Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (warning spoilers)

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is my second favorite book in the series. I realized that just as I wrote it. I have always liked Snape and the mystery of him in this book was heightened. He had made an unbreakable vow with Narcissa Malfoy and it was also revealed that Severus was having doubts about commitments to Dumbledore. Again and again though Dumbledore expresses his faith in Snape.

By the way, Narcissa is another example of J.K. Rowlings' exceptional wordplay. Narcissa is clearly a reference to Narcissus and Narcissism the story from Roman/Greek mythology of the character who falls in love with his own reflection and drowns trying to get close to himself.
The other bit of wordplay that is significant in this book was the pensieve. It has shown up before, but it played a big role in this book. Depending on where you put the emphasis you could either pronounce the word (pensiv) or (penseev) but either way it is a variation on the word pensive meaning to ponder, muse or dream. The Pensieve also connotes a sieve or a sifter which makes the device a place to ponder and sift out meaning from your memories. Beautiful wordplay again.

My favorite bit of foreshadowing though was the Chapter entitled Horcruxes. I wish I could be certain though was Dumbledore's references to the Horcruxes and the time he spent telling Harry how certain he was that Voldemort intended to make his final Horcrux after Harry. It was no great leap for me to see that somehow Voldemort had unintentionally created a Horcrux in Harry. It's really easy to post this so far after the fact, but I really did know. The discussion of Horcruxes was the crucial point. Horcrux is also another play on words. Crux comes from the Latin for cross. My best guess for hor is that it either a reference to hoar or hoary or possibly horror. Whichever you choose or all three, the crux of the matter (yes, I think she is using this connotation too) is that the center or soul of Voldemort is a frosty, hairy ancient, horror. This makes particular sense when you consider her new book Tales of Beedle the Bard. And the tale of the Hairy Heart. The message there and in the Half Blood Prince seems to be don't destroy what is most precious. Be sure you keep you soul, your heart in tact....because it is your ability to love that makes you human. Which is what we all are Muggle and Magician alike.