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+
+HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS
+
+
+THE WORST BIRTHDAY
+
+Not for the first time, an argument had broken out over breakfast at
+number four, Privet Drive. Mr. Vernon Dursley had been woken in
+the early hours of the morning by a loud, hooting noise from his
+nephew Harry's room.
+
+"Third time this week!" he roared across the table. "If you can't
+control that owl, it'll have to go!"
+
+Harry tried, yet again, to explain.
+
+"She's bored," he said. "She's used to flying around outside. If I could
+just let her out at night -"
+
+"Do I look stupid?" snarled Uncle Vernon, a bit of fried egg dangling
+from his bushy mustache. "I know what'll happen if that owl's let
+out."
+
+He exchanged dark looks with his wife, Petunia.
+
+Harry tried to argue back but his words were drowned by a long,
+loud belch from the Dursleys' son, Dudley.
+
+1
+
+
+
+"I want more bacon."
+
+"There's more in the frying pan, sweetums," said Aunt Petunia,
+turning misty eyes on her massive son. "We must build you up while
+we've got the chance .... I don't like the sound of that school food
+......
+
+"Nonsense, Petunia, I never went hungry when I was at Smeltings,"
+said Uncle Vernon heartily. "Dudley gets enough, don't you, son?"
+
+Dudley, who was so large his bottom drooped over either side of the
+kitchen chair, grinned and turned to Harry.
+
+"Pass the frying pan."
+
+"You've forgotten the magic word," said Harry irritably.
+
+The effect of this simple sentence on the rest of the family was
+incredible: Dudley gasped and fell off his chair with a crash that
+shook the whole kitchen; Mrs. Dursley gave a small scream and
+clapped her hands to her mouth; Mr. Dursley jumped to his feet,
+veins throbbing in his temples.
+
+"I meant `please'!" said Harry quickly. "I didn't mean -"
+
+"WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU," thundered his uncle, spraying spit
+over the table, "ABOUT SAYING THE `M' WORD IN OUR
+HOUSE?"
+
+"But I -"
+
+"HOW DARE YOU THREATEN DUDLEY!" roared Uncle
+Vernon, pounding the table with his fist.
+
+"I just -"
+
+"I WARNED YOU! I WILL NOT TOLERATE MENTION OF
+YOUR ABNORMALITY UNDER THIS ROOF!"
+
+Harry stared from his purple-faced uncle to his pale aunt, who was
+trying to heave Dudley to his feet.
+
+"All right," said Harry, "all right. . . "
+
+Uncle Vernon sat back down, breathing like a winded rhinoceros and
+watching Harry closely out of the corners of his small, sharp eyes.
+
+Ever since Harry had come home for the summer holidays, Uncle
+Vernon had been treating him like a bomb that might go off at any
+moment, because Harry Potter wasn't a normal boy. As a matter of
+fact, he was as not normal as it is possible to be.
+
+Harry Potter was a wizard - a wizard fresh from his first year at
+Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. And if the Dursleys
+were unhappy to have him back for the holidays, it was nothing to how
+Harry felt.
+
+He missed Hogwarts so much it was like having a constant
+stomachache. He missed the castle, with its secret passageways and
+ghosts, his classes (though perhaps not Snape, the Potions master), the
+mail arriving by owl, eating banquets in the Great Hall, sleeping in his
+four-poster bed in the tower dormitory, visiting the gamekeeper,
+Hagrid, in his cabin next to the Forbidden Forest in the grounds, and,
+especially, Quidditch, the most popular sport in the wizarding world
+(six tall goal posts, four flying balls, and fourteen players on
+broomsticks).
+
+All Harry's spellbooks, his wand, robes, cauldron, and top-of-the-line
+Nimbus Two Thousand broomstick had been locked in a cupboard
+under the stairs by Uncle Vernon the instant Harry had come home.
+What did the Dursleys care if Harry lost his place on the House
+Quidditch team because he hadn't practiced all summer? What was it
+to the Dursleys if Harry went back to school without any of his
+homework done? The Dursleys were what wizards called Muggles
+(not a drop of magical blood in their veins),
+
+and as far as they were concerned, having a wizard in the family was
+a matter of deepest shame. Uncle Vernon had even padlocked
+Harry's owl, Hedwig, inside her cage, to stop her from carrying
+messages to anyone in the wizarding world.
+
+Harry looked nothing like the rest of the family. Uncle Vernon was
+large and neckless, with an enormous black mustache; Aunt Petunia
+was horse-faced and bony; Dudley was blond, pink, and porky. Harry,
+on the other hand, was small and skinny, with brilliant green eyes and
+jet-black hair that was always untidy. He wore round glasses, and on
+his forehead was a thin, lightning-shaped scar.
+
+It was this scar that made Harry so particularly unusual, even for a
+wizard. This scar was the only hint of Harry's very mysterious past, of
+the reason he had been left on the Dursleys' doorstep eleven years
+before.
+
+At the age of one year old, Harry had somehow survived a curse from
+the greatest Dark sorcerer of all time, Lord Voldemort, whose name
+most witches and wizards still feared to speak. Harry's parents had
+died in Voldemort's attack, but Harry had escaped with his lightning
+scar, and somehow - nobody understood why Voldemort's powers had
+been destroyed the instant he had failed to kill Harry.
+
+So Harry had been brought up by his dead mother's sister and her
+husband. He had spent ten years with the Dursleys, never
+understanding why he kept making odd things happen without meaning
+to, believing the Dursleys' story that he had got his scar in the car
+crash that had killed his parents.
+
+And then, exactly a year ago, Hogwarts had written to Harry,
+
+and the whole story had come out. Harry had taken up his place at
+wizard school, where he and his scar were famous ... but now the
+school year was over, and he was back with the Dursleys for the
+summer, back to being treated like a dog that had rolled in something
+smelly.
+
+The Dursleys hadn't even remembered that today happened to be
+Harry's twelfth birthday. Of course, his hopes hadn't been high; they'd
+never given him a real present, let alone a cake - but to ignore it
+completely ...
+
+At that moment, Uncle Vernon cleared his throat importantly and said,
+"Now, as we all know, today is a very important day."
+
+Harry looked up, hardly daring to believe it.
+
+"This could well be the day I make the biggest deal of my career, "
+said Uncle Vernon.
+
+	Harry went back to his toast. Of course, he thought bitterly, Un
+cle Vernon was talking about the stupid dinner party. He'd been talk
+ing of nothing else for two weeks. Some rich builder and his wife
+were coming to dinner and Uncle Vernon was hoping to get a huge
+order from him (Uncle Vernon's company made drills).
+
+"I think we should run through the schedule one more time," said
+Uncle Vernon. "We should all be in position at eight o'clock. Petunia,
+you will be -?"
+
+"In the lounge," said Aunt Petunia promptly, "waiting to welcome them
+graciously to our home."
+
+"Good, good. And Dudley?"
+
+"I'll be waiting to open the door." Dudley put on a foul, simpering
+smile. "May I take your coats, Mr. and Mrs. Mason?"
+
+"They'll love him!" cried Aunt Petunia rapturously.
+
+"Excellent, Dudley," said Uncle Vernon. Then he rounded on Harry.
+"And you?"
+
+"I'll be in my bedroom, making no noise and pretending I'm not
+there," said Harry tonelessly.
+
+"Exactly," said Uncle Vernon nastily. "I will lead them into the
+lounge, introduce you, Petunia, and pour them -drinks. At eight-
+fifteen -"
+
+"I'll announce dinner," said Aunt Petunia.
+
+"And, Dudley, you'll say -"
+
+"May I take you through to the dining room, Mrs. Mason?" said
+Dudley, offering his fat arm to an invisible woman.
+
+"My perfect little gentleman!" sniffed Aunt Petunia.
+
+"And you?" said Uncle Vernon viciously to Harry.
+
+"I'll be in my room, making no noise and pretending I'm not there,"
+said Harry dully.
+
+"Precisely. Now, we should aim to get in a few good compliments at
+dinner. Petunia, any ideas?"
+
+"Vernon tells me you're a wonderful golfer, Mr. Mason.... Do tell me
+where you bought your dress, Mrs. Mason ......
+
+"Perfect. . . Dudley?"
+
+"How about -'We had to write an essay about our hero at school,
+Mr. Mason, and I wrote about you."'
+
+This was too much for both Aunt Petunia and Harry. Aunt Petunia
+burst into tears and hugged her son, while Harry ducked under the
+table so they wouldn't see him laughing.
+
+"And you, boy?"
+
+Harry fought to keep his face straight as he emerged.
+
+"I'll be in my room, making no noise and pretending I'm not there,"
+he said.
+
+"Too right, you will," said Uncle Vernon forcefully. "The Ma
+sons don't know anything about you and it's going to stay that way.
+When dinner's over, you take Mrs. Mason back to the lounge for
+coffee, Petunia, and I'll bring the subject around to drills. With any
+luck, I'll have the deal signed and sealed before the news at ten.
+be shopping for a vacation home in Majorca this time to
+morrow.
+Harry couldn't feel too excited about this. He didn't think the
+Dursleys would like him any better in Majorca than they did on
+Privet Drive.
+"Right - I'm off into town to pick up the dinner jackets for
+Dudley and me. And you," he snarled at Harry. "You stay out of
+your aunt's way while she's cleaning."
+Harry left through the back door. It was a brilliant, sunny day.
+He crossed the lawn, slumped down on the garden bench, and sang
+under his breath:
+"Happy birthday to me ... happy birthday to me. . .
+No cards, no presents, and he would be spending the evening
+pretending not to exist. He gazed miserably into the hedge. He had
+never felt so lonely. More than anything else at Hogwarts, more
+even than playing Quidditch, Harry missed his best friends, Ron
+Weasley and Hermione Granger. They, however, didn't seem to be
+missing him at all. Neither of them had written to him all summer,
+even though Ron had said he was going to ask Harry to come and
+stay.
+Countless times, Harry had been on the point of unlocking
+Hedwig's cage by magic and sending her to Ron and Hermione
+with a letter, but it wasn't worth the risk. Underage wizards weren't
+allowed to use magic outside of school. Harry hadn't told the
+
+Dursleys this; he knew it was only their terror that he might turn them
+all into dung beetles that stopped them from locking him in the
+cupboard under the stairs with his wand and broomstick. For the first
+couple of weeks back, Harry had enjoyed muttering nonsense words
+under his breath and watching Dudley tearing out of the room as fast
+as his fat legs would carry him. But the long silence from Ron and
+Hermione had made Harry feel so cut off from the magical world that
+even taunting Dudley had lost its appeal - and now Ron and Hermione
+had forgotten his birthday.
+
+What wouldn't he give now for a message from Hogwarts? From any
+witch or wizard? He'd almost be glad of a sight of his archenemy,
+Draco Malfoy, just to be sure it hadn't all been a dream ....
+
+Not that his whole year at Hogwarts had been fun. At the very end of
+last term, Harry had come face-to-face with none other than Lord
+Voldemort himself. Voldemort might be a ruin of his former self, but
+he was still terrifying, still cunning, still determined to regain power.
+Harry had slipped through Voldemort's clutches for a second time, but
+it had been a narrow escape, and even now, weeks later, Harry kept
+waking in the night, drenched in cold sweat, wondering where
+Voldemort was now, remembering his livid face, his wide, mad eyes
+
+Harry suddenly sat bolt upright on the garden bench. He had been
+staring absent-mindedly into the hedge - and the hedge was staring back.
+Two enormous green eyes had appeared among the leaves.
+
+Harry jumped to his feet just as a jeering voice floated across the
+lawn.
+
+"I know what day it is," sang Dudley, waddling toward him.
+
+The huge eyes blinked and vanished.
+
+"What?" said Harry, not taking his eyes off the spot where they had
+been.
+
+"I know what day it is," Dudley repeated, coming right up to him.
+
+"Well done," said Harry. "So you've finally learned the days of the
+week."
+
+"Today's your birthday," sneered Dudley. "How come you haven't got
+any cards? Haven't you even got friends at that freak place?"
+
+"Better not let your mum hear you talking about my school," said
+Harry coolly.
+
+Dudley hitched up his trousers, which were slipping down his fat
+bottom.
+
+"Why're you staring at the hedge?" he said suspiciously.
+
+	" I , m trying to decide what would be the best spell to set it on
+fire," said Harry.
+
+Dudley stumbled backward at once, a look of panic on his fat face.
+
+"You c-can't - Dad told you you're not to do m-magic - he said he'll
+chuck you out of the house - and you haven't got anywhere else to go -
+you haven't got any friends to take you -"
+
+"Jiggery pokery!" said Harry in a fierce voice. "Hocus pocus squiggly
+wiggly -"
+
+"MUUUUUUM!" howled Dudley, tripping over his feet as he dashed
+back toward the house. "MUUUUM! He's doing you know what!"
+
+Harry paid dearly for his moment of fun. As neither Dudley nor
+
+the hedge was in any way hurt, Aunt Petunia knew he hadn't really
+done magic, but he still had to duck as she aimed a heavy blow at his
+head with the soapy frying pan. Then she gave him work to do, with
+the promise he wouldn't eat again until he'd finished.
+
+While Dudley lolled around watching and eating ice cream, Harry
+cleaned the windows, washed the car, mowed the lawn, trimmed the
+flowerbeds, pruned and watered the roses, and repainted the garden
+bench. The sun blazed overhead, burning the back of his neck. Harry
+knew he shouldn't have risen to Dudley's bait, but Dudley had said
+the very thing Harry had been thinking himself... maybe he didn't have
+any friends at Hogwarts ....
+
+Wish they could see famous Harry Potter now, he thought savagely as he
+spread manure on the flower beds, his back aching, sweat running
+down his face.
+
+It was half past seven ,in the evening when at last, exhausted, he
+heard Aunt Petunia calling him.
+
+"Get in here! And walk on the newspaper!"
+
+Harry moved gladly into the shade of the gleaming kitchen. On top of
+the fridge stood tonight's pudding: a huge mound of whipped cream
+and sugared violets. A loin of roast pork was sizzling in the oven.
+
+"Eat quickly! The Masons will be here soon!" snapped Aunt Petunia,
+pointing to two slices of bread and a lump of cheese on the kitchen
+table. She was already wearing a salmon-pink cocktail dress.
+
+Harry washed his hands and bolted down his pitiful supper. The
+moment he had finished, Aunt Petunia whisked away his plate.
+"Upstairs! Hurry!"
+
+As he passed the door to the living room, Harry caught a
+glimpse of Uncle Vernon and Dudley in bow ties and dinner jack
+ets. He had only just reached the upstairs landing when the door
+bell rang and Uncle Vernon's furious face appeared at the foot of
+the stairs.
+"Remember, boy - one sound -"
+Harry crossed to his bedroom on tiptoe slipped inside, closed
+the door, and turned to collapse on his bed.
+The trouble was, there was already someone sitting on it.
+
+C H-H A P T E RR		T W o
+
+I
+
+DOBBY'S WARNING
+
+arry managed not to shout out, but it was a close thing. The little
+creature on the bed had large, bat-like ears and bulging green eyes the
+size of tennis balls. Harry knew instantly that this was what had been
+watching him out of the garden hedge that morning.
+
+As they stared at each other, Harry heard Dudley's voice from the hall.
+
+"May I take your coats, Mr. and Mrs. Mason?"
+
+The creature slipped off the bed and bowed so low that the end of its
+long, thin nose touched the carpet. Harry noticed that it was wearing
+what looked like an old pillowcase, with rips for arm- and leg-holes.
+
+"Er - hello," said Harry nervously.
+
+"Harry Potter!" said the creature in a high-pitched voice Harry was
+sure would carry down the stairs. "So long has Dobby wanted to meet
+you, sir ... Such an honor it is . . . ."
+
+
+
+"Th-thank you," said Harry, edging along the wall and sinking into his
+desk chair, next to Hedwig, who was asleep in her large cage. He
+wanted to ask, "What are you?" but thought it would sound too rude,
+so instead he said, "Who are you?"
+
+"Dobby, sir. Just Dobby. Dobby the house-elf," said the creature.
+
+"Oh - really?" said Harry. "Er - I don't want to be rude or anything,
+but - this isn't a great time for me to have a house-elf in my
+bedroom."
+
+Aunt Petunias high, false laugh sounded from the living room. The elf
+hung his head.
+
+"Not that I'm not pleased to meet you," said Harry quickly, "but, er,
+is there any particular reason you're here?"
+
+"Oh, yes, sir," said Dobby earnestly. "Dobby has come to tell you,
+sir ... it is difficult, sir ... Dobby wonders where to begin . . . ."
+
+"Sit down," said Harry politely, pointing at the bed.
+
+To his horror, the elf burst into tears - very noisy tears.
+
+"S-sit down!" he wailed. "Never ... never ever. . . "
+
+Harry thought he heard the voices downstairs falter.
+
+"I'm sorry," he whispered, "I didn't mean to offend you or anything -"
+
+"Offend Dobby!" choked the elf. "Dobby has never been asked to sit
+down by a wizard - like an equal-"
+
+Harry, trying to say "Shh!" and look comforting at the same time,
+ushered Dobby back onto the bed where he sat hiccoughing, looking
+like a large and very ugly doll. At last he managed to control himself,
+and sat with his great eyes fixed on Harry in an expression of watery
+adoration.
+
+"You can't have met many decent wizards," said Harry, trying to
+cheer him up.
+
+Dobby shook his head. Then, without warning, he leapt up and
+started banging his head furiously on the window, shouting, "Bad
+Dobby! Bad Dobby!"
+
+"Don't - what are you doing?" Harry hissed, springing up and pulling
+Dobby back onto the bed - Hedwig had woken up with a
+particularly loud screech and was beating her wings wildly against the
+bars of her cage.
+
+"Dobby had to punish himself, sir," said the elf, who had gone slightly
+cross-eyed. "Dobby almost spoke ill of his family, sir . . . ."
+
+"Your family?"
+
+"The wizard family Dobby serves, sir... DOBBY'S is a houseelf -
+bound to serve one house and one family forever . .....
+
+"Do they know you're here?" asked Harry curiously.
+
+Dobby shuddered.
+
+"Oh, no, sir, no ... Dobby will have to punish himself most grievously
+for coming to see you, sir. Dobby will have to shut his ears in the
+oven door for this. If they ever knew, sir _"
+
+"But won't they notice if you shut your ears in the oven door?"
+
+"Dobby doubts it, sir. Dobby is always having to punish himself for
+something, sir. They lets Dobby get on with it, sir. Sometimes they
+reminds me to do extra punishments ......
+
+"But why don't you leave? Escape?"
+
+"A house-elf must be set free, sir. And the family will never set
+Dobby free ... Dobby will serve the family until he dies, sir . . . ."
+
+Harry stared.
+
+"And I thought I had it bad staying here for another four weeks,"
+
+he said. "This makes the Dursleys sound almost human. Can't anyone
+help you? Can't I?"
+
+Almost at once, Harry wished he hadn't spoken. Dobby dissolved again
+into wails of gratitude.
+
+"Please," Harry whispered frantically, "please be quiet. If the Dursleys
+hear anything, if they know you're here -"
+
+"Harry Potter asks if he can help Dobby ... Dobby has heard of your
+greatness, sir, but of your goodness, Dobby never knew . .....
+
+Harry, who was feeling distinctly hot in the face, said, "Whatever
+you've heard about my greatness is a load of rubbish. I'm not even top
+of my year at Hogwarts; that's Hermione, she -"
+
+But he stopped quickly, because thinking about Hermione was painful.
+
+"I-Tarry Potter is humble and modest," said Dobby reverently, his orb-
+like eyes aglow. "Harry Potter speaks not of his triumph over He-Who-
+Must-Not-Be-Named -"
+
+"Voldemort?" said Harry.
+
+Dobby clapped his hands over his bat ears and moaned, "Ah, speak not
+the name, sir! Speak not the name!"
+
+"Sorry" said Harry quickly. "I know lots of people don't like it. My
+friend Ron -"
+
+He stopped again. Thinking about Ron was painful, too.
+
+Dobby leaned toward Harry, his eyes wide as headlights.
+
+'Dobby heard tell," he said hoarsely, "that Harry Potter met the Dark
+Lord for a second time just weeks ago ... that Harry Potter escaped
+Yet again. "
+
+Harry nodded and Dobby's eyes suddenly shone with tears.
+
+,Ah, sir," he gasped, dabbing his face with a corner of the grubby
+
+pillowcase he was wearing. "Harry Potter is valiant and bold! He has
+braved so many dangers already! But Dobby has come to protect
+Harry Potter, to warn him, even if he does have to shut his ears in
+the oven door later... Harry Potter must notgo back to Hogwarts."
+
+There was a silence broken only by the chink of knives and forks
+from downstairs and the distant rumble of Uncle Vernon's voice.
+
+"W-what?" Harry stammered. "But I've got to go back - term starts
+on September first. It's all that's keeping me going. You don't know
+what it's like here. I don't belong here. I belong in your world - at
+Hogwarts."
+
+"No, no, no," squeaked Dobby, shaking his head so hard his ears
+flapped. "Harry Potter must stay where he is safe. He is too great,
+too good, to lose. If Harry Potter goes back to Hogwarts, he will be
+in mortal danger."
+
+"Why?" said Harry in surprise.
+
+"There is a plot, Harry Potter. A plot to make most terrible things
+happen at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year,"
+whispered Dobby, suddenly trembling all over. "Dobby has known it
+for months, sir. Harry Potter must not put himself in peril. He is too
+important, sir!"
+
+"What terrible things?" said Harry at once. "Who's plotting them?"
+
+Dobby made a funny choking noise and then banged his head
+frantically against the wall.
+
+"All right!" cried Harry, grabbing the elf's arm to stop him. "You can't
+tell me. I understand. But why are you warning me?" A sudden,
+unpleasant thought struck him. "Hang on - this hasn't got anything to
+do with Vol- - sorry - with You-Know-Who, has it?
+
+You could just shake or nod," he added hastily as Dobby's head
+tilted worryingly close to the wall again.
+
+Slowly, Dobby shook his head.
+
+"Not -not He- Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, sir ='
+
+But Dobby's eyes were wide and he seemed to be trying to give
+Harry a hint. Harry, however, was completely lost.
+
+"He hasn't got a brother, has he?"
+
+Dobby shook his head, his eyes wider than ever.
+
+"Well then, I can't think who else would have a chance of making
+horrible things happen at Hogwarts," said Harry. "I mean, there's
+Dumbledore, for one thing - you know who Dumbledore is, don't
+you?"
+
+Dobby bowed his head.
+
+"Albus Dumbledore is the greatest headmaster Hogwarts has ever
+had. Dobby knows it, sir. Dobby has heard Dumbledore's powers
+rival those of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named at the height of his
+strength. But, sir" - Dobby's voice dropped to an urgent whisper -
+"there are powers Dumbledore doesn't ... powers no decent wizard.
+. ."
+
+And before Harry could stop him, Dobby bounded off the bed,
+seized Harry's desk lamp, and started beating himself around the
+head with earsplitting yelps.
+
+A sudden silence fell downstairs. Two seconds later Harry, heart
+thudding madly, heard Uncle Vernon coming into the hall, calling,
+"Dudley must have left his television on again, the little tyke!"
+
+"Quick! In the closet!" hissed Harry, stuffing Dobby in, shutting the
+door, and flinging himself onto the bed just as the door handle turned.
+
+"What - the - devil - are - you - doing?" said Uncle Vernon through
+gritted teeth, his face horribly close to Harry's. "You've just ruined the
+punch line of my Japanese golfer joke .... One more sound and you'll
+wish you'd never been born, boy!"
+
+He stomped flat-footed from the room.
+
+Shaking, Harry let Dobby out of the closet.
+
+"See what it's like here?" he said. "See why I've got to go back to
+Hogwarts? It's the only place I've got -well, I think I've got friends. "
+
+"Friends who don't even write to Harry Potter?" said Dobby slyly.
+
+"I expect they've just been - wait a minute," said Harry, frowning.
+"How do you know my friends haven't been writing to me?"
+
+Dobby shuffled his feet.
+
+"Harry Potter mustn't be angry with Dobby. Dobby did it for the best -
+"
+
+"Have you been stopping my letters?"
+
+"Dobby has them here, sir," said the elf. Stepping nimbly out of Harry's
+reach, he pulled a thick wad of envelopes from the inside of the
+pillowcase he was wearing. Harry could make out Hermione's neat
+writing, Ron's untidy scrawl, and even a scribble that looked as though
+it was from the Hogwarts gamekeeper, Hagrid.
+
+Dobby blinked anxiously up at Harry.
+
+"Harry Potter mustn't be angry... Dobby hoped ... if Harry Potter
+thought his friends had forgotten him ... Harry Potter might not want to
+go back to school, sir . .....
+
+Harry wasn't listening. He made a grab for the letters, but Dobby
+jumped out of reach.
+
+"Harry Potter will have them, sir, if he gives Dobby his word
+
+that he will not return to Hogwarts. Ah, sir, this is a danger you must
+not face! Say you won't go back, sir!"
+
+"No," said Harry angrily. "Give me my friends' letters!"
+
+"Then Harry Potter leaves Dobby no choice," said the elf sadly.
+
+Before Harry could move, Dobby had darted to the bedroom door,
+pulled it open, and sprinted down the stairs.
+
+Mouth dry, stomach lurching, Harry sprang after him, trying not to
+make a sound. He jumped the last six steps, landing catlike on the
+hall carpet, looking around for Dobby. From the dining room he
+heard Uncle Vernon saying, ". . . tell Petunia that very funny story
+about those American plumbers, Mr. Mason. She's been dying to
+hear. . . "
+
+Harry ran up the hall into the kitchen and felt his stomach disappear.
+
+Aunt Petunia's masterpiece of a pudding, the mountain of cream and
+sugared violets, was floating up near the ceiling. On top of a
+cupboard in the corner crouched Dobby.
+
+"No," croaked Harry. "Please ... they'll kill me ......
+
+"Harry Potter must say he's not going back to school -"
+
+"Dobby ... please ...
+
+"Say it, sir -"
+
+"I can't -"
+
+Dobby gave him a tragic look.
+
+"Then Dobby must do it, sir, for Harry Potter's own good."
+
+The pudding fell to the floor with a heart-stopping crash. Cream
+splattered the windows and walls as the dish shattered. With a crack
+like a whip, Dobby vanished.
+
+There were screams from the dining room and Uncle Vernon
+
+burst into the kitchen to find Harry, rigid with shock, covered from head
+to foot in Aunt Petunias pudding.
+
+At first, it looked as though Uncle Vernon would manage to gloss the
+whole thing over. ("Just our nephew - very disturbed
+
+	meeting strangers upsets him, so we kept him upstairs 	) He
+
+shooed the shocked Masons back into the dining room, promised
+Harry he would flay him to within an inch of his life when the Ma
+sons had left, and handed him a mop. Aunt Petunia dug some ice
+cream out of the freezer and Harry, still shaking, started scrubbing
+the kitchen clean.
+
+Uncle Vernon might still have been able to make his deal - if it hadn't
+been for the owl.
+
+Aunt Petunia was just passing around a box of after-dinner mints when
+a huge barn owl swooped through the dining room window, dropped a
+letter on Mrs. Mason's head, and swooped out again. Mrs. Mason
+screamed like a banshee and ran from the house shouting about
+lunatics. Mr. Mason stayed just long enough to tell the Dursleys that his
+wife was mortally afraid of birds of all shapes and sizes, and to ask
+whether this was their idea of a joke.
+
+Harry stood in the kitchen, clutching the mop for support, as Uncle
+Vernon advanced on him, a demonic glint in his tiny eyes.
+
+"Read it!" he hissed evilly, brandishing the letter the owl had delivered.
+"Go on - read it!"
+
+Harry took it. It did not contain birthday greetings.
+
+Dear Mr. Potter,
+
+We have received intelligence that a Hover Charm was used at your
+place of residence this evening at twelve minutes past nine.
+
+As you know, underage wizards are not permitted to perform spells
+outside school, and further spellwork on your part may lead to
+expulsion from said school (Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of
+Underage Sorcery, 1875, Paragraph C).
+
+We would also ask you to remember that any magical activity that
+risks notice by members of the non-magical community (Muggles) is
+a serious offense under section 13 of the International Confederation
+of Warlocks' Statute of Secrecy.
+
+Enjoy your holidays! Yours sincerely,
+
+Mafalda Hopkirk
+
+IMPROPER USE OF MAGIC OFFICE
+
+Ministry of Magic
+
+Harry looked up from the letter and gulped.
+
+"You didn't tell us you weren't allowed to use magic outside school,"
+said Uncle Vernon, a mad gleam dancing in his eyes. "For got to
+mention it .... Slipped your mind, I daresay .....
+
+He was bearing down on Harry like a great bulldog, all his teeth
+bared. "Well, I've got news for you, boy . ... I'm locking you up ....
+You're never going back to that school ... never ... and if you try and
+magic yourself out - they'll expel you!"
+
+And laughing like a maniac, he dragged Harry back upstairs.
+
+Uncle Vernon was as bad as his word. The following morning,
+
+
+
+he paid a man to fit bars on Harry's window. He himself fitted a cat-
+flap in the bedroom door, so that small amounts of food could be
+pushed inside three times a day. They let Harry out to use the
+bathroom morning and evening. Otherwise, he was locked in his room
+around the clock.
+
+Three days later, the Dursleys were showing no sign of relenting, and
+Harry couldn't see any way out of his situation. He lay on his bed
+watching the sun sinking behind the bars on the window and wondered
+miserably what was going to happen to him.
+
+What was the good of magicking himself out of his room if Hogwarts
+would expel him for doing it? Yet life at Privet Drive had reached an
+all-time low. Now that the Dursleys knew they weren't going to wake
+up as fruit bats, he had lost his only weapon. Dobby might have saved
+Harry from horrible happenings at Hogwarts, but the way things were
+going, he'd probably starve to death anyway.
+
+The cat-flap rattled and Aunt Petunias hand appeared, pushing a bowl
+of canned soup into the room. Harry, whose insides were aching with
+hunger, jumped off his bed and seized it. The soup was stone-cold, but
+he drank half of it in one gulp. Then he crossed the room to Hedwig's
+cage and tipped the soggy vegetables at the bottom of the bowl into
+her empty food tray. She ruffled her feathers and gave him a look of
+deep disgust.
+
+"It's no good turning your beak up at it - that's all we've got," said
+Harry grimly.
+
+He put the empty bowl back on the floor next to the cat-flap and lay
+back down on the bed, somehow even hungrier than he had been
+before the soup.
+
+Supposing he was still alive in another four weeks, what would happen
+if he didn't turn up at Hogwarts? Would someone be sent to see why
+he hadn't come back? Would they be able to make the Dursleys let
+him go?
+
+The room was growing dark. Exhausted, stomach rumbling, mind
+spinning over the same unanswerable questions, Harry fell into an
+uneasy sleep.
+
+He dreamed that he was on show in a zoo, with a card reading
+UNDERAGE WIZARD attached to his cage. People goggled through the bars
+at him as he lay, starving and weak, on a bed of straw. He saw
+Dobby's face in the crowd and shouted out, asking for help, but Dobby
+called, "Harry Potter is safe there, sir!" and vanished. Then the
+Dursleys appeared and Dudley rattled the bars of the cage, laughing at
+him.
+
+"Stop it," Harry muttered as the rattling pounded in his sore head.
+"Leave me alone ... cut it out ... I'm trying to sleep . . . ."
+
+He opened his eyes. Moonlight was shining through the bars on the
+window. And someone was goggling through the bars at him: a freckle-
+faced, red-haired, long-nosed someone.
+
+Ron Weasley was outside Harry's window.
+
+H-H A P T E RR T 11-H RR E E
+
+THE BURROW
+
+Ron.l" breathed Harry, creeping to the window and pushing it up so
+they could talk through the bars. "Ron, how did you - What the -?"
+
+Harry's mouth fell open as the full impact of what he was seeing hit
+him. Ron was leaning out of the back window of an old turquoise car,
+which was parked in midair Grinning at Harry from the front seats
+were Fred and George, Ron's elder twin brothers.
+
+"All right, Harry?" asked George.
+
+"What's been going on?" said Ron. "Why haven't you been answering
+my letters? I've asked you to stay about twelve times, and then Dad
+came home and said you'd got an official warning for using magic in
+front of Muggles -"
+
+"It wasn't me - and how did he know?"
+
+"He works for the Ministry," said Ron. "You know we're not supposed
+to do spells outside school -"
+
+
+
+"You should talk," said Harry, staring at the floating car.
+
+"Oh, this doesn't count," said Ron. "We're only borrowing this. It's
+Dad's, we didn't enchant it. But doing magic in front of those Muggles
+you live with -"
+
+"I told you, I didn't - but it'll take too long to explain now look, can you
+tell them at Hogwarts that the Dursleys have locked me up and won't
+let me come back, and obviously I can't magic myself out, because the
+Ministry'Il think that's the second spell I've done in three days, so -"
+
+"Stop gibbering," said Ron. "We've come to take you home with us."
+
+"But you can't magic me out either -"
+
+"We don't need to," said Ron, jerking his head toward the front seat
+and grinning. "You forget who I've got with me."
+
+"Tie that around the bars," said Fred, throwing the end of a rope to
+Harry.
+
+"If the Dursleys wake up, I'm dead," said Harry as he tied the rope
+tightly around a bar and Fred revved up the car.
+
+"Don't worry," said Fred, "and stand back."
+
+Harry moved back into the shadows next to Hedwig, who seemed to
+have realized how important this was and kept still and silent. The car
+revved louder and louder and suddenly, with a crunching noise, the
+bars were pulled clean out of the window as Fred drove straight up in
+the air. Harry ran back to the window to see the bars dangling a few
+feet above the ground. Panting, Ron hoisted them up into the car.
+Harry listened anxiously, but there was no sound from the Dursleys'
+bedroom.
+
+When the bars were safely in the back seat with Ron, Fred reversed
+as close as possible to Harry's window.
+
+"Get in," Ron said.
+
+"But all my Hogwarts stuff - my wand - my broomstick -"
+
+"Where is it?"
+
+"Locked in the cupboard under the stairs, and I can't get out of this
+room -"
+
+"No problem," said George from the front passenger seat. "Out of
+the way, Harry."
+
+Fred and George climbed catlike through the window into Harry's
+room. You had to hand it to them, thought Harry, as George took an
+ordinary hairpin from his pocket and started to pick the lock.
+
+"A lot of wizards think it's a waste of time, knowing this sort of
+Muggle trick," said Fred, "but we feel they're skills worth learning,
+even if they are a bit slow."
+
+There was a small click and the door swung open.
+
+"So - we'll get your trunk - you grab anything you need from your
+room and hand it out to Ron," whispered George.
+
+"Watch out for the bottom stair - it creaks," Harry whispered back
+as the twins disappeared onto the dark landing.
+
+Harry dashed around his room, collecting his things and passing them
+out of the window to Ron. Then he went to help Fred and George
+heave his trunk up the stairs. Harry heard Uncle Vernon cough.
+
+At last, panting, they reached the landing, then carried the trunk
+through Harry's room to the open window. Fred climbed back into
+the car to pull with Ron, and Harry and George pushed from the
+bedroom side. Inch by inch, the trunk slid through the window.
+
+Uncle Vernon coughed again.
+
+"A bit more," panted Fred, who was pulling from inside the car.
+"One good push -"
+
+Harry and George threw their shoulders against the trunk and it slid
+out of the window into the back seat of the car.
+
+"Okay, let's go," George whispered.
+
+But as Harry climbed onto the windowsill there came a sudden loud
+screech from behind him, followed immediately by the thunder of
+Uncle Vernon's voice.
+
+"THAT RUDDY OWL!"
+
+"I've forgotten Hedwig!"
+
+Harry tore back across the room as the landing light clicked on - he
+snatched up Hedwig's cage, dashed to the window, and passed it
+out to Ron. He was scrambling back onto the chest of drawers when
+Uncle Vernon hammered on the unlocked door and it crashed open.
+
+For a split second, Uncle Vernon stood framed in the doorway; then
+he let out a bellow like an angry bull and dived at Harry, grabbing
+him by the ankle.
+
+Ron, Fred, and George seized Harry's arms and pulled as hard as
+they could.
+
+"Petunia!" roared Uncle Vernon. "He's getting away! HE'S
+GETTING AWAY!"
+
+But the Weasleys gave a gigantic tug and Harry's leg slid out of
+Uncle Vernon's grasp - Harry was in the car - he'd slammed the
+door shut
+
+"Put your foot down, Fred!" yelled Ron, and the car shot suddenly
+toward the moon.
+
+Harry couldn't believe it - he was free. He rolled down the
+
+window, the night air whipping his hair, and looked back at the
+shrinking rooftops of Privet Drive. Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and
+Dudley were all hanging, dumbstruck, out of Harry's window.
+
+"See you next summer!" Harry yelled.
+
+The Weasleys roared with laughter and Harry settled back in his seat,
+grinning from ear to ear.
+
+"Let Hedwig out," he told Ron. "She can fly behind us. She hasn't had
+a chance to stretch her wings for ages."
+
+George handed the hairpin to Ron and, a moment later, Hedwig soared
+joyfully out of the window to glide alongside them like a ghost.
+
+"So - what's the story, Harry?" said Ron impatiently. "What's been
+happening?"
+
+Harry told them all about Dobby, the warning he'd given Harry and
+the fiasco of the violet pudding. There was a long, shocked silence
+when he had finished.
+
+"Very fishy," said Fred finally.
+
+"Definitely dodgy" agreed George. "So he wouldn't even tell you who's
+supposed to be plotting all this stuff?"
+
+"I don't think he could," said Harry. "I told you, every time he got close
+to letting something slip, he started banging his head against the wall."
+
+He saw Fred and George look at each other.
+
+"What, you think he was lying to me?" said Harry.
+
+"Well," said Fred, "put it this way - house-elves have got powerful
+magic of their own, but they can't usually use it without their master's
+permission. I reckon old Dobby was sent to stop you com
+
+ing back to Hogwarts. Someone's idea of a joke. Can you think of
+anyone at school with a grudge against you?"
+
+"Yes," said Harry and Ron together, instantly.
+
+"Draco Malfoy," Harry explained. "He hates me."
+
+"Draco Malfoy?" said George, turning around. "Not Lucius Malfoy's
+son?"
+
+"Must be, it's not a very common name, is it?" said Harry.
+
+Y.
+
+"I've heard Dad talking about him," said George. "He was a big
+supporter of You-Know-Who."
+
+"And when You-Know-Who disappeared," said Fred, craning
+around to look at Harry, "Lucius Malfoy came back saying he'd never
+meant any of it. Load of dung - Dad reckons he was right in You-
+Know-Who's inner circle."
+
+Harry had heard these rumors about Malfoy's family before, and they
+didn't surprise him at all. Malfoy made Dudley Dursley look
+
+	like a kind, thoughtful, and sensitive boy.
+	"I don't know whether the Malfoys own a house-elf 	said
+	Harry.
+
+"Well, whoever owns him will be an old wizarding family, and they'll
+be rich," said Fred.
+
+"Yeah, Mum's always wishing we had a house-elf to do the ironing,"
+said George. "But all we've got is a lousy old ghoul in the attic and
+gnomes all over the garden. House-elves come with big old manors
+and castles and places like that; you wouldn't catch one in our house .
+. . ."
+
+Harry was silent. Judging by the fact that Draco Malfoy usually had
+the best of everything, his family was rolling in wizard gold; he
+
+could just see Malfoy strutting around a large manor house. Sending
+the family servant to stop Harry from going back to Hogwarts also
+sounded exactly like the sort of thing Malfoy would do. Had Harry
+been stupid to take Dobby seriously?
+
+"I'm glad we came to get you, anyway," said Ron. "I was getting
+really worried when you didn't answer any of my letters. I thought it
+was Errol's fault at first
+
+-"
+
+"Who's Errol?"
+
+"Our owl. He's ancient. It wouldn't be the first time he'd collapsed
+on a delivery. So then I tried to borrow Hermes -"
+
+"Who?"
+
+"The owl Mum and Dad bought Percy when he was made prefect,"
+said Fred from the front.
+
+"But Percy wouldn't lend him to me," said Ron. "Said he needed
+him."
+
+"Percy's been acting very oddly this summer," said George,
+frowning. "And he has been sending a lot of letters and spending a
+load of time shut up in his room .... I mean, there's only so many
+times you can polish a prefect badge .... You're driving too far west,
+Fred," he added, pointing at a compass on the dashboard. Fred
+twiddled the steering wheel.
+
+"So, does your dad know you've got the car?" said Harry, guessing
+the answer.
+
+"Er, no," said Ron, "he had to work tonight. Hopefully we'll be able
+to get it back in the garage without Mum noticing we flew it."
+
+"What does your dad do at the Ministry of Magic, anyway?"
+
+"He works in the most boring department," said Ron. "The Misuse
+of Muggle Artifacts Office."
+
+"The what?"
+
+"It's all to do with bewitching things that are Muggle-made, you
+know, in case they end up back in a Muggle shop or house. Like,
+last year, some old witch died and her tea set was sold to an antiques
+shop. This Muggle woman bought it, took it home, and tried to serve
+her friends tea in it. It was a nightmare - Dad was working overtime
+for weeks."
+
+"What happened?"
+
+"The teapot went berserk and squirted boiling tea all over the place
+and one man ended up in the hospital with the sugar tongs clamped
+to his nose. Dad was going frantic - it's only him and an old warlock
+called Perkins in the office -and they had to do Memory Charms and
+all sorts of stuff to cover it up -"
+
+"But your dad - this car -"
+
+Fred laughed. "Yeah, Dad's crazy about everything to do with
+Muggles; our shed's full of Muggle stuff. He takes it apart, puts spells
+on it, and puts it back together again. If he raided our house he'd
+have to put himself under arrest. It drives Mum mad."
+
+"That's the main road," said George, peering down through the
+windshield. "We'll be there in ten minutes .... Just as well, it's getting
+light . . . ."
+
+A faint pinkish glow was visible along the horizon to the east.
+
+Fred brought the car lower, and Harry saw a dark patchwork of
+fields and clumps of trees.
+
+"We're a little way outside the village," said George. "Ottery St.
+Catchpole."
+
+Lower and lower went the flying car. The edge of a brilliant red sun
+was now gleaming through the trees.
+
+"Touchdown!" said Fred as, with a slight bump, they hit the ground.
+They had landed next to a tumbledown garage in a small yard, and
+Harry looked out for the first time at Ron's house.
+
+It looked as though it had once been a large stone pigpen, but extra
+rooms had been added here and there until it was several stories high
+and so crooked it looked as though it were held up by magic (which,
+Harry reminded himself, it probably was). Four or five chimneys were
+perched on top of the red roof. A lopsided sign stuck in the ground
+near the entrance read, THE BuRRow. Around the front door lay a jumble
+of rubber boots and a very rusty cauldron. Several fat brown chickens
+were pecking their way around the yard.
+
+"It's not much," said Ron.
+
+"It's wonderful," said Harry happily, thinking of Privet Drive.
+
+They got out of the car.
+
+"Now, we'll go upstairs really quietly," said Fred, "and wait for Mum to
+call us for breakfast Then, Ron, you come bounding downstairs going,
+`Mum, look who turned up in the night!' and she'll be all pleased to see
+Harry and no one need ever know we flew the car."
+
+"Right," said Ron. "Come on, Harry, I sleep at the - at the top
+
+Ron had gone a nasty greenish color, his eyes fixed on the house. The
+other three wheeled around.
+
+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.
+
+"Ah, "said Fred.
+
+"Oh, dear," said George.
+
+Mrs. Weasley came to a halt in front of them, her hands on her hips,
+staring from one guilty face to the next. She was wearing a flowered
+apron with a wand sticking out of the pocket.
+
+"So, "she said.
+
+"Morning, Mum," said George, in what he clearly thought was a jaunty,
+winning voice.
+
+"Have you any idea how worried I've been?" said Mrs. Weasley in a
+deadly whisper.
+
+"Sorry, Mum, but see, we had to -"
+
+All three of Mrs. Weasley's sons were taller than she was, but they
+cowered as her rage broke over them.
+
+"Beds empty! No note! Cargone - could have crashed - out of my
+
+mind with worry - did you care? - never, as long as I've lived -
+you wait until your father gets home, we never had trouble like this
+from Bill or Charlie or Percy -"
+
+"Perfect Percy," muttered Fred.
+
+"YOU COULD DO WITH TAKING A LEAF OUT OF PERCY'S
+BOOK!" yelled Mrs. Weasley, prodding a finger in Fred's chest. "You
+could have died, you could have been seen, you could have lost your
+father his job -"
+
+It seemed to go on for hours. Mrs. Weasley had shouted herself
+hoarse before she turned on Harry, who backed away.
+
+"I'm very pleased to see you, Harry, dear," she said. "Come in and
+have some breakfast."
+
+She turned and walked back into the house and Harry, after a nervous
+glance at Ron, who nodded encouragingly, followed her.
+
+The kitchen was small and rather cramped. There was a
+
+scrubbed wooden table and chairs in the middle, and Harry sat down
+on the edge of his seat, looking around. He had never been in a wizard
+house before.
+
+The clock on the wall opposite him had only one hand and no numbers
+at all. Written around the edge were things like Time to make tea, Time
+to feed the chickens, and You're late. Books were stacked three deep on
+the mantelpiece, books with titles like Charm Your Own Cheese,
+Enchantment in Baking, and One Minute Feasts - It's Magic! And unless
+Harry's ears were deceiving him, the old radio next to the sink had just
+announced that coming up was "Witching Hour, with the popular
+singing sorceress, Celestina Warbeck."
+
+Mrs. Weasley was clattering around, cooking breakfast a little
+haphazardly, throwing dirty looks at her sons as she threw sausages
+into the frying pan. Every now and then she muttered things like "don't
+know what you were thinking of," and "never would have believed it."
+
+"I don't blame you, dear," she assured Harry, tipping eight or nine
+sausages onto his plate. "Arthur and I have been worried about you,
+too. Just last night we were saying we'd come and get you ourselves if
+you hadn't written back to Ron by Friday. But really," (she was now
+adding three fried eggs to his plate) "flying an illegal car halfway
+across the country - anyone could have seen you -"
+
+She flicked her wand casually at the dishes in the sink, which began to
+clean themselves, clinking gently in the background.
+
+"It was cloudy, Mum!" said Fred.
+
+"You keep your mouth closed while you're eating!" Mrs. Weasley
+snapped.
+
+"They were starving him, Mum!" said George.
+
+"And you!" said Mrs. Weasley, but it was with a slightly softened
+expression that she started cutting Harry bread and buttering it for
+him.
+
+At that moment there was a diversion in the form of a small,
+redheaded figure in a long nightdress, who appeared in the kitchen,
+gave a small squeal, and ran out again.
+
+"Ginny," said Ron in an undertone to Harry. "My sister. She's been
+talking about you all summer."
+
+"Yeah, she'll be wanting your autograph, Harry," Fred said with a grin,
+but he caught his mother's eye and bent his face over his plate without
+another word. Nothing more was said until all four plates were clean,
+which took a surprisingly short time.
+
+"Blimey, I'm tired," yawned Fred, setting down his knife and fork at last.
+"I think I'll go to bed and -"
+
+"You will not," snapped Mrs. Weasley. "It's your own fault you've
+been up all night. You're going to de-gnome the garden for me; they're
+getting completely out of hand again -"
+
+"Oh, Mum -"
+
+"And you two," she said, glaring at Ron and Fred. "You can go up to
+bed, dear," she added to Harry. "You didn't ask them to fly that
+wretched car -"
+
+But Harry, who felt wide awake, said quickly, "I'll help Ron. I've
+never seen a de-gnoming -"
+
+"That's very sweet of you, dear, but it's dull work," said Mrs. Weasley.
+"Now, let's see what Lockhart's got to say on the subject -"
+
+And she pulled a heavy book from the stack on the mantelpiece.
+George groaned.
+
+"Mum, we know how to de-gnome a garden -"
+
+Harry looked at the cover of Mrs. Weasley's book. Written across it
+in fancy gold letters were the words Gilderoy Lockhart's Guide to
+Household Pests. There was a big photograph on the front of a very good-
+IOI)king wizard with wavy blond hair and bright blue eyes. As always
+in the wizarding world, the photograph was moving; the wizard, who
+Harry supposed was Gilderoy Lockhart, kept winking cheekily up at
+them all. Mrs. Weasley beamed down at him.
+
+"Oh, he is marvelous," she said. "He knows his household pests, all
+right, it's a wonderful book . . . ."
+
+"Mum fancies him," said Fred, in a very audible whisper.
+
+"Don't be so ridiculous, Fred," said Mrs. Weasley, her cheeks rather
+pink. "All right, if you think you know better than Lockhart, you can go
+and get on with it, and woe betide you if there's a single gnome in that
+garden when I come out to inspect it."
+
+Yawning and grumbling, the Weasleys slouched outside with Harry
+behind them. The garden was large, and in Harry's eyes, exactlY
+what a garden should be. The Dursleys wouldn't have liked it - there
+were plenty of weeds, and the grass needed cutting but there were
+gnarled trees all around the walls, plants Harry had never seen spilling
+from every flower bed, and a big green pond full of frogs.
+
+"Muggles have garden gnomes, too, you know," Harry told Ron
+
+they crossed the lawn.
+
+"Yeah, I've seen those things they think are gnomes," said Ron, bent
+double with his head in a peony bush, "like fat little Santa Clauses with
+fishing rods . . . ."
+
+There was a violent scuffling noise, the peony bush shuddered, and
+Ron straightened up. "This is a gnome," he said grimly.
+
+"Gerroff me! Gerroff me!" squealed the gnome.
+
+It was certainly nothing like Santa Claus. It was small and leathery
+looking, with a large, knobby, bald head exactly like a potato. Ron held
+it at arm's length as it kicked out at him with its horny little feet; he
+grasped it around the ankles and turned it upside down.
+
+"This is what you have to do," he said. He raised the gnome above his
+head ("Gerroff me!") and started to swing it in great circles like a
+lasso. Seeing the shocked look on Harry's face, Ron added, "It doesn't
+hurt them - you've just got to make them really dizzy so they can't find
+their way back to the gnomeholes."
+
+He let go of the gnome's ankles: It flew twenty feet into the air and
+landed with a thud in the field over the hedge.
+
+"Pitiful," said Fred. "I bet I can get mine beyond that stump."
+
+Harry learned quickly not to feel too sorry for the gnomes. He decided
+just to drop the first one he caught over the hedge, but the gnome,
+sensing weakness, sank its razor-sharp teeth into Harry's finger and he
+had a hard job shaking it off - until
+
+"Wow, Harry - that must've been fifty feet ......
+
+The air was soon thick with flying gnomes.
+
+"See, they're not too bright," said George, seizing five or six gnomes at
+once. "The moment they know the de-gnoming's going on they storm
+up to have a look. You'd think they'd have learned by now just to stay
+put."
+
+Soon, the crowd of gnomes in the field started walking away in a
+straggling line, their little shoulders hunched.
+
+"They'll be back," said Ron as they watched the gnomes disappear into
+the hedge on the other side of the field. "They love it here .... Dad's
+too soft with them; he thinks they're funny . . . ."
+
+Just then, the front door slammed.
+
+"He's back!" said George. "Dad's home!"
+
+They hurried through the garden and back into the house.
+
+Mr. Weasley was slumped in a kitchen chair with his glasses off and
+his eyes closed. He was a thin man, going bald, but the little hair he
+had was as red as any of his children's. He was wearing long green
+robes, which were dusty and travel-worn.
+
+"What a night," he mumbled, groping for the teapot as they all sat
+down around him. "Nine raids. Nine! And old Mundungus Fletcher
+tried to put a hex on me when I had my back turned ......
+
+Mr. Weasley took a long gulp of tea and sighed.
+
+"Find anything, Dad?" said Fred eagerly.
+
+"All I got were a few shrinking door keys and a biting kettle," yawned
+Mr. Weasley. "There was some pretty nasty stuff that wasn't my
+department, though. Mortlake was taken away for questioning about
+some extremely odd ferrets, but that's the Committee on Experimental
+Charms, thank goodness ......
+
+"Why would anyone bother making door keys shrink?" said George.
+
+"Just Muggle-baiting," sighed Mr. Weasley. "Sell them a key that
+keeps shrinking to nothing so they can never find it when they need it
+.... Of course, it's very hard to convict anyone because no Muggle
+would admit their key keeps shrinking - they'll insist they just keep
+losing it. Bless them, they'll go to any lengths to ignore magic, even if
+it's staring them in the face .... But the things our lot have taken to
+enchanting, you wouldn't believe -"
+
+"LIKE CARS, FOR INSTANCE?"
+
+Mrs. Weasley had appeared, holding a long poker like a sword. Mr.
+Weasley's eyes jerked open. He stared guiltily at his wife.
+
+"C-cars, Molly, dear?"
+
+"Yes, Arthur, cars," said Mrs. Weasley, her eyes flashing. "Imagine a
+wizard buying a rusty old car and telling his wife all he wanted to do
+with it was take it apart to see how it worked, while really he was
+enchanting it to make it fly."
+
+Mr. Weasley blinked.
+
+"Well, dear, I think you'll find that he would be quite within the law to
+do that, even if - er - he maybe would have done better to, um, tell his
+wife the truth .... There's a loophole in the law, you'll find .... As long
+as he wasn't intending to fly the car, the fact that the car could fly
+wouldn't -"
+
+"Arthur Weasley, you made sure there was a loophole when you
+wrote that law!" shouted Mrs. Weasley. "Just so you could carry on
+tinkering with all that Muggle rubbish in your shed! And for your
+information, Harry arrived this morning in the car you weren't
+intending to fly!"
+
+"Harry?" said Mr. Weasley blankly. "Harry who?"
+
+He looked around, saw Harry, and jumped.
+
+"Good lord, is it Harry Potter? Very pleased to meet you, Ron's told us
+so much about -"
+
+"Your sons flew that car to Harry's house and back last night."
+
+shouted Mrs. Weasley. "What have you got to say about that, eh?"
+
+"Did you really?" said Mr. Weasley eagerly. "Did it go all right? I - I
+mean," he faltered as sparks flew from Mrs. Weasley's eyes, "that -
+that was very wrong, boys - very wrong indeed ......
+
+"Let's leave them to it," Ron muttered to Harry as Mrs. Weasley
+swelled like a bullfrog. "Come on, I'll show you my bedroom."
+
+They slipped out of the kitchen and down a narrow passageway to an
+uneven staircase, which wound its way, zigzagging up
+
+through the house. On the third landing, a door stood ajar. Harry just
+caught sight of a pair of bright brown eyes staring at him before it
+closed with a snap.
+
+"Ginny," said Ron. "You don't know how weird it is for her to be this
+shy. She never shuts up normally -"
+
+They climbed two more flights until they reached a door with peeling
+paint and a small plaque on it, saying RONALD'S ROOM.
+
+Harry stepped in, his head almost touching the sloping ceiling, and
+blinked. It was like walking into a furnace: Nearly everything in Ron's
+room seemed to be a violent shade of orange: the bedspread, the
+walls, even the ceiling. Then Harry realized that Ron had covered
+nearly every inch of the shabby wallpaper with posters of the same
+seven witches and wizards, all wearing bright orange robes, carrying
+broomsticks, and waving energetically.
+
+"Your Quidditch team?" said Harry.
+
+"The Chudley Cannons," said Ron, pointing at the orange bedspread,
+which was emblazoned with two giant black C's and a speeding
+cannonball. "Ninth in the league."
+
+Ron's school spellbooks were stacked untidily in a corner, next to a
+pile of comics that all seemed to feature The Adventures of Martin
+Miggs, the Mad Muggle. Ron's magic wand was lying on top of a fish
+tank full of frog spawn on the windowsill, next to his fat gray rat,
+Scabbers, who was snoozing in a patch of sun.
+
+Harry stepped over a pack of Self-Shuffling playing cards on the floor
+and looked out of the tiny window. In the field far below he could see
+a gang of gnomes sneaking one by one back through the Weasleys'
+hedge. Then he turned to look at Ron, who was watching him almost
+nervously, as though waiting for his opinion.
+
+"It's a bit small," said Ron quickly. "Not like that room you had
+with the Muggles. And I'm right underneath the ghoul in the attic;
+he's always banging on the pipes and groaning ......
+But Harry, grinning widely, said, "This is the best house I've ever
+been in."
+Ron's ears went pink. .
+
+C H4 A P T E R		V O U R
+
+AT F L 0 V RR 11 $ H
+AND BLOTTS
+
+ife at the Burrow was as different as possible from life on Privet
+Drive. The Dursleys liked everything neat and ordered; the Weasleys'
+house burst with the strange and unexpected. Harry got a shock the
+first time he looked in the mirror over the kitchen mantelpiece and it
+shouted, "Tuck your shirt in, scruffy!" The ghoul in the attic howled
+and dropped pipes whenever he felt things were getting too quiet, and
+small explosions from Fred and George's bedroom were considered
+perfectly normal. What Harry found most unusual about life at Ron's,
+however, wasn't the talking mirror or the clanking ghoul: It was the
+fact that everybody there seemed to like him.
+
+Mrs. Weasley fussed over the state of his socks and tried to force him
+to eat fourth helpings at every meal. Mr. Weasley liked Harry to sit
+next to him at the dinner table so that he could bombard him with
+questions about life with Muggles, asking him to explain how things
+like plugs and the postal service worked.
+
+42
+
+
+
+"Fascinating." he would say as Harry talked him through using a
+telephone. "Ingenious, really, how many ways Muggles have found of
+getting along without magic."
+
+Harry heard from Hogwarts one sunny morning about a week after he
+had arrived at the Burrow. He and Ron went down to breakfast to find
+Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and Ginny already sitting at the kitchen table.
+The moment she saw Harry, Ginny accidentally knocked her porridge
+bowl to the floor with a loud clatter. Ginny seemed very prone to
+knocking things over whenever Harry entered a room. She dived under
+the table to retrieve the bowl and emerged with her face glowing like
+the setting sun. Pretending he hadn't noticed this, Harry sat down and
+took the toast Mrs. Weasley offered him.
+
+"Letters from school," said Mr. Weasley, passing Harry and Ron
+identical envelopes of yellowish parchment, addressed in green ink.
+"Dumbledore already knows you're here, Harry - doesn't miss a trick,
+that man. You two've got them, too," he added, as Fred and George
+ambled in, still in their pajamas.
+
+For a few minutes there was silence as they all read their letters.
+Harry's told him to catch the Hogwarts Express as usual from King's
+Cross station on September first. There was also a list of the new
+books he'd need for the coming year.
+
+SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS WILL REQUIRE:
+
+The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2
+
+by Miranda Goshawk
+
+Break with a Banshee by Gilderoy Lockhart
+Gadding with Ghouls by Gilderoy Lockhart
+Holidays with Hags by Gilderoy Lockhart
+
+4 ",3
+
+Travels with Trolls by Gilderoy Lockhart
+Voyages with Vampires by Gilderoy Lockhart
+Wanderings with Werewolves by Gilderoy Lockhart
+Year with the Yeti by Gilderoy Lockhart
+
+Fred, who had finished his own list, peered over at Harry's.
+
+"You've been told to get all Lockhart's books, too!" he said. "The new
+Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher must be a fan - bet it's a
+witch."
+
+At this point, Fred caught his mother's eye and quickly busied himself
+with the marmalade.
+
+"That lot won't come cheap," said George, with a quick look at his
+parents. "Lockhart's books are really expensive ......
+
+"Well, we'll manage," said Mrs. Weasley, but she looked worried. "I
+expect we'll be able to pick up a lot of Ginny's things secondhand."
+
+"Oh, are you starting at Hogwarts this year?" Harry asked Ginny.
