Meanwhile, Narcissa Malfoy and her sister Bellatrix Lestrange visit Spinner's End, a poverty-stricken neighborhood in a northern mill town and the location of Severus Snape's home away from Hogwarts. Narcissa wants Snape to help her protect her son, Draco, who is on a mission from Lord Voldemort. Bellatrix advises against this, distrusting Snape for not taking part in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry of Magic, and for his many suspicious actions through the years. Snape explains his behavior as necessary to serve the Dark Lord in his role as a spy on Dumbledore, but does not gain Bellatrix's trust. Narcissa explains that Voldemort has given her son, Draco Malfoy, a mission as a Death Eater, at which he is almost certain to fail; she and Snape believe this is to punish the Malfoys for Lucius Malfoy's failure at the Department of Mysteries. Snape makes an Unbreakable Vow to Narcissa, magically binding him to aid Draco in his first mission as a Death Eater. Failure to fullfil the Unbreakable Vow will result in Snape's death.
Albus Dumbledore comes to visit Harry Potter at 4 Privet Drive to give him Sirius's will: Harry inherits his deceased godfather's wealth, the house at 12 Grimmauld Place (which he lets the Order of the Phoenix continue to use as headquarters), and the House-elf Kreacher, whom Harry sends to work at Hogwarts. Harry notices Dumbledore has received a serious injury to his right hand, but the Headmaster dismisses it as unimportant. Dumbledore then asks Harry's help in convincing an old Hogwarts teacher, Horace Slughorn, to come out of retirement. They pay him a visit, but Slughorn is reluctant to return to the school, fearing it may put his life in danger from Death Eaters. Harry tells him that no teachers have died since Dumbledore became Headmaster, except Professor Quirrell, who was working for Voldemort. This dubious comfort, and the opportunity to get Harry to join his Slug Club, persuades Slughorn to return to Hogwarts.
Dumbledore then takes Harry to the Burrow (where his best friends Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Ron's sister Ginny are staying) and tells Harry he will be giving him private lessons during the coming school year. When the trio receive their O.W.L. results, Harry is dismayed to learn that he falls one grade short of the requirement for N.E.W.T. potions, which he needs to become an Auror. After spending the next few weeks at the Burrow, Harry and Hermione go with the Weasleys and Hagrid to Diagon Alley to get school supplies. After meeting Draco Malfoy and his mother at Madam Malkin's, they all go to Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Harry insists on paying for the merchandise, but George and Fred refuse his money, and Ginny buys a Pygmy Puff as a pet. While in the store, Harry, Ron, and Hermione spot Draco outside the store without his mother and, ever suspicious, follow him under the Invisibility Cloak to Borgin and Burkes, a dark artifact shop. The trio wait outside, listening to Draco by Extendable Ears. Harry, Ron, and Hermione see Draco talking with the owner Borgin, about repairing an object and keeping another object safe. Draco also shows Borgin something which Harry suspects is a Dark Mark, the mark of the Death Eaters.
On the Hogwarts Express, Harry meets Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood, two others who fought at the Department of Mysteries. Harry and Neville are invited to Slughorn's compartment on the train along with Ginny and a number of students who have been invited there due to connections with well known or influential people. While on the train, Harry finds himself attracted to Ginny, although she appears to have long given up on her crush on him and is currently dating Dean Thomas. Still suspicious of Malfoy, Harry sneaks into the Slytherin sixth-years' compartment with his Invisibility Cloak, and hears Malfoy telling his friends he may not come back to Hogwarts after the next year, having been asked to do a job for Voldemort. After all his friends have left the compartment, Malfoy catches Harry spying on them; he puts a Freezing Charm on Harry, stamps on his nose, and leaves him covered in his own Invisibility Cloak and unable to move. Tonks, who is on guard in Hogsmeade and is in charge of guiding Harry to Hogwarts, comes to Harry's rescue.
At the opening feast, Dumbledore announces that Professor Snape is taking over the Defence Against the Dark Arts post, while Slughorn will be taking Snape's vacated job as Potions Master. This allows Harry and Ron to take N.E.W.T. Potions, as Slughorn's entry requirements are lower than Snape's. Neither of them had anticipated this and don't have the necessary equipment, so Slughorn lends them old textbooks. Harry's battered text, last owned by someone nicknamed "The Half-Blood Prince," turns out to be covered with handwritten annotations and alternate instructions which greatly improve the quality of Harry's brewing results, although without the Prince's cribs Harry's understanding of the subject is no better than before. At the end of his first lesson, Harry wins a bottle of Felix Felicis, a potion which temporarily gives the drinker miraculously good luck.
Memories
Albus Dumbledore begins a private series of lessons with Harry concerning Lord Voldemort. In the first lesson, Dumbledore shows Harry the first of a number of memories he has collected concerning Lord Voldemort's past. It shows a ministry official, Bob Ogden, interrogating a man named Marvolo Gaunt with the attempt to arrest a man called Morfin Gaunt for attacking a muggle, Tom Riddle Sr., but fails. Dumbledore reveals and speculates later that following Ogden's visit, Marvolo's daughter and Morfin's sister, Merope Gaunt had given Riddle Sr. a love potion because she was in love with him, and they had later ran away together and conceived a child: Tom Marvolo Riddle, the young Voldemort.Harry wants to investigate Draco Malfoy, but has other concerns on his hands; keeping up with his immense workload, training the house Quidditch team having been made Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, putting up with the attractions of numerous girls and studying the Half-Blood Prince's book further; in it, he discovers numerous spells that the Prince invented himself (e.g Levicorpus, Muffliato, Sectumsempra etc.). Hermione Granger disapproves of the book, partly because some of its spells have a dark nature, but mainly because it allows Harry to outperform her in Potions. Three times, Slughorn attempts to invite Harry to one of his "Slug Club" parties, but Harry avoids them, in order to avoid leaving Ron out (Harry was invited due to his history, and Hermione due to her vast magical knowledge). During a trip to Hogsmeade, a student and member of Harry's Quidditch team, Katie Bell is imperiused and cursed by a mysterious necklace. Remembering seeing the necklace in Borgin's shop, Harry voices his suspicions of Malfoy to Professor McGonagall, but she states that Malfoy wasn't in Hogsmeade, and that there is no proof that he bought the necklace.
In his second lesson with Dumbledore, Harry first sees Caractacus Burke talking about a locket of Salazar Slytherin's that a pregnant and desperate Merope Gaunt had sold him, Riddle having abandoned her when she stopped giving him Love Potion, then goes into a memory of Dumbledore's to the orphanage that Riddle had grown up in. Harry learns that Merope had later died in childbirth, and that even at an early age, Riddle had developed his powers, which he used to punish people who annoyed him and had a sadistical, cruel and independent nature, just like the adult Voldemort.
