Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore's private lessons

"I spend time with Harry because I have things to discuss with him, information I must give him before it is too late."

- Dumbledore explains their lessons to Severus Snape.

These private lessons took place during the course of Harry Potter's sixth year in 1996-1997 between him and the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Albus Dumbledore. The purpose of these lessons were to teach Harry about Lord Voldemort's past in an attempt to figure out to defeat him, further discuss the prophecy that caused Harry's destiny, and unriddle an important secret of Voldemort's, guessed at by Dumbledore, that possibly involves Voldemort being immortal. The answers to these questions and mysteries were attempted to be found using the Pensieve, a memory-storing device in which Dumbledore and Harry could delve into memories (sometimes of the Headmaster himself and sometimes belonging to others) that would help unravel the secrets involving Voldemort, his birth, his rise to power, and his weaknesses.

First Lesson
The first lesson took place at 8 p.m. on a Saturday in early September 1996. The password to Dumbledore's office was Acid Pops.

Bob Ogden's memory
In this first memory, Harry witnessed an encounter between Bob Ogden, an employee of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and the pureblood Gaunt family. Ogden, as head of the Magical Law Enforcement Patrol, was sent to the Gaunt shack to tell Morfin Gaunt, to attend a hearing for using magic against a Muggle. The Muggle in question, Tom Riddle Sr., was attacked by Morfin by means of an unidentified jinx or hex that gave him painful hives.

Ogden was not recieved well by the Gaunts, who conversed with each other in Parseltongue, and Morfin ended up sending a spell that made yellow goo come from Ogden's nose, and Morfin's father, Marvolo Gaunt physically and verbally abusing his daughter Merope Gaunt while brandishing Slytherin family heirlooms, a ring and his locket at Ogden. At that moment, Tom Riddle Sr. and his girlfriend, Cecilia, drive by and scoff at the Gaunt Shack, and Morfin reveals that his sister is in love with the Muggle, Tom Riddle Sr.

Marvolo Gaunt, a pure-blood supremacist and a fanatic for his Slytherin family heritage, is furious that his daughter would love and Muggle, and Ogden stops him from throttling Merope with a Revulsion Jinx. Ogden runs from the shack into Tom and Cecilia's carriage, and after orienting himself from the collision, he Apparates. Dumbledore and Harry exit the memory, with Dumbledore then revealing that Ogden came back with reinforcements from the Ministry who overpowered Morfin and Marvolo and sent them to Azkaban, albeit with Morfin's sentence longer than Marvolo's.

Discussion
After seeing the memory, Dumbledore explains to Harry that Marvolo Gaunt was Voldemort's grandfather and namesake for his middle name, and Merope was his mother, thus making Morfin his uncle, who he would encounter later. Tom Riddle Sr. was Voldemort's Muggle father and namesake. This memory also saw the introduced of Salazar Slytherin's Locket, an heirloom marking the familial link of hte Gaunts to Salazar Slytherin, and Marvolo Gaunt's Ring, the familial link of Gaunts to the Peverells, both of which would later become some of Voldemort's Horcruxes.

"I believe that Merope, who was deeply in love with her husband, could not bear to continue enslaving him by magical means. I believe that she made the choice to stop giving him the potion. Perhaps, besotted as she was, she had convinced herself that he would by now have fallen in love with her in return. Perhaps she thought he would stay for the baby's sake. If so, she was wrong on both counts. He left her, never saw her again, and never troubled to discover what became of his son"

- Albus Dumbledore explaining Merope and Tom Riddle Sr.'s tragic relationship

This memory also introduced the Resurrection Stone as the black stone within the ring, though this would not be realised by Harry much later. Dumbledore and Harry talked about Merope's use of a Love Potion to seduce Tom Riddle Sr., but because of her deep love for him she chose to take him off the Potion, thinking or perhaps hoping that the effects of the potion would be permanent. She was incorrect, and Riddle abandoned his wife and unborn child. Dumbledore then tells Harry he should only confide in Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger about what they talked about in the lessons.

