November 19th, 1952

Albus—

阿不思——

You would truly do that? Break Its power?

你不会真的那么做吧？摧毁它的力量？

I suppose I shouldn't even bother to ask.

我想我根本不该提起的。

It is peculiar, though, how much the idea distresses me. Breaking and violating Its entire history...you've held It, Albus. You've felt It tugging at your heart and soul, power as tremendous and inviolate as Death itself. To imagine that power—phenomenal, unique, ancient—destroyed forever...

它是特殊的，然而，那么多想法一时间涌上来折磨着我。要去摧毁和亵渎它的整段历史……你已经拿着它了，阿不思。你能够感受到它正在撕扯着你的灵肉，那股强大的，不可侵犯的力量正如同死亡本身。想象一下那种力量——非凡的，独特而又古老——就将被永远毁去……

I do not even know my own reaction. But, Albus, I thought you did not kill.

我甚至不能料到自己的反应。可是，阿不思，我想你不会停下。

As for your little moment of combustion—there are no dementors in Nurmengard, Albus. The guards are only human—and, no, you shouldn't begrudge them a little sport with me. I have gone too far down the path of the Dark for pain to be anything but an inconvenience. Didn't you, too, rant endlessly about my sins when you finally came to vanquish me? Wouldn't you have me tossed in prison for taking the life of a single Muggle, after your saintly change of heart, no matter what it means for our Greater Good? Who are you to dictate my Hell?

至于你那小小的怒火——纽蒙迦德可没有摄魂怪，阿不思。看守也只是人类——还有，不，你不应该对我特殊关照而引起他们的嫉妒。我在黑暗里走得太远，疼痛于我而言也不再是麻烦。但是你，你难道没有吗？没有在打败我之后，和那些人站在一起，高声痛斥过我的罪行吗？你不是也把我丢进监狱，像个麻瓜一样度过余生，不是在洗心革面之后，抛弃了我们更伟大的利益吗？你有什么资格来主宰我？

There are no dementors, yet still, every night as I sleep, there are screams. And do you really think I'd prefer to hear the screams of wizards falling in battle, or of Muggles at labor or under torture, or even my own when I heard of your betrayal to our cause, when instead I might hear your screams of pleasure at my hands all those years ago? Of course I have been thinking of that. Of course I have been writing on it. You were beautiful once, you miserable dingbat.

这里没有摄魂怪，尽管如此，每夜我入睡的时候，还是会听到尖叫声。你真的觉得，比起巫师们在决斗中败落时的呐喊，被折磨奴役的麻瓜的悲号，抑或是听说你背叛了我们事业之后自己的怒吼，我不会更喜欢听见你被我爱抚时发出的细细的呻.吟，尽管是在那么多年以前？我当然会想起它，也会写下它。你曾经是那么迷人，可悲的傻瓜。

And if you are ashamed, humiliated, that you were once the confidant and lover of the Dark terror of the century—well, I must get my revenge somehow. Go teach your children, eat your candy, preen your bird and bury me. But we were brilliant together, Albus, and not even you can change history.

如果你因为曾经作为本世纪最恐怖的黑魔王的知己和爱人而感到羞愧的话——那么我想，我一定是尝到了过去酿成的苦果。去教你的孩子们吧，吃你的糖，打扮你的鸟，再顺便把我埋了。但我们站在一起曾经是那么耀眼，阿不思，这是就算你也无法改变的事实。

注：

译了这么久，终于发现英语课之外的英文其实真的很有趣（悲痛脸），因为一个单词形式的差异都能让一句话的翻译彻底变味，导致有时候我细品越觉得两个都对，两个也都好。去参照了各个版本，结果太太们翻译的也分成了两个阵营（哭笑），我只好按着自己的逻辑来了。

1.“I must get my revenge somehow.”有两个译本，区别是“get”和“got”（got的话被must do的格式给还原了），潜台词也肯定不同奥，一是我要报复但没报复，一是我已经得到报复了。

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第9章 第八只猫头鹰