The story of Fred and George's flight to freedom was retold so often over the next few days that Harry could tell it would soon become the stuff of Hogwart's legend: within a week, even those who had been eye-witnesses were half-convinced they had seen the twins dive-bomb Umbridge on their brooms and pelt her with Dungbombs before zooming out of the doors. In the immediate aftermath of their departure there was a great wave of talk about copying them. Harry frequently heard students saying things like, ‘Honestly, some days I just feel like jumping on my broom and leaving this place,’ or else, ‘One more lesson like that and I might just do a Weasley.’
Fred and George had made sure nobody was likely to forget them too soon. For one thing, they had not left instructions on how to remove the swamp that now filled the corridor on the fifth floor of the east wing. Umbridge and Filch had been observed trying different means of removing it but without success. Eventually, the area was roped off and Filch, gnashing his teeth furiously, was given the task of punting students across it to their classrooms. Harry was certain that teachers like McGonagall or Flitwick could have removed the swamp in an instant but, just as in the case of Fred and George's Wildfire Whiz-bangs, they seemed to prefer to watch Umbridge struggle.
Then there were the two large broom-shaped holes in Umbridge's office door, through which Fred and George's Cleansweeps had smashed to rejoin their masters. Filch fitted a new door and removed Harry's Firebolt to the dungeons where, it was rumoured, Umbridge had set an armed security troll to guard it. However, her troubles were far from over.
Inspired by Fred and George's example, a great number of students were now vying for the newly vacant positions of Troublemakers-in-Chief. In spite of the new door, somebody managed to slip a hairy-snouted Niffler into Umbridge's office, which promptly tore the place apart in its search for shiny objects, leapt on Umbridge when she entered and tried to gnaw the rings off her stubby fingers. Dungbombs and Stink Pellets were dropped so frequently in the corridors that it became the new fashion for students to perform Bubble-Head Charms on themselves before leaving lessons, which ensured them a supply of fresh air, even though it gave them all the peculiar appearance of wearing upside-down goldfish bowls on their heads.
Filch prowled the corridors with a horsewhip ready in his hands, desperate to catch miscreants, but the problem was that there were now so many of them he never knew which way to turn. The Inquisitorial Squad was attempting to help him, but odd things kept happening to its members. Warrington of the Slytherin Quidditch team reported to the hospital wing with a horrible skin complaint that made him look as though he had been coated in cornflakes; Pansy Parkinson, to Hermione's delight, missed all her lessons the following day as she had sprouted antlers.
Meanwhile, it became clear just how many Skiving Snackboxes Fred and George had managed to sell before leaving Hogwarts. Umbridge only had to enter her classroom for the students assembled there to faint, vomit, develop dangerous fevers or else spout blood from both nostrils. Shrieking with rage and frustration, she attempted to trace the mysterious symptoms to their source, but the students told her stubbornly they were suffering from ‘Umbridge—itis'. After putting four successive classes in detention and failing to discover their secret, she was forced to give up and allow the bleeding, swooning, sweating and vomiting students to leave her classes in droves.
But not even the users of the Snackboxes could compete with that master of chaos, Peeves, who seemed to have taken Fred's parting words deeply to heart. Cackling madly, he soared through the school, upending tables, bursting out of blackboards, toppling statues and vases; twice he shut Mrs. Norris inside a suit of armour, from which she was rescued, yowling loudly, by the furious caretaker. Peeves smashed lanterns and snuffed out candles, juggled burning torches over the heads of screaming students, caused neatly stacked piles of parchment to topple into fires or out of windows; flooded the second floor when he pulled off all the taps in the bathrooms, dropped a bag of tarantulas in the middle of the Great Hall during breakfast and, whenever he fancied a break, spent hours at a time floating along after Umbridge and blowing loud raspberries every time she spoke.
None of the staff but Filch seemed to be stirring themselves to help her. Indeed, a week after Fred and George's departure Harry witnessed Professor McGonagall walking right past Peeves, who was determinedly loosening a crystal chandelier, and could have sworn he heard her tell the poltergeist out of the corner of her mouth, ‘It unscrews the other way.’
To cap matters, Montague had still not recovered from his sojourn in the toilet; he remained confused and disorientated and his parents were to be observed one Tuesday morning striding up the front drive, looking extremely angry.
‘Should we say something?’ said Hermione in a worried voice, pressing her cheek against the Charms window so that she could see Mr. and Mrs. Montague marching inside. ‘About what happened to him? In case it helps Madam Pomfrey cure him?’
‘Course not, he'll recover,’ said Ron indifferently.
‘Anyway, more trouble for Umbridge, isn't it?’ said Harry in a satisfied voice.
He and Ron both tapped the teacups they were supposed to be charming with their wands. Harry's spouted four very short legs that could not reach the desk and wriggled pointlessly in midair. Ron's grew four very thin spindly legs that hoisted the cup off the desk with great difficulty, trembled for a few seconds, then folded, causing the cup to crack into two.
‘Reparo,’ said Hermione quickly, mending Ron's cup with a wave of her wand. ‘That's all very well, but what if Montague's permanently injured?’
‘Who cares?’ said Ron irritably, while his teacup stood up drunkenly again, trembling violently at the knees. ‘Montague shouldn't have tried to take all those points from Gryffindor, should he? If you want to worry about anyone, Hermione, worry about me!’
‘You?’ she said, catching her teacup as it scampered happily away across the desk on four sturdy little willow-patterned legs, and replacing it in front of her. ‘Why should I be worried about you?’
‘When Mum's next letter finally gets through Umbridge's screening process,’ said Ron bitterly, now holding his cup up while its frail legs tried feebly to support its weight, ‘I'm going to be in deep trouble. I wouldn't be surprised if she's sent another Howler.’
‘But—’
‘It'll be my fault Fred and George left, you wait,’ said Ron darkly. ‘She'll say I should've stopped them leaving, I should've grabbed the ends of their brooms and hung on or something ... yeah, it'll be all my fault.’
‘Well, if she doe's say that it'll be very unfair, you couldn't have done anything! But I'm sure she won't, I mean, if it's really true they've got premises in Diagon Alley, they must have been planning this for ages.’
‘Yeah, but that's another thing, how did they get premises?’ said Ron, hitting his teacup so hard with his wand that its legs collapsed again and it lay twitching before him. ‘It's a bit dodgy, isn't it? They'll need loads of Galleons to afford the rent on a place in Diagon Alley. She'll want to know what they've been up to, to get their hands on that sort of gold.’
‘Well, yes, that occurred to me, too,’ said Hermione, allowing her teacup to jog in neat little circles around Harry's, whose stubby little legs were still unable to touch the desktop, ‘I've been wondering whether Mundungus has persuaded them to sell stolen goods or something awful.’
‘He hasn't,’ said Harry curtly.
‘How do you know?’ said Ron and Hermione together.
‘Because—’ Harry hesitated, but the moment to confess finally seemed to have come. There was no good to be gained in keeping silent if it meant anyone suspected that Fred and George were criminals. ‘Because they got the gold from me. I gave them my Triwizard winnings last June.’
There was a shocked silence, then Hermione's teacup jogged right over the edge of the desk and smashed on the floor.
‘Oh, Harry, you didn't!’ she said.
‘Yes, I did,’ said Harry mutinously. ‘And I don't regret it, either. I didn't need the gold and they'll be great at running a joke shop.’
‘But this is excellent!’ said Ron, looking thrilled. ‘It's all your fault, Harry—Mum can't blame me at all! Can I tell her?’
‘Yeah, I suppose you'd better,’ said Harry dully, ’ ‘specially if she thinks they're receiving stolen cauldrons or something.’
Hermione said nothing at all for the rest of the lesson, but Harry had a shrewd suspicion that her self-restraint was bound to crack before long. Sure enough, once they had left the castle for break and were standing around in the weak May sunshine, she fixed Harry with a beady eye and opened her mouth with a determined air.
Harry interrupted her before she had even started.
‘It's no good nagging me, it's done,’ he said firmly. ‘Fred and George have got the gold— spent a good bit of it, too, by the sounds of it—and I can't get it back from them and I don't want to. So save your breath, Hermione.’
‘I wasn't going to say anything about Fred and George!’ she said in an injured voice.
Ron snorted disbelievingly and Hermione threw him a very dirty look.
‘No, I wasn't!’ she said angrily. ‘As a matter of fact, I was going to ask Harry when he's going to go back to Snape and ask for more Occlumency lessons!’
Harry's heart sank. Once they had exhausted the subject of Fred and George's dramatic departure, which admittedly had taken many hours, Ron and Hermione had wanted to hear news of Sirius. As Harry had not confided in them the reason he had wanted to talk to Sirius in the first place, it had been hard to think of what to tell them; he had ended up saying, truthfully, that Sirius wanted Harry to resume Occlumency lessons. He had been regretting this ever since; Hermione would not let the subject drop and kept reverting to it when Harry least expected it.
‘You can't tell me you've stopped having funny dreams,’ Hermione said now, ‘because Ron told me you were muttering in your sleep again last night.’
Harry threw Ron a furious look. Ron had the grace to look ashamed of himself.
‘You were only muttering a bit,’ he mumbled apologetically. ‘Something about “just a bit further".’
‘I dreamed I was watching you lot play Quidditch,’ Harry lied brutally. ‘I was trying to get you to stretch out a bit further to grab the Quaffle.’
Ron's ears went red. Harry felt a kind of vindictive pleasure; he had not, of course, dreamed anything of the sort.
Last night, he had once again made the journey along the Department of Mysteries corridor. He had passed through the circular room, then the room full of clicking and dancing light, until he found himself again inside that cavernous room full of shelves on which were ranged dusty glass spheres.
He had hurried straight towards row number ninety-seven, turned left and run along it ... it had probably been then that he had spoken aloud ... just a bit further ... for he felt his conscious self struggling to wake ... and before he had reached the end of the row, he had found himself lying in bed again, gazing up at the canopy of his four-poster.
‘You are trying to block your mind, aren't you?’ said. Hermione, looking beadily at Harry. ‘You are keeping going with your Occlumency?’
‘Of course I am,’ said Harry, trying to sound as though this question was insulting, but not quite meeting her eye. The truth was he was so intensely curious about what was hidden in that room full of dusty orbs, that he was quite keen for the dreams to continue.
The problem was that with just under a month to go until the exams and every free moment devoted to revision, his mind seemed so saturated with information when he went to bed he found it very difficult to get to sleep at all; and when he did, his overwrought brain presented him most nights with stupid dreams about the exams. He also suspected that part of his mind—the part that often spoke in Hermione's voice—now felt guilty on the occasions it strayed down that corridor ending in the black door, and sought to wake him before he could reach the journey's end.
‘You know,’ said Ron, whose ears were still flaming red, ‘if Montague doesn't recover before Slytherin play Hufflepuff, we might be in with a chance of winning the Cup.’
‘Yeah, I s'pose so,’ said Harry, glad of a change of subject.
‘I mean, we've won one, lost one—if Slytherin lose to Hufflepuff next Saturday—’
‘Yeah, that's right,’ said Harry, losing track of what he was agreeing to. Cho Chang had just walked across the courtyard, determinedly not looking at him.
