Dumbledore picks Harry up from his aunt and uncle's house, intending to escort him to the Burrow,

home of Harry's best friend Ron and his large family. On the way, they make a detour to the
temporary home of Horace Slughorn, former Potions teacher at Hogwarts, and Harry unwittingly
helps persuade Slughorn to return to teach. Harry and Dumbledore then proceed to the Burrow,
where Hermione has already arrived.
Severus Snape, a member of the Order of the Phoenix, meets with Narcissa Malfoy, Draco's mother,
and her sister Bellatrix Lestrange, Lord Voldemort's faithful supporter. Narcissa expresses her
extreme concern that her son might not survive a dangerous mission, given to him by Lord
Voldemort. Bellatrix feels Snape will be of no help until he surprises her by making an Unbreakable
Vow with Narcissa, swearing on his life that he will protect and assist Draco in his mission.
The next morning, Harry, Ron, and Hermione get their Ordinary Wizarding Level (O.W.L.) test
results, along with lists of school supplies. Later, Harry, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger follow
Draco to Dark Arts supplier Borgin and Burkes in Knockturn Alley. Harry is instantly suspicious of
Draco, who he believes to be a Death Eater.
On the Hogwarts Express, Harry discusses his suspicions of Draco’s allegiance with Lord
Voldemort, however Ron and Hermione are doubtful with the lack of evidence. Harry dons his
invisibility cloak and hides in the same carriage that Malfoy is seated in. He overhears Draco
bragging to his friends about the mission Lord Voldemort has tasked him. However, Malfoy is
suspicious that someone else is in the carriage and discovers Harry Potter was listening to his
conversation. He petrifies him and breaks his nose out of rage. Harry cannot get off the carriage,
and is worried the Hogwarts Express will depart before he can move again. To his relief
however, Nymphadora Tonks finds Harry and escorts him back to the castle during the opening
feast.
The students return to school, where Dumbledore announces that Snape will be teaching Defence
Against the Dark Arts. In the meantime, Horace Slughorn will resume his previous post as Potions
master. Harry now excels in Potions, thanks to having received a used Potions textbook that once
belonged to someone named "The Half-Blood Prince," a mysterious former student who wrote
numerous tips and spells in his Potions textbook, which sometimes directly contradict the written
text. Harry uses this information to achieve superb results. During a class contest, The Half-Blood
Prince's tips help Harry win a bottle of Felix Felicis, more commonly known as "Liquid Luck." Though
Harry's success pleases Slughorn, his newfound brilliance in potions angers Hermione, who feels he
is not truly earning his grades and also does not trust the Half-Blood Prince.
Believing that Harry needs to learn Voldemort's past to gain advantage in a foretold battle,
Dumbledore schedules regular meetings with Harry in his office. Amidst these lessons, Ron starts
dating a girl named Lavender Brown, who is also a sixth year Gryffindor student, and Ron and
Hermione start yet another quarrel. Also during this time, Dumbledore and Harry use
Dumbledore's Pensieve to look at the memories of those who have had direct contact with
Voldemort. Harry learns about Voldemort's family and his foe's evolution into a murderer, obsessed
not only with power, but with gaining eternal life. Dumbledore shows Harry a memory involving
Slughorn conversing with the young Tom Riddle at Hogwarts, which has clearly been tampered with.
He sets Harry the task of convincing Slughorn to give him the true memory so that Dumbledore can
confirm his suspicions about Voldemort's rise to power and near-invincibility. This is proven vital in
the defeat of Voldemort.
After being sent an invitation to the funeral for Aragog the Spider, Harry uses an hour's dose of Felix
Felicis and succeeds in retrieving Slughorn's unedited memory while at the funeral. In it, Slughorn
tells Riddle about the process of splitting one's soul and hiding it in several objects called Horcruxes.
Only by committing a murder can a wizard turn an object into a Horcrux; Voldemort has created six
of them, making himself virtually immortal by placing a piece of his soul in each one, and keeping the
seventh and last one within his body. Dumbledore explains that in order to destroy Voldemort, all the
Horcruxes must first be destroyed. Two Horcruxes, Riddle's diary from Harry Potter and the
Chamber of Secrets and a ring belonging to Voldemort's grandfather Marvolo Gaunt, have already
been destroyed; but four others remain.
As Harry learns more about his great enemy, the love lives of the main characters start to become
more active. Ron and Hermione grow closer together, but after learning from his sister Ginny, that
Hermione had previously kissed Viktor Krum, Ron is angered and shuns her. Harry's attempts to
repair things between the two fail, resulting in Ron going out with Lavender Brown and making
Hermione jealous. After Ron is nearly killed in an attempt on Dumbledore's life, he and Hermione
reconcile. Ron and Lavender break up when Lavender sees the two of them walking out of the boys
dormitories together. Harry develops deep feelings for Ginny, but is reluctant to pursue her for most
of the year because of his friendship with Ron. Following a wild Gryffindor Quidditch victory, Harry
and Ginny finally strike up a relationship, with Ron's reluctant consent.
Near the end of the year, Harry and Dumbledore journey to a remote cave far from Hogwarts to
retrieve a suspected Horcrux, Slytherin's locket. Dumbledore expertly finds a secret passageway to
a large, pitch black underground lake, which Harry and Dumbledore cross in a small boat to an
island in the centre. The locket is at the bottom of a basin on the island, and can only be reached by
drinking the potion above it. Harry aids Dumbledore, who drinks the potion, causing him to
experience vivid hallucinations and torturous pain. Though Dumbledore is severely weakened after
finishing the potion, together the two manage to fight off Voldemort's Inferi that have been hiding in
the lake. They take the locket and return to Hogwarts, to find that the Dark Mark has been placed
over the highest school tower in their absence. Harry and Dumbledore ascend to the tower where
they are ambushed by Draco Malfoy, accompanied by Death Eaters that he helped get inside
Hogwarts. Dumbledore freezes Harry under his Invisibility Cloak with a body-bind spell, to keep him
hidden. Draco disarms Dumbledore of his wand and then threatens to kill him, which turns out to
have been his mission from Voldemort all along. Draco is unable to go through with it and when
Snape arrives, he casts the spell to kill Dumbledore instead. Harry ignores the battle raging in
Hogwarts to pursue Dumbledore's killer. Snape successfully fights Harry off, and he reveals that he
is in fact the Half-Blood Prince before he, Draco, and the rest of the Death Eaters escape.
After Dumbledore's funeral, Harry decides to break up with Ginny, saying it is too dangerous for her
to let their relationship to continue. Harry finds out that the locket is not the real Horcrux, containing
only a note from someone named "R. A. B.". Harry is so devastated by Dumbledore's death (and
upset by its futility) that he tells his friends he will not be returning to Hogwarts. Instead, he will
spend the next year searching out Voldemort's Horcruxes. Ron and Hermione insist on joining him in
destroying Lord Voldemort for good.

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