ᠬᠠᠢᠷᠧᠦᠢ ᠫᠣᠲ᠋ᠧᠷ （ᠠᠩᠭ᠍ᠯᠢ ᠬᠡᠪᠯᠡᠯ） - HP 6 - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.pdf

Harry’s sixth year at Hogwarts begins, and it feels like a reassuring place to return to after the strange events of the summer. Disappearances, murder and an ominous chilling mist which swirls through both the Muggle and wizarding worlds are harbingers of more sinister purpose. Voldemort’s army is swelling, and with it the Death Eaters are growing bolder and more deadly. Suspicions are rife, and allegiances questioned as even the safest havens cease to feel secure from the Dark wizards. As the storm gathers strength, Harry must face the terrifying truth of his destiny. With her irresistibly deft mix of suspense and humour, J.K. Rowling reveals the sheer intricacy and brilliance of the world she has created, as the pieces of the jigsaw start to fall into place. £16.99 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Titles available in the Harry Potter series (in reading order): Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Titles available in the Harry Potter series (in Latin): Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (in Welsh, Ancient Greek and Irish): Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince J. K. Rowling All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher First published in Great Britain in 2005 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 38 Soho Square, London, W1D 3HB Copyright © 2005 J. K. Rowling Harry Potter, names, characters and related indicia are copyright and trademark Warner Bros., 2000™ J. K. Rowling has asserted her moral rights A CIP catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library ISBN 0 7475 8110 X The paper this book is printed on is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). It is made up of 30% FSC certified pulp and 70% pulp from controlled sources. FSC products with percentage claims meet environmental requirements to be ancient-forest friendly. The printer holds FSC chain of custody SGS-COC-2061. Typeset by RefineCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk Printed in Great Britain by Clays Ltd, St Ives plc First Edition www.bloomsbury.com/harrypotter To Mackenzie, my beautiful daughter, I dedicate her ink and paper twin — CHAPTER ONE — The Other Minister It was nearing midnight and the Prime Minister was sitting alone in his office, reading a long memo that was slipping through his brain without leaving the slightest trace of mean- ing behind. He was waiting for a call from the president of a far-distant country, and between wondering when the wretched man would telephone, and trying to suppress unpleasant memories of what had been a very long, tiring and difficult week, there was not much space in his head for any- thing else. The more he attempted to focus on the print on the page before him, the more clearly the Prime Minister could see the gloating face of one of his political opponents. This particular opponent had appeared on the news that very day, not only to enumerate all the terrible things that had happened in the last week (as though anyone needed remind- ing) but also to explain why each and every one of them was the government’s fault. The Prime Minister’s pulse quickened at the very thought of these accusations, for they were neither fair nor true. How on earth was his government supposed to have stopped that bridge collapsing? It was outrageous for anybody to suggest that they were not spending enough on bridges. The bridge was less than ten years old, and the best experts were at a loss to explain why it had snapped cleanly in two, sending a 8 HARRY POTTER dozen cars into the watery depths of the river below. And how dared anyone suggest that it was lack of policemen that had resulted in those two very nasty and well-publicised murders? Or that the government should have somehow foreseen the freak hurricane in the West Country that had caused so much damage to both people and property? And was it his fault that one of his Junior Ministers, Herbert Chorley, had chosen this week to act so peculiarly that he was now going to be spend- ing a lot more time with his family? ‘A grim mood has gripped the country,’ the opponent had concluded, barely concealing his own broad grin. And unfortunately, this was perfectly true. The Prime Minister felt it himself; people really did seem more miser- able than usual. Even the weather was dismal; all this chilly mist in the middle of July . it wasn’t right, it wasn’t normal . He turned over the second page of the memo, saw how much longer it went on, and gave it up as a bad job. Stretch- ing his arms above his head he looked around his office mournfully. It was a handsome room, with a fine marble fire- place facing the long sash windows, firmly closed against the unseasonable chill. With a slight shiver, the Prime Minister got up and moved over to the windows, looking out at the thin mist that was pressing itself against the glass. It was then, as he stood with his back to the room, that he heard a soft cough behind him. He froze, nose-to-nose with his own scared-looking reflec- tion in the dark glass. He knew that cough. He had heard it before. He turned, very slowly, to face the empty room. ‘Hello?’ he said, trying to sound braver than he felt. For a brief moment he allowed himself the impossible hope that nobody would answer him. However, a voice responded at once, a crisp, decisive voice that sounded as THE OTHER MINISTER 9 though it were reading a prepared statement. It was coming – as the Prime Minister had known at the first cough – from the froglike little man wearing a long silver wig who was depicted in a small and dirty oil-painting in the far corner of the room. ‘To the Prime Minister of Muggles. Urgent we meet. Kindly respond immediately. Sincerely, Fudge.’ The man in the paint- ing looked enquiringly at the Prime Minister. ‘Er,’ said the Prime Minister, ‘listen . it’s not a very good time for me . I’m waiting for a telephone call, you see . from the president of –’ ‘That can be rearranged,’ said the portrait at once. The Prime Minister’s heart sank. He had been afraid of that. ‘But I really was rather hoping to speak –’ ‘We shall arrange for the president to forget to call. He will telephone tomorrow night instead,’ said the little man. ‘Kindly respond immediately to Mr Fudge.’ ‘I . oh . very well,’ said the Prime Minister weakly. ‘Yes, I’ll see Fudge.’ He hurried back to his desk, straightening his tie as he went. He had barely resumed his seat, and arranged his face into what he hoped was a relaxed and unfazed expression, when bright green flames burst into life in the empty grate beneath his marble mantelpiece. He watched, trying not to betray a flicker of surprise or alarm, as a portly man appeared within the flames, spinning as fast as a top. Seconds later, he had climbed out on to a rather fine antique rug, brushing ash from the sleeves of his long pinstriped cloak, a lime-green bowler hat in his hand. ‘Ah . Prime Minister,’ said Cornelius Fudge, striding forwards with his hand outstretched. ‘Good to see you again.’ The Prime Minister could not honestly return this compli- ment, so said nothing at all. He was not remotely pleased to see 10 HARRY POTTER Fudge, whose occasional appearances, apart from being down- right alarming in themselves, generally meant that he was about to hear some very bad news. Furthermore, Fudge was looking distinctly careworn. He was thinner, balder and greyer, and his face had a crumpled look. The Prime Minister had seen that kind of look in politicians before, and it never boded well. ‘How can I help you?’ he said, shaking Fudge’s hand very briefly and gesturing towards the hardest of the chairs in front of the desk. ‘Difficult to know where to begin,’ muttered Fudge, pulling up the chair, sitting down and placing his green bowler upon his knees. ‘What a week, what a week .’ ‘Had a bad one too, have you?’ asked the Prime Minister stiffly, hoping to convey by this that he had quite enough on his plate already without any extra helpings from Fudge. ‘Yes, of course,’ said Fudge, rubbing his eyes wearily and looking morosely at the Prime Minister. ‘I’ve been having the same week you have, Prime Minister. The Brockdale bridge . the Bones and Vance murders . not to mention the ruckus in the West Country .’ ‘You – er – your – I mean to say, some of your people were – were involved in those – those things, were they?’ Fudge fixed the Prime Minister with a rather stern look. ‘Of course they were,’ he said. ‘Surely you’ve realised what’s going on?’ ‘I .’ hesitated the Prime Minister. It was precisely this sort of behaviour that made him dislike Fudge’s visits so much. He was, after all, the Prime Minister, and did not appreciate being made to feel like an ignorant schoolboy. But of course, it had been like this from his very first meeting with Fudge on his very first evening as Prime Minister. He remembered it as though it were yesterday and knew it would haunt him until his dying day. THE OTHER MINISTER 11 He had been standing alone in this very office, savouring the triumph that was his after so many years of dreaming and scheming, when he had heard a cough behind him, just like tonight, and turned to find that ugly little portrait talking to him, announcing that the Minister for Magic was about to arrive and introduce himself. Naturally, he had thought that the long campaign and the strain of the election had caused him to go mad. He had been utterly terrified to find a portrait talking to him, though this had been nothing to how he had felt when a self-proclaimed wizard had bounced out of the fireplace and shaken his hand. He had remained speechless throughout Fudge’s kindly explanation that there were witches and wizards still living