Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince Chapter Notes

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Chapter 26: The Cave

• “And with the sudden agility of a much younger man, Dumbledore slid from the boulder, landed in the sea and began to swim, with a perfect breaststroke, towards the dark slit in the rock face, his lit wand held in his teeth.” – I don’t know why this image is so funny to me, but I need fan art of this moment asap.

• “‘Here,’ he said. ‘We go on through here. The entrance is concealed.’ Harry did not ask how Dumbledore knew. He had never seen a wizard work things out like this, simply by looking and touching; but Harry had long since learned that bangs and smoke were more often the marks of ineptitude than expertise.” – Not only does magic leaves traces, wizards like Dumbledore can feel it. Harry of course has spent most of his life either at places without any magic (Privet Drive) or places full of magic (Hogwarts, the Burrow, Grimmauld Place etc), so perhaps it is much more difficult for him to detect the traces magic leaves behind, for he only knows the complete absence or is overwhelmed by it.

• “Dumbledore stepped back from the cave wall and pointed his wand at the rock. For a moment, an arched outline appeared there, blazing white as though there was a powerful light behind the crack.” – Both the hidden door and later the lake full of bodies are references to the Lord of the Rings, respectively the Doors of Durin and the Dead Marshes. Of course you only have to solve a riddle and not give your blood to enter the Doors of Durin. And later in book 7 we have another pretty obvious reference to Tolkien’s work: while Ron, Hermione and Harry each wear Slytherin’s locket (still a Horcrux then) it changes their personality to something much more sinister, the same way the One Ring influences Frodo (and has influenced Gollum) to become someone else. There might be other references that I missed, because I’m not an expert when it comes to Lord of the Rings.

• “‘I said it was crude,’ said Dumbledore, who sounded disdainful, even disappointed, as though Voldemort had fallen short of the standards Dumbledore expected. ‘The idea, as I am sure you will have gathered, is that your enemy must weaken him or herself to enter. Once again, Lord Voldemort fails to grasp that there are much more terrible things than physical injury.’” – The thing however is that if you are a wizard you can simply heal yourself afterwards, so you are not weakened at all. It is not just crude but rather pointless.

• “‘You are very kind, Harry,’ said Dumbledore, now passing the tip of his wand over the deep cut he had made in his own arm, so that it healed instantly, just as Snape had healed Malfoy’s wounds. ‘But your blood is worth more than mine. Ah, that seems to have done the trick, doesn’t it?’” – Of course Harry’s blood had a particular value to Voldemort because he needed the protection in it (given through Lily’s sacrifice) in order to recreate himself and to be able to touch Harry. But I don’t think that in this case it would have actually mattered whose blood they used; I doubt the door could recognize the donor.

• I have to admit that the image of the cave, the almost complete darkness and the bodies in the lake is deeply unsettling. Well done.

• Also, after Harry suggest to use a Summoning Charm to get the Horcrux Dumbledore does not dismiss his idea but instead let him try it out, even though he knew it would not be as easy as that. But he encourages Harry and let him take action; I can only image he was the same as a teacher, never dismissing anyone’s ideas but supporting them instead, the way Lupin did.

• “‘How did you know that was there?’ Harry asked in astonishment. ‘Magic always leaves traces,’ said Dumbledore, as the boat hit the bank with a gentle bump, ‘sometimes very distinctive traces. I taught Tom Riddle. I know his style.’” – So not only does Dumbledore recognizes traces of magic but also who performed the magic in this case. That it was Tom Riddle is kinda obvious, but I like the idea of wizards leaving behind magical fingerprints, something that you can clearly trace back to their owner. Then again perhaps only as highly gifted wizards as Dumbledore are able to do this. We know that while the Ministry can recognizes where magic has been used there are often unable to tell who did it; they had accused Harry to use magic in his holidays when it had been Dobby instead. And they need tools like Priori Incantatem to figure out who has performed a certain spell.

