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

“Then how are you here?” demanded Harry, still not putting his wand down.
“This… is a dream,” said Voldemort, putting his hands up, and spinning around slowly. “I am not real, not even this room; which, I might add, is a very good guess at what the Gryffindor common looks like, seeing as I’ve never been in it.”
“You mean, you created this dream?” asked Harry.
Voldemort gave a smile.
“Oh yes…” he hissed. “My powers have improved so much after you ‘gave’ me your Order last year, that I am able to do almost anything I desire.”
“If you’re so powerful, why don’t you just have an all out attack on Hogwarts then?” snapped Harry, actually curious as to why. Voldemort ignored his question, and changed the subject.
“Anyway, down to business,” he murmured.
“What do you want now?”
“I have a feeling that you know what I want… Harry,” he said, smiling. Harry’s mind raced. What did he have that he could possibly want? His Animagus Invisibility Ring? No, he could probably get one of those from somewhere else. His other ring, the skull one? Perhaps… but why didn’t he just ask for it now if that’s what he wanted? No, it had to be something else.
“Well, I can’t give it you if I don’t even know what it is that you want,” said Harry, trying to hide his ring.
“I have a feeling you know what it is I desire…” he repeated.
“Even if I knew what it was that you wanted,” spat Harry, “there’s no way I’d give it to you anyway!”
Voldemort shook his head.
“Well then… Harry Potter,” he said slowly. “Bad things will happen…” Voldemort took out his wand, and pointed it at Harry.
“Expellius!” he yelled. A wave shot out of his wand that twisted and contorted the entire room as it went along. The common room became like some sort of horrible attempt at an abstract painting as it began to curve, melt, fade, and become sharper all at once. As soon as it hit Harry, he fell to the ground, unconscious.
“Harry! Get up!” came Ron’s voice over him. “Breakfast’s started now, and you don’t want to miss the first one of the year; that wouldn’t look too good!”
“Ugh… what?” groaned Harry, sitting up and seeing that everyone else was already dressed and ready for the first actual day back. He quickly jumped out of bed and over to his trunk of clothes where he quickly picked an outfit, and threw his robes on over that. “Alright, let’s go.”
The two of them ran downstairs to the Great Hall where most of the school was already seated. Harry and Ron picked seats next to Hermione, and began eating.
“So, you two have any dreams last night?” she asked. Harry choked on his muffin from remembering his.
“Are you okay, Harry?” asked Ron.
“Yeah yeah,” he coughed, hitting his chest. “I’m fine.”
“Okay then,” said Ron, “but no, Hermione, no dreams for me… a perfectly dreamless night.” Harry looked enviously at his friend. He hadn’t spent the night with Voldemort in the common room.
“How about you Harry?” asked Hermione. Harry looked over at her. Why shouldn’t he tell her? There was no reason not to. Maybe they could help him figure out what Voldemort wanted.
“Yeah, I had a dream,” said Harry. “Voldemort talked to me in the common room, and told me he wanted something from me, but he didn’t say what.” Harry looked at Ron and Hermione’s faces, which now contained wide eyes. He was impressed, though, that they didn’t flinch at him saying Voldemort’s name.
“He- he talked to you?” gasped Ron.
“In the common room?” said Hermione.
“Yeah,” said Harry, acting as if he had night time conversations with Voldemort every day of his life.
“Well, what did he say he wanted?” asked Ron.
“He didn’t really say. He only said, ‘I have a feeling you know what it is I desire.’”
“Anything else?” asked Hermione, looking serious.
“No, well, nothing else about what he wanted. And, when I refused, he said bad things will happen then.”
“Ah, we’ve got nothing to worry about!” said Ron, waving his arm as if tossing Voldemort away. “As long as we’re here in Hogwarts, under Dumbledore’s constant watch, nothing could possibly happen.”
Just then, the familiar flapping of wings filled that air, and all head turned to see the owls fly in through the hole in the roof, bringing the student’s daily mail. However, no owls came through this time. Only hundreds of black crows, each with a dark letter in its claws. Indifferent to the screaming going on, each crow delivered a single envelope to each student, including Harry, then quickly flew back out the way it came. Harry quickly turned it over, to see what the seal was, and felt cold all over when he saw what it was: a red skull with a green snake coming out of the mouth. That symbol could only mean one thing: recruitment notes.
“Voldemort… is sending letters… here?” gasped Ron, from under the table.
“I can’t believe Dumbledore… or anyone for that matter, would let this happen!” said Hermione, right next to Ron. Harry was one of the few who had not hid.
“Still feel safe, Ron?” asked Harry, tearing up his letter, not even looking at it. By now, all the crows had left, and the students started creeping out from their hiding spots. Teachers were coming in from preparing their first lessons to try and help out.
As Harry looked around, he saw that not everyone was tearing up the letters. Some of them were slipping them in their pockets for later, others were even reading them now. Harry stared at the student body… how many of them were already Death Eaters?
“See Harry?” chuckled Neville, his letter in hand. “We have practically already won.” Harry sneered at him.
“I don’t see how anyone could become a Death Eater,” he said with extreme disgust.
“Actually, it’s quite simple, as long as you put it into perspective,” explained Neville, putting his hands in his pocket and rocking back and forth on his feet. “Here’s a simple analogy: the Dark Arts, and the Muggle drug companies. Both kill people for profit, and both are quite successful. At Muggle schools, you’re taught not to work for them, or do it, same thing here; we have Defense Against the Dark Arts, they have health class. In the Muggle world, they have companies trying to get rid of drugs, we have Aurors. But, does any of that stop Muggle children everywhere from growing up to work for them? No, not at all. All they care about is money, and it’s the same thing here, Harry. The kids see possibilities and promotion in the Dark Arts, and they flock towards it. There’s nothing you can do.”
Harry stood there for a second, both amazed at Neville’s sight and intelligence, and hating him for thinking that way. Luckily, Neville just shrugged and walked away; Harry didn’t have anything to say to him. He instead went over to Ron and Hermione and helped them up..
“Oh Harry!” exclaimed Ron, reaching into his pocket and taking out a colorful sheet of parchment. “I made this while you were gone last night.” Harry took the sheet from him. It was an advertisement for the Gryffindor House Quidditch Team this coming Friday.
“Looks good,” said Harry, eyeing the nice pictures and colors on it. “I’ll go hang it up on the bulletin board where everyone can see it.”
“Okay, but hurry back!” called Hermione after him. “We’re getting our new schedules soon!”
“I’ll be back in no time,” said Harry, running out of the Great Hall and to the magical bulletin board that wasn’t but a few feet away. He merely touched the piece of parchment to the board and it magically stuck there, expanding slightly so it would be more visible. Harry stood back to admire the work, and smiled at it.
Just then, Harry saw another kid putting an advertisement on the board. He placed it up, and it expanded as well. This one, however, looked even nicer than Ron’s. It was practically a three dimensional picture, depicting two people excitedly engaged in a Wizard Duel game. The student who put it up turned around, and Harry saw that it was Ak. He was wearing the same outfit that Tci wore last year: a long jacket with no shirt on under it.
“Hey Ak!” yelled Harry. “So you are starting the club.”
“Oh yes,” he said, turning towards Harry. “Me and the other four are.”
“Wow, the poster looks really nice,” said Harry, nodding his head. “How did you make it look so good?”
“Oh… just a few extra little things,” said Ak, admiring the poster as well. “Oh! But I see something wrong! I forgot to dot the ‘I’ on ‘Wizard’! Oh no…. Harry, do you have a quill I can borrow?”