The final match of the Quidditch season, Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw, was to take place on the last weekend of May. Although Slytherin had been narrowly defeated by Hufflepuff in their last match, Gryffindor were not daring to hope for victory, due mainly (though of course nobody said it to him) to Ron's abysmal goal-keeping record. He, however, seemed to have found a new optimism.
‘I mean, I can't get any worse, can I?’ he told Harry and Hermione grimly over breakfast on the morning of the match. ‘Nothing to lose now, is there?’
‘You know,’ said Hermione, as she and Harry walked down to the pitch a little later in the midst of a very excitable crowd, ‘I think Ron might do better without Fred and George around. They never exactly gave him a lot of confidence.’
Luna Lovegood overtook them with what appeared to be a live eagle perched on top of her head.
‘Oh, gosh, I forgot!’ said Hermione, watching the eagle flapping its wings as Luna walked serenely past a group of cackling and pointing Slytherins. ‘Cho will be playing, won't she?’
Harry, who had not forgotten this, merely grunted.
They found seats in the topmost row of the stands. It was a fine, ckar day; Ron could not wish for better, and Harry found himself hoping against hope that Ron would not give the Slytherins cause for more rousing choruses of ‘Weasley is our King'.
Lee Jordan, who had been very dispirited since Fred and George had left, was commentating as usual. As the teams zoomed out on to the pitch he named the players with something less than his usual gusto.
‘... Bradley ... Davies ... Chang,’ he said, and Harry felt his stomach perform, less of a back flip, more a feeble lurch as Cho walked out on to the pitch, her shiny black hair rippling in the slight breeze.He was not sure what he wanted to happen any more, except that he could not stand any more rows. Even the sight of her chatting animatedly to Roger Davies as they prepared to mount their brooms caused him only a slight twinge of jealousy.
‘And they're off!’ said Lee. ‘And Davies takes the Quaffle immediately, Ravenclaw Captain Davies with the Quaffle, he dodges Johnson, he dodges Bell, he dodges Spinnet as well ... he's going straight for goal! He's going to shoot—and—and—’ Lee swore very loudly. ‘And he's scored.’
Harry and Hermione groaned with the rest of the Gryffindors. Predictably, horribly the Slytherins on the other side of the stands began to sing:
‘Weasley cannot save a thing
He cannot block a single ring ... ’
‘Harry,’ said a hoarse voice in Harry's ear. ‘Hermione ...’
Harry looked round and saw Hagrid's enormous bearded face sticking between the seats. Apparently, he had squeezed his way all along the row behind, for the first- and second-years he had just passed had a ruffled, flattened look about them. For some reason, Hagrid was bent double as though anxious not to be seen, though he was still at least four feet taller than everybody else.
‘Listen,’ he whispered, ‘can yeh come with me? Now? While ev'ryone's watchin’ the match?’
‘Er ... can't it wait, Hagrid?’ asked Harry. ‘Till the match is over?’
‘No,’ said Hagrid. ‘No, Harry, it's gotta be now ... while ev'ryone's lookin’ the other way ... please?’
Hagrid's nose was gently dripping blood. His eyes were both blackened. Harry had not seen him this close-up since his return to the school; he looked utterly woebegone.
‘Course,’ said Harry at once, ‘course we'll come.’
He and Hermione edged back along their row of seats, causing much grumbling among the students who had to stand up for them. The people in Hagrid's row were not complaining, merely attempting to make themselves as small as possible.
‘I ‘ppreciate this, you two, I really do,’ said Hagrid as they reached the stairs. He kept looking around nervously as they descended towards the lawn below. ‘I jus’ hope she doesn’ notice us goin'.’
‘You mean Umbridge?’ said Harry. ‘She won't, she's got her whole Inquisitorial Squad sitting with her, didn't you see? She must be expecting trouble at the match.’
‘Yeah, well, a bit o’ trouble wouldn’ hurt,’ said Hagrid, pausing to peer around the edge of the stands to make sure the stretch of lawn between there and his cabin was deserted. ‘Give us more time.’
‘What is it, Hagrid?’ said Hermione, looking up at him with a concerned expression on her face as they hurried across the grass towards the edge of the Forest.
‘Yeh—yeh'll see in a mo',’ said Hagrid, looking over his shoulder as a great roar rose from the stands behind them. ‘Hey—did someone jus’ score?’
‘It'll be Ravenclaw,’ said Harry heavily.
‘Good ... good ...’ said Hagrid distractedly. ‘Tha's good ...’
They had to jog to keep up with him as he strode across the lawn, looking around with every other step. When they reached his cabin, Hermione turned automatically left towards the front door. Hagrid, however, walked straight past it into the shade of the trees on the outermost edge of the Forest, where he picked up a crossbow that was leaning against a tree. When he realised they were no longer with him, he turned.
‘We're goin’ in here,’ he said, jerking his shaggy head behind him.
‘Into the Forest?’ said Hermione, perplexed.
‘Yeah,’ said Hagrid. ‘C'mon now, quick, before we're spotted!’
Harry and Hermione looked at each other, then ducked into the cover of the trees behind Hagrid, who was already striding away from them into the green gloom, his crossbow over his arm. Harry and Hermione ran to catch up with him.
‘Hagrid, why are you armed?’ said Harry.
‘Jus’ a precaution,’ said Hagrid, shrugging his massive shoulders.
‘You didn't bring your crossbow the day you showed us the Thestrals,’ said Hermione timidly.
‘Nah, well, we weren’ goin’ in so far then,’ said Hagrid. ‘An’ anyway, tha’ was before Firenze left the Forest, wasn’ it?’
‘Why does Firenze leaving make a difference?’ asked Hermione curiously.
’ ‘Cause the other centaurs are good an’ riled at me, tha's why,’ said Hagrid quietly, glancing around. ‘They used ter be—well, yeh couldn’ call ‘em friendly—but we got on all righ'. Kept ‘emselves to ‘emselves, bu’ always turned up if I wanted a word. Not any more.’
He sighed deeply.
‘Firenze said they're angry because he went to work for Dumbledore,’ Harry said, tripping on a protruding root because he was busy watching Hagrid's profile.
‘Yeah,’ said Hagrid heavily. ‘Well, angry doesn’ cover it. Ruddy livid. If I hadn’ stepped in, I reckon they'd've kicked Firenze ter death—’
‘They attacked him?’ said Hermione, sounding shocked.
‘Yep,’ said Hagrid gruffly, forcing his way through several low-hanging branches. ‘He had half the herd on to him.’
‘And you stopped it?’ said Harry, amazed and impressed. ‘By yourself?’
‘Course I did, couldn't stand by an’ watch ‘em kill ‘im, could I?’ said Hagrid. ‘Lucky I was passin', really ... an’ I'd've thought Firenze mighta remembered tha’ before he started sendin’ me stupid warnin's!’ he added hotly and unexpectedly.
Harry and Hermione looked at each other, startled, but Hagrid, scowling, did not elaborate.
‘Anyway,’ he said, breathing a little more heavily than usud, ‘since then the other centaurs've bin livid with me, an’ the trouble is they've got a lot of influence in the Forest ... cleverest creatures in here.’
‘Is that why we're here, Hagrid?’ asked Hermione. ‘The centaurs?’
‘Ah, no,’ said Hagrid, shaking his head dismissively, ‘no, it's not them. Well, o’ course, they could complicate the problem, yeah ... but yeh'll see what I mean in a bit.’
On this incomprehensible note he fell silent and forged a little ahead, taking one stride for every three of theirs, so that they had great trouble keeping up with him.
The path was becoming increasingly overgrown and the trees grew so closely together as they walked further and further into the Forest that it was as dark as dusk. They were soon a long way past the clearing where Hagrid had shown them the Thestrals, but Harry felt no sense of unease until Hagrid stepped unexpectedly off the path and began wending his way in and out of trees towards the dark heart of the Forest.
‘Hagrid!’ said Harry, fighting his way through thickly knotted brambles, over which Hagrid had stepped with ease, and remembering very vividly what had happened to him on the other occasion he had stepped off the Forest path. ‘Where are we going?’
‘Bit further,’ said Hagrid over his shoulder. ‘C'mon, Harry ... we need ter keep together now.’
It was a great struggle to keep up with Hagrid, what with branches and thickets of thorn through which Hagrid marched as easily as if they were cobwebs, but which snagged Harry and Hermione's robes, frequently entangling them so severely that they had to stop for minutes at a time to free themselves. Harry's arms and legs were soon covered in small cuts and scratches. They were so deep in the Forest now that sometimes all Harry could see of Hagrid in the gloom was a massive dark shape ahead of him. Any sound seemed threatening in the muffled silence. The breaking of a twig echoed loudly and the tiniest rustle of movement, even though it might have been made by an innocent sparrow, caused Harry to peer through the gloom for a culprit. It occurred to him that he had never managed to get this far into the Forest without meeting some kind of creature; their absence struck him as rather ominous.
‘Hagrid, would it be all right if we lit our wands?’ said Hermione quietly.
‘Er ... all righ',’ Hagrid whispered back. ‘In fact—’
He stopped suddenly and turned around; Hermione walked right into him and was knocked over backwards. Harry caught her just before she hit the Forest floor.
‘Maybe we bes’ jus’ stop fer a momen', so I can ... fill yeh in,’ said Hagrid. ‘Before we ge’ there, like.’
‘Good!’ said Hermione, as Harry set her back on her feet. They both murmured ‘Lumos!’ and their wand-tips ignited. Hagrid's face swam through the gloom by the light of the two wavering beams and Harry saw again that he looked nervous and sad.
‘Righ',’ said Hagrid. ‘Well ... see ... the thing is ...’
He took a great breath.
‘Well, there's a good chance I'm goin’ ter be gettin’ the sack any day now,’ he said.
Harry and Hermione looked at each other, then back at him.
‘But you've lasted this long—’ Hermione said tentatively. ‘What makes you think—’
‘Umbridge reckons it was me that put tha’ Niffler in her office.’
‘And was it?’ said Harry, before he could stop himself.
‘No, it ruddy well wasn'!’ said Hagrid indignantly. ‘On'y any-thin’ ter do with magical creatures an’ she thinks it's got somethin’ ter do with me. Yeh know she's bin lookin’ fer a chance ter get rid of me ever since I got back. I don’ wan’ ter go, o’ course, but if it wasn’ fer ... well ... the special circumstances I'm abou’ ter explain to yeh, I'd leave righ’ now, before she's go’ the chance ter do it in front o’ the whole school, like she did with Trelawney.’
Harry and Hermione both made noises of protest, but Hagrid overrode them with a wave of one of his enormous hands.
‘It's not the end o’ the world, I'll be able ter help Dumbledore once I'm outta here, I can be useful ter the Order. An you lot'll have Grubbly-Plank, yeh'll—yeh'll get through yer exams fine ...’
His voice trembled and broke.
‘Don’ worry abou’ me,’ he said hastily, as Hermione made to pat his arm. He pulled his enormous spotted handkerchief from the pocket of his waistcoat and mopped his eyes with it. ‘Look, I wouldn’ be tellin’ yer this at all if I didn’ have ter. See, if I go ... well, I can’ leave withou’ ... withou’ tellin’ someone ... because I'll—I'll need yeh two ter help me. An’ Ron, if he's willin'.’
‘Of course we'll help you,’ said Harry at once. ‘What do you want us to do?’
Hagrid gave a great sniff and patted Harry wordlessly on the shoulder with such force Harry was knocked sideways into a tree.
