Harry Potter, #6
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
by J.K. Rowling
Contents
Chapter 21: The Unknowable Room
Overview
Harry learns from Dobby and Kreacher that Draco uses the Room of Requirement with lookouts disguised by Polyjuice, likely Crabbe and Goyle. Harry fails to access the room despite repeated attempts. Snape humiliates Harry and Ron in class; Moaning Myrtle hints a boy has been crying in a bathroom. A wan Tonks unexpectedly visits the castle seeking Dumbledore, raising concern and speculation.
Summary
Harry obsesses over extracting Slughorn’s true memory and scours the Half-Blood Prince’s book, discovering the spell “Sectumsempra.” Hermione urges persuasion over trickery. Dobby and Kreacher arrive with reports: Draco often visits the seventh floor while others keep watch. Harry deduces Crabbe and Goyle are using Polyjuice to pose as various students standing guard by the Room of Requirement.
Determined to expose Draco, Harry tries to access the Room of Requirement but fails repeatedly; the room will not open without knowing Draco’s intended use. In Defense Against the Dark Arts, Snape publicly belittles Harry’s and Ron’s answers and deducts points, deepening tensions. In the boys’ bathroom, Moaning Myrtle complains a sensitive, bullied boy has been crying there, but refuses to name him.
While most sixth years attend Hogsmeade Apparition practice, Harry returns under the Invisibility Cloak, scares off a Polyjuiced Goyle guarding the room, and again cannot force entry. He then encounters a gaunt Tonks, who says she sought Dumbledore, hints at fresh troubles, and abruptly departs, clearly distressed.
At lunch, Ron reports partial Apparition success; Hermione excels. Harry recounts meeting Tonks. Ron assumes she’s lost her nerve; Harry wonders if grief over Sirius explains her change, while Hermione questions why Tonks would abandon her guard post to find Dumbledore, noting something more may be wrong.
Who Appears
- Harry PotterPursues Draco’s secret; deduces Polyjuice lookouts; repeatedly fails to enter the Room of Requirement; clashes with Snape; encounters a distressed Tonks.
- Hermione GrangerAdvises persuading Slughorn; corrects Ron’s essay; doubts access to the Room without intent; questions Tonks’s sudden visit.
- Ron WeasleyFretful about Apparition; mocked by Snape; practices in Hogsmeade and makes progress; jokes about Myrtle; remains irritated with Lavender.
- DobbyReports Draco’s seventh-floor visits; proudly overworks; confirms lookout students while unable to enter the Room.
- KreacherGrudgingly reports on Draco; insults Hermione; provides less useful detail than Dobby.
- Draco MalfoyUses the Room of Requirement for a secret task; employs Polyjuiced Crabbe and Goyle as rotating lookouts; hides when threatened.
- Severus SnapeDeducts points, ridicules Harry and Ron; lectures on Inferi and curses; fuels Harry’s resentment.
- Moaning MyrtleReveals a boy has been crying in a bathroom; refuses to name him; clashes with Ron.
- Nymphadora TonksAppears wan and upset; seeks Dumbledore; hints at new troubles; leaves abruptly, worrying Harry and Hermione.
- Gregory GoylePolyjuiced as a small girl to guard the Room; flees when Harry startles him.
- Lavender BrownAttempts to comfort Ron after class; her clinging irritates him.
- Seamus FinniganAsks about Inferi in Snape’s class, triggering Snape’s derision.
- Argus FilchScreens students with a Secrecy Sensor before the Hogsmeade Apparition practice.