Half-Blood Prince: Chapter 7: The Slug Club

[handhfan]

This is my first summary, so be easy on me. :) Sorry if this is a little long, I think I got carried away…

Chapter 7: The Slug Club

Harry is spending a lot of time over the last week to figure out why Malfoy was in Knocturn Alley, and why he was in a good mood. He came up with an irrational suspicion that Draco could be a DE. To make matters

Comments

[schtroumph_c]

* Cherry and unicorn hair

Must not make virgin joke…

* Mother wants me to complete my education,

Does she? Or she wants him in Hogwarts, far away of Voldemort?

[cadesama]

But his mission actually requires him to be at Hogwarts. I think Draco, since he had to ditch Narcissa last chapter, is under the delusion that his mission is a secret even from her. I figure he's just posturing here, and half of what he's saying isn't true.

[schtroumph_c]

Cherry and unicorn hair

Dying of curiousity; what line is this in the book?

[pilly2009]

Sorry, this was me. I forgot to sign in.

[muggle_prof]

I'm not sure if Harry is showing maturity or just that he's turned off by Romilda Vane, but it was nice to see him defending Luna and Neville as his friends, instead of wishing he could sink into the floor or be seen with "cooler kids" as he did when Cho happened upon basically the same group

[cadesama]

or something that would indicate Harry does, occassionally, notice other people besides himself, R/Hr, Ginny and Draco?

No idea. I guess the simplest explanation is that Harry really is that focused. He usually does have a lot his plate, what with people tryint to kill him all the time. And it's not like he's ever initiated a relationship without that person first approaching him, so he's not likely to seek out people anyway.

After Harry's little visit with the Slytherin car, he'd better not criticize Hermione for her lack of undercover sublety

To be fair, that was Ron. Harry didn't say anything. As well, they are different types of different cover -- although one would assume that staying hidden while invisible would be the easy one.

[muggle_prof]

Slughorn's question is "This is Cormac McLaggen,perhaps you've come across each other-- No?"
Heck when I used to ride the bus to work, I could recognize the people that rode every day with me after a week or two. I didn't know their name or anything about them, but i could have answered yes to "you've come across each other". Harry has never sat across from this guy at dinner, or been in line to go out the portrait hole to class or anything in 5 years?
I don't object that they aren't best friends, (because you're right, Harry only has a few freinds) just that Harry doesn't even recognize a member of his own house after 5 years.

[cadesama]

Oh, I think he ought to recognize Cormac, too. But I just meant that since Harry isn't a people person, and is always very focused on whatever crisis he's in the middle of, I don't he actually looks around at his peers very often. He's pretty observant about the adults, but I think that taxes most of his attention, so all he sees of the student body is a mass of people in between him and his objective.

[cadesama]

For all that the war is supposedly making a daily impact on their lives, Ron and Hermione seem determined not to think that the world (well, Draco) is dangerous. They really come off as dense in this scene. Or children who are too naive to handle the reality of war

[house_elf_44]

For all that the war is supposedly making a daily impact on their lives, Ron and Hermione seem determined not to think that the world (well, Draco) is dangerous. They really come off as dense in this scene. Or children who are too naive to handle the reality of war.

Their not believing Harry makes no sense to me. They've believed dodgier stuff for which they only had Harry's word. Maybe there really are Wrackspurts.

Ginny sabotaging Ron's attempt to get a kiss from Fleur makes me think scary thoughts about sexual jealousy. Now I need to scrub out my brain.

Yeah, what was her motivation there? Is it the standard siblings getting each other whenever possible? or she didn't like that Fleur just kissed Harry and took it out on Ron? It didn't do anything against Fleur.

I find it interesting that both Dumbledore and Slughorn use students as messengers. Poor Hedwig must have felt unneeded. I think it was a way to slip in the name Demelza, and to fool us about Harry's reaction when Ginny delivers a message to him. I'll save that for

[cadesama]

They've believed dodgier stuff for which they only had Harry's word. Maybe there really are Wrackspurts.

Heh, Wrackspurts are as good as anything. That's why I'm convinced that the DoM marked a deterioration in the amount of trust Ron and Hermione have in Harry. Unfortunately, I don't think this issue is dealt with anywhere in the book, and I don't have much hope that it'll be dealt with in the next.

Yeah, what was her motivation there? Is it the standard siblings getting each other whenever possible? or she didn't like that Fleur just kissed Harry and took it out on Ron? It didn't do anything against Fleur.

Well, the scary thought I had ties back into the theory that Ginny wasn't a wholly unwilling participant with the diary, as the diary only took out rivals for the men in Ginny's life (Harry's fans, Ron's future girlfriend, Percy's girlfriend). So the idea would be that Ginny needs to be the only girl in Ron's life, as well as Bill's, and takes revenge on Ron for ignoring her for Fleur. I don't think it's really true, but I

[house_elf_44]

...I'm convinced that the DoM marked a deterioration in the amount of trust Ron and Hermione have in Harry.

I didn't think that. In the end they knew it was a convincing trap, and Kreacher lied to make it work. Harry didn't draw any wrong conclusions, except that it didn't occur to him that a House Elf could lie to him, and Ron and Hermione didn't think of that either.

...Unfortunately, I don't think this issue is dealt with anywhere in the book, and I don't have much hope that it'll be dealt with in the next.

Ron and Hermione have no choice but to realize Harry had been right about Malfoy all along, and they were wrong. I think this will put Harry and Hermione on equal footing as far as figuring things out, whereas it was all Hermione before.

[pilly2009]

This first scene of Ron and Hermione's not believing Harry -- and indeed the whole scenario throughout HBP -- weirdly reminded me of Paris in the Odyssey (or the movie Troy). Any other time, not taking his opinions seriously would be completely safe (he is not the most reliable person when it comes to decision-making, etc.), but the one time they should be listening to him (Trojan Horse), they understandably decide to be "smart" amd mot do so.

But was anyone else very pleased to see Harry actually go to an adult for something on his mind? I swear, it has to be like, the first time he's done it, ever. I don't think his recklessness has stopped after what happened in the DoM, but it does seem as if he is learning something from his past experiences. Of course, Arthur doesn't seem to take it seriously (although, how much do I love it that we find out later that Arthur did take him seriously enough to organize a search. I don't know, I thought it showed a certain measure of trust engrained there, on Arthur's part anyway

[cadesama]

I mean, maybe Ron IS horny, but what's so wrong with expecting a kiss from your soon-to-be sister-in-law?

From your French soon-to-be-sister-in-law, no less. I really think that was a petty act, and I think it's even worse because most of Ginny's animosity is aimed toward Fleur -- yet Ron is the one that suffers because of it.

I found something very fundamental in the interactions between Harry and Luna in HBP. She wasn't shown nearly as prominently as she was in OotP, but whereas in OotP her prsence was always inflicted (for lack of a better word) on Harry for any length of time, in HBP Harry actively made an effort to spend time with her.Eeee! I agree! I think that one would have to be extremely heartless not to feel some amount for pity for either Luna or Neville, but Harry doesn't let that rule his relatinships with them, and has genuine affection for both. And, honestly, the uncomfortable silence after Luna makes her comment about the DA and friendship reminds me of the topic changes we get from Ron and Hermione when Harry

[monkeyshine4616]

I think what bothered me the most in this entire book was the way Dumbledore and Slughorn and everyone else sent messages through students. Snape sending that message through Demelza to Harry about his detention... Come on. Snape could've done better than that