3、Chapter 3: Strange Killings（怪异的杀戮） ...
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Lily was not amused. She had been looking forward to seeing James for over a fortnight now, and as soon as he had come, they both had not even been able to say two words to each other before Professor Dumbledore had requested an urgent Order meeting. James hadn't even said hello to Damien yet. Lily sat with her arms crossed against her chest and was trying her best not to let her foul mood to show. Honestly, a couple of minutes with her husband were all she wanted, was that too much to ask?
莉莉现在不太开心。她盼着和詹姆见面已经足足盼了两周了，但他才刚来，他们两个甚至没来得及说上一句话，邓布利多教授的紧急会议通知就紧随而来。
詹姆甚至没来得及和达米安打声招呼。莉莉双手环胸坐在桌前，极力控制着自己的坏脾气不至于爆发——说真的，她只想好好和自己的丈夫待上几分钟而已，这要求难道很过分吗？
Her thoughts were cut short when the room suddenly quietened down. James took his seat next to Lily, taking her hand into his and giving it a gentle squeeze. She looked up at him with a half heartened smile. Looking around the room she saw familiar faces, most looking tired and as annoyed as she felt. She spotted the forever paranoid Mad-eye Moody, sitting next to Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt. Tonks was clearly noticeable with her bubble-gum pink hair. She looked around at Remus and Sirius sitting next to James. Her fellow colleague and former Professor, Minerva McGonagall was sitting near the front of the room, next to Snape. Next to them were two empty seats that Lily tried to ignore. She couldn't bear thinking about them again.
她的思绪中止于房间里突如其来的安静。
詹姆在莉莉身旁坐下，轻轻地握住了她的手。她抬头望着詹姆，有些勉强地一笑。接着莉莉重新环顾四周，看到了不少熟悉的面孔，大多和她一样写满了疲倦与烦恼。她看见了永远都显得有些神经质的疯眼汉穆迪，他旁边则是傲罗金斯莱·沙克尔。唐克斯则顶着一头无比醒目的、泡泡糖般的粉红色头发。
紧挨着詹姆坐的是莱姆斯和小天狼星，而房间前方、挨着斯内普的，则是莉莉的同事兼前教授米勒娃·麦格。
莉莉极力忽视他们身边的那两个空位——无论什么时候想起曾经坐在那儿的两个人，她都忍不住心痛难当。
Her attention was drawn to the Headmaster who now stood in front of all the members. Albus Dumbledore was looking immensely tired and worn out, pretty much like everyone else. He cleared his throat and the already quiet room hushed into complete silence. He could see the expressions most were wearing; there were a few who looked annoyed at the last minute meeting while others looked like they were trying to prepare themselves for more tragic news.
好在站在所有人前方的校长很快地引走了她的注意力，让她不至于再陷入回忆——阿不思·邓布利多看起来和这房间里的所有人都一样，疲惫极了。他清了清嗓子，原本还杂有些许细微声响的屋子顿时落针可闻。屋子里每个人都的表情都清晰可见，有的人尚且为着突然召开的会议耐着火气，有的人则表情严肃，显然是已经做好了迎接更坏消息的准备。
"I thank you for attending this meeting at such short notice." Dumbledore began. "I am aware many of you had to cancel or rearrange your plans so I will not take much more of your time." Here he gave a significant look at Lily who seemed to blush and lower her gaze to her hands in her lap.
“非常感谢各位能在如此仓促的情况下来参加本次会议。”邓布利多开始说话了，“我明白在座中大概有许多人不得不为此匆忙取消或者重新调整原先的计划和安排，所以我不会占用大家太久的时间。”他说着意味深长地看了莉莉一眼，后者脸色微微一红，低头盯住放在膝上的手。
"It's okay, Lils, no one else noticed." Sirius joked quietly to her.
“放心吧，莉丝，没人瞧见。”小天狼星悄声对莉莉开了个玩笑。
Lily threw him a sharp look but didn't say anything.
