Riddle me this

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: Chapter 10

Before we get to the downright creepiness of The House of Gaunt, let me say one thing: If Hermione had been fortunate enough to land the Half-Blood Prince's copy of Advanced Potion-Making she would use all those scribblings to her advantage. Oh, she might be stubborn at first with each new potion, but she wants to win and be the undisputed best in her year. Not that that's a bad thing.

Ron wants to use the hints but he still struggles, of course. He is not the fledgling wizard that Harry is. Just keep trying to be a good friend, Ron. Harry's gonna need you despite your cauldron and wand deficiencies.

Now for the House of Gaunt. What a haggard, grim and desolate family and dwelling. The only way I'd want to visit that place is through Dumbledore's Pensieve, and it's not a trip I would volunteer for.

Harry wants all the answers now. Don't we all. But Dumbledore the wise knows a little bit every Saturday night is for the best. Plus, the author has a lot of chapters to fill.

And here we are well into the penultimate book and more riddles are starting to reveal more answers.

I couldn't remember why Harry understood parseltongue (usually hereditary), but some of my resident Harry Potter experts reminded me of what was explained to Harry first in The Sorcerer's (or Philosopher's) Stone and later in more detail in The Order of the Phoenix. His mother's love to the point of being willing to die for him saved him. And the event caused some of Voldemort's powers (in this case parseltongue) to go into Harry. What else can he do?

Not that Voldemort could not have risen above his dysfunctional family circumstances, but it's no wonder he has such a dark spirit. What a soap opera. Merope becomes his mother because she magics a muggle named Tom Riddle into a marriage that didn't last. I can just see Voldemort, Merope and Marvolo on Dr. Phil trying to untangle their mess.

And then Dumbledore has this black ring that was a Gaunt heirloom that Marvolo was super proud of. He makes a point to say it has the Peverell coat of arms engraved on it. First I've seen that family name. Must be important.

Lastly, how perfectly ordinary is the name Bob Ogden. I thought only the youngsters in this story had muggle-like names. The other names are fun, but Bob Ogden? Hope we meet him again.