晨韵推荐：双语美文--哈利波特与凤凰社 Chapter 9（下）

绚斓晨韵

'Well done, Hermione,' said Harry, so heartily it did not sound like his voice at all, and, still not looking at her, 'brilliant. Prefect. Great.'
'Thanks,' said Hermione. 'Erm - Harry - could I borrow Hedwig so I can tell Mum and Dad？ They'll be really pleased - I mean prefect is something they can understand.'
'Yeah, no problem,' said Harry, still in the horrible hearty voice that did not belong to him. Take her！'
He leaned over his trunk, laid the robes on the bottom of it and pretended to be rummaging for something while Hermione crossed to the wardrobe and called Hedwig down. A few moments passed; Harry heard the door close but remained bent double, listening; the only sounds he could hear were the blank picture on the wall sniggering again and the wastepaper basket in the corner coughing up the owl droppings.
He straightened up and looked behind him. Hermione had left and Hedwig had gone. Harry hurried across the room, closed the door, then returned slowly to his bed and sank on to it, gazing unseeingly at the foot of the wardrobe.
He had forgotten completely about prefects being chosen in the fifth year. He had been too anxious about the possibility of being expelled to spare a thought for the fact that badges must be winging their way towards certain people. But if he had remembered . . . if he had thought about it . . . what would he have expected？
“太棒了，赫敏，”哈利说道，热情得有些夸张，听上去根本不像是他的声音，而且他的眼睛仍然没看赫敏，“太出色了。级长。真了不起。”
“谢谢，”赫敏说，“嗯——哈利——我能借海德薇用一下吗？我想告诉我的爸爸妈妈。他们肯定会很高兴的——我是说当级长这件事他们是能明白的。”
“行，没问题，”哈利说道，仍然是那种热情过分、不像是他自己的语气，“拿去吧！”
他弯腰俯在箱子上，把那堆衣服放在箱子底下，假装在里面翻找什么，这时赫敏走到衣柜前唤海德薇下来。过了一会儿，哈利听见门关上了，但他仍然弯着腰，侧耳倾听，四下里没有别的声音，只有墙上那张空白的油画又在哧哧发笑，还有墙角的废纸篓在咳嗽，想把猫头鹰的粪便吐出来。
他直起身，看看身后，赫敏已经走了，海德薇也不见了。哈利慢慢走回到床边，一头倒在床上，两眼失神地望着衣柜的脚。
他已经把五年级要挑选级长的事情忘得一干二净。他一直忧心忡忡地担心会被开除，根本没有心思去想徽章正扇动着翅膀朝某些人飞来。但如果他没有忘记……如果他曾经想过……他会希望有什么结果呢？
Not this, said a small and truthful voice inside his head.
Harry screwed up his face and buried it in his hands. He could not lie to himself; if he had known the prefect badge was on its way, he would have expected it to come to him, not Ron. Did this make him as arrogant as Draco Malfoy？ Did he think himself superior to everyone else？ Did he really believe he was better than Ron？
No, said the small voice defiantly.
Was that true？ Harry wondered, anxiously probing his own feelings.
I'm better at Quidditch, said the voice. But I'm not better at anything else.
That was definitely true, Harry thought; he was no better than Ron in lessons. But what about outside lessons？ What about those adventures he, Ron and Hermione had had together since starting at Hogwarts, often risking much worse than expulsion？
Well, Ron and Hermione were with me most of the time, said the voice in Harry's head.
Not all the time, though, Harry argued with himself. They didn't fight Quirrell with me. They didn't take on Riddle and the Basilisk. They didn't get rid of all those Dementors the night Sirius escaped. They weren't in that graveyard with me, the night Voldemort returned . . .
