Dobby’s Reward
chapter eighteen of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry explains the Chamber of Secrets and his meeting Tom Riddle, and after a chat with Dumbledore, Lucius Malfoy storms in. Harry and Dumbledore both manage to outrage him, though, and Harry manages to free Dobby. Hogwarts then celebrates the closing of the Chamber and the students head home for the summer.
“What interests me most,” said Dumbledore gently, “is how Lord Voldemort managed to enchant Ginny, when my sources tell me he is currently in hiding in the forests of Albania.”
(by Leela Starsky)
“His d-diary!” Ginny sobbed. “I’ve b-been writing in it, and he’s been w-writing back all year-”
(by Ani Bester)
“There has been no lasting harm done, Ginny.”
(by Amanda Grazini)
“So!” he said, “You’ve come back. The governors suspended you, but you still saw fit to return to Hogwarts.”
(by Laurence Peguy)
The elf was doing something very odd. His great eyes fixed meaningfully on Harry, he kept pointing at the diary, then at Mr. Malfoy, and then hitting himself hard on the head with his fist.
(by deeterhi)
“You’ll meet the same sticky end as your parents one of these days, Harry Potter,” he said softly. “They were meddlesome fools, too.”
(by Laura Freeman)
“Got a sock,” said Dobby in disbelief. “Master threw it, and Dobby caught it, and Dobby – Dobby is free”.
(by Jess Paul)
about the chapter
So Dobby belongs to the Malfoys. Once we know this for sure, the question then becomes – what exactly did he know? What was the plot he tried to warn Harry of?
I think it’s most likely he was able to hang around Harry all summer, stopping his mail, because the Malfoys ordered him to be there. Why would he be ordered to be at Privet Drive? To keep an eye on Harry, of course, and find out when he would be going to Diagon Alley. When Harry meets the Malfoys at Borgin & Burkes, Lucius says he has “important business to attend to elsewhere.” The next we see him, it’s at the bookstore, conveniently running into Harry and the Weasleys.
So what was the plot? Dumbledore will tell us later that Lucius thought the diary would open the Chamber of Secrets, and possibly kill Muggle-borns. It’s virtually certain that he would have wanted Harry to appear the culprit, and perhaps get himself killed the way Ginny almost did. He didn’t know what the diary truly was – Dumbledore will tell us that, too – but he knew it would be bad news for Harry if he had it. That’s the plot Dobby overheard, and tried to warn Harry about.
So why did Lucius’s plan go awry, and Ginny end up with the diary instead? Two things happened in Borgin & Burkes that could have done this: first, Lucius got so angry at the Weasleys that he decided in the heat of his anger to give Ginny the diary instead; or the other possibility (which is a lot slicker) is that he saw Harry drop his Lockhart books in Ginny’s cauldron, not realizing that he was giving them to her and planning to buy another set for himself. Either way, his gall never ceases to amaze me.
The Wizarding World
It’s interesting that all Lucius has to do to free Dobby is inadvertently throw him a sock. Couldn’t Dobby have positioned himself in the clothes hamper or something if he’d wanted to be freed earlier? But surely it’s also true that house-elves do their masters’ laundry. So there must be some kind of magical contract or understanding that this isn’t enough to free a house-elf. Clearly, this is something that had to be a bit murky in the book in order for Harry to be the one who frees Dobby.
The Boy Who Lived
Harry is pretty scared of his similarities to Tom Riddle, clearly worrying that he may end up down the same path. But in the end, those similarities – and his very fear of them – may be one of the things that keep Harry on the straight and narrow. Now that he’s met Riddle, he’s seen another boy very much like himself turn into a monster – and he’s experienced firsthand the way that that monster affected the world. It gives him an inkling of just how much power one person can have in the wizarding world, and he’s making a very deliberate choice to use that power for good, and for the protection of those he loves, long before Dumbledore or anybody else is involved.
