kit at all, let alone a five-Galleon one."

「波特先生……」年长女巫的声音低了下去。然后她叹了口气，在他身边蹲下。「波特先生，」她现在说得温和了，「照顾霍格沃茨的学生不是你的责任。是我的。我不会让任何坏事发生在你或任何人身上。霍格沃茨是整个巫师世界对魔法孩子最安全的地方，而庞弗雷夫人有一间全套的治疗室。你根本不需要治疗包，更不用说一个五加隆的了。」

"But I do!" Harry burst out. "Nowhere is perfectly safe! And what if my parents have a heart attack or get in an accident when I go home for Christmas - Madam Pomfrey won't be there, I'll need a healer's kit of my own -"

「可是我需要！」哈利脱口而出。「没有哪个地方是完全安全的！万一我父母圣诞回家时心脏病发作、或者出了意外呢——那时候庞弗雷夫人不在，我得有一个自己的治疗包——」

"What in Merlin's name..." Professor McGonagall said. She stood up, and looked down at Harry an expression torn between annoyance and concern. "There's no need to think about such terrible things, Mr. Potter!"

「梅林的胡子啊……」麦格教授说。她站起来，低头看着哈利，表情在恼怒与关切之间摇摆。「没必要去想这么可怕的事，波特先生！」

Harry's expression twisted up into bitterness, hearing that. "Yes there is! If you don't think, you don't just get hurt yourself, you end up hurting other people!"

听到这个，哈利的表情扭曲成苦涩。「有必要！如果你不去想，你不仅仅会伤到自己，你最后还会伤到别人！」

Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, then closed it. The witch rubbed the bridge of her nose, looking thoughtful. "Mr. Potter... if I were to offer to listen to you for a while... is there anything you'd like to talk to me about?"

麦格教授张开嘴，又闭上。她揉着鼻梁，若有所思。「波特先生……如果我说我愿意听你说一会儿……你有什么想跟我说的吗？」

"About what?"

「说什么？」

"About why you're convinced you must always be on your guard against terrible things happening to you."

「说说你为什么认定，自己必须时刻提防可怕的事发生在你身上。」

Harry stared at her in puzzlement. That was a self-evident axiom. "Well..." Harry said slowly. He tried to organise his thoughts. How could he explain himself to a Professor-witch, when she didn't even know the basics? "Muggle researchers have found that people are always very optimistic, compared to reality. Like they say something will take two days and it takes ten days, or they say it'll take two months and it takes over thirty-five years. For example, in one experiment, they asked students for times by which they were 50% sure, 75% sure, and 99% sure they'd complete their homework, and only 13%, 19%, and 45% of the students finished by those times. And they found that the reason was that when they asked one group for their best-case estimates if everything went as well as possible, and another group for their average-case estimates if everything went as usual, they got back answers that were statistically indistinguishable. See, if you ask someone what they expect in the normal case, they visualise what looks like the line of maximum probability at each step along the way - everything going according to plan, with no surprises. But actually, since more than half the students didn't finish by the time they were 99% sure they'd be done, reality usually delivers results a little worse than the 'worst-case scenario'. It's called the planning fallacy, and the best way to fix it is to ask how long things took the last time you tried them. That's called using the outside view instead of the inside view. But when you're doing something new and can't do that, you just have to be really, really, really pessimistic. Like, so pessimistic that reality actually comes out better than you expected around as often and as much as it comes out worse. It's actually really hard to be so pessimistic that you stand a decent chance of undershooting real life. Like I make this big effort to be gloomy and I imagine one of my classmates getting bitten, but what actually happens is that the surviving Death Eaters attack the whole school to get at me. But on a happier note -"

哈利困惑地盯着她。这是一条不言自明的公理。「唔……」哈利缓了缓，试着整理思绪。当这位教授女巫连最基本的常识都不知道时，他该怎么向她解释自己呢？「麻瓜研究者发现，人们总是比现实乐观得多。比如他们会说某件事要花两天，结果花了十天；或者他们说会花两个月，结果花了三十五年以上。举个例子，在一项实验里，他们让学生们给出自己 50%确定、75%确定、99%确定能完成作业的时间，结果分别只有 13%、19%、45%的学生在那个时间之前完成。他们还发现原因是这样的：他们让一组给出「一切顺利、最理想情况下」的最佳情形估计，让另一组给出「一切照常」的一般情形估计，结果得到的答案在统计上无法区分。你看，如果你问一个人正常情况会怎样，他们会想象出这条路上每一步看起来都是最大概率的那条线——一切都按计划走，没有意外。但实际上，既然超过一半的学生没在 99%确定的时间前完成，现实通常给出的结果，会比『最坏情形』还要再糟糕一点。这就叫规划谬误，而修正它的最好办法，是问问上次你试的时候花了多久。这叫做用外部视角代替内部视角。但当你在做一件全新的、无法这么做的事时，你就只能真的、真的、真的很悲观。悲观到现实真正比你预期的更好，跟它比你预期更糟的频率和程度差不多。其实很难悲观到那种程度，让你真有机会低估现实。比如我费好大劲让自己阴郁起来，想象我的同学被咬，可真正发生的是幸存的食死徒袭击整个学校来抓我。不过说点开心的——」

"Stop," said Professor McGonagall.

「停，」麦格教授说。

Harry stopped. He had just been about to point out that at least they knew the Dark Lord wouldn't attack, since he was dead.

哈利停住了。他本来正要指出，至少他们知道黑魔王不会来袭击，因为他已经死了。

"I think I might not have made myself clear," the witch said, her precise Scottish voice sounding even more careful. "Did anything happen to you personally that frightened you, Mr. Potter?"

「我想我可能没有说清楚，」女巫说，她精准的苏格兰口音听上去更加谨慎。「有没有什么事，是发生在你个人身上、吓到过你的，波特先生？」

"What happened to me personally is only anecdotal evidence," Harry explained. "It doesn't carry the same weight as a replicated, peer-reviewed journal article about a controlled study with random assignment, many subjects, large effect sizes and strong statistical significance."

「发生在我个人身上的，只是轶事证据，」哈利解释说。「它的分量，比不上一个可复现、经过同行评审的期刊文章——那得有随机分组、大量受试者、大效应量和强统计显著性的对照研究。」

Professor McGonagall pinched the bridge of her nose, inhaled, and exhaled. "I would still like to hear about it," she said.

麦格教授捏了捏鼻梁，吸气，呼气。「我还是想听听，」她说。

"Um..." Harry said. He took a deep breath. "There'd been some muggings in our neighborhood, and my mother asked me to return a pan she'd borrowed to a neighbor two streets away, and I said I didn't want to because I might get mugged, and she said, 'Harry, don't say things like that!' Like thinking about it would make it happen, so if I didn't talk about it, I would be safe. I tried to explain why I wasn't reassured, and she made me carry over the pan anyway. I was too young to know how statistically unlikely it was for a mugger to target me, but I was old enough to know that not-thinking about something doesn't stop it from happening, so I was really scared."

「唔……」哈利说。他深吸一口气。「我们那一片有过几起抢劫，我妈妈让我把一个借来的锅还给两条街外的一位邻居，我说我不想去，因为可能会被抢，她说：『哈利，别这么说！』就好像一想到它就会让它发生，只要我不提，我就安全。我试着解释为什么我并没有被说服，她还是逼我把锅送了过去。我那时太小，不知道一个抢劫犯盯上我的概率有多低，但足够大了，明白不去想一件事并不会阻止它发生，所以我真的很害怕。」

"Nothing else?" Professor McGonagall said after a pause, when it became clear that Harry was done. "There isn't anything else that happened to you?"

「还有别的吗？」在确定哈利说完之后，麦格教授停顿了一下说。「你身上没有发生过别的事吗？」

"I know it doesn't sound like much," Harry defended. "But it was just one of those critical life moments, you see? I mean, I knew that not thinking about something doesn't stop it from happening, I knew that, but I could see that Mum really thought that way." Harry stopped, struggling with the anger that was starting to rise up again when he thought about it. "She wouldn't listen. I tried to tell her, I begged her not to send me out, and she laughed it off. Everything I said, she treated like some sort of big joke..." Harry forced the black rage back down again. "That's when I realised that everyone who was supposed to protect me was actually crazy, and that they wouldn't listen to me no matter how much I begged them, and that I couldn't ever rely on them to get anything right." Sometimes good intentions weren't enough, sometimes you had to be sane...

