Chamber of Secrets

> "*Reliable historical sources tell us this much. But these honest facts have been obscured by the fanciful legend of the Chamber of Secrets. The story goes that Slytherin had built a hidden chamber in the castle, of which the other founders knew nothing. Slytherin, according to the legend, sealed the Chamber of Secrets so that none would be able to open it until his own true heir arrived at the school. The heir alone would be able to unseal the Chamber of Secrets, unleash the horror within, and use it to purge the school of all who were unworthy to study magic.*"
> ― Cuthbert Binns on the legend of the Chamber of Secrets[source]
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The **Chamber of Secrets** was created under the Dungeons of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry during Medieval times by Salazar Slytherin, who disagreed with the other Hogwarts founders on the merits of Blood Purity.

The Chamber of Secrets was home to an ancient Basilisk, which, according to legend, was intended to be used to purge the area of Muggle-born students. The Chamber was flanked with towering pillars that were entwined with carved wood, and the Statue of Slytherin was at the far end. The Basilisk resided within the mouth of Slytherin's Statue, which possibly symbolised Slytherin's ability to speak Parseltongue. Sometime before 1992, the chamber flooded.

## History

### Early history

During the establishment of Hogwarts in the First millennium A.D., Salazar Slytherin co-existed peacefully with the three other founders initially, but as time passed, he became increasingly adamant about his disapproal of the acceptance of Muggle-borns at Hogwarts. Disagreeing with the other Hogwarts founders about the matter, Slytherin left the school. According to legend, before he left, Slytherin created a secret chamber deep underground in Hogwarts Castle — known as the Chamber of Secrets.

That Chamber was home to a monster — a Basilisk — that was allegedly supposed to purge the school of all Muggle-borns. Only the Heir of Slytherin could open the Chamber of Secrets, through the use of Parseltongue. Over the centuries after Slytherin's death, many Headmasters conducted searches of the school to find the Chamber. None, however, were successful, and the Chamber was dismissed as a mere legend by many. Until it was opened years later.

### Openings

There was clear evidence that the Chamber had been opened more than once between its creation and the twentieth century. When it was first created, the Chamber was accessed through a concealed trapdoor and a series of magical tunnels. However, when Hogwarts’ plumbing became more elaborate in the eighteenth century, the entrance to the Chamber was threatened, and was located on the site of a proposed bathroom. The presence in school at the time of a student called Corvinus Gaunt — who was a direct descendant of Slytherin — explained how the simple trapdoor was secretly protected, so that those who knew how could still access the entrance to the Chamber even after the newfangled plumbing had been placed on top of it.

#### 1942-1943 Openings

> "*The last time the Chamber of Secrets was opened, a Mudblood was killed by the monster.*"
> ― Draco Malfoy discussing the first opening of the chamber[source]
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The Chamber was opened during the 1942-1943 school year by a sixteen-year-old teenager by the name of Tom Riddle, later known as Lord Voldemort. Through Merope Gaunt, his mother and a Witch, Riddle was the last remaining direct descendant of Slytherin, and he desired to see Muggle-borns driven from Hogwarts. In his Fifth year, Riddle located the secret entrance to the Chamber of Secrets during his research on his heritage and was able to control the Basilisk as he was the Heir of Slytherin. Riddle turned the Basilisk loose on the school and many students were petrified as a result of the Basilisk's stare.

The last victim was a student named Myrtle Warren (also known as Moaning Myrtle), who was killed in the Girls' Bathroom. Hogwarts was due to be closed, which upset Riddle, who did not want to return to the Muggle Orphanage in which he was raised. He framed fellow student Rubeus Hagrid, who had concealed a pet Acromantula named Aragog. Riddle convinced the Headmaster at the time, Armando Dippet, that Aragog was the monster that had terrorised the school. Hagrid was wrongfully expelled, and Riddle received an engraved Trophy for Special Services to the School.

Albus Dumbledore, then Transfiguration Professor, distrusted Riddle and kept a close watch on him after that. As it was no longer safe to open the Chamber of Secrets, Riddle, not wanting his research to be for naught, created a Diary in which to preserve his sixteen-year-old self and hoped it would one day lead someone to finish Salazar Slytherin's "noble quest". The diary was also made a Horcrux (an object that holds the user immortal) with the murder of Myrtle. This was one of Tom Riddle's first action towards becoming the feared Lord Voldemort.

At some point between the death of Myrtle and the 1992-1993 school year, the Chamber flooded under unknown circumstances.

