bard_linn

So, I spent most of Friday hemming the purple cloak I had gotten at Otakon last year, but was too long to wear. After that, I worked on my cosplay outfit and wrote random ficlets in

anax's post. I went out to dinner with my parents since my sister had departed earlier that morning for Potterville and we had Red Lobster certificates. Yum.

After a quick rest, we went over to my cousins' house, me in my cloak, nice black skirt and purple shirt. (Yes, I was totally using HP as an excuse to wear the cloak. <33 This will also be my Sunday "cosplay" outfit at Otakon.) We picked up Ami (the cousin who isn't into HP that much at all. Keli, who is, was playing lazer tag. The mind boggles.) and headed up to Borders. We got our number then promptly headed over the manga section and read until it was time. Nothing like an excuse to read manga for free. Picked up the book, dropped Ami off, and headed home. Once there, I read the book jacket, the last three pages (don't give me that look. My dad read the last three chapters) then headed up to bed. I told myself I'd just read the first chapter.

Right.

It was three in the morning when I finally went to sleep, woke up at ten and had the book finished by four. It was funny to see actually. My sister, dad and I were all reading HP, my mother was reading Testing and Measurement for her course. *snicker*

General nonspoilery feedback:

I personally found this book a LOT better written than OotP. Not nearly as many dry spots where you had to plow through by sheer will alone. The mystery of what was going on was better set up in that you really WANTED to move through the book. It was hard to put down. Not nearly on the Divinci Code level, but still.

I AM NOW JUSTIFIED IN MY HATRED OF SNAPE ALL OF THESE YEARS!

And in other news….

When we went into this, my dad pointed out we needed the answer to three questions: 1) what does the title mean 2) What disastrous thing happened over the summer and 3) Who was going to be the DADA teacher.

1) Harry encounters the term "Half Blood Prince" in an old potions text. Now, I am kinda irked at myself for not guessing Snape, though my sister did. Interestingly enough, I've seen some people going "well, this book didn't really have a lot to do with the Half Blood Prince” - but in reality it did. This book in many ways defined Snape in a new way. We learned how brilliant he was, even as a student, through his book. We discovered Snape was the spy who over heard the prophecy and of course, Snape was the one to kill Dumbledore. So really the book had quite a bit of Snape in it.

2) Oddly enough, there wasn’t some disastrous event that disrupted Harry’s summer this book, just going to get the new Potions teacher.

3) Professor for DADA. Now, what is interesting about this is that my dad guessed a whiiiiiiiiile ago – shortly after he read five – that Snape would be the next DADA proff, allowing Harry to go on in Potions. Isn’t he so smart? :)

Characterization:

Looking over the books in general, I came to the conclusion that JKR will shift characters’ personalities in order to make a plot work, a LOT if necessary. This annoys me. Muchly. I know I have been guilty of doing this myself, and have been trying to fix it, but GAH.

Harry- This Harry seemed a lot more inline with the characters from 1-4 as opposed to OMG ANGSTING Harry. Which is good, because OotP Harry drove me up the wall. He’s still somewhat dense, still willful, still wary to trust adults, breaking rules if he feels its necessary, but we get to see some new sides to him. Even though he was following the “Prince’s” directions for potions, he clearly CAN follow a potion recipe (also evidenced by his OWLs.) The OWLs clearly proved Harry ISN’T dumb and has a lot of potential. We also see the sneaky streak in Harry that could have landed him in Slytherin (the scene with Ron and felix felicis) and the Harry’s loyalty to Dumbledore with the Ministry. We also see, especially towards the end, a Harry ready to take on the fight himself, well aware of the costs. Over all, much improved from last book.

Roy- Okay, mostly fine. Seemed pretty in character, for when he was around. The random get-a-girl thing was irritating and pretty stupid, but I CAN see Ron doing it, just because he wasn’t to get back at his sister and the like.

Hermione- Who kidnapped her and replaced her with a martian? I’ve NEVER seen Hermione so wrapped up in Ron and social life. And CHEATING to help Ron stay on the team? HELLO? Anyone besides me have problems with this? I know what JKR is saying; Hermione’s feeling for Ron are clouding her judgment. STILL….

Snape- Pretty IC, to me at least. Rest of what we found out is already said.

Draco- Now, I wanted to see Draco go after Harry and Harry defend himself. That seemed logical to me considering the events in the end of the last book. Didn’t get that, but was interesting that Voldemort would pick him to kill Dumbledore. We did get a glimpse of a more vulnerable Draco, which was neat.

Dumbledore- The headmaster became much more of a REAL figure this book. We saw him impatient, we saw him in pain. It was nice to see and really filled out his character. His death didn’t come as a surprise, though of course Snape being the one to do it was one.

McGonagall- We only got to see her briefly, but the scene with her and Neville is priceless. I love her there. Protective and supporting from a distance is her style.

Neville- didn’t see much of him, a big change from last book. Kinda expected more of him, given the buildup last book. No biggy either way.

Luna- again, not much of her, though her line about DA being “like having friends” struck me a LOT.

New DADA and minister- Eh, good characters for Harry to encounter, don’t care much other than that.

Voldemort- notice he never showed up in person? Interesting, isn’t it?

Romance:

JKR needs not to do romance. Period. Mind, I’m slightly biased as I’ve always preferred to have my Potterness Gen, but really. GAH. *sporky spork* And needing everyone paired up.

Fluer/Bill- Hm. Didn’t really see why this was necessary, to tell you the truth. The last scene was really sweet, but other than that didn’t really care. Except to show that life is going on this bored me.

Hermione/annoying Quidditch person- Hermione is a sneaky manipulative person in here.

Ron/Lavender- “Won-Won”???? You’ve GOT to be kidding me!