The Final Word
“Key things happen in book two. No one knows how important those things are… yet. There’s a lot in there. And I know how difficult it was to get it all in there without drawing too much attention to the clues.”–J.K. Rowling, November 2002
wow… I had never linked Dobby’s appearance at the Durseley’s to the fact that Malfoy needed a spy to find out when he could give the diary… If he had really succedeed, we would’ve had a posessed Harry way earlier in the series. Although, can Harry really be posessed by another Horcrux, when he’s already one himself? (not that Malfoy would have known this, but still, hypothetically)
I always wondered about House-elves doing laundry too… maybe it has to be a piece of clothing not worn by the family themselves, but directly giving it to the elf.
Anyway, I can’t wait for the art of the third book!
kim said this on May 28, 2009 at 7:50 am
Unfortunately this doesn’t have a lot to do with your comments, it was just something I was thinking while reading the summary. What I love about Harry Potter–okay, one thing that I love about Harry Potter–is that the children are never written condescendingly. The thing about it is that even though many of the people reading these books are NOT Harry’s age, he’s written so that you still identify with him. Some books have a tendency to show kids as overly naive, and to show their problems as trivial compared to the problems of adults or older kids. But Jo does a really good job of showing them as real people; like Ginny. If you think about it she’s being kind of silly, with the valentine and looking for security in a diary and acting so skittish, but she’s not portrayed that way. I think that’s why HP appeals to such a large range.
I liked that quote, because truthfully COS is my least favorite book…but it’s still pretty important to the plot, more than I realized.
I’m exited for POA!
Hayley said this on May 29, 2009 at 4:01 pm
For some reason I always thought Malfoy gave Ginny the diary to bring shame on the Weasleys. Wouldn’t it be horrible to have the daughter of a muggle-loving person to be found killing muggle borns? Arthur would probably lose his job and their reputation would be ruined.
I think that Dumbledore protected Ginny(and the entire Weasley family reputation) by asking how Voldy enchanted Ginny. He makes it seem she did it involuntarily, while Malfoy would want to make it seem as if she did it on purpose.
Just a thought. I can’t wait to start PoA!!
Alyssa said this on May 31, 2009 at 11:28 am
Alyssa – it’s certainly possible that Lucius gave Ginny the diary intentionally, either in the heat of the moment (because he was so angry at Arthur) or that it was planned that way all along. The main reason I think it was intended for Harry is Dobby’s warning to Harry – if the bad things weren’t intended for Harry, then why is Dobby warning Harry in particular? Or more specifically, what is he warning him from? He describes a “horrible plot” at Hogwarts, and implies Harry’s involved somehow. That’s my reasoning, but it’s certainly far from certain and open to interpretation. :)
John Kearns said this on May 31, 2009 at 4:12 pm
Great new picture by Jess Paul!
I always interpreted Lucius’ reasons for giving the diary to Ginny the same way Alyssa does/did. And as to Dobby warning Harry: I thought he didn’t want anything to happen to Harry, didn’t want him to be attacked by the beast (maybe Dobby didn’t know about it only attacking muggle borns). However, Johns thoughts make sense, too. It’s a very interesting other take on things.
Kim said this on June 2, 2009 at 2:31 pm
Huge “Thank You” to Jess Paul for permission to use the Dobby picture. It absolutely captures the moment.
Loader Lady said this on June 2, 2009 at 4:30 pm
Lucius is a death-eater and he thought, that Harry would be a great dark wizard, like most of his kind. He anyway just wanted to through the diary away to leave no trails. Probably he noticed, that Harry wasn’t the new führer so he gave it to the people, he hates so much.
I guess Dobby is not a normal houseelf, cause houseelves don’t want to be free. He does and I guess, that’s why he was waiting for an coincident like that. Other houseelves like to serve and obviously the laundry was not given directly by the master. It was just lying around. And they also had to give it back, so laundry doesn’t count, except your name is Dobby.
