CHAPDISC: HBP9, The Half-Blood Prince

[AyanEva]

No: HPFGUIDX 147652

CHAPTER DISCUSSIONS: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 
9, The Half-Blood Prince



The following is the summary and discussion divided into the three 
main scenes within the chapter. Thank you so much to Penapart Elf for 
being so patient with me and helping me edit this! I am rather late 
posting this, but I think it is mostly correct now.


-NEWTS-

Chapter Nine, The Half-Blood Prince, begins with Harry, Ron, and 
Hermione discussing what Harry overheard about Draco on the train. 
Immediately after this, we find the Trio in the Great Hall at 
breakfast receiving their NEWT class schedules from Professor 
McGonagall. McGonagall marks Hermione down for NEWT level Charms, 
DADA, Transfiguration, Herbology, Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, and 
Potions. 

We see Neville Longbottom's class schedule next. He is cleared for 
Herbology with an "Outstanding" and DADA with an "Exceeds 
Expectations," but he fails to gain entrance into Transfiguration 
since he only managed an "Acceptable."  Despite Neville's less than 
stellar scores in Transfiguration, McGonagall points out that he has 
achieved an " Exceeds Expectations" in Charms and encourages him to 
pursue this as NEWT class in place of Transfiguration. 

When we get to Harry, Professor McGonagall clears Harry to take 
Charms, DADA, Herbology, and Transfiguration. She emphasizes her 
appreciation of Harry's Transfiguration skills and then wonders aloud 
why Harry has not opted to pursue NEWT level Potions courses. We get 
the whole story again about how Snape would not accept anything lower 
than an "Outstanding," but McGonagall points out that Slughorn is 
teaching now and an "Exceeds Expectations" will get you in. Harry 
mentions that he has no potions supplies, nor a textbook, because he 
did not expect to take NEWT Potions. McGonagall tells him that 
Slughorn will not be too put out by lending Harry some supplies and a 
textbook. So, Harry ends up taking Potions in addition to his other 
classes. On the same page, Ron is said to be taking the same subjects 
as Harry.

-DADA-

The first class of the day is DADA with Snape, during which the class 
will be practicing a Shield Charm. 

After the introduction, Snape tells the class to silently cast a 
Shield Charm; the former DA members had already gone over this with 
Harry in the previous year, but no one had ever tried it without 
speaking. Suffice to say, when asked to silently cast the charm, no 
one managed it except for Hermione. At one point, Snape bumps Ron 
aside and attempts to silently hex Harry in demonstration for Ron. 
Harry, however, reacts automatically and casts a really powerful 
Shield Charm, which knocks Snape into a desk. Naturally Professor 
Snape is not very happy about this and assigns Harry detention for 
Saturday night. 

After class, Harry is complaining about Snape and mentions that it 
sounds as if the man adores the Dark Arts, judging by the way that he 
was describing them to the class during his introduction. Hermione 
makes a good point when she says that Harry has spoken of the Dark 
Arts in almost the same manner. Just after this, Harry receives a 
note from Dumbledore, which requests a meeting for "private lessons" 
Saturday at eight pm. There goes Snape's detention


-POTIONS-

After DADA, we see the Trio in Potions class with Professor Slughorn. 
Since neither Harry nor Ron (who also did not expect to be in the 
class) has supplies, Slughorn digs up a couple of old books and some 
supplies from the cupboard. To begin class, Slughorn has the students 
go around naming off various potions that Slughorn has simmering away 
in cauldrons. The potions are, in this order: Veritaserum, Polyjuice, 
Amortentia, and Felix Felicis. 

The assignment for that day is to brew the Draught of Living Death - 
whoever makes the best brew gets a vial of Felix Felicis to use for 
whenever on one ordinary day. So, everyone is working away, half the 
people are doing horribly, Hermione is doing the best until
Harry, 
who noticed that his borrowed potions book was totally scribbled in, 
realizes that the scribbles are actually alternate sets of directions 
for brewing the potions in the book. Resourceful guy that he is, 
Harry starts using the alternate Draught of Living Death directions 
and he soon has made the best potion and gotten himself a bottle of 
Felix Felicis for his own personal use. 

