He lay facedown, listening to the silence. He was perfectly1 alone. Nobody was watching. Nobody else was there. He was not perfectly sure that he was there himself.
A long time later, or maybe no time at all, it came to him that he must exist, must be more than disembodied thought, because he was lying, definitely lying, on some surface. Therefore he had a sense of touch, and the thing against which he lay existed too.
Almost as soon as he had reached this conclusion, Harry2 became conscious that he was naked. Convinced as he was of his total solitude3, this did not concern him, but it did intrigue4 him slightly. He wondered whether, as he could feel, he would be able to see. In opening them, he discovered that he had eyes.
He lay in a bright mist, though it was not like mist he had ever experienced before. His surroundings were not hidden by cloudy vapor5; rather the cloudy vapor had not yet formed into surroundings. The floor on which he lay seemed to be white, neither warm nor cold, but simply there, a flat, blank something on which to be.
He sat up. His body appeared unscathed. He touched his face. He was not wearing glasses anymore.
Then a noise reached him through the unformed nothingness that surrounded him: the small soft thumpings of something that flapped, flailed7, and struggled. It was a pitiful noise, yet also slightly indecent. He had the uncomfortable feeling that he was eavesdropping8 on something furtive9, shameful10.
For the first time, he wished he were clothed.
Barely had the wish formed in his head than robes appeared a short distance away. He took them and pulled them on. They were soft, clean, and warm. It was extraordinary how they had appeared just like that, the moment he had wanted them….
He stood up, looking around. Was he in some great Room of Requirement? The longer he looked, the more there was to see. A great domed12 glass roof glittered high above him in sunlight. Perhaps it was a palace. All was hushed and still, except for those odd thumping6 and whimpering noises coming from somewhere close by in the mist….
Harry turned slowly on the spot, and his surroundings seemed to invent themselves before his eyes. A wide-open space, bright and clean, a hall larger by far than the Great Hall, with that clear domed glass ceiling. It was quite empty. He was the only person there, except for – He recoiled13. He had spotted14 the thing that was making the noises. It had the form of a small, naked child, curled on the ground, its skin raw and rough, flayed15-looking, and it lay shuddering16 under a seat where it had been left, unwanted, stuffed out of sight, struggling for breath.
He was afraid of it. Small and fragile and wounded though it was, he did not want to approach it. Nevertheless he drew slowly nearer, ready to jump back at any moment. Soon he stood near enough to touch it, yet he could not bring himself to do it. He felt like a coward. He ought to comfort it, but it repulsed17 him.
“You cannot help.”
He spun18 around. Albus Dumbledore was walking toward him, sprightly19 and upright, wearing sweeping20 robes of midnight blue.
“Harry.” He spread his arms wide, and his hands were both whole and white and undamaged. “You wonderful boy. You brave, brave man. Let us walk.”
Stunned21, Harry followed as Dumbledore strode away from where the flayed child lay whimpering, leading him to two seats that Harry had not previously22 noticed, set some distance away under that high, sparkling ceiling. Dumbledore sat down in one of them, and Harry fell into the other, staring at his old headmaster’s face. Dumbledore’s long silver hair and beard, the piercingly blue eyes behind half-moon spectacles, the crooked23 nose: Everything was as he had remembered it. And yet…
“But you’re dead,” said Harry.
“Oh yes,” said Dumbledore matter-of-factly.
“Then… I’m dead too?”
“Ah,” said Dumbledore, smiling still more broadly. “That is the question, isn’t it? On the whole, dear boy, I think not.”
They looked at each other, the old man still beaming.
“Not?” repeated Harry.
“Not,” said Dumbledore.
“But…” Harry raised his hand instinctively24 toward the lightning scar. It did not seem to be there. “But I should have died – I didn’t defend myself! I meant to let him kill me!”
“And that,” said Dumbledore, “will, I think, have made all the difference.”
Happiness seemed to radiate from Dumbledore like light; like fire: Harry had never seen the man so utterly25, so palpably content.
“Explain,” said Harry.
“But you already know,” said Dumbledore. He twiddled his thumbs together.
“I let him kill me,” said Harry. “Didn’t I?”
“You did,” said Dumbledore, nodding. “Go on!”
“So the part of his soul that was in me…”
Dumbledore nodded still more enthusiastically, urging Harry onward26, a broad smile of encouragement on his face.
“… has it gone?”
“Oh yes!” said Dumbledore. “Yes, he destroyed it. Your soul is whole, and completely your own, Harry.”
“But then…”
Harry trembled over his shoulder to where the small, maimed creature trembled under the chair.
“What is that, Professor?”
“Something that is beyond either of our help,” said Dumbledore.
“But if Voldemort used the Killing27 Curse,” Harry started again, “and nobody died for me this time – how can I be alive?”
“I think you know,” said Dumbledore. “Think back. Remember what he did, in his ignorance, in his greed and his cruelty.”
Harry thought. He let his gaze drift over his surroundings. If it was indeed a palace in which they sat, it was an odd one, with chairs set in little rows and bits of railing here and there, and still, he and Dumbledore and the stunted28 creatures under the chair were the only beings there. Then the answer rose to his lips easily, without effort.
“He took my blood,” said Harry.
“Precisely29!” said Dumbledore. “He took your blood and rebuilt his living body with it! Your blood in his veins30, Harry, Lily’s protection inside both of you! He tethered you to life while he lives!”
“I live… while he lives? But I thought… I thought it was the other way around! I thought we both had to die? Or is it the same thing?”
He was distracted by the whimpering and thumping of the agonized31 creature behind them and glanced back at it yet again.
“Are you sure we can’t do anything?”
“There is no help possible.”
“Then explain… more,” said Harry, and Dumbledore smiled.
“You were the seventh Horcrux, Harry, the Horcrux he never meant to make. He had rendered his soul so unstable32 that it broke apart when he committed those acts of unspeakable evil, the murder of your parents, the attempted killing of a child. But what escaped from that room was even less than he knew. He left more than his body behind. He left part of himself latched33 to you, the would-be victim who had survived.”
“And his knowledge remained woefully incomplete, Harry! That which Voldemort does not value, he takes no trouble to comprehend. Of house-elves and children’s tales, of love, loyalty34, and innocence35, Voldemort knows and understands nothing. Nothing. That they all have a power beyond his own, a power beyond the reach of any magic, is a truth he has never grasped.”
“He took your blood believing it would strengthen him. He took into his body a tiny part of the enchantment36 your mother laid upon you when she died for you. His body keeps her sacrifice alive, and while that enchantment survives, so do you and so does Voldemort’s one last hope for himself.”
Dumbledore smiled at Harry, and Harry stared at him.
“And you knew this? You knew – all along?”
“I guessed. But my guesses have usually been good,” said Dumbledore happily, and they sat in silence for what seemed like a long time, while the creature behind them continued to whimper and tremble.
“There’s more,” said Harry. “There’s more to it. Why did my wand break the wand he borrowed?”
“As to that, I cannot be sure.”
“Have a guess, then,” said Harry, and Dumbledore laughed.
“What you must understand, Harry, is that you and Lord Voldemort have journeyed together into realms of magic hitherto unknown and untested. But here is what I think happened, and it is unprecedented37, and no wandmaker could, I think, ever have predicted or explained it to Voldemort.”
