The crux of the matter

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: Chapter 18

Horcruxes, it seems, have just become a major development. Exactly what kind of development I'm not sure.

Here's what I've gleaned so far:

• They have an evil purpose and someone invented them or waved a wand and muttered something unintelligible. Poof, we now have Horcruxes.
• People, at least the few who seem to know about them, are more afraid to talk about them than they are to say the name Voldemort.
• Not much is known about them. If Hermione can't find a 10-pound, dusty book about them then there probably isn't a book to be found.

Here's what I don't know:

• Is a Horcrux and animal, vegetable or mineral?
• Is it a physical thing, a mystical thing, a spell, an abstract idea, the Latin word for Death Eater?
• Whatever it is, does Harry have to kill it, find it, avoid it, learn how to use it, learn how to defeat it?

Those of you who finished these books ages ago are smiling because you were once clueless. Or you're making fun of me. "It's 2020 and you don't know what a Horcrux is? Dude, you are so behind the times." If J.K. Rowling is reading this — and who's to say she isn't — she's probably saying, "Just finish the books already." She would have a point.

I've been to the Harry Potter worlds at Universal Orlando. I've lived in a house full of Potterheads for years. And this is the first I'm hearing of Horcruxes? The entire universe has either done a masterful job of keeping a secret or Dumbledore's used some kind of spoiler-alert charm.

Just how will Harry get Slughorn to say more about Horcruxes? Hard to say, but events like Ron's love-potion seizure, Slughorn's failed potion and Harry's quick thinking to grab the bezoar might begin to break down Slughorn's reluctance. Ol' Sluggy is a fanboy of Harry, for sure, but building trust takes time. Maybe Harry finds out another way, maybe everyone finds out all at once or maybe Harry breaks Sluggy down honestly or by slipping him some veritaserum (that's a thing isn't it?).

My assumption is that Harry's actions saved Ron from something worse than a seizure. And maybe this episode will wake Won-Won up to his true feelings.

Or just make him dumber.