Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Second Split)

[Amethyst]

I'd like to take this oppertunity to wish a happy birthday to everyone's favorite muggle-born, Hermione Granger! w00t!

[Xandra]

I do hope that HBP'll be longer than OotP. I prefer long over short or shorter.

shouldn't the book be out soon?
...
The opening chapter of book 6 is actually reborn from discarded early chapters removed from the first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

No one knows when the book will be published. The most likely time period it'll be in stores is Summer '05. JKR's still writing the book, and she's pregnant, so we shouldn't expect it out very soon.

The opening chapter was originally the first chapter of SS/PS, not from early chapters. It was then put into the first chapter of other books in the series, but never fit, so JKR took it out time after time. Apparently, it's finally going to stay put in this book.

[Robin]

Why couldn't Harry use a timeturner to bring him back?
On a similar note, why didn't they use one in book 4?

If you noticed in book 3, when the Trio was going to Hagrid's for Buckbeak's execution, they saw clues that future Harry and Hermione were there. Then it was all explained when Harry and Hermione used the time turned later in the book.

If a time turner had been used, Sirius wouldn't have died at all. It's really complicated; I believe Mugglenet has a good article about the time travel thing...*goes to look*

He could come back with a time turner. I read a story incedently called "The Return of Padfoot" where it still LOOKED like he fell, so it could have happened. Harry under invisibliity cloak with a portkey touches sirius as he falls. Not saying it'll happen, but it COULD. I hope.

Anyway, JKR is probably around halfway, she said recently she had it all planned and a fair part written (can't remember where) but hopefully by my Sweet 16th (June 1st, 2005)

[Xandra]

JKR's updated her website, with a new Rubbish Bin article, and a bunch of new things added to the FAQ. The new wizard of the month is also up.

[Robin]

YAAAHHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! She finally put an end to the BodySwitch!Lupin Theory!!!!!!!! Now I can finally shut people up about that!!!!!

[Xandra]

I'm rather upset about 'Are you going to kill any more characters?' for some reason. Yes, yes, either Harry or Voldemort, or both, has/have to die, but it's quiet obvious that she meant that a character other than them.

Which really, really sucks, as I like all the characters, now that Sirius is gone. Lucius Malfoy is so delightfully evil, Ron's the typical teenaged boy (which is why I love his character), Draco's just an utter slimeball, but a very nicely written slimeball, and very complex.

I won't mind all too much if Dumbledore dies, though, as I'm not too attached to him.

But I will sob my eyes out until they have dried into tiny little dried thingies the size of peanuts, when/if Lucius or Ron dies.

I suspect it will be Ron, though that would be horrible, because he's Harry's best friend and he's supposed to end up with Hermione and if JKR manages to kill Ron off and actually keep the books going without a loss of quality, then she's even more of a goddess and I will make a shrine to her.

So yes. I do not want ickle Ronniekins to die.

And then there's the answer to the FAQ poll:

What did Dumbledore's Howler to Aunt Petunia mean? ('Remember my last'?)


Well, it is a relief to move on after the Mark Evans fiasco. This time, two out of the three poll questions had interesting answers (or so I think) and thank goodness you chose one of them.

So: Dumbledore is referring to his last letter, which means, of course, the letter he left upon the Dursleys' doorstep when Harry was one year old. But why then (you may well ask) did he not just say 'remember my letter?' Why did he say my last letter? Why, obviously because there were letters before that…

Now let the speculation begin, and mind you type clearly, I'll be watching...

*Blinks*

Once again, that woman makes me feel incredibly stupid. Remember my last, indeed.

So let's start speculating, hypothesizing, theorizing and the like, as JKR said so and that means we must.

So if there were letters before...

A theory that come to mind is the Petunia being part of the Order, as a muggle, or being a former member of the Order, perhaps having left upon Lily and James' deaths, as she might have realised how destructive magic is, and how dangerous it could be against someone like her, a muggle. Or if she simply used to communicate with Dumbledore, about various things, such as her family's protection against ill-meaning wizards.

Or something like that.

[Christopher]

If Ron dies half the fanfics goes with him XD

[vivian58]

I'm rather upset about 'Are you going to kill any more characters?' for some reason. Yes, yes, either Harry or Voldemort, or both, has/have to die, but it's quiet obvious that she meant that a character other than them.

