A chapter-by-chapter summary of the book, written by Fred, edited by Kortney.
- The Other Minister: In this chapter, The British Prime Minister is awaiting a call from the president of a faraway land when Fudge shows up. He gets flashbacks of the last times he met Fudge, such as during the escape of "Serious" Black. But Fudge is here today to not only explain that the horrors were caused by Death Eaters, Dementors, and giants, but to introduce his successor, Rufus Scrimgeour, formerly head of The Auror Office.
- Spinner's End: Narcissa and Bellatrix visits Professor Snape, who happens to be living with Wormtail on Lord Voldemort's orders. After Belltrix's initial distrust of Snape, Narcissa pleads tearfully to Snape that he must do something to save her son, Draco, if he fails the task that Lord Voldemort gives him (to find a way to let Death Eaters into Hogwarts). After some hesitation, Snape makes an Unbreakable Vow, with Bellatrix as The Bonder.
- Will And Won't: Professor Dumbledore arrives at 4 Privet Drive, and is ready to pick Harry up. However, he still has some matters to discuss with Harry, such as the fact that when Sirius died, his will says that he left all possessions to Harry. Dumbledore confirms that 12 Grimmauld Place was also left to Harry by testing to see if the house elf, Kreacher, obeys Harry's commands. Harry tells Kreacher to "shut up", and he does. Then Dumbledore explains how Harry must return once more to Privet Drive for his protection, since after that, he will be 17 and a man.
- Horace Slughorn: Dumbledore takes Harry to the village where Horace EF Slughorn is living. He tries, in vain, to persuade Slughorn to become a teacher at Hogwarts. However, when Dumbledore "went to the washroom", Harry and Slughorn has a casual chat, and Harry stresses how Hogwarts will provide Slughorn with more protection from Death Eaters. In the end, Slughorn agrees to become a teacher.
- An Excess Of Phlegm: Harry arrives at The Burrow, and is lectured about safety and his Invisibility Cloak by Dumbledore. He spends the rest of August with Ron, Ginny, and Hermione, who, except for Ron, express their irritation with Fleur. As a matter of fact, Fleur Delacour is engaged to Bill Weasley, and she will be visiting The Burrow quite a lot. So, Hermione and Ginny are irritated because Fleur keeps treating them like 3-year-olds.
- Draco's Detour: When Mr. and Mrs. Weasley takes Harry and his friends to buy school supplies in Diagon Alley, he notices how different it is. All plastered with Ministry warnings about Death Eaters, They go to Madam Malkin's to get robes, and notices Draco is there. He refuses to show his left arm, and it is suspected that he has a Dark Mark there. For Fred and George's store, Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, is the only store that has no hint of Death Eaters on the loose. It is the only store which shows any happiness, and makes fun of the current tension. Fred and George gives a tour of the store, showing different products, such as love potions, edible Dark Marks, etc.
Harry sees Draco skulk by the store, and decides to follow him with Hermione and Ron, under The Invisibility Cloak. They find out that Draco went to Borgin And Burkes to get something fixed, and to raincheck an item.
- The Slug Club: Aboard The Hogwarts Express, Harry notices that be is very popular among girls. A young girl delivers a message from Slughorn to him, requesting to see him in his private compartment. There he meets other invitees such as McLaggen, Ginny, etc. With the exception of Ginny, Slughorn invited these people since they have famous family members. There Slughorn chats with each in turn about their famous family member, and how he taught them a lot.
- Snape Victorious: After being immobilized and beat up by Draco, Harry is rescued by Tonks who happens to be one of The Aurors stationed in Hogsmeade. She sends word with her Patronus to Hagrid, but Snape arrives. After lecturing Harry about grand entrances and no flying car, he deducts 70 points from Gryffindor and sends Harry into The Great Hall for dinner. After being stared at by everyone, Harry discovers his face is covered in blood, and Hermione kindly siphons it off with a clever spell. After dinner, Harry explains what he heard in Draco's compartment, and how he beat him up.
- The Half-Blood Prince: After being unexpectedly made Gryffindor Quidditch Captain and accepted into Potions class, Harry is given his timetable by Professor McGonagall, and is told that 20 people have signed up for Quidditch trials. They then have a spare period, while Hermione rushes off to Ancient Runes. An hour later, when it is time for Defence Against The Dark Arts (now taught by Professor Snape), Hermione comes in line talking about how much homework they got. Snape walks out of the class, orders them in, and begins teaching non-verbal spells. After witnessing Ron's "pathetic" spell, he takes over, but is overwhelmed by Harry's Shield Charm. After Harry's cheeky retort to Snape's comment, he earns a detention, but popularity and support amongst The Gryffindors.
