Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Chapter Twenty-Eight:
Flight of the Prince

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

U.S. hardcover edition: pages 597-610
U.K. hardcover edition: pages 557-569
Timeframe: an evening in June, 1997 [Y17]

In which Snape, Malfoy, and the Death Eaters flee, and Harry gives chase. On the way, he runs through a raging battle involving the Order and tries unsuccessfully to curse Snape (who we learn definitively is the Half-Blood Prince), Hagrid's hut is set ablaze and the Death Eaters escape. Harry and Hagrid then put out the fire, see students all over the grounds, and find Dumbledore's body. Harry also discovers that the locket was not a real Horcrux, but a replacement put there by the person who took the real one: R.A.B.

Interesting facts and notes about the text of this chapter:

Characters introduced in this chapter:

• none

Characters returning in this chapter:

• (surname unknown) Alecto

• (surname unknown) Amycus

• Buckbeak

• Fang

• Greyback, Fenrir

• Hagrid, Rubeus

• Longbottom, Neville

• Lupin, Remus

• Macmillan, Ernie

• Malfoy, Draco

• McGonagall, Minerva

• Potter, Harry

• Snape, Severus

• Tonks, Nymphadora

• Weasley, Ginny

• (unnamed) Death Eaters battling McGonagall, Lupin, and Tonks, including a large blond one

• (unnamed) Hufflepuffs Harry runs into

• (unnamed) witches in a portrait that Harry accidentally hexes

Characters mentioned in this chapter:

• Dumbledore, Albus

• Gibbon

• Potter, James

• R.A.B.

• Riddle, Tom Marvolo (as the Dark Lord)

• Slytherin, Salazar

• Weasley, Bill

Settings and locations introduced or returning in this chapter:

• Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

  • Astronomy Tower

  • corridors

  • entrance hall

  • grounds

  • Hagrid's hut

Settings and locations mentioned in this chapter:

• Room of Requirement

Exceptional character moments:

• Still to come....

Spells:

• Aguamenti

• Apparition

• Avada Kedavra

• Crucio

• Dark Mark, the

• Impedimenta

• Incarcerous

• Incendio

• Levicorpus

• Lumos

• Petrificus Totalus

• Sectumsempra

• Stupefy

• (unnamed) Spell Snape shoots at Harry to slash his face - although it might have been Buckbeak that hit him

Links and Resources:

• Bestiary

  • bowtruckle

  • werewolf

• items and devices, magical

  • Horcrux

  • Invisibility Cloak

  • Vanishing Cabinet

Memorable lines:

• "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 burning house behind them - "CALL ME COWARD!"

Strictly British:

• trainers

Timelines/Calendar:

The entire chapter takes place the same night as the previous chapter.