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Second book in the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' series. Published in 1998. The only parts which seem to have been absorbed by PopculturalOsmosis are Dobby warning Harry not to go to Hogwarts this year and that FlyingCar. After all, they were prominently in the trailer for TheFilmOfTheBook.
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!!!Tropes exclusive to this book or at least especially prominent in it:
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* RightBehindMe: Harry and Ron excitedly speculate on reasons why Snape is absent at the beginning of the year, not realizing that Snape is actually just behind them.
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* BatScare: Non-flying example: Huge crawling masses of spiders flee from Hogwarts. They do no harm, but badly frighten Ron, an arachnophobe.
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* StopHelpingMe: ''Dobby''. Harry actually asks him to never try and save his life again at the end. [[spoiler:Good thing Dobby [[HeroicSacrifice didn't listen]].]]
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* StopHelpingMe: In-universe, ''Dobby''. Harry actually asks him to never try and save his life again at the end. [[spoiler:Good thing Dobby [[HeroicSacrifice didn't listen]].]]
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** Though to be fair, Hermione knew what she up against, so she and Penelope were extra careful.
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** Harry Potter's (and presumably [[spoiler: Ginny Weasley's]]) interaction with Tom Riddle's Diary is extremely similar to that of an online chat room, as well as the part about the person being conversed with [[spoiler: being revealed to not be trustworthy at all to begin with]], a similarity made even more apparent in the film.
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The paragraph doesn\'t have any specific examples of spoilers, therefore I say it doesn\'t need to be hidden.
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[[spoiler:You may have noticed this storyline has rather little to do with the overall StoryArc. ''Chamber'' is often accused of essentially being devoted to a WackyWaysideTribe for this reason. In reality, the book is just an InnocuouslyImportantEpisode, and introduces a major ChekhovsGun among other bits of {{Foreshadowing}} for several later books, particularly ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince''.]]
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You may have noticed this storyline has rather little to do with the overall StoryArc. ''Chamber'' is often accused of essentially being devoted to a WackyWaysideTribe for this reason. In reality, the book is just an InnocuouslyImportantEpisode, and introduces a major ChekhovsGun among other bits of {{Foreshadowing}} for several later books, particularly ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince''.
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* AndIMustScream: The petrified victims of Tom Riddle's Basilisk.
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* AndIMustScream: The petrified victims of Tom [[spoiler:Tom Riddle's Basilisk.]]
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** Harry wonders if, due to his speaking Parsletongue, he's a distant relative of Salazar Slytherins. [[spoiler:It turns out that, thru the Peverells, he is related to Voldemort, so he actually is, in some fashion, related to Slytherin.]]
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** Harry wonders if, due to his speaking Parsletongue, Parseltongue, he's a distant relative of Salazar Slytherins. [[spoiler:It turns out that, thru through the Peverells, he is related to Voldemort, so he actually is, in some fashion, related to Slytherin.]]
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* InnocuouslyImportantEpisode: Some readers found the novel to be heavy in the padding department, particularly the WackyWaysideTribe aspect. But the novel is quietly setting up ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince''.
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* InnocuouslyImportantEpisode: Some readers found the novel to be heavy in the padding {{Padding}} department, particularly the WackyWaysideTribe aspect. But the novel is quietly setting up ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince''.
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* EatingOptional: When Harry visits Nearly Headless Nick's deathday party, there's a banquet of rotten food laid out for the ghosts. Harry figures they let the food rot so that the flavors are strong enough for the ghosts to actually taste.
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* EatingOptional: When Harry visits Nearly Headless Nick's deathday Deathday party, there's a banquet of rotten food laid out for the ghosts. Harry Hermione figures they let the food rot so that the flavors are strong enough for the ghosts to actually taste. taste.
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* RedHerring: Ginny, Hagrid and Malfoy -- and Harry -- are all set up as possible Heirs of Slytherin, with Malfoy being the choice that's so obvious it's stupid, and Ginny, and Hagrid all having Really Big Secrets that make them act suspicious. Naturally, Malfoy is the one our heroes suspect and they spend half the book finding out that it isn't him.
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* RedHerring: Ginny, Percy, Hagrid and Malfoy -- and Harry -- are all set up as possible Heirs of Slytherin, with Malfoy being the choice that's so obvious it's stupid, and Ginny, Percy and Hagrid all both having Really Big Secrets that make them act suspicious. Naturally, Malfoy is the one our heroes suspect and they spend half the book finding out that it isn't him.
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you\'re thinking of the film
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* DinnerWithTheBoss: Mr. Dursley's potential client and his wife come over to discuss a promotion over dinner. When Harry retires to his bedroom, Dobby the house elf appears and begs Harry not to return to Hogwarts. When he refuses, the house elf levitates a cake over the boss's wife's head and drops it.
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* DinnerWithTheBoss: Mr. Dursley's potential client and his wife come over to discuss a promotion over dinner. When Harry retires to his bedroom, Dobby the house elf appears and begs Harry not to return to Hogwarts. When he refuses, the house elf levitates a cake over the boss's wife's Harry's head and drops it.
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* BecomingTheBoast: Subverted. Lockhart seems like a KnowNothingKnowItAll with a grossly inflated ego. In reality...he's exactly that, ''plus'' [[spoiler: amoral enough to steal other people's accomplishments and leave a child to die. When the staff suggest he go after the Basilisk, it's clear they're doing it to watch him squirm. When Harry and Ron *force* him to accompany them, since he's the closest thing they've got, he betrays them at the first opportunity.]]
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* LovePotion: Lockhart suggests students visit Snape for advice on brewing one. Snape doesn't appreciate it.
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* LovePotion: Lockhart suggests students visit Snape for advice on brewing one. Snape doesn't appreciate it.Snape's expression makes it clear anyone who does so risks being poisoned.
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* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: What kind of building has pipes big enough for a [[spoiler: huge snake]] to move around in?