After approaching The Potions dungeons, Harry finds that there are only 12 students who made it into NEWT potions; 4 Ravenclaws, 4 Slytherins, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and a Hufflepuff (Ernie). After settling down at the same table as Ernie, they are introduced to various potions, such as The Polyjuice Potion and The Felix Felicis. Professor Slughorn wastes no time explaining that whomever makes the best Draught Of Living Death will be awarded a bottle of Felix Felicis, a luck potion.
Using his graffitied borrowed copy of Advanced Potion-Making, Harry sets off making the potion. After risking to follow the instructions graffitied in it, he succeeds in making the best potion in the class, and wins the reward.
Later at dinner, Harry finds out the owner of the book: The Half-Blood Prince.
- The House Of Gaunt: Harry has his first meeting with Dumbledore, and is immediately explained to that Dumbledore will be showing him memories of Lord Voldemort's youth with the aid of a Pensieve. So, they go inside a memory of Bob Ogden's, and they visit (with Bob) the house of Gaunt, where there lived Morfin, Marvolo, and Merope. Bob is here to notify Morfin that he has performed underage wizardry, and is summoned to a hearing. However, after some conflict with Marvolo, Marvolo finds out that his daughter, Merope, is in love with a Muggle, the same one that Morfin cursed. Since The Gaunts are generally Lord-Voldemort-ish, that is to say, pure-blood mania, Mr. Gaunt is furious with Merope. He strangles her, and after Bob saves Merope, he runs for his life.
Dumbledore later explains that Merope was Lord Voldemort's mother, and The Muggle she watched was Lord Voldemort's father. Since he was very handsome and did not like Merope, Merope offered him to drink some water, which contained love potion. After they had Lord Voldemort, Merope thought that her husband, Tom Riddle Sr., would love her on his own accord. She was wrong, and one day, Tom abandoned her. Merope was sad to the point that she refused to use magic even to save her own life. Right before she died, she gave Lord Voldemort to the local orphanage, and was alive long enough to name him: Tom after her husband, Marvolo after her father.
- Hermione's Helping Hand: Now, Harry, Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, must be present at The Quidditch tryouts! So, after going into the pitch, he is surprised by the amount of people who showed up. He starts off the process of elimination by asking everyone to fly around the pitch in small groups, and eliminated a bunch of first-years. Then, there was a group of giggling girls who were happy to join the spectator stands to watch the rest. Finally, there was a group of Hufflepuffs trying out for Gryffindor Quidditch! After making it clear that only Gryffindors are allowed, a bunch of Ravenclaws walk off.
After some initial difficulty, Harry found himself 3 Chasers: Katie Bell, Demelza Robins, and Ginny Weasley. Then, there were the 2 new Beaters, Jimmy Peakes and Ritchie Coote. Now, The keeper trials were left. Ron and McLaggen scored the top marks, but McLaggen messed up his last save; he goes off in the opposite direction of The Quaffle due to Hermione's secret Confundus Charm. So, Ron is The Keeper.
Later on, after meeting Hagrid and comforting him (Aragog was sick), they regain his friendship (they offended him by not taking Care Of Magical Creatures) and venture back to The Gryffindor common room. Harry sees McLaggen walk into a wall before going through the potrait hole, and Hermione finally reveals that she jinxed him during Quidditch practice, since he was insulting Ginny and Ron.
- Silver And Opals: Harry sits in bed reading his Half-Blood Prince potions book. He sees a non-verbal spell, and tries it. Ron happens to be the victim, and after they all had a good laugh, Ginny delivers a scroll containing Harry's next meeting with Dumbledore. After being searched by Filch's Secrecy Sensor for Dark objects, the students are let into Hogsmeade, where Harry is cornered by Professor Slughorn, demanding why Harry has missed his parties. After getting drinks and having a break in Madam Rosmerta's, Harry, Ron, and Hermione leaves, and happens to be following Katie and her friend Leanne back. They seem to be arguing about something, and it so happens that Katie was carrying a suspicious object, which made her levitate when she touched it. Hagrid comes to the rescue, and brings her to The Hospital Wing. Harry, Ron, and Hermione rushes to Professor MGonagall to explain the event, and as always, blame it on Draco, even though he wasn't in Hogsmeade that day.
- The Secret Riddle: Katie was taken to St. Mungo's Hospital but no-one including Ron and Hermione believed Harry's "Malfoy-Is-a-Death-Eater" theory. Katie didn't touch the necklace except through a tiny hole in her glove or she would have died and Professor Snape was able to "help save her". Dumbledore wouldn't tell Harry why he was leaving Hogwarts frequently or where he was going; but, he said that Mundungus "wouldn't be stealing anything from you again" because he had gone underground. Dumbledore poured memories into The Pensieve and they took another discursion, this time through one of his own memories with Caractacus Burke (founder of Borgin And Burke). Burke said that Merope, covered in rags and pregnant, sold him a locket for 10 Galleons because she needed the money. Dumbledore pointed out to Harry that Merope wasn't using magic at the time for some reason and had chosen to die; and "yes" Harry's mother had "made a choice" as well.
