晨韵推荐：双语美文--哈利波特与凤凰社 Chapter 12（上）

绚斓晨韵

'But what does it matter？'
'It means they're not real fans, they're just jumping on the bandwagon - '
That's the bell,' said Harry dully, because Ron and Hermione were bickering too loudly to hear it. They did not stop arguing all the way down to Snapes dungeon, which gave Harry plenty of time to reflect that between Neville and Ron he would be lucky ever to have two minutes of conversation with Cho that he could look back on without wanting to leave the country.
And yet, he thought, as they joined the queue lining up outside Snape's classroom door, she had chosen to come and talk to him, hadn't she？ She had been Cedric's girlfriend; she could easily have hated Harry for coming out of the Triwizard maze alive when Cedric had died, yet she was talking to him in a perfectly friendly way, not as though she thought him mad, or a liar, or in some horrible way responsible for Cedric's death . . . yes, she had definitely chosen to come and talk to him, and that made the second time in two days . . . and at this thought, Harry's spirits rose. Even the ominous sound of Snape's dungeon door creaking open did not puncture the small, hopeful bubble that seemed to have swelled in his chest. He filed into the classroom behind Ron and Hermione and followed them to their usual table at the back, where he sat down between Ron and Hermione and ignored the huffy, irritable noises now issuing from both of them.
'Settle down,' said Snape coldly, shutting the door behind him.
There was no real need for the call to order; the moment the class had heard the door close, quiet had fallen and all fidgeting stopped. Snape's mere presence was usually enough to ensure a class's silence.
“可那又有什么关系？”
“那就说明他们并不是真正的球迷，他们只是跟风，赶浪头——”
“上课铃响了。”哈利无精打采地说，罗恩和赫敏吵得太厉害了，没有听见铃声。
他们在走向斯内普地下教室的一路上还在吵个不停。这使哈利有足够的时间想道，他身边有赫敏和罗恩这两个人，不知这辈子还有没有运气在不离开自己国家的情况下，跟秋说上两分钟令他回味无穷的话。
他们排在斯内普教室门外的队伍里时，他又想道，她是主动来跟我说话的，是不是呢？她曾经是塞德里克的女朋友，本来是很有理由恨他的，因为他活着走出了三强争霸赛的迷宫，而塞德里克却死了，然而她却用十分友好的态度跟他说话，似乎她并不认为他头脑不正常，谎话连篇，或对塞德里克的死负有某种可怕的责任……是的，她确实是主动来跟他说话，而且是两天里的第二次了……
想到这里，哈利的情绪欢悦起来，就连地下教室的门打开时发出的吱吱嘎嘎的阴森声音，也没有刺破那似乎在他内心深处膨胀起来的小小的希望泡沫。他跟在罗恩和赫敏后面走进了教室，又跟着他们走向他们惯常坐的那张位于后排的桌子，假装没有听见他们俩发出的气呼呼的拌嘴声。
“安静。”斯内普冷冷地说，反手关上了教室的门。
其实他根本没有必要命令大家安静，全班同学一听见门关上了，立刻变得鸦雀无声，所有的小动作都停止了。一般来说，只要斯内普一出现，就足够让整个班级沉默下来。
'Before we begin today's lesson,' said Snape, sweeping over to his desk and staring around at them all, 'I think it appropriate to remind you that next June you will be sitting an important examination, during which you will prove how much you have learned about the composition and use of magical potions. Moronic though some of this class undoubtedly are, I expect you to scrape an "Acceptable" in your OWL, or suffer my . . . displeasure.'
His gaze lingered this time on Neville, who gulped.
'After this year, of course, many of you will cease studying with me,' Snape went on. 'I take only the very best into my NEWT Potions class, which means that some of us will certainly be saying goodbye.'
His eyes rested on Harry and his lip curled. Harry glared back, feeling a grim pleasure at the idea that he would be able to give up Potions after fifth year.
'But we have another year to go before that happy moment of farewell,' said Snape softly, 'so, whether or not you are intending to attempt NEWT, I advise all of you to concentrate your efforts upon maintaining the high pass level I have come to expect from my OWL students.
'Today we will be mixing a potion that often comes up at Ordinary Wizarding Level: the Draught of Peace, a potion to calm anxiety and soothe agitation. Be warned: if you are too heavy-handed with the ingredients you will put the drinker into a heavy and sometimes irreversible sleep, so you will need to pay close attention to what you are doing.'
