Previous:

1. The Philosopher’s Stone

The Chamber of Secrets

(started June 15th, finished June 25th)

---

Chapter 1: The Worst Birthday.

– The Dursleys are at it again…

Chapter 2: Dobby’s Warning.

– I actually hate Dobby so much, wow.

Chapter 3: The Burrow.

– The Dursleys are just straight up irrational. That would rather Harry stay in their house forever (and deal with him) then have him be gone at Hogwarts 9 months a year. All because they hate magic so much. A bunch of fools, I say.
– So someone sent the elf to Harry. As much as I thoroughly dislike Dobby, I think his warning was sincere. Yes, it could be that he belonged to the Malfoys I mean Dobby did mention that his masters were rather unpleasant. But he insisted that he was doing those things for Harry’s own good. I wonder what will happen at Hogwarts this year…?
– How does the Ministry of Magic detect when underage wizards use magic? It’s clearly inaccurate seeing as they were off the mark.
– Our first look at the wizarding world outside of Hogwarts! Featuring Ron’s house.
– I’m just really glad that Harry has people looking after him now.

Chapter 4: At Flourish and Blotts

– “What Harry found most unusual about life at Ron’s, however, wasn’t the talking mirror or the clanking ghoul: it was the face that everybody there seemed to like him” AWWWWW
– First look at Lucius Malfoy, people really are very weary of the Malfoys huh? In the first book they mentioned that their family was the first to return from the dark side after Voldemort’s defeat, claiming that they were being controlled. I’d love to see what that was like. Were they repentant? Did they return begrudgingly? Cause right now Mr. Malfoy, on top of being very sketchy, is just all around unpleasant.
– The gang is back together and buying their school books! I forgot that Hermione’s parents are muggles.
– Knockturne alley. The black market of the wizard world?

Chapter 5: The Whomping Willow

– “He was looking forward to getting back to Hogwarts, but his month at The Burrow had been the happiest of his life.” 😭😭😭😭 MY BOY
– Okay so I was all about the flying car thing until they got in trouble for it. It’s a really serious thing, huh? Exposing magic to the muggle world. Dumbledore was so disappointed in Harry. I hope the Weasleys aren’t too angry.
– There’s definitely someone trying to stop Harry from getting into Hogwarts. The platform closing for no apparent reason is too strange. Is it Dobby? Or maybe the person that sent him.

Chapter 6: Gilderoy Lockhart

– Gilderoy Lockharthart is exactly the kind of person I expected him to be so far.
– Okay I just wanted to point out a small, insignificant moment that I just absolutely LOVE. “They finished lunch and went outside into the overcast courtyard. Hermione sat down on a stone step and buried her nose in Voyages with Vampires again. Harry and Ron stood talking about Quidditch for several minutes…” These books do such an amazing job of portraying the goings-on of an ordinary school life in a not-so-ordinary world. Reading that passage I was instantly taken back to my school days and with it came a wave of nostalgia. I could see this passage so vividly because I felt it just as vividly. Amazing.
– Gilderoy Lockhart is EXACTLY the kind of person I expected him to be so far.

Chapter 7: Mudbloods and Murmurs

– What the heck was that whisper?! No one else was in the room with Harry other than Gilderoy. I’m starting to get very suspicious…

Chapter 8: The Deathday Party

– Title sounds morbid..
– Mrs. Norris of is dead? This chapter brought up a LOT of questions. What is the chamber of secrets? Who was the voice that Harry heard? And most importantly, what was with Draco’s reaction to the writing on the wall?

Chapter 9: The Writing on the Wall

– Some neat history on Hogwarts. Learning about the Chamber of Secrets, I can’t help but remember the warning Dobby gave Harry.
– I’m not buying this heir of Slytherin business. First off, has it always been straight fact that Slytherins are always horribly unpleasant?
– I don’t think Malfoy is the heir to Slytherin. The train of thought that lead to that assumption was very close to the one that lead to the assumption in the last book that Snape wanted to steal the Philosopher’s Stone.
– Speaking of Snape, I’ve kind of started to take a liking to him. It’s almost endearing, how much he hates Harry. It’s like, yeah he hates his guts, but as seen in the last book we know that he doesn’t want to actually hurt him. It’s a start!

Chapter 10: The Rogue Bludger

– Another instance of Dobby’s meddling here, but it looks like it was very much warranted. I’m starting to sympathize with him as he truly just wants to save Harry. I feel bad for saying I hated him before.
– The chamber of secrets is real! This is bad news. So that means the heir of Slytherin really is at Hogwarts right now!
HALFWAY POINT THOUGHTS: I feel like a running theme from this book and the last one is the main bunch jumping to conclusions for things and only being partly right. They had the right intuition with the chamber of secrets and the heir of slytherin being at the school, but assuming that it’s Draco right off the bat is the wrong direction to take I think.

Another thing is that I feel it’s common sense to believe that Dumbledore is aware of a lot more than he lets on – but it seems like this new development of the chamber of secrets being opened may be new for even him! At any rate it’s cool to have a plot that doesn’t raise suspicions against Harry unnecessarily. Well, for the most part. Pretty sure the teachers and older wizards know that Harry isn’t the heir I think. Just the naive students.

Though that might be me just making an assumption myself. I guess I can’t rule out the fact that the heir of Slytherin could actually be Harry. The Sorting Hat did suggest he go to Slytherin after all. But Harry pretty much already is the “chosen one”. He can’t possibly be two “chosen ones” at the same time right?

