Harry was supposed to have been reading Quintessence: A Quest. Perhaps if he’d actually read it, he’d not have spent so much time wandering around and having to pass yet again through the three stages of alchemy in Deathly Hallows? “Quintessence” means:
- the fifth and highest element after air and earth and fire and water; was believed to be the substance composing all heavenly bodies
- the purest and most concentrated essence of something
Either that, or he would have been skipped the whole Voldemort quest to join a Finnish jazz band.
Rowling lays the irony on this again with Harry’s stubborn pronouncement that he’s learned more from the Prince than he ever did from Snape.
Re-reading the scene in the library, I can definitely see why many of us speculated that Irma Pince was an anagram for “I’m a Prince” (i.e., Snape’s mommy). Her “sunken cheeks,” her “long hooked nose” and that foul temper sound very familiar. I laugh every time she notices the writing in Harry’s potions book and calls him a “depraved boy.” I also cringe a little – I have much the same attitude about writing in books (and dog-earing the pages). Perhaps I need to re-evaluate.
I’ve often wondered if Rowling satirized fan speculation about her series right in her text. For example, was Xenophilius’s “Scrimgeour is a vampire” theory meant as a subtle shot at the many “Snape is a vampire” theories that were floating around at the time (and which she squashed in the very first post-HBP-release interview she gave)?
Lots of excellent humor in this chapter, what with Luna and Trelawney being prominent, as well as some fairly annoying teenage behavior, on the part of Hermione, no less. But all this moves us quickly to the conversation between Snape and Draco, which plunges Harry deeper into speculation about what young Malfoy is up to, with revelation of an “unbreakable vow.”
When Severus is pulled into conversation at the party, Slughorn begins praising Harry’s ability, and the former potions master expresses skepticism. The text says that Snape’s “eyes narrowed” and “were boring into Harry.” Harry ponders what might happen if Snape began “investigating the sources of his newfound brilliance in Potions,” as if that were something that might happen in the future. What Harry misses, I think, is that Snape has already begun, with the narrowed, boring eyes. Just moments later, in the conversation Snape has with Draco, moments of silence are following by statements of Draco’s practicing Occlumency, and then argument about what Draco is hiding from him. In other words, Snape, as he has done many times before and will do again, has cast Legilimens nonverbally.
Which might just mean Snape knew about the potions book as early as Slughorn’s Christmas party.
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{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
Interesting thought, Travis. I remember thinking that as I read Half-Blood Prince. Oh Severus Snape and his Legimens…
Oh, and I’d really like to see Harry in a Finnish rock band. That’d be great! I kind of see him as a drummer, shaking things up. Drums in jazz are so fun!
Travis, I think it’s possible Snape knew about the potions book, but I suspect he didn’t in this chapter. I do agree that he is a very good nonverbal Legilimens and that Harry’s internal monologue has picked up on that throughout the series. I just can’t imagine Snape would allow Harry to keep the book that he has made so many notes. He is a clever and skilled to get the book without bringing it up to other teachers/Dumbledore. It does beg the question why Snape left it in the potions cupboard to begin with. This all does raise the suspicions on how Harry got his new found potions mastery in Snape’s mind.
Brent, I was thinking that too about Snape. Maybe it was because Snape kept his old potions book in there as a sort of reference book. The way he taught potions was not exactly according to the book and he did like to add his own ideas to potion making. Maybe that is why the book was still at the school and Slughorn, not knowing that it was being used for something else, gave it to Harry.
Gotta run so for now I’ll just note quickly the alchemical decoration of Slughorn’s party — “emerald, crimson, and gold hangings” and red light. Nice conjunction of opposites (green and red).
For me, these chapters are the funniest part of what is the funniest book in the series.
I like hormonal Hermione much better then hormonal Harry in book five.
