Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Chapter Fourteen:
Felix Felicis

Notes by Steve Vander Ark and Michele L. Worley
Synopsis and links by John Kearns

U.S. hardcover edition: pages 279 - 302
U.K. hardcover edition: pages 261 - 283
Timeframe: Several undetermined weeks in fall, 1996 [Y16]

In which Hermione and Ron discuss the Slug Club in Herbology and Harry notices an attraction between them, Dean takes Katie's place on the Quidditch team, and Harry and Ron run into Ginny and Dean kissing. Ron gets upset and Ginny tells him off, but Harry starts thinking of kissing Ginny himself. Ron becomes angry and plays terribly next practice, but for the match Harry pretends to slip him Felix Felicis, giving him confidence, and Gryffindor wins. After the game, Ron is spotted kissing Lavender, leaving Hermione upset.

No comments about the chapter title yet.

Interesting facts and notes about the text of this chapter:

Still to come....

Characters introduced in this chapter:

• Harper

Characters returning in this chapter:

• Arnold

• Brown, Lavender

• Coote, Ritchie

• Crookshanks

• Granger, Hermione

• Hooch, Rolanda

• Norris, Mrs.

• Potter, Harry

• Robins, Demelza

• Smith, Zacharias

• Sprout, Pomona

• Thomas, Dean

• Weasley, Ginny

• Weasley, Ron

Characters mentioned in this chapter:

• Bell, Katie

• Chang, Cho

• Creevey, Colin

• Creevey, Dennis

• Delacour, Fleur

• Dumbledore, Albus

• Fat Lady, the

• Filch, Argus

• Finnigan, Seamus

• Jones, Gwenog

• Jordan, Lee

• Krum, Viktor

• Longbottom, Neville

• Lovegood, Luna

• Malfoy, Draco

• McGonagall, Minerva

• McLaggen, Cormac

• Peakes, Jimmy

• Pigwidgeon

• Riddle, Tom Marvolo (as Voldemort, You-Know-Who)

• Slughorn, Horace

• Snape, Severus (as the Half-Blood Prince)

• Urquhart

• Vaisey

• Vane, Romilda

• Weasley, Bill

• (surname unknown) Muriel, Auntie

• (unnamed) small girl in the seventh-floor corridor - either Crabbe or Goyle having taken Polyjuice Potion

• (unnamed) first-years Ron swears at for looking at him

• (unnamed) girls hanging around Harry in the common room

Settings and locations introduced or returning in this chapter:

• Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

  • Great Hall

  • greenhouses

  • Gryffindor Tower common room

  • Quidditch pitch

  • Quidditch locker room

  • seventh-floor corridor

  • unlocked classroom

Settings and locations mentioned in this chapter:

• Hogwarts vegetable patch

• St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries

Exceptional character moments:

• Still to come....

Spells and Potions:

• Bat-Bogey Hex

• Confundus Charm

• Conjured items: Hermione conjures canaries, twice

• Episkey

• Felix Felicis

• Muffliato

• Oppugno

• Polyjuice Potion

• Reparo

• (unnamed) spell Ron tries to hit Ginny with (streak of orange light)

Links and Resources:

• blast-ended skrewt

• book: Flesh-Eating Trees of the World

• butterbeer

• passwords

• plants: Snargaluff

• Quidditch Handbook

• Quidditch teams

  • Gryffindor

  • Slytherin

• Slug Club, the

Memorable lines:

• "Ron... you're my best mate, but carry on treating the rest of them like this and I'm going to kick you off the team."

• "Hark who's talking," he whispered back. "Confunded anyone lately?"

• With one last look of vindictive fury, Hermione wrenched open the door and disappeared through it. Harry thought he heard a sob before it slammed.

Strictly British:

• dudgeon

• first year

• geroff

• mate

• mental

• oy

• prat

• snog

• tuber

Timelines/Calendar:

The chapter begins the morning after the end of the previous chapter, a Tuesday in mid-October. Then "one day" that we know nothing else about except that it's a weekday, Harry invites Dean Thomas to play on the Quidditch team; a "few days" later is the eve of the Quidditch match (a Friday) and the Quidditch match, on a Saturday, ends the chapter. Unfortunately, the references to passing time are all so vague it's impossible to put even relative dates on the events of this chapter.