Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Before posting this, I've waited until everyone I knew finished the book so that I didn't spoil it for them. Now I can scream Dumbledore is dead!! And the Half Blood Prince, Snape, killed him. But he isn't really dead...

I enjoyed reading this adventure much more than Book 5. I'm still undecided about whether it is better than Book 4, my favorite.

So here were my predictions about Book 6 let's see how I did:
http://paulg116.blogspot.com/2005/07/unfogging-future.html

The trio was much happier in this book. There were also some great quidditch matches, but still no award of the House Cup.

Ron and Hermonie didn't quite get together, but we got pretty close. And Harry did find a love interest! I predicted that they would start included Neville or Ginny. Well I was kinda right!!

Dumbledore and Harry did spend time together in private lessons, but not for what I thought! I missed the other deaths, but did get the big one right, unfortunately.

And my next two predictions were just way off!

I was close on the OWL's. I forgot about Herbology!

Not too bad overall!!

Now on to what will happen now!

First Dumbledore is NOT dead! I just can't believe that the greatest wizard of all time was killed without a fight. I believe that the chapter on Felix Felictis was an illusion to what Dumbledore is doing. He is removing Harry's safety net so that Harry will carry on alone, as he knows Harry must. Dumbledore himself said he could fake death. Like his phoenix Fawkes, Dumbledore will rise again!

R.A.B has to be Regulus Black. With all the talk about Regulus being the Half Blood Prince, I was constantly looking for references about him. So I immediately thought of him when I saw the initials. Of course he would have had to have help to get the locket. How about Kreacher? He would be the perfect companion on a mission like that. With Harry now his master, Harry will be able to learn more about Regulus and his destruction of a horcrux.

But there are still more to find. Dumbledore believes there are 6 more. We know of the diary, the locket, and the ring. That leaves 3. The cup of Hufflepuff is a good bet. The other 2 are unknown. I'm guessing that 1 is an item in the Room or Requirement. When Harry enters it to store his potion book there are hundreds of items including a bloody axe. An axe of Ravenclaw??

The last one I believe is Harry's scar. When I first heard this theory I didn't believe it could be possible. Harry would have to kill himself to get rid of it?? That wouldn't work because Voldemort would still be alive. But after more reading, I believe this is the last horcrux.

We know that Voldemort planned to make his last one with the death of the Potters. But he was not able to complete the spell. I believe that it did go into Harry's scar. In the first book there is a discussion about removing his scar. But Dumbledore says that he wouldn't do that because scars are helpful! That tells me that not only is the scar important (which we already know from Book 5), but that it could be removed with out killing Harry.

JK has said in her interview with Mugglenet that she has written her last quidditch match. So will they all return to school? I just don't believe that Harry has enough knowledge to go out on his own yet. He still lacks the ability to do non verbal spells. He also doesn't have his aperation license. He needs more education. Book 7 will have him returning to school for at least a portion of the year.

Is Snape evil? Book 7 confirmed all of my doubts. Snape has to be good. I know that he killed Dumbledore. That was either planned or intended. Not sure if it was pre-planned or if Dumbledore used legimens to tell him to do it at that moment. But Dumbledore intended that to happen!

I'm also now sure that Harry will survive the final encounter with Voldemort. For a long time I thought he would sacrifice himself in the end. In fact I think all 3 will survive!

Can't wait until the last book now! Just a little over 23 months to go!!