莉莉闻言狠狠瞪了他一眼，却没说什么。
"As you all are aware, there have been a number of attacks on Death Eaters in the past year." Dumbledore continued. "It's been confirmed that these Death Eaters killed were inner circle members. Since neither the Ministry nor the Order has taken responsibility for these attacks, it leads to the question of the identity of this attacker." The room was silent, every eye on Dumbledore. "The most recent attack was carried out last night. A Death Eater named Jason Riley was killed in his home. The Ministry claim not to be responsible and we know that the Order wasn't responsible. It leads to the question of who is tracking down these Death Eaters and killing them." Dumbledore finished sounding concerned.
“正如大家所知，去年发生了多起针对食死徒的袭击。”邓布利多继续说，“可以确证的是，这些被杀的食死徒都属于他们圈子里的核心成员。但问题就在于袭击者的身份——袭击者既不属于魔法部，也不是社里的成员。”
房间里更安静了，每个人都紧盯着邓布利多，等着他的下一句话。
“最近的一起袭击发生在昨晚，一个名叫杰森·莱利的食死徒在他自己的家里被杀了。魔法部声称对此毫不知情，而我们也都知道这并非社里的成员所为。所以问题来了，一直以来，追踪这些食死徒、并且杀掉他们的人究竟是谁呢？”
"What does it matter?" Moody asked in his gruff voice. "Whoever this is, they are killing Death Eaters. They are helping us. Why should this be a cause of worry?"
“那又有什么关系？”穆迪粗声粗气地问道，“无论是谁干的，他们对付的是食死徒，毫无疑问帮了我们大忙，有什么值得担心的？”
A few murmured their agreement to Moody's statement.
不少人喃喃地出声赞同，显然是抱着和穆迪一样的看法。
"It is a cause of worry since we don't know who is doing this and for what reason." Dumbledore explained.
“值得担心的正在于，这么做的人究竟是谁，以及他、或者他们为什么要这么做。”邓布利多解释道。
"Maybe there is another secret society formed, like the Order. Maybe someone has formed another group to fight against You-Know-Who and they are targeting Death Eaters." Tonks offered.
“说不定是又一个秘密组织成立了，就像凤凰社一样。也许正有人带着另一个组织为了抗击神秘人而战，而他们主要针对的就是他手下的食死徒。”唐克斯提出。
"That may be a possibility." Dumbledore inclined his head in her direction. "However, I think it would be in our best interest to find out the truth of this matter as soon as possible."
“不排除这种可能。”邓布利多朝着她的方向点了点头，“不过我认为，尽快查清这件事的真相才是最保险的。”
Lily noticed that there was something Dumbledore wasn't saying. She had spent a lot of time with Dumbledore, firstly as a student and then as an Order member and finally as a member of his staff, to see that the age old wizard was hesitating to say what was on his mind.
莉莉意识到邓布利多还保留着什么——她和邓布利多打了太久的交道，从他的学生做到他社里的成员，又接任他属下的教职，见多了这位老巫师顾虑多多、不肯把话说明白的样子。
"Dumbledore, is there more?" she asked.
“邓布利多，还有其他线索吗？”她问道。
Dumbledore looked at Lily and his blue eyes fixed to her for a moment. With a sigh, he began.
邓布利多深深地看了莉莉一眼，那双蓝眼睛在她身上停留了片刻才离去。他叹了口气，重新开口了。
"I have a suspicion, and at this point that is all it is, but from reading the case reports on the deaths, I think Voldemort may be responsible."
“我心里的确有某种猜测，也只是猜测——但从这些死亡事件的报告来看，我认为这些事和伏地魔脱不了干系。”
There was a sudden intake of breath at the mention of the Dark Lord's name. Dumbledore gave a mental sigh. How many times had he told them that fear of a name was just plain silly. Voldemort wasn't going to appear if you said his name out loud.
一提起黑魔王的名字，房间里的人们纷纷倒抽了一口冷气。邓布利多忍不住在心里叹了口气：他说过无数遍了，害怕一个名字是何等愚蠢的行为——伏地魔又不会因为你喊了他的名字就跳出来。
"Why do you think that?" McGonagall asked, composing herself the best she could.