「我知道这听起来没什么大不了，」哈利辩解说。「但这是那种关键的人生时刻，你明白吗？我是说，我知道不去想一件事并不会阻止它发生，我知道的，可我能看出妈妈真的就那样想。」哈利停住了，与一想到这件事就开始重新涌上来的愤怒搏斗。「她不肯听。我试着告诉她，我求她别让我出门，她一笑置之。我说的每一句，她当成一个大笑话……」哈利把那股黑色的愤怒又压了下去。「那一刻我就明白，所有本该保护我的人其实都是疯子，无论我怎么求他们都不会听，而我永远不能指望他们把任何事做对。」有时候良好的意愿并不够，有时候你必须保持正常……

There was a long silence.

一阵长久的沉默。

Harry took the time to breathe deeply and calm himself down. There was no point in getting angry. There was no point in getting angry. All parents were like that, no adult would lower themselves far enough to place themselves on level ground with a child and listen, his genetic parents would have been no different. Sanity was a tiny spark in the night, an infinitesimally rare exception to the rule of madness, so there was no point in getting angry.

哈利趁这段时间深深地呼吸，让自己平静下来。生气没有意义。生气没有意义。所有父母都那样，没有一个成年人愿意把自己放低到与孩子平等的位置去倾听，他的亲生父母也不会例外。理智是黑夜中的一点微光，是疯狂规则下极其罕见的例外，所以生气没有意义。

Harry didn't like himself when he was angry.

哈利生气的时候，不喜欢自己。

"Thank you for sharing that, Mr. Potter," said Professor McGonagall after a while. There was an abstracted look on her face (almost exactly the same look that had appeared on Harry's own face while experimenting on the pouch, if Harry had only seen himself in a mirror to realise that). "I shall have to think about this." She turned towards the alley mouthway, and raised her wand -

「谢谢你愿意分享这些，波特先生，」过了一会儿，麦格教授说。她脸上有一种出神的表情（几乎跟哈利在实验那个皮袋时自己脸上的表情一模一样，可惜哈利要是在镜子里看见自己就会明白）。「我得好好想想这件事。」她朝巷口转过身，举起了魔杖——

"Um," Harry said, "can we go get the healer's kit now?"

「唔，」哈利说，「我们现在能去拿治疗包了吗？」

The witch paused, and looked back at him steadily. "And if I say no - that it is too expensive and you won't need it - then what?"

女巫停住，稳稳地看着他。「如果我说不行——太贵了，你也不需要——那又怎样？」

Harry's face twisted in bitterness. "Exactly what you're thinking, Professor McGonagall. Exactly what you're thinking. I conclude you're another crazy adult I can't talk to, and I start planning how to get my hands on a healer's kit anyway."

哈利的表情痛苦地扭了一下。「正是您心里想的那样，麦格教授。正是您想的。我会认定您又是一个我无法沟通的疯大人，然后开始盘算怎么弄到一个治疗包。」

"I am your guardian on this trip," Professor McGonagall said with a tinge of danger. "I will not allow you to push me around."

「我是你这次行程的监护人，」麦格教授带着一丝危险意味说。「我不会任由你支使我。」

"I understand," Harry said. He kept the resentment out of his voice, and didn't say any of the other things that came to mind. Professor McGonagall had told him to think before he spoke. He probably wouldn't remember that tomorrow, but he could at least remember it for five minutes.

「我明白，」哈利说。他把怨恨压出声音之外，也没有说出涌上心头的其他话。麦格教授告诉过他，开口前先想一想。他明天大概就忘了，但至少能记住五分钟。

The witch's wand made a slight circle in her hand, and the noises of Diagon Alley came back. "All right, young man," she said. "Let's go get that healer's kit."

女巫手里的魔杖画了个小圈，对角巷的喧嚣又回来了。「好吧，年轻人，」她说。「走，去拿你那套治疗包。」

Harry's jaw dropped in surprise. Then he hurried after her, almost stumbling in his sudden rush.

哈利惊讶得下巴都掉了下来。然后他匆匆跟上去，因为突然的急切差点绊倒。

The shop was the same as they had left it, recognisable and unrecognisable items still laid out on the slanted wooden display, the grey glow still protecting and the salesgirl back in her old position. The salesgirl looked up as they approached, her face showing surprise.

店里跟他们离开时一样，似曾相识又叫不出名字的商品仍然摆在那道斜斜的木头货架上，灰色光晕仍在守护，女店员也回到了原位。他们走近时，女店员抬起头，脸上露出惊讶。

"I'm sorry," she said as they got closer, and Harry spoke at almost the same moment, "I apologise for -"

「对不起，」她走近时说，而哈利几乎同时开了口，「我为刚才——」

They broke off and looked at each other, and then the salesgirl laughed a little. "I didn't mean to get you in trouble with Professor McGonagall," she said. Her voice lowered conspiratorially. "I hope she wasn't too awful to you."

两人都顿住了，看着对方，然后女店员轻轻笑了笑。「我不是故意让你被麦格教授教训的，」她说。她压低了声音，带点默契。「希望她没把你整得太惨。」

"Della!" said Professor McGonagall, sounding scandalised.

「黛拉！」麦格教授说，听起来震惊不已。

"Bag of gold," Harry said to his pouch, and then looked back up at the salesgirl while he counted out five Galleons. "Don't worry, I understand that she's only awful to me because she loves me."

「装金币的袋子，」哈利对他的皮袋说，然后一边数着五个加隆，一边抬头看向女店员。「别担心，我明白她对我凶，是因为她爱我。」

He counted out five Galleons to the salesgirl while Professor McGonagall was spluttering something unimportant. "One Emergency Healing Pack Plus, please."

他一边数出五个加隆递给女店员，一边听麦格教授在旁支支吾吾说着什么不重要的话。「请给我一个紧急治疗包加强版。」

It was actually sort of unnerving to see how the Widening Lip swallowed the briefcase-sized medical kit. Harry couldn't help wondering what would happen if he tried climbing into the mokeskin pouch himself, given that only the person who put something in was supposed to be able to take it out again.

看着扩口咒把公文包大小的医疗包整个吞下去，其实有点让人不安。哈利忍不住想，要是他自己试着爬进莫克皮袋会怎样，毕竟照理说，只有放东西进去的人才能再把它取出来。

When the pouch was done... eating... his hard-won purchase, Harry swore he heard a small burping sound afterward. That had to have been spelled in on purpose. The alternative hypothesis was too horrifying to contemplate... in fact Harry couldn't even think of any alternative hypotheses. Harry looked back up at the Professor, as they began walking through Diagon Alley once more. "Where to next?"

当皮袋……吃……完他好不容易才买到的收获之后，哈利发誓自己事后听到了一声小小的打嗝。那一定是故意施上去的咒。另一个解释太可怕，不堪设想……事实上，哈利想不出任何别的解释。当他们再次走在对角巷上时，哈利抬头看向教授。「接下来去哪儿？」

Professor McGonagall pointed toward a shop that looked as if it had been made from flesh instead of bricks and covered in fur instead of paint. "Small pets are permitted at Hogwarts - you could get an owl to send letters, for example -"

麦格教授指向一家店铺，它看起来像是用肉而不是砖砌成，上面覆的不是漆而是毛。「霍格沃茨允许养小宠物——比如你可以买只猫头鹰来送信——」

"Can I pay a Knut or something and rent an owl when I need to send mail?"

「我能付一个纳特什么的，等需要寄信时租一只猫头鹰吗？」

"Yes," said Professor McGonagall.

「可以，」麦格教授说。

"Then I think emphatically no."

「那我坚决不要。」

Professor McGonagall nodded, as though ticking off a point. "Might I ask why not?"

麦格教授点点头，像是在勾掉一个要点。「能问问为什么吗？」

"I had a pet rock once. It died."

「我养过一块宠物石头。它死了。」

"You don't think you could take care of a pet?"

「你觉得你照顾不好宠物吗？」

"I could," Harry said, "but I would end up obsessing all day long about whether I'd remembered to feed it that day or if it was slowly starving in its cage, wondering where its master was and why there wasn't any food."

「我能照顾好，」哈利说，「但我会整天忧心忡忡，想我那天有没有记得喂它，还是它正在笼子里慢慢饿死，想着它的主人在哪儿、为什么没有食物。」

"That poor owl," the older witch said in a soft voice. "Abandoned like that. I wonder what it would do."

「那只可怜的猫头鹰，」年长女巫用轻柔的声音说。「被那样抛弃。我真想知道它会怎么办。」

"Well, I expect it'd get really hungry and start trying to claw its way out of the cage or the box or whatever, though it probably wouldn't have much luck with that -" Harry stopped short.

