Remember that I'm not the only one contributing to this thread! I know you all have thoughts and opinions about each chapter individually!
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This is why I love J.K. Rowling. I immediately expected the worst with three words. In a fraction of a second, I contemplated a battle, a crippling wound, a death...but then it was all okay. She grabs you in right off the bat. What a better way to pay attention than to play with your mind first?

...or a gesture of gratitude!

I fully expected this to be a foreboding foreshadow moment. I imagined that during the Horcrux hunt Harry would be called upon to save someone's life. Alas, it is the last part of this passage that is foreshadowing...when later, Ron gets splinched when Apparating. This just emphasizes Hermione's importance. Really, what would Harry do without her?

These two passages confirm that Harry (and Ron and Hermione, we simply assume at this point) will not return to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as a student.

Also, at the time, before it was really explained, I thought that it may also have been Harry trying to possibly hoodwinking magic by calling the Dursley house 'home' longer than his mother's magic would hold up. Obviously, that theory was wrong.

This is yet more concrete evidence that Harry will be going Horcrux hunting. As for the locket, it just seems to light a fire in me that I didn't mind too much that he wasn't going back. The locket, at the time, meant that Dumbledore would not have died, and the school wouldn't have been attacked, Bill wouldn't have been bitten by Greyback, Snape would not have fled, etc. etc. I also found it odd that he took the Marauder's Map since he wasn't going back to Hogwarts.

Knowing the truth, I was inclined to assume that either the Ministry and the Prophet as well as Hogwarts were led to believe this; or the Ministry and the Prophet covered it up or made it up so as to not start a panic; or it was a part of the plan to keep the Order in the dark with both outlets, which has been mostly controlled by the Death Eaters.

[QUOTEp. 16-20 American Edition:]ALBUS DUMBLEDORE REMEMBERED by Elphias Doge[/quote]
At the time, I loved this part, wiping a few tears away. It was such a nice dedication, and, like Harry said, gave us new information about him we never knew...and never really wondered. At the time, it seemed to depict the Dumbledore we knew perfectly. Even in his faults that we discover later, it captured the Dumbledore that mattered. Everyone makes mistakes. Since Dumbledore did all he could to fix them, it would seem unfair to maim the man in his obituary. Plus, I don't believe that Doge really knew Dumbledore as well as he thought.

I see this quote as another clue to Severus Snape's innocence. To the eye, Snape is a greasy, bitter, sulky, unfair git with a baby grudge. And that still holds true at the end of the book. But is he evil? No. (That's too strong a word. He's gray.) Is he heartless. Well, no. Is he loveless. No. And Dumbledore knew the best and worst of him--as did Lily--and still chose to value him nonetheless. (MORE ON THIS later...)

Now, as I reread this for the second time, this sickens me and gives me goosebumps. Even in his good nature, Dumbledore openly believed in the greater good, which is not, in the other view, necessarily a bad thing. I mean, initially, in different context than Dumbledore's letter to Grindelwald, of course, I am a believer in the greater good. Everyday heroes become heroes because of their willingness to sacrifice themselves for the good of others...and the greater good of society. (Examples include the military, police, fire fighters, etc.)
It is AMAZING at the difference that philosophy is from two different perspectives.

He didn't know...couldn't imagine...how much more, he would discover, he did not know. And neither did we.

This is one of my favorite quotes. (I have many.) I found that I completely agreed with him!

I. FREAKING. HATE. RITA. SKEETER. I was infuriated when I first read this nauseating article. I, like Harry, consider it all to be lies. I thought that there was no way that there could be truth to any of it because the only honest thing she had ever written was for The Quibbler in OotP, and she was under tremendous blackmail from Hermione. Therefore, it was only natural to assume that she merely was a vicious liar, that her "source" was her Quick-Quotes Quill...and to pay her no mind. Her malicious amusement at Doge made me want to slap her across her haughty, overdone face.
And yet, even after we find she was not off the makr later on, I still found it inappropriate, distasteful, and disrespectful to tarnish his name so soon after his death. There are unwritten rules about such things. For example, in the United States, when a former president dies, the media is expected to pay their respects, highlight their accomplishments, and refrain from defaming them until after an appropriate amount of time. (This even applied to Richard Nixon. They waited an appropriate amount of time before even mentioning Watergate again.) The four weeks she took to come out with it is disgusting.
And yet, despite my outrage and hatred of Rita Skeeter, I must admit that this article whet my appetite to know more about Dumbledore. I, too, felt a little guilty at my previous lack of interest regarding Dumbledore's family and past. And, against my will, I knew deep inside, that, indeed, he probably had some skeletons in his closet. Whatever I felt, all I knew was that I had to know for sure the truth.

These reflect my feelings...on a lower level. Where I was curious about the truth at that moment, even though I was disgusted, Harry was just furious...and rightly so. But, then it hit me why I wasn't as angry as I should have been. It had only been 4 weeks for Harry since Dumbledore's death. We, on the other hand, had over a year to mourn for Dumbledore, and, therefore, while furious, are eager, even interested, to read Skeeter's book. As Dumbledore's death grows farther away from Harry, he, too, wants to know the truth.

I was so roused by this. My body flooding with adrenaline already, (I would switch to near-gallons of caffeine later on) my mind raced around. Yes, Dumbledore's eye was always described as "shockingly" blue. Yet, the excitement turned quickly to confusion. J.K. Rowling had stated firmly before the release of DH that Dumbledore was definitely dead. There was no way he was alive. Furthermore, as we learned at the end of OotP, the two-way mirror, even before Harry smashed it, could not contact the dead. As we learn, that blue eye woudl appear throughout the novel and prove to be very important.

Overview:
I enjoyed Chapter 2 for the most part. I believe that this contains many questions that are answered later, but torment us up til then. Just as the first sentence of the chapter was misleading, so was the cup of tea, both Daily Prophet articles, and the mirror. I believe that JKR wanted us to end this chapter very confused with many questions. What kind of questions, one may ask? (Well, nothing that wasn't answered, but...):
--What was the deal with the cup of tea? (We find the answer to this, in the following chapter.)
--What is the real truth about Dumbledore and his past? (We have to wait until Chapter 33 for the full truth!)
--And what is the mystery of that mirror? JKR did say that it would be important. (Yes, we find that out much later too.)
--Obviously, the question of the circumstance of Harry's bleeding was answered immediately, but a question, nonetheless.
JKR jumps right into it, toying with all of our emotions. In one chapter we panic on Harry's behalf, we mourn and tear up for Dumbledore, we swell with respect for him..and deflate with shock, anger, and injustice in return, we burn with regret, we glow with longing to know questions, and anxiety. The woman is a genious.
Unlike what my Ronald said in OotP, we can feel all that at once...and we didn't explode! (I LOVE YOU, RON!)

10/10 for keeping us on our toes from the get go.

Shannon