（HP同人）secrets（英文版）分節閱讀 1

小说载在KAAIZW.COM---卡爱中文整理

【收藏卡愛中文，防止丢失阅读度】

附：【本作品自互联网,本任何负责】容版权归作者所有!

Chapter One

Harry sat, staring out his window. It had become his habit over the previous two weeks. Sleep was elusive and when he did sleep, he was often plagued by nightmares. His mind simply did not want to shut down.

It was only the middle of June, and he should’ve still been at Hogwarts. Yet he’d already been at the Dursleys for two weeks, spending his required time for the blood protection. He’d done nothing but think during that time. He had far too many questions and too few answers. He constantly worked through every piece of information that he did have, hoping to make some sense out of everything. So far, he wasn’t having much luck and it was frustrating beyond belief.

Staring into the dark night, he suddenly froze. He stared harder at the shadows at the end of the street. Seconds later, he was sure of what he’d seen. Someone had just Apparated onto Privet Drive. Watching closely, he tried to determine if it was friend or foe. It was difficult to tell because, whoever it was, they were extremely adept at sticking to the shadows.

They may have been good at keeping to the shadows, but Harry quickly realized that they weren’t being overly cautious. They seemed to be in a great hurry. Moments later, they were highlighted by the soft lights coming from one of the houses as they crept closer to check the house number.

Harry stiffened in shock, recognizing Death Eater robes. Judging from what little he’d seen, there was only one person and he’d bet anything they were looking for him. As they turned away from the light, Harry caught a glimpse of platinum-blonde hair. There was only one person it could be.

After a split-second of indecision, Harry was out of his bedroom and down the stairs. He opened the front door quietly and just enough for him to slip through.

“Potter?”

“Malfoy,” Harry spat. “What are you doing?” He was spitting out the words even as his eyes searched for the figure he’d seen from his window. He quickly spotted Malfoy in the shadows at the edge of the property.

“Potter? Oh, thank Merlin,” Malfoy murmured.

Harry frowned, not understanding why Malfoy should be thankful to see him. “How’d you find me?” he demanded.

“Anyone can find you, but that’s not important right now,” Malfoy snapped. “I need your help.”

“You need my help?” Harry asked incredulously. “You’re my enemy, Malfoy!”

“I know that,” Malfoy spat. “But I need you to take her.”

He stepped out of the deeper shadows so that Harry could see him better, and Harry’s eyes widened, not realizing the horror he was projecting. What Harry could see was a figure in Death Eater robes, holding something small, and moving, wrapped in robes. It was too eerily similar to what Harry had witnessed in the graveyard. Suddenly, Malfoy seemed far more dangerous and Harry began backing away.

“Stay away, Malfoy!” Harry shouted as forcefully as he could.

“Keep your voice down,” Malfoy hissed.

Harry swallowed hard. They may have been in a Muggle neighbourhood, in the middle of the night, but he was beyond caring.

Malfoy frowned, glancing down at the bundle he was holding before looking back at Harry in confusion. “What’s your problem now, Potter?”

“What is that?” Harry asked, cursing himself as he heard the fear bleeding into his voice.

“It’s a baby, Potter,” Malfoy retorted. “You’ve faced the Dark Lord. I never expected you to be scared of a helpless baby.”

“Prove it,” Harry whispered, staring at the bundle of robes.

Malfoy’s frown deepened, but he obliged by pulling the robes aside to show the baby he was holding.

Harry exhaled heavily, closing his eyes briefly before snapping them open again. “What are you playing at, Malfoy? Why do you have a baby? And why are you here?” he added.

Malfoy seemed to snap back into reality himself and glanced around fearfully. “I don’t have time to explain everything,” he said hurriedly. “I need you to take her and keep her safe. They’ve probably already killed the rest of her family. I managed to get her out of there, but they’ll notice if I don’t get back soon.”

Harry finally registered the fact that Malfoy was more jittery than he’d ever seen him. The calm, collected Slytherin Harry knew appeared to be falling apart before his eyes.

“Come, take her, Potter,” Malfoy said, his tone sounding anxious rather than demanding. “I can’t pass the wards.”

“What’s wrong with her?” Harry asked warily.

Malfoy looked down at the little girl in his arms. “I had to put a Silencing Charm on her so she wouldn’t alert everyone. Otherwise, I think she’s all right. I hope so, anyway,” he added softly.

Harry shook his head, trying to decide if he had fallen asleep after all and this was just a strange dream. He watched warily as Malfoy moved to take out his wand, keeping his own wand trained on the boy behaving so strangely.

Malfoy simply cast the spell to lift the Silencing Charm before quickly stuffing his wand back in his pocket and trying to quiet the screaming baby. The screams were loud in the quiet of the night. “Potter, help,” he said pleadingly.

“I don’t know how to take care of a baby,” Harry said nervously.

“I don’t either, but you have to take her,” Malfoy begged. “I don’t have anywhere else to take her. Potter, I have to go.”

With a growing sense of detachment from reality, Harry walked to the edge of the property and took the crying baby from Malfoy’s arms.

Malfoy looked at him in relief. “I’ll try to come back in the morning. It should be safe then. Don’t tell anyone anything or she’ll likely be killed.”

With that, he disappeared with a distinct “pop”. Harry stared in disbelief at the spot where Malfoy had been just moments before. What the bloody hell had just happened?

A louder wail disrupted his thoughts and Harry hurried back to the house with a baby in his arms.

“Boy! What is the meaning of this?” Vernon bellowed, stomping down the stairs even as Harry stepped back into the house.

“I don’t know,” Harry snapped. He was not in the mood to deal with his relatives. Hearing a creaking sound, he glanced up and saw Petunia and Dudley staring down at him in amazement.

“You don’t know?” Vernon said dangerously. His eyes narrowed in on the baby Harry was holding. “Do not tell me they’ve dropped off another one of you freaks on our doorstep. We are not taking in another one.”

“Don’t worry, I wouldn’t let that happen even if you were willing,” Harry shouted angrily, causing the baby to cry harder.

“Shut that thing up!” Vernon shouted furiously.

“I don’t know how!” Harry said helplessly.

Harry held the baby to his shoulder and bounced her gently. He’d seen people doing it before, so it must work to help calm babies down. At least, that was his hope.

He continued to stand there listening to his uncle berate him and the baby crying. He watched Aunt Petunia disappear into the kitchen, only wishing that he could disappear as well. His mind was swirling with questions, and he couldn’t seem to grasp what had just happened.

He was further shocked when his aunt returned with a bottle for the baby and shooed her husband and son back to bed. They didn’t go willingly, but she pointed out that if they wanted quiet, then she was going to do something about it. She didn’t take the baby from Harry, and in fact looked at the baby with distaste, but she did show Harry how to correctly hold and feed her.

Harry relaxed slightly into the chair as blessed silence fell over the house again. The only sounds were the slurping of the baby drinking.

“Where did she come from?”