Second Lesson
The second lesson took place at 8pm on a Monday in mid-October 1996.

Albus Dumbledore's memory (#1)
During this lesson, Harry witnessed Albus Dumbledore's first meeting with the eleven-year old Tom Marvolo Riddle. Dumbledore arrives at Wool's Orphanage with an appointment there to speak with Mrs. Cole. While talking to Mrs. Cole, she reveals some of the incidents that have happened with Tom over the years, including the the circumstances in which he was brought to the orphanage and "funny things" he has done to the other children. Dumbledore meets Tom, who is at first wary that Dumbledore is someone from the asylum, that Mrs. Cole and the others want him locked up.

By lighting Tom's wardrobe on fire, and forcing him to return trinkets he stole from the other children (undoubtedly by misusing his magical abilities). Dumbledore offers to help Tom with Diagon Alley and buying school books, but Tom assures him he can manage alone, and so Dumbledore informs him that the Hogwarts Express will leave from King's Cross Station on September 1. Riddle informs Dumbledore, as the man turns to leave, that he has the rare gift of speaking to snakes, which Dumbledore tells him is unusual but not unheard of.

Discussion
Before seeing the memory, Harry and Voldemort discuss Merope's refusal to any longer use magic, the sale of the locket to Borgin and Burkes, and her death shortly after giving birth. It is revealed that Voldemort had an uncommonly powerful control of magic at such a young age, a cruel and controlling nature, and had a preference for acting alone and without a desire for friendship. When Dumbledore mentions that the barman of the Leaky Cauldron is also named Tom, Voldemort visibly showed his contempt for anything that tied him to other people, anything that made him ordinary. Riddle wished to be different from others, separate and notorious. Thus, he soon shed the ordinary name of "Tom" and gained the title of "Lord Voldemort".

The memory showed that Tom Riddle was already highly self-sufficient, secretive, and preferred to operate alone. This foreshadows the adult Voldemort; while many Death Eaters claim that they are in his confidence and are close to him, Voldemort has never had one friend nor did he ever want one. The third important quality of this memory was Voldemort's tendency to collect trophies, such as the box of stolen articles he had hidden in his room. Many of them were taken from victims of his bullying, souvenirs from magic used against them. This magpie-like tendecy is important later when Dumbledore and Harry begin to unravel the secret of Voldemort's Horcruxes as it gives them an idea of the type of objects Voldemort might use to contain parts of his soul.

Third Lesson
The third lesson took place at 8pm one evening in early January 1997.

Morfin Gaunt's memory
"I was very lucky to collect this, as you will undoubtedly understand when we have experienced it. Shall we?"

- Dumbledore invites Harry to witness this memory in the Pensieve

For this lesson, Dumbledore and Harry delve into the memory of Morfin Gaunt, Voldemort's uncle. The scene in question was when the sixteen-year old Tom Riddle encountered Morfin as he sought out his heritage. The memory shows that, in the abscene of Merope, the Gaunt shack has gone to seed. Riddle enters the house, and because he so resembles his father, Morfin mistakens him for a moment as his hated, Muggle brother-in-law. Riddle proves to Morfin that he speaks Parseltongue, and Morfin informs Riddle at Marvolo is dead and tells Riddle the story of Riddle Sr. leaving Merope and Merope subsequently robbing them of Slytherin's locket. Tom Riddle, learning that in fact his father, a Muggle, left his mother was furious, and as Voldemort moves forward the memory ends.

Discussion
"Whatever Morfin was, he did not deserve to die as he did, blamed for the murders he had not committed."

