Book 6 - The Half Blood Prince

and children as she passed. The orphans, Harry saw,were all wearing the same kind of grayish tunic. Theylooked reasonably well-cared for, but there was nodenying that this was a grim place in which to growup.“Here we are,” said Mrs. Cole, as they turned off thesecond landing and stopped outside the first door in along corridor. She knocked twice and entered.“Tom? You’ve got a visitor. This is Mr. Dumberton —sorry, Dunderbore. He’s come to tell you — well, I’lllet him do it.”Harry and the two Dumbledores entered the room,and Mrs. Cole closed the door on them. It was a smallbare room with nothing in it except an old wardrobe,a wooden chair, and an iron bedstead. A boy wassitting on top of the gray blankets, his legs stretchedout in front of him, holding a book.There was no trace of the Gaunts in Tom Riddle’sface. Merope had got her dying wish: He was hishandsome father in miniature, tall for eleven yearsold, dark-haired, and pale. His eyes narrowed slightlyas he took in Dumbledore’s eccentric appearance.There was a moment’s silence.“How do you do, Tom?” said Dumbledore, walkingforward and holding out his hand.The boy hesitated, then took it, and they shookhands. Dumbledore drew up the hard wooden chairbeside Riddle, so that the pair of them looked ratherlike a hospital patient and visitor.“I am Professor Dumbledore.”P a g e | 301 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

“ ‘Professor’?” repeated Riddle. He looked wary. “Isthat like ‘doctor’? What are you here for? Did she getyou in to have a look at me?”He was pointing at the door through which Mrs. Colehad just left.“No, no,” said Dumbledore, smiling.“I don’t believe you,” said Riddle. “She wants melooked at, doesn’t she? Tell the truth!”He spoke the last three words with a ringing forcethat was almost shocking. It was a command, and itsounded as though he had given it many timesbefore. His eyes had widened and he was glaring atDumbledore, who made no response except tocontinue smiling pleasantly. After a few secondsRiddle stopped glaring, though he looked, if anything,warier still.“Who are you?”“I have told you. My name is Professor Dumbledoreand I work at a school called Hogwarts. I have cometo offer you a place at my school — your new school,if you would like to come.”Riddle’s reaction to this was most surprising. He leaptfrom the bed and backed away from Dumbledore,looking furious.“You can’t kid me! The asylum, that’s where you’refrom, isn’t it? ‘Professor,’ yes, of course — well, I’mnot going, see? That old cat’s the one who should bein the asylum. I never did anything to little AmyBenson or Dennis Bishop, and you can ask them,they’ll tell you!”P a g e | 302 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

“I am not from the asylum,” said Dumbledorepatiently. “I am a teacher and, if you will sit downcalmly, I shall tell you about Hogwarts. Of course, ifyou would rather not come to the school, nobody willforce you —”“I’d like to see them try,” sneered Riddle.“Hogwarts,” Dumbledore went on, as though he hadnot heard Riddle’s last words, “is a school for peoplewith special abilities —”“I’m not mad!”“I know that you are not mad. Hogwarts is not aschool for mad people. It is a school of magic.”There was silence. Riddle had frozen, his faceexpressionless, but his eyes were flickering back andforth between each of Dumbledore’s, as though tryingto catch one of them lying.“Magic?” he repeated in a whisper.“That’s right,” said Dumbledore.“It’s … it’s magic, what I can do?”“What is it that you can do?”“All sorts,” breathed Riddle. A flush of excitement wasrising up his neck into his hollow cheeks; he lookedfevered. “I can make things move without touchingthem. I can make animals do what I want them to do,without training them. I can make bad things happento people who annoy me. I can make them hurt if Iwant to.”P a g e | 303 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

His legs were trembling. He stumbled forward and satdown on the bed again, staring at his hands, his headbowed as though in prayer.“I knew I was different,” he whispered to his ownquivering fingers. “I knew I was special. Always, Iknew there was something.”“Well, you were quite right,” said Dumbledore, whowas no longer smiling, but watching Riddle intently.“You are a wizard.”Riddle lifted his head. His face was transfigured:There was a wild happiness upon it, yet for somereason it did not make him better looking; on thecontrary, his finely carved features seemed somehowrougher, his expression almost bestial.“Are you a wizard too?”“Yes, I am.”“Prove it,” said Riddle at once, in the samecommanding tone he had used when he had said,“Tell the truth.”Dumbledore raised his eyebrows. “If, as I take it, youare accepting your place at Hogwarts —”“Of course I am!”“Then you will address me as ‘Professor’ or ‘sir.’ ”Riddle’s expression hardened for the most fleetingmoment before he said, in an unrecognizably politevoice, “I’m sorry, sir. I meant — please, Professor,could you show me — ?”P a g e | 304 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

Harry was sure that Dumbledore was going to refuse,that he would tell Riddle there would be plenty of timefor practical demonstrations at Hogwarts, that theywere currently in a building full of Muggles and musttherefore be cautious. To his great surprise, however,Dumbledore drew his wand from an inside pocket ofhis suit jacket, pointed it at the shabby wardrobe inthe corner, and gave the wand a casual flick.The wardrobe burst into flames.Riddle jumped to his feet; Harry could hardly blamehim for howling in shock and rage; all his worldlypossessions must be in there. But even as Riddlerounded on Dumbledore, the flames vanished, leavingthe wardrobe completely undamaged.Riddle stared from the wardrobe to Dumbledore; then,his expression greedy, he pointed at the wand.“Where can I get one of them?”“All in good time,” said Dumbledore. “I think there issomething trying to get out of your wardrobe.”And sure enough, a faint rattling could be heard frominside it. For the first time, Riddle looked frightened.“Open the door,” said Dumbledore.Riddle hesitated, then crossed the room and threwopen the wardrobe door. On the topmost shelf, abovea rail of threadbare clothes, a small cardboard boxwas shaking and rattling as though there were severalfrantic mice trapped inside it.“Take it out,” said Dumbledore.Riddle took down the quaking box. He lookedunnerved.P a g e | 305 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

“Is there anything in that box that you ought not tohave?” asked Dumbledore.Riddle threw Dumbledore a long, clear, calculatinglook. “Yes, I suppose so, sir,” he said finally, in anexpressionless voice.“Open it,” said Dumbledore.Riddle took off the lid and tipped the contents ontohis bed without looking at them. Harry, who hadexpected something much more exciting, saw a messof small, everyday objects: a yo-yo, a silver thimble,and a tarnished mouth organ among them. Once freeof the box, they stopped quivering and lay quite stillupon the thin blankets.“You will return them to their owners with yourapologies,” said Dumbledore calmly, putting his wandback into his jacket. “I shall know whether it hasbeen done. And be warned: Thieving is not toleratedat Hogwarts.”Riddle did not look remotely abashed; he was stillstaring coldly and appraisingly at Dumbledore. At lasthe said in a colorless voice, “Yes, sir.”“At Hogwarts,” Dumbledore went on, “we teach younot only to use magic, but to control it. You have —inadvertently, I am sure — been using your powers ina way that is neither taught nor tolerated at ourschool. You are not the first, nor will you be the last,to allow your magic to run away with you. But youshould know that Hogwarts can expel students, andthe Ministry of Magic — yes, there is a Ministry — willpunish lawbreakers still more severely. All newwizards must accept that, in entering our world, theyabide by our laws.”P a g e | 306 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

