"Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" out tomorrow!

[chequita guevara]

Crookshanks?

[Imran Siddiqui]

Too small

[hexagonian]

Wow! The series continues to amaze me as an enjoyable read.

I have to say that I felt all along that Snape would do something extremely despicable throughout the series, but I maintained also that he would be redeemed at the end of the series. In fact, after the second chapter, I 'knew' for sure that Dumbledore was the target and Snape would be the triggerman. I was ticked off that JKR revealed that Snape took the unbreakable vow because it established the plot for the rest of the book.

But after finishing it, I see why she did it. Snape gets painted into a corner, and reveals to Dumbledore what happened. Dumbledore realizes that means he could very well die, and decides that he will do so if it comes to that point. He accelerates Harry's training to reveal what Harry needs to know to defeat Voldemort, and gives him a taste of what he will face when he starts locating the various Horcruxes.

Dumbledore is not dumb. He know what Malfoy was doing from the start. Yet he still tries to redeem him with love. Dumbledore's plan keeps Malfoy safe, and keeps Snape safe to weave his web of half-truths to even protect Malfoy when Voldemort hears from the others about Malfoy's hesitation.

The series is about the choices people have to make. What Malfoy does with the choice is up to him. He may sink further and may ultimately fall totally under the spell of Voldemort, but it is not because he didn't have a chance. And Dumbledore is all about giving people the chance to choose what they will do. After all, he gave one to Tom Riddle...

Dumbledore knows that ultmately, it is Harry that matters, and that his own part in this is unimportant when compared to Harry's role. He says so specifically. And for this he is willing to die.

Sacrificial love - taking the hard road over the easy, loyalty to a higher cause. These are the themes the JKR wants to present. And she does so very well with what happens in this book.

Book it - the series is as much about the redemption of Snape as it is about Harry. And Snape knows what he is doing.

[Immortal Wombat]

Originally posted by Verto
Does anyone have any idea how many GB a Harry Potter book would take up? I know they differ in size, but perhaps someone has put one of them on their MP3 player?

Depends what bitrate you rip them at. I guess you can get away with pretty crappy sound quality. At 32-48, the books run from between 100Mb (PS/SS) to 570MB (OotP). At 128, 400MB (PS/SS) to 1.5GB (OotP)

[FrustratedPoet]

I have Philosopher's Stone and Prisoner of Azkaban on mp3. The full versions.

PS is 590MB and PoA is 660MB. I don't know what the bitrate is but I can assure you they're perfectly good quality.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by ajbera
I had my doubts when I finished the book on Saturday, but having given it some thought (and having read a few forums on the topic), I now hold out hopes that Snape was acting on Dumbledore's orders. Snape is one of my favorite characters, and I've always appreciated that Rowling demonstrated that there can be good guys who are absolute, utter pricks. So, I still have hopes for Snape.

I'd find it much more difficult to believe that Snape wasn't acting on Dumbledore's orders.

[ajbera]

Well, aside from the shock of the "murder", I bought Snape's apparent treachery because I thought it was staggering for Rowling to teach young readers about the sad fallability of even the wisest and most powerful. I can even accept Snape as a villain because I think this is a very important lesson to learn, and the impact is lessened if Snape was following D's wishes after all.

So, on the one (preferred) hand, Snape is still on the good side, and D's fallability is largely unshaken, or Snape is evil, and D, for all his wisdom and insights, is proven fatally wrong. I'll accept it either way, but I prefer Snape to be good, though a bit of a bastard.

[hexagonian]

Either lesson is a powerful one (Good Snape or evil Snape) - and given the nature of today's entertainment as opposed to 50 years ago, I do not think that Snape doing what he did our of spite is all that hard for readers to grasp or understand.

Dumbledore already stated as much - the mistakes of the wise are more devastating than those of the ignorant.

Snape will redeem himself - and I'd bet on it in a second.

[GePap]

I think Dumbledore's great mistake was Voldemort, not Snape.

I mean, is every single wizzard in Britian supposed to be enrolled in Hogwarts? Couldn't Dumbledore have kept Tom Riddle out, given that it was clear the boy was violent and troubled? And if Tom Riddle had never learned magic he would have remained a violent and sadistic person, but would have never become Voldemort.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Here is my question, when Voldemort was going around killing everyone, Dumbledore was the only wizard he feared. Why didn't Dumbledore go hunting for Voldemort?! Get rid of him back then! Or was he just unsuccessful at that?

[Verto]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
Here is my question, when Voldemort was going around killing everyone, Dumbledore was the only wizard he feared. Why didn't Dumbledore go hunting for Voldemort?! Get rid of him back then! Or was he just unsuccessful at that?

Dumbledore DID go hunting for Voldemort - hence the formation of the Order of the Phoenix prior to HP&SS. Of course we can assume he was unsuccessful at it, just as he was unsuccessful from Book 4-6. Voldemort probably purposely evaded Dumbledore, not wanting to confront him directly until his power was consolidated.

IMO, Voldemort now (since returning in GoF) is much more weaker than he was before, sort of like Sauron in LotR - powerful, but nowhere near as powerful as he once was.

[Kuciwalker]

I thought he was personally stronger, since he had Harry's blood (though there is the fact that Dumbledore seemed to be a bit happy about this), but that he doesn't have the overwhelming numbers he had before.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Dumbledore DID go hunting for Voldemort - hence the formation of the Order of the Phoenix prior to HP&SS. Of course we can assume he was unsuccessful at it, just as he was unsuccessful from Book 4-6.

Well then he did bad job of it. I mean Voldemort was so powerful that people called him "He Who Must Not Be Named", he committed a great number of acts, and Dumbledore couldn't find him? Did Voldemort have anti-Dumbledore radar? You would assume that Dumbledore would have eventually ran into him, and since he couldn't posess Harry, Dumbledore wouldn't have to let him go.

Obviously at the end of OotP, Voldemort wasn't scared of a fight and Dumbledore found him easily enough.

[Verto]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui

Dumbledore DID go hunting for Voldemort - hence the formation of the Order of the Phoenix prior to HP&SS. Of course we can assume he was unsuccessful at it, just as he was unsuccessful from Book 4-6.

Well then he did a piss poor job of it. I mean Voldemort was so powerful that people called him "He Who Must Not Be Named", he committed a great number of acts, and Dumbledore couldn't find him? Did Voldemort have anti-Dumbledore radar?

Obviously at the end of OotP, Voldemort wasn't scared of a fight.

Well how much of the terror do you think Voldemort was directly responsible for? I imagine his Death Eaters carried out the majority of the AK/attacks, while Voldemort handled those tasks he deemed most important - ie killing Potter.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Verto
Well how much of the terror do you think Voldemort was directly responsible for? I imagine his Death Eaters carried out the majority of the AK/attacks, while Voldemort handled those tasks he deemed most important - ie killing Potter.

Enough that his name would be the boogy-man name. I know we'll get Dumbledore's story in the next book (JKR hints at it), but don't you think he would have gotten a prominent Death Eater at least? Run in Voldemort at least once? I mean there is only so much talking tough can do. Sometimes you have to get in and kill with your hands.

It seems the Dumbledore just led the OotP and didn't directly participate in any of the raids.