Rika said this on August 24, 2009 at 6:13 am
Rika makes a good point in that Dobby is NOT a typical house-elf. We know what a typical house elf is only through contrast with Winky and Hagrid’s characterization of them as a species. Dobby does not live to serve his master, unlike the rest, who appear to be willing slaves. This makes SPEW an epic failure as we see later.
grrreg said this on September 11, 2009 at 2:51 am
Artur was working on a muggle protection law an Lucius wanted to mess things up by giving Ginny the diary. What’s scary is the diary was meant as a weapon of sorts as well as a horcrux
Tammy said this on October 20, 2009 at 9:35 pm
I think that John is right when he says that the diary is intended for Harry.
But I do have a question about Privet Drive. I know elves have a special kind of magic, but this place it’s supposed to be very well guarded, did nobody detect the presence of another magical creature in the neighbourhood? And, probably this is easier to answer since Lucius has many “friends” in the Ministery, does everybody knows where Harry lives? Or is it because of that kind of magic that house elves have that Dobby was able to find Harry?
Paula said this on October 27, 2009 at 8:48 am
Something that always bothers me when Mr & Mrs Weasley appear in this chapter is that we never see the parents of the petrified students come to visit their stricken children at Hogwarts. Perhaps visits do happen in some “off-camera” moments, but since it’s never mentioned, it makes me wonder if Dumbledore ever tells the parents of the Muggle-born victims what was truly happening with their children. Surely, the headmaster would have given them some information… for example, I’m sure Colin and Justin’s parents would have missed them not being home for Christmas. Obviously, Dumbledore could have just explained to the Muggle parents that there was no need to worry because it was just a matter of time before the mandrake plants would mature and a potion would be made to restore their petrified children. On the other hand, considering all the things the Ministry of Magic covers up, it might just have been easier to dispatch someone to perform some temporary memory charms on the parents so they might forget about their children for the time being.
This opens up a bunch of questions though about Muggle families who have magical children. I wonder if Hogwarts would have remained open all year if the children of magical parents had been petrified. Surely Muggle parents have little influence on the board of governors. The only Muggle parents we ever hear about actually coming to Hogwarts are Moaning Myrtle’s parents, who (as Tom Riddle tells Hagrid in the diary scene) were coming to the school the day after she died.
Of course, maybe that’s the difference here. We don’t see many parents ever come to Hogwarts. Going back to the Weasleys in this chapter, they come because they believe their daughter is probably already dead within the Chamber of Secrets. Still, the parents in this book (Wizards and Muggles) seem to be a trusting lot overall considering all that we know goes on at this school!
Andrea said this on February 18, 2010 at 9:00 pm
I do not think that the diary was intended for Harry, for Lucius knows perfectly well in whose book he put the diary, remarking that the shabby state of Ginny’s book suggests that Arthur is not paid well for “disgracing the name of wizard”. Dumbledore seems to think the same thing when he says far later in the series that Lucius hoped to incriminate the Weasley family and get rid of an incriminating magical object in one fell swoop when he gave the diary to Ginny.
Though I’d like to commend the author of this article (and of the essay “What Did Dobby Know?”) for having come up with such good explanations of Dobby’s atypical behavior, I think it unlikely that Jo Rowling would have told us nothing anything about this subplot, and more likely that Dobby is “less enslaved” than other house elves, simply because he wants to be set free. House elves like Kreacher and Winky, however much they might dislike the orders they are given (or whose giving them, in Kreacher’s case), still feel proud in serving their masters’ families.
Matthew said this on April 18, 2010 at 4:24 pm
I agree with Mathew to an extent. Didn’t Lycious give Ginny the transformation book saying ” if that’s all your father can give you”. I do believe that maybe the original plan was to give it to Harry (which would explain Dobby) but inthe heat of the moment, and thinking he cold destroy the muggle protections act, he decided to change the plan and give the diary to ginny.
Soraya said this on May 10, 2010 at 9:54 pm
I think his plan was always to give it to Ginny. But Dobby heard the plan and knew it would involve Voldemort. If Voldemort around Harry is in danger. So, Dobby then goes to find loopholes in his orders to try to keep Harry from coming back. Which obviously don’t work. but that just my 3 cent on the issue.
Phoebe said this on June 2, 2010 at 7:00 pm