The enchanted1 ceiling of the Great Hall was dark and scattered2 with stars, and below it the four long House tables were lined with disheveled students, some in traveling cloaks, others in dressing3 gowns. Here and there shone the pearly white figures of the school ghosts. Every eye, living and dead was fixed4 upon Professor McGonagall, who was speaking from the raised platform at the top of the Hall. Behind her stood the remaining teaches, including the palomino centaur5, Firenze, and the members of the Order of the Phoenix6 who had arrived to fight.
“…evacuation will be overseen7 by Mr. Filch8 and Madame Pomfrey. Prefects, when I give the word, you will organize your House and take your charges in orderly fashion to the evacuation point.”
Many of the students looked petrified9. However, as Harry10 skirted the walls, scanning the Gryffindor table for Ron and Hermione, Ernie Macmillan stood up at the Hufflepuff table and shouted; “And what if we want to stay and fight?”
There was a smattering of applause.
“If you are of age, you may stay.” said Professor McGonagall.
“What about our things?” called a girl at the Ravenclaw table. “Our trunks, our owls11?”
“We have no time to collect possessions.” said Professor McGonagall. “The important thing is to get you out of here safely.”
“Where’s Professor Snape?” shouted a girl from the Slytherin table.
“He has, to use the common phrase, done a bunk12.” replied Professor McGonagall and a great cheer erupted from the Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws.
Harry moved up the Hall alongside the Gryffindor table, still looking for Ron and Hermione. As he passed, faces turned in his direction, and a great deal of whispering broke out in his wake.
“We have already placed protection around the castle,” Professor McGonagall was saying, “but it is unlikely to hold for very long unless we reinforce it. I must ask you, therefore, to move quickly and calmly, and do as your prefects – ”
But her final words were drowned as a different voice echoed throughout the Hall. It was high, cold, and clear. There was no telling from where it came. It seemed to issue from the walls themselves. Like the monster it had once commanded, it might have lain dormant13 there for centuries.
“I know that you are preparing to fight.” There were screams amongst the students, some of whom clutched each other, looking around in terror for the source of the sound. “Your efforts are futile14. You cannot fight me. I do not want to kill you. I have great respect for the teachers of Hogwarts. I do not want to spill magical blood.”
There was silence in the Hall now, the kind of silence that presses against the eardrums, that seems too huge to be contained by walls.
“Give me Harry Potter,” said Voldemort’s voice, “and they shall not be harmed. Give me Harry Potter and I shall leave the school untouched. Give me Harry Potter and you will be rewarded.”
“You have until midnight.”
The silence swallowed them all again. Every head turned, every eye in the place seemed to have found Harry, to hold him forever in the glare of thousands of invisible beams. Then a figure rose from the Slytherin table and he recognized Pansy Parkinson as she raised a shaking arm and screamed, “But he’s there! Potter’s there. Someone grab him!”
Before Harry could speak, there was a massive movement. The Gryffindors in front of him had risen and stood facing, not Harry, but the Slytherins. Then the Hufflepuffs stood, and almost at the same moment, the Ravenclaws, all of them with their backs to Harry, all of them looking toward Pansy instead, and Harry, awestruck and overwhelmed, saw wands emerging everywhere, pulled from beneath cloaks and from under sleeves.
“Thank you, Miss Parkinson.” said Professor McGonagall in a clipped voice. “You will leave the Hall first with Mr. Filch. If the rest of your House could follow.”
Harry heard the grinding of the benches and then the sound of the Slytherins trooping out on the other side of the Hall.
“Ravenclaws, follow on!” cried Professor McGonagall.
Slowly the four tables emptied. The Slytherin table was completely deserted15, but a number of older Ravenclaws remained seated while their fellows filed out; even more Hufflepuffs stayed behind, and half of Gryffindor remained in their seats, necessitating16 Professor McGonagall’s descent from the teachers’ platform to chivvy the underage on their way.
“Absolutely not, Creevey, go! And you, Peakes!”
Harry hurried over to the Weasleys, all sitting together at the Gryffindor table.
“Where are Ron and Hermione?”
“Haven’t you found -?” began Mr. Weasley, looking worried.
But he broke off as Kingsley had stepped forward on the raised platform to address those who had remained behind.
“We’ve only got half an half an hour until midnight, so we need to act fast. A battle plan has been agreed between the teachers of Hogwarts and the Order of the Phoenix. Professors Flitwick, Sprout17 and McGonagall are going to take groups of fighters up to the three highest towers – Ravenclaw, Astronomy, and Gryffindor – where they’ll have good overview18, excellent positions from which to work spells. Meanwhile Remus” – he indicated Lupin – “Arthur” – he pointed19 toward Mr. Weasley, sitting at the Gryffindor table – “and I will take groups into the grounds. We’ll need somebody to organize defense20 of the entrances or the passageways into the school – ”
“Sounds like a job for us.” called Fred, indicating himself and George, and Kingsley nodded his approval.
“All right, leaders up here and we’ll divide up the troops!”
“Potter,” said Professor McGonagall, hurrying up to him, as students flooded the platform, jostling for position, receiving instructions, “Aren’t you supposed to be looking for something?”
“What? Oh,” said Harry, “oh yeah!”
He had almost forgotten about the Horcrux, almost forgotten that the battle was being fought so that he could search for it: The inexplicable21 absence of Ron and Hermione had momentarily driven every other thought from his mind.
“Then go, Potter, go!”
“Right – yeah – ”
He sensed eyes following him as he ran out of the Great Hall again, into the entrance hall still crowded with evacuating22 students. He allowed himself to be swept up the marble staircase with them, but at the top he hurried off along a deserted corridor. Fear and panic were clouding his thought processes. He tried to calm himself, to concentrate on finding the Horcrux, but his thoughts buzzed as frantically23 and fruitlessly as wasps24 trapped beneath a glass. Without Ron and Hermione to help him he could not seem to marshal his ideas. He slowed down, coming to a halt halfway25 along a passage, where he sat down on the plinth of a departed statue and pulled the Marauder’s Map out of the pouch26 around his neck. He could not see Ron’s of Hermione’s names anywhere on it, though the density27 of the crowd of dots now making its way to the Room of Requirement might, he thought, be concealing28 them. He put the map away, pressed his hands over his face, and closed his eyes, trying to concentrate.
Voldemort thought I’d go to Ravenclaw Tower.
There it was, a solid fact, the place to start. Voldemort had stationed Alecto Carrow in the Ravenclaw common room, and there could be only one explanation; Voldemort feared that Harry already knew his Horcrux was connected to that House.
But the only object anyone seemed to associate with Ravenclaw was the lost diadem29… and how could the Horcrux be the diadem? How was it possible that Voldemort, the Slytherin, had found the diadem that had eluded30 generations of Ravenclaws? Who could have told him where to look, when nobody had seen the diadem in living memory?
In living memory…
Beneath his fingers, Harry’s eyes flew open again. He leapt up from the plinth and tore back the way he had come, now in pursuit of his one last hope. The sound of hundreds of people marching toward the Room of Requirement grew louder and louder as he returned to the marble stairs. Prefects were shouting instructions, trying to keep track of the students in their own houses, there was much pushing and shouting; Harry saw Zacharias Smith bowling31 over first years to get to the front of the queue, here and there younger students were in tears, while older ones called desperately32 for friends or siblings33.
Harry caught sight of a pearly white figure drifting across the entrance hall below and yelled as loudly as he could over the clamor.
“Nick! NICK! I need to talk to you!”
He forced his way back through the tide of students, finally reaching the bottom of the stairs, where Nearly Headless Nick, ghost of Gryffindor Tower, stood waiting for him.
“Harry! My dear boy!”
Nick made to grasp Harry’s hands with both of his own; Harry felt as though they had been thrust into icy water.
“Nick, you’ve got to help me. Who’s the ghost of Ravenclaw Tower?”
Nearly Headless Nick looked surprised and a little offended.
“The Gray Lady, of course; but if it is ghostly services you require -?”
“It’s got to be her – d’you know where she is?”
“Let’s see…”
Nick’s head wobbled a little on his ruff as he turned hither and thither34, peering over the heads of the swarming35 students.
“That’s her over there, Harry, the young woman with the long hair.”
Harry looked in the direction of Nick’s transparent36, pointing finger and saw a tall ghost who caught sight of Harry looking at her, raised her eyebrows37, and drifted away through a solid wall.
Harry ran after her. Once through the door of the corridor into which she had disappeared, he saw her at the very end of the passage, still gliding38 smoothly39 away from him.
“Hey – wait – come back!”
