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harry potter - amr waly
Plot Summary
The story begins with a description of the Dursleys, an utterly normal family in England, who are left with baby Harry Potter on their doorsteps. Aunt Petunia's sister Lily married James Potter and became a powerful couple in the wizard's world. They were killed by the evil Voltemort, leaving Harry with a large scar on his forehead and legacy as the only wizard to escape Voltemort alive. Head wizard Albus Dumbledore decides to have Harry grow up with the Dursleys until he is ready to attend Hogwarts, the premiere magic school in England. At age 11, Harry is wisped away to Hogwarts by the giant gamekeeper, Hagrid, to find himself lost amongst a new world of magic and power. Hagrid takes Harry to Diagon Alley, where he retrieves some of his inheritance from Gringotts, the wizard bank, and purchases his books, wand, and robes from the Leaky Cauldron and Ollivanders. On the train to Hogwarts at platform Nine and Three Quarters, Harry meets his new friend Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Everyone is amazed to meet the famous Harry Potter. On the train Harry also meets Draco Malfoy, a boy with whom he develops a distrust and hatred. At Hogwarts, the children meet Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, and Quirrell, all professors and wizards. At the opening banquet, the Sorting Hat decides in which house the children live, sorting Hermione, Neville, Ron, and Harry into Gryffindor, and Draco Malfoy into Slytherin, the house run by Snape and known to have schooled Voltemort in years past.
Hermione busies herself with studies, Ron with chess, and Harry with learning about his family and powers. He becomes an expert flyer and is allowed to play Quidditch for Gryffindor's team. Draco Malfoy continually tries to get the Gryffindor kids in trouble, by setting them up and dragging them away from their beds at the wrong time. One day, Ron and Harry come across a large troll and rescue Hermione from death. From then on, the threesome spies on Snape and Quirrell and seek to discover the secrets at Hogwarts. They realize that the Sorceror's Stone is hidden by a three-headed dog at Hogwarts and is the secret to eternal life created by Nicholas Flamel. turn_ad_publisher = 1132101; turn_ad_publisher_ad_code = 1132105; turn_ad_layout = "300x250"; turn_ad_disable_text = 0; turn_ad_disable_thumb = 0; turn_ad_disable_graphic = 0; turn_ad_color_schema = "DEFAULT"; turn_ad_publisher_channel = 1132104; They believe Snape is the culprit behind the evil and try to stop him from destroying Harry and Hogwarts.
Meanwhile, Hagrid keeps an eye on Harry and looks out for him. They visit Hagrid and meet his new pet dragon, Norbert. Norbert causes problems for everyone, as dragons are illegal animals. The three send the dragon away to Romania under Harry's Invisibility Cloak and are discovered out of bed doing so. They are branded and punished with detention and stricken of fifty points each. As detention the kids must help clean up the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid. They find a unicorn slaughtered, with its blood scattered across the ground, and are frightened by an evil spirit. The good centaur Firenze flies Harry away from danger in the forest as soon as he discovers who Harry is.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione discover that Voltemort tricked Hagrid into revealing the method by which to get past the three-headed dog and to the Sorcerer's Stone. They rush past the dog, and through the chambers to stop Voltemort from killing Harry. Ron gets everyone past the life sized Wizard's Chess board, while Hermione breaks the riddle that allows Harry to proceed to the ultimate chamber under ground. He sees the Mirror of Erised, the same mirror that shows the hopes and dreams of the person who looks inside. He finds Quirrell in the chamber without his stutter. He admits to hosting Voltemort and trying to destroy Harry in the forest. When his turban is removed, Harry sees a double face on top of Quirrell's head - it is Voltemort, and he wants to use Harry to get the Stone and then kill him. Harry discovers the Stone in his pocket and tries to kill Voltemort/Quirrel until he blacks out.
Harry awakens in the infirmary to Dumbledore congratulating him. He saved the Stone, Hogwarts, and his own life. Because of his bravery and that of Hermione, Ron, and Neville, Gryffindor wins the House Cup for the year. Harry must go back to the Dursleys for the summer, but looks forward to all the magic he will practice and learn in the future.


