Harry Potter and the philosopher's stone: Chapter Two

Vitrum Evanescens CAPUT ALTERUM -3

After lunch they went to the reptile house.
post prandium adierunt domum reptilium .

It was cool and dark in there,
ibi frigidum erat et tenebrosum ,

with lit windows all along the walls.
fenestris illuminatis secundum muros .

Behind the glass,
post vitrum ,

all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone.
lacertae et angues omnis generis serpebant et labebantur supra ligna quaedam et lapides .

Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge,poisonous cobras and thick,
dudley et piers volebant videre ingentes colubras venenatas et pingues pythones ,

man-crushing pythons.
hominum oppressores .

Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the place.
dudley celeriter anguem invenit qui maximus ibi inclusus est .

It could have wrapped its body twice around Uncle Vernon's car and crushed it into a trash can -
ille poterat se bis implicare autocineto avunculi vernon et id compellere in receptaculum sordium domesticarum -

but at the moment it didn't look in the mood.
sed eo momento id facere velle non videbatur .

In fact, it was fast asleep.
re vera arte dormiebat .

Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass,
dudley stabat naso contra vitrum presso ,

staring at the glistening brown coils.
spiras intuens fuscas et splendentes .

"Make it move," he whined at his father.
fac ut moveatur ,' questus patrem oravit .

Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass,
avunculus vernon leviter vitrum pulsavit ,

but the snake didn't budge.
sed anguis noluit se movere .

"Do it again," Dudley ordered.
'pulsa iterum ,' dudley iussit .

Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles,
avunculus vernon vitrum fortiter condylis percussit ,

but the snake just snoozed on.
sed anguis nihilominus dormiebat .

"This is boring," Dudley moaned. He shuffled away.
'me taedet ,' ingemuit dudley et passibus lentis aberravit .

Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake.
harrius ante cisternam prodiit et anguem intente contemplavit .

He wouldn't have been surprised if it had died of boredom itself -
non miratus esset si ipse taedio mortuus esset -

no company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long.
sine comitatu solus relictus nisi a stultis per totum diem vitrum digitis pulsantibus ut eum vexarent .

It was worse than having a cupboard as a bedroom,
peius erat quam in armario dormire ,

where the only visitor was Aunt Petunia hammering on the door to wake you up;
a nullo visitatus nisi a matertera petunia ianuam feriente ut te excitaret -

at least he got to visit the rest of the house.
ipsi saltem licebat aliquando reliquam domum visitare .

The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes.
anguis ocellos splendentes subito aperuit .

Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry's.
lente , lentissime , caput sustulit dum oculi oculos harrii adaequaverunt .

It winked.
nictatus est .

Harry stared.
harrius oculos defixit .

Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching.
tum celeriter circumspexit ne quis spectaret .

They weren't.
nemo spectabat .

He looked back at the snake and winked, too.
anguem respexit et nictatus est ipse .

The snake jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley,
anguis subito motu caput vertit ad avunculurn vernon et dudleum ,

then raised its eyes to the ceiling.
tum oculos sursum ad tectum sustulit .

It gave Harry a look that said quite plainly:
harrium ita contemplavit quasi manifeste diceret :

"I get that all the time."
'id semper patior .'

"I know," Harry murmured through the glass,
'novi ,' per vitrum harrius mussavit ,

though he wasn't sure the snake could hear him.
quamquam nesciebat an anguis se audire posset ,

"It must be really annoying."
'debet molestum esse .'

The snake nodded vigorously.
anguis fortiter adnuit .

"Where do you come from, anyway?" Harry asked.
'at ubinam natus es ?' rogavit harrius .

The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Harry peered at it.
anguis cauda titulum parvum iuxta vitrum positum fodicavit .

Boa Constrictor, Brazil.
boa constrictor , brasilia .

"Was it nice there?"
'an iucundum ibi erat ?'

The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry read on:
boa constrictor titulum rursus cauda fodicavit et harrius plura legit :

This specimen was bred in the zoo.
hoc exemplum in saepta ferarum natum est .

"Oh, I see -
'intellego -

so you've never been to Brazil?"
itaque nunquam in brasilia fuisti ?'

As the snake shook its head,
angue abnuente ,

a deafening shout behind Harry made both of them jump.
clamor ingens post harrium ortus utrumque perterruit .

"DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY!
'DUDLEY ! DOMINE DURSLEY !

COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE!
HUC VENITE HUNC ANGUEM INSPECTURI !

YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!"
NUNQUAM CREDETIS QUID FACIAT !'

Dudley came waddling toward them as fast as he could.
dudley ad eos quam celerrime anatis modo incessit .

"Out of the way, you," he said,
'heus , noli me obstare ,' inquit ,

punching Harry in the ribs.
harrium in pectore fodicans .

Caught by surprise,
ex improviso oppressus ,

Harry fell hard on the concrete floor.
harrius in pavimentum concretum graviter concidit .

What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened -
quod proxime accidit tam celeriter factum est ut nemo videre posset quomodo fieret .

one second, Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass,
piers et dudley modo proxime adstantes ad vitrum se inclinabant ,

the next, they had leapt back with howls of horror.
modo clamoribus horrendis resiluerant .

Harry sat up and gasped;
harrius sedere coepit et anhelavit ;

the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished.
frons vitrea cisternae boae constrictoris evanuerat .

The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor.
anguis ingens rapide evolvebatur et in pavimentum elabebatur -

People throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits.
passim per domum reptilium orti sunt clamores exitus celeriter petentium .

As the snake slid swiftly past him, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said,
harrius angue cito praeterlabente iurare potuit se audivisse vocem summissam et sibilantem ,

"Brazil, here I come. . . . Thanksss, amigo."
'iter in brasiliam facio ... tibi gratiasss ago , amigo .'

