Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
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| Harry Potter books Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets |
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| Author | J. K. Rowling |
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| Illustrators | Cliff Wright (UK) Mary GrandPré (US) |
| Genre | Fantasy |
| Publishers | Bloomsbury (UK) Scholastic (US) Raincoast (Canada) |
| Released | 2 July 1998 (UK) June 2, 1999 (US) |
| Book no. | Two |
| Sales | ~77 million (Worldwide) |
| Story timeline | 1943 1992-1993 |
| Chapters | 18 |
| Pages | 251 (UK) 341 (US) |
| Preceded by | Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone |
| Followed by | Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban |
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, is the second novel in the Harry Potter series written by J. K. Rowling. The book was published on 2 July 1998.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Harry is once again back "home" with the Dursleys, and his summer holidays aren't going to plan . The Dursleys have forbidden his broom, wand and all his school books. Harry Potter has not received any letters from his friends yet; Ron, Hermione. On his twelfth birthday (July 31), Dobby, a house-elf arrives to warn Harry that he will be in mortal danger if he returns to Hogwarts, confessing that he has been intercepting Harry's letters to make it seem as though his friends had forgotten him. Harry is still determined to return to Hogwarts, the best home he has ever known, so Dobby destroys the dessert for an important dinner party attended by Uncle Vernon's potential client and the client's wife. Harry is blamed by the Ministry of Magic for Dobby's charm and is told that if he does magic outside school again, he will be expelled. The Dursleys were unaware that Harry couldn't practice magic outside of school; now that they're no longer afraid of this, they lock him in his room and fit bars onto the bedroom window.
Fred, George and Ron Weasley rescue Harry and take him to the Burrow, the Weasleys' home. After a pleasant month together in the Burrow, everyone heads to Platform 9¾ at King's Cross Station to take the Hogwarts Express back to school. To their shock, Harry and Ron are unable to enter the barrier between platforms 9 and 10. In desperation, they steal the family's enchanted Ford Anglia and fly to Hogwarts but crash into the Whomping Willow and damage Ron's wand. The semi-sentient car ejects them and their belongings and disappears into the Forbidden Forest.
[edit] Heir of Slytherin
Events at school take a turn for the worse when the legendary Chamber of Secrets is opened and a monster stalks the castle, petrifying anyone who meets its gaze. According to legend, the Chamber was built by Salazar Slytherin and can only be opened by his heir, in order to purge Hogwarts of "all those who were unworthy to study magic" - i.e. Muggle-born wizards. Many suspect Harry is the heir of Slytherin, when he inadvertently speaks Parseltongue, a rare talent which he gained during Voldemort's unsuccessful attack on him eleven years previously. Harry himself begins to believe he might be Slytherin's Heir, as the Sorting Hat wanted to put him in Slytherin when he entered Hogwarts.
In order to discover the identity of Slytherin's Heir, Ron and Harry use Polyjuice Potion to disguise themselves as Slytherin students, Crabbe and Goyle, as they think Draco Malfoy is the Heir. He isn't, but he does inadvertently provide Harry and Ron with an important clue about the Chamber of Secrets. Later, Harry finds a blank diary belonging to Tom Riddle and decides to keep it.
The attacks increase throughout the year, petrifying more students, including Hermione. All activities, including Quidditch, are cancelled, and students are not allowed to leave their dormitories or classes without their teachers. A message written on a wall declares that Ginny Weasley has been taken into the Chamber, where "her skeleton will lie forever."
Harry discovers the location of the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. He and Ron force Gilderoy Lockhart to go with them. Once they find the entrance to the Chamber, Lockhart reveals that he is not the hero he pretends to be. He attempts to use Ron's broken wand to erase Harry and Ron's memories, but the spell backfires on himself. The ceiling caves in, separating Harry from Ron and Lockhart, and it is Lockhart whose memory is erased rather than Ron's and Harry's.
Harry reaches the Chamber of Secrets, where he finds an unconscious Ginny and a ghostlike young man named Tom Riddle, who claims to be a "memory". Harry learns that Ginny, under the control of Lord Voldemort, opened the Chamber. Voldemort, whose real name is Tom Marvolo Riddle, imprinted his memory in an enchanted diary, in order to continue the work he began when he opened the Chamber fifty years ago — ridding Hogwarts of non-pureblood witches and wizards. Hagrid, a Hogwarts student at the time, was blamed for the attacks and expelled.
