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Do you remember me telling you we are practicing non-verbal spells, Potter?"
"Yes," said Harry stiffly.
"Yes, sir."
"There's no need to call me "sir" Professor."
The words had escaped him before he knew what he was saying.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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It is the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness, nothing more.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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Let us step into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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Dumbledore says people find it far easier to forgive others for being wrong than being right.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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The thing about growing up with Fred and George," said Ginny thoughtfully, "is that you sort of start thinking anything's possible if you've got enough nerve.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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Why are you worrying about YOU-KNOW-WHO, when you should be worrying about YOU-NO-POO? The constipation sensation that's gripping the nation!
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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Sometimes you remind me a lot of James. He called it my 'furry little problem' in company. Many people were under the impression that I owned a badly behaved rabbit.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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An Unbreakable Vow?" said Ron, looking stunned. "Nah, he canβt have.... Are you sure?"
"Yes Iβm sure," said Harry. "Why, what does it mean?"
"Well, you canβt break an Unbreakable Vow..."
"Iβd worked that much out for myself, funnily enough.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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Dumbledore's man through and through, aren't you Potter?"
"Yeah I am," said Harry. "Glad we straightened that out.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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You could say sorry," suggested Harry bluntly.
"What, and get attacked by another flock of canaries?" muttered Ron.
"What did you have to imitate her for?"
"She laughed at my mustache!"
"So did I, it was the stupidest thing I've ever seen.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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Harry was left to ponder in silence the depths to which girls would sink to get revenge.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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It was, he thought, the difference between being dragged into the arena to face a battle to the death and walking into the arena with your head held high. Some people, perhaps, would say that there was little to choose between the two ways, but Dumbledore knew - and so do I, thought Harry, with a rush of fierce pride, and so did my parents - that there was all the difference in the world.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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I don't mean to be rudeβ" he began, in a tone that threatened rudeness in every syllable.
"Yet, sadly, accidental rudeness occurs alarmingly often," Dumbledore finished the sentence gravely.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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It's going to be all right, sir," Harry said over and over again, more worried by Dumbledore's silence than he had been by his weakened voice. "We're nearly there ... I can Apparate us both back ... don't worry ..."
"I am not worried, Harry," said Dumbledore, his voice a little stronger despite the freezing water. "I am with you.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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Dumbledore will only leave from Hogwarts when there are none loyal to him!
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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I enjoyed the meetings, too. It was like having friends.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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When you have seen as much of life as I have, you will not underestimate the power of obsessive love.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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He accused me of being Dumbledore's man through and through."
"How very rude of him."
"I told him I was."
Dumbledore opened his mouth to speak and then closed it again. Fawkes the phoenix let out a low, soft, musical cry. To Harry's intense embarrassment, he suddenly realized that Dumbledore's bright blue eyes looked rather watery, and stared hastily at his own knee. When Dumbledore spoke, however, his voice was quite steady.
"I am very touched, Harry.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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I make mistakes like the next man. In fact, being--forgive me--rather cleverer than most men, my mistakes tend to be correspondingly huger.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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For future reference, Harry, it is raspberry...although of course, if I were a Death Eater, I would have been sure to research my own jam preferences before impersonating myself.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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Killing is not so easy as the innocent believe.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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You'd think people had better things to gossip about," said Ginny as she sat on the common room floor, leaning against Harryβs legs and reading the Daily Prophet. "Three Dementor attacks in a week, and all Romilda Vane does is ask me if itβs true youβve got a Hippogriff tattooed across your chest."
Ron and Hermione both roared with laughter. Harry ignored them.
What did you tell her?"
I told her it's a Hungarian Horntail," said Ginny, turning a page of the newspaper idly. "Much more macho."
Thanks," said Harry, grinning. "And what did you tell her Ronβs got?"
A Pygmy Puff, but I didnβt say where.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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Nobody's ever asked me to a party before, as a friend. Is that why you dyed your eyebrow, for the party? Should I do mine too?