Another memory was when Dumbledore, a teacher at Hogwarts, went to retrieve Tom Riddle from Mrs. Cole the matron of an orphanage for his "scholarship" at the school. He had to trick her with a magically conjured letter or credentials and several bottles of Gin. Just after she had started at the orphanage a young girl came staggering up the steps to deliver her baby. She died two hours later. Before she died she had said "I hope he looks like his papa." She said his surname was to be "Riddle" and "Tom for his father" and "Marvolo for her father." Mrs Cole said that Tom was a "funny child". He "hardly ever cried" and he "scares the other children". Several "nasty incidents" had occurred. "Billy Stubbs's rabbit, didn't hang itself from the rafters," and "Amy Benson and Dennis Bishop were never quite right after they went into a cave near the seaside during an excursion." They couldn't say anything else about the time in the cave.
Tom was suspicious of Dumbledore and commanded him to "TELL THE TRUTH" in a loud, intimidating manner like he had done it many times before. After he was told, he explaimed "It's magic, what I can do?" "I can make things move without touching them, I can make animals do what I want them to do, without training them. I can make bad things happen to people who annoy me. I can make them hurt if I want to." When Riddle tried again to intimidate Dumbledore to "PROVE IT" (that he was a wizard) Dumbledore peacefully backed him down and told him to call him professor or sir. Tom then became obsequiously polite. Dumbledore caused Tom's wardrobe to burst into flames as a proof of his wizardhood. He also then found several items Tom had stolen in the wardrobe and told him to take them back and apologize and advised him regarding obeying wizarding law.
Tom refused any help from Dumbledore in going to Diagon Alley for school supplies. Dumbledore told him how to get there and that he should find "Tom the barman." Tom said that he could talk to snakes. "They find me, they whisper to me." Dumbledore claimed he returned to Hogwarts determined to keep an eye on Tom because his powers were unusually well-developed for his age and that he had begun to use them intentionally against other people, to frighten, to punish, and to control. He told Harry that Riddle's being a parselmouth didn't concern him as much as his "obvious instincts for cruelty, secrecy, and domination." Dumbledore pointed out that Tom had "showd contempt for (his name and) anything that tied him to other people." Also that he was (and still is) friendless, secretive, and self-sufficient even though some Death Eaters like to think and claim that they are in his confidence. He also pointed to Harry that Riddle liked to collect trophies from victims of his bullying. Harry noticed that Marvolo's ring had gone from Dumbledore's table.
- Felix Felicis: In Herbology they had to literally wrestle gnarled stumps of Snargaluff for the pod within. Hermione said that Slughorn's parties were not bad and that she had to tell him which day Harry had free so his Christmas party could be planned for that date. Ron jealously maligned "the slug club" until Hermione said she would invite him as her guest. Harry pondered if their friendship could survive if Ron and Hermione began dating then broke up. He asked Dean Thomas to fill in as Chaser which upset Seamus. Ron was an inconsistent Quidditch player and when stressed he became wild and unable to play. Ginny read Ron the riot act when he ragged on her for kissing Dean then belittled him for "never having anyone to kiss". She said that Harry had "snogged Cho and Hermione had snogged Viktor Krum" which then really upset Ron. They found a small girl on the 7th floor corridor outside the room of requirement who dropped a bottle of frogspawn. Harry began daydreaming about having a relationship with Ginny but worried about how Ron would take it.
Ron, upset that Hermione had kissed Viktor, became abusive with other team mates until Harry had to threaten him with removal. Ron said he was resigning after the next game even though Harry told him that it was all a problem of "nerves." Lavender began pursuing Ron. Harry let Hermione and Ron see him sneak some Felix Felicis into Ron's pumpkin juice which he drank even though Hermione was disgusted at them. Malfoy feigned illness so he didn't have to play. Zacharias Smith was commentating and maligned the Gryffindor team. Ron made spectacular saves and Gryffindor was substantially ahead when Harper went after the snitch. Harry only caught it by distracting Harper asking "how much Malfoy had paid him to play". Ginny sped and "accidentally" crashed into Zacharias' podium. Harry finally admitted to Ron and Hermione that he had only "faked" using Felix and Ron did it all himself! Then Ron got mad at Hermione for thinking it couldn't have been his skill.
Lavender finally captured Ron and began snogging with him in the common room. Harry grew more fond of Ginny. He then found Hermione alone in an empty classroom having conjured a small flock of canaries while she wanted to be alone. Lavender and Ron barged into the room but Lavender excused herself. Hermione then left but used "Oppugno" to cause her bird flock to attack Ron before she left.
- The Unbreakable Vow: Harry was in the middle of Ron and Hermione's "not talking to each other". Hermione warned Harry about hearing Romilda Vane and others talking about giving Harry love potion they had bought from Fred and George by mail order that was mailed to them disguised as perfume. She advised him to quickly ask someone to The Slug Club party to stop the girls' plans. They realized that they were being overheard by someone (Draco). Later Romilda gave Harry some Chocolate Cauldrons - he took them but didn't eat them. Ron and Hermione's feud escalated to tears. Luna Lovegood had an "unusual knack of speaking uncomfortable truths" and Harry asked her to the party "as just friends". Ron used Lavender to "get at" Hermione; and Hermione asked "Cormac McLaggen" to get back at Ron calling him a "really good Quidditch player".
Slughorn effusively welcomed Harry at his party and introduced him to Eldred Worple an author who tried to pressure Harry to let him write his biography. Harry uncharacteristically told him "I'm definitely not interested" just before Hermione found him "escaping" from McClaggen who "makes Grawp look like a gentleman". Slughorn snagged Snape into a conversation where he complimented Harry on his Potion making ability. Malfoy was drug in by the ear by Filtch having found him "lurking in an upstairs corridor" (probably the 7th floor). Malfoy looked pale and drawn and seemed disappointed when Slughorn invited him to stay. Snape asked to "speak with him" so Harry followed them under his invisibility cloak to the end of the dungeon corridor.
Malfoy told Snape that "he could stop him" because his aunt Bellatrix had been teaching him Occlumency. Snape asked "what thoughts are you trying to conceal from your master?" Malfoy said "nothing from HIM, I just don't want you butting in". Malfoy had been deliberately refusing to come to Snape's office as requested. Snap told Malfoy that he had promised his mother, with "an Unbreakable Vow", to help. Malfoy said: he "had a job" to do; wouldn't tell Snape about his plan; had some "better help" than just Crabbe and Goyle; and that DADA is all an ACT "like any of us need protecting against The Dark Arts. Snape asked "where do you think I'd be all these years if I didn't know how to ACT?" Draco stormed out.
- A Very Frosty Christmas: Ron and Harry were at The Burrow for Christmas where Ron was filled in about Snape's conversation with Malfoy. A person dies if they break an "unbreakable vow". Harry said he would tell Dumbledore but Ron suggested that everyone would think Snape was just trying to get Draco to tell him what he was doing so he could tell The Order. Lupin also came for Christmas and looked more ill than ever. Mr. Weasley confided to Harry that probably none of the arrests the ministry had made so far were Death Eaters including Stan Shunpike. When told of Draco and Snape, both Mr. Weasley and Lupin said "Dumbledore trusts Snape and that should be good enough for us".
Lupin is living with the werewolves who follow Voldemort thinking they would have a better life under his rule. Fenrir Greyback is the most savage of them believing his mission is to bite and contaminate as many people as possible. He actively pursues victims specializing in children. It was Greyback who bit Lupin. No one had heard of the Half-Blood Prince and the use of the Levicorpus spell was common. James Potter was a full-blood wizard and never went by "Prince." Lavender gave Ron a gold chain reading "My Sweetheart" which embarrassed and disgusted him. Kreacher gave Harry a package of maggots. Fleur and Bill acted more in love than ever much to the consternation of Molly. Referring to Tonks, Lupin said that a patronus might change in response to a "great shock or emotional upheaval".
Percy came to visit his family bringing the Minister as a ploy to get Harry to talk to Scrimgeour. The minister pretended it was Percy's idea and he "accidentally" chose Harry to walk in the garden with him. Rufus was miffed that Dumbledore had been preventing him from speaking with Harry. He danced around topics, even tempted Harry with a future Auror position, until Harry forced him to a admit that he really wanted Harry as a "poster boy" for his administration. Harry maturely and forcefully stood up to him with "but If I'm seen with you won't that make people think I agree with what you are doing? And I don't" "You're making Shunpike a scapegoat just like you want to make me a mascot." "You people never get it right" and he showed him his scarred hand from Umbridge. "You seem cleverer than Fudge, I'd of though you would have learned from his mistakes. He tried interfering at Hogwarts, he's not minister any more. I'd leave Dumbledore alone, if I were you." When taunted Harry admitted that "Yes, I guess I am," Dumbledore's man through and through.
- A Sluggish Memory: A few days after New Year Harry, Ron and Ginny used the Floo network to return to McGonagall's office as a one time security measure. Mrs. Weasley had cried since Percy stormed out of the house on Christmas day. The Fat Lady and her friend Violet had drunk their way through all the wine in the picture of the drunk monks in the Charms corridor. Lavender became even more possessive and embarrassing to "Won Won" as she called him. Hermione believed Snape was just trying to obtain information from Draco but conceded that Malfoy was planning something. She remembered that Fenrir Greyback was who Malfoy mentioned as a "friend of the family" to intimidate Borgin in Knockturn alley. Apparition lessons began for those who will be 17 on or before 31 August.
