Harry Harry Harry

Put your hand up if you think the book that influenced me the most is Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone?

Sorry to tell you, but you're all wrong. Today I have chosen to talk about none other than Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. "The best of us must sometimes eat our words."

If you know me, you will know that Harry Potter is a fundamental part of my life. If you don't know me, you will know that I'm a raving Harry Potter fanatic. The first book of the bestselling Harry Potter series that I picked up was in fact the second, as my brother was the first to get his paws on Philosopher's Stone. Nevertheless, it proceeded to bridge my transition from late childhood into early adolescence, allowing me to become a part of their world, fall in love with the characters and better understand life as a young person. And after Harry Potter, I turned from a noisy little girl into a noisy fangirl.

Part of the appeal of Harry Potter is the fact that even in our modern world, a glorious magical community like JKR's could still exist. Rowling uses a combination of mundane settings such as the Dursleys' house to enhance the realism of the story, then contrasts these with a dreamlike world. The grand centrepiece of this is Hogwarts, the boarding school at which he spends more than ¾ of his year at. Its stone walls are a symbol for magic's brute strength, but the its constantly changing structure (think moving staircases, walking suits of armour and a poltergeist), mazes and secret passages hint at complexities lost to the naked eye. Real geographical places such as King's Cross Station are mingled with make-believe sites, such as the town of Hogsmeade, allowing us to suspend our disbelief and imagine that we are being welcomed into Harry's world.

Harry is a highly likeable character, being the scrawny, orphaned underdog who emerges triumphant in the end. His courage and loyalty, black hair and green eyes, as well as the fact that he made vision correction fashionable, immediately endeared me to him. Ron also struggles to make his own way, the last boy in a family of nine. I even pitied Draco, as in this book we meet his Luciferous father Lucius, who has moulded him. Not surprisingly however, it was the snotty, thick-haired, workaholic haunter-of-the-library Hermione who was my favourite, and will continue to be. In fact, I was later christened "Hermione" by my Latin class due to similar circumstances. Rowling crafts a character for everyone to cherish.

Each character plays an integral role in conveying significant themes. One most obvious in Chamber of Secrets is racism. Firstly, Harry is discriminated against by his uncle, who labels him "abnormal", and after this he watches Hermione be called a "filthy little mudblood" due to her muggle heritage. "It's a disgusting thing to call someone," said Ron. " It's ridiculous. Most wizards these days are half-blood anyway. If we hadn't married Muggles we'd've died out" Hermione is top of her grade, yet in the prejudiced eyes of the "pure-blooded" wizards, she is inferior. Harry, our hero, chooses to befriend people based on personality and merit, while the Dark Lord discriminates against anyone he feels threatened by (eg Harry). Other themes include the cruelty of slavery – Dobby the House Elf, and celebrities being not quite what they seem – Gilderoy Lockhart being an example of Mrs Weasley's quote, " Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain." Mr Weasley plays a satirical role – making us laugh at muggle reliance on technology – "Really? Were there escapators? How exactly…"

Not least, there are issues of growing up. All young people, even magical ones, strive for acceptance. Hormones begin to fly – Ginny sends Harry a valentine (which I have parodied relentlessly), Ron becomes protective of Hermione to the point of bringing misfortune upon himself, Hermione receives a get-well card from her teacher Lockhart and begins to sleep with it under her pillow and even the ghost Moaning Myrtle grows "fond" of Harry, inviting him to share her toilet. What about school? Harry and Ron disregard the school rules to the point that Dumbledore "would have to expel them if they broke any more rules". Homework and Quidditch distract Harry from his quest of the Chamber of Secrets, but overall, school strengthens him and prepares him for adulthood. Headmaster Dumbledore acts like a mentor to Harry, leaving us with memorable quotes such as "It is our choices...that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities," apt for a time when our lives revolve around shining above the rest.

At a time which I felt like an isolated geek, books were my escape; Hogwarts was a particularly glorious one. And even though I found out that according to Nearly Headless Nick's 500^th deathday being 1492, I calculated that today, Harry Potter would be 24 it didn't stop me obsessing over Dan Radcliffe, the fifteen-year-old-boy who gave him a human face. I don't know how much wisdom JKR has managed to impart to me, but I think someone could vouch that I've matured.

I did spend my eleventh birthday sitting at my window waiting for an owl to come in with my letter to the Australian version. Although I have grown out of my childish faith, the Harry Potter culture is a vital part of me. Whenever a new book or movie comes out, I always get hold of it on the first day, and dress up as well. The reason I knitted was to produce Hogwarts scarves. On the internet, I am one of a group of over thirty thousand people who spend their lives on RadNet, a forum-shrine to Dan. As a tribute to my hero JKR, every year I read each of the five books again. And now, there's a sixth HP book for me to read – Harrius Potter et Philosophi Lapis. Not to mention Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, due mid 05.

If there are any of you sitting in the audience who have never set their hands on a copy of Harry Potter, be it because of living under a rock, having been on Mars, nurturing a potent hatred of reading or a desire to keep away from remnants of the childish realm for the past seven years, I hope I have changed your mind. Because every Harry Potter novel contains the same ingredients as the first one I read, the second book in the series. Each of the five currently released books, and I am sure the sixth and seventh will similarly follow, are bursting with fantastic worlds, beasts, people and tales to be heard. And I'll leave you with one more quote today, not directly from the book but the movie…

Lucius Malfoy: Let us hope that Mr Potter will always be around to save the day.

Harry : Don’t worry. I will be.