上年年頭在網上買了哈利波特系列的書，給自己放 career break 時閱讀。 開箱的時候，開心到哭了！ 二十年前第一次看這書，是問同學借的，看完就還，從來沒有擁有過。 喜愛了多年，現在手上拿著屬於自己的書，感覺很滿足。 經得起時間考驗的，定必珍而重之。 ❤️
剛剛重讀完第六本，想在這兒記下一些重讀的新體會，以及令我感受深刻的句子。 （劇透注意！）
書名（英）： 《Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince》
書名（中）： 《哈利波特：混血王子》
作者： J. K. Rowling
讀完頭五本哈利波特，我得到的經驗是書越厚，閱讀速度會越快，因為會好心急想追劇情。 上一本書是全套書最厚的，所以讀完有少少走馬看花的感覺。這本書比上一本薄好多，可以好好慢讀。
Ch.1 講魔法部部長及英國 Prime Minister 的交流，當中對 Prime Minister 辦公室的介紹，不知是否就是 No.10 Downing Street 的真實寫照？ 會說話的人像畫當然是假的，但其他環境的形容，有可能是寫實的嗎？ Just wondering。
Ch.2 Spinner’s End 寫在 Snape 住所發生的一個聚會，搞清了我常混淆的 preposition。 是 listening AT doors： ‘He has lately taken to listening at doors, I don’t know what he means by it…’ (P.21)
作者在 Ch.3 Will and Won’t 利用形容 Harry 睡房各種物件（方便地隨便放了幾份報紙）的手法 re-cap 故事背景，是很聰明的做法呢。 魔法部給市民派發的安全指引最後一條提到 Inferi，正是為不久將會發生的劇情鋪路！ Madam Rosmerta 的蜂蜜酒也在暗示之後的情節！ 這一章還 jam-packed 了 Dumbledore 的機智發言。
- ‘I don’t mean to be rude –’ he (Uncle Vernon) began, in a tone that threatened rudeness in every syllable. ‘- yet, sadly, accidental rudeness occurs alarmingly often,’ Dumbledore finished the sentence gravely. ‘Best to say nothing at all, my dear man…’ (P.39)
- ‘I would assume that you were going to offer me refreshment,’ Dumbledore said to Uncle Vernon, ‘but the evidence so far suggests that that would be optimistic to the point of foolishness.’ (P.40)
- ‘And now, Harry, let us step out into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure.’ (P.47)
Aunt Petunia 能準確地道出 Harry 的出生年份及月份 (P.45)，原來過往多年她都是記得但特登不為 Harry 慶祝生日的！
‘Courtesy dictates that we offer fellow wizards the opportunity of denying us entry.’ (P.50)
Dumbledore 帶 Harry 到退了休的 Slughorn 家中說服他成為 Hogwarts 的教師後，用簡單一句話總結了 Harry 失去 Sirius 一事：
‘It was cruel,’ said Dumbledore softly, ‘that you and Sirius had such a short time together. A brutal ending to what should have been a long and happy relationship.’ (P.64)
承接下去的是 Harry 的回應，證明他不愧為真正的 Gryffindor，也確定了當初 Sorting Hat 沒有分他入 Slytherin 是對的：
‘I realized I can’t shut myself away or – or crack up. Sirius wouldn’t have wanted that, would he? And anyway, life’s too short… look at Madam Bones, look at Emmeline Vance… it could be me next, couldn’t it? But if it is,’ he said fiercely, now looking straight into Dumbledore’s blue eyes, gleaming in the wand-light, ‘I’ll make sure I take as many Death Eaters with me as I can, and Voldemort too if I can manage it.’ (P.64 – 65)
若果這刻有人能給 Harry 一個最大的讚美，就是 Dumbledore 給他的回應了。
‘Spoken both like your mother and father’s son and Sirius’s true godson!’ (P.65)
在前幾本書也曾經提過 Mrs Weasley 的家居魔法，那時我只把它當作魔法世界的趣事來看。 來到這本書的 Ch.5，作者再一次生動細緻地形容 Mrs Weasley 煮食時使用的魔法，我才首次欣賞到 Mrs Weasley 在魔法上的成就。 她毫無疑問是一位有才華的女巫，只是選擇了照顧家庭，而非發展事業。
Dumbledore 又一智理名言，這次透過 Hermione 口中說出：
‘Dumbledore says people find it far easier to forgive others for being wrong than being right,’ (P.81)
來到 Ch.6 Draco’s Detour，描寫了這書目前為止最開心及樂觀的事 – Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes。這對孖生兄弟真有頭腦，他們的生意更由 B2C 發展到 B2B！
這些句子的寫法，都值得我學習，特此記下：
- It was a mark of the strength of their friendship that Ron did not laugh. (P.141)
- It’s high time your grandmother learned to be proud of the grandson she’s got, rather than the one she thinks she ought to have – particularly after what happened in the Ministry. (P.145)
- It sounds like he was trying to make out he knew more than he did, (P.185)
- … when he joined them at the table and started peeling his potatoes with a brutality that suggested that each tuber had done him a great personal wrong, (P.192) – 我記得第一次讀的時候見過這句！
- …the Prince had proved a much more effective teacher than Snape so far. (P.199) – 不就是同一個人嗎 J
- Then, slowly but surely, an exhilarating sense of infinite opportunity stole through him… (P.397)
- Well, I can’t promise that. (P.399)
- At the same age as you are now, give or take a few months, Tom Riddle was doing all he could to find out how to make himself immortal. (P.415)
- ‘An admirably succinct and accurate summary, yes,’ (P.421)
- Harry had long since learned that bangs and smoke were more often the marks of ineptitude than expertise. (P.464)
