Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince
A new semester at Hogwarts had started. Harry Potter would meet new teachers and learn new subjects. Also, he would win Quidditch games and have some small romantic moments.
Bad things were waiting for him too, though. Malfoy was so eager to do something glorious for the Dark Lord Voldemort. He was definitely up to something dark and evil. And, he was so close to Professor Snape, to whom Dumbledore trusted deeply.
Harry received Dumbledore’s private lessons. Through the memories shown at the lessons, more and more secrets about Voldemort were revealed to the boy. But there was something still remained mysterious, what a Horcrux is. This seemed to be the darkest thing in the wizarding world and the most unknowable mystery of Lord Voldemort.
Potion-making was a new course this semester. This course was a bit too hard for Harry. But the lucky thing was that an old copy of the textbook of potion making helped Harry very much with scrambled words at the edges of every page. Harry was always wondering who the book’s owner “Half-blood Prince” was.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the sixth book of the series. J. K. Rowling still keeps up her successful way of story- telling in this book.
Every character was put in his very suitable place that cannot be changed and each one had his or her personalities. If you look close enough at them, you can still find out that everyone in the novel was growing and changing. But this growth or change is always in the most natural and reasonable way.
Dumbledore was always a symbol of rightness and powerfulness to all readers in the previous books. But we cannot deny that he was also getting older all the way down. In this book, Professor Dumbledore was weaker than ever before. He was also facing many more difficulties than ever. One of his hands was burnt black as if dead.
Nevertheless, Professor Dumbledore was still kind-hearted and tolerant as he was in the other stories. Some even might say he was too easy -believing, though.
Harry was one year older than in the last book “the Order of the Phoenix”. He was now more mature not only because he was much taller, but also he was getting wiser and braver.
Being the Chosen One does not only mean being more famous. The other meaning was more responsibilities. Especially when the power of Voldemort was on the rise and more people were kidnapped or killed by the Dark. Would the mission to defeat the Dark Lord and save the wizarding world too great for such a young man as Harry Potter? Never worry about this, because Harry is confident.
Harry was not only “the Chosen One”; he was also a young boy. With his friends, he still had many daily happy moments.
Still, they played Quidditch and they finally got the championship. On the party after they won the finale, Harry kissed Ginny out of appreciation that had lasted so long. Once sister of Harry’s best friend Ron, now Ginny became Harry’s girl friend.
More little love stories were happening in the book. Every relationship had happiness and quarrels. Every young man and young lady had his or her own feelings. As a woman writer, J. K. Rowling is so considerate that she is familiar with those young minds and their every subtle feeling. It is so funny when you can feel the unseen jealousy between girls between the lines.
Professor Slughorn is a new character in this book. Slughorn was an old colleague of Dumbledore in Hogwarts, but he left the school and hided himself up when the dark power of Voldemort (aka. He-who-must-not-be-named and You-know-who) became more and more perilous and terrifying. Professor Slughorn was fearful on the issue of fighting Voldemort. But he was eager to build up good relationships with potential great figures. He invited Harry, “the Chosen One”, to his club of celebrities. And it was Professor Slughorn who gave out his memory of his conversation with young Voldemort about Horcrux.
Horcrux was absolutely the darkest knowledge in the wizarding world and the topmost secret of Lord Voldemort. What would Harry and Dumbledore figure out when they had known the things about Horcrux? What would happen unpredictably on their journey of fighting against Voldemort?
The secret of the Dark Lord has been known to the Chosen One. At the same time, Death Eaters are still killing and destroying at their will. More dark marks are still being placed here and there. Harry Potter is said to be the one to save.
But will or will not Harry be alone on his journey?
