Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince Chapter Notes

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Chapter 20: Lord Voldemort’s Request

• “‘Yeah, well, there was no need for Ginny and Dean to split up over it,’ said Harry, still trying to sound casual. ‘Or are they still together?’ ‘Yes, they are – but why are you so interested?’ asked Hermione, giving giving Harry a sharp look. ‘I just don’t want my Quidditch team messed up again!’ he said hastily, but Hermione continued to look suspicious, […].” – Please Harry, you should know Hermione well enough by now to know you can never hide anything from her. Girl knows what is up.

• “‘Nice commentary last match!’ said Ron to Luna, as she took back the green onion, the toadstool and the cat litter. Luna smiled vaguely. ‘You’re making fun of me, aren’t you?’ she said. ‘Everyone says I was dreadful.’ ‘No, I’m serious!’ said Ron earnestly.”- Luna is so used that other people make fun of her that she doesn’t think Ron’s compliment is meant genuine. But it also says a lot about Ron, because he did make fun of her in the past quite often. Or as Luna said, “he can be a bit unkind”.

• “‘No,’ said Dumbledore. ‘Divination is turning out to be much more trouble than I could have foreseen, never having studied the subject myself. I cannot ask Firenze to return to the Forest, where he is now an outcast, nor can I ask Sybill Trelawney to leave. Between ourselves, she has no idea of the danger she would be in outside the castle. She does not know – and I think it would be unwise to enlighten her – that she made the prophecy about you and Voldemort, you see.’” – Imagine you run a school and the reason you can’t fire a teacher is because otherwise they would be in mortal danger. And I think it is fair to say we can add Slughorn to this list as well. But at least both Firenze and Slughorn are aware of the danger, whereas Trelawney is blissfully oblivious, which puts her even more at risk.

• “A hot, prickly feeling of shame spread from the top of Harry’s head all the way down his body. Dumbledore had not raised his voice, he did not even sound angry, but Harry would have preferred him to yell; this cold disappointment was worse than anything. ‘Sir,’ he said, a little desperately, ‘it isn’t that I wasn’t bothered or anything, I’ve just had other – other things …’ ‘Other things on your mind,’ Dumbledore finished the sentence for him. ‘I see.’” – Ironically my mother used the same tactic on me – she was never angry with me, but simply disappointed, because she had expected I would do better whenever I misbehaved. And I think Harry is used to anger; he spent years confronted with the anger of uncle Vernon and it is also how he reacts whenever something doesn’t go the way he wanted it to be. And anger can be very cathartic; after Sirius’s death Dumbledore gave Harry the chance to let out his anger because he knew it was what Harry needed at that moment. But he did not give him the satisfaction to be angry in return and he is not angry now, and Harry, who is so used to fight back, doesn’t know what to do. And of course Harry has had other things on his mind, as every teenager does, and Dumbledore is painfully aware of it. It is Dumbledore’s dilemma: he wants for Harry to be a normal teenager, to be concerned about Quidditch and schoolwork. And he wouldn’t have asked if it wasn’t important, if there was any other way to get this memory.

• “‘Firstly, and very importantly, Voldemort was, I believe, more attached to this school than he has ever been to a person. Hogwarts was where he had been happiest; the first and only place he had felt at home.’ Harry felt slightly uncomfortable at these words, for this was exactly how he felt about Hogwarts, too.” – This isn’t just a parallel between Harry and Voldemort but between Harry and Snape as well. The three boys without a home, because they either were orphans or came from an abusive family, or in Harry’s case both. But while both Voldemort and Snape wanted to stay there as teachers Harry was ready to leave his first real home behind because he had found a home and a family outside Hogwarts. (Though one has to wonder why Snape wanted to become a teacher; clearly not because he loves children that much)

• “‘And thirdly, as a teacher, he would have had great power and influence over young witches and wizards. Perhaps he had gained the idea from Professor Slughorn, the teacher with whom he was on best terms, who had demonstrated how influential a role a teacher can play. I do not imagine for an instant that Voldemort envisaged spending the rest of his life at Hogwarts, but I do think that he saw it as a useful recruiting ground, and a place where he might begin to build himself an army.’” – Slughorn is presented as a character who might not be the most sympathetic because of his favouritism but who appears to be harmless. Dumbledore himself said that while Slughorn seeks the attention of the powerful he does not want power for himself. However he could use his power and influence in a much sinister way, and the young Tom Riddle surely had realized that. He had worked his charm already on most of the adults in his life (with the exception of Dumbledore) and it would have been much easier to influence children, to gain new followers, or as Dumbledore said to build an army. Teachers are in a position of power, especially at Hogwarts, where children are far away from their parents, and Tom Riddle would have abused this power.

