Harry Potter, #6
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
by J. K. Rowling
Contents
Chapter 21: The Unknowable Room
Overview
Harry confirms Draco Malfoy is using the Room of Requirement and likely employs Polyjuice Potion to disguise Crabbe and Goyle as lookouts. Despite multiple attempts, Harry cannot access the room. Snape humiliates Harry and Ron in class, Myrtle hints at a boy crying in a bathroom, Tonks appears unwell and distressed, and Ron shows slight progress at Apparition.
The chapter advances the Malfoy mystery while showing Harry’s distraction from retrieving Slughorn’s memory, deepening tension and foreshadowing Malfoy’s secret work.
Summary
Harry searches his Potions book for a way to extract Slughorn’s true memory and notes the spell “Sectumsempra,” while Hermione insists persuasion is the only route. Ron struggles with Snape’s essay until Hermione fixes it, leading to banter about Lavender and Ron’s desire to end things.
Kreacher and Dobby arrive with surveillance: Draco Malfoy frequently visits the seventh floor. Harry deduces Malfoy is using the Room of Requirement and that Crabbe and Goyle are acting as lookouts under Polyjuice, explaining the “variety” of students seen. Hermione warns Harry he still won’t access the room without knowing its form and urges him to focus on Slughorn’s memory.
Next morning, Harry repeatedly tries and fails to open the Room of Requirement. In Defense Against the Dark Arts, Snape confiscates essays, mocks Harry’s basic answer about Inferi versus ghosts, and penalizes both Harry and Ron. Afterwards in the boys’ bathroom, Moaning Myrtle mentions a sensitive boy who has been crying there, which Ron mocks, inadvertently chasing her away.
That weekend, while Ron and Hermione attend extra Apparition practice in Hogsmeade, Harry returns to the seventh floor under the Invisibility Cloak. He scares off a Polyjuiced Goyle posing as a girl, then again fails to enter the room. Tonks finds him; she looks thin and unhappy, says Dumbledore is away, and seems distraught when Sirius is mentioned before leaving abruptly.
At lunch, Ron reports partial Apparition success and Hermione excels. Harry recounts meeting Tonks; Ron thinks she’s lost her nerve, while Hermione is troubled by her behavior. Harry speculates Tonks might have loved Sirius, and Hermione remains unconvinced. The chapter closes with Malfoy’s activities still hidden and Harry no closer to Slughorn’s crucial memory.
Who Appears
- Harry PotterDetermined to expose Malfoy; fails to access the Room of Requirement; clashes with Snape; speculates about Tonks; still lacks Slughorn’s memory.
- Hermione GrangerUrges persuading Slughorn; corrects Ron’s essay; skeptical of Harry’s plan; concerned by Tonks’s behavior.
- Ron WeasleyWorried about Apparition; grateful to Hermione; annoyed by Snape; makes slight Apparition progress; strained with Lavender.
- DobbyReports Malfoy’s repeated visits to the seventh floor; exhausted but eager to help.
- KreacherReluctantly reports on Malfoy while praising his pure-blood status; insults Hermione.
- Draco MalfoyUses the Room of Requirement; likely has Crabbe and Goyle Polyjuiced as lookouts; avoids detection.
- Severus SnapeBelittles Harry and Ron in class, removes points, and lectures on Inferi and the Cruciatus Curse.
- Moaning MyrtleMentions a boy crying in the bathroom, hinting at Malfoy’s distress; storms off after Ron’s teasing.
- Nymphadora TonksAppears thin and unhappy; seeks Dumbledore; grows tearful at mention of Sirius and leaves abruptly.
- Lavender BrownDefends Ron against Snape, clings to the relationship; irritates Ron.
- Gregory GoylePolyjuiced as a girl acting as lookout outside the Room of Requirement; flees when startled.
- Seamus FinniganAsks Snape about Inferi versus ghosts, prompting Snape’s correction and class tension.