"J. K. Rowling - 6 - Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince(1)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rowling J. K)

“Nice to meet you,” said Ak.
“Likewise,” said Ron, looking more at Ak’s cards than his face.
Suddenly, their conversation was cut off by Dumbledore standing up to make the usual annual announcements, like he did every year at this time. He took a last swig of his drink, brushed off his beard, and began speaking.
“Hello students!” he boomed, his voice magically magnified. “I am happy to announce, thought I am sure may of you are not, that we are starting a new term here at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, under me, Minister Dumbledore.”
There was a bit of polite applause. Harry remembered that last year, the previous Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, stepped down for covering up Voldemort’s attacks due to being blackmailed. Dumbledore had been elected in his place.
“Now, for announcements,” he continued. “First and foremost, to all you new students, the Forbidden Forest is. That is, it is forbidden to go in, no matter what, under every and all circumstances. Also, I am extending curfew by three hours, because I’m just a nice guy like that, and the Village of Hogsmeade is forbidden to all first and second year students.
“Next, I would like to welcome five more transfer students from Durmstrang. They were all going to be sixth years at their old school, and will remain in that grade despite their late arrival at our school. I do hope that all sixth years will give them as warm a welcome as I would like.”
“Also, while we’re working on new welcomes, I would like to introduce your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Quirrell!”
“He doesn’t mean…” started Ron.
“What happened to…” asked Hermione.
Harry looked up and saw the new Professor Quirrell that Mrs. Figg had told him about. In fact, even though they were identical twins, this Quirrell looked nothing like his brother. He had a big moustache and beard, and most obvious of all, did not have a massive turban either. He stood up, gave a small wave and smile, then sat down.
“Lastly, to try and cut this little speech of mine to as little time as possible, I have one final and major announcement. After the Christmas Holidays, and at the beginning of January, most of the school, that is, the second years and up, will go on a field trip to one of the Egyptian pyramids, the Geb Pyramid. I hope that it shall be a most wonderful and educational experience.”
The Hall suddenly filled with chatter and excitement. They would be going on a magical field trip! The first one that this set of students would have ever experienced! However, amongst the excited talk, Ron’s comment was heard by Harry.
“Field trip?” he swallowed. “They don’t mean the one that my sister never returned from… could they?” Harry didn’t know what to say. Could it possibly be to the same place?
“I… don’t know,” said Harry quietly.
“The field trip,” continued Dumbledore, trying to keep his voice heard over the cloud of chatter that was going on, “will be paid for by the school, so none of you have to worry about giving us any money to go. With that in mind, I hope you all will sign up for it, and come. We would like everyone, who is allowed, to go with us, and we have taken many precautions this time to ensure everybody‘s safety.. Now, please, finish your meals and end this beginning day.”
Dumbledore sat down, but nobody really noticed any difference. They were all still talking about the field trip.
“Wow! I’ve never been to Egypt before!”
“I wonder if there’ll be any mummies.”
“I didn’t know Professor Quirrell had a brother….” Were just a few things that Harry picked up.
“Why is everyone so excited about a field trip?” asked Ak. “At Durmstrang, we had them all the time! We went to Transylvania, Rome, Hungary, India, China, Japan, and more! All in the same year!”
“Well this is the first one we’ll have ever been to,” explained Harry.
“Hmm, I see. Well, it should be good,” he shrugged. “We never did go to Egypt before. Maybe it will be interesting.”
“Come on Harry!” said Hermione, pulling on his shirt. “You have to go show the new students where their dormitories are.”
“Yeah, yeah,” sighed Harry, leaving the Great Hall with a giant mass of students following behind him. He ran ahead of them all, wanting to be able to show the new kids where to go before they got lost.
“Follow me,” Harry said to them as they ran to keep up with his quick pace. They soon reached the Gryffindor room entrance that was vigilantly guarded by the portrait of the Fat Lady.
“Password?” she demanded.
“Pookong,” said Harry, causing her to swing open and reveal to them the room. Over the summer, he along with the rest of the prefects had received letters telling them the passwords for the entire year. Harry led the two new first years to their room, relieved that there were only two of them this year. They both quickly settled into their new room, much more easily than the previous year’s had, and Harry shut the door.
