Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

“The nature of that prophecy is unknown, although speculation is rife that it concerns Harry Potter […]. Some are going so far as to call Potter the ‘Chosen One,’ believing that the prophecy names him as the only one who will be able to rid us of He Who Must Not Be Named.”

While Dumbledore and Harry remain the only two people to have heard the prophecy in its entirety, the wizarding world has hazarded a guess that Harry is destined to defeat Voldemort. This prophecy originally propelled Voldemort to single out and attack Harry, his choice effectively setting the prophecy in motion. Within this context, the idea of fate is explored throughout the book, often raising the question of how much an individual contributes to the realization of their destiny.

“Horace […] likes the company of the famous, the successful and the powerful. […] He used to handpick favorites at Hogwarts, sometimes for their ambition or their brains, sometimes for their charm or their talent, and he had an uncanny knack for choosing those who would go on to become outstanding in their various fields.”

Horace Slughorn is the new Potions master at Hogwarts; Dumbledore warns Harry early on that Slughorn will try to “collect” Harry to join his exclusive group of handpicked favorites. Slughorn is a significant character in the book. He is the person who tells Voldemort about Horcruxes, his memory serving as the final piece of proof to confirm Dumbledore’s theory about the same. In addition, the differing responses that Harry and Voldemort display to Slughorn’s favoritism highlights the fundamental differences between Harry and Voldemort’s characters, despite their similar circumstances.

“A warmth was spreading through him that had nothing to do with the sunlight; a tight obstruction in his chest seemed to be dissolving. He knew that Ron and Hermione were more shocked than they were letting on, but the mere fact that they were still there on either side of him, speaking bracing words of comfort, not shrinking from him as though he were contaminated or dangerous, was worth more than he could ever tell them.”

With Dumbledore’s go-ahead, Harry confides in Ron and Hermione about the prophecy. Harry’s relief at their support in response indicates how greatly he values his friends, as well as how big a role they will play in his journey. In keeping with this, Ron and Hermione choose to follow Harry in his search for the Horcruxes. In stark contrast to Voldemort, who chooses to operate alone, Harry desires and thrives on the support and confidence of his friends.

“Harry broke off, his eyes fixed on the window behind Hermione, his mouth open. A startling thought had just occurred to him. […] ‘He’s a Death Eater,’ said Harry slowly. ‘He’s replaced his father as a Death Eater!’”

Draco’s mysterious behavior at Borgin and Burkes leads Harry to conclude that Draco has been made a Death Eater. Even though everyone around him summarily dismisses Harry’s assumption, he remains convinced and continues to try and uncover what Draco is up to throughout the year. This points to two of Harry’s strongest qualities that will serve him well against Voldemort: his perceptiveness and his refusal to give up on his convictions despite a lack of support.

“‘The Dark Arts,’ said Snape, ‘are many, varied, ever-changing and eternal. Fighting them is like fighting a many-headed monster, which, each time a neck is severed, sprouts a head even fiercer and cleverer than before. You are fighting that which is unfixed, mutating, indestructible.’”

During Harry's first DADA lesson, Snape talks about the Dark Arts to the class. Snape’s reverence for the Dark Arts is clear, pointing to his Death Eater past, and Harry is angry and appalled by how Snape talks. Snape’s description of the Dark Arts as “eternal” and “indestructible” also suggests that the fight against evil must involve constant effort.

“Yes, I think Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger have proved themselves trustworthy. But, Harry, I am going to ask you to ask them not to repeat any of this to anybody else.”

Dumbledore gives Harry permission to confide in Ron and Hermione about the lessons, which indicates how Dumbledore values friendship and its power. It also points to Harry’s loyalty—even after Dumbledore’s death, he keeps his word to the Headmaster and refuses to confide Dumbledore’s secret in anyone else, including McGonagall and Scrimgeour.

“Everyone knows you’ve been telling the truth now, don’t they? The whole wizarding world has had to admit that you were right about Voldemort being back and that you really have fought him twice in the last two years and escaped both times. And now they’re calling you the ‘Chosen One’—well, come on, can’t you see why people are fascinated by you?”

Hermione explains to Harry what seems to have caused the sudden interest in the Gryffindor Quidditch team tryouts. Despite the attention that Harry invites because of his past with Voldemort and the prophecy, Harry remains grounded and does not carried away. Rather than relish the popularity, he actively avoids it, displaying how different he is from Voldemort.

“‘She wouldn’t even stay alive for her son?’

[…] ‘Could you possibly be feeling sorry for Lord Voldemort?’

