BOOK DISCUSSION: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

[cmere]

“Why are you worrying about YOU-KNOW-WHO, when you should be worrying about YOU-NO-POO? The constipation sensation that's gripping the nation!”Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was published in 2005. Clocking in at slightly shorter than its predecessor, the book nevertheless contained a wealth of new information for fans. Book Six included new

Comments

[cmere]

What surprised you in Book Five?

[philstar22]

I think what surprised me the most was the lack of war or much darkness until the end. I was expecting much more, even with most of the story taking place at Hogwarts

Snape killing Dumbledore was of course surprising.

[celestlyn]

The whole Dumbledore thing was pretty shocking. I'm glad Draco didn't do it, but I was surprised at the plan hatched between Snape and Dumbledore. That whole conversation between Snape and Dumbledore regarding Draco and Snape's soul. Very sad.

[khalulu]

Yeah, but we don't know about the conversation til the end of book 7, when Snape is dying.

I ended book 6 going "Snape, Snape, Harry is wrong about Snape!" because he'd been wrong about Snape before - book 1, I think, with Quirrell and the spells at the Quidditch match. I thought maybe Snape used Legilimency and through that Dumbledore told him to end it because he was dying from drinking the poison in the basin anyway.

[cmere]

In your opinion, what were the most memorable scenes in the book?

[philstar22]

For me the most memorable scenes were the ones with Harry and Dumbledore. Easily the best parts of the book. The pensieve scenes, the cave scene, and the end scene with Dumbledore's death.

[aome]

The Pensieve scenes where we learned more about Tom Riddle's past and about Horcruxes. I. Loved. Those. Best part of the whole book, IMO.

Of course, the scene in the cave with Dumbledore is very memorable, as was Dumbledore's death and funeral. And the bit where Harry took the Felix Felicis.

[drinkingcocoa]

Sectumsempra bathroom. Snape almost singing as he spelled Draco's wounds shut so expertly that there wouldn't even be a scar. The tortured look on his face as he burst into that bathroom where the two scared boys were accidentally almost killing each other.

[cmere]

Newly introduced characters in Book Six include Rufus Scrimgeour, Fenrir Greyback, Horace Slughorn, Romilda Vane, Cormac McLaggen, the Gaunts - Marvolo, Merope, and Morfin, and Tom Riddle Sr.. Share your thoughts and opinions on any new characters or development of recurring characters.

[philstar22]

Fenrir Greyback was suitably dark and creepy I thought and a good counterpoint to Remus.

Rufus Scrimgeour was interesting, I thought. Not quite as naive, paranoid, or foolish as Fudge and yet still a politician.

Slughorn was interesting. But I think his ambition and his sidling up to powerful people regardless of what side they were on was glossed over a bit too much and I think I sympathized with him less than we were maybe supposed to.

The Gaunts were interesting. I felt so bad for Merope and it made me understand why she did what she did to Tom Riddle Sr. Although, the whole idea of not being conceived in love meant Voldemort turned out evil bugged me a lot.

[author_by_night]

Although, the whole idea of not being conceived in love meant Voldemort turned out evil bugged me a lot.

Yeah, I... still prefer to think it was his upbringing and the fact that no one ever gave him the attention he so clearly needed. It's not that I blame anyone, it was the 1930's and 40's, but... still. Just not my favorite.

[drinkingcocoa]

Slughorn! What a clever invention!

Cormac McLaggen, too. Ugh! He ate a pound of doxy eggs for a bet! Sooooo not my type. I could not believe the dangerous game Hermione was playing and the way she realized she had a proto-date rapist on her hands. Gah. Genuinely scary.

[cmere]

Teenage romance and drama played a large part of Book Six. Did you love it? Hate it? Somewhere in between? (a separate thread for favorite shippy moments of all characters is below to discuss other ships)

[philstar22]

Hate it. And I would have hated it regardless of what the relationships were. There should have been way less romance and drama and way more war and tension and darkness IMHO. Hogwarts may be removed from all of that but I still would have expected the Trio at least to be focused on it. Harry barely seemed to care and considering he now knows he alone has to face Voldemort, he seemed remarkably apathetic and focused on other things.

Also, Sirius' death did not seem to be effecting Harry at all. HBP!Harry seemed almost cold. I much preferred Capslock!Harry because that seemed a normal reaction to what he went through.

[portkey]

Regarding Harry seemingly getting over Sirius's death 'too easily', I have to say right here that to me, as someone who was in a very deep pit of depression - partially because of horrific personal tragedy - while the series was going on that I started to claw my way out of (with the help of the books and the fandom), it actually rang rather true to me. Harry, as unhappy as he had been, must have had a LOT of time to think during his enforced isolation at the Dursleys', and with everything that he had going on in his life he had to come to the decision to simply put things behind him. It's actually been a couple months since we last saw him, so it may seem a bit more of an "instant" change than it really is since it happened off-screen

[philstar22]

I think it would have rang true to me if he had been pretending and burying his feelings. Because that is exactly what I did with my trauma. But to me the book did not read like that at all. To me it read like we were supposed to believe Harry was just genuinely over everything. And I don't think that one summer would have been enough time to actually get over it. Burry it and put it aside to do what he had to, yes (although considering that Harry didn't even seem really focused on the war and Voldemort in book 6 it didn't seem like he even much cared about that either), but not to genuinely be over it. Which is what it seemed like we were supposed to believe about Harry, at least to me.

[cmere]

What are your favorite shippy moments that took place? (All ships welcome! Put the ship in the subject line)

H/D, R/Hr, R/L

[aome]

Harry's obsession with Draco. *g*

Ron's relationship with Lavender was hilarious, especially "Won-Won" and the necklace she gave him. I like R/Hr in canon (even though I rarely focus on it for fic) so I was fine with their obvious jealousy and the way Ron would be awake in the hospital wing for Hermione, but pretended to be asleep for Lavender. And how Hermione was the first name he said as he recovered from poisoning.

RE: H/D, R/Hr, R/L

[shocolate]

Even as a H/R shipper, Harry's ridiculous "I need to be inside you, I need to be where Draco Malfoy is" was HYSTERICAL.

I literally literally fell off the bed when Ron snogged Lavender.

The shippy stuff was perfection - Hermione finally asked him out and he still made a mess of it. I love him. Won-won. HIding behind Hermione, because he can't dump anyone.

Harry checking with Ron that it was OK to kiss his sister,

SO happy.

Remus/Tonks, Harry/Ginny

[author_by_night]

I shipped R/T before HBP (pretty much immediately after reading OoTP... it just worked for me) and I loved Tonks pointing out to Remus that Fleur still loved Bill, and that she didn't see Remus in any worse light. The timing could have been less awkward, but I still loved it. Oh, and them holding hands at Dumbledore's funeral. (No comment on DH, except that I was less impressed with how they were written there.)

As for H/G... no comment on the "chest monster", but I loved that their first kiss was right after a great Quidditch match. I also loved the Ron and Harry friendship moment immediately following, where Ron just shrugs. Poor Dean, though....