Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Half-Blood Prince/Chapter 25
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Chapter 25 of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: The Seer Overheard
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[edit] Synopsis
Harry and Ginny are happy together, laughing about the rumors going around school about them; Harry is particularly pleased that the reason everyone is talking about him is something that makes him happy, rather than something to do with Dark magic. Ron and Hermione seem to be getting close as well. Harry's concerns that his relationship with Ginny could affect his friendship with Ron have largely evaporated.
Harry dares not to return to the Room of Requirement to recover his Potions textbook, thinking that Snape might still want to get his hands on it, and his Potions work is suffering; Professor Slughorn genially attributes this to his new interest in Ginny. Hermione reveals her theory to Harry regarding the 'Half-Blood Prince'. She has found a write-up of one Eileen Prince, a past Hogwarts student, and suggests that if she was a half-blood, it could have been her.
Harry is summoned to Dumbledore's office. Along the way, he encounters Professor Trelawney, who is sprawled in the hallway outside the Room of Requirement. She admits that she uses the Room of Requirement to hide her stock of sherry, but she is unable to get in. Apparently, someone is inside, barring others from entering. Trelawney heard a 'whooping' sound from within, which makes Harry believe that Malfoy has finally finished his task. When Trelawney called out to see who was there, everything went dark and she was pushed out into the hall. Harry says she should tell Dumbledore; she seems to like the idea and accompanies him.
As they walk, Trelawney recounts the evening Dumbledore hired her; Harry already knows Dumbledore's version, but is fascinated to hear Trelawney's, particularly when she reveals Snape interrupted them. Realizing it was Snape who passed Voldemort the information that prompted him to kill his parents, a raging Harry runs off to confront Dumbledore in his office. Dumbledore, however, disarms Harry before he can speak by telling him that he believes he has located a Horcrux. Harry is only momentarily distracted, then confronts Dumbledore about Trelawney.
After a fiery exchange, Dumbledore simply states he has reason to trust Snape, even given his skills at Occlumency. Dumbledore exacts a promise from Harry that, if Harry wishes to come with him to retrieve the Horcrux, he must be prepared to follow Dumbledore's orders explicitly. Harry promises, and Dumbledore tells him to fetch his Cloak and meet him in the Entrance Hall.
Harry retrieves the Marauder's Map and his phial of Felix Felicis potion from his dorm and hands these to Ron and Hermione, saying he and Dumbledore are leaving the school, but that Draco has finished his task. Although Dumbledore has posted extra guards, if Snape is on the Dark side, he will know what security measures are in place. Harry wants Ron, Hermione, and Ginny to have Felix to protect them, and he wants Dumbledore's Army to stand guard as well.
Harry runs to the Entrance Hall. Putting on the Cloak at Dumbledore's request, they head to Hogsmeade. In answer to Dumbledore's query, Harry says that he can Apparate, but he does not have a license yet. Dumbledore says he will guide again. They pass the Three Broomsticks, where Madam Rosmerta is ejecting a grubby wizard, and head to the Hog's Head, but with no one around, they Disapparate before reaching it.
[edit] Analysis
Harry and Ginny are happy, finally realizing they were meant to be together. However, their happiness may be short-lived; the book's mood is becoming markedly darker, especially when Harry learns it was Snape who betrayed his parents. Also, Harry knows that whatever task Draco has been working on appears to be completed. Just what this task is and how it will affect Hogwarts is still unknown, and Harry is exceedingly frustrated that his warnings about Draco's suspicious activities have been repeatedly ignored by Ron and Hermione, and apparently also by Dumbledore. However, it is actually unlikely that Dumbledore has ignored Harry's warnings and is well aware of what is happening within his own school. Harry fails to realize that a Headmaster cannot divulge sensitive information to a student, even Harry. There have already been hints that Dumbledore assigned Snape to investigate Draco's suspicious behavior. And while Harry continues to suspect Snape, Dumbledore trusts him implicitly.
[edit] Questions
- What exactly did Snape hear when Trelawney related the prophecy to Dumbledore?
- What might have Snape done or said that has made Dumbledore trust him implicitly?
- Why did Dumbledore never tell Harry who overheard the prophecy?
- Why were Harry's repeated warnings about Draco Malfoy continually ignored, especially considering Malfoy's obviously suspicious behavior?
[edit] Greater Picture
It is interesting to note that many "good Snape" theorists base their opinions on the fact that Professor Trelawney identified Professor Snape as the intruder the night the prophecy was given. Since we know from Chapter 16: Professor Trelawney's Prediction in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban that Trelawny is unaware of her surroundings while in the midst of relaying a true prophecy, she could only have seen Snape before or after she relayed the prophecy to Dumbledore. This goes directly against Dumbledore's story that the intruder only heard the first half of the prophecy before being ejected from the Hog's Head. Furthermore, since we know from Voldemort's actions in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix that he did, until that point, only know the first half of the prophecy, many people assume that Professor Snape either heard all of the prophecy or none of it, and either way, only reported as much of it to Voldemort as Dumbledore ordered him to. This would certainly go a long way towards explaining why Dumbledore trusts Snape. However, it is also necessary to remember that in both the instances we have heard, Trelawney repeated the beginning of the prophecy. Therefore, the critical bit of the prophecy was, in fact, the middle, and so if Snape heard only the end, and carried as much as he had heard to Voldemort, that would be the same as carrying only the beginning.
Snape was possibly revolted by how Voldemort put his information to use. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows it is learned that Lily Evans was Snape's great unrequited love, and so when Voldemort decided that the prophecy meant her child (Harry), and she, herself, must die, Snape was, at one stroke, lost to the Death Eaters.
We can also infer from Snape's memories in that chapter that Dumbledore was not ignoring Harry's information about Draco and Snape; what he said, always, was "Put that out of your mind." Literally, he was saying, not that the issue was unimportant, but that it was not Harry's concern. In Snape's memories, Dumbledore knew Draco's mission before Snape had told him, and before this book had even opened, though we never know how he learned. (Dumbledore and Snape talk of Draco's mission when Snape has just finished curtailing the curse which killed Dumbledore's hand; and the damage to his hand is alluded to in chapters 2 and 3 of the book.) So Dumbledore's response to Harry's information is more along the lines of "I already know all about this, and you should not concern yourself with it." Dumbledore has said previously that he is an old man, and old men tend to forget how young men think and feel. Perhaps this dismissal of Harry's concerns is another case of this forgetfulness?
