"J .K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rowling J. K)

But then, with a very faint pop, a slim, hooded figure appeared out of thin air
on the edge of the river. The fox froze, wary eyes fixed upon this strange new
phenomenon. The figure seemed to take its bearings for a few moments, then
set off with light, quick strides, its long cloak rustling over the grass.
With a second and louder pop, another hooded figure materialized.
"Wait!"
The harsh cry startled the fox, now crouching almost flat in the undergrowth. It
leapt from its hiding place and up the bank. There was a flash of green light, a

12
yelp, and the fox fell back to the ground, dead.
The second figure turned over the animal with its toe.
"Just a fox," said a woman's voice dismissively from under the hood. "I thought
perhaps an Auror тАФ Cissy, wait!"
But her quarry, who had paused and looked back at the flash of light, was al-
ready scrambling up the bank the fox had just fallen down.
"Cissy тАФ Narcissa тАФ listen to me тАФ "
The second woman caught the first and seized her arm, but the other wrenched
it away.
"Go back, Bella!"
"You must listen to me!"
"I've listened already. I've made my decision. Leave me alone!"
The woman named Narcissa gained the top of the bank, where a line of old
railings separated the river from a narrow, cobbled street. The other woman,
Bella, followed at once. Side by side they stood looking across the road at the
rows and rows of dilapidated brick houses, their windows dull and blind in the
darkness.
"He lives here?" asked Bella in a voice of contempt. "Here? In this Muggle
dunghill? We must be the first of our kind ever to set foot тАФ "
But Narcissa was not listening; she had slipped through a gap in the rusty rail-
ings and was already hurrying across the road.
"Cissy, wait!"
Bella followed, her cloak streaming behind, and saw Narcissa darting through
an alley between the houses into a second, almost identical street. Some of the
streetlamps were broken; the two women were running between patches of
light and deep darkness. The pursuer caught up with her prey just as she
turned another corner, this time succeeding in catching hold of her arm and
swinging her around so that they faced each other.
"Cissy, you must not do this, you can't trust him тАФ "
"The Dark Lord trusts him, doesn't he?"
"The Dark Lord is... I believe... mistaken," Bella panted, and her eyes gleamed
momentarily under her hood as she looked around to check that they were in-
deed alone. "In any case, we were told not to speak of the plan to anyone. This
is a betrayal of the Dark Lord's тАФ "
"Let go, Bella!" snarled Narcissa, and she drew a wand from beneath her cloak,
holding it threateningly in the other's face. Bella merely laughed.
"Cissy, your own sister? You wouldn't тАФ "
"There is nothing I wouldn't do anymore!" Narcissa breathed, a note of hysteria
in her voice, and as she brought down the wand like a knife, there was another
flash of light. Bella let go of her sister's arm as though burned.