Dumbledore 教 Harry 在批判別人前先要嘗試了解他們的背景，不要太早下判斷：
‘… but do not judge her too harshly, Harry. She was greatly weakened by long suffering and she never had your mother’s courage.’ (P.218)
除了 Harry 懷疑 Snape 之外，他身邊的人都相信 Dumbledore 對 Snape 的信任。 Harry 問 Lupin 是否 ‘honestly like Snape’，Lupin 的回應中 ‘bitterness’ 一字，不知為何令我有一種很深的可惜的感覺。
‘I neither like nor dislike Severus,’ said Lupin. ‘No, Harry, I am speaking the truth,’ he added, as Harry pulled a sceptical expression. ‘We shall never be bosom friends, perhaps, after all that happened between James and Sirius and Severus, there is too much bitterness there…’ (P.277)
…
‘You are determined to hate him, Harry,’ said Lupin with a faint smile. ‘And I understand; with James as your father, with Sirius as your godfather, you have inherited an old prejudice…’ (P.278)
Rufus Scrimgeour 厚顏無恥地想招攬 Harry 站在 Ministry of Magic 的一方。 在他把話說完之前，Harry 已經了解到他的用意，以及這樣做的 implications。 以下的這個回應強硬地表示了 Harry 的立場。
‘You’re making Stan a scapegoat, just like you want to make me a mascot.’ (P.289)
兩人之間的整段對話都很有意思，我只抽最後一段出來做代表。
‘You can try,’ said Harry indifferently. ‘But you seem cleverer than Fudge, so I’d have thought you’d have learned from his mistakes. He tried interfering at Hogwarts. You might have noticed he’s not Minister any more, but Dumbledore’s still Headmaster. I’d leave Dumbledore alone, if I were you.’ (P.290)
There was a long pause.
‘Well, it is clear to me that he has done a very good job on you,’ said Scrimgeour, his eyes cold and hard behind his wire-rimmed glasses. ‘Dumbledore’s man through and through, aren’t you, Potter?’
‘Yeah, I am,’ said Harry. ‘Glad we straightened that out.’ (P.290)
下次我也可以學 Dumbledore 這樣肯定又不失禮地回答：
‘I have been tolerant enough to answer that question already,’ said Dumbledore, but he did not sound very tolerant any more. ‘My answer has not changed.’ (P.299)
Dumbledore 要求 Harry 取得 Slughorn 的記憶，Harry 卻未夠落力作嘗試，以致 Dumbledore 少有地對他嚴厲訓話。 對上一次有長輩訴斥 Harry，已經是第三本書入面的 Lupin 了，當時他教訓 Harry 不應用父母的犧牲去換取 a bag of magic tricks。
‘- which, naturally, made you forget all about trying to retrieve the memory… Once it became clear that Mr Weasley was going to make a full recovery, however, I would have hoped that you returned to the task I set you. I thought I made it clear to you how very important that memory is. Indeed, I did my best to impress upon you that it is the most crucial memory of all and that we will be wasting our time without it.’ (P.356)
讀頭幾本書時學識了 hilt 一字，是劍柄的意思，當時用來描述 Sword of Gryffindor。 現在又見到這個字，用在 “to the hilt” 的用語上，是去到極點、去到 maximum 的意思。
‘… Dumbledore trusts Hagrid to the hilt, so I’m sure he can’t be up to anything very dreadful…’ (P.399)
可以刪除以前的錯是個很好的說服技巧，值得記下：
‘I am not proud…’ he whispered through his fingers. ‘I am ashamed of what – of what that memory shows… I think I may have done great damage that day…’
‘You’d cancel out anything you did by giving me the memory,’ said Harry. ‘It would be a very brave and noble thing to do.’ (P.408)
第一次讀這本書時，我未有今天的人生經驗，未能像今天般切身明白以下描述的意思。 今天重讀這一段，覺得它在描寫世界很多地方天天都發生的事，又一次令我體會到 fiction 可以這麼貼近現實。
‘… Don’t you see? Voldemort himself created his worst enemy, just as tyrants everywhere do! Have you any idea how much tyrants fear the people they oppress? All of them realize that, one day, amongst their many victims, there is sure to be one who rises against them and strikes back!…’ (P.424)
為替準備 Harry 良好的 mindset 迎戰 Voldemort，Dumbledore 讓 Harry 明白到他不是為了符合預言而要完成消滅 Voldemort 的任務，而是因為他內心相信這是正確的事。 Harry 的理解如下：
It was… the difference between being dragged into the arena to face a battle to the death and walking into the arena with your head held high. Some people, perhaps, would say that there was little to choose between the two ways, but Dumbledore knew – and so do I, thought Harry, with a rush of fierce pride, and so did my parents – that there was all the difference in the world. (P.426)
來到 Ch.24 Sectumsempra，Ginny 及 Hermione 小爭執中的造句及用字，也值得學學：
‘Give it a rest, Hermione!’ said Ginny… ‘By the sound of it Malfoy was trying to use an Unforgivable Curse, you should be glad Harry had something good up his sleeve!’
