Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is the second book in the series. This post is a little overdue, I finished reading it back in November, but here it is finally…

Seven things about Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

One

The Implications of Polyjuice potion are terrifying

Imagine what people in our world would do with this capability. Actually don’t because I’m going to tell you and its… disturbing.

This comes to mind…

You wouldn’t need an invasive paparazzi trying to snap nude shots. Instead they’d just try and get hold of a few hairs, make up the potion, make some poor schlub in the office drink it, and then take photographs of them.

Not to mention what the porn industry would do. They’d acquire, which covers stealing or buying, hairs from celebrities and make sex tapes.

Now we know Hermione is an exceptional witch – but if the best at Hogwarts can make a successful polyjuice potion what does that mean for later life in the wizerding world.

I can imagine people giving gifts of their hair. You want to see someone naked? Well if you ask them nicely maybe they’ll give you a few hairs…

Have I thought too much about this? Quite possibly. And this is only covering Rule 34.

How would you guard against Polyjuice in banks and other secure places?

It is things like this that can be very interesting when reading a book or watching a film. The thinking of ‘if this then that’ – it can be easily missed. What I’m saying is that some things go hand in hand. Every technology we have has probably been misused at some point. It would surely be the same for magical spells. They are still human after all.

Two

Hogwarts Continues to be a Death Trap

I know I said this before but it needs repeating. In this book we have a massive snake in the castle!

This time its more forgivable, as nobody ‘good’ has brought this to the school. Nevertheless if I was a parent of a Hogwarts student I’d be considering another school.

Remember at the end of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone  it is mentioned that the whole school knows about the incident with the stone – for some reason the risks at Hogwarts are accepted by everyone.

Three

Why Gilderoy Lockhart?

It should be obvious to everyone that Lockhart is an idiot. Okay maybe not everyone but certainly to Dumbledore.

The fact that Dumbledore allows Lockhart to teach at Hogwarts almost makes you believe that he must have lost a bet or something.

Answers on a postcard please.

Four

How big are the Hogwart’s Pipes?

This might be down to how it was shown in the film but the idea that the snake travels through the school through the pipes has always bothered me. The snake looks far too big, to me at least, to be getting around through the pipes.

Five

Was the Chamber too big?

This chamber has remained hidden for over a thousand years. I’m not really sure how. How would it stay hidden?

I know that comparing technology and magic doesn’t really work but again I’m forced to wonder if technology could have found it. That’s why I wonder if it was too big. A smaller space could’ve been missed but missing such a large space seems a little strange.

Six

Magical Limitations

“Mr Weasley took Harry’s glasses, gave them a tap of his wand and returned them, good as new.” [Loc 720 – Kindle Edition]

Just think for a few seconds what that spell is doing. The smashed glass reconnecting. Couldn’t Harry have the magical equivalent of contact lenses? That’s got to be easier than some of the tings that magic does in these books – doesn’t it?

Seven

The Floo Network and Magical Mishaps?

This one is admittedly a little subjective and I maybe clutching at straws. Sometimes clutching at straws is interesting – with the exception of when you’re cleaning out the Guinea pig cage.

Harry has never used the Floo network before. He’s naturally scared and misspeaks so he ends up in Borgin and Burkes – [To conveniently overhear something important but that’s another matter.] and emerges bruised. Now as I’m writing this I’m actually reconsidering this point. This could be a case of GIGO but it seems strange to me that this could happen. That a mispronunciation could lead to injury. At least google asks you ‘Did you mean…? It makes me wonder what would happy if they’d been going to the leisure centre and had had an American visitor. The word is pronounced differently in America – in British English it rhymes with pleasure.

Since magic doesn’t exist it is up to each author to determine how it works in their universe. In Harry Potter, as said above in point six, it seems to have strange limitations. It makes me wonder how new spells are devised and developed. Technology is the only reasonable parallel we have – which is obviously not perfect.

Maybe magic isn’t that different from technology. Things can go wrong no matter who’s at the controls, or saying the spell, and sometimes strange things happen.

I once watched a DVD where the blue and red had been switched, it took a while to notice, and we all know about how to fix an N64 carriage.

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I just wanted to say that I have checked this post. I really have. Unfortunately my particular combination of dyslexia and dyspraxia makes it really hard for me to spot typos. Please enjoy and I’ll try not to make too many errors.