Half-Blood Prince 21: The Unknowable Room
In which Harry continues to obsess over Draco's plans while trying to think of a way to get Slughorn's memory, and Tonks makes an unexpected appearance.
Kreacher and Dobby report that Draco is disappearing into the Room of Requirement regularly, accompanied by "a variety of students." Harry surmises that these are the Polyjuiced Crabbe and Goyle, but he is unable to gain access to the room. Meanwhile, Hermione refuses to help, telling him he should be concentrating on Slughorn.
When the Prophet reports that Mundungus Fletcher was captured impersonating an Inferius during a robbery, Seamus brings up the topic during DADA, and Snape tells the class that an Inferius is "a corpse that has been reanimated by a Dark Wizard's spells."
Harry and Ron encounter Moaning Myrtle in the boy's bathroom and learn that she has been visiting with a lonely boy who is bullied, too.
Another attempt at entering the Room of Requirement fails, but Harry unexpectedly runs into Tonks, mousy-haired and glum again, whose eyes fill with tears when Harry says he hasn't heard from anyone in the Order recently. When Harry tells Hermione and Ron about the encounter, including the odd excuse she'd offered at being discovered in the castle--that she'd been looking for Dumbledore--he voices his suspicion that Tonks might have been in love with Sirius. Ron agrees that she's "gone a bit funny," but Hermione's not sure what to make of the situation.
Previous chapter: Half-Blood Prince 20: Lord Voldemort's Request
Next chapter: Half-Blood Prince 22: After the Burial
Kreacher and Dobby report that Draco is disappearing into the Room of Requirement regularly, accompanied by "a variety of students." Harry surmises that these are the Polyjuiced Crabbe and Goyle, but he is unable to gain access to the room. Meanwhile, Hermione refuses to help, telling him he should be concentrating on Slughorn.
When the Prophet reports that Mundungus Fletcher was captured impersonating an Inferius during a robbery, Seamus brings up the topic during DADA, and Snape tells the class that an Inferius is "a corpse that has been reanimated by a Dark Wizard's spells."
Harry and Ron encounter Moaning Myrtle in the boy's bathroom and learn that she has been visiting with a lonely boy who is bullied, too.
Another attempt at entering the Room of Requirement fails, but Harry unexpectedly runs into Tonks, mousy-haired and glum again, whose eyes fill with tears when Harry says he hasn't heard from anyone in the Order recently. When Harry tells Hermione and Ron about the encounter, including the odd excuse she'd offered at being discovered in the castle--that she'd been looking for Dumbledore--he voices his suspicion that Tonks might have been in love with Sirius. Ron agrees that she's "gone a bit funny," but Hermione's not sure what to make of the situation.
Previous chapter: Half-Blood Prince 20: Lord Voldemort's Request
Next chapter: Half-Blood Prince 22: After the Burial