+
+She nodded, blushing to the roots of her flaming hair, and put her
+elbow in the butter dish. Fortunately no one saw this except Harry,
+because just then Ron's elder brother Percy walked in. He was
+already dressed, his Hogwarts prefect badge pinned to his sweater
+vest.
+
+"Morning, all," said Percy briskly. "Lovely day."
+
+He sat down in the only remaining chair but leapt up again almost
+immediately, pulling from underneath him a moulting, gray feather
+duster - at least, that was what Harry thought it was, until he saw that
+it was breathing.
+
+* 44
+
+"Errol!" said Ron, taking the limp owl from Percy and extracting a
+letter from under its wing. "Finally - he's got Hermione's answer. I
+wrote to her saying we were going to try and rescue you from the
+Dursleys."
+
+He carried Errol to a perch just inside the back door and tried to
+stand him on it, but Errol flopped straight off again so Ron lay him on
+the draining board instead, muttering, "Pathetic." Then he ripped
+open Hermione's letter and read it out loud:
+
+"`Dear Ron, and Harry if you're there,
+
+	"`I hope everything went all right and that Harry is okay and that
+you didn't do anything illegal to get him out, Ron, because that would
+get Harry into trouble, too. I've been really worried and if Harry is all
+right, will you please let me know at once, but perhaps it would be bet
+ter if you used a different owl because I think another delivery might
+finish your one off.
+
+"'I'm very busy with schoolwork, of course'- How can she be?" said Ron
+in horror. "We're on vacation! - 'and we're going to London next
+Wednesday to buy my new books. Why don't we meet in Diago n Alley?
+
+"`Let me know what's happening as soon as you can. Love from Hermione.
+"'
+
+"Well, that fits in nicely, we can go and get all your things then, too,"
+said Mrs. Weasley, starting to clear the table. "What're you all up to
+today?"
+
+Harry, Ron, Fred, and George were planning to go up the hill to a
+small paddock the Weasleys owned. It was surrounded by trees that
+blocked it from view of the village below, meaning that they could
+practice Quidditch there, as long as they didn't fly too high.
+
+* 4$
+
+They couldn't use real Quidditch balls, which would have been hard to
+explain if they had escaped and flown away over the village; instead
+they threw apples for one another to catch. They took turns riding
+Harry's Nimbus Two Thousand, which was easily the best broom;
+Ron's old Shooting Star was often outstripped by passing butterflies.
+
+Five minutes later they were marching up the hill, broomsticks over
+their shoulders. They had asked Percy if he wanted to join them, but
+he had said he was busy. Harry had only seen Percy at mealtimes so
+far; he stayed shut in his room the rest of the time.
+
+"Wish I knew what he was up to," said Fred, frowning. "He's not
+himself. His exam results came the day before you did; twelve
+O.WL.s and he hardly gloated at all."
+
+"Ordinary Wizarding Levels," George explained, seeing Harry's
+puzzled look. "Bill got twelve, too. If we're not careful, we'll have
+another Head Boy in the family. I don't think I could stand the shame."
+
+Bill was the oldest Weasley brother. He and the next brother, Charlie,
+had already left Hogwarts. Harry had never met either of them, but
+knew that Charlie was in Romania studying dragons and Bill in Egypt
+working for the wizard's bank, Gringotts.
+
+"Dunno how Mum and Dad are going to afford all our school stuff this
+year," said George after a while. "Five sets of Lockhart books! And
+Ginny needs robes and a wand and everything ......
+
+Harry said nothing. He felt a bit awkward. Stored in an underground
+vault at Gringotts in London was a small fortune that his parents had
+left him. Of course, it was only in the wizarding world that he had
+money; you couldn't use Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts
+
+46
+
+in Muggle shops. He had never mentioned his Gringotts bank account
+to the Dursleys; he didn't think their horror of anything connected with
+magic would stretch to a large pile of gold.
+
+Mrs. Weasley woke them all early the following Wednesday. After a
+quick half a dozen bacon sandwiches each, they pulled on their coats
+and Mrs. Weasley took a flowerpot off the kitchen mantelpiece and
+peered inside.
+
+"We're running low, Arthur," she sighed. "We'll have to buy some
+more today... Ah well, guests first! After you, Harry dear!"
+
+And she offered him the flowerpot.
+
+Harry stared at them all watching him.
+
+"W-what am I supposed to do?" he stammered.
+
+"He's never traveled by Floo powder," said Ron suddenly. "Sorry,
+Harry, I forgot."
+
+"Never?" said Mr. Weasley. "But how did you get to Diagon Alley to
+buy your school things last year?"
+
+"I went on the Underground -"
+
+"Really?" said Mr. Weasley eagerly. "Were there escapators? How
+exactly -"
+
+"Not now, Arthur," said Mrs. Weasley. "Floo powder's a lot quicker,
+dear, but goodness me, if you've never used it before -"
+
+"He'll be all right, Mum," said Fred. "Harry, watch us first."
+
+He took a pinch of glittering powder out of the flowerpot, stepped up
+to the fire, and threw the powder into the flames.
+
+With a roar, the fire turned emerald green and rose higher than Fred,
+who stepped right into it, shouted, "Diagon Alley!" and vanished.
+
+* 41
+
+"You must speak clearly, dear," Mrs. Weasley told Harry as George
+dipped his hand into the flowerpot. "And be sure to get out at the right
+grate ......
+
+"The right what?" said Harry nervously as the fire roared and whipped
+George out of sight, too.
+
+"Well, there are an awful lot of wizard fires to choose from, you know,
+but as long as you've spoken clearly -"
+
+"He'll be fine, Molly, don't fuss," said Mr. Weasley, helping himself to
+Floo powder, too.
+
+"But, dear, if he got lost, how would we ever explain to his aunt and
+uncle?"
+
+"They wouldn't mind," Harry reassured her. "Dudley would think it
+was a brilliant joke if I got lost up a chimney, don't worry about that -"
+
+"Well ... all right ... you go after Arthur," said Mrs. Weasley. "Now,
+when you get into the fire, say where you're going
+
+"And keep your elbows tucked in," Ron advised.
+
+"And your eyes shut," said Mrs. Weasley. "The soot -"
+
+"Don't fidget," said Ron. "Or you might well fall out of the wrong
+fireplace -"
+
+"But don't panic and get out too early; wait until you see Fred and
+George."
+
+Trying hard to bear all this in mind, Harry took a pinch of Floo powder
+and walked to the edge of the fire. He took a deep breath, scattered
+the powder into the flames, and stepped forward; the fire felt like a
+warm breeze; he opened his mouth and immediately swallowed a lot
+of hot ash.
+
+"D-Dia-gon Alley," he coughed.
+
+48
+
+It felt as though he was being sucked down a giant drain. He seemed
+to be spinning very fast - the roaring in his ears was deafening -he
+tried to keep his eyes open but the whirl of green flames made him
+feel sick - something hard knocked his elbow and he tucked it in
+tightly, still spinning and spinning - now it felt as though cold hands
+were slapping his face - squinting through his glasses he saw a blurred
+stream of fireplaces and snatched glimpses of the rooms beyond - his
+bacon sandwiches were churning inside him - he closed his eyes again
+wishing it would stop, and then
+
+He fell, face forward, onto cold stone and felt the bridge of his glasses
+snap.
+
+Dizzy and bruised, covered in soot, he got gingerly to his feet, holding
+his broken glasses up to his eyes. He was -,cite alone, but where he
+was, he had no idea. All he could tell was that he was standing in the
+stone fireplace of what looked like a large, dimly lit wizard's shop - but
+nothing in here was ever likely to be on a Hogwarts school list.
+
+A glass case nearby held a withered hand on a cushion, a bloodstained
+pack of cards, and a staring glass eye. Evil-looking masks stared down
+from the walls, an assortment of human bones lay upon the counter,
+and rusty, spiked instruments hung from the ceiling. Even worse, the
+dark, narrow street Harry could see through the dusty shop window
+was definitely not Diagon Alley.
+
+The sooner he got out of here, the better. Nose still stinging where it
+had hit the hearth, Harry made his way swiftly and silently toward the
+door, but before he'd got halfway toward it, two people appeared on
+the other side of the glass - and one of them was the
+
+49
+
+very last person Harry wanted to meet when he was lost, covered in
+soot, and wearing broken glasses: Draco Malfoy.
+
+Harry looked quickly around and spotted a large black cabinet to his
+left; he shot inside it and pulled the doors closed, leaving a small crack
+to peer through. Seconds later, a bell clanged, and Malfoy stepped into
+the shop.
+
+The man who followed could only be Draco's father. He had the same
+pale, pointed face and identical cold, gray eyes. Mr. Malfoy crossed
+the shop, looking lazily at the items on display, and rang a bell on the
+counter before turning to his son and saying, "Touch nothing, Draco."
+
+Malfoy, who had reached for the glass eye, said, "I thought you were
+going to buy me a present."
+
+"I said I would buy you a racing broom," said his father, drumming his
+fingers on the counter.
+
+"What's the good of that if I'm not on the House team?" said Malfoy,
+looking sulky and bad-tempered. "Harry Potter got a Nimbus Two
+Thousand last year. Special permission from Dumbledore so he could
+play for Gryffindor. He's not even that good, it's just because he's
+famous ... famous for having a stupid scar on his forehead . . . ."
+
+Malfoy bent down to examine a shelf full of skulls.
+
+". . . everyone thinks he's so smart, wonderful Potter with his scar and
+his broomstick -"
+
+"You have told me this at least a dozen times already," said Mr.
+Malfoy, with a quelling look at his son. "And I would remind you that it
+is not - prudent - to appear less than fond of Harry Potter, not when
+most of our kind regard him as the hero who made the Dark Lord
+disappear - ah, Mr. Borgin."
+
+50
+
+A stooping man had appeared behind the counter, smoothing his
+greasy hair back from his face.
+
+"Mr. Malfoy, what a pleasure to see you again," said Mr. Borgin in a
+voice as oily as his hair. "Delighted - and young Master Malfoy, too -
+charmed. How may I be of assistance? I must show you, just in today,
+and very reasonably priced -"
+
+"I'm not buying today, Mr. Borgin, but selling," said Mr. Malfoy.
+
+"Selling?" The smile faded slightly from Mr. Borgin's face.
+
+"You have heard, of course, that the Ministry is conducting more
+raids," said Mr. Malfoy, taking a roll of parchment from his inside
+pocket and unraveling it for Mr. Borgin to read. "I have a few - ah -
+items at home that might embarrass me, if the Ministry were to call
+......
+
+Mr. Borgin fixed a pair of pince-nez to his nose and looked down the
+list.
+
+"The Ministry wouldn't presume to trouble you, sir, surely?"
+
+Mr. Malfoy's lip curled.
+
+"I have not been visited yet. The name Malfoy still commands a
+certain respect, yet the Ministry grows ever more meddlesome. There
+are rumors about a new Muggle Protection Act - no doubt that flea-
+bitten, Muggle-loving fool Arthur Weasley is behind it
+
+Harry felt a hot surge of anger.
+
+"- and as you see, certain of these poisons might make it appear -"
+
+"I understand, sir, of course," said Mr. Borgin. "Let me see. . ."
+
+"Can I have that?" interrupted Draco, pointing at the withered hand on
+its cushion.
+
+51
+
+"Ah, the Hand of Glory!" said Mr. Borgin, abandoning Mr. Malfoy's
+list and scurrying over to Draco. "Insert a candle and it gives light only
+to the holder! Best friend of thieves and plunderers! Your son has fine
+taste, sir."
+
+"I hope my son will amount to more than a thief or a plunderer,
+Borgin," said Mr. Malfoy coldly, and Mr. Borgin said quickly, "No
+offense, sir, no offense meant -"
+
+"Though if his grades don't pick up," said Mr. Malfoy, more coldly still,
+"that may indeed be all he is fit for -"
+
+"It's not my fault," retorted Draco. "The teachers all have favorites,
+that Hermione Granger -"
+
+"I would have thought you'd be ashamed that a girl of no wizard family
+beat you in every exam," snapped Mr. Malfoy.
+
+"Ha!" said Harry under his breath, pleased to see Draco looking both
+abashed and angry.
+
+"It's the same all over," said Mr. Borgin, in his oily voice. "Wizard
+blood is counting for less everywhere -"
+
+"Not with me," said Mr. Malfoy, his long nostrils flaring.
+
+"No, sir, nor with me, sir," said Mr. Borgin, with a deep bow.
+
+"In that case, perhaps we can return to my list," said Mr. Malfoy
+shortly. "I am in something of a hurry, Borgin, I have important
+business elsewhere today -"
+
+They started to haggle. Harry watched nervously as Draco drew
+nearer and nearer to his hiding place, examining the objects for sale.
+Draco paused to examine a long coil of hangman's rope and to read,
+smirking, the card propped on a magnificent necklace of opals,
+Caution: Do Not Touch. Cursed - Has Claimed the Lives of Nineteen Muggle
+Owners to Date.
+
+* 52
+
+Draco turned away and saw the cabinet right in front of him. He
+walked forward - he stretched out his hand for the handle
+
+"Done," said Mr. Malfoy at the counter. "Come, Draco -"
+
+Harry wiped his forehead on his sleeve as Draco turned away.
+
+"Good day to you, Mr. Borgin. I'll expect you at the manor tomorrow
+to pick up the goods."
+
+The moment the door had closed, Mr. Borgin dropped his oily manner.
+
+"Good day yourself, Mister Malfoy, and if the stories are true, you
+haven't sold me half of what's hidden in your manor ......
+
+Muttering darkly, Mr. Borgin disappeared into a back room. Harry
+waited for a minute in case he came back, then, quietly as he could,
+slipped out of the cabinet, past the glass cases, and out of the shop
+door.
+
+Clutching his broken glasses to his face, Harry stared around. He had
+emerged into a dingy alleyway that seemed to be made up entirely of
+shops devoted to the Dark Arts. The one he'd just left, Borgin and
+Burkes, looked like the largest, but opposite was a nasty window
+display of shrunken heads and, two doors down, a large cage was
+alive with gigantic black spiders. Two shabby-looking wizards were
+watching him from the shadow of a doorway, muttering to each other.
+Feeling jumpy, Harry set off, trying to hold his glasses on straight and
+hoping against hope he'd be able to find a way out of here.
+
+An old wooden street sign hanging over a shop selling poisonous
+candles told him he was in Knockturn Alley. This didn't help, as Harry
+had never heard of such a place. He supposed he hadn't spoken
+clearly enough through his mouthful of ashes
+
+
+
+back in the Weasleys' fire. Trying to stay calm, he wondered what to
+do.
+
+"Not lost are you, my dear?" said a voice in his ear, making him jump.
+
+An aged witch stood in front of him, holding a tray of what looked
+horribly like whole human fingernails. She leered at him, showing
+mossy teeth. Harry backed away.
+
+"I'm fine, thanks," he said. "I'm just -"
+
+"HARRY! What d'yeh think yer doin' down there?"
+
+Harry's heart leapt. So did the witch; a load of fingernails cascaded
+down over her feet and she cursed as the massive form of Hagrid, the
+Hogwarts gamekeeper, came striding toward them, beetle-black eyes
+flashing over his great bristling beard.
+
+"Hagrid!" Harry croaked in relief. "I was lost - Floo powder -"
+
+Hagrid seized Harry by the scruff of the neck and pulled him away
+from the witch, knocking the tray right out of her hands. Her shrieks
+followed them all the way along the twisting alleyway out into bright
+sunlight. Harry saw a familiar, snow-white marble building in the
+distance - Gringotts Bank. Hagrid had steered him right into Diagon
+Alley.
+
+"Yer a mess!" said Hagrid gruffly, brushing soot off Harry so
+forcefully he nearly knocked him into a barrel of dragon dung outside
+an apothecary. "Skulkin' around Knockturn Alley, I dunno dodgy place,
+Harry - don' want no one ter see yeh down there -"
+
+"I realized that," said Harry, ducking as Hagrid made to brush him off
+again. "I told you, I was lost - what were you doing down there,
+anyway?"
+
+* 54
+
+"I was lookin' fer a Flesh-Eatin' Slug Repellent," growled Hagrid.
+"They're ruinin' the school cabbages. Yer not on yer own?"
+
+"I'm staying with the Weasleys but we got separated," Harry explained.
+"I've got to go and find them . . . ."
+
+They set off together down the street.
+
+"How come yeh never wrote back ter me?" said Hagrid as Harry
+jogged alongside him (he had to take three steps to every stride of
+Hagrid's enormous boots). Harry explained all about Dobby and the
+Dursleys.
+
+"Lousy Muggles," growled Hagrid. "If I'd've known -"
+
+"Harry! Harry! Over here!"
+
+Harry looked up and saw Hermione Granger standing at the top of the
+white flight of steps to Gringotts. She ran down to meet them, her
+bushy brown hair flying behind her.
+
+"What happened to your glasses? Hello, Hagrid - Oh, it's wonderful to
+see you two again - Are you coming into Gringotts, Harry?"
+
+"As soon as I've found the Weasleys," said Harry.
+
+"Yeh won't have long ter wait," Hagrid said with a grin.
+
+Harry and Hermione looked around: Sprinting up the crowded street
+were Ron, Fred, George, Percy, and Mr. Weasley.
+
+"Harry," Mr. Weasley panted. "We hoped you'd only gone one
+
+	grate too far . 	He mopped his glistening bald patch. "Molly's
+
+frantic - she's coming now -"
+
+"Where did you come out?" Ron asked.
+
+"Knockturn Alley," said Hagrid grimly.
+
+"Excellent." said Fred and George together.
+
+"We've never been allowed in," said Ron enviously.
+
+*55*
+
+"I should ruddy well think not," growled Hagrid.
+Mrs. Weasley now came galloping into view, her handbag swing
+ing wildly in one hand, Ginny just clinging onto the other.
+"Oh, Harry - oh, my dear - you could have been any
+where -"
+Gasping for breath she pulled a large clothes brush out of her
+bag and began sweeping off the soot Hagrid hadn't managed to
+beat away. Mr. Weasley took Harry's glasses, gave them a tap of his
+wand, and returned them, good as new.
+"Well, gotta be off," said Hagrid, who was having his hand
+wrung by Mrs. Weasley ("Knockturn Alley! If you hadn't found
+him, Hagrid!"). "See yer at Hogwarts!" And he strode away, head
+and shoulders taller than anyone else in the packed street.
+"Guess who I saw in Borgin and Burkes?" Harry asked Ron and
+Hermione as they climbed the Gringotts steps. "Malfoy and his fa
+ther."
+"Did Lucius Malfoy buy anything?" said Mr. Weasley sharply
+behind them.
+"No, he was selling ='
+"So he's worried," said Mr. Weasley with grim satisfaction. "Oh,
+I'd love to get Lucius Malfoy for something ......
+"You be careful, Arthur," said Mrs. Weasley sharply as they were
+bowed into the bank by a goblin at the door. "That family's trou
+ble. Don't go biting off more than you can chew -"
+"So you don't think I'm a match for Lucius Malfoy?" said Mr.
+Weasley indignantly, but he was distracted almost at once by the
+sight of Hermione's parents, who were standing nervously at the
+counter that ran all along the great marble hall, waiting for
+Hermione to introduce them.
+
+,5 s
+
+"But you're Muggles!" said Mr. Weasley delightedly. "We must have a drink!
+What's that you've got there? Oh, you're changing Muggle money. Molly,
+look!" He pointed excitedly at the tenpound notes in Mr. Granger's hand.
+
+"Meet you back here," Ron said to Hermione as the Weasleys and Harry
+were led off to their underground vaults by another Gringotts goblin.
+
+The vaults were reached by means of small, goblin-driven carts that sped
+along miniature train tracks through the bank's underground tunnels.
+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.
+Mrs. Weasley felt right into the corners before sweeping the whole lot into
+her bag. Harry felt even worse when they reached his vault. He tried to
+block the contents from view as he hastily shoved handfuls of coins into a
+leather bag.
+
+Back outside on the marble steps, they all separated. Percy muttered
+vaguely about needing a new quill. Fred and George had spotted their
+friend from Hogwarts, Lee Jordan. Mrs. Weasley and Ginny were going to
+a secondhand robe shop. Mr. Weasley was insisting on taking the Grangers
+off to the Leaky Cauldron for a drink.
+
+"We'll all meet at Flourish and Blotts in an hour to buy your schoolbooks,"
+said Mrs. Weasley, setting off with Ginny. "And not one step down
+Knockturn Alley!" she shouted at the twins' retreating backs.
+
+Harry, Ron, and Hermione strolled off along the winding, cobbled street.
+The bag of gold, silver, and bronze jangling cheerfully
+
+*57*
+
+in Harry's pocket was clamoring to be spent, so he bought three
+large strawberry-and-peanut-butter ice creams, which they slurped
+happily as they wandered up the alley, examining the fascinating
+shop windows. Ron gazed longingly at a full set of Chudley Can
+non robes in the windows of Quality Quidditch Supplies until
+Hermione dragged them off to buy ink and parchment next door.
+In Gambol and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop, they met Fred, George,
+and Lee Jordan, who were stocking up on Dr. Filibuster's Fabulous
+Wet-Start, No-Heat Fireworks, and in a tiny junk shop full of bro
+ken wands, lopsided brass scales, and old cloaks covered in potion
+stains they found Percy, deeply immersed in a small and deeply
+boring book called Prefects Who Gained Power.
+`A study of Hogwarts prefects and their later careers, " Ron read
+aloud off the back cover. "That sounds fascinating . . . ."
+
+"Go away," Percy snapped.
+"'Course, he's very ambitious, Percy, he's got it all planned
+out .... He wants to be Minister of Magic. . . " Ron told Harry
+and Hermione in an undertone as they left Percy to it.
+An hour later, they headed for Flourish and Blotts. They were by
+no means the only ones making their way to the bookshop. As they
+approached it, they saw to their surprise a large crowd jostling out
+side the doors, trying to get in. The reason for this was proclaimed
+
+by a large banner stretched across the upper windows:
+
+GILDEROY LOCKHART
+will be signing copies of his autobiography
+MAGICAL ME
+today 12:30 P.m. to 4:30 P.m.
+
+"We can actually meet him!" Hermione squealed. "I mean, he's
+written almost the whole booklist!"
+
+The crowd seemed to be made up mostly of witches around Mrs.
+Weasley's age. A harrassed-looking wizard stood at the door, saying,
+"Calmly, please, ladies .... Don't push, there ... mind the books, now . .
+. . "
+
+	Harry, Ron, and Hermione squeezed inside. A long line wound
+right to the back of the shop, where Gilderoy Lockhart was signing
+his books. They each grabbed a copy of The Standard Book of Spells,
+Grade 2 and sneaked up the line to where the rest of the Weasleys
+were standing with Mr. and Mrs. Granger.
+
+"Oh, there you are, good," said Mrs. Weasley. She sounded breathless
+and kept patting her hair. "We'll be able to see him in a minute ......
+
+Gilderoy Lockhart came slowly into view, seated at a table surrounded
+by large pictures of his own face, all winking and flashing dazzlingly
+white teeth at the crowd. The real Lockhart was wearing robes of
+forget-me-not blue that exactly matched his eyes; his pointed wizard's
+hat was set at a jaunty angle on his wavy hair.
+
+A short, irritable-looking man was dancing around taking photographs
+with a large black camera that emitted puffs of purple smoke with
+every blinding flash.
+
+"Out of the way, there," he snarled at Ron, moving back to get a better
+shot. "This is for the Daily Prophet -"
+
+"Big deal," said Ron, rubbing his foot where the photographer had
+stepped on it.
+
+Gilderoy Lockhart heard him. He looked up. He saw Ron
+
+*59*
+
+
+and then he saw Harry. He stared. Then he leapt to his feet and positively
+shouted, "It can't be Harry Potter?"
+
+The crowd parted, whispering excitedly; Lockhart dived forward, seized
+Harry's arm, and pulled him to the front. The crowd burst into applause.
+Harry's face burned as Lockhart shook his hand for the photographer, who
+was clicking away madly, wafting thick smoke over the Weasleys.
+
+"Nice big smile, Harry," said Lockhart, through his own gleaming teeth.
+"Together, you and I are worth the front page."
+
+When he finally let go of Harry's hand, Harry could hardly feel his fingers.
+He tried to sidle back over to the Weasleys, but Lockhart threw an arm
+around his shoulders and clamped him tightly to his side.
+
+"Ladies and gentlemen," he said loudly, waving for quiet. "What an
+extraordinary moment this is! The perfect moment for me to make a little
+announcement I've been sitting on for some time!
+
+"When young Harry here stepped into Flourish and Blotts today, he only
+wanted to buy my autobiography -which I shall be happy to present him
+now, free of charge-" The crowd applauded again. "He had no idea,"
+Lockhart continued, giving Harry a little shake that made his glasses slip to
+the end of his nose, "that he would shortly be getting much, much more
+than my book, Magical Me. He and his schoolmates will, in fact, be getting
+the real magical me. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have great pleasure and
+pride in announcing that this September, I will be taking up the post of
+Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft
+and Wizardry!"
+
+The crowd cheered and clapped and Harry found himself being
+
+60
+
+presented with the entire works of Gilderoy Lockhart. Staggering
+slightly under their weight, he managed to make his way out of the
+limelight to the edge of the room, where Ginny was standing next to
+her new cauldron.
+
+"You have these," Harry mumbled to her, tipping the books into the
+cauldron. "I'll buy my own -"
+
+"Bet you loved that, didn't you, Potter?" said a voice Harry had no
+trouble recognizing. He straightened up and found himself face-to-face
+with Draco Malfoy, who was wearing his usual sneer.
+
+"Famous Harry Potter," said Malfoy. "Can't even go into a bookshop
+without making the front page."
+
+"Leave him alone, he didn't want all that!" said Ginny. It was the first
+time she had spoken in front of Harry. She was glaring at Malfoy.
+
+"Potter, you've got yourself a girlfriend!" drawled Malfoy. Ginny went
+scarlet as Ron and Hermione fought their way over, both clutching
+stacks of Lockhart's books.
+
+"Oh, it's you," said Ron, looking at Malfoy as if he were something
+unpleasant on the sole of his shoe. "Bet you're surprised to see Harry
+here, eh?"
+
+"Not as surprised as I am to see you in a shop, Weasley," retorted
+Malfoy. "I suppose your parents will go hungry for a month to pay for
+all those."
+
+Ron went as red as Ginny. He dropped his books into the cauldron,
+too, and started toward Malfoy, but Harry and Hermione grabbed the
+back of his jacket.
+
+"Ron!" said Mr. Weasley, struggling over with Fred and George.
+"What are you doing? It's too crowded in here, let's go outside."
+
+61
+
+"Well, well, well - Arthur Weasley."
+
+It was Mr. Malfoy. He stood with his hand on Draco's shoulder,
+sneering in just the same way.
+
+"Lucius," said Mr. Weasley, nodding coldly.
+
+"Busy time at the Ministry, I hear," said Mr. Malfoy. "All those raids
+... I hope they're paying you overtime?"
+
+He reached into Ginny's cauldron and extracted, from amid the glossy
+Lockhart books, a very old, very battered copy of A Beginner's Guide
+to Transfiguration.
+
+"Obviously not," Mr. Malfoy said. "Dear me, what's the use of being a
+disgrace to the name of wizard if they don't even pay you well for it?"
+
+Mr. Weasley flushed darker than either Ron or Ginny.
+
+"We have a very different idea of what disgraces the name of wizard,
+Malfoy," he said.
+
+"Clearly," said Mr. Malfoy, his pale eyes straying to Mr. and Mrs.
+Granger, who were watching apprehensively. "The company you
+keep, Weasley ... and I thought your family could sink no lower ='
+
+There was a thud of metal as Ginny's cauldron went flying; Mr.
+Weasley had thrown himself at Mr. Malfoy, knocking him backward
+into a bookshelf. Dozens of heavy spellbooks came thundering down
+on all their heads; there was a yell of, "Get him, Dad!" from Fred or
+George; Mrs. Weasley was shrieking, "No, Arthur, no!"; the crowd
+stampeded backward, knocking more shelves over; "Gentlemen,
+please - please!" cried the assistant, and then, louder than all
+
+"Break it up, there, gents, break it up -"
+
+62
+
+Hagrid was wading toward them through the sea of books. In an instant he had
+pulled Mr. Weasley and Mr. Malfoy apart. Mr. Weasley had a cut lip and Mr.
+Malfoy had been hit in the eye by an Encyclopedia of Toadstools. He was still
+holding Ginny's old Transfiguration book. He thrust it at her, his eyes
+glittering with malice.
+
+"Here, girl - take your book - it's the best your father can give you -" Pulling
+himself out of Hagrid's grip he beckoned to Draco and swept from the shop.
+
+"Yeh should've ignored him, Arthur," said Hagrid, almost lifting Mr. Weasley
+off his feet as he straightened his robes. "Rotten ter the core, the whole family,
+everyone knows that - no Malfoy's worth listenin' ter - bad blood, that's what it
+is - come on now - let's get outta here."
+
+The assistant looked as though he wanted to stop them leaving, but he barely
+came up to Hagrid's waist and seemed to think better of it. They hurried up the
+street, the Grangers shaking with fright and Mrs. Weasley beside herself with
+fury.
+
+"A fine example to set for your children . . . brawling in public . . . what
+Gilderoy Lockhart must've thought -"
+
+"He was pleased," said Fred. "Didn't you hear him as we were leaving? He was
+asking that bloke from the Daily Prophet if he'd be able to work the fight into
+his report - said it was all publicity -"
+
+But it was a subdued group that headed back to the fireside in the Leaky
+Cauldron, where Harry, the Weasleys, and all their shopping would be
+traveling back to the Burrow using Floo powder. They said good-bye to the
+Grangers, who were leaving the pub for the Muggle street on the other side;
+Mr. Weasley started to ask
+
+63
+
+them how bus stops worked, but stopped quickly at the look on Mrs.
+Weasley's face.
+
+Harry took off his glasses and put them safely in his pocket before
+helping himself to Floo powder. It definitely wasn't his favorite way to
+travel.
+
+C H-H A P T E RR		F I v E
+
+THE	WHOMPING
+	WILLOW
+
+he end of the summer vacation came too quickly for Harry's liking.
+He was looking forward to getting back to Hogwarts, but his month
+at the Burrow had been the happiest of his life. It was difficult not to
+feel jealous of Ron when he thought of the Dursleys and the sort of
+welcome he could expect next time he turned up on Privet Drive.
+
+On their last evening, Mrs. Weasley conjured up a sumptuous dinner
+that included all of Harry's favorite things, ending with a
+mouthwatering treacle pudding. Fred and George rounded off the
+evening with a display of Filibuster fireworks; they fiIled the kitchen
+with red and blue stars that bounced from ceiling to wall for at least
+half an hour. Then it was time for a last mug of hot chocolate and
+bed.
+
+It took a long while to get started next morning. They were up at
+dawn, but somehow they still seemed to have a great deal to do.
+
+65
+
+
+
+Mrs. Weasley dashed about in a bad mood looking for spare socks and
+quills; people kept colliding on the stairs, half-dressed with bits of toast
+in their hands; and Mr. Weasley nearly broke his neck, tripping over a
+stray chicken as he crossed the yard carrying Ginny's trunk to the car.
+
+Harry couldn't see how eight people, six large trunks, two owls, and a
+rat were going to fit into one small Ford Anglia. He had reckoned, of
+course, without the special features that Mr. Weasley had added.
+
+"Not a word to Molly," he whispered to Harry as he opened the. trunk
+and showed him how it had been magically expanded so that the
+luggage fitted easily.
+
+When at last they were all in the car, Mrs. Weasley glanced into the
+back seat, where Harry, Ron, Fred, George, and Percy were all sitting
+comfortably side by side, and said, "Muggles do know more than we
+give them credit for, don't they?" She and Ginny got into the front seat,
+which had been stretched so that it resembled a park bench. "I mean,
+you'd never know it was this roomy from the outside, would you?"
+
+Mr. Weasley started up the engine and they trundled out of the yard,
+Harry turning back for a last look at the house. He barely had time to
+wonder when he'd see it again when they were back George had
+forgotten his box of Filibuster fireworks. Five minutes after that, they
+skidded to a halt in the yard so that Fred could run in for his
+broomstick. They had almost reached the highway when Ginny
+shrieked that she'd left her diary. By the time she had clambered back
+into the car, they were running very late, and tempers were running
+high.
+
+* 66
+
+Mr. Weasley glanced at his watch and then at his wife.
+
+"Molly, dear -"
+
+"No, Arthur -"
+
+"No one would see - this little button here is an Invisibility Booster I
+installed - that'd get us up in the air - then we fly above the clouds.
+We'd be there in ten minutes and no one would be any the wiser -"
+
+"I said no, Arthur, not in broad daylight -"
+
+They reached King's Cross at a quarter to eleven. Mr. Weasley
+dashed across the road to get trolleys for their trunks and they all
+hurried into the station.
+
+Harry had caught the Hogwarts Express the previous year. The tricky
+part was getting onto platform nine and three-quarters, which wasn't
+visible to the Muggle eye. What you had to do was walk through the
+solid barrier dividing platforms nine and ten. It didn't hurt, but it had to
+be done carefully so that none of the Muggles noticed you vanishing.
+
+"Percy first," said Mrs. Weasley, looking nervously at the clock
+overhead, which showed they had only five minutes to disappear
+casually through the barrier.
+
+Percy strode briskly forward and vanished. Mr. Weasley went next;
+Fred and George followed.
+
+"I'll take Ginny and you two come right after us," Mrs. Weasley told
+Harry and Ron, grabbing Ginny's hand and setting off. In the blink of
+an eye they were gone.
+
+"Let's go together, we've only got a minute," Ron said to Harry.
+
+Harry made sure that Hedwig's cage was safely wedged on top of his
+trunk and wheeled his trolley around to face the barrier. He felt
+
+61
+
+perfectly confident; this wasn't nearly as uncomfortable as using Floo
+powder. Both of them bent low over the handles of their trolleys and
+walked purposefully toward the barrier, gathering speed. A few feet
+away from it, they broke into a run and
+
+CRASH.
+
+Both trolleys hit the barrier and bounced backward; Ron's trunk fell
+off with a loud thump, Harry was knocked off his feet, and Hedwig's
+cage bounced onto the shiny floor, and she rolled away, shrieking
+indignantly; people all around them stared and a guard nearby yelled,
+"What in blazes d'you think you're doing?"
+
+"Lost control of the trolley," Harry gasped, clutching his ribs as he
+got up. Ron ran to pick up Hedwig, who was causing such a scene
+that there was a lot of muttering about cruelty to animals from the
+surrounding crowd.
+
+"Why can't we get through?" Harry hissed to Ron.
+
+"I dunno -"
+
+Ron looked wildly around. A dozen curious people were still
+watching them.
+
+"We're going to miss the train," Ron whispered. "I don't understand
+why the gateway's sealed itself -"
+
+Harry looked up at the giant clock with a sickening feeling in the pit
+of his stomach. Ten seconds ... nine seconds ...
+
+He wheeled his trolley forward cautiously until it was right against the
+barrier and pushed with all his might. The metal remained solid.
+
+Three seconds . . . two seconds ... one second ...
+
+"It's gone," said Ron, sounding stunned. "The train's left. What if
+Mum and Dad can't get back through to us? Have you got any
+Muggle money?"
+
+68
+
+And they marched off through the crowd of curious Muggles, out of
+the station and back onto the side road where the old Ford Anglia was
+parked.
+
+Ron unlocked the cavernous trunk with a series of taps from his wand.
+They heaved their luggage back in, put Hedwig on the back seat, and
+got into the front.
+
+"Check that no one's watching," said Ron, starting the ignition with
+another tap of his wand. Harry stuck his head out of the window:
+Traffic was rumbling along the main road ahead, but their street was
+empty.
+
+"Okay," he said.
+
+Ron pressed a tiny silver button on the dashboard. The car around
+them vanished - and so did they. Harry could feel the seat vibrating
+beneath him, hear the engine, feel his hands on his knees and his
+glasses on his nose, but for all he could see, he had become a pair of
+eyeballs, floating a few feet above the ground in a dingy street full of
+parked cars.
+
+"Let's go," said Ron's voice from his right.
+
+And the ground and the dirty buildings on either side fell away,
+dropping out of sight as the car rose; in seconds, the whole of London
+lay, smoky and glittering, below them.
+
+Then there was a popping noise and the car, Harry, and Ron
+reappeared.
+
+"Uh-oh," said Ron, jabbing at the Invisibility Booster. "It's faulty -"
+
+Both of them pummeled it. The car vanished. Then it flickered back
+again.
+
+"Hold on!" Ron yelled, and he slammed his foot on the acceler
+
+* 7 0
+
+ator; they shot straight into the low, woolly clouds and everything
+turned dull and foggy.
+
+"Now what?" said Harry, blinking at the solid mass of cloud pressing
+in on them from all sides.
+
+"We need to see the train to know what direction to go in," said Ron.
+
+"Dip back down again - quickly -"
+
+They dropped back beneath the clouds and twisted around in their
+seats, squinting at the ground.
+
+"I can see it!" Harry yelled. "Right ahead - there!"
+
+The Hogwarts Express was streaking along below them like a scarlet
+snake.
+
+"Due north," said Ron, checking the compass on the dashboard.
+"Okay, we'll just have to check on it every half hour or so - hold on
+
+And they shot up through the clouds. A minute later, they burst out
+into a blaze of sunlight.
+
+It was a different world. The wheels of the car skimmed the sea of
+fluffy cloud, the sky a bright, endless blue under the blinding white sun.
+
+"All we've got to worry about now are airplanes," said Ron.
+
+They looked at each other and started to laugh; for a long time, they
+couldn't stop.
+
+It was as though they had been plunged into a fabulous dream. This,
+thought Harry, was surely the only way to travel - past swirls and
+turrets of snowy cloud, in a car full of hot, bright sunlight, with a fat
+pack of toffees in the glove compartment, and the prospect of seeing
+Fred's and George's jealous faces when they
+
+* 71
+
+landed smoothly and spectacularly on the sweeping lawn in front of
+Hogwarts castle.
+
+They made regular checks on the train as they flew farther and
+farther north, each dip beneath the clouds showing them a different
+view. London was soon far behind them, replaced by neat green
+fields that gave way in turn to wide, purplish moors, a great city alive
+with cars like multicolored ants, villages with tiny toy churches.
+
+Several uneventful hours later, however, Harry had to admit that
+some of the fun was wearing off. The toffees had made them
+extremely thirsty and they had nothing to drink. He and Ron had
+pulled off their sweaters, but Harry's T-shirt was sticking to the back
+of his seat and his glasses kept sliding down to the end of his sweaty
+nose. He had stopped noticing the fantastic cloud shapes now and
+was thinking longingly of the train miles below, where you could buy
+ice-cold pumpkin juice from a trolley pushed by a plump witch. Why
+hadn't they been able to get onto platform nine and three-quarters?
+
+"Can't be much further, can it?" croaked Ron, hours later still, as the
+sun started to sink into their floor of cloud, staining it a deep pink.
+"Ready for another check on the train?"
+
+It was still right below them, winding its way past a snowcapped
+mountain. It was much darker beneath the canopy of clouds.
+
+Ron put his foot on the accelerator and drove them upward again,
+but as he did so, the engine began to whine.
+
+Harry and Ron exchanged nervous glances.
+
+"It's probably just tired," said Ron. "It's never been this far before
+......
+
+12
+
+And they both pretended not to notice the whining growing
+louder and louder as the sky became steadily darker. Stars were
+blossoming in the blackness. Harry pulled his sweater back on, try
+ing to ignore the way the windshield wipers were now waving fee
+bly, as though in protest.
+"Not far," said Ron, more to the car than to Harry, "not far
+now," and he patted the dashboard nervously.
+When they flew back beneath the clouds a little while later, they
+had to squint through the darkness for a landmark they knew.
+"There!" Harry shouted, making Ron and Hedwig jump.
+"Straight ahead!"
+Silhouetted on the dark horizon, high on the cliff over the lake,
+stood the many turrets and towers of Hogwarts castle.
+But the car had begun to shudder and was losing speed.
+"Come on," Ron said cajolingly, giving the steering wheel a lit
+tle shake, "nearly there, come on -"
+The engine groaned. Narrow jets of steam were issuing from un
+der the hood. Harry found himself gripping the edges of his seat
+very hard as they flew toward the lake.
+The car gave a nasty wobble. Glancing out of his window, Harry
+saw the smooth, black, glassy surface of the water, a mile below.
+Ron's knuckles were white on the steering wheel. The car wobbled
+again.
+"Come on," Ron muttered.
+They were over the lake - the castle was right ahead - Ron
+put his foot down.
+There was a loud clunk, a splutter, and the engine died com
+pletely.
+
+"Uh-oh," said Ron, into the silence.
+
+The nose of the car dropped. They were falling, gathering speed,
+heading straight for the solid castle wall.
+
+"Noooooo!" Ron yelled, swinging the steering wheel around; they
+missed the dark stone wall by inches as the car turned in a great arc,
+soaring over the dark greenhouses, then the vegetable patch, and then
+out over the black lawns, losing altitude all the time.
+
+Ron let go of the steering wheel completely and pulled his wand out of
+his back pocket
+
+"STOP! STOP!" he yelled, whacking the dashboard and the
+windshield, but they were still plummeting, the ground flying up toward
+them
+
+"WATCH OUT FOR THAT TREE!" Harry bellowed, lunging for the
+steering wheel, but too late
+
+CRUNCH.
+
+With an earsplitting bang of metal on wood, they hit the thick tree
+trunk and dropped to the ground with a heavy jolt. Steam was
+billowing from under the crumpled hood; Hedwig was shrieking in
+terror; a golfball-size lump was throbbing on Harry's head where he
+had hit the windshield; and to his right, Ron let out a low, despairing
+groan.
+
+"Are you okay?" Harry said urgently.
+
+"My wand," said Ron, in a shaky voice. "Look at my wand -"
+
+It had snapped, almost in two; the tip was dangling limply, held on by a
+few splinters.
+
+Harry opened his mouth to say he was sure they'd be able to mend it
+up at the school, but he never even got started. At that very moment,
+something hit his side of the car with the force of a
+
+* Y4 *
+
+charging bull, sending him lurching sideways into Ron, just as an
+equally heavy blow hit the roof.
+
+"What's happen -?"
+
+Ron gasped, staring through the windshield, and Harry looked around
+just in time to see a branch as thick as a python smash into it. The tree
+they had hit was attacking them. Its trunk was bent almost double, and
+its gnarled boughs were pummeling every inch of the car it could
+reach.
+
+"Aaargh!" said Ron as another twisted limb punched a large dent into
+his door; the windshield was now trembling under a hail of blows from
+knuckle-like twigs and a branch as thick as a battering ram was
+pounding furiously on the roof, which seemed to be caving
+
+"Run for it!" Ron shouted, throwing his full weight against his door, but
+next second he had been knocked backward into Harry's lap by a
+vicious uppercut from another branch.
+
+"We're done for!" he moaned as the ceiling sagged, but suddenly the
+floor of the car was vibrating - the engine had restarted.
+
+"Reverse!" Harry yelled, and the car shot backward; the tree was still
+trying to hit them; they could hear its roots creaking as it almost ripped
+itself up, lashing out at them as they sped out of reach.
+
+"That," panted Ron, "was close. Well done, car -"
+
+The car, however, had reached the end of its tether. With two sharp
+clunks, the doors flew open and Harry felt his seat tip sideways: Next
+thing he knew he was sprawled on the damp ground. Loud thuds told
+him that the car was ejecting their luggage from the trunk; Hedwig's
+cage flew through the air and burst open; she rose out of it with an
+angry screech and sped off toward the castle
+
+Y5
+
+without a backward look. Then, dented, scratched, and steaming,
+the car rumbled off into the darkness, its rear lights blazing angrily.
+
+"Come back!" Ron yelled after it, brandishing his broken wand.
+"Dad'll kill me!"
+
+But the car disappeared from view with one last snort from its
+exhaust.
+
+"Can you believe our luck?" said Ron miserably, bending down to
+pick up Scabbers. "Of all the trees we could've hit, we had to get
+one that hits back."
+
+He glanced over his shoulder at the ancient tree, which was still
+flailing its branches threateningly.
+
+"Come on," said Harry wearily, "we'd better get up to the school
+......
+
+It wasn't at all the triumphant arrival they had pictured. Stiff, cold,
+and bruised, they seized the ends of their trunks and began dragging
+them up the grassy slope, toward the great oak front doors.
+
+"I think the feast's already started," said Ron, dropping his trunk at
+the foot of the front steps and crossing quietly to look through a
+brightly lit window. "Hey - Harry - come and look - it's the Sorting!"
+
+Harry hurried over and, together, he and Ron peered in at the Great
+Hall.
+
+Innumerable candles were hovering in midair over four long,
+crowded tables, making the golden plates and goblets sparkle.
+Overhead, the bewitched ceiling, which always mirrored the sky
+outside, sparkled with stars.
+
+Through the forest of pointed black Hogwarts hats, Harry saw a long
+line of scared-looking first years fiIing into the Hall. Ginny
+
+* 76
+
+was among them, easily visible because of her vivid Weasley ha-ir.
+Meanwhile, Professor McGonagall, a bespectacled witch with her hair
+in a tight bun, was placing the famous Hogwarts Sorting Hat on a
+stool before the newcomers.
+
+Every year, this aged old hat, patched, frayed, and dirty, sorted new
+students into the four Hogwarts houses (Gryffindor, Hufflepuff,
+Ravenclaw, and Slytherin). Harry well remembered putting it on,
+exactly one year ago, and waiting, petrified, for its decision as it
+muttered aloud in his ear. For a few horrible seconds he had feared
+that the hat was going to put him in Slytherin, the house that had
+turned out more Dark witches and wizards than any other -but he had
+ended up in Gryffindor, along with Ron, Hermione, and the rest of the
+Weasleys. Last term, Harry and Ron had helped Gryffindor win the
+House Championship, beating Slytherin for the first time in seven
+years.
+
+A very small, mousy-haired boy had been called forward to place the
+hat on his head. Harry's eyes wandered past him to where Professor
+Dumbledore, the headmaster, sat watching the Sorting from the staff
+table, his long silver beard and half-moon glasses shining brightly in the
+candlelight. Several seats along, Harry saw Gilderoy Lockhart,
+dressed in robes of aquamarine. And there at the end was Hagrid,
+huge and hairy, drinking deeply from his goblet.
+
+"Hang on. . . " Harry muttered to Ron. "There's an empty chair at the
+staff table .... Where's Snape?"
+
+Professor Severus Snape was Harry's least favorite teacher. Harry
+also happened to be Snape's least favorite student. Cruel, sarcastic,
+and disliked by everybody except the students from his own house
+(Slytherin), Snape taught Potions.
+
+"Maybe he's ill!" said Ron hopefully.
+
+"Maybe he's left," said Ha-rry, "because he missed out on the Defense
+Against Dark Arts job again!"
+
+"Or he might have been sacked!" said Ron enthusiastically. "I mean,
+everyone hates him -"
+
+"Or maybe," said a very cold voice right behind them, "he's waiting to
+hear why you two didn't arrive on the school train."
+
+Harry spun around. There, his black robes rippling in a cold breeze,
+stood Severus Snape. He was a thin man with sallow skin, a hooked
+nose, and greasy, shoulder-length black hair, and at this moment, he
+was smiling in a way that told Harry he and Ron were in very deep
+trouble.
+
+"Follow me," said Snape.
+
+Not daring even to look at each other, Harry and Ron followed Snape
+up the steps into the vast, echoing entrance hall, which was lit with
+flaming torches. A delicious smell of food was wafting from the Great
+Hall, but Snape led them away from the warmth and light, down a
+narrow stone staircase that led into the dungeons.
+
+"In!" he said, opening a door halfway down the cold passageway and
+pointing.
+
+They entered Snape's office, shivering. The shadowy walls were lined
+with shelves of large glass) ars, in which floated all manner of
+revolting things Harry didn't really want to know the name of at the
+moment. The fireplace was dark and empty. Snape closed the door
+and turned to look at them.
+
+"So," he said softly, "the train isn't good enough for the famous Harry
+Potter and his faithful sidekick Weasley. Wanted to arrive with a bang,
+did we, boys?"
+
+"No, sir, it was the barrier at King's Cross, it -"
+
+78
+
+"Silence!" said Snape coldly. "What have you done with the
+car?"
+Ron gulped. This wasn't the first time Snape had given Harry the
+impression of being able to read minds. But a moment later, he un
+derstood, as Snape unrolled today's issue of the Evening Prophet.
+"You were seen," he hissed, showing them the headline: FLY
+ING FORD ANGLIA MYSTIFIES MUGGLES. He began to read
+aloud: "Two Muggles in London, convinced they saw an old car
+flying over the Post Office tower ... at noon in Norfolk, Mrs.
+Hetty Bayliss, while hanging out her washing ... Mr. Angus Fleet,
+of Peebles, reported to police ... Six or seven Muggles in all. I be
+lieve your father works in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office?"
+he said, looking up at Ron and smiling still more nastily. "Dear,
+dear ... his own son. . . "
+Harry felt as though he'd just been walloped in the stomach by
+one of the mad tree's larger branches. If anyone found out Mr.
+Weasley had bewitched the car ... he hadn't thought of that ....
+"I noticed, in my search of the park, that considerable damage
+seems to have been done to a very valuable Whomping Willow,"
+Snape went on.
+"That tree did more damage to us than we -" Ron blurted out.
+"Silence!" snapped Snape again. "Most unfortunately, you are
+not in my House and the decision to expel you does not rest with
+me. I shall go and fetch the people who do have that happy power.
+You will wait here."
+Harry and Ron stared at each other, white-faced. Harry didn't
+feel hungry any more. He now felt extremely sick. He tried not to
+look at a large, slimy something suspended in green liquid on a
+
+shelf behind Snape's desk. If Snape had gone to fetch Professor
+McGonagall, head of Gryffindor House, they were hardly any better
+off. She might be fairer than Snape, but she was still extremely strict.
+
+Ten minutes later, Snape returned, and sure enough it was Professor
+McGonagall who accompanied him. Harry had seen Professor
+McGonagall angry on several occasions, but either he had forgotten
+just how thin her mouth could go, or he had never seen her this angry
+before. She raised her wand the moment she entered; Harry and Ron
+both flinched, but she merely pointed it at the empty fireplace, where
+flames suddenly erupted.
+
+"Sit," she said, and they both backed into chairs by the fire.
+
+"Explain," she said, her glasses glinting ominously.
+
+Ron launched into the story, starting with the barrier at the station
+refusing to let them through.
+
+"
+
+-so we had no choice, Professor, we couldn't get on the train."
+
+"Why didn't you send us a letter by owl? I believe you have an owl?"
+Professor McGonagall said coldly to Harry.
+
+Harry gaped at her. Now she said it, that seemed the obvious thing to
+have done.
+
+"I - I didn't think -"
+
+"That," said Professor McGonagall, "is obvious."
+
+There was a knock on the office door and Snape, now looking happier
+than ever, opened it. There stood the headmaster, Professor
+Dumbledore.
+
+Harry's whole body went numb. Dumbledore was looking unusually
+grave. He stared down his very crooked nose at them, and
+
+*80*
+
+Harry suddenly found himself wishing he and Ron were still being
+beaten up by the Whomping Willow.
+
+There was a long silence. Then Dumbledore said, "Please explain why
+you did this."
+
+It would have been better if he had shouted. Harry hated the
+disappointment in his voice. For some reason, he was unable to look
+Dumbledore in the eyes, and spoke instead to his knees. He told
+Dumbledore everything except that Mr. Weasley owned the
+bewitched car, making it sound as though he and Ron had happened to
+find a flying car parked outside the station. He knew Dumbledore
+would see through this at once, but Dumbledore asked no questions
+about the car. When Harry had finished, he merely continued to peer
+at them through his spectacles.
+
+"We'll go and get our stuff," said Ron in a hopeless sort of voice.
+
+"What are you talking about, Weasley?" barked Professor
+McGonagall.
+
+"Well, you're expelling us, aren't you?" said Ron.
+
+Harry looked quickly at Dumbledore.
+
+"Not today, Mr. Weasley," said Dumbledore. "But I must impress upon
+both of you the seriousness of what you have done. I will be writing to
+both your families tonight. I must also warn you that if you do anything
+like this again, I will have no choice but to expel you."
+
+Snape looked as though Christmas had been canceled. He cleared his
+throat and said, "Professor Dumbledore, these boys have flouted the
+Decree for the Restriction of Underage Wizardry, caused serious
+damage to an old and valuable tree - surely acts of this nature -"
+
+* 8i
+
+"It will be for Professor McGonagall to decide on these boys'
+punishments, Severus," said Dumbledore calmly. "They are in her
+House and are therefore her responsibility." He turned to Professor
+McGonagall. "I must go back to the feast, Minerva, I've got to give
+out a few notices. Come, Severus, there's a delicious-looking cus
+tard tart I want to sample -"
+Snape shot a look of pure venom at Harry and Ron as he allowed
+himself to be swept out of his office, leaving them alone with Pro
+fessor McGonagall, who was still eyeing them like a wrathful eagle.
+"You'd better get along to the hospital wing, Weasley, you're
+bleeding."
+"Not much," said Ron, hastily wiping the cut over his eye with
+his sleeve. "Professor, I wanted to watch my sister being Sorted -"
+"The Sorting Ceremony is over," said Professor McGonagall.
+"Your sister is also in Gryffindor."
+"Oh, good," said Ron.
+"And speaking of Gryffindor -" Professor McGonagall said
+sharply, but Harry cut in: "Professor, when we took the car, term
+hadn't started, so - so Gryffindor shouldn't really have points
+taken from it - should it?" he finished, watching her anxiously.
+Professor McGonagall gave him a piercing look, but he was sure
+she had almost smiled. Her mouth looked less thin, anyway.
+"I will not take any points from Gryffindor," she said, and
+Harry's heart lightened considerably. "But you will both get a de
+tention."
+It was better than Harry had expected. As for Dumbledore's
+writing to the Dursleys, that was nothing. Harry knew perfectly
+well they'd just be disappointed that the Whomping Willow hadn't
+squashed him flat.
+
+82
+
+Professor McGonagall raised her wand again and pointed it at Snape's
+desk. A large plate of sandwiches, two silver goblets, and a jug of-iced
+pumpkin juice appeared with a pop.
+
+"You will eat in here and then go straight up to your dormitory," she
+said. "I must also return to the feast."
+
+When the door had closed behind her, Ron let out a long, low whistle.
+
+"I thought we'd had it," he said, grabbing a sandwich.
+
+"So did I," said Harry, taking one, too.
+
+"Can you believe our luck, though?" said Ron thickly through a
+mouthful of chicken and ham. "Fred and George must've flown that
+car five or six times and no Muggle ever saw them." He swallowed
+and took another huge bite. "Why couldn't we get through the barrier?"
+
+Harry shrugged. "We'll have to watch our step from now on, though,"
+he said, taking a grateful swig of pumpkin juice. "Wish we could've
+gone up to the feast ......
+
+"She didn't want us showing off," said Ron sagely. "Doesn't want
+people to think it's clever, arriving by flying car."
+
+When they had eaten as many sandwiches as they could (the plate
+kept refilling itself) they rose and left the office, treading the familiar
+path to Gryffindor Tower. The castle was quiet; it seemed that the
+feast was over. They walked past muttering portraits and creaking
+suits of armor, and climbed narrow flights of stone stairs, until at last
+they reached the passage where the secret entrance to Gryffindor
+Tower was hidden, behind an oil painting of a very fat woman in a
+pink silk dress.
+
+"Password?" she said as they approached.
+
+"Er -" said Harry.
+
+They didn't know the new year's password, not having met a
+Gryffindor prefect yet, but help came almost immediately; they heard
+hurrying feet behind them and turned to see Hermione dashing toward
+them.
+
+"There you are! Where have you been? The most ridiculous rumors -
+someone said you'd been expelled for crashing a flying car
+
+"Well, we haven't been expelled," Harry assured her.
+
+"You're not telling me you did fly here?" said Hermione, sounding
+almost as severe as Professor McGonagall.
+
+"Skip the lecture," said Ron impatiently, "and tell us the new
+password."
+
+"It's `wattlebird,"' said Hermione impatiently, "but that's not the point -
+"
+
+Her words were cut short, however, as the portrait of the fat lady
+swung open and there was a sudden storm of clapping. It looked as
+though the whole of Gryffindor House was still awake, packed into
+the circular common room, standing on the lopsided tables and
+squashy armchairs, waiting for them to arrive. Arms reached through
+the portrait hole to pull Harry and Ron inside, leaving Hermione to
+scramble in after then-t.
+
+"Brilliant!" yelled Lee Jordan. "Inspired! What an entrance! Flying a
+car right into the Whomping Willow, people'll be talking about that
+one for years -"
+
+"Good for you," said a fifth year Harry had never spoken to; someone
+was patting him on the back as though he'd just won a marathon;
+Fred and George pushed their way to the front of the crowd and said
+together, "Why couldn't we've come in the car, eh?"
+
+84
+
+Ron was scarlet in the face, grinning embarrassedly, but Harry could
+see one person who didn't look happy at all. Percy was visible over
+the heads of some excited first years, and he seemed to be trying to
+get near enough to start telling them off. Harry nudged Ron in the
+ribs and nodded in Percy's direction. Ron got the point at once.
+
+"Got to get upstairs - bit tired," he said, and the two of them started
+pushing their way toward the door on the other side of the room,
+which led to a spiral staircase and the dormitories.
+
+"'Night," Harry called back to Hermione, who was wearing a scowl
+just like Percy's.
+
+They managed to get to the other side of the common room, still
+having their backs slapped, and gained the peace of the staircase.
+They hurried up it, right to the top, and at last reached the door of
+their old dormitory, which now had a sign on it saying SECOND YEARS.
+They entered the familiar, circular room, with its five four-posters
+hung with red velvet and its high, narrow windows. Their trunks had
+been brought up for them and stood at the ends of their beds.
+
+Ron grinned guiltily at Harry.
+
+"I know I shouldn't've enjoyed that or anything, but ='
+
+The dormitory door flew open and in came the other second year
+Gryffindor boys, Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas, and Neville
+Longbottom.
+
+"Unbelievable!" beamed Seamus.
+
+"Cool," said Dean.
+
+"Amazing," said Neville, awestruck.
+
+Harry couldn't help it. He grinned, too.
+
+* 85 *
+
+H-H A P T E RR		s 1 x
+
+GILDEROY LOCKHART
+
+he next day, however, Harry barely grinned once. Things started to go
+downhill from breakfast in the Great Hall. The four long house tables
+were laden with tureens of porridge, plates of kippers, mountains of
+toast, and dishes of eggs and bacon, beneath the enchanted ceiling
+(today, a dull, cloudy gray). Harry and Ron sat down at the Gryffindor
+table next to Hermione, who had her copy of Voyages with Vampires
+propped open against a milk jug. There was a slight stiffness in the
+way she said "Morning," which told Harry that she was still
+disapproving of the way they had arrived. Neville Longbottom, on the
+other hand, greeted them cheerfully. Neville was a round-faced and
+accident-prone boy with the worst memory of anyone Harry had ever
+met.
+
+"Mail's due any minute - I think Gran's sending a few things I forgot."
+
+Harry had only just started his porridge when, sure enough, there was
+a rushing sound overhead and a hundred or so owls
+
+86
+
+
+
+streamed in, circling the hall and dropping letters and packages into the
+chattering crowd. A big, lumpy package bounced off Neville's head
+and, a second later, something large and gray fell into Hermione's jug,
+spraying them all with milk and feathers.
+
+"Enrol!" said Ron, pulling the bedraggled owl out by the feet. Errol
+slumped, unconscious, onto the table, his legs in the air and a damp red
+envelope in his beak.
+
+"Oh, no -" Ron gasped.
+
+"It's all right, he's still alive," said Hermione, prodding Errol gently with
+the tip of her finger.
+
+"It's not that - it's that."
+
+Ron was pointing at the red envelope. It looked quite ordinary to
+Harry, but Ron and Neville were both looking at it as though they
+expected it to explode.
+
+"What's the matter?" said Harry.
+
+"She's - she's sent me a Howler," said Ron faintly.
+
+"You'd better open it, Ron," said Neville in a timid whisper. "It'll be
+worse if you don't My gran sent me one once, and I ignored it and" -
+he gulped - "it was horrible."
+
+Harry looked from their petrified faces to the red envelope.
+
+"What's a Howler?" he said.
+
+But Ron's whole attention was fixed on the letter, which had begun to
+smoke at the corners.
+
+"Open it," Neville urged. "It'll all be over in a few minutes -"
+
+Ron stretched out a shaking hand, eased the envelope from Errol's
+beak, and slit it open. Neville stuffed his fingers in his ears. A split
+second later, Harry knew why. He thought for a moment it had
+exploded; a roar of sound fiIled the huge hall, shaking dust from the
+ceiling.
+
+8 _
+
+"-	E CAR, I WO ULDN'T HAVE BEEN S UR-
+
+STEALING THE
+
+PRISED IF THEY'D EXPELLED YOU, YOU WAIT TILL I GET
+HOLD OF YOU, I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU STOPPED TO
+THINK WHAT YOUR FATHERAND I WENT THROUGH WHEN
+WE SAW IT WAS GONE -"
+
+Mrs. Weasleys yells, a hundred times louder than usual, made the
+plates and spoons rattle on the table, and echoed deafeningly off the
+stone walls. People throughout the hall were swiveling around to see
+who had received the Howler, and Ron sank so low in his chair that
+only his crimson forehead could be seen.
+
+"- LETTER FROM DUMBLEDORE LAST NIGHT, I THOUGHT
+YOUR FATHER WOULD DIE OF SHAME, WE DIDN'T BRING
+YOU UP TO BEHAVE LIKE THIS, YOU AND HARRY COULD
+BOTH HAVE DIED -"
+
+Harry had been wondering when his name was going to crop up. He
+tried very hard to look as though he couldn't hear the voice that was
+making his eardrums throb.
+
+"-ABSOLUTELYDISGUSTED - YOUR FATHER'S FACING AN
+INQUIRY AT WORK, IT'S ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT AND IF
+YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE WE'LL BRING YOU
+STRAIGHT BACK HOME."
+
+A ringing silence fell. The red envelope, which had dropped from Ron's
+hand, burst into flames and curled into ashes. Harry and Ron sat
+stunned, as though a tidal wave had just passed over them. A few
+people laughed and, gradually, a babble of talk broke out again.
+
+Hermione closed Voyages with Vampires and looked down at the top
+of Ron's head.
+
+* 88
+
+"Well, I don't know what you expected, Ron, but you -"
+
+"Don't tell me I deserved it," snapped Ron.
+
+Harry pushed his porridge away. His insides were burning with guilt.
+Mr. Weasley was facing an inquiry at work. After all Mr. and Mrs.
+Weasley had done for him over the summer ...
+
+But he had no time to dwell on this; Professor McGonagall was
+moving along the Gryffindor table, handing out course schedules.
+Harry took his and saw that they had double Herbology with the
+Hufepuffs first.
+
+Harry, Ron, and Hermione left the castle together, crossed the
+vegetable patch, and made for the greenhouses, where the magical
+plants were kept. At least the Howler had done one good thing:
+Hermione seemed to think they had now been punished enough and
+was being perfectly friendly again.
+
+As they neared the greenhouses they saw the rest of the class
+standing outside, waiting for Professor Sprout. Harry, Ron, and
+Hermione had only just joined them when she came striding into view
+across the lawn, accompanied by Gilderoy Lockhart. Professor
+Sprout's arms were full of bandages, and with another twinge of guilt,
+Harry spotted the Whomping Willow in the distance, several of its
+branches now in slings.
+
+Professor Sprout was a squat little witch who wore a patched hat over
+her flyaway hair; there was usually a large amount of earth on her
+clothes and her fingernails would have made Aunt Petunia faint.
+Gilderoy Lockhart, however, was immaculate in sweeping robes of
+turquoise, his golden hair shining under a perfectly positioned turquoise
+hat with gold trimming.
+
+"Oh, hello there!" he called, beaming around at the assembled
+
+89
+
+students. "Just been showing Professor Sprout the right way to doctor
+a Whomping Willow! But I don't want you running away with the idea
+that I'm better at Herbology than she is! I just happen to have met
+several of these exotic plants on my travels . . ."
+
+"Greenhouse three today, chaps!" said Professor Sprout, who was
+looking distinctly disgruntled, not at all her usual cheerful self.
+
+There was a murmur of interest. They had only ever worked in
+greenhouse one before - greenhouse three housed far more interesting
+and dangerous plants. Professor Sprout took a large key from her belt
+and unlocked the door. Harry caught a whiff of damp earth and
+fertilizer mingling with the heavy perfume of some giant, umbrella-
+sized flowers dangling from the ceiling. He was about to follow Ron
+and Hermione inside when Lockhart's hand shot out.
+
+"Harry! I've been wanting a word - you don't mind if he's a couple of
+minutes late, do you, Professor Sprout?"
+
+Judging by Professor Sprout's scowl, she did mind, but Lockhart said,
+"That's the ticket," and closed the greenhouse door in her face.
+
+"Harry," said Lockhart, his large white teeth gleaming in the sunlight
+as he shook his head. "Harry, Harry, Harry."
+
+Completely nonplussed, Harry said nothing.
+
+"When I heard -well, of course, it was all my fault. Could have kicked
+myself."
+
+Harry had no idea what he was talking about. He was about to say so
+when Lockhart went on, "Don't know when I've been more shocked.
+Flying a car to Hogwarts! Well, of course, I knew at once why you'd
+done it. Stood out a mile. Harry, Harry, Harry."
+
+It was remarkable how he could show every one of those brilliant
+teeth even when he wasn't talking.
+
+90
+
+"Gave you a taste for publicity, didn't I?" said Lockhart. "Gave
+you the bug. You got onto the front page of the paper with me and
+you couldn't wait to do it again."
+"Oh, no, Professor, see -"
+"Harry, Harry, Harry," said Lockhart, reaching out and grasping
+his shoulder. "I understand. Natural to want a bit more once you've
+had that first taste - and I blame myself for giving you that, be
+cause it was bound to go to your head - but see here, young man,
+you can't start flying cars to try and get yourself noticed. Just calm
+down, all right? Plenty of time for all that when you're older. Yes,
+yes, I know what you're thinking! 'It's all right for him, he's an in
+ternationally famous wizard already!' But when I was twelve, I was
+just as much of a nobody as you are now. In fact, Id say I was even
+more of a nobody! I mean, a few people have heard of you, haven't
+they? All that business with He-\"o-Must-Not-Be-Named!" He
+glanced at the lightning scar on Harry's forehead. "I know, I
+know - it's not quite as good as winning Witch Weekly's Most
+Charming-Smile Award five times in a row, as I have - but it's a
+start, Harry, it's a start."
+He gave Harry a hearty wink and strode off. Harry stood
+stunned for a few seconds, then, remembering he was supposed to
+be in the greenhouse, he opened the door and slid inside.
+Professor Sprout was standing behind a trestle bench in the cen
+ter of the greenhouse. About twenty pairs of different-colored ear
+muffs were lying on the bench. When Harry had taken his place
+between Ron and Hermione, she said, "We'll be repotting Man
+drakes today. Now, who can tell me the properties of the Man
+drake?"
+To nobody's surprise, Hermione's hand was first into the air.
+
+s1
+
+"Mandrake, or Mandragora, is a powerful restorative," said Hermione,
+sounding as usual as though she had swallowed the textbook. "It is
+used to return people who have been transfigured or cursed to their
+original state."
+
+"Excellent. Ten points to Gryffindor," said Professor Sprout. "The
+Mandrake forms an essential part of most antidotes. It is also,
+however, dangerous. Who can tell me why?"
+
+Hermione's hand narrowly missed Harry's glasses as it shot up again.
+
+"The cry of the Mandrake is fatal to anyone who hears it," she said
+promptly.
+
+"Precisely. Take another ten points," said Professor Sprout. "Now, the
+Mandrakes we have here are still very young."
+
+She pointed to a row of deep trays as she spoke, and everyone
+shuffled forward for a better look. A hundred or so tufty little plants,
+purplish green in color, were growing there in rows. They looked quite
+unremarkable to Harry, who didn't have the slightest idea what
+Hermione meant by the "cry" of the Mandrake.
+
+"Everyone take a pair of earmuffs," said Professor Sprout.
+
+There was a scramble as everyone tried to seize a pair that wasn't
+pink and fluffy.
+
+"When I tell you to put them on, make sure your ears are completely
+covered," said Professor Sprout. "When it is safe to remove them, I
+will give you the thumbs-up. Right - earmuffs on."
+
+Harry snapped the earmuffs over his ears. They shut out sound
+completely. Professor Sprout put the pink, fluffy pair over her own
+ears, rolled up the sleeves of her robes, grasped one of the tufty plants
+firmly, and pulled hard.
+
+*92*
+
+Harry let out a gasp of surprise that no one could hear.
+
+Instead of roots, a small, muddy, and extremely ugly baby popped out
+of the earth. The leaves were growing right out of his head. He had
+pale green, mottled skin, and was clearly bawling at the top of his
+lungs.
+
+Professor Sprout took a large plant pot from under the table and
+plunged the Mandrake into it, burying him in dark, damp compost until
+only the tufted leaves were visible. Professor Sprout dusted off her
+hands, gave them all the thumbs-up, and removed her own earmuffs.
+
+"As our Mandrakes are only seedlings, their cries won't kill yet," she
+said calmly as though she'd just done nothing more exciting than water
+a begonia. "However, they will knock you out for several hours, and as
+I'm sure none of you want to miss your first day back, make sure your
+earmuffs are securely in place while you work. I will attract your
+attention when it is time to pack up.
+
+"Four to a tray - there is a large supply of pots here - compost in the
+sacks over there - and be careful of the Venemous Tentacula, it's
+teething."
+
+She gave a sharp slap to a spiky, dark red plant as she spoke, making
+it draw in the long feelers that had been inching sneakily over her
+shoulder.
+
+Harry, Ron, and Hermione were joined at their tray by a curly-haired
+Hufflepuff boy Harry knew by sight but had never spoken to.
+
+"Justin Finch-Fletchley," he said brightly, shaking Harry by the hand.
+"Know who you are, of course, the famous Harry Potter... And you're
+Hermione Granger - always top in everything"
+
+* 9%
+
+(Hermione beamed as she had her hand shaken too) "- and Ron
+Weasley. Wasn't that your flying car?"
+
+Ron didn't smile. The Howler was obviously still on his mind.
+
+"That Lockhart's something, isn't he?" said Justin happily as they
+began fiIling their plant pots with dragon dung compost. "Awfully
+brave chap. Have you read his books? Id have died of fear if Id been
+cornered in a telephone booth by a werewolf, but he stayed cool and -
+zap - just fantastic.
+
+"My name was down for Eton, you know. I can't tell you how glad I
+am I came here instead. Of course, Mother was slightly disappointed,
+but since I made her read Lockhart's books I think she's begun to see
+how useful it'll be to have a fully trained wizard in the family . . . ."
+
+After that they didn't have much chance to talk. Their earmuffs were
+back on and they needed to concentrate on the Mandrakes. Professor
+Sprout had made it look extremely easy, but it wasn't. The Mandrakes
+didn't like coming out of the earth, but didn't seem to want to go back
+into it either. They squirmed, kicked, flailed their sharp little fists, and
+gnashed their teeth; Harry spent ten whole minutes trying to squash a
+particularly fat one into a pot.
+
+By the end of the class, Harry, like everyone else, was sweaty,
+aching, and covered in earth. Everyone traipsed back to the castle for
+a quick wash and then the Gryffindors hurried off to Transfiguration.
+
+Professor McGonagall's classes were always hard work, but today
+was especially difficult. Everything Harry had learned last year
+seemed to have leaked out of his head during the summer. He was
+supposed to be turning a beetle into a button, but all he managed
+
+* 94
+
+to do was give his beetle a lot of exercise as it scuttled over the
+desktop avoiding his wand.
+
+Ron was having far worse problems. He had patched up his wand
+with some borrowed Spellotape, but it seemed to be damaged beyond
+repair. It kept crackling and sparking at odd moments, and every time
+Ron tried to transfigure his beetle it engulfed him in thick gray smoke
+that smelled of rotten eggs. Unable to see what he was doing, Ron
+accidentally squashed his beetle with his elbow and had to ask for a
+new one. Professor McGonagall wasn't pleased.
+
+Harry was relieved to hear the lunch bell. His brain felt like a wrung
+sponge. Everyone fiIed out of the classroom except him and Ron, who
+was whacking his wand furiously on the desk.
+
+"Stupid - useless - thing -"
+
+"Write home for another one," Harry suggested as the wand let off a
+volley of bangs like a firecracker.
+
+"Oh, yeah, and get another Howler back," said Ron, stuffing the now
+hissing wand into his bag. " `It's your own fault your wand got snapped -
+'"
+
+They went down to lunch, where Ron's mood was not improved by
+Hermione's showing them the handful of perfect coat buttons she had
+produced in Transfiguration.
+
+"What've we got this afternoon?" said Harry, hastily changing the
+subject.
+
+"Defense Against the Dark Arts," said Hermione at once.
+
+"Why, "demanded Ron, seizing her schedule, "have you outlined all
+Lockhart's lessons in little hearts?"
+
+Hermione snatched the schedule back, blushing furiously.
+
+* 95 *
+
+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 before Harry became aware that he was being closely
+watched. Looking up, he saw the very small, mousy-haired boy he'd
+seen trying on the Sorting Hat last night staring at Harry as though
+transfixed. He was clutching what looked like an ordinary Muggle
+camera, and the moment Harry looked at him, he went bright red.
+
+"All right, Harry? I'm -I'm Colin Creevey," he said breathlessly, taking
+a tentative step forward. "I'm in Gryffindor, too. D'you think - would it
+be all right if - can I have a picture?" he said, raising the camera
+hopefully.
+
+"A picture?" Harry repeated blankly.
+
+"So I can prove I've met you," said Colin Creevey eagerly, edging
+further forward. "I know all about you. Everyone's told me. About
+how you survived when You-Know-Who tried to kill you and how he
+disappeared and everything and how you've still got a lightning scar on
+your forehead" (his eyes raked Harry's hairline) "and a boy in my
+dormitory said if I develop the film in the right potion, the pictures'll
+move." Colin drew a great shuddering breath of excitement and said,
+"It's amazing here, isn't it? I never knew all the odd stuff I could do
+was magic till I got the letter from Hogwarts. My dad's a milkman, he
+couldn't believe it either. So I'm taking loads of pictures to send home
+to him. And it'd be really good if I had one of you" - he looked
+imploringly at Harry - "maybe your friend could take it and I could
+stand next to you? And then, could you sign it?"
+
+96
+
+"Signed photos? You're giving out signed photos, Potter?"
+
+Loud and scathing, Draco Malfoy's voice echoed around the
+courtyard. He had stopped right behind Colin, flanked, as he always
+was at Hogwarts, by his large and thuggish cronies, Crabbe and
+Goyle.
+
+"Everyone line up!" Malfoy roared to the crowd. "Harry Potter's
+giving out signed photos!"
+
+"No, I'm not," said Harry angrily, his fists clenching. "Shut up,
+Malfoy."
+
+"You're just jealous," piped up Colin, whose entire body was about
+as thick as Crabbe's neck.
+
+`jealous?"said Malfoy, who didn't need to shout anymore: half the
+courtyard was listening in. "Of what? I don't want a foul scar right
+across my head, thanks. I don't think getting your head cut open
+makes you that special, myself."
+
+Crabbe and Goyle were sniggering stupidly.
+
+"Eat slugs, Malfoy," said Ron angrily. Crabbe stopped laughing and
+started rubbing his knuckles in a menacing way.
+
+"Be careful, Weasley," sneered Malfoy. "You don't want to start any
+trouble or your Mommy'll have to come and take you away from
+school." He put on a shrill, piercing voice. "Ifyou put another toe
+out of line' - "
+
+A knot of Slytherin fifth-years nearby laughed loudly at this.
+
+"Weasley would like a signed photo, Potter," smirked Malfoy. "It'd
+be worth more than his family's whole house -"
+
+Ron whipped out his Spellotaped wand, but Hermione shut Voyages
+with Vampires with a snap and whispered, "Look out!"
+
+"What's all this, what's all this?" Gilderoy Lockhart was striding
+
+* 97
+
+toward them, his turquoise robes swirling behind him. "Who's giv
+ing out signed photos?"
+Harry started to speak but he was cut short as Lockhart flung an
+arm around his shoulders and thundered jovially, "Shouldn't have
+asked! We meet again, Harry!"
+Pinned to Lockhart's side and burning with humiliation, Harry
+saw Malfoy slide smirking back into the crowd.
+"Come on then, Mr. Creevey," said Lockhart, beaming at Colin.
+"A double portrait, can't do better than that, and we'll both sign it
+for you."
+Colin fumbled for his camera and took the picture as the bell
+rang behind them, signaling the start of afternoon classes.
+"Off you go, move along there," Lockhart called to the crowd,
+and he set off back to the castle with Harry, who was wishing he
+knew a good Vanishing Spell, still clasped to his side.
+"A word to the wise, Harry," said Lockhart paternally as they
+entered the building through a side door. "I covered up for you
+back there with young Creevey - if he was photographing me,
+too, your schoolmates won't think you're setting yourself up so
+much . . . ."
+Deaf to Harry's stammers, Lockhart swept him down a corridor
+lined with staring students and up a staircase.
+"Let me just say that handing out signed pictures at this stage of
+your career isn't sensible - looks a tad bigheaded, Harry, to be
+frank. There may well come a time when, like me, you'll need to
+keep a stack handy wherever you go, but" - he gave a little chor
+tle - "I don't think you're quite there yet."
+They had reached Lockhart's classroom and he let Harry go at
+
+98
+
+last. Harry yanked his robes straight and headed for a seat at the very
+back of the class, where he busied himself with piling all seven of
+Lockhart's books in front of him, so that he could avoid looking at the
+real thing.
+
+The rest of the class came clattering in, and Ron and Hermione sat
+down on either side of Harry.
+
+"You could've fried an egg on your face" said Ron. "You'd better hope
+Creevey doesn't meet Ginny, or they'll be starting a Harry Potter fan
+club."
+
+"Shut up," snapped Harry. The last thing he needed was for Lockhart
+to hear the phrase "Harry Potter fan club."
+
+When the whole class was seated, Lockhart cleared his throat loudly
+and silence fell. He reached forward, picked up Neville Longbottom's
+copy of Travels with Trolls, and held it up to show his own, winking
+portrait on the front.
+
+"Me," he said, pointing at it and winking as well. "Gilderoy Lockhart,
+Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force
+Defense League, and five-time winner of Witch Weekly's Most-
+Charming-Smile Award - but I don't talk about that. I didn't get rid of
+the Bandon Banshee by smiling at her!"
+
+He waited for them to laugh; a few people smiled weakly.
+
+"I see you've all bought a complete set of my books -well done. I
+thought we'd start today with a little quiz. Nothing to worry about
+
+just to check how well you've read them, how much you've taken in -"
+
+When he had handed out the test papers he returned to the front of
+the class and said, "You have thirty minutes - start - now!"
+
+Harry looked down at his paper and read:
+
+
+1.	What is Gilderoy Lockhart 's favorite color?
+
+2.	What is Gilderoy Lockhart's secret ambition?
+
+3.	What, in your opinion, is Gilderoy Lockhart's greatest
+achievement to date?
+
+On and on it went, over three sides of paper, right down to:
+
+54.	When is Gilderoy Lockhart's birthday, and what would his
+ideal gift be?
+
+Half an hour later, Lockhart collected the papers and rifled through
+them in front of the class.
+
+"Tut, tut - hardly any of you remembered that my favorite color is
+lilac. I say so in Year with the Yeti. And a few of you need to read
+Wanderings with Werewolves more carefully - I clearly state in chapter
+twelve that my ideal birthday gift would be harmony between all
+magic and non-magic peoples - though I wouldn't say no to a large
+bottle of Ogdeds Old Firewhisky!"
+
+He gave them another roguish wink. Ron was now staring at
+Lockhart with an expression of disbelief on his face; Seamus
+Finnigan and Dean Thomas, who were sitting in front, were shaking
+with silent laughter. Hermione, on the other hand, was listening to
+Lockhart with rapt attention and gave a start when he mentioned her
+name.
+
+". . . but Miss Hermione Granger knew my secret ambition is to rid the
+world of evil and market my own range of hair-care potions - good
+girl! In fact" - he flipped her paper over - "full marks! Where is Miss
+Hermione Granger?"
+
+*100*
+
+Hermione raised a trembling hand.
+
+"Excellent!" beamed Lockhart. "Quite excellent! Take ten points for
+Gryffindor! And so - to business -"
+
+He bent down behind his desk and lifted a large, covered cage onto it.
+
+"Now - be warned! It is my job to arm you against the foulest
+creatures known to wizardkind! You may find yourselves facing your
+worst fears in this room. Know only that no harm can befall you whilst
+I am here. All I ask is that you remain calm."
+
+In spite of himself, Harry leaned around his pile of books for a better
+look at the cage. Lockhart placed a hand on the cover. Dean and
+Seamus had stopped laughing now. Neville was cowering in his front
+row seat.
+
+"I must ask you not to scream," said Lockhart in a low voice. "It might
+provoke them."
+
+As the whole class held its breath, Lockhart whipped off the cover.
+
+"Yes," he said dramatically. "Freshly caught Cornish pixies. "
+
+Seamus Finnigan couldn't control himself. He let out a snort of
+laughter that even Lockhart couldn't mistake for a scream of terror.
+
+"Yes?" He smiled at Seamus.
+
+"Well, they're not - they're not very - dangerous, are they?" Seamus
+choked.
+
+"Don't be so sure!" said Lockhart, waggling a finger annoyingly at
+Seamus. "Devilish tricky little blighters they can be!"
+
+The pixies were electric blue and about eight inches high, with pointed
+faces and voices so shrill it was like listening to a lot of budgies
+arguing. The moment the cover had been removed, they
+
+*101*
+
+had started jabbering and rocketing around, rattling the bars and
+making bizarre faces at the people nearest them.
+
+"Right, then," Lockhart said loudly. "Let's see what you make of
+them!" And he opened the cage.
+
+It was pandemonium. The pixies shot in every direction like rockets.
+Two of them seized Neville by the ears and lifted him into the air.
+Several shot straight through the window, showering the back row
+with broken glass. The rest proceeded to wreck the classroom more
+effectively than a rampaging rhino. They grabbed ink bottles and
+sprayed the class with them, shredded books and papers, tore pictures
+from the walls, up-ended the waste basket, grabbed bags and books
+and threw them out of the smashed window; within minutes, half the
+class was sheltering under desks and Neville was swinging from the
+iron chandelier in the ceiling.
+
+"Come on now - round them up, round them up, they're only pixies,"
+Lockhart shouted.
+
+He rolled up his sleeves, brandished his wand, and bellowed,
+
+"Peskipiksi Pesternomi!"
+
+It had absolutely no effect; one of the pixies seized his wand and
+threw it out of the window, too. Lockhart gulped and dived under his
+own desk, narrowly avoiding being squashed by Neville, who fell a
+second later as the chandelier gave way.
+
+The bell rang and there was a mad rush toward the exit. In the relative
+calm that followed, Lockhart straightened up, caught sight of Harry,
+Ron, and Hermione, who were almost at the door, and said, "Well, I'll
+ask you three to just nip the rest of them back into their cage." He
+swept past them and shut the door quickly behind him.
+
+*102*
+
+"Can you believe him?" roared Ron as one of the remaining pixies bit
+him painfully on the ear.
+
+"He just wants to give us some hands-on experience," said Hermione,
+immobilizing two pixies at once with a clever Freezing Charm and
+stuffing them back into their cage.
+
+"Hands on? "said Harry, who was trying to grab a pixie dancing out of
+reach with its tongue out. "Hermione, he didn't have a clue what he
+was doing -"
+
+"Rubbish," said Hermione. "You've read his books - look at all those
+amazing things he's done -"
+
+"He says he's done," Ron muttered.
+
+
+arry spent a lot of time over the next few days dodging out of sight
+whenever he saw Gilderoy Lockhart coming down a corridor. Harder
+to avoid was Colin Creevey, who seemed to have memorized Harry's
+schedule. Nothing seemed to give Colin a bigger thrill than to say, "All
+right, Harry?" six or seven times a day and hear, "Hello, Colin," back,
+however exasperated Harry sounded when he said it.
+
+Hedwig was still angry with Harry about the disasterous car journey
+and Ron's wand was still malfunctioning, surpassing itself on Friday
+morning by shooting out of Ron's hand in Charms and hitting tiny old
+Professor Flitwick squarely between the eyes, creating a large,
+throbbing green boil where it had struck. So with one thing and
+another, Harry was quite glad to reach the weekend. He, Ron, and
+Hermione were planning to visit Hagrid on Saturday morning. Harry,
+however, was shaken awake several hours earlier
+
+*104*
+
+
+
+than he would have liked by Oliver Wood, Captain of the Gryffindor
+Quidditch team.
+
+"Whassamatter?" said Harry groggily.
+
+"Quidditch practice!" said Wood. "Come on!"
+
+Harry squinted at the window. There was a thin mist hanging across
+the pink-and-gold sky. Now that he was awake, he couldn't
+understand how he could have slept through the racket the birds were
+making.
+
+"Oliver," Harry croaked. "It's the crack of dawn."
+
+"Exactly," said Wood. He was a tall and burly sixth year and, at the
+moment, his eyes were gleaming with a crazed enthusiasm. "It's part
+of our new training program. Come on, grab your broom, and let's go,"
+said Wood heartily. "None of the other teams have started training yet;
+we're going to be first off the mark this year -"
+
+Yawning and shivering slightly, Harry climbed out of bed and tried to
+find his Quidditch robes.
+
+"Good man," said Wood. "Meet you on the field in fifteen minutes.
+
+When he'd found his scarlet team robes and pulled on his cloak for
+warmth, Harry scribbled a note to Ron explaining where he'd gone and
+went down the spiral staircase to the common room, his Nimbus Two
+Thousand on his shoulder. He had just reached the portrait hole when
+there was a clatter behind him and Colin Creevey came dashing down
+the spiral staircase, his camera swinging madly around his neck and
+something clutched in his hand.
+
+"I heard someone saying your name on the stairs, Harry! Look what
+I've got here! I've had it developed, I wanted to show you -"
+
+*105*
+
+Harry looked bemusedly at the photograph Colin was brandishing
+under his nose.
+
+A moving, black-and-white Lockhart was tugging hard on an arm
+Harry recognized as his own. He was pleased to see that his
+photographic self was putting up a good fight and refusing to be
+dragged into view. As Harry watched, Lockhart gave up and
+slumped, panting, against the white edge of the picture.
+
+"Will you sign it?" said Colin eagerly.
+
+"No," said Harry flatly, glancing around to check that the room was
+really deserted. "Sorry, Colin, I'm in a hurry - Quidditch practice -"
+
+He climbed through the portrait hole.
+
+"Oh, wow! Wait for me! I've never watched a Quidditch game
+before!"
+
+Colin scrambled through the hole after him.
+
+"It'll be really boring," Harry said quickly, but Colin ignored him, his
+face shining with excitement.
+
+"You were the youngest House player in a hundred years, weren't
+you, Harry? Weren't you?" said Colin, trotting alongside him. "You
+must be brilliant. I've never flown. Is it easy? Is that your own
+broom? Is that the best one there is?"
+
+Harry didn't know how to get rid of him. It was like having an
+extremely talkative shadow.
+
+"I don't really understand Quidditch," said Colin breathlessly. "Is it
+true there are four balls? And two of them fly around trying to knock
+people off their brooms?"
+
+"Yes," said Harry heavily, resigned to explaining the complicated
+rules of Quidditch. "They're called Bludgers. There are two Beaters
+
+), *106*
+
+on each team who carry clubs to beat the Bludgers away from their
+side. Fred and George Weasley are the Gryffindor Beaters."
+
+"And what are the other balls for?" Colin asked, tripping down a
+couple of steps because he was gazing open-mouthed at Harry.
+
+"Well, the Quafe - that's the biggish red one - is the one that scores
+goals. Three Chasers on each team throw the Quaffle to each other
+and try and get it through the goal posts at the end of the pitch -
+they're three long poles with hoops on the end."
+
+"And the fourth ball -"
+
+"- is the Golden Snitch," said Harry, "and it's very small, very fast, and
+difficult to catch. But that's what the Seeker's got to do, because a
+game of Quidditch doesn't end until the Snitch has been caught. And
+whichever team's Seeker gets the Snitch earns his team an extra
+hundred and fifty points."
+
+"And you're the Gryffindor Seeker, aren't you?" said Colin in awe.
+
+"Yes," said Harry as they left the castle and started across the dew-
+drenched grass. "And there's the Keeper, too. He guards the goal
+posts. That's it, really."
+
+But Colin didn't stop questioning Harry all the way down the sloping
+lawns to the Quidditch field, and Harry only shook him off when he
+reached the changing rooms; Colin called after him in a piping voice,
+"I'll go and get a good seat, Harry!" and hurried off to the stands.
+
+The rest of the Gryffindor team were already in the changing room.
+Wood was the only person who looked truly awake. Fred and George
+Weasley were sitting, puffy-eyed and touslehaired, next to fourth year
+Alicia Spinnet, who seemed to be nodding off against the wall behind
+her. Her fellow Chasers, Katie
+
+*107*
+
+Bell and Angelina Johnson, were yawning side by side opposite
+them.
+
+"There you are, Harry, what kept you?" said Wood briskly. "Now, I
+wanted a quick talk with you all before we actually get onto the field,
+because I spent the summer devising a whole new training program,
+which I really think will make all the difference ....
+
+Wood was holding up a large diagram of a Quidditch field, on which
+were drawn many lines, arrows, and crosses in differentcolored inks.
+He took out his wand, tapped the board, and the arrows began to
+wiggle over the diagram like caterpillars. As Wood launched into a
+speech about his new tactics, Fred Weasley's head drooped right
+onto Alicia Spinnet's shoulder and he began to snore.
+
+The first board took nearly twenty minutes to explain, but there was
+another board under that, and a third under that one. Harry sank into
+a stupor as Wood droned on and on.
+
+"So," said Wood, at long last, jerking Harry from a wistful fantasy
+about what he could be eating for breakfast at this very moment up
+at the castle. "Is that clear? Any questions?"
+
+"I've got a question, Oliver," said George, who had woken with a
+start. "Why couldn't you have told us all this yesterday when we
+were awake?"
+
+Wood wasn't pleased.
+
+"Now, listen here, you lot," he said, glowering at them all. "We
+should have won the Quidditch cup last year. We're easily the best
+team. But unfortunately -owing to circumstances beyond our control -
+"
+
+*108*
+
+Harry shifted guiltily in his seat. He had been unconscious in the
+hospital wing for the final match of the previous year, meaning that
+Gryffindor had been a player short and had suffered their worst
+defeat in three hundred years.
+
+Wood took a moment to regain control of himself. Their last defeat
+was clearly still torturing him.
+
+"So this year, we train harder than ever before .... Okay, let's go and
+put our new theories into practice!" Wood shouted, seizing his
+broomstick and leading the way out of the locker rooms. Stifflegged
+and still yawning, his team followed.
+
+They had been in the locker room so long that the sun was up
+completely now, although remnants of mist hung over the grass in the
+stadium. As Harry walked onto the field, he saw Ron and Hermione
+sitting in the stands.
+
+"Aren't you finished yet?" called Ron incredulously.
+
+"Haven't even started," said Harry, looking jealously at the toast and
+marmalade Ron and Hermione had brought out of the Great Hall.
+"Wood's been teaching us new moves."
+
+He mounted his broomstick and kicked at the ground, soaring up into
+the air. The cool morning air whipped his face, waking him far more
+effectively than Wood's long talk. It felt wonderful to be back on the
+Quidditch field. He soared right around the stadium at full speed,
+racing Fred and George.
+
+"What's that funny clicking noise?" called Fred as they hurtled around
+the corner.
+
+Harry looked into the stands. Colin was sitting in one of the highest
+seats, his camera raised, taking picture after picture, the sound
+strangely magnified in the deserted stadium.
+
+*io9*
+
+"Look this way, Harry! This way!" he cried shrilly.
+
+"Who's that?" said Fred.
+
+"No idea," Harry lied, putting on a spurt of speed that took him as far
+away as possible from Colin.
+
+"What's going on?" said Wood, frowning, as he skimmed through the
+air toward them. "Why's that first year taking pictures? I don't like it.
+He could be a Slytherin spy, trying to find out about our new training
+program."
+
+"He's in Gryffindor," said Harry quickly.
+
+"And the Slytherins don't need a spy, Oliver," said George.
+
+"What makes you say that?" said Wood testily.
+
+"Because they're here in person," said George, pointing.
+
+Several people in green robes were walking onto the field, broomsticks
+in their hands.
+
+"I don't believe it!" Wood hissed in outrage. "I booked the field for
+today! We'll see about this!"
+
+Wood shot toward the ground, landing rather harder than he meant to
+in his anger, staggering slightly as he dismounted. Harry, Fred, and
+George followed.
+
+"Flint!" Wood bellowed at the Slytherin Captain. "This is our practice
+time! We got up specially! You can clear off now!"
+
+Marcus Flint was even larger than Wood. He had a look of trollish
+cunning on his face as he replied, "Plenty of room for all of us, Wood."
+
+Angelina, Alicia, and Katie had come over, too. There were no girls
+on the Slytherin team, who stood shoulder to shoulder, facing the
+Gryffindors, leering to a man.
+
+"But I booked the field!" said Wood, positively spitting with rage. "I
+booked it!"
+
+*110*
+
+"Ah," said Flint. "But I've got a specially signed note here from
+Professor Snape. `I, Professor S. Snape, give the Slytherin team
+permission to practice today on the Quidditch field owing to the need to
+train their new Seeker."'
+
+"You've got a new Seeker?" said Wood, distracted. "Where?"
+
+And from behind the six large figures before them came a seventh,
+smaller boy, smirking all over his pale, pointed face. It was Draco
+Malfoy.
+
+"Aren't you Lucius Malfoy's son?" said Fred, looking at Malfoy with
+dislike.
+
+"Funny you should mention Draco's father," said Flint as the whole
+Slytherin team smiled still more broadly. "Let me show you the
+generous gift he's made to the Slytherin team."
+
+All seven of them held out their broomsticks. Seven highly polished,
+brand-new handles and seven sets of fine gold lettering spelling the
+words Nimbus Two Thousand and One gleamed under the Gryffindors'
+noses in the early morning sun.
+
+"Very latest model. Only came out last month," said Flint carelessly,
+flicking a speck of dust from the end of his own. "I believe it outstrips
+the old Two Thousand series by a considerable amount. As for the old
+Cleansweeps" - he smiled nastily at Fred and George, who were both
+clutching Cleansweep Fives - "sweeps the board with them."
+
+None of the Gryffindor team could think of anything to say for a
+moment. Malfoy was smirking so broadly his cold eyes were reduced
+to slits.
+
+"Oh, look," said Flint. "A field invasion."
+
+Ron and Hermione were crossing the grass to see what was going on.
+
+*111*
+
+"What's happening?" Ron asked Harry. "Why aren't you playing? And
+what's he doing here?"
+
+He was looking at Malfoy, taking in his Slytherin Quidditch robes.
+
+"I'm the new Slytherin Seeker, Weasley," said Malfoy, smugly.
+"Everyone's just been admiring the brooms my father's bought our
+team.
+
+Ron gaped, open-mouthed, at the seven superb broomsticks in front of
+him.
+
+"Good, aren't they?" said Malfoy smoothly. "But perhaps the
+Gryffindor team will be able to raise some gold and get new brooms,
+too. You could raffle off those Cleansweep Fives; I expect a museum
+would bid for them."
+
+The Slytherin team howled with laughter.
+
+"At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in," said
+Hermione sharply. "They got in on pure talent."
+
+The smug look on Malfoy's face flickered.
+
+"No one asked your opinion, you fiIthy little Mudblood," he spat.
+
+Harry knew at once that Malfoy had said something really bad
+because there was an instant uproar at his words. Flint had to dive in
+front of Malfoy to stop Fred and George jumping on him, Alicia
+shrieked, "How dare you!" ; and Ron plunged his hand into his robes,
+pulled out his wand, yelling, "You'll pay for that one, Malfoy!" and
+pointed it furiously under Flint's arm at Malfoys face.
+
+A loud bang echoed around the stadium and a jet of green light shot
+out of the wrong end of Ron's wand, hitting him in the stomach and
+sending him reeling backward onto the grass.
+
+12
+
+"Ron! Ron! Are you all right?" squealed Hermione.
+
+Ron opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. Instead he
+gave an almighty belch and several slugs dribbled out of his mouth
+onto his lap.
+
+The Slytherin team were paralyzed with laughter. Flint was doubled
+up, hanging onto his new broomstick for support. Malfoy was on all
+fours, banging the ground with his fist. The Gryffindors were
+gathered around Ron, who kept belching large, glistening slugs.
+Nobody seemed to want to touch him.
+
+"We'd better get him to Hagrid's, it's nearest," said Harry to
+Hermione, who nodded bravely, and the pair of them pulled Ron up
+by the arms.
+
+"What happened, Harry? What happened? Is he ill? But you can
+cure him, can't you?" Colin had run down from his seat and was now
+dancing alongside them as they left the field. Ron gave a huge heave
+and more slugs dribbled down his front.
+
+"Oooh," said Colin, fascinated and raising his camera. "Can you hold
+him still, Harry?"
+
+"Get out of the way, Colin!" said Harry angrily. He and Hermione
+supported Ron out of the stadium and across the grounds toward
+the edge of the forest.
+
+"Nearly there, Ron," said Hermione as the gamekeeper's cabin came
+into view. "You'll be all right in a minute - almost there -"
+
+They were within twenty feet of Hagrid's house when the front door
+opened, but it wasn't Hagrid who emerged. Gilderoy Lockhart,
+wearing robes of palest mauve today, came striding out.
+
+"Quick, behind here," Harry hissed, dragging Ron behind a nearby
+bush. Hermione followed, somewhat reluctantly.
+
+*113* *
+
+"It's a simple matter if you know what you're doing!" Lockhart was
+saying loudly to Hagrid. "If you need help, you know where I am! I'll
+let you have a copy of my book. I'm surprised you haven't already got
+one - I'll sign one tonight and send it over. Well, good-bye!" And he
+strode away toward the castle.
+
+Harry waited until Lockhart was out of sight, then pulled Ron out of
+the bush and up to Hagrid's front door. They knocked urgently.
+
+Hagrid appeared at once, looking very grumpy, but his expression
+brightened when he saw who it was.
+
+"Bin wonderin' when you'd come ter see me - come in, come in -
+thought you mighta bin Professor Lockhart back again -"
+
+Harry and Hermione supported Ron over the threshold into the one-
+roomed cabin, which had an enormous bed in one corner, a fire
+crackling merrily in the other. Hagrid didn't seem perturbed by Ron's
+slug problem, which Harry hastily explained as he lowered Ron into a
+chair.
+
+"Better out than in," he said cheerfully, plunking a large copper basin in
+front of him. "Get 'em all up, Ron."
+
+"I don't think there's anything to do except wait for it to stop," said
+Hermione anxiously, watching Ron bend over the basin. "That's a
+difficult curse to work at the best of times, but with a broken wand -"
+
+Hagrid was bustling around making them tea. His boarhound, Fang,
+was slobbering over Harry.
+
+"What did Lockhart want with you, Hagrid?" Harry asked, scratching
+Fang's ears.
+
+"Givin' me advice on gettin' kelpies out of a well," growled
+
+*114*
+
+Hagrid, moving a half-plucked rooster off his scrubbed table and
+setting down the teapot. "Like I don' know. An' bangin' on about
+some banshee he banished. If one word of it was true, I'll eat my
+kettle."
+
+It was most unlike Hagrid to criticize a Hogwarts' teacher, and Harry
+looked at him in surprise. Hermione, however, said in a voice
+somewhat higher than usual, "I think you're being a bit unfair.
+Professor Dumbledore obviously thought he was the best man for
+the job -"
+
+"He was the on' man for the job," said Hagrid, offering them a Y
+
+plate of treacle fudge, while Ron coughed squelchily into his basin.
+"An' I mean the on' one. Gettin' very difficult ter find anyone fer Y
+
+the Dark Arts job. People aren't too keen ter take it on, see. They're
+startin' ter think it's jinxed. No one's lasted long fer a while now. So
+tell me," said Hagrid, jerking his head at Ron. "Who was he tryin' ter
+curse?"
+
+"Malfoy called Hermione something - it must've been really bad,
+because everyone went wild."
+
+"It was bad," said Ron hoarsely, emerging over the tabletop looking
+pale and sweaty. "Malfoy called her `Mudblood,' Hagrid -"
+
+Ron dived out of sight again as a fresh wave of slugs made their
+appearance. Hagrid looked outraged.
+
+"He didn'!" he growled at Hermione.
+
+"He did," she said. "But I don't know what it means. I could tell it
+was really rude, of course -"
+
+"It's about the most insulting thing he could think of," gasped Ron,
+coming back up. "Mudblood's a really foul name for someone who is
+Muggle-born - you know, non-magic parents. There are
+
+*115*
+
+some wizards - like Malfoy's family - who think they're better than
+everyone else because they're what people call pure-blood." He
+gave a small burp, and a single slug fell into his outstretched hand. He
+threw it into the basin and continued, "I mean, the rest of us know it
+doesn't make any difference at all. Look at Neville Longbottom -
+he's pure-blood and he can hardly stand a cauldron the right way
+up."
+
+"An' they haven't invented a spell our Hermione can' do," said Hagrid
+proudly, making Hermione go a brilliant shade of magenta.
+
+"It's a disgusting thing to call someone," said Ron, wiping his sweaty
+brow with a shaking hand. "Dirty blood, see. Common blood. It's
+ridiculous. Most wizards these days are half-blood anyway. If we
+hadn't married Muggles we'd've died out."
+
+He retched and ducked out of sight again.
+
+"Well, I don' blame yeh fer tryin' ter curse him, Ron," said Hagrid
+loudly over the thuds of more slugs hitting the basin. "Bu' maybe it
+was a good thing yer wand backfired. 'Spect Lucius Malfoy
+would've come marchin' up ter school if yeh'd cursed his son. Least
+yer not in trouble."
+
+Harry would have pointed out that trouble didn't come much worse
+than having slugs pouring out of your mouth, but he couldn't; Hagrid's
+treacle fudge had cemented his jaws together.
+
+"Harry," said Hagrid abruptly as though struck by a sudden thought.
+"Gotta bone ter pick with yeh. I've heard you've bin givin' out signed
+photos. How come I haven't got one?"
+
+Furious, Harry wrenched his teeth apart.
+
+"I have not been giving out signed photos," he said hotly. "If
+Lockhart's still spreading that around -"
+
+*116*
+
+But then he saw that Hagrid was laughing.
+
+"I'm on'y jokin'," he said, patting Harry genially on the back and
+sending him face first into the table. "I knew yeh hadn't really. I told
+Lockhart yeh didn' need teh. Yer more famous than him without
+tryin'."
+
+"Bet he didn't like that," said Harry, sitting up and rubbing his chin.
+
+"Don' think he did," said Hagrid, his eyes twinkling. "An' then I told
+him Id never read one o' his books an' he decided ter go. Treacle
+fudge, Ron?" he added as Ron reappeared.
+
+"No thanks," said Ron weakly. "Better not risk it."
+
+"Come an' see what I've bin growin'," said Hagrid as Harry and
+Hermione finished the last of their tea.
+
+In the small vegetable patch behind Hagrid's house were a dozen of
+the largest pumpkins Harry had ever seen. Each was the size of a
+large boulder.
+
+"Gettin' on well, aren't they?" said Hagrid happily. "Fer the Halloween
+feast ... should be big enough by then."
+
+"What've you been feeding them?" said Harry.
+
+Hagrid looked over his shoulder to check that they were alone.
+
+"Well, I've bin givin' them - you know - a bit o' help -"
+
+Harry noticed Hagrid's flowery pink umbrella leaning against the back
+wall of the cabin. Harry had had reason to believe before now that
+this umbrella was not all it looked; in fact, he had the strong
+impression that Hagrid's old school wand was concealed inside it.
+Hagrid wasn't supposed to use magic. He had been expelled from
+Hogwarts in his third year, but Harry had never found out why -any
+mention of the matter and Hagrid would clear his
+
+*117*
+
+throat loudly and become mysteriously deaf until the subject was
+changed.
+
+"An Engorgement Charm, I suppose?" said Hermione, halfway
+between disapproval and amusement. "Well, you've done a good job on
+them."
+
+"That's what yer little sister said," said Hagrid, nodding at Ron. "Met
+her jus' yesterday." Hagrid looked sideways at Harry, his beard
+twitching. "Said she was jus' lookin' round the grounds, but I reckon
+she was hopin' she might run inter someone else at my house." He
+winked at Harry. "If yeh ask me, she wouldn' say no ter a signed -"
+
+"Oh, shut up," said Harry. Ron snorted with laughter and the ground
+was sprayed with slugs.
+
+"Watch it!" Hagrid roared, pulling Ron away from his precious
+pumpkins.
+
+It was nearly lunchtime and as Harry had only had one bit of treacle
+fudge since dawn, he was keen to go back to school to eat. They said
+good-bye to Hagrid and walked back up to the castle, Ron hiccoughing
+occasionally, but only bringing up two very small slugs.
+
+They had barely set foot in the cool entrance hall when a voice rang
+out, "There you are, Potter - Weasley." Professor McGonagall was
+walking toward them, looking stern. "You will both do your detentions
+this evening."
+
+"What're we doing, Professor?" said Ron, nervously suppressing a
+burp.
+
+"You will be polishing the silver in the trophy room with Mr. Filch,"
+said Professor McGonagall. "And no magic, Weasley - elbow grease."
+
+*118*
+
+Ron gulped. Argus Filch, the caretaker, was loathed by every student
+in the school.
+
+"And you, Potter, will be helping Professor Lockhart answer his fan
+mail," said Professor McGonagall.
+
+"Oh n - Professor, can't I go and do the trophy room, too?" said Harry
+desperately.
+
+"Certainly not," said Professor McGonagall, raising her eyebrows.
+"Professor Lockhart requested you particularly. Eight o'clock sharp,
+both of you."
+
+Harry and Ron slouched into the Great Hall in states of deepest
+gloom, Hermione behind them, wearing a well-you-did-break-school-
+rules  sort of expression. Harry didn't enjoy his shepherd's pie as
+much as he'd thought. Both he and Ron felt they'd got the worse deal.
+
+"Filch'll have me there all night," said Ron heavily. "No magic! There
+must be about a hundred cups in that room. I'm no good at Muggle
+cleaning."
+
+"I'd swap anytime," said Harry hollowly. "I've had loads of practice
+with the Dursleys. Answering Lockhart's fan mail ... he'll be a
+nightmare ......
+
+Saturday afternoon seemed to melt away, and in what seemed like no
+time, it was five minutes to eight, and Harry was dragging his feet
+along the second-floor corridor to Lockhart's office. He gritted his
+teeth and knocked.
+
+The door flew open at once. Lockhart beamed down at him.
+
+"Ah, here's the scalawag!" he said. "Come in, Harry, come in -"
+
+Shining brightly on the walls by the light of many candles were
+countless framed photographs of Lockhart. He had even signed a few
+of them. Another large pile lay on his desk.
+
+
+
+"You can address the envelopes!" Lockhart told Harry, as though
+this was a huge treat. "This first one's to Gladys Gudgeon, bless her -
+huge fan of mine -"
+
+The minutes snailed by. Harry let Lockhart's voice wash over him,
+occasionally saying, "Mmm" and "Right" and "Yeah." Now and then
+he caught a phrase like, "Fame's a fickle friend, Harry," or "Celebrity
+is as celebrity does, remember that."
+
+The candles burned lower and lower, making the light dance over the
+many moving faces of Lockhart watching him. Harry moved his
+aching hand over what felt like the thousandth envelope, writing out
+Veronica Smethley's address. It must be nearly time to leave, Harry
+thought miserably, please let it be nearly time...
+
+And then he heard something - something quite apart from the
+spitting of the dying candles and Lockhart's prattle about his fans.
+
+It was a voice, a voice to chill the bone marrow, a voice of
+breathtaking, ice-cold venom.
+
+"Come ... come to me.... Let me rip you.... Let me tear you .... Let me kill you . .
+. ."
+
+Harry gave a huge jump and a large lilac blot appeared on Veronica
+Smethley's street.
+
+"What?" he said loudly.
+
+"I know!" said Lockhart. "Six solid months at the top of the best-
+seller list! Broke all records!"
+
+"No," said Harry frantically. "That voice!"
+
+"Sorry?" said Lockhart, looking puzzled. "What voice?"
+
+"That - that voice that said - didn't you hear it?"
+
+Lockhart was looking at Harry in high astonishment.
+
+* 3-2o *
+
+"What are you talking about, Harry? Perhaps you're getting a litde
+drowsy? Great Scott - look at the time! We've been here nearly four
+hours! Id never have believed it - the time's flown, hasn't it?"
+
+Harry didn't answer. He was straining his ears to hear the voice again,
+but there was no sound now except for Lockhart telling him he mustn't
+expect a treat like this every time he got detention. Feeling dazed,
+Harry left.
+
+It was so late that the Gryffindor common room was almost empty.
+Harry went straight up to the dormitory. Ron wasn't back yet. Harry
+pulled on his pajamas, got into bed, and waited. Half an hour later, Ron
+arrived, nursing his right arm and bringing a strong smell of polish into
+the darkened room.
+
+"My muscles have all seized up," he groaned, sinking on his bed.
+"Fourteen times he made me buff up that Quidditch cup before he was
+satisfied. And then I had another slug attack all over a Special Award
+for Services to the School. Took ages to get the slime off... How was
+it with Lockhart?"
+
+Keeping his voice low so as not to wake Neville, Dean, and Seamus,
+Harry told Ron exactly what he had heard.
+
+"And Lockhart said he couldn't hear it?" said Ron. Harry could see
+him frowning in the moonlight. "D'you think he was lying? But I don't
+get it - even someone invisible would've had to open the door."
+
+"I know," said Harry, lying back in his four-poster and staring at the
+canopy above him. "I don't get it either."
+
+* 12-1 *
+
+122
+October arrived, spreading a damp chill over the grounds and into the castle.
+Madam Pomfrey, the nurse, was kept busy by a sudden spate of colds among
+the staff and students. Her Pepperup potion worked instantly, though it left
+the drinker smoking at the ears for several hours afterward. Ginny Weasley,
+who had been looking pale, was bullied into taking some by Percy. The
+steam pouring from under her vivid hair gave the impression that her whole
+head was on fire.
+Raindrops the size of bullets thundered on the castle windows for days on
+end; the lake rose, the flower beds turned into muddy streams, and Hagrid's
+pumpkins swelled to the size of garden sheds. Oliver Wood's enthusiasm for
+regular training sessions, however, was not dampened, which was why Harry
+was to be found, late one stormy Saturday afternoon a few days before
+Halloween, returning to Gryffindor Tower, drenched to the skin and
+splattered with mud..
+
+
+123
+Even aside from the rain and wind it hadn't been a happy practice session.
+Fred and George, who had been spying on the Slytherin team, had seen for
+themselves the speed of those new Nimbus Two Thousand and Ones. They
+reported that the Slytherin team was no more than seven greenish blurs,
+shooting through the air like missiles.
+As Harry squelched along the deserted corridor he came across somebody
+who looked just as preoccupied as he was. Nearly Headless Nick, the ghost
+of Gryffindor Tower, was staring morosely out of a window, muttering
+under his breath, ". . . don't fulfill their requirements . . . half an inch, if that .
+. ."
+"Hello, Nick," said Harry.
+"Hello, hello," said Nearly Headless Nick, starting and looking round. He
+wore a dashing, plumed hat on his long curly hair, and a tunic with a ruff,
+which concealed the fact that his neck was almost completely severed. He
+was pale as smoke, and Harry could see right through him to the dark sky
+and torrential rain outside.
+"You look troubled, young Potter," said Nick, folding a transparent letter as
+he spoke and tucking it inside his doublet.
+"So do you," said Harry.
+"Ah," Nearly Headless Nick waved an elegant hand, "a matter of no
+importance. . . . It's not as though I really wanted to join. . . . Thought I'd
+apply, but apparently I 'don't fulfill requirements' -"
+In spite of his airy tone, there was a look of great bitterness on his face.
+"But you would think, wouldn't you," he erupted suddenly, pulling the letter
+back out of his pocket, "that getting hit forty-five times in the neck with a
+blunt axe would qualify you to join the Headless Hunt?"
+
+
+124
+"Oh - yes," said Harry, who was obviously supposed to agree.
+"I mean, nobody wishes more than I do that it had all been quick and clean,
+and my head had come off properly, I mean, it would have saved me a great
+deal of pain and ridicule. However -" Nearly Headless Nick shook his letter
+open and read furiously: "'We can only accept huntsmen whose heads have
+parted company with their bodies. You will appreciate that it would be
+impossible otherwise for members to participate in hunt activities such as
+Horseback Head-Juggling and Head Polo. It is with the greatest regret,
+therefore, that I must inform you that you do not fulfill our requirements.
+With very best wishes, Sir Patrick Delaney-Podmore.'"
+Fuming, Nearly Headless Nick stuffed the letter away.
+"Half an inch of skin and sinew holding my neck on, Harry! Most people
+would think that's good and beheaded, but oh, no, it's not enough for Sir
+Properly Decapitated-Podmore."
+Nearly Headless Nick took several deep breaths and then said, in a far
+calmer tone, "So - what's bothering you? Anything I can do?"
+"No," said Harry. "Not unless you know where we can get seven free
+Nimbus Two Thousand and Ones for our match against Sly -"
+The rest of Harry's sentence was drowned out by a high-pitched mewling
+from somewhere near his ankles. He looked down and found himself gazing
+into a pair of lamp-like yellow eyes. It was Mrs. Norris, the skeletal gray cat
+who was used by the caretaker, Argus Filch, as a sort of deputy in his
+endless battle against students.
+"You'd better get out of here, Harry," said Nick quickly. "Filch isn't in a
+good mood - he's got the flu and some third years accidentally plastered frog
+brains all over the ceiling in dungeon five. He's been cleaning all morning,
+and if he sees you dripping mud all over the place -"
+
+.125
+"Right," said Harry, backing away from the accusing stare of Mrs. Norris,
+but not quickly enough. Drawn to the spot by the mysterious power that
+seemed to connect him with his foul cat, Argus Filch burst suddenly through
+a tapestry to Harry's right, wheezing and looking wildly about for the rule-breaker.
+There was a thick tartan scarf bound around his head, and his nose
+was unusually purple.
+"Filth!" he shouted, his jowls aquiver, his eyes popping alarmingly as he
+pointed at the muddy puddle that had dripped from Harry's Quidditch robes.
+"Mess and muck everywhere! I've had enough of it, I tell you! Follow me,
+Potter!"
+So Harry waved a gloomy good-bye to Nearly Headless Nick and followed
+Filch back downstairs, doubling the number of muddy footprints on the
+floor.
+Harry had never been inside Filch's office before; it was a place most
+students avoided. The room was dingy and windowless, lit by a single oil
+lamp dangling from the low ceiling. A faint smell of fried fish lingered about
+the place. Wooden filing cabinets stood around the walls; from their labels,
+Harry could see that they contained details of every pupil Filch had ever
+punished. Fred and George Weasley had an entire drawer to themselves. A
+highly polished collection of chains and manacles hung on the wall behind
+Filch's desk. It was common knowledge that he was always begging
+Dumbledore to let him suspend students by their ankles from the ceiling.
+Filch grabbed a quill from a pot on his desk and began shuffling around
+looking for parchment.
+"Dung," he muttered furiously, "great sizzling dragon bogies . . . frog brains
+. . . rat intestines . . . I've had enough of it . . . make an example . . . where's
+the form . . . yes . . ."
+
+.126
+He retrieved a large roll of parchment from his desk drawer and stretched it
+out in front of him, dipping his long black quill into the ink pot.
+"Name . . . Harry Potter. Crime . . ."
+"It was only a bit of mud!" said Harry.
+"It's only a bit of mud to you, boy, but to me it's an extra hour scrubbing!"
+shouted Filch, a drip shivering unpleasantly at the end of his bulbous nose.
+"Crime . . . befouling the castle . . . suggested sentence . . ."
+Dabbing at his streaming nose, Filch squinted unpleasantly at Harry who
+waited with bated breath for his sentence to fall.
+But as Filch lowered his quill, there was a great BANG! on the ceiling of
+the office, which made the oil lamp rattle.
+"PEEVES!" Filch roared, flinging down his quill in a transport of rage. "I'll
+have you this time, I'll have you!"
+And without a backward glance at Harry, Filch ran flat-footed from the
+office, Mrs. Norris streaking alongside him.
+Peeves was the school poltergeist, a grinning, airborne menace who lived to
+cause havoc and distress. Harry didn't much like Peeves, but couldn't help
+feeling grateful for his timing. Hopefully, whatever Peeves had done (and it
+sounded as though he'd wrecked something very big this time) would
+distract Filch from Harry.
+Thinking that he should probably wait for Filch to come back, Harry sank
+into a moth-eaten chair next to the desk. There was only one thing on it apart
+from his half-completed form: a large, glossy, purple envelope with silver
+lettering on the front. With a quick glance at the door to check that Filch
+wasn't on his way back, Harry picked up the envelope and read: kwikspell A
+Correspondence Course in Beginners' Magic.
+
+127
+Intrigued, Harry flicked the envelope open and pulled out the sheaf of
+parchment inside. More curly silver writing on the front page said: Feel out
+of step in the world of modern magic? Find yourself making excuses not to
+perform simple spells? Ever been taunted for your woeful wandwork? There
+is an answer! Kwikspell is an all-new, fail-safe, quick-result, easy-learn
+course. Hundreds of witches and wizards have benefited from the Kwikspell
+method! Madam Z. Nettles of Topsham writes: "I had no memory for
+incantations and my potions were a family joke! Now, after a Kwikspell
+course, I am the center of attention at parties and friends beg for the recipe of
+my Scintillation Solution!" Warlock D. J. Prod of Didsbury says: "My wife
+used to sneer at my feeble charms, but one month into your fabulous
+Kwikspell course and I succeeded in turning her into a yak! Thank you,
+Kwikspell!"
+Fascinated, Harry thumbed through the rest of the envelope's contents. Why
+on earth did Filch want a Kwikspell course? Did this mean he wasn't a
+proper wizard? Harry was just reading "Lesson One: Holding Your Wand
+(Some Useful Tips)" when shuffling footsteps outside told him Filch was
+coming back. Stuffing the parchment back into the envelope, Harry threw it
+back onto the desk just as the door opened.
+Filch was looking triumphant.
+"That vanishing cabinet was extremely valuable!" he was saying gleefully to
+Mrs. Norris. "We'll have Peeves out this time, my sweet -"
+His eyes fell on Harry and then darted to the Kwikspell envelope, which,
+Harry realized too late, was lying two feet away from where it had started.
+Filch's pasty face went brick red. Harry braced himself for a tidal wave of
+fury. Filch hobbled across to his desk, snatched up the envelope, and threw it
+into a drawer.
