The Muggle Prime Minister

The unnamed Muggle Prime Minister is intruded on by Cornelius Fudge, who informs him that Lord Voldemort has returned. He recalls the various visits Fudge has paid him before, each heralding a new danger in the magical community that threatens to spill over into the Muggle one, and feels a mixture of smugness and pity for his wizarding counterpart. He is then introduced to Rufus Scrimgeour who, it is announced, is the new Minister for Magic.

Cornelius Fudge

He appears in the fireplace of the Muggle Prime Minister to inform him of the return of Lord Voldemort and to explain the bizarre accidents that have affected Muggles, telling the Prime Minister that they were caused by magical misdeeds. He then reveals that he has been sacked and introduces his replacement as Minister for Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour. He attends Dumbledore’s funeral.

Amelia Bones

Killed just before the beginning of the book.

Emmeline Vance

Killed just before the beginning of the book.

Rufus Scrimgeour

The Auror who takes over the post of Minister for Magic from Cornelius Fudge. He is grizzled and brave, invoking strict laws to combat the return of Voldemort and the Death Eaters, and tries to recruit Harry as a spokesperson supporting the Ministry. However, his seemingly erratic system of arresting supposed Death Eaters, and the fact that he still employs Dolores Umbridge, make Harry distrust him. He and Dumbledore argued over his suggestion of recruiting Harry, and this was reported in the Daily Prophet, although the cause was then unknown. He attends Dumbledore’s funeral.

Bellatrix Lestrange

Bellatrix is first seen chasing after her sister Narcissa Malfoy, attempting to dissuade her from talking to Severus Snape about Draco’s involvement with Voldemort. She performs the spell binding Snape to the Unbreakable Vow.

Narcissa Malfoy

Narcissa is unhappy about Voldemort enlisting Draco to perform a task for him. She begs Snape to take Draco’s place, and when he refuses she asks him to help Draco as much as possible. When he agrees, they make an Unbreakable Vow which binds him to this task. She escorts Draco to Diagon Alley to buy his school supplies, and when they encounter Harry, Ron and Hermione in Madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions, a tense argument breaks out between the group. She threatens Harry, but he calmly retorts, and she and Draco leave in indignation.

Lord Voldemort

Voldemort’s secret that he is back in power was revealed in the Battle at the Ministry of Magic, and now he seems to keep to the shadows, using his Death Eaters to carry out his orders. He recruits Draco Malfoy, giving him the task of killing Albus Dumbledore and of getting Death Eaters into Hogwarts. It appears that he threatens Draco over the course of the year, as Draco becomes more and more panic-stricken and erratic when it comes to his attempts to murder Dumbledore.

Voldemort is also the source of much speculation by both Harry and Dumbledore, who delve into memories concerning the doings of the young Tom Riddle. They unearth many mysteries: most notably of which is the discovery that he has created seven Horcruxes (objects that have a piece of someone’s soul concealed within them). The two learn that to destroy all the Horcruxes means that Voldemort can finally be destroyed himself, and this leads to the events that occur in the year after Dumbledore’s death.

Severus Snape

Although Snape refuses to take over Draco’s appointed task, he does agree to help Draco in any way he can, making an Unbreakable Vow to ensure this. He tries to do so throughout the year, but to no avail: Draco is vehemently opposed to accepting help because he wants to prove that he is capable of doing this alone. Of course, in the end he cannot muster the courage to kill Dumbledore, and Snape does so instead. Meanwhile, Snape finally triumphs in securing the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, which he has been applying for for years. He naturally targets Harry, giving him detentions for seemingly insignificant crimes, and it appears that he is solidly in support of Voldemort and the Death Eaters – except for Dumbledore’s insistence that he can be trusted.

Peter Pettigrew

Wormtail still works for Voldemort, if in a cowardly, pathetic way. He is staying in Snape’s house over the summer, and is present when Bellatrix and Narcissa come to visit. He tries to eavesdrop, but is continually ousted by Snape.

Draco Malfoy

Draco has been given a task by Lord Voldemort: to get Death Eaters into Hogwarts and to kill Albus Dumbledore. He readily embraces this task, seeing it as a chance to prove himself. His father has been sent to Azkaban prison, and he seems to want to set himself against Lucius, showing that he can be relied upon. He is followed by Harry, Ron and Hermione to Knockturn Alley, where he visits the shop Borgin and Burke’s, enquiring about a Vanishing Cabinet. Harry again eavesdrops on him on the Hogwarts Express, where he implies that he is working for Voldemort, and that he is destined for better things than staying quietly at Hogwarts.

As the year progresses, however, he finds that it is harder to get Death Eaters into Hogwarts than he thought, and he resorts to desperate measures to kill Dumbledore. He puts Madam Rosmerta under the Imperius Curse and uses her as a spy in order to find out Dumbledore’s whereabouts. He also makes her put Katie Bell under the Imperius Curse, and tell her to give a cursed necklace to Dumbledore. Katie accidentally touches it, and nearly dies. He later gives some poisoned mead to Professor Slughorn and tells him to give it to Dumbledore, but Slughorn gives it to Ron instead. Ron nearly dies. Finally, at the end of the year, Draco manages to fix the Vanishing Cabinet that is hidden in the Room of Requirement, and he uses its connection to the one in Borgin and Burke’s to create a passage between the two places. He waits for Dumbledore to return, and then confronts him on the Astronomy Tower. He finds himself unable to actually kill him, though, and it is Snape who performs the curse.

