Chapter Nine: The Writing on the Wall
In chapter nine of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets badass Hermione makes her first appearance, Binns actually has someone listen to him, and we learn more about the Chamber of Secrets.
(Please be advised that this is a reread and I will be discussing book and movie spoilers.)
We start out with Lockhart insisting he could’ve saved Mrs. Norris, Christmas, and the world while his portraits nod along in the background (and don’t we all deserve such a positive chorus?) while Dumbledore determines that Mrs. Norris isn’t dead, just mysteriously petrified.
At this point it occurs to me to ask who RidGin’s original target was? It couldn’t have possibly been Mrs. Norris. She clearly was just in the way of the Basilisk popping out for a run. And while I’m at it, why does the Basilisk retreat once it’s petrified someone? I suppose RidGin doesn’t want to make a scene quite yet, but conceivably, the Basilisk can go on a rampage and keep attacking people after the first? I have too many questions as usual.
So as usual Snape and Filch are ready to hang, draw, and quarter Harry and associates, and Dumbledore has to step in with little things like reason and logic.
Hermione spends a lot of time in the library looking for information on the Chamber of Secrets and we get a really amusing scene where people pay attention to Binns for perhaps the first time ever in class while he gets their names wrong explaining the myth of the Chamber of Secrets and the monster within.
We get our first notice that Ron is afraid of spiders, and our trio investigates Myrtle’s bathroom for clues and are caught by the third worst person to catch them: Percy. Now someone like me could argue that Percy tells them off because he’s concerned about their well being #JusticeForPercy but most would see him as a big of a prig here, I’ll admit it.
The trio discuss the obvious suspect, D-Malfs since he’s going around gleefully calling people Mudbloods and threatening them and while Ron thinks this clearly makes him our culprit, Hermione’s got a point that it’s unlikely. After all, someone who went through all this trouble to hide his shenanigans behind a wall with paint veiled threats wouldn’t then stand next to said wall and shreik about his hit list. Or would they?
Hermione has her first certifiable naughty badass moment, where she informs the boys that they will have to brew a dangerous and illegal potion to impersonate Malfoy’s cronies and interrogate him about if he’s going around attacking people.
There’s only one way to get the book with said illegal potion within and that’s to get it out of the restricted section with a teacher’s note. But really, who would be that foolish…
Oh right.
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Have you ever had a teacher as boring as Binns?
Did you suspect Malfoy at first?
And why does the basilisk only attack once per venture?
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