“Yes, sir,” said Riddle again.It was impossible to tell what he was thinking; hisface remained quite blank as he put the little cache ofstolen objects back into the cardboard box. When hehad finished, he turned to Dumbledore and saidbaldly, “I haven’t got any money.”“That is easily remedied,” said Dumbledore, drawing aleather money-pouch from his pocket. “There is afund at Hogwarts for those who require assistance tobuy books and robes. You might have to buy some ofyour spellbooks and so on secondhand, but —”“Where do you buy spellbooks?” interrupted Riddle,who had taken the heavy money bag withoutthanking Dumbledore, and was now examining a fatgold Galleon.“In Diagon Alley,” said Dumbledore. “I have your listof books and school equipment with me. I can helpyou find everything —”“You’re coming with me?” asked Riddle, looking up.“Certainly, if you —”“I don’t need you,” said Riddle. “I’m used to doingthings for myself, I go round London on my own allthe time. How do you get to this Diagon Alley — sir?”he added, catching Dumbledore’s eye.Harry thought that Dumbledore would insist uponaccompanying Riddle, but once again he wassurprised. Dumbledore handed Riddle the envelopecontaining his list of equipment, and after tellingRiddle exactly how to get to the Leaky Cauldron fromthe orphanage, he said, “You will be able to see it,although Muggles around you — non-magical people,P a g e | 307 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

that is — will not. Ask for Tom the barman — easyenough to remember, as he shares your name —”Riddle gave an irritable twitch, as though trying todisplace an irksome fly.“You dislike the name ‘Tom’?”“There are a lot of Toms,” muttered Riddle. Then, asthough he could not suppress the question, asthough it burst from him in spite of himself, heasked, “Was my father a wizard? He was called TomRiddle too, they’ve told me.”“I’m afraid I don’t know,” said Dumbledore, his voicegentle.“My mother can’t have been magic, or she wouldn’thave died,” said Riddle, more to himself thanDumbledore. “It must’ve been him. So — when I’ve gotall my stuff — when do I come to this Hogwarts?”“All the details are on the second piece of parchmentin your envelope,” said Dumbledore. “You will leavefrom King’s Cross Station on the first of September.There is a train ticket in there too.”Riddle nodded. Dumbledore got to his feet and heldout his hand again. Taking it, Riddle said, “I canspeak to snakes. I found out when we’ve been to thecountry on trips — they find me, they whisper to me.Is that normal for a wizard?”Harry could tell that he had withheld mention of thisstrangest power until that moment, determined toimpress.“It is unusual,” said Dumbledore, after a moment’shesitation, “but not unheard of.”P a g e | 308 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

His tone was casual but his eyes moved curiouslyover Riddle’s face. They stood for a moment, man andboy, staring at each other. Then the handshake wasbroken; Dumbledore was at the door.“Good-bye, Tom. I shall see you at Hogwarts.”“I think that will do,” said the white-hairedDumbledore at Harry’s side, and seconds later, theywere soaring weightlessly through darkness oncemore, before landing squarely in the present-dayoffice.“Sit down,” said Dumbledore, landing beside Harry.Harry obeyed, his mind still full of what he had justseen.“He believed it much quicker than I did — I mean,when you told him he was a wizard,” said Harry. “Ididn’t believe Hagrid at first, when he told me.”“Yes, Riddle was perfectly ready to believe that he was— to use his word — ‘special,’ ” said Dumbledore.“Did you know — then?” asked Harry.“Did I know that I had just met the most dangerousDark wizard of all time?” said Dumbledore. “No, I hadno idea that he was to grow up to be what he is.However, I was certainly intrigued by him. I returnedto Hogwarts intending to keep an eye upon him,something I should have done in any case, given thathe was alone and friendless, but which, already, I feltI ought to do for others’ sake as much as his.“His powers, as you heard, were surprisingly well-developed for such a young wizard and — mostinterestingly and ominously of all — he had alreadyP a g e | 309 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

discovered that he had some measure of control overthem, and begun to use them consciously. And asyou saw, they were not the random experimentstypical of young wizards: He was already using magicagainst other people, to frighten, to punish, tocontrol. The little stories of the strangled rabbit andthe young boy and girl he lured into a cave were mostsuggestive. … ‘I can make them hurt if I want to. …’ ”“And he was a Parselmouth,” interjected Harry.“Yes, indeed; a rare ability, and one supposedlyconnected with the Dark Arts, although as we know,there are Parselmouths among the great and the goodtoo. In fact, his ability to speak to serpents did notmake me nearly as uneasy as his obvious instincts forcruelty, secrecy, and domination.“Time is making fools of us again,” said Dumbledore,indicating the dark sky beyond the windows. “Butbefore we part, I want to draw your attention tocertain features of the scene we have just witnessed,for they have a great bearing on the matters we shallbe discussing in future meetings.“Firstly, I hope you noticed Riddle’s reaction when Imentioned that another shared his first name, ‘Tom’?”Harry nodded.“There he showed his contempt for anything that tiedhim to other people, anything that made himordinary. Even then, he wished to be different,separate, notorious. He shed his name, as you know,within a few short years of that conversation andcreated the mask of ‘Lord Voldemort’ behind which hehas been hidden for so long.P a g e | 310 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

“I trust that you also noticed that Tom Riddle wasalready highly self-sufficient, secretive, and,apparently, friendless? He did not want help orcompanionship on his trip to Diagon Alley. Hepreferred to operate alone. The adult Voldemort is thesame. You will hear many of his Death Eatersclaiming that they are in his confidence, that theyalone are close to him, even understand him. Theyare deluded. Lord Voldemort has never had a friend,nor do I believe that he has ever wanted one.“And lastly — I hope you are not too sleepy to payattention to this, Harry — the young Tom Riddle likedto collect trophies. You saw the box of stolen articleshe had hidden in his room. These were taken fromvictims of his bullying behavior, souvenirs, if you will,of particularly unpleasant bits of magic. Bear in mindthis magpie-like tendency, for this, particularly, willbe important later.“And now, it really is time for bed.”Harry got to his feet. As he walked across the room,his eyes fell upon the little table on which MarvoloGaunt’s ring had rested last time, but the ring was nolonger there.“Yes, Harry?” said Dumbledore, for Harry had come toa halt.“The ring’s gone,” said Harry, looking around. “But Ithought you might have the mouth organ orsomething.”Dumbledore beamed at him, peering over the top ofhis half-moon spectacles.“Very astute, Harry, but the mouth organ was onlyever a mouth organ.”P a g e | 311 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

And on that enigmatic note he waved to Harry, whounderstood himself to be dismissed.P a g e | 312 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

FELIX FELICISHarry had Herbology first thing the followingmorning. He had been unable to tell Ron andHermione about his lesson with Dumbledore overbreakfast for fear of being overheard, but he filledthem in as they walked across the vegetable patchtoward the greenhouses. The weekend’s brutal windhad died out at last; the weird mist had returned andit took them a little longer than usual to find thecorrect greenhouse.“Wow, scary thought, the boy You-Know-Who,” saidRon quietly, as they took their places around one ofthe gnarled Snargaluff stumps that formed this term’sproject, and began pulling on their protective gloves.“But I still don’t get why Dumbledore’s showing youall this. I mean, it’s really interesting and everything,but what’s the point?”“Dunno,” said Harry, inserting a gum shield. “But hesays it’s all important and it’ll help me survive.”P a g e | 313 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

“I think it’s fascinating,” said Hermione earnestly. “Itmakes absolute sense to know as much aboutVoldemort as possible. How else will you find out hisweaknesses?”“So how was Slughorn’s latest party?” Harry askedher thickly through the gum shield.“Oh, it was quite fun, really,” said Hermione, nowputting on protective goggles. “I mean, he drones onabout famous ex-pupils a bit, and he absolutelyfawns on McLaggen because he’s so well-connected,but he gave us some really nice food and heintroduced us to Gwenog Jones.”“Gwenog Jones?” said Ron, his eyes widening underhis own goggles. “The Gwenog Jones? Captain of theHolyhead Harpies?”“That’s right,” said Hermione. “Personally, I thoughtshe was a bit full of herself, but —”“Quite enough chat over here!” said Professor Sproutbriskly, bustling over and looking stern. “You’relagging behind, everybody else has started, andNeville’s already got his first pod!”They looked around; sure enough, there sat Nevillewith a bloody lip and several nasty scratches alongthe side of his face, but clutching an unpleasantlypulsating green object about the size of a grapefruit.“Okay, Professor, we’re starting now!” said Ron,adding quietly, when she had turned away again,“should’ve used Muffliato, Harry.”“No, we shouldn’t!” said Hermione at once, looking, asshe always did, intensely cross at the thought of theP a g e | 314 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