• “‘But he didn’t get the job, sir?’ ‘No, he did not. Professor Dippet told him that he was too young at eighteen, but invited him to reapply in a few years, if he still wished to teach.’” – We already know you don’t need any sort of extra education to become a teacher; Hagrid is a teacher and never even finished school. And obviously Tom Riddle was perhaps the most talented student Hogwarts ever had (next to Dumbledore), so clearly Dippet saw no need for him to study or anything (are their universities in the Wizarding World?). The only reason he did not get the job was his age, so perhaps Dippet thought Riddle was not mature enough yet.

• “‘Which job did he want, sir? What subject did he want to teach?’ Somehow, Harry knew the answer even before Dumbledore gave it. ‘Defence Against the Dark Arts.” – Another Harry-Snape-Voldemort-parallel. Both Voldemort and Snape wanted to get the job of the DADA teacher, and that is the subject Harry taught in his fifth year in the DA. Both Voldemort and Snape are fascinated by the Dark Arts, they are drawn to it, and according to Hermione Harry is as well, at least a little bit (Snape’s speech at the beginning of the school year reminded her of what Harry had told the DA). Harry’s fascination however is based on the fact that he has to understand the Dark Arts in order to survive and has no wish to use them on others.

• “‘How do I look?’ said Hepzibah, turning her head to admire the various angles of her face in the mirror. ‘Lovely, madam,’ squeaked Hokey.” – This is not the first time Riddle visits Hepzibah Smith, and it is obvious that she is very smitten by him and tries to look nice for him. Obvious Riddle has used his charm on her as well, but he had also used his good looks to his advantage. From what we know about Voldemort he is not interested in personal relationships and I can’t imagine him to be interested in sex as well (yes, ignoring ‘Cursed Child’ here). As Dumbledore already told Harry Riddle/Voldemort never had any friends, I don’t see him having any kind of romantic or sexual relationship either. And yet he is very aware of the effect he has on women (and perhaps some men as well); he does not care about his looks (otherwise he would not have transformed himself) but he sure uses his attractiveness to his advantage.

• “His greedy expression was curiously mirrored on Hepzibah’s face, except that her tiny eyes were fixed upon Voldemort’s handsome features.” – It is interesting that Hepzibah is described here as a predator, when she in fact will become the victim.

• “‘That’s right!’ said Hepzibah, delighted, apparently, at the sight of Voldemort gazing at her locket, transfixed. ‘I had to pay an arm and a leg for it, but I couldn’t let it pass, not a real treasure like that, had to have it for my collection. Burke bought it, apparently, from a ragged-looking woman who seemed to have stolen it, but had no idea of its true value –’ There was no mistaking it this time: Voldemort’s eyes flashed scarlet at her words and Harry saw his knuckles whiten on the locket’s chain.” – Is Riddle angry because Burke had betrayed his mother? Because he thinks the locket is rightfully his? We know that Riddle hated his father, because he was a Muggle, because he had left his mother, but what does he think about his mother? Did he changed her mind about her after he learned that she was a witch, an ancestor of Slytherin on top of it? Or did he look down on her, because she ran away with a Muggle, because she chose the human weakness of death even though she could have saved herself? I can’t imagine that he felt any kind of sympathy towards his mother for those very reasons, and that his anger here is clearly based on thinking the locket belongs to him.

• “‘Yes, that is my conclusion, too,’ said Dumbledore. ‘And, just as with Morfin, the Ministry was predisposed to suspect Hokey –’ ‘– because she was a house-elf,’ said Harry. He had rarely felt more in sympathy with the society Hermione had set up, S.P.E.W.” – If the ministry really suspected Hokey it shows how little they understand about house elves. Most of them are devoted to their masters and even the ones like Dobby who dislike their owners are programmed to obey and do as they are told. It is against the very nature of every house elf to hurt their master in any way. Despite being free Dobby still struggles to speak bad about the Malfoys and still wants to punish himself, so even if Hokey had a motive (and she seemed to like her mistress) she simply could not have killed Hepzibah.

• “The one difference between the present-day office and this one was that it was snowing in the past; bluish flecks were drifting past the window in the dark and building up on the outside ledge.” – Clearly it is winter, so why would Voldemort try to get a job as a teacher in the middle of the school year?

• “Harry let out a hastily stifled gasp. Voldemort had entered the room. His features were not those Harry had seen emerge from the great stone cauldron almost two years before; they were not as snakelike, the eyes were not yet scarlet, the face not yet masklike, and yet he was no longer handsome Tom Riddle. It was as though his features had been burned and blurred; they were waxy and oddly distorted, and the whites of the eyes now had a permanently bloody look, though the pupils were not yet the slits that Harry knew they would become. He was wearing a long black cloak and his face was as pale as the snow glistening on his shoulders.” – I guess this is what happens when you repeatedly rip your soul apart. The less you become human the less you look human as well.

• “‘They do not call me “Tom” any more,’ he said. ‘These days, I am known as –’ ‘I know what you are known as,’ said Dumbledore, smiling pleasantly. ‘But to me, I’m afraid, you will always be Tom Riddle. It is one of the irritating things about old teachers, I am afraid, that they never quite forget their charges’ youthful beginnings.’” – It is such a small thing but Dumbledore’s refusal to acknowledge the name Riddle has given himself means so much. It means he does not accept and furthermore does not fear the monster Riddle has created of himself. And he reminds Riddle that he does know him longer than most, and that he has always looked right through his façade. By calling him ‘Tom’ he reminds Riddle that he is still human after all, no matter how desperate Riddle tries to become something less human. Later of course people would become so afraid of the monster they became afraid of the name itself. Dumbledore refused to call Tom Riddle ‘Voldemort’ and later refused not to use the name ‘Voldemort’ when everybody else did. He does not give Riddle/Voldemort any kind of power over him. And then of course in book 7 Voldemort will use his name as a weapon, as he will trace down everyone brave enough to say his name.

• Also, imagine little first-years calling their DADA teacher Professor Voldemort.

• “‘Three times at the last count, actually,’ said Dumbledore. ‘But the Ministry never attracted me as a career. Again, something we have in common, I think.’ Voldemort inclined his head, unsmiling, and took another sip of wine.” – Of course in book 7 Voldemort does infiltrate the Ministry of Magic, but he never becomes Minister of Magic, but rather uses a marionette to do his bidding. He could have gained power in a legal way, could have built up a terror regime as a Minister, but he was never interested in politics.

• “‘The old argument,’ he said softly. ‘But nothing I have seen in the world has supported your famous pronouncements that love is more powerful than my kind of magic, Dumbledore.’ ‘Perhaps you have been looking in the wrong places,’ suggested Dumbledore.” – First of all Dumbledore and Riddle seemed to have a similar conversation before. Second Dumbledore here tells Riddle exactly what will be his downfall. First defeated by the sacrifice of a loving mother, later (and finally) by the boy who cared too much, who was protected and did protect others with a magic Voldemort never understood: love.

• “‘And what will become of those whom you command? What will happen to those who call themselves – or so rumour has it – the Death Eaters?’ Harry could tell that Voldemort had not expected Dumbledore to know this name; he saw Voldemort’s eyes flash red again and the slitlike nostrils flare. “ – Dumbledore himself admits how little there is to know what Voldemort did between the years when he left school and the ten years later when he appeared at Hogwarts again. So how come Dumbledore knew about the Death Eaters? Had he already been suspicious of Riddle when he left school and tried to gather as much information about him as he could? Voldemort still tries to keep up the façade of a young charming man; nobody is supposed to know yet he is the leader of a secret cult. But Dumbledore is already three steps ahead. He must have known or suspected that Riddle would become someone dangerous.

• “‘No, nothing,’ said Dumbledore, and a great sadness filled his face. ‘The time is long gone when I could frighten you with a burning wardrobe and force you to make repayment for your crimes. But I wish I could, Tom … I wish I could …’” – Dumbledore was Riddle’s teacher, so in a way perhaps he saw him as his responsibility, and saw what had become of his student as his own failure.

• “‘Oh, he definitely wanted the Defence Against the Dark Arts job,’ said Dumbledore. ‘The aftermath of our little meeting proved that. You see, we have never been able to keep a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher for longer than a year since I refused the post to Lord Voldemort.’” – So, the job is cursed, we know of one teacher who died (Quirell) and others who got seriously hurt (Lockhart, Moody, Umbridge). It seems Lupin did get away the best. But with that knowledge it does seem a bit irresponsible to offer anyone the job. I wonder if Snape knows the job is cursed or had his suspicions. And maybe that was another reason Dumbledore refused so long to give him the job: he had tried to protect Snape.