Spoilers:
We dove into the second half of this novel with only one Petrification, but it's only a matter of pages before Colin Creevey gets the hairy eyeball. Or snaky eyeball. Then it's Hermione (gasp!), who of course gets hit right after figuring out everything, which leaves Harry and Ron on their own and reminds us how much better the three of them are as a "three of them" instead of the "two of them."
Do all of the students at Hogwarts wear pointy hats? Did I just miss this in the first book when they talked about uniforms, or was this just students of yesteryear? (page 243 of the hardcover: "A boy of about sixteen entered, taking off his pointy hat.") Or is JK just checking to see if we are paying attention? None of these kids have been wearing pointy hats in my imagination. THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING.
When Harry and Ron go to visit poor Petrified Hermione, they find a torn piece of a library book in her poor Petrified hand. Was anyone else astounded to think that Hermione would tear a piece of a library book out? She is so much more of a badass than I sometimes give her credit for.
And lastly, I swear I did not know that this book ended on a conversation about phone conversations, or I wouldn't have been so hung up on the lack of phone conversations at the beginning of the book. I promise. I'd like to retract my previous statements about how Harry needs to get with it and share his phone number and give him 10 points for thinking of it himself. Now I'll be looking through the rest of the books as I re-read to see if they ever actually do call Harry...
So, to sum up Chamber of Secrets: Not sure why I thought this was my least favorite, though verdict is still out until I finish the whole series. Dobby is still awesome, Lockhart is now doubly awful because he can't even remember who he is. Harry does know how to use a phone, and we can all look forward to less back story in the rest of the series... right?