Lucius Malfoy

Imprisoned in Azkaban after his true allegiance was revealed after the battle at the Ministry, Lucius does not appear during this year, however his absence is sorely felt by his wife, and perhaps by his son, who seems to cover it in anger.

Harry Potter

Harry has overcome the anger that suffused his emotions last year, and although he suffers greatly from the death of Sirius Black, he is considerably stronger and more level-headed. His stay at the Dursleys’ is interrupted by a visit from Dumbledore, who informs Harry that he has inherited Sirius’s old house at Grimmauld Place, and therefore his house-elf, Kreacher. The two of them leave the Dursleys’ house and head for Budleigh Babberton: the current residence of Horace Slughorn, whom Dumbledore wants to return to Hogwarts to teach. Harry eventually manages to persuade Slughorn to return, but Dumbledore suspects it is more because of his fame than anything else: Slughorn loves having connections with the famous and successful.

They move on to The Burrow, where Harry is reunited with the Weasleys, Hermione and Fleur Delacour, who is engaged to Bill. They go to Diagon Alley to visit Fred and George’s new joke shop, and run into Draco Malfoy in a robes shop. After a heated argument, Draco and his mother leave but Harry still finds Draco suspicious, and so he, Ron and Hermione follow him to Borgin and Burke’s in Knockturn Alley. Draco is asking about a Vanishing Cabinet and threatening Borgin with some Death Eater connections. Strengthening Harry’s belief that Malfoy has become a Death Eater is what he hears whilst eavesdropping on Malfoy on the Hogwarts Express.

At school, they discover that Snape has taken over the Defence Against the Dark Arts post, and that Slughorn is now Potions Master. Harry quickly begins to excel at Potions owing to a second-hand book he has which is scribbled over with improved instructions by the hand of the mysterious Half-Blood Prince. Hermione is naturally irritated. Harry is made Quidditch Captain and appoints Ron as Keeper, and Ginny as a Chaser. He slowly begins to develop feelings for Ginny and after much angst, they eventually express their feelings towards each other.

Meanwhile, he is taking extra lessons with Dumbledore where they explore memories that center around Lord Voldemort as a younger person in an attempt to find his weakness. He is told to get a crucial memory from Slughorn, and after many failed attempts, he obtains it. It shows that Voldemort made seven Horcruxes, and is vital in Harry and Dumbledore’s search for the remaining ones. It is revealed that the diary he destroyed in his second year was one of the Horcruxes. Together he and Dumbledore travel to a remote cave where they manage to get a Horcrux. Dumbledore is weakened in the attempt, and Harry helps him back to Hogwarts, only to be met by Draco Malfoy. After Dumbledore’s death, Harry resolves to hunt for the final Horcruxes instead of going to school. To protect Ginny he breaks up with her, but he can’t get rid of Ron or Hermione, who both insist on coming with him.

Albus Dumbledore

Dumbledore is perhaps at his weakest at this point, but continues to lead the fight against Voldemort. He appears to always be one step ahead, using Harry to convince Slughorn to return to Hogwarts, fully aware that Harry’s fame will lure him back. By doing this he also sets up a ‘special’ relationship between the two, which gives Harry a better opportunity of getting the crucial memory concerning Voldemort and the Horcruxes from Slughorn. His withered hand and the possession of a new ring, which Harry notices immediately, show that he has already been searching for Horcruxes; and his involvement of Harry in the investigation into Voldemort’s past both hints that he suspects he won’t be able to destroy them all himself, and shows that he trusts Harry more than anyone else. His trust of Harry is also seen when he allows Harry to accompany him to the cave to get another Horcrux, and when he relies on Harry to get them both back to Hogwarts safely. Although throughout the year he ignored Harry’s assertions that Draco Malfoy is a Death Eater, it turns out that he knew all along. However, he does appear to beg Snape not to kill him when he emerges from the shadows to fulfil his promise.

Uncle Vernon

Vernon Dursley is not warned about Dumbledore’s proposed visit, and is most hostile to his appearance in his house. He is gobsmacked by the apparent brashness of Dumbledore, who invites himself in and offers the Dursleys a drink: totally ignoring convention. Although he lights up at the prospect of Harry being left money and a house, he is quickly quelled by Dumbledore and Harry’s obliviousness to him.

Aunt Petunia

First seen cleaning the kitchen before going to bed, she, too, is astonished by the appearance of Dumbledore, however she seems to be more affected by his visit than her husband or son – perhaps due to the Howler she received from him the previous year.

Dudley Dursley

Even though five years have passed since he sprouted a pig’s tail, Dudley is still terrified of wizards – perhaps not helped by the explosive visit the Weasleys paid them two years before. He is therefore far from happy to encounter what he probably believes to be the epitome of a wizard on his doorstep, and remains silent throughout the interview.

Kreacher

Kreacher now belongs to Harry, as stated in Sirius’s will, although very reluctantly. For Christmas he sends Harry a package of maggots. Harry later asks Kreacher if he will tail Draco Malfoy, hoping to find out what Malfoy’s up to.

