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

“Yeah yeah, sure,” said Ron. Wide-eyed, he bent over for his wand, and removed the Leg-Locker curse from his mother. She rubbed her legs and sat down in the red chair by the library.
“So who is my other sister?” asked Ron, walking over to her. Harry followed.
“That,” said Mrs. Weasley, “is a long and not very pleasant tale.”
“We’ve got a few months until we have to return to Hogwarts,” said Ron, crossing his arms. “I’m sure that will be enough time to tell it.”
“Very well,” sighed Mrs. Weasley, slapping her legs. She took a deep breath, and began. “Well, I guess it all starts in the year 1970. That was the year your father and I got married, Ron. It was a lovely ceremony, held in the North Pole, something your father wanted to do. For the next two years, we contemplated having children, what with the state that the wizarding world was in at the time, but decided to go for it anyway. So, in 1973, Jamie was born.”
“Jamie? Is that my long-lost sister?”
“Yes, Jamie was her name. Now we, that is your father and I, were perfectly happy with only one child. However, the area in which we lived was not very populated, and except for a few teenagers, Jamie was the only kid. We decided the best way for her to have a playmate was to have another child. So, in 1975, Bill was born, and the two of them were as happy as could be.
“Now, around this time, dark activity was slowing down, and we were actually doing pretty well, financially wise. So, we decided that if we could afford another kid, why not? It would be nice for Jamie and Bill to have another playmate. So, in 1977, Charlie was born, adding to the happiness.
“However, I’m sure as you two know, in a group of three, there is always one that gets left out.”
Harry and Ron looked at each other. In their group of three, the two of the and Hermione, it always seemed as though each was getting his or her equal share of attention… right?
“Well, in this case, that was Bill. He was the middle child, and didn’t have the glamour of being the oldest, nor the cuteness of the youngest. The only solution we saw for this was to bring yet another child into the world, Percy.
“Now, at this time, Hogwarts was accepting young wizards and witches at the age of ten, if they showed enough talent. Jamie was the most talented witch of her time, and Hogwarts couldn’t wait to have her. In 1983, she started at school, and we were left with only three children, and now Percy was the one being left out.
“This is where things all started going wrong… no offense. Arthur and I decided than one more child would be perfect. However, neither of us were prepared for twins. You-Know-Who’s rise to power started, and your father had to work extra long hours. It was terrible: Charlie and Bill always asking me for the latest Quidditch supplies, and Percy demanding higher quality books, he could read at that age, all the while, Fred and George were screaming their eyeballs out. I thought nothing else could go wrong… until the day of the fieldtrip.
“Back then, all students at the school could go, not just the upper class wizards and witches. In fact, I think this incident is why they changed that rule.”
“Why? What happened? Where did they go?” demanded Ron.
“It was a field trip to the Egyptian pyramids,” continued Mrs. Weasley. “We were so happy that Jamie was going, and we even came to Hogwarts the day she left. And today we are so thankful that we did, that was the last time anyone one of us ever saw her.”
“What happened? Did she die?”
“Perhaps…” trailed Mrs. Weasley. “No one is positive today. All we know for sure is that she was walking along with her group one second, and then suddenly, she was gone.”
“Gone?” gasped Ron.
“Yes. She completely disappeared without a trace. We regret so much only taking that one picture of her, and the other one which had her in the corner. That’s why we have so many pictures of you other kids… in case anything ever happened to one of you.”
There was another very awkward silence.
“So… why haven’t you told any us, mom?” asked Ron slowly and quietly.
“Well, once we found out about Jamie, your father and I were at first heartbroken, and we stayed in that state of complete shock that one can only receive after losing a child for an entire year.
“However, after that yearlong depression, we decided it was time to move on, and the best way to do that, we figured, was to have another daughter. So, two years later, we had another child.”
“Yeah, you had me,” said Ron. “But wait… I’m not a girl!”
Mrs. Weasley gave a small chuckle.