in secret all over the world, and his reassurances that he was not to bother his head about them as the Ministry of Magic took responsibility for the whole wizarding community and pre- vented the non-magical population from getting wind of them. It was, said Fudge, a difficult job that encompassed everything from regulations on responsible use of broomsticks to keeping the dragon population under control (the Prime Minister remembered clutching the desk for support at this point). Fudge had then patted the shoulder of the still- dumbstruck Prime Minister in a fatherly sort of way. ‘Not to worry,’ he had said, ‘it’s odds on you’ll never see me again. I’ll only bother you if there’s something really ser- ious going on our end, something that’s likely to affect the Muggles – the non-magical population, I should say. Other- wise it’s live and let live. And I must say, you’re taking it a lot better than your predecessor. He tried to throw me out of the window, thought I was a hoax planned by the opposition.’ At this, the Prime Minister had found his voice at last. ‘You’re – you’re not a hoax, then?’ It had been his last, desperate hope. 12 HARRY POTTER ‘No,’ said Fudge gently. ‘No, I’m afraid I’m not. Look.’ And he had turned the Prime Minister’s teacup into a gerbil. ‘But,’ said the Prime Minister breathlessly, watching his teacup chewing on the corner of his next speech, ‘but why – why has nobody told me –?’ ‘The Minister for Magic only reveals him or herself to the Muggle Prime Minister of the day,’ said Fudge, poking his wand back inside his jacket. ‘We find it the best way to main- tain secrecy.’ ‘But then,’ bleated the Prime Minister, ‘why hasn’t a former Prime Minister warned me –?’ At this, Fudge had actually laughed. ‘My dear Prime Minister, are you ever going to tell anybody?’ Still chortling, Fudge had thrown some powder into the fireplace, stepped into the emerald flames and vanished with a whooshing sound. The Prime Minister had stood there, quite motionless, and realised that he would never, as long as he lived, dare mention this encounter to a living soul, for who in the wide world would believe him? The shock had taken a little while to wear off. For a time he had tried to convince himself that Fudge had indeed been a hallucination brought on by lack of sleep during his gruel- ling election campaign. In a vain attempt to rid himself of all reminders of this uncomfortable encounter, he had given the gerbil to his delighted niece and instructed his Private Sec- retary to take down the portrait of the ugly little man who had announced Fudge’s arrival. To the Prime Minister’s dis- may, however, the portrait had proved impossible to remove. When several carpenters, a builder or two, an art historian and the Chancellor of the Exchequer had all tried unsuccess- fully to prise it from the wall, the Prime Minister had THE OTHER MINISTER 13 abandoned the attempt and simply resolved to hope that the thing remained motionless and silent for the rest of his term in office. Occasionally he could have sworn he saw out of the corner of his eye the occupant of the painting yawning, or else scratching his nose; even, once or twice, simply walking out of his frame and leaving nothing but a stretch of muddy- brown canvas behind. However, he had trained himself not to look at the picture very much, and always to tell himself firmly that his eyes were playing tricks on him when anything like this happened. Then, three years ago, on a night very like tonight, the Prime Minister had been alone in his office when the portrait had once again announced the imminent arrival of Fudge, who had burst out of the fireplace, sopping wet and in a state of considerable panic. Before the Prime Minister could ask why he was dripping all over the Axminster, Fudge had started ranting about a prison the Prime Minister had never heard of, a man named ‘Serious’ Black, something that sounded like Hogwarts and a boy called Harry Potter, none of which made the remotest sense to the Prime Minister. ‘. I’ve just come from Azkaban,’ Fudge had panted, tipping a large amount of water out of the rim of his bowler hat into his pocket. ‘Middle of the North Sea, you know, nasty flight . the Dementors are in uproar –’ he shuddered ‘– they’ve never had a breakout before. Anyway, I had to come to you, Prime Minister. Black’s a known Muggle killer and may be planning to rejoin You-Know-Who . but of course, you don’t even know who You-Know-Who is!’ He had gazed hopelessly at the Prime Minister for a moment, then said, ‘Well, sit down, sit down, I’d better fill you in . have a whisky .’ The Prime Minister had rather resented being told to sit down in his own office, let alone offered his own whisky, but 14 HARRY POTTER he sat nevertheless. Fudge had pulled out his wand, conjured two large glasses full of amber liquid out of thin air, pushed one of them into the Prime Minis