The keeper of the reptile house was in shock.
curator domus reptilium obstupefactus est .

"But the glass," he kept saying, "where did the glass go?"
'sed vitrum ,' dictitabat , 'quo tandem vitrum abiit ?'

The zoo director himself made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong, sweet tea while he apologized over and over again.
moderator saepti ferarum ipse fecit theanam potionem fortem et dulcem materterae petuniae dum iterum atque iterum sese excusat .

Piers and Dudley could only gibber.
piers et dudley nil poterant facere nisi stridorem edere .

As far as Harry had seen,
quod harrius viderat ,

the snake hadn't done anything except snap playfully at their heels as it passed,
anguis praeteriens ludibundus modo calces eorum hianti ore petiverat ,

but by the time they were all back in Uncle Vernon's car,
sed cum omnes ad autocinetum avunculi vernon rediissent ,

Dudley was telling them how it had nearly bitten off his leg,
dudley narrabat quomodo paene crus suum demorsisset .

while Piers was swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death.
piers autem iurabat eum conatum esse se premendo interficere .

But worst of all,
sed quod pessimum erat ,

for Harry at least,
quantum ad harrium quidem attinebat ,

was Piers calming down enough to say,
piers satis tranquillus fiebat ut diceret ,

"Harry was talking to it, weren't you, Harry?"
'harrius cum eo colloquebatur . itane , ham ?'

Uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before starting on Harry.
avunculus vernon , moratus dum piers sine iniuria domo discederet , harrium vituperabat .

He was so angry he could hardly speak.
adeo iratus est ut vix loqui posset .

He managed to say,
haec verba modo edidit ,

"Go - cupboard - stay - no meals,"
'abi - armarium - maneto - sine cibo ,'

before he collapsed into a chair, and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy.
antequam in sellam collapsus est et matertera petunia debuit festinare ut ei afferret potionem magnam coniaci .

Harry lay in his dark cupboard much later,
multo postea harrius in armario tenebroso iacebat ,

wishing he had a watch.
horologium desiderans .

He didn't know what time it was and he couldn't be sure the Dursleys were asleep yet.
nesciebat quota hora esset nec pro certo habebat dursleos iam dormire .

Until they were,
nam priusquam illi dormierunt ,

he couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food.
ipse non ausus est furtim in culinam ire ut aliquid cibi quaereret .

He'd lived with the Dursleys almost ten years,
paene decem annos cum dursleis vixerat ,

ten miserable years,
decem miseros annos ,

as long as he could remember,
tam diu quam meminisse potuit ,

ever since he'd been a baby and his parents had died in that car crash.
ex quo infans fuit et parentes interfecti sunt illa collisione autocinetorum .

He couldn't remember being in the car when his parents had died.
non potuit meminisse se in autocineto fuisse ubi parentes mortui essent .

Sometimes, when he strained his memory during long hours in his cupboard,
aliquando , cum memoriam intenderet diutissime in armario inclusus ,

he came up with a strange vision:
occurrit ei visum mirabile :

a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain on his forehead.
fulgor lucis viridis oculos occaecans et dolor ardens frontis .

This, he supposed, was the crash,
haec erat , ut arbitrabatur , collisio ,

though he couldn't imagine where all the green light came from.
quamquam non potuit imaginari unde orta esset omnis illa lux viridis .

He couldn't remember his parents at all.
haudquaquam poterat meminisse parentum .

His aunt and uncle never spoke about them,
matertera et avunculus nunquam de eis locuti sunt ,

and of course he was forbidden to ask questions.
et ipse nimirum vetitus erat curiosus esse .

There were no photographs of them in the house.
domi nullae erant imagines eorum photographicae .

When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed and dreamed of some unknown relation coming to take him away,
harrius , cum natu minor fuisset , semper somniabat propinquum aliquem ignotum venisse qui se abduceret ,

but it had never happened;
sed nunquam factum erat ;

the Dursleys were his only family.
propinquos nullos habebat nisi dursleos .

Yet sometimes he thought (or maybe hoped) that strangers in the street seemed to know him.
interdum tamen arbitratus est (aut fortasse speravit ) advenas quibus casu obviam ibat videri se novisse ,

Very strange strangers they were, too.
advenas mirissimi generis .

A tiny man in a violet top hat had bowed to him once while out shopping with Aunt Petunia and Dudley.
olim homunculus petasum violaceum et cylindratum gerens eum capite inclinando salutaverat dum ad mercatum it cum matertera petunia et dudleo .

After asking Harry furiously if he knew the man,
matertera petunia cum furibunda harrium rogavisset num hominem novisset ,

Aunt Petunia had rushed them out of the shop without buying anything.
eos e taberna festinare coegit priusquam quidquam emerent .

A wild-looking old woman dressed all in green had waved merrily at him once on a bus.
olim anus , barbara visu , viridi tecta vestitu in laophorio eum manu iactanda salutaverat .

A bald man in a very long purple coat had actually shaken his hand in the street the other day and then walked away without a word.
nuper calvus quidam pallio longissimo et purpureo in via manum arripuerat tunc abierat nihil locutus .

The weirdest thing about all these people was the way they seemed to vanish the second Harry tried to get a closer look.
hoc genus omne , id quod mirissimum erat , visum est evanescere simul ac harrius conatus est eos propius inspicere .

At school, Harry had no one.
in schola , harrius nullos habebat amicos .

Everybody knew that Dudley's gang hated that odd Harry Potter in his baggy old clothes and broken glasses,
omnes enim sciebant gregem dudleanum odisse harrium potterum , puerum illum novi generis , veste sordida et soluta , fractis perspicillis

and nobody liked to disagree with Dudley's gang.
neque quisquam voluit aliter sentire ac grex dudleana .



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