Buckbeak/Witherwings

Hagrid’s Hippogriff, who for a while belonged to Sirius, has now been left to Harry, who of course allows Hagrid to be reunited with him.

Horace Slughron

A former teacher at Hogwarts school, Slughorn is now on the run from Death Eaters who might want to use him for his knowledge or his connections. With a personality very much like a magpie, he likes to ‘collect’ important, successful and famous people. It is for this reason that he founded the Slug Club: a way for all the students he sees potential in to socialise. He is tracked down by Dumbledore and Harry, who convince him to return to Hogwarts, where he is reinstated as the Potions Master. He rather attaches himself to Harry, but also is amazed by Hermione’s intellect. They, along with Ginny Weasley, are invited to the Slug Club.

A former Slug Club member was Tom Riddle, and Slughorn possesses a memory that is vital in learning about how to destroy Voldemort once and for all. Harry manages to persuade him to hand it over, and it reveals the answer about Horcruxes.

Lily Evans

Slughorn reveals that he included Lily in the Slug Club. He was amazed at her intelligence, particularly due to her blood status, much like he is with Hermione.

Gwenog Jones

Captain of the Holyhead Harpies, and a former Slug Club member.

Molly Weasley

Molly’s main worry in this book is perhaps surprising: she is worried about her son Bill’s choice to marry Fleur Delacour. The two women do not get along well, as Molly thinks that Bill and Fleur rushed into the engagement. However, her qualms disintegrate when Fleur proves her love by sticking with Bill after his injuries from a werewolf attack. This is not to say that Molly does not worry about the effects of Voldemort’s open return on her family. She is far more anxious than we have ever seen her, especially with her twins no longer living at home. She even breaks down at one point, telling Ron and Ginny she doesn’t want them going back to Hogwarts, but is calmed by her husband, and lets them go.

Nymphadora Tonks

Tonks is no longer the cheery, humorous woman she was the previous year. She is quiet and has lost her spirit. Even her appearance reflects this. Hermione suggests that she is perhaps upset about Sirius’s death – especially when they see her Patronus has changed to the shape of a large dog-like creature. However, it is revealed at the end that she is in fact in love with Remus Lupin, who has told her that they should not be together, because it is too dangerous, particularly for any children they might have. She is involved in the fight at Hogwarts after Dumbledore’s death, and at the funeral is finally seen with Lupin.

Arthur Weasley

Arthur has been promoted to be the head of the Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects, which locates and gets rid of fake protective objects sold by the likes of Mundungus Fletcher, and the occasional dangerous object.

Ron Weasley

Having long felt overshadowed by his siblings and best friends, Ron proved himself in the fight at the Ministry, and now he seems to grow from that. Harry makes him Keeper for the Gryffindor Quidditch team, ignoring his protestations that he’s rubbish. This in turn makes him believe in himself more, and contributes to his particularly physical relationship with Lavender Brown. Despite this relationship, he seems aware of his feelings for Hermione, even if he does suppress them. They have perhaps their biggest argument when he goes out with Lavender, who Hermione cannot stand, and it seems for a long time that the two won’t speak again. On his 17th birthday, however, he accidentally consumes love potion meant for Harry, and when Harry takes Ron to Professor Slughorn for a remedy, he is accidentally poisoned by some mead. It is only because Harry remembers a tip from the Half-Blood Prince, and sticks a Bezoar in Ron’s mouth that he survives. After this, he and Hermione speak again, and eventually he and Lavender break up – much to Hermione’s glee. At Dumbledore’s funeral, he is the first to tell Harry that he and Hermione will join Harry to hunt Horcruxes.

Hermione Granger

This year is certainly not the best year for Hermione, who can no longer deny that she has feelings for Ron, and is left distraught and heartbroken when he goes out with Lavender. She depends so much on her friendship with Harry, but knows that his best friend will always be Ron, and so seems to be quite isolated. She is still the cleverest witch of her age, however, and is invited to join the Slug Club. A repulsive Gryffindor seventh year, Cormac McLaggen pursues her, and even though she dates him briefly to make Ron jealous, her disgust is evident. Meanwhile she becomes increasingly affronted by the talent of the Half-Blood Prince, and the way they make Harry shine in Potions. She tries to find their identity, and comes very close to answer, when she highlights former Hogwarts student Eileen Prince. Eileen Prince was Severus Snape’s mother. By the end, Harry, Ron and Hermione are truly reconciled, and she determines to go with Harry to find Horcruxes.

Ginny Weasley

Ginny and Fleur’s problematic relationship is one to rival Fleur and Molly Weasley’s, but Ginny soon escapes “Phlegm” when she returns to Hogwarts. As Harry is discovering his feelings for her, she is going out with Dean Thomas, causing Harry to feel incredibly jealous. She is given the position of Chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and continues to display the assertiveness that flowered the year before. After Gryffindor win the House Cup, she expresses her feelings towards Harry by kissing him, and although Ron isn’t particularly happy about it, he can’t deny that the two are exceptionally good for each other. At Dumbledore’s funeral, Harry breaks up with her because he’s worried that her connection to him could get her into trouble when he goes off to hunt Horcruxes.

