Half Blood Prince

[Alice I]

My mind is drawing a blank so please remind me who was Regulus?
Was that Sirius' brother?
If it was; he is dead and could not be the HBP.

[Phinea Rogue]

Sirius's brother, yes. I didn't say he is the HBP, only that his name means "prince". It probably means nothing, but who knows...

[Athena Appleton]

oy... what was Bellatrix Lestrange's husband's name again?

[Alice I]

Lestrange, Rabastan
Slytherin, early 1970s (deduction from GF27)
A Death Eater (see), brother of Rodolphus (GF30, OP6).
Rastaban - Arabic, from a phrase meaning "the serpent's head"; a name of Beta Draconis, one of the stars in the constellation Draco that is visible in Earth's night sky but relatively dim, just as this Death Eater tends to be overshadowed by his formidable sister-in-law.

Strictly speaking, GF27 only specifies that Rabastan's brother and sister-in-law were Slytherins, since Sirius was speaking of the Lestranges as "a married couple". - MLW

[choki]

So erm...Rodolphus Lestrange should be Bellatrix's husband. But he is dead, isn't he?

[Dumbledores Master]

We can be certain of that, if he was alive his parents would have known about it but then again who says they would have told Sirius?

[Fool on the hill]

I think werewolves etc. are considered half bloods even if their parents are pure-blood wizards. JKR doesn't seem to think only of persons with one muggle and one wizard parent as half bloods - Harry's called a half blood, too, because his mother was muggle-born. So there is a whole bunch of people who could be the half blood prince.

The first thought I had was Lupin, because in the Romulus-and-Remus legend, the brothers are the sons of God Mars and a (human) woman, who is the daughter of the king of Alba Longa. So they both are demigod and prince.
Their grandfather is murdered by his brother Amulius and R. and R. then kill Amulius before Romulus ends Remus's life, but that's probably not important and JKR already stated that there's no twin brother at all.

But Remus is not mentioned in book two, so I'm afraid I have to give this theory up.

It strikes me somewhat odd that JKR uses the term "prince". There's never been a sign that wizards have kings and queens and all that and royalty is what most people will think of when they hear half blood prince. I for my part don't think that prince has got anything to do with royalty but points out that this person is, umm, "on top" in some way and possibly not the nicest. You know, maybe the half blood prince is the most loathed half blood or something. That just came to my mind, I'll have to think about it and re-read book two. (although I agree that the prince in book six could be another person than the prince in book two would have been)

[Dumbledores Master]

Athena-Was it you who pointed out that it could have been someone mentioned in passing?

JK points out that its not Voldemort or Harry, Voldemort is an alias and I seriously doubt she would big up Tom Riddle since he was killed in CoS by Harry. Riddle was only a memory and didn`t get to become human due to Harry destroying the diary before it could sap Ginny. Also how could she have explained the significance of the HBP in the space of about ... (I forget how many) pages and get DD in because I am certain that DD will explain the significance of the HBP.

Who`s to say that comment about his dad wasn`t duel(sp?) purpose, I think his mother is a witch because like ... (sorry whoever said it) said two magical people from Muggle parents is quite strange.

[Athena Appleton]

I think werewolves etc. are considered half bloods even if their parents are pure-blood wizards. JKR doesn't seem to think only of persons with one muggle and one wizard parent as half bloods - Harry's called a half blood, too, because his mother was muggle-born. So there is a whole bunch of people who could be the half blood prince.

Well... I still think that what happened with Lupin is less of him being a half-blood (half werewolf/half human, even though he is), but more of almost a kind of medical condition. When Rowling says he's a half-blood, I think she's talking the regular half-muggle/half-wizard, the same kind of thing we usually mean by that phrase.

Hagrid and Mme. Maxime are half-bloods, but they're quite obviously made that way from being born of two different... species (for lack of a better word.) One parent was giant, one parent was human. Lupin didn't have a werewolf parent that made him that way, he became a werewolf by getting a bite from one.

Anyway, all this is beside the point.

I for my part don't think that prince has got anything to do with royalty but points out that this person is, umm, "on top" in some way and possibly not the nicest.

I absolutely agree, I just couldn't figure out how to say it correctly. There's never been any evidence of a royalty kind of thing among wizards, and even though there's never been evidence of most of the other titles, I don't think this is referring to a sit-on-a-throne kind of prince, but more of a major character that sticks out...

Athena-Was it you who pointed out that it could have been someone mentioned in passing?

Yes.

JK points out that its not Voldemort or Harry, Voldemort is an alias and I seriously doubt she would big up Tom Riddle since he was killed in CoS by Harry. Riddle was only a memory and didn`t get to become human due to Harry destroying the diary before it could sap Ginny.

I agree.

Also how could she have explained the significance of the HBP in the space of about ... (I forget how many) pages and get DD in because I am certain that DD will explain the significance of the HBP.

Yeah... you lost me...

Who`s to say that comment about his dad wasn`t duel(sp?) purpose, I think his mother is a witch because like ... (sorry whoever said it) said two magical people from Muggle parents is quite strange.

I dunno... I guess so. I think it's possible... I mean, what if it were actually more likely, instead of less likely, that two kids could be born with magical talent to Muggle parents... kind of the same way certain genetic defects and stuff can be more likely to run in families...

[Dumbledores Master]

When I said that I meant I don`t think she would start off another storyline because well it wouldn`t tie in with PoA (would it?) We would have followed on from there and that would mean postponing Sirius` arrival for a book.

If HBP is going to be the storyline of a book longer than Cos at least then it woulda been hard to fit all the HBP stuff into so and so pages wouldn`t it

[carsten]

How about Viktor Krum as the HBP? He is a nice fit, because he comes from a different country, may have a heritage and is likely to return, because he should be ready with school and could fight against LV. He may even become a teacher: DADA or Quidditch. And he likes Hermione very much

He is known and might take over a new part in the story.

Carsten

[Dumbledores Master]

Yeah maybe but I think he might have played out his part

[paintballdecoy]

Yeah maybe but I think he might have played out his part

I don't know, it very well could be him. All we know is that he is young. He very well could be the Half Blood Prince. We basicly know nothing about his backround, for he could very well be of some royal liniage. While we know nothing of his "blood-type" he could very well be a contender for the prince-hood

[Dumbledores Master]

Yes but he wasn`t mentioned till book 4 and HBP could have been the title of book 2

[carsten]

Yes but he wasn`t mentioned till book 4 and HBP could have been the title of book 2

That's exactly right, but hardly anyone appearing in book 2 qualifies for being the HBP. Maybe Hagrid...

JKR keeps the tension high!

Carsten