Chapter 14: Felix Felicis

Well, the shippers should enjoy this one.  I'm glad to see some of the characters are being dorks about this at least.  I realize I'm not the target audience, but adolescent romance doesn't appeal to me and I find it one of the drawbacks of the books, although I have to admit it is quite age-appropriate.  At least there was some Quidditch! 

 

I've noticed Romilda Vane's name has been mentioned a lot.

addendum

1.  It occurs to me that the Prefects' bathroom might be important.

2.  And why, exactly, isn't Malfoy a Prefect?  I can think of several reasons - which is the actual reason?

3.  What if Katie Bell is the Big Death?  I can't help thinking that wouldn't be so bad...which is probably a good reason why she won't be.

Chapter 13: The Secret Riddle

I love these Pensieve chapters!  I wonder what Dumbledore wrote on the paper that he showed to the lady in charge of the orphanage?  I love how overly polite about everything Dumbledore is.  I want to be like that!

 

Also, because Phineas said that Mundungus is half-blood, I'm going to guess that Mundungus is the Half-Blood Prince.

Chapter 12: Silver and Opals

Ron's getting rather cocky, isn't he?  Confiscating stuff from 2nd years and then using it himself, kicking 1st-years out of chairs...

 

I notice Harry noticing Ginny.  I like the way JKR is doing it, without going into great depth about what he's thinking and feeling while noticing Ginny (unlike certain fanfic authors...)

 

Now I think Snape is the Half-Blood Prince.  I also think it's significant that Harry's possessions didn't get searched when he arrived at Hogwarts.  Was this to keep the cloak and map secret, or for more nefarious reasons?

 

I'm going to take about an hour off, so the next chapter won't be posted until about 6:30.

Chapter 11: Hermione's Helping Hand

I didn't know Hermione had it in her.  Although, as some people have suggested, this may be setting her up for a fall. 

 

I'm glad Aragog is dying, but I don't like the idea of his tribe getting restless.  That implies that we might see them, and obviously I don't want that.

 

I like the Ron/Lavender hints, because that's what Harry/Hermione fans ship so they can get Ron out of the way.  I don't ship Harry/Hermione (well, I don't ship anything) but I can imagine some people are getting very worked up about this.

Chapter 10: The House of Gaunt

Oooh!  So Harry's lessons with Dumbledore are going to be historical exposition!  Even better!  I was actually right about the Pensieve and how Harry and Dumbledore were visiting that house in the Pensieve.  The house on the book cover is not actually Snape's house, it is the House of Gaunt.  Hard to tell, isn't it.  UNLESS UNLESS UNLESS THEY ARE ONE AND THE SAME!  I didn't pay enough attention to the layout of the houses, but that could be cool!  I also see another mention of love potions.  Interesting that JKR would put a passing reference to a woman getting pregnant before marriage into a children's book.

 

Theory:  One of the members of the House of Gaunt was turned into an Infernius, and Dumbledore acquired the ring and injured his hand in fighting with that particular Infernius.

Chapter 9: The Half-Blood Prince

Well, one of my many guesses was right: the Half-Blood Prince is somewhat historical, and a mystery to be solved.  I've noticed love potions have been mentioned several times, which is strange.  UNLESS UNLESS UNLESS!  Voldemort can't comprehend love and it might even be lethal to him!!!!!  Oooh, that would be cool!  But why are the standard potions books incorrect?

Chapter 8: Snape Victorious

Well, fandom called it - Snape is now teaching DADA, conveniently allowing Harry into Potions. 

 

I like this depressed Tonks.  Not because I like Tonks being depressed, but because it's so different from anything that fandom ever came up with.  I'm rather disappointed that the Patronus question was answered in the book, because I voted for it in the jkrowling.com with the assumption that it's the least likely to be answered in the book.  So...Tonks has a new four-legged Patronus.  Shippers will say it's a werewolf, but I'll say it's Padfoot. 

 

I also noticed a lot of weight was put on the fact that they aren't taking Care of Magical Creatures.

 

This book feels different from the others, somehow.

 

Next up:  The Half-Blood Prince!

Chapter 7: The Slug Club

This is getting uncomfortable.  Stop being stupid Harry!

 

If this weren't a children's book, I'd be extremely worried about Slughorn's reasons for inviting Ginny.  But that can't happen in a children's book, can it?

 

I think the things Draco was selling to that Knockturn Alley guy (Borgin?) were hidden in the trap door mentioned in the Polyjuice scene in COS.

Interim thoughts

1.  Why is Harry Quidditch captain et non pas whichever of Alicia and Katie is still in school?

2.  I think Harry's extra lessons with Dumbledore will include NEWT level potions

addendum

And why, exactly, are people who aren't Harry (Bill here, Mrs. Weasley in previous books) allowed to withdraw money from Harry's vault?

Chapter 6: Draco's Detour

Oh, Harry Harry Harry, stop doing stupid running-off things and picking fights with Death Eaters and their mothers.  Even when it is necessary for the plot. 