She consented to pause, floating a few inches from the ground. Harry supposed that she was beautiful, with her waist-length hair and floor-length cloak, but she also looked haughty40 and proud. Close in, he recognized her as a ghost he had passed several times in the corridor, but to whom he had never spoken.
“You’re the Gray Lady?”
She nodded but did not speak.
“The ghost of Ravenclaw Tower?”
“That is correct.”
Her tone was not encouraging.
“Please, I need some help. I need to know anything you can tell me about the lost diadem.”
A cold smile curved her lips.
“I am afraid,” she said, turning to leave, “that I cannot help you.”
“WAIT!”
He had not meant to shout, but anger and panic were threatening to overwhelm him. He glanced at his watch as she hovered42 in front of him. It was a quarter to midnight.
“This is urgent.” he said fiercely. “If that diadem’s at Hogwarts, I’ve got to find it, fast.”
“You are hardly the first student to covet43 the diadem.” she said disdainfully. “Generations of students have badgered me – ”
“This isn’t about trying to get better marks!” Harry shouted at her, “It’s about Voldemort – defeating Voldemort – or aren’t you interested in that?”
She could not blush, but her transparent cheeks became more opaque44, and her voice was heated as she replied, “Of course I – how dare you suggest –?”
“Well, help me then!”
Her composure was slipping.
“It – it is not a question of – ” she stammered45. “My mother’s diadem – ”
“Your mother’s?”
She looked angry with herself.
“When I lived,” she said stiffly, “I was Helena Ravenclaw.”
“You’re her daughter? But then, you must know what happed46 to it.”
“While the diadem bestows47 wisdom,” she said with an obvious effort to pull herself together, “I doubt that it would greatly increase you chances of defeating the wizard who calls himself Lord – ”
“Haven’t I told you, I’m not interested in wearing it!” Harry said fiercely. “There’s no time to explain – but if you care about Hogwarts, if you want to see Voldemort finished, you’ve got to tell me anything you know about the diadem!”
She remained quite still, floating in midair, staring down at him, and a sense of hopelessness engulfed48 Harry. Of course, if she had known anything, she would have told Flitwick of Dumbledore, who had surely asked her the same question. He had shaken his head and made to turn away when she spoke41 in a low voice.
“I stole the diadem from my mother.”
“You – you did what?”
“I stole the diadem.” repeated Helena Ravenclaw in a whisper. “I sought to make myself cleverer, more important than my mother. I ran away with it.”
He did not know how he had managed to gain her confidence and did not ask, he simply listened, hard, as she went on.
“My mother, they say, never admitted that the diadem was gone, but pretended that she had it still. She concealed49 her loss, my dreadful betrayal, even from the other founders50 of Hogwarts.”
“Then my mother fell ill – fatally ill. In spite of my perfidy51, she was desperate to see me one more time. She sent a man who had long loved me, though I spurned52 his advances, to find me. She knew that he would not rest until he had done so.”
Harry waited. She drew a deep breath and threw back her head.
“He tracked me to the forest where I was hiding. When I refused to return with him, he became violent. The baron53 was always a hot-tempered man. Furious at my refusal, jealous of my freedom, he stabbed me.”
“The Baron? You mean -?”
“The Bloody54 Baron, yes,” said the Gray Lady, and she lifted aside the cloak she wore to reveal a single dark wound in her white chest.
“When he saw what he had done, he was overcome with remorse55. He took the weapon that had claimed my life, and used it to kill himself. All these centuries later, he wears his chains as an act of penitence… as he should.” she added bitterly.
“And – and the diadem?”
“It remained where I had hidden it when I heard the Baron blundering through the forest toward me. Concealed inside a hollow tree.”
“A hollow tree?” repeated Harry. “What tree? Where was this?”
“A forest in Albania. A lonely place I thought was far beyond my mother’s reach.“
“Albania,” repeated Harry. Sense was emerging miraculously56 from confusion, and now he understood why she was telling him what she had denied Dumbledore and Flitwick. “You’ve already told someone this story, haven’t you? Another student?”
She closed her eyes and nodded.
“I had… no idea… He was flattering. He seemed to… understand… to sympathize…“
Yes, Harry thought. Tom Riddle57 would certainly have understood Helena Ravenclaw’s desire to possess fabulous58 objects to which she had little right.
“Well, you weren’t the first person Riddle wormed things out of.” Harry muttered. “He could be charming when he wanted…”
So, Voldemort had managed to wheedle59 the location of the lost diadem out of the Gray Lady. He had traveled to that far-flung forest and retrieved60 the diadem from its hiding place, perhaps as soon as he left Hogwarts, before he even started work at Borgin and Burkes.
And wouldn’t those secluded62 Albanian woods have seemed an excellent refuge when, so much later, Voldemort and needed a place to lie low, undisturbed, for ten long years?
But the diadem, once it became his precious Horcrux, had not been left in that lowly tree…. No, the diadem had been returned secretly to its true home, and Voldemort must have put it there –
“– the night he asked for a job!” said Harry, finishing his thought.
“I beg your pardon?”
“He hid the diadem in the castle, the night he asked Dumbledore to let him teach!” said Harry. Saying it out loud enabled him to make sense of it all. “He must’ve hidden the diadem on his way up to, or down from, Dumbledore’s office! But it was well worth trying to get the job – then he might’ve got the chance to nick Gryffindor’s sword as well – thank you, thanks!”
Harry left her floating there, looking utterly63 bewildered. As he rounded the corner back into the entrance hall, he checked his watch. It was five minutes until midnight, and though he now knew what the last Horcrux was, he was no closer to discovering where it was…
Generations of students had failed to find the diadem; that suggested that it was not in Ravenclaw Tower – but if not there, where? What hiding place had Tom Riddle discovered inside Hogwarts Castle, that he believed would remain secret forever?
Lost in desperate speculation64, Harry turned a corner, but he had taken only a few steps down the new corridor when the window to his left broke open with a deafening65, shattering crash. As he leapt aside, a gigantic body flew in through the window and hit the opposite wall.
Something large and furry66 detached itself, whimpering, from the new arrival and flung itself at Harry.
“Hagrid!“ Harry bellowed67, fighting off Fang68 the boarhound’s attentions as the enormous bearded figure clambered to his feet “What the –?”
“Harry, yer here! Yer here!“
Hagrid stooped down, bestowed69 upon Harry a cursory70 and rib-cracking hug, then ran back to the shattered window.
“Good boy, Grawpy!“ he bellowed through the hole in the window. ”I’ll se yer in a moment, there’s a good lad!“
Beyond Hagrid, out in the dark night, Harry saw bursts of light in the distance and heard a weird71, keening scream. He looked down at his watch: It was midnight. The battle had begun.
“Blimey, Harry,” panted Hagrid, “this is it, eh? Time ter fight?”
“Hagrid, where have you come from?”
“Heard You-Know-Who from up in our cave,“ said Hagrid grimly. ”Voice carried, didn’t it? ‘Yet got till midnight ter gimme Potter.’ Knew yeh mus’ be here, knew that mus’ be happenin’. Get down, Fang. So we come ter join in, me an’ Grawpy an’ Fang. Smashed our way through the boundary by the forest, Grawpy was carryin’ us, Fang an’ me. Told him ter let me down at the castle, so he shoved me through the window, bless him. Not exactly what I meant, bu’ – where’s Ron an’ Hermione?“
“That,” said Harry, “is a really good question. Come on.”
They hurried together along the corridor, Fang lolloping beside them. Harry could hear movement through the corridors all around: running footsteps, shouts; through the windows, he could see more flashes of light in the dark grounds.
“Where’re we goin’?” puffed72 Hagrid, pounding along at Harry’s heels, making the floorboards quake.
“I dunno exactly,” said Harry, making another random73 turn, “but Ron and Hermione must be around here somewhere….”
The first casualties of the battle were already strewn across the passage ahead: The two stone gargoyles74 that usually guarded the entrance to the staffroom had been smashed apart by a jinx that had sailed through another broken window. Their remains76 stirred feebly on the floor, and as Harry leapt over one of their disembodied heads, it moaned faintly. “Oh, don’t mind me… I’ll just be here and crumble….”
Its ugly stone face made Harry think suddenly of the marble bust77 of Rowena Ravenclaw at Xenophilius’s house, wearing that mad headdress – and then of the statue in Ravenclaw Tower, with the stone diadem upon her white curls….
And as he reached the end of the passage, the memory of a third stone effigy78 came back to him: that of an ugly old warlock, onto whose head Harry himself had placed a wig79 and a battered80 old hat. The shock shot through Harry with the heat of firewhisky, and he nearly stumbled.
