分节阅读10

  se tales of y treachery to the dark lord! before i answer you, i say, let ask a estion turn do you really thk that the dark lord has not asked each and every one of those estions? and do you really thk that, had i not been able to give satisfactory answers, i would be sittg here talkg to you?”
  she hesitated
  ”i know he believes you, but ”
  ”you thk he is istaken? or that i have how hoodked hi? fooled the dark lord, the greatest wizard, the ost aoplished legilins the world has ever seen?”
  beltrix said nothg, but looked, for the first ti, a little disfited snape did not press the pot he picked up his drk aga, sipped it, and ntued, ”you ask where i was when the dark lord fell i was where he had ordered to be, at hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry, becae he wished to spy upon alb dubledore you know, i presu, that it was on the dark lord39s orders that i took up the post?”
  she nodded alost iperceptibly and then opened her outh, but snape forestalled her
  ”you ask why i did not attept to fd hi when he vanished for the sa rean that avery, yaxley, the carrows, greyback, ci” — he cled his head slightly to narcissa — ”and any others did not attept to fd hi i believed hi fished i a not proud of it, i was wrong, but there it is if he had not fiven we who lost faith at that ti, he would have very few followers left”
  ”he39d have !” said beltrix passionately ”i, who spent any years azkaban for hi!”
  ”yes, deed, ost adirable,” said snape a bored voice ”of i nurse, you weren39t a lot of e to hi prin, but the sture was undoubtedly fe —”
  ”sture!” she shrieked her fury she looked slightly ad ”while i endured the dentors, you reaed at hogwarts, fortably pyg dubledore39s pet!”
  ”not ite,” said snape cally ”he wouldn39t give the defense agast the dark arts job, you know seed to thk it ight, ah,
  g about a repse ,  tept to y old ways”
  ”this was your sacrifice for the dark lord, not to teach your favorite subject?” she jeered ”why did you stay there all that ti, snape? still spyg on dubledore for a aster you believed dead?”
  ”hardly,” said snape, ”although the dark lord is pleased that i never deserted y post: i had sixteen years of ration on dubledore to give hi when he returned, a rather ore eful wele-back present than endless reiscences of how unpleasant azkaban is  ”
  ”but you stayed —”
  ”yes, beltrix, i stayed,” said snape, betrayg a ht of ipatience for the first ti ”i had a fortable job that i preferred to a stt azkaban they were roundg up the death eaters, you know dubledore39s protection kept out of jail it was ost nvenient and i ed it i repeat: the dark lord does not p that i stayed, i do not see why you do
  ”i thk you next wanted to know,” he pressed on a little ore loudly, for beltrix showed every sign of terruptg, ”why i stood beeen the dark lord and the rcerer39s stone that is easily answered he did not know whether he uld trt he thought, like you, that i had turned fro faithful death eater to dubledore39s stoo he was a pitiable ndition, very weak, sharg the body of a diocre wizard he did not dare reveal hiself to a forr ally if that ally ight turn hi over to dubledore or the istry i deeply regret that he did not trt he would have returned to power three years oner as it was, i saw only greedy and unworthy irrell atteptg to steal the stone and, i adit, i did all i uld to thwart hi”
  beltrix39s outh isted as though she had taken an unpleasant dose of dice
  ”but you didn39t return when he ca back, you didn39t fly back to hi at once when you felt the dark ark burn —”
  ”rrect i returned o hours ter i returned on dubledore39s orders”
  ”on dubledore39s — ?” she began, tones of outra
  ”thk!” said snape, ipatient aga ”thk! by waitg o hours, jt o hours, i ensured that i uld rea at hogwarts as a spy! by allog dubledore to thk that i was only returng to the dark lord39s side becae i was ordered to, i have been able to pass ration on dubledore and the order of the phoenix ever sce! nsider, beltrix: the dark ark had been grog stronr for onths i knew he t be about to return, all the death eaters knew! i had plenty of ti to thk about what i wanted to do, to pn y next ove, to escape like kar