On Harry's left, Hermione sat up a little straighter, her expression one of utmost attention.
The ingredients and method - ' Snape flicked his wand ' - are on the blackboard - （they appeared there） ' - you will find everything you need - ' he flicked his wand again ' - in the store cupboard - ' （the door of the said cupboard sprang open） ' - you have an hour and a half . . . start.'
“在我们今天开始上课前，”斯内普快步走向讲台，严厉地望着他们大家说道，“我认为需要提醒你们一下，明年六月，你们就要参加一项重要的考试了，那时你们将证明自己学到了多少魔药配制和使用方面的知识。尽管这个班上有几个人确实智力很迟钝，但我希望你们在O.W.Ls考试中都能够勉强‘及格’，不然我会……很生气。”
他的目光这次落在了纳威脸上，纳威吓得倒吸了一口冷气。
“当然啦，过了这一年，你们中间的许多人就不能再上我的课了，”斯内普继续说道，“我只挑选最优秀的学生进我的N.E.W.Ts魔药班，这就是说，我们有些人将不得不说再见了。”
他微微噘起了嘴，目光落在哈利脸上。哈利也毫不示弱地瞪着他，一想到过了五年级，他就可以放弃魔药课了，不由感到一种恶狠狠的快意。
“但是在那告别的愉快时刻到来之前，我们还需要再坚持一年。”斯内普轻声细语地说道，“因此，不管你们是否打算参加N.E.W.Ts考试，我都建议你们大家集中精力学好功课，达到我要求我的O.W.Ls学生们达到的较高的及格水平。
“今天，我们要配制一种普通巫师等级考试中经常出现的药剂：缓和剂，它能平息和舒缓烦躁焦虑的情绪。注意：如果放配料的时候马马虎虎，就会使服药者陷入一种死沉的、有时甚至是不可逆转的昏睡，所以你们需要格外注意自己的行为。”
在哈利的左边，赫敏把身子坐得更直了一些，脸上是一种全神贯注的表情。
“配料和配制方法——”斯内普一挥魔杖，“——在黑板上——”（黑板上果然出现了）“——你们所需要的一切——”他又一挥魔杖，“——在储藏柜里——”（他所说的那个储藏柜的门一下子打开了）“——你们有一个半小时……开始吧。”
Just as Harry, Ron and Hermione had predicted, Snape could hardly have set them a more difficult, fiddly potion. The ingredients had to be added to the cauldron in precisely the right order and quantities; the mixture had to be stirred exactly the right number of times, firstly in clockwise, then in anti-clockwise directions; the heat of the flames on which it was simmering had to be lowered to exactly the right level for a specific number of minutes before the final ingredient was added.
'A light silver vapour should now be rising from your potion,' called Snape, with ten minutes left to go.
Harry, who was sweating profusely, looked desperately around the dungeon. His own cauldron was issuing copious amounts of dark grey steam; Ron's was spitting green sparks. Seamus was feverishly prodding the flames at the base of his cauldron with the tip of his wand, as they seemed to be going out. The surface of Hermione's potion, however, was a shimmering mist of silver vapour, and as Snape swept by he looked down his hooked nose at it without comment, which meant he could find nothing to criticise.
At Harry's cauldron, however, Snape stopped, and looked down at it with a horrible smirk on his face.
'Potter, what is this supposed to be？'
The Slytherins at the front of the class all looked up eagerly; they loved hearing Snape taunt Harry.
'The Draught of Peace,' said Harry tensely.
'Tell me, Potter,' said Snape softly, 'can you read？'
Draco Malfoy laughed.