Dumbledore got emotional over Harry telling Scrimgeour he was "Dumbledore's man". The argument Dumbledore had with the minister was over not allowing him access to Harry for political purposes. Harry got upset when Dumbledore said he understood about Malfoy and Snape "better than you do"; and, using occlumency, Dumbledore had to put Harry in his place. He showed Harry two memories in the Pensieve. The first year Tom Riddle was dressed in second-hand robes and placed in Slytherin the moment the Sorting Hat touched his head. Riddle learned Slytherin could talk to snakes but gave no hint of frightening or speaking Parseltongue to other students. He showed no sign of arrogance or aggression at all but was unusually talented and very good-looking which drew attention and sympathy from the staff. Dumbledore didn't tell them of his concerns preferring to give Tom a second chance. Riddle gathered a group of "friends" (although he had no affection for any of them) of the: weak seeking protection, ambitious seeking shared glory, and thuggish seeking a leader toward more refined forms of cruelty. Their seven years were marked by several nasty incidents which couldn't be proven. In Dumbledore's search he needed to trick many acquaintances into talking. Riddle was obsessed with his parentage but finally accepted that "Tom Riddle Sr." was not a wizard and dropped his name in favor of "Lord Voldemort." He began searching for Marvolo and stumbled across the existence of Slytherin's surviving line- Gaunt.
Harry saw Riddle go back the Gaunt house and speak with Morfin, who was wearing Marvolo's black stoned ring, during the summer of his 16th year. Riddle learned the story about his mother being disowned and his muggle father living across the valley. Morfin's memory then went blank and Dumbledore explained his hypothesis that Riddle had stupefied him, took his wand and killed the Riddles, modified Morfin's memory to confess the killings to the Auror's and stole Marvolo's black ring. Dumbledore got Morfin's memory just before he died in Azkaban. The ministry can tell if magic is done at a location but not by whom. The memory in the second phial had congealed somewhat. It was of potions professor Slughorn talking to Tom Riddle but had been "altered." Riddle asked about Horcruxes and was told "I don't know anything and wouldn't tell you if I did." Dumbledore assigned Harry to obtain the "true memory" from Slughorn as the "one person who might be able to penetrate his defenses."
- Birthday Surprises: Ron and Hermione continue to be upset with each other and angry. Potions class was bout creating an antidote for blended poisons which neither Ron or Harry understood. Hermione felt vindicated that she wouldn't be bested by Harry and "the Prince" this time. Harry's book only was annotated to use a "Bezoar" a stone taken from the stomach of a goat. Nearly all of the class failed but Harry just held up a Bezoar which made Slughorn laugh (Hermione's had 52 ingredients!) When Harry asked Slughorn about Horcruxes he got angry and stormed out. Hermione failed in the library to find reference of them except that "of the wickedest of magical inventions we shall not speak."
12 weeks of extracurricular Apparition lessons began. Harry positioned himself to be able to hear Malfoy's argument with Crabbe about "it taking longer than I thought it would" and that it was "none of their business" what he was doing and they should just keep lookout." Apparition needs "3 D's": Destination, Determination & Deliberation - sort of "see yourself there" turn and be there. Susan Bones splinched and was put right by the Heads of House. Splinching occurs when the mind is insufficiently determined. Harry began tracking Malfoy with the Marauders Map without success. He saw Crabbe and Goyle alone in corridors but Malfoy wasn't even on the map. The next Hogsmead trip was cancelled (on Ron's Birthday March 1st), and the Daily Prophet reported more disappearances. Ron opened his birthday presents and mistakenly thought the candy Romilda Vane gave Harry was a present and ate some. It contained Love Potion which needed to be easily counteracted by Slughorn who then offered a celebratory drink of "one last bottle of oak-matured mead he was gong to give to Dumbledore for Christmas. Ron drank first and was poisoned. Harry thought to put a Bezoar into his mouth to save him.
- Elf-Tails: That evening Fred and George were with Harry, Hermione and Ginny at the bedside of Ron in the hospital wing. The twins were in Hogsmead thinking about buying Zonko's. They finally surmise that the poisoner meant the bottle for Dumbledore. Hagrid came in late having been "reading to" Aragog. Ginny said that the poisoner didn't seem "to care how many people they hurt before they reach their victim." Mr. Weasley told Harry that "half our family does seem to owe you their lives … It was a lucky day for the Weasleys that Ron" met you. Talking, Hagrid accidentally let slip that he believed Dumbledore was "angry with Sn …" He overheard them near the forest in a "heated discussion." Snape said "Dumbledore took too much for granted and maybe - Snape - didn't want to do it any more but didn’t' say what. Harry became even more concerned about Dumbledore's apparent blindness about Snape and Draco.
