Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

***** Spoiler Alert!***** 

     Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the 6th book in the 7 book Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. The Harry Potter series is about a boy who, when he was no more than one year of age, lost his parents and was a victim of attempted murder by Voldemort- the greatest and most feared wizard alive. But when the curse hit him, it backfired and hit Voldemort instead leaving him with nothing but a lightning bolt shaped scar. Ever since Harry finds out that he is a wizard and finds what really happened to his parents, he is ready to fight back. All through Harry’s school years at Hogwarts he has been in an almost constant battle with Voldemort. He finds later on that if there is going to be one to kill Voldemort, it must be him.
     The end to Harry’s 5th year at Hogwarts was a devastating one. He had to witness the death of his godfather Sirius Black and be given the weight of knowing he’s the only one who can defeat Voldemort in the end. For the summer holiday, Harry finds himself back at the Dursley’s house as usual. To the great astonishment and anger of Vernon Dursley especially, Professor Dumbledore pays them a visit to discuss some important matters with Harry and the Dursley’s rather humorously, and take Harry to his friend Ron Weasley’s house.
     As he is exiting the Hogwarts express on his way into the school, his Slytherin rival Draco Malfoy strands him in a corridor with a bloody nose underneath his invisibility cloak. But Nymphadora Tonks, Order of the Phoenix member, finds and rescues him and sends him to Hogwarts. At the opening feast, Professor Dumbledore announces the new Defense against the Dark Arts professor is Severus Snape, and replacing his previous position as Potions master is Horace Slughorn.
     Since harry was not expecting to take Potions, he did not have a Potions book, so Professor Slughorn lends him an old one to use. It bears the mysterious name “The Half Blood Prince”. There are very many scribbled in tidbits of information, from helping with the lesson to miscellaneous created spells. Harry and his friends Ron and Hermione are constantly pondering on who this so-called “Half-Blood Prince” could possibly be.
     He receives a letter from Dumbledore stating that he would like to have private lessons with him in his office. When Harry arrives to his first one, he learns that Dumbledore plans to show him a bit of Voldemort’s past through the pensive.
     Ron and Hermione have been having quarrels all year and it eventually reaches the point where they will not speak to each other. Harry tries to stay friends with both of them at the same time, which is not at all easy, but he is successful. Ron soon finds himself in a relationship with Lavender Brown, another 6th year Gryffindor girl.
     Despite Dumbledore’s long and frequent absences from Hogwarts, their private lessons continue. Dumbledore has set Harry to the task of retrieving a certain very important memory from Slughorn. When he simply asks at first, he refuses. But Harry is eventually successful. He convinces a very drunk Slughorn that it would help tremendously in defeating Voldemort. After seeing the memory, Dumbledore explains that a horcrux is a piece of very dark magic in which a person can conceal a fraction of their soul. He tells Harry about the 6 horcruxes Voldemort already has, the present, unknown, and defeated. He also explains that a person with horcruxes can never really die until all of the horcruxes are destroyed as well.
     Ron breaks up with Lavender, and he and Hermione are slowly making up. But Harry has also had his eye on Ron’s sister Ginny. And after she and her boyfriend Dean Thomas also break up, it seems an open door for Harry. Harry is worried that Ron would not find this too amusing though. But, one day, before he could even stop himself, Harry kissed her, and Ron did not really care.
     Dumbledore had assured harry at one of their previous lessons that if he figured out the location to one of the horcruxes, he would bring Harry with him to help destroy it. And that he did. He informs Harry that they will be going to a cave which Tom Riddle (Voldemort) went to on a field trip as a young boy at his orphanage.
     He and Dumbledore apparate to the cave where Dumbledore explains that there will be a number of obstacles on the way to the horcrux itself, the first of which is a wall which requires that you should give blood to pass. After passing that they come to a lake, in the middle of which lies something emanating a greenish glow. Dumbledore locates a concealed boat, and he and Harry must cross to the center, and Dumbledore says that they must be careful not to touch the water.
     When they get to the center, there is a stone basin filled with emerald glowing liquid, which, according to Dumbledore, must be drunk. He refuses to let Harry drink it, and also makes him swear that he will make him take all of it. So one glass at a time, Dumbledore drinks the liquid, each time making it harder to force him to do so. When the liquid is all gone, at the bottom of the basin they find exactly what they are looking for: a horcrux in the form of a golden locket. Dumbledore was so weak from the liquid that Harry had to almost drag him back through the obstacles and out of the cave, and perform side along apparition to get them back.
     When arriving back at Hogwarts, they are surprised to find the Dark Mark hovering above the astronomy tower, and that is where they go. Harry watches frozen underneath his invisibility cloak as Dumbledore and Draco Malfoy, along with a few death eaters quarrel. Severus Snape arrives upon Dumbledore’s request, who obviously appears to be desperate for something. Before Dumbledore can plead on an unknown matter any longer, Snape casts the killing curse at Dumbledore, sending him falling out the window of the tallest tower in the castle.
     Harry could not believe what he saw: Dumbledore was actually dead. He was filled up with so much hatred towards Snape that he attempts to injure him greatly. He not only fails this attempt, but finds out that Severus Snape is the Half-Blood Prince.
     Despite the many Death Eater battles going on, Harry runs over to Dumbledore’s limp and lifeless body on the ground, with a few others surrounding it as well. At this point, Harry had almost forgotten about the horcrux, so he took the locket out and opened it. Inside it was a small crumpled piece of parchment, which Harry hastily read. It basically stated that someone by the initials of R.A.B. had already gotten the real horcrux, and left that one to replace it. Harry was more depressed than ever: all of the trouble, pain, the death, everything, was for nothing at all. Harry was left to sulk at the devastating scene, not knowing or really caring what else was going on at the moment.
     Dumbledore’s funeral was very emotional for everyone. Many people came to pay respect to Dumbledore and all of his great accomplishments and contributions to the wizarding world. Harry struggled coming face-to-face with the cold hard truth: Dumbledore was gone -- forever.
     Harry ends his 6th year at Hogwarts with the great pressure of the remaining task upon him, and knowing he had to do it without Dumbledore to guide him along the way. He does not plan to go to Hogwarts in his 7th year, but set out on a quest to defeat Voldemort and his horcruxes once and for all. Even if Dumbledore is dead, Harry will remain “Dumbledore’s man through and through”.