Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: Ch 4-5

Harry Potter and the First Time Readers

Chapter 4 - Horace Slughorn

• Despite the fact that he had spent every waking moment of the past few days hoping desperately that Dumbledore would indeed come to fetch him, Harry felt distinctly awkward as they set off down Privet Drive together. He had never had a proper conversation with his headmaster outside Hogwarts before; there was usually a desk between them.

Q1 - What is one question you’d ask Dumbledore if you could ask him anything?

• ‘Keep your wand at the ready, Harry,’ he said brightly. ‘But I thought I’m not allowed to use magic outside school, sir?’ ‘If there is an attack,’ said Dumbledore, ‘I give you permission to use any counter-jinx or -curse that might occur to you. However, I do not think you need worry about being attacked tonight.’ ‘Why not, sir?’ ‘You are with me,’ said Dumbledore simply.

Q2 - Is Dumbledore arrogant to say this?

Q3 - Who in the wizarding world would you feel completely safe around?

• ‘So tell me, Harry,’ said Dumbledore. ‘Your scar … has it been hurting at all?’ Harry raised a hand unconsciously to his forehead and rubbed the lightning-shaped mark. ‘No,’ he said, ‘and I’ve been wondering about that. I thought it would be burning all the time now Voldemort’s getting so powerful again.’ He glanced up at Dumbledore and saw that he was wearing a satisfied expression. ‘I, on the other hand, thought otherwise,’ said Dumbledore. ‘Lord Voldemort has finally realized the dangerous access to his thoughts and feelings you have been enjoying. It appears that he is now employing Occlumency against you.’

Q4 - Is the Dark Lord smart to employ this?

• Dumbledore had pointed with his injured hand. ‘Professor, what happened to your –?’ ‘I have no time to explain now,’ said Dumbledore. ‘It is a thrilling tale, I wish to do it justice.’

Q5 - What happened to his hand?

• ‘Sir – I got a Ministry of Magic leaflet by owl, about security measures we should all take against the Death Eaters …’ ‘Yes, I received one myself,’ said Dumbledore, still smiling. ‘Did you find it useful?’ ‘Not really.’ ‘No, I thought not. You have not asked me, for instance, what is my favorite flavor of jam, to check that I am indeed Professor Dumbledore, and not an impostor.’‘ I didn’t …’ Harry began, not entirely sure whether he was being reprimanded or not. ‘For future reference, Harry, it is raspberry … although of course, if I were a Death Eater, I would have been sure to research my own jam-preferences before impersonating myself.’

Q6 - What is your favorite flavor of jam?

• ‘Well, on that leaflet, it said something about Inferi. What exactly are they? The leaflet wasn’t very clear.’ ‘They are corpses,’ said Dumbledore calmly. ‘Dead bodies that have been bewitched to do a Dark wizard’s bidding. Inferi have not been seen for a long time, however, not since Voldemort was last powerful … he killed enough people to make an army of them, of course. This is the place, Harry, just here …’

Q7 - Thoughts on Inferi?

• Harry’s jaw dropped. Where a split second before there had been an armchair, there now crouched an enormously fat, bald old man who was massaging his lower belly and squinting up at Dumbledore with an aggrieved and watery eye. ‘There was no need to stick the wand in that hard,’ he said gruffly, clambering to his feet. ‘It hurt.’
• He set the bottle back on the sideboard and sighed. It was then that his gaze fell upon Harry. ‘Oho,’ he said, his large round eyes flying to Harry’s forehead and the lightning-shaped scar it bore. ‘Oho!’ ‘This,’ said Dumbledore, moving forwards to make the introduction, ‘is Harry Potter. Harry, this is an old friend and colleague of mine, Horace Slughorn.’

Q8 - What are your initial thoughts on Horace Slughorn?

• He shrugged and spread his hands wide, as though to say that age had its compensations, and Harry noticed a ring on his uninjured hand that he had never seen Dumbledore wear before: it was large, rather clumsily made of what looked like gold, and was set with a heavy black stone that had cracked down the middle. Slughorn’s eyes lingered for a moment on the ring, too, and Harry saw a tiny frown momentarily crease his wide forehead.

Q9 - What is this ring?

• ‘Professor Umbridge ran afoul of our centaur herd,’ said Dumbledore. ‘I think you, Horace, would have known better than to stride into the Forest and call a horde of angry centaurs “filthy half-breeds”.’ ‘That’s what she did, did she?’ said Slughorn. ‘Idiotic woman. Never liked her.’ Harry chuckled and both Dumbledore and Slughorn looked round at him. ‘Sorry,’ Harry said hastily. ‘It’s just – I didn’t like her, either.’
• Dumbledore crossed the room. Once the door had closed behind him there was silence. After a few moments Slughorn got to his feet, but seemed uncertain what to do with himself. He shot a furtive look at Harry, then strode to the fire and turned his back on it, warming his wide behind.

Q10 - How loud would Slughorn's apparate crack be?