- Albus Dumbledore on Morfin's fate

Dumbledore informs Harry that the reason the memory went dark is because Morfin could not remember anything from that point onwards. When Morfin woke up, he was alone and the ring was stolen. In Little Hangleton, the murders of Tom Riddle Sr. and his parents were revealed, and the Ministry suspected a Muggle-hater who lived across the valley from the Riddle House: Morfin. When they found him, he admitted to the murders immediately, giving details and being boastful about his deed. Upon handing over his wand, it was shown that its last spell was the killing curse on the Riddles. He was led to Azkaban without a fight, and died there forever lamenting the loss of the ring. Before Morfin died, however, Dumbledore visited him and used skilled Legilimency to extract the true memory, but Morfin passed away before Dumbledore could give this proof to the Ministry.

Before seeing this memory, Dumbledore explains to Harry about Tom Riddle's school years as a brilliant, handsome, quiet boy thirsty for knowledge who attracted sympathy from all the staff, which was helped through his careful flattery of them. However, Dumbledore alone did not take for granted that he was trustworthy, and Riddle was always very guarded with Dumbledore after the things he might have let slip when he discovered that he was Death Eater, or about the things that Mrs. Cole told Dumbledore about him. As such, he had the sense never to charm Dumbledore as he did the other teachers. While at school, Riddle also put together a group of students whose wrongdoing would never be traced to them; the forerunners of the Death Eaters.

We also learn that Voldemort was obsessed with his heritage, and this memory reveals how Voldemort learned the truth about his mother and father, and his own status as a half-blood, as well as that he Stunned his uncle, took his wand, proceeded to the Riddle house, and murdered his father, as well as his paternal grandparents to obliterate the Riddle line and get revenge on the father who never wanted him. He returned to the Gaunt shack, performed a False Memory Charm on his uncle, laid Morfin's wand beside its unconscious owner, grabbed the ring, and left. Dumbledore also informs Harry that, while Voldemort was underage at the time and the Ministry detects underage magic, the Ministry can only detect the magic, not the perpetrator. They are unable to tell if a child performs underage magic in a house in which witches and wizards perform magic, and thus rely on the witch and wizard parents to enforce the obedience of the child. This, as demonstrated through this memory, is not a very good system, as it allowed Voldemort to kill and frame his uncle without the Ministry detecting a thing.

Horace Slughorn's memory (fake)
"...the most important [memory] I have collected."

- Albus Dumbledore In this lesson, Harry witnessed Tom Riddle during his school years question Horace Slughorn. The scene begins with Tom Riddle and his gang of students in Slughorn's office, being handsome and relaxed as always. Tom asks Slughorn whether or not Galatea Merrythought is retiring, and Slughorn begins saying that what with Tom's ability to know things he shouldn't and his careful flattery about the people who matter and thanks Tom for the crystallized pineapple. Before he can finish his statment, the room filled with a thick white fog and Slughorn's voice, unnaturally loudly, said "You'll go wrong, boy, mark my words."

The fog clears, and the subjects in the memory do not appear to have any idea that anything odd has happened. As it is late, Slughorn dismissesses his group of students. Tom, however, lingers behind, and then asks Slughorn what the professor knew about Horcruxes. Just then, the dense fog filled the room once more and the loud voice of Slughorn boomed out once again, admonishing Tom by saying that he didn't know anything about Horcruxes, he wouldn't tell him if he did, and told him to never let the professor catch him mentioning them again.

Discussion
"And so, for the first time, I am giving you homework, Harry. It will be your job to persuade Professor Slughorn to divulge the real memory, which will undoubtedly be our most crucial piece of information of all [...] He was weaknesses like the rest of us and I believe that you are the one person who might be able to penetrate his defenses. It is most important that we secure the true memory, Harry ... how important, we will only know when we have the real thing."

- Dumbledore to Harry about procuring the true memory Albus Dumbledore informs Harry that key parts of the memory have been omitted, as the memory had obviously been tampered with. He tells Harry that he believes Slughorn to be ashamed of what he remembered, and thus tried to rework the memory to show himself in a better light by crudely oblitering the parts Slughorn didn't want Dumbledore see. Then, Dumbledore gives Harry the first homework assignment of the lessons: to persaude Professor Slughorn to divulge the real memory, which Dumbledore believes will have the most important piece of information of all. Dumbledore tells Harry that Slughorn is an able wizard who undoubtedly carries an antidote to Veritaserum after Dumbledore got the fake memory, and is a much more skilled Occlumens than Morfin Gaunt. Thus, Dumbledore says that it will be something unique about Harry that will play to Slughorn's weaknesses and get him to hand over the true memory.

