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

“Not unless you is coming with me!” said Dobby, as clear as a bell. He was standing in a corner of the room, unaffected by his own spell.
Harry had to think of something. His bed was beginning to shake too, it was being sucked into the hole along with everything else. He had to get out of the room! Harry desperately looked around for anything that would help him.
Then he saw it: his broomstick! Of course, why hadn’t he thought of that before? Harry slowly climbed his way up the bed sheets and towards the broom that was still stationary where it was. Apparently since it was magical, the spell had no effect on it, and since it was a Firebolt, it didn’t even phase it. Harry continued climbing along his blankets, and soon reached the broom. Just as the bed was beginning to shake, and getting ready to join the swirling mass, Harry made a daring leap from his where he was to the broom, and grabbed on tight.
“See you later Dobby!” yelled Harry, mounting the Firebolt.
“No! Harry Potter cannots leave!” screamed Dobby as Harry raced out of the window, and into the open air. He took a deep breath, filled his lungs, and then exhaled it all out. Flying was the greatest, and most natural to Harry of everything in the wizarding world. It was the most exhilarating thing in the universe… well, at least the second most. There were only two things in the world that could compare to flying on a broom: flying as a gryffin through the air, and being with Cho Chang, the greatest girl in Hogwarts.
Ever since he first saw her in his second year, Harry had had a crush on Cho. However, he had never really done anything about it until last year, when the two of them went out on their first date, and had silently proclaimed each other boyfriend and girlfriend.
As for flying as a gryffin, during his last year, Harry had become an Animagus, that is, a wizard who can transform into an animal without the use of a wand. Harry’s gryffin was a half lion and half bird creature, possessing the greatest attributes of both; it was truly a beast to behold.
Harry suddenly snapped out of his little daydream, and returned to the real world. He found himself flying several hundred feet above the ground, looking down at the tiny buildings, cars, and ant-like people. It suddenly occurred to him that he had no idea where he was going. He certainly had to pick a destination. He couldn’t return to the Dursleys, at least for a while. Not until he was sure Dobby wouldn’t return… which was never. He couldn’t fly all the way to Hogwarts… he didn’t even know where it was. The last place left he could go, which in this case was definitely not least, was his best friend Ron Weasley’s house. Last year, Harry had found himself in a very similar situation (fleeing from the Dursleys) and went to Ron’s place for a while. Why not do the same thing again?
Harry sped off in the direction to the Weasley’s house, hoping he was going the right way since he didn’t have a map this time.
After a few wrong turns and dead ends, (which was very odd since he was in the air) Harry eventually found his way. Once he was on the right path, it wasn’t long before he arrived at Ron’s house.
It looked just like Harry remembered it: a house that looked far too tall, and at too much of an angle to one side. If such a thing existed in the Muggle world, it would surely fall over within an instant. But, things such as it were common in the wizarding world in which Harry lived in.
Harry flew down towards the front door, dismounted his broom, and ‘rang’ the doorbell that made the entire house flash bright for just a second. Harry slung his broom over his shoulder, and wondered who would answer the door.
If there was one thing that set the Weasleys apart from any other wizarding family… it would be two things: the fact that everyone in their house had bright red hair that made it appear as though there was an inferno whenever they had a family picture, and the insane amount of children they had. As far as Harry knew, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had seven children, six boys and one girl. Five of the six boys, however, had already graduated from Hogwarts, and only Ron and Ginny (the girl) were still in it.
Just then, the door opened, and Mrs. Weasley appeared in the doorway. She was a kind, plump lady who was always ready to welcome anyone and everyone. Her face immediately lit up when she saw Harry standing in front of her.
“Oh hello Harry dear!” she said, standing back and opening the door some more for him to walk through. “Come in, come in! What brings you here?”
“House elf trouble,” groaned Harry, walking inside.
“Ooh, if I had a nickel for each time I heard that excuse! I’d have… well, let’s see here… three nickels!”
“Um… that’s good,” said Harry, rolling his eyes slightly. As he did, he got a full view of the main room that was usually crowded with Weasleys during the summer, but for some reason, empty right now. “Where is everyone?”
“Oh,” sighed Mrs. Weasley. “Fred and George have finally officially opened up their business down in Diagon Alley. The two of them and Percy are there now, working.”
“Their store is open?” asked Harry, feeling very excited. For the past two years, Fred and George had been wanting to open up a joke shop, and due to a very generous donation from Harry, Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes became a reality. “I can’t wait to see it!”
“Yes, neither could Ginny. She’s down there now, too.”
“But… why is Percy helping? I thought he was working for the Ministry.”
“Oh, with all that happened to Crouch a while ago, Percy lost all will to continue working in that field. No, he left that some time ago, and has started helping Fred and George with their business.”
“Is Ron here?” asked Harry, sounding hopeful.
“Oh yes, he’s in no rush to see the shop. He’s rather enjoying being away from the chaos of their insane inventions, and I don’t disagree. He’s upstairs in his room by the way, playing with his cards.”
“Oh, the chocolate frog cards?”
“No, these are something different. With these new ones, you actually play games. Ron seems to enjoy it, but I Haven’t really looked into it yet. Why don’t you go on up and see for yourself?”
“I think I will,” said Harry, running up the crooked stairs to Ron’s room. He reached the top rather quickly, and threw open the door, revealing Ron’s extremely orange room, and Ron himself, sitting on his bed with playing cards all around him.
“Hello Ron,” said Harry. Ron immediately looked up and waved to him.
“Hello Harry!” he said. “What are you doing here? Muggle trouble?”
“Nah, Dobby.”
“Hmm, I see,” he said, returning to the cards.
“What’cha got there?”
“Oh, it’s a new card game,” said Ron, looking up slightly. “It’s really fun, and it has all sorts of real people and things in it.”
“Have you got a million Dumbledores again?” asked Harry, sitting down next to him on the bed.
“No, he’s one of the rarest ones,” said Ron, still organizing the cards. Harry picked one up, and read it off.
“Let’s see here: ‘Boggart, power of four’ . Well, there might not be much text, but wow! The artwork looks very nice, and they really are based on real things! Is it a fun game?”
“You bet,” said Ron, grabbing the card out of Harry’s hand and putting it in a pile. “Want to learn how to play?”
“Sure,” said Harry eagerly, eyeing all of the cards hungrily. It was as if they had some sort of drawing power on him, beckoning him to touch them, and mocking him for not doing so.
“Alright, well there’s two types of cards: fighters and effects. The fighters… well, do the fighting, and the effects help you and hurt your opponents. Each turn, you get to use two total actions, made up of playing fighters or using effects, or even drawing additional cards. Then, your fighters attack your opponent’s fighters, and once you have no fighters in play, all the damage comes to you, that is, your deck.”
“Sounds kind of complex,” said Harry, his head beginning to spin.
“Nah, not really. No more than Quidditch anyway. One you play a game or two, you’ll get the hang of it.”
“Can we play a game?” asked Harry, waning to try it out.
“No, I don’t have enough cards yet, and you need sixty for each deck.”
“Oh, too bad.”
“But… I think I remember dad once telling me that he had quite a collection.”
“What? You mean, this card game had been around before?”
“Oh yeah. This cards game used to be the most popular one, but then the chocolate frog cards took over for a while. Now though, these ones are back and better than ever!”
“Do you know where he kept them?”
Ron put his hand up and began stroking his chin thoughtfully.