Half-Blood Prince and his spells. “Well, come on …we’d better get going. …”She gave the other two an apprehensive look; they alltook deep breaths and then dived at the gnarledstump between them.It sprang to life at once; long, prickly, bramblelikevines flew out of the top and whipped through the air.One tangled itself in Hermione’s hair, and Ron beat itback with a pair of secateurs; Harry succeeded intrapping a couple of vines and knotting themtogether; a hole opened in the middle of all thetentaclelike branches; Hermione plunged her armbravely into this hole, which closed like a trap aroundher elbow; Harry and Ron tugged and wrenched atthe vines, forcing the hole to open again, andHermione snatched her arm free, clutching in herfingers a pod just like Neville’s. At once, the pricklyvines shot back inside, and the gnarled stump satthere looking like an innocently dead lump of wood.“You know, I don’t think I’ll be having any of these inmy garden when I’ve got my own place,” said Ron,pushing his goggles up onto his forehead and wipingsweat from his face.“Pass me a bowl,” said Hermione, holding thepulsating pod at arm’s length; Harry handed one overand she dropped the pod into it with a look of disguston her face.“Don’t be squeamish, squeeze it out, they’re bestwhen they’re fresh!” called Professor Sprout.“Anyway,” said Hermione, continuing theirinterrupted conversation as though a lump of woodhad not just attacked them, “Slughorn’s going to havea Christmas party, Harry, and there’s no way you’ll beP a g e | 315 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

able to wriggle out of this one because he actuallyasked me to check your free evenings, so he could besure to have it on a night you can come.”Harry groaned. Meanwhile, Ron, who was attemptingto burst the pod in the bowl by putting both hands onit, standing up, and squashing it as hard as he could,said angrily, “And this is another party just forSlughorn’s favorites, is it?”“Just for the Slug Club, yes,” said Hermione.The pod flew out from under Ron’s fingers and hit thegreenhouse glass, rebounding onto the back ofProfessor Sprout’s head and knocking off her old,patched hat. Harry went to retrieve the pod; when hegot back, Hermione was saying, “Look, I didn’t makeup the name ‘Slug Club’ —”“ ‘Slug Club,’ ” repeated Ron with a sneer worthy ofMalfoy. “It’s pathetic. Well, I hope you enjoy yourparty. Why don’t you try hooking up with McLaggen,then Slughorn can make you King and Queen Slug —”“We’re allowed to bring guests,” said Hermione, whofor some reason had turned a bright, boiling scarlet,“and I was going to ask you to come, but if you thinkit’s that stupid then I won’t bother!”Harry suddenly wished the pod had flown a littlefarther, so that he need not have been sitting herewith the pair of them. Unnoticed by either, he seizedthe bowl that contained the pod and began to try andopen it by the noisiest and most energetic means hecould think of; unfortunately, he could still hear everyword of their conversation.P a g e | 316 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

“You were going to ask me?” asked Ron, in acompletely different voice.“Yes,” said Hermione angrily. “But obviously if you’drather I hooked up with McLaggen …”There was a pause while Harry continued to poundthe resilient pod with a trowel.“No, I wouldn’t,” said Ron, in a very quiet voice.Harry missed the pod, hit the bowl, and shattered it.“Reparo,” he said hastily, poking the pieces with hiswand, and the bowl sprang back together again. Thecrash, however, appeared to have awoken Ron andHermione to Harry’s presence. Hermione lookedflustered and immediately started fussing about forher copy of Flesh-Eating Trees of the World to find outthe correct way to juice Snargaluff pods; Ron, on theother hand, looked sheepish but also rather pleasedwith himself.“Hand that over, Harry,” said Hermione hurriedly. “Itsays we’re supposed to puncture them withsomething sharp. …”Harry passed her the pod in the bowl; he and Ronboth snapped their goggles back over their eyes anddived, once more, for the stump.It was not as though he was really surprised, thoughtHarry, as he wrestled with a thorny vine intent uponthrottling him; he had had an inkling that this mighthappen sooner or later. But he was not sure how hefelt about it. … He and Cho were now tooembarrassed to look at each other, let alone talk toeach other; what if Ron and Hermione started goingout together, then split up? Could their friendshipP a g e | 317 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

survive it? Harry remembered the few weeks whenthey had not been talking to each other in the thirdyear; he had not enjoyed trying to bridge the distancebetween them. And then, what if they didn’t split up?What if they became like Bill and Fleur, and itbecame excruciatingly embarrassing to be in theirpresence, so that he was shut out for good?“Gotcha!” yelled Ron, pulling a second pod from thestump just as Hermione managed to burst the firstone open, so that the bowl was full of tubers wrigglinglike pale green worms.The rest of the lesson passed without further mentionof Slughorn’s party. Although Harry watched his twofriends more closely over the next few days, Ron andHermione did not seem any different except that theywere a little politer to each other than usual. Harrysupposed he would just have to wait to see whathappened under the influence of butterbeer inSlughorn’s dimly lit room on the night of the party. Inthe meantime, however, he had more pressingworries.Katie Bell was still in St. Mungo’s Hospital with noprospect of leaving, which meant that the promisingGryffindor team Harry had been training so carefullysince September was one Chaser short. He keptputting off replacing Katie in the hope that she wouldreturn, but their opening match against Slytherin waslooming, and he finally had to accept that she wouldnot be back in time to play.Harry did not think he could stand another full-House tryout. With a sinking feeling that had little todo with Quidditch, he cornered Dean Thomas afterTransfiguration one day. Most of the class hadalready left, although several twittering yellow birdswere still zooming around the room, all of Hermione’sP a g e | 318 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

creation; nobody else had succeeded in conjuring somuch as a feather from thin air.“Are you still interested in playing Chaser?”“Wha — ? Yeah, of course!” said Dean excitedly. OverDean’s shoulder, Harry saw Seamus Finniganslamming his books into his bag, looking sour. One ofthe reasons why Harry would have preferred not tohave to ask Dean to play was that he knew Seamuswould not like it. On the other hand, he had to dowhat was best for the team, and Dean had outflownSeamus at the tryouts.“Well then, you’re in,” said Harry. “There’s a practicetonight, seven o’clock.”“Right,” said Dean. “Cheers, Harry! Blimey, I can’twait to tell Ginny!”He sprinted out of the room, leaving Harry andSeamus alone together, an uncomfortable momentmade no easier when a bird dropping landed onSeamus’s head as one of Hermione’s canaries whizzedover them.Seamus was not the only person disgruntled by thechoice of Katie’s substitute. There was muchmuttering in the common room about the fact thatHarry had now chosen two of his classmates for theteam. As Harry had endured much worse mutteringsthan this in his school career, he was not particularlybothered, but all the same, the pressure wasincreasing to provide a win in the upcoming matchagainst Slytherin. If Gryffindor won, Harry knew thatthe whole House would forget that they had criticizedhim and swear that they had always known it was agreat team. If they lost … well, Harry thought wryly,he had still endured worse mutterings. …P a g e | 319 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