He knew, at least, where the Horcrux sat waiting for him….
Tom Riddle, who confided81 in no one and operated alone, might have been arrogant82 enough to assume that he, and only he, had penetrated83 the deepest mysteries of Hogwarts Castle. Of course, Dumbledore and Flitwick, those model pupils, had never set foot in that particular place, but he, Harry, had strayed off the beaten track in his time at school – here at least was a secret area he and Voldemort knew, that Dumbledore had never discovered –
He was roused by Professor Sprout, who was thundering past followed by Neville and half a dozen others, all of them wearing earmuffs and carrying what appeared to be large potted plants.
“Mandrakes!” Neville bellowed at Harry over his shoulder as he ran. “Going to lob them over the walls – they won’t like this!”
Harry knew now where to go. He sped off, with Hagrid and Fang galloping84 behind him. They passed portrait after portrait, and the painted figures raced alongside them, wizards and witches in ruffs and breeches, in armor and cloaks, cramming85 themselves into each others’ canvases, screaming news from other parts of the castle. As they reached the end of this corridor, the whole castle shook, and Harry knew, as a gigantic vase blew off its plinth with explosive force, that it was in the grip of enchantments86 more sinister87 than those of the teachers and the Order.
“It’s all righ’, Fang – it’s all righ’!“ yelled Hagrid, but the great boarhound had taken flight as slivers88 of china flew like shrapnel through the air, and Hagrid pounded off after the terrified dog, leaving Harry alone.
He forged on through the trembling passages, his wand at the ready, and for the length of one corridor the little painted knight89, Sir Cadrigan, rushed from painting to painting beside him, clanking along in his armor, screaming encouragement, his fat little pony90 cantering behind him.
“Braggarts and rogues91, dogs and scoundrels, drive them out, Harry Potter, see them off!”
Harry hurtled around a corner and found Fred and a small knot of students, including Lee Jordan and Hannah Abbott, standing92 beside another empty plinth, whose statue had concealed a secret passageway. Their wands were drawn93 and they were listening at the concealed hole.
“Nice night for it!” Fred shouted as the castle quaked again, and Harry sprinted94 by, elated and terrified in equal measure. Along yet another corridor he dashed, and then there were owls everywhere, and Mrs. Norris was hissing95 and trying to bat them with her paws, no doubt to return them to their proper place….
“Potter!”
Aberforth Dumbledore stood blocking the corridor ahead, his wand held ready.
“I’ve had hundreds of kids thundering through my pub, Potter!”
“I know, we’re evacuating,” Harry said, “Voldemort’s – ”
“– attacking because they haven’t handed you over, yeah,” said Aberforth. “I’m not deaf, the whole of Hogsmeade heard him. And it never occurred to any of you to keep a few Slytherins hostage? There are kids of Death Eaters you’ve just sent to safety. Wouldn’t it have been a bit smarter to keep ‘em here?”
“It wouldn’t stop Voldemort,” said Harry, “and your brother would never have done it.”
Aberforth grunted96 and tore away in the opposite direction.
Your brother would never have done it…. Well, it was the truth, Harry thought as he ran on again: Dumbledore, who had defended Snape for so long, would never have held students ransom….
And then he skidded97 around a final corner and with a yell of mingled98 relief and fury he saw them: Ron and Hermione; both with their arms full of large, curved, dirty yellow objects, Ron with a broomstick under his arms.
“Where the hell have you been?“ Harry shouted.
“Chamber of Secrets,” said Ron.
“Chamber – what?“ said Harry, coming to an unsteady halt before them.
“It was Ron, all Ron’s idea!” said Hermione breathlessly. “Wasn’t it absolutely brilliant? There we were, after we left, and I said to Ron, even if we find the other one, how are we going to get rid of it? We still hadn’t got rid of the cup! And then he thought of it! The basilisk!”
“What the –?”
“Something to get rid of Horcruxes,” said Ron simply.
Harry’s eyes dropped to the objects clutched in Ron and Hermione’s arms: great curved fangs99; torn, he now realized, from the skull100 of a dead basilisk.
“But how did you get in there?” he asked, staring from the fangs to Ron. “You need to speak Parseltongue!”
“He did!” whispered Hermione. “Show him, Ron!”
Ron made a horrible strangled hissing noise.
“It’s what you did to open the locket,“ he told Harry apologetically. ”I had to have a few goes to get it right, but,“ he shrugged101 modestly, ”we got there in the end.“
“He was amazing!“ said Hermione. ”Amazing!“
“So…” Harry was struggling to keep up. “So…”
“So we’re another Horcrux down,“ said Ron, and from under his jacket he pulled the mangled102 remains of Hufflepuff’s cup. ”Hermione stabbed it. Thought she should. She hasn’t had the pleasure yet.“
“Genius!” yelled Harry.
“It was nothing,“ said Ron, though he looked delighted with himself. ”So what’s new with you?“
As he said it, there was an explosion from overhead: All three of them looked up as dust fell from the ceiling and they heard a distant scream.
“I know what the diadem looks like, and I know where it is,” said Harry, talking fast. “He hid it exactly where I had my old Potions book, where everyone’s been hiding stuff for centuries. He thought he was the only one to find it. Come on.”
As the walls trembled again, he led the other two back through the concealed entrance and down the staircase into the Room of Requirement. It was empty except for three women: Ginny, Tonks and an elderly witch wearing a moth-eaten hat, whom Harry recognized immediately as Neville’s grandmother.
“Ah, Potter,” she said crisply as if she had been waiting for him. “You can tell us what’s going on.”
“Is everyone okay?” said Ginny and Tonks together.
“‘S far as we know,” said Harry. “Are there still people in the passage to the Hog’s Head?”
He knew that the room would not be able to transform while there were still users inside it.
“I was the last to come through,” said Mrs. Longbottom. “I sealed it, I think it unwise to leave it open now Aberforth has left his pub. Have you seen my grandson?”
“He’s fighting,” said Harry.
“Naturally,” said the old lady proudly. “Excuse me, I must go and assist him.”
With surprising speed she trotted103 off toward the stone steps.
Harry looked at Tonks.
“I thought you were supposed to be with Teddy at your mother’s?”
“I couldn’t stand not knowing – ” Tonks looked anguished104. “She’ll look after him – have you seen Remus?”
“He was planning to lead a group of fighters into the grounds – ”
Without another word, Tonks sped off.
“Ginny,” said Harry, “I’m sorry, but we need you to leave too. Just for a bit. Then you can come back in.”
Ginny looked simply delighted to leave her sanctuary105.
“And then you can come back in!“ he shouted after her as she ran up the steps after Tonks. ”You’ve got to come back in!“
“Hang on a moment!“ said Ron sharply. ”We’ve forgotten someone!“
“Who?” asked Hermione.
“The house-elves, they’ll all be down in the kitchen, won’t they?”
“You mean we ought to get them fighting?” asked Harry.
“No,” said Ron seriously, “I mean we should tell them to get out. We don’t want anymore Dobbies, do we? We can’t order them to die for us – ”
There was a clatter106 as the basilisk fangs cascaded107 out of Hermione’s arms. Running at Ron, she flung them around his neck and kissed him full on the mouth. Ron threw away the fangs and broomstick he was holding and responded with such enthusiasm that he lifted Hermione off her feet.
“Is this the moment?” Harry asked weakly, and when nothing happened except that Ron and Hermione gripped each other still more firmly and swayed on the spot, he raised his voice. “Oi! There’s a war going on here!”
Ron and Hermione broke apart, their arms still around each other.
“I know, mate,” said Ron, who looked as though he had recently been hit on the back of the head with a Bludger, “so it’s now or never, isn’t it?”
“Never mind that, what about the Horcrux?“ Harry shouted. ”D’you think you could just – just hold it in until we’ve got the diadem?“
“Yeah – right – sorry – ” said Ron, and he and Hermione set about gathering108 up fangs, both pink in the face.
It was clear, as the three of them stepped back into the corridor upstairs, that in the minutes that they had spent in the Room of Requirement the situation within the castle had deteriorated109 severely110: The walls and ceiling were shaking worse than ever; dust filled the air, and through the nearest window, Harry saw bursts of green and red light so close to the foot of the castle that he knew the Death Eaters must be very near to entering the place. Looking down, Harry saw Grawp the giant meandering111 past, swinging what looked like a stone gargoyle75 torn from the roof and roaring his displeasure.
“Let’s hope he steps on some of them!” said Ron as more screams echoed from close by.
“As long as it’s not any of our lot!” said a voice: Harry turned and saw Ginny and Tonks, both with their wands drawn at the next window, which was missing several panes112. Even as he watched, Ginny sent a well-aimed jinx into a crowd of fighters below.
