Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Spoiler Alert

            I have read Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling. It is about a boy named Harry Potter attending his second year at Hogwarts, a magical school. At the school, people are randomly being petrified, or turned completely immobile and stiff. After the first victim was petrified, there was a message written at the attack site, “The chamber has been opened.” This meant that the monster sealed inside was released and was free to do what it wanted.  After that incident, many more attacks also occurred and Hogwarts was not a safe place anymore. The blame was put on Harry when he found that he had the ability to understand and speak to snakes. This ability, called parseltongue, was extremely rare and in history, only evil wizards have possessed it. People began to believe that because of this, he was the one causing all of this to happen.

            This book shows us not to assume things too quickly before considering the options. At first, when this crisis had started, Harry thought that the perpetrator of these attacks was a boy named Draco Malfoy. He was Harry’s “enemy,” and it seemed likely that the one that opened the chamber would be him. When Harry and his friend Ron disguised themselves, they heard Draco confess that he actually didn’t know who the person was. Also, when Harry spoke to the snake in front of everyone, people supposed the person was Harry, even though he was innocent. Another time was when another of Harry’s friends, Hagrid, was know to be keeping monsters as pets when he used to learn at Hogwarts. The chamber had opened once before 50 years ago and Hagrid was blamed. Now, Harry presumed that Hagrid was actually the person. Once again, Harry was incorrect. This shows that even though something seems likely, it is not right to assume that is the truth. It shows that you can’t really be right about something if you aren’t 100 percent sure.

            In the end, it turns out the person causing these attacks was highly unsuspected. It surprised everyone what actually had happened. Ron’s sister, Ginny, was possessed by a magical diary owned by Tom Riddle, the same person that opened that opened the chamber 50 years ago. Nobody would have suspected her, and that made her easier to use. This book also shows that unexpected results may come out if you keep looking for the answer.