Chapter Discussion: Chamber of Secrets Chapter 10, The Rogue Bludger

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 189037


> 1.  Harry submits to being Lockhart's supporting player but when the trio get the signature all it takes is Hermione gushing over Lockhart's book, Gadding with Ghouls.  Was it necessary for Harry to have put himself through the play-acting?

Pippin:
Lockhart might not have done it if he was in a bad mood over Harry's refusal to cooperate.

> 
> 2.  Moste Potente Potions is a musty book.  Are there other copies of this book around, perhaps in Snape's office, so advanced Potions students don't request this copy very often?  Some of the illustrations are gruesome.  Would this be a book an advanced student might need to use or is it a relic from much earlier times?

Pippin:
I thought  the illustrations were of things that could go wrong, preparing us for Hermione's problems.  Possibly all the copies in better shape have already been checked out by older students. 

> 
> 3.  Harry, Fred and George all recognize that the rogue Bludger is attacking Harry.  Couldn't anyone else on the field see that?  Or is it that the game matters more than any individual thing going on?

Pippin:
I don't know why asking for an inquiry should mean forfeiting the match, but that's what Harry thinks and Oliver doesn't deny it. So it's not in a Gryffindor supporter's interest to point out what's going on unless they think they are going to lose anyway, and it's not in Slytherin's interest at all.

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> 4.  The Bludger doesn't attack during the time out but after the game an injured Harry notices Fred and George wrestling the Bludger into a box.  It is still fighting them.  Why did the Bludger not attack during the time out but apparently try to keep going after the game was finished?

Pippin:
Ask Dobby :) He might have thought the time out meant Harry was going to give up.

> 
> 5.  Could Colin Creevey have been coming to visit Harry?  How long was he petrified before Dumbledore found him, do you think?

Pippin:
I don't think he could have been there long. A ghost would probably have noticed him. 

Since Harry has been shut in the hospital wing, regrowing all the bones in his arm, it would seem that Harry is not acting for the Heir. He was in no condition to be prowling the castle looking for a random victim, nor could he  know Colin Creevy was on his way. But someone did. That fits with the later evidence that the culprit must be a Gryffindor. 
 

> 
> 6.  A Basilisk's gaze can kill.  When Dumbledore opens Colin's camera, a jet of steam hisses out.  Is this consistent, do you think, with the full effects of a Basilisk's stare?  Does the Basilisk's stare fry a person's insides, leaving a petrified shell?

Pippin:
It doesn't make a lot of sense to me that looking through a camera would alter the killing effect  while looking through a pair of glasses wouldn't. But magic isn't supposed to make sense to us Muggle types. The basilisk's stare works differently on different kinds of matter. It even works on ghosts, but doesn't turn them  solid. 


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> 7.  Harry thinks that McGonagall is just as puzzled as he is when Dumbledore said the more important question is how the Chamber is being opened.  Does Dumbledore know at this point that it would require the use of Parceltongue to open it?

Pippin:
He probably realizes it requires parseltongue to control the monster. That, more than opening the chamber, is why Dumbledore would suspect Voldemort himself and not one of his minions. 

Pippin