Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

Elizabeth from Book YAbber and I are so close to the end of the Harry Potter re-read for Pottermas! Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is an important book and definitely my favorite book. HBP's information about the Unbreakable Vow and the Horcruxes are so crucial before we read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

WARNING 
For those who haven't read the Harry Potter series, all book discussions WILL HAVE spoilers. If you do not want to read spoilers, please do not read ahead.

Snape is excellent as a double agent (or maybe triple or quadruple agent) and only very few know where his loyalties lie. The scene with the Unbreakable Vow is one of my favorites and is super important.

Unbreakable Vow
1. Snape will watch over Draco while Draco attempts to carry out his mission as a Death Eater.
2. Snape will protect Draco and make sure he comes to no harm.
3. Snape will do the job for Draco if it seems he will fail.

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Snape's promise to Dumbledore is important as well. No one understood what Dumbledore meant when he said, "Severus... Please..." Dumbledore knew he was dying when he put the Resurrection Stone casted in Marvolo Gaunt's ring on his finger. Because it is a Horcrux made by Voldemort, the Horcrux is cursed. The very powerful curse would have killed Dumbledore sooner but the potions master was able to delay the curse for about a year with a special potion. Dumbledore made Snape promise to kill him when need be at the right time.

"Severus... Please..." sounds like Dumbledore is begging for his life which works in Snape's favor since everything thinks he is a Death Eater. However, Dumbledore is implying for Snape to kill him because only the both of them knew that Dumbledore is dying. Dumbledore knew about the unbreakable vow and knew Draco was trying to kill him. This way Snape has Voldemort's trust, Snape fulfills the vow and Draco doesn't have to kill Dumbledore and Snape lives to his promise with Dumbledore.

The Trio follow Draco at Knockturn Alley into Borgin & Burkes. I love how I understand what Draco is trying to get fixed and what Borgin needs to keep safe. Even though Harry is sure that Draco has the Dark Mark on his arm, Hermione and Ron don't believe that Draco is a Death Eater. Harry insists it all makes sense why Draco is a Death Eater; Draco is taking is father's spot in Voldemort's circle. Of course no one believes Harry that Draco is a Death Eater and everyone thinks nothing of Draco's weird behavior during the whole year. I found it odd how Harry, Snape and Dumbledore are the only people who knew Draco was up to something.

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Hermione and Ron bicker throughout the whole book and it takes them forever to admit their feelings for one another. Ron is teased by Ginny about not snogging with a girl. I think because Ron can't admit his feelings to Hermione, he starts dating Lavender. Hermione fancies Ron as well but hasn't verbally expressed it to him. She confunded Cormac so Ron would make the team and lately she has been blushing a lot when Ron says or does certain things. The only person who is noticing this is Harry. And even with Harry noticing, he does not say anything about it to either Hermione or Ron because he fears about what will happen to their friendship as a trio if the two break up. I guess he was thinking about what happened to himself with Cho.

On the other note, Harry is finally seeing Ginny as a girl that he fancies. It took about 6 years for Harry to realize this when Ginny liked him from the start. I believe Harry fancies Ginny now because of the girl Ginny is now. Ginny use to be timid and viewed as just the younger sister of Ron. Now, Ginny is strong and witty. She is quite athletic being on the Quidditch team and she is confident about herself. She doesn't need people to help her out like before. Also, Ginny can produce one mean Bat-Bogey hex. Ginny has blossomed over the years and Harry is quite interested in her but is worried about what Ron thinks since Ron is always hassling Ginny about who she decides to go out with.

Horcruxes are so important in this book and so are Dumbledore's private lessons. It lays the framework for DH. Understanding Voldemort and why and how he does things is the key to defeat him. HBP is important because this is the last time Harry finds out information from Dumbledore about how to defeat Voldemort. Even though Dumbledore carefully plans out how to help Harry in DH, it is crucial Harry had these one-on-one private lessons with Dumbledore. These lessons helped Harry figure out where the other Horcruxes are located and what the remaining Horcruxes are.

Some of my favorite quotes include:

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Check the blog back on Tuesday, December 29th for a list of books to check out after reading Harry Potter. If you are new to Pottermas 2015, make sure to check out this post. Also, you can follow Pottermas 2015 on social media with the hashtag #Pottermas15.