Dumbledore slipped the Put-Outer back inside his cloak and set off down the street toward number four, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat. He didn't look at it, but after a moment he spoke to it.

"Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall."

He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled.

"How did you know it was me?" she asked.

"My dear Professor, I 've never seen a cat sit so stiffly."

"You'd be stiff if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day," said Professor McGonagall.

"All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here."

Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily.

"Oh yes, everyone's celebrating, all right," she said impatiently. "You'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no -- even the Muggles have noticed something's going on. It was on their news." She jerked her head back at the Dursleys' dark living-room window. "I heard it. Flocks of owls... shooting stars.... Well, they're not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent -- I'll bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense."

"You can't blame them," said Dumbledore gently. "We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years."

"I know that," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "But that's no reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes, swapping rumors."

She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to tell her something, but he didn't, so she went on. "A fine thing it would be if, on the very day YouKnow-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all. I suppose he really has gone, Dumbledore?"

"It certainly seems so," said Dumbledore. "We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a lemon drop?"

"A what?"

"A lemon drop. They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather fond of"

"No, thank you," said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn't think this was the moment for lemon drops. "As I say, even if You-Know-Who has gone -"

"My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name? All this 'You- Know-Who' nonsense -- for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: Voldemort." Professor McGonagall flinched, but Dumbledore, who was unsticking two lemon drops, seemed not to notice. "It all gets so confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who.' I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort's name.

"I know you haven 't, said Professor McGonagall, sounding half exasperated, half admiring. "But you're different. Everyone knows you're the only one You-Know- oh, all right, Voldemort, was frightened of."

"You flatter me," said Dumbledore calmly. "Voldemort had powers I will never have."

"Only because you're too -- well -- noble to use them."

"It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs."

Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said, "The owls are nothing next to the rumors that are flying around. You know what everyone's saying? About why he's disappeared? About what finally stopped him?"

丹伯多把打火机收好，径直走到四号门，坐到了墙上那只猫旁边。他没看那只猫，但不久他说话了："很高兴见到你，麦康娜教授。"他转过身去对它微笑，但是那只猫不见了。他在向一个长相严肃的女人微笑，那个女人戴的眼镜的形状与那只猫眼睛周围的花纹一模一样。她也拿着一件绿色的披风，她乌黑的头发被紧紧地扎成一束。她看上去很生气。

　　"你知道我的名字？"她问道。

　　"亲爱的教授，我从未见过一只猫坐得这么老实的。""你也会这样坐的，如果你是成天坐在一面砖石墙上。"麦康娜教授说。

　　"整天？你应该去庆祝才是。我今天来的时候一路上不知道有多少派对和大餐呢。"麦康娜教授不高兴地哼了一声。

　　"没错，每个人都在庆祝。"她不耐烦地说。"你一定认为他们已经很小心了，不是的——即使是马格人都意识到有事发生了，他们还报导出来了。"她回头去看杜斯利夫妇黑呼呼的窗口。"我听到了，成群的猫头鹰……流星雨……他们真是太愚蠢了。人们肯定会注意到的。肯特郡的流星雨——我敢打赌是丹德拉斯。迪哥干的。

　　他从来就爱干没意义的事。""你不能怪他们。"丹伯多缓缓地说。"我们已经几年没有好好庆祝过了。""我知道。"麦康娜教授有点儿生气。"但是没理由搞到连命都丢掉。他们真是太粗心了，包括穿着马格衣服的人，居然大白天在大街上说长道短。"她斜眼膘了丹伯多一眼，好像希望他能说点什么，但是他没开口，于是她继续说："最好是这样，在'那个人'消失的那一天，马格人就知道关于我们的所有事情。我想他是真的离开了，是吗？""一定是的。"丹伯多说。"我们要感激的太多了。你想要来一杯冻柠檬汁吗？""一杯什么？"

　　"一杯冻柠檬汁。这是我非常喜欢的一种马格甜品。""不用了，"麦康娜教授冷冷地回答，好像她认为还没到喝什么柠檬汁的时候。

　　"就我看，即使是'那个人'已经离开了……"

　　"亲爱的教授，像你这样聪明的人都会这样称呼他吗？'那个人'这算什么名字——十一年来我一直试着说服人们称呼他的真名：福尔得摩特。"麦康娜教授有点理亏。但正在剥柠檬的艾伯斯。

　　丹伯多好像没留意到。"如果我们老是叫'那个人'就会搞得很混乱。直呼福尔得摩特的名字没有什么好害怕的。""我知道你没有。"麦康娜教授说，听上去半生气半羡慕似的。

　　"但是你不同。每个人都知道你是'那个人——'不对，福尔得摩特——唯一害怕的人。""真是抬举我了。"丹伯多冷静地说，"福尔得摩特拥有我没有的力量。""只是因为你不屑于去用它们罢了。"

　　"还好这是晚上。自从波姆弗雷夫人称赞我的御寒耳罩以来，找就从未脸红过了。"麦康娜教授看了丹伯多一眼说道："猫头鹰在今天的新闻中根本算不了什么。

你知道人们怎么说吗？关于他为什么失踪以及是什么制止了他？