Overall, the Prince would have to be someone of half-blood (well, duh), and someone who would either have, or be able to be easily worked into, a large role in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, being that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was a working title for the second book in the series. Finally, JK Rowling herself stated that it is neither Voldemort nor Harry who is the Prince.

Rubeus Hagrid: Hagrid is my favorite bet for Half-Blood Prince. Being one of, if not the major character in Chamber of Secrets aside from Harry himself, he certainly fills the role of being the subject for the title of the book. Also, from the information that we have been given in the books, Hagrid is the only character that we know of who actually is a Half-Blood Prince! Hagrid was born to a wizard (his father) and Queen Fridwulfa of the Giants, technically making him Half-Blooded (as he's half human) and a Prince (being that his mother was a Queen). He is by far one of the most mysterious characters in the series, and only as we learn more about him do we realize exactly the awkward position he has in life. As he has gone back to the Giants in order to gain their support against Voldemort, it is more than possible that there will be a large future plot revolving around his struggle (and even the struggle of Grawp, the giant which he 'saved' in Order of the Phoenix) with the Giants and with the Giant within himself. There are any number of plot-lines that could be seen from this, maybe Hagrid goes back to lead a tribe of giants? Maybe he adopts more and keeps them in the forest, teaching them English and proper table manners? The possibilities are endless.

Albus Dumbledore: While Hagrid is by far the front-runner in my view, Albus Dumbledore is also another character that could be the Half-Blood Prince. Despite the fact that he is also one of the most pivotal and main characters, we know very little about the Headmaster, really. What we do know is that he has a brother, Albeforth, who has magical abilities (being that he performed improper charms on goats). This is important because it has never been revealed whether or not what “blood” Dumbledore comes from. My guess is that he is half-blooded (his father being the muggle and his mother being a witch), based on the fact that he has a magical sibling (it would seem against the odds to have two muggle-borns in the same family) and that the surname 'Dumbledore' has never been attributed to any other character in the modern wizarding world (in the way that the 'Prewett', 'Bones', etc. have been). He certainly has a role in Chamber of Secrets that only makes the reader ask more questions about him. How did he get Fawkes in the first place? How did he come across Godric Gryffindor's sword? Also, wouldn't it be rather like JK Rowling to have a Prince be over one hundred-fifty years old? Things tend to defy expectation in the wizarding world, no?

All of the other half-blooded students (such as Dean Thomas according to JKRowling.com, Justin Flitch-Fletchley, etc) all stand the same chance of being the Prince, each as non-scrupulous as the next. It would seem unlikely that JK Rowling would bring very minor characters into the very center of a book without a grace period (such as Neville always being around, and then being a central character in Order of the Phoenix).

Finally, all pure-blooded people (arguably everyone in Slytherin) such as Neville, Draco, Arthur Weasley, etc. are to be excluded because obviously, their pure-blooded.






[url=www.DarkMark.com]