Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned toward the Dursleys' house.
"Could I -- could I say good-bye to him, sir?" asked Hagrid. He bent his great, shaggy head over Harry and gave him what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss. Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog.
"Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall, "you'll wake the Muggles!"
"S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large, spotted handkerchief and burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it -- Lily an' James dead -- an' poor little Harry off ter live with Muggles -"
"Yes, yes, it's all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we'll be found," Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door. He laid Harry gently on the doorstep, took a letter out of his cloak, tucked it inside Harry's blankets, and then came back to the other two. For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at the little bundle; Hagrid's shoulders shook, Professor McGonagall blinked furiously, and the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out.
"Well," said Dumbledore finally, "that's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations."
"Yeah," said Hagrid in a very muffled voice, "I'll be takin' Sirius his bike back. G'night, Professor McGonagall -- Professor Dumbledore, sir."
Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself onto the motorcycle and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night.
"I shall see you soon, I expect, Professor McGonagall," said Dumbledore, nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply.
Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street. On the corner he stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer. He clicked it once, and twelve balls of light sped back to their street lamps so that Privet Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street. He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number four.
"Good luck, Harry," he murmured. He turned on his heel and with a swish of his cloak, he was gone.
A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs. Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles, nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley... He couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter -- the boy who lived!"
丹伯多接過小哈利,徑直向杜斯利家走去。
"我可以——我可以同他道別嗎?"哈格力問。
他彎下他巨大的,毛茸茸的臉,給了哈利一個(gè)扎人的、帶有威士忌酒味的親吻。
接著他像一只受傷的拘一樣哀號了一聲。
"噓!"麥
此時(shí)丹伯多正走過花園圍墻,向正門走去。他輕輕地把哈利放在臺階上后,從披風(fēng)里掏出一封信塞在裹著哈利的毛毯內(nèi)便轉(zhuǎn)身回來。
他們?nèi)俗⒁曋菆F(tuán)毛毯足足有一分鐘。哈格力的肩頭不停地抖動(dòng)著,麥
"好了,"丹伯多最后說道,"事情辦完了,我們可以走了,說不定我們還趕得上慶祝活動(dòng)呢!""沒錯(cuò),"哈格力輕聲地說。"我先要把爵士的車還給他。晚安,丹伯多教授、麥
"希望我們后會(huì)有期,麥
丹伯多轉(zhuǎn)身走向街道。走到拐角時(shí),他掏出那只銀色的打火機(jī)只點(diǎn)了一下,那十二盞街燈便全部亮起來,照得整條普里懷特街像白晝一樣。這時(shí),他看見一只胖胖的貓消失在街道另一頭的拐角處。那團(tuán)毛毯也好好地放在四號門的臺階上。
"哈利,祝你好運(yùn)。"他低聲說,接著他跺了一下腳踉,一抖地的披風(fēng),便轉(zhuǎn)眼間消失了。
微風(fēng)輕撫著幽靜、整潔的普里懷特街,離奇的事情正是在這種環(huán)境下發(fā)生的。
哈利·波特在毛毯里打了個(gè)轉(zhuǎn)身,但并沒有醒過來,他的小手旁邊還放著那封信。
他只是這樣睡著,并不知道自己原來這樣特殊,這么有名。他也不知道幾小時(shí)后他就會(huì)被