Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: Chapter 7 Summary.
Mudbloods and Murmurs
Chapter 7 of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, titled “Mudbloods and Murmurs” deals with Gryffindor’s first Quidditch practice for the session, Harry’s detention with Lockhart, and Malfoy’s “Mudblood” incident.
Quidditch Practice
Harry has been spending a lot of time trying to dodge Lockhart and Colin. Hedwig is still mad at him due to their car journey, and Ron’s wand is still broken and malfunctioning. He looks forward to the weekend, where he would finally get some peace.
On the morning of Saturday, however, the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team Oliver Wood wakes Harry up for a crack-of-dawn practice. As Harry makes his way to the Quidditch pitch, Colin Creevey catches up to him, and tags along with him, saying he has never witnessed a real Quidditch match. On the way, Harry painstakingly explains the rules of Quidditch to Colin upon his insistence.
At the changing room, Harry reunites with his teammates: Fred and George Weasley, Alicia Spinnet, Katie Bell, Angelina Johnson, and of course, Oliver Wood. Apart from Oliver, the entire team seems puffy eyed and sleep deprived. Motivated by their loss last year, where Gryffindor did not have a seeker (due to Harry being in the hospital wing) and therefore had suffered its worst loss in over three hundred years, Oliver plans to leave no stone unturned. He launches into a new strategy he has devised, which seems to go on forever.
As Harry walks out to the pitch, he realizes that they were in the changing room for so long that the sun had come out. He notices Ron and Hermione, looking with envy at the toast and marmalade they had brought out of the Great Hall. From the stands, Colin clicks pictures of their practice non stop.
Their session is interrupted by the arrival of the Slytherin team on the pitch, in full quidditch robes. Oliver protests, seeing as he booked the pitch in advance, but the Slytherin captain Marcus Flint presents a note from Snape, granting them permission to use the pitch to train their new Seeker, Draco Malfoy. The Slytherins flaunt their new Nimbus 2001 broomsticks, a gift from Draco’s wealthy father, Lucius Malfoy.
The Mudblood Incident
A confrontation breaks out between the Gryffindor and Slytherin teams. In a heated exchange of insults, Malfoy laughs at the Gryffindor team’s brooms, pointing out specifically the Cleansweep brooms of the Weasleys.
Hermione criticizes Malfoy for buying his way onto the team rather than earning his positions through talent. An irritated Malfoy retaliates by calling Hermione a “Mudblood,” a deeply offensive term for Muggle-born witches and wizards.
The Gryffindors are outraged. Fred and George lunge at Malfoy, only to be stopped by Flint. Alicia shrieks of disgust, and Ron tries to curse Draco with his broken wand. However, the spell backfires, causing Ron reel backwards onto the grass. He opens his mouth to speak, but only slugs come out.
Visit to Hagrid’s Hut
Harry and Hermione take Ron to Hagrid’s hut, seeking help for his slug-vomiting predicament.
They find Gilderoy Lockhart there, giving Hagrid unsolicited advice about magical creatures and promising to give Hagrid a signed copy of his book. After Lockhart leaves, Hagrid provides Ron with a bucket and advises him to let the slugs run their course.
Hagrid expresses his distrust in Lockhart’s abilities. He informs the trio that Lockhart was the only candidate for the job, since most people fear the apparent jinx on the position. of the Defense Against the Dark Arts position.
Since Hermione does not know the meaning of the term “mudblood”, Hagrid explains it to them. Mudblood is a highly derogatory term that pureblood supremacists use against Muggle-borns, or someone with Muggle parents. Hagrid reassures Hermione of her abilities, and teases Harry about giving out signed photographs of himself, before taking them to a small pumpkin patch behind his house.
Hagrid shows them about a dozen of the biggest pumpkins Harry has ever seen, each exceeding the size of a boulder.
He explains that they are for the Halloween feast, and suggests that he might have been using magic to help them grow.
With this, the trio bids goodbye to Hagrid and return to the castle for lunch.
Detention with Lockhart
As they step into the castle, they are greeted by a stern Professor McGonagall, who informs Ron and Harry about their detentions that evening. Ron is to polish the silver in the trophy room, without magic, with Filch the caretaker; while Harry is supposed to help Lockhart answer his fan mail.
As Harry works in Lockhart’s office, he hears a mysterious, disembodied voice that seems to be speaking directly to him. The voice, in an ice told tone, says “Come … come to me … let me rip you … let me tear you … let me kill you …”
Harry is startled, but notices that Lockhart did not hear the voice, and decides to keep it to himself. He informs Ron and Hermione after serving his punishment, leaving all three of them concerned and confused.
The chapter ends with Harry focusing all his thoughts on the strange voice, adding to the growing sense of mystery.
