Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince Chapter Notes

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Chapter 28: Flight of the Prince

• Wait, is that chapter title already a spoiler about the identity of the Half-Blood Prince? I mean who else would be on the run other than Snape? Though I admit that the first time I read this chapter I was simply too shocked about what had just happened to give the chapter title much thought.

• “Terror tore at Harry’s heart … he had to get to Dumbledore and he had to catch Snape … somehow the two things were linked … he could reverse what had happened if he had them both together … Dumbledore could not have died …” – Dumbledore has become an almost God-like figure and it is unthinkable that he could ever die, that he could ever be that vulnerable. In the end Dumbledore chose his death, he died under his own conditions, as much as that is possible. But there is always this feeling that as long as Dumbledore is around everything is safe. The idea of Hogwarts as the safest place on earth is very much tied to Dumbledore. Without him the last refuge is gone.

• “And now he saw the vast outline of Hagrid, illuminated by the light of the crescent moon revealed suddenly from behind clouds; the blond Death Eater was aiming curse after curse at the gamekeeper, but Hagrid’s immense strength, and the toughened skin he had inherited from his giantess mother, seemed to be protecting him;” – I like the fact that Hagrid has his very own superpower. He is probably not immune to all curses, but as it seems to a lot, probably including some nasty ones, because after all a Death Eater is using them.

• “[… ]Harry rolled over and scrambled back up again as the huge Death Eater behind him yelled, ‘Incendio!’; Harry heard an explosive bang and a dancing orange light spilled over all of them: Hagrid’s house was on fire. ‘Fang’s in there, yeh evil –!’ Hagrid bellowed.” – From all the evil things the Death Eaters did that evening almost killing Fang is definitely the worst. Golden rule: don’t kill the dog.

• “But before he could finish this jinx, excruciating pain hit Harry; he keeled over in the grass, someone was screaming, he would surely die of this agony, Snape was going to torture him to death or madness – ‘No!’ roared Snape’s voice and the pain stopped as suddenly as it had started; Harry lay curled on the dark grass, clutching his wand and panting; somewhere above him Snape was shouting, ‘Have you forgotten our orders? Potter belongs to the Dark Lord – we are to leave him! Go! Go!’” – Earlier, when Harry ran past the Order and the DA fighting Death Eaters, it is described that some green light nearly hit him, so someone was throwing a Death Curse at him. But by the sound of it though the curse that hit Harry here (while fighting Snape) seems like the Cruciatus Curse, and while it makes sense that Voldemort wants to kill Harry himself, I don’t think he would mind if his followers torture Harry. If anything the scene reminds me of a scene in book 7, where Draco tells Crabbe (or Goyle?) not to kill Harry either, claiming as well that Harry belongs to Voldemort. And both times I wondered if Snape and Draco secretly wanted to protect Harry.

• “‘Kill me, then,’ panted Harry, who felt no fear at all, but only rage and contempt. ‘Kill me like you killed him, you coward –’ ‘DON’T –’ screamed Snape, and his face was suddenly demented, inhuman, as though he was in as much pain as the yelping, howling dog stuck in the burning house behind them, ‘– CALL ME COWARD!’” – Flash forward 20 years later and Harry telling his son he was named after the two bravest men he had known, one of them Severus Snape. But it is obvious how incredible hurt Snape is by being called a coward. Because that is who he was when he started following Voldemort, a weak man, looking for a leader. And his weakness, his cowardice resulted in Lily’s death. And then he risked everything, still is, as a double agent, always in mortal danger, to redeem himself, to help Harry survive, so Lily’s sacrifice was not in vain. And he has to shut himself and his feelings completely down, he can’t afford to feel, for his feelings would betray him. I will never be a huge fan of Snape, because I think his change was based on the wrong reasons, but there is no denying that he was indeed very brave.

• “‘What musta happened was, Dumbledore musta told Snape ter go with them Death Eaters,’ Hagrid said confidently. ‘I suppose he’s gotta keep his cover. Look, let’s get yeh back up ter the school. Come on, Harry …’” – I don’t think Hagrid and Snape ever had much of a relationship with each other. But Hagrid is loyal to Dumbledore. His trust in Snape is based on Dumbledore’s trust in Snape. And it is not just him. Most members of the Order feel the same way. They don’t particular like Snape but they believed in Dumbledore’s judgement of Snape’s character.

• “Harry had known there was no hope from the moment that the Body-Bind Curse Dumbledore had placed upon him lifted, known that it could have happened only because its caster was dead; but there was still no preparation for seeing him here, spread-eagled, broken: the greatest wizard Harry had ever, or would ever, meet.” – Even Dumbledore, who had always been bigger than life, who was always untouchable, became human again in his death. Even he could die.