‘I knew yeh'd say yes,’ said Hagrid into his handkerchief, ‘but I won’ ... never ... forget ... well ... c'mon ... jus’ a little bit further through here ... watch yerselves, now, there's nettles ...’
They walked on in silence for another fifteen minutes; Harry had opened his mouth to ask how much further they had to go when Hagrid threw out his right arm to signal that they should stop.
‘Really easy,’ he said softly. ‘Very quiet, now ...’
They crept forwards and Harry saw that they were facing a large, smooth mound of earth nearly as tall as Hagrid that he thought, with a jolt of dread, was sure to be the lair of some enormous animal. Trees had been ripped up at the roots all around the mound, so that it stood on a bare patch of ground surrounded by heaps of trunks and boughs that formed a kind of fence or barricade, behind which Harry, Hermione and Hagrid now stood.
‘Sleepin',’ breathed Hagrid.
Sure enough, Harry could hear a distant, rhythmic rumbling that sounded like a pair of enormous lungs at work. He glanced sideways at Hermione, who was gazing at the mound with her mouth slightly open. She looked utterly terrified.
‘Hagrid,’ she said in a whisper barely audible over the sound of the sleeping creature, ‘who is he?’
Harry found this an odd question ... ‘What is it?’ was the one he; had been planning on asking.
‘Hagrid, you told us—’ said Hermione, her wand now shaking in her hand, ‘you told us none of them wanted to come!’
Harry looked from her to Hagrid and then, as realisation hit him, he looked back at the mound with a small gasp of horror.
The great mound of earth, on which he, Hermione and Hagrid could easily have stood, was moving slowly up and down in time with the deep, grunting breathing. It was not a mound at all. ‘It was the curved back of what was clearly—’
‘Well—no—he didn’ want ter come,’ said Hagrid, sounding desperate. ‘But I had ter bring him, Hermione, I had ter!’
‘But why?’ asked Hermione, who sounded as though she wanted to cry. ‘Why—what—oh, Hagrid!’
‘I knew if I jus’ got him back,’ said Hagrid, sounding close to tears himself, ‘an'—an’ taught him a few manners—I'd be able ter take him outside an’ show ev'ryone he's harmless!’
‘Harmless!’ said Hermione shrilly, and Hagrid made frantic hushing noises with his hands as the enormous creature before them grunted loudly and shifted in its sleep. ‘He's been hurting you all this time, hasn't he? That's why you've had all these injuries!’
‘He don’ know his own strength!’ said Hagrid earnestly. ‘An’ he's gettin’ better, he's not fightin’ so much any more—’
‘So, this is why it took you two months to get home!’ said Hermione distractedly. ‘Oh, Hagrid, why did you bring him back if he didn't want to come? Wouldn't he have been happier with his own people?’
‘They were all bullyin’ him, Hermione, ‘cause he's so small!’ said Hagrid.
‘Small?’ said Hermione. ‘Small?’
‘Hermione, I couldn’ leave him,’ said Hagrid, tears now trickling down his bruised face into his beard. ‘See—he's my brother!’
Hermione simply stared at him, her mouth open.
‘Hagrid, when you say “brother",’ said Harry slowly, ‘do you mean—?’
‘Well— half-brother,’ amended Hagrid. ‘Turns out me mother took up with another giant when she left me dad, an’ she went an’ had Grawp here—’
‘Grawp?’ said Harry.
‘Yeah ... well, tha's what it sounds like when he says his name,’ said Hagrid anxiously. ‘He don’ speak a lot of English ... I've bin tryin’ ter teach him ... anyway, she don’ seem ter have liked him much more'n she liked me. See, with giantesses, what counts is producin’ good big kids, and he's always been a bit on the runty side fer a giant—on'y sixteen foot—’
‘Oh, yes, tiny!’ said Hermione, with a kind of hysterical sarcasm. ‘Absolutely minuscule!’
‘He was bein’ kicked aroun’ by all o’ them—I jus’ couldn’ leave him—’
‘Did Madame Maxime want to bring him back?’ asked Harry.
‘She—well, she could see it was right importan’ ter me,’ said Hagrid, twisting his enormous hands. ‘Bu'—bu’ she got a bit tired o’ him after a while, I must admit ... so we split up on the journey home ... she promised not ter tell anyone, though ...’
‘How on earth did you get him back without anyone noticing?’ said Harry.
‘Well, tha's why it took so long, see,’ said Hagrid. ‘Could on'y travel by nigh’ an’ through wild country an’ stuff. Course, he covers the ground pretty well when he wants ter, but he kep’ wantin’ ter go back.’
‘Oh, Hagrid, why on earth didn't you let him!’ said Hermione, flopping down on to a ripped up tree and burying her face in her hands. ‘What do you think you're going to do with a violent giant who doesn't even want to be here!’
‘Well, now— “violent"—tha's a bit harsh,’ said Hagrid, still twisting his hands agitatedly. ‘I'll admit he mighta taken a couple o’ swings at me when he's bin in a bad mood, but he's gettin’ better, loads better, settlin’ down well.’
‘What are those ropes for, then?’ Harry asked.
He had just noticed ropes thick as saplings stretching from around the trunks of the largest nearby trees towards the place where Grawp lay curled on the ground with his back to them.
‘You have to keep him tied up?’ said Hermione faintly.
‘Well ... yeah ...’ said Hagrid, looking anxious. ‘See—it's like I say—he doesn’ really know ‘is own strength.’
Harry understood now why there had been such a suspicious lack of any other living creature in this part of the Forest.
‘So, what is it you want Harry and Ron and me to do?’ Hermione asked apprehensively.
‘Look after him,’ said Hagrid croakily. ‘After I'm gone.’
Harry and Hermione exchanged miserable looks, Harry uncomfortably aware that he had already promised Hagrid that he would do whatever he asked.
‘What—what does that involve, exactly?’ Hermione enquired.
‘Not food or anythin'!’ said Hagrid eagerly. ‘He can get his own food, no problem. Birds an’ deer an’ stuff ... no, it's company he needs. I xxjus’ knew someone was carryin on trying ter help him a bit ... teachin’ him, yeh know.’
Harry said nothing, but turned to look back at the gigantic form lying asleep on the ground in front of them. Unlike Hagrid, who simply looked like an oversized human, Grawp looked strangely misshapen. What Harry had taken to be a vast mossy boulder to the left of the great earthen mound he now recognised as Grawp's head. It was much larger in proportion to the body than a human head, and was almost perfectly round and covered with tightly curling, close-growing hair the colour of bracken. The rim of a single large, fleshy ear was visible on top of the head, which seemed to sit, rather like Uncle Vernon's, directly upon the shoulders with little or no neck in between. The back, under what looked like a dirty brownish smock comprised of animal skins sewn roughly together, was very broad; and as Grawp slept, it seemed to strain a little at the rough seams of the skins. The legs were curled up under the body. Harry could see the soles of enormous, filthy, bare feet, large as sledges, resting one on top of the other on the earthy Forest floor.
‘You want us to teach him,’ Harry said in a hollow voice. He now understood what Firenze's warning had meant. His attempt is not working. He would do better to abandon it.Of course, the other creatures who lived in the Forest would have heard Hagrid's fruitless attempts to teach Grawp English.
‘Yeah—even if yeh jus’ talk ter him a bit,’ said Hagrid hopefully. ’ ‘Cause I reckon, if he can talk ter people, he'll understand more that we all like ‘im really, an’ want ‘im ter stay.’
Harry looked at Hermione, who peered back at him from between the fingers over her face.
‘Kind of makes you wish we had Norbert back, doesn't it?’ he said, and she gave a very shaky laugh.
‘Yeh'll do it, then?’ said Hagrid, who did not seem to have caugit what Harry had just said.
‘We'll ...’ said Harry, already bound by his promise. ‘We'll try, Hagrid.’
‘I knew I could count on yeh, Harry,’ Hagrid said, beaming in a very watery way and dabbing at his face with his handkerchief again. ‘An’ I don’ wan’ yeh ter put yerself out too much, like ... I know yeh've got exams ... if yeh could jus’ nip down here in yer Invisibility Cloak maybe once a week an’ have a little chat with ‘im. I'll wake ‘im up, then—introduce yeh—’
‘Wha—no!’ said Hermione, jumping up. ‘Hagrid, no, don't wake him, really, we don't need—’
But Hagrid had already stepped over the great tree trunk in front of them and was proceeding towards Grawp. When he was about ten feet away, he lifted a long, broken bough from the ground, smiled reassuringly over his shoulder at Harry and Hermione, then poked Grawp hard in the middle of the back with the end of the bough.
The giant gave a roar that echoed around the silent Forest; birds in the treetops overhead rose twittering from their perches and soared away. In front of Harry and Hermione, meanwhile, the gigantic Grawp was rising from the ground, which shuddered as he placed an enormous hand upon it to push himself on to his knees. He turned his head to see who and what had disturbed him.
‘All righ', Grawpy?’ said Hagrid, in a would-be cheery voice, backing away with the long bough raised, ready to poke Grawp again. ‘Had a nice sleep, eh?’
Harry and Hermione retreated as far as they could while still keeping the giant within their sights. Grawp knelt between two trees he had not yet uprooted. They looked up into his startlingly huge face that resembled a grey full moon swimming in the gloom of the clearing. It was as though the features had been hewn on to a great stone ball. The nose was stubby and shapeless, the mouth lopsided and full of misshapen yellow teeth the size of half-bricks; the eyes, small by giant standards, were a muddy greenish-brown and just now were half-gummed together with sleep. Grawp raised dirty knuckles, each as big as a cricket ball, to his eyes, rubbed vigorously, then, without warning, pushed himself to his feet with surprising speed and agility.
‘Oh my!’ Harry heard Hermione squeal, terrified, beside him.
The trees to which the other ends of the ropes around Grawp's wrists and ankles were attached creaked ominously. He was, as Hagrid had said, at least sixteen feet tall. Gazing blearily around, Grawp reached out a hand the size of a beach umbrella, seized a bird's nest from the upper branches of a towering pine and turned it upside-down with a roar of apparent displeasure that there was no bird in it; eggs fell like grenades towards the ground and Hagrid threw his arms over his head to protect himself.
‘Anyway, Grawpy,’ shouted Hagrid, looking up apprehensively in case of further falling eggs, ‘I've brought some friends ter meet yeh. Remember, I told yeh I might? Remember, when I said I might have ter go on a little trip an’ leave them ter look after yeh fer a bit? Remember that, Grawpy?’
But Grawp merely gave another low roar; it was hard to say whether he was listening to Hagrid or whether he even recognised the sounds Hagrid was making as speech. He had now seized the top of the pine tree and was pulling it towards him, evidently for the simple pleasure of seeing how far it would spring back when he let go.
‘Now, Grawpy, don’ do that!’ shouted Hagrid. ‘Tha's how you ended up pullin’ up the others— ’
And sure enough, Harry could see the earth around the tree's roots beginning to crack.
‘I got company for yeh!’ Hagrid shouted. ‘Company, see! Look down, yeh big buffoon, I brought yeh some friends!’
‘Oh, Hagrid, don't,’ moaned Hermione, but Hagrid had already raised the bough again and gave Grawp's knee a sharp poke.
