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."I’ll goand get it my father’sjust sent it to me -"Wondering what Malfoy was going to show them, Harryand Ron sat down, doing their best to look at home.Malfoy came back a minute later, holding what lookedlike a newspaper clipping.He thrust it under Ron’s nose."That’ll give you a laugh," he said.Harry saw Ron’s eyes widen in shock.He read theclipping quickly, gave a very forced laugh, and handed it to Harry.It had been clipped out of the Daily Prophet, and itsaid:INQUIRY AT THE MINISTRY OF MAGICArthur Weasley, Head of the Misuse of Muggle ArtifactsOffice, was today fined fifty Galleons for bewitching a Muggle car.Mr.Lucius Malfoy, a governor of Hogwarts School ofWitchcraft and Wizardry, where theenchanted car crashed earlier this year,called today for Mr.Weasley’s resignation."Weasley has brought the Ministry intodisrepute," Mr.Malfoy told our reporter."He is clearly unfit to drawup our laws and his ridiculous Muggle Protection Act should be scrappedimmediately."Mr.Weasley was unavailable for comment, although hiswife told reporters to clear off or she’d set the family ghoul on them."Well?" said Malfoy impatiently as Harryhanded the clipping back to him."Don’t you think it’s funny?""Ha, ha," said Harry bleakly."Arthur Weasley loves Muggles so much he shouldsnap his wand in half and go and join them," said Malfoy scornfully."You’d never know the Weasleys were pure-bloods, the way theybehave."Ron’s - or rather, Crabbe’s - face was contorted withfury."What’s up with you, Crabbe?" snappedMalfoy."Stomachache," Ron grunted."Well, go up to the hospital wing and give allthose Mudbloods a kick from me," said Malfoy, snickering."Youknow, I’m surprised the Daily Prophet hasn’t reported all these attacksyet," he went on thoughtfully. "I suppose Dumbledore’s trying to hush it all up.He’ll be sackedif it doesn’t stop soon.Father’s always said old Dumbledore’s the worst thingthat’s ever happened to this place.He loves Muggle-borns.A decent headmasterwould never’ve let slime like that Creevey in."Malfoy started taking pictures with an imaginarycamera and did a cruel but accurate impression of Colin: "‘Potter, can Ihave your picture, Potter? Can I have your autograph? Can I lick your shoes,please, Potter?"’He dropped his hands and looked at Harry and Ron."What’s the matter with you two?"Far too late, Harry and Ron forced themselves to laugh,but Malfoy seemed satisfied; perhaps Crabbe and Goyle were always slow on theuptake."Saint Potter, the Mudbloods’ friend,"said Malfoy slowly."He’s another one with no proper wizard feeling, orhe wouldn’t go around with that jumped up Granger Mudblood.And people thinkhe’s Slytherin’s heir!"Harry and Ron waited with bated breath: Malfoy wassurely secondsaway from telling them it was him - but then"I wish I knew who it is," said Malfoypetulantly."I could help them."Ron’s jaw dropped so that Crabbe looked even moreclueless than usual.Fortunately, Malfoy didn’t notice, and Harry, thinkingfast, said, "You must have some idea who’s behind it all."You know I haven’t, Goyle, how many times do Ihave to tell you?" snapped Malfoy."And Father won’t tell meanything about the last time the Chamber was opened either.Of course, it wasfifty years ago, so it was before his time, but he knows all about it, and hesays that it was all kept quiet and it’ll look suspicious if I know too muchabout it.But I know one thing - last time the Chamber of Secrets was opened, aMudblood died.So I bet it’s a matter of time before one of them’s killed thistime.I hope it’s Granger," he said with relish.Ron was clenching Crabbe’s gigantic fists.Feelingthat it would be a bit of a giveaway if Ron punched Malfoy, Harry shot him awarning look and said, "D’you know if the person who opened the Chamberlast time was caught?""Oh, yeah.whoever it was wasexpelled," said Malfoy."They’re probably still in Azkaban.""Azkaban?" said Harry, puzzled."Azkaban - the wizard prison, Goyle," saidMalfoy, looking at him in disbelief "Honestly, if you were any slower,you’d be going backward."He shifted restlessly in his chair and said, "Fathersays to keep my head down and let the Heir of Slytherin get on with it.He saysthe school needs ridding of all the Mudblood filth, but not to get mixed up init.Of course, he’s got a lot on his plate at the moment.You know the Ministryof Magic raided our manor last week?"Harry tried to force Goyle’s dull face into a look ofconcern."Yeah." said Malfoy."Luckily,they didn’t find much.Father’s gotsome very valuable Dark Arts stuff.But luckily, we’vegot our ownsecret chamber under the drawing-room floor"Ho!" said Ron.Malfoy looked at him.So did Harry.Ron blushed.Evenhis hair was turning red.His nose was also slowly lengthening - their hour wasup, Ron was turning back into himself, and from the look of horror he wassuddenly giving Harry, he must be, too.They both jumped to their feet."Medicine for my stomach," Ron grunted,and without further ado they sprinted the length of the Slytherin common room,hurled themselves at the stone wall, and dashed up the passage, hoping againsthope that Malfoy hadn’t noticed anything.Harry could feel his feet slippingaround in Goyle’s huge shoes and had to hoist up his robes as he shrank; theycrashed up the steps into the dark entrance hall, which was full of a muffledpounding coming from the closet where they’d locked Crabbe and Goyle.Leavingtheir shoes outside the closet door, they sprinted in their socks up the marblestaircase toward Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom."Well, it wasn’t a complete waste oftime," Ron panted, closing the bathroom door behind them."I knowwe still haven’t found out who’s doing the attacks, but I’m going to write toDad tomorrow and tell him to check under the Malfoys’ drawing room."Harry checked his face in the cracked mirror.He wasback to normal. He put his glasses onas Ron hammered on the door of Hermione’s stall."Hermione, come out, we’ve got loads to tell you-""Go away!" Hermione squeaked.Harry and Ron looked at each other."What’s the matter?" said Ron."Youmust be back to normal by now,we areBut Moaning Myrtle glided suddenly through the stalldoor.Harry had never seen her looking so happy."Ooooooh, wait till you see," she said."It’s awful-"They heard the lock slide back and Hermione emerged,sobbing, her robes pulled up over her head."What’s up?" said Ron uncertainly."Have you still got Millicent’s nose or something?"Hermione let her robes fall and Ron backed into thesink.Her face was covered in black fur.Her eyes had turnedyellow and there were long, pointed ears poking through her hair."It was a c-cat hair!" she howled."M-Millicent Bulstrode m-must have a cat! And the p-potion isn’t supposedto be used for animal transformations!""Uh-oh," said Ron."You’ll be teased something dreadful,"said Myrtle happily."It’s okay, Hermione," said Harry quickly."We’ll take you up to the hospital wing.Madam Pomfrey never asks toomany questions.It took a long time to persuade Hermione to leave thebathroom. Moaning Myrtle sped them ontheir way with a hearty guffaw."Wait till everyone finds out you’ve gota tail!"ermione remained in the hospital wing for severalweeks.There was a flurry of rumor about her disappearance when the rest of theschool arrived back from their Christmas holidays, because of course everyonethought that she had been attacked
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