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* ContrivedCoincidence: All the victims of the basilisk happen to see it indirectly, despite the fact this is highly unlikely once, let alone thrice.
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* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: As it happens, Justin Finch-Fletchley is entirely wrong about Harry... but the possibility he raises is intriguing...
---> '''Justin:''' "They say the real reason You-Know-Who was after Potter was because he didn't want ''another'' Dark Lord ''competing'' with him.
---> '''Justin:''' "They say the real reason You-Know-Who was after Potter was because he didn't want ''another'' Dark Lord ''competing'' with him.
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* CriticalResearchFailure: In-universe - Tom Riddle seems to think that werewolves are way more animalistic than they actually are, considering that his false accusations towards Hagrid involved raising "werewolf cubs".
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** Lockhart's only ''real'' skill, aside from looking good.
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** Lampshaded when the head of Gryffindor house asks why Harry didn't just [[BoringButPractical send a message to ask for help.]]
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* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: As it happens, Justin Finch-Fletchley is entirely wrong about Harry... but the possibility he raises is intriguing...
---> '''Justin:''' "They say the real reason You-Know-Who was after Potter was because he didn't want ''another'' Dark Lord ''competing'' with him.
---> '''Justin:''' "They say the real reason You-Know-Who was after Potter was because he didn't want ''another'' Dark Lord ''competing'' with him.
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* DoWrongRight: Arthur Weasley is far more pleased than his wife when his sons steal his flying car and use it to pick up Harry.
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* DoWrongRight: Arthur Weasley is far more pleased than his wife when his sons steal his flying car and use it to pick up Harry.Harry.
* EatingOptional: When Harry visits Nearly Headless Nick's deathday party, there's a banquet of rotten food laid out for the ghosts. Harry figures they let the food rot so that the flavors are strong enough for the ghosts to actually taste.
* EatingOptional: When Harry visits Nearly Headless Nick's deathday party, there's a banquet of rotten food laid out for the ghosts. Harry figures they let the food rot so that the flavors are strong enough for the ghosts to actually taste.
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* AndIMustScream: The petrified victims of Tom Riddle's Basilisk.
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* PortalSlam: Harry and Ron rebound painfully from the portal to Platform 9 3/4.
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Te basilisk is The Dragon
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* BigBad: Lucius Malfoy, the Serpent of Slytherin and [[spoiler:the memory of Tom Riddle]].
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* BigBad: Lucius Malfoy, the Serpent of Slytherin and Malfoy or [[spoiler:the memory of Tom Riddle]].
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Removing wick to Did Not Do The Research per rename at TRS.
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* DidNotDoTheResearch
** Nearly Headless Nick died in 1492 judging by his deathday cake; however, he is described as wearing an Elizabethan ruff which didn't come into fashion until about ninety years after Nick is supposed to have died.
** After Lockhart makes the bones in Harry's arm disappear, Madam Pomfrey yells at he other students to leave because he has "... thirty-three bones to regrow!". The arm consists of 3 bones plus 27 bones in the hand. The Humerus, Radius, Ulna, 8 Carpals, 5 MetaCarpals, and 14 Phalanges. That adds up to 30 bones.
** Nearly Headless Nick died in 1492 judging by his deathday cake; however, he is described as wearing an Elizabethan ruff which didn't come into fashion until about ninety years after Nick is supposed to have died.
** After Lockhart makes the bones in Harry's arm disappear, Madam Pomfrey yells at he other students to leave because he has "... thirty-three bones to regrow!". The arm consists of 3 bones plus 27 bones in the hand. The Humerus, Radius, Ulna, 8 Carpals, 5 MetaCarpals, and 14 Phalanges. That adds up to 30 bones.
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Fixing a link
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* [[MonsterOfTheWeek Villain of the Week]]: Subverted. Up until the last couple of chapters it looks like the series will be heading this way, with the BigBad Voldemort introduced in the [[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone first book]] and the mysterious Heir of Slytherin being the main villain in the second book. Near the end however it's revealed that [[spoiler:not only is Voldemort the Heir of Slytherin, but a memory of his younger self has been driving the plot the entire time]]. Starting with the [[iterature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban third book]], all of the main antagonists (except Umbridge) are explicitly linked to Voldemort.
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* [[MonsterOfTheWeek Villain of the Week]]: Subverted. Up until the last couple of chapters it looks like the series will be heading this way, with the BigBad Voldemort introduced in the [[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone first book]] and the mysterious Heir of Slytherin being the main villain in the second book. Near the end however it's revealed that [[spoiler:not only is Voldemort the Heir of Slytherin, but a memory of his younger self has been driving the plot the entire time]]. Starting with the [[iterature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban [[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban third book]], all of the main antagonists (except Umbridge) are explicitly linked to Voldemort.
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-->''"Oh, come on, no teacher's gonna fall for that!" said Ron, "they'd have to be really thick..." *end chapter*\\
* start of next chapter* Since the disastrous episode with the pixies, Professor Lockhart had not brought live creatures to class...''
* start of next chapter* Since the disastrous episode with the pixies, Professor Lockhart had not brought live creatures to class...''
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-->''"Oh, come on, no teacher's gonna fall for that!" said Ron, "they'd have to be really thick..." *end chapter*\\
* start"'' [end chapter]\\
[start of nextchapter* Since chapter] ''Since the disastrous episode with the pixies, Professor Lockhart had not brought live creatures to class...''
* start
[start of next
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[[quoteright:315:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/HP2.jpg]]
->''"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."''
-->-- '''Albus Dumbledore'''
Second book in the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' series. Published in 1998. The only parts which seem to have been absorbed by PopculturalOsmosis are Dobby warning Harry not to go to Hogwarts this year and that FlyingCar. After all, they were prominently in the trailer for TheFilmOfTheBook.
The main plot involves the Chamber of Secrets, a hidden chamber within Hogwarts built by Salazar Slytherin. A big fan of FantasticRacism, Slytherin built the Chamber to house a monster which can only be controlled by his heir and which is intended to attack all those [[WitchSpecies Muggle-borns]] "unworthy to study magic". Now, someone has opened the Chamber, implying the Heir of Slytherin has returned to Hogwarts, but who is it?
You may have noticed this storyline has rather little to do with the overall StoryArc. ''Chamber'' is often accused of essentially being devoted to a WackyWaysideTribe for this reason. In reality, the book is just an InnocuouslyImportantEpisode, and introduces a major ChekhovsGun among other bits of {{Foreshadowing}} for several later books, particularly ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince''.
----
!!!Tropes exclusive to this book or at least especially prominent in it:
* AreYouSureYouCanDriveThisThing: "No, but we're far too anxious to consider another plan."
* BathroomStallOfOverheardInsults
* BigBad: Lucius Malfoy, the Serpent of Slytherin and [[spoiler:the memory of Tom Riddle]].
* BlankBook: Riddle's diary. At first.
* BlastingItOutOfTheirHands: The ''Expelliarmus'' spell, which Harry learns in this book.
* BreakTheHaughty: [[spoiler:Lucius avoids prison time but suffers several blows to his ego. A twelve-year-old both stops his plan and tricks him into freeing Dobby, who takes the first opportunity to pay Lucius back for years of abuse by ''effortlessly'' blasting him down a flight of stairs.]] And Lucius also lost his job as one of the governors of Hogwarts, something he could have avoided if he hadn't [[WhatAnIdiot threatened the other governors' families]].
* CaughtWithYourPantsDown: Percy. [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar Now that you're not 12,]] [[http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lo2uv86kMd1qcw1lgo1_500.jpg give this passage a close read.]] Averted, in that we find out what he was actually doing -- [[spoiler:making out with his girlfriend, who he hadn't told anyone about.]]
* ChekhovsGun: The whole series [[ChekhovsGun/HarryPotter gets its own page.]]
* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: Harry having to answer Lockhart's fanmail as detention.
* CoverIdentityAnomaly: Harry and Ron use Polyjuice Potion to pretend to be Crabbe and Goyle, but their infiltration of Slytherin House is stymied by the fact that they don't know how to get in to Slytherin's chambers. They ask a passing student, but she's from Ravenclaw. Fortunately, Crabbe and Goyle are so dim that they're not really acting out of character.
* TheDandy: Gilderoy Lockhart
* DeadGuyJunior: Tom Marvolo Riddle, named for his father and his maternal grandfather. Or for both grandfathers, considering that "Tom" is usually short for "Thomas."
* {{Diary}}: Tom Riddle's.
* DidNotDoTheResearch
** Nearly Headless Nick died in 1492 judging by his deathday cake; however, he is described as wearing an Elizabethan ruff which didn't come into fashion until about ninety years after Nick is supposed to have died.
** After Lockhart makes the bones in Harry's arm disappear, Madam Pomfrey yells at he other students to leave because he has "... thirty-three bones to regrow!". The arm consists of 3 bones plus 27 bones in the hand. The Humerus, Radius, Ulna, 8 Carpals, 5 MetaCarpals, and 14 Phalanges. That adds up to 30 bones.
* DidntThinkThisThrough: Harry and Ron when they steal Mr. Weasley's FlyingCar. [[JustifiedTrope Granted]], they're twelve years old at the time. {{Lampshaded}} by [=McGonagall=] when she points out other, more reasonable, things they could have done to get to Hogwarts, and Harry reluctantly admits to himself that stealing a car was pretty stupid. Then again, FridgeLogic kicks in when you realize that it would've been almost as odd for an Owl to fly off from a train station and back. Not as freaky as a flying car, but still odd for Muggle standards. And Dobby had no trouble intercepting Ron's and Hermione's owls to Harry; he could have intercepted Hedwig too.
* DinnerWithTheBoss: Mr. Dursley's potential client and his wife come over to discuss a promotion over dinner. When Harry retires to his bedroom, Dobby the house elf appears and begs Harry not to return to Hogwarts. When he refuses, the house elf levitates a cake over the boss's wife's head and drops it.
* DisappointedInYou: Dumbledore and [=McGonagall=] to Harry after he flies the car to Hogwarts.
* DisneyDeath: Ginny Weasley gets one in the Chamber of Secrets.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: [[TheHero Harry]] has to [[RescueRomance save Ginny]] by going into a '''chamber of secrets''' and fighting a '''giant snake''' that belongs to a very weird, much older guy that's been corrupting Ginny for the whole book. With a legendary sword that holds strange powers. Uh-''huh''.
* DoWrongRight: Arthur Weasley is far more pleased than his wife when his sons steal his flying car and use it to pick up Harry.
* EnemyWithin / TheKillerInMe: [[spoiler:Poor Ginny.]]
* EurekaMoment
** Harry deduces that [[spoiler:Lucius Malfoy was the one who set the whole plot in motion when he saw Malfoy arrive with Dobby, the elf that warned Harry in the first place.]]
** Hermione has one when she realises what the monster of Slytherin is, but doesn't get to tell anyone else. Harry gets the moment secondhand when he reads her note later.
* EyeScream
** [[spoiler:Fawkes vs. the Basilisk]], to give Harry a fighting chance against the latter.
** Also a book the Ministry had confiscated, mentioned in Ron's response to Harry asking him how a book could possibly be dangerous: it burned out its reader's eyes.
* FacePalm: Flitwick does one with both hands after Lockhart suggests students visit him for advice on Entrancing Enchantments.
* FeetOfClay: Gilderoy Lockhart
* [[FollowTheWhiteRabbit Follow The Spiders]]
-->'''Ron:''' [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes Follow the spiders? Why can't we follow the butterflies?]]