The giant let go of the top of the tree, which swayed alarmingly and deluged Hagrid with a rain of pine needles, and looked down.
‘This,’ said Hagrid, hastening over to where Harry and Herrmone stood, ‘is Harry, Grawp! Harry Potter! He migh’ be comin’ ter visit yeh if I have ter go away, understand?’
The giant had only just realised that Harry and Hermione were there. They watched, in great trepidation, as he lowered his huge boulder of a head so that he could peer blearily at them.
‘An’ this is Hermione, see? Her—’ Hagrid hesitated. Turning to Hermione, he said, ‘Would yeh mind if he called yeh Hermy, Hermione? On'y it's a difficult name fer him ter remember.’
‘No, not at all,’ squeaked Hermione.
‘This is Hermy, Grawp! An’ she's gonna be comin’ an’ all! Is'n’ tha’ nice? Eh? Two friends fer yeh ter—GRAWPY, NO!’
Grawp's hand had shot out of nowhere towards Hermione; Harry seized her and pulled her backwards behind the tree, so that Grawp's fist scraped the trunk but closed on thin air.
‘BAD BOY, GRAWPY!’ they heard Hagrid yelling, as Hermione clung to Harry behind the tree, shaking and whimpering. ‘VERY BAD BOY! YEH DON’ GRAB—OUCH!’
Harry poked his head out from around the trunk and saw Hagrid lying on his back, his hand over his nose. Grawp, apparently losing interest, had straightened up and was again engaged in pulling back the pine as far as it would go.
‘Righ',’ said Hagrid thickly, getting up with one hand pinching his bleeding nose and the other grasping his crossbow, ‘well ... there yeh are ... yeh've met him an’ —an’ now he'll know yeh when yeh come back. Yeah ... well ...’
He looked up at Grawp, who was now pulling back the pine with an expression of detached pleasure on his boulderish face; the roots were creaking as he ripped them away from the ground.
‘Well, I reckon tha's enough fer one day,’ said Hagrid. ‘We'll—'er—we'll go back now, shall we?’
Harry and Hermione nodded. Hagrid shouldered his crossbow again and, still pinching his nose, led the way back into the trees.
Nobody spoke for a while, not even when they heard the distant crash that meant Grawp had pulled over the pine tree at last. Hermione's face was pale and set. Harry could not think of a single thing to say. What on earth was going to happen when somebody found out that Hagrid had hidden Grawp in the Forbidden Forest? And he had promised that he, Ron and Hermione would continue Hagrid's totally pointless attempts to civilise the giant. How could Hagrid, even with his immense capacity to delude himself that fanged monsters were loveably harmless, fool himself that Grawp would ever be fit to mix with humans?
‘Hold it,’ said Hagrid abruptly, just as Harry and Hermione were struggling through a patch of thick knotgrass behind him. He pulled an arrow out of the quiver over his shoulder and fitted it into the crossbow. Harry and Hermione raised their wands; now that they had stopped walking, they, too, could hear movement close by.
‘Oh, blimey,’ said Hagrid quietly.
‘I thought we told you, Hagrid,’ said a deep male voice, ‘That you are no longer welcome here?’
A man's naked torso seemed for an instant to be floating towards them through the dappled green half-light; then they saw that his waist joined smoothly into a horse's chestnut body. This centaur had a proud, high-cheekboned face and long black hair. Like Hagrid, he was armed; a quiverful of arrows and a longbow were slung over his shoulders.
‘How are yeh, Magorian?’ said Hagrid warily.
The trees behind the centaur rustled and four or five more centaurs emerged behind him. Harry recognised the black-bodied and bearded Bane, whom he had met nearly four years ago on the same night he had met Firenze. Bane gave no sign that he had ever seen Harry before.
‘So,’ he said, with a nasty inflection in his voice, before turning immediately to Magorian. ‘We agreed, I think, what we would do if this human ever showed his face in the Forest again?’
‘"This human” now, am I?’ said Hagrid testily. ‘Jus’ fer stoppin’ all of yeh committin’ murder?’
‘You ought not to have meddled, Hagrid,’ said Magorian. ‘Our ways are not yours, nor are our laws. Firenze has betrayed and dishonoured us.’
‘I dunno how yeh work that out,’ said Hagrid impatiently. ‘He's done nothin’ except help Albus Dumbledore—’
‘Firenze has entered into servitude to humans,’ said a grey centaur with a hard, deeply lined face.
‘Servitude!’ said Hagrid scathingly. ‘He's doin’ Dumbledore a favour is all—’
‘He is peddling our knowledge and secrets among humans,’ said Magorian quietly. ‘There can be no return from such disgrace.’
‘If yeh say so,’ said Hagrid, shrugging, ‘but personally I think yeh're makin’ a big mistake—’
‘As are you, human,’ said Bane, ‘coming back into our Forest when we warned you—’
‘Now, yeh listen ter me,’ said Hagrid angrily. ‘I'll have less of the “our” Forest, if it's all the same ter yeh. It's not up ter yeh who comes an’ goes in here—’
‘No more is it up to you, Hagrid,’ said Magorian smoothly. ‘I shall let you pass today because you are accompanied by your young—’
‘They're not his!’ interrupted Bane contemptuously. ‘Students, Magorian, from up at the school! They have probably already profited from the traitor Firenze's teachings.’
‘Nevertheless,’ said Magorian calmly, ‘the slaughter of foals is a terrible crime—we do not touch the innocent. Today, Hagrid, you pass. Henceforth, stay away from this place. You forfeited the friendship of the centaurs when you helped the traitor Firenze escape us.’
‘I won’ be kept outta the Fores’ by a bunch o’ old mules like yeh!’ said Hagrid loudly.
‘Hagrid,’ said Hermione in a high-pitched and terrified voice, as both Bane and the grey centaur pawed at the ground, ‘let's go, please let's go!’
Hagrid moved forwards, but his crossbow was still raised and his eyes were still fixed threateningly upon Magorian.
‘We know what you are keeping in the Forest, Hagrid!’ Magorian called after them, as the centaurs slipped out of sight. ‘And our tolerance is waning!’
Hagrid turned and gave every appearance of wanting to walk straight back to Magorian.
‘Yeh'll tolerate ‘im as long as he's here, it's as much his Forest as yours!’ he yelled, as Harry and Hermione both pushed with all their might against Hagrid's moleskin waistcoat in an effort to keep him moving forwards. Still scowling, he looked down; his expression changed to mild surprise at the sight of them both pushing him; he seemed not to have felt it.
‘Calm down, you two,’ he said, turning to walk on while they parted along behind him. ‘Ruddy old mules, though, eh?’
‘Hagrid,’ said Hermione breathlessly, skirting the patch of nettles they had passed on their way there, ‘if the centaurs don't want humans in the Forest, it doesn't really look as though Harry and I will be able—’
‘Ah, you heard what they said,’ said Hagrid dismissively, ‘they wouldn't hurt foals—I mean, kids. Anyway, we can’ let ourselves be pushed aroun’ by that lot.’
‘Nice try,’ Harry murmured to Hermione, who looked crestfallen.
At last they rejoined the path and, after another ten minutes, the trees began to thin; they were able to see patches of clear blue sky again and, in the distance, the definite sounds of cheering and shouting.
‘Was that another goal?’ asked Hagrid, pausing in the shelter of the trees as the Quidditch stadium came into view. ‘Or d'yeh reckon the match is over?’
‘I don't know,’ said Hermione miserably. Harry saw that she looked much the worse for wear; her hair was full of twigs and leaves, her robes were ripped in several places and there were numerous scratches on her face and arms. He knew he must look little better.
‘I reckon it's over, yeh know!’ said Hagrid, still squinting towards the stadium. ‘Look— there's people comin’ out already—if yeh two hurry yeh'll be able ter blend in with the crowd an’ no one'll know yeh weren't there!’
‘Good idea,’ said Harry. ‘Well ... see you later, then, Hagrid.’
‘I don't believe him,’ said Hermione in a very unsteady voice, the moment they were out of earshot of Hagrid. ‘I don't believe him. I really don't believe him.’
‘Calm down,’ said Harry.
‘Calm down!’ she said feverishly. ‘A giant! A giant in the Forest! And we're supposed to give him English lessons! Always assuming, of course, we can get past the herd of murderous centaurs on the way in and out! I—don't—believe— him!’
‘We haven't got to do anything yet!’ Harry tried to reassure her in a quiet voice, as they joined a stream of jabbering Hufflepuffs heading back towards the castle. ‘He's not asking us to do anything unless he gets chucked out and that might not even happen.’
‘Oh, come off it, Harry!’ said Hermione angrily, stopping dead in her tracks so that the people behind had to swerve to avoid her. ‘Of course he's going to be chucked out and, to be perfectly honest, after what we've just seen, who can blame Umbridge?’
There was a pause in which Harry glared at her, and her eyes filled slowly with tears.
‘You didn't mean that,’ said Harry quietly.
‘No ... well ... all right ... I didn't,’ she said, wiping her eyes angrily. ‘But why does he have to make life so difficult for himself—for us?’
‘I dunno—’
‘Weasley is our King,
Weasley is our King,
He didn't let the Quaffle in,
Weasley is our King ...’
‘And I wish they'd stop singing that stupid song,’ said Hermione miserably, ‘haven't they gloated enough?’
A great tide of students was moving up the sloping lawns from the pitch.
‘Oh, let's get in before we have to meet the Slytherins,’ said Hermione.
‘Weasley can save anything,
He never leaves a single ring,
That's why Gryffindors all sing:
Weasley is our King. ’
‘Hermione ...’ said Harry slowly.
The song was growing louder, but it was issuing not from a crowd of green-and-silver-clad Slytherins, but from a mass of red and gold moving slowly towards the castle, bearing a solitary figure upon its many shoulders.
‘Weasley is our King,
Weasley is our King,
He didn't let the Quaffle in,
Weasley is our King ...’
‘No?’ said Hermione in a hushed voice.
‘YES!’ said Harry loudly.
‘HARRY! HERMIONE!’ yelled Ron, waving the silver Quidditch cup in the air and looking quite beside himself. ‘WE DID IT! WE WON!’
They beamed up at him as he passed. There was a scrum at the door of the castle and Ron's head got rather badly bumped on the lintel, but nobody seemed to want to put him down. Still singing, the crowd squeezed itself into the Entrance Hall and out of sight. Harry and Hermione watched them go, beaming, until the last echoing strains of ‘Weasley is our King’ died away. Then they turned to each other, their smiles fading.
‘We'll save our news till tomorrow, shall we?’ said Harry.
‘Yes, all right,’ said Hermione wearily. ‘I'm not in any hurry.’
They climbed the steps together. At the front doors both instinctively looked back at the Forbidden Forest. Harry was not sure whether or not it was his imagination, but he rather thought he saw a small cloud of birds erupting into the air over the tree tops in the distance, almost as though the tree in which they had been nesting had just been pulled up by the roots.