+"Have you - did you read -?" he sputtered.
+
+.128
+"No," Harry lied quickly.
+Filch's knobbly hands were twisting together.
+"If I thought you'd read my private - not that it's mine - for a friend - be that
+as it may - however -"
+Harry was staring at him, alarmed; Filch had never looked madder. His eyes
+were popping, a tic was going in one of his pouchy cheeks, and the tartan
+scarf didn't help.
+"Very well - go - and don't breathe a word - not that - however, if you didn't
+read - go now, I have to write up Peeves' report - go -"
+Amazed at his luck, Harry sped out of the office, up the corridor, and back
+upstairs. To escape from Filch's office without punishment was probably
+some kind of school record.
+"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!"
+They set off up the corridor together. Nearly Headless Nick, Harry noticed,
+was still holding Sir Patrick's rejection letter..
+
+129
+"I wish there was something I could do for you about the Headless Hunt,"
+Harry said.
+Nearly Headless Nick stopped in his tracks and Harry walked right through
+him. He wished he hadn't; it was like stepping through an icy shower.
+"But there is something you could do for me," said Nick excitedly. "Harry -
+would I be asking too much - but no, you wouldn't want -"
+"What is it?" said Harry.
+"Well, this Halloween will be my five hundredth deathday," said Nearly
+Headless Nick, drawing himself up and looking dignified.
+"Oh," said Harry, not sure whether he should look sorry or happy about this.
+"Right."
+"I'm holding a party down in one of the roomier dungeons. Friends will be
+coming from all over the country. It would be such an honor if you would
+attend. Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger would be most welcome, too, of
+course - but I daresay you'd rather go to the school feast?" He watched Harry
+on tenterhooks.
+"No," said Harry quickly, "I'll come -"
+"My dear boy! Harry Potter, at my deathday party! And" - he hesitated,
+looking excited - "do you think you could possibly mention to Sir Patrick
+how very frightening and impressive you find me?"
+"Of - of course," said Harry.
+Nearly Headless Nick beamed at him. "A deathday party?" said Hermione
+keenly when Harry had changed at last and joined her and Ron in the
+common room. "I bet there aren't many living people who can say they've
+been to one of those - it'll be fascinating!".
+
+130
+"Why would anyone want to celebrate the day they died?" said Ron, who
+was halfway through his Potions homework and grumpy. "Sounds dead
+depressing to me. . . ."
+Rain was still lashing the windows, which were now inky black, but inside
+all looked bright and cheerful. The firelight glowed over the countless
+squashy armchairs where people sat reading, talking, doing homework or, in
+the case of Fred and George Weasley, trying to find out what would happen
+if you fed a Filibuster firework to a salamander. Fred had "rescued" the
+brilliant orange, fire-dwelling lizard from a Care of Magical Creatures class
+and it was now smouldering gently on a table surrounded by a knot of
+curious people.
+Harry was at the point of telling Ron and Hermione about Filch and the
+Kwikspell course when the salamander suddenly whizzed into the air,
+emitting loud sparks and bangs as it whirled wildly round the room. The
+sight of Percy bellowing himself hoarse at Fred and George, the spectacular
+display of tangerine stars showering from the salamander's mouth, and its
+escape into the fire, with accompanying explosions, drove both Filch and the
+Kwikspell envelope from Harry's mind. By the time Halloween arrived,
+Harry was regretting his rash promise to go to the deathday party. The rest of
+the school was happily anticipating their Halloween feast; the Great Hall had
+been decorated with the usual live bats, Hagrid's vast pumpkins had been
+carved into lanterns large enough for three men to sit in, and there were
+rumors that Dumbledore had booked a troupe of dancing skeletons for the
+entertainment.
+"A promise is a promise," Hermione reminded Harry bossily. "You said
+you'd go to the deathday party."
+So at seven o'clock, Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked straight past the
+doorway to the packed Great Hall, which was glittering invitingly with gold
+plates and candles, and directed their steps instead toward the dungeons.
+
+.131
+The passageway leading to Nearly Headless Nick's party had been lined
+with candles, too, though the effect was far from cheerful: These were long,
+thin, jet-black tapers, all burning bright blue, casting a dim, ghostly light
+even over their own living faces. The temperature dropped with every step
+they took. As Harry shivered and drew his robes tightly around him, he
+heard what sounded like a thousand fingernails scraping an enormous
+blackboard.
+"Is that supposed to be music?" Ron whispered. They turned a corner and
+saw Nearly Headless Nick standing at a doorway hung with black velvet
+drapes.
+"My dear friends," he said mournfully. "Welcome, welcome . . . so pleased
+you could come. . . ."
+He swept off his plumed hat and bowed them inside.
+It was an incredible sight. The dungeon was full of hundreds of pearly-white,
+translucent people, mostly drifting around a crowded dance floor,
+waltzing to the dreadful, quavering sound of thirty musical saws, played by
+an orchestra on a raised, black-draped platform. A chandelier overhead
+blazed midnight-blue with a thousand more black candles. Their breath rose
+in a mist before them; it was like stepping into a freezer.
+"Shall we have a look around?" Harry suggested, wanting to warm up his
+feet.
+"Careful not to walk through anyone," said Ron nervously, and they set off
+around the edge of the dance floor. They passed a group of gloomy nuns, a
+ragged man wearing chains, and the Fat Friar, a cheerful Hufflepuff ghost,
+who was talking to a knight with an arrow sticking out of his forehead. Harry
+wasn't surprised to see that the Bloody Baron, a gaunt, staring Slytherin
+ghost covered in silver bloodstains, was being given a wide berth by the
+other ghosts.
+
+.132
+"Oh, no," said Hermione, stopping abruptly. "Turn back, turn back, I don't
+want to talk to Moaning Myrtle -"
+"Who?" said Harry as they backtracked quickly.
+"She haunts one of the toilets in the girls' bathroom on the first floor," said
+Hermione.
+"She haunts a toilet?"
+"Yes. It's been out-of-order all year because she keeps having tantrums and
+flooding the place. I never went in there anyway if I could avoid it; it's awful
+trying to have a pee with her wailing at you -"
+"Look, food!" said Ron.
+On the other side of the dungeon was a long table, also covered in black
+velvet. They approached it eagerly but next moment had stopped in their
+tracks, horrified. The smell was quite disgusting. Large, rotten fish were laid
+on handsome silver platters; cakes, burned charcoal-black, were heaped on
+salvers; there was a great maggoty haggis, a slab of cheese covered in furry
+green mold and, in pride of place, an enormous gray cake in the shape of a
+tombstone, with tar-like icing forming the words, Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington
+died 31st October, 1492
+Harry watched, amazed, as a portly ghost approached the table, crouched
+low, and walked through it, his mouth held wide so that it passed through
+one of the stinking salmon.
+"Can you taste it if you walk though it?" Harry asked him.
+"Almost," said the ghost sadly, and he drifted away.
+
+.133
+"I expect they've let it rot to give it a stronger flavor," said Hermione
+knowledgeably, pinching her nose and leaning closer to look at the putrid
+haggis.
+"Can we move? I feel sick," said Ron.
+They had barely turned around, however, when a little man swooped
+suddenly from under the table and came to a halt in midair before them.
+"Hello, Peeves," said Harry cautiously.
+Unlike the ghosts around them, Peeves the Poltergeist was the very reverse
+of pale and transparent. He was wearing a bright orange party hat, a
+revolving bow tie, and a broad grin on his wide, wicked face.
+"Nibbles?" he said sweetly, offering them a bowl of peanuts covered in
+fungus.
+"No thanks," said Hermione.
+"Heard you talking about poor Myrtle," said Peeves, his eyes dancing.
+"Rude you was about poor Myrtle." He took a deep breath and bellowed,
+"OY! MYRTLE!"
+"Oh, no, Peeves, don't tell her what I said, she'll be really upset," Hermione
+whispered frantically. "I didn't mean it, I don't mind her - er, hello, Myrtle."
+The squat ghost of a girl had glided over. She had the glummest face Harry
+had ever seen, half-hidden behind lank hair and thick, pearly spectacles.
+"What?" she said sulkily.
+"How are you, Myrtle?" said Hermione in a falsely bright voice. "It's nice to
+see you out of the toilet."
+
+.134
+Myrtle sniffed.
+"Miss Granger was just talking about you -" said Peeves slyly in Myrtle's
+ear.
+"Just saying - saying - how nice you look tonight," said Hermione, glaring
+at Peeves.
+Myrtle eyed Hermione suspiciously.
+"You're making fun of me," she said, silver tears welling rapidly in her
+small, see-through eyes.
+"No - honestly - didn't I just say how nice Myrtle's looking?" said
+Hermione, nudging Harry and Ron painfully in the ribs.
+"Oh, yeah -"
+"She did -"
+"Don't lie to me," Myrtle gasped, tears now flooding down her face, while
+Peeves chuckled happily over her shoulder. "D'you think I don't know what
+people call me behind my back? Fat Myrtle! Ugly Myrtle! Miserable,
+moaning, moping Myrtle!"
+"You've forgotten pimply," Peeves hissed in her ear.
+Moaning Myrtle burst into anguished sobs and fled from the dungeon.
+Peeves shot after her, pelting her with moldy peanuts, yelling, "Pimply!
+Pimply!"
+"Oh, dear," said Hermione sadly.
+Nearly Headless Nick now drifted toward them through the crowd.
+
+.135
+"Enjoying yourselves?"
+"Oh, yes," they lied.
+"Not a bad turnout," said Nearly Headless Nick proudly. "The Wailing
+Widow came all the way up from Kent. . . . It's nearly time for my speech,
+I'd better go and warn the orchestra. . . ."
+The orchestra, however, stopped playing at that very moment. They, and
+everyone else in the dungeon, fell silent, looking around in excitement, as a
+hunting horn sounded.
+"Oh, here we go," said Nearly Headless Nick bitterly.
+Through the dungeon wall burst a dozen ghost horses, each ridden by a
+headless horseman. The assembly clapped wildly; Harry started to clap, too,
+but stopped quickly at the sight of Nick's face.
+The horses galloped into the middle of the dance floor and halted, rearing
+and plunging. At the front of the pack was a large ghost who held his
+bearded head under his arm, from which position he was blowing the horn.
+The ghost leapt down, lifted his head high in the air so he could see over the
+crowd (everyone laughed), and strode over to Nearly Headless Nick,
+squashing his head back onto his neck.
+"Nick!" he roared. "How are you? Head still hanging in there?"
+He gave a hearty guffaw and clapped Nearly Headless Nick on the shoulder.
+"Welcome, Patrick," said Nick stiffly.
+"Live 'uns!" said Sir Patrick, spotting Harry, Ron, and Hermione and giving
+a huge, fake jump of astonishment, so that his head fell off again (the crowd
+howled with laughter).
+
+.136
+"Very amusing," said Nearly Headless Nick darkly.
+"Don't mind Nick!" shouted Sir Patrick's head from the floor. "Still upset we
+won't let him join the Hunt! But I mean to say - look at the fellow -"
+"I think," said Harry hurriedly, at a meaningful look from Nick, "Nick's very
+- frightening and - er -"
+"Ha!" yelled Sir Patrick's head. "Bet he asked you to say that!"
+"If I could have everyone's attention, it's time for my speech!" said Nearly
+Headless Nick loudly, striding toward the podium and climbing into an icy
+blue spotlight.
+"My late lamented lords, ladies, and gentlemen, it is my great sorrow . . ."
+But nobody heard much more. Sir Patrick and the rest of the Headless Hunt
+had just started a game of Head Hockey and the crowd were turning to
+watch. Nearly Headless Nick tried vainly to recapture his audience, but gave
+up as Sir Patrick's head went sailing past him to loud cheers.
+Harry was very cold by now, not to mention hungry.
+"I can't stand much more of this," Ron muttered, his teeth chattering, as the
+orchestra ground back into action and the ghosts swept back onto the dance
+floor.
+"Let's go," Harry agreed.
+They backed toward the door, nodding and beaming at anyone who looked
+at them, and a minute later were hurrying back up the passageway full of
+black candles.
+"Pudding might not be finished yet," said Ron hopefully, leading the way
+toward the steps to the entrance hall.
+
+.137
+And then Harry heard it.
+". . . rip . . . tear . . . kill . . ."
+It was the same voice, the same cold, murderous voice he had heard in
+Lockhart's office.
+He stumbled to a halt, clutching at the stone wall, listening with all his
+might, looking around, squinting up and down the dimly lit passageway.
+"Harry, what're you -?"
+"It's that voice again - shut up a minute -"
+". . . soo hungry . . . for so long . . ."
+"Listen!" said Harry urgently, and Ron and Hermione froze, watching him.
+". . . kill . . . time to kill . . ."
+The voice was growing fainter. Harry was sure it was moving away -
+moving upward. A mixture of fear and excitement gripped him as he stared
+at the dark ceiling; how could it be moving upward? Was it a phantom, to
+whom stone ceilings didn't matter?
+"This way," he shouted, and he began to run, up the stairs, into the entrance
+hall. It was no good hoping to hear anything here, the babble of talk from the
+Halloween feast was echoing out of the Great Hall. Harry sprinted up the
+marble staircase to the first floor, Ron and Hermione clattering behind him.
+"Harry, what're we -"
+"SHH!"
+
+.138
+Harry strained his ears. Distantly, from the floor above, and growing fainter
+still, he heard the voice: ". . . I smell blood. . . . I SMELL BLOOD!"
+His stomach lurched -
+"It's going to kill someone!" he shouted, and ignoring Ron's and Hermione's
+bewildered faces, he ran up the next flight of steps three at a time, trying to
+listen over his own pounding footsteps -
+Harry hurtled around the whole of the second floor, Ron and Hermione
+panting behind him, not stopping until they turned a corner into the last,
+deserted passage.
+"Harry, what was that all about?" said Ron, wiping sweat off his face. "I
+couldn't hear anything. . . ."
+But Hermione gave a sudden gasp, pointing down the corridor.
+"Look!"
+Something was shining on the wall ahead. They approached slowly,
+squinting through the darkness. Foot-high words had been daubed on the
+wall between two windows, shimmering in the light cast by the flaming
+torches. the chamber of secrets has been opened. enemies of the heir,
+beware.
+"What's that thing - hanging underneath?" said Ron, a slight quiver in his
+voice.
+As they edged nearer, Harry almost slipped - there was a large puddle of
+water on the floor; Ron and Hermione grabbed him, and they inched toward
+the message, eyes fixed on a dark shadow beneath it. All three of them
+realized what it was at once, and leapt backward with a splash..Mrs. Norris, 
+
+
+the caretaker's cat, was hanging by her tail from the torch
+bracket. She was stiff as a board, her eyes wide and staring.
+For a few seconds, they didn't move. Then Ron said, "Let's get out of here."
+"Shouldn't we try and help -" Harry began awkwardly.
+"Trust me," said Ron. "We don't want to be found here."
+But it was too late. A rumble, as though of distant thunder, told them that
+the feast had just ended. From either end of the corridor where they stood
+came the sound of hundreds of feet climbing the stairs, and the loud, happy
+talk of well-fed people; next moment, students were crashing into the
+passage from both ends.
+The chatter, the bustle, the noise died suddenly as the people in front spotted
+the hanging cat. Harry, Ron, and Hermione stood alone, in the middle of the
+corridor, as silence fell among the mass of students pressing forward to see
+the grisly sight.
+Then someone shouted through the quiet.
+"Enemies of the Heir, beware! You'll be next, Mudbloods!"
+It was Draco Malfoy. He had pushed to the front of the crowd, his cold eyes
+alive, his usually bloodless face flushed, as he grinned at the sight of the
+hanging, immobile cat.
+
+C H A P T X IR		N I N E
+
+THE WRTITING
+ON THE WALL
+
+What's going on here? What's going on?" Attracted no doubt by
+Malfoy's shout, Argus Filch came shouldering his way through the
+crowd. Then he saw Mrs. Norris and fell back, clutching his face in
+horror.
+
+"My cat! My cat! What's happened to Mrs. Norris?" he shrieked.
+
+And his popping eyes fell on Harry.
+
+"You!"he screeched. "You! You've murdered my cat! You've
+killed her! I'll kill you! I'll -"
+
+"Argus!"
+
+Dumbledore had arrived on the scene, followed by a number of other
+teachers. In seconds, he had swept past Harry, Ron, and Hermione
+and detached Mrs. Norris from the torch bracket.
+
+"Come with me, Argus," he said to Filch. "You, too, Mr. Potter, Mr.
+Weasley, Miss Granger."
+
+Lockhart stepped forward eagerly.
+
+*140*
+
+
+
+"My office is nearest, Headmaster - just upstairs - please feel free -"
+
+"Thank you, Gilderoy," said Dumbledore.
+
+The silent crowd parted to let them pass. Lockhart, looking excited and
+important, hurried after Dumbledore; so did Professors McGonagall
+and Snape.
+
+As they entered Lockhart's darkened office there was a flurry of
+movement across the walls; Harry saw several of the Lockharts in the
+pictures dodging out of sight, their hair in rollers. The real Lockhart lit
+the candles on his desk and stood back. Dumbledore lay Mrs. Norris
+on the polished surface and began to examine her. Harry, Ron, and
+Hermione exchanged tense looks and sank into chairs outside the pool
+of candlelight, watching.
+
+The tip of Dumbledore's long, crooked nose was barely an inch from
+Mrs. Norris's fur. He was looking at her closely through his half-moon
+spectacles, his long fingers gently prodding and poking. Professor
+McGonagall was bent almost as close, her eyes narrowed. Snape
+loomed behind them, half in shadow, wearing a most peculiar
+expression: It was as though he was trying hard not to smile. And
+Lockhart was hovering around all of them, making suggestions.
+
+"It was definitely a curse that killed her - probably the Transmogrifian
+Torture - I've seen it used many times, so unlucky I wasn't there, I
+know the very countercurse that would have saved her . .....
+
+Lockhart's comments were punctuated by Filch's dry, racking sobs.
+He was slumped in a chair by the desk, unable to look at Mrs. Norris,
+his face in his hands. Much as he detested Filch, Harry
+
+*141*
+
+couldn't help feeling a bit sorry for him, though not nearly as sorry as
+he felt for himself If Dumbledore believed Filch, he would be expelled
+for sure.
+
+Dumbledore was now muttering strange words under his breath and
+tapping Mrs. Norris with his wand but nothing happened: She
+continued to look as though she had been recently stuffed.
+
+". . . I remember something very similar happening in Ouagadogou,"
+said Lockhart, "a series of attacks, the full story's in my
+autobiography, I was able to provide the townsfolk with various
+amulets, which cleared the matter up at once ......
+
+The photographs of Lockhart on the walls were all nodding in
+agreement as he talked. One of them had forgotten to remove his hair
+net.
+
+At last Dumbledore straightened up.
+
+"She's not dead, Argus," he said softly.
+
+Lockhart stopped abruptly in the middle of counting the number of
+murders he had prevented.
+
+"Not dead?" choked Filch, looking through his fingers at Mrs. Norris.
+"But why's she all - all stiff and frozen?"
+
+"She has been Petrified," said Dumbledore ("Ah! I thought so!" said
+Lockhart). "But how, I cannot say . . . ."
+
+"Ask him!" shrieked Filch, turning his blotched and tearstained face to
+Harry.
+
+"No second year could have done this," said Dumbledore firmly. "it
+would take Dark Magic of the most advanced -"
+
+"He did it, he did it!" Filch spat, his pouchy face purpling. "You saw
+what he wrote on the wall! He found - in my office - he knows I'm a -
+I'm a -" Filch's face worked horribly. "He knows I'm a Squib!" he
+finished.
+
+142
+
+"I never touched Mrs. Norris!" Harry said loudly, uncomfortably
+aware of everyone looking at him, including all the Lockharts on the
+walls. "And I don't even know what a Squib is."
+
+"Rubbish!" snarled Filch. "He saw my Kwikspell letter!"
+
+"If I might speak, Headmaster," said Snape from the shadows, and
+Harry's sense of forboding increased; he was sure nothing Snape had
+to say was going to do him any good.
+
+"Potter and his friends may have simply been in the wrong place at the
+wrong time," he said, a slight sneer curling his mouth as though he
+doubted it. "But we do have a set of suspicious circumstances here.
+Why was he in the upstairs corridor at all? Why wasn't he at the
+Halloween feast?"
+
+Harry, Ron and Hermione all launched into an explanation about the
+deathday party. ". . . there were hundreds of ghosts, theyll tell you we were
+there -"
+
+"But why not join the feast afterward?" said Snape, his black eyes
+glittering in the candlelight. "Why go up to that corridor?"
+
+Ron and Hermione looked at Harry.
+
+"Because - because -" Harry said, his heart thumping very fast;
+something told him it would sound very far-fetched if he told them he
+had been led there by a bodiless voice no one but he could hear,
+"because we were tired and wanted to go to bed," he said.
+
+"Without any supper?" said Snape, a triumphant smile flickering across
+his gaunt face. "I didn't think ghosts provided food fit for living people
+at their parties."
+
+"We weren't hungry," said Ron loudly as his stomach gave a huge
+rumble.
+
+Snape's nasty smile widened.
+
+*143*
+
+"I suggest, Headmaster, that Potter is not being entirely truthful," he
+said. "It might be a good idea if he were deprived of certain privileges
+until he is ready to tell us the whole story. I personally feel he should
+be taken off the Gryffindor Quidditch team until he is ready to be
+honest."
+
+"Really, Severus," said Professor McGonagall sharply, "I see no
+reason to stop the boy playing Quidditch. This cat wasn't hit over the
+head with a broomstick. There is no evidence at all that Potter has
+done anything wrong."
+
+Dumbledore was giving Harry a searching look. His twinkling light-
+blue gaze made Harry feel as though he were being X-rayed.
+
+"Innocent until proven guilty, Severus," he said firmly.
+
+Snape looked furious. So did Filch.
+
+"My cat has been Petrified!" he shrieked, his eyes popping. "I want to
+see some punishment!"
+
+"We will be able to cure her, Argus," said Dumbledore patiently.
+"Professer Sprout recently managed to procure some Mandrakes. As
+soon as they have reached their full size, I will have a potion made that
+will revive Mrs. Norris."
+
+"I'll make it," Lockhart butted in. "I must have done it a hundred times.
+I could whip up a Mandrake Restorative Draught in my sleep -"
+
+"Excuse me," said Snape icily. "But I believe I am the Potions master
+at this school."
+
+There was a very awkward pause.
+
+"You may go," Dumbledore said to Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
+
+They went, as quickly as they could without actually running. When
+they were a floor up from Lockhart's office, they turned into
+
+*144*
+
+an empty classroom and closed the door quietly behind them. Harry
+squinted at his friends' darkened faces.
+
+"D'you think I should have told them about that voice I heard?"
+
+"No," said Ron, without hesitation. "Hearing voices no one else can
+hear isn't a good sign, even in the wizarding world."
+
+Something in Ron's voice made Harry ask, "You do believe me, don't
+you?"
+
+"'Course I do," said Ron quickly. "But -you must admit it's weird ......
+
+"I know it's weird," said Harry. "The whole thing's weird. What was
+that writing on the wall about? The Cbamber Has Been Opened...
+What's that supposed to mean?"
+
+"You know, it rings a sort of bell," said Ron slowly. "I think someone
+told me a story about a secret chamber at Hogwarts once ... might've
+been Bill . . . ."
+
+"And what on earth's a Squib?" said Harry.
+
+To his surprise, Ron stifled a snigger.
+
+"Well - it's not funny really - but as it's Filch, he said. "A Squib is
+someone who was born into a wizarding family but hasn't got any
+magic powers. Kind of the opposite of Muggle-born wizards, but
+Squibs are quite unusual. If Filch's trying to learn magic from a
+Kwikspell course, I reckon he must be a Squib. It would explain a lot.
+Like why he hates students so much." Ron gave a satisfied smile.
+"He's bitter."
+
+A clock chimed somewhere.
+
+"Midnight," said Harry. "We'd better get to bed before Snape comes
+along and tries to frame us for something else."
+
+*145*
+
+
+
+For a few days, the school could talk of little else but the attack on
+Mrs. Norris. Filch kept it fresh in everyone's minds by pacing the spot
+where she had been attacked, as though he thought the attacker might
+come back. Harry had seen him scrubbing the message on the wall
+with Mrs. Skower's All-Purpose Magical Mess Remover, but to no
+effect; the words still gleamed as brightly as ever on the stone. When
+Filch wasn't guarding the scene of the crime, he was skulking red-
+eyed through the corridors, lunging out at unsuspecting students and
+trying to put them in detention for things like "breathing loudly' and
+"looking happy."
+
+Ginny Weasley seemed very disturbed by Mrs. Norris's fate.
+According to Ron, she was a great cat lover.
+
+"But you haven't really got to know Mrs. Norris," Ron told her
+bracingly. "Honestly, we're much better off without her." Ginny's lip
+trembled. "Stuff like this doesn't often happen at Hogwarts," Ron
+assured her. "They'll catch the maniac who did it and have him out of
+here in no time. I just hope he's got time to Petrify Filch before he's
+expelled. I'm only joking -" Ron added hastily as Ginny blanched.
+
+The attack had also had an effect on Hermione. It was quite usual for
+Hermione to spend a lot of time reading, but she was now doing
+almost nothing else. Nor could Harry and Ron get much response
+from her when they asked what she was up to, and not until the
+following Wednesday did they find out.
+
+Harry had been held back in Potions, where Snape had made him stay
+behind to scrape tubeworms off the desks. After a hurried lunch, he
+went upstairs to meet Ron in the library, and saw Justin Finch-
+Fletchley, the Hufflepuff boy from Herbology, coming
+
+*146*
+
+toward him. Harry had just opened his mouth to say hello when Justin
+caught sight of him, turned abruptly, and sped off in the opposite
+direction.
+
+Harry found Ron at the back of the library, measuring his History of
+Magic homework. Professor Binns had asked for a threefoot-long
+composition on "The Medieval Assembly of European
+
+	Wizards."
+	"I don't believe it, I'm still eight inches short 	said Ron fu
+
+riously, letting go of his parchment, which sprang back into a roll.
+"And Hermione's done four feet seven inches and her writing's
+tiny. "
+
+"Where is she?" asked Harry, grabbing the tape measure and unrolling
+his own homework.
+
+"Somewhere over there," said Ron, pointing along the shelves. "Looking
+for another book. I think she's trying to read the whole library before
+Christmas."
+
+Harry told Ron about Justin Finch-Fletchley running away from him.
+
+"Dunno why you care. I thought he was a bit of an idiot," said Ron,
+scribbling away, making his writing as large as possible. "All that junk
+about Lockhart being so great -"
+
+Hermione emerged from between the bookshelves. She looked irritable
+and at last seemed ready to talk to them.
+
+"All the copies of Hogwarts, A History have been taken out," she said,
+sitting down next to Harry and Ron. "And there's a two-week waiting
+list. I wish I hadn't left my copy at home, but I couldn't fit it in my trunk
+with all the Lockhart books."
+
+"Why do you want it?" said Harry.
+
+*141*
+
+"The same reason everyone else wants it," said Hermione, "to read
+up on the legend of the Chamber of Secrets."
+
+"What's that?" said Harry quickly.
+
+"That's just it. I can't remember," said Hermione, biting her lip. "And
+I can't find the story anywhere else -"
+
+"Hermione, let me read your composition," said Ron desperately,
+checking his watch.
+
+"No, I won't," said Hermione, suddenly severe. "You've had ten
+days to finish it -"
+
+"I only need another two inches, come on -"
+
+The bell rang. Ron and Hermione led the way to History of Magic,
+bickering.
+
+History of Magic was the dullest subject on their schedule. Professor
+Binns, who taught it, was their only ghost teacher, and the most
+exciting thing that ever happened in his classes was his entering the
+room through the blackboard. Ancient and shriveled, many people
+said he hadn't noticed he was dead. He had simply got up to teach
+one day and left his body behind him in an armchair in front of the
+staff room fire; his routine had not varied in the slightest since.
+
+Today was as boring as ever. Professor Binns opened his notes and
+began to read in a flat drone like an old vacuum cleaner until nearly
+everyone in the class was in a deep stupor, occasionally coming to
+long enough to copy down a name or date, then falling asleep again.
+He had been speaking for half an hour when something happened
+that had never happened before. Hermione put up her hand.
+
+Professor Binns, glancing up in the middle of a deadly dull lec
+
+*148*
+
+ture on the International Warlock Convention of 1289, looked amazed.
+
+"Miss - er -?"
+
+"Granger, Professor. I was wondering if you could tell us anything
+about the Chamber of Secrets," said Hermione in a clear voice.
+
+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.
+
+Professor Binns blinked.
+
+"My subject is History of Magic," he said in his dry, wheezy voice. "I
+deal with facts, Miss Granger, not myths and legends." He cleared his
+throat with a small noise like chalk s!-ping and continued, "In
+September of that year, a subcommittee of Sardinian sorcerers
+
+"
+
+He stuttered to a halt. Hermione's hand was waving in the air again.
+
+"Miss Grant?"
+
+"Please, sir, don't legends always have a basis in fact?"
+
+Professor Binns was looking at her in such amazement, Harry was
+sure no student had ever interrupted him before, alive or dead.
+
+"Well," said Professor Binns slowly, "yes, one could argue that, I
+suppose." He peered at Hermione as though he had never seen a
+student properly before. "However, the legend of which you speak is
+such a very sensational, even ludicrous tale -"
+
+But the whole class was now hanging on Professor Binns's every
+word. He looked dimly at them all, every face turned to his. Harry
+
+*149*
+
+could tell he was completely thrown by such an unusual show of
+interest.
+
+"Oh, very well," he said slowly. "Let me see ... the Chamber of
+Secrets ...
+
+"You all know, of course, that Hogwarts was founded over a thousand
+years ago - the precise date is uncertain - by the four greatest witches
+and wizards of the age. The four school Houses are named after
+them: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and
+Salazar Slytherin. They built this castle together, far from prying
+Muggle eyes, for it was an age when magic was feared by common
+people, and witches and wizards suffered much persecution."
+
+He paused, gazed blearily around the room, and continued.
+
+"For a few years, the founders worked in harmony together, seeking
+out youngsters who showed signs of magic and bringing them to the
+castle to be educated. But then disagreements sprang up between
+them. A rift began to grow between Slytherin and the others. Slytherin
+wished to be more selective about the students admitted to Hogwarts. He
+believed that magical learning should be kept within all-magic families.
+He disliked taking students of Muggle parentage, believing them to be
+untrustworthy. After a while, there was a serious argument on the
+subject between Slytherin and Gryffindor, and Slytherin left the
+school."
+
+Professor Binns paused again, pursing his lips, looking like a wrinkled
+old tortoise.
+
+"Reliable historical sources tell us this much," he said. "But these
+honest facts have been obscured by the fanciful legend of the
+Chamber of Secrets. The story goes that Slytherin had built a
+
+*150*
+
+hidden chamber in the castle, of which the other founders knew
+nothing.
+
+"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."
+
+There was silence as he finished telling the story, but it wasn't the
+usual, sleepy silence that filled Professor Binns's classes. There was
+unease in the air as everyone continued to watch him, hoping for
+more. Professor Binns looked faintly annoyed.
+
+"The whole thing is arrant nonsense, of course," he said. "Naturally,
+the school has been searched for evidence of such a chamber, many
+times, by the most learned witches and wizards. It does not exist. A
+tale told to frighten the gullible."
+
+Hermione's hand was back in the air.
+
+"Sir - what exactly do you mean by the `horror within' the
+Chamber?"
+
+"That is believed to be some sort of monster, which the Heir of
+Slytherin alone can control," said Professor Binns in his dry, reedy
+voice.
+
+The class exchanged nervous looks.
+
+"I tell you, the thing does not exist," said Professor Binns, shuffling his
+notes. "There is no Chamber and no monster."
+
+"But, sir," said Seamus Finnigan, "if the Chamber can only be opened
+by Slytherin's true heir, no one else would be able to find it, would
+they?"
+
+"Nonsense, O'Flaherty," said Professor Binns in an aggravated
+
+*151*
+
+tone. "If a long succession of Hogwarts headmasters and
+headmistresses haven't found the thing -"
+
+"But, Professor," piped up Parvati Patil, "you'd probably have to use
+Dark Magic to open it -"
+
+"Just because a wizard doesn't use Dark Magic doesn't mean he
+can't, Miss Pennyfeather," snapped Professor Binns. "I repeat, if the
+likes of Dumbledore -"
+
+"But maybe you've got to be related to Slytherin, so Dumbledore
+couldn't -" began Dean Thomas, but Professor Binns had had
+enough.
+
+"That will do," he said sharply. "It is a myth! It does not exist! There
+is not a shred of evidence that Slytherin ever built so much as a
+secret broom cupboard! I regret telling you such a foolish story! We
+will return, if you please, to history, to solid, believable, verifiable
+fact!"
+
+And within five minutes, the class had sunk back into its usual torpor.
+
+"I always knew Salazar Slytherin was a twisted old loony," Ron told
+Harry and Hermione as they fought their way through the teeming
+corridors at the end of the lesson to drop off their bags before
+dinner. "But I never knew he started all this pure-blood stuff. I
+wouldn't be in his house if you paid me. Honestly, if the Sorting Hat
+had tried to put me in Slytherin, I'd've got the train straight back
+home ......
+
+Hermione nodded fervently, but Harry didn't say anything. His
+stomach had just dropped unpleasantly.
+
+Harry had never told Ron and Hermione that the Sorting Hat
+
+*152*
+
+had seriously considered putting him in Slytherin. He could remember,
+as though it were yesterday, the small voice that had spoken in his ear
+when he'd placed the hat on his head a year before: You could be great,
+you know, it's all here in your head, and Slytherin would help you on the
+way to greatness, no doubt about that...
+
+But Harry, who had already heard of Slytherin House's reputa
+
+tion for turning out Dark wizards, had thought desperately, Not
+Slytherin! and the hat had said, Oh, well, if you're sure ... better be
+Gryffindor...
+
+As they were shunted along in the throng, Colin Creevy went past.
+
+"Hiya, Harry!"
+
+"Hullo, Colin," said Harry automatically.
+
+"Harry - Harry - a boy in my class has been saying you're
+
+But Colin was so small he couldn~t fight against the tide of people
+bearing him toward the Great Hall; they heard him squeak, "See you,
+Harry!" and he was gone.
+
+"What's a boy in his class saying about you?" Hermione wondered.
+
+"That I'm Slytherin's heir, I expect," said Harry, his stomach dropping
+another inch or so as he suddenly remembered the way Justin Finch-
+Fletchley had run away from him at lunchtime.
+
+"People here'll believe anything," said Ron in disgust.
+
+The crowd thinned and they were able to climb the next staircase
+without difficulty.
+
+"D'you really think there's a Chamber of Secrets?" Ron asked
+Hermione.
+
+"I don't know," she said, frowning. "Dumbledore couldn't cure
+
+* 1,5 % *
+
+Mrs. Norris, and that makes me think that whatever attacked her
+might not be - well - human."
+
+As she spoke, they turned a corner and found themselves at the end
+of the very corridor where the attack had happened. They stopped
+and looked. The scene was just as it had been that night, except that
+there was no stiff cat hanging from the torch bracket, and an empty
+chair stood against the wall bearing the message "The Chamber of
+Secrets has been Opened."
+
+"That's where Filch has been keeping guard," Ron muttered.
+
+They looked at each other. The corridor was deserted.
+
+"Can't hurt to have a poke around," said Harry, dropping his bag and
+getting to his hands and knees so that he could crawl along, searching
+for clues.
+
+"Scorch marks!" he said. "Here - and here -"
+
+"Come and look at this!" said Hermione. "This is funny . . . ."
+
+Harry got up and crossed to the window next to the message on the
+wall. Hermione was pointing at the topmost pane, where around
+twenty spiders were scuttling, apparently fighting to get through a
+small crack. A long, silvery thread was dangling like a rope, as though
+they had all climbed it in their hurry to get outside.
+
+"Have you ever seen spiders act like that?" said Hermione
+wonderingly.
+
+"No," said Harry, "have you, Ron? Ron?"
+
+He looked over his shoulder. Ron was standing well back and seemed
+to be fighting the impulse to run.
+
+"What's up?" said Harry.
+
+"I - don't - like - spiders," said Ron tensely.
+
+"I never knew that," said Hermione, looking at Ron in surprise.
+"You've used spiders in Potions loads of times ......
+
+*154*
+
+"I don't mind them dead," said Ron, who was carefully looking
+anywhere but at the window. "I just don't like the way they move ....
+
+Hermione giggled.
+
+"It's not funny," said Ron, fiercely. "If you must know, when I was
+three, Fred turned my - my teddy bear into a great big fiIthy spider
+because I broke his toy broomstick .... You wouldn't like them either if
+you'd been holding your bear and suddenly it had too many legs and. .
+. "
+
+He broke off, shuddering. Hermione was obviously still trying not to
+laugh. Feeling they had better get off the subject, Harry said,
+"Remember all that water on the floor? Where did that come from?
+Someone's mopped it up."
+
+"It was about here," said Ron, recovering himself to walk a few paces
+past Filch's chair and pointing. "Level with this door."
+
+He reached for the brass doorknob but suddenly withdrew his hand as
+though he'd been burned.
+
+"What's the matter?" said Harry.
+
+"Can't go in there," said Ron gruffly. "That's a girls' toilet."
+
+"Oh, Ron, there won't be anyone in there," said Hermione, standing up
+and coming over. "That's Moaning Myrtle's place. Come on, let's have
+a look."
+
+And ignoring the large OUT of ORDER sign, she opened the door.
+
+It was the gloomiest, most depressing bathroom Harry had ever set
+foot in. Under a large, cracked, and spotted mirror were a row of
+chipped sinks. The floor was damp and reflected the dull light given
+off by the stubs of a few candles, burning low in their holders; the
+wooden doors to the stalls were flaking and scratched and one of
+them was dangling off its hinges.
+
+* -L 5,5
+
+Hermione put her fingers to her lips and set off toward the end stall.
+When she reached it she said, "Hello, Myrtle, how are you?"
+
+Harry and Ron went to look. Moaning Myrtle was floating above the
+tank of the toilet, picking a spot on her chin.
+
+"This is a girls' bathroom," she said, eyeing Ron and Harry suspiciously.
+"They're not girls."
+
+"No," Hermione agreed. "I just wanted to show them how er - nice it is
+in here."
+
+She waved vaguely at the dirty old mirror and the damp floor.
+
+"Ask her if she saw anything," Harry mouthed at Hermione.
+
+"What are you whispering?" said Myrtle, staring at him.
+
+"Nothing," said Harry quickly. "We wanted to ask -"
+
+"I wish people would stop talking behind my back!" said Myrtle, in a
+voice choked with tears. "I do have feelings, you know, even if I am
+dead -"
+
+"Myrtle, no one wants to upset you," said Hermione. "Harry only -"
+
+"No one wants to upset me! That's a good one!" howled Myrtle. "My
+life was nothing but misery at this place and now people come along
+ruining my death!"
+
+"We wanted to ask you if you've seen anything funny lately," said
+Hermione quickly. "Because a cat was attacked right outside your
+front door on Halloween."
+
+"Did you see anyone near here that night?" said Harry.
+
+"I wasn't paying attention," said Myrtle dramatically. "Peeves upset me
+so much I came in here and tried to kill myself Then, of course, I
+remembered that I'm - that I'm "
+
+"Already dead," said Ron helpfully.
+
+* IL 56*
+
+Myrtle gave a tragic sob, rose up in the air, turned over, and dived
+headfirst into the toilet, splashing water all over them and vanishing
+from sight, although from the direction of her muffled sobs, she had
+come to rest somewhere in the U-bend.
+
+Harry and Ron stood with their mouths open, but Hermione shrugged
+wearily and said, "Honestly, that was almost cheerful for Myrtle ....
+Come on, let's go."
+
+Harry had barely closed the door on Myrtle's gurgling sobs when a
+loud voice made all three of them jump.
+
+"RON!"
+
+Percy Weasley had stopped dead at the head of the stairs, prefect
+badge agleam, an expression of complete shock on his face.
+
+"That's a girls' bathroom!" he gasped. "What were you -?"
+
+"Just having a look around," Ron shrugged. "Clues, you know -"
+
+Percy swelled in a manner that reminded Harry forcefully of Mrs.
+Weasley.
+
+"Get - away - from - there -" Perry said, striding toward them and
+starting to bustle them along, flapping his arms. "Don't you care what
+this looks like? Coming back here while everyone's at dinner -"
+
+"Why shouldn't we be here?" said Ron hotly, stopping short and glaring
+at Percy. "Listen, we never laid a finger on that cat!"
+
+"That's what I told Ginny," said Percy fiercely, "but she still seems to
+think you're going to be expelled, I've never seen her so upset, crying
+her eyes out, you might think of her, all the first years are thoroughly
+overexcited by this business -"
+
+"You don't care about Ginny," said Ron, whose ears were now
+
+*157*
+
+reddening. "You're just worried I'm going to mess up your chances of
+being Head Boy -"
+
+"Five points from Gryffindor!" Percy said tersely, fingering his prefect
+badge. "And I hope it teaches you a lesson! No more detective work, or
+I'll write to Mum!"
+
+And he strode off, the back of his neck as red as Ron's ears.
+
+Harry, Ron, and Hermione chose seats as far as possible from Percy
+in the common room that night. Ron was still in a very bad temper and
+kept blotting his Charms homework. When he reached absently for his
+wand to remove the smudges, it ignited the parchment. Fuming almost
+as much as his homework, Ron slammed The Standard Book of Spells,
+Grade 2 shut. To Harry's surprise, Hermione followed suit.
+
+"Who can it be, though?" she said in a quiet voice, as though
+continuing a conversation they had just been having. "Who'd want to
+frighten all the Squibs and Muggle-borns out of Hogwarts?"
+
+"Let's think," said Ron in mock puzzlement. "Who do we know who
+thinks Muggle-borns are scum?"
+
+He looked at Hermione. Hermione looked back, unconvinced.
+
+"If you're talking about Malfoy -"
+
+"Of course I am!" said Ron. "You heard him - `You'll be next,
+Mudbloods!'- come on, you've only got to look at his foul rat face to
+know it's him -"
+
+"Malfoy, the Heir of Slytherin?" said Hermione skeptically.
+
+"Look at his family," said Harry, closing his books, too. "The whole lot
+of them have been in Slytherin; he's always boasting about it. They
+could easily be Slytherin's descendants. His father's definitely evil
+enough."
+
+*158*
+
+"They couldve had the key to the Chamber of Secrets for centuries!"
+said Ron. "Handing it down, father to son ......
+
+"Well," said Hermione cautiously, "I suppose it's possible ......
+
+"But how do we prove it?" said Harry darkly.
+
+"There might be a way," said Hermione slowly, dropping her voice still
+further with a quick glance across the room at Percy. "Of course, it
+would be difficult. And dangerous, very dangerous. We'd be breaking
+about fifty school rules, I expect -"
+
+"If, in a month or so, you feel like explaining, you will let us know,
+won't you?" said Ron irritably.
+
+"All right," said Hermione coldly. "What we'd need to do is to get
+inside the Slytherin common room and ask Malfoy a few questions
+without him realizing it's us."
+
+"But that's impossible," Harry said as Ron laughed.
+
+"No, it's not," said Hermione. "All we'd need would be some Polyjuice
+Potion."
+
+"What's that?" said Ron and Harry together.
+
+"Snape mentioned it in class a few weeks ago -"
+
+"D'you think we've got nothing better to do in Potions than listen to
+Snape?" muttered Ron.
+
+"It transforms you into somebody else. Think about it! We could
+change into three of the Slytherins. No one would know it was us.
+Malfoy would probably tell us anything. He's probably boasting about it
+in the Slytherin common room right now, if only we could hear him."
+
+"This Polyjuice stuff sounds a bit dodgy to me," said Ron, frowning.
+"What if we were stuck looking like three of the Slytherins forever?"
+
+"It wears off after a while," said Hermione, waving her hand
+
+*159*
+
+impatiently. "But getting hold of the recipe will be very difficult.
+Snape said it was in a book called Moste Potente Potions and it's
+bound to be in the Restricted Section of the library."
+There was only one way to get out a book from the Restricted
+Section: You needed a signed note of permission from a teacher.
+"Hard to see why we'd want the book, really," said Ron, "if we
+weren't going to try and make one of the potions."
+"I think," said Hermione, "that if we made it sound as though
+we were just interested in the theory, we might stand a chance ......
+"Oh, come on, no teacher's going to fall for that," said Ron.
+"They'd have to be really thick . . . ."
+
+C H-H A P T V It		T 1' N
+
+THE ROGUE BLUDGER
+
+ince the disastrous episode of the pixies, Professor Lockhart had not
+brought live creatures to class. Instead, he read passages from his
+books to them, and sometimes reenacted some of the more dramatic
+bits. He usually picked Harry to help him with these reconstructions;
+so far, Harry had been forced to play a simple Transylvanian villager
+whom Lockhart had cured of a Babbling Curse, a yeti with a head
+cold, and a vampire who had been unable to eat anything except
+lettuce since Lockhart had dealt with him.
+
+Harry was hauled to the front of the class during their very next
+Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson, this time acting a werewolf If
+he hadn't had a very good reason for keeping Lockhart in a good
+mood, he would have refused to do it.
+
+"Nice loud howl, Harry - exactly - and then, if you'll believe it, I
+pounced - like this - slammed him to the floor - thus with one hand, I
+managed to hold him down - with my other, I
+
+*161*
+
+
+
+put my wand to his throat -I then screwed up my remaining strength
+and performed the immensely complex Homorphus Charm - he let
+out a piteous moan - go on, Harry - higher than that - good - the fur
+vanished - the fangs shrank - and he turned back into a man. Simple,
+yet effective - and another village will remember me forever as the
+hero who delivered them from the monthly terror of werewolf
+attacks."
+
+The bell rang and Lockhart got to his feet.
+
+"Homework - compose a poem about my defeat of the Wagga
+Wagga Werewolf! Signed copies of Magical Me to the author of the
+best one!"
+
+The class began to leave. Harry returned to the back of the room,
+where Ron and Hermione were waiting.
+
+"Ready?" Harry muttered.
+
+"Wait till everyone's gone," said Hermione nervously. "All right . . . "
+
+She approached Lockhart's desk, a piece of paper clutched tightly in
+her hand, Harry and Ron right behind her.
+
+"Er - Professor Lockhart?" Hermione stammered. "I wanted to - to
+get this book out of the library. Just for background reading." She
+held out the piece of paper, her hand shaking slightly. "But the thing
+is, it's in the Restricted Section of the library, so I need a teacher to
+sign for it - I'm sure it would help me understand what you say in
+Gadding with Ghouls about slow-acting venoms
+
+"Ah, Gadding with Ghouls!" said Lockhart, taking the note from
+Hermione and smiling widely at her. "Possibly my very favorite
+book. You enjoyed it?"
+
+-162
+
+"Oh, yes," said Hermione eagerly. "So clever, the way you trapped that
+last one with the tea-strainer -"
+
+"Well, I'm sure no one will mind me giving the best student of the year
+a little extra help," said Lockhart warmly, and he pulled out an
+enormous peacock quill. "Yes, nice, isn't it?" he said, misreading the
+revolted look on Ron's face. "I usually save it for book-signings."
+
+He scrawled an enormous loopy signature on the note and handed it
+back to Hermione.
+
+"So, Harry," said Lockhart, while Hermione folded the note with
+fumbling fingers and slipped it into her bag. "Tomorrow's the first
+Quidditch match of the season, I believe? Gryffindor against Slytherin,
+is it not? I hear you're a useful player. I was a Seeker, too. I was
+asked to try for the National Squad, but preferred to dedicate my life
+to the eradication of the Dark Forces. Still, if ever you feel the need
+for a little private training, don't hesitate to ask. Always happy to pass
+on my expertise to less able players ......
+
+Harry made an indistinct noise in his throat and then hurried off after
+Ron and Hermione.
+
+"I don't believe it," he said as the three of them examined the signature
+on the note. "He didn't even look at the book we wanted."
+
+"That's because he's a brainless git," said Ron. "But who cares, we've
+got what we needed -"
+
+"He is not a brainless git," said Hermione shrilly as they half ran
+toward the library.
+
+"Just because he said you were the best student of the year -"
+
+They dropped their voices as they entered the muffled stillness of the
+library. Madam Pince, the librarian, was a thin, irritable woman who
+looked like an underfed vulture.
+
+*163*
+
+"Moste Potente Potions?" she repeated suspiciously, trying to take the
+note from Hermione; but Hermione wouldn't let go.
+
+"I was wondering if I could keep it," she said breathlessly.
+
+"Oh, come on," said Ron, wrenching it from her grasp and thrusting it
+at Madam Pince. "We'll get you another autograph. Lockhart'll sign
+anything if it stands still long enough."
+
+Madam Pince held the note up to the light, as though determined to
+detect a forgery, but it passed the test. She stalked away between the
+lofty shelves and returned several minutes later carrying a large and
+moldy-looking book. Hermione put it carefully into her bag and they
+left, trying not to walk too quickly or look too guilty.
+
+Five minutes later, they were barricaded in Moaning Myrtle's out-of-
+order bathroom once again. Hermione had overridden Ron's objections
+by pointing out that it was the last place anyone in their right minds
+would go, so they were guaranteed some privacy. Moaning Myrtle
+was crying noisily in her stall, but they were ignoring her, and she
+them.
+
+Hermione opened Moste Potente Potions carefully, and the three of
+them bent over the damp-spotted pages. It was clear from a glance
+why it belonged in the Restricted Section. Some of the potions had
+effects almost too gruesome to think about, and there were some very
+unpleasant illustrations, which included a man who seemed to have
+been turned inside out and a witch sprouting several extra pairs of
+arms out of her head.
+
+"Here it is," said Hermione excitedly as she found the page headed The
+Polyjuice Potion. It was decorated with drawings of people halfway
+through transforming into other people. Harry sin
+
+*164*
+
+cerely hoped the artist had imagined the looks of intense pain on their
+faces.
+
+"This is the most complicated potion I've ever seen," said Hermione as
+they scanned the recipe. "Lacewing flies, leeches, fluxweed, and
+knotgrass," she murmured, running her finger down the list of
+ingredients. "Well, they're easy enough, they're in the student store-
+cupboard, we can help ourselves .... Oooh, look, powdered horn of a
+bicorn - don't know where we're going to get that - shredded skin of a
+boomslang -. that'll be tricky, too and of course a bit of whoever we
+want to change into."
+
+"Excuse me?" said Ron sharply. "What d'you mean, a bit of whoever
+we're changing into? I'm drinking nothing with Crabbe's toenails in it -"
+
+Hermione continued as though she hadn't heard him.
+
+"We don't have to worry about that yet, though, because we add those
+bits last ......
+
+Ron turned, speechless, to Harry, who had another worry.
+
+"D'you realize how much we're going to have to steal, Hermione?
+Shredded skin of a boomslang, that's definitely not in the students'
+cupboard. What're we going to do, break into Snape's private stores? I
+don't know if this is a good idea ......
+
+Hermione shut the book with a snap.
+
+"Well, if you two are going to chicken out, fine," she said. There were
+bright pink patches on her cheeks and her eyes were brighter than
+usual. "I don't want to break rules, you know. I think threatening
+Muggle-borns is far worse than brewing up a difficult potion. But if
+you don't want to find out if it's Malfoy, I'll go straight to Madam Pince
+now and hand the book back in ='
+
+*165
+
+"I never thought Id see the day when you'd be persuading us to
+break rules," said Ron. "All right, we'll do it. But not toenails, okay?"
+
+"How long will it take to make, anyway?" said Harry as Hermione,
+looking happier, opened the book again.
+
+"Well, since the fluxweed has got to be picked at the full moon and
+the lacewings have got to be stewed for twenty-one days ... I'd say
+it'd be ready in about a month, if we can get all the ingredients."
+
+"A month?" said Ron. "Malfoy could have attacked half the Muggle-
+borns in the school by then!" But Hermione's eyes narrowed
+dangerously again, and he added swiftly, "But it's the best plan we've
+got, so full steam ahead, I say."
+
+However, while Hermione was checking that the coast was clear for
+them to leave the bathroom, Ron muttered to Harry, "It'll be a lot less
+hassle if you can just knock Malfoy off his broom tomorrow.
+
+Harry woke early on Saturday morning and lay for a while thinking
+about the coming Quidditch match. He was nervous, mainly at the
+thought of what Wood would say if Gryffindor lost, but also at the
+idea of facing a team mounted on the fastest racing brooms gold
+could buy. He had never wanted to beat Slytherin so badly. After
+half an hour of lying there with his insides churning, he got up,
+dressed, and went down to breakfast early, where he found the rest
+of the Gryffindor team huddled at the long, empty table, all looking
+uptight and not speaking much.
+
+As eleven o'clock approached, the whole school started to make its
+way down to the Quidditch stadium. It was a muggy sort of day
+
+*166*
+
+with a hint of thunder in the air. Ron and Hermione came hurrying
+over to wish Harry good luck as he entered the locker rooms. The
+team pulled on their scarlet Gryffindor robes, then sat down to listen to
+Wood's usual pre-match pep talk.
+
+"Slytherin has better brooms than us," he began. "No point denying it.
+But we've got better people on our brooms. We've trained harder than
+they have, we've been flying in all weathers -" ("Too true," muttered
+George Weasley. "I haven't been properly dry since August") "- and
+we're going to make them rue the day they let that little bit of slime,
+Malfoy, buy his way onto their team."
+
+Chest heaving with emotion, Wood turned to Harry.
+
+"It'll be down to you, Harry, to show them that a Seeker has to have
+something more than a rich father. Get to that Snitch before Malfoy or
+die trying, Harry, because we've got to win today, we've got to."
+
+"So no pressure, Harry" said Fred, winking at him.
+
+As they walked out onto the pitch, a roar of noise greeted them; mainly
+cheers, because Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were anxious to see
+Slytherin beaten, but the Slytherins in the crowd made their boos and
+hisses heard, too. Madam Hooch, the Quidditch teacher, asked Flint
+and Wood to shake hands, which they did, giving each other
+threatening stares and gripping rather harder than was necessary.
+
+"On my whistle," said Madam Hooch. "Three ... two ... one. . .
+
+With a roar from the crowd to speed them upward, the fourteen
+players rose toward the leaden sky. Harry flew higher than any of
+them, squinting around for the Snitch.
+
+*167*
+
+"All right there, Scarhead?" yelled Malfoy, shooting underneath him as
+though to show off the speed of his broom.
+
+Harry had no time to reply. At that very moment, a heavy black
+Bludger came pelting toward him; he avoided it so narrowly that he
+felt it ruffle his hair as it passed.
+
+"Close one, Harry!" said George, streaking past him with his club in his
+hand, ready to knock the Bludger back toward a Slytherin. Harry saw
+George give the Bludger a powerful whack in the direction of Adrian
+Pucey, but the Bludger changed direction in midair and shot straight
+for Harry again.
+
+Harry dropped quickly to avoid it, and George managed to hit it hard
+toward Malfoy. Once again, the Bludger swerved like a boomerang
+and shot at Harry's head.
+
+Harry put on a burst of speed and zoomed toward the other end of the
+pitch. He could hear the Bludger whistling along behind him. What
+was going on? Bludgers never concentrated on one player like this; it
+was their job to try and unseat as many people as possible ....
+
+Fred Weasley was waiting for the Bludger at the other end. Harry
+ducked as Fred swung at the Bludger with all his might; the Bludger
+was knocked off course.
+
+"Gotcha!" Fred yelled happily, but he was wrong; as though it was
+magnetically attracted to Harry, the Bludger pelted after him once
+more and Harry was forced to fly off at full speed.
+
+It had started to rain; Harry felt heavy drops fall onto his face,
+splattering onto his glasses. He didn't have a clue what was going on
+in the rest of the game until he heard Lee Jordan, who was
+commentating, say, "Slytherin lead, sixty points to zero ='
+
+*168*
+
+The Slytherins' superior brooms were clearly doing their jobs, and
+meanwhile the mad Bludger was doing all it could to knock Harry
+out of the air. Fred and George were now flying so close to him on
+either side that Harry could see nothing at all except their flailing arms
+and had no chance to look for the Snitch, let alone catch it.
+
+"Someone's - tampered - with - this - Bludger -" Fred grunted,
+swinging his bat with all his might at it as it launched a new attack on
+Harry.
+
+"We need time out," said George, trying to signal to Wood and stop
+the Bludger breaking Harry's nose at the same time.
+
+Wood had obviously got the message. Madam Hooch's whistle rang
+out and Harry, Fred, and George dived for the ground, still trying to
+avoid the mad Bludger.
+
+"What's going on?" said Wood as the Gryffindor team huddled
+together, while Slytherins in the crowd jeered. "We're being
+flattened. Fred, George, where were you when that Bludger stopped
+Angelina scoring?"
+
+"We were twenty feet above her, stopping the other Bludger from
+murdering Harry, Oliver," said George angrily. "Someone's fixed it -
+it won't leave Harry alone. It hasn't gone for anyone else all game.
+The Slytherins must have done something to it."
+
+"But the Bludgers have been locked in Madam Hooch's office since
+our last practice, and there was nothing wrong with them then . . . . "
+said Wood, anxiously.
+
+Madam Hooch was walking toward them. Over her shoulder, Harry
+could see the Slytherin team jeering and pointing in his direction.
+
+169
+
+"Listen," said Harry as she came nearer and nearer, "with you two
+flying around me all the time the only way I'm going to catch the
+Snitch is if it flies up my sleeve. Go back to the rest of the team and
+let me deal with the rogue one."
+
+"Don't be thick," said Fred. "It'll take your head off."
+
+Wood was looking from Harry to the Weasleys.
+
+(I Oliver, this is insane," said Alicia Spinner angrily. "You can't let Harry
+deal with that thing on his own. Let's ask for an inquiry -))
+
+"If we stop now, we'll have to forfeit the match!" said Harry. "And
+we're not losing to Slytherin just because of a crazy Bludger! Come
+on, Oliver, tell them to leave me alone!"
+
+"This is all your fault," George said angrily to Wood. " `Get the Snitch
+or die trying,' what a stupid thing to tell him -"
+
+Madam Hooch had joined them.
+
+"Ready to resume play?" she asked Wood.
+
+Wood looked at the determined look on Harry's face.
+
+"All right," he said. "Fred, George, you heard Harry -leave him alone
+and let him deal with the Bludger on his own."
+
+The rain was falling more heavily now. On Madam Hooch's whistle,
+Harry kicked hard into the air and heard the telltale whoosh of the
+Bludger behind him. Higher and higher Harry climbed; he looped and
+swooped, spiraled, zigzagged, and rolled. Slightly dizzy, he nevertheless
+kept his eyes wide open, rain was speckling his glasses and ran up his
+nostrils as he hung upside down, avoiding another fierce dive from the
+Bludger. He could hear laughter from the crowd; he knew he must
+look very stupid, but the rogue Bludger was heavy and couldn't change
+direction as quickly as Harry could; he began a kind of roller-coaster
+ride around the
+
+*170*
+
+edges of the stadium, squinting through the silver sheets of rain to the
+Gryffindor goal posts, where Adrian Pucey was trying to get past
+Wood
+
+A whistling in Harry's ear told him the Bludger had just missed him
+again; he turned right over and sped in the opposite direction.
+
+"Training for the ballet, Potter?" yelled Malfoy as Harry was forced to
+do a stupid kind of twirl in midair to dodge the Bludger, and he fled, the
+Bludger trailing a few feet behind him; and then, glaring back at
+Malfoy in hatred, he saw it - the Golden Snitch. It was hovering inches
+above Malfoy's left ear - and Malfoy, busy laughing at Harry, hadn't
+seen it.
+
+For an agonizing moment, Harry hung in midair, not daring to speed
+toward Malfoy in case he looked up and saw the Snitch.