"This memory is everything...without it we are blind. Without it, we leave the fate of our world to chance. You have no choice. You must not fail."

- Dumbledore assigning Harry the task of retrieving the lesson.

Fourth Lesson
The fourth lesson took place at 8pm on a Monday in mid March 1997. The password to Dumbledore's office was Toffee Eclairs.

Hokey's memory
"Can you keep a secret, Tom? Will you promise you won't tell Mr. Burke I've got it? He'd never let me rest if he knew I'd shown it to you, and I'm not seliing, not to Burke, not to anyone!"

- Hepzibah Smith prior to showing Tom Riddle Hufflepuff's cup and Slytherin's locket For this lesson, he and Dumbledore delve into the memory of Hokey, an eldery the house-elf. In this memory, Tom Riddle, an employee of Borgin and Burkes after finishing his education, he paid a visit to an elderly, immensely fat, vain witch named Hepzibah Smith and her house-elf, Hokey.

Hepzibah, who enjoyed being doted on and charmed by the handsome Tom Riddle, decided to show Tom two of her most prized possessions. She first shows him Helga Hufflepuff's cup, a relic of Hogwarts founder Helga Hufflepuff, and showed obvious interest in the object, though did not object as it was taken away and Hokey obientedly brought another treasure Hepzibah wanted to saw Tom: Salazar Slytherin's locket.

Hepzibah reveals that she bought it from Mr. Burke for a hefty sum, who bought it from a "ragged-looking woman who seemed to have stolen it, but had no idea of its true value". Voldemort's eyes momentarily flashed scarlet, as he knew that the woman was his mother and that the locket was his birthright. Hepzibah took the locket back, and her foolish smile faltered for a moment when she momentarily glimpsed the red gleam of Voldemort's eyes. She then ordered Hokey to take the two objects away and lock them up again with the usual enchantments.

Discussion


At the beginning of this lesson, Harry was very ashamed that he was unable to procure the true memory from Slughorn, especially when Dumbledore makes it clear how important that memory is that they will be wasting their time without it. While Dumbledore does not scold him openy, he shows he disappointment, and Harry assures Dumbledore that he will work harder in procuring the memory,

Before going into Hokey's memory, Dumbledore explains Voldemort reached his seventh year with top grades in every examinatiom, and everyone expected spectacular things from Tom Riddle, the prefect, Head Boy, etc. Despite offers, particuarly from Professor Slughorn, to get him involved with the Ministry of Magic, Riddle ended up working at Borgin and Burkes, though he had previously asked the Headmaster, Armando Dippet, if he could work as the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. According to Dumbledore, Riddle's reasoning in wanting to return to Hogwarts was because it was the first and only place he had felt at home, he may have wanted to unravel more mysterious of the ancient castle and explore magic and secrets in it never before seen by students, and to have an influence over young witches and wizards so as to have a recruiting ground, a place to build up his army. Dippet said Riddle was too young at 18 and told him he could reapply in a few years. Instead, at Borgin and Burkes, he was sent to persaude people to part with their treausres for sale by the partners.

After seeing the memory, Dumbledore informs Harry that Hepzibah died two days after that scene, and Hokey was convincted of poisoning her mistress's cocoa by accident. Similarly to the murder of the Riddle family and Morfin's confession, Hokey had a clear memory of putting a lethal, little-known poison in the cocoa instead of sugar, and being old and confused she didn't mean to do it. In truth, Voldemort modified her memory the same way he did to Morfin, and the Ministry was already predisposed to suspect Hokey because she was a house-elf. Soon after Hokey's conviction, Hepzibah's family discovered that her two greatest treasures were missing; in the same way, the young assistant at Borgin and Burkes vanished and no one saw Tom Riddle again for a long time.