“Good girl!“ roared a figure running through the dust toward them, and Harry saw Aberforth again, his gray hair flying as he led a small group of students past. ”They look like they might be breaching113 the north battlements, they’ve brought giants of their own.“
“Have you seen Remus?” Tonks called after him.
“He was dueling114 Dolohov,” shouted Aberforth, “haven’t seen him since!”
“Tonks,” said Ginny, “Tonks, I’m sure he’s okay – ”
But Tonks had run off into the dust after Aberforth.
Ginny turned, helpless, to Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
“They’ll be all right,“ said Harry, though he knew they were empty words. ”Ginny, we’ll be back in a moment, just keep out of the way, keep safe – come on!“ he said to Ron and Hermione, and they ran back to the stretch of wall beyond which the Room of Requirement was waiting to do the bidding of the next entrant.
I need the place where everything is hidden. Harry begged of it inside his head, and the door materialized on their third run past.
The furor115 of the battle died the moment they crossed the threshold and closed the door behind them: All was silent. They were in a place the size of a cathedral with the appearance of a city, its towering walls built of objects hidden by thousands of long-gone students.
“And he never realized anyone could get in?” said Ron, his voice echoing in the silence.
“He thought he was the only one,” said Harry. “Too bad for him I’ve had to hide stuff in my time… this way,” he added. “I think it’s down here….”
They sped off up adjacent aisles116; Harry could hear the others’ footsteps echoing through the towering piles of junk, of bottles, hats, crates118, chairs, books, weapons, broomsticks, bats….
“Somewhere near here,” Harry muttered to himself. “Somewhere… somewhere…”
Deeper and deeper into the labyrinth119 he went, looking for objects he recognized from his one previous trip into the room. His breath was loud in his ears, and then his very soul seemed to shiver. There it was, right ahead, the blistered120 old cupboard in which he had hidden his old Potions book, and on top of it, the pockmarked stone warlock wearing a dusty old wig and what looked like an ancient discolored tiara.
He had already stretched out his hand, though he remained few feet away, when a voice behind him said, “Hold it, Potter.”
He skidded to a halt and turned around. Crabbe and Goyle were standing behind him, shoulder to shoulder, wands pointing right at Harry. Through the small space between their jeering121 faces he saw Draco Malfoy.
“That’s my wand you’re holding, Potter,” said Malfoy, pointing his own through the gap between Crabbe and Goyle.
“Not anymore,” panted Harry, tightening122 his grip on the hawthorn123 wand. “Winners, keepers, Malfoy. Who’s lent you theirs?”
“My mother,” said Draco.
Harry laughed, though there was nothing very humorous about the situation. He could not hear Ron or Hermione anymore. They seemed to have run out of earshot, searching for the diadem.
“So how come you three aren’t with Voldemort?” asked Harry.
“We’re gonna be rewarded,” said Crabbe. His voice was surprisingly soft for such an enormous person: Harry had hardly ever heard him speak before. Crabbe was speaking like a small child promised a large bag of sweets. “We ‘ung back, Potter. We decided124 not to go. Decided to bring you to ‘im.”
“Good plan,” said Harry in mock admiration125. He could not believe that he was this close, and was going to be thwarted126 by Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle. He began edging slowly backward toward the place where the Horcrux sat lopsided upon the bust. If he could just get his hands on it before the fight broke out…
“So how did you get in here?” he asked, trying to distract them.
“I virtually lived in the Room of Hidden Things all last year,” said Malfoy, his voice brittle127. “I know how to get in.”
“We was hiding in the corridor outside,” grunted Goyle. “We can do Disslusion Charms now! And then,” his face split into a gormless grin, “you turned up right in front of us and said you was looking for a die-dum! What’s a die-dum?”
“Harry?” Ron’s voice echoed suddenly from the other side of the wall to Harry’s right. “Are you talking to someone?”
With a whiplike movement, Crabbe pointed his wand at the fifty foot mountain of old furniture, of broken trunks, of old books and robes and unidentifiable junk, and shouted, “Descendo!”
The wall began to totter128, then the top third crumbled129 into the aisle117 next door where Ron stood.
“Ron!” Harry bellowed, as somewhere out of sight Hermione screamed, and Harry heard innumerable objects crashing to the floor on the other side of the destabilized wall: He pointed his wand at the rampart, cried, “Finite!” and it steadied.
“No!” shouted Malfoy, staying Crabbe’s arm as the latter made to repeat his spell. “If you wreck130 the room you might bury this diadem thing!”
“What’s that matter?” said Crabbe, tugging131 himself free. “It’s Potter the Dark Lord wants, who cares about a die-dum?”
“Potter came in here to get it,” said Malfoy with ill-disguised impatience132 at the slow-wittedness of his colleagues. “so that must mean – ”
“‘Must mean’?” Crabbe turned on Malfoy with undisguised ferocity. “Who cares what you think? I don’t take your orders no more, Draco. You an’ your dad are finished.”
“Harry?” shouted Ron again, from the other side of the junk wad. “What’s going on?”
“Harry?” mimicked133 Crabbe. “What’s going on – no, Potter! Crucio!”
Harry had lunged for the tiara; Crabbe’s curse missed him but hit the stone bust, which flew into the air; the diadem soared upward and then dropped out of sight in the mass of objects on which the bust had rested.
“STOP!” Malfoy shouted at Crabbe, his voice echoing through the enormous room. “The Dark Lord wants him alive – ”
“So? I’m not killing134 him, am I?” yelled Crabbe, throwing off Malfoy’s restraining arm. “But if I can, I will, the Dark Lord wants him dead anyway, what’s the diff –?”
A jet of scarlet135 light shot past Harry by inches: Hermione had run around the corner behind him and sent a Stunning136 Spell straight at Crabbe’s head. It only missed because Malfoy pulled him out of the way.
“It’s that Mudblood! Avada Kedavra!”
Harry saw Hermione dive aside, and his fury that Crabbe had aimed to kill wiped all else from his mind. He shot a Stunning Spell at Crabbe, who lurched out of the way, knocking Malfoy’s wand out of his hand; it rolled out of sight beneath a mountain of broken furniture and bones.
“Don’t kill him! DON’T KILL HIM!” Malfoy yelled at Crabbe and Goyle, who were both aiming at Harry: Their split second’s hesitation137 was all Harry needed.
“Expelliarmus!”
Goyle’s wand flew out of his hand and disappeared into the bulwark138 of objects beside him; Goyle leapt foolishly on the spot, trying to retrieve61 it; Malfoy jumped out of range of Hermione’s second Stunning Spell, and Ron, appearing suddenly at the end of the aisle, shot a full Body-Bind Curse at Crabbe, which narrowly missed.
Crabbe wheeled around and screamed, “Avada Kedavra!” again. Ron leapt out of sight to avoid the jet of green light. The wand-less Malfoy cowered139 behind a three-legged wardrobe as Hermione charged toward them, hitting Goyle with a Stunning Spell as she came.
“It’s somewhere here!” Harry yelled at her, pointing at the pile of junk into which the old tiara had fallen. “Look for it while I go and help R – ”
“HARRY!” she screamed.
A roaring, billowing noise behind him gave him a moment’s warning. He turned and saw both Ron and Crabbe running as hard as they could up the aisle toward them.
“Like it hot, scum?” roared Crabbe as he ran.
But he seemed to have no control over what he had done. Flames of abnormal size were pursuing them, licking up the sides of the junk bulwarks140, which were crumbling141 to soot142 at their touch.
“Aguamenti!” Harry bawled143, but the jet of water that soared from the tip of his wand evaporated in the air.
“RUN!”
Malfoy grabbed the Stunned144 Goyle and dragged him along; Crabbe outstripped145 all of them, now looking terrified; Harry, Ron, and Hermione pelted146 along in his wake, and the fire pursued them. It was not normal fire; Crabbe had used a curse of which Harry had no knowledge. As they turned a corner the flames chased them as though they were alive, sentient147, intent upon killing them. Now the fire was mutating, forming a gigantic pack of fiery148 beasts: Flaming serpents, chimaeras, and dragons rose and fell and rose again, and the detritus149 of centuries on which they were feeding was thrown up into the air into their fanged150 mouths, tossed high on clawed feet, before being consumed by the inferno151.
Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle had vanished from view: Harry, Ron and Hermione stopped dead; the fiery monsters were circling them, drawing closer and closer, claws and horns and tails lashed152, and the heat was solid as a wall around them.
“What can we do?” Hermione screamed over the deafening roars of the fire. “What can we do?”
“Here!”
