CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Chamber of Secrets Ch. 13: The Very Secret Diary

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CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Chapter 13: The Very Secret Diary.
 
The chapter opens after the Christmas holiday, with Hermione in the hospital wing.  Harry and Ron visit her nightly. She keeps a get-well card from Lockhart under her pillow.  Afterward, Harry and Ron discover a flood of water outside Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.  Inside, Myrtle is sobbing because someone hit her with a book.  Despite Ron's warning that the book might be dangerous, Harry picks it up.  The book is a 50-year-old diary, blank except for the name "T.M. Riddle."  Ron recalls that he had polished a 50-year-old trophy awarded to Riddle for special services to Hogwarts.  Harry pockets the diary.
 
Hermione, upon leaving the hospital wing, attempts unsuccessfully to make the diary reveal its secrets, although Ron thinks it is a waste of time. Harry finds himself drawn to the diary, often flipping through its empty pages with the unexplainable sense that T.M. Riddle is familiar to him.
 
For Valentine's Day, Professor Lockhart enlists dwarves to dress up as Cupids and deliver valentines.  Lockhart himself has received 46 valentines.  A dwarf delivers a singing rhyme to Harry in the hallway, grabbing his bag, which splits in two, spilling ink all over.  
 
Later, Harry notices that unlike his other things, the diary was unaffected by the ink spill.  Harry tries writing in the dairy.  The ink disappears, but to his surprise, Riddle responds.  Diary-Riddle explains to Harry that he caught the person who opened the Chamber of Secrets, and offers to show Harry the memory.
 
The memory begins in Headmaster Dippet's office.  Dippet tells Riddle he cannot stay at Hogwarts over the summer because of the danger of attacks.  Riddle leaves and after encountering Professor Dumbledore, who gives Riddle a penetrating stare, Riddle goes to the potions dungeon. He finds Hagrid trying to entice an interestin' creature into a box and accuses the creature of opening the Chamber.  Riddle executes a spell and the creature, now revealed to be a young Aragog, escapes.
 
Harry leaves the memory just as Ron enters the dormitory and Harry tells him that it was Hagrid that opened the Chamber.
 
 
1.  Ron is very attuned to Hermione's crush on Lockhart.  Is he merely disgusted with her infatuation, or is this one of JKR's "anvil-sized hints?  Did you pick up on this the first time you read CoS?
 
2.  What do you think is the source of Lockhart's appeal to women and girls?  Is it his looks and charm, or is there magic involved?  Do you think he's capable of one of Flitwick's Entrancement Enchantments?
 
3.  Ron's initial reaction that the diary was dangerous proves correct, and he also correctly guessed that Riddle murdered Moaning Myrtle.  Ron's apparent knack for this led to a longstanding theory that Ron was a Seer.  What do these comments tell us about Ron?
 
4.  What did you think of Riddle after reading this chapter?  
 
5.  Do you think Riddle's memory is part and parcel of his soul bit, or is it a separate enchantment, like the curses on some of the other horcruxes?  Why did he incorporate this feature into a horcrux and not simply create a separate memorial?  And (really going off on a tangent here) does the Sorting Hat employ the same kind of magic?
 
6.  There are obvious parallels between the memory Riddle showed Harry and the ones Dumbledore shows Harry in HBP; in fact, JKR once considered revealing much of Riddle's history in CoS.  How do you think she intended to handle the information, and what do you think of how Riddle's story was handled here?

7.  Why does Harry believe that Hagrid opened the Chamber?
 
8.  The introduction of Tom Riddle in this chapter adds a dark and chilling element to the storyline, yet the chapter is also very funny, with visions of surly dwarfs carrying harps, Moaning Myrtle as a carnival contest, and Ginny's pickled-toad valentine.  What do you think of JKR's juxtaposition of humor and seriousness here?
 
9.  Please add any questions you may have. 
 
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