 

I do like Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes though.  I expect to see Verity and at least some of their inventions (including the punching telescope and/or that debruising stuff) later on in the book.

Chapter 5: An Excess of Phlegm

Well, at least Mrs. Weasley agrees with me that Fleur and Bill are rushing things, and her kids agree with fandom that Tonks would make a good addition to the family.  Quite a few interesting characterisation twists here!  I noticed that Harry's marks were a bit better than fandom generally guessed.  Also ANOTHER clock - the Weasley clock, which we already know about.  Interesting way to make it irrelevant though.  And I love love LOVE how JKR broke the tension of Harry telling R&H about the prophesy (which my edition of the book spells prophecy - I had no idea it could be spelled like that!  That's what I get for ordering the US version of OOTP, although I didn't know the versions were different at the time and buying it from amazon.com pushed a bit of money mi cielito's way.  One thing I wondered in rereading though - in the US version of OOTP, Neville mangles "Sorcerer's Stone" to "Sorcerous Stone".  What did they do in the UK version?  "Phosphorous Stone?"

Chapter 4: Horace Slughorn

Well, thank you JKR for depriving us of the opportunity to guess the DADA teacher :p  So now I'm afraid I have no choice but to say Horace Slughorn for Half-Blood Prince!  I noticed the broken clock in Slughorn's house and immediately thought of the clock at Privet Drive that Harry fixed, so I was rather disappointed to see it quickly fixed by magic.

 

The way Harry is a) not depressed and b) going to be taking private lessons from Dumbledore would smell like Harry Stu if this were a fanfic, but I'm happy with his attitude so far.  I have to admit, the story so far is comfortable.  I like comfortable, although I tend to get too wary of it in fanfic.

 

In other news, we now have answers about double apparation and why people don't just apparate into other people's houses!  It's also interesting that Voldemort is using what is essentially a zombie army.  That idea was briefly and laughing toyed with in SQ, thinking it would use people who had their souls sucked by Dementors.  But that gets me thinking:  whom do we know who is dead and still has their body?  Bones, Vance, Quirrell, Cedric, and Harry's parents.  (Am I missing anyone?) I wonder if we'll see any of these people become Inferni?

Chapter 3: Will and Won't

Excellent chapter title!  Fandom as a whole anticipated almost everything in this chapter (right down to the way Dumbledore made the Dursleys sit down on the couch), although JKR carried it off in a much cooler manner.  The parallelism of Dumbledore's arrival now and Dumbledore's arrival in the first book, combined with his sheer coolness, makes me think he won't survive this book :(  But since two people we have met have already died, I still maintain he doesn't strictly HAVE to die, right?  right? right?

 

Unless it has been mentioned in passing before and I missed it, I think the fact that Harry repaired the clock is going to come up again, since it seems a very random thing to mention.

 

I also think Miss Manners would disapprove of drinking glasses that attack you if you don't take a drink.

Chapter 2: Spinner's End

JKR wins again!  Snape fans must love this chapter! I don't think anyone guessed that Spinner's End was Snape's house, although I think some people guessed that the house on the deluxe cover was Spinner's End, and no one would ever have guessed what the two hands were!  I see JKR is departing from her usual Harry POV.  I don't know how I feel about that. 

 

What I really love about this chapter is it sets up the idea that Snape could be on either side.  I forgot to blog it or mention it on SQ, but I noticed in OOTP that some people seem to be trusting Snape too much, because of all the times when they thought he was going to kill Harry and he didn't.  The huge emphasis on how Snape could be trusted made me think that perhaps he can't.

 

And, for the record, I am going to guess that Draco's mission is to kill Harry, the Unbreakable Vow will result in Snape having to try to kill Harry, and he won't succeed and will die in the process because of the prophesy.

Chapter 1: The Other Minister

J.K. Rowling wins!  Everyone thought this chapter would be a flashback to the night Harry's parents died, but instead we get to see the new Minister for Magic interact with the Muggle P.M!   (I have seen a couple of fics to this effect, but not staged in 6th year).  This was a very effective way to catch us all up on the war and show us what happened to certain key order members.  I'm sad that Emmeline Vance  and Amelia Bones died, because I wanted to learn more about them.  I think the Muggle P.M. picturing "Sirius'" name as "Serious" was a shoutout to fandom.  And I don't think anyone anticipated that the new Min. of Magic would be Lion Man!  I guess this destroys the Crookshanks = Lion Man theory.

I got it!!!

It came with a bag of air, which is hilarious!  AND it's a good size to fit in my purse!  Thank you Raincoast for reasonable book size!  And away we go....

moopy

I'm still waiting for my book to arrive and hiding from spoilers.  I'm just feeling moderately down, because I know as soon as I open this book my mental image of the Potterverse is going to change, and I'm anticipating that it will change for the worse in at least one way.