Harry seized a pair of heavy-looking broomsticks from the nearest pile of junk and threw one to Ron, who pulled Hermione onto it behind him. Harry swung his leg over the second broom and, with hard kicks to the ground, they soared up in the air, missing by feet the horned beak153 of a flaming raptor that snapped its jaws154 at them. The smoke and heat were becoming overwhelming: Below them the cursed fire was consuming the contraband155 of generations of hunted students, the guilty outcomes of a thousand banned experiments, the secrets of the countless156 souls who had sought refuge in the room. Harry could not see a trace of Malfoy, Crabbe, or Goyle anywhere. He swooped157 as low as he dare over the marauding monsters of flame to try to find them, but there was nothing but fire: What a terrible way to die…. He had never wanted this….
“Harry, let’s get out, let’s get out!” bellowed Ron, though it was impossible to see where the door was through the black smoke.
And then Harry heard a thin, piteous human scream from amidst the terrible commotion158, the thunder of devouring159 flame.
“It’s – too – dangerous –!” Ron yelled, but Harry wheeled in the air. His glasses giving his eyes some small protection from the smoke, he raked the firestorm below, seeking a sign of life, a limb or a face that was not yet charred160 like wood….
And he saw them: Malfoy with his arms around the unconscious Goyle, the pair of them perched on a fragile tower of charred desks, and Harry dived. Malfoy saw him coming and raised one arm, but even as Harry grasped it he knew at once that it was no good. Goyle was too heavy and Malfoy’s hand, covered in sweat, slid instantly out of Harry’s –
“IF WE DIE FOR THEM, I’LL KILL YOU, HARRY!” roared Ron’s voice, and, as a great flaming chimaera bore down upon them, he and Hermione dragged Goyle onto their broom and rose, rolling and pitching, into the air once more as Malfoy clambered up behind Harry.
“The door, get to the door, the door!” screamed Malfoy in Harry’s ear, and Harry sped up, following Ron, Hermione, and Goyle through the billowing black smoke, hardly able to breathe: and all around them the last few objects unburned by the devouring flames were flung into the air, as the creatures of the cursed fire cast them high in celebration: cups and shields, a sparkling necklace, and an old, discolored tiara –
“What are you doing, what are you doing, the door’s that way!” screamed Malfoy, but Harry made a hairpin161 swerve162 and dived. The diadem seemed to fall in slow motion, turning and glittering as it dropped toward the maw of a yawning serpent, and then he had it, caught it around his wrist –
Harry swerved163 again as the serpent lunged at him; he soared upward and straight toward the place where, he prayed, the door stood open; Ron, Hermione and Goyle had vanished; Malfoy was screaming and holding Harry so tightly it hurt. Then, through the smoke, Harry saw a rectangular patch on the wall and steered164 the broom at it, and moments later clean air filled his lungs and they collided with the wall in the corridor beyond.
Malfoy fell off the broom and lay facedown, gasping165, coughing, and retching. Harry rolled over and sat up: The door to the Room of Requirement had vanished, and Ron and Hermione sat panting on the floor beside Goyle, who was still unconscious.
“C-Crabbe,” choked Malfoy as soon as he could speak. “C-Crabbe…”
“He’s dead,” said Ron harshly.
There was silence, apart from panting and coughing. Then a number of huge bangs shook the castle, and a great cavalcade166 of transparent figures galloped167 past on horses, their heads screaming with bloodlust under their arms. Harry staggered to his feet when the Headless Hunt had passed and looked around: The battle was still going on all around him. He could hear more scream than those of the retreating ghosts. Panic flared168 within him.
“Where’s Ginny?” he said sharply. “She was here. She was supposed to be going back into the Room of Requirement.”
“Blimey, d’you reckon it’ll still work after that fire?” asked Ron, but he too got to his feet, rubbing his chest and looking left and right. “Shall we split up and look –?”
“No,” said Hermione, getting to her feet too. Malfoy and Goyle remained slumped169 hopelessly on the corridor floor; neither of them had wands. “Let’s stick together. I say we go – Harry, what’s that on your arm?”
“What? Oh yeah – ”
He pulled the diadem from his wrist and held it up. It was still hot, blackened with soot, but as he looked at it closely he was just able to make out the tiny words etched upon it; WIT BEYOND MEASURE IS MAN’S GREATEST TREASURE.
A bloodlike substance, dark and tarry, seemed to be leaking from the diadem. Suddenly Harry felt the thing vibrate violently, then break apart in his hands, and as it did so, he thought he heard the faintest, most distant scream of pain, echoing not from the grounds or the castle, but from the thing that had just fragmented in his fingers.
“It must have been Fiendfyre!” whimpered Hermione, her eyes on the broken piece.
“Sorry?”
“Fiendfyre – cursed fire – it’s one of the substances that destroy Horcruxes, but I would never, ever have dared use it, it’s so dangerous – how did Crabbe know how to –?”
“Must’ve learned from the Carrows,” said Harry grimly.
“Shame he wasn’t concentrating when they mentioned how to stop it, really,” said Ron, whose hair, like Hermione’s, was singed170, and whose face was blackened. “If he hadn’t tried to kill us all, I’d be quite sorry he was dead.”
“But don’t you realize?” whispered Hermione. “This means, if we can just get the snake – ”
But she broke off as yells and shouts and the unmistakable noises of dueling filled the corridor. Harry looked around and his heart seemed to fail: Death Eaters had penetrated Hogwarts. Fred and Percy had just backed into view, both of them dueling masked and hooded171 men.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione ran forward to help: Jets of light flew in every direction and the man dueling Percy backed off, fast: Then his hood172 slipped and they saw a high forehead and streaked173 hair –
“Hello, Minister!” bellowed Percy, sending a neat jinx straight at Thicknesse, who dropped his wand and clawed at the front of his robes, apparently174 in awful discomfort175. “Did I mention I’m resigning?”
“You’re joking, Perce!” shouted Fred as the Death Eater he was battling collapsed176 under the weight of three separate Stunning Spells. Thicknesse had fallen to the ground with tiny spikes177 erupting all over him; he seemed to be turning into some form of sea urchin178. Fred looked at Percy with glee.
“You actually are joking, Perce…. I don’t think I’ve heard you joke since you were – ”
The air exploded. They had been grouped together, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, and Percy, the two Death Eaters at their feet, one Stunned, the other Transfigured; and in that fragment of a moment, when danger seemed temporarily at bay, the world was rent apart, Harry felt himself flying through the air, and all he could do was hold as tightly as possible to that thin stick of wood that was his one and only weapon, and shield his head in his arms: He heard the screams and yells of his companions without a hope of knowing what had happened to them –
And then the world resolved itself into pain and semidarkness: He was half buried in the wreckage179 of a corridor that had been subjected to a terrible attack. Cold air told him that the side of the castle had been blown away, and hot stickiness on his cheek told him that he was bleeding copiously180. Then he heard a terrible cry that pulled at his insides, that expressed agony of a kind neither flame nor curse could cause, and he stood up, swaying, more frightened than he had been that day, more frightened, perhaps, than he had been in his life….
And Hermione was struggling to her feet in the wreckage, and three redheaded men were grouped on the ground where the wall had blasted apart. Harry grabbed Hermione’s hand as they staggered and stumbled over stone and wood.
“No – no – no!” someone was shouting. “No! Fred! No!” And Percy was shaking his brother, and Ron was kneeling beside them, and Fred’s eyes stared without seeing, the ghost of his last laugh still etched upon his face.
