BOOK DISCUSSION: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

[cmere]

“Why are you worrying about YOU-KNOW-WHO, when you should be worrying about YOU-NO-POO? The constipation sensation that's gripping the nation!”Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was published in 2005. Clocking in at slightly shorter than its predecessor, the book nevertheless contained a wealth of new information for fans. Book Six included new

Comments

[cmere]

Any favorite quotes from the book?

[author_by_night]

Someone please correct me because I don't remember it verbatim, and am at work so don't have HBP on me - but Dumbledore telling Harry something like, "I am not worried (afraid?), Harry. I am with you." Oh.

[portkey]

You had it right, and yes I posted the same quote independently before seeing this comment thread. My single favourite quote in the entire series. For such a simple statement, it has astonishing amounts of poignancy and underscores so much character development for both of them.

[blahblahcakes64]

Ugh, are you me? That quote always gets me.

[cmere]

I thought about making that the post quote but decided I didn't want to cry every time I opened it up :D

[kate34books]

That one was my favorites and to me it really showed that Dumbledore & Harry did cared for each other deeply.

[drinkingcocoa]

When Phineas Nigellus Black says he doesn't understand why Harry would do better than Dumbledore in getting Slughorn's memory and Dumbledore says, "I wouldn't expect you to." I only just figured out what Dumbledore meant by that. For the longest time, I thought he (or rather, JKR!) meant that PNB was a nasty Slytherin who couldn't understand Dumbledore's genius plans! I only just realized that Dumbledore knew PNB had never suffered from debilitating shame and lies because his own personality flaws had resulted in the death of people he loved, unlike Dumbledore and Slughorn.

[shyfoxling]

‘Do you remember me telling you we are practising non-verbal spells, Potter?’
‘Yes,’ said Harry stiffly.
‘Yes sir.’
‘There’s no need to call me “sir”, Professor.’

I am a big Snape fan, but I love Harry's utter cheek here. I guess I pretty much like sarcasm from any angle :)

[reallycorking]

Yessss this quote perfectly encapsulates Harry's sass

[cmere]

YES so awesome :D

[shocolate]

"Not bad," said Ron, pulling over a cardboard box and sitting on it. "When did you get here? Mum's only just told us!"

"Don't worry about that, Mum's bringing you up a tray; she reckons you look underfed," said Ron, rolling his eyes. "So, what's been going on?"

"Come off it!" said Ron. "You've been off with Dumbledore!"

"Oh," said Ron, looking disappointed. "We thought..."

"They've known each other a year," said Ron, who looked oddly groggy and was staring at the closed door.

"Well, you do," said Ron, "but if she jumps out at you unexpectedly, like then..."

"Yeah, that'll work," said Ron sarcastically. "Listen, no bloke in his right mind's going to fancy Tonks when Fleur's around. I mean, Tonks is okay-looking when she isn't doing stupid things to her hair and her nose, but..."

"She hasn't been much of a laugh lately," said Ron. "Every time I've seen her she's looked more like Moaning Myrtle."

"Tonks and Sirius barely knew each other!" said Ron. "Sirius was in Azkaban half her life and before that their families never met

[shocolate]

"Whoa,"said Ron, stopping in his tracks.

"No they won’t!" said Ron, who, like Harry, was laughing. "This is brilliant!"

"Given her the slip by the looks of it," said Ron.

"Come on," said Ron.

"We can!" said Ron excitedly. "Hang on, damn."

"No!" said Ron gleefully. "Listen!"

"Ah well," said Ron, throwing the cloak back over Hermione. "Worth a try, but you were a bit obvious..."

"Maybe he's broken his Hand of Glory" said Ron vaguely, as he attempted to straighten his broomstick's bent tail twigs. "Remember that shriveled-up arm Malfoy had?"

"You reckon?" said Ron, now trying to scrape some dirt off his broom handle.

"Well..." said Ron, sounding thoroughly unconvinced.

"Wish the lunch trolley would hurry up, I'm starving," said Ron longingly, slumping into the seat beside Harry and rubbing his stomach. "Hi, Neville. Hi, Luna. Guess what?" he added, turning to Harry. "Malfoy s not doing prefect duty. He's just sitting in his compartment with the other Slytherins, we saw him when we passed."