“你为什么会这么想？”麦格努力让自己保持镇定。
"As I have said, it is only a suspicion. What I do know for a fact is that if Voldemort's men were being targeted and killed like this, he would not be sitting back and allowing it to continue. From the reports we have, it doesn't suggest that Voldemort is concerned with these killings. On the contrary, he seems to be happy with the demise of these men. It makes me think that these men may have wronged Voldemort in some way and so he has arranged to have them killed." Dumbledore turned to look at Snape. "Severus, I have to ask you to try and find as much information as you can. I have a list of all the names of the deceased Death Eaters. See if you can find out what mission they were a part of before they died. See if they upset Voldemort in any way."
“正如我刚才所说，这只是一种猜测。我唯一能确定的是，假使伏地魔的人这样不断被人针对，甚至被杀，他绝不会坐视不理的。但目前我们能看到的一切迹象都显示，伏地魔似乎对这些杀戮漠不关心——事实正相反，他似乎对目前发生的这一切十分满意。这就让我产生了这样一种想法：也许这些人都在某种程度上触怒了他，于是伏地魔就给了他们相应的处刑。”邓布利多转向斯内普，“西弗勒斯，我恐怕需要你尽可能地去探知更多消息。我这里有一份所有被杀食死徒的名单，你需要做的就是尽力查清他们死之前参与了什么任务，是否曾触怒过伏地魔。”
Dumbledore passed the parchment onto Snape who took it but didn't look at it. His dark eyes were fixed on Dumbledore.
邓布利多将羊皮纸交给了斯内普，后者接了下来，却没有去看，而是用他那双黑漆漆的眼睛注视着邓布利多。
"That is all for today. I thank you for your patience." Dumbledore finished with a polite nod at everyone.
“今天到此为止。感谢各位耐心听到了现在。”邓布利多对着众人点了点头，结束了会议。
James stood up from his chair as did the rest. His head was spinning with the news.
詹姆和其他人一样从椅子上站了起来，但事实上，他的大脑还被这一连串的信息搅得晕晕乎乎的。
"What do you reckon?" Sirius asked. "Do you think it's another secret society or Voldemort has just decided to get rid of his old followers in favour of new ones?"
“伙计，你怎么看？”小天狼星问，“你觉得这意味着又一个秘密组织成立了，还是说伏地魔终于受够了他老掉牙的班子，打算换套新的？”
"They're Death Eaters not clothes that need to be replaced!" Lily said annoyed at Sirius.
“劳驾先生，你在谈论的是食死徒，不是什么说换就换的衣服！”莉莉忍不住对小天狼星发火了。
"Yeah, but like that monster can tell the difference." Sirius replied.
“是啊，就像在那怪物眼里它们有什么区别似的。”小天狼星回道。
"It does seem strange." James said, deep in thought.
“我觉得这件事有些奇怪。”詹姆还沉浸在原先的思绪中。
"I'm with Moody. I don't think we should care who is killing them, as long as it's Death Eaters he's killing, we should be grateful." Sirius continued, walking his friends to the fireplace. He had nowhere to go as the Headquarters was his home.
“我赞同穆迪。我不觉得咱们该关心谁干掉了他们——只要他杀的是食死徒，咱们就该谢谢他帮大忙了。”小天狼星说着把他的朋友们送到壁炉前。总部就设在他的家里，所以他哪儿也不必去。
James didn't say anything. He silently agreed with Dumbledore though. If Voldemort was concerned about the death of his men, he would be doing something about it. The fact that he wasn't could only mean that he was the one ordering the killings. But the question was, why?
詹姆什么都没说。实际上他心里默默赞同着邓布利多的想法：假如伏地魔真在乎他的手下被杀，他肯定会采取措施——他不这么做的唯一理由，就是这些杀戮本来就是出于他的命令。
但问题是，为什么呢？
作者有话说
第3章 Chapter 3: Strange Killings（怪异的杀戮）