Which really, really sucks, as I like all the characters, now that Sirius is gone. Lucius Malfoy is so delightfully evil, Ron's the typical teenaged boy (which is why I love his character), Draco's just an utter slimeball, but a very nicely written slimeball, and very complex.

I won't mind all too much if Dumbledore dies, though, as I'm not too attached to him.

But I will sob my eyes out until they have dried into tiny little dried thingies the size of peanuts, when/if Lucius or Ron dies.

I suspect it will be Ron, though that would be horrible, because he's Harry's best friend and he's supposed to end up with Hermione and if JKR manages to kill Ron off and actually keep the books going without a loss of quality, then she's even more of a goddess and I will make a shrine to her.

So yes. I do not want ickle Ronniekins to die.

I personally wouldn't mind if Lucius died. I mean, he's clearly written to be nasty, vile, evil, etc. so you're supposed to want him dead. But I doubt he'll die before, sigh, causing more damage. Which has quite a high possibility of meaning more character deaths, something to be expected of course, since the books can only get darker, as JKR keeps emphasizing.

About Ron. At some point, JKR said she'd gotten a lot of people who said, "PLEASE DON'T KILL RON, THE BEST FRIEND ALWAYS DIE" and I think, I'm not entirely sure, but I think she said she wouldn't kill Ron off. But then, this is from a very old online chat, so she may have chagned her mind. I doubt it though. At least I hope not, for I do love Ron as well. : ) Ugh. Maybe Hermione will die then. *sobs*

[Robin]

If Ron dies half the fanfics goes with him XD

Not really. I have found over 50 Sirius returns fics, and Ron is waaayy more liked than Siri (not by ME but by others) so there will be a TON of Ron Returns fics if he dies!!

[Christopher]

If Ron dies half the fanfics goes with him XD

Not really. I have found over 50 Sirius returns fics, and Ron is waaayy more liked than Siri (not by ME but by others) so there will be a TON of Ron Returns fics if he dies!!

I can always hope though.

[ahoteinrun]

If any of the three friends dies, it's going to be Hermoine.
Potential love interest to Ron (it's so obvious! The way they fight all the time, and just... yeah. The movie hinted at it... JK Rowling said that the movie picked up on things that weren't in the book... bleh).
It'd throw everyone into Chaos.
She had so much potential!
*shakes head*

Then again, no matter who dies in that book (excluding bad guys), i'm going to bawl.
And I have this gut wrenching feeling, that Dumbledores gonna kick the bucket... which will make me sad. *tear*

[Xandra]

If any of the three friends dies, it's going to be Hermoine.
Potential love interest to Ron (it's so obvious! The way they fight all the time, and just... yeah. The movie hinted at it... JK Rowling said that the movie picked up on things that weren't in the book... bleh).
It'd throw everyone into Chaos.
She had so much potential!
*shakes head*

Then again, no matter who dies in that book (excluding bad guys), i'm going to bawl.
And I have this gut wrenching feeling, that Dumbledores gonna kick the bucket... which will make me sad. *tear*

Well, at least if Dumbledore dies, the books will become more interesting and we'll have more of drama queen!Harry. Who I found to be rather humorous ("BLAH BLAH I HATE YOU BLAH NO WORD OVER THE SUMMER BLAH BLAH BLAH I LOVE SHOUTING BLAH I DO A LOT OF SHOUTING IN THIS BOOK BLAH BLAH CAPS-LOCK IS GREAT BLAH!!!"), and quite like a real teenaged boy (my older cousin, when angry, once punched his fist through a door).

[Robin]

Tell me about it. Harry's either gonna be CapsLock!Harry or Angsty!Harry in HBP after Sirius's 'death'. I know if my parents were dead, and now the closest thing to a Dad I had died, I'd be upset...

[Igg]

OotP is absolutely hilarious for angst ridden Harry Potter- it was the best part of the book.
Harry: SHOUTS IRRATIONALLY WITHOUT BOTHERING TO WORK OUT WHAT HE'S SHOUTING ABOUT AND WHETHER THERE'S ANY POINT IN SHOUTING JUST BECAUSE HE'S A HORMONAL TEENAGER

[ahoteinrun]

*small smile*
I feel bad for Harry. And can... unfortuantely somewhat understand where he's coming from.
*shrugs*

I stand by my idea that Dumbledore dies. Yup. It'd just make so many people angry (like my mom and dad) and it'd make Harry freak. *nods*