《HP官方资料翻译集（物品篇）》霁随心

22、接受之笔与准入之书

　　【Pottermore中关于接受之笔与准入之书的内容】
　　（翻译参考了Pottermore吧帖子《【翻译】The Quill of Acceptance and The Book of A Admittance》）

　　在霍格沃茨的一座从未有学生造访的不起眼的紧锁塔楼中，有一本黑龙皮封面已有些剥落的古书。它的书页自四巨头在城堡竣工之时将它放在那儿之后便再也未被人类的手指触碰过。在它旁边，摆放着一个小小的银色墨水瓶，瓶中插着一根长长的褪色羽毛笔。这些便是接受之笔与准入之书，霍格沃茨挑选学生的唯一方法。
　　即使有人知道了那使这本书与这羽毛笔这般行动的强大而持久的魔咒，他也不会说出其中的秘密，这无疑是因为（正如阿不思·邓布利多曾叹道的）它们省却了对因子女未被霍格沃茨选中而暴跳如雷的父母们的冗长解释。准入之书与接受之笔的决定是不可改变的，迄今还没有名字未被记载在准入之书泛黄的书页上而被霍格沃茨录取了的学生。
　　当一个孩子初次显现魔法天赋时，羽毛笔便会飞出墨水瓶，试图将那孩子的名字记入准入之书。这根羽毛笔被认为是从一只卜鸟上摘下来的。（众所周知，卜鸟羽斥水，而且那墨水瓶是空的；还没有人去仔细分析过从这施过咒的羽毛笔尖徐徐流出的泛着银光的液体之成分。）
　　那些有幸目睹了这一过程的巫师（一些校长喜欢安安静静地在这塔楼中待上几个小时，希望观察到它们的行动）都认为接受之笔的评判比准入之书更为宽容。仅仅一点点魔法迹象便足以使接受之笔动心。而此时准入之书便会“砰”地合上，拒绝被书写，直到它接收到足够明显的关于拥有魔力的证据为止。
　　因此，纳威·隆巴顿一出生，接受之笔就要写下纳威的名字，但准入之书“砰”地合上拒绝了。甚至是照顾艾丽斯·隆巴顿的护士也承认她没有看到纳威能够把包裹着他的毯子变得更舒适一些，猜测是孩子的父亲为其将毯子掖好。纳威的家人一直都没能看到他身上微弱的魔法迹象，直到八岁那年，他在一场致命的坠落中活了下来，他那些失望透顶的叔祖父祖母以及更为严格的准入之书才承认，他的确是个巫师。
　　事实上，准入之书之所以如此严格是有目的的：它拒哑炮于霍格沃茨门外的记录近乎完美。父母是巫师却不具魔力的孩子偶尔会因他们的父母而拥有些许围绕着他们的微弱的残余魔法气息。但一旦他们父母的魔力不再将他们包围，那么毫无疑问他们没有丝毫施咒能力。接受之笔的灵敏，配上准入之书的严格，它们从未犯过一点错误。

　　【Pottermore中接受之笔与准入之书原文】
In a small locked tower, never visited by any student at Hogwarts, sits an ancient book that has not been touched by human hands since the four founders placed it there on completion of the castle. Beside the book, which is bound in peeling black dragon-hide, stands a small silver inkpot and from this protrudes a long, faded quill. These are the Quill of Acceptance and the Book of Admittance and they constitute the only process by which students are selected for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
If anybody understands what powerful and long-lasting magic causes this book and quill to behave as they do, nobody has ever confessed to it, doubtless because (as Albus Dumbledore once sighed) it saves the staff tedious explanations to parents who are furious that their children have not been selected for Hogwarts. The Book and Quill’s decision is final and no child has ever been admitted whose name has not first been inscribed on the book’s yellowing pages.
At the precise moment that a child first exhibits signs of magic, the Quill, which is believed to have been taken from an Augurey, floats up out of its inkpot and attempts to inscribe the name of that child upon the pages of the Book (Augurey feathers are known to repel ink and the inkpot is empty; nobody has ever managed to analyse precisely what the silvery fluid flowing from the enchanted Quill is).
Those few who have observed the process (several headmasters and headmistresses have enjoyed spending quiet hours in the Book and Quill’s tower, hoping to catch them in action) agree that the Quill might be judged more lenient than the Book. A mere whiff of magic suffices for the Quill. The Book, however, will often snap shut, refusing to be written upon until it receives sufficiently dramatic evidence of magical ability.
Thus, the very moment that Neville Longbottom was born, the Quill attempted to write his name and was refused by the Book, which snapped shut. Even the midwife who attended Alice Longbottom had failed to notice that Neville managed to shift his blankets more snugly over himself moments after birth, assuming that his father had tucked the baby in more securely. Neville’s family persistently missed faint signs of magic in him and not until he was eight years old did either his disappointed great aunts and uncles, or the old stickler of a Book, accept that he was truly a wizard, when he survived a fall that should have killed him.
In fact, the Book’s sternness has a purpose: its track record in keeping Squibs out of Hogwarts is perfect. Non-magic children born to witches and wizards occasionally have some small, residual aura of magic about them due to their parents, but once their parents magic has worn off them it becomes clear that they will never have the ability to perform spells. The Quill’s sensitivity, coupled with the Book’s implacability, have never yet made a mistake.