* {{Foreshadowing}}
** [[spoiler:"Potter, you've got yourself a girlfriend!"]] More seriously, [[spoiler:when Ginny decides to confess, who does she go to? One of her older brothers? One of the teachers? No. She goes to Harry.]]
** In chapter 14, when second-years sign up for electives to take next year, it mentions Hermione signed up for every class offered. This becomes a key plot point [[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban in the next book]].
** "I would advise you not to shout at the [[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban Azkaban]] [[TheHeartless guards]] like that. They won't like it at all."
** "Sir, why don't you apply for the Headmaster's job?" [[spoiler:Malfoy to Snape.]]
** The fact that the first half of the book is spent with the Trio trying to figure out whether or not Malfoy's up to something. Four years later, it's Harry by himself, [[CassandraTruth because no-one believes him.]] [[WhamEpisode He was right this time.]]
** "Maybe [Tom Riddle] [[spoiler:murdered Myrtle]]; that would've done everyone a favor..." [[spoiler:He did.]]
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The reference to the Japanese golfer joke.
* GiantSpider: Aragog and his relatives.
* HammyHerald: Fred and George show their support for Harry not by squashing rumors about him, but rather by following him around crying "Make way for the heir of Slytherin! Seriously evil wizard coming through!"
* SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments: Subverted in-universe. What [=McGonagall=] thinks is is a [=CMOH=] is just the first lie Harry could come up with so he and Ron wouldn't get in trouble. Ends up being relevant to the plot because actually following through on the lie leads them to figuring out the mystery.
* HoldingItForAFriend: Filch claims that the Kwikspell letter on his desk is for a friend so that Harry doesn't guess that he has no magic.
* HotForTeacher: Hermione's crush on Lockhart.
* IJustWantToBeFree: Dobby
* INeverGotAnyLetters: In the first chapter, Harry is angry that his friends haven't written to him all summer. Then it's revealed that [[spoiler:an elf has been intercepting their letters]].
* INeverSaidItWasPoison: [[spoiler:Dobby inadvertantly reveals that he has been stopping Harry's letters when he mentions that Harry's friends haven't written to him -- which is something he shouldn't be aware of.]]
* InformedAbility: In-universe: Lockhart completely fails to live up to any of his hype, as Harry and Ron are quick to point out.
* IneptMage: Gilderoy Lockhart
* InnocuouslyImportantEpisode: Some readers found the novel to be heavy in the padding department, particularly the WackyWaysideTribe aspect. But the novel is quietly setting up ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince''.
* InvoluntaryGroupSplit: Gilderoy Lockhart's wayward spell sets off an earthquake that separates Ron from Harry, so Harry has to go alone into the Chamber.
* {{Irony}}
** In retrospect, Ron trying to comfort Ginny after the attack on Mrs. Norris by telling her that "they'll catch the maniac who did it and have him out of here in no time." Assuming Ginny had begun to suspect herself at that point, this might also count as ObliviousGuiltSlinging. After all, at the end of the book, she ''was'' [[FridgeBrilliance convinced that she was going to be expelled]]. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Way to go, Ron.]]
** When wondering what Tom Riddle got a Special Award for Service to the School for, Ron sarcastically suggests that maybe he killed Myrtle as "that would've done everyone a favor." [[spoiler:Riddle did kill her and he got the award for successfully framing Hagrid as her murderer.]]
** Another potential example: Hermione suggests that whoever flushed Riddle's diary may have been the culprit, trying to stop anyone from finding out details about the last time the Chamber was opened. It ''was'' the culprit (sort of), but they did it to ''stop'' the attacks.
** Harry wonders if, due to his speaking Parsletongue, he's a distant relative of Salazar Slytherins. [[spoiler:It turns out that, thru the Peverells, he is related to Voldemort, so he actually is, in some fashion, related to Slytherin.]]
* IThoughtEveryoneCouldDoThat: Harry's Parseltongue.
* LivingMemory: The Diary of Tom Riddle.
* LovePotion: Lockhart suggests students visit Snape for advice on brewing one. Snape doesn't appreciate it.
* MagicMisfire: Everything cast with Ron's broken wand. This becomes important.
* MailerDaemon: Tom Riddle
* MaliciousSlander: A good portion of the school believes that Harry is the Heir of Slytherin after the incident with the snake at the Dueling Club.
* MilkyWhiteEyes: Aragog
* MindRape: What Riddle's Diary did to [[spoiler:Ginny.]]
* MissedTheBus: [[spoiler:Dobby]] blocks Harry's access to Platform 9 3/4, causing him and Ron to miss the Hogwarts Express and take alternative transport. HilarityEnsues.
* MonsterOfTheWeek: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]]; the Heir of Slytherin turns out to be Voldemort.
* MotiveMisidentification: [[spoiler:While Tom certainly didn't ''mind'' using the Basilisk on Muggle-borns, he was less interested in "purging the school" and more in trying to bait Harry.]]
* {{Narm}}: Invoked with [[WordOfGod the twins']] valentine to Harry. Fred and George continually tease him with it and Peeves [[StupidStatementDanceMix adds a dance routine]].
* NotMeThisTime: Harry and Ron use Polyjuice potion to imitate Crabbe and Goyle, Draco Malfoy's two mooks, in the hopes of getting Draco to admit that he's the heir of Slytherin, and thus the cause of all the shenanigans happening at Hogwarts that year. Instead, they hear Draco ranting about how thrilled he is that it's happening and how he'd love to congratulate whoever is ''actually'' behind it.
* OrificeEvacuation: Slug-puking spell.
* ParodyMagicSpell: Harry threatens Dudley with the words "Hocus pocus! Squiggly wiggly!"
* PensieveFlashback: Although the actual Pensieve wasn't introduced until ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'', Riddle's diary displays this here, two books earlier.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: It's in this book that Malfoy introduces the anti-Muggle-born slur "mudblood".