+
+WHAM.
+
+He had stayed still a second too long. The Bludger had hit him at last,
+smashed into his elbow, and Harry felt his arm break. Dimly, dazed by
+the searing pain in his arm, he slid sideways on his rain-drenched
+broom, one knee still crooked over it, his right arm dangling useless at
+his side - the Bludger came pelting back for a second attack, this time
+W-ming at his face - Harry swerved out of the way, one idea firmly
+lodged in his numb brain: get to Malfoy.
+
+Through a haze of rain and pain he dived for the shimmering, sneering
+face below him and saw its eyes widen with fear: Malfoy thought
+Harry was attacking him.
+
+"What the -" he gasped, careening out of Harry's way.
+
+Harry took his remaining hand off his broom and made a wild snatch;
+he felt his fingers close on the cold Snitch but was now only
+
+*171*
+
+gripping the broom with his legs, and there was a yell from the crowd
+below as he headed straight for the ground, trying hard not to pass
+out.
+
+With a splattering thud he hit the mud and rolled off his broom. His
+arm was hanging at a very strange angle; riddled with pain, he heard,
+as though from a distance, a good deal of whistling and shouting. He
+focused on the Snitch clutched in his good hand.
+
+"Aha," he said vaguely. "We've won."
+
+And he fainted.
+
+He came around, rain falling on his face, still lying on the field, with
+someone leaning over him. He saw a glitter of teeth.
+
+"Oh, no, not you," he moaned.
+
+"Doesn't know what he's saying," said Lockhart loudly to the anxious
+crowd of Gryffindors pressing around them. "Not to worry, Harry.
+I'm about to fix your arm."
+
+"No!"said Harry. "I'll keep it like this, thanks ......
+
+He tried to sit up, but the pain was terrible. He heard a familiar
+clicking noise nearby.
+
+"I don't want a photo of this, Colin," he said loudly.
+
+"Lie back, Harry," said Lockhart soothingly. "It's a simple charm I've
+used countless times -"
+
+"Why can't I just go to the hospital wing?" said Harry through
+clenched teeth.
+
+"He should really, Professor," said a muddy Wood, who couldn't
+help grinning even though his Seeker was injured. "Great capture,
+Harry, really spectacular, your best yet, Id say -"
+
+Through the thicket of legs around him, Harry spotted Fred and
+
+*112*
+
+George Weasley, wrestling the rogue Bludger into a box. It was still
+putting up a terrific fight.
+
+"Stand back," said Lockhart, who was rolling up his jade-green
+sleeves.
+
+"No - don't -" said Harry weakly, but Lockhart was twirling his wand
+and a second later had directed it straight at Harry's arm.
+
+A strange and unpleasant sensation started at Harry's shoulder and
+spread all the way down to his fingertips. It felt as though his arm was
+being deflated. He didn't dare look at what was happening. He had
+shut his eyes, his face turned away from his arm, but his worst fears
+were realized as the people above him gasped and Colin Creevey
+began clicking away madly. His arm didn't hurt anymore - nor did it
+feel remotely like an arm.
+
+"Ah," said Lockhart. "Yes. Well, that can sometimes happen. But the
+point is, the bones are no longer broken. That's the thing to bear in
+mind. So, Harry, just toddle up to the hospital wing - ah, Mr. Weasley,
+Miss Granger, would you escort him? - and Madam Pomfrey will be
+able to - er - tidy you up a bit."
+
+As Harry got to his feet, he felt strangely lopsided. Taking a deep
+breath he looked down at his right side. What he saw nearly made him
+pass out again.
+
+Poking out of the end of his robes was what looked like a thick, flesh-
+colored rubber glove. He tried to move his fingers. Nothing happened.
+
+Lockhart hadn't mended Harry's bones. He had removed them.
+
+Madam Pomfrey wasn't at all pleased.
+
+"You should have come straight to me!" she raged, holding up
+
+*173*
+
+the sad, limp remainder of what, half an hour before, had been a
+working arm. "I can mend bones in a second - but growing them back -
+"
+
+"You will be able to, won't you?" said Harry desperately.
+
+"I'll be able to, certainly, but it will be painful," said Madam Pomfrey
+grimly, throwing Harry a pair of pajamas. "You'll have to stay the
+night ......
+
+Hermione waited outside the curtain drawn around Harry's bed while
+Ron helped him into his pajamas. It took a while to stuff the rubbery,
+boneless arm into a sleeve.
+
+"How can you stick up for Lockhart now, Hermione, eh?" Ron called
+through the curtain as he pulled Harry's limp fingers through the cuff.
+"If Harry had wanted deboning he would have asked."
+
+"Anyone can make a mistake," said Hermione. "And it doesn't hurt
+anymore, does it, Harry?"
+
+"No," said Harry, getting into bed. "But it doesn't do anything else
+either."
+
+As he swung himself onto the bed, his arm flapped pointlessly.
+
+Hermione and Madam Pomfrey came around the curtain. Madam
+Pomfrey was holding a large bottle of something labeled Skele-Gro.
+
+"You're in for a rough night," she said, pouring out a steaming
+beakerful and handing it to him. "Regrowing bones is a nasty business.
+
+So was taking the Skele-Gro. It burned Harry's mouth and throat as it
+went down, making him cough and splutter. Still tut-tutting about
+dangerous sports and inept teachers, Madam Pomfrey re
+
+*114*
+
+treated, leaving Ron and Hermione to help Harry gulp down some
+water.
+"We won, though," said Ron, a grin breaking across his face.
+"That was some catch you made. Malfoy's face ... he looked ready
+to kill ......
+"I want to know how he fixed that Bludger," said Hermione
+darkly.
+"We can add that to the list of questions we'll ask him when
+we've taken the Polyjuice Potion," said Harry, sinking back onto
+his pillows. "I hope it tastes better than this stuff .....
+
+"If it's got bits of Slytherins in it? You've got to be joking," said
+Ron.
+The door of the hospital wing burst open at that moment. Filthy
+and soaking wet, the rest of the Gryffindor team had arrived to see
+Harry.
+"Unbelievable flying, Harry," said George. "I've just seen Mar
+cus Flint yelling at Malfoy. Something about having the Snitch on
+top of his head and not noticing. Malfoy didn't seem too happy."
+They had brought cakes, sweets, and bottles of pumpkin juice;
+they gathered around Harry's bed and were just getting started on
+what promised to be a good party when Madam Pomfrey came
+storming over, shouting, "This boy needs rest, he's got thirty-three
+bones to regrow! Out! OUT!"
+And Harry was left alone, with nothing to distract him from the
+stabbing pains in his limp arm.
+
+Hours and hours later, Harry woke quite suddenly in the pitch
+blackness and gave a small yelp of pain: His arm now felt full of
+
+large splinters. For a second, he thought that was what had woken
+him. Then, with a thrill of horror, he realized that someone was
+sponging his forehead in the dark.
+
+"Get off!" he said loudly, and then, "Dobby!"
+
+The house-elf's goggling tennis ball eyes were peering at Harry
+through the darkness. A single tear was running down his long,
+pointed nose.
+
+"Harry Potter came back to school," he whispered miserably.
+"Dobby warned and warned Harry Potter. Ah sir, why didn't you
+heed Dobby? Why didn't Harry Potter go back home when he
+missed the train?"
+
+Harry heaved himself up on his pillows and pushed Dobby's sponge
+away.
+
+"What're you doing here?" he said. "And how did you know I missed
+the train?"
+
+Dobby's lip trembled and Harry was seized by a sudden suspicion.
+
+"It was you!" he said slowly. "You stopped the barrier from letting us
+through!"
+
+"Indeed yes, sir," said Dobby, nodding his head vigorously, ears
+flapping. "Dobby hid and watched for Harry Potter and sealed the
+gateway and Dobby had to iron his hands afterward" - he showed
+Harry ten long, bandaged fingers - "but Dobby didn't care, sir, for he
+thought Harry Potter was safe, and never did Dobby dream that Harry
+Potter would get to school another way!"
+
+He was rocking backward and forward, shaking his ugly head.
+
+"Dobby was 'so shocked when he heard Harry Potter was back at
+Hogwarts, he let his master's dinner burn! Such a flogging Dobby
+never had, sir . .....
+
+*176*
+
+Harry slumped back onto his pillows.
+
+"You nearly got Ron and me expelled," he said fiercely. "You'd better
+get lost before my bones come back, Dobby, or I might strangle you."
+
+Dobby smiled weakly.
+
+"Dobby is used to death threats, sir. Dobby gets them five times a day
+at home."
+
+He blew his nose on a corner of the filthy pillowcase he wore, looking
+so pathetic that Harry felt his anger ebb away in spite of himself.
+
+"Why d'you wear that thing, Dobby?" he asked curiously.
+
+"This, sir?" said Dobby, plucking at the pillowcase. "'Tis a mark of the
+house-elf's enslavement, sir. Dobby can only be freed if his masters
+present him with clothes, sir. The family is careful not to pass Dobby
+even a sock, sir, for then he would be free to leave their house
+forever."
+
+Dobby mopped his bulging eyes and said suddenly, "Harry Potter must
+go home! Dobby thought his Bludger would be enough to make -"
+
+"Your Bludger?" said Harry, anger rising once more. "What d'you
+mean, your Bludger? You made that Bludger try and kill me?"
+
+"Not kill you, sir, never kill you!" said Dobby, shocked. "Dobby wants
+to save Harry Potter's life! Better sent home, grievously injured, than
+remain here sir! Dobby only wanted Harry Potter hurt enough to be
+sent home!"
+
+"Oh, is that all?" said Harry angrily. "I don't suppose you're going to
+tell me why you wanted me sent home in pieces?"
+
+"Ah, if Harry Potter only knew!" Dobby groaned, more tears dripping
+onto his ragged pillowcase. "If he knew what he means
+
+*177*
+
+to us, to the lowly, the enslaved, we dregs of the magical world!
+Dobby remembers how it was when He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named
+was at the height of his powers, sir! We house-elfs were treated like
+vermin, sir! Of course, Dobby is still treated like that, sir," he admitted,
+drying his face on the pillowcase. "But mostly, sir, life has improved
+for my kind since you triumphed over He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.
+Harry Potter survived, and the Dark Lord's power was broken, and it
+was a new dawn, sir, and Harry Potter shone like a beacon of hope
+for those of us who thought the Dark days would never end, sit... And
+now, at Hogwarts, terrible things are to happen, are perhaps happening
+already, and Dobby cannot let Harry Potter stay here now that history
+is to repeat itself, now that the Chamber of Secrets is open once more
+
+Dobby froze, horrorstruck, then grabbed Harry's water jug from his
+bedside table and cracked it over his own head, toppling out of sight. A
+second later, he crawled back onto the bed, cross-eyed, muttering,
+"Bad Dobby, very bad Dobby. . ."
+
+"So there is a Chamber of Secrets?" Harry whispered. "And did you
+say it's been opened before? Tell me, Dobby!"
+
+He seized the elf's bony wrist as Dobby's hand inched toward the
+water jug. "But I'm not Muggle-born - how can I be in danger from the
+Chamber?"
+
+"Ah, sir, ask no more, ask no more of poor Dobby," stammered the elf,
+his eyes huge in the dark. "Dark deeds are planned in this place, but
+Harry Potter must not be here when they happen - go home, Harry
+Potter, go home. Harry Potter must not meddle in this, sir, 'tis too
+dangerous -"
+
+"Who is it, Dobby?" Harry said, keeping a firm hold on Dobby's
+
+*178*
+
+wrist to stop him from hitting himself with the water jug again. "Who's
+opened it? Who opened it last time?"
+
+"Dobby can't, sir, Dobby can't, Dobby mustn't tell!" squealed the elf.
+"Go home, Harry Potter, go home!"
+
+"I'm not going anywhere!" said Harry fiercely. "One of my best
+friends is Muggle-born; she'll be first in line if the Chamber really has
+been opened -"
+
+"Harry Potter risks his own life for his friends!" moaned Dobby in a
+kind of miserable ecstasy. "So noble! So valiant! But he must save
+himself, he must, Harry Potter must not -"
+
+Dobby suddenly froze, his bat ears quivering. Harry heard it, too.
+There were footsteps coming down the passageway outside.
+
+"Dobby must go!" breathed the elf, terrified. There was a loud crack,
+and Harry's fist was suddenly clenched on thin air. He slumped back
+into bed, his eyes on the dark doorway to the hospital wing as the
+footsteps drew nearer.
+
+Next moment, Dumbledore was backing into the dormitory, wearing a
+long woolly dressing gown and a nightcap. He was carrying one end
+of what looked like a statue. Professor McGonagall appeared a
+second later, carrying its feet. Together, they heaved it onto a bed.
+
+"Get Madam Pomfrey," whispered Dumbledore, and Professor
+McGonagall hurried past the end of Harry's bed out of sight. Harry lay
+quite still, pretending to be asleep. He heard urgent voices, and then
+Professor McGonagall swept back into view, closely followed by
+Madam Pomfrey, who was pulling a cardigan on over her nightdress.
+He heard a sharp intake of breath.
+
+"What happened?" Madam Pomfrey whispered to Dumbledore,
+bending over the statue on the bed.
+
+*l79*
+
+"Another attack," said Dumbledore. "Minerva found him on the stairs.
+
+"There was a bunch of grapes next to him," said Professor
+McGonagall. "We think he was trying to sneak up here to visit Potter."
+
+Harry's stomach gave a horrible lurch. Slowly and carefully, he raised
+himself a few inches so he could look at the statue on the bed. A ray
+of moonlight lay across its staring face.
+
+It was Colin Creevey. His eyes were wide and his hands were stuck
+up in front of him, holding his camera.
+
+"Petrified?" whispered Madam Pomfrey.
+
+"Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "But I shudder to think ... If Albus
+hadn't been on the way downstairs for hot chocolate - who knows
+what might have -"
+
+The three of them stared down at Colin. Then Dumbledore leaned
+forward and wrenched the camera out of Colin's rigid grip.
+
+"You don't think he managed to get a picture of his attacker?" said
+Professor McGonagall eagerly.
+
+Dumbledore didn't answer. He opened the back of the camera.
+
+"Good gracious!" said Madam Pomfrey.
+
+A jet of steam had hissed out of the camera. Harry, three beds away,
+caught the acrid smell of burnt plastic.
+
+"Melted," said Madam Pomfrey wonderingly. "All melted..."
+
+"What does this mean, Albus?" Professor McGonagall asked
+urgently.
+
+"It means," said Dumbledore, "that the Chamber of Secrets is indeed
+open again."
+
+Madam Pomfrey clapped a hand to her mouth. Professor McGonagall
+stared at Dumbledore.
+
+*180*
+
+"But, Albus ... surely ... who?"
+"The question is not who," said Dumbledore, his eyes on Colin.
+"The question is, how . . . ."
+And from what Harry could see of Professor McGonagall's shad
+owy face, she didn't understand this any better than he did.
+
+C H-H A P T t R	ELEVEN
+
+THE D-KJEL]ING C-L-IJIB
+
+Harry woke up on Sunday morning to find the dormitory blazing with
+winter sunlight and his arm reboned but very stiff. He sat up quickly
+and looked over at Colin's bed, but it had been blocked from view by
+the high curtains Harry had changed behind yesterday. Seeing that he
+was awake, Madam Pomfrey came bustling over with a breakfast tray
+and then began bending and stretching his arm and fingers.
+
+"All in order," she said as he clumsily fed himself porridge lefthanded.
+"When you've finished eating, you may leave."
+
+Harry dressed as quickly as he could and hurried off to Gryffindor
+Tower, desperate to tell Ron and Hermione about Colin and Dobby,
+but they weren't there. Harry left to look for them, wondering where
+they could have got to and feeling slightly hurt that they weren't
+interested in whether he had his bones back or not.
+
+*182*
+
+
+
+As Harry passed the library, Percy Weasley strolled out of it,
+looking in far better spirits than last time they'd met.
+
+"Oh, hello, Harry," he said. "Excellent flying yesterday, really
+excellent. Gryffindor has just taken the lead for the House Cup you
+earned fifty points!"
+
+"You haven't seen Ron or Hermione, have you?" said Harry.
+
+"No, I haven't," said Percy, his smile fading. "I hope Ron's not in
+another girls' toilet .....
+
+Harry forced a laugh, watched Percy walk out of sight, and then
+headed straight for Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. He couldn't see why
+Ron and Hermione would be in there again, but after making sure
+that neither Filch nor any prefects were around, he opened the door
+and heard their voices coming from a locked stall.
+
+"It's me," he said, closing the door behind him. There was a clunk, a
+splash, and a gasp from within the stall and he saw Hermione's eye
+peering through the keyhole.
+
+`Harry!" she said. "You gave us such a fright - come in how's your
+arm?"
+
+"Fine," said Harry, squeezing into the stall. An old cauldron was
+perched on the toilet, and a crackling from under the rim told Harry
+they had lit a fire beneath it. Conjuring up portable, waterproof fires
+was a speciality of Hermione's.
+
+"We'd've come to meet you, but we decided to get started on the
+Polyjuice Potion," Ron explained as Harry, with difficulty, locked the
+stall again. "We've decided this is the safest place to hide it."
+
+Harry started to tell them about Colin, but Hermione interrupted.
+
+"We already know - we heard Professor McGonagall telling
+
+Professor Flitwick this morning. That's why we decided we'd better get
+going -"
+
+"The sooner we get a confession out of Malfoy, the better," snarled
+Ron. "D'you know what I think? He was in such a foul temper after
+the Quidditch match, he took it out on Colin."
+
+"There's something else," said Harry, watching Hermione tearing
+bundles of knotgrass and throwing them into the potion. "Dobby came
+to visit me in the middle of the night."
+
+Ron and Hermione looked up, amazed. Harry told them everything
+Dobby had told him - or hadn't told him. Hermione and Ron listened
+with their mouths open.
+
+"The Chamber of Secrets has been opened before?" Hermione said.
+
+"This settles it," said Ron in a triumphant voice. "Lucius Malfoy must've
+opened the Chamber when he was at school here and now he's told
+dear old Draco how to do it. It's obvious. Wish Dobby'd told you what
+kind of monster's in there, though. I want to know how come nobody's
+noticed it sneaking around the school."
+
+"Maybe it can make itself invisible," said Hermione, prodding leeches to
+the bottom of the cauldron. "Or maybe it can disguise itself - pretend to
+be a suit of armor or something - I've read about Chameleon Ghouls -"
+
+"You read too much, Hermione," said Ron, pouring dead lacewings on
+top of the leeches. He crumpled up the empty lacewing bag and looked
+at Harry.
+
+"So Dobby stopped us from getting on the train and broke your
+
+	arm 	He shook his head. "You know what, Harry? If he doesn't
+
+stop trying to save your life he's going to kill you."
+
+*184*
+
+The news that Colin Creevey had been attacked and was now lying
+as though dead in the hospital wing had spread through the entire
+school by Monday morning. The air was suddenly thick with rumor
+and suspicion. The first years were now moving around the castle in
+tight-knit groups, as though scared they would be attacked if they
+ventured forth alone.
+
+Ginny Weasley, who sat next to Colin Creevey in Charms, was
+distraught, but Harry felt that Fred and George were going the
+wrong way about cheering her up. They were taking turns covering
+themselves with fur or boils and jumping out at her from behind
+statues. They only stopped when Percy, apoplectic with rage, told
+them he was going to write to Mrs. Weasley and tell her Ginny was
+having nightmares.
+
+Meanwhile, hidden from the teachers, a roaring trade in talismans,
+amulets, and other protective devices was sweeping the school.
+Neville Longbottom bought a large, evil-smelling green onion, a
+pointed purple crystal, and a rotting newt tail before the other
+Gryffindor boys pointed out that he was in no danger; he was a pure-
+blood, and therefore unlikely to be attacked.
+
+"They went for Filch first," Neville said, his round face fearful. "And
+everyone knows I'm almost a Squib."
+
+In the second week of December Professor McGonagall came
+around as usual, collecting names of those who would be staying at
+school for Christmas. Harry, Ron, and Hermione signed her list; they
+had heard that Malfoy was staying, which struck them as very
+suspicious. The holidays would be the perfect time to use the
+Polyjuice Potion and try to worm a confession out of him.
+
+Unfortunately, the potion was only half finished. They still
+
+* 3-85*
+
+needed the bicorn horn and the boomslang skin, and the only place
+they were going to get them was from Snape's private stores. Harry
+privately felt he'd rather face Slytherin's legendary monster than let
+Snape catch him robbing his office.
+
+"What we need," said Hermione briskly as Thursday afternoon's
+double Potions lesson loomed nearer, "is a diversion. Then one of us
+can sneak into Snape's office and take what we need."
+
+Harry and Ron looked at her nervously.
+
+"I think Id better do the actual stealing," Hermione continued in a
+matter-of-fact tone. "You two will be expelled if you get into any more
+trouble, and I've got a clean record. So all you need to do is cause
+enough mayhem to keep Snape busy for five minutes or so.
+
+Harry smiled feebly. Deliberately causing mayhem in Snape's Potions
+class was about as safe as poking a sleeping dragon in the eye.
+
+Potions lessons took place in one of the large dungeons. Thursday
+afternoon's lesson proceeded in the usual way. Twenty cauldrons
+stood steaming between the wooden desks, on which stood brass
+scales and jars of ingredients. Snape prowled through the fumes,
+making waspish remarks about the Gryffindors' work while the
+Slytherins sniggered appreciatively. Draco Malfoy, who was Snape's
+favorite student, kept flicking puffer-fish eyes at Ron and Harry, who
+knew that if they retaliated they would get detention faster than you
+could say "Unfair."
+
+Harry's Swelling Solution was far too runny, but he had his mind on
+more important things. He was waiting for Hermione's signal, and he
+hardly listened as Snape paused to sneer at his watery
+
+*186*
+
+potion. When Snape turned and walked off to bully Neville, Hermione
+caught Harry's eye and nodded.
+
+Harry ducked swiftly down behind his cauldron, pulled one of Fred's
+Filibuster fireworks out of his pocket, and gave it a quick prod with his
+wand. The firework began to fizz and sputter. Knowing he had only
+seconds, Harry straightened up, took aim, and lobbed it into the air; it
+landed right on target in Goyle's cauldron.
+
+Goyle's potion exploded, showering the whole class. People shrieked
+as splashes of the Swelling Solution hit them. Malfoy got a faceful and
+his nose began to swell like a balloon; Goyle blundered around, his
+hands over his eyes, which had expanded to the size of a dinner plate -
+Snape was trying to restore calm and find out what had happened.
+Through the confusion, Harry saw Hermione slip quietly into Snape's
+office.
+
+"Silence! SILENCE!" Snape roared. "Anyone who has been splashed,
+come here for a Deflating Draft - when I find out who did this -"
+
+Harry tried not to laugh as he watched Malfoy hurry forward, his head
+drooping with the weight of a nose like a small melon. As half the
+class lumbered up to Snape's desk, some weighted down with arms
+like clubs, others unable to talk through gigantic puffedup lips, Harry
+saw Hermione slide back into the dungeon, the front of her robes
+bulging.
+
+When everyone had taken a swig of antidote and the various swellings
+had subsided, Snape swept over to Goyle's cauldron and scooped out
+the twisted black remains of the firework. There was a sudden hush.
+
+*187*
+
+"If I ever find out who threw this," Snape whispered, "I shall make
+sure that person is expelled."
+
+Harry arranged his face into what he hoped was a puzzled
+expression. Snape was looking right at him, and the bell that rang ten
+minutes later could not have been more welcome.
+
+"He knew it was me," Harry told Ron and Hermione as they hurried
+back to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. "I could tell."
+
+Hermione threw the new ingredients into the cauldron and began to
+stir feverishly.
+
+"It'll be ready in two weeks," she said happily.
+
+"Snape can't prove it was you," said Ron reassuringly to Harry.
+"What can he do?"
+
+"Knowing Snape, something foul," said Harry as the potion frothed
+and bubbled.
+
+A week later, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were walking across the
+entrance hall when they saw a small knot of people gathered around
+the notice board, reading a piece of parchment that had just been
+pinned up. Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas beckoned them
+over, looking excited.
+
+"They're starting a Dueling Club!" said Seamus. "First meeting
+tonight! I wouldn't mind dueling lessons; they might come in handy
+one of these days ......
+
+"What, you reckon Slytherin's monster can duel?" said Ron, but he,
+too, read the sign with interest.
+
+"Could be useful," he said to Harry and Hermione as they went into
+dinner. "Shall we go?"
+
+Harry and Hermione were all for it, so at eight o'clock that
+
+*188*
+
+evening they hurried back to the Great Hall. The long dining tables
+had vanished and a golden stage had appeared along one wall, lit by
+thousands of candles floating overhead. The ceiling was velvety
+black once more and most of the school seemed to be packed
+beneath it, all carrying their wands and looking excited.
+
+"I wonder who'll be teaching us?" said Hermione as they edged into
+the chattering crowd. "Someone told me Flitwick was a dueling
+champion when he was young - maybe it'll be him."
+
+"As long as it's not -" Harry began, but he ended on a groan:
+Gilderoy Lockhart was walking onto the stage, resplendent in robes
+of deep plum and accompanied by none other than Snape, wearing
+his usual black.
+
+Lockhart waved an arm for silence and called ' "Gather round,
+gather round! Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me?
+Excellent!
+
+"Now, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start
+this little dueling club, to train you all in case you ever need to defend
+yourselves as I myself have done on countless occasions - for full
+details, see my published works.
+
+"Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape," said Lockhart,
+flashing a wide smile. "He tells me he knows a tiny little bit about
+dueling himself and has sportingly agreed to help me with a short
+demonstration before we begin. Now, I don't want any of you
+youngsters to worry - you'll still have your Potions master when I'm
+through with him, never fear!"
+
+"Wouldn't it be good if they finished each other off?" Ron muttered in
+Harry's ear.
+
+Snape's upper lip was curling. Harry wondered why Lockhart
+
+*189*
+
+was still smiling; if Snape had been looking at him like that he'd have
+been running as fast as he could in the opposite direction.
+
+Lockhart and Snape turned to face each other and bowed; at least,
+Lockhart did, with much twirling of his hands, whereas Snape jerked
+his head irritably. Then they raised their wands like swords in front of
+them.
+
+"As you see, we are holding our wands in the accepted combative
+position," Lockhart told the silent crowd. "On the count of three, we
+will cast our first spells. Neither of us will be aiming to kill, of course."
+
+"I wouldn't bet on that," Harry murmured, watching Snape baring his
+teeth.
+
+"One - two - three -"
+
+Both of them swung their wands above their heads and pointed them
+at their opponent; Snape cried: "Expelliarmus!" There was a dazzling
+flash of scarlet light and Lockhart was blasted off his feet: He flew
+backward off the stage, smashed into the wall, and slid down it to
+sprawl on the floor.
+
+Malfoy and some of the other Slytherins cheered. Hermione was
+dancing on tiptoes. "Do you think he's all right?" she squealed through
+her fingers.
+
+"Who cares?" said Harry and Ron together.
+
+Lockhart was getting unsteadily to his feet. His hat had fallen off and
+his wavy hair was standing on end.
+
+"Well, there you have it!" he said, tottering back onto the platform.
+"That was a Disarming Charm - as you see, I've lost my wand - ah,
+thank you, Miss Brown - yes, an excellent idea to show them that,
+Professor Snape, but if you don't mind my saying
+
+*190*
+
+so, it was very obvious what you were about to do. If I had wanted to
+stop you it would have been only too easy - however, I felt it would be
+instructive to let them see . . ."
+
+Snape was looking murderous. Possibly Lockhart had noticed, because
+he said, "Enough demonstrating! I'm going to come amongst you now
+and put you all into pairs. Professor Snape, if you'd like to help me -"
+
+They moved through the crowd, matching up partners. Lockhart
+teamed Neville with Justin Finch-Fletchley, but Snape reached Harry
+and Ron first.
+
+"Time to split up the dream team, I think," he sneered. "Weasley, you
+can partner Finnigan. Potter -"
+
+Harry moved automatically toward Hermione.
+
+"I don't think so," said Snape, smiling coldly. "Mr. Malfoy, come over
+here. Let's see what you make of the famous Potter. And you, Miss
+Granger - you can partner Miss Bulstrode."
+
+Malfoy strutted over, smirking. Behind him walked a Slytherin girl who
+reminded Harry of a picture he'd seen in Holidays with Hags. She was
+large and square and her heavy jaw jutted aggressively. Hermione
+gave her a weak smile that she did not return.
+
+"Face your partners!" called Lockhart, back on the platform. "And
+bow!"
+
+Harry and Malfoy barely inclined their heads, not taking their eyes off
+each other.
+
+"Wands at the ready!" shouted Lockhart. "When I count to three, cast
+your charms to disarm your opponents - only to disarm them - we don't
+want any accidents - one ... two ... three -"
+
+*191*
+
+Harry swung his wand high, but Malfoy had already started on "two":
+His spell hit Harry so hard he felt as though he'd been hit over the
+head with a saucepan. He stumbled, but everything still seemed to be
+working, and wasting no more time, Harry pointed his wand straight at
+Malfoy and shouted, "Rictusempra!"
+
+A jet of silver light hit Malfoy in the stomach and he doubled up,
+wheezing.
+
+"I said disarm only!" Lockhart shouted in alarm over the heads of the
+battling crowd, as Malfoy sank to his knees; Harry had hit him with a
+Tickling Charm, and he could barely move for laughing. Harry hung
+back, with a vague feeling it would be unsporting to bewitch Malfoy
+while he was on the floor, but this was a mistake; gasping for breath,
+Malfoy pointed his wand at Harry's knees, choked, "Tarantallegra!"
+and the next second Harry's legs began to jerk around out of his
+control in a kind of quickstep.
+
+"Stop! Stop!" screamed Lockhart, but Snape took charge.
+
+"Finite Incantatem!" he shouted; Harry's feet stopped dancing, Malfoy
+stopped laughing, and they were able to look up.
+
+A haze of greenish smoke was hovering over the scene. Both Neville
+and Justin were lying on the floor, panting; Ron was holding up an
+ashen-faced Seamus, apologizing for whatever his broken wand had
+done; but Hermione and Millicent Bulstrode were still moving;
+Millicent had Hermione in a headlock and Hermione was whimpering
+in pain; both their wands lay forgotten on the floor. Harry leapt
+forward and pulled Millicent off. It was difficult: She was a lot bigger
+than he was.
+
+"Dear, dear," said Lockhart, skittering through the crowd, looking at
+the aftermath of the duels. "Up you go, Macmillan ....
+
+*192*
+
+Careful there, Miss Fawcett .... Pinch it hard, it'll stop bleeding in a
+second, Boot
+
+"I think Id better teach you how to block unfriendly spells," said
+Lockhart, standing flustered in the midst of the hall. He glanced at
+Snape, whose black eyes glinted, and looked quickly away. "Let's
+have a volunteer pair - Longbottom and Finch-Fletchley, how about
+you -"
+
+"A bad idea, Professor Lockhart," said Snape, gliding over like a large
+and malevolent bat. "Longbottom causes devastation with the simplest
+spells. We'll be sending what's left of Finch-Fletchley up to the
+hospital wing in a matchbox." Neville's round, pink face went pinker.
+"How about Malfoy and Potter?" said Snape with a twisted smile.
+
+"Excellent idea!" said Lockhart, gesturing Harry and Malfoy into the
+middle of the hall as the crowd backed away to give them room.
+
+"Now, Harry," said Lockhart. "When Draco points his wand at you,
+you do this."
+
+He raised his own wand, attempted a complicated sort of wiggling
+action, and dropped it. Snape smirked as Lockhart quickly picked it up,
+saying, "Whoops -my wand is a little overexcited -"
+
+Snape moved closer to Malfoy, bent down, and whispered something
+in his ear. Malfoy smirked, too. Harry looked up nervously at Lockhart
+and said, "Professor, could you show me that blocking thing again?"
+
+"Scared?" muttered Malfoy, so that Lockhart couldn't hear him.
+
+"You wish," said Harry out of the corner of his mouth.
+
+Lockhart cuffed Harry merrily on the shoulder. "Just do what I did,
+Harry!"
+
+"What, drop my wand?"
+
+But Lockhart wasn't listening.
+
+"Three - two - one - go!" he shouted.
+
+Malfoy raised his wand quickly and bellowed, "Serpensortia!"
+
+The end of his wand exploded. Harry watched, aghast, as a long black
+snake shot out of it, fell heavily onto the floor between them, and
+raised itself, ready to strike. There were screams as the crowd
+backed swiftly away, clearing the floor.
+
+"Don't move, Potter," said Snape lazily, clearly enjoying the sight of
+Harry standing motionless, eye to eye with the angry snake. "I'll get
+rid of it ......
+
+"Allow me!" shouted Lockhart. He brandished his wand at the snake
+and there was a loud bang; the snake, instead of vanishing, flew ten
+feet into the air and fell back to the floor with a loud smack. Enraged,
+hissing furiously, it slithered straight toward Justin Finch-Fletchley and
+raised itself again, fangs exposed, poised to strike.
+
+Harry wasn't sure what made him do it. He wasn't even aware of
+deciding to do it. All he knew was that his legs were carrying him
+forward as though he was on casters and that he had shouted stupidly
+at the snake, "Leave him alone!" And miraculously - inexplicably - the
+snake slumped to the floor, docile as a thick, black garden hose, its
+eyes now on Harry. Harry felt the fear drain out of him. He knew the
+snake wouldn't attack anyone now, though how he knew it, he couldn't
+have explained.
+
+He looked up at Justin, grinning, expecting to see Justin looking
+
+*194*
+
+relieved, or puzzled, or even grateful - but certainly not angry and
+scared.
+
+"What do you think you're playing at?" he shouted, and before Harry
+could say anything, Justin had turned and stormed out of the hall.
+
+Snape stepped forward, waved his wand, and the snake vanished in a
+small puff of black smoke. Snape, too, was looking at Harry in an
+unexpected way: It was a shrewd and calculating look, and Harry
+didn't like it. He was also dimly aware of an ominous muttering all
+around the walls. Then he felt a tugging on the back of his robes.
+
+"Come on," said Rods voice in his ear. "Move - come on -"
+
+Ron steered him out of the hall, Hermione hurrying alongside them. As
+they went through the doors, the people on either side drew away as
+though they were frightened of catching something. Harry didn't have
+a clue what was going on, and neither Ron nor Hermione explained
+anything until they had dragged him all the way up to the empty
+Gryffindor common room. Then Ron pushed Harry into an armchair
+and said, "You're a Parselmouth. Why didn't you tell us?"
+
+"I'm a what?" said Harry.
+
+`A Parselmouth!" said Ron. "You can talk to snakes!"
+
+"I know," said Harry. "I mean, that's only the second time I've ever
+done it. I accidentally set a boa constrictor on my cousin Dudley at the
+zoo once - long story - but it was telling me it had never seen Brazil
+and I sort of set it free without meaning to that was before I knew I
+was a wizard -"
+
+"A boa constrictor told you it had never seen Brazil?" Ron repeated
+faintly.
+
+*195*
+
+"So?" said Harry. "I bet loads of people here can do it."
+
+"Oh, no they can't," said Ron. "It's not a very common gift. Harry, this
+is bad."
+
+"What's bad?" said Harry, starting to feel quite angry. "What's wrong
+with everyone? Listen, if I hadn't told that snake not to attack Justin -"
+
+"Oh, that's what you said to it?"
+
+"What d'you mean? You were there - you heard me -"
+
+"I heard you speaking Parseltongue," said Ron. "Snake language. You
+could have been saying anything - no wonder Justin panicked, you
+sounded like you were egging the snake on or something - it was
+creepy, you know -"
+
+Harry gaped at him.
+
+"I spoke a different language? But - I didn't realize - how can I speak
+a language without knowing I can speak it?"
+
+Ron shook his head. Both he and Hermione were looking as though
+someone had died. Harry couldn't see what was so terrible.
+
+"D'you want to tell me what's wrong with stopping a massive snake
+biting off Justin's head?" he said. "What does it matter how I did it as
+long as Justin doesn't have to join the Headless Hunt?"
+
+"It matters," said Hermione, speaking at last in a hushed voice,
+"because being able to talk to snakes was what Salazar Slytherin was
+famous for. That's why the symbol of Slytherin House is a serpent."
+
+Harry's mouth fell open.
+
+"Exactly," said Ron. "And now the whole school's going to think you're
+his great-great-great-great-grandson or something -"
+
+"But I'm not," said Harry, with a panic he couldn't quite explain.
+
+"You'll find that hard to prove," said Hermione. "He lived about a
+thousand years ago; for all we know, you could be."
+
+* IL96 *
+
+Harry lay awake for hours that night. Through a gap in the curtains
+around his four-poster he watched snow starting to drift past the
+tower window and wondered . . .
+
+Could he be a descendant of Salazar Slithering? He didn't know
+anything about his father's family, after all. The Dursleys had always
+forbidden questions about his wizarding relatives.
+
+Quietly, Harry tried to say something in Parseltongue. The words
+wouldn't come. It seemed he had to be face-to-face with a snake to
+do it.
+
+	But I'm in Gryffindor, Harry thought. The Sorting Hat wouldn't
+have put me in here if I had Slytherin blood...
+
+Ah, said a nasty little voice in his brain, but the Sorting Hat wanted to
+put you in Slytherin, don't you remember?
+
+Harry turned over. He'd see Justin the next day in Herbology and he'd
+explain that he'd been calling the snake off, not egging it on, which (he
+thought angrily, pummeling his pillow) any fool should have realized.
+
+By next morning, however, the snow that had begun in the night had
+turned into a blizzard so thick that the last Herbology lesson of the
+term was canceled: Professor Sprout wanted to fit socks and scarves
+on the Mandrakes, a tricky operation she would entrust to no one else,
+now that it was so important for the Mandrakes to grow quickly and
+revive Mrs. Norris and Colin Creevey.
+
+Harry fretted about this next to the fire in the Gryffindor common
+room, while Ron and Hermione used their time off to play a game of
+wizard chess.
+
+"For heaven's sake, Harry," said Hermione, exasperated, as one
+
+*197*
+
+of Ron's bishops wrestled her knight off his horse and dragged him off
+the board. "Go and find Justin if it's so important to you."
+
+So Harry got up and left through the portrait hole, wondering where
+Justin might be.
+
+The castle was darker than it usually was in daytime because of the
+thick, swirling gray snow at every window. Shivering, Harry walked
+past classrooms where lessons were taking place, catching snatches of
+what was happening within. Professor McGonagall was shouting at
+someone who, by the sound of it, had turned his friend into a badger.
+Resisting the urge to take a look, Harry walked on by, thinking that
+Justin might be using his free time to catch up on some work, and
+deciding to check the library first.
+
+A group of the Hufliepuffs who should have been in Herbology were
+indeed sitting at the back of the library, but they didn't seem to be
+working. Between the long lines of high bookshelves, Harry could see
+that their heads were close together and they were having what looked
+like an absorbing conversation. He couldn't see whether Justin was
+among them. He was walking toward them when something of what
+they were saying met his ears, and he paused to listen, hidden in the
+Invisibility section.
+
+"So anyway," a stout boy was saying, "I told Justin to hide up in our
+dormitory. I mean to say, if Potter's marked him down as his next
+victim, it's best if he keeps a low profile for a while. Of course, Justin's
+been waiting for something like this to happen ever since he let slip to
+Potter he was Muggle-born. Justin actually told him he'd been down
+for Eton. That's not the kind of thing you bandy about with Slytherin's
+heir on the loose, is it?"
+
+"You definitely think it is Potter, then, Ernie?" said a girl with blonde
+pigtails anxiously.
+
+198
+
+"Hannah," said the stout boy solemnly, "he's a Parselmouth. Everyone
+knows that's the mark of a Dark wizard. Have you ever heard of a
+decent one who could talk to snakes? They called Slytherin himself
+Serpent-tongue."
+
+There was some heavy murmuring at this, and Ernie went on,
+"Remember what was written on the wall? Enemies of the Heir,
+Beware. Potter had some sort of run-in with Filch. Next thing we
+know, Flich's cat's attacked. That first year, Creevey, was annoying
+Potter at the Quidditch match, taking pictures of him while he was
+lying in the mud. Next thing we know - Creevey's been attacked."
+
+"He always seems so nice, though," said Hannah uncertainly, "and,
+well, he's the one who made You-Know-Who disappear. He can't be
+all bad, can he?"
+
+Ernie lowered his voice mysteriously, the Hufflepuffs bent closer, and
+Harry edged nearer so that he could catch Ernie's words.
+
+"No one knows how he survived that attack by You-Know-Who. I
+mean to say, he was only a baby when it happened. He should have
+been blasted into smithereens. Only a really powerful Dark wizard
+could have survived a curse like that." He dropped his voice until it
+was barely more than a whisper, and said, "That's probably why You-
+Know-Who wanted to kill him in the first place. Didn't want another
+Dark Lord competing with him. I wonder what other powers Potter's
+been hiding?"
+
+Harry couldn't take anymore. Clearing his throat loudly, he stepped out
+from behind the bookshelves. If he hadn't been feeling so angry, he
+would have found the sight that greeted him funny: Every one of the
+Hufflepuffs looked as though they had been Petrified by the sight of
+him, and the color was draining out of Ernie's face.
+
+*199*
+
+"Hello," said Harry. "I'm looking for Justin Finch-Fletchley."
+
+The Hufepuffs' worst fears had clearly been confirmed. They all
+looked fearfully at Ernie.
+
+"What do you want with him?" said Ernie in a quavering voice.
+
+"I wanted to tell him what really happened with that snake at the
+Dueling Club," said Harry.
+
+Ernie bit his white lips and then, taking a deep breath, said, "We
+were all there. We saw what happened."
+
+"Then you noticed that after I spoke to it, the snake backed off?"
+said Harry.
+
+"All I saw," said Ernie stubbornly, though he was trembling as he
+spoke, "was you speaking Parseltongue and chasing the snake
+toward Justin. "
+
+"I didn't chase it at him!" Harry said, his voice shaking with anger. "It
+didn't even touch him!"
+
+"It was a very near miss," said Ernie. "And in case you're getting
+ideas," he added hastily, "I might tell you that you can trace my
+family back through nine generations of witches and warlocks and
+my blood's as pure as anyone's, so -"
+
+- cc I don't care what sort of blood you've got!" said Harry fiercely.
+"Why would I want to attack Muggle-borns?"
+
+"I've heard you hate those Muggles you live with," said Ernie swiftly.
+
+"It's not possible to live with the Dursleys and not hate them," said
+Harry. "Id like to see you try it."
+
+He turned on his heel and stormed out of the library, earning himself
+a reproving glare from Madam Pince, who was polishing the gilded
+cover of a large spellbook.
+
+*200*
+
+Harry blundered up the corridor, barely noticing where he was going,
+he was in such a fury. The result was that he walked into something
+very large and solid, which knocked him backward onto the floor.
+
+"Oh, hello, Hagrid," Harry said, looking up.
+
+Hagrid's face was entirely hidden by a woolly, snow-covered
+balaclava, but it couldn't possibly be anyone else, as he filled most of
+the corridor in his moleskin overcoat. A dead rooster was hanging
+from one of his massive, gloved hands.
+
+"All righ', Harry?" he said, pulling up the balaclava so he could
+speak. "Why aren't yeh in class?"
+
+"Canceled," said Harry, getting up. "What're you doing in here?"
+
+Hagrid held up the limp rooster.
+
+"Second one killed this term," he explained. "It's either foxes or a
+Blood-Suckin Bugbear, an' I need the Headmaster's permission ter
+put a charm around the hen coop."
+
+He peered more closely at Harry from under his thick, snowflecked
+eyebrows.
+
+"Yeh sure yeh're all righ'? Yeh look all hot an' bothered -"
+
+Harry couldn't bring himself to repeat what Ernie and the rest of the
+Hufflepuffs had been saying about him.
+
+"It's nothing," he said. "Id better get going, Hagrid, it's Transfiguration
+next and I've got to pick up my books."
+
+He walked off, his mind still full of what Ernie had said about him.
+
+	"Justin's been waiting for something like this to happen ever since he
+let slip to Potter he was Muggle-born .....
+
+* 2 0 IL *
+
+Harry stamped up the stairs and turned along another corridor,
+which was particularly dark; the torches had been extinguished by a
+strong, icy draft that was blowing through a loose windowpane. He
+was halfway down the passage when he tripped headlong over
+something lying on the floor.
+
+He turned to squint at what he'd fallen over and felt as though his
+stomach had dissolved.
+
+Justin Finch-Fletchley was lying on the floor, rigid and cold, a look of
+shock frozen on his face, his eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. And
+that wasn't all. Next to him was another figure, the strangest sight
+Harry had ever seen.
+
+It was Nearly Headless Nick, no longer pearly-white and
+transparent, but black and smoky, floating immobile and horizontal,
+six inches off the floor. His head was half off and his face wore an
+expression of shock identical to Justin's.
+
+Harry got to his feet, his breathing fast and shallow, his heart doing a
+kind of drumroll against his ribs. He looked wildly up and down the
+deserted corridor and saw a line of spiders scuttling as fast as they
+could away from the bodies. The only sounds were the muffled
+voices of teachers from the classes on either side.
+
+He could run, and no one would ever know he had been there. But
+he couldn't just leave them lying here .... He had to get help ....
+Would anyone believe he hadn't had anything to do with this?
+
+As he stood there, panicking, a door right next to him opened with a
+bang. Peeves the Poltergeist came shooting out.
+
+"Why, it's potty wee Potter!" cackled Peeves, knocking Harry's
+glasses askew as he bounced past him. "What's Potter up to? Why's
+Potter lurking -"
+
+*202*
+
+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!"
+
+Crash - crash - crash - door after door flew open along the corridor
+and people flooded out. For several long minutes, there was a scene
+of such confusion that Justin was in danger of being squashed and
+people kept standing in Nearly Headless Nick. Harry found himself
+pinned against the wall as the teachers shouted for quiet. Professor
+McGonagall came running, followed by her own class, one of whom
+still had black-and-white-striped hair. She used her wand to set off
+aloud bang, which restored silence, and ordered everyone back into
+their classes. No sooner had the scene cleared somewhat than Ernie
+the Hufflepuff arrived, panting, on the scene.
+
+"Caught in the act!" Ernie yelled, his face stark white, pointing his
+finger dramatically at Harry.
+
+"That will do, Macmillan!" said Professor McGonagall sharply.
+
+Peeves was bobbing overhead, now grinning wickedly, surveying the
+scene; Peeves always loved chaos. As the teachers bent over Justin
+and Nearly Headless Nick, examining them, Peeves broke into song:
+
+"Oh, Potter, you rotter, oh, what have you done,
+You're killing off' students, you think it's good fun -"
+
+"That's enough Peeves!" barked Professor McGonagall, and Peeves
+zoomed away backward, with his tongue out at Harry.
+
+*203*
+
+Justin was carried up to the hospital wing by Professor Flitwick and
+Professor Sinistra of the Astronomy department, but nobody seemed
+to know what to do for Nearly Headless Nick. In the end, Professor
+McGonagall conjured a large fan out of thin air, which she gave to
+Ernie with instructions to waft Nearly Headless Nick up the stairs.
+This Ernie did, fanning Nick along like a silent black hovercraft. This
+left Harry and Professor McGonagall alone together.
+
+"This way, Potter," she said.
+
+"Professor," said Harry at once, "I swear I didn't -"
+
+"This is out of my hands, Potter," said Professor McGonagall curtly.
+
+They marched in silence around a corner and she stopped before a
+large and extremely ugly stone gargoyle.
+
+"Lemon drop!" she said. This was evidently a password, because the
+gargoyle sprang suddenly to life and hopped aside as the wall behind
+him split in two. Even full of dread for what was coming, Harry
+couldn't fail to be amazed. Behind the wall was a spiral staircase that
+was moving smoothly upward, like an escalator. As he and Professor
+McGonagall stepped onto it, Harry heard the wall thud closed behind
+them. They rose upward in circles, higher and higher, until at last,
+slightly dizzy, Harry saw a gleaming oak door ahead, with a brass
+knocker in the shape of a griffin.
+
+He knew now where he was being taken. This must be where
+Dumbledore lived.
+
+*204*
+
+C I3 A P T V RR	T W E I V
+
+THE POLYJUICE POTION
+
+hey stepped off the stone staircase at the top, and Professor
+McGonagall rapped on the door. It opened silently and they entered.
+Professor McGonagall told Harry to wait and left him there, alone.
+
+Harry looked around. One thing was certain: of all the teachers'
+offices Harry had visited so far this year, Dumbledore's was by far
+the most interesting. If he hadn't been scared out of his wits that he
+was about to be thrown out of school, he would have been very
+pleased to have a chance to look around it.
+
+It was a large and beautiful circular room, full of funny little noises. A
+number of curious silver instruments stood on spindlelegged tables,
+whirring and emitting little puffs of smoke. The walls were covered
+with portraits of old headmasters and headmistresses, all of whom
+were snoozing gently in their frames. There was also an enormous,
+claw-footed desk, and, sitting on a shelf behind it, a shabby, tattered
+wizard's hat - the Sorting Hat.
+
+*205*
+
+
+
+Harry hesitated. He cast a wary eye around the sleeping witches and
+wizards on the walls. Surely it couldn't hurt if he took the hat down
+and tried it on again? Just to see ... just to make sure it had put him in
+the right House
+
+He walked quietly around the desk, lifted the hat from its shelf, and
+lowered it slowly onto his head. It was much too large and slipped
+down over his eyes, just as it had done the last time he'd put it on.
+Harry stared at the black inside of the hat, waiting. Then a small voice
+said in his ear, "Bee in your bonnet, Harry Potter?"
+
+"Er, yes," Harry muttered. "Er - sorry to bother you - I wanted to ask -
+"
+
+"You've been wondering whether I put you in the right House," said
+the hat smartly. "Yes ... you were particularly difficult to place. But I
+stand by what I said before" - Harry's heart leapt - "you would have
+done well in Slytherin -"
+
+Harry's stomach plummeted. He grabbed the point of the hat and
+pulled it off. It hung limply in his hand, grubby and faded. Harry
+pushed it back onto its shelf, feeling sick.
+
+"You're wrong," he said aloud to the still and silent hat. It didn't move.
+Harry backed away, watching it. Then a strange, gagging noise behind
+him made him wheel around.
+
+He wasn't alone after all. Standing on a golden perch behind the door
+was a decrepit-looking bird that resembled a half-plucked turkey.
+Harry stared at it and the bird looked balefully back, making its
+gagging noise again. Harry thought it looked very ill. Its eyes were dull
+and, even as Harry watched, a couple more feathers fell out of its tail.
+
+Harry was just thinking that all he needed was for Dumbledore's
+
+pet bird to die while he was alone in the office with it, when the bird
+burst into flames.
+
+Harry yelled in shock and backed away into the desk. He looked
+feverishly around in case there was a glass of water somewhere but
+couldn't see one; the bird, meanwhile, had become a fireball; it gave
+one loud shriek and next second there was nothing but a smouldering
+pile of ash on the floor.
+
+The office door opened. Dumbledore came in, looking very somber.
+
+"Professor," Harry gasped. "Your bird - I couldn't do anything - he just
+caught fire -"
+
+To Harry's astonishment, Dumbledore smiled.
+
+"About time, too," he said. "He's been looking dreadful for days; I've
+been telling him to get a move on."
+
+He chuckled at the stunned look on Harry's face.
+
+"Fawkes is a phoenix, Harry. Phoenixes burst into flame when it is
+time for them to die and are reborn from the ashes. Watch him . . ."
+
+Harry looked down in time to see a tiny, wrinkled, newborn bird poke
+its head out of the ashes. It was quite as ugly as the old one.
+
+"It's a shame you had to see him on a Burning Day," said Dumbledore,
+seating himself behind his desk. "He's really very handsome most of
+the time, wonderful red and gold plumage. Fascinating creatures,
+phoenixes. They can carry immensely heavy loads, their tears have
+healing powers, and they make highly faithful pets."
+
+In the shock of Fawkes catching fire, Harry had forgotten what he
+was there for, but it all came back to him as Dumbledore settled
+
+himself in the high chair behind the desk and fixed Harry with his
+penetrating, light-blue stare.
+
+Before Dumbledore could speak another word, however, the door of
+the office flew open with an almighty bang and Hagrid burst in, a wild
+look in his eyes, his balaclava perched on top of his shaggy black head
+and the dead rooster still swinging from his hand.
+
+"It wasn' Harry, Professor Dumbledore!" said Hagrid urgently. "I was
+talkin' ter him seconds before that kid was found, he never had time, sir -
+"
+
+Dumbledore tried to say something, but Hagrid went ranting on,
+waving the rooster around in his agitation, sending feathers
+everywhere.
+
+"- it can't've bin him, I'll swear it in front o' the Ministry o' Magic if I
+have to -"
+
+"Hagrid, I -"
+
+"- yeh've got the wrong boy, sir, I know Harry never ='
+
+"Hagrid!" said Dumbledore loudly. "I do not think that Harry
+attacked those people."
+
+"Oh," said Hagrid, the rooster falling limply at his side. "Right. I'll wait
+outside then, Headmaster."
+
+And he stomped out looking embarrassed.
+
+"You don't think it was me, Professor?" Harry repeated hopefully as
+Dumbledore brushed rooster feathers off his desk.
+
+"No, Harry, I don't," said Dumbledore, though his face was somber
+again. "But I still want to talk to you."
+
+Harry waited nervously while Dumbledore considered him, the tips of
+his long fingers together.
+
+*208*
+
+"I must ask you, Harry, whether there is anything you'd like to tell me,"
+he said gently. "Anything at all."
+
+Harry didn't know what to say. He thought of Malfoy shouting, "You'll
+be next, Mudbloods!" and of the Polyjuice Potion simmering away in
+Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Then he thought of the disembodied
+voice he had heard twice and remembered what Ron had said:
+"Hearing voices no one else can hear isn't a good sign, even in the
+wizarding world." He thought, too, about what everyone was saying
+about him, and his growing dread that he was somehow connected
+with Salazar Slytherin ....
+
+"No," said Harry. "There isn't anything, Professor . . . ."
+
+The double attack on Justin and Nearly Headless Nick turned what
+had hitherto been nervousness into real panic. Curiously, it was Nearly
+Headless Nick's fate that seemed to worry people most. What could
+possibly do that to a ghost? people asked each other; what terrible
+power could harm someone who was already dead? There was
+almost a stampede to book seats on the Hogwarts Express so that
+students could go home for Christmas.
+
+"At this rate, we'll be the only ones left," Ron told Harry and
+Hermione. "Us, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle. What a jolly holiday it's
+going to be."
+
+Crabbe and Goyle, who always did whatever Malfoy did, had signed
+up to stay over the holidays, too. But Harry was glad that most people
+were leaving. He was tired of people skirting around him in the
+corridors, as though he was about to sprout fangs or spit poison; tired
+of all the muttering, pointing, and hissing as he passed.
+
+*209*
+
+Fred and George, however, found all this very funny. They went out of
+their way to march ahead of Harry down the corridors, shouting,
+"Make way for the Heir of Slytherin, seriously evil wizard coming
+through ......
+
+Percy was deeply disapproving of this behavior.
+
+"It is not a laughing matter," he said coldly.
+
+"Oh, get out of the way, Percy," said Fred. "Harry's in a hurry."
+
+"Yeah, he's off to the Chamber of Secrets for a cup of tea with his
+fanged servant," said George, chortling.
+
+Ginny didn't find it amusing either.
+
+"Oh, don't," she wailed every time Fred asked Harry loudly who he
+was planning to attack next, or when George pretended to ward Harry
+off with a large clove of garlic when they met.
+
+Harry didn't mind; it made him feel better that Fred and George, at
+least, thought the idea of his being Slytherin's heir was quite ludicrous.
+But their antics seemed to be aggravating Draco Malfoy, who looked
+increasingly sour each time he saw them at it.
+
+"It's because he's bursting to say it's really him," said Ron knowingly.
+"You know how he hates anyone beating him at anything, and you're
+getting all the credit for his dirty work."
+
+"Not for long," said Hermione in a satisfied tone. "The Polyjuice
+Potion's nearly ready. We'll be getting the truth out of him any day
+now."
+
+At last the term ended, and a silence deep as the snow on the grounds
+descended on the castle. Harry found it peaceful, rather than gloomy,
+and enjoyed the fact that he, Hermione, and the Weasleys had the run
+of Gryffindor Tower, which meant they could
+
+*210*
+
+play Exploding Snap loudly without bothering anyone, and practice
+dueling in private. Fred, George, and Ginny had chosen to stay at
+school rather than visit Bill in Egypt with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.
+Percy, who disapproved of what he termed their childish behavior,
+didn't spend much time in the Gryffindor common room. He had
+already told them pompously that he was only staying over Christmas
+because it was his duty as a prefect to support the teachers during
+this troubled time.
+
+Christmas morning dawned, cold and white. Harry and Ron, the only
+ones left in their dormitory, were woken very early by Hermione,
+who burst in, fully dressed and carrying presents for them both.
+
+"Wake up," she said loudly, pulling back the curtains at the window.
+
+"Hermione - you're not supposed to be in here -" said Ron, shielding
+his eyes against the light.
+
+"Merry Christmas to you, too," said Hermione, throwing him his
+present. "I've been up for nearly an hour, adding more lacewings to
+the potion. It's ready."
+
+Harry sat up, suddenly wide awake.
+
+"Are you sure?"
+
+"Positive," said Hermione, shifting Scabbers the rat so that she could
+sit down on the end of Ron's four-poster. "If we're going to do it, I
+say it should be tonight."
+
+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?"
+
+211
+
+She nibbled his ear in an affectionate sort of way, which was a far
+better present than the one that she had brought him, which turned
+out to be from the Dursleys. They had sent Harry a toothpick and a
+note telling him to find out whether he'd be able to stay at Hogwarts
+for the summer vacation, too.
+
+The rest of Harry's Christmas presents were far more satisfactory.
+Hagrid had sent him a large tin of treacle fudge, which Harry decided
+to soften by the fire before eating; Ron had given him a book called
+Flying with the Cannons, a book of interesting facts about his favorite
+Quidditch team, and Hermione had bought him a luxury eagle-feather
+quill. Harry opened the last present to find a new, hand-knitted
+sweater from Mrs. Weasley and a large plum cake. He read her card
+with a fresh surge of guilt, thinking about Mr. Weasley's car (which
+hadn't been seen since its crash with the Whomping Willow), and the
+bout of rule-breaking he and Ron were planning next.
+
+No one, not even someone dreading taking Polyjuice Potion later,
+could fail to enjoy Christmas dinner at Hogwarts.
+
+The Great Hall looked magnificent. Not only were there a dozen
+frost-covered Christmas trees and thick streamers of holly and
+mistletoe crisscrossing the ceiling, but enchanted snow was falling,
+warm and dry, from the ceiling. Dumbledore led them in a few of his
+favorite carols, Hagrid booming more and more loudly with every
+goblet of eggnog he consumed. Percy, who hadn't noticed that Fred
+had bewitched his prefect badge so that it now read "Pinhead," kept
+asking them all what they were sniggering at. Harry didn't even care
+that Draco Malfoy was making loud, snide remarks
+
+* 2:L2 *
+
+about his new sweater from the Slytherin table. With a bit of luck,
+Malfoy would be getting his comeuppance in a few hours' time.
+
+Harry and Ron had barely finished their third helpings of Christmas
+pudding when Hermione ushered them out of the hall to finalize their
+plans for the evening.
+
+"We still need a bit of the people you're changing into," said
+Hermione matter-of-facdy, as though she were sending them to the
+supermarket for laundry detergent. "And obviously, it'll be best if you
+can get something of Crabbe's and Goyle's; they're Malfoys best
+friends, he'll tell them anything. And we also need to make sure the
+real Crabbe and Goyle can't burst in on us while we're interrogating
+him.
+
+"I've got it all worked out," she went on smoothly, ignoring Harry's
+and Ron's stupefied faces. She held up two plump chocolate cakes.
+"I've filled these with a simple Sleeping Draught. All you have to do is
+make sure Crabbe and Goyle find them. You know how greedy they
+are, they're bound to eat them. Once they're asleep, pull out a few of
+their hairs and hide them in a broom closet."
+
+Harry and Ron looked incredulously at each other.
+
+"Hermione, I don't think -"
+
+"That could go seriously wrong -"
+
+But Hermione had a steely glint in her eye not unlike the one
+Professor McGonagall sometimes had.
+
+"The potion will be useless without Crabbe's and Goyle's hair," she
+said sternly. "You do want to investigate Malfoy, don't you?"
+
+"Oh, all right, all right," said Harry. "But what about you? Whose hair
+are you ripping out?"
+
+*213*
+
+"I've already got mine!" said Hermione brightly, pulling a tiny bottle
+out of her pocket and showing them the single hair inside it.
+"Remember Millicent Bulstrode wrestling with me at the Dueling
+Club? She left this on my robes when she was trying to strangle me!
+And she's gone home for Christmas - so I'll just have to tell the
+Slytherins I've decided to come back."
+
+When Hermione had bustled off to check on the Polyjuice Potion
+again, Ron turned to Harry with a doom-laden expression.
+
+"Have you ever heard of a plan where so many things could go
+wrong?"
+
+But to Harry's and Ron's utter amazement, stage one of the
+operation went just as smoothly as Hermione had said. They lurked
+in the deserted entrance hall after Christmas tea, waiting for Crabbe
+and Goyle who had remained alone at the Slytherin table, shoveling
+down fourth helpings of trifle. Harry had perched the chocolate
+cakes on the end of the banisters. When they spotted Crabbe and
+Goyle coming out of the Great Hall, Harry and Ron hid quickly
+behind a suit of armor next to the front door.
+
+"How thick can you get?" Ron whispered ecstatically as Crabbe
+gleefully pointed out the cakes to Goyle and grabbed them. Grinning
+stupidly, they stuffed the cakes whole into their large mouths. For a
+moment, both of them chewed greedily, looks of triumph on their
+faces. Then, without the smallest change of expression, they both
+keeled over backward onto the floor.
+
+By far the hardest part was hiding them in the closet across the hall.
+Once they were safely stowed among the buckets and mops, Harry
+yanked out a couple of the bristles that covered Goyle's fore
+
+* _2 14 *
+
+head and Ron pulled out several of Crabbe's hairs. They also stole
+their shoes, because their own were far too small for Crabbe- and
+Goyle-size feet. Then, still stunned at what they had just done, they
+sprinted up to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.
+
+They could hardly see for the thick black smoke issuing from the stall
+in which Hermione was stirring the cauldron. Pulling their robes up
+over their faces, Harry and Ron knocked softly on the door.
+
+"Hermione?"
+
+They heard the scrape of the lock and Hermione emerged, shiny-
+faced and looking anxious. Behind her they heard the gloop gloop
+of the bubbling, glutinous potion. Three glass tumblers stood ready on
+the toilet seat.
+
+"Did you get them?" Hermione asked breathlessly.
+
+Harry showed her Goyle's hair.
+
+"Good. And I sneaked these spare robes out of the laundry," Hermione
+said, holding up a small sack. "You'll need bigger sizes once you're
+Crabbe and Goyle."
+
+The three of them stared into the cauldron. Close up, the potion looked
+like thick, dark mud, bubbling sluggishly.
+
+"I'm sure I've done everything right," said Hermione, nervously
+rereading the splotched page of Moste Potente Potions. "It looks like the
+book says it should ... once we've drunk it, we'll have exactly an hour
+before we change back into ourselves."
+
+"Now what?" Ron whispered.
+
+"We separate it into three glasses and add the hairs."
+
+Hermione ladled large dollops of the potion into each of the glasses.
+Then, her hand trembling, she shook Millicent Bulstrode's hair out of
+its bottle into the first glass.
+
+*215*
+
+The potion hissed loudly like a boiling kettle and frothed madly. A
+second later, it had turned a sick sort of yellow.
+
+"Urgh - essence of Millicent Bulstrode," said Ron, eyeing it with
+loathing. "Bet it tastes disgusting."
+
+"Add yours, then," said Hermione.
+
+Harry dropped Goyle's hair into the middle glass and Ron put Crabbe's
+into the last one. Both glasses hissed and frothed: Goyle's turned the
+khaki color of a booger, Crabbe's a dark, murky brown.
+
+"Hang on," said Harry as Ron and Hermione reached for their glasses.
+"We'd better not all drink them in here .... Once we turn into Crabbe
+and Goyle we won't fit. And Millicent Bulstrode's no pixie.
+
+"Good thinking," said Ron, unlocking the door. "We'll take separate
+stalls."
+
+Careful not to spill a drop of his Polyjuice Potion, Harry slipped into
+the middle stall.
+
+"Ready?" he called.
+
+"Ready," came Ron's and Hermione's voices.
+
+"One - two - three -"
+
+Pinching his nose, Harry drank the potion down in two large gulps. It
+tasted like overcooked cabbage.
+
+Immediately, his insides started writhing as though he'd just swallowed
+live snakes - doubled up, he wondered whether he was going to be
+sick - then a burning sensation spread rapidly from his stomach to the
+very ends of his fingers and toes - next, bringing him gasping to all
+fours, came a horrible melting feeling, as the skin all over his body
+bubbled like hot wax - and before his eyes, his hands began to grow,
+the fingers thickened, the nails broadened,
+
+* 2116 *
+
+the knuckles were bulging like bolts -his shoulders stretched painfully
+and a prickling on his forehead told him that hair was creeping down
+toward his eyebrows - his robes ripped as his chest expanded like a
+barrel bursting its hoops - his feet were agony in shoes four sizes too
+small
+
+As suddenly as it had started, everything stopped. Harry lay facedown
+on the stone-cold floor, listening to Myrtle gurgling morosely in the end
+toilet. With difficulty, he kicked off his shoes and stood up. So this was
+what it felt like, being Goyle. His large hand trembling, he pulled off
+his old robes, which were hanging a foot above his ankles, pulled on
+the spare ones, and laced up Goyle's boatlike shoes. He reached up to
+brush his hair out of his eyes and met only the short growth of wiry
+bristles, low on his forehead. Then he realized that his glasses were
+clouding his eyes because Goyle obviously didn't need them - he took
+them off and called, "Are you two okay?" Goyle's low rasp of a voice
+issued from his mouth.
+
+"Yeah," came the deep grunt of Crabbe from his right.
+
+Harry unlocked his door and stepped in front of the cracked mirror.
+Goyle stared back at him out of dull, deepset eyes. Harry scratched
+his ear. So did Goyle.
+
+Ron's door opened. They stared at each other. Except that he looked
+pale and shocked, Ron was indistinguishable from Crabbe, from the
+pudding-bowl haircut to the long, gorilla arms.
+
+"This is unbelievable," said Ron, approaching the mirror and prodding
+Crabbe's flat nose. "Unbelievable. "
+
+"We'd better get going," said Harry, loosening the watch that was
+cutting into Goyle's thick wrist. "We've still got to find out
+
+* 217*
+
+where the Slytherin common room is. I only hope we can find
+someone to follow. . ."
+
+Ron, who had been gazing at Harry, said, "You don't know how
+bizarre it is to see Goyle thinking." He banged on Hermione's door.
+"C'mon, we need to go -"
+
+A high-pitched voice answered him.
+
+"I - I don't think I'm going to come after all. You go on without me.
+
+"Hermione, we know Millicent Bulstrode's ugly, no one's going to
+know it's you -"
+
+"No - really - I don't think I'll come. You two hurry up, you re
+wasting time
+
+Harry looked at Ron, bewildered.
+
+"That looks more like Goyle," said Ron. "That's how he looks every
+time a teacher asks him a question."
+
+"Hermione, are you okay?" said Harry through the door.
+
+"Fine - I'm fine - go on -"
+
+Harry looked at his watch. Five of their precious sixty minutes had
+already passed.
+
+"We'll meet you back here, all right?" he said.
+
+Harry and Ron opened the door of the bathroom carefully, checked
+that the coast was clear, and set off.
+
+"Don't swing your arms like that," Harry muttered to Ron.
+
+"Eh?"
+
+"Crabbe holds them sort of stiff . . . ."
+
+"How's this?"
+
+"Yeah, that's better . . . ."
+
+They went down the marble staircase. All they needed now was
+
+*218*
+
+a Slytherin that they could follow to the Slytherin common room, but
+there was nobody around.
+
+"Any ideas?" muttered Harry.
+
+"The Slytherins always come up to breakfast from over there," said
+Ron, nodding at the entrance to the dungeons. The words had barely
+left his mouth when a girl with long, curly hair emerged from the
+entrance.
+
+"Excuse me," said Ron, hurrying up to her. "We've forgotten the way
+to our common room."
+
+"I beg your pardon?" said the girl stiffly. "Our common room? I'm a
+Ravenclaw."
+
+She walked away, looking suspiciously back at them.
+
+Harry and Ron hurried down the stone steps into the darkness, their
+footsteps echoing particularly loudly as Crabbe's and Goyle's huge
+feet hit the floor, feeling that this wasn't going to be as easy as they
+had hoped.
+
+The labyrinthine passages were deserted. They walked deeper and
+deeper under the school, constantly checking their watches to see
+how much time they had left. After a quarter of an hour, just when
+they were getting desperate, they heard a sudden movement ahead.
+
+"Ha!" said Ron excitedly. "There's one of them now!"
+
+The figure was emerging from a side room. As they hurried nearer,
+however, their hearts sank. It wasn't a Slytherin, it was Percy.
+
+"What're you doing down here?" said Ron in surprise.
+
+Percy looked affronted.
+
+"That," he said stiffly, "is none of your business. It's Crabbe, isn't it?"
+
+2 19
+
+"Wh - oh, yeah," said Ron.
+
+"Well, get off to your dormitories," said Percy sternly. "It's not safe to
+go wandering around dark corridors these days."
+
+"You are," Ron pointed out.
+
+"I," said Percy, drawing himself up, "am a prefect. Nothing's about to
+attack me."
+
+A voice suddenly echoed behind Harry and Ron. Draco Malfoy was
+strolling toward them, and for the first time in his life, Harry was
+pleased to see him.
+
+"There you are," he drawled, looking at them. "Have you two been
+pigging out in the Great Hall all this time? I've been looking for you; I
+want to show you something really funny."
+
+Malfoy glanced witheringly at Percy.
+
+"And what're you doing down here, Weasley?" he sneered.
+
+Percy looked outraged.
+
+"You want to show a bit more respect to a school prefect!" he said. "I
+don't like your attitude!"
+
+Malfoy sneered and motioned for Harry and Ron to follow him. Harry
+almost said something apologetic to Percy but caught himself just in
+time. He and Ron hurried after Malfoy, who said as they turned into
+the next passage, "That Peter Weasley -"
+
+"Percy," Ron corrected him automatically.
+
+"Whatever," said Malfoy. "I've noticed him sneaking around a lot
+lately. And I bet I know what he's up to. He thinks he's going to catch
+Slytherin's heir single-handed."
+
+He gave a short, derisive laugh. Harry and Ron exchanged excited
+looks.
+
+Malfoy paused by a stretch of bare, damp stone wall.
+
+* 220 *
+
+"What's the new password again?" he said to Harry.
+
+"Er -" said Harry.
+
+"Oh, yeah -pure-blood!" said Malfoy, not listening, and a stone door
+concealed in the wall slid open. Malfoy marched through it, and
+Harry and Ron followed him.
+
+The Slytherin common room was a long, low underground room
+with rough stone walls and ceiling from which round, greenish lamps
+were hanging on chains. A fire was crackling under an elaborately
+carved mantelpiece ahead of them, and several Slytherins were
+silhouetted around it in high-backed chairs.
+
+"Wait here," said Malfoy to Harry and Ron, motioning them to a pair
+of empty chairs set back from the fire. "I'll go and get it my father's
+just sent it to me -"
+
+Wondering what Malfoy was going to show them, Harry and Ron
+sat down, doing their best to look at home.
+
+Malfoy came back a minute later, holding what looked like a
+newspaper clipping. He thrust it under Ron's nose.
+
+"That'll give you a laugh," he said.
+
+Harry saw Ron's eyes widen in shock. He read the clipping quickly,
+gave a very forced laugh, and handed it to Harry.
+
+It had been clipped out of the Daily Prophet, and it said:
+
+INQUIRY AT THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC
+
+Arthur Weasley, Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office,
+was today fined fifty Galleons for bewitching a Muggle car.
+
+Mr. Lucius Malfoy, a governor of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft
+and Wizardry, where the
+
+221
+
+enchanted car crashed earlier this year, called today for Mr.
+Weasley's resignation.
+
+"Weasley has brought the Ministry into disrepute," Mr. Malfoy told our
+reporter. "He is clearly unfit to draw up our laws and his ridiculous
+Muggle Protection Act should be scrapped immediately."
+
+Mr. Weasley was unavailable for comment, although his wife told
+reporters to clear off or she'd set the family ghoul on them.
+
+"Well?" said Malfoy impatiently as Harry handed the clipping back to
+him. "Don't you think it's funny?"
+
+"Ha, ha," said Harry bleakly.
+
+"Arthur Weasley loves Muggles so much he should snap his wand in
+half and go and join them," said Malfoy scornfully. "You'd never know
+the Weasleys were pure-bloods, the way they behave."
+
+Ron's - or rather, Crabbe's - face was contorted with fury.
+
+"What's up with you, Crabbe?" snapped Malfoy.
+
+"Stomachache," Ron grunted.
+
+"Well, go up to the hospital wing and give all those Mudbloods a kick
+from me," said Malfoy, snickering. "You know, I'm surprised the Daily
+Prophet hasn't reported all these attacks yet," he went on thoughtfully.
+"I suppose Dumbledore's trying to hush it all up. He'll be sacked if it
+doesn't stop soon. Father's always said old Dumbledore's the worst
+thing that's ever happened to this place. He loves Muggle-borns. A
+decent headmaster would never've let slime like that Creevey in."
+
+*222*
+
+Malfoy started taking pictures with an imaginary camera and did a
+cruel but accurate impression of Colin: "`Potter, can I have your
+picture, Potter? Can I have your autograph? Can I lick your shoes,
+please, Potter?"'
+
+He dropped his hands and looked at Harry and Ron.
+
+"What's the matter with you two?"
+
+Far too late, Harry and Ron forced themselves to laugh, but Malfoy
+seemed satisfied; perhaps Crabbe and Goyle were always slow on
+the uptake.
+
+"Saint Potter, the Mudbloods' friend," said Malfoy slowly. "He's
+another one with no proper wizard feeling, or he wouldn't go around
+with that jumped up Granger Mudblood. And people think he's
+Slytherin's heir!"
+
+Harry and Ron waited with bated breath: Malfoy was surely seconds
+away from telling them it was him - but then
+
+"I wish I knew who it is," said Malfoy petulantly. "I could help them."
+
+Ron's jaw dropped so that Crabbe looked even more clueless than
+usual. Fortunately, Malfoy didn't notice, and Harry, thinking fast,
+said, "You must have some idea who's behind it all ......
+
+"You know I haven't, Goyle, how many times do I have to tell you?"
+snapped Malfoy. "And Father won't tell me anything about the last
+time the Chamber was opened either. Of course, it was fifty years
+ago, so it was before his time, but he knows all about it, and he says
+that it was all kept quiet and it'll look suspicious if I know too much
+about it. But I know one thing - last time the Chamber of Secrets
+was opened, a Mudblood died. So I bet it's a matter of time before
+one of them's killed this time .... I hope it's Granger," he said with
+relish.
+
+Ron was clenching Crabbe's gigantic fists. Feeling that it would be a
+bit of a giveaway if Ron punched Malfoy, Harry shot him a warning
+look and said, "D'you know if the person who opened the Chamber
+last time was caught?"
+
+"Oh, yeah ... whoever it was was expelled," said Malfoy. "They're
+probably still in Azkaban."
+
+"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 shifted restlessly in his chair and said, "Father says to keep my
+head down and let the Heir of Slytherin get on with it. He says the
+school needs ridding of all the Mudblood filth, but not to get mixed
+up in it. Of course, he's got a lot on his plate at the moment. You
+know the Ministry of Magic raided our manor last week?"
+
+Harry tried to force Goyle's dull face into a look of concern.
+
+"Yeah. . ." said Malfoy. "Luckily, they didn't find much. Father's got
+some very valuable Dark Arts stuff. But luckily, we've got our own
+secret chamber under the drawing-room floor
+
+-"
+
+"Ho!" said Ron.
+
+Malfoy looked at him. So did Harry. Ron blushed. Even his hair was
+turning red. His nose was also slowly lengthening - their hour was
+up, Ron was turning back into himself, and from the look of horror
+he was suddenly giving Harry, he must be, too.
+
+They both jumped to their feet.
+
+"Medicine for my stomach," Ron grunted, and without further ado
+they sprinted the length of the Slytherin common room, hurled
+themselves at the stone wall, and dashed up the passage, hoping
+against hope that Malfoy hadn't noticed anything. Harry
+
+224
+
+could feel his feet slipping around in Goyle's huge shoes and had to
+hoist up his robes as he shrank; they crashed up the steps into the dark
+entrance hall, which was full of a muffled pounding coming from the
+closet where they'd locked Crabbe and Goyle. Leaving their shoes
+outside the closet door, they sprinted in their socks up the marble
+staircase toward Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.
+
+"Well, it wasn't a complete waste of time," Ron panted, closing the
+bathroom door behind them. "I know we still haven't found out who's
+doing the attacks, but I'm going to write to Dad tomorrow and tell him
+to check under the Malfoys' drawing room."
+
+Harry checked his face in the cracked mirror. He was back to normal.
+He put his glasses on as Ron hammered on the door of Hermione's
+stall.
+
+"Hermione, come out, we've got loads to tell you -"
+
+"Go away!" Hermione squeaked.
+
+Harry and Ron looked at each other.
+
+"What's the matter?" said Ron. "You must be back to normal by now,
+we are
+
+But Moaning Myrtle glided suddenly through the stall door. Harry had
+never seen her looking so happy.
+
+"Ooooooh, wait till you see," she said. "It's awful-"
+
+They heard the lock slide back and Hermione emerged, sobbing, her
+robes pulled up over her head.
+
+"What's up?" said Ron uncertainly. "Have you still got Millicent's nose
+or something?"
+
+Hermione let her robes fall and Ron backed into the sink.
+
+Her face was covered in black fur. Her eyes had turned yellow and
+there were long, pointed ears poking through her hair.
+
+"It was a c-cat hair!" she howled. "M-Millicent Bulstrode
+
+*225*
+
+m-must have a cat! And the p-potion isn't supposed to be used for
+animal transformations!"
+
+"Uh-oh," said Ron.
+
+"You'll be teased something dreadful," said Myrtle happily.
+
+"It's okay, Hermione," said Harry quickly. "We'll take you up to the
+hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey never asks too many questions ......
+
+It took a long time to persuade Hermione to leave the bathroom.
+Moaning Myrtle sped them on their way with a hearty guffaw. "Wait
+till everyone finds out you've got a tail!"
+
+ermione remained in the hospital wing for several weeks. There was a
+flurry of rumor about her disappearance when the rest of the school
+arrived back from their Christmas holidays, because of course
+everyone thought that she had been attacked. So many students filed
+past the hospital wing trying to catch a glimpse of her that Madam
+Pomfrey took out her curtains again and placed them around
+Hermione's bed, to spare her the shame of being seen with a furry
+face.
+
+Harry and Ron went to visit her every evening. When the new term
+started, they brought her each day's homework.
+
+"If Id sprouted whiskers, Id take a break from work," said Ron, tipping
+a stack of books onto Hermione's bedside table one evening.
+
+"Don't be silly, Ron, I've got to keep up," said Hermione briskly. Her
+spirits were greatly improved by the fact that all the hair had
+
+* "21 *
+
+
+
+gone from her face and her eyes were turning slowly back to brown.
+"I don't suppose you've got any new leads?" she added in a whisper,
+so that Madam Pomfrey couldn't hear her.
+
+"Nothing," said Harry gloomily.
+
+"I was so sure it was Malfoy," said Ron, for about the hundredth time.
+
+"What's that?" asked Harry, pointing to something gold sticking out
+from under Hermione's pillow.
+
+"Just a get well card," said Hermione hastily, trying to poke it out of
+sight, but Ron was too quick for her. He pulled it out, flicked it open,
+and read aloud:
+
+"To Miss Granger, wishing you a speedy recovery, from your concerned
+teacher, Professor Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class,
+Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defense League, and five-time winner
+of Witch Weekly's Most- Charming-Smile Award. "
+
+Ron looked up at Hermione, disgusted.
+
+"You sleep with this under your pillow?"
+
+But Hermione was spared answering by Madam Pomfrey sweeping
+over with her evening dose of medicine.
+
+"Is Lockhart the smarmiest bloke you've ever met, or what?" Ron
+said to Harry as they left the infirmary and started up the stairs
+toward Gryffindor Tower. Snape had given them so much
+homework, Harry thought he was likely to be in the sixth year before
+he finished it. Ron was just saying he wished he had asked Hermione
+how many rat tails you were supposed to add to a HairRaising
+Potion when an angry outburst from the floor above reached their
+ears.
+
+"That's Filch," Harry muttered as they hurried up the stairs and
+paused, out of sight, listening hard.
+
+* 228*
+
+"You don't think someone else's been attacked?" said Ron tensely.
+
+They stood still, their heads inclined toward Flich's voice, which
+sounded quite hysterical.
+
+`= even more work for me! Mopping all night, like I haven't got enough to
+do! No, this is the final straw, I'm going to Dumbledore -"
+
+His footsteps receded along the out-of-sight corridor and they heard a
+distant door slam.
+
+They poked their heads around the corner. Filch had clearly been
+manning his usual lookout post: They were once again on the spot
+where Mrs. Norris had been attacked. They saw at a glance what
+Filch had been shouting about. A great flood of water stretched over
+half the corridor, and it looked as though it was still seeping from
+under the door of Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Now that Filch had
+stopped shouting, they could hear Myrtle's wails echoing off the
+bathroom walls.
+
+"Now what's up with her?" said Ron.
+
+"Let's go and see," said Harry, and holding their robes over their
+ankles they stepped through the great wash of water to the door
+bearing its OUT OF ORDER sign, ignored it as always, and entered.
+
+Moaning Myrtle was crying, if possible, louder and harder than ever
+before. She seemed to be hiding down her usual toilet. It was dark in
+the bathroom because the candles had been extinguished in the great
+rush of water that had left both walls and floor soaking wet.
+
+"What's up, Myrtle?" said Harry.
+
+"Who's that?" glugged Myrtle miserably. "Come to throw something
+else at me?"
+
+Harry waded across to her stall and said, "Why would I throw
+something at you?"
+
+*229*
+
+"Don't ask me," Myrtle shouted, emerging with a wave of yet more
+water, which splashed onto the already sopping floor. "Here I am,
+minding my own business, and someone thinks it's funny to throw a
+book at me ......
+
+"But it can't hurt you if someone throws something at you," said
+Harry, reasonably. "I mean, it'd just go right through you, wouldn't
+it?"
+
+He had said the wrong thing. Myrtle puffed herself up and shrieked,
+"Let's all throw books at Myrtle, because she can't feel it! Ten points
+if you can get it through her stomach! Fifty points if it goes through
+her head! Well, ha, ha, ha! What a lovely game, I don't think!"
+
+"Who threw it at you, anyway?" asked Harry.
+
+"I don't know... I was just sitting in the U-bend, thinking about
+death, and it fell right through the top of my head," said Myrtle,
+glaring at them. "It's over there, it got washed out ......
+
+Harry and Ron looked under the sink where Myrtle was pointing. A
+small, thin book lay there. It had a shabby black cover and was as
+wet as everything else in the bathroom. Harry stepped forward to
+pick it up, but Ron suddenly flung out an arm to hold him back.
+
+"What?" said Harry.
+
+"Are you crazy?" said Ron. "It could be dangerous."
+
+"Dangerous?"said Harry, laughing. "Come off it, how could it be
+dangerous?"
+
+"You'd be surprised," said Ron, who was looking apprehensively at
+the book. "Some of the books the Ministry's confiscated Dad's told
+me - there was one that burned your eyes out. And
+
+*2%0*
+
+everyone who read Sonnets of a Sorcerer spoke in limericks for the rest
+of their lives. And some old witch in Bath had a book that you could
+never stop reading! You just had to wander around with your nose in it,
+trying to do everything one-handed. And -"
+
+"All right, I've got the point," said Harry.
+
+The little book lay on the floor, nondescript and soggy.
+
+"Well, we won't find out unless we look at it," he said, and he ducked
+around Ron and picked it up off the floor.
+
+Harry saw at once that it was a diary, and the faded year on the cover
+told him it was fifty years old. He opened it eagerly. On the first page
+he could just make out the name "T M. Riddle" in smudged ink.
+
+"Hang on," said Ron, who had approached cautiously and was looking
+over Harry's shoulder. "I know that name .... T. M. Riddle got an
+award for special services to the school fifty years ago."
+
+"How on earth d'you know that?" said Harry in amazement.
+
+"Because Filch made me polish his shield about fifty times in
+detention," said Ron resentfully. "That was the one I burped slugs all
+over. If you'd wiped slime off a name for an hour, you'd remember it,
+too."
+
+Harry peeled the wet pages apart. They were completely blank.
+There wasn't the faintest trace of writing on any of them, not even
+Auntie Mabel's birthday, or dentist, half-past three.
+
+"He never wrote in it," said Harry, disappointed.
+
+"I wonder why someone wanted to flush it away?" said Ron curiously.
+
+Harry turned to the back cover of the book and saw the printed name
+of a variety store on Vauxhall Road, London.
+
+*231 *
+
+"He must've been Muggle-born," said Harry thoughtfufly. "To have
+bought a diary from Vauxhall Road ......
+
+"Well, it's not much use to you," said Ron. He dropped his voice. "Fifty
+points if you can get it through Myrtle's nose."
+
+Harry, however, pocketed it.
+
+Hermione left the hospital wing, de-whiskered, tail-less, and furfree, at
+the beginning of February. On her first evening back in Gryffindor
+Tower, Harry showed her T. M. Riddle's diary and told her the story
+of how they had found it.
+
+"Oooh, it might have hidden powers," said Hermione enthusiastically,
+taking the diary and looking at it closely.
+
+"If it has, it's hiding them very well," said Ron. "Maybe it's shy. I don't
+know why you don't chuck it, Harry."
+
+"I wish I knew why someone did try to chuck it," said Harry. "I
+wouldn't mind knowing how Riddle got an award for special services
+to Hogwarts either."
+
+"Could've been anything," said Ron. "Maybe he got thirty O.WL.s or
+saved a teacher from the giant squid. Maybe he murdered Myrtle; that
+would've done everyone a favor .....
+
+But Harry could tell from the arrested look on Hermione's face that
+she was thinking what he was thinking.
+
+"What?" said Ron, looking from one to the other.
+
+"Well, the Chamber of Secrets was opened fifty years ago, wasn't it?"
+he said. "That's what Malfoy said."
+
+"Yeah. . ." said Ron slowly.
+
+"And this diary is fifty years old," said Hermione, tapping it excitedly.
+
+*232*
+
+a so?
+
+.
+
+"Oh, Ron, wake up," snapped Hermione. "We know the person who
+opened the Chamber last time was expelled fifty years ago. We know
+T. M. Riddle got an award for special services to the school fifty years
+ago. Well, what if Riddle got his special award for catching the Heir of
+Slytherin? His diary would probably tell us everything - where the
+Chamber is, and how to open it, and what sort of creature lives in it -
+the person who's behind the attacks this time wouldn't want that lying
+around, would they?"
+
+"That's a brilliant theory, Hermione," said Ron, "with just one tiny little
+flaw. There's nothing written in his diary."
+
+But Hermione was pulling her wand out of her bag.
+
+"It might be invisible ink!" she whispered.
+
+She tapped the diary three times and said, "Aparecium!"
+
+Nothing happened. Undaunted, Hermione shoved her hand back into
+her bag and pulled out what appeared to be a bright red eraser.
+
+"It's a Revealer, I got it in Diagon Alley," she said.
+
+She rubbed hard on January first. Nothing happened.
+
+"I'm telling you, there's nothing to find in there," said Ron. "Riddle just
+got a diary for Christmas and couldn't be bothered filling it in."
+
+Harry couldn't explain, even to himself, why he didn't just throw
+Riddle's diary away. The fact was that even though he knew the diary
+was blank, he kept absentmindedly picking it up and turning the pages,
+as though it were a story he wanted to finish. And while Harry was
+sure he had never heard the name T. M. Riddle before, it still seemed
+to mean something to him, almost as though
+
+* 233 *
+
+Riddle was a friend he'd had when he was very small, and had
+halfforgotten. But this was absurd. He'd never had friends before
+Hogwarts, Dudley had made sure of that.
+
+Nevertheless, Harry was determined to find out more about Riddle, so
+next day at break, he headed for the trophy room to examine Riddle's
+special award, accompanied by an interested Hermione and a
+thoroughly unconvinced Ron, who told them he'd seen enough of the
+trophy room to last him a lifetime.
+
+Riddle's burnished gold shield was tucked away in a corner cabinet. It
+didn't carry details of why it had been given to him ("Good thing, too,
+or it'd be even bigger and Id still be polishing it," said Ron). However,
+they did find Riddle's name on an old Medal for Magical Merit, and on
+a list of old Head Boys.
+
+"He sounds like Percy," said Ron, wrinkling his nose in disgust.
+"Prefect, Head Boy ... probably top of every class -"
+
+"You say that like it's a bad thing," said Hermione in a slightly hurt
+voice.
+
+The sun had now begun to shine weakly on Hogwarts again. Inside
+the castle, the mood had grown more hopeful. There had been no
+more attacks since those on Justin and Nearly Headless Nick, and
+Madam Pomfrey was pleased to report that the Mandrakes were
+becoming moody and secretive, meaning that they were fast leaving
+childhood.
+
+"The moment their acne clears up, they'll be ready for repotting again,"
+Harry heard her telling Filch kindly one afternoon. "And after that, it
+won't be long until we're cutting them up and stewing them. You'll
+have Mrs. Norris back in no time."
+
+* 243 *
+
+Perhaps the Heir of Slytherin had lost his or her nerve, thought Harry.
+It must be getting riskier and riskier to open the Chamber of Secrets,
+with the school so alert and suspicious. Perhaps the monster,
+whatever it was, was even now settling itself down to hibernate for
+another fifty years ....
+
+Ernie Macmillan of Hufflepuff didn't take this cheerful view. He was
+still convinced that Harry was the guilty one, that he had "given
+himself away" at the Dueling Club. Peeves wasn't helping matters; he
+kept popping up in the crowded corridors singing "Oh, Potter, you
+rotter . . ." now with a dance routine to match.
+
+Gilderoy Lockhart seemed to think he himself had made the attacks
+stop. Harry overheard him telling Professor McGonagall so while the
+Gryffindors were lining up for Transfiguration.
+
+"I don't think there'll be any more trouble, Minerva," he said, tapping
+his nose knowingly and winking. "I think the Chamber has been locked
+for good this time. The culprit must have known it was only a matter
+of time before I caught him. Rather sensible to stop now, before I
+came down hard on him.
+
+"You know, what the school needs now is a morale-booster. Wash
+away the memories of last term! I won't say any more just now, but I
+think I know just the thing . . . ."
+
+He tapped his nose again and strode off.
+
+Lockhart's idea of a morale-booster became clear at breakfast time on
+February fourteenth. Harry hadn't had much sleep because of a late-
+running Quidditch practice the night before, and he hurried down to
+the Great Hall, slightly late. He thought, for a moment, that he'd
+walked through the wrong doors.
+
+The walls were all covered with large, lurid pink flowers. Worse
+
+* 235*
+
+still, heart-shaped confetti was falling from the pale blue ceiling. Harry
+went over to the Gryffindor table, where Ron was sitting looking
+sickened, and Hermione seemed to have been overcome with giggles.
+
+"What's going on?" Harry asked them, sitting down and wiping confetti
+off his bacon.
+
+Ron pointed to the teachers' table, apparently too disgusted to speak.
+Lockhart, wearing lurid pink robes to match the decorations, was
+waving for silence. The teachers on either side of him were looking
+stony-faced. From where he sat, Harry could see a muscle going in
+Professor McGonagall's cheek. Snape looked as though someone had
+just fed him a large beaker of Skele-Gro.
+
+"Happy Valentine's Day!" Lockhart shouted. "And may I thank the
+forty-six people who have so far sent me cards! Yes, I have taken the
+liberty of arranging this little surprise for you all - and it doesn't end
+here!"
+
+Lockhart clapped his hands and through the doors to the entrance hall
+marched a dozen surly-looking dwarfs. Not just any dwarfs, however.
+Lockhart had them all wearing golden wings and carrying harps.
+
+"My friendly, card-carrying cupids!" beamed Lockhart. "They will be
+roving around the school today delivering your valentines! And the fun
+doesn't stop here! I'm sure my colleagues will want to enter into the
+spirit of the occasion! Why not ask Professor Snape to show you how
+to whip up a Love Potion! And while you're at it, Professor Flitwick
+knows more about Entrancing Enchantments than any wizard I've
+ever met, the sly old dog!"
+
+Professor Flitwick buried his face in his hands. Snape was look
+
+* 236
+
+ing as though the first person to ask him for a Love Potion would be
+force-fed poison.
+
+"Please, Hermione, tell me you weren't one of the forty-six, 51 said Ron
+as they left the Great Hall for their first lesson. Hermione suddenly
+became very interested in searching her bag for her schedule and
+didn't answer.
+
+All day long, the dwarfs kept barging into their classes to deliver
+valentines, to the annoyance of the teachers, and late that afternoon as
+the Gryffindors were walking upstairs for Charms, one of the dwarfs
+caught up with Harry.
+
+"Oy, you! 'Arty Potter!" shouted a particularly grim-looking dwarf,
+elbowing people out of the way to get to Harry.
+
+Hot all over at the thought of being given a valentine in front of a line
+of first years, which happened to include Ginny Weasley, Harry tried
+to escape. The dwarf, however, cut his way through the crowd by
+kicking people's shins, and reached him before he'd gone two paces.
+
+"I've got a musical message to deliver to 'Arry Potter in person," he
+said, twanging his harp in a threatening sort of way.
+
+"Not here," Harry hissed, trying to escape.
+
+"Stay still!" grunted the dwarf, grabbing hold of Harry's bag and pulling
+him back.
+
+"Let me go!" Harry snarled, tugging.
+
+With a loud ripping noise, his bag split in two. His books, wand,
+parchment, and quill spilled onto the floor and his ink bottle smashed
+over everything.
+
+Harry scrambled around, trying to pick it all up before the dwarf
+started singing, causing something of a holdup in the corridor.
+
+*237*
+
+"What's going on here?" came the cold, drawling voice of Draco
+Malfoy. Harry started stuffing everything feverishly into his ripped
+bag, desperate to get away before Malfoy could hear his musical
+valentine.
+
+"What's all this commotion?" said another familiar voice as Percy
+Weasley arrived.
+
+Losing his head, Harry tried to make a run for it, but the dwarf
+seized him around the knees and brought him crashing to the floor.
+
+"Right," he said, sitting on Harry's ankles. "Here is your singing
+valentine:
+
+His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad,
+
+His hair is as dark as a blackboard.
+I wish he was mine, he's really divine,
+The hero who conquered the Dark Lord
+
+Harry would have given all the gold in Gringotts to evaporate on the
+spot. Trying valiantly to laugh along with everyone else, he got up, his
+feet numb from the weight of the dwarf, as Percy Weasley did his
+best to disperse the crowd, some of whom were crying with mirth.
+
+"Off you go, off you go, the bell rang five minutes ago, off to class,
+now," he said, shooing some of the younger students away. "And you,
+Malfoy-"
+
+Harry, glancing over, saw Malfoy stoop and snatch up something.
+Leering, he showed it to Crabbe and Goyle, and Harry realized that
+he'd got Riddle's diary.
+
+"Give that back," said Harry quietly.
+
+"Wonder what Potter's written in this?" said Malfoy, who obvi
+
+* 238
+
+ously hadn't noticed the year on the cover and thought he had
+Harry's own diary. A hush fell over the onlookers. Ginny was staring
+from the diary to Harry, looking terrified.
+
+"Hand it over, Malfoy," said Percy sternly.
+
+"When I've had a look," said Malfoy, waving the diary tauntingly at
+Harry.
+
+Percy said, "As a school prefect -" but Harry had lost his temper. He
+pulled out his wand and shouted, "Expelliarmus!" and just as
+Snape had disarmed Lockhart, so Malfoy found the diary shooting
+out of his hand into the air. Ron, grinning broadly, caught it.
+
+"Harry!" said Percy loudly. "No magic in the corridors. I'll have to
+report this, you know!"
+
+But Harry didn't care, he was one-up on Malfoy, and that was worth
+five points from Gryffindor any day. Malfoy was looking furious, and
+as Ginny passed him to enter her classroom, he yelled spitefully after
+her, "I don't think Potter liked your valentine much!"
+
+Ginny covered her face with her hands and ran into class. Snarling,
+Ron pulled out his wand, too, but Harry pulled him away. Ron didn't
+need to spend the whole of Charms belching slugs.
+
+It wasn't until they had reached Professor Flitwick's class that Harry
+noticed something rather odd about Riddle's diary. All his other
+books were drenched in scarlet ink. The diary, however, was as
+clean as it had been before the ink bottle had smashed all over it. He
+tried to point this out to Ron, but Ron was having trouble with his
+wand again; large purple bubbles were blossoming out of the end,
+and he wasn't much interested in anything else.
+
+Harry went to bed before anyone else in his dormitory that night. This
+was partly because he didn't think he could stand Fred and George
+singing, "His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad" one more time,
+and partly because he wanted to examine Riddle's diary again, and
+knew that Ron thought he was wasting his time.
+
+Harry sat on his four-poster and flicked through the blank pages, not
+one of which had a trace of scarlet ink on it. Then he pulled a new
+bottle out of his bedside cabinet, dipped his quill into it, and dropped a
+blot onto the first page of the diary.
+
+The ink shone brightly on the paper for a second and then, as though it
+was being sucked into the page, vanished. Excited, Harry loaded up
+his quill a second time and wrote, "My name is Harry Potter."
+
+The words shone momentarily on the page and they, too, sank without
+trace. Then, at last, something happened.
+
+Oozing back out of the page, in his very own ink, came words Harry
+had never written.
+
+"Hello, Harry Potter. My name is Tom Riddle. How did you come by my
+diary?"
+
+These words, too, faded away, but not before Harry had started to
+scribble back.
+
+"Someone tried to flush it down a toilet."
+
+He waited eagerly for Riddle's reply.
+
+"Lucky that I recorded my memories in some more lasting way than ink.
+But I always knew that there would be those who would not want this
+diary read. "
+
+"What do you mean?" Harry scrawled, blotting the page in his
+excitement.
+
+*240*
+
+`I mean that this diary holds memories of terrible things. Things that were
+covered up. Things that happened at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and
+Wizardry. "
+
+"That's where I am now," Harry wrote quickly. "I'm at Hogwarts, and
+horrible stuff's been happening. Do you know anything about the
+Chamber of Secrets?"
+
+His heart was hammering. Riddle's reply came quickly, his writing
+becoming untidier, as though he was hurrying to tell all he knew.
+
+"Of course I know about the Chamber of Secrets. In my day, they told us it
+was a legend, that it did not exist. But this was a lie. In my fifth year, the
+Chamber was opened and the monster attacked several students, finally
+killing one. I caught the person whod opened the Chamber and he was
+expelled. But the Headmaster, Professor Dippet, ashamed that such a thing
+had happened at Hogwarts, forbade me to tell the truth. A story was given
+out that thegirl had died in a freak accident. They gave me a nice, shiny,
+engraved trophy for my trouble and warned me to keep my mouth shut. But I
+knew it could happen again. The monster lived on, and the one who had the
+power to release it was not imprisoned. "
+
+Harry nearly upset his ink bottle in his hurry to write back.
+
+"It's happening again now. There have been three attacks and no one
+seems to know who's behind them. Who was it last time?"
+
+"I can show you, if you like, "came Riddle's reply. "You don't have
+
+to take my word for it. I can take you inside my memory of the night
+when I caught him. "
+
+Harry hesitated, his quill suspended over the diary. What did Riddle
+mean? How could he be taken inside somebody else's memory? He
+glanced nervously at the door to the dormitory, which was
+
+*241*
+
+growing dark. When he looked back at the diary, he saw fresh words
+forming.
+
+"Let me show you. "
+
+Harry paused for a fraction of a second and then wrote two letters.
+
+(40K.55
+
+The pages of the diary began to blow as though caught in a high wind,
+stopping halfway through the month of June. Mouth hanging open,
+Harry saw that the little square for June thirteenth seemed to have
+turned into a miniscule television screen. His hands trembling slightly,
+he raised the book to press his eye against the little window, and
+before he knew what was happening, he was tilting forward; the
+window was widening, he felt his body leave his bed, and he was
+pitched headfirst through the opening in the page, into a whirl of color
+and shadow.
+
+He felt his feet hit solid ground, and stood, shaking, as the blurred
+shapes around him came suddenly into focus.
+
+He knew immediately where he was. This circular room with the
+sleeping portraits was Dumbledore's office - but it wasn't Dumbledore
+who was sitting behind the desk. A wizened, fraillooking wizard, bald
+except for a few wisps of white hair, was reading a letter by
+candlelight. Harry had never seen this man before.
+
+"I'm sorry," he said shakily. "I didn't mean to butt in -"
+
+But the wizard didn't look up. He continued to read, frowning slightly.
+Harry drew nearer to his desk and stammered, "Er - I'll just go, shall
+I?"
+
+Still the wizard ignored him. He didn't seem even to have heard him.
+Thinking that the wizard might be deaf, Harry raised his voice.
+
+*242*
+
+"Sorry I disturbed you. I'll go now," he half-shouted.
+
+The wizard folded up the letter with a sigh, stood up, walked past
+Harry without glancing at him, and went to draw the curtains at his
+window.
+
+The sky outside the window was ruby-red; it seemed to be sunset.
+The wizard went back to the desk, sat down, and twiddled his thumbs,
+watching the door.
+
+Harry looked around the office. No Fawkes the phoenix - no whirring
+silver contraptions. This was Hogwarts as Riddle had known it,
+meaning that this unknown wizard was Headmaster, not Dumbledore,
+and he, Harry, was little more than a phantom, completely invisible to
+the people of fifty years ago.
+
+There was a knock on the office door.
+
+"Enter," said the old wizard in a feeble voice.
+
+A boy of about sixteen entered, taking off his pointed hat. A silver
+prefect's badge was glinting on his chest. He was much taller than
+Harry, but he, too, had jet-black hair.
+
+"Ah, Riddle," said the Headmaster.
+
+"You wanted to see me, Professor Dippet?" said Riddle. He looked
+nervous.
+
+"Sit down," said Dippet. "I've just been reading the letter you sent me.
+
+"Oh," said Riddle. He sat down, gripping his hands together very
+tightly.
+
+"My dear boy," said Dipper kindly, "I cannot possibly let you stay at
+school over the summer. Surely you want to go home for the
+holidays?"
+
+"No," said Riddle at once. "Id much rather stay at Hogwarts than go
+back to that - to that -"
+
+* 243*
+
+"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."
+
+"And are both your parents -?"
+
+"My mother died just after I was born, sir. They told me at the
+orphanage she lived just long enough to name me - Tom after my
+father, Marvolo after my grandfather."
+
+Dipper clucked his tongue sympathetically.
+
+"The thing is, Tom," he sighed, "Special arrangements might have
+been made for you, but in the current circumstances . . . ."
+
+"You mean all these attacks, sir?" said Riddle, and Harry's heart
+leapt, and he moved closer, scared of missing anything.
+
+"Precisely," said the headmaster. "My dear boy, you must see how
+foolish it would be of me to allow you to remain at the castle when
+term ends. Particularly in light of the recent tragedy ... the death of
+that poor little girl .... You will be safer by far at your orphanage. As
+a matter of fact, the Ministry of Magic is even now talking about
+closing the school. We are no nearer locating the er - source of all
+this unpleasantness . . . ."
+
+Riddle's eyes had widened.
+
+"Sir - if the person was caught - if it all stopped -"
+
+"What do you mean?" said Dippet with a squeak in his voice, sitting
+up in his chair. "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.
+
+*244*
+
+Dippet sank back, looking faintly disappointed.
+
+"You may go, Tom ......
+
+Riddle slid off his chair and slouched out of the room. Harry
+followed him.
+
+Down the moving spiral staircase they went, emerging next to the
+gargoyle in the darkening corridor. Riddle stopped, and so did
+Harry, watching him. Harry could tell that Riddle was doing some
+serious thinking. He was biting his lip, his forehead furrowed.
+
+Then, as though he had suddenly reached a decision, he hurried off,
+Harry gliding noiselessly behind him. They didn't see another person
+until they reached the entrance hall, when a tall wizard with long,
+sweeping auburn hair and a beard called to Riddle from the marble
+staircase.
+
+"What are you doing, wandering around this late, Tom?"
+
+Harry gaped at the wizard. He was none other than a fifty-year-
+younger Dumbledore.
+
+"I had to see the headmaster, sir," said Riddle.
+
+"Well, hurry off to bed," said Dumbledore, giving Riddle exactly the
+kind of penetrating stare Harry knew so well. "Best not to roam the
+corridors these days. Not since . . ."
+
+He sighed heavily, bade Riddle good night, and strode off. Riddle
+watched him walk out of sight and then, moving quickly, headed
+straight down the stone steps to the dungeons, with Harry in hot
+pursuit.
+
+But to Harry's disappointment, Riddle led him not into a hidden
+passageway or a secret tunnel but to the very dungeon in which
+Harry had Potions with Snape. The torches hadn't been lit, and when
+Riddle pushed the door almost closed, Harry could only just
+
+*2 45 *
+
+see him, standing stock-still by the door, watching the passage outside.
+
+It felt to Harry that they were there for at least an hour. All he could
+see was the figure of Riddle at the door, staring through the crack,
+waiting like a statue. And just when Harry had stopped feeling
+expectant and tense and started wishing he could return to the present,
+he heard something move beyond the door.
+
+Someone was creeping along the passage. He heard whoever it was
+pass the dungeon where he and Riddle were hidden. Riddle, quiet as a
+shadow, edged through the door and followed, Harry tiptoeing behind
+him, forgetting that he couldn't be heard.
+
+For perhaps five minutes they followed the footsteps, until Riddle
+stopped suddenly, his head inclined in the direction of new noises.
+Harry heard a door creak open, and then someone speaking in a
+hoarse whisper.
+
+"C'mon ... gotta get yeh outta here .... C'mon now ... in the box. . ."
+
+There was something familiar about that voice ....
+
+Riddle suddenly jumped around the corner. Harry stepped out behind
+him. He could see the dark outline of a huge boy who was crouching
+in front of an open door, a very large box next to it.
+
+"Evening, Rubeus," said Riddle sharply.
+
+The boy slammed the door shut and stood up.
+
+"What yer doin' down here, Tom?"
+
+Riddle stepped closer.
+
+"It's all over," he said. "I'm going to have to turn you in, Rubeus.
+They're talking about closing Hogwarts if the attacks don't stop."
+
+4 6
+
+"N" at d'yeh -"
+
+"I don't think you meant to kill anyone. But monsters don't make
+good pets. I suppose you just let it out for exercise and -"
+
+"It never killed no one!" said the large boy, backing against the
+closed door. From behind him, Harry could hear a funny rustling and
+clicking.
+
+"Come on, Rubeus," said Riddle, moving yet closer. "The dead girl's
+parents will be here tomorrow. The least Hogwarts can do is make
+sure that the thing that killed their daughter is slaughtered ......
+
+"It wasn't him!" roared the boy, his voice echoing in the dark
+passage. "He wouldn'! He never!"
+
+"Stand aside," said Riddle, drawing out his wand.
+
+His spell lit the corridor with a sudden flaming light. The door behind
+the large boy flew open with such force it knocked him into the wall
+opposite. And out of it came something that made Harry let out a
+long, piercing scream unheard by anyone
+
+A vast, low-slung, hairy body and a tangle of black legs; a gleam of
+many eyes and a pair of razor-sharp pincers - Riddle raised his
+wand again, but he was too late. The thing bowled him over as it
+scuttled away, tearing up the corridor and out of sight. Riddle
+scrambled to his feet, looking after it; he raised his wand, but the
+huge boy leapt on him, seized his wand, and threw him back down,
+yelling, "NO000000!"
+
+The scene whirled, the darkness became complete; Harry felt himself
+falling and, with a crash, he landed spread-eagled on his four-poster
+in the Gryffindor dormitory, Riddle's diary lying open on his stomach.
+
+*24 7*
+
+Before he had had time to regain his breath, the dormitory door
+opened and Ron came in.
+
+"There you are," he said.
+
+Harry sat up. He was sweating and shaking.
+
+"What's up?" said Ron, looking at him with concern.
+
+"It was Hagrid, Ron. Hagrid opened the Chamber of Secrets fifty
+years ago."
+
+Harry, Ron, and Hermione had always known that Hagrid had an
+unfortunate liking for large and monstrous creatures. During their first
+year at Hogwarts he had tried to raise a dragon in his little wooden
+house, and it would be a long time before they forgot the giant, three-
+headed dog he'd christened "Fluffy." And if, as a boy, Hagrid had
+heard that a monster was hidden somewhere in the castle, Harry was
+sure he'd have gone to any lengths for a glimpse of it. He'd probably
+thought it was a shame that the monster had been cooped up so
+long, and thought it deserved the chance to stretch its many legs;
+Harry could just imagine the thirteen-year-old Hagrid trying to fit a
+leash and collar on it. But he was equally certain that Hagrid would
+never have meant to kill anybody.
+
+Harry half wished he hadn't found out how to work Riddle's diary.
+Again and again Ron and Hermione made him recount what
+
+he'd seen, until he was heartily sick of telling them and sick of the
+long, circular conversations that followed.
+
+"Riddle might have got the wrong person," said Hermione. "Maybe it
+was some other monster that was attacking people . . . ."
+
+"How many monsters d'you think this place can hold?" Ron asked
+dully.
+
+"We always knew Hagrid had been expelled," said Harry miserably.
+"And the attacks must've stopped after Hagrid was kicked out.
+Otherwise, Riddle wouldn't have got his award."
+
+Ron tried a different tack.
+
+"Riddle does sound like Percy - who asked him to squeal on Hagrid,
+anyway?"
+
+"But the monster had killed someone, Ron," said Hermione.
+
+"And Riddle was going to go back to some Muggle orphanage if they
+closed Hogwarts," said Harry. "I don't blame him for wanting to stay
+here ......
+
+"You met Hagrid down Knockturn Alley, didn't you, Harry?"
+
+"He was buying a Flesh-Eating Slug Repellent," said Harry quickly.
+
+The three of them fell silent. After a long pause, Hermione voiced the
+knottiest question of all in a hesitant voice.
+
+"Do you think we should go and ask Hagrid about it all?"
+
+"That'd be a cheerful visit," said Ron. "'Hello, Hagrid. Tell us, have
+you been setting anything mad and hairy loose in the castle lately?"'
+
+In the end, they decided that they would not say anything to Hagrid
+unless there was another attack, and as more and more days went by
+with no whisper from the disembodied voice, they became
+
+hopeful that they would never need to talk to him about why he had
+been expelled. It was now nearly four months since Justin and Nearly
+Headless Nick had been Petrified, and nearly everybody seemed to
+think that the attacker, whoever it was, had retired for good. Peeves
+had finally got bored of his "Oh, Potter, you rotter" song, Ernie
+Macmillan asked Harry quite politely to pass a bucket of leaping
+toadstools in Herbology one day, and in March several of the
+Mandrakes threw a loud and raucous party in greenhouse three. This
+made Professor Sprout very happy.
+
+"The moment they start trying to move into each other's pots, we'll
+know they're fully mature," she told Harry. "Then we'll be able to
+revive those poor people in the hospital wing."
+
+The second years were given something new to think about during
+their Easter holidays. The time had come to choose their subjects for
+the third year, a matter that Hermione, at least, took very seriously.
+
+"it could affect our whole future," she told Harry and Ron as they
+pored over lists of new subjects, marking them with checks.
+
+"I just want to give up Potions," said Harry.
+
+"We can't," said Ron gloomily. "We keep all our old subjects, or I'd've
+ditched Defense Against the Dark Arts."
+
+"But that's very important!" said Hermione, shocked.
+
+"Not the way Lockhart teaches it," said Ron. "I haven't learned
+anything from him except not to set pixies loose."
+
+Neville Longbottom had been sent letters from all the witches and
+wizards in his family, all giving him different advice on what to
+choose. Confused and worried, he sat reading the subject lists with
+
+his tongue poking out, asking people whether they thought Arithmancy
+sounded more difficult than the study of Ancient Runes. Dean
+Thomas, who, like Harry, had grown up with Muggles, ended up
+closing his eyes and jabbing his wand at the list, then picking the
+subjects it landed on. Hermione took nobody's advice but signed up for
+everything.
+
+Harry smiled grimly to himself at the thought of what Uncle Vernon
+and Aunt Petunia would say if he tried to discuss his career in
+wizardry with them. Not that he didn't get any guidance: Percy
+Weasley was eager to share his experience.
+
+"Depends where you want to go, Harry," he said. "It's never too early
+to think about the future, so Id recommend Divination. People say
+Muggle Studies is a soft option, but I personally think wizards should
+have a thorough understanding of the non-magical community,
+particularly if they're thinking of working in close contact with them -
+look at my father, he has to deal with Muggle business all the time. My
+brother Charlie was always more of an outdoor type, so he went for
+Care of Magical Creatures. Play to your strengths, Harry."
+
+But the only thing Harry felt he was really good at was Quidditch. In
+the end, he chose the same new subjects as Ron, feeling that if he was
+lousy at them, at least he'd have someone friendly to help him.
+
+Gryffindor's next Quidditch match would be against Hufflepuff. Wood
+was insisting on team practices every night after dinner, so that Harry
+barely had time for anything but Quidditch and homework. However,
+the training sessions were getting better, or at least
+
+drier, and the evening before Saturday's match he went up to his
+dormitory to drop off his broomstick feeling Gryffindor's chances for
+the Quidditch cup had never been better.
+
+But his cheerful mood didn't last long. At the top of the stairs to the
+dormitory, he met Neville Longbottom, who was looking frantic.
+
+"Harry - I don't know who did it - I just found -"
+
+Watching Harry fearfully, Neville pushed open the door.
+
+The contents of Harry's trunk had been thrown everywhere. His
+cloak lay ripped on the floor. The bedclothes had been pulled off his
+four-poster and the drawer had been pulled out of his bedside
+cabinet, the contents strewn over the mattress.
+
+Harry walked over to the bed, open-mouthed, treading on a few
+loose pages of Travels with Trolls. As he and Neville pulled the
+blankets back onto his bed, Ron, Dean, and Seamus came in. Dean
+swore loudly.
+
+"What happened, Harry?"
+
+"No idea," said Harry. But Ron was examining Harry's robes. All the
+pockets were hanging out.
+
+"Someone's been looking for something," said Ron. "Is there anything
+missing?"
+
+Harry started to pick up all his things and throw them into his trunk.
+It was only as he threw the last of the Lockhart books back into it
+that he realized what wasn't there.
+
+"Riddle's diary's gone," he said in an undertone to Ron.
+
+"What?"
+
+Harry jerked his head toward the dormitory door and Ron followed
+him out. They hurried down to the Gryffindor common
+
+room, which was half-empty, and joined Hermione, who was sitting
+alone, reading a book called Ancient Runes Made Easy.
+
+Hermione looked aghast at the news.
+
+"But - only a Gryffindor could have stolen - nobody else knows our
+password -"
+
+"Exactly," said Harry.
+
+They woke the next day to brilliant sunshine and a light, refreshing
+breeze.
+
+"Perfect Quidditch conditions!" said Wood enthusiastically at the
+Gryffindor table, loading the team's plates with scrambled eggs.
+"Harry, buck up there, you need a decent breakfast."
+
+Harry had been staring down the packed Gryffindor table, wondering
+if the new owner of Riddle's diary was right in front of his eyes.
+Hermione had been urging him to report the robbery, but Harry didn't
+like the idea. He'd have to tell a teacher all about the diary, and how
+many people knew why Hagrid had been expelled fifty years ago? He
+didn't want to be the one who brought it all up again.
+
+As he left the Great Hall with Ron and Hermione to go and collect his
+Quidditch things, another very serious worry was added to Harry's
+growing list. He had just set foot on the marble staircase when he
+heard it yet again
+
+"Kill this time ... let me rip ... tear. . ."
+
+He shouted aloud and Ron and Hermione both jumped away from him
+in alarm.
+
+"The voice!" said Harry, -looking over his shoulder. "I just heard it
+again - didn't you?"
+
+Ron shook his head, wide-eyed. Hermione, however, clapped a
+hand to her forehead.
+
+"Harry - I think I've just understood something! I've got to go to the
+library!"
+
+And she sprinted away, up the stairs.
+
+"What does she understand?" said Harry distractedly, still looking
+around, trying to tell where the voice had come from.
+
+"Loads more than I do," said Ron, shaking his head.
+
+"But why's she got to go to the library?"
+
+"Because that's what Hermione does," said Ron, shrugging. "When in
+doubt, go to the library."
+
+Harry stood, irresolute, trying to catch the voice again, but people
+were now emerging from the Great Hall behind him, talking loudly,
+exiting through the front doors on their way to the Quidditch pitch.
+
+"You'd better get moving," said Ron. "It's nearly eleven - the match -
+"
+
+Harry raced up to Gryffindor Tower, collected his Nimbus Two
+Thousand, and joined the large crowd swarming across the grounds,
+but his mind was still in the castle along with the bodiless voice, and
+as he pulled on his scarlet robes in the locker. room, his only comfort
+was that everyone was now outside to watch the game.
+
+The teams walked onto the field to tumultuous applause. Oliver
+Wood took off for a warm-up flight around the goal posts; Madam
+Hooch released the balls. The Hufflepuffs, who played in canary
+yellow, were standing in a huddle, having a last-minute discussion of
+tactics.
+
+Harry was just mounting his broom when Professor McGonagall
+came half marching, half running across the pitch, carrying an
+enormous purple megaphone.
+
+Harry's heart dropped like a stone.
+
+"This match has been cancelled," Professor McGonagall called
+through the megaphone, addressing the packed stadium. There were
+boos and shouts. Oliver Wood, looking devastated, landed and ran
+toward Professor McGonagall without getting off his broomstick.
+
+"But, Professor!" he shouted. "We've got to play - the cup
+
+Gryffindor -"
+
+Professor McGonagall ignored him and continued to shout through her
+megaphone:
+
+"All students are to make their way back to the House common
+rooms, where their Heads of Houses will give them further
+information. As quickly as you can, please!"
+
+Then she lowered the megaphone and beckoned Harry over to her.
+
+"Potter, I think you'd better come with me ......
+
+Wondering how she could possibly suspect him this time, Harry saw
+Ron detach himself from the complaining crowd; he came running up
+to them as they set off toward the castle. To Harry's surprise,
+Professor McGonagall didn't object.
+
+"Yes, perhaps you'd better come, too, Weasley .....
