You've got a point. Why would Riddle have 2 trophies for the same murder?

But I think the way this conversation is going, maybe another horcrux, different from the original Riddle murders, is hidden somewhere in the Riddle house. The ring was found in the Gaunt house.

what other big events happened?

so far there have been horcruxes in:

• The place he terrified the other orphans & discovered the nature of his magic (Locket)
• Hogwarts where he became a brilliant wizard (Diary - proving he's an heir of Slytherin)
• Gaunt's Home - where he discovered the nature of his roots

I feel like bourgins was important to him - i feel one is there
I feel like something will be found by Harry at his parents' home - something intended to be used after he killed Harry - but was never able to be made.

and what is left is of course the goblet
hmm...what else is of significance....
maybe one of the mirrors is going to be one...that'd be kind of cool

Could it possibly be Nagini? DD thought LV's snake could be a horcrux and wasn't she (he? it?) the one that killed Riddle's old gardener at the house? LV could have made her a horcrux at that time.

Read the interview link I posted earlier... JKR kinda hints at that. I also remember JK mentioning that the mirror would be significant in the future of the series.

You may be on to something though. :)

I do think the snake is probably one. DD even said so. But I don't think she actually killed the gardener... Didn't V or Wormtail kill him with the Avada Kedavra?

Yeah, I think Wormtail killed the gardener. And I definitely think one is Nagini. But wait, did the ring belong to Riddle Sr. or to Morfin's father? Because didn't he take it from Morfin at the Gaunt's house?

And about these mirrors...Sirius said he'd always keep his mirror with him so did it go through the curtain with him? In order for Harry to use that mirror properly, someone living would need the other one and if it went through the curtain with Sirius, how...unless Harry goes through the curtain too? Didn't Luna say they'd all see them again anyway? I think there's really only 5 horcruxes...I think he's saving that 6th one for Harry's death so he's refused to make it just yet.

1. Is Snape definitely a bad guy? Is it possible that Dumbledores arrangement with snape was for snape to kill him and that way get closer to Voldemort than ever before?

'Cause it would have made sense for Snape to kill Harry on the way out which he could have easily have done.

2. Did everyone see the Harry/Ginny thing coming except me? I though Rowling was going to write the normal path of the hero and have Harry meet someone totally out of his circle of friends.

In te first book or two I thought Hermione/Harry might play out . . .

Oh, and didn't Ginny give him up at the end of the book kind of easily? She is already going to be marked by the death eaters regardless of whether she stays with harry or not.

It belonged to Marvolo- Morfin's father. It is the ring of Slytherin right?- so it was with his descendants.

I think Ginny let Harry go because she understands that it is BECAUSE he cares about her so much that he did it. I think she expects (as I do) that he will come back once Voldemort is gone and his loved ones are safe. At least, that had better happen or JKR might be minus one fan. ;)

1. Remember Snape kept yelling, "Leave him, he's for the Dark Lord"? Voldy wants to kill Harry, no one else is allowed to do it. That's why I think the last horcrux will come from Harry's death.

2. And it's true Ginny's marked, but I think Harry doesn't want the guilt. If she dies b/c she was part of the D.A. it's one thing, but if her life is endangered b/c she was bait for a Harry trap (which he'd undoubtedly walk into) he'd never forgive himself.

Oh James, this is why I could never take your romantic advice -- you are clearly blind to details. ;) JKR has made Hermione/Ron pretty obvious from at least book 2 or 3 if not before. I think she's actually said something about how she's surprised that ANYONE would think Harry and Hermione would ever end up together because she's hinted heavily at Ron/Hermione forever. I think Ginny/Harry was more in doubt, but honestly I thought that one was pretty obvious by around book 2 as well.

I did think the ending was a cop-out, but I wasn't surprised by it. To keep the momentum of the story flowing, I was betting that she wouldn't throw any of the major couples (basically amounting to Ron/Hermione and Harry/Ginny) together for real until at least halfway through the last book. Otherwise, in order to keep readers interested in their romantic pursuits, the author would inevitably subject us to their endless drama and arguments, and really, who wants that?

Personally, I think that it's clear that Harry and Hermione would make a horrible couple -- they are both too intense; they need people to lighten them up. Likewise, Ron and Ginny need people to ground them.


As for this book being backstory-full -- I agree, but I definitely don't think that's a bad thing. I definitely preferred this book to Order of the Phoenix, which I thought was badly edited, boring and lacked too much of the trademark humor that kept the earlier books from getting too dark. This improved on all of those points, at least to me (I suppose the "boring" one is debatable).


A friend and I discussed this: what do you think of the "final battles" in the books? He and I were both sort of let down by this one (Dumbledore's death aside), and I was definitely let down by the final battle scene in OotP. I guess it's because I prefer the puzzle-type battles where something important is finally revealed to the "everybody shoots unforgiveable curses at everyone else" scenes, but I thought that the endings were at their strongest in Chamber of Secrets and Goblet of Fire. How about you guys?

