Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the sixth and penultimate novel in the Harry Potterseries by British author J. K. Rowling. Set during protagonist Harry Potter's sixth year at Hogwarts, the novel explores the past of Harry's nemesis, Lord Voldemort, and Harry's preparations for the final battle alongside his headmaster and mentor Albus Dumbledore.

The book was published in the United Kingdom by Bloomsbury and in the United States byScholastic on 16 July 2005, as well as in several other countries. It sold nine million copies in the first 24 hours after its release, a record at the time which was eventually broken by its sequel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. There were many controversies before and after it was published, including the right to read the copies delivered prior to the release date in Canada. Reception to the novel was generally positive and it won several awards and honours, including the 2006 British Book of the Year award.

Reviewers noted that the book took on a darker tone than its predecessors, though it did contain humour. Some considered the main themes to be love and death, and trust and redemption. The character development of Harry and several other teenage characters was also remarked upon.

Plot summary

Lord Voldemort has returned to power, and his wrath has been felt in both the Muggle (non-magical) and Wizarding worlds. Severus Snape, a member of Dumbledore's anti-Voldemort coalition—theOrder of the Phoenix—but formerly one of Voldemort's Death Eaters, meets with Narcissa Malfoy, mother of Harry Potter's school rival Draco. Snape makes an Unbreakable Vow to Narcissa, promising to protect Draco.

Meanwhile, Dumbledore collects Harry from his aunt and uncle's house. Dumbledore takes Harry to the home of Horace Slughorn, formerPotions teacher at Hogwarts, to persuade him to return to teaching, and he finally agrees. Later, when shopping for schoolbooks, Harry and his friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger follow Draco Malfoy to Dark Arts supplier Borgin and Burkes, where they overhear Draco insisting that the store-owner fix an unknown object. Harry is instantly suspicious of Draco, whom he believes to be a Death Eater like his father. The students return to school, and Dumbledore announces that Snape, the previous Potions teacher, will be teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts, while Slughorn will resume his post as Potions teacher.

Harry receives a used Potions textbook that once belonged to someone named "The Half-Blood Prince", which is heavily annotated and helps Harry excel in Potions. Believing that Harry needs to learn Voldemort's past to gain advantage in a foretold fight, Dumbledore schedules regular meetings with Harry in which they use Dumbledore's Pensieve to look at memories of those who have had direct contact with Voldemort. Harry learns about Voldemort's family and the influences that corrupted Voldemort, eventually leading him into dividing his soul into seven Horcruxes. Two of these have already been destroyed. Of the remaining, one resides in Voldemort, one resides in Voldemort's snake, one is Slytherin's locket, and the other two are suspected to be hidden in objects belonging to Hufflepuff, or Ravenclaw, or Gryffindor.

Harry falls in love with Ron's sister Ginny, and Ron and his girlfriend Lavender Brown break up, to Hermione's delight. Harry spends much of his time following Draco Malfoy for any proof of suspicious actions, though he often cannot find him on his magical map of Hogwarts. Harry realises that when Draco is not on the map, he is using the Room of Requirement on the seventh floor of Hogwarts, which transforms into whatever its user needs. Harry is unable to gain access to the room unless he knows for what exact purpose Draco is using the room. Eventually Harry and Dumbledore leave Hogwarts to fetch and destroy the locket Horcrux, completion of which would make Voldemort one step closer to mortal. They journey into a cave important to Voldemort's youth that Dumbledore senses is protected with magic. They reach the basin where the locket is hidden underneath a potion. Dumbledore drinks the potion and Harry fights off Voldemort's Inferi, an army of re-animated corpses. They take the locket and return to Hogwarts as quickly as possible. Dumbledore is very weak, and when they reach Hogsmeade they can see the Dark Mark, Voldemort's symbol, visible above the astronomy tower.

When they arrive at the tower, Dumbledore uses his magic to freeze Harry in place while Harry remains hidden by his cloak of invisibility. Draco Malfoy arrives and disarms and threatens to kill Dumbledore, acting on his mission from Voldemort. Dumbledore tries to stall Draco by telling him he is not a killer, but Snape bursts into the tower and kills Dumbledore. Because of Dumbledore's death, his spell on Harry is broken and Harry rushes after Snape to avenge Dumbledore's death. Snape reveals that he is the Half-Blood Prince and manages to escape. Later, Harry looks at the locket he and Dumbledore retrieved and realises that it is not the real Horcrux and only contains a note from someone named "R. A. B".

After Dumbledore's funeral, Hermione explains to Harry that Snape was called the Half-Blood Prince because he had a Muggle father and a magical mother whose maiden name was Prince. Harry is devastated to think that he trusted and took help from the man who would turn out to be Dumbledore's murderer. He tells his friends he will not be returning to Hogwarts next year and will instead search out and kill Voldemort by destroying all of the Horcruxes. Ron and Hermione vow to join him.