Love is in the air
During a Herbology lesson, Ron expresses his jealousy of not being invited to Slughorn's upcoming Christmas party, to the point of teasing Hermione about it. When she tells him that she was planning to invite him, however, his attitude changes, and they begin to show signs of attraction to each other. Harry is unsure how he feels about this, remembering his unsuccessful relationship with Cho Chang during his fifth year. With Katie unable to play, Harry recruits Dean Thomas onto the Quidditch team, which continues to improve. On their way back from practice however, Harry and Ron come across Dean and Ginny kissing behind a tapestry. Harry feels a huge urge of jealousy toward Dean, while Ron and Ginny have a heated argument. Ron states that he doesn't want to see his sister "snogging" (kissing) people in public, while Ginny tells him that her love life is none of his business, and that he's only upset because he's never kissed anyone, referencing Harry and Cho's relationship and revealing that Hermione had once kissed Viktor Krum. This piece of information wrecks Ron's relationship with Hermione, as well as his Quidditch skills, and badly alters his personality. Harry meanwhile tries to convince himself that his feelings for Ginny are brotherly, but eventually realizes that he has fallen in love with her.Slughorn's Christmas Party
In an effort to improve Ron's Quidditch and possibly mend his relationship with Hermione, Harry pretends to slip Ron some Felix Felicis, the day of the match between Gryffindor and Slytherin. Feeling lucky, Ron goes on to save everything the Slytherin chasers throw at him, and Gryffindor hammers Slytherin. However, after the match, Ron accuses Hermione of not having faith in his Quidditch abilities, because she thought he really had taken lucky potion, and starts going out with Lavender Brown to spite her. As Slughorn's Christmas party approaches, Hermione warns Harry that a number of girls, particularly Romilda Vane, plan to slip him a love potion, to get him to invite them. Harry gets round this by going to the party with Luna, while Hermione goes with Cormac McLaggen to get back at Ron (which she regrets very much later). During the party, Malfoy is dragged in, in trouble for lurking in a certain deserted corridor and claiming to be gatecrashing; Slughorn lets him off the hook. Snape however takes Malfoy out of the party and into a deserted classroom. Harry follows them both and overhears Snape offering to help Malfoy with his mission, which Malfoy flatly refuses, accusing Snape of trying to interfere.Christmas Day
During the Christmas holidays at the Burrow, Harry tells Ron, his father Arthur Weasley and Remus Lupin what he overheard, but they believe that Snape was trying to find out Malfoy's plan so he could tell Dumbledore. Later, Rufus Scrimgeour visits the Burrow, and requests that Harry appear to work alongside the Ministry, to boost the morale of the public. Harry turns it down, knowing that the Ministry is arresting and imprisoning innocent people and remembering how they persecuted him last year.Returning to Hogwarts
On their return to Hogwarts, Harry notices Ginny is not enthusiastic about meeting Dean, and tells Hermione about what he heard between Malfoy and Snape, but she also believes Snape was working on Dumbledore's orders. When Harry mentions Fenrir Greyback, a werewolf Lupin had told him about during the holidays, she recalls Malfoy threatening Borgin with him, and Harry states that this proves Malfoy's a Death Eater. Hermione, however, got past this one, saying that it might have been "an empty threat."In his third lesson with Dumbledore, Harry learns that during his time at Hogwarts, Voldemort had gathered a mixture of friends who became the forerunners of the Death Eaters, and researched his family. He first investigated his father, and later assumed the name Lord Voldemort upon discovering his father was a Muggle and never attended Hogwarts. Dumbledore and Harry then go into Morfin Gaunt's memory, where he reveals to his nephew, Voldemort how he was conceived. After hearing this, Voldemort went on to murder his Muggle ancestors, taking revenge on them for abandoning him, eliminating the last of the "unworthy" Riddle line, stealing Morfin's father's ring and implanted false memories into Morfin, framing him for the murders.
In the next memory, Voldemort asks Slughorn about Horcruxes, which results in Slughorn yelling that he knows nothing about them. Dumbledore is confident that the memory has been tampered with, however, noting patches of grey fog that came up when Slughorn was shouting, and asks Harry to retrieve the true memory. Realising Harry is on to him, after a botched attempt to get the memory, Slughorn starts avoiding him, and Harry instead chooses to focus on investigating Malfoy, using the Marauder's Map, noticing that Malfoy disappears off it at certain times.
Birthday surprises
March has arrived and on Ron's seventeenth birthday he consumes a number of Chocolate Cauldrons containing a Love Potion (courtesy of Romilda and intended for Harry). Harry takes him down to Slughorn for an antidote, and the three of them decide to have some of Rosmerta's Mulled Mead, originally meant for Dumbledore. Ron discovers, upon drinking it, that it is poisoned, but Harry manages to save him with a Bezoar.As a result of his near-death experience, Ron reconciles with Hermione and Ginny. Some time afterward, Harry sends Kreacher and Dobby to tail Malfoy. In their fourth lesson, Dumbledore is disappointed Harry failed to obtain Slughorn's true memory. Dumbledore shows him two memories: one of Tom Riddle being shown Salazar Slytherin's Locket and Helga Hufflepuff's Cup by a wealthy woman named Hepzibah Smith (both of which he later stole), the other of Riddle applying for the Defence Against the Dark Arts teaching post at Hogwarts, which Dumbledore rejects as he felt that it was an attempt by Riddle to further search the school for secrets and recruit followers. This post was thenceforth jinxed by Riddle; teachers never held the post for more than a year, suffering some terrible fate or humiliation which caused them to leave the position.