不是这个。他脑袋里一个诚实的小声音说道。
哈利的脸皱成了一团，埋在双手里。他不能对自己撒谎。如果他知道要选级长，他肯定希望选中的是自己，而不是罗恩。他这是不是像德拉科·马尔福一样狂妄自大呢？他难道认为自己比别人都了不起？他真的相信自己比罗恩出色？
不。那个小声音斩钉截铁地说。
真的吗？哈利疑惑地想，急于把自己的感觉探究个水落石出。
我魁地奇球玩得比他棒，那个声音说，但在其他方面并不比他出色。
那是千真万确的，哈利想道，他的功课并不比罗恩优秀。可是功课以外的事情呢？自从进入霍格沃茨后，他、罗恩和赫敏共同经历的那些奇遇呢？而且还经常冒着比开除更可怕的危险！
是啊，大多数时候罗恩和赫敏都和我在一起。哈利脑袋里的那个声音说。
不是总在一起，哈利同自己辩论道。他们没有和我一起同奇洛搏斗。他们没有跟里德尔和蛇怪较量。他们没有在小天狼星逃跑的那天晚上摆脱那些摄魂怪。在伏地魔回来的那天夜里，他们没有在墓地里和我在一起……
And the same feeling of ill-usage that had overwhelmed him on the night he had arrived rose again. I've definitely done more, Harry thought indignantly. I've done more than either of them！
But maybe, said the small voice fairly, maybe Dumbledore doesn't choose prefects because they've got themselves into a load of dangerous situations . . . maybe he chooses them for other reasons . . . Ron must have something you don't . . .
Harry opened his eyes and stared through his fingers at the wardrobe's clawed feet, remembering what. Fred had said: 'No one in their right mind would make Ron a prefect . . .'
Harry gave a small snort of laughter. A second later he felt sickened with himself.
Ron had not asked Dumbledore to give him the prefect badge. This was not Ron's fault. Was he, Harry, Ron's best friend in the world, going to sulk because he didn't, have a badge, laugh with the twins behind Ron's back, ruin this for Ron when, for the first time, he had beaten Harry at something？
At this point Harry heard Ron's footsteps on the stairs again. He stood up, straightened his glasses, and hitched a grin on to his face as Ron bounded back through the door.
'Just caught her！' he said happily. 'She says she'll get the Cleansweep if she can.'
'Cool,' Harry said, and he was relieved to hear that his voice had stopped sounding hearty. 'Listen - Ron - well done, mate.'
The smile faded off Ron's face.
想到这里，他刚来的那天晚上感到自己受到不公平待遇的那种强烈感觉又一次在心头翻滚。我绝对做得更多，哈利气愤不平地说。我做得比他们俩都多！
可是，那个小声音公正地说，也许邓布利多选级长并不看中他们经历过多少危险处境……也许他选级长看的是其他因素……罗恩肯定具有一些你所没有的东西……
哈利睁开眼睛，透过手指缝望着衣柜爪子形的脚，想起了弗雷德说过的话：“头脑清楚的人，谁会选罗恩当级长呢……”
哈利发出一声嘲讽的轻笑，但随即又为自己感到恶心。
罗恩并没有要求邓布利多给他级长的徽章。这不是罗恩的错。而他，哈利，罗恩在世界上最好的朋友，难道就因为自己没有得到徽章，就要闷闷不乐，就要和双胞胎一起在罗恩背后嘲笑他，诋毁他？就因为罗恩第一次在某件事上胜过了哈利？
就在这时，哈利听见楼梯上又传来罗恩的脚步声。他站起来，正了正眼镜，急忙在脸上摆出一个微笑，罗恩连蹦带跳地冲了进来。
“正好追上了她！”他高兴地说，“她说如果可能，就给我买‘横扫’。”
“真酷！”哈利说，他听见自己热情的声音已不再那么虚假，总算松了一口气，“你听我说——罗恩——太棒了，哥们儿。”
罗恩脸上的笑容消失了。
'I never thought it would be me！' he said, shaking his head. 'I thought it would be you！'
'Nah, I've caused too much trouble,' Harry said, echoing Fred.
'Yeah,' said Ron, 'yeah, I suppose . . . well, we'd better get our trunks packed, hadn't we？'
It was odd how widely their possessions seemed to have scattered themselves since they had arrived. It took them most of the afternoon to retrieve their books and belongings from all over the house and stow them back inside their school trunks. Marry noticed that Ron kept moving his prefect's badge around, first placing it on his bedside table, then putting it into his jeans pocket, then taking it out and lying it on his folded robes, as though to see the effect of the red on the black. Only when Fred and George dropped in and offered to attach it to his forehead with a Permanent Sticking Charm did he wrap it tenderly in his maroon socks and lock it in his trunk.
Mrs Weasley returned from Diagon Alley around six o'clock, laden with books and carrying a long package wrapped in thick brown paper that Ron took from her with a moan of longing.