+
+Some of the students swarming around them were grumbling about
+the match being canceled; others looked worried. Harry and Ron
+followed Professor McGonagall back into the school and up the
+marble staircase. But they weren't taken to anybody's office this time.
+
+"This will be a bit of a shock," said Professor McGonagall in a
+surprisingly gentle voice as they approached the infirmary. "There has
+been another attack ... another double attack."
+
+Harry's insides did a horrible somersault. Professor McGonagall
+pushed the door open and he and Ron entered. .
+
+Madam Pomfrey was bending over a fifth-year girl with long, curly
+hair. Harry recognized her as the Ravenclaw they'd accidentally
+asked for directions to the Slytherin common room. And on the bed
+next to her was
+
+"Hermione!" Ron groaned.
+
+Hermione lay utterly still, her eyes open and glassy.
+
+"They were found near the library," said Professor McGonagall. "I
+don't suppose either of you can explain this? It was on the floor next
+to them ......
+
+She was holding up a small, circular mirror.
+
+Harry and Ron shook their heads, both staring at Hermione.
+
+"I will escort you back to Gryffindor Tower," said Professor
+McGonagall heavily. "I need to address the students in any case.
+
+"All students will return to their House common rooms by six o'clock
+in the evening. No student is to leave the dormitories after that time.
+You will be escorted to each lesson by a teacher. No student is to use
+the bathroom unaccompanied by a teacher. All further Quidditch
+training and matches are to be postponed. There will be no more
+evening activities."
+
+The Gryffindors packed inside the common room listened to Professor
+McGonagall in silence. She rolled up the parchment
+
+from which she had been reading and said in a somewhat choked
+voice, "I need hardly add that I have rarely been so distressed. It is
+likely that the school will be closed unless the culprit behind these
+attacks is caught. I would urge anyone who thinks they might know
+anything about them to come forward."
+
+She climbed somewhat awkwardly out of the portrait hole, and the
+Gryffindors began talking immediately.
+
+"That's two Gryffindors down, not counting a Gryffindor ghost, one
+Ravenclaw, and one Hufflepuff, " said the Weasley twins' friend Lee
+Jordan, counting on his fingers. "Haven't any of the teachers noticed
+that the Slytherins are all safe? Isn't it obvious all this stuff's coming
+from Slytherin? The Heir of Slytherin, the monster of Slytherin - why
+don't they just chuck all the Slytherins out?" he roared, to nods and
+scattered applause.
+
+Percy Weasley was sitting in a chair behind Lee, but for once he didn't
+seem keen to make his views heard. He was looking pale and stunned.
+
+"Percy's in shock," George told Harry quietly. "That Ravenclaw girl -
+Penelope Clearwater - she's a prefect. I don't think he thought the
+monster would dare attack a prefect."
+
+But Harry was only half-listening. He didn't seem to be able to get rid
+of the picture of Hermione, lying on the hospital bed as though carved
+out of stone. And if the culprit wasn't caught soon, he was looking at a
+lifetime back with the Dursleys. Tom Riddle had turned Hagrid in
+because he was faced with the prospect of a Muggle orphanage if the
+school closed. Harry now knew exactly how he had felt.
+
+"What're we going to do?" said Ron quietly in Harry's ear. "D'you
+think they suspect Hagrid?"
+
+"We've got to go and talk to him," said Harry, making up his
+mind. "I can't believe it's him this time, but if he set the monster
+loose last time he'll know how to get inside the Chamber of Secrets,
+and that's a start."
+"But McGonagall said we've got to stay in our tower unless we're
+in class -"
+"I think," said Harry, more quietly still, "it's time to get my dad's
+old cloak out again."
+
+Harry had inherited) ust one thing from his father: a long and sil
+very Invisibility Cloak. It was their only chance of sneaking out of
+the school to visit Hagrid without anyone knowing about it. They
+went to bed at the usual time, waited until Neville, Dean, and Sea
+mus had stopped discussing the Chamber of Secrets and finally
+fallen asleep, then got up, dressed again, and threw the cloak over
+themselves.
+The journey through the dark and deserted castle corridors
+wasn't enjoyable. Harry, who had wandered the castle at night sev
+eral times before, had never seen it so crowded after sunset. Teach
+ers, prefects, and ghosts were marching the corridors in pairs,
+staring around for any unusual activity. Their Invisibility Cloak
+didn't stop them making any noise, and there was a particularly
+tense moment when Ron stubbed his toe only yards from the spot
+where Snape stood standing guard. Thankfully, Snape sneezed at
+almost exactly the moment Ron swore. It was with relief that they
+reached the oak front doors and eased them open.
+It was a clear, starry night. They hurried toward the lit windows
+of Hagrid's house and pulled off the cloak only when they were
+right outside his front door.
+
+Seconds after they had knocked, Hagrid flung it open. They found
+themselves face-to-face with him aiming a crossbow at them. Fang
+the boarhound barked loudly behind him.
+
+"Oh," he said, lowering the weapon and staring at them. "What're
+you two doin' here?"
+
+"What's that for?" said Harry, pointing at the crossbow as they
+stepped inside.
+
+"Nothin' - nothin' - " Hagrid muttered. "I've bin expectin' doesn'
+matter - Sit down - I'll make tea -"
+
+He hardly seemed to know what he was doing. He nearly
+extinguished the fire, spilling water from the kettle on it, and then
+smashed the teapot with a nervous jerk of his massive hand.
+
+"Are you okay, Hagrid?" said Harry. "Did you hear about
+Hermione?"
+
+"Oh, I heard, all righ'," said Hagrid, a slight break in his voice.
+
+He kept glancing nervously at the windows. He poured them both
+large mugs of boiling water (he had forgotten to add tea bags) and
+was just putting a slab of fruitcake on a plate when there was a loud
+knock on the door.
+
+Hagrid dropped the fruitcake. Harry and Ron exchanged
+panicstricken looks, then threw the Invisibility Cloak back over
+themselves and retreated into a corner. Hagrid checked that they
+were hidden, seized his crossbow, and flung open his door once
+more.
+
+"Good evening, Hagrid."
+
+It was Dumbledore. He entered, looking deadly serious, and was
+followed by a second, very odd-looking man.
+
+The stranger had rumpled gray hair and an anxious expression, and
+was wearing a strange mixture of clothes: a pinstriped suit, a
+
+scarlet tie, a long black cloak, and pointed purple boots. Under his arm
+he carried a lime-green bowler.
+
+"That's Dad's boss!" Ron breathed. "Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of
+Magic!"
+
+Harry elbowed Ron hard to make him shut up.
+
+Hagrid had gone pale and sweaty. He dropped into one of his chairs
+and looked from Dumbledore to Cornelius Fudge.
+
+"Bad business, Hagrid," said Fudge in rather clipped tones. "Very bad
+business. Had to come. Four attacks on Muggle-borns. Things've gone
+far enough. Ministry's got to act."
+
+"I never," said Hagrid, looking imploringly at Dumbledore. "You know I
+never, Professor Dumbledore, sir -"
+
+"I want it understood, Cornelius, that Hagrid has my full confidence,"
+said Dumbledore, frowning at Fudge.
+
+"Look, Albus," said Fudge, uncomfortably. "Hagrid's record's against
+him. Ministry's got to do something - the school governors have been
+in touch -"
+
+"Yet again, Cornelius, I tell you that taking Hagrid away will not help
+in the slightest," said Dumbledore. His blue eyes were full of a fire
+Harry had never seen before.
+
+"Look at it from my point of view," said Fudge, fidgeting with his
+bowler. "I'm under a lot of pressure. Got to be seen to be doing
+something. If it turns out it wasn't Hagrid, he'll be back and no more
+said. But I've got to take him. Got to. Wouldn't be doing my duty -"
+
+"Take me?" said Hagrid, who was trembling. "Take me where?"
+
+"For a short stretch only," said Fudge, not meeting Hagrid's eyes. "Not
+a punishment, Hagrid, more a precaution. If someone else is caught,
+you'll be let out with a full apology -"
+
+
+
+"Not Azkaban?" croaked Hagrid.
+
+Before Fudge could answer, there was another loud rap on the door.
+
+Dumbledore answered it. It was Harry's turn for an elbow in the ribs;
+he'd let out an audible gasp.
+
+Mr. Lucius Malfoy strode into Hagrid's hut, swathed in a long black
+traveling cloak, smiling a cold and satisfied smile. Fang started to
+growl.
+
+"Already here, Fudge," he said approvingly. "Good, good. . ."
+
+"What're you doin' here?" said Hagrid furiously. "Get outta my house!"
+
+"My dear man, please believe me, I have no pleasure at all in being
+inside your - er - d'you call this a house?" said Lucius Malfoy, sneering
+as he looked around the small cabin. "I simply called at the school and
+was told that the headmaster was here."
+
+"And what exactly did you want with me, Lucius?" said Dumbledore.
+He spoke politely, but the fire was still blazing in his blue eyes.
+
+"Dreadful thing, Dumbledore," said Malfoy lazily, taking out a long roll
+of parchment, "but the governors feel it's time for you to step aside.
+This is an Order of Suspension - you'll find all twelve signatures on it.
+I'm afraid we feel you're losing your touch. How many attacks have
+there been now? Two more this afternoon, wasn't it? At this rate,
+there'll be no Muggle-borns left at Hogwarts, and we all know what
+an awful loss that would be to the school."
+
+"Oh, now, see here, Lucius," said Fudge, looking alarmed,
+"Dumbledore suspended - no, no - last thing we want just now
+
+262
+
+"The appointment - or suspension - of the headmaster is a matter for
+the governors, Fudge," said Mr. Malfoy smoothly. "And as
+Dumbledore has failed to stop these attacks -"
+
+"See here, Malfoy, if Dumbledore can't stop them," said Fudge, whose
+upper lip was sweating now, "I mean to say, who can?"
+
+"That remains to be seen," said Mr. Malfoy with a nasty smile. "But as
+all twelve of us have voted -"
+
+Hagrid leapt to his feet, his shaggy black head grazing the ceiling.
+
+'An' how many did yeh have ter threaten an' blackmail before they
+agreed, Malfoy, eh?" he roared.
+
+"Dear, dear, you know, that temper of yours will lead you into trouble
+one of these days, Hagrid," said Mr. Malfoy. "I would advise you not
+to shout at the Azkaban guards like that. They won't like it at all."
+
+"Yeh can' take Dumbledore!" yelled Hagrid, making Fang the
+boarhound cower and whimper in his basket. "Take him away, an' the
+Muggle-borns won' stand a chance! There'll be killin' next!"
+
+"Calm yourself, Hagrid," said Dumbledore sharply. He looked at
+Lucius Malfoy.
+
+"If the governors want my removal, Lucius, I shall of course step aside
+-"
+
+"But -" stuttered Fudge.
+
+"No!"growled Hagrid.
+
+Dumbledore had not taken his bright blue eyes off Lucius Malfoy's
+cold gray ones.
+
+"However," said Dumbledore, speaking very slowly and clearly so that
+none of them could miss a word, "you will find that I will
+
+* 26$*
+
+ummer was creeping over the grounds around the castle; sky and lake
+alike turned periwinkle blue and flowers large as cabbages burst into
+bloom in the greenhouses. But with no Hagrid visible from the castle
+windows, striding the grounds with Fang at his heels, the scene didn't
+look right to Harry; no better, in fact, than the inside of the castle,
+where things were so horribly wrong.
+
+Harry and Ron had tried to visit Hermione, but visitors were now
+barred from the hospital wing.
+
+"We're taking no more chances," Madam Pomfrey told them severely
+through a crack in the infirmary door. "No, I'm sorry, there's every
+chance the attacker might come back to finish these people off . . ."
+
+With Dumbledore gone, fear had spread as never before, so that the
+sun warming the castle walls outside seemed to stop at the mullioned
+windows. There was barely a face to be seen in the school
+
+* 265*
+
+
+
+that didn't look worried and tense, and any laughter that rang through
+the corridors sounded shrill and unnatural and was quickly stifled.
+
+Harry constantly repeated Dumbledore's final words to himself "I will
+only truly have left this school when none here are loyal to me... Help will
+always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it." But what good
+were these words? Who exactly were they supposed to ask for help,
+when everyone was just as confused and scared as they were?
+
+Hagrid's hint about the spiders was far easier to understand the
+trouble was, there didn't seem to be a single spider left in the castle to
+follow. Harry looked everywhere he went, helped (rather reluctantly)
+by Ron. They were hampered, of course, by the fact that they weren't
+allowed to wander off on their own but had to move around the castle
+in a pack with the other Gryffindors. Most of their fellow students
+seemed glad that they were being shepherded from class to class by
+teachers, but Harry found it very irksome.
+
+One person, however, seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the
+atmosphere of terror and suspicion. Draco Malfoy was strutting
+around the school as though he had just been appointed Head Boy.
+Harry didn't realize what he was so pleased about until the Potions
+lesson about two weeks after Dumbledore and Hagrid had left, when,
+sitting right behind Malfoy, Harry overheard him gloating to Crabbe
+and Goyle.
+
+"I always thought Father might be the one who got rid of
+Dumbledore," he said, not troubling to keep his voice down. "I told you
+he thinks Dumbledore's the worst headmaster the school's ever
+
+*266*
+
+had. Maybe we'll get a decent headmaster now. Someone who won't
+want the Chamber of Secrets closed. McGonagall won't last long,
+she's only filling in ......
+
+Snape swept past Harry, making no comment about Hermione's
+empty seat and cauldron.
+
+"Sir," said Malfoy loudly. "Sir, why don't you apply for the
+headmaster's job?"
+
+"Now, now, Malfoy," said Snape, though he couldn't suppress a thin-
+lipped smile. "Professor Dumbledore has only been suspended by the
+governors. I daresay he'll be back with us soon enough."
+
+"Yeah, right," said Malfoy, smirking. "I expect you'd have Father's
+vote, sir, if you wanted to apply for the job - I'll tell Father you're the
+best teacher here, sir -"
+
+Snape smirked as he swept off around the dungeon, fortunately not
+spotting Seamus Finnigan, who was pretending to vomit into his
+cauldron.
+
+"I'm quite surprised the Mudbloods haven't all packed their bags by
+now," Malfoy went on. "Bet you five Galleons the next one dies. Pity
+it wasn't Granger -"
+
+The bell rang at that moment, which was lucky; at Malfoy's last
+words, Ron had leapt off his stool, and in the scramble to collect bags
+and books, his attempts to reach Malfoy went unnoticed.
+
+"Let me at him," Ron growled as Harry and Dean hung onto his arms.
+"I don't care, I don't need my wand, I'm going to kill him with my bare
+hands -"
+
+"Hurry up, I've got to take you all to Herbology," barked Snape over
+the class's heads, and off they marched, with Harry, Ron, and Dean
+bringing up the rear, Ron still trying to get loose. It was only
+
+* 261*
+
+safe to let go of him when Snape had seen them out of the castle and
+they were making their way across the vegetable patch toward the
+greenhouses.
+
+The Herbology class was very subdued; there were now two missing
+from their number, Justin and Hermione.
+
+Professor Sprout set them all to work pruning the Abyssinian
+Shrivelfigs. Harry went to tip an armful of withered stalks onto the
+compost heap and found himself face-to-face with Ernie Macmillan.
+Ernie took a deep breath and said, very formally, "I just want to say,
+Harry, that I'm sorry I ever suspected you. I know you'd never attack
+Hermione Granger, and I apologize for all the stuff I said. We're all in
+the same boat now, and, well -"
+
+He held out a pudgy hand, and Harry shook it.
+
+Ernie and his friend Hannah came to work at the same Shrivelfig as
+Harry and Ron.
+
+"That Draco Malfoy character," said Ernie, breaking off dead twigs,
+"he seems very pleased about all this, doesn't he? D'you know, I think
+he might be Slytherin's heir."
+
+"That's clever of you," said Ron, who didn't seem to have forgiven
+Ernie as readily as Harry.
+
+"Do you think it's Malfoy, Harry?" Ernie asked.
+
+"No," said Harry, so firmly that Ernie and Hannah stared.
+
+A second later, Harry spotted something.
+
+Several large spiders were scuttling over the ground on the other side
+of the glass, moving in an unnaturally straight line as though taking the
+shortest route to a prearranged meeting. Harry hit Ron over the hand
+with his pruning shears.
+
+"Ouch! What're you -"
+
+268
+
+Harry pointed out the spiders, following their progress with his eyes
+screwed up against the sun.
+
+"Oh, yeah," said Ron, trying, and failing, to look pleased. "But we can't
+follow them now -"
+
+Ernie and Hannah were listening curiously.
+
+Harry's eyes narrowed as he focused on the spiders. If they pursued
+their fixed course, there could be no doubt about where they would
+end up.
+
+"Looks like they're heading for the Forbidden Forest . . . ."
+
+And Ron looked even unhappier about that.
+
+At the end of the lesson Professor Sprout escorted the class to their
+Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson. Harry and Ron lagged behind
+the others so they could talk out of earshot.
+
+"We'll have to use the Invisibility Cloak again," Harry told Ron. "We
+can take Fang with us. He's used to going into the forest with Hagrid,
+he might be some help."
+
+"Right," said Ron, who was twirling his wand nervously in his fingers.
+"Er - aren't there - aren't there supposed to be werewolves in the
+forest?" he added as they took their usual places at the back of
+Lockhart's classroom.
+
+Preferring not to answer that question, Harry said, "There are good
+things in there, too. The centaurs are all right, and the unicorns ...
+
+Ron had never been into the Forbidden Forest before. Harry had
+entered it only once and had hoped never to do so again.
+
+Lockhart bounded into the room and the class stared at him. Every
+other teacher in the place was looking grimmer than usual, but
+Lockhart appeared nothing short of buoyant.
+
+2 69
+
+"Come now," he cried, beaming around him. "Why all these long
+faces?"
+
+People swapped exasperated looks, but nobody answered.
+
+"Don't you people realize," said Lockhart, speaking slowly, as though
+they were all a bit dim, "the danger has passed! The culprit has been
+taken away -"
+
+"Says who?" said Dean Thomas loudly.
+
+"My dear young man, the Minister of Magic wouldn't have taken
+Hagrid if he hadn't been one hundred percent sure that he was guilty,"
+said Lockhart, in the tone of someone explaining that one and one
+made two.
+
+"Oh, yes he would," said Ron, even more loudly than Dean.
+
+"I flatter myself I know a touch more about Hagrid's arrest than you
+do, Mr. Weasley," said Lockhart in a self-satisfied tone.
+
+Ron started to say that he didn't think so, somehow, but stopped in
+midsentence when Harry kicked him hard under the desk.
+
+"We weren't there, remember?" Harry muttered.
+
+But Lockhart's disgusting cheeriness, his hints that he had always
+thought Hagrid was no good, his confidence that the whole business
+was now at an end, irritated Harry so much that he yearned to throw
+Gadding with Ghouls right in Lockhart's stupid face. Instead he
+contented himself with scrawling a note to Ron: Let's do it tonight.
+
+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.
+
+The Gryffindor common room was always very crowded these days,
+because from six o'clock onward the Gryffindors had no -
+
+*270*
+
+where else to go. They also had plenty to talk about, with the result
+that the common room often didn't empty until past midnight.
+
+Harry went to get the Invisibility Cloak out of his trunk right after
+dinner, and spent the evening sitting on it, waiting for the room to
+clear. Fred and George challenged Harry and Ron to a few games of
+Exploding Snap, and Ginny sat watching them, very subdued in
+Hermione's usual chair. Harry and Ron kept losing on purpose, trying
+to finish the games quickly, but even so, it was well past midnight
+when Fred, George, and Ginny finally went to bed.
+
+Harry and Ron waited for the distant sounds of two dormitory doors
+closing before seizing the cloak, throwing it over themselves, and
+climbing through the portrait hole.
+
+It was another difficult journey through the castle, dodging all the
+teachers. At last they reached the entrance hall, slid back the lock on
+the oak front doors, squeezed between them, trying to stop any
+creaking, and stepped out into the moonlit grounds.
+
+"'Course," said Ron abruptly as they strode across the black grass,
+"we might get to the forest and find there's nothing to follow. Those
+spiders might not've been going there at all. I know it looked like they
+were moving in that sort of general direction, but. . ."
+
+His voice trailed away hopefully.
+
+They reached Hagrid's house, sad and sorry-looking with its blank
+windows. When Harry pushed the door open, Fang went mad with joy
+at the sight of them. Worried he might wake everyone at the castle
+with his deep, booming barks, they hastily fed him treacle fudge from
+a tin on the mantelpiece, which glued his teeth together.
+
+Harry left the Invisibility Cloak on Hagrid's table. There would be no
+need for it in the pitch-dark forest.
+
+* 21:L *
+
+"C'mon, Fang, we're going for a walk," said Harry, patting his leg, and
+Fang bounded happily out of the house behind them, dashed to the
+edge of the forest, and lifted his leg against a large sycamore tree.
+
+Harry took out his wand, murmured, "Lumos!" and a tiny light
+appeared at the end of it, just enough to let them watch the path for
+signs of spiders.
+
+"Good thinking," said Ron. "Id light mine, too, but you know - it'd
+probably blow up or something ......
+
+Harry tapped Ron on the shoulder, pointing at the grass. Two solitary
+spiders were hurrying away from the wandlight into the shade of the
+trees.
+
+"Okay," Ron sighed as though resigned to the worst, "I'm ready. Let's
+go."
+
+So, with Fang scampering around them, sniffing tree roots and leaves,
+they entered the forest. By the glow of Harry's wand, they followed
+the steady trickle of spiders moving along the path. They walked
+behind them for about twenty minutes, not speaking, listening hard for
+noises other than breaking twigs and rustling leaves. Then, when the
+trees had become thicker than ever, so that the stars overhead were
+no longer visible, and Harry's wand shone alone in the sea of dark,
+they saw their spider guides leaving the path.
+
+Harry paused, trying to see where the spiders were going, but
+everything outside his little sphere of *light was pitch-black. He had
+never been this deep into the forest before. He could vividly
+remember Hagrid advising him not to leave the forest path last time
+he'd been in here. But Hagrid was miles away now, probably sitting in
+a cell in Azkaban, and he had also said to follow the spiders.
+
+* 2-V2 *
+
+Something wet touched Harry's hand and he jumped backward,
+crushing Rods foot, but it was only Fang's nose.
+
+"What d'you reckon?" Harry said to Ron, whose eyes he could just
+make out, reflecting the light from his wand.
+
+"We've come this far," said Ron.
+
+So they followed the darting shadows of the spiders into the trees.
+They couldn't move very quickly now; there were tree roots and
+stumps in their way, barely visible in the near blackness. Harry could
+feel Fang's hot breath on his hand. More than once, they had to stop,
+so that Harry could crouch down and find the spiders in the wandlight.
+
+They walked for what seemed like at least half an hour, their robes
+snagging on low-slung branches and brambles. After a while, they
+noticed that the ground seemed to be sloping downward, though the
+trees were as thick as ever.
+
+Then Fang suddenly let loose a great, echoing bark, making both Harry
+and Ron jump out of their skins.
+
+"What?" said Ron loudly, looking around into the pitch-dark, and
+gripping Harry's elbow very hard.
+
+"There's something moving over there," Harry breathed. "Listen ...
+sounds like something big ......
+
+They listened. Some distance to their right, the something big was
+snapping branches as it carved a path through the trees.
+
+"Oh, no," said Ron. "Oh, no, oh, no, oh -"
+
+"Shut up," said Harry frantically. "It'll hear you."
+
+"Hear me?" said Ron in an unnaturally high voice. "It's already heard
+Fang!"
+
+The darkness seemed to be pressing on their eyeballs as they
+
+* 273*
+
+stood, terrified, waiting. There was a strange rumbling noise and then
+silence.
+
+"What d'you think it's doing?" said Harry.
+
+"Probably getting ready to pounce," said Ron.
+
+They waited, shivering, hardly daring to move.
+
+"D'you think it's gone?" Harry whispered.
+
+"Dunno -"
+
+Then, to their right, came a sudden blaze of light, so bright in the
+darkness that both of them flung up their hands to shield their eyes.
+Fang yelped and tried to run, but got lodged in a tangle of thorns and
+yelped even louder.
+
+"Harry!" Ron shouted, his voice breaking with relief "Harry, it's our
+car!"
+
+"What?"
+
+"Come on!"
+
+Harry blundered after Ron toward the light, stumbling and tripping,
+and a moment later they had emerged into a clearing.
+
+Mr. Weasley's car was standing, empty, in the middle of a circle of
+thick trees under a roof of dense branches, its headlights ablaze. As
+Ron walked, open-mouthed, toward it, it moved slowly toward him,
+exactly like a large, turquoise dog greeting its owner.
+
+"It's been here all the time!" said Ron delightedly, walking around the
+car. "Look at it. The forest's turned it wild . . . ."
+
+The sides of the car were scratched and smeared with mud.
+Apparently it had taken to trundling around the forest on its own.
+Fang didn't seem at all keen on it; he kept close to Harry, who could
+feel him quivering. His breathing slowing down again, Harry stuffed
+his wand back into his robes.
+
+*214*
+
+"And we thought it was going to attack us!" said Ron, leaning against
+the car and patting it. "I wondered where it had gone!"
+
+Harry squinted around on the floodlit ground for signs of more spiders,
+but they had all scuttled away from the glare of the headlights.
+
+"We've lost the trail," he said. "C'mon, let's go and find them."
+
+Ron didn't speak. He didn't move. His eyes were fixed on a point
+some ten feet above the forest floor, right behind Harry. His face was
+livid with terror.
+
+Harry didn't even have time to turn around. There was a loud clicking
+noise and suddenly he felt something long and hairy seize him around
+the middle and lift him off the ground, so that he was hanging
+facedown. Struggling, terrified, he heard more clicking, and saw Ron's
+legs leave the ground, too, heard Fang whimpering and howling - next
+moment, he was being swept away into the dark trees.
+
+Head hanging, Harry saw that what had hold of him was marching on
+six immensely long, hairy legs, the front two clutching him tightly below
+a pair of shining black pincers. Behind him, he could hear another of
+the creatures, no doubt carrying Ron. They were moving into the very
+heart of the forest. Harry could hear Fang fighting to free himself from
+a third monster, whining loudly, but Harry couldn't have yelled even if
+he had wanted to; he seemed to have left his voice back with the car
+in the clearing.
+
+He never knew how long he was in the creature's clutches; he only
+knew that the darkness suddenly lifted enough for him to see that the
+leaf-strewn ground was now swarming with spiders. Craning his neck
+sideways, he realized that they had reached the ridge of
+
+*21$*
+
+a vast hollow, a hollow that had been cleared of trees, so that the stars
+shone brightly onto the worst scene he had ever laid eyes on.
+
+Spiders. Not tiny spiders like those surging over the leaves below.
+Spiders the size of carthorses, eight-eyed, eight-legged, black, hairy,
+gigantic. The massive specimen that was carrying Harry made its way
+down the steep slope toward a misty, domed web in the very center of
+the hollow, while its fellows closed in all around it, clicking their
+pincers excitedly at the sight of its load.
+
+Harry fell to the ground on all fours as the spider released him. Ron
+and Fang thudded down next to him. Fang wasn't howling anymore,
+but cowering silently on the spot. Ron looked exactly like Harry felt.
+His mouth was stretched wide in a kind of silent scream and his eyes
+were popping.
+
+Harry suddenly realized that the spider that had dropped him was
+saying something. It had been hard to tell, because he clicked his
+pincers with every word he spoke.
+
+"Aragog!" it called. "Aragog!"
+
+And from the middle of the misty, domed web, a spider the size of a
+small elephant emerged, very slowly. There was gray in the black of
+his body and legs, and each of the eyes on his ugly, pincered head was
+milky white. He was blind.
+
+"What is it?" he said, clicking his pincers rapidly.
+
+"Men," clicked the spider who had caught Harry.
+
+"Is it Hagrid?" said Aragog, moving closer, his eight milky eyes
+wandering vaguely.
+
+"Strangers," clicked the spider who had brought Ron.
+
+"Kill them," clicked Aragog fretfully. "I was sleeping ......
+
+"We're friends of Hagrid's," Harry shouted. His heart seemed to have
+left his chest to pound in his throat.
+
+*216*
+
+Click, click, click went the pincers of the spiders all around the hollow.
+
+Aragog paused.
+
+"Hagrid has never sent men into our hollow before," he said slowly.
+
+"Hagrid's in trouble," said Harry, breathing very fast. "That's why
+we've come."
+
+"In trouble?" said the aged spider, and Harry thought he heard concern
+beneath the clicking pincers. "But why has he sent you?"
+
+Harry thought of getting to his feet but decided against it; he didn't
+think his legs would support him. So he spoke from the ground, as
+calmly as he could.
+
+"They think,, up at the school, that Hagrid's been setting a a -
+something on students. They've taken him to Azkaban."
+
+Aragog clicked his pincers furiously, and all around the hollow the
+sound was echoed by the crowd of spiders; it was like applause,
+except applause didn't usually make Harry feel sick with fear.
+
+"But that was years ago," said Aragog fretfully. "Years and years ago.
+I remember it well. That's why they made him leave the school. They
+believed that I was the monster that dwells in what they call the
+Chamber of Secrets. They thought that Hagrid had opened the
+Chamber and set me free."
+
+"And you ... you didn't come from the Chamber of Secrets?" said
+Harry, who could feel cold sweat on his forehead.
+
+"I!" said Aragog, clicking angrily. "I was not born in the castle. I come
+from a distant land. A traveler gave me to Hagrid when I was an egg.
+Hagrid was only a boy, but he cared for me, hidden in a cupboard in
+the castle, feeding me on scraps from the table. Hagrid
+
+2Y
+
+is my good friend, and a good man. When I was discovered, and
+blamed for the death of a girl, he protected me. I have lived here in
+the forest ever since, where Hagrid still visits me. He even found me
+a wife, Mosag, and you see how our family has grown, all through
+Hagrid's goodness ......
+
+Harry summoned what remained of his courage.
+
+"So you never - never attacked anyone?"
+
+"Never," croaked the old spider. "It would have been my instinct, but
+out of respect for Hagrid, I never harmed a human. The body of the
+girl who was killed was discovered in a bathroom. I never saw any
+part of the castle but the cupboard in which I grew up. Our kind like
+the dark and the quiet ......
+
+"But then ... Do you know what did kill that girl?" said Harry.
+"Because whatever it is, it's back and attacking people again -"
+
+His words were drowned by a loud outbreak of clicking and the
+rustling of many long legs shifting angrily; large black shapes shifted
+all around him.
+
+"The thing that lives in the castle," said Aragog, "is an ancient creature
+we spiders fear above all others. Well do I remember how I pleaded
+with Hagrid to let me go, when I sensed the beast moving about the
+school."
+
+"What is it?" said Harry urgently.
+
+More loud clicking, more rustling; the spiders seemed to be closing in.
+
+"We do not speak of it!" said Aragog fiercely. "We do not name it! I
+never even told Hagrid the name of that dread creature, though he
+asked me, many times."
+
+Harry didn't want to press the subject, not with the spiders
+
+* 2-V8 *
+
+pressing closer on all sides. Aragog seemed to be tired of tamng. He
+was backing slowly into his domed web, but his fellow spiders
+continued to inch slowly toward Harry and Ron.
+
+"We'll just go, then," Harry called desperately to Aragog, hearing
+leaves rustling behind him.
+
+"Go?" said Aragog slowly. "I think not ......
+
+"But - but -"
+
+"My sons and daughters do not harm Hagrid, on my command. But I
+cannot deny them fresh meat, when it wanders so willingly into our
+midst. Good-bye, friend of Hagrid."
+
+Harry spun around. Feet away, towering above him, was a solid wall
+of spiders, clicking, their many eyes gleaming in their ugly black heads.
+
+Even as he reached for his wand, Harry knew it was no good, there
+were too many of them, but as he tried to stand, ready to die fighting,
+a loud, long note sounded, and a blaze of light flamed through the
+hollow.
+
+Mr. Weasley's car was thundering down the slope, headlights glaring,
+its horn screeching, knocking spiders aside; several were thrown onto
+their backs, their endless legs waving in the air. The car screeched to
+a halt in front of Harry and Ron and the doors flew open.
+
+"Get Fang!" Harry yelled, diving into the front seat; Ron seized the
+boarhound around the middle and threw him, yelping, into the back of
+the car - the doors slammed shut - Ron didn't touch the accelerator
+but the car didn't need him; the engine roared and they were off,
+hitting more spiders. They sped up the slope, out of the hollow, and
+they were soon crashing through the forest, branches
+
+whipping the windows as the car wound its way cleverly through the
+widest gaps, following a path it obviously knew.
+
+Harry looked sideways at Ron. His mouth was still open in the silent
+scream, but his eyes weren't popping anymore.
+
+"Are you okay?"
+
+Ron stared straight ahead, unable to speak.
+
+They smashed their way through the undergrowth, Fang howling loudly
+in the back seat, and Harry saw the side mirror snap off as they
+squeezed past a large oak. After ten noisy, rocky minutes, the trees
+thinned, and Harry could again see patches of sky.
+
+The car stopped so suddenly that they were nearly thrown into the
+windshield. They had reached the edge of the forest. Fang flung
+himself at the window in his anxiety to get out, and when Harry
+opened the door, he shot off through the trees to Hagrid's house, tail
+between his legs. Harry got out too, and after a minute or so, Ron
+seemed to regain the feeling in his limbs and followed, still stiff-necked
+and staring. Harry gave the car a grateful pat as it reversed back into
+the forest and disappeared from view.
+
+Harry went back into Hagrid's cabin to get the Invisibility Cloak. Fang
+was trembling under a blanket in his basket. When Harry got outside
+again, he found Ron being violently sick in the pumpkin patch.
+
+"Follow the spiders," said Ron weakly, wiping his mouth on his sleeve.
+"I'll never forgive Hagrid. We're lucky to be alive."
+
+"I bet he thought Aragog wouldn't hurt friends of his," said Harry.
+
+"That's exactly Hagrid's problem!" said Ron, thumping the wall of the
+cabin. "He always thinks monsters aren't as bad as they're
+
+*280*
+
+made out, and look where it's got him! A cell in Azkaban!" He was
+shivering uncontrollably now. "What was the point of sending us in
+there? What have we found out, Id like to know?"
+
+"That Hagrid never opened the Chamber of Secrets," said Harry,
+throwing the cloak over Ron and prodding him in the arm to make him
+walk. "He was innocent."
+
+Ron gave a loud snort. Evidently, hatching Aragog in a cupboard
+wasn't his idea of being innocent.
+
+As the castle loomed nearer Harry twitched the cloak to make sure
+their feet were hidden, then pushed the creaking front doors ajar.
+They walked carefully back across the entrance hall and up the
+marble staircase, holding their breath as they passed corridors where
+watchful sentries were walking. At last they reached the safety of the
+Gryffindor common room, where the fire had burned itself into
+glowing ash. They took off the cloak and climbed the winding stair to
+their dormitory.
+
+Ron fell onto his bed without bothering to get undressed. Harry,
+however, didn't feel very sleepy. He sat on the edge of his fourposter,
+thinking hard about everything Aragog had said.
+
+The creature that was lurking somewhere in the castle, he thought,
+sounded like a sort of monster Voldemort - even other monsters didn't
+want to name it. But he and Ron were no closer to finding out what it
+was, or how it Petrified its victims. Even Hagrid had never known
+what was in the Chamber of Secrets.
+
+Harry swung his legs up onto his bed and leaned back against his
+pillows, watching the moon glinting at him through the tower window.
+
+He couldn't see what else they could do. They had hit dead ends
+
+*281*
+
+everywhere. Riddle had caught the wrong person, the Heir of
+Slytherin had got off, and no one could tell whether it was the same
+person, or a different one, who had opened the Chamber this time.
+There was nobody else to ask. Harry lay down, still thinking about
+what Aragog had said.
+
+He was becoming drowsy when what seemed like their very last
+hope occurred to him, and he suddenly sat bolt upright.
+
+"Ron," he hissed through the dark, "Ron -"
+
+Ron woke with a yelp like Fang's, stared wildly around, and saw
+Harry.
+
+"Ron -that girl who died. Aragog said she was found in a bathroom,"
+said Harry, ignoring Neville's snufing snores from the corner. "What
+if she never left the bathroom? What if she's still there?"
+
+Ron rubbed his eyes, frowning through the moonlight. And then he
+understood, too.
+
+"You don't think - not Moaning Myrtle?"
+
+	A ll those times we were in that bathroom, and she was just
+	three toilets away," said Ron bitterly at breakfast next day,
+
+"and we could've asked her, and now. . ."
+
+It had been hard enough trying to look for spiders. Escaping their
+teachers long enough to sneak into a girls' bathroom, the girls' bathroom,
+moreover, right next to the scene of the first attack, was going to be
+almost impossible.
+
+But something happened in their first lesson, Transfiguration, that drove
+the Chamber of Secrets out of their minds for the first time in weeks.
+Ten minutes into the class, Professor McGonagall told them that their
+exams would start on the first of June, one week from today.
+
+`Exams?" howled Seamus Finnigan. "We're still getting exams?"
+
+There was a loud bang behind Harry as Neville Longbottom's wand
+slipped, vanishing one of the legs on his desk. Professorr
+
+*28%*
+
+
+
+McGonagall restored it with a wave of her own wand, and turned,
+frowning, to Seamus.
+
+"The whole point of keeping the school open at this time is for you to
+receive your education," she said sternly. "The exams will therefore
+take place as usual, and I trust you are all studying hard."
+
+Studying hard! It had never occurred to Harry that there would be
+exams with the castle in this state. There was a great deal of mutinous
+muttering around the room, which made Professor McGonagall scowl
+even more darkly.
+
+"Professor Dumbledore's instructions were to keep the school running
+as normally as possible, she said. "And that, I need hardly point out,
+means finding out how much you have learned this year.
+
+Harry looked down at the pair of white rabbits he was supposed to be
+turning into slippers. What had he learned so far this year? He couldn't
+seem to think of anything that would be useful in an exam.
+
+Ron looked as though he'd just been told he had to go and live in the
+Forbidden Forest.
+
+"Can you imagine me taking exams with this?" he asked Harry, holding
+up his wand, which had just started whistling loudly.
+
+Three days before their first exam, Professor McGonagall made
+another announcement at breakfast.
+
+"I have good news," she said, and the Great Hall, instead of falling
+silent, erupted.
+
+"Dumbledore's coming back!" several people yelled joyfully.
+
+"You've caught the Heir of Slytherin!" squealed a girl at the
+Ravenclaw table.
+
+284*
+
+"Quidditch matches are back on!" roared Wood excitedly.
+
+When the hubbub had subsided, Professor McGonagall said,
+"Professor Sprout has informed me that the Mandrakes are ready for
+cutting at last. Tonight, we will be able to revive those people who
+have been Petrified. I need hardly remind you all that one of them may
+well be able to tell us who, or what, attacked them. I am hopeful that
+this dreadful year will end with our catching the culprit."
+
+There was an explosion of cheering. Harry looked over at the
+Slytherin table and wasn't at all surprised to see that Draco Malfoy
+hadn't joined in. Ron, however, was looking happier than he'd looked in
+days.
+
+"It won't matter that we never asked Myrtle, then!" he said to Harry.
+"Hermione'll probably have all the answers when they wake her up!
+Mind you, she'll go crazy when she finds out we've got exams in three
+days' time. She hasn't studied. It might be kinder to leave her where
+she is till they're over."
+
+Just then, Ginny Weasley came over and sat down next to Ron. She
+looked tense and nervous, and Harry noticed that her hands were
+twisting in her lap.
+
+"What's up?" said Ron, helping himself to more porridge.
+
+Ginny didn't say anything, but glanced up and down the Gryffindor
+table with a scared look on her face that reminded Harry of someone,
+though he couldn't think who.
+
+"Spit it out," said Ron, watching her.
+
+Harry suddenly realized who Ginny looked like. She was rocking
+backward and forward slightly in her chair, exactly like Dobby did
+when he was teetering on the edge of revealing forbidden information.
+
+"I've got to tell you something," Ginny mumbled, carefully not looking at
+Harry.
+
+"What is it?" said Harry.
+
+Ginny looked as though she couldn't find the right words.
+
+"What?"said Ron.
+
+Ginny opened her mouth, but no sound came out. Harry leaned
+forward and spoke quietly, so that only Ginny and Ron could hear him.
+
+"Is it something about the Chamber of Secrets? Have you seen
+something? Someone acting oddly?"
+
+Ginny drew a deep breath and, at that precise moment, Percy Weasley
+appeared, looking tired and wan.
+
+"If you've finished eating, I'll take that seat, Ginny. I'm starving, I've
+only just come off patrol duty."
+
+Ginny jumped up as though her chair had just been electrified, gave
+Percy a fleeting, frightened look, and scampered away. Percy sat
+down and grabbed a mug from the center of the table.
+
+"Percy!" said Ron angrily. "She was just about to tell us some-' thing
+important!"
+
+Halfway through a gulp of tea, Percy choked.
+
+"What sort of thing?" he said, coughing.
+
+"I just asked her if she'd seen anything odd, and she started to say
+
+"Oh - that - that's nothing to do with the Chamber of Secrets," said
+Percy at once.
+
+"How do you know?" said Ron, his eyebrows raised.
+
+"Well, er, if you must know, Ginny, er, walked in on me the other day
+when I was - well, never mind - the point is, she spot
+
+ted me doing something and I, um, I asked her not to mention it to
+anybody. I must say, I did think she'd keep her word. It's nothing,
+really, Id just rather -"
+
+Harry had never seen Percy look so uncomfortable.
+
+"What were you doing, Percy?" said Ron, grinning. "Go on, tell us, we
+won't laugh."
+
+Percy didn't smile back.
+
+"Pass me those rolls, Harry, I'm starving."
+
+Harry knew the whole mystery might be solved tomorrow without
+their help, but he wasn't about to pass up a chance to speak to Myrtle
+if it turned up - and to his delight it did, midmorning, when they were
+being led to History of Magic by Gilderoy Lockhart.
+
+Lockhart, who had so often assured them that all danger had passed,
+only to be proved wrong right away, was now wholeheartedly
+convinced that it was hardly worth the trouble to see them safely
+down the corridors. His hair wasn't as sleek as usual; it seemed he
+had been up most of the night, patrolling the fourth floor.
+
+"Mark my words," he said, ushering them around a corner. "The first
+words out of those poor Petrified people's mouths will be It was
+Hagrid.' Frankly, I'm astounded Professor McGonagall thinks all
+these security measures are necessary."
+
+(ti agree, sir," said Harry, making Ron drop his books in surprise.
+
+"Thank you, Harry, said Lockhart graciously while they waited for a
+long line of Hufflepuffs to pass. "I mean, we teachers have quite
+enough to be getting on with, without walking students to classes and
+standing guard all night ......
+
+"That's right," said Ron, catching on. "Why don't you leave us here, sir,
+we've only got one more corridor to go -"
+
+"You know, Weasley, I think I will," said Lockhart. "I really should go
+and prepare my next class -"
+
+And he hurried off.
+
+"Prepare his class," Ron sneered after him. "Gone to curl his hair,
+more like."
+
+They let the rest of the Gryffindors draw ahead of them, then darted
+down a side passage and hurried off toward Moaning Myrtle's
+bathroom. But just as they were congratulating each other on their
+brilliant scheme
+
+"Potter! Weasley! What are you doing?"
+
+It was Professor McGonagall, and her mouth was the thinnest of thin
+lines.
+
+"We were -we were-" Ron stammered. "We were going to - to go and
+see -"
+
+"Hermione," said Harry. Ron and Professor McGonagall both looked
+at him.
+
+"We haven't seen her for ages, Professor," Harry went on hurriedly,
+treading on Ron's foot, "and we thought we'd sneak into the hospital
+wing, you know, and tell her the Mandrakes are nearly ready and, er,
+not to worry -"
+
+Professor McGonagall was still staring at him, and for a moment,
+Harry thought she was going to explode, but when she spoke, it was in
+a strangely croaky voice.
+
+"Of course," she said, and Harry, amazed, saw a tear glistening in her
+beady eye. "Of course, I realize this has all been hardest on the friends
+of those who have been ... I quite understand. Yes,
+
+Potter, of course you may visit Miss Granger. I will inform Professor
+Binns where you've gone. Tell Madam Pomfrey I have given my
+permission."
+
+Harry and Ron walked away, hardly daring to believe that they'd
+avoided detention. As they turned the corner, they distinctly heard
+Professor McGonagall blow her nose.
+
+"That," said Ron fervently, "was the best story you've ever come up
+with."
+
+They had no choice now but to go to the hospital wing and tell Madam
+Pomfrey that they had Professor McGonagall's permission to visit
+Hermione.
+
+Madam Pomfrey let them in, but reluctantly.
+
+"There's just no point talking to a Petrified. person," she said, and they
+had to admit she had a point when they'd taken their seats next to
+Hermione. It was plain that Hermione didn't have the faintest inkling
+that she had visitors, and that they might just as well tell her bedside
+cabinet not to worry for all the good it would do.
+
+"Wonder if she did see the attacker, though?" said Ron, looking sadly
+at Hermione's rigid face. "Because if he sneaked up on them all, no
+one'll ever know . .....
+
+But Harry wasn't looking at Hermione's face. He was more interested
+in her right hand. It lay clenched on top of her blankets, and bending
+closer, he saw that a piece of paper was scrunched inside her fist.
+
+Making sure that Madam Pomfrey was nowhere near, he pointed this
+out to Ron.
+
+"TG and get it out," Ron whispered, shifting his chair so that he
+blocked Harry from Madam Pomfrey's view.
+
+It was no easy task. Hermione's hand was clamped so tightly around
+the paper that Harry was sure he was going to tear it. While Ron kept
+watch he tugged and twisted, and at last, after several tense minutes,
+the paper came free.
+
+It was a page torn from a very old library book. Harry smoothed it out
+eagerly and Ron leaned close to read it, too.
+
+Of the many fearsome beasts and monsters that roam our land,
+there is none more curious or more deadly than the Basilisk,
+known also as the King of Serpents. This snake, which may
+reach gigantic size and live many hundreds of years, is born
+
+from a chicken's egg, hatched beneath a toad. Its methods of killing are
+most wondrous, for aside from its deadly and venomous fangs, the Basilisk
+has a murderous stare, and all who are fixed with the beam of its eye shall
+suffer instant death. Spiders flee before the Basilisk, for it is their mortal
+enemy, and the Basilisk flees only from the crowing of the rooster, which is
+fatal to it.
+
+And beneath this, a single word had been written, in a hand Harry
+recognized as Hermione's. Pipes.
+
+It was as though somebody had just flicked a light on in his brain.
+
+"Ron," he breathed. "This is it. This is the answer. The monster in the
+Chamber's a basilisk - a giant serpent! That why I've been hearing
+that voice all over the place, and nobody else has heard it. It's because
+I understand Parseltongue . . . ."
+
+Harry looked up at the beds around him.
+
+"The basilisk kills people by looking at them. But no one's died -
+because no one looked it straight in the eye. Colin saw it through his
+camera. The basilisk burned up all the film inside it, but Colin just got
+Petrified. Justin . . . Justin must've seen the basilisk through Nearly
+Headless Nick! Nick got the full blast of it, but he couldn't die again .
+. . and Hermione and that Ravenclaw prefect were found with a
+mirror next to them. Hermione had just realized the monster was a
+basilisk. I bet you anything she warned the first person she met to
+look around corners with a mirror first! And that girl pulled out her
+mirror - and -"
+
+Rods jaw had dropped.
+
+"And Mrs. Norris?" he whispered eagerly.
+
+Harry thought hard, picturing the scene on the night of Halloween.
+
+"The water. . ." he said slowly. "The flood from Moaning Myrtle's
+bathroom. I bet you Mrs. Norris only saw the reflection . . . ."
+
+He scanned the page in his hand eagerly. The more he looked at it,
+the more it made sense.
+
+`: . . The crowing of the rooster . . . is fatal to it"! he read aloud. "Hagrid's
+roosters were killed! The Heir of Slytherin didn't want one anywhere
+near the castle once the Chamber was opened! Spidersflee before it.! It
+all fits!"
+
+"But how's the basilisk been getting around the place?" said Ron. "A
+giant snake . . . Someone would've seen. . ."
+
+Harry, however, pointed at the word Hermione had scribbled at the
+foot of the page.
+
+"Pipes," he said. "Pipes . . . Ron, it's been using the plumbing. I've
+been hearing that voice inside the walls . . . ."
+
+291*
+
+Ron suddenly grabbed Harry's arm.
+"The entrance to the Chamber of Secrets!" he said hoarsely.
+"What if it's a bathroom? What if it's in -"
+`= Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, "said Harry.
+They sat there, excitement coursing through them, hardly able
+to believe it.
+"This means," said Harry, "I can't be the only Parselmouth in
+the school. The Heir of Slytherin's one, too. That's how he's been
+controlling the basilisk."
+"What're we going to do?" said Ron, whose eyes were flashing.
+"Should we go straight to McGonagall?"
+"Let's go to the staff room," said Harry, jumping up. "She'll be
+there in ten minutes. It's nearly break."
+They ran downstairs. Not wanting to be discovered hanging
+around in another corridor, they went straight into the deserted
+staff room. It was a large, paneled room full of dark, wooden chairs.
+Harry and Ron paced around it, too excited to sit down.
+But the bell to signal break never came.
+Instead, echoing through the corridors came Professor McGon
+agall's voice, magically magnified.
+`All students to return to their House dormitories at once. All teach
+ers return to the staff room. Immediately, please. "
+
+Harry wheeled around to stare at Ron.
+"Not another attack? Not now?"
+"What'll we do?" said Ron, aghast. "Go back to the dormitory?"
+"No," said Harry, glancing around. There was an ugly sort of
+wardrobe to his left, full of the teachers' cloaks. "In here. Let's hear
+what it's all about. Then we can tell them what we've found out."
+
+They hid themselves inside it, listening to the rumbling of hundreds of
+people moving overhead, and the staff room door banging open.
+From between the musty folds of the cloaks, they watched the
+teachers filtering into the room. Some of them were looking puzzled,
+others downright scared. Then Professor McGonagall arrived.
+
+"It has happened," she told the silent staff room. "A student has been
+taken by the monster. Right into the Chamber itself."
+
+Professor Flitwick let out a squeal. Professor Sprout clapped her
+hands over her mouth. Snape gripped the back of a chair very hard
+and said, "How can you be sure?"
+
+"The Heir of Slytherin," said Professor McGonagall, who was very
+white, "left another message. Right underneath the first one. `Her
+skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever. "'
+
+Professor Flitwick burst into tears.
+
+"Who is it?" said Madam Hooch, who had sunk, weak-kneed, into a
+chair. "Which student?"
+
+"Ginny Weasley," said Professor McGonagall.
+
+Harry felt Ron slide silently down onto the wardrobe floor beside
+him.
+
+"We shall have to send all the students home tomorrow," said
+Professor McGonagall. "This is the end of Hogwarts. Dumbledore
+always said. . ."
+
+The staffroom door banged open again. For one wild moment,
+Harry was sure it would be Dumbledore. But it was Lockhart, and
+he was beaming.
+
+"So sorry - dozed off - what have I missed?"
+
+He didn't seem to notice that the other teachers were looking at him
+with something remarkably like hatred. Snape stepped forward.
+
+"Just the man," he said. "The very man. A girl has been snatched by
+the monster, Lockhart. Taken into the Chamber of Secrets itself. Your
+moment has come at last."
+
+Lockhart blanched.
+
+"That's right, Gilderoy," chipped in Professor Sprout. "Weren't you
+saying just last night that you've known all along where the entrance to
+the Chamber of Secrets is?"
+
+"I - well, I -"sputtered Lockhart.
+
+"Yes, didn't you tell me you were sure you knew what was inside it?"
+piped up Professor Flitwick.
+
+"D-did I? I don't recall -"
+
+"I certainly remember you saying you were sorry you hadn't had a
+crack at the monster before Hagrid was arrested," said Snape. "Didn't
+you say that the whole affair had been bungled, and that you should
+have been given a free rein from the first?"
+
+Lockhart stared around at his stony-faced colleagues.
+
+"I - I really never - you may have misunderstood -"
+
+"We'll leave it to you, then, Gilderoy," said Professor McGonagall.
+"Tonight will be an excellent time to do it. We'll make sure everyone's
+out of your way. You'll be able to tackle the monster all by youself. A
+free rein at last."
+
+Lockhart gazed desperately around him, but nobody came to the
+rescue. He didn't look remotely handsome anymore. His lip was
+trembling, and in the absence of his usually toothy grin, he looked
+weak-chinned and feeble.
+
+"V very well," he said. "I'll - I'll be in my office, getting getting ready."
+
+And he left the room.
+
+"Right," said Professor McGonagall, whose nostrils were flared,
+
+"that's got him out from under our feet. The Heads of Houses should
+go and inform their students what has happened. Tell them the
+Hogwarts Express will take them home first thing tomorrow. Will the
+rest of you please make sure no students have been left outside their
+dormitories."
+
+The teachers rose and left, one by one.
+
+It was probably the worst day of Harry's entire life. He, Ron, Fred,
+and George sat together in a corner of the Gryffindor common room,
+unable to say anything to each other. Percy wasn't there. He had gone
+to send an owl to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, then shut himself up in his
+dormitory.
+
+No afternoon ever lasted as long as that one, nor had Gryffindor
+Tower ever been so crowded, yet so quiet. Near sunset, Fred and
+George went up to bed, unable to sit there any longer.
+
+"She knew something, Harry," said Ron, speaking for the first time
+since they had entered the wardrobe in the staff room. "That's why
+she was taken. It wasn't some stupid thing about Percy at all., She'd
+found out something about the Chamber of Secrets. That must be why
+she was -" Ron rubbed his eyes frantically. "I mean, she was a pure-
+blood. There can't be any other reason."
+
+Harry could see the sun sinking, blood-red, below the skyline. This was
+the worst he had ever felt. If only there was something they could do.
+Anything.
+
+"Harry" said Ron. "D'you think there's any chance at all she's not - you
+know ="
+
+Harry didn't know what to say. He couldn't see how Ginny could still
+be alive.
+
+"D'you know what?" said Ron. "I think we should go and see
+
+*295*
+
+Lockhart. Tell him what we know. He's going to try and get into the
+Chamber. We can tell him where we think it is, and tell him it's a
+basilisk in there."
+
+Because Harry couldn't think of anything else to do, and because he
+wanted to be doing something, he agreed. The Gryffindors around
+them were so miserable, and felt so sorry for the Weasleys, that
+nobody tried to stop them as they got up, crossed the room, and left
+through the portrait hole.
+
+Darkness was falling as they walked down to Lockhart's office.
+There seemed to be a lot of activity going on inside it. They could hear
+scraping, thumps, and hurried footsteps.
+
+Harry knocked and there was a sudden silence from inside. Then the
+door opened the tiniest crack and they saw one of Lockhart's eyes
+peering through it.
+
+"Oh - Mr. Potter - Mr. Weasley -" he said, opening the door a bit
+wider. "I'm rather busy at the moment - if you would be quick -"
+
+"Professor, we've got some information for you," said Harry. "We
+think it'll help you."
+
+"Er - well - it's not terribly -" The side of Lockhart's face that they
+could see looked very uncomfortable. "I mean - well all right -"
+
+He opened the door and they entered.
+
+His office had been almost completely stripped. Two large trunks
+stood open on the floor. Robes, jade-green, lilac, midnightblue, had
+been hastily folded into one of them; books were jumbled untidily into
+the other. The photographs that had covered the walls were now
+crammed into boxes on the desk.
+
+*296*
+
+"Are you going somewhere?" said Harry.
+
+"Er, well, yes," said Lockhart, ripping a life-size poster of himself from
+the back of the door as he spoke and starting to roll it up. "Urgent call -
+unavoidable - got to go -"
+
+"What about my sister?" said Ron jerkily.
+
+"Well, as to that - most unfortunate -" said Lockhart, avoiding their
+eyes as he wrenched open a drawer and started emptying the contents
+into a bag. "No one regrets more than I -"
+
+"You're the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher!" said Harry.
+"You can't go now! Not with all the Dark stuff going on here!"
+
+"Well - I must say - when I took the job -" Lockhart muttered, now
+piling socks on top of his robes. "nothing in the job description - didn't
+expect -"
+
+"You mean you're running away?" said Harry disbelievingly. "After all
+that stuff you did in your books -"
+
+"Books can be misleading," said Lockhart delicately.
+
+"You wrote them!" Harry shouted.
+
+"My dear boy," said Lockhart, straightening up and frowning at Harry.
+"Do use your common sense. My books wouldn't have sold half as
+well if people didn't think Id done all those things. No one wants to
+read about some ugly old Armenian warlock, even if he did save a
+village from werewolves. He'd look dreadful on the front cover. No
+dress sense at all. And the witch who banished the Bandon Banshee
+had a harelip. I mean, come on -"
+
+"So you've just been taking credit for what a load of other people have
+done?" said Harry incredulously.
+
+"Harry, Harry," said Lockhart, shaking his head impatiently, "it's not
+nearly as simple as that. There was work involved. I had
+
+*297*
+
+to track these people down. Ask them exactly how they managed to
+do what they did. Then I had to put a Memory Charm on them so they
+wouldn't remember doing it. If there's one thing I pride myself on, it's
+my Memory Charms. No, it's been a lot of work, Harry. It's not all
+book signings and publicity photos, you know. You want fame, you
+have to be prepared for a long hard slog."
+
+He banged the lids of his trunks shut and locked them.
+
+"Let's see," he said. "I think that's everything. Yes. Only one thing
+left."
+
+He pulled out his wand and turned to them.
+
+"Awfully sorry, boys, but I'll have to put a Memory Charm on you
+now. Can't have you blabbing my secrets all over the place. Id never
+sell another book -"
+
+Harry reached his wand just in time. Lockhart had barely raised his,
+when Harry bellowed, "Expelliarmus!"
+
+Lockhart was blasted backward, falling over his trunk; his wand flew
+high into the air; Ron caught it, and flung it out of the open window.
+
+"Shouldn't have let Professor Snape teach us that one," said Harry
+furiously, kicking Lockhart's trunk aside. Lockhart was looking up at
+him, feeble once more. Harry was still pointing his wand at him.
+
+"What d'you want me to do?" said Lockhart weakly. "I don't know
+where the Chamber of Secrets is. There's nothing I can do."
+
+"You're in luck," said Harry, forcing Lockhart to his feet at wandpoint.
+"We think we know where it is. And what's inside it. Let's go."
+
+*298*
+
+They marched Lockhart out of his office and down the nearest stairs,
+along the dark corridor where the messages shone on the wall, to the
+door of Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.
+
+They sent Lockhart in first. Harry was pleased to see that he was
+shaking.
+
+Moaning Myrtle was sitting on the tank of the end toilet.
+
+"Oh, it's you," she said when she saw Harry. "What do you want this
+time?"
+
+"To ask you how you died," said Harry.
+
+Myrtle's whole aspect changed at once. She looked as though she had
+never been asked such a flattering question.
+
+"Ooooh, it was dreadful," she said with relish. "It happened right in
+here. I died in this very stall. I remember it so well. Id hidden because
+Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses. The door was locked,
+and I was crying, and then I heard somebody come in. They said
+something funny. A different language, I think it must have been.
+Anyway, what really got me was that it was a boy speaking. So I
+unlocked the door, to tell him to go and use his own toilet, and then -"
+Myrtle swelled importantly, her face shining. "I died."
+
+"How?" said Harry.
+
+"No idea," said Myrtle in hushed tones. "I just remember seeing a pair
+of great, big, yellow eyes. My whole body sort of seized up, and then I
+was floating away . . . ." She looked dreamily at Harry. "And then I
+came back again. I was determined to haunt Olive Hornby, you see.
+Oh, she was sorry she'd ever laughed at my glasses."