“I know that, Ron, and that’s the reason why we didn’t want to tell you. We didn’t want you to think that you were a failure to us: that you should have been a girl, but you weren’t. Now, since you didn’t know, we decided it would be best if the others didn’t either, so they didn’t go about flaunting their superior knowledge to you. Right now is the first time I have told any one of you kids about Jamie.”
“But what about Bill, Charlie, and Percy,” said Ron, sounding almost a little annoyed. “Shouldn’t they have some memory of Jamie?”
“Oh, they remember her alright,” said Mrs. Weasley, rocking in her chair. “But, they don’t remember her as their sister. After just a few talks, and whenever the question came up, I convinced them that she was simply a childhood friend who moved away while they were little.
“Ah, how I wish I had old you all this before!” she exclaimed once again. “But, I just didn’t want you or even Ginny for that matter to think you were merely replacements, and inferior to the first child…. I’m sorry!”
Ron looked at his mother for a second, she appeared to be ready to burst into tears: both from telling the story, reminding herself of the heartbreak, and for love of her son. Then, Ron just walked up to his mother, and gave her a massive hug, all the way around her.
“It’s okay mom,” he said. “Just… don’t ever do it again!”
“Oh believe me, I won’t,” she said, standing up after their hug was over. “Now, if you’ll please, don’t tell the story to any of your brothers or sisters just yet. I want to be the one to tell them if it ever comes up again, not you.”
“Alright mom,” said Ron, watching her walk back to the kitchen and return to her cooking work.
“Well,” said Harry, breaking his silence, “that was a very dramatic moment.”
“Extremely,” said Ron, returning to the shelves full of albums.
“So… somewhere… out there… you have a sister,” said Harry.
“Eh, I doubt it. I mean, what are the odds that she’s still alive? Slim to none I’d say.”
“Perhaps…” said Harry, reaching up for another book. Then, when he opened this one, hundreds of small cards fell out all over the floor, creating a small, paper pool. “Hey Ron! I think I found your dad’s stash of cards!” Ron looked down at the ever growing pile on the floor and grinned.
“Good job there Harry!” he said, tapping the pile of cards with his wand, and making them all teleport inside a small sac. “Now we can really start to have some fun!”
Harry stayed at the Weasley residence for most of the summer, even celebrated his birthday there. Even though it was just Ron, himself, and Mrs. Weasley there the entire time during the day, all of that changed at night when dinner was ready. All of the Weasleys, except for sometimes Charlie, and occasionally Bill, came home at night to partake in the massive feasts that Mrs. Weasley always had ready. All eight of them, Harry, Ron, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Fred, George, Bill, and Ginny, crowded the table and laughed the entire time, due to Fred and George’s wacky inventions.
It was during those few funny moments that Harry saw Ginny, for the only time during the entire meal, say something (though he wasn’t sure if laughing would be considered talking). She kept to herself most of the time, and Harry wondered if that was because she still had a small crush on him, or if it was because of her new boyfriend: Draco.
Either way, Harry enjoyed spending time there, and his only low point throughout the rest of his summer was when Dumbledore sent him an owl in reply to his letter:
Dear Harry,
I would have to say, I am fine as well. I always love summer, don’t you? Even the worst days are the best… I’m so happy I decided to lengthen it a week.
As for your question, I am sorry to say no. Dudley cannot come to Hogwarts. Despite the fact that he has the talent and the desire, he simply is unable to come. I’m not sure if you have learned about it in school yet, but there is such a thing called ‘magical ripeness’. That is, the longer a wizard or witch waits to perform his or her first actual spell with a wand, and the more powerful the first spell that is used, the greater that wizard or witch will be.
Now, Dudley has never performed any magic with a wand, and he is five years over the usually starting age for school. This means, he will be at least five times as powerful as an average wizard. We cannot take the chance of having this extremely powerful wizard go over to Voldemort’s side. He would be especially easily corrupted and tempted, having had so little experience in the wizarding world.
Once again, I am deeply sorry, but in this day and age, we cannot take the chance.
Sincerely,
Albus Dumbledore