「嗯，我猜它会变得很饿，然后开始想方设法用爪子把笼子、盒子或者别的东西扒开，不过它大概没什么运气——」哈利刹住了。

The witch went on, still in that soft voice. "And what would happen to it afterward?"

女巫继续说下去，仍旧是那轻柔的声音。「那么它之后又会怎么样呢？」

"Excuse me," Harry said, and he reached up to take Professor McGonagall by the hand, gently but firmly, and steered her into yet another alleyway; after ducking so many well-wishers the process had become almost unnoticeably routine. "Please cast that silencing spell."

「失陪一下，」哈利说，伸手轻轻却坚定地握住麦格教授的手，把她引向又一条小巷；在躲开这么多好心人之后，这套流程已经熟练到几乎不起眼。「请您施那个静音咒。」

"Quietus."

「静音（Quietus）。」

Harry's voice was shaking. "That owl does not represent me, my parents never locked me in a cupboard and left me to starve, I do not have abandonment fears and I don't like the trend of your thoughts, Professor McGonagall!"

哈利的声音在发抖。「那只猫头鹰并不能代表我，我父母从没把我锁在碗柜里挨饿，我没有被抛弃的恐惧，我也不喜欢你思绪的走向，麦格教授！」

The witch looked down at him gravely. "And what thoughts would those be, Mr. Potter?"

女巫低头严肃地看着他。「那是什么样的思绪，波特先生？」

"You think I was," Harry was having trouble saying it, "I was abused?"

「你认为我，」哈利难以启齿，「我受过虐待？」

"Were you?"

「你有吗？」

"No!" Harry shouted. "No, I never was! Do you think I'm stupid? I know about the concept of child abuse, I know about inappropriate touching and all of that and if anything like that happened I would call the police! And report it to the head teacher! And look up social services in the phone book! And tell Grandpa and Grandma and Mrs. Figg! But my parents never did anything like that, never ever ever! How dare you suggest such a thing!"

「没有！」哈利喊道。「没有，我从没有过！你以为我蠢吗？我知道儿童虐待这个概念，我知道不当接触之类的一切，如果发生那样的事，我会报警！还会报告给校长！在电话簿里找社会服务部门！告诉爷爷奶奶和费格太太！可我父母从没做过那样的事，从来没有，一次都没有！你怎么敢这样暗示！」

The older witch gazed at him steadily. "It is my duty as Deputy Headmistress to investigate possible signs of abuse in the children under my care."

年长女巫稳稳地凝视着他。「作为副校长，调查我照看的孩子身上可能存在的受虐迹象，是我的职责。」

Harry's anger was spiralling out of control into pure, black fury. "Don't you ever dare breathe a word of these, these insinuations to anyone else! No one, do you hear me, McGonagall? An accusation like that can ruin people and destroy families even when the parents are completely innocent! I've read about it in the newspapers!" Harry's voice was climbing to a high-pitched scream. "The system doesn't know how to stop, it doesn't believe the parents or the children when they say nothing happened! Don't you dare threaten my family with that! I won't let you destroy my home!"

哈利的愤怒正失控地翻滚成纯粹的黑色怒火。「你永远、永远别敢把这些、这些含沙射影对任何人说一个字！谁也不行，你听见了吗，麦格教授？这样的指控，即使在父母完全无辜时，也能毁掉人、毁掉整个家庭！我在报纸上读到过！」哈利的声音拔高成了尖叫。「这套系统不知道该怎么停下来，当父母或孩子说『什么都没发生』时，它也不相信！你别拿这个威胁我的家人！我不会让你毁了我的家！」

"Harry," the older witch said softly, and she reached out a hand towards him -

「哈利，」年长女巫轻声说，她朝他伸出一只手——

Harry took a fast step back, and his hand snapped up and knocked hers away.

哈利飞快地后退一步，手猛地扬起，把她的手拍开。

McGonagall froze, then she pulled her hand back, and took a step backwards. "Harry, it's all right," she said. "I believe you."

麦格教授僵住了，然后把手收回去，后退一步。「哈利，没事的，」她说。「我相信你。」

"Do you," Harry hissed. The fury still roaring through his blood. "Or are you just waiting to get away from me so you can file the papers?"

「你信吗，」哈利嘶声说。怒火仍在他血脉里咆哮。「还是你只是等着离开我，好去递交文件？」

"Harry, I saw your house. I saw you with your parents. They love you. You love them. I do believe you when you say that your parents are not abusing you. But I had to ask, because there is something strange at work here."

「哈利，我看到过你的家。我看到你跟你父母在一起。他们爱你。你也爱他们。你说他们没虐待你，我真的相信。但我必须问，因为这里有些不对劲的事在起作用。」

Harry stared at her coldly. "Like what?"

哈利冷冷地盯着她。「比如？」

"Harry, I've seen many abused children in my time at Hogwarts, it would break your heart to know how many. And, when you're happy, you don't behave like one of those children, not at all. You smile at strangers, you hug people, I put my hand on your shoulder and you didn't flinch. But sometimes, only sometimes, you say or do something that seems very much like... someone who spent his first eleven years locked in a cellar. Not the loving family that I saw." Professor McGonagall tilted her head, her expression growing puzzled again.

「哈利，我在霍格沃茨这些年见过很多受虐的孩子，知道有多少会让人心碎。而且，你高兴的时候，一点都不像那些孩子，一点都不像。你对陌生人微笑，你拥抱别人，我把手放在你肩上，你也没有退缩。但有时候，只是有时候，你会说出或做出一些事，非常像……一个头十一年被关在地窖里的人。而不是我见过的那个充满爱的家庭。」麦格教授偏了偏头，表情又困惑起来。

Harry took this in, processing it. The black rage began to drain away, as it dawned on him that he was being listened to respectfully, and that his family wasn't in danger.

哈利把这话听进去，消化着。黑色怒火开始消退，因为他意识到自己正被尊重地倾听，而他的家人并没有危险。

"And how do you explain your observations, Professor McGonagall?"

「那您怎么解释您的观察，麦格教授？」

"I don't know," she said. "But it's possible that something could have happened to you that you don't remember."

「我不知道，」她说。「但有可能，你身上发生过一些你不记得的事。」

Fury rose up again in Harry. That sounded all too much like what he'd read in the newspaper stories of shattered families. "Suppressed memory is a load of pseudoscience! People do not repress traumatic memories, they remember them all too well for the rest of their lives!"

愤怒又在哈利心中涌起。这太像他在报纸上读到的、那些破碎家庭的故事了。「压抑记忆是一堆伪科学！人们并不会压抑创伤记忆，他们余生都会记得一清二楚！」

"No, Mr. Potter. There is a Charm called Obliviation."

「不，波特先生。有一种咒语叫遗忘咒。」

Harry froze in place. "A spell that erases memories?"

哈利僵在原地。「一种抹去记忆的咒语？」

The older witch nodded. "But not all the effects of the experience, if you see what I'm saying, Mr. Potter."

年长女巫点头。「但并不是那次经历的全部影响，如果你明白我在说什么的话，波特先生。」

A chill went down Harry's spine. That hypothesis... could not be easily refuted. "But my parents couldn't do that!"

一股寒意顺着哈利的脊柱窜下来。那个假设……不容易被轻易证伪。「可是我父母做不到那一点！」

"Indeed not," said Professor McGonagall. "It would have taken someone from the wizarding world. There's... no way to be certain, I'm afraid."

「确实不能，」麦格教授说。「那需要巫师世界的人来动手。恐怕……没有办法确定。」

Harry's rationalist skills began to boot up again. "Professor McGonagall, how sure are you of your observations, and what alternative explanations could there also be?"

哈利的理性主义技能开始重新启动。「麦格教授，您对自己的观察有多确定，还有哪些可能的替代解释？」

The witch opened her hands, as though to show their emptiness. "Sure? I'm sure of nothing, Mr. Potter. In all my life I've never met anyone else like you. Sometimes you just don't seem eleven years old or even all that human."

女巫摊开双手，仿佛要展示它们的空。「确定？我对什么都不确定，波特先生。我这辈子从没遇到过别人像你这样。有时候你简直不像个十一岁的孩子，甚至不像人类。」

Harry's eyebrows rose toward the sky -

哈利的眉毛朝天空扬起——

"I'm sorry!" Professor McGonagall said quickly. "I'm very sorry, Mr. Potter. I was trying to make a point and I'm afraid that came out sounding different from what I had in mind -"

「对不起！」麦格教授赶紧说。「非常抱歉，波特先生。我是想说明一个观点，恐怕它说出来跟我心里想的不太一样——」

"On the contrary, Professor McGonagall," Harry said, and slowly smiled. "I shall take it as a very great compliment. But would you mind if I offered an alternative explanation?"

