So, I've had my copy for just over an hour now, and it's fun so far.

I hereby decree, as a mod - because I like decreeing things - that each post in this thread must contain some piece of information revealed for the first time in this book.

Spoiler the First:

Dumbledore's favourite type of jam is raspberry.

I actually know the massive plot twist. I was perusing the PC Gamer UK forums and in one thread was an innocuous little link to a image. I, rather foolishly, clicked the link, and was greeted with a photo of a page of THBP, with the spoiler highlighted and underlined. I couldn't look away fast enough.

So thanks, Stux, for ruining the book for me. You c*nt.

Huh, that must have come from the Vancouver leak... I'd wondered if it had gotten onto the Internet.

I'll post every few dozen pages, when I find out something that interests or amuses me.

Spoiler the Second:

The Half-Blood Prince is or was very good at Potions.

Ok Commie, tell me your honest opinion- is this book worth buying? I am short on cash right now and I am budgeting everything. I want to buy it but I am not going to spend the cash on a hard cover if it is not worth it when I can just wait for the paper back version.

Just finished it. I'd say yes; the pacing's not as good as in Chamber of Secrets or Goblet of Fire, we know her tricks now, but it still manages to hit you, right at the end. If you're really short on funds, find somebody to borrow it from - there's things here you must know.

Spoiler the Third:

Ginny calls Ron a filthy hypocrite twice.

I knew it! I knew it! But I'm afraid to post it because it's such a _large_ spoiler. Permission?

Absolutely not.

Oh, and I wouldn't bother splashing out on it just yet. It's not that much of a 'must read'. A ripping yarn, most certainly, but not something you absolutely must read.

Darn you, Commie! I never dreamed it was raspberry. And now the plot is unraveling all around me.

Okay, I've had it for about a half an hour or so, and I've finished the second chapter. Let me just say I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT! I NEVER TRUSTED YOU, YOU SLIMY BASTARD! YOU DESERVE TO BE DRAWN AND QUARTERED, YOU FILTHY EXCUSE FOR A HUMAN BEING! *SLAP* YOU DISGUST ME!

That, oooorrrr I'm over reacting and Snape's still a good guy, but whatever this mission Draco has to do with... it would be better to see him incinerated than Snape, I guess.

Okay, that's not really a spoiler because it's like, what, page 40 or something, but I had to get it off my chest. Snape is a rat-fink sonovagun and for the record I NEVER trusted him, and I won't until I finish all the books. Oh Oh Oh Oh, AND HE TOASTED TO SIRIUS' DEATH! OOOOO... okay, I have to go back and read before I get even angrier.

*slow motion dive* NOOOOOOooooo!!!

Yes, I finished it this morn....afternoon, I am now officially sad

...in the literal sense

I finished it a few hours ago. Now I'm at a complete loss for what to do :S . I'll probably go back and read 4 & 5. Something I should have done before it came out. There wasn't too much that they mentioned that I didn't remember, but there were a few things that I could've used a refresher on.

I have awful long-term memory. "Wait, I remember this guy, but wtf does he do again?" Yeah, I pretty much get what's going on and who everybody is, but that's with the help of additional small explanations in the book. I should reread OotP, but... no. Anyways, I like this one much better so far. And ARC took my spoiler, but she expressed it in a much more... excitable way.

It took me six hours but I got through it. I nearly cried at the end.

Spoiler: DUmbledore likes Acid pops!!!

Bah. Finished in a couple of hours. Icky ending.

...whole book just seemed like build up for the next one though. It was okay, but not great.

Spoiler: Tonks and Lupin! <3

EDIT: My bad Commie.

Just so you know, LB, that's clearly legible, at least on my monitor.

OFFICIAL NOTICE: The spoilering now begins in earnest. Do not read further if you have not finished the book.

I was talking about that little mystery with SPS just today, and the only character we can think of who fits those initials is Sirius' brother Regulus (whose middle name we don't know).

An interesting theory I read on the inter webs today was that Harry (or perhaps, more precisely, Harry's scar) could be the final Horcrux. The connection between him and the Dark Lord, which Dumbledore described as some of V's power entering Harry, was in fact the accidental transference of a piece of the Dark Lord's soul into Harry following the murder of Lily and James. I quite like this theory. The disappearance of Harry's scar as He Who Must Not Be Named's soul is excised from him would have a neat symmetry to it.

That's a really cool theory actually. It may just be on the right lines.

Here's a spoiler for ya.

http://pottercrash.ytmnd.com/

I'm debating on what she's going to do with Snape and Harry. The simplest version would be to say he didn't kill Harry just on the Dark Lord's orders, but that seems too simple for her.

