Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince-SPOILERS!!!!

[Rotogar]

I hope you're right! Snape has been doing his best Snively Whiplash to Harry's Dudley Doo-Right since book 1--at least in his treatment of Harry. I think JKR likes twists & turns, so I find it hard to believe that all of Dumbledore's trust is for naught. And what does Dumbledore say at the end of book 6? I don't remember his saying, "Help me" but just saying "please" to Snape. Now, was that a "Please, help me" or was it a "Please remember your task, Severus" plea from Dumbledore?

Not to mention the previous conversation between Snape/Dumbledore where Dumbledore reminds Snape of his duty and that D. will hold him to it. I believe that was foreshadowing the eventual killing.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

My guess? Regulus Black.

Almost certainly. I believe that's the only character we've ever heard of who might have those initials.

From my ex-GF (who's scarily into HP): Also, note that Regulus is believed to be dead, but, in either 4 or 5, Luna mentions a singer named Tuby Slugman or something who looks an awful lot like Sirius Black. This, perhaps, could be Regulus hiding under an assumed identity.

Now, how might Regulus have gotten through the defenses that nearly wrecked Dumbledore, the greatest wizard of his age, and his chosen apprentice? Simple...Regulus helped put them in place, and knew the back door that Voldemort left for himself.

My hypothesis is that Voldemort used Regulus, obviously a deep and abiding Death Eater, to assist him in hiding the Horcruxes*. At some point Regulus realized what was going on, decided that, despite his absolute hatred of mudbloods and half-breeds, that really, this Voldemort dude was a freak, and sabotaged some of Voldemort's Horcruxes to screw him over when he most needed it. Obviously, he didn't get all of them, as Tom Riddle's diary was one of them.

Now, here's a question...why didn't he go to the Order? Obviously, his brother was in it, and they would gladly accept someone with clues as to Voldemort's weaknesses. They accepted characters with less stellar credentials (*cough*Snape*cough*), so why not go to them? I'm currently thinking he's still a worthless git, but maybe he figured it was too important to risk his newfound anonymity and kept on the search.

Brad

* - When in Books-a-Million, I pulled out a Monster Manual to show ex-GF the D&D hippogriff, dragons, etc. I paused on the lich and noted that, really, that's what Voldemort was.

 

[Xath]

Also, Snape kept protecting Harry to the end. Every time Harry tried to use an Unforgivable Curse, Snape deflected it before Harry could actually complete it.

Any speculation on who the next Deputy Headmaster/mistress is going to be?

 

[Xath]

1) Harry is doing well in Potions because he has Snape's annotated book. But Snape has always been very secretive and private -- why would he just happen to leave his book with his notes behind? I would think that he would either take the book with him or else have copied his notes into a larger grimoire and destroyed this one. Somehow this simply seems out of character.

They explained this. Snape didn't want Dumbledore to find out that he had invented those types of dark spells, so he kept the book where supposedly noone would find/use it. After all, it was an old book and it was used for students who didn't have their own. Do you really think that Snape, as potions teacher, would have let an unprepared student borrow a book? No. He would have let them suffer.

2) Tonks & Lupin. This felt just incredibly forced. Last time we saw Tonks (about 2 months before) she is bright, bouncy, happy and has never shown any inclination at all towards Lupin. Now she is morose, moody, not eating right, and generally a little black rain cloud. Somehow this simply doesn't jibe.

I think it does. It actually makes perfect sense, and Mrs. Weasley explained it herself. In the dark times, people realize that they need to take their chances today because they might not get the opportunity tomorrow. Tonks told Remus her feelings. He, fearing something would happen to him, rejected her.

If you think the morose, moody behavior is odd, you obviously don't know women very well.

3) Grawp is now civilized enough to be at the funeral ... why? What has happened to change him? This, again, felt like an abrupt change and a tack-on.

Hagrid has been working with him steadily. He hints in the begining that he's been making progress, and says that Dumbledore helped him find the cave, which suggests that Dumbledore had some sort of involvement in Grawps behavioral development.

4) Why wasn't Slughorn upset/worried/angry later after Harry had wormed the truth out of him? Given his general character, he seemed to take the whole matter rather easily!

As answered before, he didn't remember revealing the information.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

Posted before reading anything else in this thread:

Harry & Ginny - expected it.
Ron & Hermione - the same
Snape as the Half-blood Prince - should have seen it, didn't.
Dumbledore - oh hell, no - didn't think that would happen!

"I am pretty enough for ze both of us..." Bwahahahahaha!

Lastly - I think Harry is the last Horcrux.

 

[Desdichado]

3) Grawp is now civilized enough to be at the funeral ... why? What has happened to change him? This, again, felt like an abrupt change and a tack-on.

Abrupt change? It was a year since his last screen appearance, and it's not like Hagrid didn't say that he was making progress in the meantime.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

Snape's behaviour was pretty strange in Spinner's End when he made the vow, he seemed to really care about Narcissa and Malfoy. He didn't act like a bad guy. I think he treats Draco like a kind of son, but it is not everything....

I think the reason that Dumbledore trusted Snape so much wasn't fully revealed.

I think I know why Dumbledore KNEW he could trust Snape.

And I know why Dumbledore pleaded with Snape at the end.

Snape told him exactly what the Unbreakable Vow pertained to. Dumbledore wanted Malfoy to have a chance at redemption. The only way for that to happen was for Snape to kill Dumbledore. They both knew it would happen, and it was better for Snape to do it than anyone else.

 

[Hijinks]

I think he treats Draco like a kind of son

Perhaps Draco IS his son? Hmmm? Narcissa was naughty and wanted to marry into a full-blooded family, she denied her half-blood lover? That would explain a lot of his bitterness.

 

[Tarrasque Wrangler]

Perhaps Draco IS his son? Hmmm? Narcissa was naughty and wanted to marry into a full-blooded family, she denied her half-blood lover? That would explain a lot of his bitterness.

That's a nice theory, but it seems a bit tawdry for a (supposed) kid's book.

Just finished. WOW. I want Book 7, like, tomorrow.

 

[GSHamster]

My thought is that Dumbledore absolutely trusts Snape because Snape heard the prophecy. The entire prophecy. And Snape only tells Voldemort the first two lines, thus causing the entire chain of events, and creating a force able to stop Voldemort. In fact, maybe Snape and Dumbledore conspire to get this result when the prophecy is first given.

After all, the novel keeps mentioning that Snape is really strong at shielding his mind, maybe even strong enough to block or fool Voldemort.

Secondly, Snape goes to a great deal of trouble to keep Harry alive at the end, and he really doesn't need to. After all, if he only heard the first two lines, he knows that the single greatest thing he could do for Voldemort is to kill Harry. His actions really only make sense if he knows the rest of the prophecy, and knows that he should not (or cannot) kill Harry.

In fact, you could read Dumbledore's pleading as pleading for Snape to make sure Harry survives. Dumbledore does not plead with any of the other Death Eaters, though any one of them could kill him. And Snape, perhaps because of the Unbreakable Vow, sees sacrificing Dumbledore as the only option.

That's my theory anyways. Mostly because Snape has always been my favourite character.