分节阅读22
ed here”
dubledore oved carefully to the iddle of the roo, scrutizg the wrecka at his feet harry followed, gazg around, half-scared of what he ight see hidden behd the wreck of the piano or the overturned fa, but there was no sign of a body
”aybe there was a fight and — and they ed hi off, profesr?” harry ested, tryg not to iage how badly wounded a an would have to be to leave those stas spattered halfway up the walls
”i don39t thk ,” said dubledore ietly, peerg behd an overstuffed archair lyg on its side
”you an he39s — ?”
”still here where? yes”
and without warng, dubledore swooped, pngg the tip of his wand to the seat of the overstuffed archair, which yelled, ”ouch!”
”good eveng, horace,” said dubledore, straighteng up aga
harry’s jaw dropped where a split send before there had been an archair, there now crouched an enoroly fat, bald, old an who was assagg his lower belly and stg up at dubledore with an aggrieved and watery eye
”there was no need to stick the wand that hard,” he said gruffly, cberg to his feet ”it hurt”
the wandlight sparkled on his shy pate, his proent eyes, his enoro, silver, walrlike tache, and the highly polished buttons on the aroon velvet jacket he was wearg over a pair of lic silk pajaas the of his head barely reached dubledore39s ch
”what gave it away?” he grunted as he ered to his feet, still rubbg his lower belly he seed rearkably unabashed for a an who had jt been disvered pretendg to be an archair
”y dear horace,” said dubledore, lookg aed, ”if the death eaters really had e to call, the dark ark would have been set over the hoe”
the wizard cpped a pudgy hand to his vast forehead
”the dark ark,” he uttered ”knew there was thg ah well wouldn39t have had ti anyway, i39d only jt put the fishg touches to y upholstery when you entered the roo”
he heaved a great sigh that ade the ends of his tache ftter
”would you like y assistance clearg up?” asked dubledore politely
”please,” said the other
they stood back to back, the tall th wizard and the short round one, and waved their wands one identical sweepg otion
the furniture flew back to its origal pces ornants reford idair, feathers zood to their chions torn books repaired theselves as they nded upon their shelves oil nterns ared onto side tables and reignited a vast llection of spltered silver picture fras flew glitterg across the roo and alighted, whole and untarnished, upon a desk rips, cracks, and holes healed everywhere, and the walls wiped theselves clean
”what kd of blood was that, cidentally?” asked dubledore loudly over the chig of the newly unsashed grandfather flock
”on the walls? dragon,” shouted the wizard called horace, as, with a deafeng grdg and tklg, the chandelier screwed itself back to the ceilg
there was a fal pnk fro the piano, and silence
”yes, dragon,” repeated the wizard nversationally ”y st bottle, and prices are sky-high at the ont still, it ight be reable”
he stuped over to a sall crystal bottle standg on of a sideboard and held it up to the light, exag the thick liid with
”h bit dty”
he set the bottle back on the sideboard and sighed it was then that his gaze fell upon harry
”oho,” he said, his r round eyes flyg to harry39s forehead and the lightng-shaped scar it bore ”oho!”
”this,” said dubledore, ovg forward to ake the troduction, ”is harry potter harry, this is an old friend and lleague of e, horace sghorn”
sghorn turned on dubledore, his expression shrewd ” that39s how you thought you39d persuade , is it? well, the answer39s no, alb”
he phed past harry, his face turned retely away with the air of a an tryg to resist teptation
”i suppose we can have a drk, at least?” asked dubledore ”for old ti39s sake?”
sghorn hesitated
”all right then, one drk,” he said ungracioly
dubledore siled at harry and directed hi toward a chair not unlike the one that sghorn had recently ipernated, which stood right beside the newly burng fire and a
ightly glog oil p harry took the seat with the distct ipression that dubledore, for rean, wanted to keep hi as visible as possible certaly when s