* PostMortemComeback: The entire basis of the plot; Voldemort hid pieces of his memories in a book, who took the form of Tom Riddle, but it's inverted -- Voldemort himself was already alive to begin with... somewhat.
* PredecessorVillain: Salazar Slytherin was the guy who ''built'' the Chamber of Secrets and put the Basilisk there in the first place, but he's been dead for nearly a thousand years when the story begins.
* {{Pun}}: Knockturn Alley, like its good counterpart Diagon Alley, is a punning name ("Nocturnally" or "Nocturne" Alley).
* RansackedRoom: Ginny ransacks Harry's dormitory in order to get Tom Riddle's diary back.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Harry gives one to [[spoiler:the memory of Riddle, gloating over how his Muggle-born mother reduced Voldemort to almost nothing.]]
* RedHerring: Ginny, Hagrid and Malfoy -- and Harry -- are all set up as possible Heirs of Slytherin, with Malfoy being the choice that's so obvious it's stupid, and Ginny, and Hagrid all having Really Big Secrets that make them act suspicious. Naturally, Malfoy is the one our heroes suspect and they spend half the book finding out that it isn't him.
* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: Basilisk. Also the decoration of the Chamber of Secrets. Salazar must have been swapping design tips with [[Disney/{{Aladdin}} Jafar]].
* ShoutOut
** Fawkes is a fiery phoenix that dies in an explosion. Guy Fawkes, a real-life person, tried to explode Parliament with gunpowder.
** There's a really clever and subtle (not to mention [[ParentalBonus strictly for adults]]) one when the students think Harry is the Heir of Slytherin and Fred and George make fun of the idea by walking in front of Harry shouting [[Film/{{Scarface}} "Make way for the Heir of Slytherin, seriously evil wizard coming through..."]]
* ShrineToSelf: Lockhart's room is filled with pictures of himself. Since this is the wizarding world, they're all nearly as vain as he is and tend to nod along to whatever he's saying.
* ShrinkingViolet: Ginny, pretty much only in this book as she's [[DemotedToExtra hardly in the next two]] and in the fifth she's revealed to have [[TookALevelInBadass Taken a Level in Badass]].
* SignificantAnagram: [[spoiler:Tom Marvolo Riddle <-> I am Lord Voldemort.]] Other languages revise the anagram to make sense in their tongues -- or change his birth-name.
* SmallNameBigEgo: Gilderoy Lockhart
* SoulJar: Tom Riddle's diary.
* SpinningOutOfHere: Travel by Floo sends the traveler spinning to their destination.
* StalkerWithACrush: Ginny and Colin Creevy are this to Harry in this book.
* StopHelpingMe: ''Dobby''. Harry actually asks him to never try and save his life again at the end. [[spoiler:Good thing Dobby [[HeroicSacrifice didn't listen]].]]
* StrongerWithAge: The Basilisk
* ThisIsGonnaSuck: Harry and Ron fully expect to be expelled after being busted by Snape for flying the car to Hogwarts.
* ThoroughlyMistakenIdentity: Professor Binns is always calling students by the names of students of long ago.
* [[MonsterOfTheWeek Villain of the Week]]: Subverted. Up until the last couple of chapters it looks like the series will be heading this way, with the BigBad Voldemort introduced in the [[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone first book]] and the mysterious Heir of Slytherin being the main villain in the second book. Near the end however it's revealed that [[spoiler:not only is Voldemort the Heir of Slytherin, but a memory of his younger self has been driving the plot the entire time]]. Starting with the [[iterature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban third book]], all of the main antagonists (except Umbridge) are explicitly linked to Voldemort.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity
** Lucius Malfoy, who is a distinguished Ministry official despite being a former Death Eater. He manages this by attributing his past affiliation with the BigBad to [[MindRape the Imperius Curse.]]
** Lockhart is another example, although he's more of an AntiVillain.
* WeaksauceWeakness: The Basilisk would die at the crowing of a rooster (presumably because it is hatched from a chicken's egg incubated by a toad). One wonders just how effective a weapon a Basilisk would be to a dark wizard in any other situation, given everyone knows this and roosters aren't exactly hard to come by.
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Those poor mandrakes. Even though everything suggests that they are sapient, social lifeforms (they get "moody and secretive" in their adolescent phase, enjoy partying, and when they reach adulthood, start moving into each other's pots), nobody seems to think chopping a mandrake up for a potion is any different than chopping up a carrot.
* WhoWouldBeStupidEnough / DescriptionCut / GilliganCut: At the very end of Chapter 9, "The Writing on the Wall", Hermione comes up with the idea of using Polyjuice Potion to get information from Malfoy. However, the book with info on how to make it is in the Restricted Section of the library, and they need permission from a professor to take out the book, which would raise suspicion from any professor they ask.
-->''"Oh, come on, no teacher's gonna fall for that!" said Ron, "they'd have to be really thick..." *end chapter*\\
*start of next chapter* Since the disastrous episode with the pixies, Professor Lockhart had not brought live creatures to class...''
* [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes Why Did It Have to Be Spiders]]: Poor, poor Ron.
* WroteTheBook: Inverted; even though Lockhart literally wrote the book on dealing with magical pests, that doesn't mean he has a clue about it.
* XanatosGambit: [[spoiler:Lucius Malfoy's]] plan has two possible outcomes: either [[spoiler:Ginny]] is caught, thus [[spoiler:disgracing Arthur Weasley and his Muggle Protection Act]], or the culprit is not apprehended, and either kills every Muggle-born in the school or drives them all away. The former seems to be his preferred option, interestingly enough, but either would presumably satisfy him. [[spoiler:Of course, his plan backfired worse than he could have possibly imagined, which we learn in ''Deathly Hallows''.]]
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->''"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."''
-->-- '''Albus Dumbledore'''
Second book in the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' series. Published in 1998. The only parts which seem to have been absorbed by PopculturalOsmosis are Dobby warning Harry not to go to Hogwarts this year and that FlyingCar. After all, they were prominently in the trailer for TheFilmOfTheBook.
