Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Author

J.K. Rowling

Title

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

First Edition

2005

Publisher

Bloomsbury

Number of pages

607

Reading time

Approximately 30 hours

Explanation of the Title

The title refers to one of the previous owners of Harry's potions book. The Half-Blood Prince has made notes of all kind in the book, about potion making but also various spells are noted down.

Summary

Harry is waiting in his room for Dumbledore to collect him. Everybody believes that Voldemort is back. To back this up, strange accidents and murders are already happening across England. The minister of magic has visited the prime minister to inform him of the situation. The wizarding-community has handed out pamphlets on which some precautions are described. The prophecy that Harry is the Chosen One is one of the biggest items in the Daily Prophet, although they're only speculating.

Dumbledore will take Harry to the Burrow, where he will spend the rest of his holiday, something Harry doesn't mind at all. But before Harry can enjoy the rest of his holiday, Dumbledore asks a favor of Harry. He is to persuade Horatio Slughorn to come out of retirement and start teaching again.

Harry meets up with Ron and Hermione at the Burrow and informs them of the prophecy, which states that either he or Lord Voldemort will have to die, because they can't exist together. Later on they receive there results on their O.W.L.'s. Harry fears he won't be able to become an Auror, because Snape won't let him continue potions with just an 'Exceeds expectations'.

They all go to Diagon Alley to get their supplies for their next year at Hogwarts. Due to all the commotion they get some extra security from the ministry. While in Diagon Alley they also stop by the new joke-shop of Fred and George. It's success and so the store is very busy. They also encounter Draco Malfoy, who's doing his shopping with his mother. Later on they see Draco walking alone, which they find very suspicious and they decide to tail him. They can't find out what Draco is up to exactly, but Harry has a bad feeling about it and decides to keep an eye on him. Ron and Hermione don't think it's a big deal and think Harry should forget the matter.

Back at Hogwarts, Snape has finally got the position he always wanted, Defence against the Dark Arts teacher. Slughorn will be teaching potions from now on. Harry is displeased with Snape, but McGonagall tells him that Slughorn will let him do potions with an 'Exceeds Expectations'. Because Harry didn't count on this he gets a book and ingredients from Slughorn. The book is scribbled full with all sorts of notes. In his first potions-lesson he follows the instructions written by the previous owner, and it wins him a small bottle of Felix Felicis, a potion that makes you lucky. Hermione strongly disapproves of Harry using the notes, because they don't know who made them. The previous owner was called The Half-Blood Prince and Hermione starts her search on information on this character.

Dumbledore will also give Harry private lessons this year and Harry can't wait to start them. Dumbledore wants to teach Harry more about Lord Voldemort and his past. Therefore Harry and Dumbledore take several excursions into the pensieve, to look at memories concerning Voldemort. Because Dumbledore has already told Harry all the facts and will try to teach Harry by speculation and guesswork.

Harry, Ron nor Hermione has continued Care of Magical Creatures this year and they feel they should talk to Hagrid about this. Hagrid is a bit reluctant to talk to them at first, but they don't give up that easily and make up with Hagrid.

During the first excursion to Hogsmeade somebody tries to sneak a dark artifact into the school. However, the attempt fails and a student ends up in St Mungo's, because she touched the necklace herself and gets injured because of some curse.

Fortunately she can return to Hogwarts after being in hospital for several days. Harry suspects it was Draco who tried to smuggle the artifact in, but nobody believes him.

At the evening of Slughorn's pre-Christmas party, Harry finally gets some interesting information. Draco and Snape have an argument about the task Draco is supposed to fulfill. Snape wants to help him, but Draco won't let him. Snape is angry about it, and tells Draco he made an Unbreakable Vow to his mother. Harry learns later on that you die if you break an Unbreakable Vow.

Harry stays at the Burrow for the Christmas break. When they are having there Christmas diner, they get an unexpected visit from Percy, one of Ron's elder brothers, and the new minister of magic, Rufus Scrimgeour. Scrimgeour asks Harry to help the ministry by showing he approves of the policy of the ministry. Harry refuses, because he doesn't like the policy, which has involved locking up innocent people to show the outside world the ministry is getting some work done.

After the Christmas break, Harry gets some homework from Dumbledore. He's supposed to get a memory from professor Slughorn. Harry tries to get the memory on several occasions, but he's more obsessed with Draco's plan. He even gets Dobby and Kreacher to tail Harry. Kreacher is Harry's own house-elf which came with the house he inherited from Sirius Black, his godfather. They tell him that Draco often goes to the Room of Requirements.

At last he also gets the memory from Slughorn, although it takes him a bit of his Felix Felicis. Slughorn's memory shows Slughorn telling a young Voldemort what Horcruxes are and how they are made. A Horcrux is an ordinary object, which contains a piece of the soul of a wizard. To get that piece of soul, it has to be torn of the soul, which can only be accomplished by killing another human. If the soul is divided and a piece of it is transferred to the object, the person can't die until the Horcruxes are destroyed as well as the body. Voldemort appears to be interested in making seven Horcruxes, but Slughorn tells him this has never been done before and strongly disagrees with the notion.

Dumbledore tells Harry that he has already destroyed a few Horcruxes and he promises Harry he can join him when he finds