正像哈利、罗恩和赫敏所猜测的，斯内普布置他们配制的这种药剂是最难、最费手脚的一种。必须按照严格的顺序和份量将配料加进坩埚;必须将混合剂搅拌到规定的次数，不能多也不能少，先是顺时针，然后是逆时针;坩埚沸腾时火苗的温度必须降至某个特定的标准，不能高也不能低，并保持一段特定的时间，然后才能加入最后一种配料。
“你们的药剂现在应该冒出一股淡淡的、银白色的蒸汽。”还剩十分钟的时候，斯内普说道。
哈利忙得大汗淋漓，绝望地抬头扫了一眼教室。他自己的坩埚冒出一团团深灰色的气体，罗恩的坩埚正喷溅着绿色的火花。西莫发了疯似的用魔杖尖去捅他坩埚下面的火苗，因为它们眼看就要熄灭了。赫敏的药剂倒是正冒出一股微微闪烁的银白色蒸汽，当斯内普快步走过时，鹰钩鼻上的眼睛低垂着看了看赫敏的坩埚，没有做任何评论，这就是说他挑不出任何毛玻可是，在哈利的坩埚旁，斯内普停下脚步低头望着坩埚，脸上带着一种可怕的讥讽。
“波特，这是什么东西？”
教室前排的斯莱特林们都很感兴趣地抬起头来，他们最喜欢听斯内普挖苦哈利了。
“缓和剂。”哈利紧张地说。
“波特，告诉我，”斯内普轻声细语地说，“你认识字吗？”
德拉科·马尔福大声笑了起来。
'Yes, I can,' said Harry, his fingers clenched tightly around his wand.
'Read the third line of the instructions for me, Potter.'
Harry squinted at the blackboard; it was not easy to make out the instructions through the haze of multi-coloured steam now filling the dungeon.
' "Add powdered moonstone, stir three times counter-clockwise, allow to simmer for seven minutes then add two drops of syrup of hellebore." '
His heart sank. He had not added syrup of hellebore, but had proceeded straight to the fourth line of the instructions after allowing his potion to simmer for seven minutes.
'Did you do everything on the third line, Potter？'
'No,' said Harry very quietly.
'I beg your pardon？'
'No,' said Harry, more loudly. 'I forgot the hellebore.'
'I know you did, Potter, which means that this mess is utterly worthless. Evanesce.'
The contents of Harry's potion vanished; he was left standing foolishly beside an empty cauldron.
“认识。”哈利说，手紧紧地攥住了魔杖。
“把操作说明的第三行念给我听听，波特。”
哈利眯眼望着黑板。现在地下教室里弥漫着各种颜色的蒸汽，要看清黑板上的操作说明真不容易。
“‘加入月长石粉，逆时针搅拌三次，沸腾七分钟，然后再加入两滴嚏根草糖浆。’”
他的心往下一沉。他没有加嚏根草糖浆，他让药剂沸腾七分钟后，就直接执行第四条操作说明了。
“第三条里每一项你都做到了吗，波特？”
“没有。”哈利很小声地说。
“对不起，请你再说一遍。”
“没有，”哈利提高了声音说，“我忘记放嚏根草了。”
“我知道你忘记了，波特，这意味着这一坩埚垃圾毫无用处。消隐无踪。”
哈利的药剂一下子消失了。他傻乎乎地站在一只空坩埚旁。
'Those of you who have managed to read the instructions, fill one flagon with a sample of your potion, label it clearly with your name and bring it up to my desk for testing,' said Snape. 'Homework: twelve inches of parchment on the properties of moonstone and its uses in potion-making, to be handed in on Thursday.'
While everyone around him filled their flagons, Harry cleared away his things, seething. His potion had been no worse than Ron's, which was now giving off a foul odour of bad eggs; or Neville's, which had achieved the consistency of just-mixed cement and which
Neville was now having to gouge out of his cauldron; yet it was he, Harry, who would be receiving zero marks for the day's work. He stuffed his wand back into his bag and slumped down on to his seat, watching everyone else march up to Snape's desk with filled and corked flagons. When at long last the bell rang, Harry was first out of the dungeon and had already started his lunch by the time Ron and Hermione joined him in the Great Hall. The ceiling had turned an even murkier grey during the morning. Rain was lashing the high windows.
That was really unfair,' said Hermione consolingly, sitting down next to Harry and helping herself to shepherd's pie. 'Your potion wasn't nearly as bad as Goyle's; when he put it in his flagon the whole thing shattered and set his robes on fire.'
'Yeah, well,' said Harry, glowering at his plate, 'since when has Snape ever been fair to me？'
Neither of the others answered; all three of them knew that Snape and Harry's mutual enmity had been absolute from the moment Harry had set foot in Hogwarts.
