Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Half-Blood Prince/Chapter 10
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Chapter 10 of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: The House of Gaunt
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[edit] Synopsis
Over the the next week, Hermione remains angry over Harry using the Prince's notes. She suggests that the "Prince" may be female, based on the book's handwriting, but Harry retorts, "How many girls have been Princes?" Ron is also angered, because even though Harry has offered to share, Ron is unable to read the tiny handwriting and has to rely on textbook formulas. Professor Slughorn, of course, believes Harry is among the best Potions students he has ever taught.
Harry arrives at Professor Dumbledore's office for his first lesson, although he had to dodge a tipsy Professor Trelawney in the hallway. Dumbledore explains that they will try to determine Voldemort's intentions, based on Dumbledore's previous investigation. Dumbledore has shared all he knows with Harry; now they are embarking on guesswork and supposition. Dumbledore produces a vial containing memories from Bob Ogden, who worked in Magical Law Enforcement. Dumbledore pours the contents into his Pensieve, and he and Harry enter.
Bob Ogden arrives near Little Hangleton village and turns down a path. Approaching a ramshackle cottage, a young wizard with several missing teeth and small, dark eyes staring in opposite directions appears and challenges Ogden, speaking in Parseltongue. The wizard jinxes Ogden before he can state his business. An older wizard appears and addresses the younger one as Morfin. He identifies himself as Mr. Gaunt, and says Ogden should have announced himself. Ogden replies that a message was sent by owl post; Gaunt responds that he does not read letters. When Ogden says he is there about Morfin, Gaunt invites him in. Inside, Merope, Guant's teen-aged daughter, is in the kitchen. She has a plain, heavy face, and, like Morfin, her eyes stare in opposite directions.
Ogden says Morfin jinxed a Muggle, causing Merope to drop a pot. She fumbles a spell to pick it up and slams the pot into the wall. Ogden repairs it for her. Gaunt taunts Merope, causing her to blush fiercely. Ogden says Morfin has broken Wizarding law, and produces a summons. Gaunt demands to know if Ogden realizes just who he is talking to and shows him a ring he says bears the Peverell coat of arms. He also shows Ogden Merope's locket, claiming it is Salazar Slytherin's, and they are his descendents. Ogden retorts that their heritage has no bearing on Morfin having Jinxed a Muggle. Ogden reads the summons, breaking off when horses are heard approaching outside. In Parseltongue, Morfin says it is the Muggle that Merope fancies and the one he Jinxed. Gaunt demands to know if Merope is chasing a Muggle. When she does not answer, he attacks her; Ogden defends her and is attacked in turn by Morfin. Ogden escapes, crashing into the two riders on horseback as he runs for the road; Harry and Dumbledore exit the memory.
Dumbledore says Ogden quickly returned with Ministry reinforcements, but Morfin and Gaunt fought them; Morfin was sentenced to Azkaban for three years while Marvolo Gaunt received six months. Harry instantly recognizes the name: he was Voldemort's grandfather. Dumbledore says that Merope was to be Voldemort's mother, and his father was the elegant Muggle on horseback that Morfin attacked. Harry wonders how the handsome Tom Riddle could possibly have married the unattractive Merope; Dumbledore says she likely used a love potion. The two ran away together, causing a scandal; Marvolo never forgave her and died shortly after his release from Azkaban.
A few months later, Riddle returned to his manor house alone, saying he had been hoodwinked. Dumbledore suggests that either Merope believed bearing Tom's child would bind him to her and stopped using the love potion or else she lost her ability to perform magic. Harry recalls that Voldemort was raised in an orphanage and correctly surmises that Merope died soon after giving birth.
Harry wants to share this with Ron and Hermione; Dumbledore agrees, but warns against spreading it any further. As he leaves, Harry notices a cracked ring sitting on a spindly table, the same ring Dumbledore wore when they visited Slughorn, and the same ring Marvolo Gaunt was wearing in the memory. He asks if Dumbledore has had it long; Dumbledore says he acquired it recently, near the time he injured his hand. But he turns aside further questions, and sends Harry to bed.
