Hogwarts Herald

Chapter Thirty of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is called “The White Tomb.” The term was abruptly ended with no more classes and no exams. Some parents had already pulled their kids out of Hogwarts before the funeral. Many witches and wizards arrived in Hogsmeade for the funeral. The Minister of Magic and his delegation of officials remained at Hogwarts for the funeral and Harry kept avoiding them in order to not have to answer about the excursion with Dumbledore.

Hermione has been trying to find out who R.A.B. is, but has had no luck, yet. Harry has not been all that curious, but he knows they must figure out if the Horcrux is really gone or not in order to know how many he still has to find and destroy. While looking for R.A.B. Hermione discovers Snape’s mother was Eileen Prince a pure-blood and his father Tobias Snape was a Muggle.

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Chapter Twenty-Nine of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is called “The Phoenix Lament.” Ginny gets Harry up from Dumbledore’s body and leads him back to the castle. Ginny takes him to the hospital wing. She explains no one is dead and that Draco had stumbled over her brother, Bill, but he will be alright, although he was attacked by Fenrir the werewolf. Ginny informs Ron, Hermione, Luna, Tonks, and Lupin, who all around Bill, that Dumbledore is dead. Harry confirms the story and explains how Snape killed Dumbledore.

McGonagall arrives and Harry explains that Snape was the one that killed Dumbledore. They all had wondered about Snape, but Dumbledore always trusted Snape. McGonagall begins to blame herself because she is the one that summoned Snape to defend against the Death Eaters and if she had not she does not think he would have gotten involved.

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Chapter Twenty-Eight of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is called “Flight of the Prince.” Snape rushes the Death Eaters out of the tower after the killing Dumbledore. Harry soon realizes that the magic holding him paralyzed is gone now that Dumbledore is dead. He shoots of a Petrificus Totalus spell paralyzing the last of the Death Eaters trying to leave the tower. He then rushes down the stairs into the midst of the battle of Death Eaters vs. D.A. and Order of the Phoenix members.

Fenrir tries to attack Harry, but Harry uses Petrificus Totalus. He then jinxs the Death Eater battling with Ginny. He then continues through the battle trying to catch up to Snape and Malfoy. Harry catches up to Snape on the grounds.

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Chapter Twenty-Seven of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is called “The Lightning-Struck Tower.” Harry successfully aparrates back to Hogsmeade with him guiding Dumbledore this time. Harry tries to leave Dumbledore in Hogsmeade while he goes and gets Madam Pomfrey, but Dumbledore insists he needs Snape. Before Harry can leave him Madam Rosmerta of the Three Broomsticks rushes out and explains that the Dark Mark is now above Hogwarts and Harry cannot go there alone.

Harry summons Rosmerta’s brooms and Dumbledore has her warn the Ministry of Magic. Harry pulls on the Invisibility Cloak and they fly off to Hogwarts. On the way Harry worries one of the D.A. or worse his friends was the one murdered to cause the Dark Mark to be put over the castle. After they land atop the astronomy tower, Dumbledore orders Harry to go and bring Snape to him.

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Chapter Twenty-Six of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is called “The Cave.” Dumbledore and Harry plunge in the water to swim to the cave that Voldemort took the other two orphans when he was young. Inside the cave Dumbledore discovers the entrance to the inner chamber requires a payment of blood. Harry offers his blood, but Dumbledore refuses saying Harry’s is more valuable.

Inside is a black lake. Harry follows Dumbledore around the edge of the lake. Dumbledore believes the item is in the middle. Dumbledore finds a hidden chain that raises a boat from the bottom of the lake. The boat is only big enough really for one, but Dumbledore is sure it will stay afloat as long as there is only one true wizard in it. Harry does not count as a wizard because he is still under age.

As the boat glides to the center of the lake and the glowing green light, Harry notices that there are dead bodies in the lake. Dumbledore assures they will probably remain peaceful until they take the Horcrux and that they can easily be kept away with light/fire.

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Chapter Twenty-Five of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is called “The Seer Overheard.” Ginny’s relationship with Harry finally is a reality. His performance in potions has suffered because of hiding the Half-Blood Prince’s book in the Room of Requirement, but Slughorn attributes it to being lovesick. Hermione comes in to the common room one night with an idea on who the Prince is. She found a photo of an Eileen Prince, Captain of the Hogwarts Gobstones Team. Harry does not believe it though and Hermione does not really have any proof that Eileen was even a half-blood.

Harry gets a note to see Dumbledore right away. On his way to Dumbledore’s he runs into Professor Trelawney outside the Room of Requirement. She had just gone in to try and hide something, but someone was already in there. She heard a male voice gleefully whooping before being hurled out of the room. Harry thinks she should tell Dumbledore, but she is hesitant at first because Dumbledore has been ignoring her information including a lightning struck tower (this foretells the major thing that happens in a few chapters, but I did not notice this the first time through).

