Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Book)

**Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets** is a fantasy novel written by J. K. Rowling. It is the second book in the Harry Potter book series.

## Plot

While spending the summer at the Dursleys, twelve-year-old Harry Potter is visited by Dobby, a house-elf. He says Harry is in danger and must not return to Hogwarts. Harry refuses, so Dobby magically ruins Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon's dinner party. Furious, Uncle Vernon locks Harry into his room. The Ministry of Magic sends a notice accusing Harry of performing underage magic and threatening dismissal from Hogwarts.

The three Weasley brothers, Ron, Fred and George, arrive in their father's flying Ford Anglia and rescue Harry, taking him to their home. Harry and the Weasley family travel to Diagon Alley for school supplies. They run into Hermione Granger and meet Lucius Malfoy, father of Draco, and also Gilderoy Lockhart, a conceited auto biographer and adventurer who is the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. At King's Cross station, Harry and Ron cannot enter Platform 9¾ and miss the Hogwarts Express. They fly in Mr Weasley's car to Hogwarts, crashing into the Whomping Willow on school grounds and damaging Ron's wand. The car then escapes into the forest.

Later, Harry is the only one who hears a strange voice emanating from the castle walls. Soon after, Mr Filch's cat Mrs Norris, is found petrified, along with a bloody warning scrawled on a wall: "The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir... beware." Salazar Slytherin, one of the school's founders, created the chamber after a dispute with fellow founders on admitting Muggle-born students. Some in the wizarding community disdain Muggle-born wizards like Hermione, believing pure-bloods are superior. The chamber supposedly houses a monster that only the heir of Slytherin can control.

During a Quidditch game, a rogue Bludger strikes Harry, breaking his arm. Lockhart blunders an attempt to repair it, sending Harry to the hospital overnight. Dobby visits Harry and reveals he jinxed the Bludger and sealed the portal at King's Cross. He says the chamber of secrets was once opened years before. After another attack, students attend a defensive duelling class, during which Harry exhibits a rare ability to speak 'Parseltongue', the language of snakes.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione suspect Draco is the heir, given the hostility toward Muggle-borns. Hermione brews polyjuice potion, allowing Harry and Ron to impersonate Draco's lackeys Crabbe and Goyle. They learn that Draco knows nothing about the heir. Meanwhile, Moaning Myrtle, a ghost that haunts a girls' bathroom, shows the trio a diary left in her stall. It belonged to Tom Riddle, a student who witnessed another student's death during the chamber's previous opening. Riddle consciousness within the diary claims that Hagrid was responsible. Hermione is petrified in the next attack. The school is put on lockdown and may close. Headmaster Albus Dumbledore is forced out and Hagrid is sent to Azkaban prison.

Following instructions left by Hagrid, Harry and Ron follow spiders into the Forbidden Forest. They encounter Aragog, a gigantic Acromantula which denies its involvement, and claims spiders fear the real monster. Aragog attempts to feed Harry and Ron to its progeny, but Mr. Weasley's car rescues them. Harry and Ron discover that Hermione deduced the monster is a basilisk, a gigantic snake whose direct gaze kills and petrifies victims when seen in a reflection. The basilisk is the voice in the walls, and it travels through the plumbing. Moaning Myrtle was the student that was killed.

Ron's sister Ginny is abducted and taken into the chamber. Harry and Ron discover the entrance in Myrtle's bathroom, and force Lockhart to enter it with them. Lockhart confesses he is a fraud who made up all of his stories and attempts to erase the boys' memories after stealing Ron's damaged wand. The spell backfires, obliterating his own memory, and causes a cave-in; Ron is separated from Harry and stays behind to help Lockhart.

Harry proceeds to the chamber and finds an unconscious Ginny. A manifestation of Tom Riddle reveals he is Lord Voldemort and the heir of Slytherin. He opened the chamber and framed Hagrid. He has been using the diary to possess and control Ginny, who had been behaving strangely. The basilisk appears to kill Harry. Dumbledore's phoenix Fawkes arrives, bringing Harry the Sorting Hat. Fawkes blinds the basilisk and Harry pulls the Sword of Gryffindor from the hat. He slays the basilisk but is poisoned by its venom. As Riddle taunts the dying Harry, Fawkes' tears heal Harry. Harry stabs Riddle's diary with a severed basilisk fang, destroying it and Riddle's body, and reviving Ginny.

Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Lockhart return to the castle. Harry gives the diary to Dumbledore. Lucius bursts in, furious that Dumbledore has returned. He is accompanied by Dobby, who is the Malfoys' house-elf and was working to protect Harry. Harry realises that Lucius slipped the diary into Ginny's cauldron while they were in Diagon Alley to open the chamber. Harry tricks Lucius into freeing Dobby from servitude by giving him a sock; Lucius attempts to attack Harry in revenge, but Dobby repels him.

The petrified students are cured, Gryffindor wins the House Cup again, Hagrid is released, Lockhart is confined to St. Mungo's Hospital, and Harry returns to Privet Drive in high spirits.