“Without meaning to, as you now know, Lord Voldemort doubled the bond between you when he returned to a human form. A part of his soul was still attached to yours, and, thinking to strengthen himself, he took a part of your mother’s sacrifice into himself. If he could only have understood the precise and terrible power of that sacrifice, he would not, perhaps, have dared to touch your blood…. But then, if he had been able to understand, he could not be Lord Voldemort, and might never have murdered at all.”
“Having ensured this two-fold connection, having wrapped your destinies together more securely than ever two wizards were joined in history, Voldemort proceeded to attack you with a wand that shared a core with yours. And now something very strange happened, as we know. The cores reacted in a way that Lord Voldemort, who never knew that your wand was a twin of his, had ever expected.”
“He was more afraid than you were that night, Harry. You had accepted, even embraced, the possibility of death, something Lord Voldemort has never been able to do. Your courage won, your wand overpowered his. And in doing so, something happened between those wands, something that echoed the relationship between their masters.”
“I believe that your wand imbibed38 some of the power and qualities of Voldemort’s wand that night, which is to say that it contained a little of Voldemort himself. So your wand recognized him when he pursued you, recognized a man who was both kin11 and mortal enemy, and it regurgitated some of his own magic against him, magic much more powerful than anything Lucius’s wand had ever performed. Your wand now contained the power of your enormous courage and of Voldemort’s own deadly skill: What chance did that poor stick of Lucius Malfoy’s stand?”
“But if my wand was so powerful, how come Hermione was able to break it?” asked Harry.
“My dear boy, its remarkable39 effects were directed only at Voldemort, who had tampered40 so ill-advisedly with the deepest laws of magic. Only toward him was that wand abnormally powerful. Otherwise it was a wand like any other… though a good one, I am sure,” Dumbledore finished kindly41.
Harry sat in thought for a long time, or perhaps seconds. It was very hard to be sure of things like time, here.
“He killed me with your wand.”
“He failed to kill you with my wand,” Dumbledore corrected Harry. “I think we can agree that you are not dead – though, of course,” he added, as if fearing he had been discourteous42, “I do not minimize your sufferings, which I am sure were severe.”
“I feel great at the moment, though,” said Harry, looking down at his clean, unblemished hands. “Where are we, exactly?”
“Well, I was going to ask you that,” said Dumbledore, looking around. “Where would you say that we are?”
Until Dumbledore had asked, Harry had not known. Now, however, he found that he had an answer ready to give.
“It looks,” he said slowly, “like King’s Cross station. Except a lo cleaner and empty, and there are no trains as far as I can see.”
“King’s Cross station!” Dumbledore was chuckling43 immoderately. “Good gracious, really?”
“Well, where do you think we are?” asked Harry, a little defensively.
“My dear boy, I have no idea. This is, as they say, your party.”
Harry had no idea what this meant; Dumbledore was being infuriating. He glared at him, then remembered a much more pressing question than that of their current location.
“The Deathly Hallows,” he said, and he was glad to see that the words wiped the smile from Dumbledore’s face.
“Ah, yes,” he said. He even looked a little worried.
“Well?”
For the first time since Harry had met Dumbledore, he looked less than an old man, much less. He looked fleetingly44 like a small boy caught in wrongdoing.
“Can you forgive me?” he said. “Can you forgive me for not trusting you? For not telling you? Harry, I only feared that you would fail as I had failed. I only dreaded45 that you would make my mistakes. I crave46 your pardon, Harry. I have known, for some time now, that you are the better man.”
“What are you talking about?” asked Harry, startled by Dumbledore’s tone, by the sudden tears in his eyes.
“The Hallows, the Hallows,” murmured Dumbledore. “A desperate man’s dream!”
“But they’re real!”
“Real, and dangerous, and a lure47 for fools,” said Dumbledore. “And I was such a fool. But you know, don’t you? I have no secrets from you anymore. You know.”
“What do I know?”
Dumbledore turned his whole body to face Harry, and tears still sparkled in the brilliantly blue eyes.
“Master of death, Harry, master of Death! Was I better, ultimately, than Voldemort?”
“Of course you were,” said Harry. “Of course – how can you ask that? You never killed if you could avoid it!”
“True, true,” said Dumbledore, and he was like a child seeking reassurance48. “Yet I too sought a way to conquer death, Harry.”
“Not the way he did,” said Harry. After all his anger at Dumbledore, how odd it was to sit here, beneath the high, vaulted49 ceiling, and defend Dumbledore from himself. “Hallows, not Horcruxes.”
“Hallows,” murmured Dumbledore, “not Horcruxes. Precisely.”
There was a pause. The creature behind them whimpered, but Harry no longer looked around.
“Grindelwald was looking for them too?” he asked.
Dumbledore closed his eyes for a moment and nodded.
“It was the thing, above all, that drew us together,” he said quietly. “Two clever, arrogant50 boys with a shared obsession51. He wanted to come to Godric’s Hollow, as I am sure you have guessed, because of the grave of Ignotus Peverell. He wanted to explore the place the third brother had died.”
“So it’s true?” asked Harry. “All of it? The Peverell brothers – ”
“ – were the three brothers of the tale,” said Dumbledore, nodding. “Oh yes, I think so. Whether they met Death on a lonely road… I think it more likely that the Peverell brothers were simply gifted, dangerous wizards who succeeded in creating those powerful objects. The story of them being Death’s own Hallows seems to me the sort of legend that might have sprung up around such creations.”
“The Cloak, as you know now, traveled down through the ages, father to son, mother to daughter, right down to Ignotus’s last living descendant, who was born, as Ignotus was, in the village of Godric’s Hollow.”
Dumbledore smiled at Harry.
“Me?”
“You. You have guessed. I know, why the Cloak was in my possession on the night your parents died. James had showed it to me just a few days previously. It explained much of his undetected wrongdoing at school! I could hardly believe what I was seeing. I asked to borrow it, to examine it. I had long since given up my dream of uniting the Hallows, but I could not resist, could not help taking a closer look…. It was a Cloak the likes of which I had never seen, immensely old, perfect in every respect… and then your father died, and I had two Hallows at last, all to myself!”
His tone was unbearably52 bitter.
“The Cloak wouldn’t have helped them survive, though,” Harry said quickly. “Voldemort knew where my mum and dad were. The Cloak couldn’t have made them curse-proof.”
“True,” sighed Dumbledore. “True.”
Harry waited, but Dumbledore did not speak, so he prompted him.
“So you’d given up looking for the Hallows when you saw the Cloak?”
“Oh yes,” said Dumbledore faintly. It seemed that he forced himself to meet Harry’s eyes. “You know what happened. You know. You cannot despise me more than I despise myself.”
“But I don’t despise you – ”
“Then you should,” said Dumbledore. He drew a deep breath. “You know the secret of my sister’s ill health, what those Muggles did, what she became. You know how my poor father sought revenge, and paid the price, died In Azkaban. You know how my mother gave up her own life to care for Ariana.”
“I resented it, Harry.”
Dumbledore stated it baldly, coldly. He was looking now over the top of Harry’s head, into the distance.