GOF is probably one of my favorite endings... and probably my favorite overall book.

I understand what you mean about OoTP. I think what made it one of my favorites was, surprisingly, Umbridge. I loved to hate her. Other than that, I wanted to smack the living crap out of Harry for being a whiny prat... but that's just me.

I think book seven will have a combination of the "curses battle" (from dumb DEs that don't know anything else) and a "puzzle battle," involving the trio's strengths to figure out the last couple of horcruxes. And the death of Voldie and/or Potter battle will be one giant mind game... I think.

Ok. I finally finished the book. WOW!! I was shocked, SHOCKED to find that Dumbledore died. I did the read the spoiler that was posted here, but I didn't want to believe it. At least not this soon. I was kind of expecting him to die in book 7, but not now!

I never trusted Snape, but it still surprised me a little that he was the killer. However, there was something strange about Dumbledore's behaviour all through the book. I don't know. It's almost as if he was expecting to die, but not by the hands of Snape. I don't know. He just didn't seem himself.

Harry mentioned it in the book, and it's been mentioned here, that Dumbeldore had said he would never truely leave Hogwarts as long as those still loyal to him remained. But it makes me wonder. Harry said he wasn't going to return to Hogwarts next year. Harry is the most loyal (at least in my opinion) person to Dumbledore. If Harry doesn't return, this could spell trouble. On the flip side, it could prompt his return to Hogwarts.
Also, there is now a portrait of Dubledore inside the Headmaster's office. Dubledore is still around to provide wisdom.

Someone else here said that they think Hogwarts will become a refuge for the good. I tend to agree. I think Hogwarts will remain open, but it won't be a school. It might be used as a new headquarters for the Order. There's a war going on. The Order doesn't really have to remain secret anymore. It also might be a safe haven for those fleeing Voldemort.

I will definitely need to go back and re-read all my books again. I know I am missing some clues that will tell me what might happen in the final book.

I don't know about your books, but in my book, page 606 is not where they are talking about Snape killing Dumbledore, like that spoiler said. In my book page 606 is the second last page.

How is that the American version has more pages?

Different size fonts, and difference in the actual size of the books.

DaffyKD

I remember reading an editorial (take them with a grain of salt because sometimes they are stretches) that stated a lot of important information or important events happen in all of the Chapter 13s.

I'll have to go find that editorial now. But what happened in Chapter 13 in HBP? I know it was a Riddle story but can't remember which one. And I guess will this chapter's contents be significant later?

Edited cuz I got the chapters mixed up. But I went to find the "oddities and coincidents" page and basically the "villian" is usually put forth in the chapter 13s. But we already know that Tom/Voldemort is a villian... so was there anyone else in that chapter?

Maybe Snape? I don't have my book near me right now, but it's just a thought.

Thoughts on Snape being a good guy
 

I am so glad that someone else thinks that DD's death was set-up and that DD was coaxing Snape. I feel that it is especially poignant and telling that Snape is indignant when Harry calls him a coward. Snape realizes that DD would have probably died anyway because of the poison but that by "killing him" with a curse that he (Snape) is making himself a permanent outcast to society and truly sealing his future as a lost cause. I feel that Snape realizes that LV will ultimately come to a bad end and that no one will believe that he was working for DD, isolating himself forever....unless Harry puts everything together....

What do you think?

Question:
What was DD seeing/experiencing as he drank the potion? Was he feeling the responsibility for the deaths of those in the lake?

Silver

Just finished reading and I'm speechless. I agree with whomever thinks that Harry is a Horcrux. That's the first thing that came to mind when I read that part. I also cried from Dumbledore's death to the end of the book. Yeah, I should've seen it coming, but wow.

It's going to be hard to watch movies 4 and 5 without yelling at Snape or crying over Dumbledore. :( I'm such a sucker.

Oh good, I'm glad I wasn't the only one, I was starting to feel pretty loser-ish. :)

Well, I've loved all the final battle endings from book 3 on. The first 2 weren't disappointing, but not as good as the rest for me. Especially 4 and 6, those were the best for me...Let the whole book be full of light adventures and puzzles, entertaining but not overwhelming, then....WHAM! Right at the end, things take a jolting turn and leaves you panting for the next book, but still oddly satisfied. A bit like a good sex romp I'd think (well, I'd 'imagine' not like I'd know right?;) ).


I also think that Hogwarts would make a good safehouse for the Order, but where would students learn? I mean, when countries go to war, the schools don't all shut down, I don't suppose it would happen in the wizarding world either. And with Dumbledore having been targeted by Death Eaters, I think people will finally be 100% on his side (a little late, but they will) and will rally to keep his school open. Some will oppose it, saying that it's not safe at all now he's gone, but some will still want their children there once the vanishing cabinet and anything like it is destroyed.