'Never mind unwrapping it now, people are arriving for dinner, I want you all downstairs,' she said, but the moment she was out of sight Ron ripped off the paper in a frenzy and examined every inch of his new broom, an ecstatic expression on his face.
Down in the basement Mrs Weasley had hung a scarlet banner over the heavily laden dinner table, which read:
CONGRATULATIONS
RON AND HERMIONE
NEW PREFECTS
She looked in a better mood than Harry had seen her all holiday.
“我压根儿没想到会是我！”他说着摇了摇头，“我还以为会是你呢！”
“不，我惹的麻烦太多了。”哈利重复着弗雷德的话。
“是啊，”罗恩说，“是啊，我猜想……好了，我们最好还是收拾箱子吧，好吗？”
自从来这里以后，他们的东西居然散落得到处都是，真是不可思议。下午的大部分时间，他们都在从房子的各个角落找回自己的书本和其他东西，重新塞进上学用的箱子。哈利注意到，罗恩不停地把他的级长徽章摆来摆去，先是放在床头柜上，然后塞进牛仔裤口袋里，接着又拿出来放在叠好的长袍上，似乎要看看红色衬在黑色上的效果如何。后来乔治和弗雷德进来了一下，提出要用永久粘贴咒把徽章粘在他的额头上，罗恩这才用褐紫色的袜子把它仔仔细细地包好，锁在了箱子里。
大约六点钟的时候，韦斯莱夫人从对角巷回来了，抱着一大堆书，还拎着一个长长的、棕色厚纸包着的东西，罗恩充满渴望地叹息了一声，从她手里拿了过来。
“先别忙着打开，大家要来吃晚饭了，我希望你们都下楼去。”韦斯莱夫人说，可是她刚走开，罗恩就急不可耐地扯开包装纸，上上下下、仔仔细细地端详着他的新扫帚，脸上是一种欣喜若狂的表情。
在下面的地下室里，韦斯莱夫人在无比丰盛的饭桌上方挂出一条鲜红色的横幅，上面写着：
热烈祝贺
罗恩和赫敏
当选级长
她情绪非常好，整个假期哈利都没见她这么高兴过。
'I thought we'd have a little party not a sit-down dinner,' she told Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George and Ginny as they entered the room. 'Your father and Bill are on their way, Ron. I've sent them both owls and they're thrilled,' she added, beaming.
Fred rolled his eyes.
Sirius, Lupin, Tonks and Kingsley Shacklebolt were already
there and Mad-Eye Moody stumped in shortly after Harry had got himself a Butterbeer.
'Oh, Alastor, I am glad you're here,' said Mrs Weasley brightly, as Mad-Eye shrugged off his travelling cloak. 'We've been wanting to ask you for ages - could you have a look in the writing desk in the drawing room and tell us what's inside it？ We haven't wanted to open it. just in case it's something really nasty.'
'No problem, Molly . . .'
Moody's electric-blue eye swivelled upwards and stared fixedly through the ceiling of the kitchen.
Drawing room . . .' he growled, as the pupil contracted. 'Desk in the corner？ Yeah, I see it . . . yeah, it's a Boggart . . . want me to go up and get rid of it, Molly？'
“我想我们应该搞一个小小的晚会，而不是一本正经地坐着吃饭，”看到哈利、罗恩、赫敏、弗雷德、乔治和金妮走进厨房，她对他们说道，“你父亲和比尔正在路上呢，罗恩。我派猫头鹰给他们俩都送了信，他们都激动坏了。”她满脸喜色地补充道。
弗雷德翻了翻眼睛。
小天狼星、卢平、唐克斯和金斯莱·沙克尔已经到了，哈利给自己倒了一杯黄油啤酒后不久，疯眼汉穆迪就脚步沉重地走了进来。
“哦，阿拉斯托，你来了我真高兴。”疯眼汉脱掉身上的旅行斗篷时，韦斯莱夫人高兴地说，“我们好长时间一直想问问你——你能不能看看客厅的那张写字台，告诉我们里面是什么东西？我们一直不敢打开，生怕那是个特别讨厌的家伙。”
“没问题，莫丽……”
穆迪那电光般的蓝眼睛滴溜溜往上一转，死死盯着厨房的天花板。
“客厅……”他粗声粗气地说，两个瞳孔缩小了，“墙角的写字台？啊，我看见了……是的，是一个博格特……需要我上去把它弄出来吗，莫丽？”