After class, Hermione and Ginny find out how Harry made such a great 
potion and they get really miffed at him for using directions of 
questionable origin to make such a finicky thing as a potion. Ron 
sides with Harry. Hermione checks the hand-me-down potions book for 
harmful curses and finds none. Harry takes the book back, drops it on 
the floor in the process, and, as he is picking the book back up, 
notices something written on the back cover in the same handwriting 
as the useful scribbles in the book. The inscription on the back 
cover reads: This Book is the Property of the Half-Blood Prince.

And that is the end of Chapter Nine, The Half-Blood Prince. 


Now, a few questions/observations that I had when I read this chapter:

-It seemed to me that when McGonagall was giving out the NEWT class 
schedules, the scene was written in such a way so that certain 
characters were completely glossed over (Hermione/Ron). Conversely, 
very specific points regarding classes and skill sets were made about 
other characters (Harry/Neville). It almost seems like JKR is, in 
essence, sticking a neon sign around certain skill areas of 
particular individuals; areas that I had not previously associated 
with these people. Are these really specific skill sets that are at 
least some of the exact elements with which to defeat Voldemort? What 
I cannot figure out is how these skills would be used and is the 
answer found somewhere in past books from what we already know about 
these areas of magic?

-In the DADA class, of particular interest is the exact quote by 
Snape on page 177 (US HB), " `The Dark Arts,' said Snape, `are many, 
varied, ever-changing, and eternal. Fighting them is like fighting a 
many-headed monster, which, each time a neck is severed, sprouts a 
head even fiercer and cleverer than before. You are fighting that 
which is unfixed, mutating, indestructible.'" Could the quote tie 
into the theory that Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville (And Luna? And 
maybe Ginny?) all have something really, really specific to use 
against Voldemort? Could it be that each person has to use something 
unique on each "head" of the Voldemort and His Minions Dark Arts 
Monster?

-Just for fun: This has nothing to do with anything, but it is 
mentioned that the Trio are doing some really complicated DADA 
homework. This begs the question, what exactly do you give for 
homework in magic class if it is not practice, but theoretical? I can 
imagine what you would have for Divinations, Astronomy, Muggle 
Studies, or Care of Magical Creatures. But for stuff like 
Transfiguration and DADA, what exactly are they doing that makes the 
homework so horrifically complex? 

-I still am not entirely convinced that Harry got the HBP book by 
accident. I have to wonder if someone (a professor) knew what was in 
the book. That then leaves me with the question of:  If someone 
wanted Harry to have the book, who was it? 

-Slughorn lists two times that he took Felix Felicis: Once when he 
was twenty-four years old and once when he was fifty-seven. I wonder 
if these times are significant?

-Slughorn talks about the dangers of taking too much Felix Felicis. 
He says that it causes giddiness, over-confidence, and recklessness. 
How long do these effects last? Is this significant? My first thought 
was that Voldemort is giddy, over-confident, and reckless. I do not 
know what to make of this.

-Slughorn talks about Amortentia and he talks about the power 
of "obsessive love." Does this mean anything? Will it come into play? 
It too seems important. (there is always the Harry/Ginny/Amortentia 
theory
I do wonder)

-The Draught of Living Death pops up again. What is the significance 
of this? We keep seeing this particular potion over and over again, 
but we never see it used for anything!

-Slughorn mentions Lily was good at potions. Did Lily write in the 
book at all? I doubt it since everything that is in the book, so far, 
is in the same handwriting. But maybe something will come up later 
about Lily and her connection to potions. All we hear about is 
charms. 

-What is the point in calling the chapter HBP? Just to introduce the 
potions book and tell us it is important? It seems kind of 
unnecessary and I keep thinking that there must be something else in 
this chapter that I am missing.

-Finally, I wonder if the NEWT scene tells us what skills will be 
used to defeat Voldemort. If so, does that mean that the DADA scene 
tells us HOW the HRH and company will defeat Voldemort and his 
followers (that whole many-headed monster thing)? How might the third 
scene, Potions, be a part of some grand scheme to fight Voldemort?

-Penapart Elf also brought up a couple of good points (hope you do 
not mind my mentioning these Penapart! These are direct quotes.)
   1) "HRH (and if HRH are right, so do the rest of their year)   
      dropped NEWT-level Care of Magical Creatures - too bad since   
      they might have to fight The Voldemort and His Minions Dark 
      Arts Monster." –Penapart Elf

   2) "How do Harry and Neville contrast with each other in terms of 
      parental guidance when it comes to their NEWT selections?" 
      -Penapart Elf




AyanEva



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