Hogwarts Herald

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.

Harry then talks about Lupin and Fenrir Greyback with Hermione. Hermione reminds Harry that Draco threatened Borgin with Greyback, which makes it seem even more likely Draco is a Death Eater. Harry thinks this proves it, but Hermione thinks it might have been an empty threat. Hermione and Harry then talk about the Minister of Magic trying to get Harry to help with the Ministry’s public image.

The next morning there is a sign up sheet for apparition lessons. Ron says he must pass it the Apparition test the first time, as Fred and George did. Ron makes it known to the school that Harry has side apparated before and then everyone wants to know how it feels. He finally slips away from them by saying he is returning a library book, so he can go to his meeting with Dumbledore.

Dumbledore tells Harry that the Ministers of Magic have been trying to ask him since Fudge was still in office, but he told them Harry would not agree. Harry tells Dumbledore about Scrimgeour wanting to know where Dumbledore goes when he leaves Hogwarts, so frequently lately. Dumbledore says the minister has gone as far as to have Dumbledore followed, but Dumbledore has jinxed the follower.

Dumbledore brushes off the incident between Snape and Draco as not worth discomfort and precedes with the lesson. Dumbledore starts by describing Tom Riddle’s time at Hogwarts including that many professor’s took sympathy on him and him seeming polite, quiet, and thirty for knowledge. Dumbledore talks about Riddle gathering a group of so-called friends, the forerunners of the Death Eaters. During Riddle’s time at Hogwarts he tried to find out about his parentage and when he found no record of his father, Tom Riddle, ever attending Hogwarts, he began to go by Lord Voldemort and look into who his mother was. Riddle is about to find who his mother is because he knew her father was named Marvolo and finds that name in the Slytherin family lineage.

Dumbledore then takes Harry into the Pensieve to learn about Voldemort visiting the surviving Slytherin Gaunt family. The memory is of Voldemort visiting Morfin (i.e. his uncle) and Morfin thinking Voldemort was the Muggle Tom Riddle that his sister ran off with and who later returned after leaving her. The memory then goes dark and Dumbledore explains it was because Morfin could not remember anything until the next day when he awoke with Marvolo’s ring gone.

Back in Dumbledore’s office Dumbledore explains that Tom Riddle Senior and his parents were killed by the Avada Kedavra curse the night Morfin lost his memory. Morfin went to Azkaban for the murder and died there. Dumbledore believes Voldemort killed the Riddles using Morfin’s wand and that he had stupified Morfin and planted the false memory of Morfin thinking he killed the Riddles.

They go into the Pensieve one more time to see the memory that Dumbledore said was the most important. This memory is of a much younger Slughorn. The scene is of six boys in Slughorn’s office including Voldemort. Slughorn mentions that Voldemort seems to be more knowledgeable than half the staff and knows things he should not. The scene then turns foggy and Slughorn unnaturally loudly says “You’ll go wrong, boy, mark my words.” None in the room seem to have noticed the fog. The rest of the boys soon leave and Tom lags behind to ask Slughorn about Horcruxes. The scene turns foggy again. Slughorn’s voice loudy says something again, which is along the lines of him not knowing about Horcruxes and not telling Voldemort even if he did.

Dumbledore and Harry return to Dumbledore’s office. Dumbledore explains the fog was because Slughorn has altered his memory. He thinks Slughorn has done it because he is ashamed of what happened. The alteration is sloppy and thus Dumbledore believes that the real memory is still in Slughorn’s memories. Dumbledore then gives Harry the homework of trying to get Slughorn to divulge the real memory.