“I was gifted, I was brilliant. I wanted to escape. I wanted to shine. I wanted glory.”
“Do not misunderstand me,” he said, and pain crossed the face so that he looked ancient again. “I loved them, I loved my parents, I loved my brother and my sister, but I was selfish, Harry, more selfish than you, who are a remarkably53 selfless person, could possibly imagine.”
“So that, when my mother died, and I was left the responsibility of a damaged sister and a wayward brother, I returned to my village in anger and bitterness. Trapped and wasted, I thought! And then of course, he came….”
Dumbledore looked directly into Harry’s eyes again.
“Grindelwald. You cannot imagine how his ideas caught me, Harry, inflamed54 me. Muggles forced into subservience55. We wizards triumphant56. Grindelwald and I, the glorious young leaders of the revolution.”
“Oh, I had a few scruples57. I assuaged58 my conscience with empty words. It would all be for the greater good, and any harm done would be repaid a hundredfold in benefits for wizards. Did I know, in my heart of hearts, what Gellert Grindelwald was? I think I did, but I closed my eyes. If the plans we were making came to fruition, all my dreams would come true.”
“And at the heart of our schemes, the Deathly Hallows! How they fascinated him, how they fascinated both of us! The unbeatable wand, the weapon that would lead us to power! The Resurrection Stone – to him, though I pretended not to know it, it meant an army of Inferi! To me, I confess, it meant the return of my parents, and the lifting of all responsibility from my shoulders.”
“And the Cloak… somehow, we never discussed the Cloak much, Harry. Both of us could conceal59 ourselves well enough without the Cloak, the true magic of which, of course, is that it can be used to protect and shield others as well as its owner. I thought that, if we ever found it, it might be useful in hiding Ariana, but our interest in the Cloak was mainly that it completed the trio, for the legend said that the man who had united all three objects would then be truly master of death, which we took to mean ‘invincible60.’”
“Invincible masters of death, Grindelwald and Dumbledore! Two months of insanity61, of cruel dreams, and neglect of the only two members of my family left to me.”
“And then… you know what happened. Reality returned in the form of my rough, unlettered, and infinitely62 more admirable brother. I did not want to hear the truths he shouted at me. I did not want to hear that I could not set forth63 and seek Hallows with a fragile and unstable sister in tow.”
“The argument became a fight. Grindelwald lost control. That which I had always sensed in him, though I pretended not to, now sprang into terrible being. And Ariana… after all my mother’s care and caution… lay dead upon the floor.”
Dumbledore gave a little gasp64 and began to cry in earnest. Harry reached out and was glad to find that he could touch him: He gripped his arm tightly and Dumbledore gradually regained65 control.
“Well, Grindelwald fled, as anyone but I could have predicted. He vanished, with his plans for seizing power, and his schemes for Muggle torture, and his dreams of the Deathly Hallows, dreams in which I had encouraged him and helped him. He ran, while I was left to bury my sister, and learn to live with my guilt66 and my terrible grief, the price of my shame.”
“Years passed. There were rumors67 about him. They said he had procured68 a wand of immense power. I, meanwhile, was offered the post of Minister of Magic, not once, but several times. Naturally, I refused. I had learned that I was not to be trusted with power.”
“But you’d have been better, much better, than Fudge or Scimgeour!” burst out Harry.
“Would I?” asked Dumbledore heavily. “I am not so sure. I had proven, as a very young man, that power was my weakness and my temptation. It is a curious thing, Harry, but perhaps those who are best suited to power are those who have never sought it. Those who, like you, have leadership thrust upon them, and take up the mantle69 because they must, and find to their own surprise that they wear it well.”
“I was safer at Hogwarts. I think I was a good teacher – ”
“You were the best –”
“– you are very kind, Harry. But while I busied myself with the training of young wizards, Grindelwald was raising an army. They say he feared me, and perhaps he did, but less, I think, than I feared him.”
“Oh, not death,” said Dumbledore, in answer to Harry’s questioning look. “Not what he could do to me magically. I knew that we were evenly matched, perhaps that I was a shade more skillful. It was the truth I feared. You see, I never knew which of us, in that last, horrific fight, had actually cast the curse that killed my sister. You may call me cowardly: You would be right, Harry. I dreaded beyond all things the knowledge that it had been I who brought about her death, not merely through my arrogance70 and stupidity, but that I actually struck the blow that snuffed out her life.”
“I think he knew it, I think he knew what frightened me. I delayed meeting him until finally, it would have been too shameful to resist any longer. People were dying and he seemed unstoppable, and I had to do what I could.”
“Well, you know what happened next. I won the duel71. I won the wand.”
Another silence. Harry did not ask whether Dumbledore had ever found out who struck Ariana dead. He did not want to know, and even less did he want Dumbledore to have to tell him. At last he knew what Dumbledore would have seen when he looked in the mirror of Erised, and why Dumbledore had been so understanding of the fascination72 it had exercised over Harry.
They sat in silence for a long time, and the whipmerings of the creature behind them barely disturbed Harry anymore.
At last he said, “Grindelwald tried to stop Voldemort going after the wand. He lied, you know, pretended he had never had it.”
Dumbledore nodded, looking down at his lap, tears still glittering on the crooked nose.
“They say he showed remorse73 in later years, alone in his cell at Nurmengard. I hope that is true. I would like to think that he did feel the horror and shame of what he had done. Perhaps that lie to Voldemort was his attempt to make amends… to prevent Voldemort from taking the Hallow…”
“…or maybe from breaking into your tomb?” suggested Harry, and Dumbledore dabbed74 his eyes.
After another short pause Harry said, “You tried to use the Resurrection Stone.”
Dumbledore nodded.
“When I discovered it, after all those years, buried in the abandoned home of the Gaunts – the Hallow I had craved75 most of all, though in my youth I had wanted it for very different reasons – I lost my head, Harry. I quite forgot that I was not a Horcrux, that the ring was sure to carry a curse. I picked it up, and I put it on, and for a second I imagined that I was about to see Ariana, and my mother, and my father, and to tell them how very, very sorry, I was….”
“I was such a fool, Harry. After all those years I had learned nothing. I was unworthy to unite the Deathly Hallows, I had proved it time and again, and here was final proof.”
“Why?” said Harry. “It was natural! You wanted to see them again. What’s wrong with that?”
“Maybe a man in a million could unite the Hallows, Harry. I was fit only to possess the meanest of them, the least extraordinary. I was fit to own the Elder Wand, and not boast of it, and not to kill with it. I was permitted to tame and use it, because I took it, not for gain, but to save others from it.”
“But the Cloak, I took out of vain curiousity, and so it could never have worked for me as it works for you, its true owners. The stone I would have used in an attempt to drag back those who are at peace, rather than enable my self-sacrifice, as you did. You are the worthy76 possessor of the Hallows.”
Dumbledore patted Harry’s hand, and Harry looked up at the old man and smiled; he could not help himself. How could he remain angry with Dumbledore now?
“Why did you have to make it so difficult?”
Dumbledore’s smile was tremulous.
