Chapter Discussion Chamber of Secrets Ch. 8 The Deathday Party

[Geoff]

No: HPFGUIDX 188975

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "dumbledore11214" <dumbledore11214 at ...> wrote:

Alla:
> > 1. Nick warns Harry to be careful with dripping the mud around, but when I was
> rereading the chapter I realized that I cannot find any description of Harry
> doing just that, could somebody point me to it?

Nikkalmati: 
> Yes, it is mentioned as he walks to the castle that they practiced in the rain
> and NHN warns him he is dripping on the floor.
 
> Alla: 
> Sorry for being unclear, let me try to clarify. Yes, I know that Nick warns him to be careful and that is what I said in the question, so there is no need to point me to Nick stating that guys :-).  It just felt weird to me that it was not described as something like "Harry was dripping mud around", you know? Same as Harry was walking one of the deserted corridors, I was expecting to see Harry was dripping mud around. I am just not sure why she let us know that he did that only from Nick's question and was wondering if I was missing something.

Geoff:
I still don't see why you are apparently making a big issue out of this.

At the beginning of the chapter, we find Harry "late one stormy Saturday 
afternoon, a few days before Hallowe'en, returning to Gryffindor Tower,
drenched to the skin and splattered with mud'. We are told that it hadn't 
been a happy practice but more relevantly, the narrative tells us that "As
Harry squelched along the deserted corridor, he came across somebody 
who looked just as preoccupied as he was..."
(COS "The Deathday Party" p.92 UK edition)

It is therefore obvious that he must be leaving stuff on the floor. Here in 
Porlock, for the last few days, we have had a lot of rain which, added to the 
mess left by intermittent snow, means that when I walk my dog (and often 
my daughter's dog which is even worse), we come in very wet and muddy,
>From time to time, I get ticked off because I have let the dogs into the 
kitchen before I have dried them properly.

This is akin to Filch's reaction. But it has been pointed out that this really 
sets up the situation for Harry to discover that he is a Squib. All it needs 
is that (a) Harry is wet and squelching (b) he has come into the building 
without wiping his feet and (c) as my wife would probably tell me, being 
a typical male, he hadn't taken that on board.

 A bit of a storm in a teacup perhaps?