Thursday, March 26, 2020

Good for you, Harry

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood PrinceChapter 16

First, another chapter in which we learn unexpected things. Some propel the plot, some just add to our knowledge of the way of life for magical folk or a little of both.

So you die if you break an unbreakable vow. (Did I know this already. Can't remember.) That puts double-agent-man Snape in some tight spots around the Malfoys.

Everyone, it seems, trusts Snape because they trust Dumbledore who trusts Snape. This could put Harry in a tight spot. (I just watched "O, Brother, Where Art Thou," and Everett says "tight spot" like four times in one scene. It's funny.)

Celestina Warbeck punishes magical folk with awful Christmas songs like the one we're forced to hear every December: Last Christmas I gave you my heart, the very next day you gave it away. What does that even mean?

Lupin has been undercover with other werewolves. And the appropriately named Greyback is a general in Voldemort's growing army of mercenaries. Good to know for when the moon is full.

And Lupin, so he says, knows nothing about a Half-Blood Prince.

Second, 100 points to Gryffindor on behalf of Harry for standing up to the scheming Minister of Magic and knowing who to trust. With a name like Rufus Scrimgeour what else would he be but a schemer. The war has three sides: Voldemort/mercenaries, Dumbledore/the Order of the Phoenix and the Minister of Magic/minions.

The Order and the Ministry would presumably be allies. But they're not playing nice right now. The Ministry is building a political house of cards, and no one wants to be aligned with a house destined to collapse. Yes, it will be the Order that brings down Voldemort. And the Ministry of Magic will always be a step (or many steps) behind. But Schemegeour, or whoever replaces him in the meantime, will swoop in to take the credit. That's what my crystal ball says.

Oh, and I wish garden gnomes were real. But I'm not sure why.

2 comments: