When last we left Harry he and his friends returned from the battle at The Ministry of Magic with Voldemort’s Death Eaters where Bellatrix Lestrange killed his Godfather, Sirius Black. Not only did Harry have to deal with that loss, but also the information contained in a prophecy made by Sybil Trelawney. Which foretold of the birth of a boy who, once marked by the Dark Lord, would have the power to vanquish him, and that neither could live while the other survived.
Half Blood Prince begins slightly differently than others in the series. In a chapter that has been brewing in Rowling’s mind for thirteen years, an unsuspecting muggle Prime Minister is visited by Cornelius Fudge and is told that Lord Voldemort has returned and several muggle atrocities including a bridge collapse, a hurricane, and a few murders are in fact the work of Voldemort. To that The Prime Minister says “But for heaven’s sake-you’re wizards! You can do magic! Surely you can sort out - well -anything! The Minister of Magic replies, “The trouble is, the other side can do magic too.”
Once again Harry is sent to stay with his muggle relatives, Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, and their spoiled son, Dudley. Harry’s stay here is the shortest ever as Dumbledore comes to Privet Drive to get Harry and take him to The Burrow, the home of his best friend Ron Weasley.
Once back at Hogwarts Harry learns that greasy potions teacher, Snape, has finally achieved his dream to teach Defense Against The Dark Arts. Dumbledore summons Harry to his office to begin a series of trips into his pensieve to learn the true nature of Lord Voldemort, and the beginnings of Tom Riddle and his family. Draco Malfoy is sneaking around the castle, and seems to be on a mission given to him by Voldemort. Harry receives Potions advice from a second hand Potions book filled with doodling by someone calling themselves “The Half Blood Prince.” Two students are mysteriously attacked and almost killed. Love is truly in the air as some rumored matches finally happen. Harry learns the reason why Voldemort did not die when his curse for baby Harry backfired. Voldemort made himself almost immortal by creating six horcruxes, which are created by the splitting of one’s soul through the act of murder. Each horcrux will have to be destroyed before Voldemort himself, the last and 7th piece of his soul, can be destroyed. Then in a shocking turn of events Death Eaters converge on Hogwarts, and Snape, revealed to be the mysterious Half Blood Prince and who Dumbledore has always trusted to be on the good side, kills Hogwarts’ beloved headmaster. Harry vows to not return to Hogwarts. Now alone, he must search for the final horcruxes in order to have a chance to kill Voldemort.
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