The Chamber of Secrets

Harry and Ron had no idea how they were going to get to talk to Moaning Myrtle until Lockhart gave them the perfect opportunity. Unfortunately, just before they reached her bathroom, McGonagall found them. Harry told her they wanted to see Hermione and tell her that the mandrakes would be ready that night. McGonagall got a bit emotional and told them to tell Madam Pomfrey she said it was okay. At Hermione's bedside, Harry noticed a piece of paper clutched in her hand. Upon extraction, the boys saw that it was a description of a Basilisk and everything fell into place. Between Hermione's clues and Aragog's hints, they realized that the monster was a Basilisk and the Chamber of Secrets must open into Moaning Myrtle's bathroom! They headed straight to the staff room to tell McGonagall, but before they could it was announced that Ginny had been taken by the monster into the Chamber of Secrets.

Harry and Ron eventually determine to tell Lockhart, who is suppose to be getting ready to mount a rescue, what they know, but when they reach his office they find him packing. It turns out none of his stories actually happened to him, he'd been stealing the stories from other witches and wizards and then erasing their memories. He's about to erase their memories as well, but they disarm him and take him to Moaning Myrtle. Upon request, she tells them the story of how and where she died. They find the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets and the three of them head in. Lockhart steals Ron's wand and attempts a memory charm, but it backfires, causing a cave-in and the loss of his own memory. With Ron and Lockhart trapped by the entrance, Harry moves ahead alone...

I have to start out by saying how much I LOVE that all the other teachers despise Lockhart as much as Harry and Ron do. It's a bit of a relief to know none of the staff witches fell for his "winning" smile.

As we know Hogwarts was founded "over one thousand years ago". At that time, indoor plumbing wasn't exactly available, so how exactly did Salazar Slytherin manage to build the entrance in the bathroom?

Imaginary Reader: The magical world is different from our world.

Me: Okay, true. Still it seems a bit weird that they're using candles still but have had plumbing for hundreds of years.

Imaginary Reader: Okay, so the room used to be something else.

Me: So, how did the etching of the snake get on the sink? Slytherin was the only one who knew where the entrance was, and was probably dead by the late 19th century, not having a Sorceror's Stone and all.

Imaginary Reader: ....magic?

Me: *sigh* I suppose that's what we're stuck with, but I don't like it.

As you can see, I've resorted to having conversations with myself, but if you leave me comments I can have conversations with you instead! Consider subscribing to my comment RSS feed! I've also added buttons so now you can share your favorite posts in a variety of web-by ways!

The Very Secret Diary

Harry and Ron visit Hermione everyday of the month she spends in the hospital. As the head back from one of these trips, they hear Filch making a commotion and discover the hallway where Mrs. Norris was attacked has flooded. They head into Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, who is upset because someone threw a book at her, an apparently blank, 50-year-old diary, which Harry decides to keep. When Hermione is discharged, they tell her about the diary and she, like Harry, wonders if it might have something to do with the last time the Chamber of Secrets was opened. Try as she might though, she can't get the diary to reveal what may be written in it.

A couple weeks later, Lockhart surprises the school with a Valentine's treat that includes dwarfs dressed as cupid to pass out valentines. One such dwarf finds Harry that afternoon and in his haste to get away, Harry's bag is ripped, spilling it's contents onto the floor. An ink bottle breaks and soaks everything, but the diary appears to be unharmed. That night in his room, Harry opens the diary and begins to write. The diary writes back. The owner of the diary, T.M. Riddle says he caught the person who opened the Chamber last time and takes Harry on a journey into his memory of catching none other than Hagrid with a monster!

There's not really much to say about this chapter. There are a lot of consequences to the events that occur here, but I'll be talking about those as we get to them in the next couple chapters. Also my bathroom flooded this morning while I was away (a water main break) and when I came back I discovered water stains on my bedroom ceiling and they property managers finally showed up to do something about it, so I'm going to see if they need me and if not I'm going to leave while they look into it. Really feeling for Filch with the flooded bathroom situation right now.

The Polyjuice Potion

Left alone to wait for Dumbledore, Harry looks around the office. He puts on the Sorting Hat, who again affirms his assertion that Harry could have done well in Slytherin, but Harry cuts him short before he can finish his thought. Harry then notices Fawkes, who unfortunately bursts into flames, thoroughly freaking Harry out just as Dumbledore enters. Dumbledore explains about phoenixes and informs Harry he doesn't believe Harry to be the culprit (because he already knows who it is, of course) and then asks Harry if there's anything he should know, to which Harry answers no.

