Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince--SPOILER ALERT!!!

me | July 17, 2005 | grellis

[SuziQ]

I am starting to wonder about the potion (poison) DD drank in the cave. He said "it wasn't a health drink" and it obviously weakened him badly.

Frankly, I wondered if it somehow gave the appearance of his being dead, when in truth he wasn't. I'm still wondering about the strength of Snape's curse, and if he just wanted to make it look to Malfoy like he truly killed D so that Malfoy could go back to his family, and the Dark Lord, and say he witnessed it, thus cementing in Voldemort's mind that Snape was still 'his man', even though he wasn't.

[Gardener]

But he had another opportunity near the gate when he revealed he was the HBP and still didn't kill or kidnap Harry.

[Ronin]

But when another Death Eater hit Harry from behind Snapes warned him off by shouting "No! Have you forgotten our orders? Potter belongs to the Dark Lord! We are to leave him!"

So by my reckoning the mere fact that Snapes didn't kill or kidnap Harry is meaningless.

Jury is still out on who's side Snapes is on.

[WV Mountain Mama]

In an interview, Rowling says that Petunia overheard a conversation, that is how she knew. That's all she will say but she says it ties in with more stuff in the seventh book and will become important. A squib has magical parents. I don't think Petunia can be becasue her parents were none magical.

[tiredoflaundry]

Hmmm. Could the locket be back at 12 Grimmauld Place?

Not any more . Ch 6 in OOTP,remember when they were cleaning?

"Sirius sustained a bad bite from a silver snuff box; within seconds, his bitten hand had developed an unpleasant crusty covering like a tough brown Glove.

It's okay," he said, examining the hand with interest before tapping it lightly with his wand, and restoring the skin to normal. "must be Wartcap powder in there."

He threw the box aside into the sack they were depositing the debris from the cabinets; Harry saw George wrap his own hand carefully in a cloth moments later and sneak the box into his already doxy filled pocket."

[Malacoda]

Assuming Kreacher didn't hide it, or Mundungus Fletcher didn't fence it....

[grellis]

He would have had a hell of a time getting him down from the Astronomy Tower undetected with all the OOTP and DA members at the foot of the stairs.

No, not then--when Harry had chased him out of the castle and they were nearing the boundary of Hogwarts and the road to Hogsmeade, where the Death Eaters all headed so they could apparate. He had the perfect opportunity! He even stopped while Harry was on the ground, screaming "I am not a coward!" at him. He could have grabbed him then, but he didn't.

[Ronin]

See my post 303. According to Snape, Harry was off limits for that raid.

[grellis]

I posted this thread a few days ago but I wasn't sure about which FReepers I should ping. I figured a lot of folks were still reading the book and other folks would be interested in arguing points that really don't have to do with the book, if you know what I mean! So far, it has been a great discussion, hasn't it? So many possibilities...

I can't wait until the next book comes out!!!

[grellis]

"No! Have you forgotten our orders? Potter belongs to the Dark Lord! We are to leave him!"

That's another thing I'm not so sure about. Voldemort doesn't really have a reason for Harry NOT to be killed by just anybody. At the end of OOTP, Bellatrix was trying to kill Harry when VM showed up--he was upset about the prophesy being destroyed but he didn't say anything about Bellatrix trying to kill Harry. Could it be that Snape has been leading the Death Eaters to believe that HP must be left for VM? They all seem to realize that Snape has VM's special favor. I think they'd believe anything he says.

[grellis]

Even if Snape and the others had orders not to kill Harry, Snape passed up the perfect opportunity to kidnap him and take him back to VM. There's no reason I can think of that VM would have objected to that.

[kellynch]

I was also very surprised that we didn't hear anything about Susan Bones. With Ameila Bones' murder she's basically an orphan. Voldermort killed her entire family. I think we will hear more from her, too.

And this is why I keep feeling that a Bones relative (perhaps even Amelia herself) is "RAB."

[retrokitten]

Susan Bones was mentioned in the chapter on Apparitions. I think Amelia Bones was her AUNT, not her mother.

It is her aunt, but Voldemort some Bones' before this book. I was assuming they were her parents, but checked hp-lexicon.org and they say that the Bones that were killed earlier were another brother of Amelia, an uncle to Susan, so I guess her parents are alive and presumably well. LOL

[retrokitten]

Someone else had that theory, but then we found out Amelia's full name is Amelia Susan Bones, but that doesn't leave out other possible Bones relatives. They are mentioned to frequently to be just peripheral characters.

[MoJo2001]

R.A.B

When I read that little "note" in the book, I automaticall assumed it was Sirius' brother.

[MoJo2001]

should be *automatically*

Oops!
Need caffeine!

[Pippin]

Hi, Mo!

Just finished HBP yesterdday and am reading the comments and theories on this thread, some I never thought about, on this thread This is getting interesting and I'm a basic newcomer. :o)

[Pippin]

"Perhaps Rowlings is a FREEPER. On page 102 they show the grading system of Hogwarts.

The lowest grade you can get is a T for Troll"

LOL!

Never thought of that! :o)

[Pippin]

W"ho besides me caught the error with Hermione's birthday?"

I did!

"In POA her birthday is in September. In this book, she takes her apparation test, which puts her birthday during the school year."

I saw that too and was wondering about that.

[Not A Snowbird]

I'm told her birthday didn't make the "cutoff", so she's a year older than Harry and half a year older than Ron.

That would explain it.