There is an interesting and rather significant line from Snape on the last page of this chapter: “Where do you think I would have been all these years, if I had not known how to act?” Now the reader is supposed to think that this means that all his work for the Order is just an act, an interpretation seemingly confirmed when Snape kills Dumbledore. Post-DH we know this interpretation is wrong, and we might just assume he says it to sway Draco and/or that his acting was limited to pretending to be Voldemort’s servant for the past year-and-a-half. However, the use of the word “act” struck me on this reread: not just how to behave, but how to act like in a play. And the use of the phrase “all these years” combined with “act” makes me think that some of his behavior for years has been an act. After all, to pretend to be Voldemort’s servant, he and D might well have arranged from the very beginning that he would favor the Slytherins, especially the children of Death Eaters, and disfavor Gryffindors all to prepare for that unknown time in the future when Voldemort would return, or try to return. In addition, he would pretend to apply for the DADA position every year and D would pretend to turn it down (to prepare for any eventual time when D might need Snape to appear to return to the Dark Side, to make Snape seem still interested in the Dark Arts, to give him an excuse to look bitter). It could even be that the whole mean and nasty demeanor is all just an act.
Whether his treatment of Harry was entirely an act is hard to say. I think it very unlikely it was always entirely an act. There seems to have been some real animus, although I see much less evidence of it in HBP, Harry’s prejudice against Snape notwithstanding. Even if D intended that Snape not appear friendly to Harry (likely), Snape seems to have been more hateful than necessary to maintain his cover, not to mention the “special look of loathing” he reserved “just for Harry.” On the other hand, it could be that his animus drained away much earlier than we think and that he has been pretending to still hate Harry for quite a while. If this is the case I would hazard a guess that the changeover was shortly after Voldemort’s return, after Snape learns what happened in the graveyard. I’m thinking of the way he looks at Harry at the Leaving Feast in GOF: “His eyes lingered on Harry for a moment as Harry looked at him. His expression was difficult to read. He looked as sour and unpleasant as ever.” This could mean that he is reassessing his opinion of Harry, or it could be he just needed the reassurance of one last look into Harry’s (Lily’s) eyes before the summer, or it could mean something else entirely.
On a separate note, but still about Snape and harkening back to our discussion of Snape’s love for others. I would draw our attention to this passage from Chamber of Secrets:
“[McGonagall told the staff], ‘A student has been taken by the monster. Right into the Chamber itself.’
Professor Flitwick let out a squeal. Professor Sprout clapped her hands over her mouth. Snape gripped the back of a chair very hard and said, ‘How can you be sure?’” (COS 293)
Snape is very upset at the thought of a student (who most likely is not a Slytherin) being taken into the Chamber. This demonstrates that his ability to love and care about others was not limited to Lily and was present well before Voldemort’s return, too.
Lily, it’s possible that Snape’s amenity towards Harry was all an act, but I always saw it as a visceral reaction to Harry’s James-like appearance. We can see in the Prince’s tale that even time didn’t heal Snape’s feeling towards James in addition to Harry having Lily’s eyes being a constant reminder of the girl that Snape lost.
Rereading, I noticed that Quintessence literally is “fifth essence” and at this time two of Lord Voldemort’s horcruxes have been destroyed, leaving five. Quintessence: A Quest might cryptically forshadow Harry’s eventual quest to destroy the five remaining parts of Lord Voldemort’s essence.
Lily Luna, the theory that Snape treated Harry as he did only to maintain his cover was one of my favourite. But when I had finished reading DH I finally dropped it because there was not enough evidence.
For example, I cannot find any excuse why Snape had to scorn James and Sirius, when Harry had detention with him: “It must be such a comforting thing that, though they are gone, a record of their great achievements remains.” There were no witnesses and thus there was no reason for pretending. He knew Harry loved them and still grieved for Sirius. He already knew from Dumbledore that Harry would have to sacrifice himself. So this was probably the meanest of things he ever said to Harry.
But maybe there was something going on in Snape’s subconscious mind that he wasn’t ready to admit until he was dying. Dumbledore’s question if Snape had “grown to care for the boy” quite resembles the question he asked Harry: “Could you possibly be feeling sorry for Lord Voldemort?” And I suppose he guessed right both times, because in each case he received a negative response, given a bit too quickly.
SPT I like your idea that the last remaining horcruxes could be a link to the five elements. Harry would obviously be the fifth element (which some people call love). That leaves the necklace, the cup, Nagini, and the diadem. Which do think would represent which? The cup could be earth, because it belonged to Hufflepuff; The diadem could be air, because it belonged to Ravenclaw; but the snake and the necklace are both symbols of water and Slytherin. What do you think?
Crabbe was in Snape’s house and Filch was his friend. Snape probably knew what had happened to both of them and knew that Harry had done it since the spells were in the HBP book and Snape as good as knew Harry had it. As discussed earlier, Harry hexing and humiliating Crabbe and Filch publicly just because they were unpopular and disliked is very close to what James did to Snape. I think Snape is trying to get Harry to recognize that and mend his ways. And even though there is no public audience, Harry is still in the dark and Snape might well put on an act for him. Even if he is growing to care for Harry (whether he admits it to himself or not), as a matter of self-preservation, he and D are keeping Harry in the dark as to Snape’s motivations as long as possible because they are afraid Voldemort will start reading Harry’s mind again, which could endanger Snape if Harry knows too much.
Mark-Anthony, I’m not sure, but I think the key is to look at the item associated with each horcrux. For Slytherin’s Necklace, it is Polyjuice POTION (or perhaps, the toilet at the entrance to the MoM). For Hufflepuff’s Cup, it is Belletrix’s WAND. For Nagini, it is Griffindor’s SWORD. For Harrycrux, it is the Resurection STONE.
SPT, that sounds really good. I’m still working it out, but maybe you could factor in who destroyed which horcrux or with what, ie Ron’s sword/Crabbe’s fiend fire/Hermione’s basilisk fang/Voldemort’s ak/Neville’s sword. I’m just throwing darts but if I think of anything good I’ll let you know.
Travis, I find that line about writing in books funny, too. My recent English professors almost insist that we write in our books, take notes, and I had one that thought that our books should be worth more if we try to resell them, because of all the supplementary knowledge. I guess, in a way the Half Blood Prince book was an example of that.
Am I the only one who thought the vampire was hillarious? They should get someone from twilight to play him in the movie!
(just kidding)
I too loved Pince’s indignation at the writing in books thing. I always had a hard time marking up my books; couldn’t quite bring myself to do it most of the time… I remember one time in elementary school, we had this paperback civics book for a mini-course we took in Social Studies, and the teacher told us every single thing we were supposed to highlight. I thought that was kinda weird.
Any chapter with Luna in it is automatically a winner in my book. I just love her exuberance when Harry invites her to the party. She’s so happy that somebody is actually choosing to spend time with her, not to mention getting to go to an exclusive event where she’ll get to meet all kinds of cool people. We never see Luna go through the hormonal craziness that afflicts so many of the characters; she’s as serene in this book as she is in the fifth, and the seventh. I always thought she had a bit of a crush on Ron, but nothing very serious. I also appreciate Ginny’s kindness toward Luna; she’s the one who introduced Luna to the group, and she always seems to have great regard for her feelings. At the same time, she seems to regard her as a “safe” date for Harry; I bet she would have been irritated if he’d gone to the party with Romilda!
Hermione is just ridiculous in this chapter. Not her finest hour. I always felt like there was a real connection between her and Krum, and she wasn’t simply getting chummy with him to make Ron jealous. Here, though, she can’t stand McLaggen, and she makes herself miserable for the evening just so Ron can be miserable thinking about the two of them together. “Girls were very strange sometimes.” Indeed!
The vampire cracked me up too. I picture him as this guy looking like Count Chocula, being dragged along by that annoying biographer. Maybe he only agreed to it on the slim chance he might sneak a student-sized snack…
“Count Chocula ” — Excellent! Thanks for the laugh! I’m still snickering.