Book: Harry Potter and The Chamber Of Secrets by J K Rowling
Krishna
Yeah, I know. I am reviewing the books out of order. I have reviewed the first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone earlier but also later books Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows. This is only because even though I read those books in order last time, I realized I have not reviewed some here and I am filling in the gaps this time around!
Great start. Harry is feeling sorry for himself. His birthday was completely forgotten by the Dursleys. He had no letter from any of his friends. He then sees a large eye peeking from a bush and goes back into the house. Dursleys have invited important guests and Harry is expected to be invisible, up in his room. He then sees a very penitent odd thing called Dobby who says that he has been taking away all the letters because he does not want the ‘great’ Harry Potter who is ‘generous, good, kind, and brave’ not to go bac to Hogwarts because there is great danger. To top it all, his uncle Vernon discovers that Harry is not supposed to use magic in the Muggle world and gleefully locks him in the room. Hedwig, to the bird’s great frustration, is also locked up in his cage.
Ron comes to see him, He peeks through Harry’s window. They rescue him and take him to Weasley’s house where he enjoys himself. But when they have to go to Diagon Alley, he does not do it right and ends up in the forbidden part called Knocktown Alley. He overhears Malfoy boy and his father making shady deals with a shopkeeper. He is rescued by Hagrid and taken to the Weasleys. When he goes to get his textbooks, the sleazy author of the books tries to pose with the famous Harry Potter and announces that he, Gilderoy Lockhart, will be the new Teacher of The Dark Arts for the new year and teach their class!
The day ends with a physical brawl between Arthur Weasley and Lucius Malfoy, much to the anger of Mrs Weasley.
They go home and then Harry spends a wonderful time there until it is time for school. Now Ginny Weasley also starts going to the same school.
When everyone but Harry and Ron have gone through the magical portal to the Hogwarts train, Ron and Harry attempt to enter together (knowing that there is very little time) but somehow the passage is blocked! They are left behind in the platform!
They hit upon the idea of using the magical car (where magic cannot be used in the Muggle world) to follow the train! They manage to go close to Hogwarts when the car stalls and dies mid air and they crash into a tree in the compound. Annoyed, the tree fights back and hits all over the car!
Finally they get away and go to the school. There Gilderoy Locket’s class is insufferable and his quiz is all about his great achievements and his preferences (colour, preferred gifts etc). But the first clue when he is a charlatan comes in the practicals, where he unleashes Cornish Pixies and could not control them back into the cage! He leaves it to the trio of Ron, Hermione and Harry and runs away.
Meanwhile the Quidditch match happens and Harry is being pursued relentlessly by a charmed Bludger which breaks the bones of his hand but he manages to get the snitch and win the match for Griffindor as he falls and faints. Lockhart ‘volunteers’ to mend his arm and then makes all his bones disappear and sends him off to the Infirmary for proper fix.
Meanwhile Hermione manages to get Lockhart to sign off a special book to be taken from the restricted section. The trio suspect that it is Draco Malfoy who has opened The Chamber of Secrets.
Dobby comes to Potter when he was sick and admits that it was he, Dobby, who had tried to stop Potter by closing the gate at the station and was crestfallen to see that Harry found another way to Hogwarts. He then tried to charm the Bludger to injure Harry, all to see that Harry will go back and not expose himself to the great danger that is about to befall him at Hogwarts.
They decide, when the student Colin is also petrified, that they better stop Malfoy. They plan to create Polyjuice potion that helps them transform into the sidekicks of Draco and go ask him about what mischief he is up to. They manage to make the Polyjuice potion.
In the meanwhile, during Charms class, Harry stops a magically created snake from attacking a defenseless student Justin. The class only saw him speak in tongues and the rumour mill started working overtime : Harry is the heir of the original Slytherine who is a parcelmouth (who could talk to snakes)
When Justin next was petrified, the students started talking that Harry now had a grudge against all non pure magical families and was trying to eliminate everyone except purebloods.
Professor McGonagal takes Harry to Dumbledore’s office. He sees a Pheonix burn itself to ashes and a small bird emerging from it. Dumbledore assures him that he knows Harry did not attack the two (Justin and Nearly Headless Nick, both of whom were petrified).
When they take Polyjuice potion at last, first tying down Crabbe and Goyle (after knocking them unconscious with a doped cake) they discover that things have gone drastically wrong for Hermione. They go meet Malfoy but learn that he too is not the ‘heir of Slytherin’ who is trying to open the Chamber of Secrets but indeed he has no idea who it is.
In the meanwhile he inherits a blank diary from Tom Molvolo Riddle, an earlier student, and learns how to communicate with it. He learns that in Tom’s memory, the person who opened the Chamber of Secrets last time to release a giant spider was none other than young Hagrid!
When Harry next hears the mysterious whisper about ‘Killing’, Hermione gets an inkling and runs away to the library ‘to investigate’. However, Ron and Harry go to Quidditch practice (Ron as audience) when Professor McGonaghal announces that the games are canceled indefinitely. Two more attacks have happened – one of them Hermione, with a mirror next to her. All very puzzling.
Harry thinks it is time to confront Hagrid (even if he is not the culprit this time, he will know where the Chamber of Secrets is and how to open it) and use their invisibility cloak. But when they are in there, a knock comes on the door and they hide under the cloak. Dumbledore comes with the Minister of Magic, the (bumbling) Cornelius Fudge who resolves to take Hagrid to the notorious prison of Azkaban. Behind them comes Lucius Malfoy, informing Dumbledore that he himself has been removed, and a new headmaster will be appointed. Dumbledore agrees to step aside but says he will continue to help as long as there are people who still believe in him.
Hermione suddenly gets an inspiration and runs off to the library. But Harry and Ron find that she has been petrified too, along with another boy and they both are in the infirmary.
Harry and Ron use the invisibility cloak and follow the spiders into the Forbidden forest. There they confront the monster spider Aragog that Hagrid freed so long ago and Aragog confirms that he was released by Hagrid but he was not what was released from the Chamber of Secrets. But he tries to get Harry and Ron fed to his ‘children’ but Ron’s father’s car comes in to save them in the nick of time.
They then go see Hermione and find a paper in her hand which gives a direct clue to what is going on in the school. They realize two things – One : the thing in the Chamber of Horrors is a basilisk. (Which is why spiders run away from there, as Hagrid hinted to them before his arrest). Second, all the petrified students have seen it as a reflection. (Otherwise, a direct look will surely kill you). The boy saw it in the water, the cat saw it through Nearly Headless Nick and Hermione and the boy were found with a mirror near them and must have used it to look around the corner.
And last time, when that creature went out of the Chamber of Horrors, a girl had died in the girl’s bathroom and they realize with a shock that it could be none other than Moaning Myrtle!
What follows is pure magic. They figure out a way in and then Ron is stopped by a cave in of the entrance after Harry goes through.
He meets the person who caused the Chamber of Horrors to open and also the true heir of Slytherin. (They are two different people but I will not spoil the surprise). He also learns who the old student Tim Molvolo Riddle really is.
When all seems lost, when the basilisk is released and Harry cannot even keep his eyes open to confront it – it is death – he loses his wand too to the heir of Slytherin. Unexpectedly and seemingly ineffectively help arrives – in the form of a golden plumed bird and the sorting hat. The heir of Slytherin laughs outright and Harry is certain that this is the end.
Then in a very Rowling-like climax, things start moving and changing and the story ends – of course with Harry alive! And all the victims of the basilisk have now been revived and back
As brilliant as ever and the ability of the author to weave a seamless story with a huge twist in every book is absolutely amazing.
The annoying Professor Flitwick is also gone and the school is out of a Defence of The Dark Arts teacher for a second year in a row!
9/10
— Krishna