Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

[selenak]

I did get my copy after all, so:



- Readers who complain about lack of Slytherin depth and the fact we didn't get to see them interact with each other except for that brief bit in CoS: this is your book

- It's also the first one where I find Draco Malfoy interesting. I hereby admit my guess that he's going to end up as this generation's Gilderoy Lockhart is probably wrong. Also? Someone write the Draco/Myrtle. It's canon.

- loved the Black sisters and Severus Snape chapter; Narcissa as concerned mother, as much as Molly Weasley ever was, should also refute the complaints JKR doesn't allow the Slytherins feelings; was amused by "Cissy" as a nickname because whoever said that the Black sisters must be inspired by the Mitford sisters is surely right

- speaking of Molly Weasley: mother-in-law from hell, clearly, unless you're Harry. And Ginny and every Weasley save Ron the in-laws from hell. Was siding with Fleur completely and thought "insular snobs". Was very glad to see Molly properly repentant at the end, though predicted this was coming.

- Horace Slughorn: and another Slytherin who is a three-dimensional human being. Neither a saint nor a villain. If I read any more complaints that JKR is so unfair to the green and silver bunch, I'm going to throw this book at them.

- otoh, she's not that good with romances. The Harry/Ginny was perfunctiary, if you ask me, and the Ron/Hermione dancing around each other is getting old.

- Remus/Tonks! A part of the Remus/Sirius contingent is going to go nuts over this while fernwithy's stories are somewhat canonical now

- Dumbledore telling off the Dursleys: sorry, Albus, but you don't get to do this. You put him there, you know exactly how they treated him via Arabella Figg, and you didn't do anything for eleven years. That prevents you from getting all self-righteous now. Sirius or Remus saying it would have had me cheering, but not you

- and the big one, of course: Snape killing Dumbledore. As of now, before I reread, my theory is that this was part of the plan and was what Snape and Dumbledore were arguing about when Hagrid overheard them, with Snape saying "you ask too much". Hence also Snape actually stopping the DE's from killing or torturing Harry. Not that the rant wasn't genuine enough. Also, love the irony of Snape's old notes making Harry brilliant in potions when Old Severus as an actual teacher with the method from hell couldn't, and Harry admiring the HFB throughout the year. Note that Hermione who still seems to be the voice of the author in these matters thinks that using the notes is cheating on Harry's part and points out the parallels to the DE's spells but also says it doesn't feel actually evil, just not nice

- of course, I could be wrong and Snape killed Dumbledore in an actual act of treachery; in either case, the scene and the entire preceding Draco confrontation is better composed than Sirius' death scene in OotP, though all in all I like OotP with its unrelenting sadism better as a book (will be in a minority here, I think)

- bimo should love the first chapter, which gives Fudge a good send-off, showing him in a far better light than anything previously

- the remaining artifacts with pieces of Voldemort's soul: my money is on the Sorting Hat as one of them. It will be destroyed in Book 7 as an outward symbol of the House System breaking down.

Comments

[themoonbar.livejournal.com]

I agree with pretty much everything you've said. I thought it was overall very well-down. Both Harry and the writing were more mature than her previous books- and it was less bloated than the last one.

I thought Remus/Tonks was somewhat perfunctory as well- especially since we've all seen Ginny/Harry coming for ages. As for the slashers- I bet they have a lot of fun with this actually. After all, Tonks is about the closest Lupin can get to Sirius, isn't she?

Interesting thought on the Sorting Hat. Who do you think RAB stands for? My only guess so far is Regulus- who we've heard about in passing, but not in detail so far.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Regulus is my only guess as well, especially since he was mentioned twice in the book without any particular need, as if we had to be reminded there was a younger ex-Death Eather Black brother. He could have done it in the few days between leaving Voldemort and getting killed.

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't say the notes made Harry brilliant, they just made him seem brilliant. I side with Hermione on this one, it's cheating, and Harry's basically lost a whole year of Potions he'd never be able to catch up on, I don't think.

[winter]

On the other hand, he now knows how to do all that stuff, and all he needs is to memorize it properly. If he's been reading it at nights for the notes in the margins, I'd say he's most of the way there already.

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

Well, true, though I'd say that merely makes him very good, not brilliant, which to me implies a certain understanding of the subject, and harry doesn't have that like Snape does.

