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

“That Cloning Chamber card should be banned,” commented Harry, attacking one of them with his half-house elf-half-phoenix.
“Oh Harry,” laughed Ak behind his ever growing pile of grotesqueness. “That card is so rare… I’m probably the only person on Earth with four of them. I’ve had to trade away most of my collection to get them from other players.”
“Yeah yeah, sure.” Harry drew his card, and was happy to see it wasn’t another stupefy, it was a Sap Strength Spell. “For my first action, I will use The Sap Strength Spell, allowing me to improve one of my fighter’s power by one per fighter my opponent has in play. My target is obviously the half-house elf-half-phoenix, making his power… eighty thousand, and twenty six.”
“What’s the point?” laughed Ak. “Even if your fighter has a million power, it can still only attack one fighter at a time!”
“Yeah, I know,” groaned Harry. This was his last turn to stall… something had to happen soon. “Then, I will put my fighter into my last pensieve, and end my turn.” Ak shrugged, and drew his card. He attacked the pensieve, breaking it, and forcing the high powered half-house elf-half-phoenix out. His pile of grubs tripled, he skipped his actions, and then it doubled again… giving an insane amount of Flobberworms… seven-hundred and seventy-four thousand, one hundred forty-four.
It was now Harry’s turn, and all eyes were on him. All of his pensieves were gone and he had to get something good this turn or else his fighter would be destroyed and he would lose the turn afterwards. Harry closed his eyes, and hoped for a miracle…. The table gave him his card.
Harry breathed a sigh of relief, and gave a massive smile.
“For my first action!” announced Harry, feeling great at the promise of victory. “I shall play… Voldemort!” There were a few shrieks of surprise and fear when Voldemort appeared on the field, in all his horrible glory compressed into four inches. Harry saw Ak’s eyes grow wide. “And as you obviously know, Ak, Voldemort has a special ability. When he comes into play, all fighters that your opponent controls are sent to the discard pile! Goodbye Flobberworms!” In an instant, the pile of Flobberworms that was practically overflowing off of the table and bursting through the rood disappeared, allowing Harry to get a better view of Ak’s terrified face.
“And for my last action, I shall use the Quick-Attack Spell on my half-house elf-half-phoenix fighter. And, Ak, since you have no other fighters out, all the damage goes directly to your deck, making all your cards in it go to the discard pile, and causing you to lose the game!”
“Yay!” cheered Hermione.
“Go Harry!” yelled Ron, throwing his hands into the air.
“I… lost…” gasped Ak, letting his forehead fall into his hands. All the lights and cards on the table disappeared and Harry removed his deck from the slot.
“Good game,” he said to Ak, offering his hand. Ak stood up, brushed himself off, and shook Harry’s hand, trying to force a smile.
“Yeah, good game,” he said. “You know, that was my first lost… ever.”
“Well, first time for everything,” said Harry. Then, checking his watch, “Oh! I’m sorry Ak, but we’ve got to go, we’re terribly late!”
“Yeah,” whispered Ak, looking through his cards. “Go ahead.”
“Alright,” called Harry, walking out the door with Ron and Hermione following behind him. “See you later!” When they walked out of the room, Harry heard all of the kids in the classroom suddenly burst into chatter, talking about the match, and wanting to start some games of their own.
“Wow,” said Ron, “you were saved by Voldemort…. The irony is overwhelming.”
“Shut up,” said Harry. He hoped he didn’t hurt Ak too badly.
“Oh don’t worry Harry,” said Hermione, as if she read his mind. “That loss probably did more for Ak than it hurt him. The tale of that match will spread around the school, and the club will gain popularity. By the next meeting, there’ll probably be many more members.”
“Yeah, all eager to see my Voldemort card,” groaned Harry. He wasn’t sure how he felt. He had won, but it was because of Voldemort. Even though he was only a card… it still felt as though he had actually helped him win, which was not a good feeling.
They soon arrived right outside of Dumbledore’s office, and were surprised to see Professor McGonagall standing outside.
“What are you doing here?” Ron asked her.
“I could ask you three the same,” she said, looking awfully surprised. “I’m locking up the room, but why are you here?”
“We uh… had to ask Professor Dumbledore something,” said Harry.
“Well, I’m sorry to say, but Dumbledore has left for the Ministry on urgent business. He is the Minister you know, and has plenty of other work.”
“When did he leave?” asked Hermione.
“Just a few minutes ago,” said Professor McGonagall. Harry could have kicked himself in the head. If he had only not stopped for the meeting, he could have given the Stone to Dumbledore.
“Well, when is he coming back?” asked Harry.
“Oh, not for several days,” she sighed. “I’m afraid he won’t be back for at least a week or two.”
“Well, thanks anyway,” sighed Harry.
“By the way,” asked Professor McGonagall happily, “what was in the package Harry?”
“Oh… that,” said Harry. He had to think of something. “Err- it was… some of Hedwig’s Owl pellets that I left at home.”
“Owl pellets?” asked Professor McGonagall, Hermione, and Ron together.
“Yeah… I have a whole collection of them…” said Harry, trying to smile.
“Well, I’m not going to pry into your personal life,” said Professor McGonagall, wincing at Harry, and walking away. “But I will tell you to return to your common room now.”
“Yes professor,” said the three of them, walking back.
“Now what are we going to do?” asked Ron.
“We’ll just have to hide the Stone from ourselves and not use it for a while,” said Harry.
“Yeah, easier said than done,” commented Hermione. “Even I’m tempted to use it! Infinite life and money…. I mean, come on!”
“Yeah, come on!” said Ron.
“I guess I’ll have to watch it then,” sighed Harry, giving the password (piez) and stepping inside. “I’ll hide it somewhere and put a trap on it so none of us, or anyone else for that matter, can touch it.”
“Fine,” said Hermione, walking to the girl’s dormitory from the empty common room. “Good night.” Harry and Ron walked up to their room, and found everyone else to have already gone to bed. Harry opened one of his drawers in the stand next to his bed, put the Stone inside it, and put a trap on it that he learned in Charms. He put the most dangerous one he knew on it, one that caused a small explosion if you touched it without saying the password first, which he designated as ‘Dumbledore’.
Harry climbed into bed, and tried to fall asleep… but the Stone was calling to him. He tried to concentrate on Neville’s breathing, but it didn’t help. The temptation to use the Stone was so much, Harry thought his brain was going to leak out of his ears…. He didn’t get much sleep that night.
Chapter 9- The Ring of The Ancients
Two weeks went by, and Dumbledore had not yet returned. The Spell Invention class was on the honor system; the students filed in and they were expected to read out of their books all period. Though Hermione and a few others did this, the rest of the class took the time to practice playing Wizard Duel. Hermione was right: the news of Harry’s magnificent victory over Ak had spread like wildfire around the school and now almost everyone was into the game.
Each day after Quidditch practice, Harry, Ron and Hermione made it a habit to head to the library, to see if they could find anything about Harry’s ring, or any link it had to the Sorcerer’s Stone. Even though the three of them had looked through practically every book last year to study for the O.W.L.s, they were surprised to find a few that they had never gone at before. However, each day they came no closer to finding any connection or any information at all.
It was during the trips to one of these such sessions that Harry heard a most peculiar noise coming from the bathroom.
“What was that?” he asked Ron and Hermione.
“Oh no,” said Ron. “It came from Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom.”