The oldest boy came striding into sight. He had already changed into his billowing black Hogwarts robes, and Harry noticed a shiny silver badge on his chest with the letter P on it.
"Can't stay long, Mother," he said. "I'm up front, the prefects have got two compartments to themselves --"
"Oh, are you a prefect, Percy?" said one of the twins, with an air of great surprise. "You should have said something, we had no idea."
"Hang on, I think I remember him saying something about it," said the other twin. "Once --"
"Or twice --"
"A minute --"
"All summer --"
"Oh, shut up," said Percy the Prefect.
"How come Percy gets new robes, anyway?" said one of the twins.
"Because he's a prefect," said their mother fondly. "All right, dear, well, have a good term -- send me an owl when you get there."
She kissed Percy on the cheek and he left. Then she turned to the twins.
"Now, you two -- this year, you behave yourselves. If I get one more owl telling me you've -- you've blown up a toilet or --"
"Blown up a toilet? We've never blown up a toilet."
"Great idea though, thanks, Mom."
"It's not funny. And look after Ron."
"Don't worry, ickle Ronniekins is safe with us."
"Shut up," said Ron again. He was almost as tall as the twins already and his nose was still pink where his mother had rubbed it.
"Hey, Mom, guess what? Guess who we just met on the train?"
Harry leaned back quickly so they couldn't see him looking.
"You know that black-haired boy who was near us in the station? Know who he is?"
"Who?"
"Harry Potter!"
Harry heard the little girl's voice.
"Oh, Mom, can I go on the train and see him, Mom, eh please...."
"You've already seen him, Ginny, and the poor boy isn't something you goggle at in a zoo. Is he really, Fred? How do you know?"
"Asked him. Saw his scar. It's really there - like lightning."
"Poor dear - no wonder he was alone, I wondered. He was ever so polite when he asked how to get onto the platform."
"Never mind that, do you think he remembers what You-Know-Who looks like?"
Their mother suddenly became very stern.
"I forbid you to ask him, Fred. No, don't you dare. As though he needs reminding of that on his first day at school."
"All right, keep your hair on."
A whistle sounded.
"Hurry up!" their mother said, and the three boys clambered onto the train. They leaned out of the window for her to kiss them good-bye, and their younger sister began to cry.
"Don't, Ginny, we'll send you loads of owls."
"We'll send you a Hogwarts toilet seat."
"George!"
"Only joking, Mom."
The train began to move. Harry saw the boys' mother waving and their sister, half laughing, half crying, running to keep up with the train until it gathered too much speed, then she fell back and waved.
兄弟中最大的一個(gè)正大跨步地走來(lái)。他已經(jīng)換上了膨起的黑色霍格瓦徹長(zhǎng)袍。
哈利還注意到他胸前那個(gè)有字母"P "的閃亮的銀徽章。
"媽?zhuān)说夭荒芫昧簟?span lang="EN-US">"他說(shuō),"那些學(xué)生的班長(zhǎng)已經(jīng)為他們自己預(yù)留了兩個(gè)包廂了……""噢,你不也是個(gè)班長(zhǎng)嗎,伯希?"孿生兄弟中的一個(gè)問(wèn)道,臉上一副非常驚訝的表情,"你本應(yīng)說(shuō)些什么的。""等會(huì),我記得他曾經(jīng)說(shuō)過(guò)什么的。"另一個(gè)孿生兄弟說(shuō),"說(shuō)過(guò)一次——""或是兩次——"
"僅一分鐘——"
"整個(gè)夏季——"
"噢,閉嘴!"班長(zhǎng)伯希大聲叫道。
"伯希這身新袍是怎么來(lái)的?"
"因?yàn)樗莻€(gè)班長(zhǎng)啊,"母親高興地說(shuō),"好了,旅途愉快!到那兒以后記得派只貓頭鷹給我。"她在伯希的臉頰上吻了一下,伯希便離開(kāi)了。她轉(zhuǎn)向她的雙胞胎兒子。
"你們兩個(gè)——今年可得好好管住自己?jiǎn)?。如果我再收到一只貓頭鷹來(lái)告訴我你們炸毀了廁所或者——""炸毀廁所?我們可從沒(méi)干過(guò)這等無(wú)聊事。"
"不過(guò),這主意不錯(cuò)嘛,謝謝媽。"
"這一點(diǎn)都不好笑。你們還得好好照顧羅恩。""別擔(dān)心,小臟貓和我們一起很安全。"
"住嘴!"羅恩再一次被激怒了,他鼻頭上被掠過(guò)的地方現(xiàn)在仍是紅紅的。
"媽?zhuān)虏挛覀儎倓傇谲?chē)上遇見(jiàn)誰(shuí)了?"
哈利連忙往后靠,以免被他們母子幾個(gè)人看見(jiàn)。
"你認(rèn)識(shí)和我們一起在車(chē)站的那個(gè)黑發(fā)少年嗎?你知道他是誰(shuí)嗎?""誰(shuí)呀?"
"哈利·波特?"
哈利聽(tīng)到的是那個(gè)小女孩的聲音。
"媽?zhuān)夷苌宪?chē)去看看他嗎?媽?zhuān)笄竽阕屛胰?span lang="EN-US">……""你不是已經(jīng)見(jiàn)過(guò)他了嗎,金妮。那可憐的孩子可不是你在動(dòng)物園里看到的動(dòng)物呀。哎,弗來(lái)德,你怎么知道他就是哈里。波特的?""我親口問(wèn)過(guò)他,親眼見(jiàn)過(guò)他的傷痕像閃電一樣,他真的就在那兒。""可憐的寶貝。我猜他一定是一個(gè)人上路的。當(dāng)他詢(xún)問(wèn)如何才能找到站臺(tái)時(shí)是多么的彬彬有禮啊。""別光注意那些。你覺(jué)得他還記得'那個(gè)人'是怎樣的嗎?"母親一下子變得嚴(yán)肅起來(lái)。
"我不準(zhǔn)你問(wèn)他這個(gè),弗來(lái)德,就算他上學(xué)第一天需要提醒,你也不問(wèn)他。""好,我不問(wèn)就是了,可別發(fā)火了,媽。"
此時(shí)傳來(lái)一聲哨響。
"快上車(chē)!"母親說(shuō)。三個(gè)孩子趕忙從窗口爬上了車(chē)。他們從窗戶(hù)探出頭來(lái)讓母親好吻別他們,他們的妹妹已經(jīng)傷心落淚了。
"金妮,別哭,我們會(huì)送你好多好多的貓頭鷹的。""沒(méi)錯(cuò),我們還會(huì)寄個(gè)霍格瓦徹便盆給你!"
"喬治,你怎么說(shuō)這些亂七八糟的東西?"
"媽?zhuān)也贿^(guò)是開(kāi)開(kāi)玩笑罷了,可別當(dāng)真。"
列車(chē)緩緩啟動(dòng)了。