「恰恰相反，麦格教授，」哈利说着，缓缓露出微笑。「我会把这当作极大的恭维。不过，您介意我提出一个替代解释吗？」

"Please do."

「请说。」

"Children aren't meant to be too much smarter than their parents," Harry said. "Or too much saner, maybe - my father could probably outsmart me if he was, you know, actually trying, instead of using his adult intelligence mainly to come up with new reasons not to change his mind -" Harry stopped. "I'm too smart, Professor. I've got nothing to say to normal children. Adults don't respect me enough to really talk to me. And frankly, even if they did, they wouldn't sound as smart as Richard Feynman, so I might as well read something Richard Feynman wrote instead. I'm isolated, Professor McGonagall. I've been isolated my whole life. Maybe that has some of the same effects as being locked in a cellar. And I'm too intelligent to look up to my parents the way that children are designed to do. My parents love me, but they don't feel obliged to respond to reason, and sometimes I feel like they're the children - children who won't listen and have absolute authority over my whole existence. I try not to be too bitter about it, but I also try to be honest with myself, so, yes, I'm bitter. And I also have an anger management problem, but I'm working on it. That's all."

「孩子本不该比父母聪明那么多，」哈利说。「或者理智那么多，也许——我父亲也许会比我更聪明，如果他真的、你知道，认真去尝试的话，而不是把他的成人智力主要用来想出新的理由，不去改变自己的主意——」哈利停下来。「我太聪明了，教授。我对正常孩子没话说。成年人对我没有足够的尊重，来真正跟我交谈。而且坦白说，就算他们愿意，他们也不会像理查德·费曼那么聪明，所以我宁可读理查德·费曼写的东西。我很孤立，麦格教授。我一辈子都很孤立。也许这会带来一些跟被关在地窖里相同的效果。而我太聪明，没法像孩子被设计的那样去仰望父母。我父母爱我，但他们不觉得有必要回应道理，有时候我觉得他们才是孩子——不肯听人说话、却对我的整个存在拥有绝对权力的孩子。我尽量不为此太过苦涩，但我也尽量对自己诚实，所以，是的，我很苦涩。而且我还有愤怒管理的问题，不过我在改善。就这些。」

"That's all?"

「就这些？」

Harry nodded firmly. "That's all. Surely, Professor McGonagall, even in magical Britain, the normal explanation is always worth considering?"

哈利坚定地点头。「就这些。麦格教授，即使是在魔法英国，正常的解释也总是值得考虑的吧？」

It was later in the day, the sun lowering in the summer sky and shoppers beginning to peter out from the streets. Some shops had already closed; Harry and Professor McGonagall had bought his textbooks from Flourish and Blotts just under the deadline. With only a slight explosion when Harry had made a beeline for the keyword "Arithmancy" and discovered that the seventh-year textbooks invoked nothing more mathematically advanced than trigonometry.

时间已经到了当天稍晚，太阳在夏季的天空中低垂，逛街的人开始从街上散去。有些店已经关了门；哈利和麦格教授赶在丽痕书店关门前买好了他的课本。只是当哈利直奔「算术占卜」这个关键词，却发现七年级课本里最先进的数学也不过是三角学时，他轻轻地炸了一下。

At this moment, though, dreams of low-hanging research fruit were far from Harry's mind.

不过此刻，那些垂手可得的研究果实，离哈利的脑海还远得很。

At this moment, the two of them were walking out of Ollivander's, and Harry was staring at his wand. He'd waved it, and produced multicoloured sparks, which really shouldn't have come as such an extra shock after everything else he'd seen, but somehow -

此刻，他们正走出奥利凡德的店，而哈利正盯着自己的魔杖。他挥了一下，就冒出了五彩的火花，在见识过那么多之后，这本不该再让他如此额外震惊，可不知怎地——

我能施魔法。

我。就是说，我这个人。我是有魔法的；我是个巫师。

He had felt the magic pouring up his arm, and in that instant, realised that he had always had that sense, that he had possessed it his whole life, the sense that was not sight or sound or smell or taste or touch but only magic. Like having eyes but keeping them always closed, so that you didn't even realise that you were seeing darkness; and then one day the eye opened, and saw the world. The shock of it had poured through him, touching pieces of himself, awakening them, and then died away in seconds; leaving only the certain knowledge that he was now a wizard, and always had been, and had even, in some strange way, always known it.

他早已感觉到魔法涌上他手臂，而在那一瞬，他意识到自己一直都有那种感觉，他这辈子都拥有它——那不是视觉、听觉、嗅觉、味觉或触觉，而只有魔法。就像有一双眼睛却始终闭着，以至于你根本没意识到自己看见的是黑暗；然后某一天眼睛睁开，看见了世界。那股冲击流过他全身，触动他自身的碎片，把它们唤醒，然后在几秒内消逝；只留下一个确切的认知：他现在是个巫师了，而且一直一直都是，甚至在某种奇怪的意义上，他早就知道。

And -

还有——

「你注定要拿到这根魔杖，真是奇怪——它的兄弟，唉，它的兄弟给了你那道伤疤。」

That could not possibly be coincidence. There had been thousands of wands in that shop. Well, okay, actually it could be coincidence, there were six billion people in the world and thousand-to-one coincidences happened every day. But Bayes's Theorem said that any reasonable hypothesis which made it more likely than a thousand-to-one that he'd end up with the brother to the Dark Lord's wand, was going to have an advantage.

那绝不可能是巧合。那家店里可有成千上万根魔杖。好吧，行，其实它可能是巧合，世界上有六十亿人，千分之一的巧合每天都在发生。但贝叶斯定理说，任何合理的假设，只要它使得他拿到黑魔王魔杖兄弟的概率比千分之一更高，就会占优势。

Professor McGonagall had simply said how peculiar and left it at that, which had put Harry into a state of shock at the sheer, overwhelming uncuriosity of wizards and witches. In no imaginable world would Harry have just went "Hm" and walked out of the shop without even trying to come up with a hypothesis for what was going on.

麦格教授只说了一句「真奇怪」，就到此为止，这让哈利震惊于巫师和女巫那种彻底、压倒性的不好奇。在任何可以想象的世界里，哈利都不会只是「嗯」一声就走那家店，连试着给正在发生的事想一个假设都不试。

His left hand rose and touched his scar.

他的左手抬起，摸了摸那道伤疤。

What... exactly...

究竟……是怎样的……

"You're a full wizard now," said Professor McGonagall. "Congratulations."

「你现在是个正式的巫师了，」麦格教授说。「恭喜。」

Harry nodded.

哈利点点头。

"And what do you think of the wizarding world?" said she.

「你觉得魔法世界怎么样？」她说。

"It's strange," Harry said. "I ought to be thinking about everything I've seen of magic... everything that I now know is possible, and everything I now know to be a lie, and all the work left before me to understand it. And yet I find myself distracted by relative trivialities like," Harry lowered his voice, "the whole Boy-Who-Lived thing." There didn't seem to be anyone nearby, but no point tempting fate.

「很奇怪，」哈利说。「我本该想着我所见到的魔法的一切……所有我现在知道可能的事，所有我现在知道是谎言的事，以及我面前等着我去理解的那么多工作。可我却发现自己被相对琐碎的事分了心，像，」哈利压低了声音，「『大难不死的男孩』这一整回事。」附近似乎没有人，但没必要去考验命运。

Professor McGonagall ahemmed. "Really? You don't say."

麦格教授「咳咳」了一声。「真的吗？真没想到啊。」

Harry nodded. "Yes. It's just... odd. To find out that you were part of this grand story, the quest to defeat the great and terrible Dark Lord, and it's already done. Finished. Completely over with. Like you're Frodo Baggins and you find out that your parents took you to Mount Doom and had you toss in the Ring when you were one year old and you don't even remember it."

哈利点头。「是的。只是……有点怪。发现自己是这个宏大故事的一部分，这场讨伐伟大而可怕的黑魔王的任务，而它已经完成了。结束了。彻彻底底结束了。就像你是佛罗多·巴金斯，却发现你父母在你一岁时带你去了末日火山，让你把魔戒扔进去，而你根本不记得那件事。」

Professor McGonagall's smile had grown somewhat fixed.