Harry had no reason to regret his choice once he sawDean fly that evening; he worked well with Ginny andDemelza. The Beaters, Peakes and Coote, were gettingbetter all the time. The only problem was Ron.Harry had known all along that Ron was aninconsistent player who suffered from nerves and alack of confidence, and unfortunately, the loomingprospect of the opening game of the season seemed tohave brought out all his old insecurities. After lettingin half a dozen goals, most of them scored by Ginny,his technique became wilder and wilder, until hefinally punched an oncoming Demelza Robins in themouth.“It was an accident, I’m sorry, Demelza, really sorry!”Ron shouted after her as she zigzagged back to theground, dripping blood everywhere. “I just —”“Panicked,” Ginny said angrily, landing next toDemelza and examining her fat lip. “You prat, Ron,look at the state of her!”“I can fix that,” said Harry, landing beside the twogirls, pointing his wand at Demelza’s mouth, andsaying “Episkey.” “And Ginny, don’t call Ron a prat,you’re not the Captain of this team —”“Well, you seemed too busy to call him a prat and Ithought someone should —”Harry forced himself not to laugh.“In the air, everyone, let’s go. …”Overall it was one of the worst practices they had hadall term, though Harry did not feel that honesty wasthe best policy when they were this close to thematch.P a g e | 320 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

“Good work, everyone, I think we’ll flatten Slytherin,”he said bracingly and the Chasers and Beaters leftthe changing room looking reasonably happy withthemselves.“I played like a sack of dragon dung,” said Ron in ahollow voice when the door had swung shut behindGinny.“No, you didn’t,” said Harry firmly. “You’re the bestKeeper I tried out, Ron. Your only problem is nerves.”He kept up a relentless flow of encouragement all theway back to the castle, and by the time they reachedthe second floor, Ron was looking marginally morecheerful. When Harry pushed open the tapestry totake their usual shortcut up to Gryffindor Tower,however, they found themselves looking at Dean andGinny, who were locked in a close embrace andkissing fiercely as though glued together.It was as though something large and scaly eruptedinto life in Harry’s stomach, clawing at his insides:Hot blood seemed to flood his brain, so that allthought was extinguished, replaced by a savage urgeto jinx Dean into a jelly. Wrestling with this suddenmadness, he heard Ron’s voice as though from a greatdistance away.“Oi!”Dean and Ginny broke apart and looked around.“What?” said Ginny.“I don’t want to find my own sister snogging people inpublic!”P a g e | 321 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

“This was a deserted corridor till you came buttingin!” said Ginny.Dean was looking embarrassed. He gave Harry ashifty grin that Harry did not return, as the newbornmonster inside him was roaring for Dean’s instantdismissal from the team.“Er … c’mon, Ginny,” said Dean, “let’s go back to thecommon room. …”“You go!” said Ginny. “I want a word with my dearbrother!”Dean left, looking as though he was not sorry todepart the scene.“Right,” said Ginny, tossing her long red hair out ofher face and glaring at Ron, “let’s get this straightonce and for all. It is none of your business who I goout with or what I do with them, Ron —”“Yeah, it is!” said Ron, just as angrily. “D’you think Iwant people saying my sister’s a —”“A what?” shouted Ginny, drawing her wand. “A what,exactly?”“He doesn’t mean anything, Ginny —” said Harryautomatically, though the monster was roaring itsapproval of Ron’s words.“Oh yes he does!” she said, flaring up at Harry. “Justbecause he’s never snogged anyone in his life, justbecause the best kiss he’s ever had is from our AuntieMuriel —”“Shut your mouth!” bellowed Ron, bypassing red andturning maroon.P a g e | 322 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

“No, I will not!” yelled Ginny, beside herself. “I’ve seenyou with Phlegm, hoping she’ll kiss you on the cheekevery time you see her, it’s pathetic! If you went outand got a bit of snogging done yourself, you wouldn’tmind so much that everyone else does it!”Ron had pulled out his wand too; Harry steppedswiftly between them.“You don’t know what you’re talking about!” Ronroared, trying to get a clear shot at Ginny aroundHarry, who was now standing in front of her with hisarms outstretched. “Just because I don’t do it inpublic — !”Ginny screamed with derisive laughter, trying to pushHarry out of the way.“Been kissing Pigwidgeon, have you? Or have you gota picture of Auntie Muriel stashed under yourpillow?”“You—”A streak of orange light flew under Harry’s left armand missed Ginny by inches; Harry pushed Ron upagainst the wall.“Don’t be stupid —”“Harry’s snogged Cho Chang!” shouted Ginny, whosounded close to tears now. “And Hermione snoggedViktor Krum, it’s only you who acts like it’s somethingdisgusting, Ron, and that’s because you’ve got aboutas much experience as a twelve-year-old!”And with that, she stormed away. Harry quickly let goof Ron; the look on his face was murderous. Theyboth stood there, breathing heavily, until Mrs. Norris,P a g e | 323 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

Filch’s cat, appeared around the corner, which brokethe tension.“C’mon,” said Harry, as the sound of Filch’s shufflingfeet reached their ears.They hurried up the stairs and along a seventh-floorcorridor. “Oi, out of the way!” Ron barked at a smallgirl who jumped in fright and dropped a bottle oftoadspawn.Harry hardly noticed the sound of shattering glass; hefelt disoriented, dizzy; being struck by a lightning boltmust be something like this. It’s just because she’sRon’s sister, he told himself. You just didn’t like seeingher kissing Dean because she’s Ron’s sister. …But unbidden into his mind came an image of thatsame deserted corridor with himself kissing Ginnyinstead. … The monster in his chest purred … butthen he saw Ron ripping open the tapestry curtainand drawing his wand on Harry, shouting things like“betrayal of trust” … “supposed to be my friend” …“D’you think Hermione did snog Krum?” Ron askedabruptly, as they approached the Fat Lady. Harrygave a guilty start and wrenched his imaginationaway from a corridor in which no Ron intruded, inwhich he and Ginny were quite alone —“What?” he said confusedly. “Oh … er …”The honest answer was “yes,” but he did not want togive it. However, Ron seemed to gather the worst fromthe look on Harry’s face.“Dilligrout,” he said darkly to the Fat Lady, and theyclimbed through the portrait hole into the commonroom.P a g e | 324 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

Neither of them mentioned Ginny or Hermione again;indeed, they barely spoke to each other that eveningand got into bed in silence, each absorbed in his ownthoughts.Harry lay awake for a long time, looking up at thecanopy of his four-poster and trying to convincehimself that his feelings for Ginny were entirely elder-brotherly. They had lived, had they not, like brotherand sister all summer, playing Quidditch, teasingRon, and having a laugh about Bill and Phlegm? Hehad known Ginny for years now. … It was naturalthat he should feel protective … natural that heshould want to look out for her … want to rip Deanlimb from limb for kissing her … No … he would haveto control that particular brotherly feeling. …Ron gave a great grunting snore.She’s Ron’s sister, Harry told himself firmly. Ron’ssister. She’s out-of-bounds. He would not risk hisfriendship with Ron for anything. He punched hispillow into a more comfortable shape and waited forsleep to come, trying his utmost not to allow histhoughts to stray anywhere near Ginny.Harry awoke next morning feeling slightly dazed andconfused by a series of dreams in which Ron hadchased him with a Beater’s bat, but by midday hewould have happily exchanged the dream Ron for thereal one, who was not only cold-shouldering Ginnyand Dean, but also treating a hurt and bewilderedHermione with an icy, sneering indifference. Whatwas more, Ron seemed to have become, overnight, astouchy and ready to lash out as the average Blast-Ended Skrewt. Harry spent the day attempting tokeep the peace between Ron and Hermione with nosuccess; finally, Hermione departed for bed in highdudgeon, and Ron stalked off to the boys’ dormitoryP a g e | 325 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

after swearing angrily at several frightened first yearsfor looking at him.To Harry’s dismay, Ron’s new aggression did not wearoff over the next few days. Worse still, it coincidedwith an even deeper dip in his Keeping skills, whichmade him still more aggressive, so that during thefinal Quidditch practice before Saturday’s match, hefailed to save every single goal the Chasers aimed athim, but bellowed at everybody so much that hereduced Demelza Robins to tears.“You shut up and leave her alone!” shouted Peakes,who was about two-thirds Ron’s height, thoughadmittedly carrying a heavy bat.“ENOUGH!” bellowed Harry, who had seen Ginnyglowering in Ron’s direction and, remembering herreputation as an accomplished caster of the Bat-Bogey Hex, soared over to intervene before things gotout of hand. “Peakes, go and pack up the Bludgers.Demelza, pull yourself together, you played really welltoday. Ron …” he waited until the rest of the teamwere out of earshot before saying it, “you’re my bestmate, but carry on treating the rest of them like thisand I’m going to kick you off the team.”He really thought for a moment that Ron might hithim, but then something much worse happened: Ronseemed to sag on his broom; all the fight went out ofhim and he said, “I resign. I’m pathetic.”“You’re not pathetic and you’re not resigning!” saidHarry fiercely, seizing Ron by the front of his robes.“You can save anything when you’re on form, it’s amental problem you’ve got!”“You calling me mental?”P a g e | 326 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

