Harry and the Half-Blood Prince, Part One

[juli17 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 142007

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't JKR say some time ago that
she wanted to name the second HP book "HP and the Half-Blood
Prince," but once she revised the story and took out the parts
that related to the Half-Blood Prince the name no longer made
sense, thus she renamed it "HP and the Chamber of Secrets"?
(HP standing for Harry Potter ;-).
 
This has got me to thinking exactly how the Half-Blood Prince
plot fit into book Two originally. The time seems wrong to reveal
an unexpected communion between Harry and the HBP, as 
Harry and Snape haven't yet built up the *truly* antagonistic 
relationship that is in full bloom by the beginning of HBP. And
if Harry became a sudden genius at Potions in Book 2, where 
would that leave their classroom relationship in later books?
Does Harry  just go back to being a mediocre Potions student
once the book is taken from him? (Snape would certainly be very
suspicious of a mediocre potions  student suddenly becoming
quite accomplished in the subject, and it wouldn't take him long
to figure out why.) Or would Harry manage to hold onto the book
yet not learn the true identityof the HBP until Book 6? (Which 
doesn't really make obvious sense either). 
 
I think the HPB must have figured very differently in Book 2, 
though I'm not sure how. As it is in Book 6, it doesn't fit.  I have
considered whether *Tom Riddle* might have originally been 
the Half-Blood Prince, considering his ancestry is very similar
to Snape's. Additionally, Tom thinks he's *that* much better than
everyone else, and he could consider his direct descendancy
from Salazar Slytherin to indicate a sort of royal status. 
 
But I don't really know. It's a question I'd certainly like to ask  JKR.
In the meantime, does anyone else have any theories?
 
Julie 
 


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