“I am afraid I counted on Miss Granger to slow you up, Harry. I was afraid that your hot head might dominate your good heart. I was scared that, if presented outright77 with the facts about those tempting78 objects, you might seize the Hallows as I did, at the wrong time, for the wrong reasons. If you laid hands on them, I wanted you to possess them safely. You are the true master of death, because the true master does not seek to run away from Death. He accepts that he must die, and understands that there are far, far worse things in the living world than dying.”
“And Voldemort never knew about the Hallows?”
“I do not think so, because he did not recognize the Resurrection Stone he turned into a Horcrux. But even if he had known about them, Harry. I doubt that he would have been interested in any except the first. He would not think that he needed the Cloak, and as for the stone, whom would he want to bring back from the dead? He fears the dead. He does not love.”
“But you expected him to go after the wand?”
“I have been sure that he would try, ever since your wand beat Voldemort’s in the graveyard79 of Little Hangleton. At first, he was afraid that you had conquered him by superior skill. Once he had kidnapped Ollivander, however, he discovered the existence of the twin cores. He thought that explained everything. Yet the borrowed wand did no better against yours! So Voldemort, instead of asking himself what quality it was in you that had made your wand so strong, what gift you possessed80 that he did not, naturally set out to find the one wand that, they said, would beat any other. For him, the Elder Wand has become an obsession to rival his obsession with you. He believes that the Elder Wand removes his last weakness and makes him truly invincible. Poor Severus…”
“If you planned your death with Snape, you meant him to end up with the Elder Wand, didn’t you?”
“I admit that was my intention,” said Dumbledore, “but it did not work as I intended, did it?”
“No,” said Harry. “That bit didn’t work out.”
The creature behind them jerked and moaned, and Harry and Dumbledore sate81 without talking for the longest time yet. The realization82 of what would happen next settled gradually over Harry in the long minutes, like softly falling snow.
“I’ve got to go back, haven’t I?”
“That is up to you.”
“I’ve got a choice?”
“Oh yes,” Dumbledore smiled at him. “We are in King’s Cross you say? I think that if you decided83 not to go back, you would be able to… let’s say… board a train.”
“And where would it take me?”
“On,” said Dumbledore simply.
Silence again.
“Voldemort’s got the Elder Wand.”
“True. Voldemort has the Elder Wand.”
“But you want me to go back?”
“I think,” said Dumbledore, “that if you choose to return, there is a chance that he may be finished for good. I cannot promise it. But I know this, Harry, that you have less to fear from returning here than he does.”
Harry glanced again at the raw looking thing that trembled and choked in the shadow beneath the distant chair.
“Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living, and above all, those who live without love. By returning, you may ensure that fewer souls are maimed, fewer families are torn apart. If that seems to you a worthy goal, they we saw good-bye for the present.”
Harry nodded and sighed. Leaving this place would not be nearly as hard as walking into the forest had been, but it was warm and light and peaceful here, and he knew that he was heading back to pain and the fear of more loss. He stood up, and Dumbledore did the same, and they looked for a long moment into each other’s faces.
“Tell me one last thing,” said Harry, “Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?”
Dumbledore beamed at him, and his voice sounded loud and strong in Harry’s ears even though the bright mist was descending84 again, obscuring his figure.
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean it is not real?”
他趴在地上，想在这一片寂静中听见哪怕一点点的声音。但他确实是一个人。没有人在监视他，也没有其他的任何人在这儿。甚至他自己都无法完全肯定他是不是在这儿。
很长一段时间过去了，不过可能也只是一会儿的工夫，一个想法出现在他的脑海里：他必须活下去。这个想法比任何别的想法都实在，因为他躺着，实实在在地躺着，在某个未知的平面上，他还有触觉，而他躺在上面的那个东西也是实实在在地存在着的。
几乎在他下定结论的同时，哈利意识到他是赤裸着的。但是由于完全确信了这里只有他一个人，所以这对于他来说就无所谓了，这并没有激起他的一点兴趣。他只想知道，既然他有触觉，那他是不是应该还有视觉呢，在他睁开眼睛的时候，哈利发现自己还看得见。
哈利躺在一片迷雾中，一片与他以前从未见过的与众不同的迷雾。他周围的环境并没有被雾气遮掩，更恰当地说是那些雾气还没来得急去形成他周围的景物。他躺在上面的地板似乎一片空白，只是一个简单的能承载东西的平面。
他坐了起来，他的身上没有伤口，他摸了摸自己的脸，他根本没有戴眼镜。
一阵噪音通过他周围这些无形的虚无传到了他的耳边。那是一个什么东西挣扎着拍打带着枷锁的翅膀的声音，那是一个令人感到同情的声音，同时也令人不安。他有一种很不舒服的感觉，好像他在鬼鬼祟祟地偷听一样，有些可耻。
这时，他希望他是穿着衣服的。还没等这个想法在他的脑中更清晰一些，不远处就出现了一件礼袍。他拿起它并穿在了身上，这件礼袍柔软，干净又温暖。但奇特的是为什么它会在他想要的时候就立刻出现了呢……
他站起身，看了看四周。他是不是在有求必应屋里?他越往远看，看见的东西就越多。他的头顶上是一个在阳光下闪闪发亮的玻璃半球形屋顶，也许这里是一个宫殿。一切都是寂静的，除了那些从离迷雾不远处的某个地方传来的哀号声……
哈利开始慢慢地感觉到了不安，周围的事物开始在他眼前出现。一个宽敞的空间，明亮而干净，比学校的礼堂还大的大厅，以及一个闪亮的半球形天花板，这里十分空荡，只有他一个人，除了——
他后退了一步，他看见了发出那个声音的东西，它的形状看起来像一个裸体的婴儿，它蜷缩在地板上，皮肤很粗糙，好像被剥了皮，它躺在一个凳子下面，不知为什么好像被憋住了一般，吃力地喘着气。
他害怕它，尽管它只是一个很小很脆弱，像受伤的婴儿一样的东西，他还是不想靠近它。然而他还是慢慢地向它走去，并随时准备着转身跑回来。很快地，他已经近到可以碰到它了，但是他还是不敢这么做，他觉得自己很懦弱。他应该去安慰它为它减轻痛苦，即使它憎恶地排斥着他。
“你帮不了它。”
当他在它周围转来转去的时候，邓布利多向他走来，脚步轻快而挺拔，他身穿着一件破旧的深蓝色长袍。
“哈利。”他张开手臂，他的双手都是白皙而完整的。“你是一个很棒的小伙子，你很勇敢，是一个勇敢的人，来，我们一起走。”
哈利吃惊地跟着邓布利多大步离开了那哀号的无皮婴儿。前面有两把椅子，但哈利之前并没有注意到它们，它们被放置在不远处的又高又亮的天花板下面。邓布利多在一把椅子上坐下，而哈利坐进了另一把椅子，他愣愣地盯着自己以前的校长的脸庞。邓布利多银色的长发和胡须，半月眼镜后面的睿智的蓝眼睛，还有鹰钩鼻:一切都同他记忆中的一模一样，但是……
“但是你已经死了。”哈利说。
“哦，是的。”邓布利多实事求是地说。
“那么……我也死了?”
“啊。"邓布利多安静地微笑着说，"这倒是个问题，不是吗?”