在接下来的几天里，人们总是重复着弗来德和乔治出逃寻找自由的消息，哈利敢说这将成为日后格兰芬多传说的一部分。用了一周时间，甚至那些曾经目击过的人才有些相信双胞胎骑在扫帚上对着Umbridge俯冲过去，并在迅速回升出门前往她身上砸了一个粪弹。他们离开的直接后果是，大家都在讨论着要不要学习他们。哈利经常听到大家这样说：“说真的，有些时候我也真骑上扫帚离开这鬼地方。”或者“假如再上一节这样的课，我就要像威斯里那样干了。”
弗来德和乔治坚信没人会很快忘记他们的。起码，他们并没有说明怎样移开那些现在填满五楼走廊的淤泥。Umbridge和费尔奇看起来已经试过了各种不同的方法去移开它们，但没有成功。最后，那块地方被围了起来，费尔奇狂暴地磨着他的牙齿——他被分配去撑船护送学生通过那儿去教室。哈利确信像麦格或者Flitwick那样的老师们可以在瞬间移开那些污泥。但是，因为弗来德和乔治留下的的鬼火爆竹，他们似乎更喜欢观看Umbridge在那儿独自挣扎。
在Umbridge办公室的门上留着两个巨大的扫帚形的洞，那是弗来德和乔治的扫帚回到主人身边时撞出来的。费尔奇做了一个新门，并把哈利的火弩箭移到了地牢里。有谣传说，Umbridge添置了有暗器的安全门去守卫它。但是，她的麻烦还远远没有结束。
受到弗来德和乔治例子的启发，大批学生现在正在激烈地竞争着“捣乱大王”的空缺。由于对那个新门的憎恨，有人把一个毛茸茸的嗅嗅塞进Umbridge的办公室里，喜欢寻觅闪光东西的它一来就迅速地把那里搜了遍。它在Umbridge刚进门时就跳到她身上，并咬住了她又短又粗戴着戒指的手指。
粪弹和臭球被频繁地扔到了走廊上，以至于学生们在离开教室前对着自己念泡头咒变成了一种新时尚——这样可以确保新鲜空气的供给，尽管这样让他们看起来像在头上倒扣了一个金鱼缸。
费尔奇拿着鞭子不停地在走廊里巡视，不顾一切地想抓住那些捣蛋鬼。但问题是，他们的太多了，以至于他都不知道该走哪条路。审讯班曾试图去帮他，但意外事件持续在它的成员身上发生。传闻说斯莱特林魁地奇队的Warrington被送往医院时全身覆盖着可怕的皮肤，他抱怨说那使他看起来好象他身上涂了一层脆玉米片；让荷米恩高兴的是，潘西 帕金森在她长了鹿角后错过了所有的课。 其间，可以很清楚地看到到底弗来德和乔治在离开霍格瓦彻之前卖了多少切削蛇盒。Umbridge刚进教室，就得处理学生们集体晕倒、呕吐、严重的高烧或者从两个鼻孔往外喷血。她恼羞成怒地尖叫着，试图找出学生们神秘生病的原因，但是大家倔强地告诉她，他们是因为Umbridge她本人才生病的。在连续扣留了四个班仍没有发现大家的秘密后，她完全放弃了，开始允许出血、昏倒、大量出汗和呕吐的学生们成群结队地离开她的课堂。
但即使那些那些使用削蛇盒的学生们也比不过现在一片混乱局面的祸首——别忘了还有铭记住弗来德离开时说的话的皮皮鬼。他疯狂地喋喋不休着飞过学校、掀翻桌子、炸毁黑板、推倒雕像和花瓶；他两次把Norris夫人关在盔甲里——当她被救出来时，还狂怒地在管理员身边痛骂了一顿。他打烂灯笼、吹灭蜡烛，变出像火炬一样的魔法火焰放在大家头上，使得大量码得整整齐齐的羊皮纸纷飞燃烧或飘出窗外；他还打开浴室里所有的水龙头，淹了整个二楼；早餐时在礼堂中央扔了一个装满狼蛛的大袋子。他不想犯规时，就花上几个小时紧跟着Umbridge，在每次她说话时发出轻蔑的响亮咂舌声。
老师中除了费尔奇，看起来没人在积极地帮助她。甚至，在弗来德和乔治离开后一周，哈利亲眼看见麦格教授目不斜视地走过正在把一盏水晶装饰灯往下拧的皮皮鬼，并发誓他听见麦格教授亲口提示他说，“应该往反方向拧。”
因为帽子事件，Montague现在还没有重新获得在厕所里逗留的权利；让他很困惑和烦恼的是有人看见他爸妈星期二早上大步走上车道，而且看起来非常地生气。
“我们是不是应该说些什么呢？”荷米恩担忧地说，一边把脸紧贴在窗户上以便能看见看窗子里Montague夫妇走动。“关于他怎么了？万一这能帮助Pomfrey夫人治疗他呢？”
“当然不能，他会没事的。”罗恩漠不关心地说。
“无论如何，Umbridge有更多的麻烦了，不是吗？”哈利满意地说。
他和罗恩都拿魔杖轻敲着一个水杯练习咒语。哈利的杯子上冒出四条根本够不到桌子的短腿，它们正在半空中毫无意义地扭动。罗恩的则长出四条锥形的细腿，它们艰难地把杯子从桌上撑起来，颤抖地保持了几秒种，然后彻底失败，杯子被摔成了两半儿。
“修复如初，”荷米恩迅速念道，挥手把罗恩的杯子修好。“这很好，但万一Montague受到了永久性的伤害呢？”
“那又有谁在乎呢？” 罗恩暴燥地说道，他的杯子又站起来了，但关节抖得厉害，像喝醉了一样摇摇晃晃的。“Montague应该还没有从格兰芬多拿走全部的分数，不是吗？你假如想担心谁的话，荷米恩，那就担心担心我吧！”
“你？”她说，一边抓住正用四条健壮的腿在桌上欢快地奔跑的杯子，并把它拿到自己跟前。“我为什么要担心你？”
“当妈妈的下一封信最终通过了Umbridge的筛选程序时”罗恩痛苦地说，一边扶着他没法用柔弱的细腿支撑自身重量的杯子，“我的麻烦就大了。假如她再发一封吼叫信的话，我一点也不会奇怪。”
“但是——”
“弗来德和乔治的出走是我的错，你等着看吧，”罗恩阴郁地说，“她会说我本来可以阻止他们走的，我本来可以抓着他们的扫帚尾巴吊在下面或者别的什么。好吧，那全是我的错。”
“呃，假如她真的那样说的话就太不公平了，你根本无能为力！但我敢肯定她不会的，我是说，假如他们真的在对角巷弄到了铺子，那肯定已经计划很长时间了。”
“没错，但这是令一回事，他们怎么弄到铺子的？”罗恩说道，一边拼命用魔杖敲杯子以至于它的腿又软了，倒在他面前抽搐。“这有点奇怪不是吗？他们需要成堆的金加隆来支付对角巷的房租。假如她知道他们有那么多的钱的话，它就知道他们要干什么了。”
“对，我也想到了，”荷米恩说道，一边让她的杯子灵巧地在哈利杯子周围绕圈——哈利杯子的短腿仍然够不到桌子。“我想知道Mundungus到底有没有说服他们去偷东西或者干别的什么坏事。”
“他没有，”哈利简略地说。
“你怎么知道的？”罗恩和荷米恩一起问道。
“因为——”哈利犹豫着，但也许是坦白的时候了。假如这让人怀疑弗来德和乔治犯了罪的话，再沉默下去就没有任何好处了。“因为那些钱是我给他们的。我把去年六月把三强争霸赛的奖金给了他们。”
一段震惊的静默，然后荷米恩的杯子慢步走过桌子边缘，然后在地上摔了个粉碎。
“哦，哈利，你没有！”她说。
“不，我有，”哈利反驳道，“而且我一点也不后悔。我不需要那些钱，但他们却能开一家成功的搞笑商店。”
“但这简直棒极了！”罗恩说道，看起来有点发抖。“这全是你的错了，哈利——妈妈这下完全不能责怪我了！我能告诉她吗？”
“是的，我想你最好告诉她，”哈利迟疑地说，“特别是如果她认为他们接受了偷来的坩埚或别的什么。”
剩下的时间里，荷米恩什么也没说，但是哈利怀疑她的自制力就快要控制不住了。果真，当他们一离开城堡在五月淡淡的阳光下休息时，她瞪着眼睛盯着哈利，下定决心张开了嘴。
但哈利在她还没开口前就打断了她。
“别对我唠叨，事情已经发生了，”他坚定地说。“弗来德和乔治得到了那些金加隆——也很合理地用了一些，听到这些消息——我不能从他们手里要回那些钱，我也不想。所以什么也别说了，荷米恩。”
“我并不是要说关于弗来德和乔治的事！”她委屈地说。
罗恩怀疑地用鼻子哼了一声，荷米恩对他摆出了一张臭脸。
“不，我不是！”她生气地说。“事实上，我是想问哈利他打算什么时候去找斯内普重新上Occlumency课！”
哈利低下头。一旦他们讨论完弗来德和乔治戏剧性的出走——这无可否认地花了很长时间，罗恩和荷米恩就开始想听听关于天狼星的消息。因为哈利并没有向他们吐露他想和天狼星首先交谈的原因，他现在很难想出该告诉他们什么。哈利什么也没说。事实上，天狼星也希望他重新开始Occlumency课。他对此一直很遗憾。荷米恩可不会放弃这个话题，她一直重复问他。
“你可别说你已经停止做那些奇怪的梦了，”荷米恩说，“因为罗恩告诉我你昨晚睡觉时又在那儿嘀咕了。”
哈利狂怒地看了罗恩一眼。罗恩有点不自然。
“你只嘀咕了一小会儿，”他咕哝着辩解到，“像是说‘再往前一点’。”
“我梦见我正在看你打魁地奇，”哈利无情地撒谎道，“我正让你再把手往前伸长一点去抓金飞贼”
罗恩的耳朵变红了。哈利感到了一种报复的喜悦；他没有——当然了——梦到过这类事。
昨天晚上，他又一次梦到了他走在神奇事物部的走廊上。他穿过圆形的房间，在那时，房间里充满了滴答做响的闪烁的灯光，他发现自己又来到了那个像洞穴的房间——里面满是摆着并列的落满灰尘的玻璃球的架子。
他匆忙地径直飞奔向第97排，向左转，然后沿着它跑。他当时也许说得太大声了。再往前一点。他觉得他的自我意识正在努力地叫醒他。在他到达那排架子的尽头前，他发现自己又躺在了床上，凝视着四柱床的顶蓬。
“你正试图去封闭你的思想，不是吗？”荷米恩瞪着哈利说，“你会去接着上Occlumency课吧？”
“我当然会，”哈利说，试着让人听起来好象这个问题对他很无礼，但是躲着她的眼睛。事实上，他非常好奇那间满是蒙着灰尘的玻璃球的房间里到底藏了什么，所以他十分热切地希望那个梦能继续下去。
问题是，只有一个月就要考试了，他把每一秒课余时间都用来复习，他的大脑已经被所学的知识填满了。他上床时发现根本就睡不着！一旦睡着了，大多数晚上，他过度紧张的大脑呈现给他的都是傻兮兮的的关于考试的梦。他还怀疑他大脑的一部分——常以荷米恩声音说话的那一部分——现在在他到达那个走廊尽头的黑门时感觉很心虚，并且在他到达终点前就叫醒他。
“你知道的，”罗恩说，他的耳朵仍是红的，“假如Montague在斯莱特林对赫奇帕奇比赛时还不能痊愈的话，我们就有可能夺得学院杯。”
