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CHAPTER FIVE Diagon Alley
Harry woke early the next morning. Although he could tell it was daylight, he kept his eyes shut tight.
‘It was a dream,’ he told himself firmly. ‘I dreamed a giant called Hagrid came to tell me I was going to a school for wizards. When I open my eyes I’ll be at home in my cupboard.’
There was suddenly a loud tapping noise.
‘And there’s Aunt Petunia knocking on the door,’ Harry thought, his heart sinking. But he still didn’t open his eyes. It had been such a good dream.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
‘All right,’ Harry mumbled, ‘I’m getting up.’
He sat up and Hagrid’s heavy coat fell off him. The hut was full of sunlight, the storm was over, Hagrid himself was asleep on the collapsed sofa and there was an owl rapping its claw on the window, a newspaper held in its beak.
Harry scrambled to his feet, so happy he felt as though a large balloon was swelling inside him. He went straight to the window and jerked it open. The owl swooped in and dropped the newspaper on top of Hagrid, who didn’t wake up. The owl then fluttered on to the floor and began to attack Hagrid’s coat.
‘Don’t do that.’
Harry tried to wave the owl out of the way, but it snapped its beak fiercely at him and carried on savaging the coat.
‘Hagrid!’ said Harry loudly. ‘There’s an owl –’
‘Pay him,’ Hagrid grunted into the sofa.
‘What?’
‘He wants payin’ fer deliverin’ the paper. Look in the pockets.’
Hagrid’s coat seemed to be made of nothing but pockets – bunches of keys, slug pellets, balls of string, mint humbugs, tea-bags … finally, Harry pulled out a handful of strange-looking coins.
‘Give him five Knuts,’ said Hagrid sleepily.
‘Knuts?’
‘The little bronze ones.’
Harry counted out five little bronze coins and the owl held out its leg so he could put the money into a small leather pouch tied to it. Then it flew off through the open window.
Hagrid yawned loudly, sat up and stretched.
‘Best be off, Harry, lots ter do today, gotta get up ter London an’ buy all yer stuff fer school.’
Harry was turning over the wizard coins and looking at them. He had just thought of something which made him feel as though the happy balloon inside him had got a puncture.
‘Um – Hagrid?’
‘Mm?’ said Hagrid, who was pulling on his huge boots.
‘I haven’t got any money – and you heard Uncle Vernon last night – he won’t pay for me to go and learn magic.’
‘Don’t worry about that,’ said Hagrid, standing up and scratching his head. ‘D’yeh think yer parents didn’t leave yeh anything?’
‘But if their house was destroyed –’
‘They didn’ keep their gold in the house, boy! Nah, first stop fer us is Gringotts. Wizards’ bank. Have a sausage, they’re not bad cold – an’ I wouldn’ say no teh a bit o’ yer birthday cake, neither.’
‘Wizards have banks?’
‘Just the one. Gringotts. Run by goblins.’
Harry dropped the bit of sausage he was holding.
‘Goblins?’
‘Yeah – so yeh’d be mad ter try an’ rob it, I’ll tell yeh that. Never mess with goblins, Harry. Gringotts is the safest place in the world fer anything yeh want ter keep safe – ’cept maybe Hogwarts. As a matter o’ fact, i gotta visit Gringotts anyway. Fer Dumbledore. Hogwarts business.’ Hagrid drew himself up proudly. ‘He usually gets me ter do important stuff fer him. Fetchin’ you – gettin’ things from Gringotts – knows he can trust me, see.
‘Got everythin’? Come on, then.’
第5章 对角巷
第二天一大早哈利就醒了。他明明知道天已经亮了，可还是把眼睛闭得紧紧的。
“这是一个梦，”他确定地对自己说，“我梦见一个叫海格的巨人，他来对我说，我要进一所魔法学校。等我一睁眼，我准在家里的储物间里。”
突然传来一阵啪啪的响声。
“又是佩妮姨妈在捶门了。”哈利想，他的心一沉。可他没有睁开眼，因为那个梦实在太好了。
啪。啪。啪。
“好了，”哈利咕哝说，“我这就起来。”
他坐起来，海格的厚外衣从身上滑了下去。小屋里充满了阳光，暴风雨已经过去了。海格睡在坍塌的沙发上。一只猫头鹰正用爪子敲打着窗户，嘴里衔着一份报纸。
哈利感到特别高兴，仿佛胸中揣着的一个气球渐渐鼓了起来，使他飘飘欲仙了。他径直走到窗前，用力推开窗户。猫头鹰飞了进来，把报纸扔到海格身上，但他还是没有醒。猫头鹰扑腾着翅膀飞到地上，开始抓海格的外衣。
“别抓。”
哈利挥挥手想让猫头鹰走开，可是猫头鹰用它的利喙朝哈利猛啄过来，之后又去抓海格的外衣。
“海格！”哈利大声喊道，“这里有一只猫头鹰——”
“把钱付给它。”海格在沙发上哼哼唧唧地说。
“什么？”
“它要你付送报费。你在外衣袋里找找。”
海格的外衣上似乎除了口袋还是口袋——口袋里装着成串的钥匙、除鼻涕虫药、线团、薄荷硬糖、茶袋……最后，哈利终于掏出了一把稀奇古怪的硬币。
“给它五个纳特。”海格睡意蒙眬地说。
“‘纳特’？”
“那些小铜板。”
哈利数出五个铜板，猫头鹰伸出一只腿，要他把硬币放进绑在腿上的一只小皮囊里。随后它从敞开的窗口飞了出去。
海格打了个大哈欠，坐起来伸了伸懒腰。
“咱们优选还是早点走吧，哈利，今天还有好多事要做呢，要去伦敦给你买上学需要的所有东西。”
哈利摆弄着巫师的钱币，沉思起来。他不知想起了什么，觉得胸中
那只快乐的气球被戳破了。
“唔，海格？”
“怎么？”海格说，正在套他的大靴子。
“我一个钱也没有，昨天晚上你已经听弗农姨父说过了，他不会花钱让我去学魔法的。”
“这个你不用担心，”海格说，站起来搔了搔头，“你以为你父母什么也没有给你留下吗？”
“可要是连他们的房子全都毁了——”
“他们不会把黄金放在家里的，孩子！我们第一站去古灵阁。巫师银行。来根香肠吧，冷的也不难吃——加上一块你的生日蛋糕更不错。”
“巫师还有银行？”
“只有一家。古灵阁。是妖精们开的。”
哈利手里的香肠掉到了地上。
“妖精？”
“是的，所以，听我说，你要是想抢银行，那你就是发疯了。绝对不能把妖精们惹恼了，哈利。如果你想找一个安全可靠的地方存放东西，那么，我想除了霍格沃茨之外就是古灵阁了。其实，不管怎样我都要去一趟古灵阁，去替邓布利多办一件霍格沃茨的公事。”海格很得意地挺起胸来，“重要的事情他总是交给我办，比如来接你，去古灵阁取东西，都要我办，他知道他可以信任我，明白吗？
“东西都带好了吗？那就走吧。”
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