Harry Potter and the chamber of secrets
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
- J.K Rowling
Harry Potter and the Chamber of
Secrets begins when Harry is spending a miserable summer with his
only remaining family, the Dursleys. During a dinner party hosted by his uncle
and aunt, Harry is visited by Dobby, a house-elf. Dobby warns Harry not to
return to Hogwarts, the magical school for wizards that Harry attended the
previous year. Harry politely disregards the warning, and Dobby wreaks havoc in
the kitchen, infuriating the Dursleys. The Dursleys angrily imprison Harry in
his room for the rest of the summer. Luckily, Harry's friend Ron Weasley steals
Harry away in a flying car, and Harry happily spends the rest of the summer at
the Weasley home.
While shopping for school supplies with
the Weasleys, Harry has two unfortunate encounters. He first encounters
Lockhart, one of his teachers, who demands to be in a photo shoot with Harry.
Harry then encounters Lucius Malfoy, the evil father of one of Harry's enemies,
who almost starts a fight with Mr. Weasley. As Harry prepares to return to
Hogwarts, he finds that he and Ron are unable to enter the magically invisible
train platform, so they fly the Weasley car to Hogwarts. They land messily, and
both boys are given detentions. Lockhart, who believes Harry flew the car to
get attention, lectures Harry.
Malfoy as a New Slytherin Seeker:
Quidditch
practices begin and Draco Malfoy is the new Slytherin seeker. On the field, he
calls Hermione a "mudblood," insulting her Muggle heritage. After taunting
Hermione, Draco is the suspect when, on Halloween night, someone petrifies the
school caretaker's cat and writes a threatening message. Before the cat is
attacked, Harry twice hears an eerie voice. He hears it first during his
detention and second during a party, moments before the cat is attacked.
Everybody in the school is alarmed. By doing some research, Harry, Ron, and
Hermione learn that fifty years ago a chamber at Hogwarts was opened and a
student was killed.
Polyjuice Potion:
Determined to
catch the culprit, Ron, Harry and Hermione brew a potion called Polyjuice. The
potion allows them to assume the bodies of Slytherins and question
Malfoy on the Chamber of Secrets. They find out that Malfoy is not the heir of
Slytherin. No more attacks occur for a while, and right before Valentine's Day,
Harry finds a diary in the broken toilet. The diary belongs to a ghost named
Moaning Myrtle who haunts the girls' restroom. Harry writes in the diary, which
responds by writing back. Through this dialogue, Harry meets Tom Riddle, a boy
who many years before had accused Hagrid of opening the Chamber of Secrets.
Petrification of
Hermoine and Ravenclaw Girl:
Hermione and a
Ravenclaw girl are mysteriously petrified. Harry and Ron venture out of the
castle to question Hagrid. Before they reach Hagrid, the Minister of Magic,
Cornelius Fudge, and Lucius Malfoy remove Dumbledore and Hagrid from Hogwarts.
As Hagrid is led away, he instructs the boys that by following the spiders,
they can find out about the Chamber monster. Several nights later, Harry and
Ron sneak into the Forbidden Forest to follow the spiders. They discover the
monster who killed the girl fifty years before was not a spider, that the
girl's body was found in a bathroom, and that Hagrid is innocent. The boys are
almost killed by a colony of giant spiders. As they escape, Harry and Ron
decide that Moaning Myrtle must have been the girl killed by the monster.
A few days later,
Ron and Harry discover a piece of paper with a description of a basilisk on it
in Hermione's frozen hand. They deduce the Chamber monster is a basilisk.
Before the boys can act on their knowledge, the teachers announce that Ginny
Weasley has been taken into the chamber. Ron, Harry, and Lockhart slide down a
secret passage in Myrtle's bathroom to underground tunnels. When Lockhart
accidentally curses himself, Ron helps him and Harry leaves them behind. Harry
enters the Chamber of Secrets and encounters Ginny's still body and Tom Riddle.
Tom turns out to be a younger version of Voldemort, who has been enchanting
Ginny through his journal. Harry calls for help from Dumbledore. A phoenix and
a magic hat arrive. Tom summons a basilisk, but the phoenix punctures its eyes.
The hat produces a sword, which Harry uses to kill the giant snake. Harry
sticks a basilisk fang through the diary, destroying Tom. Ginny wakes up.
Harry explains his
adventure to Dumbledore. Lucius Malfoy storms into the office with his
house-elf, Dobby, and Harry frees Dobby from by tricking Lucius into giving
Dobby a sock. All is well in the castle as the students leave for their summer
vacations.
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