CHAP DISC: HBP 22, After the Burial

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 159704

CHAPTER DISCUSSIONS: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter
22, After the Burial

Carol:
I'm going to respond without having read anyone else's answers to
avoid being influenced by them. My apologies if I duplicate anyone.

<snip admirably concise summary>
> Discussion Questions:
> 
> 1.  Why does a girl deliver Harry's note from Hagrid, rather than an 
> owl?  Why isn't that girl named?  

Carol:
I think it's part of the overall safety precausions. Owls are being
checked, or maybe owl-sent messages are forbidden in HBP. Certainly,
Hagrid doesn't want Filch reading the note. Both Dumbledore and Snape
use students to carry messages to Harry in HBP. Snape's message about
Harry's flobberworm detention isn't even written down. (If it had
been, would Harry have noticed a similarity between Snape's writing
and the HBP's?)
> 
> 2.  The Montgomery boy was attacked because his mother refused to 
> help the Death Eaters.  The books make it seem like the Death Eaters 
> are constantly threatening random and numerous wizards who refuse to 
> help them.  Are there enough Death Eaters for this to be realistic?  
> How many Death Eaters do we think there are?  What did they want 
> from the Montgomery witch?  Will we hear more about her?  

Carol:
I think the incident is merely used to show that Hogwarts students and
their families are in real danger and to prepare us for the piece of
filth that is Fenrir Greyback (already mentioned at least twice in
HBP, once by Draco in "Draco's Detour" and once by Snape in "Spinner's
End." Interesting question, but I doubt we'll hear more about Mrs.
Montgomery. (Remember Mark Evans!)
> 
> 3.  Harry was surprised to hear that werewolves sometimes kill their 
> victim.  Were you?  In PoA, didn't Snape seem to imply that Lupin 
> could have killed him during the Prank?  Why doesn't Harry remember 
> that?  

Carol:
I'm not sure about Harry, but the reader certainly needs to know that
werewolves can sometimes kill, which shows that Snape's belief that
Sirius Black tried to kill him in their sixth year is not baseless.
Harry tunes it out, of course. Anything that makes Black (or Lupin?)
look bad and Snape look like a victim (or justified in his hatred of
Black) would immediately bypass his conscious mind. I think, though,
that the reader is supposed to recall the so-called Prank. (I hate
that name because it diminishes the potential seriousness of the
incident, as Lupin may have intended when he referred to it as "a
schoolboy prank.") Harry wants to think badly of Snape and blame him
for Black's death. The last thing he wants is to think that his
furture godfather realized that Severus Snape could have been killed
(or worse).
> 
> 4.  Do you think there's any possibility that Harry took something 
> other than Felix Felicis?

Carol:
Nope. I think that the Felix Felicis not only made him feel lucky but
actually guided his instincts. May I have some, please?)
> 
> 5.  Harry didn't actually have 24 hours' worth of Felix Felicis, he 
> only had a 12-hour dose.  Is it possible that his "measured" gulp 
> didn't last as long as he thought it would?  Might he have been on 
> his own at the end of the conversation in Hagrid's hut?  Or was that 
> just a flint?

Carol:
"Measured gulp" is a bit of an oxymoron, isn't it? But once Slughorn
is drunk and Harry know what he needs to do, it doesn't much matter,
does it? (Except that Harry is discovering the uses of psychological
manipulation, which sounds bad but is a skill required in parenting
and in many occupations, including teaching, IMO.) 
> 
> 6.  How much of the effect of Felix Felicis do you think is placebo?

Carol:
I think that the placebo effect affects the state of mind
(self-confidence, feeling lucky) as we see with Ron in "Felix Felicis"
(what a sneaky chapter title!), but surely the inspiration to go to
the greenhouse, to reveal his presence to Slughorn and tell him the
truth, etc., were the effect of the potion. (Other potions, e.g.
polyjuice, wolfsbane, veritaserum, and love potions do what they're
purported to do. Why should Felix be any different?)
> 
> 7.  Do you think Harry acted recklessly under the influence of 
> Felix?  We know that when taken in excess, the potion can be 
> harmful.  Is there any possibility that something bad could have 
> happened to Harry even with this limited use?