It is this fragment of soul in the diary which has set loose the basilisk, the monster responsible for petrifying the students. The basilisk attacks Harry, despite his ability to speak Parseltongue; Dumbledore's phoenix, Fawkes, arrives in the nick of time with the Sorting Hat, from which Harry draws out the mystic sword of Godric Gryffindor. Fawkes blinds the basilisk, destroying its fatal gaze, and Harry slays it with the sword. Harry's arm is pierced by the creature's poisonous fang as he kills it, but Fawkes heals Harry with his tears. Harry destroys the diary by stabbing it with one of the basilisk's fangs.
[edit] Resolution
Everyone petrified by the basilisk recovers, from Mrs. Norris on up to Hermione. Ginny recovers. Dumbledore dispels Harry's fears about whether he belongs in Gryffindor or Slytherin when he tells Harry that it is his choices that define him and not his abilities, and that Harry could not have wielded the sword of Gryffindor if he did not truly belong to that house. With Ron and Harry granted two-hundred points each for their adventure, Gryffindor wins the House Cup for the second year in a row. As a school treat, all final exams are cancelled (much to Hermione's dismay; she studied for nothing).
Dobby reveals he is the Malfoys' servant, and knowing their treachery, had been trying to protect Harry all year. Harry realises Lucius Malfoy, Draco's father, slipped the diary into Ginny's cauldron when he encountered the Weasleys in a Diagon Alley bookshop. House elves can only be freed when their masters give them clothing; Harry tricks Malfoy into giving Dobby clothes by hiding his sock in Riddle's diary. Malfoy tosses the sock, still slimy from Harry's battle with the Basilisk, straight into Dobby's hands. Lucius Malfoy attempts to attack Harry but the grateful Dobby, no longer bound to obey the Malfoy family, intervenes and blasts Lucius with a spell. A disheveled Lucius gathers himself and exits Hogwarts, declaring that Harry will soon meet the same end as his parents for his meddling.
[edit] Time frame
Chamber of Secrets is the first book in the series to directly provide a timeframe for the series. Nearly Headless Nick celebrates the 500th anniversary of his death at Halloween, and it is stated that he died in 1492, placing the events of this book during the 1992-93 school year.
[edit] Pre-release history
In the early drafts of this book, the author had the ghost Nearly Headless Nick sing a self-composed song explaining his condition and the circumstances of his death. The material was cut as the book's editor did not care for the poem, although it has been subsequently published as an extra on J. K. Rowling's official website [1]. Another sub-plot cut from Chamber of Secrets was the family background of Dean Thomas, which was removed from the draft because Rowling and her publishers considered it an "unnecessary digression", and she considered Neville Longbottom's own journey of discovery "more important to the central plot"[2].
This book is thematically linked with the sixth book of the series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. In fact, Half-Blood Prince was the working title of Chamber of Secrets and certain "crucial" plot information from that book was intended to be placed in this volume, but Rowling ultimately felt that "this information's proper home was book six"[3]. Several items that later play a role in Half-Blood Prince first make their appearance in Chamber of Secrets, including the Hand of Glory and the opal necklace that appear when Harry is in Borgin & Burkes, Tom Riddle's diary and a Vanishing Cabinet damaged by Peeves the Poltergeist.
First edition printings had several errors, which were fixed in subsequent reprints. This includes Dumbledore saying that Voldemort was the last remaining ancestor of Salazar Slytherin, instead of descendant. In addition, Lockhart's book on werewolves is entitled "Weekends with Werewolves" at one point and “Wanderings with Werewolves” later in the book.
[edit] Editions
- Bloomsbury (United Kingdom, Australia, etc.)
- ISBN 0-7475-3849-2 Hardcover
- ISBN 0-7475-3848-4 Paperback
- ISBN 0-7475-7361-1 Hardcover (adult edition)
- ISBN 0-7475-7448-0 Paperback (adult edition)
- Scholastic (United States, etc.)
- ISBN 0-439-06486-4 Hardcover
- ISBN 0-439-06487-2 Paperback
- Raincoast (Canada, etc.)
- ISBN 1-551-92370-X Paperback
[edit] Translations
[edit] References
[edit] External links
| Harry Potter series | ||
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| Preceded by Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone |
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets 1998 |
Succeeded by Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban |
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