Harry Potter 02 - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

978-1-78110-009-7
    www.pottermore.com

 
    by J.K. Rowling
     
     
    The unique online experience built around the Harry Potter books. Share and participate in the stories, showcase your own Potter-related creativity and discover even more about the world of Harry Potter from the author herself.
     
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    To Jill Prewett and Aine Kiely,
    the Godmothers of Swing

 
    CONTENTS
     
     
    ONE
    Owl Post
     
    TWO
    Aunt Marge’s Big Mistake
     
    THREE
    The Knight Bus
     
    FOUR
    The Leaky Cauldron
     
    FIVE
    The Dementor
     
    SIX
    Talons and Tea Leaves
     
    SEVEN
    The Boggart in the Wardrobe
     
    EIGHT
    Flight of the Fat Lady
     
    NINE
    Grim Defeat
     
    TEN
    The Marauder’s Map
     
    ELEVEN
    The Firebolt
     
    TWELVE
    The Patronus
     
    THIRTEEN
    Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw
     
    FOURTEEN
    Snape’s Grudge
     
    FIFTEEN
    The Quidditch Final
     
    SIXTEEN
    Professor Trelawney’s Prediction
     
    SEVENTEEN
    Cat, Rat and Dog
     
    EIGHTEEN
    Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs
     
    NINETEEN
    The Servant of Lord Voldemort
     
    TWENTY
    The Dementors’ Kiss
     
    TWENTY-ONE
    Hermione’s Secret
     
    TWENTY-TWO
    Owl Post Again

 
     
– CHAPTER ONE –
     
Owl Post
    Harry Potter was a highly unusual boy in many ways. For one thing, he hated the summer holidays more than any other time of year. For another, he really wanted to do his homework, but was forced to do it in secret, in the dead of night. And he also happened to be a wizard.
    It was nearly midnight, and he was lying on his front in bed, the blankets drawn right over his head like a tent, a torch in one hand and a large leather-bound book ( A History of Magic, by Bathilda Bagshot) propped open against the pillow. Harry moved the tip of his eagle-feather quill down the page, frowning as he looked for something that would help him write his essay, ‘Witch-Burning in the Fourteenth Century Was Completely Pointless – discuss’.
    The quill paused at the top of a likely-looking paragraph. Harry pushed his round glasses up his nose, moved his torch closer to the book and read:
     
    Non-magic people (more commonly known as Muggles) were particularly afraid of magic in medieval times, but not very good at recognising it. On the rare occasion that they did catch a real witch or wizard, burning had no effect whatsoever. The witch or wizard would perform a basic Flame-Freezing Charm and then pretend to shriek with pain while enjoying a gentle, tickling sensation. Indeed, Wendelin the Weird enjoyed being burnt so much that she allowed herself to be caught no fewer than forty-seven times in various disguises.
     
    Harry put his quill between his teeth and reached underneath his pillow for his ink bottle and a roll of parchment. Slowly and very carefully he unscrewed the ink bottle, dipped his quill into it and began to write, pausing every now and then to listen, because if any of the Dursleys heard the scratching of his quill on their way to the bathroom, he’d probably find himself locked in the cupboard under the stairs for the rest of the summer.
    The Dursley family of number four, Privet Drive, was the reason that Harry never enjoyed his summer holidays. Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and their son, Dudley, were Harry’s only living relatives. They were Muggles, and they had a very medieval attitude towards magic. Harry’s dead parents, who had been a witch and wizard themselves, were never mentioned under the Dursleys’ roof. For years, Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had hoped that if they kept Harry as downtrodden as possible, they would be able to squash the magic out of him. To their fury, they had been unsuccessful, and now lived in terror of anyone finding out that Harry had spent most of the last two years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The most the Dursleys could do these days was to lock away Harry’s spellbooks, wand, cauldron and broomstick at the start of the summer holidays, and forbid him to talk to the neighbours.
    This separation from his spellbooks had been a real problem for Harry, because his teachers at Hogwarts had given him a lot of holiday work. One of the essays, a particularly nasty one about Shrinking Potions, was for Harry’s least favourite teacher, Professor Snape, who would be delighted to have an excuse to give Harry detention for a month. Harry had therefore seized his chance in the first week of the holidays. While Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and Dudley had gone out into the front garden to admire Uncle Vernon’s