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Suggest pagesMuggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Chamber of Secrets/Chapter 12
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Chapter 12 of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: The Polyjuice Potion
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
Leaving Harry in the office, Professor McGonagall departs. Looking around, Harry sees intricate small mechanisms on the many tables, portraits of sleeping past Headmasters and Headmistresses on the walls, and the Sorting Hat on a shelf behind a desk. Seeing nobody around, Harry tries on the Hat, asking it if it still believes he should be in Slytherin. The Hat says Harry would have been great there. Replacing it on the shelf, Harry tells it that it is wrong. A slight noise attracts Harry's attention, and he sees an ill-looking bird sitting on a perch burst into flames. As it crumbles into ashes, Professor Dumbledore enters. He seem unperturbed about the bird catching fire. He explains, "Fawkes is a Phoenix, Harry. Phoenixes burst into flames when it is time for them to die and are reborn from the ashes." Lifting a chick from the ashes and placing it back on the perch, Dumbledore tells Harry that Phoenixes are extremely beautiful, except on a burning day. Also, "they can carry extremely heavy loads, their tears have healing powers, and they make extremely faithful pets."
Dumbledore is about to ask Harry something when he is interrupted by Hagrid, who bursts into the office, loudly proclaiming Harry's innocence. Dumbledore assures Hagrid that he does not suspect Harry of anything. Abashed, Hagrid leaves the office.
Dumbledore asks Harry if there is anything he would like to tell him. Harry silently recalls Ron's comment that hearing voices no one else can, even in the Wizarding world, is a bad thing, so he decides to say nothing to Dumbledore about it. Dumbledore dismisses him, and he returns to his dorm.
Nearly everyone in the school is now convinced that Harry is the Heir; Fred and George, however, joke about it, which Harry appreciates, as it makes it clear they do not believe it. Ginny, however, seems quite distraught.
The term ends, and there are a few stayovers for Christmas, including Draco Malfoy, and his cronies Crabbe and Goyle. On Christmas day, Hermione barges into the boys' dormitory, waking them up and letting them know the Polyjuice Potion is ready. Harry receives Christmas presents from the Weasleys, while the Dursleys have sent him a toothpick. After Christmas dinner, Hermione gives Harry and Ron a pair of small cakes loaded with Sleeping Potion. They place them where they know Crabbe and Goyle will find them after stuffing themselves at dinner and leaving the Great Hall. Spying the cakes, Crabbe and Goyle promptly eat them; Ron and Harry drag the unconscious pair into a closet, gather a few hairs, and take their shoes. They head off to Moaning Myrtle's washroom where Hermione awaits with the potion.
Hermione has a hair from Millicent Bullstrode's robes, acquired during the Dueling Club debacle. After each adds a hair to their potion and drinks it, Ron and Harry painfully transform into Crabbe and Goyle's likenesses. Hermione, as did Ron, quickly retreated to a cubicle as the potion took effect. A few moments later Hermione tells Harry and Ron to go without her—something seems amiss, but she does not elaborate.
After much searching, Ron and Harry finally find the Slytherin Common room, although they run into Percy, who threatens detention for being in the halls after hours. They are rescued by Malfoy, who demands to know where they have been and leads them into the Common room. He begins discussing the Chamber of Secrets and says the Chamber was opened once before. A girl died then, killed by the Monster, and that the person who released it is likely still in Azkaban. Although he does not know who the Heir is, he wishes it was himself. He says his father has told him not to become involved in the matter, however.
As the potion starts wearing off, Harry and Ron rush back to Moaning Myrtle's washroom, politely leaving Crabbe and Goyle's shoes outside the closet they are still stashed in. They find Moaning Myrtle is happier than they have ever seen her, laughing wildly at Hermione. Apparently, the hair Hermione plucked off Millicent Bullstrode's robes was not Millicent's at all, but her cat's. Hermione now has a furry face, pointed ears, yellow eyes with slit pupils, and a bushy tail. As Polyjuice Potion is not intended for species transformations, it will not wear off on its own.
[edit] Analysis
Our introduction to Dumbledore's office here gives us additional insight into the nature of the Headmaster. At this point, we should be able to see that the Put-Outer, which we saw in the first chapter of the first book, is the same sort of magical / mechanical device which fills Dumbledore's office. We will gather that Dumbledore actually creates these things, rather than simply collecting and using them.
Once again, the Sorting Hat states that Harry would be great in Slytherin House. Harry, by this time, has started seeing indications that there is a link between him and Slytherin, notably Harry's ability to speak Parseltongue. This has left him unsure of whether he is, in fact, the Heir of Slytherin, as he has no way to trace his ancestry at this point. Despite his vehement denial of the Hat's belief, Harry, already troubled at the possibility, must be even more upset at the Hat's insistence on this link.
The emphasis that Dumbledore places on the abilities of the Phoenix seems a little more than we would expect; it is likely that this is a bit of foreshadowing. We are told of extreme loyalty, ability to lift heavy weights, and that its tears have healing powers; how could these abilities be of assistance to Harry?
[edit] Questions
[edit] Review
[edit] Further Study
- Should Harry have told Dumbledore about hearing voices? What would Dumbledore have done?
[edit] Greater Picture
It is in this chapter that Harry first meets Fawkes, Professor Dumbledore's phoenix. Fawkes plays an important part later in the year, saving Harry from dying twice (once by blinding the Basilisk, the other one by curing him from the Basilisk venom). Additionally, his other abilities are necessary in the end of this book, because it is his loyalty that will summon him to Harry's defence, and his ability to lift heavy weights will be what brings Harry and his co-adventurers back to the surface after the battle is complete. Fawkes will prove helpful both to Harry and to Dumbledore throughout the series.
In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry learns that the phoenix feather core of his holly wand comes from Fawkes, as does the core of Voldemort's yew wand.
Draco's admission that he does not know who the Heir of Slytherin is, and that his father hasn't told him anything except to stay out of it, is somewhat telling. Knowing what the Diary actually is, we can see that the Heir of Slytherin is, as Dumbledore has suggested, the same person as it was last time, Tom Riddle. However, the fact that Lucius has given Draco no instructions except to stay clear, again indicates that Lucius does not have a clear idea of what he has unleashed.
Ginny's being distraught at the Twins' fooling around is worthy of mention. We believe that Ginny has a crush on Harry, and we presume that this alone is enough to leave Ginny upset; the twins seem to be making fun of Harry, and we believe that Ginny is upset at this, despite Harry's appreciation of the fact that at least two people find the association of him with Slytherin to be laughable. In fact, though, a large part of Ginny's dismay is likely due to her beginning to wonder if she is acting as the Heir. Clearly, by this time, she has determined that the times when these things happen are times that she cannot remember what she has been doing, and, as the horcrux of Tom Riddle tells us later, is beginning to fear that she is losing her mind.
The portraits of the sleeping headmasters and headmistresses will play a part starting from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The reader must be a bit curious, actually, as to why all these portraits are so sleepy when the portraits in the school proper are talkative and interact with the students. It will turn out that their apparent sleepiness is a form of concealment.
