The Writing on the Wall
In which everyone jumps to conclusions.
Everyone jumps to conclusions. Filch and Snape jump to the conclusion that Harry petrified Mrs. Norris. Moaning Myrtle jumps to the conclusion that Harry, Ron, and Hermione hate her. Percy jumps to the conclusion that Ron is a pervert, hanging out in the girls' bathrooms. Harry, Ron, and Hermione jump to the conclusion that Malfoy is the heir of Slytherin. And the whole student body jumps to the conclusion that Harry is the heir of Slytherin. That is the gist of the chapter. Restatement of my thesis: everyone jumps to conclusions.
I find that in a lot of stories, the "background story," why or how something came into being and why it is the way it is, is just stuck in somewhere randomly in the first few pages of the first book in a series. I think J.K. Rowling did an excellent job of saving story for when it's relevant, instead of just giving it all away to start with. She sneaks in some excellent background in this chapter, the entire story of how Hogwarts came into being. And adds to it by telling us the mystery of the chamber of secrets.
The castle is struck with chamber of secrets fever, trying to figure out who the heir of Slytherin is. And Harry starts questioning his placement in Gryffindor. I said it before a while ago: the houses are pretty general. No one is simply courageous, smart, ambitious, or loyal. They're a mixture of one or more. This would probably be the opportune time to sneak cleverly in that according to Pottermore, I'm a Ravenclaw. Yeah, totally just wrote this whole paragraph, so I could say that I was a Ravenclaw.
A little sprinkling of fun for anyone who was paying extra close attention to the text: maybe it's only the older copies of CoS, and I assure you my copy is ancient, but on page 157, when Percy finds Ron coming out of Myrtle's bathroom, it's accidentally typed "Perry."
Everyone accusing everyone of everything, clever background story, house confusion, and a typo sum up my thoughts on the chapter. It wasn't very long, and not a lot happened, but it sure was a fun time.
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