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Harry Potter and
the Chamber of Secrets
Parsel tongue and an Enchanted Diary
Poor Harry.
He’s back home at the Dursleys for the school holiday. The Dursleys
don’t like Hedwig, Harry’s owl; the Dursleys don’t like magic—even
the word; the Dursleys don’t like Harry’s school things—his
wand, robes, cauldron, books, broomstick, have all been locked in the
closet under the stairs for the summer; the Dursleys don’t like
Harry.
At least
Harry does have a bedroom now, although Dudley is not happy at having
to give up his extra room. But when company comes (on Harry’s
birthday, no less) Harry is expected to "be in my room, making no
noise and pretending I’m not there." (p. 6)
The only
problem is that when Harry goes to his room, it’s already occupied
by a house-elf named Dobby. Dobby warns Harry that he must not go back
to school, because if he does "he will be in mortal danger….
There is a plot… to make most terrible things happen at Hogwarts
School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year." (p. 16)
In the
process of issuing the warning Dobby makes so much noise that he gets
Harry in even more trouble. But, not to worry. His friend Ron comes to
the rescue in a flying car!
Well, of
course, Harry goes back to school. After all, the alternative—staying
at the Dursleys—is far less appealing than being in mortal danger!
In the
process he:
•
encounters a talking mirror "Tuck your shirt in, scruffy!"
(p. 42)
•
travels by way of "floo powder": "He took a pinch of
glittering powder out of the flowerpot, stepped up to the fire, and
threw the powder into the flames. With a roar, the fire turned emerald
green and rose higher than Fred, who stepped right into it, shouted,
‘Diagon Alley’ and vanished." (p. 47)
•
misses the Hogwarts Express, arrives by flying car, right into the
branches of the Whomping Willow—a tree that hits back—and loses
the car (pp. 74-76)
•
gets in trouble for breaking rules—but, instead of being expelled,
"Professor McGonagall raised her wand again and pointed it at
Snape’s desk. A large plate of sandwiches, two silver goblets, and a
jug of iced pumpkin juice appeared with a pop." (p. 83)
In Herbology
class Harry learns about mandrakes.
"Mandrake…is
a powerful restorative," said Hermione,… "It is used to
return people who have been transfigured or cursed to their original
state."…
Professor
Sprout…grasped one of the tufty plants firmly, and pulled hard.
Harry
let out a gasp of surprise that no one could hear.
Instead
of roots, a small, muddy, and extremely ugly baby popped out of the
earth. The leaves were growing right out of his head. He had pale
green, mottled skin, and was clearly bawling at the top of his
lungs. (pp. 92-93)
We learn
later in the book that these babies, once they’ve grown up, are cut
up and stewed to make the potion. (p. 234) And lest you think that
mandrakes should not be too closely associated with humans, consider
these quotes:
Madam
Pomfrey was pleased to report that the Mandrakes were becoming moody
and secretive, meaning that they were fast leaving childhood.
"The moment their acne clears up, they’ll be ready for
repotting again,…after that, it won’t be long until we’re
cutting them up and stewing them." (p. 234)
…in
March several of the Mandrakes threw a loud and raucous party in
greenhouse three…. "The moment they start trying to move into
each other’s pots, we’ll know they’re fully mature…." (p.
251)
Can you
think of a good reason children would not see these as humans who are
being cut up and stewed?
We learn
that some wizards (obviously the Slytherins, who practice dark magick)
feel very strongly that only "pure-blood" wizards should be
allowed to learn and practice witchcraft. Hermione, whose parent’s
are Muggles (non-magical), is called a "Mudblood" by one of
the students: "It’s a disgusting thing to call someone,"
said Ron, "…Dirty blood, see. Common blood. It’s ridiculous.
Most wizards these days are half-blood anyway." (p. 116)
Harry starts
hearing voices no one else can hear: "Come…come to me….
Let me rip you…. Let me tear you…. Let me kill you…."
(p. 120)
Then on
Halloween, strange things start happening at the school. Harry hears
the voice again: "…rip…tear…kill….soo hungry…for so
long… kill…time to kill…" (p. 137), and finds a message
written on the wall: THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES
OF THE HEIR, BEWARE. (p. 138) The caretaker’s cat, Mrs. Norris, is
found dead nearby. Hagrid’s roosters start disappearing or showing
up dead, and several students are found petrified—alive but
"stiff and frozen."
Professor
Binns, the dead History of Magic teacher, explains the legend of the
Chamber of Secrets:
The
story goes that Slytherin had built a hidden chamber in the castle, of
which the other founders knew nothing.
Slytherin,
according to the legend, sealed the chamber of Secrets so that none
would be able to open it until his own true heir arrived at the
school. The heir alone would be able to unseal the Chamber of Secrets,
unleash the horror within, and use it to purge the school of all who
were unworthy to study magic." (p. 150-151)
It seems
that the Chamber has been opened, but who is the heir? Harry thinks it
must be Draco Malfoy, a fellow student, and he, Ron and Hermione
decide to investigate. Hermione tells them about a potion that will
allow them to turn into someone else—the Polyjuice Potion.
It
transforms you into somebody else. Think about it! We could change
into three of the Slytherins. No one would know it was us. Malfoy
would probably tell us anything. He’s probably boasting about it in
the Slytherin common room right now, if only we could hear him. (p.
