Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: Best funny moments

Hello! I’ve been reading Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince (yes, again). I can’t really classify this as my favorite Harry Potter book, because they each and every Potter book is a favourite of mine, but I really love this one exceptionally much because it is so funny. Harry and his friends are growing up, and they are dealing with their hormones while still having to think of the murderous Voldemort who wants Harry dead. Here are some of the funny moments in the book that just makes me giggle every time.

Cornelius Fudge telling the British Prime Minister about the existence of the Magical World

“Not to worry”, he said, “it’s odds on you’ll never see me again. I’ll only bother you if there’s something really serious on our end, something that’s likely to affect the Muggles – the non-magical population, I should say. Otherwise it’s live and let live. And I must say, you’re taking it a lot better than your predecessor. He tried to throw me out of the window, thought I was a hoax planned by the opposition”

At this, the Prime Minister had found his voice at last.

“You’re – you’re not a hoax, then?”

It had been his last, desperate hope.

“No”, said Fudge gently. “No, I’m afraid not. Look”

And he had turned the Prime Minister’s teacup into a gerbil.

“Bur”, said the Prime Minister breathlessly, watching his teacup chewin on the corner of his next speech, “but why – has no body told me – ?”

“The Minister for Magic only reveals him or herself to the Muggle Prime Minster of the day”, said Fudge, poking his want back inside his jacket. “We find the best way to maintain secrecy”

“But then”, bleated the Prime Minister, “why hasn’t a former Prime Minister warned me-“?

At this, Fudge had actually laughed

“My dear Prime Minister, are you ever going to tell anybody?”

Funny factor: At least a 7/10. Although this is by far not the funniest part of the book, I always have a good chuckle imagining any Prime Minister discovering a secret world just after his elections. I would certainly question my own sanity, I would definitely suspect a hoax, and I would certainly be most loathsome of the thought that there is another PM running a part of my country after all the hard work I’ve put in to win elections!

Dumbledore giving Vernon Dursley some sass

“I don’t mean to be rude – “he began, in a tone threatening rudeness in every syllable.

“-yet, sadly, accidental rudeness occurs alarmingly often”, Dumbledore finished the sentence gravely. “Best to say nothing at all, my dear man. Ah, and this must be Petunia”

Funny factor: 8/10. The Dursleys have mistreated Harry since day one, and they are always a thorn in his side. I love that every time the Dursleys meat someone of the magical world, something goes askew, whether it is planned or not. Dumbledore sneaking in some well deserved attitude towards them is hilarious and well deserved.

Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes

Why Are You Worrying About You-Know-Who?

You SHOULD Be Worrying About

U-NO-POO –

The Constipation Sensation That’s Gripping The Nation!

Funny Factor: 10/10Fred and George are always hilarious, and the bring the funny yet again by dealing with a crisis with humour.

Harry giving Snape some sass

“Do you remember me telling you we are practising non-verbal spells, Potter?”

“Yes,” said Harry stiffly.

“Yes, sir”

“There’s no need to call me “sir”, Professor”

Rating: 9/10 Ah, Harry and Snape. By now we all know that Snape ultimately redeemed his mean behaviour, but these two were always at odds at Hogwarts. This is just one of the occasions where Harry shows once again he is a funny guy and that he can deal with unfair discrimination with humour.

Harry’s “Tattoo”

“You’d think people had better things to gossip about,” said Ginny, as she sat on the common-room floor, leaning against Harry’s legs and reading the Daily Prophet. “Three Dementor attacks in a week, and all Romilda Vane does ask me if it’s true you’ve got a Hippogriff tattooed across your chest”

Ron and Hermione both roared with laughter. Harry ignored them.

“What did you tell her?”

“I told her it’s a Hungarian Horntails” said Ginny, turning a page of the newspaper idly. “Much more macho”

“Thanks”, said Harry, grinning. “And what did you tell her Ron’s got?”

“A Pygmy Puff, but I didn’t say where”

Rating: 8.5/10 Apart from the fact that Harry finally woke up and discovered Ginny Weasley is the girl for him, this scene always makes me laugh. It is a happy one, showing Harry and Ginny’s fun side and how cute their relationship is.

Any additions/comments? Let me know!

September 25, 2014September 25, 2014 by Natasha Categories: Books, Harry Potter, ThoughtsTags: Albus Dumbledore, Books, cornelius fudge, Dementors, Fred Weasley, Friday, George Weasley, Ginny Weasley, Harry Potter, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Hermione Granger, Hippogriff, JK Rowling, Reading, Ron Weasley, Severus Snape, Tattoo, Vernon Dursely 5 Comments

Book Review: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (JK Rowling)

Book: 18/100

Harry Potter and his friends, Ron and Hermione, are waiting to return to Hogwarts for their 6^th year. The magical world Harry finds himself in is in panic with Lord Voldemort now openly causing mayhem and terror.

Harry is fetched early during the summer vacation from Privet Drive by Albus Dumbledore, where he asks Harry to accompany him to the house of an old teacher of Hogwarts – Horace Slughorn. Harry and Dumbledore arrive to try to convince Slughorn to return to Hogwarts to teach, and Slughorn very reluctantly agrees.

Harry spends the rest of his summer with the Weasleys at their home, the Burrow. He meets Fleur Delacour again, now engaged to Ron’s older brother Bill, much to the irritation of Mrs. Weasley, who doesn’t seem to regard Fleur as worthy of her son. When the group visits Diagon Alley, under the safe watch of Hagrid, they finally see what Fred and George have been up to since leaving school. Their wizarding shop – Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes, openly mocks You-know-who, and is the only shop in Diagon Alley taking a cheerful approach on life.

On the Hogwarts Express, Harry is annoyed when Ginny leaves them to go sit with her boyfriend, Dean Thomas. Harry tells himself firmly that his feelings are brotherly, and doesn’t think that it might be more. He is interested to find out that Draco Malfoy isn’t abusing his Prefect duties, and sets out to find out why he is neglecting his favourite past-time. In the Slytherin corridor of the train, Draco openly boasts about a task that Voldemort had set for him, but doesn’t give any conclusive information. Harry is found by Draco, and left on the train injured, but Tonks, one of the Order members, arrives and takes Harry to the castle. Harry is shocked by the change in Tonks – her usual quirkiness is gone, and she is constantly distracted.

At school, Harry is shocked when he finds out that Professor Slughorn had returned to teach Potions, not Defence Against the Dark Arts. Professor Snape, Harry’s least favourite teacher, therefore got his life’s wish to become DADA teacher. They are all shocked to why Dumbledore allowed the thing Snape had openly sought for years.

Meanwhile, someone at Hogwarts is trying increasingly desperate measures to kill someone within the school. Katie Bell, a member of the Gryffindor Quidditch team nearly dies when she tries to take a cursed necklace into Hogwarts. Ron is poisoned in Slughorn’s office, and is only saved when Harry finds a bezoar to push down his throat – a cure to many poisons. Harry becomes obsessed with proving it is Draco Malfoy behind it all, but everyone, including Dumbledore, ignores Harry about this.

Harry receives private lessons from Dumbledore, and Dumbledore sets to show Harry as much as he possibly can about Voldemort’s life. Even as a child, Voldemort had immense control over his powers, not even caring if he hurt other children with it. He had no problem at all murdering for things he wanted, and indeed murdered all his living relations as a teen. Harry never receives any form of homework from Dumbledore, until Dumbledore asks him to retrieve a memory Slughorn, telling Harry that it is the most important information he will ever receive to Lord Voldemort’s immortality. This seems increasingly difficult, as Slughorn expected Dumbledore to try something of the sort. When Harry retrieves it, he learns that Voldemort had split his soul into seven pieces, making him immortal. Voldemort hid the pieces of his soul, Horcruxes, in different locations, and Dumbledore tells Harry that he can accompany Dumbledore on the next quest.

Harry and Dumbledore set of one night to find and destroy a Horcrux. They go to a hidden lake, a place where Voldemort had tortured young children in his youth, and after Dumbledore drinks a poison, they get the Horcrux. With Dumbledore seriously injured, the two return to Hogsmeade to find that the Dark Mark had been cast above the Astronomy tower. They rush to the school, with Harry under the invisibility cloak, they find Draco Malfoy waiting for Dumbledore, and disarms him. Dumbledore manages to convince Draco to allow Dumbledore to help him. Snape arrives, and kills Dumbledore. Fleeing from the castle, Snape reveals that he was the Half-Blood Prince, and that Harry had used his old Potions book the whole time. Harry finds that the Horcrux is a fake, and that someone else, RAB, took the real horcrux.

In the hospital wing, where everyone is taken to recuperate, Harry shares the news that Dumbledore has died. Fleur and Mrs. Weasley make peace when Mrs. Weasley sees that Fleur intends to stay with Bill even though he was attacked by a werewolf, and this prompts a fight between Tonks and Lupin – Tonks’ drastic change in nature had been caused by her unrequited love for Lupin.

After the funeral, Harry breaks up with Ginny, whom he had been dating since the Quidditch final. He tells her that it would be too dangerous to date her, that she would be in grave danger in Voldemort ever suspected Harry had feelings for her. He tells Ron and Hermione that he won’t be returning to Hogwarts, and they tell him in return that they will accompany him on his quest to find and destroy the remaining Horcruxes.

Rating: 8.5/10

What a phenomenal book! The Half-Blood Prince awed me, and repulsed me a little as well. Every part of every book slots perfectly into each other. My heart broke when Dumbledore died, and Harry lost yet another close mentor in his life. Harry finally falls for Ginny, and that girl had been waiting for him since the Chamber of Secrets. I love how she grew into this smart-mouthed individual, able to fight for what she believes in. No other type of girl deserved Harry 🙂

May 7, 2013 by Natasha Categories: Books, ReviewsTags: 100 books, Albus Dumbledore, Books, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Draco Malfoy, Ginny Weasley, Harry Potter, harry potter series, Hermoine Granger, Hogwarts, Reviews, Ron Weasley, Severus Snape, The Weasleys 1 Comment