章节_20

world knows --”

”who? ”

”well -- i don like sayin the name if i help it. no

one does.”

”why not?”

”gulpin gargoyles, harry, people are still scared. blimey,

this is difficult. see, there ho went... bad. as

bad as you could go. worse. worse than worse. his name was...”

hagrid gulped, but no words came out.

”could you write it dested.

”nah -t spell it. all right -- vrid

shuddered. ”don make me say it again. anyway, this -- this wizard,

about twenty years ago now, started lookin fer fot em,

too -- some were afraid, some just wa o his power, cause

he was gettin himself pht. dark days, harry. didnt

k, didnt dare get friendly with strange wizards or

witches... terrible things happeakin over. course,

some stood up to him -- an he killed em. horribly. ohe

only safe places left was hogwarts. rebledores the only

one you-knoas afraid of. didnt dare try takin the school,

not jus then, anyway.

”now, yer mum an dad were as good a wit wizard as i

ever knew. head boy an girl at hogwarts in their day! suppose

the mystry is why you-kried to get em on his side

before... probably koo close ter dumbledore ter want

anythih the dark side.

”maybe he thought he could persuade em... maybe he just wanted

em outta the way. all anyone knows is, he turhe village

where you was all living, oen years ago. you was just

a year old. he came ter yer house an -- an --”

hagrid sudde a very dirty, spotted handkerchief

and blew his h a sound like a foghorn.

”sorry,” he said. ”but its that sad -- knew yer mum an dad,

an nicer people yeh t find -- anyway...”

”you-know-who killed em. an then -- an this is the real

mystry of the thio kill you, too. waer

make a job of it, i suppose, or maybe he just liked killin

by then. but he t do it. never wondered how you got that

mark ohat was no ordinary cut. thats what yeh get

owerful, evil curse touches yeh -- took an

dad an yer house, even -- but it didnt work on you, an thats why

yer famous, harry. no one ever lived after he decided ter kill em,

you, an hed killed some o the best wit

wizards of the age -- the ms, the bos --

an you was only a baby, an you lived.”

something very painful was going on in harrys mind. as hagrids

story came to a close, he saw again the blinding flash of green

light, more clearly than he had ever remembered it before -- and he

remembered somethihe first time in his life: a high,

ch.

hagrid was watg him sadly.

”took yeh from the ruined house myself, on dumbledores

ht yeh ter this lot...”

”load of old tosh,” said un. harry jumped; he had

almotten that the dursleys were there. uainly

seemed to have got back his ce. he was glaring at hagrid and

his fists were ched.

”now, you listen here, boy,” he snarled, ”i accept theres

somethi you, probably nothing a good beating

wouldnt have cured -- and as for all this about your parents,

well, they were weirdos, , and the worlds better off

without them in my opinion -- asked for all they got, getting mixed

up with these es -- just ected, always knew

theyd e to a stid --”

but at that moment, hagrid leapt from the sofa and drew a

battered pink umbrella from i. pointing this at uncle

vernon like a sword, he said, ”im warning you, dursley -im warning

you -- one more word... ”

in danger of beihe end of an umbrella by a

bearded giant, uns ce failed agaiened

himself against the wall a.

”thats better,” s