Hogwarts Herald

Chapter Fifteen of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is called “The Unbreakable Vow.” This chapter begins by describing Christmas approaching and the Great Hall being decorated with twelve trees. The decorations around the castle include mistletoe. Harry began to have to negotiate mistletoe free routes as groups of girls hung out by the mistletoe as Harry approached trying to get a kiss. Ron laughs at the girls trying to get a kiss from Harry, as he is now in a laughing mood since he has been going out with Lavender Brown. Harry continues to find him stuck between his two friends that are not talking.

Harry takes to going to the library in the evenings to be able to spend time with Hermione. One evening she warns Harry about some girls trying to slip him a love potion. Hermione had heard them talking in the girl’s room. The girls want him to invite one of them to the Slughorn Christmas party the next night. The conversation ends up at Harry’s suspicions about Malfoy when Hermione tells him the Weasley love potions are being snuck disguised as perfumes and cough potions. As Hermione convinces him it is impossible that Malfoy snuck the necklace in, Madam Pince, the librarian, scolds Harry for the writing in his potions book.

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Chapter fourteen of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is called “Felix Felicis.” On the way to Herbology Harry tells Hermione and Ron about the last lesson with Dumbledore and the latest he had learned about Voldemort’s past. Hermione then shares about Slughorn’s latest Slug Club party, where she met Gwenog Jones (Captain of the Holyhead Harpies Quidditch team). Hermione tells Harry that Slughorn is having a special Christmas party for the Slug Club and Harry must attend because Slughorn is awaiting word of what night Harry is available. Hermione says they can bring guests and asks Ron to go with her and Harry thinks about what would happen if the two began to be a couple.

With Katie Bell still at St. Mungo’s Harry must choose a replacement Chaser. He ends up asking Dean Thomas, who did well in the try outs. The whole house thinks he is playing favorites since Dean is in his class. This puts the pressure on for them to win against Slytherin in the upcoming match to prove that he put together a good team. The team seemed to be coming together well, except for Ron, who’s nerves seemed to be getting the better of him.

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Chapter thirteen of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is called “The Secret Riddle.” Monday night arrives and Harry goes to another lesson with Dumbledore. They briefly discuss the incident with Katie. It turns out she was only minorly cursed because she had a hole in her glove, but she would have died if more of her skin touched it or she had worn the necklace. She was transferred to St. Mungo’s to recover.

In the lesson Dumbledore shows Harry a memory belonging to Caractacus Burke (co-owner of Borkins and Burkes) about giving a woman (Voldemort’s mother) ten Galleons for the Slytherin necklace because the woman was desperate for money with her baby about to be born and did not realize the priceless worth of the necklace. Dumbledore then shares that he thinks Merope used no more magic after Tom Riddle left her and not even to save her own life.

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Chapter twelve of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is called “Silver and Opals.” This chapter opens with Harry reading Advanced Potion Making in his bed waiting for it to be time for the first Hogsmeade trip. In the book he has find many jinxes and hexes that were probably made up by the Half-Blood Prince. One he used on Crabbe to cause his toenails to grow fast. The most useful one Harry had discovered was Muffliato, which made those nearby hear only buzzing so conversations could not be overheard. Harry thinks of the Half-Blood Prince, as being a better teacher than Snape, which ends up being kind of funny when he does end up learning who the Half-Blood Prince really is. He tries the nonverbal spell Levicorpus and ends up making Ron hang upside down as if being held by a hook.

At breakfast Hermione is not pleased to hear that Harry is doing the specials in the book since he does not even know what they do until after he does them. Hermione thinks the Prince was a budding Death Eater, but Harry does not think so because of the half-blood part. Hermione counters with the fact that many of the Death Eaters are half-bloods pretending to be pure because there is not that many pure-bloods left.

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The eleventh chapter of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is called “Hermione’s Helping Hand.” Lessons in their sixth year are proving demanding and challenging even for Hermione. They are struggling to learn to do nonverbal spells. Because they have been busy they have not had time to go see Hagrid, thus they decide to go see him after Quidditch try outs.

While still at breakfast the owls arrive with mail and Harry receives his copy of the potions textbook. He switches the covers to keep the Half-Blood Prince one as his own and to give the new one to Slughorn as the borrowed book. Hermione gets a copy of the Daily Prophet in the mail and the news includes Stan Shunpike, conductor of the Knight Bus, being arrested on suspicion of being a Death Eater.

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The tenth chapter of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is called “The House of Gaunt.” Potions classes continue with Harry following the Half-Blood Prince’s instructions and his supposed new talent irritating Ron and Hermione. Harry wonders who the Half-Blood Prince is, but he homework keeps him from thinking about it much. He does however notice that the book also has some spells in the margin that appear to have been made up by the Prince.

Harry goes to have his first lesson with Dumbledore, who informs him that he will serve the detention with Snape next Saturday. Dumbledore explains he is going into the realm of conjecture about what events led Voldemort to try and kill Harry when he was young. In this first lesson Harry and Dumbledore go into a memory of Bob Ogden, who worked for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

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The ninth chapter of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is called “The Half-Blood Prince.” In the common room Harry tells Hermione about the incident with Malfoy on the train and she seems to agree that Malfoy might be a Death Eater or at least on his way to becoming one. Being a prefect she enforces the rules about Weasley joke items by confiscating a Fanged Frisbee.