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Chapter Twenty-Four of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is called “Sectumsempra.” The next day in Charms Harry fills Ron and Hermione in about him getting the memory from Slughorn and the Voldemort’s Horcruxes. They fill Harry in about Ron and Lavender breaking up as well as Ginny and Dean.

Harry has an silent battle with himself about going out with Ginny or not, but soon forgets that issue when they find Katie Bell has returned from her stay at St. Mungo’s. With the final Quidditch game approaching the practices go well with Ron and Katie back, although Harry keeps being distracted by Ginny. This all with the Quidditch game easily determining them to be the Quidditch Cup winners (if they win by more than 300 points) or finishing at the bottom for the first time in two centuries (if they lose by more than 100 points).

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Chapter Twenty-Three of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is called “Horcruxes.” As Harry returns into the castle the Felix Felicis wears off and finds out that the common room password has changed. The Fat Lady says he can take it up with the headmaster if he wants, but Harry thinks Dumbledore is still gone. Nearly Headless Nick says that he just returned an hour ago, though. As Harry rushes off to see Dumbledore the Fat Lady calls after him that she lied and the password was still tapeworm.

Dumbledore is surprised to see Harry, but happy to hear that he obtained Slughorn’s true memory. They quickly go into the memory. The memory is very similar at first, but then the foggy parts are clear this time. The first foggy part is Slughorn saying he has never been wrong about a student and thinks Tom will become Minister of Magic. The major foggy part is when Slughorn explains to Tom what Horcruxes are. They are a very dark magic. A horcrux is an item that a person puts part of their soul in. Slughorn explains that you split your soul and then put half in the object, so when your body is destroyed you are not actually destroyed, however the existence is worse than death.

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Chapter Twenty-Two of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is called “After the Burial.” Harry gets a note from Hagrid about Aragog having died. He asks Harry, Ron, and Hermione to sneak out at night to attend the burial. Ron does not want to go because he did not like the giant spider. Hermione does not think it is a good idea to try and sneak out.

Hermione tells Harry to try to soften Slughorn up while he is one of the few in potions class because most are taking their apparition test that day. Harry says “Fifty-seventh time lucky, you think?” and both Ron and Hermione get the idea that Harry should us the luck potion to get the memory from Slughorn. Harry agrees if he cannot get the memory after class he will use the Felix Felicis to get it that night.

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Chapter Twenty-One of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is called “The Unknowable Room.” Harry is still trying to figure out how to get the memory from Slughorn. He keeps searching the Prince’s potion book to perhaps finding something of use. He notes a spell called Sectumsempra noted for enemies.

The three discuss apparition for a little. The test date for those 17 on or before April 17 had been announced. Ron is worried because he has not successfully done it, yet. Hermione is more confident because she has done it twice. Harry has done it once, but he will not be old enough to take the test.

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Chapter Twenty of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is called “Lord Voldemort’s Request.” Harry and Ron get out of the hospital on Monday and they go to breakfast with Hermione. On the way she explains that Ginny and Dean had a fight about Dean laughing at McLaggen hitting a bludger at Harry. Harry likes the idea that the two might be breaking up, as he still has a secret crush on Ginny. At breakfast it seems Ron and Lavender are also about to break up.

Harry goes to another lesson with Dumbledore. As he arrives Professor Trelawney is about to leave. Dumbledore is disappointed that Harry has been distracted by Malfoy and has not spent much effort at getting the true memory from Slughorn about the Horcruxes. He then says he has two last memories to show Harry.

Before they go into the memories Dumbledore explains how Voldemort left Hogwarts. He explains how many had high expectations for Voldemort in his seventh year that Slughorn tried to get him interested in working at the Ministry of Magic. Voldemort, however, ended working at Borgin and Burkes. Dumbledore explains that Voldemort’s first job choice was to be a professor at Hogwarts teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts. Dumbledore thinks he wanted to because he was attached to Hogwarts, wanted to continue to find the secret ancient magic in the castle, and he would have influence over young witches and wizards. The headmaster at the time (Professor Dippet) told Voldemort no, but to reapply in a few years. Dumbledore warned against ever hiring Voldemort.

Working for Borgin and Burkes Voldemort was sent to obtain treasures to sell in the shop and he had a skill for getting people to part with their items. At this point Harry and Dumbledore go into the memory of Hokey the house elf. The memory is of Voldemort visiting Hokey’s master (Hepzibah Smith) to make an offer on goblin armor. Hepzibah trusts Voldemort to see her most prized possessions as long as he does not tell Mr. Burke she has them.