With Ron out Cormac McLaggen pushed Harry into playing keeper and kept dogging him trying to force his detailed training schemes on him. Lavender kept pushing questions about Ron on him as well because Ron pretended to be asleep whenever she visited. On the way to the Quidditch game against Hufflepuff he passed Draco with two girls going back into the castle and almost decided to miss the game to follow them. Trying to end the game early so he could go follow Draco he was even more distracted when McLaggen spent more time criticizing the rest of the team than defending the goal. Luna Lovegood commentated the game dreamily to Ron's delight who was up in the hospital wing. Grabbing Peakes's bat McLaggen tried to show him how to hit a bludger and hit Harry in the head. They lost 320 to 60. Madame Pomfrey mended Harry's cracked skull but kept him over night.
Harry caused Kreacher to pop to him and he came in the middle of a fight with Dobby over insulting Harry. Peeves came with them and Harry used "Langlock" to glue his tongue to the roof of him mouth. Harry forbid them from fighting with each other and asked them to tail Draco and find where he's going, who he's meeting and what he's doing - he wanted regular reports and preemptively ordered Kreacher not to have any contact with Malfoy.
- Lord Voldemort's Request: Ron having been knocked out and poisoned, Hermione, now, was friends with him again. She also repaired a "little girls" scales that she dropped out side of the room of requirement. Luna delivered another invitation to a "Dumbledore Lesson." As he arrived Trelawney was leaving upset complaining about the "usurping nag" (Firenze) and wanting his removal which was denied. Firenze can't go back to the forest and Trelawney doesn't know the danger she'd be in outside the castle from Voldemort. Harry received a chastisement because he hadn't obtained Slughorn's memory. When Harry promised he put his best efforts into obtaining it. Dumbledore said that after Voldemort was 17 evidence about him was much more scarce, people weren't willing to talk. Conjectures were drawn from two memories and Dumbledore wanted Harry's opinion.
Voldemort had approached Headmaster Armando Dippet for the DADA job but was told he was too young but to re-apply later. He then worked at Borgin and Burkes as an "obtainer" of magical objects, which he excelled at. A "client," Hepzibah Smith made the mistake of showing Tom her Helga Hufflepuff gold cup and her Salazar Slytherin gold locket (from Merope Gaunt). He imperioused her house elf Hokey to poison Hepzibah two days later and stole the items. Hokey was convicted by confessing. Harry surmised that Tom had done the deed and blamed it on Hokey. Riddle disappeared for many years.
Ten years later Tom came to Dumbledore to ask for the DADA job no longer handsome but had "burned and blurred" features like distorted wax and permanently bloody look to his eyes. His face was as pale as snow and he wore a long clack cloak. Dumbledore refused to call him anything but "Tom" a "teachers prerogative." He had been offered, and turned down, the job of Minister of Magic three times. Dumbledore said he "would be sorry to believe half of the rumors" about Tom. Riddle said he had "pushed the boundaries of magic farther than they have ever been pushed." He taunted Dumbledore that nothing supported his "pronouncements that love is more powerful than my kind of magic." He lied to Dumbledore but was called on it by having to explain why he was accompanied to the interview by Death Eaters: Nott, Rosier, Mulciber, Dolohov. Riddle wouldn't answer what the "real reason" he had come. Dumbledore reflected he could no longer scare him and force him to make repayment for his crimes, but he wished he could. After he was refused Hogwarts couldn't keep a DADA teacher for longer than a year!
- The Unknowable Room: The incantation "Sectumsempra" was written in Harry Potions' book over the words "for enemies." The date for the apparition license test was set and Harry was the only one who had done it - "just once." As Hermione softened and began helping them with their homework again Ron confessed that he'd like to dump Lavender but didn't have the nerve. Kreacher tried to report to Harry without Dobby but was found out. His report was useless but Dobby said he was a "bad boy" who was "keen to avoid detection," has been "making regular visits to the room of requirement," with a "variety of other students to keep watch for him while he enters." They surmise that Crabbe and Goyle have been using stolen Polyjuice potion to transform into little girls and keep watch while Draco "fixes something" in the Room of Requirement. Harry finally had to admit that unless he already knew what was required he wouldn't be able to get in.
Snape told Harry to answer Seamus' question about Inferi then belittled his answer. Mundungus Fletcher was arrested for masquerading as an Inferi while he burgled places. While Ron was complaining to Harry about his apparition test Moaning Myrtle appeared in their bathroom, apparently looking for her new "boyfriend" who is sensitive (he cried and she felt compassion). She described him as "sensitive, people bully him too, and he feels lonely and hasn't got anybody to talk to and he's not afraid to cry" but she wouldn’t say who it was.
