Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter, #2)

by J.K. Rowling

Mrs. Weasley was marching across the yard, scattering chickens, and for a short, plump, kind-faced woman, it was remarkable how much she looked like a saber-toothed tiger.

and one of them was the very last person Harry wanted to meet when he was lost, covered in soot, and wearing broken glasses: Draco Malfoy.

“The teachers all have favorites, that Hermione Granger —”

Harry enjoyed the breakneck journey down to the Weasleys’ vault, but felt dreadful, far worse than he had in Knockturn Alley, when it was opened. There was a very small pile of silver Sickles inside, and just one gold Galleon.

The end of the summer vacation came too quickly for Harry’s liking.

Harry couldn’t see how eight people, six large trunks, two owls, and a rat were going to fit into one small Ford Anglia.

opened the trunk and showed him how it had been magically expanded so that the luggage fitted easily.

Harry, Ron, Fred, George, and Percy were all sitting comfortably side by side,

‘wattlebird,’”

manacles

Peeves was the school poltergeist, a grinning, airborne menace who lived to cause havoc and distress.

“Harry! Harry! Did it work?” Nearly Headless Nick came gliding out of a classroom. Behind him, Harry could see the wreckage of a large black-and-gold cabinet that appeared to have been dropped from a great height. “I persuaded Peeves to crash it right over Filch’s office,” said Nick eagerly. “Thought it might distract him —” “Was that you?” said Harry gratefully. “Yeah, it worked, I didn’t even get detention. Thanks, Nick!”

Harry started to clap, too, but stopped quickly at the sight of Nick’s face.

Dean Thomas, who had been sitting with his mouth hanging open, gazing out of the window, jerked out of his trance; Lavender Brown’s head came up off her arms and Neville Longbottom’s elbow slipped off his desk.

Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin.

After a while, there was a serious argument on the subject between Slytherin and Gryffindor, and Slytherin left the school.”

“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.”

acting a werewolf.

“It means,” said Dumbledore, “that the Chamber of Secrets is indeed open again.”

Malfoy raised his wand quickly and bellowed, “Serpensortia!”

Peeves stopped, halfway through a midair somersault. Upside down, he spotted Justin and Nearly Headless Nick. He flipped the right way up, filled his lungs and, before Harry could stop him, screamed, “ATTACK! ATTACK! ANOTHER ATTACK! NO MORTAL OR GHOST IS SAFE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! ATTAAAACK!”

Peeves was bobbing overhead, now grinning wickedly, surveying the scene; Peeves always loved chaos.

At that moment, Hedwig swooped into the room, carrying a very small package in her beak. “Hello,” said Harry happily as she landed on his bed. “Are you speaking to me again?” She nibbled his ear in an affectionate sort of way, which was a far better present than the one that she had brought him,

“Azkaban?” said Harry, puzzled. “Azkaban — the wizard prison, Goyle,” said Malfoy, looking at him in disbelief. “Honestly, if you were any slower, you’d be going backward.”

He was much taller than Harry, but he, too, had jet-black hair.

“No,” said Riddle at once. “I’d much rather stay at Hogwarts than go back to that — to that —” “You live in a Muggle orphanage during the holidays, I believe?” said Dippet curiously. “Yes, sir,” said Riddle, reddening slightly. “You are Muggle-born?” “Half-blood, sir,” said Riddle. “Muggle father, witch mother.”

“Riddle, do you mean you know something about these attacks?” “No, sir,” said Riddle quickly. But Harry was sure it was the same sort of “no” that he himself had given Dumbledore.

“you will find that I will only truly have left this school when none here are loyal to me. You will also find that help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it.”

Ron read the message, swallowed hard, and looked sideways at the empty seat usually filled by Hermione. The sight seemed to stiffen his resolve, and he nodded.

“Open up,” he said. Except that the words weren’t what he heard; a strange hissing had escaped him, and at once the tap glowed with a brilliant white light and began to spin. Next second, the sink began to move; the sink, in fact, sank, right out of sight, leaving a large pipe exposed, a pipe wide enough for a man to slide into.

“Ginny Weasley opened the Chamber of Secrets. She strangled the school roosters and daubed threatening messages on the walls. She set the serpent of Slytherin on four Mudbloods, and the Squib’s cat.”

“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. Dear Tom, Percy keeps telling me I’m pale and I’m not myself. I think he suspects me. . . . There was another attack today and I don’t know where I was. Tom, what am I going to do? I think I’m going mad. . . . I think I’m the one attacking everyone, Tom!”

Tom Riddle, poor but brilliant, parentless but so brave, school prefect, model student . . . on

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

Dobby is free.”

“Proud?” said Harry. “Are you crazy? All those times I could’ve died, and I didn’t manage it? They’ll be furious. . . .”

And together they walked back through the gateway to the Muggle world.