Fleur Delacour

After eyeing up Bill Weasley during the Triwizard Tournament, the two are now engaged, and Fleur’s presence is almost overpowering in The Burrow. Although she and Molly don’t get on, and Ginny detests her, she still has a certain claim over Ron, who cannot seem to forget her Veela qualities. She is particularly pleasant to Harry, who she is still grateful to for saving her younger sister two years ago. After Bill gets attacked by Fenrir Greyback, she refuses to call off the wedding, saying she doesn’t care how he looks, and loves him too much to forgo their marriage.

Bill Weasley

Bill returned from Egypt to live in England again, and he is now engaged to Fleur. He becomes increasingly active in the movement against Voldemort, culminating in his appearance at the fight in Hogwarts on the night of Dumbledore’s death. It is here that he gets attacked by Greyback, and although he doesn’t actually become a werewolf, he does have wolfish tendencies.

Fred and George Weasley

After leaving school early last year, the twins have now set up their joke shop and are doing spectacularly well. They have a shop in Diagon Alley which is stuffed with merchandise and customers, and they even think about buying out Zonko’s joke shop in Hogsmeade, until school trips there are cancelled. They attend Dumbledore’s funeral.

Percy Weasley

Percy is still not speaking to his family, and instead has immersed himself in his work at the Ministry. He does appear on Christmas Day, however, to the fleeting delight of Mrs Weasley, until it is revealed that he was only there as an excuse for Rufus Scrimgeour to talk to Harry about recruiting him. He attends Dumbledore’s funeral with Scrimgeour.

Remus Lupin

Lupin is still working in the Order, but he spends a lot of his time in wolf form, spying on the werewolves working for Voldemort. He has special knowledge about Fenrir Greyback, who bit him as a child. He knows that Tonks has feelings for him, and he has feelings for her too, and he is heard to be telling her that they cannot have a future together because of what he is. Eventually, however, he submits to his feelings.

Igor Karkaroff

The former Durmstrang Headmaster’s body is found in a shack somewhere in the north. He was evidently hiding from Voldemort, but was found and killed.

Florean Fortescue

The man who ran the ice cream shop in Diagon Alley was taken by Voldemort, but it is unclear whether he was killed.

Mr. Ollivander

Ollivander’s shop is also empty, and he must either have run or been taken, however the truth is unknown.

Rubeus Hagrid

Hagrid meets the Weasleys, Harry and Hermione in Diagon Alley as an extra precaution against Death Eaters. At Hogwarts he is still the Care of Magical Creatures professor, although he is extremely upset and offended when not Harry, Ron or Hermione carry the subject on to their sixth year. The three eventually manage to console him. His Acromantula, Aragog, is ill for most of the year and eventually dies. Hagrid is devastated and invites Harry, Ron and Hermione to the funeral. Only Harry goes, however, along with Professor Slughorn. On the night of Dumbledore’s death, a Death Eater sets fire to his hut, but he escapes with Fang, his boarhound. He then finds Harry who tells him of Dumbledore’s death, but he doesn’t believe it until he sees the body. He is at the funeral, and carries Dumbledore’s body to the coffin. Undoubtedly, his future is questionable now Dumbledore is not present to support him.

Tom

The barman of the Leaky Cauldron, whose business is suffering because people are too scared to go out. He attends Dumbledore’s funeral.

Madam Malkin

The owner of the robe shop in Diagon Alley is caught in an argument between Harry, Ron, Draco and Narcissa Malfoy. She is evidently upset by the aggressiveness and threats. She attends Dumbledore’s funeral.

Verity

Fred and George’s assistant in Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes.

Mr. Borgin

The owner of Borgin and Burke’s is addressed by Draco Malfoy who is enquiring about a Vanishing Cabinet. When he seems reluctant to give detailed information, Malfoy threatens him with a visit from Fenrir Greyback, a werewolf friend, and charges him with the task of working out how to fix one of these cabinets.

Fenrir Greyback

A werewolf who seems to prefer his wolf form to his human one. He is possibly the most savage, sadistic werewolf in Britain, as he still bites people when he hasn’t transformed, and targets children. He follows the philosophy that if he can get them when they’re young, they can be moulded into something like him. He was the werewolf who bit Remus Lupin and attacked Bill Weasley.

Neville Longbottom

Neville has grown in confidence and magical ability in the past year, and although he is disappointed that there are no plans to continue Dumbledore’s Army, he maintains his friendships with Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Luna. Neville is initially asked to join the Slug Club due to his parents’ reputation, however Slughorn seems to see little in him, and he is not invited after the first meeting on the Hogwarts Express. When Harry agrees to go with Dumbledore to the cave, he is worried about what Draco will be doing in the Headmaster’s absence: especially because he heard whooping coming from the Room of Requirement, where he knows Malfoy to be situated. He asks Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, and Luna to keep guard of the castle in lieu of Dumbledore, and Neville gets involved in the fight that breaks out when the Death Eaters arrive.

Luna Lovegood

Luna is also put out that there will be no more Dumbledore’s Army meetings this year, as she says it felt like having friends. Harry does count her as a friend, however, and he therefore invites her to go to Slughorn’s Christmas party with him, as friends, and she certainly shines there. Luna commentates for one of the Quidditch matches, but is perhaps not the most focused there has ever been, as she prefers to direct the spectators’ attention to interesting cloud patterns. She is among the group Harry asks to guard the castle when he and Dumbledore leave for the cave, and is involved in the fight that ensues when the Death Eaters arrive.

Romilda Vane

Romilda has her sights set on Harry and will stop at nothing to become his girlfriend. She introduces herself on the Hogwarts Express, insulting Harry’s friends and making a particularly bad impression, but she tries throughout the year to ensnare him by tricking him into taking love potion. Some of the chocolates infused with the potion are accidentally consumed by Ron on his birthday, and he believes himself to be in love with Romilda. Harry has to take him to Professor Slughorn to try and get a remedy, and it is here that he is poisoned by the mead. Romilda grudgingly stops pursuing Harry when he starts going out with Ginny.

Augusta Longbottom

Neville’s gran is finally proud of her grandson after he went to the Ministry with Harry to get the prophecy and fight the Death Eaters. She is a staunch supporter of Harry and Dumbledore, and feels that Neville has lived up to his parents’ standards.

Cho Chang

Things between Harry and Cho are very awkward this year after their disastrous attempt to date the previous year, and she avoids him at all costs.

Marietta Edgecombe

After telling on Dumbledore’s Army last year, and having her face bedecked with pimples that spelt “sneak”, Marietta still has to wear very thick make-up in order to hide her betrayal.

Blaise Zabini

Blaise is another member of the Slug Club because of his notorious mother, and he is particularly pleased that Draco didn’t get an invitation. He doesn’t believe Draco’s bragging about being involved with the Death Eaters, questioning his talent and highlighting the fact that he’s only an underage wizard.

Cormac McLaggen

McLaggen is initially introduced as a member of the Slug Club, but is also a keen Quidditch player and has his eye on Hermione. He shows up to the Quidditch tryouts to try for Keeper against Ron and is very good, so Hermione casts a Confundus Charm on him so that he misses the last Quaffle, forfeiting his place to Ron. He does finally get his place on the Quidditch team, however, when Ron is in the Hospital Wing after being poisoned by Slughorn’s mead, and he tries to take over the running of the team. He infuriates Harry, but there is no alternative, and he must play in the upcoming match. Meanwhile, he continues to pursue Hermione, who finally concedes and asks him to Slughorn’s Christmas party in an attempt to make Ron jealous. She still finds him repulsive and the date is a failure.

Marcus Belby

Marcus is invited to join the Slug Club on the Hogwarts Express because he had a successful uncle, but he reveals that his father no longer talks to his uncle, and doesn’t show any signs of magical excellence, and so is cut from the group.

Zacharias Smith

The former Dumbledore’s Army member from Hufflepuff is hexed by Ginny on the Hogwarts Express when Slughorn is passing. This leads him to invite Ginny to the Slug Club because he was so impressed by her work. Zacharias is a commentator for the Quidditch games, and is not a pleasant one.

Gregory Goyle

Goyle failed his O.W.L.s and has to redo them this year, however he is still friends with Malfoy. Harry notices him and Crabbe lurking outside the Room of Requirement for hours on end, and he guesses this is where Malfoy is working. However, whenever he goes over there, he only sees first years. He eventually realises that Crabbe and Goyle have simply taken Polyjuice Potion, and merely appear to look like first years.

Vincent Crabbe

Like Goyle, Crabbe failed his OWLs and has to retake them, and he is also coerced by Malfoy into taking the form of a first year in order to keep watch outside the Room of Requirement.

Pansy Parkinson

Pansy still seems to have unrequited, but obvious, feelings for Draco. Although he perhaps makes the most of them, he does not seem to reciprocate. Pansy is horrified at the prospect of Draco not returning to Hogwarts next year, and dubious as to his claims about working for Voldemort.

Theordore Nott

Slughorn was interested in Nott because of his father, but when he learns that Mr Nott was found in the Ministry on the side of the Death Eaters, he loses interest.

Dean Thomas

Dean has been going out with Ginny for a certain amount of time already when they all return to Hogwarts. Harry is aware of this, and his feelings begin to flare up whenever he sees them together. However, Ginny and Dean do have their problems, and seem to fight quite a lot towards the end of their relationship. He does not appear thrilled with Ginny and Harry’s relationship. When Katie Bell gets cursed, Dean replaces her as Chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

Seamus Finnigan

After not believing Harry’s assertions that Voldemort was back for the majority of the last year, Seamus supports Harry again.

Nearly Headless Nick

Apart from trying to exert his influence over the Gryffindors by means of lecturing, Nick does not play a significant role in Harry’s sixth year.

Professor McGonagall

McGonagall continues to teach Harry, Ron and Hermione Transfiguration in their sixth year, and it is markedly harder. When Katie Bell touches the cursed necklace, the trio take it to McGonagall, who gets Snape to look at it for dark magic. She does not believe Harry when he insists that it was Malfoy who gave it to Katie, and that it wasn’t intended for her. McGonagall continues to staunchly support Gryffindor in Quidditch. On the night of Dumbledore’s death, she tries to get up to the Astronomy Tower to stop the Death Eaters, but a spell is blocking her. Instead, she lets Snape go up. She is devastated when she sees Dumbledore’s broken body at the foot of the tower, and no doubt blames herself for letting Snape go up. She organises his funeral, and takes over the position of Headmistress. Although she tries to comfort Harry, she is aware that her attempts are futile, and as she is so distraught herself, she can do little to console him.