“Yeah, maybe I am!”They glared at each other for a moment, then Ronshook his head wearily. “I know you haven’t got anytime to find another Keeper, so I’ll play tomorrow, butif we lose, and we will, I’m taking myself off the team.”Nothing Harry said made any difference. He triedboosting Ron’s confidence all through dinner, but Ronwas too busy being grumpy and surly with Hermioneto notice. Harry persisted in the common room thatevening, but his assertion that the whole team wouldbe devastated if Ron left was somewhat underminedby the fact that the rest of the team was sitting in ahuddle in a distant corner, clearly muttering aboutRon and casting him nasty looks. Finally Harry triedgetting angry again in the hope of provoking Ron intoa defiant, and hopefully goal-saving, attitude, but thisstrategy did not appear to work any better thanencouragement; Ron went to bed as dejected andhopeless as ever.Harry lay awake for a very long time in the darkness.He did not want to lose the upcoming match; not onlywas it his first as Captain, but he was determined tobeat Draco Malfoy at Quidditch even if he could notyet prove his suspicions about him. Yet if Ron playedas he had done in the last few practices, theirchances of winning were very slim. …If only there was something he could do to make Ronpull himself together … make him play at the top ofhis form … something that would ensure that Ronhad a really good day. …And the answer came to Harry in one, sudden,glorious stroke of inspiration.P a g e | 327 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

Breakfast was the usual excitable affair next morning;the Slytherins hissed and booed loudly as everymember of the Gryffindor team entered the GreatHall. Harry glanced at the ceiling and saw a clear,pale blue sky: a good omen.The Gryffindor table, a solid mass of red and gold,cheered as Harry and Ron approached. Harry grinnedand waved; Ron grimaced weakly and shook his head.“Cheer up, Ron!” called Lavender. “I know you’ll bebrilliant!”Ron ignored her.“Tea?” Harry asked him. “Coffee? Pumpkin juice?”“Anything,” said Ron glumly, taking a moody bite oftoast.A few minutes later Hermione, who had become sotired of Ron’s recent unpleasant behavior that shehad not come down to breakfast with them, pausedon her way up the table.“How are you both feeling?” she asked tentatively, hereyes on the back of Ron’s head.“Fine,” said Harry, who was concentrating on handingRon a glass of pumpkin juice. “There you go, Ron.Drink up.”Ron had just raised the glass to his lips whenHermione spoke sharply.“Don’t drink that, Ron!”Both Harry and Ron looked up at her.P a g e | 328 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

“Why not?” said Ron.Hermione was now staring at Harry as though shecould not believe her eyes.“You just put something in that drink.”“Excuse me?” said Harry.“You heard me. I saw you. You just tipped somethinginto Ron’s drink. You’ve got the bottle in your handright now!”“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Harry,stowing the little bottle hastily in his pocket.“Ron, I warn you, don’t drink it!” Hermione saidagain, alarmed, but Ron picked up the glass, drainedit in one gulp, and said, “Stop bossing me around,Hermione.”She looked scandalized. Bending low so that onlyHarry could hear her, she hissed, “You should beexpelled for that. I’d never have believed it of you,Harry!”“Hark who’s talking,” he whispered back. “Confundedanyone lately?”She stormed up the table away from them. Harrywatched her go without regret. Hermione had neverreally understood what a serious business Quidditchwas. He then looked around at Ron, who wassmacking his lips.“Nearly time,” said Harry blithely.The frosty grass crunched underfoot as they strodedown to the stadium.P a g e | 329 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

“Pretty lucky the weather’s this good, eh?” Harryasked Ron.“Yeah,” said Ron, who was pale and sick-looking.Ginny and Demelza were already wearing theirQuidditch robes and waiting in the changing room.“Conditions look ideal,” said Ginny, ignoring Ron.“And guess what? That Slytherin Chaser Vaisey — hetook a Bludger in the head yesterday during theirpractice, and he’s too sore to play! And even betterthan that — Malfoy’s gone off sick too!”“What?” said Harry, wheeling around to stare at her.“He’s ill? What’s wrong with him?”“No idea, but it’s great for us,” said Ginny brightly.“They’re playing Harper instead; he’s in my year andhe’s an idiot.”Harry smiled back vaguely, but as he pulled on hisscarlet robes his mind was far from Quidditch. Malfoyhad once before claimed he could not play due toinjury, but on that occasion he had made sure thewhole match was rescheduled for a time that suitedthe Slytherins better. Why was he now happy to let asubstitute go on? Was he really ill, or was he faking?“Fishy, isn’t it?” he said in an undertone to Ron.“Malfoy not playing?”“Lucky, I call it,” said Ron, looking slightly moreanimated. “And Vaisey off too, he’s their best goalscorer, I didn’t fancy — hey!” he said suddenly,freezing halfway through pulling on his Keeper’sgloves and staring at Harry.“What?”P a g e | 330 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

“I … you …” Ron had dropped his voice, he lookedboth scared and excited. “My drink … my pumpkinjuice … you didn’t … ?”Harry raised his eyebrows, but said nothing except,“We’ll be starting in about five minutes, you’d betterget your boots on.”They walked out onto the pitch to tumultuous roarsand boos. One end of the stadium was solid red andgold; the other, a sea of green and silver. ManyHufflepuffs and Ravenclaws had taken sides too:Amidst all the yelling and clapping Harry coulddistinctly hear the roar of Luna Lovegood’s famouslion-topped hat.Harry stepped up to Madam Hooch, the referee, whowas standing ready to release the balls from the crate.“Captains shake hands,” she said, and Harry had hishand crushed by the new Slytherin Captain,Urquhart. “Mount your brooms. On the whistle …three … two … one …”The whistle sounded, Harry and the others kicked offhard from the frozen ground, and they were away.Harry soared around the perimeter of the grounds,looking around for the Snitch and keeping one eye onHarper, who was zigzagging far below him. Then avoice that was jarringly different to the usualcommentator’s started up.“Well, there they go, and I think we’re all surprised tosee the team that Potter’s put together this year.Many thought, given Ronald Weasley’s patchyperformance as Keeper last year, that he might be offthe team, but of course, a close personal friendshipwith the Captain does help. …”P a g e | 331 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