Synopsis of the Harry Potter Stories
The story of Harry Potter begins as he is about to celebrate is eleventh birthday. Up until this time, Harry’s birthdays have come and gone like any other day; they have been nothing worth celebrating. You see, Harry has lived in a cupboard under the stairs in his Uncle Vernon’s and Aunt Petunia’s house. He has never received a birthday present worth remembering. His very few possessions have been the hand-me-downs of his cousin Dudley. Harry has never known why the Dursley’s have never treated him well. All he knows is that his mother and father died in a car crash and he came to live with the Dursley’s when he just one year old.
But all things will forever change on Harry’s eleventh birthday. He learns from a letter, given to him by an unknown, very large person name Hagrid, that he is not just a regular person. He learns that like his mother and father, he too is a wizard. Harry’s life changes in an instant. The letter he receives is an acceptance and invitation to study at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Upon arriving at Hogwarts, Harry is sorted into the Gryffindor House by the Sorting Hat. At Hogwarts, Harry will learn what it means to be Wizard. He will learn many things about wizardry from his teachers and Head Master, Dumbledore. He will learn that not all people come from wizard families. Some, called Muggles, will also study at Hogwarts. For the first time, he will meet and make friends. Hermione Granger (Muggle born) and Ron Weasley (Wizard ), will help Harry through a most challenging first year at Hogwarts.
Harry’s first year at Hogwarts will be challenging as he comes to learn more about his past and the death of his parents. Not only did Harry learn on his eleventh birthday that he was a wizard, but he also learned that his parents died at the hands of a wizard practicing dark magic:Voledmort. And although, Voldemort attempted to kill Harry, something saved him. Instead of Harry dying, Voldemort lost his powers. Harry is reminded of that fateful night each time he looks in the mirror and sees a lightening bolt scar on his forehead and as others greet him famously wherever he goes.
Harry will experience many life threatening situations during his first year. These situations will arise as he comes to learn more about Voldemort and those that follow him. Every experience Harry, Hermione, and Ron will find themselves in, will bring Harry closer to the one that must not be named, Voldemort.
harry potter - amr waly

PART 4!!!
The story begins fifty years before the present day, with a description of how the Riddle family was mysteriously killed at supper, and their groundsman, Frank Bryce, was suspected of the crime, then declared innocent. Frank Bryce, now an elderly man, wakes in the night to see a light in the window of the abandoned Riddle House. He investigates and overhears Voldemort and Wormtail plotting to kill a boy named Harry Potter. Voldemort takes note of him and kills him on the spot. Harry Potter wakes up in the night with a throbbing pain in the scar Voldemort gave him. He worries that Voldemort is nearby, and he writes to Sirius Black, his godfather, mentioning the pain in his scar.

The next morning Harry's Uncle Vernon receives a letter from the Weasleys asking Harry to join them at the Quidditch World Cup, and Vernon grudgingly agrees to let Harry go. The following day, the Weasleys arrive in the Dursleys' boarded-up fireplace to pick up Harry. The Weasley twins "accidentally" leave a trick toffee on the ground, which Dudley eats, causing his tongue to engorge itself. The Dursleys panic and throw things at Mr. Weasley as the Weasley boys and Harry exit through the fireplace. Harry arrives at The Burrow, the Weasley household, and there he meets for the two eldest Weasley brothers, Bill and Charlie, and there, Mrs. Weasley berates the twins for making Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes and giving them to Dudley.

Early the next morning, the Weasleys, Harry and Hermione head off to the Quidditch World Cup. They travel by Portkey, a process that involves using a piece of trash as a touchstone for warping across space. They use the same Portkey as Cedric Diggory, another Hogwarts student, and his dad. Together they are carried to the World Cup campground. Upon arrival, the Weasleys, Harry and Hermione head off to pitch their tent. Soon, Ludo Bagman arrives, jubilant at the festivities, and makes a wager with the twins on the outcome of the Cup. Soon afterward, Mr. Crouch arrives, throwing Percy into a great reverent fuss. Before they leave, they allude to a mysterious event that will happen at Hogarts. Harry, Ron, and Hermione buy souvenirs and troop to the Top Box, where they meet Winky, a house-elf who is saving a seat for her master. The game begins, after a show from the respective mascots. In the end, Ireland wins, but Viktor Krum, the Bulgarian Seeker, catches the Snitch.

