for the record

[topaz]

I've been saying this for months, but I wanted to get it down in writing before tomorrow:

I think the half-blood prince is going to turn out to be Draco Malfoy.

If I got runner-up guesses, I would have said Snape or Hagrid. But my money's on Draco.

Comments

[ceo]

I don't see how he could be, unless the family tree described in the previous book is inaccurate.

On the same subject, however, I'd like to note for the record my long-standing prediction that Dumbledore gets the chop in this book.

[jacflash.livejournal.com]

If the chop-ee isn't Dumbledore, I'll be very surprised.

And I don't think the prince is Malfoy, either, though I don't have any better guesses.

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

There would indeed have to be some new information about Draco's lineage to make it work. But it's the perfect solution for two reasons. One is the grand irony of mixed blood in the Malfoy family, given how obsessed they are with the purity of wizard blood. The other is that it would continue the theme of bringing unity to the wizarding world that the last book started, beginning with the Sorting Hat and continuing through the rift between wizards, giants and unicorns.

I'm curious that everyone bets on Dumbledore being the one to get the ax here. How come? Was there a specific prediction or foreshadowing that I missed?

[ceo]

No, but the theory is that the wise and powerful mentor has to be taken out of the picture at sme point so the hero can do his hero thing.