The Christmas holidays arrive and the trio put their plan to trap Malfoy into action. After Christmas dinner, the boys trick Crabbe and Goyle into taking a sleeping draught and steal a bit of their hair. They then join Hermione in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom and they all take the potion. The boys transform to look just like Crabbe and Goyle, but Hermione refuses to come out of her stall, so the boys head out to find the Slytherin common room on their own. As luck would have it, Malfoy finds them and takes to the common room, where they discover, much to their chagrin, that Malfoy has no idea who's opening the Chamber of Secrets. At the end of the hour they return to the bathroom, disheartened at finding they're no closer to the culprit, though at least Malfoy let slip some information Ron will be able to pass on to his dad about Lucius. They're anxious to tell Hermione what they learned, but discover that Hermione has accidentally changed into a cat and they hurried her off to the hospital wing.

Here's what I don't get about the Polyjuice Plan, say Malfoy had confessed, what exactly were they going to do about it? Several times in this chapter it's implied that when Malfoy confesses, everything will be resolved and he'll be in trouble. So the plan is to get the confession, then go tell Dumbledore or McGonagall that they had fraudulently gotten a dangerous book out of the Restricted Section, stolen potion ingredients, rendered two boy unconscious, stole their hair and shoes and locked them in a closet, taken an illicit potion and then coerced a confession out of Malfoy? It would then, of course, turn into a case of he said, they said and let's face it, the rivalry between Harry and Malfoy has certainly not gone unnoticed by the teachers, so are they really going to take the trio's word for it? I suppose they could dose everyone with Veritaserum to ferret out the truth, but still I imagine the trio would have all gotten in quite a lot of trouble as well. I suppose one could make an argument that the punishment would be worth it if the attacks stopped, but I still question whether or not any of them had fully thought out the consequences of their plan (obviously not or Hermione wouldn't have turned into a cat).

As always, your comments are appreciated!

The Rogue Bludger

Okay, well I didn't get a lot of comments about the summary, but those that did comment seemed to like it, so I think I'll stick with it, as they're kind of fun to write.

Harry, Ron and Hermione chose the perfect teacher to go to for access to the book they need, Lockhart doesn't even look at the note before signing it. Madam Pince retrieves Moste Potente Potions from the Restricted Section and the trio head straight to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. There Hermione determines that the Polyjuice Potion will take about a month to make and Ron is revolted to discover they need a "part of the person" they'll be changing into for the potion. They also find that they'll have to steal some ingredients from Snape.

That weekend is the first Quiddich match of the year, Gryffindor vs. Slytherin. Early in the game it becomes evident that a bludger has somehow been enchanted to attack Harry and only Harry. It breaks his arm, but he still manages to catch the Snitch and win the game. Lockhart attempts to heal the break, but only succeeds in removing all the bones from that arm. Madam Pomfrey is able to regrow the bones, but Harry will have to spend a pain-filled night in the hospital wing. He (amazingly) manages to fall asleep, only to be awakened by Dobby the House Elf, who confesses to having blocked Harry from getting on the train and enchanting the bludger. He also lets slip that the Chamber of Secrets has been opened in the past. Before Harry can get any more information from him, Dumbledore and McGonagall arrive with the petrified Colin Creevey. They check to see if he was able to get a picture of his attacker, but the camera film has melted. When McGonagall wonders aloud who is opening the Chamber, Dumbledore makes the enigmatic comment "The question is not who, the question is how.", effectively confusing the crap out of everyone.

I kind of hate this Quiddich game, I don't know what it is about it (maybe the lack of commentary?) but I find it a bit boring. I will point out to those who have been reading this blog from the beginning, that if this were Sorceror's Stone, we probably would have watched the bludger attack from Ron and Herminoe's point of view. What really bothers me in this chapter is the general incompetance of the teachers and staff:
a. Why didn't Madam Hooch notice the insane-o bludger and do something about it? Surely it can't be "legal" to have a bewitched ball in play?
b. Why is Lockhart the only teacher/staff member to go to Harry when he falls off his broom with a broken arm and passes out? (Lockhart's own incompetence is obvious and doesn't need pointing out).
c. Why doesn't Madam Hooch have some level of basic magical medical training so that she can mend bones, cuts, etc.? It's no secret that Quiddich is a dangerous game.
d. Since Madam Hooch is apparently absent such knowledge, or at the very least absent the motivation to use it when needed, why isn't Madam Pomfrey at the games? It's clearly stated that basically the entire school attends.

Yep, big time lapse on the part of pretty much every adult at the school here.

Of course, all this is designed to get us to the hospital wing, so that we can be hit with a whole bunch of revelations in the last few pages, the biggest of which is the discovery that the Chamber of Secrets has been opened before. I wonder if Harry will latch on to that in some way?

As always, comments are welcomed and encouraged!

*Note* I know a website with color versions of Mary Gran-Pre's chapter drawings and I was going to embed the one for this chapter in the post and wouldn't you know, it was the only one that wasn't there! I'm going to go back and do it on past posts while I add tags and chapter summaries, so keep an eye out for them.