礼堂大厅里深黑色的被施了魔法的天花板上散落着烁烁的星辰，下面的四张学院的长桌旁坐满了衣冠不整的学生，有些穿着旅行时用的斗篷，有些还穿着晨衣，散发着珍珠白色光芒的幽灵们在学院里来来去去。不论是学生还是鬼魂，他们的眼睛都紧紧地盯着在大厅中的一个升起的平台上讲话的麦格教授，她身后站着留下来的老师们，包括马人费伦泽，以及凤凰社里赶来参加战斗的人。
“……撤离将会在费尔奇先生和庞弗雷女士的监督下进行。各位级长，在我下达这个命令之后，你们立刻负责组织你们学院有秩序地到达撤离地点。”
许多学生看上去都吓呆了。然而，当哈利沿在墙边走过，在格兰芬多的桌子上寻找着罗恩和赫敏的身影时，赫奇帕奇的厄尼·麦克米兰站到了桌子上大声说：“如果我们想留下来战斗呢？”
有零零落落的掌声响起来。
“如果年龄合格，你们可以留下。”麦格教授说道。
“我们的行李怎么办？”拉文克劳的一个女生问道，“我们的皮箱呢？我们的猫头鹰呢？”
“我们没有时间收拾行李了。”麦格教授说。“现在最重要的事，是安全地把你们从这儿送出去。”
“斯内普教授在哪里？”一个斯莱特林的一个女生大声喊。
“他已经，用个成语来说，逃之夭夭了。”麦格教授回答。与此同时，格兰芬多、赫奇帕奇和拉文克劳的人群中爆发出一阵欢呼声。
哈利沿着墙根走过格兰芬多的长桌，仍然在寻找罗恩和赫敏。当他经过时，许多人转过头看着他，窃窃私语。
“我们已经在城堡周围布置下了保护措施，”麦格教授说道，“但是如果我们不增强它的话就支撑不了很久。因此我要求你们，必须迅速而冷静地行动，按照你们级长的——”
然而，她的话尾被大厅里回荡着的另一个声音给淹没了。那声音刺耳，冷酷而清晰。谁也说不出它从哪儿传来的，就好像是墙壁本身发出的声音，好像一个沉睡了几百年的野兽苏醒了过来。
“我知道你们打算抗争。”学生中发出尖叫声，一些人害怕地紧抱成一团，恐惧地四下寻找着声音的来源。“你们的努力都是无用的。你们无法与我抗衡。我并不想杀你们。我对霍格沃茨的教师非常尊敬，我不愿意溅洒纯血统的血液。”
大厅里现在安静下来了，这种安静压迫着耳膜，它实在是太过巨大了，以至于似乎不能再被大厅容纳了。
“把哈利·波特交给我，”伏地魔说，“就没有人会受到伤害。给我哈利·波特，我就不会碰这个学校。给我哈利·波特，我将会奖赏你们。”
“午夜前给我答案。”
寂静再一次吞没了他们。每个人都转过头去，每双眼睛都在寻找哈利，他久久地被束缚在由几千束看不见的光形成的注视里。一个身影爬上了斯莱特林的桌子，哈利认出了那是潘西·帕金森，她拼命摇动着手臂，尖叫，“他在那儿！波特在那儿！来人捉住他啊！”
还没等哈利开口，大批人群开始移动。他面前的格兰芬多的学生起身护住哈利，与斯莱特林的人对峙着。然后，赫奇帕奇的人都站了起来，几乎在同时拉文克劳的人也是如此，所有人都背对着哈利，所有人都转身冲着潘西，魔杖从四面八方伸出来，从长袍和袖子下伸出来。哈利震惊而不知所措。
“谢谢你，帕金森小姐。”麦格教授清楚地说道，“你第一个跟费尔奇先生离开大厅。如果你们学院的人想走可以跟着你。”
哈利听到了长凳碰撞的声音，斯莱特林的人很快就在大厅聚集起来。
“拉文克劳，跟上！”麦格教授大声说。
很快，四个桌子旁的人走光了。斯莱特林一个人都没有留下，一些拉文克劳高年级的学生仍然坐在桌边，比他们小的学生都出去了；有更多的赫奇帕奇留了下来；半数以上的格兰芬多学生没有动，麦格教授被迫离开讲台，走下来驱赶那些低年级学生。
“绝对不行，科林，快走！还有你，匹克斯！”
哈利快步走到了韦斯莱家人的身边，一起坐在格兰芬多的桌边。
“罗恩和赫敏在哪儿？”
“你还没找到……”韦斯莱先生担心地问。
但是当金斯莱走上讲台，开始对余下的人讲话时，韦斯莱先生不说话了。
“到午夜前我们只有半个小时了，所以我们必须迅速行动。霍格沃茨的老师和凤凰社的成员已经通过了一个作战计划。费立维教授，斯普劳特教授和麦格教授带领成队的人上到三个最高的塔上——拉文克劳塔，天文塔和格兰芬多塔——那里有不错的视野和绝佳的发射咒语位置。同时莱姆斯——”他指着卢平，“亚瑟，”他指着坐在格兰芬多的桌边的韦斯莱先生“和我，会带领人到地面作战。我们需要一些人到学校的入口处和走廊里组织抵抗——”
“听起来那是我们的工作。”弗雷德喊道，指着他自己和乔治，金斯莱赞同地点了点头。
“好了，领队都上来，我们分配队伍！”
“波特，”麦格教授快步走到他面前说，其他学生都涌上平台，在人群中互相冲撞着寻找自己的位置，接受作战指示。“你是不是应该去找什么东西？”
“什么？哦，”哈利说，“哦，对！”
他差点忘记了关于魂器的事情，几乎忘记了战斗一旦打响他就可以接着找它：罗恩和赫敏原因不明的缺席把他脑子里其他所有的念头都打消了。
“那快去，波特，去！”
“好……我这就去……”
他再一次跑向大厅的门口时，还能感觉到背后跟随着他的目光。大厅门口挤满了疏散出去的学生，他任由自己被他们推挤到大理石楼梯上，然而到达楼梯顶端后，他就沿着一条废弃的走廊开始快跑，恐惧和惊慌扰乱了他的思绪。他试图让自己冷静下来，集中精力寻找魂器，可他的思路就像被困在玻璃杯里的黄蜂一样——狂暴而徒劳地横冲直撞。离开了罗恩和赫敏，哈利似乎不能理清自己的思绪。他放慢速度，在走廊的中间停了下来，坐在一个毁坏了的雕像底座上，从挂在脖子上的驴皮小袋里拽出活点地图。他到处都找不到罗恩和赫敏的名字，不过他觉得有可能是因为有求必应屋的学生太多，把他俩的名字挡住了。他把地图放到一边，闭上眼睛，把脸深深地埋进双手中，试图去集中精神。
伏地魔认为我去了拉文克劳塔楼。
那就是该开始的地方，事实很确定，伏地魔派阿列克托·加罗驻守在拉文克劳的公共休息室里，这只有一个解释，那就是伏地魔害怕哈利已经知道了他的魂器和那个地方联系着。
但是每个人都觉得唯一能和拉文克劳联系上的东西就是丢失的王冠……魂器怎么可能是王冠呢？伏地魔，一个斯莱特林，他是怎么找到拉文克劳家族中失传了几代的王冠？活着的人没有谁看到过那个王冠，是谁告诉他去哪里可以找到的？
活着的人……
哈利睁开被手指捂住的眼睛，一下子从底座上跳起来，从他来的路上挤开一条道，拼命想抓住似乎是他最后的一线希望。他跑向大理石楼梯的时候，听到了成百上千的人往有求必应屋走去的嘈杂声音。级长们大声喊叫着发出命令，尽力与本学院的学生保持着联系，人群拥挤不堪，吵吵嚷嚷。哈利看见扎密赖斯·史密斯为了赶到队伍的前面击倒了几个一年级生，到处都有年幼的学生在哭，而年长些的人都在绝望地喊着自己同伴和兄弟姐妹的名字。
哈利瞥见一个珍珠白色的幽灵从大厅入口下方漂浮过去，一片喧嚣中他用自己最大的声音喊道：
“尼克！尼克！我需要和你谈谈！”
他拼命地穿过学生的浪潮，到达了楼梯的底部。格兰芬多塔里的鬼魂，差点没头的尼克站在那里等着他。
“哈利！我亲爱的孩子！”
尼克握住哈利的手；哈利感觉自己好像是把手浸入了冰水一样。
“尼克，你一定得帮帮我。拉文克劳的鬼魂是谁？”
差点没头的尼克看上去很惊讶，而且有一点不愉快。
“当然是格雷女士；但如果你需要鬼魂为你服务——”
“必须得是她！你知道她在哪里吗？”
“让我找找……”
尼克四下寻找的时候，头在圆形领花上轻微摇晃着，他透过拥挤的学生凝视着什么。
“她在那儿，哈利，有长头发的那个年轻女士。”
哈利顺着尼克透明的手指看到了一个高个子的鬼魂，发现哈利看她，她扬起了眉毛，漂浮着穿过一面墙走了。
哈利向她追过去，走过她消失的走廊门口就看见她在走道的尽头，仍然平稳地漂浮着远离他。
“嘿——等等——回来！”
她听从哈利的话停了下来，在地面上方又飘了几英寸。哈利猜想她是一个有着及腰长发，穿着曳地长斗篷的美人，但是她看上去也很高傲不逊。离得近了哈利就意识到他以前在走廊上碰到过她，只是从来没有说过话。
“你是格雷女士？”
她点点头，没有说话。
“你是拉文克劳塔的鬼魂？”
“不错。”她的声音丝毫不鼓舞人心。
“拜托了，我需要你的帮助。我要知道关于丢失的王冠的事情，请你告诉我你所知道的全部。”
她的嘴角扯出一抹冷笑。
“恐怕，”她边说边转身准备离开，“我不能帮你。”
“等等！”
他并不想喊叫的，但是愤怒和恐慌威胁着要吞没他。她在他面前盘旋的时候，哈利扫了一眼手表，还有一刻钟到午夜。
“这很紧急。”他大喊着，“如果那王冠还在霍格沃茨，我必须得找到它，尽快。”
“你并不是第一个垂涎这王冠的学生。”她轻蔑地说，“一代又一代的学生企图迫使我——”
“这可不是为了想要多得几分！”哈利朝她喊叫着。“这是关于伏地魔——打败伏地魔——你对那也不感兴趣吗？”
她是不能脸红的，不过她透明的双颊却开始变得模糊，她用激烈的语气反驳道：“我当然——你怎么敢认为……”
“那么，帮帮我！”
她镇定的表情隐去了。
“那——那不是——”她开始结巴，“我母亲的王冠——”
“你母亲的？”
她看上去对自己很生气。
“当我还活着的时候，”她僵硬地回答，“我叫海伦娜·拉文克劳。”
“你是她的女儿？那么，你一定知道它发生过什么事情。”
“那王冠象征着智慧，”她明显在努力着控制自己。“我怀疑戴上它能大幅提升你击败那个称他自己为黑魔王的人的概率……”
“我说了我没兴趣戴它！”哈利愤怒地咆哮，“没时间跟你解释了，但是如果你在乎霍格沃茨，如果你希望伏地魔倒台，那你必须把你所知道关于王冠的所有事情都告诉我！”
她仍然是静止的悬浮在半空中，低头看着哈利。一种绝望的感觉席卷了他的全身，她如果真的知道些什么，当然会告诉弗立维或者邓布利多，他们肯定问过她同样的问题了。当哈利正准备摇摇头，转身离开的时候，她低声说道：“我从我母亲那里偷到了王冠。”
“你……你什么？”
“我偷了王冠。”海伦娜·拉文克劳轻声说，“我想让自己更聪明一点，变得比我母亲更重要，我带着它离开了。”
哈利不知道自己为什么得到了她的信任，他也并没有问，只是静静听着她艰难地往下讲。
“据说我母亲从来不承认王冠丢了，仍然装作它还在她那里。她隐瞒了她的损失和我的背叛，甚至是对霍格沃茨其他的创立者也是如此。”
“后来我母亲病倒了……病得很重。尽管我背叛了她，她仍然苦苦想着见我最后一面。她派了一个爱了我很久但是多次被我拒绝的人来找我。她知道如果那个人不把我带回去是不会罢休的。”
哈利等待着。她深深吸了口气，把头扭了过去。
“他追踪我到了我当时藏身的森林里。当我拒绝跟他一起回去时，他变得很激动。巴罗一直都是个有着火暴性子的人。他对于我的拒绝十分愤怒，嫉妒我的自由，他刺杀了我。”
“巴罗？你指的是——？”
“是的，他就是血人巴罗，”格雷女士说着撩起了斗篷的一侧，给哈利看了她白色胸口上的深色的创伤。“当他意识到自己做了什么以后，他被巨大的悔恨淹没了，他用夺去了我生命的武器杀死了自己。这么多世纪以来，他一直戴着他的链条表示悔恨……他的确该这么做。”
她苦涩地说。
“那……那王冠？”
“它仍然在当初我藏它的那个地方，我听到巴罗摸索进我藏身的森林时，把它藏进一棵空心的树里。”
“一棵空心的树？”哈利重复道，“什么树？在哪儿？”
“阿尔巴尼亚的一个森林。一个孤独的地方，我认为那里能够远离我母亲的控制。”
“阿尔巴尼亚，”哈利重复道，混乱的思绪中浮现一种奇怪的感觉，现在他理解了为什么她告诉他不肯告诉邓布利多和弗立维。“你以前对别人说过这个故事了，对吗？别的学生？”
她闭上了眼睛点了点头。
“我不……知道……他在……奉承。他看上去……懂得……去同情……”
是的，哈利想，汤姆·里德尔肯定能理解海伦莲娜·拉文克劳那种迫切地想要占有不属于自己的神奇物件的欲望。
“嗯，你并不是第一个被里德尔套出话来的人。”哈利咕哝着说，“当他想要什么东西时他就会变得很迷人……”
不错，伏地魔已经从格雷女士这里套出了丢失王冠藏匿的地点。他已经去过了那广袤的森林，而且把王冠从它藏身的地方取了出来，也许就在他离开霍格沃茨后不久，甚至在他开始在博金－博克商店工作之前。
而后来，发生了那些事情以后，当伏地魔需要一个能够安静的藏身长达十年的地方，还有哪里比那些被隔绝的阿尔巴尼亚森林更好呢？
可是那个王冠一旦变成他珍贵的魂器，就不会再留在那个低矮的树丛里了……是的，王冠已经被秘密地送回了它真正的家，伏地魔一定是把它放在那儿了……
“……他来求职的那天晚上！”哈利思考完毕之后说道。
收听单词发音 |
1
enchanted
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| adj. 被施魔法的，陶醉的，入迷的 动词enchant的过去式和过去分词 | |
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scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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dressing
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| n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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centaur
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| n.人首马身的怪物 | |
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phoenix
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| n.凤凰，长生(不死)鸟；引申为重生 | |
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overseen
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| v.监督，监视( oversee的过去分词 ) | |
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filch
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| v.偷窃 | |
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petrified
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| adj.惊呆的；目瞪口呆的v.使吓呆，使惊呆；变僵硬；使石化(petrify的过去式和过去分词) | |
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harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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owls
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| n.猫头鹰( owl的名词复数 ) | |
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bunk
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| n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位；废话 | |
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13
dormant
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| adj.暂停活动的；休眠的；潜伏的 | |
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futile
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| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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necessitating
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| 使…成为必要，需要( necessitate的现在分词 ) | |
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17
sprout
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| n.芽，萌芽；vt.使发芽，摘去芽；vi.长芽，抽条 | |
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18
overview
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| n.概观，概述 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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defense
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| n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩 | |
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21
inexplicable
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| adj.无法解释的，难理解的 | |
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22
evacuating
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| 撤离，疏散( evacuate的现在分词 )； 排空（胃肠），排泄（粪便）； （从危险的地方）撤出，搬出，撤空 | |
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23
frantically
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| ad.发狂地, 发疯地 | |
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24
wasps
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| 黄蜂( wasp的名词复数 )； 胡蜂； 易动怒的人； 刻毒的人 | |
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25
halfway
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| adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途 | |
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26
pouch
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| n.小袋，小包，囊状袋；vt.装...入袋中，用袋运输；vi.用袋送信件 | |
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27
density
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| n.密集，密度，浓度 | |
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28
concealing
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，遮住( conceal的现在分词 ) | |
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29
diadem
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| n.王冠，冕 | |
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30
eluded
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| v.（尤指机敏地）避开( elude的过去式和过去分词 )；逃避；躲避；使达不到 | |
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bowling
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| n.保龄球运动 | |
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32
desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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33
siblings
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| n.兄弟，姐妹( sibling的名词复数 ) | |
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34
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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35
swarming
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| 密集( swarm的现在分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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36
transparent
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| adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的 | |
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37
eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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38
gliding
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| v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的 | |
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39
smoothly
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| adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地 | |
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40
haughty
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| adj.傲慢的，高傲的 | |