While everyone else was in Hogsmead taking an apparition lesson Harry found Goyle standing guard (as a girl) for Draco and scared her off. He still couldn't get into the room but met Tonks who was still looking bad who said she came to see Dumbledore but he had gone again. She heard someone was hurt and wanted to check with him. Harry thought she had fallen in love with Sirius and was feeling bad.
- After The Burial: Harry, on Dumbledore's request, needs to get a memory from a stubbornly refusing Slughorn. So, Harry takes a swig of Felix Felicis, and decides to visit Hagrid, whose spider Aragog is dead. He meets Slughorn, and after some comforting talks with Hagrid, Slughorn gets drunk and is persuaded by Harry to divulge the memory that Harry is after. After obtaining the memory, Harry reports to Dumbledore.
- Horcruxes: The Felix Felicis was wearing off and the Fat Lady lied to Harry saying the password had changed after midnight and he'd have to take it up with the Headmaster. He went to Dumbledore's office and together they viewed Slughorn's memory in the Pensieve. Tom Riddle was not the oldest of the "gang" who were in a special meeting with Slughorn but he was their leader. He was wearing Marvolo's gold-and-black ring and at 11pm he hung back after the others had been excused wanting to know about Horcruxes - objects "in which a person has concealed part of their soul." Then, even if "one's body is destroyed, one cannot die" for "part of the soul remains undamaged." But, "few would want it… death would be preferable." Riddle manipulated an explanation that after killing someone, and fracturing one's soul, a spell could be performed to put the fractured part into an object as a Horcrux.
Riddle asked about splitting it the "magic number seven" times and disgusted Slughorn ended he conversation regretting he'd ever had it. Dumbledore then had a refreshingly non-cryptic, lengthy discussion with Harry about having made a study of Voldemort's life since Harry had provided him evidence that he was making Horcruxes to "go further along the path to immortality than any other wizard." He was looking for significant artifacts which had gone missing after Voldemort had personally killed someone. The "last" (seventh) part of Riddle's soul is left in Voldemort's makeshift body. The first was "his Diary" that Harry had destroyed. The second was Marvolo's ring, which Dumbledore had found and destroyed to the cost of his withered hand. They conjectured that the "third and fourth" were Slytherin's locket and Hufflepuff's cup, still to be found. The fifth and sixth were most likely to have been artifacts from Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. Dumbledore conjectured, however, that killing Harry was to have been his ability to make the sixth; but, it was foiled so he needed to later use his killing of the Riddle estates caretaker to make Nagini the last Horcrux.
Dumbledore promised Harry that he could go with him to destroy the next Horcrux that he found. Voldemort does not know or "feel" when one has been destroyed. When he forced it out of Malfoy that the diary had been destroyed his anger was "terrible to behold." (how did AD know that?) Lucius was supposed to have planted it upon someone after he was given the go-ahead by Voldemort but instead did it for his own gain (i.e. Ginny Weasley) unaware that it was actually a Horcrux. Dumbledore then got very emphatic in explaining to Harry the subtle difference between "being dragged into the arena to face a battle to the death and walking into the arena with your head held high." If Voldemort hadn't acted "to mark" Harry "as his equal" and set the prophecy into effect it wouldn't have been fulfilled. So Voldemort actually brought it on himself AND made Harry the person who would be the most dangerous to him by giving him the POWER to accomplish it (love)! The fact that Harry had suffered so much a personal loss had prevented him from ever even for a moment being seduced by the Dark Arts. "You remain pure of heart" just as you were at 11, when "you stared into the mirror (of Erised) and it showed you the only way to thwart Lord Voldemort and NOT immortality or riches!" (few wizard could have seen what you saw)... Voldemort cannot possess you without enduring mortal agony."
- Sectumsempra: Lavender split up with Ron when she was him coming out of the dormitory with Hermione the night before (Harry was invisible) and Ginny split with Dean for always trying to help her through the portrait hole (making Harry happy). Hermione turned vinegar into wine. Harry turned it into ice and Ron exploded it. Katie Bell returned so with Ron and without McLaggen they still could beat Ravenclaw. She didn't remember anything about the necklace. Harry became obsessed about his new feelings for Ginny and what Ron would say. Slughorn had given up his "slug club" meetings.
While still checking on Malfoy, Harry found him in the boys bathroom with Myrtle. He was crying with tears streaming down his face saying: "No one can help me… I can't to it… It won't work… unless I do it soon… he say's he'll kill me." When Malfoy saw Harry he threw a curse at him that missed. Harry's Levicorpus was deflected. The bin behind Harry exploded and Harry's Leg-Locker smashed a cistern. As Malfoy started "Cruci…" Harry used Sectumsempra waving his wand which cut Malfoy's face and chest and devastated Harry having never done anything like that before. Myrtle screamed "murder in the bathroom" and Snape appeared. He used a song-like wound healing incantation three times healing Malfoy and took him to the Hospital wing.