Professor Trelawney

Trelawney is rather disgruntled at having to share her classes with Firenze. After he came to the castle the year before, he estranged himself from the centaurs, and it would therefore have been foolish of Dumbledore to make him leave, so the two teach alternate years. She seems to have resorted to drinking, as Harry often passes her in the corridors smelling distinctly of gin and shuffling cards with almost obsessive preoccupation. She admits to hiding her alcohol in the Room of Requirement, because she tries to go in there but hears a strange whooping sound. She tells Harry, who is passing, and he instantly attributes this to Malfoy.

Madam Pomfrey

Although Harry assumed she would be able to mend Dumbledore’s blackened hand, it is something beyond her ability. Indeed, on their return from the cave, when Dumbledore is exceedingly weak, Harry tells him he’ll take him to Madam Pomfrey, but Dumbledore insists on being taken to Snape. It seems Madam Pomfrey is not equipped to deal with powerful, dark magic. She is not able to heal Katie Bell, who is taken to St Mungo’s Hospital for several months. However, she does tend to Ron after Harry saved his life with a Bezoar, and she is also helpful at the end of the year after the fight between the Order and the Death Eaters. She looks after Bill especially, who has suffered a werewolf attack.

Argus Filch

Filch has felt it necessary to put a ban on every single product sold by Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes, and this means that students will therefore go to any lengths to get their hands on some. He continues to try and source trouble with his faithful cat, but is seen as a bit of a joke by Harry and his friends, who have much more troublesome concerns. He finds Draco Malfoy apparently trying to sneak into Slughorn’s Christmas party, and is eager to give him detention, but Slughorn, jovial with Christmas spirit, lets Malfoy off.

Mad-Eye Moody

Moody is still working in the resistance to Voldemort and attends Dumbledore’s funeral at the end of the year.

Grawp

Hagrid’s half-brother is now living in a cave rather than the Forest, and apparently enjoys it a lot more. Grawp attends Dumbledore’s funeral and in a touching moment consoles a heartbroken Hagrid.

Lavender Brown

Lavender suddenly shows strong feelings for Ron at the beginning of the year. No doubt fuelled by his participation in the battle at the Ministry and his presence on the Quidditch team, Lavender appears to have an almost obsessive attraction to him. Ron initially is bemused, but quickly becomes flattered, and after a Quidditch match in which he plays spectacularly, they are seen together in a corner… vigorously exchanging saliva. Kissing is all she seems interested in, however, and their relationship comprises of little else, but has devastating effects on Ron and Hermione’s relationship. Lavender and Ron remain together for a surprising amount of time, but he is evidently weary of her, as when he is recovering from the poisoned mead in the Hospital Wing, he pretends to be asleep whenever she comes to visit. They finally break up when Harry, Ron and Hermione are in the boys’ dormitory and Harry comes down in the Invisibility Cloak: making Lavender think Ron and Hermione were up there alone.

Professor Sprout

Sprout continues to teach Herbology and protects the Hufflepuff students during the fight after Dumbledore’s death.

Parvati Patil

Parvati is still keen on Divination, however is a little disappointed that Firenze, who she took to greatly the previous year, would not be teaching sixth years. She remains close friends with Lavender, and is impressed when Hermione announces that she’s attending Slughorn’s Christmas party with McLaggen. Her and Padma’s parents aren’t keen on them staying at Hogwarts because of the dangers.

Katie Bell

Katie is in her seventh year, and retains her place as Chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. However, on the first Hogsmeade trip she is put under the Imperius Curse and told to take a necklace to Professor Dumbledore. She is unaware that it is cursed, and so carries it with her, but when it brushes across a hole in her glove, touching the tiniest fragment of her skin, she is immediately cursed and in very grave danger. She is taken by Hagrid to Madam Pomfrey, but the Hogwarts nurse is unable to do anything, so she is taken to St Mungo’s Hospital. She is gone for months, and her Quidditch place is filled by Dean Thomas.

Jack Sloper

Jack was a Beater on the Gryffindor Quidditch team the previous year. He is also used by Dumbledore to convey a message to Harry informing him of their first lesson.

Ernie MacMillan

Ever pompous, Ernie adopts a conspiratorial tone whenever he brings up Dumbledore’s Army, which he seems to be very proud of being part of.

Hector Dagworth-Granger

Famous Potioneer who Slughorn thinks Hermione might be related to. He founded the Most Extraordinary Society for Potioneers.

Michael Corner

Michael used to go out with Ginny, but she dumped him because she thought he was a bad loser. He was in Dumbledore’s Army and is in Harry, Ron and Hermione’s Potions class.

Terry Boot

Sixth year Ravenclaw student. He was in Dumbledore’s Army the previous year, and is in Harry, Ron and Hermione’s Potions class.

Abraxus Malfoy

Draco Malfoy’s grandfather who died of dragon pox.

Libatius Borage

The author of ‘Advanced Potion-Making’.

