Redheaded Reviews: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling

A house-elf named Doby shows up at the Dursley's and tries to convince Harry Potter from going back to Hogwarts. He uses magic to cause a desert at an important dinner they are holding to hover in the air and fall. He has kept the letters from Ron, Hermione, and Hagrid. In response to this Vernon locks Harry in his room and puts bars on his window. Soon, however, Ron, Fred, and George show up in a flying car in the middle of the night to rescue him. This gets them in trouble with their mother who didn't know the car could fly and is against using a flying car even for a noble cause.

This is Ginny Weasley's first year and she's nervous about being around Harry as she has a crush on him. The group gets together to travel by Floo powder to Diagon Alley. Harry messes up and winds up in Borgin and Birks and sees the Malfoys selling Dark Arts materials. He finds himself in Knockturn Alley, a dangerous place, but Hagrid is there buying slugworms and saves him and gets him back to the Weasleys. It turns out that the famous Gilderoy Lockhart is going to be their new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. He's written many books about his adventures.

When they go to meet the train the family is running late and Harry and Ron are the last to make the run for the platform and the doorway remains sealed. They can't get on the platform. They don't know if Ron's parents can get back. But they have the car so they take it and fly to school, which is a direct violation of underage use of magic. Not to mention that some people saw the flying car because the invisibility function on it didn't work completely. But Dumbledore doesn't expel them, much to Snape's disappointment. Instead, he leaves it to McGonagal who gives them loads of detention, Harry with Lockhart answering correspondents and Ron with Filch polishing trophies.

Harry gets invited to Nearly Headless Nick's 500th deathday party and takes Ron and Hermione with him. It's an interesting party where everyone there is dead and the food is rotten. When they are leaving Harry hears the voices in the walls that he had heard once before while he was working with Lockhart. It was saying things like "Kill". He had told Ron and Hermione and they follow the sound of the voices he hears and come across the message on the wall: The Chamber of Secrets Has Been Opened. Enemies of the Heir Beware. Hanging from a torch bracket is Mrs. Norris, Filch's cat. It seems she has been petrified. Dumbledore assures Filch that Professor Sprout has some mandrakes she is growing that can be used to undo the damage once they have finished growing to adulthood.

Ron, Hermione, and Harry decide to create a pollyjuice potion which will make them look like Crabbe and Goyle and some female Slytherin that they can imitate to get close to Draco whom they suspect as being the Heir of Slytherin and the one who opened the Chamber. But it takes a month to make so they're making it in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. She's a ghost that haunts one of the girl's bathrooms that no one uses because of this.

While playing Quiddich Harry gets hit by a rogue bludger and breaks his arm. Though he does catch the snitch and beats Slytherin, though they have the latest model of broomsticks bought and paid for by Malfoy in order to put Draco on the team. Lockhart tries to fix his arm and removes all of the bones in his arm instead. While in the hospital regrowing bones, Harry is visited by Dobby who apologizes for the bludger and for locking him out of the platform but he was only trying to protect Harry. He also let slip that the Chamber had been open once before. Dobby leaves while Dumbledore is bringing in a young kid named Colin Creavey who followed Harry around taking pictures and who has now been petrified.

People are beginning to talk that Harry is Heir of Slytherin especially when it gets out that he is a Parsalmouth. Salazar Slytherin was a Parsalmouth. There are more bodies stacking up and the students and the staff are getting scared. Who opened the Chamber fifty years ago and what happened to them? Who has opened it now? Where is the Chamber?

This book is better than the first book because you aren't stuck at the Dursely's for very long being bored to death. However, Hermione isn't in much of this book, which I feel causes it to lack something special to the friendship dynamic. Her absence is felt deeply. Because of this, I give this book four and a half stars out of five stars.

Quotes

Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can’t see where it keeps its brains.

-J. K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets p 329)

It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.

-J. K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets p 333)