Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince- spoiled.

[Rachel]

i expect the closing of the school doesnt matter, as they're not planning on going back anyway

[Igg]

Chass is writing out a really long post, isn't she....ye gods.

[Sapphire Faerie]

Ok, gonna quote an edited excerpt from my LJ:

Yea, I cried a little. I didn't cry with OotP, but really, by the time I finished the ruddy thing, I'd gathered from slightly spoilerish comments that it'd be Sirius. Plus the way she wrote his death was more "WTH?!" than "OMG NO!"

The books just keep getting scarier. Ugh, when that zombie thing (can't be bothered finding the proper term, but come on, they're zombies) reached and grabbed Harry, it was very creepy. And then I pictured how it would be in the movie. Scary.

We knew there'd be a death, but J.K. didn't really throw out the red herrings like she did with OotP. I mean, there was a moment when you think it's Ron. And I spent a great deal of the book thinking it might be Draco, even during that tower-top conversation with Dumbledore. I also spent a few moments somewhere thinking it could be Snape.

Well, let's review Chass' theories. I thought the HBP would be Salazar Slytherin, or possibly Godric Gryffindor. I was wrong. BUT! I was right, or at least close, about a lot of things.
I was right that the HPB would not be an actual Prince. (Oh my! Prince Harry (no relation to Potter, of course) has come to Hogwarts! Turns out Princess Di had an affair! Who could've suspected a thing?! I mean, he looks nothing like Prince Charles or Princess Diana. [/sarcasm])
I really hated people throwing out these theories of "Oh! It's Seamus!" "Oh! It's Hagrid!" "Oh! It's Grawp!" I was certain that it wouldn't be anyone in Harry's present but rather, someone in the past. It turned out to be both. I mean, the HBP was someone in Harry's present. But Harry's interactions with him were all through jottings from the past.
What I thought to be a pensieve on the cover confirmed my suspicions the book would deal a lot with the past. Even though what's on the cover is just a basin, the book does deal with the past, and the pensieve is used over and over again.
She said she came up with the plot for HBP while writing CoS, and it's obvious. The diary as a Horcrux. That's what set it off.
She also said it had to do with something Harry discovered while inside the Chamber. My mind recollects him discovering that Tom was the heir of Slytherin, that Tom was a half-blood, that Tom was Voldemort, and that Tom was able to come back because he'd preserved himself in the diary.
Obviously, it was the last one. But my mind jumped on the first two, which drew me to my conclusions about Slytherin.
I was actually hoping to learn more about the school in this book. We learned first about the four founders in CoS, and with my mind set on the HPB being Slytherin, I figured we'd learn more about the history of the school in this book. Apparently not.
Maybe she'll write Hogwarts: A History, like she did with Quidditch Through The Ages and Magical Creatures And Where To Find Them. I'd definately read it, I'm a geek like that.

Ok, moving on to the fun stuff. SHE IS KILLING SLASH PAIRINGS! ((edits out the rest of this paragraph, especially, as it's too much for PPT =P))

And Harry/Ginny. If he lives past book 7, they'll marry. Xandra shall be happy. I'm not worried about it though, I'm still thinking/hoping he'll die in the end.

Anyone watch the interview with J.K. Rowling on the PoA DVD? She said she loved the shrunken heads and wished she'd thought of that.
Well, I hated the damned things, but she's gone and made them canon.
Somewhere in there (can't be bothered to check) there's a brief mention of Filch confiscating one from Crabbe (or maybe it was Goyle?)

Did anyone notice the bit when Slughorn mistakenly called Ron 'Rupert'? I wonder what Rupert Grint thinks of that!

I hope something kills off Slughorn soon, he annoys me @_@

Also, WTH was up with the password being "abstinence"?!

Chass is writing out a really long post, isn't she....ye gods.

Quit stalking me!

