Chapter 21
Theories
The next day Harry told Ron and Hermione what he had seen in Ravenclaw’s diary, hoping they could offer some perspective. Hermione, as expected, was raptly interested and demanded every detail he could think of. Ron, on the other hand, listened through Harry’s entire description before speaking.
“You mean Godric Gryffindor and Slytherin were friends?” he asked incredulously over a plate of scrambled eggs at breakfast that morning. They had taken a seat at the back end of the Gryffidor table in an attempt to have some privacy. “That just doesn’t seem natural,” he added, glancing scornfully across the room where the Slytherins sat.
“Of course they were friends, Ron, everyone knows that,” Hermione said impatiently. Ron shot a baffled look at Harry as if to ask him if he had known. Harry shrugged. He thought he remembered the Sorting Hat mentioning it once, though, truth be told, he had been as surprised as Ron when he found out.
“Yeah, looked like they were best mates. Actually all four of them were rather friendly. Looked like they had known each other for a long time.”
“Fascinating…” Hermione said for what seemed like the fifteenth time since Harry had told them about the diary. It was obvious that it was almost torture for her to not be able to read the diary herself. “But this still doesn’t tell us anything about the Half-Blood Prince, does it?” she said thoughtfully as she looked into her goblet of pumpkin juice. “It makes no sense! Why would Dumbledore give you a top secret diary about the Half-Blood Prince that says absolutely nothing about him? I mean, it said loads about Godric Gryffindor, but we still don’t know anything about Wulfric Gryffindor. Why is he so important? What does he have to do with Voldemort?” she emphasized Voldemort’s name by hitting her goblet of pumpkin juice on the table. A couple of passing Ravenclaws flinched at the name.
Harry had been wondering the same thing. He was also confused as to what the strange blue room at the end of the diary was all about. He would tell them about that later. “What I don’t understand is why Wulfric Gryffindor is called a Prince. I mean, in order to be a prince your father has to be a king, right?” Harry mused. “But as far as I can tell, Gryffindor was never a king over anything. He seemed like he was more of a soldier, or a general or something.”
“Maybe it happened later,” suggested Ron. “I mean, the diary took place before Hogwarts had even started, right? Maybe later on Gryffindor became a king.”
“I doubt it, wizards have never really had kings. That’s more of a muggle thing,” said Hermione. “Every now and then a wizard may interfere with muggle royalty just to keep things in order, like Merlin did, but otherwise we have always had other systems of government. And besides, Gryffindor taught at Hogwarts for the rest of his life”that much is in Hogwarts, a History. He wouldn’t have had time to rule an entire country. Wulfric must be a ‘Prince’ in a figurative sense.”
“What do you mean?” asked Ron.
“Well, perhaps he’s not a literal prince, as in the son of a king and queen, but more of a symbolic one. You know, a figure of speech. Like how the Tornados are the ‘Lords of the Quidditch pitch?’”
“Or how Snape is the ‘King of Gits?’” Ron ventured, causing Harry to shoot pumpkin juice out of his nose.
“That’s not funny, Ron,” Hermione said with a look of disgust as she watched Harry wipe up his spewed pumpkin juice, much of which had gotten into her scrambled eggs.
“Sorry,” Harry said apologetically. “So what are some other ways this guy can be a prince without actually, you know, being a prince? And what about his mum? I didn’t see any children running around”I don’t think Godric was even married.”
They thought for a minute. Suddenly Ron spoke up.
“Wait, wait. Hermione, have you ever read anything about Gryffindor being married?”
“No, nothing. There aren’t many books out there about Gryffindor, and the ones there are don’t say anything about his personal life. All Hogwarts, a History says is that he was a benevolent old wizard that earned the respect of everyone around him. Nothing about a wife.”
“So then we don’t know anything about Gryffindor’s wife, it could be anybody! It could be…” Ron stopped mid-sentence. His eyes widened and his freckled chin dropped in astonishment. “Wait, wait! Hold on. Suppose Gryffidor and Ravenclaw got together? That would explain why Dumbledore gave Harry her diary, wouldn’t it?” He looked excitedly at them, waiting for a reaction.
Gryffindor and Ravenclaw? It was a weird thought that Harry didn’t seem was very likely. The two were friendly, but nothing more. Apparently Hermione was thinking along the same lines.
“Ron, I highly doubt two of the most famous wizards in history got together and no one knew about it.”
“Well you don’t know! It’s not in any of your books, is it?” Ron replied defensively. “Maybe they kept it a secret, you know, like a hidden affair they didn’t want everyone else to stick their nose in.”
Harry and Hermione stared back at him silently.
“I think you’ve been reading too much of the Quibbler,” Harry said. “Besides, I saw the name of his wife when Dumbledore showed me his family tree. I don’t remember who it was, but it definitely wasn’t Rowena Ravenclaw.”
“Oh,” came Ron’s disappointed reply.
“Besides, Ravenclaw was a full-blooded witch and Wulfric Gryffindor is called the half-blood prince. So his mum probably wouldn’t have been magical at all.”
“I’ve been thinking about that too,” Hermione replied. “And the ‘half-blood’ part could very well be a figurative term, just like ‘prince.’ Just because he’s called the Half-Blood Prince doesn’t necessarily mean he’s a half-blood. At least not in the way you are Harry.”
Harry felt confused. Hermione certainly had a knack for complicating things. The look on Ron’s face showed that he was just as confused. “So you’re saying the Half-Blood Prince, may not be a prince, and may not even be a half-blood?”
“Yes, I think it’s very possible.” Seeing Harry exchange a doubtful glance with Ron she explained. “Look, here’s what we know about Godric Gryffindor”first, he was never king of anything. Wizard society has never had royalty of any sort and Gryffindor spent most of the second part of his life teaching at Hogwarts. Second, there is no way that he would meet a Muggle woman, fall in love, marry her, and have real, authentic, half-blood children!”
“What are you talking about?” Ron interrupted. “Loads of wizards marry muggles,” he said, almost defensively.
“Today they do, Ron, but this was a thousand years ago. Think about it”muggle/wizard marriages are barely accepted today. Back then, for a wizard of Gryffindor’s fame and stature to marry a Muggle would be…well, downright scandalous!” She spoke this last sentence with obvious resentment, as though it were particularly frustrating to her. “Taking these two facts into consideration I find it highly unlikely that Wulfric Gryffindor would be either half-blooded or a prince. The titles are symbolic of something else.”
As she finished she glared at Ron, almost daring him to disagree. Half out of curiousity, half out of a desire to save Ron, Harry spoke up.
“Ok then, what are the names symbolic of?”
“I don’t know, I haven’t thought of that yet.” The three were silent as they considered the question. Nearly the entire Great Hall was empty now. Soon they would have to make their way to class. Finally Hermione spoke up.
“Harry, you said that Godric Gryffindor seemed pretty fond of muggles right? He stood up for them when Slytherin mocked them?”
“Yeah...”
“Well then it’s pretty likely that his son would share the same views, isn’t it?”
“Er…probably.”
“Of course he would, it makes sense doesn’t it?” she said with increasing excitement. “Wulfric Gryffindor would have been a friend to muggle-borns and half-bloods, probably even to muggles, just like his father before him. My guess is that after Godric died Wulfric took his place defending half-bloods and muggles and the rest of the wizards and witches gave him the name half-blood prince! He’s not called a half-blood because he had a Muggle parent, but because he was a friend to half-bloods!”
Harry nodded his head slowly, impressed with how quick Hermione could put things together. Her theory made sense, though it still didn’t explain the prince part. He was about to say as much when Ron interrupted him.
“That’s way too complicated Hermione. I mean, wouldn’t it just make more sense if he actually was a half-blood?”
Hermione shook her head in exasperation. “Life is complicated Ronald. Not everything has a simple explanation.”
“And not everything has to be complicated, either!” Ron retorted. “I mean, doesn’t it make more sense that the bloke is called the ‘Half-Blood Prince’ because he was a half-blood? I think Gryffindor married a muggle and that Wulfric Gryffindor is a real half-blood. I mean, sure it would be a little weird for him to do it, but he doesn’t strike me as the type to care what other people think.”
Hermione folded her arms and shook her head, but didn’t say anything.
“And what about the prince part?” asked Harry.
Ron shrugged unconcernedly. “So he found a bunch of house-elves and they wanted him to be their king. Probably not that hard to do. I mean, Dobby would probably love to have Harry for a king,” here he broke into a simpering, high pitched voice and raised his plate full of half eaten food towards Harry. “Would King Harry Potter like Dobby’s corn muffin, would he? King Harry Potter, sir?”
“That’s not funny Ron,” Hermione replied curtly, though Harry thought he saw her trying to hide a smile. She looked around at the empty Great Hall. “Besides, we’d better get to class.”
They began collecting their bags to head off to class. Harry decided he did want Ron’s corn muffin and took it off his plate. As they made their way out of the Great Hall Hermione turned to Harry.
“Well, you’ve heard our theories on Wulfric Gryffindor. What’s yours?”
Harry shook his head. “I don’t know. This whole thing was too complicated even before we started dissecting the name. Besides, who cares what the guy was called”the important thing is he has something very powerful and if we find his body, we will be able to win the war. He can be called the Emperor of the Crumple-Horned Snorkacks for all I care”I just want to find out where he’s buried.”