Pensieve > Pins and Needles

Waiting for Half-Blood Prince to come out has been an interested experience. During the run up to the publication of Order of the Phoenix, I was very excited to read the next installment of the series. The fact that one of the characters would die in the book did bother me a little, but I wasn't as worried. Of course, that the reality a little hard to take when I finally read that fateful chapter.

Now, as the clock on The Leaky Cauldron slowly winds down to zero, I find myself in a bit of an emotional quandry. There is the anticipation of a new book, of learning new things about the Wizarding World and what happens next in the fight against Voldemort and his Death Eaters, seeing who the new DADA professor is, and finding out just who the Half-Blood Prince is. However, there's a part of me that's afraid of Book Six. After Sirius was killed in Book Five, I think that this small part of me felt that nothing was safe anymore in the HP universe. But that might also be the point, or one of the many, that Rowling was trying to make. War blind to who's on which side, and whether or not you're right doesn't determine if you live of die.

Dont' get me wrong, it's not that I'm not going to read the book--far from it, since I pre-ordered it back in December. I know that it's not going to be anything like any of the scenarios I've imagined--Book Five is whole-hearted proof of that--but I will endeavor to clear my mind of any preconceived notions I've had about the plot of this book. I've tried very hard to stay away from spoilers and information about the plot of the book. I have seen the information released on Rowling's website, but I can't really recall much about it at this point, which might be a good thing. I want to go into this book knowning nothing outside of the first five books. It would stand to reason that I would at least reread Book Five in preparation.

I've yet to reread it once since June 2003. Maybe I'm just not ready to read that chapter again. It's interesting to note that while it is not my least favorite of the first five books, I've even reread Chamber of Secrets, my least favorite, once or twice. Maybe after Book Six I'll be able to go back to Book Five finally.