[yahtzee63.livejournal.com]

I'm with Ron on this one -- Harry used instructions he was given, same as the other kids, and if he had better instructions, that's fortunate but not cheating. ITA that Harry doesn't have a deep, fundamental understanding of the magic the way Snape does, but OTOH, he showed innovative magical thinking (sometimes about potions and remedies) in this story, and so even if he has to memorize information rather than develop it, Harry demonstrably has the smarts to know how to use that information once he's got it. It's definitely worth something.

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

But Harry's not just using better instructions, he's taking credit for having come up with them, in a way.

I do agree Harry demonstrates innovative magical thinking--I think Harry has an instinctive grasp of magic, as opposed to, say, Hermione, who is better at grasping the logic and theory behind magic.

[yahtzee63.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure Harry is taking credit for having come up with them. Slughorn thinks Harry's a genius, but (a) he's sort of determined to do so regardless of any hard fact and (b) Harry never claims to have done anything but followed the instructions. Moreover, he is happy to let Ron work from the book as well, and would share the information with Hermione if she didn't fundamentally mistrust it; Harry isn't trying to come across as a genius, he's just using what he's got.

The thing with the bezoar is most telling of all, I think; Harry reads the instructions in the book, but then he also remembers Snape having mentioned a bezoar in their first year. So he uses a combination of what he was taught, what he's reading as extra information and his own moxie to come up with that as an "answer" to Slughorn's problem, and he gets away with it. Seems purely clever, until he thinks quickly later in the book and uses the bezoar to save Ron's life. So Harry is using a combination of classroom instruction, extra study information and his own instincts to use Potions knowledge in the world. If that's not real learning, what is?

Basically, I don't think Harry is cheating by use of the HBP notes any more than a kid is cheating by using a study guide in addition to textbooks. Cribbing "Cliff's Notes" is no substitute for learning -- but on those rare occasions when the Cliff's Notes actually add to learning instead of taking the place of it, they're completely fair. And as Harry demonstrably learns more about magic in the book, I think this is one of the latter occasions.

[winter]

The Sorting Hat would fit in with the Founders theme, but how would Voldemort have gotten his hands on it? Isn't it the point that he never got back into Hogwarts after graduation, and the hat is usually in the Headmaster's office?

With you on Dumbledore's hypocrisy. Though there's an interesting point: he tells the Dursleys that they damaged Dudley. Could it be that Dudley had magical potential too, but stifled by his upbringing?

[selenak.livejournal.com]

True, how Voldemort could have gotten his hands on the Hat is a tricky question. Though if Diary!Tom Riddle could possess Ginny, the genuine article might have done that, too, to a Hogwarts student or teacher in order to get at the Hat.

Damaged Dudley: I thought that was referring to the fact that spoiling a child rotten, as they did with him, was just as bad, only in another way, as abusing him through neglect, as it happened to Harry. This notwithstanding, I wondered about Dudley as well, and Petunia - that they might have some potential, but repressed it completely due to their attitude towards magic.

[themoonbar.livejournal.com]

I don't know if this is directly related, but I've always wondered what Dudley was remembering during the dementor attack. Rowling rarely makes points like that without returning to them later.

[strangemuses.livejournal.com]

I'm fully expecting for JKR to reveal in book 7 that Dumbledore ordered Snape to kill him in book 6. It's such a classic set-up. It allows Snape to reveal himself to be a bitter, loathsome individual (which is is) and still a 'good guy undercover agent' (which fits his behavior).

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Agreed about the set-up. And that was always the unique thing about Snape - he wasn't never a nice person, and always a bad teacher (one word: Neville), but he also came through when it counted in the big battle sense.

[queenspanky.livejournal.com]

Totally agree. And when Snape made the Unbreakable Vow, he was swearing to not let Draco become a murderer, to protect his soul. So yes, I think Dumbledore made Snape promise to do it to save Draco. And there's also the fact that Snape wasn't letting Harry finish any of the curses, therefore making sure Harry didn't kill anyone either.

I do have to agree with Kangeiko, however, who compared the unveiling of Snape as the half-blood Prince to that of the unveiling of a Scooby Doo villian. A little out of nowhere - a bit more of a run up to that would have ben appreciated.

I really, really liked the character of Ginny in this one. I hope she has a large role in 7.

Just my thoughts...

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Snape as the HBP: well, there were clues enough. The handwriting was described in the same way Harry sees Snape's handwriting in the pensieve flashback in OotP; the bezoar and Harry even remembering this from Snape's very first lesson; the Septumrectra as a more refined and brutal version of the spell Snape cast against James in the flashback; and of course the entire potions text book thing, complete with Harry reflecting that the HBP is a better teacher than Snape ever was.

This being said, Snape bringing it up in the confrontation was out of nowhere, yes, - not the "using my own spells against me" but the "I the HBP" part.

[yahtzee63.livejournal.com]

We're very much on the same page re: HBP, except that I think absolutely anybody who can tell off the Dursleys, should tell off the Dursleys. Dumbledore sort of had to put Harry there to keep him safe, and though he may have had misgivings, he certainly could have had reason to hope for better than them locking Harry in the cupboard beneath the stairs.

Harry is so absolutely one of the holders of Voldemort's soul that I can hardly stand it. It went into him when the curse went wrong at Godric's Hollow, and that's the reason for the link between them -- and the reason Voldemort didn't die.

I believe in Snape's good intentions, but I am curious now as to why (a) Snape either didn't tell Dumbledore and others more about what Malfoy was up to, or, in the alternative, (b) why Dumbledore didn't trust Harry with this information. This is the book where Dumbledore finally treated Harry as an adult -- so why withhold something this vital from him? Hmm.

[themoonbar.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure Snape knew what he was up to. In the one scene we saw, Draco seemed very unwilling to tell him anything.

And while part of me thinks Harry being the final Horecrux's would be an incredible conundum- doesn't it have to be done with purpose? Why would Voldemort deposit part of his soul in the child he was about to kill?

[yahtzee63.livejournal.com]

Snape had to know the essential question of what Draco was doing; in that initial chapter two, he certainly understands at least that Draco's been asked to kill Dumbledore. If Snape knows that, then why doesn't Dumbledore? And if Dumbledore knows it, why doesn't Harry? Given how closely Harry follows Malfoy throughout the story -- and his track record for sticking to his usual suspects like glue -- it seems a weird omission.

I definitely think that, if Harry is a horcrux for Voldemort, it is not by Voldemort's intention. OTOH, Voldemort was in battle against Lily and James, killing them both, and in a place (Godric's Hollow) connected to one of the Founders, so I think it's highly plausible that Voldemort intended to sink his soul into something else on the scene but (because of Lily's protective spell, perhaps?) got Harry, instead. I think Voldemort does not know where this last fragment of his soul is even now, which makes him both belligerent toward Harry, confident re: his immortality and yet desperate to search for certain items.

[(Anonymous)]

He could have hoped for better, but he knew what was really going on. For eleven years. And he didn't do anything. (When clearly Petunia at least could be influenced by pressure on his part, as evidenced in OotP.) Hence the feeling of hypocrisy I had in that scene.

Harry having one bit of Voldemort's soul: I have to agree with Anna here - if so, it can't have been intentionally on Voldemort's part, but I could see a scenario where Voldemort had been planning to depose that last bit in some artificact, and instead it ended up in Harry because of Lily's interference.

but I am curious now as to why (a) Snape either didn't tell Dumbledore and others more about what Malfoy was up to, or, in the alternative, (b) why Dumbledore didn't trust Harry with this information.

I thought the conversation between Snape and Malfoy which Harry overheard made it clear Draco didn't want to tell Snape anything about his plan, because he thought Snape wanted "the glory" for himself. That conversation even included the information that Malfoy (as opposed to Harry) can block a Legilemens ("what are you hiding from your Master" "I'm keeping you out"), which I guess was JKR covering for the natural question as to why Snape didn't read Draco's thoughts if he wanted to know details.

[yahtzee63.livejournal.com]

::shrugs:: If you ask me, anybody who didn't actually beat their child with a tire iron doesn't have to be a hypocrite for calling the Dursleys out.

See above re: theory on Harry as horcrux.

Snape may not know a single detail, but Snape had to know at least the bare fact that Draco was assigned to kill Dumbledore. In that chapter two, he's talking to Narcissa and Bellatrix with clear understanding of that much, at least. ("He means for me to do it in the end, I think," etc.) That certainly seems enough to raise a warning, though possibly Snape underestimates Draco's skill and thereby the seriousness of the threat. If Snape did not think Draco had any chance of doing Dumbledore real harm, I could possibly see him remaining quiet until he had all the facts; it would be an enormous tactical error, but an understandable one.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Did you think Dumbledore was bluffing then when he told Draco he knew what Draco was doing throughout the year? (Just not how Draco smuggled stuff into Hogwarts.) If Dumbledore didn't bluff about this, it means Snape told him from the start.

As to why Dumbledore didn't tell Harry that - search me. Because of some possible remaining link between Voldemort and Harry, perhaps?

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Err. The anonymous reply was me, sorry.

Pst

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

(perfunctory)

I think this puts me three books behind, but I've no particular plans to catch up now...

[cbrownjc]

- otoh, she's not that good with romances. The Harry/Ginny was perfunctiary, if you ask me, and the Ron/Hermione dancing around each other is getting old.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I absoulty *hated* most of the romance stuff in this book, expecially the Harry/Ginny stuff; it felt it it was inserted for the sake of it, not something that happened naturally.

Ron/Hermione dancing around each other *is* getting old, but I realised - after this book - that they are the one romance in HP that doesn't cause me to want to gouge my eyes out, because JRK actually took time to build up the dynamic between them in the previous books.

And - because I'm tired from staying up late reading and getting up early to finish reading, I'll just "ditto" your coments about why Snape killed Dumbledore. I love Harry to bits, and really like Luna, but Snape has got to be the most facinating character in the whole series - heck, I think he may end up even more tragic than Harry in the end. It's so werid that I hate Snape - but love him too.

And on one last superfical note - I can't wait to see what Alan Rickman does with this in the film version. ;)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I'm fond of Bill/Fleur, too as far as romances go. TheirloveissoWeasleyprejudicedefying.

Snape as most fascinating character: yes. OotP moved Harry up to being my favourite, but Snape definitely is the most fascinating. Re: Rickman - as opposed to all the Marauder and Snape background in PoA, this is at least something we can be sure of can't be cut in the film version, so we'll actually get to see it, and yes, should be a stunning scene.

Luna is adorable. Loved her from her first appearance in OotP onwards.

Quick'n'shallow:

[ramaxela.livejournal.com]

Things I liked:

- Draco in the train at the beginning. TREMENDOUS.
- How much was accomplished with so little at the end.
- I fell for at least two simple red herrings over the course of the book; one was the person responsible for the necklace/poison - I suspected McLaggen, and the other was the person targeted by them - First Gryffindor Quidditch players, then Slughorn.
- Fred'n'George's shoppe.
- Luna's necklace. I don't know why, but it made the character for me.
- The way the Diary in Chamber of Secrets was explained. YES.
- The relative unimportance of the title character.
- Harry's cute internal monologues about Ginny. "... but Ron's sister... "
- DEMENTOR SEX.
- LACK OF CHO.
- Voldie the magpie. YES.
- Sooooooo many nods to the past. The ankle-lifting spell was a really neat clue, and I love the name Kingsley Shacklebolt.
- All the little details about potions and spells from the old textbook. Neat, neat stuff.
- Hermione the ... sports fan. Mmm. It makes sense, though - the 'repressed' ones tend to be the hardest hit by the hormones.

What I didn't like:
- The End. Too quiet and dignified, and the structure of Book 7 was too cleanly pre-set.
- The first few flashbacks. I couldn't make myself care about the crazy inbred old man.
- The first chapter. It added to the mood and the information - about the Muggle World starting to notice the private little war - but it went on too long and was too cutesily anonymous. "Some president" indeed. It might have worked better as a random intermezzo, or even at the end of the book.
- The disintegration of Diagon Alley. The Terrorists have won.
- Fred'n'George's powder used at the end. Ow.
- The language used when Dumbledore was telling Harry about the Horuxes (sp?). It took me too long to figure out how they mapped. Marvolo's Ring, Tom Riddle's Diary, The Locket, Hufflepuff's Cup, (the thing in the basin - was this the locket?), Nagini, Voldemort himself.
- Not enough McGonagall.
- Not enough Voldemort.
- Too much Hagrid.
- Elves. They were useful and then they disappeared.
- The New Minister. Bleeeeeeh.
- The realization of the minimization of injuries in the other books. I thought Draco stomping Harry in the face was brilliant and brutal and iconic... but Harry slashing Draco's face later was just blown off, like all the other injuries and hexations and jinxes in the previous books.
- Pacing. Not too slow or fast, but uneven. Big moments were hidden in quiet expository speeches, and lots of nice little character ones lost in Big Events - or worse, made into Big Events. I'm thinking again of the Quidditch Jerk here.

Re: Quick'n'shallow:

[ide-cyan.livejournal.com]

DEMENTOR SEX.

Ooh, yes, I'd almost forgotten that. "They're breeding!"

[butterflykiki.livejournal.com]

Snape killing Dumbledore. As of now, before I reread, my theory is that this was part of the plan and was what Snape and Dumbledore were arguing about when Hagrid overheard them, with Snape saying "you ask too much". Hence also Snape actually stopping the DE's from killing or torturing Harry. Not that the rant wasn't genuine enough.

Yup, that's the way I read it too. He had to have told Dumbledore earlier, he had to have tried to prevent what Draco was doing, but when it came down to it, he killed Dumbledore to save Draco-- and maybe as a mercy killing. It could be D. was dying the whole book, ever since the would dealt to him by destroying that ring. This was a way out that left Snape able to operate. And I'm sure he hated himself, Dumbledore, and Voldemort for it equally.

RE: Harry-Ginny -- yeah, way underwritten. Very light. *sigh* Maybe this would be satisfying if I were 15 or 16? Or perhaps not. Either way, you know the shippers will fill in the blanks, I just found it kind of... unstatisfying.

I still adore Luna. I hope she and Neville do get together. Not enough Neville, but he got more to do in Book 5.

And yes, good point about Slugthorne-- a good teacher, a vain and silly man, but not inherently evil. He has the vices of status-conscious wizarding society, without the actual malice.

Plus we finally found out Blaise is a guy. Heh. (Or did we know this from OOTP?) I read one fanfic that had him as a were-human who turned into a girl at every full moon to address that little detail.

Harry cares about results. That's why he's good at DADA. Hermione cares about *knowledge*; that's why she's good at everything. So he learned stuff, but he's never really goign to be a potions master or scholar.

Tonks/Remus! Wheee!

[selenak.livejournal.com]

We knew Blaise was a guy from OotP, but nothing else, and judging by all the comments, the fact he's black caught everyone by surprise who went for the Draco Clone guess.*g*

Harry caring about results: true. And Hermione pointing out that Snape's first DADA lecture is actually not that different from what Harry told the DA in OotP was a nice ambiguos touch...

[harriet-spy.livejournal.com]

The Harry/Ginny was perfunctiary

I like how JKR *never actually directly depicts them as going on a date*. She all but wrote "yadda yadda yadda" on the page every time she sends Harry and Ginny off together. Harry's true love appears to be Ron and Hermione.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Quite true about Harry's true love and JKR's disinterest in depicting Harry and Ginny actually romancing each other. Mind you, this unfortunately supports the theory that Ginny is mostly a plot device so Harry can become a Weasley-by-marriage at the end of the saga...

[cadesama.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the R/Hr stuff is more than old at this point. They both turn into completely unpalatable characters every time the subject is broached. We'd be better off if one died and the other simply mourned him/her loving for the rest of his/her life.

I think killing Dumbledore could have been what they were arguing about, and that totally brilliant . . . but I think I'd like everything better if it weren't. Dumbledore is phenomenally wrong about so many things, and the vindictive part of me wants to know that he died he'd been thoroughly betrayed and that he'd put his pride in his own judgment above the safety of children for years.

[thesecondevil]

I pretty much agree with everything you've posted, though I hadn't thought of the Sorting Hat as a Horcrux. It'd be an interesting plot twist and definitely symbolic but I get the feeling Hogwarts isn't going to be utilised that much in the next book.

[kangeiko]

Yes to the content. I rather liked all the new canon we got. But what did you think of the book as a whole? I thought that it was poorly structured and rather unbalanced (a la Babylon 5 season 5). More thoughts .

[kangeiko]

Well, that link didn't show up. *confused*

It should say:

More thoughts here.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I'm probably in the minority who liked OotP better as a book, which doesn't mean I don't like this one. On a level with GoF, which in turn I must be the only person in the entire fandom to have liked better than PoA.

[kangeiko]

I'm probably in the minority who liked OotP better as a book, which doesn't mean I don't like this one. On a level with GoF, which in turn I must be the only person in the entire fandom to have liked better than PoA.

I agree that OotP is a better book, most definitely, and GoF is actually still my favourite. PoA is very tight, it’s true, but I just wasn’t that taken with Sirius Black or Remus Lupin, and disliked seeing Snape made a fool of by Dumbledore and Harry. GoF got very dark, very quickly, and had the Quidditch World Cup and the Triwizard Tournament, both of which I adored. I was also a big fan of all the positive Weasley time we had, and Moody was just downright fantastic.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

PoA is very tight, it’s true, but I just wasn’t that taken with Sirius Black or Remus Lupin, and disliked seeing Snape made a fool of by Dumbledore and Harry.

Those were my problems with it exactly.

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

I haven't actually finished the book -- I'm saving the last chapter for tomorrow to see if it helps the rest make any sense. I'm sort of guessing that I'll have to wait 2 to 3 years, though.

I really just wanted to comment that, in this book, Harry reminds me a bit of TM-Connor, and Draco reminds me of TM-Tucker. I also like Harry better in this book than in any of the previous ones. And I'm with you on loving the opening chapters.

All I'm saying is, we'd BETTER eventually find out why Dumbledore trusted Snape, and it had better be a better reason than "Snape is really tricky".

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Now those are interesting comparisons.*g*

All I'm saying is, we'd BETTER eventually find out why Dumbledore trusted Snape, and it had better be a better reason than "Snape is really tricky".

Oh, I think we will. Current theories favour another Unbreakable Vow - the scene with Harry pouring down lethal poisons into Dumbledore's throat because Dumbledore made him promise to do that, despite D. begging at that point, could be construed as a parallel to the big showdown, plus if Snape promised to do whatever D. tells him to in an Unbreakable Vow, D. really has cause to believe he has "an ironclad hold". (And so far in the series, we haven't seen Snape disobey a direct command from Dumbledore.) Which leaves the question as to who was their bonder (as Bellatrix is with Narcissa and Snape), because that person could provide the grand explanation to Harry and the readers in volume 7. Could be D.'s brother Aberforth whom Rowling said somewhere we'd see before the end.

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

Nice theories -- and if all this means a Snape-heavy book 7, I will be a happy camper.

[merrymaia.livejournal.com]

-Absolutely agree that Dumbledore ordered Snape to kill him.

-Don't agree that Ron/Hermione is getting old: if they do get together in the last book, all the set-up will make it more realistic.

-Dislike Ginny/Harry. Ginny is not a well-rounded (or interesting) character. And I HATED Harry's breaking up with her to protect her: that is SO BLOODY CLICHE - not to mention disgustingly sexist.
The "heroes-must-go-it-alone" message - ick.

-I do hope that Harry using Kreecher to track Draco will come back to bite him. Harry doesn't even hesitate to use the slave he's inherited. Kreecher is desperately loyal to the Malfoys, and Harry forces him to spy on Draco?!? Reminded me of the Jedi Council asking Anakin to spy on Palpatine.
Only it's worse than that, because house elves truly have no choice but to obey.
If that doesn't come back to bite Harry in the next book, I will be seriously disgruntled with Rowling...

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Dislike Ginny/Harry. Ginny is not a well-rounded (or interesting) character. And I HATED Harry's breaking up with her to protect her: that is SO BLOODY CLICHE - not to mention disgustingly sexist.

Actually, I thought that was a 16-years-old idiotic boy thing to do, and the sexism undercut by the immediate aftermath. I mean.

H: We can't be together because Voldemort will go after the people I love.
G: Okay.
R & He: Harry, we're going with you.
H: Okay.

But then, the friendship the trio has for each other has always been the strongest tie one of the teenage characters has.

Kreacher: after all Dumbledore's "we treat our fellow magical creatures disgustingly, and Sirius' behaviour towards Kreacher certainly contributed to his fate" talk in OotP, I was surprised he handed over K. to Harry (who didn't want him anymore than Kreacher wanted to serve Harry). Was less surprised Harry later got the syping idea, because Harry exhibits more ruthlessness each book. (Note that in OotP, he used the Cruciatus on Bellatrixa after she kills Sirius, and even it isn't well executed, he still does it, once; in HBP, he tries to use Cruciatus against Snape three times.) Which again is realistic if you consider a teenager in an ongoing combat situation. Doesn't mean it's good. And yes, we're due for another thing going spectacularily wrong due to the houselves as slaves situation.

[stormsweeper.livejournal.com]

I saw it more as a parallel to his parents, I seem to recall a similar discussion between Harry's parents.