“Hello Harry,” said Ak, who appeared behind him just as he closed the door.
“Ah!” gasped Harry. “You- you scared me there Ak.”
“Sorry,” he said. “But… where do I sleep?” Harry stroked his chin for a second. He Didn’t know where Ak should go. With him and the rest of the sixth years, or with the new first years?
“Well,” guessed Harry, “I suppose you can come with us. Follow me.” Harry lead him to their dormitory, opened the door, and was surprised to see that there was an extra bed in the room, just for Ak. Evidently, this was where he was supposed to be.
“Hey Harry!” called Ron, whom Harry wasn’t surprised to see was already involved in a Wizard Duel card game match against Dean and Seamus. “You want to play? How about you Ak?”
“Oh no, I can’t,” said Harry, remembering the note Dumbledore had sent to him, saying that he had something for him. “I have to go see Dumbledore… I’ll be back soon.”
“Don’t worry Harry,” said Ak. “Give me your deck and I’ll play for you.”
“But, you have so many cards,” said Harry. “Why do you need my deck?”
“I… I don’t want to reveal what my cards are until the club starts,” said Ak.
“Fine,” sighed Harry, reaching into the bag in the front of his bed that had been bought up earlier for his deck of cards. He found it quickly, and threw it to Ak, running out of the room as fast as he could, not wanting to be late.
Harry shot out of the room, trying to make up for the time he lost showing the new students around. He quickly made it out of the common room, and down to the Great Hall. From there, it was only a little ways to Dumbledore’s office, and Harry got there quickly.
“Monkey cakes,” gasped Harry, out of breath. The gargoyle in front of his office moved aside and Harry walked through the door and up the stairs.
“I’m sorry I’m late,” said Harry, reaching the office, “but you see I-” He suddenly stopped. Dumbledore wasn’t in the room. “Hmm, I guess I didn’t have to go that fast after all.”
Harry looked around. Even though he had been to Dumbledore’s office on many occasions, for every imaginable type of situation, even to steal a phoenix, Harry still liked to see what was in the office. There was always something new! Just then, Harry felt the same, hot sensation on his ring finger that he had felt on the train. His ring turned blue this time, and he felt as though he were being drawn towards Dumbledore’s desk.
Harry let his ring drag him, as if it were a powerful magnet. His hand was out in front of him, and it led him right towards the bottom right drawer of the desk. The ring was burning hotter now, and Harry had to resist the urge to pull it off. Harry slowly opened the drawer, wondering what he would find. The second he opened it a crack, a blue light shone right through. Harry pulled it open even more, and an explosion of blue light came out. He looked in for the source and it was… a watch.
But it wasn’t just any watch… it was the most beautiful watch Harry had ever seen in his life. It was made out of a light blue crystal all over, and the face was some sort of rainbow colored glass that was constantly swirling and changing…. Harry just had to pick it up and put it on!
He reached inside the drawer, and grabbed the watch, pulling it out. He looked at for only a second, for an instant later, a giant holographic map suddenly appeared before him, and it took him by such surprise, he dropped the watch. The map was being projected right onto the air… from Harry’s ring! It was a map of the world… but with no border lines at all, just geographic features. Harry scanned it over and noticed something… there were four dots on the map: a blue one, a red one, a yellow one, and a green one. The blue, green, and yellow dots were both over England…but Harry couldn’t see exactly where. The red one was somewhere in… Africa.
Suddenly, Harry heard someone coming up the creaky stairs… Dumbledore! Harry quickly threw the watch back into the drawer and shut it just as fast. Just when it was out of sight, the holographic map disappeared and Harry jumped up, trying to look as though nothing out of the normal had just happened. Not even a second later, Dumbledore walked in the office.
“Hello Harry,” he said, walking in. “So sorry I’m late, just had to go over a few things with Professor Quirrell.”
“Oh… no problem,” gasped Harry, trying to put on a smile.
“Are you alright? You look as though you’ve been working rather hard. Not that I have any objections to that, but it‘s not as if you should have much to do, considering school hasn‘t even started yet.”
“Oh no, I’m fine.”