It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities

Happy Friday/Harry Potter Day! Your favorite day, right? I mean, also because it means it's almost the weekend but mostly the HP thing. But before we get to that, I have a picture I must share

CHECK THIS OUT

Kayleigh (aka Nylon Admiral) made some kick ass Harry Potter wands AND offered them up to those who wanted them. So of course I jumped on that cos LOOK AT THAT THING? And the glitter? And the notes. Yeah, I ran around the house giggling and pointing that at things while yelling nonsense. I pointed it at Boyfriend+ who looked at me, paused and then yelled "I point at thee*" before turning back to whatever he was doing before I interrupted him. Be prepared for more wand photos.

Onto the readalong, hosted by Alice (aka Reading Rambo aka Muggle Wrangler?).

And now we can discuss the second half of the Chamber of Secrets and then move on to the more interesting books in the series. You know, any that aren't this one.

Fine, that's mean. This is my least favorite of the series, but it's still pretty good. Something has to be the worst and this is it. Besides the first time I read it I felt no need to continue on with the rest of the books. Luckily I got over that.

And I did like parts of this book. I like Gilderoy Lockhart, even though he tries to erase Harry's and Ron's memories. That was a dick move. But really, I liked everything from the moment they find out Ginny had been taken to the end. Then we had some action and mythical creatures and things were fun. Well fun in a dark-and-perilous kind of way.

Is the basilisk Harry fights supposed to be the same one that Voldie let loose when he was a student? Cos they say the creature can live hundreds of years, but they don't say anything about if it needs to eat or anything during that time. Was someone feeding it all these years?

"Ron read the message [to follow the spiders], swallowed hard, and looked sideways at the empty seat usually filled by Hermione. The sight seemed to stiffen his resolve, and he nodded." AWWWWWWWW Ron.
What was Hagrid hoping Harry and Ron would learn by following the spiders and meeting Aragog? I know if they hadn't, they wouldn't have found out that Hagrid didn't open the Chamber and that the girl died in the bathroom. Except did anyone really believe Hagrid opened the Chamber? No, so they learned the girl died in the bathroom. But was that what Hagrid was hoping would happen? Aragog would make an off handed remark about not going there? Actually I hope Hagrid's plan was for Harry and Ron to ride spiders into the school to take down the monster. That would have made no sense, but I think I would have enjoyed it.

I'm torn about the ending. Did Lucius know what the diary was? Because Dumbledore seems to suggest that he did and this was all a plan to get Arthur Weasley fired, by having his daughter murder a bunch of students with a mythical beast. Which, if THAT'S what Lucius was planning to do with a piece of Voldemort's soul, that is overkill. But if Lucius didn't know what the diary actually was, what was he hoping would happen by sneaking it into Ginny's book? Maybe just have her be caught with a dark object? WHAT IS YOUR END GAME?
Can house elves not do laundry? Would that count as presenting them with clothes? And really, does the way Dobby was "presented" with clothes count, because he actually caught something Lucius was throwing away? This is a case where I think the movie did it better by having Lucius present Dobby with the sock hidden inside the book. So he didn't realize that he was presenting him with his freedom.

OK, so I apparently have lots of questions after this one. But really, I'm just excited that we're up to Prisoner of Azkaban now.

*I really tried to find a clip of this from Conan since he says it pretty much any time he's referencing a nerd, but my cursory Googling failed to turn anything up. Instead, you can watch this clip of him teasing a person dressed up as HP at his show.

Title quote from page 422

Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Scholastic, 1999.