In the Great Hall after breakfast the class schedules are distributed. Neville wants to take N.E.W.T. level Transfiguration, but his O.W.L. score is not high enough and he settles for Charms. When it is Harry’s turn he is surprised to learn that he can take Potions because Professor Slughorn allows students with Exceed Expectations to take the N.E.W.T. level, which reopens up the option of being an Auror. Ron ends up with all the same classes as Harry.

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The eighth chapter of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is called “Snape Victorious.” This episode begins with Harry still on the floor of the train paralyzed under the Invisibility Cloak. He tries to mentally do a spell and summon his wand. The train begins to move and soon after wards Tonks find him and unparalyzes him. They quickly jump onto the platform as the train continues on its way. Tonks mends his nose and has him hide under the cloak as they go to the castle.

When they reach the gate to Hogwarts grounds they must wait for someone to come and let them in, as the protection had been majorly increased. Snape meets them at the gate, although Tonks meant for Hagrid to meet them. Snape takes away house points for Harry’s lateness and still being in Muggle clothing. Despite being late Harry joins his friends in the Great Hall for the feast, although he must deal with stares and whispers of him being the Chosen One.

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The seventh chapter of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is called “The Slug Club.” Harry is still obsessed with trying to figure out what Draco was up to in Knockturn Alley, although Ron and Hermione do not seem to care as much even when Harry comes to the conclusion that Draco must now be a Death Eater. The scenes quickly transition to it being the day to catch the Hogwarts Express.

Again they ride in Ministry of Magic cars. At the train station they are met by two Aurors including one trying to hold Harry’s arm as they go through the portal to Platform 9 3/4. Harry has to find his own place on the train, as Ron and Hermione go to the Prefects’ carriage. Before boarding the train Harry has a private conversation with Mr. Weasley to tell him about what the three saw when they followed Draco to Knockturn Alley.

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The sixth chapter of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is called “Draco’s Detour.” Harry spends the summer holidays at the Burrow playing two on two Quidditch with Hermione, Ron, and Ginny. the holidays, especially his birther, have been mared by continued bad news about disappearances and deaths.

Harry learns he is now Gryffindor’s Quidditch Captain when he gets his book list. Mrs. Weasley decides it is time for a trip to Diagon Alley for their school supplies. Ministry of Magic cars charmed to be spacious inside take them to Diagon Alley. Hagrid meets them at the Leaky Cauldron as Harry’s protection. Harry, Ron, and Hermione go wtih him to Madam Malkin’s to get new robes.

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The fifth chapter of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is called “An Excess of Phlegm.” The chapter begins with Harry and Dumbledore being welcomed into the Burrow by Mrs. Weasley and Dumbledore noticing Nymphadora and Tonks in the kitchen. Tonks quickly excuses herself and Dumbledore soon leaves as well. After the took have apparated away Mrs. Weasley comments on how tall Harry is and begins making food for him. As she prepares him soup and bread Harry realizes Hermione is staying at the Burrow because her cat, Crookshanks jumps on his lap.

As he eats Mrs. Weasley tells him about Mr. Weasley getting promoted to head of the Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects. Harry notices the special clock Mrs. Weasley has that points the status of each family member has everyone pointed at mortal danger. It soon changes to Mr. Weasley traveling and he soon arrives home and joins Harry at the table to eat the soup. Harry yawns and Mrs. Weasley sends him up to bed in Fred and George’s room, as they staying at their joke shop in Diagon Alley.

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The fourth chapter of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is called “Horace Slughorn.” As Harry and Dumbledore walk down Privet Drive Harry remembers his outburst against Dumbledore near the end of the previous book/school year. Dumbledore gives Harry permission to use magic if they are attacked, although he does not think that will happen that night. At the end of Privet Drive Dumbledore has Harry hold his left arm tightly as he apparates them to a deserted village square in Budleigh Babberton.

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The third chapter of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is called “Will and Won’t.” Finally we get to Harry Potter in this chapter. I honestly do like this book, but the first two chapters just make a slow cut into the story and I only appreciate them because I know later they help the story make sense, but at first read and re-reading after not having read for a while they just do not pull you in as fast as many of the other books in the series. The third chapter begins with Harry Potter sleeping in a chair with his face pressed against the window in the room he lives in at the Dursley’s.

The first few pages describe the mess the room is in and include newspaper articles on his floor. One article is titled “Harry Potter: The Chosen One?” and it talks about the incident at the Ministry of Magic and the belief that a prophecy named him as the Chosen One despite no official word. Another article states the change in regime of Scrimgeour succeeding Fudge, which mentions a possible conflict between Scrimgeour and Dumbledore. Yet another article talks about Scrimgeour ensuring the students safety at Hogwarts.

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The second chapter of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is called “Spinner’s End.” This is one of the most confusing chapter beginnings of any Harry Potter book that I can remember. It begins with two women popping (apparating) just outside a Muggle area. The two are Narcissa and Bellatrix and they are sisters. Bella is chasing after Narcissa (she calls her Cissy) trying to stop her from going to see someone because it would be a betrayal of the Dark Lord (i.e. Voldemort), who told them to not tell anyone of some plan they know about. It turns out the man they are visiting on Spinner’s End is Professor Snape.

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The first chapter of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is called “The Other Minister.” This chapter begins with the muggle Prime Minister of England alone in his office waiting for a call from some unidentified President of another country. The Prime Minister’s thoughts are on the many mysterious events that had occurred over the past week such as a bridge collapsing, a sudden hurricane, and one of his Junior Ministers acting odd. A wizard soon appears and tells him that Fudge, the believed current Minister of Magic, wants to meet with him. Although, the Prime Minister does not want to meet with him he ends up reluctantly agreeing to an immediate meeting.

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