What was it like to read a Harry Potter book and then patiently wait years until the next book was published? I imagine that experience was just a bit different than closing book 5, making a cup of coffee, and opening book 6.
Ch 1 – Aha! So the wizard government and muggle government do communicate with each other. I’ve been wondering about that from early on in the series. (And now I’m having a fun time imagining Trump dealing with a high-ranking wizard official.)
Ch 2 – What?! Snape is dealing directly with Voldemort!? And he makes an unbreakable vow to keep helping him?! But also he’s in the Order of the Phoenix and has helped them too. But he gives good excuses to Bellatrix for why he only seems to be on Dumbledore’s side… Ahhh what to believe?!
So is Snape a double agent? Or like a…double DOUBLE agent maybe?
Here’s what I think the odds are:
- 70% – Snape is loyal to Dumbledore and is playing all these Death Eaters like a well-played game of Hungry Hungry Hippos.
- 20% – He’s playing BOTH sides against each other and forgot who he’s actually loyal to a long time ago. Now he’s just in it for survival and to hopefully gain power with whichever side wins.
- 5% – He’s loyal to the Death Eaters and is gonna ruin everything for Harry Potter.
- 4% – He is just biding his time before running off with his secret lover Aunt Petunia and starting a peanut farm together.
- 1% – Turns out Snape is Kaiser Soze
And honestly, who names their daughter, Narcissa?! “Hey Dan, I heard you are having a baby girl, thought of a name yet?” “Well, I’ve narrowed it down to three: Neurotica, Moronica, and Peggy.”
Ch 3 – The Dursleys and Dumbledore finally have the pleasure of meeting eachother and it is delightful. Dumbledore is just the best – a kindly old man who is warm and nice to everyone but also emanates an aura of “don’t even think of stepping to me.”
Ch 6 – Wizard street cred. With Lucius Malfoy in Azkaban, Hogwarts has some hard hittin’ students with fathers in prison now. I’ve worked at a lot of schools like that. Although none of them had dormitories, or uniforms, or anything nice about them really.
With a father in prison and Voldemort backing him, this is how I now picture Draco Malfoy.
Ch 7 – I thought everyone was terrified of Voldemort. But when Harry spies on Draco in the train Draco is openly saying “Ya when the Dark Lord returns it’s gonna be so awesome,” and all the other Slytherins are like, “haha ya totes Draco!” WTF? Are the Slytherin students not learning that Voldemort is awful and evil and a murderer?
Ch 8 – Yay, Snape finally got his dream job! I’m happy for him. (Don’t worry Dan, I’m sure you’ll be hired as a Hawaiian Tropic Bikini Contest judge any day now)
Ch 9 – Who is the Half-Blood Prince? Guesses:
- Voldemort – Obviously
- Snape – He was the old potions teacher, maybe he left his old book lying around
- Bonnie Prince Charlie – He was British, right?
R.I.P to a true wizard of music. Wouldn’t surprise me a bit if the book belongs to one of his relatives.
Ch 13 – I enjoy learning about Voldemort’s childhood and upbringing. And as someone who works in a school, I like to look around at the many students and think, which one of you might someday rise to be the dark lord?
Ch 14 – It turns out Ron didn’t need the lucky potion to be good at quidditch. All he needed… was to believe in himself (eye roll). Ok, cheesy cliches aside, I really do need some Felix Felicis. Give me one day at the casino and I’ll pay back whatever it costs to make the potion.
Also, Hermione sending magic birds to peck Ron’s face because he snogged with Lavender Brown is my favorite part of this book so far. Yass girl.
Also “snogging” is the grossest term for kissing. British people are weird.
Ch 17 – Horcruxes! Horcruxes!!!! This is driving me crazy. People talk about them all the time (By people, I mean my friends. Yes I have friends.) Finally, half way through the sixth book, Horcruxes are mysteriously mentioned and I’m dying to find out what they are.
Also, where is Malfoy always sneaking off to? My guess is there’s probably a Brothel in Hogsmeade and since Malfoy is 16 years old he has needs he must satisfy.
Ch 19 – Guys, I love Luna Lovegood so much.
Ch 20 – This pensieve memory where Voldemort comes back to ask Dumbledore for a job is tense AF. Both of them maintain a civil conversation, but I’m expecting at any moment for Voldemort to fly off the handle.
If Voldemort cursed the Defense Against the Dark Arts job and that’s why they’ve never kept a teacher for more than one year, it makes me wonder what’s going to happen to poor old Snape after this year…
Ch 22 – How do you get someone to tell you a secret? Get them really drunk. Then get them sentimental. Damn, Harry is wise beyond his years.
Ch 23 – Finally. The horcruxes.
This might be my favorite chapter in the series thus far (or it’s tied with the chapter where the Weasley twins leave Hogwarts). After waiting so long to learn about Horcruxes, they did not disappoint. Splitting your soul to cheat mortality, but in exchange living with a damaged soul, is a fascinating concept. It also finally explains why Voldemort looks so weird.