And and.. its so sad! But so good! I'm still sad over Dumbledore. *sniffles and flails* I mean, I can see it. She wanted Harry to stand on his own two feet alone, but.. but. meh!

I nearly cried when I read the ending. I agree that the character it could be is Regulus. I wanted to check the Black family tree to see if his middle name was mentioned but I couldn't find my copy of phoenix. ANyone wanna check it out for me? The only other R is could think of was Reubeus Hagrid. but he's obviously not a B. I'm currently going through the muggles in the books to see if any of them fit. It's got to be someone we've already heard of though doesn't it? OH and I like the idea that we've just read about Harry's last year at Hogwarts. Harry and Ginny!!!!! Please let him live- A band of scruffy haired ginger kids would be just perfetc!!!

I know who RAB is and have proof but I am not sure anyone wants to figure it out on there own.. Should I post it?

If you don't post it, at least PM it to me! I'm morbidly curious.

Me too!!! I have to know

Tell us, or die.

*draws finger across neck*

Seeing as little_bear scared me into submission, I will spill.

RAB is indeed Regulus. The proof I have comes from the book before this.

When Harry was cleaning out Sirus's house, we came across locket that had belonged to Regulus. It was said to be a heavy locket.

In The Half BLood Prince, Harry came across another locket underneath the liquid in the basin, at the end of the book. In this locket was a note that had the signiture RAB.

Since we heard about the locket before, how could it not be the same thing?

I think OTA must have it.

That's exactly the kind of thing that woman loves doing, isn't it?

edit: Just checked, it's not named specifically as belonging to Regulus. Doesn't mean it's not his though; next paragraph has Slytherin's ring mentioned equally casually.

Even though it is not spefically drawn to Regulus, it is still a big factor because it came back in the next book with almost his exact intials (we dont know his middle name)

And as far as we know, something important might come up,about the ring, in the next book. I mean look at all the unexpected stuff that happened in the end of this book.

(Im just annoyed that we have to wait a few years for the next book. O well, I think Ill read them all in order again to pass the time )

I checked in OotP but there was no mention of Regulus' middle name which leaves it sorta open but at the same time not. This means that if it was that locket they found, Harry probably inherited it with the house, 'course, it's possible that Mundungus could have sold it, hell, he could have been selling it that very same day in Hogsmead, that makes sense actually, why else would she have mentioned it if it wasn't important?

Bearing in mind that regulus saw the error of his ways it would be nice to see harry with another person to parent him or at least become a brother figure to him. Or do you think Regulus would be an arse?

Ryn: Regulus may well be, as we've heard, dead; he could have switched the lockets before the Death Eaters caught up with him.

It's certainly possible about the locket, but the ring that is mentioned is not Slytherin's ring. The ring that's mentioned is said to bear the Black family crest. Something Harry would have noticed if Slytherin's ring had it on.

Ah, my mistake.

So who's the Half-Blood Prince? Tell me, dangit! I won't have my book for another day! MUST KNOW!!!! ::weeps::

I'm hoping Dumbledore will have a bit of the Obi Wan action going on. Like Harry's Mum and Dad in GoF.

He's said on a number of occasions that death isn't the worst thing that can happen to a man, so maybe he'll be back. One can only hope.

Edit: Nicked this link from KW, read through it and thought most of it made sense. Feel free to discuss.

That actaully does all make a lot of sense. Just reading through it I couldn't think of any objections, and this is the guy who remembered, without looking it up, that the ring in OotP wasn't Slytherin's Ring.

I finally finished it! I was so smug, thinking the Half-Blood Prince was Voldemort from page 280... then I realized and mentally smacked myself about four pages before it was revealed

The fact that the locket wasn't a Horcrux is probably the most depressing thing. I'm not surprised Dumbledore died... but I think Harry should still go through one more year of schooling, dammit. Whew, it was quite a read though. Seems that we all have RAB figured out, or at least some good guesses.

Also: I think I felt far too sorry for Malfoy than I should have...

I wouldn't mind if he didn't go back to the school, if I have to read about enough Quidditch match I'll scream.

I wasn't surprised by much, but overall I though it was better edited than the 4th and 5th, which I think were overlong in parts. Overall, pretty good.

Just. One. Gripe. Will someone please stop the woman from using so many elipsises? Please! I've counted 11 on a single page. Is this acceptable in Britain or is her editor a 5-year-old? Gaa.

Well, dear... Some of us just happen to like ellipses... THey sort of, you know, trail off nicely...

But I agree; there is such a thing as overkill.
And I really think that with all her money, she should buy a nice thesaurus and look up different words for 'said'. Like 'intoned', or 'wondered', or... there are many more. Couldn't she at least choose one?

Yeah, the ellipses got tiring. Also, being a grammar nazi, I got pissed when there were four dots. Can you do that?

