September 10th, 1951

Dumbledore—

鄧布利多——

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，蓋勒特·格林沃德。相信我，你收到這封信的驚訝程度不會比我開始動筆寫下這封信時的驚訝多。不過，你知道的，我想去哪就去哪，想做什么就做什么嘍。

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.

我希望你能盡快收到這封信，畢竟，在聽說過那些對英國貓頭鷹的吹噓之后。這些鳥要靠近紐蒙伽德并不容易。暴雨像洪水一般從山頂傾盆而下。我就在距塔頂避雷針下面20英尺的地方，所以，哦，當閃電撕裂云層時，整個塔像被施了鉆心咒。巨大的鐵砧伴隨著雷聲砸進滾沸的如瀝青般濃重的夜色，最后，云層散盡，狼人之月在北方升起，清冷的月輝從鐵窗中灑進。這很美。雖然這不符合你的審美，我覺得；太粗蠻了。

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.

你現在一定在輕蔑地盯著鼻子底下的這封信和凌亂滴水的貓頭鷹。（她愛吃小白鼠。）老朋友，你一定很驚訝吧？在所有的一切發生過之后，我竟然還有胃口給你寫信。你不必驚訝。這是你親愛的老蓋勒特——你應該這么稱呼我了——那個巴沙特家的德國佬。別拋下我一個人，即使他現在整日坐在監獄里無所事事。我那被廣為稱贊的金發開始變灰，阿不思，想想吧！不過，我還是要提一句，監獄的石墻堪稱精美——我如此稱贊這些石匠，如果詛咒也算稱贊的一種——他們留下的魔法痕跡像花崗石上蜿蜒的常春藤藤蔓，非常漂亮。哈哈，多么諷刺，老朋友。我被鎖在自己的監獄中。

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

你還是在你們的那個學校？教書的感覺很好吧，希望是這樣？讀了很多書么？吃的還不錯吧？還好好保管著它嗎？你最好是。

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

向你們的瘋鳥致以最誠摯的歉意。希望我沒有傷得它太重。

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.

聽我說，但愿你在聽，但愿，在我那漸漸爬滿霉菌的牢房中期冀著。嘲笑我吧，阿不思，繼續恨我吧，像你一直如此。祝好。

譯者注：

1 Lo：look，寫信的語氣詞，也有一說是lover。

2 它：指老魔杖。