Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling Read Free Book Online

bedroom were considered perfectly normal. What Harry found most unusual about life at Ron’s, however, wasn’t the talking mirror or the clanking ghoul: It was the fact that everybody there seemed to like him.
          Mrs. Weasley fussed over the state of his socks and tried to force him to eat fourth helpings at every meal. Mr. Weasley liked Harry to sit next to him at the dinner table so that he could bombard him with questions about life with Muggles, asking him to explain how things like plugs and the postal service worked.
          “Fascinating.” he would say as Harry talked him through using a telephone. “Ingenious, really, how many ways Muggles have found of getting along without magic.”
          Harry heard from Hogwarts one sunny morning about a week after he had arrived at the Burrow. He and Ron went down to breakfast to find Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and Ginny already sitting at the kitchen table. The moment she saw Harry, Ginny accidentally knocked her porridge bowl to the floor with a loud clatter. Ginny seemed very prone to knocking things over whenever Harry entered a room. She dived under the table to retrieve the bowl and emerged with her face glowing like the setting sun. Pretending he hadn’t noticed this, Harry sat down and took the toast Mrs. Weasley offered him.
          “Letters from school,” said Mr. Weasley, passing Harry and Ron identical envelopes of yellowish parchment, addressed in green ink. “Dumbledore already knows you’re here, Harry — doesn’t miss a trick, that man. You two’ve got them, too,” he added, as Fred and George ambled in, still in their pajamas.
          For a few minutes there was silence as they all read their letters. Harry’s told him to catch the Hogwarts Express as usual from King’s Cross station on September first. There was also a list of the new books he’d need for the coming year.
     
    SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS WILL REQUIRE:
    The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2
    
     by Miranda Goshawk
    Break with a Banshee
    
     by Gilderoy Lockhart
    Gadding with Ghouls
    
     by Gilderoy Lockhart
    Holidays with Hags
    
     by Gilderoy Lockhart
    43 Travels with Trolls
    
     by Gilderoy Lockhart
    Voyages with Vampires
    
     by Gilderoy Lockhart
    Wanderings with Werewolves
    
     by Gilderoy Lockhart
    Year with the Yeti
    
     by Gilderoy Lockhart
     
          Fred, who had finished his own list, peered over at Harry’s.
          “You’ve been told to get all Lockhart’s books, too!” he said. “The new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher must be a fan — bet it’s a witch.”
          At this point, Fred caught his mother’s eye and quickly busied himself with the marmalade.
          “That lot won’t come cheap,” said George, with a quick look at his parents. “Lockhart’s books are really expensive….”
          “Well, we’ll manage,” said Mrs. Weasley, but she looked worried. “I expect we’ll be able to pick up a lot of Ginny’s things secondhand.”
          “Oh, are you starting at Hogwarts this year?” Harry asked Ginny.
          She nodded, blushing to the roots of her flaming hair, and put her elbow in the butter dish. Fortunately no one saw this except Harry, because just then Ron’s elder brother Percy walked in. He was already dressed, his Hogwarts prefect badge pinned to his sweater vest.
          “Morning, all,” said Percy briskly. “Lovely day.”
          He sat down in the only remaining chair but leapt up again almost immediately, pulling from underneath him a molting, gray feather duster — at least, that was what Harry thought it was, until he saw that it was breathing.
          “Errol!” said Ron, taking the limp owl from Percy and extracting a letter from under its wing. “Finally — he’s got Hermione’s answer. I wrote to her saying we were going to try and rescue you from the Dursleys.”
          He carried Errol to a perch just inside the back door and tried to stand