Heroic Harry Potter battles prejudice in the second volume of Rowling's wizard series. Returning to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry after another awful summer with his guardians, the Dursleys, twelve-year-old Harry yearns to play Quidditch, improve his magical skills, and enjoy his friendships. Such normal activities are soon overshadowed by sinister events. Prior to school beginning, a house elf named Dobby warned Harry not to go to Hogwarts and interfered with Harry's plans to do so.
At school, some students are targeted by malicious classmates and persecuted emotionally for not having pure wizard pedigrees. Several of these "mudbloods," as the students with non-wizard ancestors are called, are petrified by the idea of a monster that is rumored to live deep beneath the school in a secret chamber (reminding readers of the chambers Harry entered.....