Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Hermione tells Harry about an upcoming “Slug Club” Christmas party that Harry won’t be able to get out of; this annoys Ron until Hermione reveals that she was planning on inviting Ron. Ron is immediately happier and more polite to Hermione, and Harry realizes the two have feelings for each other.

With Katie Bell still unwell, Harry substitutes Dean, Ginny’s boyfriend, on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. The team practice in preparation for the upcoming match against Slytherin. While everyone else is flying well, Ron performs poorly, his nerves and lack of confidence affecting his playing. Returning to the dormitories after a particularly bad practice, Ron and Harry run into Ginny and Dean kissing. Ron is furious, and Harry feels intensely jealous: “Hot blood seemed to flood his brain so that all thought was extinguished, replaced by a savage urge to jinx Dean into a jelly” (281). Ginny and Ron have an explosive fight; Ginny attributes Ron’s prudish behavior to his lack of dating experience, contrasted with Harry and Hermione’s past relationships. Ron is in a terrible mood afterward, behaving coldly to Hermione as well. His mood negatively impacts his Quidditch performance, leaving Harry worried about the upcoming match until he is struck with an idea.

On the day of the match, Harry passes Ron some juice to drink at breakfast. Hermione warns Ron not to drink it, having seen Harry seemingly slip something into it; however, Ron ignores her. As they walk out onto the Quidditch pitch, several things seem to come together in Gryffindor’s favor: good weather, and two players on the Slytherin team, including Draco, off sick. Ron wonders about this luck and asks Harry whether he spiked Ron’s drink, but Harry doesn’t answer.

Gryffindor goes on to win the match, with Ron playing exceptionally well. Hermione confronts Harry about having given Ron Felix Felicis that morning, which is banned in sporting events. Harry reveals his unopened bottle: Ron played well simply because he believed himself to be lucky. Ron storms off, offended by Hermione’s suggestion that he played well only due to luck. During the victory celebration party, Harry and Hermione see Ron kissing Lavender Brown, a classmate of theirs, leaving Hermione hurt and angry.

Hermione and Ron are no longer speaking to each other; Harry divides his time between his two friends, made slightly easier by Lavender demanding much of Ron’s time and attention. Hermione warns a still-dateless Harry that Romilda Vane is looking to dose him with a love potion, and Harry asks Luna to accompany him as a friend to Slughorn’s Christmas party.

At the party, Slughorn raves about Harry’s skills at potion-making to Snape, who is also present, leaving Harry feeling nervous; he does not want Snape to get suspicious of Harry’s newfound talent. Argus Filch, the school caretaker, catches Draco trying to crash the party, and Slughorn generously invites him in. Harry notices that Draco looks ill; Snape asks Draco to step out for a private conversation, and Harry follows them under the Invisibility Cloak.

Harry overhears Snape warning Draco to be careful as people suspect him of the incident with Katie Bell, but Draco vehemently denies his involvement. Snape offers Draco his help, having made an Unbreakable Vow to Narcissa to do so; however, Draco angrily rejects Snape’s help or protection. He accuses Snape of trying to steal his glory and storms out of the conversation.

Harry and Ron spend the Christmas holidays at The Burrow. Harry tells Ron about what he overheard; Ron is surprised to hear that Snape, a member of the Order, is offering Draco help. He also explains that breaking an Unbreakable Vow results in death.

Harry further confides in Mr. Weasley about Snape and Draco; Remus Lupin—Harry’s old DADA teacher, another Order member, and one of James Potter’s best friends—overhears. They both suggest that Snape was merely pretending to help to gain information; Harry questions Dumbledore’s absolute trust in Snape, but Lupin and Mr. Weasley attempt to reassure him.

Lupin tells Harry he has been underground with the werewolves, spying on them for Dumbledore. A werewolf himself, Lupin has been trying to gain their trust, though most of them believe they will have a better life under Voldemort. They are led by Fenrir Greyback, “the most savage werewolf alive” (329). Greyback’s mission is to create enough werewolves to overpower wizards, and Voldemort has promised him enough prey. Greyback is the one who bit and turned Lupin as a child as revenge against Lupin’s father, who had offended him.

On Christmas Day, Percy, the third Weasley brother, pays his family an unexpected visit, accompanied by Rufus Scrimgeour. Percy has been estranged from his family for a couple of years now. When Harry and Dumbledore first began telling people that Voldemort was back, Ron and his family were the first to back them—all except an ambitious Percy, who was just starting at the Ministry and chose to support then-Minister Fudge. Scrimgeour asks Harry to accompany him for a walk in the garden while Percy catches up with his family; everyone realizes that Percy’s visit is just a ploy for Scrimgeour to speak with Harry alone.

Scrimgeour addresses the rumors of Harry being the “Chosen One,” revealing that Dumbledore has refused to allow the Ministry to contact Harry. Scrimgeour asks Harry to “stand alongside the Ministry” (339) to give people hope. Harry refuses Scrimgeour’s request as he disapproves of what the Ministry has been doing, including arresting innocent people and using them as scapegoats. Harry has not forgotten the torture the Ministry put him through in the last year when, among other things, Dolores Umbridge, the Ministry-appointed DADA teacher, forced him to carve the words “I must not tell lies” (341) into the flesh of his right hand. Harry refuses to divulge any information about Dumbledore; he agrees with Scrimgeour’s assertion that Harry is “Dumbledore’s man through and through” (342) and walks away from the conversation.