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41
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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42
hovered
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| 鸟( hover的过去式和过去分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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43
covet
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| vt.垂涎；贪图(尤指属于他人的东西) | |
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44
opaque
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| adj.不透光的；不反光的，不传导的；晦涩的 | |
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45
stammered
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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46
happed
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| v.偶然发生( hap的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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47
bestows
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的第三人称单数 ) | |
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48
engulfed
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| v.吞没，包住( engulf的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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49
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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50
founders
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| n.创始人( founder的名词复数 ) | |
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51
perfidy
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| n.背信弃义，不忠贞 | |
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52
spurned
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| v.一脚踢开，拒绝接受( spurn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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53
baron
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| n.男爵；(商业界等)巨头，大王 | |
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54
bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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55
remorse
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| n.痛恨，悔恨，自责 | |
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56
miraculously
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| ad.奇迹般地 | |
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57
riddle
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| n.谜，谜语，粗筛；vt.解谜，给…出谜，筛，检查，鉴定，非难，充满于；vi.出谜 | |
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58
fabulous
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| adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的 | |
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59
wheedle
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| v.劝诱，哄骗 | |
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60
retrieved
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| v.取回( retrieve的过去式和过去分词 )；恢复；寻回；检索（储存的信息） | |
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61
retrieve
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| vt.重新得到，收回；挽回，补救；检索 | |
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62
secluded
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| adj.与世隔绝的；隐退的；偏僻的v.使隔开，使隐退( seclude的过去式和过去分词) | |
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63
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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64
speculation
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| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
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65
deafening
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| adj. 振耳欲聋的, 极喧闹的 动词deafen的现在分词形式 | |
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66
furry
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| adj.毛皮的；似毛皮的；毛皮制的 | |
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67
bellowed
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| v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的过去式和过去分词 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫 | |
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68
fang
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| n.尖牙，犬牙 | |
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69
bestowed
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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70
cursory
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| adj.粗略的；草率的；匆促的 | |
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71
weird
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| adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的 | |
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72
puffed
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| adj.疏松的v.使喷出( puff的过去式和过去分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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73
random
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| adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动 | |
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74
gargoyles
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| n.怪兽状滴水嘴( gargoyle的名词复数 ) | |
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75
gargoyle
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| n.笕嘴 | |
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76
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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77
bust
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| vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部 | |
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78
effigy
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| n.肖像 | |
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79
wig
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| n.假发 | |
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80
battered
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| adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损 | |
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81
confided
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| v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的过去式和过去分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等） | |
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82
arrogant
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| adj.傲慢的，自大的 | |
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83
penetrated
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| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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84
galloping
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| adj. 飞驰的, 急性的 动词gallop的现在分词形式 | |
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85
cramming
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| n.塞满，填鸭式的用功v.塞入( cram的现在分词 )；填塞；塞满；（为考试而）死记硬背功课 | |
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86
enchantments
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| n.魅力( enchantment的名词复数 )；迷人之处；施魔法；着魔 | |
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87
sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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88
slivers
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| （切割或断裂下来的）薄长条，碎片( sliver的名词复数 ) | |
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89
knight
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| n.骑士，武士；爵士 | |
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90
pony
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| adj.小型的；n.小马 | |
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91
rogues
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| n.流氓( rogue的名词复数 )；无赖；调皮捣蛋的人；离群的野兽 | |
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92
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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93
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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94
sprinted
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| v.短距离疾跑( sprint的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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95
hissing
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| n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式 | |
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96
grunted
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| （猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说 | |
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97
skidded
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| v.（通常指车辆） 侧滑( skid的过去式和过去分词 )；打滑；滑行；（住在）贫民区 | |
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98
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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99
fangs
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| n.（尤指狗和狼的）长而尖的牙( fang的名词复数 )；（蛇的）毒牙；罐座 | |
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100
skull
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| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
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101
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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102
mangled
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| vt.乱砍（mangle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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103
trotted
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| 小跑，急走( trot的过去分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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104
anguished
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| adj.极其痛苦的v.使极度痛苦(anguish的过去式) | |
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105
sanctuary
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| n.圣所，圣堂，寺庙；禁猎区，保护区 | |
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106
clatter
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| v./n.(使)发出连续而清脆的撞击声 | |
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107
cascaded
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| 级联的 | |
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108
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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109
deteriorated
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| 恶化，变坏( deteriorate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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110
severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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111
meandering
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| 蜿蜒的河流，漫步，聊天 | |
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112
panes
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| 窗玻璃( pane的名词复数 ) | |
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113
breaching
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| 攻破( breach的过去式 )； 破坏，违反 | |
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114
dueling
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| n. 决斗, 抗争(=duelling) 动词duel的现在分词形式 | |
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115
furor
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| n.狂热；大骚动 | |
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116
aisles
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| n. (席位间的)通道, 侧廊 | |
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117
aisle
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| n.（教堂、教室、戏院等里的）过道，通道 | |
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118
crates
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| n. 板条箱, 篓子, 旧汽车 vt. 装进纸条箱 | |
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119
labyrinth
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| n.迷宫；难解的事物；迷路 | |
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120
blistered
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| adj.水疮状的，泡状的v.（使）起水泡( blister的过去式和过去分词 )；（使表皮等）涨破，爆裂 | |
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121
jeering
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| adj.嘲弄的，揶揄的v.嘲笑( jeer的现在分词 ) | |
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122
tightening
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| 上紧，固定，紧密 | |
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123
hawthorn
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| 山楂 | |
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124
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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125
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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126
thwarted
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| 阻挠( thwart的过去式和过去分词 )； 使受挫折； 挫败； 横过 | |
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127
brittle
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| adj.易碎的；脆弱的；冷淡的；(声音)尖利的 | |
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128
totter
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| v.蹒跚， 摇摇欲坠；n.蹒跚的步子 | |
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129
crumbled
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| （把…）弄碎， （使）碎成细屑( crumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 衰落； 坍塌； 损坏 | |
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130
wreck
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| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
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131
tugging
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| n.牵引感v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的现在分词 ) | |
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132
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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133
mimicked
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| v.（尤指为了逗乐而）模仿( mimic的过去式和过去分词 )；酷似 | |
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134
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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135
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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136
stunning
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| adj.极好的；使人晕倒的 | |
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137
hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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138
bulwark
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| n.堡垒，保障，防御 | |
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139
cowered
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| v.畏缩，抖缩( cower的过去式 ) | |
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140
bulwarks
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| n.堡垒( bulwark的名词复数 )；保障；支柱；舷墙 | |
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141
crumbling
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| adj.摇摇欲坠的 | |
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142
soot
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| n.煤烟，烟尘；vt.熏以煤烟 | |
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143
bawled
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| v.大叫，大喊( bawl的过去式和过去分词 )；放声大哭；大声叫出；叫卖（货物） | |
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144
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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145
outstripped
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| v.做得比…更好，（在赛跑等中）超过( outstrip的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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146
pelted
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| （连续地）投掷( pelt的过去式和过去分词 )； 连续抨击； 攻击； 剥去…的皮 | |
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147
sentient
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| adj.有知觉的，知悉的；adv.有感觉能力地 | |
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148
fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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149
detritus
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| n.碎石 | |
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150
fanged
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| adj.有尖牙的，有牙根的，有毒牙的 | |
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151
inferno
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| n.火海；地狱般的场所 | |
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152
lashed
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| adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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153
beak
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| n.鸟嘴，茶壶嘴，钩形鼻 | |
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154
jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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155
contraband
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| n.违禁品，走私品 | |
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156
countless
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| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
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157
swooped
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| 俯冲，猛冲( swoop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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158
commotion
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| n.骚动，动乱 | |
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159
devouring
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| 吞没( devour的现在分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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160
charred
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| v.把…烧成炭( char的过去式)；烧焦 | |
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161
hairpin
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| n.簪,束发夹，夹发针 | |
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162
swerve
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| v.突然转向，背离；n．转向，弯曲，背离 | |
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163
swerved
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| v.（使）改变方向，改变目的( swerve的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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164
steered
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| v.驾驶( steer的过去式和过去分词 )；操纵；控制；引导 | |
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165
gasping
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| adj. 气喘的, 痉挛的 动词gasp的现在分词 | |
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166
cavalcade
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| n.车队等的行列 | |
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167
galloped
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| （使马）飞奔，奔驰( gallop的过去式和过去分词 )； 快速做[说]某事 | |
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168
Flared
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| adj. 端部张开的, 爆发的, 加宽的, 漏斗式的 动词flare的过去式和过去分词 | |
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169
slumped
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| 大幅度下降，暴跌( slump的过去式和过去分词 )； 沉重或突然地落下[倒下] | |
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170
singed
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| v.浅表烧焦( singe的过去式和过去分词 )；（毛发）燎，烧焦尖端[边儿] | |
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171
hooded
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| adj.戴头巾的；有罩盖的；颈部因肋骨运动而膨胀的 | |
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172
hood
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| n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖 | |
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173
streaked
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| adj.有条斑纹的，不安的v.快速移动( streak的过去式和过去分词 )；使布满条纹 | |
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174
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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175
discomfort
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| n.不舒服，不安，难过，困难，不方便 | |
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176
collapsed
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| adj.倒塌的 | |
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177
spikes
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| n.穗( spike的名词复数 )；跑鞋；（防滑）鞋钉；尖状物v.加烈酒于( spike的第三人称单数 )；偷偷地给某人的饮料加入（更多）酒精（ 或药物）；把尖状物钉入；打乱某人的计划 | |
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178
urchin
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| n.顽童；海胆 | |
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179
wreckage
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| n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏 | |
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180
copiously
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| adv.丰富地，充裕地 | |
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