But man, killing Voldemort is already an incredible task, now they have to locate and destroy all his horcruxes too? That’s like having to scoop up all the winter dog poop in your yard after the snow melts, only to learn you also have to recover the seven valuable earrings the dog ate.
“Voldemort singled you out as the person who would be most dangerous to him – and in doing so, he made you the person who would be most dangerous to him! … If Voldemort had never heard of the prophecy, would it have been fulfilled?”
But the most compelling part of the chapter is the final three pages in which Harry and Dumbledore discuss the prophecy. The prophecy is obviously relevant to what has happened and what will happen, but did these events unfold because they were predestined, or because of Voldemort’s reaction to the prophecy? It is not the prophecy itself, rather Voldmort’s knowledge of the prophecy that drives Voldemort to create his equal in Harry Potter, and in doing so bring about (I assume eventually) his own downfall. MacBeth only attempts to be king after the witches tell him “dude, you’re gonna be king” leaving the reader wonder, what would MacBeth had done if he never crossed paths with those witches? What would Voldemort’s fate be without knowledge of, and thus reaction to, the prophecy? Prophecies supposedly foretell fate, but when they also act as the catalyst for said fate, it creates an interesting paradox. I think about this a lot. Dang, this series is getting good.
These prophecies go way back
Thinking of MacBeth just made me realize the rock band all the Hogwarts kids love is called the “Weird Sisters.” Ha I had missed that one until just now.
Ch 24 – I was so close to learning who the Half-Blood Prince is, then Harry outsmarts Snape and hides his book in the Room of Requirement. Dang. I was actually hoping for Harry to get in trouble just so I could learn the Prince’s identity.
Also, yay for Harry and Ginny. They’ve found true love at last. I hope they have a hundred babies.
Ch 25 – OMG so much happening (as is always the case at the end of the school year).
– Hermione disovers an former female student named “Prince”
– Draco is in the room of requirements and couldn’t be happier, which can’t be good
– It turns out Snape was the one who overheard the prophecy years ago and told Voldemort?!
– Harry and Dumbledore are taking a trip to retrieve a horcrux?!?!
These chapters just keep getting better and better – intriguing plot plus intense action plus integral and compelling information.
Ch 26 – The Cave. Well, I know what I’ll be pretending the next time I’m at Pictured Rocks and swimming through the birthing hole.
Here is my favorite spot in Michigan. At the bottom of Miners Castle you can see a cave known as “The Birthing Hole.” This summer I’ll be searching for horcruxes on my annual visit.
Ch 27 – No. Nooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Confession: I already knew Dumbledore was going to die at some point. (In college my classmate gave a presentation on death and resurrection in mythology, religion, and storytelling and talked extensively about Dumbledore’s death). But I sure didn’t expect it to go down like this. Snape? Really??? Damn. But at least that little punk Malfoy didn’t get to do it. He is far too unworthy to have the honor of killing a wizard like Dumbledore.
Ch 28 – Well Snape was one my top picks for identity of the Half-Blood Prince. So, Yay, I guess. But damn, the Horcrux was a fake? That is so disheartening.
Ch 29 – Ugh. Even the Phoenix had to fly away forever. Tears…
This cat is everyone at the end of Half-Blood Prince
Final Thoughts:
This is my favorite book so far. It’s a compelling plot and intense action mixed with all the new and fascinating information we keep discovering. Not to mention the mysteries of the book, (where are the horcruxes? Who’s side is Snape really on?) and the philosophical aspects (the power of the prophecy to determine fate). An exciting, emotional, and thought-provoking read.
Thus far I’d Rank the books as such:
- Half-Blood Prince
- Goblet of Fire
- Order of the Phoenix
- Prisoner of Azkaban
- Philospher’s Stone
- Chamber of Secrets
More Thoughts:
I believe Snape is still on Harry Potter’s side. Throughout the book Dumbledore states how much he trusts Snape. If Dumbledore trusts Snape I don’t see any reason not to, even after that whole murdering business. Dumbledore could see the writing on the wall, he was extremely weak from drinking the cave potion, he was outnumbered 5 to 1 by death eaters, and he didn’t have his wand. If Snape is pretending to work for Voldemort then he obviously can’t attempt to save Dumbledore’s life in front of everyone. So the next best thing is to kill Dumbledore (since he was likely to die soon anyway) and get in Voldemort’s extra trustworthy good graces. Dumbledore probably even told him to do it. Snape can do legilimency so he and Dumbledore probably discussed the whole thing telepathically right before Snape killed him.
Also Hermione and Ron drank the Felix Felicis that night. So while everything appears to have gone terribly, I have to imagine that, in some unforeseen way, events turned out better than we can understand at this point.
I’m eager to start Deathly Hallows, though it’s going to be sad to read a whole book with no Dumbledore in it…
Click here for my blog on Harry Potter Book 5, Book 4, Book 3, Book 2, Book 1, or my Preview.
Brohemia 
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