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

“Err…” mumbled Harry, wanting to get to Dumbledore as fast as possible. “We… have to go somewhere.”
“What place could be more important at this time than here?” asked Ak, shocked.
“Nothing!” said Ron, pushing his way in front of the two of them. “In fact, we were headed here right now!”
“Ron!” whispered Harry angrily. They had more pressing matters.
“We can go see Dumbledore anytime,” whispered Ron back. “This club only meets… what? A few times a year?”
“Yeah, that‘s about right,” said Ak, obviously hearing them.
“Exactly. Let’s go!”
“Fine…” agreed Harry. “But only for a while!”
“Alright alright,” said Ron, grabbing his deck out of his pocket and running into the room. Harry and Hermione followed him inside and Harry was surprised to see that besides the five new students, there were only two other students in the room, and Harry had never seen either of them before. Evidently, the club hadn’t been as popular here as the new students had hoped.
“Where is everyone?” asked Ron. Ak shrugged.
“We’re hoping the club will pick up by the second meeting,” he said. “But, no matter right now. Let’s get this meeting underway. Harry, you and I will play a little exhibition game, just to show Hermione and these other two here how to play. Are you up to that?”
“Oh yeah,” said Harry, taking out his deck and sitting down on the floor. Ak gave out a laugh. “What’s so funny?”
“Harry,” he said, “we do not play on the floor! No… we have something specially prepared for the club.” Ak walked over and opened a closet in the room. From it, he brought a small table that looked relatively normal, except for a small hole in each corner. Ak set it down in front of Harry, and beckoned him to sit.
“Put your deck of cards in the hole in the corner,” said Ak. Harry followed his instruction and slid it in. It fit perfectly. Then, just as the deck slid in, Harry’s side of the table began to glow, and his deck shone brightly. When Ak put his in, his side of the table did the same as well.
“What is this?” asked Harry, amazed.
“It is a holographic dueling table,” said Ak. “Instead of just battling with cards, you battle with the real things…. Makes for a much more interesting game.” Harry gazed at the table, wanting more than anything to see how this was going to look. Suddenly, five figures appeared before Harry: a wand with a Stupefy Spell coming out, another Stupefy, a Merging Spell, a Disarming Spell, a Quick-Attack Spell, a phoenix, and a house elf.
“What is this?” asked Harry again.
“Oh, that’s your starting hand,” said Ak. “It is automatically dealt to you, along with the card you get at the beginning of each turn.”
“But, you can see the cards in my hand!” gasped Harry.
“Can you see mine?” asked Ak, smiling. Harry looked over. Apparently, the holographic cards in you hand were only visible to you. “Here, I’ll go first…to show you how to play with this new thing.”
“Alright,” said Harry, looking at his house elf that was playing with his phoenix. They looked incredibly realistic, only they were about four inches high.
“Alright! Listen up!” called Ak to the group. “Watch us, and you’ll find out how to play the game!” All of the kids walked over, and surrounded the table. “As most of you know, you get two actions per turn, and an action is either playing a fighter, an effect, using a fighter’s ability, or drawing an additional card. For my turn, I will use my first action by playing a fighter: Boggart!”
Ak reached and grabbed hold of one of the cards in his hand that were invisible to Harry. He picked it up, and placed it on the field. There was a flash of light in the spot he chose for a second, then the Boggart appeared in its normal form: a floating blob.
“For my next action,” continued Ak, “I will draw an additional card. Since you can only attack at the beginning of your turn, and I have used my two actions, my turn is now over. Harry, you may begin.”
“Thank you Ak,” said Harry, trying not to laugh at him explaining in detail each move that he made. The table automatically drew his card for him; it was a pensieve. The blue, smoking cauldron looked like a miniature version of a real one. After thinking for a second, Harry made his first move.
“For my first action,” began Harry, “I will play a phoenix.” Following what Ak did, Harry grabbed hold of his holographic phoenix that way busy flapping its fiery wings, picked it up, and placed it on the field. There was a small burst of color, and it appeared in the spot he had placed it. Immediately, the boggart turned into a phoenix too, due to its special ability.
“Next, I will play a stupefy spell on Ak’s boggart.” Harry picked up the holographic wand with the green spell coming out, and placed it on the Boggart. After the colors flashed, Ak’s boggart returned to its normal form, and fell onto the table from its hovering position. It wasn’t quite dead, but severely wounded, and unable to attack.
“Nice move there, Harry,” said Ak. “But, it’s my turn now!” The table drew his card for him. “I choose not to attack with my boggart, since it is so weak, would be slaughtered by Harry’s phoenix, and it is unable to due to the Stupefy Spell having been played one it. So, I will begin my turn by playing a Flobberworm card.” He dragged the it onto the table, and the pathetic grub appeared. Suddenly, the Boggart disappeared. “And, playing Flobberworm requires that I discard one of my fighters in play, so my boggart is gone.”
“Hah, what a waste,” said Harry. Flobberworm was a very pathetic card. It had almost no power, and it cost you a fighter to play. Ak was worse than he had thought.
“That’s what you think,” smiled Ak. “But, I still have another action. I will play… Cloning Chamber!” Ak dragged it out into the field of play, and a small, metallic box appeared that was giving off smoke and bouncing up and down a little.
“What does that do?” asked Harry, having never seen that card before.
