BOOK DISCUSSION: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Nov 12, 2014 08:06

“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 ( Read more... )

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shocolate November 12 2014, 20:37:42 UTC
  • "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 happened. "Should be a laugh, eh?"
  • time," said Ron, looking anxious. "Fred and George did," "Charlie failed, though, didn't he?" "Yeah, but Charlie's bigger than me" - Ron held his arms out from his body as though he was a gorilla - "so Fred and George
  • 'What d'you mean, you don't care ... don't you want to leam to Apparate?' said Ron incredulously.
  • 'There!' said Ron, after a minute or so. 'He's in the Slytherin common room, look ... with Parkinson and Zabini and Crabbe and Goyle ..."
  • 'But now all I've got to look forward to is stupid Appar-ition!' said Ron grumpily. 'Big birthday treat ...'
  • 'Cheers,' said Ron drowsily, and as he ripped off the paper Harry got out of bed, opened his own crunk and began rum-maging in it for the Marauder's Map, which he hid after every use. He turfed out half the contents of his trunk before he found it hiding beneath the rolled-up socks in which he was still keeping his bottle of lucky potion, Felix Felicis.
  • 'Nice one, Harry!' said Ron enthusiastically, waving the new pair of Quidditch Keeper's gloves Harry had given him.
  • 'Want one? I said Ron thickly, holding out a box of Chocolate Cauldrons.
  • 'Can't have done,' said Ron, stuffing a second Cauldron into his mouth as he slid out of bed to get dressed. 'Come on. if you don't hurry up you'll have to Apparate on an empty-stomach ... might make it easier, I suppose ..."
  • 'Harry!' said Ron suddenly.
  • 'I can't stop thinking about her!' said Ron hoarsely.
  • 'I don't think she knows I exist,' said Ron with a desperate gesture.
  • 'Romilda Vane,' said Ron softly, and his whole face seemed to illuminate as he said it, as though hit by a ray of purest sunlight. They stared at each other for almost a whole minute, before Harry said, 'This is a joke, right? You're joking.'
  • T think ... Harry, I ihink I love her,' said Ron in a strangled voice.
  • 'Maybe I could ask if I can have them with her?' said Ron eagerly.
  • 'Leave me alone,' said Ron impatiently, 'Harry's going to introduce me to Romilda Vane.'
  • That's good,' said Ron fervently. 'How do I look?'
  • 'Brilliant,' said Ron eagerly, and he gulped the antidote down noisily.
  • "Oh," said Ron, looking sheepish. "Yeah. All right."
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    shocolate November 12 2014, 20:37:55 UTC
  • "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 appreciatively, lifting Dobby into the air so that his flailing limbs no longer made contact with Kreacher. "That was another Prince hex, wasn't it?"
  • "It must've looked funny," said Ron reasonably. "It didn't look funny at all!" said Hermione hotly. "It looked terrible and if Coote and Peakes hadn't caught Harry he could have been very badly hurt!"
  • "No, I'm serious!" said Ron earnestly. "I can't remember enjoying commentary more! What is this, by the way?" he added, holding the onionlike object up to eye level.
  • "You know, she's grown on me, Luna," he said, as they set off again for the Great Hall. "I know she's insane, but it's in a good -" He stopped talking very suddenly. Lavender Brown was standing at the foot of the marble staircase looking thunderous. "Hi," said Ron nervously.
  • "Nice commentary last match!" said Ron to Luna as she took back the green onion, the toadstool, and the cat litter. Luna smiled vaguely.
  • "At least you can Apparate, though!" said Ron tensely. "You'll have no trouble come July!"
  • "How do you spell 'belligerent'?" said Ron, shaking his quill very hard while staring at his parchment. "It can't be B - U - M -"
  • "Ah no!" said Ron, staring horror-struck at the parchment. "Don't say I'll have to write the whole thing out again!"
  • "I love you, Hermione," said Ron, sinking back in his chair, rub-bing his eyes wearily. Hermione turned faintly pink, but merely said, "Don't let Lavender hear you saying that."
  • "I won't," said Ron into his hands. "Or maybe I will, then she'll ditch me."
  • "You haven't ever chucked anyone, have you?" said Ron. "You and Cho just -"
  • "Wish that would happen with me and Lavender," said Ron gloomily, watching Hermione silently tapping each of his mis-spelled words with the end of her wand, so that they corrected themselves on the page. "But the more I hint I want to finish it, the tighter she holds on. It's like going out with the giant squid."
  • "Thanks a million," said Ron. "Can I borrow your quill for the conclusion?" Harry, who had found nothing useful in the Half-Blood
  • "Maybe the Marauders never knew the room was there," said Ron.
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    shocolate November 12 2014, 20:38:07 UTC
  • "Yeah, it's great," said Ron glumly, who was attempting to mop up the sodden mass of ink chat had recently been an almost com-pleted essay. Hermione pulled it toward her and began siphoning the ink off with her wand.
  • "Nicked what?" said Ron.
  • "Wish I could Disapparate like a house-elf," said Ron, staring at the spot where Dobby had vanished. "I'd have that Apparition Test in the bag."
  • "Well, what Harry said is the most useful if we're trying to tell them apart!" said Ron. "When we come face-to-face with one down a dark alley, we're going to be having a look to see if its solid, aren't we, we're not going to be asking, 'Excuse me, are you the imprint of a departed soul?'" There was a ripple of laughter, instantly quelled by the look Snape gave the class.
  • "Snape's right, though, isn't he?" said Ron, after staring into a cracked mirror for a minute or two. "I dunno whether it's worth me taking the test. I just can't get the hang of Apparition."
  • "Who were you expecting?" said Ron, looking at her in the mirror.
  • And she looked hopefully toward the door. "When you say you had lots in common," said Ron, sounding rather amused now, "d'you mean he lives in an S-bend too?"