麦格教授的微笑已经变得有些僵硬。

"You know, if I were anyone else, anyone else at all, I'd probably be pretty worried about living up to that start. Gosh, Harry, what have you done since you defeated the Dark Lord? Your own bookshop? That's great! Say, did you know I named my child after you? But I have hopes that this will not prove to be a problem." Harry sighed. "Still... it's almost enough to make me wish that there were some loose ends from the quest, just so I could say that I really, you know, participated somehow."

「你知道，如果我是任何其他人，任何别的人，我大概会相当担心配不上那个起点。天哪，哈利，你打败黑魔王之后都做了什么？开了家自己的书店？太棒了！喂，你知道我给孩子取了你的名字吗？但我希望这不会成为问题。」哈利叹了口气。「不过……这几乎足以让我希望，这场冒险能留下一些未了之事，这样我就能说，我真的，你知道，以某种方式参与过。」

"Oh?" said Professor McGonagall in an odd tone. "What did you have in mind?"

「哦？」麦格教授用一种奇怪的语气说。「你想到什么了？」

"Well, for example, you mentioned that my parents were betrayed. Who betrayed them?"

「嗯，比如说，你提到我父母是被出卖的。谁出卖了他们？」

"Sirius Black," the witch said, almost hissing the name. "He's in Azkaban. Wizarding prison."

「西里斯·布莱克，」女巫说，几乎是嘶着这个名字。「他在阿兹卡班。巫师监狱。」

"How probable is it that Sirius Black will break out of prison and I'll have to track him down and defeat him in some sort of spectacular duel, or better yet put a large bounty on his head and hide out in Australia while I wait for the results?"

「西里斯·布莱克越狱、我得追踪他、跟他在某场壮观的决斗里分出胜负，或者更好的是，在他头上挂一大笔悬赏，然后躲到澳大利亚等结果——这个概率有多大？」

Professor McGonagall blinked. Twice. "Not likely. No one has ever escaped from Azkaban, and I doubt that he will be the first."

麦格教授眨了眨眼。两次。「不大可能。没人逃出过阿兹卡班，我怀疑他会是第一个。」

Harry was a bit sceptical of that "no one has ever escaped from Azkaban" line. Still, maybe with magic you could actually get close to a 100% perfect prison, especially if you had a wand and they did not. The best way to get out would be to not go there in the first place.

哈利对那句「没人逃出过阿兹卡班」持一点点怀疑。不过也许，有魔法，你确实可以建一个接近百分百完美的监狱，尤其当你有魔杖而对方没有的时候。最好的出狱方式，就是一开始别进去。

"All right then," Harry said. "Sounds like it's been nicely wrapped up." He sighed, scrubbing his palm over his head. "Or maybe the Dark Lord didn't really die that night. Not completely. His spirit lingers, whispering to people in nightmares that bleed over into the waking world, searching for a way back into the living lands he swore to destroy, and now, in accordance with the ancient prophecy, he and I are locked in a deadly duel where the winner shall lose and the loser shall win -"

「那好吧，」哈利说。「听起来这事收得干干净净。」他叹口气，用手掌擦了擦头顶。「又或者，黑魔王那晚并没有真的死。没有完全死。他的灵魂仍在徘徊，在渗进醒着世界的噩梦里对人低语，寻找一条回到那片他发誓要毁灭的活人土地的路，而现在，按照古老预言的安排，我和他被困在一场生死决斗里，胜者将败、败者将胜——」

Professor McGonagall's head swivelled, and her eyes darted around, as though to search the street for listeners.

麦格教授的头猛地一转，眼睛四下一扫，像是在街上寻找偷听的人。

"I'm joking, Professor," Harry said with some annoyance. Sheesh, why did she always take everything so seriously -

「我在开玩笑，教授，」哈利带着几分恼火说。老天，她为什么总把一切都那么当真——

A slow sinking sensation began to dawn in the pit of Harry's stomach.

一种缓慢的下沉感开始在哈利胃里浮现。

Professor McGonagall looked at Harry with a calm expression. A very, very calm expression. Then a smile was put on. "Of course you are, Mr. Potter."

麦格教授用平静的表情看着哈利。一个非常、非常平静的表情。然后一个微笑被戴了上去。「你当然是开玩笑，波特先生。」

完了。

If Harry had needed to formalise the wordless inference that had just flashed into his mind, it would have come out something like, 'If I estimate the probability of Professor McGonagall doing what I just saw as the result of carefully controlling herself, versus the probability distribution for all the things she would do naturally if I made a bad joke, then this behavior is significant evidence for her hiding something.'

如果哈利需要把刚闪进脑海的那个无声推断公式化，它大概会这样说：『如果我把麦格教授刚才的举动，估计成她是在小心控制自己而做出的，跟我在讲了一个烂笑话后她会自然地做出的一切行为的概率分布相比，那么这种行为，是她在隐瞒某件事的重要证据。』

But what Harry actually thought was, Aw crap.

但哈利实际想的是：完了。

Harry turned his own head to scan the street. Nope, no one nearby. "He's not dead, is he," Harry sighed.

哈利也转过头去扫视街道。没有，附近没人。「他没死，对吧，」哈利叹了口气。

"Mr. Potter -"

「波特先生——」

"The Dark Lord is alive. Of course he's alive. It was an act of utter optimism for me to have even dreamed otherwise. I must have taken leave of my senses, I can't imagine what I was thinking. Just because someone said that his body was found burned to a crisp, I can't imagine why I would have thought he was dead. Clearly I have much left to learn about the art of proper pessimism."

「黑魔王还活着。他当然活着。我哪怕只是梦到相反的情况，都是彻头彻尾的乐观行为。我一定是失了智，我完全想象不到我当时在想什么。就因为有人说他的尸体被烧成了一团焦炭，我就想不出自己为什么会认为他死了。显然，在正确悲观的艺术上，我还有很多要学。」

"Mr. Potter -"

「波特先生——」

"At least tell me there's not really a prophecy..." Professor McGonagall was still giving him that bright, fixed smile. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me."

「至少告诉我并没有什么预言……」麦格教授仍旧对他挂着那个明亮、僵硬的微笑。「哦，你是在跟我开玩笑吧。」

"Mr. Potter, you shouldn't go inventing things to worry about -"

「波特先生，你不该自己编些事来担心——」

"Are you actually going to tell me that? Imagine my reaction later, when I find out that there was something to worry about after all."

「你难道真的要跟我说这个吗？想想我后来发现果然有事要担心时，会是什么反应。」

Her fixed smile faltered.

她僵硬的微笑动摇了。

Harry's shoulders slumped. "I have a whole world of magic to analyse. I do not have time for this."

哈利的肩膀垮了下来。「我有一个完整的魔法世界要分析。我可没空管这个。」

Then both of them shut up, as a man in flowing orange robes appeared on the street and slowly passed them by; Professor McGonagall's eyes tracked him, unobtrusively. Harry's mouth was moving as he chewed hard on his lip, and someone watching closely would have noticed a tiny spot of blood appear.

然后两人都闭上了嘴，因为一个穿着飘动橙袍的男人出现在街上，缓缓从他们身边走过；麦格教授的目光悄悄追随着他，不露声色。哈利一边狠狠咬着嘴唇，一边嘴巴动着，如果有人仔细观察，会注意到一小点血珠渗出来。

When the orange-robed man had passed into the distance, Harry spoke again, in a low murmur. "Are you going to tell me the truth now, Professor McGonagall? And don't bother trying to wave it off, I'm not stupid."

当橙袍男人走远了，哈利又开口，声音低沉。「你现在愿意告诉我真相了吗，麦格教授？不用费劲岔开话题，我不蠢。」

"You're eleven years old, Mr. Potter!" she said in a harsh whisper.

「你才十一岁，波特先生！」她用严厉的耳语说。

"And therefore subhuman. Sorry... for a moment there, I forgot."

「所以是次等人。抱歉……刚才那一瞬间，我忘了。」

"These are dreadful and important matters! They are secret, Mr. Potter! It is a catastrophe that you, still a child, know even this much! You must not tell anyone, do you understand? Absolutely no one!"

「这些是极其可怕而重要的事！它们是秘密，波特先生！你，一个孩子，竟然知道这么多，这本身就是一场灾难！你不能告诉任何人，你听明白了吗？绝对不能告诉任何人！」

As sometimes happened when Harry got sufficiently angry, his blood went cold, instead of hot, and a terrible dark clarity descended over his mind, mapping out possible tactics and assessing their consequences with iron realism.

