Hogwarts Herald

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.

The description of things in the room continue with the wording of a pamphlet on “Protecting Your Home and Family Against Dark Forces.” The next thing it gives the words to is a letter from Dumbledore explaining he will escort Harry to the Burrow (the Weasley’s house) that night at 11pm (it is 10:59pm when the reader is supposedly reading it). Despite knowing that Dumbledore could be showing up that night, Harry did not pack his stuff, as it seemed too good to be true.

Dumbledore does arrive at 11pm. Harry hastily begins to pack, as Dumbledore rings the doorbell and Uncle Vernon angrily answers it. Uncle Vernon is basically too stunned to speak and Dumbledore assumes that he has been invited in. Aunt Petunia enters the scene from the kitchen with rubber gloves, as she was cleaning it. Dudley also enters the scene. Dumbledore ends up using his wand to make the couch pull up behind the Dursley’s and make their knees buckle to cause them to sit on it (this is one scene I really hope is included in the movie, it really seems meant for a movie script). As Dumbledore does this Harry notices that Dumbledore’s hand is blackened and shriveled, but Dumbledore says he will explain later.

After everyone was seated in the sitting room, Dumbledore begins to discuss the matters he wanted to discuss before leaving. One thing is that they found Sirius’ will and that Sirius left everything to Harry. Uncle Vernon is surprised to learn the Sirius is dead. Their is an issue, however, related to if Grimmauld Place (Sirius’ house) could be passed to Harry, as it might have some sort of spell to only allow a pureblood to own it. If that is the case, then the house would go to the next closest relative of Sirius, which is Bellatrix Lestrange (i.e. Malfoy’s aunt and Sirius’ killer). The test to see if Harry was the owner is to to see if Kreacher (Sirius’ house elf) has to obey Harry’s order. The test proves that he does when Harry tells Kreacher to shut up as Kreacher kept saying won’t won’t won’t and wanted to be Bellatrix Lestrange’s house elf. Harry is uncomfortable keeping Kreecher, but he cannot let him free because Grimmauld Place had been the headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix. Thus he sends him to work in the kitchens at Hogwarts where the other house elves could keep an eye on him. The other thing Dumbledore wanted to discuss was what to do wit Buckbeak the hippogriff. Harry agrees to have him stay with Hagrid, although they change his name to Witherwings to keep the Ministry of Magic from suspecting it is the hippogriff sentenced to death in the second book.

Before Dumbledore and Harry leave the Dursley’s there is one last thing Dumbledore must discuss. He explains that there is a special protection spell that will expire when Harry turns 17 and comes to age in the wizard world. The protection offers him powerful protection as long as he can call the Dursley’s house home. Dumbledore asks that Harry be allowed to return one last time before his seventeenth birthday to ensure the protection lasts until he turns 17. The chapter ends with them about to walk outside the Dursley’s.