Half-Blood Prince: The Long Reaction

[pegkerr]

I liked it.

I liked very much the topicality of it. This is a book about terrorism, and the fog of fear surrounding a war. I wonder how very different this series would have been if it hadn't been for all the events in the news over the past five years: 9/11, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, suicide bombings in Israel, the war on terror. And no, I don't think that everything revolves around American preoccupations, but Britain has been directly affected by many of these news stories, too. As the recent bombings in London make clear.

I am pleased with the way Harry continues to develop emotionally. Last year he was chip on the shoulder, CAPS LOCK HARRY. He has calmed down a lot, and he is taking time to think through consequences of at least half of his decisions (but not all of them).

Chief weakness: I knew right away that the potions book was Snape's. This seemed perfectly obvious to me; it was Snape's old class room; why else would it be stored there? Harry seemed dense about it, particularly given Hermione's warnings and Snape's reaction to the Sectumsempra curse. He was dense, particularly given Ginny's experience with the diary second year. And hell, wouldn't he have recognized the handwriting, especially from Snape writing vindictive comments on his essays? (And Rowling recognized this weakness herself; she says, "Slughorn would have recognized his writing at once" p. 638. Well, so should Harry.) And hasn't he learned to listen to Hermione by now? Ah well, this is one of those plot weaknesses that she just had to hope that the reader will swallow. Dense cluelessness can be a characteristic of 16 year old boys, even ones as experienced as Harry.

As some have said, this is the hook up book. I wasn't whole heartedly affiliated with any of the shipping loyalties so I'm not crushed to have any of my pet theories disproven, and I'm more or less pleased with how she handled things. Sorry, all of those of you to whom H/Hr or S/R is the OTP and whose hearts were crushed. I can certainly buy R/T: as a metamorphmagus, this is a woman who understands bodily transformation; that you are more than your body's moment-to-moment physical details. Not to mention all the times they've had on those Order of the Phoenix stakeouts together. So, could be a really good match for Remus. Yeah, yeah yeah, I understand the attraction of One Big Happy Weasley Family. I liked the interactions between Hermione and Ron; sixteen year olds are that mixed up, vindictive and venal. Last year was Harry's caps lock book; this year was Ron's year to be a prat. But it was fun to see all the hormones exploding; Rowling writes about the inherent embarrassment of sixteen year olds watching other sixeen year olds exploring each other's tonsils with both understanding and humor. I thought she handled adroitly making Ron act like a jerk while still making us see why Harry wanted to keep him as a friend. I did want to see more reasons for why Harry fell for Ginny, although Rowling probably didn't want to spend much more time on it and make the book still longer. I like Ginny's reaction when he tells her that they can't be together; it makes her worthy of him.

I like that she the way that she didn't stretch our credulity by giving Harry an O at Potions, but she still found a way to keep Harry on the Auror track.

Oh and, yes, R.A.B. is definitely Regulus A. Black. I couldn't identify who it was until I read my friends page (I blame sleep deprivation) but yes, it makes sense, and it explains why Regulus was mentioned at all in first place in the previous book. So nice to know that Regulus was redeemed in the end, too. So both Black sons died striking against Voldemort. Excellent.

I was so glad that we finally got to know Dumbledore in this book. I liked him immensely, and I appreciated that he learned from his mistakes in the last book by moving their relationship to one which recognizes Harry's growing toward adulthood. It was moving that he was touched to the point of tears when Harry reported his conversation with Rufus Scrimgeour, when Harry said he was Dumbledore's man, through and through.

The potion scene at the lake was heartbreaking. I think if I hadn't had the ending spoiled for me, I would have found it even more affecting.

Who disagrees that Dumbledore had prearranged his death with Snape? Not the entry of the Deatheaters into the castle, perhaps. But that Snape would be the one to kill him, rather than Draco. Evidence: this suits Dumbledore's purposes because 1) it keeps Draco innocent of the crime of murder; [edited to add, aside: and the whole conversation with Draco was pretty interesting because it harkens back to Book 2, when Dumbledore tells Harry "it is our choices that makes us, Harry, more than our abilities." Dumbledore recognizes that right now Draco is making his choice, and he is pleading with him to make the right one. Draco's tragedy is that he waits a split second too long to decide and we must wait to see whether that in and of itself was a decision that will doom him] 2) Dumbledore reasons his life is pretty much over, if he has given Harry all the guidance he can to defeat V.; it gives the reason for his urgency on having Harry take private lessons with him. He wants to prepare Harry to go on after he is gone; 3) it sets up a helluva twist in the last book (Snape was on our side all along--a parallel with the first book); 4) the reason that Dumbledore knew what Draco was assigned to do was because Snape had told him; 5) the fight between Dumbledore and Snape that Hagrid reported on p. 405: Snape saying he doesn't want to do it, and Dumbledore telling him to stick to it; he has already agreed; 6) it is probably the one thing he can do to make V. be totally convinced of Snape's loyalty, which puts Snape in position to help Harry at the end of book 7; 7) because of Voldemort's curse on the DADA job, Dumbledore already knows whoever he gives the job will not be there next year. He has not trusted Snape up until now to give him the job, but now he does. Why? Because he knows what he will do will please Voldemort, and because he knows, once killing Dumbledore, Snape will not be able to stay at Hogwarts anyway. So he has no barrier now to giving him the job; 8) Dumbledore had Order members patrolling the castle when he left it so he was expecting trouble 9) Dumbledore paralyzes Harry so he cannot interfere; 10) moony caught this one: When Harry forces Dumbledore drink the potion (at Dumbledore's bidding) Rowling says he does it "hating it, repulsed." Rowling uses almost exactly the same words when Snape kills Dumbledore: "with hatred and repulsion." The implication, of course, is that both their cases are parallel: Dumbledore was making each of them do something they didn't want to do; 11) Dumbledore says "Severus, please." He is not pleading for his life. We have been told repeatedly that Dumbledore does not fear death, that he recognizes that there are things worse than death. Therefore, he is not pleading to be spared, he is urging Severus to go ahead. (And I found it very moving that this was the first time that night that he was actually pleading. Pleading to be killed!) Note that this is where Dumbledore is making his choice that is right, rather than the one that is easy; 12) kiwiria passed this observation on from a discussion thread on HPFGU: Hermione let Snape pass while she was under the influence of Felix Felicius (see fully discussion at the end of the entry here) 13) Snape reacts so badly to Harry calling him a coward. This genuinely gets under his skin. What is more, we know that Snape is a supurb occlamens, which means he is very very good at controlling his emotions, so if his emotions crack, there has to be a really good reason. Why does he get so angry? If he had truly changed sides and thrown his lot in with the Deatheaters, he wouldn't have cared at anything Harry said at this point. He would have dismissed this accusation as pointless with the same amused contempt that he deflects Harry's hexes. But he hasn't changed sides; instead, in order to be true to the mission and go even deeper undercover, he had to kill his longtime mentor, someone he has always respected, and the only person who ever truly treated him with respect and kindness, perhaps the only person who ever held him as a person of value. It was probably the hardest thing he has ever done. That knowledge Snape can barely bear, and since he had to overcome his hatred and repulsion for this dreadful task in order to serve the greater good, he CANNOT bear to hear Harry taunt him as a coward; 14) Snape actually seems to be coaching Harry in their last confrontation, teaching him specifically what he will need to know to defeat Voldemort, telling him that he must control his emotions or he has no hope of winning; 15) note another point that suits Dumbledore's purposes: Snape is now absolutely useless to Voldemort as a spy on the Order, because he has putatively broken with them. Voldemort may trust Snape more, but he won't be getting inside information about Dumbledore or the Order anymore from him.

I think back to the chess game in the first game (see the Knight2King website; Of course, Rowling has spiked the initial K2K theory, that Dumbledore is a grown Ron Weasley who went back in time). But with this book, Dumbledore's death perhaps corresponds to the death of the second knight (the parallel isn't perfect, since in the chess game, the chess piece who did the knight in was the Queen, which according to the K2K analysis was Bellatrix LeStrange. Anyway, the two strongest pieces of evidence to me are the fight between Dumbledore and Snape that Hagrid reported, and the fact that Dumbledore gave Snape the DADA job. The job alone means that this was the plan by the time that Dumbledore made his staffing decisions for the year. That means that Dumbledore knew from around the time Snape made the unbreakable vow: I expect he was the one that suggested Snape make it an unbreakable vow.

It is a chess maneuver worthy of that crafty old master. And it will increase our respect for him: he wasn't a gullible fool who was blind-sided by Snape, but a chess master who willingly sacrificed himself to set up a win by Harry at the end of the game.

It will create a lovely conflict for Harry with book seven, when he realizes that the man he hated for killing Dumbledore was actually doing what Dumbledore wanted him to do, what Dumbledore urged him to do, because he [Snape] was reluctant all along. Harry prides himself for being "Dumbledore's man." How galling it is going to be for him to discover that Snape, the man he has despised since his first year, has even more reason to be considered "Dumbledore's man." And it adds to the complexity of Snape. I wonder if there is another reason (other than the one that Harry think is the reason) that Dumbledore trusts Snape. [Edited to add: In this entry here, I wonder whether Snape, on the night Lily was killed, offered in remorse an unbreakable vow to Dumbledore to obey him in all things. Further discussion continues on that entry.] I will also be interested to see what the events of the next book will mean for Draco's development (does he still have a chance for redemption? Dumbledore thought so), and Harry's reaction to him.

How many readers will see it that way?

Who else was annoyed by the fact that Harry should have thought of curing Bill's wounds with Fawkes' tears, particularly after the fact that he was himself cured by them, second year?

I will have more reactions later, perhaps, and will write them as they occur to me.

But I am still beyond pissed off at the bastards who went out of their way to deliberately spoil it for me and for hundreds of others. I think it felt like a very different book than it could have been because I knew that Snape killed Dumbledore before I started reading it. I think that I would have loved it even more if I had had the chance to read it the way it was meant to be read. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I shouldn't take such cruel maliciousness personally. Shut up. It was cruel and malicious. They were assholes who shouldn't have done it, and I refuse to listen to people (both the assholes and the condescendingly well-meaning) who try to explain that the bigger problem is that I shouldn't care about things.

Well, screw that. I don't believe that. And it still sucks. Next time I will cease reading LJ entirely the day the next book gets shipped. I'll be damned if I will let this happen to me again.

Edited to add: I am not going to mention my theory about Snape to the girls at all. I wonder if it will occur to them on their own. They are on chapter 10 of the audio CD, and Rob is reading the book now.

Edited to add again: I totalled up the people who had the forums on their watch list that the bastard posted p. 606 on, thirty-six hours before the book was released.

That troll spoiled the book for, conservative estimate, at least 5,000 people, from just the five forums of that I know he posted it on. See below. And it spread from there. Others disseminated the information even further, all for malicious pleasure. Unspeakable.

Comments

[sociofemme.livejournal.com]

If you liked the chess analogy, ellen_fremedon worked up another analysis of the SS/PS game, using what we know now. It's really quite good!

[wintersweet.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure about the handwriting issue. My mom's college notes are written in a totally different hand than the one she uses as a teacher on blackboards and papers.

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

My own handwriting is very different from how it was when I was 15.

[littlecatfeet.livejournal.com]

I agree completely that Dumbledore had to have prearranged his death with Snape.

The real reason I read your livejournal is that I usually agree with whatever it is you say, but you say it so much more eloquently that I feel vindicated in my belief.

[ivyblossom.livejournal.com]

I see what you're saying about Snape, but I loathe him so much I think I will imagine him as a complete and utter traitor until book 7, at least. :)

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Whatever makes you happy!

[neonnurse.livejournal.com]

I noticed what I thought of as a plot logic flaw about the mysterious old potions book which only yawned wider when it was revealed to be Snape's old book.

Snape has been Potions Master for HOW long? And yet he never sought to have a revised edition of the textbook put out, with, say, the RIGHT way to do the potions?

Maybe it's something about Wizard publishing I don't understand.

And yes, the people going around putting out the spoilers were big jerks. While they might not care that fair-minded people hold their actions in comtempt, I think it is appropriate to take a stand and SAY it was wrong. Sitting back and saying, "Oh, well, it's only (whatever)," just encourages them to do something MORE outrageous to get attention next time!

[kate_nepveu]

Does Snape have the reputation necessary to have a textbook printed?

more musings

[beadslut.livejournal.com]

Not to mention that Dumbledore was free to pursue the Horcrux, and all those possible outcomes, knowing his demise was imminent. Or even, that some poisons have no antidote.

Fawkes' tears wouldn't have allowed us to see that Fleur is not the shallow creature many assumed she was, so I'm not complaining too much, although I thought the same.

I thought the scene with Draco in the bathroom was brilliant, finally letting Harry see Draco without all the other baggage. Compassion is certainly a manifestation of love.

Any thought on Harry being the last Horcrux?

Re: more musings

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

On Harry being the last Horcrux, I can see why, since Harry has part of V.s' powers. But no, I don't think so, since he wants to kill Harry--unless he knows a spell to extract the soul sliver while using Harry's blood to regenerate himself.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

I agree with you about Snapes and Dumbledore--I think He had arranged with Snapes to do it, as a way to make sure the deepest cover ever wasn't blown, and to protect Draco if possible. It will seriously weird out Harry when he figures this out, but we can hope that all these sacrifices were not made in vain, and Harry will accept whatever help Severus can give him at the end. And I was hoping Draco still had enough of a soul left to be redeemed, so we'll see how it all shakes out.

So, is the real locket in the house? Has Severus always had a thing for Draco's Mom, or was this just convenient that it played into what he needed to be doing?

And I tend to let myself get carried along by the story, and she had so much in the story, I didn't exactly pin Severus as the owner of the book. I agree--why not do a revised book, with the long way and short way to do the potions? But most of the kids will be so busy trying to figure out the relationships, etc. they probably won't get it right away, either.

I'm convinced she laid this all out at the beginning, and she's done a very good job. I feel the last book lost its way a bit, and could be tightened. But this one is solid, and perhaps the best since #3.

PS--

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

But I am still beyond pissed off at the bastards who went out of their way to deliberately spoil it for me and for hundreds of others. I think it felt like a very different book than it could have been because I knew that Snape killed Dumbledore before I started reading it. I think that I would have loved it even more if I had had the chance to read it the way it was meant to be read. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I shouldn't take such cruel maliciousness personally. Shut up. It was cruel and malicious. They were assholes who shouldn't have done it, and I refuse to listen to people (both the assholes and the condescendingly well-meaning) who try to explain that the bigger problem is that I shouldn't care about things.

I agree. Only mean-spirited people with no lives do things like this. They would be SO kill filed if they were on my friends list--and that includes communities.

[king-tirian.livejournal.com]

I'm the opposite of you on the two big mysteries of the book. I knew that Snape would kill Dumbledore at this point back when Dumbledore sent Snape off to do "what must be done" at the end of Book 4. Didn't think it would be over a fool's errand of a quest that had already been done, but alas.

But, man, JLR needs to explain why it was that that Harry's use of the book inevitable led to comaprisons with Lily's historic potion-making ability. Lily and Snape would have taken sixth-year Potions in the same year under Slughorn, so it doesn't make sense that she wasn't second-fiddle. Or, what, he cribbed her Potion techniques while having the ingenuity to invent his own curses? None of it makes much sense.

And JKR let me down more than Harry with the breakup speech. At least one of them saw Spiderman 2 and recognizes that the "I love you too much to allow myself to love you" speech is lame and insulting and unproductive. I'm sure he'll have tons of time to revisit the issue in the next book, as (oh dear) love is the greatest magic, but we shouldn't have to endure the aftertaste of that speech for the next two or three years.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah, the Spiderman parallel was obvious to me, too.

[irielle.livejournal.com]

I absolutely agree about Snape, but disagree about the handwriting. Handwriting can change an awful lot from high school to adulthood. Thank you for putting into words why I feel the way I do about Snapes. I wasn't sure if I was analyzing things clearly or if I was being led by my desire for Snape to be a hero in the end.

[gamps-garret.livejournal.com]

They were assholes who shouldn't have done it, and I refuse to listen to people (both the assholes and the condescendingly well-meaning) who try to explain that the bigger problem is that I shouldn't care about things.

People who don't care about things have no point to their lives as far as I can see. I think it's a damn good thing that you *do* care, and I'm pissed about the spoiling on your behalf, despite the impotence that goes along with it. Malicious cruelty, indeed. I hope they all step on super sharp garden rakes this week.

How many readers will see it that way?

I do. (http://www.livejournal.com/users/gamps_garret/50186.html)

[shusu.livejournal.com]

I recommend rereading the Vow as well. Protecting Draco from harm might include preventing him from doing murder. That was the only one that I could see which could be logically twisted.

[tenebris.livejournal.com]

Who else was annoyed by the fact that Harry should have thought of curing Bill's wounds with Fawkes' tears, particularly after the fact that he was himself cured by them, second year?

Me, me! Especially when they start hearing the phoenix song go throughout the castle. Man, I'm starting to think that little tidbit is never gonna show up again. Or that Harry should arrange something to carry a vial of phoenix tears on him at all times.

Totally agree on your Dumbledore-Snape theory. They are crafty, crafty people, and Harry...is not. Why do I have the feeling that in the next book, we are going to get a big whacking with the hammer of "Do Not Be Blinded By Your Own Prejudices!" Again? And poor Snape is going to die from it, I bet. (Which reminds me, oddly, of sam_storyteller's fic "The Children.")

As for pairings...fear not for us, Peg! Shipping preferences in no way must reflect canon, must change with the times. The books only cover seven years, after all. ;)

[http://users.livejournal.com/anam_cara_/]

I absolutely agree with your Dumbledore/Snape analysis (yet I had forgotten about the overheard argument!), however, part of me is still holding out hope that Dumbledore's death was in some way faked. Yeah, I know, not likely, but he did go on and on about how they could fake Malfoy's death to keep him safe, and wouldn't that allow Dumbledore more freedom to seek out the Horcruxes? Besides, I can live in denial for a while...

On Harry being a Horcrux, would it make sense that the Horcrux is his scar? That is his link to Voldemort and that could possibly be removed, couldn't it? Perhaps not. But if he was waiting to use Harry's death as his final Horcrux, but didn't kill him, was it even made? Or was it made through James' and Lily's deaths?

[juliansinger.livejournal.com]

Faked? No.

But, however. Phoenix, phoenix, phoenix, phoenix, and phoenix. Also, phoenix.

[kokopoko.livejournal.com]

I didn't know whose potions book it was. For the longest time I thought it was Lily's. Then maybe Riddle's. No idea it was Snape's.

I never thought of phoenix tears curing Bill's face.

[eleanor.livejournal.com]

I thought it had to be Lily's, then thought that the book had to belong to someone before Lily, which is why I didn't think of Snape; he was at school at the same time.

I don't think the phoenix tears oculd have been used to heal Bill; I don't think they can be harvested, and I think the phoenix has to volunteer them.

[hotarunokokoro.livejournal.com]

thank you for using a cut!

[aeditimi.livejournal.com]

Someone spoiled it for you? That is terrible!

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Yes. There was a total jerk who posted an image of page 606 on a bunch of forums, thirty-six hours before the book release, including a number of Harry Potter forums and the place where I saw it, found_objects (a photography forum, for heavens sake) with the crucial three words underlined in red ("Snape killed Dumbledore), so you couldn't miss it even if you just glanced at it for a mere second. With no LJ-cut, of course--he wanted to spoil as many people--and as many true fans--as possible. This was unethical and probably illegal, but he didn't care in the least. He posted it on muggle_net, danradcliffe, hogwarts_grads and alanrickman, and probably others I haven't heard of.

He deliberately spoiled the book for thousands of people. And laughed and sneered at everyone who raged at him, gloating over having hurt them.

Asshole.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Oh, excellently stated. I am one of those who is utterly shocked that anyone could think that Snape wasn't acting on Dumbledore's orders. It's the only way it can be, and I thought it was so obvious that I couldn't believe it wasn't revealed to Harry before book's end. I don't know if it was in place before the Unbreakable Vow, but it was there early, yeah.

And I'm so sorry about the spoiler. If it had happened to me I'd've been furious, and I'm livid for those who were subjected to it.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

I wonder if the critics will talk about what the ending of this book reveals about Snape's loyalties. The one who mentioned it seemed to have entirely missed the point. We seem to be putting it together pretty quickly on LJ; I wonder if it will be generally understood by the general public by the time the next book comes out?

[http://users.livejournal.com/anam_cara_/]

Hey, Peg, something has been nagging in my head all day-

Dumbledore's injured hand. It was noted CONSTANTLY, and everytime Harry asked about it, Dumbledore PROMISED to tell him later. It kept going on and on and on in the book, but never was resolved in any fashion. Is this significant or is this just an annoying aspect like the phoenix's tears? I'm leaning toward significant.

What are your thoughts?

P.S. it was pg. 606 (like you originally noted), not pg. 605

[king-tirian.livejournal.com]

It was the curse that was released when he destroyed the second Horacrux (the Slytherin ring). Bottom of page 503. :)

[avengangle.livejournal.com]

By some miracle (the studious avoidance of Livejournal and the entire internet for a very long time) I did not have the book spoiled for me whatsoever.

I have to agree with everything you've said.

I have one more question for you, if you choose to answer it: Where do you think the sixth Horcrux actually is? I'll reply later, since it'll take a while and I'm not at home >.<

(I have a two-week moratorium on spoilers on my livejournal, because I dislike them for things as important as this. And I had book 5 spoiled for me, so I didn't want to know ANYTHING. However, this doesn't mean I can't have spoilers on OTHER people's livejournals . . .)

[avengangle.livejournal.com]

Yes, alright, someone else already said it -- but I had some nice line on page 511 of the American edition that helped prove it. Plus all the circumstantial evidence.

So Harry needs to kill that part of V.'s soul that in him, yet not die. (If he died at the end of the seventh book, I would definitely throw it across the room.) How's that possible? Other than possibly the Draught of Living Death (which he DID make in the first Potions class this year), I'm thinking (wild, misty speculation here) the Veil. Somehow.

Also -- the opposite of a Horcrux is a life-debt. How many lives has Harry directly saved? Five? (Ignoring the entire wizarding world.) How many more pieces of Voldie's soul must Harry kill? Ahh, I love speculation.

theory

[(Anonymous)]

could harry actualy be a horcrux? i mean didnt voldemort transefer a part of himself into harry as a baby?

oh

[(Anonymous)]

that was already mentioned like 80 times...whoops

[chamisa.livejournal.com]

Thanks for your excellent review. You made some excellent points and also opened my eyes a lot to what was *really* going on, especially in regards to what happened with Snape & Dumbledore.

And I had been 'spoiled' by that asshole, too--I first saw that in Found Objects as well. It's not on my Friends list, but I do glance at it from time to time. I saw what it was and tried to not read it, but I think I saw enough to get an idea of what was going on, so basically, though I didn't totally read what it said, it tainted the reading experience for me. I'm sorry that happened for so many people.

It seems the best response to what that (expletive deleted) and others like that person did would be to ignore them completely. No direct reply to their obnoxious posts whatsoever. They surely must LOVE getting those outraged and painful "Why did you do that??" "You are such an ass!" comments. It must make them squirm with glee to know that their goal to hurt people had been achieved.

If instead, they got crickets, total silence, were ignored completely, they'd be denied the attention they obviously so desperately seek.

Still, I can totally understand those outraged replies, as I wanted to make one myself. I can't believe there are people out there who take so much pleasure in hurting others. From bombings to spoiling a book. It's incomprehensible.

I made sure to say absolutely nothing about that to my husband before he read the book. As he doesn't do LJ, his reading experience was not tainted. We each had our own copies and I finished mine first, and had to wait in silence till he was done before we could both commisserate with each other over Dumbledore and discuss what had happened.

[callunav.livejournal.com]

I just finished reading the book, so I came to read your post on it. Since I don't have anyone to discuss it with in the house (Julian gave it to me as a birthday present, so I got to read it first - she has it in her hands at this moment) it was great to be able to come back and read this.

I should say I haven't actually read any of the other comments - I don't feel like getting tangled in arguments, I just wanted a bit of thought, and you provided it - and THANK you, because I had not identified RAB and was going nutty over it. Also thank you for your careful analysis of the Snape-killing-Dumbledore business: I had a similar but much fuzzier train of thought. It was nice to see it so well worked out.

I'm sorry you had that particular moment spoiled for you. That really sucks. Hopefully on re-reads it will integrate better, but still.

[gtprincesssb.livejournal.com]

I love how you look at the book, I thought your commentary was very intersting to read. I do agree that R.A.B is indeed Regulus A. Black, it would be completely in JKR's style to make it him. This past book I felt was completely predictable for those who really knew the HP books and were attentive to clues in the previous books. Sorry to get off track there... Anyway, just wanted to let you know I really enjoyed your post esp. and I agree .. no LJ the moment the next book is shipped, I can't beleive how horrible some people are...