"The usual," said Ron indifferently,

[shocolate]

"You can still see where those brains got hold of me in the Ministry, look," said Ron, shaking back his sleeves.

"I'm tall," said Ron inconsequentially.

"He might have been put under the Imperius Curse," said Ron reasonably. "You never can tell."

"It sounds like he was trying to make out he knew more than he did," said Ron. "Isn't he the one who claimed he was going to become Minister of Magic when he was trying to chat up those veela?"

"What!" said Ron, goggling at Hermione. "But Hogwarts is safer than their homes, bound to be! We've got Aurors, and all those extra protective spells, and we've got Dumbledore!"

"I was better than that McLaggen anyway," said Ron in a highly satisfied voice. "Did you see him lumbering off in the wrong direction on his fifth? Looked like he'd been Confunded. ..."

"Come off it, you've ridden him, haven't you?" said Ron. Harry stepped forward and bowed low to the hippogriff without breaking eye contact or blinking. After a few seconds, Buckbeak sank into a bow too.

"And they grow into ... ?" said

[shocolate]

"You know, I don't think I'll be having any of these in my garden when I've got my own place," said Ron, pushing his goggles up onto his forehead and wiping sweat from his face.

"No, I wouldn't," said Ron, in a very quiet voice.

"I played like a sack of dragon dung," said Ron in a hollow voice when the door had swung shut behind Ginny.

"Right," said Ginny, tossing her long red hair out of her face and glaring at Ron, "let's get this straight once and for all. It is none of your business who I go out with or what I do with them, Ron -" "Yeah, it is!" said Ron, just as angrily. "D' you think I want peo-ple saying my sister's a -"

"Tea?" Harry asked him. "Coffee? Pumpkin juice?" "Anything," said Ron glumly, taking a moody bite of toast.

"Why not?" said Ron.

"Yeah," said Ron, who was pale and sick-looking.

"Lucky, I call it," said Ron, looking slightly more animated. "And Vaisey off too, he's their best goal scorer, I didn't fancy - hey!" he said suddenly, freezing halfway through pulling on his Keepers gloves and staring at Harry

[shocolate]

"Hermione would," said Ron. "But let's wait and see what it is before you start feeling guilty."

A moment later, Harry had given a loud yell and leapt out of his camp bed; the package contained a large number of maggots. "Nice," said Ron, roaring with laughter. "Very thoughtful." "I'd rather have them than that necklace," said Harry, which sobered Ron up at once.

"Yes, isn't it?" said Ron. "Gravy, Fleur?"

"Yeah, don't worry about us," said Ron, permitting his mother to plant a very wet kiss on his cheek, "or about Percy. He's such a prat, it's not really a loss, is it?"

"Baubles," said Ron confidently, when they reached the Fat Lady, who was looking rather paler than usual and winced at his loud voice.

"Yeah," said Ron at once, "pretty eventful, Rufus Scrim -" ] "I've got something for you, Harry," said Hermione, neither looking at Ron nor giving any sign that she had heard him. "Oh, hang on - password. Abstinence."

"So - Apparition," said Ron, his tone making it perfectly plain that Harry was not to mention what had just

[shocolate]

"Yeah . . . well. . . it's not that easy, is it?" said Ron. He paused. "Hermione going to look in before the match?" he added casually.

"Oh," said Ron, looking rather glum. "Right. Well, good luck. Hope you hammer McLag - I mean, Smith."

"Nice of you to drop in," said Ron, grinning.

"Well, yeah I do," said Ron apologetically. "Final score was three hundred and twenty to sixty."

"I could hear the match commentary from here," said Ron, his voice now shaking with laughter. "I hope Luna always commentates from now on. . . . Loser's Lurgy ..."

"Don't be stupid," said Ron sharply. "You couldn't have missed a Quidditch match just to follow Malfoy, you're the Captain!"

"I never said it was all in your head," said Ron, hoisting himself up on an elbow in turn and frowning at Harry, "but there's no rule saying only one person at a time can be plotting anything in this place! You're getting a bit obsessed with Malfoy, Harry. I mean, thinking about missing a match just to follow him ..."

"Well then, I dunno," said Ron.

"Nice one," said Ron