[Igg]

I'm not stalking you, I'm just moderately intelligent

[(*Dranzer*)]

Snape had no choice but to kill Dumbledore, as he's too cowardly to die himself. Unbreakable Vow, the third pact required Snape to finish Draco's job if he failed.

[Xil]

Snape had no choice but to kill Dumbledore, as he's too cowardly to die himself. Unbreakable Vow, the third pact required Snape to finish Draco's job if he failed.

You think while Snape and Dumbledore looked at each other, nothing else was happening? I dunno man, they're both well experienced at Legilimens. That has to mean something.

[fzun]

Snape had no choice but to kill Dumbledore, as he's too cowardly to die himself. Unbreakable Vow, the third pact required Snape to finish Draco's job if he failed.

You think while Snape and Dumbledore looked at each other, nothing else was happening? I dunno man, they're both well experienced at Legilimens. That has to mean something.

Yeah, Dan's right. I'm pretty sure they were talking using Legilimency. But I guess we won't find out until the next book, if we ever find out at all ._.

[Twinkle]

Snape had no choice but to kill Dumbledore, as he's too cowardly to die himself. Unbreakable Vow, the third pact required Snape to finish Draco's job if he failed.

You think while Snape and Dumbledore looked at each other, nothing else was happening? I dunno man, they're both well experienced at Legilimens. That has to mean something.

I said that on page 2. *grumbles*

[ahoteinrun]

*sighs*
Ya know.

I re-read the book this morning, and to be frank, it wasn't as action packed as the others, but boy was there a whole bum load of information. Re-reading it was nice, and I really must admit, that I have a massively increased hatred for Snape.

But I am of two minds on it. Either, A) he'll do something to thwart the darklord from killing Harry or B) He'll help to try to kill Harry. (Frankly I am still in the belief that Harry will die in the seventh book, simply because not all great stories end with their heroes alive).
But... who knows.

And I admit, I think Fenrir Greyback is a wickedly awesome evil char. I mean, anyone who savages little kids has my respects in the evil category.

[CCB]

Yeah, this one was much much better than OotP which was just... I dunno, it just didn't seem as relevant to anything going on.

I think this book was superbly written and the pace was done brilliantly, it's been a very long time since I read the last three or four chapters of a book and was completely gripped like that.

And Snape is now a genius charcater, because the dialogue between him and Harry at the end was superb.

I do agree with the Legilimency before the Avada Kedavra. I also agree about it being Sirius's brother.

The best bit is, JKR broke the format of the books apart for this one, it wasn't like the other books in the sense of "We have this term and then this term and some stuff happens in Quidditch". All those things happened but they were largely unimportant to the main part of the plot. Snape being the HBP doesn't mean anything in the context of the book so far, the important thing is the Horcruxes.

I've just started my re-read for things I might have missed

Big thumbs up for this one.

Oh, except the completely weird five chapters or so of the constant shipping. Maybe it's that I'm a guy, and it's been a few years since I was that age, but as someone pointed out earlier, there are other words than "snogging".

[Amethyst]

I finished it in five hours. My favorite book so far, especially since ALL OF MY SHIPPING DREAMS HAVE COME TRUE! MWAHAHAHAHA! I didn't cry when Dumbledore died, because I rarely cry at books and I kinda wanted him to die anyway.

Finishing a Harry Potter book in five hours is one thing, finishing it with a hyper Vietnamese girl sitting on the end of your bed and giggling every five seconds is quite another. She wanted me to come over after I finished the book, and she had to wait for two hours so she started reading through my manga collection x)

[Erin]

Maybe it's that I'm a guy, and it's been a few years since I was that age, but as someone pointed out earlier, there are other words than "snogging".

Maybe that's just the most common term, if you're a Brit. I dunno, can anyone testify to this?

[Josephine]

It's not. Snogging is what you call it if you're a) posh, b) 11.

[(*Dranzer*)]

Now... to find a name for the Tonks/Lupin shipping..... Metawolf?

[Josephine]

Nymphwolf... ooer.