Severus Snape, a member of the Order of the Phoenix, meets with Narcissa Malfoy, Draco's mother, and Lord Voldemort's faithful supporter Bellatrix Lestrange. Narcissa expresses concern that her son might not survive a dangerous mission given to him by Lord Voldemort. Bellatrix feels Snape will be of no help until he surprises her by making an Unbreakable Vow with Narcissa, swearing on his life that he will protect and assist Draco in his mission.
Dumbledore picks Harry up from his aunt and uncle's house, intending to escort him to the Burrow, home of Harry's best friend Ron. On the way they make a detour to the temporary home of Horace Slughorn, former Potions teacher at Hogwarts, and Harry unwittingly helps persuade Slughorn to return to teach. Harry and Dumbledore then proceed to the Burrow, where Hermione has already arrived. The next morning, Harry, Ron, and Hermione get their Ordinary Wizarding Level (O.W.L.) results, along with lists of school supplies. Later, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger follow Draco to Dark Arts supplier Borgin and Burkes. Harry is instantly suspicious of Draco, whom he believes to be a Death Eater.
The students return to school, where Dumbledore announces that Snape will be teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts. In the meantime, Horace Slughorn will resume his post as Potions teacher. Harry now excels in Potions, thanks to having received a used Potions textbook that once belonged to someone named "The Half-Blood Prince," a mysterious former student who wrote numerous tips and spells in his Potions textbook that Harry uses to achieve superb results. After a class contest, The Half-Blood Prince's tips help Harry win a bottle of Felix Felicis, more commonly known as "Liquid Luck." Though Harry's success pleases Slughorn, his newfound brilliance in potions angers Hermione, who feels he is not truly earning his grades and does not trust the Half-Blood Prince.
Believing that Harry needs to learn Voldemort's past to gain advantage in a foretold battle, Dumbledore schedules regular meetings with Harry in his office. During this time, they use Dumbledore's Pensieve to look at memories of those who have had direct contact with Voldemort. Harry learns about Voldemort's family and his foe's evolution into a murderer obsessed not only with power, but with gaining eternal life. Dumbledore shows Harry a memory involving Slughorn conversing with the young Tom Riddle at Hogwarts, which has clearly been tampered with. He sets Harry the task of convincing Slughorn to give him the true memory so that Dumbledore can confirm his suspicions about Voldemort's rise to power and near-invincibility.
Using the dose of Felix Felicis he won in class, Harry succeeds in retrieving Slughorn's unedited memory. In it, Slughorn tells Riddle about the process of splitting one's soul and hiding it in several objects called horcruxes. It is these objects, forged only through murder, that have gained Voldemort something close to immortality. Dumbledore explains that in order to destroy Voldemort, all the horcruxes must first be destroyed. Two horcruxes—Riddle's Diary from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and a ring belonging to Voldemort's grandfather Marvolo Gaunt—have already been destroyed, but four others remain.
As Harry learns more about his great enemy, the love-lives of the main characters start to become more active. Ron and Hermione grow closer together, but after learning from his sister Ginny that Hermione had previously kissed Viktor Krum, Ron shuns her. Harry's attempts to repair things between the two fail, resulting in Ron going out with Lavender Brown and making Hermione jealous. After Ron is nearly killed in an attempt on Dumbledore's life, he and Hermione reconcile. Ron and Lavender break up when Lavender sees the two of them walking out of the girl's dormitories together. However, this was only because she hadn't noticed Harry walking ahead of them.
Harry meanwhile develops feelings for Ginny, but he is reluctant to pursue her for most of the year because of his friendship with Ron. Following a wild Quidditch victory Harry and Ginny finally strike up a relationship, with Ron's reluctant consent.
Near the end of the year, Harry and Dumbledore journey to a cave to retrieve a suspected horcrux, Slytherin's locket. Dumbledore expertly finds a secret passageway to a large, pitch black underground lake, which Harry and Dumbledore cross in a small boat to an island in the center. The locket is at the bottom of a basin and can only be reached by drinking the potion above it. Harry helps Dumbledore, who drinks the potion, and though Dumbledore is severely weakened, together they manage to fight off Voldemort's Inferi that have been hiding in the lake. They take the locket and return to find that the Dark Mark has been placed over the highest tower in Hogwarts in their absence. Harry and Dumbledore ascend the tower to find out what's going on. Dumbledore uses his magic to freeze Harry in place under his cloak of invisibility. Draco Malfoy arrives, accompanied by Death Eaters that he helped get inside Hogwarts. Draco disarms Dumbledore of his wand and then threatens to kill him, which turns out to have been his mission from Voldemort. Draco is unable to go through with it, and Snape arrives and casts the spell to kill Dumbledore instead.
Because of Dumbledore's death, his freezing charm on Harry is broken. Harry ignores the battle raging in Hogwarts to pursue Dumbledore's killer. Snape successfully fights Harry off, and he reveals that he is in fact the Half-Blood Prince before he, Draco, and the rest of the Death Eaters escape.
After Dumbledore's funeral, Harry decides to break up with Ginny, saying it is too dangerous for their relationship to continue. Harry finds out that the locket is not the real horcrux, containing only a note from someone named "R. A. B.". Harry is so devastated by Dumbledore's death (and upset by its futility) that he tells his friends he will not be returning to Hogwarts and will instead spend the next year searching out Voldemort's horcruxes. Ron and Hermione insist on joining him in destroying Lord Voldemort for good.
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