‘Well, of course I’m glad Harry wasn’t cursed!’ said Hermione, clearly stung, ‘but you can’t call that Sectumsempra spell good, Ginny, look where it’s landed him!…’
‘Oh, don’t start acting as though you understand Quidditch,’ snapped Ginny, ‘you’ll only embarrass yourself.’ (P.441)
Professor Trelawney 出過不少預言，多數都是錯的，但也有少數成真，讀者永遠不知幾時真幾時假。 在 Ch.25 她提到預言卡上的 “the lightening-struck tower” 代表災難將會面臨 (P.451)，心思細密的讀者應該會留意到其後有個同名的章節，就知道這次她的預言要成真了。
‘There is nothing to be feared from a body, Harry, anything more than there is anything to be feared from the darkness… It is the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness, nothing more.’ (P.471)
Dumbledore 又一至理名言。
Ch.26 The Cave 結尾時，Dumbledore 身體非常虛弱，他靠著 Harry 說了這句完美顯示他們二人關係的說話：
‘I am not worried, Harry,’ said Dumbledore, his voice a little stronger despite the freezing water. ‘I am with you.’ (P.481)
想學學 Dumbledore 這種答法，也該學學 Draco 即時做出反駁。 要是我的話，就會吃了死貓了：
‘That’s right,’ said Greyback. ‘Shocks you, that, does it, Dumbledore? Frightens you?’
‘Well, I cannot pretend it does not disgust me a little,’ said Dumbledore. ‘And, yes, I am a little shocked that Draco here invited you, of all people, into the school where his friends live…’
‘I didn’t,’ breathed Malfoy. He was not looking at Greyback; he did not seem to want to even glance at him. ‘I didn’t know he was going to come –’ (P.494)
描述眾人得知 Dumbledore 的死及各人的反應那一段寫得好詳細，寫 Harry 這句不得不令我的心沉了一沉：
Then he gazed down at the wise old face and tried to absorb the enormous and incomprehensible truth: that never again would Dumbledore speak to him; never again could he help… (P.507)
Hagrid 一直擔當 protector 的角色，在十多年前，他手抱著是嬰兒的 Harry 帶他到 Dursleys 一家。 到這本書的 Dumbledore 的葬禮，是 Hagrid 抱著 Dumbledore 的遺體送他到墳墓入面 (P.535)。 而到下一本書，又是 Hagrid 抱著 Harry 的遺體（其他人以為他死了）回到 Hogwarts。
寫 Harry 及 Ginny 互相了解這一段，當中有句用語是我想學的：
… and that when he told her what he was going to do now, she would not say ‘Be careful’, or ‘don’t do it’, but accept his decision, because she would not have expected anything less of him. (P.537)
這個反問法我也需要學，用於不想答人問題的時候：
‘The word is that you were with him when he left the school the night that he died.’
‘Whose word?’ said Harry. (P.539)
Harry 回應 Rufus Scrimgeour 的話正是 Dumbledore在第二本書 The Chamber of Secrets時說過的話： ‘He will only be gone from the school when none here are loyal to him.’ (P.540) 一直都奇怪為甚麼書中的角色可以把別人的說話都記得那麼清楚。
故事的後半段形勢急轉直下，氣氛黑暗到無法再黑暗了，而最尾一頁的這句，卻為整件事帶來一絲光芒：
Harry looked at him, startled; the idea that anything as normal as a wedding could still exist seemed incredible and yet wonderful.
… he felt his heart lift at the thought that there was still one last golden day of peace left to enjoy with Ron and Hermione. (P.542)
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