Next - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
As we jump into the second book...
Harry isn't having a good summer. Did he ever? The Dursleys and their treatment of Harry seems way over the top. Cinder-harry.
We meet our first house elf. They must stay hidden at Hogwarts. Or they at least avoid the First Years. I'm surprised no-one has even mentioned them to him yet.
This underage magic thing... Dobby, the house elf, must be able to make his magic "look" like Harry's. Either that or the Ministry's magic detection spells are a bit broken (Or someone is out to get Harry in a subtle, destroy his life kind of way. Not like the blatant Voldemort attack the year before.) (Looks like this is explained in Book 6 - I'll have to remember to look for it)
Ah... the infamous flying car... just how far is Ottery St. Catchpole from No. 4, Privet Drive in Surrey?
Harry's first experience with other Wizard things happens that summer - his first sight/visit to a wizard house, first garden gnomes, etc.
Garden seems to be a general catch-phrase for "back yard" - shrubs, trees, lawn, and such. Not a vegetable garden like I thought. (I actually have a book, a travelogue, that contains quite a bit of info about English gardens that I picked up when writing a story so I could be reasonably accurate... but I'd never connected it with the Weasley's back yard...)
Arthur Weasley must actually have had some power at some point if he "wrote" the law about misuse of Muggle artifacts.
We find out that Ginny isn't shy - according to Ron anyway - she's never quiet - unless she's around Harry Potter. This is the year she's to go to Hogwarts... let's keep an eye on her...
Seems to be an odd combination of magic and non-magic going on in the Weasley household. They have chickens...
Side comment: Oddly enough, there was a discussion about the books on one of the political blogs I read ( <-- left link)... and there seemed to be some concern that wizards mostly seem to work for the government. But thinking about that... it isn't quite true but it does seem to be their major industry. Everything seems to be in support of hiding their world from Muggles. But were does the money to do that come from originally? Flammel's Philosopher's Stone couldn't possibly "create" enough gold to support an entire community of Wizards...
I was thinking that JKR had some space-time continuum problems... and I KNOW I'm not the first person to notice ";->"... Harry got to Hogwarts AFTER Bill and Charlie Weasley had graduated. That is clear. Bill (who is the eldest Weasley sibling) was Head Boy and Charlie Quidditch Captain.
(As pointed out by Don in a comment...) I seem to be deriving dates in a confused fashion. I was confusing House Cup and Quidditch Cup... Gryffindor hadn't won the Quidditch Cup since Charlie left (I could have sworn I read that was 6 years before Harry started...). The Slytherin's had won the House cup for the last 6 years - until Harry's first year. I was mixing them together... which doesn't really work out.
If one were to cheat - and check out JKR's website... she gives us the difference in ages between the Weasley siblings:
(very roughly - the approximate years they were born. See JKR's website or the HP Lexicon for exact dates)
Ginny: 1981 (6-7 months younger than Buffy)
Ron: 1980 (Older than Harry, Younger than Hermione)
Fred and George: 1978
Percy: 1976
Charlie: 1973
Bill: 1971
This can then be used to clear up the Cup confusion... maybe some other time. We also know Hermione is 6 months older than Ron (Thanks to JKR for the info.)
The Dursley's live in Surrey. So does the canonical Lara Croft. I don't think they'll ever meet.
Bad Ron!
It was HIS idea to take the flying car... and he did so well the year before. And that broken wand... is important later in the story...
Harry is embarrassed that he has money but the Weasley's don't. But I think the "poorness" of the Weasleys is due in large part to all those children. 5 of them at home at one time (Ginny, Ron, Fred, George, and Percy) They have plenty of money for "fun stuff" like chocolate frogs (Ron said he had over 500 over them at one point), and sports memorabilia (in Ron's room).
Did Harry win any points with Ginny by giving her those books he got from Lockhart?
Were they even on Ginny's book list?
Our first howler...
Gilderoy Lockhart is a serious pain... letting Cornish pixies loose? (8 inch high blue critters that fly and bite)
No one seems to take Ginny's crush on Harry seriously..assuming that that is what it was... and Ginny apparently is a cat person. She gets upset at what happens to Mrs. Norris.
Okay, a few tidbits before I move on to the next book...
Poor Ginny... getting possessed by Tom Riddle. Nice to see she survived it though. But Lucius Malfoy got away with giving her the cursed diary in the first place.
Gryffindor won the House Cup again... not really a surprise. And we find out why Hagrid was expelled from Hogwarts...
Harry finally visits Dumbledore's office, 200 pages into the book, and a second visit at the end.
What happens to the Chamber now? Does it get locked up again? Do they put it on the Hogwarts Tour schedule?
And Ginny tells everyone that Percy has a girlfriend...
7:02:31 AM 
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