The Half-Blood Prince

This one's going to be an out and out Harry Potter post. So those who are yet to finish Half Blood Prince or are inclined to start it soon, please stay away from the rest of the post.

HBP was an enjoyable read, which all the Potter books have been, containing the trademark elements of Rowling. This one started off slowly, but made up adequately towards the end.

I just finished the book...and it's a tragedy, again. I knew that Albus Dumbledore was gonna bite the dust, but the manner in which his end came was unbelievable! Bellatrix Lestrange killing Sirius Black is one thing and the wretched Severus Snape killing Dumbledore is outrageously another! Harry tried all through, to convince Dumbledore that Snape was still a Death Eater. But the Headmaster obstinately maintained that he trusted Snape, never for once giving a reason for his trust. Oh...he was so fatally wrong in trusting Snape! How could such an accomplished wizard, the greatest wizard of all times, have failed to notice the traitor lurking in one of his staff?! If Snape was good at Occlumency, Dumbledore was a master at Legilimency! And the most horrific part was Dumbledore pleading Snape to spare him, before the latter spelt the Avada Kedavra curse!

Now, Harry is truly an orphan. Voldemort killed everyone dear to Harry - his parents, Sirius and now Dumbledore! How can he single-handedly defeat Voldemort?! Who would help him now? A very heavy pall of gloom is down on me...and I'm feeling sick after reading such tragedy. It's not like any other story one reads...this one's just different. And only those who've loyally followed the series can understand what I'm talking about. I feel certain that those who read Harry Potter would be likely to hate Severus Snape more than they hate Lord Voldemort himself. The latter was a known enemy...Snape was a trusted friend. There's some speculation that Snape is still helping Dumbledore...that the death of Dumbledore is all part of a larger plan...plans could have been chalked out even without his demise. Either way, Dumbledore's death was unnecessary...I feel the Headmaster was responsible for his own death. No witch/wizard could have the nerve to kill Dumbledore, unless he himself wished so. True, Malfoy disarmed him at the Astronomy Tower...but during his long chat with Malfoy, before the other Death Eaters came storming, Dumbledore could have easily used the Summoning Charm, nonverbally, to get his wand back. Instead, he merely stood there, immoblizing Harry, waiting for his own death. The death of the greatest wizard that ever was or will ever be, is a loss that the wizarding community could never recover from.

The story has reached a stage where waiting for the next and last book has become tougher than waiting for any other book in the series was. I dunno what Harry means by saying that he wouldn't return to Hogwarts even if it does reopen next year. Perhaps he doesn't care anymore what happens to his life, his career...his only purpose in life is to kill Voldemort. But finding and destroying all the remaining Horcruxes and triumphing over the Dark Lord would require mighty efforts from Harry. He needs to master his defences against the Dark Arts, use of non-verbal spells and Occlumency. One thing puzzling all of us is who could 'R.A.B.' be? At first I thought it was Dumbledore and that perhaps one of the Horcruxes was Dumbledore himself...but no, that couldn't be the case. Who else could have gone that far into the Dark Lake and stolen the Horcrux? Who else could have faced death in an effort to make Voldemort mortal once again? Only the seventh book can answer all this and more. I wish Rowling would bring it out fast...and given that Harry is already devasted, hope she is merciful with what she makes Harry go through next. And Dumbledore, we love you, and will always miss you...