Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Chamber of Secrets/Chapter 7
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Chapter 7 of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: Mudbloods and Murmurs
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[edit] Synopsis
During the first week of classes, Harry has avoided Professor Lockhart with some success and Colin Creevey with less, only to be awakened far too early Saturday morning by Oliver Wood who wants to start Quidditch practice before the other House teams. First he gives the team a long lecture on tactics. When they finally get to the pitch, and after doing some basic warm-ups, they find they have been pre-empted: the Slytherin team is there. A note from Professor Snape gives them permission to use the Pitch to train their new seeker: Draco Malfoy. It also seems that Draco's father has presented the entire Slytherin team with new Nimbus 2001 brooms that are even faster than Harry's Nimbus 2000.
Ron and Hermione have appeared to watch the practice. Hermione comments that nobody on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in. Malfoy, angered by the aspersion, calls Hermione a "mudblood." To retaliate, an angry Ron attempts to jinx Malfoy, but his broken wand backfires and he jinxes himself instead. Hermione and Harry carry him, belching slugs, to Hagrid's hut, where they narrowly miss Professor Lockhart, who is just leaving. Hagrid uncharacteristically criticizes Professor Lockhart, suggesting that his books may not be entirely truthful. He also mentions that Lockhart was the only applicant for the Defence Against the Dark Arts job. Apparently word is out that the position may be jinxed.
Ron tells Hagrid he tried to curse Malfoy because he called Hermione a mudblood. Hagrid is shocked. This is evidently the most insulting term used to denigrate a Muggleborn's ancestry.
Hagrid then pokes a bit of fun at Harry for giving out signed photos. He says Lockhart was displeased to hear his opinion that Harry was more famous than Lockhart would ever be. He then takes them out to his pumpkin patch to see what he has been growing. Apparently, despite being prohibited from performing magic, he has managed an Engorgement charm. The pumpkins, with a month to go before Hallowe'en, are the size of small boulders.
At lunchtime, they return to the Castle. Professor McGonagall meets them in the entrance hall and tells them their detentions. Ron will be polishing silver with Mr. Filch; Harry will be helping Professor Lockhart answer his fan mail.
That evening, Harry goes to Professor Lockhart's office to serve his detention. Lockhart's office is decorated with pictures of himself, some even signed. As midnight nears, Harry, worn out with stuffing envelopes and ignoring Lockhart pontificating about fame, hears a low voice muttering violently. Harry jerks to attention to try and follow what it is being said. Lockhart says he cannot hear it, but notices that it is nearly midnight and dismisses Harry.
Ron arrives at the dormitory half an hour later. He has had a rough time, having one final slug attack on a Special Award for Services to the School which required massive amounts of work to clean up. When told about the voice, Ron comments that it is odd Lockhart could not hear it, particularly since the door remained closed. Even if someone was invisible, they would have had to open the door to get in.
[edit] Analysis
There are several main points that are brought up in this chapter. The first of these is, of course, Draco's addition to the Slytherin Quidditch team, and the appearance of the team's new brooms, which are very probably related. We have been told that members of Slytherin house will use any advantage they can to achieve their goals, and it is quite likely that Draco, having decided that he must oppose Harry directly in Quidditch, had convinced his father to buy brooms for the team on condition that he was selected as Seeker. Likely his plan was to try and humiliate Harry by out-flying him. We don't yet know how well this will work.
Draco's animosity towards those he perceives as less well-bred than himself is also now brought into sharp focus. We see him here insulting Hermione on the basis of her parentage, using terms that quite shock both Ron and Hagrid, even though Hermione does not understand the depth of the insult that has been thrown at her.
Another point brought out is Ron's wand. We have already seen that it has become unpredictable, producing clouds of grey smoke and odd noises, but we now see that it no longer necessarily casts spells in the desired direction, even when it does work.
We are led to believe that there is a certain amount of solidarity among the teachers, that one teacher will generally not criticize another. This will be stated explicitly in a later book, but so far has been only implied. Given that Hagrid does state that Lockhart's books might not be entirely truthful, one gathers that there is a lot of suspicion in the staff room that Lockhart is not anywhere near as good a wizard as he pretends.
We are exposed to an extremely large dose of Lockhart's personality as Harry serves his detention. Lockhart here clearly believes that Harry is as driven by celebrity as he is, and is in need of tips as to how to handle fame. We see that Lockhart deeply enjoys being famous, to the extent that he does not even seem to mind having to send out tons of autographed pictures every week. Possibly, Lockhart's self-image is fueled by the belief that, being so widely known, he is universally loved, and he cannot conceive of anyone not being similarly in need of affirmation by the masses.
This also is the first appearance of the mysterious voice within the walls. Something seems to be murderously angry in the castle, and Harry already is concerned that he will need to find out what it is, despite being worried that he seems to be the only one who can hear it.
[edit] Questions
[edit] Review
[edit] Further Study
[edit] Greater Picture
The Award for Special Services to the School is specifically singled out in later chapters, because it was the one given to Tom Riddle. Tom will play a large part in the end of this book, and it will turn out that he will play a significant part in the series as a whole.
As we will see later in the book, the voice Harry heard in Lockhart's office was actually the Basilisk, the monster in the Chamber, which had been released and is now starting to roam through the school. Harry is the only one that can hear the voice because he is a Parselmouth; to everyone else, the sound is a low and undefined hissing noise. It is interesting that Harry perceives Parseltongue as English; this will prove to be a plot point much later in the series.
Hermione learns that Harry can understand snakes, and from the effects of the Monster, and Harry's description of how it seems to be moving through the castle, she eventually determines that it is a Basilisk. Harry does manage to get this information from her even after she is Petrified herself.
It is also important to note how Ron's wand backfired and hit him instead of Malfoy. This plays a big part later in the book when Harry, Ron, and Professor Lockhart delve into the Chamber of Secrets to rescue Ginny.
