12 Grimmauld Place: Room of Requirement

The Room of Requirement

A Harry Potter Editorial by Lisa

Editorial 1: Who is the HBP?

1 August 2004

I would like to welcome all to the Room of Requirement. This is the home of the Half-Blood Princess, me. My name is Lisa and I am 20 years old and attend a small, private liberal arts college. I am an English major with a minor in Art History and a concentration in creative writing. I, of course, am a die hard Harry Potter fan and love anything and everything related to the series. This is my editorial page and I will be more than happy to receive feedback and responses from my readers. You can contact me at hafbloodprincess.netscape.net or on my aim screen name HafBloodPrincess.

Today the Room of Requirement will surround you with information pertaining to the half-blood prince. ::Thinks:: �We need a room with the history and origin of names, dictionaries, and the history of the Potters and all who could possibly be the half-blood prince.�

I thought that the most appropriate editorial for the first edition should be about the most talked about rumor amongst Harry Potter fans. Who is the Half-Blood Prince? Well as we all know there are numerous theories floating around on the web and I am here to add one more to the dozens out there. First let�s eliminate those who could most definitely not be the Prince.

We will start with pure-bloods. This will, of course, eliminate all Slytherins because we know that Salazaar Slytherin said, "We'll teach just those whose ancestry is purest.� And that �Slytherin took only pure-blood wizards of great cunning just like him�� In my opinion this would also eliminate Professor Severus Snape. We know that he is the head of Slytherin and therefore a pure-blood. If this is not enough proof then I offer this small tid-bit. Snape was a death-eater and would Voldemort allow anyone other than pure-bloods to belong to the elite muggle murderers? I think not.

Next on my list is Ron Weasley. He is pure-blood. There is no way to get around that one. The Weasley�s are the most sneered at pure-blood family because they do not buy into the pure-blood mania. This is turn eliminates all of the Weasley�s. The Longbottom�s, too should be crossed off because they too are pure-blood. This comes straight from Dumbledore�s mouth. Hermione, of course, is a muggle-born wizard and therefore is not a half-blood. She too is crossed off. Dean Thomas is half-blood like Seamus Finnigan. I feel that if it were Thomas than Rowling would never have let his story escape or be cut out of the Chamber of Secrets. It would be too important. I don�t like Seamus Finnigan and I feel that he is a stupid git and unimportant to the plot and therefore could not be the prince.

J. K. Rowling has already eliminated Voldemort/Tom Riddle and Harry Potter from the list. Therefore we know that the prince could not be either of them. If the prince is not Harry than it is unlikely that it is James.

According to Webster�s Dictionary, the definition of a Prince is as follows: The chief of any body of men; one at the head of a class or profession; one who is pre-eminent; as, a merchant prince; a prince of players. This means that the prince does not necessarily have to be a royal or royalty. I think that our Half-Blood Prince is someone who is or was a defender of the half-bloods and muggle-borns.

With this in mind let us think about Godric Gryffindor as the Half-Blood Prince. First off let�s look at his name. Godric means Godric which, when studied, is composed of the elements "god" meaning "good" and "ric" meaning "power". Thus the name signified one who was a "good ruler" which the child would assume in adulthood. (http://www.filbyw.freeserve.co.uk/Origins.htm). Well, this makes sense. Godric Gryffindor seemed to be the leader of the four friends back in the day and he was definitely pre-eminent (the greatest).

Rowling stated on her site that the new title was originally the title of book two, the Chamber of Secrets. All traces of the half-blood prince plot were edited and removed from that book. But what does still linger is the knowledge that Harry gained in Chamber of Secrets. Harry learned that he was indeed a true Gryffindor. He had been questioning it for two years. With this in mind, think of Godric Gryffindor as the champion for witches and wizards who were not pure-blood of his day. Does that sound familiar? Well it should, because Harry Potter is the new champion of the muggle-borne and half-bloods. Perhaps this new book is going to reveal more about the past and how it is inter-twined with today�s current events of the Wizarding world.

Please note that I am not saying Harry is the HBP (why would the book be called HARRY POTTER and the HBP if he was the HBP) or the descendent of Godric Gryffindor. I think it is more apt to say that he embodies the spirit of Godric Gryffindor as opposed to being his heir.

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