Ok now, if Harry himself really WAS a horcrux, then WHY would Voldemort keep trying to kill him????? I don't see any way that this idea is true.... I think it's possible that Voldemort could be wanting to make the last Horcrux with Harry's death but that still seems pretty flimsy.

I am really looking forward to finding out just what all the horcruxes are and how Harry finds them. I think that will be one of the most interesting parts of book 7- and probably also what will have the most growth for Harry as a person.

HORCRUXES

#1 - Lord Voldemort himself
#2 - Nagini the snake
#3 - Marvolo's ring
#4 - Tom Riddle's diary
#5 - Salazar Slytherin's locket
#6 - Helga Hufflepuff's Cup
#7 - Something that belonged to Rowena Ravenclaw (more likely) or Godric Gryffindor (thought I think unlikely b/c the sword is his last remaining item & DD is in possession of it at Hogwarts).

I sincerely hope that Harry isn't a Horxrux b/c I'm a sucker & don't want him to die at the end. I'd like him to end up with Ginny & have loads of kids & teaching DADA at Hogwarts.

This is EXACTLY what I was going to say: WHY would Voldemort keep trying to kill Harry if he had put part of his soul into him? I could understand him holding out to use Harry's death to create the last horcrux, but I don't think the idea of Harry actually being a horcrux holds any water. (I've been wrong at times, but it's just what I think).

I dunno, I still am of the opinion that Snape is really evil. I've been rereading all the books, and although he makes a pretty good double agent I just get the feeling he is evil. JKR has done alll this work to try and redeem him in everyone's eyes at the end of each book, but is it just a trick? I was reading an interview with her and when someone mentioned the "redemptive pattern" Snape tends to have, she responded: "I promise you, whoever asked that question, can I just say to you that I’m slightly stunned that you’ve said that and you’ll find out why I’m so stunned if you read Book 7. That’s all I’m going to say."

It is difficult to discern if Dumbledore was pleading for Snape to save him or to kill him before he dies.

May I just say that I'm dying to read book 7 already?:p

It kept nagging at me that maybe DD was actually DD or maybe Snape wasn't actually Snape. There was a lot of talk at the beginning of the book about Death Eaters impersonating people and to be very sure that you were dealing with the person you thought you were (remember the Weasley's secret questions?). Anyway, I keep hoping that something is not as it seems.

Hmmm, I never thought of that... That's an interesting theory!

I finished the book yesterday and I was crying like a baby. I really liked it. I don't think that Harry is a Horcrux though. So, is McGonagall going to be the new Headmistress? If so, do you thing that Hagrid will be the new Head of Gryffindor?

No I don't think Hagrid will be the head of Gryffindor, mainly, because he never "graduated". Remember he was "forced" out during his schooling (by voldemort) as was technically not suppose to do magic.

Maybe Lupin will come back as the DADA teacher............he's a Gryffindor.

Snape is not a bad guy, he's just.... misunderstood!

I'll tell you right upfront that Snape is my favorite character. I always had a thing for underdogs, and he truly is. He had a tough childhood.. was picked on.. and has a lot of "issues."

If you go back to HP and the OOTP, you'll remember when Snape was giving Harry Occlumency lessons, he removed some of his embarrassing memories that he didn't want Harry to know about. During one lesson, Malfoy interrupted and Snape left the room. Harry stuck his head in the Pensieve to find out that when Snape was a teen at Hogwarts, he was tormented by Harry's father and his gang of bullies. This explains why he loathes Harry.

I think this is significant because Snape was the innocent party here. I think the victim is going to turn out to be the victor-- in other words... he will save Harry in the end. I can't believe JKR would take someone who was oppressed and make them out to be the bad guy.

I also have more faith in the judgement of character of DD. I firmly believe he was pleading to Snape to kill him. We'll see why in book 7.

That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it!

So stop pickin' on my man Snape! :)

I don't know about this one...remember how when DD died, his immobilization spell on Harry was broken? If he was really a Death Eater, wouldn't whatever spell he cast on himself been broken when he died? Then, you wouldn't have seen DD's body at the bottom of that tower, he would've turned back into whoever he really was.

About these horcruxes...We know of 5 of the 6. That last one, I definitely believe he'll want to make from Harry's death, but what's the object? He can't get something from both Rav. and Gryf., there's only room for one more (unless Nagini isn't a horcrux, but if DD thinks she is, then I believe it, too, there's just too much evidence of it). My thing is, if he can't get all 4 of the houses, why bother? I don't see Voldy as the type to only go for 3 of 4. Anybody?

Good point except that the Polyjuice is a potion not a spell, so who knows how that would work! LOL I guess it can work however JKR decides. ;) Or someone could've been impersonating Snape and he really is a good guy?? ugh...how long until book 7???

Sorry, this post isn't really about the Half-Blood prince, it's more about the whole series, though I think the Half-blood prince is relative to it.

Ok, so I sat down and really really thought about the whole picture the books are trying to paint here. JKR said in one of her interviews that instead of wondering why Harry lived, we should be wondering why Voldy didn't die. If the Aveda Kadavera really backfired, shouldn't he be dead? And JKR said the second thing we should be wondering is why that in OofP (all these acronyms for the books are confusing!) when Dumbledore had the chance to kill Voldy toward the end, he didn't. Why?

I know that I said the idea of Harry being a horcrux didn't hold water-- it doesn't because Voldy keeps trying to kill him. But what if something accidently happened when Voldy originally tried to kill him and accidently put a bit of his soul into Harry? It would explain why Voldy didn't die when the Aveda Kadavera backfired, and if Dumbledore had the slightest inkling that Harry might be a horcrux, he would have known that he wouldn't be able to destroy Voldy merely by killing the body he was in, if his soul was in several different places. And what if Voldy keeps trying to kill Harry because he doesn't know that Harry is part of him?

It's a very strange idea, but that might be the kind of plot twist JKR could go for. But I still maintain the idea that she can't kill off Harry, so that couldn't work. It will be very interesting to see what happens.

I thought it has been answered that the reason he didn't die was because he already had made several horcruxes before he attacked the Potters.

I think V kinda said something like that at the end of GOF. He pointed out that the spell SHOULD have killed him, but since it didn't, he knew that at least some of the steps he had taken toward immortality had worked.

Shouldn't the horcrux inside Voldemort already be destroyed since the curse he tried to kill Harry with failed? Wouldn't that have destroyed the Horcrux?

No, because that's his original soul. His body can't die until all the horcruxes have been destroyed.

Finally got the book finished on a plane flight late Saturday night. Wow!

A few random thoughts, sparked by comments above:

My first thought was that RAB was Mr. Burke (of Borgin and Burke's), but I think Regalus is probably a dead-on guess.

I didn't mind all the "snogging." These are teen-agers, and it was interesting how Harry's feelings about Ginny bacame just as important to him as the bigger story about HWMNBN.

I wanted DD to be right about Snape, but I'm not so sure he was asking Snape to kill him. I read his dialogue with Snape as the disappointing realization that he had been wrong about Snape, just as he was wrong about not telling Harry sooner. My guess is that JKR was typically careful about how she worded that scene so that it could be open to different interpretations.

Through it all, I kept remembering that Snape is a Slytherin. Aside from cunning and a penchant for the Dark Arts (and pure blood), isn't one of the traits that Slytherin prized placing self-interest above all else? Snape would perhaps, at all times, be working from his own self-interest.

There is still something we don't know about DD and Snape -- a reason why Snape trusted him. McGonnegal and the other Order members were talking about it after they learned that Snape killed DD, but they did not know what it was that DD knew.

DD is indeed dead, but with his portrait in the headmistresses' office, he can still be of service.

As for the "DD will never have truly left Hogwarts while some there remain loyal to him" comment, I thought it significant that Harry repeats that to the Minister after the funeral.

The theory about Harry or his scar being a Horcrux is an interesting one. What if HWMNBN was trying to create the last Horcrux when he tried to kill Harry, but because the curse went awry the attempt to create the Horcrux did as well? Maybe, if that is the case, HWMNBN doesn't realize that Harry or his scar is the last Horcrux.

I think Hogwarts will be open next for year 7, and Harry will be there, at least part of the time. Don't have too much to go on for that except this: Each of the books has a subtitle -- "Year # at Hogwarts." I doubt the last book will be "Year 7 Not at Hogwarts."

Or there just isn't a last horcrux because the killing backfired and Voldemort wouldn't have been able to make one related to Harry or his parents.

OMG ME TOO!!! And it was quite embarrasseing because I was reading on the beach lakeside and some little girl goes "Mommy mommy that girl is reading Harry Potter too! Just like you and me!" Then she comes over and sees my eyes all read and tears in the sand and she bursts into tears and screams "You got to the part where Dumbledore died too!" and then like 5 adults around me groan and mumble how they didn't finish it yet. The little girl's mom hadn't finished yet either.

I felt horrible.

I'll continue reading this thread before I say anything else. I just had to share that. At least I feel better that I wasn't the only adult who cried.

I bawled my eyes out for the last chapters of the book. Cried like a big old baby.

We should have a HP book club so we can all sit together and cry. LOL

The killing of Harry's father did not backfire....
What if, in a weird twist, the Horcrux is Harry's photoalbum? It was at the house that night, and we really don't know its history other than Hagrid said that he had to "fix it" before he gave it back to Harry in Book #1...
Ideas?
Silver