The Writing on the Wall

I was thinking about this blog over the weekend and I wondered if it would be helpful if I wrote a little chapter synopsis for each post? I've been working off the assumption that people who have read these books as many times as I have only need to see the chapter title to know what happens, but then sometimes the chapter titles are a bit oblique (like this one) and you might not realize everything that happens. So, what do you all think? Would you like a quick chapter recap before I get into things? Here's a sample of what I'm thinking:

Lured by Malfoy's oh-so-subtle cry, Filch turns up, takes one look at Mrs. Norris and decides that Harry and his pals have killed the cat. Dumbledore shows up and takes Filch, Mrs. Norris, and the trio to Lockhart's office (at Lockhart's insistance). Snape and McGonagall follow. After a long (and tedious to anyone listening to Lockhart) examination, Dumbledore announces that Mrs. Norris is not dead but petrified and can be cured. Due to lack of evidence and despite the best efforts of Snape and Filch, Harry and pals will not be punished.

The whole school is talking about the Chamber of Secrets and when Hermione can't find a copy of Hogwarts, A History in the school library, she asks Binns about the Chamber. He reluctantly tells the class the "myth" and assures them there is no such thing. It soon becomes evident that many students think Harry is Slytherin's heir, but the trio believe Malfoy the most likely candidate (surprise!) and hatch a plan involving much deceit and trickery to find out if they're correct. All they need is a really dumb teacher...

That one may actually be a bit long, but you get the idea. If people think it's a good idea, I'll probably go back and add synopses to past posts as well. Let me know what you think in the comments.

As for my comments on this chapter, I don't have too much to say. I will say that I find it kind of weird that Binns doesn't believe in the Chamber of Secrets. Surely he was there the last time it was opened? Any other teacher and I would say they were covering, but Binns doesn't really seem the type to care about faculty decisions. Though, I suppose his general apathy for school life could be the reasoning for him not knowing about the Chamber.

Other than that, this chapter is pretty straight forward. I will say that I desperately want Rowling to write Hogwarts, A History, I know I'm not alone in that.

The Deathday Party

Due to Oliver Wood's obsession, Harry finds himself returning from Quiddich practice on rainy October morning, muddy and dripping. He runs into Nearly-Headless Nick who has once again been denied entrance to the Headless Hunt due to his, you know, nearly-headlessness. While they're talking, Filch comes across them and drags Harry into his office to punish him for the mess he's made. Before Filch can punish him though, Nick convinces Peeves to drop a Vanishing Cabinet over Filch's office, saving Harry from Filch's rage. As a thank you, Harry agrees to attend Nick's 500th Deathday Party. So Halloween finds Harry, Ron and Hermione heading down to the dungeon for the ghost's party instead of to the feast with the rest of the students. After brief conversations with various ghosts, including Moaning Myrtle and Nearly-Headless Nick, the trio heads upstairs, hoping to be able to at least get dessert, but before they can get upstairs, Harry hears a disembodied voice threatening to kill. They follow it to the second floor and find Mrs. Norris hanging stiffly from a torch bracket under the words "THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR BEWARE". Before they can leave the area, the feast finishes and the rest of the school converges on the hall.

I have to admit that I knew what I was going to write about today before I even started reading this chapter, it's something that's bothered me for years. I'm definitely going to get to that, but I had another random thought while reading that I wanted to share first as well as quickly acknowledge that this is where the Vanishing Cabinet gets broken. (Consider it acknowledged!)

Why is Filch the one who's cleaning up the mud and guts? What is his job description? He's caretaker, I know, but in other things I've read caretaker is either making sure an empty house doesn't go to pot or making some minor repairs and overseeing servants. I mean, there are house-elves around who could clean up this stuff with a snap of their fingers, what's the point of Filch doing it? And if its one of those micro-managey I'll-do-it-myself kind of things, does he really have a right to get all pissy about how long it's going to take him to clean it? (That was the random thought, I'm really interested to hear what others have to say about this).

Okay, onto the thing that's been bugging me for years. In Order of the Phoenix, Sir Nicholas tells Harry that wizards become ghosts when they're afraid of what's out there. It's a choice that, by my understanding, is made consciously. It therefore really bugs me that at the Deathday Party the trio sees "a group of nuns" in addition to the Fat Friar. Without getting into personal beliefs about what might come after death, I wonder why so many people who had taken the veil/whatever monks take would fear what was to come. What is the point of taking vows of chastity, poverty and charity if you're too scared to find out if it was worth it? I mean, I'm sorry, but if you're going to become a ghost and refuse to "move on" regardless of where that might be, than you may as well have a little fun in life! (I'm also intrigued by the very idea of witches and wizards choosing such a vocation in the first place. Are their wizarding sects of Catholicism/Anglicism?) Again, I would LOVE to hear your thoughts on this in the comments below!

Oh, one more random thought I almost forgot: Sir Nicholas is described (and portrayed in the film) as wearing a neck ruff, but he died in 1492 and ruffs didn't become standard/popular until the middle of the 16th century. Did Sir Nicholas somehow acquire the ruff after his death or was he just really fashion forward when he was alive?