“凡是认真读了操作说明的同学，请把你们的药剂样品装进一个大肚短颈瓶里，仔细标上自己的姓名，拿到我的讲台上接受检验。”斯内普说道，“家庭作业——在羊皮纸上写十二英寸长的论文，论述月长石的特性及其在制药方面的用途，星期四交。”
哈利周围的同学都在往短颈瓶里装药剂，他把东西一样样收起来，心里气得不行。他的药剂并不比罗恩的差，罗恩的那一坩埚东西现在发出一股臭鸡蛋的气味;也不比纳威的差，纳威的药剂变得硬邦邦的，像刚刚搅拌好的水泥，他这会儿不得不使劲把它从坩埚里抠出来。然而偏偏是他——哈利，今天的作业得了零分。他把魔杖放回书包里，一屁股坐在座位上，望着其他同学一个个拿着装满药剂、盖上软木塞的短颈瓶，走向斯内普的讲台。
过了很长时间，下课铃终于响了，哈利第一个冲出地下教室。他已经开始吃午饭了，罗恩和赫敏才来到礼堂。天花板比上午的时候变得更昏暗阴沉了，雨点啪啪地打着高处的窗户。
“那真是很不公平，”赫敏安慰他道，她坐在哈利身边，给自己拿了一块肉馅土豆泥馅饼，“你的药剂远不像高尔的那么糟糕，当他往瓶子里装的时候，整个那堆东西突然四下迸溅，把他的袍子都烧着了。”
“是啊，这也难怪，”哈利说，气呼呼地瞪着面前的盘子，“斯内普什么时候公平地对待过我呢？”
赫敏和罗恩谁也没有回答。三个人心里都清楚，斯内普和哈利之间的敌意，从哈利踏进霍格沃茨的那一刻起就已经根深蒂固了。
'I did think he might be a bit better this year,' said Hermione in a disappointed voice. 'I mean . . . you know . . .' she looked around carefully; there were half a dozen empty seats on either side of them and nobody was passing the table ' . . . now he's in the Order and everything.'
'Poisonous toadstools don't change their spots,' said Ron sagely. 'Anyway, I've always thought Dumbledore was cracked to trust Snape. Where's the evidence he ever really stopped working for You-Know-Who？'
'I think Dumbledore's probably got plenty of evidence, even if he doesn't share it with you, Ron,' snapped Hermione.
'Oh, shut up, the pair of you,' said Harry heavily, as Ron opened his mouth to argue back. Hermione and Ron both froze, looking angry and offended. 'Can't you give it a rest？' said Harry. 'You're always having a go at each other, it's driving me mad.' And abandoning his shepherd's pie, he swung his schoolbag back over his shoulder and left them sitting there.
He walked up the marble staircase two steps at a time, past the many students hurrying towards lunch. The anger that had just flared so unexpectedly still blazed inside him, and the vision of Ron and Hermione's shocked faces afforded him a sense of deep satisfaction. Serve them right, he thought, why can't they give it a rest . . . bickering all the time . . . it's enough to drive anyone up the wall . . .
He passed the large picture of Sir Cadogan the knight on a landing; Sir Cadogan drew his sword and brandished it fiercely at Harry, who ignored him.
“我还以为他今年会有点儿好转呢，”赫敏用失望的口气说，“我的意思是……你们知道的……”她小心地望了望四周，他们两边都空着六七个座位，也没有人从桌子旁走过。“……现在他加入了凤凰社，还有所有的一切。”
“毒蘑菇是不会改变它们的斑点的，”罗恩一针见血地说，“反正，我一直认为邓布利多真是疯了，居然相信斯内普。有什么证据能证明他真的不再为神秘人工作了呢？”
“我认为邓布利多大概得到了足够的证据，尽管他没有拿给你看，罗恩。”赫敏毫不客气地说。
“哦，闭嘴吧，你们两个。”罗恩张嘴正要反驳，哈利烦躁地说。赫敏和罗恩都怔住了，显得又生气又委屈。“你们就不能消停一会儿吗？”哈利说，“总是没完没了地斗来斗去，都快把我逼疯了。”说完，他扔下自己的肉馅土豆泥馅饼，把书包甩上肩头，扬长而去，留下两人坐在那里直发愣。
他一步两级地走上了大理石楼梯，与许多匆匆忙忙赶去吃午饭的同学擦肩而过。刚才突然爆发的那股无名火，还在他心里熊熊燃烧着，想到罗恩和赫敏脸上惊愕的表情，他感到一种深深的快意。那是他们活该，他想道，他们为什么就不能安静点儿……总是一天到晚争争吵吵……换了谁都会被逼疯的……
在一处楼梯平台上，他从骑士卡多根爵士的大幅画像前走过。卡多根爵士拔出宝剑，恶狠狠地朝哈利挥舞着，哈利根本不理睬他。