The Worst Birthday & Dobby’s Warning
chapters one & two of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
After a dreary, lonely birthday, Harry retreats to his bedroom to find Dobby – and learns the house-elf is trying to prevent his return to Hogwarts. Harry refuses, so Dobby gets him in trouble and the Dursleys lock Harry in his room. When he wakes up a few nights later, though, Ron is outside his window.
Harry Potter wasn’t a normal boy. As a matter of fact, he was as not normal as it is possible to be.
(by FrizzyHermione)
Harry looked nothing like the rest of the family.
(by Edgar Torné)
More than anything else at Hogwarts, more even than playing Quidditch, Harry missed his best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. They, however, didn’t seem to be missing him at all.
(by Hannah-Dora)
He sang under his breath: “Happy birthday to me… happy birthday to me…”
(by Hala Zabaneh)
Harry suddenly sat bolt upright on the garden bench. He had been staring absent-mindedly into the hedge – and the hedge was staring back.
(by Sheena Kristen Sy)
“I know what day it is,” sang Dudley, waddling toward him.
The huge eyes blinked and vanished.
“What?” said Harry, not taking his eyes off the spot where they had been.
(by Keith James)
Harry… turned to collapse on his bed. The trouble was, there was already someone siting in it.
(by NicoPony)
Harry knew instantly that this was what had been watching him out of the garden hedge that morning.
(by Laurence Peguy)
A sudden silence fell downstairs. Two seconds later Harry, heart thudding madly, heard Uncle Vernon coming into the hall, calling, “Dudley must have left his television on again, the little tyke!”
(by Mudblood428)
“No,” croaked Harry. “Please… they’ll kill me….”
(by NicoPony)
about the chapters
Something You May Not Have Noticed
I think the most interesting thing about Dobby’s visit to Harry is that Dobby is able to visit Harry at all. After all, he seems to have an actual inability to betray his masters – he never actually does so, and every time he comes close he stops short and punishes himself for even getting that far. So then why is it that he can come to Privet Drive (often enough to be stopping Harry’s mail!) and only casually mention that he’ll have to punish himself when he returns home? Could he really spend that much time away from home without being ordered to do so? And if he was ordered to do so… well, then what the heck is up with that?
Life at Privet Drive
I can’t help but wonder what the Masons think of the Dursleys. Clearly they’re the type of people who are happy to come to a dinner party with Vernon to discuss a business deal; a little smarminess certainly isn’t going to put them off. But the Dursleys are so outlandishly over the top – I mean, Dudley’s going to tell Mr. Mason that he’s his hero? This is a prospective business partner of Vernon’s – can he have even met Dudley more than once or twice? Outrageous.
Something to Remember
It’s worth paying attention to what Dobby knows – or thinks he knows – about the “plot to make most terrible things happen at Hogwarts.” As we learn more about Dobby and more about the plot, the fact that he knows what he does will become very interesting indeed.
The Final Word
“I feel sorry for Dudley. I might joke about him, but I feel truly sorry for him because I see him as just as abused as Harry. Though, in possibly a less obvious way. What they are doing to him is inept, really. I think children recognize that. Poor Dudley. He’s not being prepared for the world at all, in any reasonable or compassionate way, so I feel sorry for him.”–J.K. Rowling, November 2000
Extremely cool Harry by Hannah Dora.
Also again very interesting thoughts in the Something You May Not Have Noticed section.
Kim said this on March 13, 2009 at 11:22 am
In response to the Something You May Not Have Noticed section: I think it would be possible for Dobby to find a way to leave Malfoy Manor on his own. Afterall, Kreacher was able to use Sirius’s ordering him out of a room (“Get out!”) to leave the entire house and visit the Malfoys, so I don’t think it’s that difficult to imagine the Malfoy’s yelling at Dobby to leave a room or something, and him twisting that into a way for him to leave the house.
Chloe said this on March 15, 2009 at 2:34 pm
“there are powers Dumbledore doesn’t… powers no decent wizard…” Does Dobby know about Horcruxes? Or is he “only” talking about the diary and the Chamber?
Kim said this on March 30, 2009 at 11:26 am
The fact that Dobby accompanies Lucius to Hogwarts at the end of the book suggests that the Malfoys take him with them sometimes, probably to carry stuff and run errands (maybe Lucius was heading to Hogsmeade after Hogwarts?), so perhaps they send him out on his own sometimes, hence he’s allowed to leave Malfoy Manor because no-one’s ordered him to stay there? They wouldn’t give him a second thought unless they wanted him to do something for them.
palantiriel said this on April 9, 2009 at 11:32 am
Chloe – this is definitely a possibility. I think the biggest question in my mind is how omnipresent Dobby had to be at Privet Drive to be successful at intercepting Harry’s mail. If all he had to do was cast an elf-spell, then you’re probably right. If he had to wait around and intercept each owl individually, though, then I can’t really see him pulling it off.
Kim – Dumbledore says in book 6 that Lucius didn’t know the diary was a Horcrux, so I can’t imagine how Dobby would find out. I assume he just overheard that the plan involved the Chamber of Secrets.
palantiriel – Remind me to get back to this when I post that chapter, if I don’t remember to write it in myself. It’s a really interesting point.
Thanks everyone!
John Kearns said this on April 16, 2009 at 2:05 pm
NicoPony’s fantastic image of Harry trying to catch the hovering pudding reinforced for me what a horrible birthday Harry was having. I never really thought about how Aunt Petunia went to the trouble to create a “masterpiece” pudding for business guests, but the birthday boy was never going to have any.
Andrea said this on February 18, 2010 at 9:27 pm
About the letter that Harry received from the Ministry: it may have been a surprise to uncle Vernon that Harry was’nt allowed to use magic outside of Hogwarts, but surely aunt Petunia should remember that, after all her sister was in the same situation when she was young (spoiler: if aunt Petunia remebers something like Azkaban prison, more easily should remember that Lily also was’nt allowed to perform magic outside of school).
Jose Lopes said this on June 9, 2010 at 10:10 am
(Spoiler!) It is hard to say if Lily told Petunia about the no magic outside of school rule or not. I think Petunia remembers information about Azkaban because of Snape being present. She is spying on them at the time and is obviously jealous of her sister’s new interests. When Lily comes home on breaks she may or may not practice magic, but we do know that by this point Petunia is already calling Lily a “freak” and they may not be talking to each other very much at all.
Pam said this on July 28, 2010 at 1:38 pm