Ridiculously late.

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Nevertheless, and despite my snotty cold (angst and woe!), here comes the next fabulous chapter of HBP joy!

*Hermione has never heard of Horcruxes, which suggests that (a)the information is only avaliable to the extremely determined, in a very few hard-to-reach places, and (b)that this will prove Harry's greatness and superiority once he does find out. One wonders how Sluggy got the information, but that's not this chapter.

*I am slightly uncomfortable with this idea of good magic and bad ("Dark") magic, but that's probably my Discworld experience. Many of the spells etc used by the good guys in this series are, to my mind, more creepy than the idea of simply killing a lot of people, which is fairly standard as evil goes. Memory charms, for example, or Legillimency. The idea of someone else having control over my memory or being able to read my thoughts disturbs me a great deal more than the mechanics of what we later find out about the Horcruces (correct plural there :P). But I am mental, so hey.

*Oh shut up Hermione, with your annoying stuff about Ron and that. Why are you so annoying?

*See, that's the thing about all this copying off other people. Sooner or later, it's going to occur to you that you might have good marks, but it's still an empty victory because you haven't learnt anything. As with Harry and Golpalott's Third Law. I don't understand it either, but I suspect Rowling didn't go out of her way to make it scientifically logical or understandable - if her approach to snake bites is anything to go by, anyway :/

*Well, Hermione, it's nice to know that you're needed after all, but in real life, being so damnably smug about how lost those silly boys are without your guiding hand would just piss people off. Luckily for you, this isn't the real world and you will still be as beloved as ever. How fortunate for you.

*Oh, well isn't that handy? All that fuss that other people put themselves under is for nothing, when all they have to do is use calcified secretions from the gall bladder of a goat. So handy that all you ever needed to know, you learnt on your first day at school.

*Because Harry is so "like his mother" (what, absurdly jammy and blessed with everyone's good graces?), Slughorn laughs at his bezoar suggestion and he is teh_winnar once more. HATE.

*Unfortunately, Harry does not win so hard that he can get info about Horcruxes out of Sluggy. Well, no shit. This will be drawn out over a few more chapters before we can get an answer. Why doesn't Dumbledore just tell Harry about them in the first place? The book could have been a decent size and people wouldn't need dustbin-sized bags to carry it about on the train or bus :(

*The phrase "reminding himself irresistably of Voldemort" is a hopeful one, though. By "hopeful", I mean that it might be shown that Harry is not so pure of heart as to be utterly immune to the lure of power. That would make him that bit more likeable as a character - as you know, I cannot see the appeal of a character who does no wrong and who is as holy and pure as the driven snow. I'd like someone to call Harry on his shit one of these days.

*There's no information on Horcruxes in the library. Again, I wonder where it is kept. Perhaps they used to have it, but it was removed once Dumbledore realised what was up with that Riddle kid.

*The Apparition lessons are boring. I'm sure it is very relevant to the plot, but it's so dreary. It reminds me of how I wrote when I was about sixteen, taking care to note every detail in case people wanted to know. Rowling does a lot of this, actually - the OWL exams in OotP being another example. Oh why are the books so long? Mmm, let us consider...

*Although one does wonder how no blood is spilled during Splinching. But it's probably some special suitable-for-kids magic.

*Anyway, Harry has heard that Crabbe and Goyle are acting as lookouts for Draco, and insists upon using the map at all times. However, he suspect that, since they are not often seen together, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle are simply going their separate ways. Violin music might be appropriate here.

*Ron's birthday watch sounds a bit gaudy. It must be genetic, since it was from his family (his coming-of-age gift).

*Harry, in his quest to search for the curiously absent Draco on the map, neglects to notice Ron consuming some stale Chocolate Cauldrons left by Romilda Vane. Curious, in my opinion, that the love potions know who the person administering them was. How does Romilda Vane ensure that the object of her affections (or his mate, in this case) loves her upon consumption and not someone else who comes into view? I suspect it's some form of sensory magic, but it all seems a bit too illogical for me. I continue in my belief that I preferred the love potions when I thought they were aphrodisiacs under another name.

*The potions also seems to erode any sense in Ron. This must be another one of those ruses designed to pinpoint Ron as the ultimate comic relief of the series (although I can't say I'm relieved). I can only imagine the distressing length of this scene in the film version :(

*Luckily, Sluggy gets out of bed especially to administer to his favourite's best friend, and Ron is woken out of his apparently hillarious adoration for Romilda. I hope Romilda grows up to be sucessful and gorgeous one day - the suggestion that fancying her is a sign of madness doesn't sit too well with my desire to support the underdog.

*Because Ron is now of age, Slughorn sees fit to offer him some booze. Alas, the booze - meant for Dumbledore, of course - was poisoned. Harry manages to spring into action with those magical goat secretions. How lucky that he knows what to do when a teacher is unable!