Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
1. When Fudge visits the Prime Minister, he says, "I've just come from Azkaban . . . Middle of the North Sea, you know, nasty flight" (8). In the OotP movie, I liked the presentation of Azkaban, but I doubted it was accurate. This statement makes it seem like it was.
2. Bellatrix chides Snape at Spinner's End for not being able to reveal the location of the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. Snape counters that he is not the Secret Keeper and therefore cannot speak the name of the place. I forget what happens to a secret when the secret keeper dies-- does the secret die with him, or does the secret become speakable? Dumbledore was Secret Keeper for the Order-- will Snape be able to reveal the location of the Order now that Dumbledore is dead? I think this was a question once on jkrowling.com, but I just went and looked, and I couldn't find it.
3. The second mention of dragon's blood occurs in Slughorn's home. Dumbledore asks what kind of blood he used to coat the walls, and he replies that it was dragon's blood. He doesn't really mention a use for it, but he does say, ""My last bottle, and prices are sky-high at the moment," which indicates that it must be very valuable for reasons unknown to us.
4. When Slughorn brews love potion for the class to examine, he says, "Amortentia doesn't really create love, of course. It is impossible to manufacture or imitate love . . . it is probably the most dangerous and powerful potion in this room" (186). It certainly does turn out to be dangerous twice in HBP. Ron's encounter with love potion isn't so much "dangerous" as "humorous," but Merope's experimentation with love potion leads to the circumstances that create Lord Voldemort. Thoughts on how this discsusion of the power and danger of love and love potion relate to love as a strength/weakness for Harry?
5. Dud Marvolo and Morfin know that Merope was a witch, or did it come to a surprise to them? Twice Marvolo calls her a squib, but I didn't understand if he meant this as an insult or if he honestly thought she had no magical ability.
6. Assuming that the proprietor of the Hog's Head is indeed Aberforth Dumbledore, I'm mystified by his function within the novel. Do the other Order members know that he is Dumbledore's brother? Does he play a part in the Order? Are he and Dumbledore estranged? We see him several times in HBP. The first is outside the Three Broomsticks with Mundungus: "The street was not very busy; nobody was lingering to chat, just hurrying toward their destinations. The exceptions were two men a little ahead of them, standing just outside the Three Broomsticks. One was very tall and thin; squinting through ihs rain washed glasses Harry recognized the barman who worked in the other Hogsmeade pub, the Hog's Head. As Harry, Ron, and Hermione drew closer, the barman drew his cloak more tightly around his neck and walked away, leaving the shorter man to fumble with something in his arms" (245). The shorter man turns out to be Mundungus selling Sirius's stolen goods. Is Aberforth doing something dodgy here (After all, this is the second time he's been in the company of Mundungus-- the first was when the DA met in the Hog's Head. Dumbledore says he knows about the meeting because Mundungus, disguised in the corner, overheard them) or is he working for the Order? When Voldemort meets Dumbledore to request the DADA teaching job, Dumbledore asks Voldemort, "Then if I were to go to the Hog's Head tonight, I would not find a group of them-- Nott, Rosier, Mulciber, Dolohov-- awaiting your return?" Rowling writes, "There could be no doubt that Dumbledore's detailed knowledge of those with whom he was traveling was even less welcome to Voldemort." Voldemort attributes Dumbledore's unexpected knowledge to "omniscience," but Dumbledore claims he is "merely friendly with the local barmen" (444-445). From this, it would seem that Aberforth is passing Dumbledore information, and quickly. Aberforth is also present-- and overhears-- the prophecy about Harry: "Yes, there was a commotion outside the door and it flew open, and there was that rather uncouth barman standing with Snape, who was waffling about having come the wrong way up the stairs, although I'm afraid he had been apprehended eavesdropping on my interview with Dumbledore" (545). Was Aberforth again working for Dumbledore here? Or-- gasp-- does this mean it could also have been Aberforth who passed the information on to Voldemort? Lastly, when Harry and Dumbledore go off in search of the horcrux, he tells Rosmerts, "forgive me, I'm off to the Hog's Head," (supposedly to make an alibi of sorts), but when they pass teh Hog's Head, Dumbledore says, "It will not be necessary for us to enter" (554). So, is Aberforth in the business of creating alibis for Dumbledore? And if he doesn't even need to enter, do Dumbledore and his brother have some other way of communicating?
7. How did Merope die? We know that she died shortly after giving birth to Tom Riddle, but Dumbledore says, "Merope refused to raise her wand even to save her own life (262), as though there is some magic she could have done to save herself.
8. Once again, I'm unclear on what Dumbledore knew and how he knew it. When Harry tells Dumbledore that he heard Snape and Draco scheming together at Slughorn's part, Dumbledore responds, "I think you might even consider the possiblity that I understood more than you did. Again, I am glad that you have confided in me, but let me reassure you that you have not told me anything that causes me disquiet" (359). When he and Draco meet on the roof at the end of the novel, he tells Draco, "You almost killed Katie Bell and Ronald Weasley. You have been trying, with increasing desparation, to kill me all year" (585). So, Dumbledore DID know that Draco was trying to kill him, and yet, he did nothing. At what point did he know that Draco was trying to kill him, and how did he know? Did Snape tell him before the school year began? Or did Dumbledore, blessed with extraordinary mind power, figure it out after the first or second attack? What else did Dumbledore know? Did Dumbledore know he would have to die? This ties in to the question of whether Snape is good or evil, but to put it simply, I do believe Dumbledore knew at the beginning of the year that he would be sacficing himself and that Snape would kill him. I don't believe, however, that he knew when it would happen because that would involve knowing that Death Eaters would infiltrate the school while he was away. While I think he was willing to put himself and Harry in a certain amount of danger to teach and show Harry things, I think allowing Death Eaters to infiltrate the castle is a step too far. I think Dumbledore either didn't know the Death Eaters were a part of Draco's plan or he knew but was far too confident in his own defenses.