The night after the game, a crowd of Death Eaters, followers of Voldemort who escaped punishment, torture four Muggles by levitating them in the air. Harry, Hermione and Ron escape by fleeing into the woods, where Harry discovers that his wand is missing. Moments later someone fires the Dark Mark (the sign of Voldemort) using his or her wand. Winky the house-elf is found holding a wand at the scene of the crime. Mayhem ensues at the Ministry of Magic through the week.

Ron receives horrible second-hand robes from his mother and is upset. Amos Diggory brings news that a man named Mad-Eye Moody attacked an intruder at his house. Mr. Weasley runs to the Ministry to sort everything out. The Weasleys, Harry, and Hermione take taxis to the train station and board the train to Hogwarts. Upon arriving, after the Sorting ceremony and in the middle of dinner in the Hogwarts Great Hall, Dumbledore announces that the Triwizard Tournament between schools will take place this year at Hogwarts, and also that Mad-Eye Moody will be the new teacher of defense against the dark arts.

Mad-Eye Moody is a competent teacher. He turns Malfoy into a ferret for trying to attack Harry while Harry's back is turned. In class, Moody teaches Gryffindor the three unforgivable curses, Imperius, Cruciatus, and Avada Kedavra (the curse that killed Harry's parents). Meanwhile, Hermione founds a society that advocates freeing house-elves, who are slaves. She asks Harry and Ron to wear badges. As Defense Against the Dark Arts progresses, Harry learns to successfully ward off the Imperius Curse.

In late October, the delegates from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang arrive, and Ron is thrilled to see that Viktor Krum, a famous Quidditch player, has come with Durmstrang. On halloween night, the Goblet of Fire spits out the names of the champions who will compete in the Triwizard Tournament; along with Cedric Diggory, Fleur Delacour, and Viktor Krum, Harry Potter is selected. Mass chaos ensues, since Harry is too young. But because the Goblet's decision is final, it is generally decided that Harry is obligated to compete. Gryffindor House is triumphant, but Ron is sullen and envious, and he doesn't speak to Harry for quite some time. School resumes, and Harry is frustrated that few people believe he didn't place his own name in the Goblet of Fire. The first task approaches, and Harry is fretful; during the weighing of the wands, a reporter named Rita Skeeter accosts Harry and interviews him for what she says is a story about the tournament, but instead publishes a sappy, exaggerated article about Harry's tragic past.

A few nights before the task, Hagrid invites Harry for a late night walk, which ultimately turns into a glimpse of the first task: dragons. Harry hurries home, and in the Gryffindor common room fireplace, Sirius's head appears, warning Harry that Karkaroff, the head of Durmstrang, was a Death Eater and possibly still is dangerous, and that Moody was the Ministry's best dark wizard catcher ever, and is probably at Hogwarts for a reason. The next day, Harry warns Cedric about the first task; Moody overhears, commends Harry's decency, and hints that Harry should use his broomstick to get past the dragon. Harry and Hermione spend hours practicing summoning charms, and the day of the first task, Harry summons his broomstick and flies past the dragon, capturing the golden egg and receiving high marks. Everyone in Gryffindor is ecstatic, and Ron and Harry are reunited.

