Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Chapter Fourteen:
Cornelius Fudge

Synopsis by William Silvester
Notes and links by Michele L. Worley

US hardcover edition: pages 249 - 264
UK paperback edition: pages 269 - 285
Timeframe: 15 February - xx, 1993 [Y13]

In which HRH decide not to confront Hagrid, as time passes and there are no more attacks. Second-year students choose their courses for the next year, Quidditch practice becomes more frequent, Harry returns to his dormitory to find his belongings ransacked and the diary gone. Harry hears the voice again, Hermione runs to the library, and Gryffindor's match with Hufflepuff is cancelled when Hermione and another girl are attacked. Harry and Ron visit Hagrid and overhear a conversation between Dumbledore, Fudge, Hagrid, and Lucius Malfoy. Hagrid is taken away and Dumbledore suspended as the Ministry tries to stop the attacks.

Interesting facts and notes about the text of this chapter:

We first meet Cornelius Fudge in this chapter, and learn that he responds far better to political pressure than to any abstract demands of justice.

"Maybe it was some other monster attacking people..."
"How many monsters d'you think this place can hold?" Ron asked dully.

Ernie Macmillan asked Harry quite politely to pass a bucket of leaping toadstools in Herbology one day...

...and in March several of the mandrakes threw a loud and raucous party in Greenhouse Three. This made Professor Sprout very happy.

"The moment they start trying to move into each other's pots, we'll know they're fully mature," she told Harry.

"We keep all our old subjects, or I'd've ditched Defence Against the Dark Arts."
"But that's very important!" said Hermione, shocked.
"Not the way Lockhart teaches it," said Ron. "I haven't learned anything from him except not to set pixies loose."

Characters introduced in this chapter:

• Fudge, Cornelius (first actual appearance)

Characters returning in this chapter:

• Clearwater, Penelope

• Dumbledore, Albus

• Fang

• Finnigan, Seamus

• Granger, Hermione

• Hagrid, Rubeus

• Longbottom, Neville

• Macmillan, Ernie

• Malfoy, Lucius

• McGonagall, Minerva

• Peeves

• Potter, Harry

• Sprout, Professor

• Thomas, Dean

• Weasley, Percy

• Weasley, Ron

Characters mentioned in this chapter:

• de Mimsy-Porpington, Sir Nicholas (Nearly-Headless Nick)

• Finch-Fletchley, Justin

• Fluffy

• Lockhart, Gilderoy

• Longbottom family, the

• monster of Slytherin

• Norbert

• Weasley, Arthur

• Weasley, Charlie

Settings and locations introduced or returning in this chapter:

• Hagrid's cabin

Settings and locations mentioned in this chapter:

• Azkaban

• Greenhouse Three

• hospital wing

• Knockturn Alley

Exceptional character moments:

• Fudge, who takes Hagrid into custody and condemns him to Azkaban because he himself lacks the backbone to stand up to the wizarding public and do what is right rather than what is easy.

Spells:

• none yet

Links and Resources:

• Riddle's diary

• Travels with Trolls

• Flesh-Eating Slug Repellent

• Invisibility Cloak

• toadstools, leaping

• mandrakes

• essays

  • Ethics of Rowling, The

  • The Nature of Magic

• Hogwarts core classes

  • Charms

  • Defence Against the Dark Arts

  • Herbology

  • History of Magic

  • Potions

  • Transfiguration

• Hogwarts electives

  • Ancient Runes

  • Arithmancy

  • Care of Magical Creatures

  • Divination

  • Muggle Studies

• music, rhymes and dance

Memorable lines:

• Hermione voiced the knottiest question of all in a hesitant voice: "Do you think we should go and ask Hagrid about it all?"

  "That'd be a cheerful visit," said Ron. "Hello, Hagrid, tell us, have you been setting anything mad and hairy loose in the castle lately?"

• "I haven't learned anything from him [Lockhart] except not to set pixies loose."

Strictly British:

• grass (U.K. edition only)

• lead (U.K. edition only)

• tick (U.K. edition only)

Timelines/Calendar: