The Half-Blood Prince Read online

  ‘Marvolo?’ Harry repeated wonderingly.

  ‘That’s right,’ said Dumbledore, smiling in approval. ‘I am glad to see you’re keeping up.’

  ‘That old man was –?’

  ‘Voldemort’s grandfather, yes,’ said Dumbledore. ‘Marvolo, his son Morfin and his daughter Merope were the last of the Gaunts, a very ancient wizarding family noted for a vein of instability and violence that flourished through the generations due to their habit of marrying their own cousins. Lack of sense coupled with a great liking for grandeur meant that the family gold was squandered several generations before Marvolo was born. He, as you saw, was left in squalor and poverty, with a very nasty temper, a fantastic amount of arrogance and pride, and a couple of family heirlooms that he treasured just as much as his son, and rather more than his daughter.’

  ‘So Merope,’ said Harry, leaning forwards in his chair and staring at Dumbledore, ‘so Merope was … sir, does that mean she was … Voldemort’s mother?’

  ‘It does,’ said Dumbledore. ‘And it so happens that we also had a glimpse of Voldemort’s father. I wonder whether you noticed?’

  ‘The Muggle Morfin attacked? The man on the horse?’

  ‘Very good indeed,’ said Dumbledore, beaming. ‘Yes, that was Tom Riddle Senior, the handsome Muggle who used to go riding past the Gaunt cottage and for whom Merope Gaunt cherished a secret, burning passion.’

  ‘And they ended up married?’ Harry said in disbelief, unable to imagine two people less likely to fall in love.

  ‘I think you are forgetting,’ said Dumbledore, ‘that Merope was a witch. I do not believe that her magical powers appeared to their best advantage when she was being terrorised by her father. Once Marvolo and Morfin were safely in Azkaban, once she was alone and free for the first time in her life, then, I am sure, she was able to give full rein to her abilities and to plot her escape from the desperate life she had led for eighteen years.

  ‘Can you not think of any measure Merope could have taken to make Tom Riddle forget his Muggle companion, and fall in love with her instead?’

  ‘The Imperius Curse?’ Harry suggested. ‘Or a love potion?’

  ‘Very good. Personally, I am inclined to think that she used a love potion. I am sure it would have seemed more romantic to her and I do not think it would have been very difficult, some hot day, when Riddle was riding alone, to persuade him to take a drink of water. In any case, within a few months of the scene we have just witnessed, the village of Little Hangleton enjoyed a tremendous scandal. You can imagine the gossip it caused when the squire’s son ran off with the tramp’s daughter Merope.

  ‘But the villagers’ shock was nothing to Marvolo’s. He returned from Azkaban, expecting to find his daughter dutifully awaiting his return with a hot meal ready on his table. Instead, he found a clear inch of dust and her note of farewell, explaining what she had done.

  ‘From all that I have been able to discover, he never mentioned her name or existence from that time forth. The shock of her desertion may have contributed to his early death – or perhaps he had simply never learned to feed himself. Azkaban had greatly weakened Marvolo and he did not live to see Morfin return to the cottage.’

  ‘And Merope? She … she died, didn’t she? Wasn’t Voldemort brought up in an orphanage?’

  ‘Yes, indeed,’ said Dumbledore. ‘We must do a certain amount of guessing here, although I do not think it is difficult to deduce what happened. You see, within a few months of their runaway marriage, Tom Riddle reappeared at the manor house in Little Hangleton without his wife. The rumour flew around the neighbourhood that he was talking of being “hoodwinked” and “taken in”. What he meant, I am sure, is that he had been under an enchantment that had now lifted, though I daresay he did not dare use those precise words for fear of being thought insane. When they heard what he was saying, however, the villagers guessed that Merope had lied to Tom Riddle, pretending that she was going to have his baby, and that he had married her for this reason.’

  ‘But she did have his baby.’

  ‘Yes, but not until a year after they were married. Tom Riddle left her while she was still pregnant.’

  ‘What went wrong?’ asked Harry. ‘Why did the love potion stop working?’

  ‘Again, this is guesswork,’ said Dumbledore, ‘but I believe that Merope, who was deeply in love with her husband, could not bear to continue enslaving him by magical means. I believe that she made the choice to stop giving him the potion. Perhaps, besotted as she was, she had convinced herself that he would by now have fallen in love with her in return. Perhaps she thought he would stay for the baby’s sake. If so, she was wrong on both counts. He left her, never saw her again, and never troubled to discover what became of his son.’

  The sky outside was inky black and the lamps in Dumbledore’s office seemed to glow more brightly than before.

  ‘I think that will do for tonight, Harry,’ said Dumbledore after a moment or two.

  ‘Yes, sir,’ said Harry.

  He got to his feet, but did not leave.

  ‘Sir … is it important to know all this about Voldemort’s past?’

  ‘Very important, I think,’ said Dumbledore.

  ‘And it … it’s got something to do with the prophecy?’

  ‘It has everything to do with the prophecy.’

  ‘Right,’ said Harry, a little confused, but reassured all the same.

  He turned to go, then another question occurred to him, and he turned back again.

  ‘Sir, am I allowed to tell Ron and Hermione everything you’ve told me?’

  Dumbledore considered him for a moment, then said, ‘Yes, I think Mr Weasley and Miss Granger have proved themselves trustworthy. But, Harry, I am going to ask you to ask them not to repeat any of this to anybody else. It would not be a good idea if word got around how much I know, or suspect, about Lord Voldemort’s secrets.’

  ‘No, sir, I’ll make sure it’s just Ron and Hermione. Good-night.’

  He turned away again, and was almost at the door when he saw it. Sitting on one of the little spindle-legged tables that supported so many frail-looking silver instruments was an ugly gold ring set with a large, cracked black stone.

  ‘Sir,’ said Harry, staring at it. ‘That ring –’

  ‘Yes?’ said Dumbledore.

  ‘You were wearing it when we visited Professor Slughorn that night.’

  ‘So I was,’ Dumbledore agreed.

  ‘But isn’t it … sir, isn’t it the same ring Marvolo Gaunt showed Ogden?’

  Dumbledore bowed his head.

  ‘The very same.’

  ‘But how come –? Have you always had it?’

  ‘No, I acquired it very recently,’ said Dumbledore. ‘A few days before I came to fetch you from your aunt and uncle’s, in fact.’

  ‘That would be around the time you injured your hand, then, sir?’

  ‘Around that time, yes, Harry.’

  Harry hesitated. Dumbledore was smiling.

  ‘Sir, how exactly –?’

  ‘Too late, Harry! You shall hear the story another time. Goodnight.’

  ‘Goodnight, sir.’

  — CHAPTER ELEVEN —

  Hermione’s Helping Hand

  As Hermione had predicted, the sixth-years’ free periods were not the hours of blissful relaxation Ron had anticipated, but times in which to attempt to keep up with the vast amount of homework they were being set. Not only were they studying as though they had exams every day, but the lessons themselves had become more demanding than ever before. Harry barely understood half of what Professor McGonagall said to them these days; even Hermione had had to ask her to repeat instructions once or twice. Incredibly, and to Hermione’s increasing resentment, Harry’s best subject had suddenly become Potions, thanks to the Half-Blood Prince.

  Non-verbal spells were now expected, not only in Defence Against the Dark Arts, but in Charms and Transfiguration too. Harry frequently looked over at his classmates in
the common room or at mealtimes to see them purple in the face and straining as though they had overdosed on U-No-Poo; but he knew that they were really struggling to make spells work without saying incantations aloud. It was a relief to get outside into the greenhouses; they were dealing with more dangerous plants than ever in Herbology, but at least they were still allowed to swear loudly if the Venomous Tentacula seized them unexpectedly from behind.

  One result of their enormous workload and the frantic hours of practising non-verbal spells was that Harry, Ron and Hermione had so far been unable to find time to go and visit Hagrid. He had stopped coming to meals at the staff table, an ominous sign, and on the few occasions when they had passed him in the corridors or out in the grounds, he had mysteriously failed to notice them or hear their greetings.

  ‘We’ve got to go and explain,’ said Hermione, looking up at Hagrid’s huge empty chair at the staff table the following Saturday at breakfast.

  ‘We’ve got Quidditch tryouts this morning!’ said Ron. ‘And we’re supposed to be practising that Aguamenti charm for Flitwick! Anyway, explain what? How are we going to tell him we hated his stupid subject?’

  ‘We didn’t hate it!’ said Hermione.

  ‘Speak for yourself, I haven’t forgotten the Skrewts,’ said Ron darkly. ‘And I’m telling you now, we’ve had a narrow escape. You didn’t hear him going on about his gormless brother – we’d have been teaching Grawp how to tie his shoelaces if we’d stayed.’

  ‘I hate not talking to Hagrid,’ said Hermione, looking upset.

  ‘We’ll go down after Quidditch,’ Harry assured her. He, too, was missing Hagrid, although like Ron he thought that they were better off without Grawp in their lives. ‘But trials might take all morning, the number of people who have applied.’ He felt slightly nervous at confronting the first hurdle of his captaincy. ‘I dunno why the team’s this popular all of a sudden.’

  ‘Oh, come on, Harry,’ said Hermione, suddenly impatient. ‘It’s not Quidditch that’s popular, it’s you! You’ve never been more interesting and, frankly, you’ve never been more fanciable.’

  Ron gagged on a large piece of kipper. Hermione spared him one look of disdain before turning back to Harry.

  ‘Everyone knows you’ve been telling the truth now, don’t they? The whole wizarding world has had to admit that you were right about Voldemort being back and that you really have fought him twice in the last two years and escaped both times. And now they’re calling you the “Chosen One” – well, come on, can’t you see why people are fascinated by you?’

  Harry was finding the Great Hall very hot all of a sudden, even though the ceiling still looked cold and rainy.

  ‘And you’ve been through all that persecution from the Ministry when they were trying to make out you were unstable and a liar. You can still see the marks where that evil woman made you write with your own blood, but you stuck to your story anyway …’

  ‘You can still see where those brains got hold of me in the Ministry, look,’ said Ron, shaking back his sleeves.

  ‘And it doesn’t hurt that you’ve grown about a foot over the summer, either,’ Hermione finished, ignoring Ron.

  ‘I’m tall,’ said Ron inconsequentially.

  The post owls arrived, swooping down through rain-flecked windows, scattering everyone with droplets of water. Most people were receiving more post than usual; anxious parents were keen to hear from their children and to reassure them, in turn, that all was well at home. Harry had received no mail since the start of term; his only regular correspondent was now dead and although he had hoped that Lupin might write occasionally, he had so far been disappointed. He was very surprised, therefore, to see the snowy-white Hedwig circling amongst all the brown and grey owls. She landed in front of him carrying a large, square package. A moment later, an identical package landed in front of Ron, crushing beneath it his minuscule and exhausted owl, Pigwidgeon.

  ‘Ha!’ said Harry, unwrapping the parcel to reveal a new copy of Advanced Potion-Making, fresh from Flourish and Blotts.

  ‘Oh good,’ said Hermione, delighted. ‘Now you can give that graffitied copy back.’

  ‘Are you mad?’ said Harry. ‘I’m keeping it! Look, I’ve thought it out –’

  He pulled the old copy of Advanced Potion-Making out of his bag and tapped the cover with his wand, muttering, ‘Diffindo!’ The cover fell off. He did the same thing with the brand new book (Hermione looked scandalised). He then swapped the covers, tapped each and said, ‘Reparo!’

  There sat the Prince’s copy, disguised as a new book, and there sat the fresh copy from Flourish and Blotts, looking thoroughly second-hand.

  ‘I’ll give Slughorn back the new one. He can’t complain, it cost nine Galleons.’

  Hermione pressed her lips together, looking angry and disapproving, but was distracted by a third owl landing in front of her carrying that day’s copy of the Daily Prophet. She unfolded it hastily and scanned the front page.

  ‘Anyone we know dead?’ asked Ron in a determinedly casual voice; he posed the same question every time Hermione opened her paper.

  ‘No, but there have been more Dementor attacks,’ said Hermione. ‘And an arrest.’

  ‘Excellent, who?’ said Harry, thinking of Bellatrix Lestrange.

  ‘Stan Shunpike,’ said Hermione.

  ‘What?’ said Harry, startled.

  ‘“Stanley Shunpike, conductor on the popular wizarding conveyance the Knight Bus, has been arrested on suspicion of Death Eater activity. Mr Shunpike, 21, was taken into custody late last night after a raid on his Clapham home …”’

  ‘Stan Shunpike, a Death Eater?’ said Harry, remembering the spotty youth he had first met three years before. ‘No way!’

  ‘He might have been put under the Imperius Curse,’ said Ron reasonably. ‘You never can tell.’

  ‘It doesn’t look like it,’ said Hermione, who was still reading. ‘It says here he was arrested after he was overheard talking about the Death Eaters’ secret plans in a pub.’ She looked up with a troubled expression on her face. ‘If he was under the Imperius Curse, he’d hardly stand around gossiping about their plans, would he?’

  ‘It sounds like he was trying to make out he knew more than he did,’ said Ron. ‘Isn’t he the one who claimed he was going to become Minister for Magic when he was trying to chat up those Veela?’

  ‘Yeah, that’s him,’ said Harry. ‘I dunno what they’re playing at, taking Stan seriously.’

  ‘They probably want to look as though they’re doing something,’ said Hermione, frowning. ‘People are terrified – you know the Patil twins’ parents want them to go home? And Eloise Midgeon has already been withdrawn. Her father picked her up last night.’

  ‘What!’ said Ron, goggling at Hermione. ‘But Hogwarts is safer than their homes, bound to be! We’ve got Aurors, and all those extra protective spells, and we’ve got Dumbledore!’

  ‘I don’t think we’ve got him all the time,’ said Hermione very quietly, glancing towards the staff table over the top of the Prophet. ‘Haven’t you noticed? His seat’s been empty as often as Hagrid’s this past week.’

  Harry and Ron looked up at the staff table. The Headmaster’s chair was indeed empty. Now Harry came to think of it, he had not seen Dumbledore since their private lesson a week ago.

  ‘I think he’s left the school to do something with the Order,’ said Hermione in a low voice. ‘I mean … it’s all looking serious, isn’t it?’

  Harry and Ron did not answer, but Harry knew that they were all thinking the same thing. There had been a horrible incident the day before, when Hannah Abbott had been taken out of Herbology to be told her mother had been found dead. They had not seen Hannah since.

  When they left the Gryffindor table five minutes later to head down to the Quidditch pitch, they passed Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil. Remembering what Hermione had said about the Patil twins’ parents wanting them to leave Hogwarts, Harry was unsurprised to see that the two
best friends were whispering together, looking distressed. What did surprise him was that when Ron drew level with them, Parvati suddenly nudged Lavender, who looked round and gave Ron a wide smile. Ron blinked at her, then returned the smile uncertainly. His walk instantly became something more like a strut. Harry resisted the temptation to laugh, remembering that Ron had refrained from doing so after Malfoy had broken Harry’s nose; Hermione, however, looked cold and distant all the way down to the stadium through the cool, misty drizzle, and departed to find a place in the stands without wishing Ron good luck.

  As Harry had expected, the trials took most of the morning. Half of Gryffindor house seemed to have turned up, from first-years who were nervously clutching a selection of the dreadful old school brooms, to seventh-years who towered over the rest looking coolly intimidating. The latter included a large, wiry-haired boy Harry recognised immediately from the Hogwarts Express.

  ‘We met on the train, in old Sluggy’s compartment,’ he said confidently, stepping out of the crowd to shake Harry’s hand. ‘Cormac McLaggen, Keeper.’

  ‘You didn’t try out last year, did you?’ asked Harry, taking note of the breadth of McLaggen and thinking that he would probably block all three goalhoops without even moving.

  ‘I was in the hospital wing when they held the trials,’ said McLaggen, with something of a swagger. ‘Ate a pound of Doxy eggs for a bet.’

  ‘Right,’ said Harry. ‘Well … if you wait over there …’

  He pointed over to the edge of the pitch, close to where Hermione was sitting. He thought he saw a flicker of annoyance pass over McLaggen’s face and wondered whether McLaggen expected preferential treatment because they were both ‘old Sluggy’s’ favourites.

  Harry decided to start with a basic test, asking all applicants for the team to divide into groups of ten and fly once around the pitch. This was a good decision: the first ten was made up of first-years and it could not have been plainer that they had hardly ever flown before. Only one boy managed to remain airborne for more than a few seconds, and he was so surprised he promptly crashed into one of the goalposts.