Harry Potter Read-Along/Discussion [6]

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - Chapters 5 - 8

You'll have to forgive me. I've decided to forego my long recap of several chapters at once. I take it you all have read (and re-read) the books, yes? so I'll stick to a one-to-two paragraph recap of the general events so we can get to the good stuff!

Basically in chapters 5 - 8, Harry and Ron get this brilliant idea to fly the bewitched Ford Anglia to school and get caught, but thankfully not expelled. Harry emeets his biggest fan, Colin Creevey, and avoids Professor Lockhart at all costs. Its also in these few chapters that Harry starts to hear voices in the walls saying things about blood, and killing people, but no one else hears them! After Harry finds out that Filch has been taking mail-order magic lessons, someone (or something) Petrifies Mrs. Norris and writes on the wall that the Chamber of Secrets has been opened and that "mudbloods" will be next.

First and foremost - lets get this out of the way. The scene in chapter 5 when Harry and Ron think its perfectly OK to fly themselves to Hogwarts is probably the most annoying part in the entire series. Did you think it was OK? Cause it totally wasnt. Please, even Harry knew from the start that it was a bad idea. I know that this was a way to further the story and its supposed to be even a little funny, but am I alone here? Just another reason why Hermione is my favorite!!

I mean really guys - you thought this was a good idea?

Harry and his friends attend Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington's deathday party on Halloween, but Nearly Headless Nick  is in low spirits because he cant be admitted to the Headless hunt because of the small bit of flesh (EW) holding his head on. Harry and friends totally try to help him get in by telling the others how scary Nick is. If you were part of the Headless Hunt, would you have considered Sir Nicholas as a member? I dont know about you guys, but blunt axe or not, fair is fair. As bad as I feel for Nick, the other members have got a point - how will he participate in the headless games if he cant take off his head?!

Lets talk about Lockhart for a minute here. I cant even stand that my all time favorite character, Hermione, gets all giggly and defends Lockhart's stupidity. I suppose girls... and even boys can be like that - blind to someone's faults because of their good looks and charm. I mean, I know that the Defense Against Dark Arts position was... taboo or whatever, but I think if the choice was mine, I wouldve taught the darn class myself rather that have that dip teaching my students! Agree?

And finally, at the close of these few chapters, poop really goes down. Harry and friends get caught at the wrong place at the wrong time - as always, it appears! They are right by the stinkin cat right when everyone , including Filch, comes and finds it Petrified. Filch freaks out, understandably, and Snape suggests Harry not be allowed... to play quidditch!? Ok Snape, really, its getting old already. I know Snape had it out for James, I get that, truly. Thank God for McGonagall who basically looks at him and says yeah, right and overrides that decision. Anyways, do you think Harry should've told the adults at that point that he was hearing voices? His friends convince him, and he sort of convinces himself, that hearing voices is not OK. And yes, if Rowling had taken that route, she probably wouldnt have had anyone believe him anyways. Maybe I'm just a big scaredy cat and would go running to a grown up for any little thing, but dont you think he could've saved himself some trouble if he'd come right out and said, "batten down the hatches - theres a voice in the walls!"

Looking forward to hearing from you guys! Are you all re-reading the books too, this summer? Or are you just participating by nostalgic-memory and indulging me in some more HP conversations, lol? Anything you'd like me to talk about next week, or that you'd like to visit from this week's chapters? I love feedback, my friends!

A.