像哈利被激怒到足够程度时偶尔会发生的那样，他的血变冷了，而不是变热，一种可怕的黑暗清明笼罩了他的脑海，勾勒出可能的策略，以钢铁般的现实感评估着它们的后果。

指出你有权知道：失败。在麦格教授眼里，十一岁的孩子没有资格知道任何事。

说你再也不做朋友了：失败。她并不足够看重你的友谊。

Point out that you will be in danger if you do not know: Failure. Plans have already been made based on your ignorance. The certain inconvenience of rethinking will seem far more unpalatable than the mere uncertain prospect of your coming to harm.

指出你若不知道就会有危险：失败。计划早已基于你的无知而制定。重新思考带来的那种确切的麻烦，会比你可能受到伤害这个单纯的、不确定的前景，更令人难以下咽。

正义和道理都会失败。你必须要么找到一件你有、而她想要的东西，要么找到一件你能做、而她害怕的事……

Ah.

啊。

"Well then, Professor," Harry said in a low, icy tone, "it sounds like I have something you want. You can, if you like, tell me the truth, the whole truth, and in return I will keep your secrets. Or you can try to keep me ignorant so you can use me as a pawn, in which case I will owe you nothing."

「那么，教授，」哈利用低沉而冰冷的声音说，「听起来我确实有你想要的东西。如果你愿意，你可以告诉我真相，全部的真相，作为交换我会替你保守秘密。或者你也可以试着让我保持无知，好把我当棋子用，那样的话，我不欠你任何东西。」

McGonagall stopped short in the street. Her eyes blazed and her voice descended into an outright hiss. "How dare you!"

麦格教授在街上猛地停住。她的眼睛燃烧起来，声音变成毫不掩饰的嘶声。「你竟敢！」

"How dare you!" he whispered back at her.

「你竟敢！」他低声回敬。

"You would blackmail me?"

「你要勒索我？」

Harry's lips twisted. "I am offering you a favor. I am giving you a chance to protect your precious secret. If you refuse I will have every natural motive to make inquiries elsewhere, not to spite you, but because I have to know! Get past your pointless anger at a child who you think ought to obey you, and you'll realise that any sane adult would do the same! Look at it from my perspective! How would you feel if it was YOU?"

哈利的嘴唇扭了一下。「我是在帮你一个忙。我是给你一个机会保护你那宝贵的秘密。如果你拒绝，我会有每一个自然的动机去别处打听，不是要跟你作对，而是因为我必须知道！放下你对一个你认为该听你话的孩子的无谓愤怒，你就会明白，任何一个正常的成年人都会这样做！从我的角度看！如果换作『你』，你会怎么想？」

Harry watched McGonagall, observed her harsh breathing. It occurred to him that it was time to ease off the pressure, let her simmer for a while. "You don't have to decide right away," Harry said in a more normal tone. "I'll understand if you want time to think about my offer... but I'll warn you of one thing," Harry said, his voice going colder. "Don't try that Obliviation spell on me. Some time ago I worked out a signal, and I have already sent that signal to myself. If I find that signal and I don't remember sending it..." Harry let his voice trail off significantly.

哈利看着麦格，观察她粗重的呼吸。他意识到，是时候减轻压力，让她慢慢消化一会儿了。「你不需要马上决定，」哈利用更正常的语气说。「你要是想花点时间考虑我的提议，我能理解……但我要警告你一件事，」哈利说，声音变得更冷。「别对我用那遗忘咒。一段时间以前，我设计了一个信号，而且我已经把那个信号发给了我自己。如果我找到那个信号，却不记得发过它……」哈利意味深长地让声音拖了下去。

McGonagall's face was working as her expressions shifted. "I... wasn't thinking of Obliviating you, Mr. Potter... but why would you have invented such a signal if you didn't know about -"

麦格教授的脸在变动，表情不断切换。「我……没想过要对你用遗忘咒，波特先生……但如果你不知道——你又怎么会发明这样一个信号——」

"I thought of it while reading a Muggle science-fiction book, and said to myself, well, just in case... And no, I won't tell you the signal, I'm not dumb."

「我是在读一本麻瓜科幻书的时候想到的，我对自己说，嗯，以防万一……而且，不，我不会告诉你信号是什么，我又不傻。」

"I hadn't planned to ask," McGonagall said. She seemed to fold in on herself, and suddenly looked very old, and very tired. "This has been an exhausting day, Mr. Potter. Can we get your trunk, and send you home? I will trust you not to speak upon this matter until I have had time to think. Keep in mind that there are only two other people in the whole world who know about this matter, and they are Headmaster Albus Dumbledore and Professor Severus Snape."

「我没打算问，」麦格教授说。她似乎把自己蜷缩起来，一下子显得很老、很疲惫。「今天真是累人的一天，波特先生。我们能不能去拿你的行李箱，送你回家？在我有时间思考之前，我会信任你不会谈起这件事。记住，全世界知道这件事的只有另外两个人，他们是校长阿不思·邓布利多和西弗勒斯·斯内普教授。」

So. New information; that was a peace offering. Harry nodded in acceptance, and turned his head to look forward, and started walking again, as his blood slowly began to warm over once more.

那么。新的信息；那是一份和解的表示。哈利点头接受，转回头看向前方，继续往前走，他的血又一次慢慢暖了起来。

"So now I've got to find some way to kill an immortal Dark Wizard," Harry said, and sighed in frustration. "I really wish you had told me that before I started shopping."

「所以现在我得想办法杀死一个不死的黑巫师，」哈利说着，沮丧地叹气。「我真希望你在让我开始购物之前就告诉我这个。」

The trunk shop was more richly appointed than any other shop Harry had visited; the curtains were lush and delicately patterned, the floor and walls of stained and polished wood, and the trunks occupied places of honor on polished ivory platforms. The salesman was dressed in robes of finery only a cut below those of Lucius Malfoy, and spoke with exquisite, oily politeness to both Harry and Professor McGonagall.

行李箱店比哈利去过的任何一家店都更加陈设华贵；窗帘华丽而带着精致的花纹，地板和墙壁是着色打磨过的木头，行李箱摆在抛光的象牙色平台上，占据着荣誉的位置。店员穿着只比卢修斯·马尔福低一档的华丽长袍，用精致而油滑的礼貌对哈利和麦格教授说话。

Harry had asked his questions, and had gravitated to a trunk of heavy-looking wood, not polished but warm and solid, carved with the pattern of a guardian dragon whose eyes shifted to look at anyone nearing it. A trunk charmed to be light, to shrink on command, to sprout small clawed tentacles from its bottom and squirm after its owner. A trunk with two drawers on each of four sides that each slid out to reveal compartments as deep as the whole trunk. A lid with four locks each of which would reveal a different space inside. And - this was the important part - a handle on the bottom which slid out a frame containing a staircase leading down into a small, lighted room that would hold, Harry estimated, around twelve bookcases.

哈利问完了他的问题，被一只看起来木头很重的箱子吸引过去——没有抛光，却很温暖、结实，上面刻着一头守护龙的图案，龙的眼睛会转向任何靠近它的人。这是一只被施了咒的箱子，能变轻、能听从命令缩小、能从底部生出带爪的小触手，扭动着跟在主人身后。一只四面各有两格抽屉的箱子，每格都能滑出来，露出跟整个箱子一样深的隔间。一个盖子，四把锁，每把都会打开里面不同的空间。而这——才是重点——底部有一个拉手，拉出一个框，框里是一道通向下面的楼梯，通向一间小小的、亮着灯的房间，哈利估计能放下大约十二个书架。

If they made luggages like this, Harry didn't know why anyone bothered owning a house.

要是行李箱都做成这样，哈利真不懂为什么还有人要买房。

One hundred and eight golden Galleons. That was the price of a good trunk, lightly used. At around fifty British pounds to the Galleon, that was enough to buy a second-hand car. It would be more expensive than everything else Harry had ever bought in his whole life all put together.

一百零八枚金色加隆。那是一个好箱子、九成新的价格。按一加隆约合五十英镑来算，足够买一辆二手车了。这会比哈利这辈子买过的所有东西加起来还要贵。

Ninety-seven Galleons. That was how much was left in the bag of gold Harry had been allowed to take out of Gringotts.

