Harry Potter Lessons Learned, Year 2, Chapter 2: Dobby's Warning

Welcome back to the chapter-by-chapter of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Last time, we reunited with Harry and the Dursleys and saw the helplessness of famous Harry Potter among the Muggles and left on the cliffhanger of someone sitting on his bed. This time, we're going to not only meet the someone, but begin this book's great mystery. Let's move on to the house elf.

Harry Potter and the Ice-Out

This is probably the most insular conversation in most of Harry Potter. Other than the interruption of Unce Vernon and the calamity with the Masons, the entire action is between Harry and Dobby. I can only think of "King's Cross" and "The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore as having fewer participants. All of these chapters are expressions of trust and in this case, it's a very unsuual one because of the newness of the relationship.

You have to sympathize with Harry, who is so starved for information that he'll take it from a complete unknown. Harry worried in the last chapter about what was now happening with Voldemort and Dobby pours out as much information than he could have hoped for. On the other hand,, something that he really doesn't understand about Harry is that the warning only calls him to action.

We're books away from Harry being accused of having a "saving-people thing," but we know that he has taken it to heart Dumbledore's lesson about people choosing to fight and fight again. Harry, faced with a danger, doesn't turn his back on it.

I think Harry is perfectly justified in getting angry at Dobby for attempting to convince him that no one cares about him. It's a good thing that Harry's instincts are generally good, but it wasn't an easy time for him this summer with the sense of isolation and despair.

But as we see with both Harry in the first book and Harry's ill-fated attempt to prevent Dobby from ruining Aunt Petunia's hard work, he is going to take action when he sees one within reach.

Lesson Learned: Take a step forward

What I admire about Harry in this chapter is his compulsion to shift the status quo in some way. It manifests itself mostly in the way that he presses his visitor for information, but he fights his own fears with applying what he finds out to what has been bothering him.

In The Hobbit, Tolkien puts his hero in the hallway just before he meets a murderous dragon and says that "going on from there was the bravest thing he ever did." This is a bit like Harry, both as he goes through the trap door and prepares himself to meet Snape and in this book, when he still sets his sights on Hogwarts after hearing that danger awaits him.

So, let's be like Harry and face uncertainty with preparation and resolve.