As for said, I saw that a few too many times. I didn't pay a lot of attention to those, though. >_>

Urgh, why? he demanded. There's nothing worse than an author who thinks she's too good for "said", he intoned. It screams "amateurish", he opined, to have a page full of "whispered", "muttered", "murmured", "declared", "declaimed", he growled. "Said", he maintained, is one of those words that fades into the background, and doesn't need to be replaced with fancy synonyms.

Wouldn't it be that; like all the other dead headmasters,Dumbledore will be reanimated into a portrait?

In the end of Half Blood Prince, it was said that we was slumbering in the portrait. It was never said how long it takes for the headmasters to fully animate and begin to talk and move.
If harry does indeed come back to Hogwarts, it is likely that Dumbledore will be waiting for him in the portrait.

Unless it gets stolen or something...

Draco is saveable - he wont kill anyone, even though he could have, there is yet hope.

Snape is saveable - had he not done what he did at the end, Draco probably would have been killed by the other death eaters anyway, breaking Snape's vow, and causing him to die himself.

Narcissa is clearly saveable - she loves her family, and, as Dumbledore persists in telling us, love is something purely evil characters can't feel.

And Dumbledore - seriously, like they can get rid of such a major character so easily. He'll be back.

Okay wrap your head around this one.. So 7 pieces of a soul.. Dumbledore had an idea where they all were except 1. He also said that he suspects that Voldemort was going to perform a horcrux the night he attacked Harry. So I am thinking that the last piece of his soul slipped into Harry. Think about it for a second, Harry can see into his mind and vice versa, he can speak to snakes as well, every time Voldemort tries to attack Harry he hurts himself (maybe this is because he is attacking himself and not so much of the spell Harry’s mom used), Harry has the same wand as Voldermort, etc..
Harry was not born this way; Voldermort made him this way when he attacked him. And the prophecy pretty much fits as well. I am thinking that this is all going to play out where Harry has to kill himself to kill Voldemort. "Neither can live while the other survives,” think about that for a second. That makes you believe one must kill the other to truly live. However, what if it really means that neither will survive if one dies. Of course this is all theory and I may be wrong... however if I am not then things are going to end tragically!

No way. Snape is going down. If that mofo isn't completely whupped by Harry then I shall be most displeased. Narcissa has gotta die too; but Malfoy can live. I feel Rowling tried to create an air of pathos for him and I gotta say it worked for me.


That's actually how I first took it when I first read the Prophecy. That Harry has to die in order to defeat Voldemort. He will realise that the only way of killing Voldemort is to take his own life or something. Plus, we couldn't have Rowling giving us a happy ending for once could we, that just wouldn't be right.

ravein: Check it, I already proposed that Though I have a slight variation; that Harry's scar, not Harry himself, is the Horcrux. Not only does this avoid the Harry-having-to-die-and-then-nobody-being-around-to-kill-Voldemort unpleasantness, it also means that Harry's forehead will heal and he'll become normal again, more or less.

See, I never thought about the scar but that makes sense. I would be very surprised if thing do not go in this direction.

As for Snape, I suspect he may be redeemed later. I think that MAYBE Dumbledore knew that he was dying from taking the potion and instead of begging for mercy maybe he was begging for Snape to kill him and keep his cover. The repeated comments that Dumbledore trusted him explicitly also lead me to believe that Snape was following orders.

I was talking to someone about the book yesterday, and we both agreed that this book is written, more than the others are, for a film. It reads like a film script, which does detract a bit from the story. What are your opinions on this?

On Snape: Dumbledore trusted him, and Voldemort trusted him. I think that Dumbledore is a better wizard, so I trust that Snape is on Dumbledore's side. Why then would Snape kill him? I don't know, but I believe that Dumbledore knew about the Unbreakable Vow, and knew he would die. Snape didn't hurt any of the other students that night, even though he could have. Had he truly wanted to help Voldemort the most, he would have hexed the children as he was running up to kill Dumbledore. Besides, Dumbledore will be a portrait in the headmasters office, he'll explain exactly what happened. If his portrait tells us that we should still trust Snape, then we should.

I'm actually wondering if she let Dumbledore make a mistake. Thinking the best of people is his one flaw and with all the pressure (and natural inclination) Snape has, enough might have been enough. I'd like it better if she did honestly, though I did note that Snape didn't kill Harry or more students. Then again, Snape had one goal, which was Draco out of there alive. A firefight with the Order of the Phoenix is not helpful to that goal and wastes time.

Me as well. I'd also really like Snape to be a horrible bad guy... and it shows that Dumbledore is not supernatural as a person/wizard. And yeah, Malfoy switching sides is okay, but Snape better get it.