Half-Blood Prince

[everlastingsoul]

I kinda knew who the Half-Blood Prince was as soon as I noticed the book was for advanced potions. Hmm ... who else would be studying so much, revising the textbook, and basically kicking royal butt in potions?

Notes: Tobias Snape and Eileen Prince.

Plus the whole thing about Narcissa and Bellatrix going up to Snape's home near a Muggle neighborhood. *very exaggerated "Hmmm..." here*

Cheered when I found out Snape got the DADA position. Was not surprised by his flight from Hogwarts after rationalizing that he'd have to leave the DADA position after the "curse" He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named (sounds a lot more impressive than "Voldemort") put on the job.

Totally wasn't surprised Draco couldn't kill someone. He's been a wuss for so long that I highly doubted he'd be able to kill Dumbledore when the time came.

Was surprised to see Harry slash Draco up. Laughed aloud when Draco was crying to Moaning Myrtle, as that will definitely make the Draco-angst fangirls dance with glee.

Was not surprised to see Hermione and Ron showing feelings for each other. I find it much more appropriate than Hermione falling for, say, Harry. A bit surprised Harry ended up with Ginny, but Ginny's certainly showed some character improvement over the books, so I can't complain.

The scene with Bill and Fleur in the second-to-last chapter made me cry. Still think it's the most unbelievable pairing I take that back. Lupin and Tonks makes me go "... EH?!"

Was disappointed to not see Lucius. Was very happy to see Narcissa, though. (Yes, I'm a Malfoy lover. Yessss...)

After all the background Dumbledore and Harry give for He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named (hee), the mystery of the Half-Blood Prince seemed ... incredibly underwhelming. Though I suppose it was very shocking to Harry, who had to watch every jinx, charm, and curse he learned from the book get thrown back at him by Snape.

And, just like in Order of the Phoenix, I didn't cry as soon as the important person died. I only cried when Harry had to think about them later.

I still stick to my theory that Snape is, at the end of everything, working for Dumbledore. He was probably such a confidant to You-Know-Who because he was half-blooded as well, and Dumbledore seems to always be looking at the "bigger picture" of things. I won't be surprised if the last book has Snape quietly paving the way for the final confrontation between Harry and the Dark Lord. Harry's always had someone to guide him in all the other books... Why not Snape and the memory of Dumbledore?

Oh. And I'm still in denial over Dumbledore.

And I love Hagrid. <3 Poor guy... He spends the majority of his time in this book crying.

Predictions for the seventh book:
-- Draco will survive the series.
-- Snape will not.
-- Ron and Hermione will be a definite item.
-- Slughorn will still be on the teaching staff.
-- Dumbledore will come back. *hides in shield of denial*
-- McGonagall will become Headmaster and Tonks will take over Transfiguration. (Hey, not ALL of these have be believable. >_>)
-- Gwarp will be around again.
-- Snape will kill Wormtail.
-- Neville will kill Bellatrix.
-- R.A.B. = Regulus A. Black

Comments

[yubberducky.livejournal.com]

Lupin and Tonks makes me go "... EH?!"

See my post about the book for my take on that. XD

My sister pointed out that R.A.B. was probably Regulus, but that was before I'd even gotten to the end of the book. I have to say I hate Regulus right now, because he sort of... made Dumbledore's death... pointless.

I cried right away when Sirius died, because he was my favourite character. I only cried about Dumbledore's death when Sprout finished Harry's sentence with "goodbye", because it only finally hit me right then that Dumbledore is really gone.

I'm sure Draco/Harry bathroom angst-sex is being written as we speak.

[daathic.livejournal.com]

Still can't say for sure that it's Regulus, but it's really an interesting thought -- that, at the end of things, Sirius' brother turned from the Dark Lord.

I still don't believe that Snape wanted to kill Dumbledore. He probably made the Unbreakable Vow with Narcissa because to do otherwise would be highly suspicious, and to give Bellatrix more reason to be suspicious of him would be stupid. Of course, he would have told Dumbledore immediately of this development, and Dumbledore would know about Draco's attempts to murder him and such.

I believe that Dumbledore was pleading with Snape to kill him so that Draco wouldn't be killed. As much as I'm sure Dumbledore would have liked to stay alive, he wouldn't want any of his students to die -- especially Malfoy, who had just demonstrated that he still had enough good in him to not want to kill him.

But that may just be hopeful Snape-worship. ^^;;;

[yubberducky.livejournal.com]

That's possible, but it says in the book that Snape looked at Dumbledore with hate and disgust... or something along those lines, I can't say for sure right now, because my sister took her copy of the book to a friend's and my dad stole mine. =\

Anyway, would said look be really necessary? Does it matter how Snape looks to the other DEs when he's killing Dumbledore?

[karthur.livejournal.com]

I've never read any of the books, but I do like the movies. Anywho, how old are the kids in this one?

[daathic.livejournal.com]

The kids are 16 at the beginning of the book; as the book follows the entire course of their school year, a lot of them are 17 by the end. Interestingly enough, Draco Malfoy and Harry aren't among them.

[seraphjewel.livejournal.com]

*flails* I thought it was Regulus too!! Or however it's spelled. Um, yeah.