Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince Chapter Notes

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Chapter 2: Spinner’s End

• There is some excellent meta about the kind of house Snape lives in, which I encourage you all to read first.

• “‘Just a fox,’ said a woman’s voice dismissively from under the hood. ‘I thought perhaps an Auror – Cissy, wait!’” – First of all that poor fox. But secondly Bellatrix just randomly casted a killing curse, just because she saw some movement. This could have been anyone, even a child. But that is what makes her so truly evil: her absolute dismissal for any kind of life she doesn’t think is worthy enough.

• “‘He lives here?’ asked Bella in a voice of contempt. ‘Here? In this Muggle dunghill? We must be the first of our kind ever to set foot –’” – I wonder if Bellatrix’s disgust is based on Snape living among Muggles at all, or especially because he lives at a place she describes as ‘dunghill’. Because as far as we know most wizards live among Muggles – Grimmauld place is placed between two Muggle houses after all. There are only very few places how are completely inhabited by wizards – Hogsmeade is said to be the only complete wizard village. Other places like Diagon Ally are hidden within Muggle cities. So I think it is rather the district that causes her outrage, though I really don’t know why it would matter where Snape lives.

• I wonder why exactly Wormtail lives with Snape. It is possible that when the Ministry learned the truth about Sirius they also learned that Wormtail is still alive and responsible for the murders Sirius was convicted for. So Wormtail needs a hiding place, but why Snape? Is it possible Voldemort doesn’t trust Snape completely and sent Wormtail to him as a spy? Of course it is Wormtail who betrayed his friends and is therefore responsible for the murder of Lily, but I don’t think Voldemort sent Wormtail to Snape as a punishment. He had always underestimated the love Snape felt for Lily, because he never understood love himself.

• Snape of course is the central figure of this book, though it is only revealed at the end. We know that he works as a double-agent, we know that both Voldemort and Dumbledore seem to trust him, whereas people like Bellatrix and Harry himself distrust him. The central question is where Snape’s true loyalty is placed and we won’t get an answer until the end of book 7.

• Still, this is the first time we see Snape among other Death Eaters. We see how different Narcissa and Bellatrix see him: one puts her trust in him, so far that she puts her son’s life into his hands. The other completely distrusts him. All the questions Bellatrix asks Snape are, as Snape points out, questions Voldemort asked him as well, and questions the audience is curious about too. We know now why it is that Voldemort trusts Snape, but it is not until book 7 that we learn the reason Dumbledore put his trust in Snape. I might not be the biggest fan of Snape, but he is without a doubt one of the most ambiguous complex characters, whose true nature is hidden until the very end.

• “‘You think he is mistaken? Or that I have somehow hoodwinked him? Fooled the Dark Lord, the greatest wizard, the most accomplished Legilimens the world has ever seen?’” – I mean he did. Be proud of that.

• “‘He shares everything with me!’ said Bellatrix, firing up at once.” – “Cursed Child” gives this line a completely new meaning *shudders*

• “The Dark Lord is satisfied with the information I have passed him on the Order. It led, as perhaps you have guessed, to the recent capture and murder of Emmeline Vance, […].” – I wonder how much truth there is in those words. What kind of information gave Snape to Voldemort? Was it on Dumbledore’s orders? Did they warn Emmeline Vance before? Or did they gamble with her life?

• “‘Have you discussed this matter with the Dark Lord?’ asked Snape. ‘He … lately, we … I am asking you, Snape!’” – Oh my god Severus, they are having a break.

• “I am pleased to say, however, that Dumbledore is growing old. The duel with the Dark Lord last month shook him. He has since sustained a serious injury because his reactions are slower than they once were.” – Does Snape refer to Dumbledore’s hand here? Does he starts spreading the information the injury was caused by Voldemort so that nobody would find out the real reason: that Dumbledore injured himself by destroying a Horcrux.

• Narcissa is afraid that Draco might get killed in the process of killing Dumbledore (though we don’t know yet that this is his task) but I don’t think he was ever in danger? Dumbledore would have never killed Draco. The only risk was Voldemort himself and what he would do if Draco failed (which is exactly what happened, and yet Draco survived).

• The Unbreakable Vow is the one thing Snape did not expect. He had to think quick before agreeing to it. There was no good reason why he should not agree to it. He had already suspected that it was Voldemort’s intention that he would be the one to kill Dumbledore in the end. And he knows that Dumbledore is about to die anyway. Still, Snape took a great risk here.