Albus Dumbledore's memory (#2)
In this memory, Harry witnessed the man who began openly calling himself Voldemort as he returned to Hogwarts with the intention of taking up a teaching position. Voldemort enters the Headmaster's office and meets with Dumbledore, who offers him a drink. They discuss how both Voldemort and Dumbledore never desired a career in the Ministry, and Dumbledore makes it clear, very pleasantly, to Voldemot that he will always call him "Tom" despite the new name he has acquired. Voldemort reveals that he has returned to the school to pursue the teaching career he asked Professor Dippet about so long ago, and Voldemort says he has done and seen much since leaving Hogwarts that he could share with young minds, that he has pushed the boundaries of magic further than they have ever been pushed.

Dumbledore contends that Voldemort still remains ignorant of the power of the love in magic, to which Voldemort disputes, but says that he wishes to teach and that his talents are at Dumbledore's disposal. Dumbledore then surprises Voldemort with his knowledge that he would find a group of Voldemort's Death Eaters in the Hog's Head waiting for their leader to return. Dumbledore then decides to speak openly with Tom, asking him why he came to Hogwarts, surrounded by henchman, to ask for a job he doesn't want. When Tom disagrees, Dumbledore makes it clear he knows Voldemort wishes to return to Hogwarts, but not to teach, and asks what Voldemort's true purpose is in returning to the school. Furious, Voldemort leaves Dumbledore's office.

Discussion
This memory shows that Voldemort, even after his time at Borgin and Burkes, still intended to gain influence over young wizards and witches, as he continued to build his power. In the amount of time since 18-year-old Voldemort, it is clear that he has spent years learning, discovering new types of Dark Magic, and mutilating his soul. Rather than teach, Voldemort may have wanted to return to Hogwarts for the reasons he wanted to when he was 18: his fondness for the place and his desire to continue studying its secrets. As well as this, however, he was also interest in obtaining more artefacts of the Hogwarts founders.

The dispute between Voldemort and Dumbledore about love is one that is very important later, as Dumbledore has always believed Voldemort to be woefully ignorant about some forms of magic whereas Voldemort believes nothing he has learned as proven Dumbledore's theory that love is poweful. Dumbledore also explained that Voldemort was still after the D.A.D.A. position even though he didn't mention it specifically, as he was at 18, because after Dumbledore refused to give him the job Voldemort placed a curse on the post making it so a teacher will never last more than one year.

Although this was not realised until later, Voldemort's true reason for returning to the school was to place Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem, now a Horcrux of his, in the Room of Requirement. Voldemort had discovered the location of the diadem forest in Albania from information given to him by the Grey Lady, and he believed that the Horcrux would be safe in the Room of Requirement because he was arrogant enough to think that only he had plumbed the deepest depths and secrets of Hogwarts Castle. After his defeat during his attack of Godric's Hollow at the hands of baby Harry Potter, he later returned to the secluded forests of Albania to bide time until his return to power.

Final lesson
The final lesson took place shortly after midnight on 22 April, 1997. The password to Dumbledore's office was still Toffee Eclairs.

Background


Harry's assignment from Dumbledore was to persuade Horace Slughorn to divulge the true memory. After a few unsuccesfull attempts, Harry realized what he needed to get Slughorn to give him the memory was luck; and Harry had previously won a bottle of Felix Felicis (a luck potion) from Slughorn in a potions class. He drank some, and the potion guided him to Rubeus Hagrid's cabin where the great Aragog (an acromantula) was having a funeral held by Hagrid. Slughorn accompanied Harry down the funeral (mostly for the chance to collect valuable Acromantula venom), and Slughorn and Hagrid drunk wine heavily deeply inside the hut.

