September 10th, 1951

Dumbledore—

邓布利多——

Lo, it is I. Your old friend, Gellert Grindelwald. Your surprise at receiving this, believe me, is somewhat less than my surprise at writing it. Still, I go where I will, do what I will, as you well know.

嘿，是我。你的老朋友，盖勒特·格林沃德。相信我，你收到这封信的惊讶程度不会比我开始动笔写下这封信时的惊讶多。不过，你知道的，我想去哪就去哪，想做什么就做什么喽。

I hope this finds you in good time, especially after all that bragging I've heard about England's owls. The birds do not fly easy around Nurmengard's tower. The storms pour down off the mountains like floods. I'm twenty feet under the lightning rod, and, oh, the crackles it makes when the cloud fronts break, like the whole castle's under Cruciatus. Huge anvils in the sky with the thunder hammering down from them through the night of boiling pitch, and when the clouds part it's the werewolf moons of the North coming in through the bars. It's beautiful. Though not to your taste, I assume; too uncivilized.

我希望你能尽快收到这封信，毕竟，在听说过那些对英国猫头鹰的吹嘘之后。这些鸟要靠近纽蒙伽德并不容易。暴雨像洪水一般从山顶倾盆而下。我就在距塔顶避雷针下面20英尺的地方，所以，哦，当闪电撕裂云层时，整个塔像被施了钻心咒。巨大的铁砧伴随着雷声砸进滚沸的如沥青般浓重的夜色，最后，云层散尽，狼人之月在北方升起，清冷的月辉从铁窗中洒进。这很美。虽然这不符合你的审美，我觉得；太粗蛮了。

You're no doubt staring down your nose at this, letter and bedraggled owl both. (She likes white mice.) Are you really surprised, old friend, that I'd have the stomach to write to you, even after everything that happened? You shouldn't be. This is dear old Gellert, you should say. Bagshot's German pest. Never leaves me alone, even now that he's sitting in prison all day with nothing better to do. My much-lauded gold is going grey, Albus, imagine that! Still, I must say, as prisons go, the stonework is exquisite. Good of me to encourage the masons so, if curses could be considered encouragement, and they left the magic scars like jagged ivy in the granite, very pretty. Enjoy the irony. Old. Friend. Locked in my own prison.

你现在一定在轻蔑地盯着鼻子底下的这封信和凌乱滴水的猫头鹰。（她爱吃小白鼠。）老朋友，你一定很惊讶吧？在所有的一切发生过之后，我竟然还有胃口给你写信。你不必惊讶。这是你亲爱的老盖勒特——你应该这么称呼我了——那个巴沙特家的德国佬。别抛下我一个人，即使他现在整日坐在监狱里无所事事。我那被广为称赞的金发开始变灰，阿不思，想想吧！不过，我还是要提一句，监狱的石墙堪称精美——我如此称赞这些石匠，如果诅咒也算称赞的一种——他们留下的魔法痕迹像花岗石上蜿蜒的常春藤藤蔓，非常漂亮。哈哈，多么讽刺，老朋友。我被锁在自己的监狱中。

You still at that school of yours? Enjoying teaching, I hope? Reading plenty? Eating well? Taking good care of It? You'd better be.

你还是在你们的那个学校？教书的感觉很好吧，希望是这样？读了很多书么？吃的还不错吧？还好好保管着它吗？你最好是。

Give my regards to that mad bird of yours. Hope I didn't kill him too much.

向你们的疯鸟致以最诚挚的歉意。希望我没有伤得它太重。

Listen to me. Hope. Hope. With the mold gathering on the walls of my cell. Laugh at me, Albus. Go on hating me like you always have. Enjoy yourself.

听我说，但愿你在听，但愿，在我那渐渐爬满霉菌的牢房中期冀着。嘲笑我吧，阿不思，继续恨我吧，像你一直如此。祝好。

译者注：

1 Lo：look，写信的语气词，也有一说是lover。

2 它：指老魔杖。