“基本上说，我亲爱的孩子，我认为没有。”
“没有?”哈利重复道。
“没有。”邓布利多说。
“但是……”哈利本能地把手伸向了他的闪电形伤疤，它好像不在了，“但是我一定是死了--我并没有保护我自己，我愚蠢地让他杀了我！”
“我想那，”邓布利多说，“一定就是问题的关键。”
快乐像灯光，像火焰一般从邓布利多的身上散发出来:哈利从来没见过这个男人如此彻底地满足。
“请解释一下吧。”哈利说。
“但是你已经知道了。”邓布利多无聊地玩着手指。
“我让他杀了我，”哈利说，“不是吗?”
“是的，”邓布利多点了点头，“继续说。”
“所以说，那部分在我的体内的灵魂……”
邓布利多更加狂热地点了点头，脸上绽开了灿烂的笑容。
“那它被毁掉了吗?”
“哦，是的！”邓布利多说，“他亲手毁掉了它，而现在你的灵魂是完整的，完全是你自己的，哈利。”
哈利颤抖着肩膀向他们身后那个在凳子底下躺着的受了伤还在发抖的生物望去。
“那是什么，教授?”
“我们谁也帮不上忙的东西罢了。”邓布利多说。
“但是如果伏地魔使用了死咒，”哈利重新开口说，“而这次没有人为了保护我而死去--那我是怎么活下来的呢?”
“我认为你是知道的，”邓布利多说。“你往回想，回忆，在他的无知，他的贪婪和他的残酷的驱使下，他都做了什么。”
哈利拼命地思考，用眼睛扫视周围的一切，如果他们真的坐在一个宫殿里，那这也是一个临时的宫殿，凳子杂乱地排列着，到处都是栏杆，而他，邓布利多和那个小东西仍然是这里唯一的生物，答案很容易地就跑到了嘴边，不费吹灰之力。
“他用了我的血。”哈利说。
“完全正确！”邓布利多说，“他用了你的血去重获他的肉身，你的血成了他身体的组成部分，哈利，莉莉的保护魔咒在你们俩的身上同时起作用。导致了只要他活着，你就会活着！”
“他活着……我就活着?但是我还以为……我有着完全相反的想法！我以为我们会同归于尽，那这是一回事吗?”
他被他们身后的那个生物痛苦的呜咽声搅得心烦意乱，不断地回头去看。
“你确定我们真的不能为它做点什么吗?”
“不可能有办法帮它。”
“那么……就请再接着解释。”哈利说。邓布利多微笑着。
“你是第七个魂器，哈利，一个他从来没想过要制作的魂器，他使他的灵魂变得极度不稳定，以至于当他做出杀死你的父母，还企图要杀死小孩子的邪恶行为时，灵魂就自动分裂了出来。但是从那间屋子里逃出来时，他绝对不知道他留下的不只是他的身体，他还使他的一部分灵魂和你——谋杀的幸存者——锁在了一起。
“但是他知道的东西一直都少得可怜，哈利，这是伏地魔最没用的地方，他从来不费神去理解去领会，关于家养小精灵与孩子们的故事，关于爱，关于忠诚和清白，伏地魔不理解也不知道这些，什么也不知道。而这些东西所拥有的力量是远远超过他的，是任何魔法都无法匹敌的，这是一个他永远也理解不了的事实。
“他以为他用了你的血就可以使他强大起来，他把你母亲的一小部分魔法也带进了他的体内。她的爱也留存在了他的体内，所以你是伏地魔最后的寄托。”
邓布利多微笑着看着哈利，而哈利则盯着他。
“那你知道这些?你……一直都知道?”
“我猜的，但是我的猜测通常是对的。”邓布利多欢快地说。
他们似乎静静地坐了好久，直到他们身后的那个生物开始继续呜咽和颤抖。
“还有，”哈利说，“还有一个问题，为什么我的魔杖毁坏了他借来的魔杖?”
“这个，我也不太清楚。”
“那你就猜一下。”哈利说。邓布利多笑了几声。
“你必须要知道的，哈利，就是你和伏地魔已经共同进入了一个未知的魔法领域。我也只能推测一下是怎么回事，毕竟这是从来没出现过的情况，没有一个魔杖制造师能预料得到这种情况或是，向伏地魔解释清楚前因后果。
“你现在知道了，伏地魔恢复肉身时无意间使你们两人之间的联系加强了，他的一部分灵魂仍然依赖于你，而为了使自己更强大，他吸收了一部分你母亲的爱。如果他知道这种爱的无比强大的可怕力量的话，我想他是不敢去碰你的血的……不过，如果他早就知道的话，那他就不会做伏地魔了，更不会杀死那么多人了。
“确认了这种互相的联系，也就确认了你们两人的命运是空前地紧密相连的，伏地魔用一根和你的魔杖杖心相连的魔杖去攻击了你。结果奇怪的事情发生了，两根魔杖的杖心稍稍起了反应，伏地魔怎么也想不到他的魔杖和你的魔杖是兄弟，这是他从未预料到的。
“其实那天晚上他比你还要担心害怕，哈利，你面对甚至接受了可能到来的死亡，这是伏地魔他永远也做不到的，你在精神上和勇气上获胜了，你的魔杖压制住了他的，而这时，两个魔杖间出现了反应，这正显示出了它们主人之间的联系。
“我认为那天晚上你的魔杖从他的魔杖中吸收了一部分魔法，甚至包含一部分伏地魔自己的力量。所以在他追击你的时候你的魔杖认出了他，认出了这个既是兄弟又是死敌的人，于是你的魔杖反涌出了一些伏地魔自己的力量来攻击他，卢修斯的魔杖从来没承受过如此强大的力量。现在你的魔杖包含着你的巨大的勇气和伏地魔致命的力量:卢修斯的破魔杖怎么可能挺得住呢?”
“那既然我的魔杖有如此强大的力量，那为什么赫敏还能把它弄坏呢?”哈利问。
“我亲爱的孩子，它的不寻常的力量只是针对伏地魔的，伏地魔他对魔法的规则是如此地无知，只有对他，魔杖才显示出不寻常的力量，换句话说，这时你的魔杖几乎就和拥有极其强大力量的魔杖一样了，我确信。”邓布利多温和地结束了这番话。
哈利坐在那儿想了好久，或者可能也就是几秒，在这种地方很难感觉到“时间”。
“他用你的魔杖杀了我。”
“他打算要用我的魔杖杀你，但他失败了。”邓布利多纠正哈利说。“我想我们可以确定你没有死--当然，”他加上一句，似乎是怕有些失礼，“我不是在说你没有受难，我确定你受的折磨已经够多了。”
“尽管这样，但我此时此刻感觉很好。”哈利说，一边低头看他那干净无疵的手。“那么，我们到底在哪里?”
"哦，我正想问你这个问题，"邓布利多环顾周围，说，“你认为我们这是在那儿?”
在邓布利多问之前，哈利还不知道，但是现在，他发现自己已经有了答案。
“看起来，”他慢慢地说，“好像是国王十字车站。但是这里空空的，连清洁工也没有，而且在我看来，这里也没有火车。”"
“国王十字车站！”邓布利多毫不掩饰地咯咯笑了起来。“多么美好，是真的吗?”
