Mark Reads ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’: Chapter 25

In the twenty-fifth chapter of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the entire story we’ve been lead to believe in the past six books is completely and utterly shattered. Did shit get real? It’s probably worse than that. If you’re intrigued, then it’s time for Mark to read Harry Potter.

CHAPTER 25: THE SEER OVERHEARD

This just feels so wrong.

It took me longer than I expected to formulate any theme to use to talk about the events of this mind-blowing chapter, but that seems to be the general thought that is running it’s way through my brain. This is wrong.

I found it pretty interesting that Hermione found evidence of Eileen Prince and that it was possible that she much be a half-blood, therefore the owner of the book might not be a dude, as Harry had suspected the whole time.

• ”Listen, Hermione, I can tell that it’s not a girl. I can just tell.”

  “The truth is that you don’t think a girl would have been clever enough,” said Hermione angrily.

Again, bravo Hermione. I wonder how many times in this series you’ll have to assert yourself over the din of Ron and Harry’s bromantic bro-itude, even when they’re not together at the same time. Still, I’m glad that Rowling has the forthright to have her female characters be livid at this kind of casual fuckery. To be fair, though, Harry’s response does make make feel a bit better about why he said that:

• ”How can I have hung round with you for five years and not think girls are clever?” said Harry, stung by this.

I wonder if Harry feels hurt because Hermione said this or because she is sort of right.

But Hermione’s revelation, while clever, doesn’t strike me as THE answer to the Half-Blood Prince. What does Eileen Prince know about Potions and Dark Magic?

There’s not much time for me to ruminate on such things, because Harry soon gets an urgent parchment from Dumbledore requesting his presence immediately. Had he already found one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes?

I wouldn’t find this out immediately, because Harry accidentally runs into Professor Trelawney, who is violently thrown out of the Room of Requirement.

It immediately felt wrong. And though it was humorous that she was trying to find a way to hide her sherry bottles, it was the…well… the celebration she heard inside that disturbed me.

We know that Malfoy has been using that room for something related to whatever Voldemort has assigned him. And I’m guessing Harry is right; Malfoy is celebrating because he finished repairing whatever he spoke about in Borgin and Burkes.

This feels so wrong, guys.

But the conversation Trelawney has with Harry ruins everything. She’s angered about Firenze still teaching and about a prophecy she continues to read in her cards about a lightning-struck tower that Dumbledore ignores outright. Harry convinces her that she’ll go with him to visit Dumbledore, and that’s when she starts talking. Openly. About the first time she met Dumbledore. It’s a story we’ve heard before, from Dumbledore, because it’s when she made the prophecy that changed Harry’s life forever.

Except she reveals a new detail that ruins it all: Snape overheard the prophecy.

• “Yes, there was a commotion outside the door and it flew open, and there was that rather uncouth barman standing with Snape, who was waffling about having come the wrong way up the stairs, although I’m afraid that I myself rather thought he had been apprehended eavesdropping on my interview with Dumbledore—you see, he himself was seeking a job at the time, and no doubt hoped to pick up tips!”

You guys, I don’t know if I can take another twist like this again. My heart is going to burst. If Snape heard the prophecy, then…

• It was Snape who had overheard the prophecy. It was Snape who had carried the news of the prophecy to Voldemort. Snape and Peter Pettigrew together had sent Voldemort hunting after Lily and James and their son….

OH MY GOD. OH MY GOD. WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON????

Naturally, Harry loses his mind, just like I am doing right now. He leaves Trelawney behind to see Dumbledore immediately, who confirms he may have found one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes in that cave where he tortured two kids while he was in the orphanage.

What happens next makes me feel even worse. Harry, unable to keep this new revelation inside him, bursts with the information that he now knows Snape overheard the prophecy and told Voldemort.

I was slightly shocked that Dumbledore knew that Snape’s actions contributed to the deaths of Harry’s parents and that he is immediately cold with him when Harry, again, questions his trust of Snape.

Guys, it feels wrong. It feels so goddamn wrong. I don’t get it. The man was a Death Eater, caused Lily and James Potter to be murdered, and did SOMETHING WE DON’T KNOW to gain Dumbledore’s trust.

I expected Dumbledore to finally reveal what this thing was, but he doesn’t. In fact, he still acts as if this is an unreasonable request on Harry’s part, even after Harry just learned that SNAPE CAUSED HIS PARENTS’ MURDER.

Why do I feel like Dumbledore is making a mistake? This doesn’t feel right. I don’t like this at all.

I’m hoping that Harry’s foresight to tell Ron and Hermione what is going on, giving them the Maruaders Map to keep an eye on Malfoy, and instructing them to keep watch will prevent things from getting too screwed up. I hope Hermione figures out what’s going on and either abandons the Eileen Prince idea or finds out if it’s true.

I don’t know what else to say. This is just fucked up.