After the holidays, Harry, Ron, and Ginny are seen off to Hogwarts by a teary Mrs. Weasley, who has been upset since Christmas dinner when Percy stormed off without reconciling with the family. At Hogwarts, Hermione, who is still not speaking to Ron, gives Harry the invitation to his next lesson with Dumbledore. Harry fills Hermione in on everything about Draco and Snape, Lupin’s work, and Scrimgeour’s visit. Hermione reminds Harry they have heard of Greyback before: Draco used his name to threaten Mr. Borgin. Harry is further convinced that Draco is a Death Eater, as Greyback is firmly on Voldemort’s side.

During his lesson, Harry tells Dumbledore about Scrimgeour’s visit; Dumbledore is touched by Harry’s defense of him. Harry also tells Dumbledore about Draco and Snape and is angry at Dumbledore’s curt dismissal of Harry’s worries and Dumbledore’s impatient reassertion that he does, indeed, trust Snape.

Dumbledore recollects Voldemort’s life from the point at which he entered Hogwarts: Smart, good-looking, and charming, Tom Riddle was well-liked by everyone, although Dumbledore never completely trusted him. He gathered a group of followers around himself during his school years, some of whom eventually became the first Death Eaters. Though they were never caught outright bullying or torturing other students, Voldemort’s years at school were marred by several nasty incidents. He was obsessed with his parentage, and when he eventually discovered that his father had never been to Hogwarts, he dropped the name Tom Riddle and became Lord Voldemort. The summer he turned 16, Voldemort visited the Gaunt house, having finally discovered his connection to them.

Dumbledore and Harry visit Morfin’s memory: Voldemort enters the Gaunt house, inhabited only by Morfin now. Morfin initially mistakes Voldemort to be his father but is stopped short when Voldemort speaks Parseltongue. Morfin reveals that Marvolo is dead, and Merope has been missing since Tom Riddle Sr. abandoned her and returned to the village. Morfin claims that Merope dishonored the family by running away with a Muggle, bemoaning the loss of Slytherin’s locket. At this point, the memory grows fuzzy. Dumbledore explains to Harry that following these revelations, Voldemort stole his uncle’s wand, proceeded to murder Tom Riddle Sr. and his family, and implanted a false memory about the murders in Morfin’s head, leaving with the black-stoned ring. When the Ministry arrived at Morfin’s house, he confessed to the murder immediately and was imprisoned in Azkaban. Dumbledore extracted this real memory from Morfin shortly before he passed away.

Dumbledore and Harry visit a second memory, this time Slughorn’s. A younger Slughorn is surrounded by several students, including Voldemort, who is wearing Marvolo’s ring. When the students leave, Voldemort hangs back to ask Slughorn about Horcruxes; the memory fills with a dense fog, and Slughorn’s voice proclaims he knows nothing about them. Dumbledore tells Harry that Slughorn has tampered with this memory, ashamed of what he told Voldemort. Harry is given homework to persuade Slughorn to part with the real memory, which is of vital importance.

Harry’s next Potions class involves brewing antidotes to poisons based on the principles of a potion-making law. Harry finds no notes in his textbook explaining the law and is initially stumped; however, he finds a note reading “Just shove a bezoar down their throats” (370) scribbled against a list of antidotes. Remembering that this stone taken from a goat’s stomach protects against most poisons, he retrieves one from the store cupboard and presents it to Slughorn instead of a brewed antidote. Slughorn is suitably impressed by Harry’s cheek, and Harry seizes the opportunity to stay back after class and asks Slughorn about Horcruxes. Slughorn immediately realizes Dumbledore has shown Harry the memory and frantically denies he knows anything about Horcruxes, abruptly dismissing Harry. Although he eventually resumes his usual affectionate treatment towards Harry, he no longer gives Harry any opportunity to be alone with him and stops scheduling “Slug Club” meetings.

The sixth-years attend their first Apparition lesson. During the lesson, Harry overhears Draco arguing with his friend Crabbe, refusing to tell the latter what he is up to and insisting that Crabbe and Goyle continue to serve as lookouts for as long as Draco tells them. Harry resolves to keep a close eye on Draco using his Marauder’s Map, a magical map that displays the locations of everyone inside Hogwarts. Over the next couple of weeks, Harry sees Crabbe and Goyle separately wandering the castle or standing stationery in corridors, at which time he is unable to locate Draco on the map at all.

On his birthday, Ron accidentally consumes some Chocolate Cauldrons spiked with a love potion, which Romilda Vane had given Harry. Under the pretense of introducing a love-sick Ron to Romilda, Harry takes him to Slughorn’s office and asks Slughorn to give Ron an antidote. Slughorn does so, then offers a recovered but shaken Ron a glass of mead from Three Broomsticks. The mead is poisoned, and Ron begins to choke and turn blue until Harry finds and thrusts a bezoar down his throat, and Ron goes still.