[edit] Analysis
If another student was using the Prince's textbook, Hermione, who is a Prefect, would likely have confiscated the book and reported them. However, she says nothing about Harry, and instead voices her disapproval directly to him, although she knows it will have little effect. This is a typical behaviorial pattern for Hermione, and only once has she reported Harry for something. In Prisoner of Azkaban, she informed McGonagall that Harry received the Firebolt broom from an annonymous donor (Sirius Black). Although Hermione was motivated by genuine concern over Harry's safety rather than him engaging in mischief, her actions resulted in a severe backlash and months of estrangement from Harry and Ron, causing Hermione much anguish. Although Hermione staunchly believes in obeying school rules, she fears Harry and Ron's retaliation even more, causing her to overlook their frequent, although minor, misconduct. However, even though Hermione remains disapproving of Harry for using the Half-Blood Prince's notes and resents Harry outperforming her in Potions class, she says nothing and actually becomes quite curious about the Prince's identity. This has also subtly changed the Trio's relationship. Ron and Harry have usually sought out Hermione for help or information, although they occasionally had to suffer her disapproval for their academic laziness. Now Harry has another means to find the information he needs, at least regarding Potions.
Dumbledore's private lessons are not what Harry expected. Rather than learning new magic, he is to view Voldemort's past through other people's memories. Exactly how this can aid Harry is still unknown, but learning more about his enemy may help defeat him. Studying the Gaunts has provided clues about Voldemort's own personality. Although they had sunk to a low social status and lived in poverty after previous generations squandered the family fortune, the Gaunts still considered themselvs superior based soley on their bloodline to Salazar Slytherin, and therefore expected preferential treatment. This is similar to Voldemort's own attitude. The Gaunts apparently felt little need to educate or cultivate themselves, although the sad, pathetic (and phsically unattractive) Merope secretly yearned for a better life, despite her severely limited prospects. When she fell in love with the Muggle, Tom Riddle, she used a love potion to entrap him and escape her abusive family and abysmal life. Unfortunately, as soon as the potion wore off, Riddle abandoned the pregnant Merope, who, deeply despondent and either unable or unwilling to use magic to care for herself, died soon after giving birth, leaving her son, Tom Jr. (Voldemort), to be raised in an orphanage. While Harry, and readers, may see Merope as a sympathetic character, it should be remembered that she used duplicity to trap Tom Riddle, Sr., who otherwise would never have had any interest in her. It is unknown why Merope discontinued using the love potion on him, although perhaps it becomes less effective over time or she may have hoped that Riddle would come to love her on his own, although that clearly was never the case. Although Riddle had every right to leave the bogus relationship, his abandoning an innocent child is inexcusable.
[edit] Questions
- Why does Dumbledore want Harry to learn about Voldemort's past? How will it help him?
- Even though Tom Riddle was duped by Merope, why would he abandon his innocent unborn child?
- Hermione, a Gryffindor Prefect, strongly disapproves of Harry using the Prince's textbook, believeing it is cheating and also dangerous. Why doesn't she report him?
- Why would Morfin jinx a Muggle?
- What might cause Merope to lose her ability to perform magic?
- How could Salzar Slytherin's once-wealthy descendents have fallen to such a lowly social status? Why do they still consider themselve superior to other wizards?
- Considering her father's abusive treatment and her husband's cruel abandonment, why would Merope include "Tom" and "Marvolo" in her son's name?
[edit] Greater Picture
There are several things in this little scene that will prove important. This is the first time Slytherin's locket and the Peverell ring are seen. Both will be turned into Horcruxes by Voldemort, although it has not yet been explained in the story what Horcruxes are. We will learn in the next book about the ring's destruction and why it was necessary, and how Dumbledore's hand was injured. It will also be learned in the final book that the ring's stone is one of the Deathly Hallows.
Harry chides Hermione for claiming that the Half-Blood Prince could be a girl. Although he is right that a royal female is a princess and not a prince, in this particular instance, Hermione was more accurate. It will be learned that the "prince" referred to here is not a royal title at all. Rather, it is someone's surname, and it could therefore have applied to either a male or female. Although Hermione is ultimately wrong that the book's previous owner was a female, nor does she realize yet it is someone's name, that surname did indeed belong to a woman. Hermione demonstrates that her logic is more abstract and intuitive than Harry's typical linear reasoning. Rowling is dropping a subtle clue here that readers should look beyond the seemingly obvious.
