Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

[Amie]

This WILL contain a spoiler if you haven't finished the book. It's been out a while, so I'm taking some liberties, lol!

But OH MY GOSH! I just finished reading it and am in SHOCK! I cannot believe that Snape killed Dumbledore!

I read Rowling's interview where she assures us all that Dumbledore is gone for good :(.

I'm convinced that Snape is a good guy and did this for some huge reason. Can it be coincidental that he stepped in and killed Dumbledore before anyone else could, or that he disallowed Harry to use the "unforgiveable curse", OR that he didn't allow Harry to be killed? I dunno, maybe it's because I like Alan Rickman (plays Snape in the movies).

Anyone else read it?

Amie

[Lauri]

Amie,
You just know finished the last Harry Potter book?! I think me and my daughter both read it the first month it was out. The problem with that is you tend to forget a lot by the time the next one comes out. So you are in good shape for the next one that comes out this summer. Unless you don't read that one until forever. I was planning to reread it before the next one comes out but my daughter's friend borrowed it so I probably won't get to do that. Well I think that Dumbeldore is not really dead or if he is he will be raised again (like the phoenix). I agree about Snape, I still think he is good and maybe all this was staged so that Voldemort will try something he may not have tried if he thought Dumbledore was alive and they can finally capture him. Well whatever happens, I'm sure it will be something completely unexpected and there will be a twist that no thought of, as Rowling is so good at doing.

Lauri

[goinliveinfive]

I read it through on the weekend it was released and several times since.

SNAPE IS NOT EVIL. If I'm wrong, I'll eat my hat. No, I'll eat the SORTING HAT. Unlaundered.

There are two possibilities as I see it:

1. Snape got himself into a sticky spot with Narcissa and the Unbreakable Vow. He was boxed into a corner, he told Dumbledore about it and Dumbledore was furious but insistant that Snape do whatever was necessary to remain alive until Voldemort was destroyed. I find this possible but unlikely.

2. The Unbreakable Vow was an unexpected thing that Snape entered into because the plan that he would AK Dumbledore in a moment of weakness, most probably after the acquisition of a horcrux, had already been agreed upon by Snape and Dumbledore. I believe that this is what the two of them were arguing about when Hagrid overheard them and I believe it's why Dumbledore refused the aid of Madam Pomfrey and insisted on being attended by Snape when he and Harry returned from the cliffs.

Harry's need for protection is waning and that protection will come to an end when he turns 17 in two short months anyway. I'm predicting a sleepover at the Dursleys' in Book 7 that takes place the day Harry returns "home" with Ron and Hermione in tow. They will stay overnight, he'll probably have a meal (to complete the "home" scenario) and the trio will leave for the Burrow and the wedding that morning. Afterwards, they will head to Godric's Hollow, now referred to by the locals as the Deathly Hallows. In the last two months of Harry's "protection" )pretty much nullified in GOF anyway), things will be revealed, including some kind of acquisition of the locations of the remaining hocruxes, if Jo has any sense at all we'll learn what Lily and James did for a living and why they were so well off (aurors don't seem to be particularly wealthy) and then it'll be back to Hogwarts. Yes, Hogwarts will still be around. As for the Harry/Snape angle, Snape will likely die either saving Harry's life or in some way blocking Voldemort's way to Harry. Also bear in mind that Wormtail still owes Harry a life-debt and will either outwardly or inadvertently bar Voldy's way to Harry repeatedly as well.

As for Dumbledore being gone for good... Jo has said repeatedly that when people die in Harry's world they're dead. That being said...

'Who said none of us are putting the news out?' said Sirius. 'Why d'you think Dumbledore's in such trouble?'
'What d'you mean?' Harry asked.
They're trying to discredit him,' said Lupin. 'Didn't you see the Daily Prophet last week? They reported that he'd been voted out of the Chairmanship of the International Confederation of Wizards because he's getting old and losing his grip, but it's not true; he was voted out by Ministry wizards after he made a speech announcing Voldemort's return. They've demoted him from Chief Warlock on the Wizengamot — that's the Wizard High Court — and they're talking about taking away his Order of Merlin, First Class, too.'
'But Dumbledore says he doesn't care what they do as long as they don't take him off the Chocolate Frog Cards,' said Bill, grinning. -Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Ch. 5

If I were you I'd try to remember that last line. There are also portraits of Dumbeldore all over the Wizarding World. Is he REALLY dead? Yes. Will he be silent in DH? Not by a long shot. Mark my words.

Oh, and as for the real locket...

They found an unpleasant-looking silver instrument, something like a many-legged pair of tweezers, which scuttled up Harry's arm like a spider when he picked it up, and attempted to puncture his skin. Sirius seized it and smashed it with a heavy book entitled Nature's Nobility: A Wizarding Genealogy. There was a musical box that emitted a faintly sinister, tinkling tune when wound, and they all found themselves becoming curiously weak and sleepy, until Ginny had the sense to slam the lid shut; a heavy locket that none of them could open; a number of ancient seals; and, in a dusty box, an Order of Merlin, First Class, that had been awarded to Sirius's grandfather for 'services to the Ministry'. -Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Ch. 6

Mundungus Fletcher stole it in HBP. He either unwittingly sold it or he's a mole and is protecting it.

[Amie]

Joe,

What do you think of Harry possibly being a horcrux?

Amie

[goinliveinfive]

Joe,

What do you think of Harry possibly being a horcrux?