These words were greeted with jeers and applausefrom the Slytherin end of the pitch. Harry cranedaround on his broom to look toward thecommentator’s podium. A tall, skinny blond boy withan upturned nose was standing there, talking into themagical megaphone that had once been Lee Jordan’s;Harry recognized Zacharias Smith, a Hufflepuff playerwhom he heartily disliked.“Oh, and here comes Slytherin’s first attempt on goal,it’s Urquhart streaking down the pitch and —”Harry’s stomach turned over.“— Weasley saves it, well, he’s bound to get luckysometimes, I suppose. …”“That’s right, Smith, he is,” muttered Harry, grinningto himself, as he dived amongst the Chasers with hiseyes searching all around for some hint of the elusiveSnitch.With half an hour of the game gone, Gryffindor wereleading sixty points to zero, Ron having made sometruly spectacular saves, some by the very tips of hisgloves, and Ginny having scored four of Gryffindor’ssix goals. This effectively stopped Zachariaswondering loudly whether the two Weasleys were onlythere because Harry liked them, and he started onPeakes and Coote instead.“Of course, Coote isn’t really the usual build for aBeater,” said Zacharias loftily, “they’ve generally got abit more muscle —”“Hit a Bludger at him!” Harry called to Coote as hezoomed past, but Coote, grinning broadly, chose toaim the next Bludger at Harper instead, who was justpassing Harry in the opposite direction. Harry wasP a g e | 332 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

pleased to hear the dull thunk that meant theBludger had found its mark.It seemed as though Gryffindor could do no wrong.Again and again they scored, and again and again, atthe other end of the pitch, Ron saved goals withapparent ease. He was actually smiling now, andwhen the crowd greeted a particularly good save witha rousing chorus of the old favorite “Weasley Is OurKing,” he pretended to conduct them from on high.“Thinks he’s something special today, doesn’t he?”said a snide voice, and Harry was nearly knocked offhis broom as Harper collided with him hard anddeliberately. “Your blood-traitor pal …”Madam Hooch’s back was turned, and thoughGryffindors below shouted in anger, by the time shelooked around, Harper had already sped off. Hisshoulder aching, Harry raced after him, determined toram him back. …“And I think Harper of Slytherin’s seen the Snitch!”said Zacharias Smith through his megaphone. “Yes,he’s certainly seen something Potter hasn’t!”Smith really was an idiot, thought Harry, hadn’t henoticed them collide? But next moment, his stomachseemed to drop out of the sky — Smith was right andHarry was wrong: Harper had not sped upward atrandom; he had spotted what Harry had not: TheSnitch was speeding along high above them, glintingbrightly against the clear blue sky.Harry accelerated; the wind was whistling in his earsso that it drowned all sound of Smith’s commentaryor the crowd, but Harper was still ahead of him, andGryffindor was only a hundred points up; if HarperP a g e | 333 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

got there first Gryffindor had lost … and now Harperwas feet from it, his hand outstretched. …“Oi, Harper!” yelled Harry in desperation. “How muchdid Malfoy pay you to come on instead of him?”He did not know what made him say it, but Harperdid a double-take; he fumbled the Snitch, let it slipthrough his fingers, and shot right past it. Harrymade a great swipe for the tiny, fluttering ball andcaught it.“YES!” Harry yelled. Wheeling around, he hurtledback toward the ground, the Snitch held high in hishand. As the crowd realized what had happened, agreat shout went up that almost drowned the soundof the whistle that signaled the end of the game.“Ginny, where’re you going?” yelled Harry, who hadfound himself trapped in the midst of a mass midairhug with the rest of the team, but Ginny sped righton past them until, with an almighty crash, shecollided with the commentator’s podium. As thecrowd shrieked and laughed, the Gryffindor teamlanded beside the wreckage of wood under whichZacharias was feebly stirring; Harry heard Ginnysaying blithely to an irate Professor McGonagall,“Forgot to brake, Professor, sorry.”Laughing, Harry broke free of the rest of the team andhugged Ginny, but let go very quickly. Avoiding hergaze, he clapped a cheering Ron on the back insteadas, all enmity forgotten, the Gryffindor team left thepitch arm in arm, punching the air and waving totheir supporters.The atmosphere in the changing room was jubilant.P a g e | 334 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

“Party up in the common room, Seamus said!” yelledDean exuberantly. “C’mon, Ginny, Demelza!”Ron and Harry were the last two in the changingroom. They were just about to leave when Hermioneentered. She was twisting her Gryffindor scarf in herhands and looked upset but determined.“I want a word with you, Harry.” She took a deepbreath. “You shouldn’t have done it. You heardSlughorn, it’s illegal.”“What are you going to do, turn us in?” demandedRon.“What are you two talking about?” asked Harry,turning away to hang up his robes so that neither ofthem would see him grinning.“You know perfectly well what we’re talking about!”said Hermione shrilly. “You spiked Ron’s juice withlucky potion at breakfast! Felix Felicis!”“No, I didn’t,” said Harry, turning back to face themboth.“Yes you did, Harry, and that’s why everything wentright, there were Slytherin players missing and Ronsaved everything!”“I didn’t put it in!” said Harry, grinning broadly. Heslipped his hand inside his jacket pocket and drewout the tiny bottle that Hermione had seen in hishand that morning. It was full of golden potion andthe cork was still tightly sealed with wax. “I wantedRon to think I’d done it, so I faked it when I knew youwere looking.” He looked at Ron. “You savedeverything because you felt lucky. You did it allyourself.”P a g e | 335 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

He pocketed the potion again.“There really wasn’t anything in my pumpkin juice?”Ron said, astounded. “But the weather’s good … andVaisey couldn’t play. … I honestly haven’t been givenlucky potion?”Harry shook his head. Ron gaped at him for amoment, then rounded on Hermione, imitating hervoice. “You added Felix Felicis to Ron’s juice thismorning, that’s why he saved everything! See! I cansave goals without help, Hermione!”“I never said you couldn’t — Ron, you thought you’dbeen given it too!”But Ron had already strode past her out of the doorwith his broomstick over his shoulder.“Er,” said Harry into the sudden silence; he had notexpected his plan to backfire like this, “shall … shallwe go up to the party, then?”“You go!” said Hermione, blinking back tears. “I’msick of Ron at the moment, I don’t know what I’msupposed to have done. …”And she stormed out of the changing room too.Harry walked slowly back up the grounds toward thecastle through the crowd, many of whom shoutedcongratulations at him, but he felt a great sense ofletdown; he had been sure that if Ron won the match,he and Hermione would be friends again immediately.He did not see how he could possibly explain toHermione that what she had done to offend Ron waskiss Viktor Krum, not when the offense had occurredso long ago.P a g e | 336 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

Harry could not see Hermione at the Gryffindorcelebration party, which was in full swing when hearrived. Renewed cheers and clapping greeted hisappearance, and he was soon surrounded by a mob ofpeople congratulating him. What with trying to shakeoff the Creevey brothers, who wanted a blow-by-blowmatch analysis, and the large group of girls thatencircled him, laughing at his least amusingcomments and batting their eyelids, it was some timebefore he could try and find Ron. At last, heextricated himself from Romilda Vane, who washinting heavily that she would like to go to Slughorn’sChristmas party with him. As he was ducking towardthe drinks table, he walked straight into Ginny,Arnold the Pygmy Puff riding on her shoulder andCrookshanks mewing hopefully at her heels.“Looking for Ron?” she asked, smirking. “He’s overthere, the filthy hypocrite.”Harry looked into the corner she was indicating.There, in full view of the whole room, stood Ronwrapped so closely around Lavender Brown it washard to tell whose hands were whose.“It looks like he’s eating her face, doesn’t it?” saidGinny dispassionately. “But I suppose he’s got torefine his technique somehow. Good game, Harry.”She patted him on the arm; Harry felt a swoopingsensation in his stomach, but then she walked off tohelp herself to more butterbeer. Crookshanks trottedafter her, his yellow eyes fixed upon Arnold.Harry turned away from Ron, who did not look like hewould be surfacing soon, just as the portrait hole wasclosing. With a sinking feeling, he thought he saw amane of bushy brown hair whipping out of sight.P a g e | 337 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