Fawkes

Dumbledore’s Phoenix leaves the castle for the final time at Dumbledore’s funeral.

Bob Ogden

The Ministry official who was sent to the Gaunts’ house to arrest Morfin Gaunt for Muggle-baiting, and whose memory Harry and Dumbledore use to see Voldemort’s family.

Morfin Gaunt

The son of Marvolo Gaunt and the uncle of Voldemort. He speaks largely in Parseltongue and behaves appallingly. When Voldemort killed Tom Riddle Sr. and his parents, he hoodwinked Morfin’s memory, making him believe he had killed them, and confess to the crime. He spends a long time in Azkaban.

Marvolo Gaunt

Marvolo is the father of Morfin and Merope. He is proud of his pure-blood heritage, and flaunts the fact that he is descended from Slytherin in Ogden’s face. He mistreats his daughter because he thinks she’s hopeless, and despises her attraction to the Muggle, Tom Riddle. He views Muggles as animals and holds no respect for them.

Merope Gaunt

Merope is the daughter of Marvolo and the mother of Lord Voldemort. She is in love with the Muggle Tom Riddle, but believes she can do nothing about it because of her father and brother. However, when they are both sent to Azkaban, she manages to brew a love potion which she tricks Riddle to take. The two marry and she becomes pregnant. She finally stops giving him the potion, thinking he will love her without it, but she is mistaken. He leaves her alone and pregnant, with no home. She trades a locket which was descended from Salazar Slytherin for some money, and gives birth to her son in a Muggle Orphanage. She passes away after telling them to name him Tom after his father, and Marvolo after his grandfather.

Tom Riddle Sr.

This is the Muggle man who Merope Gaunt fell in love with, and is the father of Lord Voldemort. He lived with his parents in the village of Little Hangleton, and was killed many years after his fling with Merope by his own son.

Cecilia

Cecilia is presumably Tom Riddle’s lover before Merope, as she is seen with him in Bob Ogden’s memory travelling in a horse and cart, and laughing scornfully at the Gaunts’ residence.

Stan Shunpike

Stan, the Knight Bus conductor, is arrested on the suspicion of being a Death Eater.

Eloise Midgen

Eloise’s parents withdraw her from Hogwarts and take her home early on at the start of term because they fear for her safety.

Hannah Abbott

Hannah, a sixth year Hufflepuff, had to be taken out of a Herbology lesson to be told that her mother had been found dead.

Demelza Robins

A Chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

Jimmy Peakes

A Beater on the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

Ritchie Coote

A Beater on the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

Aragog

The Acromantula spends much of the year ill, and finally dies. His funeral is attended by Hagrid, Harry and Professor Slughorn, who is particularly interested in the price he can get for Acromantula venom.

Melinda Bobbin

A member of the Slug Club because her family own a large chain of apothecaries.

James Potter

After having used the spell Levicorpus on Ron, Harry remembers seeing his father use the same one as a way of bullying the younger Severus Snape. It makes him wonder whether his father is the Half-Blood Prince, as he found the spell in his Potions book.

Mundungus Fletcher

Harry finds Mundungus in Hogsmeade trying to sell off some of Sirius’s old things without Harry’s consent. Harry is livid and pins Mundungus up against a wall to get a confession out of him, but he escapes. He is later arrested and sent to Azkaban for impersonating an Inferius during an attempted burglary.

Madam Rosmerta

Rosmerta is placed under the Imperius Curse by Draco Malfoy early on as a way of telling him when Dumbledore was out of the school. She is also the one who gives Katie Bell the cursed necklace in the girls’ bathroom in the Three Broomsticks. When Harry and Dumbledore return from the cave, they see her in the street and she points towards the Dark Mark hovering over the castle. They borrow some broomsticks from her and fly back to Hogwarts, but she manages to inform Draco that they’re on their way back so that he can lie in wait on the Astronomy Tower.

Leanne

Leanne is Katie Bell’s friend and is with her when she gets cursed. Leanne tries to ask her what’s in the package, and they have an argument when Katie refuses to show her. She accompanies Harry, Ron and Hermione to McGonagall’s office, but is thoroughly upset by the ordeal.

Caractacus Burke

The second owner of Borgin and Burke’s is seen through the Pensieve recalling how he bought Merope Gaunt’s locket for ten galleons, even though it was a genuine artifact of Salazar Slytherin, and was worth a lot more.

Mrs. Cole

Mrs. Cole is the woman who ran the Muggle Orphanage that Tom Riddle was left in. She seems perfectly nice, if a little partial to gin.

Billy Stubbs

One of Tom Riddle’s contemporaries in the Orphanage, he used to own a rabbit which Tom hung, presumably using magic.

Amy Benson

Something happened to her and another boy when they went off with Tom on holiday once.

Dennis Bishop

The boy who went off with Amy Benson and Tom Riddle, and who’s never been the same since.

Auntie Muriel

The aged Aunt of the Weasley family who is, according to Ginny, the only female who has kissed Ron. She has a goblin-made tiara which Mrs Weasley offers to Fleur.

Viktor Krum

Ron is disgruntled to learn that Hermione kissed Krum when they were together in her fourth year.

Madam Hooch

Madam Hooch referees the Quidditch matches.