Being helped by the lucky potion, Harry talked to Slughorn about the way his parents had died, how James had stood in front of Voldemort, who murdered him and then stepped over the body toward Lily. Slughorn told Harry that he had heard enough, and Harry told Slughorn that if the professor truly cared about Lily he would help her son by giving him the memory. Slughorn was reluctant, his eyes brimming with tears, horrified at showing what he told Tom Riddle all those years ago, but Harry told Slughorn that the only way they would be able to defeat Voldemort, defeat the man who killed Lily, was by having the information contained in Slughorn's memory. Slughorn then gave Harry the memory.

Horace Slughorn's memory (real)


Harry brought to memory to Dumbledore, and the two of them went into the Pensieve to witness it. Harry landed Slughorn's office the many years ago, with Tom Riddle in the midst of his gang. However, unlike the fake memory, white fog does not obscure the scene after Tom asks if Professor Merrythought is retiring; instead, Slughorn winked and told Tom that he expected him to rise to Minister for Magic within twenty years, fifteen if Tom coninued sending Slughorn is favourite crystallized pineapple. When the clock chimed eleven o' clock, Slughorn dismissed the students, but Tom lingered behind and asked the Professor if he knew anything about Horcruxes.

Though Slughorn seemed hesitant, he decided a brief overview of the term wouldn't hurt. Thanks to Tom's careful flattery, Slughorn revealed to him that Horcrux is the term for an object in which a person has concealed part of their soul, and that one rips of the soul apart by murder and then hides it in the preferred object, thus, the person is protected should their body be destroyed because they have pieces of their soul hidden safely elsewhere; in other words, they are immortal. Tom was particularly interested in whether you could only split your soul once, and whether splitting it into seven, the magically powerful number, would be better than just one, and Slughorn was horrified at the idea of killing seven people. Riddle then assured Slughorn that he wouldn't tell anyone what the Professor told him.

Discussion
Dumbledore tells Harry that the memory has confirmed the theory which Dumbledore has been working on, but that it also confirms that there is still a long way to go. Harry understands that the reason Voldemort didn't die when he attacked him was that Voldemort had a Horcrux (or Horcruxes) safe. Dumbledore then reveals that Harry himself handed Dumbledore proof of Horcruxes in his second year: Tom Riddle's diary. Dumbledore explained to Harry that, while it was clear Voldemort had wanted Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets to be opened once more, he was being careless about a fragment of his soul by simply passing it on to a Hogwarts student: the point of a Horcrux is to keep it well-hidden.



The Horcrux was destroyed by Harry Potter, and Dumbledore inferred that the careless way Voldemort treated the diary meant that he had more -- or was planning to make more -- Horcruxes somewhere. Dumbledore explained when Voldemort said "I, who have gone further than anybody along the path that leads to immortality" to his gathered Death Eaters after his rebirth was referring to his Horcruxes, and that Voldemort's transformation into a less and less human state was due to his mutilating of his soul. Harry mentions that the seven Horcruxes could be anything, anywhere, but Dumbledore corrects him in that he has six Horcruxes (the seventh residing within him), and that Harry has already destroyed the diary and Dumbledore already destroyed Marvolo Gaunt's ring, which he found in the Gaunt shack with magical enchantments and a terrible curse placed upon it. Dumbledore tells Harry that Voldemort would not have made Horcruxes out of random, useless objects, but trophies with powerful magical history worthy of the honour.

Dumbledore tells Harry that would be prepared to bet that Helga Hufflepuff's cup and Salazar Slytherin's locket were also made Horcruxes, and also possibly something of Rowena Ravenclaw's. The only relic of Godric Gryffindor, his sword, was with Dumbledore and thus was unable to be made a Horcrux. Dumbledore also mentioned that he believed Voldemort made his snake, Nagini, a Horcrux, and was one Horcrux short before entering Harry's parent's house with the intention of killing Harry, circumventing the prophecy, and making a Horcrux with Harry's death. Dumbeldore also told Harry that Voldemort is so immersed in evil and that the pieces of his soul have been detached for so long that he does not feel when the Horcruxes are destroyed.