9. When did Tom Riddle start killing and when did he start making horcruxes? In Slughorn's memory in which Tom asks him about the creation of horcruxes, "Harry saw that he was wearing Marvolo's gold-and-black rin; he had already killed his father" (369). So, Tom started killing around the age of 16. While he had the ring at this point, it would appear that he had not yet turned it into a horcrux seeing as he didn't yet know what they were. Furthermore, Dumbledore later reveals, "I stumbled across the ring hidden in the ruin of the Gaunt's house. It seems that once Voldemort had succeeded in sealing a piece of his soul inside it, he did not want to wear it anymore" (504). Dumbledore's memory of Tom returning to ask again for the DADA teacher job occurs ten years after his initial disappearance. Dumbledore makes it clear at this point that Tom is already calling himself Lord Voldemort, attempted unnamed magical deeds of dubious nature, and gathered followers who call themselves "Death Eaters," although the term seems relatively new seeing as Voldemort is surprised that Dumbledore knows it (440-444). I also believe that Voldemort had begun making horcruxes at this point: "Harry let out a stifled gasp. Voldemort had entered the room. His features were not those Harry had seen emerge from the stone cauldron almost two years ago: They were not as snake-like, they eyes were not yet scarlet, the fact not yet masklike, and yet he was no longer handsome Tome Riddle. It was as though his features had been burned and blurred; they were waxy and oddly distorted, and the whites of the eyes now had a permanently bloody look, though the pupils were not yet the slits that Harry knew they would become" (441). It becomes clear later that Voldemort's inhumane appearance is tied to the act of splitting his soul (as he splits his soul again and again, he becomes less and less human), so I deduce from this that he has at least begun to experiment with horcruxes at this point in his life.
10. Where are horcruxes mentioned? We know that there aren't any books on them at Hogwarts. Hermione is able to find only a single line in the entire library that basically says they're so evil they won't be mentioned, and Slughorn says, "you'd be hard-pushed to find a book at Hogwarts that'll give you deatils on horcruxes" (496). However, Voldemort tells Slughorn he "came across the term while reading," and Slughorn obviously knows about them-- maybe even more than he reveals. Where did Voldemort and Sulghorn get their knowledge?
11. When Voldemort pushes Slughorn for more information about how to create a horcrux, he says, "Killing rips the soul apart. The wizard intent upon creating a Horcrux would use the damage to his advantage: He would encase the torn portion--" (498). This gives us a little more information about the relationship between killing and creating a horcrux. It seems that every time a murder is committed, the soul is torn, whether or not a horcrux is created or not. The spell that creates the horcrux simply encases the torn portion of the soul. Given that information, it's still unclear whether the spell occurs simultaneously or a certain time after the murder is committed.
12. What are the remaining horcruxes? Here's what we know. One seventh of Voldemort's soul is in his body, and one seventh was destroyed when Harry destroyed the diary, and one seventh was in the ring Dumbledore destroyed. That leaves four pieces of Voldemort's soul at large. Dumbledore supposes that they are Hufflepuff's cup, Slytherin's locket, the snake Nagini and an unknown object belonging to Gryffindor or Ravenclaw. Dumbledore is "confident . . . that the only known relic of Gryffindor remains safe" (505). Permit me to say that I think Dumbledore is wrong. I do not think Nagini is a horcrux-- Dumbledore's explanation for why Nagini is a horcrux seems weak to me, and the complications of using another living being as a horcrux seem too great. I think that the remaining four horcruxes will turn out to be one item from each of the four founders. I remember hearing at one point that the original title for the book was "Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Hallows." Given my previous analysis of what a "hallow" is, it makes sense with this title that the horcruxes would be items of significance belonging to each of the founders. I have no idea what the Ravenclaw item might be (although, perhaps of interest is the fact I just read that Moaning Myrtle was in Ravenclaw . . . perhaps she might be of help in finding the Ravenclaw artifact?). I'll accept that the Hufflepuff horcrux is the cup, although we have no idea where it is (also of interest-- Tonks's house was Hufflepuff). I'll also accept that the Slytherin horcrux is the locket, and I still believe that it is in Grimmauld Place. Now the Gryffindor horcrux . . . Dumbledore doesn't say that there aren't any artifacts of Gryffindor; he says there aren't any other known artifacts of Gryffindor. Bear with me as my mind wanders, now. At one point, didn't we consider the possiblity that Harry is a descendent of Gryffindor? While there's no evidence for this aside from the fact that Harry 's parents lived in Godric's Hollow, it's a possibility worth considering. Is it possible that this is why Voldemort chose Harry, and not Neville, as his "equal?" Furthermore, Dumbledore seems convinced that Voldemort intended to create his seventh horcrux with Harry's death. If Harry is a descendent of Gryffindor, is it possible that there was some artifact of Gryffindor's in his parents' house that Voldemort intended to turn into a horcrux on the night he died? One of Harry's first plans for DH is to visit Godric's Hollow and his parents' graves. This could help him to find the entirely suppositional horcrux I just dreamed into existence. I think we should also consider where the horcruxes are hidden. I think the locket is in Grimmauld Place. Other possibilities: Hogwarts itself? The orphanage? Burgin and Borkes? The Room of Requirement?