“好吧，那你说我们这是在哪里？”哈利心怀戒备地说。
“亲爱的波特，我根本不知道。但据他们说，这是你的派对。”
哈利不明白这是什么意思。邓布利多让他恼怒了。哈利对他怒目而视，然后他想起有比他们当前处境中的问题更紧急的事情。
“死圣，”他说，满意地看到邓布利多脸上的微笑随着他的话消失了。
“啊，是的。”他说。他看上去甚至有些焦虑。“怎么了？”
从哈利第一次见到邓布利多起，他就从来没像现在这样如此的不像一个老人，一点都不像。他看起来就像一个被抓住做错事的顽皮男孩。
“你会原谅我么？”他说，“你会原谅我对你不信任么？原谅我没有把一切告诉你？哈利，我只是害怕你会像我一样失败。我只是害怕你会犯和我一样的错误。我希望你能原谅我，哈利。我知道，很久以来我就知道，你是一个优秀的男子汉。”
“你要说什么？”哈利问，被邓布利多的音调镇住了，还有他的眼睛里突然冒出的泪水。
“死圣， 死圣，”邓布利多咕哝说，“一个绝望男人的梦想！”
“但是它们是真实存在的！”
“是真实存在的，而且是危险的，还引来了一大群傻瓜。”邓布利多说，“我就是一个这么愚蠢的人。但是你是知道的，不是吗？我对你再也没有什么秘密了，你知道的。”
“我知道什么？”
邓布利多将他整个身子转过来朝向哈利，眼泪在他的明亮的蓝眼睛里闪闪发光。
“死亡之杖，哈利，死亡之杖！从根本上说，与伏地魔相比，我要好一些吗？”
“你当然比他好，”哈利说，“当然——你问这个干什么？你从来都尽可能避免杀人。”
“是的，是的，”邓布利多说，他就像一个寻找定心丸的孩子，“然而，我也曾经寻求过征服死亡的方法，哈利”
“不是他那种方法。”哈利说。毕竟他开始对邓布利多生气了，但是他所能做的只是在高高的拱形的天花板下坐下来，听着邓布利多为自己辩护。
“是死圣，不是魂器。”
“是死圣，”邓布利多嘀咕着，“不是魂器，真的。”
接下来是一阵沉默。他们后面的生物发出呜咽声，但哈利不再去注意它了。
“格林德沃也在找它们？”他问。
邓布利多闭了一会眼睛，点了点头。
“那件事，是最最重要的，使我们走到一起。”邓布利多安静地说，“两个聪明而自负的男孩子共同的向往。他想要去高锥克山谷——我可以肯定你已经猜到了——是因为伊格诺思?佩弗利尔的坟墓。他想要探访第三个弟弟死去的地方。”
“这么说那个故事是真的？”哈利说，“全都是真的？佩弗利尔三兄弟——”
“——正是故事里的三兄弟。”邓布利多点了点头，“哦，是的，我是这样想的。无论他们是否在一条孤单的小路上遇到了死神……我觉得更有可能的是佩弗利尔兄弟只是很有天赋的懂黑魔法的巫师，他们成功地制作出了那些威力强大的魔法物件。那个他们最后成为死神的圣徒的故事，对我而言是可以让我兴奋得跳起来的传说。
“那件斗篷，正如你所知，随着时间流传下来，从父亲到儿子，母亲到女儿，一直流传到伊格诺思的最后一批后代，就像伊格诺思一样在高锥克山谷出生的人。”
邓布利多向哈利微笑着。
“我？”
“你。你猜得很对。我知道，为什么斗篷在你父母死去的时候会属于我，詹姆在那之前的几天展示给我看过。这样就解释了为什么他在学校里做了那么多违纪的事却没有被发现。我几乎不能相信我所看到的。我借走了它，想要研究一下。自从我放弃集齐死圣已经有很长时间了，但是我也忍不住，我忍不住想要好好看看……它是我从未见过的斗篷，非常旧，但在各个方面都很完美……然后你的父亲死去了，我最终有了两件死圣，完全属于我！”
他的声音忍不住露出痛苦之意。
“但斗篷也不会帮助他们活下来，”哈利很快地说，“伏地魔知道了我的父母在哪里。而斗篷并不能抵抗咒语。”
“是的，”邓布利多叹着气说，“是的。”哈利等着，但是邓布利多不再说话，所以哈利开始提示他。
“所以当你见到斗篷时就放弃了寻找死圣？”
“哦，是的。”邓布利多微弱地说。看上去他是强迫自己面对着哈利的眼睛。“你知道发生了什么，你知道的。不过你不会比我更轻视我自己。”
“可我没有轻视你。”
“以后你会的。”邓布利多说。他深深地呼吸，“你知道我的妹妹得病的秘密，那是麻瓜干的，让她变成了那个样子。你知道我可怜的父亲是如何寻找他们报仇，如何被判了刑，如何在阿兹卡班死去的。你也知道我的妈妈用尽一生来照顾阿瑞娜。
“我憎恨这一切，哈利。”
邓布利多坦率而冷淡的说了这一切。他的目光越过哈利的头顶，看向远方。
“我是极有天赋的，我是才华横溢的。我想要逃离。我想要出人头地。我想要得到荣誉。
“别误解我，”他说，痛苦在他的脸上显现，使他看上去又变回了老人，“我爱他们，我爱我的父母，我爱我的弟弟妹妹。但是我是自私的，哈利，比你——一个非常无私的人——能够想象得到的要自私得多。
“所以，在我的母亲死去后，我承担起了照顾有病的妹妹和任性的弟弟的职责，我既愤怒又悲痛地回到了我的村庄。我想这使我陷入困境而且浪费了我的时间。就在这个时候，他来了……”
邓布利多再次直视着哈利的双眼。
“格林德沃。你简直无法想象他的想法是怎样吸引了我，哈利，让我着迷。麻瓜被我们用武力强迫去做一些对我们有用的事。我们巫师胜利了。格林德沃和我，成了两个年轻的光荣领袖。
“哦，我还是有顾虑的。但我用空洞的语言抚慰我的良心。一切都会变好的，任何伤害麻瓜的行为都会带给巫师无数好处。在我内心深处，我会不知道格林德沃是个什么样的人吗？我想我知道，但是我闭上双眼，不去理睬。如果我们的计划实现了，我所有的梦想都会成真。
“而且在我们计划的核心，就是死圣！它们令他那么着迷，它们令我们俩那么着迷！那个无懈可击的魔杖可以引导我们拥有极端的力量！那块回魂石对他而言——虽然在他面前我假装我不知道——是一支阴尸军队，而对我而言，我承认，那意味着我父母的重生，我肩负着重大的使命
“至于斗篷……不知道为什么，我们从来没有过多的讨论过斗篷，哈利。我们两个可以不借助斗篷而很好的隐藏自己，依靠魔法，当然，是那种你可以保护主人和遮挡其他人的魔法。我想，如果我们找到了它，可能会对藏起阿瑞娜很管用。但是我们对斗篷的最主要的兴趣在于它是那三样东西的组成部分，传说中人只有得到所有三样东西才能征服死亡，那个被我们认定为是不可能被征服的东西。