159)
The three
collect (steal) the ingredients for the potion, brew it up, and in a
scene reminiscent of demonic possession, they drink it:
Immediately,
his insides started writhing as though he’d just swallowed live
snakes—doubled up, he wondered whether he was going to be sick—then
a burning sensation spread rapidly from his stomach to the very ends
of his fingers and toes—next, bring him gasping to all fours, came a
horrible melting feeling, as the skin all over his body bubbled like
hot wax—(p. 216)
Remember,
all this is happening to a twelve-year-old boy!
Unfortunately
for Hermione, the potion she drank contained a cat hair, and she turns
into a cat-person! But, not to worry, Madam Pomfrey will fix her with
a potion! Oh, and did we mention that Harry at one point loses all the
bones in his arm when a teacher’s charm goes wrong? But Madam
Pomfrey just gives him some Skele-Gro potion, and all 33 bones grew
back overnight. Aren’t potions great?
Harry also
discovers another skill—one that is usually only practiced by dark
wizards. He can talk to snakes. (pp. 194-195) This convinces some of
the students that he is the heir of Slytherin:
"Hannah,"
said the stout boy solemnly, "he’s a parselmouth. Everyone
knows that’s the mark of a Dark wizard. Have you ever heard of a
decent one who could talk to snakes? They called Slytherin himself
Serpent-tongue." (p. 199)
Then Harry
discovers a diary. Only it has nothing written in it. Ron tries to
warn him that it might be dangerous (p. 230), but he can’t leave it
alone. Then one day he spills some ink on it by accident. The ink
disappears, and its secret is revealed. When Harry drops ink onto a
page on purpose, the ink soaks into the paper, then reappears as words
from the owner of the diary!
He discovers
that the diary belonged to a 16-year-old boy named Tom Riddle who had
attended Hogwarts 50 years before. The diary acts as a divination tool
through which Tom feeds Harry his version of events that took place
when Tom was at school. We learn later that some of the information is
false, and some has been slanted to give a false impression—a not
uncommon result for those who dabble in divination!
Well, Harry
finally learns that the horrid creature in the secret chamber is a
Basilisk, a mythological snake that grows to gigantic size and kills
its victims by meeting their gaze. He realizes that the voice he has
been hearing is the Basilisk’s voice. He has heard it when others
didn’t because he can speak snake language—Parseltongue.
Then Ron’s
sister, Ginny, who has been acting oddly, suddenly disappears and a
new message is written on the wall: "Her skeleton will lie in
the Chamber forever." Ginny has been taken into the Chamber
of Secrets. It’s up to Harry and Ron to try to rescue her.
Harry
discovers the door to the Chamber of Secrets—in a girl’s bathroom.
He opens it by speaking Parseltongue, and enters the Chamber. There he
finds Ginny, unconscious, but alive, and he also finds Tom Riddle—the
owner of the diary.
It turns out
that Tom Riddle is the evil Lord Voldemort! He has possessed Ginny
through the diary—which was slipped into one of her books at the
beginning of the year—and has been using her to do his dirty work:
I
think I’m losing my memory. There are rooster feathers all over my
robes and I don’t know how they got there. Dear Tom, I can’t
remember what I did on the night of Halloween, but a cat was attacked
and I’ve got paint all down my front. … I think I’m going mad….
I think I’m the one attacking everyone, Tom! (pp. 310-311)
We learn
that Voldemort has been feeding and gaining strength on a diet of
Ginny’s emotions:
So
Ginny poured out her soul to me, and her soul happened to be exactly
what I wanted…. I grew stronger and stronger on a diet of her
deepest fears, her darkest secrets. I grew powerful, far more powerful
than little Miss Weasley." (p. 310) But there isn’t much life
left in her…. She put too much into the diary, into me. (p. 313)
Now
Voldemort plans to call up the Basilisk and get rid of Harry.
But wait!
Here comes the cavalry: a phoenix and a Sorting Hat! How are those
going to help? And don’t forget Harry’s most powerful weapon: his
mother’s sacrificial death: "So. Your mother died to save you.
Yes, that’s a powerful counter-charm. I can see it now…." (p.
317)
Well, of
course we know that Harry prevails with the help of his charmed
companions. The phoenix pecks out the Basilisk’s eyes so it can’t
look at Harry, the Sorting Hat magically produces a sword that Harry
uses to kill the Basilisk—but there’s still Voldemort to deal
with:
Then,
without thinking, without considering, as though he had meant to do
that all along, Harry seized the basilisk fang on the floor next to
him and plunged it straight into the heart of the book [the diary].
There
was a long, dreadful, piercing scream. Ink spurted out of the diary in
torrents, streaming over Harry’s hands, flooding the floor. Riddle
was writhing and twisting, screaming and flailing and then—
He
had gone. (p. 322)
Oh, don’t
worry. He’s not gone for good—after all, there are still five more
books in the series! But for now, Ginny is un-possessed, Hagrid is
cleared of suspicion, Dobby (the house-elf) is free of his harsh
master, the mandrakes have been cut up and stewed so the petrified
students can come back to normal, Harry’s a hero, and we find out
that "It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far
more than our abilities." (p. 333)
Isn’t the
magickal world so much better and more fun than the real world?
In this book
Harry practices divination/sorcery (p. 240-41); engages in witchcraft
(p. 186); casts spells, (p. 192); acts as a medium (p. 240) and
consults the dead (p. 123). Each of these is a practice God has
condemned. See the companion article God’s
Warning About Witchcraft: Definition of Terms from Deuteronomy 18.
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