Race against death

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Chapter 4

The Order of the Phoenix needs to strengthen its intelligence corps and plug its leaks.

The, "Oh, there's probably only a couple of Death Eaters around" was an intelligence failure. It was like Butch and Sundance trying to win a shootout against the entire Bolivian police force.

Hope is not a strategy. Hire a scout.

That doesn't mean The Seven Potters wasn't a good plan, but trying to outrun the enemy at the same time on brooms and a flying Harley lacked sense. Every part of the strategy should have been deceptive. If they had known a legion of Death Eaters was hiding in the clouds, they would have figured out a Plan B.

However, it was frantic reading. Once the Death Eaters appeared I found myself trying to read faster like when you move to the edge of your seat during tense movie scenes. So despite the failed plan, it was good reading.

The cliffhanger ending begs many questions.

Where did Voldemort vanish to and why?

Is Hagrid dead?

Are any of The Seven Potters and their escorts dead?

Is Harry in a safe place?

I figure Harry got to the safe place, which caused Voldemort to be thwarted by hitting some sort of force field.

Hagrid is probably and sadly dead. There is no one he'd rather give his life for more than Harry.

The others probably made it all out alive because the Death Eaters have worse aim than the Imperial troops in "Star Wars."

The intel that Yaxley got about Harry's movement being the day before his birthday was false. Snape was right.

That leaves us with another question: Who told him?

Another happy ending

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: Chapter 17

This book has been a lot like an NBA game for me. The first three quarters are played to get to the fourth. That's when - if it's going to get exciting - it gets exciting. Maybe it's because it was the second book and the novelty is wearing off or maybe it just moved more slowly and cryptically than the first, but the payoff at the end was worth it. I found myself reading faster than usual.

So I guess from now on I will always suspect that Voldemort/Quirrell/Riddle/????? is behind whatever threatens to close Hogwarts, threatens Harry or anyone close to him, threatens any student or just generally causes mayhem of any sort.

Voldemort's problem is his cockiness. How many times have we seen it in movies when the villian wants to make his prey suffer and delays the deed. Goldfinger could've shot Bond, but he had to elaborately try and kill him with some kind of laser-beam thing. "Do you expect me talk?" asks OO7. "No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die." And Goldfinger walks out of the room and Bond escapes. The Dynamic Duo did this all the time. It is a fatal flaw for fictional felons. It's not enough for them to kill. They have to make you suffer.

So the Dark Lord (don't get confused with Star Wars here) is revealed to be a former Head Boy at Hogwarts aptly named Riddle, the heir of Slytherin and once again inept at killing his nemesis. When it comes to killing Harry, Voldemort is as inept as GilLo.

BTW, did I laugh when Professor Gilderoy Lockhart de-memorized himself? LOL, for sure on that one. Now he can't take credit for making the school a Voldemort-free zone. Excellent.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: Chapter 18

This chapter could've been anticlimactic, but after the Weasley reunion and the usual Dumbledore debriefing and the Hagrid homecoming, we get to see Lucius Malfoy taken down a few notches on his self-importance scale. I think he's trying to make up for not being the heir.

When Harry tricks Malfoy into freeing Dobby, he displays a more observant side to go with his resourcefulness and bravery.

It is nice to know that Dobby really was trying to help Harry. He's no Phoenix, that's for sure, but maybe he will be of more use in the future.

I would tell Harry to enjoy his summer, but that won't be easy where he's headed. Maybe being a Prisoner of Privet will prepare him for the Prisoner of Azkaban.