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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Once again, you show all the sensitivity of a blunt axe.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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We'll be there, Harry," said Ron
"What?"
"At your Aunt and Uncle's house," said Ron, "And then we'll go with you wherever you're going."
"No-" said Harry quickly; he hadn't counted on this, he had meant them to understand that he was undertaking the most dangerous journey alone.
"You said it once before," said Hermione quickly, "that there was time to turn back if we wanted to. We've had time, haven't we? We're with you whatever happens.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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Age is foolish and forgetful when it underestimates youth.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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Voldemort himself created his worst enemy, just as tyrants everywhere do! Have you any idea how much tyrants fear the people they oppress? All of them realize that, one day, amongst their many victims, there is sure to be one who rises against them and strikes back!
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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What do I care how 'e looks? I am good-looking enough for both of us, I theenk! All these scars show is zat my husband is brave!
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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It was important, Dumbledore said, to fight, and fight again, and keep fighting, for only then could evil be kept at bay, though never quite eradicated. . . .
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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Yes, it is easy to see that nearly six years of magical education have not been wasted on you, Potter. Ghosts are transparent.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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And tears came before he could stop them, boiling hot then instantly freezing on his face, and what was the point in wiping them off? Or pretending? He let them fall.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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Did you knowβ then?β asked Harry.
βDid I know that I had just met the most dangerous Dark wizard of all time? No.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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I am a wizard, not a baboon brandishing a stick.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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I see a light in the kitchen. Let us not deprive Molly any longer of the chance to deplore how thin you are.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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And they'd [the Death Eaters] love to have me," said Harry sarcastically. "We'd be best pals if they didn't keep trying to do me in.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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Greatness inspires envy, envy engenders spite, spite spawns lies.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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Harry looked around; there was Ginny running toward him; she had a hard blazing look in her face as she threw her arms around him. And without thinking, without planning it, without worrying about the fact that fifty people were watching, Harry kissed her. After several long moments, or it might have been half an hour-or possibly several sunlit days- they broke apart.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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Ah, Harry, how often this happens, even between the best of friends! Each of us believes that what he has to say is much more important than anything the other might have to contribute!
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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You are protected, in short, by your ability to love!
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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Well you seemed too busy to call him a prat and I thought someone should.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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We must try not to sink beneath our anguish, Harry, but battle on.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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From this point forth, we shall be leaving the firm foundation of fact and journeying together through the murky marshes of memory into thickets of wildest guesswork.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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When we come face-to-face with one down a dark alley, we're going to be having a shufti to see if it's solid, aren't we, we're not going to be asking, 'Excuse me, are you the imprint of a departed soul?
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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Ginny, listen...I can't be involved with you anymore. We've got to stop seeing each other. We can't be together."
"It's for some stupid noble reason isn't it?"
"It's been like...like something out of someone else's life these last few weeks with you. But I can't...we can't...I've got to do things alone now. Voldemort uses people his enemies are close to. He's already used you as bait once, and that was just because you were my best friend's sister. Think how much danger you'll be in if we keep this up. He'll know, he'll find out. He'll try and get me through you."
"What if I don't care?"
"I care. How do you think I'd feel if this was your funeral...and it was my fault...
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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Oh, there you are, Albus,' he said. 'You've been a very long time. Upset stomach?'
'No, I was merely reading the Muggle magazines,' said Dumbledore. 'I do love knitting patterns.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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In the fairy tale you mentioned last night, I would probably be the villain. But it's possible the villain would treat you far better than the prince would have.