“无敌的死神！格林德沃和邓布利多！癫狂的两个月，噩梦般的两个月，使我疏忽了遗留下来的我的两个家庭成员。
“然后，你就知道发生什么了。我的粗鲁的、无知的却更值得敬佩的弟弟告诉我妹妹病重。我不想听到他吵着告诉我妹妹的事，我不想听到自己因为一个多病而娇弱的妹妹而无法出行去寻找死圣。
“争执演变成了斗殴。格林德沃失去了控制。我从一开始就知道他是这样的人，但是我假装我不知道，结果他暴露出了他凶残的一面，而阿瑞娜……尽管她曾受到我母亲的细心呵护……但此刻她还是不可避免地躺在地上死去了。”
邓布利多发出了一阵气喘声，留下真挚的眼泪。哈利伸出手，很高兴地发现他可以碰触到邓布利多。他紧紧地抓住的邓布利多的胳膊，让他渐渐地平静下来。
“然后，格林德沃逃跑了，除了我以外没有人想到他会离开。他消失了，带着他争权夺势的计划，折磨麻瓜的阴谋，以及对死圣的梦想——我曾经鼓励他帮助他实现的梦想。他逃走了，而我留下来将妹妹下葬，并学着在内疚和沉重的哀痛里生活。那是我人生中最可耻的一笔。
“年复一年，关于他的传闻很多。人们说他获得了一根拥有无限力量的魔杖。在此期间，我不只一次被邀请担任魔法部长。自然的，我拒绝了，我知道我并不适合执掌权力……”
“但你比福吉和斯克林杰强多了！”哈利大声喊出来。
“是吗？”邓布利多沉重的问“我可不那么确定。当我是一个年轻人时，我曾证明，权力虽然对我有诱惑力，但那却是我的弱点。这是很奇怪的，哈利，不过也许最适合掌权的人正是那些从未刻意去追求过它的人。那些像你一样的人，当有领导任务强加在他们身上时，他们只好穿上制服，因为他们不得不这样做，然后他们便惊奇地发现他们能够做得很好。我在霍格沃茨会更安全。而且我认为我是一个不错的教授--”
“您是最棒的！”
“你很善良，哈利。但正当我忙于训练年轻巫师的时候，格林德沃建立起了一个军队。人们说他很害怕我，但也许，和他害怕我比起来，我更惧怕他。
“哦，不是怕死。”邓布利多说，回答了哈利脸上的疑问。“不是怕他可能会对我施的魔法，我们是势均力敌的——也许我还更胜一筹。我害怕的是事情的真相。听我说，我永远也不知道在那个令人毛骨耸然的夜里，到底是谁最后发射咒语杀死了我的妹妹。你也许会说我胆怯，你是对的，哈利，我最害怕的是我一直认为阿瑞娜是因我而死，不仅因为我的傲慢和愚蠢，更是因为我，带来那场使阿瑞娜死亡的争斗的我啊！
“我认为他知道，我认为他知道是什么使我恐惧，我一直拒绝与他会面，直到再拒绝就太不体面了。人总有一死，但他的死亡看来已经无法避免，而我只好做一些我不得不做的事情。
“然后，你知道发生了什么，我赢了那场决斗，赢得了那根魔杖。”
又一阵静默。哈利没有问邓布利多是否查明了杀死阿瑞娜的到底是谁。他不想知道，也没打算让邓布利多会告诉他。他终于知道了当邓布利多朝厄里斯魔镜中看去的时候他会看见什么，也明白了为什么邓布利多会那么理解哈利对厄里斯魔镜的着迷。
他们静静地坐了很久，他们身后那个生物的呜咽声已经不再能打扰哈利了。
最后哈利说，“格林德沃尽力阻止了伏地魔去追寻那根魔杖。他说了谎，你知道的，他对伏地魔谎称自己从来都没有过那根魔杖。”
邓布利多点了点头，低头看着他自己的膝盖，弯弯的鹰钩鼻上依然闪着泪光。
“他们说他在之后的几年里显示出了自责，他独自待在努尔蒙德的地下室里，我希望这是真的，我情愿相信他为了他所做的一切感到恐惧和懊悔，也许对伏地魔说谎就是他在企图弥补他的过错……防止伏地魔拿走死圣。”
“也许也是防止他入侵你的坟墓?”哈利提出，邓布利多轻轻地眨了眨眼。
在又一次的短暂静默之后，哈利说，“你曾经试着用过回魂石。”
邓布利多点了点头。
“当我终于在冈特老宅找到已被埋葬多年的回魂石——那个我最渴望得到的死圣， 尽管我年轻的时候想要它是出于另一个完全不同的目的----时，我失去了理智，哈利。我完全忘记了那是一个魂器，忘记了那个戒指一定带着诅咒。我只是拿起它并把它戴上，那一刻我想象着我就要见到阿瑞娜，见到我的母亲和父亲了，然后告诉他们我非常抱歉，非常对不起他们—
“我就是这样一个傻瓜，哈利。这么多年来我什么也没学到。我没有资格去集齐死圣，这已被反反复复地证实过，而那是最后一次。”
“为什么?”哈利说，“那是人之常情，你希望可以再见他们一面，有什么错吗?”
“也许一百万个人里才可能有一个人有资格集齐，哈利。而我只配得到它们中最低劣，最不起眼的，我只配得到长老魔杖，而且不能借此自夸，更不能用它杀人。而且这个对我来说也不是极其适合的。我被允许去驯服和使用它，因为我不是为了获得财富，而是想凭借它去帮助别人。
“但是那件斗篷，我白白对它好奇了那么久，显然它不可能对我像对你一样那么听话，你才是它真正的主人。至于那块石头，我一直尽力想用它让人起死回生，而不是像你一样自我牺牲。你是最适合拥有死圣的人。
邓布利多轻轻地拍了拍哈利的手，哈利抬起头望着这个老人，脸上露出了笑容。他控制不了自己，可他现在怎么可能还生邓布利多的气呢?
“你为什么把它弄得这么复杂?”
邓布利多的笑容颤了一下。
“我想依靠格兰杰小姐使你放慢速度，我怕你头脑发热，不理智占据了的美好心灵，我怕如果那些诱人的魔法物件直接出现在你眼前，你也会像我一样在错误的时间，因为一些错误的理由去夺取这些死圣。当你拥有它们时，我希望你是清醒的。你是真正能征服死亡的人，因为能真正征服死亡的人是从来不会试图去寻找逃避死亡的方法的，他接受了他一定会死的事实，而且他明白，在世界上有远比死亡更糟糕的事情。”
“伏地魔从来都不知道死圣吗?”
“我认为是的，因为他并没有认出回魂石而直接把它做成了魂器。但即使他知道它们，哈利，我也怀疑他是否会感兴趣。他不会认为他需要那个斗篷，至于那块石头，他会想让谁复活呢?他怕死，而他不会爱。”
“但是你料到了他会追寻那根魔杖?”
