Harry Potter 02 - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

four hundred points securing Gryffindor the House Cup for the second year running, or Professor McGonagall standing up to tell them all that the exams had been cancelled as a school treat (‘Oh, no !’ said Hermione), or Dumbledore announcing that, unfortunately, Professor Lockhart would be unable to return next year, owing to the fact that he needed to go away and get his memory back. Quite a few of the teachers joined in the cheering that greeted this news.
    ‘Shame,’ said Ron, helping himself to a jam doughnut. ‘He was starting to grow on me.’
    *
    The rest of the summer term passed in a haze of blazing sunshine. Hogwarts was back to normal, with only a few, small differences: Defence Against the Dark Arts classes were cancelled (‘but we’ve had plenty of practice at that anyway,’ Ron told a disgruntled Hermione) and Lucius Malfoy had been sacked as a school governor. Draco was no longer strutting around the school as though he owned the place. On the contrary, he looked resentful and sulky. On the other hand, Ginny Weasley was perfectly happy again.
    Too soon, it was time for the journey home on the Hogwarts Express. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George and Ginny got a compartment to themselves. They made the most of the last few hours in which they were allowed to do magic before the holidays. They played Exploding Snap, set off the very last of Fred and George’s Filibuster Fireworks, and practised disarming each other by magic. Harry was getting very good at it.
    They were almost at King’s Cross when Harry remembered something.
    ‘Ginny – what did you see Percy doing, that he didn’t want you to tell anyone?’
    ‘Oh, that,’ said Ginny, giggling. ‘Well – Percy’s got a girlfriend. ’
    Fred dropped a stack of books on George’s head.
    ‘What?’
    ‘It’s that Ravenclaw Prefect, Penelope Clearwater,’ said Ginny. ‘That’s who he was writing to all last summer. He’s been meeting her all over the school in secret. I walked in on them kissing in an empty classroom one day. He was so upset when she was –you know – attacked. You won’t tease him, will you?’ she added anxiously.
    ‘Wouldn’t dream of it,’ said Fred, who was looking as if his birthday had come early.
    ‘Definitely not,’ said George, sniggering.
    The Hogwarts Express slowed and finally stopped.
    Harry pulled out his quill and a bit of parchment and turned to Ron and Hermione.
    ‘This is called a telephone number,’ he told Ron, scribbling it twice, tearing the parchment in two and handing it to them. ‘I told your dad how to use a telephone last summer, he’ll know. Call me at the Dursleys, OK? I can’t stand another two months with only Dudley to talk to …’
    ‘Your aunt and uncle will be proud, though, won’t they?’ said Hermione, as they got off the train and joined the crowd thronging towards the enchanted barrier. ‘When they hear what you did this year?’
    ‘Proud?’ said Harry. ‘Are you mad? All those times I could’ve died, and I didn’t manage it? They’ll be furious …’
    And together they walked back through the gateway to the Muggle world.

 
     
    Titles available in the Harry Potter series (in reading order):
     
    Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
    Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
    Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
    Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
    Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
    Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
    Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
     
     
    Other titles available:
     
    Quidditch Through the Ages
    Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
    The Tales of Beedle the Bard
     
     
    Read on for the first chapter of the next book in the Harry Potter series...



 
    HARRY
POTTER
and the Prisoner of Azkaban
     

     
J.K. ROWLING

 
    All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher
    This digital edition first published by Pottermore Limited in 2012
    First published in print in Great Britain in 1999 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
    Copyright © J.K. Rowling 1999
    Cover illustrations by Claire Melinsky copyright © J.K. Rowling 2010
    Harry Potter characters, names and related indicia are trademarks of and © Warner Bros. Ent.
    The moral right of the author has been asserted
    A CIP catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
    ISBN