Friday, June 10, 2016

What did we learn today?

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood PrinceChapter 4
Class, let's review what we learned today from this chapter:

  • Apparating is physically uncomfortable until you get used to it. (Still wish it was possible for Muggles like me. Sure would save a lot of time and money.)
  • Voldemort is using occlumency to hide his thoughts and whereabouts from Harry. (Presumably he's much better at it than Harry. But is it really a good idea for Voldemort. I thought you were supposed to keep your friends close and your enemies closer.)
  • Voldemort kills so he can use the corpses as soldiers called Inferi. (How perfectly horrible. This is why evildoers can be so difficult to defeat. They will use anything to help their cause no matter how awful or creepy.)
  • Harry is going to get private magic lessons from Sir Albus. (Pretty sure Harry will enjoy these lessons more than the occlumency ones with Snape.)
Horace "The Chairman" Slughorn is an odd fellow with an odd name. (Of course odd names are nothing new in the magical world. Interesting that Harry has a rather common name.) Seems like Slughorn will be one of the more popular Hogwarts profs. And even though he doesn't look like much, the fact that he is able to move each week and stay a step or two ahead of the Death Eaters proves he's got the kind of creative CIA skills the Order of the Phoenix could use.

Dumbledore is more cautious than ever. He feels Harry will be safer with the Weasleys, and he has heightened the security at the burrow. And he instructed Harry to take the invisibility cloak with him everywhere he goes. There must be a lot of chatter out there about what the Death Eaters might be up to.

This story is starting to take shape. I have decided not to try to figure out the significance and identity of the Half-Blood Prince. I really want to apparate ahead to chapter nine and find out, but I will exercise patience for a few more days.

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

An uninvited guest

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood PrinceChapter 3
Nothing like making the Dursleys as uncomfortable as possible by casually performing magic tricks in their living room. The sight of those glasses knocking against their heads must have been fun to see. I wonder if they even felt it through their thick noggins.

Doubtful. When they were reminded of their mistreatment of Harry they were surely clueless. And they are even more so in their lack of understanding of their rotten spoiling of Dudders. Still, nice to see somebody tell them the truth.

So Sir Albus Dumbledore (don't you think he's met the queen and that she's probably knighted him by now because he's probably prevented some grand catastrophe or two) comes to rescue Harry from another summer of discontent. An adventure of some kind surely awaits on the trip to the burrow or when he gets there.

We get more caught up on what's been happening since the end of the last book through newspaper clippings and via news from Sir Albus. Not surprising that Harry doesn't want two key pieces of his inheritance. I doubt I would want to return to number twelve, Grimmauld Place given all that's happened. And I wouldn't want Kreacher either. As handy as it might sound to have a house elf do your bidding, who could put up with the attitude.

And it's off to the burrow with the invisibility cloak in hand. One should never go out in these times without one of those.

Monday, June 6, 2016

Double-agent man

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood PrinceChapter 2
Is it coincidence that Snape rhymes with snake?

Or that he has a greasy, slick appearance?

Not if we buy what the author is selling in this chapter. She would have us believe that Snape is a spy for Voldemort. Even more than that, she says he is a most-trusted advisor to the Dark Lord.

This chapter forces us to decide if Snape is for good or for evil. There have been hints all along that his death-eating ways are not behind him. Is Snape the proverbial red herring?

What's a blogger to do?

I must choose, and I must choose wisely. I must weigh the evidence. But who's got time for that? I don't. So I'll go with my gut.

And my gut says Snape is reformed. He's on Dumbledore's side. If there's a spy in the Hogwarts camp, it's someone else. Someone we'd never suspect, but upon finding out will wonder how we missed it. Kind of like watching "The Sixth Sense."

Now, there is this thing about the Unbreakable Vow. And that did cause me to hesitate. But I choose not to be as gullible as Bellatrix apparently is. Remember the unbreakable comb? I've seen those break. There's always a counter-curse or counter-spell. And he could've crossed his toes or his ankles behind him.

I just don't think Dumbledore can be fooled. Voldemort, on the other wand, is proud enough to be fooled. You know, that whole truth about pride going before the fall. That's Voldemort. It's what all the bad guys do. They don't kill the good guy when they have the chance and it costs them.

So while Snape isn't particularly likable, I deem him trustworthy.

Of course I could be completely wrong. Either way, being a double-agent is a pretty good way to get yourself killed.

I won't tell you what draconian deed I think Draco has been asked to do.

I gotta have some secrets too.

Ministers and more Ministers

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood PrinceChapter 1
As promised, summer is here and so is my determination to finish the Harry Potter series before the end of time. I can't just wave a wand, mutter something like Readus Blogus! and be done.

I wish.

I actually have to read and write a chapter at a time. Don't get me wrong. It's been a fun journey. But compared to how most people have read this series, it's been like the difference between hiking the Appalachian Trail and apparating to anywhere in the world. And you thought Dumbledore's beard took a long time to grow.

But I press on.

My first question: Does the Prime Minister have a book of secrets like the one in the second National Treasure movie? My second: Does the Queen also get magical visits at Buckingham Palace? My Third: What did the Minister of Magic tell Churchill?

Crikey!

If nothing else, Fudge has caught us up on where things stand in the wizarding war of the worlds. Voldemort and his legions are making magical mayhem. And the poor Prime Minister now knows the cause, but he can't tell anyone. Nobody said it would be an easy job.

Now that the Prime Minister of not-so-jolly-old England is in the story I wonder what his role will be.

And what about this new no-nonsense Minister of Magic. Can we trust him? Is he up to the job? And how do you even pronounce Scrimgeour? I'm gonna call him Scrim for short.

And I'm going to stay the course of this long journey. Just gonna take it one chapter at a time.