• ‘You look very like your father.’ ‘Yeah, I’ve been told,’ said Harry. Except for your eyes. You’ve got –’ ‘My mother’s eyes, yeah.’ Harry had heard it so often he found it a bit wearing. ‘Humph. Yes, well. You shouldn’t have favorites as a teacher, of course, but she was one of mine. Your mother,’ Slughorn added, in answer to Harry’s questioning look. ‘Lily Evans. One of the brightest I ever taught. Vivacious, you know. Charming girl. I used to tell her she ought to have been in my house. Very cheeky answers I used to get back, too.’ ‘Which was your house?’ ‘I was Head of Slytherin,’ said Slughorn. ‘Oh, now,’ he went on quickly, seeing the expression on Harry’s face and wagging a stubby finger at him, ‘don’t go holding that against me!

Q11 - What do you think of Slughorn after these facts?

• ‘I tell you all this,’ Dumbledore continued, ‘not to turn you against Horace – or, as we must now call him, Professor Slughorn – but to put you on your guard. He will undoubtedly try to collect you, Harry. You would be the jewel of his collection: the Boy Who Lived … or, as they call you these days, the Chosen One.’

Q12 - If Slughorn is like this, why does Dumbledore want him to teach at Hogwarts?

• ‘I hope you will forgive me for mentioning it, Harry, but I am pleased and a little proud at how well you seem to be coping after everything that happened at the Ministry. Permit me to say that I think Sirius would have been proud of you.’ Harry swallowed; his voice seemed to have deserted him. He did not think he could stand to discuss Sirius. It had been painful enough to hear Uncle Vernon say ‘His godfather’s dead?’; even worse to hear Sirius’s name thrown out casually by Slughorn. ‘It was cruel,’ said Dumbledore softly, ‘that you and Sirius had such a short time together. A brutal ending to what should have been a long and happy relationship.’ Harry nodded, his eyes fixed resolutely on the spider now climbing Dumbledore’s hat. He could tell that Dumbledore understood, that he might even suspect that until his letter arrived Harry had spent nearly all his time at the Dursleys’ lying on his bed, refusing meals and staring at the misted window, full of the chill emptiness that he had come to associate with Dementors. ‘It’s just hard,’ Harry said finally, in a low voice, ‘to realize he won’t write to me again.’
• Harry said nothing, but Dumbledore did not seem to require an answer. He continued, ‘On a different, though related, subject, it is my wish that you take private lessons with me this year.’ ‘Private – with you?’ said Harry, surprised out of his preoccupied silence. ‘Yes. I think it is time that I took a greater hand in your education.’ ‘What will you be teaching me, sir?’ ‘Oh, a little of this, a little of that,’ said Dumbledore airily.

Q13 - What will Harry’s private lessons be on?

Q14 - Why does Dumbledore want Harry to carry around the invisibility cloak with him at all times?

Chapter 5 - An Excess of Phlegm

Q1 - Tonks seems really sad and out of it at the beginning of this chapter…why?

• ‘What do you like me to call you when we’re alone together?’ Even by the dim light of the lantern Harry could tell that Mrs Weasley had turned bright red; he himself felt suddenly warm around the ears and neck, and hastily gulped soup, clattering his spoon as loudly as he could against the bowl. ‘Mollywobbles,’ whispered a mortified Mrs Weasley into the crack at the edge of the door. ‘Correct,’ said Mr Weasley. ‘Now you can let me in.’

Q2 - What do you think of Mollywobbles?

• Mrs Weasley made a noise that sounded like ‘tchah!’ ‘Mum hates her,’ said Ginny quietly. ‘I do not hate her!’ said Mrs Weasley in a cross whisper. ‘I just think they’ve hurried into this engagement, that’s all!’ ‘They’ve known each other a year,’ said Ron, who looked oddly groggy and was staring at the closed door. ‘Well, that’s not very long! I know why it’s happened, of course.

Q3 - What do you think of Fleur coming back into the story?

• ‘Nobody knows what it said, though,’ said Hermione quickly. ‘It got smashed.’ ‘Although the Prophet says –’ began Ron, but Hermione said, ‘Shh!’ ‘The Prophet’s got it right,’ said Harry, looking up at them both with a great effort: Hermione seemed frightened and Ron amazed. ‘That glass ball that smashed wasn’t the only record of the prophecy. I heard the whole thing in Dumbledore’s office, he was the one the prophecy was made to, so he could tell me. From what it said,’ Harry took a deep breath, ‘it looks like I’m the one who’s got to finish off Voldemort … at least, it said neither of us could live while the other survives.’ The three of them gazed at each other in silence for a moment.

Q4 - What do you think of Harry telling Ron and Hermione the prophecy?

• Harry did not really listen. A warmth was spreading through him that had nothing to do with the sunlight; a tight obstruction in his chest seemed to be dissolving. He knew that Ron and Hermione were more shocked than they were letting on, but the mere fact that they were still there on either side of him, speaking bracing words of comfort, not shrinking from him as though he were contaminated or dangerous, was worth more than he could ever tell them.

Q5 - Why do you think Harry is feeling this?

Q6 - What do you think of Harry’s OWL results?

Q7 - Do you remember what you got on your SATs?

• Harry looked back down at his results. They were as good as he could have hoped for. He felt just one tiny twinge of regret … this was the end of his ambition to become an Auror. He had not secured the required Potions grade. He had known all along that he wouldn’t, but he still felt a sinking in his stomach as he looked again at that small black ‘E’.

Q8 - So Harry can’t become an Auror, what career path will he go down now?