Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - J. K. Rowling [0]
Illustrations by Mary GrandPré copyright © 1999 Warner Bros.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rowling, J. K.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets / by J. K. Rowling.
p. cm.
Summary: When the Chamber of Secrets is opened again at the Hogwarts School
of Witchcraft and Wizardry, second-year student Harry Potter finds himself in danger
from a dark power that has once more been released on the school.
ISBN 0-439-06486-4
[1. Wizards — Fiction. 2. Magic — Fiction. 3. Schools — Fiction.
4. England — Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.R7968Har 1999
[Fic] — dc21 98-46370
60 59 58 57 56 55 54 53 02 03 04 05 06
Printed in the U.S.A. 23
First American edition, June 1999
CONTENTS
ONE - The Worst Birthday
TWO - Dobby's Warning
THREE - The Burrow
FOUR - At Flourish and Blotts
FIVE - The Whomping Willow
SIX - Gilderoy Lockhart
SEVEN - Mudbloods and Murmurs
EIGHT - The Deathday Party
NINE - The Writing on the Wall
TEN - The Rogue Bludger
ELEVEN - The Dueling Club
TWELVE - The Polyjuice Potion
THIRTEEN - The Very Secret Diary
FOURTEEN - Cornelius Fudge
FIFTEEN - Aragog
SIXTEEN - The Chamber of Secrets
SEVENTEEN - The Heir of Slytherin
EIGHTEEN - Dobby's Reward
The Worst Birthday
Not for the first time, an argument had broken out over breakfast at number four, Privet Drive. Mr. Vernon Dursley had been woken in the early hours of the morning by a loud, hooting noise from his nephew Harry’s room.
“Third time this week!” he roared across the table. “If you can’t control that owl, it’ll have to go!”
Harry tried, yet again, to explain.
“She’s bored,” he said. “She’s used to flying around outside. If I could just let her out at night —”
“Do I look stupid?” snarled Uncle Vernon, a bit of fried egg dangling from his bushy mustache. “I know what’ll happen if that owl’s let out.”
He exchanged dark looks with his wife, Petunia.
Harry tried to argue back but his words were drowned by a long, loud belch from the Dursleys’ son, Dudley.
“I want more bacon.”
“There’s more in the frying pan, sweetums,” said Aunt Petunia, turning misty eyes on her massive son. “We must build you up while we’ve got the chance. … I don’t like the sound of that school food. …”
“Nonsense, Petunia, I never went hungry when I was at Smeltings,” said Uncle Vernon heartily. “Dudley gets enough, don’t you, son?”
Dudley, who was so large his bottom drooped over either side of the kitchen chair, grinned and turned to Harry.
“Pass the frying pan.”
“You’ve forgotten the magic word,” said Harry irritably.
The effect of this simple sentence on the rest of the family was incredible: Dudley gasped and fell off his chair with a crash that shook the whole kitchen; Mrs. Dursley gave a small scream and clapped her hands to her mouth; Mr. Dursley jumped to his feet, veins throbbing in his temples.
“I meant ‘please’!” said Harry quickly. “I didn’t mean —”
“WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU,” thundered his uncle, spraying spit over the table, “ABOUT SAYING THE ‘M’ WORD IN OUR HOUSE?”
“But I —”
“HOW DARE YOU THREATEN DUDLEY!” roared Uncle Vernon, pounding the table with his fist.
“I just —”
“I WARNED YOU! I WILL NOT TOLERATE MENTION OF YOUR ABNORMALITY UNDER THIS ROOF!”
Harry stared from his purple-faced uncle to his pale aunt, who was trying