Carol:
I doubt that Slughorn would have given a dose large enough to have
harmful effects as a prize for students. I think "excess" probably
means frequent use to, say, get high marks or dates with popular
girls. Or maybe it refers to an addiction to FF like winky's to
butterbeer.
> 
> 8.  Harry thinks how upset Hermione would be by Slughorn making a 
> house-elf taste wine that could be poisoned.  Are we EVER going to 
> see something come of Hermione's obsession with house-elves?

Carol:
Alas, yes; I'm sure we are or we wouldn't have had SPEW inflicted on
us in Books 4 and 5. But in this instance, Hermione would certainly be
right to protest. Wonder what would have happened to Slughorn if the
house-elf had died?
> 
> 9.  What do you think would have happened if Harry had drank the 
> wine at Hagrid's?  Would it just have interfered with retrieving the 
> memory, or could there be some type of bad interaction between the 
> two drinks?  

Carol:
I think that his thinking would have been clouded and possibly the
Felix would have been less effective. I doubt that there would have
been a toxic interaction.
> 
> 10.  Slughorn acquires unicorn hair and Acromantula venom at 
> Hagrid's hut.  Are we going to see those items again, and how?

Carol:
I doubt it. Slughorn just needs them either for potions (in the case
of the venom) or to get extra cash (in the case of the unicorn hair).
I doubt that he's making wands. Maybe Ollivander, now in hiding
somewhere, will buy the unicorn hair from him?
> 
> 11.  Felix tells Harry that Slughorn won't remember their 
> conversation in the morning.  Do you think that's true?  Even if it 
> is, a Legilimens like Voldemort could probably see the truth.  Is 
> Slughorn in great danger now that he has given Harry the memory?

Carol:
Yes, I think it's true, and I doubt that Voldemort will see this
particular memory even if he captures Slughorn because Legilimency
(IMO) involves seeing whatever thought or memory is presently in the
recipient's conscious mind, especially if it's something the recipient
(the person being Legilimensed) is trying to hide (cf. the HBP's
potions book, which Harry is trying to conceal from Snape). I don't
think it detects memories the person can't even remember. (The
Legilimens *spell* can release such memories, but they seem random. As
Snape tells Harry, the mind is not a book that can be perused at
will.) I'm not sure that Slughorn was ever really in danger (unless
the DEs were really trying to recruit him). I doubt that Voldemort
thinks that Slughorn would reveal the Horcrux discussion to Dumbledore
or anyone else, and what good would it do to capture him to discover
that information now? Dumbledore is dead, and if Harry knows about the
Horcruxes, it's Harry that LV has to fear.
> 
> 12.  What was your reaction to the "remorseless" way Harry described 
> his parents' murder in this scene?  Do you think he only did that 
> because he had to, or is he less sensitive about the subject now?  
> Is this a different side to Harry than what we usually see?  What 
> does this tell us about Harry's growth since we met him as an
eleven-year-old?

Carol:
I think we're seeing Harry's Slytherin side and that he's going to
have to use cunning, along with any other skill or weapon available,
to complete his quest. As for using about his parents' murder to
manipulate Slughorn, IMO he gets a bit of vindictive pleasure out of
it. Like Hermione, Harry is not (yet) above revenge. I hope that
changes but I'm not sure that JKR's sentiments coincide with mine.

One additional note since you didn't ask: I think we've seen the last
of the references to Harry having his mother's eyes. That particular
motif has, IMO, fulfilled its purpose. (I'm a bit tired of reading it
in every book, anyway--almost as bad as people repeatedly cringing at
the name Voldemort. Enough, already! Well, that's my view, anyway.)

Carol, who finally has a chance to catch up on posting and hopes she
can manage in three or four hours!