Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Chapter Fifteen:
The Unbreakable Vow

Notes by Steve Vander Ark and Michele L. Worley
Synopsis and links by John Kearns

U.S. hardcover edition: pages 303 - 324
U.K. hardcover edition: pages 284 - 304
Timeframe: Thursday-Friday, 19-20 December, 1996 [Y16]

In which Hermione stays angry with Ron but Harry tries to stay friends with both, Harry finds that girls are trying to seduce him, and Romilda Vane tries to slip him a Love Potion. Harry then asks Luna to Slughorn's Christmas party, and Hermione invites McLaggen to upset Ron. After some general mingling at the party, Malfoy is caught prowling the corridors and Snape takes him away to an empty classroom, where Harry overhears Snape's offers to help Malfoy and Draco's refusals.

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Interesting facts and notes about the text of this chapter:

I thought Filch had banned anything bought at Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes?

Characters introduced in this chapter:

• Sanguini

• Worple, Eldred

Characters returning in this chapter:

• Brown, Lavender

• Fat Lady, the

• Filch, Argus

• Granger, Hermione

• Lovegood, Luna

• Malfoy, Draco

• McLaggen, Cormac

• Patil, Parvati

• Peeves

• Pince, Irma

• Potter, Harry

• Slughorn, Horace

• Snape, Severus (as the Half-Blood Prince)

• Trelawney, Professor

• Vane, Romilda

• Weasley, Ginny

• Weasley, Ron

Characters mentioned in this chapter:

• Bell, Katie

• Borage, Libatius

• Crabbe, Vincent

• Dumbledore, Albus

• Firenze

• Fudge, Cornelius

• Goyle, Gregory

• Grawp

• Hagrid, Rubeus

• Krum, Viktor

• Lestrange, Bellatrix Black

• Lovegood, Mr.

• Malfoy, Abraxas (probably, though it could be Draco's other grandfather)

• Malfoy, Lucius

• Malfoy, Narcissa

• McGonagall, Minerva

• Moaning Myrtle

• Patil, Mr. and Mrs.

• Potter, Lily Evans

• Scrimgeour, Rufus

• Smith, Zacharias

• Thomas, Dean

• Weasley, Fred

• Weasley, George

• (unnamed) girls trying to slip Harry a love potion and meet him under mistletoe, and who watch Harry meet Luna

• (unnamed) Romilda Vane's grandmother

• (unnamed) two boys in Luna and Ginny's Transfiguration class

• (unnamed) warlocks and house-elves at Slughorn's party

• (unnamed) girls following the vampire at Slughorn's party

• (unnamed) two members of the Weird Sisters

Settings and locations introduced or returning in this chapter:

• Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

  • Entrance Hall

  • Great Hall

  • Gryffindor Tower common room

  • library

  • Slughorn's office

  • Transfiguration classroom

  • unspecified classroom to which Snape takes Malfoy (how many classrooms ARE there in this place?)

Settings and locations mentioned in this chapter:

• Burrow, the

• Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

  • Gryffindor Tower: Hermione's dormitory

• Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes

Exceptional character moments:

• Still to come....

Spells and Potions:

• Apparition

• Draught of Living Death

• Everlasting Elixirs

• Legilimency

• Love Potions

• Occlumency

• Oppugno (mentioned, though not by name)

• Unbreakable Vow, the

• (unnamed) spells to change the color of one's eyebrows

Links and Resources:

• Aurors

• Bestiary

  • fairy

  • house-elf

  • vampire

• books

  • Advanced Potion-Making

  • Blood Brothers: My Life Amongst the Vampires

  • Quintessence: A Quest

• candy: Chocolate Cauldrons

• classes: Transfiguration

• food and drink

• Gryffindor Quidditch team

• items and devices, magical

  • candles, everlasting

  • Cloak, Invisibility

  • necklace, opal

  • Secrecy Sensor

  • Spectrespecs

• passwords

Memorable lines:

• Harry had to put up with the frequent presence of Lavender Brown, who seemed to regard any moment that she was not kissing Ron as a moment wasted.

• It seemed extraordinary that Hermione's mania for upholding rules could have abandoned her at this crucial juncture.

• "What have you been doing to that book, you depraved boy?"

• There was a noise like a plunger being withdrawn from a blocked sink and Ron surfaced.

• "Wow, you like your Quidditch players, don't you? First Krum, then McLaggen..."
  "I like really good Quidditch players," Hermione corrected her, still smiling.

• Harry was left to ponder in silence the depths to which girls would sink to get revenge.

• "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 combination of Dark Magic and gum disease."

Strictly British:

• barking mad

• baubles

• Dobbin

• fairy lights

• frogmarch

• holidays

• mead

• mince pie

• pasty

• row

• smoking jacket

• snog

• timetable

Timelines/Calendar:

An unspecified amount of time passes at the start of the chapter, but finally we are put back on track: it takes place the final two days of classes prior to Christmas break.  According to the calendar as we have thus far (based on the date and day of Ron's birthday in HBP18), these two days should fall on Thursday and Friday, 19-20 December.