“当然，但愿如此”哈利说，对换了个话题感到很高兴。
“我的意思是，我们赢了一场，输了一场——假如斯莱特林在下周六对赫奇帕奇比赛里输了的话——”
“对，没错，”哈利说——他已经忘了他同意什么了。秋张刚刚从院子里穿过，断然地不去看他。
*
魁地奇赛季的决赛——格兰芬多对拉文克劳，将在五月的最后一个周末举行。虽然斯莱特林在他们最后一次比赛中被赫奇帕奇勉强击败了，格兰芬多也不再奢望胜利了。主要是由于（当然并没有人告诉他）罗恩时好时坏的守球纪录。不过他看起来似乎找到了一种新的乐观主义。
“我是说，我也不可能再更差了，不是吗？”在比赛那天的早饭时，罗恩对哈利和荷米恩说，“已经没什么东西可以失去了，是吧？”
“你知道的，”当他们夹在异常兴奋的人群中去球场时，荷米恩说道，“我想弗来德和乔治不在身边时，罗恩也许会干得漂亮些。他们从来没给过他信心。”
璐娜追上了他们——她头上蹲着一只活生生的老鹰。
“哦！天哪，我忘了！”荷米恩说，一边看着沉着地走过一群咯咯笑着指指点点的斯莱特林的璐娜——她头上的老鹰不住地拍打着翅膀。“秋会参赛，不是吗？”
哈利当然没忘记，不过他只哼了一声。
他们在看台的顶端找到了座位。那是个晴空万里的好天气。罗恩不能想到更好的了。哈利发现自己还抱着一线希望：罗恩不会再给斯莱特林那些活跃的合唱团以理由高唱“罗恩是我们的王牌”。
李乔丹像往常一样是评论员——他因为弗来德和乔治的离去而非常沮丧。当队员升起来的时候，他开始介绍参赛者，但并不像平时那么兴趣盎然。
“Bradley、Davies、张，”他说道。当秋张进场时，哈利感觉他的胃有点抽筋、虚弱无力。她润泽的黑色头发在微风中闪动。他不确定自己希望还能再发生什么，除了他不能再忍受和别人再吵一架。甚至看见她在准备骑上扫帚时兴奋地和Roger Davies聊天，都嫉妒得他一阵刺痛。
“他们飞起来了，”李说，“Davies立刻拿到了鬼飞球，拉文克劳队长Davies拿着鬼飞球，他躲开Johnson，躲开Bell，同样躲开了Spinnet。他径直冲向球门！他要射门了——他——他——”李大声诅咒，“他进球了！”
哈利和荷米恩为格兰芬多呻吟着。可以可怕地预见出，果然，看台的另一边，斯莱特林开始大唱：
“威斯里一个球也救不了，他一个环（球门）也守不住。”
“哈利，”哈利听到一个嘶哑的声音，“荷米恩。”
哈利向四周望去，看见哈格力长满胡子的大脸出现在座位中间。显然，他是在后面的几排里挤出了一条路。经过一二年级的时候引起了一阵骚动，看起来他们像被压扁了。因为一些原因，哈格力喜欢快步走路，似乎盼望不被看见一样，虽然他仍然比其他任何人都高出至少四英尺。
“听着，”他悄悄说道，“你们能跟我来一下么？现在？当大家正看比赛时？”
“呃，不能等一下吗，哈格力？”哈利问，“到比赛结束了怎么样？”
“不行，”哈格力说，“不行，哈利，必须现在——大家都在关心着其他事的时候。拜托？”
哈格力的鼻子上逐渐滴下鲜血。他的两只眼睛全变成青色的了。哈利自从返回学校以来还从没这么近地看过他。他看起来完全愁眉苦脸的。
“当然，”哈利立刻说，“我们当然可以去。”
他和荷米恩沿着他们那排座位侧身往回走，引得那些不得不为他们站起来的学生们怨声载道。哈格力走的那排的人们没有抱怨，只是尽量尝试把他们自己缩得更小些。
“我感激你们这样做，你们两个，我真的感激，”当他们到达楼梯时，哈格力说。他们往下面的草坪走时，他一直紧张地向四周张望。“我只希望她没有注意到咱们走了。”
“你是说Umbirdge？”哈利说，“她不会的，她把她的审问班全部集中在她身边，你没看见吗？她肯定期望比赛会出什么乱子。”
“是的，一点小麻烦不会怎么样的，”哈格力说道，停下来四处张望看台边缘——为了确定从这儿到他的小屋的草地上没人，“再多给我们点儿时间。”
“怎么了，哈格力？”当他们快速穿过草地向森林边缘走去时，荷米恩抬起头，关心地望着他说道。
“是的——你们马上就会知到了，”哈格力说着，一边扭头越过肩膀往后看——他们身后的看台上腾起震耳的吼叫声。“嘿——谁得分了？”
“肯定是拉文克劳，”哈利沉重地说。
“好，好。”哈格力心烦意乱地说，“那很好。”
他们必须小跑着才能跟上他——他大步走过草坪，每走一步就环视一下四周。当他们到达他的小屋时，荷米恩自动向左转走向前门。但是哈格力径直走过房子，来到禁林边缘的树阴下。他在那儿拾起了靠在树上的一把石弓。当他发现他们已经不在身边时，他转过身，“我们要到这儿，”他说道，摇晃着他毛蓬蓬的脑袋。
“进禁林？”荷米恩困惑地说。
“是的，” 哈格力说道，“现在过来，快点，在我们被发现之前！” 哈利和荷米恩对视了一下，然后迅速钻入哈格力身后的树下——他已经大步远离他们走进树林的阴影中中，石弓正搭在他的胳膊上。哈利和荷米恩跑起来追赶他。
“哈格力，你为什么要带武器？”哈利说道。
“只是以防万一，”哈格力耸了耸他结实的肩膀说道。
“你向我们展示Thestrals时都没带石弓。”荷米恩胆怯地说道。
“是的，呃，我们当时并没有走太远，”哈格力说，“无论如何，那是在Firenze离开森林之前，不是么？”
“为什么Firenze离开后就不同了？”荷米恩好奇地问道。
“因为其他的马人对我感到非常恼怒，这就是原因，”哈格力平静地说道。他粗略地看了看四周，“他们以前很——呃，你也不能说他们友好——但是我们相处得还行。他们从不与人交际，但我需要问些问题时总能找到他们。现在不会了。”
他深深地叹了口气。
“Firenze说他们因为他为丹伯多工作而感到非常生气，”哈利说道。他一直盯着哈格力的侧面看以至于被一块突出的树根上绊倒了。
“是的，”哈格力沉重地说，“他们没法掩住怒火，假如我没有及时制止的话，我估计他们会把Firenze踢死——”
“他们攻击他了？”荷米恩听起来很震惊。
“是的，”哈格力粗声说道，“用底底挂着的数枝堵住了他的路。他们有一半的人都在进攻他。”
“你制止了他们？”哈利吃惊地说，“就你一个人？”
“当然，我可不能光站着看他们把他杀了，不是么？”哈格力说，“幸运的是我做到了，真的。我想Firenze应该在给我那个愚蠢的警告前想想这件事。”他用有点儿出乎意料的语气说。
荷米恩和哈利对视了一下，感到很震惊。但是哈格力，仍旧愁眉不展的，没有更仔细地描述。
“总之，”他说道，比平时喘息稍微沉重了一点儿，“从那以后，其他的马人开始仇视我，但问题是他们在森林里感应到了很多东西。他们是这儿最聪明的生灵。”
“这就是我们来这儿的原因吗，哈格力？”荷米恩问道，“因为那些马人？”
“哦，不是的，”哈格力轻视地摇着头，说道，“不，不是因为他们。他们只能使事情变得更复杂，没错。但是你们马上就会会明白我的意思的。”
留下这个让人难以明白的解释后，他陷入沉默中，稳步在前面领路——他一步能顶他们三步，所以他们很难赶上他。
小路变得越来越杂草丛生，他们越往里面走，两旁的树就离得越近，而且暗得像黄昏一样。他们很快已经离哈格力向他们展示Thestrals的空地很远了，哈利一直毫无意义地感到不安，直到哈格力出乎意料地走出小路，向黑暗的森林心脏地带走去。
“哈格力！”哈利说，一边从浓密扎手的荆棘中奋力拨出一条路来——哈格力走的时候却毫不费力。他清晰地记起来他以前在这儿发生了什么——以前他来过这条林间小路。“我们这是要去哪儿？”
“再往前走一点儿，”哈格力扭头说，“过来，哈利，我们现在得紧跟着了。”
他们费了很大的劲才能跟上哈格力。带刺的树枝和灌木丛挡在路上，哈格力轻而易举地就走了过去——好象它们是蜘蛛网一样。但这些挂住了哈利和荷米恩的长袍，而且老是激烈地缠住他们不放，使他们不得不停下来几分钟解救自己。哈利的胳膊和腿上一会就布满了细小的切口和擦伤。他们太深入森林了，以至于有的时候哈利看阴暗中的哈格力只是他前面的一块厚重的黑色阴影。在压抑的静默中，任何声音都听起来隐藏着危险。树枝折断的回响声都听起来很大，还有移动的轻微沙沙声——虽然这好象是由一只清白的麻雀弄出来的——使得哈利神经质地往四周阴影窥探，似乎想找到一个罪犯什么的。因为他从没有这么深入过森林，却看不见一个动物。他们的消失哈利看来可不是什么好兆头。
“哈格力，我们打亮魔杖没问题吧？”荷米恩悄悄地说。
“呃，没问题，”哈格力转身低语道。“事实上——”
他猛然停下来，转过身。荷米恩正好撞在他身上，又被弹了回来。哈利在她跌倒之前抓住了她。
“也许我们应该在这儿停一会儿，这样你们就又会体力充沛的。”哈格力说，“在我们到那儿之前。”
“太好了！”哈利把她扶起来时，荷米恩说道。他们同时低语道“荧光闪烁！”，魔杖尖上随即亮出一束光芒。哈格力的脸在两束摇曳不定的光线中摇晃着，哈利发现他再一次看起来很紧张和忧愁。
“好吧，”哈格力说，“呃，明白了吧，那个东西是，”他看起来喘得很厉害，“呃，我现在任何时候都可被解雇。”他说。
哈利和荷米恩对视了一下，然后又望着哈格力。
“但你已经干了很久了——”荷米恩试探性地问到，“是什么让你认为——”
“Umbridge认为是我把Niffler放到她办公室的。”
“那你有没有？”哈利没来得及管住自己的嘴，说道。
“不，当然不是我！”哈格力愤怒地说，“这只和神奇动物有关，但她却认为是我的问题。你知道的，自从我回来后，她就一直在找机会把我解雇。我不想走，那当然。但假如不行的话，呃，我要告诉你们的特殊情况是，我现在就快要离开了，在她当着全校的面解雇我之前——就像她对Trelaweny做的那样。”
哈利和荷米恩同时发出强烈的抗议，但哈格力把他巨大的手掌挥了一下，根本不听他们说。
“现在还没到世界末日，当我离开这儿，我还能为丹伯多效力，我会对凤凰令有所帮助的。而你们将要进行巫师等级考试了，你们会——你们会出色通过考试的。”