Chapter 11: The Dueling Club

– Is it just me or are chapters getting more and more intense?
– So Harry is a parselmouth! Neat tidbit of information that links back to the first book. Assumed that it was simple wizardry that let him talk to that other snake. Snape knew Harry’s dad so I’m guessing his dad wasn’t a parselmouth cause Snape looked at Harry very quizzically when he spoke to the snake. I wouldn’t be surprised if he spoke snake too!!
– I still don’t think Harry is the heir of Slytherin but boy oh boy was I wrong about people not being suspicious of him. Thing is he ended up in such an unbelievable set of circumstances that I wouldn’t be surprised if Dumbledore himself suspects Harry.
– Let’s review the facts: Harry is a parselmouth, something Salazzar Slytherin was famous for. People involved with Harry are being petrified, Justin was scared of the Harry targeting him and hid in the Hufflepuff dormitory only for Harry to tell a group of them that he was looking for Justin, Justin’s petrified body is discovered with Harry at the scene.
– Someone is definitely setting this up.

Chapter 12: The Polyjuice Potion

– I’m telling you, things just keep heating up!!
– Dumbledore knows something. This is one of those cases where there’s a gap in our knowledge that’s just wide enough to be unable to see what’s going on. (1) Harry started to hear a voice that no one else could hear. (2) Students started being attacked. (3) Harry was caught at the scene of the latest victim in a very incriminating manner. (4) Dumbledore calls Harry in to ask him if there’s anything he would like to share with him. It’s probably about the voice Harry has heard as it’s one of the few things Harry hasn’t told anyone that’s most related to the events that are currently unfolding. The question is – what made Dumbledore ask Harry of all people? That’s where the gap comes from.
– I think this is the first time we’ve seen someone from Ravenclaw at all actually.
– It’s common for book series that are a trilogy or longer to start planting the seeds of plot threads in the second book, and there are a fair few things that were laid out here.
– First is the mention of the fact that the chamber of secrets was opened 50 years ago by someone who, till this day, is a prisoner in a place called Azkaban.
– Next is the fact that Lucius Malfoy has dark magic artifacts in his house.
– It’s all but confirmed that the heir is currently at Hogwarts. But who could it be? It surely couldn’t be someone we know already.
– Malfoy still salty about Hermione I see. He really is irredeemably rotten, huh. Expectantly waiting for her to die due to the chamber of secrets.
– Based on Malfoy’s account of the previous time the chamber of secrets was opened, we can kind of deduce that Hogwarts Headmasters aren’t ridiculously powerful and near-omnipotent like I had been assuming. Dumbledore might be exceptionally high ranking but it’s well within the realm of possibility that the current situation isn’t something he can immediately solve.

Chapter 13: The Very Secret Diary

– “Hot all over at the thought of being given a Valentine in front of a queue of first-years, which happened to include Ginny Weasley, Harry tried to escape.” The “which happened to include Ginny Weasley” part. That’s all I’m going to say.
– So a strange thing to note is the fact that Tom Riddle seems very familiar to Harry for some reason.
– Tom Riddle is really cool.
– Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit.
– Hagrid’s the heir of Slytherin! So that’s why he was expelled!
– Though another question remains, who is the prisoner of azkaban?

Chapter 14: Cornelius Fudge

– Things just keep heating up!

– Hermione no 😦
– Dumbledore’s eyes glanced at the invisible Harry and Ron THAT’S THAT TRUE SIGHT BITCH
– Lucius Malfoy must straight up be the most haughty individual. Has no respect for anyone. Except for Voldemort probably.
– Dumbledore’s last words before he left have got to be directed to Harry in some way. I just know it.

Chapter 15: Aragog

– I was so enthralled by this chapter that I stayed up really late to read it and fell asleep while reading it.
– So Hagrid might not actually be the heir after all. Hmmm. So Tom Riddle got the wrong person? Or was HE the real heir of Slytherin after all? It’s up in the air at this point.

Chapter 16: Chamber of Secrets

– Ginny!!
– Something is up with Percy. I should have known! There were strange tellings since the beginning of the book but I foolishly ignored them. My guess is he wants to be the hero and find the heir of Slytherin himself.
– Lockhart really is a doofus huh.
– Is this really the chamber of secrets? I thought only the heir was able to find it. If so, how did Harry just find it?!

Chapter 17: The Heir of Slytherin

– AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH
– Tom Riddle is Voldemort!

Chapter 18: Dobby’s Reward

– Lucius Malfoy that son of a bitch!
– Dumbledore is amazing I would trust him with my life.
– I LOVE DOBBY SO MUCH WOW! The cutest little guy there ever was. And so loyal too!
– Gosh, another book finished and boy did it finish well!

OVERALL SUMMARY

– My first thoughts are that there are SO many plot threads planted throughout this book! I loved the first book because it struck an excellent balance between telling a self-contained story while at the same time ending with such a good launching point for the rest of the series.
– Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets tells a new story that opens new doors for inquiry and mystery. We’ve learned of Azkaban, Voldemort, the history of Hogwarts and so much more.
– Reading the series from Harry’s point of view truly feels like we start off in the middle of London under the stairs with him and the rest of the world outside of life with the Dursleys is clouded in fog. Then the fog gradually starts lifting as we learn about the wizarding world, expanding that little world. Now links between those bits and pieces of information we’ve discovered are starting to appear and I can’t wait for what’s in store!