Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
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Why didn't Harry take a rooster into the Chamber of Secrets?
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i agree, and they weren't that advance to have conjured a rooster. Well they weren't much better in magic, years and years later even, besides it was nothing new. They rushed to save the philosopher's stone in their first year without a concrete plan on how they'd defeat "Snape".









a) they were fresh out of roosters.
b) they were little kids.
c) they were counting on lockhart
d) they panicked and didn't think things through. refer to b
b) they were little kids.
c) they were counting on lockhart
d) they panicked and didn't think things through. refer to b
Goodness, you're right! If only narrative logic had allowed for the convenience of a rooster. That would have made things... well... convenient!


Short answer: Yes, that was a bit stupid.
Longer answer: Yes, and you're right to point it out. There's two major ways of looking at it. Either Rawling knew that and did it on purpose in order to portray the intellectual and/or emotional development of her protagonists, so as readers we're supposed to be a bit exasperated at their youth and thinking, or she threw in some obscure, real world mythological detail in order to give the mystery verisimilitude to our knowledge of legend and dropped the ball a little bit in her presentation. Maybe a little bit of both? I'm inclined to think more the former than the latter. She did kill off the local roosters to resolve that particular issue, but it's pretty debatable how hard it'd be to roust up a rooster or ten if one really wanted.
Personally, I live in the suburbs, but there are a couple places off the top of my head where I could go to at least try to find a rooster within driving distance of my house. It'd probably not be that much more difficult if I lived at a boarding school in a kind of magical shadow dimension, and had a broom to whiz around on.
On the other hand, I'm also not a 12-13-year-old, and facing a giant death serpent with a sword when I could just bring a chicken (one that I had, say, magically controlled so that it would do it's thing on command) is probably not how I'd go about that kind of thing.
As folks have pointed out, there are plot/story reasons why Rawlings would tell the story as she did. Having it end on a cockle-doodle-doo isn't the most satisfying conclusion. I would only add that in a broader sense, as we go through the stories it becomes clear that Harry has certain "trust issues" as it were. He tries not to rely on others, and tends to take things head on. In part, that's because he can't necessarily rely on adults or other students. Some of them aren't who they appear to be. Some lie, some are even disguised as other people. That combined with his own background means Harry trusts very few people. He's often keeps secrets and doesn't necessarily take the wisest, safest, or most reasonable path. That happens a lot in these books. I'm confident that was part of Rawling's intention, and it's meant to fit into her ideas on heroism, bravery and isolation among other things.


"Let's match the power of famous Harry Potter, against the heir of Salazar Slytherin!"
Harry stumbles backwards looking at the dingy floor to avoid the approaching snakes deadly eye's.
"Theres one thing you've forgotten Riddle!" said Harry as the flicker shadow of the beast emerges, the thick coils of its body approaching Riddle. "Basilisks have a fatal enemy..."
Just then Harry pulls out the dangling body of a squirming rooster.
"NOOOOOOO!"
"COCKLEDOOODLE DOOO BITCH!"
The rooster gives out a loud screech and the Basilisk lets out a pitiable hiss, thrashing its great head. With an almighty crash it falls to the ground dead.
"How?" screams Riddle enraged. "I killed all the roosters -- where did you --"
"I asked Professor Dumbledore to make me one before I came down here."
"Oh shit.."
"Yeah.. So, can I have my wand back? I actually told all the teachers to give me five minutes to myself before they come rescue us... Dumbledore will be down here soon.."
"Damn - Yeah, I didn't think you would tell the teachers."
"Why not?"
"I dont know," Riddle hands the wand over and puts a foot back in his journal, preparing to return. "Like -- I mean kinda a pussy thing to do but whatever. Later Potter, see you in the fourth book."
"What?"
Riddle hops back into his book.
The End.

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I know Hagrid's roosters were killed, but it would have been good for Harry to at least address the fact that it would have been useful to have a rooster. And Harry and Ron could have looked for ways to find a new rooster, like conjuring one by magic, for instance. But instead Harry, Ron and Lockheart just walk into the Chamber with no plan or weapon whatsoever; wasn't that a bit stupid???
Thanks