CHAPDISC: HBP9, The Half-Blood Prince

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 147669

AyanEva:
> -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.'" 

Jen: I snipped down your question b/c this part strongly reminded me 
of Dumbledore's speech to Harry in PS: "...while you may only have 
delayed his return to power, it will merely take someone else who is 
prepared to fight what seems a losing battle next time--and if he is 
delayed again and again, why, he may never return to power." (chap. 
17, p. 298, Sch.) 

Dumbledore sounds a bit more optimistic than Snape and yet he 
defeated Grindelwald only to watch Voldemort rise in his place. He 
seems to believe evil can be delayed but gives no indication it can 
be eradicated. Maybe they were closer than I imagined on this 
subject. 

Now if we only knew where Snape stood on the issue of love vs. 
Voldemort's magic? Somehow I don't see him putting all his eggs in 
the love basket <g>. Not sure if this is crucial. Take Mundungus for 
instance, he probably doesn't spend a whole lot of time worrying 
about love magic but is still loyal to Dumbledore. Course the 
difference is Snape has actually been tempted by Voldemort before 
and that *does* seem to be critical as far as being vulnerable to LV 
(from what Dumbledore told Harry in the 'Horcrux' chapter).

AyanEva:
> -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?

Jen: Wish we knew his age in relation to Dumbledore and whether he 
was 57 round the time of Grindelwald's defeat. I thought this would 
come back up in HBP myself. 


> -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)

Jen: Amortentia seemed liked foreshadowing for Merope/Riddle, the 
Ron incident & all the hormone surges in HBP more than a plot yet to 
come. Obsession in general, not just obsessive love, was definitely 
a major theme in HBP. It affected many of the major players just as 
irritability and recklessnesses dogged people in OOTP. Does each 
book have a theme which corresponds closely to the effects of a 
potion? Hmmm. Even though polyjuice is introduced in COS, the theme 
of "I'm not who you think I am" fits better for GOF. 

AyanEva:
> -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!

Jen: Like the bezoar, eh? My guess is Regulus or Emmeline Vance. 
Regulus seems most likely because of JKR's 'he's dead these days' 
comment. 

Thanks AyanEva, lots of good observations!

Jen R.