The main plot involves the Chamber of Secrets, a hidden chamber within Hogwarts built by Salazar Slytherin. A big fan of FantasticRacism, Slytherin built the Chamber to house a monster which can only be controlled by his heir and which is intended to attack all those [[WitchSpecies Muggle-borns]] "unworthy to study magic". Now, someone has opened the Chamber, implying the Heir of Slytherin has returned to Hogwarts, but who is it?
You may have noticed this storyline has rather little to do with the overall StoryArc. ''Chamber'' is often accused of essentially being devoted to a WackyWaysideTribe for this reason. In reality, the book is just an InnocuouslyImportantEpisode, and introduces a major ChekhovsGun among other bits of {{Foreshadowing}} for several later books, particularly ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince''.
----
!!!Tropes exclusive to this book or at least especially prominent in it:
* AreYouSureYouCanDriveThisThing: "No, but we're far too anxious to consider another plan."
* BathroomStallOfOverheardInsults
* BigBad: Lucius Malfoy, the Serpent of Slytherin and [[spoiler:the memory of Tom Riddle]].
* BlankBook: Riddle's diary. At first.
* BlastingItOutOfTheirHands: The ''Expelliarmus'' spell, which Harry learns in this book.
* BreakTheHaughty: [[spoiler:Lucius avoids prison time but suffers several blows to his ego. A twelve-year-old both stops his plan and tricks him into freeing Dobby, who takes the first opportunity to pay Lucius back for years of abuse by ''effortlessly'' blasting him down a flight of stairs.]] And Lucius also lost his job as one of the governors of Hogwarts, something he could have avoided if he hadn't [[WhatAnIdiot threatened the other governors' families]].
* CaughtWithYourPantsDown: Percy. [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar Now that you're not 12,]] [[http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lo2uv86kMd1qcw1lgo1_500.jpg give this passage a close read.]] Averted, in that we find out what he was actually doing -- [[spoiler:making out with his girlfriend, who he hadn't told anyone about.]]
* ChekhovsGun: The whole series [[ChekhovsGun/HarryPotter gets its own page.]]
* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: Harry having to answer Lockhart's fanmail as detention.
* CoverIdentityAnomaly: Harry and Ron use Polyjuice Potion to pretend to be Crabbe and Goyle, but their infiltration of Slytherin House is stymied by the fact that they don't know how to get in to Slytherin's chambers. They ask a passing student, but she's from Ravenclaw. Fortunately, Crabbe and Goyle are so dim that they're not really acting out of character.
* TheDandy: Gilderoy Lockhart
* DeadGuyJunior: Tom Marvolo Riddle, named for his father and his maternal grandfather. Or for both grandfathers, considering that "Tom" is usually short for "Thomas."
* {{Diary}}: Tom Riddle's.
* DidNotDoTheResearch
** Nearly Headless Nick died in 1492 judging by his deathday cake; however, he is described as wearing an Elizabethan ruff which didn't come into fashion until about ninety years after Nick is supposed to have died.
** After Lockhart makes the bones in Harry's arm disappear, Madam Pomfrey yells at he other students to leave because he has "... thirty-three bones to regrow!". The arm consists of 3 bones plus 27 bones in the hand. The Humerus, Radius, Ulna, 8 Carpals, 5 MetaCarpals, and 14 Phalanges. That adds up to 30 bones.
* DidntThinkThisThrough: Harry and Ron when they steal Mr. Weasley's FlyingCar. [[JustifiedTrope Granted]], they're twelve years old at the time. {{Lampshaded}} by [=McGonagall=] when she points out other, more reasonable, things they could have done to get to Hogwarts, and Harry reluctantly admits to himself that stealing a car was pretty stupid. Then again, FridgeLogic kicks in when you realize that it would've been almost as odd for an Owl to fly off from a train station and back. Not as freaky as a flying car, but still odd for Muggle standards. And Dobby had no trouble intercepting Ron's and Hermione's owls to Harry; he could have intercepted Hedwig too.
* DinnerWithTheBoss: Mr. Dursley's potential client and his wife come over to discuss a promotion over dinner. When Harry retires to his bedroom, Dobby the house elf appears and begs Harry not to return to Hogwarts. When he refuses, the house elf levitates a cake over the boss's wife's head and drops it.
* DisappointedInYou: Dumbledore and [=McGonagall=] to Harry after he flies the car to Hogwarts.
* DisneyDeath: Ginny Weasley gets one in the Chamber of Secrets.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: [[TheHero Harry]] has to [[RescueRomance save Ginny]] by going into a '''chamber of secrets''' and fighting a '''giant snake''' that belongs to a very weird, much older guy that's been corrupting Ginny for the whole book. With a legendary sword that holds strange powers. Uh-''huh''.
* DoWrongRight: Arthur Weasley is far more pleased than his wife when his sons steal his flying car and use it to pick up Harry.
* EnemyWithin / TheKillerInMe: [[spoiler:Poor Ginny.]]
* EurekaMoment
** Harry deduces that [[spoiler:Lucius Malfoy was the one who set the whole plot in motion when he saw Malfoy arrive with Dobby, the elf that warned Harry in the first place.]]
** Hermione has one when she realises what the monster of Slytherin is, but doesn't get to tell anyone else. Harry gets the moment secondhand when he reads her note later.
* EyeScream
** [[spoiler:Fawkes vs. the Basilisk]], to give Harry a fighting chance against the latter.
** Also a book the Ministry had confiscated, mentioned in Ron's response to Harry asking him how a book could possibly be dangerous: it burned out its reader's eyes.
* FacePalm: Flitwick does one with both hands after Lockhart suggests students visit him for advice on Entrancing Enchantments.