Ron/Hermione- still haven’t figured it out totally. *headdesk* Though I like Harry’s thoughts on the pair, whether their relationship would effect the trio’s friendship.

Harry/Ginny- GAAAAAAAAAH. The Clique, it HURTS! IT BURNS! >_< Always hated Harry/Ginny, now I have to deal with it in canon. At least they broke up in a nice, responsible way.

Moony/Tonks- definitely thinking heard of fangirls and wanted to step on them.

Relationships:

Harry and Dumbledore- Have I mentioned I’m a sucker for Harry and Dumbledore interaction (which is a lot like Edward and Roy interaction, btw)? I. LOVE. THIS. BOOK. For that. Particularly I like the growth in the relationship. In the beginning of the book we have a Harry who is uncertain that Dumbledore will even come and at the end we have Dumbledore unafraid because he is with Harry. *glomps book* The lack of their interaction made me HATE OotP. And personally, I think Dumbledore knew he was going to die soon and wanted to give Harry as much information and help as he could. I suspect breaking the ring-Horcrux brought that fact home.

The Gryffindor Trio- Ron, Harry and Hermione’s relationship was different in here. Usually Ron and Hermione help Harry on whatever quest he is on. In this book you saw them arguing against his theories and generally causing him more grief with their personal relations than helping him.

A few random thoughts:

Dumbledore chastising Dursleys- YAY! That made me VERY happy.

Quidditch- not nearly as important as in other years. Over shadowed in many ways by the tensions in relationships. There, but not as interesting as other years.

Flex Felicis- I’ve heard of worse plot devices to get people where they needed to be. Better than just coincidence, which was what happened half of the time. Though it sounded to me like a drug to expand you consciousness. XD;;

Harry and Voldemort- a lot of people point out how similar the pair are (and to a certain extent, Snape as well.) They both lost their parents (though Harry’s father was the full blood, unlike Tom and Snape’s cases), both can speak Parsletongue, both even look a certain bit alike. So the question is, why didn’t Harry turn into another Tom Riddle?
Partially it probably had to deal with genetics. Looking at Voldie’s background, it’s not surprising that he turned out the way he did. Now, Harry doesn’t have the same genetics, so he may not have those tendencies. I think, and my dad agrees with me, it has to do with Harry’s control of his power. Harry didn’t have the type of control that Tom had at an early age and so he couldn’t strike back at Dudley. For Harry, the best options were escape, hiding, and enduring.

Hogwarts closing/Harry not returning- THIS shocked me quite a bit. Wasn’t expecting that at all.

DADA professor- Dumbledore said that they had only been able to keep for a single year since Voldie wanted it. That doesn’t seem to be in line with Book 1’s prof, though I’d have to reread to be sure.

Snape and Draco- Harry is almost ALWAYS accusing these two. It was nice to see it actually WAS them for once!

Sirius- more for last book, than this, but repeatable never the less. Sirius’ death was originally by the Reducto curse, which is NOT NICE. Really, involves body go BOOM. Editor thought might be a little graphic for her readers, so JKR toned it down with the whole Veil thing. NOT coming back in other words. [Don’t remember where that was…remember reading it though.]

Speculations:

R.A.B. = Sirius’ younger brother? Maybe. It’s hard to tell if R.A.B is really dead or not. The note suggested he would be, but without confirmation its hard to tell. Considering that was probably before Voldies downfall…he might still be alive. Regardless, Ron, Hermione and Harry are going to need SOMEONE’s help to break the Horcruxes. One took Basilisk venom and another badly injured Dumbledore, who is a very talented wizard. Will be interesting to find this out.

Snape killed Dumbledore on Dumbledore’s orders- this doesn’t sit well with me. Yes, we do have the argument and the unbreakable vow. But why would Dumbledore order that? To save Draco and Snape perhaps. But would he voluntarily leave Harry to find and destroy the Horcruxes alone? That seems a bit fishy to me. And we’ve seen finding them and taking them out is no easy task. Plus, I can’t help but wonder if we’re SUPPOSED to think that Snape can’t be evil/did it on his own. And the consequences of this action are interesting. Killing the Headmaster, IMHO, can’t mean less than the Dementor’s Kiss- a fate that is supposable WORSE than death. Would Dumbledore sentence Snape to this if he trusted him? So I am very skeptical about this theory.

Hogwarts- I think, as does my father, that sooner or later Hogwarts will close. If not in the beginning of the book, sometime during. We’re voting that it close and reopen without houses, which would take care of the division that the Sorting Hat keeps talking about.

Harry not returning- I’m thinking they might come back for Hogwart’s library. There’s also the question of the final battle. Which could possibly be at Hogwarts. *ponders*

Positions of Horcruxes- I’m thinking places that Voldemort triumphed. If the pattern holds.

Harry as a Horcrux- No, no and no. First of all Highlight for Spoiler JKR has said that Harry will survive the seventh book. Edit: Due to an article I read a while ago (newspaper). I don't have it anymore, I COULD be wrong, or remembering incorrectly, or the article could have been a hoax. Don't know. But I'm still going by that info for now. . So he obviously CAN’T be. Regardless, everything points to no anyway. Harry has a piece of Voldie’s power, yet. But Voldie can’t possess Harry, which is what Harry as a Horcrux would imply. And being a Horcrux doesn’t mean the power or mind is split. (This sounds quite a bit like a theory I had once. The original Harry died and a piece of Voldie’s soul ended up in the body and took on a life of his own. But that’s neither here nor there.)

This probably has typos in it. Ask me if I care. Finally got the thing DONE. Stupid thunderstorms kept interfering. *growls* May be revised at any time. Especially if I found out my information is wrong which happens on a regular basis!