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Lisa Kleypas (Tempt Me at Twilight (The Hathaways, #3))
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P.S. I enjoy acid pops.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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Time is making fools of us again.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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Killing rips the soul apart.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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I don't think you should be an Auror, Harry," said Luna unexpectedly. Everybody looked at her. "The Aurors are part of the Rotfang Conspiracy, I thought everyone knew that. They're working to bring down the Ministry of Magic from within using a mixture of dark magic and gum disease.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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I was supposed to be waiting up here when you got back, only your Phoenix lot got in the way...β
βYes, they do that,β said Dumbledore.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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Because to confide a part of your soul to something that can think and move for itself is obviously a very risky business.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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I see you are ββ
βDumbledoreβs man through and through,β said Harry. βThatβs right.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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The Death Eaters can't all be pure-blood, there aren't enough pure-blood wizards left," said Hermione stubbornly. "I expect most of them are half-bloods pretending to be pure. It's only Muggle-borns they hate, they'd be quite happy to let you and Ron join up"
"There is no way they'd let me be a Death Eater!" said Ron indignantly...."My whole family are blood traitors! That's as bad as Muggle-borns to Death Eaters!"
"And they'd love to have me," said Harry sarcastically. "We'd be best pals if they didn't keep trying to do me in.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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I am not worried, Harry," said Dumbledore, his voice a little stronger despite the freezing water. "I am with you.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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Dumbledore had not raised his voice, he did not even sound angry, but Harry would have preferred him to yell; this cold disappointment was worse than anything.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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A fierce battle was raging inside Harry's brain:
She's Ron's sister.
But she's ditched Dean!
She's still Ron's sister.
I'm his best mate!
That'll make it worse.
If I talked to him first-
He'd hit you.
What if I don't care?
He's your best mate!
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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It is impossible to manufacture or imitate love.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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And he knew that at that moment, they understood each other perfectly, and when he told her what he was going to do now, she would not say βbe carefulβ or βdonβt do itβ, but she would accept his decision because she would not have expected anything less of him.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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Dumbledore would have been happier than anybody to think that there was a little more love in the world.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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I would rather die than betray his trust."
"That's not saying much, seeing as you're already dead," Ron observed.
"Once again, you show all the sensitivity of a blunt axe," said Nearly Headless Nick in affronted tones.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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Snape raised his wand and pointed it directly at Dumbledore.
"Avada Kedavra!
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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You never get it right, you people, do you? Either we've got Fudge, pretending everything's lovely while people get murdered right under his nose, or we've got you, chucking the wrong people into jail and trying to pretend you've got 'The Chosen One' working for you!
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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I really feel that we're not giving children enough credit for distinguishing what's right and what's wrong. I, for one, devoured fairy tales as a little girl. I certainly didn't believe that kissing frogs would lead me to a prince, or that eating a mysterious apple would poison me, or that with the magical "Bibbity-Bobbity-Boo" I would get a beautiful dress and a pumpkin carriage. I also don't believe that looking in a mirror and saying "Candyman, Candyman, Candyman" will make some awful serial killer come after me. I believe that many children recognize Harry Potter for what it is, fantasy literature. I'm sure there will always be some that take it too far, but that's the case with everything. I believe it's much better to engage in dialog with children to explain the difference between fantasy and reality. Then they are better equipped to deal with people who might have taken it too far.
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J.K. Rowling
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Oh, very good,' interrupted Snape, his lip curling. 'Yes, it is easy to see that nearly six years of magical education have not been wasted on you, Potter. 'Ghosts are transparent.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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And Harry saw very clearly as he sat there under the hot sun how people who cared about him had stood in front of him one by one, his mother, his father, his godfather, and finally Dumbledore, all determined to protect him; but now that was over. He could not let anybody else stand between him and Voldemort; he must abandon forever the illusion he ought to have lost at the age of one, that the shelter of a parentβs arms meant that nothing could hurt him. There was no waking from this nightmare, no comforting whisper in the dark that he was safe really, that it was all in his imagination; the last and greatest of his protectors had died, and he was more alone than he had ever been.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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His hand closed automatically around the fake Horcrux but in spite of everything, in spite of the dark and twisting path he saw stretching ahead for himself, in spite of the final meeting with Voldemort he knew must come whether in a month in a year or in ten, he felt his heart lift at the thought that there was still one last golden day of peace left to enjoy with Ron and Hermione.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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You said to us once before," said Hermione quietly, "that there was time to turn back if we wanted to. We've had time, haven't we?
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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Well, you can't break an unbreakable vow," said Ron.
"I figured that out myself, funnily enough.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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Bangs and smoke were more often the marks of ineptitude than expertise.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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I love you, Hermione,β said Ron, sinking back, rubbing his eyes wearily.
Hermione turned faintly pink, but merely said, βDonβt let Lavender hear you saying that.β
βI wonβt,β said Ron into his hands. βOr maybe I will . . . then sheβll ditch me . . .
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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Ron gave a tiny jerk of the head that Harry understood to mean, Well - if you must.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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I can't see anyone trying to bump off a quidditch team."
Fred: "Wood might've done the Slytherins if he could've got away with it.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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And without thinking, without planning it, without worrying about the fact that fifty people were watching, Harry kissed her.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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Er-my-nee," Ron croaked unexpectedly from between them.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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Have to? Of course you have to! But only because of you, Harry, won't rest until Voldemort is finished! Think now, for once, if you have never heard of the prophecy! What would you do?
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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This is your copy of Advanced Potion-Making, is it, Potter?β
βYes,β said Harry, still breathing hard.
βYouβre quite sure of that, are you, Potter?β
βYes,β said Harry, with a touch more defiance.
βThis is the copy of Advanced Potion-Making that you purchased from Flourish and Blotts?β
βYes,β said Harry firmly.
βThen why,β asked Snape, βdoes it have the name βRoonil Wazlibβ written inside the front cover?β
Harryβs heart missed a beat. βThatβs my nickname,β he said.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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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 house behind them- 'CALL ME A COWARD!
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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I take my hat off to you β or I would, if I were not afraid of showering you in spiders.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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Such loyalty is admirable, of course,β said Scrimgeour, who seemed to be restraining his irritation with difficulty, βbut Dumbledore is gone, Harry. Heβs gone.β
βHe will only be gone from the school when none here are loyal to him,β said Harry, smiling in spite of himself.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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You don't know what I'm capable of, you don't know what I've done!
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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As for the fact that Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle apeared to be going their different ways when they were usually inseparable, these things happened as people got older--Ron and Hermione, Harry reflected sadly, were living proof.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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Don't count your owls before they are delivered.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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It was his own grief turned magically to song.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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To the Dark Lord,
I know I will be dead long before you read this but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret. I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can. I face death in the hope that when you meet your match, you will be mortal once more.
R.A.B
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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No, it was honest," said Harry. "One of the only honest things you've said to me. You don't care whether I live or die, but you do care that I help you convince everyone you're winning the war against Voldemort.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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Excuse me, are you the imprint of a departed soul?
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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Somewhere out in the darkness, a phoenix was singing in a way Harry had never heard before: a stricken lament of terrible beauty. And Harry felt, as he had felt about phoenix song before, that the music was inside him, not without: It was his own grief turned magically to song..
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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Don't be silly, Dawlish. I'm sure you are an excellent Auror, I seem to remember you achieved 'Outstanding' in all your N.E.W.T.s, but if you attempt to β er β 'bring me in' by force, I will have to hurt you.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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But he understood at last what Dumbledore had been trying to tell him. It was, he thought, the difference between being dragged into the arena to face a battle to the death and walking into the arena with your head held high. Some people, perhaps, would say that there was little to choose between the two ways, but Dumbledore knew β and so do I, thought Harry, with a rush of fierce pride, and so did my parents β that there was all the difference in the world.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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When we were in Diagon Alley,' Harry began, but Mr. Weasley forstalled him with a grimace.
Am I about to discover where you, Ron, and Hermione disappeared to while you were supposed to be in the back room of Fred and George's shop?'
How did you...?'
Harry, please. You're talking to the man who raised Fred and George.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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Ginny came in to visit while you were unconscious", he said, after a long pause, and Harry's imagination zoomed into overdrive, rapidly constructing a scene in which Ginny, weeking over his lifeless form, confessed her feelings of deep attraction to him while Ron gave them his blessing....
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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Okay. Now my skin is really prickling. I've read all the Harry Potter books, all five of them. I don't remember any half-blood prince.
"What's this?" Trying to sound casual, I point at the ad, "What's Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince?"
"That's the latest book," Garth the other trainee, says. "It came out ages ago."
I can't help gasping. "There's a sixth Harry Potter?"
"There's a seventh out soon!" Diana steps forward eagerly. "And guess what happens at the end of book six-"
"Shh!" exclaims Nicole, the other nurse. "Don't tell her!
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Sophie Kinsella (Remember Me?)
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Draco, do it, or stand aside so one of us -" screeched the woman, but at that precise moment the door to the ramparts burst open once more and there stood Snape, his wand clutched in his hand as his black eyes swept the scene, from Dumbledore slumped against the wall, to the four Death Eaters, including the enraged werewolf, and Malfoy.
"We've got a problem, Snape," said the lumpy Amycus, whose eyes and wand were fixed alike upon Dumbledore, "the boy doesn't seem able -"
But somebody else had spoken Snape's name, quite softly.
"Severus ..."
The sound frightened Harry beyond anything he had experienced all evening. For the first time, Dumbledore was pleading.
Snape said nothing, but walked forwards and pushed Malfoy roughly out of the way. The three Death Eaters fell back without a word. Even the werewolf seemed cowed.
Snape gazed for a moment at Dumbledore, and there was revulsion and hatred etched in the harsh lines of his face.
"Severus ... please ..."
Snape raised his wand and pointed it directly at Dumbledore. "Avada Kedavra!
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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You see!" said a strained voice. Tonks was glaring at Lupin. "She still wants to marry him, even though he's been bitten! She doesn't care!"
"It's different," said Lupin, barely moving his lips and looking suddenly tense. "Bill will not be a full werewolf. The cases are completely-"
"But I don't care either, I don't care!" said Tonks, seizing the front of Lupin's robes and shaking them. "I've told you a million times...."
And the meaning of Tonk's Patronus and her mouse-colored hair, and the reason she had come running to find Dumbledore when she had heard a rumor someone had been attacked by Greyback, all suddenly became clear to Harry; it had not been Sirius that Tonks had fallen in love with after all.
"And I've told you a million times," said Lupin, refusing to meet her eyes, staring at the floor, "that I am too old for you, too poor....too dangerous...."
"I've said all along you're taking a ridiculous line on this, Remus," said Mrs. Weasley over Fleur's shoulder as she patted her on the back.
"I am not being ridiculous," said Lupin steadily. "Tonks deserves somebody young and whole."
"But she wants you," said Mr. Weasley, with a small smile. "And after all, Remus, young and whole men do not necessarily remain so."
He gestured sadly at his son, lying between them.
"This is....not the moment to discuss it," said Lupin, avoiding everybody's eyes as he looked around distractedly. "Dumbledore is dead...."
"Dumbledore would have been happier than anybody to think that there was a little more love in the world," said Professor McGonagall curtly...
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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Well, here goes," said Harry, and he raised the little bottle and took a carefully measured gulp.
"What does it feel like?" whispered Hermione.
Harry did not answer for a moment. Then, slowly but surely, an exhilarating sense of infinite opportunity stole through him; he felt as though he could have done anything, anything at all...and getting the memory from Slughorn seemed suddenly not only possible, but positively easy....
He got to his feet, smiling, brimming with confidence.
"Excellent," he said. "Really excellent. Right...I'm going down to Hagrid's."
"What?" said Ron and Hermione together, looking aghast. "No, Harry - you've got to go and see Slughorn, remember?" said Hermione.
"No," said Harry confidently. "I'm going to Hagrid's, I've got a good feeling about going to Hagrid's."
"You've got a good feeling about burying a giant spider?" asked Ron, looking stunned.
"Yeah," said Harry, pulling his Invisibility Cloak out of his bag. "I feel like it's the place to be tonight, you know what I mean?" "No," said Ron and Hermione together, both looking positively alarmed now.
"This is Felix Felicis, I suppose?" said Hermione anxiously, holding up the bottle to the light. "You haven't got another little bottle full - I don't know -"
"Essence of Insanity?" suggested Ron, as Harry swung his cloak over his shoulders.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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Ron, you're making it snow," said Hermione patiently, grabbing his wrist and redirecting his wand away from the ceiling from which, sure enough, large white flakes had started to fall. Lavender Brown, Harry noticed, glared at Hermione from a neighboring table through very red eyes, and Hermione immediately let go of Ron's arm.
"Oh yeah," said Ron, looking down at his shoulders in vague surprise." Sorry...looks like we've all got horrible dandruff now...."
He brushed some of the fake snow off Hermione's shoulder. Lavender burst into tears. Ron looked immensely guilty and turned his back on her.
"We split up," he told Harry out of the corner of his mouth. "Last night. When she saw me coming out of the dormitory with Hermione. Obviously she couldn't see you, so she thought it had just been the two of us."
"ah," said Harry. "Well - you don't mind it's over, do you?" "No," Ron admitted. "It was pretty bad while she was yelling, but at least I didn't have to finish it."
"Coward," said Hermione, though she looked amused. "Well, it was a bad night for romance all around. Ginny and Dean split up too, Harry."
Harry thought there was a rather knowing look in her eye as she told him that, but she could no possibly know that his insides were suddenly dancing the conga.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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But somebody else had spoken Snapeβs name, quite softly.
βSeverus . . .β
The sound frightened Harry beyond anything he had experienced all evening. For the first time, Dumbledore was pleading.
Snape gazed for a moment at Dumbledore, and there was revulsion and hatred etched in the harsh lines of his face.
βSeverus . . . please . . .β
Snape raised his wand and pointed it directly at Dumbledore.
βAvada Kedavra!β
A jet of green light shot from the end of Snapeβs wand and hit Dumbledore squarely in the chest. Harryβs scream of horror never left him; silent and unmoving, he was forced to watch as Dumbledore was blasted into the air. For a split second, he seemed to hang suspended beneath the shining skull, and then he fell slowly backward, like a great rag doll, over the battlements and out of sight.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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And Harry remembered his first nightmarish trip into the forest, the first time he had ever encountered the thing that was then Voldemort, and how he had faced him, and how he and Dumbledore had discussed fighting a losing battle not long thereafter. It was important, Dumbledore said, to fight, and fight again, and keep fighting, for only then could evil be kept at bay, though never quite eradicated. . . .
And Harry saw very clearly as he sat there under the hot sun how people who cared about him had stood in front of him one by one, his mother, his father, his godfather, and finally Dumbledore, all determined to protect him; but now that was over. He could not let anybody else stand between him and Voldemort; he must abandon forever the illusion he ought to have lost at the age of one, that the
shelter of a parentβs arms meant that nothing could hurt him. There was no waking from his nightmare, no comforting whisper in the dark that he was safe really, that it was all in his imagination; the last and greatest of his protectors had died, and he was more alone than he had ever been before.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
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Ron seems to be enjoying the celebrations.β said Hermione. βDonβt pretend you didnβt see him. He wasnβt exactly hiding it, was β ?β
The door behind them burst open. To Harryβs horror, Ron came in, laughing, pulling Lavender by the hand.
βOh,β he said, drawing up short at the sight of Harry and Hermione.
βOops!β said Lavender, and she backed out of the room, giggling.
There was a horrible, swelling, billowing silence. Hermione was staring at Ron, who refused to look at her. She walked very slowly and erectly toward the door. Harry glanced at Ron, who was looking relieved that nothing worse had happened.
βOppugno!β came a shriek from the doorway.
Harry spun around [...] The little flock of birds was speeding like a hail of fat golden bullets toward Ron, pecking and clawing at every bit of flesh they could reach.
βGerremoffme!β he yelled, but with one last look of vindictive fury, Hermione wrenched open the door and disappeared through it. Harry thought he heard a sob before it slammed.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))