+
+"Where exactly did you see the eyes?" said Harry.
+
+*299*
+
+"Somewhere there," said Myrtle, pointing vaguely toward the sink in
+front of her toilet.
+
+Harry and Ron hurried over to it. Lockhart was standing well back, a
+look of utter terror on his face.
+
+It looked like an ordinary sink. They examined every inch of it, inside
+and out, including the pipes below. And then Harry saw it: Scratched
+on the side of one of the copper taps was a tiny snake.
+
+"That tap's never worked," said Myrtle brightly as he tried to turn it.
+
+"Harry," said Ron. "Say something. Something in Parseltongue."
+
+"But -" Harry thought hard. The only times he'd ever managed to
+speak Parseltongue were when he'd been faced with a real snake. He
+stared hard at the tiny- engraving, trying to imagine it was real.
+
+"Open up," he said.
+
+He looked at Ron, who shook his head.
+
+"English," he said.
+
+Harry looked back at the snake, willing himself to believe it was alive.
+If he moved his head, the candlelight made it look as though it were
+moving.
+
+"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.
+
+Harry heard Ron gasp and looked up again. He had made up his mind
+what he was going to do.
+
+*300*
+
+"I'm going down there," he said. .
+
+He couldn't not go, not now they had found the entrance to the
+Chamber, not if there was even the faintest, slimmest, wildest chance
+that Ginny might be alive.
+
+"Me too," said Ron.
+
+There was a pause.
+
+"Well, you hardly seem to need me," said Lockhart, with a shadow
+of his old smile. "I'll just -"
+
+He put his hand on the door knob, but Ron and Harry both pointed
+their wands at him.
+
+"You can go first," Ron snarled.
+
+White-faced and wandless, Lockhart approached the opening.
+
+"Boys," he said, his voice feeble. "Boys, what good will it do?"
+
+Harry jabbed him in the back with his wand. Lockhart slid his legs
+into the pipe.
+
+"I really don't think -" he started to say, but Ron gave him a push,
+and he slid out of sight. Harry followed quickly. He lowered himself
+slowly into the pipe, then let go.
+
+It was like rushing down an endless, slimy, dark slide. He could see
+more pipes branching off in all directions, but none as large as theirs,
+which twisted and turned, sloping steeply downward, and he knew
+that he was falling deeper below the school than even the dungeons.
+Behind him he could hear Ron, thudding slightly at the curves.
+
+And then, just as he had begun to worry about what would happen
+when he hit the ground, the pipe leveled out, and he shot out of the
+end with a wet thud, landing on the damp floor of a dark stone tunnel
+large enough to stand in. Lockhart was getting to his
+
+*301
+
+feet a little ways away, covered in slime and white as a ghost. Harry
+stood aside as Ron came whizzing out of the pipe, too.
+
+"We must be miles under the school," said Harry, his voice echoing in
+the black tunnel.
+
+"Under the lake, probably," said Ron, squinting around at the dark,
+slimy walls.
+
+All three of them turned to stare into the darkness ahead.
+
+"Lumos!" Harry muttered to his wand and it lit again. "C'mon," he
+said to Ron and Lockhart, and off they went, their footsteps slapping
+loudly on the wet floor.
+
+The tunnel was so dark that they could only see a little distance ahead.
+Their shadows on the wet walls looked monstrous in the wandlight.
+
+"Remember," Harry said quietly as they walked cautiously forward,
+"any sign of movement, close your eyes right away . .....
+
+But the tunnel was quiet as the grave, and the first unexpected sound
+they heard was a loud crunch as Ron stepped on what turned out to be
+a rat's skull. Harry lowered his wand to look at the floor and saw that
+it was littered with small animal bones. Trying very hard not to
+imagine what Ginny might look like if they found her, Harry led the
+way forward, around a dark bend in the tunnel.
+
+"Harry - there's something up there -" said Ron hoarsely, grabbing
+Harry's shoulder.
+
+They froze, watching. Harry could just see the outline of something
+huge and curved, lying right across the tunnel. It wasn't moving.
+
+"Maybe it's asleep," he breathed, glancing back at the other two.
+Lockhart's hands were pressed over his eyes. Harry turned back to
+look at the thing, his heart beating so fast it hurt.
+
+* 302 *
+
+Very slowly, his eyes as narrow as he could make them and still see,
+Harry edged forward, his wand held high.
+
+The light slid over a gigantic snake skin, of a vivid, poisonous green,
+lying curled and empty across the tunnel floor. The creature that had
+shed it must have been twenty feet long at least.
+
+"Blimey," said Ron weakly.
+
+There was a sudden movement behind them. Gilderoy Lockhart's
+knees had given way.
+
+"Get up," said Ron sharply, pointing his wand at Lockhart.
+
+Lockhart got to his feet - then he dived at Ron, knocking him to the
+ground.
+
+Harry jumped forward, but too late - Lockhart was straightening up,
+panting, Ron's wand in his hand and a gleaming smile back on his
+face.
+
+"The adventure ends here, boys!" he said. "I shall take a bit of this
+skin back up to the school, tell them I was too late to save the girl,
+and that you two tragically lost your minds at the sight of her
+mangled body - say good-bye to your memories!"
+
+He raised Ron's Spellotaped wand high over his head and yelled,
+"Obliviate!"
+
+The wand exploded with the force of a small bomb. Harry flung his
+arms over his head and ran, slipping over the coils of snake skin, out
+of the way of great chunks of tunnel ceiling that were thundering to
+the floor. Next moment, he was standing alone, gazing at a solid wall
+of broken rock.
+
+"Ron!" he shouted. "Are you okay? Ron!"
+
+"I'm here!" came Ron's muffled voice from behind the rockfall. "I'm
+okay - this git's not, though - he got blasted by the wand ='
+
+*303*
+
+There was a dull thud and a loud "ow!" It sounded as though Ron had
+just kicked Lockhart in the shins.
+
+"What now?" Ron's voice said, sounding desperate. "We can't get
+through - it'll take ages ......
+
+Harry looked up at the tunnel ceiling. Huge cracks had appeared in it.
+He had never tried to break apart anything as large as these rocks by
+magic, and now didn't seem a good moment to try - what if the whole
+tunnel caved in?
+
+There was another thud and another "ow!" from behind the rocks.
+They were wasting time. Ginny had already been in the Chamber of
+Secrets for hours .... Harry knew there was only one thing to do.
+
+"Wait there," he called to Ron. "Wait with Lockhart. I'll go on.... If I'm
+not back in an hour. . .
+
+There was a very pregnant pause,
+
+"I'll try and shift some of this rock," said Ron, who seemed to be trying
+to keep his voice steady. "So you can - can get back through. And,
+Harry -"
+
+"See you in a bit," said Harry, trying to inject some confidence into his
+shaking voice.
+
+And he set off alone past the giant snake skin.
+
+Soon the distant noise of Ron straining to shift the rocks was gone.
+The tunnel turned and turned again. Every nerve in Harry's body was
+tingling unpleasantly. He wanted the tunnel to end, yet dreaded what
+he'd find when it did. And then, at last, as he crept around yet another
+bend, he saw a solid wall ahead on which two entwined serpents were
+carved, their eyes set with great, glinting emeralds.
+
+*304*
+
+Harry approached, his throat very dry. There was no need to pretend
+these stone snakes were real; their eyes looked strangely alive.
+
+He could guess what he had to do. He cleared his throat, and the
+emerald eyes seemed to flicker.
+
+"Open, "said Harry, in a low, faint hiss.
+
+The serpents parted as the wall cracked open, the halves slid smoothly
+out of sight, and Harry, shaking from head to foot, walked inside.
+
+e was standing at the end of a very long, dimly lit chamber. Towering
+stone pillars entwined with more carved serpents rose to support a
+ceiling lost in darkness, casting long, black shadows through the odd,
+greenish gloom that filled the place.
+
+His heart beating very fast, Harry stood listening to the chill silence.
+Could the basilisk be lurking in a shadowy corner, behind a pillar? And
+where was Ginny?
+
+He pulled out his wand and moved forward between the serpentine
+columns. Every careful footstep echoed loudly off the shadowy walls.
+He kept his eyes narrowed, ready to clamp them shut at the smallest
+sign of movement. The hollow eye sockets of the stone snakes
+seemed to be following him. More than once, with a jolt of the
+stomach, he thought he saw one stir.
+
+Then, as he drew level with the last pair of pillars, a statue high as the
+Chamber itself loomed into view, standing against the back wall.
+
+*306*
+
+
+
+Harry had to crane his neck to look up into the giant face above: It
+was ancient and monkeyish, with a long, thin beard that fell almost to
+the bottom of the wizard's sweeping stone robes, where two
+enormous gray feet stood on the smooth Chamber floor. And between
+the feet, facedown, lay a small, black-robed figure with flaming-red
+hair.
+
+"tinny!" Harry muttered, sprinting to her and dropping to his knees.
+"tinny - don't be dead - please don't be dead -" He flung his wand
+aside, grabbed Ginny's shoulders, and turned her over. Her face was
+white as marble, and as cold, yet her eyes were closed, so she wasn't
+Petrified. But then she must be
+
+"Ginny, please wake up," Harry muttered desperately, shaking her.
+Ginny's head lolled hopelessly from side to side.
+
+"She won't wake," said a soft voice.
+
+Harry jumped and spun around on his knees.
+
+A tall, black-haired boy was leaning against the nearest pillar,
+watching. He was strangely blurred around the edges, as though
+Harry were looking at him through a misted window. But there was
+no mistaking him
+
+"Tom - Tom Riddle?"
+
+Riddle nodded, not taking his eyes off Harry's face.
+
+"What d'you mean, she won't wake?" Harry said desperately. "She's
+not - she's not -?"
+
+"She's still alive," said Riddle. "But only just."
+
+Harry stared at him. Tom Riddle had been at Hogwarts fifty years
+ago, yet here he stood, a weird, misty light shining about him, not a day
+older than sixteen.
+
+"Are you a ghost?" Harry said uncertainly.
+
+* 30 7*
+
+"A memory," said Riddle quietly. "Preserved in a diary for fifty years.
+
+He pointed toward the floor near the statue's giant toes. Lying open
+there was the little black diary Harry had found in Moaning Myrtle's
+bathroom. For a second, Harry wondered how it had got there - but
+there were more pressing matters to deal with.
+
+"You've got to help me, Tom," Harry said, raising Ginny's head again.
+"We've got to get her out of here. There's a basilisk ... I don't know
+where it is, but it could be along any moment .... Please, help me -1)
+
+Riddle didn't move. Harry, sweating, managed to hoist Ginny half off
+the floor, and bent to pick up his wand again.
+
+But his wand had gone.
+
+"Did you see -?"
+
+He looked up. Riddle was still watching him - twirling Harry's wand
+between his long fingers.
+
+"Thanks," said Harry, stretching out his hand for it.
+
+A smile curled the corners of Riddle's mouth. He continued to stare at
+Harry, twirling the wand idly.
+
+"Listen," said Harry urgently, his knees sagging with Ginny's dead
+weight. "We've got to go! If the basilisk comes -"
+
+"It won't come until it is called," said Riddle calmly.
+
+Harry lowered Ginny back onto the floor, unable to hold her up any
+longer.
+
+"What d'you mean?" he said. "Look, give me my wand, I might need it
+-"
+
+Riddle's smile broadened.
+
+"You won't be needing it," he said.
+
+*%08*
+
+Harry stared at him.
+
+"What d'you mean, I won't be -?"
+
+"I've waited a long time for this, Harry Potter," said Riddle. "For the
+chance to see you. To speak to you."
+
+"Look," said Harry, losing patience, "I don't think you get it. We're in
+the Chamber of Secrets. We can talk later -"
+
+"We're going to talk now," said Riddle, still smiling broadly, and he
+pocketed Harry's wand.
+
+Harry stared at him. There was something very funny going on here
+....
+
+"How did Ginny get like this?" he asked slowly.
+
+"Well, that's an interesting question," said Riddle pleasantly. "And quite
+a long story. I suppose the real reason Ginny Weasley's like this is
+because she opened her heart and spilled all her secrets to an invisible
+stranger."
+
+"What are you talking about?" said Harry.
+
+"The diary," said Riddle. `My diary. Little Ginny's been writing in it for
+months and months, telling me all her pitiful worries and woes - how
+her brothers tease her, how she had to come to school with
+secondhand robes and books, how" -Riddle's eyes glinted "how she
+didn't think famous, good, great Harry Potter would ever like her . . . ."
+
+All the time he spoke, Riddle's eyes never left Harry's face. There
+was an almost hungry look in them.
+
+"It's very boring, having to listen to the silly little troubles of an eleven-
+year-old girl," he went on. "But I was patient. I wrote back. I was
+sympathetic, I was kind. Ginny simply loved me. No one's ever
+understood me like you, Tom .... I'm so glad I've got this diary to
+
+*309*
+
+confide in .... It's like having a friend I can carry around in my pocket . . . .
+
+Riddle laughed, a high, cold laugh that didn't suit him. It made the hairs
+stand up on the back of Harry's neck.
+
+"If I say it myself, Harry, I've always been able to charm the people I
+needed. So Ginny poured out her soul to me, and her soul happened to
+be exactly what I wanted .... I grew stronger and stronger on a diet of
+her deepest fears, her darkest secrets. I grew powerful, far more
+powerful than little Miss Weasley. Powerful enough to start feeding
+Miss Weasley a few of my secrets, to start pouring a little of my soul
+back into her. . ."
+
+"What d'you mean?" said Harry, whose mouth had gone very dry.
+
+" Haven't you guessed yet, Harry Potter?" said Riddle softly. "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.
+
+"No," Harry whispered.
+
+"Yes," said Riddle, calmly. "Of course, she didn't know what she was
+doing at first. It was very amusing. I wish you could have seen her
+new diary entries ... far more interesting, they became .... Dear Tom,"
+he recited, watching Harry's horrified face, `I think I'm losing my
+memory. There are rooster feathers all over my robes and 1 don't know how
+they got there. Dear Tom, l can't remember what 1 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
+
+*310
+
+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!"
+
+Harry's fists were clenched, the nails digging deep into his Palms.
+
+"it took a very long time for stupid little Ginny to stop trusting her
+diary," said Riddle. "But she finally became suspicious and tried to
+dispose of it. And that's where you came in, Harry. You found it, and I
+couldn't have been more delighted. Of all the people who could have
+picked it up, it was you, the very person I was most anxious to meet . .
+. ."
+
+"And why did you want to meet me?" said Harry. Anger was coursing
+through him, and it was an effort to keep his voice steady.
+
+"Well, you see, Ginny told me all about you, Harry," said Riddle. "Your
+whole fascinating history. " His eyes roved over the lightning scar on
+Harry's forehead, and their expression grew hungrier. "I knew I must
+find out more about you, talk to you, meet you if I could. So I decided
+to show you my famous capture of that great oaf, Hagrid, to gain your
+trust -"
+
+"Hagrid's my friend," said Harry, his voice now shaking. "And you
+framed him, didn't you? I thought you made a mistake, but -"
+
+Riddle laughed his high laugh again.
+
+"It was my word against Hagrid's, Harry. Well, you can imagine how
+it looked to old Armando Dippet. On the one hand, Tom Riddle, poor
+but brilliant, parentless but so brave, school prefect, model student ...
+on the other hand, big, blundering Hagrid, in trouble every other week,
+trying to raise werewolf cubs under his bed, sneaking off to the
+Forbidden Forest to wrestle trolls ... but I
+
+* 31:L *
+
+admit, even I was surprised how well the plan worked. I thought
+someone must realize that Hagrid couldn't possibly be the Heir of
+Slytherin. It had taken me five whole years to find out everything I
+could about the Chamber of Secrets and discover the secret entrance
+... as though Hagrid had the brains, or the power!
+
+"Only the Transfiguration teacher, Dumbledore, seemed to think
+Hagrid was innocent. He persuaded Dipper to keep Hagrid and train
+him as gamekeeper. Yes, I think Dumbledore might have guessed ....
+Dumbledore never seemed to like me as much as the other teachers
+did ......
+
+"I bet Dumbledore saw right through you," said Harry, his teeth gritted.
+
+"Well, he certainly kept an annoyingly close watch on me after Hagrid
+was expelled," said Riddle carelessly. "I knew it wouldn't be safe to
+open the Chamber again while I was still at school. But I wasn't going
+to waste those long years Id spent searching for it. I decided to leave
+behind a diary, preserving my sixteen-year-old self in its pages, so that
+one day, with luck, I would be able to lead another in my footsteps, and
+finish Salazar Slytherin's noble work."
+
+"Well, you haven't finished it," said Harry triumphantly. "No one's died
+this time, not even the cat. In a few hours the Mandrake Draught will
+be ready and everyone who was Petrified will be all right again -"
+
+"Haven't I already told you," said Riddle quietly, "that killing Mudbloods
+doesn't matter to me anymore? For many months now, my new target
+has been -you."
+
+Harry stared at him.
+
+"Imagine how angry I was when the next time my diary was
+
+*312*
+
+opened, it was Ginny who was writing to me, not you. She saw you
+with the diary, you see, and panicked. "What if you found out how to
+work it, and I repeated all her secrets to you? What if, even worse, I
+told you who'd been strangling roosters? So the foolish little brat waited
+until your dormitory was deserted and stole it back. But I knew what I
+must do. It was clear to me that you were on the trail of Slytherin's
+heir. From everything Ginny had told me about you, I knew you would
+go to any lengths to solve the mystery --
+
+particularly if one of your best friends was attacked. And Ginny had
+told me the whole school was buzzing because you could speak
+Parseltongue ....
+
+"So I made Ginny write her own farewell on the wall and come down
+here to wait. She struggled and cried and became very boring. But
+there isn't much life left in her .... She put too much into the diary, into
+me. Enough to let me leave its pages at last .... I have been waiting for
+you to appear since we arrived here. I knew you'd come. I have many
+questions for you, Harry Potter."
+
+"Like what?" Harry spat, fists still clenched.
+
+"Well," said Riddle, smiling pleasantly, "how is it that you a skinny boy
+with no extraordinary magical talent - managed to defeat the greatest
+wizard of all time? How did you escape with nothing but a scar, while
+Lord Voldemort's powers were destroyed?"
+
+There was an odd red gleam in his hungry eyes now.
+
+"Why do you care how I escaped?" said Harry slowly. "Voldemort was
+after your time ......
+
+"Voldemort," said Riddle softly, "is my past, present, and future, Harry
+Potter . . . ."
+
+He pulled Harry's wand from his pocket and began to trace it
+through the air, writing three shimmering words:
+
+TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE
+
+Then he waved the wand once, and the letters of his name
+rearranged themselves:
+
+I AM LORD VOLDEMORT
+
+"You see?" he whispered. "It was a name I was already using at
+Hogwarts, to my most intimate friends only, of course. You think I
+was going to use my filthy Muggle father's name forever? I, in whose
+veins runs the blood of Salazar Slytherin himself, through my
+mother's side? I, keep the name of a foul, common Muggle, who
+abandoned me even before I was born, just because he found out his
+wife was a witch? No, Harry - I fashioned myself a new name, a
+name I knew wizards everywhere would one day fear to speak,
+when I had become the greatest sorcerer in the world!"
+
+Harry's brain seemed to have jammed. He stared numbly at Riddle,
+at the orphaned boy who had grown up to murder Harry's own
+parents, and so many others .... At last he forced himself to -,peak.
+
+"You're not," he said, his quiet voice full of hatred.
+
+"Not what?" snapped Riddle.
+
+"Not the greatest sorcerer in the world," said Harry, breathing fast.
+"Sorry to disappoint you and all that, but the greatest wizard in the
+world is Albus Dumbledore. Everyone says so. Even when you were
+strong, you didn't dare try and take over at Hogwarts. Dumbledore
+saw through you when you were at school and he still frightens you
+now, wherever you're hiding these days -"
+
+The smile had gone from Riddle's face, to be replaced by a very ugly
+look.
+
+*31-4*
+
+"Dumbledore's been driven out of this castle by the mere memory of
+me!" he hissed.
+
+"He's not as gone as you might think!" Harry retorted. He was
+speaking at random, wanting to scare Riddle, wishing rather than
+believing it to be true
+
+Riddle opened his mouth, but froze.
+
+Music was coming from somewhere. Riddle whirled around to stare
+down the empty Chamber. The music was growing louder. It was
+eerie, spine-tingling, unearthly; it lifted the hair on Harry's scalp and
+made his heart feel as though it was swelling to twice its normal size.
+Then, as the music reached such a pitch that Harry felt it vibrating
+inside his own ribs, flames erupted at the top of the nearest pillar.
+
+A crimson bird the size of a swan had appeared, piping its weird music
+to the vaulted ceiling. It had a glittering golden tail as long as a
+peacock's and gleaming golden talons, which were gripping a ragged
+bundle.
+
+A second later, the bird was flying straight at Harry. It dropped the
+ragged thing it was carrying at his feet, then landed heavily on his
+shoulder. As it folded its great wings, Harry looked up and saw it had a
+long, sharp golden beak and a beady black eye.
+
+The bird stopped singing. It sat still and warm next to Harry's cheek,
+gazing steadily at Riddle.
+
+	"That's a phoenix 	said Riddle, staring shrewdly back at it.
+
+	"Fawkes?" Harry breathed, and he felt the bird's golden claws
+squeeze his shoulder gently
+
+"And that -" said Riddle, now eyeing the ragged thing that Fawkes had
+dropped, "that's the old school Sorting Hat -"
+
+So it was. Patched, frayed, and dirty, the hat lay motionless at Harry's
+feet.
+
+Riddle began to laugh again. He laughed so hard that the dark
+chamber rang with it, as though ten Riddles were laughing at once
+
+"This is what Dumbledore sends his defender! A songbird and an old
+hat! Do you feel brave, Harry Potter? Do you feel safe now?"
+
+Harry didn't answer. He might not see what use Fawkes or the
+Sorting Hat were, but he was no longer alone, and he waited for
+Riddle to stop laughing with his courage mounting.
+
+"To business, Harry," said Riddle, still smiling broadly. "Twice - in your
+past, in my future - we have met. And twice I failed to kill you. How
+did you survive? Tell me everything. The longer you talk," he added
+softly, "the longer you stay alive."
+
+Harry was thinking fast, weighing his chances. Riddle had the wand.
+He, Harry, had Fawkes and the Sorting Hat, neither of which would
+be much good in a duel. It looked bad, all right ... but the longer Riddle
+stood there, the more life was dwindling out of Ginny ... and in the
+meantime, Harry noticed suddenly, Riddle's outline was becoming
+clearer, more solid .... If it had to be a fight between him and Riddle,
+better sooner than later.
+
+"No one knows why you lost your powers when you attacked me,"
+said Harry abruptly. "I don't know myself But I know why you
+couldn't kill me. Because my mother died to save me. My common
+Muggle-born mother," he added, shaking with suppressed rage. "She
+stopped you killing me. And I've seen the real you, I saw you last
+year. You're a wreck. You're barely alive. That's where all your
+power got you. You're in hiding. You're ugly, you're foul -"
+
+*%16*
+
+Riddle's face contorted. Then he forced it into an awful smile. "So.
+Your mother died to save you. Yes, that's a powerful countercharm. I
+can see now ... there is nothing special about you, after all. I
+wondered, you see. There are strange likenesses between us, after all.
+Even you must have noticed. Both half-bloods, orphans, raised by
+Muggles. Probably the only two Parselmouths to come to Hogwarts
+since the great Slytherin himself We even look something alike ... but
+after all, it was merely a lucky chance that saved you from me. That's
+all I wanted to know."
+
+Harry stood, tense, waiting for Riddle to raise his wand. But Riddle's
+twisted smile was widening again.
+
+"Now, Harry, I'm going to teach you a little lesson. Let's match the
+powers of Lord Voldemort, Heir of Salazar Slytherin, against famous
+Harry Potter, and the best weapons Dumbledore can give him . . . ."
+
+He cast an amused eye over Fawkes and the Sorting Hat, then walked
+away. Harry, fear spreading up his numb legs, watched Ridthe stop
+between the high pillars and look up into the stone face of Slytherin,
+high above him in the half-darkness. Riddle opened his mouth wide and
+hissed - but Harry understood what he was saying ....
+
+"Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four. "
+
+Harry wheeled around to look up at the statue, Fawkes swaying on his
+shoulder.
+
+Slytherin's gigantic stone face was moving. Horrorstruck, Harry saw
+his mouth opening, wider and wider, to make a huge black hole.
+
+	And something was stirring inside the statue's mouth. Something
+was slithering up from its depths. 3 1
+
+Harry backed away until he hit the dark Chamber wall, and as he shut
+his eyes tight he felt Fawkes' wing sweep his cheek as he took flight.
+Harry wanted to shout, "Don't leave me!" but what chance did a
+phoenix have against the king of serpents?
+
+Something huge hit the stone floor of the Chamber. Harry felt it
+shudder - he knew what was happening, he could sense it, could
+almost see the giant serpent uncoiling itself from Slytherin's mouth.
+Then he heard Riddle's hissing voice:
+
+"Kill him. "
+
+The basilisk was moving toward Harry; he could hear its heavy body
+slithering heavily across the dusty floor. Eyes still tightly shut, Harry
+began to run blindly sideways, his hands outstretched, feeling his way -
+Voldemort was laughing
+
+Harry tripped. He fell hard onto the stone and tasted blood the serpent
+was barely feet from him, he could hear it coming
+
+There was a loud, explosive spitting sound right above him, and then
+something heavy hit Harry so hard that he was smashed into the wall.
+Waiting for fangs to sink through his body he heard more mad hissing,
+something thrashing wildly off the pillars
+
+He couldn't help it - he opened his eyes wide enough to squint at what
+was going on.
+
+The enormous serpent, bright, poisonous green, thick as an oak trunk,
+had raised itself high in the air and its great blunt head was weaving
+drunkenly between the pillars. As Harry trembled, ready to close his
+eyes if it turned, he saw what had distracted the snake.
+
+Fawkes was soaring around its head, and the basilisk was snapping
+furiously at him with fangs long and thin as sabers
+
+Fawkes dived. His long golden beak sank out of sight and a
+
+*318*
+
+sudden shower of dark blood spattered the floor. The snake's tail
+thrashed, narrowly missing Harry, and before Harry could shut his
+eyes, it turned - Harry looked straight into its face and saw that its
+eyes, both its great, bulbous yellow eyes, had been punctured by the
+phoenix; blood was streaming to the floor, and the snake was spitting
+in agony.
+
+"NO!" Harry heard Riddle screaming. "LEAVE THE BIRD! LEAVE
+THE BIRD! THE BOY IS BEHIND YOU. YOU CAN STILL SMELL
+HIM. KILL HIMI"
+
+The blinded serpent swayed, confused, still deadly. Fawkes was
+circling its head, piping his eerie song, jabbing here and there at its
+scaly nose as the blood poured from its ruined eyes.
+
+"Help me, help me," Harry muttered wildly, "someone - anyone
+
+The snake's tail whipped across the floor again. Harry ducked.
+Something soft hit his face.
+
+The basilisk had swept the Sorting Hat into Harry's arms. Harry
+seized it. It was all he had left, his only chance - he rammed it onto his
+head and threw himself flat onto the floor as the basilisk's tail swung
+over him again.
+
+Help me - help me - Harry thought, his eyes screwed tight under the hat.
+Please help me
+
+There was no answering voice. Instead, the hat contracted, as though
+an invisible hand was squeezing it very tightly.
+
+Something very hard and heavy thudded onto the top of Harry's head,
+almost knocking him out. Stars winking in front of his eyes, he grabbed
+the top of the hat to pull it off and felt something long and hard
+beneath it.
+
+3 19
+
+A gleaming silver sword had appeared inside the hat, its handle
+glittering with rubies the size of eggs.
+
+"KILL THE BOY! LEAVE THE BIRD! THE BOY IS BEHIND YOU.
+SNIFF -- SMELL HIM."
+
+Harry was on his feet, ready. The basilisk's head was falling, its body
+coiling around, hitting pillars as it twisted to face him. He could see the
+vast, bloody eye sockets, see the mouth stretching wide, wide enough
+to swallow him whole, lined with fangs long as his sword, thin,
+glittering, venomous -
+
+It lunged blindly -- Harry dodged and it hit the Chamber wall. It lunged
+again, and its forked tongue lashed Harry's side. He raised the sword
+in both his hands -
+
+The basilisk lunged again, and this time its aim was true -- Harry threw
+his whole weight behind the sword and drove it to the hilt into the roof
+of the serpent's mouth -
+
+But as warm blood drenched Harry's arms, he felt a searing pain just
+above his elbow. One long, poisonous fang was sinking deeper and
+deeper into his arm and it splintered as the basilisk keeled over
+sideways and fell, twitching, to the floor.
+
+Harry slid down the wall. He gripped the fang that was spreading
+poison through his body and wrenched it out of his arm. But he knew it
+was too late. White-hot pain was spreading slowly and steadily from
+the wound. Even as he dropped the fang and watched his own blood
+soaking his robes, his vision went foggy. The Chamber was dissolving
+in a whirl of dull color.
+
+A patch of scarlet swam past, and Harry heard a soft clatter of claws
+beside him.
+
+"Fawkes," said Harry thickly. "You were fantastic, Fawkes . . . ."
+
+1,520
+
+He felt the bird lay its beautiful head on the spot where the serpent's
+fang had pierced him.
+
+He could hear echoing footsteps and then a dark shadow moved in
+front of him.
+
+"You're dead, Harry Potter," said Riddle's voice above him. "Dead.
+Even Dumbledore's bird knows it. Do you see what he's doing, Potter?
+He's crying."
+
+Harry blinked. Fawke's head slid in and out of focus. Thick, pearly tears
+were trickling down the glossy feathers.
+
+"I'm going to sit here and watch you die, Harry Potter. Take your time.
+I'm in no hurry."
+
+Harry felt drowsy. Everything around him seemed to be spinning.
+
+"So ends the famous Harry Potter," said Riddle's distant voice. "Alone
+in the Chamber of Secrets, forsaken by his friends, defeated at last by
+the Dark Lord he so unwisely challenged. You'll be back with your dear
+Mudblood mother soon, Harry... She bought you twelve years of
+borrowed time ... but Lord Voldemort got you in the end, as you knew
+he must . . . ."
+
+If this is dying, thought Harry, it's not so bad.
+
+Even the pain was leaving him ....
+
+But was this dying? Instead of going black, the Chamber seemed to be
+coming back into focus. Harry gave his head a little shake and there was
+Fawkes, still resting his head on Harry's arm. A pearly patch of tears was
+shining all around the wound -- except that there was no wound
+
+"Get away, bird," said Riddle's voice suddenly. "Get away from him -
+I said, get away --"
+
+Harry raised his head. Riddle was pointing Harry's wand at
+
+Fawkes; there was a bang like a gun, and Fawkes took flight again in a
+whirl of gold and scarlet.
+
+"Phoenix tears. - ." said Riddle quietly, staring at Harry's arm. "Of
+course ... healing powers ... I forgot. . ."
+
+He looked into Harry's face. "But it makes no difference. In fact, I
+prefer it this way. Just you and me, Harry Potter ... you and me....
+
+He raised the wand
+
+Then, in a rush of wings, Fawkes had soared back overhead and
+something fell into Harry's lap -- the diary.
+
+For a split second, both Harry and Riddle, wand still raised, stared at it.
+Then, without thinking, without considering, as though he had meant to
+do it all along, Harry seized the basilisk fang on the floor next to him
+and plunged it straight into the heart of the book.
+
+There was a long, dreadful, piercing scream. Ink spurted out of the
+diary in torrents, streaming over Harry's hands, flooding the floor.
+Riddle was writhing and twisting, screaming and flailing and then
+
+He had gone. Harry's wand fell to the floor with a clatter and there
+was silence. Silence except for the steady drip drip of ink still oozing
+from the diary. The basilisk venom had burned a sizzling hole right
+through it.
+
+Shaking all over, Harry pulled himself up. His head was spinning as
+though he'd just traveled miles by Floo powder. Slowly, he gathered
+together his wand and the Sorting Hat, and, with a huge tug, retrieved
+the glittering sword from the roof of the basilisk's mouth.
+
+Then came a faint moan from the end of the Chamber. Ginny was
+stirring. As Harry hurried toward her, she sat up. Her bemused
+
+1,522
+
+eyes traveled from the huge form of the dead basilisk, over Harry, in
+his blood-soaked robes, then to the diary in his hand. She drew a great,
+shuddering gasp and tears began to pour down her face.
+
+"Harry -- oh, Harry -- I tried to tell you at b-breakfast, but I c-couldn't
+say it in front of Percy -- it was me, Harry -- but I -- I s-swear I d-
+diddt mean to -- R-Riddle made me, he t-took me over -- and - how
+did you kill that -- that thing? W-where's Riddle? The last thing I r-
+remember is him coming out of the diary --"
+
+" It's all right," said Harry, holding up the diary, and showing Ginny the
+fang hole, "Riddle's finished. Look! Him and the basilisk. C'mon,
+Ginny, let's get out of here --"
+
+"I'm going to be expelled!" Ginny wept as Harry helped her
+awkwardly to her feet. "I've looked forward to coming to Hogwarts
+ever since B-Bill came and n-now I'll have to leave and -- w-what'll
+Mum and Dad say?"
+
+Fawkes was waiting for them, hovering in the Chamber entrance.
+Harry urged Ginny forward; they stepped over the motionless coils of
+the dead basilisk, through the echoing gloom, and back into the tunnel.
+Harry heard the stone doors close behind them with a soft hiss.
+
+After a few minutes' progress up the dark tunnel, a distant sound of
+slowly shifting rock reached Harry's ears.
+
+"Ron!" Harry yelled, speeding up. "Ginny's okay! I've got her!"
+
+He heard Ron give a strangled cheer, and they turned the next bend to
+see his eager face staring through the sizable gap he had managed to
+make in the rock fall.
+
+"Ginny!" Ron thrust an arm through the gap in the rock to pull
+
+321,3
+
+her through first. "You're alive! I don't believe it! What happened?"
+How - what -- where did that bird come from?"
+
+Fawkes had swooped through the gap after Ginny.
+
+"He's Dumbledore's," said Harry, squeezing through himself
+
+"How come you've got a sword?" said Ron, gaping at the glittering
+weapon in Harry's hand.
+
+"I'll explain when we get out of here," said Harry with a sideways
+glance at Ginny, who was crying harder than ever.
+
+"But --"
+
+"Later," Harry said shortly. He didn't think it was a good idea to tell
+Ron yet who'd been opening the Chamber, not in front of Ginny,
+anyway. "Where's Lockhart?"
+
+"Back there," said Ron, still looking puzzled but jerking his head up the
+tunnel toward the pipe. "He's in a bad way. Come and see."
+
+Led by Fawkes, whose wide scarlet wings emitted a soft golden glow
+in the darkness, they walked all the way back to the mouth of the pipe.
+Gilderoy Lockhart was sitting there, humming placidly to himself.
+
+"His memory's gone," said Ron. "The Memory Charm backfired. Hit
+him instead of us. Hasn't got a clue who he is, or where he is, or who
+we are. I told him to come and wait here. He's a danger to himself"
+
+Lockhart peered good-naturedly up at them all.
+
+"Hello," he said. "Odd sort of place, this, isn't it? Do you live here?"
+
+"No," said Ron, raising his eyebrows at Harry.
+
+Harry bent down and looked up the long, dark pipe.
+
+"Have you thought how we're going to get back up this?" he said to
+Ron.
+
+*324*
+
+Ron shook his head, but Fawkes the phoenix had swooped past Harry
+and was now fluttering in front of him, his beady eyes bright in the
+dark. He was waving his long golden tail feathers. Harry looked
+uncertainly at him.
+
+"He looks like he wants you to grab hold. . ." said Ron, looking
+perplexed. "But you're much too heavy for a bird to pull up there -"
+
+"Fawkes," said Harry, "isn't an ordinary bird." He turned quickly to the
+others. "We've got to hold on to each other. Ginny, grab Ron's hand.
+Professor Lockhart --"
+
+"He means you," said Ron sharply to Lockhart.
+
+"You hold Ginny's other hand --"
+
+Harry tucked the sword and the Sorting Hat into his belt, Ron took
+hold of the back of Harry's robes, and Harry reached out and took
+hold of Fawkes's strangely hot tail feathers.
+
+An extraordinary lightness seemed to spread through his whole body
+and the next second, in a rush of wings, they were flying upward
+through the pipe. Harry could hear Lockhart dangling below him,
+saying, "Amazing! Amazing! This is just like magic!" The chill air was
+whipping through Harry's hair, and before he'd stopped enjoying the
+ride, it was over -- all four of them were hitting the wet floor of
+Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, and as Lockhart straightened his hat, the
+sink that hid the pipe was sliding back into place.
+
+Myrtle goggled at them.
+
+"You're alive," she said blankly to Harry.
+
+"There's no need to sound so disappointed," he said grimly, wiping
+flecks of blood and slime off his glasses.
+
+* 325*
+
+"Oh, well ... Id just been thinking ... if you had died, you'd have been
+welcome to share my toilet," said Myrtle, blushing silver.
+
+"Urgh!" said Ron as they left the bathroom for the dark, deserted
+corridor outside. "Harry! I think Myrtle's grown fond of you! You've
+got competition, Ginny!"
+
+But tears were still flooding silently down Ginny's face.
+
+"Where now?" said Ron, with an anxious look at Ginny. Harry pointed.
+
+Fawkes was leading the way, glowing gold along the corridor. They
+strode after him, and moments later, found themselves outside
+Professor McGonagall's office.
+
+Harry knocked and pushed the door open.
+
+G F-I A P T E IR
+
+k' I G 14 T V V N
+
+DO
+
+Y'$ REWARD
+
+or a moment there was silence as Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Lockhart
+stood in the doorway, covered in muck and slime and (in Harry's case)
+blood. Then there was a scream.
+
+"Ginny!"
+
+It was Mrs. Weasley, who had been sitting crying in front of the fire.
+She leapt to her feet, closely followed by Mr. Weasley, and both of
+them flung themselves on their daughter.
+
+Harry, however, was looking past them. Professor Dumbledore was
+standing by the mantelpiece, beaming, next to Professor McGonagall,
+who was taking great, steadying gasps, clutching her chest. Fawkes
+went whooshing past Harry's ear and settled on Dumbledore's
+shoulder, just as Harry found himself and Ron being swept into Mrs.
+Weasleys tight embrace.
+
+"You saved her! You saved her! How did you do it?"
+
+"I think we'd all like to know that," said Professor McGonagall weakly.
+
+
+
+
+
+Mrs. Weasley let go of Harry, who hesitated for a moment, then
+walked over to the desk and laid upon it the Sorting Hat, the
+rubyencrusted sword, and what remained of Riddle's diary.
+
+Then he started telling them everything. For nearly a quarter of an
+hour he spoke into the rapt silence: He told them about hearing the
+disembodied voice, how Hermione had finally realized that he was
+hearing a basilisk in the pipes; how he and Ron had followed the
+spiders into the forest, that Aragog had told them where the last
+victim of the basilisk had died; how he had guessed that Moaning
+Myrtle had been the victim, and that the entrance to the Chamber of
+Secrets might be in her bathroom ....
+
+"Very well," Professor McGonagall prompted him as he paused, "so
+you found out where the entrance was -- breaking a hundred school
+rules into pieces along the way, I might add - but how on earth did
+you all get out of there alive, Potter?"
+
+So Harry, his voice now growing hoarse from all this talking, told
+them about Fawkes's timely arrival and about the Sorting Hat giving
+him the sword. But then he faltered. He had so far avoided
+mentioning Riddle's diary -- or Ginny. She was standing with her
+head against Mrs. Weasley's shoulder, and tears were still coursing
+silently down her cheeks. What if they expelled her? Harry thought in
+panic. Riddle's diary didn't work anymore .... How could they prove
+it had been he who'd made her do it all?
+
+Instinctively, Harry looked at Dumbledore, who smiled faintly, the
+firelight glancing off his half-moon spectacles.
+
+"\What interests me most," said Dumbledore gently, "is how Lord
+Voldemort managed to enchant Ginny, when my sources tell me he is
+currently in hiding in the forests of Albania."
+
+*328*
+
+Relief -- warm, sweeping, glorious relief -- swept over Harry. "W-
+what's that?" said Mr. Weasley in a stunned voice. "YouKnow-Who?
+En-enchant Ginny? But Ginny's not ... Ginny hasn't been ... has she?"
+
+"It was this diary," said Harry quickly, picking it up and showing it to
+Dumbledore. "Riddle wrote it when he was sixteen . . . ."
+
+Dumbledore took the diary from Harry and peered keenly down his
+long, crooked nose at its burnt and soggy pages.
+
+"Brilliant," he said softly. "Of course, he was probably the most
+brilliant student Hogwarts has ever seen." He turned around to the
+Weasleys, who were looking utterly bewildered.
+
+"Very few people know that Lord Voldemort was once called Tom
+Riddle. I taught him myself, fifty years ago, at Hogwarts. He
+disappeared after leaving the school ... traveled far and wide ... sank
+so deeply into the Dark Arts, consorted with the very worst of our
+kind, underwent so many dangerous, magical transformations, that
+when he resurfaced as Lord Voldemort, he was barely recognizable.
+Hardly anyone connected Lord Voldemort with the clever,
+handsome boy who was once Head Boy here."
+
+"But, Ginny," said Mrs. Weasley. "What's our Ginny got to do with -
+with -- him?"
+
+"His d-diaryl" Ginny sobbed. "I've b-been writing in it, and he's been
+w-writing back all year --"
+
+"tinny!" said Mr. Weasley, flabbergasted. "Haven't I taught you
+anything. What have I always told you? Never trust anything that can
+think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain?  Why didn't
+you show the diary to me, or your mother? A suspicious object like
+that, it was clearly full of Dark Magic ='
+
+*329*
+
+"I d-didn't know," sobbed Ginny. "I found it inside one of the books
+Mum got me. I th-thought someone had just left it in there and
+forgotten about it --"
+
+"Miss Weasley should go up to the hospital wing right away,"
+Dumbledore interrupted in a firm voice. "This has been a terrible
+ordeal for her. There will be no punishment. Older and wiser wizards
+than she have been hoodwinked by Lord Voldemort." He strode over
+to the door and opened it. "Bed rest and perhaps a large, steaming
+mug of hot chocolate. I always find that cheers me up," he added,
+twinkling kindly down at her. "You will find that Madam Pomfrey is
+still awake. She's just giving out Mandrake juice -- I daresay the
+basilisk's victims will be waking up any moment."
+
+"So Hermione's okay!" said Ron brightly.
+
+"There has been no lasting harm done, Ginny," said Dumbledore.
+
+Mrs. Weasley led Ginny out, and Mr. Weasley followed, still looking
+deeply shaken.
+
+"You know, Minerva," Professor Dumbledore said thoughtfully to
+Professor McGonagall, "I think all this merits a good feast. Might I ask
+you to go and alert the kitchens?"
+
+"Right," said Professor McGonagall crisply, also moving to the door.
+"I'll leave you to deal with Potter and Weasley, shall I?"
+
+"Certainly," said Dumbledore.
+
+She left, and Harry and Ron gazed uncertainly at Dumbledore. What
+exactly had Professor McGonagall meant, deal with them? Surely -
+surely - they weren't about to be punished?
+
+"I seem to remember telling you both that I would have to expel you if
+you broke any more school rules, said Dumbledore.
+
+*%30*
+
+Ron opened his mouth in horror.
+
+"Which goes to show that the best of us must sometimes eat our
+words," Dumbledore went on, smiling. "You will both receive Special
+Awards for Services to the School and -- let me see - yes, I think two
+hundred points apiece for Gryffindor."
+
+Ron went as briglitly pink as Lockhart's valentine flowers and closed
+his mouth again.
+
+"But one of us seems to be keeping mightily quiet about his part in this
+dangerous adventure," Dumbledore added. "Why so modest,
+Gilderoy?"
+
+Harry gave a start. He had completely forgotten about Lockhart. He
+turned and saw that Lockhart was standing in a corner of the room,
+still wearing his vague smile. When Dumbledore addressed him,
+Lockhart looked over his shoulder to see who he was talking to.
+
+"Professor Dumbledore," Ron said quickly, "there was an accident
+down in the Chamber of Secrets. Professor Lockhart --"
+
+"Am I a professor?" said Lockhart in mild surprise. "Goodness. I
+expect I was hopeless, was I?"
+
+"He tried to do a Memory Charm and the wand backfired," Ron
+explained quietly to Dumbledore.
+
+"Dear me," said Dumbledore, shaking his head, his long silver
+mustache quivering. "Impaled upon your own sword, Gilderoy!"
+
+"Sword?" said Lockhart dimly. "Haven't got a sword. That boy has,
+though." He pointed at Harry. "He'll lend you one."
+
+"Would you mind taking Professor Lockhart up to the infirmary, too?"
+Dumbledore said to Ron. "Id like a few more words with Harry .....
+
+Lockhart ambled out. Ron cast a curious look back at Dumbledore and
+Harry as he closed the door.
+
+Dumbledore crossed to one of the chairs by the fire.
+
+"Sit down, Harry," he said, and Harry sat, feeling unaccountably
+nervous.
+
+"First of all, Harry, I want to thank you," said Dumbledore, eyes
+twinkling again. "You must have shown me real loyalty down in the
+Chamber. Nothing but that could have called Fawkes to you."
+
+He stroked the phoenix, which had fluttered down onto his knee.
+Harry grinned awkwardly as Dumbledore watched him.
+
+"And so you met Tom Riddle," said Dumbledore thoughtfully. "I
+imagine he was most interested in you . . . . "
+
+Suddenly, something that was nagging at Harry came tumbling out of
+his mouth.
+
+"Professor Dumbledore ... Riddle said I'm like him. Strange likenesses,
+he said ......
+
+"Did he, now?" said Dumbledore, looking thoughtfully at Harry from
+under his thick silver eyebrows. "And what do you think, Harry?"
+
+"I don't think I'm like him!" said Harry, more loudly than he'd intended.
+"I mean, I'm -- I'm in Gryffindor, I'm . . ."
+
+But he fell silent, a lurking doubt resurfacing in his mind.
+
+"Professor," he started again after a moment. "The Sorting Hat told me
+Id -- Id have done well in Slytherin. Everyone thought I was Slytherin's
+heir for a while ... because I can speak Parseltongue ....
+
+"You can speak Parseltongue, Harry," said Dumbledore calmly,
+"because Lord Voldemort -- who is the last remaining ancestor
+
+*$32*
+
+of Salazar Slytherin -- can speak Parseltongue. Unless I'm much
+mistaken, he transferred some of his own powers to you the night he
+gave you that scar. Not something he intended to do, I'm sure ....
+
+"Voldemort put a bit of himself in me?" Harry said, thunderstruck.
+
+"It certainly seems so."
+
+"So I should be in Slytherin," Harry said, looking desperately into
+Dumbledore's face. "The Sorting Hat could see Slytherin's power in
+me, and it --"
+
+"Put you in Gryffindor," said Dumbledore calmly. "Listen to me, Harry.
+You happen to have many qualities Salazar Slytherin prized in his hand-
+picked students. His own very rare gift, Parseltongue -
+resourcefulness - determination -- a certain disregard for rules," he
+added, his mustache quivering again. "Yet the Sorting Hat placed you
+in Gryffindor. You know why that was. Think."
+
+"It only put me in Gryffindor," said Harry in a defeated voice, "because
+I asked not to go in Slytherin . . . ."
+
+`Exactly, "said Dumbledore, beaming once more. "Which makes you
+very different from Tom Riddle. It is our choices, Harry, that show what
+we truly are, far more than our abilities." Harry sat motionless in his
+chair, stunned. "If you want proof, Harry, that you belong in
+Gryffindor, I suggest you look more closely at this."
+
+Dumbledore reached across to Professor McGonagall's desk, picked
+up the blood-stained silver sword, and handed it to Harry. Dully, Harry
+turned it over, the rubies blazing in the firelight. And then he saw the
+name engraved just below the hilt.
+
+Godric Gryffindor
+
+*333*
+
+"Only a true Gryffindor could have pulled that out of the hat, Harry,"
+said Dumbledore simply.
+
+For a minute, neither of them spoke. Then Dumbledore pulled open
+one of the drawers in Professor McGonagall's desk and took out a quill
+and a bottle of ink.
+
+What you need, Harry, is some food and sleep. I suggest you go down
+to the feast, while I write to Azkaban -- we need our gamekeeper
+back. And I must draft an advertisement for the Daily Prophet, too," he
+added thoughtfully. "We'll be needing a new Defense Against the
+Dark Arts teacher... Dear me, we do seem to run through them, don't
+we?"
+
+Harry got up and crossed to the door. He had just reached for the
+handle, however, when the door burst open so violently that it bounced
+back off the wall.
+
+Lucius Malfoy stood there, fury in his face. And cowering behind his
+legs, heavily wrapped in bandages, was Dobby.
+
+"Good evening, Lucius," said Dumbledore pleasantly.
+
+Mr. Malfoy almost knocked Harry over as he swept into the room.
+Dobby went scurrying in after him, crouching at the hem of his cloak,
+a look of abject terror on his face.
+
+The elf was carrying a stained rag with which he was attempting to
+finish cleaning Mr. Malfoys shoes. Apparently Mr. Malfoy had set out
+in a great hurry, for not only were his shoes half-polished, but his
+usually sleek hair was disheveled. Ignoring the elf bobbing
+apologetically around his ankles, he fixed his cold eyes upon
+Dumbledore.
+
+"So!" he said "You've come back. The governors suspended you, but
+you still saw fit to return to Hogwarts."
+
+*%$4*
+
+"Well, you see, Lucius," said Dumbledore, smiling serenely, "the
+other eleven governors contacted me today. It was something like
+being caught in a hailstorm of owls, to tell the truth. They'd heard that
+Arthur Weasleys daughter had been killed and wanted me back here
+at once. They seemed to think I was the best man for the job after
+all. Very strange tales they told me, too .... Several of them seemed
+to think that you had threatened to curse their families if they didn't
+agree to suspend me in the first place."
+
+Mr. Malfoy went even paler than usual, but his eyes were still slits of
+fury.
+
+"So -- have you stopped the attacks yet?" he sneered. "Have you
+caught the culprit?"
+
+"We have," said Dumbledore, with a smile.
+
+"Well?"said Mr. Malfoy sharply. "Who is it?"
+
+"The same person as last time, Lucius," said Dumbledore. "But this
+time, Lord Voldemort was acting through somebody else. By means
+of this diary."
+
+He held up the small black book with the large hole through the
+center, watching Mr. Malfoy closely. Harry, however, was watching
+Dobby.
+
+The elf was doing something very odd. His great eyes fixed
+meaningfully on Harry, he kept pointing at the diary, then at Mr.
+Malfoy, and then hitting himself hard on the head with his fist.
+
+"I see. . . " said Mr. Malfoy slowly to Dumbledore.
+
+"A clever plan," said Dumbledore in a level voice, still staring Mr.
+Malfoy straight in the eye. "Because if Harry here" --Mr. Malfoy shot
+Harry a swift, sharp look -- "and his friend Ron hadn't discovered
+this book, why -- Ginny Weasley might have taken all
+
+*335*
+
+the blame. No one would ever have been able to prove she hadn't
+acted of her own free will ......
+
+Mr. Malfoy said nothing. His face was suddenly masklike.
+
+"And imagine," Dumbledore went on, "what might have happened
+then .... The Weasleys are one of our most prominent pure-blood
+families. Imagine the effect on Arthur Weasley and his Muggle
+Protection Act, if his own daughter was discovered attacking and -
+killing Muggle-borns .... Very fortunate the diary was discovered,
+and Riddle's memories wiped from it. "Who knows what the
+consequences might have been otherwise ......
+
+Mr. Malfoy forced himself to speak.
+
+"Very fortunate," he said stiffly.
+
+And still, behind his back, Dobby was pointing, first to the diary,
+then to Lucius Malfoy, then punching himself in the head.
+
+And Harry suddenly understood. He nodded at Dobby, and Dobby
+backed into a corner, now twisting his ears in punishment.
+
+"Don't you want to know how Ginny got hold of that diary, Mr.
+Malfoy?" said Harry.
+
+Lucius Malfoy rounded on him.
+
+"How should I know how the stupid little girl got hold of it?" he said.
+
+"Because you gave it to her," said Harry. "In Flourish and Blotts.
+You picked up her old Transfiguration book and slipped the diary
+inside it, didn't you?"
+
+He saw Mr. Malfoy's white hands clench and unclench.
+
+"Prove it," he hissed.
+
+"Oh, no one will be able to do that," said Dumbledore, smiling at
+Harry. "Not now that Riddle has vanished from the book. On
+
+*336*
+
+the other hand, I would advise you, Lucius, not to go giving out any
+more of Lord Voldemort's old school things. If any more of them find
+their way into innocent hands, I think Arthur Weasley, for one, will
+make sure they are traced back to you ......
+
+Lucius Malfoy stood for a moment, and Harry distinctly saw his right
+hand twitch as though he was longing to reach for his wand. Instead,
+he turned to his house-elf
+
+"We're going, Dobby!"
+
+He wrenched open the door and as the elf came hurrying up to him,
+he kicked him right through it. They could hear Dobby squealing with
+pain all the way along the corridor. Harry stood for a moment,
+thinking hard. Then it came to him -
+
+"Professor Dumbledore," he said hurriedly. "Can I give that diary
+back to Mr. Malfoy, please?"
+
+"Certainly, Harry," said Dumbledore calmly. "But hurry. The feast,
+remember ......
+
+Harry grabbed the diary and dashed out of the office. He could hear
+Dobby's squeals of pain receding around the corner. Quickly,
+wondering if this plan could possibly work, Harry took off one of his
+shoes, pulled off his slimy, filthy sock, and stuffed the diary into it.
+Then he ran down the dark corridor.
+
+He caught up with them at the top of the stairs.
+
+"Mr. Malfoy," he gasped, skidding to a halt, "I've got something for
+you --"
+
+And he forced the smelly sock into Lucius Malfoy's hand.
+
+")What the --?"
+
+Mr. Malfoy ripped the sock off the diary, threw it aside, then looked
+furiously from the ruined book to Harry.
+
+*',531*
+
+You'll meet the same sticky end as your parents one of these days,
+Harry Potter," he said softly. "They were meddlesome fools, too.
+
+He turned to go.
+
+"Come, Dobby. I said, come."
+
+But Dobby didn't move. He was holding up Harry's disgusting, slimy
+sock, and looking at it as though it were a priceless treasure.
+
+"Master has given a sock," said the elf in wonderment. "Master gave
+it to Dobby."
+
+"What's that?" spat Mr. Malfoy. "What did you say?"
+
+"Got a sock," said Dobby in disbelief. "Master threw it, and Dobby
+caught it, and Dobby -- Dobby is free. "
+
+Lucius Malfoy stood frozen, staring at the elf Then he lunged at
+Harry.
+
+"You've lost me my servant, boy!"
+
+But Dobby shouted, "You shall not harm Harry Potter!"
+
+There was a loud bang, and Mr. Malfoy was thrown backward. He
+crashed down the stairs, three at a time, landing in a crumpled heap
+on the landing below. He got up, his face livid, and pulled out his
+wand, but Dobby raised a long, threatening finger.
+
+"You shall go now," he said fiercely, pointing down at Mr. Malfoy.
+"You shall not touch Harry Potter. You shall go now."
+
+Lucius Malfoy had no choice. With a last, incensed stare at the pair
+of them, he swung his cloak around him and hurried out of sight.
+
+"Harry Potter freed Dobby!" said the elf shrilly, gazing up at Harry,
+moonlight from the nearest window reflected in his orb-like eyes.
+"Harry Potter set Dobby free!"
+
+"Least I could do, Dobby," said Harry, grinning. "Just promise never
+to try and save my life again."
+
+The elf's ugly brown face split suddenly into a wide, toothy smile.
+
+"I've just got one question, Dobby," said Harry as Dobby pulled on
+Harry's sock with shaking hands. "You told me all this had nothing to
+do with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, remember? Well --"
+
+"It was a clue, sir," said Dobby, his eyes widening, as though this was
+obvious. "Was giving you a clue. The Dark Lord, before he changed
+his name, could be freely named, you see?"
+
+"Right," said Harry weakly. "Well, Id better go. There's a feast, and
+my friend Hermione should be awake by now .....
+
+Dobby threw his arms around Harry's middle and hugged him.
+
+"Harry Potter is greater by far than Dobby knew!" he sobbed.
+"Farewell, Harry Potter!"
+
+And with a final loud crack, Dobby disappeared.
+
+Harry had been to several Hogwarts feasts, but never one quite like
+this. Everybody was in their pajamas, and the celebration lasted all
+night. Harry didn't know whether the best bit was Hermione running
+toward him, screaming "You solved it! You solved it!" or Justin
+hurrying over from the Hufflepuff table to wring. his hand and
+apologize endlessly for suspecting him, or Hagrid turning up at half
+past three, cuffing Harry and Ron so hard on the shoulders that they
+were knocked into their plates of trifle, or his and Ron's four hundred
+points for Gryffindor securing the House Cup for the second year
+running, or Professor McGonagall standing up to
+
+*339*
+
+tell them all that the exams had been canceled as a school treat ("Oh,
+no!" said Hermione), or Dumbledore announcing that, unfortunately,
+Professor Lockhart would be unable to return next year, owing to the
+fact that he needed to go away and get his memory back. Quite a few
+of the teachers joined in the cheering that greeted this news.
+
+"Shame," said Ron, helping himself to a jam doughnut. "He was
+starting to grow on me."
+
+The rest of the final term passed in a haze of blazing sunshine.
+Hogwarts was back to normal with only a few, small differences -
+Defense Against the Dark Arts classes were canceled ("but we've
+had plenty of practice at that anyway," Ron told a disgruntled
+Hermione) and Lucius Malfoy had been sacked as a school governor.
+Draco was no longer strutting around the school as though he owned
+the place. On the contrary, he looked resentful and sulky. On the other
+hand, Ginny Weasley was perfectly happy again.
+
+Too soon, it was time for the journey home on the Hogwarts Express.
+Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, and Ginny got a compartment to
+themselves. They made the most of the last few hours in which they
+were allowed to do magic before the holidays. They played Exploding
+Snap, set off the very last of Fred and George's Filibuster fireworks,
+and practiced disarming each other by magic. Harry was getting very
+good at it.
+
+They were almost at King's Cross when Harry remembered
+something.
+
+"Ginny - what did you see Percy doing, that he didn't want you to tell
+anyone?"
+
+*340*
+
+"Oh, that," said Ginny, giggling. "Well - Percy's got a girlfriend." Fred
+dropped a stack of books on George's head.
+
+"What?"
+
+"It's that Ravenclaw prefect, Penelope Clearwater," said Ginny.
+"That's who he was writing to all last summer. He's been meeting her
+all over the school in secret. I walked in on them kissing in an empty
+classroom one day. He was so upset when she was -- you know -
+attacked. You won't tease him, will you?" she added anxiously.
+
+"Wouldn't dream of it," said Fred, who was looking like his birthday
+had come early.
+
+"Definitely not," said George, sniggering.
+
+The Hogwarts Express slowed and finally stopped.
+
+Harry pulled out his quill and a bit of parchment and turned to Ron
+and Hermione.
+
+"This is called a telephone number," he told Ron, scribbling it twice,
+tearing the parchment in two, and handing it to them. "I told your dad
+how to use a telephone last summer - he'll know. Call me at the
+Dursleys', okay? I can't stand another two months with only Dudley
+to talk to ......
+
+"Your aunt and uncle will be proud, though, won't they?" said
+Hermione as they got off the train and joined the crowd thronging
+toward the enchanted barrier. "When they hear what you did this
+year?"
+
+"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. '
+
+*341*