Horcruxes
Harry learns from Kreacher and Dobby that Malfoy is regularly visiting the Room of Requirement (which doesn't appear on the Maurader's Map), and spends the next few days trying to get inside. Not knowing what Malfoy is using it for, he has no success. Harry again fails to convince Slughorn to share his true memory, and Ron suggests he use the Felix Felicis. As a result, Harry is able to get the memory with ease, and shows it to Dumbledore. It turns out that in reality, Slughorn had told Riddle everything he wanted to know about Horcruxes, how they are objects that a person can conceal a part of their soul in, which explains how Voldemort was able to survive his rebounding killing curse. Dumbledore believes that Voldemort had made 6 Horcruxes: his diary (which Harry had destroyed 4 years ago), the Gaunt's Ring (which Dumbledore had destroyed last year, greatly injuring his hand in the process), the locket, the cup, an object of Rowena Ravenclaw's and the snake Nagini.Harry learns the next day that Ginny and Dean have split up. He is unwilling to ask her out though, fearing Ron's reaction. Meanwhile, a recovered Katie Bell has returned to the school, and Harry asks who gave her the necklace. She states that someone Imperiused her in the girl's bathroom at Rosmerta's Pub in Hogsmeade. Shortly before the final Quidditch match of the year, Harry finds Malfoy crying over how his mission is failing. When he sees Harry, he attacks him. During the ensuing duel, Harry uses a spell written in The Half Blood Prince's book, which badly injures Malfoy. Snape witnesses the event, heals Malfoy, and gives Harry a large number of detentions that cause him to miss the match. Upon returning to the Gryffindor common room after his first detention, he discovers that the team had won the Quidditch Cup in his absence, and Ginny runs up and hugs him. At this point, Harry finally reveals his feelings for Ginny and kisses her. Both of them are ecstatic and start dating.
The Seer Overheard
Some time later, Dumbledore asks Harry to come to his office. On the way, he runs into his old Divination teacher Professor Trelawney, who was trying to hide sherry bottles in the Room of Requirement before being thrown out. She tells Harry that she heard a male voice (which Harry suspects to be Malfoy's) whooping before she was ejected, and also reveals that Snape had told Voldemort about the prophecy concerning him and Harry, which caused him to murder Harry's parents. Harry expresses outrage that Dumbledore later gave Snape a job at Hogwarts, but Dumbledore states that Snape felt great remorse for what he had done. He then asks Harry to join him in finding a Horcrux, Slytherin's locket, which Harry agrees to. Before leaving, Harry tells Ron and Hermione that Malfoy's almost certainly going to try something tonight, and gives them the remainder of the Felix Felicis.Dumbledore and Harry travel to a cave in which Voldemort had tortured two children in his youth. They proceed through the cave, coming to an island in the middle of a lake. On the island, they find a basin of emerald green potion, with the locket at the bottom. On Dumbledore's orders, Harry reluctantly force-feeds him the potion, which badly weakens him and causes extreme thirst. In an attempt to save him, Harry gives him water from the lake, awakening dozens of Inferi Voldemort had placed to guard his Horcrux. Harry attempts to fight, but there are too many of them. Just as he is about to be overwhelmed, Dumbledore creates a ring of fire around them, which fends off the Inferi, and allows them to escape with the locket to Hogsmeade, where they discover the Dark Mark above the astronomy tower at Hogwarts.
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