Despite this, it was said that his anger was terrible upon discovering the diary's destruction. Dumbledore explained that Voldemort meant for the diary to be smuggled into Hogwarts, but Lucius was supposed to wait for Voldemort's say-so, which he never recieved seeing as Voldemort vanished shortly after giving him the dairy. Voldemort didn't tell Lucius what it truly was, and so Lucius went ahead and planted the diary on Ginny Weasley in the hopes of getting Arthur Weasley discredited, Dumbledore thrown out of Hogwarts, and get rid of the highly incriminating object at one time. He also expained that, even if Voldemort's Horcruxes were all destroyed, it would take a wizard with uncommon skill and power to defeat the Dark Wizard.

Harry believes he doesn't have any uncommon skill or power, but Dumbledore contradicts him: Harry has the ability to love, and this is the power that the prophecy mentions "the Dark Lord knows not". Dumbledore explains that what the prophecy says is only significnat because Voldemort made it so, and that by choosing to kill Harry to circumvent the prophecy, Voldemort singled out the peron who would be most dangerous to him. Dumbledore tells Harry that not all the prophecies in the Hall of Prophecy or fulfilled; the prophecy about Harry and Voldemort would have meant nothing if Voldemort hadn't chose to act on it. If Voldemort hadn't killed Harry's parents, he would not have given Harry the desire for revenge nor the sacrificial protection given to him by his mother when she died for him. Not only did Voldemort handpick the man most likely to finish him, but also gave him the tools for the job.



Dumbledore tells Harry that, in fact, Harry is protected by the ability to love, and that despite all the temptation and suffering he has endured he has never had the desire to join Voldemort. Indeed, Harry can flit into Voldemort's mind without harming himself wheras it is mortal agony when Voldemort tries to possess Harry, as he discovered at the end of the Battle of the Department of Mysteries. In Voldemort's hurry to mutilate his own soul, he underestimated the power of a soul that is untarnished and whole. Dumbledore explains to Harry that Harry has got to kill Voldemort in the end, but not because of the prophecy; instead, Harry has got to kill Voldemort because he would never rest until he saw Voldemort finished at his own hands. The prophecy doesn't mean Harry has to do anything, it gives him the choice, because Voldemort marked him as his equal. However, Dumbledore informs Harry that Voldemort continues to set store by the prophecy, thus making it inevitable that either Harry and Voldemort will kill each other in the end. Harry realises that what Dumbledore was trying to tell him was the difference between being dragged in to face your face or to walk in with your head held high, and that, between these two options, there was a great deal of difference indeed.

"But he understood at last what Dumbledore had been trying to tell him. It was, he thought, the difference between being dragged into the arena to face a battle to the death and walking into the aran with your head held high. Some people, perhaps, would say that there was little to choose between the two ways, but Dumbledore knew -- and so do I, thought Harry, with a rush of fierce pride, and so did my parents -- that there was all the difference in the world."

- Harry thinking about what Dumbledore has told him during this discussion.

Behind the scenes

 * In the film version of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, only Dumbledore's first memory (at the orphanage) and both the fake and real versions of Horace Slughorn's memory are shown. All of the other memories are omitted.
 * In the film, only the diary, the ring, and the locket are discussed. No mention is made of the cup, the object of Ravenclaw's, or Nagini.
 * In the book, Dumbledore says how Voldemort would collect "trophies", and therefore would not use random items (like tin cans and old potion bottles) to make Horcruxes, however, in the film, Dumbledore says that Horcruxes "Could be anything. Most common place of objects.", and then lists a ring and a book as examples. Though in a deleted scene for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, Harry says that Dumbledore's theory was that Voldemort would not make random objects into Horcruxes.
 * Furthermore, in the Half-Blood Prince film, Dumbledore says that the Horcrux ring belonged to Voldemort's mother, not his grandfather, though later in Deathly Hallows: Part 1, Harry says that, according to Dumbledore, the ring belonged to his grandfather; also, he had knowledge that the locket belonged to Voldemort's mother, even though no Gaunt memory was shown in the film.

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Leçons de Dumbledore