‘No, […] but she had a choice, didn’t she, not like my mother—’

‘Your mother had a choice, too […]. Yes, Merope Riddle chose death in spite of a son who needed her […]’”

Harry finds it difficult to comprehend that Merope would not have chosen to stay alive for the sake of her son. The power of love, specifically a mother’s sacrifice, is the defining difference between Harry’s life and Voldemort’s. Lily bravely gave up her life for Harry, imbuing him with magical protection and instilling in him unshakeable goodness; Merope’s fear and heartbreak sapped her of the will to live, and her death left Voldemort alone, disdainful of the power of love, and condemned to live a life dogged by fear, just like his mother.

“‘He scares the other children.’ 

‘You mean he is a bully?’ […].

‘I think he must be, […] but it’s very hard to catch him at it. There have been incidents…nasty things…’”

The matron at the orphanage tells Dumbledore that there is something odd about the young Voldemort. From their very first encounter, thus, Dumbledore is watchful of Voldemort; he recognizes in the latter not just a prodigious amount of magical power but also an instinct for cruelty that is far more unsettling.

“He spoke the last three words with a ringing force that was almost shocking. It was a command, and it sounded as though he had given it many times before. His eyes had widened and he was glaring at Dumbledore, who made no response except to continue smiling pleasantly. After a few seconds Riddle stopped glaring, though he looked, if anything, warier still.”

Dumbledore does not respond to a young Voldemort’s forceful, commanding nature, which unsettles Voldemort. Dumbledore’s immense skill is perhaps one of the reasons Voldemort feared the Headmaster; the second is, undoubtedly, the fact that Voldemort was never able to either charm or intimidate Dumbledore.

“…Tom Riddle was already highly self-sufficient, secretive and, apparently, friendless […] The adult Voldemort is the same. […] Lord Voldemort has never had a friend, nor do I believe that he has ever wanted one.”

Even as a child, Dumbledore observed that Voldemort preferred to operate alone. In this, Voldemort stands in stark contrast to Harry, who absolutely trusts his closest friends. Dumbledore himself sees the power of this kind of friendship, encouraging Harry to confide in and rely on Ron and Hermione.

“Dumbledore opened his mouth to speak and then closed it again. […] To Harry’s intense embarrassment, he suddenly realised that Dumbledore’s bright blue eyes looked rather watery, and stared hastily at his own knees. When Dumbledore spoke, however, his voice was quite steady. 

‘I am very touched, Harry.’”

Dumbledore is touched by Harry’s defense of him to Scrimgeour. Dumbledore has always been a protective parent figure, serving as a guide and mentor. Characteristically, Harry remains fiercely loyal to Dumbledore even after his death; this moment in the book also displays Dumbledore's affection for Harry.

“I believe that it was then that he dropped the name for ever, assumed the identity of Lord Voldemort, and began his investigations into his previously despised mother’s family—the woman whom […] he had thought could not be a witch if she had succumbed to the shameful human weakness of death.”

Upon realizing that his father was not a wizard, Voldemort drops his given name and assumes a new identity. This passage indicates two things. Firstly, Voldemort despised everything non-magical, viewing it as mundane and ordinary. He believes himself special and so chooses to distance himself from those parts of him that he considers unworthy, which includes his Muggle heritage. Secondly, Voldemort seems to have always held the view that death is a human weakness; this explains the obsession with immortality that he eventually develops.

“Hermione […] had been exceptionally quiet all day. Having hurtled, white-faced, up to Harry outside the hospital wing and demanded to know what had happened, she had taken almost no part in Harry and Ginny’s obsessive discussion about how Ron had been poisoned, but merely stood beside them, clench-jawed and frightened-looking, until at last they had been allowed in to see him.”

Hermione and Ron had not been on speaking terms since he began dating Lavender Brown; however, Ron’s brush with death shakes Hermione out of her anger, as she stays by his side while he recovers. This is a turning point in Ron and Hermione’s relationship, as both become more aware of their feelings for each other. Ron and Lavender break up after Ron recovers, and Ron is decidedly softer with Hermione henceforth.

“Well, I don’t think it’s Quidditch, but I think there’s a connection between the attacks […]. […] for one thing, they both ought to have been fatal and weren’t, although that was pure luck. And for another, neither the poison nor the necklace seems to have reached the person who was supposed to be killed. […] that makes the person behind this even more dangerous in a way, because they don’t seem to care how many people they finish off before they actually reach their victim.”

Hermione draws a connection between the cursed necklace and the poisoned mead. This passage highlights Hermione’s intelligence and perceptiveness, as she makes an astute observation about similarities between the attacks. It also points to Draco's desperation at this point, reflected in the recklessness of both attacks.

“His features were not those Harry had seen emerge from the great stone cauldron almost two years before […] It was as though his features had been burned and blurred; they were waxy and oddly distorted, and the whites of the eyes now had a permanently bloody look, though the pupils were not yet the slits that Harry knew they would become.”

As Voldemort steeps himself deeper and deeper in the Dark Arts, his experiments have a visible effect on his physique. By marking these changes in his appearance, Rowling displays how out of touch he has become with his human nature. This allows her to believably paint Voldemort as pure evil, with no shades of grey or possibility for redemption.

“…Harry felt the atmosphere in the room change subtly: Dumbledore’s refusal to use Voldemort’s chosen name was a refusal to allow Voldemort to dictate the terms of the meeting, and Harry could tell that Voldemort took it as such.”

Dumbledore refuses to address Voldemort by his chosen name, continuing to call him “Tom.” This passage indicates two things. Firstly, even as a full-fledged adult wizard, Voldemort has never been able to intimidate or persuade Dumbledore, thus explaining Voldemort's fear of Dumbledore. Secondly, Dumbledore’s insistence on calling Voldemort his birth name shifts the power dynamic in Dumbledore’s favor. In addition to serving Voldemort with an unpleasant reminder of his past and Muggle background, it also indicates that Dumbledore has unparalleled insight into who Voldemort is and what makes him tick.

“‘I have experimented; I have pushed the boundaries of magic further, perhaps, than they have ever been pushed—’

‘Of some kinds of magic […]. Of others, you remain…forgive me…woefully ignorant.’

‘The old argument […]. But nothing I have seen in the world has supported your famous pronouncements that love is more powerful than my kind of magic, Dumbledore.’”

Dumbledore and Voldemort discuss the many experiments in the Dark Arts the latter has conducted in his adult years. This passage highlights the lasting impact on Voldemort’s childhood—Voldemort is unable to see and recognize the kind of power love can wield, having never experienced a parent’s love himself.

“Well, you split your soul […] and hide part of it in an object outside the body. Then, even if one’s body is attacked or destroyed, one cannot die, for part of the soul remains earthbound and undamaged. But, of course, existence in such a form […]. […] you must understand that the soul is supposed to remain intact and whole. Splitting it is an act of violation, it is against nature.”

Slughorn explains how Horcruxes work to a young Voldemort. Despite the horrific description, Voldemort remains fascinated and excited by the possibility of creating multiple Horcruxes, clearly indicating what lengths he will pursue to achieve his goals. Furthermore, it portrays Voldemort as an anomaly: willing as he is to carry out multiple violations of nature, he does not seem entirely normal or human. Indeed, creating the Horcruxes leaves a physical marker of this inhumanness in his changed and distorted features.

“Yes, Harry, you can love […]. Which, given everything that has happened to you, is a great and remarkable thing.”

Dumbledore remarks on how Harry continues to be able to love despite all the suffering he has already undergone in his young life. In addition to calling out the protective power of love, it also indicates that Harry’s strength of character is innate and somewhat extraordinary.

“‘You see, the prophecy does not mean you have to do anything! But the prophecy caused Lord Voldemort to mark you as his equal…in other words, you are free to choose your way, quite free to turn your back on the prophecy! But Voldemort continues to set store by the prophecy. He will continue to hunt you…which makes it certain, really, that—’

‘That one of us is going to end up killing the other,’ said Harry. ‘Yes.’"

Dumbledore and Harry discuss how it is not the prophecy alone that dictates Harry’s destiny. This passage highlights the role an individual can play in bringing certain things to pass in their own life, especially by way of a self-fulfilling prophecy. It highlights the accountability of an individual and the power to change how they approach their life, even if they cannot change the actual events.

“‘Kill me, then,’ panted Harry, who felt no fear at all, but only rage and contempt. ‘Kill me like you killed him, you coward—’

‘DON’T—’ screamed Snape, and his face was suddenly demented, inhuman, as though he was in as much pain as the yelping, howling dog stuck in the burning house behind them, ‘—CALL ME COWARD!’”

Harry fights Snape as the latter tries to flee after killing Dumbledore. This passage highlights two things. Firstly, Harry’s bravery and loyalty are seen here—he follows and fights Snape without fear, fueled as he is by rage and grief over Dumbledore’s death. Secondly, the inexplicable pain seen on Snape’s face in this moment indicates that his motivations for killing Dumbledore may not be as simple as they seem.

“Harry […] had not forgotten the fear in Malfoy’s voice on that Tower top, nor the fact that he had lowered his wand before the other Death Eaters arrived. Harry did not believe that Malfoy would have killed Dumbledore. He despised Malfoy still for his infatuation with the Dark Arts, but now the tiniest drop of pity mingled with his dislike.”

Harry remembers Draco’s hesitation and fear when he confronts Dumbledore. Draco is largely a product of his conditioning; his example stands to show how inherited prejudice works and the conflict and heartache it can incite in those who subscribe to a belief system without deep thought or true conviction.