他的声音颤抖地停了下来。
“别为我担心，”当荷米恩想拍拍他的胳膊安慰他时，他急速说道。他从背心口袋里拿出一块巨大的脏兮兮的手帕，抹着眼睛。“你们看，假如不是迫不得已的话，我是不会告诉你们的。假如我现在离开，我不能——不能一声不吭地就走掉。因为——因为我会需要你们俩的帮助。还有罗恩，如果他乐意的话。”
“当然，我们当然会帮你的，”哈利立刻说，“你需要我们做什么？”
哈格力深深地吸了一口气，沉默地拍了拍哈利的肩膀——拍得他歪倒在了一棵树上。
“我就知道你会这么说的，”哈格力把脸埋在手帕里说，“但我不会的，决不会。忘记的。呃，来，我们只需要再走一点点路。看好你自己，现在，这儿有荨麻。”
他们又沉默地走了一刻钟。哈利刚开口问他们到底还要走多久时，哈格力举起他的右手，示意他别说话。
“很简单，”他温柔地说，“得非常安静，现在。”
他们蹑手蹑脚地继续前进，哈利发现他们正向着一块巨大的、平坦的土墩——他想恐怕跟哈格力一样高——走去。哈利隐隐有些害怕，那肯定是某种庞大的动物的窝。土墩四周全是被连根拔起的大树，形成了一片围绕着由树干和粗大的树枝当作栅栏的空地。空地在哈利、荷米恩和哈格力的后面。
“停下，”哈格力无声地说。
可以肯定的是，哈利听见了一个远远的、有节奏的隆隆声——听起来像一对巨大的肺正在工作。他向身边的荷米恩瞥了一眼——她正张着嘴凝视着那个土墩，看起来完全被吓坏了。
“哈格力，”她对着那个睡着的动物，用小得几乎听不见的声音说，“他是谁？”
哈利也发现了这个问题，“那是什么？”也正是他想问的问题。
“哈格力，你告诉过我们——”荷米恩说，她的魔杖有些发抖，“你告诉过我们他们没人想来！”
哈利看看她，又看看哈格力，然后，他明白了，他惊恐地向土墩回望去，有点惊恐得喘不过气来。
那个大土墩——哈利、荷米恩和哈格力可以轻易地全部站上去——正随着他深沉的呼吸一上一下。那根本就不是个土墩！那无疑是他的脊背——
“呃——不——他并不想来，”哈格力绝望地说，“但我必须强迫他来，荷米恩，我必须！”
“但为什么？”荷米恩问道，听起来她好象快哭了，“为什么——什么——哦，哈格力——”
“我知道假如我把他带回来的话，”哈格力说，听起来像要流眼泪了，“并且——并且教他些礼貌——我就能把他带到外面去，让大家看看他其实是无害的！”
“无害的！”荷米恩刺耳地说道。哈格力发出疯狂的嘘声，指着他们前面那个巨人——他翻了个身，发出响亮的呼噜声。“他当时打了你，不是吗？这就是你哪儿来的这些伤口！”
“他并不知道自己到底有多大劲儿！”哈格力真挚的说，“而且他已经变好了，他已经不那么爱打架了——”
“所以，这就是你花了两个月才到家的原因！”荷米恩心烦意乱地说，“哦！哈格力，他既然不想来，你为什么还要硬把他带来？难道他和他的族人在一起不会更快乐些么？”
“他们都欺负他，荷米恩，因为他太小了！”哈格力说。
“小？”荷米恩说，“小？”
“荷米恩，我不能离开他，”哈格力说，眼泪从他满是伤口的脸上滚落，滴进胡子里，“知道吗——他是我弟弟！”
荷米恩愣愣地盯着他，嘴巴张着。
“哈格力，你说‘弟弟’时，”哈利慢慢地说，“你的意思是不是——”
“呃——半个弟弟，”哈格力歉意地说，“在她离开我爸爸后，时间让我妈妈找了另一个巨人，然后生了他——Grawp。”
“Grawp？”哈利说。
“是的。呃，这就是他给我说的名字，”哈格力不安地说，“他不会很多英语。我正在试着教他。总之，她喜欢他好象并不比喜欢我更多一些。知道么，女巨人生的都是巨大的小孩，但他总是比别人要矮小一些——只有十六英尺高——”
“哦，是的，矮小！”荷米恩有点歇斯底里地讽刺道，“绝对矮小！”
“他们所有的人都围着打他——我只是不能离开他——”
“马克西姆夫人也希望把他带回来吗？”哈利问道。
“她——呃，她明白这对我来说很重要，”哈格力攥起他的巨大的手掌，说道，“但——但是过了一阵她就对他感到厌烦了，我必须承认。所以我们在回来的路上分开了。但是她答应不告诉任何人。”
“你怎么可能不让任何人注意地把他带回来？”哈利说。
“呃，这就是为什么我花了那么长时间的原因，明白吗，”哈格力说，“我们只能在晚上赶路，通过那些野蛮的国家和地区。当然啦，只要他愿意，他可以把自己掩护得很好，但他还是一直想逃回去。”
“哦，哈格力，那你为什么不让他走！”荷米恩一屁股坐到那些被掰断的树干上，把脸埋在胳膊里，说，“你认为我们能对这个性子暴烈的巨人做些什么——他甚至都不想待在这儿！”
“呃，现在——‘性子暴烈的’——有点苛刻了，”哈格力说——仍然兴奋地攥着他的手，“现在他心情不好时，也许会摇我几下，但他已经变得很好了，好多了，在这儿待得很好。”
“那那些绳子是干什么的呢？”哈利问道。
他刚刚注意到有一圈几乎和小树一样粗的绳索绑在附近几棵最粗壮的大树上，连着中间蜷缩着背对他们的Grawp。
“你必须得把他绑着，是吗？”荷米恩微弱地说。
“呃，是的，”哈格力说，看起来有些担忧，“明白么——就好象我说过的——他并没有真正了解他到底有多大劲儿。”
哈利现在明白了为什么森林里这块地方的其他动物都奇怪地消失了。
“那么，你想让哈利、罗恩和我做什么呢？”荷米恩担心地问。
“照顾他，”哈格力哇哇叫着说，“在我离开之后。”
哈利和荷米恩交换了一脸苦相，哈利痛苦地意识到他已经答应过哈格力他会做任何哈格力要求的。
“这——这包括什么，确切地说？”荷米恩问道。
“不是食物或其他任何事！”哈格力急切地说，“他自己能找食物，没问题的。鸟、鹿还有其他东西。不，他只是需要人来陪陪他，如果我知道有人能帮他的话。教他，你知道的。”
哈利什么也没说，只是转过头去看那个在他们前面的地上躺着的巨大身躯。不像哈格力——他看起来只像一个比较高大的人而已，Grawp看起来有点畸形。一块土墩上的巨大的长满苔藓的石头——他原来一直这么认为——现在他才发现那是Grawp的头。它占身体的比例比正常人的脑袋要大得多，而且几乎是完美的圆球体——上面满是卷曲的羊齿蕨色的头发。在单一的大脑袋上，可以很明显地看到头顶上肉色的耳朵——看起来就像坐着——像维能姨父和肩膀间几乎没有脖子连接的头。他的脑袋下面的脊背，看起来像棕色的用动物毛皮粗略缝起来的罩衫，而且很宽大。当Grawp睡觉时，就好象把粗糙的毛皮接缝给扯紧了。两条腿在身体底下蜷缩着，哈利可以看见裸露的、巨大的、脏兮兮的脚底——它们有雪橇那么大，重叠着搭在地上。
“你让我们教他，”哈利空洞地说。他现在知道Firenze的警告是什么意思了。哈格力的努力没起作用，所以他最好能放弃它。当然啦，森林里其他的生物肯定听说了哈格力教Grawp英语的无意义的尝试。
“是的，即使你们只是跟他说说话的话，”哈格力充满希望地说，“我猜想，如果他能和人类对话的话，他就会更加了解我们是喜欢他、希望他留下来的。”
哈利看了看荷米恩，她正转身从指缝里向他张望。
“你有几分希望我们能让Norbert（好象是哈格力以前养的一条龙）回来，不是吗？”他说道，荷米恩只是虚弱地笑了笑。
“那么，你们答应了？”哈格力说，他好象并没有理解哈利刚才说的意思。
“呃，”哈利说，他已经准备好要信守承诺了，“我们会试试的，哈格力。”
“我就知道可以信赖你，哈利，”哈格力喜气洋洋地说，又用手帕擦了擦脸。“但是我并不希望来得太频繁了。我知道你们就要考试了。你们只要用隐形斗篷每星期来这儿一次和他聊会儿天就行了。我要叫醒他了，然后——介绍你们——”
“什——不！”荷米恩跳起来说，“哈格力，不！千万别叫醒他，真的，我们不需要——”
但是哈格力已经跨过了他们面前的巨大树干，向Grawp走去。当离他只有十英尺远的时候，哈格力从地上捡起一根折断的、长长的粗树枝，扭头越过肩膀对着哈利和荷米恩安心地微笑了一下，然后用树枝的头戳了一下Grawp的后脑勺。
巨人发出一声怒号，在寂静的森林里回荡。头顶树梢上的鸟受惊飞了起来，转眼间不见了。其间，在哈利和荷米恩面前，巨人Grawp从地上站了起来，摇摇晃晃地用手撑着站稳了。他转着脑袋看是谁把他吵醒了。
“好了，Grawp？”哈格力用愉快的声音说，从新把那根粗树枝举起来，准备好再把Grawp戳一下，“睡得好吗？”
哈利和荷米恩一直尽可能地往后退，但还保持着巨人在他们的视线内。Grawp在两棵还没有被连根拔起的树间跪了下来。他们吃惊地抬头望着他巨大的脸——好象是穿过空地阴影里的一轮灰色的满月。他的脸好象被凿成了一个巨大的石球——几乎不成形的鼻子又粗又短；歪斜的嘴里满是像砖头一样大的奇形怪状的黄牙；还有眼睛，小小的，是像泥浆一样的泛绿的棕色，由于刚刚睡醒，他们现在几乎粘在一块。Grawp抬起脏兮兮的指节——每一个都有板球那么大，放到眼睛上，精力旺盛地揉着。然后，没有任何预兆地，以惊人的敏捷走了起来。
“哦，天哪！”哈利听到荷米恩在旁边受惊地尖叫道。
绑在Grawp手腕和脚踝上的绳索另一端的大树不祥地咯吱咯吱响了起来。他有——就像哈格力说过的——至少十六英尺高。他蒙蒙胧胧地向四周张望，伸出一只像遮阳伞那么大的手，捉住了一棵高耸的松树靠上树枝上的一个鸟窝，把它倒过来倒了倒，发出一声怒号，显然对里面一只鸟也没有感到很不满意。鸟蛋像手榴弹一样掉在地上，哈格力把他的石弓举在头上，保护他自己。
“无论如何，小Grawp，”哈格力喊道，一边担心地向上看，以防再有鸟蛋掉下来，“我带了一些朋友来看你。记得吗？我也许告诉过你。记得吗，我说我也许要做一次旅行，让他们来照顾你？你还记得吗？小Grawp？”
但是Grawp只是又底低地吼叫了一声；很难说他是否在听哈格力说话或者甚至他是否听见了哈格力说话的声音。他现在正抓住那棵松树的树尖，向自己过来。很明显的，他喜欢把树放开时看它到底能弹开多远。