* FeetOfClay: Gilderoy Lockhart
* [[FollowTheWhiteRabbit Follow The Spiders]]
-->'''Ron:''' [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes Follow the spiders? Why can't we follow the butterflies?]]
* {{Foreshadowing}}
** [[spoiler:"Potter, you've got yourself a girlfriend!"]] More seriously, [[spoiler:when Ginny decides to confess, who does she go to? One of her older brothers? One of the teachers? No. She goes to Harry.]]
** In chapter 14, when second-years sign up for electives to take next year, it mentions Hermione signed up for every class offered. This becomes a key plot point [[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban in the next book]].
** "I would advise you not to shout at the [[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban Azkaban]] [[TheHeartless guards]] like that. They won't like it at all."
** "Sir, why don't you apply for the Headmaster's job?" [[spoiler:Malfoy to Snape.]]
** The fact that the first half of the book is spent with the Trio trying to figure out whether or not Malfoy's up to something. Four years later, it's Harry by himself, [[CassandraTruth because no-one believes him.]] [[WhamEpisode He was right this time.]]
** "Maybe [Tom Riddle] [[spoiler:murdered Myrtle]]; that would've done everyone a favor..." [[spoiler:He did.]]
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The reference to the Japanese golfer joke.
* GiantSpider: Aragog and his relatives.
* HammyHerald: Fred and George show their support for Harry not by squashing rumors about him, but rather by following him around crying "Make way for the heir of Slytherin! Seriously evil wizard coming through!"
* SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments: Subverted in-universe. What [=McGonagall=] thinks is is a [=CMOH=] is just the first lie Harry could come up with so he and Ron wouldn't get in trouble. Ends up being relevant to the plot because actually following through on the lie leads them to figuring out the mystery.
* HoldingItForAFriend: Filch claims that the Kwikspell letter on his desk is for a friend so that Harry doesn't guess that he has no magic.
* HotForTeacher: Hermione's crush on Lockhart.
* IJustWantToBeFree: Dobby
* INeverGotAnyLetters: In the first chapter, Harry is angry that his friends haven't written to him all summer. Then it's revealed that [[spoiler:an elf has been intercepting their letters]].
* INeverSaidItWasPoison: [[spoiler:Dobby inadvertantly reveals that he has been stopping Harry's letters when he mentions that Harry's friends haven't written to him -- which is something he shouldn't be aware of.]]
* InformedAbility: In-universe: Lockhart completely fails to live up to any of his hype, as Harry and Ron are quick to point out.
* IneptMage: Gilderoy Lockhart
* InnocuouslyImportantEpisode: Some readers found the novel to be heavy in the padding department, particularly the WackyWaysideTribe aspect. But the novel is quietly setting up ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince''.
* InvoluntaryGroupSplit: Gilderoy Lockhart's wayward spell sets off an earthquake that separates Ron from Harry, so Harry has to go alone into the Chamber.
* {{Irony}}
** In retrospect, Ron trying to comfort Ginny after the attack on Mrs. Norris by telling her that "they'll catch the maniac who did it and have him out of here in no time." Assuming Ginny had begun to suspect herself at that point, this might also count as ObliviousGuiltSlinging. After all, at the end of the book, she ''was'' [[FridgeBrilliance convinced that she was going to be expelled]]. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Way to go, Ron.]]
** When wondering what Tom Riddle got a Special Award for Service to the School for, Ron sarcastically suggests that maybe he killed Myrtle as "that would've done everyone a favor." [[spoiler:Riddle did kill her and he got the award for successfully framing Hagrid as her murderer.]]
** Another potential example: Hermione suggests that whoever flushed Riddle's diary may have been the culprit, trying to stop anyone from finding out details about the last time the Chamber was opened. It ''was'' the culprit (sort of), but they did it to ''stop'' the attacks.
** Harry wonders if, due to his speaking Parsletongue, he's a distant relative of Salazar Slytherins. [[spoiler:It turns out that, thru the Peverells, he is related to Voldemort, so he actually is, in some fashion, related to Slytherin.]]
* IThoughtEveryoneCouldDoThat: Harry's Parseltongue.
* LivingMemory: The Diary of Tom Riddle.
* LovePotion: Lockhart suggests students visit Snape for advice on brewing one. Snape doesn't appreciate it.
* MagicMisfire: Everything cast with Ron's broken wand. This becomes important.
* MailerDaemon: Tom Riddle
* MaliciousSlander: A good portion of the school believes that Harry is the Heir of Slytherin after the incident with the snake at the Dueling Club.
* MilkyWhiteEyes: Aragog
* MindRape: What Riddle's Diary did to [[spoiler:Ginny.]]
* MissedTheBus: [[spoiler:Dobby]] blocks Harry's access to Platform 9 3/4, causing him and Ron to miss the Hogwarts Express and take alternative transport. HilarityEnsues.
* MonsterOfTheWeek: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]]; the Heir of Slytherin turns out to be Voldemort.
* MotiveMisidentification: [[spoiler:While Tom certainly didn't ''mind'' using the Basilisk on Muggle-borns, he was less interested in "purging the school" and more in trying to bait Harry.]]
* {{Narm}}: Invoked with [[WordOfGod the twins']] valentine to Harry. Fred and George continually tease him with it and Peeves [[StupidStatementDanceMix adds a dance routine]].
* NotMeThisTime: Harry and Ron use Polyjuice potion to imitate Crabbe and Goyle, Draco Malfoy's two mooks, in the hopes of getting Draco to admit that he's the heir of Slytherin, and thus the cause of all the shenanigans happening at Hogwarts that year. Instead, they hear Draco ranting about how thrilled he is that it's happening and how he'd love to congratulate whoever is ''actually'' behind it.
* OrificeEvacuation: Slug-puking spell.
* ParodyMagicSpell: Harry threatens Dudley with the words "Hocus pocus! Squiggly wiggly!"