AmieNot even a remote possibility. I can see why people may think that given Harry's ability to speak Parseltongue as well as other things that link him to Voldemort but here's what most people don't take into acount: the other known horcruxes are either inanimate objects (the book, the locket, the ring) or alive (Nagini). Even if Voldemort had reduced Harry to an inferius I don't see how he could have been made into a horcrux because his body would still be in a state of decay. The host object of a horcrux would have to be somewhat durable. Also, it's clear that Voldemort's intent was to kill Harry. That would, in JKR's world, rend Voldemort's soul and allow the creation of a horcrux but I don't see anything in Slughorn's description that allows the murdering wizard to then turn around and use the victim as the horcrux. Add to this theory that if Voldemort created a horcrux with each murder, Lily and James represented numbers five and six. With himself as the keeper of the last morsel of his own soul, the seventh horcrux, it would not have been necessary to divide again.

Another possible scenario for the last book is that the objects belonging to Gryffindor and Ravenclaw are in Godric's Hollow and will be found and destroyed early. The majority of energy will then be spent tracking down the locket and that will likely involve Mundungus Fletcher and Regulus Black (the only likely RAB to have written that note). I'm guessing there will also be more clues to be found at 12 Grimmauld Place (like, in point of fact, anything that Regulus may have left behind... a portrait of himself would be handy).

[Amie]

You make a lot of sense Joe. It just seems like transference is too simple an explanation for all of the similarities between Potter and Voldemort.

They both were mixed, both orphans, use the same type wand, and speak Parseltongue. If the patronus that Harry used against him was not his parents from the other side, then Harry has already proven more powerful though.

Rowling said that she is going to leave some things without an answer because the series is "plotted out". You know on one hand I would be bummed to find out that this is not yet the last book - but on the other it was great to know that I could look forward to more of this very great story. My son has grown up with Potter, it will be an interesting feeling to close the last book and that be that.

Amie

[goinliveinfive]

My son has grown up with Potter, it will be an interesting feeling to close the last book and that be that.

AmieI grew up with Stephen King's Dark Tower Series and waited almost TWENTY YEARS for that series to be concluded. Potter fans are lightweights. It hasn't even been a decade.

[Amie]

From this site: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=a3_mJtt4pDkU&refer=europe


Final `Harry Potter' Book to Be Published July 21 (Update4)

By Mark Herlihy

Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) -- ``Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,'' the seventh and final book in J.K. Rowling's best- selling series about the schoolboy wizard, will be released July 21, the book's publishers said.

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc will produce a children's hardback edition, an adult hardback version, and a gift edition, the London-based company said today in a statement. Scholastic Corp., Rowling's New York-based publisher, said the U.S. hardback edition will be priced at $34.99.

The book reached the top of online bookseller Amazon.com Inc.'s U.K. best-seller list eight hours after Rowling announced the title in a puzzle on her Web site on Dec. 21. All six previous books have been No. 1 best-sellers, spawning movies, audio books and computer games.

``Not only will this be the biggest selling book, it will also break all records to become the fastest selling book of all time,'' Wayne Winston, a spokesman for U.K. book store chain Waterstone's, said today. The company, which has been taking pre- orders for the book since last year, said it planned to hold ``Potter Parties'' and open more than 300 of its stores at midnight on the day the novel is released to sell the book.

The novels about the young wizard's adventures at Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry have sold more than 300 million copies, earning Rowling a 520 million-pound ($1.02 billion) fortune, according to the U.K.'s Sunday Times. That makes her the 10th richest woman in Britain, fives places ahead of Queen Elizabeth II.

``I have no doubt that this will be the biggest seller of the series,'' said Simon Davies, a media analyst at ABN Amro in London. ``Momentum has been building for months.''

Characters Die

Rowling, 41, said last June that two characters die in the final book of the series. ``One character got a reprieve but I have to say that two die that I didn't intend to die,'' she said on the U.K.'s ``Richard & Judy'' television show.

The first book in the series, ``Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone,'' called ``Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone'' in the U.S., was published in 1997. The books have been translated into 63 languages, including Farsi and Chinese, Rowling's agent, the London-based Christopher Little Literary Agency, said in October 2005.

Coming of Age

``Anyone who was nine when the first book was released will now be 18 - they'll be coming of age like Harry himself,'' Debbie Williams, a buyer at Waterstone's, said today. The end of the series could prove upsetting for many teenagers, she said. ``We are looking at setting up a helpline for them,'' she added.

Rowling, who studied French at Exeter University in southwest England, said she was inspired to write the first book following the death of her mother from multiple sclerosis in 1990 at the age of 45 and after the breakdown of her first marriage. She wrote much of the first novel in cafes, while her young daughter slept in her stroller.

The first four movies, which starred British actor Daniel Radcliffe in the lead role, grossed more than $3.5 billion in box office receipts, according to Web site Box Office Mojo.com. A fifth, ``Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,'' is in production and scheduled for release in 2007.

The sixth book in the series, ``Harry Potter and the Half- Blood Prince,'' sold more than 2 million copies in the U.K. in its first 24 hours of release, Bloomsbury said in July 2005.

Bloomsbury has expanded in Germany and North America and invested in sports, TV and film publishing as it prepares for the end of the Harry Potter saga. Bloomsbury shares declined as much as 32 percent on Dec. 12 after the company said profit will fall short of analyst estimates.

Shares of Bloomsbury rose 4.5 pence, or 2.1 percent, to 224.5 pence in London, valuing the company at 164.9 million pounds.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Herlihy in London at Mherlihy1@bloomberg.net .

[Amie]

This is a serious confession made at postsecret.blogspot.com:

http://bp3.blogger.com/_a7jkcMVp5Vg/Rjzm03SyKbI/AAAAAAAAAts/zDsohoTE8rA/s1600-h/jesus.jpg