He darted forward, sidestepped Romilda Vane again,and pushed open the portrait of the Fat Lady. Thecorridor outside seemed to be deserted.“Hermione?”He found her in the first unlocked classroom he tried.She was sitting on the teacher’s desk, alone except fora small ring of twittering yellow birds circling herhead, which she had clearly just conjured out ofmidair. Harry could not help admiring her spell-workat a time like this.“Oh, hello, Harry,” she said in a brittle voice. “I wasjust practicing.”“Yeah … they’re — er — really good. …” said Harry.He had no idea what to say to her. He was justwondering whether there was any chance that shehad not noticed Ron, that she had merely left theroom because the party was a little too rowdy, whenshe said, in an unnaturally high-pitched voice, “Ronseems to be enjoying the celebrations.”“Er … does he?” said Harry.“Don’t pretend you didn’t see him,” said Hermione.“He wasn’t exactly hiding it, was — ?”The door behind them burst open. To Harry’s horror,Ron came in, laughing, pulling Lavender by the hand.“Oh,” he said, drawing up short at the sight of Harryand Hermione.“Oops!” said Lavender, and she backed out of theroom, giggling. The door swung shut behind her.P a g e | 338 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

There was a horrible, swelling, billowing silence.Hermione was staring at Ron, who refused to look ather, but said with an odd mixture of bravado andawkwardness, “Hi, Harry! Wondered where you’d gotto!”Hermione slid off the desk. The little flock of goldenbirds continued to twitter in circles around her headso that she looked like a strange, feathery model ofthe solar system.“You shouldn’t leave Lavender waiting outside,” shesaid quietly. “She’ll wonder where you’ve gone.”She walked very slowly and erectly toward the door.Harry glanced at Ron, who was looking relieved thatnothing worse had happened.“Oppugno!” came a shriek from the doorway.Harry spun around to see Hermione pointing herwand at Ron, her expression wild: The little flock ofbirds was speeding like a hail of fat golden bulletstoward Ron, who yelped and covered his face with hishands, but the birds attacked, pecking and clawing atevery bit of flesh they could reach.“Gerremoffme!” he yelled, but with one last look ofvindictive fury, Hermione wrenched open the doorand disappeared through it. Harry thought he heard asob before it slammed.P a g e | 339 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

THE UNBREAKABLE VOWSnow was swirling against the icy windows oncemore; Christmas was approaching fast. Hagrid hadalready single-handedly delivered the usual twelveChristmas trees for the Great Hall; garlands of hollyand tinsel had been twisted around the banisters ofthe stairs; everlasting candles glowed from inside thehelmets of suits of armor and great bunches ofmistletoe had been hung at intervals along thecorridors. Large groups of girls tended to convergeunderneath the mistletoe bunches every time Harrywent past, which caused blockages in the corridors;fortunately, however, Harry’s frequent nighttimewanderings had given him an unusually goodknowledge of the castle’s secret passageways, so thathe was able, without too much difficulty, to navigatemistletoe-free routes between classes.Ron, who might once have found the necessity ofthese detours a cause for jealousy rather thanhilarity, simply roared with laughter about it all.Although Harry much preferred this new laughing,P a g e | 340 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

joking Ron to the moody, aggressive model he hadbeen enduring for the last few weeks, the improvedRon came at a heavy price. Firstly, Harry had to putup with the frequent presence of Lavender Brown,who seemed to regard any moment that she was notkissing Ron as a moment wasted; and secondly,Harry found himself once more the best friend of twopeople who seemed unlikely ever to speak to eachother again.Ron, whose hands and forearms still bore scratchesand cuts from Hermione’s bird attack, was taking adefensive and resentful tone.“She can’t complain,” he told Harry. “She snoggedKrum. So she’s found out someone wants to snog metoo. Well, it’s a free country. I haven’t done anythingwrong.”Harry did not answer, but pretended to be absorbedin the book they were supposed to have read beforeCharms next morning (Quintessence: A Quest).Determined as he was to remain friends with bothRon and Hermione, he was spending a lot of time withhis mouth shut tight.“I never promised Hermione anything,” Ron mumbled.“I mean, all right, I was going to go to Slughorn’sChristmas party with her, but she never said … justas friends … I’m a free agent. …”Harry turned a page of Quintessence, aware that Ronwas watching him. Ron’s voice tailed away in mutters,barely audible over the loud crackling of the fire,though Harry thought he caught the words “Krum”and “can’t complain” again.Hermione’s schedule was so full that Harry could onlytalk to her properly in the evenings, when Ron was, inP a g e | 341 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

any case, so tightly wrapped around Lavender that hedid not notice what Harry was doing. Hermionerefused to sit in the common room while Ron wasthere, so Harry generally joined her in the library,which meant that their conversations were held inwhispers.“He’s at perfect liberty to kiss whomever he likes,”said Hermione, while the librarian, Madam Pince,prowled the shelves behind them. “I really couldn’tcare less.”She raised her quill and dotted an i so ferociouslythat she punctured a hole in her parchment. Harrysaid nothing. He thought his voice might soon vanishfrom lack of use. He bent a little lower over AdvancedPotion-Making and continued to make notes onEverlasting Elixirs, occasionally pausing to decipherthe Prince’s useful additions to Libatius Borage’s text.“And incidentally,” said Hermione, after a fewmoments, “you need to be careful.”“For the last time,” said Harry, speaking in a slightlyhoarse whisper after three-quarters of an hour ofsilence, “I am not giving back this book, I’ve learnedmore from the Half-Blood Prince than Snape orSlughorn have taught me in —”“I’m not talking about your stupid so-called Prince,”said Hermione, giving his book a nasty look as thoughit had been rude to her. “I’m talking about earlier. Iwent into the girls’ bathroom just before I came inhere and there were about a dozen girls in there,including that Romilda Vane, trying to decide how toslip you a love potion. They’re all hoping they’re goingto get you to take them to Slughorn’s party, and theyall seem to have bought Fred and George’s lovepotions, which I’m afraid to say probably work —”P a g e | 342 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

“Why didn’t you confiscate them then?” demandedHarry. It seemed extraordinary that Hermione’s maniafor upholding rules could have abandoned her at thiscrucial juncture.“They didn’t have the potions with them in thebathroom,” said Hermione scornfully. “They were justdiscussing tactics. As I doubt whether even the Half-Blood Prince” — she gave the book another nasty look— “could dream up an antidote for a dozen differentlove potions at once, I’d just invite someone to go withyou, that’ll stop all the others thinking they’ve still gota chance. It’s tomorrow night, they’re gettingdesperate.”“There isn’t anyone I want to invite,” mumbled Harry,who was still trying not to think about Ginny anymore than he could help, despite the fact that shekept cropping up in his dreams in ways that madehim devoutly thankful that Ron could not performLegilimency.“Well, just be careful what you drink, becauseRomilda Vane looked like she meant business,” saidHermione grimly.She hitched up the long roll of parchment on whichshe was writing her Arithmancy essay and continuedto scratch away with her quill. Harry watched herwith his mind a long way away.“Hang on a moment,” he said slowly. “I thought Filchhad banned anything bought at Weasleys’ WizardWheezes?”“And when has anyone ever paid attention to whatFilch has banned?” asked Hermione, stillconcentrating on her essay.P a g e | 343 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

“But I thought all the owls were being searched. Sohow come these girls are able to bring love potionsinto school?”“Fred and George send them disguised as perfumesand cough potions,” said Hermione. “It’s part of theirOwl Order Service.”“You know a lot about it.”Hermione gave him the kind of nasty look she hadjust given his copy of Advanced Potion-Making.“It was all on the back of the bottles they showedGinny and me in the summer,” she said coldly. “Idon’t go around putting potions in people’s drinks …or pretending to, either, which is just as bad. …”“Yeah, well, never mind that,” said Harry quickly.“The point is, Filch is being fooled, isn’t he? Thesegirls are getting stuff into the school disguised assomething else! So why couldn’t Malfoy have broughtthe necklace into the school — ?”“Oh, Harry … not that again …”“Come on, why not?” demanded Harry.“Look,” sighed Hermione, “Secrecy Sensors detectjinxes, curses, and concealment charms, don’t they?They’re used to find Dark Magic and Dark objects.They’d have picked up a powerful curse, like the oneon that necklace, within seconds. But somethingthat’s just been put in the wrong bottle wouldn’tregister — and anyway, love potions aren’t Dark ordangerous —”“Easy for you to say,” muttered Harry, thinking ofRomilda Vane.P a g e | 344 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

