Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Half-Blood Prince/Chapter 28
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Chapter 28 of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: Flight of the Prince
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[edit] Synopsis
Snape forces Draco Malfoy back down the tower stairwell, followed by other Death Eaters. Harry, released from the paralysing spell by Dumbledore's death, petrifies the last one and charges down the steps after them. At the bottom is a melée of Hogwarts students, teachers, and Order of the Phoenix members fighting Death Eaters. Ginny is dueling Amycus Carrow. Harry Jinxes Amycus, sending him cannoning into a wall. The remaining Death Eaters, hearing Snape's signal, break away and run. Harry, following, wonders if they will head for the Entrance Hall or the Room of Requirement. Seeing a bloody footprint, Harry deduces that they have gone to the Front Hall and takes a short cut there.
Reaching the entrance, Harry sees a Death Eater on the grounds, Snape and Draco further away. The large blond Death Eater casts multiple curses at Hagrid, but his massive body deflects them. Harry hurls the Prince's spells at Snape, but Snape easily blocks every one, proclaiming he created them—he is the Half-Blood Prince. Although Snape deflects every curse Harry casts, he does nothing to harm him and continually tells him what he is doing wrong. Amycus and Alecto catch up to Harry, and one curses him. Snape blocks the curse, and prevents the other Death Eaters from attacking Harry, claiming he belongs to Voldemort. Harry dares Snape to kill him, calling him a coward. Enraged, Snape stuns Harry before escaping with Draco and the other Death Eaters.
Hagrid's hut is afire, and Hagrid rushes from the flames with Fang. Harry puts out the fire using Aguamenti. Hagrid does not believe Harry when he says Dumbledore is dead. He and Hagrid approach a crowd huddled around Dumbledore's twisted corpse. Harry removes the locket from the old wizard's robe pocket. Inside he finds a note reading:
- To the Dark Lord
- I know I will be dead long before you read this
- but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret.
- I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can.
- I face death in the hope that when you meet your match,
- you will be mortal once more.
- R.A.B.
[edit] Analysis
Harry chases Snape in a blind rage and with one intent: to kill him. Snape, who easily eludes him, has every opportunity to murder or capture the outmatched Harry. Instead, he merely deflects Harry's ineffective curses. Snape continually does nothing to harm Harry, and actually tells him what he is doing wrong and how to correct it. He also prevents the other Death Eaters from cursing him. Why? Although he claims he wants to leave Harry for the Dark Lord, he could easily have stunned and presented him to Voldemort. By leaving Harry at Hogwarts, Snape not only risks having the determined and vengeful Harry single-mindedly hunting him down, but also the Dark Lord's deadly wrath by letting his number one enemy remain alive and free. For Harry, learning that his admired mentor (the Half-Blood Prince) is actually his hated nemesis is shocking and revolting. When he called Snape a coward, Snape become enraged, even though murdering Dumbledore can only be considered the lowest cowardly act.
Harry learns that someone with the initials R.A.B. stole the true Horcrux from the cave. However, in Chapter 26, it was learned that two people were needed to recover the locket from the basin on the island. R.A.B. must have had some assistance. Although R.A.B. is probably dead, if another person was involved, it is possible he or she may still be alive and could provide valuable information. It also appears that R.A.B. may have known about the prophecy, as that person refers to Voldemort meeting his match. However, it also seems that R.A.B. may have mistakenly believed that the locket was the only Horcrux, as he seems to assume that destroying it will be sufficient to make Voldemort mortal once more.
[edit] Questions
- Who might R.A.B. be?
- Why would Snape react so strongly when Harry called him a coward?
- Why does Snape not curse or kill or capture Harry during his escape? Why would Snape tell Harry what he is doing wrong as Harry attempts to curse him?
- During his duel with Snape, why didn't Harry cast any spells nonverbally, one of Snape's first DADA's lessons?
[edit] Greater Picture
In the final book, it will be revealed that "R.A.B." are the initials of Regulus Black (Sirius' brother). Regulus' middle name is "Arcturus," a name which appears on the Black Family tree. The person who stole the Horcrux had to be someone close to Voldemort, most likely a Death Eater, which Regulus Black was. It is usually, although not exclusively, Death Eaters who refer to Voldemort as the Dark Lord.
It was mentioned earlier that it was believed that Regulus had gotten into Voldemort's hierarchy, had not liked what he had found, and had wanted out, but had been killed, possibly by Voldemort himself. It will be learned that this is not what had happened. Kreacher will know more about it, as he was involved; it is noted in the Analysis that it would have taken two people to remove and replace the locket, and that will turn out to have been Regulus and Kreacher. Regulus had, in fact, decided that he wanted out, but rather than simply leaving (and being killed), he had decided to make his death count for something. Having learned of the existence of a Horcrux, and having determined, from Kreacher, where something valuable was hidden, Regulus determined to destroy what he had thought was the only Horcrux Voldemort had made.
In this chapter, we learn that Snape was, in fact, the Half-Blood Prince of the title, and that the textbook Harry had been using so successfully was originally Snape's. It is mentioned earlier that the book had been found to be fifty years old when Harry looked at it, which ruled out his father owning it, and seems to rule out Snape owning it also. However, we will learn later that Snape had come from a poverty-stricken household, and so very likely had been provided second-hand textbooks. Quite possibly the fact that he had to use a text that was, when he got it, already a quarter century old, would have increased his dislike of the more-privileged students.
In the previous year, as Sirius, Harry, and the Weasleys sorted through the various family heirlooms at 12 Grimmauld Place, the Black family home, a heavy locket that none of them can open is tossed aside. We will find out later that Kreacher had saved the locket, keeping it hidden in his cupboard, and, later still, it will be stolen by Mundungus Fletcher, and then extorted from him in turn by Dolores Umbridge. It will turn out to be the Horcrux locket, once belonging to Salazar Slytherin, and can only be opened by someone speaking in parseltongue. That would explain why no one could open the locket, and why Regulus was unable to destroy it as he intended. Since no one suspected the locket was a Horcrux, Harry did not speak Parseltongue to it (although he does so later to destroy it). Voldemort probably did not create the charm that prevented the locket from opening, though he was likely glad that it was difficult as it protected his Horcrux within. Slytherin's descendants were proud of their ability to speak to snakes; it is entirely possible that Slytherin himself, when he created the locket, charmed it to prevent it from opening unless spoken to in Parseltongue.
