ve you will be...

aunt petunia: ...in the lounge, waiting to welcome them 3)graciously to our home.

uncle vernon: good. and dudley, you will be...

dudley: i'll be waiting to open the door.

uncle vernon: excellent! (pause several seconds, to harry, 4)menacing) and you?

harry: i'll be in my bedroom, making no noise and pretending that i don't exist.

uncle vernon: too right you will! with any luck this could well be the day i make the biggest deal in my career, and you will not 5)mess it up!

(scene 2: when harry enters his bedroom, the house elf dobby is waiting for him who warns him that under no circumstances is he to return to hogwarts, where a great danger is waiting for him.)

dobby: (jumping up and down on harry's bed) nah hah! whoo hoo hoo! (seeing harry) harry potter! such an honour it is!

harry: who are you?

dobby: dobby, sir. dobby, the house elf.

harry: not to be rude or anything, but this isn't a great time for me to have a house elf in my bedroom.

dobby: oh. oh, yes, sir. dobby understands. it's just that, dobby has come to tell you... it is difficult, sir... dobby wonders where to begin.

harry: why don't you sit down.

dobby: (surprised) sit down? sit... sit down? oooooh ho ho! (6)wailing) oooooh ho ho !

harry: dobby, please, i'm sorry, i didn't mean to offend you or anything.

dobby: offend dobby!? dobby has heard of your greatness, sir, but never has he been asked to sit down by a wizard, like an equal!

harry: you can't have met many 7)decent wizards then.

dobby: no! i haven't! it was an awful thing to say. (stomping, pounding his head on the wall) bad bobby! bad bobby!

harry: dobby! please stop!

dobby: dobby had to punish himself, sir. dobby almost 8)spoke ill of his family, sir.

harry: your family!

dobby: the wizard family dobby serves, sir. dobby's bound to serve one family forever. if they ever knew dobby was here... (shivery) oooo! but dobby had to come. dobby has to protect harry potter! to warn him! harry potter must not go back to hogwart's school of 9)witchcraft and 10)wizardry this year. there is a plot; a plot to make the most terrible things happen!

harry: what terrible things? who's 11)plotting them?

dobby: ooh! dare... can't ... say!

harry: ok. i understand. you can't say.

dobby: (tearing sound) erck! ack! aah...

(scene 3: harry meets the malfoys in the diagon alley.)

draco malfoy: (jealously) bet you loved that, 12)didn't ya, potter!? famous harry potter! can't even enter a bookstore without makin' the front page!

ginny: leave him alone!

draco malfoy: alright, potter, ya got yourself a girlfriend!

lucius malfoy: now, draco. play nicely. (to harry) mr. potter? (introduce self) lucius malfoy. we meet at last. forgive me, your scar is legend as, of course is the wizard who gave it to you.

harry: voldemort killed my parents. he was nothing more than a murderer!

lucius malfoy: hmmm. you must be very brave to mention his name, or very foolish.

hermione: fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself.

lucius malfoy: and you must be miss granger. yes, drake has told me all about you, and your parents... 13)muggles, aren't they? (to ron) let me see. red hair, 14)vacant expressions, 15)tatty, second-hand book... you must be at the weasley's.

arthur weasley: children! it's not in here! that side!

lucius malfoy: where, where, where? weasley senior.

arthur weasley: lucius.

lucius malfoy: busy time at the ministry, arthur -- those extra 16)raids. i do hope they paid you 17)overtime. but judging by the state of this, i'd say not. as for you, sir, a disgrace to the name of wizard. and they don't even pay you well for it?

arthur weasley: we have a very different idea about what disgraces the name of wizard, malfoy.

lucius malfoy: clever! associating with muggles! and i thought your family could sink no lower. i'll see you at work.

draco malfoy: (to harry) see you at school.

(scene 4: mrs. weasley sends ron a howler by owl.)

neville: bloody bird's a menace!

ron: oh, no!

draco malfoy: look everyone. weasley's got himself a howler!

colin: go on ron, i ignored one from my gramps, once. it was horrible!

howler: (mrs. weasley yells) wild weasley! how dare you steal that car! i am absolutely disgusted! your father's now facing an enquiry at work, and it's entirely your fault! if you put another toe out of line, we'll bring you straight home! (sweetly) oh, and ginny, dear. congratulations on making gryffindor. your father and i are so proud!

(ron sits stunned, and the howler smashes itself into pieces.)

(scene 5: in hogwarts, strange things start to happen. people are becoming petrified, and no-one knows what is doing it. the students are told the story of the chamber of secrets.)

professor mcgonagall: yes, miss granger?

hermione: professor, i was wondering if you could tell us about... the chamber of secrets.

professor mcgonag