#### 1992-1993 Openings

*Main article: 1992-1993 school year*

> "*He was standing at the end of a long, dimly lit chamber. Towering stone pillars entwined with more serpents, rose to a ceiling lost in darkness, casting long, black shadows through the odd, greenish gloom that filled the place.*"
> ― Description of the Chamber[source]
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The Chamber was re-opened in 1992 when the bewitched Diary of Tom Riddle manipulated and controlled Ginny Weasley, a Gryffindor First year who had got hold of the diary through Lucius Malfoy, who slipped it in her cauldron when he viewed her other spellbooks at Flourish and Blotts, and fell under its influence. Ginny was compelled to vandalise the school by painting terrifying messages on the corridor walls outside Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. The first message read: *"The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir, beware."*

Opening the Chamber of Secrets let the Basilisk come out and made people look at it in different ways (all indirectly, with the exception for Nick), which Petrified many students, including Colin Creevey,< Justin Finch-Fletchley, Penelope Clearwater, and Hermione Granger, as well as the Ghost of Nearly Headless Nick and Argus Filch's cat, Mrs Norris. They were later restored to their proper states through the use of Mandrake Restorative Draught. Fortunately, that time, no one was killed.

On 29 May, 1993, Ginny was taken down to the Chamber to die, while Riddle intended to feed off her life force in order to become fully alive again. Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and then-Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor Gilderoy Lockhart went to the Chamber to rescue Ginny, as a message had been left that she was held prisoner there: *"Her Skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever."*

*Main article: Skirmish in the Chamber of Secrets*

Once in the Chamber, Harry met with the memory of Tom Riddle, which was preserved in the diary. A near-dead Ginny lay nearby, whose life force was slowly being drained. As Ginny grew weaker, Riddle grew stronger. Riddle then revealed that he was, in fact, Lord Voldemort (rearranging the letters of his name from *"Tom Marvolo Riddle"* to *"I am Lord Voldemort"*) and then summoned the Basilisk. Harry, after he knew that eye contact with the Basilisk would be fatal, ran from it, and was helped by the timely arrival of Fawkes, Dumbledore's Phoenix who clawed the Basilisk's eyes out, rendering it fully blind and no longer able to kill with its lethal stare.

Able to look freely, Harry battled the Basilisk with Godric Gryffindor's Sword, which materialised out of the Sorting Hat, which Fawkes had brought down to the Chamber. As Harry impaled the Basilisk, a fang stabbed into his arm in the process. Near death, Harry used the fang to stab the diary, which spurted out black blood like ink, and the memory of Riddle preserved in it was destroyed. That action also effectively destroyed the fragment of Voldemort's soul within it, as Basilisk venom was one of the substances that were capable of destroying Horcruxes. After the fight with the Basilisk, Fawkes's tears healed Harry's wound, and he, Ginny, Lockhart, and Ron were carried by Fawkes out of the Chamber.

#### 1998 Opening

On 2 May, 1998, during the Battle of Hogwarts, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger went back to the Chamber of Secrets to retrieve more Basilisk Fangs, since they needed Basilisk venom to destroy Voldemort's Horcruxes, as they did not have the Sword of Gryffindor at the time.

Ron was able to open the Chamber by mimicking Parseltongue. Once inside, Hermione stabbed Hufflepuff's Cup with a Basilisk Fang that was taken from the dead Basilisk's skeleton, which destroyed the Horcrux.

## Entrance

> "*Next second, the sink began to move. The sink, in fact, sank, right out of sight, leaving a large pipe exposed, a pipe wide enough for a man to slide into*"
> ― The entrance to the corridor of snakes that lead to the Chamber[source]
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The Entrance to the Chamber was at a snake-engraved sink tap on the Second Floor Girls' Lavatory, where a ghost of a girl named Myrtle Warren, more commonly known as Moaning Myrtle was often found. A corridor may be entered by giving the command of: *"Open"* or *"Open up"* to a snake engraved on the entrance in Parseltongue.

The engraved snake was on a tap over one of the sinks. The snake twisted, which made the other snakes go back. According to Myrtle, the tap had never worked. A passage opened from the sink that lead to a corridor, which Harry and Ron opened in 1993 and 1998, respectively.

This hidden passage behind the fixture was actually the works of Corvinus Gaunt's doing, as the proposal of the new girls' bathroom threatened to expose the original entrance — a concealed trapdoor and a series of magical tunnels — so he secretly ensured the passage would be adapted to the new washroom's creation without compromising its hidden nature, and that those who knew how could still access the Chamber.

### Corridor of Secrets

That corridor was a passageway that lead to the door of the Chamber. In the spring of 1993, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Gilderoy Lockhart found an old and shed Basilisk Skin while they travelled through the corridor. Lockhart accidentally caused a cave-in when he attempted to use Ron's Broken Wand to cast a Memory Charm, which backfired instead.