The house elf brings the items in leather boxes. Inside one box is a golden cup with a badger on it, which means it was Helga Hufflepuff’s. Inside the other is something she had bought from Burke. It is golden locket with an S (i.e. the locket that Voldemort’s mother sold to Burke when she was pregnant with him).

Back in Dumbledore’s office Dumbledore explains that Hepzibah was found poisoned two days later. The house elf took the fall, as she remembered putting something the cocoa that turned out to not be sugar, but rather a rare poison. Dumbledore suspects it was Voldemort again changing memories and having another take the fall for the murder. The woman’s family did not find out about the missing possessions until much later and by then Voldemort had left the shop and disappeared.

There is a ten year gap between that memory and the last Dumbledore has to show Harry. The last memory belongs to Dumbledore. The memory is of Voldemort coming to visit Dumbledore, who is already the Headmaster in this memory. He had come to ask once again to be a teacher at Hogwarts. Dumbledore refuses because he thinks that Voldemort will try to get students to become Death Eaters, which exist by now, but Voldemort did not expect Dumbledore to know about. Dumbledore wanted the Defense Against the Dark Arts job and ever since he was refused Dumbledore has not been able to keep a professor in that job for more than a year. Dumbledore does not divulge why he thinks Voldemort might have come back to ask for the job. He says he will after Harry gets the true Horocrux memory from Slughorn.

Chapter Nineteen of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is called “Elf Tails.” The chapter opens with Fred and George coming to see Ron in the hospital wing. They had been in Hogsmeade checking into buying Zonko’s. The discussion turns to how Ron was poisoned. The theory that Slughorn slipped the poison in and that Harry could have been the target arises. Then they think perhaps someone wanted to kill Slughorn because he refused to become a Death Eater. Then Ginny brings up the point about Harry saying Slughorn meant to give it to Dumbledore and that he might have been the target. Hermione thinks that it is the same person that the necklace that harmed Katie Bell involved in the poisoning and the same target was meant, although both times the items did not reach the intended victims.

After leaving the Weasleys in the hospital wing with Ron, Harry and Hermione talk with Hagrid. He tells them that Dumbledore is worried and the school is at risk of closure with the attempted murders happening against the students. He also lets it slip that Dumbledore is angry with Snape. Hagrid had heard the two arguing about something that Snape not wanting to do something anymore.

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Chapter Eighteen of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is called “Birthday Surprises.” Harry tells Ron and Herminoe separately (Hermione continues to avoid Ron) about his task of getting the real memory about the Horcruxes from Slughorn. Ron thinks Harry will have not trouble because Harry is Slughorn’s favorite. Hermione thinks that Slughorn is determined to hide the truth since Dumbledore could not get the truth out of Slughorn.

In Potions class Slughorn has each take a vial of potion. They have to identify the potion and determine the antidote. Hermione tells Harry the Prince cannot help him on this task. The Prince seems to be failing to help him as he struggles to figure out the reveal ingredient spell. Harry then reads the list of antidotes and finds mention of a bezoar stone, which Harry’s remembers from Snape’s class that it protects against most poisons.

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Chapter Seventeen of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is called “A Sluggish Memory.” The chapter starts with Harry, Ron, and Ginny in the kitchen at the Burrow getting ready to return to Hogwarts using floo powder through a special connection made to safely return the students to school. The three try to get into Gryffindor’s common room, but they do not know the new password. Hermione then arrives and tells them the new password (abstinence) and says she has something for Harry.

The note is from Dumbledore scheduling their next meeting for the next night. Harry is happy because he has a lot to tell him. He also has lots to tell Hermione, as he had not yet told her about the incident of Snape and Draco. Hermione also thinks that Snape might have just been trying to figure out what Draco was up to. She also is not so sure Draco is working and the your master reference could be his father.

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Chapter sixteen of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is called “A Very Frosty Christmas.” While peeling sprouts in the kitchen at the Burrow, Ron keeps asking if Snape was offering to help Draco to make sure he got the story right. Harry asks Ron about what an Unbreakable Vow really is. Ron tells him that if you break the vow you die. Fred and George then come in and give Ron a hard time about having to peel the sprouts with knives and not magic because he is not yet 17. They also tease him about Lavender Brown. Ron gets mad and throws the knife at Fred, who turns it into a paper airplane, right as Mrs. Weasley enters the kitchen.

Back to discussing the situation between Snape and Draco, Ron mentions that he thinks that everyone else will think Snape was not really trying to help Draco, but just find out what he was up to. On Christmas Eve Harry finally gets a chance to tell Mr. Weasley about the incident he oversaw. Mr. Weasley and Lupin both think that Snape was doing as Ron suggested and they trust him because Dumbledore does, although Lupin does not exactly like him because of the past between James and Sirius and Snape.

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