HBP, Chapter Nine - The Half-Blood Prince
This chapter heralds the beginning of classes and the return to the routine of school. One classroom scene is openly about Snape and another is secretly so, but we are also reminded that despite the darkness that is looming, these are still teenagers whose unsettled hearts will form an important theme of this book, as clues to both Ron's and Harry's romantic entanglements quietly appear.
Harry starts off trying to convince Ron and Hermione that Malfoy's bragging on the train was more than just an attempt to get into Pansy's, um, good graces, but his friends are united in their skepticism. Ron and Hermione practice their parenting skills on the younger students, and I'll let you guess which one is the strict one; while Ron's not-particularly-funny remark about a confiscated fanged frisbee prompts Lavender Brown to giggle for a length of time that cannot be attributed solely to Ron's wit, opening up a brand-new plot thread in the personal lives of Harry's sidekicks.
The Trio confirm that no one at all is likely to proceed to N.E.W.T. level in Hagrid's class as they head to discuss their schedules with McGonagall in the Great Hall. Hermione is cleared for everything, and Neville is freed from the yoke of his grandmother's expectations that he will take Transfiguration, as Minerva wonders whether it isn't time for Augusta to see her grandson's emerging strengths for what they are. Harry and Ron, meanwhile, learn that the dream of Aurordom is not out of reach after all, as Slughorn's Potions class is now open to students merely scoring an E. Temporary textbooks, they are assured, will be provided.
After a free period for the boys it's off to DADA. Let's stop for a moment to savor the significance of this event. Snape, after all those years of trying, is finally the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. The one thing he always wanted, at last within his grasp. Of course, the position was cursed. Do you think he knew?
As on Harry's first Potions lesson all those years ago, Snape delivers a motivational speech for the subject as only he can. The Dark Arts "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...." Harry finds Snape's recitation unpleasant and possibly traitorous, recoiling at the "loving caress" in the professor's voice; though later Hermione will say the speech only reminded her of Harry's lectures to the DA.
After allowing the class to admire the grisly new decor, as well as making sure we know there are creatures called Inferi who have served the Dark Lord in the past, Snape sets the class to practicing nonverbal spells. The half of the class that was in the DA is better at shield charms than Snape could have expected, but magic without speaking proves difficult enough that Snape decides to make a demonstration of Harry. Before Harry can think his (very verbal) shield charm has Snape flying, and to add insult to injury, Harry perpetrates possibly the finest verbal refuation of authority ever commited to the page:"Do you remember me telling you we are practicing nonverbal spells, Potter?"
"Yes," said Harry stiffly.
"Yes, sir."
"There's no need to call me 'sir,' Professor."
At that moment, my friends, Harry became a man.
After class a note from Dumbledore arrives, directing Harry to his office that Saturday night to begin their private lessons, conveniently overriding the detention he had just earned from Snape. Ron thinks the Headmaster will be teaching Harry offensive enchantments, while Hermione thinks the spells Harry will learn will be defensive; they both, of course, turn out to be wrong.
Art by seviet.
Finally the Trio move on to N.E.W.T. Potions, where they share a table with Ernie Macmillan, across the room from Draco Malfoy. Slughorn, who obviously likes a good show, has set four cauldrons out, each boiling with a different magical elixir. He is promptly introduced to the wonders of teaching Hermione Granger, as she successively identifies the potions brewing in three of the cauldrons.
As with the Cruciatus/Dementor/Inferi sequence from DADA, these go in a nice old/old/new pattern -- Veriteserum, Polyjuice, and finally the novel Amortentia, "the most powerful love potion in the world." Hermione also tells us that each person smells in the potion the things that attract them, and after relating that she herself smells new parchment and freshly mown grass, stops before she can add Ron Weasley as her final sensation. Harry, meanwhile, has smelled the wood of a broomstick handle, a delicious treacle tart, and a "flowery smell" he thinks he remembers from the Burrow -- but even if Harry is unware of what this portends, the rest of us won't be for long.
Art by lberghol.
Slughorn also tells us that Amortentia does not create true love, only an infatuation, and in premonition of some of the things Harry will learn in his classes with Dumbledore, tells us never to underestimate the power of obsessive love. The new Potions Master also remembers Harry's earlier compliment of Hermione, earning Harry a grateful look, which in turn, for some reason, seems to leave Ron rather put out.
Foreshadowing all finished, it's time to get down to business. They are to attempt to create a Draught of Living Death, and the student with the best result will will a tiny sample of the potion in the final cauldron -- Felix Felicis, the potion of luck. Although banned in competitions and dangerous in excess, a small amount of this elixir makes the drinker temporarily the recipient of nothing but good fortune. Everyone seems quite anxious to win the Felix -- Draco not least.
As Harry opens the battered old Potions book he has been provided as a substitute, he finds that the previous owner has filled every bit of blank space with their own words, commentary and suggestions. Annoyed at first, he begins following the additional suggestions of the mysterious writer, and lo and behold, his potion comes together perfectly, beating even Hermione's. Harry offers to share the alternate suggestions with her, but she refuses, sticking to what's proper, and in no time Harry has earned the admiration of his new teacher and a tiny, precious vial of Felix Felicis. In addition, we learn that Harry's mother was a "dab hand" at Potions herself, once upon a time.
Art by prettyannamoon.
After class Hermione is miffed that Harry succeeded by deviating from the received wisdom, but Ron shrewdly points out that both of them were just following someone else's directions -- Harry's just turned out to be better. But Ginny passes by and raises more serious objections -- as her experience with Tom Riddle's diary left her particularly sensitive to the idea of taking orders from a book, one of unknown authorship and motive. But no spell reveals any magic associated to the book, even as Harry somehow fails to notice that the flowery smell -- the one he was attracted to, according to Amortentia -- had wafted in along with Ginny. This chronicler would like to record that this was the moment for him that H/G went from likely to completely inevitable.
And finally, as Harry takes back his new book from his doubtful friends, he notices a tiny inscription on the back cover, written in the very same mysterious hand:
This book is the property of the Half-Blood Prince.