Ak smiled.
“It’s a very rare card,” he grinned. “At the beginning and end of each of my turns, I get to make a copy of a creature that I have that has a power of one. So, Harry, meet my other worm.” The Cloning Chamber made a small explosion sound, and a second Flobberworm appeared next to the other. “Your turn Harry.”
“Yeah yeah, two Flobberworms is still is nothing,” he said, the table giving him his next card: another pensieve. “Now, I attack one of your worms.” Harry’s phoenix dived at the worm, causing it to burst into flames and turn into a small pile of ash that quickly disappeared. Harry smiled. This was Wizard Duel as it was meant to be played.
“Now, I shall play a house elf,” announced Harry, dragging it out and making it appear. “And, I shall use a Merging Spell to combine my phoenix and house elf into a superior creature.” Harry moved the spell over the two fighters and they both shone brightly for a second and then melted together. After giving off a quick, white flash, the new creature appeared: a house elf that had extra-long phoenix wings and four, flaming arms.
“Your turn Ak,” said Harry, trying to sound menacing and intimidating. But, it wasn’t working. Ak looked as calm and cool as he ever did. He merely allowed the table to giving him his card, and then begin his turn. Immediately, another Flobberworm appeared on the table, due to the Cloning Chamber.
“Alright… I shall begin by playing… another cloning chamber!” He dragged it out, right next to the other one. Harry felt a single drop of sweat come down his forehead. Now the Flobberworms would quadruple twice during his turn….
“Then, I will draw a another card, ending my turn, and I gain six more worms,” said Ak. As soon as the word left his mouth, six new Flobberworms appeared, making for a grand total of eight. “Your turn.”
“Yeah yeah,” said Harry, trying to remain calm with the gaze of the eight other members of the club on him. His new fighter, the half house elf and phoenix attacked one of the Flobberworms, lowering the number by one. Harry drew his card: another pensieve! He had to get rid of some of those later.
“Alright,” began Harry, “I’m going to play a disarming spell on one of the Cloning Chambers!” Harry dragged his card over the Chamber, and watched it disappear, right into Ak’s discard pile. “Good, one down. Now, I’ll play a pensieve.” The bowl appeared on the board, appearing to have the mystery liquid in it too.
“My turn,” said Ak, still not looking shaken. He drew his card, fourteen new Flobberworms appeared, and he gave a wide smile. “Well then, for my first action, I shall play another Cloning Chamber!” He dragged it out and it appeared, taking away some of Harry’s hope with it. “Then for my second action… yet another Cloning Chamber!”
Harry’s mouth dropped, and he heard some laughs from the observing crowd as it appeared in play. “I’ll end my turn now… and gain sixty three more Flobberworms!” They all appeared, now as a pyramid of Flobberworms, stacked on top of each other, peaking at about a foot high. They were making the most horrible sucking sound and giving off some sort of horrible liquid that flowed all the way down the side and onto the surface of the table. Whether you were fighting it or in control of it, it was not a pleasant sight
Harry swallowed hard and began his turn. If all of those attacked his half-house elf-half-phoenix fighter, it would be killed instantly, allowing Ak to deal all the damage directly to his deck the next turn, and annihilate him. He had to find a way to protect his card and his deck… then he remembered! The pensieves! After his fighter attacked and killed a single Flobberworm, Harry drew his card (a Stupefy) and began his plan.
“For my first action, I will put my fighter into my pensieve.” The half-house elf-half-phoenix disappeared, and the pensieve turned red. “Just so that you know,” said Harry, talking to the crowd who didn’t know as much as he or Ak, “a pensieve, when you put a fighter into one, gains power equal to the fighter’s power, but it cannot attack, only defend. When the pensieve dies, the fighter you put in it comes out unscathed.”
“Yeah yeah, keep going with your turn,” said Ak, looking very satisfied with himself.
“And for my last action, I will play another pensieve.” Harry moved it out and watched it appear right next to his other one. He would have to stall for a while until he could find a way to wipe out all of the Flobberworms at once or kill the Cloning Chambers.
“My turn!” said Ak excitedly, getting his card. As soon as it went into his hand, two hundred and fifty two more Flobberworms appeared on the table. “First of all, I will attack with all of my Flobberworms!” The mass of grubs, after vibrating for a few seconds, fell over right onto Harry’s pensieve with his fighter inside, making it break open, and his half-house elf-half-phoenix to come out. “Now, even though I don’t need to, for my actions, I will play two Cloning Spells on my Flobberworms, doubling them each time, giving me a total of… one thousand three hundred and forty-four! Now, I end my turn, and get an additional four thousand thirty two!”
The amount of worms was almost overwhelming. The pile went ten feet off of the table now, and took up most of the surface of it, except for a small area designated for Harry’s two cards. Ak gave a superior-looking smile.
“Don’t get too cocky,” said Harry, trying to sound cool, and drawing his card (an Avada Kedavra curse… useless against the Flobberworms). Harry played his other pensieve, and put his fighter into one of them, trying to stall for more time… something had to happen to turn the tides of this battle!
But, it was now Ak’s turn, and he got and additional sixteen thousand, one hundred twenty-eight bugs. He attacked the pensieve, breaking it, and forcing the fighter out. Ak skipped his actions, just wanting to get this battle with as soon as possible. He got sixty four thousand, five hundred twelve more.