九十七加隆。那是哈利获准从古灵阁取出的那袋金币里剩下来的。

Professor McGonagall wore a look of chagrin upon her face. After a long day's shopping she hadn't needed to ask Harry how much gold was left in the bag, after the salesman quoted his price, which meant the Professor could do good mental arithmetic without pen and paper. Once again, Harry reminded himself that scientifically illiterate was not at all the same thing as stupid.

麦格教授脸上露出懊恼的神情。逛了一天街下来，在店员报出价格后，她根本不需要问哈利袋里还剩多少钱，这说明教授不需要纸笔就能做好心算。又一次，哈利提醒自己：科学文盲跟愚蠢绝不是一回事。

"I'm sorry, young man," said Professor McGonagall. "This is entirely my fault. I would offer to take you back to Gringotts, but the bank will be closed for all but emergency services now."

「对不起，年轻人，」麦格教授说。「这完全是我的错。我本想带你回古灵阁，可现在银行除了紧急业务外都关门了。」

Harry looked at her, wondering...

哈利看着她，纳闷着……

"Well," sighed Professor McGonagall, as she swung on one heel, "we may as well go, I suppose."

「唉，」麦格教授叹了口气，一转身就要走，「我看我们只好走吧。」

...she hadn't lost it completely when a child had dared defy her. She hadn't been happy, but she had thought instead of exploding in fury. It might have just been that there was an immortal Dark Lord to fight - that she had needed Harry's goodwill. But most adults wouldn't have been capable of thinking even that much; wouldn't consider future consequences at all, if someone lower in status had refused to obey them...

……当一个孩子敢违抗她时，她并没有彻底失控。她不高兴，但她想了，而不是怒火爆发。也许只是因为有一个不死的黑魔王要对付——她需要哈利的善意。但大多数成年人连这样想都不具备能力；如果地位更低的人拒绝服从他们，他们根本不会考虑未来的后果……

"Professor?" Harry said.

「教授？」哈利说。

The witch turned back and looked at him.

女巫转回来看着他。

Harry took a deep breath. He needed to be a little angry for what he wanted to try now, there was no way he'd have the courage to do it otherwise. She didn't listen to me, he thought to himself, I would have taken more gold but she didn't want to listen... Focusing his entire world on McGonagall and the need to bend this conversation to his will, he spoke.

哈利深吸一口气。他现在要做的事需要他生一点气，否则他绝不会有勇气去做。她没听我的，他在心里对自己说，我会多取一些金子，可她不想听……他把整个世界的焦点都放在麦格身上，以及把这场对话扭到自己意志上的需要，然后开口。

"Professor, you thought one hundred Galleons would be more than enough for a trunk. That's why you didn't bother warning me before it went down to ninety-seven. Which is just the sort of thing the research studies show - that's what happens when people think they're leaving themselves a little error margin. They're not pessimistic enough. If it'd been up to me, I'd have taken two hundred Galleons just to be sure. There was plenty of money in that vault, and I could have put back any extra later. But I thought you wouldn't let me do it. I thought you'd be angry at me just for asking. Was I wrong?"

「教授，你以为一百加隆买一个箱子绰绰有余。那就是你为什么在它降到九十七之前懒得提醒我。这正是研究里说的那种事——当人们以为自己给自己留了一点点误差余量时，就会发生这个。他们还不够悲观。要是我说了算，我会取两百加隆，就为了保险起见。金库里钱够多，我之后可以把多余的放回去。可我以为你不会让我这么做。我以为你光会因为我开口要就生气。是我错了吗？」

"I suppose I must confess that you are right," said Professor McGonagall. "But, young man -"

「我想我必须承认你是对的，」麦格教授说。「但是，年轻人——」

"That sort of thing is the reason why I have trouble trusting adults." Somehow Harry kept his voice steady. "Because they get angry if you even try to reason with them. To them it's defiance and insolence and a challenge to their higher tribal status. If you try to talk to them they get angry. So if I had anything really important to do, I wouldn't be able to trust you. Even if you listened with deep concern to whatever I said - because that's also part of the role of someone playing a concerned adult - you'd never change your actions, you wouldn't actually behave differently, because of anything I said."

「就是这种事，让我没法信任成年人。」不知怎么，哈利保持住声音平稳。「因为哪怕你只是试着跟他们讲道理，他们也会生气。在他们看来，那是违抗、是冒犯、是对他们更高部落地位的挑战。你要是想跟他们谈，他们就会发火。所以我如果有什么真正重要的事要做，我就没法信任你。即使你带着深切的关心听我说任何话——因为那也是『扮演一个关心孩子的大人』这个角色的一部分——你也永远不会改变你的行动，你不会真的因为我说了任何话而做出不同的行为。」

The salesman was watching them both with unabashed fascination.

店员毫不掩饰他的兴致，看着他们俩。

"I can understand your point of view," Professor McGonagall said eventually. "If I sometimes seem too strict, please remember that I have served as Head of Gryffindor House for what feels like several thousand years."

「我能理解你的观点，」麦格教授终于说。「如果我有时显得太严厉，请记住，我当格兰芬多院长，感觉就像当了几千年。」

Harry nodded and continued. "So - suppose I had a way to get more Galleons from my vault without us going back to Gringotts, but it involved me violating the role of an obedient child. Would I be able to trust you with that, even though you'd have to step outside your own role as Professor McGonagall to take advantage of it?"

哈利点点头，继续说。「那么——假设我有办法，不用回古灵阁就能从金库里多拿一些加隆，但这需要我扮演一个不听话的孩子。你能信任我把这事交给你吗，哪怕你为了利用它，得跳出你自己作为麦格教授的角色？」

"What?" said Professor McGonagall.

「什么？」麦格教授说。

"To put it another way, if I could make today have happened differently, so that we didn't take too little money with us, would that be all right even though it would involve a child being insolent to an adult in retrospect?"

「换个说法，如果我能让今天以不同的方式发生，让我们没有带太少的钱，那可以吗？哪怕事后回过头看，这会被当成一个孩子对成年人无礼？」

"I... suppose..." the witch said, looking quite puzzled.

「我……大概……可以吧，」女巫说，看起来相当困惑。

Harry took out the mokeskin pouch, and said, "Eleven Galleons originally from my family vault."

哈利拿出莫克皮袋，说：「十一枚原本来自我家金库的加隆。」

And there was gold in Harry's hand.

哈利手里出现了金子。

For a moment Professor McGonagall's mouth gaped wide, then her jaw snapped shut and her eyes narrowed and the witch bit out, "Where did you get that -"

有那么一刻麦格教授的嘴张得大大的，然后她的下颌啪地合上，眼睛眯起，女巫咬牙说道：「你从哪弄到那——」

"From my family vault, like I said."

「从我家的金库，就像我说的。」

"How?"

「怎么做到的？」

"Magic."

「魔法。」

"That's hardly an answer!" snapped Professor McGonagall, and then stopped, blinking.

「那根本不算回答！」麦格教授厉声说，然后顿住，眨了眨眼。

"No, it isn't, is it? I ought to claim that it's because I experimentally discovered the true secrets of how the pouch works and that it can actually retrieve objects from anywhere, not just its own inside, if you phrase the request correctly. But actually it's from when I fell into that pile of gold before and I shoved some Galleons into my pocket. Anyone who understands pessimism knows that money is something you might need quickly and without much warning. So now are you angry at me for defying your authority? Or glad that we succeeded in our important mission?"

「对，不算，对吧？我本应该声称，是我通过实验发现了这个皮袋真正的秘密，只要措辞正确，它其实能从任何地方取回物品，而不只是从它自己里面。但实际上，那是我之前跌进那堆金子时，塞进口袋的几枚加隆。任何懂得悲观的人都知道，钱是你可能随时、毫无预警就需要的东西。所以，现在你是因为我违抗了你的权威而生气？还是高兴我们完成了重要的任务？」

The salesman's eyes were wide like saucers.

店员的眼睛瞪得像碟子一样大。

And the tall witch stood there, silent.

高个子女巫站在那儿，沉默。

"Discipline at Hogwarts must be enforced," she said after almost a full minute. "For the sake of all the students. And that must include courtesy and obedience from you to all professors."

「霍格沃茨的纪律必须执行，」她沉默了几乎整整一分钟后说。「为了所有学生的缘故。而这必须包括你对所有教授保持礼貌和服从。」

"I understand, Professor McGonagall."

「我明白，麦格教授。」

"Good. Now let us buy that trunk and go home."