Soon afterward, Hermione drags Harry and Ron down to the kitchens, where they encounter Dobby, who is thrilled at his freedom, and Winky, Mr. Crouch's ex- house-elf, who is miserable at hers. In class, Professor McGonagall announces that the Yule Ball is approaching and that the champions must find partners; this is an unexpected and difficult task. Harry gathers his courage to ask Cho, but finds out that she is already going with Cedric. Hermione has a date, but won't say who it is; and she is annoyed when Ron asks her as his last-resort date. Finally, Harry and Ron procure the pretty but annoying Patil twins as their partners for the Yule Ball. On Christmas, the night of the ball, Ron wears his awful dress robes and spends the entire night staring at Hermione, who is there as Viktor Krum's date. Harry spends the whole night feeling miserable about Cho and Cedric, and so Harry and Ron leave the ball for a stroll, during which they overhear Hagrid telling Madame Maxime, the giant head of Beauxbatons, that he is half-giant. After the ball that night, Cedric hints for Harry to take a bath with the golden egg, but Harry is wary of this advice. Harry returns to Gryffindor tower to find that Hermione and Ron are having a huge fight about why she went to the ball with Krum instead of with him.

The next day, Hagrid is not teaching class. Rita Skeeter has written an article saying that his ancestors, who are giants, give him a violent and dangerous nature. He is embarrassed and refuses to emerge from his cabin. During a trip to Hogsmeade, Ludo Bagman offers to help Harry with the tournament and mentions that Mr. Crouch has stopped coming to work. Hermione insults Rita for writing such horrible articles. Harry, Ron, and Hermione return to Hogwarts, visit Hagrid, and persuade him to return. Hagrid is grateful for their loyalty, and he begs Harry to win the tournament. That night Harry takes the egg into the bathtub. It sings that he will have an hour to reclaim something valuable that has been taken into the lake. On his way back to his dorm from the bathroom, Harry, wearing his Invisibility cloak, checks his Marauder's Map and spies Mr. Crouch in Snape's office. In his surprise, he drops the golden egg, which makes a loud screeching noise. Filch and Snape appear instantly. Moody also appears, shoos away the other men and returns Harry's egg to him. Moody asks to borrow the Marauder's Map, which shows every part of Hogwarts grounds and castle, and where every person is within it.

The night before the second task, Harry still has not figured out how to breathe under water. He falls asleep in the library and is awakened in the morning by Dobby, who gives him a ball of gillyweed and sends him off to the lake, where the task is starting. The gillyweed gives Harry gills, so he swims easily through the lake, finding Hermione, Ron, Cho, and Fleur's sister asleep and tied together in a merpeople village. Harry waits to make sure all of the champions rescue their hostages before returning to the surface. Fleur never comes, so he returns with her sister and with Ron, coming up last, but gaining high marks for his moral fiber in his completion of the task.

Soon afterwards, Rita Skeeter publishes an article claiming that Hermione toys with the hearts of both Harry and Krum. The three friends read the article in potions class. After class, Harry overhears Karkaroff confiding fearfully in Snape that something on his arm has returned. The following day, Harry, Ron, and Hermione meet Sirius Black, disguised as a large black dog named Padfoot, in Hogsmeade. He informs them that Mr. Crouch's son was convicted as a Death Eater, and he finds it peculiar that Mr. Crouch has not been coming to work, as well as that he never showed up to take the seat saved by Winky, his house-elf, at the World Cup. Back at Hogwarts, Harry, Ron, and Hermione visit the kitchens to give a gift of socks to Dobby, who is delighted. Winky is still sad and currently drunk, and she mentions between hiccups that she is guarding a great secret for her ex-master. Around this time, Hermione begins getting hate mail for supposedly breaking Harry Potter's heart.

The four champions are taken to see the grounds for the maze, their third task, and on the way back, Krum pulls Harry into the forest to ask if he is at all romantically interested inHermione. When Harry answers no, a disheveled Mr. Crouch appears from the forest, speaking to trees and madly demanding to see Dumbledore. Harry runs to get Dumbldore while Krum waits with Mr. Crouch; when Harry returns, Mr. Crouch has stunned Krum and disappeared, much to everyone's puzzlement. Sirius sends Harry a letter warning him to be careful and to practice hexes for the third task; Harry tries to follow both instructions. In Divination class, Harry falls asleep and dreams about Voldemort, and he wakes up screaming and clutching his scar. Harry leaves class and goes to tell Dumbledore what happened. As he waits for Dumbledore to return to his office, he peers into a Pensieve and enters Dumbledore's memories of various Death Eater trials, including that of Ludo Bagman, Karkaroff, and Mr. Crouch's son. Dumbledore returns, pulls Harry from the memory-world, listens to his story, and says that he suspects that Voldemort is growing stronger.

The morning of the third task, Rita Skeeter prints an article about how Harry fainted in class and is possibly disturbed. The evening of the task, the four champions enter the maze, and Harry finds his path relatively manageable. Soon both Fleur and Krum are out of the running, and Harry and Cedric, the only remaining contestants, arrive at the trophy at the same time, and they both agree to touch it together. The trophy turns out to be a portkey, and it takes both boys to a far away graveyard, where a man in a hood instantly kills Cedric and ties up Harry. The man, Wormtail, drops the bundle he is carrying (Voldemort's current form) into a cauldron, as well as ashes from Voldemort's father, blood from Harry's arm, and Wormtail's own right hand. Voldemort resumes his body and rises from the cauldron. Voldemort presses a tattoo of the Dark Mark on Wormtail's arm, and suddenly Death Eaters begin appearing in a circle around them. Voldemort explains to Harry and his Death Eaters his fall from and rise back to power, and then he challenges Harry to a duel. Harry prepares for death, but he manages to use the disarming spell on Voldemort just as Voldemort cries "Avada Kedavra!" the killing curse, at Harry. The light from the two wands meets in midair and remains connected. Voldemort's past victims emerge from his wand and protect Harry once the wand connection is broken, giving him time to grab Cedric's body and touch the trophy, thus returning to Hogwarts.

Once Harry returns, he is weak and shaken. Moody carries him into the castle, where Moody reveals that he is in fact a Death Eater, and that he was responsible for placing Harry's name in the Goblet and for turning the trophy into a portkey. Moody also informs Harry that Karkaroff felt his Dark Mark burn and then fled that night. Moody prepares to kill Harry when Dumbledore and other teachers burst into the room, stunning Moody and saving Harry. Dumbledore explains to Harry that Moody's body is a disguised version of Mr. Crouch's son, the young Barty, and that he has made the switch by drinking Polyjuice potion every hour. After some time, the potion wears off and Harry recognizes Barty Crouch. Snape gives Crouch truth serum, and Crouch explains how his father smuggled him out of prison and allowed him to live under an Invisibility cloak, guarded by Winky; and how Bertha Jorkins discovered him and ultimately was relieved of his information by Voldemort, who returned to find young Crouch. He also says that he killed his father, and that he was hoping to bring Voldemort back into power by bringing Harry to him. Then Dumbledore takes Harry into his own office, where he asks Harry to explain what he saw in the graveyard to him and to Sirius, who had arrived. After listening to Harry, Dumbledore explains that the wands of Harry and Voldemort are made of feathers from the same phoenix, so one was forced to regurgitate its spells when the two wants met.

Harry is sent to bed, and in the night he is awakened by an argument between Cornelius Fudge and Dumbledore, in which Dumbledore tries unsuccessfully to persuade Fudge to take precautions against Voldemort's new power. Fudge refuses to believe that this is possible. He gives Harry the tournament prize money and leaves huffily. Soon the term ends, and at the final dinner Dumbledore makes a speech telling everyone how Cedric was murdered by Voldemort, and how the future looks bleak and would require them to join together. On the train ride back to London, Hermione shows Harry and Ron a beetle in a jar—Rita Skeeter's animagus form—that she caught and warned not to write any more untrue things. As the students leave the train, Harry gives his gold to the Weasley twins to help start their practical joke company, and he asks that they use some of it to buy Ron a new pair of dress robes. Harry returns to the Dursleys for the summer.


QUICKIE SPOILER: Snape is the new Defense Against Dark Arts teacher. The new teacher at Hogwarts, Horace Slughorn, teaches Potions (Snape's old subject).
The Half Blood Prince is a name found in a used Advanced potions book Harry uses that gives helpful potions tips and spells, one of which is extremely dangerous. The Half-Blood Prince turns out to be Severus Snape. Half-Blood refers to the fact that his father was a muggle (Tobias Snape) but the Prince part refers to his mother's maiden name (Eileen Prince).
Harry rightly suspects Draco Malfoy of being a Death Eater. Draco manages to sneak Death Eaters into Hogwarts using a pair of vanishing cabinets. Draco was supposed to kill Dumbledore, but finds himself unable to.
Dumbledore and Harry explore Voldemort's past, learning about Horcruxes, which are divisions of Voldemort's soul, making him immortal until they are all destroyed. There are Seven pieces of his soul (two already destroyed) including the one in Voldemort. Harry and Dumbledore try to get one, but the aftermath leaves Dumbledore weak and unable to fight off the Death Eaters.
It turns out the Death Eater that overheard the prophecy and told it to Voldemort (leading to Harry's parents' deaths) was Severus Snape. Snape turns up after Draco cannot kill Dumbledore and kills Dumbledore. Draco, Snape, and the Death Eaters escape afterwards. Hogwarts is probably going to be closed but Harry announces he won't be returning anyway; he will attempt to finish the work he a Dumbledore started, destroying Horcruxes so Voldemort can be destroyed.
Relationships (if you're into that): Harry Potter ends up dating Ginny Weasley, it appears that Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger get together, Bill Weasley and Fleur are going to get married, and Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks are also together.
LONG SPOILER:
Muggles are beginning to notice signs of the war spilling over from freak accidents and whatnot. The book opens with the Prime Minister (not specifically Tony Blair) meeting with the sacked Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge and the new Minister of Magic Rufus Scrimgeour and talking about Voldemort.
We also see Black sisters Bellatrix Lestrange and Narcissa Malfoy visit Hogwarts Potions teacher Severus Snape, where Narcissa makes Snape take an unbreakable vow (you die if you break it) that he will help her son, Draco, in a task he is about to go on (it is unclear what Draco is doing).
Harry is first seen in the third chapter, when Dumbledore comes to Privet Drive to escort Harry to the Weasley's house. First they stop at the hiding place of a friend of Dumbledore's, Horace Slughorn, where Harry almost accidentally convinces Slughorn to come to teach at Hogwarts. (We assume this is for the vacant Defense Against Dark Arts post).
Dumbledore tells Harry that he will be giving him private lessons of a sort and advises him to tell Ron and Hermione about the prophecy.
At the Weasleys' Harry tells his friends about the prophecy, and receives his OWLs (a sort of standardized test). He doesn't think he can get into Potions because he is one grade short of what Snape, the potions master, accepts. Harry also learns that Fleur Delacour (from Goblet of Fire) is engaged to Ron's brother, Bill.
While the trio visit Diagon Alley to purchase robes and supplies, the meet Draco Malfoy and by an action of his (pulling his arm away), Harry guesses that Draco has been branded a Death Eater (A follower of the bad-guy Lord Voldemort). They follow Draco to a dark shop, Burgin and Burkes where he says something about "keeping that one safe" (important) and asks how to repair something.
When they arrive at Hogwarts, Harry is shocked to learn that Slughorn will be teaching Potions, not Defense Against Dark Arts, and (his loathed teacher) Snape will be teaching the Defense Against Dark Arts course. This means, however, that Harry can take the Advanced Potions course, but because he was not expecting it, he has no books and has to borrow one from Slughorn. Inside are additional potions tips and spells which put Harry at the top of the Class. These tips are from an elusive "Half-Blood Prince."
The lessons with Dumbledore turn out to be looking into Pensieve memories, where Harry learns more about Voldemort's past, especially his mother, Merope Gaunt, a basically powerless and abused witch who uses magic to force muggle (not wizard) Tom Riddle to marry her. We also see Dumbledore telling young Voldemort (called Tom) that he is a wizard and we see that Voldemort was one creepy little kid. We also learn that Voldemort likes to collect things which Dumbledore says is important.
A fellow student of Harry's, Katie Bell, gets cursed by an opal necklace that she is force to pick up by the Imperius curse (it makes you do things against your will) while away from the school. Harry suspects Draco Malfoy, but he has an alibi. Harry starts learning many hexes and spells from his potions book (the Half-Blood Prince).
Just before Christmas, Harry overhears Draco Malfoy and Snape talking about the help Snape promised Malfoy in the unbreakable vow. When Harry tells this to Remus Lupin (a former teacher and werewolf) and Mr. Weasley at Christmas in the Weasley's house, they both say that they trust Snape because Dumbledore does. Remus Lupin also tells Harry about Fenrir Greyback, the evil werewolf who bit him when he was a child (somewhat important). There is also something wrong with Nymphadora Tonks (another member of the Order of the Phoenix) which they suspect is due to her grief over her cousin Sirius (who died in the last book).
Harry looks inside the Potions textbook and sees that it is 50 years old, which he thinks eliminates his father and friends from being the Half-Blood Prince. Hermione does some research showing that the Half-Blood Prince could be anyone, even a girl, showing him something about a former Hogwarts student, Eileen Prince (kind of important).
In one of the lessons Dumbledore shows Harry about how young Voldemort covered killing his muggle (non-wizard) father and muggle grandparents (the Riddles) by pinning it on his wizard uncle (Morfin Gaunt). Dumbleore also shows Harry a memory where teenage Voldemort asks Slughorn about Horcruxes (we aren't told what these are), but the memory has obviously been altered by Slughorn. Dumbledore sets Harry on finding out what really happened. We also see how a younger Voldemort killed a woman to get a locket owned by Slytherin and a cup owned by Hufflepuff (founders of Hogwarts).
When Harry at first tries to interrogate Slughorn about the Horcrux, he refuses to talk, then at another opportunity Harry's friend Ron gets poisoned (Harry saves him) before Harry can ask. Finally Harry uses guilt about his mother (a favorite student of Slughorn's) to get the real memory.
In the real memory we learn that Horcruxes are divisions of the soul that can be created when a person murders someone. Voldemort, to be immortal, killed and divided his soul 6 times, so he has seven pieces of his soul around. One is a ring that Dumbledore had already found and destroyed. One was the destroyed Diary of young Voldemort from Chamber of Secrets, one is stored in Slytherin's Locket, and another in Hufflepuff's cup. Another is stored in Voldemort's serpent, Niagini, and Voldemort obviously has a piece of a soul inside him. Dumbledore does not know where the other one is stored, but he suspects that it is in an artifacts relating to Gryffindor or Ravenclaw (the other two founders of the school). This makes Voldemort immortal, because there are still places his spirit inhabits even after he has been physically destroyed. This is why Voldemort survived the rebounded curse when he tried to kill Harry the first time.
Dumbledore tells him that he has a choice to help him destroy the Horcruxes, and that he can choose to follow the prophecy or not. Dumbledore also tells Harry that the power he has that "the Dark Lord knows not" spoken of in the prophecy is love. Harry knows because he loves his friends, mentors, and dead parents, that he must fight Voldemort. Harry's life continues, including his beginning to date his friend Ron's little sister, Ginny. Harry finds a spell in the Half-Blood Prince textbook labeled "For Enemies." Harry gets into a fight with Draco Malfoy and uses it on him, but it seriously injures Draco, causing large gashes and bleeding. Professor Snape finds them and heals this, sort of reads Harry’s mind (Legimency), and then demands to see Harry's books, but Harry hides the Half-Blood Prince book in the a special room called the Room of Requirement behind a vanishing cabinet and shows him Ron’s instead (important).
Harry receives a message from Dumbledore that he has found out where a Horcrux is and to help him destroy it. On the way Harry meets up with the Divination teacher, Trelawney, who made the big prophecy about him. Trelawney tells him about a strange occurrence in the Room of Requirement, and Harry guesses that Draco has succeeded in whatever he was planning. From Trelawney’s ranting, Harry realizes that the Death Eater who overheard the prophecy and told Voldemort about it (thus leading to Harry's parents' deaths) was Snape. Harry confronts Dumbledore, but Dumbledore insists that he trusts Snape and that Snape regretting bringing about Harry's Parents' Deaths. Dumbledore makes Harry promise he will follow any order given, and tells him to prepare for getting the Horcrux.
Before Harry leaves, he tells Ron and Hermione to round up their group (from Order of the Phoenix) and to watch Snape and the room of requirement. He then leaves with Dumbledore.
Harry and Dumbledore go to a cave by the sea (mentioned in one of the memories about young Voldemort). They go through this complex place to this pool where Dumbledore has to weaken himself by drinking a potion to get out a Horcrux, the locket. The potion weakens Dumbledore.
They return to Hogsmeade, and see a Dark Mark hanging over the Hogwarts castle. A Dark Mark is the symbol the Death Eaters that is usually sent up when they have murdered someone. Dumbledore and Harry fly to the Astronomy tower of the castle and prepare to enter when they hear someone approaching.
Dumbledore petrifies Harry while he is invisible to protect him, at the expense that Dumbledore (weakened still) is disarmed by Draco Malfoy. Dumbledore tries to talk Draco down, telling how Draco's earlier attempts to kill him were half-hearted (the necklace and the poison that Ron drank). Draco Malfoy reveals that he was able to bring Death Eaters into Hogwarts through a pair of vanishing cabinets (one in the room of Requirement, the other in the dark shop from the beginning of the book). Draco insists that he has to kill Dumbledore, otherwise Voldemort will murder his family. Dumbledore basically talks Draco down, but other Death Eaters show up, including the untransformed werewolf, Fenrir Greyback. The Death Eaters insist that Draco has to kill him, but then Snape shows up. Dumbledore appears to plead with Snape but Snape kills Dumbledore (the Avada Kedavra) and takes Draco away.
Harry chases after Snape and uses some of the spells he learned from the Half-Blood Prince book against Snape. Snape reveals that he is the Half-Blood Prince, and is able to deflect Harry's attacks. Snape prevents any of the other Death Eaters from killing Harry, but basically stuns him while the Death Eaters and he leave Hogwarts and disappear.
Man of the students wake up, and find Dumbledore’s body on the lawn (it fell from the tower when he was murdered). Harry finds the locket, but sees that it is fake. Inside is a letter from a mysterious R.A.B. to Voldemort saying that he/she/it had taken the Horcrux and would destroy is when he/she/it could, knowing that soon he/she/it will soon be dead. Harry is distraught that Dumbledore was weakened for nothing. Ginny comes and takes him to the hospital wing.
They go to the hospital wing, where most of the people who had been fighting the Death Eaters were. Lupin, Tonks, Bill Weasley and Professor McGonagall had been patrolling the corridors for Dumbledore, while Ginny Weasley, Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley had been on alert from Harry.
The only one seriously hurt, Bill, was practically mauled by the Fenrir Greyback and though he was not transformed (yeah, Fenrir is very creepy). Lupin speculates that Bill will be badly scarred and perhaps have some wolfish characteristics. Bill’s parents and Fleur show up, and Fleur is insistent about staying with him, despite any danger or change to Bill’s appearance. This leads to revealing that the reason Tonks was upset was that she was in love with Lupin but he was reluctant because he was a werewolf.
Later, Hermione finds from research why Snape called himself the Half-Blood prince. Snape's parents were Eileen Prince (a pure-blood) and Tobias Snape (a muggle) so Half-Blood is correct, but Prince is his mother's surname. The potions book previously belonged to his mother.
There is an elaborate funeral for Dumbledore, who is buried in a white tomb on the grounds, but it is unclear whether Hogwarts will be reopened. Harry proclaims to the Minister of Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour, that Dumbledore is never gone as long as people at Hogwarts are still loyal to him. It appears that Ron and Hermione get together, but Harry basically breaks it off with Ginny because he says Voldemort would use people he loved against him. Harry plans to return to the Dursley's (due to the protection it would give him) but says that even if the school re-opens he will not come back, because he has to track down the rest of Horcruxes so that Voldemort can be killed.