Half-Blood Prince = !

Okay...the book was amazing. I finished it this morning and have been rereading throughout the day. It's just everything we've come to expect from JKR...a bit of the familiar mixed with a lot of surprises.

First, my predictions.

1) The reason Harry leaves Privet Drive is for his first ever birthday party.  (half credit, he did get a party, but it wasn't the explicit reason he left)

2) The Pensieve will be used to show us why Dumbledore trusts Snape. (nope, though we did find out)

3) Dumbledore will be the one to bite it. (yep)

4) Ron and Hermione will have definite romantic involvement; Harry and Ginny will solidify friendship and become much closer. They will talk more about Ginny's experience with the diary. (I'm giving myself nothing on this...H/G was a solid relationship while R/H continued the jealousy dance, no real mention of the diary between H/G)

5) Draco will become a more formidable opponent. Lucius will head an attack against the Weasleys at his son's word. A Weasley will die (my guess is on Arthur). (I'm giving myself half on this, Draco was much more threatening even if these exact events did not come to pass)

6) There will be another strange experience at Privet Drive, something else will be revealed about Petunia or Dudley that relates to magic. (nope)

7) Harry will not become that much closer to Lupin just because Sirius died. (true that)

8) Grimmauld Place will no longer be the Order's headquarters. (wrong)

9) We will find out exactly what happened the night James and Lily were killed. (nothing new here, wrong again)

10) Fred and George will do something incredible to help the fight against Voldemort. Molly will apologize for criticizing the path they chose. (I'm giving myself this because of their defensive products and the fact that Molly explicitly said something to the affect that she might have been wrong and Fred and George do have good business sense)

11) Harry will tell Ginny about the prophecy first. (Nope)

12) The DA will continue. There will be at least one Slytherin member. (Nada)

13) Harry will miss the sorting this year. (yes, new JK was getting tired of writing those songs)

14) The new Quidditch Captain will be Harry. (yep)

15) Harry will not get into NEWT potions on his own merit, but he will get in. (wrong, he did get in on his own merit)

16) Polyjuice Potion will play an important role in this book. (giving myself this, it was a key to the Draco thing)

17) The Half-Blood Prince is Godric Gryffindor. (never would have guessed Snape)

18) McWhoeverthisnewcharacteris is really no one special. (Giving myself this, he appeared more than I thought, but he wasn't that important as some people speculated)

19) The new DADA teacher will be male. He will be a good teacher, but won't play any special role in Harry's life. He will leave at the end of the year. (looks like the only thing I got right here is the gender, oops)

20) Ron and Harry will get the same number of OWLs. (yep, though Harry got an Oustanding that Ron did not)

21) Sirius will not come back in any way, shape, or form. (yep)

22) We will see the Mirror or Erised again. (nope, but I'm sticking with this for book 7)

10/22

Anyways, I got my book at midnight in Disney World. They had a discussion panel and (my sister can vouch for this) I specifically brought up the fact that I thought Snape would be evil. The guy running the discussion said we had good reason to trust Snape because of Dumbledore and I said we were specifically told that Dumbledore could be wrong. The guy was actually really good. He knew what he was talking about and knew the interviews and information on the website. I was impressed. I answered a trivia question (What did Dumbledore's brother get in trouble with the law for?) and received a $5 gift card to use toward my book. I was excited.

I was very very spoiler free because I was on vacation and did not have access to the internet. I didn't know anything about the book, not even the part JKR read.

But the beginning threw me for a loop right away. How many long discussions had been held on what that mysterious first chapter could be and none of us even came close. That is why I love JKR.

The ships were awesome. I never would have guessed H/G before R/H, but fine by me. They were such teenagers in this book and I loved every minute of it. There was such great humor involved in the romance: "Won Won", My sweetheart, "I'm tall."

Also the entire chapter concerning "Phlegm" had me howling though I expected Fleur to come back as a more likeable character. Either way, she redeemed herself by the end. I thought she was very admirable in the hospital wing and that scene was rather poignant.

Harry is growing up and I absolutely love his sense of humor. "You don't have to call me sir." had me cracking up. He was so good this time, reporting things to authorities (except that damn Potions book) instead of shunning them. And his and Dumbledore's relationship had me close to tears several times. "He said I was Dumbledore's man through and through."...."I told him I was." Just amazing and it made Dumbledore's death even more bittersweet.

Also, YAY on the history of Tom Riddle. There is nothing more interesting to me than the past of a complex villian. I loved going into all the memories and the horcruxes idea is really cool. I've seen variations of this theory online, but it still managed to be original as JKR wrote it.

The one thing that had me heartbroken in this book is that it's very probable that the 7th book won't take place at Hogwarts. Aw. But at least Ron and Hermione will be with him.

Overall, this could be my favorite book of the lot. I will need to do further rereads to assess if I like it better than Goblet of Fire, but at the very least it is my second favorite.

Hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did! I'll be addicted to LJ and forums for the next few weeks.