• “‘Voldemort will not have cared about the weight, but about the amount of magical power that crossed his lake. I rather think an enchantment will have been placed upon this boat so that only one wizard at a time will be able to sail in it.’ ‘But then –?’ ‘I do not think you will count, Harry: you are under age and unqualified. Voldemort would never have expected a sixteen-year-old to reach this place: I think it unlikely that your powers will register compared to mine.’” – It will be of course Voldemort’s downfall that he underestimates practically everyone. Harry does not register because he is too young. According to Rowling’s drawing of the Black family tree Regulus was 18 when he died, so he did register as a wizard, but Kreacher of course did not. It simply did not cross Voldemort’s mind that two people/beings could travel to this place, or that his protection would not work on House Elves and the likes.

• I wonder who the bodies in the lake are, if perhaps Dumbledore would recognize some of Voldemort’s victims who would have found their final resting place here, their bodies abused to protect a part of the soul of their killer.

• “‘There is nothing to be feared from a body, Harry, any more than there is anything to be feared from the darkness. Lord Voldemort, who of course secretly fears both, disagrees. But once again he reveals his own lack of wisdom. It is the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness, nothing more.’” – Perhaps the best way to face a fear is to educate yourself about it; once it is demystified it can no longer scares us.

• “‘Yes,’ said Dumbledore. ‘I am sure that once we take the Horcrux, we shall find them less peaceable. However, like many creatures that dwell in cold and darkness, they fear light and warmth, which we shall therefore call to our aid should the need arise. Fire, Harry,’ Dumbledore added with a smile, in response to Harry’s bewildered expression.” – It is the Devil’s Snare all over again, isn’t it?

• “‘I’m sorry, Harry; I should have said, he would not want immediately to kill the person who reached this island,’ Dumbledore corrected himself. ‘He would want to keep them alive long enough to find out how they managed to penetrate so far through his defences and, most importantly of all, why they were so intent upon emptying the basin. Do not forget that Lord Voldemort believes that he alone knows about his Horcruxes.’” – This sounds like Voldemort has some sort of alarm system, that he would know if somebody would enter the cave or start drinking the poison, but we know this is not the case. Regulus and Kreacher had been where Harry and Dumbledore are now, they took the Horcrux and Voldemort never found out about it. Also the way the poison works the drinker would be incredibly thirsty sooner or later, reaching for the water in the lake, and then getting dragged down by the Inferi. The poison is meant to kill, though not directly.

• “‘Why can’t I drink the potion instead?’ asked Harry desperately. ‘Because I am much older, much cleverer, and much less valuable,’ said Dumbledore.” – Of course Harry’s value is that he alone can defeat Voldemort, but still it is very problematic to decide that one life has more value than another, especially knowing Dumbledore refers to Harry’s strategic value. At the moment Harry’s life has more value, because it is not the right moment for him to die yet.

• “Dumbledore began to cower as though invisible torturers surrounded him; his flailing hand almost knocked the refilled goblet from Harry’s trembling hands as he moaned, ‘Don’t hurt them, don’t hurt them, please, please, it’s my fault, hurt me instead …’” – I wonder what it was that Dumbledore saw here; either his worst memory (the death of his sister) or his biggest fear (people dying for him, the same fear Harry has). Dumbledore said earlier that Voldemort does not know that there are worse things than physical pain, but this proves that he does. This is psychological torture.

• Also, more terrifying than everything else (the darkness, the bodies) is the horror Harry feels when he witnesses what the poison does to Dumbledore, when he sees the pain Dumbledore feels and is forced to keep him drinking.

• “‘I am not worried, Harry,’ said Dumbledore, his voice a little stronger despite the freezing water. ‘I am with you.’” – There is something quite scaring in this role reversal; the protector becomes the one who needs protection. Dumbledore  places his trust in Harry, he knows his time is limited, he knows that Harry has to finish what they both have started, there is no more time to teach him. And it puts an almost unbearable weight on Harry’s shoulders.