Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets

The small creature with prominent eyes and ears bows and introduces himself as “Dobby the house-elf” (13). Harry recognizes Dobby from the bush in the garden that morning and invites him to sit down. As a slave in a wizarding household, Dobby is overwhelmed by the request. Harry struggles to quiet Dobby’s cries of gratitude as the Dursleys welcome the Masons downstairs.

Dobby expresses admiration for Harry, then warns Harry not to return to Hogwarts, explaining that he will be in “mortal danger” if he does so. Harry asks whether that danger has anything to do with “You-Know-Who,” the customary way of referring to Voldemort; Dobby says it does not. Dobby proves unable to give him any more information since doing so contradicts the wishes of his owners, who would disapprove of his visit to Harry. Throughout the conversation, Dobby compulsively punishes himself for his disobedience with acts of physical violence. When Dobby beats himself with a lamp, the noise attracts the attention of Uncle Vernon, who appears and threatens Harry.

After Uncle Vernon leaves, Harry learns that Dobby stopped Harry from receiving letters from his friends throughout the summer, hoping the lack of communication would lessen Harry’s desire to return to Hogwarts; he offers to give Harry the letters if he promises not to go back. Harry refuses. He chases Dobby down the stairs into the kitchen. Dobby magically suspends Petunia’s large pudding in the air and asks Harry to reconsider. When Harry again refuses, Dobby drops the pudding, which splatters all over Harry and the kitchen, then vanishes.

As Uncle Vernon tries to explain what happened to the Masons, an owl swoops into the kitchen to deliver a letter, as is customary in the wizarding world. The Masons leave without signing a deal. The letter is from the Ministry of Magic, who mistakenly believe that Harry cast the Hover Charm on the pudding. It warns him not to perform any more magic at the risk of expulsion from Hogwarts. Vernon, who was unaware that underage wizards are forbidden to use magic outside of school, locks Harry in his room and bars his windows.

Three days later, in the middle of the night, Harry awakens to find his red-haired friend Ron Weasley outside his bedroom window.

Ron hovers outside Harry’s window in a flying car, along with his elder brothers, Fred and George, who are twins. Ron explains that they heard about the warning Harry received from the Ministry of Magic, where their father works, and decided to pick him up. Fred and George remove the bars from Harry’s window and retrieve his belongings from the cupboard under the stairs where Uncle Vernon locked them. Harry almost forgets Hedwig, who screeches, waking the Dursleys. Uncle Vernon grabs Harry, but Harry breaks free, and he flies away with the Weasleys.

On the way to the Weasley’s home, Harry tells them about Dobby’s warning. They speculate that Dobby’s appearance was a practical joke. Ron also explains that the car belongs to their father, who is fascinated by Muggle technology.

They arrive at the Weasley home, a tall lopsided house in the countryside known as “the Burrow.” Molly Weasley, Ron’s mother, scolds her sons at length for flying the car before welcoming Harry warmly. Inside, Harry notes that magic is commonplace in the Weasley home, including a clock that shows what each family member is up to instead of the time. Ginny, Ron’s sister, briefly appears but flees when she sees Harry, whom she idolizes.

After a quick breakfast, Mrs. Weasley assigns Ron, Fred, and George to clear the garden of gnomes—small, dusty pests. Harry helps. As they finish, Ron’s father, Arthur Weasley, arrives home from a night of work. Mr. Weasley works for the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office, where he seeks to prevent witches and wizards from bewitching Muggle items; as a hobby, he also breaks down and casts spells on Muggle items, such as the flying car, though he stops short of using them, following a loophole in the law.

As Mrs. Weasley confronts Mr. Weasley about the car, Ron leads Harry upstairs to his bedroom, which is covered with posters of Ron’s favorite sports team. Ron is embarrassed, but Harry says, “This is the best house I’ve ever been in” (41).

Over the next few days, Harry adjusts to life at the Burrow, which features a talking mirror and a ghoul in the attic, among other surprises. Ginny remains awkward whenever Harry is around. A week after his arrival, Harry and several of the Weasleys receive letters from Hogwarts detailing the supplies they need for the upcoming school year; each list includes a complete set of books by Gilderoy Lockhart, a handsome wizard celebrity. Ron also receives a letter from Hermione Granger, Harry and Ron’s friend from Hogwarts. In the letter, Hermione disapproves of Ron flying the car and offers to meet them at Diagon Alley, a London commercial center for the magical community, where they can purchase their books and supplies.

Next Wednesday, Harry and the Weasleys travel using Floo powder, which allows them to move between linked fireplaces in the wizarding world. When it is Harry’s turn, he falls out at the wrong fireplace, leaving him at Borgin and Burkes, a shop that sells sinister magical artifacts. Seeing Draco Malfoy, Harry’s rival at Hogwarts, enter the shop with his father, Lucius Malfoy, Harry hides in a nearby cabinet. Harry overhears Mr. Malfoy offer to sell certain sensitive items to the shopkeeper, fearing that the Ministry of Magic might raid his home and discover them.

After the Malfoys leave, Harry leaves the shop to find that he is in the ominous Knockturn Alley. He happens to meet his friend Rubeus Hagrid, an extraordinarily large man who is the gamekeeper at Hogwarts. Hagrid leads him to Diagon Alley, where he reunites with the Weasleys as well as Hermione and her parents, who are Muggles. Together, they visit the goblin-run bank, Gringotts, where Harry is embarrassed to see how little money the Weasleys have compared to his inheritance, though he knows they would never accept money from him.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione enjoy ice cream and wander through the shops. They rejoin the others at Flourish and Blotts, a bookstore, where Mrs. Weasley is waiting in line to get Lockhart’s autograph. When Lockhart sees Harry, he pulls him in for a photo, saying, “Together, you and I are worth the front page” (60) of the wizarding newspaper, the Daily Prophet. He also gives Harry a complete set of his books for free, which Harry gives to Ginny, and he announces that he will be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts.

The Malfoys enter the store; Draco taunts Harry and Ron while his father mocks Mr. Weasley for buying secondhand books. Mr. Malfoy then accuses Mr. Weasley of being a “disgrace to the name of wizard” (62) for spending time with Hermione and her parents. Like Voldemort and his other followers, the Malfoys believe that magical people are superior to Muggles and also to wizards and witches born to non-magical parents, such as Hermione. As Mr. Weasley and Mr. Malfoy begin to fight, knocking over books, Hagrid appears and separates them. Mr. Malfoy returns a secondhand book, which he mocked moments earlier, to Ginny. Harry, the Weasleys, and the Grangers leave the shop and return home.