Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Chamber of Secrets/Chapter 3
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Chapter 3 of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: The Burrow
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[edit] Synopsis
Ron Weasley and his brothers Fred and George are outside Harry's window in a flying Ford Anglia. Ron says they have come to rescue him. They yank the bars off the window, freeing Harry. Fred and George gather Harry's Hogwarts belongings that are locked in the cupboard under the stairs.
As they are leaving, Hedwig screeches, reminding Harry that he has forgotten her. The screeching awakens Uncle Vernon, and he barges into Harry's room as Harry is half way out the window. He grabs Harry's ankle and attempts to pull him back in, but Harry manages to escape, and he, Ron, Fred, and George are off to the Weasleys' home, The Burrow.
On the ride there, Harry tells Ron, Fred, and George about Dobby, and they speculate about who owns him, eventually deciding that he could be the Malfoys'. Harry also learns that Draco Malfoy's father, Lucius Malfoy, once supported Lord Voldemort.
They arrive at The Burrow, only to find Mrs. Weasley waiting for them. She is furious over them "borrowing" the car. After yelling at Fred, George, and Ron, she greets Harry warmly. While eating breakfast, Harry meets, or rather gets a fleeting glimpse of, Ron's sister, Ginny.
As punishment for taking the car, Mrs. Weasley sets the twins and Ron the task of ridding the garden of gnomes, using a technique from Gilderoy Lockhart's Guide to Household Pests. Harry assists, even though Mrs. Weasley says he does not need to.
After degnoming the garden, Harry meets Arthur Weasley, and learns that he works for the Ministry of Magic. He is a fan of Muggle technology and gadgets.
Harry is overjoyed to get away from the Dursleys, and looks forward to spending the remaining summer with Ron.
[edit] Analysis
We mentioned, at the end of the last chapter, the question: what can Ron do? Ron is underage, and so are Fred and George, capable though they may be, so they cannot use magic to release Harry from his prison. However, apart from the flying car, which apparently does not trigger the prohibition against magic, Fred and George don't attempt to use magic to free Harry. The bars are pulled off his window by the car, and Fred and George pick the lock of his bedroom door and the lock on the cupboard under the stairs with a Muggle implement, a hairpin. Either Harry or Ron, it is not exactly made clear, then uses the same hairpin to pick the lock on Hedwig's cage, to allow Hedwig the first bit of freedom she has had all summer. It is never made clear in the series why casting a spell or presumably making a potion would trigger the prohibition against magic, but using a charmed object like the flying car would not; for some speculation on this matter, please see the article on The Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery.
Gilderoy Lockhart, who will play a large role in the book, is introduced in this chapter, although he is only mentioned by name. He is handsome ("'Mum fancies him,' said Fred in a very audible whisper"), and his solutions for problems look good, but only seem to work temporarily. By sunset, Harry, looking out Ron's window, can see the gnomes sneaking one-by-one back through the Weasley's hedge.
Ginny Weasley is reintroduced to the series, although she still only glances at Harry from afar; every time she sees him (twice in this chapter), she squeaks and runs away. Says Ron, "You don't know how weird it is for her to be this shy, she never shuts up normally . . ." This is a classic schoolgirl crush; she has built Harry up in her mind as some heroic figure, and now that he is actually physically in her presence, she is afraid to speak.
[edit] Questions
[edit] Review
[edit] Further Study
[edit] Greater Picture
Ginny's reaction to Harry makes it seem likely that their relationship is doomed. So many times, a schoolgirl crush simply fades over time, and Ginny's feelings to seem to have the superficiality of that sort of hero-worshiping relationship. Ginny, however, will be the center of several events that will bring her a great deal of maturity in a very short time, and her feelings for Harry will deepen as she comes to understand more about who he really is. Starting even before this chapter, Ginny will reward a more in-depth study, as we can see that the author writes a very realistic maturation for her, ending with a true romantic relationship with Harry.
Harry, even after only a day at The Burrow, has learned what a functional family is and how it interacts with itself. He thinks to himself, at the end of the day, how much he feels at home there. This is what he has been missing, what he has wanted all these years, and what he will continue to want throughout the series. Hogwarts, we have already seen, provides a sort of surrogate home, a place where he knows everyone and everyone knows him, where his abilities are not feared and hated but welcomed. However, good as it is, there is no real family there; the teachers must remain, to a large extent, professionally remote in order to do their jobs. Here, in The Burrow, there are people who like him, who make him feel at home, and he knows that this is what he has been missing.
Several other small points might be mentioned as well. We have already mentioned that Gilderoy Lockhart will re-appear in this book, and will be true to the image we already have of him: extremely attractive physically, plausible in his descriptions and instructions, but ultimately unreliable. The flying Ford Anglia will also have a few more appearances in this book. Arthur Weasley mentions one Mundungus Fletcher, who tried to jinx him when his back was turned; he, too, will reappear, and will be as shady as this brief mention leads us to expect, in the fourth book and each book after that. And Mr. Weasley's job with the Ministry will also prove important in later books, not only because it will give him the power to investigate other characters for Dark magic, but because his lack of ambition, his joy in what he actually does rather than the seeking of status apparently common among other Ministry employees, is unusual and apparently attracts attention from the likes of Lucius Malfoy.
