Harry Potter, #2
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
by J.K. Rowling
Contents
Chapter 17
Overview
Harry finds Ginny unconscious in the Chamber and meets Tom Riddle, who reveals Ginny opened the Chamber under his control and that he is Lord Voldemort. With help from Fawkes and the Sorting Hat, Harry kills the basilisk and survives via phoenix tears. He destroys the diary, erasing Riddle and reviving Ginny, then escapes with Ron and amnesiac Lockhart to report to McGonagall.
Summary
Harry enters the Chamber and finds Ginny Weasley unconscious before Salazar Slytherin’s statue. A misty Tom Riddle appears, takes Harry’s wand, and explains how Ginny confided in his diary, allowing him to possess her and make her open the Chamber and unleash the basilisk.
Riddle reveals his identity by rearranging “Tom Marvolo Riddle” into “I am Lord Voldemort,” claiming Slytherin’s heritage and mocking Dumbledore. Fawkes, Dumbledore’s phoenix, arrives with the Sorting Hat. Riddle summons the basilisk; Fawkes blinds it, and the Sorting Hat produces a silver sword for Harry.
In a desperate fight, Harry drives the sword into the basilisk’s mouth but is bitten and poisoned. Fawkes’s tears heal the wound. As Riddle prepares to finish him, Fawkes drops the diary to Harry; Harry stabs it with a basilisk fang, destroying the memory and collapsing the diary.
Ginny revives and tearfully confesses Riddle’s control. Harry reassures her and retrieves the sword. They rejoin Ron beyond the rockfall; Lockhart, addled by his failed Memory Charm, is harmless. Fawkes lifts them all back up the pipe to Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom.
They emerge, brush off Myrtle’s morbid interest, and follow Fawkes through the corridors. The group heads straight to Professor McGonagall’s office to report what happened.
Who Appears
- Harry PotterFinds Ginny, confronts Riddle, receives Gryffindor’s sword, kills the basilisk, is healed by phoenix tears, and destroys the diary.
- Tom Marvolo Riddle (Lord Voldemort)Diary-preserved memory; reveals he manipulated Ginny and is Voldemort; summons the basilisk; vanishes when the diary is destroyed.
- Ginny WeasleyUnconscious victim drained by the diary; revived after the diary’s destruction; confesses being controlled by Riddle.
- FawkesDumbledore’s phoenix; brings the Sorting Hat, blinds the basilisk, heals Harry with tears, and flies the group to safety.
- The BasiliskSlytherin’s monster summoned by Riddle; blinded by Fawkes; killed by Harry with Gryffindor’s sword.
- Ron WeasleyWaits beyond the rockfall, reunites with Ginny, helps escort her back, and questions Harry about events.
- Gilderoy LockhartMemory Charm backfires; becomes amnesiac and harmless; accompanies the escape from the Chamber.
- Moaning MyrtleGreets the returning group from her bathroom; exhibits morbid interest in Harry.