“我肯定他会去试试，自从你的魔杖在小汉顿村的墓地里打败他的魔杖。开始，他还以为你是用出众的技术打败了他。但自从那次他绑架了奥利凡德，他就发现了两根魔杖的杖心之间的联系。他认为这就解释了一切。但那个借来的魔杖并不能更好的和你抗衡。所以伏地魔没有去思考你是怎样让你的魔杖变得如此强大，你到底是有哪种他所没有的才能，而是很自然的去寻找他们所谓的一种所向无敌的魔杖。对他来说，长老魔杖就是他认为的可以挫败你的东西，他确信长老魔杖可以填补他唯一的弱点，使他所向披靡。可怜的西弗勒斯……”
“如果你的死亡是你和斯内普计划好了的，那么你是想让他和长老魔杖一起完蛋，是吗？
“我承认那是我的目的” 邓布利多说“但它没有和我预想的一样发生，不是吗？
“是啊”哈利说“并没有起作用。”
他们身后的生物不停地呜咽和抽筋。哈利和邓布利多已经很久没有再说话。接下来会发生的事情在哈利的脑中逐渐清晰，就好像轻轻飘落的雪花。
“我该回去了，是不是?”
“你自己决定。"
"我有其他的选择吗?"
“哦，是的” 邓布利多笑着说“你不是说我们在国王十字车站嘛？如果你不想回去，你也许可以…让我们想想…坐火车！”
“它会带我去哪里？”
“带你继续走下去。”邓布利多简单的说。
沉默再次将他们包围。
“伏地魔已经得到了长老魔杖”
“是的。伏地魔得到了长老魔杖。”
“但是你想让我回去？”
“我认为，”邓布利多说，“如果你选择回去，就会有机会让他彻底失败。我不敢保证。但是我知道，哈利，对于你回去这件事，他比你更害怕。”
哈利又看了一眼那看上去像被剥了皮的东西，它正在不远处冷冰冰的椅子下的阴影中颤抖着喘不过来气来。
“不要怜悯死者，哈利。要同情那些活着的人，更要同情那些生活中没有爱的人。话又说回来，你可能会使更多的灵魂免于受到伤害，使更多的家庭免于妻离子散。如果这对你来说是一个有价值的目标的话，那么，我们就要暂时分开了。”
哈利点点头，叹了一口气。离开这里远不如当初走进禁林那么艰难，但是，这个地方是这样的温暖明亮和宁静的，而他知道他回去就要面对痛苦，恐惧和更多的失去。他站起身来，邓布利多也这样做了，他们互相凝望了很长时间。
“告诉我最后一件事，”哈利说，“这是真的吗？或者这只是我的头脑中的想象？”
邓布利多看向他，他的声音在哈利的耳朵里显得如此明朗有力，尽管明亮的雾再次暗了下来，模糊了他的身影。“这当然是出现在你头脑中的，哈利，可这真的就能说明这是虚假的吗？”
收听单词发音 |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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solitude
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| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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intrigue
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| vt.激起兴趣，迷住；vi.耍阴谋；n.阴谋，密谋 | |
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vapor
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| n.蒸汽，雾气 | |
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thumping
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| adj.重大的，巨大的；重击的；尺码大的；极好的adv.极端地；非常地v.重击(thump的现在分词)；狠打；怦怦地跳；全力支持 | |
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flailed
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| v.鞭打( flail的过去式和过去分词 )；用连枷脱粒；（臂或腿）无法控制地乱动；扫雷坦克 | |
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eavesdropping
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| n. 偷听 | |
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furtive
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| adj.鬼鬼崇崇的，偷偷摸摸的 | |
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shameful
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| adj.可耻的，不道德的 | |
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kin
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| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
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domed
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| adj. 圆屋顶的, 半球形的, 拱曲的 动词dome的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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recoiled
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| v.畏缩( recoil的过去式和过去分词 )；退缩；报应；返回 | |
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spotted
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| adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的 | |
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flayed
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| v.痛打( flay的过去式和过去分词 )；把…打得皮开肉绽；剥（通常指动物）的皮；严厉批评 | |
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shuddering
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| v.战栗( shudder的现在分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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repulsed
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| v.击退( repulse的过去式和过去分词 )；驳斥；拒绝 | |
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spun
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| v.纺，杜撰，急转身 | |
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sprightly
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| adj.愉快的，活泼的 | |
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sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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stunned
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| adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
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previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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onward
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| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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stunted
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| adj.矮小的；发育迟缓的 | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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agonized
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| v.使（极度）痛苦，折磨( agonize的过去式和过去分词 )；苦斗；苦苦思索；感到极度痛苦 | |
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unstable
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| adj.不稳定的，易变的 | |
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latched
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| v.理解( latch的过去式和过去分词 )；纠缠；用碰锁锁上（门等）；附着（在某物上） | |
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loyalty
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| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
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innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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enchantment
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| n.迷惑，妖术，魅力 | |
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unprecedented
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| adj.无前例的，新奇的 | |
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imbibed
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| v.吸收( imbibe的过去式和过去分词 )；喝；吸取；吸气 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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tampered
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| v.窜改( tamper的过去式 )；篡改；（用不正当手段）影响；瞎摆弄 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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discourteous
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| adj.不恭的，不敬的 | |
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chuckling
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的现在分词 ) | |
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fleetingly
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| adv.飞快地，疾驰地 | |
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dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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crave
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| vt.渴望得到，迫切需要，恳求，请求 | |
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lure
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| n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引 | |
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reassurance
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| n.使放心，使消除疑虑 | |
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vaulted
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| adj.拱状的 | |
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arrogant
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| adj.傲慢的，自大的 | |
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obsession
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| n.困扰，无法摆脱的思想(或情感) | |
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52
unbearably
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| adv.不能忍受地，无法容忍地；慌 | |
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53
remarkably
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| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
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54
inflamed
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| adj.发炎的，红肿的v.（使）变红，发怒，过热( inflame的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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55
subservience
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| n.有利，有益；从属（地位），附属性；屈从，恭顺；媚态 | |
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56
triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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scruples
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| n.良心上的不安( scruple的名词复数 )；顾虑，顾忌v.感到于心不安，有顾忌( scruple的第三人称单数 ) | |
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assuaged
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| v.减轻( assuage的过去式和过去分词 )；缓和；平息；使安静 | |
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conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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invincible
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| adj.不可征服的，难以制服的 | |
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insanity
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| n.疯狂，精神错乱；极端的愚蠢，荒唐 | |
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infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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gasp
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| n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说 | |
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regained
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| 复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地 | |
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guilt
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| n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责 | |
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67
rumors
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| n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷 | |
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68
procured
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| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的过去式和过去分词 )；拉皮条 | |
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69
mantle
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| n.斗篷，覆罩之物，罩子；v.罩住，覆盖，脸红 | |
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arrogance
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| n.傲慢，自大 | |
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duel
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| n./v.决斗；(双方的)斗争 | |
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72
fascination
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| n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋 | |
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remorse
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| n.痛恨，悔恨，自责 | |
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74
dabbed
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| （用某物）轻触( dab的过去式和过去分词 )； 轻而快地擦掉（或抹掉）； 快速擦拭； （用某物）轻而快地涂上（或点上）… | |
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craved
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| 渴望，热望( crave的过去式 )； 恳求，请求 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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outright
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| adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的 | |
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tempting
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| a.诱人的, 吸引人的 | |
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graveyard
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| n.坟场 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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81
sate
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| v.使充分满足 | |
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82
realization
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| n.实现；认识到，深刻了解 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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