When Snape got back he used Legillimancy to see Harry's "Half-Blood Prince" book and told him to go get it. Harry used magic to switch the covers with Ron's book and tried to find somewhere to hide it. The Room of Requirement became a cathedral sized storage room full of "stored" items including: sherry bottles, broken Vanishing Cabinet of Montague's and an acid etched cabinet in which Harry hid his book. He marked it with a bust of an ugly old warlock then went to face Snape who knew he was lying when he said that the "Roonil Wazlib" written in the front cover was his "nickname." Harry got detention every Saturday for the rest of the year recopying punishment slips for Filtch including his father and Sirius'. Despite missing the Quidditch game Gryffindor won: 450 to 140, so they got the cup. Harry kissed Ginny amorously to everyone's stunned surprise including Ron's "well if you must" look. They went for "a walk" on the grounds.
- The Seer Overheard: There was much gossip about Harry dating Ginny. When asked if Harry had a Hippogriff tattooed on his chest Ginny told Romilda Vane it was a Hungarian Horntail and Ron had a Pygmy Puff tattoo somewhere else. Hermione found an old photograph about Eileen Prince at Hogwarts but Harry "just knew" that the Half-Blood Prince was a male. Dumbledore asked Harry to come "right away" but on the way he ran into Trelawney who had just been thrown out of the Room of Requirement by an unknown person who was already in there. She heard him whooping gleefully very happy and when she called out it suddenly went pitch black and he threw her out of the room. He convinced her to tell this to Dumbledore but on the way to the office she told him that it had been Snape who had been spying on them when she made the prophecy to Dumbledore about Harry. So it must have been Snape who had sent Voldemort after Harry and his parents! He told Trelawney to stay there and went on alone.
Harry tried to control his anger when confronting Dumbledore about Snape because he wanted to still go with him to get the Horcrux that was found. Dumbledore said "you have no idea of the remorse he felt when he realized how Voldemort had interpreted the prophecy… I believe it to be the greatest regret of his life and the reason that he returned." The discussion about Snape being an Occlumens, Draco happy about finishing something in the Room of Requirement and Trelawney's experience just got Harry more repetitions of: "I trust Severous Snape." Dumbledore made Harry promise several times that he would "obey every order" even if he didn't want to. When sent back to get his cloak Harry told Ron and Hermione to round up as many DA members as possible, to take the rest of Felix and to use the Marauder's Map to watch Malfoy and Snape while they were gone. They met Rosmerta outside the Three Broomsticks and said they were going to the Hogs Head. They really apparated to the cave to which Tom Riddle had taken his childhood victims.
- The Cave: Dumbledore takes Harry into this cave in which he believes that he has found one of Lord Voldemort's Horcruxes, they have an adventure penetrating Lord Voldemort's defences. Once they reach the basin with The Horcrux, however, Dumbledore is compelled to drink the potion, making him extremely weak and ill. Finally, Harry manages to illegally Disapparate with an ill Dumbledore to Hogsmeade.
- The Lightning-Struck Tower: Dumbledore and Harry return on brooms to Hogwarts, only to find that The Dark Mark is hovering over The Astronomy Tower. They land there, and Dumbledore saves Harry (in his Invisibility Cloak) by stunning him, and Draco's disarming charm made Dumbledore's wand go away. Then Dumbledore has a chat with Draco, tricks him to reveal how he got Death Eaters into Hogwarts, etc. Death Eaters come running up, and they order Draco to kill Dumbledore. But he can't. Snape walks up, and sees Dumbledore. Dumbledore says "Severus ... Please ..." in a pleading voice, but Snape just points his wand at Dumbledore, and yells Aveda Kedavra. Then they run away from the tower, but the last Death Eater gets stunned by Harry.
- Flight Of The Prince: Snape, Draco, and other Death Eaters escape Hogwarts and set Hagrid's hut on fire. Harry attempts to duel with Snape, but Snape deflects all of his spells. In the end, when Harry tried to use the spells from his Potions book, Snape recognizes them as his own inventions, and talks about how dare Harry use Snape's own spells against himself, and then he reveals that he is The Half-Blood Prince.
- The Phoenix Lament:
- The White Tomb: This chapter is just about Dumbledore's funeral, when even The Centaurs come out to pay their respects. Then, Harry talks about how he is not coming back to school next year, but will destroy the remaining Horcruxes and then move on to Lord Voldemort. Loyal Hermione and Ron declare that they will help Harry in any way possible, and be with him all the time. The end.
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Hary Potter And The Half-Blood Prince is the 6th book in the series. Released on Saturday July 16, 2005 worldwide, Half-Blood Prince is the fastest-selling book in history. In this book, we find out how Lord Voldemort was not killed by The Aveda Kedavra curse, and to whom Snape's loyalty really belongs. Dumbledore will be killed by The Half-Blood Prince, who also happens to be someone he really trusted.
