哈利波特大结局之1

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Chapter One

The Dark Lord Ascending

The two men appeared out of nowhere, a few yards apart in the narrow, moonlit

lane. For a second they stood quite still, wands directed at each other's chests; then,

recognizing each other, they stowed their wands beneath their cloaks and started walking

briskly in the same direction.

"News?" asked the taller of the two.

"The best," replied Severus Snape.

The lane was bordered on the left by wild, low-growing brambles, on the right by a high,

neatly manicured hedge. The men's long cloaks flapped around their ankles as they

marched.

"Thought I might be late," said Yaxley, his blunt features sliding in and out of sight as

the branches of overhanging trees broke the moonlight. "It was a little trickier than I

expected. But I hope he will be satisfied. You sound confident that your reception will be

good?"

Snape nodded, but did not elaborate. They turned right, into a wide driveway that led

off the lane. The high hedge curved into them, running off into the distance beyond the

pair of imposing wrought-iron gates barring the men’s way. Neither of them broke step:

In silence both raised their left arms in a kind of salute and passed straight through, as

though the dark metal was smoke.

The yew hedges muffled the sound of the men’s footsteps. There was a rustle

somewhere to their right: Yaxley drew his wand again pointing it over his companion’s

head, but the source of the noise proved to be nothing more than a pure-white peacock,

strutting majestically along the top of the hedge.

“He always did himself well, Lucius. Peacocks …” Yaxley thrust his wand back

under his cloak with a snort.

A handsome manor house grew out of the darkness at the end of the straight drive,

lights glinting in the diamond paned downstairs windows. Somewhere in the dark garden

beyond the hedge a fountain was playing. Gravel crackled beneath their feet as Snape and

Yaxley sped toward the front door, which swung inward at their approach, though

nobody had visibly opened it.

The hallway was large, dimly lit, and sumptuously decorated, with a magnificent

carpet covering most of the stone floor. The eyes of the pale-faced portraits on the wall

followed Snape and Yaxley as they strode past. The two men halted at a heavy wooden

door leading into the next room, hesitated for the space of a heartbeat, then Snape turned

the bronze handle.

The drawing room was full of silent people, sitting at a long and ornate table. The

room’s usual furniture had been pushed carelessly up against the walls. Illumination

came from a roaring fire beneath a handsome marble mantelpiece surmounted by a gilded

mirror. Snape and Yaxley lingered for a moment on the threshold. As their eyes grew

accustomed to the lack of light, they were drawn upward to the strangest feature of the

scene: an apparently unconscious human figure hanging upside down over the table,

revolving slowly as if suspended by an invisible rope, and reflected in the mirror and in

the bare, polished surface of the table below. None of the people seated underneath this

singular sight were looking at it except for a pale young man sitting almost directly below

it. He seemed unable to prevent himself from glancing upward every minute or so.

“Yaxley. Snape,” said a high, clear voice from the head of the table. “You are

very nearly late.”

The speaker was seated directly in front of the fireplace, so that it was difficult, at

first, for the new arrivals to make out more than his silhouette. As they drew nearer,

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