“— so it would be down to Filch to realize it wasn’t acough potion, and he’s not a very good wizard, I doubthe can tell one potion from —”Hermione stopped dead; Harry had heard it too.Somebody had moved close behind them among thedark bookshelves. They waited, and a moment laterthe vulturelike countenance of Madam Pinceappeared around the corner, her sunken cheeks, herskin like parchment, and her long hooked noseilluminated unflatteringly by the lamp she wascarrying.“The library is now closed,” she said. “Mind youreturn anything you have borrowed to the correct —what have you been doing to that book, you depravedboy?”“It isn’t the library’s, it’s mine!” said Harry hastily,snatching his copy of Advanced Potion-Making off thetable as she lunged at it with a clawlike hand.“Despoiled!” she hissed. “Desecrated! Befouled!”“It’s just a book that’s been written on!” said Harry,tugging it out of her grip.She looked as though she might have a seizure;Hermione, who had hastily packed her things,grabbed Harry by the arm and frogmarched himaway.“She’ll ban you from the library if you’re not careful.Why did you have to bring that stupid book?”“It’s not my fault she’s barking mad, Hermione. Ord’you think she overheard you being rude aboutFilch? I’ve always thought there might be somethinggoing on between them. …”P a g e | 345 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

“Oh, ha ha …”Enjoying the fact that they could speak normallyagain, they made their way along the deserted, lamp-lit corridors back to the common room, arguing aboutwhether or not Filch and Madam Pince were secretlyin love with each other.“Baubles,” said Harry to the Fat Lady, this being thenew, festive password.“Same to you,” said the Fat Lady with a roguish grin,and she swung forward to admit them.“Hi, Harry!” said Romilda Vane, the moment he hadclimbed through the portrait hole. “Fancy agillywater?”Hermione gave him a “what-did-I-tell-you?” look overher shoulder.“No thanks,” said Harry quickly. “I don’t like it much.”“Well, take these anyway,” said Romilda, thrusting abox into his hands. “Chocolate Cauldrons, they’ve gotfirewhisky in them. My gran sent them to me, but Idon’t like them.”“Oh — right — thanks a lot,” said Harry, who couldnot think what else to say. “Er — I’m just going overhere with …”He hurried off behind Hermione, his voice tailingaway feebly.“Told you,” said Hermione succinctly. “Sooner you asksomeone, sooner they’ll all leave you alone and youcan —”P a g e | 346 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

But her face suddenly turned blank; she had justspotted Ron and Lavender, who were entwined in thesame armchair.“Well, good night, Harry,” said Hermione, though itwas only seven o’clock in the evening, and she left forthe girls’ dormitory without another word.Harry went to bed comforting himself that there wasonly one more day of lessons to struggle through,plus Slughorn’s party, after which he and Ron woulddepart together for the Burrow. It now seemedimpossible that Ron and Hermione would make upwith each other before the holidays began, butperhaps, somehow, the break would give them time tocalm down, think better of their behavior. …But his hopes were not high, and they sank still lowerafter enduring a Transfiguration lesson with themboth next day. They had just embarked upon theimmensely difficult topic of human Transfiguration;working in front of mirrors, they were supposed to bechanging the color of their own eyebrows. Hermionelaughed unkindly at Ron’s disastrous first attempt,during which he somehow managed to give himself aspectacular handlebar mustache; Ron retaliated bydoing a cruel but accurate impression of Hermionejumping up and down in her seat every time ProfessorMcGonagall asked a question, which Lavender andParvati found deeply amusing and which reducedHermione to the verge of tears again. She raced out ofthe classroom on the bell, leaving half her thingsbehind; Harry, deciding that her need was greaterthan Ron’s just now, scooped up her remainingpossessions and followed her.He finally tracked her down as she emerged from agirls’ bathroom on the floor below. She wasP a g e | 347 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

accompanied by Luna Lovegood, who was patting hervaguely on the back.“Oh, hello, Harry,” said Luna. “Did you know one ofyour eyebrows is bright yellow?”“Hi, Luna. Hermione, you left your stuff. …”He held out her books.“Oh yes,” said Hermione in a choked voice, taking herthings and turning away quickly to hide the fact thatshe was wiping her eyes on her pencil case. “Thankyou, Harry. Well, I’d better get going. …”And she hurried off, without giving Harry any time tooffer words of comfort, though admittedly he couldnot think of any.“She’s a bit upset,” said Luna. “I thought at first itwas Moaning Myrtle in there, but it turned out to beHermione. She said something about that RonWeasley. …”“Yeah, they’ve had a row,” said Harry.“He says very funny things sometimes, doesn’t he?”said Luna, as they set off down the corridor together.“But he can be a bit unkind. I noticed that last year.”“I s’pose,” said Harry. Luna was demonstrating herusual knack of speaking uncomfortable truths; hehad never met anyone quite like her. “So have youhad a good term?”“Oh, it’s been all right,” said Luna. “A bit lonelywithout the D.A. Ginny’s been nice, though. Shestopped two boys in our Transfiguration class callingme ‘Loony’ the other day —”P a g e | 348 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

“How would you like to come to Slughorn’s party withme tonight?”The words were out of Harry’s mouth before he couldstop them; he heard himself say them as though itwere a stranger speaking.Luna turned her protuberant eyes upon him insurprise.“Slughorn’s party? With you?”“Yeah,” said Harry. “We’re supposed to bring guests,so I thought you might like … I mean …” He was keento make his intentions perfectly clear. “I mean, just asfriends, you know. But if you don’t want to …”He was already half hoping that she didn’t want to.“Oh, no, I’d love to go with you as friends!” said Luna,beaming as he had never seen her beam before.“Nobody’s ever asked me to a party before, as a friend!Is that why you dyed your eyebrow, for the party?Should I do mine too?”“No,” said Harry firmly, “that was a mistake. I’ll getHermione to put it right for me. So, I’ll meet you inthe entrance hall at eight o’clock then.”“AHA!” screamed a voice from overhead and both ofthem jumped; unnoticed by either of them, they hadjust passed right underneath Peeves, who washanging upside down from a chandelier and grinningmaliciously at them.“Potty asked Loony to go to the party! Potty lurvesLoony! Potty luuuuurves Looooooony!”P a g e | 349 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

And he zoomed away, cackling and shrieking, “Pottyloves Loony!”“Nice to keep these things private,” said Harry. Andsure enough, in no time at all the whole schoolseemed to know that Harry Potter was taking LunaLovegood to Slughorn’s party.“You could’ve taken anyone!” said Ron in disbeliefover dinner. “Anyone! And you chose LoonyLovegood?”“Don’t call her that, Ron,” snapped Ginny, pausingbehind Harry on her way to join friends. “I’m reallyglad you’re taking her, Harry, she’s so excited.”And she moved on down the table to sit with Dean.Harry tried to feel pleased that Ginny was glad he wastaking Luna to the party, but could not quite manageit. A long way along the table, Hermione was sittingalone, playing with her stew. Harry noticed Ronlooking at her furtively.“You could say sorry,” suggested Harry bluntly.“What, and get attacked by another flock ofcanaries?” muttered Ron.“What did you have to imitate her for?”“She laughed at my mustache!”“So did I, it was the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen.”But Ron did not seem to have heard; Lavender hadjust arrived with Parvati. Squeezing herself inbetween Harry and Ron, Lavender flung her armsaround Ron’s neck.P a g e | 350 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling