History Fridge / HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince

** Even if the luck potion only benefits the drinker, the effects still make sense. Ron was becoming increasingly paranoid about even being seen by Lavender, it was only a matter of time before he started pestering Harry to borrow his Invisibility Cloak so he could vanish from her completely. The longer Ron puts off the breakup, the more annoying it is for Harry (and the more likely it is Hermione decides Ron's not really worthy of her affections, and his two best friends become completely incompatible). Ron and Lavender breaking up is really lucky for Harry.

* Hermione outright says that she was going to ask Ron to Slughorn's Christmas Party. This is in contrast to Book 4, where she waited around hoping Ron would ask her. She's likely copped on to how clueless he is by now.

* There's an interesting, alternate interpretation of Voldemort's curse on the Defense Against The Dark Arts class. What comes across as pettiness is actually a brilliant piece of strategic warfare. Without a consistent DADA teaching curriculum, the up-and-coming generation of young Wizards would have been ill-equipped to fight the First Wizarding War. Indeed, the people teaching that position have run the gamut from the competent (Lupin) to the incompetent (Lockhart) to the deliberately obstructive (Umbridge) to ''actual Voldemort spies'' (Crouch-As-Moody), and several shades in between. And even if all of the teachers had been competent, the inconsistency that comes with changing teachers yearly isn't the best learning environment, particularly for kids.

* Marvolo and Morfin Gaunt served six months and three years in Azkaban respectively. With Merope having left in the meantime, Marvolo lived alone after his release and died an unspecified amount of time before Morfin finished his sentence; and judging by the "welcome" that the Gaunts gave Ogden, they didn't often get visitors. Did Morfin come home from prison to find his father's corpse still inside the cottage after goodness knows how long?

** Even if the luck potion only benefits the drinker, the effects still make sense. Ron was becoming increasingly paranoid about even being seen by Lavender, it was only a matter of time before he started pestering Harry to borrow his Invisibility Cloak so he could vanish from her completely. The longer Ron puts off the breakup, the more annoying it is for Harry (and the more likely it is Hermoine decides Ron's not really worthy of her affections, and his two best friends become completely incompatible). Ron and Lavender breaking up is really lucky for Harry.

* Hermoine acting a bit drunk on butterbeer after the group leave the Three Broomsticks. Slughorn (obviously fairly sloshed himself) had spilled his drink over Hermoine's part of the table... some of what he was drinking landed in her butterbeer, and she didn't notice when she chugged it back.

* It's a damn good thing that Dumbledore found the cave before dying, and deduced that he had to bring Harry, and was able to figure out how to get in, and how to get to the potion in the middle of the lake, and how to obtain the Horcrux (even though it wasn't there; but Harry found "R.A.B."'s note), and was there to save Harry from the Inferi...

** Snape has the perfect setup to finally get Harry kicked out of Hogwarts. Harry attacked a student with a Dark spell, Snape's favorite student, no less, and Snape has him alone. Yet he doesn't go through with it. [[spoiler:Because doing so would have screwed up his and Dumbledore's plans to destroy Voldemort in Book 7. There's also the fact that the Dark Spell used by Harry, Sectumsempra, was created by Snape, meaning that if someone investigates, he can be jailed for create that dark spell.]]

* The film has a moment when Harry is dodging a question from Hermione about the owner's identity of the old Advanced Potion-Making book. While this happens, Ginny quickly swipes the book from Harry's hand and answers Hermione's question. She was quick to jump into this discussion because she had a previous experience with a strange book. [[Film/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets Namely, Tom Riddle's diary, which compelled her to open the Chamber of secrets, released the Basilisk and leave the bloody message on one of Hogwart's walls!]] She was making sure the same thing didn't happen to Harry!

* When Harry is in detention for cursing Malfoy, he comments on how Snape seemed to be purposely keeping him longer so he couldn't spend as much time with Ginny. While Harry probably thinks this is just because Snape is mean, it may be deeper than that. Think about it — Harry looks extraordinarily like his father. Ginny, meanwhile, has long red hair. Together, they resemble Lily and James as a couple. Snape no doubt notices it, and by keeping Harry from Ginny, it's almost like keeping James from Lily. It does not change the fact it is out of pettiness, mind you.

** It's all but stated that she and Morfin never went to Hogwarts. Of course they didn't; their father Marvolo would almost certainly have prevented them from going, not wanting his precious pureblood children to mingle with blood traitors and Muggle-borns. (n real life, many parents with all kinds of extremist views prefer to homeschool their children to prevent them from getting different ideas.) Alternatively, they couldn't afford wands, cauldrons, spellbooks, robes, potion ingredients, etc., and even if they were aware of the fund for students who couldn't afford school supplies, Marvolo's stubborn pride would never allow him to accept that the last descendants of the great Salazar Slytherin had been reduced to living off of charity.
** With the Gaunts living in extreme poverty, they wouldn't have had the money to shell out for new wands. In 1991, the Weasleys were better off than them and still couldn't afford a new wand for Ron, what with the things costing seven Galleons a pop. Merope's wand, like as not, was another hand-me-down. We know that "the wand chooses the wizard", and wands don't work as well for people who didn't "choose" them.

** Alternatively, Romilda might have put way more love potion in the chocolates than necessary because she ''really'' wanted Harry to fall madly in love with her.

** It's all but stated that she and Morfin never went to Hogwarts. Of course they didn't; their father Marvolo would almost certainly have prevented them from going, not wanting his precious pureblood children to mingle with blood traitors and Muggle-borns. (In real life, many parents with all kinds of extremist views prefer to homeschool their children to prevent them from getting different ideas.) Alternatively, they couldn't afford wands, cauldrons, spellbooks, robes, potion ingredients, etc., and even if they knew about the fund for students who couldn't afford supplies, Marvolo's pride would never allow him to accept that the last descendants of Salazar Slytherin had been reduced to living off of charity.

** The Gaunts were severely inbred from centuries of marrying their own cousins to preserve their blood purity and were down to a SingleLineOfDescent by the [=1920s=]. Even if they somehow changed their minds and tried to marry outside the family, it's hard to imagine even the most die-hard pureblood supremacist actually ''wanting'' to marry a Gaunt, given their inbreeding-related defects, notoriously violent tempers, and extreme poverty. Severe inbreeding could very well have taken its toll on the family's magical abilities. But wait, they did produce one of the most powerful wizards of the modern age...because his father was a Muggle, with fresh, non-Gaunt blood in him.

** Alternatively, Romilda might have put way more love potion in the chocolates than necessary because she ''really'' wanted Harry to be madly in love with her.

** It's all but stated that she and Morfin never went to Hogwarts. Of course they didn't; their father Marvolo would almost certainly have prevented them from going, not wanting his precious pureblood children to mingle with blood traitors and Muggle-borns. (In real life, many parents with all kinds of extremist views prefer to homeschool their children to prevent them from getting different ideas.)

** The Gaunts were severely inbred from centuries of marrying their own cousins to preserve their blood purity and were down to a SingleLineOfDescent by the [=1920s=]. Even if they somehow changed their minds and tried to marry outside the family, it's hard to imagine even the most die-hard pureblood supremacist actually ''wanting'' to marry a Gaunt, given their notoriously violent tempers, extreme hatred of non-purebloods and Muggles, and extreme poverty. Severe inbreeding could very well have taken its toll on the family's magical abilities. But wait, they did produce one of the most powerful wizards of the modern age...because his father was a Muggle, with fresh, non-Gaunt blood in him.

** With the Gaunts living in extreme poverty, they wouldn't have had the money to shell out for new wands. In 1991, the Weasleys were better off than them and still couldn't afford a new wand for Ron. Merope's wand, like as not, was another hand-me-down. We know that "the wand chooses the wizard", and wands don't work as well for people who didn't "choose" them.
** The Gaunts were severely inbred from centuries of marrying their own cousins to preserve their blood purity and were down to a SingleLineOfDescent by the [=1920s=]. Even if they somehow changed their minds and tried to marry outside the family, it's hard to imagine even the most stringent pureblood supremacist actually ''wanting'' to marry a Gaunt, given their notoriously violent tempers, extreme hatred of non-purebloods and Muggles, and extreme poverty. Severe inbreeding could very well have taken its toll on the family's magical abilities. But wait, they did produce one of the most powerful wizards of the modern age...because his father was a Muggle, with fresh, non-Gaunt blood in him.

* Why was Merope Gaunt bad at magic to the point of her father calling her a "dirty Squib"? It's all but stated that she and Morfin never went to Hogwarts. Of course they didn't; their father Marvolo would likely have prevented them from going, not wanting his precious pureblood children to mingle with blood traitors and Muggle-borns. (In real life, homeschooling is commonly used by parents with all kinds of extremist views to prevent their children from getting different ideas.) Also, with the Gaunts living in extreme poverty, they probably didn't even have money for new wands. In 1991, the Weasleys were better off than them and still couldn't afford a new wand for Ron. Merope's wand, like as not, was another hand-me-down. We know that "the wand chooses the wizard", and wands don't work as well for people who didn't "choose" them.

* Why was Merope Gaunt bad at magic to the point of her father calling her a "dirty Squib"? It's all but stated that she and Morfin never went to Hogwarts. Of course, their father Marvolo would likely have prevented them from going, not wanting his precious pureblood children to mingle with blood traitors and Muggle-borns. (In real life, homeschooling is commonly used by parents with all kinds of extremist views to prevent their children from getting different ideas.) Also, with the Gaunts living in extreme poverty, they probably didn't even have money for new wands, so Merope's wand, like as not, was another hand-me-down. We know that "the wand chooses the wizard", and wands don't work as well for people who didn't "choose" them.

* The dose of love potion in the chocolates seems over-the-top. But consider that it was meant for Harry, not Ron, and compare [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1LLxB165jA Ron's eating habits]] versus how Harry eats chocolate (in the scenes where Lupin gives him chololate for example). Still unethical of course.

** Snape has the perfect setup to finally get Harry kicked out of Hogwarts. Harry attacked a student with a Dark spell, Snape's favorite student, no less, and Snape has him alone. Yet he doesn't go through with it. [[spoiler:Because doing so would have screwed up his and Dumbledore's plans to destroy Voldemort in Book 7.]]

* When Harry is in detention for cursing Malfoy, he comments on how Snape seemed to be purposely keeping him longer so he couldn't spend as much time with Ginny. While Harry probably thinks this is just because Snape is mean, it may be deeper than that. Think about it — Harry looks extraordinarily like his father. Ginny, meanwhile, has long red hair. Together, they resemble Lily and James as a couple. Snape no doubt notices it, and by keeping Harry from Ginny, it's almost like keeping James from Lily.