  • "- not the grave, surely?" said Ron with a snort. "The sewers, maybe." Myrtle gave a howl of rage and dived back into the toilet, caus-ing water to slop over the sides and onto the floor. Goading Myrtle seemed to have put fresh heart into Ron. "You're right," he said, swinging his schoolbag back over his shoulder, "I'll do the practice sessions in Hogsmeade before I de-cide about taking the test."
  • "Oh, she was perfect, obviously," said Ron, before Hermione could answer. "Perfect deliberation, divination, and desperation or whatever the hell it is - we all went for a quick drink in the Three Broomsticks after and you should've heard Twycross going on about her - I'll be surprised if he doesn't pop the question soon -"
  • "If you ask me," said Ron once Harry had finished describing his conversation with Tonks, "she's cracking up a bit. Losing her nerve after what happened at the Ministry."
  • "Goes back to what I said, doesn't it?" said Ron, who was now shoveling mashed potato into his mouth. "She's gone a bit funny. Lost her nerve. Women," he said wisely to Harry, "they're easily upset."
  • "Oh, good," said Ron, relaxing.
  • "- I'd want to go even less," said Ron firmly. "You didn't meet him, Hermione. Believe me, being dead will have improved him a lot."
  • "Lucky," said Ron suddenly. "Harry, that's it - get lucky!"
  • "Cool," said Ron, peering over Hermiones shoulder to check. "Blimey, they don't look happy, do they?"
  • "I'm losing track of what's happening to everyone's relatives, to be honest," said Ron.
  • "They sometimes kill," said Ron, who looked unusually grave now. "I've heard of it happening when the werewolf gets carried away."
  • "Yeah, I s'pose," said Ron grumpily. "But half an eyebrow - like that matters!"
  • "It's a great feeling when you take it," said Ron reminiscently. "Like you can't do anything wrong."
  • "Yeah, but I thought I had, didn't I?" said Ron, as though ex-plaining the obvious. "Same difference really ..."
  • "What?" said Ron and Hermione together, looking aghast.
  • "No," said Ron and Hermione together, both looking positively alarmed now.
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    shocolate November 12 2014, 20:38:18 UTC
  • "Wow," said Ron, when Harry had finally finished telling them everything; Ron was waving his wand very vaguely in the direction of the ceiling without paying the slightest bit of attention to what he was doing. "Wow. You're actually going to go with Dumbledore . . . and try and destroy . . . wow."
  • "Oh yeah," said Ron, looking down at his shoulders in vague surprise. "Sorry... looks like we've all got horrible dandruff now. ..."
  • "Flitwick," said Ron in a warning tone. The tiny little Charms master was bobbing his way toward them, and Hermione was the only one who had managed to turn vinegar into wine; her glass flask was full of deep crimson liquid, whereas the contents of Harry's and Ron's were still murky brown.
  • "Typical," said Ron.
  • "Leave it, Hermione," said Ron angrily.
  • 'Yeah, I would,' said Ron grudgingly. 'And just as long as you don't start snogging each other in public -'
  • 'She's just never got over you outperforming her in Potions,' said Ron, returning to his copy of One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi.
  • 'Course not,' said Ron robustly. 'He was a genius, the Prince. Anyway ... without his bezoar tip ...' he drew his finger significantly across his own throat, 'I wouldn't be here to discuss it, would I? I mean, I'm not saying that spell you used on Malfoy was great -'
  • ‘Thanks,' said Ron. 'Er - why do I need socks?'
  • "But he wasn't bitten at the full moon," said Ron, who was gazing down into his brother's face as though he could somehow force him to mend just by staring. "Greyback hadn't transformed, so surely Bill won't be a - a real - ?" :
  • "I messed up, Harry," said Ron bleakly. "We did like you told us: We checked the Marauder's Map and we couldn't see Malfoy on it, so we thought he must be in the Room of Requirement, so me, Ginny, and Neville went to keep watch on it... but Malfoy got past us."
  • "His Hand of Glory," said Ron. "Gives light only to the holder, remember?"
  • "- Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder," said Ron bitterly. "Fred and George's. I'm going to be having a word with them about who they let buy their products."
  • "None of us could break through," said Ron, "and that massive Death Eater was still firing off jinxes all over the place, they were bouncing off the walls and barely missing us. . . ."
  • "Lupin said they would," said Ron.
  • "So?" said Ron in a very low voice, as though he thought the furniture might be listening in. "Did you find one? Did you get it? A - a Horcrux?"
  • "You didn't get it?" said Ron, looking crestfallen. "It wasn't there?"
  • T thought she wasn't much of a looker,' said Ron. Hermione ignored him.
  • 'I still don't get why he didn't turn you in for using that book,' said Ron. 'He must've known where you were getting it ali from.'
  • 'None of us could've guessed Snape would ... you know,' said Ron.
  • 'Maybe it won't,' said Ron. 'We're not in any more danger here than we are at home, are we? Everywhere's the same now. I'd even say Hogwarts is safer, there are more wizards inside to defend the place. What d'you reckon, Harry?'
  • 'And then what?' said Ron.
  • 'We'll be there, Harry,' said Ron.
  • At your aunt and uncle's house,' said Ron. 'And then we'll go with you, wherever you're going.'
  • 'We're with you whatever happens,' said Ron. 'But, mate, you're going to have to come round my mum and dad's house before we do anything else, even Godric's Hollow.'
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    kerryblaze November 12 2014, 21:47:22 UTC
    "I'm tall," said Ron inconsequentially.

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    shocolate November 12 2014, 21:52:43 UTC
    If I was gonna have to choose, that would be the one!

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    cmere November 12 2014, 23:39:07 UTC
    Hahaha

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