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第1章 秦莲

“Dumbledore was the one who stuck up for me after Dad went. Got me the gamekeeper job…trusts people, he does. Gives ‘em second chances…tha's what sets him apar’ from other heads, see. He'll accept anyone at Hogwarts, s'long as they've got the talent. Knows people can turn out okay even if their families weren'…well…all tha’ respectable. But some don understand that. There's some who'd always hold it against yeh…there's some who'd even pretend they just had big bones rather than stand up an’ say - I am what I am, an’ I'm not ashamed. ‘Never be ashamed,’ my ol’ dad used ter say, ‘there's some who'll hold it against you, but they're not worth botherin’ with.’ An’ he was right. I've bin an idiot. I'm not botherin’ with her no more, I promise yeh that. Big bones…I'll give her big bones.”

“But meanwhile,” said George, sitting down at the kitchen table and putting his feet up on it, “we can enjoy watching you demonstrate the correct use of a — whoops-a-daisy!”

“Did anyone see you?”

“D'you know Crouch, then?” said Harry.

“But what happened, Harry? I jus’ saw them Death Eaters runnin’ down from the castle, but what the ruddy hell was Snape doin’ with ‘em? Where's he gone—was he chasin’ them?”

“Dumbledore happens to trust me,” said Snape through clenched teeth. “I refuse to believe that he gave you orders to search my office!”

“Don't expect me to cover up for you again, Harry. I cannot make you take Sirius Black seriously. But I would have thought that what you have heard when the Dementors draw near you would have had more of an effect on you. Your parents gave their lives to keep you alive, Harry. A poor way to repay them — gambling their sacrifice for a bag of magic tricks.”

“Goodbye.”

“Calm down, man!” Fudge barked. “You're talking nonsense!”