* PensieveFlashback: Although the actual Pensieve wasn't introduced until ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'', Riddle's diary displays this here, two books earlier.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: It's in this book that Malfoy introduces the anti-Muggle-born slur "mudblood".
* PostMortemComeback: The entire basis of the plot; Voldemort hid pieces of his memories in a book, who took the form of Tom Riddle, but it's inverted -- Voldemort himself was already alive to begin with... somewhat.
* PredecessorVillain: Salazar Slytherin was the guy who ''built'' the Chamber of Secrets and put the Basilisk there in the first place, but he's been dead for nearly a thousand years when the story begins.
* {{Pun}}: Knockturn Alley, like its good counterpart Diagon Alley, is a punning name ("Nocturnally" or "Nocturne" Alley).
* RansackedRoom: Ginny ransacks Harry's dormitory in order to get Tom Riddle's diary back.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Harry gives one to [[spoiler:the memory of Riddle, gloating over how his Muggle-born mother reduced Voldemort to almost nothing.]]
* RedHerring: Ginny, Hagrid and Malfoy -- and Harry -- are all set up as possible Heirs of Slytherin, with Malfoy being the choice that's so obvious it's stupid, and Ginny, and Hagrid all having Really Big Secrets that make them act suspicious. Naturally, Malfoy is the one our heroes suspect and they spend half the book finding out that it isn't him.
* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: Basilisk. Also the decoration of the Chamber of Secrets. Salazar must have been swapping design tips with [[Disney/{{Aladdin}} Jafar]].
* ShoutOut
** Fawkes is a fiery phoenix that dies in an explosion. Guy Fawkes, a real-life person, tried to explode Parliament with gunpowder.
** There's a really clever and subtle (not to mention [[ParentalBonus strictly for adults]]) one when the students think Harry is the Heir of Slytherin and Fred and George make fun of the idea by walking in front of Harry shouting [[Film/{{Scarface}} "Make way for the Heir of Slytherin, seriously evil wizard coming through..."]]
* ShrineToSelf: Lockhart's room is filled with pictures of himself. Since this is the wizarding world, they're all nearly as vain as he is and tend to nod along to whatever he's saying.
* ShrinkingViolet: Ginny, pretty much only in this book as she's [[DemotedToExtra hardly in the next two]] and in the fifth she's revealed to have [[TookALevelInBadass Taken a Level in Badass]].
* SignificantAnagram: [[spoiler:Tom Marvolo Riddle <-> I am Lord Voldemort.]] Other languages revise the anagram to make sense in their tongues -- or change his birth-name.
* SmallNameBigEgo: Gilderoy Lockhart
* SoulJar: Tom Riddle's diary.
* SpinningOutOfHere: Travel by Floo sends the traveler spinning to their destination.
* StalkerWithACrush: Ginny and Colin Creevy are this to Harry in this book.
* StopHelpingMe: ''Dobby''. Harry actually asks him to never try and save his life again at the end. [[spoiler:Good thing Dobby [[HeroicSacrifice didn't listen]].]]
* StrongerWithAge: The Basilisk
* ThisIsGonnaSuck: Harry and Ron fully expect to be expelled after being busted by Snape for flying the car to Hogwarts.
* ThoroughlyMistakenIdentity: Professor Binns is always calling students by the names of students of long ago.
* [[MonsterOfTheWeek Villain of the Week]]: Subverted. Up until the last couple of chapters it looks like the series will be heading this way, with the BigBad Voldemort introduced in the [[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone first book]] and the mysterious Heir of Slytherin being the main villain in the second book. Near the end however it's revealed that [[spoiler:not only is Voldemort the Heir of Slytherin, but a memory of his younger self has been driving the plot the entire time]]. Starting with the [[iterature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban third book]], all of the main antagonists (except Umbridge) are explicitly linked to Voldemort.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity
** Lucius Malfoy, who is a distinguished Ministry official despite being a former Death Eater. He manages this by attributing his past affiliation with the BigBad to [[MindRape the Imperius Curse.]]
** Lockhart is another example, although he's more of an AntiVillain.
* WeaksauceWeakness: The Basilisk would die at the crowing of a rooster (presumably because it is hatched from a chicken's egg incubated by a toad). One wonders just how effective a weapon a Basilisk would be to a dark wizard in any other situation, given everyone knows this and roosters aren't exactly hard to come by.
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Those poor mandrakes. Even though everything suggests that they are sapient, social lifeforms (they get "moody and secretive" in their adolescent phase, enjoy partying, and when they reach adulthood, start moving into each other's pots), nobody seems to think chopping a mandrake up for a potion is any different than chopping up a carrot.
* WhoWouldBeStupidEnough / DescriptionCut / GilliganCut: At the very end of Chapter 9, "The Writing on the Wall", Hermione comes up with the idea of using Polyjuice Potion to get information from Malfoy. However, the book with info on how to make it is in the Restricted Section of the library, and they need permission from a professor to take out the book, which would raise suspicion from any professor they ask.
-->''"Oh, come on, no teacher's gonna fall for that!" said Ron, "they'd have to be really thick..." *end chapter*\\
*start of next chapter* Since the disastrous episode with the pixies, Professor Lockhart had not brought live creatures to class...''
* [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes Why Did It Have to Be Spiders]]: Poor, poor Ron.
* WroteTheBook: Inverted; even though Lockhart literally wrote the book on dealing with magical pests, that doesn't mean he has a clue about it.
* XanatosGambit: [[spoiler:Lucius Malfoy's]] plan has two possible outcomes: either [[spoiler:Ginny]] is caught, thus [[spoiler:disgracing Arthur Weasley and his Muggle Protection Act]], or the culprit is not apprehended, and either kills every Muggle-born in the school or drives them all away. The former seems to be his preferred option, interestingly enough, but either would presumably satisfy him. [[spoiler:Of course, his plan backfired worse than he could have possibly imagined, which we learn in ''Deathly Hallows''.]]
----