“现在，小Grawp，别那样！”哈格力喊道，“这就是你怎么样停止拔出其他的——”
毫无疑问的，哈利看见树根旁边的土开始裂开。
“我给你找着伴儿啦！”哈格力大叫道，“伙伴，看见了吗？往下看，你这个大小丑，我给你带来了一些朋友！”
“哦，哈格力！别！”荷米恩呻吟道，但是哈格力已经又举起那根大树枝，对着Grawp的膝盖，狠狠地戳了一下。
巨人放开了松树，它令人担忧地摆动着，落下来的松针像雨一样几乎把哈格力淹没了。然后他向下看去——
“这儿，”哈格力说，指着哈利和荷米恩站着的地方，“是哈利，Grawp！哈利波特！我走了以后他会来这儿看你的，明白了吗？”
巨人才刚刚注意到哈利和荷米恩站在那里。他们剧烈地颤抖地看着他——他低下那个像石头一样的脑袋，模模糊糊地看着他们。
“呃，这是荷米恩，看见了吗？她——”哈格力犹豫着说。他转向荷米恩，说，“你介意他叫你赫米（Hermy）吗，荷米恩？荷米恩对他来说是个蛮难记的名字。”
“不，一点也不介意，”荷米恩尖声说。
“这是赫米，Grawp！她也会来看你的！好不好？呃？两个朋友给你——GRAWP，不！”
Grawp的脑袋到处向荷米恩冲去；哈利抓住她把她塞到树后面，所以Grawp的拳头打到了树干上，但也差点够到他们了。
“宝贝，宝贝！GRAWPY！”他们听见哈格力呼喊着，荷米恩躲在树后紧抓着哈利，摇着他呜咽着，“坏孩子！你不能抓——嗷！”
哈利从树后面探出头来，看见哈格力正躺在地上，用手捂着鼻子。Grawp显然已经失去兴趣了，他又站直了，正忙着把松树尽可能的拉过来。
“好了，”哈格力厚重地说，用捂着他正流血的鼻子的手把自己撑起来，另一只手抓起他的石弓。“好的，他们在那儿。你已经见过他们了，而且——而且回来的时候他会了解你的。是的。”
他抬起头看Grawp——他正在拉松树，像石头一样的脸上满是快乐。当他把树根从地上扯起来时发出吱吱嘎嘎的声音。
“好吧，我估计今天够了，”哈格力说，“我们要——呃——我们现在要回去了，可以吗？”
哈利和荷米恩点了点头。哈格力又把石弓扛在肩膀上，仍然捂着他的鼻子，带着他们往回走向树丛深处。
有一阵，他们谁也没说话，即使当他们听见远远的撞击声——这说明Grawp终于把那棵树放开了。荷米恩的脸很苍白和固执。哈利找不到什么话好说。假如有人发现了哈格力在禁林里藏着Grawp的话会怎么样？而且他承诺过他自己、罗恩还有荷米恩会继续哈格力完全无意义的尝试——去教巨人文明。哈格力怎么能（甚至用他极大的能力）骗得到他自己说那些尖牙利齿的怪兽是可爱而无害的呢？骗他自己说Grawp会适应与人类相处呢？
“停一下，”当哈利和荷米恩正奋战在他身后的一片灌木丛里时，哈格力突然说。他从肩上的箭袋里取出一枝箭，搭在石弓上。哈利和荷米恩举起了魔杖——既然他们已经停下来了，就也可以听见有什么东西在附近移动。
“哦，妈呀，”哈格力悄悄说道。
“我想我告诉过你们，哈格力，”一个深沉的男声说，“这里不再欢迎你们了？”
一个男人裸露的上半身径直从半亮的树林中飘向他们。他们看见他的腰部以下天衣无缝地连接着一个棕色的马身。那个马人有一张高傲的、颧骨很突出的脸，和一头长长的黑发。像哈格力一样，他也带着武器——满满的一筒箭，和一把挂在肩上的长弓。
“你好。Magorian。”哈格力警惕的说。
马人身后的树丛里发出沙沙的声响，又有四五个在他身后显现。哈利认出了黑色身躯、蓄着胡子的Bane，他四年前遇见Firenze的时候也见过他。Bane装做根本没见过哈利的样子。
“那么，”在直接转向Magorian前，他用令人讨厌的声音说道，“我们都同意，我想，当这个人的脸再出现在禁林里的话，我们该怎么做。”
“这个人，现在，是我吗？”哈格力暴躁地说，“就因为我阻止了你们那可耻的谋杀？”
“你不应该管闲事，哈格力，”Magorian说，“我们有我们的方法，不关你的事，也和你们的法律无关。Firenze背叛了我们，让我们丢尽了脸。”
“我不明白你们怎么能下得了手，”哈格力很没耐心地说，“他除了帮丹伯多什么也没做——”
“Firenze变成了人类的奴隶，”一个灰色的、脸上有深深皱纹的马人说道。
“奴隶！”哈格力严厉地说，“他所有给丹伯多做的只是——”
“他把我们的知识和秘密出卖给人类，”Magorian平静地说，“做这种丢脸的事是不会有任何回报的。”
“假如你这么说的话，”哈格力耸耸肩，说，“我可以告诉你你犯了一个大错误——”
“就像你们，人类，”Bane说，“我们警告过你们之后还要到我们的禁林里来——”
“现在，你们听我说，”哈格力愤怒地说，“我们的森林！它不属于你们这些只生活在这儿的马人——”
“那起码也不属于你，哈格力，”Mahorian平稳地说，“我今天会放你走的，因为你正陪着你的小——”
“他们不是他的！”Bane轻蔑地打断了他，“学生，Magorian，从那所学校来的！他们也许已经从那个叛徒Firenze的教学中受益了。”
“不过，”Magorian冷冷地说，“杀害小崽子是骇人的罪行——那样我们就不清白了。今天，哈格力，我们放你走。从今以后，你最好离这儿远一点。当你帮助那个叛徒Firenze逃脱我们的惩罚时，你已经失去了我们的友谊。”
“我不会因为像你这么顽固的人而离开禁林的！”哈格力大声吼道。
“哈格力，”荷米恩惊恐地尖声说——Bane和那个灰色的马人都开始用蹄子刨地，“我们走吧，拜托，我们走吧！”
哈格力于是继续向前走，但他仍举着石弓，眼睛紧盯着Magorian。
“我们知道你在禁林里藏了什么，哈格力！”当那些马人们离开视野时，Magorian在背后叫道，“我们快失去耐心了！”
哈格力转过身，没有理会其他人，径直走向Magorian。
“他在这儿多长时间，你们就得忍多长时间。他和你们一样拥有这片森林！”他大叫着。哈利和荷米恩都使尽全身力气去拽哈格力的毛皮背心，努力想让他继续往前走。他低头看着他们，仍旧闷闷不乐的。当看见他们都在推他时，他脸上露出温柔的惊讶的表情。他好象刚才没感觉到。
“镇静点，你们两个，”他说。他转身继续走，哈利和荷米恩在他身后喘着气。“老倔驴，虽然，是吧？”
“哈格力，”他们在绕过一片蓖麻时，荷米恩有点窒息地说，“如果那些马人不希望有人类进入森林的话，看起来哈利和我就不能——”
“啊，你听见他们说了，”哈格力轻视地说，“他们不会伤害小崽子的——我是说，小孩子。无论如何，我们不能被那些吓倒。”
“是不错的尝试，”哈利对荷米恩低语到——她看起来垂头丧气的。
最后，他们终于回到小路上。又过了十分钟，树木变得稀疏起来。他们又可以看见几小块蓝天，远处，可以确切地听到欢呼声和吼叫声。
“又进球了吗？”当视野里出现魁地奇赛场时，哈格力在树影里停下，问道，“或者比赛结束了？”
“我不知道，”荷米恩悲惨地说道。哈利看见她的衣服被挂得更惨，头发里全是小树枝和树叶，她的长袍有些地方被撕破了，脸上和胳膊上也有无数的擦伤。他知道自己也许看起来会好些。
“我猜是结束了，你知道的，”哈格力仍然斜视着赛场，说，“看——有人已经退场了——如果你们现在快一点的话，就可以混进人群里，没人会知道你们离开过！”
“好主意，”哈利说，“呃，待会儿见，那么，哈格力。”
“我可不太相信他，”等到哈格力听不见时，荷米恩异常不安地说，“我不相信他。我真的不相信他。”
“镇静点，”哈利说。
“镇静点！”她激动地说，“一个巨人！禁林里有一个巨人！而且我们答应了要教他英语！总是桀骜不逊的，当然，我们可以通过那些在禁林里来来往往的会杀人的马人！我——不——相信——他！”
“我们还没有做任何事呢！”当他们汇入吱吱喳喳叫着回城堡的赫奇帕奇时，哈利试着让她安安静静地说话，“除非他被解雇了，他是不会叫我们做任何是的——但这也许根本不会发生！”
“哦，得了吧，哈利，”荷米恩生气的说道。她忽然停下来，后面的人不得不转向绕过去。“他当然会被解雇，实话说，就像我们刚才看见的，又有谁能指责Umbridge呢？”
哈利愤怒地瞪着她时，她停了下来，泪水慢慢地充满眼睛。
“你并没有那个意思，”哈利平静地说。
“不，呃。好吧。我没有，”她说，一边生气地擦着眼睛，“但是他为什么要和他自己——和我们过不去呢？”
“我不知道——”
“威斯里是我们的王牌，威斯里是我们的王牌，他守住了鬼飞球，威斯里是我们的王牌。”
“而且我希望他们能别再唱那首傻兮兮的歌，”荷米恩悲惨地说，“他们还不够满意吗？”
一大群学生从魁地奇赛场走过来。
“哦，在碰见那些斯莱特林们之前，我们赶紧走吧！”荷米恩说。
“威斯里可以救任何球，他守住了任何一个环（球门），这就是为什么，全体格兰芬多都在唱：威斯里是我们的王牌。”
“荷米恩，”哈利慢慢地说。
歌声越来越响亮，但不是出自穿着绿底银边的斯莱特林们，而是来自一群缓缓向城堡移动的穿着红色和金色的衣服人，他们的肩上正扛着一个人。
“威斯里是我们的王牌，威斯里是我们的王牌，他守住了鬼飞球，威斯里是我们的王牌。”
“不是？”荷米恩安静地说。
“是的！”哈利大叫道。
“哈利！荷米恩！”罗恩呼喊着，在空中拼命摇动着度银的魁地奇奖杯，看起来快疯了，“我们做到了！我们赢啦！”
他们把他传过来，大家争先恐后地经过城堡大门，罗恩的脑袋被凸起的门梁狠狠地磕了一下，但看起来没人想把他放下来。一边唱着，人群挤进了门廊，消失不见了。哈利和荷米恩呆呆地看着他们喜气洋洋的走远，直到最后“威斯里是我们的王牌”的歌声也消失了。他们互相望了望，笑容消失了。
“我们明天再把那件事告诉他，可以吗？”哈利说。
“是的，好的，”荷米恩疲倦地说，“我一点也不急。”
他们一起爬上楼梯。在门前都本能地回头向禁林望去。哈利不确定是不是他想象的，但他看见远方有一小群鸟从树顶猛地飞上天空，就好象它们栖息的树刚刚被拔起来一样。
欢迎访问英文小说网http://novel.tingroom.com