「好。现在去把那箱子买了，然后回家。」

Harry felt like throwing up, or cheering, or fainting, or something. That was the first time his careful reasoning had ever worked on anyone. Maybe because it was also the first time he had something really serious that an adult needed from him, but still -

哈利觉得想吐，或者想欢呼，或者想晕倒，或者别的什么。这是他缜密的推理第一次对任何人起了作用。也许是因为这也是他第一次真的有什么正经事、是成年人需要从他那里得到的，不过——

Minerva McGonagall, +1 point.

米勒娃·麦格，加一分。

Harry bowed, and gave the bag of gold and the extra eleven Galleons into McGonagall's hands. "Thank you very much, Professor. Can you finish up the purchase for me? I've got to visit the lavatory."

哈利鞠了一躬，把金币袋和额外那十一枚加隆交到麦格教授手里。「非常感谢您，教授。您能替我完成这笔购买吗？我得去一下盥洗室。」

The salesman, unctuous once more, pointed toward a door set into the wall with a gold-handled knob. As Harry started to walk away, he heard the salesman ask in his oily voice, "May I inquire as to who that was, Madam McGonagall? I take it he is Slytherin - third-year, perhaps? - and from a prominent family, but I did not recognise -"

店员又变得油嘴滑舌，指向嵌在墙里的一扇门，门把手是金色的。当哈利走开时，他听到店员用那油滑的声音问：「我能否请问一下那是谁，麦格夫人？我猜他是斯莱特林的——也许是三年级？——而且出身名门，但我没认出——」

The slam of the lavatory door cut off his words, and after Harry had identified the lock and pressed it into place, he grabbed the magical self-cleaning towel and, with shaky hands, wiped moisture off his forehead. Harry's entire body was sheathed in sweat which had soaked clear through his Muggle clothing, though at least it didn't show through the robes.

盥洗室门的砰响打断了他的话，哈利认出锁并把它按进去之后，抓起那块魔法自洁毛巾，用颤抖的手擦掉额头上的汗。哈利全身都被汗水湿透，浸透了他的麻瓜衣服，不过至少透过袍子看不出来。

The sun was setting and it was very late indeed, by the time they stood again in the courtyard of the Leaky Cauldron, the silent leaf-dusted interface between magical Britain's Diagon Alley and the entire Muggle world. (That was one awfully decoupled economy...) Harry was to go to a phone box and call his father, once he was on the other side. He didn't need to worry about his luggage being stolen, apparently. His trunk had the status of a major magical item, something that most Muggles wouldn't notice; that was part of what you could get in the wizarding world, if you were willing to pay the price of a secondhand car.

他们再次站在破釜酒吧的庭院里时，太阳正在落下，天已经很晚了。这里是魔法英国的对角巷与整个麻瓜世界之间，那条铺满落叶的寂静交界处。（那可真是一个脱节得一塌糊涂的经济……）哈利要到另一边，去一个电话亭给他父亲打电话。他显然不用担心行李被偷。他的行李箱有着重要魔法物品的地位，这是大多数麻瓜不会注意到的；只要你肯付一辆二手车的价钱，这就是你能在魔法世界得到的东西之一。

"So here we part ways, for a time," Professor McGonagall said. She shook her head in wonderment. "This has been the strangest day of my life for... many a year. Since the day I learned that a child had defeated You-Know-Who. I wonder now, looking back, if that was the last reasonable day of the world."

「那我们就在这里暂时分别一下吧，」麦格教授说。她惊叹地摇摇头。「这是我多年来……许多年来，最奇怪的一天。自从我得知一个孩子打败了神秘人的那天起。我现在回想起来，不禁想知道，那会不会是这个世界最后一个讲理的日子。」

Oh, like she had anything to complain about. You think your day was surreal? Try mine.

哦，好像她有什么好抱怨似的。你觉得你这一天够离奇？试试我的。

"I was very impressed with you today," Harry said to her. "I should have remembered to compliment you out loud, I was awarding you points in my head and everything."

「我今天对你印象很深，」哈利对她说。「我本应该记得当面表扬你，我在心里一直给你加分。」

"Thank you, Mr. Potter," said Professor McGonagall. "If you had already been sorted into a House I would have deducted so many points that your grandchildren would still be losing the House Cup."

「谢谢你，波特先生，」麦格教授说。「如果你已经分了院，我会扣掉那么多分，让你的孙子辈都还在输学院杯。」

"Thank you, Professor." It was probably too early to call her Minnie.

「谢谢您，教授。」现在叫她「米妮」可能还太早。

This woman might well be the sanest adult Harry had ever met, despite her lack of scientific background. Harry was even considering offering her the number-two position in whatever group he formed to fight the Dark Lord, though he wasn't silly enough to say that out loud. Now what would be a good name for that...? The Death Eater Eaters?

这个女人可能是哈利见过的最正常的成年人，尽管她缺乏科学背景。哈利甚至考虑过，要在自己为了对抗黑魔王而组建的组织里，给她留一个二把手的位置，不过他没那么傻，没把这话说出来。现在给那个组织起什么名字好呢……食死徒吞噬者？

"I'll see you again soon, when school starts," Professor McGonagall said. "And, Mr. Potter, about your wand -"

「开学后我们很快就会再见面，」麦格教授说。「还有，波特先生，关于你的魔杖——」

"I know what you're going to ask," Harry said. He took out his precious wand and, with a deep twinge of inner pain, flipped it over in his hand, presenting her with the handle. "Take it. I hadn't planned to do anything, not a single thing, but I don't want you to have nightmares about me blowing up my house."

「我知道你要说什么，」哈利说。他拿出他那根宝贵的魔杖，带着内心一阵深深的刺痛，在手里把它翻了个面，把手柄递向她。「拿去。我本来什么都没计划做，一件也没有，但我不想让你梦见我把房子炸了。」

Professor McGonagall shook her head rapidly. "Oh no, Mr. Potter! That isn't done. I only meant to warn you not to use your wand at home, since the Ministry can detect underage magic and it is prohibited without supervision."

麦格教授连忙摇头。「哦不，波特先生！没这个规矩。我只是想提醒你，在家别用你的魔杖，因为魔法部能侦测到未成年魔法，而且在没有监督的情况下是禁止的。」

"Ah," Harry said. "That sounds like a very sensible rule. I'm glad to see the wizarding world takes that sort of thing seriously."

「啊，」哈利说。「这听起来是个非常明智的规定。我很高兴看到魔法世界对这种事很认真。」

Professor McGonagall peered hard at him. "You really mean that."

麦格教授仔细打量着他。「你是认真的。」

"Yes," Harry said. "I get it. Magic is dangerous and the rules are there for good reasons. Certain other matters are also dangerous. I get that too. Remember that I am not stupid."

「是的，」哈利说。「我明白。魔法很危险，规则的存在自有充分理由。某些别的事也很危险。这个我也明白。请记住，我不蠢。」

"I am unlikely ever to forget it. Thank you, Harry, that does make me feel better about entrusting you with certain things. Goodbye for now."

「我不太可能忘记。谢谢你，哈利，这确实让我在把某些事托付给你时，感觉好多了。先再见了。」

Harry turned to go, into the Leaky Cauldron and out towards the Muggle world.

哈利转身要走，走进破釜酒吧，朝麻瓜世界走去。

As his hand touched the back door's handle, he heard a last whisper from behind him.

当他的手碰上后门把手时，他听到身后传来最后一声低语。

"Hermione Granger."

「赫敏·格兰杰。」

"What?" Harry said, his hand still on the door.

「什么？」哈利说，手还停留在门上。

"Look for a first-year girl named Hermione Granger on the train to Hogwarts."

「在去霍格沃茨的火车上，找一个叫赫敏·格兰杰的一年级女生。」

"Who is she?"

「她是谁？」

There was no answer, and when Harry turned around, Professor McGonagall was gone.

没有回答，等哈利转过头，麦格教授已经不见了。

余波：

Headmaster Albus Dumbledore leaned forward over his desk. His twinkling eyes peered out at Minerva. "So, my dear, how did you find Harry?"

校长阿不思·邓布利多在他的书桌前倾身向前。他那含笑闪烁的眼睛向外望着米勒娃。「那么，亲爱的，你觉得哈利怎么样？」

Minerva opened her mouth. Then she closed her mouth. Then she opened her mouth again. No words came out.

米勒娃张开嘴。然后她闭上嘴。然后她又张开嘴。一个字也说不出来。

"I see," Albus said gravely. "Thank you for your report, Minerva. You may go."

「我明白了，」阿不思凝重地说。「谢谢你的报告，米勒娃。你可以走了。」