Urquhart

The Slytherin Captain who plays as a Chaser.

Harper

The Slytherin reserve Seeker who covers for Malfoy.

Colin and Dennis Creevey

They continue badgering Harry, even though Colin is at least fifteen at this point.

Madam Pince

The accusations that there is something going on between her and Argus Filch are present this year. She continues to hover around the library protecting her books, and is disgusted to see the state of Harry’s copy of ‘Advanced Potion-Making’, even though it belongs to him.

Peeves

Up to his usual mischief, Peeves hears Harry ask Luna to Slughorn’s party and instantly makes an annoying, embarrassing song about it.

Eldred Worpole

A vampire enthusiast who attends Slughorn’s Christmas party.

Sanguini

Sanguini is a vampire, brought along by Eldred Worpole.

Celestina Warbeck

Mrs Weasley’s favourite singer is playing on the radio over the Christmas holidays, and causes much tension between Mrs Weasley and Fleur, who dislikes the singer.

Gawain Robards

Robards is mentioned as the Head of the Auror Department.

The Fat Lady

Ever the party animal, the Fat Lady and her friend Violet drink themselves through all the bottles of wine in a painting of drunk monks over Christmas, and she consequently changes the Gryffindor password to ‘abstinence’.

Professor Flitwick

Continues to teach Charms at Hogwarts. On the night when Dumbledore dies, he does everything he can to protect the Ravenclaws, but gets injured in the process.

Dawlish

The doomed Auror was sent to tail Dumbledore, when Scrimgeour wanted to find out what Dumbledore was doing, and Dumbledore was forced to jinx him again.

Wilkie Twycross

The Apparition Instructor with whom the sixth years get very frustrated when they find Apparition to be more difficult than they had supposed.

Susan Bones

Susan’s aunt Amelia Bones was killed during the summer before her sixth year started. Susan also splinches herself in her very first Apparating lesson.

Cadwallader

Chaser for the Hufflepuff Quidditch team.

Dobby

Dobby is still working in the Hogwarts kitchens, and he accompanies Kreacher to tail Draco Malfoy and report back to Harry.

Hokey

Hokey is the house-elf belonging to Hepzibah Smith, and she provides a memory for Dumbledore detailing a visit Tom Riddle paid to the old lady. It suggests that one of his Horcrux’s identities is the cup of Helga Hufflepuff. When Tom Riddle killed Hepzibah, he planted a false memory in Hokey which made her think she had poisoned her mistress.

Hepzibah Smith

Hepzibah was an old, rich lady who was in possession of many priceless artifacts. She had a soft spot for Tom Riddle, and she showed him the cup that belonged to Helga Hufflepuff. He later killed her for it and laid the blame on her house-elf.

Galatea Merrythought

A former Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, who taught at Hogwarts for almost fifty years, and retired around the time Tom Riddle left, which led him to apply for the job.

Armando Dippet

The previous Hogwarts Headmaster refused to give Tom Riddle the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, as he said he was too young.

Moaning Myrtle

Myrtle has taken to hovering around the boys’ bathroom, because she has met Draco Malfoy in there many times, crying. She believes he’s a sensitive boy, and has become rather attached to him. She informs Harry and Ron, and Harry realises that whatever Malfoy’s doing is not going well.

The Montgomery Sisters

They go to Hogwarts, but their five-year-old brother was attacked by a werewolf when their mother wouldn’t join the Death Eaters. He died later in St Mungo’s.

Odo

Hagrid and Slughorn drunkenly sing about ‘Odo the hero’ after burying Aragog. Apparently he was buried with an inside-out hat and a snapped-in-half wand.

Eileen Prince

Hermione thinks that Eileen Prince is the Half-Blood Prince because of her surname and because she could have been a half-blood. Eileen was Captain of the Hogwarts Gobstone team many years ago.

Graham Montague

Montague was trapped in the faulty Vanishing Cabinet the previous year, and Malfoy tells Dumbledore that this is what inspired him to fix it and make a passage between the one in Hogwarts and the one in Borgin and Burke’s.

Amycus Carrow

Amycus is one of the Death Eaters who join Draco on top of the Astronomy Tower when he has cornered Dumbledore. He is involved in the fight in the castle.

Alecto Carrow

Alecto joins her brother on top of the Astronomy Tower and in the fight in Hogwarts.

Gibbon

Gibbon initially went up the Astronomy Tower, but was apparently too scared to remain up there alone, so came back down and was instantly hit by a Killing Curse.

Kingsley Shacklebolt

Kingsley attends Dumbledore’s funeral at the end of the year.

Madame Maxine

The Beauxbatons Headmistress attends Dumbledore’s funeral at the end of the year.

Mrs. Figg

The Dursleys’ neighbour, who is a squib, attends Dumbledore’s funeral.

Ernie Prang

The driver of the Knight Bus attends Dumbledore’s funeral.

Rita Skeeter

The devious journalist attends Dumbledore’s funeral, fully equipped with her Quick Quotes Quill and parchment.

Dolores Umbrdige

Attends Dumbledore’s funeral.

Firenze

Continues to teach Divination at Hogwarts, although splits his classes with Professor Trelawney. Attends Dumbledore’s funeral.